Eggplant love - moussaka

I was at the West End markets on the weekend and they had the most beautiful looking eggplants. I just couldn't resist buying a couple, with the intent of making some baba ganoush for our dinner guests on Saturday night. One of the things I love most about eggplant is the colour - which is also the colour of our couches.

Anyway, for a whole range of reasons [mainly that I decided to cook a Mexican feast for dinner], I didn't make it.

So when it came to planning dinner for tonight, I thought "aha! I'll make moussaka!". Or, as my hubby has been calling it, Nina Mouskouri! [Yes, he makes me laugh every day :) ]

About 45 minutes in, I did wonder what I was thinking! Anyone who knows me well [i.e. since my undergrad uni days] knows that white sauce and I are not friends. AT ALL. Partly because I lived on tuna mornay for a year or two and the white sauce was always lumpy. But, you know, it was cheap. Today the smell of tinned tuna makes me gag. 

Back to the Nina Mouskouri. I had forgotten how long it took too cook, and starting it at 6pm meant there was no way we'd be eating by 6.30pm. And I was STARVING! But it was absolutely worth the wait. And the hassle of the white sauce. Mega thanks to the lovely tweeps who talked me through what to do with the sauce - @HereIAmLoulou, @lordphantom, @packetnetworks, @blackvalo and @peterpanwine. Gotta love twitter for dinner help! And so many other things... 

Check out that gorgeous white sauce!! 

What you need:
2 large eggplant, sliced about 1cm thick
1 tablespoon vegetable oil [grapeseed or ricebran are best]

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

600g lamb mince

420g can diced tomatoes

1 tsp cinnamon

1tsp fresh rosemary


50g butter

60g plain flour

2 cups milk

80g grated cheese (I like Pizza Plus)

What you do:

I have a non-stick teppanyaki plate on my stove so I cook the eggplant slices on that without any oil. You could also use a non-stick fry pan, or bake them in the oven on a tray liked with baking paper. They take about 7-8 minutes on each side on a medium heat, I turn them every few minutes. 

While the eggplant is cooking, cook the mince and tomato filling. Heat the oil in a large-ish frypan [medium heat], add the onion then the garlic and fry for about 3 minutes. Add the mince and cook for about 5-6 minutes until it's cooked through. Use a wooden spoon to break the mince up, and stir regularly. Once the mince is cooked, add the tomatoes, cinnamon and rosemary. Mix it all together, turn the heat down low and simmer with a lid on for about 20 minutes. 

Pre-heat the oven to 180c. 

After the mince has been simmering for about 15 minutes, make the white sauce. 

Place a medium sized saucepan on the stove on a medium heat. Add the butter. Once the butter has melted and is bubbling, add the flour, stir quickly with a wooden spoon to make a roux. Turn the heat down slightly and stir until the roux is bubbling. Keep stirring for about 3 minutes then gradually add the milk - at this time swap the spoon for a whisk, and gently whisk the milk into the roux, until all the milk has been added. Whisk gently for about 7-10 minutes until it heats up and thickens. Once it has reached the consistency of a thickish custard, remove it from the heat.

To assemble the moussaka layer in the following way:

• add one third of the eggplant to the bottom of a lasagne dish
• cover with half the sauce
• one third of the eggplant
• half the sauce
• one third of eggplant
• white sauce
• sprinkle the cheese on top.

Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, let it rest for 10-15 minutes before serving. This allows the white sauce to thicken up a bit so it doesn't ooze everywhere. 

Serve with steamed greens or a side salad. 

Serves 6. Which means we have leftovers for lunch - yay!

Moussaka 

Are there any dishes that you put off making because of an ingredient or a particular process? 

Summer salad days - with quinoa

Salads as a child tended to be the fairly dull wedges of iceberg lettuce, chunks of tomato and cucumber, with the occasional addition of some crisp green capsicum, slivers of red onion and a sprinkling of sprouts. Generally splashed with some vinaigrette. Vastly different from today. In fact, the only time I bought iceberg lettuce in recent years was when dad come for a visit as it was the only lettuce he liked. Having said that, the old iceberg is pretty good when drowned in a blue cheese dressing. Dad's favourite.

But I digress.

I was asked yesterday for some salad ideas that are more substantial than just a green salad. Two of my favourite ingredients for a salad are couscous and quinoa. And I generally use them interchangeably.

Quinoa salad

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) is the seed of a pseudocereal (which means it comes from a broadleaf plant rather than a grass, which most grains come from) that originated in South America. It's gluten free, and it is a complete protein source as it has a balanced set of essential amino acids, making it a great alternative for coeliacs and vegetarians/vegans. It also tastes great - slightly nutty - and is delicious used as an alternative to oats in porridge or rice in creamed rice (yuk!) or as a savoury dish.

