Trendy Kale

Garlicky Kale Panini with Olive Tapenade. 

I first met kale 2 Christmases ago in New York at a restaurant called Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria which is in Noho- New York lingo for north of Houston St these NewYorkers are so dam trendy its ridiculous!

Anyway back to the kale, it was squished into a freshly baked crusty roll and packed with roasted capsicums and a chutney of some sort. A food innovation by my mouth, I’d never had it before, but I loved its fibrous texture which unlike spinach kept its toughness after being cooked. It had a certain seaweed like flavour to it, which would usually turn me off but I just couldn’t get enough of the stuff.

Kale is at its most nutritious form when steamed but recently kale has made its way into the smoothie world, teamed with avocados and bananas for a mouthful of sweet creamy green, nothing like the kale I first tasted in NYC. So I thought I’d give you this easy recipe to play around with, it’s a fantastic lunch item and can pimp out any picnic under the sun!

For the tapenade I use anchovies. These small fishies add a much needed whack of salt . This means we don’t have to add nasty table salt. I love anchovies because they are natural ‘salters’, I use them in a  lot of my cooking!

Tip: Keep the kale stems and use them in stocks and soups for added health benefits and minimal waste.

Garlicky Kale Panini with Olive Tapenade.

4 branches of kale, leaves removed from stem.

1 Garlic Clove finely grated.

25g Butter

1 cup water

1 sprig of thyme

100g olives

50g Capers

2 anchovy fillets. (Seriously use these they make the dish!)

Basil

Parlsey

Extra Virgin Olive oil

Danish Fetta

4 Panini rolls

In a deep pan melt the butter and toss in the garlic to sizzle for 10 seconds. Add the Kale and toss like a salad to coat. Then add the water and cover with a lid for 2-3 minutes.

Meanwhile in a food processor blitz the capers, anchovies, herbs and olives whilst slowly adding the olive oil to make a slurry style sauce.

When the kale is done, drain off the excess liquid and set aside to cool in the fridge.

Heat up your rolls in the oven and assemble with the kale, tapenade and crumbed feta.

Dig In!

Sweet and Sour.

Sams' S&S Pork. 

Sweet and Sour

Two tastes working perfectly on the same plate.  

A rich balance of sweetness and saltiness delectably transported by slow cooked pork teaming with oriental flavours engrossed in a rich and golden pineapple speckled sauce.

Now this is eating.

For me the mention of sweet and sour pork brings about images and memories of grossly battered nuggets of chewy pork pulled together with a bizarre orange sauce propped with chunks of onion and capsicum. Somehow tasty, but so bizarre and not very appealing to the eyes or the stomach.

But, I’ll give it merit for flavour. There is something about foods that use both salt and sugar that has me grabbing for a tissue to catch the saliva drooling out of my mouth.

Pineapples were a dollar at the markets last weekend along with lemongrass and ginger, so I was inspired to make my own version of sweet and sour pork.

I knew I could take it one step further and make something tasty, easy, and full with flavour. Instead of having pork in the form of battered bad boys, I chose a slow cooking cut, the collar or neck, and had it cooking for 2 hours in my Le’Cruscet. The result was sensational, my boyfriend licked the pot clean!

I had to share!

Sams' Sweet and Sour Pork

1 lemongrass

3 garlic cloves

1 chilli

1 knob ginger

1 bunch coriander roots

1/2 onion finely diced

750 g Pork collar cut into small chunks

2 Tbs Fish sauce

1 pineapple cut into small pieces

1 capsicum

120 ml ornage juice

2 tbs White wine Vinegar

1 Cup chicken stock

1tbs salt

veg oil.

1 lime

Rice to serve

In a food processor blitz the lemongrass, garlic, chilli, ginger, and corriader with 1 tbs of vegetable oil to make a paste.

In a bottom heavy pot sauté off the paste and onion with and extra tbs of oil and 1 tbs of sugar. Add the pork and cook for 5 minutes to brown off the pieces.

Add the pineapple, capsicum, fish sauce, orange juice, vinegar and stock. Bring to the boil then add the salt and bring it down to a simmer covered for 1 hour.

After an hour remove the lid and cook for another hour stirring occasionally. When the sauce has reduced and almost sticky its ready to serve with rice and a wedge of lime.

Fish with Good Intentions.

 Fishy...

Squidy. 

Seafood is on the verge of being abused and battered (pun intended) with Easter only weeks away. So I thought I’d whip up a couple of easy-peasy seafood recipes that have some subtle quirky flavour combinations. These are my fishy recipes with good intentions. 

Fish of the day? When buying fish try to avoid sticking to the recipe. What I mean is if the recipe calls for barramundi and its $47 dollars per kilo, probably because its been caught 2000km away, try something different. Fish can be easily interchanged, and there are only too many varieties and species to choose from. Maybe a grunter fillet? Or a mixed reef fillet? You don’t need to break the bank and the end result will only be tastier because you’ve bought something fresher and local.

