​This year we have two pumpkins growing in our garden, so I wanted to find a recipe that would be perfect to cook my pumpkin with. As soon as I saw this recipe I knew it was the one.

I recently bought this cookbook and I love it, the recipes are simple and look delicious and I love how the author writes about each recipe.

We loved this, the pumpkin was delicious and the flavours all worked so beautifully together. The pumpkin is soft and is sweet and delicious, the roasted hazelnuts add a beautiful nuttiness, sage is always amazing when it is fried and crisp, the lemon just adds a beautiful freshness at the end, the mozzarella is creamy and delicious.

​This could actually be a meal in itself, a great vegetarian option, I however served it as a side to a cavalo nero and spinach pesto type pasta dish for a meat free night at our house.  

Now the key with such a simple dish is your ingredients need to be quality ingredients. Buy the best olive oil that you can afford, buy pumpkins when in season, grow your own sage.

I used a butternut pumpkin that was growing in our garden, but you use your favourite variety, the original recipe says to use the Crown Prince variety.

Cook the pumpkin with the seeds in, it is easier to remove the seeds once it has roasted.

If you can find unwaxed lemons, that is ideal, otherwise wash you lemons well.

​Recipe adapted from Julius Roberts' cookbook The Farm Table

Serves 4

1 pumpkin
6 tablespoons olive oil
50g blanched hazelnuts
12 fresh sage leaves
250g buffalo mozzarella
1 lemon, zested, juiced
​
Preheat your oven to 200C fan forced. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Scrub the pumpkin and cut it into wedges. Toss the wedges in 3 tablespoons of the oil, season with salt, then spread on the baking tray and roast for 30-40 minutes, until caramelised and tender. When cooked, remove from the oven and scrape out the pumpkin seeds.

While the pumpkin roasts, add the hazelnuts to a small ovenproof pan and roast in the oven for 10 minutes until golden and crisp, then lightly crush with a knife (or use a pestle and mortar).

Place a pan on a medium heat and add 3 tablespoons olive oil. Once heated, add the sage leaves and fry for 30-60 seconds, until just crisp, then transfer to plate lined with kitchen paper.

To serve, tear mozzarella onto a serving platter, top with the pumpkin wedges. Finish with a generous drizzle of olive oil, the hazelnuts, sage leaves, the lemon zest, a squeeze of lemon juice, to taste and season with cracked black pepper.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/roast-pumpkin-buffalo-mozzarella-sage-and-hazelnuts.html 
Pin it: www.pinterest.com.au/pin/399413060719731300/

​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

Recipe adapted from Julius Roberts' cookbook The Farm Table

​Serves 5-6

30 g butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 brown onions, diced
2 leeks, finely sliced
3 large cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
150 g potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
600–800g spinach
100 g crème fraiche, plus extra for serving

Place a large pot on medium heat and melt the butter with the olive oil. Add the onions, leeks, and garlic with a big pinch of salt and cook for about 15 minutes, until the onion is soft and sweet, being careful not to brown the onions.

Add the potatoes and the stock, then bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are completely tender. Add the spinach, mix it into the hot stock, and cover with a lid. Cook for just a minute, the shorter the better, until the spinach has barely wilted and has gone a deep green.

Immediately, either place in a blender or use an immersion blender and get it as smooth as you possibly can.

Add the crème fraiche, blend again, then taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary. 

Serve straight away with a dollop of crème fraiche, a drizzle of olive oil, and some buttery bread.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/spinach-soup.html
Pin it: www.pinterest.com.au/pin/399413060719594915/

​My kids absolutely love this chilli oil, when it runs out, they will ask for me to make more. It is a staple in my house.

They love this drizzled on eggs, but it is also amazing drizzled on dumplings, noodles and stir fries, I even add it to sandwiches. 

Asian chilli powder has a mixture of chilli powder and some chilli seeds. Find it an an Asian grocer. If you can't find it, just buy chilli flakes and chilli powder and mix it together.

The oil should last up to a year in your pantry, mine never gets to a year, it goes quickly in my house.

