A Winter Salad - and a very food-centric week!

The past 7 days has been quite food focused here at Gourmet Goddess headquarters, and a real mixed bag. We began by doing something completely new - attending a themed "Six Degress of Preparation" dinner early in the week, indulged in some late night Hawker delights in Chinatown - one of our favourites -  and ended the week with the Good Food and Wine Show in Sydney on Friday.

When I came across the Six Degrees of Preparation people whilst checking out some other food related sites on the internet, I thought it sounded like a great idea - smallish 6 course dinners, built around one ingredient each time, showcasing that ingredient. I noticed that the next scheduled dinner was themed around one of my favourite ingredients - pomegranate. I thought it was really worth checking out, so bought our tickets and looked forward to seeing what it was all about.

The venue - Effendy Restaurant in Balmain - was really lovely, but sadly the food was a real letdown. It wasn't bad, just very average. I was expecting a real celebration of all things pomegranate, but the flavours were just not there. The creativity I had hoped for was missing and the presentation let it down badly too. Also, the servings were more "tastes", and we were both starving. Did I mention we were forced to wear name tags, so we could "mingle"? Awkward. Needless to say we made an early exit before dessert was served and headed to our absolute favourite late night food haunt in Chinatown - Mamak. Now those folks really know about flavour.

Mamak specialise in authentic roti and satay that tastes like it just came from a hawker stall in Singapore or Kuala Lumpur - and a real favourite of ours. Not only is it delicious, it is ridiculously cheap and of the best quality and freshness. There is a good reason they often have queues out the door! (alas, they take no reservations) You can find them at 15 Goulburn Street, Haymarket -  and praise the Goddess! On weekends, they stay open for supper until 2am. They also have a restuarant in Chatswood, which I haven't visited. To get more information on the joys of Mamak, head to their website: http://www.mamak.com.au/  Highly recommended, and well worth the hassle of trying to park in the city.

Friday saw us head to the annual Good Food and Wine Show. We always elect to take a day off and go first thing on the Friday to beat the massive crowds, as during the weekend it becomes completely chaotic - teeming with people and shopping carts and prams and squealing tots having tantrums and slow walkers and AAAGGHHH!!!! .....well, you get the picture! Bedlam. The show is worth a visit though and we always come away with a few goodies for our trouble - this time we brought home 4 great cheeses, all from the Hunter Valley (including a gorgeous aged goat's cheese I have used in today's recipe), duck breasts, a stash of beautiful Careme brand pastry, a selction of Beerenburg sauces, a couple of kilos of lovely crunchy "Jazz" apples, some organic muesli and snack bars and lots of samples of this and that.

I noticed that this year, a lot of my favouite stallholders were not there and big supermarket brands and all things Masterchef related seemed to dominate. A real shame, given that in my opinion,  the whole reason to go to these sorts of shows is to be exposed to new ingredients, suppliers, techniques and products. We did have a fun day regardless though - and lived on delicious cheese for the rest of the weekend! I did however keep a little aside.....

Which brings me to today's recipe - a gorgeous winter salad, bursting with colour, texture and layers of great winter flavours. I used a strong rich goat cheese - an aged chevre from Wyandra - and some baby beetroot as the inspiration for today's lunch. The beetroot is cooked twice with onions, creating a rich, sweet, caramelised taste that is a perfect companion for the goat cheese. I chose 2 different lettuces - red oak and spiky green endive, some smoky, crispy bacon, nutty chickpeas - and to top it off, a sweet/tangy dressing made with a base of delicious hazelnut oil and balsamic. This salad is substantial enough to serve as a main meal - toasted rustic bread would be a great addition. If you really aren't keen on goat cheese, feta cheese would be a good substitute.

Apart from the initial prep for the beetroot, it is quick to make and a real delight to eat - the perfect winter salad. Enjoy!

Winter Beetroot, Bacon and Chickpea Salad

with Aged Goat Cheese

You will need: A bunch of smallish sized beetroot, 2 cups cooked well drained chickpeas, 1 large red onion, about 4 cups of lettuce leaves (I used red oak and green endive), 50g goat cheese (I used an aged Chevre), 3 slices bacon, splash of olive oil, 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

For the dressing: 2 tablespoons hazelnut oil, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, 1 or 2 tablespoons warm water, salt and pepper.

Method: First, take the beetroot and remove the stalks and the leaves. Place them in a pot of boiling water and allow them to simmer until tender - about 20 minutes. Rinse them under cold water and remove the skins - they will come away very easily.

 Preheat the oven to 220C. Cut the beetroot into quarters and place in a small overproof dish or baking tray. Peel and quarter the onion and add this to the dish, with a generous seasoning of salt and pepper, the balsamic and a splash of olive oil. Bake the beetroot and onion, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes. Remove and allow to cool a little.

While the beetroot is cooling, roughly chop the bacon and pan fry until crispy.

Next, make the dressing - whisk all of the dressing ingredients together until well combined. Set aside.

To assemble the salad, arrange layers of lettuce, beetroot mixture, bacon and chickpeas onto the plates. Top with the goat's cheese (you can crumble it over the top if you are using young goat's cheese or slice it like I did if you are using an aged, richer variety) Drizzle over some of the dressing and serve right away.

Serves 2-4 people.

