Corn bread

1 cup polenta
1 cup yellow maize flour (makki atta)
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 tsp bi-carb
2 tsp baking power
1 tsp salt (or none!)
1 1/4 cup milk

Sift together dry ingredients. Mix egg with milk then mix with flours.

Melt butter into skillet (that is oven proof). Pour in mixture and cook over flame for 3 minutes. Place in heated 160 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Turn out onto rack.

This turned out a bit thin so try double recipe next time.

Also try some wheat flour rather than all corn flour as source recipe suggested.

Ham pasta bake

Cook pasta with whatever veges are around like broccoli and green beans. Fry up finely chopped onion, capsicum and chopped ham. Make a white sauce and add grated cheese. Mix all together in oven dish. Top with home-made pesto mixed with breadcrumbs. Bake at 160 degrees about 30 minutes.

Result: 4 (bonus points for hidden veges)
Preparation: somewhat involved, but a warming and tasty result. Lots of dishes.

Steamed snapper with black bean

Snapper fillets in red plastic steamer. Tsp of black bean sauce on top, and shredded spring onion and ginger. Steam for about 8 minutes. Serve with rice and stir-fried veges.

Result: 4
Preparation: what preparation?

Beef in Red Wine

1 kg large diced casserole beef. One large onion, three cloves of Garik, one carrot, mushrooms. Two cups of red wine, three frozen cubes of chicken stock, three bay leaves, two small sprigs of Rosemary.

Brown beef in batches. Saute the onions\garlic\carrot\mushrooms in the pan, scraping the base to remove stuck beef. Sprinkle two table spoons of plain flour into pane and mix well. Add wine and stock cubes, bring to the boil then allow to thicken slightly. Add beef and herbs.

Simmer low for 2 hours or until meat is very tender.

Transfer to a warm serving dish and allow to rest for a few minutes.

Serve with potatoes or plain polenta. Probably should have some green veg too.

Result: 5, nice!

Poached Pears with an Asian Twist

Make sugar syrup of one cup of sugar to 2 cups water. Dissolve and then simmer for 5 minutes. While simmering add a Cinnamon stick, two star anise and a two slices of lemon rind.

Peel 2 brown pears and poach in the syrup, until pears are tender.

Can leave to cool with pears in the liquid. Serve at room temperature with a dollop of yogurt or cream.

Result: 5. Sensational.

Pork Medallions with Cream & Dill on Lentils

Pork fillet in a piece, about 300g. Brown on all sides for a few minutes only, butter in the pan if possible. Move to a baking dish and bake in 150 C oven. Will take about 20 minutes to cook through. Rest for 5 minutes before cutting!

Cook French lentils.

For sauce cook some very finely chopped onion and garlic, in pork pan if not too blackened. Deglaze with white wine, about a cup. Add frozen chicken stock cubes. Reduce until slightly thickened. Add cream (lots!) and dill and reduce a little further.

Serve pork fillet sliced into thiock medallions on the lentils, pour over the cream sauce.

Accompany with steamed green beans.

Result: 5. Quite messy and time consuming but worth the effort.