Vege Crisper Curry

We are obviously not getting to the farm at the moment during COVID-19 Isolation, given it's about 50 minutes drive away... I have had farm produce delivered which is awesome but never the same as picking it yourself... 

I wanted to take advantage of the bounty I had and also start to cook more 'wintry' type meals - it's getting cooler now.

So I got to chopping!   You can use whatever veges you have - I like to put softer type veges like eggplant, beans, corn and peas in later so I keep those separate to root veges.  I don't mind if the sweet potato gets a bit softer, but I do like my beans to have a bit of crunch and my eggplant to have a bit of its' shape.  

All in all this takes about 30 mins to prepare with the shopping and about 1 hour 20 minutes all up til it's on the table.  So it's something you could make earlier in the day between Zoom meetings if you had to and then heat up when it's knock-off time!

Ingredients: (just what is mine, only compulsory vege items are the onions and garlic)

1 large onion or 2 medium onions

3 cloves garlic

2 carrots

2 medium sweet potatoes

250g pumpkin

1 parsnip

2 small eggplant

150g fresh beans

1 tsp garam masala

contents of 4 cardamom pods or 1/4 tsp cardomon powder

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp cayenne powder

1 packet of curry milk powder

1 litre chicken or veg stock

1 can of chickpeas, drained

4 stalks fresh coriander, chopped

Method:

Chop all your veges, finely chop your garlic

Mix together your spices

In a large pot which has a lid, sweat your onions and garlic in a tablespoon of oil over a medium head - then add spices.

Let it become fragrant, about 2 minutes, stirring here and there..

Then add your root vegetables and 1 cup of the stock, put a lid on 

While that is simmering away to the rest of the stock add the coconut milk powder.

After 25 minutes lift the lid and add the coconut stock.. and then your softer vegetables.

Also add your chickpeas

And lastly the coriander.  combine well, put the lid back on and keep simmering over medium heat for another 25 minutes.

It will smell amazing and you can choose to serve it with rice or on its' own.  Either way a winner, the sauce is worth soaking up with the rice or some fresh and warm sourdough.

Green Mac N Cheese !

I mean who doesn’t love Mac N Cheese without the guilt ?  There’s not one person in our house that complains this is green or has veges in it.  The only complaint is whose serve was bigger and why isn’t there anymore !?

I’ve made this probably five or six times and saw it on Jamie Oliver’s Veg series and decided to get the book:

I'm always on the case for having at least one vegetarian meal a week, and this has lots of good ideas for mains and sides.

Green Mac N Cheese takes about 30 minutes to prepare and about 1 hour 10 minutes from first chop to on your table.    It's also one of those meals that can be a meal for 5 or a side for 8-10 serves.  Depends on what you feel like.

I of course have tweaked some of this over the number of times I've made it so feel free to do that yourself,  I've added cherry tomatoes in before the bake, I've put lots of cheese on top before, I've used broccoli instead of broccolini...  Jamie uses flaked almonds instead of panko breadcrumbs, you can use that or regular breadcrumbs... up to you.  

Ingredients

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1 large leek, sliced

200g broccolini, stalks chopped, florets reserved

40 g butter

Thyme - a couple of stalks of fresh or 1/2 tsp dried

2 tb plain flour

1 litre light milk (or whatever you have)

400g pasta of your choice (I use orecchiette)

150g vintage cheddar

30g parmesan cheese

30g spinach (can be baby or silverbeet or even frozen)

1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs 

Method:

Preheat over to 180 degrees c

Chop up your veges, reserve your florets

Put a little oil in the pan, add all veges apart from the florets in the pan and add butter and thyme.  I also put a pot with water to boil for the pasta later.

Let it cook for a while, you want the leek to caramelise.

Then, sprinkle over your flour and mix it in...

Then, add milk approx 150-200ml a time and stir, let it thicken then add another... 

How good does that look!? Smells amazing too!

by the 600ml mark it won't thicken much so just add the rest and let it come to a broil.

