melanzane alla parmigiana

Last month we were talking favourite veggie dishes and I shared my Cauliflower Cheese and Roman Rosemary Potato recipes with you. I hadn’t yet posted the third veggie dish I mentioned. So here it is, such a well known and well loved dish all around the world. 

To be honest, it’s actually my near-miss Suocera’s recipe. I’m translating it from Italian into English from my little duck journal. A beautiful notebook I bought in Florence many moons ago. I quickly filled it with best loved recipes during my first year in Italy. I‘d often drool over the stationery shop windows almost as much as ‘La Pasticceria’.

‘La Suocera’ always had me in fits of laughter.  Not the lady, she scared the .... out of me. But the word itself. So ominous and sharp in a language full of melodic softness. Just like the $2.50 eggplants at the Farmers Markets on Saturday.  Round, plump and glossy. One almost knows it means ‘mother-in-law’, even before you understand a full sentence of Italian.

My near-miss ‘Suocera’ (I’ll save that story for the book!) was kinder and more nurturing than her title. And an exceptional cook, like her Mamma and Nonna before her. However, Australia was a country seemingly too far away for comfort and comprehension.  I’m convinced that’s why our nation of immigrants embraces all cuisines with such vigor. Food takes us closer to our roots. Nowhere is off limits or too far away when we’re cooking...... so bring on the recipe already! And have a great start to the week MFK friends.

Melanzane alla Parmigiana 

Ingredients (serves 6)

olive oil cooking spray ❤ 2 large eggplants or 3 medium sized ❤ 700gram jar of tomato Passata  ❤ 1 onion, finely chopped ❤ small tub of tomato paste ❤ 1 handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped ❤ 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and bruised ❤ 140 grams parmesan cheese, freshly grated ❤ 240 grams mozzarella, sliced ❤ 6 tablespoons olive oil ❤ 1 cup fresh white breadcrumbs ❤ plenty of sea salt and freshly cracked pepper ❤ rocket leaves to serve (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to moderate 180°C (350°F). Lightly grease a 5-6cm deep medium sized baking dish with butter or oil.

Cut eggplant into even 1cm wide slices and place in a colander. Sprinkle a generous amount of sea salt evenly over the slices and allow to sit over a larger bowl for about 30 minutes to release any bitter juices.  The bowl will catch brown liquid underneath. If time poor , just skip this step as it’s not essential. Simply salt the eggplant slices well during frying.

If you prefer a healthier option, then spray the eggplant slices with olive oil on both sides and grill them for 2 minutes on each side or until tender and charred.

To make the tomato sauce, fry off chopped onion and garlic in olive oil.  Once translucent and flavours released, add the jar of Passata and tomato paste to the pot. Cook and stir as required for at least 10 minutes.

Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of the greased baking dish. Place ¼ of the eggplant slices on top. Sprinkle ¼ of the grated parmesan and chopped basil on top of the eggplant.  Now add a layer of sliced mozzarella.  Repeat the layering process until you finish up all your ingredients with a fourth layer on top of parmesan covered eggplant and some mozzarella. Top with fine breadcrumbs. Please excuse the one photographed - it's last nights dinner, a healthier version without the mozzarella layers.

Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes until bubbling and golden and you can’t withstand that fragrant cooking any longer. Rest and cool for as long as you can resist and serve.  Tastes even better the next day and also terrific sliced and served cold with rocket or spinach salad. Some say it’s a marvelous midnight snack and potent pick-me-up directly from the fridge. I’d have to agree on that. What's your favourite veggie dish?

zucchini & cranberry nut loaf

Sweet yet Savoury.  Don't you love it when a dish fuses the two together in perfect harmony. Whether it be dinner time, a pretty tiered High Tea selection or just a simple warm loaf like this one. Savoury breads with a dose of sweetness are entirely satisfying and perfect for lunch - especially complimented with soft cheeses (brie or camembert) and a little pot of homemade relish , tamarillo or capisicum jam on the side. Some might say savoury breads have well and truly taken over from classic quiches at lunchtime. But I’d like to think there’s still plenty of room for them both. And I look forward to sharing my traditional Quiche Lorraine recipe with you soon.

This recipe is a hybrid of inspiration from an old “Delicious Magazine” recipe and from Margaret Fulton’s Zucchini quick bread, found in her fabulous new book simply titled “Baking”.

I’ve added my own obsessions, more cranberries and seeds and a touch of 'pink and green should always be seen'. Bright green zucchini, pinkish red cranberries, smooth green pepitas. Continuing the theme, pink petals and greenery on fine bone English china. Cheap op shop finds that always add colour and enjoyment.  As does a cup of Tea Tonic’s  beautiful Berry Green Tea. Picture perfect luncheon complete.

