Yummy outdoor food
With spring just around the corner, it’ll soon be picnic weather, so here are some recipes the family will love.
It’s hard not to get excited about the arrival of spring, and over the past few days my children and I have had a wonderful time venturing outdoors to soak up the sunshine and spring blooms.
Soon we’ll be able to have some meals outdoors and, when we do, these recipes will make an appearance on our table.
Full of flavour and colour they will appeal to hungry mouths both young and old.
Moroccan lamb pizza
Makes 3 large pizzas Preparation: 20 minutes Cooking: 35 minutes
2 tablespoons olive oil 8 cloves garlic, finely sliced 1 tin tomatoes 1 teaspoons brown sugar 1 onion, finely chopped 400g lamb mince 50g pine nuts
teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoons allspice 3 teaspoons cinnamon 3 tablespoons tomato paste 1 small red onion, halved, thinly sliced 10 dates, quartered 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar 3 pizza bases 150g feta 150g mozzarella 2 cups spinach (I used NZ spinach) FOOD
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Celsius and place a pizza stone in the middle of the oven.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan and fry 5 cloves of the garlic until just starting to colour. Add the tinned tomatoes, teaspoon of brown sugar, season with sea salt and cook for 25 minutes or until thick.
While the tomato sauce is cooking, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in another pan and cook the onion and remaining garlic until soft.
Add the lamb mince and cook through before adding the pine nuts, black pepper, allspice, cinnamon, tomato paste and the remaining 1 teaspoon of brown sugar. Cook for a further 3-4 minutes then remove from the heat.
In a small bowl put the red onion and the dates, pour over the red wine vinegar and let sit while you prepare the pizzas.
Spread a third of the tomato sauce over one of the pizza bases. Over this, scatter a third of the lamb mixture followed by a third of the feta and a third of the mozzarella.
Gently slide your pizza on to the pizza stone in the oven and cook for approximately 7 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling and golden brown. Repeat with the remaining two bases, and once cooked add the spinach to the onion mixture, toss, then scatter over the pizzas followed by dollops of yoghurt and a generous sprinkle of sumac.
Carrot cake with brown sugar & vanilla frosting
Makes 1 cake Preparation: 20 minutes Cooking: 60 minutes
75g dates, quartered
cup orange juice 4 eggs, lightly beaten 1 cup olive oil
cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar
cup + 3 tablespoons Greek yoghurt 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cups wholemeal flour 1 cup white flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 3 teaspoons cinnamon 1 teaspoon ginger 1 teaspoon nutmeg 2 teaspoons allspice 1 teaspoon sea salt 1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped 200g cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup coconut chips (substitute with shredded coconut)
Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a 22cm loose bottomed tin with butter.
Put the dates into a small bowl, cover with the orange juice and leave to sit.
Put the eggs into a bowl and add the oil, cup of brown sugar, cup of yoghurt and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. Mix well to combine.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, spices and salt then stir in the walnuts. Using a stick blender, blend the dates and oranges until smooth.
Stir into the egg mixture then add this to the dry mixture and mix until just combined. Pour into the cake tin and bake for 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean.
While the cake is cooking put the cream cheese, remaining 3 tablespoons of yoghurt and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and teaspoon vanilla extract into a bowl and beat with an egg beater until light and fluffy.
Toast the coconut chips in a heavy-bottomed frying pan until just beginning to colour.
Once the cake is cooked, remove from the oven and cool before icing and topping with the coconut chips.
Recipes, food styling and photography by Emma Boyd