Pumpkin and chicken cannelloni

Ingredients (serves 4)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
700ml bottle Italian tomato pasta sauce
1/4 cup basil leaves, shredded
450g chicken mince
1 cup mashed pumpkin, cooled
250g ricotta cheese
4 slices pancetta, chopped
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
250g packet dried cannelloni tubes
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
salad leaves, to serve

Method
Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add onion. Cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes or until soft. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Stir in pasta sauce and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in basil.
Preheat oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a 5cm deep, 25cm x 30cm (base) ovenproof baking dish. Or 4 ramekins for individual serving.

Place mince, pumpkin, ricotta, pancetta and 1/3 cup parmesan in a bowl. Mix until well combined. Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm round nozzle. Pipe mixture into cannelloni tubes. If using ramekins, precook cannelloni tubes in boiling water for 5 minutes, then cut them on half.

Spoon a third of tomato sauce into dish. Top with cannelloni. Spoon over remaining sauce. Combine mozzarella and remaining 1/3 cup parmesan. Sprinkle over top. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until top is golden and pasta tender. Serve with salad leaves.






Enjoy!

Cold Asparagus Soup

Soup can be served cold or hot, depending on your desires. Cold soup is good for quick lunch, or you can take it for a picnic, served straight in a pretty small jar. Do not forget to serve it with fresh baguette or crunchy toast.

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped asparagus (reserve tops for serving)
1 cup sweet onion, chopped
3 tbsp basmati or other flavorful white rice
4 cups (1 liter) water,
150 ml cream.

Put the rice and onion in saucepan with water and boil for about 20 minutes until rice is almost cooked, then add asparagus and cook for another 5 minutes.
Puree soup in a blender and pass through a sieve.
Add cream and salt to taste. Reheat the hot. Chill the cold.
Decorate with the reserved asparagus tops and serve.

Enjoy!

Eggplant and zucchini crumble with goats cheese cream - Crumble au fromage de chevre

Ingredients:
1 eggplant (skin removed and cut into pieces)
2 zucchini (cut into pieces)
1 red bell pepper (cut into small pieces)
3 tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 onion medium size (finely chopped)
2 sprigs thyme
1 sprig rosemary
120 g goat cheese
100 ml cream (low fat)

For the crumble:
200 g flour
100 g butter
1 egg yolk
salt, black pepper

Rub butter with flour, salt, and egg yolk until form crumbles, transfer to a plate and put the fridge for 20 minutes.

Make small cross-shaped slits on tomatoes, put them in boiling water and immediately dipped in cold water.
Clear tomatoes from the skin and seeds, cut into pieces.

Sprinkle eggplant with sugar and allow to drain the liquid for 20 minutes.

Discard the excess moisture from eggplant. Heat oil in a heavy base saucepan, add thyme and rosemary.

Sauté onions and garlic until transparent, then add bell pepper and tomatoes. Cook until peppers are soft. Puree sauce in blender.

Separately sauté eggplant until soft, then add zucchini and tomato sauce. Cook on low heat for about 5 minutes, add salt, pepper and spices to taste.

Put crumbles on lined with paper baking sheet and bake in a pre-heated to 200 C oven until golden brown (about 15 min)

Heat the cream and mix with goat cheese (I use blender). Add salt and pepper and mix until smooth consistency.

Put vegetables in a serving glasses, add cheese cream on top and sprinkle with crumbles.



Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Carina-forum

Feijoa, pear and white wine jam

Ingredient (Make about two 300 ml jars):
2 cups Feijoa pulp (cut fruit in half and scoop out the contents with a spoon)
1 cups of sugar
2 firm pears (peeled and cut on small pieces)
100 ml sweet white wine

Method
1. Scoop out the fruits from the feijoa.
2. Put fruits into a pot and add wine.
3. Boil on medium heat until the fruits are soft (about 15 minutes). Stir occasionally. Use a potato masher to gently mash the fruit.
4. Add sugar and stir until dissolve.
5. Bring to a rapid boil and continue to boil for about 20 minutes or until the mix reach setting point, giving it the occasional stir.
6.Pour into sterilized jars, seal and store in a cool place.



Enjoy!

Persimmon and orange jam

Do you love persimmons as I do? They are best to eat raw straight from the tree, but this year we have quite a big harvest in our garden, so I decided to make a little bit of jam. And it's so tasty and beautiful - like a little sun in a jar. 

