Week 7 - Kitchen

Potatoes with Basil dressing

Ingredients

• Potatoes
• Basil pesto
• 1 pot Sour cream (could use Mayonnaise instead)

Instructions

1.   Peel or scrub potatoes and cut into roughly 2cm cubes

2.  Boil until just soft and take off heat.  Drain and leave to cool slightly.

3.  While potatoes are boiling mix pesto and sour cream together and season with salt and pepper to taste.

4.  Gently mix dressing into potatoes.

Basil Pesto without nuts

Recipe adapted from www.naturalchow.com

An allergy-friendly basil pesto recipe without pine nuts.

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves
• 1 cup chopped spinach/silverbeet leaves
• 3 cloves garlic
• ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• Splash of fresh lemon juice, more or less according to your taste buds
• About ½ cup olive oil (or oil of your choice)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1.   Chop up the garlic until it is minced. This can be done by hand or in the blender.

2.  Add in the basil, spinach and cheese and start to the blender. Slowly add in the olive oil while the machine is running. If you cannot add from the top of your blender, add a little at a time. Blend until smooth.

3.  Squeeze in a little lemon juice and add salt and pepper to taste.

4.  Use immediately or freeze. These are great to prepare ahead.

Carrot Muffins

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

3 cups grated carrot

2 cups plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

¾ cup brown sugar

What to do

1.   Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade.

2.  Peel and grate the carrots to make 3 cups. Set aside in a small bowl.

3.  Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together into a large bowl.

4.  In another bowl beat the eggs, oil and sugar until well combined.

5.  Add the egg mixture and the grated carrots to the flour.

6.  Mix until just combined. Remember not to stir too much or the muffins will be hard.

7.   Spoon the mixture to ¾ fill the muffin tins.

8.  Bake for 20 minutes, or until muffins are brown and cooked through (you can use a kebab stick or knife to check – if it comes out clean your muffins are cooked).

Fresh Fruit Salad

Ingredients

• Seasonal fresh fruit

For the syrup:

• 1 c warm water
• 1 Tbsp sugar (or honey)
• ½ a piece of hard fruit (ie apple or pear)
• 2 Tins crushed pineapple
• 1 lemongrass stalk
• A handful of mint

Instructions

1.   Prepare fruit: wash, peel (if necessary) and cut into suitable size pieces (think about shape, colour and size). 

2.  Put the chopped fruit into a large bowl.  Keep out ½ a piece of hard fruit to cook in the sugar syrup. Add a squeeze of lemon to stop the fruit from going brown.

3.  Make the sugar syrup by placing the water and sugar into a small saucepan.

4.  Place on the stove top on a medium heat and stir till sugar has dissolved.

5.  Add the chopped hard fruit and lemongrass stalk and simmer until fruit has become soft.

6.  Remove from heat, remove lemongrass and fruit, and put a handful of mint into the hot syrup.

7.  Chill

8.  When syrup is cooled, take mint out, and add pineapple, and toss with fruit salad

9.  Chill until serving.