Earth hour 2010 at the Zoo - Warning no photos of food to follow

For Earth Hour this year I was lucky enough to be given a couple of tickets to Earth Hour at the Melbourne Zoo thanks to Zoos Victoria.  The tickets included a behind the scenes tour of some of the reptiles where the lovely guide (pictured) brought out a Fijian crested iguana, Honduran milk snakes & biggest & best of all a Black Headed Python.  I hid behind my camera while Michael had a play.

After our tour, we had a wander around and saw the Lions who seem to sleep forever, get frisky for about a minute before resuming their laziness, the giraffes having a bit of a feed & a lonely meerkat or 2 wondering what all the upcoming noise was about.

We were then treated to a sit down barbecue dinner, a simple spread of veggie burgers, snags, potato salad, green salad, bread & lots of free booze - who can say no to that!  Too bad really as I brought along my own dinner not fully understanding that the offer of food to be proved meant an entire meal, thinking it would be more like a nibbly or 2 pre-show. Sadly my food had to be thrown out after being carted around & neglected all night.

Next was off to the vip seating area, where we snuggled up on the picnic rug with our one free rain poncho (I scored it), to brave the drizzle (which thankfully didnt last too long), to watch Wagons & Tim Rogers, missed the Blackchords entirely while eating, sorry.  Wagons were interesting, part comedy, some interesting language & a good strong voice, Tim Rogers I love from way back & was especially please to hear him sing Heavy Heart.  We also brought along our own booze so we were very merry by the end of festivities.

Despite the ignorance of the PR company who organised the event, in regards to a certain chocolate & the Zoos involvement i the 'Dont Palm us Off' campaign, you can read all about it here, we had a wonderful time, love the zoo & love their Twilight nights, as I say every year, I will have to get along more often!

Rice 2 ways - The Cookbook Challenge - Week 19

The theme for this week was rice.  I really wanted to make both a savoury & a sweet dish this week so I chose 2 recipes from the same book, Bill Granger's Holiday & both had an Asian feel to them.  It's funny how I thought the pudding would be sensational & the rice just ok yet things turned out completely the other way around.  I loved the simplicity of the rice with chicken yet the pudding didnt do it for me at all though I was quite partial to the gorgeous caramelized pineapple on top.

The chicken dish was quite interesting for me in that it was cooked a bit differently to my normal method, the rice had ginger, onion, garlic & sesame oil through it, I love the aroma of anything cooking with sesame oil in it?  Once this was simmered for a while the chicken was poached on top.  When I tried this before adding the soy, spring onions & chilli I was a little disappointed as it was a bit bland (as well as looking way too white!), however the addition of the last minute extras lifted the dish to one I was very happy to eat, a great simple combination.

Ginger & Sesame Rice with Poached Chicken - from Bill Granger, Holiday

Serves 4

2 tablespoons peanut oil

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbspn freshly grated ginger
400g jasmine rice
750ml chicken stock
500g chicken breast fillets, cut into thin escalopes

To Serve

Finely sliced spring onions
Chopped red chilli
Soy Sauce

Heat the oils in a large deep frying pan over medium-low heat.  Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5-6 minutes until soft.  Add the garlic and ginger & cook, stirring for 2 minutes more.

Add the rice and stir to coat the grains of rice with the oil.  Add the stock and bring to the boil.  Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.  Place the chicken in a single layer on top of the rice.  Cover again and simmer for a further 8-10 minutes, or until the rice is just tender and the chicken is cooked through.

Remove from the heat and set aside with the lid on, for a further 5 minutes.  Serve sprinkled with spring onions, chilli & drizzled with soy sauce

My second rice dish was a coconut rice pudding with caramelised pineapple.  Now I love anything flavoured with coconut or coconut milk so I thought this was a definite winner.  Wrong, it was ok though my version turned out a little dry, didnt really brown all that well on top & the flavour just didnt taste quite right to me.  Funny as I made a classic rice pudding for Josh yesterday & served it to him with some blackcurrant jam stirred through & this one was sensational!  As mentioned the pineapple got a big thumbs up, I guess anything coated in sugar & cinnamon & fried has to taste good right?

Coconut Rice Pudding with Caramelised Pineapple - from Bill Granger, Holiday

Serves 4

400ml coconut milk
500ml milk
225g arborio rice
3 tblsons caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 170c and lightly grease a 1.5 litre capacity baking dish.  Put the coconut milk, milk, rice, sugar & vanilla in the dish & stir together well.  Cover with foil & bake for 1 1/4 hours, remove the foil & bake for a further 30-35 minutes until nicely browned on top.  Leave to rest for 10 minutes before serving with pineapple.

Caramelised Pineapple

1/2 tspn ground cinnamon
2 tblspns brown sugar
3 thin slices fresh pineapple, cut into small triangles.

Mix together the cinnamon & sugar on a plate.  Toss the pineapple in the cinnamon sugar until coated on all sides.

Heat a large non stick frying pan over medium high heat & cook the pineapple for 1 minute on each side until caramelised.  Serve with the pudding.

Fantastic soup & another use for the rainbow chard in the garden

I know you probably wont think so when looking the the photo but this is one fantastic pot of Chick pea and chard soup.  In my opinion soup doesn't photograph well at the best of times so you have to take my word rather than go my fairly dubious looking photo above.  With the change of seasons and the weather supposedly cooling down I have moved into full 'make-a-pot-of-soup-a-week' mode.  Soup being one of my most loved foods, I love to make old favourites & am always on the lookout for new recipes.  This one caught my eye in my new ebay purchase of Skye Gyngell's My favourite ingredients.  It's a lovely book and I have tried a few of her recipes from Delicious so I was keen to start from the book, this recipe was perfect for me as I'm also on the lookout for recipes I can use my rainbow chard growing out the back in.

I cheated a bit when making the soup, I actually pretty much cooked it while playing out the back with both kids, just running inside every 10, 20 or 30 minutes to add the next ingredient, all of which I had lined up waiting to be thrown in, you cant get much easier than that.  So my cheats were, using tinned chickpeas instead of dried, ie no need to soak overnight or boil for 1 1/2 hours.  I just added the lemon juice when I threw them into the soup.  I also threw the chard straight into the soup rather than cooking it separately as suggested.  I wasnt expecting the soup to be so good, the ingredients are very simple yet all together they were amazing, one to add to my soup collection for sure.

