The Mad Scientist's Green Eggs and Ham - A Mexican version of Bacon and Eggs!

It was a dark and stormy night in the middle of winter, late was the hour and the tummies were rumbling. Alas the pantry was bare, and The Mad Scientist was puzzling about what to feed the assembled hordes, expectantly holding out their plates with big sad doe-like eyes ...

Ah ha, thought The Mad Scientist, we can have bacon and eggs as a treat, but not just any bacon and eggs ... The Mad Scientist's famous scrambled eggs with bacon augmented by some left-over guacamole from a sensational nachos prepared earlier and accompanied by corn bread (well actually some gluten-free bread made from corn flour).

Take four large eggs and whisk until they are light and foamy. Gradually add about a cup of milk and continue whisking. Stir in 1/2 to 1 cup of guacamole and whisk again. When as foamy as you can get it, pour directly into a hot pan and allow to start setting. Once this occurs, stir frequently to allow the scrambled eggs to form.

Serve with freshly cooked rashers of bacon and your favourite variety of bread/muffins. Especially nice with Mexican tomato sauce (ketchup).

Butter Chicken and Vegetable Curry with the Pressure Pro

Ingredients:

4 skinless chicken rhigh fillets (chopped into bite-sized pieces)

1 cup of chopped onion

2-3 cups of frozen vegetables (carrots, beans, peas and mixed chopped vegetables used here)

1/2 cup of red lentils (washed and drained)

1 jar of Butter Chicken cook-in sauce

Method:

Place all ingredients in the Pressure Pro and mix thoroughly with a stirring spoon. Wash out sauce jar with around two cups of water to provide some extra liquid (as the mixture thickens quickly on cooking). Put on lid and secure. Cook on chicken and meat setting (25 minutes).

This makes a lovely fragrant curry which is filling and nutritious.

Lazy Lasagna with the Pressure Pro

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped onion

1 kg lean beef mince

1 litre pasta sauce (the Mad Scientist used the home-made variety)

1 heaped traspoon chopped garlic

Good sprinkling of moxed Italian herbs

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

500g tub of ricotta cheese

2 large eggs

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

250g shredded mozzarella or pizza vlend cheese

Packet of instant lasagna sheets

Meat sauce:

Turn on Pressure Pro hearing element using Rice/Risotto setting. Add olive oil. Pnce sizzling soften onion with garlic, black pepper and Italian herbs and then add mince and cook until all browned through. Set aside and add pasta sauce and mox thoroughly.

Cheese sauce:

Mix ricotta, eggs and parmesan cheese in a separate bowl.

Just cover the bottom of the Pressure Pro with water (the juices from cooking the meat may suffice). Layer up the lasagna - start with approximately 1/4 of the meat sauce followed by a layer of lasagna noodles and then approximately 1/4 of the cheese sauce (spread put evenly). Repeat until all ingredients exhaused (four layers in this case).

Seal the lid and set for seven minutes (using the minute button to adjust). Then vent steam and open the lid carefully and add the grated mozzarella/pizza cheese on top. Put the lid back on and engage the warming setting and allow to rest for ten minutes.

Serve with warm crusty garlic bread and your preferred selection of vegetables (if desired).

Delicious and easy! There was plenty left over for future meals and it would be a very suitable recipe for a large gathering of people.

'Curry in a hurry' with the Pressure Pro - Chicken and red kidney bean Madras curry

The Med Scientist just loves the new Harvest Cookware Pressure Pro (pressure cooker). Having previously made some pasta sauce from some over-ripe tomatoes, it was time to try something more challenging and see if the TV ads live up to their claims.

After defrosting four chicken thigh fillets in the pressure cooker, these were chopped itno bite-sized pieces and placed into the pressure cooker with a cup of chopped onion, a (drained and washed) 340g can of red kidney beans and a jar of Patak's Madras curry sauce.

This was popped onto the chicken and meat setting, which took 25 minutes, and the result was a beautifully temder amd aromatic curry woth all the goodness sealed in.

