"Y" is Served.

"Y" is finally here. After a week or two (let's try a month and a half, we are back). Y was served at the end of August/beginning of September.  It was a wonderful meal full of colour and taste. Predominant colour was Yellow, a delicious Thai Yellow meatball curry and a very colourful Lemon Meringue Pie.

Thai Yellow Curry with meatballs

Pork and veal meatballs
1 small brown onion, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
400g pork and veal mince
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Curry
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 eschalots, thinly sliced
1/3 cup Thai yellow curry paste
1 1/2 cups salt-reduced chicken stock
400ml can coconut milk
200g green beans, trimmed, halved crossways
1 tablespoon grated palm sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves
1 long red chilli, sliced
Steamed jasmine rice, to serve
Lime wedges, to serve

METHOD
Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan-forced. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Pulse onion, garlic and parsley in a food processor until finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl. Add mince and breadcrumbs. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well to combine. Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls.
Step 2

Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook meatballs, in batches, turning, for 2 minutes or until browned. Add extra oil, if needed. Transfer to prepared tray.
Step 3

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until cooked through. Cool.
Step 4

Heat a wok over medium-high heat. Add oil, swirling to coat. Add eschalot. Stir-fry for 6 to 8 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel, leaving excess oil in wok.
Step 5

Reduce heat to medium. Add curry paste to wok. Stir-fry for 2 minutes or until fragrant. Gradually add stock and coconut milk, stirring to combine. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 5 minutes or until mixture slightly thickens.
Step 6

Add meatballs. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add beans. Simmer for a further 2 minutes or until meatballs are heated through and beans are tender. Stir in sugar, fish sauce and lime juice. Sprinkle curry with eschalot, coriander and chilli. Serve with rice and lime wedges.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Hmmmm this was a tasty dish - kinda. I cheated and bought store bought pastry. MISTAKE!!!!! Don't do it!!!!! Spend the time and make it yourself. The filling was spectacular. Find a good recipe for a sweet pastry.

Here is the recipe for the filling.

Lemon filling
5 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 cup pure cream
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
1/2 cup lemon juice

Meringue
4 egg whites
1 cup caster sugar

Make lemon filling Whisk eggs, sugar, cream, lemon rind and lemon juice in a bowl. Stand for 5 minutes. Pour mixture into pastry case. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until filling is just set. Cool for 15 minutes.


Make Meringue Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gradually add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating constantly until sugar dissolves and mixture is thick and glossy. Spoon meringue over filling. Bake for 5 minutes or until meringue is golden.

Winter Warmers for a tasty W treat

On a cold winter;s night it is nice to sit down to a nice warm meal. Beef Wellington and steamed vegetables and White Chocolate Bavarois with Chocolate Chilli soup. Both of these dishes are easy to prepare and certainly tasty to eat.
To add the the fun of "W" we had the mouldy yet tasty Whitestone Double Brie with some Wirra Wirra Red and some Water. Hmmmm Water.








The Beef Wellington sounds  complicated but really it is easy to make - just take your time and read the individual components (or
 you'll make some easy mistakes LOL).

Ingredients
For the Duxelles:
3 pints (1 1/2 pounds) white button mushrooms
2 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

To make the Duxelles: Add mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and thyme to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add butter and olive oil to a large saute pan and set over medium heat. Add the shallot and mushroom mixture and saute for 8 to 10 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool.


For the Beef:
1 (3-pound) center cut beef tenderloin ( filet mignon), trimmed
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 thin slices prosciutto
6 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves only
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Flour, for rolling out puff pastry
1 pound puff pastry, thawed if using frozen
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
Minced chives, for garnish

To prepare the beef: Tie the tenderloin in 4 places so it holds its cylindrical shape while cooking. Drizzle with olive oil, then season with salt and pepper and sear all over, including the ends, in a hot, heavy-based skillet lightly coated with olive oil - about 2 to 3 minutes. Meanwhile set out your prosciutto on a sheet of plastic wrap (plastic needs to be about a foot and a half in length so you can wrap and tie the roast up in it) on top of your cutting board. Shingle the prosciutto so it forms a rectangle that is big enough to encompass the entire filet of beef. Using a rubber spatula cover evenly with a thin layer of duxelles. Season the surface of the duxelles with salt and pepper and sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves. When the beef is seared, remove from heat, cut off twine and smear lightly all over with Dijon mustard. Allow to cool slightly, then roll up in the duxelles covered prosciutto using the plastic wrap to tie it up nice and tight. Tuck in the ends of the prosciutto as you roll to completely encompass the beef. Roll it up tightly in plastic wrap and twist the ends to seal it completely and hold it in a nice log shape. Set in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to ensure it maintains its shape.

Preheat oven to 220 Celcius.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the puff pastry out to about a 1/4-inch thickness. Depending on the size of your sheets you may have to overlap 2 sheets and press them together. Remove beef from refrigerator and cut off plastic. Set the beef in the center of the pastry and fold over the longer sides, brushing with egg wash to seal. Trim ends if necessary then brush with egg wash and fold over to completely seal the beef - saving ends to use as a decoration on top if desired. Top with coarse sea salt. Place the beef seam side down on a baking sheet.

Brush the top of the pastry with egg wash then make a couple of slits in the top of the pastry using the tip of a paring knife - this creates vents that will allow the steam to escape when cooking. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until pastry is golden brown and beef registers 52 degrees C on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from oven and rest before cutting into thick slices. Garnish with minced chives, and serve with Green Peppercorn Sauce,

Green Peppercorn Sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 shallots, sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
3 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
1 cup brandy
1 box beef stock
2 cups cream
2 tablespoons grainy mustard
1/2 cup green peppercorns in brine, drained, brine reserved

Green Peppercorn Sauce:
Add olive oil to pan after removing beef. Add shallots, garlic, and thyme; saute for 1 to 2 minutes, then, off heat, add brandy and flambe using a long kitchen match. After flame dies down, return to the heat, add stock and reduce by about half. Strain out solids, then add 2 cups cream and mustard. Reduce by half again, then shut off heat and add green peppercorns.

Serve with steamed vegetables. Our sides were carrots, broccolini and mash.

White Chocolate Bavarois with Chocolate Chilli Soup

90ml milk
90ml double cream
1 vanilla pod, split lengthwise
3 large egg yolks
50g castor sugar
2 sheets gold-leaf gelatine
250g White chocolate, shaved
200ml double cream

Combine the milk and cream in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over a medium-low heat. Scrape in the vanilla seeds, add the pod and slowly heat almost to boiling point - but don't boil or scorch the milk. Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on high speed until pale and creamy and sugar has dissolved.

Remove the vanilla pod from the hot milk mixture. Slowly whisk the milk mixture into the egg and sugar, a little at a time. Return mixture to the saucepan and cook over a very low heat to create a custard. Stir until custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon (about 5 minutes, but don't scramble the eggs - if using a thermometer, cook to 82°C).

