Spanish Rice

April 12, 2016September 15, 2016 ~ desertcook ~ 2 Comments

Even though it was the inspiration for this dish, I daren’t call it ‘paella’ because I know that this one is not authentic and there are a lot of paella purists who would be very unimpressed!

So this is my take on a Spanish flavour for a 1 pot rice dish.

1.5 cups short grain rice
2 cups hot chicken stock (I use Massel)
1/2 brown onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp smoked paprika
400g tin crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup white wine
3 large handfulls chopped green beans
3 large handfulls sliced button mushrooms
salt and pepper to taste
Optional – 125g sliced spicy chorizo (make sure it is GF and DF)

If you are going to keep this as a vegan dish, and not use the chorizo, you will need to add; 2 tbsp oil, an extra tsp of the paprika plus 1 tsp of minced chilli. It also benefits from a 400g tin of drained and rinsed chick peas!

In a large, heavy based fry pan, place the chorizo and render down the fat, whilst browning the meat.

Remove the meat from the pan, but leave the oil in the pan. (Add your oil to a dry pan at this point if making the vegan dish). Add the garlic and onion and cook until translucent (chilli too if you’re using it).

Add in the paprika and tomato paste and mix well.

Add in the wine and use a spatula to deglaze the pan (getting all the tasty, stuck bits off the bottom of the pan so you don’t lose their flavour).

Add the rice to the pan and stir well to coat. Allow to cook for 2-3 minutes.

Pour over the tomatoes and stock, stir well and bring to a gentle simmer.

Allow to simmer gently for 12 minutes, mixing occasionally.

Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Add in the mushrooms, stir well and simmer for a further 3 minutes.

Stir in the beans, remove from heat. Place lid on the pan and allow to sit, covered, for 10 minutes.

Return chorizo to pan and stir through, then serve immediately.

Serves about 6 adults.

Enjoy!

Moroccan Lamb Soup

April 6, 2016August 3, 2016 ~ desertcook ~ Leave a comment

This morning it actually felt a little cool in Perth – hooray!! Cooler weather in my book means soup! Out comes the slow cooker!

We are getting to the last 2 weeks of our 3 months of meat bulk buy so I am starting to need to get a bit creative with the cuts left and my pantry staples. Thankfully I have had an abundance of pumpkins in my garden so that has helped.

This delicious, hearty soup got rave reviews from my husband, the small one and the 2 big boys (both gave it 9/10) …. miss fussypants refused to even try – but that’s not unusual!

Such a great way to use a really cheap ‘left over’ cut of meat so about $4 of meat makes enough for our family of 6 twice over – hello easy freezer meals!

1 medium butternut pumpkin, peeled and diced
1 large gold sweet potato, peeled and diced
2 400g tins chic peas, drained and rinsed
400g tin crushed tomatoes
4 cups very hot chicken stock (I used Massel)
800g lamb soup bones
2 tsp Moroccan seasoning ( I make this one)

Place the pumpkin, potato and chic peas in the bottom of the slow cooker.

Add in the tomatoes, stock and seasoning. Mix well.

Add the bones to the mix and press them down so that they are covered with liquid.

Place on the lid, and set on low. Leave for 8 hours.

Remove the bones from the soup and use a fork to pull off the meat.

Return the meat to the pot.

Use a stick mixer to blend until smooth (or a blender/processor/thermal mixer in smaller batches – please be VERY careful blending hot liquid inside a confined space!!). Season with salt and pepper to taste – I didn’t need to add any tonight.

Serve immediately – it’s particularly yummy with warm garlic bread damper (see recipe below)

Enjoy 🙂

For the garlic damper process (Speed 5, 15-20 seconds) together 3 cups spelt flour (I did wholemeal and white), 3tsp GF baking powder, 1 tbsp Nuttelex/Vegan butter, 1 cup milk of choice and 1 tsp garlic salt. Bring together to a rough disc, press on to a lined baking tray, use your hands to rub 1 tsp of garlic olive oil over the top and sprinkle with flaked salt, slash the top and place into a preheated moderate oven for about 25 minutes or until golden and the base sounds hollow when tapped.

Preserving Chilli

March 31, 2016March 31, 2016 ~ desertcook ~ Leave a comment

There’s not much nicer in the kitchen than being able to cook with the food that you have grown only metres away!

Our chilli plants have been very productive this summer and these are a couple of the ways I have used them.

Chopped/Minced Chilli – use 1 flat tsp in place of 1 fresh chopped chilli in any recipe.

150g chilli
2 tbsp white vinegar.

Place whole chillis and vinegar in your processor and process until well chopped. (Speed 6, 10 seconds).

