Versatile vegetables

Phoebe is always doing interesting things with cauliflower but I've never done much other than cauliflower cheese, curry or soup until now. This week I branched out with two new cauliflower ideas.

On Sunday we had lamb kofte with cauliflower "couscous".  To make the kofte for two, combine 300g lamb mince, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, chilli flakes, 1 clove crushed garlic, finely chopped parsley, zest of half a lemon, 1/2 tsp dried mint, salt and pepper.  Make little meatballs - I made 6 - and poke a pre-soaked bamboo skewer through each one, then shape into sausage shapes on the skewer. Set these aside while you prepare the couscous.
Break half a cauliflower head into florets and grind to a fine crumbly couscous-like texture in the food processor.  Spread these out on an oven tray and bake at 200 for 5 mins.  You could microwave in a bowl for a few minutes but I can't as I don't have one.  Set them aside to cool and cook the kofte on a tray in the oven for about 12 minutes.
While they are cooking mix finely diced cucumber, chopped tomato, a small quantity of finely diced red onion, chopped olives, chopped mint and parsley, and crumbled feta with the cauliflower. Dress with lemon juice and olive oil.  Serve with yoghurt and a little chopped dill.
I used the other half of the cauliflower to make a pizza base.  Crumble the cauliflower and lightly cook as above then wrap in a tea towel and wring out any moisture.  I didn't do this and mine was a little soggy but still delicious.  Mix the cauliflower with a little beaten egg, crushed garlic and a little grated parmesan, mixed dried herbs, salt and pepper.  Shape into a pizza shape on an oven tray lined with baking paper.  Make it quite thin - about 1/2 a centimetre.  Bake at 200 for 30-40 minutes.  It should be firm and golden.  Take it out of the oven and turn up to 220.  Spread the base with passata or a similar kind of tomato sauce, halved cherry tomatoes and blobs of mozzarella.  Grate over some parmesan and sprinkle on a few basil leaves.  Bake another 5 minutes until the cheese is melted and serve with a few more basil leaves.
I will definitely be trying other things with cauliflower.  Any suggestions?
I returned to a favourite from this winter.  The charmingly named Dr Feel Good winter salad.  This is a brilliant recipe and although it looks fiddly is well worth the effort.  I save a bit of time by using roasted capsicum in a jar rather than roasting from scratch.  These are great and can go in many dishes.  Try them with the cauliflower couscous.  On this salad occasion Phoebe was coming for dinner and got there first so I phoned ahead for her to turn on the oven and put the beetroot on to boil.  That was useful.  You will really like this salad and you can be flexible with the ingredients.
I also made brilliant little apple puddings that I was alerted to on Facebook.  When I told them at work they all cried, "too hard", but in fact they were "too easy".  And they did taste delicious.  I sprinkled with icing sugar mixed with cinnamon because I had some pre-mixed which had been left over from a cake I had taken to work.  It was a great combination and a little dollop of whipped cream is the perfect finishing touch.
Now that asparagus season is upon us I like to eat them as much as possible.  A great idea for a spring Saturday lunch is salad greens, thinly sliced radish and steamed asparagus piled on a grilled slice of sourdough that has been spread with mayonnaise.  Add egg boiled just enough to peel with the yolk still soft and drizzle over a little lemony vinaigrette.

Vegetable wonders

We still have plenty of beetroot and radishes.  I found a delicious new way to serve squid which has the added advantage of using some of the beetroot leaves along with spinach.  For four, saute a finely chopped red onion in a little olive oil then add 500g squid sliced into rings, with 1/4 cup white rice.  It may not seem like much rice but it is enough.  You don't want the rice to overwhelm.  The squid & spinach are the stars here.  Cook 3 minutes or so then add a tin of tomatoes and a handful of roughly chopped spinach & beetroot leaves with 2 tbsp chopped parsley.  Simmer 10 mins or until rice & squid are cooked.  Delicious.
Remember spicy bean stew?  This a herby version.  Saute a sliced leek in olive oil until soft then add 2 cloves chopped garlic and cook a minute or two.  Add a tin of tomatoes and a good handful of finely chopped herbs - parsley, thyme, chervil.  Cook about 10 minutes and if it looks dry add a splash of water.  At the end add some finely sliced spinach & beetroot leaves with a drained tin of canellini beans and cook until the greens are wilted and the beans are heated through.  Add a sprinkling of herbs to serve.
We went to friends for dinner, were served a wonderful meal and sent home with a bag of freshly picked runner beans.  I cooked these with herbs and served with steak and a corn and avocado salad.  For the beans, slice them thinly and cook in water about 10 mins & drain.  There were about 400g.   Heat a little olive oil & add a good handful of chopped mint, parsley, chervil & dill with 4 tsp capers, juice and zest of  a lemon, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 2 small shallots finely chopped.  Stir in the beans & serve.  Add any leftovers to a salad the next day. 
For the corn salad, combine kernels from 2 cooked corn cobs or about 2 1/2 cups frozen, 4-5 tomatoes cut into wedges, 2 diced avocados & handful of basil leaves.  Toss with a herb dressing made by mixing in a food processor 3 handfuls basil leaves, 2 cloves of garlic, zest of a lemon, 1 1/2 cups olive oil & a pinch of salt.  This will keep in a jar in the fridge for a week & is also great with fish & freshly dug potatoes.
The garden is certainly serving us well.  On Sunday I tried to finish up odds and ends.  We bought some fish from the market & served with the last of the potatoes & aforementioned oil, a corn cob mixed with the last of the peas and the lone leek sauteed with the lone courgette.  The courgettes got off to a slow start but are coming on now.  I think it may have been the lack of sun as there was a shortage of female flowers on the plants and apparently they appear as the weather warms up.
I have been reading about Isabel (Mrs) Beeton's carrot jam which was intended as a kind of substitute for apricot jam.  On further investigation, I stumbled upon a treasure trove of vegetable jams from our old friend Hugh F-W.  Not chutney, but vegetable jams.  I started with the carrot version, which resembles a spicy marmalade with lots of peel and is delicious.  I am keen to try the green tomato but we didn't put in any tomatoes this year.  I may be able to muster up the pumpkin jam as we have a splendid crop and if the courgettes improve look out for courgette and lemon jam.
With the pumpkin I have already made what looks like the winter's supply of pumpkin soup.  I will be looking for smart ideas for pumpkin shortly. 

