Nicoise Salad

Nicoise salad is one of those wonderfully robust French salads that can be a complete meal, rather than just a bit of decorative greenery on the side of your plate. You know, next to the 300g slab of beef, the barbequed sausages or the chicken kebabs.

This is my take on a Nicoise salad. Traditionally, the salad contains tuna and anchovies and never contains any leaves (such as lettuce or baby spinach leaves). I prefer mine slightly untraditional.



Nicoise Salad
(Serves 4-6)

6 baby potatoes
150g fresh green beans
1 packet of washed leaves (lettuce or spinach) from the supermarket
1 punnet of cherry or grape tomatoes, halves
4 hard-boiled eggs, quartered
1 cup of black olives (preferably pitted)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tspn dijon mustard

Boil the baby potatoes (whole - no need to peel them either!) until they are tender. Drain and rinse under cold running water. Briefly blanch the green beans and also rinse them under cold running water.

In a large salad bowl combine the salad leaves, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, eggs and olives.

If you have a small container with a lid, use that to make the salad dressing by tipping in the olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard and some fresh cracked black pepper and shaking the whole lot really well until it's combined. (If you don't have a little container with a lid, put the ingredients in a jug and whisk until emulsified.) Dress the salad then enjoy as a main meal or a side dish.

Note: If you'd like to add tuna (or even smoked salmon or chicken) to this salad, then I would suggest using approximately 500g.

Spiced Prawns

Spiced Prawns
(Serves 2 adults as part of a main meal)

350g peeled and deveined prawns
4 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tspn paprika (not hot or smoked, just the normal stuff)
3/4 tspn ground cumin
1/2 tspn ground ginger
1/2 tspn ground turmeric
1 small bunch coriander leaves (optional)

Heat the olive oil in a wok and stir fry the prawns until they are half cooked and starting to pink up. Add the garlic and ground spices and continue to stir fry until fragrant. Add a 1/4 cup of hot water and leave the prawns to simmer until the sauce has thickened and the prawns are cooked through. Season with salt and mix through the coriander.

Serve with warmed Turkish bread, salad and lemon wedges as part of a main meal.

These prawns can also be served as an entree to a dinner party or you can leave the tails on the prawns (as little handles) and fry up a large batch as finger food for a small party or family gathering.

Lamb Kheema

Lamb kheema is a dry-style Indian curry using lamb mince (although you could try using beef or chicken mince if lamb mince isn't available). This is one of my favourite curries and I always serve it with naan bread and a gingery tomato chutney.



Lamb Kheema
Serves 4

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
8cm piece of ginger, grated
1 large red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
3 bay leaves
500g lamb mince
1 1/2 tbsp ground coriander
1 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
1/4 tspn ground turmeric
1 heaped tbsp of tomato paste
2 heaped tbsp natural yoghurt
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 tspn garam masala
1 small handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Heat the oil in a large pan and gently saute the onion, garlic, ginger, chilli and bay leaves until the onion is translucent and the mixture is aromatic. Add the lamb mince and gently brown it.

Add the ground coriander, cumin and turmeric and mix it well into the lamb mince. Cook for 2 minutes and let the spices infuse the meat. Stir in the tomato paste, then stir in the yoghurt and cook the mixture for another 2 minutes. Add half a cup of water, stir it in, then cover the pan and leave the mixture to simmer for 15 minutes.

Stir in the peas and garam masala, season well with salt and pepper, cover the pan and leave to cook for 5 minutes. If, after this, the mince still looks a bit watery, leave it to simmer with the lid off to evaporate some of the excess moisture.

Remove the pan from the heat, remove the bay leaves, stir in the chopped coriander and serve hot with a tomato or mango chutney and any form of Indian bread.

Pantry Paella

I have only recently discovered the delights on paella (yeah, I know, it took me awhile!) and I've been playing about with a few different variations. This is one I've dubbed "pantry paella". Mainly because I keep most of these ingredients in my pantry or fridge (or freezer - thank you frozen beans!) and it's dead easy to make.



