Pittwater Life January 2018 Issue

Food Life
Food Life
Recipes: Janelle Bloom Photos: Ben Dearnley, Steve Brown, Andre Martin
Easy-to-make picnic food
creates quite the spread!
With the Christmas
rush over, it’s now
time to relax and
enjoy everything we love
about where we live: the sun,
surf, beaches, parks and
relaxed lifestyle. Here is some
fabulous modern picnic food.
Regardless of whether you
take it to the beach, park or
your friends’ back deck, these
recipes provide quick, easy and
delicious food to share.
Tomato, prawn &
kale salad
Serves 4 (as a light meal)
Serves 6-8 (as a side salad)
1 cup rice and quinoa blend,
rinsed
5 cups cold water
1 tbs olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
½ bunch kale, leaves shredded
or 100g baby spinach leaves
200g tomatoes, halved
600g cooked prawns, peeled,
deveined
125g feta, crumbled
½ cup pine nuts, toasted
½ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves,
chopped
Dressing
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon, rind finely grated,
juice
½ tsp caster sugar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
5 minutes. Rinse under cold
running water. Drain well.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan over
medium heat. Add garlic and
saute 1 minute. Add kale or
spinach and cook 1 minute
until just wilted. Set aside to
cool.
3. Combine all the dressing
ingredients in a large bowl;
whisk until well combined.
Add the rice and quinoa, kale
mixture, tomatoes, prawns,
feta, pine nuts and parsley.
Season with salt and pepper
and stir to combine. Spoon
into a large bowl. Serve.
Pack for picnic: Follow steps
1 and 2, make dressing and
store in a jar. Combine all the
salad ingredients in a container.
Pack into chill bag with ice. Just
before serving, pour over the
dressing and serve.
Hoisin chicken rice
paper rolls
Makes 15
½ x 250g packet rice vermicelli
noodles
3 Lebanese cucumbers
6 spring onions, cut into 5cm
lengths
1 cup roughly chopped fresh
coriander leaves
1 cup mint leaves
½ cup Thai basil leaves
2 cups shredded cooked
chicken
2/3 cup roasted salted peanuts,
with Janelle Bloom
chopped
150g packet Vietnamese rice
paper wrappers
½ cup hoisin sauce (Lee kum
kee brand)
¼ cup peanut butter
lime wedges, to serve
1. Place noodles in a large
heatproof bowl. Cover with
hot water. Stand 5 minutes or
until tender. Drain. Refresh
under cold water. Drain well.
Return to the bowl. Cut into
shorter lengths using kitchen
scissors. Using a mandolin or
1. Put rice and water into a
sharp knife, cut cucumbers
medium saucepan, bring
into thin ribbons.
to the boil. Reduce heat to
2. Cut the spring onions into
low, boil gently, uncovered
thin strips. Combine the
for 25 minutes or until rice
herbs.
is tender. Stand, covered for
3. Working with one rice paper
sheet at a time, submerge
it in a shallow dish of warm
water for about 5 seconds, it
will still be firm when you remove
it. Place on a chopping
board. Arrange 3 cucumber
ribbons lengthways down the
centre of the rice paper. Top
with noodles, chicken, spring
onions, herbs and peanuts.
Fold in sides and roll-up
firmly to enclose filling.
66 JANUARY 2018
The Local Voice Since 1991