Meatless Monday - spanakopita

Before I embarked on meat free week a month ago I put out a call to twitter [as well as to you, blog readers], to ask for some meat free recipes that the carnivores would like. 

The wonderful Julie Goodwin [who I WILL meet one day] very kindly, and immediately [!] tweeted me a few ideas, then saying if I sent her my email she would email some recipes. Um, YES! Not only have I been a fan of hers since she her first audition when she won over the judges with lamb and mash, but she is also from the Central Coast, where I grew up. And we've had a few twitter chats, which makes her even more likeable as far as I'm concerned. 

Anyway, Jules [can I call you that?] sent me a bunch of vegetarian recipes [including one with bacon - great to see someone else considers bacon to be a veggie :)]. I didn't make any of them during meat free week, but I did whip them out yesterday when wondering what to make for meatless Monday. 

After a quick look through the fridge and discovering a wilting bunch of silverbeet, I went with spanakopita, a dish I've always loved but not cooked in at least a couple of years.  Perfect for meatless Monday. 

Warning - dodgy photos throughout! We were hungry and hubby and Mr12 were keen to go and hit golf balls at the driving range

Spanakopita
By Mel Kettle, based on a recipe provided to me by Julie Goodwin

What you need:

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 onions, diced (I used 1 brown and 1 red as that was all I had]

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 large bunch silverbeet,  about 1kg, stalks cut off, washed well, then dried

200g feta

250g ricotta

50g freshly grated parmesan

2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped

¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg

salt and pepper

4 eggs, lightly beaten

12 sheets filo pastry (about half of a 375g packet)

80g butter, melted

What you do:

Preheat oven to 180C 

Heat oil in a large frypan over medium-high heat. Gently fry the onion, then add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes until it softens. Be careful not to let it brown.  

Add the spinach and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until the spinach has completely wilted. Drain off as much liquid as possible [you could use a colander] and squeeze the excess moisture out with some tongs [mine didn't have a lot of moisture, as most of it cooked off]. 

In a large bowl, mix the cheeses, dill, nutmeg, eggs, salt and pepper. I find cheese quite salty so didn't add much salt - but taste to see what you think. Add the spinach and mix well together. 

How beautiful does this look! The vibrant yellow is courtesy of the eggs from our gorgeous chooks 

I used a large lasagne dish (20cm x 30cm) to bake this in, but Julie also suggests a baking tray. Place one sheet of filo in the lasagne dish and brush it with melted butter. Repeat this step with five more sheets of filo.

Add the spinach mixture into the dish. Top with a sheet of filo, brushed with butter. Add the five remaining sheets of filo , each brushed with butter. Fold up the edges and brush the top with butter. 

Before baking

Bake at 180c for about 30-40 minutes, until the pastry is golden. 

Serve with a salad.  

Perfect for meatless Monday - served with a simple salad of spinach [yep, more!], home-roasted tomatoes and avocado

The dish was a complete winner with hubby asking for leftovers for lunch [however I am assuming he forgot about the leftover slab of lamb from Sunday night in the fridge!], and Mr12 eating a [small-ish] piece without complaining. That counts as a massive win! 

Thanks Jules!

Meat free week - an update

Well it's been a month since we embarked on meat free week in our household. It was mostly a success, with meat only being consumed twice during the week - and each time when I was out and someone else cooked for me.

A huge thanks to everyone who provided me with recipes, inspiration and support! Especially twitter friends @brocklesnitch, @CeliaFigJam, @Bittersweet_Qld and especially @_JulieGoodwin, who emailed me her favourite meat free recipes [and by her favourite, I mean the ones all the carnivores in her house love. Perfect.]. While I didn't use all your recipes, they certainly gave me loads of inspiration, as well as a great repertoire for future meals. Thank you.

Hard to go wrong with a breakfast of mushrooms, haloumi and an egg. When I'm extra hungry I'll add a piece of toast with avocado too.

So, what did we have. Well, breakfast was the easiest of all, thanks to our chickens. Most days I had eggs, and often with sautéed mushrooms and haloumi. To tell the truth, I could eat this most meals. Lunch tended to be leftovers from the night before's dinner, and dinner, well, that varied.

