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JANUARY 2010 JACKIE FRENCH NEWS - ENTREES

• Stuffed Eggs
• Delicious dips
• Puff Pastry
• Six Soups
• Supermarket Dips – using them or making Your own version

Six ways with Stuffed Eggs

Note: ours taste good because they are fresh eggs from chooks that feed on scraps, so the eggs taste far better than supermarket eggs. But  while omelettes and scrambled eggs need good tasting eggs, the curry in these disguises much of the egg flavour, so supermarket eggs are okay Plus this recipe is much easier than either am omelette or scrambled eggs - it needs experience and teaching to make good scrambled eggs or omelettes.

How to Boil a sot boiled egg  Egg
Cover with water. Bring to the boil. Boil three minutes. Take off at once and eat.
A soft boiled egg can be wonderful if it’s from backyard chooks, so it had a good flavour, and if you serve it with toast made from good bread. If the bread has good flavour, e.g. a sour dough loaf, all dense and crusty, it doesn’t need butter. A commercial packaged loaf bread needs butter to give it flavour.
I scoop the egg out and eat it on bread or toast. You can also cut the toast into ‘fingers’ and dip them in the yolk, then use a teaspoon to scoop out the white.

Stuffed Eggs
I usually serve these if we need to sit for a long while drinking before we are going to eat, but they are also good for dinner by the TV, with a salad. You need hard boiled eggs for this.
You need:

• One dozen eggs. (If you have your own hens, these need to be at least a week old. Very fresh eggs are hard to peel.)
• Half a jar or bottle Praise fat free mayonnaise, or full fat if you
• One tbsp Keens curry powder, or any other curry powder or curry paste you like.
• Paprika, powdered

Plus:
Water
A Bowl
A plate
A large spoon
A fork

Put the eggs gently into the saucepan. Cover them with water. Turn on the heat and wait till they boil. Boil them for ten minutes then tip them and the water into the sink to drain.

When they are cool, crack them against something hard and peel the shells off.

They can now be left in the fridge for up to 24 hours until you want to do the next bit.

Cut the eggs in half long ways and scoop out the yellow yolks into a bowl.  The whites will look ragged and uneven. Don’t worry - they'll look okay when filled.

I throw out about half to a third of the egg yolks, but you can use them all if you like - it'll just make the filling richer.
Put the whites of a big plate, so they are only just touching. Put the yolks in a bowl. Add the curry powder and mayonnaise and mash with the fork till smooth.

Taste. You may need to add another tbsp of curry powder, or even two more. Curry powder loses its taste as it gets older, so you will always need to keep tasting till the mix tastes good.

Use a teaspoon to scoop the egg yolk and mayonnaise mix into the eggs. It should be a small mound up over each egg white.

Take a pinch of paprika, or scatter it from the jar, a little bit onto the top of every egg. Decorate the edge of the plate with a spring of parsley or coriander.

These are okay for about six hours out of the fridge. Otherwise they'll keep for 24 hours in the fridge. Don't try to store the leftovers though if they have been out for more than two hours. After 24 hours in the fridge throw them out - but I've never had to, as they have all vanished.

Variations:
Stuffed Egg Sandwich
Mash stuffed eggs and serve on bread, or between two pieces of bread, or rolled up with lots of crisp iceberg lettuce in a pita wrap.

Stuffed Eggs on Toast
Mash with a fork. Pile up on hot buttered toast.

Stuffed Egg in Lettuce Cups
Take ‘cups’ of iceberg lettuce, several thickness deep- you need lots of crunch. Fill with mashed stuffed egg.

Stuffed Egg on Asparagus
Snap asparagus in the middle - throw away the tough end. Take off rubber bands. Cover with water in a saucepan. Boil five minutes. Pour off water at once.
Serve hot or cold with a big blob of mashed stuffed eggs.

Stuffed Egg Salad
Allow six stuffed egg halves and two cups of salad per person, more if they are very hungry.
Ingredients:

• Stuffed eggs, mashed a bit
• Iceberg lettuce, chopped
• Cucumber, finely sliced (leave the skin on if it’s a long Lebanese cucumber with thin skin)
• Finely sliced radish - optional
• Finely sliced and deseeded capsicum - optional
• One chopped and deseeded chilli - optional
• Chopped parsley - optional
• Chives, chopped – optional

Mound all the salad stuff into a big plate. Pour the chopped egg mix on top, like snow on a mountain. Let everyone serve themselves from the platter.

Six Cheat’s Delicious Dips

Ingredients:
One carton mascarpone cheese. Mix in:

• One tbsp Thai red curry paste, or
• Half a bunch of chives, the juice of half a lemon, a few grinds of black pepper, or
• Three tbsps hot, sweet chilli sauce or chilli jam. Add a chopped capsicum or chopped parsely for extra colour, or
• Three tbsps fruit chutney- any sort, from apple to mango, or
• Two tbsps Thai seasoning and 1 bunch chopped fresh coriander, or
• One tsp powdered cumin, 2 mashed boiled peeled carrots.

