Quickie: post-holiday dinners for one

I love rice. I’ve eaten it almost everyday for weeks. I’d call myself a rice queen but that has a whole other meaning.

But sometimes I need “meat” (ok, protein) and potatoes. Simple Anglo fare. Here's a quick rundown of my post-Bali cooking this week.

1. A simple 2 egg omelette with a little onion, garlic and loads of mushroom. There’s been a tiny dab of marinated sheep’s cheese (I can tolerate a small amount if I don’t do it too often). But best of all, when just cooked, topped with fresh sorrel and folded over. So addictive and simple I made it twice in a week.

2. “Fish and chips”. Strangely been craving crumbed, fried fish. But with all the eggs recently consumed, wanted a viable alternative. While dipping fish fillets in egg is an effective way of holding lots of breadcrumbs; water, milk, even “alternative” milks do a good job.

Snapper fillets, dunked in rice milk, then tossed in a mix of masa harina (or ordinary fine cornmeal) seasoned with zaatar and salt, fried in olive oil. Perfect! Accompanied by oven roasted kipfler potatoes, carrots and sweet potato. Sensational.

3. Lots of black kale, chard, sorrel and cos lettuce, straight from the garden. Handy to come back from holiday to an empty fridge but have more fresh greens than I could poke a stick at, a mere few paces from my kitchen.

Experimented with adding finely sliced cos lettuce to a stir fry. It works just fine.

Onion, garlic, kale, smoked eel and lemon juice made an excellent pasta source.

What have you been cooking this week?

rainy days and mondays

Nothing like a cool change to get the spring back in my step. This week my mind has re-engaged with the world of food once more. Hallelujah!

Here’s a quick update – with more to come soon.

I’ve started a ginger beer bug, so that means in two weeks we can bottle up our brew. About once every decade or two I give this a go. I like mine lemony and not too sweet. Can’t wait to experiment with the final mix.

In two weeks time I’ll have a ginger beer bug to give away, so if you are staying in Melbourne over the festive season and need a project, let me know.

I spent a rainy day thinking about vegan truffles. Will do a test batch soon and let you know how it goes. Can you temper chocolate (to give the truffles a harder coating and longer life) without a thermometer? Any tips?

Yesterday Lucy and I spent a delightful day stuffing vine (and other) leaves. We came up with a superb new recipe that I will be sharing soon. Even better – if you don’t have a grapevine we found an in-season alternative that won us over.

So a teaser, look at the morsels in the photo on the top layer. Can you guess what we used?

quickie - old friends and new adventures

Not sure what happened while I was in Wellington recently. Due to family obligations it wasn’t exactly a holiday so sadly missed the final days of the very successful inaugural “Wellington of a plate”. I did however fall in love with a newish schoc flavour – bitter peppermint. The other (re)discovery was a love on cornflakes. Last night I had them as a post dinner snack with dried cherries, pistachios and soy milk.

Flan, frittata or bakes. I don’t care what you call it but I also got reacquainted recently with the joy of taking a bunch of vegetables (in this case Lucy’s lovely chard and kale straight from her garden), adding some flavours (onion, garlic and za’atar), something salty (olives and tuna) and binding it with a few beaten eggs. Twenty minutes in a moderate oven (as long as you’ve precooked your ingredients) there’s a lovely bake on the table for dinner.

Lisa Dempster has posted a great story on how Lord of the Flies dealt with her original musings on ”Lord of the Flies: still the best?". Is any publicity good publicity and did LOTF get social media right or wrong?

I’m popping out for a bit. Off to steamy Malaysia in one more sleep. Any tips on where to go, what to eat on the peninsula? Plans are rather open at the moment. Will acclimatise in Melaka for a few days then who know where we will go – food and rest are the only things on the agenda for a while.

quickie - real food

Not AWOL just busy. Fingers required to type words, lots of them. I have been cooking. Simple things. Delightful things. Here’s part of the week or two that was, in food.

1. Soup under Lucy’s guidance. How nice when a friend says “I can’t come for dinner tonight but I can help you cook instead”. The SE and I have been having this informal winter thing. Friends that are in the neighbourhood on certain chilly evenings have been assured a glass of wine or some warming chai, dips, nibbles and a hearty bowl of soup. If they stay long enough the SE mother’s solstice cake comes out. Friends, wine and food. A random assortment each time. What could be better?

