Modified Minestrone

We won a hamper thing in a raffle, and in it were some things my family doesn't ordinarily keep in our pantry... including a can of pink salmon, and some cannelini beans.  I used up the pink salmon by mixing it with cream cheese and spreading it on crackers, which was nice for the first few mouthfuls but then go too creamy and sickly for me.

But the beans stumped me.  I didn't know what to do with them.  Then I saw Rachael Ray put them in a soup.  And I was like "hey, minestrone!"  So following Jamie Olivers basic minestrone recipe, I kind of altered it to include the random ingredients in our pantry.

Unfortunately I was slack on this one and didn't take photos (because I didn't intend to write about it really) so you'll just have to use your imagination... picture a tomatoey soup with lots of bits in it including potato, beans and pasta.... om nom nom...

INGREDIENTS
1 x400g can whole or chopped tomatoes
1 x400g can rinsed cannelini beans
4 cups chicken stock
diced ham (around 200g)
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 capsicum (bell pepper), diced
1 potato, diced
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup small pasta
1 small tsp crushed garlic
1 bay leaf
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp onion salt (if you have it)
1 tbsp BBQ sauce
2 tbsp tomato sauce
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce (more or less depending on your tolerance)
1/2 cup grated cheese (ideally parmesan, but I didn't have any, so used Edam & Tasty - just as yum!)

sliced fresh bread to mop up soupyness

METHOD

• Heat pan with oil, and add ham, onion, garlic, carrot, capsicum, bay leaf and oregano
• Cook until veges are soft
• Add everything else except the pasta
• Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes
• 10 minutes before serving, add in the pasta
• Test the pasta to make sure it's cooked before serving, and taste constantly to adjust seasoning
• If the soup is too thick after the pasta is cooked, it can be thinned out with some more stock, or water
• Serve immediately with fresh bread

Seriously, I know it seems like a lot of ingredients, but it's so delicious, and really quite easy because most things all go in together.  Was delicious on a cold autumn night! :)

Pumpkin Quinoa Patties

Well hello to you! (Miranda quote, of course!)  Sorry for having been so slack on the new recipe front!  Busy busy life, especially now that I'm back at uni!  I will try to do something on here at least once a month! :)  I did actually make this recipe in March (and was going to write it up asap... clearly that didn't happen) *virtual slap on the wrist* - lots of family drama and tragedy is my excuse :(

Patties, with chips and peas :D

Aaaaanyway, my Belgian friend Fien made them from a recipe book her dad sent her, we had them one night at her house when a friend of ours who was gluten free and vegetarian came over.  They were so good I wanted to make some for my parents to try too.  They sounded really bizarre when I first heard of them, they looked amazing, and the taste?  Well you'll just have to read on to find out!  *cheeky*


INGREDIENTS
1 average sized butternut pumpkin
1 tbsp olive oil
230g quinoa
470ml water
1 cube chicken stock (or vegetable if vegetarian) - use GF stock if you're GF

Pre-Grilling

170g rice (basmati or wild preferably)
110g spring onions

85g dried cranberries
1 tbsp basil 
salt & pepper to taste
parmesan cheese (grated) - optional, but adds a real depth of flavour

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 200 deg C
• Slice pumpkin in half, remove pips
• Place pumpkin halves on oven dish, and brush with olive oil
• Bake for approx. 1 hour (until soft)
• Let cool, and scoop out pumpkin, discard peel, and mash
• Mix the 470ml water with the stock cube and add to a pot with the quinoa
• Cook quinoa 10 to 12 minutes, until the water is absorbed
• When cooked, let cool for 10 minutes
• Cook rice ( using whatever your usual method is)
• Mix quinoa and rice together
• Add to the pumpkin mash
• Add all the remaining ingredients, mixing well as you go
• Form patties (this is the messy bit, where you end up with orange hands!)
• Bake for a further 15-20 minutes in oven, pan, grill, barbecue, however you want really! 
  
