Showing posts with label vegetarian recipes improved by bacon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vegetarian recipes improved by bacon. Show all posts

Monday, July 28, 2014

Vegetarian Recipes Improved by Cured Meats - Deconstructed Chorizo Imam Biyaldi


Vegetarian Recipes Improved by Cured Meats - Deconstructed Chorizo Imam Biyaldi
I wrote before that as a teenager, I had the dream of writing a cookbook called Vegetarian Recipes Improved by Bacon. But that seems a little restrictive these days. Chorizo also definitely has it’s place in that ‘improving vegetarian recipes’ scenario. So it’s much less catchy, and would probably sell a whole bunch less copies but maybe we should go with “Vegetarian Recipes Improved by Cured Meats”. This dish is a riff on the classic dish Turkish dish Imam Biyaldi. That in itself is often already made non-vegetarian through the use of minced meat. But it is a garlic, tomato braised eggplant dish that is perfect in this cold weather. The smokiness of some fried chorizo kick up the rich creaminess of the eggplant into the next realm of deliciousness. I took some of this with me for a wintery Down South escape with friends and it was a huge hit.

The original dish is usually stuffed eggplants, so this is a lazy man’s version as well as a meated version where I’ve turned it more into a casserole. I’ve also added black rice to make it an all-in-one meal. The Nanna Shop had bags of the cutest little baby eggplants, I used 10 or so. If you only have normal sized eggplants, you’ll only need one or two for a dish for 4 people.

Serve with lemon wedges and some fresh parsley sprinkled over the top for a fresh kick. Oh, and red wine. A nice, full bodied Cab Sauv would be perfect.
Vegetarian Recipes Improved by Cured Meats - Deconstructed Chorizo Imam Biyaldi
Vegetarian Recipes Improved by Cured Meats - Deconstructed Chorizo Imam Biyaldi
Vegetarian Recipes Improved by Cured Meats - Deconstructed Chorizo Imam Biyaldi
Vegetarian Recipes Improved by Cured Meats - Deconstructed Chorizo Imam Biyaldi
Vegetarian Recipes Improved by Cured Meats - Deconstructed Chorizo Imam Biyaldi
Vegetarian Recipes Improved by Cured Meats - Deconstructed Chorizo Imam Biyaldi
Vegetarian Recipes Improved by Cured Meats - Deconstructed Chorizo Imam Biyaldi

Deconstructed Chorizo Imam Biyaldi

(serves 4)
10 baby eggplants, tops cut off and sliced lengthwise
1 chorizo sausages, sliced into rounds
Olive oil
1 brown onion, diced
1 tsp sea salt
2 big cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 chipotle pepper, soaked in warm water to rehydrate 15 minutes, minced
350g jar tomato passata
2 cups water
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp oregano
One cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
1 heaping tablespoons capers
1 ½ cups cooked black rice
¼ cup toasted cashews
1 tbsp cacao nibs
fresh parsley, chopped for serving
lemon, cut into wedges for serving

Heat the base of a tagine or large, lidded frypan to medium-high heat. Fry slices of chorizo until crispy on each side, and a lot of the fat has rendered out, approximately 4 minutes per side. Remove to a paper-towel covered plate. Turn the heat down to medium.
Add the eggplant halves to the chorizo oil, cut side down first. Cook until softened slightly on the edges, around 5 minutes, flip and cook for a further 3 minutes. Remove to a bowl.
If the eggplant has soaked up all of the oil from the pan, add a little olive oil. A tablespoon should do. Allow it to heat in the pan and then add the onion and salt. Cook for 5 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic, balsamic vinegar and chipotle pepper. Cook until the garlic is translucent and very fragrant.
Add the passata, water, honey, organo, cinnamon stick and bay leaf and stir it all together well. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add the eggplant halves back into the pan. Put the lid on, turn the heat down to low and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until the eggplant is completely soft.
You can use this simmering time to cook your rice if you don't already have some cooked.
When the simmering is done, stir through the rice, capers and chorizo. Leaving for 5 minutes for the flavours to mingle and the chorizo to reheat. Stir through the cacao nibs and cashews.
Serve, with fresh parsley and a lemon wedge if desired.
Vegetarian Recipes Improved by Cured Meats - Deconstructed Chorizo Imam Biyaldi
Vegetarian Recipes Improved by Cured Meats - Deconstructed Chorizo Imam Biyaldi
Vegetarian Recipes Improved by Cured Meats - Deconstructed Chorizo Imam Biyaldi
Vegetarian Recipes Improved by Cured Meats - Deconstructed Chorizo Imam Biyaldi
Vegetarian Recipes Improved by Cured Meats - Deconstructed Chorizo Imam Biyaldi

