Chickpeas

Chickpeas are little things that have occasionally appeared in my pantry in tins, floated around for a few months and then been thrown randomly into a "fridge review" dish when I am trying to clean out my pantry. You know what I mean - that strange dish of unmatched flavours you force on your family when you are trying to get rid of ingredients you feel guilty about throwing out. Something you would never dream of serving when you have guests for dinner.

Times are changing, however. I currently have a number of tins of these little legumes in my pantry, bought to make hommus when I realised just how much I was paying for hommus at the supermarket. But I have also started thinking about other ways to use them, too.

Firstly, a little about them. Chickpeas have been around for a long time. There have been archeological remains found (probably in some well-intentioned cook's pantry) from the Middle East dating back to 7500 years ago. They were known and enjoyed by the classical Greek and Romans. Cicero even got his name from them - in Latin they are known as cicer. They are used in many ways in cooking throughout the Middle East, India and parts of Asia. They are a low GI food and a source of zinc, folate and protein.  They are eaten cold in salads, hot in curries and other dishes, ground up into flour, roasted, and some varieties are even popped like popcorn. A very versatile little legume.

I received inspiration the other day from Jules Clancy, who has a great blog called Stonesoup. It has lots of great recipes, including video demonstrations, and her dishes are packed with vegies. She really enjoys using chickpeas, and I found a number of recipes that use them. Her blog can be found here: Stonesoup blog.

One of the great ideas I got from her is to make hommus with other roast veggies. The girls and I made roast butternut pumpkin hommus (with some chickpeas as well) yesterday - a very different taste. I liked it, and so did Ella and Jessica, but Zoe is fairly anti-pumpkin.

I also took inspiration from the general vibe of her recipes, and for my lunch yesterday heated up some chickpeas in a small frying pan with some flaked almonds, and wilted some rocket from my garden through it, then put chopped parsley on top. Very nice.

For dinner, I had some leftover chickpeas, so I dried them on paper towel, tossed them in flour, powdered onion and a little salt, then fried them in olive oil. I was quite impressed with the result.

Another idea I used last night from Jules Clancy is the idea of cooking food on one side only. So I also got some asparagus, and put it in the pan with olive oil, put the lid on so it would steam through a bit, and just cooked it on one side. I liked the way it went soft but retained some crunch. Fresh on one side, lovely and brown on the other.

Spaghetti face

We had spaghetti bolognese tonight. We have it reasonably often, partly because I have an emotional attachment to it arising from it being the dish I felt most comfortable making when I first moved out of home, and partly because it gives me a good opportunity to engage in some veggie smuggling.

And because it provides a great opportunity for the standard spaghetti photo. Which just goes to show that you're never to young to appreciate good food.

Note: the picture is of baby Ella because it's far less embarrassing than a photo of my spaghetti face!

Cooking from Scratch

My husband set me a challenge last weekend - to see how much food I can make from scratch, and how long I can maintain a habit of doing so.

The reason for the challenge is two-fold. Firstly, with eating a largely sugar free diet, it is difficult to eat processed food, as so much has added sugar. Secondly, because I want to cut down the amount of processed food I eat, I am quite tempted by the idea of a Thermomix. However, they are quite pricey. We have agreed to save up for one, however, long that takes. In the meantime, my husband suggested that I should use the time in proving that making things from scratch is actually something I am committed to, by making things the long way round (ie, without a Thermomix).

It is something I have been feeling guilty about for a while anyway, the amount of processed food I eat, and feed my family. It makes sense from a health and a cost point of view to make what I can at home. Time is the only factor - a big factor for me with a 5, 3, and 1 year old. But the kids are getting into it and helping.

So, this week I have made crackers, hommus (which I've made in the past and is so ridiculously easy I should hang my head in shame for buying it) and icecream (our version of the Thermomix sorbet). I currently have yoghurt sitting in the thermos, hopefully stewing away. I also have flat bread in the oven, courtesy of my breadmaker. Last night for dinner I got chicken tenderloins, dipped them in egg then a mix of breadcrumbs, dried herbs and garlic. My husband thought that I had bought them ready crumbed =)

I am planning to make butter today or tomorrow - looking forward to the buttermilk too. I am feeling very pleased with my efforts. I hope I can keep it up - I need to find a quicker way of making yoghurt - the milk took far long to get to temperature. I think I had the stove too low, fearful it would overheat.

Here is to a long and satisfying journey of good food that I made myself =)

Is there anything you like to make yourself? Post a comment and share it! Inspiration is always good!

Chicken stir fry

When I first moved out of home my sister and I were living together on a VERY tight budget. We used to do stir fries, just veggies and the occasional bit of shredded pizza ham. No marinade or sauce, just straight up and dead boring.

I remember one day going to a friend's place for dinner, and he got out his wok, got out some food and started preparing a marinade. What a revelation. It had never occurred to me that you should do this (the only excuse I can make is that I was preoccupied with trying to get the marks I needed to transfer into Medicine).

I love the flavours you can impart in a marinade. The basic principle I work with is oil, sugar of some sort, acid (to break down the meat fibres and soften it) plus any other flavourings. The oil helps when cooking and the sugar just makes it nice and caramelised.
I'm doing one tonight with sunflower oil (I'm out of olive oil which would be my usual choice); soy sauce; garlic; lime and lemon zest and juice; and ginger cordial, which provides not only a nice ginger flavour but also some sugar.

Don't know what it will taste like but it smells good!

Salmon dinner

I adore salmon but don't get to eat it very often since we moved last year and no longer live near the salmon farms. It's so expensive at the supermarket. Last night's salmon cost over $19. Still, it was a special occasion - my birthday - and still cheaper than eating out.

I cooked it in a frying pan with a bit of olive oil, some shallots, lime rind and sliced limes. I sautéed the shallots and rind a bit before I added the fish. I served it with boiled baby potatoes tossed with butter and chives. I would have used dill but the chives were growing in my garden and the dill wasn't.

I also made a salad with a bag of leaves, some mango, avocado, dried cranberries and roasted cashews. Rather than faff around with a dressing I just drizzled some balsamic vinegar over it.

The drink was a mocktail I made with watermelon put through the blender, not quite an equal part of soda water with lime, and a good slug of Buderim ginger cordial. I served it in wine glasses because I got rid of my martini glasses when I moved. The kids still thought it was fun. I tried making mine into a cocktail with a splash of moscato. It worked but if you try it go easy on the moscato, as the sweetness will overpower the melon. It would probably work with sparkling wine replacing some of the soda water, but the moscato was open, and while I'm breastfeeding I'm not going to open a bottle of bubbles just to spike a cocktail.

It was an easy dinner, and, well, yummy.