Vegetable Cous Cous

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Tandy

I met my friend Kim when I started high school in 1983. Her sister Lynda was friends with Nadine and Michelle, my mom’s sisters and so we were instantly drawn to each other through me knowing Lynda. We are still friends today and yet since we were 21 we have seldom lived in the same city. Kim has traveled and lived in many interesting places. Currently she is living in Denmark, a small village in Australia. I have spent a holiday there with her and it is truly beautiful – forests and beaches and greenery. There are cows and wildlife to be seen but the most memorable aspect is that it is very quiet. This solitude is so good for the soul, and one cannot help but want to eat healthy food to nourish your whole being. This cous cous recipe is from Kim, and I have adapted it. Funnily enough, when we were chatting on the phone yesterday she asked me if I had tried it. I had told her that Dave is not a fan of cous cous, but that I had made it regardless and that he ate more than half!

VEGETABLE COUS COUS

ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 carrots, sliced thickly

1 yellow pepper, sliced thickly

1 cup frozen corn

salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning

1 teaspoon dried origanum

500mls stock

½ teaspoon white balsamic vinegar

¼ teaspoon light soy sauce

2 sprigs of basil

2 tins crushed tomatoes

150g cous cous

method:

put the olive oil into a pot

soften the onion and the garlic

add the vegetables

season to taste and add the origanum

add the stock, the vinegar and the soy sauce

add the basil

simmer with the lid on until the vegetables are tender

add the crushed tomatoes and cook for a further 5 minutes

sprinkle the cous cous into the pot and allow to stand for 15 minutes

cooks notes:

you can use any vegetables of your choice, including potatoes, asparagus, butternut, courgettes

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Tandy

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Tuna Lasagne

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Tandy

I came home far too late yesterday to blog my Tandy Tuesday pasta recipe for the week. I of course would not let it slide, as I love being a part of the Presto Pasta Nights community. This recipe has been a firm favourite of mine for a long time. It is what I would call a cheat’s recipe, using tinned ingredients, or what my friend Pink calls Meals In Minutes. No matter what you call it, give it a try. A version of this recipe appeared originally in Lavender and Lime.

TUNA LASAGNE

ingredients:

400g tin of cream of tomato soup

butter

2 170g tins of tuna, drained

1 teaspoon dried dill

salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning

250g tub of smooth plain cottage cheese

4 sheets ready to use lasagne sheets

20g cheddar cheese, grated

2 roma tomatoes, sliced

method:

preheat the oven to 180° Celsius

butter your lasagne dish

heat the soup and add the tuna

break the tuna apart and add the dill and seasoning

mix in the cottage cheese and remove from the heat

ladle in two spoons of the mix into your dish

layer 2 sheets of the lasagne

ladle in two spoons of the mix into your dish

layer 2 sheets of the lasagne

top with the balance of the sauce

sprinkle the cheese over the top

layer the tomatoes and season

cook as per the box instructions for the lasagne

Printable Version

I am submitting this recipe to Presto Pasta Nights, which is being hosted this week by Ruth from Recipes From 4every Kitchen

Tandy

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Lovely Blog Award

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Tandy

I am glowing! My friends Camilla, Shazzie and AD have given me this Lovely Blog Award:

blog award Camilla, I am so blessed to know you. You are truly an inspiring person who has overcome much adversity in your life to become an amazing mother, and a beautiful friend. Shazzie, thank you for being a part of my blogland, and AD, you too! I am thrilled to have so many new friends

The conditions of receiving this award are:

Thank the person who gave you the award
Reveal 7 random facts about yourself
Choose 5 other people who you believe deserve the award and pass it on

7 things about me

I am not afraid of snakes – this is a good thing, as they often visit my garden
I believe in using essential oils for everything, including cooking
I have a dream of owning my own deli and have already named it
I would love to have someone bring me breakfast and lunch every day
When alone I love to eat soft boiled eggs on toast with cheese and chutney
My weirdest food combination is cheese and peanut butter
I have to have something sweet every day

My five:

I could do more …

Tandy

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Onion and Apple Relish

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Tandy

I have a conundrum – I want to participate in something, but in order for me to do that, I have to ‘like’ something I don’t! I suppose every day we are faced with these types of moral choices. Do you pretend to be friends with someone so that you can stay in the correct inner circle? I remember at high school being part of the ‘in’ group and not wanting to be off school for a day as then I would be the one gossiped about. Do you ‘play nice’ with customers who are rude to you so that you can stay in business. Well, I know for a fact that some rules cannot be broken and in business professionalism is key! I won’t ‘play’ after hours for an order. Life, since the beginning of time has been about choices. No matter what, I try to make decisions I can live with! I was once told a very important lesson “only take pride in your successes if you are willing to take responsibility for your failures”. So, with that in mind, this blog post is not about any recurrent blend. It is about using apples – wonder what choice Eve should have made?

