Things have been a little hectic this week as I prepare to leave for New Zealand next Tuesday. In between the end of term school events/birthday parties/play dates and shopping for supplies for my men-folk who’ll be staying back, I’ve been trying to squeeze in the odd cuppa with friends, complete some sewing orders and prepare a few freezer meals on top of spring cleaning our home and of course pack. It’s daft to be trying to do so much before I leave but I seem to work better under pressure and to be honest, I could do with the distraction. It’s been a few years since I’ve travelled home and even longer since our youngest three were there so you can well imagine the excitement that is building.
When I know I have a busy schedule ahead of me I opt to keep our meals fairly light and simple and prepare what I can ahead of time. This allows me to throw a salad, such as this one, together in mere minutes. The thing I love about a salad like this is that it is a great base for other flavours and ingredients depending on what you have on hand. Don’t be afraid to play around and make it your own.
Roasted kumara, beet and quinoa salad with an orange-tahini dressing – serves 2-3 as a main or 4-6 as a side
Ingredients: (salad)
1 cup quinoa
2 beetroot – peeled and chopped into cubes
1 medium kumara (sweet potato) peeled and chopped into cubes
1 Tbsp olive oil
handful parsley – chopped finely
toasted walnuts – chopped roughly
1/2 cup of orange-tahini dressing
Ingredients: (dressing) – makes 3/4 cup
juice and zest of 1 orange (1/2 cup juice/2 tsp zest)
3 Tbsp tahini
1 Tbsp sweetener of choice
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper
Method:
Preheat oven to 180°. Toss the cubed kumara and beets in oil and place on a baking tray. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and tender.
In a pot bring 2 cups of water to the boil. Rinse the quinoa in a sieve under running water and leave to drain. Once the water is boiling, add the quinoa to the pot, cover and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook the quinoa for approximately 12 minutes. (Quinoa is cooked when it has swelled, becomes translucent and has a little tail sprout on the end of it) Once cooked fluff up with a fork and set aside to cool.
Shake the dressing ingredients together in a jar until well combined and creamy.
Add the quinoa to a bowl with roasted veggies, chopped parsley, nuts and the dressing and toss gently to combine.
Notes:
- left over dressing is delicious drizzled over porridge or a fresh fruit salad or stirred through greek yoghurt (if tolerated*)
- any roasted vegetables work well in a salad like this. zucchini, tomatoes and eggplant are particular favourites
- use whatever fresh herbs you have on hand. mint and coriander are a wonderful addition
- crumbed feta* rounds out the flavours beautifully
- substitute lemon for the orange for a more zesty dressing
- freshly grated ginger and chopped garlic give a lovely zing to the dressing as does ground cumin - use in 1 tsp amounts
- any lightly toasted nuts and seeds go well with salads like this
- serve on a bed of mixed salad leaves or wilted spinach/kale for a more substantial meal
- great side to bbq/grilled/roasted meat or salmon
I kind of put my foot in it last week. I was bragging about how amazing a brioche loaf would be in a request for bread and butter pudding without even knowing how to make brioche. I’m certainly not new to bread making, I used to make bread by hand on a regular basis until I found out I am gluten intolerant and it lost it's appeal, so I thought to myself ‘how hard can it be?’ Have you ever made brioche? Well let me tell you that it would be a piece of cake if you have a mixer of some sort but to make it by hand takes c o m m i t t m e n t ! It’s messy, time consuming and somewhat tiring!! Don’t be put off by the messy hard work though, the rhythmic kneading action is kind of therapeutic and the mix does eventually come together into a soft, smooth, pliable dough. I'm also told that the effort I went to was well worth it *wink
This brioche was used to make the most luxurious bread and butter pudding – recipe coming soon, and I think it would make an equally delectable french toast.
Brioche – makes one large or two small loaves
(recipe from Gourmet Traveller but the method is my own)
Ingredients:
160ml warm milk
1 1/2 tsp yeast
5 egg yolks – lightly beaten
375g flour, plus extra for dusting
30g sugar
150g butter – cubed
1 egg – egg wash
Method:
Sprinkle the yeast over half of the milk and mix gently. Set aside till frothy, approximately 5 minutes. Whisk egg yolks into the remaining milk and set aside.
