Roasted veg with Walnut & Rocket Pesto

Winter has come for a quick educational* before it's arrival in a month or so and with it come the visions of warm comforting food and snuggling up with a hot drink while watching TV or reading a good book. It brings to mind the Afrikaans saying "Maagies vol ogies toe" meaning when the tummy is full the eyes want to close. This is all well and good if you hadn't had a pig-out weekend like mine.

Hummus im Basar on Sunday night, Romanian Kebabs with wedges on Monday (forgive me, it was a public holiday and I had forgotten it was meant to be meat-free) and then all-you-can-eat sushi on Tuesday night. I was looking for something comforting and warm but still light and healthy.

I first thought about what I would consider "Light & Healthy" and vegetables came to mind. Then the "Warming" aspect and roasting sounded like a grand idea. Next it was about what to serve it with and cous cous just was naturally at the top of the list. Relaying my idea to my father (who was also a little fed up with the heavy eating) I came up with the last minute idea of adding a little bit of feta to the mix. Viola!

Popping into the shop I looked around for some nice roasting veggies and was about to head downstairs for some more veggie hunting (after picking up some Willie's Cocoa for next to nothing" when I saw it was almost FOUR. Why is this a problem? Well see, we are currently living with my parents and the domestic worker leaves at 16:00 but some one has to be home when she leaves. So off I rushed with what ever I had, which in the end proved to be plenty.

When it came to assembly I realised that as much as I enjoy the olive oil + rosemary combination on roast veg, I felt like something a little different. I recalled a jar of Walnut and Rocket pesto sitting in my fridge and from there a star was born.

What you need:
1 Packet carrot balls (or chop up some carrots)
4 or 5 baby peeled onions (the kind that are perfect for pickling)
4 small mixed sweet peppers, sliced into quarters
1 small brinjal, cut up in cubes, salted and rinsed
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
4 or 5 cloves of garlic, peeledA
1 jar pesto princess walnut and rocket pesto (or make your own if you can't get any)
1 packet vine ripened cherry tomatoes, on the vine
2 cups instant cous cous
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups boiling water
1 cup crumbled feta (we used a combination of black pepper feta and Fairview's no-brine feta)

What to do:
Preheat oven to 200°C. 
Throw all the vegetables, except the tomatoes into a baking dish. 
Coat with the pesto and pop into the oven.
Set a time for 20 minutes.
At 20 minutes take the veg out and give them a stir, pop in the tomatoes.
Roast for another 10-15 minutes then turn the oven off but leave the veggies inside.

In a large bowl pour the 2 cups of cous cous.
Sprinkle the salt over the top and then pour in the boiling water.
Cover with a tea towel.
After about 5 minutes use a fork to break up the cous cous.
Cover and leave until ready to serve.

Serve the vegetables on top of the cous cous and sprinkle some (or lots) of feta to finish.

The verdict? 3 out of 5 people said it hit the spot. Of the other 2 the one doesn't eat roast veg (she got roasted butternut and loved it) and the other is TheHusband who complained that it wasn't meat :)


*An educational is a fact-finding trip that companies make before using a service provider


Disclaimer: Pesto Princess did give me the pesto for free but I was under no obligation to write a favourable review.

Spinach and Mushroom parcels - Meat Free Monday

The last 2 weeks have been rather tedious. I was helping my dad out answering phones while his receptionist was away on annual leave. I spent many an hour playing facebook games and wishing I had uploaded some images for blogging. I was not on my own computer so had no pictures with me and so you didn't get any new recipes to try. Sorry :(

However you did get a new look and feel, like a new space to visit. They say a change is as good as a holiday :)

So it is Monday again and with it comes the dulcet sounds of my family moaning at me that they don't understand how 1 day a week can make a difference. With it also comes me ignoring them. Some weeks I just quietly make my own little meal to eat, others I make a dish with several components so those who choose to can eat Meat-free and other days I make something so delicious, they don't care if there is meat or not.

Such was the case with these little phyllo parcels. With the meatiness of the wild mushrooms and the creaminess of the spinach, these edible presents ticked every box in the house.

What you need:

3 bags baby spinach

1 box mixed wild mushrooms

1 tub fat free smooth cottage cheese

1 onion

1 medium potato

½ fairview single salad serving feta (or 1 wheel)

garlic

smoked paprika

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Phyllo pastry

What to do:

Wash the spinach very well (rule of thumb is at least 7 times, no one likes sandy spinach)

Chop half the onion finely, do the same with the potato (the pieces should all be roughly the same size and very small). Heat up some olive oil in a wok or large pan. Saute the onions and potatoes then add the spinach and mix till wilted (depending on the size of your wok/pan you made need to add the spinach in stages). When all the spinach has wilted add the garlic ad stir well. Then add the cottage cheese and crumble in the feta. Turn off the heat and stir well. Slice the other half of the onion into slivers. In another pan toss the onion and the smoked paprika in some heated olive oil, then add the mushrooms and fry until browned. Add the mushrooms to the spinach mixture, mix well then season to taste.

