editor, Author at The Kind Cook

A Quinoa Summer Salad

on September 7, 2013

I have not been exploring the world of quinoa as much as I would have liked to yet but when creating some new Christmas inspired recipes for a magazine last month I added what to me are the flavours of summer Christmas.

Don’t get too hung up on measurements with this. The intended result is simply nourishment, colour and a medley of fresh gorgeous ingredients.

This would go beautifully with bean burgers and a crisp garden salad or it would be the perfect accompaniment to a fragrant nut roast or lovely just on its own for lunch.

YOU NEED

1 cup of black quinoa

2 organic cobs of corn

1 punnet of roma cherry tomatoes

1 fresh mango

½ Christmas melon

½ cup of pomegranate seeds

1 cup of fresh, washed spinach leaves

1 lime

olive oil to taste

YOU DO

Rinse the quinoa well under cold water. Drain it and discard the rinsing water. Then place the quinoa into a medium pot with 2 cups of water. Bring it to the boil, then turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and cover the pot. Cook for 15 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed. When it’s cooked, it resembles little curls. Once it is cooked, allow it to cool and set aside.

While the quinoa is cooking, remove the husks from the corn and place the corn cobs on an open flame. Turn the cobs as the kernels start to blacken and continue cooking until all the corn is cooked. Once it has cooled, slice the kernels from the cob. Discard the cobs and set the kernels aside.

Cut the cherry tomatoes, lengthways into 4 and set aside.

Remove the stone from the mango, cut the cheeks of the mango off and slice and remove cubes of mango. Discard the stone and peel and set the mango cubes aside.

Remove and discard the seeds and skin from the melon and either ball the melon with a melon baller or cut it into cubes.

Mix all the ingredients together now, except for the lime and olive oil. When you go to serve the salad, squeeze lime juice over the it and drizzle some olive oil over the top also and serve.

Yields: 4 side serves.

Time: 30 minutes.

Notes: It’s really important to rinse the quinoa well because depending on how it has been produced it can have a very bitter flavour.

If you don’t have a gas stove top, simply blacken the corn in a pan or on the BBQ.

If you can’t find Christmas Melon, you can substitute it for honeydew melon.You can often get pomegranate seeds at the supermarket in the fruit and vegetable section. Otherwise just remove the seeds from a fresh pomegranate.

Citrus Scented Date Rolls

on August 9, 2013

I keep seeing these at my grocers & the supermarket, so I decided to give them a go and they are SO easy.

They would be perfect in school lunch boxes or for a quick easy mid morning snack at work or home. They would even be a lovely sweet finish at a dinner party, served along with coffee.

I used medjool dates so they blended beautifully and they blended in seconds. I never pass up a chance to add a bit of citrus zing to a dish though too so added some orange zest. This is completely optional.

YOU NEED

1 large organic orange

1 cup of pitted medjool dates

¼ cup of desiccated coconut

YOU DO

Grate the peel of the orange with a citrus zester. Put the rest of the orange aside for another use.

Blend the dates & zest together until you get your desired texture. I blended mine until it was smooth.

Get a tablespoon of mixture and roll it into a ball and then into a log shape. Repeat until all the mixture has been shaped.

Once all the date mixture is shaped into logs, roll the logs in the coconut.

Serve straight away or refrigerate in an air tight container in the fridge.

Yields: 16 small date rolls

Time: 10 minutes.

Notes: My medjool dates were organic and so soft and caramel like. If you use dates that are not quite as pliable and soft you may need to add a small amount of water to get them to blend.

Lemon zest instead of orange zest would be a gorgeous addition too. You could also roll them in sesame seeds, pistachios or any other nut instead of coconut. Just make sure any rolled in nuts don’t go into lunch boxes as schools tend to be nut free zones these days:)

Sun in a Glass

on June 19, 2013

This was breakfast today and it was gorgeous. Winter has hit and it’s freezing out side but this was like drinking the sun in a glass <3

YOU NEED

2 large oranges

1 over flowing cup of fresh pineapple chunks

¼ cup of coconut yoghurt

YOU DO

Juice the oranges and pineapple. Blend the coconut into the juice.

