Ingredient 21 - Cumquats

Cumquats or ‘yellow orange’ in Cantonese, are small ovular shaped orange fruits with characteristics resembling a cross-match between an orange and olive. The fruit tree is native to south Asia and Asia-Pacific region.

The fruit can be eaten raw, with its outer edible rind sweet and inner flesh sour and tangy. However the fruit are most popular for their use in marmalades and jams. Another recently found benefit is that 100g of cumquat fruit only yields 71 calories, equating to at least 20 little fruit.

A roast for a lazy Sunday lunch. In memory of my old house. (Fran – I tried!)

Roasted chicken with cumquats and winter vegetables

4 thigh fillets

1 tsp minced garlic

4tbsp olive oil

½ tsp sweet paprika

2 medium onions

3 white potatoes

250g pumpkin

12 cumquats

1 orange

2 tbsp orange rind

1 ½ cup couscous

1 ½ cup hot water

½ cup almonds

2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

• Preheat oven to 180°.
• Heat garlic, sweet paprika and 2tbsp olive oil over large frypan over medium-high heat. Seal the chicken each side for 4min or until light golden in colour.
• Remove skins from onions and cut into quarters. Chop potatoes into quarters or sixths, and chop pumpkin into chunks similar in size. Basically you want large chunks of vegetables, approximately the same size.
• Place chicken fillets with thigh sides up in the dish and scatter around the vegetables. Drizzle generously with olive oil.
• Slice the cumquats into halves, remove the seeds, and mix amongst the vegetables.
• Juice the orange and pour the juice over the ingredients.
• Roast in the oven for 1hr in duration or until roasted, basting the dish in the juices every 20min.
• Chop almonds into halves and place in oven on baking tray for 4min or until hot. These cook very quickly so be careful not to burn!
• Mix the orange rind in with the water. Place couscous in a heatproof bowl and pour over the water rind mixture. Let it stand for 10min and then separate or ‘fluff’ the couscous with a fork.
• To serve mix the almonds, flat leaf parsley and couscous together before spreading out across a large serving plate. Spoon the roasted chicken and vegetables over the top and drizzle with juices from the pan.
• Serve with yoghurt and rocket. 

Ingredient 20 - Jalapeno Chillis

Jalapeno chillis are in fact a fruit, originating from the Capsicum annuum family in Mexico. They are shiny dark green, of about 4cm in length and range in flavour from medium to extremely hot.

Chillis can be purchased fresh, or sourced as the ‘pickled bottled version’ as used in this recipe. They are very popular in this preserved form as it retains their crunchy crisp texture.

Yum!

Roasted tomato, capsicum and jalapeno relish with lime chicken burritos

Relish makes 1 large bowl

Relish

2 red capsicums

½ cup jalapeno chillis (Ol El Paso bottle brand)

1 punnet grape tomatoes

1 red onion

3 tbsp olive oil

• Preheat fan forced grill. Slice the capsicums in half and remove the stem and seeds. Place on a baking tray and grill until the skin is charred and blistered.
• Place capsicums in a plastic bag, seal, and leave to cool for 15 minutes. The skins now should literally fall off as you peel them. Discard skins and slice capsicum into long skinny pieces.
• Preheat oven to 150°. Halve the grape tomatoes and place on baking tray. Drain and rinse the jalapeno chillis and add them to then tray. Sprinkle with 1tbsp olive oil and roast for 20min.
• Thinly slice the red onion. Heat 2tbsp olive oil in medium saucepan over low heat. Sweat the onions for 20min until pale and soft. Add the tomatoes, jalapeno chillis and capsicum and gently mush down the ingredients. Add 2 tbsp hot water and let ingredients simmer gently for 10min. The relish should have a lumpy consistency that isn’t too moist.
• Remove from heat and serve the relish either hot or cold with the burritos. 

Wraps

2 large chicken breasts

1 tbsp olive oil

juice of 1 lime

1 tbsp minced garlic

small container natural yoghurt

burrito wraps

1 avocado

• Slice the chicken breasts into thin strips. Heat olive oil in a frypan over medium heat. Add the garlic, lime juice and sliced chicken breast. Fry until cooked.
• Half the avocado, remove skin and slice thinly.
• Create the Mexican feast by layering the warmed tortilla with spinach leaves, jalapeno relish, lime chicken pieces, sliced avocado and a dollop of yoghurt.

