Lemon and Garlic Lamb Stew

This was another stew that I made last week. It is one I have made a few times over the last couple of winters. It is lovely served with mashed potato or soft polenta, but last week it was just as good served with freshly baked white bread and a salad straight from our garden.





Lemon and Garlic Lamb Stew 

serves 4-6

• 1 large bulb garlic (unpeeled and left whole)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1.5 kilograms lamb forequarter chops (each chop cut into 3 pieces) or 1 kilogram lamb shoulder (diced)  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 x 400 gram cans diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 sprigs rosemary  
• zest of 1 lemon  
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
 • salt and pepper  

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Place the garlic bulb in the center of a piece of foil. Pour over the 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Wrap up and bake in the oven for about 1/2 hour or until soft. Allow to cool and cut in half. Heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy based pan and brown the lamb in 2 batches. Set aside. To the pot, add the tomatoes, tomato paste, rosemary, lemon zest, lemon juice and season to taste. Squeeze in the roasted garlic and mix well. Return the lamb to the pot and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours until the meat is tender and the stew is sticky.

With the leftovers I made a yummy soup for dinner the next night. Along with some chicken stock from the freezer: I added diced vegetables (carrot, celery, cabbage, potato) some tiny orzo pasta and a tin of haricot beans.

Greek Pork with Leeks

Last week it was rainy and cold here. I seized the opportunity to cook more casseroles.

It has been warmer this week, but maybe it's cold where you are? I made this a week ago and I can't stop thinking about it. When the cold returns, I know I will be making it again.

I had bought some lovely young leeks from the markets, and remembered this recipe that I copied  out from a Greek cookbook last year. (Sorry, I can't remember the name of the book) It has been adapted slightly from the original recipe.

Oh my, what perfect, heartwarming food. A few ingredients thrown into a pot and cooked long and slow. Simple and delicious. Even my children didn't complain. I love eating food like this, somehow it reminds me of my Nana.

Yes, this is exactly the type of food that my Nana would have cooked, had she been Greek. 

I served it in large bowls with a yummy olive sourdough bread for mopping up the sauce and finished the meal with this greek country salad.

As with all casseroles, it was much better the next day. Yes, we ate it two nights in a row. Yum.



Pork and Leek Stew

serves 6-8

• 4-6 leeks (washed and cut into 4 cm lengths)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion (finely diced)
• 1.5 kilograms pork shoulder (cut into 5 cm pieces)
• 2 cups tomato passata
• 2 cups water
• salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika

to serve


• cracked black pepper
• feta cheese
• crusty bread


Heat the oil in a large heavy based pot and gently saute the onions. Increase the heat and add the pork. Brown the pork in two batches. Return all of the pork to the pot and add the tomato passata and water. Season to taste. Cover and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook for 1 hour. Add the leeks and continue to cook for a further 1 1/2 - 2 hours or until the leeks are tender. Serve hot with a generous grinding of black pepper and lots of crumbled feta cheese.

Dippity do da

The days here of late, have been just magic. Taking advantage of the beautiful weather on the weekend, this is what we ate for lunch on Sunday. Served along side little homemade sausages grilled on the barbecue, it was the perfect dip plate for autumn days.

Find some sun, grab some friends and maybe a bottle of wine.

Hommus


makes 1 1/2 cups


• 1 x 400 gram tin chickpeas
• 1 lemon (juiced)
• 3 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 2 tablespoon tahini
• 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoon water
salt and pepper  


to serve


• extra virgin olive oil 
• ground cumin


Mix all of the hommus ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer into a serving dish, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with the cumin. Serve with pita bread.

This recipe is from the fantastic "River Cottage Veg" cookbook. I have made it four times in as many weeks, it has been a hit with friends and family alike. 

Beetroot and Walnut Hommus


makes 1 1/2 cups


• 50 grams walnuts (toasted)
• 1 tablespoon cumin seeds (toasted and crushed)
• 15 grams stale bread (crusts removed and torn into chunks)
• 200 grams beetroot (cooked and cut into cubes)
• 1 tablespoon tahini
• 1 garlic clove (crushed)
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon olive oil 
• salt and pepper

Mix all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. Add a little more olive oil if necessary. Transfer into a serving dish and serve.

