SWEET #2

These are really yummy, easy and both are no-bake; perfect, old-fashioned summery petit fours.

WHAT TO DO WITH...

What do you do with two huge crates of zucchini varieties from your friend who is on holiday's vegetable garden? After much googling (and thinking the light green variety might actually be butternut pumpkin that wasn't ripe yet), I found out that the yellow one is called 'golden globe squash' and the light green one 'marrow'. I cooked them the same way I would cook a regular zucchini.

STUFFED ZUCCHINIS

For about 16 halves (quite a lot):

NEED:

8 zucchinis

½ cup couscous

½ cup boiling water

1 can chickpeas, drained & rinsed

1 cup peas

2-3 rashers of bacon, chopped

½ red onion, diced

tomato, chopped into small pieces

1-2 tsp ground cumin

egg

basil (chopped leaves or dried)

oil, salt & pepper

DO:

In a sealable container, add couscous, boiling water, large pinch of salt and a dash of oil and let stand, covered, for 30mins, using a fork to separate the grains after about 20 mins.

Sauté onions in oil in a large pan, then add bacon, after a minute or so add chickpeas, peas and cumin and fry.

Add couscous and tomato, stir in, then add whisked egg to bind mixture.

Meanwhile, bring large pot of water to the boil then add zucchinis, parboiling for about 5 minutes (be careful not to overcook as they still need to go in the oven).

Take zucchinis out of the water, slice each lengthways, then scoop out seeds (I used an apple corer which worked quite well).

Put the stuffing in the zucchinis (can also sprinkle parmesan over if you wish) and bake in 180°C oven for about 15 minutes.

PULLED ZUCCHINI BUNS

NEED/DO:

Slice 1 zucchini using a vegetable peeler and fry in a pan with ¼ of a finely sliced red onion, chopped small clove of garlic, salt & pepper. Spread both sides of toasted bun with basil pesto, add half the zucchini slices and top with shaved pecorino or parmesan. Makes 2.

Any other suggestions what I could do with the remaining box? Rattatouille first came to mind but after reading this recently, the idea of using tinned tomatoes didn't seem all that appealing.

Hope 2012 has been kind to you so far!

RICORDO

I had this pasta for the first time whilst travelling in Sardinia last year. Sardinia is a fairly large island off the coast of Italy which often gets overshadowed its slightly-more-famous sibling island, Sicily. This sauce is delicious and very quick to make.

Mediterranean Pesto:

(serves one)

NEED:

100g spaghetti

50g sun dried tomatoes

50g pitted marinated olives

handful grated parmesan

small handful basil leaves

olive oil

lemon juice

DO:

Cook spaghetti until al dente (12ish minutes)

Pop sun dried tomatoes, olives (make sure they're all pitted), basil leaves, dash olive oil and lemon juice in a food processor and pulse for a few seconds (but not too long) until ingredients are finely chopped.

Stir pesto mixture and parmesan through warm pasta & serve.

AUTUMN IN SPRING

CINNAMON & RED WINE POACHED PEARS

NEED:

• 4 brown (beurre bosc) pears
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup red wine
• 1.5 cups sugar (brown or white)
• 1 cinnamon quill/ 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• plain yoghurt
• nuts (any kind)

DO:

• Add water, wine and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring so the sugar dissolves
• Meanwhile, peel pears, leaving stem on ('cause it looks pretty)
• Place pears and cinnamon in the pot and cover with a square of baking paper (or half-cover with lid) and let simmer for about 30 minutes, turning pears occasionally
• Serve warm with some of the liquid, as well as a few spoons of yoghurt & sprinkled with chopped nuts.

Taken with a Canon 600D

The weather in Sydney has been pretty miserable for the past few days and it's hard to believe that summer is only a week away. Suitably, this recipe is very Autumny and perfect for days like today. As a dessert it's very healthy (I may or may not have had this for breakfast). I find the yoghurt balances the sweetness of the poaching liquid out nicely and the nuts add interesting texture. The taste reminds me of drinking mulled wine at some of the amazing German Christmas markets last year.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

I didn't really feel homesick much while in Europe last year, but one of the few moments I remember missing home a lot was when my mum sent me some homemade Anzac biscuits. This recipe is based loosely on a classic Anzac biscuit one, but made better with coconut and almonds (is that an unaustralian thing to say?). Anyway, it's good. Not overly sweet, they're ridiculously addictive, especially whilst warm & you can almost fool yourself that they're healthy...

OAT, COCONUT & ALMOND COOKIES

Need:

• 1.5 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup plain flour
• 0.5 cup desiccated coconut
• 0.5 cup brown sugar
• 125g butter (vegan = coconut oil)
• 3 tablespoons golden syrup
• 0.5 teaspoon bicarb soda
• 2 tablespoons boiling water
• flaked almonds

Do:

• Preheat oven to 150 degrees celsius
• Combine oats, flour, sugar & coconut
• Melt butter with golden syrup in a saucepan/ in the microwave
• Mix bicarb soda with boiling water and add to butter mixture
• Combine with dry ingredients
• Spread mixture over two trays lined with baking paper (the mixture will be quite dry) (you can make them into cookies at this stage but I find it's much easier to just cut them once baked, plus long shapes make for optimal tea/coffee dunking)
• Sprinkle almonds
• Bake for about 15 minutes (longer if you don't want them as chewy)
• Cool slightly (it'll be very soft when taken out but will harden in a few minutes), as soon as it's cool enough to handle, cut into rectangles. Or leave as one huge biscuit if you prefer.

Taken on Canon 600D