8 posts tagged “recipes”
Beetroot was cheap at the markets on Saturday, so I grabbed a couple of bunches.
This recipe from the Organic Collective is just fantastic!
| BEETROOT, COCONUT AND LIME SOUP | |
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30g unsalted butter To garnish | |
| Method: | |
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Melt the butter in a saucepan and when foaming, add the onion and lemon grass and fry over a low heat until softened.
I swear, I have never had so much energy as after eating this soup! | |
Just a quick couple of recipes that I'm really enjoying right now. Posted at both LJ and Vox to keep track of what I'm doing :P. They're both easy and alomst fail-safe!
Gerello Roast
This is a eye round of beef, pot-roasted. It has a lot of flavour and is quite easy to prepare.
Ingredients
* Beef gerello roast (eye round)
* 1 stubbie (Small bottle, about 375mL, for non-Aussies!) of beer
* 1/4 cup of plain flour
* 1 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp pepper
* 3 Tbsp chilli oil
* 1 can of tomatoes
* 5 medium potatoes
* 6 small orange sweet potatoes
* 5 sprigs of rosemary
* 1/4 cup chopped parsley
* 12 curry leaves (just use a teaspoon of curry powder if you don't have them. I grow it, so no dramas!)
* 1 medium onion, cut into rings
* 1/2 tsp cumin
* 2 Tbsp cornflour
* 2 tsp minced garlic (or 3 or 4 cloves of fresh)
* 2 tsp minced ginger
* 1 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce
Method
1. Mix plain flour, salt and pepper in a bowl. Push roast firmly into the mixture, coating all sides.
2. Add the chilli oil to a large saucepan over medium heat and brown all sides of the roast.
3. Add onion, garlic and ginger, cooking on low heat for 10 minutes.
4. Add beer, tomatoes, herbs, cumin and Worchestershire sauce. Stir well, cover and simmer for 40 minutes.
5. Turn roast, add potatoes and sweet potatoes, and simmer for a further 40 minutes. - Youc an use any vegetables you like, using the normal cooking times as a guide for when to add your vegetables. If the liquid is insufficient, add your favourite stock.
6. Check potatoes with a skewer or fork. If cooked, remove the roast and let stand for 10 minutes. Remove the vegies and place in a bowl. Remove liquid from the hotplate.
7. In a small bowl, combine leftover plain flour and cornflour with a little water and make into a smooth paste. Mix into liquid and return to hotplate, on medium to high heat.
8. Boil vigorously and keep stirring! This will reduce and thicken the liquid. Once thickened sufficiently, remove from heat. Spoon over roast and serve with vegetables.
Almost Apple Pie Cake
Delicious served on it's own or as a dessert with. warm or cold, with cream or ice cream.
Ingredients
* 1/2 cup light olive oil
* 2 x 50gram eggs
* 2 cups brown sugar
* 2 cups chopped apple (approx 3 medium apples peeled and cored)
* 2 cups sifted self-raising flour
* 1 tsp bicarbonate soda
* 1/2 cup currants or chopped raisins.
Method
1. In a bowl, beat together the oil, eggs and sugar. Add remaining ingredients and combine well.
2. Pour into 23x6cm round, greased and lined cake pan.
3. Bake in the centre of a moderate oven (180C) for 50 to 55 minutes, or until cooked through when tested with a skewer.
4. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cake cooler.
This is a moist cake that will sink in the centre on cooling. Store (if it lasts long enough!) in an airtight container in the fridge.
For those of us who sometimes don't have a lot of time on our hands - and let's face, who doesn't have those days? - I've grabbed some quick and easy pasta recipes that are tasty and good for you.
Pasta Arrabbiata
Arrabbiata means "angry style", so expect this one to pack some bite!
1 brown onion, cut into thin wedges
80g thinly sliced pancetta
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
2 x 440g cans no-added salt chopped tomatoes
2 Tbsp chopped fresh conteniental parsely
1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano
To make the sauce, heat a little olive oil in a frying pan, and add the garlic, onion, pancetta, and chilli flakes. cook until the onion softens and pancetta is lightly browned.
