Coleslaw and Chicken and Lime Leaf Fritters

"Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever." ~Mark Twain

So before my shortcomings become any shorter, indulge me while I catch up on some homework. I have two extra dishes from the December Gourmet Traveller to post about. The first is the King Cole coleslaw that I made on Christmas Day. I have a bit of a thing for coleslaw: something about the crunchiness, the creamy dressing, the slightly sour flavour of cabbage offset by other ingredients. When I saw the King Cole coleslaw in Gourmet Traveller, it seemed a perfect salad for Christmas lunch - excellent seasonal colours, all in reds and white, and something that could be prepared ahead to take the pressure off Christmas Day. While the results were good, (it was a tasty coleslaw, and I liked the inclusion of the radish and the hazelnuts), it was not significantly better than other coleslaw I have made. In fact the best bit for me was the leftovers: I had a small bowl of coleslaw for dinner on both Xmas night and Boxing night - which were more than satisfying after days spent feasting.

The final dish I made from Gourmet Traveller Dec 09 was the chicken and lime leaf fritters. This recipe comes from a restaurant called Cookie in Melbourne and was included in the magazine section where readers are able to request chefs' recipes. I always love this section as the unwritten subtext is that these recipes must be really, really, really good for someone to go to the trouble of writing to Gourmet Traveller to ask them to get the recipes. I did however make some changes to the recipe. Deep frying always leaves me with battle scars, so I decided instead to bake the fritters (which must make them balls not fritters). I also did not have any rice flour, but I did have some potato flour that I used instead, and it formed a nice thin crust on the outside of the balls. Instead of frying, I sprayed them with olive oil spray and put them into a 170C oven for 35 mins until they were golden brown and cooked through. These had a great Thai-style flavour, were really more-ish and made a perfect nibble for New Year's Eve. I am confident that they will be turning up around here again soon.

My focus on Gourmet Traveller Dec 09 came from a challenge with Melinda from Melbourne Larder that we called "We Made It". Sick of under-utlising our food magazines, we decided to try to focus on one and see how much we could cook from it. I loved doing this because it forced me to explore the magazine in depth and prodded me towards recipes I may never have otherwise attempted. Looking back over the month, my favourites were:

- the Rosemary Cranberry Florentines

- the Chilli Mud Crab

- the Ouzo Cured Ocean Trout

January's focus will be on the Dec/Jan edition of Delicious, so if you are cooking from Delicious feel free to join in. Now excuse me while I go attend to my shortcomings.

King Cole

Serves 8
½ small white cabbage (about 1kg), shredded
1 radicchio, shredded
8 radishes, thinly sliced
½ Spanish onion, thinly sliced
½ cup each torn dill and parsley (loosely packed)
35 gm (¼ cup) hazelnuts, roasted, skins rubbed, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp sunflower seeds (optional)
Sherry dressing
1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
1½ tbsp sherry vinegar
3 egg yolks
375 ml (1½ cups) olive oil
20 ml dry sherry, or to taste

Combine cabbage, radicchio and radish in a bowl of iced water, stand until crisp (5-10 minutes).
Meanwhile, for sherry dressing, process garlic, vinegar and yolks in a food processor until combined. With motor running, add oil in a thin steady stream until thick and emulsified, stir through sherry, season to taste.

Drain cabbage mixture, dry in a salad spinner, add to a bowl with onion. Add sherry dressing, toss to combine, transfer to a serving bowl, scatter with herbs, nuts and seeds.

Chicken and Lime Leaf Fritters

Serves 6
For deep-frying: vegetable oil
For dusting: rice flour
500 gm minced chicken
1 Spanish onion, finely diced
1 cup (loosely packed) coriander, finely chopped
6 kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded
80 ml (1/3 cup) fish sauce
80 ml (1/3 cup) lime juice
To serve:
thinly sliced cucumber, long red chilli and lime wedges

Preheat oil in a deep-fryer or deep-sided frying pan to 180C. Place rice flour in a bowl, set aside. Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl and mix well (mixture will be quite wet). Divide mixture into even walnut-sized balls, dust with rice flour. Then either deep-fry in batches, turning occasionally, until golden and cooked through (2-4 minutes; be careful as hot oil may spit) OR spay with olive oil and bake at 170C for 35mins. Drain on absorbent paper, season to taste with sea salt flakes and serve with cucumber, red chilli and lime wedges.

Mixed Tomato Salad: We Made It

December is upon us. I have neglected my blog even more than my garden for the last couple of weeks, so apologies to any regular readers who thought I had fallen down the proverbial plug hole. Some low level renovations made me briefly computer-less, followed by the usual ups and downs of a household at this time of year, but I am planning to more than make up for lost time this month, so brace yourselves.

