Sautéed Kale with Garlic Anchovy Crumb

July 21, 2015 by Jason Sankey Leave a Comment

This dish is a simple, healthy flavour bomb. It takes just minutes to cook, gives you a good serve of greens and is absolutely loaded with garlic and umami to have your tastebuds dancing. It really shows you what a little dressing can do to make an ordinary side dish extraordinary!

This garlic anchovy crumb can be used to dress many things but goes particularly well with slightly bitter greens. To get the most out of it you want uneven breadcrumbs: some chunky for crunch and some finer to soak in the flavoured oils from your pan. These aren’t so easy to buy, but they are very easy to make yourself. Just take a stale end of a loaf, dried in a very low oven if need be, cut off any crust that’s too hard and chop roughly. If it’s dry enough it will naturally break up into some finer pieces too, if not give some chunks a few pulses in a small food processor to break them down further.

The key to the kale itself is quick cooking. Like most fresh vegetables if you overcook it you lose the flavour and are left with only the bitterness. Try to buy younger kale if you can: with thinner tender stems that you can keep as part of the dish. If your bunch has thick stems you may need to trim them out (you can always use these trimmings in a soup or stock).

Sautéed Kale with Garlic Anchovy Crumb

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

5 mins

Total time

10 mins

A simple, healthy flavour bomb!

Serves: 4-6 (as a side)

Ingredients

1 bunch kale, washed, trimmed and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
For the crumb:
⅓ cup rough breadcrumbs (make your own if you can)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 anchovy fillet, finely diced/mashed
pinch of salt

Instructions

To make the crumb: heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan or wok over a medium-high heat. Add the breadcrumbs and toss for 1 minute so they coat with oil and begin to colour.
Add the garlic, anchovy and salt and continue cooking, stirring constantly until the crumbs are golden and fragrant. (Take care not to burn the garlic.) Set aside and wipe out the pan.
Heat a fresh tablespoon of oil in the pan and add the kale. Sauté, tossing constantly, until just cooked (it only takes 1-2 minutes).
To serve: spread the kale in a bowl and scatter the crumb over the top (so it stays crispy!).

Baby Zest: Healthy Pear Sultana and Oat Buttermilk Muffins

July 17, 2015 by Jane Sankey 2 Comments

Brrrrr

Hello! it’s been seriously icy in Sydney these past few days and coupled with nursing a cold, I am hibernating indoors and have cancelled all social engagements for today. Self imposed hibernation is sometimes very enjoyable amidst a busy life – indulging in normal household activities means more engagement with bub and not just trying to rush from one thing to the next, ticking off a never ending checklist of things to do. So in the blissful mundaneness of the day, I got to show Miss One how to take the laundry out of the washing machine and help me with the hanging on the clothes line. Her very important job was to hand me the pegs – this consisted of walking back and forth from the bucket, transporting one peg at a time. She is my hardworking little helper!

As I watch her toddle back inside with the bucket of pegs swinging on her arm, I am just filled with love, pride and amazement at just how quickly this little girl is learning and growing up. I just wish I could freeze moments like that and store them for the rainy days in life.

So what do we need to top up a day of domestic bliss? Some baked goods of course!

There’s a ripe pear in the fruit bowl, an open carton of buttermilk in the fridge that needs using and the pack of sultanas that Miss One has smuggled out of the pantry (yes she knows how to open it now and has recognised which packet holds the coveted treats). So I decided to make the little Miss a sweet but healthy muffin with these ingredients for our afternoon tea.

Muffins are such magical things – it feels like you can just pick a favourite combination of ingredients, add flour, some kind of fat (oil or butter), egg, some sweetness and voila! 9.5 times out of 10, it’s a tasty treat! And they are also quick to put together – so easy that I was able to whip up a batch during bub’s nap today which is like being in a Masterchef challenge, only you have no idea when George is going to say “time’s up, step away from your benches”!