The $21 challenge

We took the $21 challenge and actually spent $14.60 for the week.   We bought mushrooms, oranges, mandarins, beetroot, lettuce and a capsicum at the market and later in the week we bought milk.  For the rest, we used what we had at hand in the freezer, the pantry and the garden and we ate a lot better than you might expect. 
If you are going to try this - and you should - start with a meal plan and focus on using the things you've had tucked away for a while and haven't got around to using.  You might find some interesting things!  For Sunday lunch we ate some corn muffins from the freezer while for dinner we had mushrooms and chard with pearl barley.  This was another great find from the New York Times in the 'recipes for health' section, so it has to be good.  We bought the mushrooms from our allowance and everything else we had in the cupboard or garden.     
We certainly had most things on hand for lunches, including a lamb backstrap in the freezer. We have some lamb's lettuce in the garden & a few remnants of rocket plus sorrel & herbs so we were able to rustle up a salad every day.  When the lamb ran out we had falafels from the freezer. 
Day two was the last of the pea & ham soup from the freezer.  This was the soup we made with the end of the Christmas ham. Accompanied of course, by a slice of trusty sourdough, lightly toasted. Mmmm.
Day three was spicy bean stew from the freezer.  We had planned to make this fresh because it mostly uses beans & vegetables we already had in the fridge or pantry, but then I discovered we had some in the freezer from a previous week so used that instead.  This is a meal that always has left overs when we we make it for two and it freezes well.  This used to be a family standby and it's quick to make, so I often did it when we had to go to an event at school in the evening.  Phoebe said that this was the meal we always had when she was going to perform in a musical recital and so she associated it with butterflies in her stomach.  I hope she likes it better now.  You can make it go further by adding a chopped chorizo.  We always keep some in the freezer. The stew calls for a dollop of pesto  but we didn't have any so I used some zhoug left over from another meal at the weekend.  Note I make my zhoug from parsley because of that coriander thing. 
Day four we used one of the pumpkins from my autumn display and made a pumpkin risotto.  I roasted the  peeled, diced pumpkin at 180 for 1/2 an hour.  Just toss it in a little olive oil, salt & pepper & grate on some nutmeg.  I made a basic risotto using a leek from the garden.  At the end I folded through the roasted pumpkin, some Serrano ham (that I had bought for another meal the week before and not used) & some Parmesan.  There were a few roasted almond slivers in a small container so I sprinkled them on top.
Day five, we had a khoresht from the freezer.  I added some frozen peas and served on rice.  There was a small container of chopped pistachios & rose petals in the pantry so I sprinkled them on the top.
On Friday we usually have an omelette and we had saved the eggs left from the previous week for this.  We were really low on cheese but had just enough for the omelette & used up the last of the Serrano ham.  We also still had enough fresh veg and some buche zickli (that was for the same meal as the ham...) for a salad.
Saturday lunch we had some toast with the last few slices of cheese - sliced very thinly, and some lemon chutney. 
But I felt day seven's dinner was the master stroke.  We had had a shoulder of lamb earlier in the year when we had guests & the left overs weren't going to get used at the time, so I just shredded the meat & froze it.  Perfect for a delicious pie, perhaps?  I sauteed a leek & carrot from the garden with half an onion from the fridge & some garlic.  I added some rosemary & bay leaves & the last of the lentils I'd cooked for the lunches.  There was a jar of artichoke hearts in the pantry (naturally) so I added a couple of those, a dash of quince splash, some grated lemon rind & juice, the end of a bottle of white wine from the fridge & the lamb.  I put the mix into individual ramekins and covered with the last lonely sheet of puff pastry languishing in the freezer & brushed with milk.  I would normally have used an egg but that seemed like an extravagance.  I baked the pies at 180 for 1/2 an hour and they were truly delicious.
A friend had given is some windfall Granny Smith's for juicing and we used a couple of those to make an apple crumble which we served with the last of the feijoa ice cream from the freezer.
So, we ate really well on our budget and even had $6 left at the end of the week.  I definitely plan to do this again - possibly once a month.  It was a great idea to get things used up and we did have to think a bit more carefully about what we were eating - no coffees at work, except what's provided, for example.  The toughest thing was fruit.  Peter went without bananas because they are expensive and we didn't buy feijoas & passionfruit.  Using up freezer stock was great.  We just used what had been there the longest.  The other thing I will do next time is look more carefully in the pantry and use the things that I don't usually think of. Harriet did well too and like us found it easier than she expected.  Next time I am hoping more people will join us.

