Salad Nicoise with Slow Roasted Vegetable Ravioli

This light dinner dish is a modern twist on the French classic!

Adapted from the Latina Deliciously Fresh Recipe Book, page 20

Serves 4

Ingredients

625g pack fresh slow roasted vegetable ravioli
4 eggs
375g green beans, blanched and halved diagonally
4 large vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped
2 x 185g cans tuna in olive oil, drained, reserving 2 tablespoons of oil
¼-½ cup pitted kalamata olives, halved
¼ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, roughly torn
8 small anchovy fillets, torn lengthways
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Freshly cracked pepper, for serving

Method

1. Add ravioli to large saucepan of boiling water. Return to the boil and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and cool slightly.
2. Meanwhile, place eggs in a small saucepan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 4 minutes. Cool in cold water, peel and cut into quarters.
3. Combine ravioli, beans, tomatoes, tuna, olives, parsley and anchovies in a large bowl.
4. Combine reserved oil from tuna and lemon juice in a screw top jar.
5. Add dressing to salad and gently combine. Serve topped with eggs and pepper.

Sweet Corn and Bean Enchiladas

Serves 4

Ingredients 

12 enchilada tortillas
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped
1 red capsicum, diced
1 zucchini, grated
1 teaspoon chilli powder
½ teaspoon paprika powder
1 large tomato, diced
310g can corn kernels, drained
400g can red kidney beans, rinsed, drained
200g jar taco sauce
¾ cup grated tasty cheese
Sour cream, to serve
Guacamole, to serve

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Wrap tortillas in foil. Warm in oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add onion, capsicum and zucchini. Cook for 3 minutes. Add chilli powder and cook, stirring, for a further 2 minutes. 

Add tomato and cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes or until soft. Add corn, beans and salt and pepper. Remove from heat and stir to combine. 

Grease a large baking dish. Place 1/4 cup filling on 1 warm tortilla (keep remainder wrapped in foil as you work). Roll up. Place, seam side down, in baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling. 

Spoon taco sauce over tortillas. 

Sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Serve immediately with sour cream and guacamole.

My Family Feast Prize Pack

Look what arrived in the mail today? It's my Family Feast Prize Pack!

I vaguely remember entering this competition on the SBS website a few months ago and when I got the email in July saying that I was one of ten lucky winners in the competition, I was very happy. I had been looking forward to receiving this prize pack since my email notification and it's finally arrived! Yay!!!

There are 13 different cultures represented in this book, all family recipes from vastly different backgrounds, from Cuba to China, Afghanistan to Vietnam and Burma to Bali.

I'm very excited to have won this prize and I can't wait to get started on trying all these wonderful cuisines :)

Roasted Vegetable Ravioli with Bocconcini and Basil

This is a very simple and easy to put together mid week pasta meal

Adapted from the Latina Deliciously Fresh Recipe Book, page36

Ingredients

625g pack Latina® Fresh Slow Roasted Vegetable Ravioli
250g punnet cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 tub bocconcini, torn
1 cup fresh basil leaves
2-3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Freshly cracked pepper, for serving

Method

1. Halve the tomatoes horizontally and place, skin-side down, on a baking tray. Sprinkle with a teaspoon of sugar and 1 tbsp olive oil over the top. Season with salt and pepper and roast in the oven for 30 minutes in a preheated oven (180C) or until softened and lightly charred.
2. Add ravioli to large saucepan of boiling salted water. Return to the boil and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and cool slightly.
3. Gently combine cooked pasta, tomatoes, bocconcini and basil in a large bowl.
4. Place pasta on a serving platter or serving plates, drizzle with oil and sprinkle with pepper.

Home-made Vanilla Ice Cream

Making home-made ice cream from scratch is so easy if you have the help of an ice-cream maker and this recipe is a good basic one that you can use to make vanilla ice cream as well as other flavours such as mint chip or cookies & cream.

