French onion soup

What's not to like about a steaming bowl of french onion soup with a crusty roll? Spurred on by a recent burst of cold and windy weather, I found myself musing over the delicious french onion soup I was going to make that evening. You might not want to whip this one up all the time as it has a large hit of butter in it, but as an occasional soul-warming treat, it can't be beat. Like most soups, it's very easy to prepare and the aroma as it is cooking is bliss! Enjoy ...

Ingredients
50 g butter
4 large brown onions (although I used 6), halved and thinly sliced
3/4 cup (180 ml) dry white wine (this is not absolutely necessary - I left it out)
3 cups of water
1 litre (4 cups) of vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon of plain flour
1 teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves

Method
1. Melt butter in large saucepan.
2. Add sliced onion and cook over medium heat for about 30 mins or until caramelised. Stir occasionally.

3. In a separate saucepan, bring the wine to the boil, and boil for one minute.
4. Stir in the water, stock and bay leaf and return to a boil. Remove from heat once boiling.
5. Stir flour into the onion mixture. Cook, stirring, until the mixture bubbles and thickens.
6. Bit by bit, add the stock mixture, stirring until the mixture boil and thickens slightly. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 20 mins, stirring occasionally.
7. Remove the bay leaf and add the thyme.

Chocolate caramel slice

This is an old favourite. After making it at home, you'll have trouble eating one bought from a cafe. I made this one for my Mum's birthday ...

Ingredients
Base
1 cup of plain flour, sifted
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
125g butter, melted

Filling
400g can of sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons of golden syrup
60g butter

Topping
60g copha, chopped
125g cooking chocolate, chopped

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Line a 3 cm deep lamington pan (28 cm x 18 cm).
3. Mix all base ingredients in a bowl, mixing well. Press into lamington tin.
4. Bake for 15 - 20 mins or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool.
5. For the filling, combine all filling ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.
6. Cook, whisking for 8 mins or until golden. Pour filling mixture over base.
7. Bake for 12 mins or until firm.
8. Cool completely, before chilling in the fridge for 3 - 4 hours.
9. To make the topping, place chopped copha and chopped chocolate into a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir until melted. Pour over caramel.
10. Refrigerate to set it. Cut into squares to serve.

Felafel roll

Felafels are a veggie delight. You've probably tried a dodgy one from a street vendor, to be avoided at all costs. Similarly, I had a dry one at a cafe recently. I am fussy about these little Middle Eastern chickpea balls. They are so simple to make yet sometimes they can go so wrong. These homemade ones are very nice. There's a little work in rolling them into balls, especially if the mixture is too wet. You might need to add some more flour. Falafels apparently originated in Egypt but they are now so popular that a certain fast food brand markets a McFalafel. Falafels are high in protein and fibre so a good news story for vegetarians.

Ingredients
3/4 cup of frozen broad beans, thawed, peeled (I used tinned butter beans - easier!)
1 can of chickpeas
1/3 cup of coarsely chopped fresh parsley (flat leaf is best but I used garden parsley)
1 small red onion, chopped coarsely
1/3 cup (50 g) of plain flour
2 teaspoons of ground coriander
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of bi-carb soda

 Method
1. Blend beans, chickpeas, parsley, onion, flour, coriander, cumin and bi-carb soda in a food processor until almost smooth.
2. Using a tablespoon, shape spoonfuls into ball-shaped patties.
3. Lay out on a tray and leave in the fridge for 30 mins.
4. Heat a frypan with a little oil and cook falafels until brown on both sides.
5. Place falafels on wrap bread, smothered with hummus, iceberg lettuce, tomato, red onion and a little sauce (chilli, barbecue, tomato). Wrap up tightly to serve.

Tomato rice

Finishing my current obsession with brown rice, this is an interesting little dish. It is quite tasty and very easy to prepare. Fresh basil is a must for this one.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil (or olive oil)
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic
250 g of brown rice
250 g tomatoes
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper
2 cups of vegetable stock
25 g of tasty cheese, grated
1 teaspoon of butter
Fresh basil, chopped

Method
1. Heat the oil in a fry pan and fry the chopped onion and sliced garlic.

