This is one of our special Superfoodelicious lunches I made last term for a few lucky people at work. It is one of my favourites and it fits perfectly with our Japanese themed giveaway.

Serves 4

• 1.5 cups quinoa
• 3 cups Vegetable Stock
• 100g frozen shelled edamame
• 300g Oyster mushrooms, torn up
• 300g enoki mushrooms, pulled apart
• 1 red capsicum, sliced
• 2 radish (120g, thinly sliced on mandolin)
• 170g snowpeas
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup Kecap manis
• sesame seeds
• Nori strips

1. Rinse quinoa then add vegetable stock in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Put the lid on and simmer for 12-15 minutes until the water is absorbed.
2. Add the edamame in the last few minutes.
3. Stir-fry the red capsicum, oyster mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, snowpeas, radish and shallots. Add the kecap manis.
4. Mix the quinoa with the veggies.
5. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and Nori strips.

Welcome to our first giveaway on No Red Meat. How exciting!!!! We have 4 double passes to Jiro Dreams of Sushi that you can win. It opens May 10th at selected cinemas.

Watch the trailer here.

All you need to do is leave a comment on this post telling us about your favourite Japanese restaurant, preferably in Sydney. We will select 4 lucky winners at random. Pretty easy hey! We love Japanese food, heck we love Japan and are always keen to try new restaurants so we are looking forward to hearing about your favourite places.

Entries close Tuesday the 8th May at 8pm AEST. Only open to residents of Australia. Make sure you enter a valid email address.

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3. Quinoa and aubergine salad to kick off National Vegetarian Week

Congratulations Tinx & Minx!!!!!

Well we promised another cake post in our speech so here are a few more photos of the assembly of the wedding cake. Hover over each photo to see the captions.

You can see in the photo of Tinx and Minx cutting the cake at the top of this post that we also put a few beautiful white gardenia’s on top. Thanks again to Mum for escorting the cakes from Sydney to Queensland and to Peter and Adele for letting us take over their kitchen and fridge to put this together. I was thinking since we had already baked the cakes it would take 1 hour, max 2 hours to assemble it. Nope we took our time, laughed, stirred in a heap of love and took photos along the way and it ending up taking just over 4 hours.

We were pretty excited that the problem we had in our trial cake was solved. When the top tier was lifted off the bottom tier to serve it up, it didn’t take the ganache from the bottom tier with it. Yay!!!! We put a piece of baking paper under the top tier and the dowels stuck up higher than they did in the trial so the top tier was slightly raised. Trying to position the top tier onto the bottom tier was the hardest part of this project because I only had one shot to get it right otherwise it would have messed up the smooth layer of ganache.

Since there was no cake leftover, not even the extra four 8″ cakes we made, I think it’s OK to say that we NAILED IT!

In addition to making the wedding cake we also made Mango Kulfi. You can get the recipe here.

Related posts:

1. Wedding Cake 101
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3. Mango Kulfi

I was just about to post a picture of this salad on facebook but then had a bite and OMG  I don’t think there would have been enough space on fb for me to say what is in it. What a winner this salad is and an even better bonus is I threw it together with stuff I already had in our fridge and cupboard. “Why would you want to go out when this gets served up night after night?”

I usually try to include some protein in my salads but we’re all out of eggs and canned tuna/salmon. However this salad does have a little protein from the feta, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and tahini.

The dressing, avocado and feta make this salad creamy (but healthy), whilst the seeds give it a nice crunch here and there. In my opinion this salad is AMAZEBALLS!!!

Amazeballs salad

• Handful of baby spinach
• baby roma tomatoes (Fresh from Ricardoes farm in Port Macquarie)
• 1/4 avocado
• 1 zucchini, sliced on the diagonal
• Feta
• sunflower seeds
• pumpkin seeds
• baby beetroot balls (I just used canned beetroot)

Dressing

• Avocado oil
• 1 garlic clove
• tahini
• lemon juice

1. Heat up grill
2. Spray zucchini with lemon olive oil and grill to get those sexy lines.
3. Whilst grilling the zucchini, make the dressing. Sorry I don’t have measurements. I just made it so it was a nice creamy consistency.
4. Combine the ingredients in a big salad bowl, toss with dressing and enjoy

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Happy New Year!

We had so much fun on NYE. It was also the George Michael Bollywood in the Bush Bonanza. In addition to making the cake for this spectacular wedding, we also made some Mango Kulfi. Kulfi is a frozen Indian dessert. I think it tastes like a Mango Weiss bar. It was super easy to make and we got the recipe from our mum. We mentioned in our speech that we were going to post the recipe here so thanks for stopping by and enjoy.

