Sweet dreams are made of these

With my own father out of the country, this Father's Day allowed us to lavish our affections solely on my husband's dad. How do I lavish affection? Mostly with hugs, but secondly with food. Taking inspiration (and direction) from the September edition of 'Delicious', these chocolate meringues were just devine. I had never made meringues before (I've since made these twice), but they were surprisingly easy. 

I think the killer here is the butterscotch sauce. While ultimately a delight to the taste buds, for me it was just a little too much (Aaron wholeheartedly disagreed with me on this one). 

I made these again last weekend, for my own parents home coming, and they were just as good with just the cream, strawberries and blueberries but with no sauce. They were also delightful with lunch the next day with ice cream, strawberries and a little strawberry syrup. A great all rounder, and I'm sure they will be a permanent feature in my repertoire.

Returning to the kitchen

I will need to apologise for my blogging silence the last few months. In response to a slightly exhausting first trimester of pregnancy, I have struggled for both the motivation and inspiration to cook or eat much of any real interest, and I somehow doubt that all the crumpets with cheese, or bowls of tinned peaches, would make for very stimulating reading.
However, I now feel we're coming out the other side and my appetite for being in the kitchen is returning and, after several weeks of blandness, I felt that we all were well in need of a veggie fix.
This spaghetti is a favourite that my mum has made before, and when I can justify creamy pasta to myself I love it. I have also cooked it when I've made gnocchi and it's a great combination.
Zucchini, snow peas, green peas, broccoli, and mushrooms in a sauce of cream, chicken stock, Parmesan and basil (I used mint basil this time as we had some fresh here and it was a great addition). The little gem here lies in the tomato garnish. Vine ripened cherry tomatoes, lightly cooked in oil, garlic and parsley, until they just burst open a little, provide a burst of flavour and freshness that works really well with the creamy sauce. I love those little guys.

For the love of local produce

Last Saturday was one of those amazing late August mornings... the sun was shining, the air was crisp, and everywhere you looked Spring was right there waiting to burst through. We are blessed on the Surf Coast to have a pretty sweet little farmers market run every Saturday. So off we strolled, bags in hand, to see what treats we could find.
Though Aaron was hard pressed to get me passed my new best friend (the quite attractive Frenchman selling homemade macaroons - I can't decide which were more delicious the man or the biscuits), but we came home with a pretty good bounty.

Dinner tonight was a plate full of local: broccoli and potatoes from a friendly local lad, zucchini, carrots and mushrooms from 'The Organics Box', and two beautiful Otway Prime scotch fillet steaks (clearly not a weekday vegetarian today). There's just something about fresh produce that makes you feel good, like you've given yourself a little present.

The other thing you should know about this meal, is this is my first attempt at cooking steak. I know, I know. How can a food loving gal of 30 never have cooked a steak? It's just one of those things I palm off to someone else. But not today. Today a cooked a pretty damn good medium rare steak (needed about 3 min each side as they were fatties), nicely rested (about 15min). I was well pleased with myself.

So now I have one less thing I can't do. Now if I can just learn to drive a manual car and attempt boiling an egg I'll be doing well.

Veggie Shepherd's Pie

This was a little creation of my own.

Ingredients:

• Pastry sheet (optional)
• olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, cruches or finely chopped
• 1 small onion, diced
• 10 button mushrooms, quartered
• 2 small zucchini, diced
• 1 large carrot, diced
• Handful of green beans, cut into inch pieces
• Can of chopped tomatoes (I like the one with garlic and basil)
• tomato paste
• Worchester sauce
• bay leaves
• rosemary
• Red wine
• a few handfuls dried red lentils
• 2/12 cups of stock (I used chicken stock)

Topping:

• Pumpkin (I think about 350gm) peeled and cut into pieces
• 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
• wholegrain mustard
• tasty cheese, grated
• parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)

1. Chop up peeled pumpkin and potato, and place in a medium size saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil until soft and mashable.

2. Meanwhile, heat a splash of olive oil in a large saucepan, then cook onion and garlic until soft. 

3. Throw in the zucchini, mushrooms, carrot, and beans, season with salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes, stirring so it doesn't stick.

