abbylidiastephanie

New digs

2011-07-01T19:11:00.001+10:00

I decided I wanted to start blogging again, but I think this time it’ll be a little different. It’s not only about cooking. My new blog is at www.thingsforboys.com and while there’s still going to be cooking on it, it’ll also have some crafting and hopefully DIY. I love providing for my boys, so now you can see what I do.

2010-12-15T04:22:00.002+11:00

Well, the blog has basically fallen by the wayside...and with good reason...this little man has arrived. He takes up all of my time, so for the moment, the blog has been forgotten.

I hope everyone has enjoyed the recipes we've put on the blog and I'm sure we'll return to it soon, but for the moment it will be silent.

Merry Christmas!

Fennel Bread

2010-09-20T22:24:00.001+10:00

I'd been wanting to make some bread for a while and the idea of fennel bread, really got my tastebuds going. The bread started off nicely, but the loaves didn't rise very well the second time, going out rather than up. So while they didn't turn out looking great, they did taste very nice.

Fennel Bread (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie's Fennel Seed Breadsticks, pg 438
makes 2 small loaves

tiny pinch saffron
1 cup warm water
2 tsp dried yeast
2 tsp salt
250g plain flour
125g semolina flour
2 tsp fennel seeds

Add yeast to warm water along with the fennel and allow yeast to sponge for about 10 minutes. Mix flours, salt and fennel seeds together in the bowl of an electric mixer. Using a dough hook, add yeast sponge to dry ingredients with the motor running on low speed. Mix for 10 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic.

Turn the dough out onto bench and knead for a few minutes more. Put dough into an oiled bowl, cover with cling wrap and leave in a draught free place until doubled in size, about 1.5 hours.

Gently knock back the dough and divide in half. Roll each piece into a stick and place in a breadstick tin or on a tray dusted with semolina. Allow to rise, covered with a tea towel until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 220°C. Transfer tray to oven and spray inside of oven and top of dough with a fine mist of water. Reduce oven temp to 200°C and bake for about 20 - 25 minutes, until the bread sounds hollow when tapped and the tops are nice and crusty.

Allow to cool before serving.

Sweet Corn Soup

2010-09-08T01:53:00.000+10:00

Whenever hubby is sent to the supermarket unsupervised, there are a few things he always 'accidentally' comes home with... chocolate, berries, toy yoghurts (those chilled custardy treats for kids) and sweet corn if it's summer. Seeing as we had a few cobs in the fridge, I thought I'd do something different with them, so went through Stephanie and found a recipe for Sweet Corn Soup. It sounded nice and simple and I was interested to see how it would taste as the only corn soup I've ever had has always been the Chinese version.

This soup was easy enough to whip up, although passing it through a sieve did take a little while, but was definitely worth the effort as the soup was beautifully silky. The ingredient list is quite short, so you really do need to use the best produce for this one; It's not a recipe for canned corn.

Sweet Corn Soup (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie's Sweetcorn Soup with Spiced Butter, pg 350
serves 4 as a starter

40g butter
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 litre water
kernels from 4 corn cobs
salt

Spiced Butter
40g softened butter
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1/2 tsp ground cumin

Melt butter in a saucepan and sweat off onion and garlic for 5 minutes. Add water and bring to the boil. Add corn kernels and simmer for about 15 minutes, until corn kernels are tender.

Puree soup in a food processor or blender and pass through a coarse sieve into a fresh saucepan. Stir soup and taste for seasoning, adding salt as necessary.

For the spiced butter, mix all ingredients together in a bowl with a fork or spoon. The herbs and spices should be mixed evenly through the butter, making it a brown colour.

The soup should be hot enough to serve if you are using it immediately, otherwise, heat gently before serving. Serve the soup with a spoon of the spiced butter floating in each bowl.

Red Cabbage with Apple

2010-08-30T01:18:00.004+10:00

I've had this recipe marked to test out for a while, so when hubby said he wanted sausages for dinner, I thought I would finally get around to cooking this up. Unsurprisingly, this tasted a lot like cabbage...a bit too much for me. I think I was hoping it would have a bit more going on, but given the short list of ingredients, I shouldn't be surprised with how it turned out. It was nice, but I think I'm more of a fresh cabbage person than a boiled cabbage person now that I've tested this out.

Red Cabbage with Apple
adapted from Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion, pg 215
serves 6

1/4 cup water
1 red cabbage, sliced, washed and drained
4 tbsp brown sugar
pinch salt
2 cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
100g butter, cubed

Put water, cabbage, sugar and salt into a heavy based pan. Add apple, cover and cook on lowest heat for 1 hour.

Take off the lid, and stir the apple through the cabbage. Add the vinegar and butter. Cook, covered for another 15 minutes and stir once more. The butter should give the cabbage a nice shine.

Thai Beef Salad

2010-08-23T23:50:00.001+10:00

On the weekend, hubby came back from 2 weeks overseas. This was great as I was sick of talking to myself and making dinners for one. With all the family and work functions he'd be going to, he was craving something light to eat. I flicked around the book and came across the recipe for Thai Beef Salad. I've made Thai Beef Salad before, but have always made it up as I went along. It always turns out pretty much the same, so I thought that by following a recipe, I could see if there are improvements to my usual one to be made.

Surprisingly, this was heaps nicer than the one I usually make! Surprising as I thought the one I usually make was pretty good, but this was fantastic! The marinade gave the steak an extra flavour boost and made it taste more bbq'd, and the additions of garlic and spring onion to the dressing really pepped it up!

Thai Beef Salad (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie's Thai Style Beef Salad, pg 157
serves 2

1 x 400g rump steak
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 capsicum, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 small cucumber, cut into quarters and sliced
handful mint leaves, chopped
handful coriander leaves (I use the stems too), chopped
handful cashews (peanuts would be nice too), toasted
your choice of noodles (I used 2 cakes wholewheat egg noodles)

Marinade
2 tbsp peanut oil
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce

Dressing
2 tsp brown sugar
1 spring onion, finely minced
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
1 large clove garlic, finely minced
1 tbsp fish sauce
juice of 1 lime, or half a lemon

Mix marinade ingredients and pour over steak in a shallow dish. Turn the steak over to make sure both sides are coated and cover and refridgerate overnight.

Combine all dressing ingredients in a bowl, leaving to let sugar dissolve. Taste for balance and adjust with more sugar, fish sauce, or lime juice as needed.

Toast cashews if using. Heat a saucepan of water for the noodles.

For the steak, heat a fry pan, griddle or bbq to very hot and grill steak for a few minutes each side, or to suit. Move to a clean board and rest for a few minutes. While the steak is resting, cook the noodles as per packet instructions (mine took 2 minutes). Slice steak into strips.

Drain noodles and add to a large bowl with all remaining salad ingredients. Pour dressing over and toss well. Divide salad among 2 bowls and top with steak. Pour over any dressing left in the bottom of the bowl. Sprinkle over cashews.

It was definitely worth the extra effort to marinate the steak and to finely mince all the ingredients for the dressing. I will definitely be following this recipe again.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2010-08-08T02:26:00.001+10:00

Well, not really, but in our house it certainly smells like it! Apparently Selfridges are opening their Christmas Shop this weekend, only 140 days before Christmas! Crazy! Anyway, I was more interested in the culinary side of Christmas. I had a craving for some fruit cake, but didn't want to wait the week or so it usually takes to make one. Luckily, Stephanie delivered with a recipe for Boil and Bake Fruit Cake. It was quick and easy to make and had a lovely gingerbread flavour, thanks to the dried ginger. The only thing I thought it was lacking was some glace cherries, but that's a personal preference, because I love them. Next time I make this, and there will be a next time, I'll chuck a handful of the cherries in too.

Recipe and directions can be found on my new blog thingsforboys, Here.

We stored a quarter of the cake on a plate wrapped in cling wrap. It was fine sitting on the bench, and was still nice and moist when we ate it a few days later. I have frozen half of the cake, mainly so we couldn't eat it and the other quarter was eaten as soon as the cake had cooled. Sure, it sounds like a lot of cake for 2 people to eat, but what can I say, I'm pregnant?! Yeah, I'll blame that.

Potato and Spinach Soup

2010-08-03T00:27:00.000+10:00

Once again, we had some spinach in the fridge that need to be used up. I was at the market earlier in the day and spotted some delicious looking, freshly baked bread, so decided to make a soup to go with it. It turned out to be a fairly warm day, so a hearty soup probably wasn't the best choice.

One word of caution: because of the high potato content of the soup, don't overblend the soup as it may turn out gluey. Ours was slightly on the gluey side...not good!

I didn't bother peeling the potatoes, because they were very small, and I find the skin adds a nice 'potatoey' flavour to the soup. I cooked this in my 22cm Le Creuset pot.

Potato and Spinach Soup (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion, pg 927
serves 4

2 onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 tbsp oil
500g potatoes, cut into chunks
stock (I just used some powdered vegetable stock)
120g baby spinach
1 tsp ground cumin
salt
pepper

Over medium heat, sweat the onions and garlic in the oil until soft and translucent. Add the potatoes and enough stock to cover the potatoes. Bring to the boil and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 - 20 mins. Add the spinach and cumin, then season to taste with salt and pepper. I found I didn't need any salt because of the powdered stock. Allow to simmer for about 5 mins, to let the spinach wilt.