A few months ago, I saw a post from Melinda at Melbourne Larder about making good use of food magazines. In one month, she had made more than 10 recipes from a recent Gourmet Traveller. I was impressed because - brace yourselves - my name is Suzie and I am a food porn addict. I don't just enjoy them; I mainline food magazines. As well as filed and orderly collections of magazines I am keeping, there are piles of unsorted magazines hidden in various corners around the house. I have an enormous box of unsorted clippings from magazines that have been sent off to recycling, plus three largish scrapbooks of sorted recipes. Whenever I find myself out and about with some time to kill before collecting the kids, going to an appointment, or meeting a friend, I tend to dive into a newsagency and collect another hit. Which all wouldn't be nearly as wicked if I actually used them a bit more instead of just conjuring up hypothetical meals in my head.

So I dropped a note to Melinda suggesting some sort of monthly challenge, and after an exchange of emails, we have decided to play. Our plan is to pick a different magazine each month, try and cook and review and post as much as possible from it in the month. If anyone else decides to join in, they are more than welcome, just drop a comment in to either Melinda or me. No more rules or pressure than that. This month's choice is Australian Gourmet Traveller, December 2009. And tentatively, this project of ours is called "We Made It". Which, incidentally, is how I feel by the time I get to December.

So first recipe off the rank was a mixed tomato salad with sumac, herbs and flatbread. At this time of year, the available varieties of tomatoes spin out from the usual choices of Italian, vine-ripened or bog standard to a gorgeous palette of shapes and sizes and colours. And the recipe is not prescriptive as to what varieties you pick - take a look at what is available and what will look pretty in a bowl and work from there. Tomato salads are a great addition to any buffet or plate because of the shot of colour they give. They also last longer than your standard leaf salad - I enjoyed the remainders yesterday of a salad prepared the night before - so make sure you don't bin the leftovers. The tomato holds its shape and texture well, and if anything the flavour is enhanced. Incidentally, I prefer to blacken the capsicum skins under the griller than mess around with open flames - no need for yet another cooking scar on my hands!

If you would like to join in the fun of cooking from Gourmet Traveller this month, leave me a comment, and make sure you go and visit Melinda at Melbourne Larder and see what amazing things she is whipping up too.

Mixed tomato salad with sumac and herbs

Australian Gourmet Traveller December 2009
Serves 6

3 red capsicum
1.2 kg assorted tomatoes, such as vine-ripened, green, ox heart, grape, cherry, kumato
80 ml (1/3 cup) extra-virgin olive oil
3 golden shallots, thinly sliced
1 lemon, juice only
2 tsp sumac
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 bunch each coriander, parsley and mint, leaves torn
To serve:
grilled flatbread and crumbled feta (optional)

Grill capsicum over a low open flame until blackened, turning occasionally (20-30 minutes). Transfer to a heatproof bowl, cover with plastic wrap and stand until cooled (1 hour), then peel, coarsely chop and set aside.

Cut large tomatoes into wedges, halve smaller ones and combine in a bowl. Add olive oil, shallot, lemon juice, sumac and garlic, season to taste and toss to combine. Stir through capsicum and herbs and serve with grilled flatbread to the side and crumbled feta, if desired.

Pumpkin Time Part 1 - Caramelized

"There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin ― Linus Van Pelt in "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"

This quote landed in my in-box the same day I saw that roasted pumpkin* was one of the bonus recipes for this week, and it has been going round and round in my head for a week now. It has also brought back lots of Snoopy and Charlie Brown memories - surely we are well-overdue on a Snoopy revival? I used to love all the Peanuts characters but especially Snoopy (I had a stuffed Snoopy) and Lucy, who tried so hard to make Linus love her. I was prompted to do a bit of googling down memory lane. Here are a couple of gems I found on the net this morning:

Lucy: You think being average is enough, don't you? Well it isn't! What shape would the world be in today if everyone settled for being average?

Linus: What shape is the world in today?

OR

Lucy: This is our last game of the season. Let's win it!

Charlie Brown: Okay. Get out there and play your best.

Lucy: You always have to say something sarcastic, don't you?

So onto pumpkin. I don't get enough pumpkin, because I have sadly found myself to be living in a pumpkin unfriendly family. Largely thanks to my otherwise reasonable husband, the rest of the family treats its appearance at dinner as if it was the ebola virus, capable of contaminating everything else on the table. So I was thrilled to make it this week, and cunningly chose a night that darling husband would be MIA to serve it. Clever. I can now report that if you are trying to introduce unwilling / uninterested daughters to pumpkin, this recipe is a cracker. It gives the pumpkin a meltingly soft texture, and brings out its sweetness, which is surely a kid eatability criteria. Both conceded that it was pretty good. Husband's response? "Good luck to you all." Clearly I still have some work to do on that front.

PS: If you come back tomorrow, I'll show you how the leftovers work in a Nigella Autumn salad.

(NB to US readers, what you can butternut squash, we call butternut pumpkin)

Caramelized Butternut Squash

from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten

2 medium butternut squash (abt 2 kgs total)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C. Cut off and discard the ends of each butternut pumpkin. Peel the pumpkin, cut them in half lengthwise, and remove the seeds. Cut into 4cm to 5cm cubes and place them on a baking sheet. Add the melted butter, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. With clean hands, toss all the ingredients together and spread in a single layer on the baking sheet. Roast for 45 to 55 minutes, until the pumpkin is tender and the glaze begins to caramelize. While roasting, turn the pumpkin a few times with a spatula, to be sure it browns evenly. Taste for seasonings and serve hot.

