Category: Vegetarian

Spaghetti with Smothered’ Onions and Parmesan

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

This is a fantastic pasta.

I cooked it a few years back for dinner with a friend and despite almost an hour and a half of ribbing that I was cooking a vegetarian dinner – and one primary around onions at that – the ribbing pretty quickly wrapped up after plating.

The flavours are just beautiful. The simplicity, depth, warmth and completeness of it all is just so comforting. The sweetness and texture of the onions after almost one and half hours of cooking. The parmesan. The pasta. I’m excited just thinking about it!

Read those ingredients and then the method and seriously tell me you aren’t thinking how good this dish would be!

(I think I have no choice but to cook this again this weekend!)

Ingredients

½ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 large onions (700gm in all), using a combination of white and red, very thinly sliced
2 fresh bay leaves
2 rosemary sprigs
⅔ cup (160ml) dry white wine
2 tbs chopped flat leaf parsley
500gm spaghetti
⅓ cup freshly grated parmesan

Method

  1. Place the oil, onion, bay leaves and rosemary in a large frypan. Cover and place over a very low heat. Gently cook, stirring occasionally for at least 45 minutes until the onion is extremely soft.
  2. Uncover, increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring, for another 20 minutes or until onion is a deep golden colour. Any liquid should have evaporated by now.
  3. Season well with salt and pepper (to balance the sweetness of the onion).
  4. Add the wine, increase the heat to high and cook for 15 minutes, stirring constantly, until the wine has evaporated. Stir in the parsley, cover and keep warm.
  5. Meanwhile cook the spaghetti in salted water according to instructions and al dente. Drain then add to the pan with the onions and toss over medium heat to combine well.
  6. Transfer to a warmed serving bowl, top with parmesan then toss thoroughly and serve.

Mulled Wine

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

A simple question to ask a prospective friend: “Mulled wine?”

Because if the answer is ‘yes’, you have a friend.

Because mulled wine is also your friend.

It’s the acceptance that wine is great though worthy of a reboot from time to time. That wine isn’t the end-point and really just part of the heavy-lifting.

It’s winter and we are all bored.

Get the music cranking, mix up a batch of this wine and toast the best part of winter.

Nat and I did.

Ingredients

10 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
¼ cup caster sugar
1 roughly grated nutmeg
2 cups water
Roughly grated rind of 1 orange
1 apple, roughly chopped, skin on
750ml (1 bottle) fruity red wine such as merlot

Method

  1. Don’t drink the wine yet.
  2. Heat cloves, cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg, water, orange rind and apple in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes.
  3. Add red wine and simmer for another 5 minutes. Strain and serve.
  4. Again and again and again.

Quinoa, Broccolini and Asparagus Salad

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 4 as a side

An unusual salad to write up on the coldest day in Sydney this year, though the house is warm and for a healthy Monday evening, there isn’t much not to love.

Let’s start with healthy: 217 calories a serve.

Taste? Fresh, clean, green and wholesome.

Ease? Way up there.

The quinoa is a bit of a star adding weight and nourishment, though it all pulls together and makes you feel like you are eating your way through a green garden.

And with plenty left for tomorrow‘s lunch – with the smoky barbequed salmon we also cooked tonight, flaked on top – as long as the office is warm, this is an awesome, filling meal the next day.

From Tobie and Georgia Puttock’s book, The Chef gets Healthy.

Ingredients

2 heaped tbps low fat plain Greek-style yoghurt
Sea salt and cracked pepper
2 small handfuls of mint leaves
2 pinches ground cumin
¾ cup (150gm) quinoa
1 bunch broccolini, ends trimmed and cut into 3cm lengths
1 bunch asparagus, end trimmed and cut into 3cm lengths
1 bulb baby fennel
1 tbsp salted baby capers, rinsed and roughly chopped
1 small handful of dill, chopped
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Method

  1. Place the yoghurt in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Finely chop half the mint leaves and mix into the yoghurt. Sprinkle with a pinch of cumin, cover and place in the fridge until needed.
  2. Toast the quinoa in a heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat, stirring continuously for 2 minutes. Add 2 cups (500ml) water and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and hold at a simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside, covered, for 5 minutes to allow the quinoa to absorb any remaining liquid. Transfer the quinoa to a large bowl and place in the fridge covered for about 10 minutes to cool.
  3. Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and blanch the broccolini and asparagus for 1 minute; drain and refresh under cold water. Set aside.
  4. Remove the stalks from the fennel bulb. Reserve the fronds and discard the stalks. Cut the fennel in half lengthways, then slice into thin strips. Place in a bowl of ice water to keep fresh and crisp.
  5. Remove the cooled quinoa from the fridge. Add the broccolini, asparagus, fennel, capers, dill, lemon zest and juice, remaining mint leaves and a pinch of cumin, reserved fennel fronds and a good drizzle of olive oil. Mix carefully by hand and season.
  6. Serve with a dollop of the yoghurt mixture on top.

