$3 bag of Okra

It must be unusual vegetable week.

When I was hunting around for artichoke the other day, I saw Okra on special for $3 a bag. Usually I can't afford to buy okra, but I do enjoy it when we eat out. Impulse buy means I now have about 500g of Okra to cook.

Spicy is the way to cook okra. Or that is how I have had it previously. Hunting around I found a new Vegetarian Indian Blog: Manjula's Kitchen. She had a great recipe for Okra that looked familiar to Okra I have had in restaurants. I decided to have a go. Although in typical fashion, modifying to what I have in the house. I have also reduced the size of the recipe to deal with a smaller volume of okra (not a giant $3 bag!)

Serves 4 as a side

250g Okra
Oil
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 tbs ground coriander seeds
Cayenne pepper (as much or as little as you like)
1/2 tsp tumeric
Salt
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 onion
1/2 can tomatoes

Wash and pat dry the okra. Discard the ends and slice in half. Heat a pan with oil and add the cumin seeds. When they crack, add the okra and stir for 1 minute. Reduce heat and cover for 3 minutes. Add the remainder of the spices /sugar and stir. Finally add the onion and tomatoes and then simmer until the okra is tender.

You could have it with other Indian dishes, seafood or with meat. 

The Art of Artichoke

I am obsessed with artichokes. Lee made the most amazing meal the other night. One of her entrees was a divine basil-tomato-olive oil-lemony artichoke. I do really love them, but haven't really thought about how to incorporate them into my cooking. Other than pizza, pasta or antipasto, I have no idea what to do with artichoke. So, I am now on a mission to make more use of this forgotten vegetable!

 

 Amazing artichokes by amazing Lee

Hunting online, I found all sorts of artichoke recipes. Many included how to prepare fresh artichokes. I also found the Artichoke Advisory Board of California, who also had a list of interesting recipes. With a bit of reading, I worked out that you can steam, boil or bake fresh artichokes. Tuesday nights are one-pot meals (Angus is out until late, so it needs to stay warm), so baking sounded like the way to go.

Artichoke is very difficult to find. I scoured the City to try and find fresh artichoke, and none to be found. Lee - if you are reading this, I want to know where you found yours! I had to buy artichokes in brine. You want to buy them in brine so that the other flavours from pickling don't mess up your meal! After being disappointed at Canberra's lack of artichokes, I eventually decided on a chicken and artichoke bake. This bake is modified from several recipes I saw on the web, as well as a recipe from one of my fellow academics who bakes a traditional Italian chicken meal. The modifications created a fusion of the traditional Italian with the artichoke recipes. I like colour in a meal, and this it what this recipe is all about!

Artichoke and Chicken Bake
Serves 6

6 Chicken Drumsticks or Thigh Fillets
1/2 punnet cherry tomatos, split down one side
1 onion, roughly diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 can/bottle of artichokes in brine, halved
1 bunch fresh tarragon or 1 tbs dried
1 lemon
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

6 large Potatoes, diced
Butter
Milk
2 bunches green beans/brocolini or asparagus

Grease a baking tray with oil. Line chicken on the base of the tray. Roughly through in the onion, garlic, tomatoes and artichokes around the chicken. Pour 1/3 brine from the artichokes over the top. Squeeze the lemon over the top. Sprinkle the tarragon, salt and pepper and drizzle olive oil. Cover and bake at 200C for 45 minutes. Remove cover and bake for a further 15 minutes, or until chicken has browned.

Whilst the chicken is baking, you can get your sides prepared. Tonight I felt like mashed potato. However, you could have baked potato, wedges, chips, bread or pasta with this meal. You can also choose whatever green veggie you like! We are having brocolini tonight (it was on special).

No need to peel the potatoes if you don't want too. Skins are good for you, and you can say they are 'rustic mashed potatoes'. Fancy! Boil the potatoes until falling apart. Drain and roughly mash. Add 1 tps butter and 1/4 cup milk and mash again. Keep on adding milk until you like the texture of the mash. I prefer a stiffer, soft mash. Steam up your green veggie, and put to one side. This will go on top of your chicken bake!

You can assemble with whatever artistic fancy you feel. I laid my potato on the base, followed by chicken and some of the sauce, then the brocolini on top. A shave of parmesan cheese also never hurts anyone!

Buon appetito!

Korean Yum: Chicken Kalgooksoo

Dave, Mattie, Cheney and London all came over for dinner the other night. I decided to experiment with Korean again. I decided to make a tasty Korean-style chicken noodle soup, with spicy Kalgooksoo sauce.