Crashed Potatoes Crashed Potatoes

Do you have days when you should quit while you are behind? So far today, two batches of what should have been perfect pink macarons have failed on me. I have gone to the shops but forgotten to buy half of what I needed. I am trying to work out how to tie a sari on my daughter for a Bollywood party. She also wants to make a life size model of an emperor penguin for school, that incidentally will be taller than her. Red socks bled in the wash. Plus I have a BIG PILE of stuff to do like taxes, that make me want to beat myself with a garden fork because that would be more fun.

So here is a recipe for one of those days. I found it via some combination of Ree at The Pioneer Woman referencing Trish at Light Sweet Crude referencing Jill Dupleix. (How polite these blogging cooks are with everyone appropriately attributing recipes to each other.) But back to the potatoes: now that I think of it, this recipe is small and easy enough to be a haiku poem, which must be some sort of test for simple cooking.

Boil your spuds softish
Squash them flat, drizzle with oil
Hot oven roast then eat

I am happy now - what a concept: haiku recipes!

Crash Hot Potatoes
adapted from Jill Dupleix

16 small, round potatoes ( in an ideal world - mine were normal sized because that is what was in the vegie drawer, but little ones would look cuter)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Heat oven to 230 or 250C . Boil unpeeled potatoes in a pot of salted water, for around 15 minutes or until they are just slightly undercooked (ie soft enough to pierce with a knife tip but not mushy).

Drain, and arrange on a lightly oiled baking tray or sheet. Use a potato masher to squash each potato flat, until it is twice its original diameter. Brush the tops with olive oil, and scatter with sea salt, pepper, and any herbs or spices that flick your switch. Bake on the top shelf of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes until crisp and golden. Serve hot.

Zucchini Salad for Hay Hay It's Donna Day

I have decided to jump into a new cooking group on the web: Hay Hay It's Donna Day. Regular readers would know that I am already cooking and posting Donna's recipes regularly (so a new group is not really much more incremental work), and I like the idea of a monthly challenge. I have had an ongoing love affair with Donna Hay's recipes for years. I have collected every issue of her food magazines (slightly obsessively embarrassing), plus have most of her cookbooks. She is so prolific that it is becoming a problem for me to house my collection of her work, let alone the other squillion cookbooks I seem to have amassed. So why do I hang onto her magazines when I am happy to ditch others? There are a few reasons:

- I find her recipes work (as long as you follow them) and they are generally pretty quick to pull together and never require a trolley of ingredients.
- the magazines are beautiful to look at, and the food is styled so wonderfully that it is a pleasure using them.
- there is an outstanding index to the magazines, which used to be in hard copy but is now on the web. This means that if I am looking for a particular recipe, I can track it down without literally thumbing years of accumulated magazines. Yay!



So on to Hay Hay It's Donna Day #27. Denise from Chez Us has stepped in to facilitate the event after it was started by Barbara at Winos and Foodies and then nurtured by Bron Marshall. This month's challenge was chosen by host Priya from Akshayapaatram, and she nominated summer salads, preferably vegetarian as her theme. So off I went to my large pile of Donna magazines and found this Witlof with Zucchini, Mint and Fetta Salad in the Dec/Jan 07 issue. It was really good - so good in fact that I am planning to make it again as soon as I can get to the supermarket to get more zucchini. I have never been a zucchini fan, I think because I started eating zucchini as part of ratatouille (squishy and a bit of an underperformer). Served like this - sliced thinly and chargrilled - zucchini is a star. Throw in some fetta and mint and toss it through some lettuce (sadly no witlof to be found), and it is completely delicious. The dressing is nothing more than some white wine vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper - all you need to show off this gorgeous produce.



Witlof With Zucchini, Mint and Fetta
from "Donna Hay Magazine" Dec/Jan 07
Serves 8, as a side dish

2 yellow zucchini, thinly sliced (I used a vegetable peeler for the slicing)
2 green zucchini, thinly sliced
1 tbl olive oil
150g fetta, chopped
1 cup mint leaves
1 tbl extra virgin olive oil
1 tbl white wine vinegar
1 witlof (I used oakleaf lettuce)

Heat a char grill pan over medium heat. Toss the zucchin with 1 tbl olive oil, and sea salt and pepper to taste in a bowl. Chargrill in batches for 1-2 mins or until golden and soft. Place zucchini, fetta, mint, extra oil and vinegar in a bowl ad toss gently to combine. Serve on a bed of lettuce.

Sensational Italian Mushroom Ragout

I grew up with a grandmother who believed that you should "never let anyone be as wise as yourself". In other words, never tell others everything that you know. But today I am disregarding that advice completely and giving you one of my favourite cooking secrets. This is a recipe that is as good and nearly as easy as the amazing Tetsuya avocado soup. Brace yourself for one of those recipes that is so unbelievably simple that it needs to be tasted to be believed. One that you will use again and again (unless your cardiologist is coming for dinner...). In my opinion it is a bit like a warm embrace, and this has been a week for warm embraces. But back to the mushrooms...

