Salade Parisienne

Regular readers may have noticed that another cookbook snuck onto my bookshelves recently - Mirka & Georges, by Lesley Harding and Kendrah Morgan.  Mirka was an artist, who along with her husband Georges owned several cafés and a restaurant in Melbourne in the 1950s and 60s.  This book, subtitled A Culinary Affair, includes recipes found amongst her notebooks and papers, plus dishes noted in her personal cookbook collection.  Mirka being French, cooked French dishes so you will find bouillabaisse, omelette, coq au vin and similar recipes in this book.   

one of Mirka's artworks on the cover

This recipe was a first for me, folks.  I needed a chunk of beef for this dish, so I cooked a mini rump roast, something I've never done before.  And much to my surprise, it actually turned out just like it was supposed to - medium rare.  Well, to be fair I did just follow the instructions on the wrapping paper :-)  This is a salad composed of beef and potatoes, with a very robust dressing.  I briefly thought of subbing the beef with chicken, but I decided Mirka must have known what she was doing.  So beef it is!   


Serves 4:

Serve at room temperature or cold


ingredients:


Salad:


450g. (1 lb) roast beef - I used a mini rump roast

12 baby potatoes (or 8 medium), boiled or steamed till tender

8-12 gherkins (depending on size), sliced on the diagonal

sea salt flakes - say 1 teaspoon?

freshly ground black pepper, maybe 10-12 grinds of the mill?

3-4 French shallots, finely chopped

1 cup parsley, finely chopped or snipped with scissors


Dressing:


4 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 tbs grain or Dijon mustard

1 tbs white wine vinegar

1 tbs (baby) capers, rinsed well and chopped small(er) if liked



Method:


Slice up the roasted beef  as thick or thin as you prefer - I like it thin:-)

Cut up the spuds as you desire - I sliced mine about 1/2 cm. thick

Place the beef and potato slices in a salad bowl

Throw in the gherkins, shallots, seasoning and parsley

Mix the dressing ingredients in a small jug till well combined

Tip the dressing over the salad, and give it all a good stir

Serve with crusty bread if you want to make it even more of a meal

OR do as Mirka did - serve it on a platter, putting beef, potatoes and gherkins in a layer, then on goes salt and pepper, shallots, parsley and dressing over.  Continue layering till all the ingredients are used up 



Notes:


Cook the beef to your taste; I like it medium-rare, though Mirka goes for rare.  I just followed the instructions on the meat wrapper as I didn't have a clue how to cook it!

Mr P. actually micro-waved the spuds with seasoning and a bit of olive oil (and/or butter).  This is his new party trick!

after seasoning, the cute little rump goes into the oven  

ingredients gathered, my little wizard friends :-) 

waiting for its dressing

dressing ingredients

turn into this:-)

ready for mixing

dressing mixed in, and salad ready to eat   

tangy dressing over a hearty salad

Mr P. and I are not big meat eaters, having been vegetarian for a decade in our youth, but this was a deliciously hearty and tangy salad.  I may not make it again, just 'cos all that meat, but let me hasten to tell you folks, it really is a pleasure to eat.  I do recommend giving it a go.

  portrait of Mirka by James McArdle
 (Wikimedia Commons) 

(This photo is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International.)

gherkins artwork by Sherry's Pickings      

Moroccan Meatballs With Apricots

Who doesn't love a meatball?  Obviously all the vegos and vegans, but apart from them :=)  And this has fruit so it has to be good for you, don't you think?  And best of all, it's baked rather than fried.  Yippee!  Me and frying are not friends.  Or is that frying and I?  As regular readers know, I get hubby to do any necessary frying - on the back deck, and sitting on layers of newspaper!

I discovered on making this recipe that the author had been very circumspect with his flavourings.  Mr P. and I found this somewhat bland so I have upped the spices, etc for more oomph.  Maybe my tastebuds have gone on holidays, but I seem to need/like more oomph in my food these days.  Adjust according to your tastes, my friends.  

just a few meatballs!

