Bee’s Kitchen

Who would have thought this would make such a good combination, many people don’t really go for the surf and turf arrangement but this you have got to try! A BIG THANK YOU to Mr H for teaching me how to make this fantastic meal, it turned out super and all the flavours really tasted unbelievable, and it was such great fun cooking together!
Here’s a bit of a history lesson about Carpetbag Steak.

To make this delicious recipe you need the following ingredients
6 sirloin eye fillet steaks
1 dozen fresh oysters
6 bacon slices
12 toothpicks
oil

With a sharp knife make a slit into the side of the steak, then move the knife cutting to make a pocket inside the steak.

Stuff with an oyster so that it fits inside the steak, repeat this process on the other side of the steak.

Using the bacon warp firmly around the steak and use toothpicks to secure while cooking.

Lightly oil a griddle pan and cook according as desired.

Perfect with salad and a glass of red wine.

Came home late from work tonight, and wasn’t up to preparing in the kitchen, so left all that hard work to Lenards and picked up some Chicken Mignon, and Honey Mustard Chicken Cutlets and a bunch of GAI LARN to have with Oyster Sauce = EASY!

CHICKEN
Bake chicken in oven for 35-40 minutes at 180 degrees.

GAI LARN
Cook GAI LARN in pot of boiling water for 3 minutes or until tender. Drain and splash with soy sauce a little olive oil and oyster sauce on top.

Always satisfying to eat, and so easy to make.

250 g spaghetti
250 g mince beef
1 brown onion (diced)
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
500 g tomatoes (skinned, pureed)
1 small tub tomato paste
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp mixed herbs
1 tbsp oregano
Fresh parsley
Salt & pepper
Parmesan cheese

Cook spaghetti until al dente according to the packet.

Heat olive oil in a non stick fry pan and stir fry the mince beef until browned and crumbly. Adding diced onion and crushed garlic then frying till the onion is soft.

Add pureed tomatoes, tomato paste and water turn down and simmer. Seasoning with salt, pepper, mixed herbs, oregano.

Place the cooked spaghetti on a plate and pour sauce over the top, sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese.

I felt like something different tonight and being a fan of Lebanese food, i wanted to try my hand at Kafta which is tasty minced beef cooked on skewers.

1 medium onions (grated)
500 g lean beef mince
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground all spice
1/4 bunch fresh parsley (finely chopped)
1/4 tsp finely ground black pepper
salt to taste

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Soak wooden skewers in water.
2. Combine all ingredients together in large bowl (using your hand to blend is the easiest) adjust salt and pepper to taste.
3. Shape the meat onto a skewer to form a log shape then flatten with hand.
4. Cook in oven for 10-15 minutes, serve with lebanese bread and tabouli salad.

Tabouli Salad

1 tomato (diced)
1/2 bunch fresh parsley (roughly chopped)
1/2 onion (finely chopped)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper

1. Combine tomato, parsley and onion together in medium bowl, then pour lemon juice and olive oil. Use salt and pepper to taste.

Wow new discovery!! for those that don’t have much time after coming home from a long day at work, consider visiting Lenards chicken. Everything is prepared for you and you just need to cook following their cooking guide.

Chicken Filo Florentine

Tasty chicken breast wrapped in a delicious filo pastry and filled with spinach, bacon and cheese. I’ve served it here with a side salad with mayo dressing and a cheesy pasta.

Chicken Kiev

Crumbled breast fillet filled with delicious garlic butter.

1. For both the Chicken Filo Florentine and Chicken Kiev, preheat oven at 180 degrees, and bake for 30 minutes.

Mayo Dressing

1 tbsp mayonaise
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic (crushed)
1 tsp chives (chopped)
1 anchoive (minced)

Combine ingredients together in jar, shake well then pour on salad.

My first go at making this, and it turned out super in my opinion, well ‘The Man’ only gave me a 67.9% so harsh!!! In Melbourne there is a Chinese restaurant called Chinabar at Box Hill, and it has the best Hainanese Chicken with rice you can buy at a store.

Another good place for this dish is in Perth, my friend Floey’s mum makes the best, she can even make it to feed a few hundred and it still taste oh soo good, now thats a talent, increasing all the quantities and having the flavour just right!!

