Category Archives: Weekend Cooking

Ginger, Carrot & Kumara Soup

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Today was truly miserable weather here in Wellington. Not autumnal. Wintery. It was so dim and grey it felt like it was 5.30pm all day … only when you looked at the clock it kept telling you it wasn’t even lunchtime. And there was sideways rain.

Ugh.

At least I had some cheery soup for lunch and didn’t have to leave the office. So today’s a good day to share the recipe.

I don’t have a lot to add to that short introduction today! Time to make a hot chocolate and turn the electric blanket on. Sometimes it seems a long stretch until September doesn’t it?

Ginger, Carrot & Kumara Soup

1 Tbsp olive or canola oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cup good quality chicken stock (or vege stock for a vegetarian soup)
1 cup water
1 medium kumara, peeled and chopped
4-6 carrots, chopped
5cm piece of fresh ginger, chopped (or about 1 Tbsp minced ginger)
plain yoghurt and rolls to serve

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Gently cook the onion for 3-4 minutes, until soft. Add the stock and water, and the kumara, carrots and ginger. Bring to the boil and simmer until the vegetables are tender, probably about 20 minutes.

Now to blend the soup – with either a stick blender or a food processor. I don’t have a stick blender so you’re on your own for instruction there! I just spoon my soup into the food processor and puree it in batches. Pop all the blended soup back in the saucepan and let it heat through again. Season to taste.

Serve with a spoonful of plain yoghurt and a grainy roll.

And set spoons on the table so your reflection makes it into the photo. That’s hot.

Mushroom & Barley Soup

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Well, well, well. The last weekend of April already. Two thirds of autumn already gone!

It’s really only started to feel autumnal in the last week or two, I think. We now leave home in the dark and come home in the dark. I put thick black tights on in the morning without worrying that I’m going to look like a dork if the day turns out to be a blaze of glorious and fiercely hot sunshine. Because now I know it’s not going to. It might end up sunny but it will not be warm. Reassuring on one hand, if a little depressing on the other.

The onset of autumn and winter means soup for lunch on Sundays for us. A few months ago, I started making an effort to cook a proper-ish meal for lunch on Sundays, and it’s becoming a nice little tradition. It’s usually soup or quiche or something, but it’s lovely to have something hot, and to sit down at the table with the Sunday paper’s crossword. Wow. I sound old. I mean, it’s great to sit down and listen to my new One Direction CD. That’s better, right?

I made this soup a couple of weeks ago. It really looks from the ingredients like it would be the blandest soup on earth, without any herbs etc, but it’s really tasty – and perfect for autumn. I’ve been putting pearl barley or soup mix in most of my soups lately -super cheap, super healthy, and makes the soup souper filling. If you haven’t come across it before, soup mix is a packet mix of split peas and pearl barley; it’s with the stock and soup stuff at the supermarket.

Enjoy your Sunday… and know it will be improved by soup.

Mushroom & Barley Soup
adapted from a recipe in Mindfood magazine

1 Tbsp olive oil
400g mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 onions, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 potato, diced
5-6 cups chicken stock
½ cup white wine
½-¾ cup pearl barley or soup mix

Heat the oil in a large pot, and gently cook the mushrooms, onion, carrot, celery and potato until the onion softens. Add the stock and wine and bring to the boil. Add the pearl barley and simmer until the barley is tender (about 25 minutes). Season well and serve with crusty bread, and a dollop of unsweetened yoghurt.

Just Peachy Pancakes

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Happy Easter! I hope you get to relax with friends and family over the break.

Right now I’m eating the biggest bowl of fresh fruit and yoghurt… and I’ve told myself that if I finish that, then all bets are off and I can rip into the chocolate. I’m sure I’ll read this post again later with chocolate stains and remorse.

Today I bring you a breakfasty brunch recipe, so if you feel like making it, you’ve still got tomorrow to try it!

This is just a simple pancake recipe – actually, it’s a pikelet recipe, which I’ve often used for pancakes. This makes hotcake-y kind of pancakes, rather than the really fat pancakes that you get with beaten egg white recipes. I served our pancakes with what may be the last peaches we eat this season.

Pancakes

25g low fat spread or buttter
1 Tbsp golden syrup (or maple)
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
¾ cup trim milk
1½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar

Melt the spread in a large heatproof bowl or jug in the microwave. Add the syrup and microwave again, just until the mixture is softened. Add the sugar and eggs, and whisk until they’re well combined. Whisk in the milk, then add the sifted flour, baking soda and cream of tartar and just mix until there are no more pockets of flour – as for muffins, avoid over-mixing like the plague.

Heat a large-ish frypan over medium heat and either spray with non-stick cooking spray, or melt a little butter and swirl in the pan to grease.

Drop the batter in to form pancake sized discs – I use a slightly less than full ¼ cup measure to do this. Once you have quite a few bubbles burst on the surface, gently flip the pancake. I find if you have a good non-stick spatula or fish slice you can tilt the edge up and have a peek to see whether it’s your preferred colour too. Once both sides are cooked, remove from the pan and serve.

If you’re cooking for a bunch of people, and you want everyone to eat at the same time, I keep the pancakes stacked on the bench in a folded clean teatowel, one pancake between each folded layer. This keeps them pretty warm without letting them go stodgy.

Good served with bacon/banana/maple, berries and yoghurt, light butter and syrup, or grilled fruit as below.

Grilled Peaches

Preheat the grill to 180-200 or so. Slice the peaches, cutting the flesh away from the stone, and lay the slices out in a single layer in a small lined baking tray. I suggest using metal, as it  heats up quickly and conducts heat to the peaches – ceramic dishes will take longer. Sprinkle the peaches with brown sugar and drizzle some balsamic vinegar over the top. Grill for a few minutes until tender and delicious.

Enjoy your Easter weekend!

You say frittata, I say frittata

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I haven’t posted any of the dishes lately, but I have still been trying to cook at least one ‘proper’ lunch every weekend. No grand three course meals here, but just simple bruschetta, quiche, fancy toasties and what not.

This week I made these little spring vegetable frittata (or is that frittatas?). It’s a simple recipe – although I don’t have a fancy pan that can work on the stove top and in the oven, so I’ll admit I did end up with more dishes than I’d like on a Saturday afternoon.

It was worth it.

You could use almost any vegetables you like in this. I’d suggest keeping the potato, or even swapping it for kumara. A starchy vege anchors a frittata. Then you can really add what you like – I think courgette and asparagus are nice in spring, but let your tastes, budget, fridge contents and energy levels guide you!

Easy Spring Frittata
Serves 2

1 small-medium potato, scrubbed and chopped into small cubes
½ onion, finely chopped
½ capsicum, diced
½ a courgette, coarsely grated
4-5 spears asparagus, woody ends removed, chopped into 3-4cm lengths
handful spinach leaves, roughly shredded
3 eggs (or I used 2 eggs plus 1 white) , lightly beaten
small handful grated cheese
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat your grill to about 200°(c). Heat a small frypan over medium heat. Cook the potato first – you have a couple of options here. You can cook it in the frypan until tender, and then add the other vegetables. Or, I was impatient, so just zapped the potato in the microwave for a couple of minutes, and then plonked it into the heated pan along with the onion, capsicum, courgette and asparagus. I found I didn’t actually need any oil; the moisture from the courgette created a bit of steam and that was enough to get the party started.

Cook for just 3-4 minutes, until the asparagus is tender. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Add the shredded spinach and stir for another minute or two, until it wilts. Then pour the lightly beaten eggs over. As I said, I don’t have a multi-function frypan, so I just kind of stirred the mixture around in the hot pan to start the eggs cooking, and then split the mixture into two ovenproof dishes. If you can leave yours in the frypan, cook it kind of like an omelette, tilting the pan to let the uncooked egg to run underneath, until the base is golden. Sprinkle your frypan or little dishes with grated cheese, and place in the oven. Grill until the frittata is golden and just set firm. You can serve hot or cold – it’s yummy with a bit of relish.