Quinoa is cooked in a similar fashion to rice - using the absorption method

Cooked quinoa has a white edge around it with a translucent centre

This salad is pretty simple, and can be either an accompaniment to meat or fish or a meal on its own.

What you need:

1 cup raw quinoa
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup of pepita seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup chopped basil and/or Italian parsley (about a bunch)
1 punnet of cherry tomatoes
1/2 bunch of asparagus, woody ends removed, cut into thirds
1 piece of preserved lemon, finely chopped (optional)
juice of a lemon
2 tablespoons of olive oil
cracked black pepper

What to do:

1. Cook the quinoa according to directions on the packet. Once cooked, put it into a large bowl to cool
2. Dry-fry the pepita and sunflower seeds - I just do this on the stove in a fry pan with no oil. It takes about 2 minutes, but be careful to watch them so they don't burn
3. Steam the asparagus - I do it in the microwave for about 45 seconds. 
4. Once the quinoa has cooled slightly, add all the other ingredients and mix together. 
5. Serve as part of a meal - I love it with BBQ chicken or lamb. 

This makes enough for 4 people as a meal or about 8 as a side. It tastes even better the next day. 

Beautiful orange balsamic (left) and blood orange olive oil (right)

Options:

I have made it before using leftover roast veggies (pumpkin, fennel and beetroot are particularly good), adding some fetta or goats cheese and olives, using flavoured olive oils (my current favourite is a beautiful blood orange oil I bought from the Black Pearl Epicure warehouse sale) or flavoured vinegars (again, a gorgeous bright orange balsamic vinegar also from Black Pearl). 

While I have listed this as a summer salad, it's also great in winter. 

What are your favourite summer salads?

Date and pecan loaf

For those who haven't seen my tweets, this week I'm on special at Woollies. OK, so not ME per se, but this recipe is included in the recipe booklet that is included with the special offer by Lurpak - a special pack with a Lurpak branded loaf tin, 2 x 250g packs of delicious Lurpak unsalted butter and the booklet! 

Lurpak special baking tin offer - at Woolworths. GO NOW!

Many of you know that I was invited to be a Friend of Lurpak, and part of this was to provide a recipe. The other part was to judge their baking competition - thanks to everyone who entered - you can see some of the amazing creations here and the winners here. 

When Lurpak asked me to provide a recipe that could be baked in a loaf tin, I immediately thought of this. I made quite a few varieties of this during #bakedrelief, and it was always a winner! 

However the main reason I love this recipe is that gorgeous and hard-to-pass-up combination of dates and pecans. Also because it’s easy to make and takes less than 10 minutes to mix all the ingredients together before throwing it in the oven. It’s perfect for the office morning tea, the 3pm snack, or just to have with a cuppa!

Afternoon tea. 

Ingredients

200g dates, chopped

100g brown sugar

60g lightly salted Lurpak butter

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup boiling water

260g self raising flour, sifted

1 tsp bicarbonate soda

1 tsp cinnamon

75g pecans, chopped

Method

• Assemble all your ingredients
• Preheat oven to 180c
• Fill the kettle with water and turn it on to boil
• Grease Lurpak baking tin with Lurpak butter and line with greaseproof paper
• Place the dates, brown sugar, Lurpak butter and vanilla in a medium sized mixing bowl
• Pour in the boiling water and stir until the Lurpak butter has completely melted
• Add in the flour, bicarbonate soda and cinnamon and mix together using a wooden spoon - be careful not to over-mix
• Stir the pecans into the mix
• Scrape the mixture into the Lurpak baking tin

Pre-cooked. I challenge you to resist eating that raw batter. mmmmm 

• Bake for 50-55 minutes. 
• Leave to cool in the baking tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a cake rack and remove the baking paper. 

So, so good. 

• Serve in slices, spread with Lurpak butter. Delicious with a cup of tea! 

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. This also freezes really well for up to 3 months - I ALWAYS have one in the freezer for when friends unexpectedly drop in! 

Note: The pecans could easily be swapped for walnuts or left out if you don’t like them

DISCLAIMER: Thanks to Lurpak for providing me with the butter and the baking tin to make this recipe. And of course, for inviting me to be a Friend of Lurpak. 

Piroshki - a Christmas tradition

There are two foods that I have always remembered eating over Christmas. One is sausage rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning, and the other is piroshki. Originating from Russia, these little savoury treats were introduced to our family by a Latvian friend of my mother's, who she first met in the early 1980s when studying textiles at Strathfield Tafe. They have been a family favourite ever since.

Mushroom, bacon and onion filled piroshki. It's hard to stop at just 1. or 2. or 5. 

I don't know how they came to be a Christmas tradition, but I suspect the first time mum had them was Christmas. Making these has been a bit of a tradition too. They are quite simple, but VERY TIME CONSUMING! So we have all had to make a few to help.

