It’s around this time of year when lots of cooking (and eating) is done and so, to give you a bit of inspiration, we are bringing back the hugely popular Mamamia Kitchen where I show you how to make Borlotti Bean Bruschetta.
You can find Mamamia kitchen #2 where I make peanut butter slice here.
The day has come when I subject people outside my family to my cooking. The good news is that you don’t have to actually eat it so you are spared any downside. The upside, of course, is that I will make you feel REALLY capable and confident in the kitchen by comparison.
For this premiere episode, I asked Sandra Reynolds from 120dollarfoodchallenge.com for a suggestion and she responded with a splendid recipe for Bruschetta. Which was harder and easier and much more delicious than I expected. All at once.
Below the video is a gallery with step-by-step instructions and pictures (which is why you will notice MM site manager Lana and her camera popping in and out of the video). But I think it’s the video you’re going to want to see, if only for the good luck message from Masterchef winner Julie Goodwin at the start – I cornered her last week when I was on the Today Show and she was in the next segment making lamb curry.
Roll tape.
We are making Borlotti bean and mozzarella bruschetta
You can download a printable .pdf of the recipe here.
This is going to be a new regular feature on Mamamia – every couple of weeks I’m going to cook something suggested by you. Simply leave a recipe that isn’t too tricky, can be made in around 15 minutes and doesn’t contain offal in the comments below this post.
Vote for the recipe you’d most like me to cook next time and I will make my next video of the recipe with the most votes (thumbs up). Won’t that be fun?
What would you like to see me cook next??
Subscribe to our daily updates
Make sure you don’t miss a single post
with the MM daily update direct to your inbox.
Comments
215 Comments so far
Mia,
I love this. I wish you the best of luck and hope your family enjoy the fact that you are learning to cook.
I was looking at trying to launch a cooking show. I was also in the process of writting a couple of recipe books and how to books.
If you want any ideas for food just ask.
For lunch today for my husband and 3 of his friends I made, Iskender (lamb salad with lots of garlic), and persian chicken. As I was short on time with was served with a pumpkin, beetroot and bean salad and store bought tabouli.
loading...
LOL Mia …I think you need to have some lunch cooked by Pete when your down next. He cooked chook breast stuffed with bacon and swiss browns and baked it in a pistachio shell … lovely
loading...
I’ve been saving this post up all week – been too busy to look at anything before tonight.
Loved it Mia, I’m by no means a ‘natural cook’ so it was nice to see someone similar giving it a go & cooking (yes, that would definitely count as COOKING in my house!) something scrummy!
V.much liked the recipe – I’d probably have it without the rocket & prosciutto but that’s just a personal preference. Bean mix, garlic, cherry tomatoes & melty boccocini *drooooooool*
loading...
Ooohh, after reading today’s story on eating meat I’ve included a vegetarian option – love that pumpkin!
Red Pumpkin Curry
Serves 4
This curry is a fabulous example of tasty vegetarian cooking. The earthy pumpkin combined with the flavours of Asia are so fantastic.
1kg butternut pumpkin, peeled and cut into 2-3cm cubes
Handful snow peas or green beans, finely sliced
1 large onion, finely sliced
1 tsp peanut oil
1-2 tbsp red thai curry paste (depending on how hot you like it)
2 cups vegetable stock
½ cup light coconut evaporated milk
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
2 single kaffir lime leaves (or one if they come in a set)
1 cup fresh coriander, chopped
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp brown sugar
4 cups cooked basmati rice
Heat oil in wok or large saucepan, add curry paste and garlic and cook for a minute stirring constantly. Add onions and stirfry for a minute or two. Add stock, coconut milk, lime leaves, tumeric, ginger, brown sugar and half the coriander. Bring to the boil, add pumpkin and simmer for 10 minutes. Add peas or beans and lemon juice. Cook a until peas/beans are just softened (a couple of minutes) and serve on hot rice.
1532kj (366cal); 3.66g total fat (1g saturated fat); 74.57g carbs; 393.67mg sodium
loading...
Everyone in the family loves this one.
Juicy Pork with Spicy Apples
Serves 4
What goes better than pork and apples? Serve this with a salad and you have something really yummy in under 15 minutes!
4 thick pork steaks (about 150-160gms), all visible fat removed
2 large granny smith apples, peeled/cored/quartered
3-4 whole cloves or ½ tsp ground cloves
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme or ¼ tsp dried
Olive Oil spray
Green beans or a green salad
Heat oven to 220°c. Place apples, cloves and thyme in a baking pan and spray with oil. Season with salt & pepper and set aside. Heat a pan on medium/high, spray with a little oil and pan fry the steaks for 2 minutes on each side. Place steaks on top of apples and bake for 10 minutes or so until everything is tender. While steaks are cooking, bring some water to the boil and add green beans. Cook for a couple of minutes. Or make a quick salad. Serve with pork and apples.
