Get Your Food On Issue 11
Spaghetti Fritters + Cream Of Tomato Soup + School Holiday Meal Prep
Hello friends!
It's Thursday and time to get all your recipes and ingredients sorted if you are meal prepping this weekend. Thank you for all your continued messages of love and encouragement for these meal prep newsletters. I absolutely love hearing how you are using part/all of the structure to help you with your weekly cooking.
A lovely reader wrote to say how "Sun Juice" was regularly being made in her kitchen and how she was using the carrot-orange pulp to bake a cake. Sounds so delicious! A lot of people are loving the juices and smoothies and have requested more yummy drinks in jars so I am of course I am delivering. This week I have created a pastel delight - jars of soft shades of sage and peach. The green concoction is an utterly decadent Spiced Pistachio Milk (with homemade stone-ground spice powder) and the peach drink is a beautiful Honeyed Melon Milk.
So, please keep the feedback coming, it really helps me plan more content for you! Now let's start cooking!
Sneh x
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When my boys were little, I used to often make them Noodlecakes. This Spaghetti Fritter recipe is a more sophisticated take on that childhood recipe and a perfect antipasti snack when you are hanging out in the evening around the coffee table during the school holidays deciding what movie to watch that night. Full of flavour, this crispy-edged, highly addictive snack is like eating a fritter version of cacio e pepe pasta.
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Fritelle Di Spaghetti – An Italian Tradition
Years ago on a media trip to Adelaide, I had the pleasure of indulging in hot crispy pockets of golden spaghetti, cheese and pepper at one of the restaurants. A delightful starter, I was instantly smitten by the novel idea of turning leftover spaghetti (sauce and all!) into a fritter. I was informed by the chef that this was a humble Italian tradition prevalent in many parts of Italy where cooks and chefs alike put their own twist on this fritelle de spaghetti to cleverly use up leftover pasta.
I was very inspired by this idea and knew my feathered chickens would not be very happy but my other chickens (my darling boys!) would absolutely love it. You see, whenever I cook pasta at home ......
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CREAM OF ZUCCHINI AND TOMATO SOUP
A beautifully thick and creamy soup that has no cream! Deceptively easy, this Cream Of Zucchini And Tomato Soup that tastes like a summer garden in a bowl is actually perfect for winter with the warmth from the generous amount of black pepper. Brimming with nutrients, this soup is cooked using the "sweat" technique which uses very little stock to create a rich cooked vegetable purée that has such an intense flavour. Just delicious!
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Cooking Soups Using The Sweat Technique
I don't really know if this is an official term for how the vegetables are cooked, but I like to call it that because it is similar to sweating in a sauna or a hot bathhouse. I often use this technique for creating intense flavoured curry bases and sauces that are luscious and thick. The idea is to first caramelize the spices and veggies on medium heat. Then you deglaze the pan/veggies with a small amount of liquid, cover and let them sweat themselves to perfection. When you cover the pan, the steam that rises from the cooking drops back in the pan and keeps the perfect balance of liquid in the pot without drying anything out.
When you cook the soup with the lid on and later blend the soup contents on high until they are pulverized into a smooth emulsion, the resulting soup is so creamy that you don't need to add additional cream. If course, you are free to add cream as and when you like. But this pure, unadulterated veggie goodness in a bowl is a really light and healthy lunch option on a cold day. The combination of zucchini and tomato.....
Today's meal prep will address the "Mum! What else can I eat?" question. We are right in the thick of school holidays (and a lockdown here in Sydney). And this meal prep session will give you a few things you can have ready for the kids to help themselves with and then some prep that will allow you to create instant light meals for you and your gang without too much effort.
This meal prep has FIVE NEW RECIPES (two were published today and the rest will be published by tomorrow and day after). The kids LOVE the spaghetti fritters and the Salted Chocolate Spelt Cookies (my recipe makes a HUGE batch so it will last a while). The Vegan Ramen Broth is so incredible. It can be warmed up on the cooktop and you can add chopped/frozen veggies, a packet of instant noodles, frozen dumplings etc and have a quick, nourishing meal ready in minutes. The Singapore Noodles and Cream Of Zucchini Tomato Soup are stand-alone meals. The quinoa is lovely to have on hand with some smoked salmon, fridge pickles, relish and greens. And cooked cold rice is so you could whip up a bowl of fast fried rice! This week I have made more jars of yummy drinks that people can grab and sip to their leisure.
