SERVES: 4
PREPARATION: 25 MINUTES
COOKING: 20 MINUTES
Ingredients
50g butter
4 baby fennel bulbs (520g), trimmed, halved lengthways
1 teaspoon finely grated orange rind
1/2 cup (125ml) orange juice
1 sheet puff pasty
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme
Method
Preheat oven to 220C/200C fan-forced. Grease and line 2 oven trays.
Melt butter in large frying pan; cook fennel until browned lightly. Add rind and juice; bring to the boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes or until fennel is caramelised and tender.
Cut pastry sheet into 4 squares; place on oven trays. Remove fennel from pan, leaving behind the pan juices; divide among pastry squares.
Bake tarts about 20 minutes or until pastry is browned.
Meanwhile, return pan juices to the boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, until the sauce thickens slightly.
Serve tarts drizzled with sauce and sprinkled with thyme.
My Notes
As you can probably tell from the photos I made this recipe for lunch for 2 people and made 2 long tarts instead of the 4. Looked quite stylish and they were a really yummy vegetarian lunch!
This recipe came from the cook book Daniel gave me for my birthday. Women's Weekly The Complete Cook.
This is a great book which lists recipes by ingredients, which comes in handy when there is something in the fridge that needs to get used :)
with Roasted Honey & Cumin Pumpkin, Smashed Rosemary Potatoes & Steamed Beans with Garlic Butter
Well Saturday night was a another birthday dinner for me with my gorgeous daughter Amy & her fiancé Ant. And as it was SO freezing I decided on a nice warm dinner full of comfort food :)
Beef & Guinness Pies
SERVES: 4
PREPARATION: 15 MINUTES
COOK: 2 1/2 HOURS
Ingredients
1/4 cup (40g) plain flour
800g beef chuck steak, cut into 3cm pieces (I used gravy beef)
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 large brown onions, cut into thick wedges
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
440ml Guinness Draft Beer
1 1/2 cups (375ml) beef stock
2 dried bay leaves
8 fresh thyme sprigs
1 25cm sheet ready rolled puffed pastry
1 egg, lightly whisked
Method
Place flour in a large bowl and season well with salt and pepper. Add beef and toss to lightly coat. Heat half the oil in a large flame-proof casserole dish over high heat . Add one quarter of beef and cook, turning occasionally, for 5 minutes or until browned. Transfer to a heatproof bowl. Repeat in 3 more batches
Heat remaining oil in pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until lightly golden. Add garlic and cook, stirring for 1 minute or until aromatic. Add beef, beer, stock and herbs and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to very low and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, for 1- 1 1/2 hours or until beef is tender and sauce thickens slightly. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper. Set aside for 30 minutes to cool slightly.
Preheat oven to 200C. Spoon beef mixture evenly amongst four 1 1/2 cup (375ml) oven-proof dishes. Cut the pastry into quarters and lightly brush with egg. Place piece of pastry over each dish and use a small sharp knife to cut a small slit in the top of each pie to help release steam. Place on an oven tray and bake for 15 minutes or until pastry is puffed and golden.
My Notes
I found there was far too much liquid in this recipe and had to thicken at the end, I would definitely make some version of this pie again, I have heard the Jamie Oliver recipe for Beef & Guinness pie is sensational! this one just lacked a little depth of flavour but it was still really good!
Reserve the left over gravy from the beef & Guinness mixture to serve over the vegies!
This recipe came form a free magazine www.taste.com.au that I picked up when I bought another food magazine (I know I just have to stop! I bought 4 this week......) I have made a few things from this little mag this week, and nothing from the 4 new magazines that I paid for lol.
Roast Honey & Cumin Pumpkin
SERVES: 4
PREPARATION: 10 MINUTES
COOK: 45 - 50 MINUTES
Ingredients
1kg Queensland Blue pumpkin, peeled, de-seeded, sliced into 1cm thick wedges
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
Method
Preheat oven to 200C. Place pumpkin in a slightly greased roasting pan. Combine oil, honey and cumin seeds in a jug, pour over pumpkin. Season with salt and pepper and turn to coat. Roast pumpkin for 45 - 50 minutes or until golden & tender. Serve.
My Notes
Well I didn't have Queensland Blue pumpkin I had butternut so that is what I used for this recipe, I also by accident used 2 tablespoons of honey...this is because I didn't have my glasses on lol. But it was really yummy! Oh also I microwaved the oil honey & cumin seeds for 30 seconds before I poured it over.
This recipe also came from the www.taste.com.au freebie book and will also be a repeat dish on our table :)
Smashed Rosemary Potatoes
SERVES:4
PREPARATION: 10 MINUTES
COOK: 2 HOURS
Ingredients
4 large new potatoes
tablespoon sea salt flakes
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
Method
Scrub potatoes until clean.
Boil potatoes in large pot until a skewer passes easily through potato (my potatoes were quite large and took around an hour)
When cooked strain and set aside until cooled.
Preheat oven to 200C
Once cooled place potatoes onto a lined baking tray and gently smash and flatten potatoes until 2 - 3 cm thick with a potato masher.
Pour over olive oil
sprinkle with sea salt flakes & rosemary
Place in oven and roast for 45 - 50 minutes or until golden and crispy
My Notes
These potatoes have been a firm family favourite for over 20 years now but I hadn't made them in such a long time! I think I originally got the idea from Jill Dupleix many moons ago
Steamed Green Beans with Garlic Butter
SERVES: 4
PREPARATION: 10 MINUTES
COOK: 5 MINS
Ingredients
250g string-less green beans
50g butter
1/2 glove garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon parsley, finely chopped
Method
top and tail green beans
mix butter, garlic and parsley together
place green beans into double steamer and cook until beans turn bright green
remove from heat and serve with garlic & parsley butter
Karen's Sausage Rolls
PREPARATION: 15 MINS
COOKING: 25 MINS
SERVES: 4
These have been one of the kids favourites for as long as I can remember, whipped some up for our Sunday lunch today!
Ingredients
2 sheets pre-made frozen butter puff pastry, thawed (leave plastic sheet on)
2 rashers bacon, rind removed
1 roll sausage meat
1/2 red onion
6 slices vintage tasty cheddar
8 semi dried sun-dried tomatoes
2 tbsp rosemary, coarsely chopped
1 egg, for glaze
poppy and/or sesame seeds
Method
Preheat oven to 220C
Lay pastry on bench still with plastic sheet in tact.
On one edge lay bacon rasher down, folding over tail end if too long to fit on pastry.
Cut sausage meat in half lengthways and place on top of bacon.
Slice onion into 6 equal half moons, place 3 sections onto each.
Top onion slices with 3 slices of tasty cheddar.
Top cheese with 4 semi sun-dried tomatoes.
Sprinkle with rosemary.
Carefully roll pastry and filling over until ingredients are securely upside down, peel back plastic and roll again.
Sit rolled sausage on plastic diagonally and brush with whisked egg.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds or poppy seeds, lift sides of plastic to roll to coat sides with seeds. .
Cut into 8 sections each, place on baking dish lined with baking paper and bake for 25 minutes or until puffed and golden.
Serve hot with sauce.
