Almost healthy potato gratin

I love potatoes, they are probably my favourite food.  I like them boiled, mashed, fried any way I can get them.  Potatoes sliced and cooked with cheese in the oven is found in almost every European culture, in France it is called potatoes au gratin, in North America it is called scalloped potatoes.  What these two dishes have in common is cream or milk and lots of calories, so I decided to lighten up the dish and made a version with much less cheese and chicken stock instead of cream.

I used asiago cheese as that was what I had in my fridge.  Asiago is an Italian cheese, and is strong flavoured similar to paramazan.  Any cheese would do, but the stronger the cheese the less you need to use.

This made a dish that served 6

6 medium potatoes thinly sliced, I used my new mandoline and managed not to slice my finger!
1 yellow onion thinly sliced
1 cup of grated cheese
1/4 cup of grated parmazan
1 cup of chicken stock.

Put a layer of potato slices in the bottom of a baking dish, I used a deep sided pie plate.  They should be just overlapping and cover the bottom completely. Then layer 1/4 of the onion on top.

Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on top then a 1/4 of the cheese.

English pea, bacon and cheese salad

We regularly go for a Sunday night pot luck and poker game at a friends house.  Each week is a different food theme, and recently it was British.  Well the challenge for me was to come up with something green to go with the heavy meat centric dishes that were being served.  I came up with this, which is a salad I can remember having in cafes and restaurants in England, if never having actually made it myself.

Actually it was very tasty and a good salad for a pot luck as it keeps well and cab be made in the middle of winter when perhaps fresh salad ingredients are not so readily available.

1/2 package of bacon
1 medium bag of frozen peas
1/2 lb of cheese preferably English cheese I used Double Gloucester
1 bunch of green onions chopped

Dressing ingredients
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons of milk
2 tablespoons of fresh mint chopped.

Chop up the bacon and cook until it is crispy place on paper towel to drain.

Barbecued Pizza

This is something that I have been wanting to try for a while, I have read about it and seen it on TV, but I have never actually tried it before. So on the last night of staying up at Pender Harbour I grilled two pizza's using what I found in the fridge and pantry for toppings.

I made one traditional style pizza with a tomato sauce, fresh tomatoes, mozzorela and fresh basil and one using pesto sauce, sliced cooked potatoes, provolone and fresh rosemary.

Now there were a couple of things I was missing for this experiment, proper flour (I was still using the easy blending flour), a pizza peel and a pizza stone.  I have seen this done with putting the dough directly on the grill, but without a pizza peel it is hard to transport a thin crust pizza with out misshaping it.  Also the easy blending flour does not make a very stretchy dough, I really would not reccomend it.  Any way nothing ventured nothing gained so I gave it a try.  I made my basic foccacia bread recipe and then formed the base of each pizza on an upturned cookie sheet.

Halloumi cheese salad

Last weekend was the girls birthday weekend on the Sunshine Coast.  10 of us spent the weekend ostensibly celebrating 3 of our birthdays which fall with in a few days. But really it is an excuse to get together and get away from the drab mid winter blaas that take hold at this time of year.

I get to cook for an appreciative audience try out some new recipes as well as cooking some tried and true dishes. Friday night we decided to have cassoulet one of my personal favourites, but the first time for a couple of the women. To go with this I made another old favourite halloumi cheese salad.

Halloumi cheese is a salty Greek cheese that is used for making saganaki, which I love.  I usually make this salad in the summer as it goes so well with grilled chicken and kebabs, but it also was a nice sharp contrast to the very rich cassoulet.

Halloumi cheese used to be very hard to find, but like almost everything in this ever shrinking world it appears to be available in most decent supermarkets as well as speciality stores.

A duo of crostini appetizers

For our Italian dinner last week we decided to make two different crostini as an appetizer.  These were both ideas that I had seen at some time in the last week or so, though unfortunately I do not really remember where, but I had thought they would be a good idea to try.

They were both incredibly easy and can be thrown in the oven just as your guest arrive after being prepared ahead and only take a matter of minutes to heat up.

For both crostini prepare the bread ahead, even a day if you that organized which sadly I never am.  Slice a baguette fairly thinly and lay on a cookie sheet in a 350 oven for a couple of minutes until just turning golden brown.  Then turn over and cook again for a couple of more minutes to turn the other side golden brown.  This is not the time to take the garbage out or make a phone call as they can burn very quickly and really need to be watching,  I speak from experience here as I have burnt crostini more times than a care to remember.

