Pasta with Smoked Salmon and Cucumber

Posted on 26 December 2012 by Linda Peek

Smoked salmon is much cheaper than it used to be, especially if you buy it in half kilo packets, so I usually have some “on the go” in the fridge. It’s handy for creating a quick salad or pasta dish such as this one, slightly adapted from a recipe in Delicious magazine.

Pink peppercorns, known as baies roses in French, are fragrant and only slightly peppery. According to Wikipedia, they are not real peppercorns but were so-called because they look like them. They go well with most recipes using smoked salmon or gravlax. You can probably tell from the photo that I only had chives and no dill, but it still tasted good!

400g spaghetti or fettuccine
1 Lebanese cucumber or half a telegraph cucumber, peeled, seeds removed and diced
1 Tbs olive oil
1 cup sour cream or creme fraiche
1 Tbs white wine or white Balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 Tbs capers, rinsed and drained
2 Tbs chopped dill
2 Tbs chopped chives
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon and juice of ½
200g smoked salmon, chopped
To garnish:
Extra chopped herbs
Pink peppercorns (the dry ones, see photo)
Or Salmon Roe

Sprinkle cucumber dice with salt and leave to drain in a colander for 30 mins then rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Cook pasta according to packet instructions, drain and mix with the oil. Mix sour cream, vinegar, garlic, lemon juice and rind, capers and herbs in a bowl. Then add pasta, cucumber and smoked salmon. Divide among 4 bowls and garnish with extra herbs and pink peppercorns or salmon roe. The dish will be warm rather than piping hot.

Serves 4

Oven-Roasted Vegetables

Posted on 20 December 2012 by Linda Peek

Whenever I make oven-roasted vegetables I always think there will be lots of leftovers. But they’re so delicious, not to mention healthy, so everyone comes back for seconds and there’s none left.

You can use any combination of vegetables and there are some important rules. Cook the vegetables in a hot oven i.e. 200C or 400F in a very shallow baking tray in one layer – otherwise they will stew in their own juices rather than roasting. Also it’s important to cut vegetables which cook quickly, such as zucchini, into larger pieces than the rest. When cooked the vegetables should be slightly charred on the edges, while still maintaining a bit of crunch. The first photo shows them just out of the oven. The second photo shows them served on a bed of rocket, garnished with some soft goat’s cheese and toasted pine nuts.

2-3 large carrots, peeled
2 red or yellow peppers (capsicum) or one of each, seeds and membranes removed
4-6 small yellow squash (if available)
3 onions – red or brown
4-6 zucchini (courgettes)
6-8 whole garlic cloves
Olive oil, salt and pepper
Balsamic glaze or vinegar
Chopped fresh parsley or coriander to serve
Optional additions:
1 eggplant (aubergine)
1 sweet potato
parsnips or pumpkin

Preheat oven to 200°C. Cut vegetables into sticks or chunks, onions into quarters or eighths depending on size. Leave garlic cloves whole. Place all the vegetables in a shallow baking tray in a single layer. You don’t want them all on top of each other, so use two if necessary. Drizzle generously with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and mix well with your hands. Roast vegetables for 30-40 mins, turning a couple of times during cooking time. Serve at room temperature, drizzled with balsamic glaze or balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with chopped herbs.

Serves 6-8

Pineapple Chutney

Posted on 16 December 2012 by Linda Peek

This chutney is adapted from a recipe in this month’s Delicious magazine. It’s very quick to make and great to have around at Christmas or to give to friends as a gift. The original recipe didn’t have any chilli, so just leave it out if you’re not into spicy food.

1 x 825g can pineapple in natural juice or light syrup (or 2 smaller cans)
4 Tbs Hoisin sauce
3 Tbs honey
3 Tbs soy sauce
2 star anise
2 Tbs chopped fresh ginger
1 tsp Chinese five spice powder
1 Tbs crushed chilli (buy it in a jar or process some fresh ones)

In some countries you can buy crushed pineapple, but if yours is in slices or rings, place in food processor and chop finely. Place in a large heavy-bottomed pan with remaining ingredients. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring regularly, or until thickened and looking a bit sticky around the edges. Discard star anise. Place a few small jam jars without their lids in microwave and “cook” for a minute or two. This will heat and sterilize them. Fill with chutney and seal while hot. Serve with cold ham, pork, turkey, duck or chicken. Will keep for several months. Refrigerate after opening.

Makes about 4 cups

Note: if you prefer the chutney to be yellow in colour use white soy sauce, sugar instead of honey and omit the hoisin sauce.

Chilled Carrot and Orange Soup

Posted on 10 December 2012 by Linda Peek

On a very hot day you can’t beat a bowl of ice cold soup. Not everybody will agree with me on this – chilled soups are something you either like or you don’t. My Dad didn’t like them, even though he was quite adventurous, loved Asian food and most of the things I put in front of him.

The best known cold soups are probably Spanish gazpacho and Russian Borscht, a soup made with beetroot which can be served hot or cold and which is popular in many Middle European countries. I have about three other favourite recipes including this one for Carrot and Orange. The soup is equally delicious served hot.

Chilled Carrot and Orange Soup

500-600g carrots, peeled and sliced
1 large onion, chopped
25g butter
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1½ – 2 cups orange juice (fresh or from a carton)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Pinch of sugar
Finely chopped fresh dill and cream to garnish

Cook onion in butter till soft, add carrots, stock, sugar and simmer until tender. Blend till smooth in blender, add orange juice to reach desired consistency, check seasoning and chill. Serve garnished with dill and a swirl of cream. Can be served hot.

Serves 6

Variation: for a creamier soup replace ½ cup of the orange juice with cream.

Pavlova

Posted on 8 December 2012 by Linda Peek

My friend Chris Wride in Paris has just requested my recipe for Pavlova via the Café Cat Facebook page. He remembers I served it at a dinner when we were living there. Well his timing couldn’t have been better. We’ve just picked our first raspberries and one of the nicest ways to enjoy fresh berries, especially raspberries, is in a Pavlova. Chris your wish is my command! Here it is.

Australians and New Zealanders argue about where this dish originated and both claim it as their national dessert. It doesn’t really matter who invented it – it’s a world class dish by any standards. Sometimes I make individual ones but they’re a bit more fiddly. One big one can be whipped up in no time at all.

4 large egg whites (approx 125g) at room temp
250g caster sugar
1 tsp white or cider vinegar
1 tsp cornflour
400ml fresh cream, whipped
2-3 cups fresh berries such as raspberries, blueberries, strawberries

Serves 10

Preheat oven to 170°C. Place a sheet of non-stick baking paper or foil on a large baking tray and draw a 25cm circle on it using a dinner plate. Place egg whites in a large bowl and whisk using electric beaters until soft peaks. A Kenwood or Kitchen Aid mix-master is ideal for this, but hand held beaters will do, although it will take twice as long. Gradually add sugar and keep whipping until you have a stiff, glossy meringue with no crunchy bits of sugar left. Halfway through stop the machine and scrape mixture down from sides of the bowl. Add vinegar and cornflour then pile the meringue onto the baking paper circle. Spread to an even thickness then remove some from the middle to the edges so you end up with a meringue which has a dip in the middle for the cream and fruit. Bake for 10 mins then turn off the oven and leave there till cool. Fill pavlova with unsweetened whipped cream and berries. Dust with sifted icing sugar (optional).

Notes:

leftover egg whites from a recipe which uses only yolks can be stored in a plastic container in the freezer, adding more on other occasions. Thaw and weigh: one egg white weighs 30g (1 ounce) more or less
if there is any trace of egg yolk left in the whites they will not whip
all ovens differ so you may need to adjust the oven temperature and/or the cooking time till you get this right
the finished meringue should be crisp on the outside but soft like marshmellow on the inside
passionfruit pulp is also nice on pavlova and some people like to use slices of kiwi fruit

Curried Chicken Salad

Posted on 6 December 2012 by Linda Peek

Over the years I’ve stopped making some of the recipes I collected in my teens because my taste has changed, or maybe they were never that special to begin with and new ones have taken over as favourites. Others have evolved over the years with slight modifications and improvements – cutting down on fat or sugar, or smartening up the presentation.

This curried chicken salad, which I’ve been making for decades, falls into the latter category. When I’m asked to bring a plate and take this dish I am always asked for the recipe, so I can’t imagine I will ever cross it off my repertoire. The original version used canned pineapple, which was very popular in the UK when I was growing up. I don’t think I ate a fresh pineapple until I was well into my 20s, but everyone had a few cans in the pantry to add to coleslaw, serve with grilled ham steaks or add to fruit salads. Nobody needs to buy canned fruit these days with such a wide selection of fresh fruit available.

This dish makes a perfect addition to a cold buffet and is a great way to make one roast chicken serve a crowd. It’s easy to double, triple or quadruple, any leftovers go down well the following day and I’ve also made it using leftover roast Turkey from Christmas lunch. The dressing and all the ingredients can be prepared the day before. It looks nice in individual servings, piled onto a large lettuce leaf or in a whisky tumbler lined with lettuce. If you want to be really swish, serve the salad in hollowed out fresh pineapple halves, with the green tufty bits left on and of course use what you’ve dug out in the salad. Garnishing with red chilli brings this dish into the 21st century.