  (Serve hot or cold)

Several things I want to say.  First of all, while this seems like a lot of effort, a lot of steps, and preparation, and being organised enough to begin making this with enough time to roast the pumpkin, IT IS WORTH IT.  There are the most amazing non-meat patties I have ever had.  Especially with aioli on them!  The cranberries give a touch of contrasting sweetness and juiciness, the quinoa is not even noticeable, yet it is so good for you!  The pumpkin is delicious, and I can't get enough of them!!

Finished Product!

Secondly, when it comes to the final cooking stage, it doesn't matter how you do them, just cook them kind of like you would with ordinary burger patties.  My only piece of advice is, the pumpkin can get quite sticky, and can cause your pattie to disintegrate, which, if you're anything like me, will make you incredibly angry and frustrated.  I HIGHLY recommend cooking them on the smooth plate of a BBQ, or in a George Foreman-type bench top grill that has non-stick plates.  You really don't want to miss this cooking step out, because it gives the patties a nice golden edge, and makes them taste EVEN better.

The patties we had for dinner, lined up in our George Foreman grill, with non-stick tinfoil (because the non-stick surface on our grill is wearing away now, it's so old and over-used ;P )

Thirdly - THIS MAKES A LOT OF PATTIES!!! Don't fret though, because if it is more than you or your family can eat, you can certainly freeze them!  I froze my extra patties (before the final cooking stage) with baking paper between each pattie (to stop them sticking together).  Now, I have a fast food, I can get 1 pattie out of the freezer, microwave for 1 min to defrost, and then do the last cooking step (in the grill, etc.).  Healthy fast lunch = WIN!

So there you have it, my new favourite vegetarian food!  I actually ended up making a lot patties out of it, so it's lasted a while (I made them in early March, it's now mid-April, and I've still got about 6 in the freezer :D ).  Enjoy!  And I would love you guys to comment back sometime about the recipes of mine you've tried!!

Satay Chicken

Most of the time, I follow the recipes I find.  But sometimes, I find several recipes, and then use bits from all of them!  This is what I did tonight, and it turned out well.  Felt like satay chicken but didn't have a jar of the sauce I normally use, so decided to try to make it from scratch. 

INGREDIENTS
500g chicken breast, sliced
1 onion, sliced
peas 
1 pack vermicelli
1 can of coconut milk (or cream)
3 tbsp peanut butter
sweet chilli sauce (to taste)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp white vinegar
2 or 3 tbsp of sugar
1/2 cup water
salt (to taste)
1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 tsp crushed ginger

METHOD

• Set some salted water to boil, for the vermicelli.  Once it boils, add the vermicelli then turn off the heat.
• Meanwhile, brown chicken and onion in oil, in a fry pan
• Add ginger and garlic, cook for 2 min
• Add coconut cream, peanut butter, chilli sauce, soy sauce, sugar, white vinegar, and salt
• Stir and bring to a simmer
• Reduce heat and simmer until thickens
• Add peas and cook until tender
• Serve on drained vermicelli noodles, or rice

So this was kind of an ad-libbed recipe, but it tasted good, and photographed terribly.  I think I'll make it again in future, but on rice.

 

Crustless Quiche

Thought I'd better get a recipe in before October is over!  Gotta have at least one entry per month! ;) No, actually this month has been insane with uni work, haven't had time to try anything new (much) or write about it.

But now I'm on study leave, which gives me a little flexibility to do stuff like this, so here is today's lunch! 

INGREDIENTS
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup self raising flour

Before being cooked

salt and pepper

1/2 cup cheese (grated)
1 fried onion
Ham or cooked bacon
Veges - I used grated carrot and seasonal asparagus

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180 deg C
• Whisk eggs, milk, flour and seasoning together
• Add everything else to the mix
• Spread in a silicone quiche/flan dish (silicone makes it so much easier to remove at the end)
• Bake for 45 mins, until gold on top and puffed up
• Let sit for a couple of minutes (to make it even easier to remove from silicone)
• Cut up and serve hot, or cold, with relish and sour cream (optional, but delicious)

So this was a super easy recipe to make, and my mum loved it.  I'm not a super egg fan myself (as I probably said when I wrote about the crustless broccoli quiches I made back when I began this blog!) but it was pretty nice.  Would be great for lunches too.