Place gelatine in a bowl of cold water and soak until soft. Remove the gelatine, squeeze it gently and stir into the warm custard. Strain the custard through a fine sieve into a bowl and leave to cool.

Melt the shaved chocolate in a double boiler over gently simmering water. Stir the chocolate into the custard, cover, and chill in the fridge. When the custard starts to set around the edges, whip the cream until thick. Fold into the bavarois.

Lightly oil four 125ml dariole moulds and spoon in the mixture, tapping the moulds to avoid air pockets. Chill in the fridge until firmly set - about 4 hours.

Chocolate Chilli Soup

150ml double cream
200g good-quality dark chocolate
4 tbsp brandy

2 tbs cocoa powder

2 long red chilli finely sliced

Put the cream in a saucepan over a medium heat and gently bring to the boil. Meanwhile, chop the chocolate into small pieces using a heavy knife.
Once the cream is just boiling, turn off the heat and throw in the chopped chocolate and the cocoa powder and chilli. Stir gently until completely smooth, then add brandy. Let all ingredients sit and combine for 30 minutes. Strain soup through a sieve to remove chilli.

Place bavarois on plate and then pour soup around. 

Are we there yet?

We are getting close to the end of the alphabet in our #abcmeals challenge and are now talking about going in reverse and each doing the letters we haven't done before.  That seems like a good idea until I start thinking about all the yummy stuff that has been cooked for me, and that then I will have to use different ingredients for with the same letters.  Eeeeekkk!  One thing is for sure though, when we get to 'V' again, there'll no doubt be a whole plate of vegetables again, just like I did.  And if there's not vodka again, then look out!  The whole 'V' themed menu was this: vodka cocktails (ie Cosmopolitans!), with vintage cheddar; Veal fillet with veges; and Red Velvet Cupcakes.  Not too shabby for a crazy Wednesday night, if I do say so myself.

Thanks to Donna Hay for the inspiration for the easy veal fillet and veges.  All you do is seal the fillet in a hot frypan for 3 - 4 minutes each side, then spread dijon mustard on it and bake it in the oven for 7 - 10 minutes (or to your liking).  Bring it out, let it rest and roll it in chopped herbs (parsley and chives).  Slice it up and you're done.  This is an easy way to add colour, texture and different flavours to meat.  You could also do the same thing with pork, hummus and dukkah. 

"U" can't go past the United Kingdom for "U"

Udon noodles were the only thing I could come up with for a "U" ingredient. I'm sure there are others but for the first week back at work my brain wasn't really thinking to hard for "U" ingredients. My plans went for a country or Kingdom and settled on the United Kingdom.
As we are presently going through a cold snap, what a perfect time for a hearty soup. Entree: Tick.
As we are presently going through a cold snap, what a perfect time for a Roast n veg. Mains : Tick.
As we are presently going through a cold snap, what a perfect time for a hot pudding. Dessert: Tick.

Bubble and Squeak Soup.

30g unsalted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, white part only,
thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 litre (4 cups) good-quality
chicken stock
2 potatoes, chopped
300g brussels sprouts,
thinly sliced
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
½ cup (125ml) pure (thin) cream,
plus extra to serve
6 bacon rashers
Croutons, to serve


1. Season, then add nutmeg. Cool slightly, then in batches, blend until smooth. Return soup to the pan over low heat. Add cream and stir.

2. Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook, turning, for 4-5 minutes until crisp. Drain on paper towel, cool slightly, then roughly chop.

3. Divide the soup among 6 serving bowls and drizzle with extra cream. Garnish with bacon, croutons and brussels sprouts leaves, if desired, then season and serve immediately.

Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding and Ale Gravy

4-rib beef roast with top flap (about 1.5kg), bones trimmed
1 onion, thickly sliced
Olive oil, to brush
1 1/2 teaspoons plain flour

YORKSHIRE PUDDINGS
1 cup plain flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons melted fat from the beef

Ale Gravy

1.5 cups beef stock

1.5 cups mild English light ale

2 tbs redcurrant jelly

2 tbs plain flour


Preheat oven to 230C. Calculate the beef cooking time by allowing 30 minutes to brown, then 10 minutes per 500g for very rare, 12 minutes for medium and 20 minutes for well done. Put the onion slices in the centre of a baking tray.

Rub the beef with oil and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Place the onion in a roasting pan and sit the beef on top, then roast on the middle rack of the oven for 30 minutes to brown the meat well. Reduce heat to 160C. Continue to roast for the calculated cooking times (1 hour 20 minutes for very rare for a 4kg 4-rib beef roast).

Remove beef from the oven. Lift on to a board, loosely cover with foil and rest for 30 minutes.

To make the Yorkshire puddings: Place the flour and 1 teaspoon salt in the bowl of a food processor and whiz a few times. Add eggs, milk and 100ml water and process until smooth. Set aside for 30 minutes. While the beef is resting, turn the oven up to 220C.

Divide the fat between 8 muffin tins. Place tins in the oven for 5 minutes, then carefully remove and quickly pour in the batter.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes until puffed and golden. Serve immediately. Meanwhile, place the roasting pan on the stove over medium heat.

If the onion isn’t already caramelised, cook for a further 2-3 minutes until caramelised. Sprinkle in the flour, stir well, then add beer, stock, jelly and any beef resting juices. Scrape base of the pan with a wooden spoon to release cooking juices.  Stirring, for 4-5 minutes until reduced to a well flavoured gravy. Strain into a clean saucepan. Uncover the beef and pour any juices into the gravy.

I served roasted veges with the roast beef, Flavoured with a few sprigs of thyme.

Sticky Date Pudding cake.

175g dates, pitted, chopped
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
75g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra to grease
150g light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
170g self-raising flour, sifted
2 eggs
Thick cream, to serve

Sauce
200ml cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
60g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons chopped pecan nuts

Preheat oven to 180°C. Place dates in a pan with 180ml water and bring to the boil. Add bicarbonate of soda and set aside for 15 minutes (it will bubble fiercely then settle down).

Cream together butter and sugar until pale. Add vanilla and 1 tablespoon of flour, and stir to combine. Add eggs one at a time, beating until smooth. Use a metal spoon to gently fold in remaining flour and stir in the date mixture (it may look a little curdled at this stage).

Grease six 250ml (1-cup capacity) dariole moulds with butter and pour in pudding mixture. Bake for 25 minutes until cooked through. Set aside for 5 minutes before turning out.

To make the sauce, mix ingredients in a pan over low heat until butter has melted. Cool slightly before pouring over puddings. Serve with cream.

Recipes by Valli Little

The luxury of time

Being on holidays gave me the absolute luxury of time last week to cook a three-course meal for lunch, on a Wednesday!  So we're up to the letter 't' in our #abcmeals challenge and there's not too many letters left now.  My first thought once again was straight to dessert.  There was no way I wasn't going to make tiramisu.  This delicious dessert is very easy to create, but can get a little messy when dipping and layering.  The main thing is to not dip the sponge fingers for longer than 2 - 3 seconds, otherwise they will fall apart.  Trust me on that - they will fall apart!

