Lazy Risotto A La Oven

Lazy Risotto A La Oven

2 regular size tins of diced tomatoes (or chopped up tinned whole tomatoes)

1 carrot, peeled and grated

2 cups of arborio rice

3 cups of stock or water

1 tablespoon of capers (not rinsed)

1 tablespoon of sweet paprika

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 red onion, sliced

1 tablespoon of pesto if you have it

1 tablespoon of red or white wine vinegar

1/2 cup of mozarella cheese, chopped roughly or grated

1/4 cup of other cheese : parmesan or cheddar : again chopped or grated

Fresh herbs : a half a handful of whatever you have on hand (or a teaspoon of dried herbs like basil or an Italian mix)

Fry the onion, carrot and garlic in a good glug of olive oil until soft and aromatic.  Add the tinned tomatoes, paprika, pesto, herbs, vinegar.  Cook for ten minutes, stirring often.  Season with salt and lots of pepper. (I like white pepper, but black pepper is good too)

While that's cooking, slug some olive oil into an oven proof dish/pot with a lid.  I use a cast iron one.  Heat the oil over a medium heat and throw in the rice.  Saute the rice for a minute or so, stirring all the while.  Then tip in the stock.  Excellent.  Next tip in the tomato sauce you just made.  Perfect.  Mix it all up and finally throw in the cheese.  (You can also throw in some chilli and some lemon juice/nutmeg at this point)

Cook in a medium oven for 30 minutes with a lid on. Ta-dah!  Add more salt or pepper as needed and serve with a dollop of chili or more pesto if you like!

(Based on a recipe I found via The Vine)

30 Soupy Recipes

Salt N Peppa Shakers via here

Last night we put an extra blanket on the bed.  And we had the heater on at the breakfast table.  You know what that means?  It's time for soup! I really love soup!  Soup with crusty bread, soup with crackers, soup with toasted sandwiches, soup, soup, SOUP!  Here are 30 extra great soup recipes for you to peruse.  Let me know if you make anything... I think I am going to do Sophie Grigson's soup tonight!

1. Chicken and Rice Soup via Martha //// here
2. Baked Potato Soup via Smitten Kitchen //// here
3. Happiness Soup via Nigella //// here
4. Spicy Parsnip Soup via Jamie Oliver //// here
5. Feel Good Chicken Broth via Jamie Oliver //// here
6. Cream of Cauliflower Soup via Pip! //// here
7. Stefano De Pieri's Minestrone via Pip! //// here
8. Chickpea and Celery Soup via Gourmet Traveller //// here
9. Corn, Bacon and Potato Soup via Pip! //// here
10. Lovely Mushroom Soup via Pip! //// here
11. Creamy Tomato Soup via The Splendid Table //// here
12. Vintage Vogue Soup Paysanne via Pip! //// here
13. Chicken Noodle Soup via Gourmet Traveller //// here
14. Kylie Kwong's Sweetcorn and Crab Soup via Lifestyle //// here
15. Madame E Saint-Ange's Pumpkin Soup via Recipes For Two //// here
16. Tyler Florence's Roasted Tomato Soup via Lifestyle //// here
17. Broccoli Soup via Chocolate and Zucchini //// here
18. French Onion Soup via Girl Cook In Paris //// here
19. Pumpkin, Barley and Miso Soup via Gourmet Traveller //// here
20. Coconut Red Lentil Soup via 101 Cookbooks //// here
21. Julia Child's Leek and Potato Soup via Food Network //// here
22. Simple Carrot Soup via Stone Soup Blog //// here
23. Sophie Grigson's Vegetable Soup via BBC Food //// here
24. Nigel Slater's Bubble and Squeak Soup via BBC Food //// here
25. Rachel Allen's Chicken and Udon Soup via Lifestyle //// here
26. Simple Tom Yum Soup via ABC Sydney //// here
27. Pea and Ham Soup via Gourmet Traveller //// here
28. Bill Granger's White Bean and Chorizo Soup via Lifestyle //// here
29. Rice Noodle Soup with Beef and Fresh Herbs via The Splendid Table //// here
30. Julia Child's Leek and Pepper Soup via Smell My Kitchen //// here

Ten Warm Drinks To Make You Feel Cozy!

Because you can't always drink regular old tea... or wine, for that matter.  Sometimes you need to change it up a bit, don't you?  Here are some nice drinks to give you a fancier time with your favourite mug.