Saturday, June 21, 2014

White Vegetables - Mushroom, White Bean and Cauliflower soup


Things got a bit involved on this site. The dishes became very involved and fancy. But things got very busy at work, and out of work. And it got really cold at night times quite suddenly. So now there is flannelette sheets on the bed and there is this soup. Creamy and comforting and incredibly simple to make. I got home from the gym, 10 minutes of prep cooking. Leave it to simmer while I showered, came back and blended it up and voila. Perfect soup for sitting on the couch snuggled under my quilt.

This is naturally vegan and gluten free. It’s full of protein and things that are good for you. I added diced fried chorizo bits on top of mine because it is amazingly delicious but somewhat takes away from the vegan status. Bacon bits would be equally delicious. But the chopped toasted almonds are pretty amazing if you want to keep it vegan/vegetarian.


Mushroom, White Bean and Cauliflower Soup
Olive oil
1 – 2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and Pepper
500g mushrooms of choice, thinly sliced
1 brown onion, diced
1 small head of cauliflower, broken roughly into large florets.
1 litre vegetable stock
1 litre water
1 cup of almond meal
Tin white beans, rinsed

Garnish
Diced, fried salami
Toasted almonds
Dried oregano
More black pepper

Drizzle a good glug of olive oil into your soup pot and heat to medium. Add the garlic, and cook 1-2 minutes until softened and fragrant. Thinly slice the mushrooms and add to the pot, and a good few cracks of pepper and fat pinch of sea salt. Stir well to mix through the garlicky oil across all the mushroom slices. Fry until the mushrooms release their liquid, then it absorbs/evaporates back again. Remove from the pot and set aside.

Add a tablespoon more olive oil to the pot and add the onion, cook 5 minutes until translucent but not browned. Add the stock, water and cauliflower. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer 15 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender. Add the white beans.

Remove from heat, then puree with a stick blender. Add the almond meal and blend it in, too.

Add mushrooms back to pot, place back over low heat. Cook 2 minutes so that the mushrooms heat up again. Check for seasoning.

Serve, garnished with oregano flakes, plenty of black pepper and toasted almond bits.

If you don’t mind breaking the vegan-ness of this dish, serve with fried diced salami pieces or bacon bits

Friday, December 27, 2013

Bagel Bombs Part 1 - Sweet Potato & Bacon


My husband has endured many a shopping trip with me detouring us past the Kitchen Aid Mixers, while I gaze longingly at all their amazing colours, before sighing and getting on with the boring shopping. So when I told him I was entering the Summer Bake-Off recipe, he supported me but was a little less excited than he normally would be. He’s always excited for me to cook more things, because he gets to taste-test them, so it was a little unusual! I chose to make Hot Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches (malt ice cream sandwiched between chilli chocolate cookies) and entered the competition.  Fast forward a few weeks to my birthday, and he gives me an I.O.U...if necessary. He was going to buy me a Kitchen Aid for a present, but he’s so confident in the deliciousness of my recipe that he didn’t want to buy one and end up with me having two. He said it was actually a bit of a relief, considering the pressure of picking the right colour! He’d been trying to get me to tell him which one I wanted, but I kept liking several colours.

