Mid Week Meals

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Simple Salmon Laksa

It’s been a while since I posted a recipe using one of our favourite foods, salmon. 

Lightly poaching the salmon and vegetables in the spicy coconut broth for a few minutes and then pouring it over some rice noodles is all it takes to get this delicious dish on the table on a cold Tuesday night.

For our younger kids who don’t like spicy food, I serve them noodles, salmon and vegetables and not much broth. 

For ourselves and our eldest, we enjoy it almost like a soup, with forks and spoons, drinking up the liquid at the end. 

Simple Salmon Laksa
Serves 6
Salmon and vegetables poached in a spicy coconut broth, served on top of thin rice noodles.
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
10 min
Total Time
20 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
10 min
Total Time
20 min
Ingredients
  1. 185 gram jar of laksa paste (I used AYAM brand)
  2. 1/2 a lemongrass stalk (approx 5cm), finely chopped
  3. 1/8 purple cabbage, finely shredded
  4. the stalks of a bunch of broccollini, sliced into thin batons
  5. leaves and stems of 1 bunch of bok choy, washed and thinly sliced
  6. 150gm green beans, cut into small pieces
  7. 4 cups fish, vegetable or chicken stock
  8. 400ml can of coconut cream
  9. 400-500gm fresh salmon fillets, skin off, bones removed, cut into small cubes
  10. 200gm pack rice vermicilli noodles
  11. juice of 1 lime
  12. a handful of bean sprouts and fresh coriander to serve
Instructions
  1. Prepare rice noodles according to packet directions.
  2. When noodles are ready, divide amongst serving bowls.
  3. Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan.
  4. Fry the lemongrass stalks and jar of paste for a few minutes until fragrant.
  5. Add the beans, cabbage and broccollini stems and stir till combined.
  6. Add the stock and coconut cream, stir and bring to the boil.
  7. Once boiling, add the salmon and bok choy and turn off the heat.
  8. Leave it for a few minutes, until the salmon is cooked through.
  9. Stir through the lime juice.
  10. Ladle the broth, salmon and vegetables over the noodles in the bowls.
  11. Garnish with bean sprouts and coriander leaves to serve.
Notes
  1. This was quite spicy. To make a milder version, only use 1/2 jar of laksa paste.
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/ emma@cookfasteatslow.com 2 Comments

Taco Soup

One of last years most popular recipes on cook fast eat slow was Taco Salad. You can find the recipe here, Taco Salad

Today I am sharing with you the winter equivalent, Taco Soup. 

Hugging a warm bowl of this on a chilly night is very comforting, and often takes me back to my childhood, where it was a family favourite.

This is my version but be as creative as you like with your toppings. We usually have all the toppings on the table so everyone can ‘dress’ their soup with whatever they like. Our favourite toppings are natural corn chips, guacamole or plain avocado, grated cheese, sour cream and capsicum.

Taco Soup
Serves 6
A beef and bean based soup, topped with corn chips, avocado, sour cream and cheese.
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Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
25 min
Total Time
30 min
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
25 min
Total Time
30 min
Ingredients
  1. 500gm beef mince
  2. 2 tablespoons olive oil
  3. 1 spanish (red) onion, peeled and finely diced
  4. 2 heaped teaspoons dried oregano
  5. 2 heaped teaspoons ground cumin
  6. 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
  7. 1 green capsicum, de-seeded and finely diced (some set aside for the topping)
  8. 2 x 400gm cans diced tomatoes
  9. 1 x 400gm can tomato puree
  10. 1 x 750gm can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
  11. 3 cups water
  12. To serve, use toppings like natural corn chips, avocado, sour cream, grated cheese and reserved capsicum.
Instructions
  1. Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over a medium heat.
  2. Add onion and cook until soft.
  3. Add beef, breaking up the lumps, and cook till brown.
  4. Add all other ingredients and place the lid on the soup pot to bring the soup to a boil.
  5. Turn the heat down and allow to gently simmer 15 minutes.
  6. Remove the lid and simmer for 5 minutes more.
  7. Ladle the soup into bowls and allow people to do their own toppings.
Notes
  1. The soup base will freeze as it is.
  2. Defrost and reheat and then add toppings.
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/ emma@cookfasteatslow.com 1 Comment

Pot-Roasted Chicken with pumpkin and sage

If I tell you this is probably the most ‘moist and succulent’ chicken I have had in a long time, then I hope you will look past the fact that this dish was very hard to photograph well and as a result, I almost didn’t share it with you all. 

