Category Archives: Cooking

A Chilli Kind of Day

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I went down to the garden this morning to pick the bell chillies. Here they are ready for me to slice and de-seed them.

2012-02-04 01While I was picking them I noticed the other chilli bush which I call Birdseye chillies.  I have never picked or used them as I am sure they would be too hot.  The bush looks pretty in the garden, especially as the chillies ripen.

2012-02-04 02Here is the bush after I had picked most of the red ones.  I decided to check Google and see if I could make Tabasco sauce as I knew I was getting to the point where I would need to buy some more.  Sure enough, there are dozens of recipes on the internet so I decided to try it.  From the photos I saw on the internet my bush is what are called tabasco chillies in the USA.

First I covered my hands with a couple of bread bags and secured them with rubber bands.

2012-02-04 03Then I set to work.

2012-02-04 04Here are 4 trays of sliced and de-seeded bell chillies ready to go in the dehydrator.  Once they are dried I will be grinding them to make chilli powder.

I adapted a couple of recipes I found for the tabasco sauce and this is my version.

TABASCO SAUCE

150g of hot chillies
165ml white vinegar
3/4 teaspoon salt

165ml white vinegar, extra

2012-02-04 05Chop the chillies (including seeds) roughly (I actually put them in whole), place in a small saucepan with vinegar and salt.  Bring to the boil, simmer gently for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Blend until smooth.  Add another 2/3 cup vinegar and combine.  Press through a fine strainer.  Discard the residue.  Pour liquid into sterilised bottles.  Store for 2 weeks before use.

2012-02-04 06WARNING:  THIS IS VERY HOT!!

Friday Favourites – Tuna Patties

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I posted a comment on this post at Frugal Downunder this morning and promised that I would do my Tuna Pattie recipe for Friday Favourites this week

TUNA PATTIES

425g can of tuna
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
2 large potatoes, cooked and mashed
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Black pepper

Drain and flake the tuna.  Place in a bowl with other ingredients and combine thoroughly.  Form into patties, dust lightly with flour and fry in a little oil.

Drain and serve with salad or steamed vegetables.

HINTS & MODIFICATIONS

I have tried all sorts of variations when making these patties but find that the combination of potato and rice provides the best binding agent.

I use arborio rice but any shortgrain rice which is well-cooked should work.  Do not add any milk or butter when mashing the potatoes.  The quantities are fairly flexible depending on how far you are trying stretch a tin of tuna.

I freeze these patties and they make a quick and easy meal when you are pushed for time.

You can vary them by using salmon or any freshly cooked fish.  I have made them using leftover poached salmon and they were really delicious.  Seasoning can be adjusted to suit – I have used lime juice, celery salt and French mustard at various times.  You are limited only by your imagination.

I do not have any photos to go along with this post but I do hope you are inspired to experiment with this very basic recipe.

Make Your Own Pasta

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I have finally set some time aside to try out my pasta maker.  It is an attachment for my Kitchen Aid.  Here are some photos from my effort on Sunday afternoon.

2012-01-31 01The mixer with flat blade

2012-01-31 02Ingredients – flour, salt, eggs, water

2012-01-31 03Pasta roller

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Spaghetti cutter

2012-01-31 05Lasagne sheets – cut, floured and packaged for freezing.

2012-01-31 06Spaghetti – dried, coiled into a nest and ready to refrigerate or freeze.

I also made fettucine which we had for dinner that night.  I don’t think I will ever buy dried pasta again.I am very pleased with the results of my first attempt and am looking forward to experimenting with different flours and flavourings.

This is another food that I have complete control over the ingredients.  I have also eliminated more packaging from our lives.

Friday Favourites – Savoury Quiche

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At the risk of sounding monotonous, here is another quiche recipe.  I use different fillings depending on what is available but the principle remains the same.

SAVOURY QUICHE

PASTRY SHELL

1 quantity of shortcrust pastry.  The recipe is here.  I use a 25cm (10 inch) quiche dish and this is more pastry than I need.  You can freeze the excess or use it and make something else while the oven is turned on for the quiche.

