I first had this recipe at my future in-laws’ house and I was hooked from the start. This is great example of simple, good quality ingredients coming together to make a comforting and healthy meal. We got a huge bunch of silverbeet in our FoodConnect box this week, so immediately this is what I decided to make. I used PasturePerfectPork bacon, which is one of the only bacon’s I’ve been able to find without nitrates (other than naturally occuring vegetable nitrates) and free-range eggs from D & J’s garden!
I love this dish served with a few steamed potatoes and tomatoes dressed in olive oil, a dash of sugar and chives. I also love eating it for lunch the next day!
Details
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20 min - :
45 min - :
1 h, 5 min
Ingredients - 1 bunch Silverbeet
- 1 Onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves Garlic, chopped
- 2 Bacon rashers, chopped
- 155 grams Feta cheese, crumbled
- 250 grams Cottage cheese
- 2 tbsps Parsley, chopped
- Salt and pepper
- 4 Eggs
- 6 Sheets filo pastry
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180*.
- Wash silverbeet, trim stalks and chop leaves roughly. Cook in the microwave in two batches for two minutes each, or steam on the stove until tender.
- Place in a colander to cool. Once cool squeeze out as much excess moisture as possible with your hands.
- Cook onion, garlic and bacon in the microwave for 2 minutes (obviously you can do this in a frypan if you prefer).
- Combine the silverbeet, onion mixture and all remaining ingredients, other than the pastry, in a bowl.
- Grease a pie plate or pastry dish with a spray of olive oil. Line the dish with 3 layers of filo, folded over if necessary. If you can get the filo sheets apart, you can spray in between the layers for extra crispyness.
- Spoon the mixture into the dish and top with the remaining sheets of pastry (spraying in between if you wish). Spray the top of the pastry with a bit more olive oil.
- Bake in the oven for 45 minutes. Serve warm from the oven or at room temperature.
Jamie Oliver is one of my food heroes. I love his cooking style, but I also love his mission in life – to teach people to respect and enjoy delicious, healthy food. That’s a philosophy I can get behind!
This recipe is loosely based upon Jamie’s spinach risotto recipe in his Cook with Jamie book. Of course I’m rarely content to leave a recipe as is, so here it is with my modifications. Unlike last time I posted risotto on this site, this is a real one – it requires a closer eye and more time at the stove, but the results are lovely. Worth doing on a cold night when you enjoy the heat of the stove!
Details
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30 min - :
40 min - :
1 h, 10 min
Ingredients - 200 grams Aborio rice
- 2 cups Vegetable stock
- 1/4 cup White wine
- 1/2 tbsp Olive oil
- 1/2 tbsp Butter
- 2 Shallots, sliced
- 2 stalks Celery, finely sliced
- 1 bunch Silverbeet, chopped
- 1 tsp Butter
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
- 1 clove Garlic, chopped
- 1 Beetroot, roasted and sliced
- 1/4 cup Parmesan, grated
- 1-2 tbsp Soft goat's cheese
- 1/2 Lime
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- In a small saucepan heat the stock until it's simmering.
- Heat a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the butter and olive oil, then add the shallots and celery. Cook gently, without browning, for 10 minutes.
- Add the risotto to the saucepan, stir well with a wooden spoon to coat risotto with oil. This allows the grain to heat up and will ensure it absorbs the liquid properly.
- Quickly add the white wine to the pan. It should sizzle, stir quickly and let the wine evaporate.
- Add 1/4 cup of stock at a time to the rice, stirring constantly until it absorbs. Continue with another 3/4 cup of stock. Remove from heat while you cook the silverbeet.
- In another medium saucepan melt the butter over a medium heat. Add the garlic, nutmeg and spinach and cook, stirring regularly, until the silverbeet wilts down.
- Remove spinach from heat and then process in a food process until finely chopped, or chop yourself.
- Return the risotto to the heat, continue adding remaining stock 1/4 cup at a time until absorbed. You don't want this to be gluggy, so stop cooking just as the final bit of stock is absorbed. It will still be reasonably wet.
- Stir the spinach through the risotto, then add a little bit of butter and the parmesan and stir through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Squeeze a bit of lime juice through the risotto, again to taste.
