Happy 2013 everyone! Thank you for reading all my other posts in other years. I have a back catalogue to post. Namely, my Afghan recipe and that's about it. We have been cooking and discovering and changing, but I haven't taken any pictures and there's been nothing I can think of at the moment that is in need of a mention. In saying that, I have made gorgeous Chili Chutney, delightful Afghans and the Jerk chicken is marinating. There are plenty of interesting things to update you on.
And this year, with the time and direction we are going in, I feel like I'll be able to get in depth and personal about our food and cooking experiences.
This weekend we have rediscovered our favourite market and I think, with that, an appreciation of the food we cook. I am making sure we are eating 'Just Real Food.' And as many variations on that as you can expect 2 people to want to eat and enjoy, what I really want to take from that is that I know where my food is coming from.
I have never been a cake-out-of-a-box girl, but even more so now I want to cook from scratch. I want to get the fruit and veg that are in abundance at the market and make my jams and chutneys from real ingredients. Over the last 18months my body has shown me again and again that a "Paleo" diet is what it responds best to. I have lost and maintained the loss of 23kgs and am on the road, with a full 'Paleo' diet and exercise to lose the last 7kgs as well. It has also opened my eyes to a fabulous amount of alternative cooking and baking and I hope to share some of those gems with you. There are some things that prove a weakness still, and i can assure you with the help of the 'Gordon' challenge this year we will be exploring new ground and developing the classics. So join me if you will, take on a new recipe from Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course cookbook each month, one that we choose and let me know how you served/cooked/adapted it.
Let's get cooking everyone! Let's get eating!
xoxo
Sunday, January 27, 2013
A belated update... The Afghan biscuits! Deliciously Ugly
A few weeks ago, I’d like to think it was less than that but
it wasn’t, I made Afghan biscuits. And then never did the subsequent blog
update. Yes that’s right. I decided I needed to be more consistent with the
blog, and so I decided to bake. Marty suggested Afghans, I made Afghans, and a
month later you have the information. Whoops!
Now I didn’t know about Afghan biscuits until I moved to New
Zealand. And not many Australians seem to know them either. The recipe is not
wildly available on .au websites, but thank heavens for Edmonds Cookbook! I did
a little Googling so that I could impart some pearls of wisdom into the origins
of the odd name and the best I could come up with was that it was unclear and
unknown. I think if the Australians had invented them we would have had a name
with some curious etymology! Needless to
say they are a delicious chocolate biscuit that is low in sugar and isn’t made
with any dairy. Their sweetness comes from the addition of chocolate icing or
melted chocolate. They are light, with a melt-in-your mouth texture and have
cornflakes through them that add body and a little bit of crunch. They are not
by any stretch of the imagination pretty, but they are completely addictive and
delicious.
In fact, the first time I really got into eating them was
when I moved from hospitality into retail and the cafeteria at work sold them.
After 4 weeks of eating one per shift, my uniform started to get very firm and
I understood the need for moderation. I had to go cold turkey and only
sporadically eat these delicious mounds of ugliness. Needless to say, having a
box of them at home was a true test of willpower and after one lapse of concentration;
I decided I’d have to make them again when I wasn’t going to be around. I
inhaled about 4 in one sitting – but in my defence they were quite small. The
Edmonds Cookbook recipe says you make approximately 30, but at ‘normal’ size
biscuits I only got 20 out. I also did half the batch with traditional
chocolate icing – yummo! And the other half with melted chocolate as requested
by the Afghan man. I enjoyed the sweetness of the chocolate icing much more
than just the melted chocolate. I used good quality Dutch cocoa so the biscuits
were a bit bitterer than just using supermarket grade stuff, but Marty likes
his choccie bitter and dark so I see why he preferred the melted chocolate.
Regardless, they were a hit and I’ll make them again. I’ve
accomplished Anzacs and Afghans this year so now I’m on the hunt for a
traditional South African biccie. Ideas? Rusks maybe?
Here’s the recipe – enjoy making them, they are so easy!
What you’ll need:
200g butter – softened
½ Cup sugar
1 ¼ cup flour
¼ cup flour
2 cups Cornflakes
Chocolate icing to top
Walnuts to decorate
Makes approx. 20 normal size biscuits
What to do:
1. Cream
butter and sugar until light and fluffy
2. Sift
dry ingredients and mix in.
