Sweet Potato & Chickpea Brown Rice Baked Risotto

I was tempted to add 'Moroccan' to the title however it was already long enough and I don't really know a lot about Moroccan flavours but I think it might be close.  Regardless, it is and easy tasty one pot dish full of veggie goodness.

Ingredients

• Brown rice (medium grain works better than long or basmati)
• Sweet potato
• Chickpeas (tinned or re-hydrated)
• Celery (or onions if preferred)
• Greens (I use zucchini or beans or both)
• Stock (I usually uses Massel 7's chicken flavoured)
• Garlic
• Paprika (I usually used a lot of paprika including some smoked)
• Cumin
• Rosemary
• Coriander seeds
• Turmeric

Method

1.  Pre-heat the oven 180 degrees C
2.  Fry up the celery in a stove and oven safe pot with some oil
3. Add rice and garlic and continue frying for about 1-2 minutes
4. Add crumbled stock cubes, chopped sweet potato and pre-boiled water
• The quantity of water can be hard to judge but about twice as much as you have rice
5. Add herbs and spices
6. Bring to boil, put on the lid and place in the oven
7. After 20 minutes add chickpeas and greens.  Add water if required
8. Cook for a further 20 minutes in the oven
9. Serve on a bed of baby spinach and top with balsamic vinegar

Options and variations

• Add/substitute pumpkin to/for sweet potato
• Use beef flavoured stock for something different
• Add a tin of tomatoes and lessen the water a little

Chicken and Asparagus Carbonara

A really quick and really tasty meal, after a little prep it only takes as long as the pasta takes to cook!
The idea for this recipe is completely ripped off from Donna Hay creamy asparagus pasta however we didn't have any cream and we needed to use up some chicken.  So rather than a cream based pasta sauce I thought I'd try and recreate the creaminess like you do with a carbonara sauce using only egg...

Ingredients

•  Chicken breast
• Asparagus
• Pasta (we used gluten free fettuccine)
• Egg(s)
• Parmesan cheese
• Lemon (for zest and juice)
• Salt & Pepper
• Chopped parsley
• Butter

Method

1. Chop chicken into cubes, cut the asparagus spears into three or four pieces (after removing the bottom bit) and zest the lemon
2. Crack your egg(s) into a bowl, add grated cheese, salt and pepper and beat it with a fork or whisk till combined
3. Add pasta to a pot of boiling water (preferably one that can have a steamer basket) at about the same time add the chicken into a fry pan with a little oil
4. With about 5 min to go on the pasta, start steaming the asparagus and add some butter and the lemon zest to the fry pan (now on a low heat)
5. Add some lemon juice to the egg mixture and whisk it through
6. When the past is done turn off the fry pan (yes I do mean the fry pan), add the asparagus to the fry pan, and drain the pasta (saving some of the water
7. Add a little water to the fry pan and then add the drained pasta and stir through a little
8. Now add the egg mixture and stir through (you need to make sure the pan has cooled sufficiently to do this, if it is too hot then the egg will scramble) and the hot pasta and sauce will cook the egg
9. Add the parsley at some point while stirring through the egg and then serve.  Add some pepper, extra parmesan and lemon juice to finish.

Notes

We used one chicken breast and 2 eggs for two people which worked out about right with myself being a bigish eater.  The butter is added because a carbonara sauce usually makes use of the fat that is rendered when cooking down whatever cured pork is being used which chicken breast usually doesn't provide.  Because it only used parmesan cheese it should be pretty much lactose free.

Moroccan Style Pot Roast Chicken

I was looking for an easy roast chicken recipe, low carb, low gluten and low number of dishes and this is what I came up with.  Super tasty.

Ingredients

• Celery
• Sweet potato
• Other hard veg (carrot, sweet, etc.) - Optional
• Chicken
• Lemon
• Tinned tomatos
• Chickpeas (I just used tinned ones)
• Cauliflower
• Other soft veg (beans, zucchini, etc.) - Optional
• Cummin
• Paprika
• Garam masala
• Garlic

 Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees C.
2. Chop up celery and hard veggies and fry them in a stove and oven safe pot (i.e. cast iron) with some olive oil and garlic.
3. Prep the chicken by putting the lemon inside it and rubbing some spices into the skin (you can add a little oil to help it stick) .
4. Add some spices to the veggies in the pot and cook a little longer.
5. Add the chicken on top of the bed of veggies and put in the oven with the lid on.
6. After about 40 min (or 25-30 min before the chicken is cooked if it is large) tip in the chickpeas and tomatos around the chicken and return to oven with lid on.
7. After a further 15 min add the coarsely chopped cauliflower (and other soft veggies) and return to oven with lid on.
8. Cook for a further 10-15 min until the cauliflower is cooked and serve

New gluten free food source!

When I mentioned my failed attempt at Gluten Free (GF) pastry to a friend she pointed me toward Melbourne Food Service. They are basically a catering food supply company that have opened a store on the corner of Toorak Rd and Warrigal Rd in Camberwell and they sell a whole bunch of gluten free stuff. I picked up some frozen GF puff pastry and pizza bases to try out but I have a feeling I'll be calling in there again soon! Unfortunately they don't have any of the GF stuff listed on their web site but I'll try and get some more info next time I visit and update you on the pastry and pizza bases.