Shout out to Jeremy, one of my best friends, who I've known since we were 7.  This was his recipe/idea.


Recipe Inspiration: http://www.grownups.co.nz/read/lifestyle/food_and_wine/crustless-quiche-recipie

Broccoli Cheese Soup

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  I LOVE BROCCOLI.  There is absolutely nothing like fresh broccoli, steamed to perfection.  None of this frozen rubbish if I had my way!  However, I will not hold it against you if you have not got access to fresh broccoli, and choose to use frozen florets for this recipe - but I will not be held accountable for the soggy outcome!   

Imagine my delight when I saw that broccoli was majorly on special at the supermarket this week... combined with the 3 cheeses Mum and I had picked up (Gruyere, Edam and Tasty - also Parmesan, but I decided not to include Parmesan in this soup because I have other plans for it!)... It was SOUP time!  I've had this recipe up my sleeve for a while, and had just been waiting for the right time to use it.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups chicken broth

1 onion, diced

2/3 cup flour

1/2 cup butter (I used about 250g, if that's an easier measurement!)

pepper to taste

4 cups milk

4 cups grated cheese (I used a mixture of gruyere, edam and tasty cheddar)

lightly steamed broccoli (quantity up to you!)

1 carrot, cut into thin sticks

crusty bread for dipping

METHOD

• In a small covered pan, simmer chopped onion and chicken broth for 15 - 20 min, stirring to prevent onion sticking to the bottom, until onions are soft

MEANWHILE...

• Heat milk in the microwave for 2 minutes
• In a medium sized stockpot, melt butter, then add flour and pepper
• After a few minutes, whisk in warmed milk
• Stir and heat together on medium0high heat until soup starts to thicken
• Add the chicken broth and onions, stirring well until blended
• Add carrot sticks (you may like to pre-steam/cook these, depending on how much crunch you like in your soup!) and cook for a few more minutes, stirring often
• Add cheeses, one handful at a time, allowing the cheese to melt between each handful, and stirring well!
• Add steamed broccoli
• Cook, stirring constantly until you are satisfied with the consistency of the broccoli (some like it soggy, some still like a bit of crunch - it comes down to personal preference!)
• Serve immediately, with crusty bread for dipping!

What can I say.  You KNOW my obsession with the dark green vegetable, and who doesn't LOVE cheese.  Srsly.  To put this simply, without using expletives that my mind keeps urging me  to use, it was like A GIANT BOWL OF STEAMED BROCCOLI WITH COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF THE MOST AMAZING CHEESE SAUCE EVER.  Did caps lock make my point?  I am SUPER in love with this soup.  So SMOOTH (the soupy bit, not counting the veges) with crunchy-ish carrots and broccoli, accompanied by amazing baguette (insert French stereotype here).  

WOW.

Go make it.  Now.  I don't care if it's summer where you live.  You need this soup. 

Although as a side note in tiny tiny writing, possibly not the healthiest soup?  I mean yes, it has vegetables, but honestly... all that cheese and half a cup of butter?!  It's definitely a "special occasion" recipe, not a weekly one!

Recipe Inspiration:
http://www.food.com/recipe/panera-broccoli-cheese-soup-150384
http://www.acooksquest.blogspot.co.nz/2010/11/87-broccoli-cheese-soup.html#more

Creamy Garlic Pasta

This was one of the first recipes I found to try when I decided to embark on my culinary adventure, because I was looking for something easy and different to do with pasta that didn't involve tomato (as all my pasta sauces seem to!), and I was thrilled to find this creamy sauce which doesn't need cream (because we don't keep cream on hand all the time!).  However, it's taken me this long to feel like making it.  I don't know why, I just haven't felt like it up until now.  

