So, Miss B. is on a three-week gluten-free diet. But before I go on, I digress by saying, the blender blew up. There was a really loud POP! and the only way I knew it wasn’t the bacon fat sizzling was the gradual smoke snaking from the blender. I hope my FIL isn’t too attached to it.

As I was saying, Miss B. is on a gluten-free diet and I thought it’d be easier if everyone went on the same diet. Mainly, because I am way too lazy to cook two separate meals, and really, gluten-free is the easiest thing to cater for. Next to vegetarian. Give me vegan or dairy-free, I’ll probably throw in the towel.

The first thing I did was to type into Google, ‘What is gluten-free?‘ Easy. It’s basically, what I think is, an Asian diet – more rice, no wheat. Fundamentally, the same. Then I find out that there are LOTS of things that contains wheat. Bread, cookies, pizza, pasta, flour…. So, last week, our shopping list got a little longer (and a little more expensive).

I have to say, though, that I’m enjoying this challenge very much. So far I’ve made steak with sweet potato chips; zucchini, pumpkin and feta fritata; Thai style pork mince & rice noodle stir-fry; and paella. I’ve even improvised with a gluten-free ginger cake recipe which is super yummy. This gluten-free thing has lead me to find new recipes that I wouldn’t have tried otherwise.

Anyway, got to share this one – it’s definitely a thumbs up – easy, tasty and ready to eat within an hour. What’s not to love?

Ricotta & Rocket Gnocchi in Tomato Sauce & Bacon
(adapted from Coles Gluten-Free Recipes)

Ingredients:

Gnocchi:

• 750 g fresh ricotta cheese
• 1 cup rocket, chopped
• 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese finely, grated
• 1 cup gluten free flour, sifted
• 3 large eggs
• extra sifted gluten free flour (coating)
• a pinch of salt and ground black pepper

Sauce:

• 10 black olives, pitted
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup of rocket leaves
• 400g can of chopped tomatoes
• 3 rashes of bacon, sliced (Note: Omit bacon for a vegetarian version)
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Mix ricotta, rocket, Parmesan cheese, eggs and flour together with ½ teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper.
2. Once everything is well combined, scoop a ball of gnocchi mixture – around a tablespoon size – and roll into oval shapes and place on a large plate dusted with a little more flour to prevent sticking.
3. Cook a few at a time in a large pan of boiling water for 2 minutes, or until they float to the surface. Remove with a slotted spoon.
4. For sauce, throw garlic cloves, canned tomatoes, olives and rocket leaves into a blender. Blend well. (At this point, I don’t recommend the blender to blow up)
5. Heat olive oil in a medium pan, fry bacon until brown and then, add sauce.
6. Simmer sauce for 10 minutes or until thickened. Season and gently toss with gnocchi.
7. Serve with a sprinkle of parsley and Parmesan cheese.

One of the things I’d discovered in Italy was that great food is often made with very few ingredients. The fresher, obviously, the better and less was, in fact, enough. In this recipe there are four main ingredients – cherry tomatoes, bacon, mushroom and garlic. Cherry tomatoes to sweeten the sauce, bacon to add saltiness, mushroom for an added meatiness to the dish and garlic to bind all of it together with its spellbinding aroma. A bit of herb helps too, just to lift the flavours a little – and either coriander or basil does the trick.

Spaghetti with Bacon & Cherry Tomato ( serves 4 )
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Ingredients:

• 500g cherry tomatoes, halved (you can mix and match the variety to get the best of flavours)
• 5 slices of bacon, cut into 1cm slices
• 6 fresh mushrooms, sliced thickly (of any sorts, admittedly, I’m a little of a mushroom fanatic)
• 4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 small chilli, de-seeded, sliced (optional)
• a knob of butter
• 200g spaghetti, cooked in salted water
• 1 tablespoon of chopped herbs e.g. basil or coriander

Method:

1. Heat a frying pan with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Fry bacon until brown and crispy, set aside.
2. Reserve one tablespoon of bacon oil in the pan, then add cherry tomatoes. Cook over medium-high heat for 4 – 5 minutes.
3. Add mushrooms, chilli, butter and garlic. Cook for another 4-5 minutes or until mushrooms are cooked.
4. At the last minute, add the fried bacon. Salt and pepper to taste.
5. Toss well with cooked spaghetti, sprinkle fresh herbs and serve immediately.

