It had been a rough week, and it was only Wednesday. At times like these, I live by the concept of “comfort food”. I’m not saying that it is wise, or healthy, to eat like this all the time. But there is a reason we are drawn to rich, indulgent foods, and it’s not just biology. It’s the memories they invoke – Nana or Mum’s cooking, overcast and cold days where a big bowl of pasta warmed you through, a time when calories and weight was irrelevant and you just ate because you enjoyed it and you were hungry.
Perhaps it is all in my head, but after I ate this meal I felt comforted. It didn’t make my problems disappear, but it was a pleasant interlude. And after all, isn’t that enough?
Ingredients
- 500 grams Pasta (macaroni or other small type)
- 1 medium Onion, diced
- 2 cloves Garlic, diced
- 1 cup Broccoli florets, roughly chopped
- 1 Bay leaf
- 3 tablespoons Unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup Flour
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 3 cups Whole milk
- 1 cup Cheddar, grated
- 1 cup Parmesan, grated
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup Breadcrumbs
Directions
- Preheat oven to 200*.
- Cook pasta on stove in boiling salted water according to directions.
- Meanwhile, in a large heavy saucepan heat olive oil over a medium heat.
- Add onions and cook until translucent.
- Add garlic and diced broccoli and briefly fry, being careful not to burn.
- Remove from pan and set aside.
- In the same pan melt butter.
- Add in flour and mustard and cook, stirring for about two minutes until flour mixture has darkened. Make sure there are no lumps!
- Gradually whisk in milk, stirring constantly. Add bay leaf.
- Turn the heat to low and let simmer, stirring regularly, until the sauce has thickened.
- Stir in 1 cup grated cheddar and 1/2 cup grated parmesan.
- Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat. Remove bay leaf.
- Add back in onion, garlic and broccoli mixture.
- Stir through pasta and pour into a greased baking dish.
- Top with breadcrumbs and 1/2 cup parmesan.
- Turn oven down to 180 and cook for 15-20 minutes until topping is browned and crunchy.
- Serve with a side salad (because it's all about balance right?!)
The stonefruit this year has been absolutely beautiful, abundant and cheap. It seemed a shame to just let the season pass us by without taking advantage. Fortunately, J’s parents own a Vacola (circa 1977!) and have plenty of jars.
A date was set, 10kg of peaches acquired and one Sunday morning we set to work, washing, chopping, packing and filling the varcola jars with peaches and a simple sugar syrup.
New rubber seals were secured around the tops of the jars, the lids pressed and clipped in place.
We set the jars up inside the Vacola, filled up “3 parts” with water (we took this to mean 3/4 of the way up the jars!) and set the Vacola to 88*C for 2 1/2 hours.
Before we knew it, we had jars and jars of preserved peaches, to be stored for up to a year, but likely to be eaten much sooner! We’re now keeping an eye out for cheap, flavourful bulk tomatoes so we can preseve and store them away for the depths of winter, when a fresh tomato is but a distant memory. Let me know if you have any recommendations!
I realise the festive season is rapidly becoming a distant memory. But I think it is still worth posting about my Boxing Day foray into dessert.
I found this recipe via Not Quite Nigella. Her cherry, cranberry and almond galette was so beautiful and so festive I immediately bookmarked it for dessert over Christmas. Don’t cherries just scream Australian Christmas to you?
I haven’t replicated the recipe here as NQN’s is very easy to follow. The main difference is I only used cherries and skipped the cranberries (I just didn’t have any). A very useful tip for pitting the cherries – use the small end of a chopstick, inserted into the top of the cherry and push the pit out that way.
Of course, this recipe doesn’t have to be used with cherries – almost any fruit would probably work, so be creative and use what you have!
Cous cous is a staple in our household. But there was a time when I thought cous cous was, well, boring. Perhaps you do to?
I’ll let you in on a little secret – the key to tasty cous cous is…stock! It also helps if you throw in some vegetables, or dried fruit and nuts.
This recipe is adapted from the November 2011 issue of Delicious magazine. I think I’ve mentioned my love for this magazine before, but it really is a great resource. I was lucky enough to get a subscription to it from Dad for my birthday last year (thanks Dad!). Our mailbox is regularly stuffed at the beginning of the month, because I’ve also been given subscriptions to Donna Hay magazine and the new Feast magazine from SBS. I certainly won’t be able to claim a lack of inspiration this year!
I decided to serve the cous cous with a rack of lamb we bought from Superbutcher. It was a sweltering hot day in Brisbane, so I thought I’d try to do the rack on the stove. I don’t recommend it! What I should have done was cut the rack down into cutlets and pan-fried them…So learn from my mistake! Either do the rack in the oven, or cutlets on the stove. But definitely make the cous cous. It’s a keeper.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Cous cous
- 350mL chicken or vegetable stock
- 1/2 teaspoon Saffron threads, crumbled
- 150 grams Dried apricots, roughly chopped
- 25 grams Unsalted butter
- 200 grams Marinated feta, crumbled
- Handful flat-leafed parsley roughly chopped
- 1 Preserved lemon, flesh and pith removed and rind finely chopped
- 2/3 cup Pistachio kernels
Directions
- Put cous cous in a large heatproof bowl and set aside.
- In a small saucepan bring stock, saffron and a pinch of salt to the boil over medium-high heat.
- Add the apricot and simmer for 1-2 minuts until apricots plump up slightly.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the butter.
- Pour hot stock over the cous cous and cover with plastic wrap.
