Fresh. Chunky. Homely. Unusual.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. Inspired both by a wandering through the artwork (not the cartoons) of Australia's much loved Michael Leunig, and the repeated suggestion from a friend to give other-handed drawing a go.

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The meatless meals recipe - Beetroot and Bean Salad

I won't lie, this dish can take a while to prepare with cooking beetroot and brown rice, double shelling broadbeans and toasting sesame seeds. I don't make it very often, unless I have a glut of homegrown broadbeans straight from the garden and I want to really savour and enjoy their seasonal freshness.

Serves 2

250g double shelled broadbeans or edamame (start with about 300g single shelled broadbeans or 900-1000g unshelled/full broadbeans to end up with this amount)
250g beetroot
brown rice for 2 (about 2/3 cup uncooked) Properly cooked brown rice takes a good 40 minutes, despite what is often written on it's packaging. It should NOT be crunchy. At all.
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
zest of half a lemon
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
about 180g goats cheese


Cook the brown rice.
Boil beetroot until tender all the way through.
Run under cold water to cool.
Chop into medium sized cubes.
Mix all the ingredients together and serve atop the rice.

Unusual. Easy. Light. Leisurely.

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen.  The spaghetti squash is, to me, a cartoon of a vegetable. It always makes me giggle. It's an amusing absurdity, a cheeky poke at serious food. In Japan it's name translates as golden thread melon, which is a supurb description. Here the golden thread melon has cheekily unspurled itself in squiggles all over this painting.

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $AU150. You are welcome to arrange to come and look at paintings, just contact me.

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The meatless meals recipe

A small example of a spaghetti squash or vegetable spaghetti. They are usually around 20cm or 8" long.

Vegetable spaghetti was big in the 1970's. If you've never cooked it before, the flesh falls apart into spaghetti strands as it comes out of the shell with no coaxing needed at all. It can just be boiled and served as a gluten free or paleo diet spaghetti, but.... well, it doesn't have a strong flavour and boiling it doesn't do it any real favours. Like tofu, it soaks up the taste (and juices) of whatever it's cooked with, so I prefer tomato juice and spices over water. Stuffing the spaghetti squash makes use of this tendency. Serving it with plenty of sauce would work too. This particular stuffing is Lebanese inspired, mild and fresh, with a satisfying 'every mouthful is different' blend of rough chopped ingredients.

By the way, if you can grow pumpkins, you can grow vegetable spaghetti. Same family, same vigorous and prolific tendencies. Just save the seed from one before you cook it.

one spaghetti squash approximately 20cm long and 12cm in diameter

dash of oil

To make the filling:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 large onion, minced or sliced fine
200g tomato, finely diced
1 3/4 cups cooked lentils
2 tablespoons crushed nuts
1/2 teaspoon treacle or honey
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/2 teaspoon allspice powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
optional squeeze of lemon juice

Cut the ends off the spaghetti squash, then cut it in half, down the middle of it's longest side.

Scoop out the seeds.

Place both halves face down on an oiled oven tray and bake at 190C / 375F for 40 minutes.

To make the filling, soften the onion in a frypan with a little oil.

Then also soften the tomato in with the onion.

When these are done, put the lentils, nuts, honey, cinnamon, allspice, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl with the softened onion and tomato. 

After 40 minutes of baking, remove the spaghetti squash from the oven, scrape all the flesh out into a large mixing bowl, making sure to keep the shell intact.

Mix the vegetable spaghetti and the stuffing together.

Put this mix back into the shells of the spaghetti squash.

Continue baking at the same temperature for another 20 minutes.

Top with dill, parsley and mint before serving (and a squeeze of lemon juice if you please).

This will make a meal for 4 with the addition of a salad or roast potatoes or similar side dish. It looks like a lot of food but it's quite light and not quite enough to be filling on it's own.

Moreish. Satisfying. Easy. Unusual.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. A dancing pattern of eggs, capsicum, tomato and peas, with plenty of painterly texture which you should be able to see in the close up photos below.








Did you know you can download images of the paintings for your own personal (not commercial) use? Computer wallpaper, Facebook profile picture, yes you can. Find your favourite painting on Flickr, go to actions, view all sizes, download the size you want to your device, set it as your wallpaper or profile. And tell your friends where it came from :)

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $150. To find out exactly when that is, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left.

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The meatless meals recipe

This meal is of Spanish origin, I believe. It's simple. It's tasty. And it celebrates eggs. I've been making this on and off for about 10 years, and every time I wonder why I left it so long since the last time. It's a subtle good one.

