C is for cabbage

I live in fear of residing in one of those rental properties that smell like boiled cabbage. I also hate storemade coleslaw. But I love the frilliness of cabbage:

Click here for more arty cabbage picks

When searching for saucy cabbage picks I came across the infamous Cabbage Soup Diet-you all know that's a piece of poo, right?

 VEGETARIAN CABBAGE ROLLS
(no picture but they sound yum!)
 Ingredients:
    2  Cabbage heads
                   
FILING:

• 3/4 c Barley
• 3/4 c Bulgur
• 6 c Water -- salted if desired
• 1 c Rice
• 1 lg Onions
• 1 tb Paprika
• 1/2 ts Chili powder
• 4 Garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/2 c Pine nuts
• 10 1/2 oz Tofu, firm
• 1/2 bn Parsley -- chopped
• 6 tb Sauce, soy
• 4 tb Molasses
• 2 tb Oil, sesame

• -----SAUCE, PER BATCH-----

• 2 c pureed tomatoes
• 1/4 ts Sea salt
• 1/4 ts Onion powder
• 1/8 ts Garlic powder
• 1/8 ts Chili powder
• 1 tb Sugar, brown
• 1 1/2 tb Vinegar, wine

• -----SAUCE, REMAINING BATCHES-----
• 6 c pureed tomatoes
• 3/4 ts Sea salt
• 3/4 ts Onion powder
• 3/8 ts Garlic powder
• 3/8 ts Chili powder
• 3 tb Sugar, brown
• 4 1/2 tb Vinegar, wine

 
   Filling:  Precook grains in water until done.  Crush tofu.  Saute
   remaining ingredients in oil until cooked and add cooked grains.

   Sauce:  Season tomato sauce with remaining ingredients.

   Cabbage: Core cabbage and cook in boiling water for several minutes.
   Pull leaves away as they soften.  Cut out hard core of leaf. Cut
   largest leaves in half.

   Preheat oven to 300.  Oil 9"x13″ casserole.  Place enough tomato
   sauce to cover bottom.  Fill cabbage leaves with cooked filling and
   wrap, tucking sides and ends in to form neat rolls. Place rolls
   snugly in casserole against each other. Spoon remaining sauce over.
   Cover tightly and bake 2 hours. Leave in oven until serving time.

Colcannon
This stuff is seriously good, I had it at some dodgy Irish pub in London
and loved it!

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 900g sebago (brushed) potatoes, peeled, coarsely chopped
• 50g butter/nuttlex
• 300g savoy cabbage, hard core removed, shredded
• 60ml (1/4 cup) milk/soy milk
• 60ml (1/4 cup) pouring cream/soy cream
• White pepper

Method

1. Place potato in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over medium-high heat, and cook for 20 minutes or until tender. Drain and return to the pan. Use a potato masher to mash until smooth. Transfer to a large heatproof bowl.
2. Melt half the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the cabbage and cook, stirring occasionally, for 7 minutes or until the cabbage softens.
3. Add the mashed potato and remaining butter to the pan and stir to combine. Gradually add the milk and cream, and stir to combine. Season with salt and white pepper. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve.

B is for Brussel Sprouts!

Like many children, I was bought up to hate Brussel Sprouts. Mum never cooked them and I never had anything to do at them at all, except when I admired their appearance ( a bit like mini-cabbages) at the supermarket.

Until I started today's research, I knew they looked like this:
But I never really had given any though to how they grew which is apparently like this:



(Thanks to this site). Amazing stuff! How cool do they look, talk about ornamental gardening! You can even plant some now! Yes, I'm getting excited about Brussel Sprouts! And to prove it, here's some yummy recipes...

Golden-Crusted Brussels Sprouts Recipe

This is the only way to eat brussels sprouts: cut in half and cooked until deliciously tender inside and perfectly brown and crusted on the outside.

Use brussels sprouts that are on the small size and tightly closed. You can finish these with many different types of cheese but I tend to go for Parmesan when the weather is good. I trade that in for heavier cheeses like gruyere or Gouda in colder weather. I finished them off with some toasted hazelnuts the other night - delicious!

24 small brussels sprouts
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for rubbing
fine-grain sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup grated cheese of your choice

Wash the brussels sprouts well. Trim the stem ends and remove any raggy outer leaves. Cut in half from stem to top and gently rub each half with olive oil, keeping it intact (or if you are lazy just toss them in a bowl with a glug of olive oil).

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in your largest skillet over medium heat. Don’t overheat the skillet, or the outsides of the brussels sprouts will cook too quickly. Place the brussels sprouts in the pan flat side down (single-layer), sprinkle with a couple pinches of salt, cover, and cook for roughly 5 minutes; the bottoms of the sprouts should only show a hint of browning. Cut into or taste one of the sprouts to gauge whether they’re tender throughout. If not, cover and cook for a few more minutes.

