J is for Jerusalem Artichoke

Well overdue blog post! So much has happened since my last post in November, I have just got back from a trip to New Zealand for Rippon (Fat Freddy's was definitely a highlight), Wellington 7's (dressed as Amy Winehouse - how appropriate), and many merry catch ups with family and friends. I got to visit some of my favorite food spots again including Kai Whaka Pai in Wanaka, Fidel's in Wellington and good old Fergburger in Queenstown. Huge thanks to Maria for putting PVC and I up in Wanaka - though I am pretty sure she wasn't complaining about the number of platters made without even having to ask!

Back here in Melbourne - the puppy is growing (and teething - I found a tooth on the bedroom floor today), work is hectic, and most importantly our touch rugby team "Can't Touch This" just took out the C grade grand final for Royal Park Touch, WOOHOO GO TEAM! I have also been thermomixing up a storm, with a variation on my Grainy Awesome Bread (check the comments section), a delicious white bean dip, and cookies that were supposed to be gluten and dairy free until I added white choc chips... ooops!


For J I have picked a Jerusalem Artichoke - these root veg are high in minerals including iron, magnesium, and potassium, and B vitamins, and they are tasty too. They look kind of like ginger or a white yam. We used them in a Spanish cooking class at Raw Materials, which I have now done twice and would highly recommend if you have a day to fill in Melbourne - great fun and value, you get an awesome feed and learn to make a paella too.

Honey Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes, Pear and Ricotta salad

(Note this recipe serves a big crowd, you may want to halve)

1kg Jerusalem artichokes
3 brown pears
2tbs Honey
300g Fresh ricotta cheese
100g Pistachio nuts (roasted)
1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley
Sea salt and cracked pepper
Olive oil


Pre-heat oven to 180 C. Wash artichokes and trim off any dark bits. Cut into wedges. Place into a bowl and drizzle a little oil, salt and pepper. Add honey and mix well. Place on an oven tray and into the oven for 35 minutes. Wash the pears and cut into wedges, removing core, leaving the skin on. Coat in olive oil, salt and pepper and place on a second oven tray and into the oven for 25 minutes. Remove and allow to cool. Mix pears with artichokes. Crush pistachios and sprinkle over with roughly chopped parsley. Gently break up ricotta cheese over the mixture, add salt, pepper and a dash of honey. Drizzle with some olive oil and serve.

H is for Harissa, Halloumi, and HOMETIME

The last couple of months have been super busy, with lots of trips away, including two weeks at home in New Zealand for fun times in the snow and visiting friends. We were lucky enough to house sit for a good friend in Wanaka for the first week, which included their beautiful cat and dog Coco and Harlow, then a couple of nights staying with some more friends in Dunedin, then five nights in Queenstown with more snow and good times. We ate our way through way too much good food, platters and drank wine and cc CC and dry to wash it down. Highlights included Florence's cafe and Red Star Burgers (hands down better than Fergburger) in Wanaka, Mexican in Dunedin at Del Sol, and breakfast at Vudu in Queenstown (even if the food did take ages, it tasted pretty good). The whole trip made us think seriously about whether it might be worth investing in a holiday house back home in NZ, as the snow in particular is definitely somewhere we will keep going back to, but we will just have to wait and see how many pennies we manage to save now we are lucky enough to no longer be paying much rent (a whole other story). 

Anyway, I got back to Melbourne from New Zealand and realised I am well overdue for the letter H - this is one I had saved up for awhile, and it was well worth it - Halloumi aubergine burgers with homemade Harissa relish.

Harissa Paste
(adapted from taste.com.au)
 
6 fresh chillies
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbs olive oil

Halve the chillies, remove the seeds and discard. Chop chilli and garlic cloves. Using a mortar and pestle, crush all the ingredients together to make a smooth paste.

Halloumi Aubergine Burgers

(adapted from BBC good food)

Serves 2

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion finely sliced

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

4 round slices of fresh aubergine

4 slices halloumi cheese
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
1 roasted red pepper chopped
2 tsp harissa paste
2 rolls with the bread in teh middle pulled out (it's just a filler!)

