Damper / Soda Bread

I felt like soda bread one day this week, and decided to see if the recipe I’ve had for years worked in the bread machine, because things are so easy that way. It did work, really well, and made great open sandwiches with olive/feta dip, jarslberg cheese, roast beef & alfalfa sprouts on top.

For something different I added a small can of corn kernels and some caraway seeds – you can add lots of things to bread recipes to jazz them up a bit – sun-dried tomatoes, chopped olives, walnuts, poppy seeds, herbs etc.

Soda Bread

3 cups plain flour

1 1/2 tsp bi-carbonate of soda

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp caraway seeds (optional)

125 gm can corn kernels, drained (optional)

1 1/2 cups buttermilk or low-fat Greek yoghurt

Regular Method:

Mix dry ingredients, seeds & corn (if using) together with a whisk.  Make well in the centre and add 1 cup of buttermilk/yoghurt.  Mix with a fork then gradually add more of the remaining buttermilk/yoghurt until a soft dough is formed.

Knead dough lightly on floured surface for 1 minute. Form into an oval shape and place in a greased/lined loaf tin or on a greased/lined baking tray.

Bake at 190C (170C fan forced) for 45 minutes.

Bread Machine Method:

Place all ingredients in machine. Cook on Damper setting. After the first five minutes, scrape down the sides of the mixture with a spatula to make sure it all gets mixed in properly.

Yummy Lunch!

As with all quick breads, this is best eaten on the day of baking. Use leftovers for great toast!

Happy Fooding!

Ravishing Runny Raita…

This yummy, slightly hot dipping sauce or raita, was originally supposed to be a “chutney”, but it turned out way too runny to be spread on anything. It is, however very very tasty, and spooned or poured over an Indian dish or a bowl of plain rice, it is very moreish and delicious.

Makes a great dip for poppadoms while you are waiting to serve your main curry.

Green Raita

12 tbsp low-fat Greek yoghurt

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

4 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped

4 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped

1 large green chilli, finely chopped

1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

Place all ingredients in a bowl and blend thoroughly with a hand blender, until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Happy Fooding!

Veg, Veg & More Veg

I have been lucky enough to be given two separate lots of freshly picked vegetables in the last 10 days – from a friend who works for a distribution centre that is the go-between for markets gardens and supermarkets. Wow, it has been great. Above is the first lot I was given – the second lot was slightly different and included Brussells sprouts, sugar snap peas, carrots, apples, pears and avocadoes as well as more of the above!

Of course I’ve made the most of this bounty, looking for new and old veg-related recipes to use everything up. I made a batch of chargrilled capsicum, which has turned out better than usual simply because the capsicums are so uber-fresh and sweet.

I made a big pot of vegie soup, and one night I threw a heap of vegies on to the bbq, basting them with soy sauce and grilling to perfection. OMG the mushrooms cooked like this tasted divine!

I subscribe to an ezine called Weekend Notes, which sends me a daily roundup of what’s happening in and around Perth, as well as fun activities for kids, easy recipes, restaurant/cafe reviews etc. For a morning tea at work last Friday I made Zucchini Hummus, from Weekend Notes, which came out really well, although mine actually looks a slightly different colour and not as smoothly processed, as the original. A great alternative to a chickpea hummus, and low fat as no oil added apart from the natural oil in the tahini. Mmmmm I love tahini! I made a loaf of fresh bread in the bread machine (thanks machine, for waking me at 4.15am with your loud whirring……) and cut this into squares to serve the hummus with, instead of the usual crackers.

I still have plenty of vegies left, so am thinking something quiche-related and something curry-related might be happening in my kitchen later this week. And I need to find something to make with the apples and pears.

Happy Vegetable Fooding!

Wonderful White Stuff

Sometimes, you can go literally years in between making something, and then you suddenly rediscover it. That’s what happened with this recipe – I was looking for an easy dip to make, to take to a cheese-&-wine-by-the-river evening, so that I wouldn’t be just taking a lump of cheese and a packet of crackers. I wanted to flesh it out a bit, to make my little cheese platter contribution amongst 25 people, a little less plain.

Rummaging around in my recipe e-files, I saw this dip and thought hmmmm why haven’t I made this in so long?! A trip to the supermarket post-dentist (I am funding my dentist’s retirement at the moment, with all of the work I’m having done!) to buy a can of cannellini beans, and 5 minutes later the dip was sitting in the fridge alongside a Wensleydale-with-cranberries block of cheese and a bottle of Yellow, all ready to go.

The texture and flavour of this dip is similar to a chickpea hummus, only minus the garlic. It’s great spread on toast too.

White Bean Dip

425 gm can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup low-fat Greek yoghurt

1/4 cup hulled tahini (sesame paste)

2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp paprika

cracked pepper, to taste

Mix all ingredients together in food processor until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to eat, then serve with crackers, squares of fresh bread, triangles of pita bread, or carrot/celery sticks. And wine and friends of course 🙂

My city at dusk

Happy Summer Fooding!

Party Nibbles 2

Also for Christmas, I whipped up these little beauties!  Haha, they look so professional, but in fact this is a complete cheat’s canape……I got this idea a few months ago at an afternoon tea put on by my lecturers when I finished my Diploma.

All this is, is 2 packets of those little vol-au-vent cases that you buy ready-made, and in them I have spooned red and green Wattle Valley crunchy dips – half are red with a spot of green on top, and half are green with a spot of red on top – all nice and Christmasy looking! I used Chilli dip for the red, and Basil for the green, but you can use whatever flavours/brands you like.