But the family often get the final say, when I ask them “Is this dinner blog worthy?”

This one got a very big YES from the family. 

As a foodie, I can be easily drawn to the fancy dish, that looks spectacular on Instagram or in a magazine, but when it comes to cook fast eat slow, I aim to keep my promise to you by only sharing recipes that are ‘home-cooking’ recipes; the type anyone can make in order to feed your family on an average Tuesday night. 

I thank Skye Gyngell for this recipe that first appeared in Delicious magazine April 2008, when she was Head Chef of the infamous Petersham Nurseries Cafe in London. Apparently this is what she feeds her children at home. If it’s good enough for her, then it’s good enough for me!

Pot-roasted Chicken with pumpkin and sage
Serves 6
A whole chicken cooked in a pot with sage, pumpkin and parsnips, in a garlic tomato sauce.
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Prep Time
25 min
Cook Time
45 min
Total Time
1 hr 10 min
Prep Time
25 min
Cook Time
45 min
Total Time
1 hr 10 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 whole chicken, cavity rinsed out with water, drained and excess fat around neck trimmed off.
  2. 1 lemon, halved
  3. a small bunch of fresh sage
  4. 2 fresh bay leaves (dried is fine too)
  5. 2 tablespoons olive oil
  6. 1 spanish (red) onion, peeled and cut into chunky pieces
  7. 5 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole
  8. approx 1.2 kg butternut pumpkin, peeled and cut into large chunks
  9. 1 large parsnip, peeled and cut into large chunks
  10. 2 x 440gm cans chopped tomatoes
Instructions
  1. Place the lemon half, 1 bay leaf and half the bunch of sage inside the cavity of the chicken.
  2. Tie the legs together with kitchen string.
  3. Heat a heavy-based large pot or saucepan over medium heat.
  4. Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and heat till hot.
  5. Brown the chicken a little on each side, for about 10-15 mins or so all up.
  6. Remove from pan and set aside.
  7. Add the onion into the pan and cook till it's slightly softened, stirring occasionally.
  8. Place the chicken back into the pan, and add the vegetables, remaining sage leaves, bay leaf, and garlic cloves.
  9. Pour over the cans of tomato and give it all a big stir, making sure the vegetables are nestled around the chicken.
  10. Cover with a lid and reduce heat to medium-low so it simmers away gently for about 45 minutes.
  11. Check the chicken is cooked by inserting a skewer into the thigh of the chicken, the juices will run clear if it's cooked.
  12. Pull apart the chicken and place in bowls with vegetables, covering everything with lots of sauce.
  13. Serve with steamed green vegetables.
Notes
  1. The chicken doesn't need to be covered by the liquid. Once the lid is on, the chicken will steam and be nice and tender.
Adapted from Delicious Magazine April 2008
Adapted from Delicious Magazine April 2008
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Ann’s Silver beet Pie (vegetarian)

There’s a story in our family that goes something like this…..

My parents were away and I was at home alone with my older sister, while my young brother was staying with friends. 

I would like to think I wasn’t very old when this took place, but the family reminds me that I was in my mid-teens. 

In my attempt to keep the normal home routine going (and probably a little because I was missing them), I went about the jobs that I thought my mum did each day. I remember wearing her apron and sweeping the floor a lot, but I can’t remember much more than that. 

Other than soak silver beet.

IMG_8031

In my mind, there always seemed to be a sink full of silver beet soaking, so I took it upon myself to keep this important tradition going in my mother’s absence. 

Apparently after a few days, with a bit of an odd smell emanating from the kitchen, my sister discarded the over-soaked silver beet. 

This story makes me smile. A little with embarrassment, as I clearly had no idea what I was doing. But also because it reminds me of the power of food in our lives and stories. In my mothers absence, there was obviously something comforting about doing what she did that made me feel just a little closer to her, even though we were apart. 

My mother’s Silver beet Pie was a simple staple in our home and we all loved it. 

I was therefore a little shocked when I served it up to my boys, with the story of how loved it was in my home growing up, that they didn’t feel the same way. 

This is the first recipe I have posted on cook fast eat slow that my boys don’t like, but I decided to post it anyway.

Because I love it. Because I loved it as a little girl. And so did my brother and sister. 

This simple, cheap, vegetarian dish is so easy to make and highlights a wonderful and nutritious leafy green vegetable that we often don’t know what to do with. A relative of the beetroot family, silver beet often gets confused with spinach. The distinctive white stems of silver beet help tell it apart from English Spinach or Baby Spinach. Where english or baby spinach can be consumed raw, the leaves and stems of silver beet need to be lightly cooked by steaming or sautéing, before eating. 

