Aunty A's Amazing Cooking Adventures

The Kitchen Cabinet

2009-07-26T11:00:00.002+10:00

For those of us interested in buying local, buying in season, reducing our carbon footprint and obtaining pesticide free fruit and vegies, you might want to try the Kitchen Cabinet, located at the back of the Cafe in the House, on the ground floor of Old Parliament House, open daily from 7.30am to 5.30pm daily.

Enjoy.

Food Art

2009-07-25T17:34:00.001+10:00

Here you can find some wonderful food art

http://www.lenswall.com/photographers.php?a=19

Alive and Cooking

2008-12-02T21:17:00.001+11:00

ALIVE AND COOKING
is Australia’s hottest new cooking show hosted by
celebrity chef James Reeson weekdays at 11.30am on WIN and , and channel 9 Perth and Adelaide,

JR found this one - it is a great resource, thanks Aunty A.

Cherry clafoutis

2008-08-03T09:00:00.007+10:00

Melted butter, to grease
1 x 400g can pitted whole cherries, drained
40g (1/3 cup) almond meal
70g (1/3 cup) caster sugar
185ml (3/4 cup) milk
2 eggs
Pure icing sugar, to dust
Whipped cream, to serve (optional)

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush a round 20cm (base measurement) pie dish with butter to grease. Spoon over the cherries.
Combine the almond meal and sugar in a bowl. Whisk together the milk and eggs in jug. Gradually add the milk mixture to the almond mixture, stirring until combined.
Pour the batter over the cherries in the dish. Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until just set. Dust with icing sugar and serve with whipped cream, if desired.

I have seen another recipe for this, with goats cheese in it - so I will try to make that soon.

Coconut fish curry

2008-08-02T08:14:00.003+10:00

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 whole dried red chillies
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
8 fengreek seeds
8-10 curry leaves or kaffir lime leaves
4 tablespoons desiccated coconut soaked in 200ml of hot water for 20 minutes
2 green chillies de-seeded and cut into quarters lengthwise
1 tsp ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds roasted and ground
1 tablespoon fresh coriander chopped
4 firm white flesh fish steaks about 150-175g each
25g creamed coconut
juice 1/2 lemon
basmati rice to serve

Heat the oil in a shallow pan. Add the dried red chillies, black mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves. When they begin to crackle and the curry leaves turn from green to a light brown, add the coconut and the water in which it has been soaked. When the liquid starts to boil add the green chillies, ginger, ground turmeric, onion, ground roasted cumin, salt, red chili powder. Add half the coriander leaves and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Immerse the fish into the sauce. Cover and continue cooking for ten minutes. Add the creamed coconut and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Once the fish has cooked through squeeze in the lemon juice and sprinkle with the remaining coriander. Serve hot with steamed basmati rice.

Chunky butternut pumpkin and chick pea soup

2008-07-30T07:36:00.000+10:00

From Delicious July 2008 - Jamie Oliver

Serves 4-6
1 butternut pumpkin, peeled, diced, seeds rinsed and reserved
1 tbs cumin seeds
1 dried red chili crumbled
Olive oil
2 celery sticks
3 garlic cloves
a few sprigs of flat leaf parsley, leaves chopped, stalks finely chopped
2 small red onions, finely chopped
1.5 litres vegetable stock (GF)
2 x 400g cans of chickpeas, drained
2 tsp each fennel seeds, sesame seeds and poppy seeds

2/3 cup almond flakes
zest of 2 lemons
sprigs of mint, leaves chopped
Extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200C. Put the pumpkin, cumin and dried chili on a baking ray. Drizzle with oil, mix together and roast for 45 minutes or until cooked through.

Heat a large saucepan over medium low heat and pour in a splash of olive oi. Add the celery, garlic, parsley stalks and two thirds of the onion. Cook gently with a lid on until softened. Drop in the pumpkin and sweat for a few minutes then pour in the stock. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the chickpeas and simmer for 15 minutes more.

Meanwhile toast the reserved pumpkin seeds with the fennel seeds, sesame and poppy seeds and almonds in the oven on a baking tray for 3-4 minutes or until nicely coloured all over.

Season the soup well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, then using a stick blender whiz for a few seconds so it thickens, but there are still some chunky bits. Keep warm while you mix together the zest, parsley and mint leaves. Chop the remaining onion finely then mix it into the zesty herb mixture.

To serve, ladle into the soup bowl and stir once, then sprinkle with toasted nuts and seeds followed by the herby mixture. Finish with a drizzle of some extra virgin olive oil.

Chocolate and craisin slice

2008-07-28T18:38:00.002+10:00

Spray oil
1 1/2 cups of museli
1 1/2 cups rice bubbles
1 cup shredded coconut
170g craisins
1 can skinny sweetened condensed milk (or full fat)
250g milk chocolate bits

Lightly spray a 27mm x 17 mm container with oil and line with baking paper
Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl
Combine the condensed milk and the chocolate in a bowl and rest over slowly boiling water (or put in 900w microwave for 30 seconds. Combine the milk and the chocolate and then pour into the dry ingredients. Mix quickly and put into the container and then refridgerate for 1 hour, then cut into slices and refridgerate for at least another 2 hours.

If you are going to put this slice in a school lunch box, make sure that there are no nuts in the museli mix.

Enjoy.

Roasted capsicum, tomato and coriander soup

2008-07-19T09:45:00.002+10:00

This soup is delicious and we have made it twice in the past week. The second time we did not have any chilli so I used sambel olek - it worked well and if anything was hotter than just using the chilli.

To check out the recipe and a picture (not mine) click here.

Salmon Patties and Fennel Slaw

2008-07-06T10:19:00.004+10:00

Here is what we had for tea the other night! I got so excited about photographing it that I managed to video it instead! The video is all of 1 second long.

New Blog site

2008-07-03T09:10:00.002+10:00

Hi there, TC put me on to this great food blog The Pioneer Woman

She reminds me a little of the Gluten Free Goddess. She is in an isolated place, enjoys cooking (without the restrictions that the GFG has), and enjoys photography and communicating.

Check it out.

Thanks TC

Aunty A.

Scallops with black bean vinaigrette

2008-06-30T20:17:00.003+10:00

Based on a recipe in "The food of Australia"

16 scallops
olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste

Vinaigrette
50 g of lee kum kee (black bean and garlic) sauce
50 g shallots finely chopped
30 g of ginger finely chopped
1/2 clove of garlic finely chopped
100ml of extra virgin olive oil
60 ml of rice wine vinegar
1 and 1/2 tablespoons of mirrin
1/2 tablespoon of light soy sauce

Combine all the vinaigrette ingredients together in a screw top jar and shake.
Clean and dry the scallop, smear a non stick frying pan with olive oil and heat. Sear the scallops on both sides, taking care not to over cook them.

Put scallops on plate and spoon over a little of the vinaigrette and serve

Rice and Beans

2008-06-29T18:49:00.003+10:00

Rice and beans with fish

You may remember I mentioned a local recipe that I found when walking through South America so I thought I would pass it on.

Although I thought it would be tasty, I found it quite bland. Great for kids, although feedback from AJR indicates that he thought the beans tasted like asparagus and he would not eat the beans.

Bean and tomato soup

2008-06-15T22:03:00.007+10:00

WooHoo I have a camera again - MonashMob for more on that later.

Here is our tea tonight:
1 can tomatoes

1 can cannellini beans
500 ml vegeta vegetable stock
1 garlic finely chopped

1 red onion sliced

1 bunch of fennel leaves finely chopped

Sweat the onions and garlic, add the stock, canned tomatoes, cannellini beans and cook until thickened and reduced. Add the fennel and whiz or blend.

Serve with toast.

Rice Salad

2008-03-14T20:07:00.002+11:00

120ml olive oil
3 brown onions, halved and sliced
150g currants
2 cups brown rice, boiled, drained and kept warm
1/2 bunch parsley
1/2 bunch mint
2 green chillis, sliced (optional)
2 lemons, juiced
120g pine nuts, toasted

1. Place currants in saucepan, cover with red wine
vinegar ( no set amount, just enough to cover). Boil
for 3 minutes, reserve liquid.
2. Caramelise onions in 30ml of the olive oil, for
20-30 min.
3. Combine rice, herbs, chilli, currants with the
reserved red wine vinegar, lemon juice, the remaining
olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.
4. Add 1/2 the onions and 1/2 the pine nuts.
5. Serve in a bowl or on a platter, topped with
remaining onions and pine nuts. ( Serve warm or cold)

Chickpea and spinach curry

2008-01-25T06:55:00.000+11:00

The best thing about this recipe is that it is quick and relies on staples that are usually in my cupboard/fridge. The other thing is that it is mild and great for the kids.

splash of olive oil
1 red onion
3 cloves garlic finely sliced
2 teaspoons jar ginger
1 teaspoon of sambal olek
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1/4 cup water
2 cans of chickpeas, drained
1 teaspoon of cumin
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
pepper
500gm cherry tomatoes
250gm frozen chopped spinach (thawed and juice squeezed out)
1 cup corn
1 cup of peas

In a large fry pan heat oil, when hot add the onion, garlic, ginger, sambal olek and salt. Cook until onions are soft. Add the chickpeas, corn, peas, water, cumin, turmeric and pepper and cook until the water evaporates. Add the tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes. Stir through the spinach.

Serve with plain yogurt.
Serves 4.

Options

Reduce the amount of sambal olek if concerned about spiciness
Use fresh green chili's (1 or 2) if available
Omit corn and peas as they are not a traditional ingredient in this sort of dish (I only added them as they were in the fridge and demanding to be eaten, great excuse to get more vegies accidently into kids)

Broad bean fritters with lemon yoghurt

2008-01-24T21:53:00.001+11:00

Tonight we had broad bean fritters. Now I am the first to admit I have never been a fan of broad beans, however this recipe has changed my mind. Would make an excellent entree.

