YamDaisy Menu for Someone Who Needs It!

This was posted on a food forum I follow (Jamie Oliver.com/forum):
"My mother lives on probably less than $100 USD a month for her food budget.  She has many health problems, many of which could disappear if she could eat healthier.  To my knowledge there is no program or organization that could send someone to go shopping with her to make good decisions on what she buys when she shops.  I live over an hour away from her, and honestly, I'm not too savy myself.  Can anyone give me (and others) good low cost veggie and meat ideas?  Goal to make $100 USD last a month and still be healthy."

I asked if I could use this post, because it talks about such a big issue. This woman is a grandmother with chronic illness and few resources. I think she deserves some looking after.

There is advice about buying fresh cheap food and preparing and cooking, and avoiding waste, and storing and so on.

But how I wish THIS is what was happening for her:

A YamDaisy Cafe is opening in the neighbourhood and the local paper has a big article on it. Mrs Inlinet has signed up and filled out a questionnaire about her favourite foods. 

She has also agreed to be part of the research they are doing, and so has given them information about her health problems. A young woman came around and interviewed her, and explained that there would be another interview after a year, to see how her health is then.

Mrs Inlinet is on a very low income, but the meals are low cost, and each week there are member specials.

The first menu has come out and Mrs Inlinet is looking it over to see what she will choose.

YAMDAISY MENU
(Springtime in the USA)

SOUP

Pea Cream Soup from Love Lives In The Kitchen, (LINK HERE) with melba toast

MAIN 1

Spice Crusted Cod Fillet with Zucchini Salad from Angie's Recipes (LINK HERE) 

MAIN 2

Polpettone (from 3 Hungry Tummies LINK HERE)

with Roasted Potato and Asparagus (from Cinnamon Spice LINK HERE)

FRUIT BASED DESSERT

Rhubarb and Icecream from Belleau Kitchen LINK HERE

A choice of beautiful seasonal food lovingly cooked is what we all deserve!
Especially someone who has is struggling with illness and poverty, who has cared for a family, and needs to care for herself.
Mrs Inlinet can eat at the cafe, or choose takeaway. Why not both? And have a whole day of being looked after foodwise, whenever she needs one.

As you have seen, I put this menu together from wonderful blog posts. Hooray to those bloggers!

More info about the YamDaisy Cafe idea is HERE: and more menus are HERE:

YamDaisy Menu through the blogs

I am easing back into blogging after a delightful few days with Mr 7 year old staying with me.
So I thought I would share a YamDaisy Menu gleaned from the posts of others!

In my idea for the YamDaisy Cafes the menu is simplified to a soup, a choice of two main meals, and a fruit based dessert. This simplified menu makes it more home like, and more practical for the busy chef/managers.

I often see posts in the blogs I follow that would be perfect for a YamDaisy Menu, and as well as giving an idea of how the menu might work, it showcases some great blogs!

YAMDAISY MENU
SOUP: Miso Soup with Tofu and Vegetables
MAIN 1:Panfried Prawns in Soya Sauce
MAIN 2: Simple Couscous with Lamb and Vegetables
DESSERT: Carrot Halva

This menu may be just a little bit of a mixture of cuisines, but I am glad to have a vegetarian option, a seafood option and a hearty meat option. There is something for people who need to avoid dairy, soy, or wheat products. There is a lot to take into consideration for a menu!

SOUP
Miso Soup with Tofu and Vegetables from Foodstuff
Those who read my blog regularly will know this is my daughter's blog and.... (Proud mum alert!).... look at her most recent post! her blog was seen as a kind of folio in her interview and so helped her get her apprenticeship.
But back to the menu! What a lovely soup, full of vegetables and a meal in itself for those who want something light!

MAIN 1
Panfried Prawns in Soya Sauce from The Little Teochew
There is an upcoming post I will write about seasfood, but here, I have got some on the menu!
If you follow the link you will see that the recipe is here with such an interesting introduction.
I would serve with rice. I hope Ju will come and tell me if there is anything else that should be added! Please Ju!

MAIN 2
Simple Couscous with Lamb and Vegetables from Goodbye, Butter
I am new to this blog that is working through the recipes in The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook. Very appropriate because the Mediterranean Diet Guidelines are one of the foundations for the YamDaisy Menu. This recipe looks so delicious and hearty!

FRUIT BASED DESSERT
Carrot Halva from Not Another Food Blog
Firstly: Yes I know it isn't a fruit based dessert! But the point of the fruit based dessert is that there are some vitamin and minerals and not just empty calories. It is adding to the fruit and veggies in the diet. So a vegetable based dessert is quite acceptable!
Secondly: I love carrot halva! I want everyone to have the opportunity to try it!
It was this that made me decide to make up a menu from recent posts I have seen. Dessert isn't a huge focus of the menu, but we want to have something for those who can't do without!
What a treat for them!

Muhallabia

This is the lovely dessert from my Meatless Monday Menu.

It is a milk pudding made with rice flour and almonds and scented with rose water. I knew it first at the wonderful Turkish restaurant that flourished in Bendigo when I lived there in the 80's and 90's. We went there often and this was always my dessert.

I found a recipe some years ago, (Tess Mallos, Middle Eastern Home cooking, she found it in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan) but I have only now managed to make it.
I changed her recipe to strain out the almond meal, which gives the smooth beautiful texture of the dessert I remember.

Traditionally served with pomegranate seeds sprinkled on top, I found it goes beautifully with raspberries and would work with many other fruits.

MUHALLABIA
3 cups milk
3/4 cup ground almonds
Mix and bring gently to the boil. Leave to cool a little and squeeze out as much liquid as you can through muslin.
Bring the milk back to heat and add:
1/4 cup of rice flour blended with 1/4 cup of milk
a pinch of salt
1/4 cup castor sugar
Stir over a medium heat until bubbling gently. Let it cook for a few minutes. Keep stirring so it doesn't stick.
Remove from heat.
Stir in 1 tbsp of rosewater.

Pour into a bowl or bowls. I wet the little bowls so that it could tip out, (that is how it was served in my Turkish Restaurant) but it works fine to serve it set in bowls or spooned out from a large one. Let it get cold in the fridge before you serve it though! It is so delicate and delicious! Enjoy!

Egg Noodles with Cabbage, Mushroom, and fried Tempeh

Here is the next dish of my Meatless Monday Menu (finally!).
I love this quick dish and am pleased too because for many years most of my attempts at a quick wok meal tuned into sog ~ and I was doing SO many things wrong that it took a long time to sort it out and a miracle that I didn't give up in disgust part way through! Well, to tell the truth I did give up: but then I would gradually come around to another try.

I got this right thanks to a little Vegetarian Chinese Recipe Book I found in a supermarket many years ago, and I follow the same basic process of soaking then draining the egg noodles and giving them a fry, setting them aside and frying the vegetables and then adding the noodles and the dressing. Now I have got it, within that formula I vary just about everything!

This meal includes tempeh which I dice and then fry until crisp. So easy and such a lovely savoury taste and crisp texture to add to the mix.

