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!!

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

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf

Another recipe that appears repeatedly on www.pinterest.com is for chicken parmesan (or chicken parmigiana) which is essentially a chicken breast, crumbed, baked (or fried) and covered with a tomato (marinara) sauce, and grated parmesan cheese, then grilled.  This was a dish my mum and I used to order a lot at one of our regular "haunts" when we lived in Malaysia.  Something we never made or ate at home.

Anyway, all the recipes I saw for the chicken breast version looked long and convoluted, with many steps.  However, I'm all for simple, quick and easy, so when I saw a meatloaf version of chicken parmigiana, I was sold on the idea.  All that remained was to find somewhere that sold (or would make me) some minced/ground chicken.  Luckily there's still an old fashioned butchery in a neighbouring town who were more than happy to help me in my quest; heck, they even made the mince fresh especially for me!  :)  No such quality service like that in your supermarket butcher section, that's for sure! 

Meatloaf tends to have a bad reputation in general and I'm not sure why.  It's quite yummy, in all its' forms really.  Served with boiled potatoes and steamed greens, it's a great meal.  Or in winter, with mashed potato and gravy for some good comfort food.  I have even seen a recipe for meatloaf cupcakes?!  SAY WHAAAAAAT.  I'm going to try this one day.  Perfect little savoury bites.  Omigoodness.

INGREDIENTS

500g chicken mince

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 egg

1 small onion, finely diced

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup pasta sauce (tomato/marinara - homemade or store bought)

1/2 cup cheese (for the top... I just used Edam)

METHOD

•  Preheat the oven to 180 deg C
• Line meatloaf tin with baking paper
• Combine the ground chicken, egg, breadcrumbs, thyme, oregano, basil, garlic, onion, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese in a large bowl
• Mix well, but try not to over-handle it (it can get tough)
• Put the mixture in the meatloaf tin
• Top with pasta sauce
• Bake, uncovered, for 40-45 minutes
• Take out and sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup cheese on top
• Bake again until cheese is golden and melted
• Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving

 

This recipe has ended up in my "favourite recipes" book already, and I've only made it once!  While I have to go out of my way to get the chicken mince, and also only use 1/2 a cup of pasta sauce (leaving me with the remainder of the jar to find a use for), I fully don't mind - it's 100% worth it!!  This meatloaf was amazing.  The tomato sauce and cheesy topping works beautifully with the herbs in the meat, and arghhhh I just cannot explain how delicious it was! 

Just go and make it for yourself!!  Om nom nom...!

Recipe Inspiration: http://joelens.blogspot.co.nz/2010/06/chicken-parmesan-meatloaf.html

AMAZING Pasta Sauce

Tonight for dinner, I made a variation of the Spaghetti with Vodka Cream Sauce that I made earlier in the blog.  Having cream that needed using, and feeling somewhat confident having made the basic recipe a couple of times, I decided to try and play around a little bit.  The result?

THE MOST AMAZING PASTA EVER!

Ok, so I'm not being terribly modest, but hell.  That was some damn good pasta!  I don't think I'll EVER make the basic Vodka Cream Sauce again!  I'm going to do it this new way from now on, because it was so good.  It was terribly refreshing, not heavy sitting in your stomach, and it's vegetarian (which is a bonus - cheap, and you don't need meat at every meal - sometimes it's nice to have a change up... after all, we are omnivores!).  

Another good thing is that it has lots of vegetables in it, but you barely even notice!

INGREDIENTS

dry pasta (enough for 4 - 5 + serves), cooked al dente, drained, kept warm - I used penne tonight!

2 tbsp oil

2 medium onions, diced

1 & 1/2 tsp salt, divided

a pinch of dried chilli powder (to taste - but be frugal, trust me)

1 generous teaspoon of crushed garlic

1 cup vodka

1/2 cup vegetable or chicken stock (I made it quite strong for extra flavour)

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can whole tomatoes

1/2 cup cream

diced capsicum (bell peppers)

1 medium carrot, grated

cherry tomatoes, halved

mushrooms (optional - I fried these on the side in a bit of butter for my Dad to add to his sauce - I personally don't like mushrooms)

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

2 tbsp cornflour mixed in 2 tbsp cold water to thicken (if necessary, add at the end)

shaved or grated parmesan cheese, for on top!

METHOD

• Heat oil, add onion and sauté until tender.
• Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, chilli, and garlic; sauté 1 minute.
• Add vodka (when cooking with alcohol, there is always the chance of it catching on fire, so be very careful); bring to a boil
• Reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes or until liquid is reduced by about half
• Stir in 1 tsp salt, stock, and cans of tomatoes (you may want to smoosh the whole tomatoes up a bit as it simmers); bring to a boil
• Add diced capsicum, grated carrot and halved cherry tomatoes.  Season with dried basil, oregano and garlic salt.
• Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes, tasting the sauce and adjusting seasoning if necessary
• Mix in cream, stirring constantly while cooking for another 2 minutes
• If the sauce is a little thin, mix the cornflour and water and add to the sauce, simmering for a few more minutes while stirring constantly
• Serve immediately on al dente pasta, with cheese to garnish.

It smelled and looked so good, I wanted to eat ASAP and I forgot to take a picture on the bench... hence why you can see my legs haha!

Then once you've eaten this pasta, come back to my blog and thank me for introducing you to the best sauce of your life! ;)  It's so easy.  It may look like a lot of steps, but it's really not, and I've kept it as simple as possible! :)  I prepared all my diced veges first so I could just chuck them in as needed, so that keeps it easy. :)

Happy cooking!

Chicken, Tomato and Parmesan Pasta Bake

Oops, I cheated again.  HA!  OK so I never promised outright that I would always 100% make stuff from scratch,  but that was kind of my goal on my culinary journey.  However, when there is a jar of stuff in the pantry to use as a recipe base, you use it.  You don't just let it sit there forever.

So I had a jar of "Creamy Tomato and Parmesan Pasta Bake" from Heinz (they were on special at the supermarket one day, so we thought "why not" and got one to try).  Lemme just say, when I cracked it open, it didn't smell too good; it wasn't off, I think it was just the parmesan aroma haha!  You can tell I'll never be one for fine dining huh?  I've put a pic of the jar below, so you can see which one it was.

Anyway, I had found a recipe online for a chicken pasta bake to make with this jar, which was all well and good.  Except when it came time to make the pasta bake, silly little me didn't read how much pasta to cook.  HA!  It said 200g or something of pasta for this 500g jar of sauce (plus the chicken).  Out of habit, I cooked 500g of pasta.  -_-  Oops.  

When I realised, I thought "oh snap - there's not going to be enough sauce in that jar to cover TWICE as much pasta, AND chicken AND the onion I'd added - we're gonna have a dry pasta bake - yuck".  DOH!  So I improvised.  Luckily, although we had run out of canned diced tomatoes (which would have been a lovely juicy addition), we still had some cans of tomato puree.  So I chucked that in too.  And you know what?  It worked well!  Yay me! :)

Serves about 6, I guess - we had 3 main meals, and 3 meal sized left overs too... yum!  One thing I have to complain about though, is that it made & used a LOT of dishes.  Poor Dad, he had to do them all haha!

INGREDIENTS

500g cooked penne pasta (al dente)

500g chicken breast (skinless), diced

1 onion, sliced

500g jar of Heinz Creamy Tomato & Parmesan Pasta Bake

1 can tomato puree

Grated cheese (about 1 cup?)

