Cookbook Challenge - Apricot Jam - 2 - $ - V - !

The Cookbook Challenge is back again in 2011 hooray! This year is a little different in that it's a fortnightly activity; lots of people found it very hard to catch up once they missed couple of weeks in 2010 - myself included.
If you would like to play this year you can sign up over here. Thanks to Penny, we are adding our own links to a special group rather than April doing a wrap up once a week throughout 2011. A big shout out to Shellie too for designing the great new logo!

When my friend Snake moved house recently we were a bit sad about the prospect of no more figs from his garden for making jam. But his new house also has loads of fruit trees and a veggie patch! So far I have had beautiful homegrown silverbeet, dill and parsley, so when he asked me would I like a bag of apricots it really was a no brainer.

Naturally when making the basics I turn to Dame Stephanie's The Cook's Companion and in this case it was for a jam recipe.
I did a few things differently which you may or may not choose to do too.
Firstly, I took the apricots to the pub, where they got trod on and some got a bit squished. Then I left the squished ones in the bag on a 34C degree day and forgot all about them. The 'one bad apple' saying applies here, so I had to go and buy some more apricots to make up the recipe weight.
I also added scraped in a vanilla bean and left the pod in the pot while the fruit reduced.

Regarding the kernels mentioned below I am not entirely sure that they are meant to end up like they did, but I am entirely sure that I deviated a fair bit from the method. Dame Stephanie says to put the stones in a napkin and hit them with a meat mallet. I put mine between some paper towel and belted them with a hammer. Therefore the kernels got quite mashed and floated all round the jam mixture when I added them. I ended up picking them out before bottling so maybe someone who knows better could leave us a comment about this?

Ingredients

1.5kg apricots
1 cup water
2tbs lemon juice
1.5kg sugar
Jars for bottling - you can read how to sterilise them over here.

Preheat oven to 160C degrees.
Cut the apricots into quarters and remove the stones, keeping half of them.
Add the fruit, water and lemon juice to a large pot and bring slowly to the boil. Simmer for 20 minutes or a bit longer if the flesh hasn't broken down enough for your liking.
Meanwhile put the reserved stones between a napkin and smash them open with a meat mallet to extract the kernel. Have a smell of the kernels - remind you anything? Amaretto or marzipan perhaps?
Put the sugar and kernels in a cast iron pot or a tray and place it in the oven until it is 'hand hot'. This will take about 15 minutes. Add the sugar to the pot and stir until dissolved. Boil rapidly for about 15 minutes. Be VERY careful if you stir it as it might spit and hot sugar burns do not tickle.
Pop a spoon of jam on a cold saucer, cool in the fridge for a minnie or two and then run your finger through it. If the jam stays in two halves then it's ready to set, if not keep checking every 5 or so minutes.
Bottle the jam while it's hot and then spend the rest of the arvo cleaning the sticking kitchen as it will have ended up everywhere.
Serve on hot toast with lashings of butter.

Enjoy!

The Cookbook Challenge Week 48 - Bread - Simple White Loaf - 2 - V

Today I got my nails done and watched Mad Men DVDs and baked bread. Just call me Little Susie Homemaker! I do love Mad Men and I do love Christina Hendricks. Even though women's rights obviously left a whole lot to be desired back when the show is set, it sure is nice to see gorgeous, curvy women who aren't afraid of a carb or two. When I grow up I want to look like Joan...I've got red hair and a round behind so I guess I'm part of the way there.

So, to this week's Cookbook Challenge. I have NEVER baked bread, in fact the idea of making it terrified me before today. I think it stems from my inability to make scones very well and I didn't want to bugger up something that people have been successfully making on a daily basis for thousands of years. This recipe comes from Maggie Beer's book Maggie's Table and is brought to you by the delightful Cathie who writes Melbourne Epicure. I've been hanging on to this post in anticipation because Cathie is an excellent baker and I figured if she said it was easy then I could trust her judgement. Keep an eye on Cathie's blog if you live in Melbourne so that you can find out which markets she's selling her wares at, her herb and haloumi bread will change your life!

Before I even got started I had a mini meltdown in the stupormarket over this recipe. The ingredients listed baker's flour but there were only 10kg bags of it on the shelves! I was not going to buy that much to try this out but then I remembered reading a Jamie Oliver bread recipe once that listed Italian 00 flour and there was a 1kg bag of that. Now that I've done some research I can tell you that this kind of flour is usually used for making pasta or pizza dough but my bread tastes alright so I think it was OK this time around.
Also those little 7gm packets of yeast mean you are just short using one and have far too much left over when using two - a bit annoying but what can you do? This is a learning experience after all so hopefully my post will help some of you first time bakers. I can tell you that the time spent in front of the shelves umming and aahing over which flour to buy is long enough for your nail polish to dry.