Lucy’s soup involved onion, garlic, coriander, cumin, little green (puy) lentils, and ribbons of cavolo nero. Finished of with fresh coriander and a squeeze of lemon – it was a winner.

2. Baked vegetables. Not rocket science, just comforting, especially when they go all crispy. Potatoes are mandatory; I like them cut quite small so there is maximum crunchiness. Depending on what is in the house there has been some sweet potatoes, pumpkin, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts – all roasted after a toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. A little fresh rosemary if its not raining (because as nice as the herb is, even a short dash to the garden in the cold and wet is no fun).

3. Pasta of the month (or two) is onion, garlic and masses of cavolo nero, we just can’t get enough of this wintry green. Often with tuna, sometimes preserved lemon and olives. Stirred through gluten-free pasta and we’ve happy campers indeed.

4. More marinated tofu and salad (yes the SE been eating meat again).

5. Vegetable tagine/tajine in the real thing – the vessel itself soaked for 24 hours, dried for another hour, oiled then in a very slow oven. A slow bake. Onion, leek, fennel and Japanese eggplants are my favourite base, flavoured with lashings of homemade harissa. Pumpkin and chickpeas replaced the fish from my earlier endeavours. The drizzle of tahini when serving makes all the difference.

6. Brown rice. With tagines and curries. The latter made from Sri Lankan spice powder, added garam marsala, extra chillies and garlic. Lots of tamarind water for tang. Vegetables – something green and leafy, potato and chickpeas.

No photos, no recipes, just food. Hope this inspires a vegetarian twist in your menu this week.

another quickie

I’ve been a bit glass-half-empty of late, as we sprint towards the winter solstice.

On the upside I am embracing the food of the season. Currently on high rotation:

We’ve having a cavolo nero love for the last few week. My favourite so far is a long slow cook with onion, garlic and white wine, as part of a pasta sauce.

Carrots are particularly sweet and vibrant right now. I rediscovered my tin of zataar and added it to onion/garlic and grated carrots. The combo worked really well, especially when mixed with some canned tuna for a speedy meal on rice. (This may qualify as weird food confessions #1).

Rhubarb is in season once more. This was the winter fruit of my childhood, while everything else in the garden died with neglect or just gave up on the hard, clay soil – the rhubarb still thrives. Pity Wellington is a little too far away to pick a bunch whenever I want some. The last market batch was stewed up with sultanas, raw sugar and a splash of rosewater.

Porridge (oatmeal) is back on the breakfast menu. The past week I have soaked the oats then cooked them with some stewed rhubarb. Weird confession #2 is any leftover porridge – all pink and mushy - gets a quick warm through in a fry pan with a knob of butter then eaten as a dessert with a drizzle of maple syrup. I doubt you’ll find that one on Masterchef!

Though talking of unorthodox ways of eating oats, this recipe for skirlie over at Mostly Eating has me fascinated.

quickie links and thoughts

I want to go out and buy beetroot now after watching Mark Bittman make his goat-free beetroot salad. The dressing is made by softening a lot of garlic (8 plump cloves) in an ample amount of olive oil, throwing in some walnuts and blending with just a dash of fresh orange juice. Long live the beetroot and goats cheese divorce!

Garlic in such quantities would likely give Khaled Sherbini, chocolate maker extraordinaire and founder of Coco Loco, conniptions. This interesting little den of cacao worship is never open when I am wandering around High Street Northcote in need of reviving. However one fine afternoon, the tables on the footpath were set up and the door open, though the establishment was actually closed, Khaled welcomed us in, put aside his half eaten lunch and filled us up with chocolaty goodness. While lovingly making our iced chocolates he shared his revulsion of garlic reeked patrons, his passion for chocolate and his obvious pride at our admiration of his unique, dairy-free delicacies. His secret ingredient is cashew milk (kashew mylk), so much nicer than soy. I’ve never spent $10 on a non-alcoholic beverage before (it was still a little early in the day to go for the liqueur spiked versions) but it was worth every, rich drop.

Just try not to drop in after eating garlic prawns!

Or Simon’s (“The Cook and the Chef”) dahl. But it looks delicious and simple. Though I tend to go for a less soupy dahl, this recipe is easy and delightfully vegan.

Breakfast today – eggs gently scrambled with butter, homemade semi dried tomatoes, a little smoked salmon and basil. Heaven!

Does anyone have favourite fish or vegan tajine recipes? The very late Christmas present has finally arrived via the Oxfam shop. The lovely big Moroccan Tajine is awaiting a good soaking and some long, slow cooking action.

