Preserved and Pickled

Preserved and Pickled

This person's blog has detailed, easy to follow, simple instructions and images on preserving & pickling for those of us who enjoy these processes and the tasty results of all this alchemy... the image below is mine: They are meant to be preserved capsicum (peppers) but they didn't work - that's where 'Preserved & Pickled' came in handy for the next batch that did work.

YUMKIN PUMPKIN CURRY

‘YUMKIN’ PUMPKIN CURRY

1 tblp olive oil (or veg oil) & 1 tblp sesame oil

1 kg pumpkin chopped into cubes

1 cup of peas

2 onions chopped finely

4 cloves garlic

A 2 -3 cm square of tamarind

1 tsp galangal (if you have)

Zest of 1 lime and/or 1/2 lemon and juice of both

½ cup roughly chopped cashews

2 fresh Chillies chopped to taste (or chilli paste or hot paprika) optional

1 tblp grated fresh ginger

400g can of coconut milk

2 tblp crunchy peanut paste

1 tblp tomato paste

1-2 tblp soy sauce

2 tsp sugar

1 coriander plant, (use parsley if you have no coriander or don’t like it – or just leave it out)

-Mix peanut paste, tomato paste, soy sauce & sugar in approx 200ml water, set aside.

-Chop coriander stems (or parsley) very finely and then leaves & set both aside.

-Chop chilli, garlic & grate ginger.

-Heat the olive (or veg oil) & sesame oil.

-Add onion & garlic and fry till slightly brown.

-Add pumpkin & tamarind pieces & fry for few minutes.

-Add peanut paste mix and coriander stalks and gently cook for 5 -10 mins.

-Add coconut milk & simmer gently for 15 – 20 mins until pumpkin is cooked, stirring frequently (add a little more water if it starts to look a bit dry).

-Add the peas and cashews until heated through.

-Add finely chopped coriander (or parsley) leaves in before serving and a squeeze of lime or lemon on each serve.

-Serve with rice and/or naan bread or chapatis

You can cook this early and leave for a few hours for flavours to be better, but leave the coriander leaves out till then. It will get thicker so you may want to add a little more water or soymilk (or milk) before reheating (about ½ cup will probably do).

Roastie!

The Sunday 'Roastea'

 Great food to warm you up when the last of the potatoes have been dug and there's not much left but root crops in the vege patch. 

This is my quick and easy roast veg and gravy. Sorry there are no pics leading up to final outcome, but didn't think of it till I'd finished making it and it looked so good!.
-Made with a few root veg, an onion and pumpkin and some beans, cauli and corn.

Place any of at least 3 of the following  in a baking dish with a lid:
-washed and quartered potato,  beetroot,  swede or turnip (a little smaller as it takes longer), 1 red or white onion halved, a carrot in halved and couple pieces of cauliflower.
-squash and peel 3-4 cloves garlic and drop between vegetables.
-sprinkle a little olive oil and soy sauce over top, some freshly picked sage, rosemary and/ or thyme (like the song without the parsley) and some ground pepper. Use dried herbs if you haven't got fresh.
- put lid on and bake for 40 mins - 1 hour, or until done on about 180 (or higher if you're impatient or haven't got time) but they are a lot better cooked slowly.
-turn veges round in dish about half way through cooking time or when they start to change colour on top.

This is just the basics; it's delicious without the mushroom gravy or the greens or the vege/vegan sausages you see on the side, so you can have that next time!
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Potato Wedges & Shepherd's Pie

POTATO WEDGES: 

Made with Dutch Creams if my memory serves me well. We sure served ourselves well with these. Friday night special sometimes instead of chippies, just for a change.

METHOD:
-Cut potatoes in quarters lengthways or in 6s depending on size of potatoes.
-In a bowl put a mixture of your favourite herbs and include cummin, cayenne or chilli and tumeric all            -ground, some salt and ground pepper
-couple tablspoons plain flour
-throw in the wedges still damp from cleaning and cutting
-toss them round with a wooden spoon  cotainer (it has lots of herbs in too so adds to flvour), or olive oil
-toss around some more
-wipe cooking tray with couple tblsp oil
-place wedges in a tray as in pic and bake for 20-30 mins or so, turning about half way through.
When golden brown they are ready.

While they are cooking fry mushrooms & make the gravy

MUSHROOMS:
-heat a little same oil as above,
-add mushrooms,
-optional 1 clove of garlic chopped
and 1 tsp of vegemite, stir altogether on low heat until all mixed, mushrooms changing colour and softened.
-put lid and turn off heat

GRAVY:
-2-3 tbsp (oil as above)
-1-2 tblp vegemite
-place leftover flour & herb mix from the bowl into a cup (add another 1-2 tblp flour if necessary) with enough water to make smooth paste.
-add vegemite to this, mix then fill cup with water and pour into small saucepan.
-  stir all the time and adding water as it comes to the boil and thickens.
- bring to boil then turn off heat, put lid on and leave until wedges are ready.

 Wedges, served with vegemite gravy and mushrooms

Serve with a fresh salad, tomato or avocado or all three!
Good tomatoes hard to come by in winter in the south but avocadoes seemed to be around and you can still grow special winter greens that don't mind frost.
I was just too lazy to go out and pick them. Besides it's dark at 5:00 mid winter and this is jazzed up enough for what's meant to be a quick Friday night chips or wedges.