Here is everything ready to go:

I kept most of the flavour in the sauce (soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine, chili paste, cornflour, sugar, orange juice) so the rest was extremely simple. I fried garlic, ginger and spring onion, and then the cabbage, adding the mushrooms and noodles when it was cooked and then poured over the dressing and stirred so it was hot and a little thick and shiny, served with the tempeh on top.

This is a life saver of a recipe because it has comfort and zing all in one plate!

Moroccan Meal

Here is that Moroccan dish again! (see here for the original post).

It consists of a Moroccan/Syrian bean dish I got from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. (Fabulous book!) with Moroccan carrot salad and couscous flavoured with preserved lemon and currants.

The recipe I am giving here is the bean dish. It is very yum, so I hope you try it
.
The carrot salad was delicious ~ eventually. I was disappointed with my recipe, but by the time I had done a lot of fiddling it was good, and I think next time I might make a beautiful salad straight off. I will post it when I perfect it!  But to give you an idea: garlic is fried, then the carrots and spices are added and gently cooked and then a sweet and acid dressing finishes it off.

I just made my usual couscous, but added some currants and finely chopped preserved lemon to make it more exciting.

BLACK-EYED BEANS WITH HERBS
225g /8oz black-eyed beans just cooked (I use one cupful cooked 8 mins in the pressure cooker), keep one cup or so of the cooking liquid.
Meanwhile
Heat 2 tbsp olive oil on medium in a pan
Add a dried chili and let it puff up and turn dark
Add 3 finely chopped garlic cloves and stir.
Add the beans, liquid and:
3 bay leaves
1 tsp chopped oregano
1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme
1 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp salt
Simmer gently for 20 minutes. The liquid will have reduced to a sauce. Serve hot.

I have been very flexible with the herbs, adding whatever I have on hand. One time I added heaps of spinach and that was good too. Today I added spring onion and parsley as well as oregano and thyme.

Sorrel Soup

This is the soup selection for my Meatless Monday Menu for the YamDaisy Cafe.

I was so inspired (about 15 years ago!), by Jane Grigson writing about Sorrel Soup that I went out and bought a plant, and I have been growing it ever since, in a big pot right near the door. She spoke of the French country housewife with such a pot, and able to whip up this soup if a visitor called unexpectedly.
I have never lost the pleasurable feeling of this scene, even though I didn't particularly enjoy my first few attempts at sorrel soup.

Here is my sorrel. Snails love it, as you can see, but it is still a gorgeous pot full!

Sorrel tastes just wonderful, it is a bit like spinach but with a sharp lemony flavour. It does go grey when it is cooked, but it doesn't taste grey. The first sorrel soups I tried were blended, and it wasn't until I saw one in a book called Potager by Georgeanne Brennan that I was able to make a version that is just perfect for me!

This is the recipe of how I make it for that unexpected visitor and myself!

SORREL SOUP
1 tsp olive oil and 1 tsp butter, heated in a saucepan
Add a finely chopped small onion, or 1/2 a leek and
1 potato (a yellow fleshed one is my preference for this) in 1 cm dice
(like the littlest blocks in the cuisinaire we used at school!)

Saute until glistening 5 - 10 minutes
Add 2 cups of vegetable stock and simmer
In the meantime cut the stems off 6 - 8 leaves of sorrel and then roll them up and slice them finely.
Add half the leaves just a few minutes before the potato is tender, and season with salt and pepper.
When the potato is cooked, stir in the rest of the sorrel and serve.
This way you get the green of the sorrel, and it is tender enough to melt into the soup.

I often make this when there is nothing in the house but a potato, and onion and a bit of stock!
If I don't have that unexpected visitor I think I will have a bowl and then keep the rest for later. But I never do, I always have a second bowl straight away, because it is so lovely!

Meatless Monday Menu

In my dream of YamDaisy Cafes in every neighbourhood, providing delicious, everyday food, the manager/chef will have as much leeway as possible to make the cafe suit the community and fulfil its mission.
One possibility would be to take on 'Meat Free Monday'
This is how it is descibed in the Wikipedia link:
Meatless Monday is an international campaign that encourages people to not eat meat on Mondays to improve their health and the health of the planet. Reducing meat consumption by 15% (the equivalent of one day a week) lessens the risk of chronic preventable illness and has a strong impact on the environment.

It is a good fit for the YamDaisy Cafe. Many people want to eat more healthily, want to do better by the environment, may even have their doctor telling them to cut down on meat ~ but they may have no idea how to go about it. A local YamDaisy Cafe could make it all easy: here is the meatless meal, cooked beautifully. The recipe could be in the YamDaisy Magazine or available on the phone app. The chef is there to give advice.

Even the meat eater who is scared of vegetarian meals can come and have a nibble and become familiar with the variety of things, and maybe find some meatless foods they like.

So here is the Meatless Monday Menu
Soup: Sorrel and Potato Soup with Bread and Butter
Main 1: Moroccan Meal of Black-eyed Beans and Carrot Salad accompanied by Couscous made with Currants and Preserved Lemon.
Main 2: Egg Noodles with Cabbage, Mushroom, and fried Tempeh
Dessert: Muhallabia with Raspberries

In coming days (health permitting) I will put these up in full because they are all so yummy! The Moroccan dish is pictured at the top and here is the Muhallabia!

Cheers everyone!

Yiota's Summer Menu Part 2

Yiota's Menu

Soup: Potato Soup with Fresh Thyme
Main 1: Chicken and Diced Vegetables Gratin
Main 2: Vegetarian Pastitsio
Fruit Dessert: Cherry Pie

Vegetarian Pastitsio

I was so excited to make the pastitsio and share it with you. When I first read Yiota's menu I had no idea what pastitsio was, although when I saw pictures I realised I had seen it before: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastitsio
It seemed a perfect dish to make into a vegetarian version and I made a big vegetable sauce that my food processor makes very simple. I roughly chopped up 2 onions, 2 garlic cloves, 4 small apples, a zucchini, and 2 red peppers and 6 dried tomatoes that had been soaked and then chopped. I minced them with the steel blade of my food processor and put them in a big pot with heated olive oil (about 4 tbsps).
While they began cooking I put the grater attachment on my foodprocessor and grated 3 carrots and 4 celery stalks and added them to the mix.
Next goes in 2  400g tins of diced tomatoes and a teaspoon of salt, and then the whole big potful needs to simmer for about three hours. For the last hour I added 500g of chopped mushrooms. Once it was simmering happily I put the heat diffuser under it and only had to give it a stir now and then. It ends up so thick and soft and tasty! I added a little freshly ground cinnamon right at the end, and it really added a magic touch to the whole dish.

I had a couple of serendipitous events. My good friend Lin said out of the blue that she had made pastitsio the weekend before, and how wonderful it was. So I told her that it was on Yiota's menu and she sent me her recipe.
Also Mary at One Perfect Bite posted a recipe. She wasn't completely happy with hers, so I concentrated even harder on making this a good one!