Mango Kulfi (Serves 10-12)

2 mangoes, seed removed

400g Sweetened condensed milk (1 Nestle tin)

250ml Reduced fat cream (1 Nestle tin)

300ml Thickened Cream

1. Line a 1L loaf tin with glad wrap. You could also use iceblock moulds
2. Puree mango pulp using a stick blender
3. Combine with the rest of the ingredients.
4. Pour into loaf tin.
5. Freeze overnight

This recipe can easily be doubled, tripled or made into whatever quantity you need. We made the kulfi in double batches to ensure an even distribution of the mango. Each double batch filled 3 disposable aluminium loaf tins.

I think the mango kulfi was a success. Some people were asking if there was any leftovers at the recovery brunch and we thought it was all gone, except for 2 melted trays of leftovers the caterers had left in the coolroom. However we were pretty excited to find a few more in the freezer. I sure was happy to announce round 2. Ding Ding Ding! Unfortunately for some people this was too late and they had already left. Sorry!

Congratulations to Tinx and Mick aka George and Michael, aka Tinx and Minx, aka Curious George and Micky Mouse, aka Micky and Minnie Mouse!!! It was a fantastic idea to celebrate your wedding on New Years Eve. We all enjoyed partied on into the night. I’m still recovering but had an absolute blast.

To love, laughter and happily ever after.

xx

Related posts:

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a) we have never made a wedding cake before and

b) the wedding is not in Sydney, so we were concerned about baking in a new kitchen.

After a bit of research on the net and finding other people who were in the same situation and had receieved heaps of advice we used the same advice and learnt ALOT.

1) It is possible to bake cakes in advance and freeze them.

2) Dowels should be used to support tiers and prevent them from squashing bottom layers

3) The cake should be assembled on site to minimise disasters en route.

Since the cake requested by the bride and groom is a secret family recipe obtained when Dan married Chris and we knew it worked we just had to make sure it would taste just as good after being frozen. It did!

So the past few weeks we have been baking cakes to test baking times for both 7″ and 8″ square tins in 2 different ovens. Now this particular cake recipe is a very liquidy batter so when we used the same quantity that makes a 9″ x 13″ cake in a 7″ square pan it collapsed in the centre.

We learnt that because the batter is runny it lacks the structure needed to hold itself up. So we halved the quantities and it was OK. Yay!

The next step was to test a few different icings. Of course we had to make a few cakes to cover in the icings. (I think this was when my spare tyre started to inflate.) We made a buttercream, a Swiss Meringue buttercream and a chocolate ganache.

I thought that the buttercreams, although they made the cake look lovely, white and weddingy, all I could taste was butter. There was also the issue of crumbs making the icing speckled.

The chocolate ganache however was heavenly. Now I know a brown wedding cake is not very traditional but I think taste is more important than appearance. whatcha think?

So after working out baking times and the icing the next step was to bake 10 cakes, freeze them, defrost them in the esky (which is how they are going to be transported to the wedding) and trial the whole assembly with the dowels and cake boards.

We have discovered that using the exact same recipe with the same size cake tin we get different sized cakes from our different ovens. Dan’s cakes rose higher and were more domed than my cakes. Hmmmm no problem I’m going to make the 7″ cakes and Dan is going to make the 8″ cakes. We also found that the 8″ cake board I bought is bigger than the 8″ cakes which are the top tier. It sticks out and needed to be covered with ganache. That’s not a major issue though. I can just buy a 7″ cake board and it should be fine.

The assembly begins with laying out four 7″ cakes on the 16″ cake board. Followed by a layer of ganache. Then another layer of 7″ cakes.

We then had to insert our precut dowels. You can just see them in the picture on the right. This was followed by another layer of ganache. We spread an 8″ cake with ganache, stacked another 8″ cake on top of it, then positioned both on top of the now 14″ cake. More ganache was spread over the whole cake.

Our only problem now is that when the top tier is removed to be sliced and served it takes off some of the ganache from the first tier. Perhaps after spreading the bottom tier with ganache we should stick it in the fridge and then put a piece of baking paper down under the top tier’s cake board. It’s worth a shot. I’d love to hear any other suggestions you have to solve this problem.

Next steps:

Bake the cakes the week before Xmas and freeze.

Defrost in the esky on the road trip up to Warwick.

Make the ganache and assemble on site the day before the wedding.

Decorate with edible flowers

What seemed like a massive task initially has been broken down into manageable steps. This cake is totally doable. I can see now why wedding cakes are so expensive. They are hard work! BUT so worth it!!!

