A belle pâtisserie

Poached eggies

2011-08-20T20:39:00.000-07:00

Today I taught myself how to poach an egg. A saucepan of simmering water and a dash of vinegar is needed. The trick is to have really fresh eggs (thank you Julia Childs!) and to not let the water boil and stir it ever so slightly. I brought a delicious onion marmalade which I spread over some thick fresh bread. I fried up some tomatoes in olive oil, a dash of balsalmic and some crushed dried basil. And served them with my very perfect poached eggs. I cant believe they worked! Its very exciting.

Cherry Frangipane Tart

2011-06-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

When my sister and I were at school together, on chilly early mornings whilst waiting for the bus we would sometimes pool our lunch money together, dash across to the bakery on the other side of the road and buy a fresh warm berry and frangipane tart. It made those school mornings oh so much more bearable.

With all my spare time now (uni is finished for the semester) I decided to try making my own frangipane. The whole experiment turned out rather well. I decided to use morello cherries (i have been having intense cherry cravings this past week) but any berries would work.

Cherry Frangipane Tart

Ingredients:

1 quantity sweet short crust pastry
400 gm-500gm morello cherries
100g butter, softened
1/2 cup (100g) caster sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
drop or two of almond essence
1 cup (100g) almond meal
1/4 cup (40g) plain flour
Icing sugar to dust
Whipped cream to serve.

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius. Prepare the pastry to fit a 22cm round fluted tart pan with a removable base. Prick the base with a fork, bake blind in oven for 10 mins. Remove pastry weights and bake again for another 7 mins. Reduce heat to 180 degrees celsius.

2. To make the frangipane, beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add the egg, almond essence and yolk and mix well. Add the almond meal and flour and stir to combine. Spoon mixture into prepared pastry case and spread evenly. Press the cherries into the top of the mixture and press down.

3. Bake in oven for 30 mins or until the frangipnae is set. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Serve dusted lightly with icing sugar and whipped cream.

Soup.

2011-03-17T15:11:00.000-07:00

Spicy Tomato & Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

2tbsp olive oil

1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped

4 Cloves of garlic, crushed

1 small chilli

1tsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp fresh basil leaves, bruised and torn

400g tim of brown lentils, drained and washed

2tsp white wine vinegar

800g can of chopped tomatoes

2tsp tomato purée

Salt and pepper

2 litres vegetable stock - use good-quality stock cubes or powder

1 bay leaf

Gently cook the onion, chilli, garlic, basil and cumin in olive oil for 3-4 minutes until soft. Add the lentils, vinegar, chopped tomatoes, tomato purée and stock, season, add the bay leaf and bring to the boil. Simmer for 40 minutes stirring every so often, until the soup is a rich and thick consistency. If it looks too thick, add a little more stock and re-season if necessary.

Rhubarb Friands

2011-02-12T18:36:00.000-08:00

Friands are one of my favourite picnic foods, they are so buttery and crumbly and sweet. and this recipe is practically fool proof.

Friands

Ingredients:

200g butter, chopped
2 cups pure icing sugar
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 1/2 cups almond meal (ground almonds)
6 eggwhites
150g fresh fruit like rhubarb or berries
pure icing sugar, to serve

Method:

Preheat oven to 230°C. Grease twelve 1/2-cup capacity friand pans or muffin holes.
Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Simmer, swirling pan occasionally, for 4 to 5 minutes or until light golden. Remove from heat. Set aside for 15 minutes to cool.
Sift icing sugar and flour into a large bowl. Stir in almond meal. Make a well in the centre. Gradually add eggwhites, stirring constantly with a metal spoon until combined. Add butter and stir until well combined. Stir in berries. Three-quarters fill friand pans with mixture.
Bake friands for 5 minutes. Reduce oven to 200°C and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool in pans for 10 minutes. Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar. Serve.

Daring Bakers Challenge, January 2011.

2011-01-26T14:28:00.000-08:00

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog Accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

I have to say this was one of the most daunting challenges we have had so far. But once my ingredients and instructions were laid out before me it was surprisingly straight forward. The tricky part was deciding what to fill it with.

I chose to do a cocoa biscuit joconde imprime and settled on a simple pattern of stripes aroud the outside.

And swirls along the bottom. The stripes should have been thicker and the joconde biscuit was probably a little too thick for my liking but I was still pleased with the pleasing aesthetics of the end result.

To make the biscuit joconde and joconde paste you need a lot of eggs. Namely egg whites.

Joconde Sponge

Ingredients:

¾ cup/3oz Almond flour/meal
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons/ 2⅔ oz Icing sugar
¼ cup/ 1 oz cake flour
3 large eggs
3 large egg whites
2½ teaspoons/⅓ oz/ Caster sugar
2 tablespoons/ 1oz unsalted butter, melted

Method:

In a clean mixing bowl whip the egg whites and white granulated sugar to firm, glossy peeks. Reserve in a separate clean bowl to use later.
Sift almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, cake flour. (This can be done into your dirty egg white bowl)
On medium speed, add the eggs a little at a time. Mix well after each addition. Mix until smooth and light. (If using a stand mixer use blade attachment. If hand held a whisk attachment is fine, or by hand. )
Fold in one third reserved whipped egg whites to almond mixture to lighten the batter. Fold in remaining whipped egg whites. Do not over mix.
Fold in melted butter.
Reserve batter to be used later.

Patterned Joconde-Décor Paste

Ingredients

7oz/ 200g unsalted butter, softened
1½ cups plus1½ tablespoons/ 7oz/ 200g Icing sugar
7 large egg whites
1¾ cup/ 7¾ oz/ 220g cake flour
Food coloring gel, paste or liquid

COCOA Décor Paste Variation: Reduce cake flour to 6 oz / 170g. Add 2 oz/ 60 g cocoa powder. Sift the flour and cocoa powder together before adding to creamed mixture.