"Secret" may not be quite the right word for this mushroom ragout, since this recipe is on the ABC website, the Lifestyle Food website, and on various other sites. It comes from Kylie Kwong's book "Heart and Soul", and she attributes it to the Manfredi clan of Sydney restaurant fame. Kylie Kwong describes it as symbolic of the Manfredis : "down-to-earth, full of substance, elegant, vibrant and comforting". Kylie suggests serving with crusty bread, or as a side dish to accompany roasted poultry or meat. I also think it is beautiful tossed through pasta. And if you can't get all the varieties of mushrooms, feel free to experiment a little. Part of the joy of this recipe is the mixture.

I really like Kylie Kwong's "Heart and Soul" cookbook, and have very happily tried a lot of the recipes it contains. Unfortunately Kylie Kwong gets a hard time on some of the local blogs for not being "Asian" enough (and it really disgusts me that a whole lot of those commenting don't have the grace or the courage to post anything other than anonymous vitriol.) Lucky Kylie: she might not be Asian enough for some, but she is clearly Australian enough to be given a double serving of tall poppy syndrome. In my opinion, if the food tastes good, which these mushrooms undoubtedly do, then that should be enough.


Italian Mushroom Ragout
from "Heart and Soul" by Kylie Kwong

8 Garlic Cloves crushed
4 Onions trimmed & finely sliced
1 tablespoon sea salt
200 g fresh button mushrooms
100 g fresh oyster mushrooms
150 g shiitake mushrooms stems discarded
100 g swiss Mushrooms Brown
100 g fresh Mushrooms Enoki
100 g fresh black cloud ear fungus
125 g unsalted butter roughly chopped
½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
cracked White pepper
½ cup Dry White Wine
½ cup roughly chopped Flat-leaf parsley

Place garlic, onions and salt in a heavy-based pan.

Cover with all the mushrooms except enoki and cloud ear fungus. Top with butter, olive oil and pepper and place over high heat for 5 minutes, without stirring, to allow the flavours of the onions and garlic to penetrate the mushrooms.

Add wine and remaining mushrooms, stirring to combine. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 5 minutes, or until mushrooms are just tender.

Stir in parsley and serve.
Serve as part of a banquet for 4–6

Pasta Salad With Sun Dried Tomatoes

I can remember making my first pasta salad, at around the same time I discovered sun dried tomatoes. It was a recipe from one of the old Vogue Entertaining cookbooks, and used multi-coloured fettucine. The sun dried tomatoes were a revelation for me - I can still clearly remember the surprise of the intense burst of taste delivered by something that looked like a shrivelled up hibiscus flower. It was oily, salty, tangy, pungent, and incredibly more-ish. Suddenly sundried tomatoes were turning up in pastas, salads, sandwiches and quiches everywhere (ah yes the 80s). But then, after a few years, we moved on to semi-dried tomatoes, olives and then to goats cheese, and the sun-dried tomatoes moved back a bit on the deli shelves.

This recipe reminded me why I loved sun-dried tomatoes in the first place. It was full of flavour, and is the sort of side dish that would stand up well to a marinated steak or a BBQ, without being swamped by the other flavours. Make sure you use the fusilli rather than any other pasta because the spirals seem to grab the dressing and hold it close, so no bite is bland. I substituted baby bocconcini for the mozarella as it is a little lighter, and I like the shape of the balls. I also reduced it to about 250g, which was plenty of cheese for me. And my supermarket was out of green basil but had purple basil, so I used that - I like the dark tones it gave the salad, less colourful but more dramatic than green, and the taste is the same. I also skipped the oil in the pasta water as I don't believe it is useful. Just make sure you stir your pasta as it goes into the water and every couple of minutes while it is cooking and it won't stick.

This salad was the first July pick for the Barefoot Bloggers and came from Cat of Delta Whiskey. Drop by her blog, she always has something worth reading to share. The Barefoot Bloggers are a far flung group who are cooking their way through the opus of Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. Join us twice a month for something completely delicious. Thanks Cat - you brought back some great memories.

Pasta With Sun-Dried Tomatoes
adapted from "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook" by Ina Garten

250g fusilli (spirals) pasta
500g ripe tomatoes, medium-diced
3/4 cup good black olives, such as kalamata, pitted and diced
500g fresh mozzarella, medium-diced (I used 250g baby bocconcini instead)
6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped

For the dressing:

5 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
6 tablespoons good olive oil
1 garlic clove, diced
1 teaspoon capers, drained (I used salted, just rinse them well and then use)
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 cup packed basil leaves, julienned

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water with a splash of oil to keep it from sticking together (I left out the oil). Boil for 12 minutes, or according to the directions on the package. Drain well and allow to cool. Place the pasta in a bowl and add the tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

For the dressing, combine the sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, capers, salt, and pepper in a food processor until almost smooth.

