Pea and Feta Fritters

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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.

 

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/

Super Quick and Easy Chicken Wraps

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Action shot! Another awful photo but I have just acquired a new phone … will you be able to tell the difference?!

I’m not sure whether I should be putting a disclaimer on this piece or not … I received this product in a goody bag at a totally unrelated event (albeit one that celebrated South Australian produce). So while I didn’t pay for it, I have no relationship with either the producer or its marketing/PR people.

Anyway, wraps in one form or another are always a great hit for an easy dinner here. You do have to make sure you buy a decent wrap: the wrong form of carbohydrate can either ruin the flavour of your dinner or leave it all over your lap. But once you have sorted the bread part, you just need to cook a little meat, chop a little salad and find a dollop of yoghurt and you are good to go.

Of course, you do need to get flavour into the meat (or filling). Making felafel – especially if you decide to crack out the deep fat fryer – can be time consuming and even whipping up a Mexican inspired filling can take a little while.

I am not normally a fan of pre-prepared spice mixes because you are, by and large, paying for salt, salt, a bit more salt and then a few other bits and pieces. I’m fortunate to have a well stocked spice drawer and the inclination to mix-my-own which is not only more satisfying but also more cost effective.

However, Outback Pride’s Tanami Fire is a spice mix that I am not inclined to make myself and that both Andy and I have decided we would definitely part with our hard earned for.

For those not in the know, the Tanami Desert is 26 million hectares of desert in Australia’s Northern Territory and it is home to several endangered species.

Tanami Fire is described as a ‘hot spice sprinkle’ which is made from a variety of native Australian plants I can almost guarantee you won’t have kicking around your spice cupboard. The list of ingredients reads: ground Tanami apples, native pepperberry, lemon aspen, garlic, ginger, chilli flakes, salt and saltbush flakes. The label notes that the native Australian ingredients have been grown in a bio-dynamic environment. Outback Pride is a South Australian company that involves the state’s traditional communities in production and provides not only jobs but training in associated industries such as horticulture.

So it’s an all round feel good story.

Of course, that matters not a jot if the end product is not tasty. But tasty it is. We’ve used it several times now in different capacities, but by far the easiest has been to create a quick and tasty filling for a wrap.

No proper recipe today – simply dice or slice your meat (in our case, chicken) and sprinkle generously with the spice mix. A marinade for half an hour or so, if you can afford it, and then fry up. Serve in the wrap on top of salad and with some yoghurt. If you really want to do a bit more chopping, mix some finely minced garlic through that yoghurt!

The Tanami Fire mix has a citrussy spicy flavour – it is quite hot so if you’re a bit averse to chilli go easy. We’ve been thrashing it a bit and come BBQ time it will be perfect as a marinade or to use after the fact to jazz up some meat.

Leek, Potato and Blue Cheese Soup

Leek, potato & blue cheese soup

For a week or so, winter threatened to make an appearance here in Adelaide. But then it disappeared and we’ve had the warmest couple of May weeks for about 100 years.

Which is a shame because I love winter food. I not only love eating it but I love that so often it is the type of food you can prepare well in advance and then just pop into the oven after a long day at work, leaving the cook with nothing more strenuous to do than crack open a bottle of red.

Earlier this week we revisited the leek, chicken and hazelnut pie (yes, all the way back in 2009!) and I’d had to buy a whole bunch of leeks.

So now I’m busy using them up. Which isn’t a problem because I love leeks. I also love soup and while it’s not Andy’s favourite thing to eat (by a long stretch) he’ll tolerate it in small doses.

I’d also been thinking about how I hadn’t really used any of my cookbooks for a while so while I didn’t need a recipe for leek and potato soup I had a quick flick through for inspiration. Regular readers will know I have something of a soft spot for James Martin so I was pleased to find a leek, potato and Stilton soup recipe in his book The Collection. An extra bonus was that it was even less work than I was considering!

His recipe needed a few tweaks to suit what was actually available so it’s my version that follows. The critical thing here is that it’s a one pot, boil it all up trick. Go easy with the blue cheese: they vary in strength and if you add too much you’ll really notice it!

This recipe will serve four.  Make sure you have plenty of good, crusty bread to hand!

 

Leek, Potato and Blue Cheese Soup

Ingredients

  • 1 chicken stock pot (or cube)
  • 700 mL hot water
  • 1 medium sized leek, sliced in half (split) and chopped
  • ½ large onion, roughly chopped
  • 1 large clove of garlic, chopped
  • 1 large potato, peeled and chopped
  • 100g blue cheese, chopped
  • sour cream
  • parsley

Instructions

  1. Place stock pot (or cube) and water in a large pot and bring to the boil.
  2. Add the leek, onion, garlic and potato to the stock and cook covered (you don't want the liquid evaporating!) until the vegetables are soft.
  3. Add half the blue cheese and stir to melt. Then blitz the soup and check the flavour. You need to check the strength of the blue cheese flavour AFTER blitzing as it's the only way of guaranteeing the flavour is through the soup.
  4. If you want to add more cheese, go ahead.
  5. Finish by correcting the seasoning - it's unlikely you'll need salt though you might want to pass the pepper separately.
  6. Serve the soup hot, with a quenelle (that's a dollop!) of sour cream and a sprinkling of parsley.
https://eatingadelaide.com/leek-potato-blue-cheese-soup/