Ingredients:
2 cups of ripe persimmon, skin removed and cut into small pieces
1-1,5 cup sugar (depends on the desired sweetness of jam)
juice of 1 orange
grated rind of half an orange
2 tbsp vodka

Put the persimmons, sugar, juice and zest in a heavy based pot and cook over medium heat, stirring often, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.

Return to the heat, mash slightly with a potato masher and bring to boil. Pour the vodka and cook for 10 minutes on low heat.

Pour hot jam into sterilized jars, seal and store in cool place.




Enjoy!

Chocolate cakes with feijoa mousse

Last month of autumn and the end of feijoa season here in New Zealand now. I use to hate this fruit a couple years ago, but now I love them. It's such a wonderful fruit with interesting intense flavor. I think that feijoas is the most "kiwi fruit" then the kiwi fruit is. Every second Kiwi family has the own feijoa tree in the garden and I hope they like feijoas as I do :)

Chocolate Genoise (recipe from here)
6 whole eggs
180 grams sugar
80 grams cornstarch
80 grams flour
20 grams cocoa powder
20 grams butter, melted and cooled

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the eggs and the sugar. Place this bowl over a double boiler and continue whisking until the sugar has dissolved and the eggs feel hot to the touch. Transfer the bowl to the electric mixer and whip in high speed until the eggs triple in volume and they form a thick ribbon.

Sift the cornstarch, flour and cocoa powder together into a bowl. Add the sifted mixture to the whipped eggs in three batches folding each time slowly to avoid deflating the batter too much. Finally add the melted butter and fold so that the butter doesn't all fall to the bottom of the bowl.

Divide this batter into two half sheet pans that have been sprayed and lined with parchment paper. Spread the batter evenly and bake in a 190C oven for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cake cool. The cake can be wrapped in plastic and frozen.

Feijoa mousse:
8 small feijoas (4 large)
3 tbsp sugar
100 ml of water,

100 g Cream Cheese at room temperature
100 ml cream
4-5 tbsp sugar
1 tsp gelatin
1 egg white



I put feijoas in hot sugar syrup for about 10 minutes because they became very dark in the air. You can also add a few drops of green coloring in the syrup. So scoop out feijoa pulp and put it in hot sugar syrup. Wait for 10 minutes, then remove them from syrup and blend in a food processor until smooth.
Soak gelatin in a 2 spoons of water.
Beat the egg white with 1 tablespoon of sugar until forming peaks.
Separately, whip the cream with a spoonful of sugar to the soft peaks.
Separately, whip feijoa with Cream cheese and remaining sugar until smooth.

Melt the gelatin in the micro for 10 sec. and pour it into a bowl with feijoa mix. Stir, add the whipped egg whites, stir, then quickly add the whipped cream and stir until combined.

To Assemble
80 ml cream
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp sugar
mint leaves,
1-2 tablespoons chopped pistachios

Line ring molds with acetate paper and place them on a sheetpan. Measure the circumference of the ring mold and cut a strip of cake accordingly. Place the strip of chocolate genoise around the ring mold and a disk on the bottom.  Pipe the feijoa mousse inside the ring mold almost to the top. Top with another disk of genoise.
Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Whip cream with cocoa and sugar until forming peaks. Decorate top of cake with cream, mint leaves and pistachios.

Enjoy!

Lamb Rack with Orange, Mint & Dried Fig Salad

Orange, Mint & Dried Fig Salad
1⁄3 cup lemon juice
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 oranges, peeled with sharp knife, removing the pith, and sliced
4 radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced (on a mandoline if you have one)
1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced
6 Dried Figs, slised
1⁄3 cup pitted black olives
1⁄3 cup firmly packed mint leaves
120g marinated feta, crumbled

For the lamb and to serve
3 lamb racks (8 cutlets in each)
olive oil for rubbing
2 cups firmly packed baby spinach



Orange, Mint & Dried Fig Salad
Combine the lemon juice and oil and season to taste. Arrange the orange slices on each serving plate and top with radishes, onion, dates, olives and mint leaves. Sprinkle with feta and drizzle with the dressing.

For the lamb and to serve
Rub the lamb with oil, season and chargrill or barbecue over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes each side for rare. Rest, loosely covered, in a warm place for 5 minutes. Divide the watercress among the plates alongside the salad, top with sliced lamb and serve the couscous in a bowl on the side. Serves 6.