Chickpea and chard soup - Skye Gyngell - My favourite ingredients

200g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight (or sub with a tin of chickpeas - no need to soak)
3 tblspn extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
juice of half a lemon
2 dried red chillies
5 garlic cloves, peeled & smashed with the back of a knife
3 rosemary sprigs
2 x 340g tins of good quality peeled plum tomatoes
sea salt & freshly black pepper
1 litre good quality chicken stock
300g swiss chard
2 thick slices day old chewy bread, ie sourdough, crusts removed
75-90g Parmesan - freshly grated

Drain the chickpeas, rinse & place in a large heavy-based pan.  Cover generously with cold water , but do not season.  Bring to the boil over a medium heat, then turn the heat down.  Simmer gently for 1 1/2 hours or until the chick peas are soft, skimming away any scum from the surface every now and then.  Drain & dress with 1 tblspn extra virgin olive oil & the lemon juice.  (Note as mentioned you could skip this step & just add a can of chickpeas with the lemon juice at the adding stage).

In the meantime, warm 2 tblspns extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.  Crumble in the chillies and add the garlic and rosemary.  Cook for a minute or so to release the flavours, then add the tomatoes & stir well to break them up, adding a good pinch of salt.  Cover & cook for 20 minutes, then pour in the stock & cook for a further 10 minutes.  Finally add the chick peas & simmer for 40 minutes.

Towards the end of cooking time, prepare the chard.  Wash and pat dry, then strip the leaves from teh pale central stalk, using a small sharp knife, set aside.  Trim the stalks & cut into 1cm chunks.  Add these to a pan of well salted boiling water and cook for 2 minutes, then add the soft green outer leaves & cook for a further minute.  Drain.  (Note I skipped this stage & simply added the torn leaves to the soup directly a few minutes before the end of cooking time.

Break the bread into small pieces and stir into the soup with the Parmesan, turning the heat to low.  Add the chard and a drizzle of olive oil.  Taste & adjust the seasoning before serving.

The Cookbook Challenge - Week 18 - BBQ

This weeks cookbook challenge is BBQ and what Aussie doesnt just love them?  As you can see in my photo I actually 'barbecued' my Salmon on the griddle pan over the stove as I was cooking for my parents & Michael is never home in enough time to even contemplate waiting for him to get the real thing out.   I'm actually having a 'real' bbq on Saturday night so if I remember I may get some photos to post of the real deal.

The recipe I chose was from Jamie Oliver's Jamie at home, I really like this book & enjoyed the series too & seemed to remember a bbq chapter with a delicious salmon recipe.  The Salmon was fantastic & everyone apart from my Dad who peeled it off & left it to the side, loved the crispy skin, even Chloe, anything with crunch tickles her tastebuds.  I have to say though that I quite often griddle salmon with nothing more than a sprinkle of salt & pepper & brushed with some olive oil & feel it doesnt need anymore.  This recipe had herbs & lemon zest stuffed into the flesh & even though it was fantastic I dont really think I could taste the difference the herbs made.  The cucumber yoghurt on the side however was a great extra to serve with the salmon this way.  I used fresh mint in mine.  So even though I would make the cucumber yoghurt again I probably would bother adding the herbs.

Crispy barbecued side of Salmon with cucumber yoghurt - from Jamie Oliver - Jamie at home

Serves 4-6. 

1 x 1.5kg side of salmon, scaled & pinboned (I only used about 950g & it fed 4 adults & 1 3 yr old fine)
zest and juice of 1 lemon
a bunch of fresh herby fennel tops or basil, leaves picked & finely chopped (I used basil as that's whats in my garden right now, maybe fennel would have had a stronger flavour)
olive oil
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 cucumber, peeled lengthwise at intervals
300ml natural yoghurt
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded & finely chopped (omitted from mine so it was Chloe safe)
a small bunch of fresh mint or oregano, leaves picked & chopped
extra virgin olive oil

Brush the bars of the bbq clean to prevent the fish sticking, then light it & get the coals glowing hot.  (Or turn on the stove or gas bbq like I did).

Place the salmon skin side down on a board and, using a sharp knife, slash it evenly all over on the fleshy side, making the incisions about 1cm deep.  Scatter the lemon zest & fennel tops or basil over the salmon, then push into the incisions.  Rub the fish lightly all over with olive oil then season with salt & pepper.

When the barbie is ready, lay the salmon on the bars, skin side down.  Cook for about 4 minutes until golden brown then flip over, cook for a further 2-3 minutes.  While it's cooking, gently ease the skin away & put it alongside the fish to crisp up (I also omitted this step as I get great crispy skin on the griddle without removing it).  When the salmon is cooked to your liking, lift it off the bbq onto a serving platter, then break the skin into pieces & place on top.

Cut the cucumber in half lengthways, remove the seeds, chop it up & mix in a bowl with the yoghurt.  Balance the flavours with the lemon juice, half the chopped chilli and half the mint or oregano.  Season carefully with salt & pepper.

Break the Salmon into 6 chunks & serve with the cucumber yoghurt, some crispy skin & the remaining chilli & herbs.

If you have too many grapes...

Patrizia's Grape Fritters from Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden Companion, sensational!  Having masses of grapes ripening on the vine out the back all at the same time I thought it was high time I started experimenting with cooking grapes as I dont have enough to start making home brew just yet.  I've never actually cooked with grapes before as they are so sweet & delicious all on their own that I haven't felt the need up until now.

As pancakes are one of my favourite foods, this recipe immediately caught my eye.  The recipe suggests seedless grapes, mine have seeds so as the batter was resting for its required half an hour, I plopped myself down at the bench while everyone else was sleeping & de pipped the 500g, not such a big deal when you have time to spare & for me these sorts of jobs are always a labour of love anyway so I find them quite relaxing.  As for the cooking, I found it a bit tricky to get the temperature just right, you might be able to see in the photo that the batter isnt quite cooked all of the way through, after the first few when I realised this was happening, I slowed things down a bit, squashed them after flipping & problem solved.  A really sweet Sunday morning brekkie treat without too much added sugar, they didnt even need any syrup or ice cream on the side.