Apart from the sauce, I followed the recipe Lin gave me:


PASTITSIO  (Serves 10)
Olive oil to grease
2tbs dried (packaged) breadcrumbs
1 x 500g Mini Penne Rigate pasta
2tbs olive oil
1kg beef mince
1 brown onion, coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 x 400g bottles passata (tomato pasta sauce)
80ml (1/3) cup plain flour
1tsp ground cinnamon
70g (1 cup) shredded parmesan
BECHAMEL SAUCE
80g butter
50g (1/3cup) plain flour
1l (4cups) milk
4 eggs, lightly whisked

Preheat oven to 180c. Brush a 6.5cm-deep, 26 x 33cm (base measurement) ovenproof dish with oil to grease. Add the breadcrumbs and shake to coat.
Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain and return to the pan.
Meanwhile, heat half the oil in a frying pan over medium heat.  Add half the mince and cook, stirring, for 3-4 mins or until mince changes colour.  Transfer to a heatproof bowl.  Repeat with the remaining mince.
Heat the remaining oil in the pan and add the onion and garlic.  Cook stirring, for 5 mins or until the onion is soft. Add the mince, passata, water and cinnamon and cook, stirring, for 5-8 mins or until the sauce thickens slightly.
To make the béchamel sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until foaming.  Add flour and cook, stirring for 1 min or until the mixture bubbles. Remove from heat and gradually add the milk, stirring constantly until smooth. Place the pan over a medium heat and cook stirring constantly until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and whisk in the egg.  Season with salt and pepper
Add 310ml (1 ¼ cups) of the béchamel sauce to the pasta and stir until well combined.  Place half the pasta mixture in the prepared dish.  Spoon over the mince mixture. Top with the remaining pasta mixture.  Spread the remaining béchamel sauce over the top.  Sprinkle with parmesan. Bake for 45-50 mins or until golden.  Serve.

I wished I had just one more centimeter in the tray as I was scared to put all the sauce in! Next time I will put less pasta on the bottom level so that more sauce can sink in to it (is this a good idea pastitsio makers?) But for my first effort I need to serve it with some added sauce that I didn't fit in! Making the bechamel and mixing it into the pasta worked really well.
But let us pretend I got the ratios right and serve it here with some lovely braised green beans for the YamDaisy cafe!

Cherry Pie

O yum! How much the short cherry season is loved around the world! It will come to Melbourne in November. I think the YamDaisy Cafe would want Cherry Pie on the menu at least once a week as long as the season lasts!
Since I cannot make it at them moment I can link instead to a mouthwatering cherry pie I have seen on the beautiful Cherrapeno blog: http://www.cherrapeno.com/2010/07/fresh-cherry-pie.html

Thankyou Yiota for a menu that inspired me so much, gave me new dishes to add to my repertoire, and that are such a pleasure to share with everyone else. These dishes are just what the YamDaisy Cafe idea is all about! Delicious, seasonal, mouthwatering, not fussy... but heartwarming food to the people you are feeding.

The first part of Yiota's menu is here
The YamDaisy website is here

Good wishes to everyone!

Yiota's Summer Menu

What a treat it is to present this menu. It comes from Yiota in Greece and is full of the flavours of summer.
There are four menu choices each day in a YamDaisy Cafe. They must reflect the seasons, the everyday needs of the clients for delicious nourishing food, and of the chef(s) who need to be able to cook them up in a small (but well equipped) kitchen. Read more about the idea of the YamDaisy Cafe and it's menus here.

Yiota's Menu

Soup: Potato Soup with Fresh Thyme
Main 1: Chicken and Diced Vegetables Gratin
Main 2: Vegetarian Pastitsio
Fruit Dessert: Cherry Pie

In Yiota's email she wrote:

'So here's what I thought of: because summer vegetables are at their best here, I've used them in both main dishes; zucchini, red peppers, green peppers, carrots, mushrooms, green beans - you choose...  Cherries are also in season and I love, love, love them!'

Potato Soup with Fresh Thyme

O yum, this is one I love, and if the weather is very hot it can be served ice cold.
Here is how I make it:
Mince 3 finely chopped leeks and one finely chopped onion and saute in 2 tablespoons of butter.
Add 3 peeled and diced potatoes and 4 cups of stock.
(I used a vegetable stock flavoured with thyme)

When the potatoes are cooked, puree briefly and season with salt and pepper.
Add 1 cup of milk, cream, or a mixture of both and reheat without boiling.
I garnished mine with some thyme. It is winter here as I write, but in Summer I would sprinkle a few tender thyme leaves and maybe some chopped chives too.
The toast is made with buckwheat and oats and was a lovely accompaniment.

Chicken and Diced Vegetable Gratin

I avoided flooding Yiota with millions of emails asking about this dish, and so instead I had a real adventure with it. The only gratin I know is made with sliced potatoes, and certainly no chicken. Not only that, I have such trouble cooking it as whenever I try the potatoes never get soft!
I googled away and realised what a big number of bakes come under the name 'gratin', and remembered a friends suggestion to cover the dish with foil for part of the baking time to help the vegetables cook.
I struggled most to imagine how to include chicken (some of you know I am an old vegetarian, only recently learning to cook chicken), so I was glad to find this recipe:

Chicken and Potato Au Gratin

I played around with it a lot!
I started with 2 chicken thigh fillets that I browned in a mixture of butter and olive oil and then cut them into bite sized pieces. For vegetables I had carrots, butternut pumpkin (squash), heart of celery and a potato. I diced them up and added them to the chicken in the dish.

I followed the recipe for the dairy mixture (except I had no pimento) and no crumb topping. I was feeling VERY pleased with myself!

So in to the oven it went with the foil covering for the first 20 minutes. And when I got it out:

sadly.... it had curdled.

I blame the lemon juice! But maybe covering it brought the temperature up too high. I would use ordinary cream instead of sour cream next time too. It broke my heart that it curdled but I did taste it and was delighted that the chicken came through beautifully: tender little morsels among the veggies.

It is definitely one to try again and get right! Then I would serve it with green leaves and tomato salad.

The second part of this menu will be up very soon, before the cherries have finished!
Jump to it here

Simone's YamDaisy Menu Part 2

The first part of Simone's wonderful menu is here

Simone's YamDaisy Menu

SOUP: Thai Pumpkin Soup with white Sourdough bread
MAIN 1:Chickpea Stew with Jasmine Rice and Coriander
MAIN 2: Roasted Vegetables and Braised Pork Belly
FRUIT BASED DESSERT: Apple and Rhubarb Crumble and Creamy Yoghurt

Roasted Vegetables and Braised Pork Belly

I talked a little in the last post about coaxing this menu out of Simone when she was in the middle of moving house. Well, as I begin talking about her second main, you will see how this has come back and bitten me. She said roast vegetables, and was thinking about what to have with them... by then my conscience was pricking me and since I had just roasted a couple of chicken legs I jumped in and suggested roast chicken. "Fine" said Simone.

It was a little bit after this that she told me that she was a vegetarian, and so she would never have chosen a chicken to go along with her roast. Sorry again Simone!

