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.

Italian Sausage and Red Lentil Stew

Anyone who knows me knows that I love food from countries starting with the letter 'I' - India, Italy and Indonesia (Ireland, you have yet to prove yourself to me.) So here is a recipe for a gorgeously fragrant, simple and hearty Italian sausage stew.



Italian Sausage and Red Lentil Stew
(Serves 4)

2 tbsp olive oil
8 Italian pork sausages
1 large onion, finely diced
1 celery stick, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 tspn toasted and crushed fennel seeds
5 sprigs of rosemary
1 tin of diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
2/3 cup red wine
2 cups chicken (or vegetable) stock
120g red lentils

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and brown the sausages (they don't need to be cooked through). Remove them from the pan then gently saute the onion and celery for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, fennel seeds and rosemary and saute for 1 minute.

Add the tomatoes, bay leaves, red wine, stock and some freshly cracked black pepper and bring the sauce to a boil. Add the lentils and stir the mixture well. Return the sausages, turn the heat right down to low, cover then leave the stew to cook for one hour. Stir it often to make sure the lentils don't stick to the bottom of the saucepan. If the lentils look like they're drying out, add a touch of water.

Remove the sprigs of rosemary then serve the stew with fresh crusty bread and a simple green salad.

Satay Chicken

Nobody could ever accuse me of being a food snob. Especially not after they've read this recipe! Any cook worth their MasterChef apron will cringe, possibly even hyperventilate, when they read that my satay chicken is made with peanut butter. Yep, classy aren't I?! ;p But let's face it, tell the kids that dinner is made with peanut butter and they'll scoff it down - veggies and all (well, maybe not - I can't work miracles!)



Satay Chicken
(Serves 4)

1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup sweet chilli sauce
1/4 cup honey
Vegetable oil
3 chicken breasts (or 2 if they're big), halved lengthways then sliced thinly
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2-3 handfuls of fresh veggies, chopped into chunks
Sesame oil

To make the sauce, put the stock, peanut butter, sweet chilli sauce and honey in a microwave-safe jug. Heat for 30 seconds in the microwave (medium power) then stir it well. Heat for a further 60-90 seconds or until the sauce has just begun to thicken.

In a wok, heat the vegetable oil over high heat and stir-fry the chicken until it's begun to change colour. Add the garlic and vegetables and stir-fry for one minute.

Add the satay sauce and let it simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce is thick. Add a few drops of sesame oil then serve the stir-fry over hot noodles or steamed rice.

Note: For the vegetables, I use slices of onion, carrots, sugar snap peas, capsicum and baby corn but you can use almost anything - broccoli, cauliflower, Asian greens, spring onions, snow peas, birds-eye chilli, mushrooms, etc.

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.

Kitchen Basics - Pikelets and Pancakes

In this day and age, it can be an embarrassing thing to admit that someone doesn't know how to cook. On TV, there are 9-year-olds cooking complicated things like rabbit and mushroom ragu, ricotta gnocchi (from scratch) and gout de la mer. It's easy to feel a tad inadequate.

But not everyone has a childhood filled with memories of Mum teaching you the right way to shave a truffle or cook chicken in a water bath. When I moved out of home I could cook (from scratch) scrambled eggs, mashed potato and pancakes. Everything else I taught myself (or with the help of a few choice books.)

So this is a basic recipe that even the "I can burn water" brigade can master. (And yes, S, I'm looking at you!)



Pikelets

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
A pinch of salt
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
Oil spray

Sift the flour into a bowl with the salt then add the milk and egg and beat well until the mixture is smooth. (But don't worry if there are a few lumps in it!)

Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat and spray the pan with a light coating of oil.

Drop tablespoons of mixture onto the pan. When they are ready to flip, the top uncooked surface of the pikelet will look like the moon, ie: full of craters.

Flip the pikelet and cook the second side briefly (until it turns golden). Remove the pikelets from the pan and repeat with the rest of the mixture.

Eat the pikelets hot and smothered with maple syrup! Or pack cold pikelets into the kids lunchboxes.

