Lentil & Beetroot Salad

I had some leftover beetroots from last week so I made this salad from the Marie Claire ‘Luscious’ Cookbook. It was good although the beetroot still needed quite a bit of cooking after the hour so plan on that in advance. The lentils were great with the salad, every time I cook them I forget how much I love them & promise myself to cook more real soon, hopefully more lentil recipes coming up soon!

Lentil & Beetroot Salad

4 beetroot, about 150g each, washed but not peeled
100g puy lentils or tiny blue-green lentils
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 orange
100g baby rocket leaves
100g marinated goat’s cheese

Preheat oven to 200c. Sit the beetroot in a roasting tin & pour in 250ml/1 cup of water. Cover with foil & bake for 1 hour or until a knife passes easily through the beetroot. Remove the beetroot from the tin & leave to cool.

Meanwhile, put the lentils in a saucepan with 500ml/2 cups of water. Add the sea salt & bring to the boil, then reduce the heat & simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Drain off any excess water, tip the lentils into a bowl & stir in the vinegar & olive oil.

Wearing rubber gloves to stop your hands staining, peel the skins from the beetroots. Cut the bulbs into wedges, put them in a bowl & pour the orange juice over the top.

Scatter the rocket leaves on a serving platter & arrange beetroot wedges on top. Spoon the lentils over the top, season with salt & pepper & drizzle with any remaining orange & beetroot juice. Crumble the goats cheese over the top. Serves 4.

Breakfast Bars

This morning, still on my healthy breakfast thing I made up a batch of muesli bars from Marie Claire’s Luscious. Very easy to prepare, the flavor was delicious though mine had a bit of trouble keeping form when cut, they did keep their shape though they were very delicate & the edges crumbled, think maybe they needed to cook just that bit longer than the 30 minutes I allowed. Anyway this will be something nice Michael & I can take along to work this week.

Breakfast Bars

150g butter
175g (1/2 cup) honey
200g (2 cups) rolled oats
60g (1 cup) shredded coconut
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
200g (3/4 cup) pitted prunes, chopped
100g (2/3 cup) dried peaches, chopped
75g (1/2 cup) currants
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 170c. Line a 23 x 32 cm sandwich tin with baking paper.

Put the butter & honey in a small pan over medium heat & stir until butter has melted.

Toss the oats, coconut, baking powder & sesame seeds together in a large bowl. Add the prunes, peaches & currants & mix well. Add the warm honey mixture & eggs & stir to combine, then spoon evenly into cake tin.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the mixture is cooked through & the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven & allow to cool in the pan before cutting into 12 bars.

Spiced Salmon

Tonight I cooked up this very very quick & simple dinner from Marie Claire’s Luscious. It’s just a matter of throwing it all together & whacking in the fridge while you run around the house sorting out all of those after work bits & pieces you normally don’t have the time for as cooking elaborate dinner! Nice simple flavours with the smokiness of the paprika really coming through. I also added some cherry tomatoes to my couscous for just a teeny big of fruit/veg factor.

Spiced Salmon

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
juice of 2 limes
1 tablespoon small salted capers, rinsed & drained
1 tablespoon finely chopped preserved lemon rind
2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander
4 Salmon Steaks

Place all ingredients in a bowl & stir, add the salmon, cover & refrigerate for 1 hour.

Bake in an oven preheated to 180c for 10 minutes & serve with steamed couscous & mint leaves.

Fragrant Peach Tart

This weekends sweet cooking is for Michaels mum & dad again as it’s a very hot day so we thought we could pop into their place for a swim. For the tart I got to use my new food processor for the first time & it’s fantastic, I used to have one with a teeny tiny bowl that you could not fit anything in, this one is huge & industrial strength & I love it, thanks mum! The tart looks beautiful, I was a bit disappointed with the taste though, the peaches I used didn’t seem to have that much flavour & you definitely need something with a strong flavour, so I would use apricots or much sweeter peaches if making it again. The recipe is from the Marie Claire Luscious book

Fragrant Peach Tart

6-7 small ripe peaches
Tart Case (see instructions below)
2 eggs
115g (4oz/1/2 cup) caster sugar
4 tbpsns plain flour
½ teaspoon rose water
110g unsalted butter
double cream to serve

Preheat the oven to 180c. Slice the peaches in half & remove the stones. Slice the flesh into think wedges & arrange in the base of the tart case, cut sides up. Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl, add the sugar and beat with electric beaters until pale & fluffy. Fold in the flour & rosewater. Heat the butter in a saucepan over high heat. When it begins to froth & turn pale golden brown, pour it into the egg mixture & beat for 1 minute. Pour the filling over the peaches & bake for a further 15 minutes, or until the filling has set. Allow to cool & serve with cream.

