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    Thursday, January 22, 2009

    Gilli's Chilli and Rice Casserole - In honour of Mr Obama

    Wednesday 21st January 2009 NZ Time
    Today is the start of a new age - The Barack Obama Age.
    This morning our time, he was inaugurated as 44th President of the US of A
    I listened to the ceremony on my little transistor radio very early this morning.
    The reception is less than memorable and most the time I have to hold the little radio in the air.
    But it was worth it. His speech was stunning.
    I took this shot around 7am, I thought it was worth recording.
    What a beautiful day…what a good start to this new age.

    Luckily for us we are tied up with Silverado and Geoff has My Sky and he recorded the ceremony, so we spent the morning watching this momentous occasion.
    How is that…here we are in Whangaroa Harbour, on the other side of the world…on a boat… through the wonders of technology able to watch this world event

    We were blown away with this charismatic man – if anyone can get the people going again in this global situation he will I’m sure.
    What an orator.
    I love the fact that he included 2 lines from this song written for Fred Astaire and Ginger Roger’s 1936 movie “Swing time”
    Lyrics by Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern

    "Pick yourself up
    Dust yourself off"

    I was inspired to sing
    "Let’s start all over again"

    Such a great sentiment. Go Obama
    Here is our future
    Isn't that fabulous?
    But onto food I made a good dish yesterday.
    As a starter we were lucky enough to have a beautiful whole snapper grilled
    Courtesy of Laurian off Silverado
    It was slashed, covered in coriander, parsley, salt, pepper and lemon, a touch of garlic some olive oil
    It was fabulous but would you believe that I didn’t take a shot of any of the glorious food.
    Smack my hand.
    Anyway we followed it with the My Chilli
    Really simple.
    I like to use tinned Mexican style beans all prepared for you but I do add some spices of my own and of course tinned tomatoes

    500 gms mince
    1 tablespoon olive oil
    Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
    1 teaspoon cumin
    1 teaspoon celery salt
    1 teaspoon dried oregano
    1 teaspoon chili flakes

    1 more tablespoons olive oil
    1 onion sliced
    1 small carrot chopped
    2 cloves garlic crushed and chopped
    1 tin Mexican beans
    1 tin cherry tomatoes in juice

    First
    Brown the mince in olive oil
    Season with spices
    Cook for a couple of minutes
    Remove from pan set aside

    Saute onion, garlic and carrot till soft
    Add back the mince
    Plus beans and tomatoes.

    Check seasoning and adjust if necessary
    If the beans are not hot enough some more chilli flakes would be good.

    Cook gently for about 30 minutes
    This improves on hanging about but you can eat it straight away.

    Serve with Steamed rice mixed with fresh coriander leaves
    Pop some sour cream and extra coriander leaves on the top

    Excellent.

    Now we had left overs and I forgot to put the leftover rice in the fridge.
    Sat on top of the stove all night.
    Bit worried that I might poison us, (a bit like Ruth Reichl’s mother!)
    so I decided I should turn these leftovers into
    A Chilli Casserole
    "Gilli's Chilli and Rice Casserole"
    Baked in the oven that will kill any stray bacteria.

    So as this kind of dish a bit like the Famous American Tuna Casserole
    I dedicate it to Mr Obama and his beautiful family
    First I made a béchamel sauce
    2 tablespoons butter
    2 tablespoons flour
    Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
    1 1/2 cups milk

    3 tablespoons grated cheese

    Left over rice and chili
    Extra grated cheese and 2 tablespoons fresh coriander
    1 tablespoon Panko breadcrumbs

    Make the roux
    Add milk and cook till thickened
    Add cheese
    Season
    Add rice and chili
    Mix well
    Into casserole dish and top with Grated cheese and coriander and the Panko breadcrumbs.

    Bake medium hot oven about 30 minutes

    This was fabulous we greedily ate it all, we should have shared it, but it was too good.

    So in the words of Dorothy Fields

    "Nothing's impossible I have found,
    For when my chin is on the ground,
    I pick myself up,
    Dust myself off,
    Start All over again."

    3 comments:

    FH said...

    Casserole looks delcious and kids there look happy, ocean and mountains are beautiful and peaceful, what more could you want? :))

    Yeah, we were glued to TV watching it all. They bungled the Oath!!! Ah...!! He took oath again in privacy today!! :D

    Usual work day for adults and school for kids on that day but looking forward to some action in near future! :))

    Lisa Johnson said...

    What a wonderful post Gilli! It's so nice to have a President we can be proud of.

    So So Simple said...

    Thanks Asha and Anali
    10 days on wonder how he is feeling now?
    So much work so many people relying on him
    We wish him all the luck in the world.