Our Family Recipes Series

Veal Campagnola

Serves 4

5 stalks silverbeet
4 veal crumbed schnitzel
30g butter
flour
salt, pepper
30g butter, extra
1 tablespoon oil
4 slices mozzarella cheese

Tomato Sauce:

400g can whole tomatoes
30g butter
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 cup dry white wine (riesling we use)
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon sugar
salt, pepper

Tomato Sauce:

Push tomatoes, with their liquid through sieve. Heat butter in suacepan, add the crushed garlic, cook 1 minute. Add pureed tomato and tomato paste, stir to combine. Add combined wine and water, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered 5 minutes, season with sugar, salt and pepper.

Wash spinach leaves, remove stalks. Roll up leaves tightly, shred finely. Put silverbeet in saucepan with enough water just to cover bottom of the saucepan. Cook covered 5 minutes, drain well. Toss with butter. Trim veal steaks, pound out thinly. (Shop has usually done this already if it is crumbed.) Season flour with salt and pepper, lightly dust each veal steak with seasoned flour (if it hasn't been done already).

Heat extra butter and oil in frying pan, add veal steaks, cook. Top each piece of veal with one quarter of the cooked silverbeet. Place a slice of cheese on top of silverbeet.

Pour prepared tomato sauce around veal but do not cover the cheese. Cover frying pan, simmer gently 10 minutes or until cheese has melted. Serve with chips.

Adapted from Italian Cooking Class Cookbook AWW p68

Silverbeet & Black-eyed Bean Soup & Greek Lentil Soup

The above picture is dill, horseradish and chives. My husband picked a lot of chives from our other house to use this week, I eat horseradish cream sandwiches and tonight dill in our soup.

This is a recipe we have used in the past, possibly our first recipe with black-eyed beans. I liked the delicate flavour of the beans.

Silverbeet and Black-eyed Bean Soup

Serves 4-6

190g (1 metric cup 250ml size) or 1 1/4 US cups black eyed beans, soaked overnight in cold water or substitute a 400g tin of borlotti beans or lentils
40ml (2 metric tablespoons) olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 dried bird's eye chilli, crumbled (optional)
1 litre (4 metric cups) chicken stock
400g tin diced Italian tomatoes (30g is 1oz) Roma
1 bunch silverbeet or chard, washed, trimmed, roughly chopped

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and add the soaked black-eyed beans. Simmer for 30 minutes or until tender. Drain well.

In another large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, cumin, fennel seeds and chilli, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring continuously, until the onion is soft. Add the chicken stock and tomatoes, and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the black-eyed beans and silverbeet. Simmer for about 10 minutes and serve immediately.

Adapted from recipe in Family Circle (Australian) October 2006.



Here is another recipe we use, we are eating it tonight with wombuk instead of spinach.

Greek Lentil, Spinach & Dill Soup

Serves 6.

2 tabs olive oil
3 medium brown onions, chopped finely
1 stick celery, chopped finely
1 medium carrot, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 fresh long red chilli, seeded, sliced thinly or green chilli
2 bay leaves
6 stalks fresh parsley, or 1/3 cup chopped
1 1/2 cups (300g or 10oz) brown lentils
3 litres (12-15 cups) water
2 teaspoons salt
freshly ground black pepper
5oz/150g baby spinach leaves or Chinese cabbage
1 tab red wine vinegar, approx.
1/2 cup lightly packed fresh dill sprigs or 1/3 cup chopped
3 chicken stock cubes
3/4 teaspoon sugar

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, cook onion, celery and carrot, stirring, for about 5 mins or until softened. Add the garlic, chilli, bay leaves and parsley stalks, cook, stirring until fragrant. Add the lentils, stir to coat, add the water, bring to the boil. Reduce heat, simmer, uncovered, for about 20 mins or until lentils are tender. (Our own recipe says 1 1/2 hours, and usually 45 minutes is the minimum from memory.) Remove the bay leaves and parsley stalks. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. Add the spinach, stir until wilted. Stir in vinegar to taste and sprinkle with dill. Suitable to freeze.

