Beetroot Orzotto

Recently on the stunning blog of ScandiFoodie was this recipe for Beetroot Orzotto. I instantly fell in love with the colour of this dish and I have been enjoying beets more and more so it was nice to expand my use of them.

The beets are boiled while the pearl barley is cooked in vegetable stock along with garlic and rosemary. Once the beetroot is cooked, puree and mix through the pearl barley, add some oil (I used macadamia) and check for seasoning. So simple and healthy. I chose to serve this with a poached egg on top, my first attempt of poaching eggs!

I enjoyed this dish although I think it would make a better lunch or side dish, even mixed through a vegetable salad. The barley paired really well with the beetroot and I loved my oozy egg on top.  

Pumpkin Galette and Brussel Sprouts

This recipe for Pumpkin Galette is from Donna Hay's Fast Fresh Simple. The idea behind it being a tart for those who have trouble working with pastry hence she does a free form style galette. 

Its quite funny I chose to make it as I love working with pastry. On saying that I really loved the rustic style look of the tart and I could not say no to a filling of pumpkin, caramelised onion, blue cheese and sage.

I caramelised the onion with butter, brown sugar and balsamic. I roasted the pumpkin with a hint of cinnamon and allspice. I made the short crust pastry using wholemeal flour and rested it well before rolling out. Once it rolled out you add the onion followed by blobs of cheese then topped with pumpkin and sage. You tuck up the edges around the filling and bake.

The pastry was really good, it was even super crispy and flakey on the bottom. I loved the filling, you cannot go wrong with those flavour combinations.

I bought these organic brussel sprouts at the market on the weekend to give them another try.

 Like many of you have said, brussel sprouts were never enjoyed earlier in life but when you tried them again, and cooked them appropriately, you loved them. So I listened and I tried, and they were fantastic! I used this recipe from Cats Love Cooking and will be using it again. My daughter loved them too and ate her whole share (without us making her)! 

Spiced Watermelon Squid and Mint Salad with Baked Kale (and a baking disaster)

This is yet another recipe of Christine Manfield's, I told you I was keen to cook another! Actually I don't enjoy eating watermelon and so I did not expect to enjoy this. But it was delicious. The spice and the warmth of the watermelon against the tender squid was amazing.

The base of the dish is cumin, coriander, turmeric. garlic and chilli. The squid is then cooked in these followed briefly by the watermelon. A dressing of fish sauce, sugar syrup, lime juice and watermelon juice is added followed by tossing through some mint and shallots. So simple and yet a world of interesting flavour.

I have seen kale chips popping up here and there and decided to try it. The kale leaves were rubbed with oil and salt then baked for about 15 minutes until crispy. They were really tasty except I added a little too much salt and next time I will cut the stalks out as some of the stalks stayed chewy. Great idea, it is just so surprising how crispy crunchy it becomes.

And because dinner was a little light on I used this as an excuse to bake. I had seen this recipe for Lemon Yoghurt cake on Donna Hay's Fast Fresh Simple and thought it looked lovely (check it out so you know what my cake was meant to look like!). A simple recipe to prepare (my daughter did most of the adding and mixing) I then poured it into a well greased bundt tin. 

Note: This was the good side!

Very sadly once it was cooked the cake would not come out and eventually only half of it emerged ;(

I attempted to still add the sugar lemon mixture on top, which was a little futile. Fortunately it did taste delicious, the cake itself was so moist and soft.

Masala Prawns with Lemon and Pine Nut Rice

Saturdays for me are a jam packed day and I only just managed to cook this for dinner. It is another of the recipes from Christine Manfield's Fire, A World of Flavour. Actually the process wasn't complicated at all, although when you look at the recipe it seems much harder then it is.

