Rav-off! ABCD Ravioli Challenge

The Boblet, Kath and I decided to form a club in response to the boys obsessive behaviours. Originally ABC : Anti Bikes & Computers, we made an official name change to ABCD: Always Bitching, Complaining & Drinking. This decision was made at the AGM held in Bright at the new year, which may or may not have involved an intense afternoon-to-late night session of the above, with multiple bottles of North-Eastern Victoria’s finest.

We did consider adding an E for Eating on the end, but figured once we started that we would probably quite quickly end up just being called the ABDCEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ, ah, which is slightly less catchy, don’t you agree?

At any rate, it would have been suitable in light of our recent exploits, the first of which I am posting now, and the second of which happened last week (!), which is why I am getting my ass into gear and finally posting this one already!

The ABCD Ravioli Challenge or The Rav-Off!

4 girls (we had Jo ringing in as an ABCD member, despite my having never heard her complaining about anything! impostor!), a couple of kilos of 000 flour, a pile of eggs, an assortment of tasty fillings and, hello, Kath’s kitchenaid mixer which kindly mixed, kneaded(!!) and then electronically cranked the pasta roller attachment! Sweet!

I can’t remember who’s pasta recipe we used, but I’ve used a few different ones and they all seem to work. The mixer kneaded the dough and we refrigerated it in balls while we prepped the fillings.

we rolled the pasta sheets out to 6, because we were worried about the filling staying in, and 7 seemed like it would be too thin. I don’t have any photos of the rolling : (

The fillings:

Pumpkin, spinach and fetta: mashed oven roasted pumpkin, chopped fresh spinach, chunks of fetta.

Aubergine: oven roasted aubergine, tomato, onion, garlic, assorted spices, fetta (yummy, but no piccies).

Caramelised onion with anchovies and olives: it’s a Donna Hay recipe but I can’t find any link to link to and I’m not sure which of her books Jo was working from, but basically you slow cook lots of onion and add chopped anchovies and sliced olives until they’re lovely and caramelised.

we (um, Kath) made a simple tomato and basil sauce, with CUTE tinned cherry toms to serve will each flavour. We cooked the ravs in filling batches, and had 3 rav courses plus dessert. hey also, hello maths skills, since we each ate ~4 ravs per course, and there were 7 of us, and 3 courses, we made over 84 ravs! I say definitely quite a bit over, since you know, you have to test a few along the way

I took photos of each course, but, you know what, ravs kinda all look the same on the outside!

falafel

On a stormy Sunday not so long ago everyone gathered at Duncan and Dave’s to watch the Paris-Roubaix live broadcast, and we decided that to keep our energy supplies up for the 2am finish (being as we are, quite on the other side of the world from either Paris or Roubaix), a FEAST was in order.

Duncs and I discussed catering options, and a middle easterny Feast was decided on. I was particularly slack/hungry and did not take any photos of the actual Feast, so to set the scene only: the table consisted of grilled skewers of chicken and lamb, flatbreads, fattoush, taboulli, hummus, yogurt garlic sauce and these falafels.

I made and fried (and photographed) the falafel at home, and we reheated them at the boys’ place after the bbq-ing and salad composition had taken place. They were definitely more delicious freshly cooked - very crunchy with a tender inside - but reheating wasn’t a bad compromise given the convenience. I want to make them again where they will be the main event - maybe falafel burgers? The Feast is great, but since there were a good 8 of us preparing different components of said Feast, it’s kinda not a quick weeknight option! (and I can only recommend finishing a meal with ice cream topped with crumbled baklava and chopped almonds if you are actively trying to disintegrate all your teeth. Pure. Sugar).

The recipe was adapted from memories of making it in my teens, some internet sleuthing and my general assertive “this is how I think it should be done” attitude. I cannot attest to it having any middle eastern “authenticity”, but WTF does that mean anyway? since when was any cooking “Authentic”? It’s tasty. End Rant.

