Saturday Night Dinner Party

On the weekend I had a couple of friends & their son over for a bit of a dinner party. As I have just started doing ‘dinners’ again I went all out & spent the day in a baking/cooking frenzy. I thought all of the food was delicious & intend to keep all the recipes to make again & again. In particular the flatbread was so easy & the flavour combinations you could come up with are endless though the garlic & rosemary will be hard to beat, even Chloe loved it, the other little boy didn’t. I am very impressed, Chloe seems to already have an advanced palate, accepting tastes that other kids seem to just spit out. Her is the menu

To start with, the above mentioned Garlic & Rosemary Oil Flatbread, (note I did use the salt as I love the stuff)

For the main course we had Salmon en croute with pea puree served with mashed potato & a garden (from mine!) salad. I though it looked very pretty with the contrast of the pink salmon against the bright green pea mixture all enclosed in the golden brown flaky pastry. It was quite easy to prepare too, I made the pea puree & crème fraiche mixture earlier in the day so all I had to do was assemble & cook when needed. I wasn’t game to do this before as I wasn’t sure if the salmon would make the pastry go all soggy & uncrispable, it would be even better if you could have the whole dish ready to just whack in the oven at the last minute. I loved it though it was a bit on the dry side as I forgot to serve with the lovely crème fraiche herb mix on the side, I kicked myself when I remembered as it was also so delicious & really would have brought the whole dish together, oh well maybe next time I will have my head together & actually get it out of the fridge.

Salmon en croute with Pea Puree

Based on the recipe in a recent Delicious issue

3 cups podded fresh or frozen peas
1 tbspn each chopped mint & flat leaf parsley
200g crème fraiche
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
4 spring onions, finely chopped
4 puff pastry sheets, thawed
Plain flour, to dust
800g piece salmon, skinned, pin-boned (preferably center cut)
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 180c. Place a baking tray inside the oven & allow to heat up. Cook peas in a pan of boiling salted water for 5-6 minutes or 3 minutes if frozen. Drain & cool slightly.

Meanwhile, combine the mint and parsley with the crème fraiche & season. Place 1 tablespoon in a food processor with the peas, lemon zest, onion & pulse to roughly chop. Keep remaining crème fraiche in the fridge until ready to serve.

Lay 2 sheets of pastry down on a sheet of baking paper & join the centre edges to form one long piece. Pile pea mixture down the centre, spread out to the width of the salmon. Season the salmon then place best side down, on top of the pea puree. Brush the exposed pastry around the edges with the beaten egg. Join the other 2 sheets of pastry together & place on top of the salmon, press edges to seal & cut away excess pastry. Carefully turn the package over, and using a small knife, score the top of the pastry in a criss cross pattern, taking care not to cut all of the way through (like I did – oops). Brush with egg & transfer to baking tray in the hot oven & bake for 25 minutes or until pastry is golden. Rest for 2 minutes before serving with the herbed crème fraiche.

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And finally dessert was this wicked & decadent apple & rhubarb pie. The pastry was really very good & with 300g of butter & 200g icing sugar plus the rest why wouldn’t it be? It was also nice & light & not tough at all. The filling was so much nicer than just your average apple pie filling, the rhubarb gave it some extra sweetness & the ginger helped to spice it up & make it a real adult pie – the kids were not impressed at all though Chloe was quite partial to the pastry. Again though, I forgot to heat up the syrup to serve with it though in this case I don’t think it did any harm as the calvados cream was more than enough to go with it. Also by this time we had crammed so much food in such a small space of time (the guests had a 2 year old that had to go home to bed quite early) that hardly anyone could even fit the pie in. I didn’t have a problem with this as we have been happily living on leftovers since. Again I made the pastry, filling & cream in advance & assembled at the last minute – same note re assembly – does anyone know – could you put it together & cook later without the whole thing becoming a soggy mess?

Apple, rhubarb & ginger pie with calvados cream

Based on the recipe published in a recent Delicious issue, extracted from Philip Johnson’s ‘Decadence’

100g unsalted butter
6 granny smith apples, peeled, cored, thickly sliced
370g brown sugar
10 rhubarb stalks, trimmed, strings removed, cut into 3sm pieces
1 cinnamon quill
1 vanilla bean, split lengthways, seeds scraped
Pinch of nutmeg
2 tspn grated fresh ginger
grated zest & juice of 1 lemon
1 egg, beaten

Pastry
300g unsalted butter, at room temperature
200g icing sugar
2 egg yolks, plus 2 lightly beaten eggs, to brush
500g plain flour, sifted

Calvados cream
1 cup (250ml) pure (thin) cream
2 tbsn icing sugar
¼ cup (60ml) Calvados (apple brandy)

For the pastry, cream butter & sugar together in a food processor. Add egg yolks, mix well, then add the flour & mix to just bring the pastry together, add 1-2 tbspns chilled water if necessary. Knead lightly on a floured surface & refrigerate for 1 hour.

Grease a 24cm loose bottomed tart pan. Roll out half the pastry to 3mm thick & gently ease into the pan, trimming the edges. Refrigerate for a further 30 minutes. Roll out remaining pastry to 3mm thick to use as the pie lid, enclose in plastic wrap & refrigerate until needed.

Blind bake pastry shell in a preheated 180c oven. Cover base & sides of pastry with baking paper & fill with pastry weights, bake for 10-12 minutes, remove lining & weights, brush with some of the beaten egg & bake for a further 5-8 minutes until golden. Set aside to cool.

Melt the butter in a heavy based pan over medium heat. Increase heat to high, add apple & cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the sugar & rhubarb and stir to combine. Add the cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg & ginger & cook for 6-8 minutes until the fruit just begins to soften. Stir in the zest & juice. Remove from heat & strain, reserving the cooking liquid & discard the cinnamon quill & vanilla pod. Spread the fruit in a shallow dish & allow to cool.

Spoon the filling into the pastry case, brush edges with egg, then top with pastry lid. Trim edges & crimp together to seal. Brush top with egg. Make 2 incisions in to the top to allow steam to escape, then bake for 40 minutes or until golden.

Meanwhile, in a pan, bring the reserved cooking liquid to the boil, then reduce the heat & simmer for 10 minutes or until reduced to a syrupy consistency. Set aside.

For Cream, whisk cream with sugar until soft peaks form. Fold through Calvados, refrigerate until required.

Serve wedges of pie with syrup drizzled over the top & a dollop of cream.

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Some people seem to think I am crazy cooking so much but as you know I love it & love the excuse to cook all day & things I wouldn’t normally do just for the 2 of us

Another great pancake recipe

To start the long weekend off I thought it would be nice to cook up a hot brekkie and of course my favourite is still pancakes. The pancakes in this recipe were nothing new and were quite simple for a change, ie no whisking up egg whites separately to fold in for a light & airy effect as a lot of recipes seem to do nowadays. Despite this they were incredibly light & fluffy & the thing that made them was the sensational blueberry butter, very bad smothering on that much butter disguised as fruit but irresistible let me tell you. Luckily I had a quick glance at the recipe the night before & noted that you had to let the butter set for 2 – 3 hours so I whipped it up the night before. With Chloe there is no waiting 2-3 hours for breakfast & let me tell you she has not been a huge pancake fan so far but absolutely loved these ones. Once again I managed to use at least one item from my garden, lemons & to save money I used frozen blueberries which for a recipe like this where freshness doesn’t matter it is much more economical, the price of a 300g bag was cheaper than one 150g punnet by far.

