Dairy-free
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Recipe: Fennel & apple soup with ham
This is a quick weekday recipe that combines two of my favourite things in winter: soup and fennel. Add one of my favourite things regardless of the season (i.e. pork, in the form of ham) and you have a rounded meal for 4.
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Product review: Kehoe’s Kitchen sauerkraut
Now that fermented foods are in fashion (yay!) there are quite a few new interesting brands popping up. This bright pink jar in my local health food shop caught my eye, especially when I read the ingredients list: red cabbage, apple, garlic & fennel seeds. I really liked this sauerkraut, I didn’t find the garlic too strong at all. The only downside, as with all good fermented products, would be the price (I paid $19.95). Kehoe’s Kitchenkehoeskitchen.com
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Recipe: Smoked pork, mushroom, ginger & cabbage soup
This recipe is more a guide than an actual recipe. Yes, this is an excuse to be inaccurate with the quantities. The results will be great, give or take reasonable amounts of any ingredient. You can also use pre-made broth if you can find a good one. * I opted for soft-boiled eggs and was too impatient to wait for them to cool down before peeling, hence the terrible presentation in the photo.
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Product review: Woolworths slow cooked stocks
As much as I love making my own broth, when time is tight it’s nice to have backup options. Some of them can be quite expensive but fortunately Woolies has come up with a range of slow cooked stocks that are decent and budget-friendly. The stocks come in 4 flavours: King Island beef, vegetable, free range chicken and white fish. All have very clean ingredients lists. All good for cooking and okay for drinking straight. Perfect for emergencies and/or lazy people.
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Recipe: Menestrón
The Peruvians took the minestrone recipe, brought with the Italian migrants, and turned into it menestrón. The Peruvian version is heavier on the basil and almost never features tomatoes. It’s also big on the carbs, not only featuring beans (sometimes a few different kinds) but also pasta (often penne). I grew up loving my mum’s and auntie’s, and I crave it when it starts getting chilly in Sydney. I make my version with no beans nor pasta, and often use whatever veggies I have available. This time, for example, I couldn’t find turnip, so used radishes instead.
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Product review: Hunted & Gathered Dry Wors
Hunted & Gathered, the makers of my favourite beef jerky have a new(ish) product: Dry Wors. This is their version of a traditional South African dried beef sausage. These are expensive ($20.50 per pack) but worth every cent. They are made with organic grass-fed beef, organic coriander seeds, organic black pepper, organic vinegar, organic coconut sugar and pink lake salt. They are chewy but less than jerky, and also fattier. Great shelf-stable snack to have handy. Hunted and Gatheredhuntedandgathered.com.au
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Recipe: Fragrant roasted chicken with cinnamon pumpkin and broccolini
I’ve been using this awesome recipe for roasting chicken for the past few months. It’s simple and fool-proof, and it gives you the flexibility of using any spices you want. I often use a mix of rosemary and sage salts or a mix of rosemary and lemon salts. This time I used a mix of Moroccan spices and paired it up with cinnamon-y pumpkin and broccolini. Delicious!
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Recipe: Cacao maca smoothie
Confession time: despite being Peruvian, I don’t like maca. I do try to get some in my diet because it’s meant to help with hormonal balance, but I have to find ways to disguise its flavour. I’ve been making a smoothie mix with the dry ingredients listed below, which I multiply 3 or 4 times and store them in a jar, making it easy to chuck in the blender in the morning. I’ve used avocado and/or coconut milk for thickness and fat content. I don’t use any sweetener (IMO you don’t need any if using coconut milk, anyway) but that might be overkill for you, so go ahead and add…
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Recipe: Zucchini and roasted garlic soup
For those who know Mafalda (or some Spanish) here is the perfect strip for this post. Soup in summer. Enough said.
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Recipe: Peruvian osso buco
Gastón Acurio is without a doubt the most important Peruvian chef of all times. In his Facebook page he promotes Peruvian restaurants back home and overseas and shares recipes with his followers. Like Peruvian mums, he doesn’t use quantities. He might indicate approximates (e.g. “a lot”, “a pinch”), but you have to figure out exact amounts by yourself. This is not hard to do if you have any experience with cooking Peruvian dishes but can become daunting if you don’t. The first time I made Gastón’s recipe for osso buco I eyeballed the quantities and the result was amazing. I didn’t write the recipe down so I “had to” make…