These days with priority directed towards nourishing a growing child, my muffins have taken on a more healthy tone so oats and coconut oil make regular appearances and here they are again in today’s creations. The pear was prepared two ways for a reason, not just to make life complicated – 1) the grated pear to give the muffin its moistness and 2) the chunks for bursts of pear flavour (of course Miss One picked out all the chunks to eat first). And one more tip before I give you the recipe – soaking the sultanas in hot water makes them nice and plump.

These muffins took a little longer than I expected and I suspect it was because of the slightly wetter mixture with the grated pear but the result was a nice moist cake. It’s probably not as sweet as most muffins but I think it is sweet enough, especially with the bursts of sultanas and pear chunks. Also I don’t want little Miss getting used to anything too sweet but if you do have a particularly sweet tooth, I would increase it to 1/2 a cup of sugar.

Now, if you have 35 odd minutes – go and bake yourself some tasty moist treats!

PS: don’t forget, you can “remember” all these recipes by using our Zest Recipe Manager that you can download for free: http://plentyofzest.com/zestapp/.

Baby Zest: Healthy Pear Sultana and Oat Buttermilk Muffins

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

25 mins

A quick and healthy treat for baby (and parents!).

Serves: 10

Ingredients

1½ cups self-raising flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup rolled oats
⅓ cup brown sugar
½ cup sultanas
1 large ripe pear (or 2 small ripe pears)
⅓ cup melted coconut oil
⅔ cup buttermilk
1 egg

Instructions

Preheat oven to 170°C (fan forced).
Soak the sultanas in a cup of boiled hot water.
Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Mix in the cinnamon, sugar and oats then grate half of the pear into the mixture.
Make a well in the centre of the mixture and pour in a whisked egg, the buttermilk and oil. Stir until well combined.
Dice the remaining pear into chunks and add to the batter. Drain the sultanas and add them too, then gently mix to them spread evenly through.
Divide the batter into the muffin pans - I made 10 muffins. Bake for 18-22 minutes until a little browned on top and skewer comes out clean.

Moroccan Lamb Shoulder Tangia

July 13, 2015 by Jason Sankey Leave a Comment

Although they can be nondescript from the outside, the Hammams (public baths) of Marrakech are a well known tourist attraction (and, I can attest, well worth a visit!). The part most tourists don’t get to see, though, is what happens next door to (or underneath) these baths in the fires that heat the rooms and waters. If you pay these a visit you might be surprised to find several tall terracotta pots stacked among the coals throughout the day. These pots are known as tangia, and inside you’ll find a dish of the same name. The constant heat of the fires is ingeniously harnessed to produce a fragrant stew of lamb on the bone, cooked slowly over many hours until meltingly tender.

What a great way to cook! It’s so simple that tangia is known as a bachelor’s dish. All you need to do is take your pot to the markets in the morning to gather your lamb and preferred mix of spices from your favourite stalls, top up with some water and seal before handing over to the fire keeper to cook throughout the day. Come dinner time you swing back by the baths and pick up a perfect stew! Of course I don’t have the same luxury here in Sydney, but a good cast iron dish (with tight fitting lid) and low oven make an admirable substitute for the real tangia.

Finding an authentic recipe is not easy, and I suspect it varies quite a bit in reality in any case. I took some tips from the blog The View From Fez, which had the most detailed description of the daily ritual I found. But I’ve modified the recipe quite a bit by using a whole lamb shoulder (which is easier to come by in my experience), some butter rather than all olive oil (in Morocco they would actually use smen, a fermented butter), and a different treatment of herbs and spices. If you have a favoured ras el hanout (Moroccan spice blend) then by all means use that in place of most of the spice in this recipe, though for fragrance and colour I’d still recommend additional saffron.

The result is a perfect winter dish: meltingly tender lamb in a fragrant spiced sauce with sweet chunks of garlic and onion. The sauce is thin but perfect to serve on cous cous which soaks up the goodness. Add plenty of parsley as a fresh contrast and enjoy!