As we are using pure, fresh ingredients for this recipe, just remember that your home-made ice cream will not have the same characteristics as commercially prepared ice cream since most store-bought versions use gums and presevatives to make them firmer. If you desire a firmer consistency, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and store in the freezer until desired consistency is reached, usually two or more hours.

You may substitute lower fat creams and milk (reduced fat or low fat) for heavy cream and whole milk for a low-fat version of this recipe but keep in mind that this may change the taste, consistency and texture of the ice cream since the higher the fat content, the richer and creamier the result.

Adapted from the recipe in Cuisinart Automatic Frozen Yoghurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker Instruction & Recipe Booklet, page 4

Makes approx. 1.25L

Ingredients

1 cup whole milk, well chilled
¾ cup caster sugar
2 cups heavy cream, well chilled
2 tsps vanilla extract (or 1 vanilla bean, split lengthways, seeds scraped)

Method

1. In a medium bowl, use a whisk to combine the milk and sugar until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla to taste.
3. Churn mixture in an ice-cream machine according to the manufacturer's directions
4. Serve with toppings of choice

Variations:

Cookies & Cream Ice cream: Add 3/4 cup coarsely chopped cookies or your favourite candy (chocolate chip, Oreos etc) during the last 5 minutes of churning. 

Mint Chip Ice cream: Omit the vanilla and replace with 1 to 1½ teaspoons peppermint extract. Chop 120g bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate into tiny uneven pieces. Add the chopped chocolate during the last 5 minutes of churning.

Udon Noodle Soup with Crumbed Prawn Cutlets

Panko breadcrumbs make these prawns deliciously crunchy but if you don't have any just substitute with fresh breadcrumbs. Dried or long-life udon noodles are great to keep in the pantry, so you can turn out something as light and comforting as these soupy noodles on the spot.

Ingredients

20g instant dashi powder
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin
6-8 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 30mins and then thinly sliced
250g dried or 400g long-life udon noodles
10 medium green prawns, shelled (tail left on)
1 egg
3 tbsp vegetable oil
½ cup panko breadcrumbs
2 spring onions, cut into 5cm lengths
200g silken tofu, cubed
1 bunch Chinese green leaf vegetables, trimmed (e.g. baby bok choy, baby choy sum, Chinese cabbage)

Serves 2-3


Method

1. For the broth, bring 800 millilitres of water to the boil, then add the dashi powder, mirin and soy sauce and simmer for two minutes. 
2. Add the mushrooms and simmer gently for five minutes. 
3. If using dried noodles, cook them in simmering water for 9 to 10 minutes until tender, then drain and rinse. If using longlife, cover with boiling water for 30 seconds, gently separate with chopsticks, then drain and rinse. 
4. Meanwhile, cut each prawn along the back and remove any intestinal tract. Open it out and run a rolling pin gently over it to flatten the meat and trim neatly. 
5. Beat the egg until light and frothy. Heat the oil in a small frying pan. Dip each prawn in the egg, then the crumbs, and fry the prawns for one to two minutes each side until crisp and golden. 
6. Add the noodles, spring onions, Chinese vegetables and tofu to the soup and heat through for two minutes. 
7. Using tongs, divide the noodles between warm, shallow pasta bowls. Ladle the soup on top, add the prawns and serve.

Zabaglione

I had 6 egg yolks left over from another recipe/dish I had made. Not content with just throwing them into the bin, I decided to make Zabaglione which is a simple Italian dessert made with just egg yolks, sugar and Marsala wine. This light and fluffy custard however gave my arms such a work out! Just a few minutes into whisking the custard over the simmering water, I could feel my arms aching from all that whisking! Maybe next time I'll try using the electric whisker- not sure if it'll give me the same results but at least it'll be less painful- on another note, at least I'm enjoying the fruits of my labour whilst eating the Zabaglione, or should I really be saying that my hips just keep getting wider :P

