chickpea & olive stew

I like to make huge batches of soups and stews, especially in the fall and winter, and freeze them in empty peanut butter jars. It’s super comforting in my lazier moments to be able to grab something out of the freezer for lunch or dinner, plus it’s a lot cheaper than getting take-out, which is my main tendency in these lazy moments. And generally healthier.

This stew is really easy to put together, very hearty and filling and vegan. It’s also very inexpensive to make, mostly coming from tins of things in the pantry. The generous olives and garlic make it especially rich and briny. I like to make it fairly spicy, but feel free to ramp up or down the chili flakes to your liking. Ladle over some fluffy (and practically instant) couscous for a real quick dinner. It’s easy to scale this recipe up or down, I like to make a huge vat for freezing but you can easily halve or double this.

chickpea and olive stew:

• 4 large tins chickpeas

• 4 tins whole tomatoes

• 4 cups vegetable stock

• 1 cup mixed olives

• 1 whole bulb garlic, peeled and smashed

• 1 shallot, very finely sliced

• 1-2 tsp crushed chili flakes

• 2 tbs olive oil

• Juice from 1 lemon

• ½ cup parsley chopped

Saute garlic, chili flakes and shallot in oil until fragrant and beginning to colour. Add tomatoes cook for a few more minute. Add stock and about half the olives. Reduce heat to low and cook for about an hour, or until the stew is thick and tomatoes are broken down. Add lemon juice and remaining olives and cook for about 5 more minutes. Serve with couscous and lots of parsley sprinkled on top.

Note: to cook couscous, combine equal volumes dry couscous and boiling water in a pot. Cover with a lid and steam about 10 minutes. If you have stock, use that instead of water. Otherwise throw a bouillon cube in there. I like to add crushed chili flakes, dried minced garlic and parsley flakes. A glug of olive oil or a pat of butter wouldn’t go amiss here.  

grilled haloumi & pearl couscous salad

It is time for the big summer salad. What you need in your life right now is a big, herby, hearty salad that can sit in the fridge and get better with time. You can cook once and eat this for the better part of a week. It’s worth doubling to really get you set up for the next few days’ meals without having to turn on the stove. Adding some grilled chicken or fish would make a heartier dish, but just this salad is plenty for quick summer dinner.

Halloumi is a delightfully squeaky, salty cheese. It has the fantastic property of not melting when roasted or grilled, so you can pan fry or BBQ it to get a lovely crispy-shattery crust with a very chewy almost meaty-hearty interior. I know it sounds weird, but try it if you haven’t already - it’s fantastic. You can find it often in Greek or Mediterranean specialty groceries, but if you can’t find it, feta will work here too.

halloumi & pearl couscous salad:

Adapted from Bon appetit

• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 cup pearl or Israeli couscous
• 2 cups corn kernels, frozen is fine
• 2 tablespoons plus ¼ cup olive oil
• 8 ounces Halloumi cheese, sliced lengthwise ¾-inch thick
• 2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup basil leaves, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup mint leaves, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Toast walnuts in a dry pan over medium-low heat stirring frequently. When fragrant and golden, remove from heat and roughly chop. Set aside to cool.

In a medium pot of salted water, cook couscous according to package directions, until just tender.

Grill halloumi in a tablespoon of olive oil in a grill pan (or a frying pan) over medium heat. Let the cheese get a good caramelization before flipping, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from heat, cube and set aside.

Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl, taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.

chicken posole

Hominy corn is a marvel. It's the kind of corn used to make corn tortillas and grits. It’s big, fluffy, starchy, nutty and not at all sweet like smaller yellow corn. It’s really not something you can swap out in this recipe, so hunt through the well stocked markets & Mexican food shops where you live. I can only find canned hominy in Victoria, but dried is good too if you can get it. You will just need to treat it like beans: soak overnight and then boil in plenty of water until tender but chewy. If you can’t find this corn where you live, it’s worth doing an online order. It really makes the whole soup.

I put a lot of tomatoes in this soup, which is not the most traditional way to make posole, but it’s really good. The other thing that really makes posole pop is lots of toppings. I like to add avocado slices, queso fresco or feta crumbles, cilantro and squeeze in lots of   lime. Finely sliced radish, shredded cabbage and crispy tortilla strips are great too.

It freezes really well, so I often make a big batch to freeze and take for my lunch. Just remember to pack a little toppings kit to take with you. 

chicken posole:

• 1 whole bulb garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1 large yellow onion, or 2 shallots
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp crushed chili flakes
• 2 pounds tomatoes, or 2 tins crushed tomatoes
• A couple whole dried chilies, I think mine were guajillo, but, embarrassingly, I didn’t label my chili jar.
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 large cans hominy corn, about 4 cups
• Salt and pepper to taste

To serve; avocado, crumbled feta or queso fresco cheese, cilantro, strips of fried tortillas and lime wedges

Sauté the garlic and onion in a large heavy pot on medium heat until fragrant and beginning to colour. Add cumin and chili flakes and cook a few more minutes until very fragrant. Add tomatoes. Rinse chilies and soak for a few minutes in hot water.

Add chicken stock, chicken breasts and soaked chilies. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Pull out the chicken and set aside to cool slightly.