Stir in the tomatoes, parsley and oregano. Increase the heat and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat again, and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes, or until the sauce reaches the desired consistency.
The most commonly served pasta with this sauce is penne or orecchiette, and if not eaten alone, it goes nicely with veal cutlets and salad.
(serves 4)
Pasta Puttanesca
"Puttana" is the Italian word for prostitute, and there are various tales of why this style of sauce has such a name. One is that is very quick and easy to make out of pantry ingredients that would be on hand for most people. Another is that it was kept cooking by ladies of the evening, so that the intense, spicy aroma drew in customers.
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
400g can tomatoes
60mL (1/4 cup) dry red wine or water
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
12 small pitted Kalamata olives, sliced
2 Tbsp drained capers
2 drained anchovy fillets, cut into 2 cm pieces
3 Tbsp chopped continental parsley
To make the sauce, heat the oil in a medium, heavy-based saucepan. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until softened. Add the garlic, tomatoes, wine or water, tomato paste and chilli. Increase the heat and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 12-15 minutes, or until the sauce is the desired consistency. Beautiful over tuna steaks instead of pasta, too.
(serves 4)
Tomato, Basil and Garlic Pasta
A beautiful sauce made with delicious Roma tomatoes.
3 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 kg ripe Roma (egg) tomatoes
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup chopped fresh basil
To make the sauce, heat the oil on medium, in a large saucepan. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Stir in the basil. Also nice served with steamed zucchini and broccoli, and salmon or tuna steaks. Simply divide the vegetables and fish between the serving bowls, then place the pasta in a large serving dish. Spoon the sauce over, and allow diners to help themselves to the pasta and sauce to go with their fish and vegetables.
(serves 4)
Pasta Alla Norma
1 ½ Tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, cut into thin wedges
400g can of chopped tomatoes
500g eggplant, ends trimmed, cut crossways into 2.5cm-thick slices
¼ cup chopped fresh basil
1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano
Freshly ground black pepper
80g low-fat fresh ricotta, crumbled
Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a medium saucepan (with a lid) on medium. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until tender. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes.
Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan on medium-high. Add the eggplant slices and cook for about 5 minutes on each side or until golden. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. Stir the herbs into the tomato mixture and season with pepper. Divide cooked pasta between 4 pasta bowls. Top with the eggplant and tomato sauce. Sprinkle over the ricotta and basil leaves.
Sugo Di Limone
1 Tbsp olive oil
500g ripe egg tomatoes, seeds removed, and chopped
½ tsp olive oil
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper
This is a warm dish, best served with lamb leg steaks, or salmon steaks, and a salad.
Toss cooked pasta with the tomatoes, oil, lemon zest, lemon juice and pepper.
Oh my, was this GOOD! I added thin slices of lean steak to it and tossed it through to make it more of a meal on it's own, rather than a side dish. As a side dish it serves 4. Yes, this is definitely one for my recipe collection.
Ingredients
600g peeled pumpkin
250g zucchini
1 red capsicum, seeded and deveined
1 red onion, cut into wedges
1 Tbsp olive oil
50g rocket leaves
1/4 cup of pine nuts, toasted
4 or 5 cloves of garlic, skin on
Method
Preheat your oven to 200C. Cut the pumpkin, zucchini and capsicum into 3cm chunks. Drizzle the oil in the bottom of a large baking dish and add the onion wedges. Toss the rest of the veggies in and stir to coat with oil. Roast for 40 minutes or until vegies are tender. Allow to cool.
While the vegies are cooling, make your dressing. I seldom measure these things, so we'll have to guess. But as always, if you need to adjust it to taste.
In a small jug, mix together a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, a couple of teaspoons of white vinegar and about 100mL of olive oil. Take the roasted garlic cloves and squeeze them out of their skins. They should be nice and soft, but still keep their shape. Smoosh them up, and toss them in with the oil and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice (a tiny bit will do). I also added about 1/2 a teaspoon of white sugar, but I think raw would be better as it has a nice, caramel-y flavour that goes great with roasted garlic and onions, rather than just out and out sweetness like white sugar. I added about a tablespoon or 2 of warm water too, just to tone it down a little. Let that infuse while the vegies cool further.