Buttermilk pancakes with blueberry & lemon butter

A Rick Stein recipe from a recent (?) issue of Delicious

Make the butter a day ahead

50g unsalted butter
1 ½ cups (225g) self raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ cup (55g) caster sugar
175ml each buttermilk * milk
2 eggs
1 tspn vanilla extract
icing sugar, to dust

Blueberry & Lemon Butter

150g blueberries
¼ cup (caster sugar
finely grated zest & juice of half a lemon
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature

For butter, cook berries, sugar & juice in a small pan over low heat for 1-2 minutes, stirring to dissolve sugar. Increase heat to medium-low for 1 minute until fruit just bursts. Add butter & zest. Remove from heat, stir to combine (don’t crush berries). Pour into 4 ramekins and chill for 2-3 hours or overnight until thick (it wont harden).

For pancakes, melt butter in a small pan over low heat. Pour top layer of clear (clarified butter) into a bowl. Discard milky layer at base. Sift flour, baking powder, sugar and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Make a well in the center, add milk & eggs and whisk until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Heat a large non-stick pan over medium heat. Brush with a little clarified butter. Using ¼ cup batter for each, pour 2-3 pancakes into pan, spaced well apart. Cook 2 minutes or until bubbles appear on top. Turn & cook for a further minute until golden. Keep warm while you cook the rest of the pancakes, brushing pan with butter in between batches. Pile 3 pancakes on each plate & serve with a ramekin of butter. Dust with icing sugar. Serves 4.

Cooler Weather = Soup Season

As soon as the weather starts cooling down in Autumn each year I get very excited about cooking soup again. I love to make a big pot every week or so for dinner, the leftovers are then frozen for lunch either at home or to take to work. I have my favorites that I cook again & again, chickpea & leek, tomato & red lentil, pumpkin & of course minestrone to name a few, however I am always looking out for new exciting recipes or boring ones for that matter which offer me some new combinations. So far this Autumn I have tried out a very easy beetroot & vegetable soup – using tinned beets so really very quick, an asparagus soup that didn’t quite hit the mark & this week this great hearty bean & pasta soup. It ticked off all marks on my checklist, yummy, easy, filling & relatively healthy – ie not too much fat content. I also got to use some thyme from the garden & hopefully when the season is right I will also have some zucchini & beans from my very own garden to add.

Bean & Pasta Soup with Autumn greens

Based on the recipe from Donna Hay Autumn 08

¼ cup olive oil
2 onions, chopped
8 cloves garlic, sliced
1/3 cup thyme leaves
8 small zucchini, trimmed & chopped
2 litres chicken stock
200g orechiette pasta
500g green beans, trimmed & halved
sea salt & cracked black pepper
pecorino, to serve

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, thyme & zucchini & cook for 5-8 minutes or until softened (for me this took a lot longer). Add half the stock & stir to combine. Puree with a stick blender until smooth then add the remaining stock & stir. Return to the heat & add the pasta & cook for 10 minutes. Add beans, salt & pepper & cook for a further 3-5 minutes or until pasta is cooked. Top with cheese to serve. Serves 6.

Busy days & first pick of the crop

My apologies to all for the serious lack of posting, my only excuse is that I have been busy, busy, busy. I have been doing a lot of great cooking, though its all been so rushed that by the time I am half way finished eating it, I’m always thinking ‘oops, should have taken a photo of this one’. So what has been keeping me so busy? Well to start with I am back at work 3 days a week which as anyone with kids would know puts a serious dent into my free time. Next I have actually had quite a busy social life lately, weddings, hens nights, breakfasts, lunches, dinners, afternoon sitting in the beer garden at The Retreat with Chloe & some other mums & bubs on a nice sunny afternoon (sadly no alcohol was consumed!), which has all been fabulous fun.

Lastly in my spare time I have been working on our garden – in the photos you can see what a great help Chloe has been with the digging (she screams if we take her out of the dirt!) & also the mixed lettuces nearly ready to eat a couple of weeks ago. Both the veggie patch in the back & the front garden are slowly coming along & the veggie patch in particular I am most pleased with & have my fingers crossed that most things will actually grow & bear fruit. My herb garden is fantastic, it’s so much nicer being able to plant in a garden rather than trying to fit everything in pots on a shelf, a lot easier to keep alive in my opinion too. I have planted, oregano, chives, sweet basil, purple basil, Thai basil, coriander, mint, Vietnamese mint, rosemary, Italian flat leaf & curly parsley, sage & purple sage & tarragon – I think that’s all of them & most are pretty well established so are regularly being thrown into the kitchen pot.

As for the rest I have inherited with the house a very weird looking lemon tree, it has some sort of wasp disease that I have to cut away as soon as the fruit has ripened so the branches that are left look quite awkward. I have my kafir lime tree which I transplanted from my old courtyard, a miniature peach tree, some strawberries, a couple of chilli plants & have now planted some broad beans, leeks, garlic, beetroot, sugar snap & snowpeas. A couple of months & if it all holds on I will be harvesting some beautiful crops from my very own (and first) veggie garden. Oh & I cant forget the lettuces which I have just started picking as needed, much nicer than buying from those supermarket bins or even whole lettuces I find can be quite dodgy lately too.

So there you have it & hopefully so more food blogging very soon as I do have several cakes & a dinner party coming up with some potentially luscious dishes to show off.

Long Weekend Celebrations

To celebrate our 3rd Wedding Anniversary Michael & I went all out this year. Firstly on the actual date we had a scrumptious feast at Rockpool for dinner, this meal was sensational & lived up to all of my expectations, especially the steak. I wont go into any more detail except to say if you want a night out with great food, wine & service – give it a go.

The next event was a long weekend getaway – the first trip with Chloe since our holiday in Noosa back in November. We stayed at Morning Sun Vineyard in Main Ridge which was nice & central to everything, minutes away from wineries & a short drive to the beach. The place was fantastic, a modern 3 bedroom apartment with magnificent views overlooking the terrace & vines. The kitchen was stocked with breakfast provisions for each day, sausages, eggs, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, corn flakes, muesli, fruit, milk, orange juice & of course tea & coffee, all we had to do was cook it up on the brand new cook top – in fact there was so much food that we barely touched the provisions & felt very bad for not eating such gorgeous food, what we did eat was lovely, even the sausages which take a lot to impress me, unfort for Michael I am just not a snag girl, unless of course it’s a nice big kransky – but that is another story.

Being so small, with only 4 wines on offer, the staff were all very friendly & more than helpful with any questions we had & even arranged for the cleaner to come later in the day of our departure so we could hang around a bit longer. Chloe loved the big lassie like dog, Hero running around the garden & he was great with her too. The outdoor restaurant area also had great views & sitting under the shade of the grape vines was very relaxing, our wood fired margarita pizza was simple yet oozing with goodness. A great place to stay & for now the prices at $200.00 a night I thought were quite reasonable compared to most of what I saw when searching the net.

We also had another casual lunch & more pizza at T’Gallant. I love this place & last time I was in the area I dined in the restautant so this time I wanted to try the outdoor casual piazza experience. We had a mushroom & gorgonzola pizza & a garden salad, Michael declared the pizza possibly the best of its kind so top marks there. I also love their wines & as well as tasting great they come in beautiful bottles with romantic names such as Romeo & Juliet, so was very happy doing a fair bit of tasting & spending after my lunch, lucky we had the cheap lunch or I couldn’t have bought the wine! Note that this place is very popular & you may have to share a table or wait for a while, we were lucky we just managed to squeeze onto someone elses table as soon as we arrived.