And it was when I started thinking about this post I realised that I keep popping chicken in these menus because I want to cater for meat eaters and, being a vegetarian myself for so long, I am really ignorant about meat ~ except I am cooking chicken sometimes and learning about it. However, after my experiment cooking chicken legs I have to admit I have no idea how I would serve bits of them with the roast veggies.

I thought to myself that since Simone didn't choose the chicken, maybe I could change it for some other meat, and just grabbed braised belly of pork out of the ether! When I went searching for what it is actually is ~ it sounded a bit more complicated than I expected, and I realised I was just getting deeper and deeper into things I am totally ignorant about! O dear!

I had to have a conversation with my friend Lin about whether it was something that could be considered for a YamDaisy menu, and really, how big a bit would end up on the plate?
Lin calmed me down and I can picture now a plate with a lovely bright array of veggies and a succulent square of pork, and maybe a nice smear of apple sauce. Yummy?

I just love to make roast veggies, crispy with caramelised edges and all their colours were bright and glistening. I love making a big tray of these because they make such wonderful left overs! It is easy to be creative with the mix, but this is how I did this lot:

Put the oven to high heat.
Pop in a baking tray that will fit your veggies in one layer, or as close to that as possible.
In a big bowl, peel and chop your veggies. I used potato, parsnip, carrot and pumpkin. I made them only a few centimetres square (not that anything was that regular) so that they had lots of surface area and so they would cook quickly
Then I added some thinly sliced onion and chopped red pepper to add extra flavour.
On top of these I drizzled some olive oil, soy sauce, a bit of golden syrup, and lots of dried oregano.
I mixed this all up so that every piece of vegetable was just coated with the oily mix.
Next get the very hot pan out of the oven and tip the bowl full of vegetables in it. It makes a great hiss and crackle!
Shake or push the veggies a little so that they cover the pan evenly, and pop it back in the oven.
After almost half an hour I gave the veggies a mix, turning them over as much as possible, and after another 10 minutes they were ready.

And are you surprised to find I didn't actually cook the braised pork belly myself? But I looked very carefully for a recipe that looked delicious and possible for the YamDaisy menu. Here is what I found: Braised Pork Belly

Apple and Rhubarb Crumble and Creamy Yoghurt

The YamDaisy Cafe philosophy is all about 'Made from Scratch!' For anyone who takes the shortcut of using tinned pie apples for their apple crumble, the difference in a YamDaisy version will be a revelation! Apples are in season at the moment, and the bright, sweet, flavour of fresh stewed apples makes it most understandable that this is such a popular dessert. Adding rhubarb adds another level of flavour and colour!

Simone's topping for apple crumble has the butter rubbed into flour, and then the additions of allspice, almond meal, and oats, with the sugar. Drained Greek yoghurt makes a thick creamy counterpoint.

It is really cold and grey and wet in Melbourne at the moment. Winter has set in. How wonderful to have a menu so full of warmth and colour! I think everyone walking past the Cafe would have to come in and eat! This is a menu that will nourish body and soul!

Simone's YamDaisy Menu Part 1

Note to Self: When a neighbour who is moving house comes over because the Estate Agent has accidentally locked her out of her own home, and you get her a cup of tea while she is waiting for the Estate Agent to return, it is not polite to press her for a YamDaisy Menu.

But it worked! Simone has given me a really interesting menu. Here it is:

Simone's YamDaisy Menu

SOUP: Thai Pumpkin Soup with white Sourdough bread
MAIN 1:Chickpea Stew with Jasmine Rice and Coriander
MAIN 2: Roasted Vegetables and Braised Pork Belly
FRUIT BASED DESSERT: Apple Crumble and Creamy Yoghurt

The YamDaisy menu is for my idea of little local cafe's that provide delicious, everyday, affordable meals. There are only a few choices each day, made from local, seasonal ingredients. Read more about the YamDaisy Menu here.

Simone's menu is really interesting to me. Her choices really highlight the popularity (around here at least!) of a number of dishes. The very last menu I posted also had a pumpkin soup and an apple crumble dessert also! Is this a Melbourne thing?

It has really made me think how each YamDaisy Cafe could make similar menus their own! Imagine the annual YamDaisy Cook Off Awards. This year we could have a prize for the Best Pumpkin Soup. Would Rose's Cafe, with its glorious sunset coloured pumpkin soup, rich with red capsicum and lentils win? Or would the judges prefer Simone's contribution, with coconut cream and Thai curry paste? I had better not be a judge! I would score them both 10 out of 10!

Thai Pumpkin Soup with White Sourdough Bread

This is a lovely pumpkin soup. I based my recipe on this one from the 4 Ingedients book but I made my own curry paste (thanks Charmaine Solomon) and I fried the paste in the thick cream from the coconut milk until fragrant. I was also lucky to have pumpkin from my sisters farm. This was SUCH a delicious soup!
Not having sourdough starter, I made a light white bread to go with it: Hokkaido Bread and what delicious toast it made! I don't know that the YamDaisy chefs will make their own bread, but hopefully they will have wonderful baker suppliers!

Chickpea Stew with Jasmine Rice and Coriander

This stew is made by frying onions, chillies, garlic and chopped tomatoes, adding potato and frying for about 5 minutes, and then adding other vegetables, including kumara, as well as the (cooked) chickpeas and seasoning, and letting it stew gently to mix and meld flavours. Credit goes to Simone's mum for this wonderful winter Chickpea stew.

I will finish Simone's Menu next post!
Jump to it here

Rose's Autumn Menu Part 2

Look at Part 1 here

ROSE'S AUTUMN MENU

SOUP: Pumpkin Soup with a Fresh Bread Roll
MAIN 1: Macaroni Cheese and a Green Salad
MAIN 2: Chicken Caesar Salad Meal-in-a-bowl
FRUIT BASED DESSERT: Apricot Crumble and Custard

This post is a demonstration of how intentions morph as day follows day!  

As my proposed YamDaisy Cafe structure currently stands, the first two dishes are available from when the cafe opens. The next two come on as soon as possible afterward (but certainly by the time the lunch traffic starts picking up). I hope this will be a more practical way for the chef than trying to have everything going right from the start.

I talked about the Pumpkin Soup and The Macaroni Cheese dishes in the previous post, and then looked pleasurably forward to the final two dishes for this post.

Chicken Caesar Salad ~ Meal in a Bowl. As a vegetarianish person I am still not very used to chicken, but quite happy, and even excited, to be making it for this menu. My mouth still waters at the taste of the Caesar Salad dressing I made last time (see here), and I was fascinated at the idea of turning the classic salad into a chicken one, and into a particularly Autumn dish.

I found a lovely, simple recipe for roasting chicken legs Italian style and thought that would be a good start to getting nice chicken ready for the recipe. (And it sort of was!)

And I was thinking about Autumny things to be adding to the dish. Having a mum's point of view for feeding people with delicious, nourishing, home style food, I wanted to have a balanced plate with some good veggies in it. Especially since the Macaroni cheese is a bit lacking in these!

I went a googling and a thinking.... and then I saw this: http://cafefernando.com/chicken-caesar-salad-recipe/ 

O dear. It uses breast, not leg. It has no added vegetables. It uses a different dressing.

