Sunday 10 April 2011

“Liam Gallaghar’s” Sticky Port Lamb Shanks with blue cheese dumplings

This week's recipe is based on a tweet by good friend Colin Enquist. He pointed out that he had someone navigate to his blog Stacks of Words by writing into google "Does Liam Gallaghar own a slow cooker?". Try searching and his blog will be the first thing you see.
We even tweeted Liam, but with no response. So here is a recipe I've written for sticky port Lamb Shanks with Blue Cheese Dumplings.
“Liam Gallaghar’s” Sticky Port Lamb Shanks with blue cheese dumplings
Ingredients:

4-6 Lamb Shanks
Olive Oil
1/2 cup flour
1 medium-large leek
2 garlic cloves
1 cup of beef glaze
Balsalmic vinegar
maple syrup
1/2 cup of port
1 Tablespoon Paprika
1/4 Cardamon ground
1 small dried chilli (crushed)
200g Brown mushrooms (halved)
1 Tablespoon cornflour
1 Tablespoon water
thyme
Bay leaves
Blue Cheese Dumplings
250g Self raising flour
125g butter
100g Blue vein cheese
75g parmesan cheese
thyme
parsley 
1. To make beef glaze put 2 cups of beef stock in a saucepan and boil until it has reduced by half. 
Add port and syrup and bring to the boil. Remove from heat.


2. Place flour salt and pepper in a freezer bag. Place shanks in the flour one at a time. Lightly coat with the flour. 

3. Heat oil in a fry pan on medium-high heat. Cook for 3-4 minutes until browned. Transfer to the slow cooker.

4. Clean out saucepan. Add oil to pan on low heat. sweat out. 

Add spices to mix and continue cooking add to slow cooker with herbs.
5. Cook on the slow cooker on the auto setting for 6-8 hours. Basting every now and then.
After 1 hour:
After 4 hours:
6. Resist the urge to make the dumplings now.Cook off button mushrooms in a little oil. Add to the slow cooker. Remove the shanks if needed and add to a preheated oven to keep warm.
7. Mix cornflour and water in a 1:1 ratio until smooth. Add to the slow cooker.
8. Make your dumplings just before cooking. Sift flour and add butter. 

Combine until they have a bread crumb consistency. Add the herbs and a little salt. 

Gently add the cheeses.

Start to work into a dough a teaspoon of cold water at a time.
9. Form the dumplings into large marble sized balls. Ads them to the mixture and cook for 40 minutes.

10. Serve on twice cooked polenta.
So the dumplings didn't work, but mixed in with the sauce sure is tasty.

Monday 4 April 2011

MOnday MOnster Mash (monster designs)

I'm trying to design a monster. For this I wanted to give the monster a strange and steampunk look.
Here's a few pics
 including a size comparison.


Oh and here's Spongebob as Red Ranger

COLOUR!

Canberra Comic Meet Up: April

Well yesterday was the first Sunday of the month which means its time for the Canberra Comic Meet up!
This month saw the most people turn up for a LONG time (Maybe it was the siren's song on the radio). ENOUGH WAFFLING ONTO THE PICS!!!
NEW DIARY!
So I finished my last Visual Arts Diary in one month (124 pages in one month!)
So that means the first pic is the naked pic (its a rule)
Then I was feeling a little low so I drew this one
Dr.Strange Pics
Godzilla Pics
Godzila Ghostbuster
Godzilla Ralph Wiggum
 Godzilla Amazing Spider-man issue 129
Impact comics challenge
This months Impact comics challenge was "fish police". Here's Abe Sapien (An exercise in foreshortening)

 And here's a version of Ryan's pic
 And here's a picture I did after: More Character designs

Friday 1 April 2011

Recipe: Sam's Savoury Sweet Potato Crumble

This is a recipe I do for dinner parties as an appetiser or even use it as a side dish for roasts. It's probably the closest I get to making a vegetarian dish (but it isn't so there :P)
Ingredients:



  • 1.25 kg Sweet potato (peeled and chopped)
  • 180g Haloumi
  • 2 brown onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 Tb Keens Traditional Curry Powder
  • Maple Syrup
Crumble:
  • 2 Cups of bread crumbs
  • 250g butter
  • 125g Parmesan cheese
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
2. Prepare the ingredients. Peel and cube the potato (1.5-2cm cubes), roughly chop the onion and crush the garlic.

- I needed a large bowl, so this week I used a saucepan as a bowl. It works fine.
3. Place a medium sized non-stick fry pan on medium heat. Dry fry the Curry powder, making sure it doesn’t burn. 
Add onion and garlic. Cook for 5 min until brown. 

Add to the bowl with the potato.  
    • Dry fry the spices so that they release their flavour more effectively.
    • I added a little olive oil part way through the onion cooking
4. In the same frying pan add the Haloumi. 

Cook until brown on both sides. 

Remove from pan and slice into the same size as the potato. 


Add to bowl with the potato
    • Haoumi is a cheese made from a mixture of cow and goats milk.
    • It has a high melting point so it can be fried or grilled.
5. Drizzle with maple syrup until covered. Season 


    • Now I usually use “Maple Flavoured syrup” but in respect to my Canadian friends I’ve gone to the real thing.
To make the crumble: 
6. Place bread crumbs and parmesan cheese in a bowl.

    • I cheat by using cheese biscuits that I crush with a mortar and pestle and rub with the butter mixture
7. Rub in butter until mixture is crumbly.

    • I usually have the butter out for a while so that it is soft, almost at room temperature
    • Do not melt the butter. It needs to be rubbed into the bread crumbs not mixed.
8. Place potato into 6 medium sized ramekins. Top with the crumble.



9. Bake for an hour until the potato is cooked and the topping is brown.

The top is cheesy while the filling is sweet and curry flavoured. It even reheats well in the microwave. While the crumble isn't as crunchy as it usually is with the cheese biscuits, it is tastier and that's what matters.