Heat a can of kidney beans and a jar of tomato salsa over the stove until the beans are tender and the salsa has thickened. Say 5-10 minutes?

In a bowl, combine an avocado, a can of corn, a handful of coriander, a chili, a couple of spring onions, juice of a lime and a good pinch of salt.

Heat a pan over high heat and fry the tortilla on each side.

Assemble and eat.

I used spinach because what the hell is sorrel? But really just because they don’t sell it at the supermarket. Also mint and parsley, which was nice. Canned beans? Yes, because I’m not that organised. Just rinse them and make sure they’re really dry before frying to ensure they crisp up nicely.

Cannellini beans with Spinach & Feta

via David Lebovitz

Pasta with Lentils

via Crap Kraft Dinner

Like my cupcakes this risotto turned out a little more pink than I wanted but it tasted pretty good. The next time I’ll use a lighter milkier cheese as I found the fontina a little too salty and strong for this dish – it ruined the earthy beetroot flavour a bit. A funny comment made by my sister was that it tasted like dirt, she liked it though and she doesn’t really like risotto or beetroot much.

Beetroot Risotto with Grilled Radicchio

Serves 4

1.5L vegetable stock

500g raw beetroot, peeled and chopped into small cubes

125g unsalted butter

1 red onion, finely

3 tablespoons raspbeery or red wine vinegar

500g risotto rice

250g goats cheese, crumbled

3 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped

sea salt and pepper

3 small radicchio or witlof, quartered lengthways (optional)

100ml olive oil

Heat the stock into a saucepan and keep at a gentle simmer.

Add the beetroot tot the stock and simmer for 20-30 minutes until almost tender.

Remove the beetroot with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Melt half the butter in a large, heavy saucepan.

Add the onion and vinegar and cook gently for 10 minutes until soft and translucent.

Add the beetroot and rice stirring over a high heat for a minute until slightly translucent.

Begin adding the stock, a large ladle at a time, stirring gently until each ladle has been absorbed by the rice. The risotto should be kept at a bare simmer throughout cooking.

Continue until the rice is tender and creamy, but the grains are still firm. This should take about 20 minutes.

Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Beat in the remaining butter and parsley. If the risotto looks dry at a bit of stock as well.

Cover and let the risotto rest for a couple of minutes.

Serve immediately with crumbled goats cheese on top.

NB: If serving with radicchio, heat an overhead grill. Put the radicchio pieces in a grill pan and brush with the oil. Grill for 10-15 until soft and beginning to colour, turning a couple of times. Remove from the grill and set aside. Ladle the risotto into heatproof bowls and top each with the radicchio. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese, set on a baking tray and grill for 5 minutes until the cheese is melted  and bubbling.

Coconut Tapioca Pudding

1 cup tapioca pearls

12 cups water

500g superfine castor sugar

½ cup coconut cream (use ‘kara’ cartons if you can find them)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon salt

Bring 8 cups of water to the boil and pour in the tapioca, stirring so that the pearls do not stick to the bottom.

Simmer until the pearls become transparent with just a tiny dot of white left in the middle. This will take about 10 minutes.

Pour into a strainer and rinse in cold water.

To make sugar syrup

Combine the castor sugar and 4 cups of water in a heavy-based saucepan over a moderate heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. This makes 1.2 litres.

Place the pearls in a mixing bowl and add 1 cup of sugar syrup, coconut cream, vanilla extract and salt.

Stir to mix through.

Set the mixture in individual ramekins and serve.

Mos Def – Mathematics (zSHARE)

This is a Stefano de Pieri recipe and is very similar to the one posted on Melbourne Gastronome last month. I am really annoyed that I forgot to add porcini mushrooms because I have some really nice ones just sitting in my pantry. I went to the market and was ready to splurge on some really fancy mushrooms but the only place that ever has them didn’t this week – I wanted to try these funky looking orange ones. It turned out pretty well and was ridiculously filling.

Camera Obscura – Let’s Get Out Of This Country (zSHARE)

This is a Jamie Oliver recipe from ‘Jamie’s Italy’. This pasta is so easy to make and is really good too.