Sadly, I didn’t win the competition, so Lance and I went and picked out a mixer for a belated birthday present. And the first thing I wanted to make in it is bread. I have been a little addicted to breads lately, and I had tested this recipe before as something  to take to a bring-a-dish Christmas party. I remembered seeing a cheese filled bagel bomb years ago on pinterest. I can’t find the original recipe to link to, but I do remember that the dough and basic idea came from the Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook. I didn’t get to the Milk Bar in my last NY trip, but we did have udon and pork buns at the Momofuku Noodle bar. The pork buns were amazing! So good! One of the attendees doesn’t like cheese (crazy, I know. Don’t worry, I mock her for this), so I though a vegetable filling would be better. And added bacon. In fact, if you have some, you can sub the bacon mixture from this for ½ cup bacon jam and it’d be delicious!

These are best served straight from the oven, so I par-baked them, then did the last 10 minutes at the venue.

Bagel Bombs Part 2 will be garlic and cream cheese bagel bombs! Both these and the garlic bombs have become my current most-requested dish! Any leftovers are perfect reheated for 10 minutes in the oven for breakfast!


 
Dough – adapted from the Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook:
3 ½ cups flour (I used 2 cups plain, 1 cup wholemeal and ½ cup spelt)
1/2 tbsp salt
1 tsp raw sugar
1 1/8 tsp active dry yeast
1 ¾ cups water, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used rice bran oil)

Filling
2tbsp olive oil
3 medium sweet potatoes
4 rashers bacon, finely diced
1 large garlic clove, minced
½ tsp smokey paprika
½ tsp sweet paprika
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp cinnamon

Egg Wash Topping:
1 egg, at room temperature
¾ tsp freshly ground rock salt
¾ tsp raw sugar
½ tsp smoked paprika
sesame seeds optional garnish

Heat the oven to 150C

Split the sweet potatoes lengthwise, rub oil on the split, then place cut-side down onto  a baking tray and bake until soft – around 40 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Heat the olive oil to medium/low heat in a frypan and add the minced garlic, stir around until fragrant and starting to go golden. Add the bacon and fry for 10-15 minutes until brown and crispy. Add the spices and cook through for a minute.

Scoop the now cool sweet potato flesh into a bowl, add the bacon mixture and mix thoroughly to combine evenly. Using two teaspoons, roll heaped teaspoonsful of this mixture between the spoons, pushing down to compact slightly and put on a tray lined with baking paper. Put in the freezer for a few hours (while you make the dough) to firm up. This makes it much easier to form the bombs later. You will need 16 balls.

Stir together all of the dry dough ingredients with the hook of your standmixer in the bowl of your standmixer by hand. Add the water, and mix with your hand until it’s mainly come together. Attach the bowl and hook, and beat the dough on low for 5-10 minutes, until it comes together into a smooth ball.  You might need to add more flour to get the right consistency. Lightly coat another large bowl with oil and put the dough ball into it, roll to coat the dough with oil too. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm corner for 45 minutes until the dough has almost doubled in size.

Heat the oven to 175C

Punch down and flatten the dough on your countertop. Cut the dough into 16 pieces and loosely cover the dough you aren’t currently forming with the plastic wrap from the bowl earlier to stop it drying out.

Roll each portion into a neat ball in your palms, then use your palm and fingers to stretch out into a flat disc. Place a ball of the filling in the centre, then pull all of the edges up and around the mixture. Pinch shut, then roll the ball gently in your hands to smooth into a neat ball. Place on a lined baking tray.

Whisk egg, then brush each bun with a generous amount. Mix all of the other wash ingredients together in a bowl and sprinkle over the top.

Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden, allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before eating because the filling stays quite hot!