I got the idea for this recipe from The Food and Cooking of Korea, by Young Jin Song. However, I also got some ideas from my favourite Korean Blog: Korean Cuisine. I find the cookbook frustrating. It is only partially translated into ingredients you can find in western-culture, and it doesn't taste quite right. Further to that, they don't use the Korean names for things, making a trip to the asian grocer annoying. It also becomes a guessing game as to what exactly we are eating: Chicken Noodle Soup is what in Korean when we go out??? Korean Cuisine blog still sticks to tradition, uses Korean names/words, but also uses western ingredients to get authentic flavours. She really should write a cookbook.

 

This recipe has several parts and steps. The cookbook didn't divide it up very well, so I am going to give it a go...

Serves 4 - 6 (generously)

Broth - Part 1
500g Chicken thighs or chicken drumsticks
2 leeks, chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled
1 knob ginger, peeled and chopped into chunks

Place all ingredients into a pot and cover with water. Boil for 30 minutes. Drain stock through a sieve and collect the broth in a bowl and put to one side. Keep the chicken, and throw out the remainder of the ingredients.


Chicken Marinade
60mL light or Japanese soy sauce
2 shallots, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
30mL sesame oil
1 tbs sesame seeds
1/2 tbs honey

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Roughly chop up the chicken and place in the bowl. Stir to cover chicken in the marinade. Cover and put aside.

Kalgooksoo Sauce
60mL light or Japanese soy sauce
2 shallots, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
30mL sesamee oil
1 tbs sesame seeds
1/2 tbs honey
1 tbs korean chili paste or dried chili powder

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. If you are using the chili paste, you may want to add some water to make it more runny.

Vegetables
2 carrots, finely sliced
6 shitake mushrooms*
6 black fungus mushrooms*
1 bunch chinese brocoli
1 onion
Sesame oil
Light or Japanese Soy Sauce

Stir-fry the vegetables in the sesame oil and add a dash of soy sauce. Sit to one side when done.

Broth - Part 2

Empty the broth back into the pot. Add a dash of soy sauce, salt, pepper, one chili chopped roughly and bring to the boil. Do a taste test and add more salt if required. If it is too strong, add some water until you get the right flavours. Once the broth is at the stage you like it, add noodles for four people and cook. Take off the heat when done and remove the noodles from the broth into four bowls.

To assemble - into each bowl with the noodles, place a heap of vegetables and some of the chicken. Pour broth over the top. Serve to your guests and allow them to add their own Kalgooksoo sauce. The sauce should be stirred through before slurping! :D

Enjoyed with a delicious light white wine or Korean beer. Hite is my favourite and is available in Australia.

* Bad Fungus: I am allergic to sulphur dioxide, Preservative 220. That night I discovered, and I am pretty sure, that  220 is in these dried mushrooms. Avoid if you have this sensitivity and use fresh asian mushrooms instead. 

Polish Potato Pancakes

Jola just gave me a massive bag of parsley that she grew. Seeing as she is of Polish-decent, I thought I would have a go at making something polish with the parsley.



I was thinking of making pierogi and adding parsley to the mix. However, Jola makes the most delicious pierogi, and it just wouldn't be the same. I also found potato and dill soup, and heaps of other polish soups that parsley would go with. In the end, I came across potato pancakes or Placki. I have adapted this recipe to also include parsley, and give them a tasty topping!

Placki:
6 medium potatoes, grated
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1/2 tsp paprika
Salt and pepper
1-3 tbs flour (of your choice)
Oil for frying
Sour Cream
Pepperoni

Salad: 
2 tomatoes, diced
1 avocado, diced
1 chili, sliced
Lemon
1 tsp sugar
Lettuce or parsley

Place all ingredients for the placki in a bowl and mix well. A comment on the website also said you could blend it all together in a food processor. Just don't let it get too fine and sloppy! Heat up a pan with oil and cook a large spoonful of the batter at a time. Done when gold and crispy! Sit in the oven until the topping is ready.

Using the same pan, fry the salami. When browned, drain fat and put aside. In another bowl, combine avocado, tomato, chili, salt and a squeeze of lemon juice to make a salsa.

To assemble, take 1-2 placki and place on a plate. Top with pepperoni and a dollop of sour cream. Place salad on top or to one side, whatever takes your fancy!


This is definitely not traditional polish! The polish-food websites I read just said to serve with sour cream. However, I think polish sausage, cabbage dishes or meatballs could also go well with the pancakes. Could also be great for breakfast with eggs, bacon, mushrooms and tomato!

Ghetto Update

I just heard from Pat that Gateaux in the Ghetto will be filming the second episode on May 8th!

The first episode is available at Vimeo.

Keep an eye out for release dates and events!