Shortcrust Tart Case

200g (7oz/1 2/3 cups) plain flour
100g (3 ½ oz) chilled unsalted butter
2 tablespoons chilled water

Put the flour, butter & a pinch of salt in a food processor & process for 1 minute. Add the chilled water & process until the mixture comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap & refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Grease a 25cm tart tin or 6 8cm tartlet tins. Roll the pastry out as thinly as possible between 2 layers of plastic wrap, then use it to line the prepared tin(s). Chill for a further 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180c. Using a fork, prick the pastry case(s) over the base, line with crumpled baking paper & fill with rice or baking weights. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the pastry looks dry. Remove from the oven & allow to cool.

Chocolate Plum Cake

Today I baked this absolutely scrumptious chocolate plum cake ftom the Marie Claire Luscious book to take over to my mum & dads for an afternoon visit. I chose a recipe with plums as growing up my grandparents had some plum trees in the back yard so we were always eating plums, home made plum jam & plum cakes of course! As they have sadly left us we no longer have the pleasure of these treats anymore though I wanted tomake something using plums for nostalgic reasons.

The cake is heavenly, the plums almost completely breakdown into a syrup which seeps into the top of the cake & the sugar topping is so good you now it is doing very evil things to your waste line. We served it with double cream which was just perfect.


Chocolate Plum Cake

165g (3/4 cup firmly packed) dark brown sugar
280g (2 ¼ cups) plain flour
185g unsalted butter
2 tspns baking powder
3 tblspns dark cocoa powdeer
¼ tspn salt
230g (1 cup) castor sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
185ml (3/4 cup) milk
16 small plums (550g), stones removed, cut in half
ice cream or thick (double/heavy) cream, to serve

Preheat oven to 180c (350f). Put the brown sugar in a bowl with 30g (1/4 cup) of the flour & mix together. Add 3 tbspns of the cold butter (leave the rest at room temperature to soften) and rub the butter in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Sift the remaining flour into a mixing bowl along with the baking powder, cocoa & salt. Put the castor sugar and softened butter in a separate bowl & cream together using electric beaters, then add the eggs & mix well. Add half the flour mixture, then half the milk, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the remaining flour mixture, then the remaining milk.

Pour the cake batter into a greased 25cm (10 inch) spring-form cake tin & arrange plums on top cut side down. Sprinkle with the brown sugar mixture & bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Remove the cake form the oven & allow to cool before turning out of the tin. Serve with ice cream or cream.

Roasted Duck breast Salad – Dinner Jan 26 2006 Australia Day

Sorry its not lamb! Duck however would have to be one of my fave foods & most of the time you can whip up somehting absolutely yummy that makes you look like a star in the kitchen & it only takes you 5 minites to prepare, like this next one. For dinner I cooked up this duck salad from Marie Claires ‘Luscious’, it was really really good & seriously only took abt 5 minutes to prepare & not much longer to cook & throw together

Roasted Duck Breast Salad

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
¼ teaspoon chinese 5 spice
1 teaspoon sea salt
4 boneless duck breasts, skin on
½ teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
100g mixed lettuce
2 mangoes, peeled, seeded & sliced
2 spring onions, finely sliced on the diagonal
2 tablespoons Chinese Black vinegar

Preheat the oven to 180c (350f/Gas 4). In a small bowl combine. Sugar, five spice & salt. Lightly score the skin of the breasts in a crisscross pattern, then rub the sugar mixture into the duck skin.

Heat a non stick frying pan over high heat & sear the duck, skin side down for a few minutes, or until crisp – the skin will go quite dark as the sugar caramelises. Put the duck, skin side up, on a rack set over a baking tray & roast for 15 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven, cover with foil & allow the duck to rest for a few minutes.
Roughly grin the peppercorns in a mortar & pestle. Arrange salad leaves, mango & spring onions on 4 serving plates, Finely slice the duck breasts & arrange over the salad. Drizzle the duck with the vinegar & sprinkle with the ground peppercorns