Recipes

Pea and Feta Fritters

- Alex Prichard 1 Comment

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I made these as part of my seemingly fruitless quest to find something to put in the small child’s lunch box for his one morning a week at ELC.

I reasoned that he likes both peas and feta cheese so these should be a hit. Of course, I did not factor in the carbohydrate component which of course rendered them (in his eyes) the best part of inedible …

However, for anyone who is not freaked out by carbs these are really easy to put together, very quick to cook and (most importantly) taste pretty good. And that is coming from someone who doesn’t really like peas!

The inspiration for these came from the back of a packet of Coles own brand frozen peas (yes – I’m a bad person for supporting the duopoly in this way, however they are Australian peas and not all branded frozen peas can make that claim). I roughly halved quantities and had to make a few little adjustments based on what I actually had in the house.

These are, of course, much better served straight from the pan – however, they kept surprisingly well and tasted really quite good cold the next day. They would definitely survive reheating in either an oven or a fry pan.

While I won’t be making them again for small, ungrateful children (today’s lunch box was three Finn Crisps, sultanas, black olives and a giant banana) I would definitely consider making these, or some variation of, as a very easy canapé or snack.

 

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Pea and Feta Fritters

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup frozen peas
  • ¾ SR flour
  • 1 large(ish) spring onion, finely sliced
  • ~ 50g feta, finely chopped or crumbled
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup of milk
  • salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Tip the peas into a large, microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute.
  2. Roughly mash/crush the peas and then add the other dry ingredients (including seasoning) and combine.
  3. Lightly beat the egg with the milk and then add to the dry ingredients and mix but do not overwork - just enough to bring it all together.
  4. Heat some oil in a non stick fry pan and, using a tablespoon, spoon the fritters into the pan and use the back of the spoon to flatten them out a bit. Cook on a moderate heat until golden on both sides. Cooking time will vary depending on how thick you have made them.
  5. Drain on kitchen towel and serve immediately. Perfectly good cold the next day for a snack (or lunchbox).
https://eatingadelaide.com/pea-feta-fritters/

Waterzooi: Flemish Stewed Chicken

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

The Orangerie, Bruges
Canal Scene in Bruges – the Hôtel l’Orangerie is on my bucket list

Although I have only been to Belgium twice it is one of my favourite countries. At one stage I even had a grand plan to put life on hold for a brief period of time and make a comprehensive tour of Belgium’s breweries. That never got off the ground (for which I am sure my liver is thankful).

Belgian cuisine is not really that widely known. Yes, here in Adelaide we do have the Belgian Beer Café where you can try both mussels and this dish, waterzooi. The BBC serves a seafood based waterzooi, and while it may be more traditional, you’re more likely to find chicken waterzooi in modern Flanders. Indeed the waterzooi I enjoyed in Bruges was chicken (it followed a very traditional Belgian dish you won’t find at the BBC – eel in green sauce).

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So when I borrowed Tolarno Bistro: The Life, Times and Recipes of a Remarkable Restaurant from the library (that’s a whole other story) and I was flicking through it for something to cook for dinner.  I spotted the waterzooi recipe and the decision was made.

But it would be remiss of me to not give the book a review too. Tolarno Bistro was, apparently, something of a Melbourne institution which closed in 2006, after over 40 years of service to St Kilda’s dining public. The original owners were Georges and Mirka Mora and in those 40 odd years it had just three owners – the last being Iain Hewitson (now ‘as seen on tv’), who took over in 1990 with his then wife.

This book, written by Hewitson and journalist Bob Hart, is more than just a recipe book. In fact, perhaps it is more appropriate to say that it is a memoir of the restaurant first and foremost, but a memoir liberally sprinkled with recipes.

Tolarno Bistro was a French restaurant so the recipes are not heavy on the innovation front. Anyone who is already in possession of a generous collection of cookbooks will find that Tolarno Bistro duplicates, in a fashion, a lot of material. Personally, it’s not a book I’d rush out and buy simply because of that – but I am most definitely not the target market. If you ever ate at, or were even one of the couples who married at, Tolarno Bistro then the book is for you.

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While this waterzooi is based on that found in Tolarno Bistro, I added carrot (for some much needed colour and extra vegetables) and cut back on the cream/sauce component. The waterzooi I ate in Belgium, after a hefty entrée of eel, had been overwhelmingly saucy and rich.  I served with brussel sprouts and bacon.

