cheese biscuits

i needed to take something to a party last night and was at a loss as to what to bring...everyone had already made it known what their contribution was going to be and all the things i could have brought were being brought by someone else...then, i thought about these...they're yummy, and everyone asked for the recipe, so here it is...

200 grams sharp cheedar cheese
50 grams parmesan cheese
250 grams butter
500 grams strong bakers' flour
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
paprika


preheat the oven to 170C.

line baking trays with baking paper.

place the cheddar cheese in the thermomix bowl and grate for 2-3 seconds on speed 8. set aside.

place the parmesan cheese in the thermomix bowl and grate for 8 seconds on speed 8. set aside.

place the flour, sugar, peppers and butter in the thermomix bowl and mix for 10 seconds on speed 5 or until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

add the cheeses to the flour mixture in the bowl. place the dial on closed lid position and use interval speed to knead for 2 minutes.

portion the dough as desired. i used a mini icecream scoop.

sprinkle with paprika.

bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden.

a stick of celery and 4 tomatoes...

what does one do with 4 tomatoes and a stick of celery?

this is what i did...and it was yum.

1 stick celery, cut into chunks
4 small/medium tomatoes
1 litre water
2 tablespoons vegetable stock concentrate
300 grams ditali pasta

place the celery and tomatoes into the tm bowl and blend for 5 seconds on speed 7. add the water and concentrate. cook for 8 minutes on speed 2 at 100 degrees.

add the pasta and cook on reverse, speed 1 1/2 at 100 degrees until the pasta is al dente, usually about 10 minutes - this depends on your pasta. the pasta thickens the liquid as it cooks, making it quite hearty.

there's a lot of hype about cooking with just a few ingredients these days, and so often those ingredients are preprepared, processed or both. the only thing preprepared about this dish was the stock concentrate, and that was homemade from scratch. it was delicious, and you should have been there to smell it.

polenta with gorgonzola

this recipe is from bon appétit, february 2000, and is a recipe they sourced from union square cafe, new york, NY for a reader.
and it is exactly nine years ago that i first made this dish. the weather was cooling down and this was beckoning. because the cornmeal is cooked in milk and cream, rather than the traditional water or stock, the resulting polenta is refined and smooth. and rich. then the gorgonzola takes it to another level, as do the walnuts.
gorgonzola is so good grilled - find any excuse to try it - i'm sure even a vegetarian friend would be happy to help out (this recipe uses cream and milk instead of stock, remember? so all's good unless they're vegan), and a carnivore friend probably wouldn't even notice there wasn't any meat because this is so satisfying. and this is so simple, so there's no need to get yourself to new york to try it - go to new york for some other reason.

yield: 6 first-course or 6 side-dish servings

4 cups milk
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 cup polenta (coarse yellow cornmeal)*

1 1/2 cups crumbled gorgonzola cheese (about 6 1/2 ounces)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped, lightly toasted walnuts

bring milk and whipping cream to boil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. gradually whisk polenta into milk mixture in slow steady stream. Reduce heat to medium-low. cook polenta until creamy and tender, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes. season to taste with salt and pepper.
preheat broiler. transfer cooked polenta to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. sprinkle gorgonzola cheese over polenta. broil until cheese melts. sprinkle with chopped toasted walnuts and serve immediately.
*polenta (coarse yellow cornmeal) is available at italian markets, natural foods stores and some supermarkets. if unavailable, substitute 1 cup regular yellow cornmeal, and cook mixture for about 12 minutes rather than 20 minutes.

roasted greek vegetables

wenty took me to a greek restaurant on valentine's day and i had my favourite roast lamb and vegetables. i love how the greeks cook their meat and vegetables - such an easy way to eat vegetables and get the five vegetables (and more) the way they cook it. tasty, comforting....

i am just going to list the vegetables which can be used - the list is endless.

okra
tomatoes
carrots
potatoes
kumera (probably not authentic, but i liked it)
pumpkin
onions
zucchini
capsicum
beans - all sorts - green, white, borlotti
celery
mushrooms
eggplant
peas
you can see i'm listing anything and everything i can think of - it's for my benefit more than anything
cauliflower
broccoli
silverbeet

in addition to vegetables, you will also need
olive oil
garlic - tons is good - i use half a head of garlic, but this depends on the amount of the vegetables,of course.
greek basil
oregano
sage
thyme
parsley
salt and pepper

decide what you want to use, prepare it (ie, wash, peel, chop etc) and place it all into a large baking dish. make sure you put in more than you think you'll need because the vegetables collapse and there is significantly less bulk than what you started with; i always cook much more because it's delicious the next day as well.
drizzle a liberal amount of olive oil over the vegetables, not so much so as to drown them, but enough to coat them all over.
strip the leaves of the herbs off and toss them over the vegetables. i like to use masses of herbs and eat them as a green after the vegetables have finished roasting (this has nothing to do with the fact that i have masses of herbs in the garden at the moment.....of course).
crush the garlic and toss that in as well.
season with some salt and lots of pepper.
pour in about 1/2 a cup of water, and give everything a good tumble around.
pop it into the oven at 200 degrees celcius.
give it a stir every 20-30 minutes and leave it in the oven for 2 or 3 hours.
this can be served as a main vegetarian course or as a side dish.