A new salad for a new year.....

 

 

So its 2013 already.I am resisting the temptation to bang on about all my New Years resolutions, I am quite sure you don't really give a toss if I lose 10kg by my birthday or finally get around to learning Spanish this year.

See, you don't, I knew it. I will tell you I have resolved to create a new recipe every week for the year. By new I mean original to me. Perhaps not recreating the wheel (not every week anyway), but created in my own little kitchen all fresh & new and lovely. Actually the kitchen is going to be ripped apart at some stage this year, so we shall see how we go (that could be smoothie/microwave/raw food week....)

 

Right, new recipe we have. Inspired by the delicious Nigel Slater & his fabulous Kitchen Diaries Two, which I was very happy to see in my Christmas Stocking this year, this is a fresh fast salad using Bulgur wheat. It has a pleasant nutty flavour, only requires soaking (no boiling pans in my kitchen, given its about 97% humidity at the moment this is a Good Thing) and makes me feel like I am being much nicer to my body than several weeks of rampant vino consumption should allow. Nigel's version is a bit simpler, more a side salad than the main event, but the addition of the halloumi in particular means this is plenty substantial enough for lunch or a light supper.

 

 

Bulgur wheat salad with melon, mint & halloumi

 

Serves 2 with leftovers

 

1/2 cup Bulgur wheat (also known as Cracked wheat or Burghul wheat) I use the Ceres brand

Boiling water to cover

1/2 small rockmelon

2 spring onion, sliced

1/2 small red or green chilli, sliced thinly

2 radish, sliced thinly

3-4 asparagus spears, chopped

Tbsp pinenuts

1/4 block of halloumi ( I used a chilli version, but plain would be perfect to)

Splash of olive oil

juice of a lime

Handful of parsley

Handful of mint

 

Put your bulgur wheat into a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to sit for 10 minutes or so while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Peel and chop your rockmelon into small chunks and put into your salad bowl. Add the spring onion, chilli and radish. Bring a small saucepan of salted water to the boil and add the asparagus. Boil for 2 minutes, then drain & cover in icy cold water (this stops it cooking any further). Drain again & add to your bowl.

Toast your pinenuts in a small non stick pan until just colouring, then add to your salad. In the same pan over medium heat put your helloumi slices and cook for a minute or two each side until golden and melting hot . While this is happening drain your bulgur wheat and add to the salad bowl with the oil, lime juice, herbs & some salt and pepper. Top with your cooked halloumi & devour, yum!

 

 

This is a very flexible recipe, so just add, remove or substitute as needed.

A ripe juice peach would be great in place of the melon, if you had the grill/BBQ going you could grill it, the asparagus and the heloumi all at once for a different flavor. Any nuts could be used in place of pinenuts, and feel free to substitute lemon or other citrus for the lime. If you don't want to use helloumi try feta, or leave it out all together and serve as a side to some grilled chicken or fish....

 

Now, to celebrate the New Year, and just because I can, some gratuitous cat shots. Tuppence does have a weight loss goal this year, I keep saying she is big boned but the vet suggested she is turning into a chubby so a little less food should be coming her way.........she isn't best pleased

 

Tommy is going to attempt to grow a brain this year. This is so he knows to not sit in the rain getting wet , or under the car when it is running, or on top of Tuppences head when she is clearly getting cheesed off............he has relied on his looks for too long.

 

 

Happy 2013 everyone, I hope you are looking forward to lots of good times this year, starting with a good meal!

Creamy mustard chicken supper.

It isn't curdled. Really, it isn't. OK, it is a tiny bit, but it didn't affect the flavour at all. This is a super tasty chicken dinner, it just wont win any prizes for beauty. Since I myself am not likely to grace the catwalk any time soon, I am prepared to cut my dinner some slack.
This is an easy supper, the sauce is whipped up in minutes, then poured over chicken breasts and the whole lot bunged in the oven while you relax with a glass of vine and Antiques Roadshow...........nice.

Basically this is an adaptation of a Nigel Slater recipe I read on the Guardian website at work, printed, then forgot to take home. The following is based on what i could remember from the original. Turns out it was meant to have bacon in, and no lemon, but I think my adaptation is just fine, cheers Nigel.

Creamy mustard chicken (adapted from Nigel Slater)

Serves 4

8 skinless boneless chicken thighs
200 gram tub of cream fraiche
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 heaped tsp wholegrain mustard (if you only have one or other mustard, just use that)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped fine
2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme (or use parsley or tarragon if that's what you have)
Big squeeze of lemon juice
Salt and fresh ground black pepper

Pre heat the oven to 200C. Place the chicken thighs in an oven proof casserole dish. Mix together all the other ingredients and pour over the chicken. Put in the oven and cook for 30-40 minutes until the sauce is bubbly and the chicken is cooked

That's it. I served the chicken with steamed potato's tossed in some butter and dill, and asparagus  boiled in salted water for a couple of minutes, and drained. Both vege, though plain,  were lovely with the mustardy creamy sauce. The dish isn't as rich as you imagine due to the sharpness of the cream fraice and lemon. The chicken stays moist and tender, but with a crust, which I love.

