Showing posts with label coriander. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coriander. 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






Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Get Well Soon - Herbed Cream Cheese and Prawn Pizza


Get Well Soon - Herbed Cream Cheese and Prawn Pizza


Lance and I both got hit by the flu that was going around. It knocked us around quite a bit and in an attempt to kick it, I started amping up the health-promoting ingredients in all of our dishes. This on top of the lemon, honey and ginger teas we were drinking like they were going out of fashion. One Sunday we were both feeling sorry for ourselves, the sun was shining and I was a bit over the soups. So I made these cold-kicking cream cheese pizzas – full of garlic, ginger, chilli, fresh herbs and lemon and honey squeezed over the top. We sat out in the sun to get some vitamin D and shake off some of the germs and cobwebs from being in bed for a week. 

It felt a lot like the sitting at the pub and having a gourmet pizza that we were missing out on, and it perked us up enough to get back to work the next day.


You don’t need to be sick to enjoy these. But they’re easy enough to cook when you are. I think this is going to make a few appearances over Spring and Summer. Possibly with real, homemade pizza bases!



Get Well Soon - Herbed Cream Cheese and Prawn Pizza
Get Well Soon - Herbed Cream Cheese and Prawn Pizza



Herbed Cream Cheese and Prawn Pizza


100g peeled raw prawns
4 lebanese loaves
250g Philadelphia cream cheese
2 bunches coriander
1 bunch parsley
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tsp red chilli, minced
1 tsp grated ginger
¼ tsp salt
Handful bean sprouts
1 tbsp capers
Handful rocket
Lemon wedges for serving



Preheat the oven to 170C


Throw your cream cheese, coriander, parsley, garlic cloves, chilli, salt and ginger in a food processor. Pulse until it’s all chopped up and evenly combined.


Spread over the Lebanese loaves, then distribute the prawns, capers and bean sprouts. Pop in the oven and cook for 20 minutes until the prawns are pink and the cheese is getting golden at the edges.


Serve with a handful of rocket on top, then drizzle over some honey and add lemon wedges.
Even better with a beer or crisp white wine


Get Well Soon - Herbed Cream Cheese and Prawn Pizza
Get Well Soon - Herbed Cream Cheese and Prawn Pizza
Get Well Soon - Herbed Cream Cheese and Prawn Pizza
Get Well Soon - Herbed Cream Cheese and Prawn Pizza

Monday, September 8, 2014

Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins

Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
We got into the (awesome) habit of having roasts almost every weekend for a while there. Given the abundance of bones, I started to make a point of using the bones to make my own stocks with, rather than just throw them out. I have a bunch of both lamb and pork stock in the freezer now for adding extra awesomeness to soups and risottos. For this pork roast, we didn’t end up eating the little shank piece that came with it, nor did I salt that part correctly for crackling. So, leaving a little bit of meat on the main bone after the roast, and cutting the skin off the shank piece, I popped these bones in a stock pot and added the only flavouring items I had at that stage – onion, garlic, salt, pepper and the stalks from the various herbs I was going to put in the actual dish.
In keeping with the ‘using leftovers’ theme, when I peeled the potatoes, I made sure I did it in long strips, then salted them and the liberated pork skin and chucked them in the oven until they went super crispy, the pork skin turned into crackling and both made the most delicious garnish.
Then it was just a matter of boiling the stock for 40 minutes, and steaming the potatoes over the stock for the last 10 of those minutes, or until tender. Strain the stock, shred the meat from the bones and pour the stock over fresh herbs and greens, like you would in a Pho. Top with your crispy extras and chilli. Delicious!
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins

Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins

1 bunch mint, leaves removed
1 bunch basil, leaves removed – stalks reserved
1 bunch coriander, leaves removed – stalks reserved
one roast pork bone (with a little meat left on)
4 small potatoes, peeled and diced into 1cm cubes
3 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper corns
one onion, peeled, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and squashed
¼ broccoli, cut into florets and finely sliced
1 cup snow peas, finely sliced
1 red onion, sliced for garnish
In a large soup pot, add the bone, the herb stalks, salt, peppercorns, onion and garlic. Add enough water to cover – around 2L. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 40 minutes. After 30 minutes, put the diced potato into a steamer insert over the soup pot and leave to steam for 10 minutes, or until tender.
Removed the bones from the stock and carefully cut the remaining meat off the bone. Discard bone. Strain the stock into a clean pot. Discard the other flavouring ingredients. Bring the stock back to the boil.
Divide the potato, pork, broccoli, snow peas and herbs into 2 bowls. Pour over the stock and leave to sit for 5 minutes before sprinkling the potato skins, crackling and chilli on top.
Enjoy!
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins