A nice piece of skirt

Here in Australia, barbecue season has begun.

In Sydney, there was masses of rain shortly after the autumn holidays, and I let my courtyard and garden go ratso. While the boys were away with their mother over winter, I went on the attack (along with a tradie with a high pressure hose), and reclaimed this important out-door space, ready for barbecues and the planting of yummy things!

Thursday night was the sixth and final spring holiday night with my boys, and this was capped off when my grownup niece and her partner came over for dinner and a movie.

Barbecue steak, veggies, green beans and couscous. But it’s not this, it’s tonight’s bachelor version I’m dealing with here.

The salad

For the Thursday night, I combined couscous (in vegetable stock) with browned slivered almonds, a barbecued tomato, chopped, and sliced tender green beans. But I held something in reserve (well, I forgot to add it, but it comes to the same thing): dried cranberries.

The sauce

Parsley, shallots, oregano, one clove garlic - chop finely, or pound in a mortar. Chilli oil and olive oil.

And now for the skirt

When thinking of the ideal barbecue cut, most people think porterhouse or t-bone, that sort of thing. But cheaper and better is skirt. You just have to treat it right.

I see skirt in the butcher most often rolled in cling wrap ready for roasting. But it is also one of the most flavourful cuts for the grill. It also accepts a marinade very well. And it is about half the price of porterhouse.

The key is: cut across the grain.

Unroll the skirt roast, and cut into steaks along the grain.

On a hot barbecue grill, cook three minutes, then turn once, cooking for another three minutes.

Remove to rest on a cutting board, then slice down at a 45 degree angle and across the grain. It will be as tender and juicy as a prime cut, but with much more flavour.

The steak pictured (top) was cooked a little too long (more like four min each side) (I got distracted) and left to rest for not long enough (I was hungry) - so it’s not pink enough and too much juice is on the outside. But it was still very, very soft and yummy.

And the combo

Warming the green salsa and the couscous salad and layering with the freshly barbecued skirt over a warmed, soft corn tortilla - well, it was warming.

Stock management

On a dry winter weekend, with my mornings set aside for the boys’ soccer, and my arvos free - it was a good opportunity to stock up.

One of my local butchers is the Chop Shop at Hurlstone Park. I also like Mick’s Meats on New Canterbury Rd.

With local butchers you have the advantage of knowing a few things. You just ask. When does the meat come in? Where is it from? How was it fed? The chop shop saved me a lovely piece of point end brisket for a steak and mushroom pot pie, also used for pulled beef burritos.

For the pie, and for this week’s ragu, I also asked for bones for stock. Leg bones, rib, neck, all make good stock.

The equation is 1 kilo of bones for 2 litres of water, to yield .5 litres of stock.

So, the way I generally do it is 2k bones, 4l water, yielding 2 litres of brown stock.

Roast the bones with some olive oil, a couple of onions, a couple of mushrooms, carrots and celery sticks - 180º. 15 minutes, turn, then another 10.

While this is happening, bring 4 litres of water to the boil. My pots have handy litre measurements - but that’s not essential here.

What you do is take note of how far the water is up the pot - use a wooden spoon for instance. Then add the roasted bones and veggies. Then simmer back down to the level before you added the solids.

Remove most to the solids with tongs, the strain the rest into another saucepan, keeping just hot enough to make the mixture even, then ladle into containers for storage or freezing.

That’s about 5 family meals worth, right there.

Happy soup

Lately I’ve been trying to perfect a roast chicken meal based on Heston Blumenthal’s method of very slow, followed by very fast. So far, so good - but not yet ready for its Bachelor Food debut.

As I write this, the chicken is brining ahead of picking up my boys for an atheist Good Friday dinner.

While I’ve been experimenting, I’ve had lots of leftover chicken to make use of. And lots of beautiful stock to cook with!

I can tell I’m making progress with the roast chicken, because the last school morning the boys were with me, after breakfast, they smelled the chicken out of the fridge in the kitchen and lined up at my shoulder saying - can I have a slice now? - as I carved for their sandwiches.

But back to the soup…

Of the Chinese staples it’s the breakfast stuff I like the most. A Chinese omelette is hard to beat. Even better is the chicken and corn soup.

