Rob’s chickpea pumpkin and date salad
October 14, 2011 § 8 Comments
As summer is on its way and the days get warmer, lighter fresh meals are entering the kitchen. Yet those vegies we typically associate with summer are not quite here. I love the winter flavours with a summer feel that this salad, served for dinner tonight by my friend Rob, embodies. Memories of winter somehow all the more pleasurable because they can be enjoyed from the warmth of spring.
Rob is not your typical looking cook, red-haired, you will often find him saw on grain woodworking some design at the back of the house in a cloud of fine dust that settles in his beard and hair, or gazing into space with one of his many instruments saddled in his lap. But Rob keeps surprising me with his kitchen skills and kindly agreed when I asked him to post his recipe… admitting he got it from somewhere else but long enough ago to have forgotten where and changed along the way. You can find his music here where he plays with the lovely Jess Ribeiro and the Bone Collectors. And here is his salad, Chickpea, Pumpkin and Date.
How to Make Chickpea Pumpkin and Date Salad
Roughly Chop about 1/2 a pumpkin and sprinkle it with 1 tsp ground cumin and 1 tsp ground coriander, drizzle with olive oil and bake in an oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour.
In the meantime take 2 cups dried chickpeas and cook in boiling water until soft (if your feeling lazy, or you want to, you can just use 2 cans chickpeas)
Combine in a large bowl with the pumpkin, a cup of roughly chopped dried dates, a handful of chives finely chopped, 2 bunches coriander roughly chopped, juice and rind of one lemon and a good dashing of olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste and voilà!
roast vegies and baby beetroots
September 19, 2011 § 4 Comments
I pulled these little beets from the garden today. So sweet!
A friend recently told me about roasting them stalks and all with a dash of vinegar and salt.
Without enough to make a meal of them, here is what I did. Popped them in a tray with pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots, cherry tomatoes, garlic, fresh thyme and rosemary. Sprinkled them with salt, a generous helping of olive oil and a dash of balsamic vinegar. And into the oven at 200°C/390°F they went.
1 hour and 25 minutes later, our old gas oven taking longer than most, out they come.
I stirred together a handful of chopped coriander, some mint, 2 tablespoons yoghurt, a dash of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and served it with the vegies.
It made for a fine lunch on a warm windy day.
sauerkraut
July 29, 2011 § 1 Comment
The fermentation of cabbage is a very ancient chinese tradition that is believed to have come to Europe with the nomadic Tartars. So whilst we usually associate Sauerkraut with Germany, it is really only the name that bares its origin there. The French on the other hand call it ‘choukrout’.
Interestingly the fermentation of sauerkraut takes place with 3 different microorganisms in different successional stages of the process determined by increasing acidity. However when making sauerkraut you don’t have to worry about this, the microorganisms will take care of themselves wonderfully. What you will have to do is very very simple.
I find it so satisfying and a little bit magical harnessing the bacteria from the air to transform food. As you will probably come to know, fermentation is one of my most favourite things. On this matter, sauerkraut is a very good place to start, as it is really very very easy.
This recipe comes from Sally Fallon’s book Nourishing Traditions.
1 medium organic cabbage, cored and shredded (use half red and half green and end up with a beautiful pink sauerkraut)
1 Tbsp sea salt
4 Tbsp whey (alternatively use an additional 1 Tbsp salt)
Shred the cabbage and combine in a bowl with the salt and whey.
Pound with a wooden pounder, or anything similar you can get your hands on. I usually use a metal potato masher. Keep this up for about ten minutes to release the juices.
Place in a large wide mouthed and steralised glass jar. Press down firmly with pounder or potato masher until the juices rise above the cabbage. The top of the cabbage should be at least 1 inch bellow the jars mouth. Cover tightly and leave at room temperature for approximately 3 days before transferring to the fridge. It is then ready to but will improve with age.
jerusalem artichoke and leek soup
July 10, 2011 § Leave a comment
Its cold again. Winds carrying a deep bite. The chill sinking into all the corners of the city, making its way up my street, into my house and crawling up through my toes and fingertips. Still, not so bad that it can’t be fixed with a steaming bowl of soup, a hot water bottle tied to my kidneys and a woolen blanket wrapped around my waist. It does require a waddle rather than a walk, but somehow the heater alternative is only reserved for very special occasions. A hard-line habit, that I’m telling you, a part of me is looking forward to the day I grow out of.
But winter also comes with so many wonderful and soothing vegetables. I talked about kale before – with its leaves of grandma skin. And in following that thought, its only fair I offer you a recipe from the wizened old Jerusalem artichoke – wrinkled like grandpa memories.