Method:

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (use stand mixer with blade, hand held mixer, or by hand)
Gradually add egg whites. Beat continuously.
Fold in sifted flour.
Tint batter with coloring to desired color, if not making cocoa variation.

To Assemble:
1. When you have both your mixtures prepared line a tray with greaseproof paper (a silicone tray is apparently best but I did not have one of these and mine turned out fine. Spread the paste into a fine 5 mm layer. This is the fun part where you can put your designs all over it. There were some really fabulous and crative ones this month. I used a chop stick but you can use anything really, knives, fingers, piping bags etc.
2. Put this into the freezer and freeze until hard approx 15 mins.
3. Pour the joconde sponge over the frozen paste (quickly as it will defrost fast).
4. Bake in a very hot oven (450F or 220 C) for 15 minutes or until joconde springs back when lightly touched. Cool.
5. Shape and mould to fit your mould.

I was so excited when it worked, dancing about the kitchen in my little apron but it just made everything look so much more professional. Deciding what to fill my mould with was actually the most time consuming part. I eventually settled on a thin and crispy hazelnut dacquoise, a dark chocolate truffle cake, that was soaked in esspresso and marsala. The next layer was a vanilla bean marscapone ice cream which I made from scratch and neglected to write down any ingredients or method. Believe me I am kicking myself. I had a sort of tiramusu theme going on here.

I then dusted it in cocoa powder, chocolate curls, fresh raspberries and slivered almonds.

This was an excellent challenge and I will definatley be using this recipe again.

Pea & Sweet Potato Risotto

2011-01-09T02:21:00.000-08:00

I tried this recipe the other night. I have always been a little put off cooking risotto, only ever trying tomato based ones and I have never been a huge fan. Until I tried this, that is. I saw Jamie Oliver on TV cooking a mushroom risotto and I was overcome with cravings I just had to try it. I used a basic Milanese risotto recipe and added peas & kumera for some different flavours. It is just delicious.

Pea & Sweet Potato Risotto

Ingredients:

4 C chicken stock
50g butter
1 Large sweet potato chopped into cubes
1 brown onion, finely chopped
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
1/2 Lemon juice
1 1/2 C arborio rice
3/4 C dry white wine
1 cup frozen peas
1/3 C finely grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

Method:

Bring stock to the boil in a covered saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to low. Simmer until needed.
Toss the sweet potato in some olive oil and balsamic vinegar and roast in 170 C degree oven until browned.
Melt butter in a large, heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion & garlic, stirring, for 5 minutes or until softened. Add rice. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add wine. Simmer until reduced by half. Add lemon juice.
Add 1/3 cup stock to rice mixture. Cook, stirring, until stock has absorbed. Repeat with remaining stock, 1/3 cup at a time, until liquid has absorbed and rice is tender.
Stir in peas, sweet potato, parsley and Parmesan into risotto. Set aside, covered, for 2 minutes or until peas are tender. Season with salt and pepper.

Christmas Dessert

2010-12-27T18:19:00.000-08:00

Every year our family has the traditional Christmas pudding doused in brandy and set on fire for dessert. This year we decided to for go this ritual and went for the humble Pavlova instead. I had never made a pavlova before and am not really the biggest fan. That was until it was my turn to make it. There were a few of us so I made a few adjustments and tinkered with the recipes a little.

I made one large traditional pavlova with lashings of thick cream and fresh summer fruits (mango, strawberries, kiwi fruit, passion fruit which smelt divine, sweet white peaches and blueberries). I made another but instead of cream I used thick strawberry yogurt (for those of us who are not fans of cream). To accompany the summer fruits pavlovas I made up a thick lemon curd, it also meant I could use up all the left over egg yolks.

For the last pavlova I made 3 thinner meringue layers with chocolate chips folded into the mixture and sandwiched them together with thick chocolate cream, so really it was more of a dacquoise than an actual pavlova. I topped it with lots of fresh strawberries, cherries, blueberries, blackberries and shaved chocolate.

Chocolate Cream For Pavlova

Ingredients:

100 gm dark chocolate
10 gm butter
2 egg yolks
3 tbsp caster sugar
500 ml thickened cream

Method:
1. Melt the dark chocolate & butter together in heatproof bowl over pan of simmering water. Let cool slightly. In seperate bowl over simmering water whisk together the egg yols and sugar until pale and thick. Fold into the chocolate mixture.
2. Whip the cream until thick and fold into chocolate mixture in three batches. Refridgerate until thickened, approx 1-2 hours. Use as a filler for meringue.

I had little Nina as my kitchen helper, absconding with the yogurt and a punnet of strawberries when she thought no one was looking. The rest of the time she was in between mums legs with her mouth constantly open like a wee little sparrow. Every so often we would pop fruit tidbits or broken meringue pieces in there and watch as she munched happily.

The old debate over who invented the Pavlova sprung up again during the course of dessert as it was bound to do with the New Zealand relatives and the Aussie ones mixed in together. There are several different theories and I could feel my loyalties being tested. Grandma settled the feud by flatly stating "well all new zealanders are liars". The dessert was apparently named after the ballerina Anna Pavlova, but she is neither Australian or New Zealand. So its hard to say.

Pavlova Recipe

Ingredients:

4 Egg Whites
1 C. Caster Sugar
1 tsp Vinegar
1 Tbsp Cornflour

Method:
1. Beat egg whites until stiff. Add sugar - heaped tablespoon at a time - beating well after each addition. Then beat for at least 10 minutes, until very thick and stiff. Then sprinkle vinegar, cornflour and vanilla essence into mixture. Beat until blended.
2. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Spoon out meringue into approx 18cm circle, do not make it too flat.
3. Bake in 120 degree oven for 1 1/4 hours. Turn off oven, leaving the pavlova inside with the door ajar to dry it out.
4. Cover with whipped cream and fresh fruit of your choice.