Falafel

Soak some (I used maybe 600g?) dried chickpeas in water overnight. Drain, rinse and then blitz in a food processor until it starts becoming crumby. Chuck in a good few tablespoons of cumin powder, some coriander powder, paprika and maybe a wee pinch of cayenne. Add a big handful of fresh parsley stems and all, and another of coriander, same deal. Continue to blitz.. if the ‘hummus’ is too dry and not coming together as a paste, add some water, a little at a time, until you have a very thick pasty mixture.

I formed it into the shape you see above by molding/rolling firmly with 2 spoons…called a quenelle, and hard to explain (but here is a low quality demo on you tube! horray for you tube!).

heat vegetable oil in a pan and shallow or deep fry your falafel in batches. Keep the oil temp medium, so your falafels are cooked and tender all the way through without being too dark on the outside. you’ll need to do a few taste tests as you go (a sprinkle of salt and some yogurt sauce at this point is essential to, ummm, test how cooked they are).

And the complimentary hummus (dip) post is coming soon at some point! xxx

what the fetta did next (spinach and fetta linguine)

you know that marinated fetta I take to everything? you know, the one I gave my secret away and told you how easy and cheap it is to make?

I promised it was handy to always have a container marinating away in the fridge, and here is proof, in case you doubted me.

Linguine with Spinach and Marinated Fetta

cook pasta to al dente, drain and stir through a bunch of washed and chopped fresh english spinach, stalks and all (if using silverbeet, you’ll probably need to blanch/steam/saute it first as it’s quite a bit tougher, especially the white stalks), a good few spoonfuls of the marinated fetta including some oil/lemon/spice marinade.

Yep, that’s it. dinner in 11 minutes. It’s pre-seasoned: spices and lemon, saltiness from fetta, and the fetta melts a bit on the hot pasta and combines with its marinade to make a lush but light sauce coating the pasta. If you wanna get fancy add some toasted pinenuts or even some grilled chicken or fish for added proteins.

Or just eat it. the only problem is having any marinated fetta last long enough to make it to the pasta. Better make a double batch.

lamingtons, 100’s of baby mini lamingtons!

Can you believe I made 2 batches of lamingtons within the space of a couple of weeks? did I loose my marbles somewhere? cos those things are bloody fiddly!

I made the first batch (really mini ones) for the going away bbq of our German neighbours, as they’d been in Oz 4.5 years and NOT HAD LAMINGTONS. that is like, a national crime! then I took a couple of ‘reject’ lamingtons over to Andy and Bob’s and left Bob’s in the fridge for her, and when she ate it she txted me and demanded suggested I make them for the bbq they were throwing that Friday. And no-one can resist the powers of a Dragon-Bob, so I did!

ahem, these photos are from the German batch, I made bigger ones for the A&B bbq, because seriously, it takes some patience to spend several hours making 70+ bloody mini lammingtons.

anyway, it being ANZAC Day today (and me not really being a huge fan on the ANZAC biscuit), this is a very fittingly trans-patriotic dish to post today. I think it’s also fitting that I made them for The Germans; ANZAC Day IS supposed to be a *war: never again* statement day, and what else says *never again* like eating a sugary snack together?

Lamintons (recipe from my WILLOW Country Bake Lamington Tray - only a few bucks at woolies! score!)

CAKE
125g butter

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 cups self raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup milk (approx)

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

cream butter and sugar until fluffy, add vanilla, eggs, beating well. add sifted flour and salt alternately with milk, adding more milk if needed, to form ’soft dropping’ consistency. Spread evenly in a 31×25cm shallow/sheet cake tin/pan. bake for 25-35 mins @ 180 degrees C until done. cool. leave overnight to stale up a bit if you are freakishly organised and don’t need them finished, like, today.

LAMINGTON ASSEMBLY

1. cut the cooled cake into lamington size/s of your choice, halve each into two even layers and carefully spread jam and double cream (must be quite thick cream) - I found it easiest to spread one side with jam and the other with cream and then sandwich them together. (NB. you can skip this step altogether and having boring unfilled lamingtons, you know, if you really want.)

