June 27, 2015 / emma@cookfasteatslow.com Leave a comment

Lemon & Lime Melting Moments

It’s school holidays again.

We all breathe a sigh of relief that there is a little reprieve in the crazy busy rush that the school term brings.

Ideas are being thrown back and forth as to what we will do over the coming weeks. Catching up with family and friends, park visits, bike rides and maybe a trip to the movies will be on the agenda. One request has been to make sushi at home, another has been to practise skate board tricks at the local skate park. Our littlest guy will just be smiling from ear to ear that his big brothers are home and will try desperately to keep up with whatever they are doing.

One thing for certain is that on any given day we will ride the highs and lows of family life. Negotiating screen time limits, working out what activity EVERY family member is happy to do, managing those who want quietness and space and those who want constant companionship and chatter.

I love school holidays. I love being with my kids. I love less rules and more spontaneity, but does that mean I can expect perfection and every experience to live up to my and their expectations?

Nope. It’s a good thing for this mum to remember that from the outset.

Anyway……apart from my gorgeous boys needing to physically move every single day, they will also EAT more in the holidays too. I will bake a lot to keep up with them and their friends appetites and we will also get to enjoy dinners that are less rushed than usual. I am looking forward to posting some of our holiday cooking adventures in the coming weeks.

I thought I would kick things off these holidays with our middle son’s FAVOURITE biscuits. One year for his birthday he simply requested a plate of these with a candle instead of a cake.

We have made orange ones and passionfruit ones, but this time the fruit bowl was full of lemons and limes. It was just meant to be.

These biscuits are ‘short’ and buttery with a citrus zing.

The melting moment is a very simple biscuit to make, so it’s a great recipe to get kids doing some holiday baking.

The base recipe is from Donna Hay’s MODERN CLASSICS 2 cookbook, but the lemon and lime twist is from my own imagination!

Ingredients

Makes approx 14-16 filled biscuits

Biscuit

175gm butter, softened

1/4 cup icing sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup plain flour

1/4 cup cornflour

finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Filling

60gm butter, softened

1 cup icing sugar, sifted

finely grated zest of 1 lime

juice of 1/2 a lime

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius (160 degrees fan forced).

Place the butter, icing sugar and vanilla in a bowl of an electric mixer (or use electric beaters) and beat until light and fluffy.

Stir in the flour and cornflour until well combined.

Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

Roll a heaped teaspoon amount of dough into a small ball and place on the baking trays, spaced evenly apart, leaving a little room for spreading. Slightly flatten each biscuit with a fork or the palm of your hand.

Cook for approx 11 minutes or until slightly golden.

Cool on trays.

Place all the ingredients for the filling into a small bowl and beat with electric beaters until light and creamy.

Spread small amounts of icing onto a cooled biscuit using a knife and then sandwich with another biscuit.

Dust with icing sugar to serve.

These will keep for 2-3 days in an airtight container.

June 22, 2015 / emma@cookfasteatslow.com 2 Comments

Moroccan Lamb Meatballs

Meatballs of any kind are always a huge hit in our house.

It’s fun to change things up a bit from time to time, so this recipe ditches the classic beef mince we often make our meatballs with and uses lamb mince instead. By all means, you can use beef mince in this recipe if lamb isn’t your thing.

The flavours of Moroccan cuisine go beautifully with lamb. The classic spices that make up the moroccan flavour are cumin, cardamon, cinnamon, paprika, turmeric, ginger, fennel and paprika.

To make things easy, look out for a spice mix called ‘Ras al Hanout’, in your supermarket or green grocer or deli. I keep this spice mix in my pantry at all times as it is a perfect spice combination that can be used to rub on meats, throw in casseroles, tagines or soups.

When I make meatballs I often do it in 2 stages. I make up the meatballs and leave them covered in the fridge. Then after a busy afternoon, all I need to do is brown them and finish cooking them in their sauce.

This recipe also freezes perfectly if you want to get organised and have dinner made on the weekend for the week ahead.

