Sundried Tomato Pesto

I had a jar of semi-sundried tomatoes in the fridge. They're not not particularly well seasoned and I sort of regret buying that particular brand because it's only good for pasta sauce or something that requires extensive cooking.

To chuck out would be wasteful and I doubt it'll ever be fully consumed, I decided to make pesto out of it.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

Semi Sundried Tomatoes
Minced Garlic
Olive Oil
Fresh Basil
Parmesan or Asiago Cheese
Fresh Chili (optional)
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper to taste
Pine Nuts

1. Chuck all ingredients in blender except Olive Oil
2. Blend and slowly pour in Olive Oil till desired consistency. I like mine ground to a fine purée.

Store in airtight container and top pesto with a thin film of Olive Oil to seal.

Spicy Noodle Stir-Fry

Tried cooking with quinoa noodles today. Generic egg noodles will probably work best with this recipe but quinoa is the healthier alternative.

Ingredients
Quinoa Noodles (soaked and drained)
Chopped French Beans
Chopped Bok Choy

Minced Garlic
Sesame Oil
Chopped Birds Eye Chilli (optional)
Sunflower Oil

Sauce
Sriracha Chilli Sauce
Thick Dark (Caramel) Sauce
Sesame Oil
White Pepper
Soy Sauce

1. Stir fry bok choy (stems only) and french beans with garlic, sesame oil and chilli. Add a few drops of sesame oil
2. Add in noodles and top with sauce.
3. Stir Fry till noodles are half cooked. Add in Bok Choy leaves and remove from heat ones leaves are wilted.

For a non-vegan alternative, add thinly sliced meat or seafood.

Grilled Soft Ribs

Ingredients

Soft Pork Ribs
Tumeric Powder
Shrimp Paste Powder (belacan)
Fish Sauce
Pepper
Chilli
Minced Garlic
Vinegar
Coriander Seed (ground)

1. Combine ingredients to make a paste/sauce (alter taste to liking) and marinade ribs for 1hr or overnight.
2. Grill (uncovered) at 180 degrees for 30-40mins. Turn over twice and baste.

Garnish with fresh coriander or dice cooked ribs and toss into Thai salad.

Spinach Pesto

I love bright green fresh pesto! YUM.

Ingredients
1 pkt frozen spinach
Bunch of Sweet Basil
1 bulb Roasted Garlic
Parmesan Cheese (or Provolone, Asaigo, Pecorino Romano)
dash of Balsamic
juice of 1/2 Lemon
Salt and Pepper to taste
Olive Oil
Pine nuts (optional)

1. Thaw and drain spinach and put all ingredients in food processor.
2. Slowly add in Olive Oil till blended to desired consistency.
3. To store - pour a thin film of Olive Oil on top of pesto to seal in freshness.

Sunday Meals

Some recipes for a few Sunday meals I've cooked in the past month.

Baked Spinach

1 Pkt Frozen Spinach
2 Eggs
1 tbs Flour
Minced Garlic
Chopped Semi Sundried Tomatoes
Basil Oil
Ricotta Cheese
Onion Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cayenne Pepper
Grated Provolone Cheese

1. Mix all ingredients except for grated cheese.
2. Pour in casserole dish
3. Top with grated cheese
4. Bake at 210 degrees covered for 20 minutes and uncovered for 10 minutes.

Thai Fish Salad

**Grilled Fish (till crispy)
Finely chopped Onions
Chopped cucumber
Chopped Coriander

Dressing
Juice of 2 Kaffir Limes
Juice of half a Lemon
Grated rind of 1.5 Kaffir Limes
Fish Sauce
1 tsp Brown Sugar
Chopped Birds Eye Chilli
Ground Coriander Seed
White Pepper to taste (optional)

1. Mix all ingredients to make dressing and alter according to taste. ie. More/Less sugar, fish sauce etc. It's pretty subjective, but I like mine very sour and spicy
2. Toss dressing with crispy fish, cucumber and onion. Refrigerate fir an hour before serving.

** I've tried making this with canned fish with dace. Remove all the black beans (because when this is baked it will burn and taste bitter) and grill the fish in the oven. Tastes pretty damn good.

Baked Portebello Mushrooms

Ingredients

2 Large Portabello Mushrooms (stems removed)
Goats Cheese
Minced Garlic
Basil Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Chopped Chilli (optional)

1. Top mushrooms with ingredients and drizzle with Oil
2. Bake in oven for 15 minutes till cooked through and juicy. Yum.

Vegan Summer Tomato Basil Pasta

There are so many variants of the standard tomato and basil combo. Depending on whether the sauce is simmered for hours, minutes or fresh tossed with piping hot pasta.

I'm not a full-time vegan but in all honesty I like making vegan dishes because I find them challenging. Most people are under the impression that vegan food is boring and tasteless but I beg to differ.

If I had fresh sweet succulent Tomatoes here I'd probably make this dish fresh with roasted garlic and ripped up basil leaves (and plenty of chilli, of course) but unfortunately most of the time the Tomatoes here and sour and tasteless. Canned it is then.

Vegan Summer Tomato Pasta

Ingredients

1 Can - Diced Tomatoes (Pref Organic - natural no sugar and all the other crap. Just PURE Tomatoes)
1 bunch Fresh Basil - roughly torn/ripped(yes, there really is a massive difference in Fresh and Dried. I'd rather use Dried Oregano than Dried Basil)
2-3 Cloves of Garlic - Minced (I cheated today and used Epicure's Garlic Puree - I think it tastes pretty good compared to most Garlic Puree brands which have that sour tangy-not-in-a-good-way taste)
Dash of Balsamic Vinegar (Tablespoon? I don't really measure when I cook)
Fresh chopped Chilli
Salt and Black Pepper to taste
Olive Oil
Thin Spaghetti
Handful of Shaved Parmesan

1. Boil Spaghetti in Salted Water
2. Drain Tomatoes and place in a bowl season with Balsamic, salt and pepper.
3. Add Garlic,Basil, Chilli to Tomatoes and mix well. Set aside for the Tomatoes to soak in flavour.
4. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water. I don't usually do this but with Thin Spaghetti I find it continues cooking and loses its al dente texture if it's not rinsed.
5. Add Olive Oil to heated pan and warm through before putting in Tomato mixutre. Simmer for a couple of minutes till Basil leaves are wilted.
6. Toss Spaghetti in Tomato mixture and remove from heat once the spaghetti is coated with the light tomato sauce.
7. Add Parmesan and drizzle with Olive Oil. Season with more Black Pepper.

Chick Pea Salad

This recipe takes less than 10mins to make and works well as yummy side dish or snack.

Chick Pea Salad

Ingredients

1 can chick peas
Italian Parsley (roughly chopped_
Semi Sundried Tomatoes
1 Garlic clove (minced)
Chilli (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Olive Oil
Lemon Juice (as much as you'd like)

1. Drain the Chick Peas and rinse
2. Warm them through between kitchen paper towels in a dish for about 20-40 seconds in the microwave
3. Toss ingredients together
4. Serve warm or cold

Actually, I find this tastes better overnight because the chick peas absorb in all the yummy flavours. So this can totally be pre-made the night before etc. I'm sure it works will with most beans too.