2. Stir in the uncooked rice and cook until it is transparent (about 10 to 15 mins).
3. Skin the tomatoes by dipping them in boiling water for a moment. When you pull them out, you should be able to remove the skin.
4. Chop the tomatoes into small pieces and add to the pan.
5. Season with sea salt and pepper.
6. Add the vegetable stock, cover the pan (use a piece of foil if you don't have a lid that fits), and simmer for about 20 minutes. At the end, the rice should be cooked and all of the stock absorbed.
7. Stir in the cheese, butter and freshly chopped basil. Serve immediately.

Fortified porridge

Here's another delicious brown rice recipe - perfect for that winter warm-up early in the morning. It packs a punch and you'll feel like you swallowed a bowling ball afterwards, but on the upside you won't be hungry for about 6 or 7 hours.

Ingredients
1 cup of rolled oats
3 cups of soy milk or water
1 tablespoon of raisins
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 cup of cooked brown rice
1 apple, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon of hazelnuts, chopped, or almonds
Honey to taste

Method
1. Add the raisins to the milk in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
2. Stir in the oats, salt, chopped apple and nuts.
3. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes over a gentle heat.
4. Add the brown rice and cook for a further 2 minutes.
5. Sweeten to taste with honey.
6. Serve with milk, cream or yoghurt.

It makes enough for about 3 people.

Spanish rice

I have a new best friend in the form of brown rice! It's not like the instant hit of white rice carbs, but brown rice keeps your energy levels powering along. Discovering brown rice has led me to a range of recipes that I'd previously shunned as hippie food or lacking taste. This one is yummy, easy to prepare and makes a lot so you have some for lunch the next day.

Ingredients
1 large onion
1 clove of garlic
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
100 g of mushrooms
1/2 cup of fresh peas or beans
3 tomatoes
1 tablespoon of parsley, chopped
1/2 tablespoon of basil, chopped
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
50 g black olives, de-stoned
3 cupfuls of brown rice, cooked
Tamari (a kind of soy sauce, available from Asian supermarkets or stores)

 Method
1. Finely chop the onion and fry with the sliced garlic in a pan with the oil.
2. When the onion is soft, add the chopped mushrooms and peas/beans and cover the pan. Cook for 10 minutes.
3. Add the chopped tomato, herbs, seasoning, the quartered olives and lastly the rice. Keep turning the mixture until the rice has heated.
4. Serve with tamari.

Ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter

A recent visit to bill's at Darlinghurst inspired me to try bill's divine ricotta hotcakes at home.

I didn't take a detour from art class and become a fabulously successful, self-taught, international foodie (www.bills.com.au) along the way, but my ricotta hotcakes were not bad. Not as nice as Bill's (how does he get them so flat?) but definitely tasty! I also now have a log of honeycomb butter for later so that will be nice on toast.

Ingredients - hotcakes
1 1/3 cups of ricotta                                1 pinch of salt
3/4 cups of milk                                       50 g of butter
4 eggs separated                                      2 bananas or a punnet of strawberries
1 cup of plain flour                                  icing sugar for dusting
1 teaspoon of baking powder

Ingredients - honeycomb butter
250g of unsalted butter (softened)
100g Crunchie
2 tablespoons of honey

Method - hotcakes
1. Place ricotta, milk and eggs in a bowl and mix to combine. Use a wooden spoon, not beaters.
2.  Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a separate bowl. Add to the ricotta mixture and mix until just combined.
3. Place egg whites in a bowl and beat until stiff mountainous peaks form.
4. Fold the egg whites through the batter in two batches using a metal spoon.
5. Lightly grease a large non-stick frying pan with a small amount of butter and drop two tablespoons of batter per hotcake into the pan. Cook over a low to medium heat for 2 minutes or until golden.
6. Turn hotcakes over and cook until golden on other side. Ensure they are cooked through. (yes, you might have to have a taste!)
7. Place on a plate and assemble with other ingredients. Sliced banana or strawberries with a slice (or chunk) of honeycomb butter and dusted with a small amount of icing sugar. Dribble or lash with maple syrup, according to your taste.