Tomatoes were key ingredients in the other two courses.  Beginning with an easy as pie (or should that be tart?) tomato tarte tatin.  Don't be scared of this, just find a small non-stick oven-proof frypan and deliciousness will be yours in less than 25 minutes.  It's nice on it's own drizzled with balsamic vinegar glaze.  Or you could serve it with a rocket or mixed leaves salad with a simple vinaigrette dressing.

Finally, the tagine I was given, as a birthday present 5 years ago, made it out of the box and onto the stove.  It is a Maxwell Williams 'Microstoven', that can go on my electric ring elements - yay!  Keep an eye out for this range if you don't have gas, as it will mean you can now cook the one pot wonders that go from stove to oven, or just stay on the stove, in things other than oven-proof frypans.

Tomato Tarte Tatin
1 punnet (250g) cherry tomatoes
20g butter
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp dried basil or oregano
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed 
fresh basil leaves

1. Preheat oven to 220C.  Slice tomatoes in half, season with a little salt and pepper - not too much!
2. In a small oven-proof non-stick frypan (10 - 13cm), melt butter and mix in vinegar and brown sugar, until sugar is dissolved.
3. Place tomatoes cut-side down into pan and pack them in tightly. Sprinkle dried basil or oregano over the tomatoes.
4. Cut a circle from the puff pastry big enough to lay over the frypan.  Place this over the tomatoes and tuck it in around the tomatoes.
5. Bake in oven for 15 - 18 minutes until pastry is puffed and golden.
6. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 3 - 4 minutes, before flipping onto a serving plate.  Garnish with torn fresh basil and serve with a green salad.

Apricot Chicken Tagine (Serves 4)

250g chicken breast, cut into large cubes
250g chicken thigh, cut into large cubes
1 - 2 tbsp harissa (to your taste)
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic, crushed or finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp chilli flakes (to your taste)
400g tin chopped tomatoes
125mL chicken or vegetable stock
50g dried apricots, quartered
200g tinned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 - 2 tbsp chopped parsley
flaked almonds, to serve

1. Place cubed chicken into a snaplock bag (or small bowl), add harissa and rub/stir to coat.  Allow to marinate in refrigerator for 2 - 3 hours.
2. Heat some vegetable oil over a medium-high heat, in the base of a tagine/casserole dish/heavy based frypan.  Add chicken and cook for 3 - 4 minutes, until sealed.  Remove from pan and set aside, leaving juices in the pan.
3. Add onion and cook for 3 - 4 minutes, until soft.
4. Add garlic and all the spices.  Stir to combine and cook for 1 - 2 minutes, until onion is coated and spices are fragrant.
5. Add chicken back to pan.  Stir to combine and coat with spice mixture.
6. Add tinned tomatoes, stock and apricots.  Season with salt and pepper. 
7. Bring to the boil.  Cover with lid, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
8. Add chickpeas and cook for a further 15 - 20 minutes, until sauce is slightly thickened.
9. Add chopped parsley.
10. Serve on top of cous cous, with flaked almonds and a dollop of natural yoghurt on top.

Tiramisu
5 eggs, separated
60g (5 tbsp) caster sugar
500g mascarpone
500mL espresso coffee
125mL Kahlua
1 pack (500g) savioardi sponge finger (biscuits)
cocoa

1. Beat egg whites until stiff.
2. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks with sugar, until thickened and lightly yellow (a lemony colour).  Add mascarpone and beat until smooth.
3. Gently fold 1/3 egg whites into mascarpone mix.  Gently fold in remaining egg whites.
4. Combine espresso and Kahlua, and pour half into a shallow bowl.
5. Lightly dip sponge fingers in espresso mix and line bottom of a 13" x 9" dish lengthwise, to form the first layer.
6. Spread top with half of the mascarpone mixture.
7. For the second layer, dip the sponge fingers in the espresso mix and lay out widthwise.
8. Spread top with remaining half of mascarpone mixture.  Dust with cocoa.
9. Refrigerate for at least 3 - 4 hours, or overnight if you start a day early. 



This is how good it looks if you can leave it overnight




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Simple Steak Satisfies Starving Stomachs

"S" dinner this week offered so many choices it was extremely hard to choose. During the planning phase, thoughts in my head were, "Oh I could do Seafood, Steamed this or that, Singapore noodles or a Satay this or that. I decided to go with a good piece of Steak for mains and a Steamed Syrup pudding for dessert. I had inspiration walking through the aisles at Woolies for entree, Cheese and tomato SALADA. AWESOME! with some Smiths crisps.

I was looking through some steak recipes online and found a Heston Blumenthal version of steak and decided to go with that. I have always known that to cook steak you leave the steak sit in the pan and NOT TURN it.
Here is what Heston had to say about cooking a steak: He says, "By flipping the meat every 15–20 seconds, the steak will develop a crisp, flavoursome exterior without being overcooked in the centre."
His steak comes with a rocket lettuce topping with a lemon, garlic and rosemary dressing.

Heston's Steak


olive oil
2 sirloin steaks, weighing approximately 400–500 g each
salt and black pepper
3 garlic cloves, peeled and bashed with the flat part of a knife or by hand
4–6 rosemary sprigs
2 strips lemon zest (use a vegetable peeler)
50 glemon juice (approximately 1 lemon)
60 grocket leaves
40g parmesan cheese shavings (use a vegetable peeler)
sea salt

Place a heavy-bottomed frying pan over a high heat, then add a thin layer of olive oil. Heat until the oil is smoking hot.

Season the steaks with a little salt and place them away from you in the hot pan for 15–20 seconds. Then turn the steaks over and fry for a further 15–20 seconds. Repeat this, turning the steaks, for 2–3 minutes. Remove from the pan and allow to rest on a wire rack, set over a plate to catch the juices, for 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and discard most of the oil (but don’t clean the pan). Allow the pan to cool for a few minutes, then pour in 120 g olive oil. Add the garlic and sprigs of rosemary to the oil. Rub the strips of lemon zest between your finger and thumb to release the oils, and add them to the pan too. Allow to infuse for 5 minutes while the meat is resting, then squeeze in the lemon juice.

Strain this dressing through a sieve and add any juices from the steak.

Slice the steaks thinly (5 mm wide) with a sharp knife. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and place on a serving dish. Spoon over half the dressing.

Mix the rocket leaves with the remaining dressing and place on top of the beef. Finish with the parmesan shavings and a sprinkling of sea salt.

Together with the steak I served a Potato bake.