Our best food experience by far for me was our private picnic at Montalto, I have been wanting to do this for years & finally made it. We thought the idea was perfect for Chloe, ie she could happily play while we ate to our hearts content instead of being stuck inside a restaurant with nothing to do but try & escape & make a lot of embarrassingly loud noise in complaint. You pay $70.00 pp plus whatever wine you select. On arrival you are given a map with clear instructions on how to stroll to your picnic spot which you then leisurely walk to past the vines & taking in the sculptures on display. On arrival there is a table set with white linen, crockery, cutlery & glassware just as if you were dining in the restaurant. There is a portable fridge off to the side which keeps your 3 courses of food cool & ready to eat when you are ready & a picnic blanket is also left out in case you feel the need for a nap or in our case was perfect for Chloe to play on. As you can see from the photos it a fantastic spread, firstly a plate of dips, relishes, bread & olive oil to wet the taste buds, next was a very generous & delicious ‘meat’ plate, rare & tender melt in the mouth roast beef on a green salad, duck breast with potato salad & quail on couscous. By this time as you can imagine we are nearly bursting out of our clothes but one look at the dessert plate & I was in, (I even took home the leftovers with me to enjoy later), the crème brulee was superb & one of the best I have ever eaten, a choc fudge brownie, some almond cake, cheeses, muscatels & a fresh fig to top it all of. All in all a fantastic food experience with a whole lot of romance thrown in for good measure, highly recommended once again.

All that and a bottle of Dom Perignon & I’m one happy girl

Another Birthday & Another Cake

My good friend Jane has been visiting from the sunny shores (though mostly cold & raining lately) of the Gold Coast & happened to time her trip perfectly to fit in her birthday celebrations, which for a change I was able to join in on. Of course this meant I had to make her a cake. She requested chocolate so what better place to look for inspiration than Nigella’s Chocolate Cake Hall of Fame in Feast. When the Feast series was aired recently on the abc I caught her making the honey chocolate cake which I had overlooked until now. Its funny I can see a recipe a hundred times & not think much of it yet when I see it cooked on the telly it makes me drool & want to bake it right there & then, that for me is one great reason to watch food porn on tv – it makes me want to recreate what I see even more than looking in a shiny, glossy cook book. And of course Nigella with all of her suggestive oohs & aahs whilst cooking really makes you believe that it will be the most luscious thing you are yet to taste.

So for the cake, the mixture was really very runny with the addition of 250ml of boiling water which I was very dubious about, I’m sure the tv version didn’t look so watery. Anyway not to worry, I had to bake it for quite a while longer than the recommended time and it still came out lovely & very light & moist in the end. The sticky honey icing was rich, gooey & fabulous & for the finishing touch I even went so far as to make the bees even though Jane is in her 30’s. They were sort of cute though inedible unless of course that is you love almond icing in big chunks which I’m not a huge fan of even when it’s a thin layer to top a cake. Everyone loved the cake & it was described as not your normal chocolate cake as in ‘really you have to try some’. A great result & not too much effort if you skip the bees, so one to keep for future use.

The recipe can be found here at Caper berry Gravy where it was just as welcome it seems, for anyone interested in making this delicious cake

Happy Birthday Jane!

More birthday celebrations for Chloe!

Yesterday we had the big family party for Chloe’s 1st birthday – about 40 people plus a few kids which was just manageable – lucky I have a backyard now as there is no way they would have fit in the old place & lucky the weather held off & it turned out to be a great day despite the forecast. For food I decided on a nice table spread rather than a bbq as I thought it would give me much more time to sit & relax which was a nice theory but still didn’t work, food needed to be heated, passed out & drinks pushed on people too of course. I spent the previous weekend making loads of quiches which always leave the plate before they even hit the table, I think I only managed to score 1 myself yesterday which is a shame as I sit here starving today & wishing for leftovers. Also on the menu were dozens of sandwiches, fairy bread, sausage rolls & some cocktail franks which I thought would be fun for a kids party but I think are not going down too well today.

There was also a very delicious punch full of champagne, riesling, kirsch, lemonade, strawberries, oranges & apples.

For the fun part the cakes, I made this amazing pink cake, it’s a shame you cant see the inside as it was a vivid purply color thanks to the raspberries & pink food colouring. The recipe comes from Rosie Bakes a Peace of cake though I did change her decorating just a little to suit the theme, great recipe, great cake that not only looked good but tasted fantastic too, everyone loved it. I also made these yummy yoghurt & orange blossom cakes from Gourmet Traveller, which have been blogged about here previously if you want the recipe. They look fantastic & I love the Persian fairly floss. Note that I cheated a bit & made them as cup cakes to save time on icing them completely, great idea seeing as how I was still finishing the cakes as the guests were arriving. My mum also made loads of fairy cakes & cup cakes & I cant believe that every last bite got eaten, so much for my feast of leftovers today….

So the first year is over & I’m really looking forward to the 2nd – sure it will just as much fun as the first if not more.

Happy 1st Birthday Chloe!

Yesterday my gorgeous little baby Chloe turned 1, I cant believe the year has gone so fast. We are having a big party for her on the weekend so yesterday I made a simple but yummy cake to celebrate, as well as being full of butter & sugar it also had pumpkin & prunes so I figured the first cake Chloe would eat wouldn’t be as bad as it could, we will leave that for the weekend! She loved it which is the main thing anyway. This recipe is courtesy of my friend Suzanne, I first tried it at her place a few months ago & loved it. It is light & moist & the orange flavour stands out, and don’t worry you cant taste the pumpkin if that would bother you. More cakes coming soon if I am satisfied with the results this weekend.

Reflecting on the last year with Chloe, it has been amazing, completely different to how I expected motherhood to be, as my friends would tell you I was probably the least maternal or settled of the lot of us so it came as a big surprise how quickly Chloe stole my heart completely. The year has been challenging, full of fun & laughter & nice to slow down for a change. I cant say I am ready to leave her to go back to the office so I’m glad that I am lucky enough to only be going back part time, that will be hard enough (just over 1 week to go). I wont get too mushy on you all now but will leave you of a photo of the pretty girl herself.

Pumpkin and Prune Cake

250g butter
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
¼ cup orange juice
¾ cup cold mashed pumpkin (not butternut)
½ cup finely chopped prunes
2 cups SR flour
1/3 cup milk, approx

Cream butter, orange rind & sugar together until light & fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then stir in orange juice, then sifted flour alternately with enough milk to give a soft consistency. Stir in pumpkin & prunes.

Spread into a greased Deep 20cm round cake or ring tin lined with greaseproof paper. Bake in a moderate oven for 1-1 ¼ hours (round tin) or 45 mins (ring tin) until ready when tested with a cake skewer. Stand for 5 minutes to cool then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For my icing, I mixed up some icing sugar, lemon juice & rind & boiling water, pour over cake & top with shredded coconut.

Happy Oz Day

In a mad long weekend of barbecues & lunches with family & friends, as well as a spot of beach cricket, the only cooking I got around to was a lovely lamb casserole for Chloe which I would be highly tempted to eat myself & some breakfast this morning before heading off. This was actually the first breakfast I have cooked in the new house if my memory serves me correct, over 1 month & we have been so busy getting organized that cooking just didn’t manage to make it onto the morning menu until now. Hopefully there will be more to come soon too as I love a leisurely weekend breakfast to start the day & usually get me through to dinner time too.

