Posts Tagged ‘vegetarian’
Sweet and Spicy Tempeh
May 11, 2021 | 
Author With the temperatures starting to fall, it’s time to warm up by adding some spice to your life! This tasty dish is a winner in our Indonesian Banquet Cooking Class, and is as nutritious as it is delicious. If you’re not familiar with Tempeh, it is a traditional Indonesian product made from fermented soybeans. It has a nutty flavour and is packed with protein, fibre, vitamins and probiotic benefits. Tempeh is a terrific meat substitute if you’re trying to reduce your animal protein (like I am), and can be found in the vegetarian refrigerated section of most supermarkets. Serve this dish with steamed jasmine rice.
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Moroccan Carrot Salad
Who doesn’t love flavourful Moroccan food? This delicious salad, ever-popular at our Moroccan Magic Cooking Class, is a great choice for your next barbecue or picnic. Like all my recipes, it has a high wow-factor and is low effort, and it can be made a day ahead of time, making it perfect for entertaining. You can serve the salad either warm, at room temperature or straight from the fridge.
Grilled Haloumi with a Lime & Caper Dressing
With Spring in the air and the temperatures warming up, it’s time to dust off your barbecue and get into some outdoor cooking – and this simple yet impressive dish is the perfect place to start. Haloumi is a slightly salty cheese that originates from Cyprus and is excellent grilled as it maintains is shape when heated (and in fact is best eaten cooked). It has a beautiful flavour and texture, and goes particularly well with this Lime and Caper Dressing which cuts through the saltiness. Always a winner at our Gourmet Aussie Barbecue Cooking Class, this dish can be served as an entree or as a meat-free main. My recommended wine pairing is a chilled glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
Ingredients (serves 6-8 as an entree or 4 as a main course):
2 x 250g blocks haloumi cheese
A little olive oil for brushing
150g baby rocket leaves
Lime caper dressing
1 lime, zested 2 tablespoons juice measured
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon baby capers, drained
1 small clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoons finely chopped chives
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Method:
1. Preheat a barbecue to medium-high heat direct grilling.
2. For the dressing: place all dressing ingredients in a screw-top jar and shake well.
3. Drain the haloumi and cut each piece into 8 slices width-ways. Brush each slice lightly with olive oil.
4. Carefully place the haloumi on the barbecue and cook for 2-3 minutes each side, until golden and grill marks appear.
5. Serve the haloumi on a bed of rocket leaves. Give the dressing a good shake and drizzle it over the haloumi.
Cauliflower au Gratin
Cauliflower au Gratin (aka Cauliflower Cheese) is always popular on a winter table. With cauliflower in season (and now affordable), it would be a shame not to make this at least once or twice while the weather is chilly. My version uses Gruyère cheese to make it extra special, but a mature cheddar would also be a good choice. Or if you’re feeling adventurous, try a smoked cheddar or even a flavoured cheese! Serve this as a side to any roast or winter dish like Braised Lamb Shanks or Osso Buco. You can vary the recipe by substituting some of all of the cauliflower with blanched broccoli or fennel (also both in season).
Sweet Roasted Carrots
With temperatures plummeting, it’s the perfect time of year to fire up the oven and cook a homely roast. Whenever I have the oven in use I like to maximise its space, so I will invariably find something else to throw in there too. This side dish accompanies any roast very well, and indeed most main courses. Roasting carrots enhances their flavour due to the caramelisation process, making them sweet and irresistible. And with prep time under 10 minutes, it’s super simple as well as delicious.
Smoky Kale Chips
We’re a pretty healthy bunch here in Noosa: with such an abundance of locally grown fresh produce, it’s not exactly difficult. Kale, once thought of as a disinteresting vegetable and now the superstar of leafy greens, grows very well in our climate and is easily found at the Noosa Farmers Market or most local greengrocers. Or if you’re a keen vegetable gardener (like me), you can often find yourself with a glut. Solution? Make Kale chips.
Santa Fe Salad
The barbeque season has well and truly kicked off, with temperatures soaring well into the 30’s already in Noosa. Barbequing is a way of life here, and while meat often plays the starring role, I like to ensure that there is a diverse selection of salads served for the non-carnivores. This is a salad I created recently, which uses barbequed corn, the only way to prepare corn in my humble opinion! It’s a pretty, colourful and satisfying salad and goes beautifully with barbequed chicken or salmon.
Recipe: Veggie Skewers with a Lemon Herb Marinade
The barbeque season has not officially started, but no matter how chilly the weather is, I like to grill all the year round. Food just seems to taste better when cooked on the barbeque! Barbequing vegetables definitely enhances their flavour, and these Veggie Skewers are proof of that. Marinated in a lemon herb marinade, these skewers will be a winner at your next gathering. You can vary the vegetables depending on what you like and what’s in season – cherry tomatoes and finger eggplants work well. But don’t leave out the haloumi cheese – it’s the best part! If you’re a Noosa local, try the award winning Cedar Creek Buffalo Haloumi, available from the Noosa Farmers’ Market every Sunday.
