Tag Archives: family

Hot Smoked Salmon & Pea Salad

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Peas are pretty much the only vegetable I always buy frozen. We don’t grow our own peas as they would take up too much room in our vegetable garden. In Australia you rarely see fresh peas in the supermarkets or vegetable shops.

To be honest I reckon frozen peas aren’t at all bad. Not the same as fresh peas but a pretty good substitute.

This tasty salad will appeal to fans of peas as it’s the main ingredient.

3 cups frozen peas
250-300g hot smoked salmon
1 clove garlic, crushed
A handful of chopped fresh parsley or mint or a mixture
4 radishes, sliced then halved
80g soft goat’s cheese (I used Danish feta) crumbled
12 cocktail tomatoes, halved or quartered, depending on size
2-3 spring onions, finely sliced
2 Tbs olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon or ½ a large lemon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cook peas in boiling salted water for 4 minutes, then drain. Place in a large bowl with the salmon, broken into flakes, skin discarded. Add remaining ingredients, mix and serve.

Serves 4-6

Fried Cabbage with Bacon & Onion

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This simple side dish is easy and delicious. Serve it with a grilled steak or on it’s own.

2-3 slices bacon
1 medium brown onion
2 Tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ head of cabbage, shredded
Garlic salt (or ordinary salt) and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tsp paprika

Chop the bacon and the onion. In a large, heavy-bottomed pan cook the bacon for about 7 minutes, stirring, until starting to brown. Add the oil, garlic and onion and continue to cook for 10 minutes, stirring often. Add cabbage, garlic salt (or ordinary salt), black pepper and paprika. Continue to cook, stirring often, over medium heat for another 15-20 minutes.

Serves 4

Rhubarb and Apple Spice Cake

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This recipe was given to me by my friend Fiona.

She has made it many times and had success with several variations, such as using pears poached in red wine – drained and cut into chunks – instead of the apples. When she made it for our French group lunch she used poached quinces instead of apples and it was delicious. So as I had some poached quinces in the freezer which needed using up that’s what I did. Feel free to try other combinations.

1 tea bag (English breakfast or similar)
3 Tbs boiling water
A generous half cup of raisins or sultanas
2 cups caster sugar
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla essence
300g plain flour (2 and 2/3 cups)
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp each cloves, nutmeg and mace
4-5 stalks of fresh rhubarb, cut into 2cm lengths
2 large apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 cup walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped
To serve:
Rhubarb compote (optional)
Whipped cream, thick pouring cream or sour cream (shown in photo)

In a small bowl, pour boiling water over tea bag, press to release the flavour, then remove the tea bag. Add the raisins, mix to cover, then leave for half an hour. Drain raisins, discarding the liquid.

Meanwhile preheat oven to 160°C. Grease a 25cm springform pan and line with baking paper. Place eggs and sugar in an electric mixer and whisk until thick and pale. Add the oil and vanilla essence and mix well for a minute or two. Place a sieve over the bowl then measure the flour, salt and spices and add them to the mixture through the sieve. Fold in the rhubarb, apple and nuts. Make sure there are no pockets of flour. The mixture will be quite stiff.

Bake for an hour and 3/4 or until golden brown and firm on top. Ovens vary so start checking after an hour and a half. Cool in the tin for half an hour then remove. Store in an airtight tin when cold.

The cake should have a crunchy top and a chewy centre and improves after a day or two of storage.

Serve with rhubarb compote and cream as a dessert.

Serves 12

Variations: I didn’t have any mace so I added more cinnamon. Use poached pears or quinces in red wine instead of the apples.

Pasta with Tomato & Vodka Sauce

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I decided to make a meatless tomato sauce to serve with pasta. Spag bol with lots of vegetables but no meat. I had a kilo of peeled tomatoes in the freezer which grew in our garden last summer and I wanted them to be the star of this sauce.

There are lots of recipes online for tomato sauce to serve with pasta and quite a few are enriched with a splash of vodka and some cream, so I thought I would give it a try. The first photo is the sauce without the cream and the second photo is with the addition of cream. I preferred without, Matthew preferred with.

2-3 Tbs vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
2-3 carrots, finely chopped
1 red capsicum, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 kg ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 stock cubes (chicken or vegetable)
Water as required
½ cup vodka
½ cup cream (optional)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
To serve:
Cooked pasta of your choice (I used fettuccine)
Grated Parmesan cheese
Chopped parsley
Olive oil

Heat oil in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan and cook the onion, celery, carrot, red capsicum and garlic for 10-15 minutes over medium heat, stirring often, until softened but not browned. Add the tomatoes and stock cubes, then simmer for 1-2 hours stirring often and adding more water as required.

About half an hour before serving, add the vodka and continue to cook until the sauce is thick like a bolognese sauce. Add cream (if using) and adjust seasoning as required.