ONION AND APPLE RELISH

ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1 tablespoon Pink’s Rosemary Jelly

method:

heat the olive oil in a frying pan

sauté the onion until soft, without colouring

add the jelly and heat through

Printable Version

Tandy

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Review: Le Creuset evening at Silwood

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Tandy

I’m not big on liking pages on Facebook as I consider Facebook to be my private space. But given the fact that I have an awesome collection of Le Creuset items and that I am a serious fan of theirs, I have liked their page. When they asked who wanted to attend a French cooking lesson at Silwood, my hand went straight up and I was among the lucky group to be chosen.

Dave dropped me off an hour early and I sat outside being kept company by the Silwood Labradors. It was raining and a cup of tea would have gone down a treat but the staff were busy preparing for us. I was really excited to have been selected but my early arrival put a bit of a damper on the start to my evening. The Silwood kitchen was not ready and the staff were shouting at one another. I sat and observed the staff ambling around, smoking, scratching inside their ears while I waited patiently and I regretted not taking my jacket out of the car before Dave left.

All our mise en place was done by the staff for us and all we had to do was the actual cooking! The evening started with a glass of champagne and then Melody, my partner, and I started our pastry. Hers was a perfect circle but mine fitted into the tart tin which is what mattered to me. While we blind baked our pastry shells we moved onto the filling of our apple tart and then the watercress soup. This was accompanied by white wine and good conversation. We then finished off the assembly of the apple tarts so that they could bake and then, red wine in hand we started on the fish. There was much laughter from our side of the kitchen!

We used a cast iron dish I do not have and I am adding it to my birthday wish list. Dave arrived back in time to sample the fish and warm, out of the oven apple pie. Not only did we go home with food, we went home with new friends AND a gift bag from Le Creuset. Thank you Gill for your warm generosity. The evening ended with a few drinks until our chef Gary decided it was time to leave.

While we were cooking I discussed with the owner of Silwood a knife skills course. If you are interested in attending this, let me know and I will forward you the details.

Tandy

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Friday’s Food Quiz Number 57

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Tandy

My friend PinkPolkaDot has posted her weekly quiz! Here are my answers:

1. What dish is known as Jewish penicillin?

Chicken soup

2. What spices are traditionally in Ras el Hanout and what does it mean?

I first came across this term on Pink’s blog! Ras el Hanout translates as ‘top of the shop’ and is a Moroccan spice blend consisting of the shopkeepers choice of spices. It may contain up 26 spices. Common to this spice blend is ground cloves, cayenne papper, ground allspice, ground cumin, ground ginger … click the link above to see the rest

3. What is swede?

Rutabaga, a yellow fleshed turnip

4. From which country is “pho bo” and when is it served?

Pho is a term used for a Vietnamese dish but pho bo reminds me of Po’boy which is a sandwich made from a baguette common to the are of Louisiana in the USA. It originated in New Orleans and I suppose would be served at lunch time as a complete meal, much like our South African bunny chows.

5. Many in the food world believe the three great cuisines are which three?

French, Italian and British?

6. What is a spatchcock?

A flattened chicken

7. What is the difference between Vanilla essence and Vanilla extract?

vanilla essence is a commercially made product that resembles the smell of vanilla, its colour being derived from caramel. Vanilla extract is a product made using real vanilla pods to make a liquid form of vanilla.

8. What is traditionally used to thicken the sauce of Sauerbraten?

I wonder if this is regional? Flour would be the most obvious guess.

9. Where does Malva pudding get its name?

from the wine traditionally served with the pudding

10. What are Portobello mushrooms called in their juvenile state?

button mushrooms

Tandy

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Ingredient Challenge

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Tandy

I decided for this challenge I would take the first recipe on the pile and list some of the ingredients. All you need to do is come up with a dish using them (plus more if you want to) and blog about it. Post a comment here and link back to my blog if you do the challenge. Remember this is the last week to compete for this awesome prize.

capers
anchovies
garlic

PREVIOUS CHALLENGES ROUND UP

Cindy has made a cake with butter beans! This is for the something sweet with spices challenge. Sue has added her contribution for the something savoury with sweet challenge by sharing a chicken dish with us. Zabwan has shared with us a baked pork sausage dish. Cindy too has cooked with pork, but she chose fillet. Mitzi is first timer on the weekly challenge front, and she has done a Nigel Slater recipe.

