falafel

On a stormy Sunday not so long ago everyone gathered at Duncan and Dave’s to watch the Paris-Roubaix live broadcast, and we decided that to keep our energy supplies up for the 2am finish (being as we are, quite on the other side of the world from either Paris or Roubaix), a FEAST was in order.

Duncs and I discussed catering options, and a middle easterny Feast was decided on. I was particularly slack/hungry and did not take any photos of the actual Feast, so to set the scene only: the table consisted of grilled skewers of chicken and lamb, flatbreads, fattoush, taboulli, hummus, yogurt garlic sauce and these falafels.

I made and fried (and photographed) the falafel at home, and we reheated them at the boys’ place after the bbq-ing and salad composition had taken place. They were definitely more delicious freshly cooked - very crunchy with a tender inside - but reheating wasn’t a bad compromise given the convenience. I want to make them again where they will be the main event - maybe falafel burgers? The Feast is great, but since there were a good 8 of us preparing different components of said Feast, it’s kinda not a quick weeknight option! (and I can only recommend finishing a meal with ice cream topped with crumbled baklava and chopped almonds if you are actively trying to disintegrate all your teeth. Pure. Sugar).

The recipe was adapted from memories of making it in my teens, some internet sleuthing and my general assertive “this is how I think it should be done” attitude. I cannot attest to it having any middle eastern “authenticity”, but WTF does that mean anyway? since when was any cooking “Authentic”? It’s tasty. End Rant.

Falafel

Soak some (I used maybe 600g?) dried chickpeas in water overnight. Drain, rinse and then blitz in a food processor until it starts becoming crumby. Chuck in a good few tablespoons of cumin powder, some coriander powder, paprika and maybe a wee pinch of cayenne. Add a big handful of fresh parsley stems and all, and another of coriander, same deal. Continue to blitz.. if the ‘hummus’ is too dry and not coming together as a paste, add some water, a little at a time, until you have a very thick pasty mixture.

I formed it into the shape you see above by molding/rolling firmly with 2 spoons…called a quenelle, and hard to explain (but here is a low quality demo on you tube! horray for you tube!).

heat vegetable oil in a pan and shallow or deep fry your falafel in batches. Keep the oil temp medium, so your falafels are cooked and tender all the way through without being too dark on the outside. you’ll need to do a few taste tests as you go (a sprinkle of salt and some yogurt sauce at this point is essential to, ummm, test how cooked they are).

And the complimentary hummus (dip) post is coming soon at some point! xxx

what the fetta did next (spinach and fetta linguine)

you know that marinated fetta I take to everything? you know, the one I gave my secret away and told you how easy and cheap it is to make?

I promised it was handy to always have a container marinating away in the fridge, and here is proof, in case you doubted me.

Linguine with Spinach and Marinated Fetta

cook pasta to al dente, drain and stir through a bunch of washed and chopped fresh english spinach, stalks and all (if using silverbeet, you’ll probably need to blanch/steam/saute it first as it’s quite a bit tougher, especially the white stalks), a good few spoonfuls of the marinated fetta including some oil/lemon/spice marinade.

Yep, that’s it. dinner in 11 minutes. It’s pre-seasoned: spices and lemon, saltiness from fetta, and the fetta melts a bit on the hot pasta and combines with its marinade to make a lush but light sauce coating the pasta. If you wanna get fancy add some toasted pinenuts or even some grilled chicken or fish for added proteins.

Or just eat it. the only problem is having any marinated fetta last long enough to make it to the pasta. Better make a double batch.

tagliatelle with walnut-basil pesto

I have finally transfered a bunch of photos from tom’s computer/camera to my laptop, so I can fill in some puku blanks.

Here is the walnut pesto I alluded to when I posted my almost perfect walnut cracking, complete with homemade tagliatelle! This was my second round with the pasta roller I got for my birthday (thanks Rob!!) and I’m really enjoying the process (in fact, there is a big ABCD ravioli-off post coming soon!).

For the pasta I think I followed Jamie Oliver’s recipe. The pesto was simply a bunch of walnuts, a handful of basil and a grating of parmigiana, blitzed in the food processor with a bit of seasoning and some olive oil and zest/a squeeze of lemon, and I tossed it all together with some pan-fried mushies and brocolli and a few handfuls of rocket. simple! I really like walnuts, especially in something like this for a change - a bit more bitter/earthy than a pinenut or cashew.

