Salmon Bake

Can’t remember where I got this recipe from – online somewhere I think – but I originally made it as a “non red meat” addition to a dinner party table, years ago – where I had a pescetarian who needed something in an otherwise mainly beef related dinner. It was a big hit with everyone, however, and so has been on my regular menu ever since.

Although salmon is my favourite food, the tinned kind is not something I am super keen on – I could not eat it just on its own, but this dish is one of the rare “tinned” dishes that I really love. It is great as a main dish, comfort-food-style, just to dig in with a spoon in front of a movie on a cold Winter’s evening. It is equally good at a party or pot-luck-supper, as part of an array of various dishes. Enjoy…..

Salmon Bake

30 gms butter

1 onion, finely chopped

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

1 1/2 tbsp plain flour

1 1/4 cups milk

cracked pepper, to taste

210 gm can red salmon, drained

125 gm can corn kernels, drained (or cut the kernels from one small corn cob)

1 cup frozen green peas

1 cup tasty cheese, grated

1/3 cup breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 180∞C.  Melt butter in saucepan on medium heat;  cook onion and celery for 3 mins, stirring, until onion is soft.

Add flour and cook for 1 min, stirring, then add milk and pepper and cook, stirring constantly, for 3-4 mins until mixture boils and thickens.

Remove from heat and add salmon, corn, peas and half of the cheese. Mix well and pour mixture into a 2 litre ovenproof dish. Sprinkle with combined breadcrumbs and remaining cheese.

Bake for 20 mins until golden.

Serves 4

Happy Fooding!

Need to Get Healthy Again….

Salsa

I had a severe meat overdose last week.

Firstly, I made a beef stir-fry which lasted me for two evening meals – no particular recipe, just chucked in some marinated beef strips plus whatever veggies I had and a few sauces. It was good.

Secondly, I tried the Indian cafe at the end of my street, for the first time (even though it’s been there for over 2 years….) on Friday night – I bought takeaway lamb saagwala, rice, naan bread and vegetable pakoras. Apart from the pakoras, which were delicious, the rest was awful – undercooked, tough lamb with no flavour, and too-chewy naan bread. The service was also very poor – 25 minutes to get a takeaway order when there was only one order before me and one table of 6 in the actual restaurant. Plus, the girl taking the orders stopped halfway through an order to take an obviously personal phone call, which she then proceeded to take outside to carry on in private! I won’t be going back there again. Shame, as it is so close to home and they home-deliver for free if I really can’t be bothered walking 100 metres haha.

Thirdly, on Saturday, I decided to cook lamb shanks in a cook-in-the-bag thingy, with roasted veg. This was quite lovely – I don’t use a lot of pre-prepared foodstuffs, but I like the convenience of these flavour sachet/bag things for an easy, family-style meal occasionally. I had, however, eaten the leftover lamb saagwala, on a roll at lunchtime (because despite its lack of flavour excitement, I do hate to waste food, especially when an animal has died to provide it), plus I had a slice of roast beef on my crumpet for breakfast, so the whole day was very meat-intense, which is not like me.

And finally, on Sunday I went to “high tea” at a posh hotel in the afternoon. I deliberately ate nothing but a crumpet early in the morning, to build up a good appetite. I will write about my total pig-out separately, but suffice it to say, I did not need dinner that night and in fact felt quite disgustingly bloated and huge afterwards. Not only that, but the skirt I wore to the high tea was tight and it is usually quite a loose fitting one, so that means I still haven’t physically gotten over my excess of cheese and pastry whilst in the UK!

Time has come for some detoxifying……for me that means not eating meat for a while – not that I will ever completely be a vegetarian, as I do love a good curry, roast or  meat stir-fry. But I know my body, and I do just feel a lot healthier when I stick to veg & fish/seafood. I’d like to say I would give up alcohol to detox, but hmmmmm that will never happen. I have to have something to keep me sane….

I’m really big on mushrooms at the moment, so this is what I had last night – I simply placed 200 gms (9) cup mushrooms (stalks cut off then finely chopped) in a baking dish and topped with 100 gms crumbled feta, the chopped mushroom stalks, 50 gms pitted kalamata olives, cracked pepper and some fresh basil leaves. Baked it for 30 minutes at 160C and served with a freshly made salsa – in this case I used the kernels from 1 corn cob (I don’t bother blanching it, just slice it off raw – yummo), 1 red onion (finely chopped), 1 tomato (finely chopped), 1 avocado (chopped), a pinch of salt, cracked pepper and a splash of lime juice.

Mushrooms, Feta, Olives

This was a delicious and healthy comfort food – filling and “meaty” tasting thanks to the mushrooms, but without the blurrrrggggghhh feeling of eating too much meat in one hit.

This mushroom idea actually works well as a side dish, rather than the main meal that I made of it. I made this quantity just for me – it was too much of course, but bearing in mind that mushrooms shrivel a lot when they cook, you would need to increase the quantities if you wanted this to be a main dish for a few people or a side dish for a large group.

