Jamie's Italian, Sydney CBD

I think any parents out there reading this will understand completely when I say that making it to your child's first birthday is a very significant milestone. It's one of those times in your life when you breathe a huge sigh of relief and say "Phew... We made it!" I'll be posting soon about little Roman's birthday picnic, but this post is about our parental celebration :)

To celebrate making it through our first year of parenthood, Mr Ladybird and I headed to Jamie's Italian on Pitt Street in the Sydney CBD last week for lunch (by ourselves - wahooo!) Sure, having lunch with Roman is nice and all... but so is just the two of us. No stress over high chairs; cutlery being jabbed in the eye, or glasses being sent flying from the table... just the two of us, like "the old days"!

I really enjoyed this meal. The vibe at Jamie's Italian is stylish and unpretentious. And the food is much the same - simple, delicious, and nothing over-the-top. Just good honest Italian food. Service was prompt and friendly too, which can often make or break a dining experience! We started with complimentary bread and lovely olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

For entrees, we both had the zucchini flower special ($14.50)... a scrumptious stuffed and deep-fried zucchini flower with a rich tomato sauce and rocket pesto. I'm not usually one for anything deep-fried, but I can never say no to a good zucchini flower. The crumbed exterior was wonderfully crisp and crunchy, a nice contrast to the creamy interior of the flower.

For mains, Mr Ladybird enjoyed the pasta special - ravioli with asparagus, peas, mint, lemon zest and watercress $18.50. I enjoyed a small Pumpkin pasta ($12.50) which was wonderful.

Oh yes, and a cheeky side of Polenta Chips ($8.50).

And for dessert, Mr Ladybird and I shared a portion of rich Special Tiramisu ($9) coffee flavoured trifle with orange mascarpone and chocolate. Heaven!

All in all a lovely treat to ourselves on our son's first birthday. Thumbs up, Mr O!

I'll post again soon with some snaps from our little one's birthday celebration (and the cake of course!) Till next time...

Ladybird x

Jamie's Italian
107 Pitt St, Sydney
(02) 8240 9000
http://www.jamieoliver.com/au/italian/

Vegetarian Sheperd's Pie

This is absolutely, hands-down, my favourite veggie sheperd's pie recipe. All too often, veggie versions of meat dishes are very very disappointing, but not this one! This dish is packed with flavour (and protein!), and is lovely, hearty meal. You can also add a cheeky slosh of red wine if you've got a bottle open as it adds a great flavour. I make this quite often as it is equally tasty served the next day for lunch (or dinner again, if I'm feeling lazy...)

Vegetarian Sheperd's Pie with Cheddar and Lentils

serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

• • 2 red onions
• • 2 carrots
• • 2 sticks of celery
• • 2 cloves of garlic
• • a small bunch of fresh rosemary
• • 2 x 400g tins of lentils
• • olive oil
• • 1 x 400g tin of plum tomatoes
• • 200ml vegetable stock, preferably organic
• • 1.5kg Desiree potatoes
• • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• • 150g Cheddar cheese, grated
• • 100ml whole milk
• • a pinch of nutmeg
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• Method
• The following steps and accompanying pictures are from Jamie's website.
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• To prepare and cook your filling

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  • 
  • 
  • Peel and roughly chop the onions and carrots
  • Trim and roughly chop the celery
  • Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves

  To prepare and cook your filling

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  • 
  • 
  • Pick the rosemary leaves, discard the stalks
  • Finely chop half of leaves, put the rest to one side
  • Drain the lentils

  To prepare and cook your filling

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  • 
  • 
  • Heat a large pan on a medium heat
  • Add a good lug of olive oil and the onions, carrots, celery and garlic
  • Cook gently with the lid on for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until softened

  To prepare and cook your filling

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  • 
  • 
  • Add the chopped rosemary leaves, tinned tomatoes and stock and stir well
  • Bring to the boil, then add the drained lentils, reduce to a low heat and simmer gently for 30 minutes, or until thick and delicious

  To make your mash topping

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  • 
  • 
  • Peel the potatoes, cut them into halves and quarters depending on their size, and put them into a pan of salted, boiling water
  • Boil for about 10 minutes until tender
  • Stick a knife into them to check they’re soft all the way through

  To make your mash topping

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  • Drain in a colander and return them to the pan
  • Grate the Cheddar cheese
  • Add the milk, butter, most of the cheese and a pinch of salt and pepper to the pan

  To make your mash topping

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  • 
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  • Finely grate in a few scrapings of nutmeg
  • Mash until smooth and creamy

  To assemble and cook your shepherd’s pie

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  • Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas 5
  • Transfer the lentil mixture to a large ovenproof baking dish
  • Spoon the mash evenly over the top, poke the remaining rosemary leaves into it to decorate and drizzle with olive oil

  To assemble and cook your shepherd’s pie

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  • Sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese, then cook in the hot oven for 30 minutes, or until golden and bubbling
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  And voila, it's ready to eat! Nom nom nom :)
  
  Tell me, dear readers, what sort of food do you like to tuck into on a cold and miserable winter's night?
  