Mushroom Bruschetta

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We had bruschetta for lunch recently on a sunny Sunday. Such a sunny Sunday, in fact, that most of my photos are a bit overexposed! But they give you an idea of what a nice day it was.

I love bruschetta for a weekend lunch; it feels Italian-y and a bit special (depending on what ingredients you use), but is actually really easy. At its core, it’s fancy tomatoes on toast.

Annabel Langbein’s Great Food for Busy Lives has a recipe for mushroom bruschetta topping, which I borrowed for this lunch. And the nice thing about bruschetta, like pizza, is that you can use up ingredients lurking in the fridge.

Note – I’ve updated this part of the post, after some tips from Alessandra Zecchini on the best authentic bread for bruschetta. I had read a bunch of recipes suggesting ciabatta, but as Alessandra notes, a Tuscan-style compact loaf is best. I am happy to be put right as I had used a good dense grainy bread (I think it was McKenzie country stuff). My original choice would have been our homemade sourdough (the starter is still going well, by the way), and I can now confirm that would also be a suitable choice. Thanks, Alessandra!

Mushroom & Artichoke Bruschetta (adapted from an Annabel Langbein recipe)

olive oil
as many slices of ciabatta as you need
1 tsp sesame oil
about 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1-2 Tbsp unsweeted greek yoghurt
squeeze lemon juice
1 Tbsp chopped Italian parsley
spready options – harissa paste, tahini paste, or olive tapenade
cherry tomatoes, halved
canned artichoke halves, drained and chopped (optional)
extra Italian parsley, to garnish

Preheat the grill. Brush the bread with olive oil (if you want to keep things a little healther, I actually sprayed my bread with olive oil spray), and grill it lightly, just until it’s beginning to toast. Once it’s done, take the bread out and turn the oven to bake function, at 180°.

Heat the sesame oil in a frypan, and cook the mushrooms and garlic until the mushrooms have softened and reached that delicious-smelling, melty stage. Mix them with the yoghurt (you could also use mayonnaise), using just enough to bind the mixture and make it spreadable. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and the parsley.

You don’t need to spread anything on the bruschetta before adding the mushroom topping, but I used a little tahini paste on some, and a little of my harissa paste on others (tip: spread very thinly, that stuff can be quite hot!). If you have it on hand, try a black olive tapenade.

Spread the mushroom mixture over the bruschetta, and top with artichoke hearts and cherry tomato halves. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the bruschetta are starting to crisp at the edges.

Empty Cupboard Pizza

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I like cooking at the weekends. I like taking my time and putting real care into my cooking, rather than trying to shovel something out because we’re starving when we get home from work on weeknights. So I like making at least one lunch over a weekend, instead of eating leftovers.

Still, some Sundays are lazier than others. And some Sundays, the fridge and pantry are emptier than others. On those lazy, empty cupboard days, only pizza will suffice.

Even though many years have passed since I bought a ready-made pizza base (*shudder*) I can’t believe I ever did.  Just about every cookbook I own has a basic pizza dough recipe; and actually they’re all pretty basic, pretty quick and pretty tasty. Certainly all of them are better than the supermarket chilled ones.

I particularly like this one from Alison Holst; it’s easy to work with and roll out, and it goes nice and crispy. And she’s kind of my hero. While I love kitchen adventures, and cooking recipes out of my fancier books (Jamie, Nigella, The Silver Spoon), I really respect Alison Holst’s work for ordinary families.  Her recipes are reliable, inexpensive, un-intimidating and, usually, really nice. I’ve always grown up with Alison Holst cookbooks (I have a classic ‘Cooking for Children’ book in ’70s yellow and orange with her kids in corduroy pants on the front cover), and I learnt a lot of my basic cooking skills from her books. Those skills are ultimately what lets me try new ingredients, techniques and recipes. So thanks, Dame Alison!

Basic Pizza Dough
This quantity made two pizzas like the one in the picture.

