Crazy For Cauliflower

I do like cauliflower. A lot. It doesn’t have to have cheese/white sauce on it or be anything too fancy, and I adore it as cauliflower rice. So the idea of roasting a cauliflower whole, slathered in a yoghurt/spice mixture, was something I could not resist trying when a friend shared the post on facebook recently. You can find the recipe here at PureWow blog.

This was very easy and smelt fantastic when cooking. I’m using an unfamiliar oven at the moment, whilst in my temporary home for a few weeks, and I wasn’t sure how it would go – it did start to burn on the top so I covered it with foil for the last 10 minutes.

The result was pretty good (apart from a pan with the bejeezus burnt out of it because I didn’t think to put baking paper underneath, and the yoghurt mixture kind of dripped down the sides like icing on a cake!), but I do think it needed something more. Maybe a type of gravy or some extra yoghurt, or a drizzle of lemon juice/EVOO would have given it a finishing touch. It was cooked beautifully without being soggy, which surprised me after such a long cooking time.

This would be well worth trying with broccoli too, I think! We had it with very easy Honey Baked Chicken, for a simple Sunday night lazy meal, as we’d already been out for lunch with friends at Edgecombe Bros winery in the Swan Valley. We had shared platters of delicious local nibbles, and tasted wines – a very relaxing way to spend a Summer Sunday afternoon!

Happy Fooding!

Not For The Calory Counters Amongst You……

Lots of rich, dark chocolate!

Rich. Decadent. Fattening. Very Fattening. But…..to balance that….CHRISTMAS!

You can be forgiven for many foodie indulgences at this time of year, so I make no apologies for leading you astray with this bewitching balls recipe!

Anything with six, yes SIX, Cherry Ripe bars in it has to be a great thing, right? Damn straight. Chuck them all in the food processor along with cocoa and a packet of Nice biscuits (ouch, more sugar), blend to a pile of powdery goodness then mix through a can of condensed milk. OMG. This is so full of yum-ness that you just have to rush out buy Cherry Ripes right now and make this! I made them for a Christmas party (also made my yummy Teriyaki Chicken Bites, perfect for taking a plate of nibbles to a function at any time of year, and always popular), but really you don’t need an excuse, at this time of year, to spoil yourself with something so sweet and delicious.

The full recipe can be found here……and whilst it can be quite an expensive recipe to make, with all of those chocolate bars, I was lucky enough to get them on special for half price this week, yay.

Apparently Cherry Ripes are now Australia’s oldest chocolate bar, having been around since 1924. I didn’t know that until today, although I knew they were my very favourite 🙂

Happy Christmas Fooding!

Sunday at Sittella

On the weekend I went with a small group of other winos to Sittella Winery in the Swan Valley. The weather was pretty awful – cold and windy with the occasional sprinkling of rain – but that didn’t stop us.

Following a few wine tastings in the cellar door (I particularly liked their Sparkling Chenin and a divine wooded Chardonnay), we moved into the restaurant itself, and spent a leisurely 2.5 hours sitting on the enclosed verandah (outdoor heaters on thankfully), with delicious food and a bit more wine.

I say delicious because it absolutely was. Three of us chose the Winemaker’s Taste Plate, which is supposedly designed to share as a starter – but we each wanted one as a main dish so why not! It contained lots of tiny portions but of a variety of things, and in the end was quite filling. I didn’t eat the chorizo/salami parts as I am still not really eating meat, although there was a tiny bit of chicken liver pate and some terrine thing – only 2 bites so hard to tell exactly what it was, but I think probably chicken again. A highlight was the wasabi-dressed smoked salmon, and the port-soaked figs, both unbelievably good. As well as the bread that came with it, we shared a serving of warm breads as well and this was sooooooo warm and soft, it really was melt-in-your-mouth bread at its best.

Top notch food (at top notch prices however……no bargains here), great service, and a lovely view over the Winter-coloured vines. A lovely way to waste a few lazy hours on a Sunday.

Happy Fooding!

Zucchini Slice

I know there are a LOT of versions of this yummy quiche dish. It’s such a great standby recipe to whip up when zucchinis are plentiful – lovely cold or hot, cut into squares as an appetizer or in larger serves as a main course. I’ve made versions with carrot or pumpkin in as well, coriander instead of parsley, and I’ved used polenta instead of flour, for a gluten-free version.