Of course, if you don’t have a processor you can just finely chop by hand and then stir through the vinegar.

Store in small, sterilised glass jars.

Chilli Infused Olive Oil – use in place of regular olive oil in cooking to add a bit of extra bite, or as a dip for some delicious crunchy bread.

400ml extra virgin olive oil
6 small chillis (mine were the size of my index finger)

Slice chillis lengthways and place in a saucepan with the oil.

Bring to a gentle simmer (100C, Speed 1, about 4-5 minutes) and then remove from the heat and allow to stand for 10 minutes.

Pour into sterilised glass bottles, through a sieve to remove the seeds. Then add the remaining chilli flesh into the bottles and seal.

Enjoy all year ’round 🙂

Gravy

March 30, 2016February 24, 2018 ~ desertcook ~ 3 Comments

You have probably read about my Mum being a fabulous cook many times on this blog. I’m always hopeful that I can come close to approximating her meals with our dietary limitations.

However, as a kid, I only remember gravy being made in instant form from powder in a packet (Sorry Mum!)… most probably because it was much quick and less fatty. So as an adult learning how to make gravy has been a bit of a challenge for me…. and it seems I’m not alone! It was always a little hit and miss until I recently saw a very old episode of ‘Good Eats’, hosted by Alton Brown. His method for making gravy was to thicken with a roux (fat and flour), so that the flour has already cooked out before it combines with the meat juices. And now we get great gravy every time.

I tend to cook in bulk, and gravy is no exception. This recipe makes about 3 cups of gravy. I pour into reusable squeezey containers and freeze. It means when I cook a leg of lamb that does us for 3 meals – I have the gravy ready to go for each of the following meals too.

3 cups Meat juices (I get about this from a large leg of lamb that I have slow cooked)
2 tbsp fat (either from the meat or Nuttelex)
2 tbsp flour (I use either spelt or a GF flour mix)

A general ratio of 1 tbsp fat, 1 tbsp flour to each 1.5 cups of liquid.

After I have removed the meat, I strain the meat juices and reserve the liquid.

Sit the liquid in the fridge for a couple of hours so that the fat separates and solidifies on the top. Then I scoop off the fat.

In a medium saucepan warm the juices back up – they will be quite jelly-like after cooling.

In a large saucepan, over a medium heat, melt your fat of choice, either the fat scooped off the top of the top of the cooled meat juice or use Nuttelex.

Then add in your flour. Whisk it to combine well. This is your roux and it needs to cook for about 4-5 minutes, whisking regularly, to allow the raw taste of the flour to cook out.

Then add 1/2 a cup of the warmed meat juices at a time into the roux, whisking whilst you add, and waiting till all combined before you add the next 1/2 cup.

Cooking, whisking regularly over a very gentle heat until you see the mixture come to a very slight simmer. Remove from the heat and serve with your meal.

Mixtures thickened with flour will continue to thicken on cooling, so try to serve as soon as possible. You can add a little boiling water if you wish to have runnier gravy.

Of course, you can use this method for all meats and add extra flavours to intensify those already in the juices.

Enjoy!

Garlic bread

March 8, 2016 ~ desertcook ~ Leave a comment

This is a super simple appetizer or addition to dinner – we have even taken it as a snack to picnics.

I use my yoghurt dough recipe – there are both vegan, soy free and GF options.

Most regularly I use a spelt/soy mix.

1 quantity dough (though 1/2 is sufficient for 1 large base)
1-2 tbsp garlic olive oil
1 tsp Himilayan salt
1 tsp fresh, finely chopped, rosemary.

Roll out dough to a pizza shape (thickness depends on how doughy or crispy you like your garlic bread) then brush with oil.

20160213_134004 — My gorgeous little helper 🙂

Sprinkle with salt and rosemary.

Place into a preheated moderate oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden.

Slice into wedges and serve.

I often make a whole quantity of dough, then freeze half uncooked (tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and placed in a zip lock bag), for an even quicker bread next time.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Gravy Pot Pie

March 4, 2016February 24, 2018 ~ desertcook ~ 1 Comment

I don’t like waste … in any form! Time, money, food and energy are all precious to me so I try to use them all to the best of my capability. This pie kind of exemplifies that! It uses scraps of left over meat, pantry staples and veggies that might be looking a little sad in the fridge, and it makes 2 meals at once. Love it.

A couple of weeks back I bought 2 bbq chickens to take to a picnic. After I’d pulled all of the firm, white meat off, there was a heap left that was brown meat, or a bit soft and fiddly to eat at a picnic, so I pulled every last shred off and froze it to use later – I got 350g off 2 chickens – easily an extra meal!