500g frozen broad beans skinned
6 sprigs of coriander plus 6 for the yogurt dressing
sea salt
ground pepper
1 level teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of sambal olek
1 heaped teaspoon of gluten free plain flour (or ordinary plain flour)
zest and juice of one lemon
Vegetable oil for frying
125g natural yogurt
salad leaves

Pinch off skins of broad beans. Whizz the coriander, add salt and pepper, then add the spices, sambal olek, broad beans and lemon zest. Whizz until finely chopped - stopping to scrape the mixture off the sides of the bowl. Sprinkle in the flour and pulse a few more times.

Shape the mixture into small rounds, approximately 20, and drop into preheated oil. Cook until brown on the outside (1-2 minutes). Drain on kitchen paper and serve on washed salad greens.

To make the lemon yogurt dressing, finely chop another six sprigs of coriander and stir into the yogurt, add the juice of half the lemon and mix well. Dress the salad leaves with any left over lemon juice and a little olive oil.

Alternatives
Use mint instead of coriander in the yogurt.
Use a small fresh chili instead of the sambal olek
Make the fritters larger for more of a main meal option

Other recipes coming this month:

Spinach and chickpea curry
Ratatouille
Thai pork balls
Rice salad
Asparagus souffle

Aunty A

Interesting Vegetarian Blog Site

2008-01-19T07:45:00.000+11:00

I was searching today for a spinach and chickpea curry (now that the temperature is out of the 30's I have an urge to cook warm food!) for dinner tonight and for a dinner party next week. As I was searching I found this blog site:

From the Kitchen of a Captious Vegetarian

It is written by a woman called Rose who grew up in Texas, has lived in Canada and is moving to live in Germany as her husband Derek has a new job there.

I like how she writes and I like the variety of her recipes, check it out sometime. For those, like me, who wonder what Captious actually means, here is the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defiinition

"marked by an often ill-natured inclination to stress faults and raise objections"

which I guess means that Rose is a critical vegetarian!!!

Aunty A

New year, new you?

2008-01-12T06:40:00.000+11:00

If you are thinking about making 2008 a year when there is less of you around! then you might want to check out this link.

Here is to another year of wonderful recipes and cooking ideas.

Spicy Indian potato and spinach curry

2007-11-27T19:57:00.000+11:00

800g potatoes, peeled, cut into 4cm pieces
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large brown onion, halved, cut into thin wedges
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2x 400g cans of chopped tomatoes
150g spinach leaves
90 g sour cream
handful of cashews
2 tablespoon of chopped coriander

Cook the potato in the microwave for 12 minutes or until cooked firm
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic, garam masala and cumin and cook, stiring for one minute or until aromatic.
Stir in the tomato and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Stir in the potato, simmer for a further 5 minutes or until the potato is very tender.
Add the spinach and remove from the heat. Stir for 1-2 mintes or until the spinach just wilts. Season with pepper. Divide among serving bowls. Top with sour cream, cashews and corriander to serve.

MLR's creation

2007-11-25T19:39:00.000+11:00

Here is what MLR put together for her tea the other day.
a new twist on scrambled egss and toast!!!

Rustic Italian Pie

2007-11-22T06:39:00.000+11:00

12 slices of wholemeal gluten free bread (can use ordinary bread)
60g butter, melted
250g froxen spinach thwaed, drained and squeezed dry
4 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
250g tub smooth ricotta
200g feta crumbled
1/2 cup sour cream
5 eggs lightly beaten
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons chopped oregano, plus extra sprigs to garnish
salad to serve.

Preheat oven to 180c or 160 fan forced
Lightly grease a 22cm spring form pan. Using a rolling pin, roll the bread flat, brush both sides with melted butter. Press firmly into the base and sides of pan, overlapping slightly. Bake for 15 minutes or until toasted.
Spread spinach in base of crust. Place onion, garlic, ricotta, feta , sour cream, and eggs in a large mixing bowl, season to tasted with salt and black pepper. Mix well. Carefully pour over spinach. Combine Parmesan and oregano, sprinkle over filling.
Bake for 40 minutes or until just set. Cool for 10 minutes in pan, loosen spring and remove. Sprinkle with oregano sprigs and serve with salad.

Caramalised Onion Dip

2007-11-17T11:41:00.000+11:00

Here is a dip that is best made the day before it is needed.

2 large onions
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
4 ounces of cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream (room temperature)
1/2 cup mayonnaise

Cut the onions in half and then slice thickly
Heat the oil and butter in a large saute pan over a medium high heat.
Add the onions, cayenne salt and pepper and saute for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low and continue to cook for 40 more minutes, stirring occasionally, but not too often, until the onions are browned and caramelized.

Add the Dijon mustard and the balsamic vinegar and continue to cook for about 10 more minutes. Allow the onions to cool.

In a whizz or blender combine the cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise, blend until smooth, add all of the onions, reserving a tablespoon for garnish, blend again. Refrigerate overnight to allow the flavours to develop.

Serve with crackers or chips.

Sorry no photo,

Cucumber and crab bites

2007-11-15T19:27:00.000+11:00

4 medium Lebanese cucumbers
250g cream cheese
210g can of crab or red or pink salmon
1 tablespoon of sour cream
1 tablespoon of mayonnaise
1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of finely chopped coriander
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
dash of pepper

Wash cucumbers and slice 0.5 cm thick
Beat the cream cheese in a small bowl using electric beaters until it thick and creamy
Add the crab (or salmon), sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, herbs and pepper until well combined.
Place a teaspoonful of the cheese mixture on the cucumber rounds, serve.

Salmon and blue cheese quiche

2007-11-14T07:37:00.000+11:00

Olive oil
1 onion chopped
100g of Parmesan cheese, grated
2 tablespoons of fresh chopped basil
8 large eggs, beaten
250 ml creme fraiche
10 black olives freshly pitted and chopped
100g of salmon sliced (I used the 100g packets of salmon from Woolworths)
100g of blue cheese

Lightly grease a 26cm round ovenproof ceramic dish and preheat the oven to 150c

Drizzle a little olive oil into a frying pan over a high heat. Add the onion and sweat for 2-3 minutes, until softened but not coloured. Tip the onion into a large bowl to cool before adding the Parmesan and basil - stir through

In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs and the creme fraiche. Pour into the onion mixture, add the olives and mix well before adding the salmon. Stir gently.

Pour the egg mixture into the buttered dish. Sprinkle the blue cheese over the mixture, the cheese should float on top. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature and serve with a green salad.

Serves 4
Remove the salmon to make it really vegetarian.

Mushrooms

2007-11-12T07:34:00.000+11:00

I found this resource on different types of mushrooms and thought I would share with you.

You could set yourself a goal to try each type of mushroom!

Let me know if you do, some of these mushies I have never heard of!!

Spinach Mushroom Salad

2007-11-10T07:15:00.000+11:00

5 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon dried sage
dash of pepper
250 mushrooms sliced in half or quarters if large
(I used swiss brown, but any firm mushroom will do)
1/2 pkt baby spinach

Combine the first 12 ingredients, mix well. Add mushrooms and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (I left it overnight). Just before serving, toss the spinach and mushroom mixture in a salad bowl.
Serves 6.

Sorry no photo

Balsamic Chicken

2007-10-07T16:04:00.000+10:00

On checking my paper file for this recipe (checked here and under recipes in the word documents) I found this delightfully stained recipe below.

An easier to read version is below:

3/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
1 tspn sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lemon squeezed
1/4 cup oil
chicken
pine nuts or slivered almonds
lettuce (or your favourite greens)
sundried tomatoes

Take first five ingredients and place in a jar and shake.

Cook chicken, add the pine nuts and fry briefly.

Assemble on a platter, and pour over the dressing and serve immediate.

This is one of the first recipes that I begged from Bron (who begged it from Kylie). It is easy and interesting to eat. Again no pictures, sorry.

Creative Gourmet

2007-10-06T21:18:00.000+10:00

Finally something I am excited about and want to share.

While mooching along the frozen food aisle in my local Woolies the other day I came across some frozen pancakes!! Wow I thought, I will get those they will be fantastic. I have had them for some days now and today I decided to make a roulade of pancake, ricotta and pesto. Yummy, sorry no pictures.

I was looking at the box and noticed that not only are they good looking, easy to use, they are also GF!!! So watchout CJK.

For some recipes using these crepes check here.

Veggie Sausage Rolls

2007-09-22T07:52:00.000+10:00

These are yum and easy too!

Ingredients
1 cup (250g) low fat smooth ricotta
3 eggs
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup (70g) cashews
1 tbs Kikkoman soy sauce
1/2 cup finely grated carrot (half a large carrot)
1/2 cup (45g) purchased breadcrumbs
1 cup (90g) quick oats
3 (25cm x 25cm) sheets frozen ready-rolled puff pastry, thawed
1 tbs milk

Method
Preheat oven to 200°C. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Place ricotta cheese, eggs, onion, cashews and soy sauce in a food processor. Process until well combined. Transfer to a large bowl.
Add carrot, breadcrumbs and oats. Mix well. Divide into six portions.
Cut each pastry sheet in half. Brush lightly with milk. Shape one portion of mixture into a log 3cm from edge of long side of pastry. Roll up to enclose filling. Place on baking tray. Repeat with remaining pastry and mixture. Brush rolls with milk. Bake 35 minutes or until golden, turning them over half way through the cooking process. Cut. Serve with tomato sauce.
Makes about 36.

Vietnamese spring rolls

2007-09-02T14:54:00.000+10:00

1 pkt udon noodles
1/2 capsicum chopped roughly
1 medium carrot peeled and grated
30 gms snow pea sprouts chopped
1 bunch mint roughly chopped
2 tspn ginger
2 tspn garlic
2 tblespn soy sauce
2 tspn fish sauce
7 round rice paper sheets (22 cm round)

Place noodles in a large heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Set aside to soak for 2 minutes or until softened.

Drain noodles and use kitchen scissors to cut into small lengths.
Put all ingredients except the rice paper sheets and the chili sauce into a bowl and toss thoroughly.

Using one sheet of rice paper at a time dip into a bowl of hot water and soak for 30 seconds or until pliable. Place on a clean chopping board or tea towel. Top with some of the noodle mixture. Fold in ends and roll up tightly to enclose filling. Repeat with remaining rice paper sheets and filling.

