Brisbane has been going through a bit of a “cold snap” – I say that with a slight tinge of sarcasm as I’m well aware our 10* temperatures are hardly going to bring on hypothermia. That being said, I am a Queenslander and my skin is exceptionally thin when it comes to the cold. Of course, at this time of year I am drawn to the dark side – gone are the light salads and healthy (ish) food habits of summer – I want cheese, I was warmth and I tell myself that additional layer of fat helps me to conserve heat.
It is in this spirit that I give you this recipe for mushroom quiche, with all my love. A couple of minor changes – I cheated and used packaged puff pastry, and I pre-browned the mushrooms in some garlic, butter and parsley for extra flavour.
Don’t even try to kid yourself that it is healthy – it’s not. It is delicious though. Worth it for a special treat (or a Wednesday night, same difference).
I’ve had this book for ages and enjoyed the stories surrounding the recipes. However, this is the first time I have cooked from it. I love lentils, I love how the French prepare lentils and I love a good poached or fried egg (with a runny yolk!) so here is my take on Elizabeth Bard’s recipe. It makes a delicious, healthy, mid-week meal.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 medium Carrots, diced
- 4-5 small Shallots, diced
- 2.5 cups Puy lentils (dried)
- 6 cups CHicken stock
- 1 can Whole tomatoes (drained), chopped
- 1 cup Dry white wine
- Handful parsley chopped
- 1 Bay leaf
- Pepper and salt to taste
- Handful Cherry tomatoes, halved
Directions
- In a large saucepan or stockpot heat the oil over medium heat.
- Add the shallots and carrot and saute for 5 to 10 minutes until the onion is translucent.
- Add the lentils and then stir to coat with the oil.
- Add stock, tomatoes, wine, parsley, bay leaf and some pepper to taste.
- Simmer on a low heat with a lid slightly ajar until the lentils are tender and most of the liquid is absorbed (about 1 hour).
- Add in the cherry tomatoes in the last 5-10 minutes of cooking.
- Serve with a poached egg on top and a sprinkle of sea salt. I also highly recommend a glass of white wine and piece of bread on the side!
I love to entertain, and it gives me an excuse to make something a bit more elaborate than my usual weekday meals. I found this recipe in the December 2010 edition of “Delicious” magazine (love it), courtesy of Jamie Oliver. It is designed as a vegetarian main for Christmas Day, and although the steps are quite time consuming, none are overly complicated and the result is delicious. I had to tweak the recipe based on what I actually had available – I have no idea where to source chestnuts!
I also had so much of the stuffing leftover I was able to make 12 pasties to freeze and pull-out for an easy weekday meal. You might want to adjust the quantities down slightly if this option doesn’t appeal to you.
I served this to some friends with Maggie Beer’s Cabernet Sauce (so delicious!), steamed green beans and oven-roasted potatoes. Dessert was creme brulee – which was the subject of my previous post.
Ingredients
- 1 small Butternut pumpkin, halved lengthways with seeds scooped out
- Olive oil
- 1 small Dried red chilli, crumbled
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon Coriander seeds
- 1 Rosemary sprig, chopped
- 2 Red onions, sliced
- 100 grams Vacuum packed chestnuts (optional)
- small Bunch sage leaves
- 2 slices Bread (I used wholemeal)
- 3 cloves Garlic, two thinly sliced
- 1 Lemon, including zest
- 50 grams Unsalted butter
- 250 grams Swiss brown mushrooms
- 200 grams Silverbeet (or swiss chard or spinach), trimmed
- 1/3 cup Almonds (or pine nuts or nut of choice)
- 2 tablespoons Currants (or sultanas)
- 2 Sheets puff pastry
- 1 Egg, beaten with splash milk
Directions
Prepare pumpkin
- Preheat oven to 200*.
- Slice the pumpkin into wedges and toss in a large baking tray with a splash of olive oil, chilli and cinnamon.
- In a mortar and pestle, break up the coriander seeds, then add rosemary and continue to break down for a few minutes.
- Scatter the pumpkin with the spices and toss until well coated.
- Make sure the pumpkin is skin side down and then cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes or until soft.
- Cool and tear into bit sized chunks.
Prepare stuffing
- Heat a saucepan over medium heat then add a splash of olive oil and the onion.
- Season well with salt and pepper and cook gently for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally until softened and lightly browned.
- Crumble in chestnuts (if using) and add sage to the pan for the last few minutes of cooking.
- Meanwhile toast the bread in a toaster, then rub well with one of the cloves of garlic.
- Tear the toast into small chunks, and once the onion is done add the toast to the pan.
- Turn off the heat, stir and taste and season with a little more salt, pepper and lemon zest.
Prepare mushrooms
- In a large frypan, melt the butter over medium heat.