Melted butter, to grease
1 x 300ml ctn thin cream
125ml (1/2 cup) milk
1.25kg sebago (brushed) potatoes, peeled, thinly sliced
2 large brown onions, halved, thinly sliced
100g thinly sliced prosciutto
60g (3/4 cup) finely shredded parmesan

Preheat oven to 170°C. Brush a 2.5L (10-cup) capacity ovenproof dish with melted butter to lightly grease. Combine the cream and milk in a saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes or until heated through.
Step 2

Arrange half the potato slices over the base of the prepared dish. Sprinkle with half the onion. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over half the cream mixture. Continue layering with the remaining potato slices, onion, salt and pepper and cream mixture.
Step 3

Cover with foil and place on a baking tray. Bake in oven for 1 hour or until potato is tender. Scatter prosciutto over the potato bake and sprinkle with parmesan. Bake, uncovered, for a further 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and the potato is very tender.
Step 4

Set aside for 15 minutes to cool. 

Steamed Syrup Pudding

1/2 cup (125ml) golden syrup
125g butter, softened
1/2 cup (100g) caster sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups (225g) self-raising flour
2/3 cup (160ml) milk
Golden syrup, extra, to serve
Ice-cream or vanilla custard, to serve

Grease a 4-cup (1 litre) capacity ceramic pudding basin. Pour the golden syrup in the base of the pudding basin.
Step 2

Use an electric mixer to beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition. Stir in flour and milk in alternating batches. Spoon the mixture into the pudding basin and smooth the surface.
Step 3

Layer a sheet of baking paper and foil together on a work surface. Fold a 3cm-wide pleat down the centre. Cover the basin, paper-side down, with the layered paper and foil. Secure with kitchen string. Roll the edges of the paper and foil up so they will not come into contact with the water while cooking.
Step 4

Place an upturned saucer in the base of a large saucepan. Place the basin on top then pour in enough boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the basin. Place over medium-low heat and cook, covered, for 2 hours or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from heat and remove the basin from the saucepan. Set aside for 5 minutes before turning onto a plate.
Step 5

Drizzle extra syrup over the pudding. Serve immediately with ice-cream or custard, if desired.

Revisiting some favourites

This week I cooked two of the first three 'R' things that came to mind - rendang (a curry) and rhubarb.  The third thing that came to mind was roast, of any sort.  I couldn't decide what kind of roast and in the end, the need for a good curry on a cool winter night won out. 

To start the evening, I threw together a plate of 'red' foods - roasted tomatoes, tomato and red capsicum pesto, peppadews stuffed with feta, a red chilli cheese and salami sticks. All washed down with a lovely dry French Rose.

I have previously shared the beautiful Spirit House Beef Rendang recipe and you can find it here.  I started making it two days ahead, as I knew I'd be short for time and you just cannot hurry a good curry.  So if like me, you're cooking it ahead of time, just do the first half (up to step 3), then let it cool, put the lid on the saucepan and put it in the fridge for up to two days before reheating, adding the coconut cream and finishing it off.  You could also freeze it at that point as well, saving you an hour of cooking time.  Thanks to my sister who willingly gave me a batch of the rendang paste, from her freezer, which made my job even easier.

The rhubarb was a no-contest decision.  It's strange how much the price of rhubarb fluctuates, even when in it's peak season.  The last time I bought it I was caught out as the price wasn't listed at the supermarket, and when I went to pay for it, I nearly fell on the floor.  This time, I bought it at the markets, so I knew what I was paying for it.  Donna Hay's Rhubarb Dumplings recipe uses such a massive amount of sugar - 2 cups - that you'd think you were making rhubarb jam! It is so sweet, that I think you may as well not have the rhubarb in there (especially given how much you've paid for it), With all that sugar, you end up with a red sugary syrup, and totally miss that unmistakable rhubarb taste and feel in your mouth.  In my version of the recipe below, I have cut her amount of sugar in half and added some Rose (wine) as it was cooking, to balance the sweetness.  You could definitely use even less than what I have written below, perhaps 3/4 cup.  You don't need to include the Rose either, I just was trying to balance the sweetness and it certainly helped.

Rhubarb Dumplings (Serves 4)
500g rhubarb stalks, leaves discarded (they are poisonous)
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
2 cups (500mL) water
Splash of Rose (wine)
Dumplings
1 cup (150g) plain flour
2 tbsp (30g) caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
75g butter, chopped
1/4 cup (60mL) milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
icing sugar, for dusting

1. Chop rhubarb stalks into about 5cm pieces and place in a medium sized saucepan.
2. Add water, sugar and a splash of Rose (wine) and stir to combine.  Place over a medium heat, bring to the boil, then allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes, until rhubarb is tender.  Remove from heat and set aside 
3. For the dumplings: place flour, caster sugar, baking powder and chopped butter into a food processor, and process until combined and resembling fine breadcrumbs.
4. Add vanilla and half the milk.  Pulse and add remaining milk, as it comes together into a smooth dough.
5. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface.  Divide mixture into small dumplings.
6. Divide rhubarb amongst 4 small (375mL) ovenproof dishes and place dumplings into rhubarb.
7. Bake at 180C for 20 - 25 minutes or until dumplings are cooked (test with a skewer).
8. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

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Q is for Quail, Quince and Quinoa

Q was a difficult one. I have never cooked with Quail or Quince before so I was definitely stepping outside of my comfort range. Quinoa was a must but what could I cook with it. Luckily there was a Toby Puttock recipe in the paper the week before "Q" for a Quinoa salad. I thought this would go well with Roasted Quail. For dessert I delved into the world of Quince, with a Donna Hay Roasted Quince. For starters I had some Maggie Beer Quince paste and Brie cheese with some Quackers.


Roasted Quail with Quinoa Salad
8 quail (cleaned and rinsed)
1 cup fresh mushrooms, chopped
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1⁄4 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon seasoning salt
3 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon spring onion, minced
1 teaspoon fresh parsley, minced
cooking spray

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160C.
2. Lightly rub all the quail, inside and out with salt.
3. In a large frypan, over medium heat, melt the butter and saute the mushrooms, breadcrumbs and salt until the mushrooms start to soften. Stuff the quail with this mixture.
4. Using the same frypan, make a roux by pouring in the olive oil and browning the flour in it. Then add the chicken stock, spring onions, red pepper and parsley to the roux. Saute the mix for about 5 minutes, until the onions are tender and sauce is glossy.
5. Next, spray a baking pan or large casserole dish with cooking spray and place the stuffed quail in it. Pour the sauce over the quail.
6. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes, basting 2 or 3 times during the baking process.
7. Serve two quail to a person.

