recipe

A stew of mussels

Mussels

I’m currently watching Rick Stein on telly, so perhaps it’s fitting that I’m about to post one of his recipes!

I love mussels, and they are so easy to cook. We bought two kilos, and the three of us scoffed them all! The tomato stew was very tasty, although a tad too salty. I added some salt to the sauce before adding the mussels sd I didn’t realise how salty the mussel juices would be. The fault is all mine.

I didn’t follow the recipe below exactly but I’ve posted it unadapted (you’ll see by the pictures that I didn’t have any clams nor did I bother toasting the bread). “A stew of mussels” didn’t sound quite as tasty!

Mussels

Zuppa di cozze e arselle: A stew of mussels and clams scattered over chargrilled bread

From Rick Stein’s Mediterranean Escapes

Serves 4

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
5 fat garlic cloves, 4 finely chopped and one left whole
A pinch of peperoncino or crushed dried chillies
400g can chopped tomatoes
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons caster sugar
500g mussels, cleaned
500g clams, washed
50ml dry white wine
4 large slices rustic white bread, taken from a large round loaf
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

Put the olive oil, chopped garlic and peperoncino into a large flameproof casserole and place it over a medium heat. As soon as it begins to sizzle, add the tomatoes and 150ml water and leave to simmer gently for 10 minutes until reduced and thickened. Meanwhile, put the vinegar and sugar into a small pan and boil until reduced to 1 teaspoon. Stir into the tomato sauce and keep hot.

Place another large pan over a high heat and when hot, add the mussels, clams and white wine, cover and cook for 2-3 minutes until the shellfish have just opened. Tip the mussels, clams and all but the last tablepsoon or two of the cooking juices (which might be a bit gritty) into the tomato sauce and stir together well.

Toast the slices of bread on both sides and then singe over a naked gas flame for a slightly smoky taste. Rub one side of each slice of toast with the peeled garlic clove, put the slices of toast into the base of 4 warmed bistro-style plates and drizzle with a little olive oil. Stir the parsley into the stew, spoon the stew on top of the bread and serve straight away.

Garlic shoots and steamed tofu

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Garlic shoots and mushrooms

Firstly, happy Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year! I’ve always liked Chinese New Year, mostly because of the red envelopes that are given out (who doesn’t love a bit of extra pocket money?). Now that I live in a different country to my family, I don’t get many red envelopes anymore. However, a phone call to my parents revealed that Grandma had given our red envelopes to mum. So there are some traditions that you can always rely on Grandma for!

The last couple of nights I’ve been cooking some rather Chinese inspired meals. I was doing some random food shopping and came across a bunch of garlic shoots. I first read about garlic shoots in someone’s blog (can’t remember which one now) so I bought some to try out. Garlic shoots are the young shoots that come off a garlic plant, prior to the bulb maturing. They look similar to spring onions, except that they’re not hollow. They have a gentle, sweet, garlic flavour.

The garlic shoots went into a stir fry with shimeji and oyster mushrooms plus some bean sprouts. Yummo.

Steamed tofu

We also had some steamed tofu with the stir fry. There are lots of different kinds of tofu available but my favourite is silken firm tofu. It has a wonderful silky texture that shines when it’s prepared very simply.

Garlic shoots and mushrooms closer

Stir-fried mushrooms and garlic shoots

1 tablespoon peanut oil
2 cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into thin matchsticks
1 fresh chilli, seeds removed (if desired) and sliced thinly
½ bunch garlic shoots, roughly chopped into 3cm lengths
150 g shimeji mushrooms, separated or cut into small clumps
150 g oyster mushrooms
150 g bean sprouts, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
Salt and sugar

(I know that generally mushrooms don’t need to be washed, but I think there are some kinds that do need a rinse. I don’t know if shimeji and oyster mushrooms need it but I gave them a quick dunking anyway.)

Add the oil to a wok on high heat. When the oil is hot, throw in the chilli and ginger and swish around for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic shoots and stir-fry for a couple of minutes, until they start to become tender and brown in spots. Keep the garlic shoots moving.

Add the shimeji and oyster mushrooms as well as the bean sprouts and stir-fry for another minute. Add the oyster sauce and mix well to coat all the vegetables. Taste before deciding whether you need to add more salt and perhaps a touch of sugar (I added about ½ teaspoon of each). Serve with rice.