Raspberry & White Chocolate Cupcakes

2010-12-27T17:43:00.000-08:00

Raspberry & White Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:

125gm Butter
1/2 C Caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
1 c. Self Raising Flour
1/4 C Milk
1 Punnet raspberries
100 gm white chocolate chips

Method
1.Preheat oven to 170 degrees c. Line a 24 Patty pan tray with cupcake holders.
2. Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla essence together until pale and creamy. Break the eggs in one at a time beating well after each addition. Sift in half the flour and milk ad mix until combined. Repeat with other half of milk and flour.
3. Stir in, gently, the raspberries and chocolate.
4. Spoon mix into patty pans and bake in oven for 10-15 minutes until golden. Ice when cool.

Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:

100 g softened butter
2 1/2 C icing sugar, sifted
3-4 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
pink food colouring

Method:
1. Beat together the butter and icing sugar, and vanilla essence. Add milk to reach desired consisitency. Add in pink food colouring to reach desired colour. Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Decorate with sprinkles, iced flowers & other pretty decorations.

Birthday Macarons

2010-12-23T15:33:00.000-08:00

When in doubt of birthday cake serve macaroons.

I made raspberry cupcakes and pistachio macaroons for my birthday this year and the macaroons were easily the most popular.

Pistachio Macarons

Ingredients:

• 3 Cups shelled pistachio nuts
• 1 Cup sugar
• 3 Egg whites
• Sugar for dusting

Method:

•	Put the pistachio nuts in the food processor until ground but not pureed.
•	Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside
•	In a medium bowl mix the ground pistachio nuts, sugar, and egg whites.
•	Refrigerate for about 10 minutes. Drop the batter from a tbsp onto the cookie sheets, leaving 1/2 inch between macaroons.
•	Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degree C for 12 to 15 minutes or until light brown. For the ganache filling I just cut up 100 g of dark 70% chocolate and stirred it into 70 mls of heated up thickened cream.

Chocolate Mousse

2010-12-15T03:25:00.000-08:00

Sometimes all you crave is dessert. Rich chocolatey, velvety, amazing dessertiness. Yesterday was one of those days. Admitedly this mousse is so rich I could eat about a spoonful and a half before it defeated me. But it still hit the spot. My mother, a self confessed mousse hater even enjoyed it. I am providing two recipes which have worked for me. As far as mousses go though this one is not as bad for you as it could potentially be.

Chocolate Mousse

Recipe 1:

Ingredients:

100 g Dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids is best)
3 Eggs, seperated,
1/4 C. Caster Sugar
Dash of brandy or whiskey
2 Tbsp Freshly brewed coffee
200 ml Low fat cream ( lightly whipped)

Method:
1.Melt together the chocolate, coffee and brandy/whiskey until smooth. Over a pan of simmering water whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick. Add to the melted chocolate in two batches, folding in with a metal spoon.
2. In a dry bowl beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into cream and the fold into the chocolate mixture in three batches. Pour into individual glasses and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Recipe 2: (my favourite for the non-health conscious)

Ingredients:

200g dark chocolate, chopped (again use 70%)
15 g unsalted butter
2 eggs, separated
1/4 C Caster sugar
A healthy sized "dash" of brandy
2/3 cup thickened cream, whipped

Method:
1. Melt the chocolate with the butter until smooth over a pan of just simmering water, Do not let the bowl you are melting the chocolate in touch the water. Set aside to cool slightly.
2. In a seperate bowl over the simmering water whisk together the brandy, egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick. Add to the chocolate mixture. (I found I had to mix them together over the simmering water to prevent them from becoming too clumpy)
3. Whip the cream until thick. Fold into the chocolate mixture in two batches using a large metal spoon. Whisk mixture to remove any clumps of cream. Spoon into individual molds and refridgerate until ready to eat.

To serve I added fresh strawberries which were incidentally the best strawberries I have eaten all year, possibly in my whole life. So they made the whole dessert even more fabulous.

I had never really eaten mousse (or good mousse at least) until I moved into the flat this year. George and I tried it one day, completely cocked it up using budget chocolate (a big mighty NO NO in life), and yet it still tasted mouthgasmically delicious. So I have decided mousse is a pretty fail safe dessert. So long as your eggwhites (if using) and cream are sufficently beaten and aerated then you're sitting pretty.

I am thinking of serving this at a Moroccan dinner party, but spiced up with cinnamon and cardomen.

Ricotta & Tomato Tart

2010-12-15T01:32:00.000-08:00

From the garden to the home. Look at all the lovely fresh herbs Mum harvested from her garden. They are simply thriving at the moment. There is parsley, corriander, fresh oregano, sweet basil, chives and sage.
I decided to use a few of these in my adaption of Bill Granger's Ricotta & Tomato tart which is by the way, so delicious. His recipe also gives an amazing puff pastry to use, but I was pressed for time so I just used frozen puff pastry.