I always have a jar of this in my kitchen, this is definitely something you need to try.

Adapted from www.marionskitchen.com/ 

1 cup neutral-tasting oil (e.g. peanut, rice bran, vegetable or canola)
4 whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoons Sichuan peppercorns
8 cardamom pods
½ cup Asian chilli powder
2 tsp sea salt


Place the oil in a saucepan over low heat.
​​
In a separate small frying pan, toast the star anise, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, Sichuan peppercorns and cardamom pods over medium-high heat until just starting to smoke. Then add the spices to the warm oil. Turn the heat under the oil up to medium and wait for the spices to gently sizzle. Cook at a gentle sizzle for 4-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Place the chilli powder and salt in a heat-proof jar or bowl. Strain the oil over the chilli salt mixture. Add the bay leaves, cinnamon stick and star anise back into the oil mixture and gently stir. Allow to cool before storing in an airtight jar. 

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/homemade-chilli-oil.html
Pin it: www.pinterest.com.au/pin/399413060719595093/

​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​This recipe makes me laugh, why, because never have I had people ever love something so much that each time I make it, someone wants the recipe. Now I understand them, as when I first tried it at my cousins house, I loved it instantly also and wanted the recipe, but it's a tuna dip, a tuna pate, how great can it be, well it seems it's amazing.

When I had my 50th birthday party I asked my cousins wife Kika to make it for me, she made so much of it that I had leftovers, happy days, I got to eat as much as I wanted of it, it was amazing, you just can't stop eating it. I had to ask for the recipe, but in true Croatian style, ask a Croatian for a recipe, you get a list of ingredients and you get told to make it, to taste.

So off I go the next day making it, but I drained the oil out of the tuna, and once I mixed it all together, it was a bit dry, so I added oil back in, it was perfect. I told Kika that and she said you keep the oil, she never actually told me to take it out, it was in the list of ingredients, I assumed you drained it, so now I keep the oil. 

Then I made it as a starter for my first ever pop up restaurant and people wanted to take some home, others were going to other tables to get more of it, they loved it that much.

When I made it as part of my seafood banquet at my husbands bowling club, people were asking me how I made it and wanted the recipe.

This is a brilliant dip, pate, pasteta. Why different names, because of where it comes from and because of the consistency. Pasteta, as it's what we call pate in Croatia. Kika makes hers smooth and it spreads like a pate on crackers, Kika is smooth and lump free. Me, Ella, I like it thick, I like it chunky, like me, so my version is more of a dip. You get to decide on the texture that you like. Use a food processor if you want it like a pate, use a knife if you want it like a dip.

Now what to name this recipe. I put in Ella and Kika in a word making app, and it came up with alkaline, I wasn't going to name it alkaline tuna pasteta, so I put in alle (ella backwards) and kika into a translating app and it detected Norwegian and it came up as 'look everyone' so this recipe is called look everyone Tuna Pasteta, in honour of Kika's ingredients and my quantities.

I only use Thomy mayonnaise, as I love the flavour of it. They should pay me to say that, but they don't, it truly is my favourite mayonnaise.

Now I will add, use the recipe as a guide, you can change quantities to suit your palate.

This is a great sandwich filling also.

So if you are having a party, and you love tuna, trust me, you need to make this.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/tuna-pasteta.html
​Pin it: www.pinterest.com.au/pin/399413060719536493/

​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​My youngest son is a real foodie, he loves great flavours, he loves variety, what he doesn't love is boring or repetitive food. So school lunches for him need to be interesting, there is only a certain amount of sandwiches he wants to eat.

So I was flicking through a lunchbox cookbook I have and I came across this pasta bake, it used simple ingredients, it was quick to make and I thought why not try it. I thought I'd make it the night before and reheat it, but that didn't happen, so I made it fresh in the morning. I wake early, but in all honesty, I started it at 6:20am, in less than an hour it was in his thermos and ready for school. It so easy and quick to make.

The flavour, it was delicious, simple clean tomato pasta flavour, in all honesty I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was. For me it had enough cheese, sometimes pasta bakes can have too much cheese, and for those that don't love cheese, you just move the cheese from the top in this bake and it is a simple pasta beneath. 