MAINS
Singapore Noodles (For 4)
EXTRAS
Spiced Pistachio Milk
Vegan Ramen Broth
RAW PREPChopped leek
Cooked Rice
Things To Do This Week (Thursday & Friday)
1. Print out all the recipes you plan to cook
2. Make a shopping list of things you don't already have and buy them before the weekend.
WEEKEND MEAL PREP SESSION (2 hours 2 minutes)
>> Before you begin, get a large plastic/enamel tub to catch all your scraps and rubbish (multiples if you are saving scraps for chooks/compost). I cannot stress how much time you will save and keep the bench tidy if you are not going to the rubbish bin every few minutes.
>> For Part II of the meal prep, I make sure the kitchen sink is clean and empty. This allows me to quickly wash my Breville juicer, Nutribullet and Vitamix which is easiest to clean right after making the juice/smoothies and hummus. I also have 7-8 300ml capacity lidded glass jars ready.
 Part IÂ
1. Put a kettle of water to boil for the Singapore noodles. (1 minute)
2.Put on a pot of water to boil. Cook the spaghetti. (2 minutes)
3. Cook rice in the rice cooker. (2 minutes)
4. Wash, rinse, drain and cook quinoa in a pot of water (2 minutes)
5. Pre-heat oven for the Salted Chocolate Spel Cookies. Gather ingredients for the cookie and mix the dough. (8 minutes)
6. Scoop cookie rounds on a tray and put them in the oven to bake (10 minutes)
7. Gather and prep all ingredients for Spaghetti Fritters (5 minutes)
8. Gather ingredients for Sun Juice and Green Pineapple Smoothie (5 minutes)
Pack away rice, quinoa and cookies
Active Time -Â 35 minutes
 Part IIÂ
9. Make Sun Juice. (10 minutes)
10. Make Green Pineapple Smoothie (5 minutes)
11. Soak Vermicelli Noodles in hot water and gather and prep all ingredients for Singapore Noodles (10 minutes)
12. Make Singapore Noodles (5 minutes)
13. Make Spaghetti Fritters (10 minutes)
14. Chop leek and store in a lidded glass container for the fridge. Line this container with a paper towel as well. Will keep in the fridge for up to 1 week. (5 minutes)
Pack away juice and smoothie in glass jars. The actual juice and smoothies only take a couple of minutes to make but I am allowing time for clean-up and washing of the appliances. I use my Breville Juice Maker to extract the cold-pressed juice and my Vitamix to make the smoothies. Pack away Singapore Noodles, Spaghetti Fritters and chopped leek.
Active Time -Â 45 minutes
BREAK 10 minutes - Time for a break. Make yourself a cup of tea/coffee or pour a glass of wine. I like to load the dishwasher, put away ingredient jars and wipe down the counter at this point to reduce my work later.Â
 Part IIIÂ
15. Soak Pistachios & Almonds in hot water for 15 minutes (2 Minutes)
16. Make Honeyed Melon Milk Smoothie (5 Minutes)
17. Gather and prep ingredients for Cream Of Zucchini Tomato Soup (5 minutes)
18. Make Cream Of Zucchini Tomato Soup (5 minutes)
19. Make Pistachio And Almond Milk. Make fresh Spice Milk Powder for the nut milk by grinding in a mortar and pestle (10 minutes)
20. Gather ingredients for Vegan Ramen Broth. Make the Ramen Sauce. (5 minutes)
21. Cook the Vegan Ramen Broth (10 minutes)
Pack away Cream Of Zucchini & Tomato Soup, Vegan Ramen Broth, Spiced Pistachio Milk and Honeyed Melon Milk.
Active Time -Â 42 minutes
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I have limited copies of my cookbook Tasty Express - a labour of love filled with over 100 of our family's most tried and tested and exciting 30-minute recipes inspired by street foods of the world. Mostly Vegetarian recipes that go from breakfast to quick dinners in a heartbeat. They make great gifts for you or a friend!