1122.73kj (268.16cal); 6.48g total fat (2.23g saturated fat); 18.17g carbs; 99mg sodium
loading...
Bless you Mia! Thank you so much for this post. I chuckled at your funny comments as I watched the video, and can relate so much to it all! Cooking is not my forte and I struggle with co-ordinating everything and I don’t even have to talk as I go! Great job. I’ll definitely try this receipe and hope to stun my husband and possibly kids with it!
loading...
This is the best – unfortunately not the healthiest pasta that my partner always asks for:
Sweet Chilli Pasta
Ingedients
pasta (I use penne)
prawns or chicken
spring onion
snow peas
cherry tomatoes
avocado
parmesan cheese
For sauce
light cream
sweet chilli sauce
put pasta on to cook
fry prawns or chicken in a non stick pan until almost cooked then cover with sweet chilli sauce and saute for 30 seconds.
Turn heat low low, add cream,mix well and let simmer for a few minutes stiring to prevent sticking.
Add spring onions, snow peas and cherry tomatoes (spinach is also nice) and let simmer for 1-2 minutes or until the cherry tomatoes are nice and soft but the snow peas are still crunchy.
Serve pasta & sauce in bowls topped with avocado and parmesan cheese…YUM!!!
loading...
So cute Mia!
loading...
Yum, inspired me to make this. My kind of lunch – thanks!
loading...
made it today – was great! I will make it a lunchtime staple. thank you again.
loading...
Fail safe “Tortellini Salad”…
Contents:
1 pkt Veal or Chicken Tortellini
500gms bacon (roughly chopped)
1 clove garlic (chopped)
1 pinch chicken salt
1 pinch cracked pepper
1 tub sour cream
2 tb spoon bernaise sauce (pre-made) “Maille” variety
1 pkt slivered almonds
1tsp lemon pepper
5 spring onions (heads cut off)
Olive Oil
Fry Pan
Boiling Pot
Collander
Serving dish
Boil pkt of pasta until aldente’…and set aside.
In fry pan. heat tsp oil and cook slivered almonds in lemmon pepper until golden. keep them in the oil…Set aside.
Pan fry bacon in chicken salt, garlic..until crackling. set aside.
In small mix bowl add sour cream and bernaise and whip vicioulsy with fork..set aside.
Chop spring onions into small pieces..set aside.
Now the fun begins….
Put cooked tortellini in serving dish, add bacon mix and gently stir through (hands are better).
Add sour cream mix and use hands to mix through.
Add garnish of spring onions and slivered almonds.
Toss with gentle big spoon mixers and let sit…
If eating later cover in glad wrap and re-toss prior to eating..
This is a fabulous side dish hot or cold and my kids and friends love it to bits!
loading...
I love the falling down bra strap..so authentic to us working mums who hit the fround running…Go Mia
loading...
Much quicker than 15 mins but you have to prepare the fruit too..
Baileys Dip
Tub of sour cream
4 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons of baileys
Mix everything together and then add more Baileys to taste.
Serve with heaps of strawberries or a fruit plate and it will disappear before your eyes.
x
loading...
This is really good with Tia Maria too!
loading...
Is there anything other than baily’s (alcoholic) I could use? My daughter has an aversion to fruit and i would love to try something that is not just pure chocolate to entice her/trick her by disguising the fruit
loading...
I sometimes make a topping or side for fruit based desserts by stirring some brown sugar and vanilla extract through thick yogurt, sour cream or creme fraiche- maybe that would be an alternative to the baileys?
loading...
Love the jump-cut editing; it’s like a French New Wave film from the 1960′s ! And I’m sure Nigella has the occasional ‘cheese down the cleavage’ incident as well.
loading...
I’d love to see Mia do the Nigella “walk to the fridge for a snack” kind of quirk at the end too.
loading...
The hardest thing for me is sourcing ingredients as I am very far from a Coles. So I try to keep it as easy as possible. And I second what someone downthread said about making it easier to clean up by keeping a container/plastic bag on hand to shovel all scraps into immediately.
My too-easy recipe is stuffed capsicums. Healthy, easy, tasty – even my breadatarian 11-yo cousin (he eats nothing but bread and Fanta) loved it.
