Caponata

Cooking for one is such a pain as eating the same thing night after night gets really boring. I'm always on the look out for a versatile recipe and the caponata definitely suits the bill. It is perfect as a side to fish, on bread, pasta, polenta or just eaten with a fork. It is equally good hot or cold. 

Buckini Crumbed Fish with Kale Fritters

Buckini and macadamia crumbed flathead with kale fritters

I am slightly addicted to buckinis at the moment. Buckinis are activated buckwheat kernals ie buckwheat that has been dehydrated causing it to have a delicious crunchy texture and nutty taste. Despite its name, buckwheat is gluten free. The most common use for these little nuggets is in sweet dishes for example in muesli or crumbles, however I decided to go savoury this time.

Pan-Fried Salmon with Textures of Beetroot (and why you should K.I.S.S.)

Too much food!

This is what happens when:

a) I visit a farmers market and get a little too excited by the produce

and

b) I visit a beautiful restaurant and get a little too inspired (i.e. overambitious) 

Cauliflower Pizza Base (Gluten Free)

Another sneaky recipe to get extra serves of vegies in per day, just like zucchetti and green smoothies. You won't even taste the cauliflower! The trick to this recipe is getting the base just right. It's a pizza after all, so it needs to be eaten with the hands, therefore no soggy bottoms!




Cauliflower Pizza

(Inspired by Not Quite Nigella, Taste and a gazillion magazine articles - versions of this recipe are everywhere!!!)
1 med-large cauliflower
1/3 cup almond meal (or gluten free/plain flour)
2 eggs
Salt & Pepper
Whichever pizza toppings you fancy

1. Pre-heat your oven to 220 degrees. In a food processor or Thermomix, pulse the cauliflower until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs (press turbo 3 times on a TMX)

2. Place cauliflower in a sealed microwave safe container and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Remove lid and let the steam escape and leave the cauliflower to cool down until able to handle.
4. Place cauliflower in a clean chux (or muslin) cloth and squeeze out all the water. The cauliflower will decrease in volume by about half.

5. Place in a bowl and stir through beaten eggs, meal/flour and salt and pepper.
6. Line a pizza stone or tray with baking paper and spread cauliflower mixture into a circle. It's much easier to use your hands for this part.

7. Place in the oven and cook for 15 minutes until golden.
8. Place a second piece of baking paper over the cooked base and flip over. Remove the top sheet of baking paper so the previous underside of the base is now exposed. Place back into the oven for 5-10 minutes until it starts to colour. (I forgot to take a photo...oops!)
9. Top with your favourite pizza toppings (I used tomato, cheese, mushrooms and olives) and bake for another 10 minutes until cooked.

ENJOY!

Sarah xx

Mushroom San Choy Bau

1 large serve!

Unlike some families, san choy bau wasn't a dish that was on rotation in our household. I've probably only ever had it once or twice in my life. As it seemed like a nice summery dish and I could eat it with my hands, I thought it was worth a shot.

I couldn't quite find a recipe that suited my liking so I modified a few and this is what I came up with.

3 Days, 3 Salads

I love spring! Finally there are decent fruits and vegetables back in season. Although I love soup, after six months worth I crave salads.

I'm not one to follow recipes, I prefer to buy food then decide what to cook. Armed with a vegie drawer full of fresh vegetables, I set about to make myself some yummy dinners. Here is the result:

Day 1: Fennel & Orange Salad

 Thinly sliced fennel, orange, goat's cheese, craisins, slivered almonds with a citrus dressing

Day 2: Barbecued Vegetable and Barley Salad with a Lemony Pesto Dressing

Barbecued zucchini, corn & asparagus, blanched broad bean, avocado, feta, pearl barley, lemon juice, pesto.

Day 3: Roast Beetroot Salad

Roast beetroot, chickpeas, baby spinach, feta, za'atar,  pomegranate molasses, verjuice, tahini. 

Sarah xx

P.S. Sorry for the lack of posts recently!

The BEST meal of my life! (ie Ultraviolet, Shanghai)

I am in two minds about blogging this experience for it was the best culinary experience of my life and I know that I will not be able to do it justice through words and photos.