3. Fold
in cornflakes
4. Spoon
out mixture onto baking trays. Shape and make bake at 180deg for about 10-15
minutes.
5. Once
cooled completely, ice them and eat them!
Enjoy them.
Ciao
Friday, September 28, 2012
My new favourite thing to make...Biscotti
I have started to write my posts in Word first, and then
copy and save them to the computer as more than one has fallen victim to a
dodgy work internet connection. And I’m pretty sure I’m not allowed to a)shout
and swear as loudly as I’d like and b) throw the stupid computer against a
wall. According to Marty I’m never allowed to do b) so I throw the stapler
instead. Coincidently, I broke the stapler during one of these tantrums and it
didn’t staple properly for ages – it’s to be expected, but on a subsequent tirade
I fixed it again by throwing it even harder on the floor and it all bounced
back into place. This does not work for everything, but remotes and staplers
appear to respond well. I can also check my word count on Word, which is more based
on curiosity and some future references than anything else. I digress. I’m
going to tell you about my biscotti making experience. A highly enjoyable
experience to say the least and I think I’ll repeat it soon to see if I can get
it right twice. That is the thing about baking, getting it right every time, or
as in the case of my famous brownies, getting it better every time!
So, I found numerous recipes and then found one on www.taste.com.au that was only 4 steps and
had great reviews. It was to accompany a very chocolaty dessert so I needed
something that wasn’t too sweet or overpowering, and maybe had a slightly tart
fruit. And didn’t have pistachios. EVERY biscotti has pistachios (because they
look cool with the green – says Marty!)And pistachios are ridiculously
expensive shelled and time-consuming not. If you’ll remember the M’Hanncha from
a Christmas post I sat and shelled all the pistachios then. Not again. It was fine as I
was sitting outside drinking champagne, but I certainly had better things to do
this time. I thought, 4 steps, easy-peasy, I was warned of the time-consuming
nature of making biscotti but set to work anyway. It is time-consuming, but not
in any way different to making biscuits or baking a cake. When you bake a cake
you mix the ingredients, bake the cake, let it cool, ice it, decorate it and
then eat it. This is a whole day affair. Biscuits need to be made in batches
unless you have a commercial kitchen or oven. And biscotti needs to be baked a
second time.
We were having the dinner party in the evening, and had been
so thoroughly organised, that while Marty enjoyed rewatching the All Blacks
rugby game and then watching another game – Wallabies maybe? – I could get
stuck into the kitchen quietly and on my own. I did seek his professional opinion
through some of the process, probably only because he was there, but now having
made it myself I feel equipped to repeat the process and know what to look for.
I have become accustomed to attempting challenging recipes set out by Gordon (Ramsay)
and Jamie (Oliver) and both offer advice as to how things should look, feel,
smell, etc when they are at different stages. That’s the one thing this recipe
lacked, but maybe I can impart some of that knowledge. Ready for the recipe?
What you’ll need:
2 cups plain flour, sifted
1 ½ tsps Baking powder
½ cup dried cranberries
2/3 cup raw almonds, I chopped mine a little
½ cup caster sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
What to do:
1. Preheat
the oven to 160deg.2. Place 2 cups sifted plain flour in a large bowl with 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder (I sifted it all together), ½ cup dried cranberries, 2/3 cup raw almonds and ½ cup castor sugar. Combine and create a well in the middle. This will make it much easier to mix.
3. Add the 3 eggs and mix until well combined. It will be a dough, but not too dry. Mine was on the stickier side as it had been dry and I’d added another egg – Thanks Marty! I did need to add more flour as well. I also added 2 tsps of cinnamon to the dry ingredients and a little more cranberries.
4. Transfer the dough to an even work surface, lightly dusted with flour and knead with your hands until smooth. This did not take long. I had mixed everything quite well and didn’t want to over-knead it. Shape into a log and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Press along top of log to flatten slightly. Because of my extra egg my loaf spread as little. In the future I may half the mixture and make 2 smaller logs and they did spread during cooking. This made for lovely long pieces on biscotti, but they could have been smaller.
