Australian Frilled Neck Lizard
The Frilled neck lizard is very unique to Australia varying in size up to 95cm long and weighing up to 500gms. Like many reptiles they absorb the heat of the sun which gives it the energy to live and hunt for food. It survives on eating insects, small lizards, ants, etc. Young lizards are hatched from eggs, (up to 20) laid in the ground, which once hatched are entirely independent. They live in northern and north western Australia, areas of a warm climate.
Helpers
Prawns = Shrimp
1 gill = 1/2 cup
Unless specified otherwise, all temps are in Fahrenheit
Flour = Unless otherwise stated, "flour" refers to plain flour.
All oven temperatures are based on the standard wood oven, gas oven and electric oven.
Fats, dripping, lard, etc can be substituted with your selected oils.
Special Recipes
Old Handy Hints & Ideas
Measure Conversions & Cooking Terms Link
Oven Temperatures & Reference Link
Lobster Savoury
Ingredients
1/4 cup butter
1 cup lobster meat
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup cold tinned or fresh cooked peas
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 lemon
Cayenne
Hot buttered toast
1 1/2 cups milk or cream.
Method
Melt butter in a pan. Add flour, salt and cayenne to taste. Gradually add milk or cream. Beat till smooth. Cut lobster into cubes and add. Add peas (if tinned, drain off liquor and rinse in cold water). If desired, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice may be added. Reheat and serve on triangles of hot butter toast.
HANDY HINT-Store a couple of small cans of tomato juice in your food cupboard, these are handy to add to soups, casseroles, stews, etc
Oyster Patties
Ingredients
4 oz rough puff pastry
1 doz oysters
3/4 oz flour
1 oz butter
4 1/2 tablespoons milk
Cayenne
Cream
Salt
Lemon Juice
Method
Make pastry, cut out with jam tart cutter, glaze and bake in a hot oven till golden brown. Melt butter and flour and stir until smooth, cook 1 minute, add milk and bring to boil, stirring all the time. Boil 2 minutes, add flavourings, beard and blanche oysters, add to the mixture, fill pastry cases with mixture and garnish with lemon and parsley.
Lobster Sauce
Ingredients
Piece of shelled lobster
1 oz. Flour
3/4 pint milk
Lemon juice
1 oz. Butter
Salt
Cayenne
Method
Cut lobster into pieces and simmer in milk for 30 minutes. Strain, melt butter, add flour, make into a smooth paste and cook 1 minute. Add strained milk gradually, stirring constantly till it boils. Add lemon juice, salt, cayenne, and the small pieces of lobster. Serve hot or cold.
HANDY HINT-Keep your hands moist with water when forming rissoles. The meat won't stick to your hands and the rissoles will shape easier.
Lobster n Sauce
Ingredients
1 small lobster
2 cups white sauce
1 tablespoon grated cheese
Breadcrumbs
Method
Cut up lobster, place in dish, and pour over hot white sauce. Cover with breadcrumbs and grated cheese. Bake in a hot oven for 10 minutes.
Small Prawns in Ramekins
Ingredients
1/2 oz. butter
Grated onion
1/2 oz. flour
1 dessertspoon cream
1 3/4 gills hot stock
1 pint prawns
1 dessertspoon tomato sauce
3 dessertspoons lemon juice
2 egg yolks
Breadcrumbs
Salt and cayenne.
Method
Heat butter, add flour, and stir till smooth. Add stock and tomato sauce and stir till boiling, cook for 3 minutes. Remove from fire and allow to cool slightly, add egg yolks, salt, cayenne, and grated onion to taste, lastly add cream. Reheat gently over a low fire, add prawns and when well heated remove from fire and carefully add lemon juice. Place mixture into buttered ramekin, sprinkle top lightly with breadcrumbs, add a tiny piece of butter, and brown lightly under hot griller.
HANDY HINT-Clean the hoses of a washing machine by pouring two cups of white vinegar into the machine then run through a normal cycle without clothes.
Small Prawns on Toast
Ingredients
2 oz. butter
1 gill pickled prawns
2 oz. anchovy paste
Lemon juice
Pinch cayenne
1 dessertspoon finely chopped parsley
14 rounds thin toast.