But isn't it just perfect?

I decided that if I was running the Cafe I would make it just like this (the dressing is SO easy!), what a treat for my customers! And I would just harangue my customers to start off with the soup to get some extra vegetables in them! (That's the sort of YamDaisy Cafe chef I would be!)

So that is how the Chicken Caesar Salad went in unexpected directions. And what do you think happened to the Apple Crumble and Custard?

Apricot Crumble and Custard
I bought the apples. I was considering the crumble: (The righteous ones have equal amounts of flour and butter as their crumble, and that is that. They would call my sort of crumble 'Apple Crunch'. Which way would I go with it this time?).

I was also considering the custard. How to have custard ready for people coming in over several hours? 

How to cater for those who like it hot, and those who prefer it cold? This was my thought:

 

Sweet little jugs filled with custard that people could have as warm as they like, and use as much of as they like. I was all set!

Then what should happen but the very Rose who composed this menu offered to make Apricot Crumble for dessert! Well, I wasn't going to say no! I just got her to take the photo (above!) and tell me how she made her crumble (crunch) topping:
Oats, flaked almonds, brown sugar, mixed with melted butter and sprinkled over the fruit and baked til hot and crisp. We had our custard hot!

Not what I planned, but supremely delicious! That is what is important at the YamDaisy Cafe!

 

Rose's Menu Part 1

This was one of the first YamDaisy menus I was given, and I have needed to wait for the seasons to roll back around to be right for it!
I asked Rose for a menu that would suit the YamDaisy Cafe that provides delicious everyday food made from scratch. When a customer comes in they find only 4 dishes to choose from! Therefore it is important that those four dishes cover a wide range of tastes and appetites.
There is always a soup, so customers know that wherever there is a YamDaisy Cafe open, there will be a fresh soup made from local, seasonal ingredients at a low price.
Then comes two mains and a fruit based dessert is the fourth dish, for those who feel that a meal just isn't a meal without one!

ROSE'S AUTUMN MENU

SOUP: Pumpkin Soup with a Fresh Bread Roll
MAIN 1: Macaroni Cheese and a Green Salad
MAIN 2: Chicken Caesar Salad Meal-in-a-bowl
FRUIT BASED DESSERT: Apple Crumble and Custard

Pumpkin Soup with a Fresh Bread Roll

There are a hundred ways to make a Pumpkin Soup, but this one is my all time favourite because of the gorgeous colour and taste the added red pepper give and the extra body from the little red lentils. It is also a supremely easy soup. And I made it up myself!
I start by putting 1/4 cup of the little salmon coloured split lentils to soak,  so they will cook really quickly.

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and add
1 onion chopped,
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large red pepper flesh, chopped,
(and maybe some fresh chili pepper, chopped)
Fry gently while you are chopping up about half a kilo of pumpkin in to chunks. I use Jap, a small dense sweet pumpkin, but any lovely pumpkin (or butternut) would be good.
Add the pumpkin and let it fry a bit while you rinse the 1/4 of a cup of the little salmon coloured skinned lentil you have been soaking.
Add them with a litre of vegetable stock and bring to the boil.
Simmer until the lentils and pumpkin are soft, about 20 minutes.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. When cool enough, blend til smooth.
Reheat and serve with a fresh roll and a little pat of butter!

Macaroni Cheese and a Green Salad
I think Macaroni Cheese might come up a few times in YamDaisy Menus, it is such a wonderful homey comfort food and I am discovering that there are lots of different ways to make it.
I was delighted to see this delicious version on 3 Hungry Tummies blog, http://3hungrytummies.blogspot.com/2010/04/mac-and-cheese-from-tummies-kitchen.html 
I think it would work beautifully here. What a treat of a presentation it is! And I love that the peas are mixed in.

I imagine presenting the salad in a separate low plate to compliment the bowl of hot macaroni. I would use all the fresh greens that are growing now the heat of summer is passed: rocket, sorrel, coriander, lettuce, cress, chives ~ and then I would brighten them up with some marigold petals and maybe a couple of fine strips of juicy carrot. Just the lightest dressing!
Yum!

I think if I went into the YamDaisy Cafe on the day this menu was served, I would eat my Macaroni Cheese and Salad, and then takeaway Soup and Roll to have later. But remember, you can get a 2 course meal for $10, which could be soup as a starter and the Macaroni Cheese as a main.

There are two other menu choices for this day, and I will present them in my next blog. I am looking forward to revisiting the Caesar Salad as an Autumn dish, and O yum, Apple Crumble! Jump to it here!

For more about the YamDaisy Cafe and the YamDaisy Menu check the website.
(I am updating it, it is taking me a long time!)

YamDaisy and Mumfood!

When I thought about the food at the YamDaisy Cafe I was inspired by Georgio Locatelli telling how a Locanda (small Italian inn) would simply serve the food the the family was eating that day. I knew that that was what people needed. Mumfood. Comfort meals. Delicious, everyday meals. Local seasonal ingredients. Slow food.... That is what I have based my YamDaisy idea around.

I developed the idea of a small homelike menu of few choices each day. A soup, 2 mains and a fruit based dessert. A small number of dishes to make it easier for the chef, and to reflect the 'mumfood' nature of the menu.

Then I had to consider how a chef would manage this day in, day out. The chef needs the balance between the interest of new foods, and the ease of bringing out a tried and tested menu. I thought about how I would like to set up the menu if I was cooking for 150 locals every day. The formula I came up with was to have a different menu every day of the week, but to repeat that menu for the four weeks of the month.
I will put an example of this below so you can see what I mean.


Chef
The chef can come up with a menu based on the local seasonal produce. Planning one week pretty well plans the month and hopefully each week will get easier to prepare and serve (plus each week responding to customer feedback ~ and variations in produce), and just when it might get boring there is a new month to plan for.

Customers
It is really easy to plan how to eat at the cafe.
If your favourite meal is up on Tuesday you can plan to eat at the cafe each Tuesday (or call in for takeaway). If you like trying a different dish each time, and you always eat at the Cafe on Tuesday, you have the variety of a soup one week, and each of the mains, and then whatever was your favourite on the last week!
If you eat there almost every day, you will get plenty of variety.
Or if you have particular food requirement, you can search out the gluten free option, the vegetarian one, or the meat and three veg one, and work your visit accordingly.

Problem

The biggest problem that has been pointed out to me is the issue of waste. Someone who had been involved with restaurants talked about having the same meal day after day on the menu means that left over ingredients etc aren't wasted. I do think this is an issue, it is important to avoid waste on every level! but I feel strongly that with the small menu there needs to be the variety over the week.
I am in favour of running out of food every day! I do know this is considered restaurant blasphemy, but it really can avoid the waste issue. It would work fine if the cafe had an excellent relationship with the customers so that there was a good sense of who will be in and what will they need. The community aspect of the Yamdaisy Cafe helps here. The personal relationships and the help of electronic communication make it easier.
The chef could twitter "Sorry we are out of Irish stew'
or "We have takeaway containers of fish cakes and fennel on special for $5 each. Hurry, only 20."
Also, careful menu planning means that the carrots in the salad on Monday could feature in the soup on Tuesday (for example), and in that way ingredients can be used most efficiently.

