Friends with benefits

No, not that kind.... Friends with passionfruit vines going crazy in their yard.

This week I found myself in possession of 6 passionfruit, from a friend's vine. She was sharing them with everyone, so that the possums didn't eat them all. How lucky for us! They were so full and juicy, instead of eating them all I pulled out my trusty recipe book (the one with all my very favourite and very special recipes in it) and flipped to the Passionfruit Butter page.

This recipe I attribute to my Grandad, although it could actually be Grandma's as well. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong. As a kid growing up in Brisbane, Grandad was always making jam of some kind. Whether it be a marmalade or rosella or gooseberry jam. His marmalade recipe is as simple as 1, 2, 3. 1 part fruit rind, 2 pints water, 3 lb sugar. He told me one day and I wrote it down in a little book, which I then put in a 'very safe place'. Then I was looking to make marmalade and couldn't find the book. Mum and I mulled over which part was sugar, which was water. In the end we consulted (Great) Aunty Marie, Grandad's sister, who set us straight. Recently I found the piece of paper, so it's now firmly entrenched in my favourite's recipe book.

Gooseberry jam was one of my childhood favourite and if you've never tasted it (or gooseberries for that matter) it was quite a tastebud sensation - weirdly sweet and tart all at the same time. I loved picking the gooseberries off Grandads many plants that would pop up here and there in his gardens. They certainly are an interesting fruit.

My two long time favourites of Grandad's jams were Rosella Jam and Passionfruit Butter. I remember him telling me about making Rosella Jam and how fiddly it was to prepare all those tiny rosellas. Which is probably why I've never made it, and whenever I see it at a fete or market I always buy a jar. One day I'm sure I'll find a recipe and a bag of rosellas and do it myself.

And so to the Passionfruit Butter...

Grandad was not known for accurate measuring in his cooking. And the fact that I have measurements for this recipe, is what makes me think it could be Grandma's.
You need: 6 - 8 ripe passionfruit, 1 cup caster sugar, 2 eggs and a tablespoon of butter.
What to do:

1. Lightly beat the eggs. Add sugar, butter and passionfruit pulp (and all the juice).
2. Pour into the top of a double boiler. Boil for about 20 - 30 mins, stirring all the time, until slightly thickened. (If you stop stirring there is a chance that the egg will cook as egg and you'll end up with little white bits through your jam. So stir as much as you can).
3. Pour into sterilised jars*. Seal and allow to cool. (Thickens as it cools). Store in the refrigerator.

This is the easiest jam to make. If you're not sure when it's ready, you'll start to see an almost white foaminess around the edges of the pan. When you think it's thick enough, or you're sick of stirring, just take a dollop and put it on a plate. Leave it to cool for a minute or so, then tip the plate and see if it runs. If it holds it's shape or goes into a slow ooze, you know it's done.

Passionfruit butter is great on toast or as a mini-tart filling, like you might use a lemon curd. Or if you have given up stirring too soon and it's quite runny, pour it on some ice-cream.

Thanks to my Grandad and Grandma, for showing me how to cook these old family favourite recipes. I miss them both everyday, and this is my way of still connecting with them and passing on their legacy.

Rose


*To sterilise jars - wash in hot soapy water, allow to air dry, then put on a baking tray in a moderately hot oven for 10 or so mins. Put the lids in too - if they are metal. Be careful when you take them out!

Quick and Easy

Last nights gastronomical sensation was Ricotta Gnocchi with tomato and eggplant sauce and a raspberry jam pudding. These dishes were very easy and quick to make. After the last dinner I made (see All Hands on Deck) I thought I should go a little easy on myself. The Gnocchi dish was suggested to me by a colleague at work, thank you Therese, this dish was delicious. This gnocchi was is the First Junior Masterchef cookbook.

To start preparing the gnocchi dish, start with the sauce. Place the contents of 2 tins of tomatoes and 2 cloves of garlic into a pan and bring to boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 6 - 8 minutes or until liquid has reduced. Add a tbs of caster sugar and season with S&P. Add a handful of basil. Fry off a chopped eggplant till golden - drain excess fluid and add to tomatoes.

For the gnocchi, 500g of ricotta, 150g of peccorino or parmesan cheese, tsp of nutmeg, a lightly beaten egg and a 1/4cup of plain flour. Get your hands in there and mix up and combine. Now add another 1 and 3/4 cups of plain flour. Again get your hands in there and mix. Roll into 2 cm thick logs and chop into bite sized pieces. Add the gnocchi to boiling saucepan of water to cook - wait till floating and remove. Add cooked gnocchi to the sauce and serve.

The gnocchi was nice but we needed an extra kick so we added some chilli flakes.

For dessert Raspberry jam pudding. Put a layer of Raspberry jam into a 2 litre pie dish - i used a casserole dish . In a mixing bowl put 1 2/3cups plain flour, 3tsp baking powder, 350g caster sugar, 100g dessicated coconut, 3 eggs, 350 ml milk, vanilla extract, 150g melted butter. Mix this mixture till it has just combined then pour on top of raspberry jam. Bake for 45 min on 180 deg.

Serve with thin cream.

This was a very simple dessert that was tasty.

My scores for tonight's dinner 4 wooden spoons for the Gnocchi

and 4 wooden spoons for the Raspberry Jam pudding.

A little bit of lime

I was in Woolies yesterday and nearly fell over when I saw the price of limes at $3.99/kg! I know, I know, pick yourself up off the floor it was not a typo. Two weeks ago I think I paid $1.25 for 1 lime! You can imagine how many I bought, with plans for all the things I could do with them. So tonight's dinner is bought to you by the letter L - for lime!