My Sydney friend TT also makes a mean Hainanese Chicken Rice too, I’ve tried and tasted it, she has told me my comments were something along the lines of its really really good, but not as good as Floey’s mum!! Gosh i’m so insensitive sometimes!!

Preparation Time – 20 minutes
Cooking Time – 45 minutes

Serves – 6

Chicken

Ingredients

1 whole chicken
2 tsp salt
3 cloves garlic
3 slices ginger
2 stems of shallot
1 litre water
1 cucumber, sliced

Method

1. Prepare chicken by washing and removing excess fat then using the salt rub the cavity of the chicken. With the side of your knife squash the garlic and ginger to release the flavours. Then place garlic, ginger and shallot inside chicken.
2. Heat water in large pot and bring to boil. Add chicken into pot and cook covered on medium heat for 15 minutes. Rotate chicken and cook for further 15 minutes.
3. Remove chicken and drain excess liquid then plunge into ice bath for 3 minutes. This will make the chicken tender and juicy, the skin will also contract. Drain well, once chicken is room temperature slice up and arrange on plate with cucumber. Serve with chicken rice.

Chicken Rice

Ingredients

1 cup rice
2 tbsp seasame oil
3 eshallots, finely minced
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
3 cups chicken stock (from cooking chicken)
1 tsp salt

Method

1. Wash rice a few times in cold water, then drain well.
2. In a non stick fry pan heat oil, adding eshallots and garlic fry till fragrant. Then add rice and stir fry for 2 minutes after rice is fully coated.
3. Next remove from heat, place rice into rice cooker and add chicken stock plus salt.

If you don’t have a rice cooker, just cook on the stove in a non stick saucepan with lid, bring to the boil, once water reaches just above the rice, stir rice then turn onto low heat for 15-20 minutes.

This is super duper easy, all you do, ask the fish shop to scale and clean for you. And when at home just give the fish a quick wash in cold water and pat dry using paper towels. Place the fish on a plate adding finely sliced ginger and shallot on top.

I steamed this for about 10 minutes, then heated up some oil, sprinkled more shallots on top and drizzled with fish soy sauce then the hot oil. (the oil should be hot enough so that when poured you can hear it sizzle!) Serve straight away, a perfect dish with rice.

Yummy pork chop! I’ve made this how I remember my mum doing it by first dusting the pork chop in cornflour then lightly pan frying both sides to seal in the juices and transferring it to the oven to bake on top of onions tomatoes and rice.

Preparation Time – 10  minutes
Cooking Time – 55 minutes

Serves – 2

Ingredients

3 pieces pork chop
3 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 ripe tomatoes, peeled, pureed
1 onion, diced
pinch of salt & pepper
pinch of sugar
1 cup steamed rice

Method

1. Dip the pork chop into the cornflour, then fry using oil in non stick frypan both sides till pork is sealed. Adding in onion till caramelised and then stirring through tomatoes, add salt, pepper and a little sugar accordingly to your taste.
2. Place contents of frypan on top of the rice. Bake in oven at 220 degrees C for 45 minutes.

My friend Dave gave me a challenge last week, to create a vegetarian dish that’s tasty, healthy and easy to make. Well here it is Dave! The stir fry contains a colourful variety of fresh vegetables such as, red capsicum, zucchini, broccoli, fresh mushrooms, Chinese dried mushrooms, bok choy, and corn. Tossed together with Udon, (Japanese thick white noodle made from wheat flour). And no oil is used in this recipe, making it perfect for the health conscious. This is so tasty and can be eaten hot or cold, great for lunch boxes.

Preparation Time – 5 minutes
Cooking Time – 10 minutes

Serves – 2

Ingredients

200 g fresh udon noodles
1/2 red capsicum (sliced)
1 zucchini (sliced)
1/2 cup broccoli (cut)
1 cup fresh mushrooms (sliced)
2 chinese dried mushrooms (re hydrated)
1 bunch bok choy (roughly chopped)
1 corn cob (cut off cob)
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1/2 cup water

Method

1. Prepare all vegetables and place in a bowl, using a non stick pan, stir fry all the vegetables until semi cooked, add the fresh udon noodles, these only take 2-3 minutes to heat through.
2. Now add the dark soy sauce and water into the pan and stir through. Serve.