Main courses
Containing Meat
Pizza
For each pizza you will need:
1 lebanese flatbread (large pita bread) or several small pitas
about 2 tablespoons tomato paste or pizza sauce (more expensive)
1 clove garlic, crushed or finely chopped (optional)
¼-½ teaspoon each of dried oregano and basil (optional)
½-¾ cup grated cheese, preferrably mozarella
toppings of your choice, cut up finely - you know what you like on pizza! (and, of course, if you don't put on any meat, it's vegetarian)
- Turn oven on to 250°C (550°F) before you do anything else, then read this recipe through carefully. If you are using frozen cheese, get it out of the freezer now.
- Spread the tomato paste onto the flatbread so that it covers the bread, but not too thickly. Store the unused tomato paste in an airtight container in the fridge. Put the rest of the packet of flatbread in the freezer in a sealed plastic bag.
- If you're using them, sprinkle the garlic, oregano and basil over the tomato paste. (Note that you can buy oregano and basil in bottles with shaker lids. This is quite an expensive way of buying them on a regular basis, so refill them from cellophane packets)
- Spread topping over tomato paste layer. Note that if you use onion or capsicum (sweet peppers) you will need to cut them up very thinly if you want them to cook before the cheese burns. Onion and capsicum are actually better put on top of the cheese layer.
- Top with grated cheese. You can buy this already grated in resealable plastic bags and you can freeze what you don't use, but try to freeze it flat so it's easeir to get out in small amounts later.
- Place pizzas on oven trays - no need to grease them - and put in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until cooked the way you like them. Note that if you're cooking several pizzas you will need to move them around in the oven if you want them to cook evenly, because things on the top shelf of an oven cook faster than things on the bottom shelf unless you have a fan-forced oven.
Variations
- This gives you a 'thin and crispy' style base. If you want a thicker one, you can either use a pizza base bought from the supermarket (more expensive) or make your own (a little more difficult).
- To make your own, place 1 cup of self-raising flour in a basin, add 2 teaspoons of butter or margarine and rub through with your fingertips until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Then add enough water to make a soft but not sticky dough - start with about 1/3 cup. Put onto a lightly floured flat surface - the benchtop will do if it's clean - and knead with floured hands until smooth. Roll out with a rolling pin or empty bottle until it's not quite 5mm thick. Place on a greased tray and proceed as above. If you don't understand what kneading is, come and ask me. There is no way I can describe it on paper but it's really quite simply to do after a demonstration.
- The traditional Italian pizza base uses yeast as a raising agent, but this takes quite a while. Although it is not a 'very easy' recipe, it's not all that difficult, either and there's a certain sense of satisfaction about working with yeast. The SCM recipe book has a good recipe for pizza base on p 28.
Porcupine Meatballs
Serves 4-6
No, these are not made out of porcupines, they just have bits of rice sticking out of them so they look like porcupines!!
1-2 tablespoons oil
500g minced meat (ground beef)
¼ cup grated or finely chopped onion
½ cup rice
pepper and salt if desired
plain flour (2-3 tablespoons)
1 x 440g can tomato soup
½ cup water
- Put oil in a large saucepan over a slightly higher than moderate heat
- Mix together the meat, onion, rice and pepper and salt if using. Roll into balls about the size of a walnut and roll in flour.
- Fry in oil until brown on all sides (or at least turn once). You may need to do this in several batches, depending on the size of your saucepan. I have also cooked these without the browning, by simply dropping the meatballs into simmering soup.
- While the last meatballs are browning, combine the soup and water. Return all meatballs to the saucepan and pour the combined soup and water over them. Cover and simmer (ie turn the hotplate down to low once the liquid begins to boil) for about 45 minutes or until the rice is tender. If you choose to use brown rice (not quick cook) this will take an hour.
- Serve with more rice if desired, or with potatoes and other vegetables. Freezes well.
Variations:
This is the basic recipe. It is sometimes possible to buy spicy tomato soup and this can be used. Herbs and spices can be added to the meatballs - I often use mint flakes or chopped fresh mint and I have also added Tabasco sauce. Curry powder and chilli powder would be fine. I also assume, although I haven't tried it, that any soup that can be made up all on water will work, but I wouldn't use a cream soup as it is likely to curdle during the long cooking time and look quite revolting (although it would probably still taste OK).
Minced Steak Casserole
(This actually bears close resemblance to a meat loaf. Serves 5-6 or more depending on how many vegetables you serve with it.)
500g minced steak (ground beef)
1½ cups soft breadcrumbs
½ cup milk
1 teasp mixed herbs
1 egg
1-2 tablespoons tomato sauce
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 onion, grated or finely chopped
- Preheat oven to 180°C (375°F).
- Mix all ingredients together in a bowl (clean hands work well for this).
