Roasted Pumpkin with Feta and Pine Nuts

I was just telling a friend about this yummy pumpkin recipe I made last week. While it was still on my mind I'd thought I share it with you too. I have no idea where this recipe came from, I know that I scribbled it out from a library book - possibly a Greek one? If you know this recipe or the book, please let me know. I can not claim credit for the genius of this simple dish.



Roasted Pumpkin with Feta and Pine Nuts

serves 4

• 1 kilogram pumpkin (peeled and cut into small pieces)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chopped rosemary leaves
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon pine nuts
• 80 grams feta cheese (crumbled)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Place the pumpkin on a baking tray and toss well with the oil and rosemary. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the pine nuts and feta over he top of the pumpkin and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender.

Spaghetti Bolognese

I had written in an earlier post that I would be going 'back to basics' this year.



Surely a good spaghetti bolognese recipe is a must on anyone's list of basic recipes. I thought that my recipe was fairly standard, however a few weeks ago I took a batch of my spaghetti bolognese to a friend in need. Her family absolutely loved it, not only was it a much needed night off for her, but she told me her children were asking for second helpings. Really, is there any greater complement? She has asked me for the recipe.

I have been cooking my spaghetti bolognese pretty much the same way for over 20 years. I usually use beef mince and a good smoked bacon in my sauce, as I always have that at hand. However many years ago, I made a few adjustments to my recipe original recipe. By using half pork and half beef mince and by using pancetta instead of bacon, it makes for a damn good bolognese. I always make these changes if I am cooking this for someone else.

I have been known to make a quick bolognese sauce late in the day and have simmered it only for 30 minutes. It still tastes great, but if I have the time, I usually cook it for 2 to 3 hours. The best thing about bolognese: everyone can make it, everyone loves it and it freezes well. There is always (always) 2 or 3 containers of this sauce in my freezer.

How do you make you bolognese sauce? What are your secrets?

Spaghetti Bolognese

serves 4-6

• 500 grams spaghetti

• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion (finely diced)
• 1 carrot (finely diced)
• 1 stick celery (finely diced)
• 100 grams pancetta or bacon (finely diced)
• 2-3 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 500 grams beef mince (or 250 grams beef and 250 grams pork)
• 2 x 440 gram tinned tomatoes (chopped)
• 1 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 generous tablespoon fresh herbs (rosemary, oregano, parsley, thyme)
• salt and pepper

to serve 

• parmesan cheese

In a large heavy based pot heat the oil to medium heat and gently sauté the onions, carrot, celery and pancetta. When the vegetables are soft, add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Increase the heat and add the mince to the pan. Cook until browned. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, red wine, bay and herbs. Season to taste. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to simmer and cook for 1-2 hours. The longer the better.

Twenty minutes before serving, bring some water to the boil to cook the pasta. Cook the spaghetti until al dente. Serve the spaghetti with the sauce.

Papardelle with Salmon and Tuna

Exactly one month since my last post here...Oh dear... Is anyone still out there?

Meals have been pretty simple at our place, mainly due to the heat over the last month. I do have a small pile of recipes next to the computer waiting to be typed up. I have also been playing around with a few family style recipes which I hope to share with you soon. I have discovered that if food comes in the form of a patty, be it beef, pork, chicken or fish, there are no complaints. There is no seven year old screaming 'yuck,' before the plate hits the table, there is no six year old, pushing her plate away in disgust after just two bites. Yes, it's only taken me eight years to find this out, but patties are the answer.

But today I share with you a different kind of recipe. I'll be honest, my kids did not want to eat this. But I find that their tastes change like the wind. One day pasta can cause excitement, on other days it just doesn't.

I think this recipe originally came from a Vogue Entertaining Magazine, I don't think that I changed it much. I hand wrote it into my, 'at the time' recipe book, after the very first time I cooked it. It was made for friends for a mid-week, after work dinner party (remember those!) about 15 years ago. It went down a hit. It is quick, but impressive. It is fairly rich, but very yummy, I imagine eating it for lunch, under large trees on a perfect summers day, a simple green salad on the side and a glass of white wine in my hand. Having said that, is tasted pretty good on a rainy Tuesday night last week, at home, with the kids and the last of the shiraz.