Mash together with a fork or spoon.  Place in a small bowl or heap on a saucer and surround with crackers.

Puff Pastry – Six Ways

Cheese Straws
These are nibbles to have before a meal, but ones with more on top become ‘cheat’s delicious pizza’ later in the book.
Time taken: about 20 minutes the first time, 10 minutes once you’ve done the recipe once before.

Ingredients:

• Frozen puff pastry…the sheets, not the solid block
• Parmesan cheese … you can use the prepared stuff, but if you buy a hunk of parmesan and grate it, it’ll taste much better
• Optional: curry paste or curry powder

Note: you can make cheese straws with any yellow firm cheese, like cheddar or Edam or blue vein cheeses too. It doesn’t work so well with brie or other soft cheese, and don’t try it with white cheeses like ricotta, mascarpone, cream cheese and cottage cheese. These can be great in cooking, but it’s more difficult.
Cover baking trays with baking paper, or line your oven baking dish with baking paper. This is so they don’t stick to the dish.

Spread out the pastry on baking trays, with the blue paper base that separated each sheet peeled off. Allow about one sheet per hungry person.

If you want the cheese straws to be spicy, use a knife to spread the curry paste as thinly and evenly as you can over the pastry sheets. It should just be a smear.

If you are using curry powder, mix 1 tsp of curry powder into two heaped tbsps of grated cheese.

Scatter the cheese on top evenly. You don’t need much-about three tbsps, just enough so the pastry is almost all covered.

Put the oven on to the highest setting. While the oven is getting hot, use a knife (any knife) to cut the pastry into strips, about as wide as chop sticks.

Place the trays in the oven. Peer into the oven after five minutes.  If the pastry is risen and the cheese and edges of the pastry just starting to turn brown, take them out. If not, leave in for another five minutes … or another five after that if they need it.

Serve straight away, while they are still crisp, as they go soggy after a few hours. They are not much good cold. But if you want to make them a few hours before, cook them till they are only a very pale brown, then put them in a hot oven for 3 minutes to heat up again, just before serving.

Not Pizza

Ingredients:
1 sheet puff pastry per person.
And per person your choice of:
            .

• ½ cup grated cheese, your choice (even feta or ricotta or brie work well. Different, but good)
• ½cup chopped lettuce
• 2 tbsps anchovies
• cup sliced ham or thinly slices salami
• ½ cup artichoke hearts, cooked or canned
• 6 slices tomatoes or half a cup canned chopped tomatoes. (Buy the canned chopped tomatoes; don’t try to chop ordinary canned tomatoes).
• Cooked or canned asparagus spears

Place pastry on baking paper on baking traps. Turn oven up as hot as possible.
Brush the tomato over the pastry. Add other ingredients sprinkling on the cheese last.

Place in the oven. Don’t try more than one at a time - too many cools the oven down too much, and steams it up too.
In ten to twenty minutes the edges of the pastry will be puffed and dark brown and the cheese browned too. Take out and eat.

Fetta and Cherry Tomato Tarts
Lay out pastry as above. Cut into small squares. Top each with:

• Crumbled fetta.
• Cherry tomato halves

Bake as above.

Parmesan and Anchovy Tarts
As above, but cover with grated parmesan cheese and a few anchovies draped on top.

Potato Tarts
As above, but spread each small tart with a tiny bit of curry paste. Place one tbsp chopped cooked potato (not mashed) on each tart. Cook as above. You can sprinkle one tbsp grated cheddar cheese or one tsp grated parmesan cheese onto each if you want it to be more pizza- like.

Pies
These can be big i.e. half a sheet folded over, or tiny ones. Cut sheets in half or in to about ten squares.

On each place your choice of cooked meat from any of the meat recipes, or stir fried veg or any cold cooked potato with a bit of curry paste or chopped fresh coriander leaves.

Fold one edge over to the far one. Press edges together firmly. Bake as above till puffed and brown on top. Eat hot.

Fruit Tarts
Arrange pastry as for the small tarts above. Top with thin slices of raw apple, or peach, or apricot, or nectarine, or lengths of rhubarb, or mango, even very think slices of pineapple. Sprinkle each with one tbsp of castor or other sugar. Bake as above.
NB: the fruit slices must be THIN

Cream Cheese tarts
As above, but spread a layer of cream cheese - about the amount you’d put on a sandwich - on the pastry before adding the fruit.

