Salmon fillet wrapped in prosciutto with herby lentils, spinach & yoghurt

Here is a simple dinner for when you’ve been running around all day & don’t have much energy left, it comes from Jamie Oliver’s Return of the Naked Chef. The prosciutto gives the salmon a lovely salty kick.

Salmon fillet wrapped in prosciutto with herby lentils, spinach & yoghurt

255g lentils
4 x 225g salmon fillets, skinned & pin-boned
salt & freshly ground black pepper
8 slices of prosciutto
olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
2 good handfuls of mixed herbs (parsley, basil, mint), chopped
3 large handfuls of spinach, chopped
200ml natural yoghurt

Preheat the oven to 220c. Put the lentils into a pan, cover with water, bring to the boil & simmer until tender. Season the salmon fillets with a little pepper before wrapping them in the prosciutto slices. Leave some of the flesh exposed. Drizzle with olive oil & roast in the oven for around 10 minutes until the prosciutto is golden. Drain away most of the water away from the lentils & season carefully with salt, pepper, the lemon juice and 4 good lugs of olive oil. Just before serving, stir the herbs & spinach into the lentils on a high heat, until wilted. Place on to plates with the salmon & finish with a drizzle of lightly seasoned yoghurt.

Ricotta Dumplings with Orecchiette, peas & prosciutto

For dinner the other night, we had visitors all afternoon & the as soon as they were out the door & I was about to start dinner, Missy wanted a feed so Michael was stuck cooking dinner again. I was a bit worried as the recipe I had chosen to attempt was a bit more complicated than his usual efforts so I thought I could step in and take over as soon as Chloe was done but Michael was happy to keep going so I left him to it & got some other stuff done in my few moments of freedom. The recipe comes from a recent Delicious Magazine & was delicious, a really tasty yet simple combination, it was so yum that I hadn’t even intended on blogging it yet after a couple of mouthfuls I felt I couldn’t not post about it so I tried to rearrange the dish & snap some photos. Great dish though not sure if I will make it again as it seemed a bit fiddly, quite a few dishes & a hell of a mess (Michael hasn’t yet learned the art of cooking & keeping the kitchen relatively clean as he goes!), anyway I have kept the recipe so will wait & see.

Ricotta Dumplings with Orecchiette, peas & prosciutto

2 cups Orecchiette pasta
¼ cup (60ml) olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
1 cup freshly podded or frozen peas
½ onion, thinly sliced
¼ cup (60ml) dry white wine
4 thin slices prosciutto or ham, sliced
2 tablespoons mint leaves

Ricotta Dumplings
250g fresh ricotta
2 tablespoons grated parmesan, plus extra to serve
1/3 cup (50g) plain flour
1 egg, plus 1 extra yolk
2 tablespoons finely chopped flat leaf parsley
Large pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

For the ricotta dumplings, briefly process all the ingredients in a food processor with salt & pepper until smooth. Chill until needed.

Cook pasta in a pan of salted water according to packet instructions, adding peas for the final 2 minutes of cooking time, then drain. Rinse briefly in cold water to cool slightly, then drain again. Toss with 1 tablespoon of the oil.

Heat remaining oil in large pan over medium-low heat. Add onion & cook for 5 minutes or until soft. Add the wine, prosciutto, peas & pasta & lightly toss for 1 minute or until pasta is heated through. Strew the contents of the pan with its juices in a single layer over a large serving platter.

Meanwhile bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Drop the ricotta batter by the teaspoon into the boiling water, cooking 6 at a time, and simmer for 2 minutes. Drain on paper towel while you cook remaining dumplings, then scatter over the pasta. Season well with sea salt & freshly ground black pepper, scatter with mint & a little extra parmesan, then drizzle with extra oil & serve warm.

El Mirage, East Brunswick

3.5 weeks in and I had my first sit down ‘meal’ out since the birth of baby Chloe. We put her in her sling & she was wonderful sleeping the whole way through her first dining out experience. It was a lovely day out if a bit windy on Saturday so I decided that instead of sitting around on our bums as we usually do with all of our visitors we would go for a walk & attempt to eat out. Michael’s sister Julie was the lucky one who got to try this out with us. We headed over to Lygon street (East Brunswick end of course) & decided to try out El Mirage, a relatively new café in the strip. We grabbed a seat at the bar on the outside side of the terrace where there was a nice corner to park the pram (we brought it along in case we had problems with the sling), we thought outside would be best in case we ended up with a screaming baby on our hands 7 needed to make a hasty escape. The terrace is nice & spacious with just a few tables & the bar to sit at & the inside looked pretty roomy too which is nice as that is the sort of thing I have to look out for now. Even though we were out for lunch I had breakfast as it’s been a while since I was allowed to eat proper runny poached eggs. I had the Eggs benedict which was served with prosciutto & hollandaise on what I think was a ciabatta roll instead of the usual ham & muffin combo. It worked very well for me, I’m not a traditionalist & I loved the changes, the roll was much nicer than a boring muffin & I love prosciutto, eggs were good & the sauce I had no complaints with. As well as breakfast which range from various egg combos including a Mexican one with beans & home fries that looked delicious when spied coming out on someone else’s plate, bircher muesli & pancakes amongst others, they do serve lunch dishes & the menu all up had quite a nice selection to choose from. Overall a welcome addition to Lygon street for me & sure it will be visited many times again on my walks with Chloe