Steamed tofu


Steamed silken tofu with ginger and chilli

1 block silken firm tofu
2cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into thin matchsticks
1 fresh chilli, seeds removed (if desired) and sliced thinly
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon peanut oil

Carefully pop the block of tofu out of its container and on to a heatproof plate/bowl.
Bring a wok or saucepan of water to the boil. Put the plate of tofu in a bamboo steamer.
Place the sliced chilli and ginger on top and pour over the soy sauce and peanut oil.
Place a lid on the bamboo steamer and steam the tofu over boiling water for 10 minutes.
Carefully remove the hot plate from the steamer and serve immediately.

Barbecued marinated marlin steaks with tabouleh

Marlin steaks

So I’m not as bad a gardener as I thought. My herbs are thriving! I’ve been collecting water from the shower (the cold water prior to getting into it, not soapy water) and I’ve actually got more water than plants. Due to this, and since my existing ones are doing so well, I went and purchased a few more in the weekend (oregano, spinach and lettuce).

Thyme was one of the herbs that I planted back in December, and it has grown large enough that I can occasionally pull sprigs off it to use in my cooking. I bought some fish steaks from the market the other week, and cooked them on the barbecue. They were firm and moist, and the fact that the thyme came from my garden just made it taste even better!

(I didn’t follow the tabouleh recipe below, but I’ve typed it up anyway.)

Marlin steaks


Barbecued marinated marlin steaks with tabouleh

From Neil Perry’s Good Food (the recipe in the book is barbecued marinated chicken with tabouleh).

Serves 4

2 blue marlin steaks,
Extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon
Freshly ground pepper

Marinade
100ml (3 1/2 fl oz) extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
3 small red chillies, roughly chopped
3 thyme sprigs, leaves picked
sea salt

Tabouleh
140g (5 oz/heaped 3/4 cup) coarse bulghur
2 vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled, seeds removed and chopped
1 Lebanese (short) cucumber, seeds removed and chopped
6 spring onions, chopped
1/2 bunch parsley, stalks only, about 75tg (2 1/2 oz), chopped
1 large handful flat-leaf (Italian) parsley leaves, roughly chopped
1 small handful mint leaves, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
100ml (3 1/2 fl oz) extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Process all the marinade ingredients together until well combined. Add the fish to the marinade, mix well and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Meanwhile, to make the tabouleh, soak the bulghur in a bwol with enough water to cover for at least 1 hour. Drain and squeeze out the excess water. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Heat a barbecue to hot, then place the fish on. Cook for 5 minutes and turn, cook for a couple more minutes until cooked to your liking. Cut the steaks in half so you have 4 pieces.

Spoon the tabouleh onto each of four plates, and place a piece of fish on each plate. Drizzle with oil, squeeze over some lemon and give a generous grind of fresh pepper.

Mini cheesecakes

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Mini cheesecake

I made these little cheesecakes for a gathering at a friend’s place. They taste quite light, despite the ingredients, and they’re not too sweet and rich. The fruit on the top helps give a bit of tartness. They were very popular. I don’t think they would have been as impressed if they had known how easy they were to make.

The recipe came from a book that I bought at a book fair for $2. It’s a recipe book put out by Kraft with recipes for cooking with Philadelphia cream cheese. This is the only recipe I’ve made from it so far, probably because we rarely have cream cheese in the fridge. Now that I’ve had another look through it, there seems to be some interesting savoury recipes. I might have to stock up on cream cheese more often and try some out.

Mini cheesecake

Mini cheesecakes

Adapted from Heavenly Moments: cooking with Philadelphia Cream Cheese

Makes 24 mini cakes, or 12 larger ones

2 x 250 g block of cream cheese, softened
1 cup (225g) caster sugar
2 eggs
150g almondmeal
1/2 cup (125ml) sour cream
2 tablespoons custard powder
Fresh fruit (I used strawberries and blueberries)
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Line the bases of a muffin pan.
Beat the cream cheese and sugar in a medium bowl until just combined. Add the eggs, ground almonds, sour cream and custard powder, beating until smooth. Spoon in the the prepared pan. Top the mixture with fruit and drizzle with maple syrup.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until set and golden (if you’re making small cakes, it may take less time).

Peanut butter topped brownies

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Peanut butter topped brownies

There are some foods that work so well together. One combination that I adore is peanut butter and chocolate. With my tastes tending to savoury items, I don’t generally eat much chocolate, but I do make an exception for these brownies (and Reese’s peanut butter cups… YUM).

