Jamie's 30 Minute Meals - Pinenut, Sun-dried Tomato and Cucumber Salad

This is the salad that Jamie Oliver creates with his Oozy Mushroom Risotto. Again, I have tried to write out what he has written and included some pics. They were for my use but thought I would share as the Mushroom Risotto is gorgeous and the salad is very fresh and zingy.

Ingredients

Pine nuts

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Sundried Tomatoes

Lemon

Packet of Baby Spinach leaves

Cucumber (Lebanese)

Mint

Parmesan Cheese

Method

In a heavy based pan lightly toast 200 grams of pine nuts.

Add to 3 tbspn of olive oil to a large salad bowl. Add 1 tbspn balsamic vinegar. Add 5 or 6 sundried tomatoes roughly cut in 1cm strips, squeeze in half a lemon, add a sprinkle of salt and  give it all a gentle mix in the bowl with your fingers.

Cut a packet of baby spinach leaves into 1 cm strips (Jamie gently holds the whole batch in a ball and cuts with a sharp knife).  Place on top of the dressing the bowl but don’t mix through until you are ready to serve.

Score the outside of a cucumber (I used a Lebanese but I think Jamie used the really long one that comes in plastic) then cut in half and then cut on angle in centimetre cuts.  Place the cucumber in the bowl on top of the salad.

 

Rip up a few sprigs of mint and throw on top.

Now dress the salad by gently tossing everything through with your fingers.  Make sure everything is scrummy and coated.

Now add the hot toasted pine nuts.  Add a few scrapes of parmesan cheese (maybe a couple of tbspns) and enjoy:)

The salad is from Series 1, Episode 8 where Jamie Oliver makes Oozy Mushroom Risotto, this salad and a yummy lemon, raspberry and gingernut desert. I am going to try and make the desert at a later date and will add it to this site if it's a success:)

All pictures are taken from the television program - Jamie's 30 Minute Meals

Jamie's 30-Minute Meals - Oozy Mushroom Risotto

We had the TV on the other day (a rarity for us in our house) and were randomly channel surfing, when we happened upon Jamie Oliver’s 30 Minute Meals.  Jamie makes three meals in 30 minutes.  In this episode (Season 1, Episode 8) he was making a yummy risotto, salad and desert.  I thought I would give it a go:)  

I have tried to write down what Jamie has done word for word and tried to add some pics (originally for my own use - but thought I would share).  I then realised I had never made risotto before, in fact I had tried it once or twice at restaurants and hated it!!:) But this looked too yummy to let go.  So I gave it a go. I didn't have some of the ingredients but the result was yummy - yummy - yummy.  Here is Jamie's recipe with my little notes added in.  I hope you enjoy:)

Oozy Three Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients

One or two sticks of celery (I didn't use these)

One large brown onion

Handful of dried porcini mushrooms (I didn't have these)

Fresh rosemary (I only had home dried rosemary)

Chicken or Vegie Stock Cube

Boiled Water

500g of mixed fresh mushrooms (I used oyster, swiss brown, king brown and enoki mushrooms)

300g of arborio rice

glass of white wine (I used Chinese cooking wine - ha!, as that's all I had!)

fresh thyme (I had fresh lemon thyme)

clove of garlic

parmesan cheese

butter

fresh lemon juice 

handful of parsley (I forgot about this too!!)

salt and pepper to taste

Method (note I didn't use some of these ingredients but have added in Jamie's recipe, in case you wish to use it)

Destring some celery (click off the top section and pull off the outside stringiness)

Place in food processor.  Peel one large brown onion.  Quarter or halve and place in food processor with celery.  Place in a handful of dried porcini mushrooms.   Place in a fresh sprig of rosemary (destemmed).  Whazz.

Place 3 tbsns of olive oil into a pan (Jamie uses a casserole dish).  Warm through and then add the mix from the food processor.  Fry.  Add 300g of Arborio rice.  Add a glass of white wine.  Stir. Add one veggie or chicken stock cube.  Add a splash of freshly boiled hot water (I reckon half a cup maybe).  Turn down to a medium–low heat.  Stir very well.  You keep doing this for 18-20 mins – adding hot water and stirring well. 

