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 p