Recipe - CousCous Salad

Serves eight as a side dish (if it’s the only side dish).

Ingredients

Vegetables

You really can choose 4 vegetables that complement each other. Today I used

·         Mushrooms

·         Green Capsicum

·         Pumpkin

·         Eggplant

o   You could also use chickpeas and/or Spanish onion but I’d still keep it to 4 so there’s not too much going on

·         4 cloves garlic

·         1 tbsp. fresh ginger

·         1 tbsp. cumin seeds

·         Salt and pepper

·         5 tbsp. olive oil

·         1 cup quick-cooking couscous

·         1¼ cups boiling stock

·         70g Pinenuts

·         ¼ cup raisins

·         1¼ cups boiling chicken or vegetable stock

·         Juice of 1 lime and half a lemon

·         ½ a bunch flat-leaf parsley , chopped

·         ½ a bunch flat-leaf coriander, chopped

Method

1.     Preheat oven to 200 degrees

2.     Dice all the vegetables into small pieces

3.     Place the garlic, fresh ginger, cumin seeds, Salt and pepper; and olive oil into a food processor and blend

4.     Mix the marinade through the vegetables, spread them across a baking tray then bake for approx. 30 mins – longer if needed

5.     Meanwhile, mix the couscous with the raisins in a bowl and pour over the boiling stock. COVER with a dish towel, plate or plastic wrap to seal in the steam and let sit for 5 minutes.

6.     FLUFF the couscous with a fork to separate the grains.

7.     Dry roast the pinenuts and stir them through the cous cous

8.     When vegetables are cooked, stir them through the cooked vegetables

9.     Just before serving (or can do 2-3 hours before) stir through the herbs and lime/lemon juice

This recipe can be prepared the day before

Recipe - Mushroom Quiche

 

You'll need

 

Pastry

·         2½ cups

·         plain flour

·         ½ tsp

·         sugar

·         1 tsp

·         salt

·         170 g

·         unsalted butter, diced

 

Filling

·         4 tbsp

·         unsalted butter

·         1 tbsp

·         olive oil plus extra for drizzling

·         1 red onion, finely sliced

·         2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

·         500 g mixed mushrooms (or use one variety if desired), sliced

·         1 tbsp fresh thyme

·         2 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

·         4 egg yolks

·         300 ml cream or crème fraîche

·         140 g parmesan cheese, grated

·         1 tsp grated nutmeg

 

To serve:

·         100g girolle mushrooms sautéed in a little butter until tender and a green salad

 

Method

1.       Preheat oven to 200°C.

2.       To make pastry, combine flour, sugar and salt in a food processor.

3.       Add half the butter and process for 30 seconds. Add remaining butter and process for 1 minute. Add about cup cold water and mix until large lumps form. Transfer to a lightly floured surface. Using your hands, bring mixture together to form a rough dough. Gently knead with heel of your hand for about 30 seconds or until dough has just combined. Flatten to a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.

4.       Allow pastry to come to room temperature. Roll pastry out on a lightly floured surface and gently press into a 22cm flan tin with a removable base. Prick pastry with a fork then cover the base with a layer of baking paper and an even layer of dried beans. Blind bake pastry for 10-12 minutes or until lightly coloured. Remove from oven, cool and remove beans and paper. Turn down oven to 180°C.

Ø  Or if you don’t have time – cheat and buy premade short crust pastry and follow the instructions on the packet

5.       Meanwhile, to prepare the filling, heat butter and oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and sauté the onion, garlic, mushrooms, thyme and parsley for 10 minutes or until tender. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper then transfer to a bowl. Whisk egg yolks, cream, parmesan and nutmeg together in another bowl.

6.       Spread mushroom mixture evenly over the pastry case then pour the egg yolk and cream mixture over the mushrooms.

7.       Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until filling is tender and the top is golden. Remove from oven and serve warm or cold. Just before serving, sprinkle girolle mushrooms on top and drizzle with a little olive oil. Serve with a simple green salad.

 

This recipe is from the April/May 2012 issue of Gourmet Traveller WINE.