Recipe - Deconstructed Sushi

Much as I heart Delicious Magazine and its cook book, "Faking It" by Valli Little, I almost collected $200 and passed go when I flicked past its "Sushi Rice Bowl" hiding in the Noodle & Rice section.  However, the photo had me checking out the ingredient list before I had time to yawn. As I read through the list I knew I had to give this a whirl as my next Meatless Monday meal.

It was freakin' delicious.  Even if I do say so myself.  But hubby also swore a little bit (in a good way) when he tried it.  This needs to be shared.  Widely.  Thank you to Delicious and and Valli Little for including an eye-catching photo of this meal so I didn't sail past and get stuck in the Chocolate section.  Although that wouldn't have been such a bad thing..... ;-)

Ingredients

2 cups brown rice

Grated zest and juice of 1 orange and 1 lemon

2 tbs caster sugar

2tbs Japanese shoyu [I couldn't find anything so fancy-schmancy, even in the health food store, so I used organic soy, just to make my halo extra shiny]

2 tbs brown rice vinegar. [ Again, I just used Asian rice vinegar, which was perfectly fine]

A slurp of Mirin [not in the recipe, but why not?]

400g firm tofu, patted dry & cut into 2cm cubes

1 tbs sunflower oil

4 sheets nori, cut into 5 cm squares

4 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal [the onion hater in me left these babies out and it did not suffer for flavour]

1 lebanese cucumber, sliced into long thin strips on the diagonal

1 avocado

50 grams snow pea sprouts [these were not in season so I used snow peas but any green crunchy veggie would do]

Black sesame seeds [these are FAB for colour & movement]

Method

Cook the rice.  I cooked it in the microwave for about 20ish minutes but you can boil it according to the instructions on the packet.  Don't use that pre-cooked stuff though.  Have you checked out what's in it?  There's stuff in there keeping it fresh and not good stuff - eww.  Unprocessed & fresh = good.

Meanwhile, zest the orange & lemon and combine with the sugar in a saucepan over a medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. 

Remove from the heat and stir in the soy and vinegar.  Stir half the dressing over the cooled rice.

Heat a char grill pan or fry pan over medium heat. Brush the tofu with the oil and cook for a few minutes.  I like mine charred.  A word on my nuggets.  I forgot about reading the recipe (whoops!) and just cut it, then realised I had these tiny little things rolling around in the char grill pan.  Oh well, still tasted good, but next time I'll READ the recipe and stick to the recommended size and make them a little bigger.

Here comes the good bit.  Basically mix everything together into separate bowls and add black sesame seeds last for garnish.  Add the rest of the dressing. Season with soy & extra ginger at the table if you like.

The recipe book showed the tofu chargrilled on some tres funky wooden chopsticks, but bereft of chopsticks or skewers, I used toothpicks for presentation but it looked a little bit ridiculous.  My advice: just mix the tofu into the salad with everything else.  No need to get clever here.  It's better through the salad, trust me.

The recipe book also says to line the bowls with the whole nori sheet but I chopped it up into 5cms squares and mixed it through the salad.  I think its easier to eat that way, otherwise you're pecking around with chopsticks or other implements trying to separate it and eat it.  The nori really is delicious in pieces along with all the other bits.

Serves 4, but you're eating as a whole meal, I'd say it serves 2, especially if you have a boy at the table who is tall with hollow legs.

Recipe - Rabbit Cacciatore

As the weather cools, I start reaching for my warm cardi and slow cooking recipe books.  Whilst this recipe isn't a slow-cook recipe per se, I was inspired when chatting to the goodly folk at Oaklands Produce who sell sustainably reared meat at the Bondi Junction Village Markets.  Amongst their fantastic produce for sale are whole, farmed rabbits.  A customer ordered a rabbit last week and I realised I had never bought and cooked an Oaklands Produce rabbit.  Quel horreur!

Customers at markets are an invaluable source of inspiration and information.  Not only did this gentleman inspire me to cook the said bunny, but to make a rabbit cacciatore. Perfect for a Sydney autumnal day!!