The process is simple and even though it's long it is so worth it just for the smell that wafts around the house. I have read about many people who find baking bread really therapeutic and I now totally understand where they are coming from; I don't think I've had such a sense of pride pulling something hot and gorgeous from the oven like I did today.

Thank you Cathie for the post and good luck bakers out there. I can't wait to make some toast in the morning.

Enjoy!

The Cookbook Challenge Week 38 - Spice - Pumpkin & Chickpea Curry - 2 - $ - V - (!)

This week's catch-up Cookbook Challenge was an epic fail! It had nothing to do with the recipe mind you. Well I'm assuming it was my fault due to my rather large deviation from the ingredients. It all started so well too, with good intentions of maximising today's vegetable intake and providing lunch for my colleagues tomorrow.

Never mind, cook and learn. And what I learned today was not to use the coconut version of evaporated milk thinking it will behave like proper coconut milk because it WON'T. It curdles and should only ever be added at the last minute on a low heat due to having barely any fat content. Of course I know this NOW. Which is a real shame because the curry looked and smelled great before it all went wrong.
I think you should give the recipe a try and follow the ingredients to the letter because I'm going to have another go and I promise to do as Curtis Stone asks in Issue 4 of the MasterChef magazine which is where it comes from.


Ingredients - serves 4

100gm dried chickpeas or 1 x 400gm tin - if using dried cover in boiling water and soak for 40 minutes or until water goes cold
2tbs olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2cm piece of ginger, grated
2 long green chillies, seeded and finely chopped
2 long red chillies, seeded and finely chopped
400gm butternut pumpkin, peeled and chopped into 3cm pieces
1 large carrot, cut into 3cm pieces
2tsp garam masala
2tsp ground coriander
2tsp caraway seeds, toasted
1/2tsp ground cumin
1/2tsp ground turmeric
juice of 1 lime
1tbs brown sugar
2 x 400ml cans of coconut milk - use the real deal!
1/4 cup coriander, roughly chopped and extra to serve
steamed rice

Sort out your chickpeas if using dried ones or drain the tinned ones and rinse well.
Heat the oil in a large pot over a medium-high heat and cook off the onion, ginger, garlic and half the chillies for about 4 minutes or until soft.
Add pumpkin, carrot, chickpeas and spices and cook stir for another 3 minutes. Add the lime juice and sugar and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add 250ml water and the coconut milk. Bring to the boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 35 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Season and stir in the chopped coriander.
Serve with rice and garnish with remaining chillies and extra coriander.

Enjoy!

The Cookbook Challenge Week 12 - Eggs - Salmon & Chickpea Frittata - 3 - $ - V

You know the old saying about needing the right tools for the job? Well I kind of didn't have the right pan for this frittata because it needs to go under the grill and I was worried about melting handles. So I plunged on and used a shallow cast iron French pan, which obviously withstood the heat under the grill but meant a little bit of stick on the bottom, despite a good oiling.

This recipe is really good! Filling, full of protein-goodness and could most definitely be served hot or cold. As a main I served it with some char-grilled asparagus and roasted tomatoes, but I would definitely serve it cold, cut into small pieces at a picnic or BBQ.

This is the second dish from the MasterChef magazine that has worked well for the Cookbook Challenge and is from Issue 4. I'd never made a frittata before and was happy with my first attempt, a non-stick pan will definitely be the go next time. The verdict on the chickpeas was varied so you have a go and make up your own mind.


Ingredients - serves 4 (I got 6 serves out of it)

2 x 200gm pieces of boneless, skinless salmon
2tbs olive oil
8 eggs
1/2tsp ground cumin
1 clove garlic finely chopped/crushed
zest of 2 lemons
400gm can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
125gm fresh ricotta, crumbled into pieces
2tbs coriander leaves, plus extra to serve

Heat the pan over a high heat. Brush the salmon on both sides with 1tbs of the olive oil, season and cook for 1 minute each side or until medium-rare. Remove from pan and put aside. Wipe pan with paper towel.
Whisk together the eggs, cumin, garlic and zest and season. Stir in the chickpeas and then the ricotta and coriander. Stir gently to combine.
Heat the pan over a high heat and then add the last of the oil and swirl around the pan to coat the bottom and sides. Pour in the eggs and reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes or until the egg is almost cooked.
Meanwhile preheat the grill to high and then flake the fish into large pieces and tuck into the frittata. Place the pan under the grill and cook for 5 minutes or until just set and golden.
Scatter with the extra coriander and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

The Cookbook Challenge Week 24 Chocolate & Week 30 Baked - Green & Black's Cookies Exclusive - 2 - $ - V

Here I go again combining themes in the Cookbook Challenge, but I think you'll be glad that I did!

