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Champagne Risotto with Asparagus and Snow Peas (vegetarian)

It’s Valentine’s Day on Sunday.

If you rolled your eyes as you read that, this post is for you my friend.

I know, another commercial day where we are forced to buy over priced flowers BLAH BLAH BLAH…..I’ve heard it all before.

I’m just going to jump out on a limb and state an observation from among my fellow middle-age, too weary and too busy friends who are raising kids right now.

No-one I know is suffering from TOO MUCH ROMANCE.

It’s been a while since a girlfriend has complained to me over coffee that her husband is JUST ALWAYS BUYING FLOWERS and holding her hand while they watch TV and enough already!

It’s rare that I hear my peers whingeing about TOO MUCH TIME TOGETHER, talking and dreaming over a meal and candles.

I could count on one hand the people I know who are getting this right and balancing home/parent/work life with a side of romance and spontaneity thrown in.

Back to Valentine’s Day.

Half the hard work has been done for you my friend.  The day is set aside. It even falls on a weekend this time! Flowers and cards and small gift ideas are available every where you look. It’s going to be hard NOT to pick up a card and your partners favourite chocolate. Not that I recommend service station flowers, but if that is your only option…JUST DO SOMETHING.

It doesn’t have to be big or expensive or flashy.

And those little cherubs you are so busy trying to raise right?

They’re watching and listening…..ALL THE TIME. Every short word, eye roll, huff and puff and tense discussion, they don’t miss any of it.

So let’s change it up a little and show them that even THEIR mum and dad still actually love each other and it’s a good idea to make a fuss about the other person every now and then.

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This Champagne Risotto is not a mid-week meal. You are not supposed to make this while juggling tantrums, baths and homework.

This one is designed to be made after the kids are in bed, or are otherwise preoccupied.

Start with opening the champagne and pouring yourself and your partner a glass. Light a candle, turn on Norah Jones and if you are cooking, make sure there is a stool or chair nearby for your partner to sit and chat while you stir.

It’s not hard, it just takes a little patience. A bit like a good relationship really. And the results are worth it. It tastes just beautiful, especially with a glass of your favourite wine and sitting beside your favourite person.

The original recipe is from delicious. cookbook Simply the Best by Valli Little.

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Champagne Risotto with Asparagus and Snow Peas (vegetarian)

Created by on February 8, 2016

  • Prep Time: 5m
  • Cook Time: 30m
  • Total Time: 35m

Ingredients

  • 30 grams unsalted butter
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 leek, trimmed, washed and finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 300 grams arborio rice (approx 1 cup)
  • 1 cup Champagne (or white wine)
  • 1 liter (4 cups) chicken or vegetable stock, heated
  • 1 bunch asparagus, woody ends chopped off, then chopped into small pieces
  • a handful of snow peas, top and tailed and finely chopped
  • 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated, plus extra to serve
  • 2 tablespoons mascarpone
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley to serve

Method

  1. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over a low heat.
  2. Add the leek and cook gently until soft.
  3. Add garlic and cook further for 1 minute.
  4. Add rice and stir to coat the grains.
  5. Increase the heat to medium and add the Champagne, then simmer for 1-2 minutes till almost all the liquid has evaporated.
  6. Stir in the stock one ladleful at a time, allowing each to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take about 20-30 minutes. Test that the rice is cooked, it should have a slight bite, but not be chalky.
  7. Towards the end, stir through the asparagus and snow peas and allow them to soften slightly.
  8. Stir through the parmesan and mascarpone.
  9. Serve sprinkled with finely chopped parsley and more parmesan cheese and ground pepper.
Source: cook fast eat slow

 

 

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Banana Hazelnut Bread

‘Procrastibaking’, a common word used amongst home cooks, means to put off something you SHOULD be doing, like filing paperwork, paying bills, ironing or cleaning out the linen cupboard, and turning to baking instead.

Hands up those who can relate? Yep…me too.