El Mirage
349 Lygon Street
Brunswick East, VIC 3057
Ph: 9388 0966

Ricotta & Tomato Tart

For brunch with the girls the other day I made this tasty Tart from Bill Granger’s ‘Bill’s Sydney Food’. To save time I made the pastry the day before & even though when I took it out of the fridge the next day it was rock hard & I thought an absolute disaster, after leaving out for quite some time I was finally able to roll it out, it did break up a bit & needed some squishing back together but in the end it was light & buttery & fantastic, not bad for my first attempt at puff pastry I must say. As you can see mine was a very rustic looking pie indeed. The filling was really yum too & the tart made for a nice morning/afternoon with some salad, bread, prosciutto & cheese to accompany it.

Ricotta & Tomato Tart

Filling
2 ripe tomatoes, finely sliced
sea salt
2 cups ricotta
2 eggs, lightly beaten
¼ cup cream
¼ cup finely grated parmesan
a pinch of ground nutmeg
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup finely shredded rocket
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten, for glazing
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Rough Puff Pastry
200g plain flour
½ teaspoon salt
200g chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons chilled water

Place flour & salt in a bowl, add butter & rub through with fingertips until the mixture resembles large breadcrumbs. Add enough cold water, cutting in with a knife, to form a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap & refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll out dough into a 30 x 15 cm rectangle. Fold in the two short ends to meet in the centre, then fold in again. Roll the pastry into a 30 x 15cm rectangle again, then repeat folding process. Refrigerate as a small rectangle for a further 30 minutes before using.

Preheat oven to 200c. Place tomatoes in a colander, sprinkle with salt & leave to drain. Place pastry dough on a lightly floured surface & roll out to a circle about 35cm in diameter & 3mm thick. Place dough on a lightly floured baking tray.

Place ricotta, eggs, cream, parmesan, nutmeg, salt & pepper in a bowl and mix well. Add rocket & stir to combine. Place this mixture in the centre of the dough, and spread filling over the dough leaving a 5 cm border around the outside. Using your hand, lift & push the border onto the filling. Arrange tomato slices over the top of the filling. Brush pastry with egg yolk & bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until golden. Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley & freshly ground black pepper. Serves 8

Woodstock, North Fitzroy

The other night the family were off to the movies & we needed a simple & quick bite to eat beforehand. My suggestion was Woodstock which is a family run little Italian place on Nicholson street. The menu consists entirely of pizza’s – Italian style, thin crust with lovely toppings, such as prosciutto & porcini, and it’s all in Italian too which the staff are happy to translae for you. There is always a specials board that has a couple of home made pasta’s of the day plus some fish & maybe some meat dishes. Last night for example there was roast goat, crumbed veal, calamari, garfish, a pesto filled agnoletti & a linguine marinara to name a couple of the specials. There is a limited wine list & byo is $10 corkage a bottle.

The few times I have been there, there are always crumbed, stuffed olives on the specials too & being a huge fan of these delectable morsels I always order some to start with. The rest of the family were a bit dubious but were soon won over & loved them as much as I do. I chose the marinara as I wasn’t in a pizza mood, the serve was huge, lots of pasta with a couple of mussles, a few prawns, some scallops & squid thrown into a tomato based sauce, very tasty though a bit on the salty side so beware if you're not a salt fan. There was also so much that Michael got half of mine, he ordered the agnoletti which was fantastic but in contrast to mine the serving was really quite small & definitely not enough to fill a grown man. We didn’t go for dessert as we were in a hurry so not sure what was on offer though there was a gelati bar at the counter so at the least one could expect a bowl of ice cream to finish off. All in all a great Italian place for a quick & simple feed though the prices are a bit on the highish side for such simple fair, ie pizza’s about $20 each & you do need one per person so if you can live with that give it a go.

Woodstock
612 Nicholson street
North Fitzroy
Ph: 9481 8122

Spaghettini with lemon, prosciutto and chilli

Another quick & tasty pasta combination from Bill Granger that Michael cooked up for me – this one’s from Bill’s Food

Spaghettini with lemon, prosciutto and chilli

60ml (1/4 cup) lemon juice
60ml (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil
2 small fresh red chillies, seeded & finely chopped
12 slices prosciutto, cut into thin strips
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
250g rocket leaves, shredded
400g good quality dried thin Spaghettini (or any other pasta really!)

