Random recipes - my cookbook collection

I stumbled across Dominic Franks' lovely blog, Belleau Kitchen, by chance a few weeks ago, after seeing someone tweet a link. He has a monthly blogging challenge, Random Recipes, where you pick a cookbook at random, then pick a recipe from it at random, cook it and blog it.  I thought I'd give it a go!


However this month is a bit different - instead we're taking photos of our cookbook collection. PERFECT! Especially as we have recently finished our kitchen reno that includes a purpose built book case for my cookbooks. YAY! Exciting, but I have seriously underestimated the size, as my current cookbooks were only meant to take up about 4 shelves. Not 8! AND there is a sneaky little pile on the floor just out of shot :)

While there are *certain* individuals who complain I have too many cookbooks [um, WHAT?], I have a long way to go to catch up to Susie from Fold in the Flour.

Adding to my much loved collection, I have recently inherited my mum's cookbook collection, which included a very ugly yellow folder full of hidden treasures. Including many magazine clips from the 50s to now. And many recipes I had sent her, cooked for her, and otherwise raved about to her. Along with a precious collection of recipes given to her by my grandmother when she married my father in 1968. Complete with notes telling her how David [dad] enjoyed them.

Memories of cooking with mum

I also love my first cookbook, and mums's much used copy of The Joy of Cooking. It was from this that I first learned to bake, with many weekends spent making versions of the "Hurry-Up Cake".

My first cookbook! I think I was 6 when I was given this 

Lots of happy baking memories are associated with this one 

Of my more modern books that I love but don't use enough, are Jamie's America, both of Ottolenghi's books, Brissie girls Ryn & Cordie's gorgeous book on matching food with wine [complete with THE BEST potato salad I've ever eaten], and of course my Thermomix books.

Of course, this is just focusing on cookbooks. I also have a large-ish collection of mags all spread around the house. In the kitchen, living room, all over the dining table, bedroom and of course, there is always one in the smallest room in the house.

What are your favourite cookbooks? And where do you keep them?

Winter warmers - beef, bacon and veggie pie

I have always loved a good pie, but the homemade variety, not the often dodgy, frozen supermarket version.

With winter in full swing [at least, it is this week!], I've decided to make some of these gorgeous winter warmers. Now many will criticise me calling this a pie, as it doesn't have a pastry base. As I'm trying to eat a bit more healthfully, I've decided to go bottomless.

This serves 4.

What you need:

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 large clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 pieces of short cut bacon [or 1 rasher]
• 450g chuck steak, cut into cubes
• 1/4 cup flour
• salt and pepper
• 1 carrot, chopped into small-ish pieces
• 1 stick of celery, chopped
• 1/2 red capsicum, chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 8-10 mushrooms, cut into quarters
• 1 cup of stock [beef is best, but I used chicken this time as that was what I had]
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 tbs tomato paste
• 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• dried herbs - I used a bit of rosemary as that was what I had, but you could also use oregano, thyme, marjoram
• dash of tabasco sauce
• 1 sheet of puff pastry
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

What you do:

Preheat the oven to 160c.

Heat the olive oil in a casserole dish that can go in the oven. Use a low-ish heat. Add the onion and garlic and gently fry for about 3 minutes. Add the bacon and gently fry for another 3 minutes.

Pop the steak into a plastic bag with the flour and a shake of salt and pepper. Hold the bag closed and shake it until the meat is coated with the flour mix.

Shake it baby, shake it! 

Turn up the heat on the stove and add the meat and any leftover bits of flour [this helps thicken the sauce during the cooking process]. Brown the meat, then add all the veggies, stock, wine, tomato paste, sauces and herbs. Add salt and pepper to taste [you probably won't need much if any salt, especially if using a commercial stock].

Browning the meat

Once everything has been added into the pot

Give it all a good stir and pop it in the oven, with lid on, for about 3 hours. Check and stir every hour or so.

The cooked filling. One taste was just not enough! 

Once the filling is cooked, divide it among 4 ramekins (I used 2 cup, but it should fit in 1 1/2 cup). Top with puff pastry, cut to fit over the top of the ramekin. Brush beaten egg over the pastry.

You could easily make this filling the day before. The flavour is even better after a day or two!

I was ready for some wine by this stage!

I made a bit of a mess of the one on the left! And forgot the egg wash...

Bake at 180c for about 40 minutes, or until the pastry has puffed up.  

Serve with steamed greens, or a salad. However as it's full of veggies, I felt fully justified eating it without. 

As the ramekin was hot, hot hot!, I tipped it all onto the plate to make it easier to eat without burning myself

NOTE: My pastry didn't puff. And I forgot the egg wash. I later discovered puff pastry past its best before date isn't overly effective!

The leftover filling the next night was even better. I added a few roast veg - pumpkin, zucchini and fennel [my new fave roasted veg]

NOTE 2: Brown food looks very unappealing when photographed! The flavour was so much better!

What is your favourite winter pie?