Method
Pound butter and anchovy paste, add cayenne, spread on toast, arrange shrimps on top of this in the form of a star.Sprinkle with lemon juice, sprinkle parsley in centre of each, serve on a plate with d’oyley and garnish with parsley.
Lobster Canapes
Ingredients
3 tablespoons lobster or crab flesh
Frying fat
3 tablespoons cream
Olives or gherkins
Salt
Lemon
Cayenne
1/2 dozen pieces round bread
Method
Chop lobster into small pieces, mix with cream and add flavourings. Fry bread a golden brown, spread with lobster paste and decorate with chopped olives or gherkins, garnish with slices of lemon and small lobster claws.
HANDY HINT-Help to retain their rich colour and prevent onions from burning, by adding a little milk with them whilst frying.
Crab Puffs
Ingredients
1/4 lb. savoury choux pastry
Salt and cayenne
1 teaspoon butter
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon flour
1 small tin crab
3/4 gill milk
Chopped parsley
Method
Make pastry and place it in teaspoonfuls on a greased tin, bake in a hot oven 20 minutes. Remove centre (if any), make melted butter sauce with butter, flour, and milk, flavour with salt, cayenne, and lemon juice. Break crab into small pieces and add to sauce. Fill pastry cases with this mixture, garnish with slices of lemon and sprigs of parsley.
Lobster Cream
Ingredients
1/2 lobster
1/2 pint thick white sauce
2 hard boiled eggs
2 teaspoons anchovy sauce
Salt and cayenne
1 tablespoon cream
Lemon juice
Toast or lobster shell for serving
1 tablespoon butter
Method
Take lobster from shell and cut into small pieces, shell the eggs (leaving 1 yolk whole for garnishing), cut white up finely. Place in a basin with salt, cayenne, and lemon juice. Place butter, white sauce, anchovy sauce, lobster, egg white, and 1 yolk in saucepan and stir till well heated. Remove from stove and add cream. Place on toast or fill shell with mixture and grate the remaining yolk over all. Place on a dish and garnish with lobster claws, slices of lemon, and sprigs of parsley.
HANDY HINT-If your cooking meal tastes of excess salt, add a peeled potato whilst still simmering. The potato will draw out the salt.
Lobster Cutlets
Ingredients
1/2 lobster
1 lemon
1 oz. flour
Anchovy sauce
1 oz. flour
Egg and breadcrumbs
Frying fat
1 gill milk or water
parsley
2 tablespoons cream
1 hard boiled egg
Salt and cayenne
Method
Cut lobster into small pieces, and add soft part of head, melt butter in small saucepan, stir in flour, and cook well. Add milk or water and stir till boiling. Add cream, salt, cayenne, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, anchovy sauce, and lobster. Place on a plate and allow to become cold. Take a small portion, place on floured board and make into a cutlet shape with a knife. Dip into beaten egg and then into breadcrumbs, wet dry, then drain. Place a small piece of claw into end of each cutlet then serve garnished with slices of lemon, sprigs of parsley, and chopped egg.
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Oyster Patties
Ingredients
Puff pastry
1 oz. butter
1 gill oyster liquor
1/2 oz. flour
1 gill milk
2 tablespoons cream
2 peppercorns
2 dozen Oysters
Few drops anchovy sauce
Parsley
1 lemon
Method
Make pastry, roll our 1/8 inch thick and cut out with a plain round cutter dipped in boiling water. Cut half way through rounds with a small cutter, bake in a hot oven 15 to 20 minutes. Bring oyster liquor, milk, and flavouring to boil, and simmer gently 10 minutes. Strain, use this liquor for sauce with butter and flour, remove from fire and add cream, add oysters, minus their beards, to the sauce. Remove centre from patties and fill with oyster mixture and garnish with slices of lemon and sprigs of parsley.
HANDY HINT-Keep your celery fresh for a lot longer by wrapping in aluminium foil and storing in your crisper.