- Finally, stir through the pieces of beetroot.
- Serve in two bowls, and crumble goat's cheese on top.
My friend Deb and some of her friends have been hosting “My Kitchen Rules” themed dinner parties. Deb had settled on lamb shanks and I suggested she try a tried and true favourite recipe of mine. This is a lovely easy way to make lamb shanks where the meat falls of the bone, and the delicious tomato base makes a fantastic sauce for the shanks.
I often serve the lamb shanks with mashed potato, but Deb went for a creamy polenta which I’m told worked really well. With a bit of broccolini on the side you have a delicious warming winter dish.
So thanks to Deb for the great photos – she tells me that they were very well received by her friends. What I want to know is did she win the contest?
Details
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20 min - :
180 min - :
3 h, 20 min
Ingredients - 6 smalls Lamb shanks (frenched)
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Pepper
- 2 cups Onion, diced
- 1 cup Carrot, diced
- 1/2 cup Celery, diced
- 2 cloves Garlic, diced
- 3/4 cup Dry red wine
- 250 mls Beef stock
- 1 tbsp Rosemary
- 1 tsp Water
- 1/2 tsp Cornflour
- 2 Tins of tomatoes
Directions
- Preheat oven to 180.
- To prepare lamb, sprinkle evenly with 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Heat a large, wide dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add lamb, cook for 12 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove lamb from pan.
- Add onion, carrot and celery to pan. Saute 8 minutes until lightly browned. Add garlic and saute 1 min.
- Add red wine, bring to boil. Cook 2 minutes until most of liquid evaporates.
- Return lamb to pan, stir in tomatoes, beef stock and 1 tbs rosemary. Bring to boil.
- Cover dutch oven with lid, place in oven and bake for 2 hrs until lamb is tender. Remove lamb from pan, set aside and keep warm.
- Add remaining salt and pepper, bring to the boil on the stove over high heat. Cook until sauce is reduced to about 3 1/2 cups (about 30 minutes), stirring frequently.
- Combine water and cornflour in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add mixture to pan, cook 30 secs or until sauce thickens, stirring constantly.
Sometimes you just want an enormous slab of meat…
This was our “rolled roast” from our Honest Beef box. It’s been in the freezer for a while and I haven’t used it because it needs a long time to defrost and cook and I never remember to get it out with enough time. The Easter long-weekend provide a perfect opportunity to spend the time cooking it. And now we have lots and lots of leftovers for lunches and dinners this week.
My starting point with this recipe was the recipe for Traditional English roast beef with Yorkshire puddings in my Food Safari cookbook. However, I decided to skip the Yorkshire puddings and serve with roasted sweet potato and potato, and a side of greens.
Details
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20 min - :
180 min - :
3 h, 20 min
Ingredients - Large rolled beef roast You can buy these pre-rolled from most butchers
- 2 tbsps Olive oil
- 2 tbsps Flour
- 2 tsps Mustard powder
- 1 tsp Cracked black pepper
- 1-2 Sprigs of rosemary
- 1 tsp Thyme, dried or fresh
- 1 pinch Sea salt
- 1/4 cup Red wine
- 1/2 cup Stock
- 1 tsp Cornflour, if necessary
Directions
- Preheat oven to 200*.
- Mix the flour, mustard powder and cracked black pepper together in a small bowl.
- Pat all over the rolled roast until well covered.
- Push springs of rosemary into the roast (use a knife to help push them in if they aren't very woody).
- Heat 1 tbs of oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
- Add the roast to the pan and sear well on all sides. You want the meat to caramelize and brown well all over.
- Remove roast from flying pan.
- Pour remaining oil into baking tray, or if you're concerned about splashes, spray a bit of oil into an oven bag.
- Sit the roast with the fatty side up in the baking tray, or inside the oven bag then sitting in the tray.
- Sprinkle the roast with thyme and sea salt.
- Bake in the oven until cooked to your preference.
- About an hour before finishing, add chopped vegetables of your choice to the pan. Toss slightly in the pan juices. Return the pan to the oven.
- Once the meat is cooked, remove from the oven and the pan. Cover with alfoil and allow to rest for about 30 minutes. Remove the vegetables from the pan and place in a bowl and cover with alfoil to keep warm.