Hooray! I get to use my new swanky Svenskt Tenn place mat. I have been in love with Svenskt Tenn since I interviewed them for an article back in 2008. Everything is so marvelously stylish at Svenskt Tenn and, of course, as all brilliant things do, they come with a generous price tag. I have come to terms that quality and style are occasionally worth investing in. Gone are those uni days where only the cheapest are thrown into the basket. Yes, live beneath our means and have a practical budget but, once in a while, let’s spoil ourselves with a little beauty.  Aren’t we worth that? Of course, we are!

This is my first attempt at making cannelloni, which means it was a little fiddly to stuff. At first, I’d used a disposable piping bag and that was… just ridiculously messy. So I resorted to using a small teaspoon and some gentle prodding with a finger and that worked pretty well. The recipe is really easy and I reckon you can also use the same ricotta stuffing for a vegetarian lasagna. I bet it’ll taste just as yum.

I was going to make my own ricotta after spying a recipe in this month’s Donna Hay but I wasn’t feeling particularly ambitious today. That’s for next time! On my to-cook list is pumpkin and ricotta ravioli so perhaps, I shall attempt it then.

Eggplant & Mushroom Cannelloni ( serves 6-8 )
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Ingredients:

• 1 medium-sized eggplant, cut into small cubes
• 6 – 7 Swiss Brown mushrooms, cut into small cubes
• 200g baby spinach leaves, rinsed
• 350g  low-fat ricotta
• 1 egg
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• 600g pasta sauce
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 50g butter, cubed
• 200g instant oven-ready cannelloni tubes
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

Method:

1. Heat up the olive oil in a non-stick pan. Add eggplant, mushrooms and butter. Cook for 4 – 5 minutes over medium heat or until eggplant and mushrooms are fairly soft.
2. Add spinach and ground nutmeg, then season with salt and pepper. Cook until spinach leaves have wilted. Set aside to cool.
3. In a big mixing bowl, combine eggplant-mushroom mixture with ricotta and egg. Crumble the ricotta with your fingers.
4. Using a small teaspoon, slowly fill the cannelloni tubes. Make sure the whole tube is filled with ricotta mix.
5. In a pan, heat the pasta sauce (Alternatively, you can use canned tomatoes. Purée the tomatoes, add fresh basil and season well with salt and pepper) until boiling. Remove from heat.
6. Preheat the oven at 200°C. Ladle half the sauce in a dish and then place a layer of the filled cannelloni tubes. Pour the remaining sauce over the cannelloni and sprinkle grated cheese. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until the pasta is cooked.

Remember I had some leftover cream cheese? Well, I figured another way to use it. Pasta baby!

I have to admit that the idea of using cream cheese instead of regular parmesan came from a TV advertisement. But hey, whatever works right? It’s a really simple recipe for a weekday dinner. Easy to make in 30 minutes, even less. Penne with broccoli is apparently a classic southern Italian dish — a recipe that I found on Sydney Morning Herald’s site. I saw how I could work it with the stuff I had in the fridge and liked it. Win!

P.S.: Can you believe it’s almost June? Wowzers! Where did the year go? It’s going by way too fast!

Broccoli Pasta with Bacon & Shrimps (serves 4)
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Ingredients:

• 300g linguine
• 1 head of broccoli, broken up into smallish florets
• Few tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 80g bacon
• 150g prawns, de-shelled
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
• 3 tbsp low-fat cream cheese

Method:

1. Cook pasta in plenty of boiling salted water.
2. When half-cooked, add the broccoli.
3. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat, add some of the oil and cook bacon until crispy.
4. Add the prawns, garlic and chilli, cook until lightly golden.
5. Drain pasta and broccoli (reserve a cup of pasta water) – the broccoli should be soft and broken up – and add to the pan of garlic, prawn and bacon.
6. Cook for a few minutes, add a couple of tablespoons of the pasta water, toss and add a touch more pepper, salt and oil.
7. Turn off the heat and stir in cream cheese and serve. Nyoms.

