Millefeuilles aux tomates et lentilles and a lady crush

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I am putting it out there, Rachel Khoo is a big spunk. Don’t worry Yak, nowt wrong with appreciating beauty from a distance. Not only is this dark haired lass easy on the eye, she also cooks delightful dishes in her teeny tiny Paris kitchen. Her food is inspiring, beautiful and I love how she puts her own personal twist on classic French cooking.

I have been reading her second cookbook, My Little French Kitchen, in which Rachel gets out amongst it and looks at regional food throughout France. Dishes on my ‘to do’ list from this cookbook include a carrot tarte tatin, a walnut and buckwheat caramel tart and this ‘summer on a plate’ dish of a vegetable millefeuilles.

This recipe is from the ‘Brittany’ chapter and this millefeuilles is essentially a multi-layered veggie pie made of Breton buckwheat galettes. Rachel tells us that these savoury pancakes are always made of buckwheat and are best enjoyed with a bottle of the locally produced cider. Good news for Mr Yak who can no longer enjoy beer as he once did.

It was New Years Eve and just the Yak, the lads, my sweet self and The Dadmeister aka Mr Bagpipes, were in da house. We began with a delightful cheese moment. A mouth watering squishy Saint from Bruny Island, a fudgy tangy surface ripened cheese. This could be it people, the most awesome cheese I have ever eaten. Ripened just a smidgen past ‘delicate’ it is almost nutty with a back taste of that delicious moldy penicillin flavour. An extra happy note for all you vegetarians, these cheeses are all rennet free! Oh yeah…

Back to the millefeuille. A great entertaining vegetarian dish. It sings in a soprano voice of all things summer and next time I will be adding a dash of goats or feta cheese to one or two layers. When making your crepes, don’t be pernickety about the size of your frypan, just swirl the mixture around until you have the right size. Lord, making crepes is like watching paint dry. The extremes you will go to when you have a lady crush, (and are also very hungry.)

TOMATO AND LENTIL MILLEFEUILLES

WHAT YOU NEED
200g buckwheat flour
Salt and freshly ground pepper
600ml cold water
Vegetable oil, for frying
100g Puy or beluga lentils (French green lentils)
1 large zucchini, chopped into 3mm cubes
2 red peppers, deseeded and chopped into 3mm cubes (I used one red and one yellow)
200g cherry tomatoes, finely chopped
1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil, plus a little extra for drizzling
300g assorted tomatoes (a mix of heirloom green, yellow and red would be great if you can find them)
1 tbsp lemon thyme

HOW YOU DO IT
Mix the flour and a pinch of salt in a bowl.
Make a well in the centre and gradually mix in the water, adding just enough for the batter to have the consistency of double cream. Don’t over stir as this will produce rubbery galettes. Cover the batter and chill in the fridge for at least one hour, or overnight. Before using, whisk again and add more water if necessary.
Heat a 15-18 cm non-stick crepe pan or a small frying pan over a medium heat and brush with a little vegetable oil. Pour in a small ladleful of the batter and quickly swirl the pan so that the batter coats the base entirely. Cook for 1-2 minutes, loosen around the edge with a spatula, then turn it over and cook for a further minute.
Slide the galette out of the pan, then repeat to make 12 galettes, greasing the pan with a little oil each time.
Stack the galettes with layers of kitchen towel or baking paper between each one.
Cook the lentils in boiling salted water until just tender.
Drain and mix together with the zucchini, peppers, cherry tomatoes, onion and olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a loose-bottom round baking tin (the size of the galettes, my tin was 9cm high with a 19cm base) with baking paper.
Place one galette at the bottom of the tin. Spread with some of the lentil mixture then top with another galette. Repeat until you have used up all the galettes, ensuring you finished with a galette. (My mixture made 11 galettes.)
Slice the mixed tomatoes (in my case I didn’t have a fancy mixture of heirloom tomatoes so made do with the ones I had) and pack them tightly on top of the galettes. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with the thyme.
Cook for 20 minutes, carefully remove it from the baking tin, slice and eat hot.

Cooking Notes: My millefeuilles was 9 crepes high and I had a dash of the filling left over.