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl then pour in both the yeast and yolk mixtures and mix till well combined and dough like. Tip out onto a lightly floured bench and knead for approximately 10 mins. Once you have a nice dough, flatten out and place half of the cubed butter on one side of the dough then fold the remaining dough over the top of the butter. This gets messy but you need to work the butter into the dough. Knead the dough, working the butter in, till it is well combined and then repeat with the remaining butter. Trust me, it does come together but requires a good 15-20 mins of vigorous kneading.
Once you have a nice smooth dough place it into a butter bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size. Once doubled, gently fold the dough over on itself a few times then cling wrap and place in the fridge overnight.
In the morning remove the dough from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature before placing into a lined loaf tin (this is where you can divide the dough to make two loaves). Leave the dough to rise for a second time. Preheat oven 180° and brush the loaf/loaves with the egg wash. Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped. Cool briefly in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack.
In her younger days, my mum was never very adventurous when it came to cooking. Yes, she cooked everything from scratch but tended to stick to a handful of tried and trusted meals which we had on high rotation. I think trying to satisfy the fussy needs of her six children put her off extending her recipe repertoire. Curry wasn’t something we had very often and when we did it was good old curry sausages or eggs made in a white curry sauce (white sauce and curry powder) *yuk! I should add that as a child I disliked both eggs and sausages so those meal times were a test of my mothers patience and my will power.
As us kids grew older mum did start expanding on her culinary efforts, she makes a mean thai chilli chicken dish, but the running joke when we now come together as a family is just how bad her cooking was. Unlike my mum I tend to follow in my fathers footsteps when it comes to cooking and am not afraid to experiment and push the boundaries. That said, I do know what it’s like to cook for a fuss pot or two so can empathise with what my mum had to deal with but by the same token, I always encourage our children to try something at least once before they turn their noses up at it and I don't allow their fussy tendencies, which change on any given day, to dictate what I cook - bad mother!
Gone are the days of a white sauce based curry, I left that behind with my childhood. These days I’m all about a homemade curry paste that allows me the flexibility to tweak the flavours to suit whatever ingredients I have on hand. The beauty of a curry dish is that it is versatile, hearty and a one pot meal that is super simple and fast to make…win/win in my books.
Eggplant and capsicum curry – serves 2-3
Ingredients: (curry)
1 small eggplant – diced
1 choko – peeled and diced
1/2 each of a red, yellow and green capsicum – diced
1.5 cups coconut milk/cream
1 tsp coconut oil/ghee
2 Tbsp curry paste – recipe below
cauliflower rice/rice of choice/quinoa to accompany
Ingredients: (curry paste)
2 Tbsp coriander seeds
1 Tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp peppercorns
1 tsp Himalayan/rock salt
1-2 fresh chillies – chopped - can use 1-2 tsp chilli flakes
3 cloves garlic – crushed
1/2 onion – finely diced
1 cm piece each of grated tumeric and ginger - can use 1 tsp each of ground
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
Method:
For the paste, place the seeds and peppercorns into a dry frypan and toast gently, swirling the pan often, over medium heat until fragrant and starting to brown. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a few minutes. Add the seeds to a mortar and pestle with the salt and grind till fine. Add the remaining paste ingredients to the mortar and pestle and continue to grind until you have a somewhat smooth paste.
For the curry, heat the coconut oil/ghee over medium heat. Add the curry paste and cook, stirring, for a minute or so. Pour in the coconut milk/cream and the vegetables and turn down to a gentle simmer. Cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes until the vegetables are tender then serve in bowls with quinoa or rice of choice.
Notes:
- diced or tinned tomato can be used as a base instead of coconut milk/cream
- use whatever vegetables you have on hand, sweet potato and spinach is a particular favourite
- beans or chickpeas are a nice addition as is finely sliced cooked beef or chicken strips
- I tend to use the whole amount of curry paste above if I am cooking for my entire family of ten and up the vegetables and liquid accordingly but if I am making enough for 2-3 serves, I generally put any remaining paste into a small glass jar and cover with a thin layer of olive oil before lidding and refridgerating for up to a week
- use more or less chillies depending on the amount of heat you can tolerate
- serve alongside naan and greek yoghurt for a more substantial meal
- don't let the amount of ingredients in the paste intimidate you, it's well worth the effort of making your own paste