Stuffed Capsicums
Couscous
lemons
spinach
red capsicums (about 1 per person, depending on appetite)
fetta/buffalo mozzarella/other cheese of choice (but fetta is best)
toasted pinenuts, roughly chopped (scant handful)
olive oil
Halve capsicums lengthwise.
Make couscous – use stock if you want. (Basically pour over hot water, add a bit of butter or oil, wait till it’s fluffy.) Fluff with a fork, squeeze over lemon juice, as much or as little as you want. Stir through chopped spinach – again as much or little as you want. Stir through chopped pinenuts. Salt and pepper if you want.
(Sometimes a dash of paprika or fresh herbs or other tertiary flavouring is also nice)
Lay capsicum halves on a baking tray. Stuff with the couscous mixture, liberally splash with olive oil (make sure there’s a good coating all over capsicum).
(Use healthier oil, such as rice bran, if you want. Or cut it with the olive oil like I do).
Bake for around 20 minutes in a 200deg oven. Keep checking. When capsicums look nicely shrivelled pull out of oven, add sliced fetta/cheese on top, stick back in oven. Pull out after five minutes or so when it’s all nicely browned.
(If you opt for the buffalo mozzarella, it’s better fresh not baked)
Eat.
loading...
Aaah, stuffed capsicums, one of the first things I learnt to cook successfully enough to serve to guests
It’s particularly good with those baby red capsicums you can sometimes find in Woolies, just lovely!
loading...
pine nuts! genius!
I am totally making this, thanks!
loading...
Ok this one is for the kids. especially those who dislike green things.
Step one: ask the kids to choose the pasta. You can get teddy bears, farm animals and everything these days. even in the gluten free varieties.
step 2, cook pasta.
while cooking chop some brocolli up into small pieces about 1.5cm.
step 3 add brocolli to the water when 2 mins to go.
Step 4 drain pasta and brocolli and add back into the pot.
Step 5 (this requires kids to like dairy)
add a nice big dollop of cream cheese and stir through
step 6 serve in bowls covered in enough grated fresh parmesan that they can’t see the small green bits.
Step 7 bribe with ice cream if they discover any green bits.
should not need step 7 as this is really yummy and taught my kids that not all vegies are yuck.
loading...
I have never thought of adding the brocolli with the pasta. Less dishes! Youre a genius
loading...
Thanks
loading...
I chuck in frozen mixed veges with the pasta too, then add the meat sauce. Works a treat!
loading...
Funny, I always loved brocolli as a child. I used to eat my brothers brocolli, as they would sneak it on my plate! I told them not to, as I would eat it anyway.
loading...
I Loved this! Well done Mia, you made it look fun as well as easy. I especially liked how you were so focussed on what you were doing you didn’t feel your bra strap slipping halfway down your arm
I’m going to add my easiest recipe for a substantial but super yummy meal. this is my husbands all time favourite meal and he travels the world for his job getting to eat in fancy pants restaurants everywhere and happily comes home to this, requesting it as his welcome home meal.
For 2 people ( if cooking for more just add extra, ie 1 punnet for each person, I always add one extra just for extra sauce thats why there are 3 for 2 people.)
pre heat oven to about 200″C fanforced
Boil water for spaghetti
rinse 3 punnets of cherry tomatoes (if possible buy different varieties, ie orange and yellow as well as red.)
put in roasting tray with about 4-5 pealed whole garlic cloves
drizzle generously with good olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper.
put in oven for the time it takes your spaghetti to cook (usually 12 mins)
While everything is cooking roughly chop a big handful of basil and shave some big chunks of parmesan cheese (about 3/4 cup)
rinse spaghetti and put back in saucepan. remove garlic and set aside.
pour everything left over into the pot over the spaghetti, including all super yummy juices. Crush all the roasted garlic cloves into the pot (yum!!!) add basil and use a spaghetti stirrer to mush all together, breaking up roasted tomatoes as you stir.
serve in bowls and add parmesan to taste. YUMMO!!!!
being simple it tastes amazing with the freshest ingredients you can buy, including the yummiest cheese you can get your hands on like parmigano reggiano (sp?)
*If wanting to impress people over for dinner add prawns.
While tomatoes are roasting pan fry some tiger prawns (5 per person) in garlic, (fresh chilli if desired), salt ,pepper, olive oil and a nob of butter until just cooked then add half a cup of dry white wine and let absorb.
add with the other ingredients substituting half of the basil for flat leaf parsly.
Enjoy!!!
loading...
The added prawns were more for any one reading this to try at home than for Mia to do. not saying Mia can’t do it, just that it makes it longer to cook and does not comply with the 15 minute rule
loading...