FILLING

4 eggs
Cream/milk/milk powder/evaporated milk
1/2 cup grated cheese
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 rashers shortcut bacon, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
Free choice – could be asparagus, mushrooms, corn kernels, spinach, tomato slices

Lightly fry the bacon and onion.  Spread mixture over the base of the quiche.  Add whatever other filling ingredients you choose and top with the grated cheese.  Beat the eggs with milk and or cream.  I usually use milk powder and water mixed in equal proportions to make a slightly richer mixture.  Add the cayenne pepper.  Pour over the filling until it is within about 1cm of the top of the pastry shell.  Bake in 180 degree oven for about 40 minutes.

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I did not get an opportunity to photograph the finished product before dinner last night so here is what is left.  I have cut it into portions to freeze.  We will then have it in our lunches next week.

I love recipes like this that allow for a degree of flexibility depending on the available ingredients.  It is a great way to use up a few sad vegies from the crisper.

Friday Favourites – Zucchini Quiche

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A friend gave this recipe to me nearly 30 years ago.  It seems to be commonplace now but at the time it was a real novelty.  I use it for main meals, packed lunches and finger food depending on the the serving size of the pieces.  The ability to serve it either hot or cold just adds to the versatility.

ZUCCHINI QUICHE

350-400g zucchini, grated
1 cup grated cheese
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup self-raising flour
¼ cup oil
5 eggs
Black pepper for seasoning

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Place all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and combine.  Spread in an ovenproof dish and bake for approximately 45 minutes at 180 degrees.

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HINTS & MODIFICATIONS

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I love this recipe for several reasons.  It allows me to make use of the things we produce – eggs, zucchini and onion.  The recipe is one of the most forgiving and versatile ones I have come across.  At various times I have used 1 less egg, substituted milk for 1/2 of the oil, used up to 100 g more or less of zucchini, substituted half of the zucchini for other vegetables such as grated carrot, diced capsicum or corn kernels.  The results may not be perfect but it is definitely edible.

The quiche is usually served with salad here, but the options are almost endless.

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I am pleased to say that all of the salad is home-grown except for the capsicum.  The eggs, zucchini and onion are also home-grown and even the oil I used is local avocado oil.

Please let me know if you are inspired to try this recipe if you are not already familiar with it.  I trust that you will enjoy the results as much as we do.

NOTE:  To make this gluten-free, I use gluten-free flour and add 2 teaspoons of baking powder.

The Ones That Got Away

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Yesterday I ventured down to the vegetable gardens and found these zucchini.  At 1.8kg and 2.8kg they could certainly be regarded as the ones that got away.

2012-01-15 01The photograph shows them beside the food processor which gives an indication of the size of them.

In keeping with my previous post, there was no way I was going to waste them so I cut them up and and scooped the seeds out.  I then cut them into manageable pieces and fed them through the food processor with the grater attachment.  Since the skin is fairly tough on these large zucchini it did not grate particularly well but my work still yielded 8 x 400 g packs of grated zucchini in ziplock bags ready to freeze.

2012-01-15 02These are now packed away in the freezer, ready for use.  I make zucchini quiche/slice which works perfectly well with previously frozen zucchini.  I also add it to bolognaise sauce and lasagne.

I will post the recipe for the Zucchini Slice on Friday in Friday Favourites.

What do you do when you have a glut of a particular fruit or vegetable?

Friday Favourites – Something Different

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The favourite this week is a little different.  It is actually a Friday Freebie.

I brought home several containers of salad, cheese and antipasto items from work.  These came from some colleagues from interstate who were staying at a major hotel and received a special offer of a ‘picnic basket’ tea.  As is so often the case in our society, there was way too much so it was brought into the office, we all had snacks and lunches yet there was still excess so it has come home and part of it has been turned into our dinner.

I added some avocado (free from our tree) and a slice of ham plus some rice salad.  The rice was originally part of my lunch but was superseded by the freebies.  I added a chopped spring onion which was lurking sadly in the bottom of the vegie crisper plus a mild chilli from a bush in the garden.  A drizzle of red wine vinegar and herbed olive oil completed the rice salad.

I hate to see the waste of food in our society and wherever possible I use up anything that is going to be thrown out.  In fact, I even rescued 2 bananas yesterday which had been tossed on the top of the rubbish in the kitchen at work.  They had barely a blemish but were obviously too ripe for somebody’s liking.  We will enjoy a banana cake from them.

The waste of food in our society is appalling.  Do you see food where others see only rubbish?

Marking Time

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I have been back at work since the New Year and after having had 10 days break it feels strange.  While I was at home I made some really good progress on my decluttering journey, most notably, the scanning of almost 2000 photographs.