This food blog is deprived of food. Sorry! Here’s a quick and easy dinner I made tonight and it was delicious. I know, I know, what it lacks in photo mojo, it made up in taste. I have three tubs of unused low-fat cream cheese lying in my refrigerator that I’m dying to use up before the expiry date. Mr. G sent me a link on healthy snacks that inspired me to make this impromptu dinner.

Caramelized Onions with Chorizo & Mushrooms on Low-Fat Cream Cheese Puff Pastry
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Take the puff pastry out of the freezer and leave it to thaw on a baking tray for 15 minutes. Take one onion and slice finely. Drizzle some olive oil  in a stainless steel frying pan and caramelize onion. Remove from pan and then stir fry about six sliced mushrooms (of your choice) until tender. Remove mushrooms and replace with thinly sliced zucchinis. Cook until slightly brown and then remove and set aside. Finally, cook chorizo slices in the pan until slightly brown and crispy. Spread about three teaspoons of low-fat cream cheese on each puff pastry square, then add caramelized onions, mushrooms, zucchini and finally the chorizo before putting into the oven under 180C for 20 – 30 minutes, or until pastry is puffed and cooked. Enjoy!

Note: You could leave the chorizo out as a vegetarian option.

There’s this little craze going on in Australia now about quinoa. Every now and then, there’s a new ingredient that everyone’s curious about – a fruit, a vegetable, a grain. I guess that’s what I love about living here (well, now that I’m in Sweden, I have to say, ‘there’). There’s always some great, big experimentation going on and we become very excited about it. It’s a nice feeling.

I was reading The Age online and quinoa happened to be on one of the topics of interest. So, I did as anyone would do — buy some quinoa. How does one cook it? Well, good ol’ Google came up with a few options for me. Did you know that you could coat something, like, chicken with quinoa as a substitute of breadcrumbs? I know! Crunchy, right?

Eventually, I found a recipe I liked: Quinoa Sweet Potato Tagine and made it into my own. First attempt and Mr. G and I absolutely loved it! I can’t believe that there’s actually something in this world that can be delicious as well as healthy.

Quinoa with Tuna & Potato Tagine (serves 4)
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Ingredients:

• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 potato, peeled and cubed into 1cm pieces
• 200g canned tuna, drained
• ½ zucchini, cubed
• 1 carrot, cubed
• 170g can of corn
• a bunch of baby spinach
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Spiced quinoa:

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cup (500ml) water
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• ½ onion, sliced
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. Heat a large heavy-based saucepan over medium heat and put in the olive oil, cook the onions until slightly caramelized then add the garlic, salt and cumin.
2. Stir for 1 – 2 minutes or until aromatic, add quinoa and water. Leave to cook for about 10 minutes or until quinoa completely absorbs liquid. Set aside.
3. In a non-stick pan, heat up olive oil, add potato and cook for 4 – 5 minutes or until potato is brown and cooked through.
4. Add garlic and ground cumin, cook until fragrant.
5. Add carrots and cook for 2 minutes.
6. Then stir in the zucchini, corn and tuna. Simmer for 1 – 2 minutes and season to taste.
7. Finally, stir in the quinoa and spinach. Mix thoroughly and serve with a wedge of lemon.

Enjoy!

xoxo,
Mabs

Last night G. and I had Korean with friends – Hippy Girl, Medicine Boy (her husband) and Upcoming CEO. I hadn’t seen Hippy Girl and her husband for some time and so it was great to catch up with them after they had just spent a month in Europe.

One of the highlights of their trip was in Rome when they were at a segway park and spotted an amorous couple. They were, like, displaying full-on ‘affection’ in public. And at one point the guy lifted up the girl’s skirt and started spanking her bum. In Malaysia, people get jailed for just holding hands!

