Leftover Proscuitto?

 

To be honest, that title wouldn't normally headline the first post of a new year, but in Doha it's a bit of a novelty. Pork arrived early December in the form of bacon and sausages - not great quality but it still oinked so we got pretty excited. Proscuitto has arrived in the last couple of weeks, and it is good, seriously, seriously good! I crisped up the first batch to add to an avocado, sundried tomato and pine nut salad, and the leftovers I used to wrap some chicken stuffed with my favourite red capsicum pesto. It came out of the oven deliciously moist and decadently crisp with a lovely spicy nutty capsicum filling - I mainly use this filling as a dip, it's fabulous with fresh crusty bread - I had some leftover so thought I would try it with the chicken breasts and it was fabulous.

 

Proscuitto Wrapped Chicken Breast stuffed with Spicy Red Capsicum Pesto
(serves two)

I use the term red peppers and capsicum side by side here to cater to my American and English and Oz/Kiwi friends. Basically it's the big fat not hot red peppers/capsicum about the size of an orange.

• 2 chicken breasts
• 4 slices proscuitto
• 4 tablespoons red capsicum pesto

Red capsicum and walnut pesto
(makes 1/2 cup)

• 2 red peppers, quartered and deveined and deseeded
• 1/2 medium red onion, chopped finely
• 1/2 cup walnuts (or pine nuts) chopped roughly
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed chile flakes
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

Method

1. To make the pesto, pop the capsicum skin side up under a grill and grill until the skin is mostly blackened. Remove from the heat, pop into a glass bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave to steam and cool. Once cold, peel the skin off the peppers and chop finely.
2. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and stir fry the onions, garlic, walnuts and chile flakes for a few minutes until soft. Pop into a food processor with the capsicum, vinegar and remaining olive oil and blend till quite chunky.
3. Butterfly the chicken breast - slice the chicken breast in half horizontally without cutting all the way through.
4. Spread a tablespoon or two on top of the chicken breast.
5. Fold in half and wrap in proscuitto, secure with toothpicks
6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 180 degrees celcius (350 degrees fahrenheit) until chicken is moist but cooked - pop a toothpick into the meatiest piece and when ready the juices will run clear.
7. Serve over your favourite green, or in my case I served it over a lovely quinoa salad.

Spicy Pumpkin Soup

It's raining! That might not be a big deal where you live, but here in Doha it's an annual event for a few days at most, and today is the first day it is bucketing down. I may not be so excited about it in a few days time when the sandpit turns into a mudbath, but right not - having splashed and danced in the puddles with the little chefs, I'm feeling refreshed and happy.

It also gives me a good excuse to make my favourite spicy soup...

rain  =  winter  =  soup

I've had a pumpkin sitting in the fridge for a couple of weeks waiting patiently for someone to come and fix my oven. I'm giving up on that for now, and taking to the stove-top to turn this...

into this...

it's creamy and delicious with a refreshing hint of south east asia from the ginger and lemongrass, an earthiness from the ground coriander, a robust richness from the coconut milk, and a smidge of heat from the chilli. This is my idea of heaven in a bowl.

Spicy Pumpkin Soup

• 1 small fresh red chilli, chopped finely
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 stem of lemongrass, center white part only, finely chopped
• 3cm of ginger, finely grated (about 1 tablespoon)
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
• 800 grams of chopped pumpkin flesh (about 1.5kgs pumpkin with skin and seeds)
• 1 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon chopped palm sugar
• 3 tablespoons chopped coriander

Method

1. Put the chilli, lemon grass, ground coriander, ginger, garlic and a little stock into a blender and blitz into a paste.
2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and cook over medium eat for 5 minutesAdd the spice paste and stirfry for another minute.
3. Add the pumpkin and stock and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until pumpkin is tender.
4. Cool slightly, pop batches into a food processer or blender and blitz until smooth (I often freeze this mixture in 2 cup batches, ready to defrost, reheat and add other ingredients).
5. Rinse out the pan, put the pumpkin puree back in, add the coconut milk, palm sugar and chopped coriander and reheat. Serve garnished with coriander (if the pumpkin is really sweet, leave out the sugar and squeeze in some lime to liven it up).

By the way the photos are before the coconut milk was added. I didn't have any in the pantry, so will reheat the soup later with the coconut milk and coriander.

Baked Cheesecake

 

Where did October go? What a fun month, with Halloween and two birthdays it's always busy and I don't get much chance to get in the kitchen. I did make two cakes though - a moist vanilla cake for little chef number two, who doesn't like chocolate cake (or icing either), and a rich creamy baked cheesecake for the biggest cheesecake fan ever, hubby. I'll share the vanilla cake another time though do check out the photo, he is a huge Star Wars fan and I loved being able to put this together for him.

 

And here's the recipe for the cheesecake.

Baked Cheesecake with Berry Topping

For the base

• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 140 grams digestive biscuits, crushed
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar 

For the filling

• 900 grams of cream cheese
• 250 grams caster sugar
• 3 tablespoons plain flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 3 large eggs
• 200 mls sour cream

For the topping

• 500 grams frozen berries (I used cherries and strawberries)
• 1/4 cup white sugar

Method

Combine the digestive crumbs, butter and sugar and press firmly into the base of a 20 inch springform tin, bake for 10 minutes at 180 degrees celsius (350 degrees fahrenheit) to set.

Beat the cream cheese with the sugar for 5 minutes until cream cheese is soft and sugar incorporated. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add  the lemon juice, sour cream, vanilla essence and flour and beat briefly until combined and creamy.

