Nigella's tomato curry

A delicious vegetarian curry- I found this recipe in nigella's Kitchen - recipes from the heart of the home (2010). The flavours are strong and spicy - but not too hot.

Serves 4

Ingredients
Oil-2x15 mls olive oil (I used rice bran oil but any good oil will do.
2 large onions chopped
1 teaspoon salt
4 cloves garlic peeled and chopped
1kg cherry toms halved
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 teaspoon English mustard powder (I just used mustard powder)
1 teaspoon hot chilli powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
200 gams frozen peas

What to do

Heat oil in wide casserole pan with lid ( you will need it for later)
Add chopped onions and cook uncovered for 7 mins on med- low heat until onions are soft
Add chopped garlic, halved tomatoes and spices and stir
Add lid and cook on low for 20 mins
Meanwhile cook peas (I microwaved mine) .
Apparently if you add peas to curry to cook they will lose bright green coloured so cook separately and add at the end.


I served this with coconut rice and a chapati.

Spiced Pumpkin and Lentil Soup

Mid winter and looking for a soup thats hearty with a nice chilli kick? This Bill Granger recipe is the business.

1.5 kg butternut pumpkin peeled and cut into 3 cm cubes
750g of ripe tomatoes quartered
6 garlic cloves peeled
1 small carrot cut into chunks
drizzle olive oil
1/2-1 tablespoon dried chilli flakes
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons paprika
1.25 litres chicken/vegetable stock
180g (3/4 cup red lentils

to serve
dollop of yoghurt
sumac
crusty bread


Preheat oven to 180C
Put all veggies and spices into casserole dish with lid and drizzle with oil
Bake covered for 1.5 hrs or until veggies are soft
Roughly mash with masher and stir in stock
Bring to boil
Add lentils and simmer 15-20 mins until lentils are soft
Serve with dollop yoghurt and sprinkle of sumac
Enjoy with thick crusty bread

From Bills Basics 2010

a week of new recipes

We had reached the point where even I was sick of what we were having for dinner every night. So armed with my trusty Evernote notebook of recipes and some help from Taste I came up with 5 meals plus the kids had to choose a meal that they had to make with me.

And the 7 recipes are (drumroll please):

Bacon, zucchini and lemon spaghetti
Although my 2 are not keen on zucchini, one of them ate this dish with gusto. The other one was in trouble and was sent to bed without dinner. The boy child suggested adding capsicum instead of zucchini next time, I'm not convinced, zucchini and lemon go really well together.

Next time I will add more zucchini and bacon, especially bacon. Mmmm bacon.

Really delicious, fresh and easy to make. 5/5

Balsamic steak with tomato pasta salad
Not one last bit was left on any plate! Very tasty, although next time I will buy a better cut of steak. The balsamic vinegar did a good job of tenderising the cheap steaks I bought. I added rocket (from the garden *ahem*) to the adult plates. 4/5

Beef quesadillas with avocado smash
We love tortillas and Mexican food. This dish was a complete hit and Alice chose it to make as her dish for the week. I'm not complaining, it's delicious.

I use pork mince for dishes like chilli and bolognaise, really so much more flavour. The recipe requires kidney beans which I know my children won't eat. So I pureed them with the raw onion and garlic then fried off the purple gloop (looked awful but smelled fantastic) before adding the mince and salsa, taco seasoning.

Use a sandwich press to make the quesadillas (that was a suggestion in the recipe comments), much easier and then use a pizza cutter to slice up.

This will be a regular in our house from now on. Absolutely delicious. 5/5

Cajun-style chicken with Mexican Rice
I made a couple of mistakes with this one. I used chook thighs instead of breast. And didn't make enough marinade for the amount of chicken I had. However the rice dish was delicious and would make a great cold summer rice salad with bbq. I'll have another go at this when the weather is warmer and the bbq is back in action. I would probably also have a go at making my own cajun seasoning. 3/5

And the dish chosen by Mark was Corn Fritters with bacon and salad. The recipe is from a fantastic book from New Zealand and it's my secret! Suffice to say that creamed corn is definitely the way to go for these.

So that's it. A long post but 6 dinners that were all eaten and enjoyed. Phew.

ANZAC BISCUITS

For fail safe biccies gives these a go. Made from pantry staples you can add extra stuff for texture. These ones iv'e added cranberries and pepitos but iv'e also made them with nuts and sultanas and poppy seeds.

This recipe if from Bill Grangers cookbook:"Bills Sydney Food"but there are millions of similar recipes online.