Note: This mixture is perfect for adding in a handful of chocolate chips of raisins, however I think I'll leave the caramlized apple recipe for another day!

Pancakes

1 cup plain flour
A pinch of salt
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
Butter

Sift the flour into a bowl with the salt then add the milk and egg and beat well until the mixture is smooth.

Melt a dollop of butter in a non-stick pan over medium heat.

Add a quarter of a cup of mixture (or more if your pan is quite big) to the pan and swirl it around so it spreads evenly. Cook the pancake for a minute or two until the top looks set and the under-side is golden. Flip the pancake and cook the other side briefly.

Eat the pancakes hot! I like mine with a bit of fresh lemon juice and sugar, although you can spread them with jam or nutella or you can even use the pancake as a wrap and fill it with bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise.

Penne with a Spicy Sausage and Tomato Sauce

WANTED: A simple child-friendly mid-week meal that doesn't involve toast soldiers.

Consider it delivered!



Penne with a Spicy Sausage and Tomato Sauce
(Serves 4)

Olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 x 400g tins of crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup of white or red wine (if you feel like it!)
3/4 cup chicken stock
6-8 Italian sausages, skins removed
1-2 tbsp chopped basil
350g penne

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a large pan and gently saute the onion until it is soft. Add the garlic and let it cook for a minute.

Add the tomatoes, wine and stock and bring to the boil. Break the sausages into small chunks as you add them to the pan. Cover and leave the mixture to simmer over a medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring often.

Meanwhile, boil the penne until it is al dente. Drain, then add to the sauce and stir well. Season with salt and pepper, mix in the basil then serve straight away with a little parmesan sprinkled on top.

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.

Prosciutto, pea and lemon pasta

It's spring here in Australia and the weather is well and truly warming up after a (not particularly) cold and (definitely not!) rainy winter!

This is a simple pasta dish to make with only a handful of ingredients that reflects the return to warmer weather.



Prosciutto, pea and lemon pasta
(Serves 4)

Olive oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
8 slices of prosciutto, chopped
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup frozen peas (add more or less depending on how much you love peas!)
1 lemon, zested and juiced
400g tagliatelle
75g grated gruyere cheese
2-3 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley

Heat some olive oil in a saucepan and saute the onion and prosciutto (you want the prosciutto to get a bit crispy around the edges!)

Add the chicken stock, frozen peas, lemon zest and juice and simmer for a couple of minutes until the peas are tender and the stock has reduced.

Meanwhile, cook the tagliatelle until al dente then drain well and add to the sauce with the gruyere cheese, the fresh parsley and plenty of cracked black pepper. Stir well then serve and devour!

Eating Melbourne 2010

I was in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago and practically ate and shopped the entire time. It was great! I don't have any photos of what I ate (my camera is slowly dying and part of me was a bit embarrassed to be snapping pics in trendy restaurants) but I thought I'd share my experiences anyway.

Fifteen Melbourne (115-117 Collins Street, Melbourne)
The place has a really trendy feel to it. The restaurant has an open kitchen so I spent most of the night peering over Pete's shoulder to watch the kitchen staff at work. Tobie Puttock was actually working that night which was a tad exciting.

The service was flawless which was very impressive, however the food was pretty mediocre. My primi (entree) was orecchiette with butternut pumpkin, amaretti crumble, sage and pecorino toscano. It was bland. And there was no crumble. It was pasta with small chunks of pumpkin in a "blended pumpkin and water" sauce with a few sage leaves. My main was a perfectly cooked piece of barramundi with chickpeas cooked in tomatoes with basil. The chickpeas were nice, although a bit bland (I don't think Fifteen believes in "seasoning") and there was sand through it. Really uncool. However, dessert was nice - a Granny Smith apple creme brulee with clove ice-cream and almond biscotti. The brulee let out a good crack as I broke through the top of it and the clove ice-cream is probably one of the best things I've eaten in a long time. The biscotti was crap though - so hard that neither Pete nor I could actually bite through it.

All in all, I probably wouldn't recommend it - there are much better restaurants in Melbourne!