Arrange on a serving platter and serve with sweet chili sauce.

Alternatives: add Vietnamese mint or coriander instead of mint. Use rice vermicelli noodles instead of udon. Recipe can easily be doubled.

Tofu fritters with sweet chilli sauce

2007-08-20T19:00:00.000+10:00

Cooking time: Less than 30 minutes

Ingredients; vegetable oil, for deep-frying  8 iceberg lettuce leaves  1 large (180g) carrot, sliced thinly  1 Lebanese (130g) cucumber, sliced thinly  2/3 cup (160ml) sweet chilli sauce

Tofu fritters  250g firm tofu, chopped  250g cooked rice (I used Basmati as that was what I had)  1 egg  2tsp ginger,  1 1/2 teaspoons sambal oelek (bottled chopped chilli)  2 cloves garlic, crushed  2 green onions (green shallots), chopped  ½ cup firmly packed fresh basil leaves,  salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
 For the tofu fritters, process the fritter ingredients until just combined.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan or wok. Shape heaped tablespoons of the fritter mixture in ovals or rounds. Deep-fry them, in batches, in the hot oil until browned lightly. Drain on absorbent paper.

Serve the fritters immediately with whole lettuce leaves, carrot, cucumber and sweet chilli sauce.

Dinner in the sky

2007-08-10T22:59:00.000+10:00

For those of you looking for an alternative to the local fish and chips or chinese take away, this restaurant might be just what you are looking for!!!

Here is what YouTube had to say about Dinner in the Sky

Restaurant in the Sky

For a newspaper review check here.

Of course the airfare to Europe might put you off!!

Stick with Banrock

2007-07-27T07:20:00.000+10:00

Today I found McGuigan's Black Label Red in a one litre bottle for $9.90.

unfortunately it is too soft (tastes almost sparkly) and almost sweet for my pallet
price not low enough, back to Banrock for me

Quest for cheap wine (no three day growth)

2007-07-25T21:33:00.000+10:00

In the quest for cheap wine (that tastes reasonable, rather than like flavoured tap water) I found my favourite 1 litre bottle of Banrock Station (Chardonay and Shiraz) for a mere $5.50 at Dan Murphy - I had seen it advertised at Jim Murphy's (no relation at all they tell me) for $6.95 and I found it on sale for $8.75 at Woolworths. It really does pay to shop around. So if you are visiting come Christmas time, you will find that you will be plied with some Banrock Station if I am not mistaken. Of course the other reason that you would love to buy this wine is that you are supporting research and preservation of wetlands in Australia.

Cheers,
Mondo

Wedding cake

2007-07-24T12:02:00.000+10:00

Check out this most amazing wedding cake - I was flabbergasted

Lemon Butter

2007-07-19T09:51:00.000+10:00

2 eggs
250 g white sugar
125 g butter
Juice of 3 lemons
Zest of 2 lemons

Beat the eggs with the sugar in a saucepan (to make a creamy rather than stiff consistency). Add the butter, lemon juice and zest.

Stir over a medium heat until it thickens, like honey.

Cook for another 2-4 minutes, do not boil.

Cool and bottle.
This recipe makes approximately 400g of Lemon Butter.

Oven Baked Pumpkin Risotto

2007-07-18T09:41:00.000+10:00

2 tspn oil

2 cups cubed pumpkin

2 cups arborio (or other risotto rice)

5 cups boiling water

4 tspn vegeta vegetable stock
2 tblspn marg or butter

310gm can creamed corn
2 cups baby rocket
2 tblspn pine nuts, roasted

Toss oil through cubed pumpkin and place on a roasting pan. Bake in a hot oven 200c (190c fan forced) for 20 minutes or until done.
Combine rice, water, stock powder and margarine into a large ovenproof dish. Cover with a lid.
Bake in a hot oven 200c (180c fan forced) for 40-50 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed.
Stir through the pumpkin, corn and rocket. Sprinkle pine nuts on top and serve by itself or with a green salad.

Serves 6

Two new things for me!

2007-07-07T15:58:00.000+10:00

I succumbed to a rice cooker last week - I used it for the first time last night. I made a butter chicken curry and cooked basmati rice in the cooker and it came out perfectly. Two cups of rice, and three cups of water. The rice cooker was a bargain at $22.00 from the work social club. While putting the curry together I had to chop some garlic that I bought fresh.

The garlic is whole single clove garlic, that is each garlic is one clove and they are huge. They have purple leaves around them. I used half a clove in the curry.

Steak and sweet potato mash

2007-07-03T22:35:00.000+10:00

Tonight I made steak and sweet potato mash for tea, with a mushroom sauce.

3 steaks (good quality)
3-400gm flat mushrooms sliced
garlic
1/4 cup white wine or stock
desert spoon butter
small amount of milk
400gm sweet potato
300gm baby spinach

Cook the sweet potato until soft and mash with some butter and milk until soft and creamy, then stir in 300gm rocket or baby spinach.

Cook the steaks on a griddle pan or the BBQ until cooked the way you like then (which for me is medium rare).

Cook the mushrooms with the garlic and wine for about 5 minutes.

To serve:

Put a spoonful of mash on each plate, top with the steak and the mushrooms and serve.

For the vegetarian in the family, I cooked a vegetable patty in the griddle pan before I cooked the steak.

Serve with roast tomatoes.

AJR has an asignment

2007-07-01T13:09:00.000+10:00

AJR had to cook a cake for an asignment, with a partner and then hand it in, unfortunately, the school roof is caving in and the kids are being bussed to other local schools, so this was one asignment he did not have to hand in. However he was excited about making a cake and he decided to make one anyway (perhaps he is going to take after Aunty A and get into cooking!). So he found a recipe for a dog cake, and here is a picture of his cake - it tasted alright, although the cooking times were not great, we are still working out the settings on the convection microwave oven thingy.

chick pea, spinach and sweet potato curry

2007-06-19T19:32:00.000+10:00

400 gms sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 can chick peas
1 large onion finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tspn ground cumin
2 tspn curry powder
2 bay leaves
1 400g can of chopped tomatoes
about 200g baby spinach leaves

Mix the oil, onion, garlic, curry powder and cumin in a non stick fry pan and heat until the onion is soft, then add the rest of the ingredients, except the spinach leaves and cook over a gentle heat for 20-30 minutes, or the sweet potato is soft. Stir through the spinach and serve with rice.
serves 4
This is mild if you prefer a stronger curry add more cumin and curry. Add baby rocket instead of the spinach. Could use pumpkin instead of sweet potato.

New titles in the book list and more

2007-06-13T17:24:00.000+10:00

I have added two new books to the list on the right. The crockpot one is great, by two authors whom I have already sampled (see Meals without meat) . If you are interested in what else they have written then the list is here. I will put the chick pea curry that we had last weekend in here later. The fillet book (also new) gave the recipe for the following picture.

It is simply steak cooked as desired, with flat and shitake mushrooms cooked in the meat juices, on polenta with parmesan and baby spinach and baby rocket. Yummy - sorry not very vegetarian!!!!! AJR had the polenta and a vegetarian schnitzel.

Pine Nut Butter

2007-05-24T06:09:00.000+10:00

If you are thinking of a nice juicy steak or chop or other rich red meat tonight, then you might want pine nut butter on the top. Of course you can also put this on a great pile of bbq vegies or range of baked root vegies. It is just yummy.

¼ cup toasted pinenuts
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
1 spring onion, chopped
125gm butter, softened
pepper

Method:

Use the food processor or blender to finely chop the pine nuts, mint and spring onion. Add butter and freshly ground black pepper – mix until just combined. Place the mixture in the centre of a piece of baking paper, and roll into a log about 3cm in diameter. Place into fridge until firm.

Vegie Delights

2007-05-23T01:19:00.000+10:00

I am a big fan of the Sanitarium website and regularly get their suggestions for great vegie meals and thought that you might enjoy checking out this site. Includes menus and ideas. We have used their frozen schnitzels and burgers!!

Also thought I would let you know that Sara Lee makes great individual vegetable lasagne's. I have not seen the family size (see below), only the single serves, which are readily available in Woolies. They make a great stand by for my vegetarian, when the rest of us want to eat meat. Most days this is what he would prefer to eat.

Of course MLR loves the meat lasagna - really does not matter for her as long as it is meat.

Aunty A

Vegeta

2007-05-22T20:10:00.000+10:00

Just so you know, if interested, Vegeta make a range of stock powders that are gluten free. The title is linked to the Vegeta site.

Fantastic news.

The other day I went looking looking for my usual Massel stock liquid, which I buy on a regular basis and now don't seem to be able to find. Do let me know if you spy some!

Stir Fried Haloumi!!

2007-05-12T15:40:00.000+10:00

Ever wondered what happens when you stir fry haloumi?

Wonder no more, here is the vegetarian/haloumi stir fry made for AJR the other day (could really be called cheese moush).

It was stir fried in Portuguese chicken sauce (Woolworth's select brand). AJR has asked for it again, so it can't be too bad.

The rest of us had stir fried chicken with the Portuguese sauce.

Lattice Biscuit Slice Recipe

2007-05-10T12:39:00.000+10:00

Happy birthday TC!!!! More to come in the mail.

I have two recipes for this, and they are different, the first one is runnier and the lack of lemon is noticeable. I do not like this one as much as the one my mother in law gave me (see below).

1. Lattice Biscuit Slice
12-24 servings

20 min 20 min prep
250g cream cheese
250g unsalted butter
1 cup caster sugar
40g gelatin dissolved in
1.2 cup of boiling water
2 200g packets lattice biscuits

Line a lamington tin (11"x8") with foil. Place lattice biscuits FACE DOWN on the bottom of tin Blend all other ingredients in a food processor or with a mixer (DON'T MELT THE BUTTER).
Pour over biscuits.
Top with lattice biscuits (face up).
Refrigerate till set.
Cut into desired sizes either whole squares or strips.
Store in an air-tight container (if they last that long).
If the mix is too runny, set in refrigerator for 5 minutes then pour over biscuits.

The recipe below is the one my mother in law introduced me to, it is a tradition every Christmas along with my father in law's shortbread. Remember it has a gazillion calories.