We started on a Friday night, and I deliberately chose a weekend when we had Mr12. He is a massive carnivore [just like his dad] and not known for his love of the veggie [fortunately, very unlike his dad, who loves veggies]. However I must say, he has been a lot more accepting of trying new food and eating veggies over the last 12 months, which gives me no end of joy.  Particularly as I didn't believe I would ever see the day.

A favourite of Mr12's [and all of ours], is a Thai green curry, previously always made with chicken. I made a veggie version, and the look on his face was priceless when he realised there was no meat. But not as priceless as I'm sure mine was when I realised I had WAAAAYY overdone things with the green curry paste. A cup of yogurt later and mine was edible. Hubby loved it [sans yogurt], Mr12 looked like he was in pain [he wasn't prepared to try it with yogurt], so I relented and gave him a blueberry and spelt muffin to eat. No curry paste in those!

 

The killer Thai green curry

Veggie meals could only improve from there!

Saturday night I made one of the most gorgeous meals I've ever cooked. Massive thanks to whoever suggested this one, straight from the VeggieNumNum site. This veggie korma kofta took a bit of time to make, but was so worth it. The leftovers for lunch the next day were even better. It was also the first time I'd ever deep friend anything [yes, I know!].

The korma in this dish was absolutely sublime. I'll definitely be making it again and using it as the base for a bunch of dishes, with and without meat. It was also incredibly easy to make.

The veggie kofta - made with sweet potato and carrot. No pic of the whole meal as it was just gobbled down. SO GOOD! 

However the winner of the weekend, and possibly the whole week, were these little bites of awesome. These vegetarian sausage rolls, made with oats, walnuts, fetta and a bunch of other good stuff come courtesy of Cindi O'Meara's website. Mr12 went back for thirds, saying "anything wrapped in pastry is good". Talk about a massive light-bulb moment for me! I'll be making these again next weekend when we have Mr12, but adding in a zillion more veggies. Mwah hahaha [insert evil cackle...].

Thank you Cindi, but mostly thank you to the 4-5 people who told me about these! 

The week couldn't go by without eating vegetarian versions of my favourites - a toasted wrap, this one with spinach, cheese, tomato, mushroom, capsicum and a couple of felafel. And of course, pizza, but this one vego. And not on a Friday night.

A toasted wrap is a regular lunch fixture for me - great way to get in a couple of serves of veggies, and also to use up leftover meat. Or not, as in this instance.  

Pizza is my all time favourite food, and something I could eat almost every day. But I don't. 

So to wrap up, the week was a success. Since then I've tried to be a bit more adventurous with my meat free cooking, and am trying to have many more meals without meat.

Did you participate in meat free week? How did you do? And how are you faring now that it's over?

Meat free week - need your recipe inspiration!

I've been trying to eat a lot less meat lately, with varying degrees of success. Late last year someone alerted me to Meat Free Week, on from 18-24 March 2013. I was intrigued and thought what a great idea.

We'll be eating lots of these during meat free week!  

And these...

Well, it's almost that time. 

Eek!

I'm not at all organised, and need some serious help in getting together a tasty repertoire of meat-free meals to feed myself, my mega-carnivore hubby [who, unless he reads this blog post, won't actually know what's happening until it does... mwah ha ha...], and my ultra-mega-carnivore and super picky 12yo stepson.

Our week of meat-free awesomeness is going to run from Friday 15 March - Thursday 21 March.

This is a meat-free fave 

And so is lentil-bol

Needless to say, I'm quite pleased wine is meat-free. Particularly as we have Mr12 here for half of that time.

I'm really curious to see how we all go.

If you have any meat-free favourites, please let me know. The more "meaty" the better. And if it has tofu or tempeh please don't bother sending it. Absolutely can't stand either of them.

THANK YOU! And stay tuned to see how we fare...

Meatless Monday - corn, leek and ricotta fritters

One of my goals for this year is to eat less meat and many more veggies. I do struggle with this, because I do love meat, but I am determined! Often to the frustration of the mega-meat eaters in this household!

Consequently it's quite rare that we actually have Meatless Monday. It's usually Meatless-any-night-but-Monday. Harder to predict that way [insert evil cackle].

This dish was inspired by JJ, my friend and fellow food blogger [over at 84th & 3rd]. JJ frequently posts beautiful photos of corn fritters, and every time she does I tell her I will be making them. So finally I am!

