I've finally cracked the eggplant

I received a great cookbook for Christmas (from the lovely Bob and Bel, cheers bro and very-soon-to-be-sis-in-law) called "Greek Cookery from the Hellenic Heart" by George Calombaris of Masterchef fame.  It has beautiful silver-edged pages and a blue ribbon page marker, and is filled with rustic peasant-style recipes.  I remember when it arrived via post at my apartment and my sister and I read it as we waited for dinner to cook, and how we were both drawn to an eggplant dish that sounded divine.  I've cooked it a few times and have been playing around with the ingredients, as George's recipe is quite light on flavour, and I've now found a combination of flavours that I'm satisfied with... including anchovies, which goes to show how the trends I noticed in my previous blog are continuing, ha.

Melitzana or Eggplant and Tomato Bake

Serves 4.  I've also made a version without anchovies with feta crumbled on top instead of pecorino, as per the picture.  I'll put the recipe up for the potato dish at the back some time soon.

4 medium eggplants
2 tablespoons olive oil (or you could use olive oil spray)
2 brown onions, diced
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 cup tinned tomatoes
3 tablespoons parsley, shredded
80g anchovies (1 small can), drained and roughly chopped (optional)
Salt and pepper
Grated pecorino or parmesan (or feta if you are making the anchovy-less version)
300ml water

1. Slice the eggplant in half lengthways and score the flesh without breaking the skin.  Rub or spray flesh with olive oil and roast at 200 degrees until almost cooked ( I find this takes around half an hour in my oven).

2. Once cool enough to handle, scoop out half the flesh, reserving the shells.

3. Saute onion in olive oil until tender.  Add garlic, cumin, oregano and reserved eggplant flesh.  Cook for two minutes.

4. Stir in the chopped tomatoes, parsley and anchovies (if using), then season with salt and pepper.

5. Place eggplant shells into a tray, fill with the mixture, and top with the cheese.  Add water to cover the bottom of the tray and bake at 200 degrees for 20 minutes.

It's still all about pastry... and we have a friend in cheeses

Ha I had yet another pastry-dominated weekend!  That's one thing I'm loving about blogging, I am starting to notice trends in my cooking.  It seems that pastry, pumpkin and anchovies are featuring regularly at the moment with my winter cooking (although not all in the same dish!).  I'm interested to see how my favourite ingredients change as the seasons advance. 

Anyway, the pastry tastiness was all thanks to my friend Narelle, who was visiting from Sydney.  She took me to Richmond Hill Cafe and Larder (http://www.rhcl.com.au/) on Bridge Road... and even though it took 45 minutes to be seated for a Saturday lunch it was undoubtedly worth the wait.  With its own cheese room, the menu showcases cheese throughout many of its dishes, so I just had to pick the "Carles Roquefort, buttered leek and chive tart in oatmeal pastry with a salad of candied walnuts, sundried figs, grilled king brown mushrooms and shaved cornichons".  Thin crust short pastry with the lightest, silkiest filling of slow-cooked leeks and the tang of roquefort cheese... so damn good. 

After lunch we headed to Thomas Dux grocers to pick up the ingredients for dinner, which just might also have been a tart, two lots of pastry in one day is fine, right???  Hmmm my personal trainer is going to P.U.N.I.S.H. me on Thursday...

The recipe is one that Narelle found in a 2008 Delicious magazine that I've adapted.  As per my earlier entry on the individual pies, this is also a dish that could be made with ingredients like pumpkin, mushrooms, semi-dried tomatoes, different cheeses etc.  And again as these are individual pies you can cater to various tastes - Emily caught me just in time the other night before I was about to put onions in hers!

Spinach, Marinated Feta and Onion Tarts

Serves 3 to 4 - I only made three pies from this amount, and think that four would have resulted in slightly skimpy fillings.

Will post a photo soon to demonstrate the overlapping edges!

1 large bunch of English spinach, trimmed, leaves chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 to 4 sheets shortcrust pastry, thawed
100g marinated (Persian) feta, drained
1/3 cup kalamata olives
1 to 2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
Salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten

1.  Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line 2 baking trays with paper. 

