Kate's Crazy Culinary Creations

Well this is a pretty easy recipe and once you cook the pumpkin and beetroot cooked it is pretty quick to throw together. But it is tasty and well received every time I make it. Firstly to cook the beetroot. I am a bit of a cheater when it comes to 'roasting' the beetroot. I put a pot of water on the hot plate and bring it to the boil. I then cut the root and leaves off three beetroots and place them in the pot once it is boiling. I boil them in the water for 15 minutes. While they are boiling away I cut up the pumpkin. I use butternut. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius. Cut it into 1.5 cm cubes and spread out over a baking tray. Season with salt and pepper and spray with cooking spray. (You can drizzle with olive oil but I don't like to have too much oil and find the cooking spray does the job because you are just trying to ensure that they don't stick.) Once your beets have been boiling away for 15 minutes remove them and pat off any excess water with pap...

After seeing 'The Hundred-Foot Journey' last weekend I was inspired to cook some French food. So I went to Julia Child's 'Mastering The Art of French Cooking' looking for inspiration. I came across this recipe and there wasn't anything in it that I didn't like so the decided to give it a go. Firstly I prepared a chicken. I decided that I would buy a whole chicken and cut it up myself but you could us 4-5 Maryland for the recipe. Once the chicken is ready season it and set it aside. Cut a 90 gram chunk of bacon into pieces approximately 2.5 cm by .5 cm. Bring a small pot to the boil and place the bacon pieces into the water and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the bacon from the water and rinse under cold water. Pat dry. Put 2 tablespoons of butter into a heavy based cast casserole pot over a medium heat. Once the butter is melted put the bacon in the pan. Cook off until the bacon is lightly brown. Remove from the pan and set aside. Pat the chicken dry a...

I had a few spare hours up my sleeve so I decided to make something a little more challenging. I had this recipe on my bucket list to try. So here goes. Firstly the Pastry for the pie base. Put 250 grams of sifted plain flour, 2 tablespoons of icing sugar and 125 grams of chilled butter into a food processor. And combine until they form a breadcrumb consistency. Now add 1 egg yolk and 3 tablespoons of chilled water and pulse until combined. Tip out the pastry on the bench and bring it together. Pat into disc about 20 cm round and wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Remove from the fridge and roll out the pastry to about 5mm thick and line a 24 cm pie tin. Trim the excess pastry and return to the fridge for 20 minutes. Remove from the fridge and fill with pastry weights, (I lined mine with baking paper and filled it with rice.) Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the pastry weights and return to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. Whil...

Well winter has definitely hit Melbourne and boy has it been cold. When the weather is cold there is nothing better than a hearty soup. And this soup is that. First you start by rinsing a whole chicken (around 1.3 kg is perfect) and pat dry. In a large pot put the whole chicken; 3 celery sticks, a leek, 4 garlic cloves and a handful of parsley coarsely chopped & 10 black peppercorns. Add enough water to cover the chicken. Bring the pot to the boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat, partially cover and simmer for 1 hour. Check every 20 minutes and skim off any fat that rises to the surface. After an hour remove the chicken and set aside. Continue to simmer the remaining stock for a further 15 minutes. Strain the stock through a sieve over a large bowl. Throw the solids away. When the chicken is cool, remove the skin and shred the chicken, removing the bones. Set aside for now. Place 1.5 litres of the stock in a pot over a high heat until boiling. Once boiling, reduce the heat a...