*If you’re not eating any meat, check below the recipe for a simple tweak to make this a vegan pie.

Then I make a simple chicken style gravy (not actually any chicken in it!). You need:

2 cups very hot chicken stock (I used Massel brand)
1 tbsp Nuttelex/vegan butter
1 tbsp spelt or pure corn flour
1/3 cup white wine
1 tsp fresh chopped thyme
ground black pepper to taste

Melt the Nuttelex in a saucepan then add in the flour, whisking immediately to avoid lumps (Speed 2, 100C for 2 mins or until melted, then add flour and continue speed 2, 90C for 4 mins). Cook, over medium heat, for about 4-5 minutes, stirring regularly. Then add in 1/3 of a cup of chicken stock at a time, whist whisking (Speed 2, 90C, and add stock through hold in lid). Once all the stock is combined, add in the wine, thyme and pepper and allow to simmer very gently for 2-3 minutes (Speed 2, 80C for 3 minutes). Set aside.

To make the filling of the pie you will need:

2 tbsp garlic oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
10-12 large button mushrooms, sliced
2 cups roughly chopped green beans
400g tin chic peas, drained and rinsed (save the brine when you drain it to use as an egg replacer!)

Heat the oil in a large pan (fabulous if this pan/dish can go from stove top to oven!), add the onions and good until translucent. Add in the mushrooms and cook, stirring until softening, about 4-5 minutes. Add in green beans and chic peas.

Pour gravy over the top of the veggie mix, then add the chopped cooked chicken, mix well and then bring to a gentle simmer for a few minutes.

To make the topping of the pie (which is a type of savoury scone dough!) you will need:

45g vegan butter
1.5 -1.75 cups spelt flour (or 1.25-1.5 cups GF flour plus 1 tsp psyllium)
2 tsp GF baking powder
1 heaped tbsp Nutritional yeast
1 tsp Himilayan salt
5-6 grinds back pepper
1 tsp fresh chopped thyme.
1/2 cup milk of choice – or water works well too.

In your food processor pulse together the Nuttelex with 1.5 cups of flour and baking powder.

Once it resembles bread crumbs stop the processor and add nutritional yeast, salt, black pepper, thyme. Process to combine (Speed 4, 5 seconds)

Then whilst the mixer working (used speed 3), gradually add in 1/2 cup milk or water.

Process to bring together (adding 1 tsp of flour extra at a time if your dough is too wet) then tip on to a floured surface and knead gently.

Roll to shape of you pie dish and top. Cut little vent holes.

Place in preheated 200C oven and bake for about 20-25 mins or until risen and golden brown minutes. It’s like having dumplings with a thick chicken casserole!

This quantity of filling is actually too much for one meal for our family, so I froze half for an easy meal down the track!

It is super simple to make a vegan version of this pie – simply leave out the chicken and double the quantity of chic peas and mushrooms.

Enjoy 🙂

Breakfast Muffins

January 17, 2016November 26, 2016 ~ desertcook ~ Leave a comment

In just a couple of short weeks school will be going back. Back to early rising, back to strict bedtimes and (almost) military style routines, back to a mad rush to leave the house with all 4 children fed, washed, clothed, packed and ready by 8am. Gosh, I love holidays!!!

Almost always porridge is the go for breakfast at our place. They all enjoy it and I can make up a big saucepan-full and everyone is happy. But for some reason, on some mornings, the getting ready process just doesn’t work well and we run late (please tell me that this happens to everyone!!).

To help on those occasions, I like to have these muffins in the freezer so I can give them a decent breakfast that they can eat while we’re walking to school. Most muffins are pretty well cakes in disguise but these guys have fruit sugars and lots of fibre and wholegrains to keep their little bodies going.

See below the recipe for a coeliac friendly option

2 medium overripe bananas (I keep some frozen)
4 Gluten-free Weetbix
50g rolled oats
6 large medjool dates, pitted
80g melted tasteless coconut oil, or other light tasting oil
235g milk of choice (we mostly use oat milk or unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
200g spelt flour (I do half wholemeal)
2 tsp GF baking powder
OPTIONAL: 1/2 cup frozen blueberries or 2 tbsp Chocolate Drinking mix

Place the oats in the food processor and blitz until fine (Speed 6, 10 seconds).

Add in the weet-bix, flour and baking powder and process well (Speed 5, 10 seconds). Tip out and set aside.

Place the banana, milk and oil in the bowl and begin processing, adding the dates one at a time through the chute at the top. Process until the dates are finely chopped and evenly distributed. (Speed 4 whilst adding the dates, and then up to speed 7 for 10 seconds). This also works really well in a blender or nutribullet.

