Pea, fennel, leek and spinach soup

I was searching for something to make using the ingredients I had not used during the week, when I came across this soup on Gourmet Traveller that combined almost everything that I had. The soup combination was great, you can taste each individual element, but they combine into a nice whole. We ate this with some plain scones.

Ingredients

• 1 large fennel bulb sliced
• 3 leeks sliced
• 1 large garlic clove sliced
• 1L vegetable stock
• 500g frozen peas
• 150g baby spinach
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Finely grated Parmesan cheese to taste

Method

1. Cut up the leeks, fennel and garlic and cook in a large pot with some olive oil over a medium heat for 10 minutes, until soft but not coloured. I cut my leeks and fennel using the slicing attachment of my food processor as it is quick and makes everything the same size so cooks evenly.
2. Add the vegetable stock, spinach and peas, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Blend smooth, taste and season with salt and pepper
4. Ladle out into bowls and grate over a little Parmesan

Lamb and vegetable tagine with steamed medium couscous

I bought some medium sized couscous from the South Melbourne Market and have been experimenting with it. I had found that simply soaking it in boiling water like you do with normal small couscous did not cook it through, so had been doing a combination of soaking and light boiling with fairly good results. However, I do know that in Northern Africa that they steam their couscous for lighter results. I decided to take this approach, and the results were fantastic, it was like eating silken air.

Ingredients

• 3 brown onions sliced
• 1 large garlic clove finely diced
• 500g lamb cut into large pieces
• 5 tbsp tomato puree
• 3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 heaped tsp turmeric
• Pinch of saffron
• Salt to taste
• 1 large kumara (sweet potato)
• 2 carrots
• 2 medium aubergines (eggplant)
• 2 cups of medium couscous
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

1. Cut up the onions and garlic and cook with a little olive oil in a heavy based pot that you also have a steamer for. Cook over a medium heat until soft but not coloured, then remove.
2. Add a little more oil, turn the heat to high and quickly brown the meat in batches, then remove.
3. Wipe out the pan and dry, turn the heat down and dry fry the turmeric and cayenne pepper for 1 minute and add back in the onions and lamb along with the tomato puree. Turn through and add enough water to cover everything. Bring up the water to a simmer and add the saffron.
4. Separately boil some water in a jug and pore over the medium couscous, cover and leave to sit for 30 minutes.
5. Cut the aubergine into rings, 1.5cm thick, brush with olive oil and sprinkle over with salt. Heat a heavy saucepan or griddle over a high heat and dry fry the aubergine in batches, turning once there is a light char. Cut the aubergine rings in half and set to one side.
6. Peal and cut the kumara and carrot into chunks and add to the tagine.
7. Drain the couscous and place into the steamer and place on top of the tagine for 15 minutes.
8. Put the butter and cinnamon in the bottom of a large bowl, then turn out the couscous and stir through, fluffing up with a fork.
9. Add the aubergine to the tagine, stir through, taste and season.
10. Return the couscous to the steamer and place on the tagine for a further 15 minutes.
11. Take the steamer off, tip the couscous back into the bowl and fluff up again.
12. Serve with a base of couscous and the tagine over the top.

Snapper baked in coconut milk, tamarind and silverbeat

The flavours in this dish are fantastic, achieving a nice aromatic mix of sweet and sour. You can use any white flaky fish, and can also easily substitute spinach for the silverbeat (Swiss chard).

Ingredients

• 2 fillets of snapper
• 2 brown onions, sliced into rings
• 1 small bunch of silverbeat (Swiss chard), stems cut into rings, leaves roughly chopped
• 1 bunch of coriander (cilantro)
• 1 birds eye chilli
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 lemongrass stem, white part roughly chopped
• 1 tsp grated palm sugar
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp tamarind paste
• 400ml tin of coconut milk

Method

1. Throw the coriander, garlic, chilli and lemongrass into a food processor and whizz into a paste, then add the palm sugar, fish sauce, tamarind and coconut milk and combine, taste and adjust using fish sauce to make saltier, palm sugar to sweeten or tamarind to make more sour.
2. Slice the onion and silverbeat stalks into rings and put in the bottom of an oven proof dish, then lay over the fish, pour over the coconut milk mix and top with the silverbeat leaves.
3. Cover the dish with a lid or tinfoil and place into an oven pre-heated to 200 degrees for 30 minutes, the fish is cooked when it flakes easily

Tomato, capsicum and potato soup

I used the left over potatoes and sauce from the Pyreneese Chicken to make this soup. The soup was tasty enough that I would go through the effort of slowly cooking everything again if need be.