Get 500g of a variety of three mushrooms.  Slice into big chunks. Half will go in the rice now, half will be grilled later.  Add your mushrooms to the rice mixture. Add a little bit more water and stir.  Season lightly with salt and stir.

Place the other half of the mushrooms in a baking tray or something that can withstand grilling.  Season with salt, pepper and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil.  Add in some fresh thyme and rosemary and crushed garlic.  Mix it all with your fingers like you are dressing a salad.  Place small nobs of butter in and around the mushrooms.  Put aside for grilling later.

Add some more hot water and stir your risotto well.

At the 15 minute interval Jamie makes a yummy looking desert.  I am going to try and copy this out later and see how I go with it. It is ginger nut and hazelnut base with Crème fraîche and lemon, raspberries and chocolate (drool)

Give the risotto more boiling water and have another stir (make sure it doesn't dry out and stays wet and almost sloppy).

Place your pan of mushrooms into a hot grill.  Jamie leaves this for about 8-10 minutes.  They have to be caramelised and soaked in the garlic, olive oil and pop in your mouth.  Not crunchy and burnt:)  I add some extra olive oil to keep mine ticking over.

At the 21 minute mark Jamie makes a yummy salad.  I gave it a go. It’s very fresh so would go well with the risotto. Pinenut and Sundried Tomato salad.

At about the 23 minute mark, take your risotto off the heat and add a couple of big knobs of butter and grate about 50grams of parmesan to taste.   The risotto must be oozy so add stock or water if needed.  It should be runny and able to fall off the mixing spoon easily. Taste and check if it needs salt or parmesan.   Add a small squeeze of lemon juice.  

Finely chop a handful of parsley and stir through the risotto.   Pop a lid on the dish and leave it for 2-3 minutes.

Serve with more parmesan cheese (if desired) and a scoop of grilled mushrooms on the top.  I added way too many grilled mushrooms. Be warned they taste very strong. You don't need alot.  Enjoy:)

All pictures are taken from Season 1, Episode 8 of Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals.

Super Tasty Zucchini Slice (thanks Sharon!)

Thanks to Sharon for sharing this recipe. I am going to make it during the week. If I remember I'll pop in a photo too:) 


I just made a super tasty zucchini slice.... I adapted it from one I found online to make it yummier. 

2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup grated carrot
1 large onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic
1 medium sized chilli, chopped
chopped basil to taste
handful of grated cheese
2 heaped dessert spoons of plain flour
6 eggs, lightly mixed with a fork
oil and salt.

Heat oven to 180 degrees


Cook onion in a frying pan till soft, add garlic and grated veg, cook until excess juice has evaported and vegies are soft, season well with salt. 


Transfer to a large bowl and leave to cool for 10 min, mix in cheese, flour, chilli, basil and eggs. Pour into a greased square cake/slice pan and bake until set, about 20min. 


Leave to cool slightly in pan, and slice into peices once warm. 


Makes about 8 serves.

Veggiesmuggling - Spicy Lamb and Bean Rissoles

Our next win with Veggiesmuggling is Spicy Lamb and Bean Rissoles from (of course) the Vegiesmuggling website.  Miss 4 year old 'just feed me meat' loves these patties. Little does she know they are chock full of veggies *meh, heh, heeeehhhh*  The little one doesn't 'do' tomatoes or cucumber etc so I just let her have the rissoles with mash and some chapatis.  Of course the adults love this recipe too:)

Spicy lamb & bean rissoles (from Vegie Smugglers)

1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, diced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 cloves garlic, crushed
2 slices multigrain bread
400g can four bean mix, rinsed, drained
1 carrot, peeled, roughly chopped
500g lamb mince
1 egg
2 tbsp vegetable oil, for frying

To serve
Flatbread or burger buns
Cream cheese
Tomato chutney
Cucumber, sliced
Lettuce

Dig out the big food processor to make this recipe quick and easy.

Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 4-5 minutes until softened. Add the cumin, coriander and garlic and fry another minute. Set aside.

Blitz the bread in the food processor into breadcrumbs. Remove and set aside.

