Meatballs on Green Peanut Hummus

Meatballs on Green Peanut Hummus

Meatballs:
1 kg beef mince
100g panko breadcrumbs
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 onion, finely chopped
5ml ground cumin
10ml salt
1 egg
150ml olive oil

Hummus:
1 x 400g can chickpeas
60ml smooth peanut butter
2 cloves of garlic, minced
30ml lemon juice
2,5ml salt

Green paste:
75g kale, white stalks removed
75g baby spinach
75ml olive oil

100g salted peanuts

For the meatballs:
Add all the ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix through with your hands.
Shape into 50 meatballs and place them evenly spaced on an oiled baking tray.
Refrigerate for one hour.

For the hummus:
Add all the ingredients to a bowl and blitz with an emersion blender until smooth.

For the green paste:
Blanche the kale and spinach in a saucepan of boiling water for 2 minutes.
Drain and rinse under cold running water until cooled down.
Squeeze out the liquid and place in a small bowl.
Blitz with an immersion blender until you have a paste.

Preheat your oven to 220℃.
Remove the meatballs from the refrigerator and bake in the oven for 20 minutes, giving it a turn/shake half-way through baking time.
Spoon the green paste into the hummus and mix through.
Spread the green hummus on a serving platter, arrange the meatballs on top and sprinkle with the peanuts.
Serve with a salad and crusty bread.

Lamb Pot Pies

Lamb Pot Pies

A perfect meal to put together with leftover roast lamb. This recipe yields 6 individual pot pies.

30ml vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, cut into small cubes
2 cloves of garlic, minced
30ml flour
5ml smoked paprika
500ml lamb stock
30ml tomato paste
30ml Worcestershire sauce
2 potatoes, peeled and cut in to small cubes
600-700g leftover roast lamb, chopped
30ml finely chopped rosemary
1 sheet puff pastry
egg wash: 1 egg yolk + 15ml cold water, whisked together

Preheat your oven to 200℃.
Place a large saucepan over medium-high heat and pour in the oil.
Add the onion and carrot and cook until the onion is soft.
Add the garlic and stir-fry for 1 minute.
Sprinkle the flour and paprika over and stir-fry for another minute.
Add the stock slowly and a little at a time while stirring constantly.
Now add the tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, potato, lamb and rosemary.
Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 – 15 minutes until the vegetables are done. (Add some water if needed)
Taste the mixture and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
Spoon the lamb mixture into 6 individual ovenproof ramekins.
Lay the puff pastry on a lightly floured work surface, turn a ramekin over on it and cut 6 rounds from the pastry.
Place the pastry discs on the lamb filling and press the edges to seal.
Brush with egg wash and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
Serve the pot pies piping hot.

Jam Squares

Jam Squares

Yields about 35 squares.

250ml sugar
250g butter, cubed
2 eggs
a pinch of salt
10ml baking powder
750ml flour
125ml apricot jam

Preheat your oven to 180℃ and spray a swissroll pan (32cm x 22cm) with cooking spray.
Add the sugar and butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on high speed until creamy.
Add the eggs and beat on high speed for 1 minute.
Scrape the mixture down and mix again.
Add the salt, baking powder and flour to a mixing bowl and stir to mix.
Turn the mixer to a low speed and add a few spoons of flour at a time, allowing time for it to integrate into the mixture before adding more flour.
Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and divide in two portions.
Press the one portion of dough into the swissroll pan and even it out with your hands.
Spoon the apricot jam on top and spread it evenly over the dough layer.
Push the other portion of dough through a coarse grater, as though you are grating it. The dough is very soft and you will have to push it through with the heel of your hand and then spread it evenly over the jam layer.
Bake in the oven for 25 minutes and cool completely on a cooling rack.
Slice into squares or fingers once cold and store in an airtight container.

Easy Fudge

Easy Fudge

This may not be the best looking fudge but on boy, it delivers on taste…!

100g butter
750g caster sugar
1 x 385g can condensed milk
150ml milk
2,5ml vanilla

Line a 20cm x 20cm baking tin with baking paper and set aside.
Add the butter, caster sugar and condensed milk to a medium-large saucepan and place over a medium to low heat.
Allow the butter to melt.
Turn the heat up to medium-high and simmer for 25 minutes while stirring regularly to prevent the mixture from sticking to the saucepan.
Remove the saucepan from the heat, add the vanilla and whisk for 5 minutes with an electric whisk. You are cooling the mixture down and want it to be really thick.
Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tin and level the top.
Set aside to cool for an hour and cut into squares.

