This week has been a bit of a whirlwind due to several birthdays and lots of trips south of the border, down Victoria way. Nevertheless, I managed to come up with a new recipe for you this week, due to the cheap price of green capsicums this week.
Stuffed and Baked Capsicums.
Ingredients:
2 green capsicums (you can use red ones, cabbage leaves, tomatoes, too).
1 cup long grained rice
250g mince (I used lean pork this time)
I small onion, diced
2 cloves choppped garlic
scattering of pine nuts
scattering of cranberries
2 diced tomatoes
handful of chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
water
Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Cook rice with 2 cups of water in rice cooker and put aside to cool.
Cut the cap off the capsicum. Clean the seeds from the capsicums and trim the stems of the caps.
Heat oil and saute onions and garlic until soft.
Add mince and cook till browned.
Stir in tomatoes,pine nuts and cranberries, tomatoes and parsley and warm through. Stir in seasonings.
Remove stuffing from heat and pack into capsicum bodies.
Place capsicums in ovenproof dish and place lids on.
Pour enough water to cover 1/4 of the base of the capsicums.
Place in oven and cook for about 45 minutes.
We also experimented with lunches. These ones are sauted mushrooms, salami and parsley, with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper, and seasoned tomatoes and goats' cheese with parsley, both on wholegrain sourdough toast.
On one occasion, we went to dinner in Bairnsdale, Victoria, at the River Grill, and had a very nice dinner. We shared entrees of
Pork in chinese pao rolls
and dumplings in sauce.
I had the whole local snapper, served in an Asian style and ate it before I thought to photograph it.
Next was dessert:
Rhubarb and creme brulee and icecream
and icecreams with a caramel sauce.
We all enjoyed our meals, and although it is pricey, we were mystified at being the only diners, save for a couple who popped in for coffee and dessert. It is unfortunate that the restaurant has just been sold. Hopefully the new owners will be just as creative in their cooking as the present owner.
In Brisbane, we dined at a local favourite, Campo Dei Fiori, in Clayfield, for an Italian fix. As usual, there were a lot of diners. And, as usual, I had my favourite, Spaghetti Marinara, which I love because it varies each time I go in the seafood ingredients which are used, but always is delicious. This time there were a lot of sweet little pippies. Sometimes there is a lot of fish, other times baby octopus, and other times prawns.
We finished with something we find difficult to find in Brisbane, cassatta. Very nice.
Service was, as usual, welcoming and efficient.
In Bogong, Victoria I bought a bag of local persimmons, the non-astringent sort, which are also difficult to buy in Brisbane at a reasonable price. It was suggested to me that I should try slicing them thinly and layering them with cheese slices in sandwiches. Must do!
We also were given some beautiful home cooking by our children while in Melbourne:
chocolate brownies
rocky road
and chocolate and berry cake. Chocolate is obviously a family favourite!
A real mixture of locations, types of food and cooks this week, as you can see!
