Caprese Salad

What a beautiful summer salad.. I just love the colours and flavours that this classic Italian salad has to offer :) The 3 key ingredients are: tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzarella. This recipe calls for Fiora di latte, which is fresh mozzarella made from cow's milk. However, I searched high and low for this cheese for two days and couldn't find it anywhere. So I used buffalo mozzarella instead, and it was sooo delicious! We enjoyed it with some crusty bread - great for soaking up scrummy salad juices :)

I decided to make this after watching Better Homes & Gardens (BHG) the other night. To watch the video segment, click here. I followed the recipe in the BHG magazine (Christmas 2009 issue). For those who are keen, here's the full recipe:

Enjoy...

Ladybird x

Channa Dal

I made this quick and easy dal with the pressure cooker this evening. Chana dal is my favourite dal of all. It's so comforting to eat.. although, I have to admit it probably wasn't the best choice of dinner given it's so warm in Sydney at the moment!

As I've mentioned in a previous dal post, there are sooo many dals (legumes) to choose from. But what is chana dal? Chana dal is produced by removing the outer layer of black chickpeas and then splitting the kernel. Of course, don't do this yourself :) You'll be able to buy chana dal in any indian food shop. Nutrition wise, chana dal is really good for you. It has a low glycemic index and is high in fibre, protein and zinc - hurrah!

Beloved pressure cooker

Cooked dal-slightly soft but holding its form

The dal after the fried garlic and spices have been added

The finishing touch - fresh coriander & lemon

You can find the recipe here. I found this recipe months ago and have been using it almost every week since then! However.. I don't use ghee in my dals, I used 1 tbsp canola oil instead. I also like a good squeeze of lemon to give it a nice lift :)

Zucchini Pasta

After work on a Monday, I can never be too bothered spending much time cooking dinner... so a quick, easy and tasty pasta always does the trick for me. This pasta is very simple and I do love dishes that use only a few ingredients and still pack a punch! Now I'll admit that this isn't the best thought out dinner because it doesn't contain that much vegetable, nor does it contain protein... But hey, it's nice now and then.

This recipe takes no more than 15 minutes and will serve 2 not too hungry people.


For this you'll need:
1 large zucchini
2-3 cloves of garlic
handful flat leaf parsley
Pasta (I prefer linguini for this recipe but ran out so used spaghetti instead)
olive oil
salt and pepper
parmesan cheese

1. Put your salted pasta water onto the boil. In the meantime, coarsley grate the zucchini into a bowl.

2. Crush the garlic and throw it into the bowl with the zucchini. If you're feeling lazy like me you can finely grate the garlic cloves so that they as fine as they'd be minced.

3. Put the pasta on and pour yourself a glass of wine :)

4. Heat a good slosh of olive oil in a pan and throw in your zucchini and garlic. Season generously and stir, then cover and continue to cook over medium heat.

5. In the meantime, roughly chop the parsley and add it to the pan.

6. Drain cooked pasta and add straight into pan and toss through zucchini mixture. Check seasoning.

7. Serve and top with finely grated parmesan. Enjoy :)


Tips:
The main thing to watch for with this dish is that your zucchini does not overcook - it shouldn't be on the heat for more than 5 mins I'd say, otherwise you'll lose that lovely fresh green colour of the vegetable :)

Don't worry too much about super draining the pasta - some of that pasta water will be more than welcome in the pan and keep the pasta moist.

PS - sorry for the blurry pic - couldn't find the camera in time so grabbed the iPhone!

Vegetarian Cheeseburgers

It has been way too long since my last post - my sincere apologies!

Now that I have a little more spare time on my hands, I thought it was about time to post a new recipe. Tonight I made vegetarian cheeseburgers - one of our weekend favourites at the moment.

Here's what you'll need for these:

400g can red kidney beans (drained and rinsed, roughly mashed with a fork- not too mushy!)
1 small brown onion (finely chopped)
100g grated low fat cheddar cheese
100g breadcrumbs
1 egg
plain flour, for dusting
1 tbsp vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste

Burger buns
White onion, sliced
Tomato, sliced
Iceberg lettuce
Tomato sauce

1. Combine all of the above (with clean hands is easiest)... it should form a chucky paste. Divide mixture into 4 or 5 balls and roll in a little flour. Flatten and shape into burger style patties.