Forgot to mention you can also add fresh rocket to the tomato and prawn mixture,if desired as well.
loading...
Whoopie, I loved it. Thanks Mia.
loading...
Such fun to watch!!! And much more real live than anything on TV. Which, I think, puts a lot of people off cooking all together.
You mentioned in the intro, that your kitchen is to messy to be filmed in (and maybe to cook in). I am a Professional Organiser who comes across this problem all the time. Good intentions to feed the family homemade meals – but not enough space on the bench top to prepare anything , too much stuff in the sink to wash the greens.
So Mia, if you want to, we could make a de-clutter your kitchen video so people can actually start cooking!
loading...
OOOOH I would so be in that! can my kitchen be a test kitchen too???
loading...
And from there: is there enough room on the dinner table to actually eat?
loading...
Yeah yeah, Mia, you’re good and all, but Lana! You’re a star! Those hands! That camera work! *applauds*
loading...
Kerri, speaking of tasty dishes (segue!) did you catch the interview with Simon Baker on David Letterman last night? They pulled out an early 90′s music video with him as a *shirt-free dancer* in it- unbelievable- YOU would need smelling salts.
loading...
That wouldn’t happen to have been Melissa Tkautz (spelling??) from E-Street’s song Read My Lips, would it? To my eternal shame I actually remember that clip!
loading...
Ha, just checked – you are also correct! You have to be real quick though- blond dude with punching bag. This one I mention was for Euphoria’s ‘Love You Right’. He referred to himself as ‘one of the dancing animals’. Hello! @ 2.25 onward- enjoy!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-HnBrUG0UU&feature=related
loading...
Mia that was fantastic. I like cooking but hate cooking shows. I would however watch you cook any day. My fave part was “I will snip them”.
loading...
You crack me up Mia. So refreshing watching you. This is exactly how I look in the kitchen (bra strap included). Do your kids eat vegetables? My three year old won’t touch them at the mo. Hope someone can suggest a recipe that hides them in fish’n'chips or something.
loading...
Try this: http://therecipebinder.blogspot.com/2010/10/kitchen-basics-vegetable-stock.html
It’s a recipe for homemade vegetable stock concentrate – the idea is that when you want stock, you pop the concentrate in with the necessary amount of liquid. But it’s also a really good way of hiding veggies in just about anything! (And there’s no salt in the recipe.)
Add a stock cube (without thinning it down with water to make proper stock) to mashed potato, spag bol, soup, sauces, etc. (Just a thought – maybe mix it in with tomato sauce if the kids are addicts?) At least they’ll be getting some veggies, even if it is just a small amount!
loading...
How about using sweet potatos for the chips? Or make “fresh chips” out of carrot/cheese/celery/cucumber sticks. Who care if they still drown them in tomato sauce. When i make spag bog I quickly sautee up some grated carrot, celery,zuchini and mushrooms then blend (hand blender to be easy) and add to the sauce later on when no ones looking. have never had any one notice.
loading...
i would so love to watch this, but can’t until i get over my kitchen envy. so white, so stainless steel… sigh (must try to be less shallow).
loading...
LOVE this post!!! Great stuff
x
loading...
Well done Mia. That recipe looks absolutely delicious but I think I would make it using Buffalo Mozzarella, or maybe Goats cheese and Caneli beans.
I think the most basic dish everyone should know how to cook is Spaghetti Bolognaise and I’m sure you know how to make this already so I would like to see you make that. Maybe you could use different pasta like little shells or bow ties instead of spaghetti. Good Luck!
loading...
Mia, love it! And I do cook, almost every day (not all that well but have so far avoided both scurvy and food poisoning), but I am ALWAYS up for a new recipe that
1. doesn’t take too much fiddling to prepare
2. looks like me, Mr C and his nutritionist (I now have rules to follow in the kitchen … heavy sigh) will all think is OK, and
3. doesn’t involve any ingredients that you need to travel to Narvik for.
And a tip for all the other working women out there to make sure things come out of the oven before they burn … have dinner really, really late, then even if you can’t be bothered getting up to hoik something out of the oven, the most hungry family member will be lurking in the kitchen, hear the timer alarm go off and leap up to help.
By the way, did you grow the chives? that bunch looks like it was on steriods compared to the measly ones in the shops here!
loading...
Narvik and any place in Norway for ingredients is amazing!
loading...
LAZY DINNER FOR TWO:
Chili Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry (serves 2)
I can do this recipe in 10 mins if I’m on a good day or starving. Best bit about it is very little washing up. 1 knife, 1 chopping board, 1 fry-pan, 2 bowls, cutlery.
