Lick the Plate Clean | Greeting, eating, and other food ramblings

Random Lunch Challenge–The “not really haloumi” on rocket open sandwich

Posted on 3 January 2014 by MaggieJanuary 4, 2014

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The start of a new year can bring a freshness in one’s approach to things, and a fast from The Random lunch Challenge over the last month(s) left boys hungry to participate.
A bit too hungry as they both wanted Creative Directorship and both had different ideas sparked from items they had seen over time and tucked away in that little menu file of the brain.
A little brotherly argy bargy ensued leaving me feeling like I needed another latte.(All a learning process, though)
Sam was allocated head chef today, but a major ingredient he was hankering to use had sold out. He was happy to swap with Tom, who had been tickled by some haloumi he saw on a bargain table back in the deli aisle.

We proceeded to purchase some rocket–as Tom envisaged a grilled haloumi on rocket open sandwich with some form of glaze/dressing. Mmmm–happy to run with that.
We purchased some Turkish rolls to toast and top with the rocket and haloumi and I thought the Orange scented balsamic glaze I got from my lovely niece Jess, would be a perfect dressing.

Bargain table. Well, adding up all costs we did not think the haloumi would fall into our RLC criteria of $10 for 4 people for lunch.
Stress ensued until a level of relinquishment and flexibility was reached by Tom and then the packet of firm Tofu just leapt out at us.

Yes, we pretended the Tofu was haloumi and fried it, topping the rocket-laden grilled Turkish roll and drizzling with orange balsamic.

It. Was. Fantastic.

In the end we used half the rolls, and about a half of the rocket. Cost wise really we could have bought the haloumi, but we would have missed this.

About $7 for the “not really haloumi” experiment of brilliant results.

Welcome back.

A restocked pantry

Posted on 3 January 2014 by MaggieJanuary 3, 2014

If you feel like old Mother Hubbard who went to the cupboard only to find it bare when you have tried LTPC blog lately, I am sorry for underfeeding you.

But it is a new year, which brings a restocking and reconfiguring of the pantry.
I am excited at the prospect and really do hope you can feed yourself and your loved ones well, warm your heart and nourish your soul.

Come, eat. Lick the plate clean. Serve others well.

A multiplicity of randomness- a quick catch up of Random Lunch Challenge

Posted on 8 November 2013 by MaggieNovember 8, 2013

Life has been somewhat busy of late, including cooking for a wedding afternoon tea-( more on that later)

How does one revisit a few weeks worth of Random Lunch Challenges?

A series of snapshots:

Stir fried wombok with crab on noodles.$8.00

Tuna and mixed bean salad about $8.00

Curried firm tofu on noodles $6 ish

All tasty and substantial.

From now on , we may be back on a roll…time will tell.

Random Lunch Challenge–Nicoise Salad with Quail Eggs

Posted on 10 August 2013 by MaggieAugust 11, 2013

Quail eggs!

Yep, quail eggs.

A tin of 22 quail eggs for $2.50 was the exotic, inspirational centrepiece for today’s lunch. I suggested quail eggs with turkish bread and dukka but, alas, I remembered we had no home made dukka left in the pantry and it is way beyond RLC budget to purchase.

The idea of a quail egg Nicoise salad came very quickly to one boy and we enthusiastically ran with that, using lettuce, cold boiled baby potatoes, blanched snake (read green) beans, tomatoes wedges, drained tuna in olive oil and home grown and brined olives. Boy made a delicious dressing from that good ol’ Anchovy Sauce we have in the fridge, some olive oil, lemon juice and finely diced red onion. All up it was about $9 for four substantial bowls.

Bowls of crunchy, crispy, soft lusciously dressed morsels studded with little packages of soft white and gold hearted goodness.

Random Lunch Challenge–A double serve: Red Capsicum Dip; Japanese Rice Suprise.

Posted on 27 July 2013 by MaggieJuly 27, 2013

Thank you dear family and friends who so loyally read my blog and were concerned enough to ask when my next post will be. You have been on a little “fast” as the last few weekends for me have been like a Hobbit pantry full of good foodie things–usually in the form of some shared meal or celebratory feast and I just have not had the space to tap away here at my computer.