Blend in batches in a blender, or use a stick blender directly in the soup. Serve with crusty bread.

The flavour of this soup was nice and balanced. It was much less 'spinachy' than I thought it would be and you could really taste the flavour of the potatoes. I think this would be extra nice with some cream or sour cream plopped in the bowl when serving. Like I mentioned, the texture of ours wasn't great, but that was my fault. I would make this again, taking extra precautions when blending.

Bircher Muesli

2010-07-28T02:01:00.001+10:00

I love bircher muesli. It's so refreshing and you really feel good after eating a bowl of it. During Lent, when we can't have any dairy, this is usually what I have for breakfast instead of cereal and milk. As long as I remember to get the mixture going the night before, we're all good. We pretty much always have everything on hand and at its most basic can be made with just oats and water, although I don't think it would taste that good.

Stephanie's original recipe uses the oats with water, lemon and honey as the base. I did try this, but found it a little bland, and prefer to make it with fruit juice. My favourite is apple juice, but any juice can be used. I also like to mix up the fruit, using nuts, seeds, shredded coconut...whatever is going really! The original recipe also adds a grated apple, which I think is optional when using fruit juice, but it is nice to put something in there, whether it's a grated apple, pear or even some stewed fruit in winter. Again, I find the yoghurt optional and think it's pretty good without it.

The picture at the bottom shows the muesli as made to Stephanie's original recipe. The recipe given below, is the way I like to eat it and is shown in the main picture. Mind you, it's not really a recipe, more of a starting point.

Bircher Muesli (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie's Bircher Muesli, pg 79
serves 2

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup cloudy apple juice
1/4 cup craisins
raspberries and yoghurt to serve

Mix together the oats, apple juice and craisins in a bowl. Cover and refridgerate overnight. To serve, divide the muesli among 2 bowls. Add raspberries and add yoghurt to taste.

That's it! It really couldn't be simpler.

The apple chip shown in the picture is also a cinch to make. Simply put wafer thin slice of apple onto a lined baking tray and dry in a 110C oven for about an hour.

Madeleines

2010-07-27T01:06:00.001+10:00

Madeleines are something that I had never eaten before, but just knew I would love. On our trip to Paris, I made a special detour to a cooking store just to pick up a madeleine tin. I liked the idea of getting the tin in Paris for the quintessential French cake. A madeleine however, is not quite a cake, not quite a biscuit...it's somewhere in the middle. Made of sponge batter, the cakes are pillowy soft on the inside with a nice crisp outside.

For my first attempt, these turned out pretty well and a few of them even got the nice dome on the tops. I think they could probably have been a little lighter in texture, so next time I will whisk the eggs a bit longer. The honey flavour was very light and I had to really think about it to be able to taste it. I'm looking forward to making many, many more of these.

Honey Madeleines (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie's Honey Madeleines, pg 498
makes 20 - 24 regular madeleines

90g butter, plus 20g extra for coating the tin
1/2 tbsp honey
2 eggs
1/3 cup castor sugar
1 tbsp brown sugar
tiny pinch salt
90g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder

Melt the 90g butter in a saucepan with the honey over low heat. While the butter is cooling, combine eggs, sugars and salt in a bowl, whisking until light and foamy. Sift in flour and baking powder, whisking gently to combine. Finally, gently incorporate the cooled butter mixture. Allow to rest for 1 hour, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Gently melt 20g butter in a saucepan and generously brush the madeleine tray. Dust with flour and shake off any excess. Spoon in batter to fill shells by 1/2 - 2/3. I filled them closer to 2/3 and got 20 Madeleines out of the mixture.

Bake for about 10 mins, until nice and golden on the edges. I rotated my tin halfway, so they browned evenly. Remove from the oven and tap the tray on the workbench to loosen the Madeleines. Cool on a wire rack with the shell side up.

These are delicious dunked in tea or milk. Given that hubby and I ate the lot in about 10 minutes, attests to their yumminess. I did feel a bit ill later, but that's hardly surprising.

An evening at River Cottage with Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall

2010-07-21T02:54:00.001+10:00

My fantastic hubby decided to totally spoil me for my birthday and got us tickets to River Cottage. My birthday was a month ago, so I had been waiting excitedly for our trip.

We headed off on our way and sadly the weather started to turn. Just as we arrived it started spitting. We parked in the carpark at the top of the farm and hopped into the trailer being pulled by a big blue tractor to take us down the steep path to the farm (see pic 1 below). The trailer was a bit foggy so it was hard to see out the windows, but I managed to catch a glimpse of River Cottage and the garden (see pic 3 below). It is just as beautiful as in the TV show.

We headed inside, where chairs were setup conference style for the cooking demonstration part of the evening. There was also a handy mirror above the cooking bench (see pic 2 above). Hugh came out and greeted us all. He was just as charming as I imagined he'd be and I think hubby was almost as keen to run away with him as I was. He walked us through the four courses we'd be eating and cooked up a serve of each one.

We then had some time to wander around the gardens while they moved the room around and setup 2 long tables for us to eat our dinner at (see pic 4 above). The garden was beautiful and we tucked into some peas and strawberries straight off the bush. Luckily for the peas, it was raining, so we didn't stay out in the weather too long.

Our entree was a chilled parsley soup (see pic 1 below) with a lettuce boat filled with eggy tartare sauce in it. This was really delicious, but would have been more enjoyable on a balmy evening, rather than the chilly wind and rain we had that night. Because the parsley was added right at the end of cooking, the soup was a brilliant green and had a fresh parsley flavour. In a complete flashback to days on my grandparents farm, there were borage flowers on top of the tartare, which I don't think I've eaten in about 20 years...boy did they bring back memories of the farm. For the fish course we had hot smoked mackerel with smashed new potatoes and sorrel (see pic 2 below). Again, this did not disappoint and I had been looking forward to it since the demonstration, when the smell of the oak smoke had filled the room. This was the first time I had eaten smoked fish since getting pregnant and it was simply mouth watering. I think we will be buying a hot smoker.

For the main course we were cooked moroccan spiced lamb and lamb's liver with tomato salad (see pic 3 below). The lamb was tender and juicy and the liver was very nice, although I only had one small piece (again with the pregnant rules). The salad was so fresh and tasty and had been picked only hours earlier. Finally, we had our dessert. This was a warm white chocolate and poppy seed cookie with vanilla bean icecream and strawberry salad. Hubby and I immediately tucked into this and forgot to take a photo, so pic 4 below is of Hugh cooking this. The cookie was to die for and the poppy seeds just popped in your mouth. This was something I would have never thought to put in a cookie, but will definitely be doing in the future. The strawberries were again straight from the garden.

After dinner I picked up my book that Hugh had signed and we made our way back up to the car in the trailer. It was a fantastic evening and one I certainly will never forget. Fabulous food, perfect company and beautiful surroundings...what more could you ask for! Thanks hubby! xx

Chilli con Carne

2010-07-05T19:55:00.002+10:00

I had been feeling a little tired lately, so decided that a week of red meat dinners to boost my iron would hopefully sort me out. I had a flick through Stephanie, but nothing from the beef or lamb sections really took my fancy. In the dried beans section, I came across the recipe for chilli con carne and thought I would give that a go.

Chilli Con Carne
adapted from Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion, pg 137
serves 4

250g dried red kidney beans
500g stewing steak, cut into chunks
1 bay leaf
1 large onion, diced
4 rashers bacon, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
500g tomatoes, peeled seeded and chopped
salt
pepper
1 tsp chilli flakes
2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground cumin
200g curly kale

Soak beans overnight in water, then drain and rinse. Put beans into casserole dish with meat, onions, bacon, garlic and bay leaf and cover with cold water. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 1 1/2 hours, until beans are tender.

Heat oil in a frying pan and stir in tomatoes and seasonings. Simmer for about 10 minutes until tomatoes collapse. Tip over meat and beans, adding kale and stir in well and check for seasoning. Simmer on stove top for 1 hour.

Served with smashed potatoes.

Hubby's words of wisdom: Something is missing. He was right. The depth of flavour wasn't there and even though I changed the flavour by adding the bacon and kale to the original recipe it didn't taste anything like a chilli con carne. The second night we had this I added some more flavours (smoked paprika, cumin, tomato paste, worchester sauce) to pep it up a bit. It was better, but still not fantastic.

This is one recipe I don't think I'll be following again. I also don't think I'd bother peeling and seeding the tomatoes again, I'd just use canned. This recipe did however, remind me how much better it is to cook up your own dried beans, rather than using the canned ones. The texture and flavour are just so much better.

Welcome Back Lidia / Wintery Pumpkin Soup

2010-06-29T19:20:00.011+10:00

Hi Everyone, it's been such a long time since I've posted on this blog. Apologies all round. Finally, we are in the new house and unpacked, and the renovations are about to commence. My poor Stephanie book has hardly been touched, but it does take pride of place in my bookshelf with all my other cookbooks. Still using it regularly as a reference, but we have hardly had an opportunity to cook too much in the past month. Fortunately, I still had a recipe or two saved up my sleeve for when I had the time to post them.

This Pumpkin Soup recipe inspired me a bit. I love pumpkin soup ordinarily, but I have always liked spicy food, so the combination of the Asian flavours and spice, along with the creaminess of the pumpkin soup base and the coconut milk, well, I was in heaven. I have always found that adding spice to a soup intensifies the heat tenfold, I'm not sure why, but soups always taste extra spicy.

