Poppy Seed Bagel and Cream Cheese Egg Salad
What other bagel toppings do you like?
Poppy Seed Bagel and Cream Cheese Egg
Salad
Gingerbread and Champagne Marshmallows
They both went down quite well amongst the people in the street with no real clear favorite. The champagne flavour was quite subtle but there nonetheless and the gingerbread tasted just like you’d expect, just more fluffy in texture.
Real Men Make Their Own Quiche
Originally I was going to make this for lunch but when I realised it was already midday it turned into a dinner instead and I’m sorry it’s another zucchini recipe but they’re in season.
Spanish Goat and Asparagus Risotto
If you haven’t had goat before it’s very similar to lamb in both how you cook it and how it tastes although it’s a lot leaner and sweeter meat than lamb, cheaper too. The recipe I made with one of the steaks is a quick marinade with a spanish twist to it with some lemon. It only needs an hour in the fridge too. I wanted to make a pilaf to go with this but I only had arborio rice so a quick risotto it was. I’ve made that here before so I won’t go into it again today and obviously, if you can’t find goat, just use lamb.
Pasta Salad with Broad Beans, Pancetta and Fetta
I ended up with a pasta salad, a quick trip to The Deli for some pancetta and everything was go. Straight forward and only taking 15 minutes I had dinner. Coming into summer it’s great the next day for a picnic once the flavours have mingled even more.
Bacon and Egg Slice
My mum used to make this with puff pastry and no spinach. Puff pastry would have been nice for the flaky top but the short-crust I used still worked.
Mango and Black Pepper Ice Creams
Yeah, black pepper. Ice cream. It’s strangely sweet too, even if it leaves your lips tingling. Give it a go, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the subtle fruitiness that pepper actually has. Of course, you can always tone down the amount of pepper in the recipe, or if you want, sift out the powder and just use the larger cracked pieces, I didn’t and as such the ice cream looks decidedly chocolate.
Duck Confit with Crisp Beetroot Salad
The salad to go along side this is easy too and involves no more than whisking a dressing together and grating the beetroot on a mandolin.
Duck Confit with Crisp Beetroot
Salad
Brioche Pudding with Dried Figs
This was meant to just have cherries in it but I forgot to get them that day so I rummaged around the the cupboard and cheated a little with a packet of Whisk & Pin dried fruit compote that was mostly figs which I love so hey, figs it was! They worked really well if I do say so myself.
Brioche Pudding with Dried
Figs
4 Hour Roast Beef with Red Wine Sauce
It’s a fairly straight forward recipe and really takes no time at all to
4 Hour Roast Beef Rump in Red Wine
Sauce
Orange Stuffed Chicken Marylands with 5-Spiced Carrots and Beans
Orange Stuffed Chicken Marylands with
5-Spiced Carrots and Beans
Boston Baked Beans
Boston Baked Beans - Serves 2-4
250 grams of cannellini beans
1 teaspoon of mustard powder
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
1 tin of tomatoes
150 grams of pork speck
1 onion, roughly chopped
4 cloves
1 bay leaf, torn
Salt and pepper
Heat oven to 180ºC. Soak the beans overnight. In a large saucepan,
fry the onion, speck, cloves and bay leaf until the onions are
transparent. Add everything else except the beans and simmer for 10
minutes to reduce the liquid a little.
Drain the beans and add. Put a lid on the saucepan and bake for
three hours, stirring occasionally. Serve.
Zucchini Ribbon Pickles
Frankly, even though the other dishes tasted good they all looked pretty average in the pictures so with the one final zucchini I had left I dug around and found, via The Kitchn, a Martha Stewart recipe for zucchini ribbon pickles. I hadn’t made these things for years! Perfect. I scaled down the recipe quite drastically since I only had one zucchini left but here’s my take on it, scaled back up for you.
UPDATE: Jeanne has posted the roundup of this month’s theme. Thanks again Jeanne. I love Joanna from The Passionate Cook’s Courgette and Thyme Croustades with Parmesan Cream. Yummo.
Zucchini Cannelloni with Brie Stuffed Zucchini Flowers
It also gave me a chance to break out the Multix piping bags I picked up ages ago. They worked a treat. If you don’t have use for a professional piping bag I’d highly recommend them even thought there are only 5 bags in a pack.
Ricotta and Zucchini Cannelloni with
Brie Stuffed Zucchini Flowers
Ricotta and Zucchini Cannelloni with Brie Stuffed
Zucchini Flowers - Serves 2
2 Zucchinis
250 grams of ricotta
Salt and Pepper
12 cannelloni tubes
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of flower
1 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
20 grams of gorgonzola
50 grams of grated parmesan
½ cup of tomato based pasta sauce
100 grams of mozzarella
4 zucchini flowers
50 grams of brie
1 egg, beaten
½ cup of breadcrumbs
Sunflower oil for frying the zucchini flowers
Heat oven to 170ºC. Grate the zucchini and press out as much of the
liquid as possible. Mix it in with the ricotta and add salt and
pepper to taste. Spoon into the piping bag and fill the cannelloni.
Place into an oven tray that will hold them without too much extra
space. I ended up using a bread tin.
In a saucepan, melt the butter until bubbling then add the flower.
Whisk for about 10 minutes so that the gluten cooks and the flour
doesn’t catch on the pan and burn. Slowly add the milk in about
tablespoons until a paste forms. Add the remaining milk and whisk
to smooth. Add the nutmeg and cheeses and stir until melted. Spread
evenly over the cannelloni. Pour over the tomato pasta sauce and
then grate the mozzarella over the top. Bake in the oven for 20-30
minutes until the cheese has browned. Take out and allow to cool
slightly.
Heat the sunflower oil to 200ºC. Cut the brie into four cubes and
stuff inside the zucchini flowers. Dip the flowers into the beaten
egg and then into the breadcrumbs. Fry until golden and serve.
Artichoke & Zucchini Flowers
I made a couple of zucchini flowers to go with it. They were pretty nice but next time I’ll make a lighter batter or crumb them.