This is my “basic” recipe, which comes from my aunt and is the one I’ve been making since Zucchini Slice became trendy about 20 years ago (or longer – don’t know where all those years went).

Zucchini Slice

2 cups grated zucchini

3 spring onions, finely chopped

1 cup grated tasty cheese

1 cup SR flour

1/3 cup olive oil

4 eggs

cracked pepper, to taste

3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Spoon into a 20 x 30cm dish lined with baking paper, and level the top. Bake in 200C (190C for fan forced) for 20-25 minutes, until a light golden colour on top and just firm to touch. Cool in the tin and cut into squares.

Makes 24 appetizer-sized squares.

Happy Fooding!

Balls That Once Were Burgers

I love to cook, but sometimes I am also pretty lazy. I also don’t eat “fried” food much – never deep-fried, and minimal oil in any other kind of frying. So when I saw this great looking Cashew & Lentil Patties recipe at Weekend Notes, I really wanted to make it. Loved the simplicity of it, ease of preparation, vegetarian-ness (I can’t quite do it fully, but I can’t cope with lots of meat either), health benefits (nuts! lentils!) and combination of flavours. But then I thought hmmm maybe I could bake this instead, then thought hmmmmmmmmm if I make it as a “burger” then I have to have a side, or make it into a proper burger…..so because I’m feeling lazy, what if I just roll it into balls instead and bake them?

So that’s what I did. I just scoffed myself stupid on these, for dinner, dipping them in sweet chilli sauce. So it was like a main course and I didn’t feel I needed to make any silly old side dishes to go with it!

It worked brilliantly – very impressed with this recipe. Chuck it all in the food processor and roll it into balls – what could be easier than that? And a lot of scope for experimentation – you could add grated zucchini, carrot, feta, haloumi, tahini…..the list goes on.

Makes 28-30 balls.

The only thing I changed was that I thought the mixture looked a bit dry so I added a splash of milk – which in fact made it very sticky – so I probabably didn’t need to do that.

Although I ate this as my dinner, of course it would be perfect finger food for an appetizer. Win-win all the way really.

Happy 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!

Party Nibbles 1

I made a batch of mountain bread rollups on Christmas Day – these little savoury bites always go down well and you can put whatever fillings in you like. In this case I made some with smoked salmon, some with asparagus, and some with both.

These are quite suitable for making the day before and then just slicing up when you are ready to serve – always a plus at party time.

There aren’t really proper quantities here – just make as many as you like. I usually keep going ’til I’ve run out of cream cheese.

Rollups

lavash/mountain bread (you could also use thin tortillas, but you get a fair bit of wastage by the time you trim them into a rectangle/square shape)

cream cheese (I use low-fat)

smoked salmon

fresh asparagus spears (I prefer to use them raw, for a bit of crunch, but if you prefer you can blanch them in the microwave for 1 minute per bunch)

cracked pepper, to taste

Spread each sheet of bread thickly with cream cheese. Lay fillings on the lower half, topped with cracked pepper and then carefully roll the bread up as tightly as you can.

Wrap the “log” in cling wrap and refrigerate for a few hours (or overnight). Thinly slice and arrange on a plate to serve.

Other filling ideas: grated carrot, thin slices of ham or turkey, shredded lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, canned tuna, cucumber (skip things like avocado, tomato etc as they will just go soggy or discoloured by the time you slice them up).

Happy Summer Fooding!

Italian Bread Baskets

How about this for a delightfully simply but oh so gourmet and tasty, picnic idea……

Flatten 8 pieces of fresh white sandwich bread with a rolling pin, after first cutting off the crusts. Brush lightly with lemon-infused extra-virgin olive oil (or use plain, or another flavour like chilli or basil) and gently press into a muffin tin (oil side up).

Bake at 180C for about 5 minutes or until a bit toasted and brown around the edges (be careful not to burn or over-crisp them).

Let cool and then pack away until ready to serve.

In a bowl, mix together the following ingredients (chopped):

100 gms fresh bocconcini

100 gms roasted red capsicum strips (make your own using my easy recipe, or use stuff from a jar)

2 tbsp capers

a handful of fresh basil leaves

cracked pepper, to taste

Stir these ingredients to blend well, and set aside in fridge (or in your esky if taking to eat al fresco) for at least an hour in order for the flavours to really develop.