I made a few tweaks to the recipe (of course) but this was mainly because I wanted a lower in fat version, without compromising on taste too much. The main difference is that I chose to use good old Carnation Light and Creamy Coconut Milk instead of coconut milk. It's only about 3% fat, and it adds the delicious hint of coconut without the heaviness of regular coconut milk. For a weeknight dinner, it's important to keep the fat content reasonably low, otherwise I would be the size of a house!

Allan & Michele's Asian Inspired Pumpkin Soup (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion, pg 800

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons red or green Thai curry paste (I used red)
1 onion, diced
1 stick celery, diced
1 tomato, chopped
1 kg pumpkin, peeled and diced
salt
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
400ml coconut milk (or as I used, the Light and Creamy Coconut variety)
freshly ground black pepper
fresh coriander leaves

Heat a large, heavy based saucepan over a medium heat, add oil and the curry paste, cook it for 5 minutes or so, and keep stirring so it doesn't stick. It will soon become fragrant, (I usually sneeze about here) then add the vegetables and salt. Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 15 minutes, but keep stirring occasionally so the flavours go through all the vegetables. Add the stock, bring it to the boil, then cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or whenever the pumpkin is tender.

Puree the soup however you wish, usually I use my Bamix as it's easy to clean, then strain it into the saucepan. It's a good idea to wipe the pan clean before adding the soup back into it. Straining it may seem like a lot of effort, but it gives the soup such a smooth texture, that it's actually worth the effort. Return the soup to the boil, add the coconut milk, whisking while pouring and adjust the seasoning as required. Serve in bowls and scatter the coriander leaves over it. The best pumpkin soup I've had in a long time!

I also added a carrot to my vegetables, but that's because I was trying to get through my vegies in the fridge at the time. It sweetens the soup a bit more, but it's fine.

Strawberries on my mind

2010-06-24T01:23:00.001+10:00

Before coming to the UK, I thought the only fruit and veg you could get here were potatoes, carrots, apples and pears. Boy was I wrong! The selection of fruit and veg is fantastic, even at the supermarkets and there is a great range of organic prduce too!

Summer is in full swing, and luckily for me, so is strawberry season! The selection of varieties available is fantastic and I have not yet been disappointed. I can walk in to some supermarkets and smell them from the door. We have been eating kilos and kilos of them and I'm sure the baby will be quite the strawberry fan too, given the amount of them I have been eating. They seem to come a lot smaller here than back in Melbourne, which I like as they're super sweet and picture perfect. This is a quick fruit dip that I whipped up to enjoy with some strawberries on a picnic.

Chocolate Hazelnut Dip for Fruit
makes about 2/3 cup

1/3 cup Nutella
100g fromage frais

I didn't measure this out exactly, but I used equal volumes of each. Put Nutella and fromage frais into a bowl and mix until well blended. Chill until ready to serve.

The fromage frais makes this less naughty than using cream, and you don't have to whip it first.

Apple and Blueberry Muffins

2010-06-15T05:36:00.002+10:00

Lately, the blueberries have been in abundance and nice and cheap, so I thought I'd make some muffins for snack time. I like muffins that aren't too sweet...that's what cupcakes are for. That way, you can have them for breakfast or afternoon tea without feeling like you've indulged too much. I only managed to get 11 muffins out of the recipe, but I think my cupcake cases are bigger than the average.

Apple and Blueberry Muffins (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie's Basic Muffins, pg 40
makes 12

240g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 cup sunflower oil
1 tbsp honey
1 apple
125g blueberries
raw sugar, optional

Line a half cup muffin tin with cupcake liners and preheat oven to 180°C

Sift flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg into a mixing bowl and stir to combine. Make a well in the centre. In a jug mix together the buttermilk, egg, oil and honey and pour into dry ingredients.

Grate half the apple and toss into the mixing bowl with the blueberries and mix it all together gently. Divide the mixture among the cupcake cases. Finely slice the remaining half of the apple and layer the slices on the top of the mixture. If you have any raw sugar you can sprinkle a little bit over the tops. It gives the finished muffins and nice crunchy top. Sadly, I didn't have any on hand.

Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until nice and golden on top. You can test if they're ready with a skewer. Remove from the tin and place on a baking rack to cool.

Shown sprinkled lightly with brown sugar after coming out of the oven.

Picnic Time

2010-06-04T22:22:00.003+10:00

The weather has warmed up a bit lately, so one afternoon I decided we should embrace the British way, and while we didn't sunbake in our underwear in a public place, which is apparently not at all weird, we went on a picnic in the local park. I went to the shops and picked up a picnic rug and other supplies and then went home to make our dinner. Being pregnant can make picnic food a little tricky, so I settled on a quiche which was still warm from the oven when we sat down on the new rug to devour it. We had the quiche with potato salad, green salad and some fresh fruit for dessert. This recipe is only very loosely based on a recipe from Stephanie, as I wasn't really sure where to start, but the ingredients are quite different.

Bacon and Onion Quiche (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie's Quiche Lorraine, pg 114
Serves 6

2 medium onions
olive oil
6 thick rashers bacon
375g puff pastry, thawed ready to use
6 eggs
2 tbsp milk
salt
pepper

Slice onions into rings and fry over low heat in olive oil until nice and caramelised, about 30 mins. Allow to cool. Chop bacon into pieces and fry in same pan that the onions were fried in. Cool slightly on some kitchen paper to remove any excess fat.

Preheat oven to 170°C

Roll out pastry if needed to fit deep slice tin (20 x 30 x 5 cm). The roll of pastry I bought already fit the tin. Trim edges of pastry and ease pastry into tin. Scatter over cooled onions, then bacon.

Break eggs into a bowl and add milk and salt and pepper to taste. Eggs can be broken into a separate cup to check that they are good before adding to all the other eggs. Whisk until just combined. Pour over onion and bacon and bake in the oven for about 30 mins, until firm and golden. Cool for about 15 mins before cutting into 6 pieces and removing from tray.

We found this little fella snacking on a berry he found somewhere. I wrapped each piece of quiche separately in foil for taking on the picnic. Served with a simple potato salad of boiled baby potatoes, chopped mint, chopped spring onions, and just enough mayo and olive oil to make it sticky.

Hubby's words of wisdom: mmpmfpdmfpfmpf (that's the noise he made eating two pieces of the quiche in about 30 seconds). The above photo was taken approximately 9.6 seconds after plating up. So no words as such, but chomps of appreciation.

en Français

2010-06-02T04:42:00.004+10:00

The blog has been very quiet for the past few weeks, and with good reason. Lidia has moved house so aside from the fact that all her cooking gear has been packed in boxes, she also has no internet. I have been travelling a bit, which has meant I have not been doing my blog homework. Hubby went back to Melbourne for 2 weeks on business and while he was gone, I went up to visit the family. Last weekend we went to Paris, which had been booked for a while. We met up with hubby's cousin and her husband on their honeymoon. It was an action packed weekend with a lot of tourist attractions squeezed in, but we made time for more culinary escapades. I managed to get to a few cookware shops and bought a madeleine tin. They're such iconic little French cakes that I loved the thought of having a 'French' tin. I also bought a book on molecular gastronomy and while it's in French, so I can't read it, the pictures are enough, although I think I'll give some translation a go one day.

A trip to Paris would not be complete without a trip to a Pâtisserie or two, so I made sure that this was included amongst the more touristy things. First stop was to Ladurée. I have heard from many reports that this pâtisserie is not all it's cracked up to be, but it is so historic it had to go on the list. All I really wanted was the little green box. We got a selection of macarons and hubby got a chocolate éclair.

Left to right: Pistachio, Salted butter caramel, Rose, Cherry, Lemon, Raspberry. My favourites were the lemon and rose. I also quite enjoyed the salted butter caramel, but found the others a little light on flavour.

The next pâtisserie we visited was the famous Pierre Hermé. He used to work at Ladurée, but found their strict rules held back his creativity, so he went out on his own. Consequently, the flavours of some of the macarons here were a little more exotic.

Back row: Passionfruit and chocolate x2, Rose. Second row: Pistachio and Cherry, Venezuelan Chocolate x2. Third row: Peach and Apricot and Saffron, Jasmine, Olive oil and Vanilla. Front row: Peach and Apricot and Saffron, Apricot and Pistachio, Strawberry and Wasabi.

The flavour packed into these little macarons was spectacular! The amount of filling was much more generous than the macarons from Ladurée, which may have helped increase the flavour. The filling was also much creamier and a delight to bite into. The only two we compared were rose, which was better from Pierre Hermé and caramel (PH not pictured). I loved both caramels, but hubby found the one from PH a little too bitter for his taste. The standout flavours for me were the Jasmine, Olive oil and Vanilla and the Peach, Apricot and Saffron. The jasmine had a beautiful perfume and the flavour tasted just like the flower smells on a balmy afternoon. The Olive oil and Vanilla had a first taste of vanilla and then after a second the olive oil flavour really hit you. This was a delight. The absolute standout for me was the Peach, Apricot and Saffron. It had such a strong, fruity flavour that tasted very real, like biting into an apricot, rather than like apricot flavouring. The saffron added a beautiful back note that lingered nicely in the mouth. The flavour of this macaron just exploded in your mouth when you bit into it and for me it was definitely a heavenly experience.

I will be making sure I go back and am looking forward to trying more of Pierre Hermés inventive and mind blowing flavours.