We were hooting with laughter and G. and I were especially amused by Hippy Girl’s observation. She even described the panties (red ones with white lace). We were easily a rowdy(iest) bunch at the restaurant because we were sent the bill twice (Time to Go people!).

G. and I have yet to go for our honeymoon and we were thinking of Italy. Not to spy on couples who make-out on park benches but to sample authentic Italian food. I wonder what sort of adventures we’ll be getting!

Fava (Broad bean) Crostini (Serves 4)
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From La Tavola Marche
Ingredients:

• 1 cup of double shelled (outer pod & inner shell removed) fresh fava or broad bean
• couple glugs of olive oil
• garlic clove, skinned, whole
• squeeze of lemon
• shaved parmesan
• salt & pepper
• baguette or crusty bread, sliced & toasted

Method:

1. Throw the fava in a pan and cover with water and salt.
2. Bring to a boil & lower to a simmer. Cook a couple of minutes until the fava are tender. Drain.
3. Return the pan to the heat. Pour in a couple glugs of olive oil and the garlic clove. Fry the garlic until browned. Then discard garlic.
4. Toss the fava into the pan & sautee for a minute or two. Then begin mashing with the back of a wooden spoon until you form a paste. If you need to add a bit of water, do so.
5. Remove fava paste from heat & season with salt & pepper add a squeeze of lemon.
6. Toast slices of good bread & rub warm fava mixture & top with shaved parmesan. You can drizzle a little really good quality extra virgin olive oil as well if you like.

I must have gained at least 5 kgs since moving in with G’s family. Maybe even more. It’s depressing. Thinking about weight all the time. And it’s even more depressing not being able to fit in my clothes.

I have already given most of my smaller fitting clothes to the SIL (sister-in-law) who is a skinny, attractive, soon-to-be-21-year-old. Sigh, to be in a 21-year-old body again. I don’t know what I was thinking when I thought I was fat back then. That’s  just crazy talk.

But it comes as no surprise. I didn’t bake cakes or pies or cookies back then. And I certainly didn’t have Sunday roast regularly. My uni-day diet mainly consisted of mee goreng, more vegetables and less meat, and exercise was dancing starting from Thursday nights. Present day, I try to squeeze in as much movement as possible, like, 12km walks twice or thrice a week but all the same, my butt ain’t shrinking.

Food at G’s home never runs out. We are constantly spoiled, not just with my cooking, but also G’s dad’s. He’s the gourmet one. My FIL (father-in-law)’s lasagna is to die for. And then there’s his minestrone soup… yummmm. Just last night he made lamb shanks (pictured) for the first time. And it was A.W.E.S.O.M.E. I only have to look into the fridge to understand why I’m packing on the kilos.

Red Wine and Herb Lamb Shanks ( serves 8 )
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from Donna Hay magazine issue #51

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsps olive oil
• 8 x 250g lamb shanks
• 2 leeks, trimmed and sliced
• 1 brown onion, sliced
• 6 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsps plain flour
• 6 sprigs each thyme and oregano
• 2 cups (500ml) red wine
• 1 litre (4 cups) beef stock

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan oven high heat.
3. Cook the shanks in batches, for 1 – 2 minutes each side or until browned.
4. Remove from pan and place in a baking dish. Set aside.
5. Add leeks, onion, garlic, thyme and oregano to the pan and cook for 2 -3 minutes. Add the flour and cook for 1 -2 minutes.
6. Add the wine and stock and bring to boil. Pour over shanks, cover and roast for 2 ½ hours, turning every 30 minutes.
7. Serve with polenta or mash.

Note: To freeze, shred the meat. discarding the bones. Return meat to pan and combine with sauce.

I know, I know, some of you cringe at the word ‘liver’. It is a love or hate relationship. And in this case, I am a lover. I’ve never been a pale lily with offals. Having brought up by frugal (Chinese) parents, we ate almost every part of an animal and even when my brother and sister turned their noses away from offals, I delighted in them; intestines, stomach, fish head, eyeballs and brains, trottles, brisket, chicken feet etc. (Though heart or lungs aren’t quite my type of tea, I never say no if it’s cooked interesting enough.)