2. Lattice Biscuit Slice

125g butter or margarine
125g cream cheese
½ cup caster sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbs hot water
1 tsp gelatin
1 pack of Arnott’s Lattice

Method
Beat together butter and cream cheese until smooth. Then add sugar and beat well. Add lemon juice and vanilla and mix in.

Pour hot water into a heatproof bowl, add the gelatin quickly and stir briskly until dissolved. Leave to one side to cool slightly.

Add dissolved gelatin to cream cheese mixture. Beat again.

Line a square baking tin (approx. 20cm x 20cm) with foil and make a base using half the Lattice biscuits. You can bend the foil up to fit the biscuits, as I can never find a cake tin that fits the biscuits exactly.

Spread with cheese mixture then cover with a layer of the remaining Lattice biscuits.

Place in the freezer for half an hour to set. Chop into small slices to serve. Slice can be made the day before required. This recipe doubles easily, ensuring that you don't have half a packet of cream cheese beckoning you from the fridge. Lattice slice also freezes well and is a great standby for the drop in visitor.

Ricotta Hotcakes

2007-05-06T13:49:00.000+10:00

1 1/3 cups ricotta
¾ cup milk
4 eggs, separated
1 cup GF plain flour
1 tspn baking powder
pinch of salt
50g butter

Place ricotta, milk and egg yolks in a mixing bowl and mix to combine. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Add to the ricotta mixture and mix until just combined.
Place egg whites in a clean dry bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold eggwhites through batter in two batches with a large metal spoon.
Lightly grease a large non-stick frying pan with a small portion of the butter and drop 2 tablespoons of batter per hotcake into the pan (don’t cook more than 3 per batch) Cook over a low to medium heat for 2 minutes or until the hotcakes have golden undersides. I set the electric frypan to 150c. Turn hotcakes and cook on the other side until golden and cooked through. Transfer to a plate and keep warm. Dust with icing sugar, add maple syrup, lemon sugar, honey or soft fruit as desired. Serves 6-8. They were delicious and some of the best I have cooked.

Sorry no picture as they were eaten too quickly!

Soft polenta with mushrooms

2007-05-05T07:42:00.000+10:00

This is for you JC - another delicious meal for a Coeliac/Vegetarian

1¾ cups (435ml) milk
1¾ cups (435ml) vegetable stock
¼ tsp salt
2/3 cup (110g) polenta
80g (1 cup) finely grated Parmesan
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced width ways
4 shallots, thinly sliced width ways
100g butter
200g king brown mushrooms, thickly sliced
200g chestnut mushrooms
200g Swiss brown mushrooms
½ cup (125ml) dry white wine
6 sprigs thyme
¼ cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Combine milk, vegetable stock and salt in a medium heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Bring to boil, then while whisking, add polenta in a slow, steady stream until incorporated. Cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, for 30 minutes or until polenta is tender. Stir through ½ cup (50g) Parmesan. Remove from heat and keep in a warm place until required.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large casserole pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and shallots, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes or until soft. Increase heat to high. Add butter, mushrooms, wine, thyme and cook, covered, for 4 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cook, uncovered, for 5-6 minutes or until mushrooms soften.

You could use the polenta recipe any place you would use potatoes. The flavour was fantastic.

The remaining juice from the mushrooms is a great vegetable stock base.

Please note that I used rosemary instead of thyme and was a good substitute, just don't use too much.

Fast Bean Taco's

2007-05-03T13:18:00.000+10:00

1 onion finely sliced
1 clove garlic chopped
1 can refried beans
1 pkt corn chips (plain gf)
1 pkt taco seasoning (gf)

Cook onion and garlic in a little olive oil and then add the can of refried beans, plus half a can of water and the taco seasoning. Cook for 5-10 minutes until all the ingredients are combined and the liquid is reduced a little.

Cook the corn chips in the oven 180 c until warmed through, be careful not to burn them.

On a platter or individual plates pile the corn chips, add the refried beans, shredded lettuce, grated cheese, sour cream and serve.

Serves 4.

Magic Muffins

2007-05-01T16:41:00.000+10:00

Check out this link to some wonderful looking savoury muffins, they look so yummy.

Might have to make them myself.

Omelet for tea

2007-04-30T21:53:00.000+10:00

Sunday night we had omelet - two different sorts to cater for my family's foodie needs.

Version 1 (vegetarian and gluten free)
4 eggs
1 tblspn Mascarpone
1/2 a leek finely sliced
2 tblspns fried garlic
1/2 bunch of asparagus cut into bite size pieces

Fry the leak and the asparagus gently for a few minutes until the leek softens
Combine the eggs and the mascarpone in a bowl and then add all the other ingredients
Cook in the omelet maker or an omelet pan and serve with a green salad.
Feeds two for a light lunch.

Version 2 (gluten free)
5 eggs
2 tblspns Mascarpone
1/2 a leek finely sliced
2 tblspns fried garlic
1/2 bunch of asparagus cut into bite size pieces
1 chorizo sausage sliced and fried (check that it is GF)

Fry the leak and the asparagus gently for a few minutes until the leek softens
Combine the eggs and the mascarpone in a bowl and then add all the other ingredients
Cook in the omelet maker or an omelet pan and serve with a green salad.
Feeds 4 as a light lunch

Flourless Orange Cake

2007-04-29T21:14:00.000+10:00

So Saturday finds us getting ready to go to the wedding of B&L at St Paul's in Manuka and then later a reception at Royal Canberra Golf Club.

This is always the best time to whip up a cake!!! Please note that I had boiled the oranges the day before.

2 Large Oranges
1 Cup water
6 60g eggs
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tspn baking powder
200g almond meal

Boil the oranges in the water for 1.30-2.00 hours
Preheat Oven 200C
Once the oranges have cooled, cut in half and remove the pips. Place them in a food processor and blend them.
Beat the 6 eggs with a hand mixer until creamy, then slowly add the sugar, once the sugar is dissolved add the almond meal and the baking power and mix gently.
Pour mixture into a spring form pan which has had the base and sides buttered and a circle of baking paper place on the base.
Cook for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean, rest for five minutes and then release the sides of the tin and remove. Serve dusted with icing sugar and cream.

NB - for this to be GF you must use real icing sugar and not icing mixture.

Dinner Party Vegetarian Meals

2007-04-28T11:31:00.000+10:00

JC asked me for some vegetarian recipe's to impress.

The first two recipes are two glutten free recipes and the last contains gluten:

1. Eggplant, spinach and pumpkin Stacks

1 Large eggplant(500g)
200g pumpkin, sliced thinly
700g of bottled tomato pasta sauce
80g baby spinach leaves
4 green onions sliced thinly longways
1 cup coarsely grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts

1. Discard top and bottom of eggplant, cut eggplant length ways into ten 5 mm slices. Discard rounded skin side slices, place remaining eight slices in colander, sprinkle all over with salt, stand 10 minutes.
2. Rinse eggplant well under cold water, pat dry with absorbent paper. Cook eggplant and pumpkin, in batches, on heated oiled grill plate (or grill or BBQ) until tender.
3. Place sauce in medium saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat, simmer uncovered, 2 minutes 4. Place four slices of the eggplant, in a single layer, on oven tray: top with half of the spinach, half of the pumpkin and half of the onion. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the sauce over each then repeat the layering process, using remaining spinach, pumpkin and onion and another 2 tablespoons of the sauce for each stack. Top stacks with remaining eggplant slices, pour over remaining sauce, sprinkle stacks with cheese and nuts. Place under hot grill until cheese browns slightly.

This was really delicious and only lasted a few minutes on the plates. Unfortunately the 35 minutes the recipe claims to take to get it to the table, took me 1 hour and 10 minutes. I used two small eggplants, I did not have pumpkin and used slices of potato. I did not have spring onions so used finely chopped onions. I only used a 500g jar of tomato sauce. However my dish looked very much like the one above.

2. A Terrine with Four Cheeses
I made this for Christmas one year when we had all my family here in Monash, a great special Christmas dish for vegetarians.

275 g Cottage Cheese
75 ml Mayonnaise
11g sachet powdered gelatin
50 g garlic and chives cheddar
50 g blue brie
50 g Cheshire
1 dessertspoon of snipped chives
2 tablespoons cold water
2 teaspoons lemon juice
150 ml double cream
fresh milled black pepper to taste

Place the gelatin in a teacup with the cold water and the lemon juice and let it soak for about five minutes. Then place the cup in saucepan containing 5 cm barely simmering water, leave the gelatin to dissolve and become transparent.
Chop the three hard cheeses into 5 mm pieces, and combine. Blend the cottage cheese and mayonnaise until absolutely smooth. Whip the cream to a soft floppy stage.
Mix the gelatin and cottage cheese/mayonnaise mixture, stir to ensure the gelatin is evenly spread. Mix in the hard cheeses.
Finally fold in the cream and pour the whole mixture into the terrine. Cover with glad wrap and chill for several hours until firmly set.
Invert onto a plate and slice. Serve with a green salad.

3. Pumpkin Tartlets

300g golden nugget (small pumpkin), peeled, seeded and thinly sliced.
2 sheets reduced fat frozen puff pastry
2 tspns oregano
2 cloves garlic coarsely chopped
2 tblspns coarsely chopped hazelnuts
1 tblspn finely grated lemon rind
2 tblspn finely grated orange rind
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
200g boccochini pulled apart
2 tspns rocksalt

Cut each sheet of puff pastry into six and rest.

Mix the garlic, rinds, half the oregano and salt in a mortar and pestle and make a paste, add the olive oil and mix well. Add pepper to taste.
Take the finely sliced pumpkin and toss in a bowl with a little of the oil. Brush the pastry with the paste and place the pumpkin on top, sprinkle with hazelnuts.

Cook at 200C for 15 minutes or until the pumpkin is cooked, then sprinkle with the boccochini and serve with a green salad.

Tomato Pasta

2007-04-26T09:41:00.000+10:00

We have a new Bill Granger book and we love his food, it is always simple and tasty. The other day JSR made this tomato pasta and we loved it. If you are interested in some of his other tomato recipes check out BillGranger.

