Organic Box Recipes

Serves 4

DuPuy lentils are a special type of lentil, originating from France. Unlike normal lentils these will keep their shape after cooking. You can get them from delis or specialised produce stores.

1 cup  DuPuy lentils
1 Medium onion – diced fine
2 cloves Garlic – crushed
2 sprigs Thyme leaves
3 cups Stock – beef preferred, but vegetable or chicken can also be used
½ cup Dry red wine

2 Large carrots – peeled, halved then split lengthwise
500 g Potatoes – chopped to 5 cm pieces
8 Swiss brown mushrooms
4 cloves Garlic
50 g Butter
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Sausages enough for 4 people (store bought or hand made)

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees celcius.

2. In a heavy based ovenproof pan, sweat the onion, garlic and thyme in a little olive oil. Deglaze with red wine, let the alcohol evaporate then add the stock and lentils. Bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer. Simmer for about one hour until the lentils are cooked and soft. Do NOT season with any salt at the beginning of the cooking as this will make the lentils tough.

3. Toss the carrot pieces and potatoes in olive oil and season to well. Place on an oven tray with the garlic and bake for about 15 minutes. Add the mushrooms (placed upside down) and butter. Bake for another 10 minutes.

4. Brown the sausages on medium heat.

5. Add the roasted vegetables into the pan of lentils then place the browned sausages on top. Return to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes until the sausages are cooked. Enjoy with crusty fresh bread.

Recipe by Mike Husada

This recipe was given to me by Jenny who works with me at Slow Living. We think that this recipe originates from the depression era where flour was scarce that people would replace a portion of the flour with potatoes. Similarly, carrots were often used in place of sugar.

200 g Butter
1 cup Caster sugar
4 Eggs
4 Medium potatoes – peeled, boiled then mashed
2 cups Self raising flour
½ cup Cocoa
½ cup Milk

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees celcius (moderate temperature). Sift the flour and cocoa powder together. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until white then add the eggs one at a time making sure that the egg is completely incorporated before adding the next one.
2. In a mixing bowl, mix the potatoes with the cocoa and flour mixture, before stirring in the milk. Then fold in the butter and sugar mixture.
3. Pour mixture into a butter lined cake pan and bake for 40 minutes to 1 hour or until there’s a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.

4. Allow the cake to cool completely, then ice with a ganache mixture (200 g Chocolate melted with 50 g unsalted butter and mixed with 2 tbsp cream). Cut into 12 slices.

makes 12 medium muffins

2 ½ cups Plain flour
1 cup Caster sugar
2 tsp Baking powder (heaped)
3 Medium pears – cored and diced
2 tsp Grated ginger

80 g Butter – melted
1 ¼ cups Milk
3 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla essence

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees celcius. Line a 12 hole medium muffin pan with butter/spray oil or cupcake/muffin paper.
2. Sift the sugar, flour and baking powder together into a mixing bowl. Add the pears and ginger.
3. Whisk the eggs with the milk and vanilla essence. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients then pour the milk mixture and butter into it. Gently mix with a kitchen spoon until everything is well combined.

4. Evenly divide the mixture between the 12 muffin moulds then bake for about 25 minutes until the middle two muffins are cooked (the centre will bounce back up if gently pushed down.

5. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with lashings of butter.

2 cups Flour, plain wheat, spelt, gluten free or rice
¾ cups Caster sugar
2 tsp Baking powder
2  Lemons – juiced and zest grated
4 Eggs
3 tbsp Natural yoghurt
50 g Butter – melted
1 tsp Vanilla extract
¼ cup Olive oil
4 Medium apples – unpeeled, cored and sliced
½ cup Sultanas
White (granulated) sugar

1. Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees celcius. Line the bottom of a 24 cm cake tin with baking paper and the sides with some soft butter.

2. Sift the flour, sugar and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Add the grated zest and sultanas, mix well. In a different bowl whisk the eggs, yoghurt, olive oil, vanilla extract and the juice of the lemons. Fold this into the flour mixture then pour into the tin.

3.Arrange the apple sliced into a fan on top of the cake mix then sprinkle with the granulated sugar.

4. Bake for about 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Serve with double cream or vanilla yoghurt.

Makes about 5 cups and can be stored for up to 2 months. Refrigerate after opening.

750 g beetroot
1 brown onion
2 cups balsamic vinegar
1 cup water
3 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
2 cups sugar
2 cloves or pinch ground cloves
5 cm piece orange rind
Sea salt and cracked pepper

1. Peel and process beetroot and onion in a food processor.

2. In a covered frying pan, fry mustard seeds in a little oil.

3. Add all ingredients to a large deep frying pan or large saucepan. Place over medium heat, cover and bring to the boil. Cook for 30 minutes or until the beetroot is soft and the liquid has reduced and thickened slightly. 

4. Pour into sterilised jars, seal and let cool. 

 Recipe by Mike Husada

1. Sandwich filling: Peel, seed then slice the pumpkkin into thin (5 mm) pieces and toss in olive oil, salt and pepper before roasting in a 200 degrees celcius oven for about 10 minutes. Allow it to cool, then use it as a sandwich filling. The pumpkin can be kept in the fridge for 3-4 days. Try the combining the pumpkin with rocket, feta and walnuts on La Madre’s Seeded Sourdough bread or the add pumpkin with baby spinach, pesto and goat’s cheese on La Madre’s Olive Sourdough bread. Have them fresh or toasted. YUM!

