Zucchini and Feta Fritters with Corn Salsa

I love this corn salsa - it's such a healthy, fresh taste, and the lime really gives it a nice Creole kinda kick!

Zucchini and Feta Fritters with Corn Salsa

Fritters

1 zucchini, grated
1 cup self-raising flour, sifted
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon dried chilli flakes (or more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
100 grams feta cheese, crumbled


1 - Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl with a fork, so that no flour lumps remain.

2 - Heat a fry pan over a medium high heat. Drop a soup spoon's worth of batter into the pan, then spread them out a bit to flattened them. Cook for 2ish minutes, or until you see the bubbles begin to form, then flip them over and cook for another couple of minutes. Remover, then cover to keep warm until all the batter is gone.


Corn Salsa

2 ripe tomatoes, core removed and roughly diced
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 can corn kernals, drained well
juice of one lime
1 teaspooon of the best olive oil you possess
coriander leaves, to serve

1 - Add all the ingredients together, and mix well, so the juice intermingle. Just before serving, top with coriander leaves.

Beany enchiladas

This is very similar to the enchilada recipe found here, except this time I used herby tortillas, and no enchilada sauce. Still good - just not with the saucy kick!

Beany Enchiladas

800 gram tin crushed tomatoes
400 gram tin red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 zucchini, grated
6 herbed flour tortillas
100 grams grated tasty cheese
3 large handfuls salad leaves
1 Lebanese cucumber, roughly diced
50 grams feta cheese, crumbled
1 red capsicum, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 - Heat a large pan over a medium hot heat. Add the tomatoes, beans, chilli flakes, carrot, zucchini and 1/2 a cup of water to the pan, and bring to the boil.

2 - Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes or so, until the mixture is nice and thick.

3 - Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200 C. Lay each tortilla on a flat surface, and spread with some of the filling. Roll up the tortilla, and place snugly in a baking dish. Repeat with other 5 tortillas.

4 - Top the enchiladas with the tasty cheese. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until cheese is golden and bubbling. Set aside for a couple of mintues to cool before serving.

5 - Put the lettuce and cucumber in a bowl together. Mix together the oil, vinegar and mustard in a small bowl, then pour over the salad. Serve with the enchiladas.

Zucchini, Broad Bean, Chilli and Feta pizza

I was sitting on the kitchen bench the other day (a habit I've since childhood), pondering exactly what to do with my freshly podded broad beans. I was getting a little sick of having them with pasta, but still wanted a bit of a broad bean-feta mix thing going on. "Aha!", I suddenly thought. "I'll spike them with a bit of chilli. Genius!" And with that thought I gave the kitchen cupboards a little kick with my feet in celebration of my own superior brain power.

Except... you can't really just eat a whole bowlful of broadbeans with chilli and feta. Well, I could, but I'm sure Grumbles and Galumph would be asking where the rest of the meal was. So then I came up with the sterling idea of putting them on top of a pizza, with super thin strips of zucchini. Scathingly brilliant, oui?! Four out of five kicked up kitchen cupboards can't be wrong!

Zucchini, Broad Bean, Chilli and Feta pizza

Pizza Base: (makes enough for four bases)

Please note that this recipe only has enough topping for two pizzas, so put the other two spare bases in the freezer, and save them for a rainy day!

7 grams dried yeast (1 sachet)
2 tablespoons honey
600 ml warmish water
1 kilo flour

1 - Mix the yeast and warm water together, then stir in the honey until it is dissolved. Let rest for a couple of minutes.

2 - Put the flour in a bowl, then make a well in the centre. Add the yeast mixture slowly, mixing the dough together with a fork. Turn out onto a well floured bench top, then knead the dough for five minutes, or until elastic and smooth.

3 - Put the dough back into the bowl, and cover with cling wrap. Let sit for an hour or so in a warm, draft-free place, until the dough has doubled in size.

4 - Grab the dough, and divide into four balls. Roll out each ball of dough to fit your very lightly oiled pizza tray. It's now ready for it's topping.

Topping

300 grams broad beans, podded and blanched with skins removed.
1 zucchini, thinly sliced (I used a wide plane grater)
1 long red chilli, finely diced
100 grams feta, crumbled
100 grams tasty cheese or mozzarella

1 - Preheat the oven to 220 C.

2 - Place half the tasty cheese on each of the pizza bases. Top with the chilli, feta and broad beans, scattering them evenly.

3 - Top with the zucchini, layering over the pizza in a lattice pattern. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, or until the base is cooked through.

Roasted Vegetable Risotto

Comfort food at it's best, this one. And with four vegetables, you've almost hit your '5 a day' quota in one go - huzzah!

Roasted vegetable risotto

1/2 small pumpkin, cut into smallish squares
3 Roma tomatoes, cut into quarters
1 zucchini, grated
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1.5 litres vegetable stock or water
2 cups arborio rice
Parmesan cheese, to serve


1 - Heat oven to 200 C. Place the pumpkin and tomatoes in a roasted pan, toss with a little olive oil, then season with salt and pepper. Roast for 30ish minutes, or until tender. Set aside.

2 - Meanwhile, heat the stock until it is simmering. In another saucepan (a large one), heat the olive oil. When hot, add the onion and cook until golden and tender. Add the rice and let it cook for a couple of minutes, or until the rice becomes translucent.

3 - Add the stock one ladleful at a time, letting the rice absorb it before adding more. Continue in this way until almost all of the stock is used up, and the rice is almost al dente. Add the zucchini alongside the rest of the stock, and finish the cooking.