Adapted from: The Australian Women's Weekly June 2004

Soup Kitchen ~ Budget Vegetarian Menu

Last fortnight we had two nights of left-overs and a couple of swaps

~ Spicy Chickpea Casserole with Feta
~ Kransky Soup, we shouted ourselves some sausages for this meal as it is a favourite

so some recipes left over:


Monday ~ Roasted Pumpkin with Bok Choy Lentil Soup
Tuesday ~ Tomato & Borlotti Bean Soup
Wednesday ~ Indian Spiced Red Lentil Soup
Thursday ~ Perfect Potato Gnocchi
Friday ~ Curried Lentil & Pumpkin Soup

and so on to recipes made with this:

Saturday: Polenta & Corn Bake
Sunday: Vegetable Spring Rolls
Monday: Vegetarian Japanese Pancakes
Tuesday: Vegetable & Noodle Stir-fry (uses vermicelli noodles, red capsicum for the list, with snow peas, broccoli)

I may leave it there. I am unable to go shopping myself as my husband has to go out that day to go to the dentist, and I have to be home for the kids, as the dentist is over two hours away. So we may top up the food on the Wednesday, if it fits in with my bills. I will make up a list for the essentials and he will do his usual milk, cheese and washing powder run, and I will order bread to be delivered online which I usually do. Turns out I have ingredients for these recipes, just need a small amount of extras like mayonnaise and gerkins etc. I will be able to have the list ready from this menu for Wednesday.

Wednesday ~ Penne with Pumpkin Sauce
Thursday ~ Spaghettini with Smashed Buttery Peas
Friday ~ Country Bean Risotto
Saturday ~ Spicy Beans
Sunday ~ Potato & Egg Salad
Monday ~ Classic Pumpkin Soup


Interesting recipes: Cabbage Vadai Fritters (made with red lentils) I have been paying better attention to the food blogs on Belinda's sidebar. Also Creamy Jerusalem Artichoke Soup a bit like the one we used to make, will have to check mine one day. My husband had the recipe out to show his friend, here it is:

Cream of Artichoke Soup

80g (3oz) butter
2 large onions, sliced
1kg (2lb) Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and sliced
1 1/4 cups water
3 1/2 cups milk
salt, pepper
3 tablespoons flour
5 tablespoons extra milk
1 egg
5 tablespoons cream
paprika

Melt butter and fry onion until soft but not brown. Add artichokes, water, milk, salt & pepper. Bring to the boil and cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until artichokes are tender. Put into blender, blend until smooth and return to pan. Mix flour with extra milk and stir into soup. Bring to the boil while stirring, simmer 2 minutes. Beat egg and add cream. Stir this mixture into soup, and reheat but do not boil. Adjust seasoning if necessary and serve immediately. Garnish with paprika.



An interesting preserve recipe if I ever get a cumquat tree. Pickled Cumquats

Recipes using Pork Mince

I started this post in the middle of February. It ties in with the post I started today as follows:

My son found some pork mince in his freezer that he shares, or rather it is his brothers, today. He bought it in March and it has to be used up. I thought of one of his favourite recipes. I linked to it a lot last year when we were making it regularly, he was still doing his VCE and lived with us then. The link from the New Idea magazine site is gone now and I was worried, but found my paper copy. Lovely recipe. I even have a can of champignons in the cupboard ready to make it. Sadly I have been to a shop that sells pork mince with an eski or cooler lately. But soon, hopefully.

Here is the recipe I sent him followed by what I wrote earlier.


(Pork) Mince Stroganoff

500g pasta
2 tblsps oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
300g pork mince (ground?)
40g packet French onion soup mix
2 tblsps tomato paste
1/2 cup water
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables (we used the can of mixed vegetables)
400g can whole champignons, halved
200g carton light sour cream (about 6-7oz?)
Fresh parsley leaves, to garnish, optional

Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling, salted water until tender. Drain. Cover to keep warm.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium saucepan. Add onion and crushed garlic. Cook, stirring, until soft. Add mince. Cook stirring, for 5 minutes, or until browned and cooked through.

Combine soup mix, paste and water in a small jug. Stir into mince mixture. Bring to boil. Add vegetables and champignons. Cook, over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Stir in sour cream. Remove from heat.

Serve stroganoff over pasta. Garnish with fresh parsley.

Either beef or chicken mince can be substitued for the pork mince in this recipe. Stroganoff can be made up to two days ahead. Keep covered in fridge. Reheat before serving.



I had collected up my favourites, but lately found some much better.