For 4.

Fresh. Versatile. Satisfying. Unusual.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on panel. All the leaves and petals of summer together on a hazy warm and sunny day.









Did you know you can download images of the paintings for your own personal (not commercial) use? Computer wallpaper, Facebook profile picture, yes you can. Find your favourite painting on Flickr, go to actions, view all sizes, download the size you want to your device, set it as your wallpaper or profile. And tell your friends where it came from :)

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $150. To find out exactly when that is, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left.

***

The meatless meals recipe

This recipe was one of those wild experiments that I embarked upon one evening when we had guests. It has been raved about ever since, and it has taken quite some time to recreate to the same rave worthy high standard. The secret is the sheer amount of herbs. This dish is really only economic to make if you grow your own herbs or can buy in bulk. Those tinsey wincey little packets the supermarkets sell won't go very far at all here. The downside of making this is all the chopping and measuring. Enlist help with the chopping! Besides, it's fun to chatter over food preparation before eating together. The upside is that it's quite a flexible recipe. Really, you can top it with whatever summery veges you have to clean out the fridge or help empty the garden.

Versatile. Thrifty. Leisurely. Unusual.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. You may know by now that I am quite a fan of rock art, petroglyphs and ancient Neolithic symbols. Onion jam, which starts out as a very large pile of rings of our ancient onion friend, seemed a perfect excuse to explore the ancient symbols of spirals and concentric rings.








Did you know you can download images of the paintings for your own personal (not commercial) use? Computer wallpaper, Facebook profile picture, yes you can. Find your favourite painting on Flickr, go to actions, view all sizes, download the size you want to your device, set it as your wallpaper or profile. And tell your friends where it came from :)

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $150. To find out exactly when that is, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left.

***

The meatless meals recipe

There are so many cooking notes to go with this. I made at least ten versions, testing out all sorts of variables. Where do I start?

Ok first, the onions. It doesn't matter which colour you use. The long slow cooking is the real secret to this recipe. Red onions do give a fuller deeper rich colour, as you may expect, but the flavour is most affected by thoroughly caramelising whichever onions you use.

Sweetener. Either white or brown sugar in the quantities given works well, but avoid honey as it's sweetness is too unpredictable. One version I did was sickly with just 1/4 cup of honey. That is not right. Honey is usually less sweet than sugar, but this is not reliable.

Vinegars. Balsamic vinegar gives the most robust and flavoursome onion jam by far of all the variations I tried. If you prefer something milder, I recommend red wine which was easily the tastiest of the milder variations. Then there is white wine (untested), white wine vinegar (insipid), apple cider vinegar (really weak flavour with no depth), red wine vinegar (ok, a bit weak and lacking in flavour depth), malt vinegar (good - mild but acceptable), or sherry (really weak flavour with no depth). If you decide to use one of the weaker flavoured vinegars, cutting back the sugar a little seems to help them in the taste department.

Spices. A clove or two of garlic, a couple of chillis, and olives are other spices that are sometimes added to onion jam. Whatever floats your boat. I didn't like any of these variations.

1-4 tablespoons olive or canola oil, as required to prevent sticking
550-580g onion slices - about 4 large onions of any colour (white, brown or red)
1/4 cup white sugar or 3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 x 5cm stick cinnamon
2-3 star anise, or a few big pinches of ground nutmeg if you detest anise flavour

Cook the onions long and slow in a pan with enough oil to prevent them sticking. Stir frequently. Do not let them burn or crisp at any stage. Keep cooking. They need to be FULLY softened with absolutely no crunch whatsoever. If in doubt, keep cooking. I find this stage takes at least 20 minutes.

Then add in the sugar, vinegar and spices.

Keep cooking long and slow, stirring as needed, until the onions have fully caramelised into one dark sweet sticky mass. I find this takes about an hour.
Again, if in doubt, keep on cooking.

Makes about 1 cup of onion jam. Keep in a container in the fridge. It improves with age :)

Enjoy as an accompaniment to cheese or roast tomatoes (OMG!). Use it wherever you might use chutney. It tends to pair very well with eggs, cheese and tomatoes, and in some instances, potatoes and pumpkin.

Chunky. Unusual. Creamy. Moreish.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. The idea of using corn cobs as stamps, similar to how I'd used apples as stamps in Apple and Barley Soup, did not go according to plan as the corn stamps were so indistinct. No matter, this didn't stop me creating the bright, bold and dreamy ode to corn in a once-was-seafood dish, that I'd had in mind.


