Rocket and Walnut Pesto

This pesto is really delicious and easy to make, it's amazing just slathered on a piece of toasted crusty bread, spread or dolloped on to pizza or tossed through hot pasta for a quick meal. I recently made it along with some potato gnocchi and it was so so good.

Rocket and Walnut Pesto

50g of Rocket
50g Walnuts
50g Parmesan Cheese (good quality please!)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
Salt and Pepper to taste


If you're using parmesan from a block (which I hope you are) then cut it in to thin slices first to ensure you don't get surprise cheese chunks in your pesto.

Pop all of the ingredients in to a food processor, blender or use a stick mix and whiz until not quite smooth (you want a few chunks). I use a mini food processor it's fantastic for curry pastes, pesto's and chopping small amounts.

Spicy Thai Style Pumpkin Soup

It was rainy and cold today and my house mate messaged me asking what I wanted for dinner. I had a pumpkin in the fridge that had sadly gone bad but had been planning to make pumpkin soup for days and was craving it so she brought home the ingredients as per my instructions. She was even surprised by how tasty the end result was!

It's simple and comforting on a rainy day. We toasted some bruschetta slices she had spare in the freezer to accompany. The recipe is just basic and we used what I had on hand however you can add lemongrass or kaffir lime leaves to make it a little more exciting.

please excuse the crinkled tablecloth...

Spicy Thai Style Pumpkin Soup

serves 4

1kg (about 1/2 of a large butternut) pumpkin chopped in to small cubes
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 large thumb sized knob ginger
200ml coconut cream/milk
2 cups vegetable stock/water
fresh or ground chili to taste
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp lime juice
fresh coriander chopped last minute
salt and pepper

Chop the onion, garlic and ginger and sweat onions in a pot with a neutral oil (canola, vegetable, rice bran etc.) for a few minutes on medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and saute until fragrant.

Add cubed pumpkin, stock and coconut milk/cream along with chili, fish sauce and lime juice. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10-15mins or until the pumpkin has cooked through.

Transfer to a blender (you may have to blend in batches depending on your blender size) and whiz until smooth.

Alternatively, stick mix it all up in the pot! If you have one.

Stir through the chopped coriander and enjoy!

Tips: Remove the middle insert in the blender lid and secure over the lid with a tea towel (and your hand!) while blending. The tea towel trick means that you won't get that pressure build up from the sealed lid + hot soup which is the culprit of the old press-blend-scalding-soup-goes-everywhere. It might mean you get a little soup on your tea towel from covering the hole but its a price I'm willing to pay to save my kitchen from soup projectile.

If you like it thicker add more pumpkin/less stock or vice versa for thinner.

And if you're in a mad rush and need your soup fix replace onions with spring onions/shallots and grate the pumpkin and it'll cook in no time!

Hummus

You will never buy hummus again once you make it, even from plain old canned chickpeas it is so much tastier and so much cheaper to make!

You can get a bit fancy with additions like roasted garlic, roasted pumpkin or using white beans instead of chickpeas but the plain old stock standard is always delish.

Hummus

 

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp of tahini
1 tsp lemon juice
a lug of olive oil
1 small clove of garlic (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
water if needed

Put everything in to a food processor, blender (or you can use a stick mixer) and puree until smooth, if the mix is too thick and not blending properly add a little water to loosen it. I like to sprinkle a little hot paprika on top and add a drizzle of olive oil.

1 can of chickpeas will make about the same amount you'll get in a med-large tub of dip, and about twice as much as in the photo (I was hungry).

Dumplings!

Dumplings are definitely one of my favourite foods. I've recently been visiting Dumpling King my favourite place to eat them at least once a week on lunch dates between classes so haven't been making them at home as often. But when I do I make sure to make lots!

Initially the folding is a bit tricky but after a bit of practice it's quite easy to pick up. The filling can also be used to make mini dim sims which are very easy to assemble using wonton wrappers.

The dumpling skins are so delicious and chewy, don't be fooled in to thinking they're hard to make and buy pre-made ones, it's literally just flour and water! Everyone is so shocked when I tell them that.

I learned to make dumplings from my farther, funnily enough my dad is Swiss and mum Chinese but it was him who taught me. So anyway...

The recipe yields approx 40 dumplings which makes 4 generous servings.

Dumpling Wrappers

3 cups plain flour
1 cup water
A pinch of salt

Prepare this before the filling and let it rest in a covered bowl, this will let the dough relax and become smooth/easier to handle. Just like pasta dough! So add water to flour gradually until you have a soft but not wet dough. Knead for a few minutes then rest for 10, knead again then rest while you make the filling. Make sure you cover the bowl so the dough doesn't dry out!

