Hey Friends, here’s a surprise midweek quickie for you! I had a couple of skewers leftover from my Mainland Teriyaki and talking about how some of the ingredients were akin to those on a pizza got me thinking….this was the result!
Ingredients for the Mainland Teriyaki Pizza
Flatbread
Tomato Paste
Mozzarella
Leftover Mainland Teriyaki Skewers
A sprinkle of chilli flakes
Some thinly sliced shallots
Layer it all up, pop it into a really hot oven and you have dinner in 10 minutes!
These are just suggestions. After all, this is a dish based on leftovers. If you have some red or green peppers or mushrooms languishing at the bottom of your fridge, chop them up and add them in. Maybe throw in some anchovies or cherry tomatoes or herbs. Or some Togarashi instead of regular chill to ramp up the Japanese connection!
Heaven!
It’s probably a good thing I have no more Mainland Teryiyaki Skewers left. We went from a Japanese inspired South Seas Dish to a Japanese influened Hawaiian inpsired Pizza. Who knowa what might have come next! A Japanese / Hawaiian / Italian Taco? And after that, a Japanese / Hawaiian / Italian / Mexican Fattoush? Maybe it’s s fitting end that the last chapter in Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery is inspiring a mix of all that has gone before it!
“That’s great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane”…so begins the fabulous REM song, “It’s The End of The World As We Know It”. And for me, this year actually began with a 7.6 magnitude earthquake when we were holidaying in Darwin. Last month we celebrated my birthday in absolute chaos (more on that later) whilst on holiday in Port Douglas. And when I say chaos, I mean a total f*cking nightmare. So when the random number generator chose “Birthday Party, Cheesecake, Jelly Bean, Boom! I thought it might be a good chance to reset and have a little party to make up for the day that was ruined! The vehicle of choice for this month is Super Food Ideas, from September 2003 and I went in search of party food.
But first, let’s take a little wander down the memory lane to the heady days of September 2003. R Kelly’s Ignition (Remix) was #1. Less said about that the better I think. Finding Nemo was top of the box office and The Da Vinci Code was still the most popular book!
The Menu – September 2003
Margarita
Now, I can’t think of a much better way to kick of any birthday celebration than with a classic Margarita! And this one was perfection!!!!! I
The cocktail napkin you see in the above photo was one of a set of napkins I bought in Port Douglas. They are all super cute and also an inspiration to make the rest of the cocktails featured on them!
And as with the margarita, the first four days of our holiday were wonderful. Port Douglas is such an amazing place. Rainforest, reef and beach – great restaurants, perfect weather….the only downside is the crocodiles…and the murder birds!
Margarita Recipe
Seafood Pizza
As you may have noticed, I love my seafood! This nicely leads me to where our holiday turned paradise into a nightmare. Day 5 of our holiday, which was my actual birthday we had planned to move from our PD central apartment to a house around 10km out of Port Douglas. It was also the night of The Matildas v England final of the Women’s World Cup. We had been out for a lovely dinner the night before so the plan for my birthday was to grab a seafood platter from Port Douglas when we left and then enjoy the evening in our house. Dip in our private pool, , bit of football on the telly, champagne on ice, and our gourmet seafood platter…could life get any better?
Better? No. What we hadn’t figured was that it was about to get a whole lot worse!
We turned up at the house, for which we had a confirmed booking from one of the largest, if not the largest booking agencies in the world. The Fussiest Eater sends a text to the owner asking for the keypad number as the gate is locked. We are there for about 5 minutes when a woman comes out of the house. “Can I help you?” she asks. “Oh, yes, you probably just got our text. We’re here for our holiday”
Apparently we weren’t.
In the time that we had made our booking and our actual holiday, the house had been sold. It was no longer holiday accommodation.
It was now 3:00pm on a Saturday, we had no place to stay for the next four nights and we had a rapidly warming seafood platter on the back seat of the hire car.
Seafood Pizza Recipe
Party Pies
You know this is an Aussie Meat Pie because the secret ingredient is a spoonful of Vegemite! I made mini versions of this pie – in Australian we call these Party Pies so they were perfect for my Birthday Party Menu!
Now back to Port Douglas. The Fussiest Eater began calling the owner of the house. He confirmed that he had sold the house and had told the booking agency to cancel all future bookings. I started trying to find us accommodation. The first place I found wanted $15,000 for the four nights. The second $6000. Finally, we were able to find a studio room back in Port Douglas for the four nights for a price that we could actually afford. And that had a fridge in which we could put the seafood platter! From there we called the booking agency who offered to not only refund the cost of the house but also to pay for the emergency accommodation.
The following day we were also able to move into a one-bedroom apartment in the same complex which was a lot better than the studio but still how we had wanted to spend the last few days of our holiday.