I went on a brilliant writing course this weekend, with Joan Rosier-Jones through the University of Auckland's Continuing Education department. I am working on a novel (about food, how surprising.....) and it was so cool to get inspiration with a great group of like minded people. Although when we did mock promo interviews it was noted my arms waving about every time I opened my mouth to talk would be annoying for viewers. I thought it would be a cunning distraction from the 5 kg the camera adds that I can ill afford. I suspect I may be made for radio........
Reading a fab book at the moment, by New Zealand author Vanda Symon called Overkill. I started reading it last week after a trip to the Library during my lunch hour, and struggled to get back to work. Cant wait to find out who did it........

Easy potato curry in a hurry.......

I have been craving curry for a few days, and I wanted to make the  yummy looking flatbreads over at Pod & three peas . When my vege box arrived, the huge pile of spinach was so fresh looking I knew that had to be in the curry somewhere (and lets be honest, the quicker I use it, the quicker I get a quarter of my fridge space back...). Combine with potato, and you have my version of the Indian classic sag aloo.

Nigel Slater's spinach and potato recipe, in his wonderful vegetable book Tender was the inspiration,  but I fear his tastes may be slightly more austere than mine. I like my spinach well wilted with the potato, and the splash of lite coconut cream (I know, how unlike me to use lite anything, but actually it was fine) gave a lovely creaminess at the end. But if you don't have coconut cream, don't worry, you could use a spoonful of yoghurt, or indeed nothing at all, it will still taste fab.....

Potato and spinach curry

2 medium potatoes (or about 500 grams baby potatoes) peeled and cut into chunks
2 small onions peeled , halved and cut into thin crescents
1 tbsp mustard oil (if you don't have mustard oil, just use canola or olive)
1 tbsp canola oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 red chilli, finely diced (OR a good pinch of chili flake)
1 tsp of grated fresh ginger OR large pinch ginger powder
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric
Salt & pepper
LARGE bunch spinach (about 400 grams) OR 2 bags of baby spinach
1/4 cup lite coconut cream (optional)
Big squeeze lemon juice

Boil or steam your chunks of potato until tender when you put a sharp knife into them. Meanwhile heat the oils in a frying pan (I use a 23cm for this) over a medium heat and fry the onions for about 10 mins until tender. Add the garlic, chilli and the spices and stir for another minute or so, to get rid of the raw taste.

Season with salt & pepper, then add the potatoes back to the pan, stirring to coat them with the oil mix. Add a cup of cold water and stir again. Place all your chopped spinach on top of the potato and put a lid, or piece of foil over the top. Turn the heat to med-low, and cook for another 10 mins or so until the spinach is wilted, and about half the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the coconut cream, check the seasoning and serve, easy.

I was dealing with an electrician when I got home from work, and realised I would not have time to make the flatbreads, so we has these parathas from the freezer instead. I get them from New World, and they are so easy, just chuck in a heated frying pan straight from frozen, they are done in about 2 minutes, genius!

You might also notice a handful of broadbeans in the curry picture, I picked them fresh, and just chucked them in about five minutes from the end of the cooking time, but 1/2 a cup of frozen peas would also be perfect.

I cant say this is terribly authentic, but it was really tasty, filling and quick to prepare, so I will definitely be making it again....

On a totally different note, I was out walking last night (yep, Plum K is still trying to get leanish....), trotting along at a decent clip and feeling pretty pleased with my efforts, when I was overtaken by a guy with a backpack........... walking home from work! Not out exercising mind, just returning home (I assumed) from a day at the office. And as he whizzed past me he turned, smiling, and reassured me I was "doing really well"........??!

How tragic does a girl exercising have to look, that a stranger feels he needs to reassure her she will actually make it home PRIOR to her coronary, while simultaneously zooming past like she is almost stationery. Keep your kind words stranger, I'm just fine thanks.....my face will return to its normal colour in no time!

Mustering as much dignity as I could in the circumstances I smiled (grimaced) and bid him a hearty good evening..........I might have tried to trip him up but I didn't want to break stride.

Really!

Cooking Class 3

Fully booked for June 9th, we are doing 30 minute meals this time, the kind of thing you can come home and whip up after work, that is still interesting and tastes great:) I was trying out a new recipe last night for next week’s cooking class, Chickpea fritters with yoghurt dip, as if lentils were not enough now it’s chickpeas!


The recipe (Nigel Slater’s) called for soaked dried chickpeas, but I thought I would be a clever cookie & make them with tinned, all in the name of speed you understand. The mixture, with onion, cumin, chilli & loads of herbs smelt amazing, and I was feeling rather pleased with myself. I put a tad too much oil in my pan, but figured they would just fry a little quicker, no biggie. So you can imagine my surprise when I put my wee patties into the bubbling oil (a little bit hot, turn the heat down girlfriend…)………….and they disappeared! I mean totally disappeared, one minute patties, the next brown oil and no sign of life? I think the tinned peas were too wet, and in the hot oil they simply melted away………

The bit of sludge I could rescue did taste amazing so I will persevere with that one, and as Mr D did point out, it isn’t every girl who has super powers & can make her dinner disappear right before her eyes……..just not sure it’s a special power I actually want, I was quite looking forward to my fritters…….:(