1kg vine ripened tomatoes
1 tblspn sea salt
1.2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tblspns balsamic vinegar
juice and zest of 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
fresh black pepper
300g spaghetti
1 cup lightly packed basil leaves, torn

Score a cross in the the base of each tomato. Place tomatoes in a large bowl and pour boiling water over them. Drain after 10 seconds, then peel the skin away from the cross. Halve the tomatoes and press halves to squeeze out seeds and excess juice. Chop tomato flesh roughly, place in a sieve over a bowl and sprinkle with the sea salt. Leave to drain for half an hour.
Place drained tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice and zest, garlic chilli and pepper in a bowl and stir. Leave for 20 minutes for the flavours to combine.
Cook the spaghetti in rapidly boiling salted water according to the manufacturer's instructions. Drain well. Toss through tomatoes with freshly torn basil leaves and serve with freshly shaved Parmesan cheese.
Serves 4.

Carrot and coriander soup

2007-04-24T09:38:00.000+10:00

Carrot and Coriander Soup

1 kg of Carrots, roughly chopped
1 large onion sliced
1 large potato thickly sliced
2 cloves of garlic chopped roughly
1.2 Litres stock (Massel GF vegetable stock)
2 bunches of coriander, chopped

Place the onion and the garlic in the soup pot and sweat for five minutes. Add the stock, carrots and potato and cook for 25 minutes or until the root vegetables are soft. Add one bunch of coriander at the end. Blend in batches in the food processor or use a stab blender to make the soup smooth, you may need to add a little water if the soup is too thick. Reheat and serve with fresh coriander sprinkled on the top.

Serves 4-6

2007-04-23T09:58:00.000+10:00

On Monday, CJK and the kids came over and I made a bit of a gluten free festival (see photo) I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we did,

Terrine with Four Cheeses

Great for Christmas or dinner party

275 g Cottage Cheese
75 ml Mayonnaise
3 tspn powdered gelatine
50 g garlic & chives cheddar
50 g blue Brie
50 g Cheshire
1 dstpn of snipped chives
2 tblspn cold water
2 tspn lemon juice
150 ml double cream
Fresh milled black pepper to taste

Place the gelatine in a teacup with the cold water and the lemon juice and let it soak for about five minutes. Then place the cup in saucepan containing 5 cm barely simmering water, leave the gelatine to dissolve and become transparent.
Chop the three cheeses into 5 mm pieces, and combine. Blend the cottage cheese and mayonnaise until absolutely smooth. Whip the cream to a soft floppy stage.
Mix the gelatine and cottage cheese/mayonnaise mixture; stir to ensure the gelatine is evenly distributed. Mix in the cheeses.
Finally fold in the cream and pour the whole mixture into the terrine. Cover with glad wrap and chill for several hours until firmly set.
Invert onto a plate and slice.
Serve with a green salad.

Serves 4-6.

Thai Amarin

2007-04-22T19:10:00.000+10:00

There are two Thai Amarin restaurants in Canberra, one in Kingston and run by the original owners of the Thai Amarin in Erindale. John and Silvie left Erindale 10 years ago to set up the Kingston restaurant. We have been regular visitors to the Erindale Thai Amarin, since we moved into Monash. We went there this week on a day when I ran out of energy. Our current favourite is something called Takay which is spicy and nice, we love the curries and they have a variety of vegetarian dishes which keep AJR interested. They also have a little boy, who MLR loves to play with.

Buy local road trip

2007-04-15T18:05:00.001+10:00

Well some time ago I suggested that we should try a buy local trip and yesterday TSS, JC and I managed it. We went to the Poachers Pantry on the Yass side of Hall, here I collected information for a colleague at work who is thinking of getting married there. I must say that it would be a great venue to get married at - out in the bush and lovely scenery. Then to Gundaroo for a look see, were there was little in the way of local produce. Finally we went to Collector where we stopped off at the Lynwood Cafe and then on to the art gallery/bookshop. See The Shopping Sherpa for a complete record of our trip. Unfortunately we did not do well in the "finding local produce" stakes and we found only olive oil that was both grown and bottled in the district. I bought a book on DH Lawrence about his time in Thirroul where he wrote Kangaroo. I also bought a beautiful bead necklace as a present for Bron (who's birthday party we attended later last night), and a fridge magnet in the shape of Australia in wood, which I sent to Sally this morning. It was great and we have all agreed to do it again, as well as organising a trip to Ikea.
I did take photo's of this trip on my mobile phone, and when I work out how to download them I will post them here.

Tuesday at the Italian

2007-04-11T17:47:00.000+10:00

Tuesday I was tired and had gone to Woolies to pick up something for dinner and baulked when I saw how long the queues were. Went to the petrol station and managed to pull into the wrong side of the bowser!!! Saw this as a sign that it was time to go home and stop.

We decided that we would eat out!!! So we went to the new Italian restaurant in Erindale - Italian Grill. JSR had a steak and I had chicken masarla, the kids had a pizza and chicken bites. The service was fine and the location is good as it is part of the restaurant strip. Our meals were fine, however the pizza was definitely ordinary and the chicken bites was dry and overcooked. JSR went off to get a bottle of wine and came back with The footbolt shiraz from Mclaren Vale. It was an excellent drop and I would recommend it as a great wine for the price (just under $20).
Collected the ironing from Dale and headed home to fall asleep in front of the Bill.

Chestnut Soup

2007-04-10T06:17:00.000+10:00

Monday saw us eating Chestnut soup with the Bundanoon chestnuts.

Recipe from: http://www.chestnutsonline.com/recipes.htm

GLUTEN FREE
3 tbsp. butter
1 stalk celery
1 medium carrot
1 medium onion
1/4 C parsley, chopped
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 bay leaf (to be removed later)
6 C chicken broth
12 oz. cooked, peeled chestnuts
(1 lb fresh in the shell)
1/4 C heavy cream
1/4 tsp pepper
Salt to taste

Of course I changed something!!! I used vegetable stock rather than chicken stock and I did not have a bay leaf, also used too many cloves. Apart from the preparation work to get the chestnuts roasted, it was an easy recipe.

Cut the celery, carrot and onion into small pieces and process in a food processor. Melt the butter in a 3 qt. saucepan. Add the celery, carrot and onion. Sauté about 10 minutes. Add the chestnuts, broth, parsley, cloves and bay leaf to the veggies. Bring to a boil; then simmer for 30-45 minutes covered. Puree the soup in small quantities in a blender and put into another pan. Stir in the cream, salt and pepper and reheat over medium heat until warm. You may want to garnish with a bit of parsley.

Chestnuts

2007-04-09T09:52:00.000+10:00

Dad brought some chestnuts from Bundanoon the other day, still in their protective cases. AJR and Mum and Dad removed the chestnuts from the cases yesterday and today we will be making roast chestnuts.

Facts about Chestnuts:

Instructions on preparing and cooking chestnuts.
May is chestnut month, and this link gives a list of restaurants that have signed up to promote chestnuts in May.
Chestnuts Online have an extensive range of gluten free recipes as well as other information.

Omelet with a twist

2007-04-03T09:44:00.000+10:00

We have an omelet maker and the other day I made delicious omelette's for everyone.

5 eggs
left over sweet potato fritatta mix
bag of spinach and rocket
Camembert cheese chopped or pulled into pieces (a little or a lot depending on your taste, could also use blue cheese)

Mix everything up and pour into the preheated Omelet maker and cook until set.

Chocolate

2007-04-01T04:56:00.000+10:00

As Easter approaches I thought we should spend some time thinking (in addition to eating) chocolate - well who doesn't.

Origin of the word:

Chocolate When the Spanish arrived in Mexico they came across the Aztecs. The Aztec language is called Nahuatl. The Aztecs had a drink which they made from a bean they called CHOCO (bitter). They would put this bean into water (ATL) to produce CHOCO-ATL (bitter water).
The TL sound is common in the Aztec language but not in Spanish. The Spaniards mispronounced the drink CHOCOLATO.

This drink was brought to Europe (with sugar added) where the pronunciation and spelling in English became CHOCOLATE.

From: http://www.krysstal.com/wordname.html

History of Chocolate.

Interesting information about Chocolate:

The Quakers were, and still are, a pacifist religious sect, an offshoot of the Puritans of English Civil War and Pilgrim Fathers fame and a history of chocolate would not be complete without mentioning their part in it. Some of the most famous names in chocolate were Quakers, who for centuries held a virtual monopoly of chocolate making in the English speaking world - Fry, Cadbury and Rowntree are probably the best known.

It's probably before the time of the English civil war between Parliament and King Charles 1st, that the Quaker's, who evolved from the Puritans, first began their historic association with Chocolate. Because of their pacifist religion, they were prohibited from many normal business activities, so as an industrious people with a strong belief in the work ethic (like the puritans), they involved themselves in food related businesses and did very well. Baking was a common occupation for them because bread was regarded as the biblical " Staff Of Life", and Bakers in England were the first to add chocolate to cakes so it would be a natural progression for them to start making pure chocolate. They were also heavily involved in breakfast cereals but that's another story.

What is certain is that the Fry, Rowntree and Cadbury families in England among others, began chocolate making and in fact Joseph Fry of Fry & Sons (founded 1728 in Bristol, England) is credited with producing and selling the worlds first chocolate bar. Fry's have now all but disappeared (taken over by Cadbury) and Rowntree have merged Swiss company Nestle, to form the largest chocolate manufacturer in the world. Cadbury have stayed with chocolate production and are now, if not quite the largest, probably one of the best known Chocolate makers in the world.

From their earliest beginnings in business the Quakers were noted for their enlightened treatment of their employees, providing not just employment but everything needed for workers to better themselves such as good housing etc. In fact, Cadbury built a large town for their employees around their factory near Birmingham, England. Complete with libraries, schools, shops and Churches etc, they called it Bourneville. So next time you see Cadbury's chocolate with the name Bournville on it you will know where it comes from and what the name relates to.

