Cannelloni & cake

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned cannelloni. I found some in the pantry & thought I'd better use it. I filled them with pumpkin. It was so delicious that I made it again the following week with spinach which was even better and easier. A really good after work meal. In your food processor blend 2 bunches of washed spinach about 150g ricotta, a couple of cloves of garlic & a sprinkling of salt & pepper. To make a piping bag get a plastic bag & snip off a corner. Fill the bag with the spinach mixture and pipe into the cannelloni then lay in a greased dish into which they will fit snugly. Pour over a jar of passata - passata is an Italian tomato sauce that has been passed through a sieve to remove the seeds. It is like puree but fresh - not concentrated. I buy it in jars from Moore Wilson. On top of the sauce put slices of Clevedon Valley buffalo mozzarella, then sprinkle over a layer of Parmesan. Make lots and take leftovers to heat up for lunches. If you have left over spinach mix freeze it. I think it will be nice in little crispy pastry cases. I'll let you know when I get around to it. I made the pumpkin in a similar way but you need to cook the pumpkin first -I rubbed it with cumin & roasted it. And if you put a hot filling in the cannelloni then pour on the passata it cracks so you need to wait for the pumpkin to cool. Spinach is quicker.

Phoebe made a lovely spicy chicken one day and I have must tell you about lentils with poached eggs but it is the film festival and having been to 2 movies today as well as the market, a walk and weeding the garden, I'm feeling a bit tired.

A couple of weeks ago Leonie sent me this recipe for Whole Orange and Almond Friands - note no butter or flour.
2 large oranges (try to get home grown ones for a tarty flavour or you could use 3/4 mandarins)
5 eggs
220g/7oz white sugar
250g/8oz ground almonds
1tsp baking powder

Lightly grease friand tin/muffin tin with butter.
Pre-heat oven to 350f
Scrub oranges.Place in a saucepan and cover with water. Boil for about one hour. Remove and set aside to cool.
Cut oranges into quarters, catching any juice, only discard pips, do not discard skin. In a food processor/blender, puree to a pulp.
Separate the eggs. Beat whites till lightly fluffy (not stiff) beat egg yolks till fluffy and mix lightly into egg whites. Add the orange pulp and juice, ground almonds, sugar and baking powder and mix thoroughly but lightly. Pour into cases and bake for about 20mins to half an hour or until lightly golden. Bake longer if wet. Cool in pans for a few minutes before tipping onto cooling rack.
Options:
Drizzle with passion fruit syrup 10 minutes before taking out of oven.
Drizzle with melted Mars Bar when cool and top with a mandarin segment
Dust with icing sugar

And on the topic of butterless cakes, I met a wonderful yoghurt maker, Ad Sintenie, at Moore Wilson this morning. He is from Clearwater's organic dairy farm in Geraldine. You must buy this yoghurt. It is indescribable. Ad gave me a recipe for a yoghurt cake and it is in the oven now. You can buy the yoghurt at plenty of locations in the South island & at Nosh in Auckland. It is cheaper and considerably lower fat than any comparable youghurt. He doesn't do flavours because if you add fruit you have to add other stuff to the yoghurt. I could just sit down & eat the whole pot. Perhaps I shall put a dollop on top of my cake. I did

Around the World

This week was school holidays so Phoebe cooked a couple of nights. She made a great fettucine with ragu and later in the week Tex Mex chicken wraps. Always a great favourite at our table when the young people were younger. This was based on an Annabel Langbein recipe from Great Food, Busy Lives but in her latest edition she has tampered with it and we preferred the original. This is how I do it - feel free to correct me if it's not how you remember it. Brown thinly sliced chicken breast in batches and put aside. A note on quantities - I usually allow 120g meat per person, and adjust everything else in proportion. So I am giving quantities for about 500g. Soften a finely chopped onion in the pan with a squirt of tomato paste. Add chopped garlic (or grated for those of you who have a plate), & 1tbsp ground cumin. Mix in 1/4 cup sweet chilli sauce, 1 generous cup of tomato sauce (the one you made last week), a drained tin of kidney beans & return the chicken to the pan. Simmer 5 mins or so. Prepare your accompaniments & warm some corn tortillas according to the instructions on the packet. To serve lay a warmed tortilla on a plate, dollop on some of the chicken mixture - you don't want it too runny, aim for gloopy. Top with a selection of salad items such as shredded lettuce, grated carrot, finely sliced capsicum, then grate on a generous pile of cheese and a dollop of sour cream. To wrap, fold up from the bottom and then fold over from left & right. There was always a bit of a competition to eat the whole tortilla without dripping any sauce on the plate. To achieve this it was sometimes necessary to hold your own tortilla over someone else's plate and on one memorable occasion Harriet dripped in the dish of grated cheese. I believe she was disqualified by her siblings.

