Mexican Fiesta featuring Danger Prawn...

(Why you should never really let us loose in the kitchen)

Because it was Saturday and we were, well at a loose end really, me, Big Al and MCJ thought "what the hey, let's get together for a big cook up!" After checking our stocks of booze it became obvious that the only thing that would really work with the tequila, triple sec and dozen or so fresh limes on a sultry January afternoon in Sydney was cuisine from the South West USA . A couple of years ago MCJ and I did a community cooking course and we have been busting to try out these dishes on someone for a while. Here is our menu...

Tiny Peppers grilled and filled with goats cheese
Chipotle Prawn Fajitas
MCJ's Marinated Mexe-chicken
Black Bean Ragout
Guacamole
Big Al's Badass chili chocolate Truffles

A vat of Margeuritas

Mmmm... we were all set for a feast of south west proportions. We negotiated Neutral Bay woollies (drunk I might add) and managed to get home with our prawns and chickens with out incident. MCJ pulled out a tin of Chipotle in adobo that she had smuggled into the country illegally from Hawaii (along with nail polish remover and nail files) which was, ahhh a little hotter than we had anticipated.

So were marinated, grilled, twice roasted etc all afternoon long aided only by our friend Margeurita. And everything was looking fantastic when MCJ with her usual deft elegance and presence of mind somehow managed to smash her wine glass over twenty bucks worth of chipotle marintedprawns loving prepared by us. But it didn't stop us eating them. Oh no, we did what you always do when there is broken glass in food, we got a pair of tweezers and a torch. <>

Welcome...

Well, here 'tis. My very own own blog, the fullfillment of all my blogging dreams. (ahem) So, on this fine, tarango fuelled Australia Day afternoon what better way to show my patriotism than to attempt to share all, some or at leat a few of our fabulous, dubious and even quite often unremarkable culinary adventures. Excellent! I think that calls for a celebratory glass of tarango. Please bear with me if I descend into booze induced rambling or start crapping on about cats - I will endeavour to do this as little as possible.

Anyway, today being our national day and all, I thought I might get the ball rolling by posting my recipe for marinated kangaroo fillets. Now, before you start freaking out about how cute our native fauna is and how disturbing it would be to eat something so endearing, I'd like to remind you that not only is kangaroo a fine, sustainable, delicious and extremely healthy meat, but the actuall animal is niether cute nor cuddly. Like most of our native wildlife here they're pretty mean. I should know, as a kid I was bitten by a particularly grumpy wombat. And frankly for that I am more than happy to munch on our local animal friends. (except the endangered ones, of course) Besides, they are simply too tasty to live. Yes, some people are squemish about the idea of eating our national symbol but quite frankly, these people have no idea. We will be eating roo tonight for sure. Some day soon I will get my partner to post his rant on the many virtues of eating the roo.

So, here we go...


Marinated Fillets of Roo a la Chloe

This recipe is inspired a very little by a marinade from Elizabeth David's French Country Cooking (1951)
Use around 600g Kangaroo fillet for 2 people
All measurements approximate
1 large garlic clove minced
1 sprig rosemary chopped
1 tsp fresh tarragon chopped
6 or so juniper berries - lightly crushed
1 tsp fennel seeds lightly crushed
1 tsp fresh thyme chopped
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 star anise roughly crushed
1 cup good red Australian wine -good enough to drink but doesn't need to be super expensive. Cabernet or Shiraz work very well but I have used Pinot Noir and it is also excellent and gives quite a differnet character to the meat. Even though I have been crapping on about it a fair bit, I woudn't recommend tarango.
Salt
Pepper

Mix all ingredients together and allow meat to marinate for at least an hour.
Remove fillets from marinade and sear in a very hot pan untill the outside is well coloured but the inside still pink and juicy. My big tip to you here is, DON'T over cook your roo! It contans very little fat so over cooking can dry it out. Allow meat to rest then slice and serve with Gratin Dauphinoise (also found in Elizabeth David) or blue lentils and some green beans and the rest of the bottle of wine you used for the marinade, unless you have already drunk it, in which case you shoud open another bottle...

Happy Aussie Day!!!