Chickpea cutlets

Apologies for no posts in ages. You know how life gets away on you sometimes. Anyways, the other day foodblog got contacted by Taste of New Zealand inviting us to meet some celebrity chefs cause they love our work. Not too sure of the details but that's very exciting for us!! It has motivated us all to post more because we have been pretty negligent lately... Also, summer is almost here which means I go on holiday and will have way more time! And T & J are opening a new bar which means more food and drink recipes are on their way. its all very exciting. Anyways, here's a favourite at the moment. Try it out and let me know how it goes. YUMMMMMM!

Chickpea cutlets

A friend of mine linked this recipe to me and I tried it one night when we have some people over. Now I'm crazy about them and it seems all my friends are too! I cannot take credit for this (original link at end of page) but I have altered it a bit. These are delicious and great for non meat and meat eaters alike. The gluten give them a nice chewy texture and the chickpeas give them a delicious flavour. Great source of protein too! Hope you enjoy and get creative with them!

1 can chickpeas or 1.5 cup chickpeas cooked

4 cloves garlic
1TBSP Sesame oil
1 cup gluten flour

Bit of salt and lots of pepper
1 cup plain breadcrumbs (use storebought)
1 TBSP cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp grated lemon zest

1/2 cup water
2TBSP soy sauce

1 egg- beaten or soymilk if vegan

More breadcrumbs and sesame seeds

Heat chickpeas in microwave for 1 min in brine. Then drain and rinse and chuck in a food processor. Add Garlic and oil and blitz for a few pulses until you have small chunks of chickpeas (you don’t want to end up with a paste so check it after every pulse). Transfer to a bowl and add flour, crumbs, spices and zest. Mix well. Then add the liquids and mix with a spoon until you get a dough like consitenancy. Knead for a few mintues until the gluten starts getting stringy. Separate into palm sized balls and then flatten.

Dip each one into the beaten egg or soymilk until covered and then coat in breadcrumbs and seasame seeds. Easiest way is to pour ½ c of breadcrumbs and 1/4c seeds onto a small plate and then drop coated pattie on each side in the mix.

Then fry for a couple of mins on each side until the coating browns. To cook thoroughly don’t make patties too thick. Also you can press down on them using your spatula.

Put on a plate with a papertowl to squeeze out excess oil.

Eat warm in burders or with mash. So meaty!!

Also can be frozen for later or even cooked on the bbq. YUMMO!

Source: http://www.theppk.com/2010/11/doublebatch-chickpea-cutlets/

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Last weekend T'nealle and I did a stall at the Gapfiller Fair and the cupcakes I made were quite a hit! We also sold clothes, crafts and lots of other baking. Almost all the baking sold out and most of the other stuff was sold too. A very successful and fun day. Thanks Gapfiller!

(Foodblog at the Gapfiller fair)

Red velvet cakes always intrigued me so I did a little research and discovered they are from Southern USA and the red is just food colouring which seems a little pointless to me but with the cocoa they come out a beautiful maroon colour.

This recipe is an amalgamation of a few recipes I found online. I have tried it twice now so it should be pretty accurate now.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

3 cups white flour
5 tbsp Cocoa powder
2 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda
½ tsp Salt
4 tsp Red food colouring.
1 tsp White vinegar
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1½ cups Sugar
½ cup Butter or margarine
1 egg

1 cup Buttermilk

Prepare 2 muffin tins by lining them with cupcake cups or lightly greasing them

Preheat your oven to 180°C

Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a mixing bowl.

Add food colouring, vinegar and vanilla to a seperate bowl and whisk / blend.

With an electric mixer mix together sugar and butter, then add egg, mixing well. Now mix in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk mixture in 3 additions. Add a little extra buttermilk if mixture is too dry.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when skewered.

Once cool you can ice them!

Combine 1/3 c margarine and 3/4 c cream cheese with an electric beater. add icing sugar gradually using the beater to mix it in until you a thick consistency. I estimate it takes about 2 cups.

Spoon into a piping bag with a star nozle and aply to each cake in a spiral motion starting from the outside with a large dollop in the middle.