Quinoa Salad

2 heaped tbsp low fat plain greek yoghurt

sea salt and cracked pepper

2 small handfuls of mint leaves, finely chopped

2 pinches of ground cumin

3/4 cup of quinoa

1 bunch of broccolini, ends trimmed and cut into 3cm lengths

1 bunch of asparagus, ends trimmed and cut into 3cm lengths

1 bulb of baby fennel

1 tbs of salted baby capers, rinsed and roughly chopped

1 small handful of dill, chopped

finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

1. Place yoghurt in a bowl and season with S&P.  Add half the chopped mint leaves and mix. Sprinkle with a pinch of cumin, then cover and refrigerate until needed.
2. Toast the quinoa in a heavy based saucepan over medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add 2 cups (500mls) water to pan, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside, covered for 5 minutes to allow the quinoa to absorb any remaining liquid. Transfer to a bowl and place in the fridge to cool.
3. Meanwhile bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and blanch the broccolini and asparagus for 1 minute, then drain and refresh under cold water to stop the cooking process. Set aside until needed.
4. Use a sharp knife to remove the stalks from the fennel bulb. Reserve the fronds and discard the stalks. Cut the fennel in half lengthways, then slice into thin strips and place in a bowl in iced water to keep it fresh and crisp. (Use a mandolin)
5. Remove the cooled quinoa from the fridge. Add the broccolini and asparagus, fennel, capers, dill, lemon zest and juice, remaining mint leaves and a pinch of cumin, reserved fennel fronds and a good drizzle of oil. Mix carefully so you don't bruise the herbs, then season with S&P.
6. Serve the quinoa with a dollop of mint and cumin yoghurt on top.

Roasted Quince (Serves 4-6)
1 lemon, juiced
1.6kg (about 4) quinces
2 cinnamon sticks
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
3 strips orange rind
2 cups (440g) caster sugar
2 cups (500ml) water
store-bought vanilla ice-cream (optional), to serve

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. 
2. Place the lemon juice in a large bowl of cold water. 
3. Peel the quinces and cut each into 6 pieces. Place the quince into the lemon water. 
4. Place the cinnamon sticks, vanilla bean and seeds, orange rind, sugar, water and quince in a large roasting tray. Cover the tray with aluminium foil and cook for 50–60 minutes or until the quince is starting to soften. 
5. Remove the foil, turn the quince and cook, spooning over the syrup occasionally, for a further 30–35 minutes or until the quince is dark red and caramelised. 
6. Serve with vanilla ice-cream, if desired, and drizzle with syrup.

Note: The quince will discolour quickly after the skin is peeled; hence placing in the lemon water until it's needed, helps to stop the discolouration.

P is for Procrastination

It's taken me three weeks to get to writing this post.  Now you might think that's a long time, but my co-conspirator on this blog didn't write anything for about two years!  So I think three weeks is ok ;)  I'll be better next time it's my turn, I promise.

The letter 'p' was amazing to cook with.  Once you start thinking about it, just about every second food starts with 'p'.  I was very spoilt for choice.  Dessert was a no-contest and decided about 3 weeks ahead of time - pecan pie.  I even found some popcorn ice-cream to go with it.  I haven't made pecan pie before, but have eaten many.  It really is quite a simple pie, just the pastry, pecans and the caramelly filling.  I've included the pastry recipe below, but you could use a shortcrust from the supermarket if you don't want to have a go yourself or if you are short for time.

Entree and mains took me a bit longer to decide.  The choices were endless - pasta, polenta, pork, pizza, pumpkin, porcini, pesto, pie, prosciutto and let's not forget peas!  I really could go on for about 4 lines with all of the 'p' foods I brainstormed.  In the end I went for a bit of a different entree - polenta pizzas, with 'p' toppings - pepperoni, peppers and parmesan, and passata, pancetta, pineapple and parmesan (good ol' Hawaiian pizza).  With the polenta you can easily buy the block in the supermarket and just chop it up, or make your own and let it set on a tray before cutting it up.

And so to the main, which was always going to be some sort of pasta!  But which one?  In the end potato gnocchi with roast pumpkin, prosciutto and the classic burnt butter and sage sauce.  Make your own gnocchi or buy the best you can.  Life doesn't get much better than soft, pillowy gnocchi.

To drink - Pimms, Pasito and Pinot Noir!!

Polenta Pizzas (makes approx 12 mini pizzas)
1 cup polenta
3 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp each dried thyme, oregano, rosemary, basil
Toppings of your choice!

1. Line a medium sized baking sheet with baking paper and draw out 5 - 6cm circles over it.
2. In a medium saucepan combine polenta, stock, salt and herbs.  Cook over medium-low heat, stirring continuously for 8 - 10 minutes or until very thick.
3. Spoon polenta into traced circles and flatten with a spoon.  Let sit for 20 minutes to firm up (or place in refrigerator).
4. Bake 20 minutes at 180C.  Remover from oven
5. Add toppings and rebake for up to 10 mins if necessary.

You can also use the premade polenta that is already 'set'.  Use a cookie cutter to cut it up, then slice each into thinner slices (about 0.5cm thick).

Potato Gnocchi with Roast Pumpkin and Prosciutto (Serves 2)
200g potato gnocchi
150g pumpkin
4 slices prosciutto
50g butter
8 sage leaves

1. Preheat oven to 200C.  Remove skin from pumpkin and cut into small cubes (smaller than the gnocchi).  
2. Place diced pumpkin on a lined baking tray and drizzle with some olive oil.  Roast for 20 minutes or until golden.  Don't let them go mushy though.
3. While that is roasting, bring a large saucepan of water to the boil.  Add gnocchi and cook until they float to the top, about 6 - 8 minuntes.  Drain gnocchi and keep warm.
4. Meanwhile, place the slices of prosciutto under a hot grill.  Keep a close on eye on it so it doesn't go from beautifully just crisp to burnt to a crisp - it happens quickly!
5. When the gnocchi is cooked, heat a medium sized frypan and add the butter (you may not need it all).  Once butter has melted throw in the sage leaves.  Swirl it around and allow the sage to crisp up and the butter to brown, about 3 - 4 minutes.
6. Add gnocchi to pan and swirl to coat in butter sauce.
7. Divide gnocchi amongst serving dishes, add roast pumpkin, pour sauce over and sage leaves.  Crumble prosciutto and parmesan over the top.

Pecan Pie 
Shortcrust pastry
200g plain flour
pinch of salt
125g chilled unsalted butter, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten

1. Combine flour and salt in a large bowl.  Add chopped butter.  Using your fingers rub the butter through the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre of the mixture.  
2. Combine egg and 1 tablespoon of iced water.  Pour into the well and mix with the back of a knife until dough comes together.  
3. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a 2.5cm thick disk.  It is a delicate dough so don't work it too much.  Wrap in plastic wrap and allow to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 200C.
5. Unwrap dough and place onto a lightly floured piece of baking paper (this will make life easier getting it into the tin).  Roll out the dough to a 30cm disc or to match your pie tin.  Line the base and sides of the tin with the dough and trim excess.  Refrigerate a further 15 minutes.
6. Line pastry with baking paper, fill with dried beans or pastry weights.  Bake for 20 minutes or until light golden brown.  Remove beans and paper.  Reduce oven to 175C.

Filling
50g unsalted butter
150g (2/3 cup firmly packed) brown sugar
150mL (2/3 cup) golden syrup
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
240g pecan halves

1. Place butter, sugar and golden syrup in a small saucepan over low heat.  Cook, stirring for 5 minutes until butter is melted and mixture is smooth.  Remove from heat and allow to slightly cool.
2. Add eggs and vanilla and whisk to combine.
3. Spread the pecans over the pastry base.
4. Pour the syrup mixture over.  Place on an oven tray and bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until filling is browned and cool to touch.
5. Cool in tin.  Serve with cream or ice-cream

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O ... what a night.

