Secret Stuffed Potatoes

The secret to these is the hidden zucchini that even the fussiest of children will not find as long as they like pesto!

I try to plan ahead for these and bake the potatoes the day before if I have the oven on.

Makes 16.

Ingredients

8 small potatoes, around 100g each, baked

300g zucchini plus two teaspoons salt

4 tablespoons pesto

A little grated cheese

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and line a baking sheet with baking parchment.

Grate the zucchini and sprinkle with the salt, mixing a little with your hand, set aside in a sieve over a bowl for ten minutes.

Take a potato and cut in half, use a spoon to scoop the insides out and set aside. Repeat with all the potatoes.

Now, roughly chop up the potato to make a mash, stir through the pesto.

Rinse the zucchini under fresh water and then squeeze all of the moisture out with your hands.

Add the zucchini to the potato mash and mix well.

Spoon the zucchini mix into the potato skins and place on the baking sheet.

Sprinkle over the cheese and pop into the oven.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden.

Cheese And Jalapeño Muffins

Cheese and jalapeño, a match made in heaven here and gluten free to boot!

Sometimes it can be hard to find Mexican cornflour in Western Australia so a great way to get around that is to use crushed up corn chips, it works, I promise.

We have these muffins with a bowl of soup or they go to school for lunches for the boys, any leftovers, freeze on the day of baking. 

Makes 10 large, 120g muffins.

Ingredients

150g crushed plain corn chips

220g grated cheese

3 large jalapeño chillies, deseeded, quartered lengthwise and sliced thinly

125g chickpea/bean flour

50g tapioca flour

50g ground almonds/almond meal

4 teaspoons gluten free baking powder

2 eggs

200g sour cream

1 tablespoon whole grain mustard

150mls milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade.

Line a twelve hole muffin tin with large muffin cases, this mix makes ten muffins with my cases.

In a large bowl, combine the crushed corn chips, grated cheese, jalapeño, chickpea flour, tapioca flour, ground almonds and baking powder. Give it all a good stir to combine and season with pepper and a little salt depending on how salty your corn chips are.

In another large bowl, whisk the eggs, add the sour cream and whisk again, add the mustard and milk and whisk a final time.

Now, pour the wet ingredients into the dry, scraping out the mustard seeds that will have sunk to the bottom.

Give the mix a brief stir and then spoon into the prepared cases.

Sprinkle a little extra cheese over the top if you want and then slide the tray into the oven.

Bake for 30 minutes until golden and risen. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Chicken And Corn Burgers

During the school holidays we have been trying out new burger recipes and this one has been very popular with my boys so I am now making these burgers in the canteen of our local primary school.

These burgers freeze brilliantly so double the recipe, bake them, cool them and freeze them for another night.

This recipe has a gluten free option in the ingredients list too. Makes 6-8 burgers.

Ingredients

500g chicken thighs, minced

100g sweet corn kernals

60g grated cheese

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

a pinch of chilli powder

20g fresh breadcrumbs or 2 tablespoons potato starch

salt and pepper

Method

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl.

Preheat the oven to 210 degrees centigrade and line two baking sheets with baking parchment.

Fill a bowl with water, wet your hands and form the meat into six balls and the six patties, wetting your hands between each one.

Lay the patty onto the prepared baking sheet and using the palm of your hand flatten gently until 1cm thick. Repeat with the remaining patties and pop into the oven.

Bake for 15-20 miutes until cooked through and golden.

Parmesan and Chive Waffles

One of the boys was given a waffle iron for his Christmas so we have had fun trying to come up with gluten free waffles.

These were a real favourite and got them away from the maple syrup and nutella for one breakfast at least over the festive season!

Makes 6-8 waffles depending on your waffle iron size.

Ingredients

150g gluten free plain flour

2 and a 1/2 tablespoons gluten free baking powder

1 egg

290mls milk

70g finely grated Parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons fresh chopped chives

salt and pepper

Method

Preheat your waffle iron.

Using a stick blender, whizz up the flour, baking powder, egg and milk.

Stir in the cheese and chives, season with salt and pepper. Not too much salt as the cheese can be quite salty!

Pour your regular quantity of batter into the waffle iron and cook until golden brown.

Top with ham/bacon and an egg.

Stuffed Potatoes With Hidden Veggies

Sometimes I like to jazz up the humble potato by stuffing it myself, it saves the boys arguing about their preferred fillings as everyone loves these and I can sneak some extra vegetables into them!

Serves 6-8.

Ingredients

6 large potatoes, baked with skins on

20g butter

1 large onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 medium carrots, grated

75g grated cheese, Parmesan or something with a strong flavour

2 teaspoons finely chopped parsley

salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade.

Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut in half and carefully scoop out the cooked potato keeping the skin intact. Place the skins on a lined baking sheet and the cooked potato into a bowl. Mash lightly with a fork.

In a frying pan, heat the butter and add the onion, cook for 10 minutes over medium heat then add the garlic and carrot and cook for a further 3 minutes. Tip the onion mix into the potato.

Add the cheese, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Take spoonfuls of the stuffing and fill the skins.

Slide the potatoes back into the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden.

