Baked sardines with orange and lemon

Ah! The second half of my birthday sardines was cooked differently a day or so later. A friend thought from a photo of them that the olive oil was lemon juice, so this time I added lemon and orange juice and used cumin seeds instead of sumac. I ate this lot with potato and sweet potato baked with garlic, rosemary and olive oil.  It wasn’t my birthday dinner but another delicious meal in Melbourne’s latest lockdown.

Ingredients

16 filleted sardines

1/2 lemon

1/2 orange

1 clove garlic

2 tsp cumin seeds

Olive oil

Mode

Preheat oven to 180c

Arrange sardines in baking dish

Crush garlic and add to sardines

Sprinkle over cumin seeds

Add olive oil

Squeeze orange and lemon and add to dish

Bake in 180c oven for 20 mins

Baked sardines with sumac

Well it was my birthday and for the second year in a row I was in lockdown and had to cancel my previously arranged dinner out with friends. So I had a lovely Zoom meeting with interstate friends (originally planned as pre-dinner event) and then wondered what to cook. Would it be fresh sardines or fresh tuna? This is what I went for on my birthday. I ate the sardines with potatoes roasted with olive oil, rosemary and whole garlic cloves. 

Ingredients 

16 filleted sardines

1 tsp sumac

1 clove garlic

Olive oil

Mode

Preheat oven to 180c

Arrange sardines in baking dish

Sprinkle sumac over

Crush garlic and add

Sprinkle with olive oil

Bake in oven for 20 minutes

Swordfish pie

Yum swordfish! I hadn’t had any for ages so when I went shopping and saw some I grabbed it. I wasn’t sure what I would cook with it but tonight I remembered the coriander pesto I had awaiting my ideas for it. Then it was a matter of seeing what I had in the way of vegetables and deciding whether to use phyllo or puff pastry. Then voilà! 

Ingredients

2 sheets puff pastry

140 gr swordfish fillet

Small carrot

1/2 red pepper

2 spring onions

2 heaped tsp coriander pesto

3 tsp crushed ginger root

Poppyseed

Mode

Preheat oven to 180c

If using frozen puff pastry remove sheets from freezer to thaw

Julienne the carrot

Clean and chop spring onions

Roughly cut the red pepper

Crush ginger

Place one sheet of pastry in base of baking dish

Place the swordfish fillet on pastry

Spread pesto over

Add spring onion and crushed ginger

Top with carrot pieces and red pepper

Place second sheet of pastry on top

Trim and seal pastry and decorate as desired

Sprinkle with poppyseed

Bake in oven at 180c for 45 minutes

Sardines St Clements

Yesterday coming out of the fog and lack of appetite from AstraZeneca I had a delicious lunch of chilli sardines with orange and rocket salad. What a lovely way to get my appetite back and no wonder I was excited to find fresh filleted sardines on sale today!  

This is not really like the whole sardines I had yesterday but a variant of a recipe I found years ago in a book by Lorenza de Medici. The name is from the combination of lemon and orange in my recipe. I used ready-made breadcrumbs with lemon, pepper and parsley but you could use whatever you have. I ate mine with rocket and some potatoes I had previously roasted. Delicious! 

Ingredients 

1/2 orange

1/2 lemon

25gr pinenuts

1 tsp Sambal oelek

Breadcrumbs 

500 gr filletted sardines

Mode

Preheat oven to 160c

Juice the orange and lemon

Arrange the sardines in an ovenproof dish

Sprinkle breadcrumbs over

Add the orange and lemon juice

Sprinkle over the pinenuts and Sambal oelek

Bake in 160c oven for 40 minutes

Lentil soup with coriander

I hadn't really intended to write this recipe up.  But I was talking to a friend when it was simmering and she wanted the recipe! The difference between this and the normal lentil soup that I make is that I used coriander instead of dill and I also added some ginger root.  It is also a cheat's lentil soup in the sense that I didn't cook the lentils from scratch but used ready to use canned lentils from my pantry. If you want to use dry lentils, you will need to soak them and prepare them before adding the other ingredients.  As I love the fresh taste of coriander, I really enjoyed this soup as a start to winter that has come to us in Melbourne in autumn. If coriander isn't to your taste, you can add the herb of your choice. 

