Summer Vegetable Tarts

Even though it's now officially Autumn, there are still so many Summer vegetables around in the fruit and veg shops and markets. I know that our tomato plant is flourishing!

A light puff pastry tart is the perfect way to use up some of those vegetables in a fresh and easy way. Shop bought frozen puff pastry is just so easy to work with, and is great to have in the freezer to use for sweet and savoury treats, whenever the mood strikes you. As much as fresh pastry is delicious, as a working mum, I just don't have the time to make my own, especially puff pastry.

These tarts are perfect as a quick mid-week meal and would also be lovely as a light weekend lunch. Serve them with a salad or some roasted vegetables to make it a more substantial dinner.

The zucchini is only barely cooked, but because it is sliced so thinly, it is delicious. The creamy Danish feta adds saltiness and the roasted red capsicum sauce a beautiful sweetness.

I like making individual tarts, because they look much more pretty, but you could easily make this into one tart to serve at the table. For a dinner party, cut the pastry into nine or twelve squares to make canapés. Lovely to serve with a glass of Champagne at the beginning of the night!

 Whip these tarts up for your next lunch or dinner and see how quickly they disappear!

Summer Vegetable Tarts

2 red capsicums

1 Tbs olive oil

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, defrosted

80g Danish feta

2 spring onions, thinly sliced white and inner green part

A handful of mint leaves + extra to garnish, finely chopped

1 small zucchini

1 Tbs toasted pinenuts

Vegetables or salad to serve

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat a grill to high heat.

Cut capsicums in half and remove seeds and membranes.

Place skin side up on a foil covered tray and grill until the skin is blackened and blistered.

Wrap the capsicum in the foil and set aside for 10 minutes for the skin to loosen. Peel the blackened skin off and discard.

Place roasted capsicum flesh and oil in a blender and whiz until smooth. Season to taste and set aside.

Preheat oven to 220 degrees.

Lay pastry sheet out on a work bench and cut into quarters. 

To make tarts, score the pastry completely around the outside, about 1cm in from the edge. Prick the centre with a fork. See the top tarts in the photo.

Alternatively, cut completely through the pastry 1cm in from the edge, except for 1cm at the two opposite corners. Fold the pastry strips across the square to create a decorative edge. Prick the centre with a fork. See the photo for the finished product.

Brush the outside of the pastry squares with milk and place on a tray lined with baking paper.

Par cook pastry cases for 10 minutes, or until puffed and golden. Use an oven mitt and a spoon to push down the centre of the pastry so that it is flat. Remove from the oven.

Using a vegetable peeler, cut long ribbons from the zucchini and set aside.

In a small bowl, mash feta with a fork until smooth. Add mint, spring onion and season with pepper. 

Spread the feta mixture into the pastry cases.

Top with zucchini ribbons and return to the oven for 5 minutes, or until the pastry is completely golden and the zucchini has softened.

Place blobs of the capsicum puree over the tarts and return to the oven for 1-2 minutes to warm through.

Carefully remove tarts from the baking tray onto serving plates. Sprinkle with toasted pinenuts and extra chopped mint.

Serve with vegetables or salad.

Enjoy!

Goat And Beetroot Cannelloni

I love to play around with different flavours and combinations of foods, depending on what is in the fridge or cupboard and what looks good at the shops.

Sometimes these combinations work out really well, other times not so good. Obviously those that don't work out, you never get to read about!

This week, I had some fresh lasagne sheets in the fridge and a beetroot that was looking sad and sorry for it's self, that I'd forgotten about in the bottom of the basket. Throw in a giant bag of yellow and orange capsicums in the clearance section of the fruit shop and some herbs from the garden and I was set on making some cannelloni.

I don't actually make cannelloni very often, but when I do, it tends to be ricotta and spinach or some other vegetarian version. This time I thought I'd make a meaty version that would match nicely with the beetroot. Initially I was going to make chicken ones, but our local Middle Eastern butcher has wonderful goat mince, so I decided that was the way to go. Sweet, lean goat and sweet, earthy beetroot are a fantastic combination!

Instead of a tomato based sauce, I decided to make a sweet roasted capsicum one with dill and garlic. Roasting the capsicums brings out a lovely sweetness in them, and the yellow and orange ones I picked up tend to be on the sweeter side anyway.

To make sure there was enough liquid to cook the pasta, I added a bit of water to the baking tray with the cannelloni before it went into the oven. This didn't dilute the sauce at all, but helped to make sure the pasta was al dente once the top was a beautiful golden colour.

Since the cannelloni already had quite a lot of different flavours going on, I served it with a simple lettuce, tomato and avocado salad. You could get more creative if you like, but I think keeping it simple is better than being too overwhelmed.