Ingredients:

cranberry jewelled ANZACS

1 cup plain flour
1 cup rolled oats
one cup desiccated coconut
2/3 cup brown sugar: (tightly packed)
125gm melted butter
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
2 tablespoons boiling water

extra stuff for texture:

pepitoes-handful

cranberries-handful

What to do:

In large bowl add all dry ingredients and mix, leaving a little well in middle.
melt butter in small saucepan with golden syrup
boil water and mix with bicab soda in small bowl and add to butter and golden syrup when this mixture is melted. It will foam up. Add butter mixture to dry ingredients and combine. Make balls of mixture (about tablespoon full) and squish down before baking in preheated oven 160 degrees C/ 315degrees F for 15-20 minutes. Makes about 18 biscuits depending on how big you roll em.  Let them sit for 5 mins on tray after removing from oven before cooling on wire racks. Enjoy with cuppa...ahhh..and the kids can have em too i spose.

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

I love this meal as it is really tasty, and only uses a few ingredients that I usually have in the fridge.

Ingredients:
Pancetta or bacon chopped up
4 tablespoons extra virgin oil or less ( I usually just use a few glugs olive oil)
4 red chillies split up middle, and seeds removed. If you are feeding kids, then omit this step and sprinkle individual dishes with dried chilli at table
2 large cloves garlic finely chopped
2 x 60gm eggs (very fresh)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
500gm spaghetti
freshly ground pepper

Instructions:
pop bacon, chillies and garlic in oil in small pan and cook on very low until fat renders from bacon, trying not to burn garlic
Whip up eggs in bowl and add cheese and pepper and stir to combine
Cook spaghetti, drain when cooked
remove chillies from pan and combine spaghetti with pan with bacon in it. Add eggy cheese mixture and stir thru in saucepan.
Serve and grate extra black pepper and sprinkle dried chillies if omitted in first step onto individual  plates.

Mint sauce

1 garlic clove crushed
large handful parsley and mint, finely chopped
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons xv olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
a pinch chilli flakes ( i usually add on top of my plate so that Cal can eat too)

Stir ingredients together and season with salt and pepper.

Serve with lamb

Roast Lamb Shoulder

1X1.1 kg lamb shoulder with bone (or without is ok)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 whole garlic bulb, halved
3 Rosemary sprigs

Preheat oven to 160C
Trim lamb any excess fat
Rub in olive oil, season with salt and pepper
Place lamb in roasting pan
Place garlic and rosemary sprigs on top lamb/in tin
Pour in 1 cup water
Cover tray with foil and bake for 2 hrs.


Uncover lamb, increase temp to 220C and roast for another 20 mins to brown. You may want to remove garlic and set aside so it doesn't burn. The meat will fall off the bone. I serve with roast suds and home made mint sauce.

Crispy Bacon-wrapped Pork Loaf by the Destitute Gourmet

Well MK, I'll take your Nigella meatloaf and raise you a Destitute Gourmet pork roll/meatloaf recipe!

Sophie Gray writes as the Destitute Gourmet and is a New Zealand institution.  I have 3 of her cookbooks  (they are my most frequently used cookbooks) and follow her on Facebook as well.  Her recipes make the most of small amounts of more "expensive" ingredients like meat, and she has many tips for stretching the budget and pantry to feed a family.

This recipe for pork loaf is delicious and like Nigella's meatloaf is fantastic cold on sandwiches the next day (if it lasts that long).  I even made this one Christmas as part of our Christmas Day lunch.  Delicious.

Serves 4-6

1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp oil
4 slices bread
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp mustard powder or wholegrain mustard
1-2 tsp dried sage
500g pork mince
4-6 rashers of bacon with rind removed

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Saute the onions and garlic in the oil until soft and set aside.
3. In a large bowl tear the bread slices into pieces and add the egg, salt, pepper, milk, mustard, sage,  onions and garlic.  Mix with a fork until soft and mushy.
4. Stir in the pork mince.
5. Lay a sheet of foil on the bench and arrange the bacon slices side by side on top of the foil.
6. Scoop the pork mixture along the middle of the bacon row and spread it into a log.
7. Lift the sides of the foil and wrap them around the pork so the bacon encloses the sides of the 'loaf'.
8. Shape into a loaf by smoothing the sides (with the foil still wrapped around).
9. Gently loosen the foil and invert the loaf into a shallow baking dish.
10. Remote the foil (the foil is only to help wrap the bacon around the loaf and shape it).
11. Wash the foil carefully and reuse it for something else.
12. Bake the loaf at 200C for 40 minutes or until juices run clear when pierced with fork.