Chicken liver parfait is basically a silky smooth pâte. The one thing I have come to realize about cooking is that, you appreciate and admire the people who make food every day for a living. We don’t realize how much effort goes into making a meal, let alone, a dish. As easy it is to make pâte, it is a disgustingly messy process. Eating liver is one thing but having to blend liver? Urrrghhhh…. And push it through a sieve. EWW!!!

Not a pretty sight but thank God it tasted incredible.

I will never, ever, eat pâte in vain again. Only with admiration and gratitude.

Chicken Liver Parfait (serves 6)
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(adapted from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie Kitchen)

Ingredients:

• 400g softened butter
• olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 455g chicken livers, trimmed
• 5 tbsp brandy
• fresh sage leaves

Method:

1. Put 150g of butter in a bowl and melt slowly in the oven at 110°C until it has separated. Strain off the yellow clarified butter into another bowl and set aside. Throw away the milky liquid.
2. Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and slowly fry the onion and garlic until soft and tender, then set aside.
3. Wipe the pan clean and add some olive oil again to cook the liver. Cook the liver in one layer until lightly coloured but still a little pink in the middle. Overcook liver will become grainy rather than having that smooth texture you want.
4. Pour in the brandy (but watch your hair!). Simmer for a minute, then take the livers off the heat and tip into a food processor along with the onion and garlic.
5. Blitz into a smooth purée. Add the remaining butter and continue to blitz. Season the mixture. Then push it through a sieve once (I couldn’t bear to do it twice as Jamie said. Too gross.) and divide into serving bowls.
6. Fry the sage leaves in a little hot oil until crisp and drain on kitchen paper.
7. Sprinkle over the parfaits. Spoon the clarified butter over the sage leaves.
8. Leave the parfaits to set in the fridge for an hour but the flavours will develop over a couple of days.

Note: They will keep for at least 2 weeks if the butter seal is not disturbed and kept airtight.

This is not for vegetarians nor for the faint-hearted or dieters for that matter. This post oozes of meat.

I have never eaten meatloaf in my life. Throughout my childhood, I have always read it in Archie comics or American novels; whenever it made an appearance, it seem to be either met with disdain or enthusiasm. I never knew what to make out of it.

One day, G’s uncle was coming over for dinner. I searched through my Donna Hay magazines to look for an appropriate meal to make and voilà, meat loaf jumped from the page!

It was a DH night, as everything else I made came from Issue #45 Jun/Jul 2009. The barbecue-glazed meat loaf was served with brussels sprout and potato gratin and citrus delicious pudding. Dinner was just as Donna promised ‘special made simple‘.

Barbecue-glazed Meatloaf (serves 4)
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(adapted from Donna Hay magazine)

Ingredients:

• 500g beef mince
• 500g sausage mince
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 small brown onion, finely chopped
• 2 tbsps chopped oregano leaves
• 1 tsp sweet paprika*
• 1 tsp cumin*
• 1/4 cup (60ml) barbecue sauce
• 2 tbsps Worcestershire sauce
• sea salt and cracked black pepper
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 4 rashers bacon, rind removed

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (355°F).
2. Place beef, sausage mince, garlic, onion, oregano, paprika, cumin, 1 tablespoon of barbecue and Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper, and egg in a bowl and mix well to combine.
3. Line a 9cm X 19cm lightly greased loaf tin with bacon.
4. Press beef mixture into tin and fold over bacon to enclose.
5. Combine the remaining barbecue and Worcestershire sauce and brush half over the meatloaf.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, brush with remaining barbecue sauce mixture and bake for a further 30 minutes or until cooked through.
7. Allow to rest in the tin for 15 minutes before slicing.
8. Serve with tomato chutney.

Note: *DH asks for 2 teaspoons of smoked paprika but I didn’t have any so I substituted it with sweet paprika and cumin.