Gorgonzola and Honey Pizza

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Gorgonzola Pizza

If you’ve never put honey with blue cheese, you will get pleasantly surprised how wonderful it is. I tried this pizza when I was in Korea, one of the Italian restaurants. They put just two ingredients on top of paper-thin pizza, Gorgonzola cheese and pesto, and serve with honey in a dipping bowl. What you do is grab a slice of pizza and dip in honey. It’s a delectable sweet and salty dish. Easy to put together yet complex in flavour! This combination works really good served as a starter on crostini or salad with slices of pear or apple or figs. Yum!

Red Salad: Mix cumin, grated beetroot and carrot with coriander. Season with salt and pepper. Dress with  coconut vinegar, lemon juice and e.v.o.o.

Stuffed Green Capsicum: Cook minced beef in a pan with garlic, ginger, chilli and soy sauce. Clean the inside of the green capsicum and fill up with cooked beef. Put it in the preheated oven (180) for 20 minutes until capsicum is soft and tender.

Gorgonzola Pizza: Roll out the pizza dough nice and thin. Spread pesto at the bottom and arrange caramelised onion, slices of figs, Gorgonzola cheese, Parmesan cheese, garlic chips and walnuts. Put it in the oven for about 15 minutes. Add a drizzle of honey just before serve.

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Posted in: Baking, Dinner, Lunch, My recipes

Leek Frittata with Mediterranean Orzo Salad

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Leek frittata

I found a giant leek at the local veggie market today. I don’t know why I get so excited when I find humongous vegetables or fruits 🙂 Leeks belong to the family of Alliaceae like onion and garlic. They are very low in calories but packed with healthy nutrients and phytonutrients.

  •  the flavonoid kaempferol provides protection to the lining of blood vessels, thereby lowers the risk of hypertension.
  •  as the allium family they lowers blood pressure, good for cardiovascular health.
  •  low calorie and high fibre content helps to lose weight.
  •  they can fight chronic low-level inflammatory status such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis.
  •  antioxidants in leeks help to fight against free radicals which cause chronic disease and aging.
  •  they are a good source of vitamins and minerals

They have very mild flavour and works well with other vegetables. My favorite way of cooking leeks is sautéing with a drizzle of olive oil and white wine and serving with a piece of white fish. Another way is to make an omelet or frittata with sauteed leeks. Cook finely sliced leeks in a pan until they are softened and then mix with whisked eggs and milk. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Because this frittata can be a little bland I wanted something salty and zingy salad on the side. So I made this salad using olives, sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, cooked orzo, goji berries, toasted pepitas and green salad. Protein from eggs tick! Carbs from orzo and veggies tick! Good fat from olive oil and nuts tick! Taste also tick! I think it ticks all the boxes 🙂

Leek frittata2

 

Posted in: Baking, Dinner, Lunch, My recipes, salads

Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Lasagna with Kale Chips

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I made a vegetarian version of the traditional meaty lasagna last night for “Meatless” Monday. Meatless Monday is an international campaign, no meat on Mondays to improve your health and the health of the planet. It started quite a while ago in America in 2003 and runs in over 20 countries, mostly high meat consuming countries. I am very positive about this movement, not that I want Australians to turn to vegetarians or vegan. But it’s a fun program that you can think about your health and environment at the start of the week and come up with some interesting vegetarian dishes. I don’t need to follow this rule since my diet is already 90% vegetarian though I try to cook a vegetarian dinner at least x 1-2 a week for my hubby.

pumpkin lasagnaA traditional lasagna is a nice comfort food, but can be quite heavy loaded with ground beef and cheese. You can make a healthier version and have a generous serving of veggies by simply replacing ingredients. You can make it gluten-free by using gluten-free lasagna sheets or just layers of sliced vegetables such as eggplant and zucchini. Bechamel sauce is traditionally made of butter, flour and milk that gives a nice creaminess and builds a lasagna shape. To make a healthier version (gluten-free and dairy-free! yay!), you can use creamed tofu, celeriac purĂ©e, cashew cream or white bean purĂ©e. These substitutes don’t compromise flavour at all but in fact adds more protein and fibre. I find a beauty of making lasagna is when it shows beautiful layers when you cut into it. I used pumpkin mash, slices of sweet potatoes, Parmesan cheese and sage leaves – simple ingredients but nice flavour. I served with bitter crunchy kale chips which compliment this dish very well. This would be a fabulous dish for a potluck dinner or a holiday party as well.