What I love about this dish is its flexibility. I've added leek [because they were languishing in the veggie crisper], but you could easily add mushrooms, capsicums, red onion or zucchini [which I had intended to add until I realised there were none in the fridge!] instead. I'm fairly sure hubby wishes I'd added some bacon as he isn't a huge fan of meatless meals. But he is getting used to them. Or he will do...

What you need:
2-3 leeks, washed and sliced
splash of olive oil
420g can of corn, drained
250g ricotta
30-40g parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg
1 tbs flour
bit of basil, shredded
pepper to taste
splash of tabasco [optional, but I add it to most things]

What you do:
Gently fry the leeks in the olive oil on a low-ish heat until softened. This only took about 2-3 minutes.
In a large-ish bowl add the corn, ricotta, cooked leeks, parmesan, egg, flour, basil, pepper and tabasco if using. I deliberately didn't add salt as I find parmesan quite salty, but you might want a bit. Mix well.

Heat a non-stick frypan [or a bit of oil in a sticky-pan] to medium hot. I use a non-stick teppanyaki plate that is part of my stove. THE best thing ever!

When hot, blob on spoonfuls of fritter. I was quite generous and this made 9 fritters [but one was quite small].  Cook until it's brown [4-5 minutes], then carefully flip over [I used two spatulas for this] to cook the other side. You might need to turn the heat down if they are thick, so they cook through without burning.

I served this with my favourite Mexican bean and corn salad as I had leftovers from the weekend [it's basically black beans, corn, tomato, red onion, red capsucim, coriander, lime juice, tabasco]. You could serve it with any salad or with steamed veg.

I'll be having a leftover fritter or two for breakfast tomorrow with an egg. And maybe a bit of bacon. YUM!

This serves 4, unless you are hungry [or a bit greedy], then it serves 3.  

I'm always seeking meatless meal inspiration - please, please share your favourites.

Marinated mushrooms with lemon and thyme

I think I've said before that I was a latecomer to the wonders of mushrooms. Now I just can't get enough of them, and eat them at least once every day. Usually for breakfast, sliced or chopped into chunks, sautéed with a bit of butter, sometimes with rosemary or thyme, and served with an egg, or some haloumi, or bacon, or a combo of.

They are insanely healthy for you [maybe a bit less so with the addition of butter - never margarine] which as far as I'm concerned is just a huge bonus!

Marinated mushies, with lemon and thyme

This very simple marinated mushroom dish is always a winner. Great to serve with anti-pasto platters, or just with a couple of cheeses. Mum introduced me to these many years ago, but for reasons I can't work out, I don't make them all that often. Silly me.

What you need:
400g teeny tiny baby button mushrooms [the smaller the better]
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice [or white wine vinegar - I love LiraH vinegars, but had run out]
1 large clove of garlic, peeled and chopped finely
1/2 tsp salt [I like the Maldon seasalt or the pink Murray salt flakes for this]
freshly ground black pepper
2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme
4-5 stalks of Italian parsley, leaves only
zest of 1 lemon
whole chilli [cut into big chunks, seeded if you don't like it too hot, optional]

All squashed into one of mum's beautiful old preserving jars. 

What you do:

• Give the mushrooms a good wipe or a quick wash to get rid of any dirt and grit. 
• Pop the mushrooms into a glass jar with a lid - squash them all in if you need to!
• In a measuring cup [or a small bowl with a lip], mix together all the other ingredients. Taste and add extra lemon, salt, pepper if needed. 
• Pour over the mushrooms in the jar. Pop the lid on and swirl the jar around until the mushrooms are all coated in the mix. 

Tipping these upside down wasn't my smartest move as the lid wasn't sealed!

• Leave on the bench to marinate for at least 24 hours. Give the jar a good swirl every few hours or when you walk past. 
• After 24 hours the liquid will start to come out of the mushrooms, adding to the marinade. After about 36 hours your mushrooms will have shrunk. Pop it all in the fridge and eat as desired! 

This is after about 36 hours - see how much the liquid has increased?

The mushrooms are best if brought to room temperature before serving.

Have you made marinated mushrooms? What flavours do you add?

In my Thermomix: Beetroot and mint pesto

This is one of the best things I have made with beetroot. Ever.

I was a late convert to the wonders of beetroot. Largely because all I knew for many years was the beetroot in a can. With that overly vinegary tartness. Which my tastebuds definitely didn't like [and still don't].

