pots & vans

We needed some thing relatively easy tonight and this turned out super good. We had some chicken thighs from Kunara Organic Butcher, and a friedge full of veggies from out trip to the farmers market yesterday. Servings 2 Time about 30 mins  Equipment Pan to make the chicken Saucepan medium size bowl knife and chopping board Ingredients oil 4x chicken thighs 2 large handfuls of chopped kale 1 small or ½ large zucchini diced 1 bunch of broccolini, chopped about 10 pitted Sicilian olives, halved  ¾ cup couscous  ¾ cup stock knob of butter pepper and salt Method Season the chicken thighs and place into a medium heat pan In the saucepan, add some oil and sauté the green veggies (except the olives). Once heated, cover so the moisture from the veggies steams them. When the veggies are almost done, throw in the olives, then, tip them into a bowl and keep aside. Turn the chicken Boil the stock in the saucepan, then turn off the heat and stir in the couscous. Cover and leave for 5 ...

After dinner tonight, Maria cleverly suggested we  make some stock from the left over loin chop bones. We sat in the van tonight with it simmering away for a couple of hours with some onion, carrot, garlic, bayleaf, herbs and pepper and salt. Can't wait to use it to enhance a dish sometime soon.

We had a fillet of deep sea bream which I was going to use last night for dinner but we went out and had burgers instead (!) so had to use for lunch today. It's been raining constantly this morning, so we felt like bunkering down and having something nourishing and warm. Servings 2 Ingredients sesame oil (couple of glugs) dollop of minced ginger decent handful of finely sliced red cabbage decent handful of finely sliced kale 1 litre of miso stock (about a dessert spoon of miso paste) few glugs of soy sauce few dashes of fish oil about 300g of fish (bream), cubed Method sauté the ginger, cabbage and kale in the sesame oil for a few mins add the stock, soy sauce and fish sauce and bring to a simmer add the fish and cook for few mins until the fish is cooked but still tender garnish with sesame seeds and dried shallots

One evening, and long time ago at home, Maria decided she wanted pasta, but something fresh and light ... so what we refer to as 'pasta with greens' was born. At home we eat it almost weekly, but until tonight, it hasn't been done in our little kitchen in the van. It's uncomplicated. Green veggies, with the classic flavours of olive oil, garlic, pepper and lemon, and then we break up some Meredith  marinated goat cheese over the top. Easy, quick, tasty ... what's not to like? Servings 2  Time about 30mins  Equipment saucepan for boiling pasta pan for sautéing greens knife and chopping board colander for draining pasta Ingredients Oil 2x garlic cloves, diced chopped green veggies: we used 5x kale leaves, 1 x zucchini, 1 flower of broccoli  juice of ½ lemon  Pepper 2 squares of goats cheese 200g penne pasta Method Bring (at least) 1½ litre of water to the boil Heat oil a few glugs of oil in the pan and add the garlic (careful not to burn it) Add the veggies, the c...

So I go on about real food and all that ... so where do instant noodles fit into that??? Truth is we often keep a couple of tubs of instant noodles in the cupboard: post exercise carb load or 'can't be bothered lunch or snack. They usually get spiced up with veggies, cold meat, eggs ... We got home late tonight, not much in the fridge. We were tried (can't be bothered cooking) so we swung past the IGA and picked up some salmon. Maria made a salad, and me ... with some soft poached eggs and celery leaves ... voilà.

I had a pizza base in the cupboard that needed using. Luckily we had some fresh basil in the fridge and some cherry tomatoes, so with some passata, mozzarella, pepper and salt I was good to go. To top it off, I drizzled some olive oil from Maria's family in Abruzzo. We keep a bottle of it in the van pantry for occasions just like this.  (One of the pieces of 'specialist equipment' we keep in the van is a pizza stone ... first time we've pulled it from under the seat on this trip.)

We were out and about today, and our lunchtime toasties were a bit average, so we were keen for something wholesome. One of the things in the fridge was a bag of gourmet mushrooms from the farmers market; we were keen to use them so we ended up building the meal around them. Potatoes and carrots (both also from the farmers market) baked with onion, garlic and some mixed herbs. The kale and mushroom, and some char grilled brussel sprouts) were pan fried in butter, oil and a drizzle of white balsamic glaze. So good and satisfying.

Today was New Brighton Farmers Market day which meant we had a little container of smoked mushrooms from Wollumbin Gourmet Mushroom. Time for some mushroom risotto we reckoned. Of course you don't need these special mushrooms to make this recipe, but if you are lucky enough to be able to jag some, then they will add a stack of flavour to this simple but layered risotto. Thanks Gav & Jules for the tip to try these mushrooms when we were here last year. As is becoming our custom, we wandered out along the breakwall before dinner and were treated to a gorgeous sunset. We had been awake early this morning and decided to get to the beach to see the sunrise, but were foiled by the clouds - all was forgiven. It was nice walking back to the van, starting to think about this dish and anticipating the smells and tastes.  Servings 2 Time Time to chop and prepare ingredients, then ~ ½ hour cooking time. Equipment (main) Deep pan Large saucepan (for stock) Chopping boards and knife Spatula ...

This is one of our go-to easy meals. Simple to prepare (chop veggies) but with a little bit of flavour tweaking it is one of my favourites. There are some meals that in Maria's domain ... this is typically one of hers :-). If we are feeling devoid of creativity, one of us will say, "Let's just do baked veggies". Servings 2 (or as many as you need; just vary the amount of veggies you add, but in a van your oven will be small, so try not to stack the pieces too high in the baking dish as it results in uneven cooking.) Time A bout 15 minutes to chop the veggies, then about 40-45 minutes in the oven. Equipment (main) Knife and chopping board Baking dish (baking paper - optional) Ingredients Whatever veggies you have. A variety of colours and textures helps make it interesting. It can be easy (for me) to over cater with this one, so you might find you have to be conservative with how much of each veggie you put in. Tonight we have: Brussel sprouts (purple) Corn cob, cut in...

We had been exploring the coastline between Ballina and Evan Head by driving along the beach. It was going to be late afternoon by the time we got home so we needed something simple and quick for dinner. We knew there was some ocean trout in the fridge and we also had a packet of fresh lasagna sheets, so we figured if we called into the IGA on the way back for some cherry tomatoes we'd be set. It was a winner. Servings 2 Time Really quick, a few minutes to prepare and then once the water is boiling, less than 5 minutes to cook. Equipment (main) Deep pan Large saucepan (for pasta) Colander  Chopping boards and knife Tongs (I find tongs are the best utensil to manage pasta such as spaghetti, linguini etc.) Ingredients Pasta (instead of tagliatelle, I cut the lasagna sheets into strips. Rule of thumb is 100g of pasta per person, the lasagna packet was 375g so I used half and saved the rest for another meal.) Salt (for pasta water) Oil, a generous glug (for sautéing tomatoes) Half a pu...