Cut your phyllo into long strips (I use scissors). Brush one piece with olive oil and stick another piece on top of it. Spoon some filling into it and fold as you wish, using a little more olive oil to seal it. Heat up the oven nice and hot and turn on the grill  and grill until golden brown and crispy (you filling is cooked and should be warm, if the filling has cooled then place the parcels into the oven at 180°c for a few minutes and then pop them under the grill)

You can serve them steaming hot, or even instead of sandwiches for school or work the next day

Sushi for beginners

I am one of those people who wishes the "sushi fad" will pass, I have been wishing this since it started being a fad. Since people started eating sushi with a knife and fork, with salt and pepper. Since people started putting biltong and cream cheese in sushi. What do greek restaurants have to do with sushi exactly? I may be unpopular for my thoughts but so be it. I started eating sushi 15 years ago when it cost a lot less because it was less in demand and I would really like it to stop being a luxury already.

It's not all bad though, while in most places sushi is still stupidly expensive, without it being a fad we wouldn't have great all you can eat specials. Sushi supplies are also a lot more readily available in shops all over the place. So not all bad because it means I get to make sushi.

There are 2 secrets to great sushi. The rice and the fish. The rice needs to be slightly sticky but not mushy and the fish needs to be as fresh as possible. If you have those 2 things right, the rest is all just practice, practice, practice.

I learned by watching sushi chefs when ever possible, for me the videos and "sushi making kit" booklets were just confusing but watching masters at work put it all in perspective. I roll the pieces with my hands then shape with the mat, I find that the easiest. You, however, must do what feels right. Make sure your nori is fresh, if it's not 100% fresh, toast it a little. Fill it with what ever your hear desires and remember to clingwrap your mat.

Sushi rice

What you need:

4 cups sushi rice

4 cups water

1 cup rice wine vinegar

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tsp salt

What to do:

Soak the rice for an hour. Drain then put in a pot with a tight fitting lid and add the 4 cups of water. Bring to the boil, cover and drop to the lowest heat possible. KEEP COVERED, do not lift the lid. Cook for 15 minutes then take off the heat. DO NOT LIFT THE LID! Steam for another 15. 

In the meantime heat up the vinegar with the salt and sugar till everything dissolves. 

When the rice has steamed, you can now take the lid off (no more shouting I promise), pour the rice into a plastic or wooden bowl. Pour the vinegar solution over the rice, dispersing it evenly. Mix the rice using a cutting motion to avoid squishing (yes, squishing is a perfectly acceptable word) the grains.

Allow to cool. 

As for the actual rolling part, that is something you need to see but make sure to make the rice layer thin and don't press the rice down or squish it too much

Veggie soup with homemade gnocchi - Meat free monday recipe

My mom has recently decided that meat free mondays is not a bad idea. So I was happy to discover when we went shopping that what she had in mind was a heart vegetable soup which we packed full with everything from peas, to spinach, baby corn and more (no potatoes).

Something didn't sit right with me and I was sure it was missing something but I just couldn't place my finger on it. Then, while browsing through Meeta's "What's for Lunch Honey" archives I came across this recipe. I immidiately called my mom and asked her to buy some gnocchi to add in. She agreed but first had to rush home so the domestic worker could go home and then she would go shopping. I got home shortly after her and while discussing things I decided that it would be quicker and tastier to make our own gnocchi.

This was the perfect opportunity to go to my list of "recipes I have to try" and one of them was JamieWhoSA's gnocchi recipe. I didn't have sweet potatoes but loads of lovely woolworths organic potatoes.

The soup was my mom's creation but its a basic vegetable soup, flavoured with louvage and parsley, below though is my slight variation on JamieWho's recipe. I was so lucky to have some really awesome ingredients on hand.

What you need:
6 small organic potatoes
1 jumbo free range egg
2 cups stone ground white bread flour
pinch of nutmeg
salt to taste (the stone ground flour has no salt in it)

What to do:
Peel the potatoes and boil in some salted water until soft. Mash well. In a large bowl mix together all the ingredients until you get a warm soft dough.Cover with a tea towel and leave for 5 minutes. Roll the dough out into a sausage shape (I did it in batches), then with a sharp knif cut pices from the sausage. I then rolled them into blobs (very technical I know) and pressed them gently with a fork. In the meantime boil up some salted water and put the gnocchi in. When they are ready they float to the top.

To add a little edge to mine I grated parmesan on them as they came out of the water instead of adding it directly to the soup.

