Category: Vegetarian

Cucumber and Feta Dip

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 8 snacking guests

There is something special about arriving at someone’s house and being presented with a few homemade dips. It says something nice about your host and it tells you how they feel about you.

I’ve been making my own skinny hommus of late, though I really should get into the habit of making more and more dips; a few dips on hand and a box of chopped carrot sticks in the fridge would be all I needed to bridge the lunch to dinner gap and it would be far more interesting than a boiled egg or an apple!

This wonderful dip is courtesy of my mother. I made it over the weekend with low-fat feta and geez it’s good with brown rice crackers and a glass of wine before dinner.

Get on it! Make your guests feel special!

Ingredients

2 large Lebanese cucumbers, peeled, deseeded and finely diced
Salt and pepper
225gm feta, crumbled
1/8 + cup olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp water
1 small red onion, finely diced
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
2 tbsp finely chopped mint

  1. Place the diced cucumber in a colander, sprinkle with salt, allow to drain for 30 + minutes, and then rinse and pat dry.
  2. Mash together the feta, olive oil, lemon juice, water and some pepper, and then mix in the cucumber, onion and herbs.

Eggplant Chips

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4 – 8 snacking guests

The most important thing about this rather simple dish is not that it is low in carbs, nor that the chips taste great.

No, the most important thing is that you get the eggplant slices as dry as you can.

Because as we know, good chips are dry chips. If need be, bake a little longer than instructed to get them golden.

And enjoy!

Ingredients

6 baby eggplants
2 tbsp sea salt
Oliver oil cooking spray
1 c no-fat Greek-style yoghurt
1 small Lebanese cucumber, finely chopped
1 small garlic clove, crushed
½ tsp finely grated lemon rind
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

  1. After washing the eggplants, slice the eggplants into thinish discs.
  2. Place the eggplant discs on a tray and sprinkle with sea salt. Set aside for 30 minutes to remove excess moisture.
  3. Heat the oven to 180c and line a baking tray with baking paper.
  4. Pat the eggplant slices with paper towel to remove any excess moisture and salt. Place the eggplant discs on the baking tray, spray both sides of the eggplant discs with the oil and bake for 15 minutes or until golden and crisp.
  5. Meanwhile, combine the yoghurt, cucumber, garlic, lemon rind and dill in a bowl to make the tzazziki dip.
  6. Season and drizzle with a little olive oil if you wish.

Guillaume Brahimi’s Blueberry Muffins

.Reading time 1 minute.

Makes 12

I’ve cooked a few Guillaume Brahimi recipes and they’re always great. His Roast Organic Chicken with tomato confit, spinach and cauliflower veloute is a very fine, homer French recipe.

I have made these muffins as gifts a few times, especially at Christmas. They’re as good as a bottle of Champagne and as simple as they are, they taste so clean and fresh. The way muffins should be versus the dense centrally-baked stuff you get served in meetings.

These will take you 20 mins to make so just do it. They’re worth every minute.

Oh, the sifting of the flours etc is an important component of this dish and the texture of the muffins so don’t skip it.

Ingredients

1 tbsp lemon zest
½ cup caster sugar
80g butter, melted
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup plain wholemeal flour, sifted
1 ½ cups plain flour, sifted
1 tbsp baking power, sifted
250g blueberries

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200c. Combine the lemon zest, sugar, butter, milk and eggs in a bowl.
  2. In a separate bowl, mix the flour and the baking powder. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mix, then add the blueberries. Stir until it is combined; do not over-mix.
  3. Spoon the batter into lightly greased muffin tins and bake for 15 – 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Remove, then cool on a wire rack.

Neil Perry’s Pan-fried Polenta

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves 4

If you cook this and serve it with a roast or a braise, it will replace mash as your go-to side. Hands down, money on it.

It is a Neil Perry dish (tick) and it continues (as far as I know) to be served in Qantas First and Business Class (tick). It can be prepared beforehand (tick) and people’s eyes light up when they taste it (tick).

It’s creamy, it tastes great, it sops up all the juices on the plate and it can be reheated the next day.

Tick tick tick.

None of us cook enough polenta. This dish will resolve that for you.