Galicia beckons

As I said last week, we are eating our way through our cooking books and around the world, and this week we were in Galicia in Spain with Rick Stein.  It's the bit at the top left bordering on Portugal.  It's coastal, so we had seafood.  We started with mussels in tomato vinaigrette which was a wonderful way to eat mussels.  Eat more mussels - they are quick and easy to prepare, they are so cheap and they are quite filling.
We followed the mussels with a simple terakihi fillet with caramelised garlic. I have this nifty little app on my phone for choosing sustainable fish.  It's called Best Fish Guide & is produced by Forest & Bird.  You type in the fish the recipe suggests & the app tells you if it is a good choice and if not what to choose instead.  It also includes recipes!  The garlic is something you can do a good batch of and keep in the fridge for a few weeks.  Put 125g roughly chopped garlic cloves & 90ml olive oil into a small pan & cook over a very gentle heat for 20 minutes until it is soft & sweet.  Stir occasionally & bash it with a potato masher after about 15 mins to help it soften down.  Season with salt & refrigerate what you don't use.  We had this with what was described as a classic Spanish mixed salad and seemed like a version of a classic Salad Nicoise.  You can buy white asparagus in jars at Moore Wilson & they're not terribly expensive.  Nothing like the price of fresh in the season.
In the spirit of Spain, if not exactly Spanish, we had a salad of pumpkin, ricotta & Serrano ham served on a bed of baby spinach.  It was Hugh's side dish salad expanded into an entire meal. 
However we did not entirely leave last week's British theme behind.  I was looking at cooking books in the library - don't ask why  - I know we have too many on our shelves which is why we started this regional culinary journey.  However there we were at the library and there it was - The Great British Farmhouse Cookbook. I recommend a trip to your local library to borrow a copy for yourself.  If you are in Wellington wait a couple of weeks because we still have it. I would like to cook my way through the book.  For now we have tried Warm lamb salad with pea, mint & feta dressing.  This is a kind of deconstructed Sunday lunch without the potatoes.  You could serve it with a dish of sauteed or roasted potatoes if you wanted the carbohydrate. I plan to make this again.  The leftovers went well in our weekday lunches.
The book got another outing when Peter whipped up the Roasted squash, red onion, green leaf & cheese tart. We need to eat pumpkin every week to maintain my sideboard autumn display  - we eat & replace so they are not wasted.  We need to eat chard because it keeps growing.  So a recipe that uses both pumpkin and chard is very welcome.  You'll be hearing a lot more about this book.
If you have not yet visited Ombra on Cuba St, do so soon.  It describes itself as a Venetian Bacara.  The food is outstanding.  There is a bit of a wait for a table but you can have a drink and start eating at the bar.  The staff are really friendly and helpful.  You will have a great night out.  We took Phoebe on Friday and we were not disappointed. Phoebe's favourite was the potato & emmental crochetta, mine was the pork meatballs.  Next time I'm going to try the sardines.  Reminds me of a great trip I took to Portugal with a very good friend in 1982/83 where we ate sardines nearly every lunchtime.  It was my introduction to the joy of grilled sardines.

Salad and pasta

I had bought a piece of rump steak in case it was a good evening for a barbecue.  It wasn't.  The steak went beautifully with a Greek salad and crushed rosemary potatoes, which tend to go with most things.  The Greek salad was a lovely way to use some of our late cos lettuces and the few tomatoes we have produced this year - will there be enough even for a batch of green tomato chutney?  It is good, if you have time to prepare in advance, steeping the red onions with oil & vinegar &  dried oregano, & sprinkling the tomatoes with a little salt & sugar before you throw everything together.
Monday was Peter's regular birthday dinner, smoked salmon pasta.  This is so quick & easy that it hardly seems like a luxury meal.  Heat plenty of cream in a pan, add lemon juice & zest, smoked salmon, grated Parmesan, parsley.  Season & toss through your best egg pasta.  Serve with a salad.    I used to do a vegetarian version but with cream, cheese, egg pasta there's not much here for a vegan.  This is where the Tasty Pot comes in.  Birthday meals can be difficult because the birthday recipient gets their meal of choice but the whole family with their varying eating habits need to be provided for.  It is getting easier to buy good, almost fresh, pre-prepared choices.
We had a variation on a Nicoise salad with avocado & cannellini beans.  I have been moaning a bit about the avocados this year but this was the perfect avocado.  Make a vinaigrette with olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic & salt & pepper.  Put a tin of tuna, a tin of cannellini beans, some shredded cos lettuce, halved cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced spring onions & flat leaf parsley in a bowl & toss through the dressing.  Add hard boiled egg & slices of avocado.
For the perfect autumn salad try pumpkin (in this case butternut) and rocket with mushrooms & blue cheese.  Roast the pumpkin, peeled & cut into pieces, with some olive oil, bruised sage leaves & bashed garlic, about 40 minutes.  You want it soft & just colouring around the edges.  Fry some thickly sliced mushrooms (a friend told me she was given some field mushrooms this week & they would be perfect here), in a little olive oil & a knob of butter until they are cooked through and any liquid has evaporated. Combine the pumpkin, mushrooms, some rocket & crumbled blue cheese - I used Roquefort - in a bowl & toss with olive oil & balsamic vinegar.   This is quite a substantial meal but make more than you think you will need otherwise you'll wish you had.