Recipe from My Little French Kitchen by Rachel Koo, Published by the Penguin Group, 2013

A quick thanks to the following blogs for passing on some very kind awards. It was lovely to be mentioned and thought of. Please go and check out these cool bloggers when you are kicking back this holiday season with a cup of whatever takes your fancy. The Cheergerm and Yak family are off camping for two weeks and Mr Bagpipes is in control of house and dog. We are hoping he doesn’t trash the joint with too many parties while we are gone. (He has said that invitations have already been issued.) Stay tuned for some Camping Cheergerm posts.

A.Prompt Reply
https://apromptreply.wordpress.com/2014/12/

Sarcasima
http://sarcasmica.me

Vegas Hungry Girl
https://vegashungrygirl.wordpress.com

France Says
http://francesays.com

For further information on Bruny Island cheese visit here:

http://www.brunyislandcheese.com.au/

Rachel Khoo blogs at

http://www.rachelkhoo.com/

A side of herb polenta bake and an aside

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Yak: You are a good lad, will you look after me when I am old?
Kid 2: Probably, but I might be somewhere else.
Me: Kid 2, if I were you, I would start running now. Unfortunately, I have nowhere left to run.

This hearty side of polenta is magnificent Yak food. It helps trick convince The Yak into feeling like he is not ‘missing out’. There is very little that this side dish doesn’t go with. We have scoffed it down with a ratatouille like vegetarian sauce as well as a creamy braised mushroom dish. It goes beautifully with a myriad of casseroles or good piece of meat or fish. Breakfast for dinner? Try it with a fried or poached egg and some steamed asparagus.

Chuck in whatever herb combination tickles your fancy. No fresh herbs? Then throw in a teaspoon of dried Italian herbs and let them steep in the stock whilst it comes to the boil. This version has parsley, thyme and a smidgen of sage. In the time it took me to prepare the thyme (boom tish) for this dish, my lads had gone to high school, got degrees, travelled the world and started families. Picking the leaves off thyme is one of the worst kitchen jobs. I would love to say I find it meditative but I don’t.

Take note if you will, of the beautiful wooden board that this polenta sits upon. Uncle R, a veritable goldmine of funny and punny one liners and the master of the ‘aside’ made this for me back in 1993. Whilst staying in Christchurch, NZ, with the always hospitable Uncle R and Aunty L, we took a day trip to Akaroa and stopped in at French Farm winery for a snack with flavour. Some of the food was served upon divine wooden boards that were labelled ‘French Farm Vineyards’. I admired them greatly and Uncle R, a collector of bits of wood (as well as of puns) said ‘Don’t worry niece, I shall make you a board just as nice as this one.’ (He would have said this in a silly voice, cause that’s how he rolls.)

Back at their house, he whipped up a piece of kauri (wood) into this gorgeous wee board, copying the details from the one back at the vineyard. It is exactly the same as the original version I had coveted. Bar one thing. It’s made with the love, care and thoughtful detail of my uncle, and it is far better than anything I could have ever purchased for myself. And that my friends, is something that you just don’t get bored of.

GARLIC AND HERB POLENTA BAKE

WHAT YOU NEED
1 cup gluten free veggie stock and 2 cups water (the original recipe calls for 3 cups of stock but I find it too salty for my taste.)
1 cup instant polenta
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup chopped fresh herbs (such as parsley, sage, thyme, oregano) this is a bit flexible I have also used 1-2 to 1 cup with great results.
3 tbl grated Parmesan
30g butter
Salt to taste
3 tbl grated Parmesan extra for topping

HOW YOU DO IT
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 15cm x 15cm baking dish with baking paper. I use a larger one and it makes a wedge of polenta that is about 22cm x 18cm and 3cm high.)
Bring the stock and water to the boil in a medium saucepan.
Pour in the polenta and cook over a medium heat for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly, the mixture should be very thick.
Stir in the garlic, chopped herbs, parmesan and butter and taste for seasoning.
Pour/spread the mixture into the baking dish. Smooth the surface and sprinkle with the extra Parmesan.
Bake for 20-30 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden brown.
Cut into triangles, squares or into whatever damn crazy shape you wish.
Serves 8 with one piece each.

Recipe from The Gluten-free Kitchen by Sue Shepherd

http://frenchfarm.co.nz/wordpress/

Gluten free zucchini fritters and a hankering

31 Comments

Kid 2: ‘I am a tiny bit weakened by winter and I think I am allergic to it, kind of like Kid 1 is allergic to spring.’

Kid, I hear you. Winter has weakened me, I hanker for stone fruit, light salad greens, vibrant vegetables, pretty frocks and fizzy wine. I long for sunshine on my pillow and swims in the pool on long, endless summer days.

