Tag Archives: easy

Mediterranean Fish Casserole with Fennel & Tomato Sauce

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I was going to make a fish soup then changed my mind and came up with this fish casserole.

Serve it on one or two slices of toasted bread per person, depending on their appetite. One is enough for me. I used Turkish bread.

If preferred, serve the casserole without the toast and rouille. Or leave out the toast and serve a blob of rouille on each serving of fish.

750g white fish fillets
2 onions, chopped
1 leek (white part and a little of the green), chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
4 Tbs olive oil
1 bulb fennel, diced (keep some green fronds for garnish)
1 can chopped tomatoes
2 cans water
1 vegetable stock cube
¼ cup Pernod (optional)
2 tsp sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Topping:
2 slices bread, made into breadcrumbs in food processor
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
To serve:
6 slices sourdough or Turkish bread, toasted
1 cup mayonnaise, preferably home-made
¼ cup roasted red pepper strips from a jar, drained
1 clove garlic, crushed

Arrange fish fillets in a single layer in a rectangular lasagne-type dish.

Heat oil in a heavy-based saucepan and cook the onions, leek, garlic and fennel for 10-15 minutes, stirring often. Add tomatoes, water (use the tomato can to measure), stock cube, Pernod and seasoning. Simmer for 30 minutes or until the fennel is soft. Add more water if necessary during cooking. When ready sauce should be fairly thick and chunky. Check seasoning.

Preheat oven to 180°C, Spread sauce evenly over the fish. Mix breadcrumbs and Parmesan and sprinkle over the top. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Meanwhile process the red peppers in food processor until smooth and mix into the mayonnaise with the crushed garlic. This sauce is a quick version of a sauce called Rouille, which is traditionally served in France with the fish soup called Bouillabaisse.

Place a slice of toast on six serving plates, spread each slice generously with the rouille, then top with a rectangle of the fish casserole – you should get six to eight servings. Garnish with some of the reserved fennel leaves and, if liked, drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil around the plate.

Serves 6

Variations: if you can’t find fennel, substitute diced carrots, celery or zucchini.

Three-Cheese Semolina Gnocchi with Gremolata

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This recipe originally appeared on Donna Hay’s website, but it’s not there any more. The original version serves 10-12 so I halved it to serve six as a starter. The recipe uses an Italian cheese called Taleggio in the gnocchi mix, but you could also use something stronger such as Gruyere or Cheddar.

750 ml milk
1 cup semolina
3 egg yolks
100g grated Taleggio cheese (or substitute Gruyere or strong cheddar)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A few sprigs of fresh marjoram
½ cup grated mozzarella
½ cup grated parmesan
Gremolata:
1 Tbs finely chopped parsley
2 tsp finely chopped fresh marjoram
2 Tbs olive oil
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp lemon rind (removed with veg peeler then shredded finely)
1 small clove garlic crushed

Place milk in a non-stick saucepan and bring to the boil. Gradually mix in the semolina, using a wooden spatula. Cook for 2-3 mins or until thickened then remove from the heat. Mix in the egg yolks, the cheese and season to taste. Scrape into a lightly greased square or rectangular dish. Mine is 20 cm square. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until firm.

Meanwhile make the gremolata by mixing all ingredients together in a bowl or a jar with a lid.

When ready to serve, turn on the grill. Cut the gnocchi into six evenly sized rectangles and place on an oven tray lined with baking paper, leaving some space between each one. Sprinkle with the marjoram, the mozzarella and the parmesan. Grill for 2-3 mins or until cheese is golden and melted. Arrange on 6 serving plates and top with the gremolata. Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil around the gnocchi.

Serves 6 as a starter

Variations: instead of taleggio you could use goat’s cheese. Instead of fresh marjoram you could use oregano or thyme

Coleslaw with Fresh Corn & Ginger

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Try this slightly different coleslaw mix for a change. It’s healthy and goes well with meat, chicken or fish. The quantities are easily halved.

4 cups shredded red cabbage
4 cups shredded white cabbage
2 carrots, coarsely grated
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
2 cobs corn, kernels removed
2 spring onions, thinly sliced (optional)
½ cup raisins or sultanas
1-2 Tbs grated fresh ginger
1 Tbs honey
1-2 Tbs lemon juice
2 Tbs olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Mix all ingredients together. Any leftovers will keep, refrigerated for a day or so.

Variations: add some small broccoli or cauliflower florets, pine nuts or cashew nuts. If you don’t like things too sweet, leave out the raisins and use less honey.

Asian Salmon Salad

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This light main course was served by my son and daughter-in-law when I spent three nights with them in Sydney last month. Light, delicious and healthy.

4 salmon portions, about 180g each
2 tsp vegetable oil
8 cups lettuce, or mixed salad greens, in bite-size pieces
20 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cucumber, halved, de-seeded and sliced
1 avocado, sliced
Sauce:
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs hoisin or oyster sauce
1 Tbs rice wine vinegar
1 Tbs honey or brown sugar
2 Tbs water
1 clove garlic, crushed
Sesame Dressing:
1 Tbs soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1½ Tbs white vinegar
2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp honey or sugar
To garnish:
1-2 tsp sesame seeds, lightly toasted
1 spring onion, thinly sliced or red onion

Remove skin from salmon and discard, then cut salmon into bite-sized pieces. Mix the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl, add salmon and mix.