Stuffed pepper

Sometimes I forget to post the pictures that I take. I get so lost in the taste and then I get lost on the internet and then I forget about the pictures. I get so excited when I find them as the bring back floods of tastes and smells and experiences. Unfortunately they don't always bring back exact recipes. This one is one of them and I am apologising in advance for the vagueness of the following recipe.

To be honest though, stuffing peppers is a pretty easy endeavor, you really can put anything in them and it should taste fantastic, especially with sweet red peppers. This was a meat free Monday meal.

What you need:
Red peppers (1 or 2 for each person depending on size and hunger)
2 cups rice
1 cup lentils
1 large onion (sliced)
a couple of zucchinis (sliced into thin strips)
cumin
smoked paprika
1/2 cup mozzarella
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

What to do:
Boil the rice and the lentils. Preheat the oven to 180°C. In a large pan fry the onion in some olive oil, add the spices, fry a bit more then add the zucchini. When the rice and lentils are done mix everything together and stir  for about 30 seconds then remove from the heat. Cut the top off the peppers and empty them out. Stuff with the filling , sprinkl some grated mozzarella and pop the top back on. Place on a baking tray and into the oven for about 15 minutes.

The Shopping List

Chicken casserole

The other day polkadotcupcake blogged about a quick and easy meal she had made. The picture in her post was haunting me for weeks before I finally gave in and found a time to make it. My mom wasn't keen on having dishes for the Saturday and they were planning on getting fish and chips from Ocean Basket. Horrified at the thought of having Ocean Basket for Friday night supper I offered to cook something that didn't take a lot of dishes. Hence the chicken casserole was brought to the front lines.

Now I can't follow recipes, especially not when it comes to cooking. I am better with the baking, that being said I have even started messing with those recipes with some great results. So my chicken dish ended up being something completely different.

Firstly my mom doesn't really like food cooked with wine so I needed to find a substitute. I had heard so much good stuff about the new NoMu Fonds so I had to pop that in there as my liquid. Also once I was in the shop I let the ingredients available lead me and ended up buying a combo of thyme, parsley and rosemary as my herbs.

The dish was very well recieved, so much so that it's our contribution (with beef instead of chicken, though) to tonight's New Year's feast.

What you need:

1 tray thigh and drumstick mix

1 sweet potato

1 bag pickling onion

1 bag baby new potatoes

1 punnet mushrooms 

1 red onion

4 green garlic

Thyme

Parsley

Rosemary

1 litre Vegetable stock (NoMu fonds)

flour

2 tsp smoked paprika

2 tsp crushed garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

What to do:

Mix the flour, spices and seasoning. Coat the chicken in the seasoned flour. Chop up all the vegetables roughly except the green garlic( just separate the stem from the bulb), the pickling onions and the baby new potatoes. Heat up some olive oil in your casserole dish on the stove. Fry the chicken pieces until golden and remove from the dish. Put down a layer of veg, then the chicken then more veg. Pop on the herbs and then add the veg stock. The stock should come up just under the veg and not cover. Pop the lid on and place in the oven at 180°C for about 1 hour or until the potatoes are soft. 

Serve with some crusty bread to mop up the juices.

The Shopping List

Disclaimer: I was not given any products or paid to endorse any products in this post

Guest Post - Nina Timm - My Easy Cooking

Greater then the sum of the words, that's how I would describe my next guest. When I sat in Marlene van der Westhuizen's cooking studio and waited for other Food24 bloggers to arrive I remember wondering what everyone would be like. Most of the bloggers were exactly how I pictured them, Nina, now from My Easy Cooking, however was not. She was just so much more then I expected and I really enjoyed her company that day.

I believe she should be big in the foodie world. Mouth watering recipes, food styling top class magazines should kill for but you judge for yourself:

I feel so honored to be a guest here on Add to Taste. Hila and I met about a year ago at a cheese cook-a-long and it was my first meeting with other foodies here in Cape Town.  Since then much has happened on the blogger scene here, so this is really just another facet or extension of blogging and that is why this is special to me. The recipe that I am sharing with you today is perfect for a light supper, to serve with drinks or just a quick winter warmer. Classically a Spanish recipe, but you can twist and teak as much as you like. You can read the story behind this recipe here: http://www.my-easy-cooking.com/2008/11/patatas-bravaslets-have-tapas.html

Patatas Bravas features on our menu regularly and I am sure it will soon be a favorite in your house to. Smoked paprika is the secret here, so if you do not have any, hop in at your nearest Woolies and get some…

Links to Recipes on my site:

 http://www.my-easy-cooking.com/2009/09/sausage-recipes-patatas-bravas-with.html

Patatas Bravas

Ingredients

about 1 large potato per person - peeled and cut into big chunks

1 medium onion - peeled, but keep it whole

1 onion - sliced

5 whole cloves

1-2 tsp smoked paprika

3 cloves garlic

2 Tbsp tomato paste

fresh thyme

salt and pepper

1 chopped chili - optional.