Spanakopita

2010-05-16T20:03:00.003+10:00

Hubby had to go back to Melbourne for a week or so, and I decided to go up and stay with the family rather than be a hermit. In the process of cleaning out the fridge, I decided to make some spanakopita rolls. These are strong and cheesy and great for lunch, dinner, or a snack. The original recipe calls for 2 eggs to be added to the mixture, but I forgot to put them in. It tasted pretty good with out them.

Spanakopita (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion, pg 928
makes 12

1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
150g baby spinach, chopped
2 tbsp chopped mint
2tbsp chopped parsley
pinch nutmeg
125g fetta crumbled
125g ricotta
50g freshly grated pecorino
40g butter, melted
12 sheets filo

Preheat oven to 180°C

Saute onion in oil until softened. Add spinach and nutmeg and cook stirring occasionally until spinach has softened and shrunk. Add parsley and mint and stir through. Allow to cool. Add cheeses and stir to combine.

Lay 2 sheets of filo out, one of top of the other. Cut in half lengthways. Place a log of the mixture at one end of the filo rectangles, and butter the rest. Roll each up like a cigar. Repeat with the 10 remaining sheets. I find that you don't need to butter every layer and it certainly makes them a little bit healthier.

Brush tops of cigars with butter and put onto a baking tray. Bake for about 25 mins until the filo is nice and golden on top.

These are quite cheesy, but that's the way I like them. Try not to overstuff the cigars as the mixture may explode out the side or the ends of the cigars as they are cooking. Serve warm or cold. These lose their crunchiness if kept in the fridge, but still taste great! I think this would also make great canapes using the filo as a pastry cup by lining a mini muffin tin with the filo and putting the mixture into the cup.

Chocolate Healing

2010-05-08T23:32:00.003+10:00

I was feeling a bit homesick lately, and nothing cures an emotional ailment quite like chocolate. I love the crunch of nuts or chocolate chips in brownies and when I couldn't find any choc chips, I went with walnuts. I have a standard brownie recipe that I always use, but I had never actually tried the recipe from Stephanie, so was keen to give it a go. Boy have I been missing out! These brownies were rich and chocolately, with a nice bitter tang from using cocoa instead of melted chocolate. I prefer to use cocoa, because I hate melting chocolate, but that's because I'm lazy. The walnuts provided a nice crunch to these gooey brownies. I have to admit that I didn't really follow the method for these, but they turned out great. This is now my go-to brownie recipe.

Walnut Brownies (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie's Double Chocolate Brownies, pg 311

180g butter
100g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup dutch cocoa
1 1/4 cups golden castor sugar (you can use regular castor sugar)
pinch salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups walnuts (you can use any nuts or choc chips)

Preheat oven to 160°C. Line a 20x30cm slice tin with baking paper.

Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Sift flour, baking powder and cocoa into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and salt. Stir to evenly distribute cocoa. Stir in cooled, melted butter. Lightly mix in eggs and then fold in walnuts.

Pour into tin and bake for about 25 mins until firm, but just set in the middle. Allow to cool in tin, then cut into bars or squares, depending on what size you would like the pieces to be.

Lois's Almond and Orange Biscuits

2010-04-29T20:06:00.013+10:00

Ok, so now it seems that I am responding to requests. Kirsten, this one's for you. This was what I took to her place last weekend, and she sent me a text asking for the ingredients, so it was about time I blogged it! I was having a baking frenzy at the weekend, so the oven was already going, and these were ready in an instant. They were great to eat when warm, and once the syrup had soaked into them, they were even better. I think they can still be eaten without the syrup, as hubby confirmed, but I honestly didn't try them without, so I cannot be the judge of it.

I found that the almond meal makes the mix a bit dense, and hard to roll out, but if I wet my hands a bit, it was really easy to roll into shape. I was probably too precious in getting a nice shape to them, but in the end they get coated with the icing sugar so it hides any imperfections. I think these would also work with other citrus flavours, especially lemon. I think I may have to try that one next!

Lois's Almond and Orange Biscuits (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion, pg 617

375g finely ground almonds (I used almond meal)
1 tablespoon plain flour (I used gluten free)
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 egg
icing sugar for coating

Syrup
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier or Cointreau
1 tablespoon orange juice

Line 2 baking trays with baking paper and preheat oven to 180°C. Combine the almonds, flour, caster sugar and orange zest. Whisk the egg and orange juice together and mix this into the dry ingredients. Knead the mixture lightly to bring the mix together, then divide it into two equal portions and form it into 2 long rolls about 2cm in diameter. Cut into pieces about 2cm long and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the biscuits look golden brown. Cool them a little on a wire rack.

In the meantime, make the syrup. Heat the sugar and water until the sugar dissolves, then simmer this for about 5 minutes to thicken. Add liqueur and orange juice and allow to cool a bit. Place the still-warm biscuits onto a clean tray and pour the warm syrup over them. Leave this for 5-10 minutes so that some of the syrup gets soaked into the biscuits. Scatter some icing sugar into a clean tray, then toss the biscuits through this mixture to coat well. Store these in an airtight container. I think they lasted maybe 24 hours with us!

Sunday Roast

2010-04-28T01:29:00.004+10:00

No, this isn't a post about Nicole Kidman's daughter, but about the ubiquitous roast. Since moving to London, hubby has craved roasts, and they are hard to escape. Every pub does it's version of a Sunday Roast for lunch. Our local does a fantastic Roast Lamb, but it's a little on the pricey side, so I thought it would be best to make our own. Hubby decided on chicken, and while our free-range, organic chicken wasn't cheap, it fed us for 2 nights and was still less than the cost of one pub roast.

Roast Chicken (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie's Roast Chicken - The All-time Favourite, pg 298
Serves 4

1.8kg chicken
1 lemon, halved
4 cloves garlic
a few sprigs of rosemary
small knob of butter
salt and pepper
vegetables to suit*, cut to size
olive oil
2 tbsp plain flour
1/2C white wine
1/2C chicken stock

An hour and a half before dinner, preheat the oven to 220C. Rub chicken inside and out with lemon. Squash garlic cloves with the flat of a knife and put into chicken cavity with lemon, half of the rosemary and the butter.

Rub vegetables with olive oil and sprinkle over the rest of the rosemary, picked off the stalk. Season. Rub the chicken with a little bit of olive oil and season. Put vegetables into a roasting tray, setting them around the edges and put the chicken on its side, in the middle of the tray.

Place baking dish in centre of oven and roast for 25 mins. Take out of the oven and turn chicken onto the other side. Give the vegies a little push around. Put back in oven and roast for 25 mins. Take out of oven again, and put chicken breast side up. Give the vegies another push and baste chicken with the juices. If there isn't enough juice, drizzle a little bit of wine or olive oil over the breasts. Roast for a final 25 mins. To test if cooked, pierce a skewer into the thigh, the juice should run clear, not pink.

Turn oven down to 150C. Transfer chicken and vegies to an ovenproof dish and rest in oven while you make the gravy. Remove any excess fat from the pan and add the flour. Stir to a smooth paste and cook til nice and golden. Deglaze the pan with 1/2C white wine, stirring the flour vigorously into the wine, until nice and smooth. Add in 1/2C chicken stock or water and cook in the pan until it boils into a nice, thick gravy. Test for seasoning.

Joint the chicken and serve on a platter with the vegies. Serve gravy in a jug alongside.

*for the two of us, I used 2 fairly large potatoes, one carrot and one onion. This was also served with a side of peas.

I was a bit worried when I was jointing the chicken as some of the juice caught between the thigh was a little pink. None of the flesh however was pink. As there was only 2 of us, we only ate half the chicken, having a piece of breast and a drumstick each. Hubby kindly shredded the rest of the chicken ready for some soup. The chicken was lovely and juicy and I really enjoyed the flavour of the gravy. The vegies roasted up superbly and the smell of it all cooking was very tempted as we waited for the oven buzzer to go off.

Chicken Soup using leftover Chicken (Printable Recipe)
Serves 2 hearty serves

1/2 cooked chicken, shredded
Cooked chicken carcass
Seasonal vegies
Crusty rolls to serve

Put leftover chicken bones into a saucepan and cover with cold water. I also put the garlic cloves from the cavity into the pan. Add some salt to season. Bring to the boil and simmer over very low heat for 30 mins. Check seasoning and adjust if necessary. Strain out the bones and chill until ready to use.

Take any fat off the top, and put into a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and add vegetables* as needed to cook sufficiently. Toss in shredded chicken about 2 mins before serving to heat through. Serve with crusty bread rolls, nicely buttered to dip into the broth.

*I used one zucchini, a small bunch of asparagus, one carrot and a handful of parsley. The carrot was added first and the rest of the vegies were put in for only a couple of minutes to lightly blanch.

The soup is usually nuclear hot, so the rolls are nice as they let you start eating while the soup cools a little.

Nut Meringue Cake With Passionfruit Curd

2010-04-26T20:28:00.011+10:00

Stephanie's Nut Meringue Cake. I made this because with a bit of clever thinking, it was easily gluten-free. My sister-in-law has a gluten-free diet, and it's nice to share foods that she can also enjoy. I just ensure that I buy gluten-free cornflour now, which is a slightly different colour to the one I used to use, but definitely has the same properties and function. I think it's the White Wings one that I use now. I had some passionfruit curd in the freezer - there is a story that goes with this too. My darling husband decided to have an early breakfast while I was showering yesterday. He came upstairs, stating proudly "Oh that passionfruit curd was yum!" It was 4 in the morning on Anzac Day. All I could say was "How much did you eat? That was supposed to be my filling for the cake" (Plus expletives) and "Since when do you eat stuff in the fridge without checking first?" It was probably the first time he did it, and I think it will never happen again. Poor bloke. Fortunately, I made the first layer a little thinner, and then I made do with what I had. It worked out ok.