Ingredients

400 gr diced tomatoes

800 gr canned lentils (2 400 gr cans)

2 tbs tomato paste

2 carrots

4 dried bay leaves

Bunch of coriander

2-3 cloves garlic crushed

3 tsp crushed ginger root

500 gr water (and as needed)

White wine vinegar

Mode

Place the tomatoes, tomato paste in a large stovetop pan on high heat

Stir to combine

Add the lentils, garlic and ginger and stir

Chop the coriander roughly and add it and the bay leaves to the mixture

Slice the carrots into circles and add

Add water and stir all to combine

Cover and bring to the boil stirring occasionally

Reduce heat and simmer covered until the soup has thickened and all the carrots are tender, still stirring occasionally and adding extra water as needed.

Serve with a dash of white wine vinegar (to taste)

Greens and ricotta lasagne

People have been known to say that I often make similar things.  And it is true I often do make something and then think maybe I could make it this way instead of how I did it last week, or maybe I could add some different ingredients for a different taste altogether.  That is why after not having made lasagne for years I am making it twice withinin a short time frame. This one is like a mixture of spanakopita and tomato lasagne,  It was great to have the combination of different flavours catching my tastebuds. I will certainly make this again.

Ingredients

400 gr diced tomatoes
2 tbs tomato paste (without salt)
Bunch dill 15 gr
4 cloves of garlic
4 tsp crushed ginger root
1 leek

1 bunch endive

1/2 bunch silverbeet
375 gr ricotta
6 sheets lasagne pasta (type that does not require pre-cooking)
Parmesan

Mode

Preheat oven to 180c

Slice leek

Roughly chop endive, and silverbeet

Place vegetables in top of steamer

Crush 2 cloves of garlic

Add garlic and 2 tsp ginger to vegetables in steamer

Steam until tender

Meanwhile chop thyme

Crush 2 cloves garlic

Place tomatoes in saucepan on stove

Add thyme, 2tsp ginger, garlic and tomato paste

Stir to combine

Bring the boil and reduce to simmer

Simmer until thickened

Place a couple of tablespoons of the sauce in the bottom of a baking dish

Add layer of pasta

Add the steamed vegetables

Add another layer of pasta

Spoon half the ricotta over the sauce

Add another layer of pasta

Spoon half the tomato sauce over the pasta

Spoon the remaining half of the ricotta over the paster

Sprinkle with Parmesan

Add another layer of pasta

Cover with remaining sauce making sure that all the pasta is covered

Sprinkle with Parmesan

Bake in the oven for 45 minutes

Lentil lasagne

It must be quite a while since I last made lentil lasagne and the curious thing is that that I didn't plan to make it this time. The plan was to make lasagne with ricotta and a tomato sauce. However, when I was stirring my tomato sauce I suddenly decided to add some lentils.  And I am very glad that I did as it was delicious and I can't think why it has been so long since I enjoyed it.

 Ingredients

400 gr diced tomatoes
2 tbs tomato paste (without salt)
Bunch coriander
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp crushed ginger root
1/2 carrot
400 gr canned lentils
375 gr ricotta
6 sheets lasagne pasta (type that does not require pre-cooking)
Parmesan

Mode

Preheat oven to 180c

Chop coriander

Slice carrots into strips

Crush garlic

Place tomatoes in saucepan on stove

Add coriander, carrot, ginger, garlic and tomato paste

Stir to combine

Bring the boil and reduce to simmer

Add lentils and combine

Simmer until thickened

Place a couple of tablespoons of the sauce in the bottom of a baking dish

Add layer of pasta

Add half the remaining sauce and smooth

Spoon half the ricotta over the sauce

Add another layer of pasta

Spoon the remaining half of the ricotta over the paster

Sprinkle with Parmesan

Add another layer of pasta

Cover with remaining sauce making sure that all the pasta is covered

Sprinkle with Parmesan

Bake in the oven for 45 minutes