Beef Stroganoff

Mushrooms are on special at The Fresh Ingredient, it's a perfect time to make Stroganoff. Supreme comfort food for these cool evenings.

Source your mushrooms, paprika, tomato paste, eschalots (or baby onions), parsley & sour cream from The Fresh Ingredient. I use either Joslin Street Kotara Butcher or Sellers Meats at Merewether for my meat.

Ingredients (serves 4)

500g thinly sliced beef (if you have a good butcher, buy eye fillet & ask them to slice for you)
2 tbs Herbies Sweet Paprika
ground black pepper
1/3 cup plain flour
¼ cup olive oil
3 eschalots or 2 small brown onions finely diced
400 g button mushrooms thinly sliced
2 tbs tomato paste
1 cup beef stock
½ cup dry white wine
2 tbs Worcestershire Sauce
¾ cup sour cream
1 tbs finely chopped fresh continental parsley

Method

1. Combine paprika, flour and a good grind of black pepper in a bowl, add beef strips and toss to coat beef. 
2. Heat 2tbs oil in a large frying pan. Cook meat quickly in small batches over a med-high heat, remove & set aside.  
3. Add remaining oil to pan, when warm add onion & cook over med-high heat for 3 minutes or until soft.
4. Add mushrooms to pan, cook over med-high heat for 5 minutes.
5. Add tomato paste, wine, stock & Worcestershire sauce to pan, bring to the boil.
6. Reduce heat & simmer for 5 minutes uncovered, stir occasionally.
7. Return meat to pan, add sour cream, stir until combined and just heated through.
8. Sprinkle with parsley & serve with fettucine.

Carrot & Ginger Soup

Carrots are on special this week at The Fresh Ingredient - so stock up, make this soup & freeze for later use.
This soup is fast & easy to make, tasty, and helps stave off colds.

Ingredients (serves 4)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
5cm piece ginger, peeled, finely chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1kg (approx. 6) carrots, peeled, chopped
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
sour cream and chopped coriander leaves, to serve

Method
1. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, ginger and garlic. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes or until onion is soft.
2. Add carrots, stock and water to saucepan. Simmer, partially covered, for 35 to 40 minutes or until carrots are very tender. Remove from heat.
3. Using a stick blender, process soup until smooth. Return saucepan to low heat and stir until warmed through.
4. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with sour cream and coriander. Serve.

Watermelon and Fetta Salad

It's been so hot that the thought of turning on the oven, or going outside to turn on the BBQ is just horrendous. I find when it's hot that my appetite disappears and all I want is something light to eat. Therefore tonight's dinner had to be something light, cooling, easy, with minimal cooking required.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

1/4 fresh, juicy watermelon

1/3 jar (100-150g) of Binnorie Marinated Fetta

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves

2 tbs fresh mint leaves

1/4 cup walnuts

Method

1. Toast the walnuts in a dry frypan for 2-5 mins, tossing continually. Allow to cool.
2. Cube the watermelon. Place in salad bowl.
3. Crumble fetta over the top of the watermelon.
4. Ball up the basil leaves and shred with a sharp knife, repeat with the mint leaves, reserving a few for presentation. Sprinkle herbs over the fetta and melon.
5. Roughly chop the cooled walnuts and sprinkle over the salad.
Serve immediately.

Turkey Cottage Pie

Leftover turkey is always a problem at Christmas and by the 28th December most people are sick of eating cold meat & salad. I decided that this pie might make an interesting alternative dinner (& the weather has been a bit cooler, so an oven dish was not such a problem)

Ingredients

2 medium brown onions, peeled & finely sliced

100g unsalted butter

1/4 cup plain flour

1 tsp mustard powder

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

2 cups leftover roast turkey, finely diced

2 tbs Hanks 4 Turkey sauce (cranberry & orange sauce)
4 sebago potatoes, peeled & quartered
1/4 cup milk (warmed)
Murray River Salt Flakes & freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Method

Lightly grease a 6 cup capacity oven dish.
Place potatoes in saucepan, cover with cold water & bring to the boil. Allow to boil until they slide off a knife when tested.
Add 50g butter to a non-stick frypan, melt butter, then add onions. Cook until onions brown and are soft.
Lower heat.
Pre-heat oven to 180C.
Add plain flour & mustard powder to the pan, stir until the mixture has no lumps.
Gradually add chicken stock, stirring well after each addition.
Add turkey meat & Hanks 4 Turkey sauce, stir until mixture is well combined.
Taste - season as required. Add to oven dish.
Drain potatoes, mash with 50g butter & 1/4 cup warmed milk.
Cover the meat mixture with the potato mash & bake in oven for about 20-25 minutes or until top has browned.
Serve with lightly steamed green beans.