Ingredient 19 - Ginger biscuits

Dessert has never been my forte, so the following is definitely an edible recipe however may not be up to scratch of your previous cheesecakes!

The ginger biscuits give the base a nice flavour and complement the banana well.

These will soften quite quickly at room temperature, north Queensland ‘winter’ room temperature mind you, so eat almost immediately!

Banana and Ginger based cheesecakes

Makes 10 mini cheesecakes

12 ginger biscuits

50g butter

1 egg yolk

2 over-ripe bananas

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp gelatin dissolved in 2tbsp hot water

50g caster sugar

250g light cream cheese

1/3 cup light sour cream

• Preheat oven to 160. Grease muffin tray (recipe makes 10muffin sized cakes).
• In a blender crush the ginger biscuits, or alternatively seal the biscuits in a double layered plastic bag and repetitively crush against the bench.
• Melt 50g butter in microwave.  Stir the butter and egg yolk into the crushed biscuits until the mixture comes together nicely.
• Place a good spoonful of mixture into each of the bases and press down firmly. Cook the bases in oven for 8-10min, or until the butter is bubbly. These will cool firm so please do not overcook!
• Roughly chop the banana into a bowl. Heat the remaining butter and brown sugar gently over low heat in a saucepan. Add the banana and stir for 5-10min until banana is well coated in sugar and caramelized in colour.
• Remove the banana mixture from heat and let it cool completely.
• Place the sugar, cream cheese and sour cream in a large mixing bowl. Stir through the banana mixture and gelatin. Spoon into the muffin moulds, smooth the tops and place in refrigerator overnight to set.

Ingredient 18 - Fresh Lasagna Sheets

Lasagna sheets come in both fresh and dried forms. From my quality internet research it seems that there isn’t any outstanding differences between the two.

Fresh is favored for its convenience, with no cooking required prior to assembly of the lasagna dish. The sheets are also much easier to trim and fit the cooking dish. One criticism is that on occasion the sheets can become quite soggy; however this suits this dish perfectly as there isn’t a lot of fluid to soak up.

I actually will admit I have never cooked lasagna in fact. I will blame my mothers talent with vegetarian lasagna!

A perfect dinner for a female mid-week gossip session!

Lentil and Smashed Pumpkin Lasagna

1 tin brown lentils

1 brown onion

2 cans chopped tomatoes

1 cup vegetable stock

1 cinnamon stick

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp chilli flakes

½ tsp minced garlic

½ butternut pumpkin

2 tbsp olive oil

500g low fat ricotta cheese

150g feta

Small bunch basil

Fresh lasagna sheets

• Preheat oven to 160°.
• Finely dice the onion. Chop pumpkin into bite sized pieces.
• Heat 1tbsp olive oil in a deep fry pan over medium heat and gently sauté the onions until soft. Add the lentils and spices and sauté for further 5 minutes or until spices become fragrant. Add the tomatoes and stock and bring to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30min or until most of liquid has absorbed. Remove the cinnamon stick and season well.
• Place pumpkin on a baking tray, pour over 1tbsp olive oil and roast in oven for 30minutes or until soft. Roughly mash the pumpkin with a fork on the tray so you get a mixture of mash and pieces.
• Mix the ricotta and 100g of feta together in a bowl.
• Grease lightly a rectangular lasagna dish with a little olive oil. Spoon half the lentil mixture over the base, dollop with ricotta mixture on top and top with a single lasagna sheet. Arrange the smashed pumpkin over next layer, sprinkle with half the basil, as well as more dollops of ricotta, and then top with another lasagna sheet. Finally spoon the remaining lentil mixture and dollops of ricotta on top, sprinkle with remaining crumbed feta and basil.
• Bake in oven for 30min or until lasagna sheets are tender and cooked.

Ingredient 17 - Watercress

Watercress is one of the oldest known leaf vegetables to the human diet.

They provide great nutritional benefit, rich in iron, calcium and folic acid. Watercress was also described in herbal history as being the spring-cleaning herb for purifying the blood and toning one’s body. This is due to the leaves stimulating effect on the digestive juices within the body, which is why there is caution out there to not over-consume!

A quick recipe for midweek dinner.