Stuffed Artichoke & Zucchini
Flowers
Stuffed Artichoke & Zucchini Flowers -
Serves 2
Artichokes:
2 globe artichokes
¼ cup of vinegar
2 cups of cold water
1 cup of bread crumbs
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
lemon zest from one lemon
2 anchovy filets
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Zucchini Flowers:
4 zucchini flowers
1 tablespoon of ricotta
2 anchovy filets
Salt and pepper
1 cup of flour
¼ cup of ice water
Sunflower oil for frying
Pre-heat your oven to 160ºC. In a bowl, mix the vinegar and water
and put aside.
Cut the stems of the artichokes, pull off the outer leaves until
the softer inner leaves are visible and slice off the top half of
the globe, just above the widest point. Dip the artichokes in the
water to stop them from blackening. Open up the inner leaves of the
artichoke and using a teaspoon, scoop out the fluffy choke, making
sure you get all of it. Once done, put the artichoke back into the
water until ready to bake.
Mash the anchovy filets and mix in the breadcrumbs, parsley, lemon
zest, salt and pepper. Stuff the centre of the artichokes with the
mix and press the remaining mix in between the leaves. Place on an
oven try and bake for 45 min to an hour.
For the zucchini flowers, mix the anchovy and ricotta together and
season with salt and pepper. Gently open the flower and stuff the
cheese mix inside, being careful not to over fill it. The
yellow/orange parts of the petals should be able to be twisted
around the filling to close it in.
When the artichokes are ready, heat enough oil in a saucepan so
that it will cover the flowers when they’re fried. Mix the flour
and ice water together, dip a flower into the batter so it’s
lightly covered then fry until just turning golden. Drain on paper
towel and repeat with the other flowers. Serve immediately.
Squid Tubes and Crumbed Scallops
Squid Tubes and Crumbled Scallops - Serves 2
10 Scallops
2 eggs, beaten
½ cup of flour
¾ cup of breadcrumbs
1 squid tube
1 tablespoon of sumac
Sunflower oil for frying
Mustard, mayonnaise or tartar sauce to serve
Salad leaves
In three separate bowls, place the flour, egg and breadcrumbs. One at a time, roll a scallop in the flour then dip in the egg. Let the excess drip off then roll in the bread crumbs. Dip the crumbed scallop back in the egg then the breadcrumbs again. Set aside. Repeat for the remaining scallops.
For the squid, make incisions diagonally across the flesh being careful not to cut al the way through.
Fry the lot of it. The squid for 20 seconds and the scallops for about 45 seconds or until the crumbs are golden.
Serve on salad leaves with your choice of condiment.
Roti Bread
I’ve frozen all of mine, save the one or two I taste-tested. They’ll defrost quickly next time I whip up some indian.
Roti Bread - Makes 12
250mL of warm water
1 sachet of dry yeast
2 teaspoons of sugar
3 cups of flour
3 teaspoons of baking powder
½ teaspoon of salt
1½ tablespoons of oil
Mix two tablespoons of the water with the sugar and yeast and leave
to get all frothy, about 10 minutes.
Knead the rest of the ingredients together well and let rise for an
hour or until doubled in size. Cut into 12 pieces and roll into
rounds.
Heat a non-stick frying pan to hot then spread with a little oil
and fry one of the rounds of bread. It will start to bubble, press
them down with a dry, folded tea towel and flip over and fry on the
other side until golden. Repeat for the remaining bread. Best
served hot.
Mixed Berry Jellies and Vanilla Ice Cream
Even better, it is very easy to make, can be made days in advance and you’ve probably got everything in the cupboard anyway.
Mixed Berry Jellies and Vanilla Ice Cream -
Serves 4
1 packet of flavoured jelly crystals (any berry or even
port-wine)
1 packet of frozen berries, thawed (any, or a mix)
Ice Cream
Make jelly as per packet instructions. Put in fridge and chill for
an hour and a half or until the mix is quite thick but not set.
Stir in berries.
If the berries do sink to the bottom before it sets, or you forget
the jelly in the fridge before adding them place the moulds in a
sink and add hot water until it comes half way up the sides. The
jelly will soften enough so you can add the berries or stir them
through again.
Leave to set then serve with ice cream.
BBQ'd Piri-Piri Chicken
I made all of the sauce, but only cooked half of the chicken since it was just me after all, a quarter for dinner and the other quarter for lunch the next day. Even though I have a charcoal BBQ, I don’t have a rotisserie so I just turned it once in a while with some corn and a sweet potato next to it. A little bit of bacon didn’t hurt either!
It’s damn tastier, and healthier than Oprorto and that’s saying something coming from me.
Charcoal chicken
with piri piri
sauce
1 whole chicken
Marinade: 8 cloves garlic, crushed Pinch salt Juice of 2
lemons 1 tsp bay leaf powder 2 tsp paprika 2 shots scotch whisky
(80mls) 2 tbsp very soft butter 1 whole chicken Rock salt Piri
Piri Sauce: 10 – 12 birdseye chillies, chopped finely (medium
size, medium heat) Pinch salt Juice of ½ lemon 100mls olive oil 2
tbsp garlic powder (not crushed garlic as the mixture will be too
runny) Mix all ingredients into a thickish dipping sauce.
Mix all ingredients for marinade together. Prepare chicken – trim
away excess fat. Then use a sharp knife or kitchen scissors to cut
the chicken through the breastbone. Open out, turn over and flatten
by pressing down with your hand along the backbone. Make a small
cut under each wing to help it flatten further. Make several
incisions in the flesh with a sharp knife. This will allow the
flesh to absorb the marinade and allow fat to drain. Prick all over
with a large fork. Brush both sides with the marinade and sprinkle
with rock salt. Cover and marinate in the fridge for 30 – 45
minutes. Cook over a charcoal BBQ (or any hot grill if you don’t
have a BBQ) turning frequently and basting continuously with the
remaining marinade until both sides are golden brown –
approximately 30 minutes. Cut the chicken into pieces with kitchen
scissors and brush with Piri Piri sauce.
Walloon Biscuits
From: Luther
Subject: Re: Something to sweeten your weekend?
Date: 24 October 2008 10:48:49 PM
To: Will
This weekend's cooking challenge: Belgian biscuits. =P
From: Will
Subject: Re: Something to sweeten your weekend?
