Vegetable Lasagna

My housemate is vegetarian so we often eat vegetarian meals. We took a trip to the Adelaide Central Markets recently and bought ingredients for lasagna. It turned out sooo delicious however the photos are pretty average because you can't see all the layers of veg! :( We used eggplant, zuchinni, pumpkin and mushrooms all pre-roasted and baked between chewy pasta sheets with a tomato sauce and dotted with pieces of salty Danish feta. Mmm!

Lasagna!

Serves 4-6

1 large zuchinni
1 large eggplant
300g button mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
500g pumkin
1 700ml jar tomato passata (tomato puree)
1 cup crumbled Danish feta
250g dried lasagna sheets
olive oil
salt and pepper


Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius

Slice eggplant (around 5mm), pumkin and zuchinni (around 2mm thin) (easily done with a mandoline), lay on to baking trays (you'll need a few) and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 10-15mins or until softened and lightly browned but not fully cooked. They will further cook in the lasagna.

Meanwhile, saute mushrooms and chopped garlic in some olive oil and set aside.

In a lasagna pan assemble layers of roasted eggplant, zuchinni, mushroom and pumpkin as you see fit adding tomato puree in with layers to moisten (you might not need it all) and distributing the feta evenly. Make sure to leave a little to sprinkle on top though!

Turn oven down to 180 and bake covered for 40-45mins or until pasta is cooked but not soggy.

Leave to sit for 15mins before cutting and serving!

Tip: The pan I use for lasagna makes 6 perfectly portioned slices but if you only have a larger pan then you may want to increase the amount of ingredients so that it's nice and thick!

Baked Cheesecake

Donna Hay wins again! I turned to her cheesecake recipe because it looked so super easy and delicious when I saw it on masterchef a couple of years back. It turned out amazing and didn't take much time at all to prepare. I wish I'd had some berries or passionfruit to lay over the top but I completely forgot when I did the grocery shop, no worries though because it was just delicious all on its own.

I gave all the measurements in grams because I figure you'd be getting those scales out to measure the cream cheese and ricotta so no need to dirty the measuring cups! Also, I advise using a food processor for this, unfortunately I only have a mini one so I turned to the blender and that actually worked really well! So there's your backup plan. Hand beaters are not a good plan B. I would know.

Donna Hay's Classic Baked Cheesecake

330g softened cream cheese
500g ricotta cheese
4 eggs
295g cups caster sugar
60ml cup lemon juice
1 tbsp grated lemon rind
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsp cornflour
1 1/2 tbsp water (to mix with cornflour)

For the Base

40g cup almond meal
105g cup plain flour
55g caster sugar
90g chopped butter


Pre-heat oven to 150 degrees Celsius.

Start with the base, whiz all the ingredients in a food processor until they form a crumbly texture, tip in to a lined cake tin and press in to the bottom (use your hands and then smooth out with a spoon to make sure it's all nice and even).

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden. Set aside to cool while you make the filling.

For the filling, add all but cornflour and water to a food processor. Combine cornflour and water separately and add in. Process until smooth and pour in to the tin.

Tap to remove any air bubbles and bake for 1 hour. Turn the oven off but leave the door closed for a further hour then remove and chill.

Tip: I noticed that my cake was still wobbly in the middle after the first hour and completely forgot about the whole 2nd hour thing so I baked it longer until it was set, it still turned out great but ended up a little brown around the edges so don't fret too much if there's a little raw bit in the middle that will cook further in to the 2nd hour.  Also, don't be tempted to open the oven and take the cake out early as it will crack if it cools too rapidly.

Sugo d'Arrosto

So I read about this sauce in a book I have and was drooling through the whole chapter. I made some tortellini recently and decided to pair the two, it was filled with chicken and covered in a beefy sauce which I thought might be a bad pairing but it was seriously delicious. I regret nothing!

I changed a couple of things around from the original recipe but I'll just write the original and add my changes in brackets.

Sugo d'Arrosto (Sage and Meat Sauce)

1 tbsp butter
6 large fresh sage leaves
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1 (scant) cup grated parmesan

This will make enough for 500g of dried pasta or 4 generous serves of fresh.

Melt butter in a pan, add sage leaves and garlic clove (I used 2 cloves and more sage), brown lightly.

Add broth and simmer for a moment then remove from heat (I added some salt and pepper also and removed the garlic before the next step).

Toss through pasta and parmesan cheese. Enjoy!


Tip: Because the sauce only coats lightly make sure its well seasoned otherwise it will be bland. Also of course home made beef stock is going to be the best but if you want something super easy and quick you could substitute for a good quality store bought liquid stock.

