It Begin's With Steak

Hello friends! Yes, my much publicised cooking blog (didn't I tell you about it?) has finally come to fruition. Inspired in part by the movie Julie and Julia (...), but largely by my complete inability to do anything in the kitchen (cooking or otherwise), I have taken it upon myself to cook my way through a cookbook. And what better time to do it then in my 20 week working holiday in regional Victoria!

The Town: Horsham, Victoria.

A one street town with 7 pubs and a supposedly fantastic Thai restaurant, which ironically enough is closed for renovations. I am here doing my surgery rotation under the incredibly talented and incredibly fast Mr Campbell, quite literally a Horsham institution.

The Book: Cook With Jamie, By Jamie Oliver.

Yes, he's a media whore, and yes, he has a stupid lisp, but there's no denying the man can cook and he has an infectious enthusiasm for food. This particular book includes not only recipes but also hints about buying and preparing food. Useful for a cooking tragic like me.

The Challenge: Cook, as best I can.

4 days in and I realise that my biggest challenge will be finding the time to shop for food, let alone cook it. My base hours are 7am to 4:30pm, however already this week I've worked 3 evening cover shifts which take me to 8pm. Because of this, it's unlikely I'll have the time to cook my way through the entire book. My aim is to cook at least one main per week, with a nice side dish or salad thrown in there for good measure. Maybe a dessert. I do like dessert.

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So here we are. Thursday, June 6th, 2010. I'm sitting at my laptop after a hard day's standing and watching surgeons do things, horrible yet incredible things. I managed to get my afternoon off yesterday and drove into town to do some shopping.

Problem 1: Horsham is not a foodie town. It has a half-decent grocer and some butchers, but mostly I'm going to rely on the goods on offer at Coles or Safeway.

Problem 2: How do you cook for one person? Especially big dishes which say servings for 4? The quantities you buy aren't made for single serve dishes. Why does the world hate us lonely heart's so? I decided to just blow my money and buy big; I'll figure it out later.

Problem 3: I get home and discover my kitchen is quite ill-equipped. 1 pot, 2 pans, 1 small plastic mixing bowl, plus some other odds and ends. No wooden spoons, no whisks, no chopsticks!

But enough whining. Let's cook!

Zucchini Fritters with Chillis and Mint

I'm just gonna skip over this one because it was an absolutely disaster. Too much egg, not enough flavour, and they didn't really hold together. Shame, coz I was really excited about this one.

Fillet Steak with White Beans and Leek

I discover that leeks are easy to slice, and butter and butter beans are awesome. Thrown together with thyme, garlic, parsley, white wine and olive oil, I created a super creamy, super tasty white been and leek thing that doesn't look so great but really pops in the mouth. This one's a winner.

Unfortunately I ruined the dish by overcooking my steak. Stupid Masterchef distracted me :(. Something I learnt online: to know how well your steak is cooked, feel the steak and compare it against the palm muscle at the base of your thumb. With your thumb relaxed, it's rare. With your thumb and 1st finger together, it's medium-rare. Thumb and 2nd finger: medium, and so on. I'm not sure if this actually works, but give it a shot!

As a side note, had a smell of all my ingredients before I threw them all into the pan. The main thing I really wanted to get out of all of this is learning all the smells and flavours of different ingredients. I'm gonna make it a point to smell everything. Everything!

So that's it! My first cooking misadventure. Some early misfires for sure, but the beans are awesome. I'm going home for the long weekend and planning on bringing back some cooking utensils. Hopefully I'll have enough to follow the recipes properly next week! Wish me luck guys.

Now for some cheesy sign off line. Umm...