Zucchini, Cranberry & Nut Loaf

Ingredients

2 2/3 cups (400 grams) plain flour ❤ 1 teaspoon bicarb soda ❤ ½ teaspoon baking powder ❤ 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ❤ ¼ teaspoon mixed spice ❤ 1 firmly packed cup (200 grams) brown sugar ❤ ½ cup caster sugar ❤ 3 free range eggs, beaten ❤ 200 ml sunflower canola oil ❤ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract ❤ 3 large zucchini, grated  ❤ ¾ cup nuts; walnuts, pecans or pine nuts (up to you) toasted and chopped plus a little extra for sprinkling on top ❤ ½ cup dried cranberries (craisins) ❤ small sprinkle of pepitas (sunflower seeds) & some leftover nuts on top ❤ teaspoon of demerara sugar (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to slow 150°C (300°F). Margaret Fulton bakes her zucchini quick bread at 190 for 55mins but I prefer to bake this one slowly, just like my Coconut Banana Bread and Low Fat Healthy Loaf. 1 -1¼ hours will do it.

Grease a large (2 litre) loaf tin and line with baking paper.  Grate zucchini and lightly roast the nuts in the warmed oven.

Sift flour, spices, baking powder and bicarb soda together with a pinch of salt.  Add sugar, beaten eggs, oil, vanilla, zucchini, nuts and cranberries to the dry flour mix.  Stir with a wooden spoon until mixture is well combined.  Pour into the prepared loaf tin. Sprinkle extra nuts and seeds on top. Also a little demerara sugar if you have some. Bake for 1-1 ¼ hours in slow oven or until cooked in the centre, test with skewer to be sure.  Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack before removing from the tin and allowing to cool completely before slicing.

You can change the flavours of course as you so desire using; red onion, cheese (feta, cheddar or parmesan), and/or herbs (dill, mint or basil). These ingredients also work well in savoury zucchini muffins or a pie.  Just don’t forget to squeeze as much liquid from the zucchini as possible if making into a pie. Use 5 eggs and about 700grams of grated zucchini. No need for pastry and crumble feta on top for the yummiest result, just like I do in the roast veggie frittata recipe. Enjoy. x

roasted chestnuts + butterfly pasta with cream of walnut sugo

Going abit nutty can really be a good thing. I’ve got two terrific nut recipes to share with you from my wintry days in Rome.  As the temperature continues to drop, I can highly recommend heading straight for your kitchen. My farm kitchen at Weka Weka is a refuge of guaranteed winter warmth.  Home fires burning, hearty meals on dark, chilly evenings.  

Roasted Chestnuts  (le castagne arrosto) also known as marrone  

The easiest and tastiest way to enjoy chestnuts is roasted on the stovetop in your oldest frypan. All you need are a few brown paper bags.  

Ingredients

Fresh Chestnuts, as many as you like

Method

Using a sharp knife, bang a small cross on the top skin of each chestnut (the round part), not too deep, just a few millimetres. Place them flat in a frypan, cut side down. Wet several brown paper bags and lay on top. The aim being to cover the nuts with one layer of wet paper to seal them and give moisture while cooking.  Occasionally shake the pan gently and cook until almost starting to burn, approximately 10 minutes. Re-wet the paper bags as needed to retain moisture.  Remove from flame; turn the nuts over to cook for a few minutes longer on their flat side. Cool a little, only enough to break open without burning the skin off your fingers! Peel and enjoy immediately. They’re much easier to peel when warm not cooled. Never forget to slit your nuts - they will explode. Trust me on this one.

Seasonal Jotting

The re-appearance of chestnuts in our fruit shops and markets each year is a joyous sight.  I mean no offence to our marvellous macadamia, a proud Queenslander that falls freely in my own backyard. However, the chestnuts we are receiving from our southern neighbours are great.  It doesn’t really matter what crazy price these smooth, brown nuts might be fetching. Only a few big handfuls are all that’s required to shift your shivers and warm your kitchen. 

Peeling hot chestnuts with a loved one is like putting match to a flame. It’s the perfect conversation starter. Marvellous how the simplest of foods transports us back, often to foreign places and with all our senses. The woody scent of chestnuts roasting returns me to foggy Italian roadsides in Abruzzo. To the blackened hands of cheery chestnut vendors on snowy European street corners.  Coned paper-bags steaming fragrantly. 

There are more than 300 chestnut growers in Australia producing around 1,200 tonnes annually, 80% coming from north-eastern Victoria.  The good news is that crops will increase considerably in the next ten years due to large plantings fifteen years ago.  Depending on the variety, most nuts drop from mid March to early May.  Devour them while they last.  And don’t worry about their size. As I often tell my youngest daughter, good things come in small packages – the smaller ones are often the sweetest. 

Butterfly pasta with cream of walnut sauce (farfalle con crema di noci e panna) 

Here’s a slow food recipe I enjoy cooking for all the family. I use the term ‘slow food’ because the sauce is most delicious when you take the time to peel the skins off the walnuts.  Best achieved with some patience and covering them in boiling water for a few minutes to loosen their thin brown skins OR lightly roasting them and rubbing them in a tea towel.

Serves 6  Prep time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 10-12 minutes for the pasta only. The sauce just needs warming and tossing through the hot pasta.