Add dry mix to wet and process until combined (Speed 4, 12 seconds). I think this is has a lighter result if you fold through by hand though.

I normally separate the mix into 2 at this point as I have 1 child who doesn’t like blueberries (weird!). Fold the blueberries through the mix you do want them in and then scoop mix into a lined muffin tin.

Place into a preheated moderate oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and skewer comes out clean.

Makes 14 muffins. They freeze well and are especially yummy served slightly warm.

To make these coeliac friendly: Use 1 extra weet-bix and 1 tbsp rolled quinoa to replace the oats. To replace the spelt, use 200g GF flour mix. Increase the milk up to 240mls.

If you don’t have or enjoy dates then you could use a few tbsp of maple syrup or even coconut sugar in their place.

They are also particularly yummy if you replace the dates and berries with 2 tablespoons of my chocolate drinking mix (gives them a great nutritional boost too!)

Sometimes I make these and remove the oats and weet-bix with 1 tbsp each of Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds and chia seeds, plus 25g raw almond, 1 tbsp psyllium and 30g rolled quinoa. Milled down and stirred through the flour – this gives an especially good result when you’re using a gluten free flour.

Enjoy 🙂

Beef Burritos

January 13, 2016January 21, 2017 ~ desertcook ~ 1 Comment

So, it’s already established that we are a Mexican food loving family, this is another great simple meal that we’ve added to our Mexican list. I’m not sure how authentic they are but they are definitely yummy and well received by all in our house – and even our guest tonight.

For the tortillas, you can buy those that you enjoy in store, but we use my Masa Tortillas

700-800g gravy beef
2 tbsp Mexican Seasoning (also my husbands wants it spicier so I’ll use 3 next time!)
Salsa (I make this recipe and use 1/3 of it for this meal)
2 x 400g tin corn kernels, drained and rinsed
400g tin red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
400g tin re-fried beans
400g tin black beans

Place the beef in the bottom of your slow cooker. Sprinkle over the seasoning.

Add the salsa to the top and ensure even coverage, then place lid on and cook on low for 4 hours.

Remove lid and add corn and beans. Stir well so that the re-fried beans are evenly distributed. Return lid and cook on low for another 3-4 hours.

Remove lid and using a fork, gently pull apart the beef so that the meat is now shredded. Mix well and allow to cook for a further half hour on low.

Make or warm your tortillas.

To serve we use a couple of chopped ripe avocados seasoned with pink salt, ground black pepper, a squeeze of lime juice and a sprinkle of fresh chopped coriander. Add grated cheese of choice too if you wish (We use Bio Cheese for Ellie).

Place spoonfulls of meat in the middle of the tortilla, add avocado mix and cheese to the top then fold into a burrito and eat immediately.

This quantity of meat makes enough for our family of 6 for 2 dinners plus a couple of lunches. It freezes well.

For a lighter option I also use a large lettuce leaf in place of a tortilla … Delish and so fresh and crunchy!

Enjoy 🙂

Chicken, chick pea and date curry

November 30, 2015July 17, 2016 ~ desertcook ~ 1 Comment

This delicious Moroccan inspired curry is actually adapted from one that Libby gave me at a recipe swap night about 8 years ago – thanks Lib!

8 chicken thighs, diced
800g tin crushed tomatoes
2 x 420g tin chick peas, drained and rinsed
12 medjool dates, diced
about 4 tbsp oil of choice
1 brown onion, finely diced
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp plain GF flour
3 tsp ground cumin
3 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp tumeric
2 tsp chilli powder
2 cups hot chicken stock (I used Massel)
1/2 cup roasted sunflower seeds or blanched almonds

Into a large plastic zip lock bag, place flour and all dry spices, shake to combine then add in the diced chicken and shake well until coated.

Heat oil and brown chicken in a couple of batches, then set aside.

Heat some more oil, add onion and cook for a few minutes translucent.

Add garlic, and cook stirring for another 2 minutes.

Return the coated chicken along with any spices remaining from the bag to the frying pan.

Stir well and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and stock to the pan. Simmer gently for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the chick peas and dates and cook, stirring for another 5 minutes.

Add in the sunflower seeds or almonds and serve with brown rice, corn cous cous or cauliflower rice.

Makes about 10 serves and freezes and defrosts well.

A few Budget/Bulk Cooking tips:

For less expensive dates you can use dried ones. Just add them to the pot about 5 minutes earlier so they have longer to soften and plump up.
When I need to make this meal stretch further, I add an additional 400g tin of tomatoes and an additional tin of drained chick peas. Works beautifully to feed our family 4 times over!