Pesto Lentils with Zucchini and Capsicum

 

I'm so happy to share with you an outrageously delicious, simple, filling, and healthy lentil and vegetable dish. When I talk to our friends these days about food and what they are cooking for themselves, many are now eating more simply than ever, particularly during the week. So let's go mental for lentils, they tick lots of boxes.

Tuscan Chicken, Cheese and Broccoli Bake (Low carb)

This is comfort food without the extra calories, which my friends is my kind of meal at the moment in the lead up to Christmas. Leftovers are even more delicious the following day for lunch or served for dinner. You could almost think you are eating a lasagna but not missing the pasta because of the extra protein, vegetables, herbs and cheese. It's very tasty.

Oven-Baked Ratatouille

 

Oven-baked Ratatouille is a modern interpretation of the classic stove top Niçoise dish, Ratatouille. It's roots are very firmly planted in the Provençal region of France. By baking the vegetables, and roasting the ripe tomatoes into a rich, garlicky tomato sauce, a delicious and caramelised flavour is imparted to the dish. I make this French vegetarian dish often.

Mediterranean Eggplant and Vegetable Lasagne, without the calories

When I first made this vegetarian dish with Mediterranean ingredients and flavours, I wasn't sure if it would pass muster for my recipe blog, or be tasty and substantial enough to stand alone as our main meal. Well, it ticked both of those boxes, in fact Mr. HRK loved it. So did I, and I felt much healthier after eating it, with all that delicious vegetable within.

Mediterranean Vegetable Lasagne Recipe

 

This is a Mediterranean style vegetable lasagne, to my way of thinking anyway. Most of the ingredients are of Mediterranean origin, and can probably be found in your refrigerator and pantry right now. Except perhaps for the ricotta which needs to be purchased fresh. The Mediterranean flavours shine through. There are times when a vegetarian meal just ticks all the right boxes for me, especially when I need to really load up on vegetables,  however this lasagne can also be served with any meats of your choice if you wish. This meal is perfect for a no fuss Meat Free Monday, which I still try to abide by, and at the same time enjoy something really filling and comforting.

Mediterranean Chicken Marbella Traybake

"The whole is greater than the sum of the parts."

Aristotle

 This delicious chicken dish is beloved by many of us here in Australia, but was actually created in the Silver Palate food store, which opened on New York's Manhattan Upper West Side 35 years ago. The store was started by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, who cooked fresh each day, embracing a passion for simple good food. 

Bulgur or Bourghal Wheat Risotto with Chicken and Artichokes

It's easy to treat yourself to a fast, tasty and nutritious meal at the end of a busy day from food in your pantry. This is a quick post, to share with you a deceptively easy and delicious midweek meal. At the end of a busy day, if you have some left over chicken in the frig, a bottle of  preserved artichokes in your pantry, some bulgur wheat, and some white wine for the dish and the cook, voila you have the makings of a tasty and nutritious meal only 45 minutes max away.  

Ratatouille, Chicken, and Haloumi Traybake

"It's not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving."

Mother Teresa

This traybake ratatouille is based on a healthy Mediterranean combination of vegetables, and is my go to when I have fresh eggplant and capsicums on hand. I cook it a lot. I've added chicken fillets to the original vegetarian ratatouille recipe here, however just serving the vegetables and haloumi with a grain such as Burghul or brown rice is delicious for dinner. 

A very healthy Cypriot Grain Salad

This Grain Salad encapsulates all that is healthy and delicious, and as we are now being told in the best interests of our health and the planet to reduce our meat consumption and increase the amount of healthy grains, fruit and vegetables in our diet I thought I would give this one a try. If like me you haven't delved into the world of grain salads very much, this one is great to start with. I always have a variety of leftover grains, nuts and lentils in jars in my pantry so I already had most of the ingredients on hand. I chose quinoa as the main grain as I wanted to use what I had left, however cracked wheat, freekah (green wheat), or bulgur, would work equally as well.  This salad recipe isn't an original one, I have tweeked it a little bit, but it is a George Calombaris recipe which I had tasted at a luncheon recently and saved the recipe, so here it is. The coriander and parsley combined with the dressings bring it to life. However dear reader if you don't like coriander, then leave it out and  substitute something else.

