Harissa chicken, butternut and tomato bake

An easy recipe which can be prepared in advance. 

While this recipe contains a recipe for harissa, I used a Sabato ready made jar which is really nice.

Harissa chicken, butternut and tomato bake

3 Tbsp	Harissa paste
2 Tbsp	Olive oil
1	Lemon, juice of
800 g	Butternut, or pumpkin, cut into 2-3cm chunks
8	Chicken drumsticks
2	Red onions, medium, cut into 2cm wedges
1 punnet	Cherry tomatoes
1 sprinkle	Coriander, chopped

Coriander and mint yoghurt

¾ cup	Plain unsweetened yoghurt
¼ cup	Mint leaves
¼ cup	Coriander, chopped
1	Lemon, juice of
1 Tbsp	Harissa paste

Harissa paste

2	Red chillies, large, chopped
3	Garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsp	Coriander seeds, crushed
2½ tsp	Cumin seeds, crushed
4 Tbsp	Olive oil
1 tsp	Brown sugar
4 Tbsp	Tomato paste
1 tsp	Salt
½	Lemon, juice of

Directions

1. Heat oven to 200C. Mix harissa paste, olive oil and lemon juice together. In a large roasting tray, toss butternut, chicken and onions together with the harissa mixture. If you have time, leave to marinate for 1 hour or more in the fridge
2. Season with salt and pepper, and roast for 35-45 minutes or until chicken and butternut/pumpkin are cooked through. Halfway through cooking time, add whole cherry tomatoes and gently toss through.
3. To make the harissa paste, place garlic, chillies, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, olive oil, tomato paste, brown sugar, lemon juice and salt in a small food processor and blend all ingredients together until well combined. Alternatively grind all ingredients together in a mortar and pestle.
4. Mix yoghurt, mint, coriander, harissa paste and lemon juice together.
5. To serve, dollop over mint and coriander yoghurt just before serving, and garnish with coriander. Serve with a rocket salad on the side.

Crunchy Peanut Satay Slaw

This coleslaw has a really yummy peanut coconut dressing. Its worth the little bit of extra effort!
Its a Marion Gadsby recipe - her recipes are great!

Ingredients:

4 cups (300g/10.5oz) shredded cabbage (red, white or a mix)

1 cup (100g/3.5oz) carrot strips

½ cup podded edamame beans

½ cup mint leaves

2 spring onions (scallions), finely sliced

2 tbsp roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

Peanut Satay Dressing:

2 tbsp smooth peanut butter

¼ cup coconut milk

3 tbsp lime juice

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 garlic clove, roughly chopped

1 tsp palm sugar

Method

STEP 1

For the peanut satay dressing, place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside until ready to serve.

​

STEP 2

In a large bowl, place the cabbage, carrot, edamame, mint and spring onion. Add dressing half the dressing and gently toss until well combined. Add more dressing if necessary. Top with roasted peanuts and serve.

Tomato Kasundi

We love Tomato Kasundi! It's an Indian relish.

This recipe makes only about 2 cups.

Its great with cheese and crackers.

Ingredients

50 ml	Vegetable oil
3 tsp	Black mustard seeds
2 tsp	Ground turmeric
3 tsp	Chilli powder
2 tsp	Cumin seeds
¼ cup	Fresh ginger, (peeled and grated)
3 cloves	Garlic, (peeled and crushed)
1	Red chilli, (deseeded and finely chopped)
2 kgs	Large ripe tomatoes, (blanched, deseeded and chopped)
½ cup	Brown sugar
2 Tbsp	Salt
½ cup	Cider vinegar

Method

1. Heat the oil then add the mustard seeds, when they begin to pop add the turmeric, cumin and chilli. Cook for a few minutes while stirring.
2. Add the ginger, garlic, fresh chilli, tomatoes, sugar, salt and vinegar. Stir to combine.
3. Simmer the relish for 1 hour while stirring occasionally. 
4. The relish is ready when the oil comes out on top. 
5. Spoon into sterilised jars and refrigerate

Bread and Butter Pickles

I had way too many cucumbers so gave this a try. I've made it a couple of times since and bottle it in small jars which are about the right amount for a bowl for a platter.

its great with cheese and crackers.

It is quite yellow from the turmeric.





Ingredients
¼ cup

Salt
1½ cups	Cucumbers, finely sliced
1	Water, to cover
¾ cup	Onion, finely sliced
1 tsp	Turmeric
1 cup	White wine vinegar
1 cup	Granulated white sugar
3 tsp	Yellow mustard seeds
1 stalk	Cinnamon
1 tsp	Cumin seeds, or celery seeds
3	Bay leaves, small, fresh

Method

1. Put the cucumber and onion together in a bowl, sprinkle with salt and mix to combine. 

1. Cover with water and refrigerate overnight. 

1. Discard the liquid and drain thoroughly. 

1. In a saucepan, add the vinegar, sugar, turmeric, mustard seeds, cinnamon, cumin and bay leaves.

1. As soon as this mixture reaches a boil, add the vegetables. 

1. Return to a boil then ladle into sterilised jars.

Sour Cream Plum Cake

Another summer recipe which uses up the plentiful summer fruit before it gets wasted.

This cake is very dense but really nice with greek yoghurt - warm or cold.

Plums work well. I also tried figs, but hey did not have the tart tang which the plums had.



Ingredients

• 185g butter
• 300g sugar
• 3 eggs
• 250g flour
• 3tsp baking powder
• 45g ground almonds
• 340g sour cream
• 1tsp almond essence

Method

Cream the butter and sugar well.

Beat in the eggs one at a time and add the essence.