Oh, and I chose the melon mixer

 

Monday, November 25, 2013

Birthday Breakfast - Pumpkin Muffins with Maple Icing and Candied Bacon


It was recently my birthday, and given there’s not currently an actual law allowing me to not be at work and still be paid…I thought I would at least make sure I had a decent breakfast. I may have stated on a few occasions that breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. I often eat breakfast at my desk at work, as I get in pretty early, and so I wanted something different for birthday morning. Something delicious. And something easy to prepare and eat. Which meant I needed something with maple syrup. With bacon. And something I can just pick up and chomp on. This has the benefit of being pretty darn healthy, too. Wholemeal flour, pumpkin, greek yoghurt, no extra butter or oil and no processed sugar. Until you add the icing, anyway. And bacon doesn’t count as being bad for you. Especially not on your birthday.

I cross my fingers that one day, Melbourne Cup Day becomes an Australia-wide public holiday so that every time it falls on my birthday I get a day off work. Until then, there are these muffins.
 


Pumpkin Muffins with Maple Icing and Candied Bacon
Dry
½  cup wholemeal flour
¼ cup coconut flour
2/3 cup plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground nutmeg
¼  tsp salt


Wet
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup pumpkin puree
½ cup Greek yoghurt
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup honey

Icing
5 tbsp icing sugar
2 drops aromatic bitters
3 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp milk (+ more if required)

Candied bacon
4 bacon middle rashers, fat removed and very finely diced
3 tbsp maple syrup
Pinch cayenne pepper
Pinch black pepper

 
Fry the bacon pieces until coloured and slightly crispy. In a small bowl, mix the cayenne pepper, black pepper and maple syrup. Pour in the bacon, stir to coat well. Spread out onto a lined baking tray. Don’t allow it to clump too much.

Preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C). Line a muffin tray with papers.

In a bowl whisk all the dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl whisk all the wet ingredients together until well combined.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir with a spatula until just combined. Don’t over mix.

Spoon the batter into the patty pans.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden on top. Put the bacon into the oven at the same time. Bake for 10 minutes or so, until the bacon gets crispier and the maple syrup gets a toffee like consistency. Allow to cool completely.

Allow to cool for 15 minutes in the tray before putting onto a rack to cool completely.

Whilst waiting for things to cool, sift the icing sugar into a separate bowl, then add the maple syrup and milk. Whisk until smooth. If necessary, add more milk to thin out. Add the bitters and mix very well. Be careful not to add too much bitters, you really only need 2 drops.

Drizzle a little on each muffin, then sprinkle some candied bacon on top and leave for the icing to ‘set’.

 

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.



Friday, April 26, 2013

Comfort Food - Parsnip, Potato and White Bean Soup with White Chocolate

As promised in my Chocolate Chilli Dressing post, I experimented with another one of the chocolate recipes I discovered on the Hershey website - Potato-Parsnip Bisque with White Chocolate. Autumn has well and truly set in and the nights are brisk and chilly. The days waiver between warm and cooler, but all in all I am starting to crave comfort foods. Soups and stews and roasts and pudding and chocolates. So I was excited to try this soup with white chocolate, combining two of those things! I'm a bit strange in that I like both dark chocolate and white chocolate. Milk chocolate I can take or leave. So the idea of some white chocolate melted through a parsnippy soup sounded perfect. I am eating a bowl of this for a late lunch as I type, ugg boots on, watching Mad Men. It's creamy and thick and peppery and perfect for this cooler weather. Truly comforted.

The initial recipe was a bisque, and passed through a fine china cap. But I wanted mine thicker, so I skipped this step. Not to mention that I don't own one of those. It also called for heavy cream, but I wanted it to be a bit healthier, so I added a tin of white beans for extra fibre and used milk. I served it with some crispy bacon bits, but I actually would've preferred some crispy fried chorizo or salami bits. The fennel in these sausages would've taken it to another world of yum!





Parsnip, Potato and White Bean Soup with White Chocolate
serves 6
1 tbsp grapeseed oil
1 leek, quartered then finely diced
1 big clove garlic, diced
1/2 tsp salt
2 parsnips,  peeled, then medium diced
1/2 cup sweet white wine
6 small potatoes, peeled then medium diced
750mL vegetable stock
250mL water
2 bay leaves
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
2 cups milk
40g or so of white chocolate - 16 sqaures of Dream, finely cut
pepper, to serve

Place a medium pot over medium heat, add the oil and allow to heat. Add the leeks, garlic and salt. Allow to cook until the leeks become translucent. Add the parsnips and mix well, coating in the leeks. Add the wine, stir it through then reduce it by half.