Add the four bean mix and carrot to the food processor and whizz well. Add the onion mixture and lamb and blitz. Add the egg and breadcrumbs and blitz further until combined.

Use wet hands to form 5-6cm rissoles (warning – remove the processor blade before you handle the mixture!). Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Cook the rissoles for 4-5 minutes each side until cooked through.

Spread flatbread with cream cheese and chutney. Top with rissoles, cucumber and lettuce.

MAKES 16 RISSOLES

Perfect Scrambled Eggs - Scrambled Eggs Recipe - Easy Scrambled Eggs

I just had to link this, because I kept losing this recipe. The whole family loves this recipe including the 4 year old meat-a-tarian:) It's lovely and soft and yummy - without being sloppy *barf*

Perfect Scrambled Eggs - Scrambled Eggs Recipe - Easy Scrambled Eggs:

'via Blog this'

Veggie Smuggling - Zucchini via Cheese Puff

Here is another success from the Vegie Smugglers website.  Cheese Puffs that contain lots of zucchini.  Again I was very dubious that my meat loving four year old would have a stress attack if she saw anything green on her plate however she nommed these up without any hesitation.  They are also great for lunch boxes and the Daddy Chook liked them so much he took them to work too:)

Here is the recipe...

Cheese Puffs

• ½ cup milk (soy is fine)
• 1 egg
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• 1 zucchini, wazzed in the food processor (peeled first if your kids hate green)
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped (I recommend wazzing them)
• 2 cups grated cheese (cheddar is best)
• 1 cup self-raising flour

Preheat the oven to 190C.

Line a baking tray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the milk and egg.

Add the paprika, zucchini, spring onions and cheese. Sift over the flour. Mix well (it becomes a thick paste).

Dollop out portions.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until deep golden brown and cooked through.

Store in the fridge in an airtight container for several days.

MAKES 16

Veggie Smuggling - Chicken Sausage Rolls

I have been veggie smuggling my butt off this last week trying to convince our four year old that veggies are indeed a nice thing to eat.  I will be posting my successes in the hope that it helps other parents feed their veggie-denying offspring:) 

Thanks to the website Vegie Smugglers I have found a great deal of clever recipes on how to smuggle veggies. I must say I was completely dubious about the whole process. If my four year old even gets a whiff/eye boggle/hint of any vegetable on her plate, she will refuse to carry on with dinner.  At times she will even dry reach *sigh*  BUT these recipes work. I can't believe it.  I think the secret to it is wazzing it in a food processor.  If you don't have a food processor use a grater.  The other thing I found with these recipes is that they are not as time consuming as I first thought, seeing as you can cut veggies into lumps and throw them in the food processor - usually together.

The following is the 4 year old's favourite recipe based on the Vegiesmuggles recipe of Sausage Rolls.  The other thing I have found is that the adults also like these recipes. Very tasty:)

CHICKEN SAUSAGE ROLLS

5 sheets frozen puff pastry

500g chicken mince

1 carrot, peeled, wazzed in the food processor

1 zucchini,  wazzed in the food processor 

1 onion,  wazzed in the food processor 

400g can brown lentils, rinsed, drained

1 egg

2 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (basil and chives are good)

Salt & black pepper

1 egg, whisked, for glazing

Preheat oven to 200C. Lay out your pastry sheets on a bench. Cut each in half to make 2 rectangles.

Mix together all the remaining ingredients until combined

.

Spread the mixture lengthwise along the middle of the rectangles. Ease pastry over from one edge, brush egg along top side then roll other edge over to seal.

If cooking immediately, cut each stick into 4 pieces, place on an oven tray lined with baking paper, brush with egg and cook in middle of the oven for 25 minutes until golden and cooked through.

I froze most of these. I kept the sticks whole, wrapped them immediately in plastic wrap and froze immediately.  To thaw, put in fridge 24 hours ahead of cooking.  This is important!! I accidentally took them straight from the freezer and put them in the oven and they turned into a sloppy mess:(  Once thawed, cut into four pieces, brush with egg and cook as per normal.

MAKES 10 STICKS (40 PIECES)