A long to-do list of things I don’t want to do, plus a little bit of rain and BAM, I am in the kitchen, measuring, pouring and mixing.

This Banana Hazelnut bread is sitting on my bench, in a red and white spotted tin. With an extra early start needed today, I traded my usual bowl of Quinoa Bircher Muesli with greek yoghurt and berries for a slice of this bread, toasted and spread with ricotta and honey.

And not just any Honey.

Honey from our good friends, who got them straight from their bees. And, oh my goodness, I am having to stop my family from eating the honey by the spoonful, straight from the jar.

The original recipe for this bread is from Louise Fulton-Keats, culinary legend Margaret Fulton’s granddaughter. I found it in The OzHarvest Cookbook, a book compiled of famous Australian foodie’s recipes, focusing on using leftovers at home and cooking simply.

I have played with this recipe to make it gluten free and refined sugar free for a loved one with a restricted diet. It came out moist and as delicious as ever, so I am including all options below to meet all dietary needs.

Banana Hazelnut Bread

Created by on February 4, 2016

Ingredients

  • 4 medium sized over-ripe bananas, mashed. You want 1 overflowing cup of mash.
  • 1/4 cup milk (soy, nut or coconut milk can also be used to make this dairy free)
  • 1/2 cup light olive oil or rice bran oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup pitted prunes, chopped (or dates if you prefer)
  • 1 1/2 cups wholemeal self raising flour (gluten free self raising flour also works well)
  • 1/2 cup hazelnut meal
  • 1/3 cup rice malt syrup (or 1/2 cup brown sugar if you prefer)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • a handful of whole hazelnuts and pumpkin seeds to sprinkle on top

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius.
  2. Grease and line a loaf style tin.
  3. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, with a spoon, until all combined.
  4. Pour into tin and bake for about an hour, or until it's cooked when you insert it with a skewer and it comes out clean.
  5. If it's browning too quickly, loosely cover with a piece of foil for the remaining cooking time.
  6. Allow to cool in tin for a few minutes before you remove.
  7. Serve warm or toasted with ricotta and honey.
  8. This also freezes well, pre-sliced if you like for ease. It will last for 3 days in an air-tight container or a little longer in the fridge.
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Sweet Potato & Cashew Salad (vegetarian)

I recently got to hear Nigella Lawson speak at the Opera House.

What a night it was, listening to this amazing lady, (who refuses to admit she has a food empire!) share of her journey with food and her desire to champion the home cook.

“No human being should be ill at ease in the kitchen” was one of many quotable quotes from her that night, interspersed with her obvious love of using store-bought stock and frozen peas in her recipes wherever possible! She’s the real deal that lady.

Inspired to reconnect with her cookbooks, I started reading Forever Summer again, one of her early cookbooks.

It was this paragraph that I related to as I now blog about my home cooking journey and share it with you all.

“If at anytime I’m still wondering if this or that particular recipe is worth keeping, I set myself a scene – a friend, a reader, a fellow mother at the school gate, is coming up to me, telling me that she is going to cook my something-or-other. If I’m not filled with impatient, evangelical enthusiasm at the imagined exchange, and if that recipe doesn’t also inspire in me unwavering, bossy confidence, then out it goes. I want to write only about the food I love, and I want you to love it too.”

I couldn’t agree more.

This salad I found by accident.

After begging my friend Rebecca for one of her dessert recipes, I was excited to receive my photocopy from her. Scrawled in handwriting at the bottom of this photocopy, was the recipe for this salad. I read it and thought that sounds beautiful, but the photocopy was filed in DESSERTS in my overflowing recipe folder and it was a while till I remembered to look at it again.

Fast forward to the day of our office Christmas Party. My husband, the fearless leader, was taking his team out on the harbour sailing and my job was to feed them all day!

After filling lots of portable containers with salads, meats, snacks and desserts and transporting it to the boat, I was reminded by one of the team, that most of the men on our staff didn’t actually like or eat salad! Imagine my joy…..