2. make a medium consistency chocolate icing (butter, icing sugar, cocoa, hot water) - it needs to be liquid enough to soak into the cake reasonably quickly, but not too much or the cake will fall apart, and thick enough to set quickly once covered in coconut. you’ll probably need to experiment a bit. and eat any rejects. I also added more hot water as I went along, cos it dried and got a bit thick.

3. set up an assembly line of 1) filled nude cakes 2) bowl of icing 3) plate of dessicated coconut 4) clean plate to hold finished product.

4. dip nude cakes in icing (a spoon helps to quickly cover all sides without soaking the cake too much), let the excess icing drip off (I found 2 forks worked well, but don’t stab your cakes, they’ll disintegrate), roll quickly in coconut, gently pressing coconut into all sides, then place on plate. as you fill up plates, put them into the fridge, it helps the icing set quicker.

5. Present a plate towering with handmade Aussie treats, and make friends for life (even though you would rather stab out your own eyes than go through this fiddly nightmare again, and your friends will have to wait months if not years before this culinary feat is reproduced. But they will remember, and hold out!)

A couple of notes:

yes, your cake will fall apart at some point, just cuss as loudly as you can and move on. Beware especially of over-soaking the cake in icing, and not being gentle enough when filling with jam and cream. But hey, look on the bright side - more rejects!

Don’t eat too many rejects. you will be very seriously ill, and possibly never ever make, let alone eat lamingtons again because the mere thought of them makes you nauseous and in danger of falling into a spontaneous sugar coma. Men or children (or child-men) to help with the rejects is a very good idea.

It is also perfectly acceptable to make unfilled lamingtons (plain cake square covered in icing and coconut) and then at some point close to eating time, cut and fill with some jam and whipped cream, like they have here. I have certainly done it before. I just really do love the surprise people get when it’s actually secretly a filled lamington, and they didn’t even know! but seriously, it does add to the fiddlyness, so that is an option.

tagliatelle with walnut-basil pesto

I have finally transfered a bunch of photos from tom’s computer/camera to my laptop, so I can fill in some puku blanks.

Here is the walnut pesto I alluded to when I posted my almost perfect walnut cracking, complete with homemade tagliatelle! This was my second round with the pasta roller I got for my birthday (thanks Rob!!) and I’m really enjoying the process (in fact, there is a big ABCD ravioli-off post coming soon!).

For the pasta I think I followed Jamie Oliver’s recipe. The pesto was simply a bunch of walnuts, a handful of basil and a grating of parmigiana, blitzed in the food processor with a bit of seasoning and some olive oil and zest/a squeeze of lemon, and I tossed it all together with some pan-fried mushies and brocolli and a few handfuls of rocket. simple! I really like walnuts, especially in something like this for a change - a bit more bitter/earthy than a pinenut or cashew.

Shout outs to Alex, who was staying with us when I made this - Hi! it was great seeing you and having a week of vege-love and pretentious yoga on the beach!

coleslaw with yogurt dressing

Some yummy coleslaw with yogurt dressing instead of mayonnaise-y dressing. feels so much healthier! Not that I have any problems with mayonnaise, but I have been completely obsessed with plain greek yogurt recently, eating kilos and kilos of it, and this was just one of the yogurt incarnations. you know, when I wasn’t spooning it straight from the tub at the open fridge.

Coleslaw ingredients included: sliced red cabbage, chopped celery - stalks AND leaves, julienned carrot, finely diced onion.. that’s about it.

Yogurt dressing was: a big splodge of greek style plain yogurt, a splosh of white vinegar, salt, pepper. that’s totally it.

Simple, colourful and delicious.

Marinated Fetta

Marinated fetta is my no-brainer go-to thing to make when I need to provide something tasty for nibbling. It looks a bit delicious, impressive and expensive, and yet it couldn’t be simpler to chuck together, either days or minutes before needed.

I hate to call this a recipe, but I get asked for it frequently, so here it is, with some attempt at quantities!