Date: 24 October 2008 11:23:41 PM
To: Luther
Belgian biscuits?
From: Luther
Subject: Re: Something to sweeten your weekend?
Date: 24 October 2008 11:58:29 PM
To: Will
Made from real Belgians! (Mind you, at this rate they'll eventually be called Walloon biscuits... depending upon your knowledge of world affairs. =)
http://www.chelsea.co.nz/ViewRecipe.aspx?id=711
From: Will
Subject: Re: Something to sweeten your weekend?
Date: 25 October 2008 2:22:23 AM
To: Luther
I'll see what I can come up with :D
Belgian Biscuits
Homemade Turkish Bread
The texture is beautifully chewy and has a well developed flavour too. Unfortunately it didn’t have those extra large air-bubbles inside you’d get from your store-bought turkish bread but I think if you left it long than I did you’d be fine, it was also a little cold when I baked mine and that never helps.
Homemade Turkish Bread
Homemade Turkish Bread - Makes 6
Sponge:
½ cup of warm water
1 sachet of yeast
1 teaspoon of sugar or honey
1 cup of flour
Dough:
1¼ cup of warm water
1 sachet of yeast
1 teaspoon of sugar or honey
2 tablespoons of olive oil
3 cups of flour
1 cup of whole-grain flour (I used rye)
1 tablespoon of salt
Sesame seeds or nigella seeds (black onion) for garnish
1 egg, beaten for a glaze
Mix the sponge ingredients, except the flour together and set aside
until foamy, about 15 minutes. Add the flour and combine well.
Cover with a tea-towel or loosely with plastic wrap and set aside
overnight. Don’t cover the sponge tightly because the air inside
with become anoxic and the yeast will die.
The following day, mix the second lot of yeast, water and
honey/sugar together until foamy then add the remaining ingredients
except the sesame seeds or nigella seeds and egg then knead until
the dough is smooth and very elastic. Add more flour if the dough
is too wet. It should be slightly damn but silky smooth. Mine took
20+ minutes.
Pre-heat your oven to 250ºC. Once the dough is the right
consistency, ball up and place in an oiled bowl covered with a
tea-towel or loosely with plastic wrap for 3+ hours or until the
dough has doubled in size. Punch down the dough then kneed again
for another 10 minutes or so. Divide into six pieces and roll out
to the desired shape, quite thinly and put on a greased baking try
and put in a warm place for an hour or more until the dough has
risen significantly. Brush with an egg wash and sprinkle over the
sesame or nigella seeds.
Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the crush is golden.
Rich Italian Chocolate Cake with Crushed Hazelnuts
Rich Italian Chocolate Cake with
Crushed Hazelnuts
Rich Italian Chocolate Cake with Crushed
Hazelnuts
250g hazelnuts
250g of almond meal
250g of dark chocolate, finely chopped
100mL of brandy
60mL of espresso
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons of milk
1 cup of caster sugar
5 large eggs, separated
1 tub of mascarpone
Heat the oven to 180ºC. Grease two 20cm sponge tins and dust with
cocoa. Roast the hazelnuts on an oven tray for 15 minutes until the
skins are blackened, wrap in a tea-towel and let them steam and
cool. Rub off the skins then grind in a food processor.
Mix the first seven ingredients plus half of the sugar and the egg
yolks in a large bowl until well combined. Whisk the egg whites in
a separate bowl to soft peaks then slowly beat in the rest of the
sugar until the egg whites are glossy. In several small batches,
gently mix the egg whites into the cake mix. Divide the mix between
the two sponge tins and bake in the middle shelf of the oven for
45min to an hour or until a skewer comes out clean, or with a few
crumbs. Leave it to cool .
Spread the mascarpone on the top of one of the cakes then squish
the second one on top, dusk with icing sugar and serve with either
more mascarpone or some ice cream.
UPDATE: I gave the rest of this cake to some friends the following day and it tasted even better once the flavours had time to properly mingle with each other. So I’d recommend making the cakes, leaving them wrapped in plastic in the fridge for 24 hours and then spreading them with mascarpone and serving it with ice cream.
Spiced Lamb Pistachio and Beetroot Salad with Orange Dressing
Spiced Lamb with Pistachio and
Beetroot Salad with Orange Dressing
The lamb itself was tender and cooked to just pink with a brilliant
sumac based spice rub and the orange and honey in the dressing
balanced out the beetroot. A bit of cumin in the dressing tied it
in with the lamb and a bit of honey did the same for the
yoghurt.
Spiced Lamb
Pistachio - Serves 2
2 lamb back-straps
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of olive oil
½ tablespoon of coriander seeds
1½ tabelspoon of cumin seeds
1½ tabelspoon of allspice
2 tabelspoon of sumac
¼ cup of shelled pistachios, crushed
Mint Yoghurt
½ cup of yoghurt
1 tabelspoon of finely sliced mint leaves
½ tabelspoon of honey
Beetroot Salad with Orange Dressing
1 beetroot, diced
1 potato, diced
½ cup of grated carrot
½ tabelspoon of fresh ground cumin seeds
1 teaspoon of orange zest
juice of 1 orange
½ tabelspoon of honey
2 handfuls of salad leaves
Starting with the beetroot salad; steam the beetroot for about an
30-45 minutes or until it’s fairly tender but still has a bit of
resistance. Add the potato and carrot and continue to steam until
all is tender and the tip of a knife has no resistance left to it.
Toss through the salad leaves and put aside until serving. Mix the
remaining salad ingredients into a bowl for the dressing.
For the mint yoghurt, mix it all together. Put aside until
serving.
Lamb. Toss the lamb, garlic and oil together and stand to marinade
for two hours. Grind and mix the spices together. Once the lamb has
marinaded for the set time, rub the spice mix all over the meat and
fry or bbq on medium-high for 5 minutes each side. Take the lamb
off the heat and wrap in foil for 8-10 minutes to rest.
Dress and plate the salad. Slice the lamb back-strap on the
diagonal and plate. Sprinkle with the pistachios and drizzle around
the mint yoghurt.
