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The Australian Women's Weekly, good food fast cookbook, RRP $12.95, available where all good books are sold. Photographer: Dean Wilmont.

This month's cookbook has an array of easy and delicious recipes, and because we couldn't decide, we've trialled with three recipes, all with help from our trusty Kambrook food processor.

The three recipes we selected from The Australian Women's Weekly good food fast cookbook are:

- Mustard veal with polenta and spinach puree

- Lamb chermoulla with chickpea salad

- Thai Fish Cakes

Because this cookbook was so popular in with our team, we have three of us making a recipe. Here they are along with our tips. And, don't forget to scroll to the bottom of the post, because we're giving away 2 copies of this wonderful cookbook.

 

Mustard Veal with Polenta and Spinach Puree

 

prep + cook time 35 minutes  

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

• ⅓ cup (95g) wholegrain mustard
• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh oregano
• 4 cloves garlic
• 4 veal chops (800g)
• 4 large egg (plum) tomatoes (360g), halved
• 2 cups (500ml) water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (170g) polenta
• ¾ cup (180ml) skim milk
• ¼ cup (20g) finely grated parmesan
• 2kg (4 pounds) spinach, trimmed
• 2 anchovy fillets, drained
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• ¼ cup (60ml) beef stock

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat grill (broiler) to medium high. Combine mustard, oregano and 2 crushed garlic cloves in a small bowl; brush veal both sides with mustard mixture. Cook veal under grill until browned both sides and cooked as desired.
2. Cook tomato, in batches, on heated lightly oiled grill plate (or grill or barbecue) until tender.
3. Meanwhile, bring combined water and salt to the boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in polenta; cook, stirring, about 10 minutes or until polenta thickens. Stir in milk; cook, stirring, about 5 minutes or until polenta thickens. Stir in cheese.
4. Boil, steam or microwave spinach until just wilted. When cool enough to handle, squeeze out excess liquid with hands. Crush remaining garlic. Blend or process spinach with garlic and remaining ingredients until pureed.
5. Serve veal with tomato, polenta and spinach mixture; sprinkle with extra oregano leaves before serving, if you like.

Serving suggestion Top steaks with fresh sage leaves, and serve with radicchio or rocket salad dressed with balsamic vinegar.

Tips Lower the shelf of the grill to cook the veal. Fresh rosemary or thyme can be substituted for the oregano.

Nutritional count per serving 

8.2g total fat | 2.7g saturated fat | 1805kJ (431 cal) | 37.1g carbohydrate | 45.3g protein | 11.1g fibre

 

Lamb Chermoulla With Chickpea Salad

Chermoulla is a Moroccan blend of herbs and spices, including coriander, cumin and paprika, traditionally used for preserving or seasoning chicken, meat and fish. Using the food processor, the chermoulla paste was made in no time.

Test kitchen tip: The salad can be assembled several hours ahead; add juice just before serving.

prep + cook time 30 minutes 

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

• 300g (9½ ounces) green beans, trimmed
• 2 teaspoons each cracked black pepper, and ground cumin and coriander
• 1 teaspoon hot paprika
• 2 tablespoons each coarsely chopped fresh mint, flat-leaf parsley and coriander (cilantro)
• 1 tablespoon coarsely grated lemon rind
• ¼ cup (60ml) water
• 1 medium red onion (170g), chopped finely
• 8 lamb fillets (700g)
• 400g (12½ ounces) canned brown lentils, rinsed, drained
• 300g (9½ ounces) canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed, drained
• ⅓ cup loosely packed, torn fresh flat-leaf parsley, extra
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut beans into 3cm lengths; boil, steam or microwave until just tender. Refresh under cold water; drain.
2. To make chermoulla paste, blend or process spices, herbs, rind, the water and half the onion until mixture forms a paste.
3. Coat lamb with chermoulla paste in a large bowl; cook, in batches, on a heated oiled grill plate (or grill or barbecue) until browned and cooked as desired. Cover; stand 5 minutes before slicing thickly.
4. Combine beans, lentils, chickpeas, extra parsley, garlic and juice with remaining onion in a large bowl; toss gently to combine. Serve salad with lamb.