Recipe adapted and re-written by Sherry's Pickings: original recipe - chef Rob Kelly, as written by Sharnee Rawson

Makes many:-)


ingredients:



1 cup (150g.) cooked couscous - see notes below

750g. beef or lamb mince

2 brown (or red) onions, diced

2 tbs fresh ginger, grated

1 tsp turmeric powder

3-4 tsp cummin powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbs olive oil

1/2 cup (125 mLs) chicken stock, cooled

1 cup (180g.) fresh apricots, diced - you need 3-4 large apricots

3/4 cup fresh coriander, chopped

juice of 1 lemon

1/2-1 tsp sesame seed oil

1½ cups (210g.) sesame seeds


Dressing:


1 cup (250 mLs) Greek yoghurt

1/2 tsp harissa paste or chilli paste of your choice

1 small Lebanese cucumber, finely diced

1 tsp minced ginger (optional)

1 tbs parsley, chopped

1/2 tsp sumac (optional)

1/2 tsp sea salt flakes

about a dozen grinds of black pepper

2-3 tsp lime or lemon juice



Method:


Cook the couscous as per packet instructions - usually add one cup of boiling water to one cup couscous, leave for 5 minutes then fluff up with a fork

Place all the meatball ingredients in a large mixing bowl, EXCEPT the sesame seeds

Give it a good stir, then use your hands to make large walnut-sized balls

Roll them in the sesame seeds

Bake on a lined baking tray at 190C for about 20 minutes, till cooked through

Stir the dressing ingredients together in a bowl, and serve with the meatballs

Serve with a chopped salad if desired - I used the rest of the couscous with tomato/cucumber/chickpeas/fetta and black olives



Notes:


I made up 1 cup (190g.) of uncooked couscous with 1 cup (250 mLs) boiling water = 2¾ cups cooked couscous

I zapped the onions in my wee food processor - so easy

I had a large piece of ginger, so I threw the whole lot (chopped into large chunks) into my processor, and froze the rest for later

zap or dice your onions 

couscous ready

ready for mixing and shaping

nearly finished the rolling!

dressing ready for stirring 

ready for eating

apricot artwork by Sherry's Pickings

Spicy Beef Pie

Well, I was going to make a boureg recipe, where you make a tasty filling and fold it into triangles or rolls of phyllo pastry - but I got lazy:=)  And I had a lot of stuff to do before going away, so I made a big, beef slab of a pie instead.  I made the meat filling using the recipe from Nawal Nasrallah's book (yep, I know I'm a bit obsessed with it at the moment).  And I had some phyllo in the freezer, but I just couldn't face all that buttering and rolling, so I used shortcrust and puff instead.  I added some cheese slices on top of the filling, too.

I think the first time I had boureg/burek/bourek/borek was in Zagreb (Croatia), when it was still Communist and lots of boy soldiers with big rifles were stomping around the place.  Though nowhere near as many as in Belgrade.  Yugoslavia as it then was, really opened our eyes.  We realised how amazingly safe and protected we were at home; never having to think about wars and soldiers in the streets, and secret police coming onto the trains to check out your passports.  We are damn lucky in Australia!  Anyway folks, here's the pie recipe:=)

add some veg. to your plate

Adapted from Delights From The Garden Of Eden:


ingredients:


1 tbs olive oil

500g. (1 lb) of minced beef

2 medium brown onions, finely chopped

1 tbs tomato paste

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes (optional)

1 cup (60g.) parsley, finely chopped

2 sheets of frozen pastry - shortcrust and/or puff

4 slices of vintage tasty cheddar cheese (optional)

1-2 tbs of milk for glazing the top

1-2 tbs of sesame seeds (I used furikake - Japanese seasoning) 


Method:


Heat the oil in a large skillet over a medium-high heat

Tip in the beef, spread it out in an even layer and let it sizzle away for about 5 minutes

Stir it a few times as it cooks for another 5-10 minutes

Now add the onion, give it a stir and stir regularly while it cooks for about 10-15 minutes

In goes the tomato paste, salt, pepper, allspice, cinnamon and chilli

Give it a good stir, and cook for a few minutes, stirring now and then

Take the pan off the heat, cool for a few minutes and add the parsley

Leave the mixture to cool right down

Grab a baking tray; line with baking paper or a silicone baking mat 

Place a thawed sheet of shortcrust pastry on it

Spread the meat filling in an even layer over the pastry

Plop on the cheese slices if using

Place another sheet of pastry - use shortcrust or puff - over the top

Brush with milk and sprinkle on the sesame seeds

Bake at 190C for about 30 minutes or till golden



Notes:


I used shortcrust on the bottom, and puff on the top

ingredients gathered

let the minced beef sizzle at medium-high for about 5 mins. 

stir in the parsley

spread the meat over the pastry

place the cheese slices over the meat filling 

puff pastry on top with sesame seeds

golden brown and delicious after 30 mins @190C 

serve with peas and creamy potatoes

parsley artwork by sherry's pickings

(Mr P. says it looks like a tree on the African savannah!  Hmmph!)