Ingredients 

Sauce: 300 grams of fresh aussie walnuts, lightly roasted and shelled ❤ 180 grams of gorgonzola cheese ❤ 8 fresh basil leaves ❤ 1 large ripe vine ripened tomato ❤ 2 large sprigs of fresh italian parsley ❤ 1 red chilli ❤ 4 tablespoons of cream ❤ extra virgin olive oil ❤  a packet of barilla farfalle butterfly pasta or your favourite fresh pasta

Method

Remove the skin off the walnuts and place them in a food processor. Boil salted water for the pasta and cook as directed. Chop Gorgonzola into small pieces and place in the food processor with the nuts. Add the remaining ingredients; herbs, chilli, skinned tomato, dash of olive oil and cream. Blend all the ingredients together until the mix becomes a rich paste. Gently warm the amount of sauce you desire in a saucepan over low heat. Add the pasta, toss together and serve. Any leftover sauce can be refrigerated for later in the week.

I buy fresh winter nuts from my green grocer or local farmers markets.  In Brisbane I used to get them from the neither fancy nor trendy melting pot that is Mt Gravatt Farmers & Flea Markets. On at the Showgrounds each Sunday. If you’ve ever doubted the cosmopolitan makeup of Brisbane, spend an hour wandering here. Stallholders from around the globe are great storytellers, there’s row upon row of growers and sellers and the choice of fruit and veg is quite overwhelming. Everything is at least a dollar or two a kilo lower than the shops. The flowers are fabulous. Café lattes and Char Siu pork, Indian curry puffs and Dutch pancakes, all rub shoulders together. The free-range egg man clucks for his customers. The Stanthorpe apples are super crisp, just how we remember them from childhood. As for the jolly Hungarian langos man with the skillet, fried garlic bread and pokey felt hat – he’s a ridgy didge classic straight out of Budapest.  

Unlike the langos, chestnuts contain no cholesterol and are low in sodium, kilojoules and fat.  They are rich in mineral salts and a good source of vitamin C, B1, B2 and folates. Walnuts contain those all-important omega-3 fatty acids.  

Here in the Gold Coast Hinterland our winter can only be described as superb. You can count the foggy grey days on one hand for the entire year. It’s well worth a Sunday drive to explore.  If staying in - why not cook?! cuddle up and generate some warmth amongst your family. Enjoy your weekend. 

simple hearty beef soup

Fortunately there aren’t too many dramas in life that can’t be shared and many times resolved over a good chat, great coffee and freshly baked slice of cake or muffin.  But some days, especially late Autumn & Winter days, would you agree there’s nothing quite like a wholesome bowl of soup to soothe the soul? Especially if the change of season has left you or your family members with a cold. Urgh!

The flavours in this old family soup recipe remind me of Osso Bucco, that so-satisfying slowly cooked Italian stew we all love. Its rich flavour and fall-off-the-bone meat is tender yet filling. I can’t remember a time when this wonderful beef soup wasn’t a part of our family favourites. 

On a separate but related note -  Would you forgive me friends if I shy away from sugar and white flour for a little while? All feedback welcome in comments below. I’ve had quite a number of regular readers contact me re. more nutritious recipes. Like some of you, I’m also doing a little reboot  at the moment to get back on track. Balance (with our food and busy lives) can be allusive at times -  if we allow it. I hope you'll enjoy the addition of my best wholesome recipes over the coming weeks.  And until I can't resist sharing more sweeties with you. 

Ingredients

½ cup dried soup mix (pies, barley & lentils mix) ❤  1 tablespoon lentils ❤ ¼ cup white arborio rice (or brown rice if you prefer) ❤ 2 ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced ❤ 2 celery stalks, diced ❤ 2 carrots, peeled and diced ❤ 2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed ❤ 1 white onion, peeled and diced ❤ 1 tablespoon vegemite ❤ 800 grams beef shin ‘osso bucco’ some of the fat trimmed ❤ 9-11 cups water depending on your pot size (I use approx 12 cups of water in my 5 litre capacity pot - doesn’t need to be exact) freshly cracked pepper to taste

Method

Rinse soup mix, lentils and rice in a fine sieve under running water to clean grains. Set aside.

Peel and chop tomatoes. Peel and dice carrots, garlic and onion. Wash and dice celery stalks.

Place all ingredients; legumes, vegetables, trimmed beef shin, vegemite and water in a pressure cooker pot or regular stovetop pot. Simmer very slowly on low heat, covered for at least 1 hour in your pressure cooker or 3 hours covered on your stovetop until soup is full of flavour and meat falling from the bone. I add lots of freshly cracked pepper. I tend to leave the meat in fairly chunky size pieces. If any fat rests on the top once cooled, just skim it off with a spoon. Keeps well for 5 days covered in the refrigerator, the flavour certainly enhances over that time.

happy mothers day 2012

Happy Mothers Day to all Mums, Nans, Nannies, Grandmas, Nonnas ...

I’m re-posting my Mum Wendy’s favourite cake  Torta della Nonna, (Grandma's Cake), in case you missed it or are having trouble deciding what to bake for your precious Mum. It’s a sophisticated version of our Aussie custard tart and ab fab!  Guaranteed she'll love it.

If you’re looking for something quick, simple and always well received with jam and freshly whipped chantilly cream, I can highly recommend Special Light Scones for your Mum. Enjoy your special day together. xo