Stuffed Banana Chillies

This was the first blog-worthy dish I cooked in our new house - A bit lagged on the posting though!

Our stove is annoying, and our oven tiny, but we have a fabulous kitchen with tons of space and a beautiful treed outlook. I have been cooking so much and experimenting with new ingredients and flavours... Its nice to have a kitchen big enough to share cooking :)

A trip to Charlies Fruit Market in Everton Park took me across some red banana chillies which were on clearance - they looked really quite fresh and for $O.85, who could say no?




Stuff 'em, Cook 'em and eat them for the rest of the week - they were delicious cold too!

Stuffed Banana Chillies

1/2 kg Banana Chillies - topped and de-seeded. slit down middle is easiest.
1 cup white calrose rice
250gms fetta cheese
1 small onion, diced finely
dried mint
dried dill
salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil
2 cans of diced tomatoes

Boil rice in enough water to make sticky/gluggy rice. set aside to cool.
Crumble fetta into cooled rice. add herbs and spices and diced onion. mix well.
Stuff chillies with rice mixture, leaving them open at the top with some rice showing.
Pour tomatoes into a baking dish, arrange chillies on top. Drizzle with olive oil.
Bake in a 180 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until chillies are softening and rice is staring to brown.

Green Beans and Tomato with Yoghurt (Fasolakia Fresca)

This is a dish very similar to "Fasolakia lathera" or green bean casserole which is made during fasting times in greece. The base ingredients are the same, but with some very important changes:

Instead of olive oil being the oily ingredient, I like to use butter and a bit of ghee - gives it a much different flavour
I also like to include various spices which aren't usually used in the greek version - these can be curry powder, garam masala, zataar (lebanese wild thyme seasoning) or basil depending on what sort of flavour I am trying to create.
I like to eat it with yoghurt - plain greek yoghurt is best.

Today, I felt like using some zataar - seeing as how I have a kilo of it needing to be used!

Fasolakia Fresca - Green Beans and Tomato with Yoghurt

500gm fresh green beans, topped and halved. Good quality frozen beans can be used.
2 tins of tomatoes
one large onion, diced
chopped garlic to taste (I used about 4 cloves)
1tbs butter
1/2 tbs ghee
1 tomato tin of water
2-3 tbs zataar
Paprika to taste
Chilli to taste
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste


Sautee the onions and garlic in the butter and ghee. Add green beans and stir for 2 minutes.
Add tinned tomatoes and water.


Stir well and let simmer for 5 minutes. Add the spices and salt to taste. (For different flavours, try using curry powder or lots of chilli!)


Stir well and let simmer for 15 minutes or until beans are starting to soften - you want the beans firm but not too crunchy. If using frozen beans, halve the cooking time.


Serve over fluffy basmati rice with yoghurt on the side. Serves 6!!

Red lentil and rice soup

When its chilly outside, there is nothing quite like a warm soup to soothe the soul.

This is a very old favourite of mine - Mum used to make this for us as children but she would call it "curds and whey". The nursery rhyme similarities ended there - but we ate it. I suppose it sounds better than lentils and rice... hehehe ;)

Very simple to make, and takes next to no time to cook (took me about 15 minutes) I assume this would be a lovely dish for a slow cooker too, as its already set and (practically) forget on the stovetop - slow cooking would be ideal! This also tastes delicious cold for lunch the next day.

Red lentil and Rice soup

1 Medium onion, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, finely diced

1.5 cups red lentils

3/4 cup calrose rice

4-5 cups water (depending on consistency)

salt to taste

chilli to taste

Put everything into a good pot, cover with water to about 2cm over. Cook over a moderate heat until lentils start to cook. Add more water if it starts to get too dry. Stir occasionally.

Add salt to taste, add chilli to taste. Add water to a hearty consistency and make sure rice is cooked but not soggy.

Serve!

Baked brie with Caramelised pear and figs

Well - It was Ozfiredancers hens party last weekend, and I thought I would spoil the girls with something a bit spesh...

Ive been sitting on the base of this recipe for over 3 years now waiting for an excuse to make it.

Its not healthy - it is definitely not healthy. Its not cheap either - but what it is ( I hope...) is delicious, divine and well worth a special occasion.

All in all, this "entree" will cost around $40 to make - you can make it smaller to suit the occasion. I made a big one to make sure everyone got a bit! (as it turns out - even the boys got a bit when they came home in the morning. Between 9 girls, several more dishes and 2 cocktail slushie machines, we just could not finish it off!!)


Baked Brie with Caramelised Pears and Figs

1kg wheel of brie or camembert
3 packham pears - sliced fine
2 figs - sliced
2tbs butter
2tsp honey
1tbs brown sugar
3 cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
a small sprig of rosemary

2 baguettes to serve.

Slice the pears (not too thickly). Melt 2tbs butter in a frypan. Add 2tsp honey and 1tbs brown sugar. Mix well. Add cinnamon and cloves. When bubbling, add the pears and mix thoroughly so that all the pear is covered with caramel.
Let it get all lovely and bubbly and jubbly till the pears have started to go a bit transparent and are soft - like the photo below.

While the pears are caramelising - Cut the top off your brie. Try to get most of the mould off - this allows the caramel to cook into the cheese when it is baked.


