1 + 1 = 3 (courses)

Last Wednesday night was a hectic one with a 3 course dinner planned for Rose and I. First things first in the morning, I dash off to Woollies and purchase ingredients and dash home. I get home and there is a message on the machine from Rose, I ring Rose, "DOn't you remember I'm going to Brisvegas today," she says. "No," I reply. "Bugger," I say to myself. Oh well, not to worry I will cook 3 course dinner for myself. SO off I trot and start to cook.
The planned menu was Ricotta and pancetta Cabbage Rolls, Baked Gnocchi Spanakopita with currants and Pine Nuts with Winter Salad, and Caramel Dumplings. All three dishes are extremely easy to make and twice as easy to eat.

Ricotta and Pancetta Cabbage Rolls

8 Chinese cabbage leaves
250g Ricotta
100g Feta, crumbled
1 tbs fine lemon zest
sea salt and cracked pepper
8 slices of pancetta
2 cups of chicken stock

Preheat oven to 180 deg.
Add cabbage leaves to a large boiling pan of water a few at a time for 1-2 minutes or until tender.
Drain well and pat dry.
Place ricotta, feta, lemon rind and S&P in a bowl and mix to combine.
Place a slice of pancetta on a cabbage leave and top with a spoonful of ricotta mixture.
Fold up the ends and roll to enclose the filling.
Place the rolls in an oven proof baking dish and pour over the chicken stock. Bake for 15 minutes or until mixture is cooked through.
Serve with pan juices.

Baked Gnocchi Spanakopita with Currants and Pine Nuts

500g Gnocci
1 bunch of silverbeet, stems trimmed leaves roughly chopped
80g unsalted butter
1/2 cup plain flour
1 2/3 cups of grated cheddar cheese
1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
2 tbs finely chopped dill
2 spring onions chopped
2 tbs currants
2 tbs toasted pine nuts

Pre heat oven 180 deg.
Cook gnocchi in saucepan and remove with slotted spoon and set aside.
Add silverbeet to the pan and blanch for 1-2 minutes. Drain then refresh under cold water.
Using same saucepan, melt butter on medium heat, then addd flour and cook stirring for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the milk until smooth. Add both cheeses and cook and whisk until smooth. Season well. Then stir through the dill and spring onion.
Spread half of the bechamel sauce in the base of a 2.5 litre baking dish, then top with the gnocchi and silverbeet. Sprinkle over the currants and half of the pine nuts.
Cover with the remaining bechamel and sprinkle over the remaining pine nuts and extra parmesan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. Spoon onto plates and serve.

Caramel Dumplings

2 cups of plain flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp of baking powder
150g butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
double thick cream to serve
caramel sauce
40g butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 1/2 cups water

Preheat oven to 180deg.
To make the caramel sauce put all ingredients in saucepan over medium heat and and bring to boil. Remove from heat and set aside.
Process the flour, sugar, baking powder and butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Gradually add the milk and vanilla with the motor running until a smooth dough forms.
Turn the dough out onto lightly floured surface and divide into portions.
Place into 1 litre capacity ovenproof dish, pour over caramel sauce and bake for 30 minutes.
Serve with cream.

After cooking all of this food I was thinking that it was way too much for just little ol me so I invited my neighbour over for this feast. On all accounts Sandie enjoyed it. (As did I). Hope you enjoy it all as well.

I got a letter!

When was the last time you actually got a card or a letter in the mail that wasn't for your birthday or a bill or some sort of sales pitch?  For me, excitingly this happened just the other week!  I received a handwritten card from my Aunty Marg with a little note and her recipe for Mushroom Bacon Soup.  I was so surprised to receive such a gift so unexpectedly.  There's nothing better than something that's been handwritten just for you.  Every time you look at it, you know that that person was thinking of you at that time and wanted to share something with you.  We don't write enough cards and letters to our friends and families 'just because' any more.  We email, we text, we skype, we facebook.  We've never before been so connected and yet we are so disconnected at the same time.

My challenge to you... dig out your dusty old address book and send a card with your favourite recipe to someone you know.  If it's a recipe that's been given to you, acknowledge the source and tell the story of how you came to get it.  When I say send, I mean actually go to the post office, stand in the line and buy a stamp!  And when I say send a card, go and buy a card (or make one?) and actually write it with a pen yourself, no computer allowed!  Don't tell them that you're doing it, just do it and see what happens.  And just so we all feel connected to you, share your results virtually on the OITC Facebook page.

