chil·li corn nib·bles

Corn and chilli, a perfect match.

A store cupboard snack, perfect for eating while relaxing. Perhaps when playing cards while enjoying a glass of wine. Or for some impromptu nibbles when cracking open a bottle of wine with some friends seem like a good idea. Or even if you aren't hungry enough for a proper meal but know you should have something to eat or regret it at about 1am when you wake up hungry.

Actually they would be pretty good for when you do wake up at 1am hungry . . .

Chilli Corn Nibbles
Enough for a good snack for a couple of hungry people

1 egg
a good glug of Tabasco
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt
white pepper
2 heaped tablespoons of flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
splash of milk
1 cup frozen corn kernels
Olive oil for frying

Beat the egg with the Tabasco, oil and the salt and pepper. Mix in the flour and baking powder and enough milk to make a thick batter. Mix in the corn and leave to stand for about 30 minutes.
Heat a frying pan to medium hot with a good layer of olive oil and fry teaspoons of the mixture until golden and crispy. Keep the fritter warm in a low oven between batches and serve with a chilli sauce.

Brus·sels sprout soup

I can't change thyme, but thyme can change soup.

For not having a scrap of cream in it, this soup is surprisingly creamy and satisfying. And full of the good flavours of Brussels sprouts. It is the brief 10 minute cooking of the sprouts that has prevented the little beauties from turning into the grey and bitter slop of many a childhood nightmare. I think this could be the recipe that could turn a Brussels sprout hater into a Brussels sprout lover, providing you don't tell them what the soup is made from before they have complimented you on your kitchen skills. The onion sweetens the soup, and the thyme gives a lovely savoury note, but of course substitute another herb you have handy.

I don't think you necessarily need bread with this soup, but then again a piece of hot buttered toast never goes amiss.

Brussels Sprout Soup
serves 2 generously

1 large onion, halved and sliced
1 tablespoon of butter
250g Brussels sprouts, trimmed and cut in half, or quarters if especially large
500mL chicken stock
2 good sprigs of thyme
Celery salt and white pepper

Melt the butter and cook the onion over a low heat with the lid on for about 30 minutes or until very soft and almost melting. Remove the lid, raise the heat to medium, and cook until the onions just start to colour. Add the Brussels sprouts, stock and thyme and cook at a simmer for about 10 minutes or until the sprouts are tender. Remove the thyme and puree the soup. Season with celery salt and pepper, reheat and serve.

cream of to·ma·to soup

Takes on and beats the best of the cans.

We left it as late as possible to harvest the last of the tomatoes and pull out the plants, finally giving into the cold that was about to hit. When we did we had a huge pile of tomatoes ranging from all green to ripe and wonderful. I tried to ripen the green ones on the window sill, just wanting the hugest pile of ripe redness before I set to boiling them up to pop in the freezer. I did sneak a few from the pile to make my favourite soup - cream of tomato.

Cream of tomato soup is something else mass produced that I like to try to imitate. And I am always very happy when it doesn't match up

Hot and smeared with butter.

Cream of Tomato Soup
Scale to feed your crowd.

Fresh tomatoes
Parsley stalks, leaves reserved for garnish
Garlic
Tabasco
Salt and Pepper
Cream

Cook the tomatoes with just a dash of water, the parsley stalks and the garlic until completely fallen apart into pulp. Puree then pass through a sieve into a clean pan. Add water and cream to reach the thickness you prefer and reheat without boiling. Season with a dash of Tabasco and salt and pepper.

Serve, of course, with hot buttered toast.

min·i ap·ple pies

Ernest Adams, Sara Lee or Laughing Gastronome?

I have this thing where I like to make things like those that are usually bought : digestive biscuits, custard creams and most recently, those individual snack size apple pies. They never turn out exactly how they are when bought, but that is a good thing, isn't it!

The apple pies I was hoping to mimic have a cubed apple filling in a thick, sticky sauce flavoured with cinnamon, short crust pastry - often quite cakey, which I didn't want to reproduce - and all sprinkled with sugar. You know the kind. I most often see them at office morning teas and they are always disappointing, making you wish you had stuck to the tim-tams.

These are perfect to take in your packed lunch, but if you want a full size pie, have a look here.

Snack Size Apple Pies
Makes 12 patty pan size

Shortcrust pastry
100g butter, chilled and cubed
200g flour
a good pinch of salt
1 egg, beaten
cold water

Filling
1 tablespoon butter
3 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored and cubed
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cornflour, slacked with a wee bit of water

Caster sugar for sprinkling

Make the pastry by rubbing the butter into the flour with the salt, then forming a dough with almost all the egg, saving some for brushing the pies before baking, and enough cold water. Leave to rest in the fridge for an hour while you make the filling.

