Eating the Coat of Arms
Mar. 29th, 2007 11:42 amI don't eat a lot of meat. There's no particular moral, ethical or health reason behind it - I just really like cooking with fresh vegetables, and I'm slowly learning how to cook fish. The biggest problem with only cooking meat every few months is that I start forgetting how to cook with it...
It's been ages since I last wrote anything food-related, but I've always found it useful to jot down some notes after experimenting with something new. This isn't really a recipie (no quantities, no real order of operations), but it's a handy way of cooking game meat. It's also one of the rare times I've slowed down and spent longer than 15 min cooking dinner.
Kangaroo steaks:
Kangaroo is lean. Really, really lean. This is good for people who want to get their iron and protein while watching their weight, but it makes it easy to completely destroy the meat when you cook it... anything beyond medium rare will ruin your meal by turning it into leather.
You can prepare the meat by marinating it a little. Let it slowly come to room temperature first, then season it by rubbing some olive oil and salt into it. I made a marinade with a splash of light soy, olive oil, and some juice from an anonymous citrus fruit (tastes like an orange, looks like a small lemon) that I picked at my parents' place. Let the kangaroo marinate for at least 20 min.
Oil up a pan, and heat it until the oil starts to smoke slightly - crank the stove up as far as it goes, as you need to cook quickly. Seal the steak for about a minute (rare) to a minute and a half (medium rare) on each side, and then wrap it tightly in a couple of layers of foil. Sit it on a wooden chopping board for about 15 min. This bit's important, as the 'rest time' is when you really cook the meat.
Once that's done, return the meat to the pan to heat it back through (another minute per side). Take it off the heat and slice it thinly with a good carving knife - don't use a serrated knife to carve! Serve with something a little sweet (roasted baby beetroot), something savoury (potato & sweet potato, mashed with roasted garlic and pepper) and something sharp (baby spinach salad with a mustard vinaigarette). Done!
Now, what's for lunch?
It's been ages since I last wrote anything food-related, but I've always found it useful to jot down some notes after experimenting with something new. This isn't really a recipie (no quantities, no real order of operations), but it's a handy way of cooking game meat. It's also one of the rare times I've slowed down and spent longer than 15 min cooking dinner.
Kangaroo steaks:
Kangaroo is lean. Really, really lean. This is good for people who want to get their iron and protein while watching their weight, but it makes it easy to completely destroy the meat when you cook it... anything beyond medium rare will ruin your meal by turning it into leather.
You can prepare the meat by marinating it a little. Let it slowly come to room temperature first, then season it by rubbing some olive oil and salt into it. I made a marinade with a splash of light soy, olive oil, and some juice from an anonymous citrus fruit (tastes like an orange, looks like a small lemon) that I picked at my parents' place. Let the kangaroo marinate for at least 20 min.
Oil up a pan, and heat it until the oil starts to smoke slightly - crank the stove up as far as it goes, as you need to cook quickly. Seal the steak for about a minute (rare) to a minute and a half (medium rare) on each side, and then wrap it tightly in a couple of layers of foil. Sit it on a wooden chopping board for about 15 min. This bit's important, as the 'rest time' is when you really cook the meat.
Once that's done, return the meat to the pan to heat it back through (another minute per side). Take it off the heat and slice it thinly with a good carving knife - don't use a serrated knife to carve! Serve with something a little sweet (roasted baby beetroot), something savoury (potato & sweet potato, mashed with roasted garlic and pepper) and something sharp (baby spinach salad with a mustard vinaigarette). Done!
Now, what's for lunch?
no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 05:23 am (UTC)I was tempted to try a chilli and dark chocolate (savoury) sauce that I saw a recipie for, but decided to keep it fairly simple this time. I think I have many tasty experiments ahead of me...
no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 05:27 am (UTC)