Bee’s Kitchen

Preparation Time – 15 minutes
Cooking Time – 15 minutes

Makes – 24

Ingredients

3 sheets puff pastry
spray oil for greasing
4 rindless shortcut bacon, diced
6 button mushrooms, diced
8 cherry tomatoes, sliced
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup cream
2 stalks chives, finely chopped
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt & pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees, grease 24 hole muffin tin.
2. Use cookie cutter to make 8 rounds per pastry sheet.
3. Assemble by placing pastry in tin, evenly distribute bacon, mushroom and tomato
4. Lightly whisk eggs with cream, pour into cases, sprinkle cheese on top.
5. Garnish with chives, season with salt and pepper.
6. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

[photopress:pekingIMG_0386.jpg,thumb,pp_image] [photopress:duck_IMG_0389.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

This dish makes for a perfect entree or served as finger food during parties. I bought a whole duck from my local Chinese BBQ House, and the wrappers are from the freezer section of an Asian grocer.

Preparation Time – 15 minutes
Cooking Time – 10 minutes

Serves – 12

Ingredients

1 Roast Duck, deboned
4 Shallots, sliced
1 Cucumber, sliced
1 packet peking duck wrappers
hoisin sauce

Method

1. Prepare shallots by slicing into 2 inch lengths. Seed cucumber using a spoon and slice into 2 inch length.
2. Steam wrappers, following instructions on packaging.
3. To serve place one wrapper on plate, add shallot, and cucumber followed by slice of duck and hoisin sauce. Roll up to eat.

[photopress:curry_puffs_IMG_0379.jpg,full,pp_image]

Preparation Time – 20 minutes
Cooking Time – 15 minutes

Makes – 36

Ingredients

4 sheets of butter puff pastry
500 g beef mince
2 tbsp curry powder
1 medium onion, finely diced
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil

Egg Wash
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 tbsp water

Method

1. Heat medium sized frypan, add oil then onions, cook till soft, add mince, salt, pepper, curry powder and combine well. Remove from heat once cooked, and transfer to bowl, allow to cool.
2. Lightly beat egg yolk and water, set aside, while waiting prepare pastry sheets by cutting each sheet horizontally and vertifcally into 3rds to produce 9 equal squares.
3. Preheat oven to 180 degrees, and lightly grease 4 baking trays.
4. Place one teaspoon of mixture into the centre of the square and fold to form a triangle, seal edges with a fork. Repeat. Brush with egg wash.
5. Bake in oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown, cool on wire rack.

[photopress:chicken_kebabs_IMG_0245.jpg,full,pp_image]

Preparation Time – 15 minutes
Cooking Time – 15 minutes

Makes – 6

Ingredients

2 skinless chicken thigh fillets, cubed
1/2 cup mushrooms, cubed
1/2 green capsicum, cubed
6 bamboo skewers, soaked
1 tbsp light soy sauce
pinch of sugar
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tbsp water
1/2 tsbp salt
1/2 tbsp pepper

Method

1. Mix together the soy sauce, sugar, cornflour, water, salt and pepper and chicken in a bowl, set aside to be skewered.
2. Cut all ingredients into even bite sized pieces. Place the chicken and vegetable pieces on skewers, alternating the chicken with the vegetables.
3. Cook under grill, rotating every 5 minutes to evenly cook the chicken kebabs. Serve with a side salad or in a wrap with Lebanese bread.

Last Tuesday night, Mum served up her usual smorgasbord of dishes fully covering the family table that fits the 7 of us. One dish I was especially interested in was the tempura fish cocktails. I try to stay away from anything deep fried, but I just couldn’t resist these little temptations of yummy boneless ling fish coated in light crunchy batter, surprisingly even though they were deep fried they didn’t taste oily at all. I can honestly say this is one of the best batters my mum has ever made!

With two main ingredients in the batter, and no actual measurements, I had to give my mum’s batter a bit of a stir to work out what consistency it needed it to be. It reminded me a bit like a crepe batter.