Moroccan Lamb Shoulder Tangia

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

4 hours

Total time

4 hours 10 mins

Be transported to Marrakech for the night with this delightfully simple, meltingly tender lamb stew!

Serves: 6

Ingredients

1.6kg lamb shoulder, bone in, trimmed of excess fat
25g butter
1 small preserved lemon, skin only, roughly chopped
1½ tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons paprika
small pinch saffron
10 whole cloves garlic, peeled
1 onion, chopped into 6-8 large chunks
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt to taste
For the cous cous:
2 cups instant cous cous
2 cups water
1 bunch parsley, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 150°C.
Add the spices, preserved lemon, garlic, onion and water to an oven dish with a lid (a cast iron dutch oven is ideal). Coat the lamb with olive oil and plenty of salt, then place on top of the other ingredients.
Cook for 3½ to 4 hours, when the lamb pulls apart easily. Remove from the oven and skim and excess oil from the sauce with a spoon (a little remaining fat is OK, it will combine nicely with the cous cous). Set the lamb aside to rest while you make the cous cous.
Place the cous cous in a large bowl. Boil the water and pour over the cous cous, then immediately cover and allow to stand for 5 minutes to cook. Remove the cover, season with 1 teaspoon of salt and separate the grains by stirring with a fork. Add the parsley and stir through to mix.
To serve line each bowl with a layer of cous cous, top with chunks of lamb, onion and garlic then pour over a generous help of sauce to soak in. Garnish with additional parsley.

Steamed Mandarin Puddings with Rich Chocolate Custard

July 9, 2015 by Jason Sankey Leave a Comment

It must be a bumper season for mandarins this winter in Australia: there are stacks of them everywhere, super cheap and super sweet. We’ve always had a plentiful supply on hand for Miss One, but the little tyke can be fickle: she loves them one day and not the next! So with a few of them piling up and an episode of MasterChef tickling my sweet tooth (the high tea episode, to be precise, so many beautiful treats…) I knew what I had to do. But truth be told: I’d never cooked with mandarins before! This recipe leans on the success of my Syrupy Orange and Cardamon Steamed Puddings, although made with juice in place of some of the egg and milk (to enhance the mandarin flavour).

Instead of syrup I paired these little beauties with the extra richness of chocolate, which is always a great foil for citrus. Originally I used straight dark chocolate, gently melted, and for a quick fix it worked fine. But for a real treat make up a batch of my Rich Chocolate Custard: the extra body both in texture and flavour is worth the effort!

It’s still cold in Sydney: so do yourself a favour and get some of these warming little treats on the go!

Steamed Mandarin Puddings with Rich Chocolate Custard

Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

45 mins

Warm, fragrant citrus puddings lathered in rich chocolate, what more could you ask for on a cold winter night?

Serves: 4

Ingredients

125g butter, softened
75g caster sugar
2 eggs
125g self-raising flour
½ teaspoon ground cloves
2 mandarins: zest finely grated and flesh juiced
For serving:
300ml rich chocolate custard

Instructions

Add the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat until light and creamy (a standing mixer is best if you have one).
Add the eggs, one at a time, combining each one well before adding the next.
Remove the bowl from the mixer. Sift in the flour and clove and add the mandarin zest. Fold to combine the dry ingredients into the batter.
At this point you should have a smooth but thick batter. For moist puddings you need to bring the batter to a dropping consistency (where it will readily slide off a tilted spoon under its own weight) by gradually adding mandarin juice. Add juice, a bit at a time, stirring well and testing the consistency until it is ready.
Grease four individual pudding cups with a little butter, then divide the batter evenly among the cups. Be sure to leave some room for expansion (at least 1cm). Even out the surface of the batter in each cup.
Cover the cups with a square of baking paper then a square of foil, pleated in the middle allow extra expansion room. Secure the coverings to the cups with twine.
Cook the puddings in a double steamer over boiling water until just cooked through, about 22-23 minutes. Remove from the steamer and allow to cool slightly before uncovering and turning out of the cups. You may need to carefully run a knife around the edge of the cup to dislodge the puddings.
Serve warm, lathered with warm chocolate custard!