- Place in a casserole dish or cake tin (no need to grease the container) and bake for about 40 minutes. Serve with vegetables and tomato sauce if desired.
- Potatoes and pumpkin cut into pieces about the size of a large egg and wrapped individually in foil can be put in the oven when it it turned on (preferably on a tray as pumpkin tends to ooze liquid). They will be cooked when the casserole is done. They can also be sprayed with cooking spray or tossed in a plastic bag containing about 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and put on a tray unwrapped.
Notes
- Soft breadcrumbs can be bought cheaply from some bakeries. Like other forms of bread, they freeze well. They can be made by pushing bread through a coarse seive, mixing it in a blender or food processor or by grating frozen bread. You will need about three or four slices to make 1½ cups. Any sort of bread will do and it can be stale as long as it isn't mouldy or hard.
- For a spicier version, use curry powder and or/chilli sauce instead of mixed herbs and/or tomato sauce. I wouldn't use the Worscestershire sauce with curry and chilli.
Sausage Bean Hotpot
If you can open cans, cook sausages and cut up onions, you can make this dish! Serves 4-6
500g sausages (pork are nice)
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 x 440 g can baked beans
1 x 440 g can three or four bean mix, drained and rinsed
1 x 425 g can tomatoes
1 tablespoon cornflour (will work without this if necessary)
seasonings (ie salt and pepper), herbs to taste (I use ¼ teaspoon each of ground cumin and mixed herbs. Mint would also taste good and curry powder would work, although I'd be inclined to use chicken or vegetable stock rather than red wine with curry powder)
ground chilli to taste
1½ tablespoons tomato paste
¼ cup red wine or chicken stock or ¼ cup water and ½ herb or chicken stock cube
- Prick sausage skins and fry in a moderately hot frypan with a lid or a large-ish saucepan until brown. There is no need to put any oil etc in the pan, but it must be hot before you add the sausages or they will stick. You can also cook the sausages under the griller (broil them), but this gives you an extra utensil to wash. Remove the sausages from the pan and cut into thickish slices.
- Pour off all but a very small amount of the sausage fat and saute onion until golden brown. If you grilled the sausages, add 1-2 teaspoons oil to the pan and heat before adding onion.
- Return the sausages to the pan and stir in the beans and tomatoes.
- Whisk the remaining ingredients into the wine or stock and add to the sausage mixture. Stir until boiling and slightly thickened, then cover and simmer for 10 minutes
- Serve with rice.
Can be frozen or kept in the fridge for several days. If freezing, divide into individual serves for easier re-use
Chilli Con Carne
This recipe is for those who like something a bit hot and spicy (or very hot and spicy depending on how much chilli powder you use). Serves 4-6
1-2 tablespoons oil
2 medium or 1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped
500 g minced beef (premium grade, although more expensive, has less fat)
425 g can tomatoes, with juice (or buy chopped or crushed tomatoes)
4 tablespoons tomato paste
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon chilli powder, or to taste*
1 tablespoon paprika (optional)
salt and pepper to taste (I never add any)
1 cup water
½-1 beef stock cube
425 g can red kidney beans, drained
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan. If your hotplates have controls that go up to 10, 7 or 8 is about the right temperature to use. If you only have a choice of high, medium and low, use medium.
- Add the onions and garlic and fry until they are soft, stirring fairly frequently.
- Stir in the meat and fry until it loses its pinkness, stirring fairly frequently.
- Drain the juice from the tomatoes into the saucepan, add tomato paste, bay leaf, cumin, oregano, chilli powder, paprika, water and stock cubes.
- Cut the drained tomatoes into smallish pieces (1-2 cm cubes), add to the saucepan and bring to the boil.
- Reduce the heat to low and cover the pan. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. At this point you can set your alarm for 1 hour and return to your room to work on that assignment. It is not likely that getting so engrossed in work that you forget to stir it will totally destroy the food.
- Stir in the drained kidney beans*, recover the pan and simmer for a further 30 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and throw it away. Serve at once.
*This dish is nice served with rice. Now is the time to put the water on to boil if you want to cook quick cook brown rice or white rice by the 'rapid boil' method. Fill a large saucepan to within about 4-5 cm of the top. Put on the lid and bring to the boil over high heat. Remove lid and add rice. Boil rapidly for about 15 minutes (until tender when taste tested) then drain in a sieve or colander. One cup of raw rice gives about 3 cups cooked and you will need ½ -1 cup per person.
Notes
- Putting this amount of chilli powder in means my children won't eat it because it's too hot. My husband and I would prefer it with more. It is safer to use less chilli powder and use chilli sauce to increase the heat if you have any doubts.
- To make this go further and thus decrease the cost, use 2 tins of kidney beans.