Christmas Turkey Stuffing

This year The Fresh Ingredient family will enjoy a 4kg turkey with pistachio & cranberry stuffing, served alongside beautiful roast vegies - or course!!

Ingredients (all available from The Fresh Ingredient)
1 1/2 tbs olive oil
2 small brown onions, halved, finely chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries, finely chopped
1/3 cup unsalted pistachio kernels, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 1/2 cups fresh sourdough breadcrumbs (made from day-old bread)
2 Free-Range eggs, lightly whisked
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh continental parsley

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion, Craisins, pistachio and garlic and cook, stirring, for 8-10 minutes or until onion softens. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly.
2. Place the pistachio mixture in a bowl. Add the breadcrumbs, egg and parsley and stir to combine.
3. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Form into balls (about the size of golfballs) & stuff your turkey with these. Any remaining stuffing balls can be wrapped in foil & cooked alongside the turkey - however don't add them to the roasting dish until the last 45 minutes or so of cooking.

Enjoy!!!

Mango, Macadamia Chicken Salad

Summer means salad & summer means mangoes, so combining the two of these makes sense. The best part about this salad is that you can add or subtract the ingredients you do or don't like. This is my recipe, but I must admit that I don't really measure anything for this dish, I just throw it together (or plate it up!!)

Ingredients (Serves 2-4)
1 chicken breast, cut into strips
1 large or 2 small mangoes, cut into strips
1 large avocado, cubed
2-4 cups of mixed lettuce leaves, washed, dried & torn
1/2 lebanese cucumber, diced
2 sticks celery, diced
8-12 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/4 cup roasted macadamias, chopped
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Juice of 1/2 lime
2-4 tbs of Vegetali Caramelised Garlice & Lime Aioli

Method
1. Fill a large saucepan with enough water to cover your chicken breasts. Bring to the boil, when water is boiling add sliced chicken breast, poach for 2 minutes, reduce heat & simmer for 5 minutes. When 5 minutes is reached, check that the chicken is cooked through by removing a piece & checking the meat at the thickest part is opaque. When cooked remove from the poaching liquid & drain on paper towel.
2. Arrange lettuce leaves, celery, cucumber, tomatoes, mango & avocado in bowls.
3. Divide chicken between serving bowls, scatter chopped macadamias over the top of each bowl, drizzle with combined lemon & lime juice & then dollop a tablespoon of aioli on each bowl.

Great with a chilled Rose or a crisp Chardonnay.
Enjoy!

Summery Zucchini Pasta

Zucchini is on special at The Fresh Ingredient this week, so why not try this easy, tasty summer pasta dish?
Serves 2-4 people

Ingredients
250g dried spaghetti or fettucine
4 small zucchini, sliced into thin ribbons
2 tbs olive oil, preferrably Wollombi Extra Virgin
2 cloves garlic - crushed
4 slices of prosciutto, roughly torn
1 punnet cherry tomatoes (250g) halved
Freshly grated parmesan cheese and freshly cracked black pepper to serve
4-8 freshly picked basil leaves as garnish

Method
1. Cook pasta according to packet directions.
2. Heat olive oil in large heavy based frypan. Add garlic and zucchini to the pan, cook stirring for 2 minutes, or until zucchini just starts to soften, add prosciutto and cherry tomatoes, cook stirring for another 2 minutes, lower heat under frypan.
3. Drain pasta & reserve a little of the cooking water (about 40-50mls).
4. Add pasta and reserved cooking water to the frypan, heat through.
5. Arrange in serving bowls and top with freshly cracked black pepper and freshly grated parmesan. Finish off by arranging 2 basil leaves on each serving.