As of today though, the booking company have yet to refund us the money for the second Port Douglas Apartment. We are idiots who did not get their OG offer in writing and they are now saying that as the second apartment was cheaper than the housetechnically we are not out of pocket.
Technically they ruined my birthday and did not deliver on the holiday we paid for and expected.
TechnicallyI could have chosen the house that cost $15000 instead of that studio apartment as our alternative accommodation and technically they would have had to refund us the difference.
I didn’t want to be an arsehole.
I’ll leave that up to them.
Meat Pie Recipe
Chewy Almond Crescents
We now turn to the sweet part of our birthday party menu. These were great! Really tasty and not overly sweet. You couldn’t really taste the apricot jam which was a shame. When I make these again, I will maybe add some chopped-up dried apricots into the mix. Or maybe add a glaze with the jam. They were delicious regardless. These would be great with a cup of tea or coffee or equally with a little glass of Baileys! This was probably my favourite thing on the menu. I also loved the butterfly cakes but they were similar to cakes I had made before. These were all new and I was so happy to discover them!
Accomodation saga continued….As of today though, the booking company have yet to refund us the money for the second Port Douglas Apartment. We are idiots who did not get their OG offer in writing and they are now saying that as the second apartment was cheaper than the housetechnically we are not out of pocket.
Technically they ruined my birthday and did not deliver on the holiday we paid for and expected.
TechnicallyI could have chosen the house that cost $15000 instead of that studio apartment as our alternative accommodation and technically they would have had to refund us the difference.
I didn’t want to be an arsehole.
I’ll leave that up to them.
Chewy Almond Crescents Recipe
Lemon Curd Butterfly Cakes
These were so pretty and also delish. I loved the tanginess of the lemon curd with the sweetness of the cupcake!
The one-bedroom apartment was great. However, on the first night, I was woken at around 2 a.m. by the sound of what sounded like a woman screaming. Channelling my inner Nancy Drew, I got out of bed and looked out the window but the side street the room looked out on was deserted. I was just getting back into bed when I heard it again. This time I went to the main room to look out of the front windows but the main street which we overlooked was also quiet. I went back to bed. I heard the same noise once again at around 5 a.m. This time I wondered if maybe someone in the neighbouring rooms was having an argument as again there was no movement on either street.
There was no mention of any attack on the news the following day so I went about my business. As we were walking back to the apartment from dinner I heard the same noise. This time though I was able to see that it was coming from a bird that we had just walked past. A quick Google Search identified these murder birds as Bush Stone Curlews. Thankfully no Nancy Drewing needed for me on the second night. Or thereafter.
Lemon Curd Butterfly Cakes Recipe
My Nigella Moment – Passionfruit Glazed Shortbread
For first-time readers, this refers to the moment at the end of Nigella Lawson’s cooking shows when she sneaks back to the fridge to have another bite of something delicious. In the context of these Twenty Years Ago posts, it is something contained in the magazine that does not fit with the overall menu theme but I’m sneaking it in either because I made it and it was really good, or I just didn’t have time to make it but it was one of the most appetising things in the mag!
I love shortbread and passionfruit so these were high on my list of things to make. They would have also fit in nicely with my birthday party theme but I ran out of time and had to choose between the Almond Crescents and these. In the end, I have eaten Passionfruit Shortbreads before whilst the Almond Crescents were something new to me so I chose them. These though? High on my list of things to make! And believe me, when I do…I will definitely be popping back to the biscuit tin, Nigella Style, for just one more!
Super Food Ideas really came through for my birthday-themed menu! As did Port Douglas for my birthday holiday. Despite the…ahem…hiccup with the accomodation, PD remains one of my favourite holiday destinations!!!!
Hello Friends! I was inspired to make Manakish by Appointment with Death, the latest book in the Dining with The Dame series. The book is largely set in Jordan and although no Jordani food is mentioned (quelle surprise). I thought Manakish would be a good representative dish for that post. I made my version of manakish, took the photos, and then decided to do something else for the Appointment with Death post. But the manakish was really tasty. Too good not to share! So here it is…actually before that. Let’s talk about what it is. Manakish or Manouche is a traditional Jordani flatbread usually with a topping of zaátar or cheese. Mine is a not traditional. It is at best manakish adjacent or as I like to say, manakish-ish. Now, we’ve got through that…here it is:
The Recipe – Manakish
I used this recipe from Hungry Paprikas for the base recipe for my manakish. Per the recipe, I used feta, mozzarella and nigella seeds. And then I added a little sprinkle of Zaátar, some red onion slices and a few chilli flakes. I really had to restrain myself from adding olives, mushrooms, etc as if this was a regular pizza! This was very tasty despite so few ingredients! Sometimes, less really is more!
The salad you can see in the first photo and below is my version of a tomato, pomegranate and caramelised walnut salad from Gourmet Traveller which felt Middle Eastern enough to work well with the Manakish. Also, the cherry tomatoes and the parsley are from my garden! I used olive oil and lemon juice in my dressing to keep it simple. I had also decided to forgo the candied walnuts in the recipe for plain walnuts. Do not do this. They were divine. I wish I had made far more of them than I needed because they were decidedly more-ish!