Put your pasta into your boiling water


Grate your cheeses - I cheated and put mine in the theromix...



Then add the cheese to your mixture, add your spinach and combine.

Remove from your pan, put into a blender and whizz.  You may have to do a few batches depending on the size of your blender.   My thermomix did the whole thing.

Combine your mixture with pasta and broccolini florets into and ovenproof dish

Then sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top and a little more grated parmesan.

Bake for about 35 minutes until it starts to form golden patches on top.

Enjoy!

Do you reckon you could give this a try?

Aunty Becky's Thai pumpkin soup

Those of you in the Southern Hemisphere who are freezing at the moment or sick or even on the verge of sickness, this is for you my friends.   I spent the past few weeks in and out of Melbourne and this week in Sydney I've really been feeling the cold which is because a) I'm run down and getting sick  b) I'm being a bit of a princess or c) a+b.

My sister gave me this recipe a few weeks ago reporting that all my nieces loved it.   My Olivia, known widely as the anti-pumpkin-brigade will not eat our wonderful regular low-fat pumpkin soup or even Jamie Olivers' pumpkin soup (that worked for a little while though!).  I thought if I let her know that her cousins eat this soup and it's her Aunty Becky's recipe I might have a chance.  Isn't it funny how kids don't eat food you cook but someone else can cook the same thing and they will eat it?  Annoying isn't it?

I've made this twice now and I do get initial rumblings from Olivia but they are short-lived and she does eat it - probably because it doesn't taste overly-pumpkin-y and because it's Aunty Becky's recipe and not mine.  I'll take what I can get to get the veges into my kids!  Eloise and Laura love this one, no complaints at all!

You can make this as spicy as you like, depending on your tastes and those you are serving to.   I spiced mine up a bit because my girls are used to it but you may want to cut the curry paste in half if you have some sensitive taste buds out there :)

I also upped my sister's recipe in quantities because I selfishly want extras for work!  

Ingredients:

1.5 butternut pumpkins, skins cut off, seeds removed and diced

3 small brown onions or 1.5 large ones

4 kaffir lime leaves, stalks removed and thinkly sliced (or crumbled if dried)

2 tb red curry paste

2 large garlic cloves

2 tb brown sugar

2 tb fish sauce

1 litre vegetable or chicken stock

1 400ml tin coconut cream

coriander leaves to serve

Method:
In a heavy saucepan or pot heat some olive oil and sauté your onions and kaffir lime leaves, add curry paste and keep stirring until your onion becomes soft and transparent.

Add your pumpkin, please do make sure they are in small-ish cubes, it takes less time to cook the smaller they are...

Once the pumpkin has had a good covering of the curry paste and onion/kaffir lime - add sugar, garlic and fish sauce.  Stir well.

Lastly add your stock.  It should cover your pumpkin entirely.

Cook for about 20-25 minutes with a lid on, at simmer temperature.  You are ready for the next step when your pumpkin is completely soft.

Transfer your mixture in lots to a blender, add coconut cream and puree until smooth.  You may even want to use a stick blender in the original pot..

If you've used an upright blender, transfer batches back to pot and give a good stir.

Serve with crusty bread!

This would warm the cockles of anyone! Enjoy!

Lazy-as-sin slowcooker scalloped potatoes

Man I love my slowcooker.  This past couple of weeks I've been a bit obsessed with it.  I finally too my own advice and got the Breville flavour maker slowcooker (I've been telling everyone else to buy for near on two years).  What I love about it is how you can use the inner on the stove and transfer to the oven afterwards if you like too.  Brilliant.

This one I chucked together Friday afternoon in less than 10 minutes and served with my homemade swedish meatballs.   I even had leftovers for Sunday's dinner too!


Ingredients:
1kg new potatoes, sliced (I left skin on)
1 brown onion, peeled and sliced
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
1 tin cream of anything soup (I used celery but mushroom, chicken, asparagus anything would be good!)
1/4 cup lite sour cream
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup tasty cheese (optional)


Method:
Place potatoes, onion and garlic in your slow cooker.

