Cooking secrets- and less news on BLOG links being setup! :(

this appears on my mate http://armagnacd.blogspot.com/ 's log...

Reprinted here coz i still have not had the time to sit at my own computer
and get my blog links sorted!! ETA for this now- 3 weeks! *bites hand*

Ok i will tell you a very valuable secret that will allow you to make life
changing meals and make even less quality meat taste fantastic ( o it does
work on Tofu but if going down that track take the time to find somewhere
that sells fried tofu- which absorbs marinate so much better)...

Ok here it is...

Marinate meat; it hardly matters what meat and it hardly matters what you
marinate it in!! As long as a large part of the marinate is Olive oil,
balsamic vinegar, wine (or Soy sauce not both); other things you can
include as available: garlic (fresh or preminced), basil (esp if at the end
your dish will involve tomatoes), ginger (as garlic), rosemary (esp if
making lamb, chilli, curry powder (sparingly), cracked pepper (careful)....

Other things i have used include honey, strawberry jam, green cordial, hp
sauce and brown sugar.

Ok to prove it here is my flagship recipe which i ripped off from a
restaurant i worked in called Cafe Bella (Darwin c. 1999)... of course i
had to reverse engineer the recipe so it really is my own creation ;)

Greek alio.

I very rarely use any measurements at all; but seeing as your a rookie i
will include some which do not need to be stuck to rigorously (eg how often
can u buy exactly 500g of lamb)....

The recepie is for lamb, but i have done it will beef, steak, roo and
veal...

The basic rule is marinate for at least 12 hours; possible to go up to 56
hours... indeed if u marinate for this length of time u can virtually eat
the meat straight out of the marinate safely (chemically cooked)... ok i
reckon that lost the vegans!

O use a wok for this one!
and close your bedroom doors and open the windows!!

Ingredients:

approx.

1. 500g meat of your choice.
2. Sun dried tomates (one good handful)- half a jar depending on size of
jar.
3. Roasted capsicum (same amount or slightly more. If u can't be bothered
roasting your own buy a bottle or simply use normal capsicums but cook for
about teh same time as the onion (normally onion is cooked for much longer).

4. Capers (optional- 1/2 handful).

5. One big onion. (i love onion).

6. Snow peas (handful and a half)- often so expensive in darwin i simply
omit them.

7. Fetta cheese(one of those little blocks (can't remember maybe 250g). Cut
into cubes (about half the size of your thumb).

7a. garnish (optional) spring onion and/or parsley...

8.The marinade. For simplicity use red wine and olive oil almost equal
parts (more wine), two teaspoons of garlic or 5 cloves; 4 grinds of pepper.
(the marinate needs to cover the meat or else the meat needs to be stirred
every few hours to make sure it is all exposed to the marinate.

Method: (meat marinating and preparing)

1. Cut the meat into strips each piece approx the size of your little
finger. (or buy pre cut stir fry lamb or beef if you;re lazy).

2. place in a bowl or a sealable container and cover with the olive oil,
garlic, red wine and other marinate ingredients. allow this to sit (in
fridge) at least 12 hours. It will solidify and look kinda gross but stir
it at least once or twice.

3. Very important tip!! I only came up with this idea after having trouble
with this dish due to too cold meat. Take the marinating meat out of the
fridge at the very least 1 hour before cooking time. Allow to drain on a
plate so it is not dripping wet when you go to fry it.

method: (the dish)!

1, Fry the onions in a small amount of olive oil until they start to go
translucent (you can spoon the oil off the marinate (it will seperate) but
be careful not to get too much of the next layer which may burn (not the end
of teh world if u do just more cleaning).

2. add the roast capsicums and simply allow to warm (about 1 min) add all
other vegetables the snow peas (as they can be eaten raw) need to be
slightly cooked but still crisp (err on the side of undercooking).

3. pour in some of the marinate and warm it all you want it almost boiling
and you don't want heaps of liquid maybe what looks like about 1/2 a cup in
the wok.

4. decant the whole lot into another pan (unless u have two woks).

5. your wok does not have to be spotless but try to remove vege detritus.

6. turn up the fire under the wok to very high and let it get real hot
before carefully laying the meat on different parts of the wok and hearing
it sizzle.

7. Warning this will smell really strongly and may send your dog into
ecstatic apoplexy.

8. fitting it all may be tricky; if so cook it half at a time. Allow that
one side to sear before scraping and stirring ( this meat has been cooked
already in the marinate so this part is mainly to sear for crunch and that
toasty flavour! Once cooked pour onto the vegies.

9. once all the meat is cooked add it all back into the wok turn the heat
to half and stir it together until it's all warm.

10. (the exciting part) turn off the fire and stir in the fetta. you want
it to be slightly melted but not too much again too much heat from to pan
will lead to lots of cleaning!!

Serving: (will serve 4- good meal including seconds (everyone will want
seconds)) or small meal 6.

1.plate up the pasta .

2. Use a large spoon to pour on sauce; try to include some liquid.

3. garnish if you feel like it!

Serve on penne or farfalle pasta only please!! This dish is special!!

Pasta secret: Cook the pasta according to directions or a minute less than
cooking time; drain and rinse in cold water. With this secret method you
can prepare your pasta even before or at the same time as the sauce. Before
serving run the pasta under hot tap before plating.

OMG that was kinda long. Try it out and let me know how u go!! Even when i
have botched this one people have raved about it! ;)