Bee’s Kitchen

Sometimes I have trouble figuring out what to cook for dinner, these are the nights we usually go out to eat. During these past few weeks I’ve suffered a few kitchen disappointments with failed baking attempts, also dinners that have turned out too bland or too salty. But I’m back into it again, so by trial and error, hopefully I’ll be able to entertain again with success.

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Preparation Time – 5 minutes
Cooking Time – 10 minutes

Serves – 2

Ingredients

250 g prawns
250 g sugar snap peas
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Method

1. In a small bowl, mix together the prawns, olive oil, crushed garlic and enough salt and pepper to taste.
2. Heat a non stick fry pan, add in prawns and remove from heat when nearly cooked. In the same frying pan add in sugar snap peas, stir fry for 2 minutes or cooked yet still crisp. Combine prawns into pan and stir through, taste and season accordingly.

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Preparation Time – 15 minutes
Cooking Time – 20 minutes

Serves – 4

Ingredients

5 chicken thigh fillets
2 tbsp cooking rice wine
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cracked pepper
¼ cup water
1 tbsp cornflour
1 cup mushrooms (sliced)
5 stalks asparagus (2 inch lengths)
200g bean vermicelli
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp shallots (sliced)

Sauce
1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
3/4 cup water
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp cornflour

Method

1. Remove any visible fat from chicken and slice into bite size pieces. Soak bean vermicelli in warm water for 10 minutes, then drain well.
2. Combine rice wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, pepper, water and cornflour in a large bowl, stir well then add in chicken pieces. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
3. Thinly slice mushrooms, and cut asparagus on an angle into 2 inch lengths.
4. Using a large non stick fry pan, add in chicken and cook on medium heat, when nearly done add in mushrooms and cook until soft, then add in asparagus. Remove from heat and set aside.
5. Add oil to fry pan then spread vermicelli out evenly in a circle, cook on high heat until crisp, flip and then do the same for other side. Slice vermicelli base into 8 pieces.
6. Mix together oyster sauce, water, soy sauce and corn flour, pour into fry pan and bring to boil then add cooked chicken and combine, place on top or vermicelli and garnish with shallots.

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I love the taste of wholeseed mustard, so thought it would be nice to try making wholeseed mustard lemon chicken. I really like the combination of flavours, a taste similar to home made nando’s without the greasiness of having take away.

Preparation Time – 1 hour
Cooking Time – 15 minutes

Serves – 2

Ingredients

4 chicken thigh fillets
2 tbsp wholeseed mustard
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp chopped parsley
salt & pepper

Method

1. Combine wholeseed mustard, lemon juice, parsley and marinate chicken, cover with glad wrap and place in fridge for 1 hour.
2. Using grill pan or non stick fry pan cook for 15 minutes on each side, or until cooked through.
3. Serve with steamed vegetables

I only learnt the tricks of making roast pork a few months ago during my trip to Melbourne. The pork crackling on it was delicious; each mouthful was crunchy and piping hot.

2kg pork forequarter roast
1 brown onion (cut into 6 pieces)
1 red onion (cut into 6 pieces)
1/2 butternut pumpkin (chunked)
1 cup broccoli (cut to bite sized pieces)
1 carrot (roll cut)
1 bulb of garlic
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Preheat oven to 230 degrees Celsius.

Pat dry the pork skin with a paper towel, then score the skin of the pork with a sharp knife about 2 cm apart. Rub with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Stuff a few cloves of garlic between scored lines for flavour.

Cook pork for 25 minutes then reduce temperature to 200 degrees Celsius and cook for a further 1 hour, add in vegetables then cook for further 30 minutes.

Or use meat thermometer and insert into the thickest part of the meat, once it reaches 77 degrees Celsius then tada, rest for 15 minutes then ready to eat!!

I highly recommend buying one of these little things, they are only about 10 dollars form homeware stores and will give you a perfect result time after time. Juicy and tender mouthful after mouthful of meaty goodness.

Preparation Time – 30 minutes
Cooking Time – 1 hour

Serves – 6

Ingredients
6 lasagne sheets
Meat Sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, diced
500 g mince beef
500 g jar pasta cooking sauce
100 g mushrooms, sliced
Cheese Sauce
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup plain flour
2 cups full cream milk
1 cup grated mozzarella and cheddar
Salt and pepper to taste
Additional
1/2 cup grated mozzarella and cheddar
Grated Parmesan cheese

Method

1. Preheat oven 180 degrees C.

Meat Sauce
2. Using large non stick fry pan, heat oil, adding mince beef, onions and mushrooms then frying meat till brown. Stir in pasta cooking sauce and add salt and pepper to taste

Cheese Sauce
3. In a medium saucepan, add butter, flour, milk and heat on medium, continuously whisk to maintain a smooth consistency, this will gradually thicken. Stir through one cup of cheese till smooth.

4. Place a layer of lasagne sheets at the bottom of baking dish. Top with a third of the meat sauce sprinkle a little cheese and a third of the cheese sauce then add another layer of lasagne sheets. Arrange other layers the same. Smooth the top layer and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake in oven for 1 hour.

A great way to have everybody involved with the preparation and cooking process is to make a batch of pizzas for dinner.

We like to combine 3 different cheeses for our very own pizza cheese. The Mozzarella being the main cheese, it’s mild and creamy flavour perfect for giving those stringy cheese bits when you pull apart the slices. To give the cheese a bit more flavour tasty cheddar band Parmesan are added.

300 g mushrooms (sliced)
1 brown onion (diced)
1 green capsicum (thinly sliced)
1 red capsicum (thinly sliced)
1/4 cup black olives (sliced)
1 cup pineapple (sliced)
250 g honey leg ham
250 g salami
250 g spicy pancetta
2 cup mozzarella
1 cup cheddar
1 cup parmesan
mixed herbs
salt & pepper

Tomato sauce
6 pack Lebanese bread

Preheat oven to 250 degrees c.

We like to use Val Verde cooking sauce

Place bread onto a plate, spread enough tomato sauce to cover the base, and remember to leave a small edge. Sprinkle a layer of the pizza cheese, and then add toppings as desired.

Place in oven for 10 minutes, or until toppings are cooked through and cheese has fully melted. Slice and serve with salad.