2.  Trim the stalks from the spinach, and wash and chop the leaves.  Shake off excess water and set aside.

3.  Heat the oil in a frypan over a medium-high heat.  Add the onion and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes until softened, and then transfer to a bowl.  Add the spinach and garlic to the pan and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until the spinach has just wilted.  Transfer to a sieve and press the spinach against the sides to remove the excess water, then leave to cool.

4. Cut a 22cm circle from each pastry sheet and place on the trays.  Spread the spinach in the centre of each pastry circle, leaving a 2.5cm border.  Break the chunks of feta over the spinach, then scatter with the onion mixture, olives, pine nuts and thyme.  Season sparingly, given the presence of the salty olives and feta.

5. Fold the pastry border in over the filling, overlapping as you go to form a neat ring.  Brush the edges of the pastry with the beaten egg, and bake for 15 or so minutes until the tarts are golden and cooked through.

Share the lunch, share the love

Since I'm saving my pennies for my brother Bob and his lovely fiance Bel's Fiji wedding (8 weeks to go, yay!), I'm trying not to spend too much on eating out at the moment.  When I suggested to my friend Sal that we meet up with packed lunches instead of going out for lunch during the workday, she came up with the great alternative of bringing packed lunches to shared - loved it!  Sal brought a roasted vegetable salad and served it warm with goats cheese and capers.  I made some egg salad and served it on toasted pumpernickel bread with some sliced tomato.

Egg Salad Sandwiches

Serves 2

3 eggs
1 stalk celery chopped into fine cubes
1 to 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
Squeeze of lime juice
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
Salt and pepper
4 slices bread (I use toasted pumpernickel)

1. Hardboil the eggs - always put them straight into cold or iced water for a few minutes as soon as you take them off the stove to halt the cooking process immediately. 

2. Once they are cool, finely chop the eggs.

3. Gently mix in a bowl with the remainder of the ingredients.

4. Serve on bread or toast.

It's all about the pies...

...yes, I've had another pastry-dominated weekend!  Last night was my first attempt at making a kangaroo, red wine and mushroom pie.  I had a great winter's afternoon at home slow cooking all the ingredients while the weather raged outside.  I took the meat out after just under two hours and it wasn't quite the tender melted taste I was after - but I don't know if kangaroo really gets that way, being such a lean meat.  Anyway, even if the meat was only ok the sauce was delicious (although I didn't have time to search for juniper berries - next time I will as I think an acidic berry taste would be fabulous).  Dave and Tina kindly agreed to be my guinea pigs - cheers guys : )

The next winter dish I'm looking to make is a duck ragout with pappardelle.  I haven't cooked with duck before so it will be a new food adventure...

Oh yes, and to complete my pastry weekend I also had a pie today!  Had a great Sunday - a 2.5 hour walk from Red Hill to Merrick and back again, a wine tasting, a stout at Red Hill Brewery (http://www.redhillbrewery.com.au/), and then the best pie I've ever had anywhere - the duck and red wine pie from Red Hill Bakery - so good that I had to buy a cold one to take home as well.  Absolutely gutted that they don't stock anywhere in Melbourne - apparently people drive down from the city just to buy them and I can understand why.  Sigh...

Individual Kangaroo, Red Wine and Mushroom Pies

Serves 4.  As I don't have ramekins, I just heated the pie filling in a dish, baked some pastry circles, and served the pies in bowls covered with a pastry lid.  From http://www.henschke.com.au/

2 tbsp butter

400g onions - cut into 1cm dice
300g celeriac - cut into 1cm dice
1 tbsp olive oil
500g kangaroo - cut in 2-3cm dice
120g mushrooms - field or swiss brown, cut into 1-2cm dice
2 cups brown stock
2 cups red wine
½ tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp chopped parsley
4 juniper berries - crushed
1 tbsp ketcap manis (sweet soy sauce)
2 tsp cornflour mixed with 1 tbsp water
Puff pastry
1 egg yolk for glaze

1. Melt half the butter and toss through the onion and celeriac in a casserole dish. Roast in the oven, uncovered, at 180°C until the onion is golden coloured.