I googled "Rabbit Cacciatore" and found a recipe at www.simplyrecipes.com.  And here it is, with my alterations (of course)

Ingredients
1 whole rabbit, cut into 6-8 pieces

Salt & freshly ground pepper

3 tablespoons fresh oregano (the recipe called for thyme but I didn't have any so used the oregano from the garden)

1 teaspoon rosemary (I didn't have any of this so didn't use it)

Plain flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup mushrooms, quartered

3 cups very ripe tomatoes (or 1.5 cans tinned roma tomatoes)

2 red capsicum, seeded & cut into 2cm cubes

1 bay leaf

16 kalamata olives

Method

Sprinkle rabbit pieces generously with salt and pepper, rub half of the oregano leaves into the pieces, then sprinkle with flour to lightly coat.  Heat olive oil in large skillet on medium high. Place the rabbit pieces in the pan in a single layer.  Don't move them. Cook for 2-3 mins on one side until lightly browned then turn and cook for another few minutes.  Remove the rabbit pieces and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium and add the onions, cook for a minute and then add the garlic, capsicum and mushies and cook for a couple of minutes more.  Add more oregano.

Pop rabbit pieces back into the pan.

Cover with tomatoes and the bay leaf.  I also added some water here, feel free to do the same.  Cover the pan and cook for 35 minutes.

Uncover the pan, add olives.  Increase heat to high and cook to boil of excess moisture and reduce the sauce.  When the liquid has reduced by half,  check the seasoning and add more if necessary.  remove from heat & serve.

 
This was delicious served with brown rice & snow peas but I think this would be much better served with a garlic mash & green beans.  I think next time I'll experiment and cook the rabbit for a few hours to see if the meat will fall off the bone.  I do love a casserole where the meat does that, like magic.  Yummy.

Oaklands Produce can be found at the Bondi Junction Village Markets each Thursday, Friday & Saturday, 9am - 5pm

Eating from the pantry, fridge & freezer: February's belated result

Okey dokes folks, before you ooh and ahh over my massive pantry slim down, let me start by confessing the above is not my pantry.  Nor would I want it to be!  My  new pantry resembles my old pantry, but just with a few things missing.

I had high hopes for the challenge.  I envisaged myself cutting a swathe through the pantry, emptying the fridge and freezer and inventing some highly exotic and appealing recipes.  I also thought I'd save heaps of dosh and be a transformed shopper at the end of it all, shunning wasteful purchases in favour of a more sustainable existence.  So how did I fare against my own expectations?  Let's see.....

1. Cutting a swathe through the pantry: Semi-fail.  Or if the glass jar is half full, perhaps that's a semi-win?  Our pantry was so out of control that there were only so many lentils and beans I could add to my almost daily lunchtime salad without turning into a hippy.  And apologies to all the bean fans and hippies I just offended.  I did create a rather tasty home made baked bean dish and added them to salads but sadly I still have some left. 
   
   My other challenge was that strangely, during February, we ate out a bit, so the opportunities for gobbling the contents was actually reduced rather than broadened.  And I'm also embarrassed to admit that the preserved lemons I preserved last year which would have ROCKED in an invented quinoa salad recipe remained hidden behind all manner of cupcake baking materials.  Never to worry, I'm gonna use them up very soon.
   
   On the win-side, to end on a positive note, I did use all our cans of tinned fish, most of the piles of pasta I definitely reduced the bean count.
   
   
2. Emptying the fridge and freezer: Semi-win.  I bought less and used more of what was in both.  I cooked with most of the frozen meat & fish.  I even used up some of the condiments and experimented with using Relish This beetroot relish on a salad instead of salad dressing, with delicious results.  And I definitely bought less.  But I didn't use up the frozen soup. Not yet anyway, will wait until the weather gets colder.
   
   
3. Inventing some highly exotic and appealing recipes: Mostly fail. Although in doing the recipe count, I found I did cook quinoa, home made baked beans, crab & lemon pasta and some wilted grape tomato & anchovy pasta which I otherwise would never have cooked had I not been on the challenge.  But they're hardly exotic recipes. Luckily the ones I did cook were all appealing! My problem is that perhaps I don't have enough imagination when it comes to cooking and am slightly risk averse when it comes to flavour.  Basically I'm a bit of a pig, so would rather wolf down something scrumptious than try to cook something which might not be.  Meh.  There are worse things I guess.
   
