My brother Lee (this is Lou) is over in NZ from the UK for a couple of weeks (for a wedding) and has managed to cover Auckland, Dunedin, Queenstown, Wanaka, Rotovegas and Tauranga in that time. His family could be forgiven for being unsure that he was actually here at all being that we saw him for a grand total of approximately 150 minutes (but there was a wedding and a girl so we will let it go... for now).
Anyway... tonight we had our usual Sunday family dinner shuffled to a Thursday night so we could catch up with Lee before he hit the airport again tomorrow. It coincided with our date night so we thought 'what the heck' and decided to cook our Jamie meal for everyone. Fortunately it was a meal that was easily enlarged (though we could've enlarged it even more, it went down so well!) and catered for 6 adults and 2 kids.
The biggest hits were the Yorkshire Puddings - having never made them before, I was impressed with how simple the recipe was, how fast and easy to make and how scrumpy they were. Mum was particularly flabberghasted as, though she has been a Cordon Bleu chef since 1971 *cough*, she claims she has never got the hang of the suckers - they 'just sit there' she says. So I smiled, quietly chuffed with myself (thanks Jamie!)
Mum also loved the gravy (beef juices, red wine, mushrooms etc) but I found it quite a dominant flavour. Everyone raved about the crispy potatoes (fried in rosemary and garlic - that recipe is going straight to the pool room) and I loved the dressing on the watercress-that-was-actually-mesclun-in-a-bag salad.
Overall the meal was a hit. Lots of lovely comments which is always good for the chef-esteem.
Time Taken: 41 mins
Cost: $23.51
Chefs: Lou & Jacqui (who actually is one) |
| 'Smashed' Crispy Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic |
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| Better-than-Mum's Yorkshire Puds |
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| Roast Beef in Thyme, Sage and Rosemary |
Wo! I am very impressed, just be careful though or you may find the Waldocks and any number of families landing on your doorstep, who just happen to be in the neighbourhood around dinner time! Well done you two!
ReplyDeleteFirst...a girl????? I think there needs to be a family email in the near future...
ReplyDeleteSecond, giz us yer recipe (Jaime's recipe) for yorkshires please? Mum & I are horrible with them! PLEASE??????
Thanks!!!
Please tell your mum that her Yorkies are called Lincolnshire Puds in our neck of the woods (i.e. flat). I like the fact that your pud is smiling!!
ReplyDeleteKerry - here's the recipe for you. Boom!
ReplyDeleteIngredients:
Just under 1 mug of plain flour
1 mug of milk
1 egg
Method:
Preheat the oven to 220C or 425F and put a shallow 12-hole shallow muffin tin on the top shelf. Oven needs to be very hot before starting so use this time to prepare other parts of meal. When oven ready, put all ingredients into the mangler with a pinch of salt. Blitz, then quickly and confidently remove the bun tin from the oven and shut the door. In one quick movement, back and forth, drizzle a little olive oil in each hole and do the same with the batter until each is half-full. Place in the top of the oven, close the door and do not open for 14 minutes, until yorkies are golden and risen.
From Jamie Oliver's 30-minute meals p196.
have to say, i made the jamie oliver yorkshire puddings on sunday night and they are no where near as good as Granny's ones from the family cookbook. quite disappointed!
ReplyDelete-f
xxx