Mushrooms + Salsa = Yum

Happy Fooding!

Crockpot Vegetable Chilli

Healthy and filling, this slow cooker chilli is the perfect example of the ‘chuck it all in and turn it on’ philosophy that slow cookers are all about. To me, a slow cooker should be about convenience, so the recipes where you still have to saute things on the stove first etc are just not my idea of fun. I want my crockpot to serve my needs, and this chilli suits the slow cooker ideal so well. Plus, it tastes great!

Vegetable Chilli

2 medium zucchini (OR 1 large eggplant), chopped

1 green or red capsicum, chopped

1 medium carrot, peeled & chopped

2 celery sticks, sliced (optional – include leaves as well)

2 brown onions, chopped

425 gm can chopped tomatoes

425 gm can chickpeas, drained & rinsed

2 tsp chilli paste

2 tsp cumin, ground

225 jar salsa (hot)

140 gms tomato paste

425 gm can corn kernels, drained

cracked pepper, to taste

Place all ingredients in crockpot. Cook on LOW for 8 hours. Serve with rice or tortillas.

It doesn’t get much easier than that!

Happy Fooding!

Mild Thai Vegies

It is really, really hot here at this time of year. I love it, as I hate the cold, but many are not happy right now. Over Christmas we had about 10 days in a row of 37-42C with no relief, and even night minimums only getting down to 23-27C.

Finally a minor cool change came through on New Year’s Day, and since then it hasn’t been too bad, but even with a bit of a cool breeze, it is still way too hot inside my tiny place to think about using the oven much. The aircon is very inefficient and there is no insulation, making it freezing in Winter and stinking hot in Summer!

On New Year’s Day, when I was in post-Hawaiian-party recovery mode and pretty much doing nothing all day, I wanted to make a healthy vegie dish to go with my crumbed salmon (which I did in the microwave rather than the oven). I also needed to make do with whatever was in the fridge, as the shops were not open and I had not yet fully re-stocked from being away for 2 weeks.

I made up this curried veg dish – Massaman curry paste is very mild, so this is not a spicy dish at all, and you could use whatever vegies you like.

Massaman Thai Vegies

1 tbsp olive oil

1 red onion, cut into wedges

2 cloves garlic, sliced

2 tbsp Massaman curry paste

400 mls coconut milk (low-fat)

400 mls tinned, diced tomatoes

7 baby potatoes, cut into quarters

2 small carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

1/2 red capsicum, sliced

kernels of 1 corn cob

2 tbsp fresh basil, torn

2 tbsp fresh mint, torn

Heat olive oil in large saucepan, and saute onion and garlic for 5 minutes. Add curry paste and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add coconut milk, tomatoes, potatoes and carrots. Bring to a simmer and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.

Add capsicum, corn kernels, basil and mint, and simmer for a further 10 minutes or until potato/carrot is tender, stirring occasionally.

Serves 4

Happy hot weather fooding!

Jamie Oliver’s Lemon Herb Chicken

Chicken fillets pounded & herbs/lemon added

I watch a lot of cooking shows and often go and find the recipes online, but don’t actually end up make too many of them. I like Jamie Oliver’s cooking more than some other celeb chefs, but there are so many out there these days that there isn’t enough time to try them all.

This dish – Herb & Lemon Chicken With Sweetcorn Mash – is from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals app (I think – actually saw it on a friend’s phone so not quite sure which app it was) and was a beautiful blending of 3 different things – the actual chicken fillets, pounded and then rubbed with lemon zest and herbs…..the salsa topping, a delightful mix of tomato, spring onions and balsamic dressing….and underneath, a creamy mash with corn kernels. The mixing of these three things really brought a wonderful flavour to the mouth – a perfect blending really.

I used fresh corn kernels, sliced directly from a cob – if you can be bothered it is much yummier than the tinned/frozen variety.

This served 2 but with a bit of the salsa topping left over, which I added to my sandwiches for lunch the next day. I’m a firm believer in adding leftovers of all kinds, to sandwiches!

I’ve just borrowed “The Chef” Simon Bryant’s brand new Vegies cookbook from the library – can’t wait to have a drool over it on the weekend.

Happy Fooding!

Crackin’ Cornbread!

I’m always trying new quick-bread recipes and I adore polenta, so I just had to try this receipe from the latest (Sept 2012) issue of BBC Australian Good Food mag. The loaf does not rise very high so is not suitable for say making sandwiches, but it was perfect sliced, cut in half and then spread/topped with bits & piecs as a savoury morning tea nibble with my lacemaking friends Mary and Margaret. The loaf came out looking exactly like the photo in the magazine – always a good sign!!

I will definitely make this again – lovely texture, nice and moist, and it sliced without falling to bits too.

Yoghurt Cornbread

1 cup plain flour

1 cup polenta

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1/2 cup low-fat Greek yoghurt

1/4 cup olive oil

1 egg

2 tsp poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 180C (or 160C fan forced). Line an 11 x 21cm loaf pan with baking paper.