Nuts are great textures for food in general, but with fish the nuttiness seems to take fishiness to a whole new level. You can use whatever nut you fancy but I chose flaked almonds, I love the golden colour they turn in the oven! I matched my almond encrusted fish with a sour but rich orange and garlic beurre blanc (butter sauce) a punch of chili, a salty hit from some kalamata olives and earthy undertones from green kale. Making a healthy meal that gets Ten's for flavour, texture and eye-appeal in my book.

Squid and calamari tubes- yes they are different things, would have to be one of the most inexpensive seafood you can get these days. Fresh or frozen these white winged beauties are a versatile specie of the cephalopod family, and make for tasty bite-size morsels perfect for entertaining.

There are many recipes that café’s and restaurants are guilty to overdosing on and one of them would have to be salt and pepper squid. I always aim to be a little different when it comes to my recipes so I’ve created my own seasoning that will knock the socks of mere salt and pepper, with a big whack of sour sumac and robust rosemary!

Almond Encrusted Fish with Orange Beurre Blanc.

2 Fillets of White fish portioned

Flaked almonds

Olive oil

1 orange

125g butter

1 garlic clove finely grated.

50 g sliced kalamata olives

1 tsp red chili finely diced

5 De-Stemmed leaves of kale

Coat your fish in olive oil, then pat with almonds to form a crust. Place on lined baking tray and put in a 180 degree oven for 10 minutes, or until cooked.

Meanwhile on a low temp melt 100g of your butter with the garlic. Add the juice of 1 orange and the remaining 25g of butter in small cold chunks. Stir

When the fish is ready add the chili and olives to the sauce followed by the kale. Put a lid on the pot and bring the temp up. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the kale is wilted.

To serve place the kale on the bottom followed by the baked fish and some of the remaining sauce.

Sumac and Rosemary Squid/Calamari.

4 tubes of Squid/calamari

1 cup plain flour

2 Tbs sumac

2 sprigs rosemary

Good quality mayonnaise (Home-made is always best, but its ok to cheat sometimes)

Salt

Pepper.

Vegetable oil.

1 lime

Open out your squid by cutting down one of the sides of the arrow. Butterfly it out onto the board and clean it with the back of your knife to remove any scum.

Gently score the inside of the squid with your knife on an angle then cut into strips.

Meanwhile fill a saucepan or deep-fryer two-thirds full with oil and heat to 170°C (or until a cube of bread turns golden in 15 seconds). Fry off your rosemary for 20 seconds then set aside on paper-towel.

To make the seasoning in a medium sized bowl (which will be used to toss the squid in) crumble the rosemary and mix with the sumac, salt and pepper .

Toss your raw squid in some plane flour then in batches fry it off  and when golden remove and toss in the sumac and rosemary seasoning. Serve hot with a wedge of lime and some mayonnaise for dipping. For extra flavour sprinkle some of the seasoning over the mayonnaise for an extra punch.

Not Easy Being Green.

 Green Schmear.

Pesto.

I love that word schmear, and while it usually refers to the stuff you paste onto a bagel, my ‘Green Schmear’ is a little different but still just as tasty.

Maybe even better than mere schmear. Sorry I’m confusing you aren’t I,

 I’ll try and keep it simple.

Pesto!

I’d like to think of pesto as the best food invention since the cave man decided to grill a bit of cows bum over a flame. A handful of nuts, some fresh green herbs, salty cheese, oil, a smashing of garlic and you’ve got yourself a dam fine schmear, that just so happens to be green.

This fantastic invention is available at supermarkets, you’ll find it crammed into pressurised glass jars with an off-green-tinge. But there is nothing better than making this schmear at home. And I just so happen to have the best tip (learnt off a French chef ironically) to keep it as green as grass for a long time. (That way you can make heaps of it)

So what is the trick?

Pesto Toasties.

Well as the saying goes: ‘Its not easy being green’ and Kermit the frog was right! Its not! Once you blitz the bajeebas out of a soft herb like basil it does this weird thing where it goes a yucky brown colour, due to oxidation. 

But I have the solution! Its all in the preparation people! 

(Exclamation overdose?)

By blanching off the basil in hot boiling water for 20-30 seconds then quickly immersing the leaves into a bowl of iced cold water, then drying it off on paper-towl,  you strengthen the chlorophyll greenies. This way when it gets blitzed the green colour sticks around.

Do you want the recipe? Here's a schmeared version that lets your taste buds be the decider.

For my pesto I would usually go a BIG bunch of basil(I get mine at the markets for $2 and its bigger than my face!), about 75g of parmesan, 2 garlic cloves, 150g blanched skinless almonds (you can use pine nuts but man they’re expensive) juice of 1 lemon, and enough decent olive oil to make it schmeary… if that’s even a word.

Now you can up the garlic, get it chunky with more nuts or make it less schmeary with more oil its up to you. All you need is a food processor or stick blender. I usually put the cheese and almonds in with the garlic and blitz it to form a crumb then I add the rest of the ingredients, some seasoning and blitz while slowly adding more and more olive oil until I like the look of it.