Shout outs to Alex, who was staying with us when I made this - Hi! it was great seeing you and having a week of vege-love and pretentious yoga on the beach!

coleslaw with yogurt dressing

Some yummy coleslaw with yogurt dressing instead of mayonnaise-y dressing. feels so much healthier! Not that I have any problems with mayonnaise, but I have been completely obsessed with plain greek yogurt recently, eating kilos and kilos of it, and this was just one of the yogurt incarnations. you know, when I wasn’t spooning it straight from the tub at the open fridge.

Coleslaw ingredients included: sliced red cabbage, chopped celery - stalks AND leaves, julienned carrot, finely diced onion.. that’s about it.

Yogurt dressing was: a big splodge of greek style plain yogurt, a splosh of white vinegar, salt, pepper. that’s totally it.

Simple, colourful and delicious.

Marinated Fetta

Marinated fetta is my no-brainer go-to thing to make when I need to provide something tasty for nibbling. It looks a bit delicious, impressive and expensive, and yet it couldn’t be simpler to chuck together, either days or minutes before needed.

I hate to call this a recipe, but I get asked for it frequently, so here it is, with some attempt at quantities!

Marinated Fetta

Cut 2 blocks of fetta (a soft Danish style, as pictured, is nice, but so is a firmer Aussie one, even low fat!) into manageable cubes. In a saucepan, gently warm around 1/2 cup nice olive oil add 4-6 garlic cloves, roughly crushed, and 1-2 tbs of panch phora and take off the heat. Alternatively you can put them in a deep tupperware container and chuck in the microwave for a couple of 10 sec bursts - basically, warm until garlic is fragrant, but not coloured or crisped in the slightest. Add 1-2 tsp sumac, maybe 1/2 tsp paprika, a grinding of black pepper and several large peels of lemon zest (peeled off the side with a knife or vege peeler, not zested off).

In a deep tupperware container (I use the smallest REDA lidded mixing bowl, which is perfect), place the cubes of fetta, pour the oil mix over, then squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lemon. Put the lid on the container, and GENTLY turn the bowl to move the liquid around the fetta, NO SHAKING!!! just gently turning it around.

Place in fridge until needed, it will store for days - reportedly weeks, but it certainly doesn’t go uneaten that long! delicious eaten with crackers and pesto, on bread, in frittata, stirred through pasta (liquid and all=instant sauce), in muffins, or.. straight out of the container, oh, about 3 minutes after you’ve made it and put it in the fridge.

g’day Dhal!

When I first arrived in Australia - NINE YEARS ago last Saturday! - I spent time in the lovely, sometimes sleepy, somewhat provincial Port Stephens (a small coastal resort towns north of Sydney). When I went to the local bowling club and RSL for beers with mates, and in shops, my money was taken with a hearty “thanks Dhal!” by the lovely Aussie ladies (of all ages, I have had this from 9 to 90 year olds).

It took me months to work out that they were not in fact calling me “Doll” (which I did think was a little weird, but then many things seemed a little weird) but saying “Darl’ ” - the ubiquitous oz-abbreviation of Darling, of course. If you are Aussie you are now shaking your head and saying “der!”, if you are not Aussie, and would like to see just what I’m talking about, see The Castle.

Anyway, in commemoration of my 9th year in Australia (I’m naturalised, too!), here is some Dhal, with a heart shaped dollop of yogurt on top.

I was re-inspired about dhal when I chanced on Peter Singer cooking it on on Talking Heads, but I don’t usually add coconut cream, because I find pulses get creamy enough on their own, thank you.

and, I’m a ‘chuck it all in at once’ kind of girl, but, you know, feel free to follow Peter if you think his version is better, but here’s mine:

In a pot or deep frying pan saute a chopped onion and several crushed/chopped garlic cloves in a little oil over a medium heat. Add spices - ground cumin, a little cinnamon, a couple of bay leaves, some panch phora. think Indian, earthy. Add red lentils, maybe 1 cup. Add quite a bit of water (maybe twice the measure of the lentils), to well cover the lentils. while that is coming up to temperature, roughly dice a few tomatoes and toss into the pan.