Combine flour, polenta, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

Whisk milk, yoghurt, oil and egg in a jug.

Stir yoghurt mixture into flour mixture, until combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the surface. Sprinkle the top with poppy seeds and bake for 40 minutes, until a skewer inserted at centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out on to a wire rack to cool. Slice to serve.

Happy Fooding!

Good Old Fritter Batter

This week I had a pang for corn fritters……haven’t made these for years and so I looked up my old school cookbook from, ahem, many years ago. It is still a cookery bible of sorts, for me, and I often go back to it, despite its now-falling-apart condition. It is completely food splattered and well loved! I found my handwritten corn fritter instructions underneath the “fritter batter” recipe and made a batch of these to have cold (because that’s the kind of gal I am).

Simple and basic…..and yummy for brekky, cold, spread with a little cream cheese and topped with a slice of silverside (corned beef).

Corn Fritters

2 cups self-raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 2/3 cup water

1/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp dried basil

425 gm can corn kernels, drained

Sift flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre, and gradually add the water, blending with a hand held blender (or use a food processor, or a wooden spoon if you have no choice but you’ll get a sore arm!).

Blend until the mixture is nice and smooth, then add the milk and blend further until nice and glossy.

Add corn kernels and basil, and mix well. Refrigerate for an hour or so.

Pour large tablespoonfuls of mixture into greased egg rings in a little olive oil heated in a pan (I use the oil spray so it isn’t too oily); cook until bubbling on top. Remove rings, flip over and press down with the back of an egg-flip or spatula, and cook for about 1 minute more or until cooked through. Drain onto paper towels and serve hot or cold.

Makes 18.

Happy Fooding!

Steaming food might be good for you, but ouch….

I decided to be very healthy and have steamed vegies for tea with my baked piece of fish…..I used one of those steam bags, like an oven bag only for microwaves…..hmmmm well it worked beautifully, and tasted great (mixed veg + soy sauce + honey + cracked pepper, and a garnish of walnuts to serve)….but even though I was VERY careful following the directions, a teensy weensy spurt of steam still escaped from the bag when I took it out of the microwave. I now have a decidedly sore steam burn on one finger. Not nice!

These bags are wonderfully convenient for a healthy, quick, vegie fix, but a health hazard if you are not very careful.

Happy Fooding!

Spicy Bean Polenta Wedges

A rainy, windy, miserable Sunday means an urge to rummage through recipes and try something new. Hence this savoury side dish (bread dish I guess), adapted from a recent recipe in Recipes+ magazine. I should have been ironing, packing for my upcoming holiday, taking up the hem of a dress that is too long (I am vertically challenged) etc…..but instead I dropped everything and made a huge mess in the kitchen!

I ate this just as a snacky lunch, but I think the idea is to serve it as an accompaniment to a main dish (especially a Mexican one).  I think it would work very well as a bbq dish – grill the wedges on the bbq rungs instead of baking in the oven.

Spicy Bean Polenta Wedges

1 litre (4 cups) chicken stock

1 cup instant polenta

3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese (I didn’t have plain so I used Tilba Trilogy – Summer Herbs flavour)

415 gm can red kidney beans, drained & rinsed

2 spring onions, thinly sliced

1 tsp chilli powder

olive oil spray or a little olive oil

Line a springform tin with baking paper.

Bring stock to the boil in a large saucepan. Slowly whisk the polenta into the stock until combined, then stir with a wooden spoon for 5 minutes or until polenta mixture is thick. Remove from heat; stir in cheese until melted. Stir in beans, spring onions and chilli powder. Press mixture into prepared tin; smooth top then set aside in the fridge for about 20 minutes to cool.

Preheat oven to 200C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Turn out the firm polenta onto a chopping board. Cut into 12 wedges. Place on the tray and spray lightly with olive oil spray (or brush lightly with a little olive oil).

Bake for 25 minutes or until crisp and golden.

Makes 12 wedges.

Happy Fooding!

Curried Chicken Soup

 

This is adapted from a soup my cousin used to make years ago. It is very thick and filling, a meal in itself.  Definitely great crusty-bread-and-red-wine-by-the-fire Winter comfort food.

Curried Chicken Soup

1 tsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

350 gms chicken thigh fillets (skinless), diced

3 rashers bacon (rindless), diced

1 brown onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tsp curry powder

1 tbsp plain flour

3/4 cup white rice (I use basmati)

1 carrot, peeled and grated

420 gm can creamed corn

large pinch dried oregano

large pinch dried thyme

6 cups chicken stock

cracked pepper, to taste

Melt butter & oil together in large saucepan; add chicken and bacon and saute over medium heat for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add onion, garlic and curry powder and sauté for a further 2-3 mins. Sprinkle with flour and stir to coat.

Add remaining ingredients, bring to a simmer then reduce heat to low and cook for 40 minutes.

Stir the soup frequently as it thickens and sticks very easily as the rice cooks and expands!

Makes about 6 servings, depending on the size of your soup bowls!

Happy Winter Fooding!