Tag Archives: quick

Roast Pumpkin with Miso & Ginger

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Miso is a traditional Japanese seasoning.

Miso paste is produced by mixing fermented soybeans with salt and a fungus called Koji. Sometimes rice, parsley, seaweed or other ingredients are added. It can be used in sauces, dips, soups and other dishes to produce a rich “umami” intensity of flavour.

Miso paste is usually salty, but its flavour and aroma depend on the ingredients and fermentation process. It comes in either white or red, with the latter having a slightly stronger flavour. Use whichever one you have or can find in your local supermarket or Asian grocery store. Once opened it keeps for ages in the fridge.

Today’s recipe was inspired by a dish we were served at Raku restaurant in Canberra.

1 kg pumpkin
2 Tbs olive oil
Miso sauce:
¼ cup Miso paste
1 Tbs grated ginger
1 Tbs sesame oil
1 Tbs runny honey
1 Tbs water
2 tsp rice vinegar (or any other vinegar)
1 tsp chilli paste or sauce
To garnish:
1 Tbs sesame seeds, lightly toasted
Fresh coriander leaves

Preheat oven to 180°C. Leave skin on the pumpkin, remove seeds and cut into wedges about 2cm thick. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper, in a single layer. Brush pumpkin with the olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes then remove from the oven, turn pumpkin wedges over and brush them with the remaining olive oil. Return to the oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile mix all ingredients for the Miso sauce in a food processor. Spoon over the pumpkin. Return to the oven for 10 minutes, or until starting to brown. It might need 15 mins. Turn the wedges over and coat them with remaining Miso sauce. Cook for a further 10-15 minutes or until nicely glazed as in the photo.

Garnish with sesame seeds and coriander. Serve hot or at room temperature either alone or with steamed rice, or as a side dish with salmon, chicken or beef.

Serves 4-6

 

Shakshuka

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Shakshuka originated in north Africa and is now popular all over the Middle East.

Serve with toasted sourdough or Turkish bread for brunch, lunch or Sunday evening supper. You probably have all the ingredients in the pantry. We had to nip out to buy one red capsicum from the corner shop.

2 Tbs olive oil
1 red capsicum (pepper)
1 onion
2 Tbs harissa, or to taste
1 tsp chilli paste, or to taste
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
4 eggs
1 tsp sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
To serve:
4 Tbs thick Greek yoghurt
1 Tbs chopped fresh coriander

Thinly slice the capsicum and onion. Heat olive oil in a medium-sized deep non-stick frying pan and cook the capsicum and onion over medium to high heat for 5-10 minutes, or until soft and starting to caramelise. Add harissa and chilli paste to taste and cook, stirring for one minute. Add the tomatoes and sugar and cook over medium heat until the tomatoes are reduced by half, stirring often.

Season to taste, turn heat down to a simmer, then make four indents in the mixture and break an egg into each. Cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes, or until the eggs are cooked to your liking. Test by pressing with your finger.

Garnish with dollops of yoghurt and the coriander. Serve with toasted sourdough or Turkish bread.

Serves 4 as a snack, 2 as a meal

 

Lamb with Spicy Labneh and Carrot Salad

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This recipe was inspired by a dish I was served at the annual lunch of the International Women’s Club which was held at the Marion restaurant in Canberra in late August.

There were 180 women seated at tables for 10 and the food and service were both excellent. The main course was an alternate serve, where half had salmon with baked Jerusalem artichokes and half had sliced lamb rump on a bed of spicy labneh, with a shredded carrot salad.

This is my interpretation, but I have used lamb cutlets instead of rump. The carrot salad is delicious on it’s own or as a filler for sandwiches or wraps, or as part of a buffet.

2 cups thick Greek-style plain yoghurt
2 tsp harissa paste (or to taste)
8 lamb cutlets, trimmed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Paprika
Carrot Salad:
500g carrots, cut into thin julienne or very coarsely grated
1/3 cup dried currants
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
Juice of half a lemon
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp each cinnamon, cumin and paprika
2 tsp honey (or more to taste)
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
To garnish:
Chopped parsley or another green herb
Balsamic Glaze (optional)

To make Labneh, strain yoghurt for a few hours or overnight in a sieve lined with muslin or a man’s handkerchief, in the fridge. Discard the liquid and mix in the harissa.

