Zucchini Tomato & Ricotta Galette

I have been thinking about making one of these delicious pastries since I saw the photo of a galette by Smitten Kitchen last week. Unfortunately work has been crazy busy, and I only just got to try it out tonight. It is amazingly delicious!!!
The pastry is flaky and the sour cream gives it such a wonderful taste.

Anyway here is my version of a galette adapted from Meals at Home

Base:

220gms Plain flour

120gms chilled salted butter

65gms sour cream

40gms fresh lemon juice

67gms chilled water

Filling:

1 large zucchini sliced into 1/2cm rounds
2 Roma tomatoes sliced into 1/2 cm rounds

250gms ricotta cheese

40gms grated Parmesan cheese
60gms grated tasty cheese
2 large eggs

1 bunch of basil chopped
1 tbs chopped thyme
1 shallot minced
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

1. Place flour, butter, and sour cream in the food processor and process until it resembles coarse crumbs.
2. Place flour mix in a bowl, pour water, and lemon juice and stir with a wooden spoon.
3. Knead lightly on a floured surface, once it comes together wrap in glad wrap and place in the fridge to rest.
4. Preheat oven to 200 degree Celsius.
   
5. Spread the tomato and zucchini slices over paper towels. This will drain the juice that will come out of them. Pat the tops with paper towel.
6. Mix cheeses with thyme, basil, shallot and egg. Season mix with a little salt and pepper if desired. Keep in mind that two of the cheeses already have some salt in them.
7. Take pastry out of the fridge and roll it out to a large circle (approx 14 inches)
8. Place on a flat baking tray lined with baking paper.
9. Place cheese mix in the middle of the pastry, and spread out evenly leaving a 4cm edge.
10. Start placing the tomato and zucchini on top of the cheese, each slice only slightly overlapping. Sprinkle with freshly cracked salt and pepper.
11. Fold the leftover edge of pastry over the cheese zucchini tomato, just to make an edge that will hold in the filling. Make sure that you press this edge onto itself, I found mine was just about to let the fillings spill out.
12. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the egg/cheese is set.
13. Serve warm with steamed vegetables.

Vegetarian Dumplings

I am a big fan of the chinese style vegetarian dumpling. I have Carolyn to thank for this obsession, as I had never tried them prior to her introducing me to them many years ago.

I have since tried them in a few different restaurants, and I've found that quite a few of them refuse to fry the vegetarian ones. In my opinion they're not as nice if they're not fried. You don't get the crispiness that makes them oh so good!!

So my favourites are from Shanghai Village in China Town. They cost something like $5.50 for 15 of them. They are fabbo!!! And yes, they're fried!!!

Anyway a while back I decided to try making these delightful little morsels. My main problem is that I don't know much about Chinese Cuisine (apart from eating it!!).

And of course I'm too lazy or too silly to google these things to find the right way to do them. DOH!!!

So i went out and stupidly bought won ton skins. Made the dumplings, and they were so tough!!! They took ages to cook and they still had a very rubbery horrible texture. Of course my hubby ate them anyway.

Yesterday I tried again with Gow Gee Pastry, and they were fab. I decided to make them again today with a few modifications. Apart from the shape not being a true dumpling shape, they are so gooooood!!!!

Ingredients
140gms Chinese Broccoli
140gms Firm Tofu (I used Silken by mistake, best to use just regular firm tofu)
100gms Water Chestnuts
50gms fresh Shitake Mushrooms
2 cloves of garlic
5 Spring onions
1 large egg
1 tablespoon of flour
1.5 packs of Gee Gow Pastry
Salt to taste

Method

1. Cut off the leaves from the chinese brocolli, shred the leaves and chop the stalks coarsely. Place chopped stalks in the food processor, with the tofu, egg, crushed garlic and flour. Process till all thoroughly mixed.
2. Chop spring onions, mushrooms and water chestnuts, add to mixture above, and pulse a couple of times to combine. You don't want to lose the texture of the veggies, so don't be tempted to process them too much. Add salt to taste.
3. Fill each pastry round with about 1 tsp of filling. Moisten the edges with water and seal firmly. Set aside until you have all of them filled.
   
4. Prepare a pan with boiling water, and steam your dumplings in batches of 5 or so. Drain them and fry them right away in a small amount of oil. You only fry one side.
5. Serve hot with dumpling dipping sauce. I bought Lee Kum Kee Seasoned Soy Sauce for Dumpling, it is delicious. Once this runs out, I am going to attempt to make my own.

Makes about 40 dumplings

Dinner Day 7 - Vegetable & Chickpea Risotto

Tonight's dinner was another easy one. Risotto with chinese broccoli and almonds, followed by nectarine hearts with vanilla ice cream. Everything was a big hit with hubby who ate every last bite.

Recipe for nectarines hearts HERE

Vegetable and Chickpea Risotto

Ingredients

1/2 cup raw white rice
1 Tbs olive oil
200 g cooked chickpeas
100 g potato chopped
1/2 can tomato puree
1/2 medium zucchini chopped (200gms)
1 small fresh carrot chopped
1 small onion chopped
1 small red capsicum chopped

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin powder
6 button mushrooms cut in 6

1 tsp Zest Mama Africa Flavour

1 tsp tumeric

2.5 cups of water
1 vegetable stock cube

Method

1. Heat olive oil in a large pan
2. Sautee onion and capsicum until tender
3. Add vegetables and spices, and stir till it's all mixed well
4. Add rice and mix in till the rice is all coated in spices
5. Add water, stock cube and tomato puree
6. Simmer for 45 minutes or until vegetables and rice are done
7. Serve with stirfried chinese brocolli

NOTE: The potato will take a while to cook, so to ensure your rice doesn't end up overcooking, cut up the potato in small pieces (no larger than 1cm cubes)

Dinner on day 3 - Marinated Tofu with vegetables & Eggplant Chips

aThe idea for this recipe came from a low calorie cookbook that I've had for a long time and never used. It never occurred to me before to marinate tofu.