Shake sesame dressing ingredients in a jar then mix with the lettuce. Divide between 4 individual salad bowls and top with the tomatoes, cucumber and avocado.

Heat vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan. Remove salmon from the sauce and add to the pan in one layer. Keep the sauce. Cook salmon for a minute on each side, then arrange on top of the salads. Add sauce to the pan and cook for 30 seconds, or until syrupy. Spoon over the salmon. Garnish with sesame seeds and onion and serve immediately.

Serves 4

Zucchini with Feta, Herbs & Pine Nuts

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We like to have one or two vegetarian meals a week. This recipe is delicious.

4-6 medium zucchini (courgettes)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Topping:
125g creamy feta cheese, crumbled
½ cup chopped fresh herbs (whatever you have)
¼ cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
To serve:
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic glaze

Preheat oven to 200°C. Wash zucchini and halve lengthwise. Make diagonal cuts in both directions on the cut surface of each zucchini half then arrange on a baking tray, lined with baking paper. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown and cooked.

Meanwhile mix the topping. For the herbs I used a mixture of coriander, marjoram and sage, but use whatever you have.

Arrange one or two zucchini halves per person on serving plates. Spoon topping evenly over the tops and drizzle each plate with a little oil and balsamic glaze.

Serves 4

Watermelon Carpaccio

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This delicious recipe makes a light, vegetarian lunch for the warmer months. It looks just like a raw beef carpaccio but in fact it’s thin slices of watermelon!

I haven’t put quantities in the ingredient list because they will vary according to how thick you cut the watermelon and the number of servings. The photo shows a lunch size. As a starter make them smaller.

Thin slices of watermelon
Crumbled feta cheese
Thinly sliced red onion
Capers
Lightly toasted pistachios, roughly chopped
Chopped fresh mint
Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
Extra Virgin olive oil
Juice from ½ a lemon
To serve:
Balsamic glaze (optional)

Arrange overlapping slices of watermelon on serving plates. Sprinkle over the cheese, onion, capers, pistachios and mint. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice.

Serve with balsamic glaze, if liked.

Substitutes: use pine nuts instead of pistachios; creamy goat cheese instead of feta, rockmelon instead of watermelon.

 

 

Sticky Lamb with Loaded Sweet Potatoes

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Lamb forequarter chops are about half the price of lamb cutlets. If you’re on a budget with a large family, you might want to try this recipe. Forequarter chops contain more fat than cutlets, but in this recipe it mostly dissolves during the cooking.

The sweet potatoes go well with the lamb. If preferred leave out the bacon. You think this recipe is going to serve more people, but the lamb is so tasty everyone comes back for a second helping! A green salad goes well with this family meal.

1 kg or up to 1.5kg lamb forequarter chops
Sticky Glaze:
2 Tbs honey
4 Tbs soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1-2 Tbs chilli paste
2 Tbs brown sugar
2 Tbs rice wine vinegar
Fresh coriander to garnish
Sweet Potatoes:
1 large or 2 medium sweet potatoes
1 onion cut into 8ths
3 Tbs olive oil
3 tsp smoked paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
2 rashers bacon, diced
1 cob fresh corn
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Cut the chops into 2 or 3 smaller chops by cutting lengthwise and avoiding the bones. Mix the glaze and use it to marinate the chops.  Put aside.

Peel sweet potatoes and cut into chunky chips. Place in a bowl with the onion, olive oil, paprika, salt and pepper and mix well. Tip into a large oven-proof baking dish and spread evenly. Put aside.

Dinner can be prepared ahead to this stage.

Preheat oven to 170°C. Arrange the drained lamb in a single layer on a baking tray and cook for an hour or until well-cooked and sticky as shown in the photo. Keep the glaze. Depending on your oven they might take a bit longer. Halfway through cooking time, turn them over, brush with remaining glaze.

Put the sweet potatoes in the oven at the same time as the lamb and cook for about an hour or until cooked through. Meanwhile cook the bacon for a few minutes in a frying pan. Add the corn kernels removed from the cob and continue to cook, stirring for a couple of minutes. About 10 minutes before the sweet potatoes are ready, top with the bacon and corn mixture, sprinkle with Parmesan (if using) and put back in the oven for the remaining 10 minutes or so.

Serves 4

Quick & Easy Italian Chicken

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Chicken Parmigiano is one of my favourite chicken dishes and the rest of the family like it too. However, it takes a bit of preparation and while it’s not complicated it doesn’t fall into the quick and easy category.

This recipe is similar, but without the tomato sauce and it can be prepared in a jiffy. Serve with a salad and crusty bread or rice. A real crowd pleaser which is easy to double.