Honestly, there are simpler versions of this salad out there, but toasting the nuts, almonds and pumpkin seeds brings out their unique flavours and crunch so for a special occasion this is worthwhile. It takes no time at all to toast the pumpkin seeds so my advice is not to leave the stove while you are toasting grains. I had a close call at Christmas time when I was toasting pine nuts in a small frypan on the stove for the traditional Wombok salad, got distracted by all the excitement, and well you guessed it, there were  a few burnt ones as a result. Mr. HRK very kindly picked them out for me, and life went on, however lesson learned. Has that ever happened to you?

 I prepared this salad on the day prior to us eating it, and then just garnished it with the Cumin Yoghurt Dressing and pretty pomegranate seeds just before serving it. The beauty of a Grain Salad is that even though it is dressed with a light salad dressing, it is still fresh two days later.

This went beautifully with my Mediterranean Chicken Marbella recipe and a green salad.

Chicken Marbella, a delicious tray bake

Cypriot Grain Salad

Ingredients:

1/2 red onion finely diced
1 cup of quinoa (or freekah, bulgur or other grain)
1/2 cup Puy lentils
1 bunch chopped coriander
1/2 bunch chopped parsley
2 tbsp. toasted pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp. toasted slivered almonds
2 tbsp. toasted pine nuts
2 tbsp. baby capers
1/2 cup currants
juice of 1 lemon
3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt to taste
1 pomegranate, deseeded to serve

Cumin Yoghurt Dressing: - 

1 cup thick Greek yoghurt
1 tsp. cumin seeds, toasted and ground (essential)
1 tbsp. honey

Method:

Boil quinoa and lentils separately  in boiling water until both are just cooked. Drain very well and allow to cool.

Place all the ingredients in a medium bowl, except the yoghurt dressing, and mix well. The yoghurt dressing can now be left covered in a jar in the refrigerator for a day if necessary. . Whisk the oil and lemon juice dressing in a small jar until it emulsifies, season to taste, and add to the grains.

Just before eating, place the grain salad in a serving dish and top with the delicious Cumin Yoghurt.

Garnish and decorate with pomegranate seeds.

I will be cooking fairly simple and tasty foods now, that don't take much time to prepare, as I have resumed writing my other blog,  the history of my Great Great Grandfather, Thomas Dudgeon,  who was a successful Landscape Artist in Scotland and Ireland.  Mr. HRK has been researching the genealogy of my family for a long time and finally I have decided to write it up as a blog, and who knows, maybe publish it at a later date. I really enjoy the process of writing, and am loving being able to write up  in Thomas's interesting life and also that of my Great Grandmother, Ellen Stella DeLandelles, who was his daughter. If you would like to take a peek at the latest post (no. 12) that I wrote this is the link: There is also a summary of it as a post that may be easier to read. I also need to do some work on the layout of the pages so that will take some time.

As I write this I am also thinking of all the residents in Townsville, 4 hours North of here by car,  who are really doing it tough with loss of power, serious flooding, and being isolated. This weather event is unprecedented in Townsville. Townsville is normally considered quite a dry area, and when we lived there for ten years in the 1980's, it was so dry and hot that many of us were sinking a water bore in our backyards. Rain has also started here in Mackay again so I am hoping that means the rain is moving south from Townsville or back out to sea. Time will tell. It's good writing weather, and shortly I will have a pot of chicken stock simmering on the stove. It's good soup weather while the rain lasts.

Best wishes my friends and I hope you have a safe and enjoyable week. Thanks for visiting.

Pauline

BLUEBERRY, WILD OATS & BANANA MUFFINS

Dear friends, beware, these are super healthy, in fact there is no sugar to be found in them, except of course in the fresh blueberries and bananas, oh and a little in the yoghurt. These are probably the kind of muffins you would find on the menu in a Healthy cafe in trendy Byron Bay (New South Wales) or Cairns (Queensland) but there they would be served with a drizzle of maple syrup or exotic homemade ice cream beside them.