Mel's Moroccan Mince With Pistachio Gravel

Our friend Mel who runs the Vanilla Zulu Cooking School in our local village has started up a 12 week Cooking Challenge to help us all sexy-up our food.  Is that a word?:=)  So I am attempting to make her weekly recipe and blog it.  For 12 weeks?  Eek!  We shall see how I go.  I may not get to doing it every week, or it may end up being a quick kamikaze blog post each week. 

First up is this Moroccan mince which I decided to give a slight Mexican twist.  So here we have my Moroccan/Mexican Mince with some nutty bling on top.  Mel is very keen on foodie/gourmet bling for her cuisine.  Truthfully, I'm not much into bling - food or otherwise, but I gave it a go.  Oh, and I decided to make it into a sort of pseudo-Mexican nachos.  

tasty Moroccan mince with a Mexican twist

Serves 4-6:


ingredients:


1/2-1 tbs olive oil

800g. lean minced beef

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

1 small zucchini (about 145g.), grated or finely chopped - or use the vegetable of your choice

1 tbs ras-el-hanout spice mix

1 tsp turmeric

1 tin (400g.) tomatoes or chop up a couple of small fresh ones

2 tbs tomato paste

1 tin (400g,) chick peas, drained and rinsed

1 tsp stock powder - I used chicken but use beef or veg. if you prefer

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp lemon zest



Gravel ingredients:


30g. (=1 large handful=2 tbs) of shelled pistachios, toasted

zest of 1 lime

a few dried edible rosebuds

1-2 tbs currants or sultanas

a very big pinch, maybe 1/4 tsp smoked salt or plain sea salt

2-3 tsp lightly dried parsley


To serve:


1 packet lightly-salted corn chips

4-5 large dollops of thick Greek yoghurt

1-2 tsp lime-pressed olive oil 



Method:


Add the oil to a large skillet and heat up on high

Place your fluffed-up mince into the pan, evenly

Now let it sit!  Do not stir, do not toss it around, leave it for 10-15 minutes - thus spake Mel, and yes it works

Now throw in the onion and garlic and stir into the mince

Cook down for a few minutes on medium heat till it starts to look tender

Stir in the zucchini and cook for a few more minutes

Add the ras-el-hanout and turmeric, tomatoes and tomato paste

Now you add the chickpeas, plus the stock powder, salt, pepper and lemon zest

Let it cook away for several minutes to meld together

If using for nachos, grab a pie plate and spread corn chips over the base

Spoon on the mince mixture and then add another layer of corn chips and mince

Whack into the oven at 190C for about 20-25 mins.

Splash on the yoghurt and oil mix, and sprinkle over the bling


Notes:


If you're in a hurry, just grab your small processor and blitz the veg.

Serve with rice if you prefer

ingredients gathered

spread the mince evenly across your pan 

after 10-15 mins, add the onion and garlic

add in tomatoes and paste

zest your lemon and in it goes

ready for the bling

toast your nuts for a few minutes in a small, dry pan

now crush 'em with gusto (and a pestle)

stir the bling together

stir the lime (or lemon) olive oil into the yoghurt

throw on the bling, me hearties

This was an excellent and fairly quick mid-week dinner.  (Much faster if you don't have to photograph and blog it.)  Give it a go, folks.  Great to learn a new technique - i.e. NOT stirring the mince for the first 10 minutes.  Scary but it worked.  Let's see what next week's challenge brings:=)

Chelsea's Mince And Cheese Pie

As you may have noticed in my IMK post, I have a Kiwi cookbook by Chelsea Winter Homemade Happiness on my shelves.  I've been dying to try out some of her recipes, and here is the first: beef mince and cheese pie.  A Kiwi classic apparently, that you find everywhere.  Strangely, Mr P. and I have never noticed it on our trips to New Zealand, but next time we will be keeping a serious eye out for them.