Today I was keen for a big bowl of fettucine, and for once we had fresh garlic on hand (rather than crushed garlic from a jar!) so I got to use that too.  Mum said she's kinda over curry (I haven't made it that much so far!) so didn't want leftovers from last nights spinach, kumara and lentil dahl.  So I decided that being a chilly pre-Autumn day, comforting creamy pasta would be a winner for lunch! :)  And it was SO EASY!!!

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons butter/oil/margarine

2 garlic cloved, minced

2 tablespoons flour

3/4 cup chicken stock

3/4 cup milk

2 teaspoons parsley flakes

salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 pack of pasta, cooked according to directions - I used about 500g (dry) of fettucine

grated cheese to top

METHOD

• Cook pasta according to packet directions (takes about the same amount of time as cooking the sauce!)
• Melt butter and add garlic in a medium saucepan and cook on medium for 1 minute
• Add flour and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly
• Stir in stock and milk, and cook stirring frequently until sauce boils and thickens
• Add parsley, salt, pepper and cheese
• Stir until cheese is melted
• Toss hot pasta with sauce and serve immediately, topping with more cheese if desired

This turned out really well, if not a little dry (possibly because I used almost twice as much pasta as the original recipe suggested - oops!  If you prefer your pasta saucy, either halve the pasta, or double the sauce ingredients!).  But it was nice, not too creamy, not heavy, and packing a mean garlic punch!!!  I will definitely make this again, although in future I will possibly make my own adjustments to it, and maybe throw in some onions and vegetables for a more balanced meal.

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.food.com/recipe/creamy-garlic-penne-pasta-43023

Homemade Pizza

One of my favourite weekend lunches to make is homemade pizza.  It's fast and easy.  Often we have ham, and shredded cooked chicken for during-the-week-lunches to put in sandwiches, but it doesn't all get used up.  Homemade pizza is the perfect way to use up these things before they go off, and makes a delicious lunch.  

I'm going to share with you my personal favourite toppings.  Of course, homemade pizza is so simple, and versatile, you can make it any which way you want to.  

INGREDIENTS

2 pre-made pizza bases

Topping #1: Hawaiian Wannabe

spaghetti from a can (instead of tomato sauce/puree base)

diced onion

ham

pineapple (optional)

grated cheese on top

Topping #2: BBQ Chicken

baked beans (instead of tomato sauce/puree base)

sliced red onion

shredded chicken

sliced capsicum (optional)

BBQ sauce, squirted in a lovely swirl

grated cheese on top

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180 deg C (fan bake)
• Chuck all the toppings on the pizza
• Cover in grated cheese
• Put the pizzas in the oven and bake until cheese is melted and golden
• Cut and serve immediately!

in the oven

Hawaiian Wannabe

BBQ Chicken

Delicious!

Crustless Broccoli Cheese Quiches

I have a confession to make.  You know how most kids think broccoli is the worst vegetable in the world, and kids cartoons always make giant broccoli out to be the enemy of all children, something evil that deserves to be hated...?  Well, I was the kid who ATE those kids share of broccoli.  I LOVE BROCCOLI!  I always have.  I always will.  I could never understand why so many kids hated it so much.  It's one of my favourite vegetables.  Nothing better than fresh steamed broccoli, perhaps with a bit of grated cheese on top that's melted from the heat... om nom nom. 

So when I fell upon a recipe for crustless (aka easy!) broccoli cheddar quiches, after having had a massive delivery from some kind friends of eggs straight off their farm, I was very excited.  The recipe used up 6 of the eggs, which was good (meant the sudden excess of eggs wouldn't go to waste!), and Mum had got broccoli from the supermarket on the weekend (2 big heads of broccoli for $3!  Cheap as!) so we had lots of that to use too.

I made it as a side dish for dinner, and my parents ate the left overs for breakfast.   I love that you can make them in muffin trays, perfect portion control, perfect serving size, and they cooked up lovely.  Although the original instructions said to make it into 4 ramekins, I actually liked the muffin tray idea... plus we didn't have any ramekins haha!

