Nothing could be more refreshing than a crisp cucumber salad – perfect for Australia’s sticky and humid summer days.

Served as a pre-meal appetiser with a ‘rakija’ if you so desire, or simply in place of a garden salad with whatever you’re having for lunch or dinner, I could easily eat this salad every night of the week during summer, and the beauty of it is that it only takes a few minutes to whip up.

The secret to a really good salad is super fresh and cold cucumbers, old and rubbery ones that are served at room temperature just don’t seem to have the same impact. The cucumbers I often use are from my mum’s veggie garden, they’re a long white fruit with thin skin that doesn’t require peeling (although I prefer them peeled), I think the variety is called ‘Armenian cucumbers’. You can also use nice fresh Lebanese cucumbers as most supermarkets don’t seem to stock the Armenian variety.

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Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients
2 large cucumbers, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (or to taste)
Sea salt to taste

Method
1) In a bowl add sliced cucumber, oil, vinegar and salt. Toss to dress evenly and serve immediately.

Tips:

- Use fresh cucumbers that are stored in the fridge.

This recipe has been passed down to Natalie from her baba, who according to Natalie always makes it with such dedication and ease. What I love most about this recipe is how simple and healthy it is – a welcome change from the sugary cakes I usually indulge in. I also love the intense orange colour of the pumpkin.

I baked my Tikvarnik in a regular round cake tin, however, you can bake yours in a rectancular tin and cut into square or diamond slices.
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Recipe

Makes 12-16 pieces

Ingredients
1 butternut pumpkin, roughly cut into 8-10 pieces
2 eggs, lightly beaten
5 tablespoons (100g) castor sugar
5 tablespoons (70g) plain flour
5 tablespoons (100ml) milk
5 tablespoons (100ml) vegetable oil (e.g. canola or sunflower)

Method
1) In a medium pot place pumpkin and enough cold water to cover, cover with lid and bring to the boil. Reduce to simmer and cook until flesh is soft (30-40 minutes).

2) Remove pumpkin from water and allow to cool (5-10 minutes). Scoop out flesh, discarding skin and place in colander, allowing excess liquid to strain. Allow to cool completely.

3) Meanwhile preheat oven to 200°C and grease a 22-32cm rectangular tin with vegetable oil and line the base with baking paper or dust with flour.

4) Once cooled place pumpkin in a large mixing bowl and use the back of a fork to mush. Pour over eggs, add sugar, flour, milk, oil and mix until combined well.

5) Bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly browned and firm to touch.

6) Allow to cool, slice and serve as meze or dessert.

Tips:
- Allow to cool completely before slicing and removing from baking tray.
- Best served cold or at room temperature.

There’s only a couple of foods I haven’t been able to stomach during this pregnancy, and one of them is mushrooms. Under non-pregnant circumstances I love, adore, and crave mushrooms, so you can imagine my confusion when my taste buds suddenly said “mushrooms – NO”. Why can’t I eat mushrooms?

After months of avoiding cooking them, I thought I’d attempt to make mushrooms again. Surely I’d enjoy them just the way my mum had always made them. Seeing her recipe is so simple to make and given the fact that David has been begging me make mushrooms for months, I gave it go.

So there I was, standing there with a beautiful looking pan full of deliciously golden mushrooms, determined I’d devour in a matter of moments, sadly it was quite the contrary, I just couldn’t do it! David on the other hand assured me that they were heavenly, I guess they must have been, considering he ate them all in one sitting!

Oh well, here’s hoping that post 13 June, I’ll be scoffing down yummy mushrooms again.

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Recipe

Serves 4 as a side dish

Ingredients
3 tablespoons (60ml) olive oil
450g mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
Sea salt to taste
1 small onion, thinly sliced lengthways
20g butter (optional)
Ground white pepper

Method
1) Heat olive oil in a large frying pan (med-high heat). Add mushrooms, sprinkle with salt and saute, stir frequently until liquid begins to evaporate (5-10 minutes). Add onion and continue to saute until the mushrooms turn golden (3-5 minutes). If you like that buttery taste, mix through a knob of butter and remove from heat to avoid burning. Sprinkle over ground white pepper and serve immediately as a side dish accompanying grilled meat.

Tips:
- Do not wash mushrooms, to clean use a cloth or kitchen paper.
- Fresh and firm mushrooms should not be peeled as the skin gives a more intense falvour.
- Store fresh mushrooms in a paper bag and never in a plastic bag.
- For another variation, try replacing the onion with a clove of crushed garlic.

