Cheese and Mushroom Centred Arancini with Napoli Relish

Ingredients
1 cup Arborio Rice
2 - 4 cups Massel "chicken" stock
50g Butter
1 Large onion
2 Teaspoons of garlic paste
2 Tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese
1 Cup of grated mozzarella cheese
1 Cup of diced shitake mushrooms
1/2 Teaspoon of oregano
1 cup of plain flour
1 egg
1 cup of bread / panko / corn crumbs
1 can tinned chopped tomatoes
1 cup of Dolmio classic tomato pasta sauce
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
Canola oil for frying
Salt and pepper

Method:
In non-stick pan over medium heat, add olive oil and butter plus diced onion and garlic paste. Saute until onion is translucent - about 3-5mins.
Add rice and coat well with onion and garlic. When rice starts to slightly brown add a little bit of the chicken stock. Once stock is soaked up continue to add remaining stock until fully absorbed. Add parmesan cheese to rice and turn off heat. Stir rice until cheese is combined. Poor rice into large bowl and place in fridge for 2-3 hours.

Crack egg into bowl. Add about 1/3 cup of water and whisk until combined. Place flour and crumbs onto separate bowls.

Mix grated mozzarella cheese and finely diced mushrooms together.

Take a golf ball sized ball of the risotto mixture. Flatten in palm of hand and then add about a teaspoon of cheese/mushroom mixture. Fold rice around until cheese is covered and you have a ball  shape. Dip into flour, then egg and then finally crumbs. Place arancini balls in fridge for 1 hour.

To cook, deep fry the arancini in canola oil that is on a medium/high heat. Place on paper towel afterwards to absorb excess oil.

For Napoli relish, saute a coarsely chopped onion in olive oil for 2-3 minutes. Now add Dolmio sauce and tinned tomatoes. Turn heat down and let simmer for 10-15 minutes or until liquid is reduced. Serve on side of arancini.

Pita bread

Recipe from http://mideastfood.about.com/od/breadsrice/r/pitabreadrecipe.htm 

Mediterranean Almond Crusted Salmon with Citrus and Ricotta Stuffed Zucchini Flowers

Ingredients:
- Fillet of salmon
- Zucchini flowers
- 1/3 Cup Blue Bay ricotta cheese
- 1 Small blood orange
- 1 lemon (and zest)
- 1 egg
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup corn flour
- 2 Tablespoons of plain flour
- Snow pea sprouts
- Mediterranean almond crumbs from Pilpel Fine Foods (www.pilpelfinefoods.com)
- 1 Teaspoon of sugar
- Salt, pepper
- Canola oil for frying

Method

Salmon:
Remove skin from salmon. Place salmon in almond crumb mixture and coat all sides. Then wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge for 1 hour or overnight. Once ready, take salmon from fridge an leave out for about 30mins if possible. Then, pour about 1 tablespoon of canola oil into a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Place salmon in pan and cook for 3 minutes on one side and 1-2 minutes on the other.

Zucchini flowers:
For the ricotta stuffing - peel and finely dice the blood orange. Place in bowl with ricotta cheese, lemon zest, juice of half a lemon, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and sugar. Mix together and then set aside.

Wash zucchini flowers to remove any bugs/dirty. Spoon in 1 heaped teaspoon of the mixture into each flower and then twist petals together to seal.

For the batter, whisk water and egg together. Then add corn flour and plain flour and mix together with a butter knife. The mixture should still have lumps in it.

Add canola oil to pan for deep frying and place over medium high heat. Drop a bread crumb into oil to see if ready.

Place zucchini flower into batter and coat well. Then immediately place zucchini flower into oil. Fry for about 2-3 minutes. Then remove from oil and place on paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Slice salmon into thick pieces and place on snow pea sprouts. Place a couple of the stuffed zucchini flowers on top.