Once your pears have cooked, layer them over the brie, allowing for a little overlapping. Try keep as much of the caramel sauce in the pan as possible. Arrange sliced figs on top and drizzle the whole thing with the caramel sauce. Sprinkle the rosemary on top.

Bake in a 180 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and the figs are soft. Serve with crusty baguettes and dont be scared to get your hands dirty - because you will be licking delicious goopy cheese off your fingers - there is no other way to eat it!


The luscious picnic spread we devoured in Ozfiredancer's living room:


Ozfiredancer being cheeky and taking a photo of the photographer with her fancy picture machine, and Chelsaur enjoying what was possibly the strongest fruit tingle cocktail on the planet.


Lots of love to all my girls - I know you will have a fantastic weddening and rest-of-your-life Ozfiredancer :D

Fancy Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

You know how KFC has those little tubs of Potato and Gravy? When I was a kid the Potato and Gravy used to be my favourite - the potato was so creamy and smooth and the gravy was just silky and delicious...

Of course, having been vego for the past 16 years generally precluded me from eating KFC potato and gravy. My sister on the other hand, ate it a few times since and remarked that it was a dish most foul!!

Today - I had a craving for potato and gravy, and I had an idea for a vegetarian version -
a FANCY vegetarian version. A fancy Japanese version!

It worked. I had to stop myself from eating more than a bowlful. My craving has been sated!!

Fancy Shmancy Vego Potato and Gravy
(serves 2-3 if you can control yourself...)


2kg brushed potatoes - peeled and quatered
3/4 pack HOT Java Curry sauce mix (Golden Curry or Kokumaro will work too) - this is about 4 cubes.
2tbs Gravox Pepper gravy powder
3/4 green capsicum, chunky chopped
2 carrots, chunky chopped
1 medium onion, chunky chopped
2tbs minced garlic
2tbs butter
a splash of milk or soy

Boil potatoes till soft to a fork. Drain, add butter and splash of milk. Mash well.

Put Java Curry, Gravox, capsicum, carrot, onion, garlic in a pot and add enough water to almost cover the veges. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. If gravy is too thick, add more water. Cook till carrots are done.

Serve gravy over mashed potatoes. YUM!!!

Beetroot Bake

HUZZAH!!! I have a kitchen island/trolley! Here I am modeling it in a dashing green top and some fantastically well worn jeans - yay for all the extra chopping and preparing space! (what a kitchen dork I am!!)


I had leftover pumpkin and potatoes that I needed to use up - I also found about 5 beetroots that I had forgotten in the crisper! They were still good - so I thought I would use them up.
But what to do?

Why not a bake?

This is more reminiscent of a shepherds pie than a bake - but who cares - its tasty and its filling - and PINK!


Beetroot Bake

5 small beetroots, peeled, sliced and then halved.
1/3 small pumpkin - diced
3 shallots - chopped about 1.5cm long
4 heads of garlic - roasted
6 desiree potatoes - chopped and boiled with skin on
1tbs garlic butter
1 small tub of low-fat sour cream
1/2 small block of fetta - crumbled chunky.
salt and pepper to taste
dried mint
sprinkling of grated cheddar


Chop 1/4 tops off the heads of garlic - place on top of the bottom part - put into the oven at 200 celcius for about 10 minutes until soft.

Boil the potatoes, add garlic butter and 2tsp of sour cream. Mash thoroughly with a fork.

Place the beetroot, pumpkin and shallots into a bowl. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves into the bowl (they will be hot and delicious - try not to eat them!)


Crumble in the fetta. Add the rest of the tub of sour cream. Salt and pepper to taste.
Mix well till all is coated with the sour cream. Place into the baking dish.

Put mashed potatoes on top. Sprinkle with mint and cheese.


Bake for 1 hour or until beetroots are soft enough to eat.

Moroccan Eggs

Mum made this for me last week - its quick, simple and really very tasty!
The base recipe can be altered to use any ingredients you like (mushrooms and green beans would be particularly nice!) or have on hand.

It can be served as a side or part of a large meal with baked veges and toasted turkish bread, however, its also pretty filling on its own!



Moroccan Eggs
1 tbs butter
1 tbs oil (canola is good - olive oil is too heavy)
3 eggs - room temperature
1 medium onion, diced finely
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 medium tomato, diced
handful spinach, roughly chopped
1 tsp harissa
a good cracking of salt and pepper



Put the onion and garlic in a large frypan, with the butter and oil. Saute until onions are just starting to caramelise. (Don't let them caramelise too much or they will overcook and be a bit charred!)
Turn down the heat.
Add the diced tomatoes. Cook for about 3 minutes until they are just starting to soften.
Add harissa and salt and pepper to taste - mix well. cook for a further minute.

Add the chopped spinach. Cook down for a minute until just wilted. Add the eggs!


If you want sunny side up eggs, just cook them like this until the whites are set. Eggs can be well done but flipping them is difficult (probably best to put them in egg rings) and the veges should be cooked for about half the time so that they do not burn!
I like mine scrambled! Once you have cracked all the eggs in - just mix them around with the veges and cook for 5 minutes, mixing occasionally to break it up.
Or you could have this as an omelette - Cook the veges for a shorter time, spreading them evenly across the pan. Beat the eggs in a seperate bowl and pour evenly over the veges. Cook until set.

It really is a very versatile dish: You can use all sorts of flavours and serve it all sorts of ways!