Ingredients:
- 3cm ginger
- 1 medium chili (leave seeds in if you like the burn)
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2T sesame oil (good flavor but not v. healthy) OR 2T olive oil (less good flavor but very healthy, i usually use a combo)
- 1T soy sauce (a big splash)
- 1T oyster sauce (if you like it, just a big dollop)
- 200g Chicken Thighs
- Handful beans (green beans and/or snow peas)
- Half red capsicum
- 2 serves dry egg noodles
Method:
1. Chop up veges and finely slice chili. Put veges aside in 1 bowl. Fill and turn on kettle.
2. Chop up chicken into 2 cm (-ish) chunks.
3. When kettle is boiled, put noodles in a second bowl and cover with boiling water.
4. Grate ginger and chili onto a frypan, add finely sliced chilli. Add Oils. Heat on medium until they start to sizzle, stir gently.
5. Add chicken to fry pan, cook until lightly browning
6. Add veges to pan (I usually add a splash of water here)
7. Taste veges, when the beans look bright green and the capsicum is softening, add noodles, soy sauce and/or oyster sauce. Toss it together to flavor and heat noodles.
8. Serve in the vege and noodle bowls used earlier.
Yum
Then turn on oven to 180oC
For Dessert…
15 min Never Fail Scones (makes 6)
1 cup SR flour
1/3 cup lemonade
1/3 cup cream
pinch of salt
1. Mix it all together with a knife (so it doesn’t loose it’s bounce)
2. Pat out onto floured bench to about 3cm thick. (work quickly here) Cut circles.
3. Bake at 180oC until golden (8-12 mins)
Yum again!
loading...
I would love to try the scones as that is something i have never managed to accomplish. Whether they work out or not I still find me self eating the jam and cream anyway!
Anyone ever had trucky scones? its just jam on cream on wheatbix! actually quite yummy.
loading...
Cooking is not my forte (eating is though….). My signature dish is Maggi Noodles and even then I sometimes forget to check the kettle has water in it before turning it on.
This has come at a perfect time because I had just decided to make an effort (prompted mostly by blowing the budget on take away, I actually know the local Chinese number off by heart but I don’t know my own parent’s mobile numbers. Worrying sign #34 it’s time to learn to cook). Although the bruschetta still looks out of my league. When I heard bruschetta I thought it would just be toast and tomato. That I could maybe do (especially considering toast is a staple of my cooking, I call it BFD – Breakfast For Dinner. This is a whole cooking category of it’s own an includes toast, cereal, bacon and eggs etc)
Keep the vids coming!
loading...
I love brinner!!
loading...
I have a great recipe for peanut butter chocolates.
One bag of Nestle white choc melts
1 cup smooth peanut butter
Melt chocolate in the microwave, stir in peanut butter until smooth. Line slice tin with glad bake. pour in and wait until set. Cut into small squares.
So Yum!
If you want to get fancy, melt some dark or milk chocolate separately and when you put globs of each mix in the pan swirl with a skewer to get marble effect. Pretty good too!
loading...
omg, again, my type of recipe. I’m making it.
loading...
I think even Mia could make this!
loading...
Ah Mia the Masterchef – well done, did this satisfy the secret Masterchef in you, I am the first to admit that sometimes when I am cooking in my kitchen, I pretend I am on my own tv cooking show, which is quite tragic I guess.
My only criticism is that I wanted to crawl into the screen and pull up your bra strap, wasn’t it annoying you?
I am also annoyed at you for making such interesting clips – that was nearly 12 minutes of my night that I was meant to be spending cleaning up my bedroom… ho hum…
Loved it, and love you – think you are great!
loading...
HAHAHAH…
I pretend I’m on ready steady cook when I prepare my meals….
loading...
I love cooking and I love feeding people – it’s one of the things in this world that makes me the happiest. I have my own food blog (I hope it’s ok to post the link here): http://earl-grey-dreaming.blogspot.com – most of the time I cook for myself and a lot of my recipes are quick and easy (because that’s all I want when I get home from work). So here is one of my quickest, easiest, cheapest and tastiest recipes (which is very easily doubled or even tripled):
Easy Vegetable Fritters:
serves 1-2
Ingredients:
1 potato, peeled, grated
1 zucchini, grated
125g tin of corn kernels, drained, rinsed
1 egg
1/2 cup plain flour
1tsp ground coriander seeds
approximately 1/4 cup milk
salt
pepper
Method:
Lightly whisk the egg in a bowl. Add all other ingredients and stir well. Heat a little olive oil in a non-stick frypan and place heaped spoonfuls of batter in, flattening them slightly. Cook until golden on each side.
This should make eight medium sized fritters (cooked in two batches of four). Feel free to add more vegetables: some frozen peas, grated carrot, diced onion or leek, maybe some sweet potato. Just watch that there’s enough batter to hold everything together!
loading...
When my mum gets complimented on her food and asked if it is home made, she always replies “No, but it IS home assembled!” It’s the Ikea of cooking. Meanwhile, my favourite dessert puts all those ’4 Ingredient’ recipes to shame.
Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse.
Take one jar of Nutella and combine with one tub of cream. Beat together until ‘mousse-y’. Serve to guests with a spoon and a smug expression.
loading...
do you serve it with something (aside form smug expression of course). Biscotti or something? Or just as it is? That is so my type of recipe.
loading...
Assuming guests are not already full up on the re-heated Thai takeaway main meal, then yes, you can serve the mousse with biscotti, amarettis, macaroons, Tim Tams, Saladas…really whatever you have lying in your biccie tin
I forgot to mention that the finishing touch is achieved by sprinkling over a crushed up, fun-size (hardly fun-sized if its only 2 bites, but thats another issue…) Cadbury Flake over the top.
Happy assembling!
loading...
perfect. Although I have an issue with your salada option (I’m just trying to be subversive and argumentative).
loading...
Here’s another similar one I love:
Heat some Mini voulevant (ready made pastry rounds). One dollop of Nutella and one dollop of thick cream in each and quarter of strawberry on top! Delish!
loading...
I think I would need the extra large voulevants, so there was more nutella!
That sounds so yum.
loading...
yay! more cheating, I love it x
loading...
I think I died and went to food heaven!
loading...
Can you make a vegetarian lasagne, very fast?
Or what about pesto? Kind of assembling, but you can call it cooking as you have to boil the pasta.
loading...
Hilarious! Hubby was wondering why I was laughing out loud at the laptop! Loved the mozzarella vs bocconcini comment. You are so cute Mia. Anyway, for some reason, I think it would be quite entertaining for you to attempt a pavlova next. Pretty please?
loading...
Here’s a favourite of mine from when I was just learning to cook:
Thai Chicken Lasagne
1.Preheat oven to 180°C and grease a shallow oblong (ovenproof) dish.
2.Combine 400ml tub light sour cream with a 60g packet of red curry paste. Add bunch chopped coriander (ca 1 cup).
3.Remove meat from a BBQ chicken and shred. Add to cream/curry mixture.
4.Pour ½ cup tomato puree into prepared dish and layer base with lasagne sheets .
5.Top with half the chicken mixture and ¾ cup cheese.
6.Repeat process of puree, lasagne sheets and chicken mixture, finishing with a layer of lasagne sheets, topped with 1 cup each tomato puree and cheese.
7.Bake for 25 mins or until pasta is tender. Serve with salad or mixed greens.
Enjoy!
loading...
Yum – I wanna try this one!
loading...
Tuna pasta: pasta sauce, can tuna, whatever vegies you have to hand, serve with shells…. kids love it.
Another cheat meal:
Tin of your favourite flavoured soup added to cooked vegies, tin of lentils, tin of sliced button mushrooms. Serve over rice. Lots of cheese for the kids. My family love this and they don’t even like mushrooms….
Enjoy
I also use (sorry about the tupperware plug) the “happy chopper” to make vegetables disappear into undetectable by children sized pieces.
loading...
I had a tough day at work, this post cheered me up. Thanks Mia
loading...
Hi Mia,
enjoyed your demo!
You asked about what you can do with all of those cans of beans in your pantry… well here is a ridiculously easy, yummy and healthy recipe which I have been making a lot recently – TUSCAN MINESTRONE. Everyone loves it at home! (It is also cheap as chips to make and low fat, low KJ, and veggo) I also put leeks into it sometimes, apparently you only put the white of the leeks in traditionally.
It’s from here:
http://www.healthyfood.co.nz/recipes/2008/may/tuscan-minestrone
Ingredients
* 3 slices soy and linseed bread
* cooking oil spray
* 1 onion, finely chopped
* 2 carrots, finely chopped
* 2 sticks celery, finely chopped
* 2 cloves garlic, crushed
* 1/2 cup macaroni pasta
* 2 1/2 cups reduced-salt vegetable stock
* 2 1/2 cups water
* 2 dried bay leaves
* 2 x 400g cans reduced-salt tomatoes
* 400g can cannellini or kidney beans, rinsed and drained
* 1/2 cup green beans, topped and cut into 3cm lengths
* 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
* 1/4 cup fresh basil, torn
* freshly ground black pepper
* parmesan (optional)
Tuscan minestrone
Classic minestrone is a basic vegetable and tomato soup. This one has beans added for extra heartiness.
Instructions
Step 1 Toast or dry-fry the bread, then cut into 2cm pieces.
Step 2 Meanwhile, heat a spray of oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, carrot and celery. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Stir in garlic.
Step 3 Add pasta, stock and bay leaves and bring to the boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
Step 4 Stir in tomato, cannellini or kidney beans and green beans. Cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes, or until pasta is tender and soup is hot. Remove from heat. Taste and season with pepper. Ladle into serving bowls. Top with croutons, parsley and parmesan (if using) and serve.
loading...
This has become one of my go-to recipes. My husband loves it. It is from the Delicious. magazine website in the UK (they publish so many good recipes) – this makes four servings.
Quick prawn and salmon pie recipe
What you need:
4 large filo pastry sheets
Melted butter
200ml crème fraîche
The zest and juice of 1 lemon (I love my microplane for zesting – so quick!)
1 deseeded finely chopped red chilli
1 tsp Dijon mustard
400g cooked peeled prawns
120g smoked salmon trimmings
A handful of chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs
What you do:
Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan180°C/gas 6. One by one, scrunch up 4 large filo pastry sheets, brush with melted butter and bake for 5 minutes until golden.
While the filo is in the oven, in a pan over a gentle heat, add 200ml crème fraîche, the zest and juice of 1 lemon, 1 deseeded finely chopped red chilli and 1 tsp Dijon mustard. Bring to a simmer, add 400g cooked peeled prawns and 120g smoked salmon trimmings, then heat for 2 minutes.
Stir through a handful of chopped fresh parsley and 1 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs, then serve topped with a piece of crisp filo pastry.
So good! I live in London and this makes me feel like I am eating fresh, Sydney food!
loading...
Mia, I must admit I was a little concerned for you at first, especially when you almost put the baking tray in the oven with nothing on it
But you pulled it off… I loved it… your a natural! Masterchef eat your heart out!
loading...
the bra strap only makes it more real!
LOVE it!
loading...
Love it! I hope you don’t mind Mia, I’m going to make this tomorrow night and claim it as my own
loading...
Honoured.
loading...
Thanks xx
loading...
Good on you Mia! Cooking is hard and it takes time to really learn what the hell you are doing! I was the worst cook in the world but through practice and a few, well alot, of dodgey meals, now I am not so bad!
Can you please please please be more careful with those knives though, after you cut the rocket you ran your finger along the edge and I thought I was going to see blood spurt everywhere!!
That was a good video, a bit ‘copy Gwyneth Paltrow’ but good all the same!
loading...
You know what I hate most about cooking? The cleanup. Seriously, I hate it.
I hate that it sometimes takes me almost as long to clean up as it does to cook – I would love to know cooking shortcuts that halve the clean-up time. I would love to see cookbooks factor in the time it takes to prep (assuming you’re the type who likes WASHED vegies) cook and then clean up.
I love how you’re keeping it real Mia.
loading...
Lana cleaned up afterwards. I rested. It was tiring.
loading...
and you say you aren’t a princess… hmmmm
loading...
Mia I imagined it was Lana’s kitchen. As I read her blog (Love your blog Lana) and know she just renovated her house and is a clean freak. If it is your kitchen it is beautiful Lana. Anyhoo when you dropped that can on the floor and through cans into the sink I laughed, imagining Lana having apoplexy at the mess. I would if someone was cooking in my kitchen.
loading...
I meant threw not through
loading...
Thank you for all your kind words – Mia was surprisingly tidy (although I was there with Chux in hand at all times)
loading...
Love your new kitchen Lana. Jealous
loading...
I wondered if that was your new kitchen Lana! Beautiful!
K
loading...
If that is your new kitchen Lana, it is so beautiful and well planned.
loading...
That is a seriously stunning kitchen. I half think recipes should include cleaning or other vital steps along the way- like, ‘put chicken in the wok to stir fry. Now wash cutting board and put scraps in the bin’, then ‘pour yourself a glass of wine… So at least you know what you’re getting yourself into before you start. As for keeping clean- My sister has this song ‘clean up as we go’ that she sings as she cooks to remind her… it does help cut down on the chaos at the end
loading...
I’m a chef, and I LOATHE cleaning. I also did my training in the navy, so often had pretty restricted space in which to work.
So, I just try to make as little mess as possible. When you’re prepping stuff, keep one of the bags or containers in came in, and peelings, skins, offcuts and stuff go straight into that. Then, the whole bag/container goes straight into the bin.
