French Lentil vegetable soup with a hint of chilli

Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

1/2 cup French lentils soaked and drained
250ml of vegetable or chicken stock
50ml water
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1/2 red chilli cut in large pieces
1 potato peeled and diced in small squares
1 small carrot peeled and diced finely
1 small baby bok choy

Place chicken stock, water and lentils into a medium saucepan and bring to the boil, add the chilli, potato, carrot and bok choy and stir through gently as bok choy will need to wilt down (break down smaller pieces if does not fit the pot).  Test the soup to your desired salt levels.

Cook the soup for around 30 minutes simmering.  Serve with crusty bread and butter. Delicious!!

Spicy Vegetable and Lamb Couscous

 Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4 people

Olive oil for each frypan (2)

1 small red chilli diced finely

1 white end of leek diced up finely

1 teaspoon of cumin ground

1 teaspoon of turmeric

shake of black pepper

1 sweet potato peeled and diced

500 ml vegetable stock

1 zuccini diced

1 bunch of broccolini (just the florets)

1 small tomato diced

1 tablespoon of parsley

1 tablespoon of thyme

400g lamb diced

6 pitted dates chopped

1 cup of vegetable stock

shake of black pepper

1 teaspoon of moroccan spice

Couscous

1 cup instant couscous

30 g butter

1 cup of hot vegetable stock

 Add a little oil to a frypan and add the lamb pieces, dates, vege stock, pepper and moraccan spice. Simmer on medium heat on stovetop making sure to add stock to just cover the meat. This makes a gorgeous thick sweet lamb after around 30 min simmering.  

To make the vegetables place some oil in a deep frypan and add the chilli, leek, cumin and turmeric and cook til leek is slightly opaque.  Then add the sweet potato and half the vegetable stock and simmer.  Add the broccoli florets, tomato, parsley and thyme and simmer uncovered for around 20 minutes (or until vegetables are tender). Add stock as required .

Make the couscous by placing the couscous grains in a large glass bowl and place butter and hot vegetable stock over the cous cous.  Leave to absorb for around 5 minutes then fluff gently with a fork to separate the grains.

To serve place Couscous in serving bowl then place vegetables and meat on top or you can mix meat into vegetables first then onto couscous.  Delicious food!

Baked Potato

Potato washed and cut halfway down diagonally
Little water to steam in microwave for however long your microwave cooks potatoes with lid on ( i used a glass pyrex dish with a lid)

When ready place in a bowl with foil underneath and add your toppings.

Toppings:
Mozzarella cheese grated
Lurpak butter
Spring onions (not dark part) diced up
Tomato with basil leaves (fresh) chopped up
Sour cream with chives
grated carrot
Steamed broccoli
a little egg beaten

Then place the potato with the foil into the oven on a tray and leave the foil open a little and cook for around 10 minutes on 180 degrees celcius.

Delicious meal which the kids will love !

Red lentil, celery and taleggio soup

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Serves 4 - 6

1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 onion chopped fine
1 cup of red lentils
2 litres boiled water
1 vegetable stock cube
2 stalks of celery cut finely
3 carrots peeled and chopped
60g taleggio cheese cut into small squares (approx 6 squares per bowl)
1/3 cup of fresh chives chopped fine

Heat oil in saucepan and place onion into pan.  Cook slightly but do not brown.  Then add lentils with boiled water and vegetable stock cube.   Add the celery and carrot and bring to the boil.  Simmer for around an hour.

Turn heat off and use a hand blender or any mixer to blend soup to a puree.

Then heat up again but not until boiling point.  Place a large soup ladle into the soup and place into individual bowls.  Then add the cheese and chives into the centre of each bowl.

Thanks to my local deli cleos  for great advice on the type of cheese to use. Normally a blue cheese is used with lentil soups but this was a great choice as it was not stringy it was smooth and a little salty but perfect!

Serve hot with crusty bread.

Amazing!

Note:  as an alternative for kids i made pasta chicken noodle soup with fresh chicken stock and ladled one ladle of this lentil soup into their chicken soup so they could at least get a little extra flavour!

Atlantic Salmon with cauliflower puree, beetroot crush and radish

Serves 4
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes

2 pieces of fresh Atlantic Salmon cut in half
Salt and pepper
olive oil
1/2 yellow cauliflower (or any colour you can get)
1 tablespoon of lurpak butter
1/2 cup of Mixed fresh salad sprouts
1 large radish sliced thinly
Few thin slices of a quality aged cheese for each plate
1 beetroot (organic) peeled and chopped up

Prepare the fish with salt and pepper on top and place onto a cast iron baker slightly oiled. Place in griller on around 180 degrees celcius (quite hot).

Prepare the cauliflower by steaming it in a pyrex dish with lid in the microwave with butter.  When ready puree down into a mash consistency and place into a small pastry bag or similar with wide tip and place in long dobs on the plate.  Place the radish next to each dob maybe 3 or 4 spots around the sides. Then place the cheese on top of the radish.

Then place the beetroot into the pyrex and steam same way and do exactly the same preparation as the cauliflower. Place one or two spots onto the plate around the radish.