Method - honeycomb butter
1. Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Shape into a log on plastic wrap, roll, seal and chill in fridge for about 2 hours.
3. Use remainder of butter on toast (from the Bowan Island Bakery www.bowanislandbakery.com.au)

Thank you Bill Granger. For those who want more of Bill's recipes, he has a recipe every Sunday in the Independent on Sunday (www.independent.co.uk) and he also used to contribute to Delicious magazine (www.taste.com.au/delicious).

Pavlova

Pavs are deceptively easy to make and taste gorgeous. Best on a warm summer's day with fruit and ice cream. I made this one for my Dad's birthday ...

Ingredients
4 egg whites
1 cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon cornflour
1 teaspoon white vinegar
300 ml thickened cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon icing sugar

Method
1. Pre-heat oven to 120 degrees C (100 degrees fan-forced).
2. Line baking tray with baking paper and mark out an 18 cm circle (trace around a cake tin).
3. Beat egg whites in small bowl with a mixer until soft Alp-like peaks form.

4. Gradually add caster sugar, beating until sugar dissolves before adding more.
5. Fold in cornflour and vinegar.
6. Spread meringue on circle on tray. This is difficult to manage and you might need a spare pair of hands to hold the bowl for you. Try not to squash it, rather lift it up and towards the centre.

7. Place in oven and bake for about an hour and a quarter.
8. When ready, turn oven off and leave pav to cool inside with the oven door open.
9. Serve with beaten cream (add cream, vanilla, 1 tablespn icing sugar and beat), ice cream, passionfruit, mango, strawberries, raspberries, banana ...

The pav was supposedly called pavlova because it is as light as the Ballets Russes dancer Anna Pavlova. Anna also has a pretty rose named after her.

Blueberry and raspberry cheesecake

Vegerama has been distracted by the rich tapestry of life lately, but with the cooler weather I have been taking the opportunity to venture into sweetland. I made this cheesecake for an overseas guest recently and it hit the spot! Like most cheesecakes, it's very easy to make. Wrangling with the spring form pan is the most difficult part of making this delicious dessert. Unfortunately I had to devour the leftovers . . . .

Ingredients
250 g digestive biscuits (eg granitas or hob nobs)
100 g melted butter
1 vanilla pod (available at supermarkets, in organic and non-organic variety)
600 g soft cheese (Philly cream cheese)
100 g icing sugar
280 ml double cream (the type that blocks your arteries)

For the topping, use 400 g of blueberries and rapsberries, but you can also use strawberries
25 g icing sugar

Method
1. Spread butter on base of  (23 cm) spring form pan and line the bottom.
2. Place biscuits in a plastic bag and hammer with rolling pin.
3. Place biscuit crumbs in bowl and add melted butter.
4. Mix completely so that the crumbs are coated all over.
5. Pour the buttered crumbs into the tin and firmly press down, creating a nice base.
6. Chill in fridge for at least an hour.
7. Taking a vanilla pod, split it lengthways with a knife and gently scrape out the little seeds.
8. Place Philly cheese, icing sugar (100 g) and vanilla seeds in a bowl and beat with mixmaster until smooth.

9. Pour in the cream and continue to beat until the mixture is combined.
10. Spoon the cream mixture onto the biscuit base, starting from the edges and moving inwards. Try to avoid any air bubbles if possible.
11. Smooth the top of the cheesecake down with the back of a spoon or a spatula.
12. Leave to chill out in the fridge overnight.

To serve
1. Bring to room temperature, or at least bring the cheesecake out of fridge 30 mins before serving.
2. Place the base over an upside down glass or can and gently pull sides down.
3. Process half of the raspberries or strawberries in a food processor with 25 g icing sugar and 1 teaspoon of water. Sieve the mixture to create a pureed topping.
4. Place the remaining berries on the cake and pour over the topping.