There was also a memorable experience with borscht when I was about 15. Not memorable in a good way I should hasten to add.

And then there was the first time I decided had fresh beetroot in a veggie juice. I was new to veggie juicing but had heard beetroot was healthy. I was determined to give it a go. Clearly it hadn't been cleaned properly as that juice tasted unpleasantly of dirt. Needless to say it was a long time before I tried again.

I can't remember when I did - probably when I started getting loads of freshly grown beetroot in my CSA box from Food Connect. For many weeks they fed the compost worms. Then I decided to experiment. With dips and with roasting mostly. Now I seek it out and buy and eat it all the time. I'm even growing it in my veggie garden! YUM.

And now my beetroot loving-ness has been turned on its head. Again. Thanks to Mel from Vanilla Zulu cooking school.

I met Mel at a workshop on social media that I spoke at about 18 months ago. We had stayed in touch, but sporadically. She was busy setting up her cooking school. I was busy dealing with some of life's unexpected dramas, and going back to uni. We reconnected recently thanks to twitter. Man I love twitter.

Anyway, I digress.

I caught up with Mel for a coffee and she invited hubby and I to one of her cooking classes. She made a simple beetroot pesto. It was quick, it was easy, it was a flavour sensation!

I had to make it.

This is my version. For the Thermomix, but just as easy in a food processor.

Beetroot and mint pesto

Beetroot mint pesto
by Mel Kettle

What you need:
2 decent sized beetroot, scrubbed and peeled, chopped into quarters
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1/3 cup of pine nuts [you could also use cashews]
1 generous handful of mint, leaves only
1/3 cup good olive oil
bit of salt and pepper to taste

What you do:
This is the super-easy Thermomix bit.

Chuck everything into the Thermomix bowl. Whizz on speed 7 for 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl, whizz again for another 30 seconds or until smooth.

Serve and eat.

Roast beef with beetroot pesto

Mel served hers smeared over roast beef which was amazing [her version had cumin, not mint]. I think it would also be beautiful with roast lamb. Or just on crackers or beautiful sourdough which is how I've been eating it.

What is your favourite pesto? Do you experiment with flavours, or do you stick to the tried and true basil and pine nut version?

Salad days... with haloumi

Haloumi and mixed bean salad

Before lunch I wrote a few hundred words on the transtheoretical model of health behaviour change and how it can be used to reduce childhood obesity. Please don't ask me to elaborate - I'm not actually sure I could!

Anyway, before launching into my assignment that is due Friday, I thought I'd whip up a healthy and tasty lunch. Healthy because I've written a lot lately about the causes of cardiovascular disease and obesity is a biggie. Tasty, because, well let's face it, what's the point of eating food that isn't?

So, back to lunch.

With uni two or three nights a week most weeks this year, I have needed to be a bit more organised with food. Otherwise I end up grabbing a kebab before class every time, or shovelling masses of cheese on toast [accompanied by a large-ish glass of red] down my gob after class when I get home, usually around 9pm.

This is also very helpful now I've reached the pointy end of the semester. Four huge assignments and 2 small assignments all due before 2 November. And an exam. Ugh.

To make things easier, I've been cooking up one or two meals most Sunday afternoons, which will keep well in the fridge for a few days, or can be popped into the freezer. Sunday just past I made a very scrummy pot of spag bol sauce [loads of veggies], and roasted a heap of pumpkin, sweet potato and made a big batch of semi-dried tomatoes. Perfect for adding to salads. Which I did today.

Haloumi and mixed bean salad
[serves 2] 

What you need:

• 40g baby spinach
• 300g tin of 4 bean mix [you could use any legumes - white beans, chickpeas etc. I just had a MASSIVE tin of 4 bean mix languishing in the back of the pantry...]
• 200g roast pumpkin 
• 100g semi-dried tomato
• few slivers of red onion
• 150g haloumi, sliced into 4 
• 1tbs balsamic vinegar [I use the beautiful Star Anis apple balsamic which is gorgeous on its own]
• 1tsp olive oil
• pepper

What you do:
Pop the spinach, 4 bean mix, roast pumpkin, semi-dried tomatoes and onion into a bowl. Mix the oil and vinegar into a dressing and pour over the salad. Mix together gently. Add pepper to taste.

