1 Red Capsicum (G)
2-3 Cloves of garlic(G)
100gms Feta cheese
2 tbspns Cottage Cheese
Juice of 1 lemon (G)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (the better quality) the cheekier the dip!

(K): Drizzle Capsicum & Garlic in good olive oil,  sea salt and cracked black pepper, and roast in hot oven (180degrees) until soft. 
(P): NB: the garlic will soften more quickly than the capsicum so be sure to take it out before the capsicum.  Take out the cooked capsicum and place in a plastic bag, seal it and place in refrigerator for 1/2 hour.

(P): Remove the capsicum from the bag, at this stage it should look all soggy and soft.  Be sure not to let all of the lovely juices run out of the bag as they are the “zing” in the dip that makes it work.  

(P):  Gently peel off the outer skin from the capsicum, it should come away easily if the capsicum is ready.  Slice the capsicum in half, but don’t slice through the top. (This area as all the seeds attached to it and it is important not to slice through it or you will end up with seeds EVERYWHERE).   Put your thumb under the seed bulb and gently break it away from the flesh.    Using a sharp knife edge scrape along the inside of the flesh to remove any other scattered seeds from the flesh.   You can slice it up at this stage into thin strips ready for the blender.

(P): With the garlic, once cooled it should squeeze out of the husk quickly and easily.   

(P): Place all the other ingredients in blender, squeeze out the garlic, and then de-skin & de-seed the capsicum and add to blender.

(K): My kids love to turn on the blender once all the ingredients have been added.  I make sure that I am always beside them supervising when they do this.  Most food processors these days wont work unless there have been several steps taken to lock things into place to ensure the machine is safe to use.

(K): Chill & serve with floweretts of broccoli, celery or carrot,

NB:  You can spruse it up a bit with a sprinkle of  fresh parsley, fresh spinach or fresh coriander.(G)  A nice little lug of oil, flaxseed or olive oil wouldn’t go astray either in finishing.

TIPS:  Being efficient I normally roast a whole clove of Garlic at once.  This prevents it burning and you can always squeeze and freeze it  to use in other dishes.

Technorati Tags: broccoli, capsicum, carrots, celery, cooking, Garlic, lemons, vegetable

I just love cooking this recipe for my family.  Its so easy, I don’t have to think about it, it tastes great and my kids love harvesting alot the ingredients from the garden to use in garden cooking.

GARDEN  INGREDIENTS
500 gms Good quality lean Mincebeef
1 onion finely diced (G)
1 clove garlic, bruised, finely chopped (G)
2 handfulls of Spinach/Silverbeet roughly chopped (G)
1 tblspn extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup Pecorino cheese finely grated
pinch salt to taste
pinch paprika (sweet is better)
2 pinches of dried oregano/basil/parsley.  If using fresh which is better flavor, you will need 1 handfull of each roughly torn.(G)

COOKING METHOD
(P):    Place all ingredients into large mixing bowl. 
(K):    Ask the kids (after washing their hands) to mix it all together with their hands.   Parent may need to superfvise kids here as the mixture needs to mixed until it all blends into a smooth paste.   You will need to “slap” the mixture into the bowl to ensure all of the proteins denature and help the mixture bind together in balls.  Slapping the mixture means grabbing a handful and whacking it back into the bowl.  My kids thought this was hilarious!
(K):    Make small balls of the mixture ready to drop into the fry pan

(P):    Heat a large fry pan with a little cooking oil of your choice, I always go for grapeseed oil.
(P):    Place meatballs in the fry pan, turn once or twice, cook until golden brown.


Cooks Tips:    Mixture is suitable for freezing either at the raw mixture stage or directly after the meatballs have been cooked.

Glueten Free, can be dairy free (just omit the cheese), Not suitable for vegetarians.

P:= Parent recommended technique
K:= Kids can help here.
G:= grown directly from your garden to use in your cooking, harvest the day of use if possible.

Technorati Tags: cooking, Gardening Kids, Garlic, Methods, Onion, Silverbeet, Spinach