Nut Meringue Cake (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion, pg 619

150g ground almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts (I used almond meal)
3 and 1/2 tablespoons cornflour

200g caster sugar

5 egg whites

60g toasted almond flakes for dressing

Passionfruit curd, recipe follows

Trace 20cm circles on 3 sheets of baking paper. Place these onto baking trays, then preheat the oven to 180°C. I used a saucepan lid to get the 20cm circle, but a plate would suffice.

Mix the ground almonds, 1/4 cup of the sugar and cornflour into a small bowl and set aside. Beat the egg whites until stiff using an electric mixer - I may have done the upside-down test here just to show off in front of the hubby. I thought it was fun, he wasn't even mildly impressed.

With the motor running, add the remaining caster sugar in 3 batches until the meringue mix looks glossy. Fold the dry mixture into the meringue lightly but thoroughly. Divide the mixture between the three baking trays and, colour in the circles with the mix. Bake for 20 minutes until they pick up a light biscuit colour. Allow to cool on trays for 5-15 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool properly.

The recipe suggests that you fill the meringue cake a day ahead, but I did it about 8 hours before eating and that was plenty. Spread 1/3 of the filling on the first layer of meringue, then repeat for the top two layers. Scatter the almonds on top and refrigerate until ready to eat.

Passionfruit Curd (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie's Lemon Curd, pg 554

4 egg yolks

2/3 cup caster sugar

60g unsalted butter

Pulp from approx 10 passionfruit

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar until well combined but not frothy. I used a double boiler for this, and tried to be careful with it as have been easily distracted when making this before. Add the butter and passionfruit pulp and stir constantly until it thickens like a custard. I then put it in a sterilised jar, and keep it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or freeze it indefinitely. It didn't even taste like freezer!

Anzac Biscuits

2010-04-26T19:57:00.012+10:00

Yesterday was Anzac Day, and as one of my missions is to empty the contents of my pantry before the move, I decided to make Anzac Biscuits. I managed to finish the coconut, and almost finish the sugar in this recipe. This also was not from The Cook's Companion, but a taste.com.au recipe. I have steered away from this site of late, considering my cookbook collection is bursting at the seams, so I have tried to get back into reading them for inspiration.

Hubby and I went to the Dawn Service at the Shrine of Rememberance, so I thought we would need some sustenance at 5am. We took a Thermos of tea and a few of these bikkies with us. Kept us going until we needed breakfast at a more human hour.

I also gave some of these to my folks, and Dad, who does not have a sweet tooth, apparently gave them the thumbs up. Some also made it to the family birthday party on Anzac evening, and were happily demolished. I was tempted to drizzle some chocolate over the top of them, but honestly couldn't be bothered. Perhaps next time.

Anzac Biscuits (Printable Recipe)
adapted from taste

1 1/4 cups plain flour (recipe says sifted, meh, I don't)

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup caster sugar

3/4 cup desiccated coconut

2 tablespoons golden syrup or treacle

150g unsalted butter, chopped (I only had the salted variety, whoops!)

1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda

1 and 1/2 tablespoons water

Place the flour, oats, coconut and sugar in a large bowl, stir to combine.

Put the butter and golden syrup in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until melted. Mix the bicarb soda with the water and pour into the butter mixture. This will bubble as you stir it in, so make sure you take it off the heat.

Mix the liqud into the dry ingredients, and stir until well combined. Roll the mix into tablespoon sized balls, place them on a lined baking tray and bake at 170°C for approximately 12 minutes, or until golden.

Let cool for 5 minutes on the tray, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Hubby tasted them at all stages, mixture, hot straight out of the oven, and cool, and he rated them as "very yummy".

Stephanie's Satay Lamb

2010-04-21T20:42:00.009+10:00

This dish solved two problems for me. 1) I needed inspiration for Lamb Monday and 2) I needed to get a dish on here, so here it is. I used lamb, of course, but any meat would do - chicken, beef, or even prawns. It was my first go at making a satay sauce from scratch, and a word to the wise, don't take your eye off the wok, as the nuts will start to burn immediately!

This was not too hard to make, and I prepared the marinade and meat the day before. Hubby skewered the meat on for me while I was preparing the rest of the dinner. He also managed to cook the meat for me, so he was a great help.

The recipe suggests it makes enough marinade and sauce for 500g meat. I did closer to 1kg of lamb, and it was still plenty. Stephanie advises to cut the meat into 2cm or smaller cubes, as a satay should be cooked quickly. The substitution for this recipe could be 250g crunchy peanut butter instead of the fresh peanuts. Also, don't forget to soak bamboo skewers for at least half an hour before threading the meat on and cooking it. That way you can ensure the skewer does not burn before the meat is done.

Satay Marinade and Sauce (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie's Satay Marinade and Sauce, pg 610

Marinade
2 teaspoons red curry paste
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 stalks lemongrass (tender part only)
2 tablespoons palm of brown sugar

Blend all ingredients in a food processor. Marinate meat for at least 1 hour, or overnight before threading the meat onto skewers.

Satay Sauce
1 tablespoon tamarind pulp
2 tablespoons boiling water
250g shelled raw peanuts, dry-roasted
peanut oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 fresh red chillies, finely chopped
75g brown or palm sugar
1 cup coconut milk
salt

Soak the tamarind pulp in boiling water for 30 minutes, then squeeze and press through a coarse strainer and reserve liquid. (I may have cheated here and substituted it for the prepared tamarind paste, it worked, so who cares?) Crush nuts in a food processor, then heat the wok with a little oil and fry the garlic until pale gold. Quickly add the peanuts, chilli and sugar. Stir in tamarind and coconut milk. Mix well and add salt if required. Cook the mixture, stirring, until the oil separates and floats to the top. Turn off the heat and allow to cool. Spoon the mixture into a jar and refrigerate until required.

To serve, grill marinated meat on all sides, then spoon over the satay sauce (I reheated it just prior to serving) and offer extra sauce at the table.

Fruity Oatmeal Slice

2010-04-18T22:33:00.003+10:00

This recipe is not from Stephanie, but one I made up to use up some things in the cupboard. The slice is great for afternoon tea and the fruit and nuts can be changed to suit your taste or whatever you have hanging around. The honey adds a lovely floral note to the slice and a bit of depth to the flavour. 75g of self raising flour can be substituted for the plain flour and baking powder if you wish.

Fruity Oatmeal Slice (Printable Recipe)

125g butter, chopped
1/3 cup (70g) firmly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp honey (I used orange blossom)
1/2 cup (75g) plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups (135g) rolled oats
1 cup (130g) sultanas
1 cup (140g) raw almonds

Preheat oven to 170C (150C fan forced)

Line a slice tin (approx 20 x 30cm) with baking paper, extending the paper a few centimetres over the two long ends of the tin. Combine butter, sugar and honey in a small saucepan, and stir over low heat until the butter has melted and it is all combined.

Sift flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl and stir to make sure the baking powder is spread evenly through the flour. Add the oats, sultanas and almonds and mix to combine. Pour in the butter mixture and stir gently until it is all combined. Spread mixture evenly into tin and press down with the back of a spoon to make it nice and firm.

Bake slice for about 20 minutes until nice and golden on top. Cool in tin and then cut into slices. Makes 12 - 24 pieces depending on how big you like to cut them.

Hubby's words of wisdom: "You have to make this again. It gets better with age too!" I suppose that's a thumbs up then? I think it lasted 4 days in our house, and I think it would probably last a few more days than that, simply stored in an airtight container.

Broccoli or Brocolli?

2010-04-16T05:35:00.002+10:00

I can never remember how to spell the stupid thing, but regardless, broccoli (that is the correct spelling) is actually great with pasta. I quite like broccoli and eat it a fair bit, but I'm always looking for a new way to serve it. This pasta is great as I usually have all the ingredients lying about and it is also Lenten, which is handy when Easter is almost here.

Broccoli Pasta (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie's Broccoli as a Sauce for Pasta, pg 201
Serves 2

1 large head of broccoli, cut into small florets
olive oil (or anchovy oil)
200g pasta spirals
3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs (I use ones lurking in the freezer)
2 cloves garlic
6 anchovy fillets, chopped
ground black pepper
handful of pitted olives (optional)
chilli flakes (optional)

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add some salt. Simmer broccoli in water for about 5 minutes, until just tender. Strain broccoli out of water into a colander, keeping the water the broccoli was cooked in.

Bring water back to the boil and cook the pasta until al dente. While the pasta is cooking, warm some olive oil in a small frypan and brown the breadcrumbs. Set aside.

In the frypan, add another spoonful of oil and gently fry the garlic with the anchovies. Add olives and chilli if using.

Drain the pasta into the colander, pouring the pasta water over the broccoli to warm it up again. Give it a shake to get all the water out. Tip the broccoli and pasta back into the empty saucepan and add the garlic mix. Add a little extra oil and the pepper and mix well. Serve in bowls topped with the breadcrumbs. I'm usually hungry and feel like it's quicker to mix the breadcrumbs in with everything else. It tastes good either way.

