Chilli Con Carne

last week I was shocked to learn that a ‘hero’ of mine since my early teens – Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, entrepreneur and activist – passed away. I was surprised at the amount of grief I felt for the loss someone I didn’t know personally, but I do feel she made an impact on the world, and she definitely made a difference to me.

anyway, feeling a bit down, I turned to food… not to chocolate or fried snacks, but to something comforting and warming, but something fiery enough to do justice to Anita Roddick’s feisty persona and strong spirit. something a little hot-headed, but soulful, balanced and true. something you can throw handfuls of spice into, then cover in handfuls of coriander and spring onions.

Chilli Con Carne (you could go vegetarian on this one to really get into the tree-hugging, but then it would not be at all Con Carne, and sometimes you need some meat to your argument). I like my chilli soup-y, accompanied by toasted turkish bread.

toss great piles of chunkily chopped onions and garlic into a large pot or stockpot with a splodge of olive oil (or not), then add minced beef. brown off, don’t worry if it burns a little here and there, I find it adds a smokey flavour. add chopped fresh green and/or red chillies, ground cumin, cayenne, fresh or dried thyme, paprika (hot or smoked), a couple of lemon quarters or just some zest. let spices become toasty and aromatic, then throw in some chopped red and/or green capsicum (bell shaped) or other capsicum-y things – I like to use a variety, including ‘banana’ ‘caps’. reserve some chopped ‘caps’ for adding later. now add (depending on quantities of other ingredients) 2-3 x 400ml tinned chopped tomatoes, 2-3 400ml tinned red/kidney beans, a few spoonfuls of tomato paste, stir, and kinda fill the pot with water.

lid, and leave on a low heat, stirring occasionally, until you or it is ready to eat. I like to cook it down for 40 mins to an hour, but you can easily turn off the heat, and leave for several hours, then warm up when you want to eat.

ready to eat? ok – bring back to higher heat, add reserved capsicums and some diced courgette, cook until softened. season well with salt and black pepper, fish out the lemon wedges, and serve in generous bowls, topped with a great splodge of sour cream, some crumbled or grated aged cheddar cheese, a huge handful of chopped fresh coriander and spring onion, another grinding of black pepper, and some lemon or lime to squeeze over and toasted turkish bread to dunk.

you may of course choose to use fresh tomatoes, if you have an abundance, and to soak dried beans overnight to use. or substitute any number of my preferences for flavour and spice.

I’m sorry I don’t give any quantities. I don’t know precisely how much of anything I use, because I am a throw/splodge/sprinkle kind of girl, and have never been a cup/tablespoon/pinch kind of cook. plus most of my recipes don’t really require precision, and personal taste/availability should prevail. if this is seriously annoying anyone, please leave a comment and let me know and I can at least give roughly more accurate quantities. otherwise, get cracking on a heartful bowl of chilli (proven to dry out or draw out and disguise tears).

Lentil Soup

it may be spring, but it’s still cold. well, cold for this recently-ex-’Queenslander’ anyway. I love lentils. don’t tell Mama, I think I spent many years telling her how much I hated them, but then again I also turned my nose up at the product of her waist-high coriander patch, and at mushrooms, aubergine, and some other then-icky things I now love.

Lentil soup is just the epitome of comforting warmth, the lentils impart soft grainy body and an earthy goodness. and it’s super easy!

Brown onions and garlic in a large pot or stockpot with olive oil, or not, if you like. add a touch of whole spices such as fennel seeds, cumin seeds, panch phora (my favourite spice mix) etc, then add chopped ‘hard’ veges – potatoes, carrots, pumpkin or whatever, some brown lentils, and then water or stock. leave on a low-ish heat for 20mins or so, then add ’soft’ veges – like courgettes, heaps of chopped parsley (including stalks), any other quicker cooking veges. they’ll be ready in a couple of minutes, then check seasoning, I never add salt until the end – apparently it slows the pulse cooking time.. can anyone verify that?

anyway, it’s warm and delicious. perfect for crisp days, when you need a warm bowl of something to fill your belly. yum!

Papaya Museli Boats

It’s the weekend again, and I’m being organised and Weekend Herb Blogging for the second week in a row. I is so good. WHB round up over at this week’s host, Katie at Thyme for Cooking, the Blog.

So what have I made? Well, I cheat a little. I didn’t actually make this. Benwah made this. you know what else? I didn’t actually eat this. Benwah and Tom ate this. Does it still count? I think so. Cos it’s damn cute! I was there, and I did take the photos, and it was in my (ok ok, our) kitchen, so that is kindasorta like me making and eating it, right? Ok, maybe not, but you should make it, it’s super easy and if you’re into Papaya then it’s just too sweet. I am not even going to post a recipe, I think you can figure it out!

Are you into papaya? not sure? wanna know more? ok then. Papayas are also known as Papaw or Paw Paw, and there are heaps of varieties. apparently the two main types are differentiated into Papaw (yellower, rounder) and Papaya (redder, thinner) I never knew that, I thought there were just two names, you know like courgette and zucchini.

