You Say You Want a Revolution….

Layer upon layer upon layer

A quinoa one, that is. Quinoa has been a super food winner for the last couple of years, and I’ve been on that bandwagon since living in Chile, where it has always been a commonly found staple food, and for good reason – it tastes great, is easy to cook, is suitable for those with wheat allergies, and of course is extremely good for you.

There is a plethora (I just wanted to use that word cos’ it’s a cool one!) of quinoa cookbooks around these days, and I eagerly scour through every new one that comes in at my work. The recipe below is adapted from Cabbage Crockpot Casserole, from Patricia Green & Carolyn Hemming’s new cookbook, Quinoa Revolution.

I don’t usually go in for crockpot recipes that involve a heap of pre-preparation – I do like to just throw it all in – but I had plenty of time on this day so was happy to brown the mince before putting it in the crockpot, and it was simple enough to do. Everything else is just layered over the top and then it is switched on and ignored for the day.

I don’t feel the passata on the top added anything really, so next time I will just leave that top bit out – it doesn’t really mix in through the rest, and just stays as a layer of tomato “paste”, when you serve it. Just tinned tomatoes is enough I think.

Layered Beef Casserole

1 tbsp olive oil

500 gms minced beef

1 brown onion, cut into wedges

4 slices rindless bacon, fat cut off, roughly chopped

3/4 cup red quinoa

1 green capsicum, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/4 green cabbage, roughly chopped

cracked pepper, to taste

400 gm can diced tomatoes

700 ml bottle bought passata

Heat olive oil in a large pan or wok, and saute the beef for a couple of minutes, stirring to break up lumps, until lightly browned. Drain in a colander and if it is a fatty mince, rinse through with hot water.

Place meat in crockpot. Place all other ingredients on mince, layered in the order given.

Cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH 4 hours.

If desired, serve with mashed potatoes and a green vegetable, or salad and garlic bread.

Serves 4-6

I don’t think this wins a lot of points for looks, but the flavours are great.

Happy Fooding!

Pre-Christmas High Jinks!

I’m in Melbourne now, for Christmas with the family, and am more in party mode than cooking mode! Lots of socialising and catching up with people going on this week. I have cooked one meal for my mum and son, my delicious and sooooooo easy Beef Rendang, but apart from that I’ve been eating out or having a sandwich.

I’ve had a lovely lunch at Red Fire Lounge (see pic below of yummy calamari stirfry with hokkien noodles – the calamari was ultra-tender and it was a HUGE serving, no way could I eat it all), and a wonderful brunch in the sun at Barmah Park Winery, complete with champagne at 10.00 in the morning!! It is Christmas, after all, and I’m on holidays. In fact, my friend and I spent 3 hours there yackety-yacking, and the waitress asked if we’d then like to order lunch as well lol. I’ve eaten there before but never ordered from the breakfast menu, and it was divine. Sitting outside on the verandah, looking out at the vineyard – supremely relaxing and fun.

Mum and I have written our grocery shopping list for this weekend, and we’re pretty well organised, so it should be fairly stress-free. We will do most of our cooking and a lot of other preparation on Christmas Eve, so that on Christmas Day it’s all just a matter of throwing a few easy things together and slicing things up. Chilled out and relaxed, is the aim.

The Christmas ham is all ready to be hacked into, and I’m sure that will happen in the next day or so – after all, it’s so huge there will be more than enough for Christmas Day (along with roast turkey, rolled/stuffed pork and a myriad of vegies and salads….not to mention nibbles and dips beforehand and LOTS of desserts later on….let’s face it, it’s just one big food-fest ALL day!!).

So…whilst I might not be doing too much actual cooking this week, I’m certainly doing some fabulous eating!

Happy Christmas Fooding!

Bacon Wrapped Salmon

Ready for the oven

From a cod recipe in Jamie’s Food Revolution I was recently inspired to wrap my salmon in bacon. I brushed the fish with extra-virgin olive oil, then sprinkled it with truffle salt, chopped fresh rosemary and cracked pepper, and baked for 20 minutes.

The outcome was alright –  a bit too salty though, as bacon + truffle salt is overpowering, so I couldn’t actually taste any rosemary. I like the concept though, of wrapping the fish and using whatever herbs and flavourings you like. Worth playing with anyway.

The garnish is a sprinkling of finely chopped nori – I love this stuff! So good for you, and it gives an oriental touch to fish, chicken, rice etc.

Garnished with shredded nori

I’m baking gingerbread today – should be fun. Don’t forget the cookie cutter giveaway!

Happy Fooding!

Beautiful Brunch….