Roast Tomato and Risotto Soup
Roast Tomato and Saffron Risotto
Soup
Roast Tomato and Risotto Soup - Serves
2
6 ripe tomatoes
1 onion
1 capsicum
2 bay leaves
6 sprigs of thyme
6 cloves of garlic
1 Tablespoon of olive oil
1 Liter of stock (I used rabbit)
2 cups of leftover
risotto
Pre-heat your oven to 170ºC. Into a roasting pan, slice the
tomatoes and capsicum in half and the onion in quarters. Add the
herbs and spices and a dash of olive oil and toss them all together
to coat. Roast in the oven for about an hour or until the tomatoes
have dried and started to caramelize.
In a saucepan, heat the stock to boiling and add in the roasted
vegetables (remove the bay leaves). Heat the roasting tin over the
stove and when it’s started to simmer, splash in some of the stock
and deglaze the pan. Scrape up all of the juicy bits and add them
into the pot with the stock. Simmer for 10 minutes then whizz up
with a stick mixer or a blender until it’s a little your preferred
texture (I like mine thick, thin out with more stock if you
want.
EIther, re-heat the risotto in a frying pan and spoon into your
soup bowl and pour around the risotto, or add the risotto to the
soup and mix through to re-heat before serving.
Saffron and Pea Risotto with Pancetta Scallops
I’ve made saffron risotto a couple of times before but I’ve never been satisfied with the yellowness of the end result. In magazines and on TV it’s always almost fluorescent yellow but today it seemed to come out just about right. I guess I used twice as much saffron as usual and let it steep into the stock before I cooked it into the rice.
Fresh Pea and Saffron Risotto with
Scallops cooked with Pancetta
Saffron and Pea Risotto with Pancetta
Scallops - Serves 2
2 liters of fish stock (or vegetable)
1 teaspoon of saffron threads
½ white onion, diced
1 Tablespoon of butter
1 cup of arborio rice
½ cup of fresh peas
2 rashers of pancetta (or bacon)
10 scallops (or prawns, lobster etc)
Bring the stock and saffron threads to simmering point. Fry the
onion in the butter until it’s translucent and add the rice. Fry
until the rice has turned white and one ladle at a time add the
stock and stir until the stock has been absorbed. Continue until ¾
of the stock has been used and the rice has begun to soften.
In a separate pan, fry the pancetta until crisp and the fat has
rendered, do not discard the fat from the pan. Dice the pancetta
and add that along with the peas into the risotto. Continue adding
the stock until the risotto is cooked through.
In the same pan as the pancetta was fried, add the scallops and fry
for one minute each side or until the surface is caramelized and
the flesh has turned opaque.
Pile the risotto on a plate and scatter with the scallops, or if
you’re feeling a little wanky, shape the risotto in a ring then
arrange the scallops around the edge.
Chickens with Pockets
So when I had some bacon, camembert and a chicken breast handy a chicken paupiette was called forth.
Chicken Paupiette of Bacon and
Camembert
Chicken stuffed with Bacon and Camembert -
Serves 2
2 Chicken breasts
4 Rashers of bacon
250g of Camembert, sliced
Salad leaves to serve
Slice a pocket into the thickest parts of the chicken breasts
trying to make each pocket as big as possible but not to cutting
through to the other side. Lightly hammer out the chicken to as
thin as possible without breaking apart the chicken.
Stuff the pocket with half of the cheese and a rasher of bacon then
slowly pan fry until the chicken is cooked through and browned on
the outside along side the two spare rashers of bacon.
Slice the chicken in half and lay over salad leaves with the extra
pieces of bacon.
The fish has volume, and vents?
Once I got home though, I couldn’t really be bothered doing anything except drink the champagne. Sunday night I still wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with the snapper so I decided to tea smoke it and make a large single serve vol au vent. It was surprisingly easy and tasted pretty damn good. Much better than those vol au vents your mum used to make at dinner parties in the 80’s and early 90’s!
Smoked snapper vol au
vent
Smoked Snapper Vol Au Vents - Serves
2
1 whole fresh snapper
1 tablespoon of black peppercorns
1 tablespoon of cardamom pods (crushed)
1 fresh bay leaf
1 cup sugar
1 cup of salt
1 cup of white rice
1 cup of black tea
1 sheet of short crust pastry
1 cup of stock (I used rabbit, but vegetable, chicken or fish would
be ok)
1 tablespoon of corn flour
1 tablespoon of fresh cut parsley
Place the snapper, pepper, cardamom, bay leaf and half of the salt
and sugar in a plastic container and cover with water. Leave for
two hours (6 in the fridge). Take the fish out and let it air dry
for a while or pat it dry with some paper towel.
Line a roasting tin that you have a rack and a lid with foil. Mix
the rest of the salt and sugar with the rice and tea and pour
evenly into the foil. Place the tin over a low heat (preferably
with a simmer mat) and heat until it starts to smoke. Place the
fish on the rack, the rack on the rice and the lid on the tin (get
all that? Good). Leave for an hour and turn the heat off but do not
remove the lid.
Once the whole lot has cooled, take the lid off and start to flake
the flesh off the snapper trying to keep the bones out of the
mix.
Heat your oven to 180ºC and cut two circles out of the short crust
pastry and rings out of the puff pastry, the same diameter as the
short crust circles. Place the two pastry stacks on a baking tray
and bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry rings have risen.
Boil the stock and add the corn flour, whisking constantly until it
has thickened. Add the fish and re-heat gently so to not break the
fish up further. Stir through the parsley then taste for seasoning
and then spoon into the vol au vent cases.
Oatmeal and Blueberry Cookies
Not long afterwards they invited me to their house for dinner to meet some of the other people from the street. It was a dinner party, a real dinner party with linen table cloths, napkins and the good silver.
Oatmeal and Blueberry Cookies
As a thank-you I thought I’d make a
small batch of cookies for them, but what? They had to be
wholesome, they were a gift for a neighbor afterall and you can’t
get any more wholesome than oatmeal cookies but of course I had to
jazz it up a little. Forget the raisins. Blueberries were the go! I
was going to use dried cherries but I couldn’t find them anywhere.
Of course the week after I found them at David Jones.