This makes a lot, so I keep it in the fridge in some sort of sealable container. I even pop some in the freezer for extra back up if its an extra large bunch of basil. This is definitely the best way to make pesto, once you blanch you can’t go back!

Pesto is fantastic with pasta, or schmeared onto toast for breaky!But could be put with anything really, get creative with it!

So next time basil is on sale, make a big whack of Green Schmear, AKA pesto. You won’t regret it and its worth all the effort.

Pesto pasta with sun-dried tomatoes.

Tea Dunkers!

Biscuits for Tea. 

How do i pick a good cafe? If my tea or coffee comes with a complimentary home-made biscuit. It means they care. That sweet addition to the usual hot drink makes for a whole different cafe experience, and one that you too can have at home!

The thing with these biscuits is, in my opinion, they've got to be butter based. No excuses people! 

You can flavour them with whatever you like!

I only baked half the dough made in this recipe, that way i can keep the rest in the freezer for a fresh afternoon snack! Nuts-wise i used almonds, hazelnuts and pistachios but you can use whatever you like, or swap it for almond meal to make a less chunky version. 

Nutty Shortbreads.

Ingredients.

125g Softened Butter 

3/4 cup Sugar

1 1/2 cups of Mixed Roasted Nuts- Roughly Chopped

1 3/4 cups of Plain Flour

1 Tbs Honey

1 egg

Zest of 1 Lemon. 

*You'll need extra nuts,and sugar for garnishing.

Method.

1. With cake beaters or in a food processor cream together butter and sugar for 4 minutes.

2. Add nuts, flour, egg, honey and zest then beat/blitz for 1 minute.

3. Roll out half the mix on grease proof paper the form a sausage, repeat with remaining mixture.

4. Freeze for 30 minutes or until solid. 

5. Preheat oven to 160 degrees and prepare biscuit tray with paper.

6. Take the dough out of the freezer and chop into 1cm thick rounds.

7.  Arrange on tray, then top with almonds and sprinkle with sugar.

8. Bake straight away for 10 minutes.

Dunk AWAY!

FRO YO!

Cookies and Coffee FRO YO! 

For those less familiar with the expression FRO YO, it stands for frozen yoghurt and its worth remembering. But with so many popping up, being a food trend of 2013, i can't imagine you haven't tried it before.
 So now it's your turn to have a churn!

Nothing beats the foods we invent when we want everything we love in the one place! 

Coffee+ Yoghurt +Cookies+ Frozen = A Delicious-Summer-Pik-Me-Up! 

This recipe is crazy easy! And perfect for refreshing your taste buds and invigorating your soul.

Recipe: Cookies and Coffee Fro Yo.

1 cup Milk

1/2 a cup of Sugar

3 Tablespoons of Instant coffee OR 3 espresso shots (Give and take depending on how much you like coffee)

Pinch of Salt

2 Cups of your favourite yoghurt

        *Right now i'm obsessed with the yoghurt company "Five:Am" For this recipe i used their cinnamon and honey yoghurt for something a little different.  

4-6 Cookies of your choice. (I used Triple Choc)

Method:

1. Put the milk, sugar, coffee and salt in a small saucepan and bring to heat so the sugar dissolves. 

2. Set aside in the fridge to cool. 

3. When cool, set up your ice cream machine.

4. Whisk the coffee mix into the yoghurt and churn in the ice-cream machine.

5. When the mix is thick add the crushed cookies and let the mixer fold them in. 

6. Serve cold with an additional cookie crumb! 

*If you don't have a ice cream maker, just chuck the mix in the freezer and give it a mix every so often

Makes 800mls of Fro Yo!

Have yourself a Passionfruit Christmas.

When I give presents i tend to opt for something i would want myself. So there's no difference when it comes to presents that i cook. One of my favourite things to eat is passionfruit curd, or butter whichever you like to call it. Smeared onto toast or wedged into a hot croissant, this stuff makes for a perfect stocking filler. Some may even take a spoon to it and eat the whole thing straight from the jar.

(Guilty as charged)

This is a small recipe enough to make 4 medium-sized bottles

-which for me covers Granmah, Nanna, my Mum and even one for myself! 

This is easy-peasy-passionfruity, and only takes about 25 minutes to make!

Passionfruit Butter. 

3 eggs

30g Butter chopped to small dice.

200g sugar

2 tablespoons Lime Juice

The extract of 12 Small but Sweet wrinkly passion fruits.

1. Take a medium sized saucepan and add your sugar, passionfruit, butter and lime juice.

2. Whip up the eggs in a separate bowl and add them to the saucepan.

3. Put over low heat and stir with a whisk for 2 minutes. 

4. Swap the whisk for a spatula and wipe the edges of the pan to avoid catching (We don't want scrambled eggs)

5. Stir and cook on a low heat for 15 minutes. (Figure 8's help here to make sure you get all the sides of the pan)

6. Poor the mix into hot washed jars, seal with lids and let set in the fridge. 

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!