This recipe comes from a cookbook that's not even in the shops yet! Drum roll please...
Thanks to the lovely and generous peeps at Green & Black's Organic I got a sneak peek at some chocolate recipes, so I thought it fitting that I bake some cookies.

These little babies are super easy, fairly quick and delicious. (And very naughty but you can at least console yourself with the fact that there is something organic in there somewhere.)

The recipe says it makes 16 cookies, but boy are they big cookies! Next time I think I will bake the dough in two batches and make them half the size - then there's twice as many (tricksy no?).
Also once the dough comes out of the fridge work quickly, especially if it's a warm day, as it gets very sticky and hard to work with in a short space of time.


Ingredients

125g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
50g muscovado sugar
1 medium free-range egg
few drops of vanilla extract
140g Plain Flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
75g rolled oats
150 - 200g Green & Black's Organic Chocolate (depending on your favourite flavour and level of addiction, try Green & Black’s Organic Butterscotch for a nice treat), chopped into chunks

Preheat oven to 180C degrees (160C for fan forced). Line a tray with baking paper.
Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until it's nice and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat.
Add the flour, baking powder, salt and oats and then mix in the chocolate to form a dough. Put in the fridge for about 10 minutes for the dough to firm up.
Take plum-size balls of dough, roll them in your hands and then place on the tray with enough space in between for them to spread. Press the balls down with your hand to flatten slightly and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, leave them for 5 minutes to firm up and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!

The Cookbook Challenge Week 26 - Green - Spinach & Broccoli Pasticcio - 2 - $ - V

You will not beat me Cookbook Challenge! Slowly but surely I am catching up on my dishes. We've only got about 9 weeks/dishes to go. I personally have about 6 months worth of dishes to cook, so one per day should see me sorted...

This week I've got my cooking groove back on after a winter slump and lots of dining out recently. The more I go out to eat, the less I want to cook so it seems.
The following recipe from Issue 5 of the MasterChef magazine caught my eye because it was 'green' which ticked a Challenge box; I am in severe need of some vegetables; and I had a vegetarian friend coming round for tea. Perfect!

Green!

There is a fair amount of preparation for this dish but it's well worth it. The recipe said it serves 4 but we got 4 dinners (one with seconds) and 2 massive lunches out of it which was good going. However, bear this in mind when you make it because it won't freeze well.
Next time I make it I think I will roast some heirloom tomatoes to serve alongside the pasta so there is some acid to cut through the richness and give the plate some colour.

Golden haloumi goodness

Ingredients

360gm haloumi, grated
300gm sour cream (light is OK to use)
8 eggs
60ml olive oil
2 bunches spinach, washed and trimmed
500gm pasta (rigatoni, penne or anything tubular)
2 onions, finely chopped (I only used 1)
1 long red chili, seeded and finely chopped
2 heads broccoli, stems removed and roughly chopped
Lemon wedges to serve

Preheat oven to 190C degrees.
Reserve 1/4 cup of cheese for the topping (I used half a cup 'cause I like it really cheesy on top).
Divide the remaining cheese into two large bowls (make sure one is massive to fit all the pasta), then divide the sour cream into each bowl. Crack 4 eggs into each bowl, season and whisk to combine.


Heat 2tsp oil in a frying pan over a high heat (I used a wok which worked really well) and cook the spinach for a couple of minutes until wilted. Drain, finely chop and set aside.
Cook the pasta in salted water for 5 minutes. It won't be cooked, but don't panic. Drain and then add to one of the egg bowls, stir through to coat with the mixture.
Heat the rest of the oil in the same pan/wok and cook the onion and chili for 5 minutes or until the onion is soft. Add the spinach and broccoli and toss for 3 minutes or until the broccoli is just cooked. Add the veggies to the other egg bowl and mix well to coat these too.
You need an oven dish that is at least 7cm deep. Pour in half the pasta and make sure the pieces are all laying flat and side by side. Pour the broccoli mixture on top of the first pasta layer and spread out evenly. Add the remaining pasta to create another flat layer and then sprinkle the reserved cheese over the top. Bake for 30 minutes or until the pasta is soft and the top is nice and golden.
Serve immediately with the lemon to squeeze on top.

Enjoy!

The Cookbook Challenge Week 28 - Breakfast - Crumpets & Dead Man Espresso - 3 - V

I was thrilled to open the latest issue of delicious magazine to see my old colleague Luke Mutton smiling up at me from within its pages. Luke and his gorgeous wife Kylie opened their cafe Dead Man Espresso last year and have been the talk of the town ever since. Congrats you guys and keep up the good work!