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There are so many variations, so use whatever veggies you have available and are in season. So many roast well – that’s what makes this dish so versatile.

I highly recommend serving with some grilled haloumi, yum yum!

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped into bite-sized chunks
• 1 red onion, sliced into wegdes
• 2 zucchini, cut into bite-sized chunks
• 1 red capsicum, cut into bite-sized chunks
• 1 punnet cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup red quinoa (you can also use white quinoa of course)
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• Olive oil
• Small bunch parsley

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 C
2. Toss sweet potato in 1 tsp of olive oil and roast for 15 mins
3. Toss the rest of the veggies in a tsp of olive oil and roast for a further 15 mins making sure they are in a single layer
4. Meanwhile, cook the quinoa in 2 cups of vegetable stock for 12-15 mins until all water is absorbed. Let stand and fluff with a fork.
5. Mix the quinoa with the veggies and stir through freshly chopped parsley.
6. Season to taste and enjoy!

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2. Corn and Aduki Bean Quinoa Salad
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Isn’t a tagine one of those Moroccan terracotta funnel shaped things?? I think so. I think it’s also the name of the food you cook in it which is normally cooked slowly. Hmmmm Not sure why this is called a tagine since it’s not cooked in a tagine and it’s not cooked slowly. Maybe since it uses Moroccan seasoning?? Maybe Moroccan curry would be more appropriate. Who cares?!!! It’s healthy, tastes good and is pretty easy to make.

I’ve been decluttering our tiny unit which has very limited storage so everything is exposed and the clutter has been clogging my brain. Does clutter do that to you too? So part of the decluttering has involved chucking out all my old Delicious, Good Taste, Health Smart and Fitness First magazines. Before I chucked them I wanted to have a quick flick through them and save any recipes I thought I might make with the aim of putting them on this blog for easier reference if they were any good.

Well I’ve made this Chickpea tagine before and I remember it was good then and a friend of mine also made it for me when I went over her place too. This time I added a few extra veggies because I had celery leftover from some soup I made the other night and I wanted to add some mushrooms for some extra vitamins and minerals. Feel free to add any veggies you like. I think next time I’ll add some red capsicum to brighten it up. It looks a bit grey and boring. The figs add a sweetness that complements the spices and veggies quite nicely.

I made it 2 ways. The first with the quinoa served on the side and the 2^nd with the quinoa mixed with everything. I liked the 2^nd option better.

Chickpea tagine with figs (Adapted from Delicious)

Serves 4

• 1 cup red quinoa
• 2 vegetable stock cubes (I use reduced salt Massel)
• 2 cups water
• Spray olive oil
• 1 brown onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 tablespoons Moroccan spice mix
• 2 x 400g cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 4 sticks of celery (approx 300g), thinly sliced
• 2 zucchini (approx 400g), chopped
• 1 large handful of green beans (approx 150g), trimmed and chopped
• 3 mushrooms (approx 130g), chopped
• 1/2 cup (100g) dried figs
• half bunch corainder, chopped

1. Rinse quinoa. Add to saucepan with 1 veggie stock cube and 1 cup of water. Bring to the boil, then simmer covered for 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile spray a large frypan with olive oil. Heat over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, spice mix, some salt and pepper, and cook, stirring for 3 minutes until soft. Stir in chickpeas, tomatoes, celery, another stock cube and fill the empty can of tomatoes with water and add that. Bring to the boil, then cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add the zucchini, beans, mushrooms and figs and cook for a further 5 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
4. Divide the quinoa and vegetable tagine amongst plates and garnish with coriander or mix the quinoa with the vegetable tagine and serve in a bowl.

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The same day we had lunch at Leaves and Fishes we had dinner at Margan, Broke. Big mistake. We were so full and didn’t appreciate the dinner as much as we would have if we hadn’t been out for an amazing lunch. I didn’t take my DSLR and the room was really smoky from the open fireplace so the photos aren’t the best quality but 2 of the dishes I had at Margan are worth sharing here.

The first is the squid with prawns and white anchovies. Everything was so fresh and delicately cooked. It was really nice.

The dessert was a Chocolate marquise with caramel and walnuts. Absolutely sensational! Loved it! Margan is about a 20 minute drive from Pokolbin. We saw 2 kangaroos on the way. Margan have their own veggie patch which they use for the restaurant. I think next time it would be better to go here during the day to appreciate their connection with the land more.