You don’t always need to use as many pots and pans as recipes suggest. If its something like beef stroganoff, where you are told to brown meat and then put it in another pot, don’t bother. Use the one pot, move the meat into a bowl that is quick and easy to wash up and use it again.
Chefs are notorious for using way more equipment than they need to – they have the luxury of having a dishpig usually to do their washing up. Normal people don’t. And I don’t see any point in using everything you have in your kitchen when a few things will suffice.
For clean up, wipe up any spills straight away – much easier to do than if you let them dry. Same goes for the pots you have cooked in. If you empty the pots for dinner, get water into them and put them back on the stove. Stops whatever is in them drying out or cooking on to the surfaces and you’ll be able to get them cleaner a lot easier.
loading...
brilliant tips – because it’s not just about the cooking. Clean up and execution is important too.
loading...
Thanks, Susanne!
I highly recommend the Womens Weekly cookbooks if you’re not that confident. They tell you how everything needs to be prepared, and they are realistic with their prep and cooking times too. The only bugbear I have is that they don’t tell you what to set your oven at – ovens need to be preheated for stuff to cook properly. So what you need to do is read through the recipe (you should do that anyway) and find where it says to put the stuff in the oven. For some annoying reason, they also say stuff like “Slow, moderate” for their oven temps. But fear not, in the back of EVERY womens weekly cookbook, there is a chart telling you what the temps are. They also have conversions for metric – imperial and cup and spoon standard measurements. They are incredibly hard recipes to screw up if you follow them properly.
loading...
Ur so cute. Looking fwd to more recipes
loading...
My fave fast recipe is char sui chicken wraps. Even my 3 year old loves them!
- put chicken tenderloins in a bowl and stir through 3 tablespoons of char sui chicken sauce straight out of the jar
- chop 1/2 a chinese cabbage and 3 spring onions into a salad bowl
- mix 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar (or white vinegar), 2 teaspoons soy sauce and 1/2 teaspoon of brown sugar in a jar or cup, then pour over the cabbage salad and toss through
- cook chicken quickly in batches in a hot wok or frying pan in sesame or veggie oil
- to eat, lay some chicken and some cabbage salad in a tortilla and roll up
Healthy, quick, and delicious!
loading...
“I just dropped some down my cleavage- (rescues it and tastes it) save some for later!” You are hilarious. Now you can enjoy some bean mix for a midnight snack too. And I do wonder with all the edits, how long your ’15 minutes’ really turned out to be? (Mine would be half an hour).
I will confess right here that I also have no patience and I am so bad in the kitchen, I won’t do anything that takes more than 15 mins either. I can’t stand cooking shows (may as well be trapeze artists) because attempting to follow them simply heightens my failure anxiety and THEN there’s still all those pots to wash. Further to this I have added failure anxiety for somehow being the first female in all my family not to be an amazing multi-tasking hostess.
But I loved watching that. Good on you for having a go, I’ll consider it a great how-to for cook-a-phobes like us. Great idea. Thank you 
loading...
Hehe – I’m guilty for dropping things down my cleavage too. Only I usually have a husband right next to me shouting out, “I’ll get it!”
loading...
I went to the movies last night and could NOT stop dropping popcorn down my top. So annoying! I took off my top to have a shower later that night and the man was all like, “Uh babe what’s all that?” as about 20 pieces fell all over the floor. Haha.
loading...
Great idea!
I tried to make bruschetta with fetta + avo + cherry tomatoes, on a bed of rocket, but it just doesn’t taste anywhere near as good as it does at a local cafe. They are masters, and I am crap at cooking, or even assembling. I might try and make the next instalment, though. As long as it’s something that I don’t regularly eat somewhere else that does it well. Which leaves you many options, Mia.
loading...
Now I know why that kitchen is so spotless and gleamingly bright !
It never gets used !
loading...
Oh Mia. That was hilarious and I mean that with nothing but love. You made giggle from the very beginning. Reminded me of myself with cooking. And I couldn’t agree more about your point about people getting scared of cooking like some are with technology. Cooking is something I haven’t had much experience with and I think thats why I find it slightly terrifying.
I kinda want to go back and count how many time you say “I reckon”. LOL
loading...
If you think I said “I reckon” a lot, you should have heard how many times I said: “O-Kay!” very definitively as if I knew what I was doing next.
Many.
loading...
Another great new segment!
You might look at getting a recipe holder. They’re cheap and made of clear plastic. Holds the recipe up for easy viewing and out of the way and protects it from ‘getting all wet’!
loading...