I chose Bill Grangers French toast with Fresh berry sauce from Bills Food which was divine & an absolute cinch to make too. I grew up on savoury French toast with grated cheese on top, though lately thanks to some excellent local cafes I have been switched on to the other sweet, luscious, side of this dish. This one starts off with thick slabs of panettone, a quick dunk in an egg & milk wash & into the frying pan before topping with some whizzed up berries, sugar & lemon juice. Try it, you will love it I swear.

Happy Housewarming to Michael, the beautiful Chloe & Me!

Last weekend I decided to host a housewarming just one month after we moved in, if you know me by now you would know that I love to throw a party so I was itching for the inaugural party at the new pad. We had a load of people coming, half with babies & most under 1 so lucky for that big backyard except for the last minute panic attack that was ‘Oh god there is no shade we have to buy a sail from Bunnings before everyone gets burnt to a crisp’ that with the first rain of the year on Saturday soon turned into ‘Oh god there is no cover how on Earth am I going to fit 40 people into my tiny house when there is nowhere undercover out the back for them’. Anyway to ease my mind we bought a sail & borrowed a waterproof gazebo so both angles were covered. In the end the rain held off & the sun mainly stayed away too so it was quite nice outside without any help.

For the food I kept it very simple this time, some snacks, wasabi peas, rice snacks, pretzels & a dip donated by my mum. For the main event 4 different types of sausages, 3 from the local butcher, lamb, beef tomato & basil & pork & fennel as well as some fabulous kransky (I never bbq without kransky) that everyone loved, some lamb chops & some chicken yakitori skewers that disappeared so quick that most people didn’t know they were there & I didn’t even get to taste them but apparently they were good, I will have to make them again some time soon so I can find out for myself. I also made lots of salads, a 3 bean salad that as well as tasting great, looked fab with the 3 different coloured beans, a couscous salad, greens & tomato salad & my mums famous potato salad (also made by her!). For the first time ever as each batch of meat came out it disappeared in minutes & for a moment there it looked like we would run out of food, luckily Michael kept it coming strong & we were even left with a few snags for Mondays dinner after all.

Desserts for me were the highlight, I decided on fridge food so I could do it all the night before which was a great idea until all of our power points went out at 11.00pm on Saturday night & we had to find a 24hour electrician before the food went off, great fun to be up til 1am (very late for us nowadays) the night before a big party. Anyway there were saved, number 1 was Nigella’s luscious & wicked Chocolate, cherry trifle from Feast – oh my god – everyone loved this one & it was so simple to make apart form the fact that I had to make a couple of packet chocolate cakes for the base as I couldn’t find anything premade that wasn’t iced or filled with cream. Anyway, chocolate cake, morello cherries, cherry brandy, chocolate custard & whipped cream, what more do I need to say! Number 2 were some champagne, berry & elderflower jellies from Jamie Oliver’s Happy days which were really great though with the cold weather were not too popular so guess what I have been eating since Sunday?

All in all, I was very happy with our first bash & am already planning the next one, Chloe’s big 1st birthday party in about 1 month. I might have a little rest after that, what do you think?

And here is the 3 bean salad recipe on request for Megan...

3 bean salad
1 can butter beans, rinsed & drained
1 can red kidney beans, rinsed & drained
500g frozen broad beans, thawed & peeled
1 tomato, chopped coarsley
1 red onion, chopped coarsley

Dressing
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Combines all salad ingredients in a bowl. Whisk together dressing ingredients & pour over salad, mix well

Very simple indeed

Upside Down Plum Cake

Last night Michael & I went to the lovely Dr Megs for dinner. It was wonderful to actually go out at night time for a civilized sit down dinner, its not very often we do this nowadays as (a) our friends don’t invite us over for dinner anymore now that we have a baby, (b) up until recently it was just all too hard with the lovely young Chloe demanding 110% of our attention & (c) the whole restaurant scene is not very welcoming to people with prams although we do find that pubs are much more accommodating & we love a good dinner in a beer garden with Chloe now that it is daylight savings, The Edinburgh Castle in Brunswick, our new local has a great menu & atmosphere & Chloe loves to stand around babbling & just generally keeping anyone amused as long as you bribe her with a piece of bread or cheese first.

Anyway back to dinner, as always when invited to dinner or lunch or just anywhere that I have the opportunity I stuck my hand up & volunteered dessert, another chance to test the new oven. I tried out this upside down cake from Bill Grangers, Simply Bill. As I have mentioned before, I love plums & am always trying out new recipes featuring them when they are in season. I didn’t read the recipe properly so was surprised when I came to make it that it was actually cooked much in the same way as a tarte tartin, ie making a caramel with the fruit in a frying pan first, then pouring over the cake mixture & baking in the frypan in the oven before turning out onto a serving plate, the difference being that it was a cake mixture & not pastry. The oven did really well with this cake, I cranked it up about 30c higher than the recipe asked to try & get the temp in my oven right for & it was cooked perfectly in the right amount of time, I think the fact that it was in an already hot frypan helped. I really need to buy me a thermometer of some sort to test out my ovens temp, sure you must be able to buy them in kitchen stores.

As I made this very early in the morning when Miss Chloe was sleeping I couldn’t serve hot out of the oven as suggested, instead serving at room temp with some double cream. Everyone had 2 big helpings which I think was a pretty good indication that it was a hit, the recipe is definitely a repeater & as always Bill didn’t let me down with this cake, soft cooked plums, sugary caramel on the top with a beautiful moist cake underneath & mmm of course I woke up wishing I hadn’t left the rest of the cake with Megan, though my body is thanking me. And a huge thanks to Megan & Andrew for a fantastic dinner, especially their first ever fresh pasta making effort of salmon filled ravioli - a big winner.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year

Well it seems like only yesterday that I was in my old place with my pristine kitchen fitted out with all the mod cons, ie lovely fan forced oven & dishwasher! To say the last couple of weeks have been hectic is an understatement. We moved into the new house on 21st December, worked day & night to unpack most of our stuff in a few days then had my family over on Christmas Eve for my mums birthday. So for my first opportunity to entertain we decided on mainly using the bbq just in case the stove & oven didn’t work. To start with I made some lovely bruschetta & dips, my favourite topping had to be the cannellini bean, rosemary & garlic, it was fantastic & definitely something I will be making again & again. So first thing to check off the list was that the stove top worked & even though it is very, very old it is gas so just perfect. The one bad thing about my last house was the electric hotplate which in my opinion is never as nice to cook on as a gas flame.

Next we did some white fish (so long ago I cant remember what), salmon & prawns on the bbq with some dipping sauces teppanyaki style, great idea & nice & light before getting into the man sized meat course. The main course was lamb chops, some fantastic kransky & some snags, along with an old fashioned potato salad courtesy of my mum, a green bean salad & a Capri salad with some Shaw River Buffalo mozzarella which as most of you would know is a dream when you can get your hands on it, unfortunately my parents thought it a bit bland! To finish off I tested out the oven by baking a chocolate pecan pie from the Green & Black cookbook which was delicious though a bit oozy, I’ve since found out that if I up the temp just a bit & cook for a few minutes longer, I have better results with my baking. I haven’t experimented all that much with the oven yet as its been stinking hot every other day & the new kitchen heats up a beauty. Hopefully I can get to know it well & be cooking up a storm very soon as in the old days.

