Showing posts with label chipotle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chipotle. Show all posts

Monday, January 26, 2015

Australia Day - Dessert Nachos with Chipotle Marshmallows and Vegemite Salted Caramel

Australia Day - Dessert Nachos with Chipotle Marshmallows and Vegemite Salted Caramel
Australia Day - Dessert Nachos with Chipotle Marshmallows and Vegemite Salted Caramel
Australia Day - Dessert Nachos with Chipotle Marshmallows and Vegemite Salted Caramel


Happy Australia Day! For you today, on this most celebratory of summer days, I have something special. Something very different. Something I want you to trust me on. It is a bit weird, but it’s also very, very good.  Dessert nachos.


Over the Christmas period I attended a few gatherings where the subject of my blog and recipes was brought up by other people. It was actually quite interesting to hear friends and family discuss what they thought of my blog and in a way, ‘sell’ it to others. I am quite passionate about the food I create and eat, and it was quite lovely to hear other people discuss some my recipes animatedly! Made me feel a little like a rock star! The number one recurring word used to describe my food was ‘quirky’. I’m quite happy to wear that badge. I love mixing combinations of food together to create something unique and amazing. Something that might take you by surprise, but you fall in love with. For me, cooking is imagination. For others, that means my cooking is quirky. I like that!


So this is my quirky take on dessert nachos. I’ve already brought you dessert tacos, it’s time for nachos. The basic combination for these nachos is simple to replicate without any cooking, just using bought components. Corn chips + caramel + marshmallow + chocolate. That by itself is a seriously indulgent and wonderful movie night snack. However, if you want a slightly quirkier take, with a little extra work, you make your own marshmallow. And you flavour it with smokey chipotle powder. And you make your own caramel. Salted caramel. Using Vegemite as the salt.


I already use vegemite as a substitute for salt in many savoury dishes. It works great as a ‘stock’ in casseroles, stews and soups. It is absolutely delicious on toast and eggs. Even better with avocado. It adds a deeper savoury flavour than ‘just’ salt. Why could the same not be applied to sweet dishes? Salty and sweet as a combination is now well in the general conscience, with salted caramel being the most popular incarnation of this. So, let’s make it with a little vegemite. Trust me on this. Make this caramel. Make these nachos. Thank me later.


Happy Australia Day!
 
Australia Day - Dessert Nachos with Chipotle Marshmallows and Vegemite Salted Caramel
Australia Day - Dessert Nachos with Chipotle Marshmallows and Vegemite Salted Caramel



Dessert Nachos

(makes 4 serves)
1 packet lightly salted Tortilla chips (I like Mission brand)
10 tsp Vegemite Caramel (recipe to follow)
1/2 batch chipotle marshmallows (recipe to follow)
4 squares dark chocolate

Heat the oven to 190C

In ovensafe bowls or plates, scatter tortilla chips over 4 plates, drizzle a few teaspoons of caramel over each plate, and tuck in some marshmallow bits. Coarely chop the dark chocolate squares and scatter over the top.

Bake 10 minutes, or until marshmallows are gooey inside and the chocolate is melted.

Australia Day - Dessert Nachos with Chipotle Marshmallows and Vegemite Salted Caramel
Australia Day - Dessert Nachos with Chipotle Marshmallows and Vegemite Salted Caramel


Vegemite Salted Caramel

1 cup sugar
4 tbsp water
55 g butter
100mL cream
1 tsp vegemite (warmed slightly if hard)

Add sugar and water in a medium pan over low heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and every so often, swirl the pot to keep the mixture moving. Do not stir. The mixture will start turning a nice caramel colour, when this happens, remove from the heat immediately and add the butter, vegemite and cream. Watch out, it will spit. Whisk to combine, then set aside to cool and thicken slightly before pouring into jars to store

Australia Day - Dessert Nachos with Chipotle Marshmallows and Vegemite Salted Caramel
Australia Day - Dessert Nachos with Chipotle Marshmallows and Vegemite Salted Caramel
Australia Day - Dessert Nachos with Chipotle Marshmallows and Vegemite Salted Caramel


Chipotle Marshmallows

1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tsp chipotle chilli powder
1/4 tsp cayenne
23g gelatin powder

1 1/2 cups white sugar
150mL glucose syrup
1/2 cup water

dusting mix
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup corn flour

Add the first half cup water to the bowl of your stand mixer, whiskn in the chilli powder and cayenne and sprinkle the gelatin over the top. Leave until the gelatin is absorbed and becomes gel-ly.

Line a lamington tray or baking paper with cling film, allow for overhang on all sides. Dust a few tablespoons of the dusting mix along the bottom.