Add the potatoes, stock, water, bay leaves and nutmeg. Turn the heat up, bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 15-20 minutes or so until the potatoes and parsnips are tender. Add the white beans, and cook for a further 5 minutes or so.

Turn off heat, allow to sit for 5 minutes or so. Remove the bay leaves. Using a stick blender, blend until smooth. Return to the stove top and heat to medium. Add the milk, stir through and allow to heat to just below boiling.

Add the white chocolate at this point, stirring carefully, but briskly to allow it to mix through completely. Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary. Serve with fresh pepper.
 
 
 

 
 

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Mixed Greens, Pear and Goat's Cheese Salad with Chocolate Chilli Dressing

I wish I'd come up with this idea on my own, it's something I'd be super proud of. It's a weird, but elegantly simple idea. After all, salad dressings are basically a mix of oil, acid and sugar - why shouldn't that sugar be chocolate? But I'll be honest and say that this recipe was adapted from an idea I saw on the Hershey webpage. As part of that holiday I mentioned in my last post (the one that means this photo is also a phone photo - so bad I'm almost ashamed to put it up, but the salad was so delicious I'm willing to put it out there), my husband and I are taking a quick trip out to Hershey, PA. That's right, a whole town built by a chocolate company. With a theme park. Chocolate and roller coasters! Perfect, right?

So anyway, I was doing a bit of browsing on their website and came across a recipe section with a chocolate and chilli salad dressing. I simplified their recipe down to the basic 3 ingredient rule, then added chilli. I figure easier is better for a weeknight, and it'll give me a good base to start experimenting with. And it was awesome. Seriously. Awesome. I used Cottees chocolate sauce because of availability in Australia and price point. But feel free to use Hershey's, or a more natural, virtuous chocolate sauce.

I served this as a side salad for dinner, but I'd definitely serve a larger portion with a big juicy pork steak to turn it into a main meal salad. And, at the risk of getting sick of my own cliche...it'd also be really good with crispy bacon bits. Vegetarian dish improved by bacon. In fact, so many things would go well with this dressing!

The dressing is also pretty strong, you only need a drizzle of it, rather than to full-on 'dress' the salad. For two people, I used 2 tbsps of the dressing. The salad ingredients all depend on how much you intend to serve.

There was also a recipe for a savoury chocolate soup I'm keen to try when the weather cools down further - I'll keep you posted!




Mixed Greens, Pear and Goat's Cheese Salad with Chocolate Chilli Dressing

3 tbsps chocolate sauce
4 tbsps coconut oil
3 tbsps apple cider vinegar
1 tsp chilli powder

Mixed salad greens
1/2 buerre bosc pears, very thinly sliced
pine nuts
1/4 brown onion, diced
2 tbsps corn flour
oil for frying
goat's cheese, crumbled

Put all the dressing ingredients in a jar with a tight lid and shake!

Toast the pine nuts in a medium hot pan. Toss the onion in corn flour, then heat the oil in the same pan, and fry until brown and crispy. Put on paper towel to drain and cool.

Arrange greens, pear slices and goat's cheese in salad bowl, top with crispy onions and pine nuts, then drizzle the dressing over the top.

Enjoy!

Monday, April 1, 2013

Happy Easter - Bacon Bark and Chocolate Salami

Instead of buying eggs and bunnies for people we visited over the Easter period, I thought it'd be nice to make people something chocolatey. I've tried a multitude of truffles over the years, with varied success and didn't feel too keen to risk a failure. My last effort didn't go so well, the lemon white chocolate wouldn't set hard enough to roll into balls. It did, however, make the most delicious macaroon filling. I also find them really fiddly, something a bit more straight-forward seemed the go.

