Category Archives: Mains

Mexican Pasta

Quick and easy weeknight dish that can be on the table inside 30 mins and you can spice it up or down depending on you or your family’s tastes.

2014-10-28 19.47.03

Mexican Pasta
 
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Cuisine: Italian / Mexican
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 300g wholewheat fusilli /penne etc
  • 1 medium red onion, diced
  • 1 green capsicum diced
  • 1 large clove garlic, minced
  • 1 t cumin
  • 1 t coriander
  • 1 t oregano
  • 1 t smoked paprika
  • ¼ - 1 tsp chilli powder to taste
  • 1 can kidney beans
  • 1.5 cups sweetcorn
  • 1 can chopped tomatoes
  • 1 jar mild (or medium / hot) salsa
  • Garnish:
  • 1 avocado diced
  • Chopped coriander
  • Hot sauce
Instructions
  1. Bring water to the boil in a large pot and boil your pasta.
  2. Water sauté the onion and capsicum over a medium heat, then after a few minutes add the garlic and herbs / spices and stir for another minute.
  3. Add all other ingredients apart from garnishes and mix thoroughly. Simmer until hot then tip in drained pasta once it's ready.
  4. Dish up and garnish as desired with avocado, coriander and hot sauce.

 

Kale & Tofu Cannelloni

I’ve always loved cannelloni, but filing those little dried pasta tubes is very fiddly and time consuming!   This one uses wholewheat lasagne sheets, and a light and tasty tofu kale filling, baked in a rich tomato sauce and topped with crispy breadcrumbs.  Simple enough for a family dinner but good enough for company too!  Also another great way to get kale into your children!

2014-10-22 19.38.07

Tofu Kale Cannelloni
 
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Recipe type: Cannelloni
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • FILLING:
  • 1 bunch kale
  • 375g plain firm tofu
  • ⅓ cup soy milk
  • 2 tablespoons white miso paste
  • 1 T American style mild mustard
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 T chopped fresh dill
  • ¼ cup chopped walnuts
  • 2 T nutritional yeast
  • 1 small onion (slightly larger than a golf ball size) finely diced
  • 1 large clove garlic, minced
  • PASTA:
  • 4-6 wholemeal lasagne sheets (I used instant variety)
  • SAUCE:
  • 375g of your favourite oil free Bolognese / tomato & basil style pasta sauce, a jar or homemade - (or a can of chopped tomatoes, blended with 1 tsp garlic granules, 1 tsp onion granules, 1 T tomato paste & 1 tsp sugar until smooth, then stir in 1 tsp dried Italian herbs).
  • BREADCRUMB TOPPING:
  • 1 slices wholemeal bread
  • ¼ cup walnuts
  • 1 T nutritional yeast
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp grated lemon zest
Instructions
  1. De-stem the kale, roughly chop and simmer in large pot of boiling water for 8 mins until softened.
  2. Rinse under cold water, take handfuls, firmly squeeze out the water and then slice each handful into 4-5 pieces.
  3. Meanwhile, fry the onion and garlic in a small pan over a gentle heat with a splash of water until softened.
  4. Mix the soy milk, miso, mustard and salt together in a small bowl
  5. Put the tofu in a food processor and pulse a couple of times, before adding the kale, dill, walnuts, nutritional yeast, soy milk mixture and the onion and garlic mixture. Pulse until it is breadcrumb like, not so much that it becomes a green paste! Remove the blade and this is now ready for your lasagne sheets.
  6. NB: If you don’t have a food processor, mash the tofu with a fork until like breadcrumbs, finely chop the kale and thoroughly mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.
  7. Bring a large wide pan of water to the boil.
  8. Prepare a lasagne style baking dish by lining it with half of your tomato sauce.
  9. Boil each sheet of lasagne separately for 4 minutes, pop into a bowl of cold water or run under the cold tap; remove to a chopping board. As each one is done you can start layering your cannelloni dish, or cook them all ahead of time and layer between baking paper to prevent them sticking together. If storing in the fridge, wrap in cling film so they don’t dry out.
  10. Heat the oven to 180 o Centigrade.
  11. Take a lasagne sheet and cut it in half across the long side (i.e making two rectangles, not long skinny strips). Take one piece and scoop up approximately 2-3 tablespoons of the filling and arrange it in a tube shape across the lasagne, then roll up. The two edges should overlap by about 1-2 cms, so use this as your guide to how much to put in!
  12. Place your cannelloni tube in the sauce at one side of your dish.
  13. Keep this going as your boil your sheets, cut, fill, roll and place.
  14. Pack them snugly against each other. You should need 4-6 full lasagne sheets, making 8-12 cannelloni before you use all your filling and they ideally will just fill up your dish. You may need to cut the last one in half to fill up the gap in the corner. Mine looked like this:
  16. I used 5 sheets, so 10 cannelloni.
  17. Pour the rest of the sauce over the cannelloni.
  18. For the breadcrumb topping, put all the ingredients in a food processor or small chopper, process until breadcrumbs. Sprinkle over the top of the cannelloni.
  19. Place in the oven for 25 minutes or until breadcrumbs crisp and sauce is bubbling. If breadcrumbs are browning too quickly, cover the dish with a sheet of foil.

