Pork Schnitzel

After a frustrating creme brulee, I decided to make something simple for this challenge. After watching the episode, I figured it would be easy enough with a recipe so I gave it a go and it was a success!

First, I prep my potatoes. I cleaned, sliced into thick chips (with skin on) and boiled them to make them nice and soft. Then I fried them and voila! Too easy. Tasty too. Leaving the skin on was an awesome idea because it gave them an extra bit of crunch.

Next, I process some sour dough so I have some crumbs. I used the crust of the bread too because I thought it would add a bit more of a crunch to them which it did! To that I added, parsley, mixed herbs and some parmesan cheese. Then I start coating my PORK! Yes it was pork! Didnt have to do much to the pork since it was already quite thin.

I guess the only hard part was making sure my oil was hot enough for my schnitzel. There was a point where I thought it may have been too hot so I turned it down but instead, it was not hot enough so one of my pieces soaked up a bit of oil. Nothing I couldnt fix though. Other than that, recipe was a success and was very tasty. I decided not to make the coleslaw since I'm not a fan, I just had some green salad on the side instead.

Creme Brulee

It is almost 1am and I have spent the morning at Penrith working, then spent my evening at Origin working but I am super excited to post this blog!! After a very failed first attempt at making creme brulee, I was determined to try again and the second time was a HUGE success!! I wont delve into the details of how I failed the first one (because it was very stupid) so here is how its done properly! Its not a hard recipe, as long as you are patient...which is very difficult for me at times.

First thing first, whisking 6 egg yolks and half cup of sugar till its light and creamy. Then scoulding cream and vanilla bean (OMG vanilla beans are AMAZING!) then adding that mixture to the eggs. Quickly whisking them together, straining, then pouring into ramekins.



Ok so here comes the tricky part, I had a tea towel in the base of my pan, and my ramekins and water. I wasnt 100% of how much water to add so had no idea if this had an effect or not. Covered them in foil just like the recipe and I baked them for 1 hour instead of the 40mins quoted in the recipe. Even after that I still wasnt sure.

Once the baking was done, I put the ramekins into the fridge for as long as I could. I did take one out after 2 hours or so and it was still too runny so I just had to wait. Another 2 hours later, I tried to finish them off with the demera sugar and VOILA! It worked! There was a crack, and the custard was the perfect consistency. Not too sweet and not like condensed milk (like my first attempt).


Overall, very pleased that the creme brulee finally turned out! Its a long process but it is worth it. Its yummy and can be made in advance which is always a bonus.

Sausage Rolls

This has been a little delayed but life got in the way unfortunately. This post will be short and sweet I think. Anyways, last Sunday I tried to make Gary's Sausage Roll recipe. Overall I thought they turned out great.

Firstly, the carrot puree. This turned out to be more difficult than I thought. The first batch burnt so had to throw it out. The second batch, managed to not burn it this time but not having a hand held blender made it a little difficult. Instead of a carrot puree, I had a carrot, buttery mess. Still managed to use it, and it didnt effect the taste (which is always a bonus).

The next thing was my onions. I noticed my knife skills have improed. Managed to get the onions nice and small. I didnt add thyme, as the recipe uses, instead I threw in some mixed herbs I had in the pantry. Turned out yummy and fragrant but not over powering which is awesome. Forgot to take a pic of them.

So now I have my carrots and onions ready, its now just a matter of combining it all with my pork and mince beef. Added some salt, pepper and breadcrumbs then it was ready to roll. This part was a little tricky at first because the mince was not combining the way I wanted it too. Taking extra care though, managed to get it rolled nice and tight.




Baked it in the oven a little longer than the recipe said, and I used butter puff pastry. If I make these again, I will probably use normal pastry because I found it a little too oily for my liking. Overall the sausage rolls were a success! Could have used more pepper but other than that, taste was great! Note to self, buy a hand held blender.

Spiced Lamb

Master Challenge 2 had a few hurdles, some of which I was able to jump but others I could not. Firstly, my key ingredient was supposed to be Lamb Back straps however I could not find them anywhere! I checked out woolies, some local butchers and even Coles and no one had them so had to buy lamb steaks instead. They turned out to be just fine for the dish, if anything, better cos that meant I didn't have to slice a whole piece of back strap.

So first thing first. Lightly toast my spices until fragrant then they are ready to be grounded. That stage was probably the most simple. Spice mix includes; mustard seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, turmeric, garamasala and salt. The aroma of the spices filled the kitchen almost instantly. Lamb was coated and set aside for the juicy meat to absorb those awesome spices.





Ok so here comes the twist. On the show, the lamb was served with a frittata, herb salad and tomato salsa. Instead, I decide to serve with the tomato salsa, flat bread and tzatziki. So next step was to make the tzatziki. Very simple recipe I found on google which involved combining Greek yogurt, olive oil, lemon, continental cucumber garlic and a pinch of salt. First time lucky...it was perfect!! Well I thought it was perfect.



Stage 3, my balsamic vinegar reduction. This was the most difficult part of my dish. I wouldn't even say it was a success. Balsamic vinegar and sugar is combined in a small pot until thickened then mustard seeds, lemon juice, salt and pepper is added to form a dressing. However, it was way too sweet for some reason. I tried adding more salt, vinegar, mustard, lemon...all in random quantities but still didn't get there....so that dressing was an epic fail unfortunately.




Now that my sides are ready, only thing left to do is cook my lamb. The lamb steaks were quite lean and didn't need much cooking. They were ready in no time. Only a couple minutes on each side. Not much to report there.






FINALLY, plating up time. My tomato salsa was so simple yet I still stuffed up! I bought the wrong cheese and my dressing didn't improve but I served it anyway. My lamb was cooked to perfection and tzatziki on the side with some toasted flat bread. Overall, the dish was good but I need to work on my salad dressing skills. I just could not get those flavours right which did bring the dish down.