To give them a bit of extra depth you don’t usually find in oatmeal
cookies I used rolled oats and rolled rye that have an earthier
flavour that isn’t overpowering. If you cant find or cant be
bothered, just use all oat.
Oatmeal and Blueberry
Cookies - makes 24
150
grams unsalted butter, softened
⅓ cup of brown sugar
⅓ castor sugar
1 large egg
¾ cups of rolled oats
¾ cups of rolled rye
¾ cups of flour
1 teaspoon of bicarb
½ teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 cups of dried blueberries (or any other dried fruit)
Preheat your oven to 200ºC. Beat together the butter and sugars
until they are light and fluffy. It won’t be as pale as regular
creamed butter and sugar because of the brown sugar so don’t worry
about that. On a lower speed, add the egg and vanilla. Sift the
flour and mix in the dry ingredients.
When well combined, but not over mixed, place dessert spoonfuls of
the mix on a greased or properly lined baking tray about 4 or 5 cm
apart. Learn from my mistake - if you use cookie sheets be prepared
for the excess butter melting out of the cookies and going all over
the place!
If you’ve got an even temp oven, bake two sheets at a time for 12
minutes. Mine isn’t so good so I did 1 sheet at a time checking
after 10 min and rotating the tray.
Thyme for Some Nuts
Hot Roasted Hazelnuts with
Thyme
Hot Roasted Hazelnuts with Thyme - Makes 2
Cups
2 Cups of Hazelnuts
2 Tablespoons of fresh thyme
½ Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
Heat the oven to 200ºC and roast the hazelnuts until brown, about
10-15 minutes. Keep checking so they don’t burn. When they’re done,
cover with a tea towel and let them steam and cool. Rub the skins
off and place in a frying pan. Turn up the heat and add the oil and
thyme and warm through.
Bunny and Lavender Tarts Smell Like Grandma, without the Pee
Bunny and Lavender Tarts Smell Like
Grandma
Bunny and Lavender Tartlet - Makes 40
Filling:
1 Bunny, quartered
2 Liters of Chicken Stock
2 Carrots, sliced
1 Onion, sliced
1 Parsnip, sliced
1 Celery stick, sliced
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of flour
2 teaspoons of dried lavender
Pastry:
250 grams, plain flour
200 grams, butter
120 mL, Sour Cream
Place the bunny, vegetables, stock and herbs in a large saucepan
and bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1½ hours.
In a food processor blend the flour and butter until they form a
loose breadcrumb mixture and add the sour cream, just enough to
combine in to a smooth dough. Remove the dough, wrap in plastic and
put in the fridge to chill for at least a half hour.
When the bunny is tender, remove the meat from the bones and some
of the vegetables and allow to cool. Keep the stock.
Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter for the filling in a clean
saucepan, add the flour and lavender and whisk to prevent it from
burning. After a few minutes, ladle in the stock slowly to form a
thick creamy sauce (you will need about 2 cups of the stock). Add
enough of the sauce to the bunny meat and vegetables to make a
moist but not too wet or sloppy pie filling.
To make the pastry cases, pre-heat your oven to 200ºC and lightly
grease a mini-muffin tin. Roll out the pastry to a very thin round
and with a small glass or pastry cutter, cut rounds and slip them
into the muffin cups ensuring that there is no air beneath the
pastry, lightly prick it all over. Fill the tray and bake for 15
minutes until the pastry has puffed and the edges are golden. When
you take them out of the oven, if the bases have risen too much
press them back down with a tea-towel covered thumb or any other
suitable kitchen instrument. Allow the cases to cool and remove
from the muffin tray. These can be made 2 days in advance and kept
in an air-tight container.
Clean out the food processor and add the rabbit and vegetables and
process until a relatively smooth paste is formed. Reheat and spoon
into the pastry cases just before serving. Sprinkle with extra
lavender.
Psychedelic Parsley Hummus
Parsley Hummus
Parsley Hummus -
Makes 2 cups
1 clove of garlic
½ cup of parsley leaves, packed
1 tin of chickpeas
¼ cup of sour cream
3 tablespoons of tahini (ground sesame seeds)
2 tablespoons of sesame seed oil
1½ teaspoons of lemon zest
1½ teaspoons of ground cumin
1½ teaspoons of sea salt
¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper (I subbed tabasco)
Put everything in a food processor, blend until smooth.
WTF is Oxtail
They are more often than not sold as individual sections of bone with their surrounding meat. If you do happen to get a whole one you can feel along for a the gap between the bone and cut there. As far as cooking it, think of how you’d cook a lamb shank - long and slow and good for the base of a stock or stew. There isn’t usually much meat on these things as the tail of most animals is used to store fat but if you’re served a piece you’ve really got to pick them up and chew off the meat.
For something a little different, you can try making a paté
Oxtail Paté
Oxtail
Paté - Makes 2 cups
1kg of oxtail
1T of olive oil
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves, ground
10 juniper berries, crushed
1 bay leaf
Pre-heat your oven to 160ºC. Toss all of the ingredients together
and roast for 6+ hours until a skewer pierces the meat without
resistence.
Take the roasting tray out and pick over the bones, removing the
large pieces of fat and placing the meat into a food processor.
Discard the bones. Remove the bay leaf and add everything else to
the food processor. Blend until the meat becomes fine, but not a
pureé.
Pack the paté into a dish suitable for serving in and cover in
plastic wrap. It can be keept for up to a week refridgerated.
Crispy Skinned Orange Duck al la Kylie Kwong
It was a bit of a nightmare getting to make this, I went to eight different places to find a whole duck and twice as many to find either blood plums or blood oranges. I ended up settling for standard oranges and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening wondering if the dish would still retain it’s quintessential tastiness. Luck won with a not as sweet, but with a nice piquancy the original blood plums didn’t have.
Orange Crispy Skinned Duck
Crispy Skinned Orange Duck - Serves 2
1 whole duck, approx. 1.5kg
1 tablespoons of sichuan pepper
3 tablespoons of sea salt
¼ cup plain flour
vegetable oil for frying
1 cup of water
1 cup of white sugar
250 grams of oranges, juiced (or blood plums)
⅔
cups of fish sauce
6 whole star anise
2 cinnamon quills
⅓ cups of lime juice
Trim away the excess fat from the cavity of the duck. Grind the
sichuan pepper and salt together and then rub all over the duck.
Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Boil some water in a wok or large saucepan and place a steamer
basket over, the duck inside, cover and leave for an hour and a
half. Take the now cooked duck out and leave it to cool.
Once the duck is cold enough to handle, slice it in half
lengthwise, from neck to tail. Gently pry the carcass out, leaving
the drumstick and wings intact. Cut each half into half again so
you have a wing and a leg piece.
To make the sauce, mix the water, sugar, oranges together and bring
to the boil in a saucepan, reduce the heat to a simmer and add the
fish sauce, star anise, cinnamon and lime juice. Simmer while you
fry the duck.
Heat the vegetable oil a wok or deep saucepan, cover the duck
pieces with flour and deep fry each piece separately until the skin
has gone a crisp golden colour. Drain the pieces after they’ve
cooked on paper towel. When their all cooked, cut the duck down
into bite-sized pieces, except for the bones.
Pile the duck on a serving platter and pour over enough sauce to
coat the duck.
Eat it with your hands and have a bowl of rice on the
side.
Beef and Broccoli Satay
The book itself is split between things you’ll find in the cupboard, fridge or freezer and is really well cross referenced eg: “Peanuts also used in recipes on pages, 18, 21, 36...”.
The curry, which I renamed a satay wasn’t bad but it could have used a bit of fresh lime juice over the top to give it the salty/sweet/sour flavour combination that thai cooking is famous for.
Beef and Broccoli
Satay
Beef and Broccoli Satay - Serves 2
500g Rump Steak, cut into strips across the grain
2 tablespoons of red curry paste
2 tablespoons of peanut butter
½ peanuts
1 tin of coconut milk (or cream thinned with water)
1 cup of broccoli foretts
1 cup of sliced red capsicum
1 lime cut into wedges
2 cups of cooked jasmine rice to serve
corriander to garnish (optional)
In a very hot wok, fry the beef in batches until it’s brown all
over and set it aside.
Add the red curry paste to the wok and fry for a minute until it
becomes fragrant. Keep stiring it or else it’ll burn. Add the
peanut butter, peanuts and the coconut milk and simmer until the
sauce has reduced by half. Add the broccoli and capsicum and simmer
until tender. Mix the beef back in and simmer for a minute until
the beef is hot again.
Serve over rice and with a wedge of lime on the side to help cut
through the thickness of the sauce and to give it a bit of an extra
tang.
Roast Pork Loin with Dried Fruit
Roast Pork Loin with Dried
Fruit
Roast Pork Loin with Dried Fruit - Serves
4-6
1kg pork loin
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 large shallots, chopped
¾ cup diced dried apples
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup dried mixed berries
¼ cup dried wild figs
1½ cups low-salt chicken stock
½ cup dry white wine
Preheat oven to 220°C. Sprinkle pork with rosemary, salt, and
pepper.
Place pork in the oven and roast for 20 minutes. Lower the
temprature to 170ºC and continue to roast until thermometer
inserted into center registers 65°C to 75°C, about another 35-45
minutes. Transfer pork to platter; let stand 10 minutes.
Add apples, figs, cranberries and berries to the pan with the wine
and stock.; stir until fruit mixture is heated through, boil 1
minute, lower the heat, cover and simmer. If thicker sauce is
desired, boil until reduced enough to coat spoon. Season sauce to
taste with salt and pepper. Slice pork and spoon sauce over.
WTF is a Fricassee?
Roast Chicken and Winter Vegetable Fricassee
Pearl Barley and Mushroom Ham Soup
UPDATE: This soup freezes very well, after two months frozen solid it was brilliant and the barley still had a great texture, as good as when it was first made.
Pearl
Barley and Mushroom Ham Soup
Pearl
Barley and Mushroom Ham Soup
Serves 4-8 depending on how much stock you add
250g pearl barley
40g butter or 2T of olive oil
200g onion, diced
3 cloves garlic
2 sprigs rosemary
3 springs thyme
3 dried porcini mushrooms (or dried chinese mushrooms)
100g shiitake mushrooms
200g swiss brown mushrooms
2 large ham bones (optional)
Boil the barley and ham bones in 1½L of water for an hour. While
that's on the go, chop everything else and fry the onion and garlic
until it's translucent then add the rest. When the barley is soft
take out the ham bones and chop off any left over meat. Add that
and the mushrooms into the pot with the stock and bring it all back
to the boil.
Season if needed and serve with some toasted sourdough.
Fast Tortellini Soup with Chared Sourdough
Fast Tortellini Soup with Chared
Sourdough
Fast Tortellini Soup with Chared Sourdough
- Serves 2
500g Packet of Fresh Tortellini (I used veal)
1L Box of Ready Made Beef Consommé
1 Bunch of Broccolini
2 Slices of Sourdough
1 Garlic Clove
Put the consommé into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Meanwhile,
heat a grill pan.
When the consommé is boiling, add the tortellini and return to the
boil. Drizzle the grill pan with some olive oil and place the
slices of sourdough on the grill pan. Leave until thick black lines
are formed on the bread. Turnover and repeat for the opposite side.
When you turn the bread over, rub the hot side of the bread with
half of the garlic clove.
By the time this is done the pasta should be about ready. Break up
the broccolini into bite sized pieces and toss in the
consommé.
The other side of the bread should be ready by now so take it off,
slice in half and serve two pieces per person. Divide the soup,
tortellini and broccolini between each person and serve.
Optional: If you've got larger soup bowls and want to add an extra
bit of style to this dish, place the slices of bread under a
griller/broiler topped with cheese until it's golden and bubbly.
Float in the bowl when serving.
