Friday 29 December 2017

Recipe: Coffee Rub Kangaroo on Fig & Blue Cheese Salad with Roasted Beetroot

Dear Lovelies,

Ok, I admit it - the title of this post is quite a mouthful. Yet it doesn't even begin to capture all the yummy ingredients in it, let alone how amazing this tastes!

I did not come up with this myself from scratch. It is simply my own spin on two separate recipes I combined, as I liked some ingredients in one recipe and some in others. 


Turns out that this was a great decision, as the distinct, deer-like flavour of the kangaroo goes super well with the sweetness of the figs and blueberries. It's not overly sweet though (which I don't really like in a salad - in the end it's still a savoury dish), as the sharpness of the blue cheese cuts through it.

For best results, the kangaroo should not be cooked further than medium rare. 

Can be served warm or cold. It takes approximately 40 minutes (plus 30 minutes marinating time for the kangaroo) and feeds 3-4 people. Or 2 very hungry people :-)

For the kangaroo in coffee rub:
500g Kangaroo loins (steak and fillet also works)
2 tbs ground Coffee
1 tbs Brown Sugar
1 tbs Red Wine Vinegar
1 tsp each ground Coriander and ground Cumin
1 tsp Paprika
1/2 tsp each Salt and Pepper

For the salad base:
300g Rocket
50g Baby Spinach leaves
3 Figs
1/2 cup of Walnuts (roasted and in small pieces)
a handful of Blueberries
75g of Blue Cheese (a semi hard or hard style, nothing creamy)

For the roasted vegetables:
a bunch of Dutch Carrots (approx. 150g)
4 small Beetroot (one large on quartered works, too)
1/3 cup Olive Oil

To help you with time-management, the following order of steps is best:

Marinate the meat, then roast the vegetables. While they are in the oven, you can arrange the salad bed and lastly, fry the meat.

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius.

2. Prepare the meat: in a plastic bag or tupperware container, mix all ingredients and add your meat. Make sure you whirl it around in the spice mixture thoroughly. Put aside to warm up to room temperature for approx. 30 minutes.

3. Create little aluminium foil parcels by placing your bunch of carrots (green tops cut off) and beetroot in them separately, pouring the olive oil over it and wrapping it up. Place the veggies in an oven dish and roast them in the oven for 40 minutes.

4. Wash and spin dry your rocket and baby spinach and arrange on a platter. Quarter the figs and put them around the outside. Roast the walnuts, crumble the blue cheese and sprinkle both over the rocket and spinach leaves. Save the blueberries to sprinkle on top once the kangaroo and roasted veggies have their place.

5. Time for the kangaroo to jump into the frying pan. Sear all sides using high heat, cooking each side for approx. 4 minutes (cooking times will vary depending on type and thickness of meat). The vegetables should be ready now or you may have already taken them out - place the kangaroo in aluminium foil, wrap it up and place it in the still warm oven to rest for approx. 10 minutes.

6. Slice the kangaroo and together with the roast veggies arrange on salad bed. Don't forget to sprinkle your blueberries over it. Enjoy!

OPTION: For those of you who can't live without salad dressing: use the meat juice that has built up when the meat rested as a base, place in a small tupperware container. Add 2 tbs of balsamic vinegar and 2 tbs of live oil and shake vigorously. Pour over dish.






With Love,


Coffeebeanlilly

Thursday 28 December 2017

Boxing Day Sale Haul

Dear Lovelies,

For those of you who don't reside in Australia: Boxing Day is quite a shopping phenomenon. 
For those of you who live here: you either love it and get up really early or you hate it and stay as far away from shops that days as you can.

I thought I'd have to experience it at least once and although I'm not quite sure yet which group of the above I belong to, I still wanted to show you the pieces I got that day.

Admittedly, some of them were not reduced and I could've bought them any other day, but it's all one experience, right?

Do you normally go overboard on Boxing Day or do you think it's an overrated sales event?

With love,

Coffeebeanlilly



Cropped Top - $54.99
via H&M


Graphic Print Shirt - $54.99
via H&M


Bianca Spender - Midnight Check Looking Glass Top - reduced to $183 (from $465)
via David Jones


Bianca Spender - Midnight Check Artemis Skirt - reduced to $248 (from $495)
via David Jones


White Story - High Waisted Pants - reduced to $339.50 (from $485) 
via David Jones


Culottes - reduced to $45.95 (from $69.95)
via Zara


Striped Pants - $89.95
via Zara


Graphic Print Skirt - reduced to $45.95 (from $69.95)
via Zara


Striped Shirt - $59.95
via Zara



Polka Dot Shirt - reduced to $39.95 (from $49.95)
via Zara

Sunday 14 May 2017

The shoes you didn't think would work with culottes!

Dear Lovelies,

We're currently transitioning from summer to winter and Sydney tends to get quite chilly at night, but balmy during the day.

It's not too cold yet to wear culottes, but chilly enough that you want to wear closed shoes.
Culottes are quite amazing - they are super comfortable, yet look sophisticated. However, I always feel like they need to be worn with high heels in order not to make my legs appear to be super stubby.

When I was asked how I would wear a certain pair of brogues that I bought the other day, it made me think 'do they work with culottes?'. And the answer is: surprisingly yes!

So here it is: my interpretation of what I feel like works with feminine culottes: tomboy-brogues!

I'm not telling you anything new when I say try to keep it streamlined on top as you've already got a lot of volume going on at the bottom, but apart from that have fun with colours and textures!

All items shown below are currently available from:

Culottes: Piper
Shoes - Zazou
Blouse - Zara
Bag - Louis Vuitton







With love,

Coffeebeanlilly