Tomato and chickpea curry

This curry was inspired by the fact that I had Roma tomatoes needing to be used up and the discovery of a can of chickpeas in the pantry. It's quick to make and very tasty. You can add more curry powder if you prefer a stronger curry flavour.



Ingredients
1 can of chickpeas (you can boil your own from a food co-op but they smell and a can is much easier!)
2 - 3 small onions
2 - 4 cloves of garlic
2 - 3 tbspns curry powder
dash of coriander seeds
good shake of cumin
salt n pepper
approximately 6 - 8 Roma tomatoes
135ml light coconut milk
1 tbspn olive oil
rice

Method
1. Add oil to fry pan and allow to heat.
2. Chop onions and garlic. Fry on low to medium heat until onions are soft.
3. Add curry powder (you can use more if you want more curry flavour). Stir.
4. Add coriander seeds and cumin, along with salt and pepper (to taste).
5. Drain the chickpeas from the can. Add about 3/4 of the can to the curried onion mixture. Stir.
6. Pour in light coconut milk (make sure it does not boil).
7. Add tomatoes and cook on moderate heat around 10 mins, or until you can smell curry.

8. Cook rice to serve with curry (I usually make mine in a microwave, cooking on medium heat for around 20 mins).
9. Serve curry with rice.

Unfortunately vegerama's blood pressure has skyrocketed lately, so you expect to see some lighter, low cal meals from now on, as she tries to shift some blubber.

Banana smoothie

The quickest way to get rid of bananas that are on the turn is to make a banana smoothie (or a banana cake but my oven lets me down). This is the ultimate power brekkie that will set you up for the day! All natural, no preservatives . . .

Ingredients
Bananas (I used 3, but 1 - 2 should be enough)
Nutmeg (some scrappings of fresh nutmeg or a dash of ground nutmeg from a bottle)
Natural yoghurt
Honey, to taste
Wheatgerm (optional - not too much as it makes the smoothie too grainy)
Soy milk (or cow milk)

Method
1. Place everything in food processor and blend.
2. Serve in glass

Curry in a hurry - cashew nut korma

It's time to lash out away from all that rich carby pasta and rice and move into the wonderful world of Indian flavours! I have Indian neighbours, all the way from downtown Bangalore. Often I have to close my balcony door to drive out the smell of South Indian spices drifting up from downstairs (not to mention the shrieks from their kid, but that's another story). This recipe is fairly easy to make. It is tasty and improves over time. High leftover potential too.

Ingredients

75g (3 oz) creamed coconut, sliced into flakes (Hard to find in the shops! Try a health food shop or food co-op as my local fresh food corporatised supermarket did not sell it. It comes in chunks.)
30 ml (2 tbspns) sunflower oil (olive oil is OK too)
2 onions, chopped
2 fresh green chillies, deseeded and finely sliced (greens one are mild)
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 ground coriander
125g (4 oz) unsalted cashew nuts, pureed in a food processor
salt n freshly ground black pepper
250g (8 oz) long grain rice (white or brown - I used white)
1/2 medium sized cauliflower, split into florets
125g (4 oz) okra, with ends cut off (see photo - you should be able to buy okra in a supermarket)

125g (4 oz) zucchini (courgettes), sliced
125g (4 oz) frozen peas
2 - 4 tbspns chopped fresh coriander

Method
1. Place coconut in a bowl and pour over 450ml (15 fl oz) boiling water. Stir and leave to melt completely.
2. While that is melting, warm oil in a saucepan over moderate heat, adding onion. Cover and cook until tender (5 - 7 mins).
3. Add chillies, garlic and spices, stir well and cook for a further 1 - 2 mins. Remove and set aside.
4. Stir pureed cashew nuts into the bowl with melted coconut. Add this mixture to the onion and spices in the pan. Season with salt n pepper. Cover and set aside again.
If you are after a more intense flavour or if you are pre-preparing it, you can now leave it for up to 24 hours. Cover it and keep in the fridge.
5. When you are ready to eat, cook the rice (I always just use a microwave).
6. Cook the veggies by pouring 1cm (1/2 in) boiling water into a largish saucepan. Add cauli and okra, cover and half-boil, half-steam for 1 min. Add zucchini (courgettes), cover and cook for another 3 mins. Drain the veggies.
7. Stir veggies into the creamy cashew nut mixture, along with frozen peas.
8. Warm entire mixture over a gentle heat. Add more salt and pepper, to taste.
9. Serve on rice, sprinkled with chopped coriander.

