Meatless Monday: Shiitake mushroom and pearl barley pilaf

Wow is all I can say.  What a wondrous grain pearl barley is.  Barley is a nutritious, nutty grain which offers a tasty alternative to rice.  It is often used in stews and soups, but can be used in place of rice in a risotto.  It can also be used cold in salads.  You can find it where you would find soups in the supermarket, lentils or split peas etc.  To prepare it for use the barley has to be soaked overnight or for at least 6 hours.  The ratio for this is one part barley, two part water.  Drain.  If you haven’t used asian mushrooms before you are really missing out.  Next time they are on special grab a packet and throw them through scrambled eggs with some herbs or try this recipe!  If you find you like the different flavour and are interested in trying something else, try the Asian inspired steak and veg

Shiitake mushroom and pearl barley pilaf

The recipe is presented without resizing, providing 4 servings

Preparation time:20 minutes + overnight soaking Total cooking time: 45 minutes

-= Ingredients =-

1 1/2 cups Pearl barley 330g
3 Each Shitake mushrooms Dried
2 1/2 Cups Vegetable or chicken stock 625ml
1/2 Cup Dry sherry 125ml
2 tablespoons Olive oil
1 Large Onion Finely chopped
3 Cloves Garlic Crushed
2 tablespoons Ginger Grated fresh
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns Crushed
500 grams Asian mushrooms mixed Oyster, enoki, shimeji
500 grams Choy sum Cut into short lengths
3 teaspoons Kecap manis
1 teaspoon Sesame Oil

-= Instructions =-
Soak the barley in enough cold water to cover for at least 6 hours or preferably overnight. Drain.
Soak the shiitake mushrooms in enough boiling water to cover for 15 minutes. Strain reserving 1/2 cup of the liquid. Discard the tough stalks and slice the caps.
Heat the stock and sherry in a pan and maintain at a low simmer.
Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 4-5 minutes, or until softened. Add the garlic, ginger and peppercorns and cook for 1 minute. Slice the Asian mushrooms, reserving the enoki for later. Increase the heat and add the mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the mushrooms have softened. Add the barley, shiitake mushrooms, the reserved soaking liquid and the hot stock. Stir well to combine. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to lower and simmer, covered for 35 minutes, or until the liquid evaporates.
Steam the choy sum until just wilted. Add to the barley mixture with the enoki mushrooms. Stir in the kecap manis and sesame oil.

Meatless Monday – Pumpkin, Leek and Spinach Lasagne

Interested in joining me on my quest to reduce meat in your diet? I’m not one to cut meat completely as I really do love it, but am interested in supplementing our diet with more grains, legumes, pulses and vegetables. I’m doing it more for the health benefits and in the interests of a truly balanced diet. I fear we eat too much wheat and aim to reduce the starch as well. So although this meal does have wheat, it was our only pasta meal for the week. This one can be made ahead of time. So get in the kitchen and make dinner on Monday a breeze to prepare! I also recently made a vegetable tagine with cous cous, which I will post at another time. Happy Sunday people!

I made my own lasagne following this recipe and it made enough for two meals. Bonus! So I froze the rest for an easy meal another week. The lasagne also made enough for two meals, with some salad and garlic bread.

Spinach and Pumpkin Lasagne

Recipe By: Me
Serving Size: 8
Cuisine: Italian
Main Ingredient: Pumpkin
Categories: Pasta, Vegetables

-= Ingredients =-
1 bunch silverbeet ; sliced
1/2 pumpkin, roasted and sliced
1/2 red onion ; sliced
1 leek, sliced
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2 cups milk
2 cups tasty cheese ; grated
1 cup mozzarella cheese ; grated
1 cup romano or parmesan cheese ; grated
4 cloves garlic ; crushed
Salt ; & pepper
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tub philly cream cheese
Lasagne ; sheets

-= Instructions =-
Preheat oven to 180′ C
Roast the pumpkin in oven for approximately 20 minutes. Put aside.
Melt butter in saucepan, add leek and onion, flour, nutmeg, salt & pepper. Stir until smooth
Add milk and stir over medium heat until sauce thickens. Add cream cheese, garlic and 1 cup of tasty cheese. Stir until melted. I use a whisk when stirring white sauces.
Place a layer of roasted pumpkin slices in the base of a roasting dish. Add a layer of silverbeet and a layer of onions. Spoon 1/3 of sauce over veges. Sprinkle with a little parmesan. Top with lasagne sheets. Repeat until all ingredients are used up, ending with cheese sauce.
Mix remaining cheeses together and sprinkle evenly over lasagne
Bake at 180’C for 40 minutes or until browned on top

Notes: If you just can’t do a lasagne without meat, try this one with chicken. If you like lots of sauce with your lasagne, perhaps consider doubling the bechamel sauce recipe.