In a large saucepan, combine the glucose syrup, water and sugar. Cook over a medium heat, stirring gently to help the sugar dissolve. Raise the heat and boil until it reaches 130C on a candy thermometer. Swirl the mixture, but do not stir. When it reaches 130C, immediately remove from heat.

Whisk the gelatin mixture on low for 1 minute, then turn the mixer up to around 3/4 top speed and slowly drizzle the hot sugar mix whilst it's still going. Don't let the stream touch the whisk. Increase the speed to high and leave it whisking until the mixture is pale and fluffy and looks like glossy meringue. It'll take at least 5 minutes. It's ready when strands pull from the sides like bubblegum.

Pour the mix into the lined pan and use a greased spatula to smooth the top. Dust with more dusting mix and pop aside in a cool spot to set. It'll take a few hours, depending on the heat & humidity.

Cut the marshmallows into squares and dust the newly exposed sides with more dusting mixture. Store in airtight containers.

Australia Day - Dessert Nachos with Chipotle Marshmallows and Vegemite Salted Caramel

Friday, October 10, 2014

Using Leftovers - Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Fetta Croquettes with Smokey Rotkohl


Using Leftovers - Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Fetta Croquettes with Smokey Rotkohl
Using Leftovers - Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Fetta Croquettes with Smokey Rotkohl

I’ve never made croquettes before, but when someone suggested on Skamp’s facebook page that it was a good way for using leftover roast sweet potato and pumpkin, I thought it was time to give it a go. I had almost exactly 200g of roast sweet potato and pumpkin leftover from a roast the night before and this made the perfect amount of croquettes for the two of us for dinner. These would be great served as a hot snack at a dinner party with maybe some sweet chilli sauce or creamy sriracha dipping sauce.


I had a fairly salty style Danish fetta in these croquettes, so if your fetta is less salty, you may need to season. I used coconut as well as bread crumbs for the coating, because I love that combination and it just tends to work for frying anything. Seriously.

To make it a complete meal, I served it with a chipotle rotkohl – a sauerkraut made with red cabbage. This is in no way a traditional recipe, but it tastes pretty amazing! A nice briny sauerkraut with a smokey kick of heat. This with the naturally sweet flavour of the roast veges in the croquettes was a match made in heaven. And then to round it out, some rye bread toast and some chorizo fried in muscat. The rotkohl makes way more than you’ll need for a meal for two, but it keeps well, just reheating it as you need it for a few days


Using Leftovers - Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Fetta Croquettes with Smokey Rotkohl
Using Leftovers - Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Fetta Croquettes with Smokey RotkohlUsing Leftovers - Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Fetta Croquettes with Smokey Rotkohl


Roast Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Croquettes

200g roast pumpkin and sweet potato, mashed
85g fetta
1 tsp dried basil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup panko
1/2 cup dried coconut
1 tsp coriander powder

In a large bowl, mash the sweet potato and pumpkin together, then mix through the dried basil to distribute evenly. Gently fold through the fetta. You want it to be evenly mixed through, but not necessarily smooth. A few small lumps of fetta are fine.

Set up a crumbing station. Have two shallow bowls, one with a lightly beaten egg. In the other, mix together the panko, coconut and coriander powder.

Form the croquettes by rolling 2-3tbsp of pumpkin mixture into logs. Roll in the egg, then in the panko mixture. Place on a tray and refrigerate for 30 minutes to set.

Heat a thin layer of olive oil in a pan, and fry each side of the croquettes until golden and crispy on the outside, and warm and gooey inside. About 2 minutes per side. Drain on paper towel for 5 minutes to cool to eating temperature and eat straight away!

Using Leftovers - Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Fetta Croquettes with Smokey Rotkohl
Using Leftovers - Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Fetta Croquettes with Smokey Rotkohl
Using Leftovers - Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Fetta Croquettes with Smokey Rotkohl
Using Leftovers - Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Fetta Croquettes with Smokey Rotkohl
Using Leftovers - Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Fetta Croquettes with Smokey Rotkohl


Smokey Rotkohl (Red Cabbage Sauerkraut)

1 red onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp salt
1 red cabbage, thinly sliced
1 chipotle chili
1 cup hot water
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp honey

Pour the hot water over the chipotle chili and set aside to soften.

In a large pot, heat the olive oil to medium heat. Add the red onion and salt, and sautee until translucent. Add the garlic and cook until aromatic.

Add the cabbage, tomatoes, apple cider vinegar, cumin seeds and honey. Remove the chipotle from the hot water, and add the water to the pot as well. Bring the liquid to the boil, pushing the cabbage into the liquid as well as you can. Then turn down to a simmer.

Core the chipotle, then finely slice and add to the rotkohl. Simmer for 30 minutes or so, until the cabbage is soft. Serve!


