It's funny you know, the differences you find in an activity as simple as cooking food over an open flame. For starters what do you call said activity - barbeque, barbecue, BBQ, grilling or something else - and what do the terms mean? Then there's the question of what to cook, and even what equipment to use. Let me paint the smoky picture in very broad brushstrokes... In America-land, grilling is what happens on a charcoal or gas grill, usually with chicken legs and hamburgers and maybe a … [Read more...]
Beef & Chicken Lasagne. Or Lasagna. Tomayto, tomahto.
Working in hospitality when I first moved to Sydney I learned quickly that "Would you like tomahto on your sandwich" caused many less confused looks than an America-land 'tomayto' when asked across the counter of a cafe... Sometimes you just have to go with the flow. Now we all know I don't eat meat, so what am I doing making a Meaty Lasagne? And for that matter what am I doing spelling Lasagne with an 'e' instead of Lasagna with an 'a'? Well on the first one, I told RJ that for his birthday … [Read more...]
Chicken Cacciatore
This gets filed under the 'meals from childhood' category. I vividly remember mom making this in an electric fry pan - you know, the kind with the high sides and a domed lid - for dinner quite regularly. I have no idea if this is the same recipe, when I decided to cook it the other evening for RJ it was the middle of the night in NY, probably best that I didn't call to ask what goes in it! But that said, this is the recipe of my memories - tomatoes, multi-coloured capsicum [peppers], … [Read more...]