Japanese Pancakes

My son brought be some Kewpie mayonnaise to try next time I make this, but normal mayo works just as well, well so far anyway. I loved the real packaging. You can see it on this blog.

Stir Fry Noodles with Pork & Boc Choy with extra wombuk

Pork Chow Mein Noodles (we had them already) are absolutely gorgeous even without the special Chinese wine in the sauce, and with more plain vegetables. They have a similar taste to each other.

One of the old favourites below:

Pork Chow Mein

Woktober

Today's suggested theme for Blogtoberfest is Woktober, or stirfries.

Traditional stirfries don't feature that much here, off the top of my head. I'll have to think about that though. Firstly, strips costs more than other meats. I don't buy chicken much because I am worried the antibiotics will make it possible antibiotics won't work when we need them, real or imagined. The strips are hard for me to bite into as one relieving dentist caused my overbite to be worse and but didn't give it a second thought.

So one day I found something cheap and very delicious despite original misgivings. It comes from the ABC site.

Sausage Stir Fry

You need:
500g thin sausages
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon finely grated green ginger
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 cup sliced cauli florets
1 cup sliced broccoli florets
4 shallots, cut in 5cm lengths
1 red or green capsicum cut into strips
Stock (optional)

Method:
Fry sausages in oil until lightly brown all over, remove from pan and cut into diagonal slices. If desired, return sausages to pan to brown and crip cut sides. Remove from pan and keep covered. Fry ginger and garlic for a minute or two, stirring constantly. Add cauliflower and broccoli and stir fry until almost tender.

Recently I tried Beef & Cabbage Stir-fry. It is cheap as well as it is made from mince. The feature is the addition of those Chinese fried noodles. I first tried them in the Wombuk salad on the packet that I found on an Aussie blog, The Old Dairy. I got excited when I found a different packet of Asian ones in cakes.

I do buy pork mince a lot. One of our favourite stirfries is Pork Mince with Brussels Sprouts. I love the Chang's recipes on that site, well the pork recipes.

Baking with Lemons

Please visit Spades and Spoons. Paola has been baking with lemons, so I decided to post my Mum's recipe that has lemon icing.

Chinese Chew

1 large cup self-rising flour

1 pinch salt

2 eggs

1/2 large cup chopped walnuts

1 large cup chopped dates

1/2 cup sugar

1/4lb butter

Combine all ingredients, beat eggs and add to melted butter. Mix all together. Bake in flat tin 20 mins. Ice with lemon icing.

I found a recipe in an old scrapbook of mine.

Lemon Icing

1 cup icing sugar/powdered sugar
1 tab lemon juice
2 teas water
2 teas butter

Sift icing sugar into bowl. Add melted butter, water, lemon juice, mix until smooth.

Pea & Ham Soup with Kranskys & Brussels Sprouts

Image source

This recipe is originally from p150 of some unknown Australian Home Beautiful magazine. Anyone who has read by menus for awhile knows it is a staple at this house.

It is adaptable but we haven't adapted it. Something to think about in the future. We are a family of six, we use the cans that you add water too, and add one kransky per person, though that is probably slightly too much. We use about 200g brussels sprouts, and call it green soup, and don't add garnishes.

Split Pea, Sausage and Brussels Sprout Soup

Serves 4

150-200g cooked sausage such as globassi, continental frankfurts or kransky
30g butter
Few fresh basil leaves or pinch dried basil
2 x 510g cans ready to serve homestyle pea and ham soup
8 small brussels sprouts, shredded
Sour cream and chives, to garnish.

Cut sausage diagonally into thick slices. Heat butter with basil in a saucepan over moderate heat and cook sausage until golden.

Add the soup and stir until smooth, adding up to 1/2 cup water, if needed, for consistency.

Add brussels sprouts and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sprouts are tender.

Ladle into warmed bowls, garnish without sour cream and chives and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.

Variations: Soup can be replaced with leek and potato soup, tomato or pumpkin soup. Instead of sausage use leftover cooked chicken, canned salmon or boneless fish fillets - even canned chickpeas for a vegetarian version. Instead of sprouts, try diced tomatoes, shredded cabbage or canned kernel corn.

For a homemade version I came across this recipe for Pea, Ham & Sausage Soup.