Shuk HaCarmel Cold Grilled Vegetable Salad with Goat's Fetta and Cruv Adom

Ingredients bought from Tel Aviv's Shuk HaCarmel (Carmel Market)

Ingredients:
6 x Mini eggplants / aubergines - cut into halves
1 x Mini red capsicum 
1 x Large green chili - cut into strips (remove seeds if you want less heat)
- Goat's feta cheese
- Market bought olive/coriander/bell pepper/chili mix
- Cruv adom (red cabbage coleslaw salad)

Method:
1. Add olive oil to a grill plate and place on medium heat. 
2. Slice mini eggplants in half and place flesh side down on grill. Also add green chili strips
3. Grill vegetable for 6-8 minutes on either side. 
4. Remove vegetables from grill and place in fridge.
5. Place fork in mini capsicum and place over a gas stove flame for about 7-10mins. 
6. Remove capsicum from stove and slice in half. Then add to already grilled vegetables in fridge
7. Once vegetables have cooled, place on plate with other ingredients and served.

NB: The goats cheese I bought was interesting - it had a greek yogurt taste to it. If you're in Melbourne, use Blue Bay feta. 

Shuk HaCarmel (Carmel Market, Tel Aviv)

It is perhaps unfair that Shuk HaCarmel doesn't have the same level of 'street cred' as Machane Yehuda in Jerusalem. Walking down one of its main thoroughfares, I found several shops selling different kinds of 'mini vegetables'. From here, I went and sampled the various types of cheeses on offer. I was like a kid in a candy (or cheese) store. While people living in Israel take having kosher products almost everywhere, it is a novelty for someone like me, living in the diaspora to be able to enter stores that only sells kosher cheese! 

Brisket

Simple and somewhat odd recipe - but it works.

Ingredients:
Brisket
350ml Coca Cola
1 X Tbsp Osem chicken stock powder
250ml Tomato sauce/ketchup

Method:
Heat oven to 140 degrees
Mix Coca Cola, chicken stock powder and tomato sauce together.
Poor mixture into heavy base pot. Add brisket.
Cover top of pot with aluminium foil. Then place lid on.

Place in oven for 3-4 hours.

Let rest for 20mins before serving.

Salmon And Mushroom Pie with Parmesan Crust And Pickled Chili Salad

Ingredients
Pie:
2 X Large baked salmon fillets - could be leftovers
1 X Can chopped mushrooms
1/2 Red/spanish onion - thinly sliced
1 1/2 Cup of milk
1/4 Cup of flour
1 X Tsp chopped garlic
1/4 Cup grated motzarella cheese
1 X Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Crust:
1 1/2 Cup of plain flour
1/2 Cup of margarine/butter (cold)
1/4 Cup ice water
1 X Tsp salt

Salad:
Baby cos lettuce
Pickled chili
Olives
Tomato
Red wine vinegar dressing

1 X 20cm Square baking dish

Method:

Pie Crust:
Place flour and margarine (or butter) and salt in a food processor. Pulse until in mixture resembles bread crumbs. Poor mixture into bowl and make well in the center. Slowly, start to mix in ice water with a butter knife until mixture is roughly combined - but not like a dough - it should just form clumps.

Poor mixture onto floured surface and start to kneed/combine with hands. Only kneed for around 30secs - 1 minute. Dough should form a smooth-ish ball. It's important not to over-kneed as gluten will start to form.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and place in fridge for 2 hours (or preferably overnight). Take dough out of fridge and place on floured surface. Split dough into 2 equal pieces.

On floured surface, roll out dough with a rolling pin until it's large enough to line the square baking tin - approx 3mm thick i.e. thin crust pizza base thickness. 

Once tin is lined with dough, place a sheet of baking paper over the dough and poor rice on top of paper. This will stop the dough from expanding. Bake for 5-8 mins on 180 degrees

Take tin out of oven.

To make pie top, roll dough again to same thickness as above. Place over pie once mixture has been added. 

Filling:
In a pot over medium heat, add either butter, margarine or olive oil. TBC.... 

T-Bone Steak with Beetroot Polenta and Garlic Mash Potatoes

Ingredients:
1 x 300g "T-bone" steak
1 x large 'nadine' potato
100g polenta
100ml beetroot juice (from can)
3/4 tbl spoon mayonaise
Garlic powder
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Method:
Steak - Marinade overnight in bbq sauce. Heat heavy based pan with olive oil until hot. Reduce heat to medium and place steak in pan. Cook for 6-8 minutes and turn. Cook for another 5 minutes for medium.
Remove from pan and let rest for 5 mins.

