What's Cooking: Cabizza

We are trying to stretch the dollar a bit around here at the moment and have been trying out some budget friendly meals. I thought I would share those we enjoy on this blog.

Fotunately, I have Nanna's cavernous recipe folder to find some inspiration for these sort of meals. It does seem that older style menus were much friendlier to the wallet with the focus on simple, fresh ingredients. We tried Cabizza last night and it was a hit. The recipe says it serves 6 to 8, but I assume that is as a side as this quantity merely served my husband and I as a main meal. But, my husband was hungry!

CABIZZA (originally from the Sunday Times)

Ingredients
1/2 medium cabbage (shredded)
2 tspn vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
1/2 cup plain flour
2 medium tomatoes (finely sliced)
6 spring onions (finely sliced)
2 slices ham (chopped)
3/4 cup grated low fat cheese

Method
Brush the base of a large saucepan or frypan with the oil. Cook cabbage and garlic until just tender. Cool to room temperature. Stir in eggs and flour. Press evenly over base of lightly greased 30cm pizza pan or shallow dish. Bake at 210C for 10 minutes. Place tomatoes evenly over cabbage base. Sprinkle with onions, ham then cheese. Bake at 180C for about 30 minutes until cabizza is browned.

What's Cooking: Easter Egg Nest Cake

As you may have guessed from my last post, our Easter plans went a little awry with the early arrival of baby girl. My husband's biggest gripe was that we had already planned the menu and bought the foods for the Easter weekend! Anyway, none deterred we decided to have our Easter feast subsequent to getting home from the hospital.

One of the recipes we had planned to make was the Easter Cake from the Nigella Lawson Feast Cookbook. You can find the recipe online here. A chocolate overload, but oh so good!

First.... open the two bars of chocolate necessary for the cake and topping. I love the gold wrapper contrasting with the rich, dark chocolate. I always have aWilly Wonka and the Chocolate Factory moment when I see that - you know the scene when they sing "I have the golden ticket".


Then chop the chocolate. Or, if you have just had a cesaerean haul in your husband to do the heavy work of chopping.


Bake and smother with chocolate cream. Note: I would probably halve the amount next time from what is called for in the recipe as this is a very rich cake. Then pile on the candy chocolate eggs. And, enjoy. Utterly divine!

What's Cooking: Lemon and Coconut Slice

Last year when my Nanna moved into a nursing home one of the things I inherited was her collection of recipes. I made this Lemon and Coconut slice the other week and my husband gobbled it down. One of the advantages is that it is no bake; ideal on those hot summer days. And, for us, it mainly uses ingredients we have on standby. It seems to keep for about a week in the fridge - if it lasts that long!

Lemon and Coconut Slice

250g packet Milk Arrowroot biscuits (crushed)
1 cup coconut
grated rind of 1 lemon
125g butter
1/2 cup condensed milk
For the icing:
1 1/2 cups icing sugar (sifted)
15g butter
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp hot water
extra coconut

Method:
Combine biscuit crumbs, coconut and lemon rind in a large bowl. Melt butter in a saucepan, add condensed milk and stir over low heat until combined. Pour butter/milk mixture over crumbs and mix well. Press firmly into a foil lined 18cm by 28cm lamington tin. Refrigerate.

To prepare icing, combine all ingredients, except extra coconut, and beat until smooth. Spread over chilled base. Sprinkle with coconut. Lift out of tin using foil as a handle and cut into squares to serve. This makes about 24.

On a wet and rainy weekend

Last weekend we had a bit of change of weather here in Melbourne. It was very wet and rainy. Nothing like some nice lemony goodness to cheer you up in that sort of weather. So, I baked a lemon cake out of the excellent Gentle Art of Domesticity. Jane's blog Yarnstorm -which I see has moved urls recently - is also excellent for wiping away the damp day blues.

And, in the spirit of the French film festival which is on in Melbourne at the moment we watched some French films which one of my friend's at work had lent me. Both starred Daniel Auteuil who is wickedly comic. My favourite was The Closet. In The Closet Daniel's character is facing dismissal from his job and attempting to commit suicide when his crusty, ex-lawyer, neighbour convinces that he can not be fired if pretends he is gay. The other film we watched was The Valet which was also good. Unknowingly, until I checked his screen appearances on IMDB, I had actually seen Auteuil previously in My Best Friend , a film which I can highly recommend.

And well, Monty found the weather a little lowering to the spirits and thought the day was best just dozed away!