As you can imagine, even though all of this food was spaced out over a long day, we were stuffed silly by the end & nearly falling asleep on the couch before everyone even went home, I didn’t even feel like eating all that much Christmas day so luckily for the main event we just had a simple lunch on at Michaels parents. Chloe had a nice first Christmas even though she didn’t have a clue what was going on, think next year will be much more exciting for her.

So anyway with xmas over & done with, Michael went off to the cricket on boxing day while I had a bit of a break with a couple of friends over for lunch. Since then it has been a whirlwind of shopping, lots of ikea assembling, some gardening & trying to get a bit more organized before we have our housewarming next weekend, please God don’t let it be too hot as we have practically NO SHADE in our backyard. I have picked the site for my veggie patch & cant wait to dig it all up & start planting so I have some excellent produce to cook with soon.

A couple of questions for you readers out there, does anyone know where you can buy stem/candied ginger in Melbourne, and ditto for a wide variety of miniature fruit trees, think blood plum, apricot, apple????

Hope to have some proper cooking blogging up & running again soon

Mini Flourless Orange & Cardamom Cakes

I’m back! As you can imagine the last couple of weeks have been crazy, what with Christmas parties & getting ready to move & I’ve barely started the packing or shopping for that matter. Today I had a couple of the girls over for what is probably my last bit of entertaining in this house before the move in 2 weeks time. It will be sad to leave this home of the last 4 years which has been perfect but it is a new adventure we will be embarking on which is very exciting too. Lunch was grazing food, about all that Chloe lets me get up to these days & everyone else was bringing along children & a plate too. We had marinated olives, a lovely spicy red capsicum & chickpea dip on crostini, ham, prosciutto, marinated octopus, cheeses, breads, dolmades & a beautiful salad. To finish off a fresh summer fruit platter & these gorgeous mini cakes which were a cinch to make. To save time I cooked the oranges last night & today it was just a matter of throwing everything into the food processor, baking & icing, yum. Note – the icing is very generous, I could easily have used half this quantity & still had a good coating on each cake. The recipe was in Delicious, a few issues back.

Mini Flourless Orange & Cardamom Cakes

Makes 18

2 oranges
250g caster sugar
6 eggs
2 cups (250g) almond meal
1 tspn baking powder
1 tspn ground cardamom
1 cup flaked almonds, toasted

Icing
500g icing sugar, sifted
125g cream cheese
Juice of 2 lemons
25g unsalted butter, softened

Place the oranges in a saucepan, cover with cold water & bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low & simmer for 1 hour or until soft. Using a slotted spoon, remove oranges & cool. Discard the liquid.

Preheat oven to 170c fan forced. Line the 18 holes (1/3 cup) of muffins pans with paper cases. Quarter the oranges, then remove any core & seeds. Place in a food processor & process until smooth. Add the sugar & process to combine. Add the eggs & process to combine. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and fold in the almond meal, baking powder & cardamom. Divide the mixture evenly between the patty cases & bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove & cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, for the icing, process all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Spread the top of each cake with some icing & sprinkle with the nuts.

Sensational Chocolate Chip Cookies

After a week in Noosa where the closest I came to cooking was throwing together a sandwich or two or mashing up fruit & yoghurt for Chloe to eat, I was itching to get back into the kitchen & cook, more precisely to bake. So the day after we arrived home I was into it, baking these irresistible, melt in the mouth, cant stop eating them choc chip cookies from Bill Granger’s Sydney Food. Some were for my parents who were popping in for a visit after week long Chloe withdrawals & some were supposed to be for my Mother’s Group picnic which I didn’t make it to thanks to someone wanting their nap right in the middle of it. So unfortunately now I have a whole stack of cookies that I will have to gobble up myself, with a little help from Michael of course.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

125g unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups tightly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 ½ cups plain flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 ½ cups chocolate bits

Preheat oven to 180c. Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light & creamy. Add vanilla & egg & stir to combine. Stir in the sifted flour, baking powder and salt until just combined. Fold through chocolate chips.

Place spoonfuls of cookie mixture on a greased & lined baking tray, allowing room for spreading. Cook for 15-20 minutes, until they turn pale gold.

Allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool further. Makes about 25

Chunky Chorizo, Chicken & Vegetable soup

I made this soup on Sunday night, our rainy day here in Melbourne if you recall. It was fabulous & more of a stew really it was so thick & full of goodness. Michael took one look at the chicken, chorizo & bacon & asked me why I was ruining it with veggies, mmmm men hey. Myself I loved the vegetables & pasta as well as the good proportion of meat, this soup had everything. The recipe was published in Gourmet Traveller as a readers request from Belgravia at Union Bank’s, I’m guessing it’s a Sydney restaurant as I’ve never heard of it.

Chunky Chorizo, Chicken & Vegetable soup

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
200g smoked pork belly or bacon, cut into 1cm dice
3 onions, cut into 1cm dice
1 carrot, cut into 1 cm dice
2 stalks of celery, cut into 1 cm dice
1 chorizo, cut into 1 cm dice
4 free range chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2cm dice
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 400g can chopped tomatoes
750ml chicken stock
250g (1 cup) tempesta or other small pasta
150g (1 cup) green peas
2 zucchini, cut into 1 cm dice
1 400g can cannellini beans, rinsed & drained
50g baby spinach
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley or basil leaves
Finely grated parmesan to serve

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large heavy based saucepan over medium-high heat, add bacon or pork belly & cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes or until starting to colour. Add onion, carrot & celery & cook for 10 minutes, then add chorizo, chicken and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally. For 5 minutes or until chicken becomes opaque. Add tomato & stock & season to taste with sea salt & freshly ground black pepper. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to medium, then cover & simmer for 10 minutes. Add pasta, peas, zucchini & beans & stir to combine, increase heat to medium-high and cook, covered for 10-12 minutes or until pasta is al dente. Remove from heat, stir through spinach, parsley & remaining olive oil. Ladle into bowls & serve with parmesan.

Ricotta, Orange & Currant Fritters

I know its been a while since my last post, I have been in quarantine with Chloe as she was exposed to the chicken pox and the incubation period is up to 21 days so have had to keep her away from most people, ie friends with babies or who come into contact with babies which is surprisingly most people we know, until we find out if she has it or not. So far so good and only a few days to go. Anyway this has meant no entertaining = no baking or cooking anything exciting & so therefore nothing to blog about. Yesterday however I decided to whip up a batch of pancakes which turned out absolutely delicious so I must share with you. The recipe came from the latest Donna Hay Spring issue. The flavours of orange & currant stood out beautifully encased in the soft & light ricotta batter & all that was really needed was the slightest squeeze of lemon juice & they were perfect. A great way to start a rainy Sunday, in fact the rainiest day we have had in about 2 years if I heard right.

Ricotta, Orange & Currant Fritters

1 cup (150g) plain flour, sifted
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder, sifted
1/3 (73 1/3g) cup caster sugar
1 cup fresh ricotta cheese
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind
½ cup (75g) currants
2 eggs, separated
unsalted butter for greasing
icing sugar for dusting
lemon edges to serve

Place, the flour, baking powder & sugar in a large bowl & mix to combine. Add the ricotta, milk, orange rind, currants & egg yolks & mix to combine. Place the egg whites in a bowl & whisk until stiff peaks form. Fold through the ricotta & flour mixture. Heat a lightly greased frying pan over medium heat. Cook 2 tablespoons of the mixture in batches for 2-3 minutes each side or until puffed & golden. Dust with icing sugar & serve with lemon wedges.