- Add thinly sliced mushrooms and clove of garlic.
- Add the mushrooms and garlic to the pan and fry for 4-6 minutes until soft and quite dry. Be careful not to overcrowd the pan with mushrooms.
- Squeeze in a little lemon juice season with salt and pepper then tip into a food processor and whiz until smooth.
Prepare greens
- In a large saucepan bring salted water to the boil.
- Add the chard or spinach (in this case, silverbeet) and cook until soft. This will take a few minutes for silverbeet.
- Drain in a colander and press to get rid of excess moisture. Set aside.
- In a dry frypan, toast the almonds over medium heat until lightly browned. Tip onto a plate.
- In the same pan, add a splash of olive oil and thinly sliced garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes until golden. Be careful not to burn.
- Add the almonds back in, together with currants and the silverbeet. Fry until warmed through.
- Season well with salt and pepper and turn off the heat.
Assembly
- Preheat over to 200* (if not already preheated).
- Either roll out your puff pastry, or join two sheets together along one edge (egg wash may be helpful to bind together). Do this over a large sheet of baking paper - for ease of transfer to a baking tray later.
- Spread the mushroom mixture all over the pastry.
- In a bowl, combine the silverbeet, pumpkin and onion.
- Spoon a thick line of this mixture down the middle of the pastry. Make sure you leave a large space at the edges so you can roll your wellington.
- Hold one side of the pastry and lift towards the centre of the filling. Repeat with the other side so the pastry overlaps in the centre.
- Brush egg over pastry join to seal it.
- Tuck each end under itself.
- Carefully transfer to a baking tray, with the sealed side down.
- Brush all over with the egg mix.
- Bake for 45 or until puffed and golden.
- I served with potatoes, green beans and Maggie Beer's Cabernet Sauce.
Another quick and easy dinner (vegetarian again). This would also make a lovely side to almost any meat. If you have dietary restrictions, quinoa would be a great alternative to use here. If you don’t have haloumi, feta would be delicious.
What I love about meals like this is that you can adapt based on whatever you have in your pantry at the time. When I’m not following a recipe (and even when I am!) I try to use what I have on hand, rather than buying ingredient specifically for that meal. I am lucky that I have a very well stocked pantry!
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- 1/3 Large pumpkin (I used Kent), skin removed
- 1 teaspoon Smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon Ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon Ground coriander
- 2 cups Vegetable stock
- 4-5 Dried prunes, chopped
- 3-4 Sundried tomatoes, chopped
- 1 cup Dried cous cous
- 1 teaspoon Butter
- 4-5 Slices of haloumi (half a packet)
- Lemon juice
- 2 Pickled onions, chopped. Red onion would be fine, or slightly cooked brown onion
- Handful Baby spinach, washed
- Sprinkle Slivered almonds
Directions
- Preheat oven to 200*.
- Grease a baking tray or line with baking paper.
- Chop pumpkin into bite-sized chunks.
- Toss pumpkin in a dash of olive oil, paprika, cumin and ground coriander and distribute on baking tray.
- Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes or until pumpkin is tender.
- Meanwhile, bring the stock to boil, together with dried prunes and sundried tomatoes, in a medium sized saucepan.
- Once boiling, turn off the heat and stir in the couscous and butter.
- Stir and leave to rest so the stock absorbs into the cous cous.
- Slice the haloumi and fry until golden in a frypan sprayed with some olive oil. Turn once.
- Remove from heat and drizzle with a little lemon juice.
- Fluff the cous cous with a fork and add some olive oil if you wish.
- Add in the onion.
- On a place place some washed baby spinach leaves, pile on the cous cous and then top with roasted pumpkin. Sprinkle with some almonds and finish off with the haloumi.
I’m not a vegetarian but I like to experiment with vegetarian food fairly regularly. Chickpeas are one of my favourite pantry staples – it is so easy to pull them out with a tin of tomatoes and whip up a healthy and meat-free dinner.
This is a little number I came up with the other night, after a decadent day of eating at the Bavarian Beer Cafe in Brisbane. I had the tasting plate of meat for lunch, so some vegetables were definitely in order for dinner.
If you can’t eat gluten or don’t have cous cous, you could use white or brown rice or bulgar. If you don’t have almonds, you can use toasted pine nuts. I’ve specified “Moroccan curry powder” and unfortunately I can’t be any more specific as to what’s in it – I think it’s similar to a ras-el-hanout, and it most likely has paprika, cumin, coriander and some other combination of spices. Not very helpful I know! I would recommend combining a few different spices like these until you get something that pleases your own tastes.
The flavours in this develop really well overnight – I ate leftovers the following day and they were delicious. I’m also sure it would freeze really well.