DRINK & LOVE IT!

Serves: 1

Time: 5 minutes

Freeze: N/A

Notes: If you are allergic to coconut just use alternative dairy free yoghurt. It will change the flavour but you will still get the stunning natural sweetness of the fruits and a satin creamy finish to your juice.

Smoky Pea Soup w/ Mint Pistou

on April 30, 2013

YOU NEED

1 leek

2 medium potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped

3 cups of frozen green peas

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced

1-2 tablespoons of Mexican fajita seasoning or a tiny touch of liquid smoke

5 cups of vegetable stock

salt and pepper

2 cups of fresh mint leaves, washed

¼ cup of nutritional yeast

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup of olive oil

YOU DO

Finely slice the white part of the leek and set the rest aside for stock or another recipe. Gently cook the leek and garlic in a medium pot, in a little water (just enough to stop the leek from sticking to the pan while it cooks) until the leek softens. Stir regularly while you cook the leek and add a little more water if you need to.

Add the potatoes and the stock to the pot and bring it to the boil. Once the stock has come to a boil, turn the heat down to a medium simmer and cook until the potato is almost cooked. Just before the potato is ready, add the peas and cook another couple of minutes. Add the Mexican Fajita seasoning or liquid smoke. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste and blend all ingredients until smooth.

While the soup is cooking prepare the mint pistou by simply blending the mint leaves, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil and set aside.

Serve the soup hot with fresh crusty bread and topped with a generous dollop of mint pistou.

Serves: Serves 4

Time: This only takes about half an hour if you pop a top on your pot to get it to the boil and cut your potato quite small.

Freeze: Suitable.

Notes: Nutritional yeast is an inactive yeast that is rich in B12. It offers body and a cheesy flavour to recipes. It can be purchased in well stocked health food stores.

Liquid smoke offers a plant based smokey flavour to soups and marinades. It can be purchase online and at well stocked delis.

For a lower fat option you can simply omit the pistou.

Juicepresso Review

on April 24, 2013

Juicepresso approached me recently to review their product and I have never used a juice presser before so I was keen to review their product for them.

The juicer arrived promptly via mail with a manual and recipes. (There are also a number of recipes online.)

The first thing that struck me was how small/compact the Juicepresso is and how light the machine is compared to some juicers! I had a little trouble putting it together but that was simply because I am a technically challenged cook land I always refuses to refer to a manual – which I had. It was also easier to pull apart (for someone who doesn’t read manuals) and cleaning was easy too. The only section that sometimes needed a bit more elbow grease was the small feeder into the output jug. Having said that though there is a small brush provided that has a pointy end you can use to push any backlog out. Like any juicer, rinsing in hot water straight after use and washing immediately means for a much easier clean.

The feeder took some getting use to because it is quite small compared to my juicer. This just meant that I had to get use to cutting my fruit and veg smaller and feed it through a little slower. The motor cut out on a couple of occasions but that seemed to only coincide with me being clumsy and impatient and not cutting ingredients small enough and placing too many ingredients in the feeder too fast.

The output jugs both go to the front which I really liked. I liked that I could not only see the juice/milk but also the fibrous output. It gave me more of an awareness of what I wasn’t consuming and potential wastage so I found myself making chocolate truffles with the almond skins from my almond milk and throwing the fibre from my juices into vegetable burgers and soups instead of just tossing nutrient rich food in the bin as wastage. I was really impressed too with the sheer quantity of basil juice that fed into the juice jug when I was doing my Basil and Pineapple Pops.

There were recipe examples online such as juicing corn to make corn milk which I had never heard of before and would just never have thought of doing myself so that alone was pretty exciting to a foodie like me. I have made a number of granitas in my time too but would never have thought of using some of the fruits they suggested in their recipes so in the warmer months I had a freezer full of varying flavoured ices with gorgeous colours showing through Tupperware tops. Some of the recipes don’t stipulate quantities of ingredients though which I like when first trialling a recipe but I contacted Juicepresso and they were really helpful and gave me some direction on how much of each ingredient I should be aiming at.

Over all my experience with my Juicepresso and the company was really pleasant and made for some gorgeous new recipes on the site so I am really appreciative that they gave me this opportunity.

For more info on Juicepresso:

Their website: www.juicepresso.com.au

Their recipes: resources.andatech.com.au/recipes/juicepresso/high_resolution.pdf

FB page http://facebook.com/juicepresso

Blog http://www.andatech.com.au/blog/tag/juice-recipes/ for recipe ideas.

You can also check out their YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/juicepresso for videos on the Juicepresso and its features.

Apricot & Filo Tart with Pistachios & a Mandarin Glaze

on April 6, 2013

YOU NEED

I sheet of filo pastry, cut into 4 squares that measure approximately 15cm by 15cm oil to brush the pastry with (I used rice bran oil) 1 tablespoon of brown sugar

¼ cup of unsalted, roughly chopped pistachios

1 cup of apricots, halved and the stones removed

1 tablespoon of mandarin marmalade

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

1 teaspoon of white sugar

squeeze of lemon juice

YOU DO

Preheat your oven to 175c.

Grease a single serve pie dish and set aside.

Lay one of your filo squares onto the bench and brush it with a little rice bran oil. Then sprinkle some brown sugar and pistachios evenly across the top. Lay the next square directly on top so the 2 squares fit together perfectly and also brush it with a little oil. Cover with a sprinkle of brown sugar and pistachios. Repeat this until you have done all 4 filo sheets, then place them into your pie dish to form a pastry shell and set it aside

Place the apricots, marmalade, lemon juice and vanilla essence into a bowl and mix well to combine. Place all ingredients into your pie dish and into the oven for about 20 – 25 minutes.

After about 15 minutes gently remove the pie from the pie dish and place it back in the oven so the underneath and sides of the pasty can colour.

Near the end of the cooking time, sprinkle the sugar over the apricots and increase the oven temp to 200c for 5 minutes or so to caramelise the top of the apricots.

Serve with your favourite dairy free ice-cream and another sprinkle of crushed pistachios too if you wish.

Serves: Serves 1 but there is plenty for 2!

Time: About 30-35 minutes. The cooking time will vary depending on your oven.

Notes: I happened to have some “thick filo” in the freezer so used that up for this but I usually use Borgs brand filo which is available in Coles and is dairy and palm oil free.

I use mandarin marmalade, but if you don’t have mandarin just use what you do have.

Rosemary, Garlic & Bean Dip

on April 5, 2013

This is so so easy and the result is rich, creamy, fragrant gorgeous dip. It’s perfect for a kids snack with vegetable sticks or at a party or BBQ.

YOU NEED

1 x 400 gram can of Cannellini beans, washed well and drained

1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons of olive oil (I use a cold pressed olive oil)

½ teaspoon of salt

2 cloves of roasted garlic

1 extra tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary leaves

YOU DO

Blend all the ingredients except for the extra tablespoon of rosemary leaves.

Once the ingredients are all well blended and smooth, stir the extra rosemary through the mixture and serve.

If you wish you can pour a little extra olive oil over the top when you serve it.

Serves: Makes about 1 cup of dip

Time: Seriously takes about 5 minutes

Freeze: I wouldn’t

Note: I made this using raw garlic and the garlic was too sharp on your tongue. I just popped a bulb of garlic in the oven on a low to medium temperature – about 150c with oil and cooked it until it was soft and well coloured. I then added 2 cloves to this and the result was so much better. Roasting the garlic takes that raw harshness away and you end up with a lovely sweet result.

Chocolate Mandarin Pudding

on March 27, 2013

I’m a bit into mandarins at the moment so purchased a massive bag of them the other day to play with some recipe ideas. Here is my 1st effort! It turned out just as I had imagined so I am thrilled:)

…………It is incredibly simple. So simple in fact that I was tempted to keep playing with it, but sometimes “less is best” and this is a perfect example of that old adage. I didn’t use a lot of mandarin but its notes still shine through in the pudding.

And it’s **full** of flavour.