Six Bung-in-Pot Soups

Pea Soup
Ingredients:

• 500 gram ham or bacon bones
• 6 large carrots
• 3 large onions
• 2 large spuds
• ½ cup split green peas
• lots of water – to cover rest of ingredients in pot

Bung everything in a saucepan; cover with water; put the lid on and simmer for two hours or so. (A simmer is where it is only just bubbling- very tiny bubbles.) If it boils - large bubbles- things may stick and burn on the bottom of the pot.

Stir with a wooden spoon every 20 minutes to make sure it doesn't burn on the bottom. Remove bones and large shreds of meat. Mash or blend. Put back meat. Give the bones to the dog or the kids if they're not splintery. Reheat. Keep in the fridge for up to ten days, and eat it for lunch with toast, or dinner with even more toast and a salad.

Chicken and Vegetable Soup
Note: do not give these bones to the dog, as they will be sharp and may hurt him.

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo chicken legs
• 2 cartons Campbell’s chicken stock
• 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 potatoes, peeled an chopped
• ½ a head of celery - throw out the tough outer stems and all the dark green leaves.
• Wash celery and chop all the rest of the soft pale green celery and pale green leaves OR use 3 leeks, with all the tough outer layers thrown away and the tough green tops cut off. Chop up the white bits and soft green leaves. Wash well as they may be gritty.
• 10 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

Put all this in a large saucepan. Put on the stove. Turn on to a low heat. Cook for an hour on simmer i.e. just tiny bubbles, not big ones.

Turn off the heat. Cool. Use your hands to take all the meat off the bones. Throw out the bones and any floppy chicken skin.

Heat the soup again to eat it, or
Add 1 large can chopped tomatoes and half a bunch of basil chopped. Heat and you have a good tomato soup, or
Add 1 tbsp curry paste; heat and you have curried chicken soup, or
Add 1 cup of any kind of pasta or dried spaghetti. Simmer till the pasta is soft and you have chicken noodle soup.

Chicken and Corn Soup
Check that everyone likes corn soup before you make this. Some people don't. This is good if you have a cold or flu - very soothing and doesn't have a strong taste.
This serves four small bowls, or two hungry people if it's all you are having for dinner.

Ingredients:

• 1 can creamed corn. Don't use corn kernels or salt free: it must be creamed corn.
• 1 bunch spring onions, chopped into small pieces
• 2 large cartons Campbell's chicken stock
• 1 or 2 chicken thighs, chopped into small pieces
• Boil everything for 15 minutes. Serve.

You can also add:
the juice of a lemon, or
2 tsps chilli sauce, or
1 tsp soy sauce

Boil and serve.

Pumpkin Soup
This soup is creamy, without any cream added.

Ingredients:

• 1 hunk pumpkin- the chunks sold in supermarkets- peeled and seeds removed
• 2 carrots, peeled
• 1 potato, peeled
• 1 large box chicken stock.

Put all ingredients in a pot. Boil 10 minutes. Use a potato masher to mash, or a hand held blender.

To make it richer: add 2 tbsps butter
To make pumpkin/tomato, add 1 small can tomatoes
To make it even creamier, add half a cup cream and reheat just before serving, then sprinkle each serving with grated nutmeg or finely chopped parsley or coriander.
To make it meaty: add half a cup chopped ham
To make it spicy: add 1 chilli
To make it even spicier: add 1 chilli and 1 tbsp curry paste or Thai spice paste, then sprinkle with chopped coriander leaves just before serving.

Potato and Leek Soup
Again, creamy without cream. Also fast.

Ingredients:

• 4 potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 3 leeks, tough green bits chipped off and tough outer layers removed. If you have blender, don’t chop. If you don’t, chop as finely as you can
• 1 large  container chicken stock
• optional: 2 peeled and chopped carrots

Boil ten minutes. Mash or blend.
This can be served hot or cold; each bowl can be sprinkled with finely chopped parsley can also add a splodge of cream in the centre of each bowl just before serving.

Carrot soup

Ingredients:

• 4 large carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 large potato or two small, peeled and chopped
• 1 large carton chicken stock

Boil ten minutes. Blend. If you don’t have a blender, chop the onion finely; otherwise, big chunks are fine.
You can sprinkle the top with summer savoury - a great herb, but you need to grow your own, or chopped coriander.
Variation: add 1 tbsp curry paste: I prefer it this way, though I usually make my own curry mix. Coriander is especially good with the curry version.
Variation: add a splodge of cream in the middle of every bowl before serving, sprinkle with parsley.
Variation: toss in small squares of buttered toast just before serving.

Six Ways to use Supermarket Dips

Pesto dip

• Boil pasta, then top with dip instead of sauce
• Bake potatoes, top with sauce. To bake the spuds, wash well, slash with a knife six times so the skins don’t explode, and put in an oven on the highest setting for 10-15 minutes. They’ll be slightly browned when ready. Put them in the top part of the oven- it gets hottest. If you are in a hurry, cut the spuds into chunks. If in a real hurry, cut into chunks and thread onto metal skewers- the metal conducts the heat and the spuds cook in half the time.
• Fry a chicken breast on both sides till brown, then top with dip.
• Serve with baked fish.