- Paprika makes the con carne look more authentic but doesn't greatly alter the flavour
- You can also use it as a taco filling. Serve with grated cheese, shredded lettuce sliced tomatoes and the taco sauce of your choice.
Bolognaise Sauce for Pasta
(Can also be used for meat sauce in lasagne. Serves 5-6 or more depending on how much pasta you serve with it.)
500g minced beef (ground beef)
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
1-2 x 425 g cans tomatoes with basil and oregano (or plain tomatoes, plus 1 teasp each dried basil and oregano)
about ½ cup tomato paste
2 teasp olive oil
1 bacon cube, crumbled (use beef cube if bacon is not available)
pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
- Heat oil over medium heat in saucepan or frying pan with a lid. If you are worried about fat, you can simply spray your pan with cooking spray.
- Fry onion and garlic until soft, stirring frequently.
- Increase temperature to high. Add minced meat and fry until it loses its pinkness, stirring constantly to stop it from forming big lumps.
- Add other ingredients stir well.
- Bring to the boil, lower heat and simmer while cooking pasta.
Notes
- This sauce tastes better if you let it simmer for 30-60 mins, but if you're in a hurry, you can put the water on to boil for the pasta, then cook the sauce, then just simmer while the pasta cooks - about 10 minutes minimum.
- Can be served sprinkled with grated parmesan or other cheese if desired.
- This freezes well and can be kept in the fridge for several days.
VEGETARIAN
Lentil Pasta Sauce
This recipe requires a little forward planning, but tastes good. It has the added advantage of being cheap. Serves 4-5
1-2 tablespoons oil
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 cup lentils (preferably green or brown)
2 cups hot water
1 x 425 g can tomatoes
1 x 185 g can tomato paste (or about 1/3 x 500 g jar)
1?2 beef stock cubes (optional) or use vegetable cubes for truly vegetarian
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
pepper to taste
- Wash lentils, drain, place in container, pour over hot water and soak, preferably overnight, but at least ten hours. (This means you need to start soaking them when you get up to have them ready for the evening).
- Heat oil in a fairly large saucepan at slightly higher than medium temperature.
- While the oil is heating, chop the onion fairly finely and crush or chop the garlic.
- Fry onion and garlic until the onion is soft and beginning to brown.
- Add all the remaining ingredients, bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the lentils are tender - about 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
- Serve over cooked pasta, sprinkled with parmesan cheese if desired. Can be accompanied by cooked green vegetables or a salad.
Notes
- If you are not used to eating lentils, they may cause 'wind'. This can be avoided by draining the soaking water off the lentils into a container, rinsing them well under running water then adding 1 cup clean water. Throw the soaking water away.
- This recipe can be frozen.
- It takes about 30 minutes to heat sufficient cold water to boiling and cook pasta, or 20 minutes if you use very hot tap water. I have cooked this sauce for 2 hours without spoiling it, so if you forget to cook the pasta, just let the sauce simmer until the pasta is ready.
Cheese Strata
This recipe uses up stale bread if you want it to, and can be adjusted to serve almost any number of people (within reason).
Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
Spread lightly with margarine or butter
12 slices of bread
Arrange half the bread in the bottom of a greased ovenproof dish large enough to take them all in one layer. Cover with
6 slices of cheese or 2 cups grated cheese
and top with the remaining bread.
Beat together and pour over
3 cups milk
4 eggs
¼ teaspoon dry mustard.
Bake 45 minutes or until puffed and golden. May be prepared in advance and refrigerated before baking.
This quantity serves 4-6, depending on how hungry you are and what else you're eating with it.
Variations
To this basic strata can be added a layer of sauteed vegetables (eg onions, mushrooms, capsicums) or leftover cooked vegetables (broccoli or silverbeet/spinach and onion work well with the addition of some nutmeg to the milk mixture). These are put on just before the cheese. You could also add ham or cooked bacon, or add herbs to the milk mixture.
If you have a small enough container, you can make this for one using 2 slices of bread, 1 egg, ½ cup milk and a pinch of mustard. One large egg is enough to set 1 cup of milk but two would be better (ie enough mixture to go with four slices of bread - to serve two people or one hungry person). If using 6 slices of bread, use 1 & ½ cups of milk and two or three eggs, for 8 slices of bread, use 2 cups of milk and 3 eggs and so on.
Shepherd's Beany Pie
Serves 4 if using on its own or 6 with vegetables or salad.