If there’s one thing I’m going to miss about summer, it’s those juicy red garden tomatoes, especially the intoxicating smell of them gently blipping away on the stove.

So as the warm weather comes to a close, I felt it was essentially to celebrate the humble tomato, especially since I had a heap of tomatoes that were almost past their used by date.

I’m still baffled as to how something so simple can taste so damn amazing! The flavour is intense yet mellow, and perfect with feta and mounds of freshly baked bread.

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Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients
1kg ripe tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar

100g feta cheese, roughly crumbled (optional)

Method
1) ) To blanch tomatoes bring a medium saucepan of water to the boil. Wash tomatoes and cut an ‘X’ into the base no bigger than 2cm and no deeper than 3mm. Gently drop half the tomatoes using a slotted spoon into the boiling water. Cover with lid for 1-2 minutes. Carefully remove remove from boiling water and place on a tray to cool. Repeat with remaining tomatoes. When cool enough to handle remove skin, stems and roughly chop.

2) Heat a a medium saucepan over medium heat, add peeled and chopped tomatoes and simmer until liquid has reduced (15-20 minutes). Mix through oil, salt and sugar. Add feta and stir through, then remove from heat.

3) Serve while warm with fresh bread and grilled kjofte, chevapi or kolbasi.

Tips:
- A great way to use up tomatoes that are too sloppy for salad.
- Freeze or store in airtight jars for use in winter.
- Leave out the cheese for a vegan option.

Firstly, a big thanks to everyone for your lovely pregnancy wishes – it’s wonderful to know how supportive you all are.

Cravings are synonymous with pregnancy and the one thing I can’t get enough of this pregnancy is salad, I guess I should thank my lucky stars I’m not craving a block of chocolate each night!

Here’s an exceptional salad recipe, which can also be prepared in advance for summer-time parties. It’s delicious served with grilled lamb or on it’s own.

This salad is also another that fits into the ‘Dave’s favourite’ category, so I often cook a big batch of sweet potato and onion, keep it in the fridge and quickly assemble for dinner or lunch. If your salad leaves are washed and ready to go, (I keep mine in a salad spinner) it takes less than five minutes to prepare, heck, it’s so easy that even David can put it together himself, and trust me, there’s not much he can put together in the kitchen!

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Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients
Baked sweet potato
500g sweet potato (or kumera), peeled and diced
2-3 garlic cloves
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Caramelised onion
1 large brown onion, peeled and thinly sliced length-ways
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 heaped tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Dressing
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon water
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

100g rocket (arugula) and baby spinach leaves, washed and spun dry
80g goat’s cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons lightly toasted pinenuts

Method
1) Preheat oven to 250°C. Place chopped sweet potato and garlic cloves in a large baking tray tray lined with grease proof paper, drizzle over olive oil, add salt and pepper and mix well. Cover baking tray tightly with a sheet of foil and bake on high for 20 minutes. Remove foil after 20 minutes and reduce heat to 200°C, continue baking for further 30-40 minutes, turning the sweet potato half way through until lightly golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

2) For the caramelised onion, fry onion in olive oil over a low heat until softened (15 minutes). Sprinkle over sugar and fry for further 5 minutes. Turn heat up to medium and allow onion to caramalise to a lovely rich golden brown (5 minutes), add balsamic (1 minute) and remove from heat, allow to cool.

3) For the dressing, combine oil, balsamic, water, salt and pepper in a jar. Just before serving shake well to emulsify.

4) In a large serving platter arrange rocket and spinach leaves, scatter over baked sweet potato, caramelised onion, crumbled goats cheese and finally the pinenuts. Cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until serving. Just before serving drizzle over dressing and enjoy with grilled meat or on it’s own.

Tips:
- Lightly toast pine nuts in a dry pan over a medium heat for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally until toasted and fragrant.
- Store left over caramelised onion in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.
- For quick week night dinners, double the quantities and store everything in the fridge, then assemble each night.

I have some explaining to do…there’s a reason why my posts have been a little sparse over the past few months. I’ve been feeling ridiculously tired, my taste buds have drastically changed, and to my surprise, some days cooking is the last thing I feel like doing! If you’ve guessed that I’ve got a bun in the oven, you’re absolutely right…I’m pregnant!!!