Having been slapped over the wrists for not posting sooner, my apologies. "O" was a very tasty letter as there were some very good options to choose from. My menu was a 3 course meal, soup for entree, salad for mains and a delicious cake for dessert.

French Onion Soup
This soup was made with a little bit of help from Heston Blumenthal and a little bit of help from Matt Preston. Heston wanted 7 hours of my time and Matt only wanted 1 hour. I compromised and went with 3 hours and shared recipes.

Grapeseed oil
1kg brown onions, peeled and sliced
2 star anise
30g unsalted butter
150g dry white wine
1 litre of beef stock
500g shallots
a slurp of red wine

Croutons
a few slices of sourdough bread
unsalted butter for frying
Dijon mustard
100g gruyere cheese grated
1tbs chopped chives

1. Preheat oven to 90C. 
2. To start, layer a thin layer of oil on the base of a casserole dish over a medium heat. and sweat the onions with the star anise until lightly caramelised (approx 15 min), stirring regularly. 
3. Add the butter and 25g of cold water, stir and put the dish covered in the oven for 3 hours (Heston says 7 hours and Matt says 1 hour. I put it in the oven for 3 hours)
4. After the oven time, remove the star anise and discard. Place the dish over a high heat and deglaze the onions with the wine. Allow to reduce until almost dry.
5. Add the stock and simmer for 20 minutes. Add some red wine if you want at this point and simmer for a further 20 minutes.
6. When ready to serve, fry the slices of sourdough bread in a little melted butter over a medium heat until golden and crisp. Spread each slice with Dijon mustard, then cover them with cheese and sprinkle with chopped chives.
7. Ladle soup into bowls and place slices of cheese topped croutons on top. Place under the grill until the cheese turns golden brown.

For the main course I returned to an old favourite, Orange and Poppy-seed salad with Spanish Pork. You can find the recipe at the following link. http://oitcfood.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/anyone-for-some-orange.html

Olive Oil Chocolate Cake

150 ml regular olive oil (plus more for greasing)
50 grams cocoa
125 ml boiling water
2 teaspoons best vanilla extract
150 g ground almonds (or 125g plain flour / 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour)
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 pinch of salt
200 grams caster sugar
3 large eggs

1. Preheat your oven to 170°C. Grease a 22 or 23 cm/ 9inch springform tin with a little oil and line the base with baking parchment.
2. Sift the cocoa into a bowl or jug and whisk in the boiling water until you have a smooth, chocolatey, still runny (but only just) paste. Whisk in the vanilla extract, then set aside to cool a little.
3. In another smallish bowl, combine the ground almonds (or flour) with the bicarbonate of soda and pinch of salt.
4. Put the sugar, olive oil and eggs into the bowl of a mixer and beat together vigorously for about 3 minutes until you have a pale-primrose, aerated and thickened cream.
5. Turn the speed down a little and pour in the cocoa mixture, beating as you go, and when all is scraped in you can slowly tip in the ground almond (or flour) mixture.
6. Scrape down, and stir a little with a spatula, then pour into the prepared tin. 
7. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the very centre, on top, still looks slightly damp. A cake tester should come up mainly clean.
8. Let it cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, still in its tin, and then ease the sides of the cake with a small metal spatula and spring it out of the tin. Leave to cool completely or eat while still warm with some ice cream, as a pudding.

Na na na na na na na na, naan bread!

It's finally getting cooler here in south east Queensland and that makes me think of one thing - curry!  My letter to cook with this week was 'N' and I could have been boring and cooked nachos, with all the usual accompaniments, but nooooooo!  Instead, I started the day before and cooked up a Northern Indian Curry and home made Naan Bread.  Whilst some of my friends (Elaine!) think 'Northern' Indian Curry is a cop out as an 'N' dish, I can assure you that I don't really care, because it was so delicious and for me, it was more about trying something new and making my own naan.  The naan was easy to make, easy to cook (on the pizza stone or I've heard some people use their wok), and it was most definitely easy to eat.  Of course, being 'N' there had to be nuts to nibble on, as well as Nutella, in the form of a baked cheesecake. 

Northern Indian Curry (adapted from Jamie Oliver)

Vegetable oil
1 large brown onion, roughly chopped
2 - 3cm piece of ginger, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped
2 green chillies, seeds removed, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 - 1 teaspoon chilli powder (or half cayenne pepper and half chilli powder - to your liking)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 cloves
2 cardamom pods
750g Lamb neck, cut into 4 - 5 cm chunks
2 x 400g tinned diced tomatoes
1 cinnamon quill
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
coriander, to serve

1. Heat some vegetable oil in a large casserole dish over a medium heat (on the stove). Add onion and ginger and fry for 10 minutes until golden.
2. Add garlic and green chillies, and fry for a further 2 minutes.
3. Stir in turmeric, chilli powder, cumin, coriander, cloves and cardamom. Cook for about 5 minutes.
4. Add lamb and toss to coat in all the spices. Fry until meat is sealed and starting to colour (about 10 minutes).
5. Stir in tomatoes, cinnamon and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer.
6. Cover with lid, reduce heat to low and cook for 1 1/2 - 2 hours or until meat is starting to fall apart. Stir periodically. You can also transfer the covered casserole dish to a 180C preheated oven at this point, and cook for the same length of time.
7. Remove lid and stir. If it's too watery, turn stove heat to medium, remove lid and allow to reduce for 5 - 10 minutes.
8. Sprinkle with garam masala and coriander leaves. Serve with rice pilaf. mint yoghurt and naan.

Notes

1. Buy about 1.25kg of lamb neck from the supermarket or butcher. As when you cut it off the bone there is quite a bit of waste.
2. You can start this curry the day before and stop at the end of Step 5, then cover and refrigerate overnight. The next day, remove casserole dish from refrigerator, stir and allow to sit on the bench for 10 - 15 minutes, before putting it on a cold element on the stove. Turn the element to low and slowly bring the pot up to temperature (so it doesn't crack!). Then let it cook away till the meat is falling off the bone, as above.

Naan Bread (makes 4)
250g pizza/bread flour
7g sachet (2 teaspoons) dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
100g natural or Greek yoghurt
90ml (3/4 cup) luke warm water
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
20g butter, melted
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

1. Mix flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add water, oil and yoghurt and mix well.
2. Knead for 4 - 5  minutes, until dough is smooth. It will be a bit stickier than pizza/bread dough.
3. Place dough ball in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for about an hour, until it's doubled in size.
4. Preheat oven and pizza stone to 250C. (Do this now so your pizza stone is piping hot when naan dough goes on.)
5. Divide dough into 4 portions and flatten out (by hand) into desired shape.  Sprinkle both sides with flour.
6. Place dough pieces onto preheated pizza stone and cook 4 - 5 minutes each side, until puffed and light golden. If you don't have a pizza stone you can use a preheated (15 mins) oven tray.
7. Combine melted butter and sesame seeds. Brush this over one side of naan once removed from oven.