Hubby's words of wisdom: "Needs more anchovies and garlic." Mind you, he says this every time and I think we now put about 4 cloves of garlic in it for the two of us and about 10 anchovies! I also like to use the oil from the anchovy jar to up the anchovy flavour even more. Luckily, we both like garlic and anchovies. I don't think this would make a great dinner for a first date, but it's sweet and salty however you eat it.

Olive Focaccia

2010-04-13T21:02:00.020+10:00

Ok, so this recipe is a variation of Stephanie's Olive Bread, pg 192. I have decided it is my goal to try and use most of the food in my pantry before we move house (which could be as soon as five weeks away). The more we consume means the less we have to move. It also means I can start with fresh products when we move into the new place. The disadvantage of this method means that my first grocery shop will probably cost hundreds of dollars. Oh well, you can't have it both ways.

My whole body was sore from grape picking the day before, so hubby came in handy with this one. Ordinarily, I would knead the dough with the dough hook of my stand mixer, but unfortunately that was at Mum's in "storage", so I had to improvise. Sometimes hubby does come in handy ;) and this was definitely one of those occasions. I set him up on my marble tile that I use for rolling out my dough (thanks, Mum) and he was at it. I used less olives than the recipe suggested in the dough, as we studded them across the top of the focaccia instead, which looked kind of cute. The oven we have in the apartment is very good at retaining heat, and maintaining temperature, so I have always found it good for baking. I will definitely miss the oven once we move out, although it is is probably a little smaller than my ideal oven. We shall see what we end up with in the new house.

Olive Focaccia (Printable Recipe)

600g unbleached strong flour

150g stoned black olives, halved

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon instant dried yeast

2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary

1/3 cup olive oil

300ml warm water

sea salt

Mix the flour, olives, salt, yeast and rosemary in a large bowl, then make a well in the centre. Add oil to the warm water and pour the liquid into the well. Stir to mix well. Turn the contents of the bowl onto an oiled workbench and knead with lightly oiled hands for 15 minutes (or this is when you substitute the electric mixer with the dough hook fitted), until the dough is springy and elastic. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a draught-free place for it to prove and it should double in size within about 45 minutes.

Transfer the dough onto an oiled baking tray and flatten it out until it is about 2-3 cm thick. Scatter the dough with flaked sea salt and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Let the dough recover for about 30 minutes, then bake it in a very hot oven (250°C) until browned and crisp. I found that this took about 25 minutes. Adam did a marvellous job with this under my tutelage, and I think he had lots of fun helping out with it and getting bragging rights to our guests!

Lime Ice-Cream

2010-04-13T20:14:00.012+10:00

What do you do when you get given some fresh limes? I usually stick them in a Corona, or make some cupcakes. This time I decided to try my hand at making ice-cream. I am currently taking care of Abby's ice-cream maker while she is living overseas, and so far I can happily say that I am definitely a fan! Last week I made Stephanie's Vanilla Ice-Cream as my first attempt. I thought that one came out a little too yolk-y and yellow for my liking, but it was only my first go, so maybe I just need to get the hang of it. I also think that it may have been the egg yolks I used. The eggs were from a work colleague, and compared to the standard free range eggs from the supermarket, the yolks were huge!

On Sunday, we had our Honeymoon friends come over for lunch. It was pretty cold all day, so we just sat around inside catching up, eating and drinking tea. Kat kindly brought over a banana cake, and when I tasted it, I realised it had a familiar flavour. The recipe was of course, Stephanie's Simple Banana Cake (p120), and it was so funny, as Kat was so proud to rattle off "it's on page 120" the same time I said it. I've used that as my staple banana cake for years, and the recipe has always been requested by people who have tried it. This just demonstrates how popular Stephanie Alexander recipes are with everyone.

So, I digress...lime ice-cream. Creamy whilst tangy, this ice-cream passed the taste test, but I don't think hubby loved it. "It was alllllllriiiight" (read as: "I'm happy with Streets ice-cream any day, but thanks for going to the effort of making it").

It's not a complex recipe, but I was definitely in daydream land when I made it, as I accidentally mixed the sugar with the egg yolks and forgot to melt it into the lime juice. Whoops. I safely scooped out about 3/4 of the sugar, and successfully dissolved it, and the finished product didn't end up tasting grainy at all.

Lime Ice-Cream (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie's Lemon or lime Ice-Cream, pg 557

1/2 cup lime juice*

6 egg yolks

finely grated zest of 2 limes*

250g caster sugar

3 cups cream, lightly whipped

Boil lime juice in a small saucepan until it reduces to approx 1/4 cup lime juice. In the meantime, beat the egg yolks with the zest in an electric mixer. Now dissolve the sugar in the reduced lime juice and bring it to a boil. Pour the simmering syrup over the beaten egg mixture while the motor is still running. Beat until this cools and thickens. Fold in the cream and churn in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

Please note, this recipe yields approx 1.5 litres, which is more than many ice-cream makers on the market can handle. Their capacity is often 1 litre. Stephanie also suggests that if you don't have an ice-cream maker, you can still pour it into a basin or log mould. The finished product won't be quite as creamy, but still yummy.

*For lemon ice-cream, use 3/4 cup lemon juice, reduce it to 1/3 cup, and use the zest of 3 lemons instead.

Glazed Carrots

2010-04-08T01:57:00.010+10:00

These were served with the Slow Cooked Lamb at our final Lamb Monday.

Glazed Carrots (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion, pg 222
Serves 6

2 bunches baby carrots
salt
butter
handful of parsley
pepper

Cut the tops off the carrots, leaving a little of the green. I like to scrape the carrots with the edge of the knife to clean them up. I find that you lose a lot of the carrot if you peel them, as they are so small, and scraping gets most of the skin off. If you don't want to do this, then peel or you can probably leave the skin on.

Cook carrots in very lightly salted water until just tender, about 3 mins. Drain and reserve 1 cup cooking water. Spread carrots onto tray lined with baking paper. When ready to serve, tip reserved carrot water into a wide sautepan that will fit all the carrots in one layer. Add a walnut sized knob of butter and the carrots. Shake gently over medium heat until carrots are shiny and the liquid has evaporated. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and check
for seasoning. Serve on a hot plate.

The Last Lamb Monday

2010-04-08T01:42:00.007+10:00

This was actually cooked quite some time ago and in another country. Hubby and I have now settled in to our flat in London and are getting the hang of everything, including the terrible weather! Yes it is as miserable as everyone says it is.

I suppose the true reason for creating this blog will now really come into play. It should be quite interesting to see as we will be in opposite hemispheres so the produce will be different and in line with this, so will the seasons, so one of us will be cooking warming comfort food, while the other may be making salads and refreshing sorbets.

This slow cooked lamb was actually the feast of our final group Lamb Monday. It was quite sad to have to say goodbye to the tradition, as it was still going strong and showing no signs of stopping. None of us were seeming to run out of ideas and it was nice to catch up with great friends every week.
This recipe is based on Stephanie's 7 hour leg of lamb, but I thought I'd test it out in the slow cooker, rather than the oven. The resulting lamb was quite nice, but not as juicy and tender as I was expecting. I'm not sure if this is a result of the piece of lamb, or the slow cooker, a kitchen appliance I still haven't made my mind up about yet.

Slow Cooked Leg of Lamb (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie's Seven-hour Leg of Lamb with Anchovy and Garlic, pg 532
Serves 6

4 anchovy fillets
2kg leg of lamb
3 garlic cloves, quartered lengthwise
salt
pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
bay leaf, sprig of parsley, sprig of thyme
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup red wine

Cut each anchovy fillet into 3 pieces. Make 6 deep incisions on each side of the lamb and stuff with a piece of anchovy and a sliver of garlic. Grind over salt and pepper and rub into meat. Heat oil in a fry pan and brown off the lamb on all sides. Drop bay leaf, parsley and thyme into bottom of slow cooker and put lamb on top.

Pour in the stock and wine. Put on the lid and cook on low for 7 - 8 hours.

When ready to serve, remove lamb to a plate and cover to keep warm. Put juices into a saucepan and reduce a bit. They wont reduce into a thick gravy, unless you want something that resembles vegemite in taste.

Serve with glazed carrots and roast potatoes.

Cantonese-style sweetcorn and crab meat soup

2010-03-27T13:31:00.011+11:00

Further to my last post, I still had fresh garden corn kicking about in the fridge from the in-law's garden. They have an acre of land and are both retired, so they have the time to work in the garden, and they also have the water tanks to keep the vegetables green! It's been fantastic for us, as it means we get to reap the benefits from a pesticide-free garden.

I thought I'd dish the sweetcorn and crab meat soup up to hubby's parents for dinner, as it was showcasing some of their produce. I did cheat a little, and used the tinned crab meat, rather than fresh, but it was hardly noticeable. In the end, it was a weeknight, and everyone is entitled to a shortcut here and there. It was also a pretty busy time at work, so I think I was busy working until about 6.30 anyway, but still managed to whip this up in no time. It always helps when you have frozen chicken stock on hand too.