My Cheergerm soul pines for the high pitched deafening buzz of cicadas and I yearn to be strong armed by sproglets into buying ice-cream at inappropriate times of the day.

Summer is now in sight and this is the kind of food that we will be eating.

Soft goats cheese marinated in olive oil and herbs makes another stunning appearance in these little beauties. The cheese provides the salty tang and works a treat with the pop of peas, zing of lemon, aromatic mint and springy zucchini. These fritters were light, like a summer sky. Don’t be a hater, just get it down you alligator.

GLUTEN FREE ZUCCHINI AND GOATS CHEESE FRITTERS

WHAT YOU NEED
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
120g besan flour (chickpea flour)
2 large or 3 small zucchinis grated and squeezed well to get rid of excess liquid
1 cup frozen peas
Zest of one lemon
1 large handful of mint, roughly chopped
1 tsp salt
Black pepper, a few generous grinds
100g marinated goats cheese
3 tbl olive oil

HOW YOU DO IT
Preheat oven to 180C.
Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add all the ingredients except the goats cheese and mix well.
Crumble the goats cheese into the batter and stir to combine.
Heat the oil in a medium to large saucepan over medium heat.
Add two large tablespoons of batter per fritter to the pan.
Cook for 3-4 minutes until a light golden brown then turn over and cook for 2-3 minutes on the other side. Remove to an oven tray lined with baking paper.
Repeat this process until all the fritters are cooked.
Place tray of fritters in the oven for 10-15 minutes to cook through, this also turns them a tad more golden and crunchy.
Serve with a dipping sauce of either sour cream and sweet chilli, plain yoghurt and sweet chilli, salsa, or a tomato chutney. Great with a green salad, coleslaw, steamed beans or broccoli.
Makes around 10- 12 fritters, depending on how big you make them.

Cooking note: sometimes chickpea flour gets watery in a batter, if this happens, add an extra spoonful or two into the batter halfway through cooking.

A cheergerm adaptation of a recipe from the Taste website, link follows the recipe.

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/31267/zucchini+pea+and+mint+fritters

Spring has sprung and a gluten free asparagus and goats cheese tart

32 Comments

Spring has sprung, the grass has ris
I wonder where the boidies is?
They say the boidies are on the wing
That’s funny, I thought the wing was on the boidies.

Yes, spring has arrived in this Southern Hemisphere, slipping in and out admidst torrential rain and coolish days. Teasing us, then leaving us. With the tantalising promise that summer, in all it’s glory will soon be here.

Nothing says spring like an asparagus spear or two. Back in the good old gluten laden days, the Yak and I devoured many an asparagus tart made with puff pastry. Now the GF dust has settled, I am once again venturing into the whimsical world of pastry. GF styling it baby.

Thanks to the lovely ‘gf and me’ blog for their sour cream pastry recipe. I have provided a link to their original recipe below. This is purely a replica of theirs but I needed to add a dash of iced water, probably due to the difference in gluten free flour blends used. The sour cream in this pastry is banging. Having used it in my non GF pastry blends, it’s great to see it working here.

The pastry was light and crispy and The Yak has given this tart the big coeliac thumbs up. He is annoyingly endearingly asking me to make it again soon. Of course, you can use this filling in any regular gluten laden crust you desire.

This Meredith goats cheese was on special the other day and a free cheese cookbook was thrown in. Bonus! I have been loving on this cheese for quite a few years now. (It’s not illegal to love on a cheese, surely?) The experience of tasting this wee beauty at a farmers market years ago was surprising. It wasn’t all My Highland Goaty Oaty Oaty in your face but sweet, mellow and delicious.

This cheese is awash in golden fruity extra virgin olive oil with the herbaceous notes of thyme and garlic. Great in tarts, frittatas, fabulous tossed into a salad, thrown into a fritter batter or shmeared on a cracker or slice of fresh bread.

