Sundried Tomato Pesto Pasta

You really, really cannot beat the old pasta-and-pesto combo. It's quick, flavoursome and perfect for a mid-week meal. And if you chuck some roasted veggies into the mix, then it becomes healthy with a minimum of fuss. Bwahahahah!

Sundried Tomato Pesto Pasta with Roasted Sweet Potatoes

1 largish sweet potato, peeled and cut into 2cm dice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 quantity of fettucine
1 small jar of Sundried Tomato Pesto

1 - Preheat the oven to 200 C. Place the sweet potato in a roasting dish, and toss with the olive oil. Roast for 30 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender.

2 - Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the packet directions, or until al dente. Drain, then place back in the pan.

3 - Toss as much pesto as you fancy in with the pasta, alongside the sweet potatoes. Mix thoroughly, then serve with a nice green salad.

Pumpkiny Vegetable and Chickpea Curry

The secret to making this taste pumpkin rich is to cut the pumpkin into little squares, and add it right at the very beginning. It breaks down and mixes with the coconut milk, creating a rich pumpkiny sauce for the other vegetables - delish!

Pumpkiny Vegetable and Chickpea Curry

1 onion, finely diced
2 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons red curry paste
1/4 small pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1 cm squares
400 gram tin coconut milk
1 1/2 cups water (375ml)
1 eggplant, diced
1 red capsicum, diced
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
400 gram tin chickpeas (garbanzos), rinsed and drained
Steamed brown rice, to serve

1 - Heat the oil over a medium high heat in a large pan. Add the onion, and cook until the onion is golden and tender.

2 - Add the curry paste, and cook for another minute more.

3 - Add the coconut milk, water, eggplant and pumpkin, and bring to the boil. Lower heat, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring regularly.

4 - Add the capsicum and simmer for 5 minutes more.

5 - Add the chickpeas and broccoli, and cook for another few minutes, or until the broccoli is tender. Serve over the brown rice.

Thai lentil curry pies with corn on the cob

I love making these ramekin pies. It's basically just a really easy way of jazzing up a casserole - put it in the bowl, whack some pastry on top, then call it a pie. Brilliant! And if you serve it up to dinner guests, everybody does the big "Oooooh!" and "Ahhhhh!" thing, because it looks like you spent hours fiddling around in the kitchen. Big points for impressing people, all thanks to a little bit of pasty. Love it!

Thai lentil curry pies

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste (or to taste)
1 onion, diced
1/2 cauliflower, cut into florets
1 red capsicum, diced
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
100 grams green beans, top and tailed, and cut into 3 cm lengths
1 cup red lentils
400 ml tin coconut milk
1 1/2 cups water
1 sheet puff pastry
Sesame seeds

1 - Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat, then add the onion and cook until golden and tender. Add the red curry paste, and cook for a minute or two more.

2 - Add the coconut milk, water and lentils, and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until lentils are beginning to tenderise, add the sweet potato half way through.

3 - Add the remaining vegetables, and simmer, covered for 5 minutes, stirring often. The mixture should be nice and thick, with the lentils mushy.

4 - Preheat the oven to 200 C. Spoon the mixture into ramekins, then cover each ramekin with a piece of puff pastry. Lightly oil the pastry, and scatter with sesame seeds. Place the ramekins on a baking tray, then bake for 20 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed up and golden. Remove from oven, let sit for 5 minutes, then serve with the corn.

Corn on the cob

1 corn cob per person

1 - Fill a medium sized saucepan with salted water, and bring to the boil.

2 - Add the corn cobs, and cook for 5ish minutes. Remove from the water, then serve.

Lemon Pepper Pilaf

Ah, my old friend Lemon Pepper Pilaf. When I was pregnant we ate this all the time. I'm not really sure why - I think it was becauce it was one of the few things my husband knew how to reliably cook (I threw up constantly until 26 weeks, all hours of the day, so wasn't really into food per se), and also because I didn't have the ginormous cook book collection that I have today (glancing over at my bookshelf, I'm mildly horrified at how many cookbooks I have amassed over the last few years).

So, predictably, when I got back into cooking again, LPP was the last thing I wanted to eat (in fact, when the Galumph requested it, I would just moan "No. NO! Not Lemon Pepper Pilaf! No moooooooore!" It almost became a catch cry). However, it's a been a while - time to invite that dear old reliable friend back into the kitchen once more. And when I did, I was very glad - I found that I'd missed them more than I thought.