Chocolate Guinness Cake

Yesterday was a double celebration. Firstly it was my brother Rob’s birthday & secondly Michael & I bought a new house in Brunswick so I was very, very excited as you can imagine. To celebrate the birthday I decided on Nigella’s Chocolate Guinness Cake from Feast as it sounded very manly & to celebrate the house purchase I had just the tiniest bit of bubbly! The cake was excellent, firstly it was huge, rising quite high, it was also lovely & moist. You couldn’t taste the Guinness itself though I suspect it was what gave this cake its lovely velvety smooth taste along with the whole pack of butter. The cream cheese icing topped it off perfectly. As for the bubbles, I am dreaming of the day when I can celebrate something with a whole bottle (or 2!). 60 day settlement & then I can start on my dream garden though it will be the middle of summer so most of the planting might have to wait a season or so. When the gardens in then it will be lots of cooking of fresh herbs, veggies & fruit in my dream kitchen, which I also have to build/renovate along with half of the house. It will take a while but sure it will all be worth it & in the meantime better start packing

Chocolate Guinness Cake

Cake:
250ml Guinness
250g unsalted butter
75g cocoa
400g caster sugar
142ml sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
275g plain flour
2 ½ teaspoons bicarb of soda

Icing:
300g Philadelphia cream cheese
150g icing sugar
125ml double of whipping cream

Preheat the oven to 180c. Butter & line a 23cm springform tin.

Pour the Guinness in a large wide saucepan, add the butter in slices & heat until the butter is melted, whisk in the cocoa & sugar. Beat the sour cream with eggs & vanilla & then pour into the mixture & then whisk in the flour & bicarb.

Pour the batter into the tin & bake for 45 mins to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack before turning out. When the cake is cold make the icing. Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth then sieve over the icing sugar & then beat together. Or do it in a processor, putting the icing sugar in first, blitzing to remove lumps then add cheese. Add the cream & beat again until the mix is a spreadable consistency. Ice the cake so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.

Paper Baked Spiced Pastries

Here is a really simple recipe for a sweet treat that takes no time to knock together & tastes beautiful. It’s a bit like a scone dough with dates & lots of spice. The recipe was from the Donna Hay Entertaining issue. Doesn't it look pretty?

Paper Baked Spiced Pastries

½ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon mixed spice
1 ¾ cups (262.5g) plain flour, sifted
1 ¾ teaspoons baking powder, sifted
½ cp (160g) pitted & chopped dates
½ cup single or pouring cream
½ cup milk
30g unsalted butter, melted for brushing

Preheat oven to 180c. Combine the sugar, cinnamon & spice and set aside. Place the flour, baking powder & dates in a bowl & stir to combine. Make a well in the centre, gradually add the cream and milk, stirring until a soft dough forms. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth & elastic. Roll out to 30cm x 40 cm. Brush with butter and sprinkle with the sugar mix, reserving 1 tablespoon. Roll the dough to enclose and slice into 8 pieces. Place the dough into 8 x ½ cup capacity muffin tins lined with non stick baking paper or muffin cases. Brush with butter & sprinkle with reserved sugar. Bake for 25 minutes or until cooked & lightly golden. Makes 8.

Rumi, Brunswick East

Well I finally made it to Rumi in Brunswick East last Friday night & I have to tell you it was well worth the wait & having to book in about 3 weeks in advance. So with Chloe safely in the arms of my parents out we went. The restaurant itself is quite small & intimate, dimly lit & with plain & simple furniture, nothing fancy here. The tables were quite small but they still managed to fit all of our food on so no problems there. The menu & wine list were also kept quite small & simple with my only problem being that of all the white wines on offer all of the wines by the glass were either chardonnay or chardonnay blends of some sort, I would have hoped for a bit more variety. The wine I chose in the end was a blend from Lebanon – I figured I may as well try the wine from the area as well as the food, the blend was of sav blanc, semillon & chardonnay, not the most typical, but I enjoyed it & if dinner wasn’t quite so efficient would have loved more than the 2 glasses I managed to squeeze in. Michael had a beer, there were about 4 types on offer including Effes from Turkey in keeping with the theme.

To eat we started with some delicious Persian meatballs in a tomato & saffron sauce, the serve was 4 so not too overwhelming. We also had some calamari crumbed in burgul & served with an almondy type paste which was almost like a hommus, these were nice & tender & very good too, in fact I could do with a plate right now as I sit & type away hungrily just before dinner tonight. These came with some complimentary pita bread too. For the mains we shared the lamb casserole with caramelized onion on top, served with a pilaf which was studded with chickpeas & a baby beetroot & yoghurt salad. The lamb was divine, it really was so lovely & tender that it melted in your mouth. All of the serves were perfect too, they looked quite small but it was more than enough food & it was an effort to fit in dessert but of course I insisted we share one. We had the pastry special which was filo with honey, pistachios & caramelized bananas, it too was fantastic & tasted like a cross between baklava & a banana fritter which may sound weird but worked pretty well indeed. The service was very friendly & efficient, my only problem was that with all of the noise I found it difficult to hear the waitress’s explanations of various food items. Also we were over & out in about 2 hours which I’m sure if you were in a bigger group would be drawn out much longer. To sum it up, yum, yum, yes please, can’t wait for more!

Rumi
132 Lygon Street
Brunswick East
9388 8255
Dinner Tues – Sat
Breakfast & lunch - Sat

Chocolate, Coffee & Hazelnut Cake

This week I had a visit to Megan’s in the diary so I got to break out the Kitchen Aid again to bake a cake, I think I was starting to have baking withdrawal DT’s. I chose this cake which was more of a torte really, I just love a rich dark chocolatey cake & the hazelnuts make a nice change from almond meal or flour for that matter. Megan had a nice bowl of strawberries & blueberries which worked really well served alongside with the cream too.

Chocolate, Coffee & Hazelnut Cake

200g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
150g unsalted butter, chopped
2/3 (150g) caster sugar
1 tablespoon whisky
1 tablespoon strong black coffee
5 eggs, separated
¾ cup (100g) ground hazelnuts
cocoa, to dust
thick cream, to serve

Preheat oven to 180c. Grease & line the base of a 20cm springform pan.

Place chocolate, butter, sugar, whisky and coffee in a heatproof bowl. Place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water on low heat. Stir for 4-5 minutes, until chocolate melts & mixture is smooth. Remove from heat.

Whisk in egg yolks, one at a time, until smooth. Fold through ground hazelnuts. Using an electric beater, beat eggwhites until firm peaks form. Stir 2 tablespoons of eggwhites into chocolate mixture. Gently fold in remaining egg whites.

Spoon mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes, until firm. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with cocoa & serve with thick cream,

Chicken & Chorizo Paella

Who doesn’t love a good Paella? With the warmer weather starting to show itself & memories of Spain I decided that last weekend would be a good time to make a big batch of paella with some inspiration & a recipe from the latest Gourmet Traveller Spanish Edition. I find that it’s a pretty simple dish to prepare, much easier than the time consuming risotto that requires constant stirring & ladling in of stock anyway. This recipe was a good one, feeding eight so I had to split it into 2 frypans as there was no way it would fit into my tiny paella dish. This of course means that I have some stashed away in the freezer for those nights I really don’t have time to cook, love cooking big like this which I find gets harder as summer comes along as most of the food I want to eat is simple & fresh, whereas food that is suitable to freeze, ie stews, heavy pasta dishes, etc is more stodgy winter food. So Paella fits both the freezer & summery bill – though it is still quite heavy the fact that it is Spanish means it definitely gets the thumbs up for warm nights. The overall result was delicious & cant wait to tuck in to the rest.