Does anyone else have any great grape recipes for me?

 Patrizia's Grape Fritters

1 1/2 cups self raising flour
2 tablespoons caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
1/4 tspn salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
500g black grapes, preferably seedless, stems removed
grapeseed oil or vegetable oil, for frying

Sift flour, sugar & salt into a large mixing bowl.  Lightly whisk egg with milk.  Make a well in the flour & stir in the egg/milk mixture, then whisk to form a smooth, thickish batter.  Leave to stand for 30 minutes. 

Cut the grapes in half & de-seed if necessary.  Stir through the batter.

Pour oil into a medium sized non stick frypan to a depth of 1cm & heat over medium heat until hot.  test the heat by dropping in a small blob of batter.  It should sizzle as it hits the oil & start to brown at once.  Drop in heaped tablespoons of batter & fry for 1 minute, then turn with an egg lifter.  Press down lightly on each fritter with the egg lifter.  Fry until golden brown on both sides.  Remove & drain on greaseproof paper.  Dust with extra sugar & serve.  Makes about 10.

The Cookbook Challenge - Week 17 - Vietnamese

This weeks theme is Vietnamese.  Not only do I not own any Vietnamese cookbooks, I also have not really eaten in many Vietnamese restaurants & I've never been to the country itself though I hope to visit one of these days as I hear it is very beautiful.  So for my recipe this week I once again turned to trusty Bill Granger's version of things, a lovely light & refreshing chicken salad from Bill's Open Kitchen.  Note that I am almost embarassed by how much I am using Bill Granger's cookbooks but what can I say, they suit me to a T at the moment & I am really trying to get out all of my other books too I promise.

I was going for salad as the weather has been so hot lately though that all changed with the storms, if I'd known how chilly it would get maybe I would have found a pho recipe!  A bonus for me with this dish was that I actually got to use some Thai basil & Vietnamese mint from my garden which is great, they are thriving & dont get used as often as some of my other herbs so always nice to find a use for them before they die off.  The dressing was quite tangy & zingy, the overall salad being quite light & satisfying.  I think the flavours leant a bit too much towards the sour though so next time I would just add raw carrot rather than going to the trouble of pickling my own, I think that would keep it fresher.  Overall a nice, simple (though you have to start the carrots a couple of hours ahead if pickling) weeknight dish, though not sure I personally will be rushing back to try this one again, it just didnt wow me enough even though I love recipes like this that I  can do in stages, that way I can have most stuff prepped while the kiddies sleep & its just an assembly & quick cooking job at the end to bring it all together.

Vietnamese Chicken Salad - Bill Granger - Bill's Open Kitchen

3 x 200g chicken breasts
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
sea salt
pepper (Bill prefers white, I went with black)
90g (1 cup) bean sprouts
20g (1 cup) Vietnamese mint leaves
50g (1 cup) Asian basil leaves, or basil leaves
180g (4 cups) Chinese cabbage, finely shredded
Vietnamese dressing (below)
90g (1 cup) pickled carrots (below), or raw carrot, peeled & finely julienned

Preheat the oven to 220c.  heat a frying pan over high heat & while the pan is heating, brush the chicken with olive oil and season with salt & pepper.  Place the chicken skin side down (if skin on) & sear for 2 minutes, turn and sear for another minute.  Put the chicken on a baking tray & cook in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes.  Leave to rest for 20 minutes.  Shred the chicken into thin strips with your hands & place in a large bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients and toss to combine.  Serves 4.

Vietnamese dressing

60ml (1/4 cup) lime juice
60ml (1/4 cup) fish sauce
2 tblspns rice vinegar
1 tblspn caster sugar
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 red asian shallots, or 1/2 red onion, finely sliced
2 small red chillies, very finely chopped (seeds removed if you dont like too much heat)

Place all the ingredients in a small bowl & stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Pickled Carrot

250g carrots, peeled & finely julienned
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 tblspns rice vinegar
1 tblspn caster sugar

Place the carrots in a colander, sprinkle with salt & toss to combine.  Leave for 20 minutes.  While the carrot is resting, place 185ml (3/4 cup) water with the vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan over a medium het & bring to the boil.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool.  Rinse the carrot, squeezing out any excess water, and place in a bowl.  Pour over the pickling liquid and stand for 1 hour.  Strain before serving.

The Cookbook Challenge - Week 16 - Noodles

Week 16 & the challenge is flying by.  It has been busy, busy, busy around here lately so I have only managed the one recipe a week once more, soon I hope to challenge myself to do 2 or 3 again,  For this weeks theme, noodles, I thought it was about time to make something from Kylie Kwong's Simple Chinese Cooking, a book I havent used in at least a year for no other reason than I forget it's there & am always reaching for old favorites.  The recipes all look delicious & what I have made so far relatively simple, even though the list of ingredients is long, most are all thrown in together & the cooking process is speedy.  I loved the Stir Fried Hokkien Noodles with Sweet Pork Fillets that I chose & will make sure I revisit this book again soon, maybe even for the challenge if the theme fits (I'm sure I can manage at least week 44 Chinese!).

The pork was tender, sweet as promised & the flavours were all well balanced to create a tasty & filling yet light enough not to weigh me down meal.

 

Stir-Fried Hokkien Noodles with Sweet Pork Fillets - From Kylie Kwong Simple Chinese Cooking

400g pork fillets, cut into 5mm slices

1/2 large red capsicum

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 small white onion, cut in half & then into thick wedges

4 spring onions, trimmed & cut into 10cm lengths

12 ginger slices

3 garlic cloves, finely sliced

1 x 450g packet fresh hokkien noodles

2 tblspns shao hsing wine or dry sherry

1 tblspn light soy sauce

1 tblspn oyster sauce

1/2 tspn sesame oil

Marinade

1 tblspn shao hsing wine or dry sherry

1 tblpsn hoisin sauce

1 tblspn malt vinegar

1 tblspn white sugar

2 tspns light soy sauce

1/2 tspn sesame oil

Combine pork & marinade ingredients in a bowl, cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Remove seeds and membranes from pepper, cut into slices and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a hot wok until surface seems to shimmer slightly.  Add pork and stir fry for 1 minute.  Remove from wok and set aside.