YOU NEED

1 x 300gram pack of silken tofu (I use Blue Lotus organic silken tofu)

2 x mandarins

4 tablespoons of cocoa (a really good quality one will make a difference such as Dutch Cocoa but if you don’t have that don’t stress and just use what you have)

3 tablespoons agave syrup (if you do not have agave syrup use icing sugar to taste)

YOU DO

##GENTLY## grate the skin of the mandarins with a citrus zester (I highly recommend investing in one of these if you like a lot of recipes that use fruit zest. I have never had the same results with a normal grater for jobs like this. I end up with large chunks and pith which is not pleasant. Doing this with a zester will impart the flavour of the mandarin without chunks.)

Blend the zest and the rest of the ingredients together till smooth.

Refrigerate for a few hours

Servings: 2 -3

Time: Takes me about 5 minutes to make this one.

Freezing: Not suitable for freezing

White Minestrone

on March 17, 2013

White minestrone tends to take a back seat to its tomato based sibling. It’s a perfect alternative to people seeking recipes without tomato though. I use no oil in this dish as I am not trying to brown any of the vegetables and garlic is optional too. I just let the vegetables and flavours speak for themselves. You don’t get the same punchy hit you get from tomato based minestrone, but what does result is an earthy, creamy, nourishing dish, that is calm on the palate.

YOU NEED

1 large leek, use only the white part, wash and finely slice it

#optional 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced

1 cup of button mushrooms roughly chopped

1.5 litres of vegetable stock

1 cup of penne pasta

1 small turnip, peeled and cut into a small dice

1 large brown potato, cut into a dice. Make this dice a bit larger than the turnip though because the potato will cook faster than the turnip.

2 cups of green cabbage, finely sliced

2 cups of cauliflower, cut into small florets

1 cup of zucchini, cut into a small dice

1 can of butter beans, washed thoroughly and drained

1 can of chick peas, washed thoroughly and drained

YOU DO

Put the leek and the garlic into a large pot with a little water and sauté till the leeks soften. Add the mushrooms and continue to cook until they too have softened.

Add the stock and bring to the boil.

Add the pasta, potato, turnip. cabbage and cauliflower to the pot and simmer on a gentle heat for 10-15 minutes. Just before the pasta is cooked and the vegetables are tender, add the zucchini, butter beans and chickpeas and simmer for another few minutes.

Serves: 4 to 6

Time: 30-45 minutes

Freezing: Wouldn’t recommend.

Notes: You can use the green part if the leek if you wish. I prefer not to for this dish. I keep the green section and utilise it in other recipes.

Gluten free options would be to eliminate the pasta or simply use gluten free pasta.

tom yum gai (Asian soup recipe)

on March 16, 2013

YOU NEED

1.25 litres vegetable stock (I use Massel brand)

1.5 tablespoons of fresh galangal, grated or finely chopped (I didn’t have fresh so I used galangal powder which I found in an Asian grocer)

4 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons of vegetarian fish sauce (I get mine on line from the Cruelty Free Store)

2 teaspoons of red curry paste (There are a few without shrimp paste. I used “Maesri Red Curry Paste” which is in a small red tin with a little black and white picture of an elderly Asian lady. Found it in the Asian section in Safeway)

6 kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced

I stem of lemon grass. Just use the white section, remove the core and discard it and finely slice the rest

100 grams of shitake mushrooms, leave stems on and cut mushrooms lengthways in 4 large slices

1 cup of fresh bean shoots

1 cup of carrot (cut into matchsticks)

300 grams of fresh rice noodles.

½ cup of fresh mint, washed and roughly chopped

½ cup of coriander, washed and finely chopped

spring onion for garnish (also known as scallions)

# optional~ 1 small red chilli, finely sliced

YOU DO

Heat the vegetable stock in a large pot with the kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lemon grass, red curry paste, fish sauce and lime juice. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add the mushrooms and carrots and simmer gently for another 2 minutes.

Add the fresh rice noodles and simmer gently till they break up.

Throw in the bean shoots and herbs and serve garnished with some spring onion.

Serves: 4

Time: Takes about 30 minutes

Freezing: Not suitable for freezing