Salad sans haloumi

Cook the haloumi [I use a non-stick teppanyaki grill on my cooktop] for about 1-2 minutes on each side until golden.

Serve the salad and place the haloumi on top.

ENJOY! [a squeeze of lemon is good too!]

What are you tips for quick meals when you are busy?

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?

Summer BBQ days - with mushrooms

As much as I would love to say I have always loved mushrooms, that would be a big fat lie. Because I haven’t. In fact, they used to be right up there with the dreaded Brussels sprouts - I had to be bribed to eat them. Even to try them. Then one day, not tooooo many years ago, I did. And WOW! What a revelation! What had I been missing all those years! 

Now I just can’t get enough of them! I happily eat a few mushrooms nearly every day - for either breakfast, lunch or dinner. Yes, that’s right. For breakfast. One of my favourite mushroom breakfast dishes is my “scrambled-omelette” - quick to make, gorgeous to eat. 

The most amazing array of mushrooms I have ever seen was when I went to the Fisherman's Wharf Farmer's Markets in San Francisco a few years ago. The variety was just incredible: lobster, hedgehog, oyster, wood ear and so many more! 

Amazing array of mushrooms - all colors, shapes and sizes...

As one of my food goals for 2012 is to eat less meat and more vegetarian meals, I suspect mushrooms will be making a lot of appearances on my menu! 

Lucky for me, mushrooms are also one of those foods that are really good for you! A 100g serving of mushies has more dietary fibre (2.5g) than 100g of celery (1.8g) or a slice of wholemeal bread (2.0g). And also more protein than most other veggies. And let's face it. Mushrooms are soooo much yummier than celery sticks! 

But the real kicker for me is that 100g of raw mushrooms only has 100kj. Yes, you read that correctly! Only 100kj! Or less than 24 calories. Which, when you love cheese and butter (two foods that go brilliantly with mushrooms by the way...) as much as me, is a REAL bonus! 

I made this for a quick and simple lunch the other day - despite it being a MISERABLE day, I fired up the BBQ, but you could just as easily cook it on the stove. 

Mushrooms on toast with haloumi. Boring name, mouthwatering flavours!

All you need for 1 person is:

• 1 slice of sourdough or other gorgeous bread
• 1 clove of garlic cut in half
• 1 slice of haloumi (yes, yes I know my pictures have 2 pieces. And yes, I ate them both...)
• about 100-125g mushrooms, cut into halves or quarters (I used Swiss brown but you could use flat, button or whatever else you fancy)
• 1 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 
• 1 tbs olive oil
• squeeze of half a lemon
• sprig of rosemary, finely chopped
• salt and pepper

Pop the mushrooms, garlic, rosemary, olive oil, lemon juice, s&p into a small bowl, mix together and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. 

Rub the slice of sourdough with the piece of cut garlic (I then chopped this up too and added it to the mushroom mix - according to my beloved, I REEKED of garlic that night. And the next morning. Oh well. It tasted AMAZING!)

Heat the BBQ - you need the flat plate. I use a silicone mat on our BBQ flat plate as it is easier than constantly cleaning the plate! Plus, ours is a bit rusty and manky. It's also non-stick, so you don't need to add extra oil.

Once the plate is hot, add the mushroom mix, the haloumi, and pop the bread on the grill (the grill section doesn't need to be turned on as there should be enough residual heat). TURN THE BBQ HEAT DOWN so nothing burns (learnt this the hard way the first time I cooked haloumi!). 

On the BBQ

It all takes about 5-8 minutes to cook - I normally take it off when the haloumi is cooked - you want it to look a beautiful golden colour.

Cooked haloumi

Once cooked, serve it up! This is gorgeous for a quick breakfast too, especially when entertaining. 

Instead of haloumi you could add a fried egg - the beauty of the silicone mat I used is that you don't need to use oil, so your fried egg is actually healthy. 

A few variations to this:

• use thyme or basil instead of rosemary
• add some chopped red onion 
• add some bacon or proscuitto
• pop some butter on the BBQ to cook the mushrooms (I don't think it needs it, but many disagree!)

What’s your favourite way to eat mushrooms?

Big thanks to the Australian Mushroom Growers Association for sponsoring this post and recipe as part of their Summer Mushrooms campaign. Check out these sites for many more gorgeous summer mushroom ideas.