So, in the spirit of handwritten recipes (via my scanner), below is my Aunty Marg's Mushroom  Bacon Soup.  It is delicious any time of the year - we've eaten it this week (winter), and I've also eaten it on Boxing Day (summer).  It takes no time at all and you'll certainly enjoy the creaminess!

Aunty Marg's Mushroom Bacon Soup

As well as making Aunty Marg's Mushroom Bacon Soup this week, I also made a stuffed chicken breast with creamy mashed potato and green beans.  You can stuff chicken breasts with whatever flavour combinations you like.  I used wilted baby spinach, roasted red and yellow capsicum (thinly sliced) and slices of creamy camembert cheese.  This also works just as well with de-boned chicken thighs.  You need to have something moist in the middle of the chicken (I had the spinach this time), so it doesn't dry out.  Other flavour combinations you could use would be basil pesto, sun-dried tomato pesto or a chunky tomato chilli jam or salsa.  You want a cheese that will melt well, so you could also try a goat's cheese or feta.  Experiment with what you put in the middle, till you find something that works for you.

Spinach, capsicum and camembert stuffed chicken breast

 To assemble, all you need to do is slice the chicken breast lengthways, but don't cut all the way through, then open it out.  Lay your fillings on one side, season with pepper, then fold the other side back over the top.  Then roll it up in several slices of overlapping prosciutto, to secure it in place.  To cook, seal each side for 4 - 5 minutes, in an ovenproof fry pan with a splash of olive oil in it.  Then place the pan in the oven at 180C - 200C, for 10 - 12 minutes (depending on the thickness of the chicken breast).  If you don't have an ovenproof fry pan, then once they are sealed place on a baking tray and then into the oven.  Once they are cooked through, slice each in half and serve on top of creamy mashed potato, with some green beans and drizzle some pan juices over the top.  This dish takes 30 minutes from beginning to end so is a good standby meal, when someone pops in unexpectedly for dinner or if you just have no time.

Oh, fudge!

Inspired by a friend, who recently bought me some old-style proper cooked coconut ice (thanks Lisa) I was tempted back into the world of cooking with sugar.  And oh boy, it's tricky.  I decided I want to make chocolate fudge - not just with condensed milk and put it in the fridge (although there's nothing wrong with that), I wanted the cooked stuff, where it's a little bit crunchy, just like you used to get at school fetes.  So to the recipe books I went.

Just about everyone of my cookbooks had the condensed milk/fridge version, I had to look harder.  Eventually I found a handwritten recipe in one of my cookbooks and it's in my handwriting so I can't be sure where it came from and whose recipe it was.  Last weekend was the perfect cooking weekend - cold, wet and miserable.  So with wooden spoon in hand and lots of sugar, away I went.  The results of this first batch (yes I made several), weren't too bad.  It was smooth and held it's shape once cooked, but it wasn't as firm and 'crunchy' as I was looking for.  That didn't stop me eating it.  I realised that I had stirred the fudge too much whilst cooking and upset the whole sugar/caramel/toffee scientific thingy - see the Science of candy  and Stages of cooked sugar for more information.

As always, I was determined to get it right. This week I bought a new candy thermometer, instead of the regular kitchen thermometer I used previously.  The candy thermometer shows the smaller graduations you need from 110C - 120C.  I was aiming for soft ball at 116C.  The scientist in me decided to remake the recipe I had made last week and just not stir it once the sugar dissolved.  But also, just in case something was actually missing from that one, to use an alternate recipe with a few different ingredients (see below).

I'm pleased to say that both fudges were successful this week.  Both have the slight crunch factor I'd remembered and both were extremely delicious.  My top tips for you when making cooked fudge: spend $10 and buy a candy thermometer; use a bigger saucepan than you think you need (from the quantities) as the sugar expands and you don't want to have to stir it; only stir over a low heat till the sugar is dissolved, then turn up the heat and put the spoon away; be patient with the cooling process - don't try and speed it up in anyway (bad things happen - just ask my sister Sue), be patient, be patient, be patient.  Enjoy!