Ricotta & Tomato Tart

Ingredients:

1 Kg Roma tomatoes, sliced thinly
2 sheets of puff pastry
4 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp balsalmic vingegar
4 cloves garlic
2 C. Ricotta
1/4 cup of grated parmesan
2 beaten eggs
1/4 cup of natural yoghurt (you can also use cream but I prefer yoghert)
salt n pepper
pinch of nutmeg
Fresh herbs bruised and shredded finely
1 egg yolk beaten well

Method:
1. Slice tomatoes and sprinkle with salt, leave to drain for 5 mins.
2. Mix together the tomato paste, oil, vinegar and garlic. use as a base spread over the puff pastry.
3. Mix together the ricotta, parmesan, eggs and yoghurt. Add the herbs and beat well to combine. Spread ricotta over the tomato base on puff pastry leaving a 1 cm boarder. Fold the puff pastry to encase the filling. Brush the edges of pastry with the egg yolk.
4. Cover the tart with tomatoe slices and bake in a 190 degree oven until pastry is golden.

Serve with fresh garden salad.

Charlotte's Chickpea Soup

2010-12-11T23:51:00.000-08:00

Charlotte has come back from Bali with a little tan and a particularly bad case of tonsillitis which has given me the perfect excuse to keep making up bowls of coloured jellies and great pots of soup. One of her favourite soups is one of the easiest and tastiest soups I know how to make.

Chickpea Soup

Ingredients;

2 Cans of chickpeas (or 2 C. of chickpeas soaked overnight)
a sprig of rosemary
4 cloves of garlic
4 Tbsp Pasta sauce, (or diced tomatoes)
4 C. of chicken stock

Method:

In a large saucepan lightly fry together the garlic, rosemary and chickpeas. Add the tomatoes and stock.
Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes.
Laddle spoonfuls into a blender and puree until smooth. Add to a seperate saucepan. Repeat until all liquid and chickpeas have been pureed and added to seperate saucepan.
Reheat and serve sprinkled with paprika and corriander.

Wildfire

2010-12-06T16:58:00.000-08:00

This weekend one of my oldest and sweetest friends Pip had her 21st. It was a beautiful dinner party held at Wildfire on Circular Quay.

Ocean Trout cured with goat’s curd ‘cannelloni’, salmon roe, avocado and frozen cucumber

The food was rich and delectable.

Chocolate Marquise

After a few (literal) hiccups with flowers and buses everything seemed to go just perfectly. Pip has always thrown excellent parties. The service was excellent and we were constantly plied with wine and cocktails, we all mingled and chatted and shared embarrassing and loving tales of Pip over truffles and coffee.

Beautiful Sunday.

Ricotta Hotcakes With Blueberries

2010-11-27T21:59:00.000-08:00

It was a cold Sunday morning with rain lashing the windows. So staying in bed with a soft ginger cat purring at my feet, a good book and a plate of Bill Granger's ricotta hotcakes with blueberries seemed like the most brilliant plan. Being home and cooking in our kitchen again is so wonderful. I now have access to more fresh fruit, veg, and organic produce than I can stand.

Isn't he beautiful? He seemed to love these ricotta hotcakes as much as I do. And who wouldn't? They are wonderfully soft and fluffy. Drizzled in some lemon honey with fresh blueberries my tastebuds were literally dancing.

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups ricotta
3/4 cup milk
4 eggs, separated
1 cup plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
50g butter
honey with 1/4 of a lemon squeezed through it.

Method:

Whisk together the egg yolks and milk. Then whisk in the ricotta.
Sift in the plain flour, salt and the baking powder and mix until just combined.
Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold through the batter in two batches with a large metal spoon.
Melt portions of the butter in a cast iron fry pan and fry spoonfuls of the batter until golden brown on each side.
Drizzle in honey or other favourite topping.

Christchurch Breakfast

2010-11-27T19:40:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I have posted anything food related. My last few weeks at the flat were pretty basic, I lived off baked beans and bread and hardly cooked at all. Before coming home I stayed up in Christchurch with Ellie. As a farewell treat we went off to Drexels for a mouthgasmic breakfast. Waffles, blueberries, icecream, hashbrowns, bacon, bananas, whipped butter, fresh toast.

AMAZING

Farmers Markets Goodness

2010-11-27T19:36:00.001-08:00

My last weekend in Dunedin, Ellie and I went to the Farmers markets for some fresh produce and a breakfast of Gods. The famous Bacon Buttie. Two slices of fresh thick white bread, sandwiching thin crispy bacon, fried onions, mustard and corn relish. It was just so delicious, the best thing to break my bacon vow.

Daring Bakers Challenege, October 2010

2010-10-27T00:42:00.000-07:00

Blog-checking lines: The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

With exams and all the energy it takes to avoid studying for exams I found I was pressed for time on this challenge. I really enjoyed going through all the different doughnut recipes of the world and I had absolutley no idea there were so many. I decided to go with a simple yeasted doughnut and some beingets.

Yeast Doughnuts:

Ingredients
Milk 1.5 cup / 360 ml
Vegetable Shortening 1/3 cup / 80 ml / 70 gm / 2.5 oz (can substitute butter, margarine or lard)
Active Dry Yeast 4.5 teaspoon (2 pkgs.) / 22.5 ml / 14 gm / ½ oz
Warm Water 1/3 cup / 80 ml (95°F to 105°F / 35°C to 41°C)
Eggs, Large, beaten 2
White Granulated Sugar ¼ cup / 60 ml / 55 gm / 2 oz
Table Salt 1.5 teaspoon / 7.5 ml / 9 gm / 1/3 oz
Nutmeg, grated 1 tsp. / 5 ml / 6 gm / ¼ oz
All Purpose Flour 4 2/3 cup / 1,120 ml / 650 gm / 23 oz + extra for dusting surface
Canola Oil DEPENDS on size of vessel you are frying in – you want THREE (3) inches of oil (can substitute any flavorless oil used for frying)

Method:

Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. (Make sure the shortening is melted so that it incorporates well into the batter.)
Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside.
In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. It should get foamy. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm.
Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer (if you have one), combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.
Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.
Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes (for me this only took about two minutes). If you do not have a dough hook/stand mixer – knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky.
Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch (9 mm)thick. (Make sure the surface really is well-floured otherwise your doughnuts will stick to the counter).
Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) doughnut cutter or pastry ring or drinking glass and using a 7/8-inch (22 mm) ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 °F/185°C.
Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side or until golden brown (my doughnuts only took about 30 seconds on each side at this temperature).
Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.

