Spanish Rice

I call this 'Spanish rice' but I think the name is a misnomer from childhood.

This is not common in Australia so I make it more than I used too as a 'bring a plate'.

This dish keeps for a long time and transports easily.

It can also be made early in the day, and re-heated to serve, so I make it when we have people over for burritos, or something in the Mexican food vein.

I have also taken this camping twice, and it kept well for days in a cooler no problems.

 

Here is my recipe.

I make about 3/4 of a cup of rice and twice that water and add it to our rice cooker. I let the rice finish before I do anything else.
I boil about a 1/2 cup of water and add some vegeta or any time of vegetarian dry soup making mixture- but vegeta is my first choice. I set this aside.

I then take a tablespoon of olive oil, and about just one clove of chopped garlic and heat that.

Then I add in about 3 chopped tomatoes (no seeds or core)

As many peas as I can get my hands on

 (I used all ripe peas from our garden)

I put in about as much carrot, and again I just use what is on hand, here we have the small variety of carrots, so I just cut them and it was as if they were already diced, you want the pieces to be about pea size

I saute the carrots just for about 3-minutes, then I add the tomatoes and the peas for just about another 3 minutes

Then I add in the cooked rice

After I mix it all through

I start adding in the vegeta mixture slowly- and I keep stirring until the consistency seems pleasing.

 

So easy, even I can make it.

Farfalle Salad with Sundried Tomatoes and Spinach

This is a really good and quick summer salad.

We use semi-sundried tomatoes a lot, and usually have some in the refrigerator and we usually have both spring onion and spinach growing in the garden during summer.

550 g or 1 lb 2 oz farfalle bowtie pasta (spirals would work, you want a pasta that can catch the dressing and spinach in its crevices)

3 spring onions (scallions) trim these and chopped them finely

50 g or 1 3/4 oz sundried (semi are a bit juicier which is nice) tomatoes, cut them into strips

1 bunch spinach, trim the stalks and then shred the leaves also into strips

50 g or 1/3 c. toasted pine nuts (Zok usually toasts them himself quickly, probably as an excuse to validate his tiny pan)

1 tbl. chopped fresh oregano

The Dressing

60  ml or 1/4 c. olive oil

1 tsp. fresh chopped chilli (remember its the seeds that are super spicy so leave them out if you want)

1 garlic clove, crushed

Use a small jar to shake these up.

Cook your pasta, then rinse it in cold water, strain it and set it aside.

Take all your ingredients and add them with the pasta into a large bowl

Add in your dressing and mix well and serve immediately

Stawberry Margarita - Cocktails with Colleen

If you have spent time around Zok and I, then you know that he is the "girly" drinker and I am more a 'bourbon neat'.

As much as I prefer a freshly shaken (in America called the bartender style) lime margarita, when only Zok and I are home, I find it too easy to just drink the blended strawberry margaritas with him.

I have some rules when it comes to blended drinks-if I have a lesser alcohol I use it, because the quality gets a bit lost in the mix.

So I will use the cheapest tequila, and triple-sec instead of a nice aged agave or silver with Cointreau which is a must for the shaken, lime style. (in my opinion).

I also think of this drink as needing to be more carefully measured than most blended drinks.

I like the taste of the lime to come through.

In a pinch, or if I want the drink to have less of a punch, I will add in orange juice.

You can add water to all drinks actually, and if I am entertaining, I will make up jars of fresh lime cooked up with sugar and water, or towards the end of berry season I slightly cook my cut strawberries, with a bit of sugar and water and freeze them ready for the blender.

Again if there are only two of you, your ingredients do not need to go that far.

Blender for two

Always have more strawberries than you might need-

Cut up your strawberries, about 3/4 c to a cup per drink

2 limes squeezed (they juice easier if you roll them back and forth under your palm before cutting)

2 shots of tequila (you can do a small tequila float on top if you have one person wanting a stronger taste)

1 shot of triple-sec (or cointreau)

Lots of crushed ice (crush the ice before blending and you will get a nice smooth blend that will not separate quickly)

Simple Syrup 

*If you are going to make cocktails a couple of times a week it is well worth cooking up simple syrup to have ready to go.  I make mine two to one, two cups of sugar to one cup of water and keep it in a jar in the refrigerator to have ready to go.

To sugar coat your glasses it is best to use caster sugar.

Put a small amount on a small plate, use a bit of your lime rind when you are juicing those to coat the rim of the glass and then immediately place the glass rim down on your plate and twist it until it is coated in sugar.

If you live in a hot area, it is worth frosting your glasses in the freezer, or if you have the room just keeping glasses in your refrigerator.