Stone Fruit Glaze and Dip (or Sauce and Compote)

Preperation time:  20 mins.  Cooking time:  5 mins.  Serves:  6

We had eight for Xmas and these pictures reflect a little over exuberance!  It ended up being sufficient for at least double, which turned out just as well for the left over Xmas ham.  The oranges were particularly juicy and I ended up reducing the sauce for about half an hour.  All turned out well in the end.  An excellent replacement for the traditional gravy or apple sauce.

Ingredients

4 Peaches
2 Nectarines
1 Tbs fresh Fennel
1 Garlic Clove
Splash of Oil
1 Tbs Pomegranate Molasses
1 Orange (Juiced)
Handful of fresh Mint
Pinch of Salt

Method

• Slice 4 peaches and 2 nectarines.
• Saute in pan for 3-4 minutes with a tablespoon of fresh fennel, 1 crushed garlic clove and a splash of oil.
• Add 1 tablespoon of pomegranate molasses, the juice of one orange, a handful of mint and a pinch of salt to pan.
• Stir all ingredients together for 1 minute.

Serve sauce with your favorite meat as a sweet sauce alternative.

Source:  Vince Garreffa

Cancer Busting Salad - Tasty Too **********

Preparation Time:  20 mins  Serves:  2 mains or 4 side dishes   Rated:  10/10

This quick and easy salad is a masterpiece and is a meal unto itself.  Also excellent as a side dish.  Great with Salmon.   Due to the size of the cucumber, these pictures show twice the other ingredients.

Ingredients

1½ cups of cherry tomatoes
1 peeled  diced cucumber
1 diced avocado
142g/5 oz cubed feta cheese
3 tbs finely chopped red onion
1 handle or 2 tbs finely chopped parsley
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Cut cherry tomatoes in half. Add to bowl.
Peel and seed one cucumber and dice.
Remove pit, dice avocado and using a spoon scoop out the avocado from the peel.
Cube feta and add to a bowl.
Add chopped red onion and minced parsley to the bowl
Whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar and black pepper then pour over salad.
Toss gently so the feta and avocado don’t break up.
Serve immediately and enjoy!

Source:  Cancer Busting Salad

Broccilli Pesto**********

Serves: 4 (with Pasta)

See  my other Pesto recipes for variations.  This photo reflects opportunism in good buys.  Today, I got a great buy on broccoli and kale and a reasonable one on cashews, whilst basil and walnuts were quite expensive.  This turned out really, really good with a mash up with my Linguine recipe.  I just swapped the pesto and beans in it, with this!  Yum...

Ingredients

    Salt
    4 cups broccoli florets/spinach (packed)
    ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for grating
    ½ cup walnuts
    3 Garlic Cloves
    ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
    ½ cup packed basil leaves
    Ground black pepper

Instructions

Bring 1 tablespoon of salt and 3 litres/quarts of water to boil in a large soup kettle. Add broccoli and cook until just tender and still bright green, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a food processor.

Add the Parmesan, nuts, oil, basil, and a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper and process to pesto texture.

Add 227grams, ½ pound bite-size pasta, such as penne and  2 ears corn, kernels removed (about 1 cup) for a pasta meal.  Other pasta forms and veggies can be used for variety.

Source:  Top 10 ways to cook Broccilli

Basil Pesto

Preparation Time: 3 min,  Cooking Time: 3 min,  Yield:  1.5 cups.


This recipe can be quite versatile by swapping out seasonal greens for the basil and more economical nuts.  For example you could use kale or spinach and cashews, walnuts or almonds.

Ingredients:

3 cups fresh basil, packed
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/3 cup pine nuts
3 medium cloves of garlic, minced
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground black pepper


Method:

1.  As an option for enhanced flavor, toast your nuts and unpeeled whole garlic cloves until golden, tossing the pan occasionally.  Leave the garlic in a little longer. Peel the garlic when cooled.

2.  Rinse your basil leaves and pat dry.

3.  Add them to the food processor with the pine nuts and pulse several times.

4.  Next, add the olive oil and blend until smooth.

5.  Add the Parmesan cheese and pulse.  You may need to scrape any ingredients that have stuck to the side of your processor throughout the blending process.

6.  Mince garlic cloves before adding to the processor and pulse again.

7.  Once you’ve added your garlic, add the salt and pepper, blending one last time.

Transfer your pesto to a clean jar. A thin layer of olive oil should begin to accumulate on top of the pesto and refrigerate.  For the pesto to keep up to a year,  add a thin layer of olive oil to coat the top between uses or it will go moldy.  The pesto may also be refrigerated.

Moroccan lamb Tagine

Preparation Time: 30 mins      Cooking Time:  4 hours      Serves: 6-8

This recipe originally came from Breville Wok Recipes and I have adapted it for a slow cooker, mainly by adjusting the cooking time from 1 hour to 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low, as the wok setting is quite high.

In the picture to the right, I doubled the recipe, as I had a hungry worker for dinner and found a cheap deal on a kilo of lamb cutlets!  Cooking time was increased again by 1 hour (high) to account for the cheaper cut of meat.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons peanut oil
2 brown onions, diced
500g lamb, diced (1.5cm)
1.5 teaspoons ground cumin
1.5 teaspoons ground black pepper
1.5 teaspoons ground coriander
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 small can chickpeas
2 cans diced tomatoes
2 sticks celery, diced
1.5 cup red lentils
1.5 cup tomato paste
1 teaspoon minced garlic
5 cups water

Method:

1. Heat a pan on high, add the oil and stir fry the onion until soft add the meat and seal.
2. Place all the ground spices and extra oil into
the pan and cook for 2 minutes to release the
flavours of the spices.
3. Add the pan and remaining ingredients to the slow cooker, place the lid on and cook for 4 hours on high.

Serve with steamed cous cous