Posted in: Baking, Dinner, My recipes, Vegetarian

Dinner with Friends

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Nibbles
Happy CNY! Normally CNY is a pretty big national holiday in Korea. Everyone gets together and indulge themselves with healthy festive foods. I didn’t use to like being called to the kitchen by my mum and aunties, which meant no playing but working. They made me open the jars of spices and sauces when they needed extra hands. We all had to sit around and make hundreds of dumplings which I was not good at and very slow. After hours of cooking, a big table full of nice food and drinks was for guys. Kids had a small table set-up next to it with less food because adults and kids don’t sit together in old days. I understand now, though, kids are messy eaters and noisy. Then of course these lucky guys just eat and leave. More work for women who didn’t even eat a proper meal because they were busy replacing the empty plates for new ones and feeding kids. I felt sorry for my mum and aunties on CNY after seeing how much physical work they actually do for a family gathering. Having said that they didn’t seem to mind at all, a lot of giggling and chit-chats happening in the kitchen. It was all about cooking with love! Oh good memories 🙂 I think some families don’t do this kind of big gatherings any more nowadays because they are busy with their life or rather want to go on overseas holiday. But really, family comes first, nothing more important than that. I would love to be back home for CNY which unfortunately I haven’t done for almost 10 years since I’m living far away from my family. So this year I’ve decided to invite some of my friends and their partners over for dinner to celebrate CNY and have a feast. Bring back my spirit of feeding “the family”!

entree
Entree
– Creamed spinach& artichoke on tea bread
– Pork buns
– Mango salsa in wonton cups
– Caramelised pear and onion crostini

pork-main
Main
– Black tea braised pork on rice
– Crispy potato with thyme and broccoli salad with blue cheese and mustard vinaigrette
– Caramelised carrot, dates, orange & quinoa salad with pomegranate dressing

panna cotta
Dessert
– Lemon panna cotta in a tea cup with home-made sesame honey comb

I wish you all an amazing, prosperous and peaceful 2014 x

Posted in: Dinner, My recipes

Lamb Bulgogi and Quinoa Stuffed Capsicum

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Stuffed capsicum

Bulgogi is marinated thinly sliced beef dish, one of the popular Korean foods. Beef should be tender and melting in your mouth. Basic marinade is soy sauce, garlic, ginger, chilli, onion and sesame oil, but everyone has their own twist on the marinade in Korea that makes the Bulgogi flavour different  from house to house. My mum’s secret weapon is using purĂ©e of acidic fruits which breaks down meat protein and therefore makes it tender when cooked. It also helps to balance sweet and sour. Normally kiwi fruit, Asian nashi pear, apple or pineapple works well. You need to make sure you don’t leave meat in the marinade too long otherwise it will end up all mushy.

I don’t usually cook lamb because of strong smell of it, but this lamb Bulgogi was not too bad actually. I’m surprised it tasted as nice and tender as traditional beef Bulgogi. To make Bulgogi you need thin slices of meat either beef or lamb. If you cannot find in the supermarket, go down to your local friendly butcher. They can help you with that. Marinade meat for an hour or two. Cook in a frying pan in high heat. It’s thin marinated meat so shouldn’t take long to cook. My tip is not to crowd the pan otherwise temperature drops down and the beautiful juice all comes out of the meat. Quickly stir-fry and serve with sesame seeds on top. I served Bulgogi with a stuffed capsicum and red cabbage sauerkraut. I cooked half cup of quinoa with turmeric and mint first. Then put it in the halved red capsicum and cook in the preheated oven (180) for 20 minutes until capsicum is tender. I topped with cottage cheese and roasted pepitas. It was very tasty and well-balanced flavours – sweetness from roasted capsicum, nuttiness from quinoa and pepitas, and creaminess from cottage cheese. Delicieux!

Posted in: Dinner, My recipes