Hummus

Hummis is a great food for veggies because it's so versatile. You can have it on a water cracker or on a thick piece of french bread stick or sourdough. It's good for a post-work snack with a packet of Jatz when you can't be bothered slicing an onion yet alone cooking up a storm. Depending on your garlic preference, you can add more if you prefer a bit more garlic breath . . .

Ingredients
400g can of chickpeas, drained and reserve the liquid
1-2 cloves of garlic
15 ml (1 tbspn) light tahini
30 ml (2 tbspns) lemon juice
15 ml (1 tbspn) olive oil
pinch of chilli powder (optional)
salt and cracked black pepper

Method
1. Place chickpeas, garlic, tahini, lemon juice and olice oil in food processor and process until smooth. Add enough of the reserved chickpea liquid to make the consistency like that of lightly whipped cream.
2. Add a pinch or two of chilli powder to give it a bit of a kick (if desired).
3. Season with salt and pepper.

Monica Trapaga's Mexican-style garlic prawns

Ex-PlaySchool host and purveyor of fine wares at Reclaim at Summer Hill (http://www.monica.com.au/reclaim), Monica Trapaga originally shared this recipe in the Australian Women's Weekly (now published monthly!) in March 1996. It's really easy to make, as the hardest part is actually going to the shops to buy the prawns! You can eat them by themselves, but also delicious on a bed of rice sprinkled with chopped almonds.

Note - you can prepare the marinade up to 3 hours in advance.

Ingredients
1 kg uncooked medium prawns (banana prawns or king prawns if you're rolling in it)
1/3 cup (80 ml) lime juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano
6 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tspn sugar
2 small red chillies, seeded, chopped (the smaller, the stronger the flavour so go easy if you're not a red hot chilli fan)
1/4 tspn cracked black pepper
1 tabspn olive oil

Method
1. Peel and devein prawns, leaving the tails on. (This is vile and there is no easy way to it. Just don't forget to pull out the "shit shoot")
2. Combine prawns with all remaining ingredients in a bowl. Cover and put in fridge for several hours.
3. When you pull them out again, drain the marinade from the prawns and keep the marinade.
4. Heat BBQ or frypan, add prawns and cook on both sides until just cooked through (they go reddish ;))

5. Put marinade in with prawns and bring to the boil.
6. Serve prawns with marinade. You can also add rice and steamed snow peas.

I know this recipe isn't strictly veg (apologies to the vegans) but some of us eat seafood.

Spinach and ricotta cannelloni

This is yummy! Filled with carbs but just what you need on a cold wet night in old Sydney town. It's a bit fiddly filling the cannelloni tubes so I recommend using fresh pasta sheets. I made mine with instant cannelloni tubes. Messy, but the end result was the same - yum!

Ingredients

375g fresh lasagne sheets                 75g grated mozzarella

50g parmesan

Ingredients for filling

30g butter                                         3 bunches spinach, trimmed & shredded
1 small onion, finely chopped          300g low fat ricotta
2 garlic cloves, crushed                    1 tabspn fresh oregano

Ingredients for sauce
1 tabspn olive oil                              440g tin peeled whole tomatoes
1 small onion, finely chopped          125 ml tomato pasta sauce (I used passata)
2 garlic cloves, crushed                    2 tspns dijon mustard
1 tspn dried oregano                         1 tabspn balsamic vinegar
1 tspn sugar

Method - Lasagne sheets
1. Preheat oven 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Cut pasta sheets into twelve 12 cm (4.5 in.) squares.
3. Boil water in saucepan, add salt and blanch [cook briefly in boiling water - thanks Wikipedia] lasagne sheets in batches for 1-2 mins. Drain flat on damp tea towel.