Stir, lower heat and keep an eye on it, as the lentils can dry out and goddamn, burnt lentils are hard to get off the bottom of the pot. add water as needed, they’ll take around 20 mins, and are ready when the lentils have melted into a sludge and the consistency is to your liking - add water or continue cooking to reach the level ’sloppyness’ you prefer - at which point you can add chopped spinach, chopped fresh coriander, as these don’t require more than a heating through. Serve as part of a curry smörgåsbord (yep, getting really transnational now!) or with rice, a splodge of yogurt, a sprinkling of coriander leaves and some flatbread. Or forget all those accompaniments, just get a bowlful of lentil hit, but the yogurt is still strongly recommended. This will provide 2 large main meal servings.

This is also a ridiculously cheap meal. A kilo of red lentils should set you back maybe $3-4 tops. you use maybe 20c worth of lentils for 2 people (admittedly I have not worked this out this is a blatant guesstimate), plus whatever an onion and some garlic cost, and you can buy the squishy on-sale tomatoes, as they’re being cooked down.

SO CHEAP!!!! I am also adding a new ‘cheap eats!!’ category to the puku, in honour of this 50c meal, and in the spirit of being a poor student/saving money for fun things. more *so cheap!!* meals to come! xxx

Spinach and Fetta Rolls

theme song for today’s post: (click the link to listen) AC/DC : It’s a Long Way to the Shop if You Want a Spinach Roll.

Whaddaya mean, those aren’t the words? ok, you’re right, it should be sausage roll, it’s true. But today this version is very apt, because the inspiration for making spinach and fetta rolls came from the amazing ones we ate at the Beechworth Bakery in North Eastern Victoria. Which really is a long way to the shop - about 7 hours drive!

We stopped in at Beechworth on the car convoy back from our summer holiday in Bright, Victoria, having read about Beechworth Bakery in Australian Gourmet Traveller. Some of us may have been feeling a little under the weather (look, there are a lot of wineries in that part of Victoria, OK?) and the delicious spinach and fetta roll perked me right up. It was, even through the hangover, the absolute best spinach and fetta roll I have ever eaten (and as a former vego, I have eaten plenty!). They sold out, and I waited until the next batch came out of the oven and brought another one for the car (the car didn’t want it, so I ate it. boom-tish!). So not surprisingly, I was keen to try and recreate them a bit closer to home.

I used the cheater’s puff pastry recipe I found over at the lovely Cook & Eat. Cheat sounds like my kind of puff pastry. And it is SO easy.

the filling: crushed garlic, finely chopped onion, sauted, then chopped English spinach added to the pan just to wilt. Into a bowl, then add crumbled fetta, some cottage cheese, salt, pepper, nutmeg. This mixture was quite sticky, so I didn’t add egg, but one could.

Roll pastry into longish strips, fill, roll pastry around filling, with sealside ending up down, and cut into portions. I gave the tops of the rolls a milk wash, and sprinkled with sesame seeds. I made small rolls, and baked for ~25 mins @ ~180 degrees C.

The pastry was lovely and flakey, and the filling was tasty, but to be honest these were no comparison to the Beechworth Bakery’s ones. I’ll try making them again, but if you’re ever in Beechworth, I recommend the spinach and fetta rolls, hangover or no!

WBB - a healthy eats breakfast

I love breakfast.. well, I love going out for breakfast and lounging with coffees and friends and the paper and, admittedly, pork products. I’m less keen on the cereal-before-trudging-to-work-early-in-the-morning kind of breakfast, though I do try, because it is a Good Habit.

Because I am currently not doing any trudging to work in the morning or at any time, my breaking of fast is a little haphazard. If I’m going to the gym early, I might have some fruit first, then come home and be starving and eat lunch early, but if I’m going to the gym late, I slip into old Bad Habits, and don’t eat until 11am or even well past ‘lunchtime’. Bad Habit!

Here is a morning feast from the other day, that was easy to put together, with minimal dishes, not too full on either in the kitchen or in the puku (tummy), but tasty enough to motivate actually cooking and eating, while also being really very healthy, and looking kind of substantial, in a lazy weekend kind of way.