Pour the filling into the well greased springform tin, and bake at 180 degrees celsius (350 degrees fahrenheit) for 20 - 25 minutes. Check it for wobble'ness (I'm sure that's a real word, I think.) What you're looking for is a cheesecake that is set around the edges and still a little wobbly in the center. Turn the oven off, but leave the cheesecake in the oven until the oven cools.

Pop the berries into a pan, add the sugar, bring it to a low simmer and cook for 5 minutes stirring frequently. Cool completely and add some cointreau or brandy if you fancy.

Take the cheesecake out of the pan and smother with the berries. YUM!!!!

Red Wine Beef with Coriander Dumplings

I'm tired of waiting for summer to end to cook some hearty winter comfort food. Temperatures are still in the 40's but this week I cooked my first winter stew - Red wine beef with coriander dumplings.

The stews I remember from my childhood were hearty affairs with loads of vegetables, served with a mound of mashed potatoes and peas. I still love the simple flavours in the stews my mother used to cook, but I also like to punch them a bit with wine and herbs. I change out the mash as well with parnsip, celeriac or sweet potato and in this recipe I make some chunky floury dumplings to top it all off. As with any recipe, change things around to suit your tastes, subsititute parsley if coriander isn't your thing, leave out the parmesan cheese if you're not a fan, and add in potatoes or red kidney beans to change the texture.

Is there anything more comforting on a cold winters day (and I chuckle as I write that on a bright sunny Doha day) then a big bowl of stew, some fresh crunchy white bread and a pile of mash.


Red Wine and Beef Stew with Coriander Dumplings
This stew also freezes well, so make two, one in a tinfoil container so it's easy to reheat straight from the freezer.

• 2 kgs beef chuck steak, cut into 2cm cubes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 5 rashers of bacon, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 large tomatoes diced (or 1/2 can diced tomatoes)
• 2 large parsnips, chopped into 1cm pieces (I used carrots as couldn't find parsnips)
• 5 cups good quality beef stock
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme (or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme)
• 1 teaspoon worcestshire sauce
• salt and pepper to season
• 2 tablespoons cornflour mixed with 50mls water

For the dumplings

• 1 1/2 cup plain flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup milk
• 5 tablespoons chopped coriander (or parsley)
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Method

1. Heat half of the oil in a big pot and brown the beef (you might need to do it in two batches), set aside
2. Heat the rest of the oil in the pot and fry the bacon (you lucky thing), onions and garlic for  few minutes
3. Add the beef back in with the parsnips, wine, beef stock, thyme, tomatoes and worcestshire sauce. Cook stove top on a low heat for 1 hour.
4. Thicken with the cornflour and water mixture. Cook for another 10 minutes, and season with salt and pepper - transfer the beef mixture to a casserole dish.
5. To make the dumplings - whisk together the milk and eggs, and add the herbs. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl, then add the egg mixture and parmesan and stir. The mixture will be quite sticky.
6. Put teaspoonfuls on top of the stew about 1cm apart and bake in the oven at 180 degrees celsius (350 degrees fahrenheit) for 15 minutes until dumplings are puffed up and golden on top. Serve quite simply in bowls with some crusty french bread to mop up the sauce.

Arggghhhh...school lunches!!!

The kids are back at school and I'm determined not to let the school lunches overwhelm me. Last year I spent many an evening staring blankly at the fridge, wiggling my nose, or clicking my heels in the hope that I could magic up a filling and nutritious lunch for the little chefs. Instead, lunch invariably included yoghurt, a piece of fruit, some crackers and the inevitable vegemite sandwich. Filling - check, Nutritious - check, Boring - most definately check.

So this week I started a new regime, they still get the sandwiches and yoghurt a couple of times a week, but on the other days I mix it up a bit. This week I made a fabulous quinoa, sweetcorn and black bean salad, which they both ate or at least made an attempt to try. Quinoa is my new favourite no fat, high fibre, seriously protein rich carbohydrate - it has all of the essential amino acids that our  body requires. I'm surprised there was any left for the kids as I made it at lunchtime and scoffed half of it straight out of the pan.

I also baked some easy high fibre pear and apple muffins and popped them into the freezer in bags of 4 so they'll always have a treat in their lunchbox too.

I'm feeling very virtuous right now and determined to keep it up.

Sweetcorn, Black Bean and Quinoa Salad

You can put different vegetables into the salad if you like, it's fab with some pomegranate seeds and pinenuts as well and I quite often spice it up with a pinch of chile pepper (though not for the kids)

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 large red onion, chopped finely
•  ¾ cup uncooked quinoa
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
•  400 mls vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 cup frozen corn kernals
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• ½ cup chopped coriander
• 3 spring onions, chopped finely
• juice of a lime
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1.       Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat, sauté, garlic, onion, and cumin for 5 minutes until onion is softened.

2.       Add quinoa and stir to coat, Add vegetable or chicken stock, and simmer covered for 20 minutes, add frozen corn and simmer uncovered for an extra 5 minutes

3.       Remove from heat, add in black beans, spring onions and coriander. Season with salt and pepper, squeeze in lime juice, mix and chill overnight.

Wholemeal and Rolled Oat Apple Muffins

·         1 egg

·         ¾ cup low fat milk

·         ¼ cup vegetable oil

·         1/3 cup sugar

·         2 medium apples, peeled, cored and grated

·         1 cup raisins or sultanas

·         1 cup wholewheat flour

·         1 cup rolled oats

·         1 tablespoon baking powder

·         ½ teaspoon nutmeg

·         ¼ teaspoon salt

·         2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Method

1. Beat oil, milk, egg and sugar together and add grated apples
2. Mix dry ingredients, included dried fruit together
3. Fold wet ingredients into dry carefully, don't over-mix as muffins can be tough
4. Put into muffin tins or cases and bake at 180 degrees celsius (350 degrees fahrenheit) for 15 to 20 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.