Archive for ‘Comfort Food’

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July 17, 2012

Crispy Oven-Baked Old Bay Potato Wedges

The top 4 places to find yourself on a cold winter’s evening:

1. Bundled up and lounging on the couch sipping tea (okay, hot chocolate) with a good book/British detective show/the worst reality TV you can get away with.

2. Somewhere with a warm climate.

3. Minding a big pot of simmering soup or curry in a warm kitchen with good company and a glass of red.

4. At a cozy pub – complete with perfectly dim lighting, excellent food and a good corner table.

One of my favorite things to eat in winter is pub fare. Slow-cooked, rich-sauced, and potato-accompanied  – good pub food screams comfort. And Sydney, lucky for me, has some smashing pub grub. (Four in Hand, I’m looking at your beef cheeks!)

But sometimes the weather makes sweatpants and a night at home look irresistible. These are the nights to bust out the slow-cooker and crank up the oven.

A homemade replica of a pub classic, these crunchy, well-seasoned potato wedges are easy to make and require absolutely no dangerous deep-frying. Feel free to swap the Old Bay seasoning for anything you prefer (paprika and cumin, cajun seasoning, plain old salt and pepper – anything!)

Make these for a cozy night in and impress someone you like.

Crispy Oven-Baked Old Bay Potato Wedges (serves 2-4)
adapted from Oh She Glows

-  2 large Yukon Gold Potatoes cut into 1/2-inch (1 cm) wedges
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1/2-1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- cooking spray

To serve:
- 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce
- 1 tablespoon sriracha or other hot sauce

Heat oven to 450 F/ 230 C.

Dry potato wedges with a paper towel and place them in a plastic bag (like a large freezer bag).

Put cornstarch, salt and pepper, Old Bay and oregano in the bag, seal it and shake it up until the potatoes are coated evenly.

Pour in olive oil and shake the bag again to coat everything.

Lightly spray the baking tray with a cooking spray. Arrange potato wedges on the tray, allowing enough space between each of them without overlapping.

Bake for 15 minutes , flip each wedge over and bake for another 5-10 minutes until golden brown.

To serve: combine BBQ sauce and hot sauce and mix – serve with potatoes fresh from the oven.

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Posted in Comfort Food, Food, Healthy Cooking, Recipes | 6 Comments »

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July 12, 2012

Lentil Soup with Harissa and Pumpkin

Ways to brighten a grey wintery day:

- Stay in bed a little longer. Heated blanket ON. (No central heating in Australia, folks – that heated blanket has been MONEY this past month.) Check your emails on your phone while doing this – you’re totally getting things done while still lying in bed!

- Make or buy the best dang cup of coffee you can muster. Drink it while watching different versions/parodies of Call Me Maybe on youtube. (Like this one or this one.)

- Do your own version of yoga/stretching/dance aerobics while watching fluffy morning TV. Mute TV occasionally to play Call Me Maybe.

- Bundle up and get outside for a walk. You’ll try and resist this at first (it’s so gloomy out there!) – but you’ll be happy you did.

-  Simmer something over the stove for a little while – something a hearty, lentil-packed and a little spicy. Top it with a zippy lemon-scented yogurt and eat while piping hot!

Awww yeah, you’re treating winter right.

Lentil Soup with Pumpkin and Harissa (serves 4-6)
adapted from Gourmet Traveller

- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- small knob of butter
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 1 medium-large leek, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, finely diced
- 1 celery rib, finely diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 2 cups dry French lentils
- 6 cups (1.5 liters) water, or more if needed.
- 2-3 cups diced Japanese pumpkin (or butternut)
- 1 14-ounce/400-gram can of diced or cherry tomatoes
- 2-3 tablespoons harissa paste, to taste
To serve:
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- zest of 1/2 lemon
- handful of chopped coriander

Heat olive oil and butter in a large pot over a medium heat until the butter is foaming.

Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally until soft and golden – about 8 minutes.

Add leek, carrot, celery and garlic and cook for another 8-10 minutes stirring occasionally, until soft.

Add lentils and water and cook for 20 minutes over a simmer.

Add pumpkin and tomatoes and cook another 20-30 minutes until everything is tender. Add a bit more water if needed. (I added a splash.)

Stir in harissa paste and cook another 10 minutes.

Combine lemon zest and yogurt and serve over soup with fresh coriander.

Posted in Comfort Food, Food, Healthy Cooking, Recipes, Winter | 4 Comments »

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May 30, 2012

Tex-Mex Chicken Salad

This dish was inspired by:
- 2/3 of a leftover roast chicken
- This recipe by Martha Stewart
- My gorgeous new cast iron French oven. (It’s turquoise!) Some girls love shoes, I obsess over sturdy, enameled cookware.

Unfortunately, the chipotle in adobo sauce that Martha’s recipe calls for isn’t easy to come by in Oz, so I made a few easy adjustments.

I thought about smuggling a couple of cans of the smoked pepper-and-sauce combo in my checked luggage when coming back from the States. These thoughts were quickly followed by an elaborately imagined scenario in which the contraband goods exploded all over my luggage due to altitude pressure or something. Sooo, they didn’t make the trip. To compensate, I managed to bring back some air travel-friendly chipotle Tabasco sauce instead. Happy days!

For the chicken, I really wanted that smokiness of the chipotle – but didn’t want too much heat, so I used a little of my Tabasco, along with some barbeque sauce and smoked paprika.

The whole thing cooks up pretty quickly (especially if you’re using leftover cooked chicken) but it gets even better after it’s simmered for a while or sits overnight in the fridge. You can easily double or triple the recipe and freeze the leftovers in small portions.

I used the chicken to smother some rice, kale and roasted squash – making a warm Tex-Mex salad of sorts. It would also be awesome as part of a tostada or taco situation.

Or you could just eat it cold with a spoon every time you wander past the fridge…or something.

Tex-Mex Chipotle BBQ Chicken
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 14 ounce/400 gram can tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce
- 1-2 tablespoons chipotle Tabasco sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 cups cooked chicken, shredded

In a medium-sized heavy bottomed pot, heat olive oil over a medium-high heat.

Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in paprika and cook for 30 seconds.

Add tomatoes (if using whole canned tomatoes, break them up with a wooden spoon in the pot), BBQ sauce, chipotle Tabasco, water and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.

Stir in the chicken and heat it through, about 2 minutes.

Warm Tex-Mex Salad (serves 2)
- 1 cup of chopped kale
- 1/2 cup cooked rice
- 1 cup roasted squash (you could also use roasted carrot, sweet potatoes, peppers, etc.)
- 1/2 an avocado, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1/4 cup chopped coriander/cilantro
- 1 tablespoon crumbled feta or queso fresco
- olive oil

Wilt kale in a hot pan with a little bit of olive oil. Toss warm kale, rice and squash with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Divide into two bowls and spoon on warm chicken mixture. Top with avocado, fresh coriander and cheese. Serve with tortilla chips.

Posted in Comfort Food, Food, Recipes | 7 Comments »

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March 23, 2012

Egg Bakes with Mushroom, Potato and Sage

Five minutes before I leave for the grocery store I review my list of things like dish soap, paper towels, shower gel, tissues…you know, boring non-food things.

30 minutes later I return with: two types of herbal tea, one Cadbury Creme Egg, a medium-sized jar of Nutella ($2 off!), Romaine lettuce and some marinated feta.

See what I did there? I completely ignored the boring list and skipped right to all the good stuff that we may or may not actually need.

What happened over that period of time, you might wonder, in which a normally clear-headed person completely glazed over and abandoned all responsibility in favor of childish, irrelevant purchases?

I don’t have a good excuse. All I can say is I love to food shop.

I deplore things like shoe shopping, furniture shopping, or anything in a department store. Give me a specialty cheese shop, a farmers market or a huge Whole Foods any day.

I slowly pace up and down each of the aisles (except the ones with cleaning supplies. Who needs that shiz?) making sure I don’t miss a good bargain or something totally crazy that I didn’t even know about. (Reese’s Ice Magic Shell! Feta marinated with preserved lemon and herbs?!)

Sometimes all this excitement gets in the way of the task at hand as I am left powerless to all of the enticing produce.

For serious shopping excursions I try to organize the supervision of Mr. F. Luckily, he’s good at remembering boring cleaning items and encouraging chocolate purchases. Add in the fact that he tolerates my borderline crazy food obsession and that’s what I call a happy partnership.

—

In order to clear room in our fridge for all the impulse-buys, I like to use leftover cooked vegetables to make individual egg bakes. A little ramekin with a perfect just-set egg nestled on top gives the leftovers a total makeover.

Technically the veggies don’t have to be leftover, but just a little pre-cooked.

I had leftover roasted potatoes, so to those I added mushrooms sautéed with shallots, sage and rosemary and sun-dried tomatoes, then cracked an egg on top. A sunny egg yolk makes everything more awesome. Fact.

Mushroom, Potato and Sage Egg Bakes
(Serves 2)

- 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for greasing
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 1 cup button mushrooms, sliced
- 1 cup leftover roast potatoes, diced into small pieces*
- 2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes, packed in their own oil, drained
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon rosemary, finely chopped
- 2 eggs
- salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 200 C/400 F. Lightly grease the ramekins with a little bit of olive oil or butter.

Heat olive oil in a large pan over a medium high heat. Add shallot and cook for about 2 minutes until translucent.