Pork and Cabbage Filling

500g pork mince
3 cups shredded cabbage (chinese or regular, whatever your preference)
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp shao xing cooking wine*
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp grated ginger
1 clove grated garlic
4 finely sliced spring onions/scallions
pepper to taste (no salt because of soy and shao xing)

*The cooking wine is easily available in most Chinese grocers and is around $1.50-$3 for a cheap bottle. It's great added to stir fry's and such so a worthy investment although you can make the dumplings without it.

Chop the cabbage up how you wish, I do a fine slice usually then chop over it after but if you like it  chunkier just go with that. In a large bowl add the cabbage, seasonings, onion; and grate garlic and ginger in to the pork mince. Thoroughly mix through (hands are the best way).

So that's your dumpling mixture done. Leave it aside and grab your dough.

Chop the dough in to 4 portions and roll each in to a log, chop the log in to tablespoon sized pieces.

Shape each piece using your hands or a rolling pin in to a round flat wrapper. Place a heaped teaspoon of the filling in to the center of the wrapper and fold closed - using water to seal the edges if necessary. I roll as I go because the dough is so elastic if you pre-roll the wrappers they'll just spring back and you'll need to re-roll anyway but make sure you keep your dough covered so it doesn't dry out.

roll out/squash dough

fill with pork mix

close the middle first

then pinch shut from middle to edges

to make it a bit fancy fold the edges inwards twice on each side

(pinch two areas about 1cm apart and pull them past each other making an S shape then pinch together)

Lay the dumplings on greaseproof paper or a floured surface until they're ready to be cooked. (They can also be frozen at this stage. I pop them in the freezer on a cutting board then after an hour or so - once they're solid, I portion them in to zip lock bags ready to be boiled and devoured)

When cooking the dumplings, have a large pot of salted boiling water, add them and once the water re-boils add a cup of cold water. Do this again, and once it re-boils again they are done. My dad claims that this is the traditional Chinese way, and it's what I do, but if you want; about 10-15mins if you're making large ones or just cut one open and check!

Serve with a dipping sauce of 1/4 rice vinegar to 3/4 soy mixed with some chopped garlic and chili and enjoy!

Tip: You can vary the filling however you like substituting pork for chicken mince and/or half the mince for chopped prawn meat.

Carrot Cake!

So yesterday I was doing some uni work with a friend and she had this carrot slice. I've never been much of a fan of carrot cake but I tried some and it was so delicious that I went home and made a carrot cake! It can be easily made vegan or gluten free by adding an egg substitute and/or gluten free flour and using a soy cream cheese or just omitting the icing.

I used a Donna Hay recipe which turned out so amazingly moist! And hoorah for not having a teepee shaped cake (always happens to me).

Carrot Cake

 

1¼ cups brown sugar
¾ cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1½ cups plain flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of (baking) soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
2½ cups grated carrot (about 5 carrots)
½ cup chopped pecan nuts
½ cup sultanas 


Cream Cheese Icing

250g cream cheese, softened
⅓ cup icing (confectioner's) sugar, sifted
1½ tablespoons lemon juice


Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Place the sugar and oil in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 2–3 minutes. Add the eggs gradually and beat well. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ginger over the sugar mixture.

Add the carrot, pecans and sultanas and mix until just combined. Pour into a greased 22cm-round cake tin lined with non-stick baking paper and bake for 55–60 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool in tin.

For the cream cheese frosting, process the cream cheese in a food processor until smooth. Add the icing sugar and lemon juice and process until smooth. Spread frosting on the cooled cake. Serves 8.

*I used soft dark brown (muscovado) sugar instead of the normal brown sugar to give it a more molassesy flavour and omitted the sultanas because I'm not a big fan. Also, softened the cream cheese and stirred in the icing sugar/lemon which worked fine; no need to wash a food processor.

  The ginger and cinnamon powders as well as dark brown (muscovado) sugar give it a gingerbready quality which is really nice and the carrot becomes so soft and blends right in, no unpleasant stringy carrot bits.

Malaysian Style Pork and Eggplant Curry

This is my favourite curry at the moment to make (and eat), it is soooo delicious and so insanely easy!

I know a lot of curry pastes call for labor intensive crushing in a pestle and mortar but every time I've made this I've just used my trusty old mini food processor and whiz it all together.

Once you make the paste, marinate it with the meat then when you're ready to go cook it all up in a pot with the coconut milk and cinnamon sticks. You can simplify it even further by using chicken for quicker cooking - which I have tried with great success or make it vegetarian/vegan by substituting with tempeh or tofu - also tried and v. delicious (and soy for fish sauce, unless you have the veg. type available).

I found the recipe online somewhere and ended up making some adaptations, then lost the original recipe and had to re-write it from memory (even after some intense googling I couldn't find it again) so I think I can safely assume (hope) that it's been personalised enough for me to take the credits.