Gingerboy (27-29 Crossley Street, Melbourne)
My absolute favourite restaurant in Melbourne, it specialises in Hong Kong hawker style food. The dining room is funky, the bar is full of amazing looking cocktails and there's a real vibe about the place which is right in the heart of Chinatown.

For starters (which we shared), we ate prawn and ginger dumplings with red vinegar dressing and braised duck spring rolls with spiced plum and hoi sin sauce. Divine! Our shared mains were red duck leg curry with shallots, Thai basil and coconut cream and wok fried satay chicken and prawns with spring onions in a pancake, served with jasmine rice. It was just gorgeous and incredibly satisfying (since I'd been fantasizing about the red duck curry since I went to Melbourne last year!)

I would recommend Gingerboy to anyone and everyone! Go! Seriously!

Punch Lane Restaurant and Wine Bar (43 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne)
Punch Lane is one of Pete's favourite places to eat in Melbourne. Although this time we went on a Saturday night and the dining room was actually very, very noisy - we could barely hear each other and had to shout much of our conversation. Apart from the noise level, we had a lovely evening - the food is beautiful, very simple but clean and full of flavour.

Our shared entrees were tiger prawns wrapped in panchetta with a lemon mayonnaise and manchego, potato and thyme croquettes with tomato chilli jam. My main meal was a special and not something straight from the menu - it was a risotto with baby peas, mint and goats cheese which was really, really beautiful. Dessert was a spiced carrot pudding with orange jelly and vanilla mascarpone.

I'd definitely recommend Punch Lane - I can't emphasize enough how well-cooked the meals are, even though they may sound quite simple. But perhaps go on a week night when the place is a little quieter!


Also of note in Melbourne:

AIX Creperie (24 Centre Place, Melbourne) This tiny little out-of-the-way place was an awesome find (thanks to Melbourne bloggers who raved about it!!!) I wanted to eat half of the menu! I ended up with the BLT crepe.

Haigh's Chocolates - my favourite cream-filled chocolates are lime, rose, violet and mint.

Koko Black - get the Belgian truffles. I get shivers just thinking about it!

And as silly as it sounds, the burger ordered from room service at the Mantra on Russell was really tasty! It was huge but it was so good and I ate the entire thing (which I probably shouldn't have done, because it really was HUGE!!!) It had a big meaty beef pattie, plenty of salad, egg, relish, cheese all stuffed into two sliced of toasted Turkish bread with a side of chips. Late night bliss!

Our trip to Melbourne was a good chance to get away (even though Pete had to work for a couple of days) and it was good to see more of the city. We may be moving over next year due to work so that will be really exciting. And if we don't move, then I'll just have to go back across next time Pete gets sent for work. :)

Gypsy Stew

This is a traditional Spanish stew called a gypsy stew because it uses small amounts of common, easy to obtain ingredients including those quintessentially Spanish - pork, garlic, paprika and a variety of other herbs and spices.

Guisado Gitano
(Serves 4)

Olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
800g pork loin, diced
1 red capsicum, diced
1/2 tspn chilli paste
1/2 tspn sweet paprika
1 1/2 tspn smoked paprika
2 tspn ground cumin
1/4 tspn ground cinnamon
2 tspn fresh chopped rosemary
200g dried haricot beans (soaked overnight in plenty of fresh water)
1 tin crushed tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 bunch silverbeet (leaves only, washed and shredded)

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a heavy-based saucepan and saute the onion and garlic until they are soft. Add the pork loin and capsicum and gently brown the pork. Add the chilli paste, paprika, cumin, cinnamon and rosemary and toast the spices for a minute.

Drain the haricot beans well then add them to the saucepan. Add the tomatoes and chicken stock, bring to the boil then reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 90 minutes or until the beans are tender.

Add the sweet potato and simmer, covered, for 20-30 minutes (until the potato is just cooked), adding more stock if necessary to retain the liquid level. Take the stew off the heat, season well with salt and pepper and add the silverbeat. Stir it in well so it wilts slightly, then serve.