The original recipe said to use either 500g good quality pork sausages or 500g pork and veal mince, I had 400g the mince at home and it worked perfectly. If using sausages, remove the casings and cut into small chunks and add them when the mince goes in, in the recipe below. 

The tomatoes add a burst of flavour here, they are amazing in the bake. Basil I love, so I added as much as I wanted to. With the sauce I added a 400g of Barilla pasta sauce as that is the only one that I love, but I needed 500g sauce, so I just added 100g tomato passata that I had in the fridge, it was perfect, but if you have a 500g jar of pasta sauce you love, just add that.

If you don't have fresh mozzarella balls, use the set ones, it will still work. Just slice them and put them on top.

This is a great dinner idea to, so quick and easy to make and your family will love it.

​Recipe adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly Cookbook Lunch Box Vol 2

Serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
500g penne pasta
1 brown onion, diced​
500g pork and veal mince
400g jar Barilla Basilico Pasta Sauce
100g tomato passata
1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
250g cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup basil leaves
200g fresh mozzarella, torn
​
Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan forced.

Bring a pot of salted water to the boil.

Drizzle a little oil into your baking dish, just so the pasta doesn't stick.

Heat oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat, add onions, cook about 3 minutes or until soft, Add mince, cook, stirring occasionally, breaking it up, for 6 minutes or until browned. Stir in pasta sauce and passata, rinse the pasta sauce bottle with about 1/2 cup water and add it to the frying pan, add 1/3 of the basil, season with salt and pepper, bring to the boil. reduce heat to low-medium and simmer and cook for about 20 minutes or until your sauce has thickened.

When you have 10 minutes left of your sauce to cook, add the pasta to the boiling salted water.

When your sauce is done, stir in the extra virgin olive oil, cherry tomatoes and half of the remaining basil Taste for seasoning.

Drain pasta, return to the saucepan, pour over your sauce, stir to combine. Spoon the pasta into your baking dish, top with mozzarella.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese melts. Scatter with the remaining basil leaves and serve for dinner or place into a thermos for school or work lunch.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/quick-and-delicious-pasta-bake.html 
Pin it: www.pinterest.com.au/pin/399413060719199426/

​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

Recipe adapted from Bill Grangers cookbook 'Bills Food'

Makes approximately 24 small slices

Base:
200g unsalted butter, softened and chopped
250g plain flour
30g icing sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten

Filling:
6 eggs
375g caster sugar 
60g (1/2 cup) plain flour
125ml lime juice
finely grated zest from 4 limes
icing sugar, for dusting


Grease and line the base and sides of a 23cm square tin with baking paper.  To make the base, mix the butter, flour, icing sugar and egg together in a food processor until a dough forms.  Press the dough into the tin.  Refrigerate the dough in the tin for 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C, then bake the base for 20 to 25 minutes, until pale golden.

While the base is cooking, make the filling.  Whisk the eggs in a bowl, then add the sugar, flour, lime juice and zest, and whisk until well combined.

Pour the filling onto the cooked base and bake for another 20 minutes, or until the filling is set and lightly golden on top.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin.
​
Cut into pieces and dust with icing sugar. ​

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/lime-slice.html
Pin it: www.pinterest.com.au/pin/399413060719146958/

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​I've always loved Bill Grangers food, I've cooked from his cookbooks, I've eaten in his restaurants, so when I heard he had passed away, it was a sad day for me and those that enjoyed his food.

So on this day I pulled out one of his cookbooks and thought I'd cook something from it as a tribute. 

This was delicious. I really enjoyed every mouthful. It was easy to make, as a most of his recipes are, and very different to other honey soy recipes I've made. It was lighter and fresher.

You can use store bought sweet chilli sauce, if you prefer. Some in my house didn't even want the sweet chilli sauce to go with it.

​This was a great mid week meal we all loved, hope you do to.