Pantry Paella
Serves 4

3 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion (or 2 little ones), diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
6 large chicken thighs, cut into large chunks
1 capsicum (red or green), diced
100g green beans
2 tomatoes, diced
Large pinch of saffron threads
1 tspn dried rosemary
1 tspn smoked paprika (use normal paprika if you can't get smoked)
1L chicken stock
1 cup long-grain white rice (or use paella rice if you have it)

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium-low heat and gently cook the onion until it's transparent. Add the garlic and cook for a minute then add the chicken thighs and turn the heat up to medium. Let the chicken thighs brown all over.

Add the capsicum and green beans and cook for about 5 minutes - until the capscium has begun to soften a little. Add the tomatoes and cook for a few minutes until the juice has leaked out of the tomatoes and looks like it's beginning to thicken.

Stir in the saffron, rosemary, paprika and stock. Turn the heat down to medium-low and let the whole lot simmer for 20 minutes. Stir occassionally so nothing sticks on the bottom of the pan.

Tip in the rice, bring the mixture to a boil, stir well then lower the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the rice has cooked. If it looks like it's drying out before the rice has cooked, then just add some more hot water. Season the paella well with salt and pepper, then serve. Don't forget to save the slightly burnt, crusty bit at the bottom of the pan for yourself (or share if you're a nicer person than me!)

Calamari Paella

Paella is the dish Spain is probably most famous for. Whilst this one uses calamari, the original paella is from Valencia and contains fresh vegetables and local proteins such as chicken, rabbit or snails.



Calamari Paella
(Serves 4)

1/4 cup olive oil
1 red onion, finely diced
2 chorizo sausages, sliced
1 red capsicum, diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 tspn smoked paprika
2 roma tomatoes, diced
2/3 cup dry white wine
1 cup medium grain rice
1L hot chicken or vegetable stock
Pinch of saffron threads
4 squid tubes, sliced into rings
2/3 cup frozen peas
1 small handful of parsley, chopped roughly
Lemon wedges, to serve

Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat and saute the onion, chorizo, red capsicum and garlic for 5 minutes. Add the cayenne pepper, paprika and tomato and stir for 1 minute. Season well with cracked black pepper. Add the white wine and bring to the boil.

Add the rice, the stock and the saffron, stir briefly then turn the heat down to a very gentle simmer and leave to cook uncovered for 15 minutes. Most importantly, don't stir the rice - a crust will form on the bottom of the pan and this is considered a delicacy!

Place the calamari rings onto the bed of rice and press them down slightly so they are submerged. Sprinkle over the peas, cover the pan and leave it to cook for a further 10 minutes.

If the rice looks like it's drying out, add a little more stock. If it looks too wet, let the paella simmer for a while with the lid off.

When the rice and calamari are cooked and tender, sprinkle over the parsley and serve with fresh lemon wedges.

Fragrant Fish Curry

This is a fish curry that I created. I wanted a really fragrant curry based on my Goan beef curry recipe that used plenty of cinnamon (combined with a few other things) in a coconut milk sauce.



Fragrant Fish Curry
(Serves 4)

4 tbsp vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 fat red chilli, finely sliced
1/2 tspn ground cinnamon
1/2 tspn ground cloves
1/4 tspn ground turmeric
1/4 tspn salt
1/8 tspn ground black pepper
4 tspn tamarind paste
600g firm white fish fillets, cut into large pieces
1 cup (250mL) coconut milk
3 tbsp chopped coriander

In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil with the garlic, chilli, spices, salt, pepper and tamarind paste. Smear this paste over the fish fillets.

Heat the remaining oil in a large non-stick pan and fry the fish until almost cooked through. Stir in the coconut milk and then let the curry simmer for 5 minutes or until the fish is cooked. Stir in the chopped coriander then serve the curry over steamed basmati rice.

Spicy Lentil Soup and Garlic Toast

Yep - it's another lentil recipe. This time I'm dedicating the recipe to the world-wide Meatless Monday movement - an initiative about cutting back meat consumption for the sake of your health, budget, animal welfare, global hunger and environment.