1. Condensed Milk Chai via The Spendid Table //// here
2. Very Best Cocoa via K Shimotsu Photography //// here
3. Gluhwein via Pip //// here
4. Ginger Tea via Martha //// here
5. Mexican Hot Chocolate via Nigella //// here
6. Non-Alcoholic Mulled 'Wine' via Pip also //// here
7. Warm Apple Cider via Jane Spice //// here
8. Hot Chocolate via The Hairy Bikers //// here
9. Irish Coffee via Martha //// here
10. Warm Vanilla Milk via La Cucina Italiana //// here

Pip's Kimchi Salad

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My Kimchi Salad

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Basic Ingredients
One tub of Kimchi from your local Asian grocer (I buy the Chinese Cabbage style one!)
One packet of ramen or soba noodles
2 diced cucumbers
1 diced avocado
1/2 tub of cherry tomatoes, halved
1 handful of diced beancurd
(you can also add some blanched peas, green beans, snow pea sprouts... whatever YOU love!)


Dressing
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon of sesame oil
1/2 tablespoon of mirin
1/2 tablespoon of nice vinegar (white wine, red wine or sherry are all good!)


Garnish
a handful of fried shallots (the kind you buy in a packet!)
a sprinkling of chopped peanuts if you like
a lemon or a lime squeezed over the top
Optional :: Coriander

How To:
Cook the noodles in a big pot of boiling water as per the instructions on the packet. Be careful not to over cook them. That would be yuck. No one likes mooshy noodles. Test them often until they are done. Now, cool the noodles under cold running water and drain them thoroughly.

Mix all the other ingredients together in a BIG BOWL. You can just slosh it all together and mix it up nicely with a pair of tongs or a spoon.Try not to mush it to much if you have added the avocado, or better still, put it on last. Add the cold, drained noodles and toss well again. If you are hands on, use your hands, but keep your chili fingers away from your face etc!

Plate it up and garnish with the shallots, peanuts and lemon or lime! You can add fresh herbs, too, if you like. Coriander would be lovely!

Cauliflower Soup

Here is what we had for lunch today. I like to go to the market on Saturdays before dawn and shop for the whole week as the sun comes up. Then I like to have a big breakfast at home. Maybe bagels, maybe a fry up, maybe a breakfast pizza.... and lots of cups of tea and coffee.  Then I mess about and do a few jobs.  Then I put some soup on.  This week it's Cream of Cauliflower soup.  We had it with a sprinkle of paprika and some Garlic and Cheese bread thrown in for good measure.  Probably that is uncouth.  But I like to throw bread into my soup. I do.  Do  you?  Or am I freaking you out?

xx Pip

Messy Recipe from last time : Minestrone Con Bruschetta

Minestrone

This very delicious recipe is taken from Stefano de Pieri's 'Modern Italian Food'.  Ari had two bowls and commented that it was 'So good and vegetables don't taste like anything, do they?'  Do not ask me why it is called Minestrone con Bruschetta. I do not know. (But if YOU do then DO tell us.)

Also, as an aside, Stefano says to cook little pasta shapes or beans separately and add them in at the end for best results, if you like those in there. In my experience this sounds good as it will keep your soup from being too cloudy and starchy. Enjoy soup. Soup is ace.

xx Pip

Fish and Chips

Fabulous Fish Dishes
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Fish and Chips


So, last night I was out at a Trade Show and the boys took the reins with the old Yellow Box. They decided on Fish and Chips, shopped, cooked and even took some stylish photos to prove it!   Apparently the Fish and Chips were delicious and the batter was lovely and light and crispy. They made the Tartare Sauce and thought that was good too.  My people are big fans of the golden delight that is Fish and Chips and much prefer the home-made version to the shop bought.

How about you? Do you make your own? Do you buy it in?  Are you a fan?  Potato Cakes? Tartare Sauce? Chiko Rolls?  What's your fancy?!

xx Pip

Chicken Pie

Great Ways With Chicken and Duck
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Chicken Pie

I will tell you straight up that we LOVED this recipe.  It was delicious.  We ate it all, as you can see, and Max especially liked it.  You can also see that there is a pond of butter left in the dish.  It has 60g of butter in it. Yikes.  I reckon you could easily use half that amount and still get a great result.

I made this while Gemma and Ari were playing Monopoly the other night.  Then Gem headed off to dinner with a friend and we tucked in to this golden deliciousness.

What I like about this recipe is that you get to make a big pot of stock to use later.  You boil a whole chicken 'in the usual way' to make stock and then you pull the meat from the chicken and add it to your pie filling.  Be sure you add lots of pepper and salt as there is no seasoning mentioned in this recipe.  We put enough water into just cover the chicken : about 3 litres.  We added carrots and parsley and onion and garlic and celery to the stock pot too.

Also worth noting is that you might want to do the stock/chicken part ahead of time as it's not nice trying to pull a hot chicken apart.  So maybe prepare that earlier like I didn't. I burnt my fingers a titch. Not good.