Ingredients

2/3 cup (100g) polenta
1 1/2 cups (375ml) milk
1 cup (250ml) chicken stock
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup (50g) finely grated Parmesan
50g unsalted butter, chopped well
Freshly ground pepper
Extra virgin oil

Method

  1. Lightly grease a rectangular baking tin (or small baking dish as I did). Line the tin with baking paper.
  2. Bring the milk, stock and sea salt to scalding point (just below boiling point) in a large saucepan.
  3. Gradually shower the polenta into the milk mixture, stirring continuously with a whisk.
  4. Simmer, still stirring for about 40 minutes, or until the polenta is very thick and pulls cleanly away from the side of the pan.
  5. Remove from the heat, stir in the parmesean, butter, salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Spread the polenta immediately into the tin and allow to cool slightly. Cover and refrigerate for about 3 hours, or until firm.
  7. Run a sharp knife around the edges of the tin and gently turn out the polenta. Cut into eight slices thick.
  8. Quickly pan-fry the polenta slices in a little olive oil on both sides until lightly browned.

Pommes Dauphinoise (French Potatoes with Nutmeg and Gruyere)

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves 6 – 8

There are hundreds of interpretations of this dish.

This one is a Orlando Murrin recipe from Delicious magazine. Dauphinoise translates to a “style of cooking” and doesn’t necessarily reflect any one ingredient.

I love cooking rich, baked French potatoes – stock, onions, butter, cream, milk and cheese – and serving them with roasts and casseroles, and this recipe is certainly one of my favourites.

Life is short, eat potatoes.

Ingredients

1 large garlic clove
500ml milk (or half milk, half cream)
Good pinch of ground nutmeg
Pinch of cayenne
900g potatoes, sliced as thinly as possible (I used my brand new mandolin)
175g grated Cantal, Comte (Gruyere) or cheddar

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 180c.
  2. Cut the garlic in half and in a baking dish (2Lt approx), rub the exposed garlic all over. After a few minutes, butter the dish well.
  3. Crush the garlic and add all the ingredients (except the cheese) to a saucepan and bring to the boil. Stir continuously to prevent potatoes sticking, simmer for a minute or two until the liquid thickens perceptibly, and then remove from the heat.
  4. Stir in the cheese, reserving a handful.
  5. Pile into the baking dish pushing the potatoes into the liquid so that they do not stick out. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese.
  6. Bake for 45 – 60 minutes until the top is dark and golden and the potatoes tender.

 

Tartiflette (French Cheese and Potato Bake)

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4 – 8 as a side

There is a time and a place for dishes like this.

Not every night and perhaps not even every Saturday, but if you are going to cook something as utterly incredible as Orlando Murrin’s Roast Fillet of Veal in Parmesean Crust, well there sir, you have the time and place for a dish like this.

I mean, you can always go for a 15km walk in the morning right?

(If you don’t have pancetta, keep looking. You can substitute but seriously…)

Ingredients

1kg potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
50g unsalted butter
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tsp chopped thyme
200g Speck or Pancetta
1/2 cup white wine
200ml thickened cream
250g raclette or reblochon cheese grated (substitute, gruyere)

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 190c.
  2. Boil the potatoes for 3 or so minutes; they should be started to soften though not fully softened.
  3. Melt the butter over a medium-low heat in a large frying pan. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes or until soft, stirring occasionally.
  4. Add the garlic, thyme and Speck (or pancetta) and cook, stirring for 5 minutes.
  5. Add the white wine, cream, most of the cheese and the potato and stir to combine. Season.
  6. Transfer the mixture to a large baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
  7. Cover with a sheet of baking paper (to prevent sticking) and then foil.
  8. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the baking paper/foil and continue cooking for another 20 minutes or until bubbling and golden.

Jamie Oliver’s Real Mushroom Soup

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 6 – 8

It is true – I think – that at its most basic, mushroom soup is mushroom soup. It’s tasty enough, it is nice warm or cold, it’s filling and it’s healthy.

This spin on mushroom soup by Jamie Oliver not only adds a bit of zing to the whole thing, it is one of those cannot-be-ignored opportunities to use truffle oil!

And it’s still healthy which is why I must have two gallons of it frozen and ready for dethaw on any given night where I am too tired to cook.

You should consider the same!

(Slight adaptation of the recipe where I increased mushrooms from 600gm to 1kg.)

Ingredients

1 small handful dried porcini (I also used some shiitake)
Extra virgin olive oil
1kg mixed fresh wild mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 handful fresh thyme, leaves picked
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 litre chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon mascarpone cheese
1 lemon
Truffle oil (optional)
Sliced loaf of bread, brushed with olive oil and grilled

 

Method

  1. Place the porcini in a small dish, cover with boiling water and leave aside.
  2. Heat a heavy saucepan medium-hot and as Jamie Oliver famously puts it, ‘add a good couple of lugs’ of the olive oil and add your mushrooms. Stir for a minute or so and then add the garlic, onion, thyme and season. Meanwhile, chop half your porcini, reserving the liquid.
  3. After a minute or so of cooking, add the chopped and whole porcini and the reserved liquid. Continue cooking on a medium heat for 20 minutes or until most of the liquid has disappeared.
  4. Season again and add the stock. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.
  5. Remove half of the soup and whiz in a blender until smooth. Reintroduce to the remaining soup together with the parsley, mascarpone and a final seasoning as needed.
  6. To serve, a small drizzle of truffle oil, maybe a squeeze of lemon, chopped parsley, perhaps a few reserved and cooked slices of mushroom, a crack of pepper and some oiled and grilled sliced bread.