Once just tender, uncover, turn up the heat, and cook until the flat sides are deep brown and caramelized. Use a metal spatula to toss them once or twice to get some browning on the rounded side. Season with more salt, a few grinds of pepper, and a dusting of grated cheese. While you might be able to get away with keeping a platter of these warm in the oven for a few minutes, they are exponentially tastier if popped in your mouth immediately.

Serves 4.

The recipe is from 101cookbooks.com

B is for Broccoli

I'm definite in saying that broccoli is my favourite vegetable in the world-steamed, with butter, in a soup...all awesome! We're growing some at home and whilst it doesn't look quite like this yet, I have high hopes...

Broccoli and Tahini Soup

For the soup:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• florets (about 250-300g, 9-10 oz) from 1 head of broccoli, chopped
• vegetable stock
• 2 Tbsp tahini
• black pepper to taste

For the gremolata:

• leaves from 1 head of broccoli
• an equal volume of flat-leaf parsley
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• salt to taste

For the croutons:

• 12 thin slices (1/4 cm, 1/2 inch) from the interestingly-shaped part of the broccoli stem (see photo)
• olive oil
• salt and black pepper

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat, and saute the onion for about 7 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and chopped broccoli florets and stir briefly to let the garlic release its flavour into the oil. Pour over hot vegetable stock to cover, bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20-25 minutes until the broccoli has softened (the amount of time it takes will depend on how much stalk you left on the florets).

2. (Optional) While the soup is simmering, make the gremolata: chop the broccoli leaves together with the parsley until very finely-minced. You should end up with 2-3 Tbsp of the minced mixture. Stir in the lemon juice and olive oil, and season well with salt. Set aside for the flavours to infuse.

3. When the soup has finished simmering, stir in the tahini, season with black pepper, and puree in the blender. Return to pan and keep warm.

4. (Optional) Make the croutons just before you're ready to serve. Heat a generous layer of olive oil in a small frying pan, until very hot. Season the broccoli slices with salt and freshly-ground black pepper and then fry them in the hot oil, turning once (I use chopsticks to do this), until lightly (or darkly!) browned, according to taste. The ones in the photo are done to my taste, which is well-browned. Drain them briefly on kitchen paper after taking them out of the oil.

5. To assemble the soup, pour it into four warmed bowls, balance the croutons on top, and drizzle over a little of the gremolata. Serve at once, with the rest of the gremolata in a small saucer for people to add as required, or dip their bread into.'

From Kake's Vegan Cookery Site

Vegan Broccoli Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 med Potato -- peeled and chopped
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• Couple of bundles of broccoli chopped
• 4 oz Tofu, firm -- crumbled
• 1/2 md Carrot -- scraped and
• 1/2 c Nutritional yeast flakes
• 1 tb brown Rice, brown, instant
• 1/2 med Onion -- peeled and
• 10 oz Mushrooms sliced
• 1 cup water

Instructions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small saucepan, bring potato, carrot, onion, 1 cup water and salt to a boil over medium high heat. Lower heat to medium, cover and simmer until potato and carrot are tender, about 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, thaw frozen broccoli in a colander under hot running water, then set aside and drain well.

3.When potato mixture has finished simmering, pour into a blender and add tofu, yeast, lemon juice and garlic.

3.Blend until very smooth and creamy. Pour into a shallow, greased 1 1/2- to 2-quart casserole.

4. Add broccoli, rice, mushrooms and 3/4 cup water. Stir well and smooth top of casserole.

5.Bake for 40 minutes, until golden and bubbling. Serves 4

from Big Oven

If anyone has any broccoli dessert recipes, send them our way!

xx

Craft workshops coming up!

Hi folks,

I’m organising a 8 week series of ‘craftea chats’ for women who have experienced mental illness and are based in Melbourne.

We’ll have different materials and teachers each week and you can bring along your current project or learn a new skill such as knitting, sewing or cross stitch. All materials are provided and each session is free. Depression, anxiety and the like can be lonely and isolating and the workshops are a great chance to meet other women and engage in some crafty fun while enjoying tea and bickies.

Weekly from August 6th
6.15-8.15pm
Ross House, 247 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

The workshops are funded through a grant by The City of Melbourne and auspicing of the Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council

Interested? Check out the details below and email ms.cate@gmail.com to book your place ( spaces are limited).

