Oh......My.....Gozleme!

Geee....that hit the spot. 'G' was a wonderful letter to cook for. Nice, fresh ingredients and wonderful tastes. I have never had a Gozleme before and am now looking forward to tasting ones with different flavours. Thanks to Rose, we kicked off the dinner with some gorgeous Ginger Beer while I heated up the Barbecue for the Gozleme.

Silverbeet and Feta Gozleme

1 tbs olive oil, plus extra to brush

1 red onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 bunch of silverbeet, stalks trimmed leaves shredded

200g feta, crumbled

1/2 cup of grated cheddar

1/4 tsp sweet paprika

4 large Greek pita bread

lemon wedges to serve

Combine oil, onion, garlic, silverbeet, feta, cheddar and paprika in a bowl. Spread half the mixture over 1 pita, then sandwich with a second pita. Repeat with the remaining pita and filling. With the BBQ plate on med to high, brush both sides of the gozleme with oil then cook for 3 minutes on each side or until crisp and golden. Use spatula and plates to flip. Cut the gozleme into wedges and serve immediately with lots of lemon to squeeze over.

Gado Gado with satay sauce
2 zucchinis, thickly sliced on an angle
1 eggplant, halved and sliced
1 red capsicum, cut into thick strips
200g long green beans
2 small red onions, cut into thick wedges keep roots intact
1/3 cup rice bran oil
1 cup of bean sprouts

Preheat the barbecue to high. Combine zucchini, eggplant and capsicum into one bowl and combine beans and onion in another bowl. Drizzle with oil to coat. Season as desired. Place the eggplant, zucchini and capsicum on the grill, and put the beans and onion on the plate. Cook turning for 10-15 minutes until tender and golden.

Season veges and place on a platter. Top with bean sprouts and then spoon on satay sauce to serve. 

Satay Sauce
125g unsalted peanuts
1 1/2 tbs rice bran oil
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 small red chilli, chopped
1 1/2 tbs brown sugar
400ml can of coconut milk
1 tbs kecap manis

Place the peanuts and oil in a frypan over medium heat. When the peanuts start to sizzle, cook for a further 2-3 minutes until golden. Pour into metal colander and set over a heatproof bowl to drain.

Discard the oil, then transfer the hot peanuts to a food processor with the garlic, chilli and sugar. Whiz until course crumbs, then scrape the crumbs into a saucepan over medium heat.

Stir in the coconut milk and kecap manis, then bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to very low and cook, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes, until thick. Remove from heat.

Green Granita and Strawberries
4 green apples
1 cucumber
4 celery stalks
1 punnet strawberries, soaked in Grand Marnier

Juice apples, cucumber and celery - freeze in a tray.
Scrape frozen juice with a fork.
Place piled strawberries on plate and pile frozen shavings on top of strawberries. YUM!

Enjoy!

The 'f' word

There are so many fun and fabulous words for all occasions that start with 'f'.  My week was neither fun nor fabulous, quite the opposite really, but I won't use that 'f' word here!  What a great time of the year though, to have the letter 'f' to work with - fig season.  The only problem with that, was that someone who was going to eat my 'f' feast doesn't actually like figs.  I spent quite a few days considering other options and in the end reasoned that I love figs, so too bad.  That and the fact that the fajitas would more than make up for it!

Fajitas are one of my go to dinner recipes.  They are easy to prepare in minimal time and are so delicious.  I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn't love spicy meat, capsicum and onions, smothered in salsa, guacamole and sour cream, and wrapped in a tortilla.  But how to make it different this time was the question.  The answer came in the form of pineapple coleslaw, which I have had on high rotation over the rest of this week.  You could make your own fajita seasoning mix, with chilli, cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper and some cornflour (so it sticks to the meat!), or just grab the pre-made packet from the supermarket.  Both are equally good and I won't judge you if you use the packet one - I do most of the time!

For dessert, the figs were the star (well for me anyway), sitting atop a mini flourless chocolate cake.  When I found this recipe (thanks to Stonesoup), the first thing I noticed was that it just made two cakes - no need to have to cut the recipe down or have too many leftovers (is there such a thing?).  Then I noticed it contained no almond or hazelnut meal, as most flourless cakes do, which meant if it did make more than two cakes, I could actually take a left over one to work the next day.  And finally then I noticed it's only 5 ingredients and you make it all pretty much in a food processor.  The only thing not done in the food processor is whipping the egg white to a soft peak.  My egg white didn't quite get there, as my arm gave up first - might have to add whipping egg whites to my fitness plan.  The cake still worked though, so don't worry if your arm does the same as mine!