Pour the dressing over the pasta, sprinkle with the Parmesan and basil, and toss well.

Curried Couscous

The dramas of 09 continue with the discovery last week that a small part of our house has structural problems and basically needs re-building. How much work (and cost) is not clear until the builders start pulling off our walls next week. It makes me feel ill even writing that. Just my luck that the room in question is basically the repository for every piece of paper / book / file in the house. The next week will be spent boxing and clearing. Keep your fingers crossed for me - I am hoping that if things come in threes, this is the end of the three that began with chicken pox and followed with whooping cough. Then, just maybe, the second half of the year will be smooth sailing.

Luckily for me then, this week's Barefoot Challenge of curried couscous was a cinch. It was tasty, easy and I had nearly all the ingredients on hand. Couscous is always a winner with me because it is so fast and virtually impossible to stuff up. It also allows for any number of tweaks. My only changes to the recipe were to halve it, and I used stock instead of water for making the couscous, and left out the butter. The curry flavour was not overstated either, just a warm note in the salad. It worked well as a side when I served it with a lamb tagine, but I could also see it as a salad at a BBQ or maybe even as a girl's lunch with prawns or chicken breast tossed through it as well.

This month's first Barefoot Challenge is a recipe that I can see myself making again and again, so thank you to Ellyn from Recipe Collector and Tester for your choice. The Barefoot Bloggers are a cooking group that every month cooks something from the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten. Click here to see what others thought of the recipe.

Curried Couscous

from "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook" by Ina Garten

1 1/2 cups couscous
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup good olive oil
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup small-diced carrots
1/2 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup dried currants or raisins
1/4 cup blanched, sliced almonds
2 scallions, thinly sliced (white and green parts)
1/4 cup small-diced red onion

Directions
Place the couscous in a medium bowl. Melt the butter in the boiling water and pour over the couscous. Cover tightly and allow the couscous to soak for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
Whisk together the yogurt, olive oil, vinegar, curry, turmeric, salt, and pepper. Pour over the fluffed couscous, and mix well with a fork. Add the carrots, parsley, currants, almonds, scallions, and red onions, mix well, and season to taste. Serve at room temperature.

Cornbread Stuffing For Roasted Chicken or Turkey

Earlier this year I made cornbread for the family, to eat alongside some soup. Cornbread is not something you see often around here, and sadly, the family didn't really enjoy it as much as I had hoped. I hate it when that happens. Away into the freezer went the cornbread, until I could decide what to do with it. Last week, darling husband was arriving home from overseas, and as roast chicken is his very favourite dinner, I thought I would tart it up a little. The cornbread stuffing my sister-in-law made for us at Christmas time was playing on my mind, and so two great ideas collided. The recipe below was an improvisation on a Julia Child stuffing I found on the net, and it was great. Not too heavy or stodgy or (even worse) mysterious like most of the stuffings around here; it was light and tasty and delicious, and the leftovers were every bit as good. Because I was running late with dinner, I baked the chicken separately from the stuffing because I wanted to avoid any extra cooking time on the chicken. Is stuffing still stuffing when nothing is being stuffed? Not sure. I'll let you ponder that one.

Incidentally, the cornbread recipe was one of the 08 Barefoot Blogger Challenges that had come and gone before I joined the group. I have included the recipe for the cornbread below as well.

Cornbread Stuffing
adapted from Julia Child's Cornbread Stuffing Recipe, on plaincook.com

5 cups cornbread, crumbled
500g sausage meat
2 cups chopped onions
1 1/2 cups celery ribs, chopped
2 cups breadcrumbs, unseasoned, lightly pressed down
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons dried sage (more if you like - I didn't use because I forgot to buy it)
120g melted butter
1 large apple, cored and diced
1/2 cup toasted pecan nuts, roughly chopped

Brown sausage meat in a pan over medium heat. Lift into a large bowl, leaving fat in pan.
Using the same pan, saute onions for 5-6 minutes (or until translucent). Add celery and saute for 2 minutes. Add the onion and celery to the sausage, along with the cornbread and bread crumbs. Combine sage and eggs, and pour into mixture. Fold in the melted butter. Season to taste.

Stuff cavity of chicken or turkey with mixture and bake according to poultry roasting times. If baking separately, place mixture in a baking pan, cover with foil, and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, maybe even less. Do not overbake otherwise the stuffing will dry out.

Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread
from Barefoot Contessa at Home

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 cups milk
3 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, plus extra to grease the pan
8 ounces aged extra-sharp Cheddar, grated, divided
1/3 cup chopped green onions, white and green parts, plus extra for garnish, 3 scallions
3 tablespoons seeded and minced fresh jalapeno peppers (I left these out although I would definitely include if we were to make again)

Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, eggs, and butter. With a wooden spoon, stir the wet ingredients into the dry until most of the lumps are dissolved. Don't overmix! Mix in 2 cups of the grated Cheddar, the scallions and jalapenos, and allow the mixture to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking pan.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and sprinkle with the remaining grated Cheddar and extra chopped scallions. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool and cut into large squares. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Sauteed Broccolini

Its been a busy month for the Barefoot Bloggers, with four recipes to complete in March instead of the usual three. Bless those doing the choosing for the recipes, because it has been a lovely and varied selection. We started this month with Chicken Piccata, today we have both a Chocolate Brownie Pudding and sauteed Broccolini, and then next week we will round out the month with Tomato and Goats Cheese Tarts. And we definitely needed the Broccolini to increase our vitamin and anti oxidant levels around here.