Serve sauce on cooked pasta, topped with the grated cheese, chopped herbs and a drizzle of your best Extra Virgin olive oil.

Serves 6

Variations: use sherry or wine instead of the vodka

 

 

No-Knead Bread

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My son in law makes this “no-knead bread” and says it’s so easy, so I thought it was time I had a go. The time involved in making it is less than five minutes, plus baking time. Minimum mess, quick and easy and tastes fantastic – just like a shop-bought ciabatta. If you look on Google you will find that there are heaps of variations of this recipe, though I believe it was first published in the New York Times. Here’s my version.

3 cups plain flour
¼ tsp dry yeast
1 heaped tsp salt
1 Tbs olive oil (optional)
1½ cups very hot water from the tap

Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until you’re ready to bake the bread. In summer anywhere will do, but in the middle of winter it’s probably a good idea to put it somewhere cosy like the microwave or the oven, making sure you tell people not to switch it on! Recipes on Google vary on how long the dough needs to rise, so I reckon it’s fairly flexible. Anywhere between 4 and 24 hours you can go to the next stage.

At this stage, i.e. after the 24 hour rising period, the dough can be refrigerated for up to 3-4 days and this time in the fridge actually improves the flavour of the bread.

Place an iron pot with a lid in the oven – a le Creuset-type pot holding 6-8 litres – and turn the oven on to 250C or as high as it will go if it doesn’t go that high. Meanwhile tip the bread dough out onto a floured surface. Fold and flip it over on itself a few times, then form into a ball with the seams underneath and place on a piece of baking paper. Turn on the oven and let the bread rise a bit while it comes up to temperature. This could take around half an hour. If the dough has been in the fridge for a couple of days then give it 2 hours to come to room temperature and rise before baking.

When the oven is up to temperature use the paper to put the bread into the pot on the paper and make two slashes in the top with a pair of scissors. Cover with the lid and bake for 30-40 minutes. Remove lid and bake for a further 5-10 minutes or until nicely browned. It depends on your oven how fast it browns, so keep an eye on it. In such a hot oven it browns fast. Remove and cool on a rack.

Tortilla French Toasts with Garlicky Mushrooms

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Topped with a delicious mix of mushrooms, garlic and cream, this makes a quick and tasty lunch or supper. If preferred serve it on toasted sourdough or Turkish bread, instead of the Tortilla French Toasts.

Tortilla French Toasts:
1 egg
2 Tbs cream
2 tortillas from a packet
1 Tbs olive oil
Mushrooms:
2 Tbs butter (or 1 Tbs butter and 1 Tbs olive oil)
250g mushrooms, quartered or sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 Tbs dry sherry (optional)
1 Tbs Dijon mustard
½ cup cream or sour cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 Tbs finely chopped parsley

Beat egg and cream in a wide shallow dish. Submerge the tortillas in this mixture and turn to coat thoroughly. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and cook the tortillas, one at a time, on both sides until golden, then place on two serving plates.

Meanwhile in another frying pan, heat the butter (or butter and oil) and cook the mushrooms for 5-10 minutes or until cooked and starting to brown, stirring often. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for a minute or so. Add sherry, mustard, cream and seasoning to taste. Cook, stirring, until sauce has thickened. Spoon onto the tortillas and garnish with parsley. If liked, drizzle with a little extra cream as shown in the photo.

To make a more substantial meal, serve with a rocket, parmesan and pine nut salad, lightly dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Serves 2

Korean Beef in an Air Fryer

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Korean Beef, or Bulgogi, is a tasty, quick and easy alternative to your usual Chinese stir fry. Serve it with steamed rice for a delicious mid-week dinner.

Making this recipe in an air fryer results in crispy meat without the need for deep frying.

300g lean beef (flank, rump, topside, sirloin)
2 tsp oil
2 Tbs cornflour
2 Tbs soy sauce
1-2 Tbs brown sugar, to taste
2 Tbs hoisin sauce
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ cup water
To serve:
Steamed rice
2 spring onions, finely sliced on the diagonal
Sesame seeds

Cut meat into thin strips as you would for a stir fry. Add the oil and mix well, then mix in the cornflour. Spray the tray of an air fryer with oil, then arrange the meat strips over it, in one layer. If doubling the recipe, you will probably need to cook the beef in two lots. If you don’t have an air fryer, deep fry the beef in oil.

Cook beef on high for 5-8 minutes, turning once halfway through cooking time. Meanwhile place soy sauce, brown sugar, hoisin sauce, garlic and water in a frying pan. Bring to the boil, then simmer for a minute or two or until thickened a bit. Add the cooked beef and stir to coat well with the sauce.

Serve with steamed rice and garnish with spring onions and sesame seeds.

Serves 2

Chia Puddings

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You may have seen chia seeds in the supermarket and wondered what to do with them. When mixed with liquid and left for a few hours or overnight, they set into a sort of pudding or chunky jelly.