This recipe is very simple although mine took a while to bake (probably because I was using a deeper, narrower pan). I’ve made these brownies before and they are always very popular with their slightly salty layer of peanut butter. This time it came out very rich and fudgey, and even though the slices were small, it was pretty sweet. Next time I make them I will reduce the sugar, but I’ve left the recipe as is below.

Peanut butter topped brownies

Adapted from Should You Eat That

Makes 12-18

150g dark chocolate, chopped
100g unsalted butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
215g (1 cup) caster sugar
75g (½ cup) plain flour
2Tbsp cocoa powder
200g (¾ cup) crunchy peanut butter
½ cup crushed peanuts

1. Preheat oven to 160ºC and line the base of a 16 x 26cm pan with baking paper. Let the paper hang over the ends so it is easier to get the brownies out once they are cooked.

2. Put the chocolate and butter in a medium to large mixing bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir. Then microwave in 15 or 30 second bursts until just melted. Stir til all melted and smooth. Add eggs and sugar to the chocolate mixture along with combined caster sugar, and give a brief stir. Add plain flour & cocoa powder and stir until just combined (don’t overmix). It makes quite a stiff batter.

3. Spoon the mixture into prepared pan. If your peanut butter is quite stiff, microwave it until it’s fairly runny. Spread the peanut butter over the brownie mixture.

4. Sprinkle the crushed peanuts over the top of the peanut butter, pressing it in slightly into the mixture.

5. Bake for 35-40 minutes. It is ok if slightly undercooked. Cool slightly before removing from pan. Let it cool before cutting into slices.

Corn and chickpea flour fritters

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Corn fritters

Like a lot of people who enjoy cooking, I own a few cookbooks. Over Christmas and my birthday, I got given several to add to my collection…. plus I did buy a few myself!

I tell myself that I don’t need to feel guilty about my cookbook collection since I do read each one I own. I’m sure I’m not the only one who takes cookbooks to read in bed.

The other weekend it was just Alastair and I at home for brunch. I had seen a recipe for pancakes or fritters using chickpea flour, but couldn’t remember where I had read it. I tried flicking through a few of my newest cookbooks and online through my usual recipe websites but with no success. Gaaah! Don’t you hate it when that happens? In the end I couldn’t track down the recipe and had to wing it. That’s the problem with reading so many books and food magazines – you get ideas and inspiration but then you can’t remember where those ideas came from.

I ended up with corn and chickpea flour fritters. I bought the chickpea flour from an Asian grocery store to make onion bhaji and have used it a few times since. Plain flour would work as a substitute, but the chickpea flour gives a unique nutty depth of flavour.

On a side note, I have discovered that indian style chickpea flour is made from chana dal, which is a cousin of the chickpea, not an actual chickpea. There’s lots of alternative names for this flour: chana dal flour, gram flour, dal flour, or besan flour to name a few. Actual chickpea flour (ie made from actual chickpeas) is popular in Italian cuisine and is called farina di ceci.

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Corn and chickpea flour fritters

Rating: 31

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Yield: Makes about 6 medium fritters

Corn and chickpea flour fritters

Ingredients

  • 1 cup frozen corn kernels
  • 2 cups chickpea/besan flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 tablespoons chopped chives
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup of milk (add a tad more if you think it’s too thick)
  • Pepper
  • Oil spray
  • Cream cheese
  • 6-8 cherry tomatoes, quartered and tossed with a dash of olive oil
  • Extra chives to garnish

Instructions

  1. Put all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
  2. Mix together the eggs, milk, and chives, season with pepper, then stir in the dry ingredients and mix lightly until combined.
  3. Allow to stand for 10 minutes.
  4. Heat a nonstick frying pan on medium heat, and lightly spray with oil.
  5. Drop 1/4 cup measures of mixture on to the frying pan, allowing room for spreading, and cook over medium heat. Turn when bubbles come to surface, and cook another minute.
  6. Put a dollop of cream cheese and some cherry tomatoes on top of the fritters, and garnish with some extra snipped chives.
https://www.offthespork.com/2008/01/corn-and-chickpea-flour-fritters/

Rich chocolate truffles + a fish tank story

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Original tank

From this….

When we first arrived in Melbourne, we bought a fish that started off a small fish keeping obsession. Yogi was a beautiful, blue Siamese Fighter that came in a little plastic tank.

We soon realised that although Siamese Fighters can survive in small unheated tanks, they’re actually much happier with more space. So we bought him a slightly bigger tank with a water heater. And since we had a larger tank, it meant that we could add more fish. And with more fish… well, eventually we had to upgrade to an even larger tank. Were we satisfied with that? Hell no! Eventually we bought a 130 litre tank, along with an improved water pump and more fish.