When ready to serve, spoon the mixture into the bread cases and drizzle each with a few drops of balsamic vinegar. Enjoy!

The quantities for the mixture are not set in stone, and of course you could add other things. I was thinking a smoked salmon mixture of some kind would work well, or perhaps a Mexican salsa of tomato, onion, corn & avocado….or a mix of chopped, cooked prawns, orange or mandarin and baby spinach leaves. Lots of scope for experimenting. You could serve this on an individual plate as a starter for a dinner party, too – something light and healthy, without being too filling.

This was delicious as part of a picnic lunch, with a local WA cheddar cheese and water crackers, some cold, cooked chicken and a bottle of champers (of course). Beautiful 34C heat, a waterfall and a walk in the hills behind Perth, what more could you want on a lovely Spring day……

Lesmurdie Falls

Happy Fooding!

Fabulous Foccacia

Here is how I make a great foccacia bread, to serve as a warm nibble before a bbq.

I use regular white bread ingredients and the dough setting on my bread machine. When the dough is ready, I place it on a floured board, cut it into two pieces and roll each out to a pizza tray sized circle.

I place one circle on to a greased pizza tray (line with baking paper works even better), then top this with a heap of grated tasty cheese (or use mozzarella) and some dried or fresh basil. I place the other circle of dough evenly over the top, and set it aside in a warm place for about 45 minutes until it has puffed up again.

I sprinkle the top with a bit of water and a dusting of polenta, and press semi-dried tomatoes and olives into the dough at random intervals.

Bake for about 25 minutes at 190C, covered with foil for the first 15 minutes, and there you have it – delicious, hot yummy pieces of bread to pass around and eat with your friends before dinner.

Happy Fooding!

No Cooking, But Still Plenty of Food Around…

I’m not really cooking properly at the moment, as I’m moving house this week, so almost everything is sealed up in a box somewhere. And I’ve already taken all of my non-perishable foods to the new place, so my pantry consists of a bottle of soy sauce and some pepper, at the moment! I’m also trying to empty the freezer to minimise how much food I have to keep frozen during the actual move, so I’ve been using up leftovers a lot. I’ve been eating a lot of couscous, made into a kind of warm salad with whatever I can find to use up – a piece of salmon (poached in the microwave) or some grilled chicken.  I’m missing my bread machine – hope I can find the box it’s in, pretty quickly after moving.

Just because I haven’t been cooking much, doesn’t mean I haven’t been enjoying lovely food!  A new bar, The Classroom, has just opened in North Perth, and I went there for drinks with friends on Friday night.  The decor is great – old lockers, blackboards, vintage lunchboxes, old encyclopaedias etc all around the walls, and even a few sets of old-fashioned big headphones, plugged in to some kind of “lesson of the day” – how to speak Japanese, when I was there! In order to eat, you must fill out a school canteen menu by ticking the boxes (pencils and clipboards provided!) and handing it to your waiter. Cocktails are served in unusual shaped glasses, including specimen jars, droppers for adding colour to your drink, and screw top jars with handles on.  Lots of good fun.

The food is bar food so snack-y, tapas-style – small portions, but then the prices were also small, so you could order several things to share and it worked out okay, price-wise.

I chose the smoked salmon & scallop carpaccio (sorry the pic is a bit blurry) as one of the dishes (does that surprise you?!), which actually was a tad tasteless. Can you believe these tiny little blobs are scallops?? They were the size of a 5 cent piece – hmm I wonder at the sustainability issues of that, but we won’t go there….

I wouldn’t order the salmon again, but everything else was lovely. As well as the food in these pics, we also had big thick-cut crinkly chips (served in typical cardboard cups, just like at school – back in the days when they did serve unhealthy rubbish like that at school canteens!), and a serving of beef ribs, the meat from which just melted in your mouth (it was given a huge thumbs up by our Phil the butcher).  The szechuan squid (pictured at the top) was my favourite, it was totally yummy and pepper-y. Apparently the cubes of watermelon were “compressed” and taken through some long-winded process that the waitress explained to us, to make them gourmet blah blah blah – tasted just like a cube of watermelon to us!

I’m really missing all of my kitchen stuff, and looking forward to getting re-acquainted with it all when I start to unpack next weekend.

Happy Fooding!