ASPARAGUS AND GOATS CHEESE TART

PASTRY
1 cup plain gluten free flour
1 tsp xanthum gum
1/2 tsp salt
113g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tbl chilled water

HOW YOU DO IT
Put flour, xanthum gum and salt into a food processor and pulse to combine.
Add the butter and pulse until the mixture comes together and forms pea sized balls.
Add the sour cream and pulse until the dough starts to hold together. You may or may not need to add the chilled water. I did.
Roll into a ball, cover with plastic and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 200C. Remove dough from fridge, let it sit for 10 minutes then place between two floured pieces of baking paper and roll out to the correct size to fit your tin. I used a 24cm loose bottom fluted tart tin. A rectangular one would be great. (I have misplaced mine.) Gluten free pastry can be very soft, don’t be surprised if you need to patch a few places.
Blind bake for 15 minutes. (This means lining the pastry with baking paper and placing beans or weights on it.)
Remove tart shell from oven, take out the baking beans then put back in the oven for another ten minutes.
The tart shell is then ready to fill.

FILLING
2 tbl olive oil
1 onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 eggs
100ml cream
2 bunches asparagus, washed and trimmed
6 cherry tomatoes, sliced
100g marinated goats cheese
Pepper and salt for seasoning

HOW YOU DO IT
Sauté onions until soft for about ten minutes.
Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Let cool.
Beat eggs and cream, season with pepper and a wee bit of salt.
Place onions on bottom of blind baked tart and pour the egg and cream mixture over the onions gently.
Place the asparagus and tomatoes in an artistic (not so in my case) fashion. I did find it hard to squeeze the tomatoes in.
Break up the goats cheese and place on top. I dribbled a wee bit of the olive oil from the goats cheese jar over the asparagus. Season with black pepper and salt. (Remember the goats cheese is salty.)
Bake 20-30 minutes at 190C until egg is set and puffy and golden.
Serve with a salad, steamed green beans or whatever you fancy.

Pastry by gf and me, filling by Cheergerm

Mary’s Pie Crust: no one will know it’s gluten free

http://www.meredithdairy.com/allproducts.html

Just to note, there is no affiliation with Meredith Dairy, I just love their cheese.

Soul Cages and Japanese Food

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My current musical obsession is Sting’s latest album ‘The Last Ship’, a musical inspired by his childhood experiences and the shipbuilding industry in the north of the UK. The music and lyrics are beautiful, folksy and are a moving and melancholy delight.

I am particularly struck by a song in which Sting suggests that we keep our souls in a cage. That is, before they are set free from this mortal coil and sent to the ‘Island of Souls’ for eternity. He talks about his father’s soul, living in the same cage as the carrier pigeons that he lovingly tended to. My understanding is that his fathers soul resides in the place it feels whole, happy and rounded. Which gets me to thinking, where would my soul cage be?

Probably somewhere in our kitchen. Perhaps squashed between the pages of one of the many loved recipe books or nestled in a well used mixing bowls? Is it tucked away in the motor of the KitchenAid or possibly lounging in the base of my cast iron casserole dish? I do know that one of the places I feel most content and most, well, myself, is the kitchen.

This is how I show my sons, husband, family and friends; my love and appreciation. Through baking and cooking food that nourishes them, warms them, cheers them up, heals them and sometimes even challenges them.

The Yak is a vegetarian and a coeliac and these dishes were cooked because I love him. Well, most of the time, except when he ships me. (That is not a mis-type.)

The inspiration came from a giant eggplant that needed to be eaten and a Hairy Bikers episode in Kyoto, Japan. The Hairy Bikers (like Sting and The Yak), herald from the north of England. Their passionate love of food and delightful turn of phrase is an absolute joy.

The silken eggplant combined with the umami miso paste is a revelation. Teeny miso angels rose up and played little eggplant trumpets whilst we ate…really, they did. Combined with crunchy bites of tofu, we were replete and content.

As the Hairy Bikers, Sting, Northern English shipwrights or The Yak might say, this was a right cracking feed.

NASU DENGAKU (Miso glazed eggplant)

WHAT YOU NEED
1 ginormous eggplant or two medium sized
1 tbl sugar
1 tbl mirin
3 tbl miso paste
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbl water
1 tbl toasted sesame seeds for garnish

WHAT YOU DO
Slice the eggplant in half lengthways and score with a criss cross pattern, this helps retain the sauce.
Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper, scored side down and bake in oven for 20 to 25 minutes until tender. Remove and set aside.
Whilst the eggplant is baking, place all the remaining ingredients (except the sesame seeds) in a saucepan and stir over a low heat until they are combined.
Brush sauce over the cooked eggplant and grill for 3-5 minutes until dark golden brown and bubbling.
Serve and garnish with sesame seeds.