For a while we were really into fish keeping, but then we got cats. With the arrival of the cats, the fish stopped being as interesting. Gradually the fish keeping obsession eased and we stopped at the tank shown above.

The tank and its fishy occupants moved with us three times. Sadly Yogi died a couple of years ago, but one fish that has been with us for about four years is Big Fella, a kissing gourami (the pink/white fish in the tank above). Big Fella was a bargain price of $2.50 and we think that he’s probably a fish that someone returned to the fish shop. They get quite large and can become aggressive with other fish, so unfortunately this is a very likely scenario. He is most likely at least five years old. Boy, is Big Fella a trooper. He’s survived several tanks, three house moves, as well as the addition of many fish, all of whom have died apart from another gourami (imaginatively named Little Big Fella).

Yesterday, we were sitting on the couch, when there was an almighty bang that sent the cats flying upstairs. The fish tank had cracked, sending water gushing on to our carpet.

Broken tank

To this!

Oh boy! It was fortunate that the tank burst while Alastair and I were at home. It sent us flying into action – I grabbed buckets, while Alastair prioritised and unplugged my Bro’s Xbox 360. Yup, never mind the litres of water pouring on to our floor, make sure the gadgets are okay! We managed to catch most of the water in buckets and although it still smells like wet carpet in the house, thankfully the damage was negligible.

New tank

A new home

The tank is obviously worthless, so Big Fella and his friend have a new, much smaller, tank to call home. If this one breaks at least it can’t cause much damage!

Yesterday I had been intending to finish off some posts when I got side tracked into catching and mopping up water. So how about just a recipe for chocolate truffles instead? These truffles were the only sweet item I made for our orphan’s Christmas. We left them out of the fridge and they became all soft and gooey. Not a bad way to eat them.

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Rich chocolate truffles

Rating: 31

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 5 hours

Yield: Makes about 30

Rich chocolate truffles

Ingredients

  • 185 ml (6 fl oz or 3/4 cup) thick (double/heavy) cream
  • 400g (14 oz) dark chocolate, grated
  • 70g (2 1/2 oz) unsalted btter, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons Cointreau (I used cherry brandy)
  • dark unsweetened cocoa powder, for rolling

Instructions

  1. Place the cream in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Rmove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until it is completely melted. Add the butter and stir until melted. Stir in the Cointreau. Transfer to a large bowl, cover and refrigerate for seveal hours or overnight, or until firm enough to roll.
  2. Quickly roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls, and refrigerate until firm. Roll the balls in the cocoa, shake off any excess and return to the refrigerator. Serve at room temperature.
  3. Note: The truffle mixture can be made and rolled up to 2 weeks ahead. You will need to roll the balls in cocoa again close to serving time.

Notes

From Kitchen Classics: Sweet and Savoury Bites

https://www.offthespork.com/2008/01/rich-chocolate-truffles-a-fish-tank-story/

Beef and roasted tomatoes in cucumber cups

Beef cups

These cucumber cups were another item that I took along to orphan’s Christmas. It was good to have a slightly healthier item to the other things on offer.

I did feel a bit guilty at the wastage of the cucumber that was scooped out of the cups. It would have been good to have utilised the cucumber flesh in a salad. Alas, salad was not on our Christmas menu.

By the way, happy new year! I hope that you ushered in 2008 with good food and drink, but more importantly, with good company.

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Beef and roasted tomatoes in cucumber cups

Rating: 31

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Yield: Makes about 20

Beef and roasted tomatoes in cucumber cups

Ingredients

  • 250g beef eye fillet
  • 4 Lebanese cucumbers
    • For the marinade
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
  • 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • Roasted tomatoes
  • 250g punnet of cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Sesame oil
  • Mirin

Instructions

  1. Combine the marinade ingredients in a bowl. Put the beef eye fillet in a non-metallic bowl, pour in the marinade and refrigerate for 2 hours, or overnight. Allow the meat to return to room temperature before cooking.
  2. Preheat the oven to 160 degree C. Place the tomato quarters in a baking dish and sprinkle with the sugar and salt. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the tomatoes begin to blacken at the edges and dry out. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Place the roasted tomatoes into a bowl, add a few drops of sesame oil and a dash of mirin and mix to combine.
  3. Heat some oil in a frying pan over high heat and cook to your liking. Set aside to cool, then slice thinly.
  4. Cut off the ends of the cucumbers and cut into 3cm thick slices (for decorative purposes you could peel strips of skin off the cucumber before cutting into slices). Using a melon baller, scoop out the flesh from each slice to make a “cup” about 1 cm thick.
  5. Fill each cup with some beef and top with roasted tomatoes.