As often happens, this salad was inhaled by our team as we sat moored in a bay off Pittwater.

“Can you please give this recipe to my mum?” said one of the team. “This is going to be the only salad I eat from now on.”

I smiled and happily emailed it later to his mum.

So it’s been called ‘Rebecca’s salad’ by me, then it’s been called ‘Emma’s salad’ and now, finally, it will be known as the Sweet Potato and Cashew Salad.

I’ve made it as a side dish many times, but we’ve also had it for lunch and dinner, with a piece of grilled meat on the side.

Go forth and try it and maybe a non-salad eater in your life just might love it too.

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Sweet Potato and Cashew Salad (vegetarian)

Created by on February 2, 2016

  • Prep Time: 10m
  • Cook Time: 30m
  • Total Time: 40m

Ingredients

  • 500 grams sweet potato (kumera), peeled and cut into small pieces (1 medium size sweet potato, use more if you are using this as a main or feeding a crowd)
  • 1 cup mint leaves
  • 1 cup basil leaves
  • 1 cup baby spinach and rocket mix (more if you are feeding a crowd)
  • 1/2 cup roasted cashews
  • juice of 1 lime, to produce at least 1/4 cup (you may need 2 limes if they are not juicy)
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon heaped, of freshly grated ginger or ginger paste

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.
  2. Place cut sweet potato on a baking paper lined tray and roast for approx 30 minutes, or until golden and soft. Set aside.
  3. Place fresh herbs and salad leaves on the base of a large plate or platter.
  4. Add sweet potato and cashews.
  5. Combine the lime juice, sesame oil and ginger and shake. Pour over the salad.
  6. If you are making this for a large group and want to use more sweet potato and greens to bulk it out, double the dressing ingredients also.
Source: cook fast eat slow
/ emma@cookfasteatslow.com 2 Comments

5 Veg Fried Rice

The boys don’t really want to go back to school.

They’ll be fine once they are actually there, but living barefoot between the park, the pool and the beach would be their preferred lifestyle FOR EVER if they did indeed have such a choice.

A part of me could live in summer holiday mode for ever too…but I would be lying if I didn’t tell you I was just a teeny tiny bit excited about the thought of a couple of hours where everything will be still and quiet once more.

As food is my love language, I tried to steer the conversation away from the moans and groans and “How far away is Easter?” questions.

“You can choose what we have for dinner on the first day of school! It has to be cooked at home, but you guys choose!” I said excitedly, secretly worried that this could cause ANOTHER fight or argument.

“Fried Rice” was unanimously agreed on.

So here it is friends.

My not-very-fancy, but quick and easy, with lots of veggies, Fried Rice.

There would be a mutiny in my house if I left out the bacon, but that’s a simple way to make this into a vegetarian meal. If you leave out the bacon, you’ll need a little olive oil to soften the celery and garlic in at the beginning of the recipe.

5 Veg Fried Rice

Created by on January 25, 2016

  • Prep Time: 5m
  • Cook Time: 20m
  • Total Time: 25m

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups basmati rice
  • 2 sticks celery, washed and finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 175 grams (approx 4-6 short cut rashers) bacon, finely chopped
  • 1 cup mixed frozen veggies, like peas, carrots, corn, capsicum
  • 2 eggs, lightly whisked
  • 1 cup shredded cabbage
  • soy sauce to taste

Method

  1. Cook rice according to packet directions. Once cooked, spread into one layer on a baking tray and leave to cool. If you can, do this earlier in the day and leave in the fridge with some cling wrap over the top of it. This allows the rice to dry out a little and not be so 'sticky', which is what you want when frying the rice for a dish like this.
  2. Heat a non stick frying pan over medium heat and cook bacon until crispy and golden. Remove and drain on some paper towel.
  3. Add the eggs to the pan and cook for a minute or two, moving it around the pan to create ribbons of cooked egg. Remove and set aside.
  4. Add the celery and garlic to the pan and cook until slightly soft and then add in the rice, frozen veggies and cabbage. Stir for a few minutes to heat through, making sure the veggies are cooked.
  5. Add the bacon and egg back in and as much soy sauce as your family likes. I usually slosh it in, stir and then taste to see if we need more.
Source: cook fast eat slow
/ emma@cookfasteatslow.com 2 Comments

Thai Beef Salad

This Thai Beef Salad was the first meal I made after we got home from our holiday.

