hot smoked paprika milk steak marinade

A smoky milk steak marinade.

I hereby briefly interrupt my interstate travel journals to bring you this simply smokin' steak marinade recipe. It's a recent experiment and it's super easy, so easy that there is really no excuse for not trying it. Go on now, caress your steak with milk and let those warm, seductive paprika notes sing...

hot smoked paprika milk marinade 
(makes enough for 2 steaks)

1/3 cup milk
4 teaspoons hot smoked paprika

Mix milk and hot smoked paprika together to create the marinade. That's it! You may add more flavours with minced garlic and herbs, if you like. You may also add salt to season it now, or you may decide to salt your steaks later - just before grilling, or even afterwards.

Alternatively, mix together just enough milk and hot smoked paprika together to form a paste, and rub all over the steaks.

how to use this smoky marinade:

Marinade for at least 1 hour, but 2+ hours or overnight would be even better for greater flavour infusion. If the meat is not well-immersed in the marinade, flip it every now and then.

(Vegetarians: I imagine you can use this smoky milk marinade for things like vegetables, tofu, tempeh, and mock meats, too.)

When you're ready to eat, remove steaks from marinade, oil the pan, and cook those juicy hunks to your liking. Serve the steaks with a sprinkle of salt, plus a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil or a slice of butter. Alternatively, you cook the marinade to create a sauce to go with the steaks - see below.

what to do with the leftover marinade?

You can try simmering the leftover paprika milk marinade along with some butter to reduce it down to a sauce that can go nicely with your steaks. Alternatively, save it and use it later in another dish - quiche, gratin, scrambled eggs and whatever else takes your fancy...

Hot smoked paprika milk steak.

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sweet, savoury, spicy peanut sauce dressing

This peanut sauce came into my life at just the right time. I had almost forgotten how awesome a thick, creamy, warm and spicy peanut sauce can be, and this one certainly served as a reminder of what I've been missing out on all this time. It's simple, but it really hits the spot. If you're ever in need of a salad dressing that encourages you to eat your vegetables, give this sweet, savoury, spicy peanut sauce a whirl. It had me gobbling up all those leafy greens in record time... and I was asking for more by the end of it.

If you've not attempted your own peanut sauce before, this basic recipe is an easy one to follow, and I've opted for fairly common ingredients, which means you don't have to make a special trip to the Asian grocery store. So what are you waiting for? Make it. And lick it off the spoon while you're making it.

You know you want to.

sweet, savoury, spicy peanut sauce dressing.

sweet, savoury, spicy peanut sauce dressing

1/2 cup peanuts
1 cup coconut milk
2 long red chillies*, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon raw sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice
subtle pinch of powdered spices e.g. cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, coriander seed (optional)

Toast peanuts in a pan until fragrant. Move them around constantly in the pan when toasting so that they don't burn.
Combine toasted peanuts, coconut milk, chillies, garlic, salt and sugar in a blender or food processor and blitz until it forms a mostly smooth mixture (I like mine with a slight hint of chunkiness).
Transfer to a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the sauce is thoroughly warm and the flavours are coming together beautifully. If it becomes too thick, add a little more water or coconut milk.
Add lime juice and spices to taste, if using. Remove from heat and it's ready for consumption!

*The chillies I used are moderately spicy. Adjust the amount of chillies you use according to their individual spiciness, and personal preference. You may also tone down the heat by removing their seeds before using.

Use this peanut sauce to dress up your salads, splash it into stir-fries, or enjoy it as a dip or marinade. Store any leftover peanut sauce in a covered container in the fridge. It should keep for at least two days. The sauce will thicken and solidify in the fridge, but this is easily remedied by warming it up again and adding a little more water if necessary.

I paired this peanut sauce with a haphazard assortment of blanched vegetables (bean sprouts, cabbage, long beans, baby spinach, bok choy), fried tofu and boiled eggs to create a not-quite-but-almost-traditional version of gado-gado, a delicious salad famous in Indonesia. I ate this on Friday. I ate more on Saturday. I wish I could tell you I ate it today, too, but regrettably, it was all gone. Devoured. Finito. So here I am, reminiscing about my wonderfully nutty weekend, and sharing this blog post with you. Enjoy.

a creamy southeast asian peanut sauce dressing - goes beautifully with salads like gado-gado.

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tzatziki-inspired lemongrass yoghurt dip

lemongrass yoghurt dip, garnished with a lemongrass stirrer and a pinch of lemongrass-garlic paste.