Tandy

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Cinnamon Buns

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Tandy

It is not often that I try something and want to eat the whole lot of them! I made a batch of these very tasty treats and Dave and I had to ration ourselves to making them last two days. This recipe was given to me by my friend Bev and I can lay no claim to it’s goodness. You would do well to make double the batch and cook the second batch as soon as you take the last one out of the container you have hidden them in. I am going to save these for a weekend tea time treat, as if I make them for after dinner dessert during the week, my waist line and I will soon not be on the same page.

CINNAMON BUNS

ingredients:

for the filling:

¾ cup brown sugar

¼ cup sugar

(I used a cup of fructose)

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon salt

15g butter, melted

for the buns:

2 cups cake flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

65g butter, fridge temperature

1 egg

½ cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons water

flour for dusting

60g melted butter

method:

preheat the oven to 190° Celsius

butter a 22cm cake pan really well, and line the base with baking paper

for the filling:

combine the sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a small bowl

add the melted butter and stir with a fork until it resembles wet sand

for the buns:

sieve together the flour, salt and baking powder

chop or grate the butter into the flour and gently rub with your fingertips to form a crumble

beat the egg, buttermilk and water together with a fork

use a knife to mix this into the flour

lightly knead for 30 seconds

roll the dough out on a well floured surface to a 35cm x 25cm rectangle

brush the dough with 2 tablespoons melted butter

sprinkle and level the cinnamon sugar mixture, leaving a 1cm border all around

roll the dough lengthwise into a tight log

wet the exposed end and seal

keep the seam side down and cut the log into 8 even slices

slightly flatten each slice and place seam side down into the pan

place one in the middle and the others around the perimeter

brush the remaining butter over the top of the buns

bake for 25 minutes until browned

turn out onto a cooling rack and flip over so that the cinnamon side is facing up

place your cooking rack over some baking paper to catch any drips while cooling and when icing

Printable Version

add ½ a cup of raisins or pecans etc. to the filling

Tandy

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Guacamole Burgers

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Tandy

I always look for the positive in all situations, and even more so in ones that are not good. For instance, on the Friday afternoon I was supposed to cook with Jonathan Daddia, I was deserted by Robyn. Whilst waiting for her I met Hayley who sells the most wonderful Wasabi. This led to an idea and the idea led to a possibility. And if that comes to fruition, the wait will have been well worth it! In my life, there have been lots of bad moments but all in all, the scale is way up on the good side, and I suppose that is what counts. One of the up things is my blog – Dave now cooks with me and my kitchen time is spent thinking of recipes to share. Of course, some nights we have the old faithful pasta dish, but most nights we have something new and creative. These burgers came about as I did not want to serve up a plain burger patty on a roll, and I was not in the mood for meatballs. I used the lovely ingredients I found while shopping and this is what I came up with.

GUACAMOLE BURGERS

ingredients:

250g ground beef

1 slice of bread ground up

15g fresh coriander, chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning

1 teaspoon oak smoked red bell pepper

1 egg

flour for dusting

oil for frying

2 brown mushroom steaks

1 tablespoon butter

4 teaspoons guacamole

2 quail eggs

method:

place the beef, bread, coriander, seasoning and the red bell pepper into a bowl

lightly whisk the egg and using your hands mix into the beef

dust your hands with flour and shape your burger patties

cover the bottom of a large frying pan with oil

cook your patties to your liking

melt the butter and brush onto the mushrooms

cook them under the grill

fry the quail eggs

now assemble your burgers!

Printable Version

Tandy

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Burdock

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Tandy

Burdock is a strong growing biennial and the fairly bitter but tender young foliage of the spring regrowth is eaten as a green vegetable. The taproots are used as a vegetable as well, and the flavour is between that of a parsnip and Jerusalem artichoke.

photograph sourced from Wikipedia

Burdock requires a moist humus rich soil and full sun, although it will tolerate some shade. It is also fully cold hardy and dies down in winter. Propagate from seed in spring or late autumn (fall). Thin seedling to 15cm apart, and to ensure high quality, long straight roots, dig the soil to a depth of 60cm and incorporate compost before sowing.

Keep the soil moist and weed the crop regularly, particularly when the plants are young. Remove the flowers and burrs to promote root growth. For cooking collect young shoots and leaves in spring. Lift the roots in autumn when they are at least 30cm long.

For cooking, scrape the young leaf stalks and cook them as you would celery. Use the roots raw as a salad vegetable or cook for stir fries as you would carrots.

information sourced from The Complete Book of Herbs

Tandy

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