Sweet & sour Carrot salad

I sourced this recipe easily 5 years ago from a Dish magazine and it's become a regular salad for bbqs and accompanying many other different dishes at my place. It's dressing is both sweet and sour, delicious! I used this to compliment steak and spuds a few nights ago.

Most of the cooking is being done by my mother or husband at the moment and boy am I being spoilt! So used to doing all the cooking myself, it's nice to try other's food and both Mum and Ray are fantastic cooks. It really is hard to get your hands free in the first few weeks as a new mum, I'm struggling to get the wee one to sleep in her bed during the day whereas she seems to go down fine at night so at least I'm getting some sleep. However... I'm not achieving anything but nursing and snuggles with my daughter in the day time so it's been amazing having support. Mum goes back to Dunedin on Sunday so next week will be interesting!?

Serves 6

1 kg carrots
3 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 tbsp caster sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 cloves garlic
3 tbsp currants
3 tbsp pinenuts, toasted
2 tbsp flat leaf parsley or mint

Preheat oven to 180. Slice carrots into long strips using a sharp knife. Place on a large baking tray, tossed with olive oil and seasoned with salt and freshly ground pepper. Roast until tender and lightly coloured, turning once during cooking. Transfer to a shallow dish

In a saucepan over a medium heat, add the vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, garlic, currants and pinenuts. Bring to the boil and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Tip the dressing over the carrots and add the herbs. Toss to combine and taste for seasoning. Allow carrots to sit for a few hours before serving, tossing in the dressing a couple of times

Puttanesca

This is such a good go-to pasta dish. It uses ingredients that I tend to have on hand so it usually gets thrown together as a last minute meal and saves us getting takeaways! I just love the saltiness of it with loads of anchovies, capers and olives

Serves 4

olive oil

400g spaghetti

grated parmesan

150g pitted kalamata olives

80g capers

12 anchovies

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 can tomatoes

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup red wine

1 tsp oregano (or use a tbsp chopped fresh)

1 tsp thyme (or use a tbsp chopped fresh)

1 onion

vege - use 400g of whatever you have on hand including courgette, eggplant, leeks, mushrooms (I used leeks and mushrooms this time)

salt & freshly ground black pepper

Boil water and cook pasta according to packet instructions. In a frying pan, saute onion in 2 tbsp olive oil for 2 mins, then add anchovies, leeks and mushrooms frying for another 2 mins then cover with red wine and simmer for a few minutes before adding olives, capers, oregano, thyme, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, canned tomatoes & seasoning 

Drain pasta and add to sauce. Toss and then serve in bowls topped with grated parmesan cheese

Ray's banoffie pie

This has been going down very well after dinner, and maybe for breakfast...once!? Cheers Ray x

Biscuit base..
Break up malt biscuits and ginger nuts to a fine crumb, mix together or use one or the other. Traditional method uses digestive biscuits.
Melt 200grams butter with one packet biscuits.
Mix well with hands and press a cm layer into to a pie dish

Melt 100grams butter with can of condensed milk and 4 tablespoons of golden syrup or brown sugar. Stir over low heat until caramel looking. I also added a couple of rows of caramello chocolate which happened to be in the fridge... (optional)
Pour hot caramel mix over biscuit base, should be just under a cm thick depending on how sweet you like
Chop 2-3 banana length ways to form long 5mm thick slices and place on top of caramel once cooled a little
Place in fridge to cool and set.
Whip cream till stiff peaks form add vanilla and icing sugar to desired sweetness. Cover bananas with cream 2-3 cm thick then grate chocolate on top. Set for a 3-4 hours in fridge

Instant bean hummus

I like to keep dips like this on hand. Its really useful to have your own homemade hummus for a sandwich or toast spread, an accompaniment to turkish & middle eastern dishes, a dip for pita crisps or fresh vege sticks or anything you want really!

Place a 400g can of drained and rinsed white beans (I'm using cannellini) into a bowl and add 1/4 cup of tahini paste, a crushed garlic clove, 1 tbsp lemon juice, sea salt and 1/4 cup of water. Blend until smooth with a wand.

You can also use the obvious chickpeas for an original hummus! Served drizzled with olive oil and a sprinkle of paprika with toasted pita crisps

Weekend brunch

I don't think I've ever actually made this brunch at home before. Delicious though! Leftover bolognaise (from Friday night's dinner) on vogels toast with a poached egg and a kransky.

This week has been pitiful in the kitchen for me. I just haven't been feeling hungry for a start so I've hardly got any groceries and takeaways have been purchased a couple of times!! Burger Wisconsin's petite chicken, bacon and avo burgers went down very well on Thursday night. I did make a venison cottage-type pie one night but wasn't organised enough to photograph it or even take note of the exact ingredients. Slack on the food and blog front but I will be back...