METHOD

• Preheat the oven to 180 deg C.
• Put the pasta on to cook to al dente (as per packet instructions). Drain, and set aside.
• Meanwhile, brown the onion and chicken in a fry pan with a lil bit of oil.
• When it's cooked, toss in the pasta bake sauce, and the can of tomato puree.
• Mix the pasta into the chicken sauce, making sure all the pasta has some sauce on/around it.
• Pour the pasta into an oven safe casserole dish, and sprinkle over grated cheese.
• Bake for 20 mins in a moderate oven (180 deg C) or until the cheese is golden

I may or may not have got a bit distracted and let my pasta bake overcook a little last night... but I just pulled out the blackest bits of pasta and threw them away haha.  It still tasted ok!

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.foodinaminute.co.nz/Recipes/Chicken-Tomato-and-Parmesan-Pasta-Bake

Spaghetti with Vodka Cream Sauce

I think this is the recipe that started it all for me.  Because I kept hearing about this sauce, and how it had vodka (something that tends to stick in ones mind!) and cream and tomatoes and you just serve it with al dente pasta, and BAM it blows you away because it is so AMAZING.

They were right.  It was delicious.  And it is DEFINITELY going in my special book of favourite recipes (trust me, this is a real honour!). 

The beautiful thing about this recipe, is that you can do SO much more with it; it's a perfect base for all sorts of variations.  Let your imagination run WILD!  Also, ingredients don't have to be exact, like chill out, if you don't have fresh basil, use dried.  If you don't have basil at all, try oregano.  Cooking is FLEXIBLE! :)

It serves 3 - 4.  Everything I cook will probably serve about that much, because we are a family of 3.  :)  I'm not gonna bother with nutritional info, that's way too involved haha... and I'm lazy.

INGREDIENTS

dry thin spaghetti pasta (OR any other pasta, enough for 3-4 serves), cooked al dente, drained, kept warm

1 tbsp (olive) oil - I used canola/rice bran oil - whatever you have is cool.

1/2 cup finely chopped onion (OR 2 to 3 shallots)

3/4 tsp salt, divided

a pinch of dried chilli powder (to taste - be frugal, trust me)

1 garlic clove, minced (OR the equivalent approx crushed garlic, that's cool too!)

1/2 cup vodka

1/4 cup vegetable or chicken broth

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained

1/4 cup cream

3 tbsp thinly sliced fresh basil - or dried, up to you, whatever is in the cupboard!

shaved or grated parmesan cheese, for on top!

METHOD

• Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat, and sauté onion until tender.
• Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, chilli, and garlic; sauté 1 minute.
• Add vodka (when cooking with alcohol, there is always the chance of it catching on fire, so be very careful); bring to a boil. 
• Reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes or until liquid is reduced by about half. 
• Stir in scant 1/2 teaspoon salt, broth, and tomatoes and dried basil (if you're not using fresh); bring to a boil. 
• Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes. 
• Remove skillet from heat and let cool slightly.  Now at this point, the original recipe I followed says to use a stick blender to puree, or to take it out and use a conventional blender to puree before returning to the pan for finishing touches.  But personally, I don't mind a chunky lumpy tomato sauce.  So I skipped this step.
• Mix in cream, then cook the sauce for 2 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly.
• Remove from heat. Stir in cooked pasta and fresh basil (if you're using it)
• Taste the pasta and adjust seasoning if needed. 
• Serve immediately with copious amounts of cheese, because who doesn't love cheese.  If you don't have parmesan, no stress, any cheese is good pretty much!  We usually just have Edam. 

Et voila!  Amazeballs pasta.  YUM.  Unfortunately, when I first made this, I wasn't planning on having a food blog, and I didn't take photos, but I promise next time I make it, I will take a photo and add it to this post.  But pretty much it just looks like a bowl of heaven. 

Now I'm going to give credit to the website I got this recipe off, as the above is only a slight variation of her instructions... and I don't plagiarise.  I just set the method out in an easier way to read, and altered it to what I actually did as opposed to what was written in the original.  :)  It's here: http://www.6bittersweets.com/2010/11/boy-approved-spiked-pasta-spaghetti.html