I enjoyed this recipe although it was not universally acclaimed in this house. My favourite part of the recipe was the two stage cooking process, which I think makes this a good choice for entertaining - blanch your greens ahead of time and then reheat in the lemon garlic butter. I think this would work just as well for beans or snow peas as for broccolini. Sadly husband and children are not very fond of broccolini, and would prefer standard issue broccoli most days of the week. I will probably use the recipe again but for different greens. Thanks to Mary of Meet Me In the Kitchen for her choice - I'm sure one day I will convince the family about broccolini (or not).

Sauteed Broccolini
from Ina Garten

1 bunch broccolini
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 lemon, zested
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Blanch the broccolini in a large pot of boiling salted water for 2 minutes. Drain immediately and immerse in a bowl of ice water.

Melt the butter in a large saute pan. Add the lemon zest and garlic and stir. Drain the broccolini and add it to the garlic mixture and heat for 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt and the pepper, and toss well before serving.

Caramelized Carrots with Mortadella - Today's Nomination for Best Supporting Role

We are well and truly in the middle of awards season at the moment, and I couldn't be happier. I love four hour telecasts of increasing inanity featuring people wearing fantastic dresses who will possibly disappear into the ether leaving nothing behind but the smell of flaming ego. (No really I do. And while I'm confessing, I like Eurovision as well.) In years gone by, I would even make a passing attempt to see all the Best Picture nominee films before the awards were announced. Children and the economics and logistics of babysitters vs movie tickets put an end to that. I can't really explain why, but spending $50 on a babysitter makes sense when you are going out to a restaurant or a dinner party but does not make sense when all you are doing is watching a movie.

All this brings me, very circuitously to supporting acts, and their importance. Just as a film can be lifted enormously by the quality of supporting acts (imagine "Four Weddings and a Funeral" if it was two hours of unabridged Hugh Grant and Andy McDowell simpering), and so can a meal. These carrots may not win an Oscar but they definitely won curtain calls here, if you'll allow me to extend the metaphor. Take my advice and make more than you think you will need because they will all be eaten - I used five large carrots for four of us and next time I will use 6 or 7.

This recipe comes from the fabulous Stephanie Alexander in her amazing encyclopedic tome "The Cook's Companion". This is an extremely useful book covering everything from very simple to very complex recipes organised into chapters for every ingredient you could imagine. It is a mainstay in Australian kitchens - if you don't own it, buy it now. Stephanie credits Marcella Hazan as her inspiration for this recipe - an impressive bloodline if ever there was one.

Caramelized Carrot and Mortadella

from The Cook's Companion by Stephanie Alexander

carrots

mortadella sausage chopped (or any other sausage - I actually used hot salami because that is what I had)

olive oil

Saute carrots and sausage in 5mm olive oil for about 20 mins over medium high heat, turning frequently. The carrots shrink enormously and get dark brown crispy edges. When tender, season and serve.

Mashed Potato, Mashed Potato...

One of my favourite books is "Heartburn" by Nora Ephron (of "Harry Met Sally" fame), which later became a Meryl Streep film. In it she talks about how, for her, the phases of a love affair are always marked by potatoes. "In the end, I always want potatoes. Mashed potatoes. Nothing like mashed potatoes when you are feeling blue. Nothing like getting into bed with a bowl of hot mashed potatoes already loaded with butter, and methodically adding a cold thin slice of butter to every forkful. The problem with mashed potatoes, though, is that they require almost as much hard work as crisp potatoes, and when you are feeling blue, the last thing you feel like is hard work. Of course, you can always get someone to make the mashed potatoes for you, but lets face it: the reason you are blue is that there isn't anyone to make them for you. As a result, most people do not have nearly enough mashed potatoes in their lives, and when they do, it's almost always at the wrong time."

I think mashed potatoes are comfort food extraordinaire, and pair very well with everything from roasted salmon to BBQ beef to the old favourite of sausages. This recipe makes the mashed potato a little bit more of a star in the meal because of the additional flavours and textures. It comes from "Vogue Wine and Food Cookbook: A Book of Modern Food" by Joan Campbell (Conde Nast 1995). This recipe is my entry into Novel Food, a food event that calls on bloggers to make something inspired by their reading.

