Monday's Menu {cheat's ravioli}

How can it be the last week of March already?
This last week flew by, with my trip up to Brisbane, the weekend was upon us before we knew it. Poor Rob had a cold this week, so with the cold weather on the weekend a pot of soup and a casserole was in order.

This weeks menu:
Monday: After making a zillion spinach and ricotta triangles (Claudia Roden's recipe) for a Harmony Day lunch, I came home with the leftovers. We reheated them and made a Lebanese salad to match. I finally used the purslane I insisted we grow, it's nice and crunchy in salads. We froze the remaining triangles for an emergency meal some time.
Tuesday: Another salad with soft boiled eggs, prosciutto, Meredith Dairy Goat Cheese.
Wednesday: Our cheat's ravioli - see below for the recipe.
Thursday: Massaman Curry, whilst I was in Brisbane. I need to cook this one at home, I haven't eaten it before I don't think, if anyone has a favourite recipe for this curry please pass it on. Oh, and I couldn't resist the chocolate tart either.
Friday: Beef pho in the Canberra airport.
Saturday: Vegetable and barley soup.
Sunday: River Cottage Chicken and mushroom casserole with Cider. Best thing was there are enough leftovers to eat on pasta tonight after work and the gym.

The Hut Ravioli

As we ran through the supermarket the week before, we grabbed a packet of wonton wrappers from the refrigerated section.

Image from Supreme Quality Foods

We hadn't used these in a long time. But we had a faint memory of seeing Simon Bryant use them on the Cook and the Chef as ravioli instead of fresh pasta.

It was a week night, which means by the time we've been to the gym, collected our dogs from doggie day care (ie my parents place) and driven to the hut it was probably around 7. We decided to "make" ravioli for dinner. A week before I made a batch of Nigella's meatballs and frozen them for use in pasta and soups.

Nigella's meatballs

250 g pork, minced

250 g beef, minced (or we used 500g pork and veal mince)

1 eggs

2 tbsp parmesan, freshly grated

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp oregano

3 tbsp semolina, or breadcrumbs

1 pinches pepper

1 tsp salt

To make the meatballs, just put everything in a large bowl, and then, using your hands (if you wet them with a little water the mix doesn't stick as much), mix to combine, before shaping into small balls.

So I wrapped (a still frozen) meatball in between two wrappers (sealing the edge with a little water and squishing it out a little so the joins were not too thick).  Meanwhile Rob quickly fried a chopped onion and some garlic in a little olive oil before adding a bottle of tomato passata. We quickly boiled the ravioli then added them to the tomato sauce to finish off.

We served them with some dollops of ricotta cheese (left over from the triangles I'd made earlier), lots of chopped fresh basil and some grated parmesan.

They were good. I think we might have to try another filling this week. Any suggestions?

Introducing Claudia

Some of you may have heard (twitter & facebook) that there will be a new addition to our household.

Continuing on with our theme of picking a name from our favourite cooks, Stephanie Alexandra (Rob's daughter), and Nigella, we have chosen Claudia after our favourite middle eastern food writer, Claudia Roden.

Steph was a little worried that I would name the puppy Abla!

She is 4 months old, very sweet and of course, adorable. She also turns out to be Nigella's half-sister.

We pick her up Thursday, only 2 more sleeps.

Two days to puppy proof the house & garden. It's amazing how fast you can forget what they like to chew and play with!

It might mean a little readjustment for Nigella, but she has always loved the company of other dogs, I realise it might be a bit different if it's a new addition to her pack though. More photos to come soon.

A Middle Eastern Feast

In the last couple of years Rob and I have become increasingly fond of Middle Eastern food, particularly Lebanese. We visited Abla Amad’s little restaurant in Carlton a couple of years ago and were thoroughly inspired to try cooking the food ourselves. I found her book ‘The Lebanese Kitchen’ and we were off. Claudia Roden’s books ‘Arabesque’ and ‘A New Book of Middle Eastern Food’ also quickly became our food bibles. I love the freshness of the cuisine, with the lemon juice, fresh mint, parsley and coriander. The spice mixes such as Ras el hanout , Baharat and Za’atar are so fragrant, and have become a favourite way of adding flavour to lamb and chicken. The food culture of sitting down to a table of many small dishes, mezze, creating an array of flavours, colours, and aromas is so appealing. We had developed a repertoire of favourite dips, salads, kebabs and desserts to feed our friends. We have become so obsessed that a BBQ to us is always a Lebanese one!

So as I approached a particular milestone last year it came as no surprise (to Rob) that I decided upon a Middle Eastern Feast for 30 of my friends and family to celebrate. Half of the fun of this sort of entertaining for me is to pore over the recipe books, selecting and writing lists of ingredients and a plan of attack leading up to the day. The day dawned, and we found ourselves at the venue with all of our cooking gear, buckets of fresh herbs from the Hmong people, fillets of Ocean Trout, a couple of legs of lamb, chicken, a large mound of fresh flatbreads, yoghurt, lemons, sparkling wine and an array of desserts that I’d been preparing the whole week. Luckily one of my friends is far more artistic than me, so I gave her 100 candles, 30m of silky pink fabric, a couple of Moroccan lanterns, fresh lilies, rose petals and a staple gun, and let her loose to transform the room.

The feast consisted of:
Hummous – it’s compulsory!

Baba Ghannooj – I love the smoky eggplant flavour.

Muhammara – a roasted red pepper & walnut dip, seasoned with lemon juice, pomegranate molasses and cumin, with flat breads to scoop.

Tabbouleh- again another classic mezze dish.

Fattoush- a salad of mint, parsley and lettuce, with radishes, tomatoes, cucumber, a sprinkling of sumac and some crisp toasted flatbreads.

Cacik- a cucumber, mint and yoghurt salad, a favourite with lamb.

Salatat al Bataata- a minty potato salad.

Loubyeh bi Zayt- green beans cooked with tomatoes, olive oil and allspice, it is delicious warm or cold.

Ouzi- middle eastern roast lamb.

Djaj Mishwee bi Za’atar- chicken kebabs marinated in lemon juice and za’atar then grilled on a BBQ.

Samak Tarator- the Greg Malouf salmon dish I described recently.

Lokum- I made a mountain of Turkish Delight.

Baklawa-bright green with pistachios and dripping with the sugar syrup.

Nummoora – a semolina cake that is also bathed in sugar syrup.

Ma’amoul- date filled pastries.

Barrosi-crispy sesame seed biscuits.

Damascene Shortbread – a short and rich biscuit topped with a pistachio.

Muhallabeya- a milk pudding to eat with the

Middle Eastern Fruit Salad- made of poached dried fruit with spices and honey, sprinkled with slivered almonds.

Persian Love Cake- the recipe for this came from Gourmet Traveller, a very moist cake made with yoghurt, almond meal and nutmeg.

My friend had also made me an appropriately decorated birthday cake.

The evening went well, my fondest memory was looking down the candle lit table at my guests tucking into the food in front of them, and all of the preparation was worth it!