Gourmet Garden Blog Off/Cook Off!

After nearly missing the deadline (that'll teach me for not checking my email more often) I have registered for the Gourmet Garden Blog Off/Cook Off! A fantastic competition for bloggers/cooks with great prizes including the chance to cook off at Food and Wine Shows around the country, a bloggers' week in Noosa and a major cash prize. 

All of that sounds very exciting but I was actually most excited about getting some wonderful free Gourmet Garden products to cook with! I assume everyone got the same pack of herbs, but here's what I received:

Chunky Garlic

Basil

Thyme

Coriander

Hot Chilli

Thai

Keep an eye on the blog from next week as I will be posting my recipes using these herbs between the 14th and 20th May. Wish me luck!

Cranberry-Apple Crisp

Apple crumble is one of the easiest and tastiest things you can make for a quick dessert. And of course the bonus is that it makes a great breakfast the next day! 

Rather than make a standard apple crumble or crisp, I was inspired by Dorie Greenspan's version as we just happened to have one last lonely pack of frozen cranberries leftover from Christmas.

Cranberry-Apple Crisp

Recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours, p422

Topping

3/4 cup plain flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup dessicated coconut

1 ts cinnamon

1 ts ground ginger

125g butter, chopped into small pieces

Filling

4 apples, peeled, cored and chopped into a fine dice

1 cup frozen cranberries

1/2 cup sultanas

1/3 cup sugar

1 tbs plain flour

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Spray a 1.8 litre baking dish with oil and set aside.

To make the topping, combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Rub the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs and is clumping together.

To prepare the filling, combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour into prepared baking dish.

Spread the topping evenly over the fruit filling and bake for approx 1 hour or until the top is a deep golden brown and the fruit is bubbling up around the edges. Allow to cool slightly before serving with ice-cream or custard. Enjoy the leftovers (if there are any!) for breakfast the next morning.

Serves 6-8.

This was really, really good! Such a shame we can only buy frozen cranberries for a few weeks a year because they add such a special quality to things like this. Definitely a winner.

Meatless Monday - 'Vegiladas'

Yes I could have just said vegetarian enchiladas but vegiladas really rolls off the tongue!

We love Mexican food around here and have the standard nachos, tacos and chicken enchiladas quite regularly. These vegetarian enchiladas are filled with onion, capsicum, tomatoes and beans and have a lovely warmth (rather than heat) to them. To make them kid-friendly I didn't add any chilli but you could definitely add a whole fresh red chilli or some chilli flakes to up the heat. Topped off with salsa, melted cheese and a little low-fat sour cream they are the perfect dinner.

Vegetarian Enchiladas

Recipe adapted from Sanitarium

Serves 4

1 tablespoon rice bran oil
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 medium green capsicum, finely chopped
2 ts ground cumin
1 ts ground coriander
1 can Mexe-Beans, drained
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 can water
2 tablespoons lime juice (1-2 limes)
8 tortillas
1 jar mild salsa
50g low-fat cheddar cheese, grated
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste
Low fat sour cream and salad to serve

Preheat oven to 180°C. Heat the oil in a fry pan and cook the onion, garlic and capsicum until soft. Add the cumin and coriander and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the beans and chickpeas. Add the tomatoes, water and lime juice and leave to simmer for about 10 minutes or until the mixture starts to thicken, stirring occasionally.

Place spoonfuls of the bean mixture in the centre of each tortilla. Roll to enclose the filling, then place fold-side-down on a greased baking tray. Spoon any remaining filling around the edges of the filled tortillas.

Top with salsa, sprinkle with the grated cheese and bake for around 20 minutes or until the cheese is golden and bubbling. Serve with sour cream and a green salad.

Sunday Baking - Hummingbird Slice

I've had Hummingbird Cake and Hummingbird Muffins but I've never had Hummingbird Slice. That's reason enough to get baking!

This is a Donna Hay recipe and I have to admit in the past I've found her food to be really hit and miss. Always visually stunning but often lacking in flavour or with wildly inaccurate cooking times or techniques. No complaints about this one though, it was easy to bake and really tasty.

Normally I like cream cheese icing with these but in the interest of saving a few calories and making them freezer-friendly I've left them plain. Perfect for morning tea, or just anytime really!

Hummingbird Slice

Recipe slightly adapted from Donna Hay

140g brown sugar

125ml oil (I used extra light olive oil)

2 eggs
1/2 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained
1 banana, mashed
1 cup grated carrot (about 2 carrots)
115g self-raising flour

1/2 ts bicarbonate of soda
1/3 cup sultanas

2 ts cinnamon
20g dessicated coconut
30g chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 160°C.

Sift together the flour and bicarb soda and then add the cinnamon, coconut and pecans.

Place the sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl and whisk well. Add the pineapple, banana and carrot and stir together. Add the dry ingredients and mix well to combine.