 

serving suggestion Accompany with a bowl of minted yoghurt.

 

Thai Fish Cakes with Noodle Salad

Gina: I know I am biased, being a Kambrook team member and all, but I just love my KFP400 food processor.  Cooking does not come naturally to me so finding this compact little gem has helped take a lot of the frustration out of my dinner prep.  When I was asked to make the AWW Thai fish cake recipe, I was happy to find that once again my food processor would come to my rescue.  I just threw all the listed ingredients into the processing bowl until it mixed into a sticky paste to get the 12 (or maybe it was 14?) fish cakes quickly and easily.  Even better, I found that ALL the fish cakes fit into my banquet frypan so instead of cooking in batches, I had them all cooked at once.  Combined with the suggested AWW vermicelli salad and some sweet chilli sauce for dipping, this was a simple mid-week Asian meal.

Redfish, usually sold skinned as fillets, is ideal for these fish cakes because of its delicate flavour. You can, however, use practically any mild-flavoured, skinless fish fillet. 

prep + cook time 25 minutes  

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

• 600g (1¼ pounds) firm white fish fillets, chopped coarsely
• 1 clove garlic, quartered
• 1 egg white, beaten lightly
• ⅔ cup loosely packed fresh coriander leaves (cilantro)
• ½ cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves
• 4 fresh small red thai (serrano) chillies, chopped finely
• 250g (4 ounces) rice vermicelli
• 2 teaspoons caster (superfine) sugar
• ¼ cup (60ml) lime juice
• 1 tablespoon sambal oelek
• 1 lebanese cucumber (130g), seeded, cut into matchsticks
• 100g (3 ounces) snow peas, sliced thinly

DIRECTIONS

1. Blend or process fish, garlic, egg white and half the coriander, half the mint and half the chilli until mixture forms a paste; shape into 12 patties.
2. Cook patties, in batches, in a heated large non-stick frying pan until browned both sides and cooked through.
3. Meanwhile, place vermicelli in a large heatproof bowl; cover with boiling water. Stand until just tender; drain. Cover to keep warm.
4. Combine sugar, juice and sambal in a small saucepan; bring to the boil. Reduce heat; simmer, stirring, until sugar dissolves.
5. Combine remaining coriander, mint and chilli in a large bowl with vermicelli, sugar mixture, cucumber and snow peas; toss to combine.
6. Serve fish cakes on noodle salad.

serving suggestion Som tum, the Thai spicy-sour green pawpaw salad, is a good, low-kilojoule accompaniment to the fish cakes.

Test kitchen tip The fish cakes can be made in advance and frozen; defrost them
in the refrigerator before cooking.

nutritional count per serving 

4.2g total fat | 1.1g saturated fat | 1451kJ (347 cal) | 38.5g carbohydrate | 36.2g protein | 2.7g fibre

 

 

NOW FOR THE WINNING PART

** This Competition has now finished, thank you to all who participated! **

The two lucky winners for this competition are: Paula and Yuqing

 

The lovely people at The Australian Women’s Weekly are giving two (2) lucky readers the chance to win one of their good food fast cookbooks. All you have to do is answer this simple question in the comments section of this blog post in 25 words or less: What is your fast go-to meal?

Two (2) lucky winners will be selected and each will win their very own copy of The Australian Women’s Weekly, good food fast, RRP $12.95, available where all good books are sold and online at www.awwcookbooks.com.au

 

Remember, we will be showcasing, trialling and giving away a new cookbook each month, so keep checking back for future giveaways.

Please note:

• Only one entry per person
• Open to Australian residents only
• Two (2)winners will be selected by Kambrook
• The winners will be contacted by email and Kambrook reserves the right to announce the winners on our online site https://aperfectpantry.com.au
• This competition will run from 9am 18th November 2013 to 12pm 24th November 2013

Click here for full Terms & Conditions.

IF YOUR ENTRY EXCEEDS 25 WORDS YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED FROM WINNING!