 
Pappardelle with Salmon and Tuna

serves 4

• 400 grams pappardelle pasta

• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1 salmon fillet- approximately 200 grams (cut into tiny cubes)
• 1 x 250 gram punnet cherry tomatoes (halved)
• 1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
• 1 red chilli (finely chopped)
• 1 teaspoon anchovies (finely chopped)
• 1 x 140 gram tin tuna (drained and flaked)
• 1 cup tomato passata or pureed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon basil leaves (torn)
• salt and pepper to taste

to serve

• extra basil leaves 
• grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Bring the water to the boil and cook the pasta until al dente.
 
Meanwhile, heat 1/4 cup of oil in a pan and quickly saute the salmon and cherry tomatoes. Once cooked, remove from the pan and keep warm. Add the remaining oil to the pan and heat. Saute the garlic, chilli and anchovies, then add the tuna, tomato passata and torn basil. Heat through. Just before serving, return the salmon and cherry tomatoes back to the pan an mix well. Toss through the cooked pasta and serve topped with the extra basil leaves.

Bits and pieces

Meals have been simple here, the heat is keeping me out of the kitchen as much as possible.

Last nights dinner: fish cakes with tartare sauce and salad. Today, home alone for a few hours, I thought I would share a few simple recipes that have we been making and enjoying over the summer.

Tartare sauce has been served with fish cakes and homemade fish and chips. We have put it on burgers and it's very good on chicken sandwiches too.

Tartare Sauce

makes 3/4 cup

• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon shallots (finely chopped)
• 1 tablespoon parsley (finely chopped)
• 1 tablespoon dill pickle (finely chopped)
• 1 tablespoon capers (finely chopped)
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and serve.

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I made up these two dressings to have in the fridge over Christmas, they make a simple salad much more exciting. To make a warm dinner salad, we added grilled chicken, lamb or prawns and then drizzled over some dressing. I also like the lemon vinegar dressing tossed through warm potatoes, or liberally poured over salads of white beans or chickpeas.

Honey Mustard Dressing

• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 3 teaspoons honey
• 1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
• 1 teaspoon djion mustard

Mix all of the ingredients in a jar and shake well to combine.

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Lemon Vinegar Dressing

• 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest (finely chopped)
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic (crushed)
• salt and pepper

Mix all of the ingredients in a jar and shake well to combine.

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I have been making this recipe for years, simple marinated olives, that I took 'everywhere' this summer. Most days I marinated them just a few hours before eating them and they were fine. Any olives not eaten, were tossed through salads: leafy, pasta, or cous cous. Yum.
 
Tuscan Olives

makes 1 cup

• 1 cup kalamata olives
• peel of half an orange (cut into 1 inch pieces)
• peel of half a lemon (cut into 1 inch pieces)
• 1 clove garlic (crushed)
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds (lightly crushed)
• black pepper
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Mix all of the ingredients and marinate overnight. If you cover the olives completely with the oil, you can leave the olives for 10 days to let them infuse.

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And with chillies from the garden, we made sweet chilli sauce. For dipping homemade chicken nuggets and making asian salad dressings. The rest is in the fridge for cooking. The crushed chillies (sambal oelek) is great when there are no fresh chillies at hand. I have used it in marinades for barbecued meats and to add a little kick our our favourite pasta sauces.

 Sweet Chilli Sauce
 
makes 1 cup

• 12 red thai chillies (roughly chopped)
• 4 cloves garlic (roughly chopped)
• 250 ml white vinegar
• 125 grams sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt

Crush the chillies and garlic in a mortar and pestle. Put into a saucepan with the remaining ingredients. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Cool and put into a sterilized jar. This can be kept in the fridge for 2 months.

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Sambal Oelek

makes 1/2 cup

• 20 red thai chillies (roughly chopped)
• 3 teaspoons salt

Put both the chillies and salt into a mortar and pestle. Pound into a course paste. Put into a sterilised jar. This can be kept in the fridge for 1 to 2 months.

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 What have you been eating to keep the heat at bay?

Happy New Year!

Hello 2013 and hello to the readers of my very neglected blog.

I feel very blessed this festive season, we have been able to spent time with so many of our loved ones from far and near. There has been some cooking, but mainly a lot of eating.

This year, in the kitchen, I am going back to basics. 

Hopefully I won't bore you by posting recipes for old favourites like lasagne, apple pie or the perfect roast beef. I will be continuing on with my goal for last year, of 'cooking from scratch'. I cooked quiet a lot more than I blogged about last year, so as the seasons progress, I can post some of my new favourite recipes. I'll be starting as soon as I get a day at home: old fashioned tomato ketchup, plum jam, mango chutney and french apricot jam.