Mash potato - Place potato in bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in microwave. Select the baked potato option. Once cooked, remove potato from microwave and mash with fork. Add mayo, garlic powder, salt and pepper until combined.

Beetroot polenta - Google how to cook polenta. Add the juice from a can of beetroot to the water the polenta is cooking in.

Serve.

Hummus Im Bassar - (Hummus with meat) and BBQ bread

Hummus ingredients:

- 600ml Chickpeas

- 50-100ml Tahini

- Roughly 100ml olive oil

- Juice of one lemon

- 2-3 Roasted garlic cloves - crushed

Meat ingredients:

- 400g premium beef mince

- 1/2 Large brown onion, finely diced

- 1 Can of crushed tomatoes

- 100ml Dolmio classic tomato pasta sauce

- 1 Heaped teaspoon of choped garlic paste

- 1/2 Teaspoon of cumin

- 1/4 Teaspoon of paprika

- 1/4 Teaspoon of cinnamon 

- Olive oil

- Salt and pepper to taste

Garnish: 

Pine nuts, olive oil and paprika

Hummus method:

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until combined to your desired consistency. Don't over process.

Meat method:

Place an heavy based pan over a medium/high heat. Add oil. When hot, add diced onion. Stir for 1 minute, then reduce heat to medium and add garlic. Continue to stir for another 3 minutes. Add meat to pan and brown for 2 minutes. Then add all other ingredients and continue to cook for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low-medium. Cover pan and let simmer for 5-8 minutes or until liquid has been reduced. 

Serving:

Spoon hummus onto a dinner plate. Make space in the centre and add meat. Top with hummus with pine nuts, olive oil and paprika. Alternatively, you could use flat leaf parsley, diced eggplant, za'atar, seasame seeds, etc... 

Trio of Fish: Black and White Sesame Crusted Tuna on Asian Slaw / Tempua Salmon on Garlic Mash / Smoked Trout, Dill and Avocado Taurine

Scrambled Eggs on Blue Bay Feta and Avocado Topped With Smoked Ocean Trout, Dill and Icelandic Black Caviar (OU).

Ingredients:

2 x Slices of toasted crusty French bread
Half a tomato
1 x Field mushroom
Handful of baby spinach leaves
1 x Tablespoon of Blue Bay feta in olive oil
Half an avocado
Smoked ocean trout
Dill
Icelandic Caviar
2 x Large eggs
2 x 20mls Milk
Olive oil
Sea Salt
Pepper

Method
1. Toast bread
2. Add olive oil to pan and place on medium heat. Add spinach leaves and cook for 1min. Add sea salt and pepper to taste. Add to plate
3. Sauté half tomato and mushroom in pan with oil for 3-5 mins. Add to plate
4. Spoon feta onto bread. Then slice half avocado into strips and place on feta
5.  Briefly beat eggs and milk together
6. Add egg mixture to pan with olive oil and stir eggs while cooking over high heat
7. Remove eggs from pan and poor over bread
8. Add trout, dill and caviar on top
9 Serve

XoHo Cafe (Tel Aviv, Israel) - Scrambled Eggs on Home Made Bread With Dill Ricotta, Lemon Zest, Walnuts and Cherry Tomatoes

Garlic and Rosemary Lamb Roast

Ingredients:
- Shoulder of Lamb
- Rosemary
- Garlic cloves
- 6 small potatoes
- 4 Shallots / small onions
- 3 Parsnips
- Olive oil
- 1/5 cup of water
- Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Cut 5 x 1cm deep lines across the shoulder and place garlic cloves in the indents
2. Sprinkle rosemary over lamb, then generously drizzle with olive oil.
3. Place in fridge to marinate for at least 12 hours.
4. Cut potatoes and onions into quarters
5. Halve parsnips and place on heavy based baking dish
6. Sit lamb (at room temperature) onto parsnips. Then place other vegetable around lamb
7. Season vegetables and lamb with salt and pepper. Drizzle again with olive oil.
8. Poor the 1/5 cup water into pan.
9. Place dish  covered with foil in 170 degree oven for 1.5 hours
10. Remove foil. Turn oven to 200 degrees and baste lamb with liquid on bottom of dish.
11. Cook for another 20-30mins.

Let lamb rest for 10mins before serving.