Press the cloves into 1 onion and place the onion, potatoes and salt in a pot with some water. Cook the potatoes until soft, but not mushy. Heat some olive oil in a pan and add the onion, garlic and paprika.

Fry until onion is soft and add potatoes. Lower the heat and let the potatoes caramelize. Finally add the tomato paste and season well. Sprinkle with fresh herbs and enjoy as a light meal or add slices of smoked pork fillet.

Oded's Kitchen - Pickling for begginers

Some names are unmistakably Hebrew and Hebrew being my first language, when I see a name that is Hebrew I get excited. I guess I like hearing my own language and I associate Hebrew with Israel and Israel with home. So when I saw Oded's Kitchen at Taste of Cape town I was bouncing up and down and when I saw what he had to offer I was even happier. Not only were they middle eastern delicacies that I love but, unlike all the other companies that make similar products, they had their Middle Eastern/Hebrew/Jewish names too.

Babaganush, Harif, Chraime. I was in little-jewish-foodie-girl heaven. I promptly told everyone about them, researched where to find them and was delighted to discover them on twitter. When I saw them at shows I was smiling ear to ear.

Last week I was given the pleasure and honour of being invited to one of their courses. Oded Shwartz himself presents 2 different courses at his shop. A pickling course and a Jewish cooking course. The course material is not set in stone and each class is decided depending on the participants (which makes me exceptionally happy as it means I can keep going back and learning new things).

The classes are kept small and everyone gets hands on and into the action while Oded gives a short history and explains things along the way. In a way the whole experience was a little nostalgic. Having been in a very small Home Economics class in matric, we not only did the work but chatted about everything around what we were doing too. You get to interact with your fellow class mates and Oded and ask as many questions as pop into your head.

We were treated to a great lunch spread filled with Oded's delicious spreads, pates and pickles as well as some divine ginger lemonade. Back to work we went, tummies full and ready to learn some more as the finishing touches were put on out creations.

Id you ask me, this is the best way to fill your Sunday

Toby's pickled cucumbers


1kg large cucumbers
750g onions
750g carrots
8 cloves of garlic
Bay leaves
Peppercorns


For the pickling juice
1.5 liters water
700ml white wine or distilled malt vinegar
100g sugar
30g salt
12 dried red chillies


Wash the cucumbers well and slice into 1cm discs. Place the sliced cucumbers in a colander and sprinkle with some salt (about 15g). Mix well and allow to drain for about 20 minutes. Wash and drain well.
Peel the onions and slice into thin rings. Peel the carrots and either slice into fine julienne and grate coarsely. Mix the onion and carrots and pour boiling water over them. Drain well.
Peel and slice the garlic.
Arrange everything in your jar. The jar should be almost full but loosely packed.
Place the water, vinegar and chilli in a heavy bottomed enamel or stainless steel pan. Bring to the boil and boil steadily for a few minutes. Skim well, remove the chillies and pour over the pickle, filling the jar to overflow. Poke the content with a wooden skewer to remove any air pockets and screw the lid on tightly. Wash the jars and cool rapidly. Store in a cool dark place. Refrigerate after opening

Simple marmalade


2kg oranges, washed
250ml water
2 lemons, juiced and zested
1.25kg sugar
15g dry roasted coriander seeds


Cut the oranges into halves and then across to thin slices. The thinness of the slices will dictate the texture of the marmalade.
Transfer to a preserving pan and add the water, lemon juice and zest and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to simmer for 20-25 minutes or until orange ring is soft.
Add the sugar stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat and boil for about 20-25 minutes or until set has been achieved (to test this, place a plate in the freezer and when you are ready to check, put a drop of jam on the plate, give it a second and then run your finger through it, it should corrugate).


Remove from heat and stir in the coriander seeds and leave for a few minutes to allow the jam to settle. Skim if necessary. Bottle and seal hot.


When cold, the jam is ready for immediate consumption but improves with a few weeks of mellowing.

Three tomato salsa


3kg Roma/jam/plum tomatoes, blanched, peeled and de-seeded
500g cherry tomatoes
300g sun dried tomatoes, soaked in cold water and cut into bite size
500g onions, peeled and chopped
2 heads of garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
75g fresh thyme, chopped
30g crushed dried chillies
250ml olive oil
300ml white wine or cider vinegar
100g dark sugar
15g salt


Place all the ingredients in a deep roasting pan and roast in the oven on 250°C for about 45-60 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated.
Pack into sterile jars and seal immediately. For extra safety pasteurise in hot water.