So that issue hasn't changed my mind! But please, argue with me! Can you see a better way to do it? Convince me.
I get a bit nervous structuring it all based on my own limited thinking! Let me know what you think. Cooks view and customers view welcome!

SAMPLE WEEKLY MENU to be repeated through a Melbourne (Autumn) April

Monday (Joy's Autumn Menu)
Soup: Zucchini Soup with a Dinner Roll
Main 1: Fried Rice with Coriander and Pepper Paste
Main 2: Mexican Polenta Stuffed Peppers With Refritos Beans and Salsa
Fruit Based Dessert: Apple Puree with Custard and an Oat Crisp

Tuesday
Soup: Wild Mushroom Soup with Thyme Scones
Main 1: Dal Makhani with Lemon Rice and Carrots Roasted with Cumin Seeds
Main 2: Red Bean and Chicken Bake with Green Salad
Fruit Based Dessert: Greek Yoghurt and Berries with Rosewater syrup.

Wednesday (Jinie's Menu)
Soup: Potato and Leek Soup with crusty bread
Main 1:Pasta Bake made with Grated Vegetables and Bolognaise sauce.
Main 2:Veggie Slice (a frittata with lots of vegetables) served with a Side Salad and a little bowl of Sweet Relish
Fruit Based dessert: Fruit Salad with Honey Icecream.

Thursday (Rose's menu)
Soup: Pumpkin Soup with a bread roll
Main 1: Macaroni Cheese and a Green Salad
Main 2: Chicken Caesar Salad Meal-in-a-bowl
Fruit Dessert: Apple Crumble and Custard

Friday
Soup: Autumn Minestrone
Main 1: Cornish Pasty with Autumn Salad
Main 2: Black Bean and Chilli Rice Vermicelli garnished with Spring Onions, Lettuce and Coriander
Fruit Based Dessert: Poached Pears with Baked Ricotta

YamDaisy Autumn Menu Part Two

For a YamDaisy Cafe Menu the food must be Delicious, Everyday Food and Economical too. Not only that, there are only four dishes on the menu to cater to the (presumably) wide ranging tastes of the customers. The chef needs to cook them all in a small, but well equipt kitchen. O yes, they need to be made from scratch from local, seasonal ingredients.

It is just turning Autumn in Melbourne, the end of Summer vegetables are glorious, and my sister brought me eggplants, zucchini, cucumber and a huge bag of wonderful new season apples when she came to visit a couple of weeks ago. So I came up with the following menu to give an idea of what a Yamdaisy Cafe could do:

JOY'S AUTUMN MENU

Soup: Zucchini Soup with a Dinner Roll
Main 1: Fried Rice with Coriander and Pepper Paste
Main 2: Mexican Polenta Stuffed Peppers With Refritos Beans and Salsa
Fruit Based Dessert: Apple Puree with Custard and an Oat Crisp

I began writing about this menu last post, so to get the chat and recipes about the soup and the first main have a look here:

Main 2: Mexican Polenta Stuffed Peppers With Refritos Beans and Salsa
In the picture above you can see my attempt at the peppers. 
I am not sure the photo shows how gorgeous they were, and of course it can't let you know how delicious they smelled. I just loved them! But I varied quite a bit from the recipe, so I will write it out and then tell you what I did.

This recipe came from "Moosewood Simple Suppers" and it was my first try at making it.

MEXICAN POLENTA STUFFED PEPPERS
5 large peppers - Cut in half lengthwise, keep stems on. Remove seeds, brush inside and out with olive oil (allow 1 1/2 tbsps). Salt lightly, place cut side up on an oiled baking sheets and roast at 450F for 15 minutes until tender but still holding their shape.
Polenta: Cook 4 cups of water, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 cup of cornmeal until thickened.
Stir in 1 1/2 cups of corn kernels, 1 tbsp oil or butter,  1 cup of grated cheese and 1/2 a cup of chopped spanish olives.
Fill the capsicums with the polenta, sprinkle more cheese on top and bake 5 - 10 minutes until the cheese has melted.
Serve with Mexican beans and salsa.

I really wanted to make this recipe, but I had the long red peppers which aren't so thick fleshed. Three instead of five! But I did have some sweet corn and some olives (Greek not Spanish). I thought of how I could slit the peppers open so they would be like a shoe shape to fill with the polenta, but how to get the seeds out? 
I slit them, gave a tiny rub of oil where the pepper sat on the tray, and roasted them for 15 minutes. When they cooled I could open up to get at the seeds and membranes. They hardly had any! All very easy, and I had used a smear of oil, not 1 1/2 tbsps.
Next the polenta. I used my easy microwave method (thanks Barbara Kafka) where I put 1 cup of water, 3 tbsp cornmeal and 1/2 tsp salt in a 1 litre pyrex jug. Stir and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir again and cover with a piece of paper towel. Cook 1 1/2 minutes more on high. Mix in a generous teaspoon of butter and a grind of pepper, and let it sit for three minutes.
For this recipe I added about 1/3 of a cup of fresh sweet corn kernels with the butter and pepper. I don't like my polenta too cheesy, so I didn't add that, and I thought the olives would look nicer on top so I kept them back too.
I spooned the polenta into the peppers and topped with lots of grated cheese (that is where I like my cheese!) and the olives and then popped them back into the hot oven until the cheese was bubbling and golden. (It wasn't happening quickly enough in the oven so I finished them off under the grill).
They are SO delicious! I think I prefer them the way I did them, so that is now my recipe!


Next I looked for the Mexican Beans to go with them. I have a yummy recipe but it didn't quite suit (it had cornmeal in it for a start!) and I was feeling sorry for the carnivores so I looked on the internet for one with beef added. However, I found this one and liked it so much! It would match beautifully with the pepper dish! http://www.cooking-mexican-recipes.com/pinto_bean_recipes.html
And to finish it off a salsa with cucumber, tomato, herbs and avacado if possible would be just gorgeous!

And the final dish, for those who just can't survive without a dessert:

Fruit Based Dessert: Apple Puree with Custard and an Oat Crisp
Those of you who have been following my blog for a while must think I am fixated on apples and oats! Every time I think of a delicious fruit based dessert it seems to contain them! But this time I had that big bag of the most gorgeous fresh apples! 

First I pureed the apple following a method my sister showed me that my mum perfected long after we had all left home! Cut the apples quickly into chunks. Cook gently in saucepan with a thick bottom, with a bit of sugar (2 tbsp for 8 apples I think I used) and a sprinkle of water. When soft, blend with a wand style thing in the saucepan, or if you are like me and haven't got one, cool until you can put them in the blender. The red skins give the puree a lovely pink colouring, all those added vitamins, and yet don't effect the texture. (Note: the skins do blend better if they are less than 2cm square pieces).

