There's a reason why 'Food' and 'Good' only differ by a single letter!

A few of my favourite meals

For about six months this year I lived in a warehouse with a friend. It was pretty cool, I had a huge room and the shower had an almost limitless supply of hot water- but the kitchen was terrible. For starters, there were no real appliances and on top of that, bench space was scarce at best.

Needless to say, now I'm in a regular persons house with a regular persons kitchen, my love for feeding myself has once again blossomed. I figure today briefly share a few of my favourite meals.



Tangy Eggs Benedict
More or less a regular Eggs Benedict (poached eggs covered in hollandaise sauce) with the one exception being that I add a lot more lemon juice. It makes the sauce slightly thinner but it gives it a kick and makes it taste much less fattening than the traditional meal.

Lemon-Herb Salmon
I love showering fish with finely cut herbs and then topping it with lemon skin before wrapping the whole thing up in foil and throwing it in a hot oven. The foil keeps all the delicious juices from evaporating so when it comes out it falls apart in juicy citrussy goodness!

Avocado Chicken Kiev
This one is a new addition to my favourite meals and requires a little more attention than the others. Basically you have to thin out a chicken breast and roll it around some frozen herbed butter. Crumb it, cook it in oil until the crumbs are crisp and then toss it in the oven. The avocado is raw and adds a yummy freshness and the whole thing is topped with a basic cheese sauce.

Hearty Mushroom Steak
Steak, in my opinion, is the cats pyjamas of all things yummy and by far my favourite meal. Just take a nice flavourful cut of steak (I normally go with scotch fillets because of the yummy marbling) and cook it to how you desire. Then brown some mushrooms in butter and add cooking cream (healthy? ha!) and serve with any side you want. I'll normally do mash or chips with a salad.

So that's it, a yummy breakfast, lunch and dinner that (if you're anything like me) will make your tummy smile!

Another Eureka Moment in the Kitchen!

Lately, I have noticed some very specific recurring trends in my cooking- most of them related to how hungry I actually am.

1. I cook a decent meal when I'm not very hungry, it's good but it's not delicious.

2. When I am on the cusp of becoming a hungry hungry hippo, my meals suddenly become incredibly delicious

3. At some point though (the point of no return), I become too hungry and impatient and from there on in, everything goes to food taste hell.



Nothing shows this trend in as clearly as my home made, fat filled, tummy tingling mushroom sauce. Probably because sauces, in general, are a delicate art. You have to nurture them long enough to bring out their full flavour and potential, but not so long as to turn them into a gooey mess.



But enough about me, try it for yourself:

Nate Radio Mushroom Sauce
Serves 2

You will need
4-6 button mushrooms
3/4 white onion (though if you prefer a more 'oniony' flavour, brown onions are fine)
1/2 cup of butter
1/2 cup of cream
Salt

Method
1. Thinly slice mushrooms and dice onions.

2. Melt butter in a small saucepan on low heat

3. Once butter is melted, turn heat up as high as possible and throw in mushrooms and onion.

4. Sauté mushrooms and onions quickly with a fork, try to get them all coated in butter (add more butter if required)

6. Bring heat down to around halfway and continue to sauté until you can smell that nice, creamy mushroomy smell.

7. Add cream and stir in.

8. Reduce down to desired thickness.

9. Serve on any cut of red med and vegetables.

10. Post your comments of thanks and gratitude here.

Girls And Pasta

Girls are tricky!

Because when a girl likes you, you can do no wrong. You break her car window or her phone and she'll forgive you. However, if she wants, she can go completely the other direction and then nothing (I repeat in capitals: NOTHING) will be good enough



So what do you do when nothing is enough? The obvious choice is give up.

The not so obvious choice, but much more effective choice, is to learn to cook and make her something tasty. Why? Because everyone needs to eat, so sooner or later, she's going to have to give it a go.

However, then you have the potential for her to insult your cooking, leaving you a broken shell of a man, all culinary dreams banished in a moment of female furiousity!

The solution? Cook well.

Nobody, and I mean nobody can insult nice food. It goes against our self-preservation instinct. People know that if something is delicious, they must admit it, even grudgingly, because to lie about it and say it is disgusting would be to deny themselves any future of having such good food again.

With that in mind, this is a dish I cooked up last night. It takes barely any time and is light, yummy and oh so nice in the tummy.

Mushroom Pasta
Serves: 2

Ingredients
Grapeseed oil
1 cup sliced button mushrooms
1/2 cup sliced white onion
handful of chopped walnuts (half a handful if you have big hands)
tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves
2 cups of whatever pasta you like (I use fusilli)
Salt
Cheese

Method
1. Bring water to a boil in a saucepan and pour in pasta (for more information cooking pasta, see my anti-masterchef blog here

2. Pour a splash of grapeseed oil onto a shallow pan and bring to a medium heat.

3. Throw in mushroom and onion, toss frequently until they begin to soften.

4. When soft, throw in walnuts and bring heat down to a high simmer.

5. Drain pasta from saucepan.

6. Put the heat right up and throw in thyme leaves, toss around mixture for thirty seconds or until the thyme smell becomes prominent.

7. After that thirty seconds, turn heat off completely. Mix pasta well with the mixture in the pan and serve in bowls.

8. Top off serving with some light grates of cheese and a pinch of salt.

9. Serve and enjoy.

10. Glory in the returned love and devotion of the girl you have wronged.

Anti-Master Chef

Pasta

You will need:
A fork
A medium sized saucepan
Water
375g ravioli pasta
1/4 cup thickened cream



Step 1. Fill saucepan with enough water to cover pasta and set to boil on hotplate.



Step 2. Wait for water to boil.



Step 3. Carefully place pasta into bowling water and stir every 2-3 minutes with fork.

Step 4. Once pasta has softened (3-5 minutes) to desired taste, drain water.

Step 5. Place pasta in a bowl, pour in cream and mix around with fork until cream thins to a water-like consistency.





Step 6. Eat and enjoy.