Made 11 quiche cupcakes (normal muffin size)

INGREDIENTS

6 eggs

10oz broccoli "florets", cut as big/small as you want (10oz = about 1 & 1/4 cup)

1/2 cup milk

2.5 teaspoons melted butter

Salt and pepper - to taste (optional)

Pinch of chilli powder (optional)

3/4 cup grated cheese (original recipe says sharp cheddar, but I just used Edam)

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180 deg C
• Microwave broccoli for 1 minute with a little water, drain, and pat dry with paper towels
• Whisk eggs, milk, melted butter, 1/2 tsp salt, pepper and chilli together until mixed
• Stir in broccoli and cheese
• Divide mixture evenly between the muffin tray cups, filling 3/4 of the way up the cup
• Poke any bits of broccoli sticking up back down (you don't want it to burn in the oven)
• Bake until golden (about 15 or 20 mins, depending on your oven)

They DO rise when they are in the oven, and get all puffy, but then they deflate as they cool down, into dense little eggy cheesy bites of delicious.  Serve immediately, or eat cold, or eat as left overs - they're good any way!!

I think I will experiment with some other fillings at some point... tomatoes, or ham, or red onion, or normal onion might be a nice addition.  I'll let you know if I do.  :)  I personally didn't really enjoy all the egg, but I'm not big on egg anyway (it takes a very special egg for me to eat it haha).  Mum and Dad loved them though, so we'll go with "they are delicious".  I mostly liked them for the broccoli, if I'm being honest.  :D

Recipe inspiration: http://www.marthastewart.com/318409/crustless-broccoli-cheddar-quiches

Tuna Rosti

Currently, I am stuck at home.  I have been ill, and am not strong enough to work, but I AM strong enough to explore the food world.  Something I struggle with every day is thinking of something to cook for one, for lunch.  You see, I'm not a sandwich person.  Never really have been.  Sandwiches to me are SO boring.  If I'm at home, I won't make a sandwich.  Sandwiches are what you take out for lunch, and even then, it's a stretch for me to do that.  I'm not a big fan of ham, relish and salad (can't think of anything worse to be honest), and if I ever do have sandwiches, it's shredded rotisserie chicken and mayonnaise (and maybe a lettuce leaf if I'm bothered).  

I do like toasted sandwiches though.  When I was working, I'd have cheese and chicken sandwiches, which I'd toast in the grill in the staff room (I was so grateful for that thing!  All staff rooms should have a toasted sandwich maker!) and I'd add BBQ sauce to it (yes, I kept a bottle of BBQ sauce in the fridge at my work haha!).  But I'm getting side tracked.  This post isn't about sandwiches.  It's about lunch dilemmas, which I seem to always have.

I saw this recipe for tuna rosti on television and it said "Perfect for lunches!" which 100% caught my attention.  I like tuna (within reason, I'm not a major fish fan) and I ADORE potato.  Hash browns are one of my favourite things.  So this sounded like a good recipe to try, and it didn't look like it made too much, and the lady on the TV even said "leftovers are delicious cold" too!  WIN!

So here is my variation on the recipe, because I didn't have some of what the original recipe said, and I don't like lemon zest (so I ignored that bit haha).

Makes about 4 rostis!

INGREDIENTS

1 medium potato, peeled and grated (to yield 1 cup)

1 egg, beaten

1 little can (95g) of tuna - any flavour - I used "tomato & basil" for this one

pinch of salt and pepper

METHOD

• Squeeze out as much of the excess liquid from the grated potato (to stop it being too sloppy) using a clean tea towel or paper towel, or just your hands, and place in a mixing bowl.
• Mix in the beaten egg, salt and pepper (to taste) and any dried herbs you might want.  I added extra dried basil, and a bit of oregano.
• Mix in the can of tuna carefully, removing any excess liquid beforehand (because sometimes the tuna can be a bit watery, which you want to avoid).
• Heat a little oil in a frying pan.
• Divide the tuna mixture into 4 and spoon into the pan.
• Cook on medium-low heat for 5 mins each side, or until potato is cooked and golden.

The original recipe says to garnish with a lemon wedge, but I served mine with a bit of mild tomato salsa and sour cream which was delicious.  Tomato relish would also go nicely, or any sauce you have in the fridge!