Ingredients
- 1 Tin chickpeas (or soak and cook 1 cup dried chickpeas)
- 1 Tin chopped tomatoes
- 2-3 teaspoons Curry/spice mix - I used Moroccan curry mix
- 1 Bay leaf
- 1 Carrot, diced
- 1 Stalk celery, diced
- 1 Onion, diced
- 2 cloves Garlic, diced or crushed
- Handful Cherry tomatoes (or chopped fresh tomatoes)
- 1 teaspoon Ginger, diced or crushed
- 1/2 cup Dried cous cous
- 3/4 cup Boiling water
- Handful Slivered almonds, browned in dry pan
- Handful Currants
- Dash Olive oil or butter
- Pinch Salt and pepper, to taste
- Bunch Fresh herbs (parsley, coriander or mint), diced
Directions
- First prepare the stew. Heat some oil in a large deep frying pan.
- Add the diced onion, carrot and celery and fry on medium-high head until onion starts to become soft and translucent.
- Add ginger and garlic and fry off briefly. Add spice mix and stir through to bring out the flavours.
- Drain and rinse can of chickpeas and add to frying pan.
- Add tinned tomatoes and bay leaf. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Stir well. If there is not enough liquid you can add some water.
- Cook for about 30 minutes or until chickpeas are hot and flavours have started to develop. You can leave this simmering on a low heat for several hours, just make sure to top up the water and stir occasionally. Like most curries/stews the flavours will develop more the next day.
- Meanwhile, put the kettle on and boil some water.
- In a medium bowl add 1/2 cup dried cous cous. Add a dash of olive oil and 3/4 cup of boiling water.
- After about 5 minutes the water should have absorbed and you can fluff the cous cous with a fork.
- Meanwhile, in a small dry pan heat the slivered almonds until they start to brown.
- Add slivered almonds, currants and a bit more olive oil to the cous cous and mix.
- Serve the chickpeas with the cous cous, and top with diced herbs.
Well, the festive season has now drawn to a close and a new year commences. Have you made your resolutions yet? I’m not usually one for setting resolutions just because it’s a new year, but I am fond of having goals for myself. The year ahead promises to be a big one, with some major renovations and a wedding on the books already. I figure I need to treat my body well over the coming months, so it is well equipped to cope with the pressure. In this spirit, I’m going to offer up some slightly lighter meals in the coming months. Rest assured, there will still be plenty of desserts, as I’m not one to deprive myself.
In the spirit of health, I present this recipe for a roasted vegetable salad. It’s a bit heartier than your average salad, which is exactly what I like! You can have as a side if you wish, but we enjoyed it as a main meal on New Year’s Day. I try to eat a wide variety of fruit and vegetables from day-to-day, but I noticed a decrease in my intake over the holidays. What better way to start the new year than with 7 serves of vegetables in one dish (well 5, if you don’t count potato and sweet potato).
Disclaimer – This isn’t a low fat, low carb recipe. If it works for you, all power to you, but for me I need both in my life!
Details
20 min
50 min
1 h, 10 min
Ingredients
- 1 Butternut pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and chopped
- 3-4 medium Potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 3-4 small Sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 3-4 medium Carrots, peeled and chopped
- 4 cloves Garlic, unpeeled
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds, crushed in hand
- Pinch Salt and pepper
- 1 Bay leaf
- Olive oil
- large Handful green salad leaves
- large Handful cherry tomatoes
- Cheese (I used pecorino)
- 2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar or red-wine vinaigrette
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 200*.
- Grease two baking trays, or line with baking paper.
- On a piece of aluminum foil (one for each beetroot), sprinkle some olive oil, salt, pepper and a bay leaf. Roll your beetroot in the oil and then wrap into a foil parcel.
- Put the beetroot in the oven for between 50-60 minutes, or until tender. Remove from oven and remove skin once slightly cooler - it should peel away easily. Chop into large pieces.
- Meanwhile, chop your butternut pumpkin, potato, sweet potato and carrot into large chunks.
- Crush several cloves of garlic (not peeled) with the side of your knife to release the flavour slightly.
- Sprinkle your baking trays with more olive oil, salt and pepper.
- On one tray, roll your butternut pumpkin in the oil and sprinkle with whole cumin seeds (crushed in your hand slightly, or ground cumin).
- On the other tray, roll your garlic cloves, potato, sweet potato and carrot in the oil until well coated.
- Put both trays in the oven and roast for about 30-40 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
- In a large bowl add greens of your choice (I just used cos lettuce, but baby spinach would be lovely) and cherry tomatoes.
- Add cheese - shaved pecorino or parmesan, or chunks of fetta.
- Toss your roasted vegetables with your cheese and greens, adding some balsamic vinegar or a red wine vinaigrette.
- When you serve a portion, squeeze out a clove of roasted garlic and mix with the rest of your bowl.
- Delightful with a glass of wine.
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