The article included a recipe for crumpets and strawberry and rosella jam so what better way to catch up on my Cookbook Challenge-ing than by making them? I didn't do the jam but I did take a certain pride in being able to say I made crumpets and tack "from scratch" on the end of it!

The method is very easy but I had to wait a little longer than an hour for the batter to double because it's been really cold lately and my kitchen was pretty icy. I ended up putting the bowl next to the oven so it could warm up a bit and let the yeast do its thing.

The batter is very thick and it kind of snaps when you spoon it into the egg rings. I realised after cooking two rounds that once you flip the crumpets you can get the rings off and cook two lots of crumpets at time. You'd be at the stove for about a year otherwise!
Make sure you grease the rings too and be very careful when flipping and taking them off because they are HOT.


Ingredients - makes 18

3 cups plain flour, sifted
7gm sachet dry active yeast
300ml milk
250ml hot water
Melted unsalted butter

In a very large bowl mix the yeast and flour together. Mix the milk in a jug with the water and then pour into the bowl in a steady stream, mixing well to combine all the ingredients. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel or cloth and stand in a warm, draft-free place for about an hour or until the batter doubles in size.
In a non-stick pan brush on some melted butter, put your greased egg rings into the pan on a medium heat and then spoon two tablespoons of batter into each ring. Cook for 6-7 minutes on each side until they are golden and cooked through.
To serve cut the crumpets in half (this is where the holes live) and toast. Smother in lashings of butter and jam and eat immediately.
The crumpets can be wrapped in foil and frozen.

Enjoy!

The Cookbook Challenge Weeks 36 & 39 - Comfort Food & TV Chefs - Giant Yorkshire Puddings - 2 - $ - V

It's almost embarrassing posting this Cookbook Challenge! I am so behind but I am partly blaming it on the fact that Melbourne is having back-to-back festivals and just about every friend of mine has a birthday in August, so it's been very busy!

I know Jamie Oliver cops a bit of stick but I quite like his recipes; they have never failed for me and I admire his energy and ambitions when it comes to changing the way people eat for the better.

I saw Jamie make these Giant Yorkshire Puddings on telly when I lived in London but I have never tried them before now. I got introduced to the Yorkie when I moved to the UK and whenever I was feeling homesick over there I would always go for a roast on a Sunday because it reminded me of my mum.

Traditionally served with roast beef these golden pastries could go with any roast or any food where the mopping up of gravy is going to be involved! It is also the same batter you use for making Toad-in-the-Hole.

This recipe appears in Jamie's book The Naked Chef 2 and it is superb. If you search online you will see just how many people swear by this method.

Ingredients

285 ml milk
115gms plain flour
pinch salt
3 eggs
vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 220C degrees.
Mix the batter ingredients together and let it rest for 10 minutes
Preheat a Yorkshire pudding tray or muffin tin and put 1cm of oil in each section. After the 10 minutes divide the batter into the tray (I found using a ladle good for this).
Cook for around 15 to 20 minutes until crisp and puffy, don't open the oven door or they won't rise.

I cooked my Yorkies while my roast beef was resting and took the veg out too so they didn't burn. Because I am still learning how to drive my new oven I put the puddings a shelf too high up and they were a little too brown on top, but nothing serving them upside down in the gravy couldn't fix!

Enjoy!

The Cookbook Challenge Week 35 - Spanish - Tortilla - 2 - $ - V

Now before you read on you have to promise (cross your heart and hope to be allowed to eat at any of the Movidas again) that you won't tell Frank Camorra about how I changed his recipe. I couldn't help it! I just couldn't (for financial and the ever-expanding-size-of-my-backside reasons) bring myself to use the 1 LITRE of olive oil he listed in order to cook the potatoes.
Not following Frank's word to the letter was also brave as well as cheeky because every single time I've attempted tortillas in the past they have been an unmitigated disaster and I probably should JUST FOLLOW A RECIPE for once. Even my gorgeous friend Agus who is Spanish and gave me a cooking lesson in his kitchen in Alicante one summer evening couldn't help me get it right.


For this week's challenge I was going to pick something fancy from Frank's cookbook Movida, which is full of gorgeous recipes from his acclaimed restaurant of the same name in Melbourne. Then I thought I should cook my most feared, yet most favourite Spanish dish, and conquer a simple potato tortilla once and for all!