Adam Liaw’s Walnut and Watercress Salad

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

This is a really wonderful salad. So good in fact, that Nat wants to bottle the dressing for friends.

The nuttiness of the walnut with the freshness of the watercress and mint is special.

Even the boys hoovered it up.

Sophisticated, clean, healthy and fresh.

A must do.

Ingredients

½ cup peeled walnuts*
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp honey
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 anchovy fillets (or ½ tsp salt)
1 bunch watercress, picked and washed
1 cup loosely packed mint leaves

Method

  1. Place half the walnuts in a small food processor with the vinegar, olive oil, honey, mustard and anchovies (or salt), and process to a smooth dressing.
  2. Toss the watercress, mint leaves and remaining walnuts in the dressing.

* Toast the walnuts – either in the oven or in a pan – until darkened and the skins are starting to flake. In a kitchen towel, rub the nuts together until the skins separate and then in a colander, shake to separate the skins from the nuts.

Pea, Snowpea, Almond and Feta Salad

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

What a great salad!

190 calories a serve, really colourful and bursting with flavour.

This is a real win.

From Toby and Georgia Puttock’s book The Chef gets Healthy, this is a great salad. I mean, who doesn’t love peas – and snowpeas – and with the toasted almonds and some feta?!

Try it and you’ll understand why!

(Slightly adapted to our steam/microwave lives.)

Ingredients

150gm snowpeas, ends trimmed
150gm frozen (baby) peas
½ red onion, thinly sliced
50gm reduced fat feta
30gm flaked almonds, toasted
Handful of basil leaves, roughly torn
1 ½ tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Handful of rocket or watercress

Method

  1. Blanch – steam, boil, microwave –the snowpeas and peas until bright green and tender crisp; drain and refresh with cold water. Drain again.
  2. Put the snowpeas, peas, onion, feta, almonds, basil, olive oil and vinegar in a large bowl and toss to combine, Season and carefully toss through the rocket or watercress.
  3. Enjoy.

Tzatziki

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

A bit boring I know, though a good, home-made tzatziki is pretty cool.

Low fat – if you do it with low, or zero fat yoghurt – and tasty with pretty much anything you can throw at it. Meat, crackers, vegetables.

No guilt.

Ingredients

1 Lebanese cucumber, coarsely grated
Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
200gm low-fat (or fat free) Greek-style yoghurt
2 tbsp finely chopped mint
1 clove garlic, crushed

Method

  1. Put the grated cucumber in a fine-meshed sieve over a bowl and sprinkled with a pinch of salt. Set aside for 20 minutes or more to drain off the excess moisture.
  2. Place the salted cucumber, yoghurt, mint and garlic in a bowl and mix to combine. Season and enjoy for the next few days.

Italian-style Zucchini and Parmesan Soup

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

Wow this is a good soup!

Like, wow.

Neil Perry of course and reasonable quick to whip up, Nat and I cooked this for a Saturday lunch as part of a weekend of cooking and we were blown away.

We used a very good and aged parmesan and shaved it in; not the yellow stuff you get in the supermarket. Some warmed, crusty bread and wow.

We were warm and completely satisfied for the entire afternoon.

You must do this!

Ingredients

750gm green zucchini, cut into 1cm-thick pieces
Extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 bunch basil
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
1½ liters chicken stock
125ml pure cream
40gm unsalted butter
40gm parmesan, grated, plus extra to serve

Method

  1. Heat a little olive oil in a heavy-based sauce pan over a medium heat and add the zucchini, garlic, basil and a good pinch of sea salt. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the zucchini starts to soften.
  2. Add the stock, bring to the boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for about 8 minutes.
  3. Pour the soup into the blender and pulse until well pureed though still with a bit of texture; not completely smooth.
  4. Return to the saucepan and stir in the cream, butter and the parmesan.
  5. Serve with a sprinkle of grated parmesan and a good ground of fresh pepper.