Very Vegetable Pasta

Having a cold for the last few days, I know I need to get some vitamins into my system. Inhaling large quantities if vegetable and fruit is not exactly possible, so I decided to make a batch of my vegetable pasta.

This quick and easy vegetable pasta can use ANY combination of veggies you have lying around your house. You could roast up pumpkin, use beans, peas, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, spinach, capsicum... really, whatever you have. Vegans and vegetarians can add nuts for protein. I particularly like almond, cashews, macadamias or pine nuts. If you are a have-to-have carnivore, try adding some cooked chicken, ham, bacon or slice cooked sausages. Cubed chunks of feta are always fun too. Overall, the idea is to use as many vegetables as possible. The ratio of veggies to pasta should be at least 1:1, but if you ask me (and I love my veggies) it should be closer to 2:1 :D

 Trofie pasta (Photo from Eliza Domestica)

The type of pasta you use is also up to you and whatever you have around the house. I usually like to use gnocchi, spiral or penne. Today I am using some fancy Italian Regional pasta that I was given: Trofie.

Sauces are also up to the individual, and again, whatever you have at home! I usually like to use Basil of Tomato pesto. However, you could use a stir through sauce, ricotta with salt and pepper, a bottle of cooking sauce stirred through, homemade pesto or whatever takes your fancy!

 

Serves 4
2 bunches broccolini
1 eggplant
Pasta
1 tbs butter
1 clove garlic, diced
1 onion, diced
2 Handfuls of button mushrooms, sliced
Small handful of semi-sun dried tomatoes, cut into thirds
2 small avocados or one large, peeled, stoned and cubed
1 packet pine nuts
Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
Salt and Pepper
Grated Parmesan cheese

Cut up the broccoli and eggplant and steam until tender. Steam any vegetables that won't cook in the fry-pan now. Whilst the veggies are steaming, put a pot of water on boil and cook up about 250g of dry pasta or 1 packet of gnocchi. Cut up the remaining veggies. In a fry-pan, melt the butter on a medium heat. Fry the onion and garlic until just translucent. Add the mushrooms and brown. Once brown, add in the tomatoes and steamed vegetables and stir. By this stage, your pasta should also be done. Drain and add to the fry pan. Take off heat and stir through 1 Tbs pesto, salt and pepper to taste, plus the nuts and avocado. Do a taste test, and add more pesto if not quite strong enough. Serve in a bowl with Parmesan.

Kangaroo Bibimbap: Sustainable Eats

We <3 Korean Food! It is some of out tastiest treats. We particularly like kimchi and chili based hot pots and other delicacies that can be bought at Godori in Garema Pl, Civic and Kimichi Restaurant in Dickson.

We have also been making our own Korean meals. Dumplings and pickles on hot nights, stews and soups for the cold, and plenty of beef and tofu dishes. However, I have been meaning to try kangaroo instead of beef. I checked out my favourite Korean Food blog, Korean Cuisine, and found a great bibimbap recipe that I am going to give a shot!

For this dish, all ingredients are Australian, sourced from local farms or relatives backyards and/or organic. Costs for a meal can go up when buying sustainably sourced foods. However, this meal cost about $5 per person.

 Roo Bibimbap - It doesn't look like much, but it sure is tasty!

2 Kangaroo Fillets
1/2 red and 1/2 yellow capsicum
3 stalks of Enkoi Mushrooms
1 onion
Lightly steamed asian greens or Mixed lettuce leaves
3 eggs
Vinegar (rice if possible)
Soy Sauce
Chili Paste/Ground Chili
Honey
Ginger
Garlic
Sesame Seeds
Vegetable Oil
Lemon pepper
Rice, preferably brown

The night before, prepare the Roo by placing into a sealed container with 2 tbs soy sauce, 2 tbs vinegar, 2 gloves garlic (chopped), 1 tps minced ginger, 1 tbs honey and some sesame seeds. Shake well and leave in the fridge to marinate. To assemble the dish, firstly cook the rice and put to one side. To make the sauce, mix 2 tbs chili paste, 1 tbs honey, 1/2 tbs oil (sesame if you can), 2 tbs vinegar and sesame seeds. Put aside. Chop up the capsicum, mushrooms and onion into slices and stir-fry with lemon pepper. Put aside in a warm oven. Beat the eggs and fry an omlette. Cut up and also place in warm oven. To stir-fry the roo, get your wok or pan very hot. Fry the roo until it is just cooked through. Don't leave it too long, or it is likely to toughen. To assemble, place a portion of the vegetables, egg, greens and roo on top of a bed of rice. The chili sauce can be added by the will of the diner. Stir it all together and eat with a spoon.

If you don't fancy kangaroo, use beef or pork instead. :D