I made pastry leaves for the top of my pie, I think my Nan did that and I like to do that too.  You could put chicken shapes or other cute shapes atop yours.  That would be nice.  Later you can use the stock to make something else great, like wonton soup or chicken and vegetable soup.

Do you like chicken pie? If you do this one is really yummy.  The best one I have ever made.  Did your Mum cook this?

xx Pip

Tuna Casserole

Money Saving Meals
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Tuna Casserole

Hi!  Hi!  Okay.  Here's the thing.  Max hates tuna.  He loathes it, in fact.  He really loves anything else fishy, but tuna is a no-go.  On Friday Max stayed at Leon's house, which meant we could try this recipe out (again) without Max getting antsy or going hungry.

Let me just put it out there that I LOVE TUNA CASSEROLE.  I have not eaten it for years, but my Mum used to make it when we were kids and it was one of my very favourite meals.  She used to make a different one to this.  It had Cream of Celery Soup in it.  I wish I had THAT recipe. If you have it, can you send it to me?!

This AWW Yellow Box recipe was pretty delicious.  This really is comfort food.  I added HEAPS of lemon and pepper and salt at the end and piled it on to grainy toast. Yum.  Ari, who is a fan of rice, tuna and corn did not much like this.  Go figure.  I am not sure why.  I think it was the sort of non-cheesy-mornay-esque base that weirded him out.  He's not genetically programmed to like that kind of thing.  We live on very clean, simple flavours... creamy saucy things are not on our menu very often.  But he TRIED to eat this because he recognized the key ingredients were friends of his.  Cam liked it... not a lot... but a bit.

I think Tuna Casserole is the kind of thing you have to have nostalgic ties to, to like.  I like it.  I grew up with it.  Those that have not grown up with it were not huge fans. Do you like it?  

xx Pip

Pip's Potato Latke

2 cups of grated potato :: peel and coarsely grate the potatoes and then put in your salad spinner and spin dry :: pat dry with a paper towel if they are still a bit soggy.
1 small onion, grated as well
3 tbsp plain flour
2 eggs
salt and pepper
oil for frying :: we need to shallow-fry in around an inch of oil
Optional extra ingredients:: clove of garlic, freshly chopped herbs, grated lemon rind, smoked paprika, chilli

NB :: don't let your grated potato sit around - it will go brown and yicky - grate and use it straight away.

Mix the grated, dried potato with the other ingredients (except the oil).

Heat the oil until a pinch of the mixture fries up nice and golden quickly. Now plonk spoonfuls of your potato mixture into the oil and flatten with a spoon until a cm or so thick. They don't need to be perfect - kind of poke the spoon into the centre of the plonked mixture to make a few little holes for the oil to seep up into. This helps the middle cook evenly. No one likes raw potato! Cook until golden and then flip over and cook the other side. Drain on kitchen towel and transfer to the oven to keep warm. These are nice cold too, though!

Things To Try :: Zucchini and Cheddar Toast

2 grated zucchinis - with all the moisture squeezed out of the gratings
200g good cheddar cheese, also grated
1 finely diced shallot
1 small egg
a slosh of worcestershire sauce
bread for toasting
salt and pepper.

Mix all ingredients except the bread together.
Plonk spoonfuls onto bread making sure it's not layered super thick and it's pushed to the edges of the bread nicely.
Grill and eat with a big glass of wine (or beer) or if you are saintly, iced water.

via Eat Drink Live by Fran Warde

:: Super Delicious Super Simple Pot Roasted Potatoes

A simplified version of Nigel Slater's spuds. My kids don't like Taleggio :( I do!


You Need ::
1kg of peeled potatoes, sliced into fairly thinnish slices
30g butter
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced
1 clove of garlic, crushed

Melt the butter and the olive oil together in a big frypan with a lid- over a medium high heat. Throw in the onion, fry for 30 seconds. Chuck in the garlic. Fry for a few seconds.
Now plonk in all the sliced potatoes and toss them really, really well until they are coated in butter and oil (!) Season with salt and pepper and put the lid on.
Turn the heat down to very low. Leave for 20 minutes, simmering away on the low heat. Now open the lid and toss them. Add any fresh herbs you might like. Nigel Slater puts a few bits of Taleggio in. You could put some brie... or whatever cheese you like at this point in there.
Lid back on - still over the low heat. 5 or 10 more minutes. Check for tenderness. And serve when tender. Sometimes they get a little brown and crunchy on the bottom. But I like that!

