Recipes – Bits & Pieces

Spiced Coconut Rice Salad

Christmas greetings, oh my goodness it’s only 2 days away. It’s one of my absolute favourite days of the year as my family spend the day with my mum, my sister and her husband, my brother and his wife and my adorable (my mum’s word) nieces and nephews. Cant’ wait.

I was just talking with my girlfriend Jules about salads and she mentioned making a rice salad. I’ve got just the recipe for a delicious rice salad that my darling sister-in-law Lisa makes every Christmas Day. I was going to send it over to Jules, but thought I would pop it on my blog, so much easier to share this way. Please excuse the photo, not one of my gifts.

Coconut Pilaf

Ingredients:

300g (1½ cups) basmati rice
2½ Tbs vegetable oil
70g (½ cup) slivered almonds
2 medium brown onions, halved, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp cardamon seeds
6 whole cloves
¼ tsp chilli powder
500mls (2 cups) chicken stock
125 mls (½ cup) coconut milk
Pinch of salt
75g (½ cup) currants
¹⁄³ cup roughly chopped fresh coriander, extra leaves to garnish

Method:

Rinse the rice under cold running water until the water runs clear.

Heat 2 tsp vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the almonds and stir for 5 minutes or until golden. Remove almonds from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on absorbent paper.

Add the remaining vegetable oil to the saucepan and heat over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 10-15 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, add the garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom seeds, cloves and chilli powder and stir for 1-2 minutes or until aromatic.

Add the rice to the saucepan and stir over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until the rice is coated with oil and spices and is lightly toasted. Add the stock, coconut milk and the salt, stir, increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed.

Remove the saucepan with rice from the heat. Remove the lid and sprinkle the currants over the rice. Cover with the lid and stand for 3-5 minutes. Sprinkle the coriander over the rice and then stir with a fork to separate the grains and evenly distribute the currants and coriander. To serve sprinkle the rice with the almonds and extra coriander.

My very best wishes to you and your family for a wonderful joy-filled Christmas and much love and blessings to you for 2016. Thanks for stopping by and letting me share some bits and pieces from my world.

Much Love

Chris xx

Chris

Chocolate Cake – Flourless

This recipe, like most that I have acquired over the years, is from an unknown source. It is pure decadence, is rich and simply delicious. The last time I made the cake I overcooked it, but it still had a lovely flavour, a subtle burnt chocolate taste (whatever that tastes like).

The photo was taken by my gorgeous friend, Tracey Berry. Tracey has such a beautiful flair and excellence in whatever she does.

CHOCOLATE CAKE

Ingredients:

500 grams dark chocoloate (70% cocoa)
250 grams unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
6 eggs – separated
6 tbs castor sugar

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180ºC. Chop chocolate and butter, melt in a double saucepan or bowl over boiling water (don’t let the bowl touch the water). Stir in essence and remove from heat. Quickly stir in egg yolks.

Beat egg whites and add sugar gradually. Take 2 – 3 tablespoons of meringue and fold into chocolate mixture, then put whole chocolate mixture into egg whites.

Turn into 23cm lined cake tin. Bake for 45 minutes in pre-heated oven. Take out and let stand for 15 minutes. Remove from tin and put weight on top and leave for 2 hours. Sift icing sugar on top.

Bon Appetit!

If you make this cake, please let me know how you go.

A little story – my darling friend Jules asked her husband to separate 2 eggs. He moved 1 egg to one side of the bench and the other egg to the other side of the bench – his interpretation of separating eggs (and he is an extremely bright and successful man!!).

How great is spring! Goodbye to the cold of winter and welcome the warmth of summer. We popped out on our boat today, to give it a run and do a bit of boat spring cleaning. Have a look at my Instagram photos. We are so fortunate to live in such a beautiful part of Australia. Blessed!!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Love Chris ♥

Chris

Vegetable Lasagne

Hi everyone

My computer was on the blink again…..oh so frustrating. So I haven’t posted since last month. As much as I love the versatility of an iPhone and iPad, it’s just not the same without a “proper” keyboard. So we bought a smaller iMac, which I love as I’m able to cart it around the house (I’m not sure if I’m meant to be doing that – but here I am using it on the coffee table in the lounge room, with the heater on and music blaring out).

Back to the latest recipe. I made this vegetable lasagne for our great friends Jen and Rich last Sunday arvo. The girls also had some and loved it so much I made it again on Wednesday. Unlike most people I’m not a fan of tomato based sauces, so this recipe suits me just fine! This recipe is amongst the many I’ve torn out of magazines, usually Delicious.