Mashed Potatoes With Onions and Pine Nuts

(serves 6)

3 brown onions, peeled and sliced thinly

3 tbls olive oil

1 kg potatoes

150g butter

70ml milk (or more to taste)

3 tbl toasted pine nuts

Heat the oil in a non-stick pan and fry the onions over medium to high heat, tossing frequently until they are cooked and some of the onion is crisp and golden. Season to taste. Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender and then drain. Add the butter, some milk and salt and pepper and mash. Beat the potatoes with a fork until they are light and fluffy, adding more milk and seasoning as required. Serve the potatoes covered with the onions and the oil the onions were cooked in. Sprinkle with pine nuts. Grind over some pepper.

Herb Roasted Onions - A Really Good Side

I use more onions than people would think possible. In fact I find the idea of cooking without them completely mystifying (unless life was simply one big dessert table). When my children were little, they took a stand on onions declaring that they didn't like them - of course without realising that a lot of their family favourites began with a soffritto of onions and garlic before anything else was added. Now they are older and will happily eat onions as a side dish, so when I saw this week's Barefoot Challenge, I was confident it would be a winner. And I was right.

Chosen by Kelly from Baking With The Boys, these onions are really good. I made them pretty much exactly as Ina suggested, although I popped in an extra brown onion and I forgot the parsley sprinkle at the end. It took only 30 mins to cook - possibly because I was a bit haphazard with my chopping and didn't always cut through the root, so some pieces were cooking individually instead of in wedges. I loved the warm mustard flavour and the way it married with the onions. Because I was stuck for inspiration on what to serve with them, I referred to Ina Garten's suggestion in "Barefoot Contessa at Home", and served Veal Piccata, and an avocado and tomato salad. It was all delicious. And the leftovers were just as good the next night with roast chicken. Thanks Kelly for the excellent choice.

Herb Roasted Onions

from "Barefoot Contessa at Home" by Ina Garten

2 red onions
1 yellow onion
2 tbl freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tbl minced fresh thyme leaves
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/2 tablespoon minced fresh parsley leaves

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Remove the stem end of each onion and carefully slice off the brown part of the root end, leaving the root intact. Peel the onion. Stand each onion root end up on a cutting board and cut the onion in wedges through the root. Place the wedges in a bowl.

For the dressing, combine the lemon juice, mustard, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. Pour the dressing over the onions and toss well.

With a slotted spoon, transfer the onions to a sheet pan, reserving the vinaigrette that remains in the bowl. Bake the onions for 30 to 45 minutes, until tender and browned. Toss the onions once during cooking. Remove from the oven, and drizzle with the reserved dressing. Sprinkle with parsley, season to taste and serve warm or at room temperature.

Cherry Tomato Crumble - Why Didn't I Think Of That?

In light of my public commitment to reduce the amount of food waste in this house, I am having to keep an extra close eye on the vegetable drawer. This is definitely the place in my house where things can get pretty ugly. (Don't judge; I know I am not the only one!). So after I made the Kylie Kwong lively tomato salad, I wound up with some leftover cherry tomatoes and I was determined to use them before they went off. Cherry tomatoes don't lend themselves to quite as many uses as regular tomatoes, although the kids will sometimes take them to school as a snack. But, in the funny way that planets will align sometimes, I spotted a recipe for a cherry tomato crumble when I was writing up the beetroot salad. The perfect solution!

Cherry tomato crumble (or cherry tomato crisp as Martha calls it) struck me as such a blindingly obviously wonderful idea that I wanted to make it quick smart. And it was great. Big thumbs up from all the family, even the family members who generally don't like cooked tomatoes. And even better - the leftovers from this leftover meal were perfect tossed through some pasta the next day.

Cherry Tomato Crisp

adapted from "Great Food Fast" from the Kitchens of Martha Stewart Living

2 slices white bread

1/4 cup grated parmesan

2 tbls shredded fresh parsley

1 tbl olive oil

1 garlic clove, chopped

5 cups cherry tomatoes (or whatever you pull out of the bottom of the crisper)

Preheat oven to 200C. Combine bread, parmesan, parsley, olive oil and garlic in a food processor. Pulse until bread is coarsely chopped - cubes about the size of dice is what you want.

Arrange the cherry tomatoes in a single layer in a baking dish. Sprinkle with the crumbs. Bake until the crust is browned and the tomatoes are tender, about 20 mins.

Beetroot and Carrot Salad For A Bit of Colour in Your Life

It might be an Australian thing, but I really love beetroot. We grow up with it as a standard inclusion on take-away hamburgers (unbelievable to many non-Australians, but 100% true), so I can't even remember trying it for the first time. In recent years, it has become an increasingly common salad addition or garnish, largely because of the dramatic splash of crimson it offers. On top of that are the significant health benefits, and a sweet, easy flavour.

This salad has a Middle Eastern flavour to it with the cumin, coriander and cinnamon combination - and it packs a punch; an ideal combination to serve with a lamb or chicken tagine. It is also easy to make, and brings a definite splash of colour to the dinner table. Even better, it can be prepared in advance and refrigerated as both the beetroot and the carrot will hold their texture. The recipe comes from "Great Food Fast" published by Martha Stewart, which has lots of nifty ideas for quick meals. If you prefer less strong flavours, I would reduce the cumin and coriander by about 1/4 tsp each. I liked their advice and used the food processor for grating. Just make sure you either use gloves when you are peeling the beetroot, or hold it with a fork to avoid staining your hands pink.