Vegies In A Bag

8 baby potatoes - halved
1 small onion - chopped roughly
4 cloves of garlic - chopped roughly
1 cob of corn - cut into 4 pieces
1 tub of cherry tomatoes
a handful of mushrooms, halved
1 bunch of baby carrots washed and trimmed up a bit
1/2 cup of chicken stock
pepper
1 tsp sweet paprika, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp coriander
a few leaves of fresh herbs - or a tsp of dried herbs
1 large oven bag
1 tbsp flour

Put flour into bag and toss about a bit to coat inside of bag. Toss all other ingredients into bag. Combine well by jiggling and massaging (!) Tie closed with the tie provided. Put a couple of teeny holes in the top of the bag. Pop onto oven tray and cook at 400 degrees (or 200) for 40 minutes. Eat with whichever condiments you like...! Pesto, mayo, chutney. Excellent alongside a nice cut of meat - if you are so inclined. You can use this method to cook lots of different combinations. You could make a curry like this - easy peasy. Or you could add tinned tomatoes and go down the Italian route. So many things you could do!

Quiche Lorraine...

This is super delicious - via the Hairy Bikers..

For the pastry
180g/6¼oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting
100g/3½oz cold unsalted butter, cubed
50g/2oz parmesan, grated
2 tsp thyme, leaves only
1 free-range egg yolk
1 tsp chilled water (more if needed)

For the filling
3 free-range eggs
150g/5¼oz pancetta, cubed
250ml/9fl oz crème fraîche
150g/5¼oz Gruyère
freshly ground black pepper

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. For the pastry, sieve the flour into a mixing bowl. Add the butter, parmesan and thyme and rub into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Add the egg yolk and the water and mix to form a firm dough. Wrap the dough in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. On a floured surface, roll out the pastry to fit one large flan tin. Line the tin with the pastry, then place a circle of baking paper over the pastry and fill with baking beans.
5. Transfer to the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the beans and paper and return to the oven for five minutes.
6. For the filling, place all the ingredients (except 50g/2oz of the Gruyère) into a large bowl and mix gently, to avoid filling the mixture with air.
7. Spoon the filling into the pastry case and sprinkle the remaining Gruyère on top.
8. Bake the quiche for 15 minutes, or until the filling is set. Serve hot or cold with a green salad.

Famous Light as a Feather Gnocchi

6 large pontiac potatoes (or desiree) peeled and quartered
2 large free range eggs, beaten
250g plain flour
salt and pepper

Cook the potatoes in salted boiling water until they are tender. Drain well and mash throughly - or pass through a ricer or food mill for extra lump-free ness! Allow to cool. Add the beaten eggs, flour, salt and pepper. Mix lightly with your hands - but not too much - we need the gnocchi to be feathery light, remember?!

Put on a big pot of fresh salted water to boil.

On a floured surface, roll handfuls of the mixture into long sausage shapes. Cut into two cm pieces and toss in flour to prevent the gnocchi sticking to one another. Once you've made about ten - drop them into the boiling water. When they float, they are cooked! Keep warm (with a drizzle of olive oil) in a big bowl covered with foil until you've cooked them all. Drizzle some more oil on them to stop them sticking to each other - or drop them straight into a bubbling pot of your chosen sauce!

Deliciously Decadent Super BLT

These are a great supper dish - but you could also assemble lots of them and and take them on a picnic. I would add some chilli to mine.

4 slices of grainy bread
4 slices of bacon - cooked until crispy
4 iceberg lettuce leaves
4 slices of nice tomatoes
1 avocado mashed with the juice of a lemon and some coriander
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
some basil leaves
Salt and Pepper

Toast bread.
And then assemble two sandwiches with equal parts of the above ingredients.
Eat with a HUGE glass of red wine to cut the richness a wee bit.

Not-For-The-Faint-Hearted- Potato, Bacon and Cabbage Fry Up

nice felt vegies here



Colcannony Type Thing - or Bacon, Cabbage and Potato Fry-Up

2 Rashers of Bacon (or more if you're the bacony type) chopped roughly
2 Onions, chopped roughly
1 Kilo of Waxy Potatoes - peeled and cut into biggish 'dice' - keep it rustic
2 Cloves of Garlic - chopped higgledy piggledy
1/4 Cabbage - chopped roughly
About One Tablespoon of Butter and The Same of Olive Oil

Boil potatoes until almost cooked. Heat Butter and Oil together in a LARGE deep frypan
Add Bacon and Onion - cook until onion is soft and bacon is getting golden edges Add Potatoes and toss well.
Then add the Cabbage and mix well again.
Cook until cabbage is lovely and soft and buttery.
Add lots of freshly ground black pepper and a sprinkle of sea salt


Serve with A Big Glass of Wine.

Ari and I like to eat ours between slices of soft white bread - but that's just greedy.

via here