For breakfast I've had the new Grey Lynn's Farro Fresh almond croissant and a soy mocha twice! The croissants are so nice and crunchy on the outside with that yummy sweet almond paste in the centre and they are huge. I think they call them 'almond croissant loaf' but at just $3.99 I eat the whole thing myself.

Today we have done a proper large supermarket shop so we're sorted with lots of store cupboard basics so we only need to rush out and grab fresh ingredients over the next 3 weeks or so. Now it's just a waiting game for our baby daughter to arrive. One week till due date...

Curried Pear & Parsnip Soup w Cheese rolls

This soup would have to be an all time favourite of mine. It's sweet and creamy and delicious. Every time I serve it for friends they just love it. Do try this one...I bet it will become a regular for you too!!

Both these recipes use Carnation evaporated milk which I use to substitute cream in savoury dishes all the time, especially pasta sauces. I really can't notice the difference myself, you still get that wonderfully creamy taste but without all the fat. The light version is 97% fat free.

I'm cooking this soup for a late autumn lunch and serving with cheese rolls which I facetiously call Invercargill Sushi. They are traditional fare in lower South Island cafes. I was surprised when I made them for a work morning tea here in Auckland and most of the North Islanders had never heard of them. Apparently they first appeared in cookery books of the south in the 1930's and became popular when sliced bread was introduced in the 50's. I remember we would use them as a fundraiser when I was at school in Dunedin like you would a sausage sizzle. I'm unsure of the original recipe but here's how I do them...

In my experience 'Invercargill Sushi' is best received by the boys as a snack while watching rugby with cold beer!!!

Curried Pear and Parsnip Soup
Serves 6

2 tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 pear, peeled, cored and sliced
6 cups chicken stock
500g parsnips peeled and chopped
1 bayleaf
1 tsp salt
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 can evaporated milk

In a large saucepan, melt the butter on a medium heat. Stir in onion, celery and pear. Cook, stirring until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in chicken stock, parsnips, bayleaf, salt, curry powder, pepper and nutmeg. Cook for about twenty minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Discard the bayleaf.

Puree soup until smooth. With the blender running, pour in the evaporated milk through the feed tube and keep blending until combined.

Cheese rolls

1 loaf sandwich sliced wheatmeal bread
2-3 cups grated tasty cheese
1 packet onion soup mix
1/2 can evaporated milk
a few grinds cracked black pepper

Firstly remove the bottom crust off each piece of bread, making it easier to roll. Mix filling ingredients in a bowl and then spoon a small amount onto the crustless edge of the bread and roll. Squash it down a bit to flatten and repeat. I keep these in a tin for up to five days and just grill, bake or pop them in a flat toasted sandwich maker as I need them.

Vietnamese lamb chops with kumara ginger mash

You can't beat home kill! My husband went to visit his brother in the Wairarapa at the weekend to meet our nephew (Blake, of 6 months) and to go duck shooting. Zero ducks and 5 turkeys later, at least he brought home some meat. We were lucky enough to be gifted a 'meat pack' from Ngatapa Farm, which included these delicious lamb chops. And I'm pleased to say that the freezer is overflowing...it's like many things in life...it's all about who you know!

I chose to marinade the chops with vietnamese flavours and serve it with a kumara mash & stir fried peas w onion and chilli.

The kumara ginger mash is based on a recipe we used often while catering for The Hobbit 'on set' film crew. I was fortunate enough to have a couple of months work experience as part of the Flying Trestles catering crew at the end of 2011. It was a huge opportunity for me, meeting some incredible people and learning lots about food & catering, how big budget films operate, very early morning starts (often before 4am) and 12+ hour days, 6 days per week!!! Quite a challenge in my first trimester of pregnancy and also after working 12 years in banking, 35 hours a week at my desk in front of a PC to 70 hours a week on my feet!!!

Serves 2

Vietnamese marinade
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1.5 tsp sugar
1.5 tsp chilli powder
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp olive oil

In a small bowl, mix all ingredients. Rub all over the lamb chops, wrap and refridgerate for no less than 2 hours.

Lamb chops
Cook the lamb chops to your liking. I would have grilled them in the oven for 10 minutes on each side but because I'd cleaned the oven that day, I fried them on a skillet for about 7 minutes each side. I don't mind them a bit charred myself but grilling is probably better!

Kumara ginger mash
3 red kumara, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 tbsp crystalised ginger, finely chopped & heated so forms a paste
1 tbsp chicken stock powder
75g butter
1/4 cup of milk

Boil the kumara in salted water until soft, drain the water. Add rest of the ingredients and mash then blend with the milk for a finer consistency. Season with salt & pepper to taste