Paella

2 litres chicken stock
2 tspn saffron threads, toasted (no toasting from me)
2 tbsp olive oil
1.4kg chicken, cut into 8 pieces (or you could use thigh fillets as I did)
2 chorizo, cut into 2cm pieces
2 onions, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 red capsicum, thinly sliced
6 vine ripened tomatoes, peeled, seeded & finely chopped (or you could just chop & skip the peeling & seeding as I did)
400g Calasparra rice (Arborio also works)
2 tspn Spanish smoked sweet paprika
1 tbsn rosemary leaves, coarsely chopped
300g podded green peas
300g baby green beans, trimmed

Combine chicken stock & saffron in a large saucepan & bring to the boil, then simmer over medium-high heat for 5 minutes or until saffron has infused & colored the stock.

Heat olive oil in a 38cm caldero (paella pan) or frying pan, add chicken & chorizo & cook, turning occasionally, over medium-high heat for 5 minutes or until golden, then remove from pan.

Add onion, garlic and capsicum & cook, stirring continuously, over medium heat for 5 minutes or until golden. Add tomato, cook for 3 minutes or until liquid evaporates, return chicken & chorizo to pan & pour over stock. Bring to the boil & cook for 10 minutes or until chicken is almost cooked through.

Add rice, paprika & rosemary, then season to taste with sea salt & freshly ground black pepper. Cook over medium heat, without stirring, for 5 minutes, then scatter with peas & beans & cook for another 15 minutes or until rice is tender & stock is absorbed. Stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Fruit Loaf

Now that I have sworn off baking & the making of all things sweet temporarily I managed to sneak in this lovely fruit loaf this weekend telling myself it was bread & not a cake so allowed. I don’t make bread very often but every now & again I get a hankering for it, especially after Megan dropped in for lunch the other day & brought along a fabulous loaf that her husband had baked that morning, very impressive & not something Michael would ever do or most husbands/boyfriends I know of for that matter! The recipe comes from Jamie Oliver Return of the Naked Chef & was delicious, its quite a heavy loaf as I find most fruit breads are, but slathered with a little butter it is perfect for breakfast or a snack & I can imagine in a couple of days will go well in the toaster too, it makes a massive loaf which will last for ages.

Fruit Loaf

30g fresh yeast or 3 x 7g sachets of dried yeast

30g sugar or honey

625ml tepid water

1kg strong bread flour

30g salt

extra flour for dusting

Fruit Mix

a pinch of ground cinnamon
1 clove, ground
200g dried apricots
100g dried dates
200g dried raisins

Firstly you need to get your fruit mix ready. Put all ingredients in a food processor & chop very finely.

Now to make the bread

Stage 1. Dissolve the yeast & sugar in half the tepid water.

Stage 2. On a large clean surface or in a large bowl, make a pile of the flour & salt. With one hand make a well in the centre & pour in all of the dissolved yeast & sugar mixture, with your fingers make circular movements, from the centre working outwards, slowly bringing in the dry ingredients until all yeast mixture is soaked up. Then pour the other half of the tepid water & the fruit mix into the centre & gradually incorporate all the flour to make a moist dough. If needed add a little extra water & also note that you may not need to use all of the water as the dried fruit retains water too, you will have to watch the dough carefully & be the judge. For mine I used the exact quantities.

Stage 3. Knead for 5 minutes & if any sticks to your hands just rub together with a little extra flour.

Stage 4. Flour both hands now & lightly flour the top of the dough. Make into a roundish shape & place on a baking tray. Score the dough with a knife. Leave the dough covered in glad wrap to prove in a warm, moist, draught free place, it needs to double in size, about 40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200c.

Stage 5. Take the proved dough & bash the air out, then shape into a round & place on a floured baking tray to double in size again, about 40 minutes.

Stage 6. Bake in a preheated oven for 50 mins to 1 hour. Loaf will be cooked when it sounds hollow when tapped. Allow to cool for 30 minutes before eating.

Mushrooms on Toast

Lately Michael & I have been going for nice long walks each weekend & going out for brekky with Miss Chloe which is something we all seem to like & behave for. This weekend however we went out for a quick dinner while giving the grandparents a trial run at babysitting. It didn’t go quite to plan with Chloe deciding she would not drink one drop of her expressed milk from grandma so I fear we will be needing lots more practice before we are able to leave her for more than a couple of hours, which we need to do in December for a wedding and various Christmas functions. Anyway the point of this is that as we went out for dinner we skipped our breakfast ritual & instead I cooked up a delicious breakfast at home. Of course I turned straight to Bill Granger for inspiration as I looovvee his breakfast recipes. This one was from Bills food & was no exception, I used some Hope Farm Rye & Caraway Sourdough that I picked up from the inaugural Carlton Gardens Primary Farmers Market which was delicious. The caraway seeds gave the bread a flavour that I have missed for years, my grandparents used to buy a particular rye bread all the time & have it out for sandwiches whenever we would visit & this is exactly what it tasted like. Thanks Haalo for your market listings which I regularly check & discovered this new market in. The mushrooms were simple & tasty, put the whole lot together with some ricotta & a beautiful dish is created once again.

Mushrooms on Toast

40g unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra, for brushing
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
500g mixed small mushrooms
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
4 slices sourdough bread
1garlic clove, extra, for rubbing on bread
250g (1 cup) ricotta cheese

Put half the butter with the oil & chopped garlic in a saucepan over medium to high heat. Add the mushrooms, 60ml water & sat & pepper to taste. Cover & cook, stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes or until the mushrooms are cooked & the liquid is syrupy. Stir in the balsamic vinegar, parsley, tarragon and lemon zest. Taste for seasoning & adjust if necessary. Whisk the remaining cold butter through to thicken the mushroom sauce.

Towards the end of the cooking time, brush the bread on both sides with the extra oil. Grill until golden on both sides, then rub both sides with a cur garlic clove & place on serving plates. Top with ricotta & then mushrooms & serve immediately. Serves 4.

Chocolate Nut Meringues with Cream and Berries

I am a big fan of Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Pavlova so when I saw this recipe for something similar in Marie Claire Zest, yet with the added bonus of nuts, I just had to give it a try. Well they were just as good & tasted deliciously like ferrero rochers. As you can see I topped mine with strawberries as that’s about all that’s available now, I cant wait to have them with some raspberries & other berries too. They are ideal for the nicer weather now & the fact that you can make them in advance & just put them together at the last minute makes them perfect for entertaining.

Chocolate Nut Meringues with Cream and Berries

3 egg whites
200g caster sugar
2 tablespoons dark cocoa
2 tablespoons ground hazelnuts
50g flaked almonds
150ml cream, whipped
500g mixed berries

Preheat oven to 150c. Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks and then slowly add the sugar, continuing to beat until the mixture is white & glossy. Fold in the cocoa and ground hazelnuts, then spoon the meringue into 6 large dollops on the tray. Using the back of a spoon, create a dip in the top of each meringue. Sprinkle with almonds and bake for 45 minutes. Turn off heat, but leave the meringues to cool in the oven wi the door ajar. Serve topped with whipped cream & berries.