Notes

Inspired by a recipe for Thai beef salad in cucumber cups, seen in Kitchen Classics: Picnic hamper

https://www.offthespork.com/2008/01/beef-and-roasted-tomatoes-in-cucumber-cups/

Tuna pâté on chive pikelets

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Tuna pate

This was another item I brought to our orphan’s Christmas. The recipe makes about twice the amount of pâté required, so you could double the pikelet recipe. The original only gives you around 20 pikelets. The cookbook said about 30, but I don’t know what kind of planet they were on. I only managed 19 from my batter, which actually suited me because I didn’t want too many pikelets considering I was bringing other stuff too.

I really tried to avoid making too much food this year. I didn’t want to be eating leftovers for days or having to throw stuff out.

My only leftovers this year was a bit of tuna pâté and a small amount of seared beef (coming up in my next post). I ate the left over tuna pâté in a toasted sandwich. I love tuna toasted sandwiches!

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Tuna pâté on chive pikelets

Rating: 31

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Yield: Makes about 20

Tuna pâté on chive pikelets

Ingredients

    For the tuna pâté
  • 125g cream cheese
  • 400g can tuna in oil, drained
  • 1 tablespoon capers, rinsed
  • 2 tablespoons chopped chives
  • Pinch of cayenne pepper, or to taste
  • Squeeze of lemon juice
  • Salt and pepper
    • For the chive pikelets
  • 60g self-raising flour
  • 1 tablespoon snipped chives
  • 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
  • 125ml milk
    • To garnish
  • Caviar and chives

Instructions

    For the tuna pate:
  1. In a food processor, work the cream cheese until smooth. Add the tuna, capers, chives, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Pulse the mixture until roughly combined. Taste for seasoning, add more salt, black pepper, cayenne, or lemon juice to taste.
    2. For the pikelets:
  2. To make the pikelets, sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Stir in the chives and make a well in the centre. Gradually whisk in the egg yolk and enough milk to form a smooth lump-free batter, the consistency of thick cream.
  3. Set aside for 15 minutes, then lightly grease a non-stick frying pan and drop teaspoons of the batter into the pan. When bubbles appear on the surface of the pikelets, turn them over and brown the other side. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
  4. Spread teaspoons of the pâté on to the pikelets, garnish with some caviar and more chives.
  5. Note: The pikelets may be assembled up to 3 hours ahead, covered and refrigerated

Notes

Adapted from Kitchen Classics: sweet and savoury bites

https://www.offthespork.com/2007/12/tuna-pate-on-chive-pikelets/

Roasted garlic and white bean dip

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Christmas

Our traditional Christmas (if you can call doing the same thing for the past 4 years traditional) is to drink until we pass out. Okay, not really, although each year I do tend to have a wee nap in the middle of the afternoon. For the past few years, we’ve had an “orphan’s Christmas”. We don’t have any family in Melbourne, so we spend the day with some friends who are also Christmas orphans.

Each year there’s lots of food, lots of wine, a bit of cricket and my nap in the middle of the afternoon. There’s always tons of food left over, and this year, I decided to make nibbles rather than food for a full meal.

One of the items I made was a roasted garlic and white bean dip. This dip is all about the garlic, and baby, is it good! I adapted the recipe from the current issue of Donna Hay Magazine – essentially I halved the recipe except for the garlic and onion. If you don’t like garlic as much as us, just halve the garlic and onion.

The dip is very garlicky, but as it’s roasted it’s not overpoweringly so. It gets a lovely mellow, buttery and sweet taste.

PS: The basil came from my garden which is why it looks a little sad. My plants are still alive (!) except for the coriander which expired as soon as we got some hot weather. Stupid coriander.

Garlic and bean dip

Roasted garlic and white bean dip

Adapted from Donna Hay Magazine, Issue 36, Dec/Jan 2008

2 heads garlic
2 onions, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
400g can white (cannellini) beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped basil leaves
salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180 degree C.
Slice the tops off the garlic, and place with the onion and oil on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper and toass to coat. Roast for 25 minutes or until the garlic is soft.
Let it cool slightly, then squeeze the roasted garlic out of the skins into a food processor. Add the onion, beans, lemon juice, basil, salt and pepper and process until smooth.
Serve with crudites or bread sticks and crackers.

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