Lemon Pepper Pilaf

1 onion, roughly cut into wedges
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons hot curry powder
2 cups long grain rice
4 cups water
Vegetables of your choosing: pick from broccoli, carrots, capsicums, mushrooms, cauliflower, zucchini, etc
1 400 gram tin corn kernels, drained
juice of one plump lemon
freshly ground pepper

1 - Heat the oil over a medium heat in a large saucepan, and cook the onion for 3 minutes or so, or until tender and golden. Add the curry powder, and cook for a minute more, until the curry is fragrant.

2 - Add the rice and vegetables, and stir until covered with the onion mixture. Add the water, and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally.

3 - Once boiled, cover and simmer for 8 - 10 minutes or so, or until the rice and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Add the corn, lemon juice and pepper, mix well, then serve.

Soba Noodles with Winter Vegetables

Talk about a healthy start to the week! All those vegetables - you can practically go polish your halo after making this, bwahahahah!

Soba Noodles with Winter Vegetables

150 grams soba noodles
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 bunch broccolini, trimmed
1 large carrot, peeled and but into thin batons
1/2 cauliflower, cut into floret
2 small bok choy, trimmed and washed
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sweet chilli sauce

1 - Cook the noodles in a large pan of salted water according to instructions. Drain, then set aside.

2 - Meanwhile, heat the sesame oil over a high heat in a large non-stick wok/pan. Add the vegetables, and stir fry until just tender. Add the soy and chilli sauces, and cook for a minute more.

3 - Place a serving of noodles onto a plate, top with some vegetables, then sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

Moroccan style potato stew

This is my take on Madhur Jaffrey's Moroccan Potato Stew, featured in her book World Vegetarian. Her's is a nice gentle stew, but if you've been reading this blog for a while, you've probably realised that I just simply cannot help myself: I must add a fiery chilli kick to pretty much everything! I also added some more tomatoes than the original recipe called for, just to give the dish a bit more depth.

As a side note, if you only buy one vegetarian recipe book in your entire life, you really wouldn't go too far wrong with this one. With over 600 recipes to choose from, covering almost every cuisine you can think of (and quite a few you probably couldn't), it really is a fabulous resource when it comes to cooking authentic, interesting and tasty ethnic vegetarian meals.

Right, enough babbling. The recipe:

Moroccan style Potato Stew

2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced (save the rest for tomorrow night's meal)
2 Roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced roughly (see here for an easy way to peel a tomato)
500 grams salad style potatoes (I used the waxy Red Desiree variety), washed well and diced
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teeaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
500 mls (2 cups) water

1 - Heat the olive oil over a medium low heat, and cook the onion for five minutes, or until tender and golden. Add the chilli flakes and cook for another minute (this allows the chilli to release it's heat).

2 - Add the remaining ingredients, and combine well. Bring the stew to the boil, then simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, or until the pototatoes are tender (but not falling apart).

3 - Mush up a couple of the potatoes to thicken up the sauce, and then serve.

Rosemary and Chickpea Pasta

This is a meal for Friday nights, when you head is aching, your feet are tired, and your belly has been rumbling since four in the afternoon. So settle down with a large serving of this, and a favourite magazine and enjoy the weekend!

Rosemary and Chickpea Pasta

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
800 gram tin crushed tomatoes
400 gram tin chickpeas
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
500 grams penne
freshly ground pepper

1 - Cook the penne in a large saucepan of salted water according to the time on the packet, or until the pasta is al dente. Drain.

2 - Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a saucepan over a medium low heat. Saute the onion gently until golden and tender.

3 - Add the tomatoes, grated carrot and rosemary, and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer until the sauce is nice and thick.

4 - Add the chickpea and lots of freshly ground pepper, and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove half the sauce and puree it. Add the puree back into the pan with the rest of the sauce, heat through and then serve over the penne.

Green salad

2 handfuls mixed lettuce leaves
1 ripe avocado, diced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

Put the lettuce and avocado into a bowl. Mix the oil, vinegar and mustard together in a small cup, then pour over the salad. Toss to combine, then serve immediately.

Eggplant and green bean noodle soup

This soup is what I like to refer to as "The Clayton's Laksa", or the laksa you have when you're not really having a laksa. Anyhoo, it doesn't really matter what it's called - it's damn fine!

