Well here I am! My interest in cooking started just over a year ago, where I followed recipes to make dinner for my family. I began experimenting with different flavours and ingredients, once foreign but now familiar, and am still learning about all the various foods available - types of meats, vegetables, cheeses, seafood, nuts, fruit etc etc etc! I shall post up photos that I have taken in the past, but as there are so many, I will try to spread them out over many posts.
Madame Sousou
231 Brunswick Street,
Fitzroy, VIC 3065
(03) 9417 0400
(03) 9417 0400
Today I went to a French bistro called Madame Sousou for lunch. The food was delicious, but the wait on just two mains, a salad and some pomme frites was about 45 minutes! It wasn't even busy - everybody else in the cafe was either drinking coffee or having sweets. However, this slight hiccup was quickly forgotten once I started on my delicious swordfish - it was so juicy and partnered very well with the sauce verte.
Eggplant Involtini with Spinach and Buffalo Mozzarella
Grilled Swordfish Nicoise with Sauce Verte
Salad of Radicchio, Goat's Cheese, Hazelnut and Blood Orange - everything tasted so well together, I'm going to try this at home one day!
Tonight for dinner I attempted my first roast beef, with the aid of a recipe from Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food.
Serves 4-6:
- 1.5kg topside of beef, taken out of the fridge 30 minutes prior to going into the oven
- 2 medium onions
- 2 carrots
- 2 sticks of celery
- 1 bulb of garlic
- Small bunch of fresh thyme, rosemary, bay, or sage, or a mixture
- Olive oil
- Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Preheat your oven to 240°C. Leave the skin on the vegetables, give them a wash and roughly chop them. Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled. Pile all the vegetables, garlic and herbs into the middle of a large roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil. Drizzle the beef with olive oil and rub lots of salt and pepper all over the meat. Place the beef on top of the vegetables.
Place the roasting tray in the preheated oven and turn the heat down immediately to 200°C. Cook for approximately 75 minutes for well done, 60 minutes for medium, or 50 minutes for medium-rare. Baste the beef halfway through cooking and if the vegetables look dry, add a splash of water to the tray to stop them burning. When the beef is cooked to your liking, take the tray out of the oven and transfer the beef to a board to rest for half of the cooking time - Cover it with a layer of tinfoil and a tea towel. When serving, remove the string and use a good, long, sharp knife to carve the meat and a fork to hold it steady.
To serve alongside the beef, I sauteed sliced mushrooms with olive oil, salt and pepper. I also roasted potatoes, parsnips and carrots until they were crisp on the outside and light and fluffy inside (forgot to take a photo of it after it came out of the oven):
Serves 4-6:
-1.2kg potatoes
- 6 parsnips
- 6 carrots
- 1 bulb of garlic
- 3 sprigs of rosemary, leaves picked
- Sea salt and cracked black pepper
- Olive oil
Peel the vegetables and halve any larger ones lengthways. Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled, and bash slightly with the palm of your hand
Put the potatoes and carrots into a large pan of salted, boiling water on a high heat and bring back to the boil. Allow to boil for 5 minutes, then add the parsnips and cook for another 4 minutes. Drain in a colander and allow to steam dry. Take out the carrots and parsnips and put to one side. Fluff up the potatoes in the colander by shaking it around a little.
Serves 4-6:
- 1.5kg topside of beef, taken out of the fridge 30 minutes prior to going into the oven
- 2 medium onions
- 2 carrots
- 2 sticks of celery
- 1 bulb of garlic
- Small bunch of fresh thyme, rosemary, bay, or sage, or a mixture
- Olive oil
- Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Preheat your oven to 240°C. Leave the skin on the vegetables, give them a wash and roughly chop them. Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled. Pile all the vegetables, garlic and herbs into the middle of a large roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil. Drizzle the beef with olive oil and rub lots of salt and pepper all over the meat. Place the beef on top of the vegetables.
Place the roasting tray in the preheated oven and turn the heat down immediately to 200°C. Cook for approximately 75 minutes for well done, 60 minutes for medium, or 50 minutes for medium-rare. Baste the beef halfway through cooking and if the vegetables look dry, add a splash of water to the tray to stop them burning. When the beef is cooked to your liking, take the tray out of the oven and transfer the beef to a board to rest for half of the cooking time - Cover it with a layer of tinfoil and a tea towel. When serving, remove the string and use a good, long, sharp knife to carve the meat and a fork to hold it steady.
To serve alongside the beef, I sauteed sliced mushrooms with olive oil, salt and pepper. I also roasted potatoes, parsnips and carrots until they were crisp on the outside and light and fluffy inside (forgot to take a photo of it after it came out of the oven):
Serves 4-6:
-1.2kg potatoes
- 6 parsnips
- 6 carrots
- 1 bulb of garlic
- 3 sprigs of rosemary, leaves picked
- Sea salt and cracked black pepper
- Olive oil
Peel the vegetables and halve any larger ones lengthways. Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled, and bash slightly with the palm of your hand
Put the potatoes and carrots into a large pan of salted, boiling water on a high heat and bring back to the boil. Allow to boil for 5 minutes, then add the parsnips and cook for another 4 minutes. Drain in a colander and allow to steam dry. Take out the carrots and parsnips and put to one side. Fluff up the potatoes in the colander by shaking it around a little.
Put a large roasting tray over a medium heat and add a few lugs of olive oil. Add the garlic and rosemary leaves, followed by the vegetables with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Stir everything around to coat in the oil and flavours. Spread the vegetables out evenly into one layer and roast in a 200°C oven for 1 hour, or until golden, crisp and lovely.
Roast Beef with Mushrooms, Roast Potatoes, Parsnips and Carrots
1 comment:
YAY!!!!!!!!!!
LOVE FOOD BLOGS! AND LOVE YOUR COOKING! ALWAYS MAKES ME HUNGRY!!!!! cant wait to read more ^__________^
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