 

 

 

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms With Tarragon And Taleggio

I love mushrooms but unfortunately the boys aren’t keen so this is my way of having a mushroom all to myself! These are BIG mushrooms, around 100g each so really a meal in themselves! You can use small mushrooms and serve them as a little nibble, both work well.

Makes 2 large stuffed mushrooms.

Ingredients

2 large portobello mushrooms, around 100g each

12 drained sundried tomato halves, diced finely

2 teaspoons of oil from the drained tomatoes

1/2 red onion, finely diced

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

2 teaspoons freshly chopped parsley

1 teaspoon freshly chopped tarragon

salt and pepper

80-100g taleggio or fresh mozzarella

 Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Centigrade.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat.

Once hot, add the chopped onion, garlic and tomatoes and cook gently for 5 minutes until the onion is soft.

Take off the heat and add the parsley, tarragon, salt and pepper.

Remove the stem from each mushroom and spoon the tomato mixture into the two mushrooms.

Slice the taleggio and lay on top of the tomato mixture.

Place the mushrooms onto a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is golden.

Cheesy Pockets

Now, I know that they don’t look all that impressive but these are a fab way of elevating a bowl of humble soup or and afternoon snack to magnificent!

I use the thinnest bread I can find, this is mountain bread, nearly paper thin. Gluten free wraps work well too but I tend to warm them in the microwave to make them a little more malleable, if you are using tortillas, again warm them a little so they don’t split when you fold them.

I pop these on the barbecue to cook but you can use an oven, preheat it to 200 degrees Centigrade and then bake for 8-10 minutes.

Makes 8.

Ingredients

8 sundried tomato halves, drained

2 garlic cloves

200g feta

25g parsley leaves

8 thin flatbreads or tortillas

freshly ground pepper

Method

Process the tomatoes, garlic, feta, parsley and pepper to form a paste.

Take a flatbread and spread one eighth of the paste in the centre and fold up carefully to seal.

Wrap in foil and continue with the remaining flatbreads until you have eight parcels.

Preheat your barbecue and once it’s hot, place the parcels on and cook for 10 minutes, turning once after 5 minutes.

Paprika Chicken Skewers With Haloumi

Perth, Western Australia, has a heat wave coming this weekend! That will mean minimal cooking inside, lots of barbecuing and salads for us!

Get the kids involved in making these as it is a bit mind numbing! Make sure they have an apron on and no white shirts in sight as the paprika infused oil does not wash out easily!

Makes 22-26 skewers. Serves 6.

Ingredients

6 teaspoons smoked paprika

2 teaspoons sweet paprika

3 teaspoons dried oregano

1/2-1 teaspoon ground chilli

6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

salt and pepper

60mls olive oil

1.2 kg skinless chicken thighs, fat removed and cut to 1cm dice

180g Haloumi, cut I to 20-30 cubes

1 large red onion, cut to 1-2cm pieces

Method

Combine all of the ingredients except Haloumi and onion in a large zip lock bag and leave in the fridge to marinade for 2-24 hours.

Soak your wooden skewers for 30 minutes.

Preheat the barbecue flat plate to medium hot.

Prepare your first skewer, I like to start with onion and then chicken, onion, chicken, onion, Haloumi, onion, chicken, onion, chicken, onion, but that’s just me!

Prepare all of the skewers and then pop them onto the barbecue and cook, turning regularly, until the chicken is cooked through.

Caramelised Onion and Potato Pie

This is one of those comfort potato bakes that everyone loves and they all come back for seconds in our house.

Serves 6-8. You can also make this ahead of time as it freezes very well.

Ingredients

50g butter

3 large onions, sliced thinly

3 cloves garlic, finely sliced

1 shallot, finely sliced

750 g potatoes, finely sliced, I use an mandolin

fresh thyme

8 eggs, beaten

350g sour cream

400mls cream

salt and pepper

parmesan

Method

Melt the butter in a large pan, add the onions and garlic and over a low heat slowly cook down until caramelised, this can take 45-60 minutes but keep an eye on them towards the end so they don’t stick to the pan and burn.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade.

Take a large roasting dish, I use a 30x20cm dish.

Line the base and sides with baking parchment.

Whisk the eggs, sour cream, cream, salt and pepper.

Pour a little egg mix into the base of the dish, top with potato slices, followed by a little of the caramelised onions and a little sprinkle of thyme.

Top with some egg and repeat the previous layers. Keep repeating until you are using your final egg mix.

Finish with a layer egg over the onions, spread over the sliced shallot and  sprinkle over the grated parmesan.

Bake in the oven for 45-55 minutes until the top is golden and the potatoes cooked through.

Allow to cool and set a little before gently removing from the tin and cutting into portions or take this along, just warm for a picnic.

Pistachio And Coriander Dip

This dip might not have the wow factor in appearance but it’s an absolute knockout! I like to serve it along side some hummus with bread and carrot sticks for dipping.

Serves 6. Leftovers are great in salad of spread in wraps for a hit of flavour.

Ingredients

80g pistachio kernals

1 large garlic clove, roughly chopped

50g fresh coriander, leaves and stalks

50g feta

125mls Greek yogurt

Method

Process the nuts and garlic until roughly chopped.

Add the remaining ingredients and process again.

Try not to over process as it’s nice to see the green in the white rather than just a green dip!