​Recipe adapted from Bill Grangers cookbook 'Bills Food'

Serves 4-5

125mls soy sauce
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons shaosing wine or dry sherry
1 clove garlic, finely crushed
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped
4 chicken Marylands, cut into two pieces between thigh and drumstick
​
For the Sweet Chilli Sauce:
3 large red chillies, finely chopped
250mls (1 cup) rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
185g (3/4 cup) sugar
1 clove garlic, chopped

To serve: 
cucumber slices
fresh coriander
limes or lemon wedges
steamed rice
sweet chilli sauce (you can use store bought)


​Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan forced.

Stir all the ingredients, except the chicken, together in a small bowl.

Put the chicken in a bowl or flat dish or snap lock bag, pour the marinade over and mix with your hands to coat. Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour, or overnight.

Remove the chicken from the marinade, reserve marinade (pour it into a small saucepan), and place the chicken with the skin side up, in a roasting tin. Bring the marinade to a simmer, and simmer for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, bake the chicken for
​45-50 minutes, frequently turning the drumsticks over as they brown, and basting the chicken every 15 minutes with extra marinade.

For the Sweet Chilli Sauce: Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, then cook for 5 minutes, or until the mixture thickens to a slightly syrupy consistency.Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Once the chicken is cooked either serve pieces whole or use a cleaver to cut up the chicken into pieces and place on a serving platter. Pour the pan juices over the chicken, this is great drizzled over the rice.

Serve with fresh cucumber, coriander sprigs, lime wedges and steamed rice, with sweet chilli sauce on the side.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/glazed-honey-and-soy-chicken-with-sweet-chilli-sauce.html 
Pin it: www.pinterest.com.au/pin/399413060719145858/

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​Here is another chicken wing recipe I got from my dear Kuma Snjezana. These wings are crispy and delicious.

They are oven baked (which I prefer to fried, not for health reasons, just because it's easier) and they are gluten free. Now I don't have to cook gluten free at home, but this recipe is amazing as it is perfect for everyone. (The sauces I use may not be gluten free, so use ingredients that are gluten free to make the sauces if you need to)

One very important tip is make sure that the wings are dry. If you are organised, put the wings on the rack and refrigerate, uncovered, overnight. I however, am never that organised, nor do I have the fridge space, so I just dry them using paper towels.

You can toss the wings in a sauce or serve it on the side. So far I have only made a pink sauce, but as I make more sauces, I'll add them on to the recipe. With the chicken being gluten free, the sauces may not be, so anyone needing a gluten free sauce, use ingredients that are gluten free to make the sauces or use a sauce that you love as these wings are great with a variety of sauces like Honey Soy; Honey Mustard; Ranch Dipping Sauce, 

For the baking powder, I use the McKenzies brand.

MAKE SURE YOU USE BAKING POWDER NOT BICARB OF SODA OR BAKING SODA. If you use bicarb or baking soda, they will be inedible.

Cut full wings into two pieces, at the joints. If the wing has the tip, cut it off and freeze them, use them to make soups or stocks.

With the sriracha in the pink sauce, I keep adding it until I am happy with the heat. I sometimes add 3-4 tablespoons of it.

This is a super easy recipe that will produce crispy chicken wings in the oven.

​Recipe adapted from www.recipetineats.com/

Serves 6

2 kg chicken wings, cut into wingettes and drumettes
​5 teaspoons baking powder (NOT BAKING SODA/BI-CARB SODA!!)
3/4 teaspoon salt
Oil spray

Pink Sauce: 
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1-2 tablespoons sriracha, to taste
​​

Uncover the chicken wings and leave them in the fridge for a few hours to dry out. If you don't have time, just use paper towels to pat the wings dry.

Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions.

Preheat oven to 120C (all oven types standard/convection/fan).

Line a baking tray with foil, then place a rack (like a cooling rack) on the foil. Spray the rack with oil spray.

Place wings in a large bowl or in a ziplock bag. Add the baking powder and salt, then toss to coat evenly.

Place the wings on the baking tray in a single layer with the skin side up. They should just fit snugly. They will shrink when they cook because the fat renders out so don’t worry if they look too snug.