Serves 6

Ingredients

Meatballs

800gm lamb mince

1 tablespoon of Ras al Hanout (Moroccan Spice Mix)

1/2 a spanish onion, peeled and finely diced

1 small carrot, finely grated

Sauce

1 x 700ml jar of tomato passata

150ml chicken stock

2 cinnamon sticks

1 tablespoon of honey

Chopped Parsley to garnish

Method

Combine lamb mince, spice mix, onion and carrot with your hands.

Roll the mixture into bite sized balls. You can do this step in advance if you wish, just leave covered in the fridge.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.

Brown the meatballs in batches, turning them a couple of times.

Remove the meatballs and leave on paper towel while you start the sauce.

Pour all of the sauce ingredients into the pan and bring to a gentle boil.

Add the meatballs back in to the sauce, lower the heat to a simmer and put a lid on. Simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Remove the lid and simmer for another 5 minutes to slightly thicken the sauce.

Serve on a bed of Cous Cous or Risoni (rice shaped pasta), alongside some steamed green vegetables and garnish with parsley.

June 17, 2015 / emma@cookfasteatslow.com 2 Comments

Orange, Almond and Pistachio Cake

Dreary skies and cold, wet days.

Too many loved ones in pain or in grief, sick or suffering.

My spirit has felt heavy this week.

I look for beauty in daily simple things as a way of keeping my eyes focused ‘upwards’ despite grey skies.

Brighten up winter with lemons in a bowl

My front path. I call this a ‘cheerful mess’ as it brightens my day, until it’s walked all through the house!

Fresh herbs in jars can make lovely table decorations

Imperfect lemons from my tree sit on my table in a ‘slightly off balance’ fruit bowl I found in an antique store and just had to have.

The only flowers I can find in my garden are edible ones, so a bunch of flowering rosemary sits in an old vegemite jar on a table.

And on the days I find myself at home, I light a candle in the day time. I’m not sure of the science behind it, but candles just make people feel better, don’t they?

And I bake.

Oranges from my neighbours tree, if not eaten by the cockatoos, are lying all over my back lawn.

One of God’s gracious gifts in winter time is Citrus. I could not live without lemons, limes and oranges in my cooking and eating at this time of year.

This recipe is from the cookbook Weekend, simple food for lazy days by Banbury and Lewis.

On a side note, not every cake needs or wants to be iced. In this case, a dusting of icing sugar and sprinkling of edible flowers such as nasturtiums and rosemary flowers made this cake pretty as a picture.

Ingredients

175gm unsalted butter, softened

1 cup self raising flour

3/4 cup castor sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup almond meal

juice and zest of 1 orange

3 eggs

100gm pistachios, shelled and chopped

Icing sugar and edible flowers to decorate (use pansies, nasturtiums, rosemary flowers etc)

Method

Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius.

Place all the ingredients except the pistachios, in a food processor.

Process until smooth.

Fold the chopped pistachios through the cake batter.

Pour into a greased and lined 20cm cake tin and bake for 55 minutes, (or until cooked when tested with skewer). If browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil for the remaining cooking time.

Cool in the tin for 10 minutes or so and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

June 14, 2015June 29, 2015 / emma@cookfasteatslow.com Leave a comment

Curried Carrot and Lentil Soup (vegetarian)

The first time I made this soup and placed it in front of my family, the boys sang out in unison “you know we don’t like pumpkin soup mum!”

After a few deep breaths from me, I reassured them that I had not forgotten and if they were willing to just try their dinner they would find out that alas, it wasn’t pumpkin after all, but a thick and creamy carrot soup, with just a hint of spiciness.

I serve this at home with store-bought naan bread and I love to dollop some greek yoghurt on the top when serving, but of course, that’s optional.

Next time the wind is howling outside and the rain is pelting down, make a pot of this and wait for it to warm you from the inside out.

This recipe is from the cookbook Home Cooking by Valli Little, (the ABC delicious magazine’s food editor).

Serves 6

Ingredients

20gm unsalted butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, peeled and chopped

1 leek, white part only, washed and chopped

2 teaspoons mild curry powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 cup tomato passata

5 carrots, chopped

1 tin of lentils, drained and rinsed

1 litre of vegetable stock

1 cup coconut milk

Juice of 1 lime

greek yoghurt and coriander to serve (optional)

Method

Place butter and olive oil in a large soup pot over a medium heat.

Add the onion and leek and cook until softened, but not brown. If browning too quickly, reduce your heat and stir until soft.

Add the curry and cumin, garlic, tomato passata, carrot, lentils and stock.

Cover and bring to a simmer and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the carrot is soft.

Using a stick blender or food processor (if using a food processor, you will need to do this in batches), blend until the soup is smooth.

Add the coconut milk and lime juice and gently reheat before serving.

Dollop some greek yoghurt and scatter with coriander leaves to serve.

June 9, 2015June 9, 2015 / emma@cookfasteatslow.com Leave a comment

Balsamic Ratatouille with Feta (vegetarian)

One of the most common questions I get asked is “How can I get X to eat more vegetables?”

And it’s not just children that we are talking about.

It surprises me sometimes that there are just as many fussy adult eaters walking around who have a long list of vegetables they won’t eat.

Most of us are aware that it’s good to aim for 5 serves of veggies a day and yet most of us are probably falling far short of that benchmark.

It seems like a lot doesn’t it?

As a parent of small children, it can feel overwhelming and disheartening when 6 nights out of 7, the dinner plate is pushed away by fussy eaters as they say ‘yuck’ to the array of colours and textures on their plate.

In our family, we have had the meat and carbs lover who had broccoli put on his plate every night for about 4 years until one day he just ate it without a fight.

We have had the ‘everything needs to be separate’ child, who won’t eat casseroles, soups, sauces or anything that is mixed.

We have had the raw veggies stage, where nothing was allowed to be in a cooked state and we have had the many, many nights where kids have gone to bed hungry because they have refused to eat anything put in front of them.

Sound familiar?

Well, things are definately getting easier as they get older and if I can offer encouragement to mums of young fussy eaters, then this is what I would say:

1. Persevere – nothing about raising kids is easy. They come into the world knowing nothing and bit by bit, it’s our job to guide, instruct, teach and model how to live. This includes how to care for our bodies and how to eat well. It’s not for the faint-hearted, so be kind to yourself. Leave mother guilt at the door and just keep on at it.

2. Variety is the spice of life – if you are stuck in a rut of what is on offer in your house, that’s okay. Go for small changes, like aiming to try one new recipe a month. Next time you walk through the fruit and veggie store, make yourself buy one vegetable you’ve never bought before and go home and google what to do with it!

3. Partner the new with the old – if your child loves sausages, and you are wanting to try a new vegetable, offer both at the same meal. They will sit to eat what they know and love and then chat about trying a mouthful of something new at the same time.

4. Never say Never – kids tastes change over time, as do ours. Just because they wouldn’t eat avocado at 3 doesn’t mean you never try again. By the time they are 5, they might be ready to give it another try.

5. Try a new method of cooking the same old vegetable – everyone gets tired of the same old thing over and over again eventually. If you only ever boil carrots, try roasting them instead? If you only ever steam cabbage, keep it raw and use each leaf as a wrap for some mince?

6. See Tip 1 again – Persevere. A bit like most things in life of any value, it takes time and effort and isn’t always easy. Hang in there.

Ratatouille, is not just a PIXAR movie that kids love, but it’s a french provincial dish of mixed stewed vegetables. It’s a perfect winter dish and only requires some chopping on your part, the oven does the rest of the work for you.

If you use the recipe below as a side dish, you will probably get 2 meals out of it. It freezes really well, just freeze without the cheese added at the end.

I can eat a big steaming bowl of this on it’s own for dinner, maybe with a piece of toasted sourdough. It will serve approx 4 if you make it a meal in itself.