On Mangoes

Spring is truly here in eastern Australia as we are starting to see the first mangoes of the season. We are very fortunate to have mango growing areas in the Northern Territory and far north Queensland.

I love mangoes. The pungent sweet aroma when you sniff to check if a mongo is ripe is such a treat. And then, you cut the tough, oozing skin to expose the tender golden flesh. Yummy. The best way to eat a mango straight is to slice a cheek of mango, cut a fat dice into the flesh and then bend back the skin and dig in!

Another option is to blend mango and milk to create a milkshake. Or as we discovered in Singpore to mix shaved ice, sweetened condensed milk and diced mango. My mouth is watering at the memory. And now, Karen has given me another option....I think I might try this soon.

To Market, to market to buy....

Had a very busy day yesterday. Took myself off to our local farmer's markets. These are only on once a month, so I have to stock up! Also, I am going to be away when the next one is on.

I picked up some lovely lamb chipolata sausages, some musli bars, lots of fresh vegetables and fruit and some freshly made wholemeal country bread. Yummy.

The peas are already gone. I spent most of yesterday wandering into the kitchen, podding a few and eating them raw. The rest will make lovely meals for the coming weeks.

Last night I went out for dinner with some work colleagues. We had a great time and didn't end up leaving the restaurant until the owners turned the music off:) The place we went serves Pakistani food and we had the wonderful Charga Chicken.....spiced, marinated chicken pieces, stuffed with yellow rice and rough-chopped onions and baked in the tandoor. We shared the platter below between all three of us. There was plenty to go around. So delicious.

Today I was planning a trip to a large book fair which is held annually in our area, only when I checked my email this morning to confirm what time it will open....uh, it was on 2 weeks ago. Whoops! Am thinking it is probably a good thing though as I have more than enough books to keep me going.

What's Cooking: Anzacs for my Anzac

So I have packed up another care package for my husband.....this is third batch of Anzac biscuits I have sent him since he went away.

Anzac Biscuits are synonymous with military service here. In the first world war Australians and New Zealanders would bake these biscuits to send to their loved ones on the frontline. Given the long distance the biscuits had to travel they needed to be sturdy, and retain their freshness! Actually, though, they are best consumed fresh from the oven with a cold glass of milk.

These biscuits will be exposed to extreme heat before they get to my husband - it is 50C where he is. Also, given the vagaries of the Australian Forces Postal Service it could take anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks for this package to reach him.

I hope he knows I am thinking of him here when he opens it.

And for anyone who might be inclined to try to make Australia's favourite biscuit, here is the recipe I use. It is not exactly traditional - the cinnamon wasn't in it in the old days. This is a really easy recipe for kids to be involved with too.

Cinnamon Anzac Biscuits

Makes about 40

Ingredients
150g (1 cup) plain flour
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

125g (1 1/3 cups) rolled oats
85g (1 cup) desiccated coconut

115g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
55g (1/4 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar

125g butter, cubed
60ml (1/4 cup) golden syrup

2 tbs water
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method

Preheat oven to 150C. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
Sift together the flour and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add the rolled oats,coconut, caster sugar and brown sugar, and mix well.

Combine the butter, golden syrup and water in a small saucepan, and stirover medium heat until the butter melts and the mixture is well combined. Remove from heat and stir in the bicarbonate of soda. Add immediately tothe dry ingredients and use a wooden spoon to stir until well combined.

Roll walnut-sized portions of mixture into balls and place on the lined trayabout 5cm apart. Use your fingers to flatten each slightly (until they areabout 1cm thick) and bake in preheated oven for 18 minutes for crisp on theoutside and chewy in the centre. Remove from oven and set aside for 5 minutesto cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

What's Cooking: Hummus

My Mum has requested my recipe for Hummus, and since I have to type it up to send to her, I thought I might as well post it here as well.

I am a huge hummus fan...ever since my husband and I travelled to Egypt and had it for basically every lunch. It is just so yummy and, as a bonus, good for you.

Hummus

1. Drain a 420g can of chickpeas over a bowl, reserving liquid.
2. Place chickpeas, 1 tablespoon of tahini, 1 crushed garlic clove, 1/2 a teaspoon of ground cumin and 1/3 cup of chickpea liquid in a food processer.
3. Process until smooth. Transfer into a bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Season to taste.
4. Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and ground cumin, if you like. Serve with triangles of pita bread or pita crisps.

I love taking any leftovers to work for morning tea with crackers. Yummo!