Marinated Tofu & Vegetable Stir Fry
Ingredients
180gms firm tofu
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbs Tamari
1/2 Tbs of honey
1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
100gms broccolini cut in 4s
90gms snowpeas
1 large onion cut into wedges
8 baby corn cut in half lengthways

Method
Mix the tamari, Worcestershire sauce and honey in a bowl. Place in the sliced tofu and cover with glad wrap. Refrigerate for two hours.
Drain the tofu and reserve the marinade.
Heat some olive oil in a wok or large fry pan and cook the tofu.
Remove tofu from pan. Stir fry the vegetables until they are done (i like mine to still be crunchy).
Add tofu and marinade and cook for a minute. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Serve with steamed rice.

Eggplant Chips
Ingredients
1 medium sized eggplant
salt
bread crumbs
1 lightly beaten egg
Method
Cut eggplant into chips, and salt lightly. Set aside for a few hours.
Rinse eggplant and dry well.
Dip eggplant chips in egg and then in breadcrumbs.
Deep fry and drain on kitchen paper.

Easy Apple Dessert

1 medium sized Red Delicious apple (peeled and chopped)

2 Tbs sugar

3 Tbs water

1/2 cup of ready made custard
2 sheets of pre made puff pastry (I use Borg's, the one i get is vegan)

Place apple, sugar and water in a small pan, and cook on slow heat until apple is soft.

Add custard to the mix, and cook until the custard has reduced and the mixture is thick, set aside to cool.

Cut pastry with a round cutter, and place a large tablespoon of the mix in the middle, cut another piece of the same size (decorate if you like) and place on top of the apple mix, and seal the sides.

Bake in a hot oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Take two on the sushi for breakfast - Day 3

Yesterday's sushi were not very close to the ones that we've had at Tomodachi because of lack of ingredients. So today armed with most of the right ingredients I gave it another shot. Still used sweet potato instead of pumpkin and added the carrot, but once hubby sat down to eat them he said "We don't need to go to Tomodachi anymore"

So yeah, they were a huge hit, and OMG so delicious!!!

Sweet Potato & Avocado Sushi
Ingredients
Pre cooked Sushi Rice mixed in with
Sushi Rice Seasoning (I bought this instead of the Mirin because that is all that was available, but the Mirin is so much better)
Avocado
Kewpie Mayonnaise
Sesame Seeds (toasted)
Sweet Potato (see yesterday's recipe for preparation details)

Method
Cover your bamboo rolling mat with glad wrap (saran). Place seaweed sheet on the wrap and cover with rice, making sure you put rice right up to the edges. Press it down firmly.

Turn seaweed sheet upside down, so that your rice is now facing the bamboo mat (still covered in glad wrap)

Put some mayonnaise on the seaweed, and then place all your fillings. (i put double the amount of filling in them this time)

Roll up tightly, and then roll over some of the sesame seeds which have been pre toasted.

Cut with a sharp knife and serve with wasabi and Kikkoman soy sauce.

Im not fattening up a turkey for Christmas :)

About 3 months ago, my husband finally stopped eating meat. He wasn't a big meat eater for a very long time, and only really had chicken and fish once in a long while. Since he gave up meat he has lost quite a bit of weight. His father saw him on Skipe the other day and asked him if he was sick because he was so thin.

We tend to eat at different times because we get home from work at different times. When he cooks he tends to be quite lazy and makes whatever is simplest, and usually makes something very boring and low on calories. Add to the fact that he usually only eats an orange or banana for breakfast, and a salad for lunch, it's no wonder he's lost weight.

Here I am struggling to lose weight, and he loses it with no effort.

Anyway I am on a mission to feed him better, and since work has been a lot quieter these days I started my cooking advetures today. This is what he got for dinner on day 1. Let's see if it works and when he gets to Thailand on Christmas day his dad no longer thinks he looks sick :)

Fingers crossed everyone!!!

Mushroom & Lentil Cottage Pie
Ingredients
350gms brown lentils (pre cooked)
1 large onion chopped
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 medium carrot chopped or grated
1/4 cup of tomato paste
Kernels from two fresh corn cobs
2 tablespoons of Zest African Mama spice
1 tablespoon of ground cumin
5 medium sized button mushrooms thinly sliced
100gms of Enoki mushrooms (separated)
1 Massel Beef Stock Cube (these are not real beef, but vegetarian beef cubes)
4 medium sized potatoes (peeled and boiled)
3 tablespoons of Nuttelex (dairy free margarine)

Method
Heat olive oil in a pan and sautee onions until they become transparent.
Add carrots, and spices and fry off a little
Add mushrooms, and lower heat.
Add corn kernels, tomato paste, lentils, stock cube and half a cup of water.
Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring to avoid the mixture sticking to the pan.
Set aside

Mash potatoes with Nuttelex and set aside.

Pour mushroom/lentil mix onto individual oven dishes, and top with mashed potato.
Bake for 20 minutes until mash becomes slightly browned. (My dishes were big enough to only get two servings out of this recipe)

Serve with brown rice and steamed or sauteed vegetables.

Yummy Asparagus

Sautee asparagus spears in some olive oil and add 2 tablespoons of Tamari and 2 tablespoons of Mirin towards the end. Serve with rice.