Ingredients

• Left over potato and sauce from Pyreneese chicken
• 1L water
• Salt to season

Method

1. Combine the sauce with the water and heat
2. Blend smooth
3. Taste and season

Or to make from scratch

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp thyme
• 2 onions diced
• 4 bay leaves
• 4 garlic cloves
• 4 red capsicums chopped into chunks
• 6 large tomatoes roughly chopped
• 1 kg Dutch creamy potatoes
• 500 ml sherry
• 1 tbsp sweet paprika

Method

1. Combine the onion bay and garlic with some olive oil in a large heavy pan and cook over a medium high heat until the onion is soft but not coloured
2. Add the capsicums, reduce the heat, cover and cook for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid the mixture sticking
3. Add the tomatoes, cover and cook for a further 30 minutes, stirring occasionally
4. Take the lid off and pour over the sherry and cook the alcohol out over 10 minutes
5. Add 2L of water, add the potatoes and bring to the boil and cook for 30 minutes
6. Take off the heat and blend smooth
7. Taste and season

Gluten free carrot loaf

id not even realise! A Sean Armstrong recipe, with a reduction in the sugar used. Sometimes I also use half and half amaranth flour and brown rice as a variation. I also use rice bran oil instead of the recommend soya oil and like to throw in some chopped walnuts.

Ingredients

• 100g caster sugar
• 100g brown sugar
• 150g rice bran oil
• 3 eggs
• zest of 1 lemon
• 100g white rice flour
• 100g brown rice flour
• 10g tapioca flour
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 150g grated carrots

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees flour, grease loaf tin with rice bran oil spray (handy to have in the cupboard) and line with baking paper.
2. Place two sugars into large mixing bowl, together with oil, eggs, and lemon zest, wisk together. Sift all dry ingredients together into the bowl and fold into sugar mixture until just combined.
3. Fold in grated carrots and walnuts if you like and pour mixture into loaf tin
4. Baking for 45 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.
5. The loaf lasts for up to 5 days in a sealed container, if it doesn’t get eaten beforehand!

Wholemeal ginger crunch

This is a tasty ginger crunch recipe which is spicy and slightly healthier with the use of wholemeal flour. Adapted from a Jo Seager recipe.

Ingredients

• 150g butter
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup coconut
• 1 1/2 cup large rolled oats
• 3/4 cup Wholemeal self raising
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 5 tsp ground ginger

Topping ingredients

• 100g butter
• 4 tbsp golden syrup
• 2 1/4 cup icing sugar
• 3 tsp ground ginger

Base Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees, line 20 x 30 cm slice tin with non stick baking paper.
2. Melt butter for base with golden syrup, and sugar in large saucepan. Mix together and press into prepared tin. Bake for 15 min until golden and remove from oven.

Icing Method

1. Mix icing ingredients by melting butter and golden syrup together, then beat in icing sugar and ginger. Spread topping on warm slice, chill and cut into pieces.

Pumpkin, fennel and blue cheese lasagne

Here is another tasty lasagne from Hugh’s Everyday Veg, which is very rich with the blue cheese.

Ingredients

• 1 kg pumpkin, skinned and cut into inch cubes
• 1 large fennel cut into 5 mm thick rings
• 150g blue cheese crumbled
• Lasagne sheets
• Parmesan cheese to top

Bechamel

• 1L milk
• 1 onion roughly chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp whole pepper corns
• Fennel leaves
• 50g butter
• 50g plain flour
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard

Method

1. Cut up the pumpkin and toss in some olive oil and salt and pepper and roast in a 200 degree pre-heated oven for 30 minutes, turning once
2. Cut up the fennel and sauté in a pan with olive oil until soft and lightly coloured
3. Heat the milk, onion, bay, pepper and fennel until simmering
4. Strain the milk then melt the butter, add the flour to make a roux, the beat in the milk by adding in small batches and combining with a whisk, heating until thickened
5. Spread a third of the bechamel on the bottom of a baking dish, top with a layer of pasta
6. Top with the pumpkin and drizzle over a third of the bechamel then another layer of pasta
7. Top with the fennel, then crumble over the blue cheese and top with a third layer of pasta
8. Pour over the final third of the bechamel and top with grated Parmesan
9. Bake in an oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes