Simple Beef Pies (Donna Hay)

I dont know that i woudl say these are simple.....
Ingredients (serves 4)
  • 4 x 125g (4 oz) fillet steaks
  • 1 teaspoon oil sea salt and cracked black pepper
  • 2 x 375g (13 oz) packets store-bought puff pastry
  • 2 tablespoons wholegrain mustard
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten

Method
  1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C or 390 degrees F.
  2. Trim the steaks, brush with the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  3. Heat a frying pan over high heat. Add the steaks and cook for three minutes each side or until well browned. Remove from the pan.
  4. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until 3mm (1/8 in) thick.
  5. Cut 4 x 14cm (51/2 in) rounds for the base and 4 x 16cm (6 in) rounds for the tops.
  6. Line a tray with baking paper and place the four pastry bases on the tray.
  7. Top each with a piece of beef and 1/2 tablespoon mustard.
  8. Brush the pastry edges with the egg and top with the remaining rounds of pastry.
  9. Press the edges to seal and brush the pastry top with the egg.
  10. Bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the beef is cooked. 

White Bean Salad (Donna Hay)

A nice side salad - i love red onion!
Ingredients
  • 400g cannelini beans
  • 2 large tomatoes
  • 100g rocket leaves
  • 1/2 red onion
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • salt an pepper

Method
  1. Mix it all together!

Chicken roasted on eggplant and tomatoes (Donna Hay)

I didn't think i would like this, but i did!

Ingredients (Serves 4)
  • 1 eggplant, thickly sliced
  • 3 roma tomatoes, sliced
  • 1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves
  • salt and coarse ground pepper to taste
  • 4 chicken breast fillets
  • ½ cup grated Parmesan
  • ½ cup grated mozzarella cheese
Method
  1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C.
  2. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
  3. Place the eggplant slices on the tray and top with the tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper.
  4. Top each pile with a chicken breast fillet and sprinkle with the parmesan and mozzarella.
  5. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is golden and the chicken cooked through.

Mushroom Soup

I dont actually like tinned mushroom soup, but this is awesome

Ingredients (serves 4)
  • 450g mushrooms
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 45g butter
  • 1 small red onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • salt an pepper
  • 1 large agria potato, peelined and finely chopped
  • 125ml white wine
  • 1 litre chicken stock
  • 2 tsp fresh oregano or thyme leaves
  • 100ml cream
  • parsley to garnish
Method
  1. Finely chop mushrooms
  2. Heat oil and butter in pan over low heat
  3. Add mushrooms, onion, garlic, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper
  4. Fry for 10 mins
  5. Add potato, wine, stock and herbs, bring to boil, then simmer for 20 mins
  6. Process in blender until smooth
  7. Return to pan, add crem, heat to biling, stirring well
  8. Taste and season.  Add parsley to garnish

Lamb Moussaka with Yogurt Topping (Healthy Food Guide)

I made this last night, and it was sooooo delicious!
Ingredients (serves 4)
  • Oil spray
  • 1 red onion, finely diced
  • 1 large carrot, finely diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 500g lean lamb mince
  • 2 tbs tomato paste
  • 400g can chopped tomatoes
  • 2 medium eggplant, sliced in 1/2cm slices
  • 1 cup greek yogurt
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 crumbed feta
  • 4 cups green veggiesto serve
Method
  1. Oven at 180
  2. Spray large saucepan with oil
  3. Cook carrot and onion over medium heat for 6-7 mins
  4. Add garlic and cook for 1 min
  5. Add mince and cook for 5 mins
  6. Add tomato paste and cook for 1 min
  7. Add tomatoes, bring to bil, then simmer for 10 mins
  8. Season to taste and remove from heat
  9. Meanwhile, spray large frying pan with oil and cook eggplants in batches for 2 mins each side
  10. In a small bowl, whisk yogurt, egg, and feta.  Season to taste.
  11. Spoon 1/3 lamb mixture into 1.5litre oven proof dish
  12. Put 1/3 eggplant on top, and repeat 2 more layers with lamb and eggplant
  13. Top with yogurt topping and bake for 35-40mins
  14. Serve wth veggies

Potato-topped Fish Pie (Health Food Guide)

