Pumpkin and Macadamia Soup

Ingredients

1 tbsp macadamia or olive oil
1/2 cup macadamias, roughly chopped
1 small white onion
1 tsp grated ginger
3 cups diced pumpkin
1 apple, chopped
3 cups chicken stock
Natural yoghurt for serving
Roasted macadamias, whole or halved, for garnish

Method

1. Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan, add the chopped macadamias, onion and ginger and sauté for two or three minutes, or until golden brown.
2. Add the pumpkin and apple, and cook it another two or three minutes, then pour the stock over it. Cover it and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the pumpkin is soft.
3. Transfer the mixture to a blender and process it until it’s smooth and creamy.
4. Serve it in large bowls with a swirl of yoghurt and a few roasted macadamias tossed on top for garnish.

 

Advertisement

 

Tasty Tuna and Ricotta Triangles

We try to vary our food daily. So today I had the day off and was trying to figure out what to have for lunch. So I looked in the fridge and cupboard and grabbed a bit of this and a bit of that and whipped up some tasty tuna and ricotta triangles. I thought I would share the recipe with you to give you some inspiration to try to knock something different and tasty up for lunch. Enjoy.

Sorry to the non-metric people.

Ingredients:

150 gram Tin Tuna in Springwater

1 Small Brown Onion (Diced)
1 Tablespoon Coriander (Roughly Chopped)
1 Teaspoon Paprika
100 gram Extra Light Ricotta
50 gram Sun Dried Tomatoes (Finely Chopped)

100 gram No Salt Butter
6 Sheets Filo Pastry

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
3. Heat butter until fully melted.
4. Layout a sheet of Filo and coat with melted butter.
5. Add another sheet of Filo and coat with melted butter.
6. Add a final sheet of Filo and coat with melted butter.
7. Cut the sheets down the middle of the short side – leaving to long strips of 3 layers of pastry. 8. Add a quarter of the Tuna mixture to the edge of one of the strips. Shape so it is like a triangle. 9. Fold the pastry on itself until complete.
10. Coat the top with butter.
11. Repeat three more times.
12. Bake in oven for 15 minutes.
13. Leave to cool for 10 minutes and enjoy!

 

New Recipes

Over the twelve years we have been together we have tried to cook a variety of new and interesting things. We have very eclectic food tastes, so our dishes vary from Chinese, Thai, Indian, Mexican, American, French, Italian and Middle Eastern and more. So you can imagine after twelve years it is a little hard to come up with new and interesting meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

 

Coq au Vin Edgeledge style

Not being very big wine drinkers we tend to not have a lot in the cupboard, but occasionally vendors will give us a bottle, so I use it to make a variety of coq au vin. I know the traditional is a rooster and the sauce is full of wine and butter, but this is a tasty slant on the original, and we love it. I have a couple of French cook books, one of which is Provencal cooking, I adapted this recipe from that. Yes there will be those who say it is not coq au vin because it is not a rooster and it is white wine blah blah blah. It’s not champagne we are talking it is Chicken in wine which is a literal translation and I do occasionally use red wine, it depends what the vendor gives me. Apologies to wine connoisseurs This photo is similar in appearance to my dish.

 

Cooking the Books

In 2008 we had the opportunity to be a part of the tv show Cooking the Books. For the show we made a Thai Prawn Salad. It was yummy when me made it, but the long journey to the studio and under the tv lights it was a not as appetising afterwards.

 

Black Forest cake

I made my first black forest cake in year 11 high school at 15. Though I now eat less and less sweet foods (trying to keep middle age spread at bay), I still love a good black forest cake. This may in part be due to the great pleasure I had in the two year catering class in high school, thanks Cheryl you were a great teacher.