From: http://www.aphrodite-chocolates.co.uk/history_chocolate.htm

Origin of the use of chocolate at Easter Time:

Easter Eggs

As well as adopting the festival of Eostre, the Egg, representing fertility and re-birth in pagan times, was also adopted as part of the Christian Easter festival and it came to represent the 'resurrection' or re-birth of Christ after the crucifixion and some believe it is a symbol of the the stone blocking the Sepulchre being 'rolled' away.

In the UK and Europe, the earliest Easter eggs were painted and decorated hen, duck or goose eggs, a practice still carried on in parts of the world today. As time went by, artificial eggs were made and by the end of the 17th century, manufactured eggs were available for purchase at Easter, for giving as Easter gifts and presents.

Easter eggs continued to evolve through the 18th and into the 19th Century, with hollow cardboard Easter eggs filled with Easter gifts and sumptuously decorated, culminating with the fabulous Faberge Eggs. Encrusted with jewels, they were made for the Czar's of Russia by Carl Faberge, a French jeweller. Surely these were the 'ultimate' Easter gift, to buy even a small one now would make you poorer by several millions of pounds.

The Chocolate Easter Egg

It was at about this time (early 1800's) that the first chocolate Easter egg appeared in Germany and France and soon spread to the rest of Europe and beyond. The first chocolate eggs were solid soon followed by hollow eggs. Although making hollow eggs at that time was no mean feat, because the easily worked chocolate we use today didn't exist then, they had to use a paste made from ground roasted Cacao beans.

By the turn of the 19th Century, the discovery of the modern chocolate making process and improved mass manufacturing methods meant that the Chocolate Easter Egg was fast becoming the Easter Gift of choice in the UK and parts of Europe, and by the 1960's it was well established worldwide.

From: http://www.aphrodite-chocolates.co.uk/easter-eggs-history.htm

Aioli

2007-03-16T17:53:00.000+11:00

I like to try new things and have recently found Neil Perry's aioli. Aioli is mayonaise with roasted garlic.

Recipe:
Tomatoes, baby spinach and red onion salad, with battered prawns topped with Neil Perry's aioli.

YUM

We use the aioli on seafood, wedges, salad, in fact on almost anything. Neil Perry has a range of products that you can buy from Woolworths, we have tried his marinades as well. Try them, they really are yummy.

Cinamon Toast and Hot Chocolate

2007-03-14T13:21:00.000+11:00

AJR has discovered the delights of Cinamon toast and hot chocolate with cinamon in it and here is his favourite afternoon snack.

Pasta Pantry Cooking

2007-03-12T13:02:00.000+11:00

Ingredients

1pkt pasta
sliced olives to taste (I use Woolworth's home brand)
sliced sundried tomatoes to taste (I like and use Always Fresh, Sundried tomato strips)
1 tuna steak
rocket or rocket and spinach mix

Cook pasta until al dente or as liked,
mix in all the other ingredients, making sure you flake the tuna
add Parmesan cheese (I did not)
Serve

Gourmet Gluten Free fair

2007-03-10T18:40:00.000+11:00

MLR and I attended the fair, but were a bit late due to other things that happened today. I had to work this morning and then was late back as the work still wasn't finished. Then MLR went missing and JSR was even more late for his golf. AJR was at his friend Liam's through all this. We found MLR and JSR got off to golf and then I had a snooze on the couch!!!! Suddenly it was heading for 3.30 and the fair finished at 4pm. So off we went, saw Robert De Castella on his stand, and tried some interesting "bread", then bought some gluten free, dairy free biscuits, grabbed some brochures and fled to the shopping centre for a dose of retail therapy in Woollies.

Cheap wine and a three day....

2007-03-09T18:45:00.000+11:00

Following the popular $12 cases of wine found (and bought and consumed) in Woollies in past few weeks, I heard a rumour that ALDI were following suit, so after work dropped in to my local to find out if there were any left. Now it is important to know that the wine went on sale on Thursday morning and it is now Friday evening just before 6pm. Well I could see the pallett's were they had been, and two boxes of sweet white wine looking at me with those take me home eyes that wine cartons have, but which I was successfully able to resist. So keep your eyes out and let me know if this sale happens again and I will try on the day the wine is available. Hope those who shopped Thursday morning for their wine were more successful than moi.

Cheers,
A

Gluten Free Gourmet Food Fair

2007-03-06T18:49:00.000+11:00

For those in the Canberra region and interested in this topic, then this is the fair to attend. It is on at the Canberra Southern Cross Club in Woden on Saturday the 10th of March.

I intend to be there and check things out. If you are interested in exhibiting at or sponsoring the event please contact foodfair@cyberone.com.au or phone 02 6286 9577.

I will report back here about what I learn (and what show bags I get my mits on).

Aunty A

Smoked Salmon Pasta last week

2007-03-03T21:33:00.000+11:00

Easy to make Smoked Salmon Penne pasta
(serves however many you want!)

Per person:

60g dried penne (or other) pasta
50 g smoked salmon
1/4 capsicum (yellow or red)
1/4 head brocolli
1 wedge Blue Castello blue brie

1. Cook pasta, according to packet directions, until al dente.

2. Meanwhile, slice capsicum lengthwise and then across
into matchstick shaped pieces. Chop brocolli into small pieces. Place both
is a microwave-safe dish, add approx 1 Tbpsn water per serve, cover loosley
with gladwrap and microwave on high until cooked but crunchy (approx 1.5
minutes per serve)

3. While all this is happening, chop the smoked salmon into smallish
pieces.

4. Once the capsicum and brocolli are cooked drain and add
smoked salmon and lashings of freshly ground black pepper.

5. Once the pasta is cooked drain and return to the pot.

6. Add the capsicum, brocolli and smoked salmon mix to the
pasta. Cut the blue cheese into wedges and stir through. Cover with lid
if necessary to enhance the cheese melting.

7. Serve!
With thanks to TSS

Taste

2007-02-28T09:14:00.000+11:00

Hi Everyone,

I found this site thanks to Bells, and TSS. It is a magazine, recipe finder, forum and teacher all in one. I do hope you enjoy it. Currently it has a number of recipe's for Haloumi, so expect some new versions of this delicious dish on these pages soon.

Cheers
Aunty A

Oysters

2007-02-21T05:51:00.000+11:00

JSR introduced me to Oysters 16 years ago and I really like them, although I still prefer them dressed, rather than natural.

Here is his latest version.

1 doz Sydney Rock Oysters (or Bateman's Bay Oysters even better)
1 onion diced
Prosciutto, chopped roughly
left over Thai dipping sauce

Fry the onion and prosciutto until meat is crispy
pour a little dipping sauce in each shell and top with the onion and prosciutto
grill until the oysters are warmed through
serve immediately.

Serves 4
If you are interested in the dipping sauce let me know and I will send it to you.

Pasta

2007-02-20T05:03:00.000+11:00

Ok, you are tired and need to eat before going to bed, going partying, going mad! Here is a simple recipe, with ingredients in your pantry, ready in around 15 minutes on the table.

500gm spaghettini (or your favourite short pasta)
1 jar Barilla Pesto
baby spinach leaves
sun dried tomato strips

Cook the pasta until al dente, stir in jar of pesto, baby spinach leaves, sun dried tomato strips and serve.
Serves 6 hungry people or plenty of left overs for lunch tomorrow.

Cooks note:
If you click on the pesto link you will also find other recipes using pesto of various types.
Alternative additions include; slivered almonds, rocket, parmesan cheese, chopped fresh tomatoes, parsley, basil or corriander.

Deeks

2007-02-12T05:29:00.000+11:00

The 642.4 gang planned to descend on Deeks Bakery in Dickson, as it has been a while. If you want to know more about them , check out the website above. Deeks was created by Robert De Castella (the runner) and Bill Giles (a leader in bioenergetic medicine). They have two outlets in Canberra, the other is in Pearce. The Bakeries have a completely gluten free range of food.

Unfortunately when I got to TSS's t early o talk about Photo Shop, I found that two of our members could not turn up. We decided to go somewhere other than Deeks and save this up for a later date.

We ended up at Tilley's in Lyneham. Named after the Sydney bordello owner, Tilley Devine, the bar/cafe/restaurant serves breakfast lunch and dinner most days and has a good selection of often avant guard performers in the evenings. We managed to get a booth and could then watch people going by. It is very busy on a Sunday morning, but the service was efficient. TSS had the vegetarian plate with the lot and I had eggs hollondaise with bacon.

Celebration - Red Onion Tarts

2007-02-10T05:16:00.000+11:00

Liz came over on Tuesday and I cooked her lunch - we were celebrating Liz's birthday and also the last day of my holiday.

I made individual red onion tarts, an adaptation from a family circle recipe and very nice it was too!!

1 sheet ready made short crust pastry
3 small red onions diced
70gms of crumbled feta
2 eggs
1/2 cup of cream

Fry onions gently, in a little oil until caramelised, approximately half an hour
Whisk the cream and eggs together
Cut pastry into twelve cases, to fit large muffin pan
Place in muffin pan and divide the onions between the cases
Sprinkle feta into each case and then pour the egg and cream mixture over the top of that
Cook in a moderate oven 180, for 20-30 minutes or until the custard has set

Serve with a green salad.

This is what was left for afternoon tea!

Bread and Butter Pudding

2007-02-09T04:59:00.000+11:00

An ancestor of mine thinks that I cook a great bread and butter pudding, however I once made a terrible one and have avoided making this recipe for many years. I saw this recipe demonstrated the other day and just decided I had to try it. This is based on a recipe from ready steady cook.

3 large fruit muffins (preferably a day old)
1 punnet of raspberries (or frozen raspberries)
1 punnet of blueberries
5 egg yolks
1 cup milk
1 cup cream
1/4 cup caster sugar

break up the muffins roughly and scatter over a 2 litre oven proof dish, sprinkle fruit over the top.
Heat the milk and cream gently, stiring for about five minutes
Beat the egg yolks and the sugar together
Whisk the milk and egg mixture together, and then pour over the muffins.

Cook in a moderate oven, 180 for 20-30 minutes or until the egg custard has set.
Serve warm with a dusting of icing sugar, or cold.

Cooks note:
The taste is amazing when the blueberries burst in your mouth.

