Recipes

Cheese Twists

- Alex Prichard 2 Comments

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Party season is yet again upon us (in our household, it starts early, thanks to the toddler’s December birthday) and it’s time to start thinking of nibbly things to have with drinks.

This is a super easy cheese twist recipe that you can make ahead and have stored in the freezer (uncooked) ready to go in case of expected or unexpected guests. It’s also versatile – experiment with your favourite cheeses or add in herbs or spices. I made these for a children’s party, so just stuck with cheese, but if I were to make them again I’d definitely add a sprinkle of cayenne pepper.

My approach is a slight variation on an Australian Women’s Weekly recipe. I think that folding the pastry onto itself makes it a lot easier to handle when it comes to twisting.

For freezing – freeze the twists on baking paper lined baking trays initially. Once frozen you can bag them up and then just cook straight from the freezer.

Perfect!

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Cheese Twists

Ingredients

  • 2 sheets of puff pastry (frozen is fine, if you can find butter puff, that's great!)
  • ½ cup of grated parmesan
  • ½ cup of grated cheddar
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • flour for the board

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 220°C (conventional, 200°C fan).
  2. Defrost the pastry. Lightly dust your worktop with flour and roll out the pastry a little, retaining the shape.
  3. Brush the entire sheet with the egg wash.
  4. Generously sprinkle half the sheet with the mixed cheeses. At this stage you could also sprinkle over some cayenne or paprika, or herbs.
  5. Fold the pastry over and press down.
  6. Slice width wise (that is, cut along the short edge).
  7. Take a piece and press down along its length and then twist, placing it on a baking paper lined baking tray.
  8. Repeat until all the pastry is used up.
  9. If freezing - freeze at this point. Otherwise, brush with egg wash and bake for 10-15 minutes until puffed and golden.
  10. Serve immediately.
https://eatingadelaide.com/cheese-twists/

South Indian Sambal

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

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We try to eat fish at least once a week and, I have to confess, I really struggle with making sustainable fish choices outside farmed salmon. I want to choose fish which is fresh, local and sustainable – especially when a recipe calls for a firm white fish. We all love flathead but not only is this a bad choice, it’s also stupidly expensive. And sometimes (as in, a Sunday afternoon after a couple of hours at a 3 year old’s birthday party) your choice is dictated by what’s in the supermarket.

Anyway, the happy outcome of this story is that the following sambal would work brilliantly with other proteins. A tandoori lamb chop, a chicken breast, or even snuck into a chicken burger. Or on top of some fish, if you can find something that ticks all the boxes.

Don’t be put off by the fact that the following recipe contains coconut. It’s essential, more for texture than flavour. If you have access to fresh grated coconut, even better, but dessicated will do (I’m testament to that!).

The sambal can be prepared in advance (and I suspect this would improve it) and can be tweaked to suit your preference. Just don’t go overcomplicating things.

I served the sambal on top of the pan fried fish, with steamed green beans and a generous side portion of spicy fried potatoes. Even with the potatoes this is a very healthy dinner.

The original recipe comes from taste.com.au.

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South Indian Sambal

Ingredients

  • ½ small brown onion, finely chopped
  • ½ red onion, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
  • 1 tsp black mustard seeds
  • ~ ¼ cup of coconut - either dessicated or shredded fresh
  • fresh green chilli, finely chopped, to taste
  • 1 tomato, finely chopped (deseeded, if you can be bothered!)
  • generous handful of coarsely chopped fresh coriander
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 pinch caster sugar

Instructions

  1. On a mediuam heat, heat some oil (I used peanut) in a pan, and add the onion. When the onion starts to soften, add the ginger and mustard seeds.
  2. When the onion is soft, add the coconut and toast until the coconut just starts to change colour. You need to pay attention here because burnt coconut will taste awful and you won't be able to rectify things!
  3. Place the chilli in a small bowl. Tip over the hot onion and stir through. Allow to cool slightly before adding the tomato, coriander, lemon juice and sugar. Mix well. Taste and correct seasoning (you may want to add salt) if necessary.
  4. If you're making in advance, store in the fridge, but serve at room temperature.

https://eatingadelaide.com/south-indian-sambal/

Pork Chops with Sage, Italian Style

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

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Despite putting together fun meal plans for Eating Adelaide, our own meal planning has been pretty shambolic of late. We are getting back on track, but a lot of our choices are being driven by how quick something will be to put on the table. The toddler seems to be in the process of dropping his nap (we’ve done well – he’s almost 3 and until the last couple of weeks has routinely been napping 2-3 hours a day!) and Andy has just started a new job.

So there’s not a lot of time for leisurely kitchen activities. Dinner needs to be of the “put in pan and serve” variety. And, of course, I have the sage plant …

A quick trawl through my delicious bookmarks threw up this simple recipe for pork chops, from The Goddess’s Kitchen, an English blog I’ve been following for ages. Maria doesn’t blog as frequently as she used to, and a lot of her posts are baking oriented (one of the reasons I started following in the first place) but this simple pork chop recipe hit the mark.

I served it with mash and a few steamed vegetables, and made a simple tweak to the sauce (I opened the cream for the mash, so I figured I might as well enrich the sauce at the same time!). It’s a great way of using some kitchen garden produce and jazzing up a very simple supper.

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Pork Chops with Sage, Italian Style

Ingredients

  • 2 pork loin chops
  • fresh sage leaves, to taste, but at least 3 per chop
  • 1 clove of garlic, crushed
  • generous splash of white wine
  • 1 tbsp cream

Instructions

  1. Add some oil or butter to a pan and cook the chops.
  2. When the chops are cooked, remove from the pan and set aside. If there is a lot of fat in the pan drain.
  3. Return the pan to a gentle heat and add the garlic and sage leaves. Season. Add the white wine and reduce a little before adding the cream.
  4. Cook for a few minutes, until the raw alcohol taste is cooked out and the sauce reduces further.
  5. Serve the pork chops dressed with the sauce.

https://eatingadelaide.com/pork-chops-sage-italian-style/