Preparation Time – 10 minutes
Cooking Time – 10 minutes

Serves – 2

Ingredients

1/2 cup Self Raising Flour
Cold Water
Salt & Pepper
250 g prawns, deshell
250 g ling fish fillet, sliced
6 green beans
6 slices pumpkin

Method

1. In a bowl sift self raising flour then gradually add cold water till you get a smooth batter, add salt and pepper. Dip in pieces of prepared fish, vegetables and wipe off excess.
2. Heat oil, when you stick in a pair of wooden chopsticks and bubbles start to appear around it, the oil will be hot enough to use. Place in vegetables/fish, cook till lightly golden colour. Place cooked items onto paper towel to drain off excess oil. Serve hot.

Simply delicious little parcels of yummy flaky pastry with meaty char siu (BBQ Pork) centres. My family love eating these as snacks, even if there are trays and trays prepared they wouldn’t last till the morning.

Preparation Time – 20 minutes
Cooking Time – 15 minutes

Makes – 18

Ingredients

Filling
250g char siu
1/2 brown onion (chopped finely)
1 tbsp sesame oil

Sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp hoisin sauce
1 tsp ginger (grated)
1 tsp garlic (crushed)
1/4 cup water

Thickening
1 tbsp corn flour
3 tbsp water

Topping
1 egg (beaten)
2 tbsp sesame seeds

Pastry
2 sheets of ready made puff pastry

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Combine oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, hoi sin sauce, ginger, garlic and water in a small bowl. In separate bowl combine corn flour with water and set aside.
2. Using a medium non stick fry pan, add sesame oil then onions and cook till softened, then add in char siu, cook till warmed then add in sauce, simmer for 2 minutes then add thickener, stirring till combined. Everything will thicken up, pour into a bowl, cover and leave in fridge for 10 minutes to cool the mixture.
3. While waiting prepare pastry, cut one sheet vertically into 3 even columns then 3 even horizontal rows to form little squares.
4. Scoop one tablespoon of mixture onto each square, bringing bottom corner up diagonally to form triangle. Use a fork to seal edges, place on greased baking tray, and brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Repeat process till all pastry is used.



5. Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot!

Mushrooms are great for your health and so tasty to eat. Containing more protein then most vegetables. They don’t take long to cook either and absorb flavours easily.

Preparation Time – 10 minutes
Cooking Time – 10 minutes

Serves – 2

Ingredients

1/4 cup button mushrooms
1/4 cup oyster mushrooms
1/4 cup shiitake mushrooms
1/4 cup enoki mushrooms
1/4 cup straw mushrooms (canned)
1/4 cup champignon mushrooms (canned)
5 lettuce leaves
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 c water
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp water
Salt & Pepper to taste

Method

1. Slice mushrooms to bite size pieces, leaving some whole to create a more visually interesting product. In a medium saucepan add in water and cook lettuce till softened, drain, then line lettuce leaves across serving bowl.
2. Next add in all mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes or until mushrooms are hot, then pour in oyster sauce and mix through. The liquid level should be three quarters up from the mushrooms, if not, add in more water. Simmer for 3 minutes.
3. In a small bowl add cornflour and 2 tbsp water, mix well. Bring saucepan to the boil then add in cornflour and stir briskly till fully incorporated. This will thicken the sauce, add more cornflour if you like a more thicker sauce.

Tasty and healthy side to roast dinners, who would have thought something so simple would be this good. Another dish i learnt from Lynda, Thanks!
2 medium zucchini (grated)
1 tbsp butter
salt & pepper

In a large fry pan, saute zucchini until tender adding butter then seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

I love the freshness of this salad, with the Asian inspired flavours of sesame and the Maggie seasoning. Great to have with a meal, or just add a bit more pasta and it transforms into a satisfying meal by itself. I learnt how to make this while over in Melbourne at Lynda’s place.

500 g baby spinach
1 red onion (sliced)
1 red capsicum (sliced)
250 g snow peas (sliced)
125 g angel hair pasta
1 tbsp sesame seedsDressing
2 tbsp Maggie seasoning
1 tbsp sesame oil

Wash and prepare all the vegetables, cook the pasta and drain well.

Combine all the ingredients together in a large bowl, adding the dressing and stirring through.