Baked Chicken Sausage and Roast Potato
Baked Chicken Sausage and Roast
Potato
Baked Chicken Sausage and Roast
Potato
500g Chicken sausages
250g Baby (chat) potato, cut in half
250g Sweet potato, cut to the same size as the potato
Rosemary
Salt & pepper
Olive oil
Pre-heat your oven to 200ºC, place everything in a roasting pan,
toss to coat.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Apple and Hazelnut Brown Butter Cake
Hazelnut and Apple Cake with
Chocolate Ganache
This isn't any ordinary cake, it's more of a dacquoise which is a meringue or cream
with ground nuts mixed in. Today I used Hazelnuts left over from
the torte
I made a few weeks ago. The tricky things with this cake is the
air bubbles from the beaten eggs is what gives this cake its light
and delicate structure, and probably explains why mine sunk a
little in the middle and broke apart as it cooled. Chocolate to the
rescue to cover those bits up though!
Apple and Hazelnut and
Brown Butter Cake
1 Cup of Hazelnuts
3 Apples
250g Unsalted Butter
1 Vanilla Bean
1⅓
Cups of Icing Sugar
⅓
Cups of Flour
5 Egg Whites
3 Tablespoons of Castor Sugar
100 grams Dark Chocolate
⅓
Cup of Thickened Cream
Pre-heat the oven to 170°C
Place the hazelnuts on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes. When
done wrap them in a tea-towel and let them steam until cool. Rub
them in the towel to remove all of the skins.
Line the bottom of a 10" cake tin with baking paper and butter the
edges. Slice the apples thinly and layer evenly on the bottom of
the cake tin.
Place the butter and seeds from the vanilla bean in a saucepan and
melt together, stirring often until the butter has browned.
Grind the hazelnuts and icing sugar together until the nuts are
fine, mix with the flour and set aside.
In a stand mixer, whisk together the egg whites and castor sugar
until stiff-peaks are formed in the egg whites. Alternating between
the nut mixture and the butter in thirds, combine with the egg
whites. Pour the final mixture over the apples in the cake tin and
bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
Let the cake cool completely and turn out, upside down on the
platter you're going to serve it on so the apples are on top.
While the cake is cooling, over a double boiler melt the chocolate
and then whisk in the cream. Pour the ganache over the cake and
spread evenly. Allow to cool and set.
Update:
Actually, after typing out the recipe, I think I forgot to add the
flour! It still looks and tastes okay but it would add to the
reason the cake was so delicate.
Coffee, Steak, Garden Salad and Beer some how work well in one meal
The general gist of the recipes went along the lines of grinding coffee with any combination of chili, coriander seeds, mustard seeds. fennel, salt, pepper, oregano and anything else you've got in your spice draw.
I used a broken up Illy
coffee pod, maldon sea salt, cinnamon, black pepper, mustard
seeds, coriander seeds and dried oregano. After I ground the spices
I drizzled the steak in olive oil and coated it with the spices and
grilled until medium rare. I tossed together a quick garden salad
with an olive oil and whole grain mustard.
On the side I had a Monteith's
Summer Ale, from New Zealand, which is a quite nice summer ale
that's got a lovely ginger kick to it which in turn leaves a nice
warmth on the palate. The bottle suggests a wedge of lime that
gives it a little bit heavier than a Corona mouthfeel and taste, but it also
suggests an orange segment. Damn I wish I had an orange to try this
with. All round, a great beer that's something different from the
rest and well worth a try.
Jacket Baked Lamb Shanks
This isn't my favourite shank recipe, which I couldn't find the day I wanted to make these, so I used what I had from Jamie Oliver's book, "Cook with Jamie". It's simple food, even though the recipe can look daunting to read for the inexperienced but it boils down to inserting a knife along the bone of the shank to make a small finger sized pocket to stuff a herb butter, then wrapping each shank individually in foil with a medely of diced veg under them (and a splash of white wine). The best part of this is that even though it takes 2.5 hours to cook, your house absolutley fills with a glorious smell of roast lamb from about 20 minutes in. If I knew more people in my apartment building I'm sure I'd have had them knocking on the door to invite themselves over for dinner.
Time did get away from us a bit, stuck in project work (yeah right - more like the wine) so the vegetables were over done. I think next time I'll have more veg and cut them bigger so they hold up to the long roast better.
If you're going to make these for a dinner party, wrap the foil parcels neatly and serve them intact to your guests so they can cut them open to get the full whaft of intensley smelling steam as it bursts out.
My favourite recipe for lamb shanks though, which I will detail another time, has the whole meaty shanks slow roasting in thick soup of tomato and mined vegetables. The soup keeps them incredebly moist at the same time as injecting the meat with flavour. They end up so tender you have to take them out with a spoon to stop them from falling apart!
Incredible Baked Lamb Shanks - Serves 4
(via How to Cook by Jamie Oliver)
6 Springs of fresh rosemary
150g Butter
15 Fresh sage leaves
2 Springs of fresh thyme
Salt and Pepper
4 Lamb shanks
12 Cloves of garlic
2 Large carrots
1 Onion
1 Leek
2 Glasses of white wine
Preheat your oven to 200C/400F. Pick all of the leaves off the herbs and put in a blender with the butter and whiz together, season with salt and pepper. Using small sharp knife and slide it between the bone and the meat to form a finger shaped pocket in all of the shanks and stuff as much of the herbed butter into the pocket. This will fill the heart of the shank with flavour.
Dice all of the vegetables and douse with oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and on four sheets of foil, share out the veg and place a shank on top of each pile. Make a boat shape with the foil and pour a quarter of a glass of wine in each foil boat. Wrap the foil tightly around the shanks and vegetables. Put all of the parcels on a tray and bake in the oven for 2.5 hours.
Serve the intact parcels to each guest so they can open them their selves.
Crunchy Salad with Hot and Sour Dressing
I think I'll be adding this as a staple salad, it's super fast since you're really only just tossing things into a bowl and really nice, not too hot or sour. Heck, if you were pressed for time and wanted extra crunch, you probably don't even need to cook the veggies.
Crunchy Salad with Hot and Sour Dressing - Serves 4-6
Dressing:
2tsp Tom Yum Paste
1tsp Sesame Oil
2Tbs Rice Vinegar
1tsp Honey
2Tbs of Canola or Peanut Oil
Sea Salt to taste
Salad:
125g Broccoli (I used broccolini)
125g Fine Beans (I used sugar snap peas)
125g Baby Corn
25g Button Mushrooms (I forgot them)
100g Chinese Lettuce (I used regular mixed lettuce)
150g Bean Sprouts
Whisk all of the dressing ingredients together
Cook the broccoli, beans and corn in salted boiling water for two minutes then plunge in ice cold water to stop the cooking
Drain them and add the remaining salad ingredients and dressing. Serve.