Recipe

Serves 6

1kg pork cubed (I like forequarter because it's cheap and has no bones)
1 cup chicken stock
1 400ml can coconut milk or cream
1 large/2 small eggplant cubed
1 1/2 cinnamon sticks

For the paste:

1 onion or 6 scallions/spring onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp sized knob of ginger
3 tsp of turmeric
6 birds eye chilies (more or less to taste, or chili flakes if you can't get fresh)
4 tbsp of Chinese five spice
1 1/2 tbsp shrimp paste/fish sauce
2 tbsp tamarind paste
salt and pepper to taste

Chop the bulkier paste ingredients like ginger, onions and garlic in to more manageable pieces (to make sure you don't end up with a big chunk of ginger)

Whiz all paste ingredients in a food processor until smooth. If you only have a large food processor I would recommend either doubling the recipe and freezing half the paste or busting out the pestle and mortar.

Mix paste together with pork and set in the refrigerator for a few hours/overnight.

Saute in large pot until fragrant and paste is cooked. Add cinnamon sticks coconut milk/cream and stock, if sauce is too thick add some water/extra stock. Bring to boil then simmer for 1-2 hours depending on cut of pork or until pork is tender.

Add cubed eggplant 20mins before end of cooking time and simmer until soft.

Remove cinnamon sticks and serve over steamed rice!


Tip: If you're wanting to cut down on cooking time, substitute pork for chicken thighs and add eggplant along with coconut milk etc. cook until eggplant is soft and serve!

Gnocchi!

For me, I used to always be afraid of making gnocchi, and I remember trying it once or twice when I was younger and failing miserably. I tried all sorts of methods of cooking the potato as well as adding egg but they all seemed to be too ridiculous to bother with.

Eventually I figured out that all you really need is two ingredients (well, salt and pepper as well) but if you do the right things to them it can be super easy and adding flavour in the way of herbage/spice to change things up is also a breeze.

Also, if you don't want to read my ramblings about ingredients then scroll to the bottom for the recipe!

Potato

So, potato. I know everyone says to use specific types of potato when making gnocchi, but I've tried with a few different varieties and none have ever been bad, I don't usually use anything fancy or expensive. Essentially anything that is drier and waxy, you don't want the watery kind they'll make it all sloppy and you'll have to add too much flour turning them chewy.

I also recently experimented with sweet potato which turned out to be a great success. The key to getting the potato (any potato) right that I've found is making sure they stay dry! I roast them whole perched on a mound of salt to draw out the moisture. For medium sized potatoes about an hour on 180 does the trick, for the sweet potato a little longer because they're much bigger - but it all depends on size.

Tip: If they are huge and you're worried about them taking forever to roast invest in some metal skewers and stab them through the middle before you put them in the oven, it'll help cook them from the inside out as well as outside in.

Flour

I use all purpose plain white flour, make sure to not overwork the dough when adding the flour otherwise you'll get the gluten going and the gnocchi will turn gummy and sticky. The less flour the better so it's always going to be a moist dough, make sure you have a well floured surface to handle the dough and cut the gnocchi.

I haven't tried gluten free yet but I'm thinking that could be pretty successful though. I have some spare GF flour in the pantry so I'll report back once I test it.

Salt and Pepper

Need I say more. At least salt, otherwise they're just going to taste bland. Any additions such as chopped herbs, pesto, tomato paste or nutmeg can be added with the flour.

Tools

A potato ricer will yield the best results, otherwise a mouli or drum sieve are also viable options. If you're using a mouli however you will have to skin the potatoes while hot before passing through. Avoid mashing as it breaks the pockets of starch and causes the potato to become gluey and also doesn't allow the potatoes to dry like ricing does through increasing surface area. 

Ratio

I usually have a rough ratio on how much flour to potato but just add until the dough feels good and pop a test piece in to some boiling water as I go along. It's the best way I've found guarantee that they'll work out, add the flour a little at a time also to make sure you don't add too much!

From my findings however,

1kg of Potato (uncooked) / 1 1/2 - 2 Cups Flour

Basic Potato Gnocchi

Makes approx 4 large serves or 6 small.

1kg Waxy Potatoes
1 1/2 - 2 Cups Flour
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 180 and roast potatoes whole on a shallow tray perched atop a bed of salt for 45-60mins for medium sized potatoes, more for larger.

Remove potatoes from oven, brush off salt from bottoms and chop in half. Place skin side up in a potato ricer or a over a drum sieve and pass through.While still warm add half the flour and fold through gently, then sprinkle the other half on a clean surface and incorporate (you may need more or less depending on how dry/wet your potatoes are).

Chop dough in to manageable portions and roll each out in to skinny logs. Chop each log in to bite sized pieces and place gnocchi in a large pot of boiling salted water. When they rise to the top remove, dress and eat! I like them best tossed in butter and topped with grated parmesan.

I made these ones with a rocket and walnut pesto which you can find here!