Rich Chocolate Custard

July 7, 2015 by Jason Sankey Leave a Comment

Learning how to cook is, generally speaking, good for you. When you home cook food you usually wouldn’t dare add the same amounts of oil, butter, and sugar that you’d regularly find in restaurant dishes. And let’s not even consider fast food! But there are exceptions, of course. In my case, a most notable example is discovering how easy it is to make custard. Not the powdered stuff, but real, rich, velvety, delicious custard. It only takes three or four ingredients, roughly measured, and a little bit of patience when stirring. Once you get over the fear of scrambling it, you realise you can have proper custard any time you want. Just writing about now is making me drool, and I’ve only just had lunch! The only thing that saves me from myself, sometimes, is a lack of cream in the fridge. I usually use a combination of milk and cream to give the custard extra richness and flavour, and cream is the only ingredient I don’t always have on hand.

But nothing will save me now! Wanting a super-chocolatey sauce to go with some steamed puddings, I came up with a new recipe. With the richness coming from a hefty pile of dark chocolate, this custard needs no cream, oh no! (Oh yes!) Of course there is always chocolate in the pantry, so now all I have now is willpower (oh dear).

This stuff is seriously delicious and moorish. Serve it warm with cakes, puddings, or fresh fruit. There are tonnes of strawberries about at the moment, a perfect match!

Rich Chocolate Custard

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

20 mins

Serves: About 350ml

Ingredients

3 egg yolks
¼ cup caster sugar
1 cup milk
75g good quality dark (70%) chocolate, chopped finely

Instructions

Add the milk to a small saucepan and heat gently until it is scalding (don't let it boil).
While the milk is warming, whisk together egg yolks and sugar in heat proof bowl until creamy.
Slowly add the hot milk to the yolk mixture, whisking all the time, until well combined.
Return to the saucepan over a low heat. Add the chocolate and cook, stirring regularly, until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes, it will thicken further as it cools). Take care not to overheat it or you'll get lumpy custard!

Rainbow Chard and Beet Salad

July 1, 2015 by Jason Sankey Leave a Comment

The rainy weather in Sydney recently has been a downer, but there is the occasional ray of light. As the sun peeked from behind the clouds one afternoon the city was greeted by a stunning double rainbow. Cellular networks immediately melted down as Instagram and Facebook feeds across the country where overwhelmed by colourful images.

As it happened on the very same day my kitchen was filled with a rainbow of the chard kind. This glorious vegetable always draws the eye at the market, and on this occasion I yielded and bought a bunch. With vibrant colour on my mind I choose a mix of red and golden beetroots too: appearing in both sweet (roasted) and sour (pickled) guises here. The resulting dish is an explosion of contrasting colours and flavours: even the staunchest salad hater would have to admit this catches your eye and tickles your palate! It can be served at room temperature but is even better if the roasted beets are still a little warm from the oven.

Note: the recipe requires pickled beets; you can make your own quickly and easily using my Quick-Pickled Beets method!

Rainbow Chard and Beet Salad

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

1 hour 15 mins

Total time

1 hour 30 mins

A hearty and stunning salad of contrasting colours and flavours!