I have two tortilla recipes from Frank, one from the book above and one from an issue of the Masterchef magazine. The quantities vary between the two so I am going to give you the amounts in the magazine (which I halved) and you can decide what works best for you. The only major thing I did differently was to par-boil the potatoes, then slice them, rather than slice and cook them off in a litre of oil.
Once I sliced them I tossed them and the onion and garlic in about 2tbs of olive oil and this seemed to work OK.

Ingredients

800gm floury potatoes
1 onion, finely choppe
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 litre olive oil
12 eggs
salt and pepper to season

Slice the potatoes 5mm thick. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a heavy based fry pan and then cook off potato, onion and garlic for around 20 minutes until the potato is par-cooked.
Meanwhile beat the eggs, season with salt and pepper and pour 180ml into a jug and set aside.
Once the potatoes are done, remove them and drain on a rack. Reserve some of the leftover oil.
Stir the potato mix into the big bowl of egg, heat the oil in the pan and then pour in the potato and eggs. Use a spatula to round the edges and then cook over a medium heat for about 12 minutes or until the egg is set just enough to flip it. No need to poke it and lift the edges and tilt the egg into the gaps, just let it do its thing.

Put a dinner plate over the pan and then VERY CAREFULLY flip the pan and plop the tortilla onto the plate - the cooked side should be golden and looking up at you. Return the empty pan to the heat and then using your spatula slide the tortilla uncooked side down back into the pan.
Pour the reserved egg mix around the edge to fill in the gaps. Cook for around another 6 minutes until the egg is almost set all the way through.
Let it cool slightly before serving with other tapas offerings.


My par-boiled potatoes worked OK but needed a lot more salt than what went into the eggs, so next time I will season the spuds and the googs. I also overcooked mine because I forgot to take into account that using half the amount of eggs in a smaller pan meant the cooking time should have been adjusted.
Overall I was happy with this tortilla because at least it was edible. All my other ones have ended up in the bin. I am confident that when I attempt the next one it will be spot on.

Enjoy!

The Cookbook Challenge Week 32 & 33 - Potato & Seafood - Fish Pie - 2 - $ - (V)

In an attempt to catch up on the Cookbook Challenge I have been a little bit clever (read: cheeky) and used this recipe so that I can tick off two themes at once.

I thought I may have had to miss out on the 'potato' theme because even though I LOVE potato, my tummy does not so I don't often cook with them. But then this recipe presented itself and reminded me of the ginger version of spuds - sweet potatoes of course! Being a redhead I should never forget these guys. In fact there are a lot of orange ingredients in this pie...


Like the celeriac, I was introduced to fish pies when I lived in the UK but I've never cooked one myself. I thought this recipe from the May/June issue of Frankie Magazine sounded interesting with the cayenne and the capers.
I did change my version a little bit though; I used 300gms smoked cod and 200gms of prawns and I also I went a little heavy handed with the cheese, but never mind.
If you're having trouble finding smoked fish try your deli but if you prefer adding fresh fish my local fishmonger recommended doing a mix of rockling and whiting, so I might try that next time.



Ingredients (serves 4-6)

100gm butter
1 large white onion, finely diced (I used half a brown one)
2 celery stalks, finely sliced
3 1/2tbs flour
750ml milk (it said full cream but I used a 2% version and it worked just fine), plus an extra splash for the mash
1/2tsp cayenne pepper
1/2tsp nutmeg, freshly grated if you can get it
zest and juice of half a lemon
2tbsp capers (rinse the brine off them or they'll taste like nail polish remover)
500gm smoked fish (or a mix with fresh like I did)
850gm sweet potato (approx 3-4), peeled and roughly chopped
2 handfuls of grated cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to season
handful of breadcrumbs (optional)

Smoked cod - also a redhead

Preheat oven to 220C degrees.
Put the sweet potato in a large pot and cover with cold, salted water. Bring to the boil and cook the potato until mashable, approximately 10-15 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt the butter over a medium heat and add the onion and celery. Cook stirring for about 5-6 minutes until soft. Add the flour and stir well to cook it off for about 1 minute. Pour in the milk and stir constantly until you bring the sauce to the boil. This will take a little while, don't be impatient and don't give up. Most importantly though, don't turn up the heat, it won't help!
When the sauce has thickened, remove from the heat for a minute or two (no longer though or it will form a skin) and then add the seafood, capers, nutmeg and cayenne. Beware flaking smoked fish by hand - you'll have cod fingers for the rest of the night.
Your potato will be well-ready by now so add a splash of milk, season and mash until thick and creamy.
Pour the fish mixture into a well-greased baking tray and dollop the potato on top. Smooth it out as best you can to cover the entire pie, you can use a fork to fluff up the potato. Sprinkle on the cheese and crumbs and bake for 25 minutes or until golden.
The recipe advised to serve on peas but we're not friends so I just had it on its own.
This is a hearty feed, good comfort food and perfect for a winter's night. It could do with some fresh parsley I think and perhaps a bay leaf in the milk while making the sauce just to give it a little bit more oomph.