Ready Steady Cook

2007-02-08T07:27:00.000+11:00

Warm salad of chorizo, spinach, tomato and onion

Having come home early I watched Ready Steady Cook show and then cooked the recipe above. Please note that the recipe is only for one.

It was delicious, sorry no photo's.

Tuna and pasta

2007-02-07T18:32:00.000+11:00

We had a great standby meal tonight - ready in less than 15 minutes

1 can tuna (in spring water)
1 pkt pasta (any short pasta)

500 gm pkt frozen beans (could be peas or peas and corn)

1 large can of corn
Sundried tomato strips to taste

Cook pasta until nearly done, according to the packet and add the beans, cook for a further 3 minutes.
Drain and add other ingredients, stir and serve warm.

Optional extra's

slivered almonds
capers
lemon juice and/or rind
steamed mushrooms

Feeds 6-8 hungry people

Haloumi

2007-02-06T07:07:00.000+11:00

I love haloumi and here is our haloumi Salad Rocket, sundried tomato strips, red onion and haloumi. The haloumi was dry fried on a grill pan.

Lunch on Thursday

2007-02-02T10:26:00.000+11:00

TSS and CJK came over for lunch on Thursday.
I made a vegetarian, gluten free spag bol

1 can lentils drained
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions diced
3 large cloves garlic (add more if liked)
1 red capsicum diced
2 small containers of tomato paste
1 large jar spaghetti sauce (I used Ragoletto's red wine and onion)
paprika
basil
600 gms mushrooms
2 cans chopped tomato's
jar of sliced kalimata olives
splash red wine

Heat olive oil and fry onions until clear. Add garlic and capsicum and stir fry for one minute
Add lentils, cans of tomatoes, tomato paste, spaghetti sauce, paprika and basil, salt and pepper to taste (I did not use any).
Heat to simmer and let cook for 30 minutes
Add a splash of red wine, olives and mushrooms and simmer gently for another 40 minutes.
Best prepared in advance to allow the flavours to develop.
Add a packet of rice noodles or any other sort of gluten free spaghetti and serve.

On Friday I added about 1.2k of mince, two more onions and more garlic and served up for lunch for Lauren and MLR, then tea for JSR, MLR and me.

With the left overs (yes there are still leftovers) I am going to make a small lasagne for MLR.

Pasta Zoo Happy Meal

2007-01-31T08:47:00.000+11:00

I noticed last November that there was a new dish for Children at McDonalds, Pasta Zoo Happy Meal!!! A vegetarian, healthier option, yeh. I asked for one, and was told that they would be available in January! Not sure why it is on the menu in November!!!! We have now tried the dish twice and the kids like it.

I wanted to check the ingredients yesterday, as I was concerned about a child who seemed to react to the new dish (not my kids), I checked the McDonald's website and they have lots of information about their food and where it comes from and how it is prepared, but not about the Pasta Zoo Meal. So I rang them and they sent me the information. I am sure it will be on their website soon.

Here are the ingredients and main alergens found in the new Pasta dish being presented for children at McDonalds.

PASTA ZOO HAPPY MEAL

INGREDIENT INFORMATION
Reduced Fat Milk & Sipahh Straw - Chocolate MILK: Reduced Fat Milk CHOCOLATE SIPPAH STRAW: Sugar, Tapioca Starch, Cocoa, Maltodextrin (from Corn), Flavour, Sweetener (955), Vegetable Gum (414), Vanillin
Contains milk Reduced Fat Milk & Sipahh Straw - Strawberry MILK: Reduced Fat Milk STRAWBERRY SIPPAH STRAW: Sugar, Tapioca Starch, Maltodextrin (from Corn), Flavour, Vegetable Gum (414), Vanillin, Sweetener (955), Colour (162) Contains milk.

Zoo Goo Tomato [Tomato, Salt, Acidity Regulator (330), Calcium Chloride (509)], Fructose, Thickener (1422), Salt, Vegetable Powders, Vegetable Oil (Sunflower), Acidity Regulators (330, 270), Yeast Extract, Animal Fat, Colours (160c, 100), Preservative (202), Vegetable Gum (415), Herbs, Spice, Antioxidant (320).
Contains traces of sulphites in the thickener (<10ppm)

Pasta Zoo Cooked Pasta (Water, Durum Wheat Semolina, Eggs), Cheese [Ricotta (Whey, Milk, Salt, Acidity Regulator (260), Tasty (Milk, Cultures, Rennet, Salt, Anti-caking Agent (Tapioca Starch, (450)), Preservative (200)) , Parmesan ( Milk, Tapioca Starch, Cultures, Rennet, Salt)], Roasted Vegetables (Carrots, Onions, Celery), Sunflower Oil, Water, Tomato Paste, Sun-dried Tomatoes (Contains Preservatives (220, 202)), Potato Flakes (Contains Preservatives (220, 223), Emulsifier (471), Mineral Salt (450), Acidity Regulator (330)), Sweet Corn, Breadcrumbs (Wheat Flour, Yeast, Emulsifier (472e), Flour Treatment Agent (300)), Peas, Natural Flavour (Contains Milk), Salt, Thickener (461),
Garlic, Paprika Oleoresin (Colour), Herbs And Spices.

Contains gluten, milk, egg
Contains traces of sulphites (<10ppm)

Less healthy but yummy

2007-01-30T11:51:00.000+11:00

Here is what we had for breakfast the other day - don't you just love pancakes in the holidays!!! JSR had his with jam, AJR had his with butter, maple syrup and icing sugar.

Sunday Breakfast for One

2007-01-28T08:33:00.000+11:00

Here is a great breakfast idea, it is vegetarian, low gi and healthy.

Cut up some mushrooms and red onion and a little garlic and saute them in the microwave (no fat)
Toast a slice of whole grain bread (no fat)
Poach an egg

Pile everything onto the toast and then sprinkle with chopped parsley or corriander

Peacherine Crumble

2007-01-27T21:09:00.000+11:00

Tonight we had homemade pizza and tried out the new Pizza stone - it works very well, thanks for the great present. We had a beautiful garlic and oil pizza, as well as a half salami, baby eggplant and capsicum with mottzarella cheese pizza.

Sorry no pictures, we were too hungry!!

Afterwards we had Peacherine Crumble.

Step 1
Cut peacherine's and then mascerate in sugar and marsarla and then poach.

Step 2
Put cooked peacherine's into a pie dish

Step 3
Make Crumble - mix rolled oats, brown sugar, butter, flour, mixed spice to bread crumb consistency.

Step 4
Cook at 180 for 20-30 minutes

Step 5
Eat (with cream as we did or ice cream or both)

Recipe Finder Sites

2007-01-26T08:24:00.000+11:00

I got a request for a recipe finder site, you know where you can put in the ingredients you have and it spits out a great recipe - enabling you to declutter your cupboard. It is a great way to do this. I also go through my pantry once a year and anything that I have not used and is not out of date I donate to a giving tree. This year it was the giving tree at work, around Christmas time there are a lot of charity's looking for food donations. If you have serious congestion problems, you could do it in winter as well. Food is always needed.

So now you will see on the right hand site some suggestions for recipe finder sites (thanks for the great request JC), if you find better ones then let me know.

Aunty A

Calamari for Tea

2007-01-25T21:04:00.000+11:00

We had a lovely repast of Calamari, seared lemon, steamed broccolini, fried garlic, pangrattato (basically fried or toasted breadcrumbs in garlic oil), and rocket salad.

Potato and bean salad with lemon yoghurt dressing

2007-01-14T07:34:00.000+11:00

To serve 1

Ingredients
240g potatoes - unpeeled and cut into wedges
150g green beans, trimmed and cut into 3 cm lengths
1 cup baby rocket leaves
50 g (1/2) small red onion sliced thinly

Lemon Yoghurt Dressing
1/2 cup sheep milk yoghurt
1 tspn finely grated lemon rind
1 tbspn fresh lemon juice
1 tbspn finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

Method
Boil, steam or microwave potato and beans seperately, until tender, drain. Rinse beans under cold water, drain.
Meanwhile combine ingredients for lemon yoghurt dressing in small bowl
Place potato and beans in medium bowl with rocket and onion, toss gently top combine.
Serve salad drizzled with dressing.

And of course I did not follow the recipe slavishly -

I used goats milk yohurt, as I did not have sheeps yoghurt
baby spinach instead of rocket as I did not have rocket
corriander instead of parsley, by mistake - was a good mistake and
doubled it to feed both of us.

Enjoy!
Aunty A

Thai for dinner

2007-01-13T11:32:00.000+11:00

JSR had a great game of golf today and came home loaded with chocolate from our friends C&M. He then made a beautiful Thai inspired dinner of prawns and scallops with a corriander, red onion, rocket and baby spinach salad. JSR added some lime juice to the egg mayonaise for the dressing.

Mediterranean Puff

2007-01-12T06:48:00.000+11:00

I had arranged a special class for Andrew which finished at 9.15 - so I headed to TSS's place for a little refreshment, while waiting. First thing this morning Andrew decided he really did not want to go, even though it was for Manga art (his passion). Decided to head to TSS's anyway.
Checked out the food from the fridge, selected several video's from the collection for possible viewing and headed across the road for a bottle of vino. For less than $5.00 each we had our frugal feast!!

Photo courtesy of TSS

The dish is puff pastry with olives, fetta, sundried tomatoes and zucchini baked in the oven. Simple and delicious.

In the end we were so busy talking (not sure how that happened) that we did not get around to the video's.

642.4 Brunch

2007-01-09T07:38:00.001+11:00

Photo courtesy of TSS

642.4 is the dewey number for casual dining, and when all is said and done I am a librarian!! There is a group of four of us who meet regularly to eat and chat and this is the feast we had last Sunday.

Bagels and cream cheese,
fruit platter,
omelette,
wilted spinach and garlic,
salmon,
olives,
grilled haloumi, and
tomatoes.

Champagne and OJ of course.

Yummy Frittata and Good for You Too!