2. Heat heavy-based pan, add olive oil and seal the kangaroo in 3 batches, ensuring meat is coloured on all sides. Remove meat to casserole after each batch.

3. Add half a cup of the stock to the pan and use to remove any kangaroo residue by stirring over the heat for a few minutes; add to the casserole.

4. Add the remaining butter to the pan and fry mushrooms; add remaining stock and reduce together by half.

5. Add mushrooms and stock to casserole together with wine. Cover and cook in the oven at 150°C for 2-3 hours or until kangaroo is tender.

6. Strain all juices from casserole into a saucepan; add crushed juniper berries, parsley and ketchap manis. Bring to a simmer and thicken with cornflour and water mixture.

7. Add braised meat and vegetables into thickened sauce and mix gently, taking care not to break up the cooked ingredients.

8. Divide between four small individual ovenproof pie dishes. Allow to cool and top each with puff pastry; glaze with egg yolk. (Recipe can be made to this stage a day or so before requirement.) Bake when required for 10-15 minutes at 180°C.

+39

Last night we had a cousins dinner at +39 Pizzeria on Little Bourke Street.  The service was slow but when the food arrived the authenticity of the pizza dough kept our table quiet while we devoured our meals!  I had a simple pasta dish with prawns and chillis (although not enough of the latter), which reminded me of one of my favourite Rick Stein pasta dishes.  Don't be scared of the anchovies if you are not a major fan of chunks of salty fishiness - the recipe calls for them to be melted through the hot oil, resulting in a dilution of the flavour throughout the dish.  And by the way orecchiette translates to "little ears" : )

Orecchiette with Cavalo Nero

Serves 4

500g cavalo nero, silver beet or spinach
500g dried orecchiette pasta
6 tablespoons oilve oil
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon crushed dried chillies
6 anchovy fillets in olive oil
Freshly grated parmesan or pecorino cheese
Salt and pepper

1) Bring 4.5 litres of water to the boil in a large saucepan with 8 teaspoons of salt.  Trim any stalks from the green leaves and cut into lengths.  Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for 12 minutes.  Four minutes before the pasta is cooked, add the greens and cook until they are tender and the pasta is al dente.

2) Meanwhile, put the oil, garlic and chilli flakes into a large deep frying pan and place over a medium heat.  As soon as the garlic begins to sizzle, leave it to cook for a few seconds then stir in the anchovy fillets, breaking them up with a wooden spoon, until they have melted into the oil.  Remove from the heat.

3) Drain the pasta and greens and just before all the water has drained off them add to the frying pan and toss well (sometimes I keep a little of the drained water in case I need to add more to the pan).  Place over a high heat and shake around for a few seconds until the cooking liquid still clinging to the pasta and leaves has amalgamated with the oil to create a sauce.

4) Divide between warmed bowls and serve sprinkled with cheese.  If you do add salt and pepper, I would use a light touch as it already contains saltiness from the anchovies and heat from the chillies.

Lime and Coriander Flash-Roasted Fish

This recipe from a great "Savour the Pacific" cookbook my lovely cousin gave me for my birthday.  I adore seafood and tropical fruit - can't wait to go to Fiji in a few weeks for my brother's wedding - so I am finding this book is whetting my appetite for the fresh zing of island flavours I'll soon be devouring.

What I loved about this recipe was how quick it was (about 10 minutes including prep and cooking time), and that it needed no additional fats yet had some texture to the outer formed during its time in a super-hot oven.  I used some red snapper fillets from Queen Victoria market for a quick dinner for one.

Lime and Coriander Flash-Roasted Fish

Serves 6.

6 very fresh, boneless fish fillets
1 teaspoon minced or finely chopped red chilli
Finely grated rind (no pith) of one lime
2 teaspoons lime juice
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper
1.4 cup chopped fresh coriander

1. Heat the oven to 240 degrees and line a shallow pan with baking paper.

2. Arrange fish on prepared pan, leaving a little space betweenthe  pieces.  Combine chilli, lime rind, juice and sugar, and spread over the fillets.  Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with coriander.

3. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes until the flesh is opaque and the fish is cooked through.  Stand for two minutes before serving.