Soup glorious soup - Asian-style chicken noodle

One of my favourite things about cooler weather is that I can eat soup. Lots of soup. Growing up we used to have a small bowl of vegetable soup before nearly every evening meal, which I grew to love - especially as our house always seemed to be freezing! 

I must even confess that I have tried a few "soup" diets over the years. Fortunately for those around me, the cabbage soup diet lasted about 1 meal. Cabbage, I quickly discovered, was not my favourite veggie to add to soup. Yuk. 

Fortunately for me, my beloved also loves soup. His favourite is pea and ham, and I nearly always have a couple of containers of that in the freezer. 

I love Asian soups - with tender morsels of meat, slippery noodles, fragrant herbs, hot chilli and the tang of lime juice. 

Today's lunch was this Asian-style chicken noodle soup, quickly whipped up in about 10 minutes. On the weekend I had poached a whole chicken, so I could replenish my chicken stock supply and also have some beautiful shredded chicken for a few meals this week.  

To make the stock:

• 1 whole chicken (I usually try and get an organic or free range chicken)
• 10 slices of ginger
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
• 10 coriander seeds
• 2-3 star anise
• 5 white pepper seeds
• 1 onion quartered

Pop all this in a large stock pot with 4 litres of cold water. Bring to the boil, then simmer with lid on for about 90 minutes. Skim off any impurities. After 90 minutes turn off the heat and leave to cool for about an hour. Remove the chicken, once it's cool, remove and throw out skin and bones. Save the meat for meals during the week. Strain the liquid into another container, throw out the solids. Keep the liquid in the fridge for 2-3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

I normally try and make the stock a day or so before I need it so that I can skim any fat off the surface once it has cooled. Although this should be minimal. 

mmmm soup :)

To make the soup for 2 people you need:

• 750ml chicken stock
• 200gm shredded chicken meat
• 1 packet rice noodles (today I used 1 of the 2 packets that are in Kan-Tong rice noodles)
• bean sprouts
• 2-3 shallots
• handful each of basil and coriander (you could also use mint, Vietnamese mint, Thai basil, but this was what I had)
• sriracha chilli sauce
• hoisin sauce
• 1/2 lime

Heat the stock in a saucepan until it comes to the boil. 

Cook the rice noodles according to the packet. 

To assemble, put the noodles in the bottom of the bowl, add the chicken, then add the bean sprouts. Pour over hot stock. Add the shallots, herbs, sauces and lime juice to taste. 

Eat! Preferably without burning your tongue or splashing it all over yourself... *

What are your favourite soups? 

* disclaimer - I may or may not have done both of these...

A winter warmer - Spicy stuffed red capsicum

I've been a bit shocked by how cold it has been in Brisbane these last few days so I've been looking for meals to cook that require the oven to be turned on. Mainly so I can stand in front of it for a while to defrost!

I've been reading a few cookbooks for inspiration and came across a few that suggested stuffing vegetables. At the same time, I read in the July 2012 issue of Healthy Food Guide that red capsicum has more vitamin C per 100g than an orange - 170mg for red capsicum vs 52mg for an orange. Perfect for helping ward off those pesky winter sniffles.

I know this (and the other) photos are dreadful, but this was just sensational! A new favourite 

This was easy to make, but took a bit longer to cook than I expected. However the filling can be made in advance and kept in the fridge for a couple of days.

What you need:

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 500g mince (I used pork & veal mince from my supermarket)
• 2 zucchini, quartered longways and chopped into little cube-like shapes
• 3-4 x tomatoes, chopped (or use a tin - I just had loads of fresh ones to use up)
• 2 tbs tomato paste
• 2 chipotle chillies and 1 tsp adobo sauce (use some tabasco to taste is you can't get these)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 6 very large tbs ricotta (I used the light ricotta in a tub)
• 1/2 cup grated cheese (I used Pizza plus as I had it in the fridge, but you could use cheddar or parmesan)
• 6 large red capsicum
• green veg or salad to serve with

What you do:
Heat the oil in a large fry pan, saute the garlic and onion. Add the mince and cook until it's crumbly.

Add the zucchini, tomatoes, tomato paste, chillies and cumin. Mix to combine.

Pop on a lid and let it simmer for about 30 minutes until the veggies have softened and released juices. Give it a stir about every 10 minutes.

Turn the oven on to pre-heat to 180c.

Meanwhile, carefully cut the top off the red capsicums and pull out the core and the seeds. Give it all a rinse to make sure the seeds are all out and there is no grime on the outside of the capsicum.

Once the filling is cooked, carefully spoon it into the capsicums, leaving about 1cm at the top to add the ricotta.

Place all on a baking tray and sprinkle with the grated cheese - I found I needed to lean them all next to each other to get them to stand upright - but this isn't foolproof!

Carefully pop it all in the oven to bake for about 45 minutes.

Serve with green veg or a salad.

NOTE: I had leftover filling which I froze to have on pasta at a later date. You can also add whatever veggies you like - such as grated carrot, mushrooms etc.

What are your favourite ways to keep warm in winter?