Shredded Beetroot and Carrot Salad
from "Great Food Fast" by Martha Stewart

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tbl extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbl honey

3/4 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

500g raw beetroot, peeled

3 carrots, peeled

1/3 cup torn continental parsley leaves

Whisk together lemon juice, oil, honey, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cayenne plus 3/4 tsp salt. In a food processor, shred the beetroot and then the carrots. Add to the bowl along with the parsley and toss all the ingredients together.

Kylie Kwong's Lively Tomato Salad

One day when my eldest was about six, she was unwell and convinced me that she was too ill to go to school. I can't remember what was wrong exactly, but I didn't feel she was so sick she had to stay home. You see, I had a ticket for a Kylie Kwong cooking class that I wanted to go to. I also reasoned that exposing my daughters to smart, successful women, especially those working in non-traditional fields, was a good thing. My daughter sat very quietly and absorbed the whole thing, tasting along with me, kingfish sushi served with pickled vegetables, soft-boiled duck eggs (with prawns?), and a fantastic fried rice. Apart from the delicious tidbits, there was hopefully a bit of life education for her there as well. If nothing else, a fond memory for me.

So I like Kylie Kwong for more than just her great recipes. This tomato salad comes from her book "Heart and Soul" - which also features the world's most fabulous fig and raspberry cake. The tomato salad is easy and incredibly tasty - just the thing for a summer side salad. I love that it is called a "lively salad". Kylie (can't imagine calling her Ms Kwong) serves it with fried fish. I serve it with just about anything through the summer months. It is the sort of salad that is perfect to make after a trip to the farmer's market or when you have been seduced by a gorgeous selection of tomatoes at the greengrocers. And it tastes even better the next day - an amazing juicy mixture of tomato and citrus flavours, so definitely hang onto the leftovers. And one apology - sadly, I couldn't get a green tomato today or the colours would be even prettier.

Lively Tomato Salad

adapted from "Heart and Soul" by Kylie Kwong

NB - The tomatoes listed here are suggestions only - play around with whatever you can get locally.

1 vine-ripened tomato chopped roughly

1 ox-heart tomato chopped roughly

2 tbls extra virgin olive oil

2 tbls lemon juice

2 tsps lime juice

10 yellow pear tomatoes halved

10 cherry tomatoes halved

1 green tomato roughly sliced

Mash the vine-ripened and ox-heart tomatoes gently until you see juices starting to appear. Season generously with salt and white pepper. Pour in olive oil, lemon and lime juices and mix well. Stir in remaining tomatoes. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Eggplant, Tomato and Goats Cheese Sandwich with Roasted Capsicum

I am currently on a mission to expand the vegetable dishes in our regular family repertoire, both sides and mains. This is partly because I am always on the lookout for new and interesting things to feature here and also partly because our regular fallback options of steamed greens and carrots, boiled corn and mashed potato are boring me witless. I am also pushing the darling daughters to expand their horizons by trying new things, which means putting things on their plate that they think they won't like, and getting them to try it. (Note to all mothers reading - I am not pretending that this is a simple process - "wearing them down" is my best advice, and it is a s-l-o-w process.) My green friend Patty would also approve.

Eggplant has a bad reputation in some circles. I know people who have never tried it because they find the colour and / or texture is off-putting. My advice to them is to close your eyes and give it a try. Once cooked, eggplant is delicious, and according to eatingwell.com, "it is also a very good source of fibre, potassium, folate and magnesium, plus a cup of cooked eggplant has a mere 27 calories." It is also a good source of antioxidants. Paired here with tomatoes, roasted capsicum and eggplant, it is fantastic. This dish was just delicious, and I would happily eat it any time as a side or as an entree. And by the way, both girls ate some capsicum. We have a bit further to go on the eggplant.

Eggplant, Tomato and Goats Cheese Sandwich
adapted from "Plates" by Lyndey Milan

1 red capsicum
1 eggplant
olive oil for brushing
1 large tomato
50g goats cheese
pesto

Cut the capsicums into quarters, remove seeds and membranes, then grill (broil) skin side up until the skin is blackened. Remove from the griller and put in a plastic bag, to sweat while they cool down. Once they are cool, removing the skins should now be very easy.

Slice the eggplants thickly, into 8 slices. Sprinkle with salt and leave in a colander to drain for an hour or so. Rinse the salt off, and pat dry with paper towels. Heat a frying pan to medium high. Brush both sides of each eggplant slice with oil and fry until brown on both sides. (Do not add oil to the pan - the eggplant will mop it up and you don't need it. The brush of oil is enough).

Slice the tomatoes thickly into four slices. Place four eggplant slices on a baking try. Top with a tomato slice, then spread each tomato slice generously with goats cheese. Top the sandwich with another slice of eggplant. Bake at 200C for 10 minutes. Serve with the sliced capsicum and a dollop of pesto.