Monday, January 26, 2009

Australia Day 2009



Today is Australia Day. It is celebrated on 26 January as it was on this day in 1788 that the first European settlers arrived in Sydney Cove. There are a number of ways you can choose to celebrate, but we went pretty low key, but I have to say it was very good day.

Because I had some family members coming for dinner the first thing was to do the cleaning (the not so pleasant part of the day but it needed to be done!) and then the shopping, but once all that was out of the way, it all came together nicely.

We did something that seems to be quintessentially Australian! We threw some prawns on the barbie. Now, I am not normally a huge fan of prawns on the barbie, because they can be overcooked really easily, but I found a new recipe that sounded nice so I thought I would give it a go. I am really glad that I did. It comes from my favourite recipe website where they collect lots of recipes from all different food magazines in one place.

Low-fat barbecued prawns with lime, chilli & coriander

Preparation Time

20 minutes
Cooking Time

25 minutes

Ingredients (serves 4)

* 2 tbs fresh lemon juice
* 1 tbs fish sauce
* 2 tsp olive oil
* 4 kaffir lime leaves, deveined, finely shredded crossways
* 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
* 3 small fresh red chillies, deseeded, chopped
* Salt & freshly ground black pepper
* 1kg (about 12) large green king prawns, peeled leaving head and tail intact, deveined
* 2 tbs roughly chopped fresh coriander
* Lemon wedges, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Combine the lemon juice, fish sauce, oil, lime leaves, garlic and chillies in a large ceramic or glass bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Add the prawns and toss gently until the prawns are coated in the marinade. Cover and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to marinate.
3. Heat a barbecue grill or chargrill on high. Cook the prawns in batches of 3-4 on preheated grill (depending on available space), brushing with the marinade, for 2-3 minutes each side or until they change colour, curl and shells are browned. Place the cooked prawns on a plate and cover loosely with foil to keep warm while cooking the remaining prawns.
4. Place the prawns on serving plates, sprinkle with the coriander and serve immediately with the lemon wedges if desired.



Mine didn't quite look like that because I used some frozen prawn cutlets, but they still tasted darned good! We followed that up with steak, marinated chicken, sausages, green salad and warm potato salad. Yum!

Fortunately I didn't have to make dessert as that was being made by the best cook in the family! Whenever you go to her house for dinner you roll back out, and to be honest I feel a little pressure to come up to standard when they come here! Beautiful individual meringues with cream and a combination of fruits was on the menu!

After that a table tennis tournament and Abba Singstar! Yes, I finally got to play my Christmas present after all this time. My son has played it loads but because my throat was so bad for so long after Christmas I hadn't had a chance.

Of course, if you were to ask my son what the highlight of today was, he would say it was getting to watch the WWE Royal Rumble live on pay TV, and so because I am a good mum, I got to watch some with him earlier today, and the rest on repeat tonight! I keep on telling him that it is rubbish, but I have to say that I find myself drawn into the story lines and characters. He is so obsessed with it at the moment it isn't funny! The bonus is that I get to perv at some very nice bodies. I did make a comment about liking one of the wrestler's hair tonight, and then every time a new one entered my son would ask me do you like their hair? What about the next one? I need to remember to keep those kinds of thoughts to myself a bit more!

I meant to mention that the weather has been amended for the next week. Instead of it being 39C Tuesday, 40C Wednesday, 35C Thursday and 34C on Friday, It is now going to be 38C on Tuesday, 41C on Wednesday, and then 40C on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I am not going to bother translating to fahernheit temperatures. Sufficed to say it is going to be damn hot!

9 comments:

  1. Happy Australia Day! You just made me hungry. :-)

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  2. It might make me hungry when I look at it tomorrow, but for now I am still completely stuffed from dinner!

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  3. Happy Australia Day! 41C: that is hot! I don't think I've ever experienced that.

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  4. Happy Australia Day Marg! The prawns sound yummy.

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  5. Happy Australia Day! I wish I could celebrate with some prawns on the barbie. ;)

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  6. Hi,

    Happy Australia Day! I learnt something new today. :)

    Nah, I'm not a fan of wrestling shows too. I'm clueless as to how some people can like them! The Royal Rumble is a wrestling show, right??

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  7. Josette, yep, the Royal Rumble is a wrestling show. I don't know who introduced wrestling to my child but whoever it was has a lot to answer for!

    Chris, I haven't experienced a lot of your really cold temperatures, so I guess that evens things out a little!

    Dar, they really were. And the good thing is that I still have some prawns left over in teh freezer! Yum!

    Amy and Actonbell, thanks for stopping by.

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  8. Happy Australia Day! Boy 41 c is hot enough to fry an egg on the hood of your car! LOL!

    ReplyDelete

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