   
4. Saving heaps of dosh: Mostly win.  I definitely cut back on shopping and only bought what was necessary.  And I resisted the urge to "just get another tin of beans" if I wasn't sure how many hundred I already had in the pantry.  I must say, I found this the most liberating part of the exercise. Not only was my wallet lighter, but so was my shopping trolley and my conscience.
   
   
5. Becoming a transformed shopper: Mostly win.  I must say the month's challenged definitely changed the way I think about shopping at the markets AND the supermarket.  Unless I need something now I just don't buy it (except, perhaps, for loo paper).  I've reduced the amount of self-saucing veggies and walls of cans in the pantry AND the amount of money I spend (and waste) every week.

So: whilst I didn't meet all my unrealistic expectations, I would say that the challenge was definitely a success, if only from the perspective that I'm now quite conscious of not over-buying. I may shop a little more often for the ingredients I suddenly need, but once I get organised and plan the week's meals (yes, pigs can fly) then I'll well on the way to getting my pantry, fridge & freezer constantly under control.

What about you?  Would you consider the challenge? Could you do it for a month? If you've done the challenge, what were your experiences?

Recipe - Valentine's Day Dark Muscovado Brownies (not the healthy kind)

 These brownies rock my world.  Universally voted by all who try them as being "the best brownies ever", I have been asked to publish this in time for a last-minute Valentine's bake-off.

Muscovado sugar, with its consistency similar to palm sugar, is the secret weapon.  Don't bother using its poor cousin, brown sugar or even palm sugar.  Muscovado has a taste all of its own which permeates the finished brownie.  It really is worth buying it for the taste.

A word of warning though: cut the brownies into small pieces because like Bill Gates, they're really really rich.

Valentine's Day Dark Muscovado Brownies

Ingredients

350g dark chocolate (55-70% cocoa solids)
200g unsalted butter
250g or 1 1/4 cupes dark muscovado sugar
3 large free range eggs
70g or 2/3 cup plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt


Method

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C or 325 degrees F.  Butter and line a brownie tin or deep square cake tin.

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a heat proof bowl over a pan of hot water or in a microwave on medium and stir until smooth.

Place the sugar in a bowl and if it is slightly lumpy, remove the lumps with your fingers.  Microwaving can help this process.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Slowly add this to the melted chocolate mixture, stirring well.

Sift in the flour, baking powder and pinch of salt and gently fold together.  Tip mixture into the tin and bake for 35 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle comes out with moist crumbs.  It should also feel just firm when you place the palm of your hand gently on top (don't burn yourself though!).

Remove tin on to a wire rack and allow to cool for 30 minutes and then cut into pieces.  The recipe recommends 16: I made mine about 3cms x 3cms.  Better to come back for more than create a pain barrier you regret.  Leave until completely cold before removing the brownies, which, can be torture.  Best to leave the house for a few hours so you don't pick, like hubby did below ;-)

Eating from the pantry, fridge and freezer: Winner Dinner!

This was my first off-piste recipe so I was a little nervous. Particularly using crab meat. Not really sure how, when or why that made itself into the cupboard, but it was my mission tonight to eliminate it. Forthwith.

But after polishing off my second bowl, I proudly declare this pasta dish to be a double-thumbs-up WINNER!!!

Tomato & crab spaghetti with caperberries and lemon zest

Ingredients

500 grams spaghetti
1 clove garlic, thinly chopped or minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
170g tin crab meat
I 400g bottle tomato passata
2 tablespoons caperberries, halved & stalks removed
Zest of 1 lemon
Parmesan or grana padana to taste

Method

Boil water for pasta.

Heat oil in pan & sautee garlic until light brown. Add tomato sauce, crab meat, caperberries & lemon zest. Heat through on low heat.

Cook spaghetti according to instructions.

Serve pasta with sauce on top. Add a few shavings of parmesan and zest.

Serves 4.

If desired you can forget about the crab meat, particularly for Meatless Monday. The combination of tomato, caperberries & lemon zest adds so much flavour and ZING that it would work regardless.