Mama’s Mahshi

Mahshi is a family favourite, because my mother’s Mahshi is a especially good. The word “mahshi” is Arabic for stuffed or filled. In this case it’s vegetable with a mince and rice stuffing. You can make it with capsicum, eggplant, marrow or potato, but the one I like best is tomato. Mahshi is one of those dishes which is also very good the next day, and it freezes really well, so make extra! When I was living in another city for Uni, Rosemary would keep some for me whenever she made it so that I could take it back with me.

Select firm, ripe tomotoes

1/2 kilo premium beef

1 1/4 cup short grain rice

4-5 cloves garlic, crushed

15 medium sized firm but ripe tomatoes

2 large spoons of oil

mixed herbs, salt and pepper

Step 1

Step 1.

Core out the vegetables you are going to use. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. If you have a fan-forced oven, turn the fan on.

Step 2

Step 2.

Make the filling by combining the mince, rice, garlic, 1 spoon of oil and about half the tomato pulp. Season with salt, pepper and mixed herbs. The pulp makes the mixture soft, and is needed to cook the rice. If you don’t have any because you are using another vegetable, then use some tomato paste and water. Place the stuffing into the vegetables, but don’t push the stuffing in too hard.

Step 3

Step 3.

Put the remaining tomato pulp in the bottom of a pyrex, bessemer or similar heavy baking dish. Put the tomato pulp in the bottom of the basking dish, drizzle with 1 tablespoon of oil, salt and pepper. Place the tomatoes in the dish and cover with the lid or with foil.

Step 4

Step 4.

Bake in the for about 2 hours. By now the baking food should smell delicious, the kind of delicious that makes your family or guests hungry as soon as they come in the door! Remove the lid or foil, and bake it a little longer, until the top of the vegetables get some colour.

Impressive Chicken

Sometimes the universe points you in a certain direction and it’s best to go that way.  Like today, I was in the supermarket, and the free range chicken thigh fillets were calling out to me.  I have chicken in the freezer, and wasn’t really planning to buy more, but I followed my instincts and picked it up (it wasn’t even on special). By the time I got home, I knew what was going to happen to the chicken.  I’d been to Fratelli Fresh on the weekend and picked up some excellent Italian prosciutto, and leeks are in season, so there was one of those in my shopping as well.

It was all coming together in this recipe, which I started making from Jamie Oliver originally, but which I have adapted over time.  You can see Jamie’s influence in this recipe evenn when I’ve written it down because nothing is really measured and the ingredients are interchangeable.  It always looks and tastes excellent, but isn’t that difficult to do.  It makes an impressive midweek meal, but is also pretty good at a dinner party.

Serves 2

Impressive chicken - ingredients

4 chicken thigh fillets

2 large strips of prosciutto or streaky bacon

1 leek, sliced in 2cm rings

a small handful of dried or fresh oregano or thyme

a glug of olive oil

a splash of white wine

salt and pepper

4 medium potatoes, cut into pieces

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.  Place everything except the prosciutto in a bowl and make sure that all the chicken and potatoes are coated in herbs. Choose a baking dish that is a snug fit for the contents, and oil it lightly (olive oil spray is good for this). Take potatoes out of the bowl and place in a pile in on one side of the baking dish.  Take the leeks out of the bowl and arrange on the bottom of the dish next to the potatoes.  Group the chicken fillets into pairs, and wrap each fillet with the prosciutto.  Place the chicken on top of the leek and drizzle what’s left in the bowl over the baking dish.  Bake for about 45 minutes, when the potatoes are done, the chicken will be done.  Serve with other vegetables.

Impressive Chicken - done

Gina’s Perfect Pasticcio

We celebrated Chris, my Brother-in-law’s Birthday today, with the family. As usual, Chris and his wife Gina put on an impressive meal. For me, the standout was Gina’s pasticcio. It looked amazing and tasted just as good. Pasticcio is a traditional Greek dish – like a pasta bake with bechamel sauce. Gina learned this recipe from her mother, but has been refining it. Today’s effort was perfect. The pasticcio held together nicely while being served, was still most without being oily, and you’ll notice in the photograph that you can see the layers quite clearly. After lunch I got her to share her pasticcio secrets with me.

This is a good dish when entertaining for larger numbers, and is usually a favourite with kids. You can prepare it well beforehand, and then bake or reheat it before serving. It also makes excellent lunch the next day. It’s not very difficult to make, but it will take some time and attention. I’ve divided it into steps, but clever kitchen managers (like experienced mothers) will probably be able to do more than one thing at a time.

This quantity will serve 8 people easily as a main dish, even more if it is part of more comprehensive meal.

1×500g box penne regate (Gina says the Barilla is best for this)

grated parmesan cheese

For the bechamel sauce:

1/2 block (125g) unsalted butter

1L milk (Gina uses low fat and it works out okay)

1 cup flour

3 eggs

For the meat sauce:

600g lean mince

1 large onion (diced)

2-3 cloves of garlic (crushed)

handful of chopped parsley

2tbsp tomato paste

1 tin crushed tomatoes

Step 1.

Boil the pasta until just cooked. Grease a large lasagne or baking dish and put in half the pasta. Set aside.

Step 2.

Make the mince sauce the usual way. In a saucepan soften the onion and garlic. Add the mince and brown. Add the tomato paste and tinned tomatoes and stir through. Simmer for a bit until it looks right, add salt, pepper to taste, and the chopped parsley. Take off the heat and set it aside.

Step 3 .

Here’s the tricky bit- the bechamel sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan, and over a low heat add the flour very gradually, mixing with a wooden spoon. Add the milk gradually, while stirring. Gina recommends that you switch to a whisk as you add the milk. Be patient and make sure all the milk is stirred in before adding more, otherwise the sauce will be lumpy. This should take about 10-15 minutes to add the whole litre of milk. When the milk is fully combined, stir through the eggs, and season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and add a handful of parmesan.

Step 4.

Pour a few spoons of bechamel evenly over the pasta that is already in the dish. The idea is to have a little of the sauce between the penne so that this bottom layer holds together when you serve it. Spread the mince over the pasta in an even layer. Spread the remaining pasta on top of the mince. Pour the bechamel evenly over the whole lot. It’s important that hte bechamel goes all the way through and across this top layer of pasta, so give the dish a light shake, and Gina says to poke into the corners and edges with a fork to make sure the bechamel is properly distributed. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top.

Step 5.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C until the top is a nice golden brown and heated all the way through. Since all the ingredients are already cooked, there isn’t really a set time for this stage.

Slice into rectangles and serve. Make sure you separate the pasticcio from the dish at the edges before you try lifting out the pieces.

Super Salsa

This weekend is Easter for a lot of people in my extended family, and I’m making some dips to take to our family gathering. It’s easy to be seduced by the dips in the supermarket and deli – there’s a lot more out there these days than the old favourites like french onion and sour cream with chives. I’m thinking fresh flavours, using stuff I have grown and stuff I have in the fridge and stuff I can get my hands on pretty easily.

Here’s what I have come up with for a tasty spicy salsa. I didn’t measure anything, but here’s a list of ingredients, check the proportions in the picture:

diced red onion

finely diced garlic

very finely diced chili

diced tomato

diced carrot

diced red capsicum

small tin of crushed tomatoes

salt, pepper, sugar

Soften the garlic, onion and chili in some olive oil in a pot on a low heat. Add the diced vegetables. After a few minutes, add the crushed tomatoes. Simmer on a low heat for about half an hour. Add a pinch each of salt, pepper and sugar. Check seasoning. Allow to cool. Fresh and tasty!