 





Original paintings for you.

Like the artwork? Tell a friend! And if you already have, THANK YOU.

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $AU150. To find out exactly when that is, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left, or email me (fi at wherefishsing dot com) to express your interest.

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The meatless meals recipe

Chowder is a very American dish (from the New England area), surprisingly uncommon here in Australia. Luckily, there is was a terrific cafe not far from me, run by an American chef, called the Chowder House. Guess what they serve? So it was there that I was introduced to this versatile and satisfying meal in a bowl. After being so impressed with chowder, I voraciously read up on ingredients and variations and methods and got all experimental in the kitchen. Most chowders are seafood based, even the corn ones. Not this one, the synthesis of all that cerebral and experimental research. 

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons flour
2 3/4 cups HOT stock
kernals from 2 corn cobs (200-240g corn kernals)
around 120g sweet potato or pumpkin cut into bite size chunks
2 small capsicums, in small pieces or chunks
1/2 large carrot, in small pieces or chunks
around 300g potato, cut into bite size chunks
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 pinches turmeric
3 pinches white pepper
1 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh finely chopped dill
chilli, to taste

Melt butter in a big pot.
Cook the onion on low heat in the butter until softened and clear.
Add flour and cook until the flour is brown, stirring frequently. This takes about 10 minutes.
Gradually add the HOT stock, stirring to prevent lumps (using hot stock makes it MUCH easier to avoid lumps than using cold).
Add in everything else except chilli.
Put the lid on the pot to keep the liquid from evaporating. Cook at a simmer for at least 30 minutes until the potato is done. If this boils it will boil over - lid or no lid. Be careful.
Add the chilli, take the lid off and cook for another 5 minutes.

Makes a meal for 2.

Light. Unusual. Delicate. Easy.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. Square pastry pieces. Rectangular pieces of leek. Gentle, elegant shades of greens and creams. How could this be anything else but an understated abstract of these elements? Look for the softly glowing glazing, the ghosted background colours and the linework using sgraffito (that's the fancy term for scratching into  paint). This is a very subtle, understated painting, just like it's recipe is subtle and understated.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

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The meatless meals recipe

While perusing the interwebs for winter recipe inspiration I found this simple recipe posted on Taste.com.au. It looked so, well, elegant. Of course I had to try it. Originally by Gemma Purcell from Good Taste September 2007. It has been adapted, of course.

Now some notes from the kitchen. Firstly, don’t try these with mushrooms as I did. Sweet, caramelised mushroom is just disturbing. Trust me on this. I make and eat dreadful cooking mistakes so you don't have to. Well, actually my chickens & dogs do the eating of the truly dreadful ones. Secondly, leek works wonderfully well, so chic and je ne sais quoi. Onion is the acceptable cousin but not quite as, you know, vavavoom.

2 leeks or 4 small to medium onions
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup / 80ml white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
25x25cm sheet puff pastry
125g ricotta cheese

Top and tail your leeks and wash out all the grit. Cut them in half down their length and then into bite size chunks.
If your are using onions, cut them into thick rings.
Gently cook your leeks or onions in butter and oil until softened. For onions, do NOT burn. Golden is good.
Add the sugar to the pan and then the vinegar.
Simmer gently until the sauce thickens, around 5 minutes.
Cut the pastry into 4 equal squares.
Coat the pastry squares with ricotta, leaving a border around the edges.
Top with the cooked leek or onions. Reserve any leftover sauce for drizzling over the cooked tarts before serving.
Bake in the oven
EITHER
at 180 C for 40 minutes on a LIGHTLY oiled tray. Keep out of the hottest part of your oven if possible or the bottoms will go black.
OR
At 220 C on a baking paper covered tray for 15 minutes.

This makes a meal for 4 with the addition of potatoes and a side of greens.

Tangy. Unusual. Hearty. Easy.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. Persian fairy tales are wonderful. Actually, that's probably true of most fairy tales. I digress. How captivating is a giant benevolent peacock so old that it knows the knowledge of all the Ages, which purifies the land and waters and acts as mediator and messenger between the earth and sky? It gets better. This Simurgh roosts in Saena, "the Tree of Life, which stands in the middle of the world sea Vourukhasa. The plant is potent medicine, is called all-healing, and the seeds of all plants are deposited on it. When the Simurgh takes flight, the leaves of the Tree of Life shake making all the seeds of every plant fall out. These seeds floated around the world on the winds of Vayu-Vata and the rains of Tishtrya, in cosmology taking root to become every type of plant that ever lived, and curing all the illnesses of mankind." (From Wikipedia) Just wow.