Whisk the lemon juice, olive oil, chilli & some salt & pepper in a bowl to blend.

Put the prosciutto, lemon zest and rocket in a bowl & toss to combine.

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil & cook pasta to packet directions. Drain & add the prosciutto mix, pour the dressing over & toss to combine.

I Carusi Pizza

Well this little Pizza place that you would not even notice unless looking really hard for has to be Melbourne’s best kept secret. The place is always jam packed full of people so don’t even think about turning up without a booking. The menu consists purely of pizza (apart from a couple of salads & some olives). It’s lovely & warm inside, some nice music playing in the background & dimly lit so quite atmospheric. Michael & I were seated opposite the pizza production line last night which was fascinating. I swear these guys could win a world record they crank them out so fast. We had a small pizza each, they come in either 10 or 13 inch, we really should have had the large as they are very thin based so not over filling especially for a man & someone eating for 2. Michael had the Genovese, tomato, goats cheese, pesto, roasted peppers & prosciutto. I had the Greg Oregano, tomato, prosciutto, rocket & Parmeggiano. Sorry about the crappy photos, not sure what was going on with the camera last night so you will have to trust me that these were divine & there are so many fantastic sounding combinations that you just want to order every single one. They have dessert pizzas too which sadly we didn’t have time for last night as we had to rush home to watch The Pies have a mighty win over Port Adelaide, maybe next time. Do yourself a favour & get down here fast.

I Carusi Pizza
46a Holmes Street
Brunswick East
9386 5522
BYO & Cash only

Warm Salad of Roasted pumpkin, prosciutto & Pecorino

Tonight I cooked up this gorgeous salad for dinner, the mix of colors was very bright & appealing. The flavours were fantastic together & really hardly any work at all, basically just peeling & chopping the pumpkin & the rest is just banging it all on a plate, great for a tired Monday after work. Note of warning, the chilli I used had quite a bit of a kick so if you dont like it hot, maybe cut down on the chilli. The recipe is from Jamies Kitchen. When it comes to the recipe, peeling isnt specified, seeds should be left in & the pumpkin only cut into quarters. I ignored this as in my experience the bigger the pieces the longer the cooking time & I was very hungry, also didnt fancy the seeds or peel!

Warm Salad of Roasted pumpkin, prosciutto & Pecorino

Serves 4 (I halved the ingredients)

1 butternut pumpkin
olive oil
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 small dried red chilli
1 heaped teaspoon coriander seeds
20 slices prosciuto or parma ham
4 handfuls of rocket
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 small block pecorino or parmesan

Preheat your oven to 190c. Peel the pumpkin & chop in pieces, place in a baking tray & rub with olive oil. In a pestle & mortar pound up a flat teaspoon each of salt, pepper & your chilli & coriander seeds. Scatter this over the pumpkin & roast for half an hour or so until soft & golden.

Lay your prosciuto on 4 platess, sprinkle over the rocket, then pumpkin, then drizzle over the combined olive oil & balsamic & top with shaved pecorino.

Pan Toasted Sandwich with Tomato & Fontina

Well finally I have a cheese sandwich to blog. This is from Bills Sydney Food. As he is so famous for his brekky thought I would start trying out his recipes. This sandwich is described as perfect hangover food, sorry can’t confirm or deny as last night was a dry night for me. The recipe was devised by Harry’s bar in Venice. I used an olive & rosemary bread that I bought over at Ceres on the weekend & substituted gruyere for the fontina, (Michael was set to do the shopping & couldn’t find any fontina). I halved the ingredients & still had heaps of oil leftover which I have saved & still managed to make 4 sandwiches, the loaf was a smallish size. Also Bill says that if you don’t have 2 hours to hang around & wait for the tomatoes too marinate, 5 minutes will do, mine were done for about 1.5 hours & the flavours of garlic & chilli really came through, a really tasty brekky sandwich & of course the variations are limitless, add prosciutto, rocket, etc.

Pan Toasted Sandwich with Tomato & Fontina

100ml extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red chilli, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 tomatoes, cut into 1/2cm thick slices
8 large thick slices wholemeal bread
75g fontina cheese, finely sliced
16 basil leaves
50g butter

Place, oil, garlic, chilli, salt & pepper in a shallow dish & mix well, add tomatoes & marinate for 2 hours. Brush one side of each slice of bread with the oil from the tomatoes. Place the cheese evenly on top of half the bread slices on the oiled sides. Top with basil, tomatoes & a 2nd slice of bread, oil side down.

Melt half the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat & add the sandwiches, cover with a plate & weigh down with some cans. Cook until golden brown, flip & repeat.