4 or 5 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/3 cup olive oil
Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp Oregano
3 cloves garlic, crushed
¼ cup grated Parmesan
2 tsp crushed chilli (optional)
½ tsp salt
Topping:
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs or home-made stale breadcrumbs
¼ cup grated Parmesan, extra
2 Tbs finely chopped parsley
3 Tbs melted butter (optional)

Place the olive oil, lemon juice and rind, oregano, garlic, Parmesan, chilli and salt in a large rectangular lasagne-type dish and mix well. Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally so you end up with 8-10 thinner pieces. Place them in the dish, one by one, turning them to coat them evenly with the oil mixture, then arranging them to cover the whole dish.

Mix the breadcrumbs, extra Parmesan, parsley and melted butter and sprinkle evenly over the chicken. You can leave out the butter if preferred. Bake for about 30 mins at 180°C or until golden brown and cooked through.

Serve with a green salad or a tomato, red onion and basil salad dressed with a simple olive oil and red wine vinegar dressing and crusty bread or rice, or both.

Serves 6

Note: crushed chilli is sold in jars in most supermarkets

Cumquat and Almond Cake

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When a dessert comes into fashion you see it everywhere – in food magazines, on restaurant menus and served up by friends who entertain. A few years ago chocolate fondants – those tricky little puddings which are all about timing – were very much in vogue. A pool of delectable melted chocolate pours out when you stick your spoon into the middle – well that’s the theory. If you’ve managed to over-cook them, as I’ve done on more than one occasion, they’re still delicious. One of my all-time favourite desserts.

Turn the clock back even further to the 1970s and 80s and everyone was making Orange and Almond cake, where you boil two whole oranges until soft, whizz them to a purée, then add them to the cake mixture. I believe this cake made its debut in Australia in Claudia Roden’s Book of Middle Eastern Food, but recipes were soon popping up everywhere. Some versions don’t use any flour, making them good for celiacs.

Once again we have a huge crop of cumquats, so I decided to make this cake using cumquats instead of oranges and it was a great success. If preferred use two oranges or even mandarins.

Cumquat and Almond Cake

Cake:
About 300g cumquats (or 2 oranges)
2 cups ground almonds (or grind your own from whole or slivered blanched almonds)
125g butter at room temperature
1 cup caster sugar
5 eggs
½ cup self-raising flour, sifted
2 tsp baking powder
Syrup:
2 Tbs cumquat juice (or orange juice)
½ cup caster sugar
½ cup water
2 Tbs whisky (optional)
To serve:
Icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180ºC and line the base of a 22cm cake pan with baking paper and grease the sides. Place cumquats in a pan and cover with water. Simmer for 10 mins or until soft then cool. If using oranges they will take 20-30 mins. Cut in half and remove seeds.

If you need to grind the almonds, do them first in the food processor, then add remaining ingredients for cake, including the cooked cumquats, skin and all. Mix until smooth, stopping once to scrape down mixture from the sides. Tip mixture into cake pan and bake for an hour or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Ovens vary so start checking after 45 mins.

Meanwhile make the syrup – place all ingredients in a small pan and simmer for 5 mins. Make holes over the top of the cake with a metal skewer and spoon the warm syrup over as soon as it comes out of the oven. The syrup will be absorbed.

Serve dusted with icing sugar, either warm or at room temperature, with a dollop of thick cream.

Serves 8-10

Variations: use macadamia nuts or pine nuts instead of almonds

Note: to make a flourless version suitable for anyone who is gluten intolerant, replace the flour with an extra half cup of ground almonds

Aleppo Pepper & Honey Chicken

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According to Wikipedia, Aleppo pepper is a variety of capsicum used as a spice, particularly in Turkish, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines. Also known as Halaby pepper, its pods are ripened, semi-dried, de-seeded and crushed.

I’ve been seeing quite a few recipes which call for this spice and realised it was one which, believe it or not, I didn’t have in my collection. It’s not sold in Australia in your average supermarket selection, but I found it at The Essential Ingredient.

If you look at images online you will see that Aleppo Pepper varies in colour from bright red through to a dark brownish red. I suggest you buy a bright red one, as the colour is a big part of the appeal of this spice. The flavour is somewhere between a spicy, tangy pepper and a very subtle chilli.

This recipe can be halved or doubled. If preferred, you can use chicken breasts or bone-in pieces, such as wings or drumsticks, instead of boned thighs, adjusting the cooking time accordingly. I prefer to use thighs as chicken breasts tend to be a bit dry.

This recipe is easy and absolutely delicious, with a subtle pepperiness and a very attractive colour. You will want to make it again. Perfect for a weekend BBQ, but it can also be cooked in the oven.

1 kg boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Juice of 1 lemon or 2 limes
2 Tbs Aleppo pepper
2 Tbs olive oil
Salt to taste
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbs honey
2 Tbs finely chopped parsley
To serve:
Lime wedges

Trim chicken pieces of any excess fat. Place in bowl with remaining ingredients. Mix well, then leave to marinate for at least half an hour or overnight if that suits you.

Cook the drained chicken in a preheated oven 200°C for 20-30 minutes or on a BBQ – preferably a charcoal grill. If cooking in the oven, cook in a single layer and you may want to line the baking sheet with baking paper which comes up the sides a bit, to make the washing up easier. Burnt honey is always a pain to clean!

Garnish with lime wedges to serve.

Serves 6-8