Fajitas
200g chicken breast, sliced
200g rump steak, sliced
1 packet Fajita seasoning mix
olive oil
1 red capsicum, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
guacamole (1 avocado, 1/3 red onion diced, handful chopped coriander, juice of a lime)
pineapple coleslaw (1 pineapple, 200 - 300g cabbage, handful chopped coriander, juice of a lime)
tomato salsa
sour cream
tortillas

1. Place chicken in one snaplock bag and beef in another.  Add half the fajita seasoning and a splash of olive oil to each bag.  Seal bag and massage to coat the chicken and beef.  Leave for 30 - 60 minutes.
2. Make guacamole by mashing avocado and mixing in lime juice, onion and coriander.  Cover and refrigerate until needed.
3. For the coleslaw: Slice pineapple into thick rings.  Remove skin and core.  Slice into small pieces or wedges.  Finely slice cabbage (use a mix of red and sugarloaf for a bit more colour).  Add cabbage and coriander to pineapple.  Add lime juice and mix.  Cover and refrigerate until needed.
4. Heat two frypans over med-high heat.  Add chicken to one and beef to other.  Add a splash of olive oil if necessary.  Cook chicken and beef until cooked through.  Remove from pans, cover and set aside.  (You can use just one pan if you like - cook chicken first, then beef.)
5. Without wiping out the frypans, add a splash of olive oil and sliced capsicum to one pan and sliced onion to the other, cook for 3 - 5 minutes until beginning to soften. (If using one frypan, put them both in together).
6. Warm tortillas in the oven, whilst you cook the capsicum and onion.
7. Serve meat, capsicum and onions, guacamole, coleslaw, salsa, sour cream, lime wedges and tortillas for everyone to construct their own.

Flourless chocolate cakes (makes 2)
50g dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
40g (2 heaped tablespoons) brown sugar
40g (2 tablespoons) butter
1 egg, separated
2 tablespoons boiling water

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C and place a baking tray on the middle shelf.  Grease 2 x 1 cup (250mL) capacity ramekins and line base with paper (and grease the top of this paper).
2. Roughly chop the chocolate and place in food processor with brown sugar.  Process until coarse crumbs. A few chunky bits of chocolate are okay!
3. Add butter, egg yolk and boiling water.  Process for a few seconds until well combined.
4. Add a small pinch of salt to the egg white and whisk (by hand!) until soft peaks*.
5. Gently fold chocolate mixture into egg white foam until just combined.
6. Pour half of mixture into each ramekin.  Remember to wipe off any drips.
7. Place ramekins on preheated tray and bake for 20 minutes or until top feels firm.  Allow to cool in ramekins.  (Yes, they will sink a bit.  The picture above is from when they just came out of the oven.)
8. Turn out onto plate (remove paper) and serve with cream and other toppings.  See grilled figs below, or make a berry sauce or whatever takes your fancy.

* I was a bit lazy/my arm hurt and I didn't quite get my egg whites to soft peaks, so my cakes were probably a little more fudgey than the original recipe.  No need to worry then, if your arm gives up before you get to soft peaks as well, as they'll still be delisious!

Grilled honey figs
2 fresh figs
honey

1. Cut figs in half and place under griller (med-high heat).
2. Once figs start to soften (1 - 2 minutes), drizzle each half with a little bit of honey and leave for another minute or so.  
3. Serve with flourless chocolate cake (above). 

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E is obviously for Eggplant

'E' was a hard letter to come up with ideas. Apart from the obvious: eggs, eggplant, elderberry. Yes, elderberry was one of the first ingredients to come to mind. I liked the idea of something eggplanty and had a few ideas. Moussaka was the idea that kept coming back to mind and it was easy to do for a Wednesday night. Another influencing factor on tonight's dinner was the result of a cholesterol check. OK, I need to bring it down, I know. And I hear you saying Moussaka is not going to help out with that. Well, I just happen to own a book that is entitled 'OMG!!! I can eat that?' by Jane Kennedy. 'So here is a ripping non-boombah version of moussaka. You know, that delicious, fragrant, cheesy, white-saucey almost national dish of Greece? Well, this version has less fat and lower calories than the traditional one!!!' - Jane Kennedy