At home

For Harriet's birthday I did the usual vegan Mediterranean style medley.  This year I added Patatas Bravas to the menu.  This is a classic Spanish tapa that I had had at a Spanish restaurant in Auckland & have been keen to try.  First make the sauce.  Sweat a finely chopped onion in a little olive oil with some finely chopped thyme, until the onion is very soft & translucent.  Add 3 cloves of finely chopped garlic & a finely chopped, fairly hot red chilli.  Cook a minute or 2.  Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, 2 tsp smoked paprika, a pinch of sugar, salt & pepper.  Simmer about 10 minutes & keep warm. 
Cook a pan of waxy potatoes cut into 3cm cubes, 10-12 minutes (make lots because these will be popular).  Drain & dry then saute in olive oil 10-15 minutes until they are crisp & golden.  Drain & tip into a dish then pour over the warmed sauce.  Scatter with parsley & watch these disappear from the table. Especially if they are served in this new casserole purchased at Alan Rhodes pottery in Whenuakite, Coromandel.
We had friends over & I wanted to spend the evening talking not cooking.  This pork dish was the answer.  For 4, take 600g pork fillets & tie with kitchen string, tying the thin end under for even cooking.  Combine 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 cloves of crushed garlic, finely chopped rosemary, zest of a lemon in a bowl & season, then rub over the pork & set aside.
In a roasting dish combine 4 parsnips, peeled & sliced on the diagonal, 2 red onions, quartered, 3 carrots peeled & cut on the diagonal, 8 wholes cloves of garlic, skin on.  Toss with a little olive oil & roast 40 minutes intil tender.  Turn occasionally to ensure even cooking.  Make a dressing of 2 tbsp lemon juice, 1/4 cup good olive oil, 1 clove crushed garlic, 1 tsp grainy mustard, 2 tbsp chopped chives, salt & pepper.  Add a couple of handfuls baby spinach to the veg then toss through the dressing.  Brown the pork on all sides in a pan then roast in a hot oven 12 minutes.  Rest 10 minutes.  Toss through the vegetables. I made the mistake of sharing the recipe, so my friends know I hadn't gone to any trouble.
On Monday - yes it's soup Monday time - we had roasted pumpkin with chorizo.  Dice enough pumpkin for 2 & combine with a little olive oil & butter,  1/2 tsp each ground ginger & allspice, 1/4 tsp chilli flakes, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, in a roasting dish.  Roast at 180 until tender & a little caramelised - about 30 mins.  Meanwhile heat a little olive oil in a soup pan & fry 1 dried  sliced chorizo, 1/2 sliced onion, 1/2 diced carrot, 1 stalk sliced celery, 1 clove crushed garlic, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, until onion is soft.  Stir in 1 tbsp tomato paste, 3 cups beef or chicken stock, the roasted pumpkin & 1/2 tin kidney beans.  Simmer 30 minutes.  Puree a small quantity of the soup so you have a mix of pureed & chunky.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream & a sprinkle of smoked paprika.
We found a great recipe for a smoked mackerel salad that made a very simple work day meal.  Finely slice 1/2 an onion & soak in water or white wine vinegar to soften.  Boil a handful of waxy potatoes until tender & set aside.  Grill a couple of rashers of streaky bacon.  Make a vinaigrette with olive oil, white wine vinegar, dijon mustard, capers & a sprig of dill. Add the onions to the dressing & toss with the halved potatoes while they are still warm.  Mix through a fillet of smoked flaked mackerel & crumble the bacon over the top.  You could consider adding a hard-boiled egg.  I didn't this time but might next.
We had a frightful storm last Saturday & we did an emergency dash in pjs to rescue some roses that I feared would be battered.  They looked so wonderful in a vase that I thought I would share with you.  This is the 2nd flowering and these little babies seem to flourish more each year.  I'm pleased to report that there are still plently of blooms left on the bushes.