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Very Vegetarian

It was my intention this week to post pics of the housewarming lunch that we held last Saturday, however once the food was on the table I completely forgot to take photos of it before it was demolished. Sorry guys - you will have to close your eyes and imagine what it looked like! We enjoyed a starter of antipasto, along with italian style pork meatballs with a spicy tomato dipping sauce, a selection of cheeses and wonderful olive bread from Bourke Street Bakery. For mains, there was a selection of garlicky leg of lamb cooked over coals, stir fried garlic and chilli prawns, greek sausages, chicken, fetta and spinach sausages, grilled asparagus, tomato, basil and bocconcini salad, 2 vegetarian tarts - mint, pea and fetta and wild mushroom and a roasted pumpkin, rocket and pomegranate salad served with a pomegranate balsamic dressing. Our guests seemed to really enjoy it (special mention must be made of my lovely finacee's spectacular lamb - cooked over coals and so succulent and tender) but as always I over catered - we lived off the leftovers for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 2 days!

Today I thought I would share what we had for dinner last night. A nice vegetarian dish that is cheap and easy to make - zucchini and chickpea fritters. You can serve them as a main or a starter - or grab some nice rolls and turn the fritters into vege burgers. The accompaniment is a creamy horseradish and mint sauce which is a lovely tangy, creamy contrast to the nutty flavour of the fritters. The addition of mint gives a lovely fresh note to this dish. You could easily add other vegetables or herbs to the fritters - I think that grated carrot or some finely chopped spinach would work well. Make sure that you don't scrimp on the seasoning of the fritter mixture - plenty of salt and pepper please. Chick peas and other legumes can be a bit bland if you don't give them a boost with some seasoning. Salt and pepper will help bring out their natural flavour. These fritters are best eaten soon after making and are not suitable to freeze. My recipe will make about 12 large fritters.

Zucchini and Chickpea Fritters with horseradish and mint sauce

You will need:
For the fritters: 1 x 400g tin chick peas rinsed well and drained, 2 medium sized zucchini grated, 1 tablespoon grated parmesan, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, 1/2 tablespoon finely chopped mint, 2 eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 1/4 cups self raising flour, a couple of pinches of cayenne pepper, salt and pepper.

For the sauce: 1 cup sour cream, 1 dessert spoon horseradish cream (buy this in the mustard/condiment section of the supermarket), 1 dessert spoon finely chopped mint, salt and pepper.

Method: Whisk together the eggs, milk, cayenne and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Gradually add the flour, to form a smooth batter. You may use more or less flour depending on the size of the eggs - the mixture should be the consistency of pancake batter.

Mash the chickpeas. You can also use a food processor for this, but don't make the mixture too smooth - you want some texture there.

Fold in the zucchini, parmesan, parsley and mint into the batter. Season generously and allow the mixture to stand for 10-15 minutes.

To make the sauce, combine the sauce ingredients and mix well.

Heat a frypan and add some vegetable oil. Spoon the fritter mixture onto the pan and cook until golden. I make these fritters a bit larger than say, corn fritters. I used a couple of spoonfuls of mixture each and they come out the size of a hamburger patty. You can of course make them smaller if you like. Drain them on paper towels and serve right away with the sauce.

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Veg-A-Rama!!

I've had some really bad, tasteless vege burgers in my time. Do people think that because you are choosing the vegetarian option that you have also had your tastebuds removed and have lost your culinary will to live??? No people! Mashing a cup of lentils and making them burger shaped does not a vege burger make!!! There are so many other great ingredients that you can include that will give your vege burger bucketloads of flavour and make it delicious.

My recipe includes lovely creamy sweet potato, lentils, chickpeas and plenty of other seasonal vegetables and is served with a delicious and easy to throw together beetroot relish. I make a batch and then freeze the burger patties individually. Heat them in the microwave for a minute or two and you are ready to go. I do not fry my burgers - I find that doing them in the oven is a lot less hassle and you don't have to worry about the burgers breaking up, which can happen if you cook them in the frypan. The oven option also means that these burgers are very low in fat, so this recipe makes a ridiculously healthy, great tasting lunch or dinner.

This recipe makes about 12 burgers and the relish recipe will make two jars. Store the relish in the fridge and use within a couple of weeks. The relish also goes beautifully with grilled meat.

Gourmet Goddess Vege Burgers with Beetroot Relish

You will need:
(For the burgers- makes 12) 1 x rinsed and drained can of chickpeas, 1 x rinsed and drained can of lentils, 4 cups mashed sweet potato, 2 grated zucchini, 1 grated carrot, About 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs, 1 egg, 3 tablespoons BBQ sauce, 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon paprika, 2 small red chillies, 2 cloves garlic, 1 cup chopped continental parsley, 1 teaspoon celery salt, 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, pepper.

(For the relish - makes 2 jars) 3 large sliced onions, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 2 x 400g tins drained sliced beetroot, 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar, salt and pepper, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 cup water.

Method: First, make the burgers. Put the chickpeas, garlic and chillies in the food processor with a couple of tablespoons of water. Blend until the chickpeas have broken down. Don't blend too much - you want to have a bit of texture to them, so don't make the mixture too smooth.

In a large bowl, combine the chickpea mixture, lentils, mashed sweet potato and all of the other ingredients. Using your hands is best for this. The mixture should be quite soft, but still hold together. Add more breadcrumbs if the mixture is too soft.

Using wet hands, form the mixture into generous sized burgers and place them on a baking tray that is lined with baking paper. (I find that because they are soft, they stick if you don't use the baking paper) Bake them in a moderate oven for 30-40 mins. They will start to brown slightly.
Cool the burgers on the trays before using an egg slice to remove them.

While the burgers are cooking, it's time to make the Beetroot Relish. Place the beetroot in the food processor and blend until the mixture is quite fine (you don't want massive chunks of beetroot)

Heat the olive oil in a pan and cook the onion until translucent. Add the garlic and beetroot. Cook the mixture for a couple of minutes. Add the balsamic, salt, pepper and water and let the mixture simmer until most of the moisture is absorbed. Allow the relish to cool and put in jars.

Serve your burgers in a crusty roll with salad and beetoot relish.
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