Oven ratatouille
So this is basically just ratatouille, but it takes less attention (because you roast the vegies in the oven) and it tastes better (because you roast the vegies in the oven). The perfect day for this would be a cool day during the summer, just after you’ve been to the farmer’s market and got a...
Roasted red pepper and chickpea soup with mint
This soup’s story starts with me and Emily, last Saturday, going to a new-to-us brunch place. Our plan was to walk down to the cafe in question, then over to the nearby K-Mart to buy Christmas lights, then up to Psarakos Grocery (the big fat Greek fruit-and-veg mecca on High St), then home again: a...
Fried red rice with kale
This fried rice was very much inspired by Heidi Swanson at 101 Cookbooks, and a little bit by the Asian (especially Indonesian) food that I’ve been enjoying since coming back to Melbourne. It was also a way to use up a partial bunch of kale (cavalo nero, specifically) that had been sitting in the fridge...
Sage, apple, and cheddar omelette
Is this weird? It’s what called to me in the kitchen today, when I staggered in there hungry but feeling sick and unhappy from out-of-control seasonal allergies. 1/3 fuji apple, thinly sliced a few thin slices of red onion butter 3 eggs handful grated cheddar sprig of parsley, minced a few sage leaves, minced pepper...
Mediterranean chickpea and kale soup
This is just one of my many variations on onion-tomato-legumes-greens. The base recipe is just those four ingredients, and you can vary the beans (chickpeas, lentils, cannellini, borlotti) and the greens (spinach, chard, silverbeet, kale), not to mention the texture and what it’s served with, to make endless variations on a meal that is almost...
Fennel and orange salad
No photo for this one, alas. Just noting it to keep track of what I’ve been eating and cooking. Fennel and oranges are very much in season at present, so this is the perfect salad for this time of year. 1/2 bulb fennel, very thinly sliced 1 orange, peel and pith removed, quartered, and sliced...
Chickpea, pumpkin, and Israeli couscous stew
This is my entry for Presto Pasta Nights, hosted this week by Chaya at Sweet & Savory. I make a variation of this vegetarian, North-African-inspired stew quite often, but this time it’s a little different because I decided to add Israeli couscous directly to the mix to make a one-dish meal. Unlike the better-known tiny...
Apple-oat crumble
Breakfast is hard for me. For some reason I have trouble getting moving in the morning and I really don’t want to eat at that time. So it’s good if I can have something in the fridge that’s tasty and that I can just grab. 8 granny smith apples 1 cup rolled oats 1/2 cup...
My take on cauliflower cheese
I could have sworn I’d blogged this before, but my tags say not. (ETA: apparently I did, but mis-spelled cauliflower in the tags. *headdesk*) When I was a kid we used to have this dish called cauliflower cheese that was basically cauliflower swamped in a roux-based cheese sauce, with extra cheese on top, then baked....
Tonight’s dinner: herbed couscous with chickpeas and baked sweet potato
This is one of the many variations I have on the general theme of tabbouleh. Basically we’re talking about some kind of grain, a bunch of parsley, and whatever else seems like a good idea. In this case: 1 cup couscous, soaked in 1 cup boiling water with a slurp of olive oil 1 can...
Tuesday dinner: eggs and salad
It hardly warrants writing down the recipe, but what the hell. I came home tonight kind of thinking that I’d like to make a frittata. I had bacon and leeks and five eggs, but thinking about it, I realised I wanted a bit more bulk to a frittata, maybe something like some cooked potato, and...
Sunday dinner: oven roasted tomatoes and puy lentil salad
I’ve been eating really badly lately, and I want to get back into good habits, so I’m going to try and post more often. This was tonight’s dinner: puy lentils with bacon, leeks, and a mustard vinaigrette, served over spring greens. On the side, oven-roasted tomatoes. First up, the tomatoes. I got this from one...