I have been making this bean dip for years, very quick and easy. Perfect for last minute entertaining. Perfect on hot summers days.

Italian Bean Dip
 
makes 1 1/2 cups

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 1/3 cup mint (chopped)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 x 400 gram tin of cannellini beans (drained)
• 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
• salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a small frying pan. Fry the garlic and cumin for just under a minute. In a food processor put the garlic mixture as well as the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Add the extra tablespoon of lemon juice if needed. Transfer to a serving dish and serve.

This is another recipe that I have been making for a while, a Libyan-Jewish recipe, adapted slightly from a Jewish cookbook I got from the library many years ago. I hadn't made this for years but remembered it well. It takes a little more time, but believe me, it is well worth the effort. Yummy.

Spicy Pumpkin Dip

makes 1 1/2 cups

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion (finely diced)
• 4 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 350 grams pumpkin (finely diced)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon garam marsala
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red chilli
• salt and pepper
• 1 small tomato (diced)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• pinch of sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
 
to serve

• 1 tablespoon coriander leaves (roughly chopped)

Heat the oil in a frying pan and gently saute the onion and half of the garlic. Add the pumpkin and cover. Cook for 10 minutes or until the pumpkin is almost tender. Add the spices and chilli to the pan and cook for 2 minutes more. Season to taste.  Stir in the tomato, tomato paste and sugar and increase the heat to medium high. Cook until the liquid has evaporated and the pumpkin is tender. This takes about 5 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and puree in a blender or food processor until smooth. Stir in the remaining garlic and lemon juice. Transfer to a serving dish and allow to cool to room temperature to serve. Sprinkle with coriander leaves and serve.

Cooking up a storm

For someone who hasn't opened a cookbook in over six weeks, nor cooked from a recipe, I seem to be making up for it this last week.

Over the last few days, I have made Bavelas (Hungarian Bean Soup), Erwtensoep (Dutch Green Pea Soup), two batches of this yummy Broccoli Soup and a Red Lentil and Vegetable Soup. Beetroot and Walnut Hommus and Pumpkin and Raisin Tea Bread, have both been made from the "River Cottage Veg" Book. I have made Julie's Grandma's Never Fail Cake (yum) from this beautiful book. I have made two batches of hommus. I have Mititei in the fridge, ready for tonight's dinner. And this morning instead of doing the housework, I have been in the kitchen making large pots of Leek and Sorrel Soup and Greek Pork and Leek Stew.

I am so happy to be cooking again, I am feeling so inspired to try new things. In order to get away with feeding my children with so much soup (soup deserves a whole other post - I love it, they don't so much) I want to try fun alternatives for dinner a couple of times a week. I want my kids to get into the kitchen to help cook our meals, not just be around to lick the cake bowl!

For as long as I can remember I have been I one pot cook. This will not change. I love this type of cooking for so many reason's. Stews, soups, casseroles and curries are easy to make, they are filled with flavour and can be made ahead of time. Just reheat them with simple sides of vegetables, rice, pasta, polenta or cous cous. They can be made with cheaper cuts of meat, and are a great way to get your kids to eat beans or vegetables that they might not normally like.

Hearty warming fare is: the ultimate comfort food.

But sometimes there is a groan at the dinner table.

"Awwww! Not again, I hate casserole."

Soup usually gets the same response. So in order to get through the casserole-loving winter months without little whiny dinners, I plan to try things like empanadas, mini meat pies, spring rolls, mini meatballs, burgers, calzone, fritters. That kind of thing. Not every night, just some nights.

If you have any other suggestions to make mealtimes more fun, I'd love to hear them.



Last night we cooked one of Manu Feidel's recipes from his cookbook "Manu's French Kitchen". You could hardly call it a recipe. I showed the picture to the kids and there was excitement!

This recipe had been a favourite of Manu's when he was a child and now it is a favourite of his son's. It is also now a favourite of ours. We loved it. So simple and very yummy. I'm used to pureeing and grating vegetables into meat patties (to hide them) that this was a nice alternative. We served our meat patties instead, with a rainbow salad filled with vegetables and a plate of oven baked chips: potato, sweet potato, beetroot, carrots and parsnips. Next time I think that we will double this recipe, as my son was begging for more.