Add remaining oil to hot wok with pepper, onion, spring onions, ginger & garlic and stir-fry for 1 minute or until the onion is slightly browned.  Toss in noodles and reserved pork and stir-fry for 30 seconds.  Finally, add wine or sherry, soy, oyster sauce, sesame oil & stir fry for a further 1 1/2 minutes or until pork is cooked through and noodles are hot.

The Cookbook Challenge Week 15 - Muffins

This weeks theme for The Cookbook Challenge is muffins.  I like muffins though only the sweet variety, I never quite got savoury muffins, maybe that's because I have never eaten a good one yet?  Anyway I do find them a little uninspiring and particularly unphotogenic though they are always quick to whip up and cook, usually only requiring some stirring in a bowl so no messy appliances to wash up either which is a good thing.

So trying to find a really good recipe was a challenge for me, no boring old banana, I had a few options & nearly settled on Bill Granger's Pumpkin muffins but in the end these apple & berry muffins won out.  Who doesn't love anything with a crumble topping?  The muffins themselves were very moist as they were jam packed with fruit so the nice crumble was a great contrast on top.  A really good muffin recipe & one I would definitely make again.

Apple and Berry Crumble Muffins - From Marie Claire Breakfast

155g (1 1/4 cups) self-raising flour
150g (1 cup) wholemeal self-raising flour
1/4 tspn ground cinnamon
pinch of ground cloves
115g firmly packed soft brown sugar
185ml (3/4 cup) milk
2 eggs
125g unsalted butter, melted & cooled
2 granny smith apples, peeled, grated
155g (1 cup) blueberries

Crumble

50g plain flour
55g (1/4 cup) demerara sugar
35g (1/3 cup) rolled oats
40g unsalted butter, chopped

Preheat oven to 190c.  Line 12 regular muffin holes with muffin papers.  Sift the flours, cinnamon and cloves into a large bowl, add the husks and stir in the sugar.  Make a well in the centre.

Put the milk, eggs and butter in a bowl, whisk and pour in the well.  Fold until just combined.  Fold in the fruit.  Divide among the muffin holes.

To make the crumble, put the flour, sugar and oats in a bowl.  Rub in the butter until most of the lumps are gone.  Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of the crumble over each muffin.  Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden.  Cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

Happy 3rd Birthday Chloe

Happy 3rd Birthday to my beautiful baby Chloe.  We had a bit of a bash at home to celebrate, afternoon tea with the family & a few friends....

The birthday cake was this spectacular Choc-cherry Tiramisu ice-cream cake from Super Food Ideas Dec2009/Jan 2010 issue. I dont normally buy this magazine but I was standing at the check out one day & this was on the cover and caught my eye.  What little girl can resist layers of chocolate & vanilla cream cheese ice cream with cherries & biscuits in between all topped with chocolate curls, cherries & silver cachous???  You cant tell in the photo but this cake was huge, think 4 litres of ice cream plus extras, happily served everyone, 25 or so adults plus kids & decent servings too & we even have some leftovers.

For the rest of the food I kept the savoury food simple, sandwiches and dips, plus my mum made chicken wings & pigs in blankets for a childhood flashback, yum & I couldn't believe how many people actually had never had or heard of them either.

The sweet food however I went all out on & baked for 2 days, funnily it was all Bill Granger food, he never lets me down on the sweets, vanilla cup cakes & blueberry trifle from Bill's Open Kitchen, lime slice from Bill's food, and lastly, cranberry & white chocolate cookies & chocolate caramel slice (minus the salt) from Holiday.  I loved all of the recipes, the one I got the most compliments for would have to be the caramel slice though.  I was so busy on the day that oops I didnt get a chance for photos, I was actually quite lucky to get a photo of Chloe and the birthday cake!

The Cookbook Challenge - Week 14 - Japanese

The Challenge for this weeks Cookbook Challenge was Japanese.  At first I thought I would something authentic, though in the end I was bored by that idea & came across this Jamie Oliver recipe that I had bypassed many times as it seemed too fiddly.  It's Japanese style Pork with Plums, Coriander, Soy Sauce & Spring Onions, too me it really doesnt sound all that Japanese apart from the use of plums which I absolutely adore, but hey I really dont know much about the cuisine apart from typical food I eat out in restaurants, you know sushi, tempura, teppanyaki, you get the drift.    Anyway in the end it wasnt as time consuming as it looked & I really loved it, the pork was very lean & steamed so top points for the healthy factor there, the plum sauce was amazing but then again what isn't amazing when made with plums, we had heaps leftover so actually used it as a dipping sauce on the side too & the greens & soy pulled it all together very nicely.  So well done I say & I am really going to start using some cook books that aren't my well worn favourites soon too I promise.

Japanese Rolled Pork with Plums, Coriander, Soy Sauce & Spring Onions - from Jamie Olive - Happy Days with the Naked Chef

10 plums
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 star anise
2 thumb sized pieces of fresh ginger, peeled & finely grated
2 cloves
2 heaped tablespoons muscovado sugar
600g pork loin
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 small handful fresh coriander, washed & chopped
Spring onions
Soy Sauce

Wash the plums, then halve, remove the stones and dice into 1cm cubes.  Heat the oil in a pan and fry the star anise, ginger and cloves for 1 minute.  Add the plums & sugar with a couple of tablespoons of water, place a lid on, simmer slowly for about 20 minutes until chunky & pulpy.  Allow to cool in the fridge.

Take your pork & trim off the fate & sinews.  Cut into 0.5 cm slices & ione by one bash out the slices to about half their original size. 

Season the plum sauce and stir in half the coriander.  Smear each pork slice with some sauce & roll up like a swiss roll.  Place the rolls into a bamboo steamer & steam over simmering water for about 10-15 minutes until the meat is just cooked.  Remove from the steamer & serve on a bed of finely sliced spring onions, sprinkled with the remaining coriander & doused with soy sauce.