Spoon into a greased and lined 20cm x 30cm tin. Bake for approx 40-45 minutes or until it springs back when touched in the centre and starting to pull away from the sides of the tin. Allow to cool in the tin before slicing.

Donna suggest serving this slice with honey but with brown sugar and all that fruit no extra sweetness is needed. They are moist and packed with flavour and just as good, if not better, the next day.

A great treat for the kids' (or husband's) lunchboxes so get baking!

TWD BWJ - Hungarian Shortbread

Is anyone else amazed that it's May already?? Can't believe how fast this year is going by. 

I also can't believe how much butter was in this Hungarian Shortbread so I made just 1/4 of the recipe! Luckily for me it was easy to do with full cups of ingredients and 4 egg yolks to start with so no messy calculations. My 1/4 batch fit perfectly into an 6" square pan and baked in 30 minutes.

Given that I forgot what day it was there was no way I could make rhubarb jam though it sounds fantastic and is now on my 'to-do' list. I used about 1/3 cup of my favourite English breakfast marmalade and was really happy with how it turned out.

The taste test ...

 I absolutely loved this one! The shortbread was crisp around the edges, moist and chewy in the middle and offset perfectly by the tartness in the marmalade, so I think it was a great substitute for the rhubarb jam. I cut 16 little squares and froze most of them, but not before having a few with a cup of tea. Just wonderful!

While it tasted amazing I think my favourite part of this recipe was freezing and then grating the dough into the pan. It worked brilliantly and gave a fantastic result.

I will definitely be making this again and playing with different flavours. 

Lynette of 1 Small Kitchen and Cher from The Not So Exciting Adventures of a Dabbler will have the recipe up for Hungarian Shortbread on their blogs under today's date. Enjoy!

Meatless Monday - Vegetarian Cottage Pie

Now I don't want to stir up any trouble but it seems there has always been a bit of confusion about the difference between cottage pie and shepherd's pie. To me, a shepherd's pie is a savoury mince mixture topped with mashed potato. A cottage pie on the other hand has a pastry shell topped with savoury mince and mashed potato. See? Worlds apart.

I have always loved cottage pies and they were my first choice at the school canteen back in the day.

If you're on a low-carb diet you will definitely want to skip this one!

Food.Baby's Vegetarian Cottage Pie

Shortcrust Pastry

265g plain flour

125g chilled butter, diced

1 egg yolk

2 tbs iced water

To the bowl of a food processor add the flour and butter. Using the dough blade (the plastic one) pulse until the mixture resembles very coarse breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of the water and pulse again until it combines. The mix will start to clump and pull away from the sides. Stop immediately and turn the dough out onto a floured board. Press roughly together and put into the fridge to rest for at least 15 minutes.

Roll out the dough to about a pencil thickness, enough to cover the base and sides of a 25cm pan. Press into the pie dish and use a knife to trim away the excess. Patch any holes with the scraps. Place into the freezer for 30 minutes while the oven is preheating to 190 degrees Celsius.

Bake for 15 minutes. Don't worry if it shrinks a little as there should still be enough space for your fillings.

Or skip all this and use bought shortcrust pastry.

Savoury Mince Filling

1 x 300g packet Quorn veggie mince

1 can lentils, drained

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can water

1 large onion, diced

2 cloves garlic

1 vegetable stock cube

Salt, pepper and sugar to taste

2 tbs oil

Over medium-high heat, fry the onion and garlic in the oil until softened. Add the veggie mince and lentils and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a fast simmer and cook for around 20 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated and you have a pie-filling-like consistency.

Mashed Potato Topping

1kg potatoes and/or sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped roughly

Salt

50g cheese

20g butter

Milk or hot water

Place the chopped potatoes in a large pot of cold water. Cover and bring to the boil. Once boiling cook for approx 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Drain and tip back into the saucepan. Add the butter and a splash of milk and mash until smooth. Season to taste.

To assemble

Pour your mince filling into the prepared pastry shell. Top evenly with mashed potato. Sprinkle top with grated cheese and bake at 190 degrees Celsius for 20-25 minutes or until the top is golden and bubbling.

Serve with a green salad and plenty of tomato sauce!

Serves 6.

Sunday Baking - Lunchbox Biscuits

Is it just me or does this picture look like it came straight out of a 1970s Woman's Weekly magazine?? Not quite sure how I managed that but conveniently this is a pretty retro recipe so perhaps it was meant to be.

These are simply called Lunchbox Cookies and everyone seems to have their own variation. I found this one online at Best Recipes and made a few changes. These are wonderful warm from the oven but hubby has been taking a few from the freezer every day to have with his morning coffee at work and really enjoyed them.

Lunchbox Cookies

Very slightly adapted from Best Recipes

1 cup self raising flour

1/2 cup milk powder

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup coconut

1 cup dried dates, chopped

1/4 cup sugar

150g melted butter

1 egg, beaten

1 ts cinnamon

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add the melted butter and beaten egg and mix well to combine. Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls and place on a lined baking tray, allowing some room for spreading. Flatten each biscuit with a fork.  Bake for around 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let rest on tray for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Makes approx 18.

