Delicious October 2012 - Chorizo, Cumin & Tomato rice

So it took a while to get something made from this issue. Not from lack of choice perhaps too many things to choose from. Plus I went through a loss of cooking mojo and was then away for a few days. 

I decided to make this Bill Granger recipe last night as I had pretty much everything for the dish and could substitute what I didn't have. This one was okay but nothing to rave about really. For the rice portion of the dish I used a new product (or at least new to me) called Rice Plus which is a mix of different rices and grains. It was did like it there was a nice chewyness to it. I didn't have any green beans so used asparagus . When eaten with a bit of chorizo the rice was good but without it was a bit lacking. I had some of the leftovers for lunch today and added a bit of sweet chilli sauce and it was a bit better. Perhaps some chilli would have pepped it up. I use a combination of sweet & hot paprika perhaps all hot would have been better or even just more of the spices. Like most rice dishes half the recipe made more than enough for 3 serves. I wont be rushing to make it again. 

I served it with a fennel, radish & feta salad. 

Chorizo, Cumin & Tomato Rice

1 tbsp oil (everyone uses olive oil these days but at high heat it isn't the best so I used grapeseed)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp each ground cumin, paprika and ground coriander

1 1/2 cups basmati

400g can chopped tomatoes (perhaps some fresh would have added something) 

3 - 4 c chicken stock (I used 3) 

200 g green beans

300 g chorizo, chopped 

200 g marinated red capsicum, drained & sliced 

Heat oil, add garlic & spices cook until fragrant. Add rice and stir to coat in spice mix and then add the tomatoes & stock. Bring to the boil and then reduce heat and cook for 30 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Add beans in the last 5 minutes of cooking. Meanwhile fry chorizo in another pan until lightly browned.

Serve rice with chorizo and capsicum.

Silverbeet Pie

This is a recipe of my Mum's. It is one of my favourites and I can remember her making it from when I was little. There wasn't much that I didn't like, food wise, when I was a child. There was a few things, parsnips, brussels sprouts and some sort of "pie" thing that my dad made on mum's grocery shopping afternoon and was later home than usual. I hated it so much that I found his recipe and threw it away. I don't remember what happened for dinners when mum was late after that. 

Anyway, that really doesn't have anything to do with this. My mum was a great cook, not a fancy one, but very good. She taught me all the basics. There was also some harder things that we used to make together. Just thinking about it, it is probably time to pull some of those recipes out and give them another whirl. Although I do wonder if those things were so good just because it was my mum and I making them together. 

I was about 10 when mum showed my how she made this. It really is a cook by feel dish now. I remember that my mum used to put the eggs, milk and a chunk of cheese in a blender and pulse it until the cheese was chopped into small - medium bits. I loved it when she left them a bit bigger as the cheese would be oozy. I haven't had a blender for years so now use grated cheese. I have never played around with this recipe. With the exception of the grated cheese, I make it exactly the same way as my mum did. The pastry on the bottom is usually a bit soggy and I am sure there is something that could be done to cook it better but, to be honest, that is part of the memory of what makes it so good. You could use spinach in place of the silverbeet.

Silverbeet Pie

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed

1/2 to 1 bunch silverbeet, white stalk remove, roughly chopped, steamed and well drained

1 small onion, finely diced 

1 - 2 cloves garlic, crushed 

5 eggs

1/4 c milk (full-cream is best otherwise it can be a bit watery)

1 c grated cheese

Pre-heat oven to 180 C (fan-forced). 

Line pie plate with the puff pastry and pinch edges.

Place onion and garlic in a ramekin with a drizzle of oil and cook in microwave for 1 - 2 minutes on medium or until onion is softened. (You could do this on the stove if you want) 

Put silverbeet in the bottom of the pie plate, sprinkle on onion mix and 3/4 c cheese. 

Whisk together eggs and milk and pour into pie plate. 

Top with remaining cheese and cook for 40 - 45 minutes or until set. 

Soy & Maple Beef with rice

I subscribed to the Australian Healthy Food Guide a while ago. It is a nice little magazine with some great tips and tricks in it. There is also plenty of recipes however I will admit that until this issue I hadn't made any of the recipes. In fact I didn't even make the recipe that was in the magazine. What I made was based on the recipe in the magazine but the balance of flavours just didn't seem to be right to me and I changed some of the vegetables in it. If I made it again I would add some chilli to it as well as it needed some zing.

Soy & Maple Beef 

500 g beef, very thinly sliced 

1/4 c maple syrup

1 tbsp kecap manis 

1 tbsp grated ginger

2 cloves garlic, crushed 

2  tbsp oil

1 red onion, cut into wedges 

1 red capsicum, roughly chopped (I didn't have one but would add it in) 

1 carrot, finely sliced (I used a mandolin) 

2 sticks celery, finely sliced

small head broccoli cut into florets

handful snow peas, trimmed and halved

Brown rice to serve

Combine maple syrup, kecap manis, ginger and garlic in a bowl. Add beef and leave to marinate for an hour. 

Heat half the oil in a wok. Fry beef in batches and then set aside. 

To the wok add the remaining oil then add onion and cook until starting to soften add capsicum, carrot, celery and broccoli and stir fry for a few minutes. Return beef to the pan with the snow peas and a bit of the leftover marinade. Cook to heat through. Serve with rice. 

Scrambled eggs with corn & chorizo

Back to breakfast. I love doing cooked breakfasts. I don't do them often though. It is usually because it takes me so long to decide what to make it is lunch time. LOL 

For this one though I just decided that I would through some things together. I actually really like creamed corn on toast for breakfast but I have at least 2 dozen eggs in the fridge so also wanted to use some of them. There was also a small piece of chorizo so I decided to us that up as well and so breakfast was created. It was so very good and would definitely add corn to scrambled eggs again. 

Scrambled eggs with corn & chorizo

(Serves 1)

2 eggs 

1/4 chorizo, finely chopped

1/2 a 125 g can creamed corn

1 tbsp ricotta 

salt & pepper to taste 

Sourdough toast and parmesan to serve

Over a medium heat cook the chorizo, add beaten eggs and let cook for a while then fold to scramble. Combine corn & ricotta and then fold through eggs. Serve immediately on toast. 

Quinoa orange, ginger, carrot & coconut salad

I bought this book a while ago now and have only made this one recipe so far. I plan on making a lot more but so many recipes, so little time. LOL 

I really quite enjoyed this salad. I didn't have an orange but did have some tangelos so used one of those instead. I also used red quinoa as I don't have any black but I will try to get some and give it another try to see what the difference is. I am not usually a fan of sweet things in salad but I really did like this one. I didn't add as much ginger as was in the recipe as I was worried about it overpowering it but I really should have used the whole amount. I made half the recipe but it still made plenty. I served with herbed salmon and steamed asparagus.

Quinoa orange, ginger, carrot & coconut salad 

3/4 c black quinoa, rinsed and drained 

1 3/4 c water

4 medium carrots, grated 

1/2 sultanas

3/4 c shredded coconut

3 tbsp chives (I would probably use green onions next time) 

juice & zest of 1 orange (zest wasn't in recipe but I added)

1 tbsp grated ginger 

2 tbsp olive oil 

2 - 3 tbsp lime juice

Bring water & quinoa to the boil then cover and simmer until water is absorbed. Let cool. 

Add carrot, sultanas, coconut & chives. Mix juice & zest, ginger, oil & lime juice then pour over quinoa. Toss and refrigerate for at least an hour to let flavours combine.