I made REAL custard, mindful of the YamDaisy 'make from scratch and not from packets' philosophy. I usually make a very nice packet custard, and this recipe was quite stressful since it was first time.... but O Yum! Eggs and milk really do make such a beautiful custard! I don't think I can go back to packet mix now!

And for a bit of crispness I made a round of Oat Pastry ( 2 cups rolled oats, 1/2 cup raw sugar, 100g melted butter ~ combine firmly and press mixture into a 20 cm pie dish. Fill and bake in a moderate oven til firm). 
I just pressed it into the pie plate and baked til crisp and golden and when I had cooled it on a rack I tried to cut it into elegant wedges. I aimed for 16 and got a dozen, they did tend to shatter! I think a YamDaisy Chef would work something else out! They were nice though! The photo makes it look dark, it was really a lovely golden brown. Crisp and sweet and balanced the dish.

The nicest thing about this menu was all the yumminess I got to eat! My next job is to work on the YamDaisy website. I think I need to do a lot of updating to the menu page! You can check the site out here http://home.vicnet.net.au/~yamdaisy/
and see if I have done so! And give me some feedback on what more could be done there! And on this menu too please!
Otherwise thanks so much for reading! Best Wishes to you all!

YamDaisy Autumn Menu Part One

It has just turned to Autumn here in Melbourne, and my sister visited with lovely produce from her farm, which has greatly inspired this menu.
The YamDaisy Cafe Menu has only four choices each day ~ three really, since one is a dessert. So the aim is that they cover a wide variety of tastes.

It seems that every meal I have at the moment contains zucchini, eggplant, corn, peppers, tomatoes. All those end of Summer vegetables that combine so well together.

I began this menu with the fried rice that stars the beautiful eggplant (prepared with pepper and coriander paste). So then I needed another main that stars Summer vegetables but is quite different, and might suit people who don't like the rice. I tried to put meat in it! (I know there are a lot of meat eaters out there). But it just turned out that it is another vegetarian menu! Maybe it could be for Meat Free Monday!

I hope there is something you like anyway!
There is so much good food to talk about... I will spread it over two posts!

JOY'S AUTUMN MENU

Soup: Zucchini Soup with a Dinner Roll
Main 1: Fried Rice with Coriander and Pepper Paste
Main 2: Mexican Polenta Stuffed Peppers With Refritos Beans and Salsa
Fruit Based Dessert: Apple Puree with Custard and an Oat Crisp

Zucchini Soup with a Dinner Roll
This must be the simplest soup in the world, it is hard to believe it tastes so good, but try it and see! A fresh little dinner roll is a perfect accompanimnet!
Zucchini Soup
500 g zucchini ~ cooked in boiling water (to cover) until soft. Cool enough to blend.
Then add 2 1/2 cups of milk, 1 tbsp of butter and Salt and Pepper to taste.
Reheat slowly (do not boil!) and serve.

Fried Rice with Pepper and Coriander Paste

This is best made with precooked rice that is waiting nice and cold in the fridge.
The eggplant is prepared first. Cut 2 medium eggplants into fair sized chunks (2cm squared) and mix through 2 tablespoons of Pepper and Coriander paste.

(This is seriously wonderful stuff! I got the recipe from Charmain Solomon's Thai Cookbook and made it when I had a big bunch of coriander I wasn't using quickly enough. I froze it in a couple of portions. This is how it goes:
1 tbsp chopped garlic crushed to a paste with 2 tsp salt in a mortar and pestle
Roast and crush 2 tbsp of black peppercorns
Chop 2 cups of fresh coriander
Mix all the ingredients above into a paste in the mortar and pestle or a blender.
Add and mix in 2 tbsp of lemon juice.
Note: If you grind the pepper in a spice grinder, just use 1 tbsp as it will taste much stronger.)

Now that your eggplant has been sitting in the amazing paste, gently cook it with just a touch of oil, if you wish, until the eggplant is cooked.
Prepare the other ingredients for the fried rice: I used onion, zucchini, red peppers, corn and beet leaves, but notice how I have zucchini in the soup and red pepper and corn in the other main? I couldn't avoid it!
At least with this recipe the customer can choose what extra veggies they want in their rice!

Stir fry the veggies, then add the eggplant and any of the paste in the bottom of the bowl, then the rice and some chopped peanuts and when all is deliciously hot and fragrant fill up your bowl and enjoy. it tastes fantastic!

Next two dishes - Next post! Jump to it here
If you are trying to work out what the YamDaisy Menus are all about - Have a look here

Andrea's YamDaisy Menu

 

Menu Introduction: My blog is about my idea for a series of YamDaisy Cafes that provide delicious, everyday food at prices people can afford.  Click Here to read more about my idea.

 To give an idea of the sort of food the YamDaisy Cafes would serve I ask friends to come up with a day's menu. Four options are available each day: a soup with accompaniment, two main meals and a fruit based dessert. The small number of options are to make it easier for the chef, and also to make it more similar to home cooking where there is usually even less options! The food needs to be made from scratch in a small kitchen for a lot of people out of local, seasonal ingredients.

ANDREA'S SUMMER MENU

SOUP: Vichyssoise with Melba Toast

MAIN 1: Stir Fried Zucchini and Onion on Rice with a Satay Sauce

MAIN 2: Caesar Salad in a Bowl

DESSERT: Strawberries with Meringue and Cream

I do love the insight and challenges I get from people's menus. There so many things in Andrea's menu I would like to explore. Andrea and her partner Brian are farmers and Brian has a great vegetable garden and orchard so she had an extremely clear idea of what is in season (in country Victoria in the heat of Summer). And she also knows the sort of food that suits the hot weather. 

SOUP Andrea NEVER has soup in Summer! But she knew that Vichyssoise can be eaten cold, and so chose that. What a lovely choice, because it is cool and tasty when you haven't much appetite, but it will keep you going!

MEAL 1: RICE, STIR FRY ZUCCHINI AND SATAY SAUCE  To blog a menu I need a picture, so I make one of the dishes. As well as making the blog more inviting it gives me a good idea about the menu and plenty to talk about! Plus a recipe or so to share. 

Today I made rice with stir fried zucchini and satay sauce. 

So firstly, do you call coconutty peanut sauce 'Satay Sauce'? It is common here, but by looking up recipes I think we should be calling it Peanut Sauce, maybe Creamy Peanut Sauce because of the coconut milk in it.

Since I am not cooking the dish for 60 people in a YamDaisy Cafe, but just for my own lunch - I am very glad Andrea gave me her recipe for making a small amount of creamy peanut sauce in the microwave (or easily done in a small saucepan on the stovetop). I have changed her ingredients according to what I have easily available, and this is how I make Satay Sauce:

Quick, Easy, Creamy Peanut Sauce

Soak a 1 tbsp piece of tamarind in a 1/4 cup of hot water

Into a 2 cup microwavable jug place:

2 tsp of grated palm sugar

1 minced garlic clove

1 tsp soy sauce

1 big tbsp of peanut butter

Squish up the tamarind and strain it into the jug too

a pinch of chilli powder (plain hot chilli, not the American mixture)

Mix it all up and then add 3/4 cup of coconut milk and stir again.
Microwave on medium power for a couple of minutes until it is thickened and hot but not boiling.
Add a squeeze of lemon juice to taste.
That is it! taste it, it is YUM!