I made this last night and it was simply delicious - such a suprise for a"healthy" meal!  Low in fat, high in fibre, low in sodium, high in iron!  Bit low on the veggies, but serve it with a side of veggies - winner!
Ingredients (serves 4)
  • 600g potatoes
  • 1 1/2 cup frozen peas
  • 1/3 cup trim milk
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 3 stalks celery
  • 500g skinless boneless salmon, cut into 2cm peices
  • 250g prawns
  • 1 cup trim milk
  • 1 tbs cornflour
  • 2 spring onions
  • 1 tbs chopped dill
  • 1/4 cup chives
  • spray oil

Method
  1. Cook potatoes. Add peas for last 2 mins.  Mash with 1/3 cup milk.  Season.
  2. Preheat oven at 220C
  3. Heat saucepan and oil - add celery, cook for 5 mins
  4. Add salmon, prawns and 3/4 cup milk and bring to simmer
  5. Combine 1/4 cup milk and cornflour and add to pan - cook for 5 mins
  6. Stir in onions and dill and half of chives
  7. Spoon mixture into ovenproof dish and top with mash
  8. Srapy with oil and cook in oven for 15 mins
  9. Sprinkle with rest of chives

Lamb, mint and pea pies (Donna Hay)

These little pies are such a winner - made them at the batch once, and people were eating 3 or 4 - they were that yummy!


Ingredients (Makes 12)
  • 750g agria potatoes, peeled, chopped
  • 50g butter, chopped
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • Sea salt and cracked black pepper
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 500g lamb mince
  • 2 cups beef stock
  • 1/3 cup tomato paste
  • 2/3 cup store-bought mint jelly
  • 1 1/2 cups frozen peas
  • 3 sheets store-bought shortcrust pastry
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
Method
  1. Preheat oven to 200C. Place potato in a saucepan of salted cold water and bring to the boil.
  2. Cook for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and return to pan.
  3. Roughly mash, add butter, milk, salt and pepper and mash until smooth.
  4. Heat oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Add garlic and lamb and cook, breaking up any lumps, for 5 minutes or until browned.
  5. Add stock, tomato paste, mint jelly and pepper and cook for 6-8 minutes or until thickened.
  6. Stir through peas. Cut 12 x 10.5cm rounds from pastry. Cut a slit halfway through the diameter of each round.
  7. Line 12 x 1/2- cup-capacity greased muffin tins with the pastry.
  8. Spoon lamb into cases. Top with mash. Brush with egg. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden

Red curry and sweet potato soup (Donna Hay)

I didn't think this was all that good, but my husband seriously LOVED it!
Ingredients
  • 1tbs oil
  • 1 onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 tbs ginger finely grated
  • 1tbs red curry paste
  • 1kg sweet potato
  • 1 litre chicken stock
  • 1 cup coconut cream
Method
  1. Heat oil
  2. Ad onion and garlic and cook for 2-3 mins
  3. Add ginger and red curry paste and cook for 1-2 mins
  4. Add sweet potato and chicken stock and cok for 15 mins
  5. Add coconut cream and blend until smooth 

Rocket And Pea Soup With Mint Pesto (Marie Claire)

I made this again last night without the rocket... its not as good... and the pesto adds that extra bit of mint..
Ingredients
  • 1 large bunch mint, trimmed
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled
  • 3 tablespoons pine nuts
  • 1 cup grated parmesan
  • 100ml extra virgin olive oil, plus 4 tablespoons extra for frying
  • 1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
  • 650g frozen or fresh shelled peas
  • 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
  • 2 rashers bacon
  • 180g rocket leaves
Method
  1. Place mint, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan, oil and a little sea salt in a food processor and process to form a coarse paste, then set aside.
  2. Place extra oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat, then fry onion until soft.
  3. Add peas, stock, bacon, sea salt and ground black pepper, and simmer for 5 minutes.
  4. Stir in rocket leaves and remove from heat.
  5. Remove bacon and process mixture, in batches, in a food processor until smooth.
  6. Stir in mint pesto and serve.

Leek & Potato Soup

Simple hearty classic.... add some cream for vichychoise!