4. Add tomatoes, a good splash of Worchester sauce, about 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, a cup of red wine, and 2 +1/2 cups of stock. 

5. Stir in a teaspoon or so of rosemary, 4 bay leaves and let simmer for 5 minutes. Add more salt and pepper if required.

6. Stir through about 4 handfuls of dry red lentils (maybe a cup or so) These will soak up a lot of the liquid.

6. Simmer until thickened or until the potato and pumpkin have finished cooking in the other pot.

7. Drain the potato and pumpkin and mash well with a fork. Add a little butter if you so fancy, then mix in 1 heaped teaspoon wholegrain mustard, and the grated cheeses to taste (maybe a handful of each) and season well with salt and pepper. Add egg and stir well (I've made something similar before and my mash turned to mush in the oven, however the egg just seems to bind it, and help it keep it's form).

8. If you like, lightly grease a pie dish and line with a sheet of pastry then top with the lentil mix and then the mash. If you want a lighter version, forget the pastry and just pop it in a casserole dish and top with mash. My dish was about 25cm square and maybe 6cm deep so you can gauge the size.

9. Bake in the oven until golden on top and pastry is cooked (if using it).

10. Enjoy with a nice glass of red wine and some warm crusty bread. Quite a nice, easy winter warmer.

xx

Roast vegetable and polenta stack

When Aaron said to me a year ago "I'm going to be a weekday vegetarian" I was a little taken aback. Being the one who cooks most of the meals it meant that I was, by default, a weekday vegetarian also. I think we both quite like this dietary change for both the physical and the environmental benefits. This change has also helped me to expand my repertoire of vego friendly meals. Here is my latest effort.

Oven roasted mushrooms, zucchini, capsicum, onion and cherry tomatoes sandwiched between layers of polenta.
I was surprisingly happy with how this turned out, particularly as this was my first attempt at cooking polenta, and the recipe I used didn't actually include a recipe for the polenta just called for '1 portion creamy polenta'. So I used a recipe I'd seen elsewhere:

• 1 cup milk, 1 1/2 cup stock (I used chicken) and 1 1/2 cups water brought to the boil
• 1 cup of polenta stirred in over the heat until soft (3 minutes for me as I used instant polenta)
• 1 cup parmesan stirred in at the end with a little salt and pepper 

Once cooked, spread the polenta mix on a lined baking tray and refrigerate until firm (which took about as long as it did to roast the veggies). It was easier to handle than I expected when cooled, so I could easily slice the polenta sheet into three sections.
The first layer went onto a lined baking tray then was spread with basil pesto, some ricotta cheese and half the veggies. Repeat with the next layer, then top with the final polenta strip and grated parmesan, then back in the oven for about 20 minutes.
I was really pleased with how this turned out, especially the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
xx

Complete comfort food

Not only do I love cooking but, thankfully, my husband loves it too.  Aaron has been incredibly supportive of my starting this blog and pursuing a future in something foodie, though what they may be is still unclear to us both. He also likes to flex his culinary muscles every now and then by stepping into the kitchen. We've had some ups and downs, like the year he put oyster sauce in everything which was a steep learning curve, but over the years Az has realised his real flare lies in pies. To my delight he whipped up this lamb and veggie number last Friday.

 Big, juicy chunks of lamb in a thick gravy flavoured with rosemary and a touch of sweetness from a little port. The real hero of this one was the pastry. Regular puff, but he cooked it in our 'microstoven' dish and the pastry was super crispy all over. Served with a truffle mash I felt ridiculously spoilt for a Friday evening in.
As far as husband's go I may just have the best, not that I am at all biased.
xx

My perfect Saturday afternoon

One of my most favourite, guilty pleasures: home on my own on a sunny Saturday afternoon with freshly baked cookies, a pot of tea, a new 'Delicious' magazine, and the perfect harmonies of 'Seeker, Lover, Keeper' whispering softly to me alone.
My own little piece of heaven.
xx

'Apricot and coconut choc cookies' recipe available here: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/3308/apricot+coconut+choc+cookies