Sometimes I just have days when I feel pretty lazy and unmotivated. New Year's Day was one of them. Luckily, the supermarket was open and I managed to pick up some great bargains for a quick lunch - a pack of garlic naan bread and a tub of lentil salad from the Indian deli section for $1 each!

Even though I wasn't in a cooking mood, I thought I'd still put in a little effort somehow, so whilst at the supermarket I also picked up a few fresh ingredients, thinking that perhaps I would make a quick and easy dip to go with lunch - tzatziki, in particular, was on my mind. But when I got home, I started to think about a stalk of leftover lemongrass I had tucked away in the fridge.

You know what that means - it's time for another one of my spontaneous creations!

grinding the chopped green parts of the lemongrass stalk into a paste.

I love lemongrass. What I don't love is how the green part of the stalk is so often neglected and discarded. Yes, it's a little tougher, and a little less fragrant... but it's a big, big world. There's gotta be a place for it, right? So I came up with the following recipe. The white parts should also work nicely, and you can use a mix of the two, but I only used the green parts of the stalk here. Try it! You may be pleasantly surprised.

adding the garlic, lemongrass and lime juice to the yoghurt.

seasoning my lemongrass garlic yoghurt dip with salt and pepper medley.

tzatziki-inspired lemongrass yoghurt dip

1/2 cup natural or greek yoghurt
the green part of one lemongrass stalk, tough outer husk removed
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 tablespoon lime juice
salt and pepper, to taste

- Chop up the green parts of the lemongrass stalk, and grind with a mortar and pestle, breaking down the fibres until it forms a green paste. You may add a few drops of water or lime juice to assist the process.
- Add the chopped garlic and continue grinding. This should create a juicy and pungent pale green mixture.
- Combine this into the yoghurt along with the lime juice, then add salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.
- Use this as you would tzatziki - as a dip, sauce or salad dressing - with lamb, pita, crackers, or fresh vegetables such as carrot and cucumber.
- If you make it in advance you can cover and place it in the fridge for several hours or overnight. The flavours will develop even further.

This healthy, zingy lemongrass yoghurt dip was lovely, tangy and aromatic. But the important question is, how did it go with that garlic naan?

Well. This was how it went:

Garlic Naan: You... complete me.
Lemongrass Yoghurt Dip: Shut up. Just - shut up. You had me at hello.

I had my lemongrass yoghurt dip with garlic naan, lentil salad and fresh Lebanese cucumbers.

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homemade bbq sauce + grilled chicken wings

A couple of weekends ago, I decided to make my own bbq sauce. While I've thrown together quick marinades and dressings before, I've never actually made an American-style bbq sauce. I think perhaps I should have simmered it down... as it was, it ended up being still just more like a marinade after all. I'm posting it up because I'm still pretty happy with it!

the fresh ingredients for bbq sauce

Looking at the ingredients of several bbq sauces, they vary quite wildly but what I gathered was that generally you want something sour, something sweet, something salty and something savoury/spicy. With that in mind, I came up with this...

homemade barbecue sauce/marinade

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
1 tablespoons tomato sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 chilli, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 a single celery stalk, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon ginger powder

- Process all ingredients (except tomato sauce, blackstrap molasses and ginger powder) in a blender until smooth.
- Place blended mixture in a bowl and stir in tomato sauce, blackstrap molasses and ginger powder until fully combined.
- Let stand for a few hours, OR simmer it down in a saucepan until thick and sticky (read further for more of my thoughts on this).

Be warned, this will smell fairly strong! But it will mellow down after you let it stand for a few hours. This bbq sauce can be used to marinate your meat of choice, or even vegetables. The above yielded enough for about half a dozen generously sized chicken wings. As I didn't simmer it down, the sauce wasn't very thick and sticky so instead of saving some to keep for serving with the wings later like a proper bbq sauce, I just used it all up as a marinade. Hmm... now I'm thinking perhaps that would've been worth a try after all. Even though the consistency wasn't that of a traditional bbq sauce, I still liked the taste - and it had a freshness that a cooked version wouldn't have.

I used it all as a marinade. Wish I'd saved some to use as a dip for later!

After letting my chicken wings soak up the marinade for a few hours, I grilled them and they turned out golden brown and succulent, with a sweet, savoury, spicy hint from the bbq marinade. So my bbq sauce adventure may not have turned out quite the way I wanted, but it still had a nice ending after all.

the grilled chicken wings had a nice touch of flavour from the bbq marinade, and were very juicy!

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