Method - Filling
1. Melt butter in saucepan and cook onion and garlic for 3-5 mins, or until onion becomes soft.
2. Add spinach and cook for 5 mins, or until wilted and moisture has evaporated. Cool in pan.
3. Mix spinach with ricotta and fresh oregano in a food processor until smooth. Season with salt n pepper.

 Method - Sauce
1. Heat oil in saucepan, add onion and garlic and cook over low heat for 8-10 mins.
2. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients.
3. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 mins, or until the sauce thickens.
4. Lightly grease a 2 litre (8 cups) casserole dish (a pyrex number from K Mart is fine).
5. Spread one third of the sauce over base of the dish.
6. Spoon 1 1/2 tbspns of the spinach mixture onto one side of each lasagne square, leaving a small border.
7. Roll up pasta to cover filling and place in dish seam side down.
8. Repeat until all sheets are snuggled in the dish. (Remember, I used instant tubes)

 9. Spoon in the remaining sauce and sprinkle with cheeses.
10. Bake 30-35 mins, or until bubbling. Leave for 5 mins before serving.

Pesto

Pesto is easy to make and deliciously tasty! This is a fab recipe. All you need is a food processor . . .

Ingredients
3 - 4 cups of lightly packed basil leaves
1 cup of parsley
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 - 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of pine nuts, almonds or walnuts
1/2 - 1 cup of olive oil (you can also use corn oil, whatever that is)
Approx 1 tsp salt
Method
1. Place basil and parsley into food processor with the peeled garlic cloves, parmesan and the nuts.
2. Using oil, process the leaves, adding up to half a cup of oil until they are finely chopped.
3. Keep adding the oil until the mixture is a dark green paste, just liquid enough to pour. Smell the fresh basil to remind yourself that you are alive.
4. Add salt to taste.
5. Store in the fridge, in a glass or plastic container with a lid. Cover with baking paper before you place the lid on to stop garlic smells in the fridge.
6. Use the pesto within 3 months. You can freeze it (wacky!) for longer.
7. To stop it turning black on top, keep it well covered with olive oil at the top.

Lasagne with lentils and tomato sauce

This recipe is a bit more work than your average mid-week dinner but worth it. 

There's two parts to this:
Lentil & tomato sauce
1 cup brown lentils
1 bay leaf                                                             3 med sized onions
3 cloves garlic                                                      2 tbspns oil
100g mushrooms (optional)                                 1 green capsicum (optional)
1 (425g) can tomato puree                                   1 tsp basil
1 tsp marjoram                                                     1 tsp oreganum
1/4 tsp thyme                                                        1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt                                                             black pepper
Method for the sauce
1. Rinse lentils and cover with plenty of water and boil with the bay leaf until tender.
2. While cooking the lentils, finely chop the onions and saute with the crushed, chopped garlic in the oil until tender.
3. Add the sliced mushies and diced green pepper (if you want) and continue to cook until the onion is soft and clear.

4. Pour in the tomato puree, then add the herbs, sugar, salt & pepper. Simmer for a few mins over a low heat allowing flavours to blend.
5. Stir in the cooked lentils. The flavour improves if you let it stand for a while, but you can use it immediately.