Still on the Mexican theme, we had my father's recipe for chilli on Friday. You can make a huge quantity & freeze the leftovers. This has a number of spices but is worth the effort.
In large heavy pot, soften 2 finely chopped onions & 4-5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped. Add 1 kg mince & brown. Then add all the spices:

1 tbsp [sic] chilli powder - adjust to taste, Dad liked his chilli hot

2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp cayenne

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp coriander

1/4 tsp cardamom

stir and cook for 1 minute.
Then add:

400g tin chopped tomatoes or equivalent of tomato sauce

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tbsp treacle

2 cups beef stock

2 tbsp white vinegar

salt & pepper

and bring to the boil. Simmer slowly with lid off stirring occasionally for 1 1/2 hours until thick and soupy. Tip in 1-2 drained tins of kidney beans & squeeze in a little lemon juice at end to thicken. Serve on rice topped with grated cheese, and a dollop of sour cream. I like to add grated carrot too.

A couple of years ago I discovered some packaged spice mixes put out by a South African company called Nice 'n Spicy. It's basically cook by numbers & they are really interesting dishes - the original fusion cooking such as Nasi Goreng or Vindaloo. On Saturday I made Denningvleis which is a Cape Malay dish. These dishes are really easy to do & I would recommend if you don't keep a large range of spices in your cupboard, or you are going away for the weekend and don't want to take the contents of the spice cupboard. They are really delicious. This one may have been my favourite. We served with yellow rice, which I made by adding 1 tsp turmeric, a cinnamon stick & a bruised cardamom pod, and a selection of chutneys. I steamed carrots & broccoli from the garden in the top of the pot at the end.

And finally Ki Si Ming. Did you have this when you were growing up? Apparently you need to be my age to have heard of it. My mother used to make this on a Monday night and it was not my favourite. It really is very odd with its combination of both rice and noodles with mince. I haven't been able to discover its origins although I know who gave it to my mother. Apparently it occurs in many of those local ladies' group cook books from the 60's. But I am quite sure it has never been seen in China and it has been identified on a UK website as a dish from NZ. I'm intrigued by the addition of spaghetti and chips to the rice and noodles! I tried a modern take on the recipe sticking with the one pot method & this is what I came up with.

Saute 1 small onion and about 1 tsp grated ginger. Then brown 500g diced or coarsely ground pork. Add a good dollop of sweet chilli sauce and about 1/2 cup long grain rice with 2 sliced spring onions & 1/4 thinly sliced red capsicum. (I would have included finely sliced celery from the original if I had had it). Add 1 cup chicken stock, cover & simmer gently until rice is almost done. Then add about 1/3 of a small cabbage finely sliced in long shreds. Just sit on the top, season with salt & pepper and a few small knobs of butter dotted about. Cover again and simmer until the rice is cooked and the cabbage wilted how you like it. I like a bit of bite. Now this was nice - light, spicy and the kitchen didn't smell of cooked cabbage. And Phoebe approved. I am calling this Ki Si Ming for the 21st century. Let me know if you have any suggestions to improve. Or if you preferred the original....

A Bit of Everything

On a busy week night make a quick and simple spicy bean stew. Soften red onion, carrot, capsicum, garlic with some chilli flakes in a large frying pan. Stir in 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp cinnamon & 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg and cook for a minute or so before adding a squeeze of tomato paste, a tin of chickpeas and a tin of kidney beans, drained, 1/2 cup vegetable stock and a tin of crushed tomatoes -I sometimes use a cup or so of homemade tomato sauce (see below). Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or so then add a cup of frozen sweet corn & cook a further 5 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley to serve. Serve on its own or with couscous.

I bring a cup of water or chicken stock to the boil, add a cup of couscous (try Tipiak) and some roasted garlic, tightly cover and leave for 10 minutes or so. Then fluff up the couscous with a fork, stir in good olive oil, toasted pinenuts and some finely chopped parsley. Sometimes I use Casbah roasted garlic & olive oil but I still add extra oil & pinenuts at the end. I just like pinenuts.

