Eat Me Please

I call this my Secret Weapon because of two reasons: 1. It makes everything you drizzle it on have that magic element - everyone says 'what did you put in it?'. But really, the secret is reason 2: It is deadly simple.

 

It is basically just your run-of-the-mill yoghurt sauce but I seem to have found a good balance of ingredients so even our little 2 1/2 year old will lovingly drizzle it over everything and not complain about the garlic or pepper element. It also seems to be perfect for fresh salads, warm salads, soups, sandwiches, burgers, casseroles, cut vegetables, potato chips...you name it and it will work (and children seem to magically then eat it) - hence, the secret weapon.

I've found a great supply of locally made yoghurt at the supermarket that contains nothing but milk and cultures and is the perfect consistency - not to runny, not too thick so find something like that if you can.

The ratio here is for one cup of sauce as you want to make it fresh each time if you can, so you usually won't need more than this, but just double or triple the recipe if you do. 

Ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened natural or greek yoghurt - not too thick
1.5 tsp fine sea salt or regular everyday salt
1 tsp ground black pepper (not cracked)
1 large or 2-3 small cloves of garlic finely chopped

Mix all ingredients well in a bowl and set aside in fridge for at least half an hour before serving.

 

 

I call this my Secret Weapon because of two reasons: 1. It makes everything you drizzle it on have that magic element - everyone says 'what did you put in it?'. But really, the secret is reason 2: It is deadly simple.

It is basically just your run-of-the-mill yoghurt sauce but I seem to have found a good balance of ingredients so even our little 2 1/2 year old will lovingly drizzle it over everything and not complain about the garlic or pepper element. It also seems to be perfect for fresh salads, warm salads, soups, sandwiches, burgers, casseroles, cut vegetables, potato chips...you name it and it will work (and children seem to magically then eat it) - hence, the secret weapon.

I've found a great supply of locally made yoghurt at the supermarket that contains nothing but milk and cultures and is the perfect consistency - not to runny, not too thick so find something like that if you can.

The ratio here is for one cup of sauce as you want to make it fresh each time if you can, so you usually won't need more than this, but just double or triple the recipe if you do. 

Ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened natural or greek yoghurt - not too thick
1.5 tsp fine sea salt or regular everyday salt
1 tsp ground black pepper (not cracked)
1 large or 2-3 small cloves of garlic finely chopped

Mix all ingredients well in a bowl and set aside in fridge for at least half an hour before serving.

 

 

Although it's almost the end of October, today seems like only the second day of spring. Yesterday was most certainly the first - was sunny, it was hot and it was a public holiday not to mention it was also the day after we won the Rugby World Cup!

It would have been pretty hard to find anyone in a bad mood in New Zealand yesterday. We finally managed plant out our garden patch - and did a lot of nothing else.

These light but filling quinoa cakes felt like the perfect way to end a sunny day, and to celebrate that summer was certainly on it's way. They are amazing served warm with Secret Weapon Sauce and a crisp green salad.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked quinoa (cooled)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
Good pinch sea salt
Good sprinkle of pepper

1/2 white onion, finely chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 courgette grated
4-5 white button mushrooms finely diced
Tbsp parsley finely chopped
Tbsp mint Finely chopped 
3 tsp cumin

1/2 cup two-day old bread, crumbed
1 tsp baking powder

Salt & pepper to taste 
2 tbsp olive oil  

 
Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

In a wok or fry-pan gently heat the oil and add onion & cumin and gently sauté for 1-2 mins until the onion becomes transparent. Add the mushrooms, courgette and garlic and continue cooking until the vegetables soften. Remove from heat and place to one side.

In a large bowl mix the quinoa eggs, salt and pepper. Slowly stir in the bread crumbs then the baking powder. Add in the sauteed vegetables, parsley and mint, salt and pepper. Stir some more until combined.

You should aim to have a mixture that is quite wet to the touch but will stay in shape once you pat into cakes. If the mixture is too wet and sloppy for this, just add a little more breadcrumbs to absorb some of the moisture - not too much or they will dry out as they bake.

Place cakes on a greased oven tray and bake for 20 - 25 mins until they become beautiful and golden and have begun to crack slightly on the surface.

Serve hot drizzled in the aforementioned sauce with a fresh green salad. Also would work well in a veggie burger, or in a pita instead of falafel, or better yet let them cool and take them somewhere picturesque with someone beautiful!

Makes 6 - 8 large or about 12 smaller cakes.

 

 

Tahini is a paste of ground sesame seeds and is is quite common now that hummus is something most of us know how to whip up pretty easily. Middle Eastern tahini is made of hulled, lightly roasted seeds whereas East Asian sesame paste is made of unhulled seeds and is much more bitter.  We eat way too much tahini in our house (well I don't myself but someone sure does). There is seemingly always a huge, nearly empty jar of the Chantal Organics stuff. As well as tasting amazing it is a rich source of calcium and terribly versatile which is always handy when you eat so much of it. I came up with a rather good dessing one day and now make it all the time, it just takes the edge of the bitterness of plain tahini for salads and things like that.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup organic hulled tahini
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar
1 teaspoon tamari
1 teaspoon light honey
Sea salt
Cracked black pepper

Mix together tahini, olive oil, tamari, brown rice vinegar and honey.
Season with a pinch sea salt and cracked pepper.
Depending on how thick your tahini is you may need to adjust the quantities to your taste.

 

Saturday was sunny and hot and we were busy preparing our vegepatch for the summer round of vegetables. We always make sure we have lots of salad greens, edible herbs and flowers on hand year round - it's so fun to pick flowers to eat!
Our local summer roadside fruit stall (Mr Fruity) has set up within walking distance on the next street with bags of gorgeous hass avocados 5 for $4.00. As we are also blessed with a beautiful specialty bread shop round the corner (Wild Wheat) lunch was simple. This open sandwich is heavenly and such a colourful treat, especially with bread that is still warm from the oven! Here is our ginger tofu, and flower salad sandwich with Tahini dressing

Ingredients:
1/2 block of organic tofu
Freshly grated ginger
A good splash of tamari
Extra virgin olive oil

Salad greens
Edible flowers (we used calendula petals)
Fresh picked parsley
Avocado
Tomato
Tahini dressing
Gomashio (or sesame salt) to season

Crusty bread like a sourdough cob - as fresh as possible

Rinse the tofu at pat dry. Slice in half through the middle to create a thin slice then cut diagonally into a triangle.
Heat in a frying pan the olive oil, tamari and freshly grated ginger and chilli until it begins to bubble and get fragrant. Don't let it burn.
Add tofu and fry until golden.

Slice bread and top with lettuce greens, tofu, then avocado and tomato. Drizzle with tahini dressing, sprinkle with chopped parsley, gomashio and flower petals.

Lets start simple!
Our garden is in a state of terrible disrepair but there are signs of life down one end with a few salad greens happily growing away. What can we do then but enjoy a simple salad, fresh from the garden on a perfect cloudless day. We used baby mesclun mix we had planted.

And as our celebration we have started Eat Me Please. Dedicated to our passion for food, the ritual of preparing a meal and the love of sharing it. We plan to post some of the beautiful recipes that evolve up in our kitchen, our travels, and daily life. Some come from friends and family, some from our cookbooks, but mostly though, they will be random bursts of inspiration that turn out surprisingly well, so this is also a way of keeping a record of our successes and sharing them with you. Focusing on mainly vegetarian (but not always), local, organic and wholefoods, I'll post the recipes, images and thoughts about food - a daily ritual that connects us all.