Two Bite Tortellini

I had a friend coming over for dinner so I decided to get a little fancy and make some tortellini. I'm pretty sure I folded them wrong but I think they look adorable and close enough, haha. I only realised after that I'd done it wrong the whole time. Also, I accidentally kind of sort of made them jumbo sized so to cover up my mistake I've renamed them two-bite tortellini. I actually quite enjoy the larger size because you get a nice big mouthful of the tasty filling!

I filled mine with a really tasty chicken and leek filling made with a "chicken mousse" it was somewhat experimental but turned out fantastic!

Pasta tip: Make sure you roll your pasta out very thin as it will expand when it cooks and all those little folds will end up being tough if your dough is too thick, 7 or 8 on my pasta machine worked a treat.

Pasta

100g/1 cup plain flour to 1 egg. (of course this varies with size of egg/humidity etc.)

I used 400g flour and 3 XL eggs plus a splash of water as needed. This made enough for about 6 serves of tortellini although the rule is that 100g is per person, I'm sure this would be the case for un-filled pasta.

Combine most of the egg to the flour and knead adding more flour/egg/water if necessary. Knead for a few minutes until it becomes smooth. Don't worry if it seems a little dry or tough at first once the dough rests it will become much softer/stickier and malleable. Set aside and rest for at least 30mins to a few hours. If you're leaving it for more than 30mins or so or it's a warm day pop it in the fridge.

Knead lightly then pass through a pasta machine on the first setting folding over a few times, slowly increase the setting and dust sheets of pasta/set aside. 

Filling

Serves 6

1 large leek
300g (one medium size) chicken breast
1 egg white
75ml cream
salt and pepper

Finely slice/chop leek and saute in butter and oil until softened.

Roughly chop chicken and place in a food processor, process until it forms a paste, add egg white and process further slowly adding in the cream. Season with salt and pepper and process once more to combine.

Stir through saute'd leeks.

 Making the Tortellini

So, I forgot to take photos of the construction process so I will try to explain it the best I can. Cut the pasta in to approx. 10x10cm squares and place a small teaspoon of filling in the lower left quarter. Fold the opposite corner over and seal shut (if needed use a little water or that leftover egg yolk).

Roll the filling pouch over so it is ontop of the sealed corner then sit the pasta so that the pointy sealed corner is up horizontally and the two sides are flat on the bench.

Pull each side flap around away from the corner side then pinch together.

Boil them in a large pot of well salted water and once they rise leave them for another minute or two to ensure the filling is cooked. Just cut one in half to check if you're unsure.

Tip: They also freeze really well! Freeze un-cooked and just plop them in to the water and add another minute or so to the cook time.

I tossed mine in a Sugo d'Arrosto which I got from my book "The Man Who Ate Everything" by Jeffrey Steingarten.

I'm the worst at taking photos because I just get so caught up in the making/eating process. I'll get a snap of one cut in half next time I bust out the frozen batch.

Murtabak

I've been watching lots of masterchef this season and this one dish that was made early on in the competition gave me crazy cravings all the time even though I hadn't eaten it before, it just looked sooo good!

So it's called murtabak and it's a Malaysian street food that consists of a flaky crunchy pastry outside filled with a seasoned mince and egg. I read a few different recipes and adapted one to my needs (what I had in the fridge) and personal preferences.

I'm really excited about how easy this was to make because I always get stuck with what to do with beef mince and end up just using it for bolognese or  chili con carne.

 

Murtabak

Serves 4

Pastry

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup water
2tbsp vegetable oil or ghee
a nice pinch of salt

Filling

vegetable oil
500g beef mince (you could use any kind really)
1 medium onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 small knob of ginger
1 red chili
3 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste
 2 eggs
1 cup bean shoots (I had none)


For the dough, combine oil/ghee and flour in a bowl, mix and gradually add water until you form a smooth but firm dough. Don't add all the water at once as you might not need it all (I didn't). Set the dough aside to rest in the bowl covering with a damp tea towel for at least half an hour (make the filling while you wait).

Tip: It says to rest in a warm area and it was a cold night so I turned my oven on the lowest temp briefly to mimic a hot day, turned it off and left the bowl in there with the door shut while I made the filling. Worked a treat!

For the filling, finely chop onion, garlic, chili and ginger and sweat in vegetable oil, add mince and saute breaking up the pieces until browned. Add ground spices, soy, salt and pepper and toss through. Set aside.

Cut pastry dough in to 4 even portions and lightly oil each portion, roll each piece out as thin as you can and stretch out further if necessary. You want it nearly as thin as filo, don't worry if there are some small holes either, just patch them up.

Crack eggs in to a bowl and beat, set aside.

Place pastry sheet in a hot oiled low sided pan (grill, crepe or just a large frying pan will do) and pile with a quarter of the mince mixture and pour on a quarter of the egg. Fold it up like an envelope and fry for 1-2mins on the first side and a 3-4 on the next.

Cut in half an enjoy with a side salad or on its own with a cold beer!