Daube of Mutton

The thing about the taste of mutton, it can be very tricky to get the right blend of seasoning to bring out its most attractive flavors and decrease the undesirable ones. Although many cultures has found their own unqiue ways to do that, I would like to share just one of the many delightful ways to prepare mutton and enjoy its wonder aroma and taste :D

500g of cubed lean mutton
60g of cornstarch
60ml of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 or 2 Large Onion chopped
1 or 2 cloves of fresh garlic chopped
500ml of broth ( I used Brovil instant broth )
200ml of Red Wine
5g of Dried Mixed Spices ( you can get a bottle of these from ColdStorage Supermarket)
Adequate black pepper
Some rings of orange skin ( optional )
2 whole zucchini either chopped large chunks or you can slice it thin
300g of Sweet Potato ( I used the yellow kind )

First trim off any visible fat you find on the mutton, as to prevent when you bake it the fat would melt and increase a layer of unsightly oil over it. Next use a large frying pan with enough Olive oil and fry the mutton cubes until brown or for no more then 4 minutes per batch. Remove the mutton from the pan but keep the oil.

Next add the remaining oil in and heat it up. Now throw in the garlic and onions and stir fry it till nice light golden brown. Now add in all the vegetables to stir fry for about a minute or 2. Now add in the wine , broth, herbs and black pepper to taste to the mixture and keep stirring till it starts to boil again. Now add the mixture together with the Mutton into a large 3 inch deep baking pan or large cassrole bowl. Now Preheat the oven first to 410 F or 210 C degrees and place the whole thing in to be baked for 1hour to 2 hours max. This is also be shortened if the mutton is tender and ready.

Finally add in the sweet potatos and the Zucchinis and bake no more then another 30 mins.

Serve this great dish with either bread or white rice cooked in a little bit of white vinegar and dill spices.

Enjoy !!!

Baked Salmon in Grape Fruit butter sauce

One night I came home feeling rather hungry :P didn't know what to eat outside so I thought to myself, whats fast and nice :) so I decided to cook off the other half of the Salmon I bought from my last cook out :)

The recipe is really very simple,

200g of Fresh Salmon with skin
5 table spoon of butter
3 table spoon of fine flour
1 cup of full cream milk
3 table spoon of grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 cup of Extra Virgin olive oil
1/4 cup of Table white wine
1/2 table spoon of sea salt
1/2 table spoon of black pepper
1 teaspoon of Dill
1 teaspoon of Basil
1 whole Grape Fruit
Aluminum foil

Preheat the Oven to 200 degrees Celsius or 400 Faher

Place the aluminum foil over a baking pan, next sprinkle some olive oil over the foil, next sprinkle sea salt and pepper over it, not too much cos you don't want the Salmon to become to salty.

Next slice the whole piece of Salmon into 2 equal piece. Now place the 1st half on the foil with the skin facing down. Now season with Grape Fruit Zest ( the grated skin of the Grape Fruit ) then add seasoning of Dill & Basil. Now place the 2nd half over the side of the 1st half and start to do the same to that slice.

Now cut 2 slices of the Grape Fruit and place it over the top of the Salmon.

Once the Oven has been preheated, lower the temperature to 150 degrees Celsius or about 300 Faher. Put the baking pan with the foil and Salmon in it and bake it for about 30 mins.

Once the Salmon is done leave it a side to cool.

Now the Grape Fruit sauce is really simple, heat up a deep sauce pan and drop in the butter.
Use low medium heat to slowly melt the butter and once its all done just slowly add in the flour and stir it all together with a wooden ladle.

Once the flour is all in and well mixed with the butter, add in the warm milk ( you can microwave the milk first or boil it first ) all at once. Slowly continue stirring the now sauce. Once its well thicken add in Parmesan cheese, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Once all that is done, juice that Grape Fruit for its juices into a cup and slowly pour the Grape Fruit juices into the sauce. You will be delightfully surprise as you slowly add in the juice from that Grape Fruit, the sauce turns from white to Pink !!!

Now continue stirring for about 2 mins and then leave the sauce to cool.

Now you may either serve the Salmon and the Sauce together on a large serving plate or separately with the Grape Fruit Pink Sauce in a serving bowl :D

Enjoy !!

Oven Baked Lemon Zest Salmon with herbs & Spices

Hi ya guys and gurls, hoped you had a wonderful weekend :), before last weekend, a friend of mine made a request to me. She had been dying for some salmon :) and some Pasta in French dressing. Therefore I set out to cook for them :) after they heard that I was cooking, they recommended to come to my place to swim first then eat hearty hehe..

Ingredients :

400 grams of fresh Salmon with skin,
1/2 Table Spoon of Sea Salt
1/2 Cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Table spoon of grated Black Pepper
3/4 pounds of Coarsely Chopped Basil Leaves.
1/2 Table spoon of Lemon Zest
1 teaspoon of Dill
1 teaspoon of Sage
1 teaspoon of Parsley
2 large 5 mm thick slices of lemon
Aluminum foils for baking.

First you need to spread out the Aluminum foil over a flat wide surface. Make sure you got lots of room to work with. Then sprinkle the surface of the foil sparingly with Olive oil , pepper and sea salt shaken on top. Dont need to coat it all inch by inch, just a 2 to 3 good shakes of pepper and salt will do just fine.

Next cut the Salmon in to 4 thick long slices of 5 cm to 6 cm thickness. Make sure its across the grin with one end is thicker then the other. Now lay piece by piece on 1 side first.

Next again 2 t 3 shakes of Sea salt again with pepper over the pieces, next take a few pinches of all the spices like the parsley, dill , sage and thyme leaves and sprinkle over them. Now take a Lemon Zest and also sprinkle over that side of the salmon. Repeat for all the other 2 slices.
Note not to over sprinkle the Sea Salt, else the meat becomes a little bit too salty hehe.

Now make sure you place the salmon with the skin under them touching the aluminum foil, the skin is better as it will not burn and stick to the foil while baking. Finally sprinkle a little of olive oil again over their tops.

Now place the 2 large slices of Lemon over the meat top, and fold the aluminum foil over them .

Preheat the oven to 150 degree celcius or about 300 degree Fahrenheit. Next place the whole aluminum package into the oven and bake for 20 mins.

Remove and serve on a warm plate.

Salmon has the highest level of sources for Omega oil which is great for health :) Bon Appetit !