Fig, Goat's Cheese and Prosciutto

My sister's friend passed on this recipe a few months ago and I have been obsessed with it ever since.  This is a simple, delicious appetiser.  Just three beautiful ingredients - very easy and tasty. 

Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees.  Trim and halve your figs. 

Dollop on a generous amount of goat's cheese.

Wrap the fig and cheese in a thin slice of prosciutto.  I generally halve the prosciutto slices - half is usually wide enough.

Place the wrapped figs on a tray lined with baking paper and bake for 15-20 minutes. 

The end result - soft gooey figs, creamy cheese and crisp prosciutto. An impressive, delicious outcome for little effort.

Enjoy!

Kale and Chorizo

I've wanted to cook with kale for a while but found it a bit daunting and, to be honest, wasn't really sure what to do with it!  Then one day I saw this baby at my local supermarket and I could not resist.

A quick search on the internet did not produce a recipe I was totally happy with so I just winged it and I must say I was quite happy with the result. 

Kale really is a "superfood" with lots of impressive health benefits.  This leafy green vegetable, a member of the cabbage/broccoli family, is full of vitamins - A, B folate, C and K.  It has cholesterol lowering benefits, cancer risk lowering benefits and is a powerful antioxidant with lots of anti-inflammatory benefits.  I can recommend reading about the many health benefits of this food - fascinating! 

I sauteed a thinly sliced red onion, thinly sliced chorizo sausage and some garlic in a little olive oil.  When the chorizo was nice and crispy I added about half the bag of kale (60grams) and put the lid on the pan.  After a few minutes the kale had wilted so I added some toasted almonds, cracked black pepper, gave it a good stir and it was ready. 

The end result was quite delicious and full of flavour - salty, crunchy and sweet! I had this as a meal but it would make a lovely side dish for chicken or fish or tossed through pasta.

Do you have a favourite way to cook kale?  I would love to hear any ideas/recipes for this wonderful vegetable!

Stuffed Mushrooms

Like this pasta, my stuffed mushrooms are a quick, low fat, low calorie dinner.  They are a light meal yet filling at the same time.  Not the most attractive looking dish but they taste great and mushrooms are so good for us!  Mushrooms are nature's super food - high in antioxidants, nutrient rich, full of vitamins and minerals including vitamin D, and they are inexpensive! Perfect.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. In a little olive oil saute diced onion, sliced mushrooms, garlic, red capsicum, spinach leaves, chilli flakes and cracked black pepper.  Chopped bacon is a nice addition.  Once soft remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Whilst the onion mix is cooling prepare your mushrooms.  I use the flat BBQ mushrooms but you can use any large mushroom like Portobello.  Remove the stalk and peel.  Spray both sides lightly with olive oil spray and place on a tray lined with baking paper.

Once the onion mix has cooled combine with low fat ricotta cheese and fill your mushrooms. I use the ricotta you buy in the tub as I find it easier to work with in this recipe but fresh ricotta from the deli is fine too.

Adjust quantities to suit how many mushrooms you want to fill.  For these four medium mushrooms I used one small onion, about a cup of sliced mushrooms, a quarter of a capsicum, a large handful of spinach leaves and a generous tablespoon of ricotta.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes until the mushroom is soft and cooked and the mixture golden.

Enjoy with a crisp salad for a healthy, delicious meal!

Mushroom and Spinach Pasta

This is a quick, easy, low calorie pasta dish that can be thrown together in under twenty minutes. Great for a quick after work meal.    

The addition of Dijon mustard gives this pasta heaps of taste and pulls all the flavours together.  It is a nice alternative to a tomato based sauce or a cream sauce which of course should be avoided if you are trying to watch your weight! 

Finely chop an onion and saute in a pan with good olive oil.  At the same time boil water, add some salt and add your pasta.  Cook according to package instructions.

Add finely chopped red capsicum, mushrooms, chili flakes, garlic and lots of cracked black pepper to the onion mix.  Chopped bacon is a nice addition if you have it.  Once soft, add a good dollop of Dijon mustard and a ladle full of the pasta water.  Stir to combine. 

When your pasta is nearly ready add spinach leaves to mushroom mix.  Be generous with the spinach as it wilts down a lot.  Add a bit more of the pasta water if required.

Once the pasta is ready add it to the sauce and combine.

Serve as is or with a shaving of parmesan cheese.

Another nice option is to serve it with fresh low fat ricotta cheese.

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Pea and Rocket Soup

This unusual soup is very easy, healthy and low calorie!  It is also very green but it tastes great! 

This is my first cookbook recipe post thus fulfilling one of the reasons I started this blog, as mentioned here.  It is from a book called "Bowl Food" by Murdoch Books. I seem to have a problem following recipes to the letter so as usual have changed a couple of things however with so few ingredients there's not much to change!