Balsamic caramelized onion and Parmesan cheese crostini

For enough for 12 people

2 sweet onions (or regular if you can not get them) sliced very thinly
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 spring of fresh thyme
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

Put the olive oil in a non stick pan add the onions and cook slowly for up to half an hour stirring occasionally until they start to turn golden brown.  (you could take the garbage out or phone a friend now) Add the fresh thyme and stir more often as they get darker as they can burn at this point.  When the onion is dark brown and has reduced down to about 1/4 its original size add the balsamic vinegar and stir in.  These are now ready to use and can sit around for several hours or longer in the fridge until you are ready to put them together.

About an hour before you are ready to cook them place a little onion on each crostini and top with a piece of shaved Parmesan, I used a potato peeler to to shave the Parmesan.

Home made cheese - Queso Fresco

I read about this method of making cheese a little while ago and I have been dying to have a go.  It is the same method (and in fact the same cheese as ricotta) Saturday we were having some friends over for dinner and I decided to use this home made cheese in an Italian inspired salad which was a combination of several recipes.

Salad with Queso Fresco

Don't be put off by the idea of making cheese, it was incredibly easy, made with ingredients that are probably in your kitchen at all times and the results were well worth it.

4 litres of milk (I used whole milk)
Juice of two lemons
1 teaspoon of salt.

Pour the milk into a large stainless steel or enameled pot such as le cruiset. Heat slowly stirring often until the milk is just about to come to a boil.  This is 195 degrees, but as I could not find a candy thermometer (possible because I don't own one) I just watched until the bubbles around the edge of the pot started to increase and get larger.  Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice, stir in and let stand for a 5 minutes.  The milk should start to separate in to curds and whey, mine did not, so I put the heat on again and after a couple of minutes it separated beautifully.  I guess I need to get a candy thermometer.

Separated milk

Potato scones

These are a traditional scottish dish, which my Mother used to make when I was young.  I spent the the first 4 years of my life in Scotland, so I assume that is where she learned to make them. This was the way that she used up leftover mashed potatoes and frankly it is worth making extra mashed potatoes just so you can make them.  Traditional they would have been cooked on a griddle, but I remember her cooking them in the oven so that is how I cooked them, and they go particularly well with cheese.

These are not a light fluffy scone like the normal english scone, but like their english cousins they are really better eaten fresh warm with butter melting on them.

Fridge dinner - frittata

After a week of overindulgence, too much food, too much wine and too much money spent, it is time for pulling in the horns of plenty and making a light dinner from what is left in the fridge and eating it with a nice glass of sparkling water!

I have made this frittata with many different ingredients depending on the fridge I am emptying out (but you do have to have eggs).

Really any vegetable or combination will do, I do like a little potato and it always helps if you have some fresh herbs. If you have left over cooked vegetables you can also use these just add them at the end just before the eggs.

This is what I found in my fridge.

Party food - Cheese straws

It was a very good friends retirement party this weekend, and of course I was helping with the food. There were going to be 40 people so not a sit down dinner, and we decided that all the food should be able to be eaten from small plates with out the use of cutlery.  I will share several of the items I made this week as this is the time of year to be partying. The first thing I made was an old standby as it can be made ahead, presents well and tastes good, cheese straws.

Cheese straws ready to party

You could make your own puff pastry for this, but at the moment I really do not have the time or the patience for that, so I buy it.  Lat year I discovered the Presidents Choice brand, I really like this one as it is all butter and it comes in a sheet, so you do not have to roll it out which often destroys the layers and it saves time.

Cheese scones

Today is a horrible late autumn day. Rainy, dark and windy, thoughts turn to warming food and long slow cooked meals.  Unfortunately I had to work a little late and did not get home until after 6:00 no time for long slow cooking.  I had to pull out something comforting warm and quick.  Corn chowder (more about that tomorrow) and cheese scones.

These are a big favourite of my sons, they are good with almost any soup or frankly just on their own.
This recipe will make about 1 dozen scones about the size of of the palm of your hand

2 cups of flour
1 1/2 tablespoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1/3 cup of butter
1 cup (or more) of grated cheese
3/4 cup of milk.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt, then add the butter cut into chunks.