Chicken Stir-fry & Fried Rice

We had quite a lot of rice and vegetables left over from the previous night's Chinese meal so I decided to make a chicken stir-fry.
It was a very quick and easy meal to cook. For the stir-fry I just fried chicken strips, some garlic and ginger then added the vegies and some chilli sauce.
The fried rice was equally easy. I fried the rice with some garlic then added peas, corn, chopped capsicum and spring onion. Next I fried and mixed through an egg and splashed in some soy sauce.

Take-away from Golden Star, Bendigo

Golden Star

Address: 382 Hargreaves Street, Bendigo

Phone:  (03) 5443 4814

I'd been wanting to have some Chinese while in Bendigo so we stopped by Golden Star restaurant for a late take-away dinner. The waitress who took our order was lovely; bubbly and incredibly friendly. I do, however, have to fault her on one thing, her recommendation that I order Mixed Vegetables ($12.80) over Eggplant Braised in Brown Sauce ($13.80). Oh, how I should have chosen the eggplant....

The smell of Chinese wofting through the car as we travelled back to the motel was very tempting.

T ordered Chilli Chicken ($12.80) which was very nice. The chicken was good quality, it came with plenty of vegies and just the right amount of chilli.

The Mixed Vegetables was really bland. The variety of vegetables was good and they were cooked well but seriously lacked flavour. They were so plain that I resorted to pouring over some of the chilli chicken's spare sauce. I didn't eat much.

The small Steamed Rice ($3) was cooked perfectly, though that's not tricky to do.
Unfortunately, my craving for Chinese wasn't exactly satisfied.

Dinner at Shamrock, Bendigo

Shamrock

Address: Corner Pall Mall & Williamson Street, Bendigo
Phone: (03) 5443 0333

We were in Bendigo for the weekend and decided to visit the pub for dinner. We sat at a table next to the window and slowly perused the enticing menu. For starters T ordered Warm Turkish Bread ($8) with 3 'homemade' dips. The bread was delivered to the table warm and wrapped in paper, it was very impressive. The dips (spring onion, hummus & tzatziki) were nothing mind blowing but this entree was a very nice start to the meal.

I thought I'd lash out and go for the Ocean Trout ($27.90) served on an asparagus risotto with seared scallops and fennel remoulade. Unfortunately it seams our meal was sitting around for a while before being brought out to us because when the dish arrived the scallops were lukewarm and completely flavourless. The skin of the trout was no longer crispy and there was very little colour on the plate. On the upside, the fennel was interesting and the risotto wasn't too bad but overall, I was very unimpressed and felt rather ripped off.

T had Lamb Risotto ($17.50) cooked with rosemary and Gold Fields fetta cheese, finished with garlic yoghurt. I don't recall ever seeing lamb risotto before but it sounded interesting and looked rather tasty. There were a few whole garlic cubes which wasn't really appetizing and the serving was quite small but T enjoyed it.

The service was pretty good and the hotel was neat and well presented but overall, we had expected more from the Shamrock. Pub meals seem to be a bit hit and miss and this one was no exception; great starter, ok risotto and disappointing fish.
Perhaps next time we're in Bendigo we'll dine here again and hope for a better meal but I don't imagine we will be up that way anytime soon.

Muffins using Pear and Apple Puree

I decided I'd bake muffins to use some of the puree I prepared earlier today.

I went in search of a muffin recipe using apple puree and yoghurt, I couldn't find the perfect one so I adapted. Here is my recipe:

1 cup wholemeal SR flour
3/4 cup wholemeal plain flour
1/4 cup plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
<1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oats
handful of sultanas
handful of walnuts
1 1/4 cup natural yoghurt (+ a few drops of vanilla essence)
1/2 cup pear & apple puree
2 eggs
100ml light olive oil
***consider adding cinnamon for a little extra flavour

Preheat oven to 180°C and spray muffin tins with olive oil.
Sift flours and baking powder. Add sugar, oats, sultanas and walnuts. Stir together.
In a seperate bowl mix yoghurt, eggs, oil and puree.
Add wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir to combine.
Transfer mixture to muffin tins and bake in oven for about 25mins.

11 muffins minus the one I ate

I made 11 muffins, some of which were heat shaped, though you can't really tell once the muffins have risen.
They were nice but not very flavoursome. A stronger flavoured yoghurt, extra walnuts, sultanas and some cinnamon would've made these fabulous. Next time.

Pear and Apple Puree

Two weeks ago my Grandma gave me about 16 brown pears. Every year I look forward to this time of  year when my favourite fresh treat is ready to be picked from her trees. I love to eat the pears before they are totally ripe; crunchy and delicious!
As usual though, I couldn't eat them all before they ripen so I had 4 pears that I needed to do something with. I also had 2 over-ripe apples so I decided to stew them all.

I quartered each piece of fruit, cut out the core and roughly chopped them then popped them in the saucepan. I didn't remove the skin because Grandma said she doesn't and I was happy not to go to the extra effort. Into the saucepan I also added about 1tbs of water, 6 cloves, some cinnamon bark, 2 cardamon pods and a sprinkling of sugar. My last attempt at stewing apples was ruined by my over enthusiastic adding of water to the saucepan so I was careful this time.

After the fruit had stewed for quite a while, I let it cool a little, removed the cinnamon & cloves (I forgot to take out the cardamon pods) then pureed it with the bar mix.

I love the extra texture and look of the skin in the puree.
Now all I need to do is decide what to do with the puree. Muffins perhaps or fruit crumble? Hmm...

Chicken Burger

For tonight's burger buns I used fresh Bakers Delight rolls; country grain and wholemeal with sesame seeds. Inside each bun was avocado, Leonards Chicken Jumbo, a cheese slice, fried egg, beetroot, carrot, lettuce and of course, tomato sauce.

T didn't eat both burgers tonight, though he often does eat this much!

Fazio's for Dinner

Fazio's

Address:  462 Hampton Street, Hampton
Phone: (03) 9598 9396

T's favourite indulgence is a thin crusted pepperoni pizza and he has found a new favourite place to get it. He enjoyed a take-away pizza from Fazio's about two months back and was eager to return for a dine in meal.
Of course, he ordered a Reggio Pizza- tomato, mozzarella, hot salami, black olives ($16 for small). He enjoyed every single mouthful. He even suggested this should be the restaurant we return to for all celebrations and special occasions in the future.

I didn't really want pizza or pasta so I ordered Warm portobello mushrooms with goats cheese, rocket and pine nut salad ($15 entree size).  When I ordered it the waitress advised me it was quite small and would not fill me if I was hungry. I wasn't particularly hungry so it was perfect; perfect in size, perfect in presentation and absolutely perfect in flavour. Perfect!

The photo is pretty unimpressive, the complete opposite of the DELICIOUS dish!

Our dining experience was enjoyable however there were a few small things that could have made it better.
While the waiting staff were all lovely when dealing directly with paying customers, I did see two instances when one staff member was dealing with children that I think could have been handled better.
The back area of the restaurant, heading to the toilets left a lot to be desired. It's was like a spare draw or a spare bedroom- its ok to be untidy but that mess shouldn't be seen by visitors/customers.

On the other hand, seeing clearly into the kitchen is a nice touch, so is having the pizza oven visible from the street, very enticing!

We will absolutely be back, the food could not be faulted though I do hope the back of house would be tidied up a bit next time.