Chinese Eggplant

Posted on May 14, 2012 by theLABkitchen

Eggplant is one of my favourite vegetables, such an interesting flavour which can be enhanced in so many ways. In Moussaka with lamb and spices, Baba Ganoush all smokey (once my house smelled like burnt eggplant for a few weeks after making it, it was great!) and like this with salty and sweet Asian flavours.

Don’t be scared by the chilli and garlic, their flavour is very mild in the final dish but they are essential flavours so don’t skip them.

Ideally this would be cooked in a wok over gas. I have tried this recipe in a wok on the electric stovetop and found that it was better with a big frypan instead. The wok didn’t distribute the heat enough and the result was better and easier with the frypan.

Flavour explosion!


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Rhubarb Ginger Compote

Posted on May 13, 2012 by theLABkitchen

Some days I think I must actually be Malaysian or Korean because I love their food so much, and then some days I think I was born with Grandma taste as I love porridge and stewed fruit.

Here is a recipe for stewed rhubarb, but a little jazzed up with some ginger. This would make a great base for a crumble or just serve alongside some homemade yoghurt.

Usually I sweeten my rhubarb with apples and don’t add sugar, but for more of a dessert flavour this is sweetened with sugar. If you don’t want to add sugar, add an equal weight of apples to rhubarb to sweeten it. I have also added sultanas and raisins which have two purposes: to sweeten and to absorb some excess moisture; clever eh?

Rhubarb and Yoghurt with a Honey Drizzle


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Posted in Breakfast, Dessert, Healthy and Tasty, Vegan and Delicious | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Wholemeal Pita Bread

Posted on May 11, 2012 by theLABkitchen

The smell of fresh bread is out of this world! Possibly the only thing that is better is eating it with good fresh tomatoes and hummus next to your favourite person.

My new mantra is “it can’t be hard – they’ve been doing it for thousands of years without a modern kitchen.” This applies to bread, yoghurt, cheese and any other foods that have been part of our diets for millennia.

I would recommend that everyone makes fresh bread occasionally because it is just so much more delicious that store bought, and if you’re not keen on kneading and rising, try a no-knead recipe (to be posted soon), but this is really pretty easy.

This is probably not a particularly authentic pita bread recipe, but it makes a beautiful pita with a pocket to stuff with tasty non-authentic hummus. So give it a go!

What an excellent lunch


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Posted in Frugal Foods, Healthy and Tasty, Vegan and Delicious, Vegetarian, Yeasty goods | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Lamb and Quinoa Stew

Posted on May 10, 2012 by theLABkitchen

This recipe is a special request from my dear friend Jen who has been so enthusiastic over the years about my cooking that it was a big encouragement to start the LAB kitchen.

Jen has a bag of quinoa like my bag of lentils: something bought and then forgotten at the back of the pantry. I was asked to come up with a recipe to use quinoa which I was more than happy to do as quinoa is not neglected but much loved in my house.

One of my favourite quinoa recipes is a corn and quinoa salad from Rebar, but I wanted to do something a bit different with quinoa and the weather was cooling as we head into Winter in Australia. So I have made a quinoa and lamb stew.

The quinoa, like barley or potato in other stews, adds some body and absorbs all the beautiful flavours in the pot. Quinoa also contributes a slightly nutty flavour and another source of protein. This would be a perfect dish to throw in a slow cooker in the morning so you can come home to a hearty home-cooked warming dinner.

I will definitely be using quinoa in stews again after this experiment


I guess this means I’m taking requests for recipes, so feel free to make requests and I’ll see what I can do!

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Posted in Healthy and Tasty, Main Dishes, Meat | 9 Comments

Almond Croissants for Mothers’ Day

Posted on May 9, 2012 by theLABkitchen

Mothers’ Day is this Sunday and fresh almond croissants would be a lovely way for you to show how much your mother means to you.

Mums (or Moms for my North American readers) deserve more acknowledgement than just one day. So the least we can do is try to make them feel appreciated this Sunday.

These almond croissants are very easy but make a big impression on any breakfast table.

A breakfast for people you love!


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Vegan Turkish Delight Jelly

Posted on May 8, 2012 by theLABkitchen

This is for my little brother. He has been a vegetarian for many years, but he used to love both Turkish delight and jelly, so bro, this is for you!

This is a seriously delicious jelly flavour and I recommend that you give it a go if you like jelly and Turkish delight. You could use this in a trifle that would really wow your dinner guests as they get bursts of rosewater.

You could colour the Turkish delight jelly with normal food colouring, but beetroot was an all natural alternative that worked perfectly. There was no beetroot flavour with this amount of beetroot, more than one tablespoon of grated beetroot is likely to give a faint flavour as will leaving it to infuse for more than about 30 seconds.

Such a beautiful colour!


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Posted in Dessert, Snacks, Vegan and Delicious, Vegetarian | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Lentils with Bacon, Mushrooms and Sage

Posted on May 7, 2012 by theLABkitchen

Once upon a time… a girl bought a bag of lentils. The girl put the lentils in the pantry with all the other groceries. All the little lentils thought each time the girl opened the pantry that it might be their turn, but it never was. Slowly the lentils got shoved deeper into the back of the pantry, mocked by all the other pantry residents. One day the girl noticed the lentils, and was inspired to redeem them from the ostracised level in pantry society to be the centre of the evening. From this night onwards the lentils were never mocked again because even the popular can of tomatoes had never inspired the girl. And they all lived happily ever after.

Lentils really do have a lot of potential, but they are rarely at the forefront of my mind. Recently I finally got round to using the pack that I had bought some months early. The lentils are quite earthy and matched well with smoky free-range bacon, mushrooms and sage. Given my current addiction to walnuts, they were an essential addition to top it off.

The humble lentil is the centrepiece of this dish.


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Posted in Main Dishes, Meat | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Consolatory Cosmopolitan

Posted on May 5, 2012 by theLABkitchen

So my bartender is at it again, this time providing me a consolatory cosmopolitan after a narrowly (and unfairly) lost soccer game. Everyone should have their own barista by day, bartender by night (and mess cleaner all the time after I’ve been in the kitchen), but if you don’t I promise it’s easy enough for anyone.

I struggle to pay the crazy prices for mediocre martinis and dull daiquiris after you find out how easy cocktails are to make at home. You don’t need lots of fancy equipment: muddlers, shakers, jiggers and strainers; cocktails can be made with the simple kitchen equipment you have and served in “incorrect” glassware. One day I’ll have lovely cocktail glasses, but for today I’ll just have a second cosmo and then I won’t feel bad about the glass.

Such a pretty cocktail


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Posted in Drinks | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Homemade Yoghurt: A Frugal LAB Recipe

Posted on May 4, 2012 by theLABkitchen

I love culture: music, film, blue cheese, art, beer, literature, yoghurt. So why not try to develop some culture at home (it’s the closest I’ll get to getting K to contemporary dance?).

No seriously, why make yoghurt at home? Isn’t it dangerous to actively encourage bacteria to grow in dairy products?

There are a few reasons I have taken to making yoghurt at home. Firstly, it’s interesting, that’s what the LAB is about, making interesting things happen in the kitchen. Secondly, if people have been doing it for thousands of years, surely I am capable in a modern kitchen (well, reasonably modern – bar the blue benches and yellow cabinets). Lastly, it is so much cheaper than buying yoghurt, and we eat a lot of yoghurt!

Have you got culture?


Funny anecdote that shows how much yoghurt we eat: A few years ago in the supermarket I started laughing when I looked in our trolley. As we headed for the checkout I saw that we had tofu sausages, lean gourmet meat sausages, vegie burger patties, a few bits and pieces and more than 3 kilos of yoghurt (plus a full trolley of fruit and vegies from the markets). I realised that we were the health freaks that I laugh at in supermarkets!

This also indicates how much yogurt we eat, usually about 3 kilos a week between 2 people. So if I can save $4 a kilo, over a year that’s more than $500!
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Posted in Breakfast, Frugal Foods, Healthy and Tasty | Tagged | 4 Comments

Vegan Pumpkin Ravioli with Hazelnut Sage Sauce

Posted on May 3, 2012 by theLABkitchen

I have a lot of friends that are vegetarian or vegan, and I love having people over for dinner parties. The problem is that these two things don’t really go together and my vegetable loving friends get left off the invite list if barbeque Greek lamb is on the menu. So we held a vegan dinner party that had some vegos plus some non-vegos.

OMG, so delicious!


Never one to shy away from a challenge, I wanted to put together a menu that didn’t make the non-vegos notice anything was missing. I believe I succeeded as the non-vegos, after finishing second helpings of the main, only then clued on to the lack of meat (and dairy and eggs).

In the process K and LAB invented a dish that is now one of our all-time favourites. It is inspired by ravioli with a sage-butter sauce, but this has no eggs and no butter, and is really pretty simple to make.

Note: Excuse the photos (and the hideous blue benchtop), next time I make this I’ll take better photos so it looks as good as it tastes.
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Posted in Main Dishes, Vegan and Delicious | Tagged , , | 2 Comments