TWD BWJ - Lemon Loaf Cake

I hate leaving things to the last minute but I have to admit I only pulled this beauty out of the oven at 8am this morning! Of course that meant the kids wanted cake for breakfast :)

I adore citrus and definitely prefer fruit based cakes/desserts to chocolate ones, so this Lemon Loaf Cake was perfect for me. It was wonderful warm and just as good cold the next day. That to me is a sign of a great cake!

Of course I did make a few substitutions because we had run out of certain ingredients. I used light olive oil instead of butter and mango/passionfruit yoghurt instead of cream. So this isn't really a pound cake like the recipe at all. You can see the bubbles in each slice which I think is typical of a yoghurt cake.

But whatever you call it, it was delicious! Light, moist and full of lemony goodness. A simple icing sugar and lemon juice glaze was the perfect topping.

Our hosts this week are Truc of Treats and Michelle of The Beauty of Life. You will find the recipe for this gorgeous cake on their blogs.

Meatless Monday - Easy Pumpkin Soup

We've had some lovely cool nights and mornings and to me that signals the beginning of soup weather. However my husband hates both pumpkin AND soup so it's no surprise the boys and I had this for lunch instead of dinner!

This is just about the easiest soup you could possibly make. Just chop, throw it all in a pot for a while then blend and eat. Yum!


Easy Pumpkin Soup
Serves 4

1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic
20g butter (or coconut oil for dairy free)
800g pumpkin (peeled weight), roughly chopped into 3cm pieces
approx 1 litre water or vegetable stock
salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg to taste
cream (or coconut cream) to serve

Place a large saucepan over a medium heat and the butter. Roughly chop the onion and garlic and add to the pan when the butter has melted and is starting to foam. Cook for a few minutes until the onion has softened. Add the chopped pumpkin and toss to combine. Add enough water or vegetable stock to cover the pumpkin, place the lid on the pan and bring to the boil.

Once boiling remove the lid and reduce the heat down to a simmer. Cook uncovered for 15-20 minutes until the pumpkin is soft and cooked through. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Add a splash of cream.

You can blend the soup using either a stick blender in the saucepan (off the heat) or by pouring the soup into a food processor.

Serve with another swirl of cream, a grating of fresh nutmeg and lots of crusty, buttered bread. Delicious!

TWD BWJ - Pizza Rustica

Well I was all set to make pizza only to discover this is not actually a pizza at all! At least not as we know it. Think of it more as a quiche but with pizza-ish fillings.

I stuck to the recipe as written so used prosciutto, pecorino and parsley in the filling. It was really easy to make and I was so looking forward to trying it.

The taste test ...

Unfortunately I didn't love this. Normally I enjoy a sweet-salty combination but the crust here was just too sweet for me and it really detracted from the overall flavour. It looked pretty but the taste just didn't win me over. The kids each had a bite then just picked off the crust and left the rest.

I can definitely see the potential though with less sugar in the crust and some veges in the filling it could be a winner.

Don't let my lukewarm reaction put you off though, hubby loved it and took leftovers for lunch the next day!

For the recipe make sure you visit our hosts - Emily at Capital Region Dining and Raelynn of The Place They Call Home. And to check out what everyone else thought visit the LYL section here.

Meatless Monday - Chickpeas in Spicy Tomato Sauce

I'm sure I never ate curry when I was 2 but luckily both my kids are big fans!

This was a hit at our place this week and in spite of the name it's basically a curry with a rich tomato hit from both tinned tomatoes and tomato paste. It's also one of those dishes where you will likely have all the ingredients on hand already and can whip this up easily for a mid-week dinner.


Chickpeas in Spicy Tomato Sauce
Recipe Source - Cheap & Cheerful from The Australian Woman's Weekly, p68-69

2 tbs ghee (I used rice bran oil)
2 brown onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
20g piece fresh ginger, grated
2 ts cumin seeds (I used ground cumin)
1tbs coriander
1 ts turmeric
1ts cayenne pepper
2 tbs tomato paste
2 x 400g tins diced tomatoes
2 cups water (I used vege stock)
2 x 420g tins chickpeas, drained
1 large sweet potato (500g) cut into a small dice
300g spinach, chopped coarsely
(Salt, pepper and sugar to taste)

Heat ghee in a large pan and add the onion, garlic and ginger. Cook until the onion is soft, stirring often. Add the spices and cook for another minute. Add the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes.

Next add the sweet potato and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring well to coat in the spice and onion mix.

Add in the tinned tomatoes, chickpeas and water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook stirring occasionally for about 30 minutes, or until the sweet potato is cooked through. Just before serving, add in the chopped spinach.

Serve on basmati rice.

I didn't make many changes to the recipe but you can see them marked above. I always use vege stock in place of water in these sorts of dishes, and I added a teaspoon of sugar to counteract the acidity of the tomatoes.

We'll definitely make this again!