bits and pieces

The blog has been little quiet...here are a few things we have been eating lately. It has been 'eat from the freezer and pantry stockpile' recently, it is quite fun having to be inventive. Tonight, a warm salad with ebly wheat, pumpkin and cauliflower roasted in moroccan spices, with toasted walnuts and lots of chopped herbs and baby salad greens...tossed in a dressing made of sliced red onion and garlic sauteed with more spices, mixed with dates and lots of natural yoghurt. We ate this with panfried groper and lemony hummus.

I have been making a bit of bread too...vegetable calzone last week for Sunday lunch. I use my favourite foccacia recipe for this, and filled it with a mixture of roasted pumpkin mixed with lots of silverbeet sauteed in garlicky oil, tomatoes that had been cooked down until thick and pulpy, and some crumbled feta.

Foccacia

2 tsp dried yeast
50ml warm water
3 tbsp flour

Mix the above 3 ingredients together and leave in a warm place to 'sponge', about ten minutes.

300g flour
200ml warm water
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp rosemary, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil

Place flour in a large bowl, add oil, salt, rosemary and the sponge mix from above. Knead until smooth, then leave in a warm place until doubled in size. Press dough onto a baking tray, dimpling the surface with fingers. Brush generously with olive oil so it pools in the dimples, and bake at 200c for about 15 minutes.

This is a versatile dough that also make a good pizza or calzone base. When I made it yesterday I added linseed, kibbled wheat and poppy seeds to it for a grainy change.