Sift in the dry ingredients add the sour cream and gently fold everything together.

Spoon the mixture into a 20cms cake tin.

Place stoned plum halves cut on top cut side up. The number of plums needed will depend on their size. Alternatively use any other stone fruit or rhubarb, feijoas etc.

Another alternative is to sprinkle a mix of raw sugar and ground ginger on top.

Bake in a moderate oven for 50 minutes.

Leave to cool in Tin

Store in an airtight container

Harvest Tomato Sauce

This recipe was a must with all the tomatoes we have growing. We have been eating a lot of tomatoes recently.


This recipe was super easy...but needed the 2 hours baking time.


I serves it with spaghetti but any kid of pasta would work. I also served it with prawns quickly fried in oil and garlic.


It's an Annabel Langbein recipe 



Ingredients

• 1.5kg tomatoes, cored and cut into wedges

• 2 red capsicums, deseeded and cut into eighths

• 1 large onion, cut into thin wedges

• 4 cloves garlic, peeled

• 1 tsp chopped rosemary leaves

• 1 small chilli, seeded and chopped (optional)

• ¼ cup tomato paste

• 2 tbsp sugar

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1 tsp salt 

• ground black pepper

Method


Preheat oven to 160°C. Prepare the tomatoes, capsicums and onion and place them in a large roasting dish lined with baking paper. They need to be in a single layer so they roast and caramelise rather than stew, so use two roasting dishes if necessary.

Add the garlic, rosemary leaves and chilli, if using. In a small bowl mix together the tomato paste, sugar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Spoon this mixture over the vegetables and stir through them to coat evenly.

Bake for about 2 hours or until the vegetables are starting to caramelise and shrivel a little.

Allow the vegetables to cool then purée in a food processor or blender. The sauce will keep in the fridge for up to a week or can be frozen. Alternatively, bring the puréed sauce to a boil and while it is very hot, pour it into sterilised jars and seal immediately. Sealed jars will keep for months in the pantry.

Sticky Lemongrass and Peanut Chicken

Sticky Lemongrass and Peanut Chicken

Hi, it's Isabella and I absolutely loved making this dish because it was such a simple dish to make, yet it is super delicious and was defiantly a make again. For a recipe I found browsing the web I think it is absolutely amazing, Mum was pretty impressed to when she tried the dish at the dinner table. So here is the recipe:

Ingredients

800 g	Chicken thighs, skin on
3 Tbsp	Shaoxing rice wine
2 Tbsp	Lemongrass, root end finely diced
3 cloves	Garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp	Palm sugar, grated
1 Tbsp	Fish sauce
2 tsp	Salt
1 Tbsp	Peanut oil
3	Shallots, peeled and finely sliced
1 handful	Spring onion, chopped
1 handful	Roasted peanuts, chopped
1 handful	Coriander, leaves picked
4 servings	Rice, steamed

Directions

1. Cut the Thighs into 3 pieces. Heat a frying pan that has a tight fitting lid with at teaspoon of Peanut oil. When hot place in the chicken, skin side down, and as soon as the skin starts to go crisp, turn over.  
2. Mix together the wine, lemongrass, garlic, palm sugar, fish sauce and salt (at this point I usually add a tablespoon of molasses) .  Add to the pan.Cover, cook for 30 minutes.  
3. Heat a pan then add the peanut oil and fry the chopped shallots until golden and crispy.
4. Heat a pan ad add peanuts util browned.
5. Serve the chicken with the fried shallots, plenty of shredded spring onions, roasted peanuts, coriander and steamed rice.

Quinoa Salad

This came from my original blog - 'Wild Yeast and Sugar Pie.
I made it again this week and really enjoyed it. I didn't stick to the veges too much. It was more what I had on hand

In an attempt to get more healthy I am determined to find a recipe or two for Quinoa that are really nice. From everything I read about it, it really is a fantastic alternative to rice, couscous and pasta. I'm not sure the rest of my family will agree however.
"The nutrient composition is very good compared with common cereals. Quinoa grains contain essential amino acids like lysine and good quantities of calcium, phosphorus, and iron." Wikipedia
I tried a salad the other night where I cooked the quinoa with stock and added sautéed mushrooms, capsicum, onion and garlic...a bit of an experiment but it was fine.

Colourful Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa

• 2 cups Water

• Salt

• 1 carrot peeled and grated

• 1 red pepper seeded and diced

• 1 Cucumber washed and sliced (I used about half and diced it)

• 6 grated radishes (we have way to many needing to be eaten)

• 3 green onion sliced thinly

• 1 bunch Parsley chopped (I used coriander)

• The zest and juice of 1 Lemon

• ¼ cup Olive Oil (I used about 1/4 of a cup)

• Salt & Pepper 

Method

1. 1

1. Rinse the quinoa well in cold running water. This will easily rinse away the natural bitter coating on the seeds. Drain and toss into a small pot. Add the water and season with salt. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cover with a tight fitting lid, turn the heat to low and simmer until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.

1. 2

1. Meanwhile get all the colorful veggies ready. Toss them into a bowl and when the quinoa is done (and cooled), add it as well. Add the lemon and olive oil, toss well, season with salt and pepper and serve.

"Quinoa is quite literally the greatest food. Ever. It is the only plant-based food that has all of the essential amino acids. NASA has declared it an essential staple food that will be used on the first manned mission to Mars."



Tonight when the rest of the family had pasta, I had quinoa. This recipe is one I found after pouring over loads when I googled 'quinoa recipes'. I like the fact that the veges are raw so therefore don't loose their nutritional value.

It was really nice. Fresh, crispy and healthy. I will make it again.