January 13, 2008: Morsels for the Moonlight Cinema

Between Cindy's network of expat-Brisbanites and my stash of $10 tickets, we rounded up quite a gang for a Sunday evening at the Moonlight Cinema in the botanic gardens. The evening's entertainment consisted of a selection of shorts from the Melbourne International Film Festival, but of course the real focus of the evening was the pre-film picnic. After some success with my previous dip-focussed picnic food, I decided to repeat the performance. This time I flicked through our cookbooks rather than Cindy's bookmarks, and came across a couple of relatively easy and tasty-looking choices.

First up was the amazingly straightforward garlic, herb and bean pate from our CookSmart Vegetarian flip book. This takes all of five minutes to make and is really pretty tasty. I might go a bit lighter on the garlic next time, as it really was a bit overpowering.

Given how simple the first dip was, I decided to be a little more ambitious with the second. This beetroot hummus recipe came from our little Vegie Food cookbook and looked a delicious and bright addition to the relatively plain bean dip. It turned out even pinker than the picture in the book suggested and was worth the extra effort. A word of warning though: this recipe makes an awful lot of dip - we're still working through the leftovers.

We brought along a pile of chopped carrot, cucumber and capsicum as well as some Turkish bread to dig into our dips. Really, between these two dips and Cindy's muffins (coming soon!) there was enough food to feed our whole gang, but of course everyone else had prepared for a picnic as well and we were all stuffed to the gills long before anyone's provisions were exhausted. Better to be safe than hungry I guess. Indeed, by the time the films started, we'd all decided that this picnic idea was a winner, and one we could probably replicate without needing to pay for the privilege.

Still, the films were mostly pretty entertaining, with a couple of odd, slow ones that tested the crowd's patience. Unfortunately the cold drove some of our group away before the last couple of shorts, which were easily the best: Advantage (a ridiculously creepy encounter on a tennis court) and Spider (both disturbing and hilarious, watch it here).


Garlic, herb and bean pate

1 410g can of navy beans (the recipe wanted flageolet beans, but we couldn't find them anywhere), drained
125g quark (the recipe specified cream cheese, but Cindy was keen to buy more quark, and it seemed to work fine as a substitute)
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 tablespoons pesto (I used some of the leftover agresto)
2 chopped spring onions
salt and pepper

Stick everything in the food processor and whiz until combined. A splash of olive oil probably wouldn't hurt, if the texture is a little dry, but is otherwise unnecessary. And that's it, you've got your first dip.


Beetroot hummus

500g beetroot
1/3 cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon ground cumin
410g can of chickpeas, drained
1 tablespoon tahini
1/3 cup plain yoghurt
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup vegie stock

Scrub the beetroot and boil in a large pot of water for about 40 minutes, until they're nice and soft. Drain them and let them cool for while and then peel (the skin should come off really easily).

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a fry pan and cook the onions for about five minutes. Add in the cumin and stir it through, cooking for another minute or so.

Chop the peeled beetroot into manageable chunks and place it in the food processor with all of your ingredients except for the oil. Whiz everything together until it's a smooth paste. Pour the olive oil in with the processor still whizzing and, once everything is combined, you've got yourself a giant, pink mush ready for dipping.

November 5, 2006: Risotto cakes

Michael hopped into a taxi, off to Cairns, at about 2:00 and the afternoon stretched out in front of me. My main task was to prepare something for dinner that would hopefully extend to a few weekday lunches too. I spread out some cookbooks, searching for a recipe, something that I like more than Michael does. I've always enjoyed a good mushroom risotto and the only way to make this creamy treat even more decadent is to crumb and fry it! I used a recipe for chestnut risotto cakes that I've made a couple of times before, though not for well over a year. I've always replaced the chestnuts with a smaller amount of pine nuts, and usually used fresh mushrooms instead of dried porcinis. This time we had some dried porcinis at home from Mediterranean Wholesalers, so I gave 'em a go.

These are at their best with a squeeze of lemon juice and mountain of fresh greens (they assuage a bit of the guilt that goes along with this pleasure). The polenta crust is crunchy, the centre is gooey with cheese, and the mushrooms and pine nuts are dots of extra flavour. These risotto cakes are also pretty good at room temperature, and I've taken a big flat lunchbox of them (garnished with the recommended lemon and greens) to a picnic with great success. On this evening I settled in with something of a chick flick and tackled my plate with relish. A girl, even a girl home alone with a chick flick, doesn't need dessert after a dinner as indulgent as this.

Risotto Cakes
(adapted from Chestnut Risotto Cakes in CookSmart(TM) Vegetarian)

15g dried porcini mushrooms
100mL hot water
80g pine nuts
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
500mL vege stock
1 tablespoon olive oil
175g arborio rice
30g butter (I used 50g and thought this was too much)
75g parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg, lightly beaten
50g polenta
vegetable oil for shallow-frying
lemon wedges and mixed salad greens to serve

1. Pour the hot water over the porcinis in a small bowl and let them soak for at least 10 minutes. While you're waiting, dry roast the pine nuts in a frypan for a couple of minutes. Keep an eye on them because they can go from golden to burnt quickly! Finely chop the onion and mince the garlic.

2. Drain the mushrooms and strain the liquid they were in. Pour the mushroom liquid into a small saucepan, along with the stock, and heat it (no need to boil). Chop up the mushrooms. Haul out a large saucepan, heat the olive oil in it, add the rice and stir to coat the grains in oil.

3. Add the hot stock to the rice and bring it all to the boil. Reduce the heat, put the lid on ajar, and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until the stock is absorbed. You don't need to be quite as fussy as you would with a traditional risotto, but make sure it's not sticking to the bottom of the saucepan. Transfer the rice to a large bowl.


4. While the rice is absorbing the stock, pull out yet another frypan. Melt the butter and gently cook the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes. Once the rice is in the bowl, add the onion along with the mushrooms, pine nuts, cheese and egg. Mix well.

5. I find this step a bit easier to do once the mix has cooled a bit, so consider putting it in the fridge for about 15 minutes. Pour the polenta out on a plate. Scoop out generous dessertspoonfuls of risotto and shape them into little patties, rolling them in the polenta. You'll probably find that a few pine nuts fall out. Eat 'em up now, they're too expensive to waste and oh so tasty! Heat the vege oil, half a centimetre deep in the now-empty onion pan, and fry the patties until golden. More pine nuts might escape and fry solo. Scoop 'em out and wait for them to cool before you eat them. Drain the patties briefly on absorbant paper before serving on a bed of salad leaves. Don't forget the lemon juice!

Categories:

• Cooking
• Recipes
• Savoury