CORIANDER
(Cilantro)

Why is it, that everyone feels the need to include 'fresh' coriander to meals (Especially Thai cooking). If it's not in the actual meal, then it's used as a garnish. Statistically it is one of the world's most used herbs, but why? In my opinion fresh coriander runis any meal it touches. I'll use ground coriander, dried coriander leaves, but I refuse to let fresh coriander touch my food. It ruins both the smell and taste of meals, making them inedible. When a recipe call for fresh coriander I always substitute for dried.

Just my complaints for today...
Anja

Labels: rants

APPLE, PECAN AND WHITE CHOCOLATE CRUMBLE

I loved this recipe the minute I read it... And then I tried it and I really fell in love! I made this for my parents Anniversary breakfast last year (got up at 6am t cut the apples... but ow well...)

Serves 6
Prep time: 30 min Cooking time: 45-50 min
(Prep time can be cut down by a hand slicer (amazing things) Makes cutting the apples a breeze!

-Apple Base-
6 apples (cored, thinly sliced)
1/4 cup caster sugar

-Crumble Topping-
1 cup pecan pieces
1 cup white choc bits
3/4 cup oats
1/2 brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
100g butter (Room temperature)

-Serve With-
(Optional really, but how can you not...)
Ice Cream
Whipped Cream

METHOD:

1 - Preheat oven to 180C. Toss apples together with caster sugar and place in medium baking dish.

2 - To make crumble topping, combine pecans, choc bits, oats, brown sugar ad flour in a bowl. Add butter and with fingertips, rub in until combined. Sprinkle crumble topping over apples.

3 - Bake for 45-50 mins, until apples are tender crumble crisp.

4 - Serve with Ice cream and whipped cream.

This is a great weekend breakfast or special day breakfast (or desert). We generally have it for breakfast and then have the left overs for desert the next day! And you cannot go without ice cream and whipped cream, I say optional, but really it's a must!

Happy cooking and even happier eating!
Anja

Labels: breakfast, desert

LENTIL AND PASTA LOAF

Tonight's dinner, a great and easy recipe from what I believe to be a great book! It's the Vegetarian Book from the 'Collector's Edition' of cook books (a great find, I found it in a discount book store one day!)

Serves 4
Prep Time - 12 min Cooking Time - 56 min

Don't let the cooking time fool you, it's a very easy lazy day recipe, because once it's in the oven, you can forget about it until it's time to eat.

INGREDIENTS

75g small pasta shapes (we generally use elbows, but anything you have would work!)
125g brown lentils
2 cups wholemeal bread crumbs (can be store bought or home made from stale bread. Doesn't necessarily have to be wholemeal, we actually use wholegrain for this meal and it tastes fantastic!)
1 onion, grated
1 carrot, grated
2 celery, chopped
60g pine nuts
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup water
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
black pepper

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C, and grease a loaf tin (11x21cm is best, but whatever you have, just don't make the loaf too thin or too fat!). Cook the pasta in lots of salted boiling water in a large saucepan for 8 minutes or until al dente). Drain pasta. Wash and drain lentils.

2. Place pasta, lentils, breadcrumbs, onion, carrot, celery, pine nuts, tomato paste, water, eggs, Worcesteshire sauce and black pepper (to taste) in a bowl, and mix to combine. Spoon mixture into tin and bake for 45 minutes or until loaf is firm.

The recipe is actually great on it's own, but depending on how many you're feeding (there's 3 of us) you may want to add a salad or garlic bread to the table. Our dog Jasper also decided he thoroughly enjoyed the slice we saved for him, so great for us humans and dogs alike!

Enjoy!
Anja

Labels: lazy day, pasta, vegetarian

Hello and Welcome to Anja's World of Food. My name is Anja, and I'll be sharing with you the recipes my family cooks from our favorites to the failures (and sometimes complete disasters). I have a pretty willing family, just me and my parents and we'll eat almost anything, especially if you cut it really small or hide it under cheese (Thank you Rachael Ray!). We enjoy our lazy day meals (I'm a full time Uni student and my parents run their own business) where you can just open a few cans, mix a few things together and whala, there's dinner, to the more complex, well lets dedicate half a day to that dinner! I also occasionally feel the need to make fun of ridiculous sounding recipes, so please bare with me and if you're daring, feel free to try it!

Here's to good food! Happy cooking (and even happier eating!)
Anja

Labels: Welcome