  
  Anna x
  
  

Mushroom & Pumpkin Wellington

When I picked up the December/January issue of Delicious magazine, I admit I was instantly drawn to the pages of incredible sweet creations offered by the publication. What I didn't expect, however, was a section dedicated to vegetarian Christmas dishes. Could it really be?! I was excited to say the least... it really isn't that often that vegetarian dishes get much of a look-in at this time of year, so a special feature by Jamie Oliver was a special surprise :)

No tofurkey here (yes - tofu if the shape of a turkey.. something I've never been able to get my head around...), but rather an interesting take on a classic - the Beef Wellington.When I turned to Jamie's Mushroom & Pumpkin Wellington I knew it would be a contender for a place at the Christmas table on the 25th, so I did a trial run today for dinner. There is quite a lot of work in this dish, but like a lot of Christmas dishes, the preparation is almost therapeutic and the result is rewarding. This beef-free wellington is packed with Christmassy flavours.. I especially love the sage and chestnuts in this dish, really delicious along with the flaky pastry.

Mushroom & Pumpkin Wellington
Adapted Jamie Oliver recipe from Delicious magazine (December 2010/January 2011 issue)

Ingredients

1 small butternut pumpkin (halved lengthways, seeds scooped out, peeled and cut into thick wedges)
olive oil
1 small dired chilli, crumbled
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 rosemary sprig, leaves chopped
2 red onions, sliced
75g chestnuts, roughly chopped
small bunch sage leaves (around 8-10 leaves picked)
2 slices sourdough bread
3 garlic cloves
1 lemon
50g unsalted butter
250g swiss brown mushrooms, thinly sliced
large bunch English spinach, trimmed
1/3 c pine nuts
2 tbsp sultanas
4 squares ready-made puff pastry
1 egg, beaten with a splash of milk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius. Toss the pumpkin wedges into a large baking pan with a splash of oil, the chilli and cinnamon - rub the pumpkin well to coat. Bash coriander seeds along with a little coarse salt in a pestle and mortar until fine, then add the rosemary and bash again for a minute or two until aromatic. Scatter this evenly over the pumpkin then cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes, or until soft. Cool, then tear into bite size chunks.

2. Meanwhile, place a pan on medium heat and add a splash of oil and cook the onion. Season well and  cook gently for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally until softened and lightly browned. Add the chestnuts and sage to the pan for the last few minutes of cooking.

3. While that's happening, toast the sourdough and rub with the cut sides of one of the garlic cloves. Tear the toast into small chunks, and once the onion is done, add the toast to the pan and mix everything together. Switch the heat off and season a little more and add the lemon zest. Set mixture aside.

4. Melt butter in a clean pan over medium heat and add the mushrooms and one clove of garlic, thinly sliced. Cook the mushrooms to 4-6 minutes until soft and quite dry. Squeeze in a little lemon juice, season well with salt and pepper, then tip into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Set puree aside.

5. Bring a large pan of salted water to boil and blanch the spinach briefly (around 30 seconds). Drain in a colander and press lightly to get rid of excess fluid, then place to one side.

6. Place a small dry pan over medium heat and toast the pine nuts for 1 minute until light brown. Tip onto a plate. Thinly slice remaining garlic clove. Return the pan to the heat and add a splash of oil, then the garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes before adding the pine nuts, sultanas and spinach. Fry everything together until warmed through and smelling delicious. Season well and turn off the heat.

7. Once almost fully defrosted. lay the squares of pastry on top of each other, leaving a 1 cm overlap between each. Roll out between baking paper to an even 2mm thickness, and the approximate dimensions of an A3 piece of paper. Spread the mushroom mixture all over, leaving a 1cm gap on the edges of all 4 sides of the pastry (I forgot to do this, but it's fairly important once you're sealing up the wellington).

8. In a large bowl, combined the pumpkin, onions and spinach mixtures.

Spoon in a thick line down the middle of the pastry. Hold one side of the paper and lift it with the pastry, towards the centre of the wellington so it starts to cover the filling.

Peel the paper back, leaving the pastry in place. Brush some eggwash along the centre edge and pull the other side of pastry over it so that it overlaps, containing the filling in a log shape. Brush the ends with eggwash and fold in the pastry to seal it. Carefully roll onto a lined baking tray, with the sealed side down. Brush all over with egg wash and score lightly in a criss-cross fashion.

9. Bake for 45 minutes at 200 degrees Celcius, until puffed and golden. Slice thickly to serve.

So, the verdict on Jamie Olier's vegetarian wellington recipe? It's tasty, it's certainly Christmassy, and it looks great... It is a time consuming dish to make, but something like this wellington would be ideal at Christmas in a cold climate because it is so warming and comforting. I don't think this is quite the 'it' dish I was after for the Christmas menu, but good thing the Delicious magazine has plenty more recipes for me to try... If only I had more time to sample them all!

So, to all the vegetarians/vegans out there, what's your ideal savoury Christmas dish?


Ladybird x