Notes:

Brown sugar is fine in place of muscavado if you havent got any.

I lined my steamer with baking paper & as a result the basket was full of liquid when finished, it didnt seem to compromise the flavour though it probably didnt help either

Thanks Michael for making the sauce in the morning while I was out doing the shopping!

The Cookbook Challenge - Week 13 - Love

This weeks theme for The Cookbook Challenge is love.  I had to have a good think before I knew how I wanted to interpret this one.  Rather than going for the obvious Valentines Day romantic commercial love that was probably the most obvious I wanted to cook something I LOVE cooking for someone I LOVE.  This could have been many different foods for many different reasons.  I finally settled on pancakes, they have to be my favourite breakfast indulgence & cooking someone breakfast is an act of love, dinner has to be eatan & cooked pretty much every night apart from the occasional take-away or night out, lunch somehow gets scraped together most days (usually vegemite & cheese sandwich I have to admit), however breakfast which is normally cereal, either out of a box or my home made muesli, is very special when I go to the trouble to actually cook up something. 

Chloe loves pancakes, thats right Chloe got the love not Michael this time sorry, so I settled on Bill Granger's (the king of brekky), Oaty Hotcakes with Caramel bananas from Feed me Now.  Somewhat healthy hotcakes topped with absolutely wicked & drool worthy bananas, need I say anymore other than you have to try these out for yourself.

Oaty Hotcakes with fruity toppings - from - Bill Granger - Feed Me Now

Hotcakes

185g plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
pinch of sea salt
1 tablespoon caster sugar
25g rolled oats
375ml buttermilk
1 medium egg, lightly beaten
35g butter, melted, plus extra to grease pan

To make the hotcake batter, sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg & salt together in a bowl.  Stir the sugar and oats through then make a well in the centre.  Pur in the buttermilk & egg, stirring until just mixed.  Add the melted butter & stir to combine.  Set aside.

(At this time I made up the caramel bananas so they were ready as soon as the pancakes were cooked.)

To cook the hotcakes, heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat & brush a little butter over the base.  Pour in 2 or 3 small ladlefuls of batter, being careful not to overcrowd the pan, and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Transfer to a plate & keep warm while cooking the rest (or serve up to hungry nearly 3 year olds while you get on with the rest).

Caramel bananas

3 bananas
60g butter
90g brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Halve the bananas lengthways & cut each piece into 3.  Put the butter, sugar, vanilla & 3 tablespoons water in a large frying pan over medium heat & cook until the mixture forms a caramel and darkens.  Add the bananas and toss through until well coated.

A peak at some of my garden

Some of my grapes starting to ripen up.  This is the first year we have lived here that we have let the vines fruit so I have no idea how long they take to ripen or if they will be nice or not, fingers crossed.  Notice the gigantic rosemary bush underneath - love it!

My pots against the garage wall ( to be knocked down at an undecided date in the probably far off future to make way for real trees & garden beds).  From left to right, baby Bay tree which will stay in the pot given that they apparently can reach 12 metres tall, lemon tree, to be relocated to the real garden once the garage finally dies, mint, baby cherry tomato plant, Vietnamese mint, blood orange tree, again waiting for a real garden, garlic chives & apple tree, again in waiting...

Strawberry patch by the back door, starting to take off though so far no ripe strawberry has made it inside past Chloes eager fingers

More herbs, basil, Thai basil, blood plum tree, ditto on the garden & more basil.  Lots more growing in the beds & so far havent had to buy a tomato all summer so am reasonably happy with my first ever real veggie patch though there will be lots of changes next year to improve upon the failuires & some crops that didnt bear as well as hoped

The Cookbook Challenge - Week 12 - Eggs

This weeks theme for The Cookbook Challenge is eggs.  I had some egg whites in the freezer waiting to use up so my first recipe was going to be some sort of pavlova/meringue.  Going on from my success of the moonblush tomatoes, Nigella had a similar recipe for her Forgotten Pudding, similar as in you cook it in the oven after its turned off.  As I had a very busy morning the day I needed to cook this, it was perfect as all the prep was done the night before and all I had to do was whip up some cream and pile the fruit on top at the party - Michaels Dad's birthday lunch.  Amazingly it did cook with only the residual heat from the oven being preheated.  I liked it though due to the slow cooking it didnt have the outer crunchy layer of a pavlova, instead it was nice and soft and marshmellowy, nice for a change though my preference is for the crunch which I will go back to next time even though you cant beat this recipe for the laziness factor - my mum thinks Nigella is the laziest cook she has ever heard of!

Forgotten Pudding - Nigella Lawson - Nigella Express

6 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon salt
250g caster sugar. plus 2 teaspoons
1/2 tspn cream of tartar
1 tspn vanilla extract
butter for greasing
250ml double cream
4 passionfruit
350g berries (I used a mix of strawberries & blueberries)

Preheat oven to 220c.  In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites and salt until peaks begin to form.  gradually add the 250g sugar, then the cream of tartar and the vanilla, whisking all the while at speed, until the whites are stiff and glossy.  Butter a swiss roll tin then spread evenly with the mixture.  Put in the oven, close the door and turn the oven off and leave overnight - DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR TO PEEP!

When serving, move to a large plate.  Whisk the cream until thick but still soft and spread over the meringue.  Scoop out the seeds and pulp of the passionfruits and spread evenly over the top.  Toss the berries in the remaining sugar and heap on top (I skipped the extra sugar).  Slice and serve.

For my second egg week I had to pick a savoury breakfast dish, I love cooking breakfast on the weekends and have been wanting to bake some eggs for a while now so this was a good excuse.  I chose Bill Granger's Baked Eggs from Holiday, they are baked in a ramekin with some spinach in the bottom & a little cream & parmesan on top.  My only difficulty was that my ramekins were a touch on the small side & once I had the spinach in with 2 eggs each they were already filled to the top, my solution was to pour out a bit of egg white to make room for the cream & cheese & it was fine, egg whites are highly overated if you ask me anyway (unless whipped to form glorious meringues or macaroons of course).  Michael & Chloe had theirs with my favourite Ottway bacon & toast on the side, I skipped the toast but couldnt pass up the bacon, it's not very often that I have it around so when it's there I dig in.  Loved the eggs though Michael started the oven off for me & it wasnt until 3/4 of the way in that I realised he had the wrong setting so they took longer than required to puff up and goldenise (making up words here I know).  As a result the eggs were  hard baked rather than soft & oozing which was ok for a change even though I would have preferred the ooze.