Last week end, the $2 a kg price for heavy, shiny red capsicum was hard to pass by and a capsicum based dip was dreamed up. 4 large capsicums, grilled skinned and pureed with about 1/2 cup ground almonds, a crushed clove of garlic, 1/3 cup crushed tomatoes, a cup of torn turkish bread and a cup of aioli provided us with a moorish dip we scooped up with freshly warmed turkish bread. $9.

And where were the other 5 people who could have sated their appetite with the amount we had? Boys used it on their lunches for the rest of the week. Who needs to go to the canteen when this is left over?

Random Lunch Challenge today was something we were all pretty excited about. It was mainly from a bargain bin, it was totally random, it was different and it was delicious.

The Asian stall at the market was where boys struck RLC gold–Japanese rice flavourings/toppers that normally were up to $6 a pkt were going at 3 for $2. We were almost uncontainable in our triumph, even though we had only a rough idea what we were purchasing. All the labelling except the list of ingredients was in Japanese. With the mention of bonito flakes or dried sea lettuce or tuna shavings or Japanese wasabi powder, it was a no brainer. The packets were snaffled.

And so was a packet of rice. Not just any rice–multi grain rice. With no list of ingredients, I have sifted through and found white rice, brown, wild, and red rices and split peas and little red beans and a few other grains I don’t recognize. It was perfect with the rice toppings.

And a great little $5 lunch for 4 (with ingredients left for another lunch too!) before the next two “bring a plate” events, but that is another serving.

Random Lunch Challenge–Eggs in curry sauce.

Posted on 13 July 2013 by MaggieJuly 14, 2013

Weeks ago, a friend asked if he could come around to make ice cream after he discovered that I have an ice cream maker. He had just been given one. I was more than happy to oblige.
Then there was the next request “Can I come for lunch first? Can I bring a friend?”

I was delighted at his request, but had to remind him that it was RLC day. “Yes, I know, that’s why I asked.” The concept was explained to his friend, who was enthused by the idea, even though I warned that it is random and I have no idea what would end up on the plate.
And this is what did, much to everyone’s enjoyment:
One of the boys spotted a mango curry sauce by a reputable brand at bargain bin price and wanted to do a Coronation type chicken.
Chicken for 6 however would blow the RLC budget, so we shelved that idea.
But trying to agree on an alternative was a nightmare, and apart from having friends request to partake of RLC, I might have shelved it.
But
One of the ideas toyed with was an Asian inspired omelet but stubborn boy really wanted to use curry sauce somehow.
Light bulb moment.
Curried eggs!
Mmmm mango curried eggs!

Sauce, a dozen free range eggs and basmati rice fitted the bumped up budget (we allowed $12 for 6). It smelt delicious and actually tasted fine!
(As is known to occur, I cooked too much rice, so fried rice was decided on for dinner. Bonus.)
In preparation–a learning process about communication, creativity, team work and flexibility;

In essence–a basic, simple but tasty lunch;

In the gathering and eating, a relaxed time of sharing each others lives and laughter….not bad eggs, that lot!

Next venture: Churn, baby, churn–3 divine ice creams…

Random Lunch Challenge–”Decider”: mussels!

Posted on 6 July 2013 by MaggieJuly 8, 2013

It was a bit of a slow start this morning (it is holidays!) and after our usual coffee and menu planning, we were tossing around ideas for the RLC using some items we knew were in season–cauliflower again?? hmmmm.

We passed through the deli section..some possibilities, but nothing really leapt out at us. On passing the fishmongers, out of the corner of my eye I spotted it..
Voila!

Mussels at $5 a kg. We had not long ago been reminiscing about Moules Frites from our journey in France, so at this price, and thinking of the left over apple cider in the fridge to steam the mussels in, lunch was in the pot. We got 1.5 kg.
Boys wanted “frites” but this would have blown the budget. We purchased some rye sourdough ($3) to slather in garlic oil and toast and this with the steamed mussel liquor made a wonderful accompaniment.
Slurpy, tasty little treasures.

Random Lunch Challenge–Cheers and Tears

Posted on 29 June 2013 by MaggieJune 30, 2013

With soup for 30 to cook, and a church morning tea to create, and boys at home in bed, Random Lunch Challenge was almost let go of.