Nutella Cheesecake
125g plain chocolate biscuits (I used Arnott's Choc Ripple)
60g unsalted butter, melted
250g philadelphia cream cheese
50g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
1 tablespoon plain flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150mL thickened cream
100g Nutella
50g hazelnuts, roasted, skins removed and lightly crushed

1. Grease base and sides of four small loose-bottomed (individual) tart tins.  Line the base with baking paper.
2. Crush chocolate biscuits to a fine crumb and add to melted butter.  Mix well to combine.
3. Press into the base of the prepared tins. Refrigerate for at 30 minutes or until firm.
4. Preheat oven to 140C.
5. Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar and flour for 3 - 4 minutes until smooth.  
6. Add eggs, vanilla and cream and beat 1 - 2 minutes until combined.
7. Add Nutella and beat 2 - 3 minutes until combined. 
8. Pour the cream cheese mixture over the chocolate base and smooth the tops.  Place individual tins onto a baking tray and bake for 50 - 60 minutes, until almost set in the middle.
9. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecakes in the oven, with door ajar for 1 - 2 hours or until completely cooled. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until set.
10. To serve: top with roasted hazelnuts, flaked chocolate and cream.

To make one large cheesecake, double the ingredients above and use a 23 - 24cm springform or loose-based tart tin.

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Moroccan Magic

I just love the flavour of Moroccan food. What an easy choice for the letter 'M'. The spices are just to die for, and the really good thing with this dish is that it doesn't have a long cooking time because the sauce is cooked first and then the meatballs are poached in it. Dessert was quite an easy choice as well, as Macadamias are my favourite nut. So dinner tonight was Spicy Kefta Tagine with Lemon and Macadamia Nut Mess.


Spicy Kefta Tagine with Lemon

The Kefta
450g finely minced beef or lamb (I chose beef as there was no lamb)
1 onion finely chopped
leaves from a small bunch of flat leaf parsley
1-2 tsp of ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp of ground coriander
1 tsp cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

To make the kefta, pound the mince meat with your knuckles in a bowl. Using your hands lift up the lump of mince and start throwing it into the bowl, this is so therapeutic after a hard day at school. Add the remaining ingredients and mix and knead together. You can also pound the mince as before by lifting up and throwing it into the bowl. Take pieces of the mixture and shape them into walnut sized balls. You should end up with about 16 kefta.

The Sauce
1 tbsp of olive oil and butter
1 onion roughly chopped
2-3 garlic cloves crushed
thumb size piece of ginger, peeled, finely chopped
1 red chilli, thinly sliced
2 tsp ground turmeric
leaves of a small bunch of fresh coriander chopped
leaves of a small bunch of fresh mint chopped
freshly squeezed juice of a lemon
1 lemon cut into wedges pips removed

Heat the oil and the butter in a tagine or heavy based casserole. Stir in the onion, garlic, ginger, and chilli and saute until they begin to brown. Add the turmeric, half the coriander and the mint, and pour in 300ml of water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 10 minutes. Carefully place the kefta in the liquid, cover and poach for about 15 minutes, rolling them in the liquid from time to time so they are cooked well on all sides. Pour over the lemon juice, season the liquid with salt and tuck the lemon wedges around. Poach for a further 10 minutes.

Sprinkle with remaining coriander and mint and serve with cous cous. I used pearl cous cous and flavoured it with shaved almonds toasted, coriander, chilli and garlic. I also used vegetable stock to cook the cous cous.

Macadamia Nut Mess

Meringue
4 egg whites at room temp
a pinch of salt
220g caster sugar

Caramel sauce
1 cup of brown sugar
small tub of cream

Vanilla Ice cream
Macadamia Nuts, chopped and whole

Preheat oven to 120C. Using a beater on high speed, whisk the egg whites and the salt to soft peaks. Reduce the speed to medium and slowly add the sugar in a fine stream to ensure it gets properly incorporated into the meringue. When you've added all the sugar, keep beating for a couple of minutes until the meringue looks thick and glossy. Lightly grease a baking tray. Line with baking paper. Dollop the meringue onto the trays in generous tablespoonfuls, leaving space between to allow for spreading. Pop in the oven for 20 minutes or until they have turned golden and crisp on the outside. Then turn oven off and leave in the oven to dry out.

Toast the macadamias under the griller or bylightly dry frying them in a frypan.

To make the caramel sauce put the brown sugar in a saucepan on a medium heat and add some cream. Add the cream in bits till you think that it is thick enough for your tastes - basically I just experimented with it, lol. Good luck.

To make the mess, I layered all the ingredients and drizzled the caramel sauce. Yummo and then add some more macadamias.

Enjoy.

All my favourites

I was totally spoiled for choice having to cook with the letter 'L' for this week's #abcmeals challenge.  A lot of my favourite foods begin with 'L' - lamb, lasagne, lemon, lime, leek, linguini (well any pasta really), lollies, limoncello, lemon lime and bitters, licorice, lemongrass, lamingtons, the list could go on and on.  Narrowing it down to two courses, manageable on a week night was a big challenge.  I settled on lamb, leek and lemon, but changed my mind so many times on what I might actually cook.  In the end I couldn't go past a classic lamb rack, which are honestly one of the easiest things you can cook.  For dessert I went with my new favourite tart - a No-bake Lemon Tart, which only requires four ingredients.  And of course we had real Lemon, Lime and Bitters to drink!

Rack of Lamb with Leeks and Potato Gallette
Lamb
1 whole rack of lamb, fat trimmed (3 - 4 cutlets per person)
2 - 3 fresh Rosemary sprigs
2 - 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1/2 cup good red wine (whatever you plan to drink when cooking and eating)

1. Place lamb in a large snaplock bag.  Add rosemary leaves and garlic and rub them into the lamb.  Add red wine.  Seal bag and allow to marinate in the fridge for at least an hour.
2. Heat an oven-safe frypan on a medium-high heat.  Remove lamb from marinade and place directly into pan.  Sear for 3 - 4 minutes on each side.
3. Place frypan into a pre-heated over at 180C and allow lamb to roast for up to 10 minutes - depending on the thickness of the piece and how you like your lamb cooked.
4. Remove lamb from frypan to a warmed plate.  Cover with alfoil and keep in a warm spot to rest for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Potatoes
2 Kipfler potatoes
80g unsalted butter, melted
1 - 2 garlic cloves, minced

1. Slice potatoes into thin discs.  If you use a mandolin for this, please make sure you use the guard so that you don't slice your finger tips!
2. Combine all ingredients.
3. Arrange potato in an overlapping circle on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
4. Season with salt and a little pepper.
5. Bake at 180C for 15 - 20 minutes, until potatoes are browned and starting to crisp up.

Leeks
1 Leek, white part only, sliced finely
80g unsalted butter
50mL cream

1. Place sliced leeks in a small pan with the butter, over a medium-low heat.  Allow them to gently soften and cook.  Add more butter if it's getting a bit dry, so that they don't burn.
2. When leeks are cooked add the cream and season with a little black pepper.