Mini Caprese Tomatoes

Mini Caprese Tomatoes

12 cocktail tomatoes, about 3,5cm in diameter
150g tub of small bocconcini cheese
olive oil
salt and pepper
12 basil leaves

Trim a sliver off the base of each tomato so that it can sit on a plate.
Slice about 0,3 cm off the top of the tomato and scoop the pulp out with a teaspoon or back of a teaspoon.
Season the inside of the tomato with salt and pepper.
Slice the bocconcini in quarters and stuff a piece in each tomato.
Drizzle with olive oil and season again with salt and pepper.
Place a basil leaf on top of each tomato and serve.

Goat’s Cheese and Hazelnut Risotto

Goat’s Cheese and Hazelnut Risotto

100g hazelnuts, roasted
45ml grated parmesan
45ml olive oil
10 drops sesame oil
5ml red wine vinegar
a pinch of salt

100g goat’s cheese
45ml cream

50g kale, thick stalks removed
50g baby spinach
50g basil leaves
75ml olive oil

1,5 litres vegetable stock
45ml butter
45ml olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
200g arborio rice
80ml white wine
50g parmesan cheese, grated

For the hazelnut topping:
Place the hazelnuts in a pestle and mortar and grind it to a coarse texture. If you don’t have a pestle and mortar you may chop the nuts with a knife but make sure that you have a good mix of fine and coarse texture.
Add the parmesan cheese, olive oil, sesame oil, red wine vinegar and salt and stir through. Set aside.

For the goat’s cheese topping:
Break up the cheese into a small bowl, add the cream and mix through to loosen the cheese slightly. Set aside.

For the green sauce:
Blanche the kale and spinach in a saucepan of boiling water for 2 minutes.
Drain and run under cold water until cool.
Add to a bowl with the basil and olive oil and blitz to a paste/sauce with an immersion blender. Set aside.

Pour the stock into a saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring it to a simmer.
Place a large, wide saucepan on medium-high heat and add the butter and oil.
Wait for the butter to melt and add the onion.
Cook until translucent.
Add the garlic and stir-fry for one minute.
Now add the rice and stir to coat for 2 minutes.
Pour in the wine and wait for it to evaporate.
Add about 125ml of stock (two soup ladles) to the risotto, stir it around until most of the liquid has been absorbed and then add some stock again. Keep going – adding stock, stirring until the rice is tender but still firm to the bite.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the parmesan cheese.
Add the kale mixture to the risotto and stir until the risotto is bright green.
Spoon the risotto on to serving plates and top with some hazelnut mixture and a generous dollop of goat’s cheese.

Cheese Biscuits

Cheese Biscuits

The recipe yields about 30 biscuits and they disappear very quickly!! If you want to make an extra batch I would recommend that you prepare the dough twice. If you simply double up on the ingredients, it will probably be to dry to bring together as a rollable dough.

125g butter, cubed (salted butter adds most flavour)
140g flour
120g hard cheese, finely grated (your choice of cheese, I love Gruyere)

Add the butter to a mixing bowl and sift the flour into the bowl.
Rub the butter and flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Reserve 30ml of the grated cheese and add the rest to the flour mixture.
Knead or rather push the dough together into a disc, wrap in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for one hour.

Preheat your oven to 200℃ and line a large baking sheet with baking paper.
Place the dough on a sheet of baking paper and roll it out to a 0,5cm thickness.
Cut out rounds of 4cm in diameter with a cookie cutter.
Space the biscuits evenly apart on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle the reserved cheese on top.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
Cool the cheese biscuits on the baking sheet and store in a glass container.

Pistachio Overnight Oats

Pistachio Overnight Oats

250ml milk (you may replace with any, e.g. almond)
80ml pistachio nuts
1,2ml matcha powder (for colour purposes only)
15ml maple syrup
2,5ml vanilla
a pinch of salt
125ml rolled oats
30ml chia seeds

Add the milk, pistachio nuts, matcha, syrup, vanilla and salt to a blender and blitz together.
Pour into a bowl/jar and add the oats and chia seeds.
Cover and shake/stir to mix and combine.
Refrigerate for 6-8 hours.
Remove the oats from the refrigerator 30 minutes before eating.

20-Minute Tuna Spaghetti

20-Minute Tuna Spaghetti

250g spaghetti
45ml olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 spring onion, finely sliced
2 tins of shredded tuna, drained
1 lemon, zest and juice
125ml sour cream
30ml capers, roughly chopped
30ml chopped parsley
15ml chopped chives
parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook until al dente.
Drain the pasta and keep it in the pot too stay warm.
Place a large pan over medium heat, add the oil and wait for it to heat up.
Add the garlic and spring onion and stir-fry for 30 seconds.
Now add the tuna, lemon zest and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.
Pour in the cream and cook for 1 minute.
Add the spaghetti, capers, parsley and chives and stir until the spaghetti is well coated in the sauce.
Grate over a generous amount of parmesan cheese and stir through.
Now grate over some more parmesan, stir again and serve.