3 long thin eggplants, cut lengthways
sea salt and fresh ground pepper
3 tbs olive oil
500g lamb mince
1 large onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 cup white wine - (I put a bit more in)
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cumin
pinch cayenne pepper
1 cup tomato passata
1 bay leaf

Bechamel Sauce
300g Greek yoghurt
2 eggs
pinch of nutmeg
sea salt and pepper
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
30g feta cheese

Preheat oven to 180C. Place the eggplant on a lined tray. Sprinkle with salt and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for about 20 minute Take out of oven and keeping the eggplant on the baking paper, slide off the tray and set aside.
Heat 1 tbs of olive oil in a non stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the mince and lightly brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Pour off liquid and using the same pan, add 1 tbs of oil. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the garlic, carrot and 1 tbs of water and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the wine and let it sizzle, then add the lamb mince and all the spices, Stir through. Add the tomato passata and bay leaf.
Turn the heat down to simmer, pop the lid on and cook for about 30 minutes. stirring occasionally. Take off the lid and cook for a further 10 minutes and let some of the liquid evaporate,
Line a large ovenproof baking dish with some slices of the eggplant. Top with a layer of the meat mixture. Add another layer of the eggplant and then the rest of the meat.
To make the bechamel sauce, combine the yoghurt and the eggs, add the nutmeg and the S&P. Pour the mixture over the meat and sprinkle with the parmesan and feta.
Bake for 35 minutes, or until golden  brown and the cheese sauce is bubbling.

Now for dessert. I know this definitely is not good for the cholesterol, but 'E' is such a hard letter to find anything, except for Eton's Mess. YUMMO!!
For those that don't know, Eton's Mess is fruit in layers of cream and meringue. I chose strawberries and raspberries. I made the meringues early in the afternoon to make sure they had enough time to dry out. These were definitely the best meringues i have made. I made a nice strawberry sauce by processing some strawberries and lemon juice with some caster sugar to balance the flavour. Play around with it and with different fruit combinations and see what kind of mess you can come up with.

Da, da!!

Yeah, yeah obvious title for the #abcmeals 'D' post, but oh well!  D turned out to be a bit of a challenge.  Of course there is always duck, and I did contemplate getting another batch of the delicious steamed duck buns from XO, but somehow restrained myself.  My key components ended up being dukkah, duck and dark chocolate.

The duck recipe below is really simple and you can find it or a variation on any number of websites.  I managed to complicate it by buying a whole duck and breaking it down.  I found at my local farmer's markets I could get a fresh, free-range, local duck (from only 30kms away) for only $15.  They have bigger ones for $20 too.  I've mentioned in other posts how much cheaper it is to buy a whole duck and break it down.  It's not that difficult, just think of it as a chicken and away you go.  I've got the marylands in the freezer for another day, when it gets colder and it's time for some duck ragu.  You'll get quite a bit of duck fat from the skin when it's cooking.  This can be strained, cooled and saved for another day when you have a hankering for crispy roasted duck fat potatoes.
 
Duck with Dukkah Couscous
300g pumpkin
2 duck breasts
200mL chicken or vegetable stock
100g couscous
1 pomegranate - seeds only
50g pistachios, toasted
1/4 cup coriander leaves, roughly torn
2 tbsp pistachio dukkah (or dukkah of your choice)
1 lemon, cut into wedges
Greek or Natural yoghurt

1. Peel pumpkin and cut into small pieces.  Place on a lined roasting tray.  Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil.  Roast for about 20 minutes at 200C, until golden and tender.
2. Heat a frypan over medium-high heat.  Cook duck skin-side down for 4 - 5 minutes.  Then turn over and cook for further 4 - 5 minutes, or to your liking.  Transfer to a plate, cover and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile in a small saucepan bring the stock to the boil.  Add couscous.  Stir, cover and turn off heat.  In about 5 minutes lift the lid and check that the liquid has been absorbed.  Then fluff it up with a fork and cover until required.
4. Get the seeds out of the pomegranate, by cutting it in half, then firmly tapping it with the back of a spoon (over a bowl).  You may have to cut away some of the flesh to get all the seeds out.
5. Add pumpkin, pomegranate seeds, pistachios and coriander to cous cous and gently combine.
6. Slice duck into slices and place on top of coriander. 
7. Sprinkle dukkah on top of the duck and serve with lemon wedges and Greek or Natural yoghurt.

