Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts

Monday, February 16, 2015

Summer Sensations - Chipotle Crab Pasta


Summer Sensations - Chipotle Crab Pasta
Summer Sensations - Chipotle Crab Pasta


So, I did mention that our new car was amongst other activities, chosen for crabbing trips. However our first crabbing trip this year coincided with the day we picked up the Zoolander. Now, I’m not precious about a clean car – but I did want the car to be clean for at least one full day. So we took my sister-in-law’s car. It wasn’t our most successful trip, but we managed to catch enough for a feed for the 4 of us that went. I’m hoping we can go back later in the season so that all of the undersize ones have had a chance to grow into monsters!


After crabbing, cleaning off the gear and boiling up the crabs in plenty of water with a splash of vinegar and hot English mustard, we showered and finally got to bed around 5am. Then as has been tradition, Lance and I set up a shelling station in front of a tv. Then with a movie playing, we sit and peel all of the crabs. This year it took us 1 and a half movies. This equated to about 400g of crab flesh. I divided it into 2, then froze half for a later dish.


That night I cooked this very simple chili crab pasta. This pasta took it’s form from two of the things growing prolifically in our garden this summer – grape tomatoes and oregano. The grape tomato that Lance planted and lovingly waters every day has rewarded us with buckets of fruit. Some days we pick over 2 dozen! Then the flavours of the rest of the dish are Mexican, in a wonderfully fusion-food kind of way. It became like my riff on a Sopa Seca – or “dry soup”. A Mexican noodle dish flavoured with chipotles in adobo and served with sour cream and a smokey salsa. It was the perfect thing on a tired Sunday night with a lovely anejo tequila on the side.
Summer Sensations - Chipotle Crab Pasta
 Summer Sensations - Chipotle Crab Pasta

Summer Sensations - Chipotle Crab Pasta

Summer Sensations - Chipotle Crab Pasta


Chipotle Crab Pasta

(serves 4)
200g crab flesh, picked through for cartilage
One brown onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 chipotles in adobo sauce, plus 1 tbsp adobo sauce
20 grape tomatoes, roughly diced
2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
Big knob of unsalted butter (around 100g)
50mL reposado tequila
Zest and juice of one lime
Sea Salt
500g angel hair pasta
To serve
Greek yoghurt
Jalapeno slices


Bring a pot of water with a decent pinch of salt to the boil.


Heat a splash of olive oil in a large sauté pan or wok. Add the onion and cook for 10 minutes or so until soft and golden. Add the garlic and cook a further 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes to the pan and cook until soft and breaking down.


At this point, the pasta water is probably boiling. Add the pasta.


Add the tequila and lime juice and zest and stir through, scraping up bits that might have stuck to the bottom of the pan. Reduce the liquid by half, then add the butter and whisk through to melt and emulsify into a thick, glossy sauce. Stir through the chipotles, adobo sauce, oregano and crab. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the crab is heated through.


Drain the pasta, then stir through well to evenly coat with the sauce.


Serve with a dollop of Greek Yoghurt and sliced jalapenos. And maybe a lovely glass of tequila on the side!

Summer Sensations - Chipotle Crab Pasta

Summer Sensations - Chipotle Crab Pasta
 Summer Sensations - Chipotle Crab Pasta
Summer Sensations - Chipotle Crab Pasta


Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car

Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup

Late last year, my husband was involved in a car accident. Beyond a little whiplash, he was fine. His car, however, was not. It was deemed ‘uneconomical to repair’, and promptly taken away for scrap. Which given all of the experiences we’ve had in that car, was more than a little sad. Now, I’m not a car person. And Lance is not a car person. We don’t even have a his car/her car set-up. We need two cars, but both cars are ‘ours’. So when it came to buying a vehicle, practicality is the only thing that entered our reasoning. The last time either of us had bought a car was over 10 years ago, so we didn’t really even know what was out there, let alone what we wanted to buy! So we went to car yards. Dozens of them. And looked at cars. Hundreds of them.


Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup

We already own a small car, which is perfect for driving to work, and around the place. Our new car had to be a big car, like the recently departed old Fairmont. We needed boot space. Lots of it. For grocery shopping (boxes and boxes of fresh produce from The Nanna Shop. For trips down south. For crabbing and fishing and kayaking. And we needed a decently sized back-seat. We frequently ferry around 5 adults and we’re nice enough to want those adults squished in the backseat to be comfortable. Honestly, those were the two main factors we considered. Then we looked at the more serious things like fuel economy. We eventually settled on the Mistubishi Outlander (or the Mitsubishi Zoolander as we have been calling it). And I am so stoked with it! One of the things that sold us on the Outlander being the car for us was the salesman, Jayke at Southside Mitsubishi. Every car we looked at, we immediately opened the boot, before looking at anything else. It actually seemed to freak out a lot of car salesmen! Jayke asked what sort of things we’d be transporting, that the boot was such a concern. My husband joked, ‘Bodies’. Without missing a beat, Jayke climbed in to show how many people would fit! Now, that is service!
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
Taken from the back row, with the middle seats folded down
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
It's not often your kilometres match how hot the day is!


We decided to take the car down for a trip to Molloy Island very soon after buying it. We bought the 7 seat option, which means that we can have less designated drivers in the Margaret River Wine Region. Perfect, right? Especially when I don’t have to be the designated driver!


Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup

Our trip consisted of driving down after work on Friday night. 5 people, 5 people's luggage. We wanted to make sure there was enough space to bring home wine! The next morning we stopped for a coffee at Yahava and browsed through the Vasse Virgin store. I absolutely love their Chamomile and Lavender balm. My skin has a tendency towards dryness and irritation with a lot of products, but this moisturiser made from olive oil is beautiful. 

From there, we drove on to Woody Nook for wine tasting and lunch. I'm quite a fan of the Nookery Cafe. Their meals are sort of more "old-fashioned" than a lot of restaurants. The dishes are well made, with lots of fresh local produce, but they haven't bothered jumping on the whatever's trendy bandwagon. They provide classic dishes, at very reasonable prices. The location is lovely too, but I would recommend sitting outside in this weather. It was quite stuffy inside when you order. One of the wines I always find myself buying here is their Velvet Rose. The label is quite fun, as the rose changes colour from white to red, to show that the wine is cold enough to drink! But it's not just a gimmick, the rose is actually a lovely lightly sweet wine that paired well with my ginger duck, Lance's salmon and Justin's ricotta cannelloni.




Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup - Woody Nook
Velvet Rose
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup - Woody Nook
Fish of the Day - Salmon with Baby Chat Potatoes and Asparagus
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup - Woody Nook
Duck with Plum and Ginger Sauce with Polenta Cake and Sauteed Vegetables
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup - Woody Nook
Garlic Prawns and Steamed Calamari stuffed with Salmon Mousse on Couscous
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup - Woody Nook
Pasta of the Day - Vegetarian Cannelloni with salad and fries
The five of us then drove on to Cape Naturaliste Winery. I don't think I need to remind you of how much I love the wines here. We brought along some cheese, venison chorizo, crackers and bought a few wines by the glass to sit on the verandah and watch the sun set. We were mainly drinking the 2013 Sauvignon Blanc - a zesty, passionfruity and very summery wine, before switching to 2011 Torpedo Rocks Shiraz - full-flavoured but still light enough to enjoy on a summer's afternoon. By the time we finished drinking and chatting, our dinner options were severely limited. So we hit Dunsborough for fish and chips, then watched a bride-to-be wrestle her friends to the floor at a Hen's Party at the Dunsborough tavern.


Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup - Cape Naturaliste
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup - Cape Naturaliste
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup - Cape Naturaliste
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup - Cape Naturaliste
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup - Cape Naturaliste
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup - Cape Naturaliste
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup - Cape Naturaliste
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup



The next morning, we slept in and had a leisurely pack and drive home. We stopped in at the Blackwood Meadery. I particularly like their lemon mead - perfect for afternoon sipping over ice. And then we hit Cheeky Monkey Brewery for lunch. The vibe of this brewery is so laidback and chill. It's always a relaxing experience. The food can be a little hit and miss for me. It goes from incredible to just good. I've never had a bad meal here, but sometimes it's been not as good as it should be. This trip, it was good, though. Lance's ribs were covered in lovely sticky BBQ sauce (nothing irks me more than sauce-less ribs), although the switch from normal chips to corn chips is a little disappointing. Wiping up all the sauce with chips is part of the rib experience! And my Char Sui Pork Salad was overflowing with delicious saucy pork and the crispy shallots topped it off perfectly. The live music was cherry on the top experience. We stopped in to Ferngrove/Killerby Wines on our way out and ended up with another carton of wine.


Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup - Cheeky Monkey
Pork Ribs in Cheeky Monkey BBQ sauce with Coleslaw and Corn Chips
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup - Cheeky Monkey
Char Sui Pork Salad with egg noodles, mixed leaves, crispy shallots and sweet soy dressing
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup - Cheeky Monkey

At this point, we had put our new car's space to the test. We started off with 5 people and 5 people's luggage. We now had 5 people, 5 people's luggage and 7 cartons of wine. How did it fit? Very, very well. Lance is a bit of an expert at packing Tetris, but he packed the car such that we had all that gear and STILL had 6 seats available. We didn't need 6 seats, but we had them! So the drive home had one in the back, two in the middle with the arm rest/drink holder down and two in the front. No complaints about being squished at all.


Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup

The Zoolander definitely passed our Molloy test. Lance and I are both so stoked with our decision!



Weekend Away - Skamp's New Car -Mitsubishi Outlander goes to Molloy Island, Margaret River and Yallingup
Our car even knew it was on the ferry!


Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Summer BBQ - Pumpkin and Miso Slaw

Summer BBQ - Pumpkin and Miso Slaw

I am lucky enough to have just over a week off for my company's Christmas shut-down and I had grand plans to make up for the current decline in my blog posts and prep a whole bunch for the new year. Then I would catch up on reading other blogs and spring clean my desk area and re-arrange the spare room and do some gardening. And. And. And I have done none of it. Today is the first day I've even been willing to turn my computer on. This has been officially my laziest Christmas break. I've actually used it as a break! Lots of book reading and beach going and lazy shopping.

Hopefully everyone has had a fabulous holiday period. I certainly did, celebrating with both families, eating up a storm. In lieu of a big night tonight (with Lance not getting January 1st off), we also had our now traditional New Year's Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve BBQ. But tonight we will have a quiet BBQ at home with the best of intentions to stay awake until midnight. And we will be eating this salad. 

This is currently one of my favourite salads. It is super easy to make, and can be made a day or two in advance if necessary. It is the perfect salad to take to a BBQ. It is a vinegar-based slaw, rather than the mayonnaise based coleslaw that most Australian's are more familiar with, which makes it a much lighter dish. Instead of carrot, I use pumpkin with red onion and silverbeet (chard) for colour. The salt comes from the delightfully savoury taste of miso paste, whilst maple adds a sweet touch against the vinegar. A touch of sriracha adds a faint spice, without too much heat. Toasted pumpkin seeds round out the texture perfectly.

I am not the hugest fan of raw onion in salads, which is why I added the step to sit the onion in vinegar first. It takes a little of the onion's punch out. Feel free to skip this step if you are an onion lover.

This makes a large amount of salad, but as I said, it keeps a few days in the fridge so you can have it as leftovers if you aren't serving it to a crowd.

Happy New Year my lovely readers, and I promise my posts will get a little more on-track in 2015!


Summer BBQ - Pumpkin and Miso Slaw
Summer BBQ - Pumpkin and Miso Slaw
Summer BBQ - Pumpkin and Miso Slaw
Summer BBQ - Pumpkin and Miso Slaw



Pumpkin Miso Slaw

1 small butternut pumpkin
¼ head cabbage
3 leaves silverbeet
¼ cup toasted pepitas
½ white onion
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, divided
2 tbsp miso paste
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tsp sriracha (or to taste)
Salt & pepper to taste


Thinly slice the onion into half moons, cover with the 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar and set aside whilst you prepare everything else.


Grate (by hand, or in a food processor) the pumpkin, finely shred the cabbage and silverbeet. Mix together in a large bowl.


Add all the dressing ingredients to a jar and shake until well combined. Taste for seasoning, adjust as required. Pour over the salad and mix well to coat everything. Mix the onion into the salad. Set aside for half an hour for the acid in the vinegar to soften the pumpkin.


Just before serving, toss through the pumpkin seeds


Summer BBQ - Pumpkin and Miso Slaw
Summer BBQ - Pumpkin and Miso Slaw