Simple and good, a bowl of this soup on a cold winters day is sure to make you delighted! And like all the best recipes, it starts with butter!
Ingredients
40 g butter
2 cloves garlic
1 large leek
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp nutmeg
600 g Jerusalem artichoke
200 g potatoes
750 ml stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Pre-heat the oven to 200°C /390°F
Roast the artichokes and potatoes in the oven along with a dash of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste until cooked through (about 45 minutes).
Heat the butter in a large saucepan, add the garlic and leek. Fry until soft. Add all the remaining ingredients including the roasted vegetables and bring to the boil. Puree. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with crusty bread.
spiced dried chocolate oranges
June 25, 2011 § 8 Comments
Beware, these chocolate oranges are deliciously addictive. This is the third time I have made them in the last week and finally I have had a chance to photograph them before they are gobbled up. I got the idea for dried chocolate oranges the other day when I visited a little florist in Thornbury. On a shelf in the middle of the shop, hard to miss, there were little bundles of all different dried fruit. I was admiring the apples, glistening with a drizzle of toffee, when I spied the dried orange segments each lovingly dipped in chocolate. I was just about to take a beautifully wrapped package up to the counter when I saw the price… $13! Needless to say that was enough to put the stingy student in me off, I went out and bought some green and blacks chocolate, picked some oranges off our very own tree, sliced them up, dried them in the oven, melted the chocolate, ‘lovingly dipped’ each orange segment, waited impatiently for them to set, and then sat down and nibbled and nibbled and nibbled until… I thought, I better make some more.
Recipe for spiced dried chocolate oranges
(Note, it may be a good idea to make double)
2 oranges
3 Tbsp raw organic sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch cloves
150 g very good quality dark chocolate
Pre-heat oven to 110°C/250°F. Cut the oranges in half lengthways and then slice thinly (about 3 mm thick) as bellow.
Toss the oranges in a bowl along with the sugar and spices until evenly covered. Carefully place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and pop in the pre-heated oven until the rind becomes brittle and dry. About 2 hours, however this will vary considerably depending on your oven.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water. Dip each orange segment into the chocolate. Allow to set on a tray lined with baking paper before devouring.
Preserving Olives
June 13, 2011 § 11 Comments
We live in one of the old Greek and Italian neighbourhoods of Melbourne. One of those suburbs that every now and again sport concrete lawns dotted with olive and lemon trees. A very particular aesthetic that I myself am not particularly partial to but nevertheless, I appreciate the mini suburban farms even though embedded in a cement landscape of which I can only imagine is a good way of keeping out the weeds. I am lucky enough to enjoy the advice of an old greek man who sometimes happens by when I’m in the front yard. He leans over the fence, a subtle aroma of cigarettes, commenting on the progress of our orange tree and the vegies in the garden. I enjoy the aged and wisened advice, it is the stuff I cherish most.
So it is at this time of year that trees are heavy with black fruit and the markets and grocers are brimming with plump and round olives.
I have never pickled olives before, and from a little research, have learned there is more than one way of going about it. Jim Massoto gives a wonderful step by step set of instructions and advice which you can find here. However his process takes 20 days in which you soak the olives in briny water that you change every day.
We decided, to go for a rather simpler option that a friend let us in on after he was given the advice from an olive seller at Preston Markets. With this method you may end up with olives that are slightly more bitter, but after tasting our friends and considering this process was much nicer on the environment as less salt would be poured down the drains, we were convinced. Also, it’s no where near as much hassle.
How to preserve olives
First, you want to make sure you pickle your olives when they are as fresh as you can get them as they are quick to spoil. Pick out any bruised or spoiled olives as they have an off flavour.
Sterilize a bunch of big jars. Wash the olives thoroughly and place in the jars. Cover with briny water (100 g salt dissolved per 1 litre water). Then pour a layer of olive oil on the top of the water and seal tightly. The fuller the better, as the less air inside the jar, the less likely they will contaminate. Leave in a dark cool place for about 3 – 4 months or until they develop a rich olive flavour. A layer of scum will develop at the top of the jar, however this is said to be helpful in taking away the bitterness of the olives.
And we wait, fingers crossed.
the first of kale
May 30, 2011 § 3 Comments
Kale is in season!
Arriving in our bountiful vegie boxes fresh from Ceres Fair Food it brings a smile to my heart. There is something comforting about the grandma skin like leaves, green and dusty grey, krinkled like a well worn landscape. Its tough and rubbery exterior is deceiving. When cooked its facade melts as it turns deep green, softly crunchy and tangy.
Here is how I ate my first winter kale.
