Showing posts with label avocado. Show all posts
Showing posts with label avocado. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers

Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers

Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers

A few years back I was at a restaurant and full after eating a massive plate of ribs. But they brought out the dessert menu in that usual dance that has me reading the list and nothing really grabbing my eye, so I end up just getting the bill and going. Or maybe a coffee. I can be fairly selective about desserts, if there’s not something that sounds a bit different or exactly what I feel like, I usually don’t bother. Basil panna cotta. Interest officially piqued, I ordered it. A wobbly pale green mound was brought out to me, the aroma of basil evident before I’d even tasted it. The bright herb punched through the cream and sweetness, made brighter still by lime zest. It was such a fun little dessert. Ever since then, I’d had it in my mind to make some herby panna cottas. It sat on my flavour combination list and was largely ignored as I chose to make new dishes that cropped up. Until one day, it just jumped out at me. I needed to make a herb panna cotta. Only I needed it to be savoury.
This makes enough for 6 or so panna cotta, depending on how big your mould/serving dishes are, which meant I got two goes at serving it for Lance and I. The first time I served it with pulled beef and cauliflower crackers and called it Coriander Panna Cotta. The second time I served it with seed crackers and salsa and called it Guacamole pannacotta. The base for the panna cotta is the usual cream, but rounded out by avocado and Greek Yoghurt, which makes it more acceptable, nutrition-wise as a dinner option than just cream. Both ingredients adding their own special silkiness and flavour profiles to the dish. The cream portion is infused with coriander and spring onions with just enough honey to take the bite out of the yoghurt’s tang.
I’ve included both cracker recipes below as well. The seed crackers come together particularly quickly. I made them as some friends stood around one afternoon and they were done and baked before the first glass of wine was finished. They were fairly impressed! The cauliflower ones are almost as easy, but with the added step of steaming and draining the vegetable first. If you were going to make them fresh for a dinner party, the vegetable cooking portion could be done a day ahead and refrigerated. The addition of linseeds also helps to soak up some of the cauli’s excess water and bind the crackers together.

Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers
Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers
Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers

Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers
Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers


Coriander Panna Cotta


500mL cream
1 bunch coriander
2 spring onions, white and tender green tips
1 tbsp honey
½ tsp pink peppercorns
½ tsp salt
½ cup greek yoghurt
2 ripe avocadoes
¼ cup water
2 tsps gelatin powder

Place 450mL cream in a small saucepan along with the coriander, spring onions, honey, salt and pink peppercorns. Gently heat until just below boiling, then take off heat, cover and set aside to infuse for 30 minutes. Strain into a clean saucepan. Place the remaining 50mL of cream in a small glass and sprinkle the gelatin powder, set aside to ‘bloom’ for 5 minutes. Reheat the infused cream to a simmer and then stir in the bloomed gelatin cream. Stir to combine and continue stirring until the gelatin dissolves, then take off the heat.
Using a blender, combine the avocadoes, yoghurt water until smooth. Blend in the cream and check for seasoning. Pour into moulds and refrigerate 24 hours or so until set.


Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers
Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers
Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers

Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers


Cauliflower Crackers

½ head cauliflower
1 tbsp linseeds/flaxseeds
1 egg
Cajun seasoning to taste (around 1/4 tsp ought to do it)
Cut the cauliflower into tiny rice-like pieces (alternatively, process to ‘rice’ in a food processor). Steam or microwave for a few minutes until tender, then set aside to cool. Place in muslin and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.

Preheat oven to 160C. Grease an oven tray.

Mix together the cauliflower, linseeds, egg and seasoning. Mix well to combine, then press firmly into the greased oven tray. Set aside for 10 minutes, then bake for 15 minutes, or until golden on top. Cool 5 minutes, then slice.

Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers
Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers
Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers

Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers

Quinoa and Seed Crackers

½ cup quinoa flakes
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
2 tsp sesame seeds
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1 egg white
Preheat oven to 130C

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Create a well in the centre and add the egg white. Gently whisk the egg, then slowly start bringing in the dry ingredients until completely combined. Dump onto a piece of baking paper. Place another piece of baking paper on top and roll out with a rolling pin until very thin – around 2mm. Gently pull the top piece off and discard.
Bake for 7-10 minutes, or until the edges start to look golden. Watch carefully. Remove from the oven, slice into desired cracker size and gently flip over. Pop back in the oven for another 5-7 minutes, or until they’re golden on the other side too. Set aside to cool, then enjoy!


Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa CrackersThree Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa CrackersThree Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa CrackersThree Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers
Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers
Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers
Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers
Three Recipes - Coriander Panna Cotta, Cauliflower Crackers, Quinoa Crackers






Thursday, May 29, 2014

Easy Friday Nights - Cheese, Pickled Beetroot and Avocado Toastie with Creamy Sriracha Dipping Sauce.


Sometimes you get home late and  it's dreary, miserable weather and you can’t be bothered with the cooking, but you want something delicious. What is more delicious than melted cheese? Melted cheese with creamy avocado and tart pickles. I’d put this on the grill and immediately regretted not adding some spice. Which I remedied when I remembered the amazing Pig’s Ass Sandwich Lance and I ate at Casselula in New York, with it’s spicy dipping sauce. This isn’t that sauce - not even close, but I needed something super quick and this more than adequately did the job.

So there I was, melted cheesy deliciousness in crunchy toasted bread, creamy spicy dipping sauce and a sipper of Rye. A perfect meal for sitting on the couch after a long day. And it all comes together in less than 10 minutes.

 
Sandwich
(makes 2 sandwiches)
½ Avocado
Pickled beetroot and onion
Sliced Cheddar Cheese - sharp is better but it has to melt well
4 slices light rye bread

Dipping sauce
4 heaping tbsp greek yoghurt
1-2 tsp sriracha (to taste)

Heat your sandwich press

Slice the cheese and layer it onto two slices of bread. Smoosh ¼ of an avocado on each one, then drain and place a few tablespoons of the pickled vegetables on top. Top with the other slice of bread to make 2 complete sandwiches.

Put into the sandwich press and push down firmly to squash together.

In a small bowl, mix together the yoghurt and sriracha to your taste.

When the sandwich is toasty and golden with the cheese fully melted, remove and slice into strips.
 
Eat, dipping into the sauce as you go

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Skamp's Krabby Patties


Watching cartoons is a guilty pleasure of mine. Despite being 31. I love old kids cartoons. I love Disney movies. I love adult cartoons like Archer. I love Spongebob Squarepants. Here’s a photo of me meeting Spongebob and Patrick Starr back in 2011.
 
 
And me with Lego Spongebob in 2009.

 
So when we went for our annual crabbing trip and we caught our full quota this year and I was thinking of the different ways of cooking with the crab, I decided one dish would be Krabbie Patties (which I’m pretty sure are actually beef in the cartoon). This is just a slightly different take on the prawn burgers I made as part of my Tapas Sliders Night (seriously, need to do another one of those!) and as such, if you don’t have crab meat you can substitute it with much-easier-to-find prawn. One day, I will get around to posting that recipe. It’s delicious. And those I usually serve with a mango salsa. So this I served with a mango guacamole.

I served these with bread to make sandwiches/burgers (I didn’t have buns at home but a nice soft bun would’ve been better), and then the next night we had tacos with the leftovers. It made 6 patties.