Enjoy!

The Cookbook Challenge Week 34 - Soup - Celeriac Soup - 1 - $ - V

Now let's be honest, poor old celeriac isn't the prettiest veg in the patch is it? The bit that comes out of the ground looks like some kind of Star Wars creature that hangs out in that smoky bar. And while we're being honest, I honestly didn't know what celeriac was until I went to the UK for the first time a few years ago. For those of you that aren't familiar it's a big root vegetable that smells a bit like celery and once peeled has a similar texture to pumpkin. It has a kind of nutty flavour and is often mashed or pureed.


I recently had a beautiful dinner at Añada and as part of our tasting menu they served a celeriac soup which was truly lovely, so I decided to serve up one for the Soup Cookbook Challenge. I am a week ahead for this particular meal but I am so far behind I need to jump back and forth to catch up and try and cover all the bases. Forgive me...?


Also this post is very special because What's For Tea? has turned 1! That's right, this little blog has been around for a year a now - so thank YOU for reading and commenting and sharing your recipes - as well as spreading the Kulinary Karma! I couldn't do it without you so some big ones of these MWAH x!

Now on with the soup. The recipe comes from the current issue of delicious magazine and serves 4. (It is teamed with some smoked trout toasties in the magazine but I didn't bother with those.)

Ingredients

3 potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
600ml chicken or vegetable stock
600ml water
1 celeriac, peeled and roughly chopped
2tbs butter (you can use olive oil but I think soup needs butter)
1 onion, chopped
4 celery stalks, thinly sliced
1/2tsp ground nutmeg
pinch of cayenne pepper
1tsp celery seeds (I didn't use these as I didn't have any and wasn't braving the cold to go and get them)

Put potatoes in a large pot and pour in stock and water. Bring to the boil, add the celeriac and then simmer for 20 minutes.
In another pot or pan, melt the butter over a medium heat and add the onion and celery. Cook stirring for 10 minutes or until soft. Add to the pot that's holding the other ingredients and simmer for another 10 minutes.
Blend the soup in batches or if you're like me, let it cool a little and then just whizz with the hand held blender while it's still in the pot.
Season with the nutmeg and pepper and serve.

This soup was super quick and easy and really velvety when blended. I found that I needed a little bit more liquid than listed in the recipe but I think that's because my potatoes were on the large size. The recipe also calls for some celeriac to be removed from the pot at the 20 minute mark so that you can chop it up and stir it through the finished product, but I didn't bother with this.
I also substituted the cayenne for smoked paprika as I wanted to have a slightly Spanish style dish, similar to the one that inspired me in the first place. It worked well but the flavours are quite subtle so I understand the logic in using the cayenne to give it some kick.

Enjoy!

The Cookbook Challenge Week 31 - French - Roast Lamb with Beans - 2 - $

Bonjour!

Before my stove blew up I was already shamefully lagging in The Cookbook Challenge and now I'm even more behind - mon dieu! However my new appliance has finally been installed, so I thought it best to just plunge on with the current week and cook a French inspired dish.

I've had my eye on this Roast Lamb With Beans ever since I was gifted Jamie Oliver's new book Jamie Does Spain, Italy, Morocco, Sweden, Greece and France and what better way to christen my oven than by cooking something directly on the racks!

Jamie gives the option of doing either a slow cooked version or a regular one. As I had the afternoon at home today I opted for the three hour cooking time and the pull-apart meat. And boy am I glad I did! This dish was sublime. The creamy beans as so full of flavour after soaking up the juices from the lamb it's almost obscene.
My first whirl with the new oven was impressive - and now I have a quality appliance it's time to start trying all those dishes I've been putting off!

My new oven and my new Wagons tea towel

It's really simple prep for this dish and if you don't have the luxury of a lazy arvo of cooking you can still get it done in the usual 1 1/4 hours that you would need for a regular roast.
The recipe calls for canned flageolet beans but if you can't get these any other tinned white beans are fine to use.

Ingredients - Serves 6 (As it was just Mr Tea and me for dinner I used about half the amounts below and a smaller lamb leg.)