Using Leftovers - Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Fetta Croquettes with Smokey Rotkohl
Using Leftovers - Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Fetta Croquettes with Smokey Rotkohl
Using Leftovers - Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Fetta Croquettes with Smokey Rotkohl
Using Leftovers - Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Fetta Croquettes with Smokey Rotkohl
Using Leftovers - Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Fetta Croquettes with Smokey Rotkohl



Sunday, May 11, 2014

Work Lunches - Smokey Mango Barley Salad


Not working in the CBD means my food options are extremely limited unless I take a drive to buy something. This is both a blessing and a curse. I see some Instagram feeds of the amazing food options in the city and it makes me sad that I have to really put in the effort to go into the city for them. But it means I have a better control over the food I do eat, making me eat healthier and more cheaply. So it has it’s plusses too.

To help me be prepared for the next day’s lunch, whenever I have the oven on for dinner, I’ll roast a few extra veges. Likewise, whenever I cook some grains, I will cook extra to use in lunches. This is one of my favourite take-to-work lunches. The best part of it is the combination of textures. Silky roast eggplant, soft sweet potato, chewy barley and crunchy bean sprouts all smoky and sweet and savoury and delicious. It is best served at room temperature, rather than cold. I made this batch and it lasted in the fridge for 3 days of work lunches.

Smokey Mango, Sweet Potato and Eggplant Barley Salad
1 small sweet potato
1 small eggplant
Generous splash of olive oil
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp chipotle Tabasco
1 cup cooked pearl barley
Handful basil leaves, torn
1/2 cup mixed bean sprouts (mung bean, adzuki bean, blue pea and lentil is the mix I use)
1/2 mango
1 tablespoon butter
Salt and pepper to season

Dice the sweet potato and eggplant make the sweet potato dice a bit smaller than the eggplant dice so it cooks evenly. Put in a bowl and pour over the olive oil, maple syrup and Chipotle Tabasco sauce. Stir well to coat each piece. Roast for 30-45 minutes until soft. Set aside to cool.

Roughly chop the mango, add a tablespoon of butter and season. Put in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until the mango has broken down. Stir well with a fork to help break it down, or puree if you can be bothered.

Combine barley, sweet potato, eggplant and stir through the mango sauce. Gently fold through the bean sprouts and basil leaves. Eat! Or take to work and eat!



Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Birthday Meals - Fig and Apple BBQ Pasta Sauce


My husband and I both tend to have birthday week, at least. Sometimes birthday month. We generally don't buy each other presents unless there’s something specific we find (this is true for all gift-giving occasions). Instead it becomes a week or so full of birthday-related activities. This year, his parents threw their annual party. The day of his birthday I met his boat after work and we had tapas and beers at Monk Brewery with a few friends and the next day I cooked him this for dinner for his Birthday + 1. I had told him I wanted to cook him something special for his birthday and he told me he doubted I could. Everything I cook was special. Bless him.

We are both big fans of ribs. Sticky, BBQ sauce smothered ribs. Preferably smokey. Along with my collection of hot sauces, I have a handful of different BBQ sauces in my pantry, too. I was thinking about how they all have a similar base flavour, and started contemplating what it was that makes a BBQ sauce taste like a BBQ sauce. Basically it’s a combination of sweet, salt and vinegar. The ‘sweet’ is usually fruity. And then it’s got some spice in there. Pretty simple, really. I knew I didn’t have enough time to come home from work and cook ribs (they are so much better slow-cooked), but I still wanted that sticky sweet sauce. I got it in my head to make a pasta, but didn’t want to just use a BBQ sauce from the bottle because they tend to be a bit ‘much’ in large quantities. The vinegar and sugar can take over.

I had been given a few sundowner apples from my parents’ after an orchard trip. I’m not the hugest fan of them to just eat, I find they can be a bit ‘floury’. I like my apples tart and crisp – like pink ladies, or fujis. But, I thought they’d make the perfect sweet base for a BBQ sauce. I added some figs, because I had some. You can always substitute another apple, or maybe a few nectarines or peaches seeing as they’re in season. To me, the sauce turned out perfectly and Lance swears up and down that it wasn’t BBQ sauce but was delicious. I asked him what it tasted like and what BBQ sauce tasted like. He repeated back all of the same flavours for both. What was ‘missing’ was it being further reduced to concentrate the flavours like the traditional condiment – but this was the reason I didn’t want to just use a bottled sauce in the first place. So, I am going to make this again, but cook it in my slow cooker for a few hours to reduce it further, then puree it to make a condiment BBQ sauce. And as a compromise, I am calling this a BBQ Pasta Sauce instead of just a BBQ sauce.