Recipe type: Salad

Serves: 6 (as a side)

Ingredients

1 bunch rainbow chard
400g beetroot, diced (3-4 medium beets)
50g pickled beetroot slices (see previous recipe)
80g persian feta
Small handful pine nuts, lightly toasted
2 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch salt and pepper
For the dressing:
1 tablespoon apple cider vinger
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 150°C.
Toss the diced beets in 2 tablespoons of oil and season well with salt and pepper. Wrap them tightly in an aluminium foil parcel, place in a baking dish and roast until just tender, about 1 hour.
Prepare the chard by removing tough ends, washing, then separating the stems and leaves. Keep the colourful stems intact but chop the leaves into manageable pieces.
Prepare a large bowl of ice water.
Bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil and blanch the chard stems until just tender (still firm enough to keep some shape when held horizontally), this could take anything from 3-10 minutes. As soon as cooked remove from the pot and cool in the ice water.
Next blanch the leaves, these will only required 1-2 minutes. Again cool in the ice bath immediately to keep the vibrant colour and avoid overcooking. Set the cooked steams and leaves aside in a colander to dry until ready to serve.
To make the dressing whisk the cider vinegar and olive oil well with a pinch of salt.
To serve: arrange the chard in a large bowl and dress well, tossing to coat. Cover with layers of roasted and pickled beets, then top with hunks of feta and a scattering of pine nuts. Finish with cracked black pepper.

Quick-Pickled Beets

June 29, 2015 by Jason Sankey Leave a Comment

Sometimes the difference between an average dish and a great one is simply seasoning and balance. Most people learn the importance of salt, but the importance of acid is not so well appreciated. If your dish tastes inexplicably flat, it might just need a quick spritz of lemon or dash of vinegar to lift it. Acid provides contrast and makes your mouth water, enhancing other flavours.

Use this to your advantage: transform everyday burgers with a tangy relish, or add a sharp pickle to your next salad. You’ll eat better, and be that much trendier too: pickling is So Hot Right Now ;). And it’s so easy — you don’t need to make huge batches packed into sterilised jars weeks in advance. You can start with something much quicker: almost any vegetable steeped in simple pickling liquid will take on a beautiful tang in 20 minutes. That’s fast enough to develop while you bring the rest of the dish together in parallel.

quick-pickled-beets

As inspiration here is a very simple beetroot version that will not only add acid to your salad but also stunning colour! The pickling liquid is hot to partially cook the beets, and turns vibrantly colourful itself as they pickle. They can be served warm or kept in the pickling liquid in the fridge for a few days (to store for longer you would need to sterilise and vacuum seal a jar full, but that takes the “quick” out of it!).

Quick-Pickled Beets

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

30 mins

Lift a salad or sandwich from average to extraordinary with the colour and tang of these pickled beets!

Serves: About 150g

Ingredients

2 small beetroots
125ml vinegar
100ml water
3 teaspoons sugar
3 teaspoons salt

Instructions

Peel and slice the beets very finely crosswise. A mandolin is best to get thin slices. Place the slices in a small bowl (use separate bowls if using different coloured beets as pictured).
Add the vinegar, water, sugar and salt to a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and immediately pour over the beets, then cover and allow to stand for at least 20 minutes before using.

Lemongrass Poached Rhubarb Rice Pudding

June 25, 2015 by Jason Sankey Leave a Comment

Rhubarb is everywhere at the markets (and, indeed, supermarket) at the moment despite the cold weather. A bit of research suggests Aussie rhubarb is available pretty much year-round despite my impression of it as a summer crop: I’m guessing due to a combination of our temperate climate and greenhouse production? I couldn’t find a definitive answer but I’m grateful all the same: it is a plant with a unique flavour and colour that makes outstanding desserts.

I tend to think of it as a very English ingredient: e.g. warm apple and rhubarb pie with custard, a proper pudding! Yet as good as the traditional combination is I’ve been wanting different flavours recently, and found the addition of fragrant lemongrass to be a wonderful foil for tart poach rhubarb. Lace this combo into a rich rice pudding and you have a bowl of deliciousness that will warm any belly (and heart) on a cold winter night!

Lemongrass Poached Rhubarb Rice Pudding

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

50 mins

Fragrant lemongrass combines with tart rhubarb to bring a fresh zing to rich rice pudding.