Baked Eggs with Spinach and Parmesan - from Bill Granger's Holiday

To serve 4 (adjust quantities as required for more or less people)

1 tblspn olive oil
200g baby spinach leaves
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
8 eggs
4 tblspns cream
4 tbspns grated parmesan

Preheat the oven to 200c.  Lightly grease four 9cm ramekins & place on a baking tray.

Heat a saucepan or frying pan over medium heat and add the olive oil, spinach & season with salt & pepper.  Cook until leaves are just softened.  Drain the spinach in a colander and as soon as it's cool enough to handle, squeeze out the excess liquid.

Spoon the spinach evenly into the ramekins & break 2 eggs into each on top of the spinach.  Pour 1 tablespoon of cream in each & sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of parmesan.  Bake for 15 minutes or until the eggs are set & puffed up.  Season & serve immediately with toast.

The Cookbook Challenge - Week 11 - Mixed

The theme for this weeks cookbook challenge is mixed, definitely one open to interpretation.  I am making 2 recipes where the ingredients are mixed up.  The first mixes savoury lamb with the sweet fruit pomegranate.  I know it's nothing new to mix fruit and savoury and it's always a winning combination so what makes this recipe different for me is that I have never worked with a fresh pomegranate before.  Now that I have I love them and will be rushing back for more, it was so sweet and lovely and the crunchy texture was brilliant.  Overall this dish was a winner, a little bit time consuming to prepare, even having to start the yoghurt the day before but in the end worth it.  I also have a confession to make, I was a little tired after a morning/afternoon out breakfasting at Hellenic Republic, strolling down Lygon street doing a bit of shopping and finishing off doing the groceries at Barkly square so I actually got Michael to make this dish.  Isn't he fantastic, from someone who really couldnt cook other than from a packet or jar when I met him let alone follow a recipe, I can now hand over a recipe and feel confident that he will pretty much be okay even if he does make a shocking mess of the kitchen!  I did prepare the yoghurt and plate up so I did lend a teeny bit of assistance.

Lamb kibbeh with parsley and pomegranate salad - Recipe from a recent (?) issue of Gourmet Traveller

230g burghul, soaked in cold water for 10 minutes
1 onion, finely chopped in a food processor
2 tblspn finely grated lemon rind
2 tblspn finely chopped flat leaf parsley
1/2 tspn each of allspice and ground cinnamon
1/4 tspn groound chilli
450g minced lamb
Olive oil, for shallow frying
Hummus, to serve
Extra virgin olive oil, to serve
Flatbread, to serve

Mint Yoghurt Filling

500g plain yoghurt
1/2 cup firmly packed fresh mint leaves, coarsley chopped
1 tspn dried mint
1 clove garlic, coarsley chopped

Parsley & pomegranate salad

2 tbspn extra virgin olive oil
1 tbspn lemon juice
2 tspn pomegranate molasses
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 tspn sumac
1 cup loosely packed flat leaf parsley, torn
1 cup loosely packed mint leaves, torn
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

For mint yoghurt, combine yoghurt, fresh and dried mint, garlic and 1 tspn sea salt in a food processor and process until smooth, then place in a muslin (or chux as I did) lined sieve, tying the ends up.  Place over a bowl and refrigerate for 12 hours or overnight, to drain.

Drain burgul through a sieve, then transfer to a clean tea towell and twist to remove excess water.  Place in a large bowl with onion, lemon rind, parsley and spices and season to taste with sea salt and black pepper.  Using your hands, mix to combine.  Add lamb, mix until well combined then refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Divide mixture into 18 portions.  Roll each into an oval shape, make an indentation with your thumb and shape into a thin hollow shell.  Place 1 tbspn of yoghurt filling into each cavity, then moisten edges with a little water and press to seal.  repeat with remaining lamb & filling, then place on a tray and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Shallow fry lamb in batches for 3-4 minutes or until brown and cooked through.  Drain on absorbent paper.

For salad, combine oli ce oil, lemon juice, molasses, onion and sumac in a bowl, toss to combine.

To serve, spread some hummus on a flatbread, top with kibbeh and scatter with salad.

The second recipe for the week was chocolate and beetroot muffins, this time I'm mixing sweet chocolate muffin with savoury beetroot which of course is a vegetable.  I have been wanting to try out this combination for a while now so this seemed the perfect opportunity.  See how bright & pink the uncooked mixture is, very pretty, cooked they still have a pink tinge but look quite ordinary, lets face it most muffins even if they taste spectacular look a bit dull, especially compared to say, a dazzling iced cupcake.  They were nice, especially when you hit the big chocolate chunk in the middle, you could really taste the earthiness of the beetroot though not in a bad way so it was okay.  Overall I wasnt completely in awe of them so I probably wouldnt make them again, just nice to try once.

Beetroot and Chocolate Muffins - from Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden Companion

Makes 12.  Preheat oven to 180c.  Grease a 12 hole muffin tin with melted butter.  Grate 1 large beetroot & set aside 250g.  Sift 175g plain flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 2 tablespoons cocoa powder into a bowl and set aside.  Lightly whisk 2 eggs with 1/4 cup milk.  Process 60g softened butter, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 1/4 cup caster sugar & 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar in a food processor until smooth & creamy.  Gradually add egg mixture then add to flour mixture & fold through. Stir in beetroot.  Spoon mixture into muffin pans.  Break 100g of dark chocolate into 12 squares & poke 1 in each muffin.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until well risen and springy to touch.  Cool in tin for a few minutes then turn onto a wire rack to cool. 

The Cookbook Challenge - Week 10 - Cool

This weeks theme for the Cook Book Challenge was cool and I thought it would be nice to include a savoury & a sweet dish for the week.  The challenge is inspiring me to create as many recipes as I can for each week,  if time permits, I may even make 3 in a week one of these days.