One pie I did notice and eat in NZ was ling pie, bought from service stations if you can believe it.  Delicious!  And of course, on our wedding anniversary getaway to Tasmania last week, I had to have myself a curried scallop pie - guaranteed to have 6 scallops in each pie.  They're so tasty, but only really taste brilliant in Tasmania.  Always a good excuse to go back.  And did I mention the delicious bratwurst hot dogs down there?  But that's another story.

pie, glorious pie

Serves 6:

ingredients:

3-4 tbs olive oil

1 kg. (2.2 lb) beef mince

2 brown onions, finely chopped

2 stalks of celery, finely chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped

6 cloves of garlic, crushed or very finely chopped

2 sprigs' worth of rosemary leaves, finely chopped

1½ tbs dried oregano

1 bay leaf

1 Litre (4 cups) salt-reduced beef stock

½ cup (110g.) tomato paste

1 tbs Worcestershire sauce

1 tbs Vegemite or similar yeast spread

2 tsp mustard powder

1 tsp vinegar - I used red wine vinegar

½ tsp ground black pepper

2 tsp cornflour mixed with 2 tbs cold water  (possibly 2 extra tsp plus extra cold water may be needed to thicken it)

2 sheets of ready-made butter puff pastry - frozen is fine; but make your own if you have some time on your hands - tee hee:) 

1-2 tbs semolina (optional) - my idea

200g. cheddar cheese, sliced

1 egg whisked with 1 tbs milk or cream

1 dsp sesame seeds and 1 dsp poppy seeds (optional)



Method:


Heat up 1 tbs of olive oil in a large frypan, and tip in half the mince

Break it up and stir around for about 10 minutes till beautifully browned

Now either take the cooked mince out, and tip in the other half to brown also, OR do it in 2 frypans at once, like I did

Pour the extra oil into your frypan, now serenely emptied of mince

In go the onions, celery and carrot

Stir for about 10-15 minutes, till wonderfully soft and tender

Now add garlic, rosemary, oregano and bay leaf

Stir in for a few minutes

The browned mince now goes back into the pan

The stock, tomato paste, Worcester, Vegemite, mustard powder, vinegar and black pepper go in too

Stir in the cornflour slurry, and let it simmer away for 30-45 minutes, stirring now and then

You want it 'nice and thick' (as Chelsea says), not watery 

Check for seasoning and add some salt, pepper and chilli flakes if you fancy - and take out the bay leaf

Place the pastry over the base of a large pie dish

Sprinkle the semolina over the base, if using - I find it helps keep the base non-soggy

Spoon the filling into the pie dish, and top with the sliced cheese

Whack on the pastry top, press down hard with your fingers to crimp and seal the pie, and brush over the egg wash for a golden finish

Scatter the sesame and poppy seeds over the top, if using

Make sure you cut a steam hole in the middle of the pie, or use a ceramic pie bird

Place the pie dish on the lower shelf of your oven at 200C or 180C fan-forced

Bake for about 50 minutes till golden brown

Let it rest for a few minutes

Serve with mash or boiled spuds, and/or steamed veg.



Notes:


I blitzed the veg. in my food processor; so much quicker than chopping by hand, folks

I put a baking tray into the oven to get hot, then sat the pie dish on it during the baking time.  This helps the pastry base to cook well

You may need to add more cornflour, as I did - I ended up putting in another 2 tsp cornflour with another tbs or 2 of water

Okay, let's be honest here - it took about an hour all up to get this mixture thick and lovely.  Maybe I didn't have the oventop hot enough, or my frypan was too big for the hotplate, or ... there was just too much liquid to start with.  I don't know, but it took ages to reduce down

Tip:  Buy ready-sliced cheddar!

(some) ingredients gathered

blitz the carrot, celery and onion 

use 2 frypans at once - so much quicker  

cook up the veg. and herbs till tender   

thick and very tasty filling

sprinkle on the sesame and poppy seeds before baking 

rich and filling slice of pie

tasty, cheesy, oozy pie

my carrotty doodle