First on the menu - Whisky Caramel, Marshmallow and Bacon Bark. I first found this about year ago I guess, through pinterest on endless simmer and gave it a shot. It was a bit of effort, but delicious. And seeing as my brother and husband kept 'innocently' mentioning it when I said I wanted to make something chocolatey for presents, it seemed time to make another batch. I followed the linked recipe above almost 100% both times. Except Australian bacon isn't the same as American bacon. It doesn't 'crumble' as well, so I diced it finely before cooking. I also used normal marshmallows instead of mini. I'm guessing the gelatin content or something is therefore reduced? Not sure. It still sets pretty well if you keep it in the fridge. If you give this a go and it's too sweet, try eating it with ice cream!

And secondly, I made Alejandra from Always Order Dessert's Orange Chocolate Dessert Salami. I have Eastern European heritage, and grew up eating salamis and such, so when I saw this recipe on her blog, I knew I would be making it for my family at some point! I used shortbread and a combination of walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts. I also used a mandarin liqueur (it seems we'd drunk the Cointreau!). Make sure you check out her recipe for ideas of other flavour combinations.

As a gift combination, they work awesomely. The dark bitter salami dotted with delicious crunchy bits stands in stark contrast to the chewy, almost over-the-top sweetness of the bark. It's also fun seeing people come to terms with bacon on their dessert - then offering them chocolate salami!

I do caution you on a few things making these. One - watch the caramel! It goes from 'not quite caramel' to 'burnt' very quickly. Two - put the marshmallow pot into hot water immediately. Three - keep lots for yourself! They're seriously amazing!




Bacon Bark
450g milk chocolate

Whiskey Marshmallow
1 packet Pascall's Marshmallows (I put the brand, because I can't remember how much it weighed)
1/4 cup whiskey (I used Jack Daniels)

Bacon bits
450g bacon, finely diced
4 tbsps sugar syrup
1 egg white
1/4 tsp finely ground black pepper
pinch of cayenne

Caramel sauce
1 cup sugar
4 tbsp water
4 tbsp butter
7 tbsp cream

Because of the time involved, I start making the bacon crumble first. At the 'place in oven' stage, I then make the caramel, to allow adequate cooling time for that, too.

Cook finely diced bacon and set aside to cool completely. This is important, because otherwise you scramble the egg white. Heat oven to 150C. Toss the bacon bits through the sugar syrup, and pass through a strainer to remove excess syrup. While straining, beat egg white in a bowl until foamy, whisk in the black pepper and cayenne. Add in bacon and stir well to coat. Spread this bacon mix over a baking tray and put in the oven for 30 minutes or so until crispy. Remove and cool.

To make caramel, add sugar and water in a pan over low heat. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat to high, every so often, swirl the pot to keep mixture moving, but do not stir. The mixture will then start turning a nice caramel colour, when this happens, remove from the heat and add the butter and cream. Whisk to combine, set aside to cool.

Break the chocolate up into a bowl, and slowly melt over a simmering pot of water. Line a baking tray with baking paper allowing some overhang. Spread half of the chocolate into a thin layer on the tray. Place into the freezer/fridge to set hard.

Place the marshmallows in a pot over a low heat to melt. When they start to break up and stop looking like individual marshmallows, remove from heat and stir through the whiskey. Spread in an even layer over the chocolate. Put in the freezer/fridge to set.

Spread a layer of the caramle over the marshmallow layer, then follow up with a chocolate layer using the other half of the chocolate. Sprinkle the bacon bits over the top, pressing in slightly. Put in the fridge/freezer to set. Store in the fridge, remove about an hour before serving. If you can wait that long.


Chocolate Salami
1/3 cup finely chopped almonds
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/3 cup finely chopped hazelnuts
1/2 cup crushed shortbread
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 cups dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup Mandarin liqueur
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp orange zest
1/3 cup white chocolate chips
icing sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 175C. Spread the nuts on a baking tray and put in the oven until lightly toasted. Remove and cool

Chop the butter up, add to chocolate chips and microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between until completely melted. It'll burn if you try do it all at once. Stir in the liqueur until smooth, then add the nuts, shortbread, salt and zest, making sure it's evenly combined. Fold through the white chocolate chips. Place in the fridge to cool and harden, so you can form it.