1 leg of lamb on the bone (approx 2kg)
olive oil
10 cloves of garlic
small bunch of fresh thyme
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary
3 medium leeks, peeled and sliced diagonally 2cm thick
2 onions peeled and finely sliced
1 fresh bay leaf (I didn't have these so just used a couple of little dried ones)
large bunch fresh flat leaf parsley
4 x 400gm tins of beans
1.5 litres chicken, lamb or vegetable stock (I used chicken)
salt and pepper to season

Preheat the oven on high.
Use a small sharp knife to stab the lamb leg all over. Season it with salt and pepper and rub in some olive oil. Slice 4 of the garlic cloves and stuff them into the incisions you made in the lamb. Poke in some thyme and rosemary too.
Meanwhile, put the leeks, onions and remaining whole garlic cloves in the baking dish you're going to roast them in and place on the stove over a medium heat. Season with salt and pepper and add a splash of olive oil. Cook stirring occassionally for 15 minutes or until they are soft.

Tie the thyme and half the parsley and bay leaf (if using a fresh one) together with cooking string and add it to the tray. Pour in the beans and stock and stir well to combine everything.
Place the lamb directly on the oven rack (I put mine on a wire rack and then on the oven one just so it was easier to get it in and out) and place the tray of veg underneath so all the juices from the lamb can drip down on top of it.
If you're doing the quick version, reduce heat to 180C degrees and cook for about 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 hours depending on how pink you like the meat. Rest the lamb for 15 minutes and put the beans back on the stove on a high heat to reduce the liquid (leave a little bit for when you add the mashed ones: see below).

If you're doing the slow cooked version, reduce the heat to 160C degrees and cook for about 3 hours. There will be no need to reduce the beans after cooking this long but leave them in the oven covered, to stay warm while you rest the meat for around half an hour (cover the meat in foil too).
Before serving put about a third of the cooked beans in a bowl and mash them. Stir them back in the tray of veg to make it nice and creamy. Finely chop the rest of the parsley and stir it through the veg too.
Serve the lamb on top of the beans.

Bon appetit!

The Cookbook Challenge Week 23 - Leafy - Country Chicken Soup - 2 - $ - !

As I mentioned in my last Cookbook Challenge catch-up, my new Jamie Oliver book - Jamie does Spain, Italy, Sweden, Morocco, Greece & France - has certainly inspired me to get back in the kitchen (thanks Vera!).

This recipe is from the French section of the book and is my first soup of the season. I quite like Jamie's suggestion of using half the chicken for the soup and half for scrumptious chicken sandwiches - you can do this to the sandwich half.

I picked this soup to qualify for the 'leafy' theme as it has half a savoy cabbage in the ingredients.
I think the savoy got a bit of a bad wrap when I was a kid due to being put in coleslaw with awfully bland dressing. Remember the international sign for the kid with a fancy mum? Savoy and red cabbage in the 'slaw - ooh la la!
In the soup however, the cabbage is lovely, it bulks out the broth without being too heavy like potato or parsnip.

The following ingredients make heaps of soup. Don't forget to soak your beans overnight in preparation for cooking.

Ingredients

250gm haricot beans (must be soaked overnight)
olive oil
4 rashers of bacon, finely sliced
3 onions, peeled and finely sliced
5 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 whole chicken, approx 1.2kg
sea salt and pepper to season
1 fresh bay leaf
1 small bunch fresh thyme
1 small bunch fresh flat leaf parsley
1/2 savoy cabbage, chopped
4 carrots, peeled and finely sliced
crusty bread to serve

Soak your beans overnight in cold water, covered with a lid.

In a large deep pot, add some olive oil over a medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the bacon and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the bacon has some colour.
Add the sliced onions and garlic and cook slowly for 20 minutes, stirring often until they are slightly golden and sticky. (You may need to reduce the heat during this time to avoid them sticking.)

Place the whole chicken on top of the onions. Drain the beans and add them to the pot too. Tie the fresh herbs and bay leaf together with some string and add them to the pot. Pour in enough cold water to just cover all the ingredients and give it a generous season with the salt and pepper.
Bring to the boil and skim and discard the foam that will rise to the top. Reduce the soup to a simmer, cover and cook for 1 hour. Continue to remove any foam that rises to the top over the cooking time.
After the first hour, check to see if the chook is cooked. If the drumstick pulls away easily you are good to go. Remove the chicken from the pot - be very careful of hot liquid running down your tongs and onto your skin.
Add the cabbage and carrots, increase the heat to a rolling boil and cook for a further 30 minutes or until the carrot is soft.
Meanwhile, remove and shred the chicken meat. Taste the soup, adjust the seasoning and add as much or as little of the chicken as you like.
Serve hot with crusty bread.

Enjoy!