So this recipe is a success for me, because it's easy, and using stuff we've often got in our pantry, and it's perfect lunch for one, and the leftovers were gladly taken by my dad today!

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.foodinaminute.co.nz/Recipes/Tuna-Rosti

Spaghetti Cups

In New Zealand, where I live, there is this staple food.  It's called spaghetti.  And I'm not talking about dried pasta that you cook to al dente, and serve with a variety of sauces.  I'm talking about spaghetti out of a can, it comes already soft and soggy, with a delicious tomato sauce.  It's one of my favourite things, I've eaten it my whole life.  It's incredibly versatile, and amazing.  It's like the little sister of baked beans.  Everything you can do with baked beans, you can do with spaghetti from a can; on toast, in a toasted sandwich, as a pizza sauce base, heated up straight from the can, in casseroles, in meatloaf, on meat pies, anything.

When I lived overseas, that was one thing I missed a great deal was spaghetti from a can.  We used to even (and I'm not kidding or exaggerating) get trays of the cans sent over to Malaysia especially.  And we were frugal, we used it sparingly, to make it last as long as possible (we lived in Malaysia for 3 years) because it was hard to get the trays sent over.

So, my spaghetti of choice (because there are many brands available here) is Watties Spaghetti.  Just the plain original stuff (none of the crap with the added cheese, bacon, or sausages... ick!).  Now in most of the recipes I make, I'm going to try not to use specific brands, but honestly, there is NOTHING like Watties Spaghetti, so this is an occasion where I am going to break my own rules.  :)

Now this recipe, it's so simple.  You make bread cups.  You fill them.  You bake them.  You eat them.  YES.  Simplicity at its finest.

INGREDIENTS

12 slices of bread (white, multigrain, whatever you have)

50g butter (I thought, golly that's a lot, but you do use it all!)

1 x 300g can Watties Spaghetti (or baked beans, if you'd really prefer!)

Grated cheese

1 onion, finely diced

Some ham, cut into small pieces

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180 deg C (aka moderate oven).
• Cut the crusts from the bread (and keep aside... I'll tell you why later!) and brush one side of each slice with a little melted butter - I used a rubbery pastry brush - super easy!
• Push the bread buttered side down into 12 muffin tins and bake for 15 mins, or until golden and crispy - depends how you like your toast.
  
• Meanwhile, mix the can of Spaghetti with diced onion and ham (and anything else you fancy adding!)
• Fill the bread cups evenly with a spoonful of the mixture, and then top with grated cheese
• Pop them back in the oven for another 15 mins, or until the filling is hot and the cheese is melted and golden and amazing. 

And now, you stuff your face!  Haha but seriously, how easy is that?  And delicious.  They're almost like little pizza cups.  I love that they make a good lunch item, I'm definitely going to make these during the week this year to take to uni for cheap lunches.  I'll let you in on a little secret, they're also really nice cold!  So you don't even have to worry about heating them up!  BONUS!  

And who says this is just a lunch item?  Go NUTS.  Crack some egg in there, or bacon, or heck, just eat one of these ones for breakfast!  And the range of fillings... my goodness.  Baked beans, shredded chicken, cheese, and BBQ sauce make amazing fillings too!  Use your imagination!  Perfect.

Recipe inspiration: http://www.foodinaminute.co.nz/Recipes/Mini-Spaghetti-Pies

Edit: OH SNAP! I forgot to tell you what I did with the leftover crusts.  I thought this was very clever and resourceful of me, because cutting the crusts off 12 pieces of bread seemed like a waste.  So.  I got a flat oven tray, drizzled some oil in the bottom, tossed the crusts in there, shook 'em around a bit to make sure they all got some oil, and chucked that in the oven when the bread cups were first in the oven.  VOILA breadsticks!  I took them out when golden, and they are going to be PERFECT for dipping in anything dippy, like hummus, or other fancyful dips!  YAY! :)  Much better than buying breadsticks for $6 a box (or something equally ridiculous)!