No-bake Lemon Tart
1 packet Arnott's Granita biscuits (250g)
125g unsalted butter, melted
2 cups lemon curd
500g creme fraiche or mascarpone cheese

1. Using baking paper, line the base of a 20 - 25cm loose-bottomed tart tin. 
2. Crush biscuits in a food processor and combine with melted butter. 
3. Press into the base and up the sides of the prepared tin.  If you use a smaller tin, don't overfill with the crust.  Instead use the remaining crust in mini tart tins or a muffin tin to make some smaller tarts as well.  No point in wasting it!
4. Refrigerate base for at least 20 minutes.
5. Combine lemon curd and creme fraiche.  Pour into chilled base.  Refrigerate for 1 - 2 hours.
6. Serve with fresh berries or lemon and lime wedges and a dollop of cream.

 Thanks to Cooking with Nonna for this recipe. 

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Kale, Kangaroo and Kiwi Fruit

It certainly was a week for 'K'. First off it was meeting the lovely Kylie Minogue on the weekend, then it was onto Dinner with 'K'. As the title suggests, I used kale, kangaroo and kiwifruit. I have never used kale or kangaroo before and I have failed with kiwifruit before. None of the recipes are tricky.

Kale Chips

1 bunch of kale - 1 green kale and 1 red kale
olive oil spray
chilli flakes
salt and pepper

Rip up the kale leaves and spray with olive oil. Lay out on baking tray and sprinkle with chilli flakes and salt and pepper. Bake in the oven at a low heat till the leaves become dehydrated crunchy.

Kangaroo, Parmesan Mash, and veg

2 fillets kangaroo
olive oil
salt and pepper
potato
parmesan cheese
broccoli
tomatoes

I marinated the kangaroo fillets in the olive oil and S&P for an hour +. Place the fillets in the frypan and cook for 8 minutes on each side. Place in oven at 180C for 10 minutes. To make some mash boil up the potatoes, mash them up and add some grated parmesan cheese.  Serve with some broccoli and slow roasted tomatoes.

Kiwi Ice
6 kiwifruit
1 orange
1 Lemon
1 cup of apple juice

Peel the kiwifruits and chop up. Squeeze the orange and the lemon into blender, add the pieces of kiwifruit and the apple juice. Blend up.
Freeze in a container in the freezer for a couple of hours - do not freeze firm.
Serve with some fresh berries.

Time to confess

Right, so we're up to 'j' in the #abcmeals challenge. I had Jaffas in my head all week, and then couldn't find any. I even considered going to the cinema in search of them, that's how desperate I was. My plan was to crush some up to put in the Jaffa Cake batter, but because of their scarcity we ended up substituting Darrell Lea 'Chocolate Orange Balls', which weren't red like Jaffas, were larger than Jaffas, but still tasted pretty much the same. I wasn't going to tell you they weren't actually Jaffas, but in the interests of full public disclosure, and because maybe you're a Jaffaholic and you have stashed them all at your house and you noticed in the picture that they didn't look right, I thought I'd better come clean!  If you're hiding all the Jaffas, please send me a pack - express post, please!

Anyway, what else did I rustle up?  Well, Jatz crackers of course.  With a throwback to their heady days in the 70's I came up with a few classic combos - roast beef and horseradish, pizza (salami, sundried tomato, feta, olive and basil) and the standard tomato and cheese.  To add to the 70's style starters I also julienned (because that starts with 'j') some carrots, it wasn't very good julienning - got to have something to work on.

In between those two delectable delights (whoops wrong letter), was a spicy cajun Jambalaya, which is a great one pot wonder. It probably ended up with a touch too much chilli powder, but you can't ever tell till you're about 5 mouthfuls in.  This would freeze well and indeed was delicious the next day for lunch.

To accompany all of this I whipped up some 'jam jar' cocktails - how cool am I?  These were just gin (which starts with a 'j' sound, bit of a stretch there I know), juice of half a lime, lemonade and mint.  Very refreshing on a hot Wednesday evening and helped negate the Jambalaya fire!

Jambalaya (serves 4 - 6)
2 - 3 chicken thighs, chopped into rough pieces
1 - 2 spicy chorizo, sliced
1 - 2 rashers of bacon, roughly chopped
1 brown onion, roughly chopped
1 red capscium, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 - 2 tbsp cajun spice (or make your own, see below)
400g tinned chopped tomatoes
350 - 400mL chicken stock
200 - 250g long grain rice
Parsley, to serve

1. Heat a splash of olive oil in a large fry pan (which has a lid) and add the chicken.  Cook for 5 - 8 minutes until golden.  Remove and set aside.
2. In the same pan, add the chopped chorizo and bacon, and cook through.  Remove and set aside with the chicken.
3. Using a small amount of the bacon and chorizo fat, in the same pan gently saute the onion until beginning to soften.  Then add the capsicum, garlic and cajun seasoning and cook for about 5 minutes.  Stand back when you add the cajun seasoning!
4. Add the chicken, chorizo and bacon back into the pan.  Add the rice and stir to coat it in the juices. 
5. Add the tomatoes and stock.  Stir well. Cover and allow to gently simmer for 20 minutes, until the rice is tender.  Add more stock if necessary.
6. Serve sprinkled with parsley and a flat bread and natural yoghurt in case it's too spicy!

NOTES:

• Cajun spice mix - 2 tsp each of sweet paprika, dried oregano and dried time, 1 tsp cayenne pepper or chilli powder (be careful!)
• Adjust the amount of rice and stock, depending on how many people you are serving.

Jaffa Cake
125g butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups self-raising flour
3 tbsp cocoa
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
zest of an orange

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C.  Prepare muffin tins with cases, or grease and flour a cake tin.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and creamy
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well in between
4. Mix the flour and cocoa together.  Add this alternatively with the orange juice and beat well in between each addition, to ensure it is fully combined.
5. Add the orange zest at the end and mix in.
6. Pour/scoop about 1/2 cup of batter into each of 12 muffin cases or pour mixture into a cake tin and smooth the top.
7. For cupcakes bake for 20 minutes, then lightly touch the to see if they spring back.  If they do then remove to a wire rack to cool.  If they don't spring back, then leave another 5 minutes and re-check.
8. For a large cake: bake for 45 - 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
9. When cooled, top with jaffa icing (below) and a jaffa.

Jaffa icing
These are rough measures, as I don't usually measure ingredients when making icing
2 tbsp (about 50g) butter, softened
1 - 1 1/2 cups icing sugar (possibly more)
2 tbsp cocoa
juice of an orange (about 1/2 cup or 125mL)

1. Place 1 cup icing sugar and cocoa in a small bowl.  Mix to combine, with a metal spoon.
2. Add softened butter and begin to mix again.  Add a small amount of orange juice and mix.  
3. Keep adding small amounts of orange juice until icing is desired consistency.  If you add too much, then add more icing sugar.

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