Chocolate Fudge (Australian Women's Weekly)
1 1/2 cups (330g) caster sugar
1/2 cup (110g) firmly packed light brown sugar
60 g (2oz) dark eating chocolate (semi-sweet), chopped coarsely
2 tablespoons glucose syrup
1/2 cup (125mL) pouring cream (the really thin one)
1/4 cup (60mL) milk
40 g (1 1/2 oz) unsalted butter, chopped coarsely

1. Grease deep 15cm (6 inch) square cake tin; line base and sides with baking paper which extends over the sides (you need this extra paper to pull the fudge out of the tin).
2. Combine sugars, chocolate, glucose, cream and milk in medium heavy-based saucepan; stir over low heat, without boiling, until sugar dissolves. (Now put the spoon away!)
3. Bring to a gentle rolling boil; boil uncovered, WITHOUT STIRRING, about 10 mins or until mixture reaches 116C (235F) on a candy thermometer.
4. Remove pan from heat immediately, once it reaches temperature; leave thermometer in mixture.  Add butter, do not stir.
5. Cool fudge 20 - 30 mins until the temperature of the mixture drops to about 40C (80F). This can seem to take an absolute age, but this is where you have to be patient, seriously go and do something else!
6. Stir fudge with wooden spoon for about 10 mins or until a small amount dropped from spoon holds its shape (and the butter is incorporated).
7. Quickly spread fudge into pan; cover with foil.  Stand at room temperature about 3 hours or until set.  Lift fudge out of pan; cut into squares approximately 2cm.

Warm Winter Wonder

Hi all, thought I'd post this little pumpkin soup that I whipped up this afternoon. Such a nice little simple dish bursting with lots of flavour. After a chilly day at work I needed something warm and hearty to devour. This is a basic roast pumpkin soup with a few twists and flavours.

1/3 Pumpkin
1 Onion
1 Capsicum
1 bulb of garlic
1 med potato
2 cm of ginger (grated)
chicken stock
evaporated milk (lite and creamy)
sour cream
cinnamon

1.Throw chopped up veges into a roasting pan, toss in olive oil and roast in med to high oven until veges are cooked through and soft.
2. While the veges are in the oven mix cinnamon and sour cream till well combined and put back in fridge to let flavours infuse.
3. Once veges are done put them into a big soup pan and then put in some chicken stock. Not quite covering the veges, bring up the heat and then blitz with a blitz stick till smooth.
4. Once smooth add some evaporated milk to thin it out a little, but not too much.
5 To serve add a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with chopped chives.

Hope you enjoy and stay warm over winter.

Looks can be deceiving...

Due to end of term reports and lots of PD I have stood in and said I would throw together a meal for Wednesday night. After some quick thinking and from watching Masterchef  the night before I had planned a menu of Pumpkin Risotto and something to do with Kiwi Fruit. The challenge from the Masterchef episode was to create three dishes using Kiwi Fruit. I decided to dabble in a kiwi fruit dessert. The pumpkin risotto came from a masterclass in the first series of Masterchef.

Pumpkin Risotto
(I just throw together ingredients - so not sure on proper quantities)
1/2 butternut pumpkin
a knob of butter
1 bunch of shallots
2 cloves of garlic
Arborio Rice
1 small red capsicum (roasted and peeled)
some mushrooms (sliced)
Slices of proscuito
vege stock
dry white wine
parsley

1. First off, fry off thinly sliced shallots and crushed garlic.
2. Grate your pumpkin and sweat it in a saucepan with the knob of butter till tender and squashy (LOL)
3. Put the arborio rice into the frypan with the shallots and garlic and coat with oil.
4. Pour in some vege stock and let the rice absorb. Alternate with wine and stock till rice is tender.
5. Mix through pumpkin, sliced capsicum, mushrooms, parsley and proscuito.
6. Serve.

Kiwi Fruit Cream Debacle

5 Kiwi Fruit
punnet of raspberries
Blood Limes
Roasted Walnuts
Thickened Cream
Marscapone

1. Blitz 2 kiwi fruit through processor with some cream
2. Roast up some walnuts and blitz them in processor
3. chop up some more kiwi fruit
4. layer a martini glass with ingredients - I started with the crushed walnuts
5. I topped my sarcastically delicious dessert with the blood limes (scraped out the pips) (at that point in time i thought they tasted nice and bitter)

Plating up risotto is never an easy thing to do because it is not the most exciting thing to look at. However the taste of this dish I really enjoy. I think it is a light risotto because of the wine, I use lots of it lol. The Kiwi dessert looks very nice plated up in layer but OMG!!!!!! it was foul. I suggest you do what we did and give yourself a shotglass full of whatever you drink and down it as soon as you finish.


Enjoy the risotto folks!