French pizza and Scottish tagine

This is the tagine I first made the day after I was given the book.  It never fails to please.  Make a marinade with one grated onion, 3 crushed garlic cloves, a knob of grated ginger, finely chopped parsley, a pinch of saffron threads, juice of a lemon, salt & pepper, 3 tbsp olive oil.  Add chicken thighs with bone in, or legs.  You could get Maryland pieces and cut them in two then you have both.  You want 1-2 pieces per person depending on the size of your diners.  Rub the marinade well into the skin & refrigerate 1-2 hours. 
Heat a tbsp olive oil with a knob of butter, in your tagine.  Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade & brown well on both sides.  Pour over the marinade & add just enough water to come halfway up the sides of the chicken pieces.  Bring to the boil, cover & bake in the oven at 180 for about 45 minutes.   Add 2 preserved lemons, cut into strips, 175g cracked green olives & 1 tsp dried oregano.  Return to the oven for a further 20 minutes.  Sprinkle some fresh oregano over the top to serve.  I served it with steamed carrots tossed with toasted cumin & coriander seeds & mint.
Sunday being rugby I decided we should do the right thing & eat pizza in front of the telly.  I made RWC Final Pizza - one half black & white, the other red, white & blue for Le Tricolore.
I also made Olivo's delicious parsnip skordalia for rugby snacks.  Toss 500g parsnips, quartered lengthwise, with 1 tbsp Helen's cumin oil and 2 tsp cumin seeds and place in a roasting pan. Put in the oven and roast at 190 for about 25 minutes until cooked through and golden. Cool.  Place the parsnips in a food processor and pulse until mashed. Add 3 cloves garlic, salt to taste & an egg yolk then pulse again. Gradually drizzle in about 1/2 cup cumin oil while pulsing, then finally add the juice of 1/2 a lemon. If the mixture is too thick add a little warm water to the desired consistency.  As well as a dip Helen suggests serving it as an accompaniment with sausages.
Monday night I made one of the best soups ever.  Pea & parsley with scallops.  If you don't eat scallops (you must be crazy) you could leave them off but they are a magnificent addition.  For 6 people, soften 1 finely chopped onion with a finely chopped stick of celery and a bay leaf in a little butter for about 10 minutes.  Add 3 cups of chicken stock & season.  Bring to the boil & add 1 kg peas.  Sadly, frozen, as mine aren't ready & I don't think I could ever harvest that quantity for a single meal.  Bring back to the boil for about 3 minutes then stir through 1 cup finely chopped parsley, 3/4 cup cream & white pepper.  Blend with a stick blender, then add 2 tsp red wine vinegar & adjust the seasoning.  Keep warm & prepare the scallops.  Heat about 50g butter in a pan & sprinkle with a little mineral salt.  Fry 3-4 scallops per person with some fresh tarragon or mint leaves, for about 1-2 minutes per side.  Top the individual soup bowls with scallops & the fried leaves then drizzle with the scallop pan juices. 
A couple of weeks back, I had a sorrel risotto at Floriditas & as I have some in the garden, I thought I would try this at home.  I made a basic risotto using finely chopped onion & celery as the base then at the end I stirred though 1/2 dozen finely chopped sorrel leaves & the zest of half a lemon.  I finished off with the juice of the lemon half & a knob of butter.  It was wonderful.  You should grow sorrel.  It is delicious cooked & in salads & grows so easily.  I found the half dead seedling languishing in a dark corner at the garden centre & this week I am planning to separate the plant as it has flourished.
I had a small piece of pumpkin that needed to be eaten.  Enter Moroccan chicken with rice & pumpkin.  Tie 2 boneless chicken thighs per person, with kitchen string so that they keep their shape.  Heat the oil in an oven proof dish & brown the chicken on all sides.  Set aside.  For 6, add finely chopped onions & carrots with 3 cloves crushed garlic & cook until softened.  Add 1 tsp each ginger, turmeric, smoked paprika & cinnamon plus the zest of a lemon & cook a further 2 minutes.  Stir in diced pumpkin then 2 cups chicken stock.  Scrape up all the sticky bits at the bottom of the pan.  Add a cup of basmati rice - I used brown - & sit the thighs on top.  Cover & bake 45 mins at 180.  
A reader sent me a photo of her egg & kefte tagine & I want to share it with you.  Do you have any photos to share?  I think the tagines have been a hit and many of you are making them.  Good old  Ghillie.  You may be surprised to discover she is actually Scottish.  She has also been shortlisted "Pasta Journalist of the Year".   Who knew their was such an honour?  Does anyone know who won?