3 new ingredients and 3 new recipes

It's a bit overwhelming.

Three new ingredients and three new recipes, in just two days.

What has come over me?

Like a kid whose had too much red cordial the words that spill from my fingers are too voluminous, clumsy and verbose. So will leave you with these thoughts.

Chipotles.
Harina P.A.N.
Milk-free, Greek fasting Fetta cheese.

Soy bombs.
Arepas.
Baked eggs with mushrooms and fetta.

I’ll be back when the glow of getting my kitchen mojo back calms down. In the meantime – P.A.N. anyone?

a week of pleasures

In the past week I have:

Seen fresh guavas being sold on a city street.

Participated in an excellent Spanish Sherry tasting.

Post above tasting, handed taxi money over to my visitor because I didn’t’ feel capable of driving her to her dinner date.

Eaten far too much: big breakfasts (Black Ruby, The Green Grocer), dinners at Cookie, Classic Thai, Shakahari.

Made a damn fine, restorative bean and vegetable soup between meals out

Tasted some delightful new wines (Hunters fume blanc from NZ at Cookie, another excellent kiwi sauv blanc at Jimmy Watsons)…note to self: good excuse to go back to find out what it was.

Handed over an arm and a leg for some organic produce at Macro. Almost $13 for a jar of Marigold Vegetable Bouillon really is worth it – there is no better commercial stock powder that I can find.

Discovered a great new organic supermarket (offshoot of IGA) in the city. A fantastic range of premade goodies, gluten free treats, biscuits that are healthy and taste good.

Wondered why New Zealand seems to produce so many delicious organic foods, with a population the size of Melbourne. Why can’t we at least match the range?

Bought new season persimmons from the market

Had trouble doing up my new jeans!

Weekend review: the good, bad and indifferent

Good: Spying the Emily McPherson Collection of antique cookbooks in the RMIT library, The Alderman, Rumi – pumpkin, rice and cauliflower dishes, the Significant Eaters Saturday night vegetarian bake, Beryl’s sparkles and wonderful smoked trout salad at Babka, I-can’t-fit-another-mouthful vego big breakfast at Black Ruby, great company, watching DVD's by candlight on the new laptop when we came home to a power outage, rain on Friday, a cool night for sleeping on Sunday.

Indifferent: Fish kebabs at Rumi – great tahini dressing but the fish could have been a lot better.

Bad: Wet jeans and feet dampening a great night out, the acoustics at Rumi, neighbours arguing in the dark til at least 3 am again (I always want to put my head out the window and scream “Just leave the arrogant bastard and then we can all get some sleep!”), the fridge door beeping at 5.30 am when the power came back on.

How was your weekend?

A quick week of food round up

Sunday - breakfast at Black Ruby, extremely good "Vegetarian Big Breakfast", always wonder why I don't go there more often.

Saturday - scrambed eggs and hash browns at home, grapes straight from the vine, spectacular whole Blue Eye baked with a tahini/harrisa/tomato sauce whipped up by the Significant Eater.

Friday - Lunch at Sushi Monger (the tuna and salmon chirashi for a change), drinks and tapas at Geralds Bar (ceviche was delish), dinner at Zum Zums for the wonderful snapper and felafels.

Thursday - Shopping at Vic Market, blog lunch at Enoteca (if you ask very nicely they will make a vegan panini to go with the microscopic orange juice), dinner...um...something very delicious marinated in garlic, smokey paprika and olive oil (more on that later).

Wednesday - Tuna patties and salad at cafe mediterraneum for lunch, a drink at Kitten Club and the highlight of the week - DINNER AT YU-U at last! (Review coming).

Tuesday....how on earth am I expected to remember back that far? I think it will be fruit, muesli and salad for the next week.

more meals than words

A quickie to summarise the food oriented week:

An average meal at The Kent Hotel.

Delicious sauvignon blanc at Geralds Bar.

The Slow Food market at the Convent – delicious organic corn, oysters shucked as you wait.

The Significant Eaters makes his fist Chilli Crab (sensational).

More experimentation with fresh curry pastes – gather the spices you love and just do it (almost as sensational as the crab).

More inspirational cooking making a vegan bake – layers of grilled eggplant with a lentil/tomato filling, topped with grilled potato and paprika (very yummy).

Tamarind and chilli crab at Chin Chins at Koto Moon.

Off to the market to get inspired all over again!