Recipes Of The World

When I did a stint as a vegetarian a couple of years back, I made mushrooms my main meat replacement. I found mushrooms fitted in nicely as a replacement for all kinds of meats, and they go so well with garlic, olive oil, butter, spinach, thyme and all kinds of other flavors. It’s worth noting that this is probably not a great idea as a dietary replacement, but it’s fine from a "tastes good" point of view.

Last week I make a really good creamy mushrooms on toast - just like you get at the cafe. The star of the dish was the big portobello mushrooms, with the sauce made based on little button mushrooms nearing the end of their life. Add olive oil, butter, white wine vinegar, thyme, garlic and the right amount of cream and it’s a perfect Sunday breakfast.

Mushroom Pasta

Taking the concept of the mushrooms on toast, with all those lovely ingredients that just play so nicely together, I turned this simple recipe into a pasta dish. Make a double batch so you have one for the table and one for the freezer.

• Portobello mushrooms, halved
• Button or brown mushrooms, chopped finely
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 medium onion
• One glass of white wine
• 200ml fresh cream
• A few sprigs of fresh thyme
• Olive oil, and a good knob of butter
• A medium bunch of spinach
• (optional) 2 chicken thighs
• 250g penne pasta or macaroni
• Salt + pepper
• Grated Parmesan and cheddar cheese to top

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Cook the pasta to packet directions, and preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Crush and chop the garlic. Slice or dice the onion. Chop the thyme. Chop the spinach. Dice the button mushrooms really small. Slice the portobello mushrooms in half or quarters if they are really big.

Add all these ingredients to a hot pan with some olive oil and a good knob of butter. Cook for 5 minutes, then take off the heat.

If you are adding chicken to this dish, cook the chicken in the same fry pan, without cleaning in between. There should be enough oil in the pan for the chicken, and plenty of leftover flavor in there. Once the chicken is browned, add the mushroom / spinach mix back to the pan, with a glass of white wine and 200ml cream.

Cook for a few minutes, it should be looking quite wet by this stage (which we want so it can soak into the pasta).

Pasta time

In shallow baking dishes, line the bottom with your cooked pasta. Put a layer of mushroom/chicken mix on top, and stir through if you like. Add a layer of cheese to top (to any thickness you like). A 50/50 mix of fresh Parmesan and tasty cheddar is especially nice.

Cook for about 30 minutes and serve.

Add to: | | rutababy, 06/27/07

Biscotti

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

    1 3/4 cups of flour (half light spelt and half whole spelt are my favourite)
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    3/4 cup pistachios or almonds; try dried fruits/raisins for a reduced-fat recipe
    2 tablespoons flax seeds “>Directions:

*Use a liquid with a solid, i.e. cane sugar goes with oil, and maple syrup with the soy butter.

Preheat oven t…

Add to: | | susan.brackett, 06/27/07

Cuban Papas Rellenas

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

    1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
    1 large green bell pepper, finely chopped
    3 cloves garlic, minced
    1 package textured soy protein
    1 teaspoon each salt and pepper
    2 teaspoons cumin
    4 teaspoons tomato paste
    1 tablespoon vinegar
    4 large potatoes, peeled and boiled
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    oil or your favorite "egg wash" substitute
    flour
    dry breadcrumbs
    oil for frying

Directions:

Saute onion and bell pepper till translucent and limp. Add garlic and saute 2 min, then add textured soy protein, spices, tomato paste and vinegar. Cook till complet…

I have had a great couple of weeks in terms of cooking great meals, but unfortunately the stress of just getting the meal on the table has meant I haven’t had time for photography and proper write-ups.

So here’s a re-cap of the last few creations I have made. I’ll be sure to photograph them next time

Slow-roasted pork shoulder

Saturday night’s winner was slow-roasted pork, seasoned with coriander seeds, mandarin and olive oil. This started by scoring the skin with a sharp knife, and rubbing in salt + coriander seeds, then pouring olive oil and mandarin juice over the top. I then seasoned the meat with rosemary and thyme, and more mandarin juice.

In the pan, I added more olive oil and the mandarin pulp, then covered the dish with tin foil and roasted on low heat for 5 hours.

Potatoes and kumara get added half-way through. They come out soft and sweet, though not especially crunchy.

Feta-spinach dip

For a party last week, I put on a really nice feta dip served with fresh bread. I made so much of the stuff it lasted a whole week, and meant I could enjoy it on sandwiches etc for lunch.

The basic recipe involved frying some spinach, onion and garlic with oil for a few minutes until the spinach reduced to a fraction of the original size.

Then add to a blender with 200g of feta cheese, and a cup and a half of plain unsweetened yogurt. Blend until smooth, and it’s an easy and cheap dip that tastes great.

Slow-cooked chicken stuffed crust pizza with pesto

Last week we had a "pizza and wine night". The premise was that everyone turn up with an uncooked pizza, and we throw them all in the oven and polish them off one by one while enjoying good wine and good company.

Worked great, will do it again.

My pizza was a homemade base with a stuffed crust of sweet chili and cheese. On the pizza was a layer of freshly made chunky pesto, topped with lumps of feta cheese and slow-cooked chicken thighs, in large chunks. Topped with a small amount of cheddar cheese. It was a huge pizza, tasted great but looked even better.

The stuffed crust isn’t hard to make if you are doing your own base, and gets a lot of "wows" from your guests. Give it a try.

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Lemonade scones

Not my recipe, but a great idea anyway. I’ll try to find a link, but basically these scones are made from self raising flour, fresh cream and lemonade, nothing else.

The taste was amazing, and I’m really impressed at what you can do with only 3 ingredients. The kiddies liked them too, and I think we are still cleaning strawberry jam out of the carpet.

Homemade icecream

Another 3 ingredient wonder from Nigella Lawson. I have never done my own ice cream before, but Nigella insisted and I guess I’m a sucker (she is a domestic goddess you know).

Fresh cream, icing sugar and some citrus of choice is all that is needed. I used sweet mandarins and lime juice.

Just like the book said, it was easy, didn’t require any ongoing stirring, and the taste blew me away. It even lasted a few days in the freezer without going bad. Here’s a pic of my efforts…

Some crock pots

I’m always putting interesting crock-pot meals together but there is no strict "recipe" as such - it’s really just a collection of things I happen to have in the fridge at any given time.

So the crock-pot from the other night was especially good as I managed to make gravy beef taste fantastic with the perfect mix of ingredients (whatever they were).

It’s not that I have anything against gravy beef, but a couple of months back I came home drunk and hungry and went to cook myself a big yummy steak. I got the wrong meat out of the freezer, and turns out what I thought was aged rump was actually gravy beef. Has to be one of the foulest and toughest steaks I have ever had.

So the successful gravy beef in the crock pot this week has got me back on track for enjoying this cut of meat again.

I think that’s all I have been up to. I’ll be snapping more pics for the site as soon as I catch my breath.

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Recipe submitted by canidspirit, 06/24/07

The BEST REAL Peanut Butter Cookies!

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

    1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
    3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
    1/2 cup shortening/vegan soy butter mixture (1/4 cup vegan soy butter, 1/4 cup vegetable shortening)
    2 tablespoons of vanilla
    1 heaping tablespoon of unsweetened applesauce
    1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
    3/4 teaspoon baking soda
    3/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

**Note on the peanut butter and vegan soy butter: I use Smart Balance peanut butter, natural unsweetened PB may not taste good in this recipe! For margarine, I use Smart Balance Light because the flavor is…

Add to: | | tensecondrule, 06/23/07

Bok Choy, Spinach “>Ingredients (use vegan versions):