Along with our watches, phones and schedules, ‘meal planning’ went out the window for our holiday.

We went back to simple and no frills this time around. A basic cabin, a beach, some bike riding and bush walking, card games, slow mornings and late nights.

Like all family holidays, there were fights, tantrums, storms and torrential rain, power outages, laughs, hugs, big waves and beautiful sunsets. There was on any given day a million compromises to be made between 5 people who all wanted or expected something different.

Just like normal life, but in a different location.

It was a chance to be away from the rush and noise and endless demands of the business we run, home and school life. The biggest joy was having my husband with us, relaxed and engaged.

I did lots of reading, which is my other great love that I often don’t make time for when at home. Reading on holidays is starting to get a little easier now that the kids are getting older.

Even in it’s imperfect moments, we were together, making memories, good and bad ones and refilling our tanks before a new year begins.

When it comes to food on holidays, I find the break from thinking ahead and making all the decisions on my own about food quite liberating. Having another person around to share in that process is so good, not to mention the break from the dishes!

It means our eating habits change too, but that’s part of the novelty of the holidays. Way too many hot chips, ice-blocks, cereals the kids get to choose from the ‘normaly banned list’, treats in the car while travelling, christmas leftovers and more. There are pretty much no rules.

My husband and I share a love of cheese and wine and so that became our holiday ritual after a day on the beach. That’s one of the things I already miss the most. I told the wheel of Brie I saw in the shops the other day that we will reconnect at Easter. It’s not that long away is it?

I digress.

Back to the Thai Beef Salad.

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Now that we are home, salad and protein in different forms pretty much makes up our summer menu.

This is my kid friendly Thai Beef Salad, with no raw onion or spicy sauce. Just fresh and flavoursome and super quick. And just as I thought, vegetables that would otherwise be left on the plate, were gobbled up in this salad. It shows you what a little added flavour can achieve.

I hope you are having a great summer break and your re-entry back into your ‘normal’ isn’t too painful.

E x

Thai Beef Salad

Created by on January 20, 2016

  • Prep Time: 10m
  • Cook Time: 5m
  • Total Time: 15m

Ingredients

  • juice of 1 lime
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon fish sauce
  • 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger or ginger paste
  • 600 grams rump steak
  • 100 grams baby spinach or mixed salad leaves
  • 1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 large cucumber, sliced thinly into rounds
  • 1/2 capsicum (red, green or yellow), thinly sliced
  • 100 grams snow peas, raw, thinly sliced
  • 1/8 purple cabbage, thinly sliced
  • 1 cup fresh herbs, a mixture of basil, coriander and mint or whatever you like. (If you can get it, vietnamese mint works perfectly with asian salads)

Method

  1. Combine all ingredients for the dressing in a jar and shake to combine. Set aside.
  2. If you have time, bring your meat to room temperature before cooking.
  3. Brush both sides of the meat with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
  4. Heat a non stick frying pan (or BBQ) over medium to high heat and add the meat.
  5. When blood rises to the surface, turn your meat. Continue cooking and turning until your meat is cooked to your liking. You can press the meat with your finger to test how cooked it is. The firmer it feels, the more well done it will be.
  6. Remove from the pan and set aside on a plate to rest. Don't skip this step.
  7. Once rested for a few minutes, slice thinly.
  8. Combine all salad ingredients in a bowl.
  9. Add the steak and pour over the dressing. Give it a big toss.
  10. Place on the table with servers and bowls and let everyone help themselves!
Source: cook fast eat slow