So beloved feasters, I hope you can forgive me for my infrequent recipe posts, and I hope you’re still happy to follow me on my journey as an eager village cook and first time mum to be. The recipe posts will continue, but they may be tad less frequent, and they may become a little simpler over the coming months.

In keeping with the theme of simplified cooking, I’d love for you to try my Mum’s lemon and paprika chicken, it’s an old favourite and perfect during summer on the BBQ served with a simple garden salad or taratur.

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Recipe

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons paprika
1 garlic clove, finely grated
Juice and zest of half a lemon (zest is optional)
Sea salt to taste (or dried vegetable stock e.g. Vegeta/Massel)

4-6 chicken thigh or breast fillets, skin removed

Method
1) Combine olive oil, paprika, garlic, lemon and salt in a medium sized glass or plastic bowl. Add chicken and toss to completely cover with marinade. Cover and marinade in refrigerator for 2 hours.

2) Preheat BBQ plate/chargrill or large frying pan (medium to hot). Cook chicken for 5 to 7 minutes on each side or until cooked through.

3) Serve chicken with salad.

Tip: Leftover chicken is delicious the next day on sandwiches with green oak lettuce, tomato, bacon and aoili (see recipe).

With 2010 now behind us, I trust everyone had a joyous Christmas/New Year break and you’re ready for an exciting 2011!

Given I have an abundant supply of yummy garden tomatoes, cucumbers and chillies, I couldn’t resist making this years first recipe a colourful, yet traditional garden salad to enjoy during our Australian summer.

Shopsaka Salata is steeped in tradition and hugely popular in Macedonia and surrounding Balkan countries, namely Bulgaria. Often served as a summery pre-meal appetizer, this salad is somewhat like a Greek salad, but dare I say…it’s better!

The key to an exceptional Shopska Salata is using succulent vine-ripened tomatoes and crisp cucumbers and chillies. In-fact, I wouldn’t even bother making this salad during the off-season as the produce just isn’t up to scratch.

On a different note, tomorrow is the Macedonian Orthodox Christmas, and today is Koleda (Christmas Eve). So ‘Sreken Bozik’ to my fellow Macedonian’s! Remember, if you’re looking for a ‘Koleda Leb’ recipe, check out last years post http://www.villagefeast.com.au/2010/01/06/festive-bread-koleda-leb/

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Recipe

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
4 medium tomatoes, diced
1 large cucumber, peeled and diced
2 medium green banana chillies, seeded and diced (banana chillies are also known as Hungarian or bullhorn chillies, if unavailable replace with a green capsicum)
1/2 medium Spanish onion, diced
4-5 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Sea salt to taste
100g feta or Bulgarian cheese, crumbled (or coarsely grated)

Method
1) Combine chopped tomato, cucumber, chillie and onion in a medium bowl. Drizzle over olive oil and vinegar, sprinkle over a small amount of salt (not too much as the cheese is salty), gently toss.

2) Transfer to a clean serving bowl and sprinkle over feta. Serve immediately as a pre-meal appetizer with fresh bread to mop up the juices.

Tip: For a modern take on this old favourite, serve the salad in individual bowls or glasses – it makes for a cute cocktail party appetizer.

Yesterday was the first day of summer, yet I’m still wearing trackie pants and ugg boots, so I felt my readers would forgive me for posting a ‘non’ seasonal recipe. In fact, my northern hemisphere followers may really appreciate this winter warmer!

Borania is village comfort food and it’s dead easy to throw together. Made with a can of sauerkraut and basic pantry staples such as rice, paprika and flour, this healthy soup is a great one to add to your repertoire for last minute dinners.

If you like meat, feel free to serve borania with pan fried pork and extra dried mint and chilli flakes, it’s a match made in heaven!

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Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
Sea salt
410g can sauerkraut, drained
1/2 cup medium grain rice, washed and drained
1 teaspoon mild paprika
6 cups (1.5 litres) water, boiled

Thickening sauce (zaprshka)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 heaped tablespoon plain flour
1/2 teaspoon mild paprika
1 cup (250ml) water, boiled

To serve (optional)
Dried mint
Dried chilli flakes (or Bukovsko Biber)

Method
1) Heat olive oil in a medium pot (low-medium heat). Add onion and season with salt, saute until translucent (5-7 minutes). Increase heat slightly, add sauerkraut and stir until liquid evaporates (3-5 minutes). Add washed rice, stir to coat (1 minute). Sprinkle over paprika, stir through until fragrant (1 minute). Add hot water, reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered (10 minutes).

2) Meanwhile, prepare the thickening sauce. Heat a small saucepan over medium heat, add olive oil then flour and stir frequently with a wooden spoon, being careful not to burn the flour (3-5 minutes). When the flour starts to smell like it’s cooking do the sizzle test by dropping a tiny amount of the flour into simmering soup, if it sizzles it’s ready, if not, continue cooking flour for another minute and test again. Turn down heat and stir through paprika, pour in 1/3 of the hot water and stir vigorously, once incorporated add another 1/3 cup of water and beat again again until smooth and incorporated, continue to do this until you have a smooth slurry-type roux. Incorporate the remaining water and add the thickening sauce to the soup, continue to simmer until rice is cooked through (10-15 minutes in total).

3) Check seasoning and adjust with extra salt. Serve while hot, sprinkle with dried mint and chilli flakes to taste.

Tip: This soup is also yummy at room temperature.

Before I get stuck into this weeks recipe, I’d like to take a moment to wish my beloved Village Feast a very happy first birthday! It’s overwhelming to think that in only twelve months I’ve managed to cook and post over seventy recipes. Inevitably, I have added a couple of inches to my waistline (and hubby’s too!), but I’m proud to say that it’s all been worth it. Village Feast has given me a platform to discover the deliciousness of century old recipes and share them with passionate cooks all over the world.

As an ode to true village cooking, this week I bring you one of my favourite greens, the humble sorrel leaf. Known as ‘kiselec’ or ‘kiselica’, this sour spinach-like herb is loved by many, there is even a Macedonian folk song called ‘para beri kiselec’. Often used as a pastry filling with spinach or added to spinach stew, I enjoy it wilted with egg and served on toast.

Fresh sorrel

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Recipe

Serves 2

Ingredients
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
150g sorrel leaves, coarsley chopped
Sea salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Method
1) Heat a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add olive oil, sorrel and sprinkle with salt. Gently cook until just wilted, then pour over lightly beaten eggs. Fold through eggs and remove from heat once cooked.

2) Serve while warm as a light lunch with lots of bread.

Tip: If sorrel is too sour, use equal portions of sorrel and spinach leaves.

This recipe was discovered by my sister Mira, it’s likely she stumbled across it in one of those trashy women’s magazines, or it was passed onto her by a friend, the reality is, she can’t actually remember where! So Mira passed it onto Mum, who passed it onto me over the phone. Turns out that I misheard the recipe and got it a little backwards, kinda like Chinese-whispers I guess. The other mistake I made was using chicken rather than pork fillet, as chicken was all I had in the fridge at the time.

Anyway, despite getting so many key ingredients wrong, the stir-fry was delicious, in fact better than I remembered my sister making it. This stir-fry has now become a weekly staple, but I like to call it the ‘Chicken Pork Stir-fry’ and it’s one of David’s favourites, so I always make sure I have some chicken breast, thinly sliced by my butcher ready to go.

It’s best to marinade overnight, but a couple hours will suffice. The cooking time is less than 15 minutes so it makes a perfect weeknight dinner. Serve with steamed green beans and medium grain rice.
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Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients
1/2 cup (125ml) peanut oil
1/2 cup (125ml) teriyaki marinade and sauce (I prefer Kikkoman)
5cm piece of ginger, peeled, finely chopped or grated
1-2 garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped or grated
2 teaspoons caster sugar
700g pork fillet, thinly sliced (or chicken breast)
1 large onion, peeled, thinly sliced lengthways
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon cornflour
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
1) In a medium non-reactive bowl combine peanut oil, teriyaki, ginger, garlic and sugar. Whisk with a fork to emulsify, add pork or chicken and stir to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (or minumum of 2 hours).

2) Heat wok or large frying pan over high heat. Remove chicken from marinade (do not discard marinade), add meat to wok and stir-fry until just cooked (5 minutes). Add onion, cumin and continue to stir-fry (3 minutes). Pour remaining marinade over chicken and onion. Add cornflour to 1/3 cup water and stir until smooth, add to wok. Bring to the boil and stir-fry until sauce thickens (2-3 minutes). Season with white pepper and freshly ground black pepper. Serve while hot with plain medium grain rice and steamed green beans.

Tips:
- Double this recipe to make an easy reheat weeknight dinner (cook the meat in batches).
- If you don’t have cornflour use plain flour, but be sure to add directly to the wok to cook/toast the flour, then pour over the marinade and water.