How’s this for an awesome weekend late breakfast…..this was made for me the other day – it’s a circle of pastry (about 15cm diameter), with a score made in a circle, a couple of cm in from the edge. The outer part puffs up to make a “wall” to hold in the central filling.

In the centre is crumbled feta cheese, bacon and red onion that has been lightly sautéed first, an egg broken over the top and finally some parmesan cheese sprinkled over it. Then it was baked in the oven for about 8 minutes depending on how well cooked you like your egg. And of course you can put whatever you like, in the filling – mushrooms, smoked salmon, spinach, herbs, tomato…..whatever takes your fancy.

This tasted so perfect, it just melted in my mouth, and was also extremely filling – no lunch needed for me that day!

Happy Fooding!

Some More Meals….

Beetroot & Orange Cured Salmon

Food makes such a great topic for taking photos. Here are some of the meals enjoyed last week when I was away….totally scrumptious to look at and mostly to taste as well.

Chicken & Mushroom Pot Pie

The salmon and chicken dishes above were from Red Hill Brewery Cafe. I had the salmon (does that surprise you…) and it was divine BUT way too small – it was supposed to be a “light meal” but I was still very hungry after this tiny portion of just a few mouthfuls – more like a tapas plate than a meal for one. I tasted the chicken pie and it too was delicious. I had to have a cheese platter to fill me up (below) and this was mouthwateringly good – the cheese was a locally made camembert from Red Hill Cheese, that had been slightly warmed so it literally melted onto the warm fruit & nut bread.

Cheese Board

Later the same day, I went to The Bay in Mornington, for dinner – herbed calamari for me (I said no to chips and just had salad), and a chicken parma and arancini balls were enjoyed by others.

Then on Monday, before flying home, my son and I had lunch at one of my favourite pubs in the city, PJ O’Brien’s. It is supposed to be Irish but apart from Irish Stew, Beef & Guinness Pie and loads of Irish beer on tap, it’s really just normal pub fare. I love the atmosphere here and the food’s always great. I had a chicken caesar salad and it was out of this world, crispy bacon and a yummy poached egg, mmmmm delicious.

A lot of food was partaken of, in just a few days – apart from the 21st party, and the meals I’ve already told you about, I had fish from the local fish & chip shop twice (I usually don’t whinge about the differences between the states, but the grilled flake is sooooooo much better in Victoria, and way cheaper too). I’m in recovery mode now and made soup today to get back to healthy living….

Happy Fooding!

Restaurant Review….

Yummy dinner earlier this week with both of our mums….an Italian place in Carine called Vincenzo’s. I’ve been there before and it has been delightful on every occasion. This time we shared an entree of Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus, grilled and drizzled with olive oil.

I just can’t get enough seafood at the moment – I’ve been devouring prawns, oysters and calamari so much recently (as well as my usual copious quantities of salmon!). For my main I had fettucine with garlic & onion sauteed prawns. Although in the photo it looks like there is only one prawn peeking out amongst the pasta, in fact there were ten – I kept coming across another one – and they were all yummy BIG ones!

Happy Fooding!

Piroshki

Well Christmas has come and gone, and it was a fury of activity for a few days. I worked my butt off on Christmas Eve, cooking and cleaning, so that the day itself was supremely relaxing – brekky with friends at the beach early on, and then presents, food, champers and more food at home. All I did on the day was roast the potatoes and carrots and steam some green veg – everything else I cooked or prepared the day before. Very casual indeed, but also very yummy – and I was thoroughly spoilt and received loads of fantastic presents!

I have taken lots of pictures of food over the last few days, as we also went to a housewarming bbq yesterday at the home of a friend who is a butcher – so you can imagine the quality of the meat we were served! I am flat out with visitors for a while yet though, as well as working a bit, so finding time to write is not easy at the moment. We are having a NYE party on the weekend, so I’ve been preparing for that as well…..hence these tiny baked dumplings, which are a little time-consuming, but well worth the effort. They freeze well and taste like miniature buns with a surprise filling inside.

I’ve listed the original ingredients and method for making the dough; however, for a few years now I’ve just been using my bread machine to make the dough instead – so if you don’t have a bread machine, follow the instructions below, and if you do have a machine, just use the Dough setting and any plain white bread recipe or bread mix.