I got this recipe from my Aunty and really enjoyed it. If you're the type of person who has plenty of spices on hand all the time (like me) then this is the perfect, quick, vegetarian meal to make when the pantry is (nearly) bare.



Spicy Lentil Soup
(Serves 4)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 tspn each of ground ginger, ground coriander, ground cumin and paprika
1/2 tspn each of ground pepper, cinnamon and turmeric
1/4 tspn each of nutmeg and chilli powder
120g red lentils
1 tin of diced tomatoes
1.2L vegetable stock
Fresh coriander (optional)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and saute the onion until it has turned translucent. Add all the spices and toast them briefly.

Add the lentils, tomatoes and stock and simmer the soup for about 20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender.

Season with salt and fresh coriander.

Perhaps you'd like some garlic toast with that?

When I first started dating my partner (what feels like a century ago. In a good way of course!) he fell in love with my garlic toast. It's nothing special, but he likes it and I always make it for him when he needs cheering up. (Men can be such simple creatures sometimes.)



Garlic Toast
(Serves 4)

8 slices of bread
Butter
Garlic powder
Salt
Chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 160C. Butter the bread, sprinkle on the garlic powder, a very small amount of salt and the chopped parsley. Cut each slice of bread into three, pop them on an oven tray and bake for about 10 minutes, until the bread just begins to turn golden.

Kitchen Basics - Vegetable Stock Concentrate

Recently I had dinner at the home of my darling Aunty and she made a lovely soup using homemade stock concentrate (frozen into cubes) which I thought was a great idea! Because I know that the little containers of powdered stock from the supermarket are packed full of preservatives and sodium. Even the liquid stocks now available aren't exactly good for you. So the thought that stock was easy to make got me very interested!

After looking through scores of recipes on the internet and doing a bit of experimenting, I've come to the conclusion that I'll never buy stock again because it is so easy-peasy to make! Not to mention healthy and convenient.

Many recipes for stock concentrate include between 100g-200g of salt to preserve the stock (for storage in the fridge) but my Aunty recommends making it without the salt and simply freezing it.

So this is a simple recipe to make vegetable stock concentrate (so no need to fuss about with chicken carcasses and beef marrow bones!) which is suitable for the freezer.



Vegetable Stock Concentrate
Makes 36 ice cubes

2 tspn oil (any type!)
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 large sticks of celery, finely diced
3 small carrots, grated
1 large zucchini, grated
1 tomato, diced
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
4 sage leaves
1 small handful of fresh parsley (stalks and leaves), chopped (or I prefer to snip mine with kitchen scissors)

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add all the veggies and herbs, stir it well, then clamp the lid on the saucepan and let the mixture stew for about 20 minutes (you may need to stir it occassionally to stop it from sticking on the bottom of the saucepan) or until everything is very soft and pulpy.

Remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Let the mixture cool for 10 minutes then throw it all into a blender and blitz until it becomes a smooth paste.



Spoon tablespoons of stock into ice cube trays and freeze! When you need some stock, simply take a cube out of the freezer and dissolve it in the required amount of water.

Note 1: Use one stock cube per cup (250mL) of water.

Note 2: You should be able to use any veggies you have knocking about the veggie crisper - a few florets of broccoli or cauliflower, parsnips, leeks, etc. The only thing I'd steer clear of are starchy vegetables like potatoes.

Steak with Spanish-Style Mushrooms

This meal came about as an accident. I found a recipe online which had sauteed chorizo and mushrooms as a side dish to a good steak. I had a few extra veggies in the fridge which needed using up so I adapted the recipe and it was a hit with my darling partner. Even I (who admittedly doesn't really like red meat) really enjoyed this meal, so I've decided to share!



Steak with Spanish-style mushrooms
(Serves 4)

Olive oil
4 steaks
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 chorizo sausages, thickly sliced then halved
2 red capsicums (or peppers if you prefer to call them that!), diced
15 button mushrooms, quartered
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 small bunch of spinach
Fresh parsley

Rub the steaks with a little olive oil, season well with salt and pepper then pan fry, grill or barbeque until cooked to your liking. Set them side to rest.

