Here is the recipe for the risotto I mentioned, that I made the IKEA bread to go with. It is adapted from a recipe in Woman’s Day magazine, that I came across whilst flicking through mags at the hairdresser recently. I still had the Huon hot smoked salmon from Tasmania that I won on Valentine’s Day, so the recipe caught my eye.
If you haven’t got access to hot smoked salmon, just poach/steam some fresh salmon fillets in the microwave instead, and flake them into the rice mixture.
This risotto is amazing! I mean it. Complete and utter melt-in-your-mouth perfection that just comes together in a moment of pure food delight.
In a large, deep pan (a wok is good), heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and chillies and saute, stirring, for 2 minutes until softened.
Add rice, stirring to coat, and saute for 1 minute.
Add the wine and then the chicken stock, gradually, stirring constantly as the liquid absorbs into the rice. When all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked (15-20 minutes), add remaining ingredients and fold through until gently heated.
Top with a sprinkling of shaved parmesan if desired, and serve with fresh bread.
Serves 4-6 depending on what you have with it – it is quite filling.
This simple lamb mince dish is based on one from Simple Indian Cookery by Madhur Jaffrey – an old book that I came across at work recently, with loads of terrific and EASY Indian dishes.
There is no rocket science here; the key is in the use of fresh spices – get your mortar & pestle action on!
You could serve this as is, in a bowl, or make it a bit more glamorous with rice, tortillas or naan bread, raita, and maybe a side dish of sauteed mushrooms or mashed potato!
Minced Lamb With Peas
2 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
1 tsp cumin seeds, ground
1 tsp coriander seeds, ground
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cinnamon, ground
1/4 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tomatoes, chopped
4 tbsp low-fat Greek yoghurt
500 gms minced lamb
cracked pepper, to taste
1 cup water
juice of 1 lemon
3/4 cup frozen peas
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan or frying pan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and ginger; stir until lightly browned.
Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne pepper, and stir for 10 seconds. Add the tomatoes and yoghurt. Cook over medium heat until the tomatoes have softened, stirring often.
Add the lamb and cracked pepper. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes, breaking up all the lumps.
Add the water and bring to a simmer, then cover and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add lemon juice and peas, return to a simmer and cook gently, uncovered, for a further 10 minutes.
I am fond of the Ranting Chef blog, and whilst I don’t make many of the recipes, which tend to be very meat-oriented, I do try the occasional one. This easy chicken dish appealed when it arrived in my inbox this week, as I was about to leave for work and realised I had all of the ingredients on hand. All I had to do was thaw the chicken breast fillet in my freezer, which turned out to be 2 fillets in fact – no problem, that meant food for the next day as well.
Mine didn’t turn out as great to look at as the Ranting Chef’s, which looks much more “fried” than mine did – but it still tasted okay and very tender. I think it could have done with more parmesan though, as I couldn’t really taste that very much. The chicken itself didn’t dry out, as sometimes happens with breast fillets, and it was easy enough to throw together after work without being time-consuming.
I received a gorgeous bottle of Petra cherry balsamic vinegar from Margaret River, for my recent birthday, from the gorgeous Lucy at work. I drizzled some of it over some fresh asparagus (so cheap and in season right now!) and snow peas, along with a splash of olive oil, and grilled that to go with the chicken. Delicious side dish.
Don’t be fooled by the title above and the ingredients below – this actually does not taste sweet! I think the soy sauce counter-balances the juice and sugar, making it just right.
Simple and tasty, this recipe is based on one of those random facebook postings that you get, designed as a sort of ad but giving you something to entice you into clicking the link. There are a lot of those popping up in people’s feeds lately I’ve noticed – not just recipes, but also a lot of home-remedy cleaning tips. I never click on the links, but I do sometimes write down the recipe ideas, and this one worked really well.
Definitely use thigh fillets here and not breast, as it will be way too dry with breast.
Hawaiian Crockpot Chicken
1 kg chicken thigh fillets, trimmed of any fat/skin
1 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup light soy sauce
cracked pepper
1 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp cold water
1 cup sugar snap peas
Combine chicken, pineapple juice, sugar, soy sauce and pepper in crockpot. Mix well and cook on LOW for 5-6 hours.
Blend cornflour and water then add this and the peas, to the crockpot. Stir to blend and cook for a further 1 hour.
Serve with black rice, yoghurt & naan bread if desired.
I’ve been quiet….I’ve been away in Brisbane at the Koala Convention embroidery conference…..I’ve been busy working a lot……and life just takes over sometimes.
I also haven’t been cooking much, or at least not cooking things I haven’t already shared with you. I did make this yummy barley risotto in my crockpot last week – the recipe is from a magazine and was not stipulated for slow cooking, but I wanted to throw it in before I went to work and see how it turned out. It was pretty good actually, and certainly very easy. The only downside was, the leftovers weren’t that satisfactory – I had a serving cold for lunch, and a serving heated up for dinner, and in both cases it was kind of gelatinous. I have no idea what’s in barley that makes this happen but anyway it wasn’t the best from a texture/presentation point of view. Tasted okay though and certainly the original cooking was great.