Serves 4-6


Ingredients

6 egg yolks
⅓ cup caster sugar
¼ cup Marsala wine or dry white wine
Strawberries, lady fingers or biscotti, to serve

Method

1. Half-fill a pot with water. Bring the water to a simmer and reduce the heat to low.
2. Whisk the yolks, sugar and wine together in a large, round bottomed stainless steel bowl until frothy.  Set the bowl containing the custard mixture over the water; the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water. Continue to whisk over the pot of simmering water until light and fluffy and forming soft peaks - approx. 10 minutes. 
3. Whilst whisking the custard mixture make sure the water does not boil. This ensures that a gentle, even heat thickens the mixture without scrambling it. Whisking traps air in the yolks for a light, fluffy mixture.
4. Continue whisking until the mixture triples in volume, froths up and becomes pale.
5. When it reaches the desired consistency, take the bowl out of the pot. Continue whisking for a minute or two to prevent the custard from sticking to the bowl.
6. Pour the zabaglione into glasses and serve with strawberries and/or biscuits like lady fingers or biscotti.

Notes & Tips

The whisking is done over simmering water so that the egg yolks cook as they thicken into a light, foamy custard. The mixture must not get too hot during cooking or it will become grainy. If it begins to feel warmer than body temperature, remove the bowl briefly from the heat, whisking continuously, until the mixture cools. Then return the bowl to the heat and continue cooking.

Zabaglione may be served warm or cold. A cold one is whisked off the heat until cooled. Traditional zabaglione must be made just before serving. The warm froth can be served as a dessert by itself or as a sauce over cake, fruit, ice cream or pastry.

In France, this is called sabayon

Pear and Rocket Salad

What I really love about this salad is the explosion of flavours- the crunchiness that comes from the hazelnuts, the saltiness from the pancetta and goat's cheese, the fresh taste and sweetness of the pears, the bitterness of the rocket and the acidity from the dressing. This salad is a great accompaniment to any meat dish and just so simple to put together.

There are 2 ways I like to use the pear when making this salad. The first way is to caramelise the pears and the second way is to just thinly slice the pears lengthways using a mandolin and serving it fresh/uncooked. I tend to caramelise the pears in Winter since it's cold and I don't often feel like eating cold salad, but in Summer I tend to just slice the pears and have it fresh. Whichever way, both work with this salad.

Adapted from the recipe in Notebook magazine, March 2 2010, page 7

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 pancetta slices
2 Williams pears, peeled and cored
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp honey
1 bunch baby rocket (approx. 65g), washed
¼ cup toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
50g goat's milk cheese

Method

1. Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the pancetta and cook, turning occasionally, for 2 minutes or until golden-brown and crisp. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel.  
2. Combine the vinegar, oil, mustard and honey in a screw-top jar and shake until well combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper. 
3. Arrange the rocket leaves onto a serving platter. Coarsely break up the pancetta and sprinkle over the rocket with the pears and hazelnuts. Crumble over the goat's cheese. Drizzle with dressing and serve immediately.

Notes & Tips

To make caramelised pears, heat 20g butter and 1 tbsp brown sugar in a small non stick frying pan over medium heat. Add pears (cored and cut into wedges) and sauté for 2-3 minutes until light golden.

To slice the pears thinly, use a mandolin.

Osso Bucco

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 x 350-400g, centre bone cut pieces of veal osso buco
50mL extra virgin olive oil 
2 onions, finely diced 
2 cloves garlic, finely diced
2 anchovy fillets 
1 cup dry white wine
800g tinned crushed tomatoes
1 cup veal or beef stock 
2 large sprigs of fresh thyme
2 large sprigs of fresh sage
1 large sprig of fresh rosemary 
1 fresh bay leaf 
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the puree:
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
2 tbsp finely chopped good quality anchovy 


Method

Season the veal with the sea salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large pan and brown the veal osso buco pieces evenly on all sides. The veal should be well coloured but be careful not to burn the meat.