3 tsp instant active dried yeast
½ cup milk
¾ cup boiling water
2 tsp sugar
1½ tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 cups high grade flour

Measure the yeast into a large bowl. Combine the milk and boiling water and add this to the yeast with the sugar, salt and olive oil. Leave it to stand for a couple of minutes. Add half the flour and stir well to make a thick batter. Add the remaining flour and stir to make a dough firm enough to knead (you might need a little bit of extra flour or water).

Tip onto a floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes, then cover the dough loosely with cling film and leave to rise for about 10 minutes before using (patronising tip of the day: get your toppings ready and cut up your veges, and then it will be time).

Turn the dough onto the floured surface again and divide into two for this sized pizza, or smaller/larger, depending on your preference. Roll out and top away (see below). Bake it at 200(c) for 10-15 minutes.

Topping
Firstly, a spready topping. I’m one of the geeky people who buys a whole can of tomato paste, then spoons it into ice cube trays and freezes it, then turns all the little frozen tomato paste cubes into a zip lock bag and keeps them in the freezer so I always have tomato paste at the ready. If you’re not as organised obssessive as me, you could also spread your pizza base with hummus (soooooo good with chicken and plum sauce), pasta sauce (go easy on it though to avoid the sog), pesto, a dip of some kind, pureed cannellini beans & olive oil … and probably others I can’t think of right now.

Secondly, an arrange-y topping. When I made this, I didn’t really have any fresh ingredients for it at all. That is a little sad, I know. But all was not lost. A couple of cans and a couple of jars saved the day. Nobody needs another pizza topping suggestion list, but in case you can’t identify the ingredients from the photographic exhibits, I used:

  • random can of stuffed green olives
  • 1/2 a can of artichoke hearts
  • small can of anchovies
  • thinly sliced red onion
  • little cubes of feta
  • thinly sliced peppadews
  • thinly sliced semi-dried tomatoes

Hmm, it didn’t seem so at the time, but reading that list back, this was one salty pizza.

Thirdly, a sprinkly topping. Cheese is really your only answer here. But you can also add chopped herbs (fresh or dried) and seasoning mixes.

Best eaten straight out of the oven when it’s still a little too hot to hold! Great Sunday lunch … and then leftovers for lunch on Monday to remind you of a weekend that by then seems so long ago.

Spinach & Silverbeet for Lunch

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I’m trying to get into the habit of cooking one vaguely ‘proper’ meal for lunch over a weekend, so we sit down to eat together. Nothing fancy - soup, pie, quesadillas, bruschetta, that sort of thing. A little more effort than toast and vegemite.

It’s nice to have a hot lunch over winter, it’s nice to have an extra meal together, and it is an excellent way for me to find new uses for whatever veges are still left at the end of the weekend.

This week, it was time for a … pie? quiche? flan? tart? I can’t decide! I don’t really know the difference between them, so that means I get to choose, right? Quiche, I think. I’m in a French sort of mood today.

The spinach and feta combination is nothing new. You may remember it from, um, almost every cafe in the late 90s. But I’m a big believer in not fixing what ain’t broke. Oldies are often goodies. This time I added silverbeet, which usually works well where spinach works well. Plus, to make it a bit healthier, I pulled back on the cream and feta and added cottage cheese, which is still nice and creamy, but not so fatty and salty. Enjoy!

Silverbeet & Spinach Quiche

olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 bunch spinach, washed
4-5 silverbeet leaves, washed and white stems trimmed off
2 tsp mustard
2 eggs, lightly beaten
80g feta, roughly chopped or crumbled
150g light cottage cheese
1/4 cup light evaporated milk (or trim milk will work too)
2 Tbsp parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
4-5 sheets filo pastry
olive oil spray

Preheat oven to 180 (c). Heat a small dash of olive oil in a fry pan, and gently cook onion for 5 minutes or so until softened. Put the onion in a large bowl and set aside. Put the silverbeet and spinach in the fry pan, and add a splash of water. Steam until they wilt. Drain, cool, and squeeze out excess liquid. Roughly chop it up and place in the bowl with the onion.

Add the mustard, eggs, feta, cottage cheese, milk and parmesan, and mix well. I had run out, but if you have pinenuts, chuck a handful of those in too. Season to taste – for me, the feta is salty enough, but freshly ground pepper is welcome. Set aside for a moment.