In the meanwhile some fluffy white rice had been cooking on the stove via the absorption method (1 cup of rice plus 2 cups of water brpught to the boil and then turned off to continue cooking). This was served with the curry together with some warmed multigrain wraps - a perfect combination! 

Delicious and easy - the Pressure Pro is off to a good start!

The Mad Scientist's Amazing Chilli Con Carne Pan Lasagne

The Mad Scientist recently had the opportunity to try cooking with the simply incredible FlavorStone non-stick pans. This recipe is a variation on one of the dishes featured in the cookbook and the TV ad demonstration.

Ingredients:
500g lean beef mince
825g can of peeled tomatoes
One sachet of tomato paste
440g can of red kidney beans (washed and drained)
Teaspoon of wet chopped garlic
Teaspoon of wet chopped chilli
Dry spices to taste e.g., basil, oregano.
Five squares of dark chocolate
Four sheets of "instant" lasagne, broken into approximately 4cm squares.
One large onion, chopped into small pieces.
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Method:
Cook the mince, onion, garlic and chilli together over a high heat until the onion is softened and the meat browned. Add the peeled tomatoes and mash until they lose their consistency. Add the tomato paste and dry herbs as per your own preferences. Add the noodles and red kidney beans stir through mixture. Turn down heat and leave to simmer until the noodles are softened. Just before serving add the chocolate and cheese and stir through until melted.

Serve in a bowl accompanied by crusty bread (the Mad Scientist's homemade bread is ideal!).

The Mad Scientist's Mocha Cherry Muffins

The Mad Scientist was looking for a suitable afternoon tea treat to take to the AFL Grand Final a few days ago, and came up with the following winning recipe!

Ingredients:
1 packet of chocolate Devil's Food Cake mix
1 jar of pitted cherries (checked for pits)
Substitute the water in the cake mix with an equivalent amount of strong black coffee (e.g., plunger coffee).

Method:
Mix together cake mix as per imstructions (Ninja appliance used for smooth mix and aeration).
Add cherries and gently fold through mixture.
Spoon into muffin pans (silicon trays used here).
Do not overfill - leave room to expand.
Cook as per imstructions.
(In this case cooked at 180degrees C for 20-25 minutes until the cake sprung back and a skewer came out clean).
Enjoy!

The Mad Scientist's Bread Factory

Rye Pumpernickel Bread 

This is a very dense bread that is best eaten reasonably fresh and goes well with cheese and other strong-tasting accompaniments.
50% wholemeal rye flour
50% white bread mix flour
(Weights of flour and amounts of water and yeast as per your preferred recipe size)

Mix the two flours together in the weighing bowl. Place the water, flour and yeast in the bread maker bowl. As this is a very dry mixture, add extra water and some olive oil gradually as needed to allow the dough to take on a smooth enough consistency for kneading and rising. Make sure all the mixture is taken up into the dough ball (I use a spatula for this so as not to damage the non-stick coating of the bowl). Select the "Whole Wheat" program on the bread maker.

Easter Fruit Bread

600g white bread mix
360mL milk (in this case 2% fat)
2 1/8 tsp yeast
1/2 cup dried fruit medley
1/2 cup dried sultanas
1 tbsp dried cranberries
1 tbsp dried blueberries
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Add milk, flour and yeast to the bread maker bowl. Start "Sweet" program. Make sure all the mixture is taken up into the dough ball (I use a spatula for this so as not to damage the non-stick coating of the bowl). Add dried fruit at the appropriate chime. (I was not happy with how the fruit was getting mixed into the dough so I took it out and hand-kneaded it for a while to improving the mixing of the fruit and then returned it to the bread-maker.) The bread maker does the rest.

This makes a delicious sweet and fruity loaf which can be eaten in all the usual ways e.g., plain or warmed or toasted and spread with butter, margarine or jam.

Light Wholemeal Rye Bread 

100g wholemeal rye flour
400g white bread mix
300mL water
1 3/4 tsp yeast

Mix the two flours together in the weighing bowl. Place the water, flour and yeast in the bread maker bowl. Make sure all the mixture is taken up into the dough ball (I use a spatula for this so as not to damage the non-stick coating of the bowl). I used the "Basic" setting in this instance and it grew into a nice fluffy and tasty loaf.