Using an immersion blender or food processor, purée the soup until all vegetables are completely incorporated. Add hominy corn to soup and heat on medium. Shred the chicken finely with two forks and add into soup. Heat through and serve in bowls, with lots of toppings.

fish in tomatoes & olives

This is an easy, one pot dish. It does take a while to cook the tomato sauce, so it's excellent for a Sunday afternoon when you want to put dinner on and curl up with a book. We are having a big windstorm in Victoria and things are thumping and bumping around outside. It is a rather blustery day. Exactly the sort of day when you should slowly cook something on the stove that will fill your house with the best garlicky-tomato smell while you hide out under a blanket and listen to the wind rattle the windows.

The tomato sauce cooks for about an hour and once it's thick and rich, pop in the fish and cook for a few more minutes. Serve with some crusty bread to scoop up all that sauce. 

fish with tomatoes and olives: 

• 1 whole bulb garlic, cloves peeled and smashed
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• 3-4 anchovy fillets
• salt and pepper
• large pinch of crushed chili flakes
• 2 tbs vegetable oil
• 1 finely chopped fresh jalapeno
• 2 pounds tomatoes: any combination of tomatoes fresh, canned or frozen will work well
• 2-3 sweet red peppers
• 1 cup mixed olives and capers
• 3 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 fillets of thin white fish, I used snapper

In a large frying pan on medium heat, sauté garlic and shallot in vegetable oil, stirring occasionally until they soften and begin to brown. Add anchovies, salt, pepper, chili flakes and jalapeno. Cook for 3-4 minutes and add tomatoes, sweet peppers and olives. Reduce heat to medium-low and ook until the peppers and tomatoes are broken down and form a thick sauce, about 40 minutes to 1 hr. Add lemon juice, paprika and cumin and stir to combine. 

Preheat the oven to 400°. Lay fish on top of the tomato sauce. Spoon a little sauce over the fish and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until the fish is flaky and no longer translucent. Serve with some crusty bread. 

Happy windsday Piglette.

garlicky roasted tomato soup

I'm on a big soup tear. My goal for the fall and winter is to always have soup in the freezer, ready to go for toasty, hearty meals. It's super comforting to know that if I'm too tired to make dinner, I can just thaw out a soup and eat in ten minutes. It also helps me resist the siren call of take out to know that there is something tasty and healthy (or healthyish at least) in the freezer. 

This tomato soup has been in heavy rotation in the soup rota so far. It's perfect with a grilled cheese sandwich or a flaky cheese biscuit, both of which should be dunked into soup for an optimal dining experience. It freezes beautifully, so you can make a double batch and freeze it for your hunger emergencies. Don't worry about that large amount of garlic here, roasting it with the tomatoes makes it mellow, earthy and sweet and not at all sharp. You can cut it down if you really want to, but I wouldn't. I would add more, even. You almost certainly aren't eating enough garlic, unless you have an acute vampire-phobia.

garlicky roasted tomato soup: 

• 2 pounds of the nicest tomatoes you can find, halved or quartered
• one whole bulb of garlic, peeled
• 2 shallots, quartered
• a glug of olive oil for roasting 
• salt and pepper
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2/3 cup cream
• basil for garnish

Roast the tomatoes, garlic and shallots, tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper,  at 425° until the vegetables are softened and caramelized, about 25 minutes. 

Combine roasted tomatoes and garlic with chicken stock and cream and puré in a food processor or with an immersion blender. Heat in a pan over medium heat. Serve with some finely chopped basil and ideally, some hot cheesy biscuits. Fend off those vamps! 

beef, olive and goat cheese ragu

Ok, so just because something takes ages to cook, it doesn't need to be intimidating or especially involved. This dish takes 3-4 hours from start to finish, but for almost all that time it's quite hands-off. This recipe is ideal to start in the middle of a weekend afternoon - almost all the actual work is at the beginning and takes about 20 minutes. Then you have a lazy afternoon ahead of you while your dinner cooks itself! It really cooks itself, just like in Beauty and the Beast. Your knives and forks will dance all around, your candlesticks will flirt saucily with you while your sauce cooks. 

This ragout simultaneously rich and hearty as well as bright and peppy. Olives add salty bite and balance out the richness of the ragu.

beef and olive ragu with goats cheese

Adapted from Donna Hay Issue 68

• 1 pound fresh tomatoes or two cans tinned tomatoes
• 1 1/2 pounds stewing beef, beef shin or other beef cut suitable for slow cooking, cut into 1.5 inch chunks
• 2/3 cup kalamata or other olives of your choice 
• whole bulb of garlic, peeled and smashed 
• 2 shallots, sliced
• 2 cups beef broth
• 3 tbs grapeseed oil 
• salt and pepper 
• parsley, chopped
• goats cheese

In a large pot or dutch oven on medium high heat, sear beef on all sides until browned. Remove beef from pan and set aside. 

Add shallots and garlic to the pan and sauté until translucent and fragrant. Add tomatoes, olives, beef, broth, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a very gentle simmer. Cover with a lid and cook for 2.5-3 hours, until the beef is fall-apart tender. 

Serve over pasta and top with parsley and crumbled goat cheese.

Try the grey stuff, it's delicious!