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a saucepan and gently saute the onion and garlic until the onion is soft. Add the chorizo and cook for 5 minutes then add the capsicum and mushrooms, cook for 2-3 minutes then add the stock and season the mix well with salt and pepper.

Once the liquid has reduced (it should only take a couple of minutes), take the saucepan off the heat then add the spinach and some fresh parsley. Stir well until the spinach has begun to wilt then serve the mushroom mixture with the steak on top.

English Baked Beans

You may think that baked beans are simply that - baked beans. However there is a huge difference between traditional English baked beans (beans stewed in a tomato sauce), Boston-style baked beans (made with bacon or pork and a variety of flavourings such as Worcestershire sauce, molasses and mustard powder), French-Canadian baked beans (made with maple syrup) and what I can only imagine to be dozens of other varients of baked beans.

Hence why I'm being specific - these are English. No maple syrup or bacon involved. And they taste a hell of a lot better than the canned Heinz beans.



English Baked Beans
(Serves 4-6)

2 tins of beans, 400g each (I use tins of mixed beans)
Olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 sprigs of thyme
3 bay leaves
1 tin of tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
350mL vegetable or chicken stock
Salt and pepper

Tip the beans into a colander and rinse them well under running water. Set aside to drain completely.

Heat a little olive oil in a heavy based saucepan and gently saute the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent. Add the beans, herbs, tomatoes, tomato paste and stock and stir well.

Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and let the beans stew for 2 hours. Stir occassionally, adding a little water if the beans are drying out too much.

Season well with salt and pepper, remove the thyme and bay leaves and serve them any way you wish - on toast, with sausages, as part of a big breakfast or just as they are.

Malaysian Lamb Curry

This is my take on a Malaysian lamb curry. I must admit (a little shamefully), I know very little about Malay food. I know the country has a large population of people with Chinese and Indian heritage and the food reflects this mixture of cultures.

This curry is a simplified and modified version of a very traditional but highly complicated recipe a friend's mother gave to me years ago.



Malaysian Lamb Curry
(Serves 4)

Vegetable oil
1 onion, finely diced
800g lamb, diced
5 cloves garlic, crushed
5cm piece of ginger, grated
2 large red chilli's, sliced
1 tbsp mustard seeds, toasted
2 tspn garam masala
2 tspn curry powder
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tin crushed tomatoes
1 tin coconut milk
2 cups vegetable stock
1/4 tspn salt

In a heavy based saucepan, heat the oil then saute the onion until it is soft. Add the lamb and brown it then add the garlic, ginger and chilli and saute for one minute. Add the mustard seeds, garam masala, curry powder, bay leaves and cinnamon stick and toast for another minute.

Add the tomatoes, coconut milk, stock and salt and stir the curry well. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat, partially cover the saucepan and simmer for 90 minutes, adding more stock if the curry becomes too thick.

Serve over steamed basmati rice with a dollop of fresh yoghurt on top.

Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes

These are some gluten free chocolate cupcakes I made as an experiment - I'm not gluten intolerant myself but have a couple of friends who are and I wanted to be able to pass along a really good cake recipe.

The texture of these cakes is very dense and rich. Actually, they taste quite similar to my ugly mudcake.



Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes
(Makes 12)

175g butter
250g good quality dark chocolate
1 1/4 cups castor sugar
3/4 cup almond meal
1 cup cocoa powder
5 eggs, beaten

Preheat the oven to 140C and line a cupcake pan with papers.

In a large saucepan, melt together the butter, chocolate and sugar, stirring often until the mixture is smooth and the sugar has melted.

Stir in the almond meal, cocoa powder and eggs then spoon the mixture into the cupcake papers.

Bake for half an hour or until a skewer inserted comes out cleanly with moist crumbs clinging to it. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and leave them to cool on a wire rack.