Quickly heat up a frying pan and put the pine nuts in to toast, shaking them around the pan so that they don't burn. Tip them into the vegies and stir them through.
Wash the rocket leaves, and toss through the vegetables. Drizzle with some of the dressing to taste.
Any leftover dressing should keep a jar in the fridge for a couple of days.
Last week while doing the shopping, I mananged to pick up a container of mascarpone cheese really cheap. So, I decided we'd indulge a bit and have a proper tiramisu as dessert. Since this is something I can make with my eyes shut, I really don't measure anything when I make it, so you may need to adjust the amounts accordingly if you make it.
Tiramisu
1 packet of Savoiardi (sponge fingers)
250g mascarpone cheese
1 tub of double cream (also about 250g)
3 eggs, seperated
3 Tablespoons of sugar
demitasse cup of espresso coffee
Chococino drinking chocolate powder (or grated chocolate)
Grab the packet of Savoiardi (sponge fingers). Open them, and eat one or two with a cup of coffee. Put the rest aside. Scoop the container of mascarpone cheese into a mixing bowl, add the sugar and the yolks of the seperated eggs. Combine on medium speed until the sugar is no longer grainy and the mix is a pale yellow, almost buttery colour. Add half the cream and stir through. Set aside.
In a second bowl, beat the egg whites until they are stiff. Not quite as stiff as they need to be for a meringue, but more than the frothy stage. You'll know it when you see it. Fold the yolk mixture through the egg whites.
Lay out the savoiardi in a layer in the bottom of a serving dish, and drizzle the cold espresso coffee, making sure the fingers are mostly covered. Don't dunk, or you simply end up with a soggy mess, and a watery finish of very strong coffee in the bottom of the tray. Spread a layer of the creamy filling on top, and continue with another layer of fingers and cream cheese mix. Top the final layer with the rest of the cream and sprinkle with the chocolate. Cover and set in the refrigerator for a few hours to allow the flavours to develop.
Mnay versions add coffee liqueur to the espresso, but since I don't drink alcohol except for very rarely, I just left it out. It's a very adaptable recipe and it can be varied easily according to taste, with more or less cheese, cream, sugar... Try it, then make it how you like it!
My kids have been devouring this almost as fast as I can make them; 3 inside a week, with a chocolate cake in between!
Banana Cake
60g butter
90g sugar
1 egg
2 mashed bananas
1/4 tsp bicarbonate soda
2 Tbsp warm milk
125g self-raising flour
Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, mashed banana and bicarb soda. Gradually mix in milk and sift in flour alternately. Pour mixture into a well-greased and floured cake tin. Cook in a moderate oven (180C - 200C) for 30 minutes.
This cake is really nice with the cream cheese icing that's usually found topping carrot cakes, so the recipe for this is included. I prefer it lemon flavoured, while the kids much rather the vanilla version. To make it vanilla, just omit the lemon rind and juice and replace it with 1/4 of a teaspoon of vanilla essence. You can also use "light" Philly cheese, to no detriment, if you're trying to be a little more careful about fat and calories. The coconut and/or walnuts are for sprinkling over the top only, and won't affect the recipe if you don't use them. If I'm out, or the rest of the family don't fancy either nuts or coconut, a fine sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg is also nice.
Cream Cheese Frosting
30g butter
60g cream cheese
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp finely grated lemon rind
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup of coconut or chopped walnuts
Beat butter and cream cheeese until creamy. Add remaining ingredients and beat well. Spread on cake and sprinkle with your topping of choice.
Fontina cheese has sweet nutty flavour and creamy texture. Genuine Fontina only comes from the Val d'Aosta in the Italian Alps, and is made from the unpasteurised milk of Valdostana cows. It has a fat content of about 45%, and the methods of production are stricly controlled, with the cows grazed only on alpine grass and herbs.
It is only matured for four months, which accounts for it's mild, almost sweet flavour and creamy texture with tiny holes.