 

Kale, Quinoa, & Carrot Salad

2014-10-08 18.37.27

Quinoa, Kale & Carrot Salad
 
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Recipe type: Salad
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • ½ bunch kale
  • 2 tsp tahini
  • 2 T orange juice
  • 175g dry quinoa
  • 1 large carrot (about 250g, unprepared weight)
  • ½ cucumber (about 200g)
  • 1 small red onion (about 60g unprepared weight)
  • 4 tablespoons sunflower & pumpkin seeds
  • 60g sultanas/ raisins etc
  • DRESSING:
  • 150 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 25 ml tahini
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds, toasted and ground
  • 3g salt
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 Tablespoon maple syrup
  • 10 ml white wine vinegar
Instructions
  1. Put the quinoa on to cook - rinse well first in a fine sieve, and use double the volume of water (or prepare earlier, and refrigerate). Once cooked, place in a large wide bowl to cool and refrigerate until needed.
  2. Wash, de-stem and finely chop the kale, place in a large bowl
  3. Add the 2 tsp tahini and 2T orange juice and massage really well for 5 minutes until it has reduced in size and is softened.
  4. Coarsely grate the carrot, finely dice the cucumber and onion and add to the bowl with the cooked quinoa.
  5. Toast the seeds in a small pan over a medium heat until crisp and golden.
  6. Make the dressing by combining all the ingredients - whisk in a jug or use a blender.
  7. Pour most of the dressing over the salad and mix well. Allow to sit for 30 minutes before serving with extra dressing if liked, plus the seeds and dried fruit on top.

 

Oil-free Red Pepper Pesto

This is a game changer.  I’ve tried making many many pestos without oil over the years and been mainly disappointed.  The essential oil in basil it seems has to blend with some other kind of oil to be drawn effectively from the leaves and the pine nuts / cashews didn’t seem to be enough.  The liquid which comes from red peppers (capsicums for the Aussies reading) is a funny oily kind of substance which I thought might work.  So happy I was right.  You have to try this. 🙂

2014-10-01 13.53.05

Oil-free Red Pepper Pesto
 
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Recipe type: Sauce
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 4 small / 3 medium / 2 large red peppers / capsicums
  • 1 large bunch basil (or use 2 if they're smaller like supermarket bunches)
  • 2-3 tablespoons raw pine nuts or cashew pieces
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 1 garlic clove
  • ½ - 1 tsp salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees centigrade.
  2. Wash your peppers well, then place stalk-up on a baking tray lined with baking paper (bring the paper up over the sides as you want to catch any escaping juices).
  3. Wash your basil, then pluck off all the good leaves (not blackened / bruised) and tender stalk tips and put them in your food processor
  4. Add the nooch, garlic - sliced, and salt
  5. After about 20 minutes check your peppers and rotate them carefully, turning blackened spots underneath and be careful not to pierce them so the juices escape.
  6. Check again after 15 minutes and rotate once more. After 45-60 minutes they should be ready depending on your oven. They should be and collapsing but not flat yet!
  7. Place them in a bowl, and cover with cling wrap and place in the fridge for 15 minutes or until just cool enough to handle, but still warm / hot. Wearing disposable gloves can help here!
  8. Holding them over the bowl, split them open, remove the stalk as many seeds as you can and peel off as much as the skin as you can. Let the juices drip into the bowl. Place pieces of flesh into another bowl as you go along. Once you're finished, place a fine sieve over the bowl of prepared peppers, and tip your bowl containing the seeds, stalks and skin over it, adding all that lovely syrup / juice to your peppers. Discard the other bowl contents.
  9. Add your peppers and juice to the food processor with your basil etc., and process on high until it is the texture you like. It helps if the peppers are still a little warm.
  10. Adjust the seasoning and serve.
  11. This makes an excellent dip also if you add a can of chickpeas /cannellini beans.