Pici

Serves 4

455g finely ground semolina flour

200ml cold water

Place the flour in a bowl and, a little at a time, add just enough water to make a stiff dough. The drier the dough, the easier it will be when rolling out later.

Dust a clean work surface with flour and knead the dough for 10 minutes or so until smooth and velvetly.

Wrap in clingfilm and refridgerate it until you are ready to use it.

Pull off orange sized pieces of dough and roll it with your hands into a long thin sausage shape on a very lightly flour dusted surface. When it’s about 2cm thick, divide it into 3cm pieces so you end up with lots of little nuggets of dough.

Dry the table and make sure it is free of flour; otherwise rolling will be difficult, and have a damp cloth nearby to moisten your hands.

Take a wooden skewer, hold it at both ends and press it down lengthways into a pieces of dough. When you’ve pushed the skewer in half way, roll the dough gently round the stick using your finger tips. You should end up with a very thin, sausage shaped piece of pasta with a stick through the middle. When the pasta is rolled just thinner than a cigarette, stop rolling and gently pull it off – pull the stick rather than the dough. Giving the stick a twist should help.

Repeat with the rest of the dough and lay all your pici on a try, dusted with semolina flour, to dry out slightly before using.

Cook the pici in a pot of salted rapid boiling salted water for around 10-15 minutes until cooked through but still al dente. Stir the pasta to make sure they don’t stick to each other.

NB: Do not pile the pasta on the tray. Allow the pasta to cook for 5-10 in your pasta sauce after its been cooked to allow them pasta to absorb the sauce really well.

Hot Chip – My Piano (zSHARE)

This photo was taken a day after it was cooked. It turns into more of a pasta than a soup as the lentils and pasta absorb more of the liquid. I made it with red lentils instead of puy lentil because that was all I had and they turned to mush. It was still delicious though but looked no where near as nice as when you use puy lentils which are the brown ones that stay firm and whole. My second attempt using puy lentils is below.

Pasta with Lentils

Serves 4

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 onion, diced

2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

200g puy lentils

2 litres stock (chicken or vegetable), warm

200g pasta bowties

1 cup Italian-style tomato sauce

Salt and pepper

Heat the butter and oil in a large pan.

Saute the carrot, onion and celery until they soften.

Add the potatoes and stir well.

Add the lentils and the warm stock and cook for about 25 minutes, or until the lentils are tender and the potatoes have broken down.

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente.

Add the tomato sauce and the cooked pasta.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps (zSHARE)

Super easy quick dessert.

Rhubarb Crumble

Serves 4

3/4 cup plain flour

A handful of oats

125g butter, cold

1/8 cup raw sugar

1/8 cup brown sugar

Bunch of rhubarb, chopped into 4cm pieces

1/3 cup caster sugar

A knob of butter

A handful of crystalised ginger, chopped

1 teaspoon of orange zest, grated

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Stir in the sugars.

Heat the rhubarb, sugar, zest and butter in a pan.

Stir until sugar has dissolved, then reduce the heat.

When the rhubarb is tender but still firm add the ginger.

Place in a baking dish and top with flour mixture.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Serve with ice-cream.

NB: I’m not sure how accurate my measurements are, but you can’t really go wrong if you just add to your taste. Particularly with the rhubarb, as sometimes it can be really tart, just add a bit of sugar and when the rhubarb is tender have a taste of the rhubarb and the syrup. If the rhubarb is really tart add some more sugar but if its just a little leave it because it will cook in the oven and soak up the sweet syrup. With the flour rub in the butter and you don’t want it to be wet but if you try to pull it together it should hold but be crumbly. The next time I make this I will work out the exact measurements.

The Radio Dept. – The Worst Taste In Music (zSHARE)

Use chocolate cake recipe and add as much chopped chocolate as you want – lots is best. You can use milk, dark and white chocolate. To make vegan use soy chocolate and dark chocolate (70% cocoa).

Cat Power – The Greatest (zSHARE)