Piroshki

For Dough:

2 tsp dried yeast

2 1/2 tbsp sugar

3 cups plain flour

1 1/4 cup milk

125 gms butter

2 tsp salt

1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

OR – use your regular white bread recipe in bread machine

For Filling 1:

2 brown onions, finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

200 gms rindless bacon, finely chopped

1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 tsp cracked pepper

OR

For Filling 2:

300 gms small prawns, cooked, peeled & finely chopped

6 spring onions, finely chopped

crushed garlic, to taste

fresh ginger, grated, to taste

4 tsp soy sauce

In a small bowl, combine yeast with bit of warm water and 1 tsp of the sugar;  stir until yeast and sugar has dissolved.  Sprinkle with a bit of flour and leave in a warm place.  Place milk, butter, salt and remaining sugar in a saucepan;  heat until lukewarm, stirring occasionally.

Place the remaining flour in large bowl.  Make a well in centre and add the milk mixture, yeast mixture and egg yolk.  Stir with a wooden spoon, gradually incorporating the flour.  Blend with a spoon or your very clean hand for 3 minutes – it should be smooth and elastic.  Sprinkle a little flour on top and place in warm place until doubled in size (about an hour).

Meanwhile, make your choice of filling:

1. Saute onion and bacon with olive oil and pepper until cooked.

OR

2. Mix all of prawn filling ingredients together in a bowl.

When the dough has risen, turn out onto a floured board and knead lightly.  Take walnut-size pieces of the dough, put a tsp of filling in centre and enclose to make into a smooth ball.

Bake on a greased oven tray in 200ºC oven for about 10 mins or until puffed and slightly browned. (Keep an eye on them as they cook quite quickly).

Makes about 60.

Happy Fooding!

Oysters!

I don’t buy oysters very often, but the other day saw them for a really great price, so couldn’t resist. I had never tried oysters at all (after all, the look and thought of them is not that appetising really!) until I was pregnant with my second child, who is now almost 21. I had oyster cravings in a MAJOR way – I guess there was something vital I needed, that my body told me oysters would give me. Almost every weekend I would insist that we buy a dozen and share them. Money was quite tight and we would search under the seats in the car, or under the beds etc, to scrape up enough coins to buy the oysters!

I do like oysters served natural, with a sprinkling of lemon juice or something spicy poured over, but Kilpatrick is my dish of choice. Yum. And sooooo easy. Three of us shared these as an entree, before saute-ing prawns in sweet chilli sauce and grilling barramundi, for our main course. Lovely food for standing around nibbling, with a glass of champers.

I’ve had some amazing meals over the last few days – camera was a-popping constantly, taking photos of plates of food haha. I will share those with you soon…..it is a hectic week!

Oysters Kilpatrick

12 fresh oysters on the half shell

rindless bacon rashers, trimmed of fat and finely chopped

Worcestershire sauce

cracked pepper, to taste (optional)

Arrange the oysters on the grill tray (scrunch foil underneath to hold them steady in ‘hollows’ so that the sauce doesn’t spill out). Top with bacon, and carefully fill to top of shells with Worcestershire sauce. Add pepper if desired (don’t, if you prefer it not too peppery, as the sauce is spicy anyway).

Grill under a medium heat for about 7 minutes, until the bacon is crisp. Eat straight from the shells with a teaspoon.

Happy Sea-Fooding!

A Recipe From Childhood

Christmas & New Year cooking is all around me at the moment! Very exciting time of year.

My earliest memories of “helping” my mum in the kitchen, are when she was making these mini egg & bacon pies. I was allowed to place the bacon and parsley in the pastry cups, and later on when I was a bit more trustworthy, I got to pour the egg mixture over them. I love making a batch of these, they freeze well and you can vary them for vegetarians by using a filling of spring onion or mushroom instead of the bacon.

I’ve listed vague quantities, but there aren’t any rules to this. I pretty much just break eggs into a jug and use it ’til I run out of either eggs or bacon or pastry!

You will need a patty pan tray – not the muffin trays as the holes are too big. A cupcake sized tray and preferably a large one (I have two catering sized ones that hold 24 each) or several of the small sized ones.

Mini Egg & Bacon Pies

frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed

eggs

milk

rindless bacon, trimmed of fat and diced

fresh parsley or chives, finely chopped

cracked pepper, to taste

Spray trays with olive oil spray. Using a round cookie cutter (or use a similar sized glass), cut out circles of pastry and place these in the tray holes.

Crack several eggs into a jug (I usually use about 9) and add about half a cup of milk. Whisk until well combined.

Place a little bacon and parsley into each pastry depression. Sprinkle with pepper.

Carefully pour egg mixture over each pastry cup, filling almost to the top.

Bake in a 190C oven for 10-15 minutes, until egg is cooked & puffed up and pastry is cooked. Let cool in tins for a few minutes then remove. Freezes well and can be served hot or cold.

Happy Fooding!