Soups - broccoli and lentil (but not together!)

Even in sub-tropical eastern Australia, August is a cold time of year so Country Frog has gone into hibernation for a few weeks and is doing some writing, last I heard.  Luckily she left some winter warmer recipes which are easy peasy but still feed my whole family. 

CREAMY POTATO AND BROCCOLI SOUP
A very, very easy winter warmer that can be made in a few minutes and served as a complete meal. Low fat, nutritious and delicious!

Time: 5 minutes preparation; 10 minutes to cook.
Serves 4 as a meal; 6+ as a starter
You will need: Chopping board and knife; medium saucepan; food processor or stick-mixer.

Ingredients:
1 large head of broccoli, chopped (including stems and stalk)
1 tsp mild wholegrain (seeded) mustard
1 medium washed potato per person, skin on and roughly chopped
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 cup milk (full cream, low fat or rice bran – but not soy as the taste is too strong)
1 cup water or chicken stock
Salt to taste (start with ¼ teaspoon as mustard is salty)

1. Put all ingredients into saucepan (pan should be large enough so that milk will not boil over); simmer gently for 10 minutes or until the onion is cooked.
2. Take a spoonful of vegetable from the pot and set aside to use as garnish; puree the remaining. If the mix is too thick, add more milk, stock or water and bring soup back to the boil again before serving. Taste for salt and add sparingly.
3. For a complete meal, serve with crusty bread and a slab of crumbly mature cheese. For a starter or light meal, serve with pappadams or toasted flatbread.





LENTIL AND VEGETABLE SOUP
Wholesome and hearty, quick and easy – this is a meal in one pot to feed the whole family on a blustery wintry day.

Serves 6 – 8
Time: 10 minutes chopping; 30 minutes cooking.
You will need: Chopping board and sharp knife; large saucepan with lid.

Ingredients:
1 large onion, peeled and diced
1 large washed potato, diced
≈ 4 cups other mixed fresh vegetables, diced (or frozen mixed veg)
2/3 cup brown or green lentils
water ( ≈1.5 litres)
½ - 1 tsp salt
1 heaped tsp mild brown curry paste or dry garam masala spice
1 tbs olive or other cooking oil

Great veggies: pumpkin, green capsicum, eggplant.....

1. Heat saucepan over medium heat; add oil and diced onion; cook until becoming translucent.
2. Add curry/spice and cook 30 seconds.
3. Add all vegetables and lentils, plus salt, and enough water to just cover.
4. Bring to boil; put the lid on; turn to low heat and simmer 30 minutes until lentils are soft.
5. Serve with crusty bread.

Veggies with orange and rosemary

Country Frog soup tips:

• Adding a good amount of diced potato improves the texture of the soup. The potato starch breaks down with boiling and acts as a thickening/binding agent. ½ cup of short grain or Arborio rice works well, also.

• Soup is the ideal way to use up end-of-week vegetables that have become a little tired-looking. Unless a vegetable is terribly wilted and rundown, it is still a storehouse of vitamins and minerals. Don’t waste food when you can make soup!

• Add any bits and piece of two or three-day old leftovers to the soup pot. Just be sure the pot comes to a good boil again, and for a few minutes, after adding. (Adding left-overs to a warm pot without re-boiling is not good kitchen practice. Bad bugs breed in warm damp places.)

Pasties, sausage rolls and sheep dogs

Country Frog: Hearty fare, and simple to make, our farm-style Aussie Pasties, like pies and pizzas, can be made with ingredients to hand, including left-overs, and with plenty of improvising from fridge or pantry. They are fun for children to make and, being Australian, of course they can be cooked on the barbeque.

Town Frog: Our version of pasties evolved over time. It all began once upon a few years ago when I dropped the children, who were quite small tadpoles back then, to the farm to spend the day with Country Frog while I drove to Brisbane to pick up a new dog. He was a two-year old male Australian Shepherd, and very gorgeous.

I had only ever seen one Australian Shepherd in the past, a liver/brindle naturally tail-less female. She was having a farm-stay break with CF while we were also staying there, and we immediately fell in love with her. She had looks and personality - everything a girl could want in a family pet.

The legend of the Aussie Shepherd runs like this… In the early 1800s when sheep were new to pioneering Australians, a few squatters shipped over flocks of Spanish sheep, and these merinos came with experienced sheep herders and their dogs. Then gold was discovered across the ocean in California and every man and his dog, literally in the case of the Spanish shepherds, set sail from Sydney Cove to join the 49er gold rush (that’s 1849). When they had recovered from gold fever, the sheep men and their dogs took up what they did best, sheep herding, and there, in America, the dogs came to be known as Australian Shepherds. The breed did not come back to Australia again for another 130 or so years.