Firstly soak basmati rice to make the pilaf. In an oven proof dish the base for the pilaf is prepared by heating ghee (I used butter) and adding brown mustard seeds until they pop. In goes fresh curry leaves and nigella seeds (I used black mustard seeds). Stir in chopped garlic, chilli, ground cardamon and lemon zest. Then add the drained rice. Pour in some hot chicken stock, cover, put in the oven until rice is tender. Once its ready mix in lemon juice, salt, toasted pine nuts, mint and I chose to add some peas.

The prawns a marinated for 10 minutes in a mix of turmeric, garlic, chilli and salt. Heat ghee (or butter) and soften some shallots and then add curry leaves. Add tomato, fresh lemon grass (grated with a microplane- great idea), ground coriander and cumin. Cook this until quite dry and then add the prawns. Once cooked finish with a squeeze of lemon juice.

It was fantastic, the rice was so delicious and fresh tasting. The prawns were delicious, I really loved the spices coating them. Can't wait to try some more recipes.

Lamb Korma

Last week on the gorgeous blog Manu's Menu I immediately loved this recipe for Lamb Korma. Not only does it look delicious but it also has amazing step-by-step photos so you get it right!

I really love curries and am continuously trying to improve on my cooking of them. 

You start by making the almond masala which is a blend of almonds, garlic, ginger, chilli, and cumin. The lamb (I used chops cut into pieces) is browned and then removed. 

You cook the whole spices in the same oil followed by the onion. 

In goes the almond masala and once that is looking amazing yoghurt is slowly incorporated. Finally the lamb goes back in along with cream and salt. This is left to simmer for 1 hour. At that point you add sultanas and garam masala and let it simmer for about 30 minutes longer.

This tasted truly delicious, the sultanas add so much more then you could imagine. Its an ingredient I had never used in a curry before. It was spicy and creamy with a touch of sweetness. The lamb was falling of the bone and melted in your mouth.

I also cooked some chapatti to go with our korma using this recipe. 

I kneaded the dough for about 10 minutes before making little balls and rolling as thin as I could. They were cooked on a super hot dry pan and puffed up quite well. 

They tasted really delicious and were the perfect accompaniment.

Nikujaga with Cabbage

Nikujaga is a Japanese meat and potato stew. I saw the recipe on Honest Vanilla a couple of months back and saved it for when the weather cooled down. Well the weather is definitely cooled down here in Sydney!

The recipe also suggests you make your own homemade dashi stock as the base for the stew. I easily found bonito flakes (dried fish flakes) in the asian grocery but I was unable to find a piece of kelp. So I substituted with these dried seavegetables.

 I soaked about a cup of the dry seavegetables in about 3 cups of water for a couple of hours, I then strained the water into a saucepan. I brought this to a simmer and then added 6g of bonito flakes. I was expecting to gag when I opened the packet but actually they smelt really nice, like smoky fish. I turned the heat off and let this sit for 5 minutes before straining out the flakes, this then became my dashi.

To make the stew I sauteed the onion and ginger before browning the meat (I used pork) and then adding in the potatoes. This is then covered with the dashi as well as some sugar (I only added 2 tbsp rather then 3), soy sauce, sake, mirin and sesame oil. I left this to cook uncovered for 20 minutes at which point the potatoes were cooked and the sauce mostly reduced. Before serving I mixed in some sliced fresh savoy cabbage.

This dish was so delicious and an excellent comfort food. I have not cooked much Japanese food and it was different to what I have tried before, I was really pleasantly surprised. The stock offered such an interesting background flavour from the sea vegetables and the bonito. I will be cooking it again.

Salmon Pie

This dinner came about as I had fillo pastry I needed to use. The lovely blog of What are you going to eat? posted this recipe for a salmon pie and it sounded so delicious.

It consists of salmon, artichokes (I used bottled), asparagus, red onion, blue cheese, eggs and cream. All encased in a beautiful crispy fillo casing. I have never used salmon in this way before and it was absolutely delicious. The flavours all worked perfectly.

Do check out the recipe, and don't worry scroll past the greek and you will find the english ;)