Curried Chicken Salad

Meat from one large roast chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1½ cups thinly sliced celery (sliced on the diagonal looks nice)
2 cups seedless grapes
1 cup fresh pineapple cubes
¾ cup flaked almonds or unsalted cashew nuts, roughly chopped
To garnish: Thin slivers of red chilli or red capsicum
Dressing:
1½ cups mayonnaise (preferably home-made)
2 Tbs lemon or lime juice
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs chutney or relish
1 Tbs curry powder or paste
1 Tbs grated onion

Dressing: Chop chutney if it’s very chunky. Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Toast almonds or cashews in a dry frying pan, stirring frequently, until golden, then remove from pan and cool. Prepare the chicken, grapes, celery and pineapple and refrigerate each separately. Recipe can be prepared to this stage up to 24 hours before serving.
If you have time, mix chicken with dressing and refrigerate for a couple of hours for flavours to blend. Mix in celery, grapes and pineapple just before serving.

To serve, mound the salad onto a flat serving platter with lettuce leaves around the edge. Or omit the lettuce and pile the salad into a serving bowl. Sprinkle with toasted nuts and garnish with the chilli.

Serves 6 as a main course or at least 12 as part of a buffet.

Rhubarb Crumbly Slice

Posted on 26 November 2012 by Linda Peek

Matthew said the rhubarb was going berserk and needed picking. All the other little desserts you’ve seen on here recently have been devoured and the fridge was looking bare. I thought I would concoct something with this delicious under-rated fruit from the garden and came up with this. A cross between a crumble and a slice which can double up as a dessert or something sweet to go with a cup of tea for the next few days.

250g plain flour
250g butter
200g brown sugar
200g porridge oats (not the quick cook variety)
About 1 kg washed and trimmed rhubarb, cut into 2-3cm slices
1½ cups jam (any flavour will do)
3 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger (optional)

Preheat oven to 180°C. Place flour and butter in food processor and process to fine crumbs. Add sugar and oats and process briefly, just enough to mix. Butter an oblong cake tin or roasting pan. I used a roasting pan 28x34cm. Tip in about ¾ of the crumble mix and spread evenly. Top with the rhubarb, then drizzle over the jam, mixed with the ginger if using. If jam is a bit stiff zap it briefly in the microwave. Cover with remaining crumbs then bake for 30-40 mins or until browned and bubbly. Cut into 16.

Keeps in the fridge, covered, for up to a week. Can be eaten cold as a cake/slice or hot as a dessert. If you just want to heat up one portion use the microwave. However, if you want to reheat say half a dozen slices to serve as dessert with cream or vanilla ice cream, remove the required number of squares from the tin with a fish slice and reheat in a moderate oven for 10-15 mins on a sheet of baking paper.

Serves 16

Beef and Polenta Pies

Posted on 16 November 2012 by Linda Peek

Last weekend we had lunch at The Old Cheese Factory at Reidsdale. There was a cool wind, but we sat outside because we had two dogs with us. Matthew had a nice time talking to the owners Robert and his son Gary about growing apples, asparagus and other gardening stuff. They make their own cider, ginger beer, apple juice, elderberry wine, elderflower sparkling wine and other beverages. We tasted most of the above and found them all delicious. The cider is dry, just the way I like it. The Old Cheese Factory serves simple lunches at weekends (best to book) and they also run bread-making, cheese-making and sausage-making classes taught by local artisans from Braidwood.

Matthew and I had the Ploughman’s lunch with a glass of apple cider. Catherine more sensibly chose a hot dish, described as a beef and eggplant pie with red wine and polenta and a glass of apple juice. She said the pie was delicious – a variation on a shepherd’s pie. I decided to make something similar using mushrooms instead of eggplants and the result made a tasty family meal.

Beef and Polenta Pies

Beef filling:
1 Tbs olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
250g mushrooms
500g lean minced beef
1 Tbs tomato paste
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup sherry or red wine
1 beef stock cube
2 tsp dried mixed herbs or oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1 cup water
Extra half cup of water mixed with 3 tsp cornflour
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Polenta topping:
2 cups milk
1 cup water
3/4 tsp salt or garlic salt
1 cup instant polenta
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbs butter
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup grated Parmesan, extra

Heat oil in a large frying pan. Cook onion and garlic over a moderate heat until softened but not browned. Wipe mushrooms and cut in halves or chunky slices – you don’t want them to get lost in the filling. Add to the pan with the mince and keep stirring for about 5 minutes or until the meat has browned a bit. Add remaining ingredients except cornflour mixture and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until meat is tender. Add cornflour mixture and stir till thickened. Adjust seasoning – you may not need any salt if stock cube is salty. Spray six 1 cup souffle or ramekin dishes with oil and divide filling among them.