Optional- melt chocolate in a double boiler and pip into nice shapes on some baking paper using a thin line nozzle. refrigerate for 2 hours or until hard. gently ease off paper using a thin metal spatula and arrange on the icing as a nice decoration.

Enjoy!

These last about 4 days if kept in an airtight container.

Baked Orange Cheesecake

This a simple baked cheesecake recipe I devised last night. Its based on the traditional New York cheesecakes with a citrus flavour. I love using marscapone but it is hard to find in New Zealand so riccota will also work. If you want to make the base more interesting you can add some rolled oats and coconut but for a cake like this i prefer it to be simple.

If you are feeling extra indulgent then you can make an orange caramel sauce to go on top!

Crust:

1 packet of wine biscuits

3 Tbsp margarine

Filling:

2 eggs separated

1 250g punnet of marscapone or riccota cheese

1/2 c sugar

1 orange zested and juiced

1tsp vanilla

Crush the biscuits in a food processor, add margarine and mix util it starts to form like a dough. Press the mixture into a pie dish to form a bottom and crush that is about a cm thick. Bake in a 180 degree oven for about 12 mins. Leave the oven on but take out the crust.

To prepare the filling, beat the egg whites until the peaks are stiff. Combine the yolks, cheese, vanilla, sugar, zest and half the juice. fold the egg whites into this mixture and ppou into the prepared crust.

Bake in the oven for about half an hour or until the filling looks solid. it will brown a little and when you shake the dish little it shouldn't wobble.

I try to leave a couple of slices of orange on the top as garnish- an optional caramel sauce can be made as a topping.

Combine 1/3 c of sugar with 2 tbs of water and bring to the boil. allow to boil for 5 mins or so or until the mixture gains an amber colour. add the rest of the orange juice and let simmer for a few more mins. You can do the drop test by dropping one drop in a saucer of cold water to check that it is ready. it the drop solidifies somewhat then the caramel is done.

Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. When the cake is out of the oven, arrange the orange pieces and drizzle the caramel sauce on top.

Can be kept in the fridge for up to 4 days- but I doubt it will last that long!

(Subject enjoying said cake)

Cannelloni!

Pretty proud of this one. Went up to Kowai after the quake and just took what we had in the cupboard and managed to make a pretty decent dinner out of it!

CARROT AND COURGETTE CANNELLONI

A twist on a popular Italian dish- not as rich and full of more veges! Quick and easy to make and delicious! The feta adds a surprisingly creamy element to it.

3 carrots

3 courgettes

6 cloves of garlic

half a packet of feta

1 bottle of passata or 2 cans of diced tomatoes

2 capsicums (any colour)

1 chilli

1 packet of canneloni tubes

Grate the carrots and corguettes, dice the garlic and saute the mixture until the veges are soft. They will release a lot of liquids, thats fine just save it and add it to the sauce.Remove mixture from the heat and transfer to a bowl. Crumble and add the feta to the mixture and let cool.

Thinly slice the capsicum and the chilli- if you don't like spicy food then remove the seeds but i keep them in. In the same frying pan fry up the peppers an hilli until almost soft. Add the tomatoes and let simmer while you stuff the tubes.

By now the mixture should have cooled enough for you to handle it. I use my fingers but a piping bag if you have one is also an option. Stuff the tubes evenly with the filling mixture and assemble in a shallow baking dish in rows (you may have a bit left over- its ok to make a second row above. when all the tubes are full, pour the sauce over everything ensuring that all the tubes are covered so they will cook. Sprinkle cheese on top and if you are feeling adventurous you can put blobs of cream cheese on top of that!

Bake in the oven at 200 degrees for roughly 30 mins or until the pasta is soft when you poke a knife through it.

Leave for 10 mins before serving to allow it all to consolidate so it is easier to serve!

Apologies I did not have my camera on me when making this so no pictures but I will make it again soon and will be sure to add the images then!

Good to be back

Came back to Melbourne to escape the Christchurch chaos of the earthquake. Its nice to be somewhere where everyone isn't always on edge but at the same time I feel for my friends who are still in town and having to face the repercussions (like Fionn being made redundant this morning via text message (brutal!!)).

Uni looks like its going to be off for a few weeks still so I'm going to try and enjoy myself here while I can.

Currently staying in Joff's apartment in the QV right in the centre of the CBD. Lovely view of the public library from here which I plan to visit today- really reret not going there more when I lived here.

Last night Shak picked me up from the airport and we went to go on an adventure with his friend Marc but that turned out to be a bit of a failure with no one else being awake.

His mum made me a delicious salad which I plan to review on foodblog later on. It had candied pecans and pumpkin and goats feta and beetroot and this amazing mustard dressing. SO GOOOOD. Big ups to Mrs Shachter for making me a takeaway dinner!

After dropping my stuff at Joffs we went to find something to do and just as we left QV ran into a couple of french exchange students who were looking for a bar. We tagged along and ended up at Cookie which isn't a very good bar but IS open until 3am on a Tuesday. After one cider I realised that with the time difference it was about 3.30 am an I was pooped after a long day of flying in crappy budget airlines. The French guys were a little annoying too. We were talking about music festivals and one guy was telling us about how he saw Muse and Lenny Kravitz at this big French festival and that was our queue to wrap things up and go home.

After a night sleeping on a cramped couch trying not to wake up Fran who has made the other couch her temporary home I'm feeling not a lively but definitely ken to get out there (which I will do as soon as this is posted)

Now I plan to wander around town, hit my favourite cafes etc today and get that out of the way so I don't have to spend too much time in the CBD. Will try post on here most days with what adventures I get up to.

Quake!

Big quake in Christchurch on Tuesday. I was halfway through a very boring lecture desperately looking for an excuse to leave- that was as good of one as any. At uni it was relatively calm. Some people panicked, but most just filed out and left. But by the time I got into the car the news was already reporting deaths. It took me over an hour and a half to drive what is usually a 10 minute drive. everyone around me looked so haggard. Cars covered in rubble were driving past. I was getting more and more distressed trying to get home. Driving during aftershocks is a pretty surreal. all of the sudden your car shakes side to side and you rock back to forth.

Luckily I came home to a house still standing and all my loved ones are safe and sound. We were one of the first to get power and water back so we have had heaps of friends and some strangers come over to use our power and to sleep somewhere safe. Last time there was a big quake we went out with the "student army" and shoveled silt but this time they seem to have so many helpers I feel like the best I can do is open my doors to anyone who's house didn't make it through as well as ours. Its been great having everyone around us but now the reality is setting in.

The city is in ruin, all the gig venues in town are gone, Christchurch is a small place and these deaths our going to hit our community hard.

I'm going to Melbourne for a couple of weeks, get out of here, have some fun and come back refreshed for when uni starts back.

It will be a trying year for us all as we rebuild our city but I guess there are always opportunities that arise from these sorts of situations. It will be interesting to see what Christchurch becomes after this. Here's hoping that all the gaps left by building will be filled with public spaces, community gardens and sustainable housing. But the current mayor and half the Councillors are either developers or in bed with developers who are never up to any good so I don't have much faith.

Here are a few pics I got of the quake (coming soon). Didn't want to be rubbernecking so didn't take many but there's some good ones here.

UGLY BUDDAS

This is a recipe my friend Andy gave me. I met Andy at Campus A Low Hum. On the last night we stayed up all night and talked about a whole load of crap about our childhood and politics that we didn't really understand (an awesome way to start a friendship FYI). Anyways I told him about Foodblog and he shared with me his own recipe. When his band came down to play a show in Chch I made them all dinner and I made these.

They are very easy and tasty. Feel free to tweak the recipe and add any of your favourite pizza topping in them.

1 packet of puff pastry (Pams do a pre rolled one which makes it easy)
a small can of tomato paste.
Cheese (I used mozzarella to be legit)

I also used Homemade pesto
tomatoes
pinenuts

but any pizza toppings can be used.

optional- sesame seeds

roll out the pastry, spread the tomato paste across it. sprinkle cheese over it and the toppings. roll up width-ways. slice inch thick slices. put on a greased baking tray on their side so they can puff out. Brush with water and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Bake in a 190 degree oven for 20 mins or until the pastry browns.

Enjoy!!

Can be eaten hot out of the oven or they will keep for a couple of days. Also good if you freeze them and pop one in your lunch box every morning. Yummo- Thanks Andy!