B is for Bok Choy

Bok Choy is perhaps one of the easiest veggies to grow (at least at our place). It's a staple in many Asian dishes (often with ginger and garlic) but there's also other ways of using it that you may not have thought of:

Baby Bok Choy Stuffed with Bread Crumbs and Cheese

Ingredients :

1/2 cup Breadcrumbs
2 tbl Olive oil, divided
6 x Baby bok choy –
1/4 cup Ricotta cheese
2 oz Feta cheese
1 tsp Finely chopped lemon peel

Method :

1. Place the bread crumbs on a plate and toss with 1 tablespoon of oil.
2. Microwave on high( 100 percent power) for 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute, or until toasted.
   
3. Rinse the bok choy; set aside the four largest, and finely chop the remaining two. In a small bowl, with a fork mix together the ricotta cheese, lemon peel, remaining 1 tablespoon oil, chopped bok choy and bread crumbs.
   
4. Gently spread apart the leaves of each whole bok choy and fill with the cheese mixture. Place in single layer in a dish, cover, and microwave on high for 4 minutes, or until wilted and slightly soft. Serve right away or at room temperature.

recipe from FoodDownunder.com

B is for Beetroot

When I was a kid, the big decision was whether you had beetroot in your salad sandwiches or hamburgers with the lot. I grew up in the country and can recall stopping at a roadhouse in the middle of nowhere which served salad sandwiches: buttered white bread, soggy tomato and tinned beetroot. It wasn't until I went to University that I discovered that beetroot could be bought in the grocer's and eaten cooked, not just out of a can!

Beetroot, carrot and potato cakes

Recipe for beetroot, carrot and potato cakes
2 medium beetroots, greens removed, peeled & grated
2 medium carrots, skin on, grated
2 medium potatoes, skin on, grated
½ medium onion, thinly sliced
½ tin of green lentils
1 egg, beaten
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
25g wholemeal plain flour
3 chopped spring onions
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 150C/300F/gas2. Combine all the vegetables in a large bowl, then mix in the lentils, egg, salt and pepper. Sieve in the flour and seasoning and stir well until it’s all blended.

Heat half the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Using 2-3 tablespoons of mixture per cake drop four cakes into the frying pan. Flatten each out with a spatula, and cook until just browned and cooked through, which should take 3-4 minutes per side. Be careful that the pan isn’t too hot, or the cakes will burn before they’ve cooked in the middle. When they are done on each side transfer the cakes to a tray in the oven to keep warm, then repeat with remaining mixture until finished.

Serve with a green salad, houmous and if you’re feeling frivolous, put them under the grill and melt some cheese on top.

© Katheryn Rice 2007


Beetroot Pesto


500g cooked beets (there are several ways to cook beets)
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup coriander (or basil)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup sunflower seeds (toasted) or walnuts (toasted)
Salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients in the food processor til it reaches desired consistency.

A is for Avocado

Avocados are really cheap at the moment. We all know how to make Guacamole and avocado on toast with tomato and cracked pepper but there's loads of other things you can make. You might like to try this site or here's some other ideas:

Avocado, spinach and walnut salad

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 1/2 tablespoons roughly chopped walnuts
• 200g baby spinach leaves
• 1 ripe avocado, peeled, stone removed, sliced
• juice of 1 lemon

Method

1. Place walnuts into a small frying pan. Cook over medium heat, shaking frying pan often, for 3 to 4 minutes or until walnuts are golden and roasted. Remove from heat.
2. Arrange spinach and avocado on serving plates. Sprinkle over walnuts. Drizzle with lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Source : Super Food Ideas - August 2003 , Page 24, Recipe by Annette Forrest

Linda McCartney's Avocado and Green Chili Soup
From: Tony & Karen Greenlee

Source: Home Cooking - by Linda McCartney and Peter Cox; Yield: 4 servings;

Preparation time: 10 minutes

• 2 Ripe avocados
• 3 c Soy milk
• 4 oz Canned green chilies
• 1 md Onion; chopped
• Salt and pepper; to taste
• 2 tb Lemon juice
• 2 tb Dry sherry

GARNISH:
Chopped chilies -OR- Fresh parsley

Cut the avocados in half and remove the pits.
Scoop out the avocado pulp and puree in a blender.
Add the remaining ingredients except garnish to the blender and puree until evenly smooth.
Pour the mixture into a serving bowl, garnish, and serve immediately.

Chocolate Avocado Dessert

Ingredients (you can use vegan versions): 2 ripe avocadoes
1 package silken tofu
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons golden syrup
2 cups melted chocolate chips

Directions:

Peel and pit avocadoes. Blend in a food processor together with the tofu (room temperature), vanilla and golden syrup.

Blend in the melted chocolate chips.

This can be eaten alone, in a pie shell, or layered individual dishes with whipped topping and or fruit.

Serves: 6

Preparation time: 1/2 hour
From Vegweb.com