Place wings on the lower middle oven rack and bake for 30 minutes.

Move the wings up to the upper middle rack and increase the oven temperature to 220C (all oven types). Bake for 40–50 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through.

Remove baking tray from the oven and let it stand for 5 minutes.

Toss wings in sauce of choice or serve it on the side to dip/drizzle on the wings, then serve.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/crispy-oven-baked-chicken-wings.html 
Pin it: www.pinterest.com.au/pin/399413060719137312/

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

Recipe adapted from a Gary Meghan recipe in Masterchef magazine

Serves 4

2 racks (1.5kg) pork spare ribs, cut into 4

Spice rub:
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
​1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup olive oil

​Marinade: 
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tomato, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
zest of 1 orange
220g (1 cup firmly packed) brown sugar
160ml (2/3 cup) malt vinegar
125ml  (1/2 cup) bourbon or whiskey
2 tablespoons tomato sauce
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 dried bay leaf

1/4 cup olive oil, extra, for drizzling

To serve:
lime cheeks
buttered corn cobs
​
Make the spice rub: In a large snap lock bag combine the sugar, salt, chilli powder, smoked paprika, mustard powder, ground cumin, dried oregano, onion, garlic and oil. Add the ribs, seal the bag and rub the marinade all over the ribs. Refrigerate for 2 hours. (If you want to double the ribs, do the same in a separate bag, see note in introduction).

Meanwhile make the marinade: Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat, add the onion, garlic and tomato, and stir for 8 minutes or until onion is soft. Add the cinnamon, chilli powder, mustard powder, cumin, smoked paprika, jalapeno and orange zest, stir for 2 minutes, or until fragrant.

Add the brown sugar, malt vinegar, bourbon, tomato sauce, Dijon mustard and bay leaf, bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes or until thickened.
​
Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan forced. Line a large roasting pan with a few layers of baking paper (makes clean up easier).

Preheat a chargrill pan or barbecue to high.

Take the ribs out of the marinade, remove most of the onion from the ribs (they burn in the pan). Drizzle over the extra 1/4 cup olive oil. Cook in hot pan, in 2 batches, turning, for 3-4 minutes, or until charred all over.

Place ribs in a single layer in your prepared roasting pan, presentation side up. Spoon over the marinade, making sure you cover each piece. Place a sheet of baking paper over ribs, then cover the whole tray with aluminium foil. Roast in your oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Then remove the foil and baking paper and roast for a further 45 minutes, turning the ribs over every 15 minutes, roast until the marinade has caramelised and the meat is very tender.
​
Transfer ribs to a serving plate, and spoon or pour over the marinade that is in the pan.

​Serve hot with lime cheeks and buttered corn cobs.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/easy-fall-off-the-bone-oven-baked-pork-ribs.html
​Pin it: www.pinterest.com.au/pin/399413060719065374/

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

Recipe adapted from easyFood magazine

Makes 6 falafel

4 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 small brown onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2-1 jalapeno, finely chopped, optional
400g can chickpeas, washed and drained
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
handful parsley, finely chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
1 egg, beaten

To serve:
Pita Bread
Tzatziki
Hummus
Sweet Chilli Sauce
Lettuce
Tomatoes, sliced
​
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large frying pan, then fry the onion and the garlic over a low-medium heat for 4 minutes, add the chilli, if using, fry for 1 minute or until the onion has softened. Tip into a large mixing bowl, add the chickpeas, cumin and coriander, mash everything together with a fork until the chickpeas are mashed well.
​Stir in the parsley, season with salt and pepper. Add the egg, mix it in well.
​
Shape the mixture into 6 balls, then flatten into patties. 

Heat the remaining oil in the same frying pan, then fry the falafels on medium heat for 3 minutes on each side until golden brown and firm.

Serve in pitta bread spread with tzatziki and/or hummus, if not adding chilli to the patty, a little sweet chilli sauce is a great addition here, top with lettuce and tomato and your falafels.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/falafel-with-chickpeas.html 
Pin it: www.pinterest.com.au/pin/399413060719064524/

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella