May brings a desire for more warming comforting food as the weather cools and nights darken. The local hardware store reflects this change of season with lots of heaters, rugs, and brasiers out on prominent display. We have had a quieter month but some interesting moments with a federal election, Mother day and staff changes at work. I've been to the optometrist, the osteopath and had my flu jab. The month has ended with one of the two dogs next door being put down and his poor little friend sending out anguished cries of mourning every now and again. We've also been planning to get the house painted inside. June will be very unsettled when the painters are in but I look forward to freshly painted walls!
The top photo is of pizza we were making with a green pasta (below) and a favourite nut roast. The photo is taken while we were topping the pizza. I put the green pasta on first and then added the chopped nut roast and cheese but Sylvia started with nut roast and added the pasta and cheese on top.
This Creamy Green Pasta by Meera Sodha with such a glorious green vegan sauce. It was packed with spinach, basil, parsley, silken tofu, nutritional yeast flakes, miso and lemon juice. I misread the recipe and added lots of lemon zest to the sauce. It was actually intended to be part of a marinated olive garnish that I did not do. We had ours with coleslaw and a tomato cucumber salad. It was lovely but a bit too zesty. I want to try it again without all that lemon zest and then work out if I need to tweak the flavours a little to our tastes. We had quite a bit of leftover sauce. As you can see below, it is very versatile for using in different meals.
We had lots of the above green past leftover so we had a carb on carb comfort of pasta on pizza. You can see a work in progress photo at the top of the post. I used my favourite pizza base and had cream cheese, green pasta, nut roast, green olives and cheese. So so good! Lots of carbs but it felt a little healthier for all that green!
Due to the over zesting of the above green pasta sauce, I was not sure how to use the leftovers. So I froze it for later. Soon after we decided to add it to Nagi's Cheesy Broccoli Soup. Green is such a delicate green colour that it often fades. So I was pretty happy that this soup kept its colour even the next morning. It was a really quick photo before work while I was packing my lunch.
Never mind the great Aussie democracy sausage, I love an election day cake stall. After voting in the federal election on 3 May, I perused the many options at the Coburg Primary School cake stall. Sylvia loved the gingerbread biscuits with faces. I was a fan of the chocolate caramel slice which fused onto the choc chip cookie in the paper bag. We also had a dulce de leche honey joy and an Anzac biscuit. I have added some of the How to Vote flyers that we are inundated with as we walk in the gate. Though it was so busy with when got there that I had to queue up outside the gate. And I did leave with a democrazy sausage!
I was excited to see the five grain tempeh from Wilder Foods at the Coburg Farmers Market:. It was excellent. I fried and chopped it to serve with Gnocchi with broccoli pesto. I also bought an upcycled lemon miso seasoning that I am yet to use but am looking forward to it after the test tasting at the stall.
As an aside, the rest of the broccoli pesto went into another version of Nagi's Cheesy Broccoli Soup (compare to the green sauce version above).
As a long time fan of the classic Zucchini slice, I am always on the lookout for similar savoury baked slices. This Creamed corn rice slice from taste.com.au sounds interesting. Creamed corn from a tin is so sweet but some comforting. I tweaked the recipe with more (brown) rice, cooked corn off the cob, fresh herbs and a layer of melted cheese on top. It was nice on the night but even better the next day when it had firmed up. This was great for work lunches.
I am still regularly making my toasted muesli (granola). When I have fruit mince I use that but outside the festive season I use a variety of dried fruits. I tried some crystalised ginger recently but was not so keen. The one above has freeze fried strawberries on it which I enjoyed more than dried strawberries. Their bright colour really makes the muesli look beautiful. I am missing the stone fruits and berries of summer. They have given way to grapes, apples and pears but are not as good with my museli.
While I miss the fruit of summer, I love a good warming winter stew. I loved returning to Cadry's gnocchi soup with sauce and kale. It is so creamy and comforting. I added some miso and mustard for extra flavour which worked really well. I hope to make this again before the end of winter!
Another great winter warmer were these Spanikopita loaded baked potatoes. They were such a good variation on our regular baked potatoes with coleslaw, cheese, yoghurt and guacamole. We ran out of the cream cheese and used some Laughing Cow cheese. We also added sun dried tomatoes. It was a recipe where I could be quite flexible with quantities. They were lovely and green with some crispy feta crumbs on top/ I enjoyed mine with a grated beetroot, carrot and apple salad. Again! Please!
I have been in search of an easy ramen. When I saw Lazy Cat Kitchen's Quick Ramen I was keen to try it. My version bypassed the roasting of vegies and used fried tofu puffs and udon noodles. I really liked the white miso in the milky broth and added more flavouring. After the photo I figured that it was easier to eat the tofu puffs sliced. I need to have another go to slightly tweak what I did but am hoping this will be a good version to make quickly.
On a cold Friday night in May, we planned to make pizza. Before I managed this, we spoke to my mum who was having fish and chips for tea. The idea took hold and before we knew it, we headed out in the car to Flakes for what I nostalgically call "fish and chips" but is actually chips, potato cakes and corn jacks. I also added a fried vegetarian dim sim. It wasn't quite the same as the meat dim sims I got at fish ad chip shops in my youth but pretty good.
I bought drinks at Terre Madre nearby. I had the hibiscus Mateo with my meal and the Gurbuchi for later. I hadn't tried the Mateo before. It is made with yerba mate a tea like leaf from South America. This is a bit sweeter than the kombuchas I love but very nice and has no added sugar.
I jumped at the chance to try Cheesy miso stuffed mushrooms from i am a food blog. The stuffing was a fairly simple mixture of cream cheese, white miso, kewpie mayo and fried chopped mushroom stems. When baked on with some parmesan cheese on top, it tasted really good. I had mine with coleslaw and mock tuna (chickpea) salad . The smaller mushrooms looked cuter but I really liked the flatter ones with more stuffing on top. I think it would make a great pizza topping.
One of my favourite cakes I have made recently (and there aren't many) is the Chocolate tahini banana bread I posted in May. This is a photo of our cat Shadow overseeing the baking. You can also see the lining of the loaf tin, which was one of my better efforts. In the background is a bunch of sunflowers that Sylvia bought me for Mothers Day. They were a bit past their peak in this photo but they really brightened up the kitchen table.
I made an old favourite, Isa's smoky potato, bean and corn salad (gf,v) for dinner to eat with sausages and greens. It was excellent mixed with avo and tomato for lunches.
My last winter warmer of May was this wonderful Mushroom Pot Pie on From My Bowl. I made it all in the cast iron frypan: frying, simmering and baking. We didn't have red wine so I added a bit of whiskey and water instead. Perhaps this was why it was so rich. The mixture of mushrooms, carrots, potato and peas in a creamy cashew sauce under a blanket of crispy puff pastry was so good. The leftovers were excellent for work lunches.
I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen
event. If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by 13th
of the
month. Or just head over to her blog to visit more kitchens and her
gorgeous hand drawn header. Thanks to Sherry for continuing to host
this even that brings together some wonderful bloggers who share
glimpses into their kitchens.