Creamed Spinach Pâté

From Vegetarian Cooking, The Australian Women’s Weekly Home Library, ACP Publishing, 1992.

I saw English spinach in the greengrocer’s and bought a bunch on the spur of the moment. Then I set out to look for what to do with it

After it was all washed, I cut all of the leaf ends off the root section and cut them roughly into pieces. These went into a saucepan with a very small amount of water and ½ vegetable stock cube. I grated fresh nutmeg on top and then turned up the heat under the saucepan to bring it all to the boil. The heat was then reduced to a simmer and the spinach cooked for about 20 minutes until all the moisture had evaporated.

While the spinach was cooking I chopped ½ onion and one garlic clove. These were sautéed in butter until soft.

Now I took ½ teaspoon cornflour and a teaspoon of water, mixed them together and stirred them into the spinach until it had thickened. The heat was turned off and the onion mix went in with about 2 tablespoons cream. The mixture now went into the blender and was pureed. It was spooned into a ramekin and placed in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

I served it on toasted sourdough bread. It had a strong savoury taste somewhat different from the spinachy flavour I had expected. This was due no doubt to the use of the stock cube. A useful and different dip-type dish.

Two days later I was making a fettucini dish with peas and green beans and wanted a pesto to go with it. I took the remainder of the pâté, added a little olive oil with some basil and gave it a burst in the blender. It made a very useful pesto.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Hearty Winter-Vegetable Soup with Couscous

From Meals in Minutes: Vegetarian, The Australian Women’s Weekly, ACP Publishing, 2001.

I was in one of those too-lazy-to-cook moods where soup seemed to be the thing that would satisfy.

I chopped an onion and while it was cooking on a low heat I prepared the other ingredients. Two celery sticks were chopped as fine as I could and tipped in with the onions. I then added a chopped garlic clove and a teaspoon of paprika. These were all stirred and the cooking continued on low to soften the onion while the other vegetables were chopped: a parsnip, a potato and a carrot.

The chopped vegetables all went into the saucepan with about a cup of stock that I had left over. I then added water to about what seemed the best amount. I also added a vegetable stock cube. The soup was now simmered for about 15 minutes until all was cooked. It was tasted and salt and freshly ground black pepper added. 

Just before serving ¼ cup couscous was added with a couple of tablespoons od chopped parsley. It was given a couple of minutes for the couscous to cook and then dished up on serving plates.

This reminded me strongly of the soups that my grandmother used to make—minus the couscous, of course. Her soups usually included barley. With a salad this did the trick for my lazy mood.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔✔ 

Cheese and Chive Soufflé

From Dinner Party Cookbook, The Australian Women’s Weekly, ACP Publishing, undated.

I seem to be going through a soufflé-making phase. One made last week and now another this week. This time it was to be individual ones whereas the last one was a shared one.

To begin I melted 65g butter in a saucepan, then took it off the heat to add ¼ cup plain flour with salt and pepper. One it was well mixed it was returned to the heat and ½ cup milk added all at once. It was stirred until it had thickened. Now, off the heat, 45g grated cheddar cheese was added with about a tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese. Once these had melted and the mixture had cooled 2 beaten egg yolks were stirred in and then a little under 2 tablespoons chopped chives. Now two egg whites were beaten until soft peaks had begun to form. The whites were folded in and the mixture went into buttered ramekins, then into a 180ºC oven to cook for about half an hour.

As the oven was heating up I made some celery croutes. Two slices of bread were de-crusted and cut into batons. These were brushed with melted butter and celery seeds sprinkled on. They went into the oven to become crisp.

Cheesy soufflés are so good to eat and these went so well with their gentle oniony flavour from the chives. Crunchy celery flavoured croutons were a good accompaniment.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Warm Beetroot and Macadamia Salad

From Vegetarian Stir-Fries, The Australian Women’s Weekly, ACP Publishing, 2002.

A beetroot salad will always get my attention.

For this one I boiled the beetroot until they were done and left them in the pot of hot water while I prepared the remainder of the dish.

I sliced a leek finely. A good tablespoon of ghee was heated in a pan and the leek was added together with a handful of macadamias. These were stir-fried until the leeks were done and the macadamias had browned a little.

Now the beetroot were peeled and cut into quarters. They were added to the pan with a chopped garlic clove, ¼ cup raspberry vinegar (always good with beetroot) and about ¼ cup olive oil. These were stir-fried until heated. The heat was turned off and a handful of rocket leaves and a handful of baby spinach leaves were tossed through until they had wilted a little. The salad was now served.

There was meant to be goat cheese sprinkled over the salad but in my haste to have everything ready for dinner I forgot. It would have been a little better had I not neglected to add this but it was still a very acceptable dish. The sweetness of the beetroot went well with the bitter leaves and the crunch of the macadamias. The wonderful savoury flavour of the leek accompanied it all.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Hokkien Noddles with Cashews and Vegetables

From Vegetarian Stir-Fries, The Australian Women’s Weekly, ACP Publishing, 2002.

I never seem able to master Asian stir-fries—well not to my satisfaction anyway.

For this dish I put the hokkien noodles in a bowl and poured over hot water. I gave them a rinse, separated the noodles, and then drained them.

In another bowl I placed firm tofu cut into cubes and added a mixture of ½ cup hoisin sauce and 1/3 cup light soy sauce. I left them to marinate while the rest of the dish was prepared.

I heated some oil in a wok and stir-fried some cashew nuts until they had lightly browned. They were then removed from the wok and placed aside.

I now cut up all of the vegetables: one onion diced, 2 garlic cloves crushed, 1 green and 1 red capsicum sliced, some snow peas topped and tailed, and a quantity of spinach leaves washed and drained. The onion and garlic went into the pan until the onion softened then the capsicums and peas were added. These were fried a little longer until they had begun to soften then the noodles went in, the spinach, a handful of bean sprouts, the cashews and the tofu with its sauce. These were gently stir-fried until the spinach had wilted and everything had warmed up.

With such a good mix of vegetables and plenty of sauce I was surprised that this did not work totally.  I found it somewhat bland and missing an extra kick to make it work. It was all right but not what I was seeking.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