The Menu

Ultraviolet is a new restaurant/experience/concept by Paul Pairet, the owner of Mr & Mrs Bund, one of my favourite restaurants. Opening only in May, after 15 years of development and 2 years of delays, Ultraviolet is an entire sensory experience to induce the 'psycho-taste'. Each of the 22 courses ( YES 22 courses), is enhanced by a new atmosphere - think new sounds, smells, lighting even temperature and matched with a suitable beverage be it wine, beer, cider, juice, tea etc. The wait staff were amazing and perfectly choreographed to the second as well as being so friendly and relaxed.

Fitzrovia, St Kilda (again!)

A couple of weeks ago a blogged about a brunch I had at Fitzrovia. Their menu, philosophy and decor appealed so much to me that i had to go back for a second visit, this time for dinner. The inside of the restaurant is so homely - it's like having dinner at a friend's place rather than a restaurant. Also, who doesn't like being able to look straight into the kitchen? The wait staff were very friendly and prompt at taking our orders.

Mock Duck

In 6 weeks i'm heading off to China and Hong Kong for a bit of a holiday. So, in preparation for my trip i thought i'd play around with some weird and wonderful ingredients. The first is mock duck - from a can!

I know i'm not the first person to use this, however I still found this ingredient a bit gross, especially when it plopped out of the can!

Investigating further, it seems that this mock duck is fairly harmless having quite normal ingredients - gluten, soy, oil. Nonetheless, by using this ingredient i have probably ruined my reputation of being quite a decent cook!

So, unsure of how it would taste I decided to make a stir fry, using multiple ingredients to drown out the taste/texture of the duck should it be terrible. Now I am a terrible hoarder of sauces and condiments, the pantry and fridge are full of bottles and jars from all over the world. So I grabbed a few of my favourite asian condiments - chilli bean paste, ya cai, minced ginger and soy sauce along with some garlic, broccoli, eggplant, lotus root and spring onion and got ready to stir fry!

The result wasn't too bad! The duck had a 'meaty' texture but its flavour was fine. To be honest the predominant flavour was the chilli bean paste. It still creeps me out that the duck came from a can!

Just in case any of you have a penchant for mock duck i'll post the (rough) recipe below.

Bring on the next weird ingredient! Suggestions anyone?

Sarah xx

Mock Duck Stir Fry

1 can mock duck, drained and sliced

1 small eggplant, sliced into 4cm rings then quartered

1/2 head broccoli

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

8 slices of lotus root, halved

1 heaped tsp minced ginger

1-2 tbsp chilli bean paste

1 tbsp ya cai

4 stalks spring onion, sliced

Soy sauce to taste

Steam eggplant and broccoli until cooked (the eggplant will take much longer than broccoli.)

Heat a wok and add oil

Add garlic and ginger and cook for 30 seconds

Add lotus root, duck, chilli bean paste and ya cai, cook for 2 minutes

Add broccoli and eggplant, cook for 3-4 minutes until everything is cooked through

Add soy sauce and spring onion, cook for 1 minute

Serve

Ricotta Gnocchi with Romesco Sauce

A few weeks ago i raved about this romesco sauce from Taste.  So instead of making it with the spanish chickpea balls as per the recipe, i thought it would go nicely with ricotta gnocchi.  Inspired by the ricotta gnocchi my aunt made a few months ago, i set out to master ricotta gnocchi for the first time. To be honest the gnocchi were much easier to make than expected. I've made potato gnocchi many times and i found the ricotta variety to be much simpler. 

Veggie Kofta Korma

Got my blogging mojo back! It helps that i'm cooking a bit more now that i'm on holidays. This beautiful recipe is courtesy of Veggie Num Num and you can find the recipe here: http://www.veggienumnum.com/2012/04/veggie-kofta-korma/


This meal was so delicious that i made it twice in the same week!

Vegie Moussaka

I'm getting lazy with this blogging business....

Here's a moussaka recipe that tastes even better than the original! It does take awhile to make though so it's best left for a Sunday or when you have plenty of time. It freezes well so it's worth making a big batch.

This is the un-Thermomixed version of the recipe. The filling and bechamel can both be done in a Thermomix.

Appalling photo. I swear it tastes better than it looks!

Chickpea Balls with Romesco Sauce

Hello!

Well it's been a long time in between posts. I have such a backlog of recipes i need to blog. Bring on the holidays so i can get everything done!!!