2007-01-08T22:26:00.001+11:00

Ingredients
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic finely crushed
2 cups (300 g) grated sweet potato
2 zucchini grated
1/4 cup basil leafs torn
1/2 cup grated low fat cheese
salt and pepper to taste
4 free range eggs
150g cherry tomatoes halved

Method
Preheat the oven to 180c. Lightly greese a 20cm round cake tin and line the base with non-stick baking paper.
Heat olive oil in a non stick frypan and cook the onion and garlic for 4 minutes or until soft. Add the sweet potato and zucchini and cook , stirring for 3 minutes, until softened slightly.
Transfer the vegetable mixture to a bowl and cool slightly. Mix in the basil and cheese, and season with salt and pepper. Stir to combine evenly. Fold in the eggs, and pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Smooth the surface.
Arrange the cherry tomatoes over the mixture, cut side up, and press in gently. Bake for 45 minutes, until set and golden. Leave in the tin until just cool enough to handle, then turn out and quickly invert right side up onto a plate.
Cut the fritatta into 6 wedges and serve with salad leaves, lightly dressed with lemon juice.

This is a great tasting frittata and I had one and half slices for tea and am taking a slice for lunch. Of course I varied the recipe. I put the tomatoes in cut side down and I served from the baking dish - most importantly I cooked this in the microwave for approximately 12 minutes - who has 45 minutes on a weeknight!!!

Enjoy.
Aunty A.

Some December Food

2007-01-07T14:04:00.000+11:00

My current favourite Salad
lettuce, sun dried tomatoes, capsicum and corn - super easy super quick super healthy (no dressing required due to the oil from the tomatoes).

Gluten Free Cakes from Deeks

The three stooges make pizza. MLR's included chopped up dinosaur chicken pieces, AJR's was a Marguerita (cheese and tomato paste) and JSR's was a garlic and Parmesan one (not pictured). There was flour from one end of the kitchen to the other, as they made the bases from scratch. A great feast was had by all.

Aunty A.

Meals in the last week

2006-12-04T20:19:00.000+11:00

Spanokopita.
This is a standard of mine.

Take 500gm frozen spinach, 250gm of ricotta or fetta, 3-5 spring onions chopped (or small onion chopped), dash of lime or lemon juice and two eggs.
Mix all ingredients and put into a 20cm pie dish. Take three leaves of filo pastry and fold each in half. Spray with oil and cover the pie dish, take the next leaf of filo and do it again, until you have used the filo. Bake in a moderate oven (185) until brown on top, about 25 minutes and serve immediately.

Risotto
1 and half cups of risotto rice, 5 spring onions, 1 litre of vegetable stock, 1 glass of white wine, 1 cup of water, vegetables as desired, 125gm parmesan.

Spray frypan with olive oil and toss rice and onions. Once they are coated with the oil, then add the wine. In the meantime heat the vegetable stock and water to boiling point. Ladle stock in one ladle at a time waiting for the stock to absorb, about 20 minutes, then add vegetables (capsicum, peas etc) and stir, once they are warmed through add the cheese and take off the heat and stir.

For this risotto follow the above recipe, but chop two small or one large fennel bulb, two large mushrooms (side plate size), half a cake of blue cheese (about 125 gms or what you like) and a half a cup of parsley. Add these ingredients just before you have added all the stock, to enable the mushrooms to cook.

Both risotto meals are vegetarian and gluten free. Serve both with a green salad. My favourite at the moment is a mix of salad greens, spinach leaves, rocket, with sundried tomatoes, pine nuts, corn and toss. Today I added cucumber, or you can add capsicum. Really does not need a dressing because of the oil from the tomatoes.

Dine on regional chow

2006-12-02T11:25:00.000+11:00

This post is all CJK's fault!!!

The article (linked above) discusses eating regionally, within certain limits, such as 250 or 100 mile (it is a US article).

I thought it might be fun to try a dinner made this way! Of course if we limited it to my garden right now we would have a meal of parsley, rasberries (not sure if there are one or two rasberries on the vine), some tired lavender and under ripe peacherines!!

Here are some sources of local ingredients we could use - local to the Canberra region to about 100 miles.

Wine
Lets start with wine - Canberra grows a variety of wine in the local region, and is a cool climate wine grower. The main varieties include Chardonnay, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Pinot Noir with some Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Viognier, Sangovese and Merlot.

Map and description of 40 local wineries.

In 1853 John Hardy planted vines in Hardwick, near Yass. Helms wines are one of the earliest wineries in the district, still producing fine wine, with first plantings in 1973. There are tours you can take of the Canberra wineries, which is on my list of things to do in 2007. There is Kamberra wine company, which is an organisation that has its own wines, it showcases all Canberra region wines, runs wine appreciation courses (which I have attended) and does a lot to promote our wines.

Cheese
And what goes with wine, well cheese of course and so we find Bega Cheese.
Check the link out as it has great cheese recipes. So we have the makings of a good casual get together, but who knows about dinner. Bega cheese also produces milk and so along with the Capital Chilled Foods people who produce Canberra Milk, we should be able to drink something other than wine and water.

Meat
For those of us who are not yet vegetarian, we can get some locally produced, interesting and even gourmet meats, as well as smoked vegetables and fruits, from Poachers Pantry, near Hall in the ACT. It is right next door to Wily Trout Vinyard, planted in 1998/99. You can taste test both the wines and the gourmet foods in the one place.

Salad and Vegetables
To put olive oil on our salad, I have found Gundaroo Gold, an olive plantation. Hopefully they will sell at the farm gate. Williamsdale Organics is also a local producer of Olive Oil and other organic products like soap and shampoo (it is good to be clean). I have found a market garden out at Gundaroo, which looks good. The market garden is called Allsun Farm. This means we will be able to eat salad and other vegetables, with our meats, wines and cheeses. Alternatively Joyce Wilkie, a geologist turned farmer at Gundaroo, runs a subscription system in which you subscribe and then go out to the farm and pick what you have requested in your subscription. Often four families will subscribe and then each weekend one family goes out and brings back four boxes of fruit and vegies. Joyce also has free range hens and will supply eggs.

Vegetarian Option and Desert
With the eggs the milk and the cheese, we should be able to produce a vegetarian frittata and a pannecotta or other custard type dessert.

Food we will not be able to put on the table are things like, flour, rice, chocolate, coffee and tea. Anyone for dinner?

Victoria's Food Trail

2006-11-26T21:31:00.000+11:00

More TV food shows. Last week and this, started watching a show with Paul Mecurio as the host - Victoria's Food Trail, currently on Sunday nights on Channel 7, at around 5.30pm. It was first shown in February-March this year and is now in its second or third repeat. The link includes a recipe book of all the food Paul prepares. You can also buy the dvd of the show.

More information about Paul Mecurio.

The Chef and the cook

2006-11-24T21:27:00.000+11:00

Say Cheese!

No really this is the title of episode 41, in this fabulous series with Maggie Beer and Simon. I watched this the other day and just wanted to eat every dish. I must ask CJK for a gluten free biscuit base and then I will try the savoury cheesecake. There is a section of the show where they go to the markets in central Adelaide, where I too have browsed with excitment and anticipation of what might be around the next corner. You can tour the market and I intend to do that next time I get to Adelaide.

Fetta and mint omelettes with crisp bacon

2006-11-18T07:45:00.000+11:00

Serves: 4 
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
1½ tablespoons olive oil 
8 slices thin bacon 
12 eggs 
¼ cup (60ml) water s
alt and freshly ground black pepper 
20g butter 
4 green onions (green shallots), chopped finely 
¼ cup fresh mint leaves 
120g fetta cheese, crumbled 
75g baby spinach leaves

Method 
Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in medium frying pan; cook the bacon until crisp. Drain on absorbent paper.
Combine eggs, water, salt and pepper in a large bowl; beat lightly.
Heat a quarter of the butter and 1 teaspoon of oil in same pan. When butter is just bubbling, add a quarter of egg mixture to pan; sprinkle over a quarter of onion, mint and fetta. Cook over medium heat, tilting pan, until egg is just set. Slide omelette from pan and fold in half. Repeat with remaining butter, oil, egg and filling.
Serve omelettes immediately with spinach and bacon.

So that is the official way of doing it and of course that is not what I did. I added extra greeen onion, I poured all the mixture into the pan and made it into one omelette and then divided it into four, I put the spinach leaves into the omelette, I did not have any mint, so I left that out. I did not use any oil to cook the bacon - why would you.

Recipe for happiness

2006-11-17T20:47:00.000+11:00

Today's Recipe-To Make us Happy and Agreeable to Other People.

Ingredients -1lb Good Temper, 2lb Forbearance, 1lb Patience, 11/2lb Contentment, 3lb Unselfishness, 1lb Fun and 2lb Cheerfulness. Method - Mix well with two quarts of Human Kindness. Dose - One glassful the first thing in the morning, repeat as soon as the effect wears off.

Recipe Inspirations

2006-11-16T20:57:00.000+11:00

I really hate the question "what's for tea?" and you know you only get it on the day that you just wish that the food genie would just magic dinner out of thin air. For those times you may choose to come here and gain some inspiration.

When you're down and troubled and you need a helping hand, and nothing, whoa, nothing is going right. Close your eyes and type in my URL and soon I will be there....

with sincere appologies to James Taylor.

Australian Sites
ABC Backyard Recipe Finder
Recipes from around Australia hosted by the ABC.

Australian Women's Weekly Recipe Finder
Offers an emailed recipe of the week, as well as finding recipes based on your ingredients.

Dining Downunder Recipes
Uses Australian native food.

Golden Circle Recipes
Good if you love Pineapple, does have other recipes and it is Australian Owned.

Nestle Recipe Search
Also gives you access to your own online recipe book that is free and you can add to.

Old Aussie Food Recipes
Click on the links down the side to get to these classic Aussie recipes. If you pay you can access many more recipes.

US sites
There are many US sites, but these two are my favourite.

I Village Recipe Finder
US based - enables you to put limited choices for a list of suitable recipes.

Busy Cooks
Great US site that gives recipes, you can sign up for an emailed recipe, and you can search for recipes. This site is a bit like going into a great bookshop, it can be hard to get out.

If you have great sites or recipes that you want to share, please send them to me or link from there to here.

Aunty A