Goat And Beetroot Cannelloni

500g goat mince
1 medium beetroot, peeled and grated
1 red onion, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
A drizzle of olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped dill
Salt and pepper to taste

6 mixed yellow and orange capsicums
1/4 cup finely chopped dill
1 clove of garlic, coarsely chopped
1 ripe tomato, quartered
1/2 cup water

1 packet of fresh lasagne sheets

To make the filling, heat a drizzle of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the mince beetroot, onion and garlic.

Fry until the meat is just cooked, breaking up clumps as you go. The meat will continue to cook in the oven, so it doesn't matter if it's not cooked all the way through.
Stir through the dill and season to taste.
Set aside to cool.

To make the sauce, cut capsicums in half and remove the seeds and membranes.
Place them skin side up on a large baking tray on a piece of foil. This means less cleaning up afterwards!
Grill under hight heat until the skin is blistered and blackened. The blacker the better.
Remove from the grill, wrap all the capsicums into a parcel with the foil and set aside for 10 minutes to cool and loosen the skins.
Carefully unwrap the parcel, keeping all the lovely juices inside.
Peel the skins off the capsicum and put the flesh and juices in a food processor.
Add the garlic, dill, tomato and water and process to a smooth sauce.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To assemble, cut the pasta sheets in half so that you have 2 squares from each piece.
Lay all the pieces out on a bench and divide the filling up between them. You want enough filling so that you can still roll and enclose the cannelloni.
Roll them all up with the seam side down.

Spread a good spoonful of the sauce on the base of a large baking dish and add 1/4 cup of water. This helps to cook the pasta.

Lay the cannelloni over the sauce in a single layer. I could fit 14 rolls into my dish.
Sprinkle an extra 1/4 cup water over the top and then spoon the remaining sauce evenly over the pasta.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Bake cannelloni for about 30 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked and the sauce has turned to a nice crust on the top.
Rest for 5 minutes in the tray before serving with a light salad.

Enjoy!

And To Drink....

There's no photo of tonight's wine because it was a cleanskin Pinot Noir with no label.  I picked it up from Hanging Rock Winery a few years ago when we went for a drive to the Macedon Ranges in Victoria. We bought a dozen of the wines in a special deal and have been enjoying them ever since. Being a cool climate Pinot Noir, there is lots of beautiful plum and red berry fruit flavours. There was no funkiness to this wine and it had nice clean and simple flavours.

The ripe red fruits matched perfectly with the sweetness in the goat and beetroot filling and the roasted capsicum sauce. 

This was certainly a cheaper quaffer, but was a great wine to have with a nice hearty meal on a cool Spring night. It certainly went down very easily!

Hanging Rock Winery make some fantastic wines, particularly their premium Sparkling, Shiraz and Pinot Noir.  If you happen to be in the Macedon Ranges, make sure you drop in. It's only an hour drive from Melbourne, so is perfect for a day trip or when you just want to get out of the city for a weekend.

Vegie Stacks

For this week's vegetarian meal, I thought I'd try and get a bit creative and do some thing different. It's so easy to get into a rut and just do the same old things week in and week out!

I saw some beautiful zucchini and eggplant at the fruit shop and decided that chargrilled vegies were going to be the way to go. With a pack of haloumi in the fridge and a few other bits and pieces, my mind was made up.

Vegie stacks are a bit 90's, but I figured that these would be pretty tasty none the less.  I layered the grilled zucchini, eggplant and haloumi and then baked it in the oven until the vegies were really soft. To give a nice crispy topping, I used grated parmesan, panko bread crumbs and some pine nuts, which browned up nicely in the oven.

The sauce I served it with was blended roasted red capsicum and hummus, but you could use any dip, pesto or tomato pasta sauce you had on hand. I didn't have time to make my own hummus, so don't worry if it's shop bought, rather than homemade!

This dish does take a little bit of preparation, but you could easily grill the vegies and make the hummus one night and then prepare the stacks the next. If you do, you might need to cook the stacks for a bit longer as the vegies will be cold, rather than warm.

Let's revive the 90's vegetarian line-up with something a bit more modern!

Grilled Vegie Stacks With Red Capsicum Hummus

1 medium zucchini

1 medium eggplant

200g packet of haloumi

1 Tbs grated parmesan cheese

1 Tbs panko bread crumbs

2 tsp pine nuts

Olive oil spray

Salt and pepper to taste

1 roasted red capsicum, skin removed

1/2 cup hummus

A handful of oregano leaves

Rocket to serve

Slice zucchini and eggplant lengthwise into 5mm thick slices.