I then divided this into 3 portions, for three smaller salamis. Place three sheets of plastic wrap on the counter - 1 for each sausage. Form into a sausage shape and wrap tightly in the plastic. Let it chill until firm, I left it overnight.

Remove from plastic, then rub the outside with icing sugar to make it look like a real salami! You'll then need to wrap in new plastic wrap to store. Slice and eat!

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Comfort Food - Traffic Light Soup

Last weekend was spent raiding family members' gardens for herbs. Well, technically, we were visiting family, but as a happy offshoot of these visits, I came home with a nice swag of chillis, parsley, spring onions, basil, thyme and oregano. The basil, thyme and oregano was stored in the one bag and when I opened it up it smelt like pasta. Or pizza. It was crying out for tomatoes and garlic. I thought it only fair that I complied.

Sitting at work, looking out the window, the sky got steadily greyer, and heavier, and wetter. Summer is officially over, with this storm and the temperatures dropping. Ok, so it's still not super cold, but it's cooler. And it's been a while since we've had such snuggle-worthy, soup and bread weather. So I decided to just go with it. A steaming bowl of hot soup and some crunchy pizza bread to dip into it. Some of the positive aspects of winter! My husband isn't the hugest fan of "just" tomato soup, so as I drove home in the rain, I contemplated what I should add. Sitting at the lights and going through the vegetables I had at home, I decided to go with those colours. Red, orange and green. I know, I know, kinda lame. But it turned out delicious! Red tomatoes and chilli, orange pumpkin, sweet potato and carrots and lots and lots of green herbs.

I then followed through again with the garnish. Red bacon bits, orange soup and green parsley. I already had some cooked bacon bits in the fridge, but if you don't, dice up some bacon very finely, then fry for a few minutes until crispy.

Technically, a roast vegetable soup - but I'm calling it Traffic Light Soup.
 

Traffic Light Soup
1 medium butternut pumpkin
2 medium sweet potatoes
4 small carrots
2 tbsp olive oil
a few sprigs of thyme
4 ripe tomatoes
2 cans diced tomato
big handful basil
big handful oregano
salt & pepper
1 brown onion
1 red chilli
4 cloves garlic
5 cans of water/stock
parsley
cream (or sour cream)
bacon bits

Preheat oven to 180C

Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds. Lightly oil and place cut side down on baking tray, with a thyme sprig in the cavity. Slice the sweet potatoes and carrots in half length-wise, lightly oil and sprinkle in thyme leaves. Roast for 40 minutes or so until soft.

Mix the chopped herbs, salt, pepper into the tinned tomatoes, put in an oven proof dish and add the fresh tomatoes on top. Roast for 30 minutes or so, until the whole tomatoes fall apart when you touch them.

About 10 minutes before the vegetables are done roasting, saute the onion, chilli and garlic in a tbsp or so of olive oil until translucent. Fill the tomato cans with water to rinse out and add the liquid to the pot. All up I used 5 cans of liquid (3 water, 2 stock). Bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer. Take the vegetables out of the oven. Add the tomatoes (carefully!!) into the pot. Allow the pumpkin and sweet potato to cool slightly, then skin and tip into the pot as well, along with the carrots. Stir it all around, then whizz it up until smooth with a stick blender. This can also be done in batches in a normal blender. Check for seasoning.

Swirl some cream over the top, sprinkle on some bacon bits and parsley.

Serve with your favourite bread. This pizza bread is just Lebanese loaves, garlic olive oil, parsley and parmesan, chucked in the oven for a few minutes.