This is what i had for dinner tonight and it was so delicious that i thought it needed blogging ASAP!

Fish-Fragrant Eggplants... yes it is vegetarian!

Sichuan cuisine is definitely my favourite Chinese cuisine and Fuchsia Dunlop is a fantastic Sichuan chef and cookbook author. I bought one of her cookbooks, Sichuan Cookery after visiting China the first time, and on my recent trip i read her incredibly interesting autobiography. She actually isn't Chinese - she's English but was one of the first westerners to study Sichuan cookery in the 1990s.

So what does one cook after arriving back in Australia after 5 weeks overseas? Well personally i would have expected to crave salads, mexican, indian or some other food that i hadn't eaten for months but no, i felt like chinese!

This recipe is really easy to make and should be served as part of a banquet Chinese-style perhaps with a tofu dish and a green vegetable dish plus rice. Because i was cooking for one i simply served it with some quinoa - something i did miss whilst overseas!

I adapted the recipe by steaming the chopped eggplant for 30 minutes rather than frying. After all the Christmas festivities plus overseas eating i really need to get healthy again! Luckily steaming the eggplant worked brilliantly and i will do it again this way in the future.

Fish-Fragrant Eggplant - Fuchsia Dunlop

2 medium sized eggplants, cut into quarters or eighths, then chopped into chunks
1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 tbsp chilli bean paste (i used lee kum kee brand)
3 tsp finely chopped ginger
3 tsp finely chopped garlic
150ml vegetable stock
1 1/2 tsp white sugar
1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp cornflour mixed with 1tbsp water (the original recipe uses potato flour)
1 1/2 tsp black vinegar
4 spring onions, finely chopped, green part only
1 tsp sesame oil

Steam eggplant for 30 minutes or until very tender.

In a wok, heat oil and cook chilli bean paste for 20-30 seconds until fragrant. Add ginger and garlic and cook for another 20 seconds ensuring it does not burn.
Add stock, sugar and soy and stir to mix well before adding eggplant.
Allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes in order to reduce the sauce a little and allow the eggplant to absorb the flavour.
Drizzle over the cornflour slurry and stir gently to incorporate.
Stir in vinegar and spring onion then remove from heat.
Drizzle over sesame oil and serve

If you're interested, the title 'fish-fragrant' comes from the combination of flavours: salty, sweet, sour and spicy. Basically in needs to include chilli bean paste (or pickled chillis), ginger, garlic and spring onions.

Sarah xx

Christmas Wrap Up

Hello!

I hope you all had a fabulously festive Christmas! I apologise for the lack of blog posts recently, Christmas craziness got the better of me!

The Thermomix hasn't gone to the back of the cupboard - in fact it's been used almost every day. Over the past week or so i have made:

-CADA (EDC)
-Lychee sorbet
-Roast peach sorbet
-Raspberry sorbet
-Vanilla icecream
-Tropical sorbet
-a million different smoothies
-Basil pesto (EDC)
-GF crepes

And today - the easiest béchamel sauce (EDC) ever!!! 1L milk, 100g butter, 100g flour, nutmeg all thrown in, 90C and 12 mins later added 1/2 cup parmesan cheese and voila! Lump-free, thick and delicious béchamel! Very happy! I have to admit, béchamel has never been my forte. I used to resort to using the stick blender to get out the lumps!

My béchamel was for a lasagne that i made for my cousin.

Dodgy, rushed iPhone pic!

This is not a vegetarian recipe. I have adapted a Guy Grossi recipe that was in the newspaper a few years back. This is what i do when i don't use a Thermomix. The Bolognese sauce quantity makes enough for the lasagne plus a couple of extra tubs of sauce.

Béchamel

1L milk
1 small onion
1 bay leaf
1 clove
80g butter
80g flour
½ cup grated parmesan
Salt and pepper
Nutmeg



Bolognese 

50ml olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
500g minced beef
500g minced pork & veal
2 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
1 tbsp dried oregano
4 bay leaves
2 cloves, crushed
Grating of nutmeg
Salt and pepper
200g tomato paste
200ml red wine
2 x 800g tins diced tomato

OtherLasagne Sheets
1 cup grated mozzarella or tasty cheese

Béchamel Sauce
Warm milk, onion, bay leaf and clove in saucepan until simmering. Rest for 15min off the heat, then strain.

Melt butter in saucepan , add flour, stir with wooden spoon to a smooth paste. Cook stirring continuously, for 2-3min, without colouring.

Stir in milk gradually, ensuring no lumps form and bring to the boil beating vigorously. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg and slow simmer for 10min. Take off the heat and stir through parmesan.


Bolognese

Heat oil in a large pot. Sauté onion and garlic over medium heat until soft. Add the meats and sauté until well browned.

Add herbs, spices, salt and pepper and tomato paste and cook for 1-2min, then add the wine and boil to reduce by half. Add tomatoes and bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 3-4 hours (you may need to keep an eye on the liquid level, add water if required.)

To assemble

Personally i make my own pasta sheets, and for this lasagne i use 2 eggs, 1 tbsp olive oil and 200g 00 flour. You can use pre-made sheets if you wish :)

Spread 2 ladlefuls of bolognese sauce on the bottom of a baking dish and cover with lasagne sheets. Top with approximately 4 ladlefuls of bolognese and half the bechamel. Cover with lasagne sheets. Spread another 4 ladlefuls of bolognese and top with lasagne sheets. Pour over the remaining béchamel and top with grated cheese. Cook at 180C for 30-45mins or until golden.

Note. If freezing lasagne it is easier to refrigerate overnight then cut.

I'm not sure how much i'll be able to post over the upcoming month... holiday time!

Until next time,


Sarah xx

Masterchef Risotto

I love beetroot. I think it has overtaken eggplant as my favourite vegetable. Beetroot salad, dip, relish and RISOTTO! This recipe is only for beetroot lovers so steer clear if you're a fence sitter!

Beetroot Risotto (adapted from this one)
serves 4

3 large beetroot, roasted then diced (or use tinned but it wont taste as good!)
1 onion, quartered
2 cloves garlic
40g olive oil
250g arborio rice
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
100ml red wine
600ml vegetable stock
400ml beetroot juice (or extra stock)
100g walnuts, roasted
125g goat's cheese
rocket leaves
balsamic glaze

Put onion and garlic in Thermomix and chop on speed 6 for 5 seconds. Add oil and cook for 2 minutes at 100 degrees on speed 2. Add rice and thyme and cook for 2 minutes at 100 degrees on reverse + speed 2. Add wine and cook for 1 minute at 100 degrees on reverse + speed 2. Add stock and juice and cook for 15 minutes at 100 degrees on reverse + speed 2 or until most of the liquid has absorbed. Add beetroot and some ground pepper and leave to sit for 5 minutes.

Serve into dishes and sprinkle with walnuts and goat's cheese. Serve with dressed rocket.

Sarah xx

Crumbed Tofu with Ratatouille

Don't you hate it when you don't know what you feel like for dinner? Well this was one of those nights. My housemate suggested tofu but i didn't really feel like doing something Asian. In the end i had an idea to make tofu parmigiana. However i also felt like eating a ton of vegies so the tofu parma morphed into crumbed tofu with ratatouille.

Not the most photogenic of dishes, nor the greatest photo but i was hungry!

 The result was pretty pleasing. The tofu was delicious! I'll definitely make the tofu again. Incredibly flavoursome and crunchy yet there was no frying involved! The ratatouille was so-so - i've definitely made better and had better. It was just a bit boring.

Looks like Weetbix!

I'll type out how i did the tofu but i don't think there is much point typing out the ratatouille, i'd recommend choosing your favourite recipe and putting it on the tofu. Otherwise caponata would be a really nice addition - this is my favourite recipe OR you could make a parma like i'd originally intended.

Crumbed Tofu 

serves 4

3 slices bread (i just used the crusts of some multigrain bread)

1 1/2 cups roasted chickpeas

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp tomato powder

1/4 tsp salt

pepper

1 cup grated parmesan

3 eggs

1 tbsp vege stock concentrate

500g very firm tofu (dried with paper towel)

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and line a tray with greaseproof paper.

Put the bread in the Thermomix bowl and pulse for 3-4 times or until breadcrumbs form. Add in the parmesan and ground pepper and stir on reverse and speed soft for 10 seconds or until incorporated. Tip onto a dinner plate and set aside.

Place the chickpeas into the Thermomix bowl and blend on speed 9 for 6 seconds or until powder. Add in garlic, oregano, tomato powder, salt and pepper. Stir on reverse and speed soft for 10 seconds or until incorporated. Tip onto a dinner plate and set aside.

Crack the eggs into a bowl and add the stock. Whisk lightly with a fork. (I suppose you could do this in the Thermomix but i didn't.) 

Place your tofu on a chopping board and cut into 3 horizontally. Cut each piece into 3 strips. 

For each piece of tofu place it in the chickpea mixture, ensuring it is well coated, then dunk into the egg then cover in the breadcrumb mixture. Place on the prepared tray and repeat, until all pieces are coated.

Spray the tofu with oil before putting in the oven and baking for approximately 1 hour, turning over halfway. 

Enjoy!

Note: i only used chickpeas because we had some in the pantry that weren't getting eaten. You could substitute any kind of flour.

Sarah xx

Homage to My Brother - Tempeh 'Non Carne'

It's widely known in my family that my brother's famous dish is his chilli con carne. It was in fact his only dish for several years! So when i stumbled across a recipe for Tempeh Chilli Con Carne in the Thermomix Vegetarian cookbook i knew it had to be made asap. I actually didn't end up following the recipe as i wanted to make a version that would remind me of my brother's as i haven't eaten his dish for many years since becoming vegetarian. In addition to the chilli, i also made a quick guacamole (1 avocado, juice of 1 lime and 5 sprigs coriander blitzed up) and cooked my rice in the Thermomix.

It took all of 20 minutes to cook the chilli then another 12 for the rice and 1 for the guacamole. I'd say that's a quick meal given that you don't need to actually stand and cook the whole time - you can write blog posts in the meantime!

Thank for the inspiration Sam - i had a delicious dinner! Hope i didn't completely bastardise your version! I think some of the leftovers will be turned into jaffle fillings, on baked potato and in wraps. I love versatile recipes!

Sarah xx

Tempeh 'Non Carne' serves 4

1 onion, quartered

2 cloves garlic

1 long red chilli

200g tempeh, roughly chopped

15g oil

400g tin diced tomatoes

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)

1/2 tbsp vegie stock concentrate

400g tin kidney beans.

Place onion, garlic and chilli into Thermomix bowl and chop for 3 seconds on speed 6.

Add tempeh and oil into bowl and pulse twice then saute for 4 minutes at 100C on reverse & speed soft.

Add all other ingredients except kidney beans and cook for 8 minutes at 100C on reverse & speed soft.

Add kidney beans and cook for 1 minute at 100C on reverse & speed soft.

Serve with guacamole and steamed rice.

Finally got my hands on it!

Greetings! Guess what got delivered yesterday? I'm so excited. I think i'm in love just a little. So far i do not regret parting with $1939 one bit! I just wish i had some more mouths to feed so i could cook more. So far i have made mango sorbet and watermelon & lime sorbet

It took all of 3 minutes to make sorbet. I used the recipe from the EDC. The only thing extra i did was after it had been in the freezer for about 4 hours i re-churned it just to make it super luscious. 

The next thing i made was the vegie stock concentrate. I didn't exactly follow the recipe identically - i used the random vegies i had in my fridge which included swede and fennel in addition to the vegies mentioned in the recipe. I didn't take a photo considering the outcome although great, looks a lot like baby poo. I can't believe how much the recipe makes and it's so cheap. Those stock companies must be making an absolute fortune...

Then because i had this fantastic stock i thought i'd test it out by making risotto. It was delicious! I followed the mushroom risotto recipe in the EDC however i didn't use mushrooms, instead i used asparagus, peas and homegrown snowpeas. I also halved the recipe as it was just me at home for dinner. Surprisingly it still took 16mins to cook. There are leftovers for tomorrow - gotta love gourmet lunches!

Like the broccoli flowers on top? I thought they were cute!

Finally i made some capsicum and sundried tomato dip. Again from the EDC. I promise once i get the hang of the thermomix i'll start posting my own recipes up on here.  The dip is fabulous and i highly recommend it. I can't believe all it took was 4 pulses to turn all the ingredients into one fabulous dip. 

Well that's the end of my first day of cooking using the thermomix. Hopefully tomorrow i'll be able to have a bit more of a play.

Sarah xx