What We Ate ~ Week 1 ~ 2012

It's a New Year and time to make a change. Instead of posting our menu before we eat it, I'm going to post WHAT WE ATE each week, after the fact. I'll simply snap a shot on my iPhone at dinner time and then can link to recipes from there ...

I find our menu chops and changes so much and I want a true representation of what we actually eat each week so I'm going to give this a try !

You are welcome to join me ! If you post on this blog ... I'd love to see what you are eating ! If you have your own blog ... link in the comments !

I'm going to post Sunday to Saturday each week ....

Here we go !

Buffalo Boneless Chicken with Roasted Cauliflower/Broccoli

Dukkah Crusted Pomegranate Marinated Cod with Greek Quinoa Salad
and Sauteed Silverbeet (from our garden !)

The fish and the quinoa were new recipes. They were both very tasty. We decided not to bother trying to 'crust' the fish next time as the dukkah all fell off. We will just use the remaining marinade and some dukkah to make a nice sauce (we did that this time too ... just simmer together for a few minutes and then top the fist with it ... as you see in the photo) The quinoa I will make again and again. Such good flavor. The only thing I did different was roasting the red bell pepper ... and I didn't add a green one.

Homemade Pizza !

Mexican Cous Cous w/steamed asparagus

Lemony Chicken w/Israeli Cous Cous and Italian Salad with Fresh Basil Vinaigrette

Cheeseburgers

Toast, vegemite, dill pickle slices, fried egg. Mmmmmmmmmm !

Pistachio Dukkah

oh boy do i love this stuff !

i had dukkah for the first time about 10 or 12 years ago at christmas dinner with friends

i loved it straight away !

then a few years ago, my friend kel and i found it at the markets 

yum yum

we have talked about how easy it must be to make
but just never made it
until last week !

i went to visit kel for her 40th birthday weekend celebration extravaganza !

we made dukkah

i'll never buy it again.

Here's how we made it ...

1/4 cup sesame seeds
3 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
2 cups pistachios (buy the ones already taken out of the seeds !)
salt
pepper
olive oil
turkish (or your choice of) bread

So ... dry roast (in a frying pan) the sesame seeds til golden. Tip into the food processor. Dry roast coriander and cumin seeds til fragrant. Tip into food processor. If the pistachios aren't already roasted and salted, dry roast them and add a bit of salt. Tip into food processor. Add pepper. Process til chunky ... see photo !

Serve with olive oil and bite size bread chunks.

To eat ... dip bread chunk into olive oil, then into dukkah ! Enjoy !! YUMMMMM !!

I'm making this again tomorrow for Christmas Eve with the family !!

Pumpkin {Lentil} Salad

I loved this.
Rory thought it was ok.
Next time I might make him some chicken on the side, then he might like it ! :)

Here's the recipe that I modified from one I found in a magazine.

1 kg pumpkin ... I like kent or butternut but any that is good for roasting would be fine.
1/3 cup orange juice
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp moroccan seasoning
1/2 a red onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cans lentils (I actually only use 1 can but you could use two if you like lots of lentils!)
spinach and rocket mixture
feta

So .... spray your pumpkin with olive oil and roast in bite size pieces in a 200C oven - 20 minutes or so.

Make dressing by combining orange juice and 1/2 the olive oil, sugar and moroccan seasoning.

Heat remaining oil in a frying pan over med heat. Cook onion and garlic for a couple of minutes ~ until soft. Add lentils ... heat through.

In serving bowl, combine lentil mixture, pumpkin, greens, and feta. Top with dressing.

Serve with toasted turkish bread. I did ours in the sandwich press ... topped with olive oil and dukkah.

PS ... this was great as leftovers along side
a delicious omelet cooked by the omelet master - Rory !

Kitchen Poetry Day 3

Dukkah for dinner ! Love it.

My challenge for myself for tomorrow is to get a kitchen photo that doesn't involve food !!