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.

Holidays with friends, family and food

I had an absolutely sensational week in Sydney and Canberra last month, filled with beautiful friends, family and of course, food. Oh, ok, there was a bit of drink too.

I went down because late last year one of mum's friends, Diane, who I am fortunate to also call my friend [after all, she has known me since I was 5!], was in town from Canada for her nephew's wedding. I booked flights immediately! It was a fabulous few days.

The first day was catching up with a few other friends in Sydney, including fellow food blogger JJ from 84th and 3rd who I talk to often on twitter, and who I met in Adelaide in November at Eat.Drink.Blog3.

One of my cousins, and fellow foodie, had suggested I eat at Kitchen by Mike and the Grounds of Alexandria if I made it to Sydney. As I was staying with a girlfriend who conveniently lives in Alexandria, we had a couple of breakfasts there. YUMMO!

I'm not a butter on toast girl [unless there is vegemite involved, then you can bring it on!], but when I read on the menu at Kitchen by Mike that the butter was Pepe Saya I couldn't resist. I didn't actually have quite enough!

The breakfast board at The Grounds of Alexandria. Poached egg, avocado, leg ham, tomato basil salsa, pesto, persian fetta, sourdough. Doesn't look like a lot but it was an effort to eat it all.

Breakfast at Kitchen by Mike. Two huge field mushrooms, the most flavoursome tomatoes almost ever, bacon, egg, sourdough from Iggy's and Pepe Saya butter. No effort to eat all this! 

It wasn't just the food I loved at these two cafes, it was the whole package. Both had kitchen gardens with chickens! I assume that at least a few of the eggs on the menu came from their girls, as well as some of the food. Both were also built in converted warehouses and had shops attached. Next door to the Grounds is a fabulous providore, Salt Meats Cheese [where I could have gone berserk. I restrained myself admirably]. 

Some of the salts at Salt, Meats Cheese. Varieties included espresso, merlot, garlic, smoked, taragon, tomato, truffle, and about another 10-12 varieties

I cannot believe this was the first time I had done the stunning Bondi to Bronte walk. 

Actually, the three cafes I ate at in Sydney all had chickens - the third being Three Blue Ducks at Bronte. Diane and I did the Bondi to Bronte walk and near the end I asked twitter where we should have lunch. Within seconds three people told us we HAD to go to Three Blue Ducks. There are no food pics because we were too hungry to wait [and yes, I just forgot...]. 

These all made me feel at home :) 

After Sydney was a couple of days in Canberra. Visiting relatives and catching up with friends, old and new. And a visit to the sensational Capital Region Farmer's Markets. Such gorgeous produce. I will be back!

Haloumi and pomegranate salad - recipe from blogger and friend Shirley of Rhubarb Whine

Part of dinner with goodies from a few local delis and the Capital Region Farmers Markets

A highlight was spending a few hours with blogger and twitter friend Liz, from Bizzy Lizzy's Good Things. She had made a stunning blueberry and banana cake for morning tea - normally I baulk at anything banana but I didn't want to be rude, so I ate a piece, and nearly went back for seconds. SO GOOD!  However the highlight of this visit [apart from spending time with Lizzy and meeting her hubby of course...] was the freakin' awesome watermelon and vodka crush with pomegranate. I just helped myself to seconds of this. And maybe thirds. It's on the menu for the next dinner party.

Watermelon and vodka crush with pomegranate

The other Canberra highlight was a visit to the National Portrait Gallery. I have visited every gallery and museum in Canberra on many occasions [and was even a tour guide at Old Parliament House many years ago...], and my absolute favourite is the National Portrait Gallery. It's only been open a short time [prior to having its own building it was temporarily housed at Old Parliament House - yes, when I worked there]. Its permanent collection is stunning, and its current exhibition Glorious: A Diamond Jubilee portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is well worth a visit. The centrepiece, a jaw-droppingly beautiful portrait of the Queen is worth the visit alone, and painted by Australian artist Ralph Heimans. As Molly would say, do yourself a favour! 

Have you had any great food experiences when travelling? And when you didn't really expect it? 

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?

Chocolate decadence - Valentine's Day

I’ve never really been the hearts and flowers type, and I'm not all that into Valentine's Day [due mainly to that ghastly boyfriend who dumped me on 13 February many years ago, but then expected to get back together on the 15th! Um, NO!] 

However, I do love the occasional excuse to have a decadent dessert - and what better excuse than Valentine’s Day. 

This is really easy to make and the cake part of the recipe can be made a few days - or even weeks - earlier and kept in the fridge or freezer. I actually think it tastes even better 2-3 days after it’s been made. The best bit about the cake is it’s versatility - it’s perfect for morning tea, a quick after-school treat, or as a dessert for a dinner party. Oh, and it’s also gluten free.

And if it looks familiar, it's virtually the same recipe as the one for my gluten free chocolate cherry cake [nothing like recycling!], but tarted up for Valentines Day. If you're into that sort of thing.

What you need:
250g dark chocolate,broken into pieces (I prefer dark chocolate that has 70% cocoa solids)
250g almond meal
200g caster sugar
150g butter, softened
6 eggs (ideally 59g - if they are smaller use 7 eggs)
1 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 tbsp boiling water
Cream to serve
Raspberries (fresh or frozen) to serve
Icing sugar* (to serve)

What you do:

1. Turn the oven on to 180c.
2. Line the baking tray with baking paper
3. Place the chocolate pieces in the food processor and whizz until they resemble big crumbs of chocolate (if you don’t have a food processor, place the chocolate in a freezer or zip lock bag and seal, place the bag between 2 tea-towels and bash with a rolling pin or a meat mallet until its crushed). Set aside.
4. Place the sugar, butter, eggs, cocoa and baking powder into the mixing bowl and mix with the electric beaters or a wooden spoon until smooth. Mix in the coffee mixture.
5. Add the chocolate and almond meal and mix well - it might be easier to mix this with the wooden spoon.
6. Pour the cake mix into the baking tray, smooth it over with a knife.
7. Bake on the middle tray of the oven for 30-45 minutes (check it at 30 minutes - you want the centre to be soft to touch but not too gooey).

Leave to cool in the baking tray for 15 minutes then move it to cook on the wire rack.

To assemble dessert
Once the cake is cool, remove it from the wire rack and place it on a flat surface. Cut out heart shaped pieces with the cookie cutter and carefully transfer 1 heart to each plate. You should get 6 hearts out of a cake this size. 

This cake is best served at room temperature or slightly warmed. Serve with raspberries and cream. Dust with icing sugar.

WARNING! This cake is very rich and is easily enough to share. It IS Valentine’s Day after all!
* if you are serving this to someone who requires gluten free, make sure you get pure icing sugar, NOT icing mixture

What to do with leftover cake
All those leftover bits of cake (around the heart cut-outs) are great for dessert or snacks. Serve warmed with ice-cream or cream or thick yogurt. Or just eat them on their own! The cake should keep for 3 months in an airtight container in the freezer or a week in the fridge.