Add mushrooms, sage and rosemary and cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms are soft and slightly golden, about 3-5 minutes. Stir in potatoes and cook an additional 2 minutes to heat through.

Remove from heat and stir in sun-dried tomatoes.

Divide the mixture between two 1-cup ramekins, making a slight well in the center. Crack an egg over each.

Bake for about 10 minutes until egg is just set. Serve with good crusty bread.

*Notes:
I used leftover roasted potatoes. You can cook your potatoes quickly by cutting them into very small cubes and cooking them in the large pan before you add the mushrooms. Heat olive oil in the pan over a medium-high heat and cook potatoes covered for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender. Continue the recipe by adding the mushrooms and cooking with the potatoes, until they are soft and golden brown.

Posted in Comfort Food, Recipes | 3 Comments »

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January 19, 2012

Chocolate Pudding Parfaits

When Death by Chocolate was declared the January theme for the Sweet Adventures Blog Hop, I couldn’t help but be enthusiastic. Chocolate is almost as good as having a blank canvas – it’s full of possibilities and potential.

My first instinct was to bake. But I had to be real and think about what I really wanted to make and eat on a warm Sydney night. Ice cream crossed my mind, but then I got all sentimental.

There are some things that you don’t realize you’ll miss until you don’t have them anymore. I’ll spare you a relevant song quote, but it’s true. I never would have thought I would miss the New York subway system or the Avenue A Key Foods, but there you are.

And then, there are some things that you anticipate missing. You know at some point in the future you won’t have this thing at your fingertips and you’ll be bummed out about it. Usually when this thought of missing something in the future crosses your mind, you are presently enjoying that very thing, minimizing the impact of the feeling.

Let me illustrate this rambling session with some examples of things from America that I have anticipated missing, that have now become well and truly missed:
- My friends
- My family
- Our E4th Street apartment
- Fresh-caught fish from my Dad
- Franks Red Hot Sauce
- Trader Joe’s
- Chipotle Tabasco Sauce
- Fudgesicles
- Whole Foods
- Tapeo 29, favorite date-night and boozy brunch spot
- Jello pudding cups

I’ve always known the pudding would be an issue. The lack of chocolate pudding (or puddin’, if you prefer) in my life lately does not go unnoticed. This recipe (from fellow blog-hopper and former New Yorker, JJ at 84th & 3rd) is perfect. It’s simple, has a much better ingredient list than the Jello brand, and best of all: it tastes and feels just like the pudding I miss a little bit.

Don’t even get me started on the fact that pudding actually means something else entirely in Australian dessert language – I don’t want to talk about it. Not now. Now, we eat chocolate pudding, raspberry and hazelnut parfaits!

P.s. Thank you for kindly ignoring the fact that there are two different types of hot sauce on that condensed list. I have a problem.

Chocolate Pudding
Serves 4 (recipe adapted slightly from 84th & 3rd)
- 1/3 cup of cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup of sugar
- pinch sea salt
- 2 cups of milk, divided
- 2 tablespoons brewed espresso
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 Tbsp cornflour
Parfait layers (optional)
- Crushed cookie
- Chopped hazelnuts
- Frozen raspberries
- Toasted coconut

Place sugar, cocoa and salt into a medium saucepan and whisk together.

Whisk in 1/4 cup of the milk into the dry ingredients until smooth. Add another 1 1/2 cups of milk and the espresso, whisk to combine. Bring to a boil over medium low heat, then reduce immediately to a simmer.

Stir corn flour and vanilla into remaining 1/4 cup of milk until smooth, pour into simmering chocolate mixture and whisk gently for 4 1/2 minutes. Pudding will thicken further as it cools.

Pour hot pudding into a medium heat proof bowl. Refrigerate until cool.

—

Once cooled, make it a parfait by placing cookie, hazelnuts, toasted coconut and raspberries in the bottom of your serving cup and spooning the pudding over it. Create as many layers as you’d like or simply top off your glass with more of the same elements.

Other ideas for parfait layers:
- Sliced banana
- Whipped cream
- Ice cream
- Peanut Butter
- Chopped peppermint patties
- Granola
- Dried cherries
- Brownies

For more chocolatey goodness, head over to the Sweet Adventures Death by Chocolate Blog Hop page at the Hungry Australian.

Posted in Comfort Food, Desserts, Recipes | 6 Comments »

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December 2, 2011

5 Ingredient (or less) Friday: Leftovers and Pierogies

One of the best parts about Thanksgiving is the leftovers – leftover turkey (in my case chicken) for salads, soups and sandwiches, stuffing made into hash with a fried egg, cold roasted veggies – I love it all. But I always run into an issue with the leftover mashed potatoes. When made fresh they are fluffy, creamy clouds from heaven but once they hit the fridge, it’s all downhill.

So, what do you do when you’re left with a big mountain of potato that you just can’t bare to toss out?