Bring milk, water and salt to the boil in a medium saucepan. Add polenta and stir constantly for 3-5 mins until polenta thickens and pulls away from sides of pan. Add parmesan, butter and egg and remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Place 2-3 Tbs of polenta on top of meat filling – whatever fits – and spread with a knife to cover completely. You will probably have some polenta left over. Sprinkle with extra cheese. Place pies on a baking tray and bake for about 25 mins or until golden brown. Serve immediately with a salad or green vegetable.

Note: Unbaked pies can be stored in the fridge, loosely covered, for a day or so. For larger appetites make in four larger dishes, or if preferred use one large dish.

Serves 4-6

Blanca’s Chilled Avocado Soup

Posted on 12 November 2012 by Linda Peek

This recipe comes from my dear friend Blanca Bulnes who lives in Santiago but spent 4 years in Canberra when her husband was the Chilean Ambassador to Australia. It’s quick and easy to make and perfect for a warm summer’s day.

1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
4 large avocados
1 cup thick Greek yoghurt
½ cup cream
1 Tbs grated onion
2 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 tsp ground cumin (not in original recipe but if you like cumin it makes a nice addition)
To serve:
chopped parsley, or toasted slivered almonds or red pepper puree (see below)

Home made chicken stock is best for this recipe. Leave it in the fridge to chill, then remove any fat from the surface. Otherwise make up a litre of stock using a cube. Vegetarians can use vegetable stock.

In a food processor mix avocado flesh with yoghurt, cream and some of the stock. Scrape into a bowl and add remaining ingredients. Chill for several hours or overnight. Serve garnished with chopped parsley or toasted slivered almonds or a drizzle of red capsicum/pepper puree.

Red Pepper Puree: place 2 capsicums on an oven tray and spray with oil. Place under a very hot grill until slightly blackened and blistered, then turn and grill the other side. Cover loosely with foil and leave until cool enough to handle. Remove skin, seeds and membranes then blitz in a food processor with enough olive oil to make a smooth red paste. Store covered in the fridge.

Pasta with Broad Beans and Pesto

Posted on 5 November 2012 by Linda Peek

Last weekend our friends Venessa and Tony gave us a packet of orecchiette pasta all the way from Italy, although they had bought it at the local deli. It’s shaped like baby pig’s ears, hence the name, and they said it was 50% nicer than any normal pasta. Last Sunday David Herbert’s food column in The Weekend Australian Magazine featured a recipe for Pappardelle with Broad Beans, so I thought I would make it using the orecchiette instead of pappardelle. The recipe also uses pesto, one of my favourite ways to enjoy pasta.

You can usually whip up a tasty pasta meal without having to go to the shops. To this end a bag of pesto cubes in the freezer is a great resource for the busy cook. Towards the end of summer, when we have an abundance of basil in the garden, I start making pesto cubes in ice cube trays, tip them into a plastic bag and by the time I have finished I have a couple of kilos – enough to last till next summer. You’re right, I do have plenty of freezer space!

The third main ingredient in this recipe is broad beans which I always have in the freezer. Fresh broad beans are delicious, but the season is very short and frozen ones are really very good. David Herbert used some green chillies in his pesto, but I prefer mine without. You could always add some to this recipe at the end, to spice it up a bit. A bottle of wine, a crusty loaf and maybe a rocket salad and dinner’s ready.

Pasta with Broad Beans and Pesto

2 cups broad beans, fresh or frozen
350g pappardelle or pasta of your choice
Pesto:
2 Tbs pine nuts, toasted
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 Tbs grated Parmesan
1 cup basil leaves
4-5 Tbs olive oil
Extra grated parmesan to serve

Put two pans of salted water on to boil, one for the pasta and one for the broad beans. Cook pasta according to packet instructions and broad beans for about 3 minutes, then refresh under cold water and when cool enough slip off the outer skins and discard. While pasta is cooking make pesto by mixing all the ingredients together in a food processor until chunky-smooth.

When pasta is al dente drain and return to the pan with the broad beans and the pesto. Mix well then transfer to four serving bowls. Sprinkle with extra grated cheese and serve.

Serves 4