I found a recipe on the Simply Great Meals site that is no longer there, tucked behind my usual recipe (below). It is not unlike this recipe that includes kale or Italian cabbage. Other recipes of interest are Brussels Sprouts & Potato Soup and Brussels Sprout & Sausage Soup where you can get an idea what our soup looks like with the sausages in it.

Sausage, Bean and Brussels Sprout Soup

Serves 4

1 tab oil
1 onion, chopped
2 sticks celery, sliced
1 medium carrot, sliced
4 kransky sausages, sliced diagonally
6 cups liquid vegetable stock
140g tub Leggos tomato paste
500g packet frozen Brids Eye Brussels Sprouts
300g can Edgell Butter Beans, undrained

Heat oil in a large saucepan, add onion, celery, carrot and sausages and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes.

Stir in stock, tomato paste, frozen brussels sprouts and butter beans. Simmer uncovered for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve soup with warmed crusty bread.

Add 1 teaspoon finely chopped chilli or a little Tabasco sauce in step 2 for a spicy kick.

Spicy Kumara (or Pumpkin) & Beans

This is a recipe I use for pumpkin and kumara or orange sweet potato. I have heard of another color they sell here, have no idea about that one. The kids often get tricked as the pumpkin and sweet potato look the same. I hope my picture is not offensive. I have made a pumpkin pie from a friend from MN recipe, I am wondering now about sweet potato pie. It must taste really nice as well. Do you use the same spice for it?

This is a favourite standby recipe, and a cheap recipe that we have used often since I found it in a magazine. I didn't really have much experience cooking kumara at that point. We just buy about a 1kg or 2lb of kumara and put it in the pantry and it sits there until we are ready to use it, or the pantry challenges kick in.

Spicy Kumara & Beans

Serves 4

1kg (2lb) kumara or sweet potato, halved and cut into lengths or pumpkin may be used if preferred (we use whatever we have)
2 tablespoons 40ml or nearly 3 US tablespoons olive oil
1 red capsicum/bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 US tablespoon or 15ml red curry paste (we keep it in a jar in the fridge indefinitely)
400g can diced tomatoes or 13oz
400g can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup (125ml) (US cups are 200ml) vegetable stock
50g or nearly 2oz baby spinach leaves (English spinach not chard)
rice and tzatsiki, to serve (we don't usually bother, not necessary)

Preheat oven to 200oC, (180oC is 350oF). Toss kumara in a baking pan with half of oil. Bake for 20-30 mins, until tender.

Meanwhile, heat remaining olive oil in a large saucepan. Saute capsicum, onion and garlic for 4-5 minutes, until tender. Stir in red curry paste and cook for 1 minute.

Stir in tomatoes, kidney beans and vegetable stock. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes. Add kumara and baby spinach. Season to taste. Serve with rice and tzatziki.

Adapted from recipe from Australian Table August 2005.

Other Table recipes here.

Allposters

Fettucine Carbonara

Fettucine Carbonara

4 rashers bacon
1/3 cup cream
pinch paprika
1 egg
1 egg-yolk, extra
60g (2oz) grated parmesan cheese
30g (1oz) softened butter
pepper
250g fettucine

Remove rind from bacon, cut bacon into thin strips. Place bacon in frying pan over low heat, cook gently until bacon is crisp. Drain off bacon fat from pan, leaving approximately 2 tablespoons bacon fat.

Add cream and paprika, stir until combine. Place egg, egg yolk and 30g (1oz) grated parmesan cheese into bowl, beat until combined. Place fettucine into pan of boiling salter water, boil uncovered 10 to 12 minutes to until just cooked. Drain return to pan with butter, toss over low heat until combined.

Add bacon-cream mixture, toss until combined. Add egg mixture, toss until combined. Season with pepper. Sprinkle with remaining grated parmesan cheese.

Serves 4-6.

This recipe was printed in the Australian Woman's Weekly Italian cookbook, probably the first one with mussels on the front cover.

We have loved this recipe since the 80s I think. And now enjoy other similar recipes very much, still making this one as a staple.




I loved this one this week:

Spaghetti with Salami Carbonara (you can omit the sage)

I love this one too and have eaten it recently:

Prosciutto Linguine

This one we have had a few times and is a handy recipe for menu planning:

Zucchini, Pea and Angel Hair Carbonara

This next one we have had before, I think because it is made from pancetta

Mushroom & Pancetta Spaghetti