Marinated Fetta

Cut 2 blocks of fetta (a soft Danish style, as pictured, is nice, but so is a firmer Aussie one, even low fat!) into manageable cubes. In a saucepan, gently warm around 1/2 cup nice olive oil add 4-6 garlic cloves, roughly crushed, and 1-2 tbs of panch phora and take off the heat. Alternatively you can put them in a deep tupperware container and chuck in the microwave for a couple of 10 sec bursts - basically, warm until garlic is fragrant, but not coloured or crisped in the slightest. Add 1-2 tsp sumac, maybe 1/2 tsp paprika, a grinding of black pepper and several large peels of lemon zest (peeled off the side with a knife or vege peeler, not zested off).

In a deep tupperware container (I use the smallest REDA lidded mixing bowl, which is perfect), place the cubes of fetta, pour the oil mix over, then squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lemon. Put the lid on the container, and GENTLY turn the bowl to move the liquid around the fetta, NO SHAKING!!! just gently turning it around.

Place in fridge until needed, it will store for days - reportedly weeks, but it certainly doesn’t go uneaten that long! delicious eaten with crackers and pesto, on bread, in frittata, stirred through pasta (liquid and all=instant sauce), in muffins, or.. straight out of the container, oh, about 3 minutes after you’ve made it and put it in the fridge.

g’day Dhal!

When I first arrived in Australia - NINE YEARS ago last Saturday! - I spent time in the lovely, sometimes sleepy, somewhat provincial Port Stephens (a small coastal resort towns north of Sydney). When I went to the local bowling club and RSL for beers with mates, and in shops, my money was taken with a hearty “thanks Dhal!” by the lovely Aussie ladies (of all ages, I have had this from 9 to 90 year olds).

It took me months to work out that they were not in fact calling me “Doll” (which I did think was a little weird, but then many things seemed a little weird) but saying “Darl’ ” - the ubiquitous oz-abbreviation of Darling, of course. If you are Aussie you are now shaking your head and saying “der!”, if you are not Aussie, and would like to see just what I’m talking about, see The Castle.

Anyway, in commemoration of my 9th year in Australia (I’m naturalised, too!), here is some Dhal, with a heart shaped dollop of yogurt on top.

I was re-inspired about dhal when I chanced on Peter Singer cooking it on on Talking Heads, but I don’t usually add coconut cream, because I find pulses get creamy enough on their own, thank you.

and, I’m a ‘chuck it all in at once’ kind of girl, but, you know, feel free to follow Peter if you think his version is better, but here’s mine:

In a pot or deep frying pan saute a chopped onion and several crushed/chopped garlic cloves in a little oil over a medium heat. Add spices - ground cumin, a little cinnamon, a couple of bay leaves, some panch phora. think Indian, earthy. Add red lentils, maybe 1 cup. Add quite a bit of water (maybe twice the measure of the lentils), to well cover the lentils. while that is coming up to temperature, roughly dice a few tomatoes and toss into the pan.

Stir, lower heat and keep an eye on it, as the lentils can dry out and goddamn, burnt lentils are hard to get off the bottom of the pot. add water as needed, they’ll take around 20 mins, and are ready when the lentils have melted into a sludge and the consistency is to your liking - add water or continue cooking to reach the level ’sloppyness’ you prefer - at which point you can add chopped spinach, chopped fresh coriander, as these don’t require more than a heating through. Serve as part of a curry smörgåsbord (yep, getting really transnational now!) or with rice, a splodge of yogurt, a sprinkling of coriander leaves and some flatbread. Or forget all those accompaniments, just get a bowlful of lentil hit, but the yogurt is still strongly recommended. This will provide 2 large main meal servings.

This is also a ridiculously cheap meal. A kilo of red lentils should set you back maybe $3-4 tops. you use maybe 20c worth of lentils for 2 people (admittedly I have not worked this out this is a blatant guesstimate), plus whatever an onion and some garlic cost, and you can buy the squishy on-sale tomatoes, as they’re being cooked down.