Leftovers of the beans will freeze well and you could serve as a side dish with a plate of old fashioned beef sausages and mash, or add some chopped chorizo.

Follow with rice pudding. I've always used Edmonds and we like the skin on, in our family, but last week I tried something different. Put 1 1/2 tbsp washed short-grain rice, grated zest of 1 lemon, 45g butter, cut into small pieces, 45g sugar, 500ml milk, 400ml cream, 1/2 tsp cinnamon in your ovenproof dish. Bake at 120C for 2-3 hours, stirring every hour or so. Then stir well, add juice of a lemon & serve with dried fruit compote. Put 100g each of 4 kinds if dried fruit - I used apricots, figs, prunes & sultanas - in a saucepan just covered with cold water. Bring slowly to the boil, cover & stand.

Last night we had a pork fillet with a roasted vegetable salad. For 300g pork, combine 1 tbsp olive oil, 2 clove of crushed garlic, 1 tsp finely chopped rosemary, zest of half a lemon in a bowl & season with salt & pepper. Rub over the pork & set aside.

Combine 2 parsnips & 2 carrots peeled & sliced on the diagonal, 1 red onion peeled & quartered, 4 cloves of garlic, (skin on, tops cut off), in a roasting dish, toss in a little olive oil & season. Roast at 200C about 40 mins.

Make a dressing for the veg of 1 tbsp lemon juice, 3 tbsp olive oil, crushed garlic, 1/2 tsp wholegrain mustard and some finely snipped chives. Brown the pork on all sides in a hot pan then roast for 12 minutes. Just pop a small roasting dish along side the vegetables. When done cover loosely with foil & rest for 10 minutes. When the vegetables are done add some chopped spinach leaves to the pan and let wilt down for a few minutes then toss with dressing and add the sliced pork.

I served with Puy lentils which are pretty much my standard accompaniment to pork. Soften a shallot , a clove of garlic, half a celery stick , half a carrot & a rasher of streaky bacon, all finely chopped. Once softened a cup of Puy lentils and stir until slick with oil, then add a bay leaf, a tsp grainy mustard and a cup of red wine. Cook down, then add 2 cups water, bring to the boil and simmer about 20 minutes. Add more water if necessary. I do this with most pork dishes, roast chicken and it is delicious with a garden salad, especially with left over cold pork or chicken sliced in & feta cheese. A few years ago Harriet had a friend whose household did not run to garlic or soy sauce. Puy lentils were new to him and his friendship was obviously the year of the Puy lentil. He asked if we ate them at every meal because his visits always coincided with a meal that included them. I probably do them around once a month and I always make enough to have cold with a salad for lunch. In summer I cook them up after work to take for lunch the next day.

This afternoon I made a batch of fresh tomato sauce to freeze. I use a 2550g tin which makes the equivalent of about 6 bought jars and costs less than half. Start by softening 3 finely chopped onions and 9 cloves or garlic with about 200g finely chopped streaky bacon. Add 3 finely chopped carrots, 300ml red or white wine and the tin of chopped tomatoes. Bring rapidly to the boil and after about 10 minutes add some dried oregano & season with salt & pepper. I add sugar as well because it brings out the tomato flavour. Simmer a further half hour & leave to cool. I blend it a little either in the blender or with the stick thing and freeze in about 1 cup portions. I often use this when a recipe calls for a tin of tomatoes. It will keep around a week in the fridge. The giant tins of tomatoes are really good value. I also use them to make homemade tomato ketchup.

This week we brought the olives out for inspection. When we opened the jar we were greeted with a rather unattractive furry covering which told us they were ready. Phoebe was somewhat alarmed but apparently this is what helps to preserve them. You rinse them well before the final bottling. Put them in sterilised jars & cover with a brine - ratio 1 L water to 75g salt, add 2 tbsp red wine vinegar the gently pour a layer of olive oil on the top. Seal & refrigerate once opened. We opened & served to Harriet who is an olive connoisseur. She gave them the thumbs up.

And lastly you must get some Clevedon Valley buffalo yoghurt. This is delicious. It has a wonderful sharpness. I am using the mozzarella this evening with a pumpkin cannelloni so will let you know how I get on.