Melt the butter then add the apples, cinnamon and sugar, stirring together well. Cook on a gentle heat until the apple is tender, then thoroughly mix in the cornflour slurry and leave to cool.

Preheat the oven to 180°c and put a baking tray in to heat.

Roll out the pastry and using suitably sized cutters, cut 12 sets of tops and bottoms to fit a 12 hole patty pan. Line the holes with the larger circles, divide the filling among them, brush the edges with a little water then lay over the tops. Crimp the edges together with a fork then rest in the fridge for 10 minutes. Brush the tops with the reserved egg from the pastry and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15 minutes.

la·sa·gne

Hot, comforting food for a cold evening.

It is just starting to get really cold here in Wellington. We were ever so lucky in May with the warmest temperatures for the month on record. But June seems to have made up for that already.

It always pays to look on the bright side of life (are you whistling?!), and the bright side of winter is the food and the cooking : Stews, puddings, roasts. Things that are the antithesis of warm days and balmy nights ; save the cool, light dishes for summer. At this time of year I want something to comfort and to warm. Lasagne is just the thing.

Attractive? Maybe not. But very, very tasty.

I first made lasagne about two and a half years ago, I remember because it was what I took to my sister and her family when my youngest niece was born. That was my first lasagne because I flatted for years with a friend who made the best lasagne ever, so why would I make one, much better to talk her into it!

Simple Lasagne
serves 4

The meat
1 small onion, chopped finely
150g beef mince
2 cloves garlic, minced
bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried mushroom powder
1/4 cup red wine
1 cup tomato puree, not paste, or canned tomatoes
water
salt and pepper

Fry the onion gently in a little olive oil until starting to turn golden. Add the mince and fry until brown through out. Add the garlic, bay leaf, mushroom powder, wine, tomato puree and enough water to just reach the top of the mince. Simmer for 30 minutes, topping up with water as necessary, but the end result should not be too wet. Remove the bay leaf and season with salt and pepper.

The Béchamel
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/4 cups milk
salt and pepper
nutmeg

Melt the butter and stir in the flour. Cook over a medium heat for a minute then gradually stir in the milk, mixing well to avoid lumps. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

The pasta
150g fresh pasta, made with 100g flour and 1 egg, rolled thin and cut into squares.

Cook the pasta squares in lots of rapidly boiling salted water for a minute, in batches, then lay on a damp tea towel.

To complete
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Butter a baking dish and lay a third of the pasta in the bottom. Spread the pasta layer with half the meat then a third of the béchamel and a third of the Parmesan. Repeat the layers, finishing with pasta, béchamel and cheese. Bake at 200°c for 30 minutes and serve piping hot.

what we are drink·ing this week

Served with plain roasted popadoms, followed by a mild chickpea curry, dahl and naan.

Served with smoked salmon, lemon, black pepper on lightly buttered bread.

Served with guacamole

Brus·sels sprout cole·slaw

These used to make the best Sindy cabbages!

The idea for using Brussels sprouts in a coleslaw was, like all good ideas, the result of mistake, a misunderstanding. I had just got back from the shop and excitedly told G that I had bought some Brussels sprouts, and because coleslaw was on the menu for dinner G asked if they were for the coleslaw. OK, so that isn't exactly a huge leap to another tangent, but a Brussels sprout coleslaw is a new dish in our kitchen.

I said I came home and excitedly announced the Brussels sprouts because I do love the little green bundles of joy. I think perhaps this love goes back to my days of using them as cabbages for my Sindy dolls. And these were our first Brussels sprouts of the season ; my mother has always told me to wait until the first frost to buy Brussels sprouts. Ah, the joys of winter!

I think Brussels sprouts are the perfect stir fry vegetable, outer leaves removed and cut into quarters, the stay together and cook quickly in the heat of the wok. Lightly steamed they make a love pile of miniature cabbages (see above) to enhance any meal. For a quick fix - throw them around the roast for the last 10 minutes or so. Finely sliced, they can be added raw to salads.

So I knew what I was going to enter for the fourth round of Heart of the Matter, which is all about vegetables. This is an event is brought to you by The Heart of the Matter, and is hosted this month by Joanna.

Brussels Sprout Coleslaw
serves 2, but scales well

6 Brussles sprouts, outer leaves removed and finely sliced
1 carrot, peeled or well scrubbed and finely sliced
2 spring onions, finely sliced

dressing
2 tablespoons yoghurt
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon wasabi paste
white pepper and celery salt

Mix the dressing ingredients together well, tasting for seasoning, then toss with the vegetables. This salad will stand well, so can be made a couple of hours ahead and kept in the fridge.