The Cookbook Challenge Week 22 - Red - Chorizo & Tomato Salad - 1 - $

It would be fair to say that the wheels have fallen off in my efforts for The Cookbook Challenge over recent weeks.
First there was a holiday; then a lot of socialising in the evenings, which meant not much cooking; then there was a lot of overtime due to The Volcano. Pfft what a bore (well the volcano part anyways).
And then there was the fact that I wasn't feeling particularly inspired by any of my books. That was until a divine friend of mine dropped off a copy of Jamie Oliver's newie Jamie Does Spain, Italy,Greece, Morocco, Sweden, France. With 6 countries included there had to be something. And there was! So to begin my Challenge Catch-Up I present Week 22 - Red:

Best Chorizo & Tomato Salad in the World - you don't get much redder than this.

Ingredients (serves 4 as a light meal)

225gm chorizo sausage, roughly sliced
olive oil
3 large, ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, quartered
3 spring onions or 1 shallot, finely sliced
sherry vinegar
small bunch flat leaf parsley, leaves picked and finely chopped (Jamie reckons basil or mint is OK to use too)
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
rustic bread to serve
salt and pepper to season

Fry the chorizo over medium heat with a little olive oil, stirring occasionally as you prepare the rest of the salad.
Put the tomatoes and spring onion in a large bowl. Season well with salt and pepper and then pour a splash of olive oil and sherry vinegar over them. Sprinkle the parsley on top, toss everything together and then put aside.
Once the chorizo is crispy and all the fat is sizzling away in the pan, add the garlic. Keep it moving around, as you don't want it to burn, and as soon as you can smell it, get the pan off the heat and splash in some sherry vinegar to stop it cooking.
Spoon the sausage and a little of the oil over the salad ingredients, toss well to combine and serve immediately.

This salad is quick, easy and delicious. The smell of the chorizo certainly got the attention of everyone in the house and by the time it was ready to serve I had an audience of one man, a dog and a cat.
I think during the winter I will continue to make this dish, however I think as a variation on cooler nights, some roasted, vine-ripened cherry tomatoes will be perfect - added at the same time as the sausage and served hot straight from the oven.
Jamie also suggests in this recipe to keep any leftover fat from the chorizo pan and rub it all over a chook for roasting - this is on the menu tonight at my place, so stay tuned for how it goes.

Enjoy!

The Cookbook Challenge Week 19 - Rice - Risoni Salad - 1 - $ - (V)

I'm assuming that you are sitting down while you read this post. I hope so, because I don't want the shock of me having cheated a little bit and not strictly followed this week's Cookbook Challenge recipe to be too much for you.

This week the theme is rice, so I decided to use risoni instead. Risoni are little pieces of pasta in the shape of rice and are the basis of a Curtis Stone salad in the current issue of delicious magazine (April 2010). In the magazine it is a side dish, however I decided to add some tuna to bulk it up and serve it as a main meal.

The following quantities will serve 4 as a side or 2, and some leftovers for lunch, if you use the tuna and have it as a main meal.


Ingredients

1 red capsicum, quartered
250gm punnet of vine-ripened cherry tomatoes
2tbs olive oil
1 eschalot, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 1/3 cups risoni pasta
3 cups stock, chicken or vegetable, heated
1/2 telegraph cucumber, peeled, seeds removed, chopped
1 cup rocket leaves
185gm tin of good quality tuna (optional)

Vinaigrette
1 eschalot, finely chopped
1tbs red wine vinegar
2tbs extra virgin olive oil
2tbs roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 200C degrees.
Place capsicum on a tray lined with baking paper. Curtis says to roast them for 10 minutes, but I roasted for double this as I wanted the peppers to be very soft.
Remove the tray from the oven, add the tomatoes and drizzle with 1 tbs of the oil and season. Roast for another 5 minutes or until the tomato skins split and the peppers are blistered. Place the peppers in a plastic bag for about 10 minutes. The skins should then just come right off.
Slice the peeled peppers and put them and the tomatoes in a large bowl.
Meanwhile heat 1tbs olive oil in a deep non-stick fry pan, over a medium heat. Cook the eschalot for 2 minutes then add the garlic and cook stir for another 2 minutes. Add the risoni and stir to coat in the oil. Pour in the hot stock, bring to a simmer and then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally until the risoni is cooked and then drain off any excess stock. Spread the risoni out on a tray and let cool.
For the vinaigrette place all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.
Add the risoni, cucumber, tuna and rocket to the bowl with the other ingredients. Drizzle on the vinaigrette and gently toss to combine all the ingredients and coat in the dressing.

Despite these seemingly endless instructions, this is actually a quite quick meal to prepare as you can do lots of steps at the same time. I served my risoni warm, rather than letting it cool.
I would definitely make this salad again but next time I will use a yellow pepper to add some more colour and maybe use some fresh salmon rather than tuna.

Enjoy!