Rocket, Chickpea and Pancetta Salad

This is one of my favourite salads in recent times – it goes beautifully with grilled white fish, a barbecue and is delicious on its own as well.  The cannellini beans add balance to the peppery rocket and hint of chilli whilst the pancetta adds crunch. The feta rounds it all off.  The salad keeps overnight and the leftovers make a delicious lunch the next day.

Note: This salad is a little salty from the feta and pancetta so be careful not to add salt – if the salad is too salty for you replace the feta with ricotta.  You can replace the pancetta with very thinly sliced bacon in times when the flat pancetta is difficult to find.

Serves 6-8.

1 long red chilli, finely chopped or 1 teaspoon sambal oelek
200g flat pancetta, thinly sliced into strips
2x340g cans of cannellini beans, drained
200g rocket leaves
200g Danish feta or ricotta
1 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons olive oil

1. Layer rocket in a large flat salad bowl or plate.
2. Combine 2 tablespoons olive oil, Dijon mustard and lemon juice in a cup and mix well with a fork or teaspoon to combine.
3. Cook chilli or sambal oelek in 1 tablespoon olive oil in medium sized frying pan over medium heat.  Add pancetta slices in a single layer and fry till crisp. Remove and drain on paper towel when done.
4. Add drained chick peas to frying pan, reduce heat and cook stirring frequently until chick peas are heated through.
5. Sprinkle warm chick peas over rocket. Drizzle with mustard dressing. Top with crumbled pancetta and top with crumbled feta or ricotta.
6. Serve. Yum!!!

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John’s Bacon and Egg Pie – Perfect for New Years Brunch

John loves his food and his cooking. He arrives at our New Year’s brunch and produces his pie, warm from the oven, with a flourish. It is spectacularly good.  John always has the knack of making it look particularly professional too.

8 rashers bacon
12 eggs
¼ cup chopped parsley
3 large tomatoes, thickly sliced
Quality readymade puff pastry, rolled out thinly

1.  Preheat oven to 220°C.
2. Line a 20cmx30cm deep Lamingtin style baking tin with thinly rolled out puff pastry.
3. Chop bacon into 5cm pieces and fry in a frying pan until cooked.
4. Sprinkle bacon over pastry spreading evenly.
5. Break eggs over, keeping the yolks whole.
6. Sprinkle with parsley and cover with thickly sliced tomatoes.
7. Cover pie with remaining pastry and trim edges.
8. Brush pastry with beaten egg to create a golden glaze.
9. Bake for 20 minutes then reduce temperature to 190°C and bake for another 20 minutes or until pastry is cooked.
10. Serve warm cut into wedges.

Awesome Stuffed Potatoes to accompany a Barbeque or Grilled Meat

Yes, it’s simple so how can it be so good. The mash inside the potato reminds you of meals growing up and bacon is an awesome flavour. The crunch of the bacon with the velvety texture of the mash plus the way the bacon cooks into the potato, makes these potatoes the star of the meal. Serve with something plain like steamed greens and grilled meat. 

1 pontiac or desiree potato per person
½ bacon rasher per person
1 Tablespoon butter per potato & a little milk to mash

1. Microwave washed but unpeeled potatoes on high at 3-4 minutes per potato until cooked.
2. Slice skin off top of potato and remove flesh.
3. Mash potato flesh with 1 Tablespoon butter per potato and a little milk.
4. Spoon mash back into potato shells.
5. Top with a ½ bacon rasher.
6. Place under griller until bacon is cooked and crispy, turning bacon over once.
7. Yummy !!!

Bacon and Egg Pie – Easy, Tasty and Perfect for every Picnic or School Lunchbox

This is the family’s most popular picnic and bushwalking food – of course it is wonderful for brunch and a very special treat in a school lunchbox.  I used to bake it early in the morning and wrap in foil as it came out of the oven.  It would still be slightly warm when we ate it.  Nothing tasted better after some exercise – something about simple flavours.

Serves 4

3 rashers bacon, diced
5 eggs
2 sheets puff pastry

1. Heat oven to 200°C
2. Layer 1xsheet of puff pastry in a 23cm diameter pie dish.
3. Cook bacon until crispy in microwave or frying pan.
4. Drain all fat and scatter cooked bacon evenly over puff pastry.
5. Break eggs over bacon being careful to keep yolks whole.
6. Top with second sheet of puff pastry and crimp edges.
7. Brush top of pastry with egg white.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes until pastry is browned.
9. Serve at room temperature or cold.