Light Wholemeal Rye and Three Seeds Bread 

100g wholemeal rye flour
500g white bread mix
360mL water
2 1/8 tsp yeast
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tbsp pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)
1 tbsp brown linseeds (flaxseed)

Mix the two flours together in the weighing bowl. As an experiment to see if I could avoid the uneven additive mixing issue encountered with the fruit bread, I also mixed the seeds in with the flour at this stage. Place the water, flour mixture and yeast in the bread maker bowl. Make sure all the mixture is taken up into the dough ball (I use a spatula for this so as not to damage the non-stick coating of the bowl). Also as an experiment, I selected the "Whole Wheat" (rather than "Basic") program on the bread maker as this allows additional time for proving and rising. The bread turned out nicely, soft and fluffy in the centre with a crisp crust. I suspect it would have worked just as well on the "Basic" setting so I will try that next time. It would also be quite OK to add a greater amount of seeds as the amount used this time added character but did not dominate in any way.

The Mad Scientist's Debonair Chicken, Dried Tomato and Spinach Pasta

This recipe is loosely based on a marvellous risotto that I had many years ago. I thought the combination of chicken, spinach and dried tomato was delicious.

This version uses pasta, chicken mince, sundried tomatoes, frozen chopped spinach, chopped onions, garlic and chill and a jar of Italian-flavoured pasta sauce.

The sundried tomatoes, onion and spices were coarsely chopped together in a food processor and then added to the chicken mince in a wok.

Once the chicken mince was cooked through the defrosted spinach was added.

Lastly the pasta sauce was added and the mixture left to simmer until suitably warmed through.

Serve in individual bowls and place a generous dollop of the sauce on top of the cooked pasta.

The Mad Scientist's Classic Römertopf Christmas Turkey

When you get home from singing at Midnight Mass at about 03:00, food is not the first thing on your mind, and the Mad Scientist usually likes to have a fairly quiet Christmas Day, eating the traditional Christmas feast in the evening. In Australia the old English traditions of roast turkey with vegetables followed by plum pudding and custard are still nobly "hanging in there" despite the often hot weather and an increasing predilection for "putting another prawn on the barbie"!

This is the Mad Scientist's simple version of roast turkey with vegetables. Take one boneless turkey roast (available in the supermarket freezer), one packet of frozen vegetables, one onion, some chopped potatoes and two jars of apple, balsamic and cinnamon chutney.

Place the chutney, onion, potatoes and turkey in the bottom of the pre-soaked Römertopf and then place the frozen vegetables on top.

Cook in a 180 degree Celsius oven until happily bubbling and you are fairly sure that the turkey is cooked through.

Place the potatoes and onion in one serving bowl and the remaining vegetables in another bowl.

Slice the turkey thinly and serve with the two types of vegetables (and have the other two serving bowls handy for those who might like seconds). Place some of the exquisite gravy (which formed naturally in the bottom of the Römertopf during cooking) on top of the turkey and place the remainder in a serving vessel (the Mad Scientist did not have a gravy boat handy so used a trusty Ikea bowl).

This was a wonderful combination of flavours, tender succulent turkey and vegetables just bursting with character. Long live the traditional Christmas roast!

The Mad Scientist's Chicken, Capsicum and Mushroom Curry

This was a lovely slow-cooked curry combining potatoes, onion, red and green capsicums, fresh button mushrooms, chicken breasts, wet garlic, chilli and coriander and cashews with a commercial Korma simmer sauce.

I know some people recommend against it, but I do like to rinse all the vegetables (including mushrooms) in clean water.

The capsicums were cut into small chunks, as were the potatoes, mushrooms and chicken. The onion was sliced.

These ingredients were then combined in the slow cooker.

A teaspoon of each of the wet spices was added to the mixture and combined.

A generous serving of cashews was added at the end of the cooking process (so that they did not get too soggy).