We started of with a Thai Chicken Risotto. If you have the March 2012 issue of Delicious magazine you can find it in there on page 64 in the "Eat well for less" article. The amount I made would serve 4, ie we've both got lunch tomorrow :)

Start by cutting up 2 chicken thighs into small pieces. Brown them in some peanut oil, then remove from pan. In the same pan, over medium heat add 1/2 onion (I used 2 golden shallots) finely chopped, 1/2 red chilli thinly sliced (depending on the heat of the chilli and how hot you want it either leave seeds in or not, or use the whole chilli), 1 garlic clove crushed and 2 thinly shredded kaffir lime leaves. Cook, stirring often for 2 - 3 mins, until onion is soft. Add 165g aborio rice, 2 tbsp red curry paste and a splash of white wine (that's not in the Delicious recipe!) and cook, stirring to coat rice, for about 1 minute. Add the chicken back in, with 250mL chicken stock and 60mL water (about 300mL liquid all up). Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 - 20 mins till liquid is absorbed. Add more stock if necessary throughout the time. Finally stir in 125mL coconut milk/cream, 1 tbsp fish sauce and 100g trimmed chopped grean beans. Cover and stand for about 10 minutes. To serve, top risotto with coriander, the rest of the chilli finely chopped and more shredded kaffir lime leaves.

This was a beautiful risotto. It had just the right kick of chilli for me, and a good balance of flavours with the lime squeezed over the top. I was a happy chef and a happy eater. So simple, so tasty and all in one pot! 5/5 wooden spoons

And now for dessert. This is one of Nigella's little puddings. I was going to cook it two weeks ago, but ran out of time and energy. Then of course with limes being so cheap this week, Nigella's lemon puddings turned into Rose's lemon and lime puddings. The mixture below made 2 puddings.

Into your mix master or food processor bowl add: 65g softened unsalted butter, 65g caster sugar, 65g plain flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 egg, zest of 1 lime - mix till combined into a thick batter. Add juice of the lime you zested and mix again. Grease two 1 cup ramekins, and dollop about 1 tbsp lemon curd in the bottom - enough to cover it.

Divide the batter amongst the ramekins, covering the lemon curd. Bake for 20 mins till cooked through. Remove from oven and ease sponge away from ramekin and tip into bowl. Serve warm with custard or cream. Make sure you scrape the bits of lemon curd out of the ramekin and "quality control" them - there's got to be a perk for being in charge in the kitchen.

As with the risotto, these were delicious. They were light and citrusy. The original recipe uses lemon zest and lemon juice, where I used the lime. Really, you just can go wrong with this one. Next time I will actually attempt to make my own custard, and not rely on good ol' Fosters Clarks (just add boiling water and whisk) Custard, although it is very tasty and a whole lot quicker. 4.5/5 wooden spoons

All Hands on Deck

Well, this was a mammoth dinner for a Wednesday night. It pays to read ahead of your recipe, especially for the bits that say refrigerate for one hour, or cook for one hour then refrigerate for another hour. However, I must say that this was a corker of a dinner and I am glad I persisted. Tonight we had Lamb cutlets with lemon pignoli crust, served with potato galette and Lemon souffle crepes with sauce suzette. When telling friends what I was cooking for dinner 100% asked, "What is Pignoli". Well to this day I don't know but it was delish.

I started out cooking the sauce suzette. Blanch lemon and orange rind 3 times in boiling water and rinsing in cold water. Set aside. Place 1/2 cup lemon and 3 cup orange in saucepan and let reduce for 45 minutes on medium heat to 1 1/4 cups. Add 1/2 tsp dissolved cornflour and whisk in. Whisk in 1/4 cup caster sugar and 1 1/2 tbs grand marnier. Add zest. till thickened.

Next I started on the potato galette. Heat up sliced potato in saucepan with 300ml thickened cream and 300ml milk and one small clove garlic. simmer till just tender. Transfer to oven proof dish, top ith parmessan cheese and bake for one hour. Let cool then place in fridge for a further hour. I cheated and only had it in the oven for 30 minutes. let the cream set a bit the cut out with food moulds or cookie cutter desired amout of galette. reheat in oven before serving.

Following the potato I made up the batter for the crepes - normal crepe mixture plus add in 2 tsp of dark rum and 2 tsp of grand marnier. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Up next was the pignoli crust for the lamb cutlets. place1/4 cup each of Italian parsley and basil leaves into a food processor along with 2 1/2 tbs of pine nuts. Whizz these ingredients together till combined and chopped. Then add 60 gr chilled butter, 1/4 breadcrumbs1 small garlic clove, and 1/4 preserved lemon wedge. Pulse until smooth. Transfer herbed butter to plastic wrap and roll into a short 3 cm round roll. Chill for 1 hour. Again I cheated and threw it into the freezer for a bit then down into the fridge. After chilling the herbed butter time to cook the lamb. I cooked mine on a grill pan for a couple of minutes each side. Then place sliced butter onto the top of cutlets and placed under the griller for another couple of minutes till crusty. Serve up and plate with the galette.

The souffle of the crepes came with the help of Rose. while she made the crepes I had time to whisk 3 egg whites with lemon into stiff firm peaks, and whisk 3 egg yolks with 1/3 cup of caster sugar till thick and creamy. Then combined and folded together whites and yolks. Working together we folded crepes into quarters and filled top with the souffle mix and baked in 200 oven for 5 minutes. Yes the souffle rose up!! Serve with a reappearance of Heston's ice cream from a few weeks ago and with the sauce suzette and you are on another winner.

If it wasn't for the time factor I would be giving this a 5/5 wooden spoons. However after some discussion about whether it needed a Jus, (Rose was for, I was against) I am going to give the Lamb with pignoli crust a 4/5 wooden spoons.

The crepes with souffle and suzette sauce were a winner with me, I will def be doing these again sometime. 4/5 wooden spoons