TOFU AGEDASHI

WHAT YOU NEED
400g silken tofu (I only had firm so I just used what I had, you can make this recipe with less tofu.)
1 cup Vegetarian dashi (which I didn’t have, so it was really Tofu Age?)
2 tbl Soy sauce
2 tbl mirin
Vegetable oil for shallow frying
5 tbl brown or white rice flour for coating
1 Spring onion, finely sliced ( which I also didn’t have)

WHAT YOU DO
Wrap the tofu in paper towel and drain by placing a dish upon it to get rid of excess moisture.
Put the dashi, soy sauce and mirin in a saucepan, bring to the boil then take off the heat and set aside.
Discard the paper towel, slice the tofu in half lengthways and cut each piece into 9 pieces.
Heat 1 cm of oil in a frypan or saucepan. Coat the tofu in brown rice flour and fry on each side until they are light golden brown.
Drain on paper towel.
Serve the tofu with the dashi sauce poured over and garnish with the spring onion.

Both recipes are based on past experiments and the recipes from websites listed after the photos.

http://www.justasdelish.com/grilled-miso-glazed-eggplant/

http://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/agedashi-tofu-2/

Husbands don’t listen and gluten free buckwheat omelettes

20 Comments

The other day I was crapping on talking to my wonderful husband about something inane very important. The following conversation ensued.

Me: Do you sometimes wish you hadn’t married me?
Yak: Yeah.
Me: What?
Yak: What did you say?
Me: I just asked, do you sometimes wish you hadn’t married me and you said yeah!
Yak: Oh, I wasn’t listening.
Me: Are you embarrassed now?
Yak: No, I’m just normal.

Despite many conversations like this, I continue to feed my vegetarian coeliac husband. (I know, I am an awesomely forgiving and kind human being). This ain’t my recipe folks. Straight up. It’s borrowed, stolen, nicked, knocked off from the wonderful Sneh Roy and her Cook Republic blog. Hence, I have provided my photos then linked to her fabulous recipe afterwards.

These buckwheat omelettes are pancake like and have an Indian twist. They are a well tasty brunch, lunch or light dinner option. We adore the fresh and light coriander burst they provide.

Many of you may already be aware of this but I just wanted to share a wee cheffy hint given to me many moons ago by a real life cheffy type person. When dicing, chopping, crushing, squashing, pestle and mortaring garlic, always add a big pinch of salt to help ‘bring the garlic down’. (By this I don’t mean to depress the poor member of the onion family with pithy and personal put downs. ‘Yeah garlic, you are so much more stinky than your other close relatives’.) Adding the salt helps the garlic to release it’s delicious oils and also stops it sticking to your knife.

Cheergerm adaptations to this excellent recipe include bumping up the salt to 1 tsp sea salt, using 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger powder as I had no fresh ginger, adding 1/4 diced red pepper and 100g cherry tomatoes (as I didn’t have any big tomatoes) Also, as we didn’t have fresh chilli, I used sweet chilli sauce and tomato sauce mixed together as the accompanying sauce.

Here are my photos, I have given a link to the recipe at the end. Once you have visited Cook Republic, you may never leave.

http://www.cookrepublic.com/journal/savoury-buckwheat-omelettes-a-newspaper-column-and-the-title-of-my-first-cookbook/

Gluten free onion and mushroom tart. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

16 Comments

A tart by any other name is simply a topless pie. My goodness. This is all sounding a tad x-rated.

Gluten free pastry has, thus far, felt somewhat beyond me. Having enjoyed some perfectly lovely gluten filled pastry bakes in my past, a reluctance to stuff up gluten free pastry has always felt a bit too, well, potentially painful.

This bake was a game changer. Yeah baby. Well, kind of.

Starting at 5pm on a Saturday afternoon was probably not the best choice. Bite the bullet I told myself, now or never. Carpe diem, momentous self-help talk, yada, yada, yada. Snoreworthy.

After dicking messing around with the recipe, (it’s a medial condition), the recipe called for the pastry to rest for at least one hour. Here is the (pastry) rub. I knew it wasn’t right the minute I took it out of the food processor, but I ignored my gut instinct. Then, as I went to roll it out. The pastry completely fell apart…Arggghhhhhh…my nightmare was coming true.

However, a tad more iced water, a quick knead and it came together. With no time to waste, I rolled it out between two sheets of baking paper, blind baked it, filled it and baked it again. A millennium later, Bob was your uncle . (By this time the Yak had passed out on the floor from utter hungation.)