2 tablespoons red curry paste (or more if you want to blow funny steam clouds out of your ears)
1 1/4 cups of water
1 large eggplant, cubed
1 large sweet potato, cubed
410g tin coconut milk
200 grams green beans, trimmed
1 large head of broccoli, cut into florets
150 grams dried flat rice noodles
coriander, to serve

1 - Combine the curry paste, water, eggplant and sweet potato in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil, then simmer, covered for 5 minutes.

2 - Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to the boil, and cook the rice noodles according to the packet instructions. Drain.

3 - Add the beans and broccoli to the pan, plus the coconut milk. Rebring to the boil, then simmer for another 5 - 7 minutes, or until the veggies are tender. Add the noodles then serve, topping with the coriander.

Curried Pea and Lettuce Soup

Sorry folks, no photo for this one because I am a big ol' duffer who completely forgot! Both my husband and daughter have that awful leurgy that seems to be taking Melbourne out, so my mind was more on making a soup to make them feel better, or at the very least a little bit less congested, and the whole photo thing simply went out the window.

So you'll have to take my word for it that this soup is very, very green. And very, very good for people with horrible snuffly colds. It's also good for alarming dinner guests (trust me, it's that green!), but that's a story for another day.

Curried Pea and Lettuce Soup

1 cos lettuce, leaves washed well and roughly shredded
1 onion, diced
50 grams butter (or olive oil for vegans)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons hot curry powder
1 litre vegetable stock or water
500g frozen peas

1 - Melt the butter in a large saucepan, then saute the onion until tender and golden. Add the garlic and curry powder, and mix until combined. If you happen to have a cold, take this opportunity to stick you head right in the pan, and breath in deeply. We'll shake off that cold in no time - you, me and the peas!

2 - Add the lettuce, and stir so it is coated with the onion mixture. Wait until it wilts, then add the peas and stock.

3 - Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes. Let the soup cool, then blend until smooth. Reheat to serve, ideally with some yummy crusty bread.

Chickpea and Sweet Potato Curry

This was one of those: Hmm, what the heck shall we have for dinner tonight. Better open up the cupboard and see what's hiding in there. Oh great - sweet mother of nothing. Hang on - I spy a sweet potato! And there's an old capsicum in the fridge, right next to that handful of spinach that I forgot to put into my sandwhich yesterday. I'm pretty sure I've got a can of chickpeas in the pantry. That's it - dinner is served!"

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 2cm squares
1 red capsicum, roughly chopped
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 or 2 handfuls of spinach leaves, washed well
1 800g tin crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons hot curry powder
400g chickpeas, drained and rinsed well
coriander, to serve
cooked brown rice, to serve

1 - Steam the sweet potato in a steamer until just tender. Remove.

2 - Heat the olive oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Saute the onion until golden, then add the red capsicum, garlic and curry powder. Stir and cook for a minute or two.

3 - Add the tomatoes and chickpeas, bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes and spinach, and carefully simmer until the spinach has wilted. Be careful not to moosh the sweet potatoes too much! Add coriander to taste, then serve over the brown rice.

Potato and leek soup with caramelised onion bruschetta

I love this combination! The sweetness of the onions works really well with the velvety, peppery soup. And the best bit is that the onions can be easily done whilst the soup is simmering away, and is well worth the effort.

Potato and Leek Soup

6 large potatoes (I used Dutch creams), peeled and chopped roughly
3 leeks, washed well and the white part of the stems finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
20 grams butter (or olive oil for vegans)
1 litre vegetable stock or water
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

1 - Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Fry the leeks for 3 minutes, or until soft and golden.

2 - Add the potatoes and carrots, and toss in the leed mixture.

3 - Add the stock, and bring to the boil. Turn down to a simmer for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes and carrots are tender.

4 - Puree the soup, then season with plenty of pepper. Reheat to serve.

Caramelised onion bruschetta

3 red onions, peeled and finely sliced
50 grams butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon thyme leaves
1 thick slice of Italian-style bread per person

1 - Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan. Once melted, add the onion, and cover the pan.

2 - Let the onions cook for 10 minutes with the lid on the pan, stirring reguarly.

3 - Remove lid, add the brown sugar then continue cooking over a medium heat, stirring often, until the onions are dark brown and tender. Add the thyme leaves.

4 - Toast the bread, then spread with onion mixture. Serve.