 

Skamp’s Krabby Patties
2/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
¼ cup cornmeal
½ tsp smokey paprika
1 large clove garlic
1 ½ cups crab meat
2 eggs
2 tsp wholeseed mustard
1 sprig parsley
Salt and pepper (about 6-8 grinds of each)

Mango Guacamole
Avocado
Mango
Jalapeno
Salt & pepper
Juice from one lime

For the patties, put the eggs, mustard, garlic, paprika, parsley and salt and pepper into a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add the cornmeal and panko and stir through. Gently fold through the crab meat, so you don’t break the pieces up too much. If the consistency is too wet, add a little more panko. Wet your hands, then form patties about palm size. Put on a plate and leave to ‘set’ for about 15 minutes. Enough time to make the guacamole.

Peel and de-seed the avocado, add to a heavy bowl with salt and pepper and lime, then mash with a fork to make as smooth or chunky as you like. Diced the mango and slice the jalapeno (remove the seeds/membranes if you don’t want it too hot) and stir through. Set aside.

Heat a frypan to medium high heat and add a thin layer of rice bran oil or other neutral oil with a  high smoke point. Allow the oil to heat, then carefully slide a few of the patties into the hot oil (don’t overcrowd the pan). Cook until golden, about 5 minutes, then flip and cook for another 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels and cover to keep warm while you do the next patties.
 
Serve with buns/bread of your choice, salady ingredients and the mango guacamole.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Comfort Food - Avocado Soup

Have I told you about "The Nanna Shop" before? I'm not sure, but it's very likely as I shop there all the time. It's actually called Cannington Fresh Markets, but my nanna used to live just down the road from there. Growing up, my siblings and I used to walk with her down to The Nanna Shop to buy her a newspaper and us some lollies. It's changed a lot over the years, it used to have a butcher and bakery inside the store but now it's just the one big shop. It has lots of good fresh produce, imported sauces, tinned goods, continental fare, cheese and smallgoods. Usually, if a recipe calls for a slightly left-of-centre ingredient, my first port of call to try find it is The Nanna Shop. Funnily, now my husband and his sister, along with various friends and even my work receptionist now refer to it as The Nanna Shop as well!

The main reason I shop there frequently is for the fruit and veg. And one of the best things they have a buckets of produce at the back of the store. If you can use it, these bulk buy buckets are excellent value. Especially for those things that are a little on the expensive side normally, like mangoes, mushrooms and avocadoes. Usually the produce in the buckets are slightly smaller than what is normally sold in the per kilo section, but is still excellent quality. As summer approaches, I always head straight to the back first, hoping that mango season has started. It's one of my signals that summer is on it's way.

One thing I always buy there is bags of avocadoes. Always. I love avocadoes. Occasionally, I end up with too many and the two of us can't finish them before they've gone a little too soft. Which is where this soup came in. Creamy and subtle and oh-so-easy, this is a great vegetarian soup by itself, or as served here, awesome with the chipotle chicken as an extra kicker. Especially in this got-cold-again weather. And it would be remiss of me to not mention that crispy bacon would then make it a Vegetarian Recipe Improved By Bacon.

The wine in the last photo is from Darlington Estate. I highly recommend you eat there at some point. Awesome food.



Chipotle Chicken
2 chicken thighs
1/4 cup chipotle sauce
1 tbsp rice bran oil

Avocado Soup
adapted from here
1 tbsp rice bran oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
5 cups vegetable stock
3-4 small ripe avocadoes
2 stalks silverbeet, centre white bit removed and shredded.
Handful coriander leaves for garnish
2 jalapenos, sliced, for garnish

Pour the chipotle sauce over the chicken thighs and allow to marinade for 20 minutes or so. Heat the oil in a frypan, BBQ or grill and cook the thighs until done, about 5 minutes per side. Set aside, but keep warm.

Heat the second lot of oil in a pot over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and cook another few minutes until very fragrant.

Add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low, add the silverbeet and simmer for 5 minutes. Take off the heat.

Add the avocado and blend the whole thing with a stick blender until smooth. Return to a low heat and simmer for 5 minutes, or until warmed through.

Slice chicken, then put in the bottom of the serving bowls and pour the soup over the top. Garnish with jalapenos and coriander.

Serve with corn chips, if desired.