Oh my GOODNESS it’s been too long since I’ve posted! I’ve been a very slack food blogger this year, haven’t I? The Three Cheeses has celebrated its second birthday and I was nowhere around for it. Bummer. All I can say is that life has been busy, and I’ve actually been letting my roommates cook. Gasp, shock, horror, I know! The good news is that I have still been scribbling down recipes and taking photos, so prepare to see a few new things up soon.

To start off with, I thought I’d share this great recipe for a steak sandwich because it’s so darn easy and tasty. This is loosely based off of a Jamie Oliver recipe from 30 Minute Meals, but like any sandwich is so flexible that you don’t really need a recipe, you just need to know that it can be done.

I love this sandwich for several reasons. 1 – It makes one large steak feed four people. Alternately, it makes a few smaller leftover steaks (which are never that good the next day, honestly) into a delicious meal. 2 – It satisfies as well as the best pub food, for a fraction of the cost. 3 – It’s probably a million times healthier than aforementioned pub food, too!

Be flexible and creative with your ingredients, and you’re bound to love this steak sandwich too!

Quick Dinner: Steak Sandwich

Serves: 4 hungry people (3 of them men)
Cooking time: 10-15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 1 fresh Turkish bread loaf, about 40 cm (18″) long
• 1 very large steak, 2 medium steaks, or 3 small steaks (lamb or beef, could also be done with leftover chicken)
• vegetables of your choice, such as: thinly sliced tomatoes, sprouts, rocket or spinach, roughly chopped roasted red peppers, cucumber, roasted pumpkin, onion, etc.
• 2-3 tbsp each of mayonnaise and your favourite mustard
• if using beef, add 1-2 tbsp of creamed horseradish
• sliced cheese in your favourite variety
• freshly ground pepper
• and a quick drizzle of BBQ sauce should you so desire!

This is such a great recipe for using up leftover BBQ food: slice it and dice it if you’ve got it!

If you’re using fresh meat, cook it on the BBQ or in a pan to your desired doneness, then let rest in its own juices for about 5-10 minutes. Slice across the grain into about 1 cm strips, discarding any grisly or fatty bits. Pour the meat juices (if using red meat) back over the slices to keep them juicy.

Slice your Turkish loaf in half, and with the back of a spoon quickly smear the condiments across it (I like to do horseradish and mayo on one side and mustard on the other). Add your sliced meat, vegetables, cheese, fresh pepper, and a quick drizzle of BBQ sauce should you desire.

Serve on a large wooden chopping board—you choose if you want to slice it ahead of time, or let your hungry people do so for themselves. Enjoy!

Mmm, don’t you just love fresh basil? It’s definitely one of my favourite herbs and I’m pretty sure I could eat pesto for months and not get sick of it—especially fresh, homemade pesto! Perhaps the only thing I love more is sushi, which I’m munching on while writing this lunchtime update.

I wish I could say that this basil was from my own garden, but alas I seem to be struggling to coax anything to grow except for my two gorgeous zucchini plants. Ah well. Summer has been taking its time arriving in Australia, so perhaps there is time yet for oodles of home-grown veggies and herbs!

This basil pesto dip was so easy to whip up before having guests over, and tasted great the next day too. The best part is that it isn’t made from pre-made pesto, so you have control over all of the ingredients and can adjust them to your taste. Enjoy!

Creamy Basil Pesto Dip

Makes: About 1 cup dip
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 1 small bunch fresh basil
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2/3 cup mayo, whole-egg preferable
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• small handful walnuts (or pinenuts, peanuts, or pecans in a pinch—or a little bit of peanut butter!)
• salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a frying pan over medium heat, dry roast the walnuts for a few minutes until they turn nice and golden and a little bit browned on the edges.

Meanwhile, use a blender or food processor to pulverize the basil with the lemon juice, olive oil, mayo, and sour cream. Add the nuts and pulse until quite smooth in consistency. Add a few pinches of salt and pepper, taste and adjust as necessary.

Enjoy with crackers, vegetable sticks, or pita!

I know, it seems a bit silly to be posting a turkey recipe after Canadian Thanksgiving, doesn’t it? My apologies to my fellow Canucks; this year I spent Thanksgiving itself at work (blame Australia!), and the lead-up to Thanksgiving in Fiji (blame no one, it was awesome). And, our recent celebration of Christmas in July has left me rather satiated on the big roast dinner thing. I never thought I would pass up the opportunity to gobble down stuffing and pumpkin pie, but I guess it was bound to happen one day.

Anyway! In hopes that some of you Americans will find this a lovely alternative to a roast turkey dinner at your Thanksgiving, and knowing that you Aussies don’t care anyway, here’s a delicious turkey meatball recipe for you to enjoy. It’s pretty easy to make and ever-so-tasty, plus, turkey mince tends to be cheaper on average than even chicken or beef mince. The recipe for homemade cranberry sauce is following shortly.

Turkey Meatballs

 Cooking time: 25 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 1 kg (2.5 lbs) ground turkey
• 1/2 red onion, chopped finely
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup dry breadcrumbs
• 4 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp mustard of your choice (best with Dijon or Hot English, something with a punch!)
• 1/2 small bunch cilantro (coriander), chopped finely
• 1 tbsp tomato paste (or ketchup in a pinch)
• 1/2 tsp salt (approx.) and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Using your hands, mix all of the ingredients together well. Roll into balls just over 1″ or 3 cm in diameter. Drizzle meatballs lightly with olive oil. If you have time, refrigerate for 20 minutes to an hour. (This helps the meatballs stick together better.)

Heat up a large frying pan to about medium, drizzle with olive oil, and pop in your first batch of meatballs. Toss them frequently, and cook until no longer pink inside and golden all over, usually 12-18 minutes or so. (You’ll have to break one open to test.) Serve warm or cold, with cranberry sauce or on top of another dish. Made a little bit smaller, these also make great party finger food!