On the day that I collected our first Aussie Shepherd, I returned to the farm to find the tadpoles and Country Frog at the barbecue making sausage rolls - basically cooked sausages and fried onion wrapped in damper dough, and re-cooked on the hotplate until the dough was crisp all over. We called them Australian Shepherd Rolls in honour of our lovely new dog, and have been refining the recipes and techniques at every farm-stay break ever since. Now we have the Aussie Shepherd Pasty, and we think this is the best version with a combination of vegetables and minced meat, or vegetables and lentils. Curried Veg and Lamb is perhaps the favourite. So far.

AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD PASTIES

Makes 4 generous pasties, enough for six serves

The filling for these pasties is a simple combination of pan-cooked diced vegetables and mince, or lentils for a vegetarian option, with flavours of your choice. We swing towards curry spices, but fresh herbs and tomato for an Italian accent are delicious as well.

For the filling you will need: Chopping board and sharp knife; frying pan or wide saucepan.

Ingredients: 

200gm mince – lamb, beef, pork or chicken

&/or ½ cup brown lentils soaked in 1 cup boiling water for 30 minutes

1 large onion, peeled and diced

1 large carrot, diced

1 cup green seasonal vegetables (try diced fresh beans, peas, shredded cabbage, broccoli etc)

2 – 3 medium potatoes, washed or peeled and diced

2 tsp mild curry paste or good curry powder

½ tsp salt and ½ tsp freshly ground pepper

Splash of cooking oil

1. If using lentils, soak in hot water (to reduce cooking time).

2. Heat small amount oil in pan; add diced onion and cook until just coloured.

3. Add curry spices and pepper; mix up well.

4. Add minced meat/chicken and cook, stirring, until browned.

5. Add all other ingredients (add lentil and soaking water at this point). Stir up well; turn pan to medium-low heat; put the lid on and simmer ten minutes or until vegetables are soft.

6. Remove lid and continue to cook until the mix is fairly dry. Or if you prefer a gravy, sprinkle on 2 teaspoons plain flour or 1 teaspoon corn flour (use a fine sieve or tea strainer to sprinkle), and mix in well to thicken any liquid.

7. Set the pan aside with the lid off to cool slightly while making dough.

For the dough you will need: Medium mixing bowl; bread and butter knife for mixing; rolling pin or clean bottle for rolling.

Ingredients: 

2 cups self-raising flour (a mix of white and wholemeal flour works very well and makes a firmer dough)

¼ cup olive or other vegetable oil

¼ tspsalt

About ½ cup water at room temperature

Optional: 1 egg

1. Place flour, oil, egg and salt in bowl.

2. Make a hollow in the centre of the flour and pour in water. Mix with a knife, working from the centre out, to form a stiff dough. Add extra water if needed, but don’t worry if all the flour is not incorporated. Add extra flour if the dough is too soft.

3. Turn onto floured surface and knead lightly until fairly smooth.

4. Divide into four portions. Roll out each until the size of a bread and butter plate.

5. Place filling onto one half in a semicircle, keeping 1 cm of outer edge clear.

6. Damp that part of the edge with water (using your finger, to ensure edges will glue together), then carefully fold the bare half over. (If dough has stuck, use an egg lift). Press the edges with finger or fork to seal. 

7. Repeat for remaining dough. 

Frogblog Tip: Once filling has been added, the bottom of the pastie will become quite soft, so it is a good idea to lift it onto a lightly floured plate at this stage. When ready to cook, slide from the plate into the pan or onto the barbecue. If cooking in the oven, place onto the tray as soon as the pastie is filled, or place the rolled dough onto the tray and then put on the filling.

To cook:

In a fry pan – heat a heavy-based pan over medium heat with the lid on; place in two pasties, back to back. Replace lid immediately. Cook 7 minutes or until base has browned and turn over with egg lift to cook second side until brown (the filling is already cooked, and still warm, so will heat through nicely in that time).

On the barbecue hot plate – Pre-heat the plate to the temperature for cooking sausages (not as hot as for steak). Place pasties on back to back and cover with an upturned baking tray to form a mini oven. Flip when base is brown, and repeat for second side.

In the oven – Pre-heat oven to 200 C (moderately hot). Brush the top of the pasties with a little milk or cream. Cook 15 minutes or until top is golden brown.

  

Country Frog says that next time we make these we will do a version that honours the true history of the dogs now called Australian Shepherds, by adding finely chopped chorizo, crumbled sheep-milk feta and a handful of sliced black olives. We’ll call it Spanish Shepherd Traveller’s Pie.

Written and compiled by two frogs

Lamb on the barbecue (lunch with lizards)

It is a great privilege to live calmly and quietly close to nature. This evening, as I write, it is raining softly and the only sound is the trickle of water running in the roof gutters and into the tanks that feed the house and garden. It is the beginning of winter. Mild as winters are in our part of the world, the habits of the wildlife are still subject to seasonal cycles - so there is no cacophony of frogs and toads as there would have been with night-time rain a month ago. The little creatures have gone to bed; hibernating in leaf litter and hollow logs. Most of the snakes have gone to sleep as well, except for the Yellow-faced Whip Snake, which likes to stay out and about later than his friends if he can find a warm spot under an iron roof or among the rocks near the fish pond.

Yellow-faced Whip Snake

And, in the house, where it is warm, a few geckos are still poking around, hunting for moths. We do not (yet) have the introduced Asian House Geckos in residence here in the bush - this pale pink intruder tends to be the gecko most commonly seen in town. Ours are much more interesting, and rather distinctly Australian-looking. Most are Velvet Geckoes - Spotted Velvets, Clouded Velvet and the Robust Velvet Gecko. In my house, they are quietly territorial - silent, unlike the noisy Asian House Gecko - each with its own night-time hunting patch and daytime sleeping spot.

Asian House Gecko

I have a favourite, Gregory Gecko. He has been here for several years, camping behind the bathroom mirror where he sometimes leaves his delicate pure white shed skin, like a perfect little present for us. We named him when he was barely 2 cm long, and he is now a monster of 10 cm - or he was until I accidentally shut his tail in the window. Alas, I thought I’d killed poor Greg. He skulked away looking very unwell, leaving his tail wriggling on the sill, and wasn’t seen again for 2 weeks. Then, one night, Gregory came back to his spot, sporting a rather odd new appendage. 

Australian Velvet Gecko (with new tail)

Because living calmly and quietly with nature is such a privilege, I want to share the experiences with friends and farm-stay visitors. Unfortunately, though, when two or more humans gather together, they make a lot of noise. So, no Whip Snake. No Gregory. Instead, we had to settle for lamb chops with barbecue stir-fry and the sound of ourselves! (Helped along by some serious glasses of Aussie red wine.)
 

COUSCOUS and YOGHURT-CRUSTED LAMB CHOPS or LEG STEAK
Very easy
Time: half an hour
Serves 4 - 6.

The meat is best prepared several hours ahead, and refrigerated until 30 minutes before barbecuing or pan frying. The recipe will coat 4 - 6 lamb loin or BBQ chump chops.

Ingredients: 
½ cup dry couscous
¼ cup water
½ cup plain yoghurt
1 tbs shredded fresh mint (or coriander or rosemary)
1 small lemon, juiced, and 1 tsp grated rind
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp salt

1. Combine all ingredients in small bowl and let stand for 15 minutes until couscous has softened.
2. Coat lamb on either side, patting crust in place. Refrigerate several hours to allow crust to firm and flavours to infuse.
3. Cook on medium-hot, on well-oiled barbecue for 7 - 10 minutes on each side. Or pan fry. Or oven-bake on wire rack for around 30 minutes at 200° C.
4. Serve with salad or barbecue stir-fry.

STIR-FRY ON THE BARBIE
Very easy
Time: 10 minutes
Serves 4 - 6.

Ingredients: 1 large onion, peeled, halved, then sliced lengthwise into straws
2 carrots, unpeeled, cut into straws
double handful of green beans, topped and tailed (or use any other seasonal vegetables)
slurp of cooking oil

1. When the lamb chops have been turned, toss oil and vegetables onto the hottest part of the barbecue plate.
2. Stir-fry, turning a few times with long-handled barbecue spatula or tongs.
3. Serve hot from the barbecue or add to a platter with the lamb to take to the table. 
 

Sand Goanna

The day was warm and sunny, almost sultry. T-shirt weather. After lunch we were lucky to spot another lizard. At more than 1 metre in length, ever-so-slightly larger than Gregory and friends, this goanna was literally ambling up a gumtree where he settled down for a snooze, well camouflaged on a branch. I expect he also had been indulging in a heavy lunch - raiding the hen house for a few fresh eggs, perhaps his last feed before he too finds a hollow log for the winter.


Next: Town Frog and family will be bringing an exchange student to the country for Sunday Dunch. Like brunch, DUNCH is a hybrid meal. It is eaten in the mid-afternoon and borrows the best bits from lunch and dinner. Afterward, around sunset, we will go walking in the bush. The Town Froglets, frequent visitors, know to talk in whispers as they pass lightly across the landscape.

Compiled and written by two frogs.