Ingredients (2 servings)
  • 30g butter
  • 1 leek
  • 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
  • 1 potato
  • salt and pepper
Method
  • Heat butter in pan
  • Cook leek for 10 mins
  • Add chicken stock and potato and cook for 15 mins
  • Blend
  • Add salt and pepper

Saucy chick 'n' veg bake (Healthy Food Guide)

This is a basic meal... not super blow-your-mind delicious, but a basic... i may delete this recipe.... :)

Ingredients
  • canola oil cooking spray
  • 1kg potatoes, peeled, diced
  • 3 tablespoons reduced-fat spread
  • 1/4 cup trim milk, hot
  • 1/4 teaspoon Tuscan seasoning or dried mixed herbs
  • 1/2 cup frozen peas
  • 1 cup frozen corn kernels
  • 150g cooked, skinless chicken breast, diced
  • 2 slices lean ham, diced
  • 2 spring onions, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup grated reduced-fat cheese
Method
  1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Spray an ovenproof dish with oil.
  2. Boil potatoes until tender. Drain. Add spread, milk and seasoning. Mash until smooth.
  3. Add remaining ingredients except cheese to potato. Combine.
  4. Spoon mixture into prepared dish. Level surface with a knife. Top with cheese and bake for 25 minutes until lightly golden. Serve with a green salad.

Creamy tomato, bacon and mushroom pasta bake (Healthy Food Guide)

Another Health Food Guide winner - this one is high in fibre, high in calcium, and a "money-saver" :)

Ingredients
  • 300g (3 cups) small pasta shapes such as spirals
  • 300g broccoli, trimmed, cut in small florets
  • cooking oil spray
  • 1 red onion, finely chopped
  • 175g lean bacon, diced
  • 150g mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 red capsicum, seeded, diced
  • 1 tablespoon sun-dried tomato pesto
  • 400g can chopped tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup light evaporated milk
  • 1/3 cup grated Edam cheese
Method
  1. Preheat oven to 180ºC. Cook pasta following packet directions, adding broccoli in the last 2 minutes of cooking time. Drain well.
  2. Meanwhile, heat a large non-stick pan over a medium-high heat. Add onion and bacon. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5-6 minutes, or until bacon is slightly crisp. Add mushrooms and capsicum. Cook for 3-4 more minutes, or until mushrooms are golden. Add pesto and tomatoes. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add evaporated milk. Turn heat down to low and simmer for 2 more minutes.
  3. Add drained pasta and broccoli to sauce and toss to combine. Transfer to a lightly-oiled 2L/8 cup-capacity ovenproof baking dish and sprinkle with cheese. Place in preheated oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden. Serve with a green salad.

Tomato, salami & chickpea soup (Donna Hay)

This is more of a broth than a creamy soup, but i quite liked it for a change....

Ingredients
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 red onion halved & sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic crushed
  • 100g salami sliced
  • 1 tin cherry tomatos
  • 1 tin chickpeas
  • 1 litre chicken stock
  • s+p

Method
  1. Heat the oil in your soup pot and fry off the onion, garlic and salami for about 5 minutes
  2. Then add in the stock and tomatos, simmer with the lid off for 10 minutes
  3. Add in the rinsed chickpeas and s+p then cook for a further 5 minutes, turn off the heat.

Chocolate Cherry Trifle (Nigella Lawson)

Nigella rocks at this stuff.... absolutely indulgently exquisite

Ingredients
Basics
  • 2 chocolate pound cakes, approximately 12 ounces each
  • ½ cup Cherry Jam
  • ½ cup Cherry Brandy
  • 2 cups Drained bottled sour cherries recommended: Morello
Custard
  • 4 oz Bittersweet Chocolate minimum 70 percent cocoa solids, chopped
  • 1 1/3 cups Milk plus 1 tablespoon
  • 1 1/3 cups Heavy Cream plus 1 tablespoon
  • 8 egg yolks
  • ½ cup Sugar plus 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/3 cup cocoa powder
Topping
  • 3 cups Heavy Cream
  • 1 oz Bittersweet Chocolate grated
Method
  1. Slice the chocolate pound cake and make jam sandwiches with the cherry jam, and layer the bottom of a large wide trifle bowl.
  2. Pour over the cherry brandy so that the cake soaks it up, and then top with the drained cherries.
  3. Cover with cling wrap and leave to macerate while you make the custard.
  4. Melt the chocolate on low to medium heat in the microwave, checking after 2 minutes, though it will probably need 4 minutes. Or you can place it in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Once the chocolate is melted, set aside while you get on with the custard.
  5. Custard
  6. In a saucepan warm the milk and cream. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, and cocoa in a large bowl. Pour the warm milk and cream into the bowl whisking it into the yolks and sugar mixture.
  7. Stir in the melted chocolate, scraping the sides well with a rubber spatula to get all of it in, and pour the custard back into the rinsed saucepan.
  8. Cook over a medium heat until the custard thickens, stirring all the time. Make sure it doesn't boil, as it will split and curdle. Keep a sink full of cold water so that if you get scared you can plunge the bottom of the custard pan into the cold water and whisk like mad, which will avert possible crisis.
  9. The custard will get darker as it cooks and the flecks of chocolate will melt once the custard has thickened. And you do need this thick, so don't panic so much that you stop cooking while it is still runny. Admittedly, it continues to thicken as it cools and also when it's chilling in the refrigerator.
  10. Once it is ready, pour into a bowl to cool and cover the top of the custard with cling wrap to prevent a skin from forming.
  11. When the custard is cold, pour and spread it over the chocolate cake layer in the trifle bowl, and leave in the refrigerator to set, covered in cling wrap overnight.
  12. Topping
  13. When you are ready to decorate, softly whip the cream for the topping and spread it gently over the layer of custard. Grate the chocolate over the top.
Watch Nigella make it on you tube here