SO CHEAP!!!! I am also adding a new ‘cheap eats!!’ category to the puku, in honour of this 50c meal, and in the spirit of being a poor student/saving money for fun things. more *so cheap!!* meals to come! xxx

lemon and honey drink

do you have a homemade cold and flu remedy? did your mum make you lemon and honey drinks when you were a kid?

I got the late summer death flu that seems to be going around everywhere, and spent 3 days in a fever-coma in bed, then drugged myself stupid with cold and flu meds for the first week of honours classes at uni. I’m sure I made a good first impression staring blankly with my mouth hanging open, wheezing and leaking mucus out my nose.

Consequently I have been living on mostly yogurt, lentils and flatbreads. none of this was particularly photogenic. I craved and made tzatziki over and over and over, and ate maybe 2 kg yogurt in a week. Just yogurt, garlic, salt, cucumber. I ate lentils in soup and dahl form, and ate flatbread with beans, herbs, carrot and yogurt in some variation several times. a few other meals in the mix, but that was pretty much it…

and the lemon and honey drinks. just like mama used to make.

My Lemon and Honey Drink Recipe

squeeze the juice of 1 lemon into a mug, add ~2 large teaspoons of natural pure honey (manuka is preferable, but goddamn, it’s like $9 for 400gs here!), then add boiled water to fill cup. stir and drink while huddled under blanket (in front of roaring fire is preferable). repeat until well!

this makes a very strong tasting drink, because I like feeling the lemony acid soothing my raw throat, and when I have a flu I can’t taste much. if it’s too strong for you, add more honey, or just squeeze half the lemon and use the other half for your friend’s drink or for yours, later. der.

if you are REALLY sick, like on the verge of death, add a chunk of fresh ginger, and a small, bruised but not crushed clove of fresh garlic.

aaaah, that’s better!

note: the tall glass is for visual effect only; when ill, I advise sticking with favourite large ugly mug with handle.

This is my entry in this week’s Weekend Herb Blogging, being kindly hosted by Kel over at Green Olive Tree (a really lovely blog!). so, Lemon… yeah, everyone knows about lemon, right. a great WHB topic eh? but wait…. why are lemons so good for the flu then?

According to this website, both honey and lemon are ancient and well recognised cold and flu cures. they say: honey, because it promotes mucus flow, and lemon because of it’s acidity, which makes your delicate and infection-prone mucus membranes taste bad to the bacteria and viruses! also the natural oils are antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal, and also promote mucus flow.

Check out this wacky webpage which claims colds and flus are caught via the middle ear and lemons are alkaline and balance an overly acidic, and therefore sick, body! man, the things you find on the internets! but here is another site extolling the many benefits of lemons for health and wellbeing, and they also mention some alkalinisation powers of lemons, so who knows… (we do know they are most definitely acid - ph of 2-3, not alkaline!)

Anyway, lemons, of course, have a ton if vitamin C, which is a great immune / healing vitamin, especially in conjunction with zinc (I took supplements of both to speed up the recovery). and here is the ubiquitous wiki link, which actually does have some interesting, though non-flu related, info if you’re feeling keen on lemons now! whichever way you want to look at it, a steaming cup of lemon and honey is, at the very least, definitely going to make you feel soothed and comforted when you’re sick, so give it a go!

and while we’re on lemons, don’t they have the most beautiful little blossoms? I think citrus blossom scent has to be one of my absolute favourite smells. gorgeous!

cracking the nut

I was cracking the last of my bag of Bright walnuts for a pesto the other day, and as anyone who has cracked a pile of nuts before knows, it can get a bit meditative. I like to start trying to crack my walnuts so to leave the nutmeat whole, which believe me, is delicate work! Well, as delicate as possible with a hammer and a bloody hard shell to remove. It is pretty rare to get them out, so here is evidence of a (mostly) successful attempt!

In the spirit of disclosure, I have put the missing lobe section at the front, I hope that wasn’t the lobe responsible for deliciousness!

The pesto and accompanied handmade pappardelle coming soon! (when Tom downloads the pix from the Nikon)