Frost the cupcakes with buttercream or chocolate ganache or, as I do, eat them whilst they're still warm with a bit of whipped cream.

Steak au poivre

Steak au poivre is a classic French dish consisting of a good quality steak cooked with a pepper crust and finished with a cognac or brandy cream sauce.

Once again, instead of making the sauce purely cream based, I've used a mixture of stock and cream to reduce the richness.



Steak au Poivre
(Serves 4)

4 steaks
Plenty of freshly cracked pepper
Olive oil
2 tbsp butter
1 small onion, very finely diced
3 tbsp brandy or cognac
1/4 cup of cream
1/2 cup of chicken stock
Pinch of salt
Freshly chopped parsley

Generously season the steaks with plenty of pepper. In a very hot oiled pan, sear the steaks (to create the pepper crust), then turn the heat down and cook the steaks to your liking. Remove the steaks from the pan and set aside.

Add the butter to the pan and gently saute the onion. Add the brandy (or cognac), cream, stock and salt. Bring the sauce to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for a couple of minutes until the sauce has thickened.

Return the steaks to the pan and baste them until they are reheated. Stir the parsley into the sauce and serve.

Giambotta

Everyone knows what ratatouille is. The main ingredients are garlic, onions, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, capsicum/peppers and herbs. It's light, healthy and an awesome way to increase your veggie intake. :)

The Italians have their own version of ratatouille called giambotta. Similar ingredients, different herbs and in my opinion, so much tastier!

Now, this giambotta recipe is pretty flexible - if you hate zucchini, supplement it with eggplant, if you prefer green capsicums to red, then use green. Play around with the types of vegetables and make the giambotta to suit your own tastes.

Giambotta

(Serves 2)

Olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 onion, finely sliced

5 button mushrooms, quartered (I tend to use tinned champignons if the veggie crisper is looking a bit pathetic and empty!)

1 zucchini, cut into chunks

1 red capsicum/bell pepper, cut into chunks

1 chilli, deseeded and sliced

3/4 cup vegetable (or chicken) stock

3 ripe Roma tomatoes (or 1/2 tin of tomatoes), chopped into large chunks

Freshly shredded basil

Salt and pepper

Heat a splash of olive oil in a large non-stick pot or pan. Over medium heat, saute the garlic, onion and mushrooms until the onion has softened a little.

Add the zucchini, capsicum and chilli and saute for a minute or two. Add the stock, turn the heat down and simmer very gently for about 5-10 minutes. Add the tomatoes then simmer for a further 10 minutes or until the veggies are very tender and the stock has been mostly absorbed.

Stir in the fresh basil and season well with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Serve the giambotta topped with a fried egg or plenty of crusty sourdough bread to mop up the veggie juices.

Alternatively, blend the giambotta for a sneakily healthy pasta sauce that the kids will never know is made up of veggies!

Veal saltimbocca

Are you, your partner or your kids meat and three veg type people? Does Monday equal steak and three veg? If it's Thursday, it must be pork chops and three veg...

Do you ever get a little bored and feel like jazzing it up? Just a teensy tiny little bit?

Well, here's how!

Veal saltimbocca (or you can easily substitute veal for chicken or pork) is a very easy, very quick, very Italian dish. It contains six basic ingreadients and will only take ten minutes to prepare and cook.

Veal Saltimbocca

(Serves 4)

4 thin veal steaks

4 slices of prosciutto

8 sage leaves

Olive oil

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 tbsp butter

Lay each veal steak out on your benchtop then lay two sage leaves on the centre of each steak. Take a piece of prosciutto and wrap it around the steak and sage leaves (this will stop the leaves from burning.)

In a large non-stick pan, heat some olive oil and pan fry the steaks for a couple of minutes each side or until cooked to your liking.

Remove the steaks and add the wine to the same pan. Scrape up any steak residue from the bottom (it will add extra flavour) and simmer for a minute or two until the wine has reduced a little. Add a dollop of butter, let it melt, then spoon it over the veal saltimbocca.