These bought vol-au-vent cases are pretty dry tasting, so you need to make sure you put as much dip inside as you possibly can. This is not easy without making a big mess and getting dip all over the bench – you need a couple of tiny teaspoons and you must hold your tongue the right way lol.

Happy Summer Fooding!

Ham Dip

Super easy, this dip also makes a great filling for sandwiches.  I think you can get this particular meat paste at Aussie online food shops, but there are sure to be local equivalents in all countries anyway.

Ham Dip

250 gm tub low-fat cream cheese

~60 gms (1/2 a jar) Pecks Devilled Meat Spread

2 spring onions, chopped

1 tbsp milk

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp seedy mustard

cracked pepper, to taste

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Refrigerate for a while to firm up, then serve with water crackers or other dipping style biscuits.

Happy Fooding!

Another Greek Review…

I’ve been in Brisbane for 10 days, attending the wonderful Koala Conventions annual embroidery week –  loads of fun, fantastic stitching workshops, and LOTS of food! Last Tuesday night we went as a large group, to Kapsali Greek restaurant.

The food was a banquet organised specially for function groups, so large platters were brought out, first of dips, then hot treats like calamari and saganaki.

Between courses the waiters got up and did some Greek dancing, then they made all of us get up and have a go – in fact the whole restaurant pretty much joined in. Lots of fun.

Main course platters included lamb that just melted in the mouth, and delicious garlic potatoes. By then we were all so full because we had pigged out on the dips and cheese, so quite a bit was left on the platters. I hate to see food go to waste but we just couldn’t eat it all. As for dessert (baklava and fresh fruit) I couldn’t touch a thing.

A great night, lots of laughter and big garlic breath fumes in our room (I was sharing with my mum, who flew to Brisbane from Melbourne to join me for the embroidery week) afterwards!

I fly home to Perth today with mountains of washing to do, 2 new embroidery projects to complete (I did actually finish the 3rd one, which is the first time ever that I’ve been able to do that within the workshop week) and a lot of stuff to unpack. A wonderful 10 days was had by all.

Happy Fooding!

Real Falafels…

I’ve been making my own baked falafels for a few years. About a year ago I tried one of those dried falafel mix boxes, where you just add water and an egg or something. Disgusting! Then a couple of months ago I saw some nice looking ready-made ones in a vacuum-sealed packet, in the supermarket. They came in different flavours and were on special so I thought I’d try them, as we were going away on the boat that weekend and wanted easy nibbles to take with us. Also disgusting! SO dry and tasteless.

I think I’ll just stick to my tried and true homemade ones. I bake them rather than fry, as I do not like food where all you can taste is oil. These are easy and delicious, and if you don’t like the yoghurt dipping sauce, sweet chilli is just as good.

Falafels

425 gm can chickpeas, drained

3 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped

2 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped

1 medium carrot, peeled & grated

1/3 cup breadcrumbs

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 egg

1 tsp cumin seeds, ground

Sauce for Serving:

1 cup low-fat Greek yoghurt

1 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp lemon zest

1/2 tsp chilli paste (optional)

Mash the chickpeas in a food processor until smooth. Place in a bowl and mix with all other ingredients.

With clean hands, form into smooth oval shapes of about 1 tbsp of mixture each. Refrigerate for an hour, then bake on a greased oven tray at 200C for 20 minutes (turning over after 10 minutes).

Serve with dipping sauce – mix all sauce ingredients together and refrigerate until needed.

Makes 16.

Happy Fooding!

Let’s Go For A Dip….

Summer holidays, swimming, drinking beer, having bbqs, and loads of heat and sunshine! That’s what’s filling my days at the moment, as well as lots of visitors. Now my mum is here with me, for her first visit to Perth since 1980!

This quick and easy dip fills the “keep it cool” menu perfectly. When I served it recently, all of the English people present said it looked and tasted just like Heinz Sandwich Spread – which I’ve never eaten but I take their word for it!.

I can’t take the credit for this recipe – I found it here at one of my favourite recipe sites, Best Recipes.

Carrot & Gherkin Dip

250 gm tub cream cheese (I used low-fat)

1/4-1/3 small onion, very finely chopped

1/2 cup finely chopped carrot

2-3 tbsp Fletchers gherkin relish

cracked pepper, to taste

1 tsp milk

Mix all ingredients until well combined. Refrigerate until serving. Serve with your choice of savoury crackers, celery sticks or carrot sticks.

Happy Summer Fooding!

Weird But Wonderful….

YES the ingredients in this “dip” sound bizarre! But believe me it is totally delicious and is always a huge hit. The 3 things in this sound very strange when you contemplate putting them together, but they just work! You need a knife with this and the idea is to cut a wedge of the cheese and kind of scoop it up onto a cracker with some of the strawberries and sauce.

Today I am making a Christmas cake – the easiest one in the world, and I’m a bit dubious about whether it is going to work out or not. Making fruit cakes is not really something I’ve mastered, so most years I just buy one (after all, we’re all too stuffed full of turkey and ham to eat much dessert anyway, right?). But then I came across a recipe my mum emailed to me in 2006, and it’s so unbelievably simple that I figured even I couldn’t muck it up – so stay tuned!

Cheese & Strawberry Thing (it doesn’t really have a name!)

1 whole camembert or brie cheese, softened at room temperature for a while

250 gm punnet strawberries, washed and roughly chopped

about 1 1/2 cups sweet chilli sauce

Place cheese in centre of plate. Top with strawberries then pour sweet chilli sauce over the top.

Serve with water crackers or dry biscuits of your choice.

Happy Unusual Fooding!