I would love to see Petra, it looks stunning and is definitely on my bucket list of places to go!
Via Vogue
In the short term though, I will have to content myself with eating Manakish and reading Appointment with Death. The post for which will be up in two weeks’ time!
I am literally at this moment watching The Deer Hunter for my film club. I can see why it’s seen as a classic but so far (about 1.5 hours in) it has been unremittingly grim and I am not expecting a change of tone any time soon. Far less harrowing, this week I am hosting our Tasty Reads Cookbook Club where we are cooking from Recipetin Eats. If you are not a fan, I can recommend it!
My modern take on Lebanese food consists of what is probably my favourite fast food – pizza! The name for these pizzas in Lebanese is “lahembajin” which means “meat on dough”. Hmmm… what was I saying just last week about the wonderful poetic names for food in the Middle East? Never mind the pragmatic name though, this Lebanese Lamb pizza is delicious!
This Lebanese Lamb Pizza has some differences to the traditional Italian pizza.
First, the base is either pita or, to be more authentic Lebanese flatbread. There is also no cheese although you can top it with a dollop of labne just before serving.
The meat to base ratio is much higher than your typical Italian pizza, making the Lebanese Lamb Pizza more like a Meatzza!
The topping is minced lamb cooked with pomegranate molasses, onions and spices like cinnamon and allspice. Once cooked, the pizza is topped with toasted pine nuts, labne, herbs, chilli and another hit of pomegranate molasses. My recipe was a slight variation in the one below from the book Arabesque by Greg and Lucy Malouf.
My variations to their Lebanese Lamb were:
To use pita bread as my pizza base
I topped my pizza with labne (made by straining a dollop of yoghurt for about an hour)
I garnished my pizza with fresh coriander and chilli and another drizzle of pomegranate molasses
I hope the festivities were wonderful and the champagne was flowing freely!!! The only downside to all the partying is that invariably you end up with a fridge full of leftovers. This year we were inundated with leftover chicken so, if you ever find yourself in the same situation, here are two ways to use it up.
My first leftover chicken recipe uses one of my favourite retro ingredients, the vol au vent shell. (Sorry Glenda, still store-bought!)
And it’s simples – mix up a white sauce add some tarragon, stir in your chicken, fill your vol au vent cups, sprinkle on some cheese and in a couple of minutes you have a super cute little appetizer with which to kick off your next party!
My Chicken and Tarragon Vol Au Vents are based on a recipe I found in a Feast Magazine but can also be found here.
My next take on leftover chicken is a more modern Chicken, Avocado and Chipotle Tortilla which you can serve two ways.
I got this recipe from A Moveable Feast by Katy Holder where it was originally conceived of as a wrap. I made one of these and took it to work (yes, sadly I worked between Christmas and New Year). It was tasty but I am not a fan of the taste of cooked avocado and even putting the wrap into the sandwich press was enough to turn the taste from delicious to awful. If you like cooked avocado, or you want this all to yourself, this could be just the thing for you!
If however, like me you do not like the taste of cooked avocado, or you want to share the deliciousness, turn it into a “pizza”
Heat the tortilla until crispy, sprinkle the chicken, avocado and the chipotle salsa over the top, cut into slices and serve immediately to your guests as an appetizer. (Or eat it all by yourself! I won’t judge you.
1/4–1/2 chipotle chilli in adobo sauce (or to taste)
1 sprig of coriander (cilantro), finely chopped
1 tsp lime juice
Salt and Pepper
Toothpick
Instructions
At least one hour before serving, make your salsa.
Discard the seeds from the tomato, mix with the onion, chilli, coriander and lime juice. Season to taste.
Set aside to allow the flavours to blend.
Just before serving, drain the salsa, neither of these recipes needs soggy tortilla!
For The Pizza
Heat the tortilla under the grill until it gets crispy.
Once the tortilla is crispy, take it out of the oven and top with the chicken, avocado and salsa.
Cut into slices and serve immediately.
Perfect with an ice cold beer!
For the Wrap
Warm the tortilla according to packet instructions, to soften.
Spread a line of chicken, a line of avocado and a line of salsa in the middle of the tortilla, leaving a 2 cm gap on all sides.
Fold in the bottom, rotate 90* and fold over one side then the other.
Tuck the remaining side of tortilla, securing with a toothpick.
Place into your sandwich press or under your grill and heat until the outside of the tortilla is golden and crispy.
Don’t forget to remove the toothpick before eating!
I wish you all the very best for 2016 and may it be the year all your dreams come true! Thank you for reading and commenting and being a part of my teeny corner of the internet. It’s a New Year – Let’s make it wonderful!