If you find Fontina is unavailable in your area, mozzarella makes an acceptable substitute. But please, go to the deli and find the best mozarella you can afford. The pale, semi-hard mozzarella sold grated in supermarkets resembles true mozzarella in name only, and should be avoided.
The earthy mixed mushrooms' flavours are delicious with the creamy cheese.
RICOTTA AND FONTINA PIZZA
30mL/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
350g/12oz/4 cups mixed mushrooms, sliced
30mL/2 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano plus whole leaves to garnish
250g/9 oz/generous cup ricotta cheese
225g/8oz Fontina cheese
Spread a prepared base with basic tomato sauce and brush the edges with a little olive oil. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F.
To make the topping, heat the oil in a frying pan and add the garlic and mushrooms and salt and pepper to taste.
Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender and golden.
Add to prepared pizza base, on top of the tomato sauce. Sprinkle the 2 cheeses and the oregano over the mushrooms, and bake for about 15 minutes, until golden brown and crisp. Scatter the remaining whole oregano leaves over the top before serving.
What do you know, I even found a picture of one :D.
I am a confessed and avowed pizza-lover. I could eat pizza for 3 meals a day, 7 days a week. And as much as people tell me I'd be sick of it after a while, I have to tell them that they are oh so wrong. Pizza is so versatile, so changeable and so adaptable to any palate or circumstance. Personal preference to crust type, sauce base, and toppings are almost limitless. From thin and crisp to thick and bread-like. Sauce rich and tomatoey, or a light spread of olive oil with herbs and garlic. Toppings piled high with meat and drippy cheese, to feta cheese and a selection of delicate vegetables. Pizza can be as light and delicate, or as loaded with meat, sauce and drippy cheese as you fancy.
Since I love it so much and enjoy creative flavours, I'm going to blog the ones I've made that work well for me. Be warned; I cheat outrageously and use pre made bases, or even Lebanese flat breads as bases, since I have the WORST baking skills in the known world :P. Use whatever base is your personal preference. Around the different areas I visit, I'm also known to race into local gourmet pizzaerias and grab a copy of their takeaway menu, to use for topping ideas that I can change and adapt as necessary. Oh yeah, cheating is a given :P
What's needed next for a perfect pizza is the passata base. For a rich, flavourful base, try the following:
BASIC TOMATO SAUCE
400g/14oz can chopped tomatoes
150mL or 1/4pint or 2/3 cup passata (tomato pulp, available in bottles or sachets)
1 large clove of garlic (more or less to taste)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 bay leaf
10mL/2 tsp malt vinegar
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Place all the ingredients in a saucepan, cover and bring to boil. Lower the heat, remove the lid and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until reduced.
This is a very basic recipe, and more or less herbs and seasonings can be added or omitted according to taste. Try parsely, rosemary or sage. Basil, that most quintessential of Italian herbs, is best added fresh.
In regard to toppings, my personal preference is for minimal ingredients, of the freshest quality. Vegetables and great quality cheeses top the list. The following recipe for Butternut Squash and Sage Pizza showcases the sweet butternut squash and the sharp goat's cheese. Unfortunately - as I found out - I've an allergy to sage, so I use parsley and a little extra oregano instead.
BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND SAGE PIZZA
15g/1Tbsp butter
30mL/2 Tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
450g/1lb prepared weight butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
16 sage leaves
1 quantity of basic tomato sauce
115g/4 oz/1 cup mozzarella cheese, sliced
115g/4 oz/1/4 cup firm goat's cheese
salt, and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Put the butter and oil in a roasting pan and heat in the oven for a few minutes. Add the shallots, squash and half of the sage leaves. Toss to coat, and roast for 15 to 20 minutes or until tender.
Raise the oven temperature to 220C/425F. Spread your bases with the tomato sauce. Spoon the squash and shallot mixture over the top.
Arrange the slices of mozzarella over the squash mixture and crumble goat's cheese over. Scatter the remaining sage leaves over and season with plenty of salt and pepper. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden.
This quantity makes enough for 4 x 25cm/10inch pizza rounds.
This is a wonderfully vibrant pizza, that jumps on the palate. It's fantastic served after a garden salad starter.