2. Heat oil in frying pan on medium heat and fry gently for 8-10 minutes, turning once.

3. Assemble burgers, and enjoy!


TIPS:

• You can add any other trimmings that take your fancy - cheese slices, mustard, aoli, beetroot... you name it!
• If you are luck enough to have a food processer, use it to blitz your onions and kidney beans respectively. It's so quick and you won't get onion eyes :)

Open Omlette with Spinach, Goat's Fetta & Cherry Tomatoes

Open omlettes are one of my favourite quick and easy dinners. Mr Ladybird loves them too, even for breakfast.

For one of these you'll need:
2 eggs
handful of baby spinach, roughly chopped
few cherry tomatoes, quartered
Goat's fetta (but you can use any sort of cheese really)

Method

1. Heat the oven grill.
2. In a bowl, season and whisk the eggs. Heat a dash of olive oil in a small, not-stick pan and pour in the egg mixture.
3. With the heat still on, throw in the baby spinach, chunks of fetta and arrange the tomatoes.
4. When the omlette starts to firm up, take it off the heat and put it under the grill until it turns golden brown.
5. Slide onto the plate, and enjoy!
   

Love,

Ladybird x

Creamy Mushroom Fettucine

Sometimes it's good to see what you have in the fridge and just to make a meal out of it. Today was was of those days. After a long week at work, there was no way I was stopping at the supermarket on the way home! With onion, garlic, mushrooms, parsley and a dash of cream, I came up with this pasta and topped it with some parmesan cheese.

Quick, easy and delicious :)

Have a great weekend everyone!


Ladybird

Punjabi Daal

Daal and rice is a real Indian comfort food - and it's very good for you too! In Hindi, daal means lentil- so daal can be the raw lentils, or the cooked dish. In both the raw and cooked state, there is huge variety. A lot of people think that all lentils taste the same, but they don't! It really depends on the lentil and what you cook them with, and each region of India has their own take on daal recipes.

You can do the whole soaking and boiling thing, but I just use a pressure cooker. Oh, how I love my pressure cooker friend :)

This evening I made this daal. I made this recipe up myself so I don't really know what to call it - Punjabi Daal because it's thick..(?) Anyway, here's how I made it...

Ingredients
1 cup yellow split peas
salt
1 -2 tbsp canola oil
1 chopped onion
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1 cinammon stick
2 cloves
1 bayleaf
wedge of lemon
approx. 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Method
To make this daal first sorted and rinse the daal (lentils). Then cooked the daal, 3 cups of water and a good teaspoon of salt in a pressure cooker over low-medium heat for 1 whistle (about 10 minutes). Leave the pressure cooker to sit - the pressure will gradually release by itself in about 15-20 minutes.

NB - Never open a pressure cooker without releasing the pressure either by waiting or lifting the whistle. It can be extremely dangerous. Trust me, I learnt that the hard way about 6 years ago- daal ended up pasted to the white ceiling :(

Then fry the onion in half the oil. While it is browning add the turmeric and chilli powder. Set aside.


Next you have to fry the whole spices. I use a special Indian ladle to do so, but you could do it in a small frypan too. Heat the oil and add the cumin seeds. Let them sizzle for a minute, then add the cinammon stick, cloves and bay leaf. Please be careful when frying - stand back as it may spit, especially as the cloves plump up and go 'pop'. Fry for about a minute.


Carefully tip the fried spices and fried onions into the cooked daal and bring the pot to the boil and simmer for a about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and add a good squeeze of lemon and mix in chopped coriander.

Serve with basmati rice, and a side of vegetables. Yum yum :)


Ladybird
x

Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni

I felt like something like this for dinner tonight. I wasn't too well yesterday and dined on toast for dinner, so I had to make something decent tonight!
The recipe is surprisingly easy, and low fat too! So here's the recipe.


Enjoy with a glass of red wine for good measure ;)

Love,

Ladybird x

Baked Ricotta Cheesecake with Balsamic Strawberries

One year ago today my husband and I officially moved to Sydney. It's been a great year for us - a new city, new home, new jobs, new friends and new experiences.

To celebrate I decided to make something new. I've never made a cheesecake before and I found this recipe and it looked so good I just had to try it, especially since strawberries are in season.

Tastes extra good watching a movie like Little Miss Sunshine too! ;)

To view the recipe, click here.