Next the vegetables. I added carrot, celery and corn to the zucchini and onion, thinking it would be good to have a variety so customers can nominate if they want one left out! ~ and to add to the colour and texture of the dish. I stir fried them plain, because all the added flavour is in the sauce, and I didn't add my pinch of salt til the very end because I didn't want moisture to come out and make them mushy. This was very quick and easy too!
I served plenty of vegetables with freshly cooked rice and topped it with the hot tasty sauce. I didn't have coriander or Asian basil to garnish, so that is why sweet basil is there, and very delicious it is too. (And I have leftovers for tomorrow).
I took the photo and immediately tried to start this post, except that eating stir fried vegetables with rice and satay sauce does require both hands!

MEAL 2: CAESAR'S SALAD IN A BOWL By 'in a bowl' I mean that it is the meal in itself, not a side dish.
Andrea was really thinking about eating in the hot weather, and wanting something light and refreshing but still substantial enough to be a meal. She told me about Brian's way of eating Caesar Salad which is cos lettuce with a dressing and small pieces of fried bread, egg, and bacon, topped with parsley and spring onions. Wow! I was intrigued by this because I have never made Caesar's Salad to my satisfaction. I want to do it for my next post.
I want to make a great YamDaisy Caesar Salad in a bowl. I have considered Brian's favourite way, and am impressed by the way it is almost Farmers Breakfast as a salad! I have looked up the close to original recipes. I think I want something inbetween. Can you help me? Do you have a favourite way of making Caesar Salad? Do you ever eat it as a meal in a bowl, or always as a side dish? How would you make it for the YamDaisy Cafe?
Note: 6/3/10 : I made it! Click here to check it out

Finally DESSERT ~ STRAWBERRIES WITH MERINGUE AND CREAM. Yummo! It was nearly pavlova, but since that didn't really fit into the YamDaisy philosophy of 'everyday' food, Andrea shrunk the meringue to a small little bite of deliciousness to accompany the fruit, and the cream to a delicate blob, and let the strawberries star. Oh heaven, I wonder if I can make this dish too!

Thankyou Andrea for a gorgeous menu, a delicious lunch, and a Caesar's Salad in the next few days!

Shirl's YamDaisy Menu

 

A menu of 4 Choices is fine for the YamDaisy Cafe, after all, it is more than you usually get at home!

I collared Shirley and pestered her for a menu (this happens to all my friends!). I not only demand a soup, 2 main courses, and a fruit based dessert, but I ask her to think about the chef in a small kitchen cooking for 150 people a day.

And I remind her that it should be seasonal, local food (but I let her pick any season and locality she likes!). I tell her about the three key things about YamDaisy food: Delicious, Everyday Food and Economical. I ask her to think of a community, maybe a community of her friends, that she would be cooking for.

But Shirley is a trooper, she likes a problem to solve, and she quickly comes up with some amazing dishes. 

Soup: Glorious Soup with Turkish Pita Bread

Main 1: Deadly Nightshade Casserole with Braised Greens

Main 2: Asparagus and Corn Crustless Quiche with Roast Potato and Pumpkin

Fruit Dessert: Baked Quinces with Egg Custard

Glorious Soup 

Shirl chose this soup because it is really yummy with Asian flavours and pretty with the beetroot. It isn't insipid, as some vegetable soups can be, and isn't too spicy so it has wide appeal. This soup has beetroot and other veggies  cooked with kaffir lime, lemon juice, coconut milk and Tom Yum paste. She chose to serve it with Turkish Pita Bread. The flavours stretch from one side of Asia to the other!

Deadly Nightshade Casserole with Braised Greens

 

Won't kids love choosing this! You will be relieved to know that there is nothing deadly in the ingredients, unless you use it the Koori way where 'deadly' means really good! But there is plenty of nightshade! Tomato, eggplant, potato, capsicum and chillies! All from the nightshade family. 

It was invented by Shirl's friend but she hasn't cooked it herself yet. The instructions were to fry up some onions and layer them in a casserole with all the vegetables, put cheese on top and bake it slowly. She would serve it with a mixture of silver beet (chard) and cabbage, because she finds the beet too acidic by itself.

I was very keen to try this recipe, but it took a while for all those nightshade veggies to be lovely in my greengrocers. February turns out to be the right month. (Unfortunately February also means the cabbage is quite rank, so since peas are nice, I would braise them with the chard instead!).

The recipe is a work in progress. I liked it being so onepot simple, but when I went to make it yesterday I had left it a bit late to bake slowly to cook everything in the oven.

I gently fried onions and garlic with a chopped red chili ~ that made a great couple of layers.

I began seeing it as a variation on eggplant parmigiana so I made a topping with cheese and crumbs and thyme.

I thought I should grill the eggplant slices a bit first. And I microwaved the potatoes so they wouldn't be hard. Then the capsicum needed to be cooked too, so I fried them on high heat till they had tasty blackened edges, and then gave them a microwave zap too, to soften them. 

Next I realised I didn't have as many tomatoes as I thought and compromised with a bit of pasta sauce between the layers and the tomatoes on top as you can see in the picture..

I ended up with a kitchen completely full of almost every dish and saucepan I own and I was completely exhausted! Woe betide a YamDaisy chef that cooks it that way!!!!

But it tasted wonderful last night, and perfect this evening when we added a beautiful tomato sauce that contained garlic and capsicum fried in olive oil and tomatoes (a tin) added and cooked til rich and delicious.

Next time I will make that sauce to add in the casserole and I will try it the easier way, where one pot and the oven do all the work. I will let you know when I have perfected it! 

 

Main 2: Asparagus and Corn Crustless Quiche with Roast Potato and Pumpkin

This is a clever dish for the YD Cafe also. Instead of a pastry case, this quiche is made by oiling the dish and then sprinkling oatbran to cover. Bite sized pieces of asparagus,corn kernels, sliced leeks and spinach (or other veggies in season) are sprinkled evenly over it. Eggs are mixed with 1/2 evaporated milk, 1/2 cream, seasoned and poured gently over. The quiche is baked gently until just set and served with roasted potato and pumpkin.

Fruit Dessert: Baked Quinces with Egg Custard

Shirl's first choice was apple and rhubarb crumble. This must be the most popular Australian dessert. We have had so many close variations of it that I asked her to choose again. So she chose baked quinces. As luck would have it, when I finally get around to posting her menu, quinces have been out of season for months, and rhubarb is beautiful. However, let's say that the clever chef preserved the quinces and can bring them out now to bake back to warmth for a special treat. We might like seasonal food, but a bit of home preserving is good too!

If you would like to see more of the menu's that show what could be done in a YamDaisy Cafe when we finally get them going... check them out here.

I would love your feedback on this menu, and if you are inspired to suggest a YamDaisy menu (just read through the first paragraph, and look at the menu link)  I would be so delighted and glad to showcase it here!