Barley Risotto
1 leek, thinly sliced
1 cup pearl barley
4 cups chicken stock (I use Massell brand which is vegetarian, gluten-free etc)
2 small or 1 large zucchini, chopped
1 bunch asparagus, chopped
100 gms green beans, cut into 3cm pieces
cracked pepper, to taste
grated parmesan cheese, to serve
Add all ingredients to crockpot except parmesan.
Cook on LOW for 8 hours. Serve in individual bowls topped with parmesan to taste.
As you know, I wasn’t super happy with the fish taste in a dish I made last week – too bland – so I decided to try it again with something else. Instead of fish, I bought a packet of 5 Pepper & Herb Quorn sausages, and cut them into chunks. I often eat vegetarian sausages, because I do not like the oily taste and high fat content of meat ones, and I’m being vegetarian this week anyway. I usually eat the Sanitarium vegiesnags (I don’t even need to cook those, I can just eat them cold straight out of the packet!) or the Woolworths Macro ones, but I saw the Quorn ones on special so went for that….and omg they were awesome! I’ve eaten other Quorn products but never the sausages before – I’m a definite convert now. They actually tasted chicken-y and had a proper meaty texture, which some of the others around, don’t.
I made the mash for the topping, with mostly celeriac and a bit of potato, instead of just potato. I love celeriac and it isn’t something I see often here, so I grab one when I can – and I love it mashed.
The result was fabulous. I am really impressed with these sausages, and the whole thing had a much better flavour than the fish version last week. I’ve got leftovers in the freezer now, so it will be interesting to see how it reheats later on.
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.
Since returning from my amazing 🙂 UK trip I have really not done much cooking – I think I’m trying to stay in holiday mode as long as possible, and frankly sometimes it is difficult to get motivated to make stuff when there is no one to share the meals with – it’s just not the same on your own. I do, however need to eat, and you can only make do with sandwiches, couscous and home-delivered gourmet Crust pizza (mmmmm….) for so long!
I made this very easy and healthy “baked fish pie” last night, from the May issue of Recipes+ magazine. I halved the quantity, but have listed the full amounts (feeding 4) below.
I like the concept of this recipe – kid-friendly, quick and easy, economical, healthy etc – but I did find the fish itself too bland. When a recipe says “firm white fish fillets”, well you can use anything can’t you, but I do find that I just prefer salmon or tuna all the time, and apart from flake (shark) from Victorian waters, nothing much else cuts it in the fish flavour department. I will make this dish again, but use salmon for better flavour, and also I think some sort of cheese on the top of the mashed potato would finish it off nicely.
So, I like to think of this recipe as a basis to go on with, experimenting with adding other things. The celery was a great inclusion for a start, but there is scope for further improvement….and I also think you could use tofu instead of fish, if you wanted a vegetarian version.
Baked Fish Pie
1 kg potatoes, peeled, cut into 3cm pieces
1/3 cup milk
1 cup frozen peas
cracked pepper, to taste
550 gm jar tomato pasta sauce (any flavour)
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or basil
800 gm (=4) fish fillets, cut into 2 cm pieces (I used ling, but will try salmon next time – or prawns would be good!)
Preheat oven to 200C (180C fan forced).
Place potato in large saucepan; cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain; return to plan and add milk and peas. Mash until combined. Season with pepper.
While the potato is cooking spray a 2 litre (8 cup) ovenproof dish with extra-virgin-olive-oil spray. Spoon pasta sauce over base of dish, then sprinkle over celery & herbs. Arrange fish pieces over the top and bake for 10 minutes.
Spoon potato mixture over the fish (add some cheese now ??). Bake for a further 15 minutes or until golden and bubbly.
Well, I certainly hope so! I bought one of these super cool Magic Whisks today – love kitchen gadgets so couldn’t resist when I received an email about this, then realised I had seen them being demonstrated in my local, independent kitchen shop. It was only $5.95 for the small or $7.95 for the large – great prices!
Hopefully I will have lots of fun with this.
Check out these yummy Green Beans with Labneh, Dukkah & Preserved Lemon, that I had at Jezebelle in Guildford last night. Absolutely delicious tapas, and a few glasses of Leconfield Syn champers from McLaren Vale in SA – a lovely drop.
With my mountain of vegies to play with, I found this easy Pumpkin & Lentil Curry dish from the 4 Ingredients website – I mean you can’t get much simpler than this really – but I decided than rather than just pumpkin, I’d throw in a variety of vegies, because, well, why the hell not?!!
I was also feeling very lazy, so didn’t even peel the skin off the pumpkin…..
The result was okay, nothing too flash – actually it doesn’t look so great but it tasted better than it looks. A bit stodgy, but healthy and filling.
I’m off to an ANZAC Day picnic today, and yes I probably should have made Anzac biscuits, but I just couldn’t be bothered. I made olive tapenade and a zucchini slice, homemade bread and coleslaw instead.
Salmon & Avocado 