Cantonese-style Sweetcorn and Crab Meat Soup (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion, pg 351

5 corn cobs, grated (yes, it is worth the effort, creamed corn is ok for a shortcut, though)

vegetable oil

2 tablespoons finely chopped spring onion

1 teaspoon freshly minced ginger

250g picked crab meat

salt

1 tablespoon mirin, rice wine or dry sherry

600ml chicken stock

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

1 tablespoon cornflour

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 egg

1 tablespoon black or red rice vinegar

Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a saucepan or wok. Sear the spring onion and ginger for 30 seconds. add the crab meat, then sprinkle with salt, mirin and stir it lightly. Pour in the corn, stock and the soy sauce, stirring the mixture until the soup comes to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer it for a few minutes. Mix cornflour, water and sesame oil in a bowl and stir until smooth, then add a little of the hot soup into the bowl and stir it to combine. Pour this mixture into the soup, ensuring that you swirl it in evenly. Turn the heat off and trail the egg whisked with a pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil over the surface, stirring slowly to break up the strands. Add vinegar and taste the soup for seasoning, adjust if required with soy sauce. Serve and enjoy immediately.

Hubby absolutely loves this soup. I've been cooking variations of this soup for years, but nothing compares to this one with the fresh, sweet corn from the garden. It's so much better than tinned kernels or creamed corn. He requests this soup whenever he's a bit cold. This can also easily be a great gluten-free recipe for those with dietary requirements, if you use the right soy sauce, chicken stock and cornflour.

Stephanie's Rat-a-touillie

2010-03-27T12:39:00.015+11:00

The finished product looks less than appetising, but is a flavour explosion. Eggplant in any dish creates a balance that you just can't reproduce.

I think virtually everything in this bowl came out of either my Dad's or my father-in-law's gardens. Thanks guys for the delicious produce!

Well, Abby and Greg have left for the UK, so now the purpose of this blog is really going to come into light. The last time they came over for dinner was the last official Lamb Monday with the 6 of us at our place. I cooked a Maggie Beer lamb dish, but served it with a ratatouille from Stephanie.

I had been given a mass of fresh vegetables and herbs from the in-laws and my parents, so I made an effort to use as many of them in the ratatouille as possible. I love cooked vegetables, especially eggplant, and having them home grown is an added bonus!

The best thing about cooking a dish like this is that it can't really go too wrong. It was prepared well and truly before the guests arrived, and all I did when they came was stick the dish back in the oven to heat it through again, and stirred through a small handful of fresh herbs to freshen it up a little.

Ratatouille (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie's Ratatouille, pg 1070

3 eggplants, cubed into 3cm pieces

salt

1/2 cup olive oil

2 onions thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly

3 red peppers, seeded and cubed into 3cm pieces

3 larger zucchini cut into 3cm chunks

a few coriander seeds, crushed

4 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

freshly ground black pepper

freshly chopped parsley or torn basil

The original recipe suggests that you put the eggplant on a tray and lightly sprinkle with salt to draw out any bitterness. I didn't do this because they were small, fresh eggplant, and I personally think it's a bit of a waste of time. I haven't done this process with eggplant in years.

Then heat the oil in an enamelled cast-iron dish that the finished product can be served. Fry up the onion until limp and golden. Add the garlic, red pepper and the eggplant and cook gently on the stove top for 40 minutes. I stirred it occasionally to make sure it wasn't burning underneath, but it only needs a low to moderate heat. Add the zucchini, the crushed coriander seeds, the tomato* and fresh black pepper and cook for another 20 minutes until the vegetables are all tender. stir through the fresh herbs and adjust seasoning to taste. The best part of this dish is that it can be served hot, warm or cold!

*Note: I made the effort to blanch and peel the Roma tomatoes myself. Once I got to the finished product, I realised I could have easily substituted a tin of the store bought Italian peeled tomatoes and got the same result. It wasn't too difficult to do, but if you're in a hurry, it makes more sense to have a couple of tins on hand.

This made for great leftovers for work lunches the next day too, and it solved a couple of problems for us - gave us plenty of vegetable intake, and it also used a massive amount of fresh produce that otherwise would have lurked around in the fridge until they had spoiled.

Raspberry Vodka

2010-03-03T09:29:00.006+11:00

Keeping in theme with the previous post, I'm currently half way through making some raspberry vodka, so here are the details for making that.

Raspberry Vodka
Makes 1 litre

450g raspberries (3 punnets)
1L vodka
sugar, to taste

I always use Smirnoff, as I think it's a good quality vodka and reasonably priced. You could use a cheap vodka, but if you're going to the trouble of making this, then why not use something you're happy to drink neat?

I have a 2L glass canning jar that I use for this, but any jar that will fit the vodka and the raspberries in is fine (the vodka bottle will be a bit too small, but hang on to it if you like to put the vodka back in at the end).

Put the raspberries and vodka into the jar. Add about 1/4 cup sugar. Seal it up and give it a light shake, to dissolve some of the sugar. Give it a little shake every day for a week, until the sugar is dissolved. Let it sit in a cool, dark place for about 3 months. The vodka should be bright red, and the raspberries a little sad looking, but still holding their shape.

Carefully separate out the raspberries from the vodka and eat them with some icecream for a nice boozy dessert.

Test the vodka for sweetness. I don't like to make mine too sweet, but it is personal taste. Add some more sugar a little at a time until you are happy with the flavour. I usually add about another 1/4 cup. Shake/stir to dissolve the sugar. Put this back into the original bottle if you kept it and seal up and leave for another 3 months (if you can). This is definitely the hard part. The longer it sits the more mellow the flavour becomes, but if you can't stand it any longer, then serve over ice and enjoy!

I have also made homemade cointreau in a similar way with strips of orange peel and vanilla extract, using about 6 beans per cup of vodka.

What's better than Vodka? Flavoured Vodka!

2010-03-02T14:55:00.011+11:00

I've had a fondness for flavoured vodka for quite a long time, and over the years we have experimented with many different fruits, spices and lollies. Being essentially tasteless, vodka easily draws the flavour out of whatever you put in it, allowing some delicious liqueurs to be created. Now, making these can take quite a while, but the reward is definitely worth the effort.

Full details on how to make this with recipe and cocktail ideas on my new blog:
Musk Stick Infused Vodka

Shrove Tuesday

2010-02-16T19:13:00.017+11:00

Today is Shrove Tuesday, and the day before the beginning of Lent on the Roman Catholic calendar. Mum always used to make us crepes for Shrove Tuesday when I lived with her, and it’s something I really haven’t kept up for the past couple of years – more laziness on my part, I suppose. This year however, I decided to make crepes for breakfast. Honestly, I don’t really like pancakes all that much, I find them far too dense and quite bland. I do love crepes though. Mum always had the Bessemer crepe maker, and I have fond memories of helping her cook stacks of crepes to make her delicious pancake lasagne.

Last night, I mixed the batter, and then refrigerated it overnight. This made it easier in the morning to cook them up. Texture-wise, the batter was still fine, I just gave it a quick whisk before I cooked them. The batter made about 10 or so crepes, but who can count when you’re demolishing them as fast as you can cook them? The mixture is about the same consistency as Mum’s recipe, but I don’t think Mum puts butter in hers. The butter in the batter meant that the non-stick pan definitely didn’t need any butter on it. I also found that they were quite easy to flip, which was fun at 6:45am!

I like to eat my crepes with a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkling of sugar, which is exactly what we did this morning. It was a pleasant way to start the working day. This year, hubby and I have decided to ditch the soft drinks for Lent. Let’s see how we go for the next six weeks. Bring on Easter, I say!

Crepes – Master Recipe (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie's Crepes, pg 42

30g butter
pinch of salt
1½ cups milk
150g plain flour
2 eggs

Warm the butter (I use unsalted), salt and milk in a saucepan until the butter has melted. Then put the flour into a bowl and make a well. Crack the eggs into the well and whisk in some flour. Add the warm milk mixture, and whisk until the batter is lump-free. Refrigerate for 2 hours, or as much as overnight. The consistency looks like thin cream, and if it doesn’t, then you can add a little more milk.

Heat a non-stick pan, and wipe over with some buttered paper towel for the first one. (I think this is unnecessary, considering there is some butter in the batter.) Using a ladle, place some batter into the pan and swirl it around until it covers the pan. After about a minute, flip with a spatula, or if you’re feeling confident, flip it in the frypan – if you practice the wrist flick, you’ll get there! It doesn’t take too long to cook on the other side. A trick my mother-in-law uses when she makes lots of crepes is to put a heatproof plate over a pot of simmering water. Then you put the cooked crepes on the plate, and put the lid of the pot on top. This aids in keeping the crepes warm without drying them out.

Passionfruit and Coconut Sponge Fingers

2010-02-13T18:20:00.010+11:00

A friend recently mentioned to me that she had tried to make some lamingtons and had a great deal of trouble making the sponge. She said it turned out ‘like an omelette with sugar on top’, which did not sound very appealing. I had never tried to make a sponge before and with a glut off eggs in the fridge, I thought it was a perfect chance to give one a go.

I found that the sponge worked out very well, and while it did smell a little ‘eggy’ cooking in the oven, it did not thankfully, taste like and omelette when cooked. With the idea of lamingtons planted firmly in my head, I thought that would be a great way to use the sponge. I failed to remember that I had given away all my cocoa, so the sponge instead became coconut and passionfruit sponge fingers. I used up some passionfruit curd lurking in the fridge and made a simple coconut icing for the top with desiccated coconut, icing sugar and water.