Oeufs En Cocotte (Baked Eggs)
Given I was making this for dinner, and that I don't own any
ramekins, I made a fairly large one and it was just about the right
size for a meal in itself, for a start her suggestion 1 egg per
person would have been perfect. Come to think of it now, it would
have been nifty in my espresso cups with some steamed
asparagus.
Noodle Soup for Needy People
This is probably one of her lazier recipes, and IMHO they don't belong in a serious cookbook, just those that are for table decoration and the quick flick through the pictures for inspiration type books. Mind, what did I expect for a TV Chef cookbook anyway? I guess she tries to absolve herself by saying when she makes it she throws in anything that's handy and the only key ingredients are stock, noodles and vegetables. For those that haven't made a noodle soup before, I guess following her additions of some brown sugar, soy, ginger and star-anise do make a difference in tilting the soup to an asian flavour as opposed to anything else. I took her advice and made some additions and substitutions.
Noodle Soup for Needy People - Serves
2
(note, this is what I made, not quite Nigella's)
175g of Soba Noodles (she used udon)
750mL of Chicken Stock (I used the stock I made from the roast
chicken over the weekend)
1t Soft Brown Sugar
1 Star Anise
1t Crushed Ginger
2T Soy
75g Bean Sprouts
750g Sugar Snap Peas
75g Sliced Shiitake Mushrooms
Sliced Spring Onions to Garnish (she used coriander)
Add any other vegetables or ingredients you like, I added some
carrot and some store bought fish cakes I found next to the noodles
at the supermarket.
Cook the noodles to packet instructions, set aside in serving
bowls. Bring the stock, sugar, anise, ginger and soy to a boil then
add the remaining ingredients except the garnish. Spoon the
vegetables over the noodles and top up with liquid.
Mirin-Glazed Salmon
It only took 10 minutes to make from start to finish and was damn tasty! This is definitely going in the keeper list. Okay, I did make a couple of minor changes, I added some peas to the rice (edamame would have been better but it's hard to find here) plus I was out of Mirin so I used Sake instead, but it's all rice wine right? Right?
Mirin-Glazed Salmon - Serves 4
60mL Mirin
60mL Soy Sauce
50g Brown Sugar
4x 125g pieces of Salmon
2T rice vinegar
2 Spring Onions, sliced into long strips
Jasmine Rice
Mix the mirin, brown sugar and soy sauce in a shallow dish that will take all four pieces of the salmon, and marinate the salmon in it for 3 minutes on the first side and 2 minutes on the second. Meanwhile heat a large non-stick frying pan on the hob.
Cook the salmon in the hot dry pan for 2 minutes and then turn the salmon over, add the marinade and cook for another 2 minutes.
Remove the salmon to whatever plate you're serving it on, add the rice vinegar to the hot pan and warm through.
Pour the dark, sweet salty glaze over the salmon and top with the spring onion strips. Serve with rice.
Roast Chicken
I'll be making a stock with the carcas and since I'm cooking for one, I'll use the rest of the bird through the week.
Stephanie Alexander's Roast Chicken
1 1.8kg chicken
1 lemon
3 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper
rosemary
butter
roasting vegetables (carrot, leek, potato etc)
olive oil
Preheat the oven to 220ºC. Wash and dry chicken thruoroughly and rub salt inside the cavity. Insert half the lemon, garlic and herbs. Rub the body with oil and the remaining lemon salt, pepper and herbs. Cut the vebetables and coat lightly in oil and place in the bottom of the roasting tin.
Place the bird on the vegetables on it's side, roast for 20 minutes then turn back to the other side for another 20 minutes. Turn the bird again so the breast faces up and baste with pan juices. Roast for another 20 minutes.
Take the bird out of the roasting tin and allow to rest while preparing a green salad. Carve the bird as required and serve.
Bunny, Pancetta and Shitake Pasta
They’re cute, fluffy and hop around a lot. I’ve got one named Sneaker and boy is he cute. Except when he’s being a jerk. And that’s a lot. I’ve lost $2000 worth of cabling from around the house that I’ve had to replace (he has a taste for the expensive proprietary Apple kind) and his favourite game is to hop up on my bed an hour before I want to wake up each morning and run around across me until I get out of bed, after which he’ll ignore me. He’ll make a great pie one day.
In the mean time, I happened across fresh grain fed farmed bunnies in the David Jones food hall. Now, I love Sneaker and since I haven’t cooked much bunny before I figured I needed some practice to do him justice so I picked one up with no real idea what to make with it that night.
When I got home I rummaged around and found some pancetta in the fridge and some dried Chinese mushrooms in the cupboard. I didn’t want to have to make a buttery short crust pastry, so, pasta. Easy.
Jointing the bunny was fairly easy; it only took five minutes, slicing off the legs at the joint, and since I was going to be chopping the bunny up after it was roasted I hacked off the saddle with out too much care, just keeping close to the ribs to keep as much meat as I could. The rest of the carcass went into a zip lock bag and into the freezer for a future bunny stock.
The jointed bunny pieces were dusted in flour and fried off in a heavy roasting dish then set aside. The onion and pancetta were fried in the oil left over from the meat. The bunny was added back in along with the diced mushrooms, stock, mushroom soaking liquid and some chopped rosemary. The roasting dish was covered and the lot was roasted slowly for two or three hours. Once roasted, I shredded the bunny meat off the bone with two forks ready to be used to top the pasta.
The pasta was simple, 100gms of flour and 1 egg per person (the should be enough sauce for 4-6 people). Kneaded until smooth then rolled to a low setting through a pasta machine. Once I had the long sheet, I simply tore off chunks (not cut). The pasta was cooked in salted water and then added to the bunny sauce. Tearing the pasta helped the pasta to soak up more of the juice from the sauce.
Served with some lightly grated parmesan.