Dhal with Garlic and Herb Naan Bread

It may be Tuesday but after finding some lovely fresh coriander at the market and lentils at the food coop I was drawn to cooking up a batch of dhal. I have made Bill Granger’s recipe a number of times however decided to add some caraway seeds, cardamon pods and fennel seeds, all organic from the food coop. To extend it a bit further and also to add some vegies I also decided to pulse a carrot and potato. Here is my amended recipe. Here’s my tip don’t scratch your nose after cutting up chilli!

Dhal

Recipe By: Bill Granger – Delicious Sept 05 pg 112, changed by KFerguson
Serving Size: 4
Cuisine: Indian
Main Ingredient: Lentils
Categories: Spicy, Side Dish, Main Dish

-= Ingredients =-
2 tablespoons Olive oil
1 each Red onion ; finely sliced
2 1/2 each Ginger ; peeled, grated
3 ea Garlic ; finely sliced cloves
1 each Green chili ; finely chopped
1 tspn Ground cumin
1/4 tspn caraway seeds
1/4 tspn fennel seeds
6 cardamon pods
1 cup Red lentils ; 250g
1 carrot finely diced
1 potato finely diced
1 tablespoon Lime juice ; to serve
1 bunch Coriander leaves ; fresh handful
4 each Naan bread ; to serve

-= Instructions =-
Heat a heavy based saucepan over medium heat and add oil. When hot, add onion, ginger, garlic, chilli, caraway and fennel seeds, cardamon pods, 1 teaspoon of sea salt and cumin, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft. Add carrot and potato and cook for 3 minutes. Add lentils and 3 cups (750ml) of water and cook, sitrring occasionally, for 20 minutes over medium-low heat until lentils have dissolved. Remove from heat and stir through the lime juice. Top with the coriander leaves and serve with naan bread

Potato and caramelised onion frittata

It’s meatless Monday! Tonight I decided to try a recipe I saw on taste a few weeks ago. It combines my love of caramelised onion with potato. I served it with a simple salad of fresh carrot, snow peas, avocado, bush ripened tomatoes and cheese. It got the tick of approval from the youngest member of the family.

Potato and caramelised onion frittata 

Served with a side of crisp salad, this potato and caramelised onion frittata makes for a delicious dinner.

Recipe By: Notebook: – April 2009, Page 144 Taste
Serving Size: 4
Cuisine:
Main Ingredient: Potato
Categories: BBQ, Quiche/Tart, Side Dish, Brunch

-= Ingredients =-
40 grams butter
4 each brown onions ; thickly sliced
2 each garlic cloves ; crushed
1 1/2 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tbs thyme leaves
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
3 each (about 500g) desiree potatoes ; thinly sliced
6 each free-range eggs ; lightly whisked
1/2 cup thickened cream ; (125ml)
Thyme ; sprigs

-= Instructions =-
Heat the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat until foaming. Add the onion and garlic and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes or until onion is very soft and beginning to caramelise. Add the sugar, vinegar and thyme and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until sugar dissolves and mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl.

Add half the oil to the pan and place over medium-high heat. Add half the potato and cook, turning occasionally, for 5 minutes or until lightly golden and tender. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining potato.

Preheat the grill on high. Heat the remaining oil in a small (15cm base measurement) frying pan over medium heat. Layer the potato and half the onion in the pan. Whisk the egg and cream together in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over the potato mixture. Reduce heat to low. Cook for 5 minutes or until the frittata is golden and set underneath. Remove from heat and place under the grill. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown and just set. Remove from heat and set aside for 5 minutes. Turn onto a clean work surface.

Cut the frittata into wedges. Serve warm or at room temperature with remaining caramelised onions and thyme sprigs.

