Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Pumpkin & Bacon Lasagne

Here's another nostalgic recipe from the other side of the family. It's loosely based on one of my husband's family favourites. His mum had created the recipe, but it was just something she kept in her head, not a written thing. I got the gist of it, added a few of my own bits and bobs, and have written up the recipe for sharing.
At first I was highly skeptical about how the pumpkin and tomato would mesh, but this wonderful marriage of flavours has to be tasted to be believed-it's honestly even better than a meat lasagne-and I have a wonderful recipe for that too! The bacon pieces scattered through the golden cheesy white sauce that tops this great family meal really makes it sing.  You could easily leave out the bacon for a vegetarian meal if you so desired.





PUMPKIN & BACON LASAGNE

800g-1kg pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cubed
1/2 cup sour cream or cream
3x chicken stock cubes
1/2 cup hot water
700g jar tomato passata
400g can diced tomato
1 tsp garlic, crushed
1 tsp mixed herbs
1-2 boxes dried lasagne sheets
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp plain flour
1 cup cheese, grated
2 cups milk
3 tbsp Parmesan cheese
80g diced bacon


Place diced pumpkin in a saucepan with water covering the top. Cook until soft. Strain the water and place the pumpkin in a blender with the sour cream, chicken stock and water. Puree until smooth.
In a saucepan heat up the passata, diced tomatoes, garlic and herbs until warm.
Heat the oven to 180C.
Place a layer of the pasta sheets on the bottom on the 9x13 inch lasagne dish. Top with a layer of the tomato mixture. Place another layer of the pasta sheets over the tomato mixture. Spread a layer of the pumpkin puree over these pasta sheets. Repeat, alternating the tomato mixture with the pumpkin puree between the layers of pasta until exhausted (the ingredients, not you!)
The last layer should end with pasta sheets.
To make the white sauce which covers these pasta sheets, place the butter and flour in a saucepan on low heat. When the butter melts, quickly whisk the butter into the flour while pouring in a little of the milk at a time, to make a smooth paste. Add the remaining milk and heat through. Add the grated cheese and stir through, and continue stirring until it has melted, and the white sauce is thick.
Pour this white sauce over the final pasta layer. Sprinkle with Parmesan and cooked bacon pieces.
Cook in preheated oven for approximatey one hour, or until the top layer forms a golden cheesy crust.
Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 8






 



Sunday, June 29, 2014

Tandoori Prawn and Pawpaw Pizza

If you had a pawpaw, what would you do with it? I had no idea how to use a pawpaw, because I have never tasted it. It's not available all year round and is a tropical fruit, so some may find it hard to get their hands on-which sort of makes it the holy grail of fruits because it tends to be rare in parts of the world. I live in a sub tropical climate, so I see those pawpaw trees all over the place. And I still didn't know what it tasted like!
What does a pawpaw taste like? It doesn't have a strong flavour, and while some say it reminds them of mango and pineapple, it does not hold the same sweet and aromatic qualities. It isn't really comparable to any taste I have experienced before, and while some say its texture is like that of a ripe banana, I also find this quite unique. It almost has a buttery quality to it. In a nutshell, it's indescribable, and must be tasted! I personally think it's a little like cantaloupe.
I initially was thinking baking it into something sweet, but on cutting open that golden baby, my husband and I decided it should be paired with curry. So the Tandoori Prawn and Pawpaw Pizza came into existence. Its a great pizza recipe for the base, requiring no proofing and no kneading. That makes this recipe a quick and easy dinner or lunch choice, and perfect for those days you just need to quickly whip up a meal. I used my chef's toolbox saute pan to make this pizza in the oven without the lid on. You can use any round pan or pizza tray for this, but I used the saute pan because I liked the size of it, and I could mix up the pizza base in there also, and just press it straight into a disc before topping.
So-what did the tandoori prawn  and pawpaw pizza taste like?
Imagine an open front cafe so close to the beach that you can dip your toes in the sand. There's a warm fresh breeze tangling your hair and swaying the palm trees, and you can hear the waves pummeling the sand close by, on the shores of some exotic holiday destination. Biting into a slice of this pizza is like being carried away there. If you close your eyes you immediately forget you can't literally feel that sand and breeze because the flavours that hit you are so deliciously distracting-that exotic indian tandoori flavour combined with the tang of greek yogurt, the subtle yet very present tropical vibe of the paw paw and the seafood thrill of the crunchy prawns at the end. Who needs a holiday when you have a slice of this pizza in your hands?

NOTES: This pizza is great for the family table and would be very appealing to teenagers and adults alike, and if you wish to serve this to children (while it is not very spicy due to the addition of the greek yogurt) you may wish to adjust the quantity of tandoori paste to 1 tsp for their little pallets!(my 2 and 4 year olds ate this pizza with 1 heaped tbsp tandoori paste in the sauce, and loved it! I added a little sour cream to the top of their pizza just in case it was too spicy for them.)




TANDOORI PRAWN & PAWPAW PIZZA

Base:
1 cup SR flour
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp dry yeast
pinch salt
1 tsp honey
1 cup luke-warm water

Sauce:
1 heaped tbsp tandoori paste (this is concentrated tandoori paste. For children, you may wish to reduce the tandoori to 1 tsp.)
1/2 cup greek yogurt

Topping:
1/4 yellow pawpaw, seeded, skinned and sliced thinly
1 1/2 cup raw prawns, tails removed (about 20 prawns)
3/4 cup grated cheese (I used Tasty cheese)

Preheat the oven to 190C. In a bowl, combine all the base ingredients and combine until a soft dough forms. Dump this mixture onto a greased or non stick round pizza tray and using your fingers, push around the tray until it forms a disc. (You may like to dust your hands with a little flour if it's sticking to your hands)
In a small bowl, combine the tandoori paste with the yogurt, and spread it over the pizza base.
Arranged the sliced pawpaw on the tandoori paste, along with the raw prawns. Sprinkle grated cheese over the top and cook for 30-35 minutes, or until the base is golden brown on the underside, and the prawns have turned pink and curled into themselves.
Set aside for 5 minutes before slicing to serve.