Ann's Silver beet Pie
Serves 6
A filling of silver beet and cheese in between layers of puff pastry.
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
40 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
40 min
Ingredients
  1. 2 sheets of frozen store-bought puff pastry, thawed
  2. 1 bunch of silver beet (also known as swiss chard)
  3. 1 tablespoon olive oil
  4. 1 brown onion, peeled, finely diced
  5. 1 clove garlic, peeled, finely sliced
  6. 2 eggs
  7. 3/4 cup grated tasty cheese
  8. 1 teaspoon of grated nutmeg
  9. 1 egg yolk, extra, for brushing the pastry
  10. 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
  2. Wash the silver beet and roughly chop the stems and leaves. You may find it easier to soak it in a sink full of water and then drain.
  3. Put the silver beet in a saucepan and add a tiny bit of water.
  4. Place the lid on and over a medium heat, steam the spinach gently until lightly wilted. This will only take a few minutes.
  5. Drain, pressing down on the silver beet to remove as much moisture as possible and set aside to cool slightly.
  6. Using the same saucepan, heat the olive oil and gently sauté the onion and garlic over a medium heat until soft.
  7. Add to the silver beet and stir through the eggs, grated cheese and nutmeg.
  8. Line the base of a 20cm pie dish with one sheet of pastry.
  9. Add the silver beet mixture.
  10. Place the remaining piece of pastry on top, at a different angle to the bottom piece, to form a star shape pattern.
  11. Fold the edges of the pastry back on top of the pie, so that the filling is enclosed.
  12. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg yolk over the pastry and then sprinkle with sesame seeds.
  13. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until puffed and golden.
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/ emma@cookfasteatslow.com 2 Comments

Roman Chicken

This is your classic one-pot comfort food cooking. I often serve it with green veggies and some steamed baby potatoes or to make it even easier, have a chunky loaf of sourdough on the table to help mop up all the yummy juices. 

This recipe has been a favourite amongst a group of my friends for ages. We all love it, cook it often and even make it for each other when things are a bit tough.

It’s also a perfect dish for doubling if you want to feed guests a simple but tasty meal at this cooler time of year. Serve it Italian style – in the middle of the table with salad, bread and wine. 

I noticed chef Neil Perry (aka Rockpool) writing about the same dish, (he called his Italian Chicken) in the Sunday paper recently. He used chicken pieces, like drumsticks and marylands, but I really prefer chicken thigh fillets, as we don’t need to worry about any bones but they still stay nice and moist.

I have had this recipe for so long I can’t remember where the original came from, my guess is I found it in an Australian Good Taste or Good Food Magazine.

One last thing….I have a love of and obsession with TINNED TOMATOES,  they are one of my pantry staples all year round. A quick soup base, a pasta sauce, thrown into a slow cooker with meat and veggies, there isn’t much a tin of tomatoes can’t do. 

Roman Chicken
Serves 5
a one-pot chicken dish with tomatoes, bacon, capsicums and olives.
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
20 min
Total Time
30 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
20 min
Total Time
30 min
Ingredients
  1. 500 grams chicken thigh fillets, trimmed and halved
  2. 2 tablespoons olive oil
  3. 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  4. 2-3 rashers of bacon, trimmed, finely chopped
  5. 2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
  6. 1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes or 1/2 a fresh red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped (optional)
  7. 800 gram tin of diced tomatoes
  8. 1 large red capsicum, de-seeded and chopped roughly
  9. 1 large yellow capsicum, de-seeded and chopped roughly
  10. a handful of pitted black olives and chopped fresh basil to serve
Instructions
  1. Heat olive oil in large frying pan or casserole dish over a medium heat.
  2. Add chicken pieces and cook until browned all over. If your pan is small, do this in 2 batches.
  3. Set chicken aside on a plate.
  4. Add garlic, bacon and chilli to the pan and sauté for a few minutes until golden.
  5. Add chopped capsicums, tinned tomatoes and the browned chicken into the pan. Season with salt and pepper.
  6. Cover pan and simmer gently for 20 minutes, giving it a stir a couple of times.
  7. Remove the lid and simmer for 5 minutes to thicken the sauce slightly.
  8. If desired, add olives and fresh basil leaves at this stage.
Notes
  1. You could use chicken pieces like drumsticks or marylands in this dish.
  2. You could use chicken breasts, but they do tend to dry out a bit, so you will need to reduce your cooking time if you use them.
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