- Allow to stand for 10 minutes until liquid has been absorbed.
- Fluff cous cous with a fork.
- Add feta, chopped parsley, preserved lemon rind and pistachios.
- Season with salt and pepper and toss to combine.
- Serve with lamb rack or lamb cutlets.
I don’t often publish breakfasts on here, mainly because they don’t really excite me as much as other meals. This dish challenges me to change my mind about breakfast!
It’s the sort of dish you eat a little later (takes a little more effort to prepare) on a Sunday morning, sipping coffee on the deck and planning your day. Or planning on not planning anything as it turns out. We’ve been working hard over here at our little casa, so a lazy Sunday was just the right noteon which to start a new week.
This is a great dish to serve if you have brunch guests, because much of the work can be done the night before. I prepared the sauce in advance, so all I had to do was reheat and then cook my eggs. I used a saucepan because I was only cooking a small batch, but if you’re catering for more people I highly recommend a deep frying pan (with a lid) so the eggs cook a little more evenly.
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- 1 medium Onion, sliced finely
- 2 cloves Garlic, diced
- 2 Red capsicum, diced (if using)
- Fresh or dried chilli to taste
- 1 Cob corn, kernels removed
- 2 Bay leaves
- Salt and pepper
- 400 grams Tin tomatoes
- 2-4 large Eggs (depending on servings needed)
- 2-4 Tortillas, wheat or corn
- Grated cheese, to serve
- Avocado, to serve
Directions
- Heat olive oil in a large frying pan (that has a lid) on high.
- Add onion, garlic and capsicum (if using).
- Stir and cook over medium-high until onion is translucent and slightly caramelised (about 10 minutes).
- Add the tin of tomatoes, bay leaves, chilli (if using) and salt and pepper.
- Stir and bring to the boil on a high heat.
- Turn down to medium heat and cook for another 5 or so minutes until the sauce starts to reduce and thicken. (Note: this step can be done the day before and then reheated when you want to use it).
- Add your corn kernels and stir well.
- Create several little wells in the tomato sauce mixture and crack your eggs into them.
- Season and then put the lid over them.
- Let the eggs cook for 3-4 minutes until the white is cooked through but the yolk is still runny.
- Meanwhile, warm up the tortillas in the microwave or oven, slice up some avocado and grate some cheese (if using).
- Once your eggs are cooked, remove from heat and serve an egg and some sauce on a tortilla with toppings of your choice.
I realise I probably mention the weather on here far too much! However, it’s unlikely to change in the immediate future.
I’ve been moping around the house as the most recent bout of continuous (incessent, unceasing, unrelenting, depressing) rain has ground our renovations to a halt while we wait for a dry patch. Instead, ha’ve been trying to find comfort in my kitchen. Yesterday the oven and stove were occupied for most of the day with a range of projects. There was pizza dough rising on the bench, the cookie jar is now filled to the brim with peanut butter cookies, a margarita sauce was bubbling away on the stove, there were muffins going in the oven and there was this, a peach cobbler, being assembled for dessert.
I’ve made cobbler before (see here) and I think I still prefer the cobbler topping in that recipe. However, Jamie Oliver has a recipe for peach cobbler in his (gorgeous!) book Jamie’s America. The stonefruit this year has been absolutely beautiful so I thought this was a great opportunity to try the recipe.
The peaches are cooked in a fragrant combination of vanilla bean, lime, orange and ginger and they do not disappoint. I think I added too much water to my cobbler topping (I have attempted to correct this in the recipe) and it didn’t form the firm little dumplings I was expecting. For that reason, next time I might use Smitten Kitchen’s cobbler topping with these peaches. I have set out Jamie’s recipe anyway because it’s still a tasty option.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to curl up with a big bowl of peach cobbler – sure it’s only 9.30 in the morning, but it’s raining!
Ingredients
- 6-8 Ripe peaches or stonefruit, halved, stoned and sliced into wedges
- 1 Vanilla pod or tsp vanilla bean paste
- Zest of 1 lime
- 40 grams Brown sugar
- Zest and juice of 1 orange
- 2.5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
- 40 grams Pine nuts
- 100 grams Self raising flour
- 50 grams Caster sugar
- Pinch salt
- 100 grams Unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
Directions
- Preheat your oven to hot (210*C).
- In a casserole dish toss the peaches gently with vanilla bean seeds, lime zest, brown sugar, orange zest and juice and grated ginger.
- Turn the oven down to 190*C and then cook for about 10-15 minutes until your peaches start to soften.
- Meanwhile, whiz your pine nuts up in a food processor.
- Add the flour, sugar and salt.
- Add you cubed butter and then pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- Tip into a bowl or out onto the bench.
- Add 1-2 tablespoons of water to bring the dough together - add very gradually as you may not need this much. You want to end up with a firm dough.
- Put the dough aside (or in the fridge) until ready to use.
- Remove the peaches from the oven. Jamie suggests pouring in a half glass of water at this point but I found I had enough liquid in my dish.
- Stir the peaches gently and scrape away from the edges.
- Using a tablespoon, plop 6-7 spoonfuls of the dough on top of the peaches.
- Return to the oven for about another 20 minutes until bubbling, golden on top and the cobbler is reasonably firm.
- Serve with vanilla icecream or Greek yoghurt.
|
|
Subscribe  follow on twitter
 by rss feed
 by email:
|
19.02.12 | 
Of: 
3 comments
Leave a comment
Share