COOKING: ZUCCHINI

for those people blessed with the ability of keeping a vegetable garden alive for longer then a week, zucchinis are popping up everywhere. we've been given plenty by friends and family so i wanted to try some different zucchini recipes rather then the usual zucchini soup (which it has been WAY to hot for lately in tasmania.) so the other night we had zucchini burgers with raita and grilled zucchini salad. it might seem like a zucchini overload, but the burgers had plenty of other flavours to compete with it. it was super tasty! and so nice not having the heaviness in my stomach like i usually would with meat patties. 

zucchini burgers with raita

serves 2-3

ingredients:

1 zucchini, ends trimmed, coursely grated

1 cup of natural yoghurt

a squeeze of lemon juice

1 small cucumber, halved, seeded and finely chopped

olive oil spray

a crushed garlic clove

a brown onion, finely chopped

2 tsp of curry powder

400g can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained

100g of breadcrumbs

a few leaves of fresh parsley, chopped

1 egg lightly whisked

bread rolls 

baby spinach leaves to serve

plain flour for dusting

combine yoghurt, cucumber and lemon juice in a small ramekin or bowl.

cover the raita and place in fridge to chill

heat frying pan on medium, spray with oil and cook onions until soft

add garlic and cook for 1 minute

throw in curry powder and stir for a minute or two until it smells delicious

add zucchini and cook till soft

process chickpeas til they're like breadcrumbs

mix onion mixture, eggs, chickpeas, parsley and breadcrumbs in a bowl until well combined

dust hands with flour

shape into patties

reheat frying pan on medium high

spray with oil and cook patties until delicious and golden

stack the patties, spinach leaves and raita in a bun and put to the side

grilled zucchini salad

serves 2

ingredients

1 big or 2 small zucchini 

squeeze of lemon juice

a small bunch of herbs on hand (i used parsley and mint, but coriander would be nice too)

a pinch of fennel seeds
olive oil
salt and pepper

thinly slice zucchini longways 
toss slices in olive oil, salt and pepper
sear on a hot grill until dark marks appear (depends on how thick the slices)
flip and grill other side
chop herbs roughly
toss grilled zucchini, herbs, fennel seeds and lemon together in a bowl
place salad next to the burgers
admire your handiwork
devour
;)

xx Bret

ASIAN TURKEY BURGER

last week i went turkey burger crazy. 

i found the recipe for this one here. oh, man. it was so good. especially with some added beetroot. then when my mama came to stay i made her this thai turkey burger. oh man, it was even better (we added lettuce, tomato and beetroot to that one too).

what could make the burger even better, i hear you ask? listening to El Camino by The Black Keys while preparing it.

Love, N

COOKING: QUICHE

i love quiches! they are great for a quick throw together meal and it's fun experimenting with different flavours. this one is super tasty, super easy and super quick! you don't even need pastry for this baby. i've used a few of my favourite flavors like sun-dried tomato and mint, but you could easily mix it up with other vegetables or herbs. so here's the how to...

recipe:

heat your oven to 180'C (or 160 for fan-forced)
chop the mint and chives roughly (no need to be precious about it)
whisk together eggs and philadelphia in a medium sized bowl
add the sundried tomatoes, mint, peas and chives to the egg mixture and stir it up
throw in some seasoning
spray inside of your regular size pie dish with olive oil
pour in egg mixture and crumble the fetta over the top
bake for around 40 minutes or until you think it is nicely cooked
enjoy!

told you it was easy. i served mine with a simple salad and some chicken because we had a crowd come around for dinner, but the quiche and salad on its own would feed 4 regular eaters. super tasty and nice and healthy. have fun cooking!

xx Bret

BEEF SATAY + GREEN SALAD

 

  

i've been slightly panicked about writing a food post because, well... i'm no chef. if you want something fancy and oh so tasty you best be on your way over to Bret's recipes. but if you want to eat like a poor and lazy uni student, i'm your girl.

so here is my first recipe. a beef satay and green salad made with my two lovely housemates*

what we used:

- beef. you know the stuff that comes pre-cut in strips? 

- fountain satay sauce

- lettuce

- snow peas

- green capsicum

- balsamic vinegar

- cashews

what we did:

- cut the beef into smaller pieces

- put the beef in a container and cover in satay sauce

- let the beef sit for at least 5-10 minutes

- cut the capsicum into strips and place it in a separate bowl with the lettuce and snow peas

- drizzle some balsamic vinegar on top of the salad and throw in some cashews, too

- we cooked the beef (covered in satay sauce) on the BBQ, but i'm sure it would be fine in a pan over the stove

- put some salad and some of the cooked beef in a small bowl and your done! Hope you enjoy.

* but i’m still going to take credit. this was my idea. unless you don’t like it. then it was theirs. all theirs.

Love, N

JAMIE OLIVER:

i'll confess. i have a major food crush on jamie oliver. not only does he sound amazing, but his food tastes amazing too! and i love the way he writes in his cookbooks... "turn the grill onto full whack, add a glug of this and a sprinkle of that till it's all nice and beau'iful lookin'..."

oh yeah. he's my favourite. so this year i have challenged myself to cook every meal in jamie's 30 minute meals. that's... 50 meals! (wowza, i just counted then. maybe i've bitten off more than i could chew. haha.)

anyway, the first Mr O meal of the year was his summer veg lasagne and tuscan tomato salad. and it was divine! really fresh and healthy tasting.  the thing about most of jamie's meals is that the ingredients can be pretty expensive. and sometimes there are a lot. (see below).

so i make sure i save his meals for special occasions. like when nancye comes to visit. :) 

if you don't have jamie's book already, i highly recommend it. yummo!

xx Bret