Lightly spray a loose-bottomed quiche or tart pan with cooking spray. Place one sheet of filo pastry down to line the dish, spray again and add another sheet, repeating until the sheets are stacked up, overlapping, so that the pan is lined. Spread with the pie filling mixture, and scrunch the edges of the filo shell around to make a funky crust.

Bake for about 25 minutes, until the filling is set. Serves 4 for lunch if you make a salad to go with it. Bon appetit!

 

 

 

Some days, you just need a toastie.

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In fact, most days at the moment, you need a toastie. Like a club toastie with cranberry sauce, leftover roast chicken and brie!

Yep, a triple deck toastie. Also suggest smoked chicken with pistachios or walnuts, or pesto, or tomato, basil and mozzarella, or bacon, or update the old ham and pineapple classic, or … anything really. The world of toasties knows no bounds.

No recipe today, just toastie inspiration. To compensate, I thought you might like to see my parents’ pet sheep, Jack and Vera, at home in Dunedin. Awwwww.  More interesting recipes to follow later in the week!

Huevos Rancheros!

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Huevos Rancheros is a bit of a tex mex thing. Eggs, tomatoes and tortillas. Great for weekend brunch! Most recipes have the eggs fried separately, and served over a tortilla with tomato mix. I like recipes that poach the eggs in the tomato sauce itself, then you pour the eggy tomato-y mix over your warm tortilla. Mmmm.

Huevos Rancheros – serves 2

1 tsp olive oil
1/2 an onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
pinch – or more if you like – chilli powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano
dash of hot chilli sauce (optional)
400g can tomatoes
pinch salt
2-4 eggs, depending how many you want
tortillas
chopped coriander & freshly ground pepper

Heat the oil in a fry pan and gently cook onion and garlic until soft. Add your cumin, chilli powder and oregano and cook for a minute or two.

Add the tinned tomatoes and chilli sauce, if you’re using it. Let this tomato mix simmer for about 5 minutes. Make little wells in the mixture for your eggs, and carefully break them in.

Cover the pan and let the eggs cook for 4 or 5 minutes, depending on whether you like the yolks still runny, or longer if you want them hard poached.

Warm your tortillas up in the oven or microwave, and get them ready on the plates. Once the eggs are cooked, spoon the mixture over your tortillas and serve with coriander and lots of pepper. Delicious!

Shoestring Sunday night

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I really wondered whether to post about this meal … the kedgeree recipe you are about to read is NOT elegant. It is NOT refined. It is probably NOT a recipe you would use for entertaining. But there is something very comforting about it.

There are a couple of things I like about this kedgeree. Firstly, you can really make it to suit your tastes and your budget. The ingredients in this recipe are at the student flat end of the spectrum, but if you have a bit more room to move, try using a really good smoked fish. Haddock is traditional but I don’t think we get it in NZ – alternatives might be trevally or mackerel.

If you feel like it, you could also add lemon or lime (add juice and finely grated rind at the same time as the fish).  Jamie Oliver also uses fresh ginger and mustard seeds. Maybe kedgeree can be more elegant than I gave it credit for.

The second thing I like about this recipe is that I usually have all these things in my pantry and can make this up if I have forgotten to take meat out of the freezer and we need. food. now.

Kedgeree

1 Tbsp canola oil
1-2 onions, finely chopped
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 cup rice
2 1/2 cups water or fish stock
1/2 tsp salt
450g tin smoked fish fillets, drained, flaked
4 eggs, hard boiled and chopped
1 Tbsp lemon juice
fresh herbs (try coriander, dill or italian parsley)
3 spring onions, chopped

Heat the oil in a large frypan, and gently cook onion until soft (but not browned). Add the spices and cook for a minute before adding rice and stock.

Cover the pan and gently simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until rice is cooked and liquid has been absorbed.

Add the flaked fish, eggs, lemon juice and herbs, and carefully fold through the rice. Keep the pan over a low heat, just to heat the dish through.

Serve garnished with spring onions, extra herbs and lemon wedges.