Place currants in a small bowl and add just enough warm water to cover. Leave to plump up for half an hour.

Place all ingredients for the carrot salad in a frying pan, including the currants and water, and stir fry for 2-3 minutes or until the dressing has thickened a bit. The carrots should remain fairly crunchy. Meanwhile season the cutlets with salt, pepper and paprika and cook them on a hot griddle, barbecue or in an air fryer, until they are cooked the way you like them – about 3-4 minutes each side.

Divide the labneh between 4 serving places and spread into a circle. Top with some carrot salad (you will probably have leftovers) and two cutlets per person. Garnish with chopped parsley and, if liked, a drizzle of balsamic glaze around the edge of the plate.

Serves 4

Variations: if you don’t have harissa paste, any chilli paste will do.

Potato Fritters with Smoked Salmon & Poached Eggs

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This recipe comes from Bill Granger, a Sydney-based chef who sadly died far too young in 2023 of cancer.

Bill is credited with inventing avocado toast, a breakfast or brunch dish which has become popular not only in Australia, but around the world.  My Chilean son-in-law says he’s been eating avocado toast for breakfast all his life and that it’s always been popular in Chile, so maybe Granger didn’t actually invent it. However, he certainly introduced it to Australians.

Bill was a self-taught cook who became a celebrated global restaurateur and food writer with a career spanning over 30 years. Together with his partner Natalie, they built a thriving business that today counts 19 restaurants across Australia, Japan, South Korea and the UK. He wrote 14 cookbooks, selling over one million copies,

Today’s recipe is one of Bill’s signature dishes. Easy, tasty, quick and healthy. What more could you want?

Any leftover potato mixture will keep in the fridge for 24 hours or so. The second photo shows a larger fritter I made the following day. I put the eggs on top and broke them open. In the first photo the eggs are hiding below the smoked salmon.

 

Fritters:
2 medium to large starchy potatoes (eg Desiree)
1 very small onion or half a larger one
1 egg
1 Tbs chopped mint
2 Tbs crumbled feta cheese (optional)
2 Tbs plain flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2-3 Tbs vegetable oil to fry the fritters
Dill oil:
1 cup loosely packed dill, finely chopped
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs lemon juice and some grated zest
To serve:
4 eggs
2 Tbs sour cream
2 tsp ground sumac
4 slices smoked salmon or trout
Lemon wedges

Peel and coarsely grate the potatoes and onion and place in a colander. Add a good pinch of salt, mix and leave to drain for 20-30 mins. Squeeze out as much moisture as you can with your hands. Mix in remaining ingredients apart from the oil.

Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan. Make fritters using 2-3 heaped tablespoons potato mixture for each one and spreading them out to make each fritter into an oval about 7cm long. At the same time poach the eggs and mix all ingredients for the dill oil.

Serve one fritter per person, topped with two poached eggs, two slices of smoked salmon or trout, a dollop of sour cream and a drizzle of dill oil. Top with a sprinkle of sumac and garnish with a couple of lemon wedges.

Serves 2

Note: if you don’t have sumac – a Middle Eastern spice – use coarsely ground black pepper.

The Zucchini Wrap which has gone Viral

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This wrap made with sliced zucchini (courgette) has gone viral on social media sites. I made it the other evening as a light supper and we had half each with a bowl of soup. Delicious, healthy, no carbs.

1 or 2 zucchini (courgette) depending on size
Grated mozzarella cheese
2-3 Tbs basil pesto
1 burrata cheese, drained and broken up
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sliced tomatoes
A handful of rocket leaves

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Thinly slice the zucchini and lay on the paper in a rectangle then cover with a thin layer of grated mozzarella, as shown in the first photo.  Bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese is golden, see second photo. Remove from the oven and turn it over onto a chopping board. Spread with pesto then arrange the tomatoes and rocket on top (third photo) then season and roll up. Cut in two.