To make the pasta, I had some beautiful little yellow squash and zucchini, then some leftover roast beef that I shredded. Some pork or chicken would go well, too. Then I added a tonne of basil and flat leaf parsley at the end. I wanted it to be more of a vegetable than a herb.
 
This recipe has a lot of ingredients, but most of them are spices, so don’t get too overwhelmed by that. For me, they are all pantry staples. The mustard seeds and cumin seeds I measured before I toasted and ground them. If you have pre-ground spices, then you’d probably need a little less.



Fig and Apple BBQ Pasta Sauce
(serves 4-6)
2 shallots
4 cloves garlic
2 apples
6 figs
1 shot bourbon
2 tsp sweet paprika
2 tsp smokey paprika
1 tsp chipotle chili powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp pepper
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 cup water
½ cup apple cider vinegar


Assembling the Pasta
6 yellow squash, diced
1/2 zucchini, diced
1 cup shredded cooked beef
Bunch basil leaves, roughly torn
Bunch flatleaf parsley leaves, roughly torn
500g egg noodles


In a large, tall sided pan (I used my tagine pan) on a low heat, add the olive oil and when it’s warmed up, add the shallots and garlic and sautee for about 5 minutes until translucent. You don’t want to colour them, you want it sweet and soft. Then add the apples, figs, salt and bourbon. Stir well, then cover and leave to simmer around 10 minutes while you prep the rest.

In a dry pan, toast the cumin and mustard seeds for 15-30 seconds until the mustard seeds ‘pop’. Add to a spice grinder or mortar & pestle with the peppercorns and grind until fine. Add the two paprikas and chili powder to the spice mix. Mix together the water, Worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar and honey. Pour into the apple mixture. Add the spice mixture into the pan as well and mix everything really well. Cover again and simmer away for at least 20 minutes. The fruit should break down and go mushy turning into a delicious sticky sauce. Check for seasoning.

Meanwhile, place a pot of salted water on to boil for the pasta. Cook according to packet instructions. Add the squash, beef and zucchini to the sauce and cook until warmed through and the vegetables have softened – 10 minutes. Add the pasta when al dente, and the herbs, and stir through. Serve!




Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Signs of Summer - Smokey Chipotle Eggplant and Mango with Black Coconut Rice



One of the signs of summer starting for me is when The Nanna Shop starts selling bags of mangoes. No more paying $4 each for them. Naturally, the first time you see them, you buy a bag. You get home and eat one straight away – because you can. And then you decide what to do for the rest. Given I also had a bag of medium eggplants and knowing that smokey chipotle goes amazingly well with them, this dish was born. I made this two days in a row, with leftovers for lunch both days and I’m still not sick of it. In fact, if I had any mangoes left, I’d be having it for dinner again – but with leftover chicken. You can leave out the meat entirely if you want, I just had some leftover so it went in.

The coconut rice can be made with brown or jasmine rice if you don’t have black. The second day I made it with red rice and white beans, just for something different.

The chipotles in adobo sauce can be a bit tricky to find. I spent 2 years trying to track them down in Perth without luck, so on my trip to the states in June, I bought 2 tins home with me. Since getting back, I’ve found them at IGA in Mt Lawley, Kakulas in Northbridge and Fremantle. The Re Store in Leederville sells Chipotle Tabasco as a substitute (which you should buy anyway because it’s AMAZING and goes on everything).

Given the craziness of this time of the year, I haven’t gotten around to much proper photography lately, so this is another Instagram of Yumness.
 


Chipotle Eggplant and Mango
(serves 4 with rice)
1 medium eggplant, 2cm dice
1 small zucchini (or 6 small yellow squash), 2cm diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 chipotle in adobo sauce, minced
2 tsp adobo sauce
1 cup shredded roast lamb
2 mangoes, flesh diced
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp salt
30mL shot dark rum
1/3 cup water
1 sprig parsley
1 sprig coriander
 

Black Coconut Rice
¾ cup black rice
¾ cup coconut milk
1 cup water
¼ tsp salt
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained


First, start the coconut rice. Add the rice, coconut milk, water and salt to a small pot. Bring to a gentle boil, then turn to low and simmer for 30 minutes until rice is tender.

Heat a large frypan to a medium heat. Add the eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, mangoes, chillis and sauce, salt, smoked paprika, rum and water. Stir it all around to fully coat everything in the sauce. Turn the heat down to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the lamb, and heat through for a further 3 minutes or so.

Add the kidney beans to the rice and allow to heat through for a few minutes.

Just before serving, stir the parsley and coriander through the eggplant mix. Squeeze a little kewpie mayonnaise over the top when serving

If you then have any mangoes left, you should definitely give this soufflé a try! Delicious with fresh mangoes on the side