TRAV’S MUSCLE MADNESS

When Michael Borg (‘Borgy’) threw down the $10 campfire meal challenge, I headed straight to my favourite East Gippsland hideaway. There’s a spot there near the entrance, hidden just below the surface where barnacle encrusted mussels grow wild on the ancient rocks. They live in a cocktail of water running down from the Great Dividing Range, splashing into the Tasman Sea. They are the magical ingredient in my $10 challenge. What’s more, they’re 100 percent free. This recipe was passed on by a salty old Italian fisherman, so it’s guaranteed to be simple yet flavoursome

INGREDIENTS

• A handful of East Gippsland mussels, barnacles and all! – Free
• 1 x glass of dry white wine (semillon) – just
• a splash so you don’t go over the budget
• 2 x cloves of chopped garlic – $0.45
• 2 x diced brown onions – $1.10
• Olive oil
• 2 x tins crushed tomatoes – $3.00
• 1 x finely chopped mild chili – $0.50
• Handful of parsley – $1.49 (market)
• 1 x packet of flat pasta – $1.64

GRAND TOTAL – $8.18

PREPARATION

Start with a large pot for the mussels and a smaller pot for the pasta. Add some water to the smaller pot and bring to boil, but don’t add the pasta yet. Sample the wine. Brown the garlic and onion in the large pot with the oil, and then add the crushed tomatoes. Once mixed, add a glass of white wine, pop the lid on and simmer on low. Drink glass of wine.

Time to add the pasta to the pot of now-boiling water. Sprinkle some salt and olive oil into the pot so it looks like you know what you’re doing. Now chop the chilli fine and throw in the red broth with all the mussels as well. You’ll wish you had a bigger pot at this point. Give it the pepper treatment and stir the mussels through. Have another glass of wine.

Simmer until the mussels open – and then just enough for the meat to firm up a little bit (about five mins). Serve on top of the now cooked pasta with some parsley on top for effect. Eat the closed ones. Mop up with some crusty bread if the budget allows! Finish with a glass of wine if there’s any left. – Travis Godfredson

RACH’S CORIANDER, LEMON AND CHILLI PORK BALLS

I’m fond of a bargain or two, so I thought I had this challenge in the bag, but it took me a few attempts to get it right, once I factored in the cost of spices and sauces. Thankfully, my local market set me straight with fresh coriander at a bargain price of 79c a bunch, and unpackaged veg for a genuine tasty $10 meal.

INGREDIENTS

1. Onion, finely chopped – $0.31
2. Three cloves fresh garlic, minced – $0.44
3. 2 fresh chilies – $0.26
4. 500g pork mince – $3.75 (you’ll need to shop around)
5. Dinner roll – $0.35
6. Sweet chili sauce – $1.89
7. The rind from a lemon – $0.62
8. Coriander bunch – $0.79 (market)
9. Vermicelli rice noodles – $1.29
10. 1 carrot – $0.26

GRAND TOTAL – $9.96

PREPARATION

Fry the onion on low heat until soft, then add the garlic and chilli (with or without the seeds, up to you) then cool. Place the mince in a bowl, grate the dinner roll and hold it together with a splash of sweet chilli sauce. Add in the rind, a fistful of finely chopped coriander and the onion, garlic, and chilli.

Roll into balls and flatten. Fry the outside, then place in an alloy-lined camp oven and bake for 15 minutes, or just char the living be-Jesus until they’re cooked through. Next, soak the noodles in warm water per the instructions and serve with more chilli sauce and diced carrot.

If I’m honest, my girls (aged three and six) preferred the spag boll mentioned in last month’s edition, probably due to the ‘green bits’, so I’m going to use dried spices next time. My husband loved them, stealing my next day’s lunch when I wasn’t looking.

TOP TIP

If you’re not a fan of chilli, omit the fresh chillis and replace the sweet chilli sauce with plum sauce.

Category: Cooking
Written: Sun 01 Oct 2017
Printed: October, 2017
Published By: