She was sitting at the bench and we were catching up after months of false starts and cancelled catch ups, mainly due to sick children and life’s general chaos.

Sharing the latest news, sipping tea and watching the kids play. A very familiar scene from my kitchen bench.

The oven timer goes and I jump up and pull lunch from the oven.

“That looks beautiful, I hope that will make it to the blog” she says.

“Well, actually it wasn’t going to” I say. “I just feel a little weird photographing my food when I have guests, so I don’t think it will make it to the blog at the moment, ” I said as I was about to cut it and serve.

“That’s silly” she says, “take a photo and get that recipe on the blog!”

So….here it is friends. There was no time to set it up in any fancy way for the shot. No styling, no fuss.

This is such an easy tart for a mid week lunch with friends or simple meat-free dinner. I used store-bought puff pastry which I keep in the freezer for days exactly like this one. If however, you want a grain/gluten free option – you can make this more like a ‘frittata’ which is a pastry-less tart. Just use a pie dish, not one with a removable base, and follow the rest of the recipe as is.

We enjoyed it with a huge side of fresh green salad and lots of great conversation.

I am trying really hard to remember where I got this recipe from, as I have had it for so long. From memory, I may have even found it in the packaging when I bought the rectangular tart tin, a Bakers Secret tin. Anyway, this is my take on it.

Ingredients

Serves 4

1 leek, white and pale green part only

100gm baby spinach leaves

200gm Greek feta

8-10 cherry tomates, halved

a small handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup thickened cream

3 eggs, lightly beaten

2 sheets of frozen puff pastry

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Wash the leek and chop in half along it’s length. Thinly slice the leek.

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a small frying pan and gently sauté the leek till soft.

Add the baby spinach for a minute or two until wilted.

Set aside to cool slightly.

Line the loose-bottomed rectangular tart tin with 2 sheets of thawed puff pastry, over-lapping a little in the middle. Press down along the join gently and then press the pastry into the sides of the tin. Trim the excess of the pastry from the edges. Prick the base all over with a fork. Place the tart tin on a baking tray.

Put the cooled leek and spinach mixture into the tart tin.

Whisk together the sour cream, eggs, cream and basil. Add some cracked pepper.

Pour mixture over the leek and spinach.

Dot with cherry tomatoes.

Place in preheated oven for around 30 minutes, or until set and golden.

Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

 

 

 

 

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.

 

If there is a vegetable that has been left on the shelf for far too long, neglected and over-looked…it’s the Brussel Sprout.

This incredibly nutritious vegetable is related to broccoli, kale and cabbage and is in season now and during winter.

High in protein, vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin A, fibre, iron, potassium and many other vitamins and minerals, they are known for helping in the fight against different types of cancer, maintaining good bone and eye health, and help to fight auto-immune diseases with their anti-inflammatory properties. In summary, they are one of the most nutritious vegetables you could eat!

Brussel Sprouts have been given a bad rap mainly due to the fact that most people have only ever eaten them boiled to death, where they lose all colour, texture and flavour.

But instead of just giving up on this small, round nugget of goodness, why not try preparing it and serving it in a different way?

Remove all the leaves and keeping them raw, toss through a salad with a nice dressing. Chop into quarters and lightly fry in olive oil, add some cooked bacon, lightly steamed kale and roasted nuts for a yummy side dish.

Or try this salad.

This salad has ‘autumn’ written all over it.

Buerre Bosc pears, leeks, sage leaves and brussel sprouts, drizzled with red wine vinegar and roasted till golden. Add some goats cheese, feta, or in this instance, halloumi, and you have a pretty special salad. You need a salty style cheese to balance the sweetness that comes out of those roasted leeks and pears.

We enjoyed this salad on a weekend recently. It was a chilly autumn evening and we were having a fire pit outside with our boys.

On a side note, the $80 we spent on a fire pit from Bunnings a few years ago has well and truly paid off. There’s something about a fire that draws everyone together. We get some awesome conversation, often for hours, from our boys as soon as it’s lit.

Family time, a piece of steak, this salad and a glass of red = happiness for me.

The original idea for this recipe came from Donna Hay’s cookbook Fresh and Light.

Ingredients

500gm brussel sprouts, trimmed and halved

2 Buerre Bosc (brown) pears, cut into wedges

1 leek, white part only, chopped into 2-3cm pieces

fresh sage leaves

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

200gm Halloumi cheese, pan fried till golden and chopped into small pieces (Feta or Goats cheese works well also. Just crumble over the vegetables before serving.)

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Line a large baking tray with baking paper.

Place cut brussel sprouts, pears, leeks and sage leaves on tray.

Drizzle with olive oil and 1/2 of the red wine vinegar.

Season with pepper and roast for 30 minutes.

Place on a platter and add the pan fried halloumi.

Pour over remaining red wine vinegar and serve.

 

Baking a risotto, as opposed to stirring one, is another great idea for an easy mid week meal.

This recipe starts off on the stove, only for a few minutes, and then takes 30 minutes in the oven. In my house, this means I throw dinner in the oven first and then get stuck into homework with the boys.

If you use a baking dish that can go from stove top to oven, then it also ticks the box of minimal washing up.

I first read about this yummy combination in the April edition of DELICIOUS magazine back in 2010. My variations are that of using a Spinach Pesto instead of a Basil Pesto (recipe below) and also adding sweet potato. These are two easy ways to incorporate more vegetables.

If you are short on time, by all means, use a store-bought pesto. There are many to choose from in the supermarket.

If you make the Spinach Pesto below, you will use about half of it in this recipe and the other half will keep in the fridge for about a week. It is great simply stirred through some pasta for an extra speedy dinner.

This serves our family of 5 and there is never a mouthful left over!

Ingredients

25gm unsalted butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 brown onion, peeled and finely chopped

400gm of arborio rice

100ml of white wine (if you don’t want to use white wine, just use an extra 100ml of chicken stock at this point)

1 litre chicken stock

3/4 cup of spinach pesto (recipe below)

1 medium size sweet potato, peeled and chopped into chunky pieces

Basil leaves to serve

Roasted Tomatoes

1/2 a punnet of cherry tomatoes, halved

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius

Line a baking tray with baking paper and place the cherry tomatoes, cut side up, on tray.

Drizzle with oil and balsamic vinegar, season with salt and pepper and place in the oven for 30 minutes.

Heat butter and olive oil in an oven proof pan.

Add onion and stir for a few minutes till soft.

Add rice and stir for 1 minute.

Add wine (or stock) and stir for a few minutes or until the liquid has been mostly absorbed.

Pour in the chicken stock, add the sweet potato and bring to the boil.

Place a lid on the dish and put it in the oven to cook for 25-30 minutes. You will know when it’s ready when the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is plump and soft.

Remove from the oven and stir the pesto through it.

Top with roasted tomatoes and basil leaves to serve.

Spinach Pesto

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

100gm of baby spinach leaves

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tablespoons of blanched or flaked almonds

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1/2 cup smooth ricotta

2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon of basil paste (or you can add a small handful of fresh basil leaves)

Method

Lightly steam the baby spinach leaves in the microwave until slightly wilted. Rinse under cold water and squeeze excess water out of the leaves with your hands.

Throw the spinach leaves and remaining ingredients in a food processor and blitz until smooth.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week.