Enjoy!

Nigellas excellent meatloaf

We watched this meal being cooked on Nigella Lawson's cooking program last night. It looked amazing and I will be attempting to cook it tonight. Photos to follow if it goes well. I love recipes with eggs as we have plenty of freshies every day.

She writes.......

"As far as gravy goes, I am happy just to have the juices that drip from the meatloaf as it cooks, and not least because the whole point of this meatloaf for me is that I can count on a good half of it to eat cold in sandwiches for the rest of the week. (And you must be aware - it is my duty to make you aware - that a high-sided roasting tin makes for more juices than a shallow one.)"

Ed's mother's meatloaf

SERVES 8-10

BUT FEED FEWER AND HAVE LEFTOVERS

4 large organic eggs

4 onions, 500g total

5 x 15ml tablespoons duck fat or butter

1 teaspoon sea salt flakes or 1/2 teaspoon pouring salt

1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

900g beef mince, preferably organic

100g fresh breadcrumbs

225g thin-cut rindless streaky bacon, or

275g American-style bacon

KITCHEN KIT

1 x large roasting tin

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Bring a pan of water to a boil and then boil 3 of the eggs for 7 minutes. Refresh them in cold water.

Peel and chop the onions, and heat the duck fat or oil in a thick-bottomed frying pan. Cook the onions gently, sprinkled with the salt, for about 20-25 minutes or until the onions are golden and catching in the fat. Remove to a bowl to cool.

Put the worcestershire sauce and beef mince into a bowl, and when the onion mixture is not hot to the touch, add it to the bowl and work everything together with your hands.

Add the remaining raw egg and mix again before finally adding the breadcrumbs.

Divide the mixture into 2, and in the tin make the bottom half of the meatloaf by patting half the mince mixture into a flattish ovoid shape approximately 23cm long. Peel and place the 3 hard-boiled eggs in a row down the middle of the meatloaf.

Shape the remaining mound over the top of the eggs and pat into a solid bloomer-loaf shape. Compress the meatloaf to get rid of any holes, but don't overwork it.

Cover the meatloaf with rashers of bacon, as if it were a terrine, tucking the bacon ends underneath the meatloaf as best you can to avoid its curling up as it cooks.

Bake for 1 hour, till the juices run clear, and once it's out of the oven let the meatloaf rest for 15 minutes. This should make it easier to slice. When slicing, do it generously, so everyone gets some egg. Pour meat juices over as you serve, or do what you will, gravywise.

MAKE AHEAD NOTE

The meatloaf can be assembled, covered and kept in fridge for 1 day. Then bake as in recipe.

QUICK BBQ GRAVY

If you wanted to make enough gravy to cover the whole shebang hot, then either make an onion gravy (see last week and at you.co.uk) and pour the meat juices in at the end, or fashion a quick, stove-top BBQ gravy. By that, I mean get out a saucepan, put in it 50g dark muscovado sugar, 125ml beef stock, 4 tablespoons each of dijon mustard, soy sauce, tomato paste or puree, and redcurrant jelly and 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, to taste. Warm and whisk and pour into a jug to serve.

Well that was a work up but so worth it...the meatloaf was really juicy and tasty wiht the baked spud in jacket and that gravy in the recipe which was rich but a really great accompaniment!

Birthday brownies

Calum requested brownies instead of cake to celebrate his first decade on earth so I ve just made these little beauties. I've made more complicated ones but this recipe is straight forward and quick/ simple (Cal made these ) and so delicious just had to add them to our blog. Courtesy Bill Grangers 'Bills basics' 2011


Here's how you make em:



Ingredients:

350 g (1 1/2 cups) caster sugar
80 g cocoa powder
60 g plain flour
1teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs, lightly beaten
200g unsalted butter melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
200g dark choc roughly chopped



What to do:


Preheat oven to 160 C
Line 22 cm square tin with baking paper
Stir together dry ingredients
Add eggs vanilla and butter
Mix well
Add chopped choc
Pour into tin and bake for 40- 45 mins
Leave to cool slightly in tin. Turn out onto wire rack. Cut into squares n serve.
We just had warm with cream......mmmmmmmmmmmmmm



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Roast Pumpkin, Chorizo and olive salad

I found this salad in the Masterchef magazine dec 2011 and made it for big BBQ.  A fantastic salad... love love loved it! So did everyone else too.