Cool was an easy theme given that we have had such warm and sometimes too hot weather (minus the surprising cold spell that snuck in).  Salads and frozen/refrigerated desserts have been big on my menu regardless of the challenge so I didnt have to look to far for my recipes.

I have had an abundance of tomatos in my garden so each week I am on the hunt for new and interesting recipes to use them all up.  Nigella Lawson's  Express had this great recipe for cherry tomatoes and a salad to use them in.  She calls them 'moonblush' tomatoes as you cook them overnight in an oven that isnt even turned on, very clever.  I only thought of making them the morning I wanted to use them and 6 hours or so in my oven seemed to be perfectly enough time.  This is a fantastic way to use up cherry tomatoes, you get a nice little semi dried tomato with lots of bite.  I used dried oregano as I dont keep dried thyme in the house as I have enough growing out the back to keep me going continuously, I actually have oregano too though sometimes I prefer using this herb dried depending on the recipe, this was one such case.  To cook them you heat up the oven to 220c and then as soon as you put the tray in you turn the oven off, pretty amazing, I didnt think the heat would keep going for that many hours to keep them cooking but it sure did.  For the salad it was a very simple mix of some salad leaves, goats cheese, mint, lemon juice and the tomatoes, lovely.  These tomatoes would work well thrown in most salads or served simply on their own as a side, tossed through pasta, in a sandwich, the possibilities are endless.

Moon Blush Tomatoes - Nigella Lawson - Nigella Express

500g (about 24) cherry or any small tomatoes

2 teaspoons maldon salt or 1 teaspoon table salt

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 x 15ml tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 220c.  Cut the tomatoes in half and sit them cut side up in an oven proof dish or tray.  Sprinkle with the salt, sugar, thyme and olive oil.  Put them in the oven and immediately turn it off.  leave the tomatoes in the oven overnight or for a day WITHOUT opening the door.

Slow Roast Tomatoes, Goat's Cheese & Mint Salad - Nigella Lawson - Nigella Express

200g rocket or spinach salad

2 x 100g tubs soft goats cheese ( I used marinated myself)

1 x 15ml tablespoon lemon juice

1 x 15ml tablespoon olive oil

2 x 15ml tablespoon chopped fresh mint

Arrange the salad leaves on a large dish and then scoop out spoonfuls of the goats cheese and dollop it here and there.  Add the tomatoes.  In the same dish the tomatoes cooked in, whisk together lemon juice & Oil and pour over the salad.   Scatter with the chopped mint and serve.

My second dish was a very simple watermelon granita from Bill Granger's holiday.  Apart from the fact that I didnt chop my watermelon small enough and some of it wouldn't process properly, this was a breeze and even more delicious than a luscious slice of  watermelon on a hot day, why wouldn't it be with the addition of sugar, lime juice & a bit of freezing action, highly recommended.

Watermelon Granita - Bill Granger - Holiday

Serves 10-12

2kg Seedless Watermelon

115g (1/2 cup) caster sugar

3 tablespoons lime juice

Cut the watermelon flesh into bit sized chunks and freeze for 1-2 hours in zip-lock freezer bags.  Put the frozen watermelon in a food processor and mix until completely  smooth.  Add the sugar and lime juice and process again until completely incorporated.

Transfer the mixture into an airtight container & freeze for 3-4 hours or until firm.  Once frozen, scrape into crystals with a fork & serve immediately.

The Cookbook Challenge - Week 9 - Berry

This weeks Cookbook Challenge theme was berries, pretty good pick for a week that started out so hot.

With Melbourne's latest heatwave having struck I decided to try out a couple of cooling berry recipes, the first was this smoothie.  I know you really dont need a recipe for a smoothie but seeing it in a book just gave me the nudge I needed to drag the blender out of the cupboard (cant remember the last time I even used it!), and start the first (hopefully now there will be more to come), of summers cool concoctions.  As mentioned in the ingredients, I found this a bit on the sour side so added some ice cream to sweeten things up.

Raspberry and Strawberry Smoothie - from Bill Granger, Bills Open Kitchen

4 strawberries, hulled
30g (1/4 cup) raspberies
15g plain yoghurt
125ml milk
3-4 large ice cubes
(I also added a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream as I found it too sour without)

Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  Pour into a tall glass and serve.  Makes 1.

The second recipe was a frozen raspberry whip to go over strawberries, sounded a bit different to anything I have made before so I thought I would give it a go.  Easy, peasy to make, just throw everything into the trusty kitchenaid and whip for 10 minutes to find an airy mass of sweet berry goodness.  From such a small amount of ingredients it is incredible to see how much it increases in volume, impressive.  It was very yum though quite sweet so serve with more strawberries than whip as you only need a bit of whip with each mouthfull or it is too much, unless of course you have an incredible sweet tooth.

Frozen Raspberry Whip with Strawberries - from Marie Claire, Zest

150g (1 punnet) raspberries
1 teaspoon lemon juice
115g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
1 egg white
500g (2 punnets) strawberries
1 tablespoon icing sugar

Whip the raspberries, lemon juice, sugar and egg white with electric beaters for 10 minutes, or until the mixture is light and fluffy and has tripled in size.  Spoon into a container and put into the freezer for several hours or overnight until it is frozen.  Just prior to serving, hull and halve the strawberries.  Sprinkle the berries with the icing sugar and lightly toss until they are well coated.  Leave for 5 minutes and serve with a scoop of the frozen whip.  Serves 4-6.

The Cookbook Challenge - Week 8 - Sweet

I had a few friends over for a bbq on the weekend so it was the perfect opportunity for me to pick out something sweet from one of my many books for this weeks challenge - sweet.

Michael had bought me a lovely bottle of limoncello  for Christmas and as we're not huge drinkers anymore & I knew I had recipes for lovely desserts all over the place with this lovely lemon liqueur, I went on the hunt.

I decided on Nigella Lawson's Anglo-Italian Trifle from Forver Summer, the recipe can be found on her site here.