If your not interested in old fashioned favourites, then you'll be happy to hear that I will be recipe testing new recipes for a friend: Middle Eastern, Moroccan, Caribbean, Indian, Greek and more. She is hoping to open a new restaurant by mid-year, so that should be fun.

And in the wake of my Christmas eating marathon, I will need to throw in a few healthy eating recipes now and then. I turn forty this year and I really need to starting looking after myself a little better. After all, you are what you eat.

But forget I said that... because the recipe I am going to share today is pure, homely, comfort food. I had Gravox in the cupboard from when I made my Nana's roast chicken, so I thought I would attempt to make my Aunts famous 'the day after' sausage stew.

In August, there is usually a shared birthday party in our family and often the party is at my Aunts house. A barbecue. There are always leftovers. The next day the barbecued sausages and barbecued onions are turned into a yummy stew for breakfast. Served with baked beans, grilled bacon, fried eggs and piles of toast, we all return to share breakfast, a highlight, being the stew.

This sometimes happens over Christmas as well, but as my Aunt is getting older, these parties aren't happening anymore and neither are the breakfast get-togethers, which were just as fun as the parties themselves. Missing this, I made it instead. We had sausages leftover over from New Years Eve and ate ours for dinner with mashed potato and steamed green beans. It's not the original, but it was close. I'm sure you could make it with fresh sausages or other meat.

'The Day After' Sausage Stew 

serves 4-6

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 onions (diced)
• 125 grams bacon (diced)
• 1 x 400 gram tinned diced tomatoes

• 2 cups chicken stock
• 500 grams cold barbecued sausages
• 1 tablespoon Gravox
• salt and pepper to taste (add the salt sparingly. I found the Gravox very salty) 

Heat the oil in a large heavy based casserole pot and gently saute the onions and bacon until the onion is soft. Add the tomatoes and 1 1/2 cups of stock to the pot. Add the sausages and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and cover. Cook for 15 minutes. In a small bowl, mix the Gravox with the remaining 1/2 cup of stock. Add the Gravox mixture to the pt and stir to thicken.

Do you eat anything at this time of year, for nostalgia reasons only?

I'm not sure where is image came from (deep in the archives of my bookmarks) If you know where it is from, I'd love know.

The christmas cooking has begun!

With school finished for the year, we had some time on the weekend to start our Christmas cooking.
Yesterday afternoon I tried a new recipe, Portuguese Christmas Cake and two batches of chocolate chip cookies. I know that the chocolate chip cookies are not very christmassy, but this years cooking list was a joint effort.

Starting a little later than usual, our baking list is just as long as previous years.

christmas cookie list

snickerdoodles (because they make these in the Barbie movie: "A Christmas Carol")
swiss chocolate christmas cookies
lebkuchen
jasmine’s sparkly stars (the recipe for these is in my daughters princess book)
gingerbread people
scottish shortbread
dutch shortbread
vanilla christmas trees
chocolate chip cookies
monkey face cookies (the recipe for this is from the "Anne of Green Gables Treasury")
honey cookies 

christmas cooking list

stollen
fruit mince tarts
rum balls
cherry ripe slice
christmas cake

I haven't even thought about the other christmas cooking that I need to do. There is food to take along to a Christmas Eve barbecue, Christmas Day breakfast and lunch, a Boxing Day barbecue, a New Years Eve barbecue and a New Years Day Picnic.

Today we will be out all day for a children's birthday party, tomorrow I will take a quiet moment and sit with some recipe books for inspiration. Because really... it is just 9 more sleeps!

What are you cooking this Christmas? Do you have any favourite Christmas recipes?

Jelly, peaches and ice-cream!

If you read my other blog, you may have read this post about my Nana, who, had she still been alive, would have turned 100 years old last week.

And if you are coming over from Monkeemoomoo for the first time, I have copied this below for you, from the sidebar of this blog. My Nana's roast dinners are the inspiration for the name of this blog, "jelly peaches and ice-cream".

"When I was child, we spent every Sunday night having dinner at my Nana's little cottage on her farm. The menu was the same every week, year after year. Our family wouldn't have had it any other way. We ate Nana's roast chicken with roast potatoes, roast pumpkin, peas, carrots and gravy. Dessert was always jelly, peaches and ice-cream. If you asked me what I wanted my last supper to be: this would be it. Nana's Sunday night dinner."

Last Wednesday, on the day of her birth, I decided to cook a roast dinner, just as she would have done.