 

Mexican Pasta Salad

2014-09-26 10.14.55

Mexican Pasta Salad
 
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Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: Mexican
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1 large red capsicum
  • 1 medium green capsicum
  • 1 cup frozen corn
  • 1 cup kidney beans
  • 2 stick celery
  • 3 sliced spring onions
  • 350g wholewheat pasta - penne / conchiglie / fusilli
  • DRESSING:
  • 6 medium tomatoes
  • 1 small garlic clove
  • 70ml white wine vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons cashew cream (cashews: soaked, drained blended with enough water to cover)
  • 1 heaped tsp tomato paste
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • ½ tsp oregano
  • ½ tsp semi dried chillies (or chilli paste / fresh - to taste)
  • TOPPINGS:
  • lime zest
  • 1 bunch fresh coriander, chopped
  • Diced avocado - optional.
Instructions
  1. Put your pasta on to boil and meanwhile prepare the vegetables:
  2. Dice the capsicum, celery, finely slice the spring onions and place in a very large serving bowl along with the kidney beans and corn.
  3. Place the dressing ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and frothy.
  4. Once pasta is cooked, drain well and rinse under cold water, drain well.
  5. Tip into the bowl with the vegetables, pour over as much of the dressing as required, top with the lime zest and coriander and stir again. Serve at room temperature or chilled. Lovely with diced avocado on the top also.

 

Easy Mushroom Pasta with Chilli Lemon & Garlic

Sometimes you need dinner on the table in 20 mins, tops.  This is so easy to throw together as the only fresh things you need on hand are mushrooms and fresh parsley – and if you have that growing in your garden – or on your windowsill, even easier!  I always have pasta in the pantry, chilli, garlic, lemons and wine in my fridge, so just keep some cashew cream on hand and you’re all set to make this dish.

2014-09-19 11.03.59

Easy Mushroom Pasta with Chilli Lemon & Garlic
 
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Recipe type: Pasta
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 300g wholewheat pasta
  • 600 g small white mushrooms, washed and quartered
  • 2 largish cloves garlic, microplaned
  • Zest of an organic (unwaxed) lemon
  • 6 tablespoons chopped parsley (about half a bunch)
  • Large pinch of semi dried chillies (Gourmet Garden pots) – or use fresh if you prefer
  • ½ cup white wine
  • 1 tsp tamari
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 2 Tablespoons cashew cream (cashews soaked, blended with enough water to make a thick cream)
  • ½ cup soy milk
  • Salt & pepper
Instructions
  1. Put your pasta on to boil.
  2. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat, add the mushrooms, stirring frequently until softened and liquid released and half-evaporated – about 5-7 minutes.
  3. Add the garlic and lemon zest, chillies and sauté for a further 5 minutes.
  4. Add wine, tamari, nutritional yeast, cashew cream and soy milk, turn down the heat and cook for a further 10 minutes, until the sauce comes together.
  5. Scatter with parsley, pour over your cooked pasta and mix well.
  6. Top with extra parsley if liked, and season well.

 

Easy Ratatouille (fatfree!)

I used this for a lunch for my PlantPot customers but it was so good I had to write it down for use as quickly as possible again, this time for the family!  It was amazingly easy to make without onions or garlic (have to make it that way for a customer) but what was surprising was it was BETTER that way!  The flavours of the capsicum, eggplant and zucchini really sing when they don’t have to try so hard!  I packaged it up all so quickly too I didn’t get time to take a photo so will have to add one next time!