I'd had a bit of a disaster of a day (well week, really) and so the Dark Chocolate Pots for dessert didn't quite have enough time to set and were a little runny underneath - who doesn't love dark chocolate soup?!?!? I really should have made them the night before.  The one spare chocolate pot, that stayed in the fridge overnight, set beautifully and was just as delicious the next day.

Dark Chocolate Pots
180g dark chocolate
100g unsalted butter
80mL water
2 eggs, separated
75g caster sugar
2 tablespoons Tia Maria (or Kahlua or Baileys)
Thickened cream

1. Place chocolate, butter and water in a heatproof bowl, over a slowly simmering pot of water. Do not let the water touch the bowl.  Stir until melted, then remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
2. Once chocolate is cooled, whip egg whites to soft peaks. 
3. In a separate bowl beat egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick.  Fold chocolate mixture and liqueur into egg yolk mixture.
4. Gently fold in one-third of the egg whites, then the remaining egg whites, until just combined.
5. Pour into 4 glasses and chill for 2 - 3 hours (or overnight) until set.
6. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream and fresh raspberries or ferro rocher or rafaello or shaved chocolate or whatever you like really!

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C is for Chheeeeeese, Chicken and Cola

Hmmmm so many things i could make with the letter 'C'. The decisions were endless but it all came down to my favourites: cheese, chicken and cola. After being back at work for half a week it was worth getting stuck into the kitchen to cook up a 'C. feast. What better way to start off, a cheese platter.

For my cheese platter i had the usuals: Cheese and Crackers (Camembert, Classic Cheddar, jatz Crackers, Captains Table Crackers, Cabanossi and Coriander and pesto dip) ((all bought from Coles). I'm sure you all know how to put a Cheese platter together so i won't go into the finer points. ENJOY!




Chicken Meatball Caesar Salad
For my main course I went with my favourite 'C' of all: chicken. Chicken Meatball Caesar Salad.   This little recipe i found in the Delicious 'Love to Eat' cookbook. What you need;

500g chicken mince
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tbs finely chopped chives
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
a few drops of tobasco
1 tbs worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese
4 rashes of bacon or flat pancetta
3 thick slices of sourdough bread, torn into 
bite sized pieces
2 tbs olive oil
2 cos lettuce hearts, quartered lengthways
Finely chopped chives to serve
Dressing 
1 egg
1 garlic clove chopped
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp American mustard
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
150ml virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 200C. Place chicken mince in a bowl with the onion, chives, garlic and tobasco, worcestershire sauce and 2 tbs of the parmesan. Mix and form into 20 or so meatballs. Place on lined baking trays, cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes to firm up.
Place bacon or pancetta on another baking tray in the oven for 10 minutes to crisp up. Reuse tray for the croutons, spread out bread and drizzle with oil. 
Drizzle meatballs with the remaining oil then bake for 20 minutes or until cooked.
Meanwhile for the dressing, whizz up the egg, garlic, lime, mustard and worcestershire sauce in a small food processor. With the motor running, slowly add the oil in a steady stream until emulsified. Transfer to bowl, season and stir in parmesan. 
To serve, tear lettuce onto a platter. Top with meatballs, shaved parmesan, bacon(pancetta) and croutons, drizzle with dressing and scatter with extra parmesan and chives.

Cola Cakes
I found this little dessert cake in the same book, 'Love to Eat'. You can bake these little cakes in ramekins as I did, or make this as one large cake.
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp of bicarbonate soda
1 cup caster sugar
65g unsalted butter
1/3 cup sunflower oil
100g mini marshmallows
1/4 cup cocoa powder
100ml buttermilk
2 eggs lightly beaten
vanilla ice-cream to serve

Preheat oven 180deg C, grease 6 ramekins or line a 25cm spring form tin.
Sift flour and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl and add the sugar to combine. Combine the butter, oil, marshmallows, cocoa and cola in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil, whisking gently to melt the marshmallows  and dissolve the cocoa. Add to the flour mixture and stir to combine. Add the buttermilk and eggs, and stir to combine. Divide the mixture into the ramekins. Bake for 25 minutes. If in a cake tin bake for 45 minutes or until cooked.
Serve cakes warm topped with vanilla ice-cream.