Gooey and delightful, butter tarts are a staple treat at any Canadian holiday—usually Christmas, but I’ve seen them at Thanksgiving and Easter as well. I actually had no idea that they were a Canadian specialty until I move to Australia and my tart-loving family-to-be (hehe, I had to!) had no idea what they were. Check out these other Canadian recipes too: Nanaimo bars, pumpkin pie, tourtière, and maple syrup pie!

There are two main varieties of butter tarts—those with “impurities” such as raisins or pecans, and those without. I guess I’m a purist because I prefer them without the added bits, but I’ll let you decide for yourself! I did cheat a bit for these ones and used pre-made pastry, which made making these an absolute cinch. But man pre-made pastries come with a lot of packaging. Blech—you sure pay for that convenience.

And I’m so sorry for not posting recently! There are happy reasons for this. One, I just started a new job doing online marketing for Good Return, a non-profit that does microfinance in the Asia Pacific. The transition from working at home to being in an office full time has made me a bit shy of time to do my normal photos & recipes… but never fear, a new balance will soon be reached! I was also back in Canada for three weeks visiting with friends and family, and doing lots and lots of wedding planning. (I’m sure you’ll hear plenty about that as time wears on!) Anyway, without further ado, let’s get this show back on the road!

Butter Tarts

Makes: 12
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 12 premade shortcrust pastry tart bases
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup honey, golden syrup, or corn syrup
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp each vanilla extract and white vinegar
• 1/4 cup currants, raisins, pecans, or coconut (optional)

Optional: If using raisins or currants, soak in a few tablespoons of warm brandy, rum, or triple sec for about 20 minutes before using.

Preheat oven to 450 F / 230 C. In a microwavable bowl, soften 2 tbsp of butter and whisk together with the sugar until creamy. Add the honey or syrup, egg, vanilla, vinegar, and a pinch of salt and mix well. If using extra fillings, divide these between the pastry shells now. Spoon the liquid mixture over top.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until filling has gone golden and is bubbling. Let cool and enjoy!

I'm not sure why all of my butter tarts didn't go golden at the same rate---if needed, just pop a couple back in the oven for a few minutes!

Ah the life of a food blogger. I must have taken three different sets of photos for this soup, to finally settle on this photo which needed more than a little Photoshopping (and yes, that’s a recognized verb in my browser) in the end. It looks okay… yet somehow I feel like I’m in a photography slump lately, and perhaps that’s the reason for the infrequent postings this last month or so. Work has been quiet and I’ve had more than enough daylight to take those lovely window-lit photos mid-afternoon that other food bloggers rave about… and yet I look at my plating and composition and feel thoroughly unsatisfied. Argh!

Some exciting news however is that I found a great eBay deal on a Canon Speedlite 430ex external flash for my lil’ Rebel—and while it has not revolutionized my photography literally overnight, sigh—I do look forward to having a bit more flexibility in the kitchen. There’s a lot to learn and I’m looking forward to it!

Anyway, this cheesy cauliflower soup is a Jamie Oliver-inspired dish from his Ministry of Food cookbook. It’s a brilliant thing! The average foodie might pick it up and see all the basic recipes and go, “What do I need this for?” but it’s just darn useful. A few of my favourite recipes have come from it—check out my basic steamed rice, meatballs, and carrot feta salad, all of which were inspired by Ministry of Food.

The bragging rights for this soup are a bit special for me. Our roommate Tom—a chronic carnivore and unfoodie—isn’t a fan of soups and is only borderline on stews. The poor boy has been at home the last couple weeks sick with mono—with a slight silver lining being that his throat has swollen so that he can eat nothing but soup! It’s hardly a pleasing situation, but at least I had an excuse to perfect some recipes.

Upon serving up a dish of this soup, he immediately turned to me and went, “This is bloody good!” …so there you go. A soup to please even the most discerning of soup skeptics. Enjoy!

Cheesy Cauliflower Soup

Adapted from Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food

Makes: about 8 servings
Cooking time: 40 minutes total
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 2 medium brown onions
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 stalks celery
• 2 carrots
• 2-3 medium peeled potatoes (or one large bulb of celeriac would go great)
• 1 head cauliflower
• about 2 litres prepared vegetable or chicken stock
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 cups cheddar cheese, cubed into 1 cm pieces
• salt, pepper, and olive oil

Roughly chop your onions and garlic and get them sauteing on medium heat in a large, heavy-bottomed pot with a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper. While those are cooking, chop your celery, carrots, and potatoes into about 1 cm chunks and add once the onions have softened slightly (just toss them in the pot as you go along with the chopping). Stir each time you add something. Chop the cauliflower into smallish florets (no need to be finicky though!) and add, stirring again. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes with a splash of water or white wine.

If you’re using stock powder or cubes, boil about 2 litres of water in your kettle and measure out the amount of stock mix needed for the water—follow instructions on the packet. (I’ve been slacking on the homemade stock, sadly.) Pour the boiled water straight from the kettle so that it just covers the vegetables. Add the stock powder or cubes and mix well. If you’re using prepared stock, warm it up before adding to the vegetables.

Mmm, cheese...

Add the rosemary and a really generous amount of fresh cracked pepper, cover and simmer gently for about 20 minutes or until the cauliflower and potato are quite soft.

Remove the soup from direct heat and stir in the 1 tbsp of Dijon. Using a blender, food processor, or immersion blender, process the soup until it’s quite silky and smooth (or the consistency you most enjoy). Return to a very low heat and add the cheese cubes. Stir once every couple of minutes until cheese cubes have mostly melted and dispersed through the soup.

Serve hot with a bit more cheese on top!