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

For the rice pudding:
1 cup medium grain rice
200ml cream
800ml milk
3 tablespoons caster sugar
2 egg yolks
For the poached rhubarb:
400g rhubarb stalks, trimmed and chopped into 5cm pieces
1½ cups water
¾ cup caster sugar
1 lemongrass root, chopped into 5cm pieces
To serve:
Small handful pistachios, chopped finely

Instructions

Begin with the rice pudding. Combine the cream, milk, 3 tablespoons of caster sugar and rice in a saucepan. Bring to a low simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice is soft (about 30 minutes). Add a little more milk if the rice dries out before cooked.
When the rice is cooked remove from the stove and stir in the egg yolks well, allowing them to cook with the residual heat of the rice.
While the rice is cooking you can make the rhubarb. Bruise the lemongrass pieces well by bashing with a pestle (or other blunt instrument of your choice). Add the lemongrass, rhubarb, water and 1½ cups of caster sugar to a saucepan and bring to a very low simmer. Poach gently until the rhubarb is soft through (but not falling apart), about 8 mins.
Remove the lemongrass and discard. Strain the rhubarb and set aside, reserving the poaching liquid in a small saucepan. Return the liquid to the stove and bring back up to a boil. Continue boiling until it has reduced by at least half, into a syrup (test the consistency by cooling a small amount).
To serve: add some rice pudding and rhubarb to a bowl, pour over a little syrup and garnish with pistachios.

Baby Zest: One Pot Wonder – Salmon Veggie Pasta Bake

May 5, 2015 by Jane Sankey Leave a Comment

It has been pouring and blowing a gale here in Sydney. It’s my midweek day off from paid work and I must say I am pretty happy (not to mention dry!) to be witnessing the buffeting behind glass rather than in the flesh as I had the two days before. However, our poor not-so-mini schnauzer Mozart is well and truly suffering cabin fever and being trapped indoors with a 15 month old is going to be trying too. Miss One has recently taken to walking but still prefers to have the security of a parental hand, so I am doing riveting rounds of our little 100 year old terrace most of the morning. I know I could escape by distracting her with toys, musical instruments and books (and heaven forbid, a bit of iPad “Animal Band” action) but I am mindful that my baby girl will only be this young once so when she is reaching out to be with me, I embrace and cherish her snuggling and nuzzling. So I have plenty of time to ponder life, food and other things while we sing “Wheels on the Bus” for the 31st time and walk around in circles.

I must confess that being a mum doesn’t always come naturally to me (or at least I don’t see myself as instinctively maternal, clucky, mother hen or however you would describe those women who are all that) but loving this little girl does. So while there are times I have to remind myself to relinquish the controlling/achieving side of myself and not worry that I am not getting anything done, I never regret the moments, the hours, the days when I am consciously present and engaged with this little person who is just a little pocket rocket of pure light, wonder and sweetness.

Relishing the day’s fate of toddling around with a little hand in mine, I knew I had to cook something with minimal preparation and cooking effort. Then I remembered — isn’t there all that hype about one pot meals, one pot recipes, one pot method, one pot this, one pot that ? …. Hmmm….actually one pot sounds like a great idea!

Now I am a visual person so thinking “one pot”, an image of dry spaghetti, meat balls, herbs and tomatoes all in a big stockpot on a Woollies recipe card comes to mind. That’s the inspiration for today’s creation. Pasta: yes! Bub likes pasta. So here is my stab at a one pot wonder!

salmon-veggie-pasta-bake-elements

So into a large corningware (you can use any baking ware with a lid), I threw half a box of fusilli, grated bowls of zucchini and pumpkin, chopped mushroom, a tin of diced tomatoes, tin of salmon (it is good to know that canned salmon retains all the nutritional benefits of fresh salmon while being more affordable and convenient!), and half a litre of milk. After mixing it all up, I baked it for 40 minutes at 175°C. Then I stirred in some bocconcini and parmesan cheese for stickiness and extra tastiness and baked it for a further 20 minutes (these cooking times are intentionally long to make the pasta extra soft for bubs so if you want it to be al dente, reduce the initial cooking time by 10-15minutes). And voila!

