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?

Mmmmm soup. [post sponsored by La Zuppa]

I've been a bit AWOL lately due to the juggle of work, uni and OUR KITCHEN RENO!! Yes, the Kitchen Reno [the uppercase IS deliberate :) ] is now about 98% finished! But more about that in another post. When it's 100% completed and I've packed away all the bench clutter.

Bench top clutter. And a sneak peek of colours :)

Some of you know that for a few days of this reno we had to live in our basement as most of the timber floors that cover all of our upstairs had to be re-polished. Talk about a major PITA. But so worth it.

So for 5 days we lived on food that could be cooked in the microwave or in a toaster [silly me forgot to take the thermomix downstairs...]. Let me tell you how sick I am of BBQ chicken and toast.

What I'm not sick of however, is soup. Especially as it's now getting colder. And I am SO GRATEFUL to the beautiful people at La Zuppa who sent me a big box of microwavable soup, which arrived a few days before our basement foray. Talk about perfect timing!

Those of you who know me, know how much I generally loathe pre-packaged foods. For so many reasons, but mainly the preservatives and additives they contain [and the resultant, horrifying effect they have on my mood and general mental state :( ]. So when I was asked to trial La Zuppa my first instinct was to say "no way Jose". Until they told me their soup doesn't contain any additives. They are also gluten free, diary free, 99% fat free and most are under 150 calories per serve.  I thought I would give them a go.

They are ridiculously easy to heat up [2 minutes in the microwave] as they come in their own bowl that you cook and eat out of [although I do prefer mine transferred to a bowl once cooked...]. Perfect for work or for those quick meals when it's cold and you're starving! Or for when you are living out of your basement during a Kitchen Reno!

To heat: remove lid, peel off the foil, replace lid, zap for 2 minutes. EASY!

It comes in 10 flavours - my favourite was chicken and corn.

What is your favourite soup? Enter the La Zuppa facebook competition [closing 31 July 2012], tell them your favourite soup flavour and you could win a trip to Italy's spectacular Amalfi Coast to hone your culinary skills at the La Cucina Del Gusto cooking school. Or you could win one of the weekly cash prizes.

And don't forget to let me know your favourite flavour too!

P.S. The pics were taken on our new benchtops - the colour is shitake. Of course!

Queensland Good Food Guide

When I moved to Brisbane 12 years ago I was instantly struck by the lack of decent coffee, the lack of sidewalk eating, and the generally disappointing food scene.

WOW! How far have we come!

Last year I ate at Esquire a few weeks after it opened. I can safely say it was THE best dining-out experience I have had in Australia. And possibly anywhere in the world. EVER.

Last night Esquire became the first Queensland restaurant to be awarded 3 Hats by the newly established Queensland Good Food Guide, taking its place alongside Sydney and Melbourne restaurant luminaries including Tetsuya's, Marque, Quay, Attica, Vue de Monde and more.

I was excited to be invited to the Queensland Good Food Guide Awards last night. Not because I work in the industry [I did once. As the world's worst waitress ever.]. Not because my friends were receiving awards. Not because I wanted to meet celebrity chefs.

I was excited because it gave me the opportunity to applaud the many, many hardworking restauranteurs, cafe owners, wait staff, sommeliers, baristas, chefs, cooks, dishwashers and all those others who have worked tirelessly to give Queensland incredible food experiences.

To all of you I say THANK YOU.

Books like this don't "just happen" - thanks to all those involved  - the lovely Natascha Mirosch who edited this book [and who just tweeted is going out for one last lunch before starting the "mother of all diets" tomorrow!], brisbanetimes.com.au, all the reviewers [how do I get a job doing THAT?], and all the sponsors, including Citibank and Vittoria Coffee.

And to everyone like me, who loves food, loves dining out, loves sitting in a cafe for a sneaky coffee when you're meant to be working, all I can say is, how lucky we are in Queensland.

You can check out all the winners at the Good Food Guide website. 

Make sure you grab a copy of the Queensland Good Food Guide [book, iphone app, digital version, e-book, or website subscription] and get eating! 

Please make sure you tell me reader, what is your favourite place to eat in Queensland? 

Coles fruit & veg prices go down down down

As we have seen in the media over the last few days, the retail giants (Coles and Woolworths for those of you not in Australia) have now decided to duke it out over the price of fresh fruit and vegetables. Coles started this battle when announcing yesterday that they are going to cut prices on "at least a dozen" more popular fruit and veg every week. A quick glance at the full page ad in today's Courier-Mail shows that Woolworths are matching or beating Coles prices on many of these items.