2. Warm roasted: Peel, seed and cut the pumpkin into wedges before roasting it with a little olive oil in a 200 degrees celcius oven for about 15 minutes. Serve warm with some sautéed mushroom, a drizzle of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and a sprinkle of balsamic vinegar. This is a nice accompaniment to roast chicken or just on its own with some slices of grilled sourdough bread.

3. Pumpkin soup: Peel, seed and chop a butternut pumpkin. Sweat with olive oil and butter in a heavy based pot with 1 chopped onion, 2 cloves of garlic and a chopped peeled potato. It’s best to do this on medium heat with a lid on. Once it’s well sweated, cover with a white stock (chicken or vegetable), bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer until the pumpkin pieces are soft. Blend with a stab mixer (bamix) while incorporating ½ cup of cream. Season to taste.

4. Roast bed: For your next Sunday roast, have pieces of unpeeled pumpkin tossed in olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Then place them on a roasting tray with some potatoes, pieces of leek and carrots as a roast bed. Place the meat on top of this bed then roast until cooked as you desire. The vegetables will be nicely cooked if the cooking time is about 1 hour. While cooking all the juices from the meat will fall onto the vegetable giving them extra flavour.

Makes 12 medium/80g muffins

2.5 cups Plain flour
1 cup Caster sugar
2 ½ tsp Baking powder
1 Medium zucchini – quartered lengthwise then chopped
1 Lemon – zest grated and juiced
300 ml Milk
3 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla extract
80 g Unsalted butter – melted
1 pinch Ground nutmeg
Melted butter for lining the muffin holes

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Line a 12 medium/80g muffin tin with melted butter or muffin paper.
2. Sift the flour, sugar and baking powder twice into a large mixing bowl. Mix the zucchini, nutmeg and lemon zest into the flour. In a seperate bowl, whisk the egg, milk and vanilla well.
3. Fold the milk mixture and 80 g melted butter into the dry (flour) mixture. Do not work the mixture too much, if there are a small lumps of flour, it is ok. What you don’t want to happen is to activate the gluten in the flour and make the muffins a little chewy.
4. With a kitchen spoon fill each muffin hole to ¾ capacity. Bake for 25 to 40 minutes until the middle of the  two centre muffins are set. If you are not using a fan forced oven place the muffin tin on a oven tray so the bottom of the muffins don’t burn.
5. Cool down a little and sprinkle with icing sugar using a small sifter. Serve warm with LOTS of butter!!

Recipe by Mike Husada

Tapas is a great way to enjoy several different little dishes shared over a nice bottle of wine or some beers.

1. Steam flowerets of half a broccoli for about 4 minutes then drizzle with the juice of 1 lemon and extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes.
2. Chop 3 medium desiree potatoes to 2 cm pieces then toss them in olive oil, garlic, salt and paprika. Bake for about 20 minutes in a high oven.
3. Places cleaned and de-stalked mushrooms on an oven tray, drizzle with some olive oil and season well then bake for about 10 minutes in a high oven. Sprinkle with garlic flakes.
4. Break up some cauliflower into flowerets then crumb (toss in flour, cover in egg wash then toss in breadcrumbs). Deep fry in 180 degrees celcius oil for about 3 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve with mayonnaise.

5. Marinate 4 or 6 lamb cutlets with ¼ cup of red wine and oregano leaves for at least 2 hours. Just before grilling, season with salt and pepper. Grill on medium heat for about 3 minutes on each side before resting them on a warm place for about 10 minutes
6. Marinate 6 Australian prawn cutlets in some olive oil and saffron for about 20 minutes. Sautee in some olive oil with half an apple chopped. Season well.

Serves 4 as a meal or 8 as a side
3 medium Potatoes – peeled and made into mash
3 Eggs – lightly beaten
2 cups Plain flour
2 tsp Baking powder
100 g Butter – melted
4 tbsp Yoghurt
3 rashers Organic Bacon – chopped then fried
1 Carrot – grated
1 tsp Paprika
¼ tsp Nutmeg
½ bunch Chives – chopped
1 Egg yolk
1 tbsp Milk
Salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Sift the baking powder and flour together, then mix in the spices, chives, carrot and bacon. Add the cooled potato mash into the flour mix. Make a well in the middle of the mix then fold in the butter, yoghurt and eggs.
2. Line a 20 cm x 15 cm x 3 cm rectangular baking dish (or similar size) with some cooking oil. Pour the mix into the dish. Using the tip of a spoon’s handle, make griddle pattern on the top of it. Whisk the egg yolk and milk together, then brush it on.

3. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes until the top is golden brown. Serve as a meal with a light salad, such as baby spinach, tomatoes and sweet corn.

Recipe by Mike Husada

Serves 4

To make this omelette use a 20 cm non-stick pan. Serve this with freshly steamed jasmine rice.

500 g Firm tofu – diced to 1 cm pieces
150 g Snow peas – topped and tailed then cut to julienne
8 Eggs
2 tbsp Water
4 tbsp Teriyaki sauce (half-half of soy sauce and mirin)
2 tsp Ginger – grated
Sunflower oil

1. Brown the tofu pieces in the non-stick pan on a medium heat, turning them regularly.
2. Beat the eggs in a bowl with the water. Once the tofu pieces have browned, pour the eggs over them then cook over low heat with a lid on the pan.
3. Once the omelette has fully cooked, turn out onto a plate. Pile the julienne of snow peas on top and pour the ginger and teriyaki mixture over it.
4. Serve with freshly steamed jasmine rice.