The Cookbook Challenge Week 19 - Rice - Risoni Salad - 1 - $ - (V)

I'm assuming that you are sitting down while you read this post. I hope so, because I don't want the shock of me having cheated a little bit and not strictly followed this week's Cookbook Challenge recipe to be too much for you.

This week the theme is rice, so I decided to use risoni instead. Risoni are little pieces of pasta in the shape of rice and are the basis of a Curtis Stone salad in the current issue of delicious magazine (April 2010). In the magazine it is a side dish, however I decided to add some tuna to bulk it up and serve it as a main meal.

The following quantities will serve 4 as a side or 2, and some leftovers for lunch, if you use the tuna and have it as a main meal.


Ingredients

1 red capsicum, quartered
250gm punnet of vine-ripened cherry tomatoes
2tbs olive oil
1 eschalot, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 1/3 cups risoni pasta
3 cups stock, chicken or vegetable, heated
1/2 telegraph cucumber, peeled, seeds removed, chopped
1 cup rocket leaves
185gm tin of good quality tuna (optional)

Vinaigrette
1 eschalot, finely chopped
1tbs red wine vinegar
2tbs extra virgin olive oil
2tbs roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 200C degrees.
Place capsicum on a tray lined with baking paper. Curtis says to roast them for 10 minutes, but I roasted for double this as I wanted the peppers to be very soft.
Remove the tray from the oven, add the tomatoes and drizzle with 1 tbs of the oil and season. Roast for another 5 minutes or until the tomato skins split and the peppers are blistered. Place the peppers in a plastic bag for about 10 minutes. The skins should then just come right off.
Slice the peeled peppers and put them and the tomatoes in a large bowl.
Meanwhile heat 1tbs olive oil in a deep non-stick fry pan, over a medium heat. Cook the eschalot for 2 minutes then add the garlic and cook stir for another 2 minutes. Add the risoni and stir to coat in the oil. Pour in the hot stock, bring to a simmer and then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally until the risoni is cooked and then drain off any excess stock. Spread the risoni out on a tray and let cool.
For the vinaigrette place all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.
Add the risoni, cucumber, tuna and rocket to the bowl with the other ingredients. Drizzle on the vinaigrette and gently toss to combine all the ingredients and coat in the dressing.

Despite these seemingly endless instructions, this is actually a quite quick meal to prepare as you can do lots of steps at the same time. I served my risoni warm, rather than letting it cool.
I would definitely make this salad again but next time I will use a yellow pepper to add some more colour and maybe use some fresh salmon rather than tuna.

Enjoy!

Frittata Stack - 2 - $ - V - !

There's a very cranky pug living at my house. She's cranky, not because her name is The Pickle, but because it's too hot for her to go out for a walk. Due to having a squished pug face, she can't pant like other dogs, which means she can't cool down like other dogs. No cooling, means no venturing outside when the mercury is sitting pretty at 35C degrees.

I don't get cranky when it's hot, but I don't have much of an appetite and I certainly don't feel like cooking. This recipe is a good one to make when the weatherman gives the hot temperature heads-up because you can put it in the fridge and it tastes just as good cold as it does hot. Perfect to take to picnics and camping too.

Ingredients

2 medium sized capsicums, red or yellow are best
2 medium zucchinis
6 eggs
1/2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped
3-4 chives
100gm cheese, anything you like really eg. tasty, Gouda, Jarlsberg, depends what mood the taste buds are in and what's in the fridge
butter or olive oil
salt and pepper

You need a cake tin for this dish and a fry pan that is around the same diameter as the tin. A spring-loaded tin is best, however if you don't have one, you just need to put enough baking paper in the tin so that it reaches up the sides and you can pull out the stack once cooked.

Preheat oven to 200C degrees and line the cake tin with baking paper.

Cut the capsicums in half and remove the seeds, pop them in a baking dish and roast for around 45 minutes, or until the skin is black and blistering.
The best way to remove the skins is to put the hot capsicums in a freezer bag, trap some air in there and then tie off until they cool. The skins should then just slide off and you can slice remaining flesh.

Meanwhile, slice the zucchinis length ways and grill them to your liking.

Beat two of the eggs in a bowl, season with the salt and pepper and mix in the parsley. Preheat the fry pan on a medium-low heat and drop in a dash of olive or butter. Pour the egg in and cook only on one side until it's just starting to set on the top. Right when you think it needs a little longer is the EXACT time to take it off the heat.
Put the egg in the cake tin, cooked side down. Then layer the zucchini on the slightly runny top and cover with half the cheese (you can shred or slice the cheese, it matters not).

Cook the next two eggs in the same way, but with nothing added to them. Again, put the egg on top of the zucchini layer cooked side down. Layer your sliced peppers on the runny egg and top with the remaining cheese.
Cook the last of the eggs the same way, but add the chopped chives once you've beaten the eggs. I find the best way to chop chives is with scissors straight over whatever you are adding them to.
This time, put the egg runny side down on top of the stack to seal it.

Bake in the oven at 240C degrees for 10 minutes.
Allow the stack to cool for about 5 minutes before attempting to lift it out if you don't use a spring-loaded tin.
Serve hot or cold.

Enjoy!