After a full day winery tour on Saturday we weren’t very hungry but decided to eat at The Mill, which was part of Tuscany Wine Estate, where we stayed. The restaurant looked so different to how it was set up for breakfast and immediately wowed me. Each table had a beautiful red flower on it and the warmth from the fireplace made it very romantic. We were very lucky to be seated right in front of the fireplace and it wasn’t smoky at all. The quirky lone diner sitting next to us gave us a whole description of how the dimensions of a fireplace determine if it will suck the smoke up or make the room smoky and how there aren’t many wood fireplaces around anymore. He was quite vocal about the ratios of this fireplace and talked about it for a good 5 minutes. The Snapper at The Mill was divine. A nice sized portion served on a bed of potatoes, rocket and shaved parmesan.

Since we were being ziggy piggies the last few days we shared dessert, sticky date pudding. It was delish!

On Sunday we hired bikes and did a massive 35km loop around Pokolbin. I had a very sore bum at the end. My favourite part is Debeyers road which is a long downhill with hardly any cars riding next to vineyards. Ahhhhh the serenity.

We stopped for breakfast at Cafe Enzo which had a beautiful fountain in a sunny courtyard.

After eating so many desserts I thought I better get a healthy breakfast so I had the Byron Bay muesli served with rockmelon, strawberries and yoghurt ($15). Despite being quite expensive it was very nice and the first time I’d eaten muesli this way.

After our monster bike ride, oh yeah this is the longest bike ride I’ve ever done, we were starvin marvin. We were going to have lunch at Firestick cafe but it was closed. Not sure why. So we made a last minute decision to go to Elizabeth’s at McWilliams Mount Pleasant. I had the chicken and it was nice. The wine was better though. We had a glass of Maurice O’Shea ($15), a spicy fruit forward Shiraz (I read that description in Delicious mag) and it was worth every cent. We bought a few bottles of this delightful wine too. Looking forward to having that soon.

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I have lost count how many times I have made this delicious soup. It is awesome! I have made it for my neighbours at a dinner party and recently for some friends and they’ve all loved it. It’s full of flavour and healthy too since it doesn’t have any cream. I found the recipe in the newspaper and my cutout is all crinkled and stained with soup drops so I thought if I type it up here it’ll make it easier to find in the future and also you guys can all make this super awesome soup for this freezing cold weather. Enjoy!

Serves 4

• 1 Tb peanut oil
• 1 brown onion, coarsely chopped
• 4 tsp red curry paste ( I used Volcom but Ayam is another good brand)
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 1.3kg butternut pumpkin, peeled, seeded, coarsely chooped (More if you want a thicker soup)
• 2 kaffir lime leaves
• 270ml can light coconut milk (I used Ayam)
• 1/2 bunch coriander

1. Stick the whole piece of pumpkin in the microwave for a few minutes. This makes it easier to chop it up.

2. Heat the oil in a large stockpot. Add the onion and cook, stirring for 3 minutes or until soft.

3. Add the curry paste and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds or until aromatic.

4. Stir in the stock and bring to the boil. Add the pumpkin and lime leaves*. Cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft.

5. Remove from the heat and blend the soup with a stick mixer until smooth.

6. Place over low heat and add the coconut milk. Stir for 2-3 minutes until heated through.

7. Chop half the coriander and mix through the soup. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with coriander. This is also nice served with prawns that have been stir fried in some red curry paste and balanced on top of the soup.

* Cut the hard spine off the kaffir lime leaves. Stack the leaf halves and roll up then slice to make long slivers.

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We have just returned from an awesome food and wine weekend in the Hunter Valley. My favourite place we ate at was definitely Leaves and Fishes. It is such a cute little boathouse overlooking a dam with comfy cushion covered benches, a nice wine list and an even better menu.

I started with the zucchini and prawn fritters with spicy house made tomato sauce ($19) which were lovely. I could have eaten a platter of these.

Whenever there is oysters on the menu, Brett always orders them ($16). He also ordered the pork belly with papaya, chilli and lime ($21).

We ordered the same mains, which was the daily fish special: Grilled Salmon, potatoes, seeded mustard, capers, chorizo and baby spinach ($34). I gave my chorizo to Brett which he was pretty happy about. This was our first meal of the foodie weekend and for the rest of the weekend Brett kept referring to this Salmon. He loved it! I thought it was pretty good too.

I had the chocolate brownie, cookies and cream icecream and honeycomb for dessert ($14). It was A-MA-ZING!!! The presentation was beautiful too.

If you are going to the Hunter Valley I highly recommend having lunch here. They are also open for dinner but I thought lunch was nice with the sun streaming in through the window and the light glistening off the water.

Leaves and Fishes

737 Lovedale Rd, Lovedale NSW Australia

02 4930-7400

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