Sponge Fingers (Printable Recipe)
Adapted from Stephanie’s Genoese Sponge, pg 429
Makes 12 serves

5 eggs, at room temperature
60g butter, melted and cooled
150g plain flour
¾ cup castor sugar

Grease a slice tin and line with baking paper, letting the paper come up and over the 2 long sides of the tin. Preheat oven to 180C.

Pour eggs and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until thick and the texture of mousse. This takes 5 – 10 minutes. Sift flour into mixture and fold in well. Pour in butter and fold through thoroughly. Make sure there are no hidden pockets of unmixed flour or butter hiding anywhere.

Pour into tin and bake for 18 – 20 minutes, making sure not to open the oven door for the first 15 minutes, or you will have a flat pancake! Take out of the oven when cake is cooked through, testing with a clean skewer. Allow to cool in tin for 5 minutes, then pull out of tin with paper flaps.

When cool, cut in half lengthwise. Spread one half with passionfruit curd. Place plain piece on top, sandwiching the curd in the middle. Make a simple icing and spread over the top. Let the icing set a little and then cut into 12 fingers.

Middle-Eastern Baked Fish With Garlic & Coriander, Carrot Salad and Lentil & Coriander Salad.

2010-02-04T21:19:00.024+11:00

On the menu at the MacPerri house tonight was a Middle-Eastern feast. Fortunately, none of it took terribly long to cook, as the in-laws were coming over for a coffee after dinner. I raced to the shops after work, brought home some fish and other fresh ingredients for dinner, and whipped up dinner within the hour. Considering that until about lunchtime today, I had no idea what I was going to cook, but I was happy with my choices today. We had to reset the server at work today, so in the downtime I quickly flipped through Stephanie and found the fish dish I wanted to cook. Once that was sorted, I thought it would be nice to have salad with it, considering the hot, sticky, humid Melbourne weather we've endured this week. I didn't feel like anything too heavy, so I settled on the warm carrot salad and a lentil salad. Fortunately, hubby has grown to love legumes, so there are no complaints from him when it comes to eating these days.

The Middle-Eastern Carrot salad (side margin of p224) was easy to prepare, and I got to use one of my favourite kitchen gadgets - the mortar and pestle. All I did was roast a handful of cumin seeds, and then crushed them with some garlic and a good quality salt. I then added some extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice. In the meantime, I sliced the carrots and cooked them in boiling water for a couple of minutes. Then I drained the carrots, tossed them into the dressing, seasoned with salt and pepper to taste and threw in a handful of chopped coriander. The recipe also called for roasted pepitas on top, but I just used raw ones. I enjoy the flavour of those anyway, so I thought I didn't want to burn them and run the risk of them turning rancid!

While that was all happening, I prepared the fish (p341). The lady at the fish shop descaled and gutted the fish for me, so the hard work was done. All I did was make the sauce, stuff it into and onto the snapper, and whacked it into the oven for about 20 minutes. The recipe serves 6, so I reduced the sauce by about half for the two of us, and it seemed to do the trick. I love snapper, so I bought a whole one, which usually feeds the two of us quite happily. I used about 125g walnuts, most of a small bunch of coriander, half a teaspoon of cinnamon, a few shakes of cayenne pepper, only a tablespoon or so of olive oil, the juice of two lemons and four cloves of garlic. Because the snapper weighed less than a kilogram, I found it only needed about 20 minutes in the oven. It was cooked through and juicy, but I did find the top of the walnuts probably browned a little more than I wanted them to.

Finally, there was the lentil and coriander salad (side margin of p339). I had some brown lentils handy, and made a sauce with ground coriander seeds, crushed garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and chopped parsley. This recipe also works well with tinned lentils if you're in a hurry and really desperate for a quick salad.

So what did hubby think of dinner? "I think the walnuts and cinnamon (in the fish) were for dessert, but my wife got lazy and served the main and dessert all at once. It worked well and there was less washing up."

I was satisfied with the overall result and flavours of each dish, and they would work well together or on their own. It was just a coincidence that I made three Middle-Eastern dishes on the same night. After dinner, the in-laws dropped in and I had prepared a fresh fruit platter with my favourite Marsala dip. My mother-in-law taught me how to make this ridiculously simple dip years ago and it enhances the flavour of the fruit it is served with so well. All I do is whizz one block of Light Philly, 1/2 a cup of icing sugar and 2-3 tbsp of Marsala with the Bamix and serve it with whatever seasonal fruit I have. Tonight was mangoes, strawberries, cantaloupe and watermelon, but I do love it with peaches too. This isn't a Stephanie recipe, but it's a great way to end a meal without the guilt of a rich dessert!

Crab balls and Asian Salad with Soy and Tamarind dressing

2010-02-02T11:21:00.053+11:00

I initially thought that we wouldn't start this blog until I was already on the other side of the world, but once I set it up I was itching to get going.

While we still don't have our flights booked or visas approved, we think dday is in about one month! With this in mind, I have been happily emptying the pantry and trying to use up our stockpile of ingredients. Tucked away in the pantry I found 3 cans of crabmeat. I'm not sure that this is the kind of crab that Stephanie had in mind, but I was willing to give it a go. The original recipe makes 4 crab cakes coated in the breadcrumbs, but I had a bit of trouble shaping the mixture into patties so crab balls it became.

The meal itself was light and refreshing for a hot summer night, but substantial enough to fill me up. The crab balls were golden and crunchy, with a slightly bitter taste to the crumb from the butter. They had a strong crab flavour, which I think was more to do with the canned crab than anything else. The salad was fresh and crunchy and contrasted nicely with the softness of the crab balls.

Crab Balls (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie's Crab Cakes, pg 360
Makes 16 balls, enough for 2 for a light, summer dinner

250g picked crab meat (I used the meat from 3x140g cans, water squeezed out)
1 tbsp sour cream
1 egg
1/2 spring onion, finely chopped, keep the rest for the salad
2 tbsp chopped coriander
1 tsp fish oil
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
salt and chilli flakes to taste
40g butter

Combine all ingredients together except butter in a mixing bowl. Mix until well combined. Shape tablespoon amounts of the mixture into firm balls. If the mixture is a bit too wet to shape, squeeze out some of the excess liquid as you go. Sit in fridge for about 30 mins.

Fry in melted butter until golden on all sides, turning them as they cook, for about 8 mins. Serve on top of Asian Noodle Salad

Asian Noodle Salad with Soy and Tamarind Dressing (Printable Recipe)
Serves 2

100g packet bean thread vermicelli (cellophane or glass noodles), cooked and run under cold water
6 radishes, cut into slices
1 lebanese cucumber, cut in quarters lengthwise and sliced
top half of a baby cos, chopped
top half of spring onion, from crab balls, finely sliced
handful of coriander, chopped

Dressing
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp tamarind concentrate
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp sesame oil
chilli flakes, to taste

Combine all salad ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix all dressing ingredients together, breaking up any lumps of sugar. Taste and adjust if necessary. Pour dressing over salad and use your hands to toss evenly. Divide among two bowls and server with crab balls piled on top.

Hubby's words of wisdom: "Not bad for something with coriander in it"

We Love Our Lamb

2010-01-27T19:51:00.022+11:00

Well I thought I'd try my hand at this blog thing too. This is our first attempt (joint or otherwise) at creating a blog, so while we're still on the same continent, we'll try to tweak any bugs.

So why the obsession with Stephanie? We have often been caught out talking about her like she's a good friend of ours, only to have to explain to unsuspecting friends that actually, it's a cooking bible written by a wonderful Australian chef who works with lots of fresh, local produce. We have both owned this book for years, and some of our favourite dishes have come from The Cook's Companion. I remember buying Mum one of the first editions years and years ago.

Why do we love it so much? Well it's pretty simple, actually. Aside from the informative introductions for each section, it really is like a bible, or a dictionary. If I have ever been given lots of, say, lemons, I would just thumb through the lemon section and have a look at the many recipes where I could use this core ingredient. There are just so many useful tips in this book, and if I was only allowed to have one cookbook, this would definitely be my all-rounder.

The purpose of this blog is to try and keep the two of us sane while we are nearly 17,000 km apart. This is probably the biggest challenge, considering we have lived 5.7 km from each other for the past two years.

Ok, so you might say this has been done before, with Julia Child's book, the blog, and later that movie, but we really don't care. This isn't about competition, notoriety or fame. We just wanted another way to try to stay in touch while we are so far apart. Cooking, talking about cooking and eating are some of our favourite things, so this seemed like the perfect thing to create. We hope to share our experiences over the course of the next year or so, while also remaining the closest of friends.

Yesterday was Australia Day, and we've had our fair share of lamb. Monday night was Australia Day Eve (which means nothing to most, but to us it was very important). For almost 12 months, we have eaten lamb every Monday. Last night was lamb on the spit at our place. It was heaps of fun to prepare and cook, but most of all, it was loads of fun to eat. This past year we have had lamb in so many different dishes - shanks, casserole, curry, ragu, ravioli, paella, pizza, you name it, we've probably tried it :)

I actually tried to slow roast some tomatoes from Stephanie's book (see p960) for Lamb Monday. They are so flavoursome when they cook down, even if the finished product does look a little shrivelled up. The bonus is that hubby will eat them - he can't stand semi-dried or sun-dried tomatoes normally, but was happy to demolish these. I'm sure I'll have another crack at cooking these before Summer is over.