Sadly this year mum wasn't involved in making them as she unexpectedly passed away in August. So I was on my own. In a kitchen I have rarely cooked in since I left home aged 17. With a few helpful comments from dad {but not actual get-the-hands-dirty help}.

However I KNOW she would have been watching and laughing at me, especially when I ended up covered in flour, and with sticky dough bits all over the kitchen. And when I struggled to make little round balls of filled dough - most of mine have leakages. Oh well. They still taste just like I remembered. The test will be when the rest of the family taste them too! In about 10 minutes. Eek!

The hardest part of this was actually finding the recipe - I knew it was on a very yellowed scrap of paper, but the mystery was where! Luckily I found mum's recipe folder, and there it was - covered in much flour and oil stains (and yes, it's now been scanned and copied)!

As we eat these as part of many meals over Christmas and usually have hordes of people popping in, I made double the quantity. They also freeze well and just need about 5 minutes in the oven at about 180c to reheat.

Ingredients - dough
11g dry yeast (or two sachets)
2 1/2 tbs sugar
3 cups plain flour
1 1/4 cup milk
125g butter
2 tbs salt
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
beaten egg to glaze

Ingredients - filling
olive oil
3 large onions, finely chopped
250g bacon, finely chopped
250g mushrooms, finely chopped
fresh ground black pepper

Method
Combine the yeast, 1/2 tbs sugar and 1/4 cup milk in a small bowl, stir and leave for about 10 minutes so it can react, become frothy and rise. {I didn't have scales OR any measuring spoons so had to guesstimate the amount! I was a bit worried I had under-estimated so added a bit extra. THAT was unnecessary! But it turned out OK. Phew!}

My frothy, yeasty mix. This continued rising to almost over the bowl!

Heat the butter, salt and remaining milk and sugar in a saucepan until it's lukewarm. Stir occasionally. {I overheated mine and then promptly burnt my hand when I started kneading it all in a later step. D'oh!}.

Butter, milk, sugar and salt - DON'T LET IT OVERHEAT!

Place the flour in a large bowl and make a well. When the milk and butter mix is ready {and not too hot!}, add it, the yeasty mixture and the egg yolk. Stir it with a wooden spoon until all the flour is incorporated. Knead it with your hands for about 3 minutes until it's smooth and elastic - note that it will be very sticky and this is how it is meant to be. Sprinkle some flour on top, cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave it in a warm-ish spot to rise, for about an hour.

This was my dough before it rose. It rose to the top of the bowl.

While the dough is rising, heat a large frypan with a tablespoon or so of olive oil, add the onion and gently fry until clear (3-4 minutes). Add the bacon and mushroom and cook through (about 5-8 minutes). Once this is cooked, let the mixture cool.

This is where I realised I had miscalculated the time as it was 4pm and we were going to a Christmas party and needed to leave at 5pm! Eek! I left the dough to keep rising and when I came home I popped it in the fridge for it to rest overnight. On the plus side, this made it a bit less sticky when I came to use it the next day. I also put the filling mixture in another container and kept it in the fridge overnight.

So the NEXT day I did this bit.

Heat the oven to very hot - about 230c (or 450f).

Crack the egg into a small bowl and mix together - this is the egg wash for brushing over the piroshki before baking.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface {I just used the kitchen bench - easy to clean after!}. Knead it lightly until it comes together. Because it was still quite sticky I used a bit of flour on my hands too.

Lightly kneaded dough

Get the filling mix and give it a bit of a stir.

With the dough, tear off pieces that are a bit smaller than a golf ball and flatten it out on the bench. Add a teaspoon of filling to the middle of the dough and roll it up. In theory it should look like a ball. In practice this didn't really happen.

Squashed dough with filling in the middle, before it was rolled up

Place them on baking trays lined with baking paper (or similar) so they don't stick. Leave them for about 10-15 minutes to rise a bit more, then brush with the egg wash. Place in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes until golden.

Yeah, yeah, they are not all round. But they still taste the same!

CAUTION - the filling takes longer to cool down that the outside once they are out of the oven {Yes, I was impatient. Yes, I burnt a few tastebuds. Yes, I RACED to get a cold glass of water. No, I doubt I learned from that moment of greed. It's the once a year piroshki after all!}. 

Et voila. YUM. 

Making these piroshki was a bit of a comedy of errors {if you were following me on twitter you would have felt my horror at finding the HUGE weevil at the BOTTOM of the bag of JUST PURCHASED flour immediately AFTER I had added the wet ingredients}. 

Sorry loved ones who have just read this after eating. Think of the extra protein {smiles}. 

Do you have any Christmas traditions? I'd love to hear them! 

{And yes, I'll post a sausage roll recipe too!}

Pulled pork - Mexican style

This is a dish I have been hankering for since seeing pulled pork at a food truck in San Francisco in October. Which I didn't try as I had already scoffed too many other foods that night. And which I was rather annoyed about as the smells were just lip-smacking!