I dusted these in just some cinnamon sugar. Before I could take any pictures someone sneaked down the stairs and gobbled them up, so I made a couple more this morning.

Beignets are french fried dough dusted in powdered sugar and are apparently very popular in New Orleans. (I first heard about them in the Disney movie, The Princess & The Frog). These were also really easy to make.

Beingets

Ingredients:

1 envelope active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (approx. 105°)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup evaporated milk
7 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, softened
oil for deep frying
powdered sugar

Method:

1.In large bowl, sprinkle yeast over the warm water; stir to dissolve and let stand for 5 minutes.

2. Add sugar, salt, beaten eggs, and evaporated milk. Whisk or use electric mixer to blend thoroughly. Add 4 cups of the flour; beat until smooth. Add butter; gradually blend in remaining flour.

3. Cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 4 hours or overnight. Roll out on floured board to 9mm thickness. Cut into 7cm squares. Deep fry at 180° for 2 to 3 minutes until lightly browned on both sides.

2010-10-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

Thick vegie lentil soup with wholemeal buns & apple coconut crumble for dessert. Delicious and enough to do for two meals. All it costs is $3.00, a smile and a resounding chant of

"Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna
Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare"

......Gotta love those Hare Krishna's.

Upstairs at the OUSA building is currently my favourite lunch spot. You get a large hearty vegetarian meal on eclectic mismatched plates that is usually enough to last for two meals. Everyone sits on cushions and randomly placed chairs and just chats away the lunch hour. Its tasty wholesome food that is completlety within my budget.

A Little Slice of "OH MY GOD"

2010-10-14T19:22:00.001-07:00

Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients

200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces(70% is the best)
200g unsalted butter, chopped
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Method:

Preheat oven to 190°C. Line a 5cm deep, 18cm (base) square cake pan with non-stick baking paper.
Heat butter, chocolate and sugar in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth. Transfer to a heatproof bowl. Set aside to cool slightly.
Add eggs and vanilla to chocolate mixture. Mix well. Sift flour and cocoa over chocolate mixture. Stir to combine.
Pour brownie mixture into pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until just set. Set aside to cool. Once cooled, lift out. Wrap in plastic wrap. Place into an airtight container. Stand for 1 day.

Salmon Kedgeree

2010-10-10T22:55:00.000-07:00

It has occurred to me that I have not posted a recipe in quite a while, but then again I have not been cooking too much recently. The flat has been kind of empty and I find that when I don't have people to cook for I hardly go into the kitchen. On top of that I have been a little stretched for cash recently and more than content to subsist on toast and baked beans, a tasty meal which comes to the wonderful price of $1.80, or two-minute noodles, a hefty $0.69.

I did however recently cook up a batch of Salmon Kedgeree using beautiful fresh pieces of Salmon George had picked up at the Farmers Market. I love this dish. I first tried it in Coffs Harbour at a friends place nearly 10 years ago and I have been cooking it ever since (or whenever I get the chance to cook with fresh salmon). You can use canned salmon but the stock is not the same and it changes the flavour.

This in a British dish with Indian influences and was traditionally served for breakfast. I love this dish so much that if there is any left overs I will happily eat it cold for breakfast.

Salmon Kedgeree

Ingredients:

250 gm basmati rice
750 ml water or vegetable stock
4 Salmon fillets
2 Bay leaves
25 grams butter
2 lemon slices
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 Tbsp mild Indian curry paste
1 Tbsp Ground tumeric
50 gm sultanas
50 gm cashews
2-3 boiled eggs, peeled and halved lengthwise

Method:
1. Bring to boil the stock, add the lemon slices, salmon fillets, and bay leaves and simmer for 7 minutes. Set aside the salmon and strain the stock, reserving 500 ml.
2. In a seperate, heavy based saucepan melt the butter and fry the onion and garlic. Add the tumeric and stir for another minute. Add the curry paste and fry until fragrant.
3. Add the rice and stir until glossy.
4. Add the stock and stir until boiling, reduce heat and simmer, covered for 15 minutes, until liquid is absorbed.
5. In the meantime flake the salmon removing any bones or skin.
6. Add the sultanas, cashews and salmon. Garnish with thinly sliced lemon and top with halved boiled eggs.

September Daring Bakers Challenge, Iced Sugar Cookies

2010-09-27T17:01:00.000-07:00

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

I had a bit of difficulty in trying to think about what September means to me. Nothing life changing, inspiring or amazing has ever happened to me in the month of September. It is a kind of "filler"month i guess you could call it. I settled on "spring" as a theme, not original I'll grant you but i do love spring.

Being a poor student who can barley afford a loaf of bread this month let alone amazing cookie cutters i settled on cutting out shapes in the dough with a knife. I got my flatmates to help me with this as they are far more creative (and dexterous) than I am. We made bees, flowers, George made a beautiful big daffodil and an apple tree and Tomas made the big blue caterpillar from Alice in wonderland.

The recipe for the cookies was a basic sugar cookie recipe. I had a craving for spiced sugar cookies so I added some powdered ginger and cinnamon to the mix.

Basic Sugar Cookies (provided by Mandy from 'What the Fruitcake):

Ingredients:

200g / 7oz / ½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
400g / 14oz / 3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose / Plain Flour
200g / 7oz / 1 cup Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar
1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
5ml / 1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Method:

1. Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavourings you’re using. Beat until just becoming
creamy in texture. Tip: Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during baking, losing their shape.
2. Beat in the egg until well combined. Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms. Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.
3. Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch) Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.
4. Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife. Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour.
5. Bake in 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4 oven until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.
Leave to cool on cooling racks. Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.