Old, new, walnut, blue

This tagine might just be the best ever edging out the beef & beetroot. This is another poached lamb kefta best done on the stove top.  Mix 450 g minced lamb with 1 finely chopped onion, a bunch of finely chopped flat leaf parsley, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp each ground coriander & cumin, 1/2 tsp cayenne, salt & pepper.  Shape into small meatballs - you'll get about 16.  In a pan, saute 1 roughly chopped onion with 3 cloves crushed garlic, a piece of grated ginger & a thinly sliced red chilli  Add 2 tsp turmeric, some roughly chopped parsley & mint and about 300ml water.  Simmer 10 minutes then carefully add the kefta & poach gently for 10 minutes.  Pour over the juice of a lemon and tuck a second lemon, cut into segments, between the meatballs.  Season with salt & poach a further 10 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley & mint.  Serve with couscous and a soft leafy salad.  This is deliciously lemony & fresh.
One of my favourite stalls at the City Market is Angie O.  At the moment she is doing a walnut pesto.  Try spreading this on a piece of toasted sourdough or French bread, then top with a rocket leaf & a slice of your favourite blue cheese.  We had Bleu d'Auvergne.  This makes a divine weekend lunch.
The weather is very up and down and although winter is over I could not resist this beef & red wine pie with spicy pumpkin mash.  The recipe called for beef shin but the butcher didn't have any & recommended a cross-cut blade steak with lovely glutinous veins of fat running through it.  You want something that loves to be slow cooked.    This is a really simple way to make a casserole because you just add everything straight to the pot without browning first.  In fact, I prepared it in the casserole dish in the morning and went to a movie.  When I got home I just took the casserole out of the fridge, heated the oven & popped it in.  To prepare, combine in your casserole dish 750g beef diced fairly large, 1 large carrot roughly chopped, 1 onion roughly chopped, 4 whole cloves garlic, 1 tbsp chopped garlic, 1 tbsp soy sauce, zest of 1 orange, 2 tbsp tomato paste, 2 whole star anise, 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes, 1 cup red wine, 1 cup beef stock, salt & pepper.  When you're ready to cook, put it into the oven at 150 for around 3 1/2-4 hours.  If the liquid is too thin near then end just remove the lid & cook until the liquid has reduced & is  a bit syrupy.
For the mash cook some pumpkin & Agria potatoes.  For two, I had about 1/4 pumpkin & 1 potato.  Mash with a little butter & cream & season well.  While the veg is cooking slowly, cook  a thinly sliced onion in a little butter or oil and a good pinch of salt, until soft & golden.  Add a clove of crushed garlic & a grating of ginger & 1/4 tsp allspice & cook another 2 minutes.  Stir through the mash.  To assemble spoon the lamb into individual oven proof dishes.  I have some beautiful pottery dishes my mother bought in Thorndon many years ago.  Do any of you remember the Courtyard Cafe on Tinakori Rd & the pottery shop next door?  These dishes served her well for many years and are now doing great service at our house.  Top with the pumpkin mix & cook at 180 until the mash is coloured & a little crisp.
We welcomed an old favourite back to the table.  This is quick and delicious and a good weekday standby although you do have to pick up your prawns on the day or the day before unless you have some in your freezer.  Skin, deseed & decore 1/2 dozen or so good flavourful tomatoes then roughly chop.  Drain them over a bowl for up to an hour so that you are just using the flesh.  Mix them with 1 clove crushed garlic, a handful each chopped flat leaf parsley & basil, 2 small dried bird's eye chillis (or use flakes), crushed, 1/2 dozen pitted kalamata olives, 3 tbsp olive oil.  Set aside.    Saute about 1/2 dozen prawns per person until just cooked then sprinkle over a pinch saffron & 2 more of those chillis.  Add the tomato mix briefly to warm and scrape up the tasty bits on the bottom of the pan.  Cook some spaghetti according to the pack then toss through the tomato and prawn mix.  Serve with a green salad.