Now I am at work each day, I feel as though I am just marking time rather than making any appreciable progress.  The last few days here have been extremely hot which adds to the general lethargy.

However, as I review what I have actually achieved I realise that the constant streamlining and decluttering of the past year or so have really made a difference.  It is easy to do very little and still manage to have meals made from scratch, dishes done and kitchen cleaned, the living room neat and tidy and the washing and ironing up to date.

I have resorted to having the same meal tonight as we had last night.  Conjuring up new and interesting meals is not very appealing in the excessive heat after a long day at work, so it is ham and salad again tonight.  I am looking forward to it as I really enjoyed our dinner last night.

The weather will become more moderate and work somewhat less demanding soon but in the meantime I will coast for a few days and all will be well.

What strategies do you have for when you have limited time or inspiration?  What do you let slide and what is deemed as essential in your household routine?

Friday Favourites – Bolognaise Sauce

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Today’s favourite is bolognaise sauce.  It is a versatile base for may meals and most people have their own version.  Here is mine which has evolved over many years.

BOLOGNAISE SAUCE

2012-01-07 01250g beef mince
1 cup TVP (dry)
1 cup hot water
1 onion (diced)
400g can tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 – 2 teaspoons mixed herbs
Tabasco sauce
Black pepper

Soak the TVP in hot water for about 10 minutes.

2012-01-07 02Cook the onion until soft.  Add the mince and cook until browned.

2012-01-07 03Add the TVP mixture and combine.  Add the remaining ingredients and simmer gently for 15 – 20 minutes.

2012-01-07 04HINTS & MODIFICATIONS

The onion I used was frozen in packs of 150g – this is the size of a medium onion.  By flattening the contents of the bag it is easy to break off a portion if you only want the equivalent of half an onion.  These packs were made from onions we grew during the winter.

The upturned jar of tomato paste in the photo is how I store it in the fridge.  This stops it going mouldy and is much easier than spooning it into ice-cube trays and freezing which is another option.

This batch of sauce included some vegetables as well.  I added a grated zucchini and grated carrot to the mix as well as some pureed leftover vegies from a previous meal.  I did add an extra can of tomatoes as the mix was a little dry.  This ended up making 9 serves which is not bad from 250g of mince.

Other additions can include 1/2 cup red wine, 2 teaspoons of beef stock powder, 1 cup of finely chopped celery.

There are many ways you can use this sauce and it is limited only by your imagination.  Apart from the obvious one of serving over pasta you can make lasagne, stuff cannelloni tubes, top baked potatoes, serve with nachos and make savoury pancake filling.  While some of the ideas are not strictly traditional you can make variations to suit your family.  The addition of kidney beans and chilli turn it into chilli con carne,  cook a bit longer to reduce the liquid and top with mashed potato for a shepherd’s pie or put into shortcrust pastry to make a meat pie.

Apologies for ‘Friday Favourites’ being a day late but my camera was not ‘talking’ to the computer last night.  I hope enjoy the meal suggestions in this post and please add your own thoughts as well.

I have also updated the post for Layered Salad.  I have finally added the photos to this post.

Friday Favourites – Layered Salad

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This week I have another salad for you.  It is simply known as ‘Layered Salad’.  The original recipe was given to me by a friend about 25 years ago after I tasted it at a BBQ.

LAYERED SALAD

Iceberg lettuce
2 cups frozen peas
4 eggs
200g mushrooms
1 cup mayonnaise
Small tub natural yoghurt
2 rashers shortcut bacon

Wash and dry about 6 large lettuce leaves.
Cook peas and allow to cool.
Dice and dry-fry the bacon.
Hardboil the eggs.  Cool and mash finely.  (I use a mouli-grater)
Slice mushrooms.
Cut the tomato into wedges.

Use the lettuce  leaves to line a large salad bowl.  Layer the other ingredients inside the lettuce.

2011-12-23 01Start with the peas, then the egg……

2011-12-23 02and finally mushroom.

2011-12-23 03Mix the mayonnaise and yoghurt together and pour over the top of the mushrooms.  Arrange tomato wedges around the edge of the bowl and sprinkle mayonnaise mixture with bacon bits.

2011-12-23 04

HINTS & MODIFICATIONS

The quantities in this recipe are only a guide.  Use a bowl to suit the numbers you are serving.  The ingredients are designed to completely fill the chosen bowl.