I iced them with a basic royal icing. The boys were really interested so I let them ice their creations. It took up at least four hours of our saturday but we had an awesome time. And the end result was rather delicious. We had a bit of a laugh that while other flats were out drinking and partying we were icing cookies....very hardcore.

Bannana & Choc Chip Muffins

2010-09-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

I made these muffins last night. The recipe yields about 15 muffins. I came down this morning to take some photos when the light is better and there were only three left. I take this to be a good sign that they are quite tasty. I used to make these for school lunches, easy and very very yummy.

Banana & Choc Chip Muffins

Ingredients

60g melted butter
2 eggs, well beaten
1/2 C. Milk
2 C. Self Raising Flour
1/2 C Caster Sugar
1 C Dark Chocolate Bits
2 Ripe bananas, mashed

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 C degrees. Grease a muffin tray. In a jug whisk together the butter, eggs and milk until well combined.

2. In a seperate bowl sift together the flour and sugar. Make a well in the centre and pour in the egg and butter mixture. Add the mashed banana. Gently mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. DO NOT OVERBEAT (otherwise you might get rock hard fighting muffins)

3. Spoon evenly into the tray and bake for 20 minutes.

Hearty Beef Stew

2010-09-01T17:53:00.000-07:00

Hearty Beef Stew

Beef Stew Adapted from Julia Childs.

Back in the harsher winter months Tomas and I made the most beautiful beef stew. We used free range beef, homegrown potatoes and fresh herbs. We looked over Julia Childs recipe as a guideline for cooking time and method but otherwise it was completely our own recipe. And it was a wonderful feeling when it turned out a success.

Ingredients:

2 Onions, diced.
3 Garlic Cloves, diced
2 Large Carrots, sliced.
5 Potatoes sliced.
10 mushrooms.
1kg of Beef steak (chuck, rump etc.) cut into chunks
125 ml white wine
2x 400g can chopped tomatoes
750 ml Beef stock
2 tsp thyme
2 bay leaves
1 tsp mixed herbs
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary.

Method:

1. Gently fry onions and garlic in a large, heavy based saucepan. Add the beef chunks and fry until browned. Add the herbs except the rosemary,and cook for a minute, until fragrant. Add the onions, carrots and mushrooms and cook for five minutes.

2. Add the white wine, bring to a boil and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Add the chopped tomatoes, stock, rosemary sprigs and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to very low and simmer, covered for four hours, stirring occasionally or until the meat is very tender.

3. Serve with steamed vegetables and cous cous.

The steak and potatoes we used for this was sent to Tom from Gemma’s farm up in Mot, so it was very comforting knowing that the meat we were using was free range and happy. The hunk of steak had been living in our freezer for several months and looked like a head in a bag. But it made the most amazing stew. The smells traveled throughout the house during the four hours we cooked it and making everyone practically salivate.This is a very comforting food and a decent recipe to use. Perfect for the winter months.

Sunday Brunch

2010-08-28T22:34:00.000-07:00

We had brunch today in the flat. It was cold and wet outside so it was lovely being able to snuggle back under the duvet until 10 o clock then tucking into a big stack of freshly made crepes with lemon and sugar or this delicious tomato salsa George makes.
He also made "everything" muffins which I have been snacking on all day.

I let tomas make a special pancake:
Which he naturally turned into an evil looking creature.

Crepes were one of the first things i learn't to cook. I would make them most weekends at home. Nothing was better than these with fresh real maple syrup or lemons off the tree. Since then I still try to make them fairly regularly. They are so easy, of very few and cheap ingredients and are pretty much just fantastic.

Brunch Crepes

Ingredients:
2 cups Flour
2 1/2 cups Whole Milk
3 Eggs
2 tbsp. Butter (melted)

Method:
Whisk together the eggs and flour. Gradually whisk in the milk 1/2 Cup at a time until all incorporated.
Melt the butter in a heavy fry pan and whisk into batter. Pour 2 Tbsp of batter into fry pan and swirl frypan around to thin out batter so that it coats the base of the pan. Cook for 60 secs then flip and cook for a further 20 secs.

Daring Bakers August 2010 Challenge, Ice Cream Petit Fours

2010-08-26T23:49:00.000-07:00

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of "17 and Baking". For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with "Sugar High Fridays" for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alasa or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

This was my very first Daring Baker's Challenge. Needless to say I was very excited. I had grand plans to do both the baked Alaska's and the sweet little petit fours but as so often can happen, life got in the way so I settled for just the Ice cream petit fours. I was at home in Australia during the month of August so I had a little more freedom in the kitchen.

A big thanks To Elissa for this entertaining and scrumptious challenge. I had never used brown butter, or beurre noisette before but I certainly will again. The aroma the brown butter gives off is cause enough.

I made the ice cream first, being fresh out of vanilla beans I decided to infuse the ice cream with cinnamon quills and some freshly brewed espresso.

The next step was to make the browned butter cake. The smell of browned butter was just intoxicating.

Brown Butter Pound Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

(275g) unsalted (sweet) butter
2 cups (200g) sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
1/2 cup (110g) packed light brown sugar
1/3 (75g) cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9”x9”
(23cmx23cm) square pan.

2. Place the butter in a 10” (25cm) skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk
solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the
butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed,
1530 minutes.

3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.

4. Beat the brown butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light
and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla
extract.

5. Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.