You will need:
2kg small jap pumpkin, seeded and washed halved and sliced into thinnish wedges (24 if you are using whole thing).
2 chorizo sausage sliced
1/2 cup kaamata olives
1/4 cup green olives
1 bulb garlic in separated but left in skins
1 long red chilli seeded and chopped finely
80g piece day old sourdough or rustic loaf torn roughly into pieces (croutons)
6 sprigs thyme
1 1/2 teaspoon sumaac
100 mls extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon zested and juiced

what to do:

Preheat oven fan forced to 220 C
Use very large roasting pan or two pans so as not to overcrowd ingredients ;)
Place pumpkin, chorizo, garlic, olives, chilli bread and thyme into a bowl. Sprinkle with sumac, dazzle with 1/4 cup of oil, and bless with salt and pepper to season.

Fondle ingredients to combine.
Transfer mixture to pans and roast for 25 mins until golden brown
Transfer to platter. Whisk remaining olive oil and lemon juice, and anoint dish and scatter with lemon zest.

Tuck in...
Amazing.

pomegranate salsa

I rejoice at xmas time because I can easily get my hands on Pomegranates and they aren't too expensive. This salsa is a great accompaniment and I usually make it when having BBQ with steak/ sausages. The acidity of the salsa is a great counterpoint for rich meat.


Ingredients

2 tomatoes quartered deseeded and finely chopped
1/3 cup parsley or coriander chopped
seeds/ juices (yum) from one 1 pomegranate
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon pomegranate molases
season with salt and pepper

Combine ingredients in bowl.....delish!

Rocky Road kid style

Super easy, super delicious.

2 blocks white cooking chocolate (or you could go mix it up and go 1 x white and 1 x milk choc)
1 bag jelly snakes
1 bag marshmallows (or the mini ones in the cooking aisle)
1 bag jelly lollies
desiccated or shredded coconut

Line baking tin with greaseproof paper.
Chop up lollies and marshmallows and spread all over paper.
Sprinkle coconut over them.
Melt chocolate in microwave, about 1 min at a time, stirring in between.  Doesn't take long.
Pour melted chocolate over lolly mix.
Sprinkle more coconut over top.
Put in fridge until solid.
Chop up.
Eat.

Margaret Fulton's ChristmasCake

I make this cake every year and it is a rich fabulous cake that we can never leave alone long enough for it to mature. It's a lot of work cutting up ingredients but if you have help with it's not too bad and definitely worth the effort..


Ingredients:
Dried fruit/nut


375 g raisins chopped
375 g sultanas chopped
250 g currants chopped
125 g mixed peel chopped
125 g glace cherries halved
6 dried apricots, nectarines, peaches, (i sometimes substitute dried mango as well if i cant find peaches chopped.
125g blanched chopped almonds
4 tablespoons rum and brandy


cake mix


250g butter
250g brown sugar
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons marmelade/ golden syrup
1.5 cups plain flour
.5 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice
5 eggs
blanched almonds and glace cherries to decorate


Day before making cake:


chop all nut/ dried fruit  put into large bowl and add alcohol. Mix well.  Cover and leave overnight to soak.


Next day:
Using electric mixer beat butter until soft/ creamed.  Add lemon brown sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Add golden syrup. Mix well.
Sift flour, baking powder and mixed spice together in separate bowl.
Add 2 tablespoons flour mixture to dried fruit and mix well so that it doesn't sink to the bottom of the cake.
Add eggs one at a time beating well into mixture, add tablespoon of flour mix to wet mixture if it curdles in between eggs. Add the remaining flour into the cake mix and then fold through the fruit mix. You might want to transfer cake mix into huge mixing bowl to incorporate the fruit otherwise the batter wont fit. (there is a lot of it)


To prepare the tin you need a 24 cm square or round cake tin greased and lined with 2 layers of baking paper. Put the mixture into the tinand drop the tin a couple of times onto the counter to  settle the mixture int the tin.


Decorate with cherries and almonds.


BAKE


In a preheated oven at 150 degrees for 2 and 3/4 hours or until a fine skewer inserted into cake comes away clean.


HINT:


Keep checking on the cake after half way thru and cover the top with foil so it doesn't burn.


When its cooked and removed from oven turn cake upside down lift the paper and sprinkle the hot cake with extra rum/ brandy. Wrap in a clean tea-towel and leave to cool on a cake rack. Wrap in grease proof paper and then foil.