Seared Tuna With Enoki Mushrooms, Avocado Relish And Pickled Ginger

Ingredients:
200g Yellow fin tuna
100g Cooked sushi rice
Enoki mushrooms
Pickled ginger
1 x Ripe avocado
1 x lemon
Sesame seeds
Olive oil
Rice wine vinegar

Method
1. Heat a heavy base pan on medium heat. Add olive oil.
2. When pan is hot, add the tuna steak. Cook for around 2 mins on each side. You want the steak to be rare. When ready, remove the steak from the pan and let rest.
3. Add a splash of the rice wine vinegar to the rice and stir through. Set aside
4. Mash avocado until smooth. Add juice of half a lemon plus salt and pepper to season.
5. Place enoki mushrooms in a pan on medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons of water to pan and cook for 4 mins.
6. Spoon rice and avocado onto plate. Slice tuna into 1cm thick slices. Place on top of rice. Sprinkle tuna with sesame seeds. Proceed to place the mushrooms and pickled ginger on top.

Sushi

Simple Pancakes (With Blueberry Compote and Ultra Chocolate and Raspberry Ice Cream)

Honey Soy Sesame Chicken on Rice Noodles and Pak Choy

Mozzarella Centered Pea and Corn Arancini on Char-Grilled Capsicum Salad With Vanilla Balsamic Dressing

Ingredients to come... (seriously)

Salmon Tataki Teriyaki on Paprika Rice Noodles

Ingredients to come...

Eggs Hollandaise with Spinach, Mushroom, and Tomato on Challah Toast

Ingredients to come...

Red Wine Figs and Blueberries with Baked Ricotta and Vanilla Bean.

Ingredients to come...

Mediterranean Mozzarella and Bocconcini Pizza

Ingredients to come...

French Challah Toast with Raspberry Compote

Ingredients
2X Thick slices of raisin challah
2 X Eggs
3/4 Cup of milk
1/2 Cup of frozen raspberries 
1 Teaspoon of cinnamon
1 Teaspoon of vanilla essence
1/4 cup caster sugar
Icing sugar
1 Table spoon of butter
Water


Method
French toast
- Crack to eggs into large bowl
- Whisk for 15 seconds
- Add milk, cinnamon and vanilla essence and whisk to combine
- Place pieces of challah in the mixture so it soaks it up. Leave for approx 1min, then turn and soak the other side for 20 secs
- Add butter and heat fry pan over medium/high heat. Fry challah on one side until golden brown/2-3mins. Fry on other side for another minute


Berry compote
- Place frozen berries, and sugar in pot. Add two tablespoons of water
- Place over medium heat. Let simmer for 4mins or until reduced.

Bruschetta and basil pesto on home made bread

Ingredients


Pesto
50g Pine nuts
Hand full of Basil leaves
2 Table spoons of Olive Oil
Grated Kosher Parmesan Cheese
1/4 Teaspoon Tobasco sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Garlic paste
1 Slice of toasted bread (see previous recipe)


Bruschetta
3 Roma tomatoes
1/2 Red onion
1/4 cup crumbled kosher fetta cheese
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Salt and pepper


Method
Pesto
In a food processor, mix all ingredients together. Add extra olive oil if need be.


Bruschetta
Dice tomatoes into 1cm cubes
Finely chop red onion
Combine onion and tomatoes with crumbled fetta


Spread pesto over bread, Then place tomato mixtures on top. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle balsamic vinegar and olive oil over top. Place a couple ripped basil leaves on top.

Home made crusty bread

Ingredients
2 Cups baker's flour (or plain white flour)
1 Teaspoon of salt
2 Teaspoons/1 sachet of dry yeast
1 Teaspoon of olive oil
Luke warm water to mix
Semolina or seeds of your choice


Method
Place flour in large bowl
Add salt and yeast and mix together
Add olive oil
Slowly add the water to make a firm dough. The mixture should come away easily from the sides of the bowl
Place a lid or plastic wrap over the mixture and place in a warm spot until the mixture has doubled in size. You can turn on the oven for about 30 seconds. Then place bowl in the oven.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface. If the dough sticky, add a little more flour.
Knead the dough for 2-5 mins in order to expel any air.
Shape into desired shape, then place onto tray. Cut a cross in the top of the mixture
Spray with water and sprinkle semolina on top
Leave for 30mins to rise again
Place in preheated 180 degree oven for 30-40mins.
Remove from oven and let cool.


