Sauces and Pastes | Finding Feasts

Chai Spiced Cherry Compote in Port Syrup

Chai Spiced Cherry Compote in Port Syrup… Tis’ the season to be cherry!

Thanks to Bella’s parents, who went cherry picking near Orange over the weekend, we have mounds of these glorious red baubles. This means you will be seeing quite a few cherry recipes this year.

Using my Chai Whole Spice Mix (see below) I have made a delicious Chai Spiced Cherry Compote in Port Syrup that can be used in numerous ways. Have it drizzled over ice-cream, you can puree it and make it as a filling to use in your biscuits (use it instead of the prune jam in the Finnish Tarts – Joulutorttu) or put a couple of cherries with some syrup in the bottom of your champagne glass… it’s limitless!

Cheers… Blondie

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Smoked Salmon Gratin with a Dry Salsa Verde

Smoked Salmon Gratin with a Dry Salsa Verde… This mouth-watering dish is adapted from Annabel Langbein‘s salmon and egg gratin. Originally made by one of Bella’s family members and served for lunch one beautiful summers day while in New Zealand, it was then made by Bella for one of our dinners over Easter away this year and now it is made by me for you…

Like Chinese whispers the original dish has altered a little, Bella included the potato wedges on top and it works so well to help mop up all of the white sauce and to pad it out for a more filling meal. I have added a dry salsa verde (once you make it you will see why I call it a dry salsa verde), which adds another complimentary layer of flavour.

There is actually quite a bit of white sauce for this recipe and you don’t need to use it all, but do make it to the recipe as it’s so handy to have on hand. Freeze the leftover to make mac’n’cheese at a later date – simply reheat, add parmesan or tasty cheese and mix with cooked pasta.

Smoked Salmon Gratin with a Dry Salsa Verde is luxurious dish and is one of only a handful of meals that hubby goes back to for seconds.

Truly scrumptious… Blondie

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Vietnamese Chicken w/ Red Quinoa Stir Fry

Looking for a ridiculously tasty and healthy dish for dinner tonight? Well go no further… Vietnamese Chicken w/ Red Quinoa Stir Fry is what you’ve been looking for!

This is an outstanding, flavour packed chicken meal that honestly, you can whip up in half an hour… Even quicker the second time round once you have made the big batch of marinade. Just store what’s left in a large jar and it will keep for ages in the fridge.

The Vietnamese marinade is so versatile that you can use it with both red and white meats or fish to baste or marinade with and also as a dipping sauce.

I’m reasonably new to quinoa and fell in love with it from my first taste. The texture is amazing also, particularly with this red quinoa, almost like little caviars that kind of burst in your mouth. This red one is particularly yummy with a slightly sweet taste that complements Asian cooking so well.

A little something you may not know about quinoa is that it’s actually related to green leafy vegetables like spinach. Maybe that’s why it’s such a super food, covers all bases!

If you haven’t had a chance to taste this yummy grain yet, you won’t be disappointed with this dish.

Warming comfort food… Blondie

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Caesar Salad w/ Blondie’s Dill and Caper Dressing

Caesar Salad w/ Blondie’s Dill and Caper Dressing… It was a hot 42°c/107°f day in Sydney last week (I was very happy to be sitting by the water on The Hawkesbury River with my family that day!) and with such heat, the food you prepare needs to be quite simple… the last thing you want to be doing is slaving away in a kitchen.

This recipe uses cold leftover BBQ chicken, fresh salad leaves and my own home-grown tomatoes. The difference to a standard Caesar salad is my slightly spicy dill and caper dressing. This is a great tasting salad that you can casually graze on and fills you up without being heavy.

Continue reading “Caesar Salad w/ Blondie’s Dill and Caper Dressing” →

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Coconut Beef w/ Thai Red Curry Paste… From Scratch

Coconut Beef w/ Thai Red Curry Paste…From Scratch. This is a stunning, slow cooked Thai dish using Martin Boetz’s Red Curry Paste recipe from his stunning book, Longrain: Modern Thai Food.

If you are going to make one from scratch you must try this one! Plus it makes 1 cup worth of paste, which is basically 5 meals so it’s well worth the effort. I explain my favourite way of storing pastes and the such in the recipe so you have it easily on hand.

I used a gravy beef for my recipe as I love big chunks of melt in your mouth meat, that along with the sauce and the rice to sop it up with and you have a meal you would pay a small fortune for quite happily. Serve it with a side of shredded greens.

Enjoy, Blondie

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Prunes in Port and Spice Syrup

Finding Feasts - Prunes in Spiced Port Syrup — Click image for recipe

Prunes in Port and Spice Syrup, Christmas is only 10 weeks away so Bella and I are going to start getting our traditional Finnish and Polish recipes together.

This one is in preparation for the Finnish prune tarts that are eaten at Christmas time, although I have done it slightly different to traditional recipes, in that I have added some traditional Christmas spices to the port.

Finnish Christmas’ are celebrated on the 24th of December (in case you were wondering, Santa generally sneaks into the house while we are all around the dinner table, or conveniently distracted by something amazing) with huge feasts of hams and other roast meats, casseroles and salads – mum does an incredible beetroot and herring salad that’s just so scrumptious and works perfectly with the heat of the Australian Christmas. There are also lots of sweet dishes eaten but the main two that we grew up with are gingerbread biscuits and Finnish prune tarts – joulutorttu.

This prune in port syrup recipe is for making the prune jam that goes into the centre of the tarts – the jam is normally made with just prunes, sugar and water then pushed through a sieve or blitzed in a processor till it’s to a jam consistency. I have decided to have the prunes soak in the port and spice syrup till I make the tarts, which will be in a couple of weeks… I was also craving the syrup, warmed up, on ice cream – a girls to satisfy her cravings!

Don’t be put off with the idea of prunes as once you have tried them this way there’s no going back…

Blondie 🙂

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Basil Pesto with Cashew Nuts

Basil Pesto with Cashew Nuts – With spring now here, the heady scent of fresh herbs is hard to ignore. It’s impossible to walk pass the veggie shop and not grab a bunch of basil – I will have fresh basil growing in my garden again shortly, but till then I’m happy to pay for it.

Pesto is eaten in large amounts by my family, especially my son who has it on pizza, pasta or just by the spoonful after I’ve made a fresh batch of pesto. I make it 2 ways, the first being the obvious – that’s with pine nuts and a nice bitey, hard cheese – and the second is this recipe.

I find that using cashews makes the pesto a little creamier and the flavour to be a little more subtle – and they are also cheaper than pine nuts, which is a benefit if working within a budget.

The cheese in this recipe is just the grated Parmesan from your local supermarket’s fridge section.

I freeze my excess pesto in zip lock bags and break off chunks as I need them, which means I generally always have some on hand. I have been doing it this way for years and have never had an issue, but feel that I should bring up a conversation I had with my brother-in-law. He mentioned something about the breeding of the botulism bacteria, something to do with the basil and the freezer not being able to freeze it to a temperature that is safe and stable. I have also looked into it and am happy to continue with this way of storing as we really do go through it quite fast. I’ve happily eaten my pesto up to 2 months of it being frozen.

Has anyone had problems with freezing pesto? I would love to know.

But that being said, for me there is always a meal if you have pesto in the house. If you have yet to make fresh pesto for yourself then I urge you to give it a go.

Enjoy!

Blondie

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