It turned out a treat. Second time around, I added just a tad too much water to the pastry. So it took a little more blind baking to dry it out. The moral of this story? Don’t be afraid if things go slightly wrong, you can usually fix them.

Love, love this sexy little tart. (Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more…) The filling is based on a French provincial classic. Caramelised onions, earthy mushrooms, floral thyme with some hacked up greens. Be inventive with the greeny bits. There was kale in the fridge but baby spinach, silverbeet, rocket or parsley would be just as good.

It is rich, filling and would be awesome cut with a sharply dressed salad. (By this, I don’t mean a bespoke suit with a french cuffed shirt and a pair of brogues.) When I asked The Yak if was it too rich, his reply? No way, are you kidding, I want chips with it. Sigh.

The crust is buttery, crunchy and this cheergerm don’t miss no gluten. The Yak went into raptures (as much as an Northern English born lad is able to.)

This pastry is a more ‘wholegrain’ adaptation from the Simply Gluten Free blog. I have provided the link below, it contains some fantastic pastry baking tips.

GLUTEN FREE ONION AND MUSHROOM TART

THE FLOUR MIX
3/4 brown rice flour
1/4 buckwheat flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1tsp xanthum gum

Whisk this together, this leaves you some flour for rolling the pastry out on. You use one and 1/4 cups of this flour for the actual tart base.

THE TART CRUST
1 1/4 cups flour blend (see above)
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp sugar
125 grams cold cold butter (pop in freezer 15 minutes before using)
5 to 6 tbls iced cold water (put ice cubes in cold water)

WHAT YOU DO
Place flour, salt and sugar into a food processor and pulse 5 times to combine.
Add the butter and pulse 6 or 7 times until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs with some pea size butter pieces.
With the processor running, add the water 1 tbl at a time until the mixture just clumps together. (This is the tricky bit, don’t go nuts with the water.)
Wrap (using a plastic bag for this step is a good idea) and rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour. This allows the water in the pastry to redistribute.
Whilst pastry is resting, preheat oven to 180C and make the filling. (See below)
Bring pastry back out and let it sit for 5- 10 minutes.
Roll between two sheets of baking paper dusted with remaining GF flour mix.
Place pastry a pie/tart tin (I used a glass Pyrex) that has been buttered.
Blind bake 20 mins. (This means lining the pastry with baking paper and using dried kidney beans, dried soup mix (as I did) or blind baking stones.)
Remove baking paper and beans, gently prick the base of the tart with a fork and bake for another ten minutes.
Remove tart pastry, strew the onion filling over the base of the pastry, gently pour the egg, cream and parmesan mixture over the onion mixture stir through carefully, not touching the pastry.
Bake at 180 for 30 to 40 minutes until the top is golden and puffy.

THE FILLING
3 large sliced onions
2 tbl olive oil
200g mushrooms, sliced
5 leaves of kale finely sliced
1 tsp dried thyme (or 1 tbl fresh chopped thyme)
Splash white wine
3 eggs
100 ml cream 1/4 to 1/2 cup
2 tbls grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

WHAT YOU DO
In a large frypan heat the olive oil then add the onion. Cook on a low to medium heat until the onion has begun to caramelise. This takes about 30-40 minutes.
Add thyme, mushrooms and kale. Stir through. Turn to medium heat
Add a splash of white wine and stir until all of the liquid has evaporated, season with pepper and salt and set aside to cool.
Whisk the eggs, cream, salt and pepper together. Stir the parmesan through this mixture.

Crust recipe adapted from Simply Gluten Free blog. (The link is provided after the photos.) The filling is a Cheergerm creation.

http://simplygluten-free.com/blog/2013/11/perfect-gluten-free-pie-crust-recipe.html

Heirloom carrot autumn salad

9 Comments

Hello sweet little baby carrots in varying shades of orange and purple….lying there beguilingly, coaxing me into wanting to eat you all up.

Sorry, that may have come across as a tad creepy. These beautiful heirloom carrots, purchased from the Agrestic Grocery in Orange on our recent country sojourn, were just crying out to be paired with the local feta cheese from the Second Mouse Cheese Company. One of my nicknames as a child was Mouse (as well as Electric Rat and E Rattus, charming I know) so how could a mouse not buy this mousy cheese?