6. Scrape the batter into the greased and floured 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.

7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert rightsideup onto a cooling
rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Glaze (For the Ice Cream Petit Fours)

250g dark chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream
1 1/2 tablespoons Golden syrup
2 teaspoons (10ml) vanilla extract

Stir the heavy cream and light corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and add the dark chocolate. Let sit 30 seconds, then stir to
completely melt the chocolate. Stir in the vanilla and let cool until tepid before glazing the petit fours.

Assembly: To assemble the petit fours I cut the cake in half length ways and sandwiched with teh ice cream. I cut them into 4cm x 4cm squares and re-froze for a couple of hours. Some of them were left out and became a gooey ice cream mess but my dad managed to claim the plate and ate it all. The petit fours were a big hit and were almost demolished before I could get any decent pictures.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes

2010-08-25T02:09:00.000-07:00

I love slow roasted tomatoes with a passion. My aunt Mia makes them most Christmas’s to have with lunch. You can add them to pretty much every main. They are sweet and savory, juicy and full of flavour. They make any meal you put them with look so fancy and compliment basil dishes almost perfectly.

Method: Halve and quarter half a kilo of tomatoes, drizzle in olive oil, sprinkle with rock salt, ground black pepper, bruised roughly torn basil leaves, a crushed clove of garlic and a pinch of thyme and roast on low 100 oC for three hours.

Birthday Cake

2010-08-20T04:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my baby sister's 18th birthday. It is a sort of unwritten rule that I get to make the birthday cakes in our family and I wanted to make a really special birthday cake for Charlotte this year. I poured over cookbooks and food blogs for about a week trying to find some sort of inspiration. I found the idea whilst looking in a small Asian bakery. A chocolate mousse layer cake. I found a low fat mousse recipe and a decent chocolate cake recipe and just sandwiched the two together. The result was a beautifully rich, decadent cake of practically orgasmic proportions.

Chocolate Mousse Cake
Adapted from Taste.com.au & Super Food Ideas 2004.

Ingredients:

Chocolate Mousse -

1/2 cup boiling water
2 teaspoons powdered gelatine
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
4 eggs, separated
1/3 cup caster sugar

Chocolate Cake -

200g dark chocolate,
chopped200g butter,
softened1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups self-raising flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder

Method:

To make the mousse combine water and gelatine in a jug. Whisk with a fork until gelatine has completely dissolved. Stir in 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
Beat the eggwhites in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until meringue is thick and glossy. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
Slowly pour gelatine mixture into egg mixture (make sure mixtures are both at the same temperature before you combine them), beating constantly until well combined. Spoon mixture into two dinner bowls and refrigerate for 6 hours or until set and chilled.
To make the cake preheat oven to 160°C. Grease and line a 20cm (base) round cake pan. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.
In a seperate bowl beat butter, sugar and vanilla essence until creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Add cooled chocolate and mix well.
Sift in half the flour and cocoa powder into chocolate mixture. Fold half the milk into chocolate mixture. Repeat with remaining flour mixture and milk.
Spoon cake batter into cake pan. Smooth surface. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand for 15 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.
When cake is completely cool, cut into two layers. Pour half the mousse onto the first layer and place the second cake layer on top. Top with remaining mousse. Put cake into the fridge for another hour or two to ensure the mousse and cake set well.
Serve with fresh strawberries and thin white chocolate ganache swirls.

Music that makes it.

2010-08-17T17:45:00.000-07:00

When I bake and cook I love to have a little background noise. Sometimes I will put a movie on in the loungeroom while I am in the kitchen. Amelie is one of my favourites to listen too, I love the music by Yann Tiernsen and all the beautiful french voices. I can't understand it of course and because I can't see the telly I often have no idea what is going on but that it not important. I just love sounds.

My favorite thing to do while I am cooking is to just plug my ipod into the speakers, put it on shuffle and dance around in my little apron with a mixing bowl under one arm. I will often sing along too. Naturally i do all this when I am cooking home alone. I would never want to subject anyone to this. XD

One of y favourite songs to cook to at the moment is one by Florence & The Machine. I have had a love affair with Florence & The Machne for a year and a bit now but this one song is perfect to cook along with. Its not too fast (sometimes I speeed up if the song I am listening too has a really fast tempo) and her voice is just beautiful.

Another group that is featured heavily on my cooking playlist is Lovage - it is pretty much romance for your ears.

And some decent NZ cooking or baking (:P) tunes are from a spectacular band called Mamaku Project. My friend Olivia introduced Mamaku Project to me and I have been in love with them ever since.

Delicious lemon delicious

2010-08-14T22:49:00.001-07:00

Today was freezing, windy and cold, with the occasional flurry of snow. Perfect weather to serve up a hot bowl of lemon delicious pudding. I used the lemons we grew on our trees, there is something so satisfying about using foods you have grown yourself.

I love lemon delicious pudding. I first came across it in the flat. George made it one night and it took everyone by surprise at how easy it is to cook, and how heavenly it tastes. Lemon delicious is well named. It has a light fluffy sponge on top with a rich, thick curd underneath.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp soft butter
3/4 C Caster sugar
2 Tbsp Plain Flour
Grated zest & juice of 2 lemons
2 large eggs, seperated
1 C. Milk.

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees, Celsius. Mash the butter into the sugar then beat well until fluffy. Mix in the flour, zest, juice and egg yolks. Then beat in the milk.
2. Beat the egg whites stiffly, in a separate bowl, then fold into the lemon mixture. Whisk gently to remove any remaining lumps of egg whites. Divide mix between 4 oven proof rice bowls or ramekins.
3. Stand the bowls in an ovenproof dish with cold water that comes 1/3 C of the way up the bowls. Bake for 35 mins until songe is firm to the touch. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Serve: With fresh strawberries, blueberries etc. Yogurt or vanilla ice cream.