But we sort of need lunch.

And I sort of like finding random “within budget” goodies, so I kept my eye out.
Then I thought of this place that sells any 4 deli items for $10 from a huge range.
It was just at another market on a detour home.
We parked the car and troddled off to the market and enthusiastically peroused the delights, with the stall holder enjoying our decision making process so much, she gave us an extra slab of some Spanish jamon (already having grabbed one packet). Other items were purchased for the soup and morning tea dips, so all up for a total of $20 we bagged:
a 400g of preserved lemons, a jar of grilled red capsicum, a tub of spinach dip, olive tapenade, Spanish white anchovies, Red costello cheese wedge, 2 x 300g pkts jamon, and a tub of mixed marinated olives. A loaf of crusty sour dough was thrown in free!
Whoo hoo. What a bargain! And this is what 5 of us had from that trove for lunch:

Essentially $10 worth.
We happily trotted back to the car with our goodies…
and then I saw it.
A little piece of paper stuck to our wind screen.
A $70 parking fine piece of paper. We had parked not seeing the miniscule sign that the car spot we took was in a ticketed area, not the free 1 hr signed spots right next to us that we thought we were in.
The change of mood was palpable.

It was a delicious, albeit ending up gold plated, lunch.

Fridge Delights- Random Lunch Challenge alternative

Posted on 24 June 2013 by MaggieJune 24, 2013

I have realized that there will every now and again be the “Fridge Delights” post in lieu of RLC.
Some how, every now and again, there are enough left overs by the weekend that an extra bought lunch is not needed.This is when the fridge needs clearing (at the very least to make room for the new weeks supplies).This is when we use left overs in a creative way.
This week was one of those weeks, and coupled with another foodie thing I had to allow for*, Fridge Delights it was.

Fridge delights in the form of left over stroganoff, chilli con carne or chilli pork jaffles.
Toasty hot parcels of flavour- sometimes better the second time round!

*The foodie thing I had to allow for was researching the Middle Eastern bakeries and grocery shops collected along Sydney Rd. It was a hard job checking out all the butchers with their great lamb produce, the huge trays of biscuits and pastries or the hot zaatar or spicy lamb breads in the bakeries, yet alone sampling some!
Someone had to do it. Boys were happy , they found out, to be dragged along.
We purchased some sucuk sausages (ground beef and lamb, cumin, sweet paprika, salt, garlic, chillies and pepper) and used them to make some sausage rolls for a contribution to a supper that evening. A bit of spice to a classic.

Random Lunch Challenge–Ottelenghi cauliflower and cumin fritters with a speck of a twist

Posted on 15 June 2013 by MaggieJune 27, 2013

It is not uncommon for me to have a few foodie/catering/cooking projects occur at the same time, especially over a week end.
Today was one of those days, so I was keen (for boys) to do something really “out of a tin” quick for RLC, so I could cook other things. (Like Chilli Con Carne for 30).
But the cheap cauliflowers…
Oh, the cheap cauliflowers could not be ignored…
Quality controller and I made an executive decision.
Those creamy white tight florets that just go perfectly in Yotam Ottelenghi’s fritters were worth the more than “out of a tin” time they take to make. Which is not that long anyway.

But boys are meat-boys and the twist on the fritters was stirring through some delicious fried triple smoked speck into the mix.
$1.69 bought us a beautiful one-and-a-bit kg cauli which was blanched and half was used in the fritters. $4 got us a decent amount of the speck. The flour, eggs, spices and herbs and harrisa yoghurt dressing were about $4.
So, not quite $9 worth fed 4 of us with 3 decent sized fritters each.
Filling floret fritters. Pretty specky!

* Post script:(Some one to Eat with) The Chilli con Carne for 30 was for a boarding house for ‘homeless’ people that a local church manages. Every 3rd Saturday, volunteers from church cook a meal for the residents and sit and chat with them around the meal. Nourishment for body and soul.
The Chilli was served with brown rice (which was received surprisingly well apparently) sour cream and a salsa of corn, cucumber, tomato, avocado, coriander and lemon (read lime) juice.