Do the taters justice and make pierogies.

These traditional Polish dumplings are delicious when boiled or pan fried and served with a little sour cream or apple sauce. When you already have the mashed potatoes, making them is super simple. You can add cheese, sauerkraut, mushrooms or onions to your potatoes to spruce them up inside their little parcel.

You can also make your own dough if you’d like, but after cooking for two Thanksgivings in one week I was feeling a little lazy. I picked up some fresh lasagna sheets and cut them into rounds using a glass.

(Not perfect rounds, as you can see…)

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December 1, 2011

Roast Chicken and Two Thanksgivings

It’s turning out to be a week of firsts for me. Making my first pavlova, my first costumed Italian-themed Thanksgiving (maybe anyone’s first), and cooking my first roast chicken. We also hosted our first Friendsgiving – 6 days later than normal Thanksgiving, served on our coffee table, with some new friends – nice and casual but with all the tasty trimmings. Hopefully we’ve started a new tradition.

But let me back up to the Italian-themed dress-up Thanksgiving. (You’re intrigued, no?)

Mr. F’s family has been having their own Thanksgiving here  in Australia for the past 5 years and this year they decided to kick things up a notch. Gone was the turkey, mashed potatoes and roasted veg – instead, we were treated to gorgeous antipasto platters, pizzas, fried eggplant, fish and rice balls. All topped off with tiramisu, amaretto mousse and pumpkin pie (I wiggled that one in there). To accompany this impressive spread there was Italian wine, beer, music, and mandatory costumes! We had dining partners ranging from Super Mario Brothers to Silvio Berlusconi and one of his mistresses (someone had to go there). It was a great night, with a lot to be thankful for.

But of course for l’americano – it was not quite Thanksgiving. I needed my mash, stuffing, sweet potato and more pumpkin pie. So we invited some friends around and I got to work.

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November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving! (p.s. I love Green Bean Casserole)



It’s Thanksgiving here in Australia already and I should probably be writing about pumpkin pie and other glamorous autumnal dishes, but no, I am writing about good ole’ green bean casserole.

Green bean casserole is one of those very American baby boom-era dishes (fun fact: it was invented by the Campbell’s Soup company in the 1950′s, says Wikipedia.) and happens to be one of the more controversial dishes in my family’s Thanksgiving Day lineup.

It was often snickered at/ignored by certain members of our family who deemed it a little lame and old-fashioned. Until one year, it just wasn’t there. (Did you see this one coming? I sure as hell didn’t.) Gammy* didn’t make it because, “no one liked it”. Whaaat? I never said that.

And so I began my crusade of bringing the unhealthy, almost unnatural veggie casserole back into fashion. I didn’t get far beyond making it for my friends at college and getting it back on our Thanksgiving table, but that was enough for me.

This is my second Thanksgiving away from home and this week I was craving that endearing cream-o-mushroom-flavored dish something awful.

I decided to challenge myself a little and make it without the magical ingredients of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom condensed soup and pre-packaged fried onions. Both of which I probably couldn’t find here if I wanted to, so I spared myself the disappointment.

I used chicken stock thickened with flour and a little cream, sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions and green onions that I crisped in the oven. The result was a success – I captured the flavor and essence of an old fashioned green bean casserole with healthy, fresh ingredients.

Green Bean Casserole
- 6-7 green onions finely chopped (thinly sliced shallot would work well too)
- 5 cups fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-3 cm/1 inch pieces
- 1 1/2 cups white button mushrooms, sliced
- a small knob of butter
- 1 cup of chicken both
- 2 tablespoons of flour, sifted
- 1 tablespoon of cream
- 4 heaping tablespoons of caramelized onion**
- salt& pepper
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan

Place the green onions on an oiled baking sheet and grill/broil in the oven for about 5 minutes, until crispy. Set aside. (I burnt mine a little – be careful.)
Preheat oven to 200 C/400 F
In a small saucepan bring the chicken broth to a boil. Take off the heat and whisk in flour and cream until thickened. Season with salt & lots of pepper.
In another pan, melt the butter and saute mushrooms. Season with pepper. Once softened, add to the thickened chicken broth.
Place green beans in boiling water for about 5 minutes and drain.
In a casserole dish combine green beans, thickened broth with mushrooms, and caramelized onion. Toss gently to coat the green beans.
Cover and place casserole dish in the preheated oven or 20 minutes. Uncover, turn on the grill/broiler and top with the crisped green onions and parmesan. Bake for 5 more minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Gammy is the master of mashed potatoes AND green bean casserole. She also happens to be the greatest grandma in the world.

**To make caramelized onion: Combine chopped brown onions with a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and cook covered on a medium heat, stirring occasionally for about 40 minutes or until sweet and a completely softened. I try to make a big batch to have on hand for making things like this more awesome.

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