Makes 2 servings

Variations: use feta or goat cheese instead of burrata. Or some canned tuna or cooked chicken. Use lettuce instead of rocket. Cucumbers instead of tomatoes. Mayonnaise or humus instead of pesto. A smoked salmon, cucumber, dill and cream cheese combo would be nice.

Rocket & Pear Salad with Parmesan & Nuts

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My Peruvian friend Christina, an art restorer, was living in Paris when we were posted there. She gave me this recipe. Well, to be honest, she made it when we went to her place for dinner one night and I copied the idea. It has since become one of my favourite salads. Especially in the colder months when the pears are good but the tomatoes aren’t.

Sometimes the pears you find at the supermarket are very underripe, so it’s good to plan ahead and keep one in the fruit bowl for a couple of days until it feels just ripe, which is perfect for this recipe.

Rocket leaves or a mix of salad greens
1 ripe but not overripe pear (peel if preferred, I don’t)
1 shallot or ¼ of a red onion, very finely diced
Toasted pine nuts or chopped walnuts or pecans
60g coarsely grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
Dressing:
2 Tbs red wine vinegar
3-4 Tbs olive oil
Salt and freshly grated black pepper to taste
1 tsp honey (optional)
1 tsp Dijon mustard

Place all ingredients for dressing in a jar with a lid and shake to combine.

Arrange rocket or salad greens on serving dish. Quarter and core the pear, then cut into thin slices. Arrange over the salad. Sprinkle with the onion, toasted nuts and Parmesan. Drizzle with the dressing, then gently mix. Any leftover dressing will keep in the fridge for up to a month.

 

Halloumi with Rhubarb Sauce

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We had this dish when we were travelling in Poland several years ago. As we grow rhubarb in our garden I made a mental note to recreate it, but then I forgot about it.
I was cleaning out the freezer in our garage this morning. A good weekend activity which doesn’t get done very often. I found all sorts of things I had forgotten about, including a container of cooked rhubarb.
So I added a few things to it, including half a cup of frozen raspberries and came up with a delicious lunch for two, as close to the Polish version as I can remember.
The raspberries are not essential, but they do give the sauce a better colour. You will have enough sauce to make this recipe two or three times. Any leftover sauce will keep in the fridge for several days or can be frozen.
Rhubarb Sauce:
2 cups rhubarb, chopped
½ cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)
½ cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbs honey
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
For the Halloumi:
225g packet halloumi, sliced 1cm thick
1 Tbs olive oil
To serve:
Rocket leaves|
Extra virgin olive oil

Fresh herbs
Cracked black pepper
For the sauce, place all ingredients in a large saucepan and cook over moderate heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring often, or until thick and chunky. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Dry the halloumi on paper towels then cook on both sides in the olive oil in a nonstick frying pan, until golden brown.Serve the halloumi on a bed of rocket leaves. Top with some of the rhubarb sauce and garnish with fresh herbs, a drizzle of olive oil and some cracked pepper.

Serves 2 as a light lunch or starter
Variations: use pitted red plums, chopped, instead of rhubarb.

Eggplant and Chickpea Curry

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This winter has been particularly cold so I’ve been trying different recipes for eggplant curries. Eggplant is one of the “meatiest” of vegetables, resulting in a very filling and satisfying meal. This curry has become one of our favourites.

For a less rich sauce, use water instead of the can of coconut milk.

2 medium to large eggplants cut into 2cm cubes, skin left on
4 Tbs olive oil
1 large onion , chopped
1 red capsicum, seeded and cut into cubes
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed
1 Tbs fresh ginger, grated or finely chopped
2 tsp each ground coriander, smoked paprika and turmeric
1 Tbs curry paste (whatever you have on hand)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can coconut milk (or 1 cup water)
1 can chickpeas, drained
Salt to taste
Fresh coriander, chopped

Preheat oven to 180°C. Place eggplant in a bowl, add 2 Tbs of the olive oil and a little salt. Mix well, then spread out on a large shallow oven tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until tender and starting to brown.