Caponata, a Sicilian Eggplant Stew

 I've tried a few different Caponata recipes, because I love the sweet, sour and tangy flavours typical of this Mediterranean vegetable stew. It's also a handy dish to make at home when I have extra eggplants and herbs. In this version, my favourite so far, the sultanas add a piquant sweetness to the earthiness of the eggplant without adding too much sugar, which combined with the vinegar gives this dish the moreish factor. It can be eaten hot, warm or cold.

Sicilian Caponata, a Healthy Mediterranean Diet Option

Caponata alla Siciliana or Sweet and Sour Eggplant

Caponata is a sweet and sour Sicilian vegetable dish that ticks most of the Mediterranean cuisine boxes. We ate the Caponata as a vegetable dish to accompany chicken during the week, although it can be served on its own to accompany healthy breads or as a relish. The smaller the size of the vegetable pieces the more you can call it a relish. It will keep in the frig for a couple of days and improves in flavour as a result.

GIGANTES or Giant Beans

Greece is on my travel list for the future, however if I can't go there right now, the next best thing is to cook a very typical dish that is eaten in Greece. This is a variation of a recipe from Epirus in Northern Greece where they grow plenty of the giant butter beans called Gigantes, which over there they cook with fresh tomatoes and all kinds of wild greens, and of course lots of olive oil. Sometimes sausages are also added which sounds like a great idea to me, the dish becomes a meal in one. Gigantes means Giants, which gives the name to this dish of giant Greek Lima Beans, and is pronounced yee-gahn-dess. So that is my first Greek word that I have learnt before we travel to Greece. Most of the Greek words I learn will probably centre around food and eating out at restaurants. Isn't that generally the way though?

This dish will feed a crowd and more, and is also a great way of using up fresh tomatoes if you have an abundance. The tinned variety can easily be substituted with fresh tomatoes and I added some fresh oregano from my garden to the tomato sauce as well. Lots of fresh Italian parsley came from the morning Farmer's Market as mine hasn't matured yet.

I would also suggest with this recipe that if you like lots of tomato sauce just double the quantity and use less chicken stock as there will be lots of beans.

GIGANTES

Ingredients:

½ kg dried lima or butter beans, or Gigantes if you can find them

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cups celery, finely chopped

1 red capsicum, finely chopped

1 medium carrot, cut into cubes

1 410g can of crushed tomatoes

2 onions, finely sliced

2 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp. tomato paste

2 bay leaves

Fresh oregano

1 pinch of chilli flakes (optional)

1 tsp. Hungarian sweet paprika

1 cup Italian parsley, chopped

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 Litre chicken stock (you may not need all of this)

 Feta cheese

Method:

1. Soak the beans overnight covered well in water which will plump them up. Drain the beans and rinse them again.
2. Fill a large saucepan with cold water, and add the beans. Don’t add any salt to the water the beans are boiled in or it will toughen them up. Bring the beans to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes then discard the water. Rinse the beans again.
3. Put the beans back into the same saucepan, and fill with cold water again. The water should be about 2 inches above the beans. Add the bay leaves, celery, capsicum, and carrot, then bring to the boil. When it is bubbling, turn down the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
4. Whilst the beans and vegetables are cooking, cook the tomato sauce. Sauté the onion and garlic in a deep frypan. Add the chilli flakes, tomato paste and crushed tomatoes and paprika. Cook for 5 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 180 deg. C. Using a ladle, pour the beans into a baking dish and then add the tomato sauce, salt, pepper and sugar. Mix carefully and thoroughly. Add the chicken stock. The mixture should not be like soup but should not be dry either. Bake for 35 minutes, making sure the beans are cooked.
6. Crumble feta cheese over the top.
7. Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley, noting that the amount of the parsley depends on the quantity of the beans.
8. Then pour a little bit of extra virgin olive oil over the top.

 Do you enjoy Greek food, and if so what is your favourite dish? Do you enjoy cooking with beans?

Oven Roasted Ratatouille

This Ratatouille is a very versatile vegetarian dish, which enhances the traditional style, stove top ratatouille which I have usually cooked, by baking the vegetables, and roasting the tomatoes, introducing a delicious, roasted, and caramelised flavour to the dish.