I can’t think of where it was, but I must have heard/read about some sort of middle easterny influenced egg breakfast recently, which niggled in the back of my head when I was looking for inspiration in the morning. I have no idea if there is any resemblance to the original, apart from the cumin/chilli/paprika and egg combo, but if I remember or find it again I will reference back to it to see.

in the meantime, this is so bloody simple, but really quite delicious and light.

Spiced Egg with Hummus on Toast

In a non-stick frying pan, crack as many eggs per person as each person wishes to eat, and sprinkle liberally with ground cumin, paprika, chilli flakes, cayenne, salt, pepper, sesame seeds (or of course, anything else really, as your tastebuds/pantry dictate). toast your bread of choice - mine was a thickly slice of poppyseed vienna loaf, and I toasted it over the bare flame, because our toaster is broken, and I couldn’t be assed turning on the grill for one piece of toast. It imparted a lovely smokey flavour in fact. Spread said toast liberally with hummus, place eggs (cooked to your liking) on top. eat.

In the photo, it does not appear to be a very liberal sprinkling of spices, and I think it could have managed a bit more kick, but it was really very tasty. This would make a very easy breakky to serve a large-ish group, especially as the chilli kick will ensure your guests are not turned off, if their eggs are less than piping hot when they get to the plate. Not that I’m saying you will serve them cold eggs (I’m sure you wouldn’t!), but chilli does trick the brain a bit on temperature, so you won’t be stressing as the plates go out.

I am putting this forward as my first entry for Weekend Breakfast Blogging, which is hosted for February by Tasty Palettes. WBB is focusing on healthy breakkies this month, and this gives a great protein boost via the egg and the hummus, was cooked without oil, and could further be improved by a nice wholegrain bread, so it really is a healthy eat!

what the smoked fish did next, a Fable.

the smoked fish became PIES.

I have oddly vivid memories of being a very small child living on Waiheke Island, and my favourite thing to eat when I went with my mum to Oneroa (the only place on Waiheke (”why-heh-keh”) with a largish grocery shop when I was a child, although I understand now there is a SUPERMARKET. WTF?) was smoked fish pie at some hippy cafe (long closed). (the whole island was hippy in those days actually. not anymore!).

I can so vividly remember eating smoked fish pie, which I’m sure some people do not consider a very child-friendly food, but then again apparently I also demanded (garlic and parsley laced) omelettes, so I definitely did not suffer from ‘white food syndrome’ as a child!

anyway, I could tell you how my pies were made, but since I didn’t take ‘during’ photos (I was actually too busy having lie downs every 5 minutes, because being up with my recently surgery-ed leg for that long was still very tiring and painful), and in fact it is ridiculously easy, so instead here is a diagram demonstrating the pie-structions.

which leaves me time to tell you another riveting smoked fish pie related story. Once upon a time, in 2002, while living in Nelson Bay a princess (me) went along to the really quite wonderful Red Ned’s pie shop to grab some lunch. I asked Mr Red Neds (AKA Barry Kelly) if he had plans to make my favourite, his Smoked Haddock Pies any time soon, as I had a pie hankering which his teriyake kangaroo, honey-lime-chilli scallops and prawn, fiji curry steak, nor any of the other 50-odd regulars just wouldn’t fulfill.

Mr Kelly looked at me for a minute, then told me to come back in the next couple of days. He had just been pottering around the bakery, mulling on which pies to enter in the upcoming pie competition, and yes, my favourite would just fit the bill, so he would make some for the competition, some for the shop and one for me (I am a princess in this story, remember?).

Needless to say, because I have extremely good taste, my favourite pie not only took out the Gold Medal for Gourmet Seafood Pie, but also Gold Winner Overall. Best Pie In The Competition. seriously - check out their awards list! The day after the competition Mr Kelly called me in to gave me a complementary Smoked Haddock Pie, and the whole village rejoiced. well, ok, mostly the Red Neds peeps. and me!

the end.

we’ve started smoking…

and boy is it good.

as you can imagine, I have not been on my feet very much post-surgery, and therefor not really doing any cooking. Tom bought a smoker on one of his recent field trips, and we (that’s the royal we - it was really all Tom + YLD&YLM) finally broke it out the other weekend, smoking a trout and some mackerel steaks. it works unbelievably quickly and well, and is absolutely delicious, we had smoked trout dip, and makerel with wedges and salad.

we’ve had another go on the weekend, and next I will upload the pics of what we did with the leftovers this time….