Ingredients

10g dried porcini mushrooms
½ (125ml) cup olive oil
1 onion, carrot and celery, finely chopped
1 cup frozen peas
2 bunches asparagus, trimmed, finely chopped
8 button mushrooms (or equivalent) finely chopped
½ cup white wine
1 packet fresh lasagne sheets (I didn’t use the whole packet – freeze remainder)
1 ½ cups parmesan, grated

Bechamel Sauce

110g unsalted butter
¾ cup (110g) plain flour
3 cups (750ml) milk
¼ tsp grated nutmeg

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180ºC and grease a shallow 2L baking dish.

Soak porcini mushrooms in ½ cup (125ml) boiling water for 15 minutes. Drain, reserving liquid and finely chop mushrooms. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring for 3-4 minutes until slightly softened. Add the peas, asparagus, mushrooms, porcini mushrooms and the reserved liquid. Cook, stirring for 3-4 minutes until vegetables soften. Add wine and cook stirring for 1-2 minutes until reduced. Add 1 cup water to pan, season then cook, partially covered and topping up with extra water if necessary, for 30 minutes or until reduced and creamy.

For the béchamel sauce, melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add flour and cook, whisking constantly for 1-2 minutes until smooth. Gradually add the milk, whisking constantly until thick and smooth. Remove from heat, add nutmeg and season with salt. Cover surface with baking paper, then set aside.

Spoon one-third of the vegetables into baking dish. Cover with lasagne sheets, one-third of the béchamel sauce and one-third of the parmesan. Repeat layers 2 more times. Cover with baking paper and foil, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and paper, and bake for a final 15 minutes or until golden. Rest the lasagne for 5 minutes then serve.

Bon Appetit!

It’s worth the time in your kitchen to make this dish. It really is very tasty and has moved into our favourites list (which means Geoff will be having it anytime we have someone over for lunch or dinner haha). Let me know if you make it and what you think. Do you have a favourite lasagne recipe?

Winter starts tomorrow – enjoy your week, rugging up and embracing the chilly season!!

Love Chris ♥

Chris

Red Lentil & Vegetable Soup

Hi everyone….Hope you had a great Easter break. This is our favourite soup. I have put a photo of the ingredients because when you see the photo of the finished soup you may not want to make it! It certainly doesn’t look very appetising!! But my family loves it. I make this every week during the colder months……which is now as far as I’m concerned as we’ve said goodbye to summer. I use my slow cooker, but a large saucepan is fine. The vegetables listed here are just the base, and you could add whatever vegetables you need to use up. I used to make it without the pumpkin or sweet potato but it is much tastier with them included. I often put in frozen peas, sometimes bacon or tinned tomatoes. It’s one of those soups that thicken and a great go to snack after school, uni or work. Oh yes, that’s right I don’t do school anymore ho hum. The size of the vegetables are just a rough idea, it’s pretty much what I have in the fridge.

Ingredients:

2 cups red lentils (or this 375gm packet)
2 Tbs olive oil
2 small brown onions – chopped
1 garlic clove – crushed
2 large carrots – sliced or diced
3 sticks celery – sliced
3 cups vegetable stock (I use the cubes but feel free to use liquid stock)
Half a pumpkin – chopped large pieces
2 sweet potatoes – chopped large pieces

Method:

Wash the lentils and set aside. Heat oil in pan and saute onions and garlic until translucent. Add the rest of the vegetables and saute about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Whenever I make soup with vegetables I always saute them, it adds a lovely flavour. Add the vegetable stock and lentils, mix well and slowly simmer until the lentils and vegetables are soft. I cook this on my slow cooker for 3 hours. It freezes well too.

Let me know if you make this soup or have any questions? I love it because it contains so much goodness. This recipe is for my darling friend Sandy.

Bon Appetit.

Geoff and I and some great friends are off to Bathurst this weekend to ride in the Blayney to Bathurst (B2B) cycle on Sunday – around 70kms. We’ve done it twice. It’s so different riding through the countryside as opposed to our beautiful rides through Ku-Ring-Gai National Park, West Head, Akuna Bay and Duffys Forest. “I love the smell of cow manure in the morning.” When we go through the little country towns there are crowds sitting outside the local pub having a beer and cheering us on. I’m tempted to join them – not for a beer but perhaps a Chardonnay haha. Everyone is really friendly and it is wonderful riding in the beauty of the Central Tablelands! Have a great weekend.

Love Chris x

Chris

Goat’s Cheese Tartlets

Every time we have a family gathering eg. Christmas or more recently my mum’s 80th birthday, I make these tasty tartlets. I’m lucky enough to have a Thermomix so I make my own onion jam, but I’m sure good quality onion jam/relish can be purchased. You can find the pastry cases in either Thomas Dux or Harris Farm. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

Onion Jam
2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
24 mini pastry cases
Goat’s Cheese, crumbled (I use Meredith Dairy – Chèvre (not marinated), Mainland or Soignon – just not feta)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
125ml cream

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180°C,
Place pastry cases onto a baking tray and put a small amount of onion jam into each of the pastry cases then spoon some cheese over the onion. Don’t overfill as you need to have enough room for the cream mixture.
Combine the eggs with the cream, add thyme, season then pour into the pastry cases.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until puffed and golden, remove from the oven.
Leave for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. They can be made a day in advance and re-heated in a slow oven for 10 minutes.