Roughly mix your soup, sour cream and milk in a jug and pour over the top.

Put lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours or low for 5. For the last 30 minutes sprinkle over the cheese...

Crisp up until the grill for 10 minutes if you like!

Alfresco dining - Gado Gado (Indonesian salad with peanut sauce)

I must tell you - this past weekend the weather was glorious - it was fraught with activity for us, but I did manage to steal some time in the sunshine and left the windows open and let the warm, fresh air circulate the house... just what the doctor ordered!

We also had our first outdoor meal since winter began, and it was lovely.  And although this salad isn't a quick 'throw-together-affair' it is something you could make in advance and assemble last moment.

The star of this salad is the dressing - peanut satay-ish - and with the combination of crunch from the beans, bean shoots, cucumber and carrot, and the substance of the potato and egg, it's light, but filling and personally I don't think you need to have is as accompaniment, but as a meal in itself.  Although, leftovers can easily fit that purpose or you could make it to feed a crowd at a barbeque.. (I've advised hubby the barbeque will be getting a workout next weekend!).

Ingredients:
Salad:
4 small cobs of corn, boiled for 5 minutes, and cut into disks
1 lebanese cucumber, thickly diced
6 eggs, hard boiled and crumbled
1 1/2 cups bean spouts
20 or so fresh green beans, trimmed and blanched
2 large white potatoes, diced and firmly cooked
1 medium carrot, grated with a potato peeler

Dressing:
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
2/3 cup roasted peanuts
3 cloves garlic
1 small red chili, finely chopped, seeds removed
2 tb lime juice


Method:
Chop, cook and grate ingredients as necessary

In a food processor add all dressing ingredients

Process until smooth, then add water (about 1 1/2 cups) to make it 'drippable'.

Arrange all your ingredients on a large tray or bowl (I prefer it on a tray.. easier to get the sauce on as much as possible..)  Get the kids to help with this bit!

Drizzle sauce over the top and any leftover sauce, put in a bowl, you'll want more I promise!

So put it on your meal plan for the week or even the weekend!

Jamie's (vege crisper) pumpkin soup - skin and all!

How's your vege crisper going?  Is there things in there that need using?  If so, this is your perfect soup.  Kerrie learned to make this at her Food Revolution/Ministry of Food class - it's adapted from a recipe from 'Jamie at Home' and it's super delicious.  I adapted mine slightly because my sage plant has died.  (insert sad face here) and I didn't use croutons at the end.. but this my friends is low fat, has high nutritional value and is delightfully delicious.

The biggest surprise for me with this soup is there is no need to peel the pumpkin - and that suits me down to the ground because I actually don't like that job much - I have visions I'll cut my fingers off doing it if it has a particularly tough skin.. but I used a butternut pumpkin and you don't even notice any difference - AND you are getting more vitamins from the pumpkin.  So you can be quasi lazy and look after yourself... win/win right?

1 tsp dried or 18 fresh sage leaves

2 stalks rosemary, stalks removed

2 red onions, peeled and diced

2 carrots, diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

1 kg butternut pumpkin, seeds removed and diced

1.5 litres chicken stock

Method:

Heat some oil in a pan - if you're using fresh sage, fry them until they are crispy and then remove from the pan - set aside to sprinkle on your soup at the end.  If using dried ground sage, just add it to the oil.

Add rosemary, carrots and onions and heat for about 5 minutes.

Add the celery and pumpkin (see, there's SKIN on the pumpkin!) and heat for another 15 or so minutes.

Add your stock.  Put the lid on and let it go for an hour or so.

The smell is something else.  It smells healthy and homely. You may find yourself with a fork at the pot....

Pile your vegetables into the food processor (if you don't have one, mash very well) and process for about 30 seconds.

Voila!  Soup!

Serve with your favourite bread or croutons!  A lovely winter warmer!

So, what have you go in your crisper that needs using?