Silverbeet, Pea and Watercress Soup with croutons

First up, the croutons…

…really added a lot to this soup. They came about because I bought a loaf of DELICIOUS potato & rosemary bread from Central Baking Depot, but forgot about it and it went stale. Not one to waste, I ripped it into chunks (crust and all) and baked it in the oven til crispy.

Now the soup…

Ingredients (are as always not weighed or measured as I make these things for dinner and am usually tired and hungry)

• onion
• few cloves garlic
• silverbeet and water cress in equal amounts
• about 15Og peas
• vege stock
• 1 carrot
• sprinkling dried mixed herbs
• goats cheese or sour cream to serve
• lots chopped parsley to serve

1. 1. Fry the onion and garlic in a little olive oil to soften
2. 2. Add the chopped white stalks of the silverbeet and fry a little to soften
3. 3. Add the peas, herbs and stock and bring to the boil
4. 4. Add the green parts of the silverbeet and cook for about 15 minutes.
5. 5. Take off heat and stir in water cress leaves to wilt
6. 6. Blend
7. 7. Re-heat (but don’t boil extensively]
8. 8. Serve over croutons with a dollop of goats cheese or sour cream and a generous helping of chopped parsley

Easy What's-in-the-fridge Quesadilla

I was hungry on the weekend and scanned an odd selection of ingredients in my fridge in the hope of inspiration. I had a party recently where I intended to make Mexican food, changed my mind at the last minute and ended up with a whole lot of tortilla. And so, my first attempt at a quesadilla (which doesn't really resemble a traditional quesadilla) was born. It was delicious so I blog it.

Ingredients:

• 2 wholemeal tortilla per person
• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• teaspoon chopped fresh dill
• sliced red capsicum
• a few chopped green olives
• handful baby spinach
• grated mozarella
• some goats cheese or Danish feta (Meredith Goats cheese is cheese of the Gods and worth the cash. Just sayin')

1. Fry the onions and garlic til soft and a little browned if you like 'em that way

2. Meanwhile, slice the other veges and grate the cheese

3. Take the onions and garlic out of the pan and place the tortilla in, on a low heat

4. Place all toppings on the tortilla, like you would a pizza. Start with half the cheese, then add veges, then add the rest of the cheese. NB: I recommend placing some mozarella around the rim of the tortilla as, when it melts, you can use it to stick the top tortilla to the bottom

5. Once your toppings are on, place another tortilla on top and press down with spatula or hands til the melting cheese sticks them together

6. Carefully flip the quesadilla with a large spatula (or in whatever way you can without all the ingredients spilling out)

7. Toast on both sides til toppings are warm and tortilla crispy

8. Remove. Cut into quarters. Eat.

The toppings I used really were delicious, but you could of course use anything you liked.

birthday brunch baked eggs

So, it was the girlfriend's birthday recently and I wanted to impress with brunch.*

*may or may not translate as, wanted to try out a new recipe on someone.

I did what I often do when I want to try something new - in this case, baked eggs. I googled and I looked at all my recipe books. Then I closed the books and the computer and thought about what I like I make something up based on what I've read.

The result was the "best birthday breakfast" she'd ever had.

Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
teaspoon paprika
splash tabasco
splash balsamic
1 red capsicum
bunch english spinach
handful kalamata olives, seeded and chopped
handful mushrooms, chopped
75 grams danish feta, crumbled
2 tablespoons canned tomatoes (or chopped fresh)
2 eggs
grated parmesan
pine nuts
chopped chives
chopped jalapenos (to serve)

lebanese bread
za'atar

1. fry onion and garlic in olive oil til soft but not brown
2. add mushrooms and saute
3. add slice capsicum, spinach, tomatoes and spices
4. add tabasco and balsamix
5. allow to cool a little then spoon into ramekins, adding crumbled feta
6. make a little well in the vege mix and crack in 1 egg per ramekin
7. sprinkle over grated parmesan, pine nuts and chopped chives
8. bake on high for about half an hour or until egg whites have firmed, cheese has melted and yolk is still a bit runny
9. meanwhile rub olive oil into lebanese bread and sprinkle generously with za'atar then grill until crispy
10. serve eggs sprinkled with extra chives and chopped pickled jalapenos, with za'atar bread to dip

sweet potato and blue cheese muffins

so these delicious muffins have been adapted from a recipe Annabelle gave me...though I have, as is my habit, changed them substantially and added a bunch of extra ingredients...The original recipe had pumpkin, blue cheese, flour and egg...mine has -

Ingredients (makes 12):
400g chopped sweet potato
160g self raising flour
juice of a lemon
4 eggs
2 cloves garlic
half an onion
splash balsamic vinegar
splash tabasco
80g blue cheese
a handle of spinach leaves chopped
handful chopped parsley
tablespoon chopped rosemary
handful crushed walnuts
handful toasted pinenuts (fry in a dry pan or pop under the grill til browning)
olive oil for frying
salt & pepper

preheat oven to 200 celcius

1. boil the chopped sweet potato

2. meanwhile, fry the finely chopped onion and garlic in olive oil til softened then splash in tabasco and balsamic

3. when sweet potato is soft, mash it and mix it with the onion and garlic and lemon juice

4. leave the potato mixure to cool - it's important it isn't hot or it will cook the eggs when you add them!

5. once the mixture is cool, stir in the eggs (beaten before you add them) and the flour

6. add the nuts and herbs and spinach and stir to combine

7. season with salt & pepper

8. spoon half the mixture into muffin trays, place a nob of blue cheese in the centre of each muffin and then spoon mixture over the top to cover the cheese

9. bake in oven til starting to brown a little (took me about 25 minutes!)

these are great warm or cold. the blue cheese is pretty rich. if you don't like blue try a goat or feta. omnomnomnom!!!

...

tomato, sage and vege pasta

I made this for dinner, based on what was in the fridge and which herbs in the garden were looking most bountiful. It was surprisingly delicious for something thrown together so I thought I'd share.

Ingredients:
- Pasta (I used spinach spaghetti)
- Button Mushrooms
- Peas
- about 4 fresh sage leaves per person, chopped small
- a teaspoon of brown sugar
- half an onion, diced very small
- a cup of oven roasted tomato sauce (posted below) or any simple tomato / garlic pasta sauce
goats cheese to garnish (I stand by Meredith Marinated Goats Cheese as the best goats cheese, indeed the best cheese maybe in Australia)

1. Fry onion mushrooms and sage in olive oil (if you have sensibly purchased Meredith cheese, use a little of the oil in comes marinated in. I never chuck out this oil but use it for salad dressings and sauces. Fry for about 5 minutes

2. Sprinkle brown sugar into the mixture and fry for a further 5 minutes.

3. Add sauce and peas and cook to combine.

4. Cook pasta and then add to sauce and mix to combine.

5. Crumble goats cheese over the top and eat! Yum!