Easy Ratatouille
 
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Recipe type: Stew
Cuisine: French
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 2 Red Capsicum
  • 1 Green Capsicum
  • 2 medium eggplants
  • 5 smallish zucchini
  • 3 medium tomatoes
  • 1 can tomatoes
  • 2 T balsamic vinegar
  • ½ tsp rosemary
  • ½ tsp thyme
  • Pinch of Herbs de Provence
  • Handful basil, shredded
  • Salt & pepper
Instructions
  1. Core and deseed the capsicum, cut into large chunks – about 12 pieces for each one.
  2. Add to large casserole dish over a low heat with a splash of water or stock, place on the lid.
  3. Meanwhile, slice the eggplants into ½ cm thick – not too thin. Grill them on a sandwich press for a few minutes until softened. Cut each slice into 2-3 pieces and add as you go along to the pot.
  4. Slice the zucchini into large slices – about ¾ to 1cm and add to the pot.
  5. Core the tomatoes and cut each into 8 pieces, add to the pot along with any juices.
  6. Add the canned tomatoes, vinegar, dried herbs and place back on the lid and allow to simmer, stirring occasionally for an hour or so until soft and delicious. Stir in the basil and remove from the heat. Season well.
  7. Best served at room temperature.

 

Sushi Brown Rice Salad

Sushi Brown RIce Salad

All the taste of a nori roll without the rolling!  Crunchy veg, marinated tofu, edamame beans and avocado, mixed with strips of nori, sesame seeds, dressed with a sushi seasoning and soy sauce.  If you love sushi you’ll love this.

Sushi Brown Rice Salad
 
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Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: Japanese
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 250 grams brown rice
  • 2 sticks celery, finely diced
  • 1 large cucumber, deseeded, finely diced
  • 1 red capsicum, finely diced
  • 2 carrots, finely diced
  • 1 cup blanched, podded edamame beans
  • 200g marinated Japanese flavour tofu, cut into small dice
  • nori seaweed sheets, cut into small squares or strips
  • 1 avocado, cubed
  • 4 tablespoons sesame seeds
  • sushi seasoning - vinegar, sugar, mirin blend (I use Obento brand, from the supermarket, or Asian supermarkets would stock a range)
  • soy sauce or tamari
  • radish - optional, finely diced
  • pickled ginger, wasabi, soy sauce - to serve as required
Instructions
  1. Whilst your rice is cooking, finely dice all the crunchy vegetables (and add whatever others you like) and put set aside. Blanch and pod your edamame beans, and dice the avocado. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry non stick pan, until golden brown.
  2. Once your rice is cooked, tip in to a large bowl and sprinkle generously with the sushi seasoning mix, stirring well to thoroughly incorporate. Taste and add more as required. I used about 8 tablespoons. Add tamari or soy sauce to taste. Once the rice is at room temperature, stir in as much of the vegetable mix as you like, portion out into your serving bowls and decorate the tops with the nori, avocado, edamame beans and sesame. Allow it to cool slightly
  3. Serve alongside pickled ginger, wasabi and extra tamari / soy sauce as desired.

Mexican Burrito Bowl

I do love a bowl – when you lay all your ingredients out in the bowl to look pretty, rather than just mix them all together.  This is a simplified chilli recipe which takes just 30 mins so you can put your rice on, chop the tomatoes for your salsa and mash some avocado whilst it simmers.  Some sweetcorn is also nice on the side if you  have some in the freezer or a can in the cupboard, to add some more colour to the plate.  Have hot sauce on the side so those chilli addicts can add their own, keeping this quite mild for little mouths. Leave the chilli out all together if you like.