Lasagne
You've already made the sauce (above) so the topping is as follows:
Topping
3 tbspns butter
3 tbspns plain flour
2 cups milk (I use soy but i think cow milk might be better in this)
1/2 tsp salt
grated nutmeg
black pepper
2 cups (200g) grated cheese (tasty cheddar)
2 eggs
lasagne sheets from a box
paprika
Method
1. Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan then stir in the flour.
2. Cook for 30 secs, stirring continuously.
3. Add about a third of the milk & bring to boil, allowing mixture to thicken.
4. Add another third of the milk & bring to the boil again, stirring vigorously to ensure no lumps.
5. Stir in the last of the milk, then bring to the boil again, remove from the heat and stir in the seasonings and grated cheese. You might have to reheat it to melt the cheese but do not boil it again as the cheese goes awful.
6. Remove from heat and beat in eggs.
7. With a large shallow casserole dish, spread a thin layer of lentil sauce (about a quarter) over the bottom. Arrange lasagne sheets in a layer over this.
9. Spread half of the remaining lentil & tomato mixture on top.
10. Pour over half of the cheese sauce. Spread more lasagne sheets on top.
12. Spread remaining lentil mixture over top. Top with remaining cheese sauce and sprinkle with paprika!
13. Bake at 150 degrees C/(about) 300 degrees F for 45 mins or until the top is firm.

Baked Risotto with Zucchini, Tomato & Parmesan

This is a delightful little number. Whenever you need comfort food on a cold winters night or a shot of serious carbs, this is just what the doctor ordered. It has good leftover potential and you can mix n match the ingredients if you' re missing something. I've made this with zukes, but also with mushrooms. This one was made with mushies and Spanish onion as I was out of white onions:

Ingredients
2 tablespns extra virgin olive oil (preferably from the Blackheath farmers market!)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 teaspn of sea salt
1 cup Arborio rice
1 1/2 cups of veggie stock (meat eaters can use chicken stock, straight from the bird)
400g tin of chopped roma tomatoes
3 zucchini (courgettes) finely chopped
60g freshly grated Parmesan (preferably from Baldies! local deli Katoomba)
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespns finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
 Optional - shavings of Parmesan cheese for serving

Method
1. Pre-heat over to 200 degrees C/392 degrees F
2. Heat 3 litre (12 cups) capacity ovenproof dish (a casserole dish is good) with a lid over medium heat ( I tend to skip this step and move straight to the food preparation; also my casserole lid is broken so I use foil over the top)
3. Add the olive oil, onion and sea salt and stir for 5 mins or so until the onion is soft and translucent
4. Add the Arborio rice to the dish and stir for another minute.
5. Add the stock and chopped tomatoes and bring to simmering point.
6. Stir in zucchini (or mushrooms if you are using them) and sprinkle with Parmesan and black pepper.
7. Cover the dish with the lid (or foil) and bake the risotto for 30 mins or until the rice is cooked.
8. Scatter parsley over the top, sprinkle with Parmesan shavings if desired and mix them through the rice.

This is great to make on a Sunday night and then have it for din dins the following night while you indulge in a bit of Monday night telly.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Well, I got carried away on Friday night, lashing out on six delicious large mushies. These little guys can be stuffed with all sorts of lovelies. Due to a lack of decent spinach at the supermarket I had to stuff the little blighters with something else. These are tasty . . .

Stuffed Mushrooms
Ingredients
8 large mushrooms (the big variety)
1 tablespn olive oil
1 small leek, chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
100 g firm tofu (mine was mixed with peanut satay sauce, perfectly OK in this recipe)
1 courgette (zucchini, or zukes), chopped
1 carrot, chopped
100 g/1 cup wholemeal breadcrumbs (mine were out of date so just grate some brown bread in lieu)
2 tablespns chopped basil
1 tablespn tomato puree (paste)
2 tablespns pine kernels/nuts
75 g/ 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated
150 ml/2/3 cup vege stock
salt n pepper
green salad, to serve

Method
1. Remove the stalks from the mushrooms and chop finely.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the chopped mushroom stalks, leek, celery, tofu, zucchini, and carrot and cook for 3 - 4 mins, stirring.
3. Stir in the breadcrumbs, basil, tomato puree/paste and pine nuts. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Spoon the mixture into the mushrooms and top with the cheese.
5. Place the mushies in a shallow ovenproof dish and pour the veggie stock around them.
6. Cook in pre-heated over at 220 degrees C/425 degrees F/Gas Mark 7 for 20 mins or until cooked through and the cheese has melted. Remove the mushrooms and serve immediately with the green salad.