The quantities given will serve 2, with some left overs for smaller members of the family to enjoy the next day.

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Waterzooi: Flemish Stewed Chicken

Ingredients

  • 4 chicken thighs (skinless)
  • 6-10 whole black peppercorns
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 thick slices of lemon
  • chicken stock (if bought, choose low fat)
  • unsalted butter
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 leeks, cut into thin rounds
  • 1 celery stalk, diced
  • 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
  • 1 tbsp plain flour
  • cream
  • fresh chervil
  • 1 egg yolk
  • to serve: fresh pasta

Instructions

  1. Place the chicken thighs in a saucepan with the peppercorns, bay leaves, lemon and chicken stock and simmer gently for approximately 20 minutes, or until the chicken is just cooked.
  2. Remove the chicken (keep the stock) and allow it to cool slightly and then slice.
  3. In a separate pan, heat a generous knob of butter and gently fry off the onion, leeks, celery and carrot.
  4. Once the vegetables have softened, stir in the plain flour and cook (stirring) for a couple of minutes. Then add a generous ladle or two of the stock left over from cooking the chicken, and approximately 2 tbsp cream.
  5. At this stage, you really just want to get the sauce to the right consistency and richness for you. More stock and the sauce will be thinner but more of it. More cream and it will be richer.
  6. When ready to serve, stir through the chicken (if necessary, cook for a little while to ensure it's heated through) and some chopped chervil.
  7. Just before serving, remove the pan from the heat, beat the egg yolk in a separate dish, and then stir through the sauce to thicken.
  8. Serve on hot plates with fresh pasta.
https://eatingadelaide.com/waterzooi-flemish-stewed-chicken/

 

Two Ingredient Pizza Dough

- Alex Prichard 4 Comments

2 ingredient pizza dough

The idea of a two ingredient pizza dough recipe has been floating around the internet for a while. This hit my inbox at some stage and while I noted it, I never really thought there was anything wrong with my existing pizza dough recipe.

We had pizza a week or so ago and had some mozzarella hanging around in the fridge, so I was determined to use it up before it needed binning.  Unfortunately, inspiration was a bit thin on the ground at the end of last week so … pizza it was. However, given that we always have yoghurt in the fridge I thought maybe it would be worth a bit of an experiment.

I don’t know where the two ingredient dough originated but kidspot seems to stake an early claim. However, by both my standards and those of many of the commenters, the recipe given is really rather deficient.

  • Serving size? 1 pizza base. Because there’s some kind of universal standard for pizza bases …
  • Greek or natural yoghurt is given in the list of ingredients … but the recipe creator says in the comments she hasn’t tried with natural yoghurt …
  • There are a ton of complaints about the ratios
  • There’s no cooking temperature
  • There’s no cooking time

And that’s before I complain about the fact that the flour quantity is given in cups, rather than grams.

I’m all for playing fast and loose with recipes but I suspect that had you never made pizza dough before you’d be facing an uphill battle with this one!

The following recipe makes a thin crust for a 30cm diameter pizza tray. We find that this is perfect for dinner for the two of us (the small child won’t touch pizza on account of the bread component).

Of course, the really important part of all of this is … how did it taste? While it was OK it was … just OK. While it was a thin and crispy base it had a slight but discernible taste of raw flour and the texture was slightly too crumbly (for want of a better word). The dough is also very soft which makes it difficult to work with.

I can see the appeal in this dough – no yeast and no rising time. But with dried yeast so readily available and the rising time for pizza dough less crucial (and, indeed, for ease of dinner prep I made this dough in the afternoon so there was no advantage to me at all there) I’m not sure that the compromise in taste, texture and easily workable dough is worth it.

We’ll be returning to our standard recipe.  Yes, it’s 4 ingredients but so worth it!

 

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Two Ingredient Pizza Dough

Ingredients

  • 200g self raising flour + extra for kneading
  • ¾ cup plain yoghurt (I used Paris Creek B-D Yoghurt)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 250°C fan (or as hot as it will go).
  2. Mix the flour and yoghurt until they come together in a soft dough.
  3. Knead well on well floured board and roll out to fit 30cm pizza pan (greased with olive oil).
  4. Top with your favourite toppings - we use a base of tomato paste, oregano and chilli flakes, topped with mozzarella, bacon, red onion, hot salami and capsicum (for example).
  5. Bake for 10 minutes and serve immediately.
https://eatingadelaide.com/two-ingredient-pizza-dough/