Recipes
NETTLE PESTO
3 Cups fresh Nettles 4 cloves garlic ¾ cup pine nuts or mixture of e.g., sunflower, pine nuts, walnuts. ¼ cup olive Oil. ½ tsp sea salt 1 tbsp lemon Juice. ¾ cup parmesan shredded (optional) or Asiago. Put a pot water on and when boiling dump fresh nettle in for just one minute. Strain well and get water out with paper Towels. Add nettles to the Blender or kitchen Whizz Add garlic, nuts and rest of Ingredients and pulse until smooth. Add more salt if needed. |
WALNUT AND PARSLEY PESTO
1 Cup chopped Parsley 1 cup roughly chopped Walnuts toasted. 1 clove garlic 1 cup parmesan (optional) 1 tsp lemon zest plus 2 Tbsp lemon Juice ¼ tsp salt and pepper, ½ cup Olive Oil Into a kitchen processor or bullet place the walnuts, parsley, garlic Parmesan, lemon zest, juice, salt & pepper. Blitz until well combined. Add the oil and blend again. Store in a Jar and use as required. Nice on Bruschetta with blue Cheese. |
Traditional French Canadian Pea Soup
Traditional French Canadian Pea Soup Ingredients: 1 lb. unsmoked ham hock 2 Tbsp. butter 2 diced carrots 2 ribs of celery, diced 1 onion diced 2 cloves of garlic, minced 1 3/4 cup dried yellow split peas 2 bay leaves 1 tsp. dried savoury 1 tsp. dried thyme 3/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp pepper Method: Trim off and discard skin from ham hock; set hock aside. In large Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat; cook carrots, celery, onion and garlic, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden, about 15 minutes. Stir in split peas, bay leaves, savoury, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Stir in 8 cups of water and add ham hock. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until peas are very soft and soup has thickened...about 1 - 1/2 hours. Discard bay leaves. Transfer ham hock to plate; let cool enough to handle. Discarding bone and any fat, dice meat and return to the soup; heat thoroughly. Can be served with garlic toasts: (optional) 1 half baguette 1 tsp. butter softened 1 half garlic, minced 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt Mix and spread on cut baguette and broil for about 2 min. until golden brown. Hope this works for you. It serves about 6 |
Cherry Tomato, Garlic Feta and Basil Sauce (for pasta or gnocchi)
200ml NZ Extra Virgin olive oil 15 garlic cloves, peeled and halved 500g cherry tomatoes 1 cup basil leaves, loosely packed 250g feta, roughly crumbled
Place the Extra Virgin olive oil and garlic in a saucepan and fry over a moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is golden and soft (about 6 minutes). Add the tomatoes and basil, stir well and cook for about 3 minutes until the tomato skins just begin to burst. Add the feta and gently mix in. Taste for seasoning, then spoon the sauce over the cooked past or gnocchi. (The olive oil and garlic in this recipe may seem excessive, but as it dribbles down your chin you’ll realise it is well worth it!) |
Olive Oil Cake (served wth orange segments and whipped cream)
150g sugar 150g or 165ml NZ extra virgin olive oil 100g flour 50g semolina 2 egg yolks 3 egg whites 1 lemon, zest and juice ½ tsp vanilla paste Pinch of salt Cream the sugar with the egg yolks until pale and fluffy. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla paste followed by the flour and semolina. Beat until smooth. Slowly pour the olive oil into the mixture and stir until the oil is incorporated into the batter. It will be quite thick and shiny. Let it rest for a while so that the flour and semolina can absorb the oil. Stir again. Add a good pinch of salt to the egg whites and beat them to a very firm peak. Gently fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the cake mixture, then the second third and then the last third. This will ensure that the cake is light and fluffy. You can either pour the batter into a round spring-form tin or into a ring-form tin depending on how you want to serve it. Bake at 170C for about 40 minutes. To serve, sprinkle with icing sugar and server in wedges with orange segments and whipped cream. Mascarpone or yoghurt makes a nice alternative to whipped cream. |
Herb Dumplings
A winter warmer to add to stews. 100g self raising flour 50g shredded suet 2 tsp chopped fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried 2 tsp chopped fresh sage or 1 tsp dried
Mix flour and suet and add herbs. Stir in enough cold water to make an elastic dough. Divide into 12 balls and place around the edge of the hot pot for the last 20 minutes of cooking. |
Zucchini, Vanilla and Lavender Cake.