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 Shepherd's Pie

Sometimes I make this with lentils to kid my self I'm being more authentic, but what the heck, I'm not arguing when it's the chef (as opposed to me, the cook) who is cooking, it's his speciality dish and I'm not cooking!)
Ingredients:
2 roughly chopped onions
2-3 cloves garlic chopped
2 diced carrots
2 cups tvp soaked
1tsp

Method:

Tahini Spaghetti

Ingredients:

800 gm tin tomatoes

2 onions

2-3 cloves of garlic

3-4 tbsp Olive oil

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 heaped tbsp tahini

Salt & ground pepper

Finely chopped parsley

(1 tsp chilli flakes optional)

Method:

Chop onion and garlic finely and fry gently until translucent

Add brown sugar and continue to simmer until onions just begin to turn golden brown

Add herbs then tomatoes & turn up heat till boiling.

Turn down heat and simmer gently for 10 mins

Add Tahini and cook another 10 – 15 mins stirring occasionally

Turn off, add parsley and serve with your choice of pasta - and a glass of wine

I think this is a good smooth sauce for spaghetti –Angel hair is nice but penne, shells etc work well too. 

Mung Bean Soup

2 cups whole mung beans, washed and soaked in boiled water until the water cools.

Rinse then cover with cold water in fridge you are cooking them just yet (overnight if necessary).

3 potatoes

2 carrots

1 onion

2-3 cloves garlic

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp tumeric

1 tsp grated ginger

1 tsp hot paprika

Olive oil

( sorry this image is a wee bit in the shadow of my camera - where is my photographer son when I need him?)

Rinse and cook mung beans, simmering until soft but not mushy, in twice as much water as beans.

Chop all the vegies into small cubes

Chop or crush garlic

Fry onion, garlic and spices gently until golden brown in olive oil

Add chopped veg, stir and heat a few mins

Add the water from the mung beans until it covers the veg to twice as much. Add more water if necessary and cook veg for about 10 mins.

Add mung beans back into pot, bring to boil.

Simmer slowly for another 10 – 20 mins

Serve with chopped parsley or coriander

This only has a little heat from the hot paprika. So if you want more heat add 1 or 2 more tsp or some of your favourite chili powder. If you want less heat just use mild paprika instead of hot that way the flavour is there without the heat.

Puff Pastry Pasties & Hot Tomato Sauce

Puff Pastry Pasties & Hot Tomato Sauce

(Basic & arguably the best)

Serve with a big salad if possible!

Ingredients:

4 – 6 Premade frozen (no milk, no butter) puff pastry

Some brands aren’t labelled ‘vegan’ so read the ingredients list for info.

3-4 medium potatoes cubed

2-3 onions chopped semi-fine

¼ cabbage finely sliced/ chopped

1 ½ - cups frozen peas or beans

1-2 tsp Keens curry powder (or other)

3-4 tbsp oil

½ - 1 cup water

Salt, pepper to taste

1 flat tbsp corn flour in ¼ cup water (optional)

Sesame seeds (optional)

Method:

• Take pastry out of freezer and let thaw whilst you’re preparing vegetables.

(I find it easier not to let it thaw out completely as it’s easier to use when it’s still cool and pliable rather than too soft).

• Prepare the veg, fry all together (except cabbage) with curry powder in a large pan on medium heat, stirring constantly.
• As the potatoes begin to stick and the mix begins to brown a little, add water.
• Add cabbage and stir in.
• Put lid on and turn heat down to simmer, stirring occasionally.
• When potatoes are almost cooked, about 10-15 mins, turn heat off and let cool. (You don’t have to cook mix totally as the oven cooking time will do this).
• Optional - Mix corn flour and water and add to veg for a smoother mix that holds together better especially if it’s a bit watery.
• Meanwhile cut each pastry sheet into 2 rectangles or 4 squares (or even 8 party-size pieces - have fun experimenting).  
• Preheat oven to 200 degrees F or 190 C.
• Add the frozen peas or beans to veg mix and stir through. (The frozen peas/ beans cool the mix enough so that it’s less likely to make pastry too soft to handle).
• Now place good spoonfuls of mixture onto pastry sheets and, pressing edges together where needed.
• Optional - Before putting in oven, brush olive oil or spread a little margarine on each and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
• Place on trays, and cook for 15 – 20 mins until golden brown and puffy.

 Note: These also taste great cold so they are good for picnics or lunches.

My friend Traci put me onto her recipe saying it was a great party food. Ever since then it’s become a favourite one, on order from the kids when ever they are home. Thanks Traci.

Experiment with herbs and spices

Instead of curry powder, try:

1tsp ground cumin

1 tsp turmeric

Chilli according to taste

OR:

1tsp basil

1tsp oregano

½ tsp rosemary

½ tsp sage

Experiment with Vegetable variations:

• Add a cup of pre-soaked tvp when preparing & frying the veg at start.

• Add a thinly sliced red capsicum and sliced mushrooms to mix.
• Omit cabbage and add any of the above but add 1-2 more potatoes.

Tasty hot Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

1 800 gm tin of tomatoes

1 tsp garam massala

1 tbsp brown (or other) sugar

¼ cup cider vinegar (is best but other will do)

¼ - ½ tsp salt

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

(Or 1 tsp Italian herb mix instead of basil & oregano)

1 – 2 tbsp olive oil.

Method:

• Place all ingredients into small pan

• Bring to boil then and allow to simmer very gently for 15 – 20 mins while pasties are cooking in oven.

 Note:

It’s the simmering that gives the sauce its flavour. If it’s not slowly simmered for that time it won’t taste very nice.

Failing this squeeze some tomato sauce from a bottle!

 1. tomato sauce simmering

 2. half cooked pasties with sesame seeds on top in oven

 2. pasties served up!

3. pasties with hot tom sauce ready to eat!


I forgot to take pics while I was making them so I'll add those next time, meanwhile my next post will be the sweet pastries and they will show how to fold the pastry if that's a problem!