The bloke behind the counter informed us the cheese had recently won an award against other fetas at a cheese show (somewhere) and that it was a bit controversial due to the fact that this feta cheese is made of cows milk, instead of sheeps or goats milk. (Rumblings and bumblings, a possible cheesy fisticuffs, oh my!) How did it taste? Tangy, smooth, a wee bit crumbly, salty with background notes of the grass that those sweet cows had chowed down on. It certainly deserved it’s wee gold medal.

This salad is a grand accompaniment to whatever takes your fancy. The carrots are oven roasted in a coating of spices and topped with zesty feta and sweet, lemony, crunchy pomegranate seeds. A beautiful addition to our Easter feast this year.

WHAT YOU NEED
1 bunch baby orange carrots, scrubbed and topped
1 bunch baby purple carrots, scrubbed and topped
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp allspice
2 tbl olive oil
50 g Feta to garnish
1/2 a pomegranate, seeds scatter over
Extra virgin olive oil to garnish

HOW YOU DO IT
Preheat oven to 180C.
Place carrots on tray lined with foil and toss with with salt, spices and olive oil.
Roast for 20-30 minutes until carrots are tender.
Place on a pretty dish, dob the feta over the dish.
Squeeze and sprinkle the pomegranate seeds over and add a light drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

We served this salad with grilled haloumi, lamb chops marinated in ras el hanout, and a big plate of roasted kumara and potato.

A cheergerm recipe

What the heck is an heirloom carrot you ask? In brief, heirloom vegetables, fruits and flowers are grown from seeds passed down from generation to generation. Heirloom seeds rely on natural pollination from insects or the wind.

These often unusual looking, multi coloured fruits and vegetables are more likely to be grown by small suppliers and are often organic. By buying or growing heirloom produce, you are helping to support crop biodiversity and assist in helping to keep these older varieties from becoming extinct.

http://secondmousecheeseco.com.au

https://www.facebook.com/theagresticgrocer?fref=ts

Pumpkin soup, the best you ever tasted?

6 Comments

The wee lads have a beloved book, it’s called Pumpkin Soup. It is impossible to say how many times this book has been read. One particular stanza has stuck in my mind.

‘Pumpkin Soup. The best you ever tasted. Made by the Cat who slices up the pumpkin. Made by the Squirrel who stirs in the water. Made by the duck who scoops up a pipkin of salt, and tips in just enough.’

This mantra is always in the back of my mind when making pumpkin soup. (Or as the Yak and I call it, snoup…no idea why.) Naturally, the children won’t touch the stuff.

Now, this may not be the best pumpkin soup you ever tasted but it ain’t half bad.

You could have a pumpkin soup recipe you love so much that no other can or will, hold a candle to it. If you have a hankering to try something new, this soup is buttery and softly sweet with a mild undercurrent of warming Indian spices. Feel free to add half a teaspoon of red chilli powder if you fancy a hit of the good stuff. Hearty autumnal soup, good for the soul and just the thing for the gobshite horrid weather that has descended upon us recently.

Spiced pumpkin soup

YOU NEED
2 tbl oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped (I don’t peel, lots of goodness in the skin!)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp dried coriander
1/2 tsp dried cumin
1/2 tsp dried ginger
1/2 tsp dried turmeric
2 tsp sea salt (or a pipkin)
1 potato, roughly chopped (don’t bother peeling)
butternut pumpkin (my 1.4kg pumpkin yielded 900g chopped pumpkin)
6 cups water
1 cup dried red lentils, rinsed under cold water
Salt and pepper to taste

HOW YOU DO IT
Sauté onion and carrot for 3- 4 few minutes over medium heat.
Add garlic, spices and salt and cook for one minute, stirring.
Add the pumpkin and potato and stir through.
Add the water, lentils and a few grinds of black pepper.
Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and cook on medium heat.
Whilst cooking, check for salt, you may need to add a bit more.
When cooking lentils, sometimes a ‘frothy scum’ rises to the surface. Don’t go nuts but do skim off some of it whilst cooking.
Once the vegetables are soft and collapsing (about 40 minutes), take off heat and blend with a stick blender until smooth.
Add water to get the consistency of soup you prefer and gently heat through. I added about an extra 3/4 of a cup as I don’t enjoy overly gluggy soup. This soup does thicken quite a bit as it cools.
Garnish with a sprig of coriander and a dollop of plain yoghurt if you have it and serve with crunchy toast or your favourite crackers.
Great for the next day and for freezing.