Smoked salmon, watercress and roasted almond pasta

Serves 4

180g smoked salmon

1 bag of watercress (120g)

1 red onion

2 limes

¼ cup slivered almonds

350g dried penne or rigatoni

1 tbsp olive oil

½ tsp minced garlic

• Bring a large saucepan of salted water to boil. Cook the pasta following packet directions, until al dente. Drain well.
• Remove watercress leaves from stalks and roughly chop. Finely slice the red onion into thin rings. Mix together the onion and watercress in a bowl with the juice of 2 limes.
• Heat a fry pan over medium-high heat. Dry roast the slivered almonds until golden brown. Remove and set aside.
• Roughly tear the smoked salmon into bite size pieces.
• Place the pasta, watercress mixture and salmon in a large serving bowl and combine well. Serve with additional lime wedges and pepper.

Ingredient 15 & 16 - Nannygai Fish & Green Peppercorns

Green peppercorns were the ingredient this week, however on receiving a freshly caught Easter gift from some very generous Innisfail friends Nannygai fish found its way into this weeks recipe.

Green peppercorns are simply unripe peppercorn berries, described as having a fresher and milder flavour than black peppercorns. They are available as either preserved in brine, water packed or freeze-dried.

Nannygai fish are a reef fish that occupy the waters from Queensland to West Australia. They are relatively small fish, reaching a length of 20-25cm at maturity, and have pinkish fins and red tails. Hence Nannygai are commonly called ‘redfish’ and are popular for their delicate firm mild taste.

A big thankyou to the fishermen!

Pan-fried Nannygai, Potatoes, Leeks and Asparagus with a Green Peppercorn dressing

Serves 3

3 portions Nannygai fillet

4 white potatoes

1 leek

1 bunch asparagus

1 tsp lemon rind

1 tsp green peppercorns

2 tsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 ½ tbsp light olive oil

Juice from 1 lemon

1 tsp honey

Extra olive oil

• Preheat oven to 180°.
• Slice potatoes lengthways into pieces around 2cm in width. Place the potatoes on roasting tray, drizzle generously with olive oil and roast in oven for 20min or until cooked.
• Trim ends of asparagus and then chop in half. Chop off the green part of the leeks and discard, then slice the leek into thin strips approximately the width of the asparagus stems.
• Whisk together the crushed green peppercorns, red wine vinegar, mustard, honey, lemon juice and olive oil in a bowl.
• Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large frypan over medium-high heat. Panfry the fish fillets each side for 2min until browned. Place in preheated oven and cook for a further 10min or until cooked.
• Using the same frypan heat another 2 tbsp olive oil with lemon rind over medium heat. Sauté the leeks for 10min or until soft, add the asparagus and 1 generous tbsp of dressing and sauté for further 5minutes.
• To serve place the potatoes on a plate, top with leek and asparagus, place the fish on top and spoon over the dressing. Serve with lemon wedges.

Ingredient 14 - Date olives

The first olive tree was recorded in Egypt 1700 years before Christ. The only difference between green and black olives is ripeness –green are unripe, black are ripe. There are endless varieties of olives, from the Picholine olive to the Date olive.

My curiosity got the better of me when I came across this type at the local delicatessen. Substitute whatever your favourite type is into the recipe.

This recipe can be served up as finger food, makes a lovely light dinner with salad or with poached eggs for breakfast.

Enjoy!

Date olive and Pinenut Polenta with Sweet Chilli Jam

Polenta

1 cup polenta

2 ½ cups water

2 cubes vegetable stock

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

1 tbsp olive oil

140g date olives

¼ cup pinenuts

2 tbsp chopped basil

• Remove seeds from olives and chop roughly.
• Heat olive oil in frypan over medium heat. Saute olives and pinenuts together for 10minutes. Stir through chopped basil.
• Bring to boil water and stock cubes in large saucepan. Pour in the polenta slowly, stirring continuously. Remove from heat. Stir through the olive mixture and cheese, and pour immediately into dish.
• Let the polenta set for approx. 20min or until firm and then slice into rectangles.
• Place pieces under the preheated grill until the tops are browned.
• Serve immediately with sweet chilli jam.

Jam

3 very ripe tomatoes

½ red onion

2 tbsp olive oil

1 long red chilli

2 tbsp brown sugar

• Slice onions into fine rings and roughly chop tomatoes and chilli.
• Heat olive oil over medium-low heat in saucepan. Saute the onions until soft.
• Add tomatoes and chilli and bring to a simmer, using a wooden spoon to mush the tomatoes as they soften.
• Once mushy add the sugar and continue to simmer for 30-40min, stirring occasionally, until all the fluid has evaporated and it has the jam consistency.