My first thought when I heard this was "jeez, the farmers just can't get a break". However Coles have been quick to say that lower prices will increase demand which will provide more certainty for farmers. Whether this actually happens remains to be seen. You can read the full media release from Coles here.

My second thought when hearing this was hmmm. Maybe there is some good here. Research shows only half of Australians eat the daily recommended allowance of fruit and veg, with many people saying they can't afford to buy fresh f&v as it's too expensive (personally I dispute this, but that's a conversation for another day!). What I'm wondering is this: now that fresh fruit and veg are cheaper, will people eat more? Especially those who have previously said it was too expensive?

There is much research that says eating 5 serves of vegetables and 2 serves of fruit a day provides significant health benefits, particularly in terms of long term disease prevention including the prevention of many types of cancer, heart disease, hypertension, stroke, cataracts and macular degeneration of the eye and type 2 diabetes. Not to mention the short term benefits. I don't know about you, but when I have a meal that contains lots of veggies, I feel a lot better after than I do after a meal of takeaway!

While Coles and Woolies fight it out, I'll continue to support my local farmers and my fabulous local fruit and veg shop (that is next door to Woolies and over the road from Coles) by stocking up at our local farmers markets and supporting small business owners in my community. 

Some of my favourite fruit and veg

Do you think lowering the price of fruit and veg will entice more people to eat it? Or do you think there are bigger challenges involved? 

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.

2012 food goals

Every year at about this time my beloved and I sit down to work out our goals for the year - individually and jointly. This year is no different - in fact, it's happening tonight. Hence this post, which is helping me work out what I want some of my goals to be this year. Specifically my food-related goals.

Oh, who am I kidding! I can turn any goal into something food related. The general themes we use are around our finances, health, professional development and work, personal development and our relationship with each other as well as with family and other loved ones. Typically they include saving $$; getting fitter and healthier and eating less junk; spending more time together including date nights, holidays, long weekends; etc etc...

But what do these have to do with food? I'm getting there...

For a long time I have hated our kitchen. Actually since we bought our house. There is nothing hugely wrong with it - the house was only a few years old - but it is small with limited and very pokey storage that fits a small fraction of what I have, deep cupboards so you can barely find out what is behind the first layer, an awful electric stove, bad lighting and not enough powerpoints.

The good news - the reno is happening in 2012! Kitchen designers are being spoken to AS WE SPEAK {yippie-yi-yay!!}.

Horrible pantry with deep shelves - and yes it's messy... 

So onto the goals:

In anticipation of the kitchen reno and having to pack {but financial as I'll be saving $!}:

• stop buying stuff that gets shoved in the pantry and forgotten! As soon I'll need to pack all this, my #1 goal is not to buy ANY pantry goods but to eat our way through what we have - including the 12 tins of salmon, 8 tins of sardines, packets of couscous, quinoa, crackers, many jars of yumminess, wild rice, dried fruits and SO. MUCH. MORE. 
• eat our way through the freezer - it has a similar look thanks to a few not-really-necessary visits to SuperButcher to stock up on some of their incredible beef/pork/chicken bargains, the generosity of Silverwood Organics {I won a lamb pack at a charity fundraiser in October}, and more general over-shopping
• so all I am allowing myself to buy food-wise between now and the kitchen reno is fresh fruit/veg, dairy, bread and fresh fish. Of course, I may have to get the occasional chocolate bar as today I sadly discovered this house is chocolate-free :(

Kitchen benches like THIS will soon be a thing of the past!!

Food experiences {this is really health to get fitter and feel better}

• eat more locally grown and produced food, and support more local small food biz
• cook more at home. Especially since Kerry Heaney @eatdrinkbeKerry so kindly {note the sarcasm here...} told me of a study that shows women who eat out more than 6 times a week tally up the kilojoule equivalent of 1 kilo a month. I gained 10kg in 2011. Mostly because I ate out A LOT...
• entertain more at home and have more friends over for a casual mid-week meal
• eat more fruit, more veg and less meat - aim for one vegetarian day a week
• visit more markets and different types of food shops, especially when I'm on holiday {this is just part of the exercise bit - walking around markets for cardio, carrying my purchases for strength!}

The rest {including education, personal development and fun stuff!}

• blog more! 
• try new foods and cook with new ingredients
• read more food books - and not just cookbooks! 
• try more new restaurants, not just the old favourites - and use Brisbane Budget Bites a LOT MORE!

Anyway, they are some of mine for 2012. What goals - food or otherwise - do you have? 

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?