So this painting is inspired by this magical Persian take on cosmology. In this version, all the greenery of this recipe is visible on the Tree of Life and the overall style is strongly influenced by the Persian folk art of this creation myth.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

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The meatless meals recipe

OMG a winter stew that I actually like! In creating and testing recipes for winter I discovered that I'm really really truly not a fan of stew. I think I find an entire bowl of sloppy winter vegetables just a bit boring. Which come to think of it is rather odd as I LOVE thick chunky soups. Go figure. Anyway, where I was heading is that I tried stews from cultures all over the world. From the many that were translated into vege versions, this is the only one which made me sit up and go 'wow, that worked'. With all the flavour from the truckload of herbs in this dish, it is anything but dull.

3 tablespoons oil

1 large onion, diced

1 teaspoon turmeric

750g potatoes, in bite size cubes

Greens:

2 cups finely chopped fresh spinach or similar

1 cup finely chopped spring onion, all parts

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley - leaves and small stalks (did you know that the stalks hold the flavour in parsley?)

1/4 cup finely chopped coriander

1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh chives

juice of 3 limes

1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

2 cups stock

240g cooked kidney beans

Saute the onion in the oil in a very big pot until a deep golden colour.

Add turmeric and fry for a minute or two.

Add potato and mix well. 

Fry until potatoes are browned.

Add greens and fry, stirring, until greens deepen in colour and darken.

Add stock, kidney beans, lime juice and cinnamon. 

Simmer, covered, for 30 mins or until potatoes are well cooked.
Do. Not. Boil.

Check seasoning for salt, pepper and lime juice.

Serves 3. Yes that's an odd quantity.

Unusual. Delicate. Versatile. Thrifty.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil and graphite on linen. A modern botannical style representation of the rosehips essential to this recipe. Part oil painting and part drawing. Full of life. A mixed media experiment that worked rather well, don't you think?

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store. A very limited edition reproduction print is available right now. If you want to get your hands on the original, then either keep a close eye on the store yourself, or sign up to my newsletter for collectors to conveniently have a note drop into your inbox when it's available to own. It's the yellow box, top left.

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The meatless meals recipe

Unusual. Chunky. Spiced. Moreish.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm acrylic on linen. In looking into Ecuadorian art I was delighted to find a style of artwork which stems from rock art. Rock art rocks my socks off, so I was pretty happy with this but I had no luck in finding culturally appropriate symbols. The symbol in this piece is from a petroglyph (rock carving) in the Mojave Desert in the USA. Try as I might (and I really did) I couldn't find much in the way of icons of any sort, even deities, much less potato or avocado or plant related from Ecuador. Peru, yes; Mexico, yes; American Indian, yes; Ecuador, ah ah. This one was chosen because it looks like a plant and I was wanting to celebrate the Ecuadorian plant staples of potato and avocado which still manage to grow high up in the Ecuadorian Andes in winter.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

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The meatless meals recipe

In the hunt for ethnic inspiration for tasty winter soup I stumbled across the notion of an Ecuadorian potato and cheese soup with avocado. It sounded a lot more appetizing than anything I could possibly do with turnip, celeriac, onion or brussel sprouts. I checked it out and immediately began salivating. Then I dashed up to the shop, grabbed all the ingredients and made possibly the most addictive soup I have ever had. It helps that I could happily make a meal of any of the main ingredients on their own, so put them together and as far as I am concerned, magic happens. This is adapted from the recipe by Laylita on her blog, Laylita's recipes and is filling enough to qualify as a main meal.

1.5kg potato (about 10 medium sized), chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or hot paprika or chilli powder
7 cups weak stock
1 cup milk
300g white or chinese cabbage, finely shredded
1 cup cottage cheese
50g fresh coriander, chopped fine
200g feta cheese, crumbled
3 avocados, sliced or diced
hot sauce (or chilli sauce/powder to taste mixed in 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar per bowl)

Melt butter and soften onion with garlic, cumin and cayenne.
Add potato pieces and stock and boil until potatoes are very well done.
Roughly mash the soup.
Reduce the heat to prevent this boiling over then add the milk and cabbage.
Cook gently until the cabbage is done to your liking.
Add cottage cheese and coriander. Mix thoroughly.
Remove from the heat.
Serve with half an avocado and a handful of feta in each bowl.
Add hot sauce to taste.