This version is very different as it has Mexican flavourings and not the southern BBQ I desired in San Francisco. That version will be made for another post. When we've finished eating the mound of pulled pork still in the fridge. mmmmm

The only problem with this dish (and it's really NOT a problem if you are organised) is that it takes about 8 hours to cook. And that is only a problem if you are a) impatient and b) have a serious, uncontrollable, need-it-NOW craving.

What you need:

• vegetable oil - I use grapeseed or ricebran
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced or chopped
• 2 kg boneless piece of pork (I used boneless pork leg), skin and excess fat removed
• 3 tsp smokey paprika
• 4 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp dried coriander (you could also use a handful of fresh, but I had dried that was bought in error and I wanted to use it up)
• 4 chipotle chilis in adobo sauce, and 2 tsps of sauce (chipotle chilis are what make the flavour of this dish so try and get them. Many good gourmet food stores will sell small tins of them)
• 1 cup water

What to do:

Turn on the oven and heat it to about 140c. 

Heat the oil in an oven proof pot that has a lid (I used a Le Crueset casserole pot) and fry the onion and garlic on a low heat until soft (about 3-4 minutes). 

Saute onions and garlic

While the onion and garlic are cooking, mix together the paprika, cumin, salt and coriander. Make deep cuts into the pork (not all the way through) and rub the spice mix all over the pork and into the cuts. Rub on both sides. Place the pork into the casserole dish and brown it on both sides (about 1-2 minutes on each side). 

Pork rubbed with spice mix, in the casserole dish

Add the water and chopped up chipotle chilis, cover with the lid and bring it to the boil. Once boiling place in the oven and let it cook for about 6-8 hours. Check it every hour or so, and turn the pork over at about the 3 hour mark. This can also be cooked in a crockpot, I just don't have one! 

I've just been flicking through Donna Hay's latest book. It's pretty obvious that her "cooked" shots are not actually in the pot the dish was cooked in. They look waaay too pristine! Anyway, this is the cooked pork. You can see from the waterline that the liquid has reduced, which is what you want it to do. 

Once the pork is cooked, you should be able to pull it apart with two forks - which is why it's called pulled pork :) 

Pulled pork - this took about 15 seconds as it just fell apart as soon as the fork went near it!

Once this has been done, I normally let it cool then pop it in the fridge overnight to let the flavours develop. It can be eaten the day it's made, but it tastes a LOT better 2-3 days later. 

I served it with homemade corn tortillas (but you can buy your own from the store if that's easier - but they taste SO MUCH BETTER if you make them). 

Making the corn tortillas was SO EASY. And a HUGE thanks to Natascha Mirosch for blogging this on her blog Degustation which gave me my inspiration. 

I bought a tortilla press and masa flour (I bought it from Pennisi's Fine Food in Brisbane, but other good providores should have it too). Masa flour is corn flour, so great for coeliacs. Follow the directions on the flour - mix 2 cups of flour with 1/4 tsp salt and 1 1/4 cups of water. Roll into 16 golf ball sized balls, and squish each one in the tortilla press. My 10 yo step son did this bit. Cook in a fry pan with no oil until brown and a bit puffy, then turn to cook the other side. Serve warm. 

Tortillas rolled into little golf-ball sized balls

I used Glad Bake so the tortillas wouldn't stick to the press.

Using this press (which cost me $35) was so much easier and quicker than using a rolling pin.

Brown in a non stick fry pan. Mine is big so I can do 3-4 at once which made it a lot quicker

The finished product - these can stay warm by covering with foil and placing in the oven on a low heat. They taste pretty yuk when they are cold, but delish when warm. 

I served the pork with the tortillas, a quickly pan-fried mix of sliced red capsicum and red onion, guacamole and salad of black beans, corn, red pepper, red onion, cherry tomatoes from the garden, coriander, squeeze of lime and splash of olive oil. 

My tomatoes! Am proud of these even though I did nothing to grow them! They just appeared thanks to the wonders of our compost. 

Pulled pork

Red capsicum with red onion, quickly cooked in the pan I cooked the tortillas in. As the pan was still hot, I added a tablespoon of olive oil, the veggies, and it was cooked in about 2 minutes. 

This is one of my favourite salads. I LOVE black beans but they are a bit of a drama in Australia as I have to buy them dried, soak them, cook them, then freeze them in ziplock bags until I want them. Well worth the monthly cookup.

Bean and corn salad

Finally, EAT! 

When serving I also added some store-bought green chilli sauce for extra flavour (you could also use Tabasco). 

A big thanks to Julia Birks (who was a lunch guest) who took a few of the photos and who reminded me I needed to get the final shot before we ate it all! And for providing a few boutique wines. 

I also made a baked chicken dish for this meal - but that's another blog post.