In French the recipe is called: "Steak hache a cheval"

In English and in the book the recipe is called: "Pan-fried beef rissole with an egg sunny-side up"

My son asked, what do we call this? His suggestion was:  "Egg and meat yum yum"

I'm going to call it French Meat Patties, just because I can. Here is the recipe from the book.

French Meat Patties


• 600 grams minced beef
• 1 eschallot (finely chopped)
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 4 eggs

to serve

• extra chopped chives

In a large bowl, combine the beef mince, eschallot and chives. Season to taste. Mix well and divide the mixture into quarters. Shape each quarter into a 10 cm round pattie. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the patties for about 3 minutes on each side or until cooked to your liking. In another large frying pan melt the butter and fry the four eggs to your liking. Once cooked, Place each pattie on a serving plate and gently top with an egg. Season to taste with salt and pepper and sprinkle over the extra chives. Serve immediately.


* Next time I make this I will definitely be doubling the meat patties that I make. Perfect for leftovers.


* Manu writes in his book that when he was a child, his mother served these with sauteed potatoes.

ANZAC day breakfast

On ANZAC day mornings, I always set the table as if we are in the 1940's, the war time of my grandmother. A full fry-up breakfast, a pot of tea, Anzac biscuits and a simple tea loaf.

Until the children were born, we always went to the dawn service. When we came home (often with friends and family) we were always very hungry. So large a breakfast soon became a tradition. Most of the time now we go instead to the street parade and mid-morning service (sometimes both). Yesterday the children marched with their school in a local parade, although if I can, I try to make it back to my home town for the service.



This year I cooked something different to the usual full English breakfast. A recipe I love to cook when the weather turns cool. I have no idea where this recipe came from, I have been cooking it for over 15 years.

I also served up poor soldiers cake (tea with hazels version) and the requirement of the day: Anzac biscuits.

Irish Country Breakfast


serves 4


• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 bacon rashers (diced)
• 1 onion (finely diced)
• 4-6 potatoes (peeled, cooked and cubed)
• salt and black pepper
• 4 eggs
• 3 tablespoons grated cheddar cheese

In a large frying pan, heat the oil and sauté the bacon and onion until soft. Once cooked, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside and keep warm. Add the potatoes to the pan and season to taste and cook until lightly browned. Make 4 dents in the potatoes and crack an egg into each one. Cover and cook until the eggs they are cooked to how you like them. Sprinkle over the bacon, onion and cheese. Replace the lid and heat through until the cheese has melted. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

* The original recipe used 6 potatoes, it's an Irish recipe after all, but I used only four when I cooked this yesterday. It's up to you, I might have used 6 if more people where sharing breakfast with us.

* In the past I have served this with tiny pork sausages, extra grilled rashers of bacon and tomato ketchup. It just depends how many people are coming for breakfast.

* After this picture was taken, I easily slid the potatoes and eggs onto a serving platter. I thought it would be better than damaging my new scanpan with the knife. It transferred to a serving plate easily.

Share your table

I have been doing a lot of cooking already this week.

Most of it has been made to be stored in the freezer for cooler months.

But with such big quanities of food being made and piles of dishes and pots in the sink. I have been thinking of this poster.

Tell me is there anything nicer than sharing your table?

I think not.

Pear, Chocolate and Ricotta Cake

About a year ago Mum went to a dinner party where this cake was served. The next day, she rang the host for the recipe and immediately e-mailed it to me, telling me: I must make this cake.

But I never had.

As she was our only lunch guest for Good Friday this year, I decided to make it. It was so easy, it makes a huge cake and is very impressive. Did I mention easy? And yum! We served it, as is with coffee, but mum's friends had served it warm, with thick cream as a dessert - divine!

I made it again this week when friends came for morning tea.

You must try it.

Pear, Chocolate and Ricotta Cake

makes 1 large cake

• 250 grams castor sugar
• 3 eggs
• 250 grams ricotta
• 300 grams self raising flour
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 150 grams dark chocolate (chopped)
• 4 ripe pears (peeled, cored and chopped into large chunks)

• raw sugar

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Grease and line a 26 cm spring form cake tin. In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the ricotta and mix well. Add the flour, a little at a time and then the melted butter. Gently fold in the chocolate and pear. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until cooked.