Dau Hu Rang Muoi (Salt and Pepper Tofu)

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves 2 as a starter

I pulled this recipe from Secrets of the Red Lantern by Pauline Nguyen (recipes also by Luke Nguyen and Mark Jensen).

Red Lantern is a Surry Hills Vietnamese restaurant, with almost a cult following; the food is modern and brilliantly executed, with great service and a dark, red atmosphere.

Indeed, my mother took me to a Fish Market Cooking School around 2003 held by Mark Jensen and we cooked a prawn dish that really marked a turning point in my passion for cooking. Subsequently, I’ve eaten at Red Lantern at least a dozen times since.

This dish is very satisfying, both from the perspective of cooking it, and eating it. Tofu is one of those ingredients you cook just not quite enough to be completely confident; and yet once you’ve finished deep frying it and the smell of the spring onions, chilli and garlic in the oil hits, you know you’re onto something fabulous.

This could be done as part of a Vietnamese feast or a starter as part of a dinner party, possibly served with other interesting starters. It really is a unique, sharp and tasty dish.

Ingredients

250g tofu pillows (Chinese-style pressed firm tofu)
Oil
2 spring onions (scallions), sliced
1 bird’s eye chilli, sliced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Salt and pepper seasoning mix (Combine 1 tbs salt, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp white pepper, 1 tsp ground ginger, ½ teaspoon five-spice)
Lemon

Method

  1. Cut the tofu into 4x2cm cubes and place on a cloth to dry; in a standard tofu pack, this makes 6.
  2. Put enough oil in a wok to deep-fry the tofu, and heat to 180c. This will cook a brown a bread cube in 15 seconds.
  3. Deep-fry the tofu for 5 minutes or until golden and very crispy. Remove from the wok and reserve the oil for later use.
  4. Add 2 teaspoons of the reserved oil to the wok and place over a high heat.
  5. Add the spring onions, chilli and garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds ensuring the garlic doesn’t burn. Add the tofu and salt a pepper seasoning and toss.
  6. Serve with salt, pepper and sprinkle of lemon.

Whole-Wheat Linguine with Green Beans, Ricotta and Lemon

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves 6

This is Giada de Laurentiis’ dish and continues the theme that everything I have cooked of hers has been great.

It is an unassuming recipe and its simplicity is its strength; it’s clean, it’s healthy and it has a mellow, consistent and creamy texture. It’s also very tasty.

I don’t know if I’d serve it to the Queen Mother, though as a Monday night meal, it’s perfect.

For what it’s worth, I doubled some ingredients and this is reflected in the recipe below.

Ingredients

1 pack of Whole-wheat linguine
1 cup low-fat ricotta
3tbs olive oil
500g French green beans, trimmed and halved lengthwise
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1tsp salt
1/3 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 c halved cherry tomatoes
1 lemon, zested

Method

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat.
  2. Add the pasta and cook until cooked. Drain, reserving a cup of the cooking water.
  3. Transfer the drained pasta to a large bowl and add the ricotta cheese and toss to combine.
  4. Meanwhile, in a heavy pan, heat the olive oil over a medium-high heat.
  5. Add the green beans, garlic, salt and pepper and sauté for 4 minutes. Add the cup of cooking water and continue cooking until tender; another few minutes, being careful not to overcook the beans.
  6. Add the pasta with the ricotta to the pan, and toss to combine.
  7. Add the tomatoes and gently toss.
  8. Transfer to serving plate and top with lemon zest.

 

Coriander pesto

.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Serves: Plenty as a dip

Not much to say here except that rather than using this for a pasta, as a dip with crackers or bread, it is so moorish, it will be the first thing to disappear. And I can vouch that it is particularly kid friendly.

Start here for your next party,.

Ingredients

2 c coriander leaves
½ c pine nuts, toasted
½ c grated Parmesan
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp lemon juice
¼ c extra virgin olive oil 

Method

  1. In a food processor, process together the coriander, pine nuts, Parmesan, garlic and lemon juice and with the machine running, add the olive oil.