Menu Plan Monday - September 24

Every week lately, I look at the date and think "When did that happen?"
I'm enjoying the change of seasons, just not the feeling that the end of the year is looming.
This week's menu is full of easy things, because we seem to be busy, busy people:
Hamburgers
Beef curry and potato curry
Chunky salad with eggs and bacon
Smokey fish mornay
Veggie burgers (who says you can't have burgers twice in one week?)
Sweet potato salad with pine nuts.

Happy Monday!

A very foodie Sunday...

This morning I woke up too-early for a Sunday, and Ryan and I headed to the farmers market. The salad has arrived! We had a choice of several sorts of chemical-free lettuce, and some 'French Wild Rocket', which I bought. We also got broccolini, tomatoes, sweet potato... I'm not sure what else, but my bags were all full. Ryan bought some more eggs, too.
I spent the rest of the morning baking. I made banana bread, apricot bars and oaty muffins. I would have done Anzac Biscuits as well, but Ryan came home and we wanted to go bushwalking.
We didn't have quite the right map for the walk we wanted to do.
Instead, we stopped for an impromptu picnic.
On returning home early, we decided to see a movie - Ratatouille!
Then we had hamburgers for dinner, with banana bread for desert.

Sometimes, I wonder why I blog about food.
I think I just figured it out.

Simple, spicy, sweet potato soup

This recipe is great. It's quick, tasty, and you can substitute pumpkin or carrot for the sweet potato. You can also vary the flavour by experimenting with different stocks, different curry pastes or replacing the coconut milk.
It freezes well, too.
Spicy sweet potato soup
2 Tablespoons Curry paste of your choice (I used green this week)
1 kg sweet potato (or carrots, or pumpkin - parsnip maybe?)
1 L stock
1 can coconut milk (optional, or easily replaced by evaporated milk, normal milk or cream)

Heat the currypaste until fragrant, in a large saucepan. Add the stock and the sweet potato, and boil until the sweet potato is tender. Take the soup off the heat, and blenderise it until smooth (I use a hand blender in the pot, but whatever works). Add the coconut milk and heat through.
Yum.

Menu Plan Monday - September 17

This week is a bit haphazard, but there was lots of spring veggies at the market:
salad with feta and bacon
salad with asparagus and tuna
roast veggie extravaganza
sweet potato soup
beans on toast

happy monday!

Simple Rhubarb Tart

Ryan's been away for work, and the trip's been extended. So I have been sad, and mopey and sulking, and neglected both cooking and blogging. Tonight I got a little bit inspired again, and made this tart from Donna Hay's Instant Cook. I even made custard to go with it!
Ryan ran off with the camera, so I can't give you pictures. Sorry
Simple Rhubarb Tart
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Sprinkle 8 thin stalks of rhubarb with sugar, then roast on baking paper in the oven for 20 minutes. Allow them to cool.
Place a piece of frozen puff pastry on a baking-paper lined tray. Top with a mixture of 1 cup ricotta, 2 tablespoons icing sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla essence. Leave a border of about 1 cm.
Top with rhubarb and cook in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until the pastry is golden and the filling is set.
Homemade Custard
2 eggs
3 tsp cornflour
3 C milk
3 tbs sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
Whisk together the eggs, milk and cornflour in a saucepan. Put it over a low heat, and keep whisking until thick and creamy. Then add the sugar and vanilla and whisk through (if you add the sugar on the heat, it will stick to the bottom of the pan.
This makes a lot of custard. I'm not complaining or anything.

Menu Plan Monday - September 10

I think I'm gonna have to rename this blog '98 things to do with beetroot', since Ryan bought another bunch home this week. We did some experimenting over the weekend, so stay tuned for more beety goodness.
Chicken and celery casserole
Canneloni
Pasta with feta and beetroot (I wasn't kidding!!)
Sausages and stuff
Shepherds Pie

Happy Monday!

Purple Goodness - Beetroot Pizza

You may have noticed I have a thing for beetroot. When I see beautiful bunches of baby beetroot in the farmers' market, I can't help but buy. (I have a thing for alliteration, too.)

I thought I'd exhausted all beetroot possibilities (roasted, souped, dipped, burgered) before it occurred to me that I'd never put beets on a pizza.

It worked out really, really well.

Beetroot Pizza

Put four baby beetroots in the oven to roast for half an hour, or until they are tender. Make a batch of the best-ever pizza base. Roll out a quarter of it to make the beetroot pizza (I made salami and tomato with the others). Spread with natural yoghurt and sprink with harissa spice mix. Slice the beetroot, and top the pizza with beetroot, cheese and fresh coriander. Cook as normal.

(and don't tell ryan you used yoghurt for the sauce - not until after he's eaten it)

Menu Plan Monday - September 3

September? When did that happen?

This week's dinners:
Potato and Leek Soup
Lamb Chops and Celeriac Gratin
Roast Veggies
Burritos
Stirfry with broccoli and carrots
Baked Risotto
Arancini

Happy Monday!