While the roast was in the oven, we ate mock chicken with jatz, a party favourite of my Nana's. The tablecloth that my Nan crocheted when she was 16, was brought out for the occasion. It is quite fragile and starting to break in places, it is usually reserved only for Christmas Eve dinner.

Geraniums were cut from the garden and put in a green glass vase that had been hers. Geranium's always remind my of Nan, in fact this particular one, I broke off from outside a country pub and stuck it into the ground, just like she would have done. Much to my surprise it is thriving now, with a flush of red flowers brightening my front landing.


I used the enamel roasting tray that my Nana had bought for me when I was 16 years old. I don't know why, but I rarely use it, but it is perfect for the way she cooks her chicken. It felt good to use it.

As dinner was being prepared, familiar smells filled my kitchen. I couldn't stop smiling. At once, I was a nine year old again. I felt so happy to be now preparing this meal for my own children.

So far so good, it smelled right and even my stove top looked just like Nan's. Her saucepans, her gravy jug, enamel cookware, the chicken resting under alfoil and peas and carrots!

Once dinner was served, it certainly looked the same.

But a few things were different: one, we never had candles on the table at the farm; two, it felt weird drinking red wine with this meal, I was used to drinking fruit cup cordial instead; and three, Nana was not there and Nana did not cook it.

So "Nana's Roast" is a work in progress. I absolutely loved cooking this meal and the memories that it brought back have kept me thinking for days. I want to cook this for my children on a regular basis.

When I left home I asked Nana for her recipe. I had moved a few hours away from my hometown. I remember ringing her from my tiny flat and scribbling down her guesstimate quantities. I think back then, at 17, I cooked this few times, but it was never the same. I stop cooking it, for back then, this was made for me every single time I went home.

But now I want to try and make this as close to the original as possible. I know that it will never be the same, but if I can come close, that will be pretty good too.

Here are some notes that I have made next to that original recipe:

• Nana cooks her chicken in part water - next time I need to add more water. She always ended up with way more gravy than what I got.

•  My recipe said nothing about pumpkin, but I just added it half an hour after the potatoes and it was perfect.

• the gravy needs 1 large onion, that's enough.

• I need to put more butter on the potatoes. I know, not so good for the health conscious, but these roast potatoes are legendary in our family, there were fights over them and it was a very big deal if you got the last one. Yes, for the potatoes, more water and more butter and perhaps a little longer in the oven. Mine were good, but they couldn't touch the originals.

• Maybe less gravox than I had listed in my recipe. And if you need to thin the gravy, just add a little of the vegetable water (that you cooked the peas and carrots in) I did this the other night, just as Nana had done. Perfect, in fact the onion gravy, as always was one of the best bits.

• Cook the chicken for longer and rest the chicken for longer. My Nana's chicken would sit on the stove for hours and it was always hot and melt in you mouth tender. She started cooking early in the day. I started cooking at 5pm, naturally I couldn't hope for perfection.

Another word on the roast potatoes, my daughter proudly got the last potato the other night, she talked about her achievement for days - "Ha Ha, I got the last potato!" To anyone in my family reading this - Does that sound familiar?

After a long trip down memory lane over dinner, it was time for dessert.

Jelly - aeroplane jelly, Nana would make red, green or orange. Peaches - tinned and sliced, never halved. Ice-cream - only ever vanilla (I think it was Pauls or was it Peters?) All I know is, Nan was very particular about the brand of ice-cream. Sometimes Nana would also have custard, instant. I only like Birds instant custard and I am convinced that this is the brand Nana used too.

We had it all... In Nana's bowls with Nana's spoons.

And can I tell you something, the last time I ate this was when Nana was alive. My goodness, over the last eight years, I have been missing out! This is soooo good!

Maybe it's nostalgia? Maybe not.

Eat this now. Forget for just one day, all of those nagging questions:  

"What about all of that sugar and additives and colouring in the jelly?" or "Where do these peaches really come from? How much processing goes into making them?" or "What is really in this ice-cream - preservatives, e numbers and reconstituted milk - really!?" or "What is custard powder actually made of ?" 

Just for one day.




And here is something that would have made my Nana smile. My little boy, eating jelly, peaches, ice-cream and custard, all in separate bowls! The next night (yes, we had it again) he took a leap of faith and mixed them all together in the one bowl.

He is converted.

It just has to be said, that a very special someone once cooked this roast dinner for me, it was along time ago, in her home in Brisbane. It was very, very close to our Nana's. Do you have any tips Mrs Gooseberry?

I would love to know what favourite food or meal your Nana or Grandma cooked for you?