Quarantine Cooking Recipes with a Pinch of Isolation

If there’s anything we’ve learnt from isolation, it’s eating out is a big hobby and second, not touching your face is hard!

But a third thing we’ve learnt is to channel our inner chef.

A great thing about quarantine is that you have more time to experiment and enjoy the process of cooking.

While finding the ingredients you need at the supermarket may be a struggle at this time, it’s a great opportunity to support local food makers and support the small business community. Plus, high-quality ingredients make a dish all the yummier!

We’ve looked deep, we’ve thought hard, we’ve experimented, and we’ve got a gift for you.

Without further ado, we give you our quarantine cookbook.

Quarantine Quiche with Red Chilli Onion Relish

Nothing says home cooking like a quarantine quiche! The beauty of quiche is that you can add whatever you have lying around the house and garden. You can add different meats or keep it vego.
Making the perfect quiche involves sticking to some simple rules.

Do not let the bottom go soggy (non-intentional toilet paper pun ). What you want to avoid is adding the wet ingredients to the raw pastry. To avoid this, we follow this little technique called ‘blind-baking’. This involves baking the pastry without the filling. You can use baking beads if you have them or dried beans or old pasta. Another thing you want to avoid is browning the pastry too early. Remember the pastry will need to back in again with the filling.

Ingredients:

• 2 sheets of ready rolled shortcut pastry
• A handful of fresh herbs (we used tarragon and basil, but you can substitute it with any herbs you like)
• 8 eggs (beaten)
• Cherry tomatoes
• 1 ½ cups cheese (use a variety if you have it to add flavour)
• 2 shallots (thinly sliced)
• One cup of chopped mushrooms
• Salt and pepper
• Handful of rocket
• ½ cup of cream
• Latasha’s Kitchen Red Chilli Onion Relish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180◦ for 10 minutes.
2. Slightly grease a fluted loose-base flan pan and line the base and side of flan with pastry (trim excess).
3. Bake the pastry. Line the pastry with a non-stick baking paper and fill the baking paper with baking beads or dry beans. Put into the oven for 15 minutes.
4. Remove baking paper and pop the pastry dish back in the oven for an extra 10 minutes.
5. Fry the shallots, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes in a pan with some butter.
6. Whisk together the eggs and cream.
7. Assemble the quiche by spreading the mushroom mixture over the bottom of the crust.
8. Pour the egg and cream mixture over the top, sprinkle with salt and pepper and top with cheese.
9. Place dish back into the oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until quiche is firm and golden.
10. Serve with some fresh rocket and a spoonful of Latasha’s Red Chilli Onion Relish.

Social Distancing Spicy Rogan Josh

Next up in our quarantine cooking guide is our rogan josh curry.

Life has changed as we know it, but we must curry on.

We wanted to expand our cooking skills and venture into new cuisines, so we tried our hand at a rogan josh curry with a Just in Time Gourmet twist. Introducing our social distancing spicy rogan josh. Finally, a law-abiding curry we can get behind!

Ingredients:

• 500g of boneless lamb shoulder (cubed)
• 2 tbs of vegetable oil
• Mamaji’s rogan josh simmer sauce 375g
• 1 onion (sliced)
• 2 garlic cloves (crushed)
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 2 tomatoes (cut into wedges)
• 1 tbs of Chilli Sauce (not optional )
• 2 cups of basmati rice
• Fresh coriander bunch (chopped)
• Plain yogurt (optional)

Directions:

1. Slice the onion and tomatoes.
2. Add the oil to a frying pan and cook the lamb for 5 minutes.
3. Add the onion and garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes.
4. Prepare the rice in a saucepan or rice cooker.
5. Add the canned crushed tomatoes, Mamajiji’s Rogan Josh Simmer Sauce and fresh tomatoes and cook for a further 5 minutes on medium heat. We use Mamaijis Rogan Josh Simmer Sauce because it’s authentic, made with Australian ingredients and seriously delicious.

After the tomato has softened, stir in the fresh coriander and serve with the rice and top with plain yogurt.

Stay at Home Dukkah Crumbed Salmon with Black Truffle Aioli

Next on our quarantine cooking journey, is our Stay at Home Dukkah Crumbed Salmon with Black Truffle Aioli. Full of flavour, this dish is drool worthy, if we don’t say so ourselves.

We’ve used ingredients from local makers to make this recipe unique and delicious.

Make it for the family and you won’t need to fish for compliments.

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• Ogilvie & Co Hazelnut and Pistachio Dukkah
• 4 pieces of salmon (skin on)
• 1 pear
• 1 bag of mixed salad leaves
• 1 cucumber
• 2 sweet potatoes (unpeeled)
• Ogilvie & Co Black Truffle Aioli
• Salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180◦. While the oven is heating up, cut the sweet potato into 1cm chips and place on an oven tray with baking paper. Season the chips with salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until crisp.
2. Pat salmon pieces dry with a paper towel and coat with olive oil. Pour the dukkah onto a plate. Press the salmon pieces, skin side down, into the dukkah to coat.
3. When the sweet potato chips are almost ready, heat a drizzle of olive oil in a frypan over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, cook the salmon pieces 2-4 minutes on each side depending on thickness.
4. Prepare the salad. Slice cucumber and pear into thin slices and mix in the salad leaves. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and season with salt and pepper and toss.
5. Dish up the salmon on separate plates, with a serve of sweet potato chips, pear salad and the final and most essential ingredient black truffle aioli. 

Flatten the Curve Pomegranate and Balsamic Salad 

To end our quarantine cooking adventure, we wanted to make something fresh, healthy and delicious! Our Flatten the Curve Pomegranate and Balsamic Salad is just that. Contrary to the name, this pretty salad is anything from flat – she’s zesty, juicy and full-bodied.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbs of Pukara Estate Basil Flavoured Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 packet of mixed salad leaves
• 1 pomegranate (seeds separated)
• 1/3 cup of feta (crumbled)
• 1 pear ( thinly sliced)
• ¼ cup red onion (thinly sliced)
• ½ cup pecan nuts
• 1 cup of grapes
• 1 tbs of Latasha’s Kitchen Glazed Balsamic and Beetroot Reduction

Directions:

1. Remove seeds from pomegranate.
2. Layer salad leaves, pear, red onion, grapes, pecans, pomegranate seeds and crumbled feta.
3. Drizzle the glazed balsamic reduction and olive oil over the salad and toss to coat.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Thanks for joining us in some quarantine cooking. Save this article to your favourites so whenever your feeling jazzy, creative or just iso-crazy, all our recipes are right there ready to go!

Our final master chef tip, all these recipes are best served with a big glass of red or two…

At Just In Time Gourmet, we stock a large range of high-quality Australian gourmet products. We strive to source local makers so that you can try unique food products that aren’t available at standard supermarkets. Shop our range of gourmet food products online and bring your quarantine cooking to a new level. We ship Australia-wide, so you don’t need to leave the house.