Heat a chargrill pan on medium heat.

Spray vegie slices and grill for about 2 minutes on each side or until there are brown grill marks and the vegetables have softened. The eggplant may need slightly longer.

Repeat with all the slices and set aside.

Cut the haloumi into 5mm thick slices and pat dry with kitchen paper.

In the same grill pan on medium heat, grill haloumi for 1 minute each side or until grill marks appear.

Set aside.

To make the hummus, in a small blender, whiz up the roasted red capsicum with the hummus and a few oregano leaves. Season to taste and set aside.

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees.

Line a baking tray with foil.

Build your stacks by layering eggplant, zucchini and haloumi with a spread of the hummus mixture on the vegies. I managed 3 stacks with 3 layers each.

Season the eggplant and zucchini well as you layer.

Sprinkle the panko crumbs and parmesan over the top.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until the vegies start to soften and the crumbs brown.

Throw the pine nuts on the top and cook for another 5 minutes, or until the pine nuts have browned.

Remove the stacks from the oven before the pine nuts and crumbs burn!

To serve, place one stack on each plate, sprinkle with the oregano leaves and top with some rocket. Dollop the hummus mixture around the stack.

Enjoy!

Roasted Cauliflower

• I like trying to find new recipes for vegetarian dishes to have on Meat Free Monday, or any day of the week really. Being a bit of a carnivore, my repertoire is a bit limited.
  

  
  

  After making the cauliflower 'steak' that we had with the turkey shanks last week, I had more or less half a cauliflower to use up. I didn't feel like making soup again, so I searched the interwebs for ideas. I came across a recipe for roasted cauliflower on the Bon Appetit website and modified it to use extra ingredients that I had in the cupboard and fridge. 

  
  

  This dish is the result. It was perfect as a light vegetarian meal, but would also be great as a side dish with meat or fish. Make sure you season it well, otherwise the cauliflower can be a little bland.

  
  

  The roasted capsicum added some beautiful sweetness and the macadamias some crunch. I used yellow capsicum, but you could use red if thats what you had. To make it slightly more interesting, add some crispy bacon just before you serve it. It might not be meat free, but it sure would be tasty!

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  Roasted Cauliflower with Capsicum, Macadamia Nuts and Parmesan

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  1/2 a cauliflower, cut into florets

  1 red onion, cut into 8 wedges

  4 whole garlic cloves, peeled

  4 sprigs of thyme

  1 Tbs olive oil

  1 yellow capsicum, roasted and torn into bite sized pieces

  1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

  1 Tbs chopped macadamia nuts

  Salt and pepper to taste

  
  

  
  

  Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

  Place cauliflower, onion, garlic and thyme on a baking tray and drizzle with oil. Toss to coat and season well with salt and pepper.

  Roast, turning occasionally, for 35 minutes, or until the cauliflower is starting to soften.

  Remove from the oven, add the roasted capsicum and macadamia nuts and toss to combine.

  Sprinkle with the parmesan and return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown.

  Serve on its own or with meat or fish.

  
  

  Enjoy!

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  
  

Baked Ricotta

I'm always looking for new vegetarian meals for meat free Monday, as I do get sick of having the same sort of thing all the time. As much as I love haloumi, it is nice to have something different occasionally!

This dish is really easy, and you can change the flavours depending on what you have in the fridge or the cupboard. It's also quite light and after a weekend of some serious eating, it was just what I needed. If you like olives and capers, throw a handful of each into the mixture. I had some olive salt that had been sitting in the cupboard for ages, so used that instead of regular salt. You could also throw in some baby spinach leaves when it comes out of the oven and let the heat in the dish wilt it, rather than serving it with a side salad.

For something a bit different, you could even serve this as an entree or nibble at a party with fresh slices of baguette or crackers, although you would need to cut the capsicum and tomato into smaller pieces so that your guests didn't make a complete mess!

When you don't have the time to make up something fancy, but you want a tasty lunch or light dinner, then this is perfect. I hope you like it.

Baked Ricotta With Capsicum And Tomato

1/4 cup olive oil

500g fresh ricotta, cut into 4 wedges

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 a punnet of cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1 red capsicum, roasted and chopped into bite sized pieces

1 yellow capsicum, roasted and chopped into bite sized pieces

4 sprigs of thyme

A sprinkle of chilli flakes, or to taste

Crusty bread, to serve

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Pour half the oil into an oven proof dish and then arrange the ricotta wedges in a single layer on top.

Season with salt and pepper.

Scatter the tomatoes and chopped capsicum over the ricotta. Season to taste.