Remove the browned veal shanks from the pan and set them aside in the slow cooker. Add the diced onion, garlic, anchovy and herbs and sauté slowly for about 5 minutes or until translucent.  Turn heat up and then add the white wine to deglaze the pan. Cook until the wine is almost completely reduced before adding the tomatoes and veal stock.

Bring to the boil before adding into the slow cooker- make sure the sauce covers the veal. Check for seasoning and adjust accordingly, if the tomatoes are not as ripe and sweet as they should be a little sugar should be added. Cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of the cut but will take somewhere between 4 to 6 hours on low setting.

The veal should be fork tender, with the meat just beginning to separate from the bone when you remove them from the slow cooker. Do not remove until meat is falling off the bone. 

To make the purée, combine the garlic, anchovy and parsley.

After you have removed the veal from the sauce, stir in the puree.  Serve veal pieces with equal portions of creamy polenta and spoon a little of the veal sauce over the top of the veal pieces to finish.

Soft Creamy Polenta

This traditional Italian staple makes a fantastic warming side dish for meat, chicken, fish or vegetables.

Ingredients

1 litre (4 cups) chicken stock
1 cup coarse polenta (cornmeal)
125ml (1/2 cup) thin cream
1/4 cup finely grated parmesan
40g butter
Salt & finely ground white pepper

Method

1. Bring the chicken stock to the boil in a large heavy-based saucepan over high heat. Use a wire balloon whisk to stir the stock. Gradually add the polenta in a thin steady stream, whisking constantly until all the polenta is incorporated into the liquid (whisking ensures the polenta is dispersed through the liquid as quickly as possible). Don't add the polenta too quickly or it will turn lumpy. 
2. Reduce heat to low (cook the polenta over low heat otherwise it will cook too quickly and you will need to add extra water/stock). Simmer, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for 10 minutes or until the mixture thickens and the polenta is soft. (To test whether the polenta is soft, spoon a little of the polenta mixture onto a small plate and set aside to cool slightly. Rub a little of the polenta mixture between 2 fingers to see if the grains have softened. If the grains are still firm, continue to cook, stirring constantly, over low heat until the polenta is soft.)  
3. Remove from heat. Add the cream, Parmesan and butter, and stir until well combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Notes & Tips

The hot polenta may splatter as it cooks, so use a long-handled wooden spoon to avoid being scalded.

Lamb Shanks with Thyme and Rosemary

I love eating lamb shanks with the meat falling off the bone and this slow cooker recipe will do just exactly that! This is a great Winter recipe that I keep going back to. It's so easy to make since all I have to do is just pop all the ingredients into the slow cooker, set it on low heat and 4-6 hours later, a nice hearty meal awaits- minimal time, minimal fuss, maximum flavour!

Recipe adapted from taste.com.au- July 2008, page 4

Ingredients

4 lamb shanks, French trimmed
plain flour, for dusting
salt and cracked black pepper
1 large carrot, coarsely chopped
1 Spanish onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
400g can crushed tomatoes (with roasted capsicum)
3 cups (750ml) beef stock
3 sprigs rosemary
3 sprigs thyme
75g baby spinach leaves
100g mushrooms, sliced
Roast potatoes, to serve, if desired

Method

1. Add the carrot, onion, garlic, tomatoes, beef stock, rosemary and thyme into a slow cooker. 
2. Dust the lamb shanks in the flour, salt and pepper, and shake off excess. 
3. Heat a little olive oil in a large fry pan over medium-high heat. Cook the lamb shanks, in batches, for 3-4 minutes or until browned. 
4. Add lamb shanks into the slow cooker, cover with the lid and cook for 4-6 hours on low setting.
5. When almost ready to serve, stir through the mushrooms and baby spinach leaves. Cook for a few more minutes or until leaves are wilted. Serve with roast potatoes if desired.

Notes & Tips

The size of shanks can vary, so ensure all the shanks will fit in the pot before commencing.