Scalloped Oysters
Ingredients
2 dozen oysters
1 oz. flour
1/2 pint milk
Some fine breadcrumbs
Small piece lemon rind
A good squeeze lemon juice
Some parsley
Pinch salt
1 oz. butter
Method
Beard oysters; put beards into milk with lemon rind and salt, bring to boil and simmer gently 10 minutes. Strain, make sauce with this liquid, using butter and flour. Add the oysters to the sauce and grease some scallop shells thickly with butter and sprinkle with breadcrumbs and lemon juice. Then add oyster mixture, sprinkle breadcrumbs on each and place a piece of butter on top; brown lightly in oven or under a tender griller. Serve hot garnished with parsley.
Oyster Cocktail
Ingredients
1 dozen oysters
1 teaspoon prepared horse-radish
1 tablespoon tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon Worcester sauce
Method
Place 4 oysters in each glass. Mix carefully together all other ingredients and pour over the oysters. Serve very cold with a side salad.
HANDY HINT-Cooking oil in an aerosol can is a must to a cook. Use on baking trays, cake trays, BBQ plates, frypans, etc.
Oyster Cocktail Dressing
Ingredients
1 tablespoon grated fresh horse-radish
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon Worcester sauce
4 tablespoons tomato sauce
1 tablespoon salt
Few drops anchovy sauce
1 dozen oysters
Method
Mix all ingredients, except oysters, together and chill thoroughly. Pour 1 1/2 teaspoons of mixture over each glass of oysters. Serve with a side salad.
Prawn Chow Mien (yes it was amongst the others)
Ingredients
1/2 lb medium shelled prawns
4 Chinese dried mushrooms
3 stalks celery
1 cup cooked sliced french beans
1 small can water chestnuts
Salt and pepper
1 rasher bacon
1 tablespoon each soy and oyster sauce
1 cup stock
1 1/2 teaspoons cornflour
Method
Wash mushrooms, soak in hot water 20 minutes, squeeze dry and slice. Cut prawns in halves lengthwise, slice celery diagonally, slice water chestnuts, cut bacon into small squares, heat 1 tablespoon oil, add bacon, mushrooms, celery and water chestnuts, fry stirring for 2 minutes. Add salt, pepper, prawns, beans, sauces and stock, put lid on and cook 3 minutes. Mix cornflour with a little water then add to the pan and stir until thickened. Serve hot with noodles.
HANDY HINT-Many oven cleaners leave odours in your oven. Solve this problem by baking two cups of any citrus peel for a half an hour in the oven.
Garlic Prawns
Ingredients
1 lb green shelled medium or king prawns
3 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion (minced)
3 cloves garlic (crushed)
Salt and pepper
Chopped parsley
1/2 cup Vermouth
Method
Melt butter in pan, add onion and garlic, stir until golden. Stir in salt and pepper, parsley and add prawns. Stir until prawns are pink (6-7 minutes). Stir in wine and simmer 3-4 minutes. Serve bubbly hot.
Curried Prawns with Egg
Ingredients
1oz butter
1 dessertspoon curry powder (or less according to taste)
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 pint milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 dessertspoon lemon juice
8oz medium or king prawns (cooked and shelled)
4 hard boiled eggs (sliced)
Method
Melt butter in a saucepan and fry curry powder for 2 minutes, add flour and cook for a further 2 minutes. Stir in the milk gradually, then add salt and lemon juice, bring to the boil stirring constantly. Gently stir in the prawns and slices of hard boiled egg, allow to stand over a very low heat until prawns and egg are heated through. Serves 4.
HANDY HINT-Spray your cheese grater with cooking oil as this will help stop the cheese from sticking, thus easier to clean.
Spicy Prawn Cutlets
Ingredients
12 green king prawns
4 tablespoons tomato sauce
Oil for deep frying
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 tablespoon chopped ginger root
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon chopped shallots
1 tablespoon rice wine (or dry sherry)
Method
Shell and de-vein prawns and pat dry with kitchen paper. Heat frypan half full with oil and deep fry prawns for 2 minutes, or until cooked and orange in colour. Drain well, pour all but 2 tablespoons oil from pan, heat oil and fry garlic, ginger and shallots for 30 seconds. Add deep fried prawns, salt, and sugar and heat through. Blend cornflour with water, add to frypan and stir until sauce thickens. Serve immediately on a hot serving plate accompanied by boiled rice. Serves 3-4.
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