Soup and snow

August was all about illness and snow. One we could have done without and the other was fun. As a consequence soup has been the staple for the month. One non-soup meal I recommend is spicy meatballs baked with Zany Zeus paneer. An Indian style version of the cheesy meatballs we usually do. Mix 1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs, 1 tbsp dried oregano, 1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley, 1/2 small red onion or shallot grated, 1/2 tsp each ground allspice, cumin & cinnamon, 2 cloves garlic crushed, 1 egg, salt & pepper together in a bowl. Add 500g minced beef and combine. Roll the mixture into smallish meatballs and brown them all over in a pan. Transfer them to a plate & set aside. In the unwashed pan, add 1 finely chopped onion, 1 small carrot, grated, 2 cloves crushed garlic & 1/4 tsp chilli flakes. Cook gently until the onion is soft. Add a splash of water if necessary. Tip in 2 tins crushed tomatoes & simmer gently for 10 minutes. Add the meatballs along with any juices left on the plate. Cut the paneer into cubes & add to the pan in between the meatballs Cover & simmer about 10 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve with a spinach raita. Soak finely chopped shallot or 1/2 small red onion in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes - takes away the raw sharpness. Wilt a couple of handfuls of baby spinach & chop finely. Mix 1/2 cup thick yoghurt (I like Cyclops for this kind of thing) with a clove of crushed garlic & a handful of chopped mint. Season the yoghurt & layer in a small bowl with the spinach & onions. Grind over a little black pepper.
And back to soup. Try a spinach soup with poached egg - this sounds weird and even looks a little weird but tastes delicious. Melt a little butter in a pan & soften 1 finely chopped onion, 1 thinly sliced leek & 2 sticks finely sliced celery. Stir in a generous tbsp flour and gradually add 1.2 litres chicken stock. Bring to the boil stirring all the time so the flour doesn't turn lumpy then cover & simmer 1/2 an hour. Stir about 500g baby spinach into the soup & blend until smooth. Return to the pan & season with grated nutmeg & salt & pepper. Poach an egg per person, gently reheat the soup & ladle into bowls. Gently slide a poached egg into each bowl. Sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese.
A good choice when you don't feel well is a soup packed full of restorative greens. It was when I was out picking broccoli to make this soup that the first snow fell in Wellington. Gather together about 700g of greens - broccoli, spinach curly kale, sorrel, corn salad, flat leaf parsley, chervil, celery with leave - just whatever you can find that you like. Saute in a little oil 1 small finely chopped onion, 2 rashers finely chopped bacon, 1 diced potato. Cook until tender then add 4 cups chicken stock & simmer 10 minutes. Add the greens and simmer 3-4 minutes. Add the spinach & sorrel at the end so it doesn't lose its colour. Blend until smooth then return to the heat to warm through. Mix a little feta & sour cream to a smooth paste & swirl over the top.
On a cold night a bowl of pumpkin soup with white beans will warm you through. Soften 2 shallots & an onion finely chopped in a little duck fat or olive oil. Duck fat is wonderful if you have any in the fridge. It keeps well and makes fabulous chips. Peel & cut a butternut pumpkin into largish cubes & add to the onions. Just cover with water, season & add a bouquet garni of bay, parsley, celery leaf & thyme. Cover & cook on a medium heat until the pumpkin is soft. When it boils bring it down to a gentle simmer. Remove the bouquet garni & add about 1/2 cup cooked white beans - I use tinned. Blend until smooth & serve with crusty bread. Season & garnish with a spoonful of the remaining white beans, a swirl of sour cream and a grating of fresh nutmeg.
When it is snowing outside a glass of mulled wine might be the answer. For one bottle of red wine - roughly cut up 3 oranges (skin on) with 225g sugar, 1/2 tsp each ground cinnamon & nutmeg & a tsp whole cloves. Bring to the boil, simmer gently & strain through a fine sieve. Bring the syrup up to the boil and add a bottle of red wine. Warm through but do not boil. Serve in warmed glasses.