Meanwhile in a large frying pan cook the onion, red capsicum and garlic in the remaining 2 Tbs of oil for 5 minutes, stirring often, or until soft. Add the ginger, spices and curry paste and cook, stirring, over moderate heat for 1-2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, coconut milk and chickpeas, plus a dash of water if it seems a bit too thick. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add the roasted eggplant to the sauce with salt to taste. Garnish with coriander (I didn’t have any for the photo) and serve with steamed rice and a fruit chutney.

Serves 4

Dumplings with Satay Sauce

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This is an easy recipe you can whip up in no time to feed the family or a crowd. Similar in method to this recipe for Baked Gnocchi with Tomatoes, Basil and Cheese which I posted some time ago and which uses a bought packet of gnocchi, today’s recipe uses a bought packet of frozen dumplings. It’s one of those throw everything in and bake dishes.

To make this dish go further, serve it with steamed rice.

1 packet frozen dumplings (about 500g, prawn, chicken or pork)
Sauce:
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1 Tbs chilli paste/sauce (Sriracha, gochujang, harissa paste or curry paste)
1 Tbs sweet chilli sauce
1 Tbs soy sauce
2 tsp fish sauce
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbs grated ginger
2 tsp sesame oil
1 (400ml) can coconut milk
Additions:
½ cup frozen edamame beans (not the ones in the pods) (see variations)
2 heads bok choy, chopped (see variations)
Toppings:
1 Tbs sesame seeds
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
½ cup chopped coriander leaves
1 Tbs chopped peanuts
1 Tbs crispy fried shallots (sold in Asian shops and some supermarkets)
1 lime, cut into wedges (optional)

Preheat oven to 200°C and lightly oil a lasagne-type dish about 20-22cm long. Place all ingredients for the sauce in the dish. Rinse out the coconut milk can with ¼ cup water and tip that in too. Whisk with a hand whisk to combine. Scatter the edamame and bok choy over the dish and push them to submerge. Arrange frozen dumplings over the whole dish and push them in a bit. You will need 20-25 dumplings – I used about two thirds of a 750g packet.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling and the dumplings are starting to brown on top. Meanwhile prepare the toppings.

Sprinkle toppings over the dish and serve immediately.

Serves 4

Variations: instead of edamame use frozen peas or corn. Instead of bok choy use pak choy, baby spinach leaves, sugar snap peas, baby corn or julienne carrots.

 

Anantara’s Beetroot, Pumpkin & Rocket Salad with Caramelised Walnuts

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While chilling out for a few days in Chiang Mai, Thailand last year at the Bodhi Serene, on our way back to Australia from Europe, we had a fantastic dinner at the restaurant in the Anantara hotel. The Anantara is a chain with hotels and resorts all over the world.

This year we were staying in the Little Riverside in Hoi An Vietnam when we noticed an Anantara hotel right next door. We had two excellent dinners there and on the day we were leaving this is what I had for lunch. Well this is my version.

1 bunch rocket, washed and spun dry
2 cups pumpkin, peeled and cut into 2-3cm cubes
2 beetroot, peeled and cut into quarters or eighths
8 French shallots, peeled
1 Tbs olive oil
1 orange, peeled and cut into segments
¾ cup walnuts or pecans
1 Tbs maple syrup
Dressing:
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs orange juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 200°C. Mix pumpkin, beetroot and shallots with olive oil, season lightly then spread out on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Cook for 30 mins or until cooked and lightly browned.

Arrange rocket in serving dish. Top with the roasted vegetables and the orange segments. Place walnuts or pecans in a small frying pan and stir over moderate heat for a minute or two. Add the maple syrup and stir until the nuts are glazed and sticky.  Arrange over the salad then drizzle with the dressing. Dressing: shake all ingredients in a jar with a lid. Photo shows the salad without the dressing.

Serves 4