Blondie's Recipes | Finding Feasts

Roasted Curry Cauliflower Fritters w/ Sriracha Mayo & Pomegranate

Roasted Curry Cauliflower Fritters w/ Sriracha Mayo & Pomegranate – Happy solstice! Summer for the northern hemisphere, winter for us in the southern hemisphere. It’s the start of longer, warmer days. A celebration of making it to mid winter (although we are still waiting for winter here in Sydney).

So to celebrate the shortest day of the year, here is a fritter … sun like with it’s vibrant yellow, seeds to represent rebirth, served with baby beetroot and spinach leaves.

A few points of note, I used vadouvan curry mix, which is a french inspired curry blend but you could use any other blend that you like. I also added nutritional yeast (just slightly addicted to this at the moment) but you could just omit this or use parmesan cheese as a substitute.

Lots of spices that complement the sweetness of the roasted cauliflower, matched with the hot, creamy mayo and sweet and sour bursts of the pomegranate seeds, these fritters make a wonderful addition to a mid winter celebration.

Happy new beginnings! Blondie

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Paprika Chicken w/ Silverbeet & Wine

Paprika Chicken w/ Silverbeet & Wine – A dish like this is my ultimate happy place comfort food meal. Beautifully caramelised chicken with loads of rich gravy just ready to be mopped up with some potatoes or flat bread.

The three types of paprika that are widely available – hot, sweet and smoked, are all used in this recipe, each giving it’s own uniqueness to the dish. If you like things hot then add some more hot paprika. If you don’t want any heat then remove all the hot paprika and make up the amount with the sweet paprika.

The perfect weekday meal… Blondie

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Potato & Caramelised Fennel Gratin

Finding Feasts - Potato Fennel Gratin — Click image fro recipe

Potato & Caramelised Fennel Gratin – This is a really simple dish that has so much flavour from just a few ingredients. It’s a side dish that can effortlessly outshine your hero ingredient. Comfort food made with love.

As my favourite part of the gratin is the golden, crunchy edges and top, so for this, I like to use a large dish, which means there is more surface area. This way everyone gets a perfect piece.

If you are rushed for time then a fantastic tip is to place the sliced potatoes into a saucepan and cover with seasoned milk. Bring up to a gentle simmer and cook till tender, about 15 minutes. While they are cooking, caramalise the fennel. Alternate pouring some potatoes and scattering on some fennel and grated cheese into a prepared baking dish till all the components are in the baking dish. Season well, top with the remainder of the cheese and place under a grill till the top is golden and bubbly. What normally takes about an hour to cook will take a quarter of the time. This method is also great if you don’t want to use too much cheese. Just top the gratin with a light covering. The end result is still amazing.

Happy eating! – Blondie

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Poached Eggs & Mushrooms w/ Chorizo & Feta

Poached Eggs & Mushrooms w/ Chorizo & Feta – This is such a lovely meal, and you could easily have it as a main for dinner but it works really well as a weekend brunch.

This recipe shows you the fool proof way of poaching eggs using the cling film technique. Everyone knows you need fresh eggs to do the ‘free fall’ poach, so having this method under your belt means a poached egg is only ever 3 minutes away, no matter your egg. It’s also great for beginner poachers.

Grab some friends and enjoy!… Blondie

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Best Ever Slow Cooker Cinnamon Scrolls

Best Ever Slow Cooker Cinnamon Scrolls – Is there really anything better than warm, soft cinnamon rolls?

How do you eat them? Do you pull them apart revealing the lightly textured sweet bread, gently scented with cardamom. Then slowly unravel the curl to unveil the sweet, cinnamon sugar centre. Or do you bite straight into it getting a perfect mouthful of both soft bread with crusty sugar and a firm crust?

The benefit of making cinnamon buns in a slow cooker is that they stay so soft and although you don’t get a brown top you do get a beautifully browned base and sides.

Make these over the weekend so everyone can enjoy the warming spice and bread aromas that will waft through the house as they cook.

Try not to eat them in one sitting … Blondie 🙂

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Spicy Cumin Lamb & Noodle Soup

Spicy Cumin Lamb & Noodle Soup – Ever since Master S and myself came across Spicy Cumin Noodle Soup from Noodle Warriors in the new Hawkers Lane Chatswood, Sydney, I have been frantically trying to mimic the flavours. We fell head over heels in love with this soup; the best way to describe the flavour is as a taco flavoured soup. Amazing.

I’ve made so many versions of it to date and I think this one is the closest. It’s super spicy with a magnificent cumin and sichuan pepper hit (don’t you just love that tingly, mouth numbing effect you get from sichuan pepper!) The lamb is fall apart tender with the vegetables adding the sweetness that compliments the flavours of the cooking broth.

This soup is traditionally served with smashed noodles, which are handmade noodles torn into rough strips. They are quite thick and play an important part in this soup, so this will be next on the agenda.

I used a slow cooker but you can certainly make this in the oven, just keep it to about 100°c/210°f. The original soup is time absorbing but make sure you freeze the leftover cooking broth from the lamb and you will have an amazing soup flavour base to use in other soup dishes.

Happy slurping! Blondie 🙂

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Chicken Eggplant & Mushroom Pie

Chicken Eggplant & Mushroom Pie – I am a huge fan of having multiple, ready made meals in the freezer for when it really is just too much of an effort to think about the family dinner. So this recipe is made using leftover chicken; you could buy a bbq chook or some breasts or thighs to poach yourself.

After picking up a couple of chickens to make a yummy chicken stock, and being a lover of all things pastry, a pie was the natural metamorphosis for the poached chicken meat. I made 8 mini pies and a large family one, and still had some white sauce leftover to make some Tuna Mornay. It’s amazing how many meals you can cheaply produce with just a few basic ingredients.

When I make White Sauce I always make a big batch of it as it really is so useful to have on hand. PLUS, it freezes exceptionally well! Just portion it into batches of convenient sizes and you will always have that special extra element on hand.Just some of the ways you can use White Sauce is … Tuna Mornay, Macaroni Cheese, Soufflé, as a pie binder – like for this recipe and Bechamel Sauce.

My latest addiction is doing a double layer of puff pastry to really get some lovely, flaky height to my pies. If this is something you would like to do too then make sure you have enough pastry… I promise you it is so worth it!

The mini pies are the perfect size for lunch. Just make up a nice salad and a zingy Balsamic Dressing to have on the side.

Lunch and dinner sorted… Blondie

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