4 tbsp hummus (you can use the basic TMX recipe or buy some)

Add half of the oil to a pan and cook onions until soft. Set aside. Heat remaining oil and add aubergine. Pour over soy sauce. Fry for a few mins on each side until tender. Set aside. Fry halloumi until golden. Set aside. Add the onions, pepper and harissa into the hot pan. Cook until the sugar has melted. While the relish is cooking, spread the rolls with hummus, laying halloumi and aubergine slices on top. Spread relish and serve. You should have some extra relish left over to put in your lunch the next day :)

Rising to the challenge

Into week two of this boot camp thingy and I am feeling good about it - it's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it! I have reset my goals too to make it a bit more of a stretch for me for my November 18 target (For 12WBT week 2 bloggerschallenge - my reward will be a new summer wardrobe if I meet my goals!). I also can't believe how much food you can actually eat on a 1200 calorie per day meal plan if you don't go out for dinner every night (this probably seems like a natural connection for most people, but even things like sushi and salads can be full of stuff that adds up really quickly). So the past week we have eaten every night at home - pretty sure this is some sort of record for me, we usually have at least 5 meals a week not homemade, there are so many fabulous eateries in Melbourne, we really are spoilt for choice. Some of my favorites for a quick bite include Huyen Linh in Pascoe Vale (super fresh and fast Vietnamese, not upper class but cheap and tasty), in the CBD there's Sushi Burger (self explanatory), +39 (pizzeria), and Manchester Press (pictures of boobs in your coffee, and best bagels EVER), Hellenic Republic in Brunswick (George Calombaris from Masterchef's joint, do the banquet if you are a first timer and you get to taste all the best bits)... I could keep listing but we will be here a long time. So eating at home has meant I have had to make time to do groceries and cooking, which I had a bit of a whinge about at first, but so far so good.
Also this week J decided we needed a Costco membership which I was a little against at first, but once he dragged me in there I was convinced - very much worth it! 850g punnet of strawberries? YES PLEASE! Plus lots of other things in bulk it will take a whole year for the two of us to get through, but so many bargains.
One thing that was still pretty expensive was bread - the price of bread these days is crazy, especially for one little loaf of '12WBT friendly' Burgen at around $5 (or two for about $8 at Costco). Since I got the Thermomix I have been trying to make my own. Back in the 90's it was all the rage to have a bread-maker, I used to love staying with my grandparents and waking up to the smell of fresh baked bread. This one is a little healthier and it a great way to get back into baking your own bread (if you don't have a Thermomix, get one, as you are missing out. Or just mix/knead like you would usually for bread)...

Grainy-Awesome Bread
(adapted from TMX basic bread recipe)

Makes 1 x 30cm(ish) loaf

30gm Be Natural 5 Whole Grains cereal
500gm boiling water
1 sachet dry yeast (about 2 tsps)
310gm bakers/unbleached flour
30gm olive oil
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
180gms whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons poppy, sesame, linseed, flax seeds, mixed
Olive oil spray

Put cereal and boiling water in TMX. Reverse/20secs/soft. Leave to cool until 37 degrees. Add yeast and leave for 5 minutes. Add 150gms bakers flour, oil, sugar, and salt, 15 secs/sp 3. Add remaining flour, knead/90secs/closed lid. Add a little more flour if needed. Cover the dough with a clean dishtowel and let it rest for 15-30 minutes somewhere warm. Knead on a lightly floured board until smooth, add more flour if it's sticky. Oil spray a large bowl and place the dough inside and cover with the dishtowel. Let the dough rise again until it's doubles in size (about 1 hour). Knead again on lightly floured board for a couple of minutes, then shape into a loaf. Sprinkle a baking sheet with half of the seed mixture and place the loaf on top of the seeds.Spray with water and sprinkle remaining seeds. Please in cold oven in the center. Bake for approx 30-35 minutes at 170 (fan forced) or until cooked through.

TIPS if you have a TMX - substitute 100gm of the bakers flour for 100gm of your own milled flour from whole wheat (mill for 1 min/sp 9).