• Mandarin Orange Chicken

    Sometimes comfort food means cooking what your mom used to make when you were a kid.  Today’s recipe is just that.  She didn’t make it too often but I was always excited when she did.  If I had my way, I would have just eaten the rice and the sauce.  Of course now that I am an adult and I run my own household, I can do what I want, but I admit nothing.  Nothing!Mandarin Orange Chicken ~ Living the Savory Life

  • Chuck Steak Shepherd’s Pie

    It has been quite cold the past week.  The cold and rainy weather is making me crave all things comfort food and the other night the comfort dish I was craving was Shepherd’s Pie.  But I really wasn’t wanting Shepherd’s Pie with ground beef so I decided to give it a go with chuck steak instead.  It took a bit longer than if I had used ground beef but the result was so worth it and the hands on time was minimal.  Alternatively this is a great way to use up leftover pot roast.

  • Steak and Potato Salad with Mustard Dressing

    Steak and Potato Salad with Mustard Dressing ~ Living the Savory LifeSo it seems that Sunday Gravy was my 50th post!  Who knew?!  And it only took me two plus years to get there.  So hooray for an LSL milestone!  Let’s hope the 100th isn’t another two years away.  I’m glad my 50th was Sunday Gravy.  I really like that recipe but don’t worry #51 isn’t a bad one either.  (really great transition there Laur; really great)  Anyway……Steak and Potato Salad with Mustard Dressing ~ Living the Savory Life

  • Prawn and Chorizo Skewers

    A couple weeks ago I was invited to a party at a good friend’s house.  She asked me to arrive a bit early to help out, but truthfully, she had everything done when I got there so I think she was really just up for a bit of a chat.  In any case, I dragged myself out of bed early and made an extra strong coffee to get all the limbs and the mind functioning.  Off to the market I went.  I wanted to make a dish to add to the spread but it would have to be something I could prepare at her house because I had nearly an hour on the train and didn’t want to be carrying a platter of food. Not to mention it would be bad by the time I got there.  So I decided on something relatively simple; prawn and chorizo skewers. I knew the fish monger would be happy to put my prawns on ice for me and the chorizo would be fine as well so I wasn’t worried about a thing.  I turned my music on, put in the earbuds and off I went!Prawn and Chorizo Skewers ~ Living the Savory Life

  • Red Wine Braised Lamb Shanks

    Today, friends, I have a fantastic weekend dinner for you.  One that you let cook all afternoon and then sit down with good wine and good company to savor.  It’s the kind of dish you take a bite of and melt right into.  The kind where you take your time to eat and drag it out because there’s good food, good wine and good conversation and you have nowhere you’d rather be.  These are my favorite kind of meals.Red Wine Braised Lamb Shanks ~ Living the Savory Life

  • Split Pea and Ham Soup

    Winter is quickly approaching here in Australia.  I love winter cooking!  It gets colder and you want to turn the stove and oven on and you crave the hot bowls of soup and stew.

    Last week we had a rainy coldish day and I jumped right on it with an easy one pot winter meal.  Split pea and ham soup did the trick!  Pea and ham soup is a great one to make when you’ve had a big family ham dinner and have a bone left over.  However, no need to wait until then to whip up a pot.  Check with your butcher for ham hocks (I’ve seen them call bacon hocks here too) or go to the deli and ask there.  Many times they will have ham bones on hand.  I found mine at Queen Vic Market in the deli hall.  He was quite happy to sell it to me and there was still a fair bit of meat on the bone.Split Pea and Ham Soup ~ Living the Savory Life

  • Christmas Recap and Prawn Cocktail

    DSC_0709The holiday season was SO busy for us, but I’m guessing that statement is not unique to me.  I hope you all have had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  I know I was so spoiled with not one, not two, but THREE Christmases!  How does a girl get so lucky?  I had one with my family in November in the US, one with just my better half in the middle of December in Perth and a third with his family on Christmas in Melbourne.  It was a whirlwind of food and family and presents too!

  • Lamb Ragu

    Lamb Ragu ~ Living the Savory LifeI once entered into a pasta sauce cooking competition with my team at work.  We were to each make a pot of our own homemade sauce and we would be judged by our peers.  So I made sauce!!  And it was good!!  Really good!!  And I lost….  The sauce I made was a really fantastic red sauce with small meatballs.  Compared to the sauce that won, mine wasn’t particularly hearty and considering I was feeding a team of ten men, it was a big error on my part.  I didn’t cook to my audience.  I wanted my audience to love what I wanted to make.  Lesson learned eh?