Bread and sage stuffing

.Reading time 1 minute.

 Serves: 4 – 6 as part of a Christmas lunch

Rather than offending everyone’s grandmother by dissing stuffings containing nuts, oysters and apricots and jammed into the cavities of chickens and turkeys, I’m going to take a positive path with this post and simply state that as enjoyable as all the world’s stuffings are, my personal belief is that this stuffing is the world’s finest.

And I know I am not alone.

From a catering perspective, it is super simple, especially as it can be made independently of any turkey cavity. From a taste perspective, it is just awesome.

If tradition bars you from inching away from Grandmother’s secret stuffing recipe for Christmas lunch, add Turkey Subs to your repertoire and earn a free pass to try this stuffing

I promise you will never look back.

Ingredients

¾ cup minced onion
1 ½ cups chopped celery stalks and leaves
1 cup butter
1 large bowl soft white bread cubes
Powdered chicken stock
1 ½ teaspoons dried sage (not powdered)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Pepper 

Method

  1. Cook the onion and celery in the butter until soft.
  2. Mix with the bread cubes until coated.  Add the sage and thyme and stock powder and pepper to taste.
  3. Turn into a baking dish and cover with foil.  Bake at medium heat for 30 minutes to an hour or until cooked through.  Remove the foil at the end of cooking to crisp the top.

Onion Rings

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

My first memory of onion rings was at a restaurant (chain) in Neutral Bay, Tony Romas.

Yes, the world famous Tony Romas had two outlets in Sydney before they shut at the Big Bear in Neutral Bay 20 years ago and then again in the city, around ten years ago.

Institiution lost!

My parents took us probably a dozen times, primarily for the onion rings and ribs, though just as equally because it was one of those restaurants that encouraged kids to draw on their paper placemat. It was a win-win for parents and kids alike.

When I was around 14, my mother bought a portable deep fryer and I remember cooking onion rings for several Sunday-evenings in a row, just before returning to boarding school for the week.

Served with steak, ribs, fried chicken, pork or whatever, these rings are magic and unquestionably worth the effort. Just make sure you go slow when dropping the onion rings into the boiling oil.

I learned that lesson the hard way.

P.S. When Nat and I were in Hawaii last year, we ate twice at Tony Romas and unless you are mad, you should make the trek as well. It is the best!

Ingredients

8 onions, thinly sliced into rings (I’d allow 2 for each person or more!)
Milk to cover
4 egg yolks
Flour
Sunflower oil

Method

  1. Soak the onions in the milk for at least 20 minutes.
  2. Add the yolk to the onions/milk, stir to combine and discard all liquid.
  3. Toss onion in flour to coat, shaking off excess.
  4. Heat oil in deep fryer, large, heavy saucepan or wok to 190c. This temperature should turn a cube of bread golden in 30 seconds.
  5. Fry the onions in batches; this should take a minute or two up to 3 minutes depending on how you like them.

Basic Hollandaise Sauce

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4 – 6

I believe that Hollandaise Sauce is one of those staples that Gordon Ramsay demands you cook for him in Kitchen Nightmares (which of course you can’t) before he rubbishes your grubby restaurant and then rebuilds it by simplifying your menu, throwing out all your furniture and putting a sign out front.

So best you know this simple and classic version then, kindly supplied (though not cooked) by my father.

My mother bemoans that she fast-tracks this sauce by using a food processor though I don’t know what she is talking about. I doubt Gordon would either and not before he threw a chair at you.

Get the water-bath going and do it right.

(And have an ice-cube ready if the sauce splits; just whisk it in a voila!)

Ingredients

4 large egg yolks
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
170gm (12 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted
Pinch of cayenne
Sea salt

Method

  1. Position a large heatproof bowl over a pot of barely simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water.
  2. In the bowl, whisk the yolks, lemon juice, and mustard until well combined.
  3. Gradually whisk in the butter in a thin stream and keep whisking until the sauce is thick enough for the whisk to leave tracks that hold for a couple of seconds, 1 to 2 minutes.
  4. Whisk in the cayenne and season to taste with salt.
  5. Keep the sauce warm in its bowl set over the simmering water, whisking occasionally, until ready to use.