Drizzle with more of the oil and top with the thyme and chilli flakes.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until the ricotta is starting to turn golden around the edges.

Remove from the oven, drizzle with the remaining oil and season further, if you like.

Serve with crusty bread and a light leafy salad.

Enjoy!

Sensational Sides

Not everything we eat in the eat quaff laugh household is super fancy. Sometimes we like to keep it simple and just have steak, chicken or pork with salad or vegies. For me, what really makes a meal is the quality of the meat, but also the side dish that you serve with it. It doesn't necessarily need to be anything complicated. Sometimes the best dishes are those that use fresh produce straight out of the garden or from the market, prepared simply. You want the hero of the dish to be the beautiful vegetables.

Here are a few of my favourite side dishes to go with a variety of meals. I guarantee they will zhush up your dinner time!

Asparagus 

 

Now that Australian asparagus is back in season, we've been eating it at least once or twice a week. It would have to be one of my favourite vegetables and is best served simply. I love to just blanch the asparagus spears, so that they retain a bit of crunch and then drizzle with a lemon infused olive oil, a grinding of salt and pepper and some finely grated lemon rind. Delish!

Alternatively, find a good quality aioli from the supermarket or deli and drizzle over the blanched spears. If you have the time and energy, make your own Hollandaise. I recently discovered an amazing fresh parsley and cracked black pepper aioli from Fifya. It was delicious slightly warmed and spooned over the hot spears. A perfect match with any sort of meat.

To blanch the asparagus, simply snap off the woody ends, place in a heatproof dish and pour over boiling water from the kettle. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes. If the spears are really thick, you might need to do this twice. You can also cook them in the microwave by putting the spears in a container with a lid and covering with a small amount of water. Microwave on high for about 2 minutes, then drain.

Broccolini

Broccolini is another green veg which is available most of the year round and is a great side vegetable. It is so underrated! Broccolini is also best served simply, and similar to asparagus, doesn't need much done to it.

If you don't like broccoli, then give it's more tender cousin a go. You can eat the whole thing, including the stalks. I think they're the best bit! 

Simply trim the ends and blanch the broccolini in the same way as asparagus. You can either pour boiling water over the stalks and let it sit for 5 minutes, or microwave with a light covering of water for 2-3 minutes. The thicker the stalks, the longer it will take to cook. You want it to be just tender, not soft and soggy!

I like to toss the cooked broccolini with extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, finely grated lemon rind and some toasted pine nuts. The nuttiness of the pine nuts really goes well with the flavour of the greens.

Roasted Capsicum and Chargrilled Zucchini with Persian Fetta

This is one of my all time favourite summer salads. Roasted red capsicum is so easy to make and tastes much better than the stuff from the supermarket. There are so many uses for the capsicum, but this salad is easy and super tasty.

1 red capsicum
1 zucchini
A handful of mint or basil leaves
Persian fetta or soft goats curd

All you need to do is cut a red capsicum in half, remove the stalk, seeds and membranes and place cut side down on a piece of foil under the grill. Grill on high until the skin in blistered and blackened. The blacker the better! Wrap the foil around the capsicum like a little parcel and leave for about 10 minutes, until it is cool enough to handle. The skin should then easily peel away from the flesh, leaving you with sweet, beautiful roasted capsicum and some amazing juice.

For the zucchini, slice lengthways into 1/2cm thick slices, spray lightly with oil spray and season with salt and pepper. Heat a chargrill pan on high and grill the slices on each side until the zucchini softens and you can see grill marks on the cut sides. Set aside to cool.

To assemble the salad, alternately layer zucchini, capsicum, torn fresh mint or basil and feta. You might get two or three layers, depending on how big the capsicum and zucchini are. Season with freshly ground black pepper and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and any of the juices that came out of the capsicum when it was resting.

This is best served at room temperature to really appreciate the flavour.

Mushrooms

 

I love mushrooms of all shapes and sizes and would eat them every day if I could.  They are great as a vegetarian meal, stuffed with all sorts of goodness, or used as a side dish. Again, I love to keep it simple. 

Thickly slice whatever type of mushroom you prefer and fry up in a pan with a knob of butter and a drizzle of olive oil. You want to cook them until they start to release their own juices and become soft and soak up the butter and oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste, throw in a handful of chopped thyme leaves and a clove of crushed garlic and continue to cook until fragrant.

Mushies cooked this way are great served over a piece of steak as a simple mushroom sauce. You could also toast thick slices of ciabatta or sourdough and pile up with the mushroom mix, bruschetta style. Add a few slices of bocconcini or shavings of parmesan, if you like. What could be more tasty for a quick lunch or light dinner?