 

I have to say even though everyone swears they loved it (maybe they were being polite?), I wasnt actually that keen on it myself, the 250ml of limoncello I found way too overpowering & I think I could have used half that amount.  Also the recipes calls for 8 trifle sponges????  correct me if I'm wrong but I dont think we sell anything specifically called 'trifle sponges' here & I'm guessing whatever they are they are pretty small as 8 cakes would call for a much larger bowl.  As it is I used the recommended 2 litre bowl & squeezed in one supermarket bought sponge along with all the other ingredients & I  actually had to fish out about a cup of berries to make everything fit & I still couldn't fit all the cream on top so served it on the side.  Also I had to use mixed berries, raspberries, blackberries & blueberries as couldnt find 750g of blackberries.

So in conclusion I found the alcohol too strong & overpowering & not enough cream to balance it out even with some of the extra on the side.  The last trifle I made was this delicious lemon & blueberry one, should have stuck to that instead!

The Cookbook Challenge - Week 7 - Soft

Well here is week 7's Cookbook Challenge number, sorry I never made it to part 2 of Christmas, I started out well & got a photo of my chocolate cupcakes & the fried, stuffed olives & from then on it was mayhem & it wasn't until the crackling was lifted off my fabulous roast pork & the turkey carved that I had a moment of 'Oh My I Forgot the bloody camera' or words to similar effect anyway.  Just to let you know, I used Jamie Oliver's recipe from Jamie's Italy for porchetta, I had a 4kg loin of pork & I have to say it was one of the best roasts I have ever made so if you are after a great recipe for roast pork, please go ahead & try this one.

This weeks theme was soft so I thought I would be a good mum & make some home made ice cream for Chloe, (good in that she would love me, not necessarily because it was any good for her!).  I gave her a couple of flavour options & she opted for cookies & cream.  The recipe was a standard custard base with lots of oreos mixed in half way through the churning process. Chloe very proudly did the crushing for me so I assumed she would be dying to try out the ice cream when it was ready, I mean normally she is begging us to let her have ice cream.  Today we broke it out of the freezer & as I went to scoop it, Chloe was adamant that she didnt want any & wanted some of her old ice cream, a massive tantrum followed with no ice cream consumed by Chloe though Michael & I dug in & loved it.  A few hours later she relented & gave it a go to find that surprise, surprise it was nice after all!  I think next time I will make ice cream to please me, ie alcholic or coffee flavoured or something like Green tea which I wouldnt think that kids would like but of course knowing Chloe she will surprise me.

Love home made ice cream & have again vowed to make lots of different flavours this summer as I do every summer, will see if I get past one this season.

Cookies & Cream Ice Cream from Iced - 180 very cool concoctions

375ml (1 1/2 cups) milk
375 ml (1 1/2 cups) pouring (whipping) cream
60g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
6 egg yolks
125g cream filled dark chocolate biscuits such as oreo's, crushed

Put the milk, cream & sugar in a saucepan over medium heat.  Cook, stirring constantly, for a few minutes, or until the sugar has dissolved and the milk is just about to boil.  Remove from the heat.

Whisk the egg yolks in a large bowl.  Whisk in 60ml (1/4 cup) of the hot milk mixture until smooth.  Whisk in the remaining milk mixture, then return to a clean saucepan and stir constantly over low-medium heat for 8-10 minutes, or until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.  Do not allow to boil.  Cool slightly, then cover & refrigerate until cold.

Transfer to an ice cream machine & freeze according to manufacturer's instructions, adding the biscuits halfway through.  alternatively, transfer to a shallow metal tray & freeze, whisking every couple of hours until frozen & creamy, add the biscuits during the final beating.  Freeze for 5 hours or overnight.  Makes 1 liter.

The Cookbook Challenge - Week 6 - Christmas - Part 1

For my first Christmas post I made a panforte which I have never made before.  For some strange, unknown reason I was dying to make one this year so even though I couldnt find a recipe in my gazillions of cookbooks I bent the rules a little & used a recipe from the Donna Hay Christmas magazine issue.  I am also hosting Christmas day for 20 adults plus a few kiddies so if I dont forget in all the mayhem to take photos I will write about my feast day too.

Back to the panforte, this version used dried apricots, almonds, hazelnuts & some mixed spice.  After looking at a few recipes it seems that most have figs which I love too so next time will have to try a fig version.  I really liked the combination of fruit & nuts in this recipe & enjoyed the panforte which so far has lasted 5 days between Michael, Chloe myself & a few guests too, the fact that it is so dense & chewy makes it perfect for resisting & sticking to only a small portion at a time.

Panforte - recipe from the 2009 Donna Hay Christmas issue

1/2 cup (75g) plain flour, sifted
2 tablespoons cocoa. sifted
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 cup (150g) chopped dried apricots
3/4 cup (120g) roasted almonds, halved
1 cup (140g) roasted hazelnuts, halved
200g dark chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup (230g) honey
1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar
1/4 cup (45g) brown sugar
icing sugar to dust

Preheat oven to 180c.  Place flour, cocoa, spice, apricot, almonds and hazelnuts in a bowl & mix to combine.  Place chocolate, honey, caster and brown sugars in a saucepan over low heat & stir until chocolate has melted.  Pour into the flour mixture and mix well to combine.  Press into a lightly greased 22cm round springform tin lined with non stick baking paper.  Cook for 30 minutes or until the centre is just firm.  Cool in the tin.  Cut into wedges & dust with icing sugar.

The Cookbook Challenge - Week 5 - Greek

This weeks challenge was Greek.  Unfortunately I dont own any Greek cook books as yet though I know for a fact that I will be receiving George Calombaris' Greek Cookery from the Hellenic Heart which I am dying for, I have now been twice to Hellenic Republic, am going again for my mums birthday on xmas eve with the kids in tow & cant wait to start cooking some of my now favourite recipes.  So this weeks challenge is a bit early for me & so I stuck to a very simple Greek Salad from Bill Granger's Open Kitchen.  I know it's very boring for a challenge however with the craziness of Christmas in full swing this week I just dont have the time for anything more elaborate than a bit of chopping & grilling.  A lovely light salad with lots of fresh mint & parsley from the garden & to make it irresistible, lots of gorgeous grilled haloumi heaped on top.  The recipe can be found here.