Try keeping your hands off it.... its sensational!!!

Mixed fruit ready!!! Soaking in booze.

All done ......out of oven. Now, how long before we crack it open???

beautiful lemons

My Mum has just returned from visiting friends at their farm near Rylestone.  They grow everything, make their own cheese, sauces, jams and marmalade.  I scored some freshly made goats cheese and several very large lemons.  Hence, a lemon cake tonight.

Thanks to Monica and bestrecipes.com.au - Monica's Lemon Cake

Now to find a recipe for the goats cheese. Or maybe I'll just eat it on crackers...

Apple and sultana muffins

Just savoring one now as I type. Plump sweet sultans and crunchy pieces of apple and a crunchy sugary finish give these little babies multiple textures and make them very moreish.
Prep 12 mins as long as u don't have to rush down local shops for missing ingredients.

Bake 20 mins


Ingredients

2 cups plain flour
1 tbs baking powder
2 tspn ground cinnamon
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 medium granny smith apples peeled cores and roughly chopped
3/4 cup seedless raisins or sultanas
125g melted cooled butter/ marg
2 eggs lightly whisked
185 mls milk


What to do

Sift flour cinnamon and baking powder into large bowl
Add brown sugar apple and sultanas
Whisk wet ingredients together and add to dry mixture
Mix together with big metal spoon til just combined. Don't over handle/ mix!
Spoon into 12 muffin cases and cook for 20 mins in 185•C oven or until golden.

Allow to cool so that top of muffin is crunchy! See if u can stop yourself from hoeing into them!

THE best mini molten choc puds

This little pud is SO easy to make and takes such a short amount of time so you can put it together after dinner. Serve with ice cream/ double cream for extra decadence.

Ingredients

Serves: 4

• 125g butter
• 100g good-quality plain chocolate
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons plain flour

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Preparation method

Prep: 15 minutes | Cook: 7 minutes

1.

Preheat the oven to 230 C. Butter and flour 4 ramekins or souffle pots.

2.

In the top half of a double boiler or basin set over simmering water, heat the butter and the chocolate until chocolate is almost completely melted.

3.

Use a hand held electric mixer beat the eggs, egg yolks and sugar together until light coloured and thick.

4.

While beating, slowly pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture, then quickly beat in the flour until just combined.

5.

Divide the mixture between the 4 prepared dishes and bake for 6 to 7 minutes. The centres of the cakes will still be quite soft. Turn dishes onto serving plates and let stand for about 15 seconds, then unmould. Serve immediately with fresh cream, if desired.

basic muffin recipe

Hopefully MK will share her fabulous apple muffin recipe on here (hint hint) so in the meantime, here's my basic muffin recipe. Add whatever you fancy. Two mashed bananas (now that they are mildly affordable) and some choc chips or M&Ms are the favourite in this house.

• 2 cups self-raising flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• ¼ cup oil
• 1 cup milk
• Flavourings of choice (1 cup is usually enough)

Put everything in a bowl.

Mix until just mixed (over mixing = muffins like bread).

Bake in 180C (or 170C fanforced) oven for about 20 mins.

Recipe surfing

Yes its Saturday night and I am scouring the interwebs for new recipes.  In particular I am looking for recipes with lemons, pears and apples (I've just had a big box of fruit delivered and I know that we won't eat it all before it spoils).

Anyway, Best Recipes has again come up trumps so I am busy clipping recipes to Evernote and writing the shopping list.

Photos to come...

midweek pasta sauce recipe

This one is a great dish to make if you have a free afternoon and you pick up ingredients that are on sale. I like to make it and have in fridge /freezer for during the week when i can just reheat and cook pasta. I usually bake in 180 degree C oven in olive oil, 2 punnets cherry toms, 2 red capsicums, a handful of chillies and a handful cloves of garlic in skins after generously sprinkling with alt and pepper. If you are cooking for kids omit the chillies and add dried chilli flakes at the end as you serve if you like heat in your dishes.


So you bake until skins are loose, maybe 1/2 hr-1 hr, then sweat under foil and when cool skin veggies and remove seeds from capsicums. Add veggies with juice to blender and whizz, add a little extra virgin olive oil. Reheat when ready to serve reinvigorate :) with a squeeze of lemon, black pepper and your dried chillies if you desire..and voila fabulous pasta sauce. 


PS dont forget your parmesan cheese liberally shaved over dish.