 

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Vegetarian Recipes Improved By Bacon - Stuffed Pumpkin

I don't know about you, but sometimes I get really specific cravings. I'll be sitting watching tv and really want avocado and vegemite on rye toast. Or I'll be reading and want a Corona with a splash of Creole bitters. Or sitting at work imagining a jambalaya just like I had in San Francisco 5 years ago. Or that dish that I made up a few months back that would be perfect right now. In my introduction post, I sort of forgot to say why I decided to start up this blog.  I told you a bit about who I was and where I was coming from, but not why I came to be here, doing this.

Something like this is always based on lots of reasons - wanting a creative outlet, showing off my mad skills in the kitchen (ha!) and giving back to a source that has inspired me so often are all up there. But the number one reason is because I need to have a reason to write down my recipes and what I cook. I'm a bit scatty in the kitchen, I find it difficult to follow a recipe exactly. I like to consider it 'experimental', because that makes it sound like a good thing. I change the recipe bassed on what my mouth feels like it wants, what I have stocked in the house and crazy ideas of what just might work. I can be disappointing to realise that the thing I am craving, I can't replicate exactly. I'm still a little fly-by-the-seat-of-my-apron, so most of my measurements will be a little guesstimated (mainly to save on dishes), but generally close enough is good enough.

And speaking of cravings, last night I wanted roast pumpkin. And bacon. I had bought the cutest ever baby butternuts earlier in the week and it conjured up a memory of a stuffed squash recipe I'd seen in the not too distant past. Back when pinterest was full of 'Fall' recipes and I was gearing up for summer. And then that was what I wanted. But with bacon. I was so satisfied with the result that I made sure I wrote it all down. So far, so good!


Stuffed Butternut Pumpkin with Kale, Chipotle and Bacon
serves: 2-4 depending on how hungry everyone is and how big the pumpkins are. I had the cutest little ones.
2 small butternut pumpkins
2 cloves of garlic,cut in half, then lightly squished
2 chipotle chillis, cut in half

1/2 cup cooked millet
3 rashers bacon

2 shallots, minced
1 celery stalk, small dice
1 carrot, peeled and small dice
2 bay leaves
10 or so coriander seeds
½ tsp dried thyme
¼ tsp dried sage
splash of apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water

3 leaves kale, finely shredded
3 sprigs parsley, leaves chopped fine

1/4 cup pepitas
Parmesan cheese – a few shreds on top of each half.
Pepper (I used lemon pepper – get the no added salt type)
Preheat the oven to 180C.

When I was making the millet for this, I cooked a whole big batch, because I needed some for another recipe. But generally I use a 1:2 millet:water ratio, bring to the boil, simmer for about 10 minutes, then turn off and leave the lid on for another 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork to separate the grains.

Cut the pumpkin in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Place the smashed garlic cloves and chipotle peppers on a parchment lined baking sheet and cover them with the hollow of the pumpkins. Roast in the oven and cook until tender, about 30 minutes. Flip the butternuts, and spoon a bit of the cooked flesh out to make a bit more of a hole for the stuffing . Leave a decent pumpkin lining still. Finely dice the chipotle and garlic from beneath the pumpkin. Set it all aside.

While the pumpkin is in the oven, dice the bacon small, and chuck in a medium heat pan with tallish sides. As it releases some of it’s fat as oil into the pan, chuck the shallots and bay leaves in and give a good stir. Once the bacon is a bit crispy and the shallots are softened, add the carrots and celery. Cook these for about 5 minutes and then add the coriander seeds, thyme and sage. Add a splash of apple cider vinegar and scrape the bacon bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the parsley and kale, swirling around until the kale wilts a little. Add the millet and water and mix around to ensure it’s all fully incorporated. Cook until the water has evaporated. Add the pumpkin flesh you removed earlier. Chop the chipotles and garlic from beneath the pumpkin, mix it all in well.

Change the oven to grill. Fill the pumpkin hollows with as much stuffing as you can, pop some pepitas on top, and as much parmesan as you desire – I only put a tiny bit. Just enough to add flavor and that crispy/melty crunch that parmesan gets. Top with lemon pepper, then grill until cheese is melty and pepitas are toasted.