To start with, I took some labna, which you can make by following the recipe in my last post, and rolled it into balls.
I mixed together some paprika, rosemary, salt and garlic.
I added olive oil and dipped each ball.
I washed the kale, removed the stalks and chopped it roughly.
I placed the kale in a fry pan with more garlic, some butter and a little olive oil and cooked it until just wilted.
Then I popped it on some crusty toasted bread along with the labna.
And I ate it all up.
It was delicious.
Labna and Whey
May 27, 2011 § 3 Comments
Traditionally eaten in Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Jordan labna is a wonderful and easy way to make your own soft white cheese. Labna is creamy and delicious and works equally well with savory or sweet things. For example, spread it on toast with honey or alternatively garlic, olive oil and tomato. Eat it with stewed fruit or next to curries and so on.
To make Labna, you need to separate the whey from yoghurt. You are then left with a beautiful soft cheese and whey.
Whey is incredibly nutritious. Sally Fallon notes in her book, Nourishing Traditions, that whey has been used to cure a variety of human ailments since the time of the ancient Greeks. It is full of minerals and one teaspoon taken in a glass of water is said to help digestion. It is also said to help keep your joints, muscles and ligaments young and movable.
So to separate your whey from your yoghurt, you will need to place your yoghurt in a muslin cloth.
And suspend over a bowl either in a sieve or hanging from a wooden spoon and leave in a cool place for 24 hours.
You should then be left with a good layer of whey in the bottom of your bowl and lovely soft white cheese. Store your whey in a glass jar in the fridge.
To store your labna you can roll it into balls and cover with olive oil (obviously not if you want to use it for something sweet).
watermelon salad
April 16, 2011 § 5 Comments
It’s a bit sneaky of me to squeeze this very summery recipe in mid April amidst the figs and soups, but I had an end of season watermelon and there is still plenty of basil in the garden so I thought I could just get away with it before it becomes really wintery and inappropriate. It did go down quite well with a crusty slice of bread and the afternoon Autumn sun shining in on the kitchen table. Its beautifully fresh and light.
what you will need
About 1 kg of watermelon cubed
3 – 4 handfuls baby greens
100 g fetta
Handful basil leaves roughly broken
2 Tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tsp lemon rind
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and serve with crusty bread.
zucchini and bacon soup
March 23, 2011 § 5 Comments
Bacon is a treat for me. I rarely purchase it because I worry about how happy those little pigs might have been in their lives. But as much as the well-behaved wholesome environmentalist in me protests, I secretly love bacon. I have tried not to, but the pleasure has remained, pure bacon enjoyment when it is on my plate. So in order to overcome my internal battles, I have justified eating it every now and again, provided its happy bacon. The bacon I have used in this recipe is biodynamic and free range, which if you are in Melbourne, you can find at Belmore Biodynamic Meats in Thornbury.
Now I also happen to think that a very good place for bacon, possibly even the best, is in soup. In saying that, I have to admit I have a bit of a soup obsession. It is probably my most favourite food in the whole wide world. If I had to choose just one thing to eat for the rest of my life, it would be soup, no questions asked.
This soup came about because as usual for this time of year there are whale like zucchini’s everywhere. I think the zucchini is balanced nicely with the richness of the bacon and the freshness of the lemon and thyme. You may have begun to notice my love affair with lemon and thyme… if not, Im sure you soon will, they seem to make their way into a lot of my cooking these days.
Recipe for zucchini and bacon soup
Good splash olive oil
1 large onion diced
4 – 5 cloves garlic crushed
1 tsp paprika
zest of 1/2 a lemon
3 – 4 medium-sized potatoes (I used toolangi delights, purple and beautiful)
About 1.2 kg zucchini
1 good tsp good quality vegetable stock
couple of sprigs thyme plus more for garnish
4 free range organic bacon rashers
Juice of half a lemon
In a large saucepan saute the onions and garlic until soft. Add the paprika and lemon zest and stir until fragrant. Add the potatoes, zucchini, stock, salt and pepper. Add enough water to just cover the vegetables. Simmer until the vegetables are nice and soft. Add the thyme, simmer for a tiny bit longer and then blend with a potato masher. If you have a blender feel free to use that, I don’t have one so i work by hand but I also like the no machine approach of the potato masher because I’m a bit quaint like that.
Slice up the bacon and fry in a pan until browned. Add to the soup along with the fresh lemon juice.
Serve in nice deep bowls and top with a bit more lemon rind and fresh thyme.
Delicious!
Serves 4 big bowls with a bit left over for lunch the next day. Because soup is always better the next day!
the invisible cookbook 