- You should have a reasonable amount of fat and pan juices left in the baking tray. Scrape them up off the bottom and pour into a small saucepan.
- Add the red wine and bring the saucepan up to a boil, reducing the liquid to about half.
- Add the stock (and any herbs if you desire). Boil off until gravy starts to thicken. If you're impatient like me, mix the cornflour with a little water and add to the saucepan. This will aid the thickening process.
- Serve thick slices of the roast with vegetables and drizzle with gravy. If there's gravy left over, I love to use it on roast beef sandwiches the next day...but that could just be me!
It was the Thursday before Easter, I was little later home than usual owing to the congestion on the roads, J was working until 6, picking up our FoodConnect box and then we were heading out for drinks. I needed to make something quick and tasty for dinner, and I had no vegetables in the fridge save some fresh herbs.
Pasta was the logical choice – it’s quick, it’s easy, I could throw it together based on what’s in the fridge. The result was this surprisingly tasty, simple meal.
Ingredients - 2 Shallots, chopped
- 2 cloves Garlic, sliced thinly
- 1 tsp Fresh oregano, chopped
- 1/3 cup White wine
- 1 tsp Olive oil
- 1-2 cup Tomatoes (crushed, diced)
- dozen Kalamata olives, pitted and halved
- 50 grams Edam cheese, diced
- 50 grams Marinated feta (plain also fine)
- 1-2 cup Pasta
- Parmesan, to serve
Directions
- Boil a pot of salted water and cook pasta until al dente.
- Drain pasta and remove from pot.
- Heat olive oil in the pot over a medium heat, then add shallots and garlic. Cook gently, being careful not to burn.
- Add oregano and white wine to pot, turn up heat and evaporate off some of the wine.
- Add tomatoes and heat through.
- Add olives, Edam and feta, then stir through the pasta. Season to taste.
- Serve with shavings of Parmesan, cracked pepper and fresh oregano.
An original recipe! How novel!
I bought a free-range whole chicken the other day and butchered it into more manageable servings myself. Originally, I intended to use the thigh parts (I believe if you request chicken Marylands from a butcher you will get a similar cut) in a chicken and lentil dish. However, I looked at a few recipes and decided to wing it (hehe, pun!).
Thus, a recipe for my originally named slow-cooked chicken with leek, capsicum and celery. Otherwise known as using up the vegetables in Leah’s fridge…
Details
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20 min - :
50 min - :
1 h, 10 min
Ingredients - 2 Chicken thighs (Maryland)
- 4 stalks Celery, chopped
- 1 Leek, chopped
- 2 Green capsicum, sliced
- 1 Tomato, sliced
- 1/2 cup White wine
- 1 cup Chicken stock
- Water, as needed
- 2 cloves Garlic, chopped
- handful Fresh oregano, chopped
- 1 Bay leaf
- tsp Olive oil
- 1/2 tsp Butter
- 1 tsp Cornflour, mixed with a little water
Directions
- Heat butter and olive oil in a large frying pan until sizzling . Season your chicken pieces with salt and pepper.
- Turn down the heat slightly and then add your chicken pieces, skin side down. Cook until brown, probably 5 minutes. Turn over and brown the other sides, including the sides and ends of the pieces.
- Remove chicken from pan and put on a plate lined with paper towel.
- Reduce heat slightly and add leek and celery. Cook for about 3 minutes until the leek starts to caramelize. Be careful not to burn it.
- Add the capsicum and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add garlic, oregano and bay leaf, then add wine and turn up heat until it reduces slightly.
- Add chicken stock and tomato and return the chicken pieces to the pan. Add water as needed, until the liquid is about 2/3 the way up the side of the chicken.
- Reduce the heat to low, and simmer, with the lid on but askew for about 40-45 minutes until the chicken is coming off the bone.
- Take out the chicken and the bulk of the vegetables and put in serving bowls.
- Turn the heat up to high and reduce down the juices. You can add the cornflour here to help thicken it up, just stir in the water/cornflour mixture and reduce the heat slightly. Keep stirring and it should thicken up. Remove the bay leaf, season to taste and then pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetables.
- Top with parsley and serve with crusty bread, cous cous or a carb of your choice.
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