My bachelor food rebrands for chicken lately have been laksa, tom kha gai - and this one. So simple. And guaranteed to make you smile.

This is a bachelor food version - meaning it is more a main meal rather than an entrée or breakfast. So noodles and sliced veggies make their appearance. The dried and fresh chillies can easily be omitted if you or your kids don’t like it hot.

Chicken and corn soup

Serves two

Ingredients

• .5 chicken breast already roasted, and shredded
• 2 cups strained chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon chopped ginger
• 2 dried chillies
• 1 teaspoon corn flour
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• .5 cup sliced mushrooms
• .25 cup sliced cherry tomatoes
• .25 cup sliced carrots
• 1 small can creamed corn (310 grams)
• 2 birds eye (or similar) chillies, sliced
• 2 egg whites, beaten
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
• Garnish with drizzle of 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce, some sliced shallots
• Handful of rice noodles

Method

Dissolve cornflour in water.

In a deep saucepan, sauté ginger and dried chilli until ginger softens. Then add carrots, sauté for 5 minutes, then and mushrooms for another 5.

Cook noodles in plenty of boiling water until soft, but not mushy. Err on the side of firmness, because you will be adding it to the hot soup, where it will cook further.

Add stock and raise heat to highest. Add tomatoes, creamed corn and shredded chicken. Add sesame oil and light soy.

Once the soup comes to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and stir in the cornflour mixture (you will probably need to give the cornflour a last stir to that the mixture is even). The soup will thicken after a couple of minutes.

Then drizzle in the beaten egg whites. They will form lovely white strings through the soup.

Serve into noodles into each bowl, add enough soup to almost cover. Garnish with shallots and a drizzle of dark soy.

Do you ragu?

Bolognese sauce

When done well, this is a wonderful, subtle yet earthy accompaniment to tender pasta.

The bright red, runny and very tomato-heavy variety is from bistro kids menus. And I’ve got no problem with that. Lots of kids love that sauce. But it isn’t Bolognese.

Although a recipe for Bolognese was registered in 1982 with the Bologna Chamber of Commerce, this should not be seen as the only way to make it - as there are many equally “traditional” variants.

Key to it though is keeping it simple, and not overpowering it with too many strong, fragrant herbs or spices.

The central flavouring for the meat is the gently sautéed onion, celery and carrot base. The 1982 recipe includes garlic, but I say NO to garlic in my ragu - that goes into the salad!

Apart from making it too tomato heavy, the most common mistake is just using too much of it, so that you end up with a great blob of meat surrounded by a ring a spaghetti (better than spaghetti is tagliatelle for this dish).

This sauce is an accompaniment to pasta, and works best when the pasta is fresh and tender, and the plate is 2-thirds pasta 1-third sauce.

Serve with a green salad, and garnish with parsley, basil and slivers of parmesan.

Ingredients

• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 1 stick celery, finely chopped
• 1 cup stock (beef, vegetable, or even chicken stock works well)
• . 5 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup milk
• .75 kg beef mince
• .75 kg pork mince
• 1 can tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• .25 cup chopped pancetta
• 4–6 table spoons olive oil

Method

In a saucepan, gently sauté onion, carrot and celery with half the olive oil.

In a frying pan, with the other half of the olive oil, brown the mince a handful at a time. If you put too much mince in, it sort of boils in its own liquid rather than frying. Once each handful is done, transfer to a bowl. Once you’ve finished, put all the cooked mince back into the frying pan and cook on medium to low for another 15 minutes.

You want some of the mince at least to be caramalised and crusty, with some browning of the pan also. Mince should be fine and not lumpy.

Transfer mince to saucepan. Add tomatoes, tomato paste and stock. Deglaze the frying pan with the white wine, stirring in the browned bits and pan juices. Yum!

One all the bits are off the bottom, and the wine has reduced by about half, add to the saucepan.

Raise the heat to a strong boil, then knock back to a gentle boil. Cook uncovered for 1 hour. Add milk (this creates a lovely orange colour for our sauce, very warm and homey). Cook for another half hour. Stir in pancetta, and you are ready to serve,