Pea and Rocket Soup

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 bag rocket (approximately 100gr)
• 1 bag frozen peas (500gr)
• 3 cups (750ml) chicken stock (or vegetable)*
• Shaved Parmesan Cheese to serve

Method

1. Add oil and onion to a saucepan and cook for a couple of minutes until the onion is soft.
2. Add peas and rocket and cook for a minute or two until the rocket wilts a little bit.
3. Add hot stock and an extra cup of boiling water.  Bring to the boil.
4. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Cool and then blend until smooth.
6. Return to the saucepan and reheat.
7. Serve with shaved parmesan and extra rocket leaves if desired.

* I use Massel brand stock which is all vegetable, has no animal content and is gluten free thus making this dish suitable for vegetarians and those with gluten intolerance. 

Pasta e Fagioli

Pasta e fagioli is a traditional Italian dish literally meaning pasta and beans.  It is a hearty, healthy soup - a meal in a bowl.  A quick Google search reveals many variations of this soup but this recipe originally came from a friend's mother and is delicious.  It is also very flexible - add whatever vegetables you have on hand.  Pumpkin is a nice addition.

Ingredients ..

Sweating down the onion, carrots and celery

Adding the stock and tomato

Ready to eat ..

Pasta e Fagioli

Ingredients

• 2 litres of Beef Stock
• 2 tins of crushed tomato with garlic and onion
• 1 tin red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 sticks of celery, finely diced
• 2 onions, finely diced
• 3 carrots, finely diced
• 2 potatoes, diced
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 cup small pasta
• Chilli flakes
• Cracked black pepper
• Olive Oil

Method

1. Add oil, celery, onion, carrot, garlic, chilli flakes, black pepper to a large, heavy based saucepan and let them sweat down over a low heat until they are soft.  
2. Add the potato, tins of tomato, red kidney beans, beef stock and pasta.  
3. Bring to the boil, lower heat and simmer for about an hour.
4. About 45 minutes in add the peas.

Notes - Even though I use low salt stock I find the soup salty enough without adding salt.  Of course, this is personal taste and you may find you need to add a pinch of salt.  The amount of chilli flakes and black pepper is likewise dependent on personal taste - I like quite a bit of bite.

To serve - delicious as it is but it is also lovely with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, some crusty bread and a nice glass of red ;)

Curried CousCous Salad

I love couscous.  It's delicious, easy, cheap and adaptable to many different flavours.  This salad is all of those things and can easily be changed to suit personal taste.  I first saw it on the Barefoot Contessa cooking show but have changed it slightly.  The original recipe, which can be found on the Food network website, had parsley instead of coriander, raisins not craisins and carrot. 

Ingredients

CousCous absorbing the stock!

Fluffing couscous with a fork

Ready to serve

Curried CousCous Salad 

Ingredients

• 2 cups couscous
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar 
• 1 tablespoon curry powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 cup chopped coriander
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries (craisins)
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 3-4 spring onions thinly sliced
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• Cracked black pepper 

Method

1. Place the couscous in a bowl.
2. Prepare the stock and add the butter. 
3. Once the butter has melted pour the boiling stock over the couscous.
4. Cover tightly and allow the couscous to soak for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.  (Always use a fork when stirring couscous to prevent clumping.)
5. Add the coriander, craisins, almonds, spring onions and red onion to the couscous. Combine with a fork.
6. Whisk together the olive oil, yogurt, vinegar, curry and turmeric. Pour over the couscous, and mix well with a fork.
7. Season to taste.  I never add salt as I find the stock gives enough flavour but I do add a good amount of cracked black pepper.
8. Serve at room temperature.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

This delicious soup is adapted from a Donna Hay recipe and it is so easy!  The pumpkin roasts in its skin!!  This has been life altering for me as I hate cutting pumpkin!  The scars on my fingers attest to this!  Once the pumpkin is cooked you blend it with chicken stock.  That’s it - very simple.  I adapted this recipe to make it more low calorie but it is easy to find the original on the internet.  The original adds cream, honey and sour cream.  Delicious but not as diet friendly as this version.  I find a little swirl of skim milk is sufficient to thin the soup out and create a nice 'creamy' consistency.

Before ..

After ..

The finished soup reheating

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 halves butternut pumpkin
• 1 onion
• olive oil or olive oil spray
• sea salt, ground black pepper
• 3 - 4 cups chicken stock
• Skim milk or cream
• Curry Powder (optional)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220°C
2. Scoop the seeds out of the pumpkin halves
3. Place the pumpkin and onion on a baking tray
4. Drizzle with oil or spray with olive oil spray (less calories!) and sprinkle with salt and pepper
5. Bake for about an hour or until the pumpkin is soft and starting to brown. Once it has cooled scoop the pumpkin out into a blender
6. Scoop the onion flesh away from its skin and add to the blender
7. Add chicken stock and blend until smooth and the consistency you like - (Sometimes I add some curry powder at this step for extra flavour)
8. Pour the mixture into a saucepan, add skim milk or cream if using and gently heat

** If you use gluten free stock this soup is suitable for people who are gluten intolerant