PRESERVED MELANZANE WITH BASIL, OREGANO, GARLIC AND CHILLI

We get a fruit and vegetable box delivered each week which is a great way of eating seasonally and organically (who isn’t spruiking that mantra you say, at least I didn’t mention the word LOCAL as well). The box is especially handy with a young bub that is rapidly working her way through the world of mashed veggies and fruit. We generally use everything in the box but eggplants are in season and we are stockpiling them. I appreciate eggplants in European cooking but don’t generally cook a lot with them in my weekly repertoire so we decided to preserve them and use them in our panini’s and antipasto platters.

The recipe was adapted from Preserving the Italian Waywhich my husband bought me for Valentines Day one year. Romantic? I think so, he knows the way to my heart is through food. 

Oh and yes one of the eggplants does have an unusual growth ha! I couldn’t help but mention that.

They would also make a lovely gift idea, who wouldn’t appreciate a jar full for their fridge?


INGREDIENTS
2 eggplants
3 cloves of garlic peeled but whole
Handful of basil leaves

Handful of oregano leaves

2 birdseye chillies or to taste and depends on your chilli's
Extra virgin olive oil

Salt

You will need some old jars or you could buy some preserving jars if you don’t have a collection rattling around your kitchen.

            


To sterilise the jars:

Preheat the oven to 120˚c. Wash jars thoroughly and rinse well. In a large saucepan cover jars with water and bring to the boil. Cover saucepan, reduce heat and simmer for ten minutes. Using tongs, carefully remove jars and place upside down on a baking tray lined with a tea towel. Put in oven for 15 minutes. Take great care in removing from the oven with oven mitts. Only add hot preserves to a hot jar and cold preserves to a cool jar. Apparently running the jars through a dishwasher also works and sounds a lot easier but I haven’t tried it, this year I was able to cheat and use the baby steriliser.

Cut the eggplants into one centimetre vertical strips and then slice again into strips one centimetre wide.

In a saucepan bring salted water to the boil and then add the eggplant strips and cook for two minutes. Remove eggplant and cool. Start filling the jars alternating with layers of eggplant, salt, chili, oregano, basil and garlic. Finish with salt and fill jar with olive oil. Ensure that the eggplants are lying flat at the top of jar and that none break through the olive oil seal as this will spoil them. Leave for at least a month. Decoration with fancy fabric hats is optional. Enjoy

CRISPY GARLIC AND PEPPER CHICKEN WITH OYSTER SAUCE AND FRIED QUINOA

I quite often ponder (sadly) what cuisine I would choose if I could only pick one for the rest of my days and Asian food is definitely in my top two. I love the balance, variety of dishes and combination of vegetables and protein.

Despite having a few dietary restrictions I’ve found that most foods can be worked around and enjoy dining out regularly still, but Asian restaurants are too challenging as soy sauce is used as a seasoning in everything. So to get my fix I make my own. This Thai stir fry recipe is adapted from the Spirit House Thai Cookingbook and is delicious, a must try for anyone.

When I have a hankering for fried rice I prepare “fried quinoa” sans the rice . To be honest I love it and don’t miss the rice at all, I appreciate that it doesn't have the starchy quality of rice. I think most people know by now what an amazing superfood quinoa is and it features regularly on our weekday menu but I have only recently started using it as a rice supplement. It works really well with Thai curries also. For those who’d prefer rice just use equal quantities of rice and follow the rest of the recipe.

I will need to find the stamina to replicate a Sunday morning at yum cha soon.

CRISPY GARLIC AND PEPPER CHICKEN WITH BABY CORN AND BEANS

Garlic Paste

3 coriander roots

1 whole garlic head peeled

1 teaspoon of ginger

Ground white pepper

Pinch of salt

Chicken Stirfry

100mls of Canola oil

160g Baby Corn sliced lengthways

150g Green beans

2 Tablespoons of Oyster sauce. I use the Lee Kum Kee brand as it’s one of the few that is soy free

550g chicken breasts cut into strips

1 tablespoon of fish sauce

1 teaspoon of palm sugar grated finely

1 birds eye chilli sliced thinly

Half a bunch of coriander leaves

In a mortar and pestle combine the pepper, garlic, ginger, salt and coriander roots and pound to a paste.

In a wok heat the oil over a medium heat and fry the garlic paste until golden and crispy but be careful not to overcook. Remove from wok and drain on paper towel.

Drain all but two tablespoons of oil and turn up heat to high. Add chicken and fry until just cooked. Add the baby corn, beans, oyster sauce, palm sugar, chilli and fish sauce and cook for one minute.

Garnish with garlic paste and coriander.

FRIED QUINOA

1 cup of quinoa

200gm of ham steaks chopped into small cubes

2cm piece of grated ginger

2 tablespoons of Lee Kum Kee brand oyster sauce

1 onion chopped finely

3 spring onions sliced
2 eggs beaten

1 teaspoon of sesame oil

2 tablespoons of Canola oil

It’s important to rinse quinoa well before cooking otherwise it can be bitter. I cooked this prior and cooled it as you would with rice but there is probably no need. You can try and let me know! Add quinoa in medium saucepan and cover with two cups of water. Bring to boil over high heat, stirring until fragrant. Once boiled turn down to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Drain quinoa.

Pour egg into hot wok and spread into thin sheet until cooked and shred into strips. In hot wok add ginger, onion and stirfry for two minutes. Add ham and cook for two minutes.

Add drained quinoa, oyster sauce, sesame oil, spring onions and stir to combine. Enjoy

HAPPY EASTER • HAPPY EASTER • HAPPY EASTER

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter and are going to spend it relaxing with family and friends. We are off to the beach and I can’t wait to see my family and have some last swims in the ocean before it gets chilly.

Of course it’s time for overindulging in chocolate and hot cross buns in between the main courses so I hope you’re stocking the pantry.  I was going to post a review of dark chocolate but really it would be a review for a reviews sake because I’m obsessed by the chocolate from Monsieur Truffe and it’s a clear winner for me.

My particular fancy is the Hazelnut Gianduja it’s 62% dark chocolate with organic ground hazelnuts and then scatterings of whole hazelnuts. It's also soy free. It does come as a milk chocolate version as well but who needs the milk when you have all those amazing nuts. DIVINE. Little tip if you’re going to try it at some stage don’t look at the nutritional panel, that richness doesn’t come for free. Everything in moderation right and it is EASTER.