Tomato and cashew; Coriander; Tsatziki and Sun-dried tomato; Guacamole dips

As above, Also very good on grated potato cakes.

Humus and Baba Ganoush
These are both good on baked spuds; the texture is wrong for pasta - both too slippery.  Serve with a crisp salad for a texture change.

Humus is good with meat balls; or put a meat ball or two on good fresh bread, and top with humus.

Note: all the dips above - and the home made ones below – are very good on fresh bread or bread rolls. Add chunks of iceberg lettuce in rolls for added crunch, or chop iceberg lettuce first before adding to sandwiches.
The dips are also good on tabouli, which can be home made, or bought from the supermarket.

Home Made Tabouli
Soak 1 cup cracked wheat in 1 cup water till softish- about half an hour. Don’t leave it too long or it will be mushy. Drain well.
Add 1 bunch chopped parsley, the juice of 1 lemon, 1 chopped clove garlic, 4 tbsps extra virgin olive oil.

Six ways to make your own ‘Supermarket’ Dips   

These are MUCH cheaper, better tasting, and will keep in the fridge in a sealed container for up to a fortnight. Throw out if they start growing fuzz or change colour or smell odd.
These are also lower in calories than the supermarket versions. Don’t be put off by the oil: even more is in the supermarkets ones. These are still lower calorie, cheaper and better for you than the equivalent red meat or chicken.
You need a blender and a large bowl for these. I use a long deep container. If you use a bowl it may splash as you blend, so do it in the sink and wear and apron…or take off your top. It’s easier to clean skin than wash a blouse.

Note; if these are hard to blend, you can add more oil or a little water.

Pesto
This dip can be frozen. Freeze it in portion sixes in freezer bags, so you need only thaw enough for one night’s dinner.  

Blend

• about ½ cup parmesan cheese, cut into chunks: don’t buy prepared parmesan; it’s really styrofoam in disguise. Note: parmesan can be frozen
• 1 cup nuts: pine nuts, walnuts (if you love walnuts, otherwise avoid - walnuts do make this very walnutty) macadamias or cashews.
• Smell nuts first and taste them. If they taste rancid i.e. the flavour lingers in your mouth, they are slightly off. Throw them away. Nuts go ‘off’ very fast, and they need to be fresh.  Note: the nuts can either be raw or roasted. Roast gives you a richer flavour; raw may be slightly better for you. The lowest calorie nuts are whole or flaked almonds. These are also high in calcium.
• 1 bunch basil or coriander
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled (can be omitted, especially for Bryan)
• half cup extra virgin olive oil (note: light olive oil is not lower in calories, and it isn’t as good for you as extra virgin olive oil, which is anti-inflammatory, helps lower cholesterol and helps absorb vitamins minerals anti-occidents flavonols and other good things. The ‘light’ just means lighter in flavour. 
• juice of two lemons or limes

Note: you may wish to add a tsp of salt. I don’t. Taste when blended and add salt slowly to taste.

Tzatziki

Blend

• 1 small Lebanese cucumber, washed but unpeeled
• 2 cloved garlic, peeled
• 1 carton natural yoghurt. This can be fat free, but the dip will be watery. A full fat one is best - remember that ‘full fat’ is still made with reasonably low fat milk.

Salmon Dip

Blend or mash:

• 1 small can pink or red salmon, drained
• 1 carton mascarpone cheese
• Optional: 1-4 chopped red chillies, 1 bunch finbely chopped coriander or parsley.

Coriander and Cashew Dip

Blend

• 1 cup roasted salted cashews
• 1 bunch coriander leaves
• half cup extra virgin olive oil
• juice of two limes or lemons

Sun Dried Tomato and Almond Dip

Blend

• 1 cup sun dried tomatoes, with their oil
• 1 cup roasted almonds
• 2 fresh or dried chillies

Optional: juice of half a lemon

Rocket and Cashew Dip

Note: only make this if you know you like rocket. Rocket is slightly bitter, and many don’t like it. A small amount of this dip goes a long way. It’s especially good on nibbles and things like spuds, or baked fish.

• 1 bunch rocket
• 1 cup salted roast cashews
• half cup extra virgin olive oil

Optional: half a cup parmesan cheese

Guacamole

• 1 avocado
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1-3 chopped fresh chillies, seeds removed, or 3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce (The sauce makes it sweeter- I much prefer the chillies but many much prefer the sauce).
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Optional:

• 3 tbsp mayonnaise
• 3 tbsp tomato puree
• ½ cup finely chopped coriander

Note: A commercial tasting avocado dips is made with equal amounts mashed avocado and mascarpone cheese, with added sweet chilli sauce to taste.

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