This is almost literally a hands-free recipe and the result was a tasty pasta dish full of essential nutrients for the dearest little person in our lives. It made quite a volume so I was able to freeze 5 serves.

Best of all, I can report that Miss One has happily demolished three meals in as many days and, as the texture is a little sticky, she found it easy to feed all of it to herself!

One pot wonder - salmon veggie pasta bake

Prep time

12 mins

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

1 hour 12 mins

An easy one pot recipe full of goodness for the busy parent who prefers to spend their time playing with their little ones than stirring over a hot stove.

Author: Jane Sankey

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: Pasta

Serves: 6 large toddler serves

Ingredients

200g tinned pink salmon
1 small zucchini, coarsely grated
200g pumpkin, coarsely grated
100g fresh mushrooms, finely chopped
400g tin diced tomatoes
250g fusilli pasta
500ml milk
100g buffalo mozzarella (I used small bocconcini balls)
50g parmesan, grated

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 175°C.
In a large oven proof container with lid, mix the salmon, vegetables and dry pasta.
Thoroughly stir through the diced tomatoes (including juices) and milk. Place the lid on the container and bake for 40 minutes.
Stir in the cheeses and bake for another 20 minutes (again with the lid on).

Leek Saffron and Basil Frittata

April 20, 2015 by Jason Sankey 2 Comments

Frittatas are a such a wonderfully easy way to feed guests. They can work at any meal, cook quickly, and the eggy base can take on so many flavours. In this case we have a triumvirate of taste: a sweet leek base, a fresh basil hit all laced with a little luxury: saffron. I know these gorgeous red threads are ridiculously expensive, but if handled correctly you only need a tiny bit to permeate an entire dish with their wonderful, unique flavour. The key is to steep the threads in warm liquid: I usually use water but opted for milk here for a little extra creaminess. Just look at the colour!

This pinch of threads is only about a quarter of a tiny packet, less than $2 worth, and the flavour was amazing!

A few tips for this frittata:

I’ve included fried potato to turn this into a meal of its own. With a side salad, and perhaps a little bread, this makes a perfect lunch. To simplify the recipe (and cut the cooking time) you can leave out the potato and you still have a wonderful breakfast or side.
If you’re really in a hurry you can cheat further and mostly cook the frittata on the stovetop, almost like an omelet, then transfer to the grill to brown the top. It will cook in just a few minutes!
Always remove a frittata from the oven when it is slightly underdone as it will continue to cook in the hot pan. If you overcook it the eggs dry out and ruin the texture.

This is a versatile dish, so don’t be afraid to experiment!

Leek Saffron and Basil Frittata

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

40 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

2 leeks, halved lengthwise then sliced into 1cm pieces.
2 waxy potatoes, diced into 1cm cubes
6 eggs
¼ cup milk
Pinch of saffron
Small handful basil, finely chopped (reserve a few leaves for the top of the frittata)
50g butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Heat milk to just below boiling and add saffron threads. Allow to stand and infuse while you prepare the other ingredients.
Melt 35g butter with ½ a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan over a low heat. Fry leeks gently, stirring regularly, until translucent and tender (about 10 minutes). Set aside.
Melt remaining butter and oil over a medium heat. Fry potato cubes, stirring regularly, until lightly browned and almost cooked (about 10-12 minutes).
While the potatoes cook whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl then add the saffron-infused milk, leeks, chopped basil and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well.
When the potatoes are ready turn the heat back down then add the egg mixture to the pan. Top with a few extra basil leaves, then move to the oven to bake.
Allow the frittata to cook until lightly browned and almost set (slightly undercooked in the centre), around 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand for a couple of minutes to complete cooking.