Pear & Raspberry Bread

2010-08-13T07:14:00.000-07:00

I love the smell of raspberries. They are tangy and sweet on the air as you bake. They are a perfect companion with pears as well. I found frozen raspberries are best for this recipe, but dont let them defrost as they hold their shape better while you are mixing when frozen.

Ingredients:

Topping -

1/4 C rolled oats
1/4 C brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
25 gm chilled butter chopped into small pieces

Bread

1 1/2 C Self rasing flour
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1/3 C raw sugar
1/3 C brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 C ground hazelnuts/walnuts or pecans
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten well
1/2 C Milk
1/4 C. Plain yoghert
2 Pears, diced
1 250 gm punnet of raspberries.

Method:
1. Preheat oven to moderate/180 degrees Celsius. To make the topping, in a medium bowl, mix the oats, sugar and cinnamon togther. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until well mixed and small clumps form. Set aside.

2. In a large seperate bowl, sift together the flour and the bicarb soda. Mi in both sugars, cinnamon and ground nuts. For this cake I used ground hazelnuts.

3. In a jug mix together the oil, egg and milk. Stir into the dry ingredients. Add the yogurt and mix again. Add the fruit and mix until just combined. Do not overmix. Pour cake batter into a greased 23 cm x 12 cm loaf pan and Sprinkle topping over mixture. Bake in oven for 45-55 minutes.

Lemon Meringue Pie

2010-08-13T01:14:00.000-07:00

Lemon Meringue Pie

Ingredients:

300g sweet shortcrust pastry
4 eggs, separated
1 cup water
Finely grated zest and juice of 3 lemons
1 cup sugar
15g butter
1/4 cup cornflour
1/2 cup caster sugar

Method:

1. Roll out pastry to 3mm thick and use to line a 24cm deep-sided tart tin. Prick the base with a fork and then chill for at least 30 minutes.

2. Heat the oven to 200°C. Line pastry case with baking paper or foil and fill with baking beans to blind bake for 15 minutes, then remove paper and beans and return pastry case to the oven for a further five minutes to dry out. Remove to cool.

3. Place the egg yolks, water, lemon juice and zest, sugar, butter and cornflour into a saucepan. Cook over a gentle heat for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring continuously until mixture thickens like custard. Remove to cool.

4. Spread lemon custard mixture into cooked pastry case. Place egg whites in a bowl and with an electric mixer, beat until stiff. Slowly add caster sugar a little at a time, beating well until thick meringue is formed.

5. Spread meringue over custard to cover completely. Bake at 200°C for 10 to 15 minutes, just until tips of meringue are lightly browned. Dust with icing sugar and slice to serve.

Fig, Ginger & Macadamia Cookies

2010-08-13T00:57:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

250 gm unsulted butter softened
1 1/4 C Icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tsp powdered ginger
2 C. Plain Four
1/2 C. Rice flour
1/3 C. Corn Flour
2 Tbsp milk
2/3 C dried figs, cut into chunks
1/2 C macadamia nuts, roughty chopped

Method:

1. Cream the butter, vanilla and sugar until light and fluffy. Sift in the flours and ginger spice in two batches then add the milk. Stir in the figs and nuts.

2. Roll out half mix oto lightly floured board and knead until smooth. Roll into a 25 cm long cylinder shape, wrap in glad wrap and refridgerate for approx. 1 hour. Do the same with the other half of the dough mix.

3. Preheat oven to 160 degrees and grease a baking tray. Cut 1.5 cm lengths of the dough roll and press lightly into a rounded shape, place on the tray. Bake the bisuits for 30 minutes or until lightly golden.

Lentil Soup

2010-08-13T00:24:00.000-07:00

Winter months. Months of woolen socks, boots, cream featherdown duvets, log fires, puddings, hot custard and stewed rhubarb, baggy unshapely jumpers, berets, long thick scarves, grey skies, crisp blue air, frosty mornings and steaming mugs of soup with crusty baguettes.

An amazing soup for cold winter months is Bill Granger’s Puy Lentil Soup. I absolutely adore lentils. The vegetarians meat. They are full of protein, a good source of iron, fibre, folate and vitamin B. There is no bad where lentils are concerned. And when used correctly they taste divine.

Before trying this recipe I had never heard of puy lentils. They are dark blue in their dried form and turn a brown colour when cooked. Unlike larger lentils they hold their shape whilst they are cooking.

Puy Lentil Soup

Adapted from Bill Granger’s Sydney Food

Ingredients:

50 gm Butter
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 C Chopped carrots
1 Spanish Onion
1/2 C Chopped Celery
4 Cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Small red chilli (I had to omit the chilli but it still tasted divine)
400g Tin Chopped Tomatoes
1 Litre Vegetable stock
2 Bay leaves
2 Tbsp fresh oregan0
A sprig of thyme
1/2 C lentils du puy
1/2 C chopped parsley

Method:

1. Melt butter and oil together in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add carrots, onion and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add celery, garlic and chilli and cook for a further 5 minutes.

2. Add chopped tomatoes, stock, bay leaves, oregano, thyme and lentils. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer stirring occassionallu for 30 minutes. Stir through parsley. Serve with crusty fresh bagutte or garlic bread.

The long and short of it

2010-08-12T20:48:00.000-07:00

Hello all.
This will be my second blog dedicated to food. I have grown bored with my first foodblog and felt the need for a change of scenery. I hope to grow this blog into quite the compendium of recipes, ideally for students studying away from home, or for anyone wanting something pretty and tasty to cook. I love cooking, it serves many purposes for me, and I put quite a bit of energy into it.
Hope you all enjoy reading
Much Love
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