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?

Holidays and a kangaroo salad

I've just realised it's been AGES since I last blogged! It's been a busy few months [yes, not the best excuse, but it will have to do!]. For those of you who don't know, I went back to uni earlier this year to study a Master of Public Health. In the interests of getting it finished as fast as possible, I went back as a full-time student. Which is great, but I'm still doing a bit of marketing comms consulting, so time is stretched!

I also went to Adelaide for a few days about a month ago to go to the Population Health Congress. A real highlight was catching up with Amanda from the wonderful blog Lambs' Ears and Honey - she took me to The Locavore for lunch in the beautiful Adelaide Hills. The drive there was stunning, but what I really love is their commitment to serving local food. Wherever possible their food is sourced from within a 100 mile radius, and their wine list is 100% from the Adelaide Hills. I was very impressed [so impressed I didn't take any photos!]. I would love to see a restaurant in Brisbane with this commitment to local food and wine.

I was only home from Adelaide a few days before going to Killcare [on the NSW Central Coast] for about 10 days. My brother and I are lucky our parents had the foresight to buy a holiday house there about 20 years ago, and we have been having family holidays there ever since. We do rent it out for weekends and holiday rentals, so if you are interested check it out on Stayz. My brother and I both love to cook, so a priority in the recent reno was a decent kitchen with a 90cm cooker. On our last visit I think we had friends pop in for a meal almost every day, so it and the BBQ outside were well used!

One of my contributions to the garden was to plant a small herb garden with a few basics [parsley, oregano, thyme, chilli, chives and lemongrass in the backyard], and on our last visit we added a lime and lemon tree. Hopefully they survive our sporadic visits!

The parsley has gone a bit crazy!
Sadly a possum scoffed the only chilli that looked very impressive on our last visit.

One of our favourite things about Killcare are all the gorgeous birds, who are always very well fed with our leftovers!

Sometimes I think the birds eat better than we do! The kookaburras certainly enjoyed a large amount of our leftover lamb roast!

Anyway, we have been home for about a week and straight into Brisbane summer! It's almost been too hot to cook so it's been a week of salad.

This kangaroo and bbq veggies salad I made last night was a particular winner! I first had it when my friend Sharon cooked lunch for us a few months ago and it's based on a recipe from a Michelle Bridges cookbook.

Terrible photo that doesn't do the meal justice!

I haven't eaten a lot of kangaroo - mainly because I had a bit of a bad experience when I made a kangaroo spag bol some years back. I didn't realise what a strong flavour it had, and that you only needed about half the amount of meat compared to using beef mince. The strong flavours were a bit of a shock! However after the gorgeousness of last night's dinner, it will be making a regular appearance on our dining table.

One of the things I love about kangaroo is that it is very lean [so cook it quickly and to medium rare so it doesn't get tough], and it's also high in protein, zinc and iron.

What you need [serves 2]:
250-300g kangaroo steak
olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 zucchini, thinly sliced longways
1 bunch of asparagus
1 red capsicum, seeded and cut into chunky strips
1/2 small bunch of mint, stalks removed, chopped
1tbs lemon juice or a good white wine vinegar
salt and pepper

What you do:
Marinate the kangaroo steak with about 1 tsp olive oil, garlic, about 1/4 of the mint, bit of salt and pepper. Leave for about 30 minutes.

Pop the zucchini, asparagus and red capsicum in a bowl and coat with 1tsp olive oil, bit of salt and pepper.

Heat the BBQ (or a frypan/grill pan if cooking indoors). Once hot, cook the kangaroo, turning once. I had 3 small steaks, but one was twice as thick as the other two. The thin steaks cooked to medium in about 3-4 minutes, the thicker steak was cooked to rare in that time. Ideally you want it cooked to medium-rare. Once cooked, set aside to rest for about 10 minutes, then slice thinly.

Once the kangaroo is cooked, cook the veggies, turning after about 1-2 minutes. I found the asparagus cooked in about 2 minutes as it was quite thin, the zucchini and capsicum took about 3-4 minutes. I cooked it on the grill side and did have a bit of a mishap with a few pieces falling onto the burner [sigh].

When the veggies are cooked pop them all in a bowl. Add the mint, another tsp of olive oil and the lemon juice/white wine vinegar. Mix it lightly and serve. Add the sliced kangaroo fillets on top of the veggies.

Have you eaten kangaroo before? How did you cook it?

Home made versatility - roast tomato sugo

I absolutely love tomato sauce - the sort that goes with spaghetti, over chicken parm, into a soup. Not the ketchup variety. Although that is pretty good on a sausage roll or two. And that is also even better when homemade. Not that I have ever made it. One day I will...

No, I'm talking about the tomato sauce that comes from beautiful fresh tomatoes. Now while tomatoes are a summer fruit [yes, fruit. Not veg. But don't add to a fruit salad. That is very wrong...], our local fruit and veg store currently has them in abundance. I'm going to say this is because I live in Queensland where seasonal fruit has a different meaning to seasonal fruit in a city where you actually have seasons. Anyone in Brissie this week will know what I mean. [27c anyone? anyone? Bueller?)

So anyway, back to my local F&V. Last week I picked up about 5 kilos of must-be-eaten-immediately tomatoes for about $10. Not as cheap as in summer, but given the current price of about $9 a kilo I was pretty pleased. As it is winter [technically] they don't have as much flavour as their beautiful summer compadres. So I decided to make a roast tomato sugo.

What I used:

• 5kg tomatoes, washed, core removed [I had a mix of the everyday round variety, some Roma and a few heirloom cherry tomatoes and other varieties that I found languishing at the bottom of the veggie crisper]
• 2-3 red onions, peeled, cut into quarters
• 5-6 cloves of garlic, peeled, smashed, cut in half
• olive oil 
• salt and pepper

What I did

It's pretty easy! 

Preheat the oven to 160c [and preheating isn't even necessary. It just sounds "cheffy"]. 

Chuck all the ingredients into a large baking tray, make sure the garlic is covered by the tomatoes so it doesn't dry out, and pop in the oven to cook for about 3 hours. I gave it a stir every 45-60 minutes or so. 

Once it's cooked down, take it out of the oven, and let it cool.

Once cool, pop it into a bowl and blend up with a stick blender, or pop it into a bench blender [or thermomix] and whiz it up. 

This is about half the sauce

Use as necessary! I popped most of it into varying sized portions and froze it. You could also bottle it, I just couldn't be bothered on this particular day! 

I reckon this would be pretty good as a soup, or as a tomato sauce for a lasagne, spaghetti bol, or anything else you would normally open a can of tomatoes for. 

What do you love tomato sauce with? 

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?