4 - Stir in the pumpkin and tomato carefully (you don't want to squish the veggies too much), then serve topped with parmesan if desired.

Vegetarian Enchiladas

I was poking around in my cupboard the other day, and found a jar of enchilada sauce. Although I had absolutely no recollection of buying it, I wasn't about to let that stop me using it! Usually I like to make everything from scratch, but I wasn't about to look a Mexican gift horse in the mouth. So I kept poking around and discovered some tortillas, some beans and a few rubbery carrots in the frige. Perfect! So here we have enchiladas, Leisl-style: completely off the cuff, but damn good nonetheless.

Vegetarian Enchiladas

800 gram tin crushed tomatoes

400 gram tin red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 zucchini, grated
4 flour tortillas
1 small jar hot enchilada sauce
100 grams grated tasty cheese
3 large handfuls salad leaves
1 Lebanese cucumber, roughly diced
50 grams feta cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 - Heat a large pan over a medium hot heat. Add the tomatoes, beans, chilli flakes, carrot, zucchini and 1/2 a cup of water to the pan, and bring to the boil.

2 - Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes or so, until the mixture is nice and thick.

3 - Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200 C. Lay each tortilla on a flat surface, and spread with some of the filling. Roll up the tortilla, and place snugly in a baking dish. Repeat with other 3 tortillas.

4 - Pour the enchilada sauce over the top of the rolled tortillas, then top with the tasty cheese. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until cheese is golden and bubbling. Set aside for a couple of mintues to cool before serving.

5 - Put the lettuce and cucumber in a bowl together. Mix together the oil, vinegar and mustard in a small bowl, then pour over the salad. Serve with the enchiladas.

Pasta Primavera

Spring has finally arrived in old Melbourne town, which means asparagus. Hooray! You'll probably see a bit of it around here in the next few weeks, as the season is so short you simply have to make the most of it. So bring on the asparagus, and bring on the smelly wee!

Ahem. Onto the recipe :-)

Pasta Primavera

500 grams dried spiral pasta (I went for the giant spirals, just because I thought they looked cool)
2 bunches asparagus, woody ends trimmed, cut into shortish lengths
2 zucchini, ends removed, thinly sliced
1 cup frozen peas
300 ml light cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, crushed
grated rind of one lemon
freshly ground black pepper, to serve
Parmesan cheese, to serve


1 - Bring a large pot the the boil. Add the pasta, and cook until al dente, adding the asparagus, zucchini and peas about 4 minutes before the pasta is fully cooked. Drain.

2 - Meanwhile, put the cream, mustard, garlic and lemon rind in a large pan, and bring to the boil. Turn down to a simmer, then add the pasta and vegetables. Toss well to combine, then serve immediately, with pepper and parmesan to taste.

Vegetable Quesadillas

I have no idea how authentic these babies are, but man, do they taste good!

Vegetable Quesadillas

2 red capsicums
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
2 handfuls baby spinach leaves, washed well
1/4 pumpkin, peeled and sliced thinly
2 tomatoes, sliced
200 grams grated tasty cheese
2 flour tortillas per person
Olive oil, to grease

1 - Preheat the oven to 220 C. Cut each capsicum into quarters, and remove the inner core and seeds. Place the capsicum pieces on a baking tray lined with baking paper, and lightly grease each with a smidge of olive oil. Roast in the oven for 20ish minutes, or until the skin is bubbling and starting to blacken, then remove and place in a plastic bag.

2 - Once the capsicums have cooled down, remove them from the bag, and remove the skin (putting them in the bag whilst hot lets the steam work it's magic on the skin, making it far easier to remove). Slice up roughly.

3 - Meanwhile, turn the oven down to 200 C. Place the pumpkin slices on a baking tray lined with paper, and roast for 15 - 20 minutes, until tender.

4 - Heat a chargrill pan over a medium high heat, and grill the zucchini slices for 3 minutes on each side, or until the pan leaves grill marks.

5 - Heat either a flat non-stick pan or a sandwhich maker, and brush with oil. Place each tortilla on a flat surface. Place some spinach leaves on the tortilla, then top with the capsicum, pumpkin, zucchini, tomatoes and cheese. Place the other tortilla on top, then cook on the sandwhich maker/pan for 2 minutes, or until the cheese has melted. Cut into quarters, then serve.

Zucchini, Pea and Ricotta Fettucine

Low fat and full of vegetables. And carbs - I love me some carbs (blowing a raspberry to Atkins diets - bleuuuuurrrrrgh!). What more could a girl want? (Besides rubies and picnics with Champagne and cute new red shoes and yes, ok, alrighty, I'll shut up now!)

Zucchini, Pea and Ricotta Fettucine

350 g wide egg fettucine ribbons
20 grams of butter
2 zucchini, julienned
2 cups of frozen peas
2 spring onions, washed and finely sliced
300 ml low fat cream
250 firm ricotta (from the deli, not the runny stuff from the tub)
Parmesan cheese and mint leaves, to serve

1 - Cook the fettucine in a large saucepan of salted water according to the time on the packet. With 3 minutes to go before the end of cooking, add the zucchini. Add the peas with one minute to go. Once done, drain, and add to the big pan cream mixture, which should be finished at about the same time.

2 - Once you've added the fettucine to the saucepan, get cracking on the sauce: Melt the butter, and gently fry the onions for 2 minutes in a large pan. Add the cream, and simmer for 5 minutes. The stir through the pasta, peas and zucchini, adding the ricotta. Stir to combine.

3 - Top with mint leaves, if you desire a fresh, springy taste, or parmesan cheese, if you're a bit of a cheese addict like me. Serve immediately!