Sservers 4-6, Prep time 15
mins, cooking time 45 – 60 mins. This is a good way to use that zucchini that turned into a marrow when you weren’t looking! 300g zucchini or marrow 300g sugar 4 eggs 200ml olive oil 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 drops lavender oil (optional) 280g flour 2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder
For icing: 300g cream cheese softened 150g butter at room temp 2 cups icing sugar 1 tsp vanilla paste
Preheat oven to 200c. Butter a 22cm round cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Grate the zucchini and let it rest in a sieve over the sink. Beat together the sugar and eggs until well mixed and pale. Add the zucchini, olive oil, vanilla extract and lavender oil into the egg mix and combine. In another bowl sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder with a pinch of salt. Mix this into the zucchini mix and combine loosely. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for 45 mins. or until a skewer comes out clean. Remove from the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Make the icing by beating together the cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and vanilla paste. Spread on the top of the cake and decorate with flowers or nuts. |
Coconut Butter (from May 2015 meeting Ways with Coconut)
Smooth and Creamy Coconut Butter. (Recipe by Sonia! The Health Foodie) Ingredients · 6 cups unsweetened shredded coconut · ½ cup coconut oil · ¼ tsp Himalayan salt Instructions 1. Add all the ingredients to the bowl of a food processor and process for a total of 8-10 minutes until creamy and fairly liquid. You will have to stop and scrape the sides a few times, but it shouldn’t be too often. 2. Force the coconut butter through a fine mesh sieve by pushing it down with a ladle or rubber spatula. 3. Place the coarser butter that stayed in the sieve back in to the processor and process it for few more minutes until it becomes liquid again. 4. Force through the fine mesh sieve once again. You can repeat this process one or two more times, just to make sure you get the most out of your coconut. 5. Pour the smooth butter into a glass jar and put it away to give it time to set, at least 24 hours. 6. By all means do not discard the grainy butter; keep it in a separate jar and use it as a garnish for pancakes, muffins, scrambled eggs, salads... let your imagination run wild!
NOTES During the warmer months of summer your coconut might remain liquid even after sitting for a while. If that happens simply place it in the fridge for an hour or two and give it a good stir. This should give it a nice spreadable consistency. |
Curry Spices with Kashmeera
Dana-jeera powder Approximate measurements 2tbl coriander seeds 1tbl cumin seeds 2cm cinnamon stick 5-7 cloves 6-7 black pepper Lightly dry pan roast until there is a light toasty aroma Grind and store in a jar (put lid on when cool) Used for dahls, vegetable and non-vegetable dishes. Onion bhaji Onion medium sliced Cumin seed Chilli paste Turmeric Chickpea flour Mix with hands squeezing onion to give some juice. A small amount of water to combine Add fresh coriander washed squeeze dried and chopped Garlic and ginger paste Grab about a dessert spoonful with your fingers and deep fry in medium hot oil for about 10 mins until golden brown and cooked through. Tea for 3-4 cups 3 tea bags Kenya Bold black tea ½ tsp fresh ground black pepper or to taste (good for colds or coughs) 4cm fresh ginger peeled and sliced Handful of mint leaves Put in a small pan of water and simmer until it smells good. Serve in cups and add milk and sugar to taste. Green chutney Fresh coriander Fresh mint Curry leaves Green chilli to taste A few cumin seeds Raw peanuts ground Grind together To serve add lemon juice and salt to taste. These recipes was given to us verbally from Kashmeera but for more detailed methods and quantities we suggest checking on the internet for similar recipes to give more guidance. |
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