Our son James says that for him chia puddings are in the same category as tapioca pudding and bubble tea, a popular drink filled with chewy tapioca balls. He is not a fan, whereas I love them.

Chia puddings are very easy to make and involve no cooking. To make one serving you just need half a cup of any kind of milk and 2 tablespoons of chia seeds. Mix thoroughly and leave in the fridge overnight, then top with fresh or frozen berries, sliced banana, muesli, yoghurt, or a combination and you’ve got a healthy breakfast or dessert, loaded with fibre and protein. A hundred grams of chia seeds contains 17g of protein.

2 Tbs chia seeds
½ cup any kind of milk (cow’s, oat, soya, almond, coconut)
To serve:
Berries or sliced banana, mango, peaches etc
Toasted muesli
Plain yoghurt
Maple syrup or honey

Thoroughly mix the chia seeds with milk and place in an individual bowl or glass, leaving space for toppings. After an hour or so, stir the mixture again to avoid any big lumps forming. Refrigerate overnight.

Serve topped with fruit, muesli and yoghurt.  Drizzle with a little maple syrup or honey. If you’re feeling decadent, drizzle with a little cream.

You can always mix up a larger quantity, allowing 4 Tbs chia seeds for every cup of milk. Tip the mixture into a plastic storage container with a lid. It will keep for a several days in the fridge.

Makes one serving

Tortilla Crêpes

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This recipe is just French toast made with wheat tortillas instead of bread.

But it’s a brilliant idea. So if you’re looking for a quick and tasty idea for Sunday breakfast or brunch, or a quick snack to feed the grandkids when they call in, look no further.

The time-saving idea of turning a packaged tortilla into a light and fluffy pancake was invented by the late Kenny Shopsin, a self-taught cook who ran a grocery store and restaurant in New York, with his wife Eve. Kenny was a colourful character who had certain rules, for example anyone using a mobile device rather than engaging in conversation risked being kicked out. Since his death in 2018, the business has been run by his daughter Tamara and her two siblings.

I’m going to try making a savoury version, so watch this space.

1 punnet strawberries
2 tsp runny honey
2 Tbs cream
2 eggs
2 tsp maple syrup
1 packet thin wheat tortillas or soft tacos
Butter for frying
Extra maple syrup or honey to serve (optional)

Wash the strawberries, then halve or slice into a bowl. Drizzle with a little honey.

In a bowl wider than the tortillas, beat cream with eggs and maple syrup using a fork. Add one tortilla and turn to coat. Leave it submerged while you heat a little butter in a small non-stick frying pan. When the tortilla is well soaked, drain off excess egg mixture and place the tortilla in the pan. Cook until golden and puffed one one side, then turn and cook on the other side. Cook remaining tortillas. The egg mixture will be enough for 4 tortillas – maybe more – depending on their size.

Serve two tortillas per person, garnished with the strawberries. Drizzle with extra maple syrup or honey, if liked.

Serves 2

Lithuanian Pink Soup

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The proper name for this delicious cold beetroot soup is Šaltibarščiai which means cold beets in Lithuanian. My Lithuanian friend Jurate who gave me the recipe says most people call it Pink Soup. It’s a creamier version of the well-known beetroot soup called Borscht.

If you have time, cook your own beetroots, but ready-cooked beetroots from the supermarket work well and save time.

This soup is perfect for a hot summer’s day. Serve it as a starter or, with the addition of boiled new potatoes, as a main course. Jurate serves hardboiled eggs separately in a bowl, for guests to peel and chop onto their soup, if they like. My husband is not a big fan of hardboiled eggs and prefers the soup without the egg, so you choose.

Delicious and very refreshing on a warm summer’s evening.
500g cooked, peeled beetroots
600 ml buttermilk or kefir (see note below)
2 stock cubes dissolved in a little hot water (chicken, vegetable)
Cider vinegar and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 small Lebanese cucumbers, thickly sliced and halved or quartered
Optional extras for serving:
Fresh crusty bread such as sourdough and butter
Hardboiled eggs, one per person
Boiled new potatoes, served hot

 

Grate beetroots coarsely and mix them with the buttermilk or kefir and the stock cubes. Add a splash of cider vinegar and some black pepper, to taste. If you’re in a hurry, with no time to grate the beetroots, just whiz them in a blender or food processor. If necessary adjust the thickness of the soup by adding more buttermilk, kefir, yoghurt or water. I didn’t find it needed any additional salt, but taste and see what you think. Add a tablespoon or two of cider vinegar, to taste.

Chill for several hours. Serve in bowls garnished with the cucumber chunks, the dill and the hardboiled eggs, halved or chopped. Or serve the eggs in a separate bowl for people to help themselves and peel themselves. Serve with crusty bread and, if you want to make a more substantial meal, buttered steamed new potatoes.

Serves 6

Note: instead of buttermilk or kefir, you can use 400ml of thick plain yoghurt thinned down with about 200ml water.