Place sprouts around plate.

When the fish is ready take out from oven and place on centre of the plate with the and serve with fresh ciabatta.

Very tasty!

Zucchini rice and vegetable boats

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time : 20 minutes

Makes 4 boats

2 large zucchini
30g onion diced
handful of broccoli florets chopped
50 g pumpkin diced
50g carrot diced
1/2 cup long grain white rice
1 cup of Chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
Provolone Dolche cheese grated fine for sprinkling
Sunflower seeds (if you like)


Turn on oven fan forced on 170 degrees celcius.  Place a baking dish in oven


Slice the zucchinis in half and scoop out the flesh in the centre (discard as it tends to make the rice bitter). Set the zucchinis on some foil which can be transferred to oven when ready to bake.

Place the diced carrot, broccoli florets, onion, garlic and pumpkin in a small pan with olive oil.  Cook gently for around 10 minutes til soft and set aside.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Place chicken stock in saucepan and cook the rice in it for ten minutes.  Drain in small and set aside in bowl with lid covering.

After drained place the rice into the vegetable mix and blend in with wooden spoon.

Place some pepper on the boats and then place mix into boats using a teaspoon and add grated cheese over the top of each.

Salt and pepper the top and bake in oven on foil for around 15 minutes or until browned.

Top with some sunflower seeds if you like them.

Serve with crusty bread

Beef rib eye roast

Ingredients

Rib eye roast with bone
Various vegetables - Potatoes, carrot, celery, garlic cloves, shallots or onions, italian parsley leaves , oregano, rosemary leaves, salt and pepper, olive oil.

Place the meat into a large casserole dish with a lid.  Place all the vegetables around the meat and place the shallot and garlic cloves on top.  Sprinkle with pepper, salt, herbs and splash with olive oil. Cook all in casserole dish for the first hour, then move everything after the first hour into an open oven baker like a heavy cast iron baker for the remaining time.

Place in oven and depending on the size of your roast but i use the guide of 30 minutes per 500g of meat  at a temperature of 180 degrees celcius will cook the meat well done.

Example.... this piece of meat was 1.3kg and i cooked it on fan forced 180 degrees for one hour in casserole dish with everything, then for 2 hours in open cast iron baker.

Carve meat with electric carve knife when it has cooled down slightly.

Serve with vegetables.

Vegetable soup

Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour - 2 hours simmering

Classic home made with lots of flavour! Kids loved this one


2 garlic cloves crushed slightly
olive oil
6 rounds of white end of leek chopped
500ml quality vegetable stock and 200ml water
1 potatoes peeled and diced
1 carrot peeled and diced
1/4 pumpkin peeled and diced
1 zuccini diced
2 sticks celery diced
1 small amount of chilli for taste (fresh preferred around 2 little chopped pieces)
shake of oregano
1 tablespoon of quality butter (lurpak type)


Place the leek,garlic and oil in large soup pot and cook slightly then add the stock and water.  Add all the vegetables and herbs etc.  Keep water covering all the ingredients.  Cook low heat simmering for approx 1 1/2 to 2 hours .  Cool slightly and use a hand blender if you have one to break the soup down slightly so it has a little fine bit of fine vegetable as well if you like.

Can be served next day and will actually taste even better.  Enjoy with crusty bread or even some sausages to accompany it.

Vegetable Stirfry with Mushrooms, snowpeas, baby buk choy and leek

Serves: 4

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 5 minutes with a hot fry pan

Olive oil for the fry pan

250g mushrooms

1 baby buk choy leaves

100g snow peas ends cut off

4 finely cut rounds of the white end of a leek

salt and pepper to taste

Very easy to make as a meal or side dish.  This has amazing flavour.  The freshness of ingredients is what makes this dish special.

Place the leek in some oil in a fry pan big enough to fit all ingredients.  Then add as leek cooks the rest of the ingredients and cook with a reasonable amount of heat until mushrooms start to slightly brown.

If you like this with meat serve with chicken tenderloins crumbed or even some lamb cutlets.

Enjoy.

Potato beetles with bacon and cheese

Potato beetles with bacon and Cheese

Serves: 6

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 1 hour

6 medium size potatoes

3 rashers of bacon or 1 cup of diced bacon

Salt and pepper

Chicken Stock (enough to go halfway up the baker you use)

Mozzarella cheese 2/3 cup for topping the potatoes

Preheat oven to around 170 degrees celcius.  Place a large baker dish on your benchtop and butter its base slightly.  Add some crushed garlic or you can chop up a clove finely and spread on buttered base.

Peel the potatoes and using a knife slice the base off the potato to steady it.  Then make deep parallel cuts across it reaching almost to the bottom.  The potato should hold together like a book.

Place a few small pieces of bacon between each potato slice.  Salt and pepper them slightly. 

Pour the chicken stock around the potatoes so it is only halfway (no more than halfway).

Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes .  Open oven after this time and place the cheese over them and bake for another 30 minutes or until the potatoes are golden and soft when a knife is placed into one.

Serve with coleslaw or spring onions chopped.