350-375 g dried black eyed beans or other dried beans or 3 x 440 g cans beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed or finely chopped
60 g mushrooms, wiped with a damp cloth and chopped
1 x 440 g can tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon chopped parsley or 1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
pepper
700 g potatoes
50-60 g grated cheese
- If using dried beans, rinse them in cold water, then cover with cold water and either soak overnight or bring to the boil, boil vigorously for 2-3 minutes, remove from the heat and soak, covered, for 45-60 minutes. Drain and rinse again then cover with more cold water and cook until tender - for black eyed beans, this will take about 45 minutes, while some others may take up to 1-½ hours and soy beans can take 3-4 hours - the packet will tell you about how long to allow. Drain cooked beans and rinse again.
- Either scrub potatoes well and leave skins on, or peel. Cut into pieces about the size of an egg and put in a saucepan which has about 2-3 cm boiling water in it. Cover with a lid and cook over slightly lower than medium heat until tender - about 30 minutes. Drain and mash (using potato masher or fork) with 2-3 teaspoons butter or margarine and enough milk to make smooth but still stiff. If you are using a metal fork or masher, put potatoes in another container (eg an old icecream container or mixing bowl) to mash them so you don't scratch the saucepan - you can rinse the potato saucepan and use for the next step.
- About fifteen minutes before the beans are due to be cooked, heat the oil in a medium sized saucepan at slightly higher than medium temperature. Fry the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes, then add the mushrooms and cook for a further 4-5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, the drained and rinsed beans, parsley and mixed herbs and cook over a gentle heat for 10 minutes then season with pepper to taste.
- Set the oven to 200° C (400°F). Grease a shallow oven-proof dish and put the bean mixture in the base. Spread the mashed potato evenly over the top, rough up the surface with a fork and sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.
- Keeps well in the fridge for several days or leftovers can be frozen. You can cook extra potatoes the day before and refrigerate them (covered) until you need them.
Variations
This recipe has no meat in it, but if you wished, you could replace half the beans with about 250g lean mince. If you are using mince, saute it until it loses its pinkness after the onion and garlic is cooked and before adding any other ingredients, then follow the recipe as stated.
Omelette
Serves 1
1-2 teaspoons margarine or butter
2-3 eggs
1-2 tablespoons cold water
salt and pepper to taste
- Put margarine in frypan and heat over medium heat until melted and frothy.
- Meanwhile, beat eggs, water, salt and pepper in a bowl until well combined, but not very frothy.
- Pour egg mixture into frypan and cook. As the egg on the bottom and edges cooks, push it towards the centre and tilt the pan so that the uncooked egg runs onto the pan.
- When all the egg is set, allow to cook a minute or two longer, so that the bottom of the omelette browns, then fold in half, using a spatula or egg lifter. Serve immediately on a warm plate.
Variations
- Once egg is set, a variety of fillings can be put on half the omelette and allowed to warm up while waiting for the bottom to brown. You can use chopped fresh herbs, grated cheese, chopped ham or salami, pre-cooked onion, bacon or any other cooked meat (do I need to remind you that adding meat stops it from being vegetarian?) or mushrooms or any combination of these.
- If you add cooked vegetables such as peas, cubed potato, capsicum (sweet peppers), onion, tomato, zucchini etc just after you add the egg mixture and instead of folding the cooked product, put it under a preheated grill until it browns, what you have is called a fritata, which makes a meal in itself.
- If you have a large enough frypan, you can make up to about four serves at a time, by simply multiplying the ingredients.
Lentil and Vegetable Curry
This recipe is taken from a Sharwood's promotional collection of recipes, so uses Sharwood's products, but you can use other brands of curry powder. Serves 4-6
1-½ cups green or brown lentils
4 cups water 2 tablespoons oil (or ghee)
2 onions, finely chopped
½ teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon Sharwood's hot or mild curry powder
½ teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons desiccated coconut
1 teaspoon salt (optional)
¼ medium cauliflower, broken into small florets
250g pumpkin or butternut squash, cubed
250g green beans (frozen are fine - if fresh they need to be topped and tailed)
juice ½ lemon
- Put lentils in sieve or colander and wash, then place in saucepan with 3 cups water, bring to the boil on high, then turn to low and simmer until almost tender (about 30 minutes). Drain, using the same sieve or colander.
- Heat the oil on slightly higher than medium heat in a deep saucepan (I wash the one I've cooked the lentils in and use it). Fry the onions until golden, add the spices and cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the drained lentils, coconut, remaining 1 cup water and salt if you are using it and bring to the boil (turn the hotplate up to high again).
- Add the prepared vegetables, cover and cook until tender but still firm - 15-20 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally to prevent sticking. Add the lemon juice and stir to combine. Serve with boiled rice and chutney.
Notes
- It is possible to freeze this dish, although the vegetables tend to go soggy. It keeps well in the refrigerator for about a week.
- This is a mild curry, especially if you use mild curry powder. I usually use 4-6 teaspoons of curry powder to give more flavour. You could also use 1-2 tablespoons of curry paste.