Moroccan Lamb

My dear friend Luke cooked this dish for me many years ago and graciously gave me the recipe because I absolutely loved it.

I have changed it a little (because it was VERY spicy) and now I add much less chilli powder, and I also added chick peas.

INGREDIENTS:
4 cloves of garlic
1 tbs salt
1 tbs coriander powder
half tsp chilli powder
1 tbs cumin powder
olive oil
500g lamb cubes
tinned crushed/diced tomatoes
1 tbs tomato paste
S&P
1 tsp lemon zest
half tsp tumeric
handful of roasted almond flakes or slivers
tin of chick peas
cous cous
raisins (optional)

METHOD:
1. Add garlic, salt, coriander, chilli, cumin powders to herb grinder. Grind til it resembles a paste.

2. Add olive oil to the pan and cook the herb paste for around 2 mins.
3. Add the lamb cubes and cook.

4. Cook and simmer for around 25 mins.
5. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, s&p, lemon zest, tumeric and chick peas.
6. Simmer for about half an hour.

7. At the end add the roasted almonds and stir.
8. Serve on a bed of cous cous with raisins (optional).

Spicy pumpkin pancakes

We have been cooking and baking so much this week as my son is sick and we have been stuck at home looking for things to do - and my daughter just loves cooking!
Today we made spicy pumpkin pancakes and they were absolutely DIVINE!
Cannot wait to make them again!!

I got the recipe from here http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pumpkin-pancakes/

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup pumpkin puree (I pureed my own pumpkin, but you can also use canned pumkin)
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method:

Boil up some pumpkin and mash.

Use one cup for the recipe (I am saving the rest for babies food for dinner tonight, but you can freeze it for next time)
Combine all wet ingredients in a bowl.
Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.

Mix both together.

Heat a slightly oiled pan and pour approximately a quarter of a cup of the mixture onto the pan and spread with the ladle.  Cook on both sides until brown.

Serve warm with some maple syrup!

YUMMMMM

Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni

In some parts of Italy they use crepes for the cannelloni instead of pasta sheets - my sister does it all the time (having married an Italiano) and now that's how I do it!!!!

It's delicious and fresh, and freezes really well.

INGREDIENTS:
Cannelloni crepes:
4 eggs
1 1/3 cups water
1 1/3 cups of plain flour
Salt and pepper
Peanut oil

Cannnelloni filling:
600g low fat ricotta
250g frozen spinach, thawed
2 tbsp chopped spinach
2 tbsp chopped basil
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Other ingredients:
650ml passata
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

METHOD:
Combine crepe ingredients and blend.

Cook thin crepe in pan, only a minute on each side. Set aside and separate with baking paper until ready for use.

Combine Canneloni filling ingredients in a bowl.
Spread a couple of tbsp down the middle of each crepe and roll.

Line the tubes up in a baking dish with half the passata at the bottom.

Pour remaining passata over the top and sprinkle with cheeses before placing in 180degree oven for 25 mins.

VOILA! Serve with Italian bread and/or salad.

Bacon, leek and potato soup

My darling friend Amber is a bit of a foodie like me, so when she posted this recipe last week I knew it had to be a winner!!!

Bacon, leek and potato soup - simply delicious. So flavoursome - even the hubby liked it (and he usually whinges when I serve soup for dinner!)

Recipe can be found here: http://www.thesometimeschef.blogspot.com.au/2010/04/potato-leek-bacon-soup.html

And some of my photo's to accompany this delicious recipe!

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Roast chicken

Nothing like a good old Roast Chicken...... we are massive roast fans in this house.
I usually make it up as I go, and today I decided (after pruning our herb garden) that I would make a thyme, pine nut, lemon and garlic stuffing - it was so tasty, and just permeated through the chicken.

Ingredients:
1 free-range chicken, washed.
1 and a half tbs butter or margarine
1 cup of fresh breadcrumbs
a handful of chopped thyme
a tablespoon of chopped parsley
salt and pepper
a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tbsp of pine nuts
1 tsp minced garlic
olive oil
Veggies of choice for roasting (I used chopped potato, sweet potato, and carrot)
Veggies of choice for steaming (I used corn and broccoli)

METHOD:

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees.
Wash the chook, inside and out.
Salt and pepper the chook, and rub a fair amount of olive oil into the skin.
Mix together butter, breadcrumbs, herbs, garlic, lemon, pine nuts and salt & pepper in a bowl to make the stuffing.

Insert the stuffing into the chicken, and tie the legs together with roasting string.
Place onto a baking tray (preferably one with a rack, however, I didn't use a rack)
Drizzle with a bit more olive oil.

Place into an oven and roast for around 1.5 - 2 hours, or until inner part of the chicken is cooked (I check by slicing down near the leg). Roast with the breast side up. I like to roast lightly covered with foil for the first half, then I remove the foil to ensure crispy skin for the last half.  In the last 20 mins or so, turn the chook over.

Place the chopped veggies in a baking dish and drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs of choice (I used fresh thyme today, but sometimes I use paprika or rosemary).

Bake until crispy.

Steam the other veggies for a few minutes until they are still crisp, but cooked.

Served with gravy. My stuffing was soooo tasty!

Sticky date pudding with toffee sauce

I love a good sticky date pudding, and I have found the best recipe on the... (you guessed it!) "Best Recipes" site!

Recipe is found here

Boiling the dates over the stovetop....

Ready for the oven

Cooked to perfection!

The sauce simmering over the stove....

A little tip, to help get the pudding out of the ramekin, slide a butter knife around the edges and then turn upside down onto plate.  I pierced each pudding about a dozen times with a kebab stick before pouring the toffee sauce over the top.

ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!

Sausage coconut curry

I made a delicious sausage coconut curry the other night.
Once again, ingredients are estimated measurements....

Ingredients:
500g pork sausages
1 brown onion, sliced
2 tablespoons of red curry paste
1 cup of diced pumpkin
2 carrots, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
1 tsp chicken stock powder
half tsp curry powder
half tsp tumeric
half tsp paprika
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
2 tins of coconut milk
2 cups of jasmine rice
3 cups of water

Method:
Lightly brown the sausages, add the onion and cook until golden.
Add the curry paste and cook until fragrant. Add the pumpkin, carrots and zucchini.
In a separate bowl, combine chicken stock, curry powder, tumeric, paprika, tomato paste and coconut milk.
Pour over the ingredients in the pan and bring to the boil.
Simmer for around 20 mins or until veggies are tender, stirring frequently.

Serve over jasmine rice (cooked in a rice cooker).

This was a hit with my three-year old daughter!