2014-08-21 12.34.02

Mexican Burrito Bowl
 
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Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Mexican
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 160g long grain brown rice
  • 2 small/ medium brown onions (180g chopped weight)
  • 1 small green capsicum (180g " " )
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 medium stick celery (80g " " )
  • 1 slightly heaped tsp ground cumin
  • 1 slightly heaped tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • ½ tsp chilli flakes (can reduce to be really mild)
  • 1 tsp beef style stock powder
  • 2 cans chopped tomatoes
  • ½ cup water
  • 1.5 - 2 cans drained kidney beans (depends how thick you like it!)
  • 2 cups frozen corn
  • ½ tablespoon maple syrup
  • To Serve:
  • Salsa:
  • 300 g baby tomatoes
  • ½ bunch coriander
  • ½ a red onion,
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • Guacamole:
  • 1 large avocadoes: lime / lemon juice / salt.
  • Sweetcorn: -
  • Allow 75g per person: - defrost frozen corn / or pour boiling water over it or simmer for a minute.
  • Or alternatively, serve with corn on the cob.
Instructions
  1. Put your rice on to cook.
  2. Dice the onion, capsicum, celery and crush or grate the garlic.
  3. Add to a warmed large casserole dish or saucepan and stir for a few minutes until softening, adding a tiny splash of water to stop them sticking if necessary.
  4. Add the garlic and stir in for a minute or two, again to stop it sticking.
  5. Add the cumin and coriander, mix again to thoroughly distribute and toast the spices a little until you can smell them.
  6. Add tomato paste, canned tomatoes, water, stock powder, beans and corn and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the capsicum and onion are soft.
  7. Meanwhile: Make the salsa: chop the baby tomatoes into quarters, finely slice the red onion, shred the coriander, squeeze the lime juice and mix them all together in a small bowl
  8. Make the guacamole: Mash a large avocado, adding salt, lime and or lemon juice to taste.
  9. To serve: Let each person add each ingredient to their own bowl, or arrange them beautifully yourself!

 

Chinese Savoury Rice

I don’t know why but for years we called this plain old “Savoury Rice”.  No idea where we got that from but it’s not very descriptive so I’ve added “Chinese” so you get the idea.  This is a forgiving recipe in that it can be adapted to whatever veggies you have in the fridge so it’s always a bit different every time you make it.  It’s quite incredible how many veggies you can pack into this.  It used to be a great way of getting them into my kids when they were small and suspicious of new ones as they’re all chopped up quite fine so you don’t really know what they are. 🙂

Do add some toasted nuts if you  have them, they add a lovely crunch.  Other additions which work are some cubed tofu –  marinated preferably; or some toasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds.

Tip: To cut down on the chopping time, if you’re planning on making this during week, dice some of the required vegetable every time you use it, and pop it in to a box in the fridge.  By the end of the week all your veggies will be ready.

2014-08-18 18.50.22

Chinese Savoury Rice
 
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Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Chinese
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 800g cooked brown rice. It works much better if you cook rice much earlier or even the day before and refrigerate so it's cold and dry before you begin.
  • Vegetables you use are completely up to you, you need about 1kg - 1.2kg prepared weight (i.e. diced small) for 4 people. It's really a good idea to include the onions, of any variety. Last time we used:
  • Broccolini - 100g
  • Carrot - 100g
  • Green beans - 100g
  • Cauliflower - 100g
  • Red capsicum - 150g
  • Zucchini - 150g
  • Celery - 100g
  • Mushrooms - 100g
  • Spring onions - 100g
  • Sweetcorn - 100g
  • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
  • 1 tablespoon grated / chopped fresh garlic
  • 40g toasted nuts - cashews / peanuts etc - optional
  • Peas - 100g
  • Sauce - mix together in a small jug:
  • 40 ml reduced salt soy sauce
  • 40 ml sweet chilli sauce
  • 10 ml chopped chillies
  • 20 ml unhulled (the dark one) tahini - has a roasted sesame flavour
  • 60 ml hot water
Instructions
  1. It's best to cook in 2 batches to not overcrowd the wok. That works out well also if you want to add more chilli or garlic etc for the adult portions.
  2. Heat a large wok, spray very lightly with oil or a dash of stock.
  3. When it's hot add your vegetables (half of them if you're doing this quantity)
  4. Stir around, place on the lid if you have one and steam the veg.
  5. Add the garlic and ginger and stir well and continue to cook for a few more minutes. Once your harder vegetables like carrots are tender add your rice, mix thoroughly, pour over half of the sauce / extra chilli etc if required. Heat through thoroughly then serve, garnished with coriander if liked and your toasted nuts if using.