A cheergerm recipe

A quick note on stock, many years ago I used to make my own chicken, seafood and beef stock. Then I had children. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it. Store bought ready made stock is very salty, so when I do use it, I either water or it down or try and buy the reduced salt variety. Frozen meat or vegetable stocks from butchers and gourmet food outlets are also a great alternative.

For veggie soups, I often don’t use any stock and try and let the natural ‘vegetable flavours’ shine through. (Although I will use a spoon of Massel veggie stock powder which is gluten free and vegan, sometimes.) Lately I have had a hankering to try making my own veggie stock. Stay tuned for that.

Book photo credits: ‘Pumpkin Soup’ written by Helen Cooper, published by Picture Corgi Books Transworld Publishers Ltd. Copyright 1998 by Helen Cooper.

Baked polenta pie and carking it

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The following is a recentish conversation with Kid 1. The exact origins of how it began are murky. He may have been talking about living in our house once the Yak and myself had shuffled off this mortal coil.

Me: That can wait until you bury me in the cold hard ground.
Kid 1: Would you rather be buried or incinerated?
Me: Eek! Incinerated!? I hope you mean cremated?
Kid 1: Yes, yes! Actually, I think I will mount your head on the wall, hang on, maybe I will put you in a glass coffin like Snow White!
Me: Ummm…cremation will suffice thanks kiddo.

There is absolutely no way of linking this discussion to our recent ‘early Easter mums birthday family get together.’ Except that if you were to eat like this every day, you probably would shuffle off to an early grave. These events are no mean affairs, everyone contributes joyfully and the table groans from the weight of a feast fit for a King. That day we began with varying cheeses and crackers served with a nutty, rich fruit paste. Next was roast lamb, cauliflower cheese, potato bake, polenta pie and a green salad. To finish, a fruit platter the size of a small baby, lemon meringue cheesecake (to die for) and a decadent chocolate cake (both gluten free).

This vegetarian polenta pie is a great ‘big group gathering dish’, as it makes a motza. It’s an adaptation of a recipe from Two Peas and a Pod, a delightful food blog with tonnes of varied recipes. It’s a bit like a lasagna, without the pasta and white sauce. Polenta is cornmeal that is boiled into a hearty porridge (sounds scrumptious?) then eaten directly or baked, fried or grilled. It is gluten free so it’s a great ingredient for Silly Yaks.

(Ps whenever I do ‘pass onto the next realm’, can someone (anyone) please ensure I don’t end up hung ‘moose like’ on the wall or spend eternity on display in a glass box?)

Baked vegetarian polenta pie

YOU NEED
4 tbl olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 medium red pepper, diced
1 large eggplant, peeled and diced into 3cm dice
2 medium zuchinni, diced 2 cm dice
200g mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes (leave out if you choose to)
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
2 tins (400g) crushed/diced tomatoes
1 cup water
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves roughly chopped
1 cup grated Parmesan
2 cups shredded/grated mozarella

HOW YOU DO IT
Preheat oven to 180C and lightly oil a 3 litre baking dish.

The sauce
Sauté onion and red pepper in olive oil for a few minutes.
Add eggplant, cook stirring for 2 minutes, add the zuchinni, cook 3 minutes.
Add the mushrooms, chilli, fennel, garlic and oregano. Stir for a minute or two.
Add tomato, water and season with salt and pepper.
Cook for 30-40 minutes until vegetables are tender and sauce is reduced and silky. Remove from heat and stir in the basil.

Polenta
1.5 cups instant polenta
4.5 cups milk
1.5 tbl butter
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Black pepper

Place the milk, butter, sugar, salt and a few grinds of black pepper into a large saucepan and bring to a light simmer.
Using a whisk, slowly add the polenta to the pot, whisking constantly. When the polenta starts to thicken swap the whisk for a spoon.
Once the polenta pulls away from the pot, add half of the Parmesan cheese and stir to combine. Remove from the heat.

Assembling the pie
Spread the polenta into the baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese.
Pour the tomato vegetable sauce over the polenta and top with the mozarella.
Bake in a moderate oven for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.
Rest for ten minutes before cutting into squares and serving.

It goes beautifully with a crisp, green salad and leftovers of this dish are fantastic the next day.

Adapted from Two Peas in a Pod. Go here for the original recipe:
http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/baked-polenta-pie/