Recipe from www.bestrecipes.com.au

Lemon and Garlic Spatchcock with Canolini Beans, Mini Roma Tomatoes and Spinach.

Ingredients

1X Spatchcock

Olive oil

1 Large Lemon

5 Cloves of garlic

15 Mini Roma tomatoes/Cherry Tomatoes

1 Large red onion

1/2 Cup Dolmio tomato and basil sauce

1 Cup firmly packed spinach leaves

1 Can of Canolini beans

1 Small anchovy fillet

50ml Chicken stock

Red kiddush wine

Salt and pepper

Method

Place bird in baking tray

Drizzle generously with olive oil

Squeeze lemon over bird

Crush garlic cloves and rub all over bird

Sprinkle with salt and pepper

Place in preheated 180 degree oven for between 35-50mins

Then...

Coarsely chop red onion

Cut tomatoes into halves

Add 1 table spoon of olive oil to pan

Place pan on stove with medium to high heat

Add chopped onion and cook for 3mins

Add chopped tomatoes, canolini beans, splash of kiddush wine and chicken stock

Stir for 3mins, then add spinach leaves

Cook on medium flame for 10mins.

Poor mixture onto serving dish. Place cooked spatchcock on top of mixture.

Moscato Risotto

Ingredients


200g Arborio Rice
400ml "Chicken" Stock
10 Button Mushrooms
50g Peas
50g Corn Kernels
1 Large Brown Onion
2 Tea Spoons of Garlic Paste
1 Small Anchovy Fillet
20g Butter
75ml Moscato Wine
1 Table Spoon of Olive Oil
40g Shredded Mozzarella
Shaved Parmesan Cheese
Chilli Flakes
Salt and Pepper


Method


1. Roughly dice brown onion
2. Add oil and butter to heavy based pot/saucepan and place over medium heat
3. Add diced onion and garlic paste and cook for 3-5mins or until onion is soft and translucent
4 Add rice to pot and stir until fully coated with onion mixture. Continue to stir for 2mins
5. Add small (50ml) portions of chicken stock at a time. Stir continuously. Only add more stock once the current amount of stock has been absorbed by the rice
6. After adding the first portion of stock, poor in the Moscato
7. Once 3/4 of stock has been added, add mushrooms, corn and peas plus salt and pepper to taste
8. Continue to add final amount of stock (and any water if need be) and stir until rice is soft and sticks together.
9. Add Mozzarella and about 20g of grated Parmesan Cheese
10. Serve in bowl. Add shredded Parmesan and chilli flakes on top. 

Pistachio dukkah crusted salmon on smashed sweet potato and feta with beetroot purée

Ingredients:
1 Large sweet potato
50 Grams of feta cheese
3 Table spoon of olive oil
1 Thick fillet of Tasmanian salmon
1/4 Cup Pistachio Dukkah spice
1 Can of baby beetroot
1 Clove of crushed garlic
Salt and pepper


Method:


Sweet Potato and feta smash
1. Peel and chop sweet potato into 2cm cubes
2. Bring medium size pot of salted water to the boil, and add the cubed sweet potato. Boil for 7-10 mins or until you can cut the pieces in half easily with a butter knife. Don't over cook.
3.  Drain sweet potato in sieve/colander , and place back into pot. Crumble feta cheese over sweet potato. Then use a potato masher to mash mixture. Don't over mash.
4. Place 3-4 heaped tablespoons of mixture onto middle of plate.


Salmon
1. Coat Tasmanian salmon in Dukkah spice. Leave to rest for 30mins.
2. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and place over a medium flame.
3. Add salmon fillet.
4. Cook on one side for 3mins, then the other for 1min.
5. Remove salmon from pan and let rest for 3-4mins.
6. Slice into 1cm thick pieces.
7. Place 3 slices onto sweet potato mixture


Beetroot purée 
1. Drain can of baby beetroot and pour into blender.
2. Add crushed garlic clove (or 1 tea spoon of garlic paste)
3. Add t tables spoons of olive oil
4. Salt and pepper to taste
5. Blend on high until mixture is puréed. 
6. Drizzle table spoon of mixture over salmon.