I’ve never been a fan (which is why I am the documenter, rather than eater here), although I do like the red style now my tastes have matured a bit. They grow all over the tropics, so maybe it was also living in the tropics that warmed me to them. Here is a really beautifully put together Australian Papaya Industry website, which gives you all the specifics on how good they are for you, plus some other ideas on how to serve, and interesting information. check it out, but you have to promise to try our “recipe” first!

DIY: Papaya can also be used as a skin exfoliator, as it is very high in fruity enzymes which help remove old skin (you know like those expensive creams with AHAs). So long as you don’t have sensitive skin, just mash the flesh, and slather on OR, once you’ve scooped out the flesh to eat, just rub the inside of the skins on yourself, before rinsing well. Umm, maybe do this in the shower.

Papaya are usually super-cheap and abundant in the tropics, but in 2006, Queensland was hit by Cyclone Larry, (we were there) and many tropical fruit growers lost their crops and orchards. Our favourite friendly garden market stall holders, the Ho Brothers, usually grow and sell a lot of Papaya and Papaw, and they lost a large percentage of the season’s crop that would normally be sent ‘down south’ to Sydney and Melbourne etc.

I’m sure it lost them a lot of money, and many banana and other fruit growers went out of business because of the losses sustained. Banana prices in Australia soared from a usual AUS$2/kg to up to AUS$13/kg. luckily Papaya was less inflated, still everyone complained, but many people, lovely passionate foodies and growers like the Hos, lost a whole season’s income, and still had to re-plant, rebuild, basically starting again from scratch.

The Ho Brothers also stopped coming into town for the Sunday markets, and I didn’t see them again before I left Townsville. Goodbye Calvin, Kaye, Peter and co! I hope your gardens and orchards are recovering! See you next time! (some Ho Bros links just added, thnx Rob!)

Risotto (is really hard to photograph!)

Risotto is:

warm. tasty. not as difficult to make as many people believe. not as time-consuming as it seems/has a reputation for. quite therapeutic to make, stirring and adding stock, stirring and adding stock. very versatile – any ingredient combo will work! easily re-heated the next day for lunch after the gym. probably better for us made from basmati, but works a hellava lot better with arborio. good as risotto cakes/balls the next day. better with some parmigiana curls on top. homely and comforting.

bloody hard to photograph.

it all just looks like a lump of sludgy rice. ah… which I guess is kinda what it is.

Spinach and Bacon Risotto

fry off chopped bacon, add garlic, onion till soft-ish. put stock of choice (about twice the quantity of rice used) on to boil in another pot. add arborio rice to bacon etc, stir till coated and changing colour/becoming translucent. add a ladle or two of hot stock, stirring gently, until liquid has been absorbed. repeat, until rice is al dente (approx 20 mins). if you run out of stock, start using hot water. turn off heat, add chopped spinach, stir through. add optional cheeses, cream, any other tasty additions. season with salt and pepper. spend 15 mins trying to get a good photo of your lump of sludge. give up and eat!

would also be great with added: chicken, mushroom, pumpkin, snow peas etc. I think risotto does need chunks of something to give a sensation of chew-ability, which this version lacked, but – that was all we had in the fridge. we didn’t even have parigiana! you feel sorry for me now, don’t you?

snow pea, tomato, avocado & fetta salad

It’s the weekend! I’m cooking, with herbs! is it Weekend Herb Blogging? this weekend WHB is being hosted by the Kalyn, the WHB Grand Mistress herself. check out where it all began, plus see one of the reasons food blogging is so much fun… a big, warm community.

this salad is soooo yummy. the vege stall had a giant bag of baby snow peas on sale, so I grabbed them and some lush ripe tomatoes and some Bulgarian fetta, after a big workout at the gym, since I couldn’t face anything too heavy after being so good and doing a long cardio session. Benwah got home from his 35km run just before me, so we had this and were both very healthy. don’t worry, we pigged out on sushi later in the night!

snow pea, tomato, avocado & fetta salad

in your salad bowl: crushed garlic, a wee slurp of yummy olive oil, a squeeze of lemon (1/2 – 1 lemons worth), a few chopped capers, freshly ground pepper and salt. stir well.

add: a few good handfuls of snow peas, some chopped/torn flat parsley, lush, ripe and flovourful tomatoes, chopped, cubes of lush avocado (I love hass, but whatever rocks your boat/is available of course!), cubes of tasty fetta (or feta if you’re lucky). *toss *carefully*. serve.

snow peas: legume, like “normal” green peas, but with a thin, crispy crunchy sweet edible pod – they are also known as mange tout – French for “eat it all”. awesome raw or very lightly cooked – 1 or 2 mins max, snow peas (like most veges) are best not overcooked – they loose their vivid green colour and sweet flavour, and go limp and soggy, where’s the fun in that? they’re delicious quickly added at the end of a stir fry with good pals garlic, ginger, sesame oil and some tender protein.

I’m not adding any links, because the ones I found were mostly kinda boring, and snow peas are not exotic at all in Australia, so maybe you already know about them too. If you don’t, I recommend some research and/or keeping an eye out for them – they’re Chinese in origin, so maybe an Asian Grocer is a good place to start if they’re not readily available (if you have one of those, that is!). Apparently they’re also super easy to grow too.. so no excuses! enjoy some crispy sweet snow peas today!