Part 2, Wok-Charred Long Beans w/Black Olives

This can also be served as an appetiser or main.

1 kg fresh long beans or other green beans, tipped & tailed, cut into 2-inch lengths
3 tbspns peanut oil
1/2kg ground pork
1 1/2 tbspns minced garlic
1 1/2 tbspns minced fresh ginger
1 fresh, small, hot red chile, seeded and minced (or a jalapeno, again!)
1/4 cup plus 2 tbspns salted chicken stock
2 tbspns Chinese black vinegar (or balsamic)
1 tbspn soy sauce
1/2 cup halved, pitted dry-cured black olives

Blanch the beans: Bring a large saucepan of water to boil, immerse beans and boil them 1-2 minutes. Drain and set aside. Heat wok over high heat. Add oil, then pork and fry, breaking into tiny bits. When pork has all lost its raw colour, stir in garlic, ginger, and chili; stir for a minute. Add green beans and stir fry for several minutes until just tender. Pour in the stock, vinegar and soy sauce and toss the beans until the liquid is mostly evaporated. Mix in the olives and heat through briefly.

Christmas at Our House

I'm stealing other people's recipes for Christmas eve and Boxing Day, and eating at the in-laws on the day, aside from brekkie.

Christmas Eve
Wassail in the Crockpot, from A Year of CrockPotting
Lamb Rogan Josh, from Boozy Susie

Mary's Rum Cake:
1 c chopped pecans or walnuts
glace cherries (my optional addition to the recipe)
1 18 1/2 oz. pkg yellow cake mix (or make your own!)
1 3 3/4 oz. pkg Jell-o vanilla instant pudding/pie filling
4 eggs
1/2 c cold water
1/2 c oil
1/2 c dark rum

Glaze:
1/4 lb. butter
1/4 c water
1 c sugar
1/2 c dark rum

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease & flour 10" tube or Bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts & glace cherries over bottom of pan. Mix all cake ingredients together. Bake 1 hour. Invert on serving plate after cooling on wire rack. For glaze, melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in rum. Prick top of inverted cake with toothpicks and drizzle and smooth glaze over top and sides. Allow cake to absorb glaze and repeat until glaze is used up.

Christmas Day
Shrimp & Blue Cheese Oysters for brekkie, the latter from Intercourses, an Aphrodisiac Cookbook

Blue Cheese Oysters:
1/2 c cumbled blue cheese
1/4 tsp chopped garlic
1/4 c seasoned breadcrumbs
2 tbsp butter, softened
8 shucked oysters, on the half shell

Mix blue cheese, garlic, breadcrumbs and butter. Arrange oysters on a baking tray and top with mix. Bake at 350F for about 10-12 minutes.

Boxing Day
A cheese, pate and olive platter
Paula's Ribs
Homemade Cole Slaw, from Closet Cooking

Breakfast Sausage

This is a recipe from another blog. It really was a treat, as you just can't get proper breakfast sausages down under, and you definitely can't get patties. The only thing I did differently was use golden syrup instead of brown sugar. I did so because it was what I had, but it also turned out well, and next time I might also add a bit of cinnamon. Best served with pikelets and "cheesy eggs";)

Split Pea Soup

Quite simple and very satisfying.

1 pound (2 1/4 cups) green split peas
1 meaty ham bone (1 1/2 pounds)
1 1/2 cups sliced onion
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram, crushed
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrots

Cover peas with 2 quarts cold water and simmer gently 2 minutes; remove from heat; cover and let stand one hour. Add bone, onion, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and marjoram. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer (don't boil) 1 1/2 hours. Stir occassionally. Remove bone; cut off meat and dice. Return meat to soup; add vegetables. Cook slowly uncovered, 30 to 40 minutes. Serves 6 to 8.

Here's the BBQ Rib Recipe

BBQ RIBS ala Windsong

Lay your selection of ribs in a ovenproof pan in one layer. Ones with a lot of meat on them work best. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over ribs (1/2 to 1 whole lemon, depending on how many ribs you are doing). Season with salt and pepper and a bit of garlic powder. Bake in oven at 350° until ribs are lightly browned. Coat ribs generously with your favourite sauce and turn oven down to 150° and let cook until ribs are VERY tender for up to 3 hours (depending on thickness of ribs it could go longer or shorter) Re-coat ribs with BBQ sauce every half hour to get that real baked in BBQ flavour.

NB: If you are of a mind, you can lay the ribs on a layer of sliced onion before baking and just leave them in there in sauce. Goes great with the ribs or put on a beef sandwich the next day.

Kielbasa or Bratwurst in Beer & Onions

This is one of my absolute favourites and another I often make substitutions on, varying the types of sausages and beers.

4 tablespoons butter
3-4 small onions
1-2 lbs. kielbasa, bratwurst or other sausage
1 12 oz. bottle dark beer
Dijon mustard

In heavy saucepan, melt butter & sauté onions until translucent over medium heat. Add sausage to pan & brown 3-4 minutes on each side. Pour beer over sausage & onion; bring to boil and reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 25 minutes. Remove kielbasa & onions from pan, place on dish and put in warm oven (approx. 150). Reduce beer over high heat to about ½ cup (about 4 mins). Pour over sausage and serve.

*Suggestion for sides: homemade potato pancakes and spinach
*Serve with dijon or other spicy mustard
*Feel free to experiment with different beers, sausages, and even try adding fruit such as apples with the onions.