Spiced Indian Kofta

With spring in the air, I like all other Melbournian bloggers out there it seems, am very excited about the new food that spring brings with it. Now I know you are all thinking lovely fresh broad beans or asparagus or some such healthy food but I am talking the start of barbecuing again, don’t you just love it when you are walking home around dinner time & the smell of burning meat is wafting past, makes you just crave that first bbq instantly. Anyway I didn’t actually bother with breaking out the Barbie for just Michael & I but I did try out a new recipe for when I do break it out very soon. This comes from Ainsley Harriott’s Ultimate barbecue bible which is jam packed full of interesting ways with meat, fish, veg & all things barbecue. Normally to me a hamburger (or variation of) is a hamburger & they don’t do that much for me, these tasty little morsels however are sensational, bursting with flavour & even a little bit of punch, they are so tasty that they will be on the menu for the next bbq for sure.

Spiced Indian Kofta

450g lean minced beef
1 garlic clove, crushed
2.5cm fresh root ginger, peeled & finely grated
2 spring onions, trimmed & finely chopped
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon garam masala
pinch of cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
1 green chilli, seeded and very finely chopped
3 tablespoons Greek natural yoghurt
a little oil for brushing
lemon wedges & extra yoghurt to serve

Mix all your ingredients apart from the brushing oil & lemon wedges together well with your hands. Then divide into 8, if skewering, shape each piece into a long sausage around each skewer. Or you can be lazy & just shape into patties to fry up on the Barbie.

Brush with a little oil & barbecue over medium hot heat for 8-10 minutes, turning halfway, until cooked through. Serve with lemon wedges & extra yoghurt. We had ours on naan with some salad which was lovely.

Chocolate Filled Oat Crunch

This week I was off to Megan’s for lunch with the girls & my contribution was these very yummy copies of the good old Kingston bickie. I love the original & of course as always, home made (to me at least) is always better & these are no exception. The biscuits are really very sweet which is ok by me & it was very difficult but I didn’t leave any at home (though I of course did sample a couple first & let Michael in on some too) & the leftovers remained at Megan’s, my willpower is getting pretty good lately, wonder how long it will last?

Chocolate Filled Oat Crunch

180g butter
120g demerara sugar
90g golden syrup
150g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
60g desiccated coconut
60g rolled oats
150g milk chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 160c. Using an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar & golden syrup until pale & fluffy, then add flour, bicarb of soda. Coconut & rolled oats and beat on slow speed until just combined. Spoon teaspoons of the mixture onto baking paper lined oven trays. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden. Cool biscuits on a wire rack. Meanwhile, melt chocolate, cool to a thick consistency & spread over half of the biscuits & sandwich with the remainder. Biscuits will keep in an airtight container for 5 days.

Chocolate Espresso Cake with Caffe Latte Cream

This is the elegant after dinner cake that I made for my Dad for Fathers Day last weekend. It is another Nigella recipe from her Chocolate Cake Hall of fame in Feast. Calling it an after dinner cake is just my thing as the intense coffee flavour seems to suit the late night piece of cake with coffee or even a nice Muscat more than say an afternoon nibble but I’m sure it would be delicious at any time of day. My cake came out really well, for some reason after I poured over the liqueur & let it cool, the top went crisp & didn’t sink at all. I could have eaten a lot of this but for once showed restraint & only had one piece then left the rest a t my mums so temptation was not in my path. I have a holiday to Noosa coming up in 2 months & have been very slack about getting rid of the baby belly, in Winter it hardly seems worth the effort. So now, I’m not going so far as to diet but I am baking less (trying anyway) & only making for visits to other people so I at least only end up eating a bit (and bowl licking of course which is my downfall) but I just cant bring myself to cut out baking altogether. Hopefully my daily walks in the gorgeous spring weather will help & I wont have to intensify my modified eating plan just yet.

Chocolate Espresso Cake with Caffe Latte Cream

Cake
150g dark chocolate, chopped
150g butter
6 eggs
250g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
75g plain flour
5 teaspoons instant espresso powder
4 tablespoons Tia Maria or other coffee liqueur

Caffe Latte Cream
75g white chocolate, broken into small pieces
375ml double cream
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder

Take anything you need out of the fridge to bring to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 180c. Butter & line a 23cm springform tin. Melt the chocolate & butter & set aside to cool slightly. Beat the eggs, sugar & vanilla together until thick, pale & moussey. They should have at least doubled in volume, even tripled. Gently fold in the flour & espresso powder & finally add the chocolate & butter mixture, folding gently again. Pour into the tin & bake for 35-40 minutes until the top of the cake is firm. Immediately pour over the liqueur & then cool completely on a rack in the tin before releasing from the tin.

For the cream, melt the white chocolate & let it cool. Fold in the cream & espresso powder, whipping together to thicken a little. Dust the cake with cocoa & serve with the cream alongside.

Chocolate Malteser Cake

Here is a very Kingly looking cake with its lovely malty crown which I thought was fitting for Fathers Day celebrations. The malty flavours running through the cake & icing, topped with the maltesers really gave this cake a unique flavour which seemed to go down very well with all, it was lovely & not too sweet or heavy. The recipe comes from Nigella's feast. For Michaels first Fathers Day, Chloe showered him with gifts & we had a lovely day out at his sisters in Laurimer, which is a lovely estate out in what to me feels like the country, around Whittlesea way. They have a huge house on a humungous block that is really very nice though I can’t imagine living that far away from it all in such isolation from my beloved Brunswick with its unique mix of people, parks, cafes & shops that provide endless hours of walking & entertainment for Chloe & I, especially now that the weather is getting to be just how I like it, sunny & happy! So for now I will stick to my little house that I love so I can be where the action is & dream of the day I can afford a big house in Brunswick with a big backyard so I can have my veggie patch, fruit trees & grass for the kids to play on, who knows I may just get my dream one of these days if I can be patient a little while longer (note patience is not my strong point!).

Chocolate Malteser Cake

Cake
150g soft light brown sugar
100g caster sugar
3 eggs
175ml milk
15g butter
2 tablespoons horlicks
175g plain flour
25g cocoa, sieved
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Icing
250g icing sugar
1 teaspoon cocoa
45g horlicks
125g soft unsalted butter
2 tablespoons boiling water
2 x 37g packets maltesers

Take anything you need from the fridge out & allow to come to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 170c. Butter & line two 20cm loose-bottomed sandwich cake tins with baking paper.

Whisk together the sugars & eggs while you weigh out the other ingredients. Heat the butter, milk & horlicks in a saucepan until the butter melts, and it is hot but not boiling. When the sugars & eggs are light & frothy, beat in the horlicks mixture and then fold in the flour, cocoa, baking powder & bicarb of soda. Divide the cake batter evenly between the two tins & bake for 25 minutes, the cakes will spring back when touched when ready. Let them cool on a rack for 5-10 minutes & then turn onto a rack to cool completely.

Put the icing sugar, cocoa & horlicks in a food processor & blitz to remove any lumps. Add the butter & blitz again. Stop, scrape down the sides & start again, pouring the boiling water down the funnel until you have a smooth buttercream. Sandwich the cakes together with half the mix & put the rest on top then finish off with a ring of maltesers around the edge.