The Savoury Edition

Recently I have only been blogging about sweet treats, but I have also been cooking savoury things of course, so I have decided to dedicate this entry to some of the things I have made in the past week. I also want to mention that Helen Jackson who runs the foodlovers website has asked me to do some writing for foodlovers. I cannot tell you how excited I was when she asked me!! My first piece on jam making was put on the site this week. If you havent already, you need to visit foodlovers. There are fabulous recipes, articles and a great, friendly forum. Helen does a marvellous job!

First off in the savoury stakes are these cheeseymite twists pictured above. These are a bit of a play on the bakers delight cheeseymite scrolls. Last week for book club I felt like I needed one other savoury thing to go with my cheese board and carrot cakes, so I made these little twists. They are basically a cheese straw, spread thinly with vegemite and then twisted and baked. They were really delicious! I think you may like these even if you're not a big vegemite fan as the vegemite gives a savoury taste rather than a strong vegemite flavour. The recipe is below.





Last Saturday night was another rare night at home with just the two of us. I cooked my husband, mussels in a light Thai inspired coconut cream sauce. I had a salmon kebab. I also made this delicious filled flatbread. The recipe is in the latest Dish magazine. The recipe makes two flatbreads – one filled with caramelised red onions and the other with feta and herbs. I used Bulgarian cows’ milk feta which I get in a 1kg tin from the Takapuna market. It is quite a strong feta but has great texture. It was perfect for these flatbreads which don’t contain any yeast so are quite quick and easy to make.

Lastly on Tuesday night I had two girlfriends over for dinner (my husband is away for work this week). For nibbles I cut up some pita bread, sprinkled them with ras al hanout (a Moroccan spice mix) and baked them to make pita crisps and served them with a hummus in which I used quite a bit of ground coriander and paprika to make it a bit different.



The main was roast vegetable and ricotta tart. I actually bought the pastry – usually I make my own. But, seeing it was after work and I was in a rush I bought pastry sheets. I bought Edmonds pastry as I find it to be fantastic quality. The tart was really simple, a filling of 300g ricotta, 2 eggs, parmesan cheese and herbs and then a topping of roasted vegetables and feta. I used eggplant, red onions and red peppers, but you could use whatever you wanted. I served the tart with a walnut and mesclun salad with a lemon honey dressing. And dessert was my daring baker cheesecake pops.



I am off to Savour New Zealand on Sunday – I am so excited and will report back next week.

Cheeseymite Biscuits

1 ½ c flour
1 tsp mustard powder
125g butter
1 c grated tasty cheese
½ c evaporated milk (I used lite)
vegemite

· Stir the mustard and flour together and rub in butter
· Stir in the cheese
· Stir in the evaporated milk with a knife to make a firm dough
· Roll out dough into a large rectangle. Spread the dough with a thin layer of vegemite and fold in half
· Cut into strips, twist once or twice and place on baking tray
Bake at 200c for 12 minutes or until golden brown