They are delicious with a glass of Champagne – but that’s just me. Let me know if you have any questions. If you make them I would love to know what you think.

Bon Appetit.

Love Chris ♥

Chris

Pasta with Vegetables

If you are looking for a way to serve vegetables to your children, this is a great recipe. I used to make this every week when the girls were little. In fact when I made it the other day so I could put up a photo – they both said “I remember this, we used to have it all the time – I loved it”. I still have the cut out copy of the recipe dated June 6, 2006 from Good Living in the Sydney Morning Herald and I believe the recipe is one of Bill Granger’s (I have all his books). The copy is looking all brown and rumbled – reminds me of my Nanna’s recipes collected over the years.

Pasta with Tomato, Zucchini and Carrot

400g wholemeal spiral pasta (I couldn’t find spiral for this photo – but it is much better)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small zucchini, finely grated
1 small carrot, finely grated
1 garlic clove, crushed (sometimes I only used ½)
400g tin chopped tomatoes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp shredded basil (didn’t always put in)
Freshly grated parmesan, to serve (sometimes I threw on grated cheddar instead – preferred by my children)

Method:

Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of lightly salted boiling water according to packet instructions or until al dente. Drain well.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the grated zucchini and carrot and cook stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Add garlic and cook stirring for 1 minute further.

Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes or until slightly thickened, season and stir the basil through. Toss hot pasta with sauce, sprinkled with parmesan, if desired.

Serves 4.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I’m certainly no photographer, but thought I should put something up haha.

Let me know if your children like it – I hope so.

Enjoy your week.

Love Chris ♥

Chris

What’s for Dinner

I’ve put together a couple of dishes that my family loves. They are all easy to prepare. As you are aware, I’m no photographer but thought I’d throw in some photos to give you an idea how they look when I make them.

Marinated Chicken

1 kg chicken thigh fillets (fat removed)
½ cup virgin olive oil
½ cup soy sauce
¼ cup honey

Blend the olive oil, soy sauce and honey in a container. Add the chicken, coat and let marinate for a couple of hours. You might need more marinade if you don’t feel the chicken is coated sufficiently. There are many variations to this simple recipe. Feel free to add garlic and ginger.

I cook these on the BBQ (we have a Weber which is sensational). Not too high heat as the honey can make them burn.

Green Salad

Mixed salad leaves
Avocado
Cucumber
Red Capsicum
Asparagus
Good quality dried cranberries
Seeds from Pomegranate
Cherry Tomatoes (cut in half)
Goats Cheese (if your family likes it) it makes the salad creamy and delicious
Walnuts or Pine Nuts (roasted) – See hint below

Toss, throw on some dressing (if I don’t have my home made one I’ve been using Paul Newmans Classic dressing) or some flavoured Virgin Olive Oil eg. Lemon Myrtle or Lime Infused

Rocket Salad

Rocket leaves
Roasted walnuts
Parmesan cheese
Really good quality lemon or lime infused virgin olive oil (from delicatessen)

It’s really important to gently roasts the walnuts in a pan on the stove-top. They don’t taste nearly as nice if done in the oven (in fact I think they taste awful). Also grab a block of parmesan cheese and peel slices off with your vegetable peeler. Toss all together and enjoy.

Potato Scrunchy

I cook potatoes that have been cut in half (or baby potatoes) until soft. Throw some virgin olive oil in a roasting pan, place potatoes skin side up and then press down with potato masher. Throw some more oil on top then sprinkle with Roast Vegetable Sprinkle (Masterfoods). Bake in pre-heated 200º oven for 30 minutes or until they have browned.

I sometimes throw some asparagus and corn on the BBQ. Let me know if you make them or if you have any questions.

Bon Appetit!

Love Chris xx

Chris

Chicken Coriander Balls

These little chicken balls are simply delicious. My friend Jules gave me the recipe, and we both agree that we are lucky to get half of them to the table as we start munching on them as soon as they are cool enough. I don’t think they need sauce either as they are so moist due to the coconut milk. So if you are taking something along to a party – these are perfect.

Ingredients:

500 gms chicken mince
2 cloves of garlic (crushed)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
4 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 tin (160ml) coconut milk
¼ cup chopped coriander

Method:

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl – spoon into greased mini muffin tins. Bake in a preheated oven – 180° C for 15 minutes.

Bon Appetit.

Sorry that I don’t put photos along the way and this one was taken by my iPhone. Trust me they taste much better than they look. If you make them, please let me know what you think.

Love Chris ♥