Chocolate & Cranberry Slice (Annabel Langbein)

This is SO easy, and delicious and really impressive - great as gifts too!

Ingredients
  • 350g dark eating chocolate
  • 3/4 cup of sweetened condensed milk
  • 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup of shelled pistachio
  • 1 cup of dried cranberries
  • 1/4 cup of icing sugar
Method
  1. Gently melt 350g dark eating chocolate – use the best quality you can for the very best flavour – over a double boiler, or just a heatproof bowl sitting over a pot containing a little boiling water.
  2. While the chocolate is melting, line a small loaf tin with baking paper so the slice will be really easy to get out.
  3. The trick to melting chocolate is not to overheat it. Once the chocolate starts to melt, the heat that is generated carries on heating the rest of the chocolate, so keep stirring until all the chocolate is melted.
  4. Once the chocolate has melted, remove from heat and mix in 3/4 cup of sweetened condensed milk, stirring until it is evenly combined. Then add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, 3/4 cup of shelled pistachio, 1 cup of dried cranberries and 1/4 cup of icing sugar. Mix well.
  5. The mixture will start to set very quickly but don’t worry about that. Just mould it with your hands as it is really malleable, and press firmly into the prepared lined tin. It takes just 30 minutes to set in the refrigerator.

Baked Italian Chicken (Donna Hay)

This is so easy and SO impressive - only tricky bit is making sure the chicken is cooked / and not overcooked!

Ingredients (serves 4)
  • 6 roma tomatoes, halved
  • 3 tsp olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • 3 tbs store-bought pesto
  • 4 chicken breast fillets
  • 8 slices parmasan cheese
  • 12 slices priscuitto
Method
  1. Oven at 200C
  2. Place tomatoes cut side up on lined baking tray, drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper - bake for 20 minutes
  3. Spread pesto over chicken, top with parmesan and then wrap each in proscuitto
  4. Place on lined baking dish and bake for 10-15mins until chicken is cooked through
  5. Serve hot or cold with simple green salad

Bacon-wrapped Beef with Porchini Mash (Donna Hay)

This is a little trickier, but totally worth it as it is DIVINE - an absolute dinner party winner!  You can serve it without the red wine glaze (which i did last time i made it as i forgot to put it on the plate - great party!), and you can serve it with a porcini mash. (PS - this picture isnt of the porchini mash, but its the closest i could get - the porcini nmash isnt green!)

Ingredients (serves 4)
  • 30g butter
  • 1 leek, sliced
  • 1 tbs horseradish
  • 4 x 250g fillet steaks
  • 8 rashers bacon
  • salt and pepper
  • 50g butter
  • 1/2 cup red wine
  • 1/2 cup beef stock
  • 2 tbs redcurrant jelly
  • salt and pepper
Method
  1. Over at 180C
  2. Melt butter in a fying pan
  3. Cook leek for 3-4mins until soft
  4. Remove from heat and stir in horseradish
  5. For each peice of steak, lay out 2 rashers of bacon (i put the string underneath the bacon, and lay the bacon overlapping slightly - depending of height of the steak)
  6. Top the bacon with the leek mixture
  7. Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper wrap in the bacon, securing with string (this is the tricky part - good luck!)
  8. Heat a frying pan on high
  9. Cook steaks for 1-2mins each side
  10. Place on lined baking tray and cook for 10-15mins or until cooked to your liking
  11. While the beef is cooking, make the red wine glaze
  12. Put extra butter, wine, stic, red current jelly, salt and pepper in a pan and boil for 8-10mins or until slightly reduced (i add some cornflour to thicken it too)
  13. Sppon red wine glaze over steaks, and serve with prchini mash
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