Meatless Monday – Carrot and Zucchini Crepes

I had intended to make a Moroccan pie for dinner tonight with filo pastry. However decided I would wait for the much awaited arrival of my food processor before I attempted it. As I had decided on a meatless dish for dinner, I went searching for something that would be filling, tasty and used ingredients I had. I ended up using Katren’s mum’s recipe for carrot and zucchini crepes. It was a bit of challenge too. As I must admit I have never made crepes before! My little boy was by my side to assist me. Such a great little helper he is. He helped with the stirring, the folding of the crepes and even the grating of the vegies. I won’t miss grating when the processor arrives. I made a couple of changes to this recipe. The tomatoes were a little acidic so I added a teaspoon of sugar to lessen the acid and two carrots as I only had a large zucchini and a tiny one.

Carrot and Zucchini Crepes
Recipe By: Katren’s mum taste forum
Serving Size: 4
Cuisine:
Main Ingredient: Carrots
Categories: Vegetarian, Batters

-= Ingredients =-
~~ Crepes: ~~
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 – 3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup water
~~ Sauce: ~~
1/2 tablespoon oil
3 shallots, finely diced ; (or a small brown onion)
1 garlic clove ; crushed
1 – 2 tbsp mixed herbs ; (I use Masterfoods Italian mixed herbs)
425 grams can diced tomatoes
1 – 2 tbsp tomato paste
~~ Filling: ~~
1 tablespoon oil
1 large carrot ; grated
3 medium zucchini ; grated
1/2 onion, grated
2 garlic cloves ; crushed
60 grams cheddar cheese ; grated
60 grams mozzarella cheese ; grated

-= Instructions =-
Sift flour, stir in combined eggs, parsley milk & water (adding more milk if necessary. Stand 1 hour. Cook crepes in a hot greased pan.

Heat oil in medium saucepan, sauté shallots for 2 – 3 minutes then add garlic and herbs & sauté for a further minute. Add tomatoes & paste and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes adding a bit of water if it is too thick. (You want it to be pretty thick though)

Squeeze excess liquid from zucchini. Heat oil over medium heat sauté all ingredients until onion is soft. Remove from heat and stir in cheddar cheese. Divide mixture equally between crepes. Roll up and place in a baking dish just large enough to fit the all. Top with ¾ of the sauce and mozzarella. Bake at 180’C for 20 – 25 minutes or until heated through and cheese is hot and bubbling. Serve with remaining sauce and a green salad.

Meatless Monday – Baked Eggplant and Ricotta Rolls

We eat a lot of meat in our household. Lunch and dinner most days. I’m trying to reduce our meat intake by one meal a week, introducing more colour to the plate. Reducing our meat intake will encourage me to experiment with vegetables, legumes and grains in ways I normally wouldn’t. I have started this weeks Meatless Monday with Baked Eggplant and Ricotta Rolls served with creamy polenta. These were a huge success and I’ll be sure to make them again. I made passata on the weekend, so the dish was pretty straight forward and the one vegetable we do grow is eggplants! Hope you enjoy the meal and collection to come. Please feel free to send me your favourite meatless dishes 🙂

Baked eggplant & ricotta rolls
Recipe By: Good taste June 2008 Pg 35 Alison Adams
Serving Size: 4
Cuisine: Italian
Main Ingredient: Eggplants
Categories: Vegetarian, MeatlessMon

-= Ingredients =-
each Olive ; oil spray
2 medium eggplants
480 grams Ricotta cheese ; (2 cups) fresh ricotta
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
70 grams parmesan cheese ; (1 cup) finely grated
575 gram pasta sauce
85 grams Mozzarella ; (3/4 cup) coarsely grated mozzarella
Cooked ; polenta

-= Instructions =-
Preheat oven to 200°C. Spray 2 large baking trays with olive oil spray to lightly grease. Cut the eggplants into sixteen 1cm-thick slices lengthways. Arrange the eggplant, in a single layer, on the prepared trays. Lightly spray with olive oil spray. Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until golden.

Meanwhile, place the ricotta, basil and three-quarters of the parmesan in a medium bowl and stir until well combined. Taste and season with pepper.

Place 1 tablespoon of the ricotta mixture on 1 eggplant slice. Roll up firmly to enclose filling. Place the roll, seam-side down, in a 30 x 20cm (base measurement) baking dish. Repeat with the remaining ricotta mixture and eggplant. Pour the sauce evenly over the rolls. Sprinkle with the mozzarella and remaining parmesan. Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until the mozzarella melts. Serve with polenta, if desired.