Makes 6 chunky, filling bowlfuls.

Chunky. Fresh. Warm. Unusual.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm ink and graphite on paper. The paper is no ordinary paper, it is textured Hahnemuhle 300 gsm 100% alpha cellulose which is acid-free fibre of vegetable origin. 

When I was perusing the gallery shop at the Tate Britain one time I stumbled across a neat little book of amusing gardening quotes accompanied by quirky, thoughtful illustrations. Their style was the very distinct work of the much lauded Laura Stoddart. The book in question is Up the Garden Path: a Little Anthology which I promptly bought. It really is a lovely piece of work and most gardeners would appreciate it. Anyway, this painting is inspired by the distinct flowers of the fennel plant colliding with the elongated, gentle and watery style of Laura Stoddart.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

***

Baked Fennel and Walnut salad - the vegetarian dinner recipe

Fresh fennel is a strong flavour that people are usually black and white about. It's a love or hate reaction. However, baked fennel is much, much, much milder and although it still has hints of anise, most people are quite happy to chow down on it.

about 800g fennel
1 large red capsicum, cut into big chunks of about 2 inches

several tablespoons olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

salt

1/2 cup dried puy lentils

2 bay leaves

1/8 onion, very finely sliced

75g walnuts, broken into pieces

1 cup roughly chopped parsley leaves, about 15g

parmesan to taste

Remove the stalks from the fennel and discard. They tend to be quite tough and stalky. Cut the fennel bulb into quarters like an apple and then cut out the core and discard. Chop the remaining bulb pieces into big chunks of about 2 inches. Separate the layers of the fennel chunks.

Put the fennel and capsicum chunks into a baking dish with the lemon juice, a sprinkling of salt and a few tablespoons of olive oil. Mix thoroughly.

Bake at 200C for 40 minutes and remember to stir at half time.

Meanwhile, boil the lentils in lightly salted water with the bay leaves. They take around 20 minutes.

When done, drain and rinse thoroughly under warm water and discard the bay leaves.

Combine the baked fennel and capsicum, cooked lentils, raw onion, fresh parsley and walnuts in a big bowl.

Serve with parmesan to taste.

Makes a meal for 2 and goes really well with crusty bread slathered in butter.

1 tablespoon oil
2 big (green cooking) apples, cored and sliced
1 onion, sliced
1/2 cup red split peas
1/2 cup barley
2 large/4 small tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
4 -5 cups stock
salt to taste

Fry the onion and apple pieces in oil until the apple is quite soft.
Add all the other ingredients bar the salt.  Cook gently with the pan LID ON until the barley is soft and plump.  This will take at least an hour.  Watch that the soup does not catch on the bottom of the pan.  Add more stock or water if necessary.
Salt to taste.
Makes 4-5 bowls of very thick soup.  Some may insist that this is a stew.  I don't care what it's called.  It's one of my favorites.

Moreish. Satisfying. Rich. Unusual.

A stunner for Meatless Monday for you to try. Not for those on a diet or afraid of eating butter. Definitely for those unsure about beetroot. It has a high conversion rate to beet lover! Just be warned that it is a bit messy to make, as are most beetroot dishes. That bright pink just asserts itself everywhere.

This is my favourite recipe in the entire cookbook project. I think it's luscious.

pasta for 4 - gnocchi works particularly well

340g beetroot, about 3 medium beets, washed, topped and tailed

40g grated parmesan cheese

250g cottage cheese

200g butter

5g or 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh sage leaves

2 cloves garlic, minced

Boil the beetroot until done. A knife will go in easily all the way to the centre. They will take about as long to cook as similarly sized potatoes.

Cook the pasta, drain and set aside keeping it warm.

Drain and rinse the cooked beets under cold water so you are able to handle them.

Rub the skin off under the water.

Grate the beets. This is the messy bit. Wear gloves if you want to avoid the pink stain.

Mix the parmesan and cottage cheese together.

Melt the butter in a pan and cook for 3-4 minutes until golden brown.

Remove the butter from the heat and stir in the sage and garlic.

To serve:

Stir the pasta into the butter mix and then serve into bowls.

Top with the grated beetroot.

Then top with the cheese mix.

Swoon with delight.

Serves 4.

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More vegetarian cookbook goodies

Need help with conversions? Download this handy dandy pdf of cooking conversion charts for every cooking measuring system I could find. It should make your life easier.

Want to check out more vegetarian dinner recipes? They're all in the Table of Contents.

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