5. Bake for 30 minutes, remove from oven and cool.
6. Cut log into 1cm-thick slices, place on baking tray and cook for another 12-15 minutes until hard.
Yes, the recipe I’ve given you
is longer than 4 steps, but that’s because I’ve broken up a couple of the
steps. And I’m going to change step 6 completely!
I do not like my biscotti
thick and unmanageable. Left to Marty they would have been 1mm thick, but I
think mine were between 3-5mm thick. Perfect in my opinion. Not too thin to
break apart when used with the dessert and not to thick that you couldn’t bite
through them.
I did them in batches as the
slices need to be lain flat on the baking tray. I put them in for about
10minutes then turned the pieces over for another 3minutes. My oven has a hot
spot in the back left hand corner so the tray generally needs to be rotated
anyway. I think they were perfectly cooked!
Once cooled they were ready to serve. I loved them and
quite enjoyed these biscotti. Commercial
biscotti I often find over-sweet and this had a nice tang to it. My boss – not a
biscotti lover- actually rang me after I’d given her some to let me know it was
the best she’d ever had and I should think about giving up my day job – to baking.
Since I manage her store, I’m not sure if she was aware of the implications,
but suffice to say I’d love to spend my day baking goods and selling them! So
if you have a restaurant /café that want some biscotti I’ll make you a free
trial and you can buy it from me if you love it!
I thoroughly enjoyed my biscotti-making experience, and I’d
definitely do it again. I’d like to experiment with other flavours and
ingredients and see if there are any other recipes out there. If anyone has a
suggestion for me I’d love to hear from you.
Ciao
xoxo
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Carrot & Cumin Salad
Today I have a food hangover. Or maybe a wine hangover? Probably both. We were treated to the gastronomic indulgence that was a whole pig done on the spit at the Greek Deli last night. I haven't eaten rich food like that, in that quantity, for a long time, so that would explain the food hangover. I also probably won't eat like that again until Christmas, so it's OK. And it was so completely worth it. I love pork generally, but so often it's done to dryness and it doesn't meet expectations. This far exceeded expectations, was completely delicious and succulent, and the crackling was perfection.
So to keep my mind focused today, and make myself feel a little healthier I'm going to tell you all about my Carrot and Cumin Salad from Sunday. Coincidentally, this would have been a great accompaniment to last night's feast. I did alter the original recipe slightly, cooking methods, etc but nothing drastic. This is a very, very easy recipe and will be an excellent addition to the usual repertoire of summer BBQ salads, certainly will be added in our house. It comes from one of my favourite recipe books - The Simple Art of Marrying Food and Wine.
What you'll need:
6 medium carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp Ground Cumin
1 tsp Cumin seeds
Olive oil
100ml Orange Juice
A handful of coriander - if you love it, add more, if not go easy.
Don't scrimp on the orange juice. A good quality, real orange juice will add flavour and the stuff from concentrate is just plain bad for you.
What you need to do:
1. I used the food processor on the fine slicing setting to chop up my carrots. It meant that they weren't all exactly the same size, gave it a great rustic look and cut them finer and quicker than I could do by hand.
2. Add the olive oil to a hot pan - 4 tablespoons was recommended by the recipe - I used a couple of healthy lugs. Add the cumin seeds and ground cumin to the oil and mix. With the finished product I felt I could have added more.
3. Add the onions and cook on a medium heat for 4-5 minutes to soften but not colour.
4. Add the orange juice and heat that through, then add the carrots. Because they were so finely chopped they didn't need to cook for long. I like my carrots with a bit of crunch, and I was making a salad not mash!!
5. Add a little bit of water, season and cook for a couple of minutes until it's all heated through. Taste the carrots to see if they're the desired texture. If you want softer carrots, cook for a little longer. I cooked them for a couple of minutes and let the sauce reduce a little bit.
6. Take the carrots of the heat, strain the sauce from the carrots, back into the pan and reduce down till it's a little thicker and more syrupy. I think that took 2-3 minutes. Pour the sauce back over the carrots and mix through. Allow to stand and cool.
7. Once cool, add the coriander and serve at room temperature.
The whole process took about 15 minutes and I did it early in the afternoon so it could just stand and cool. I had it cold the next day out the fridge and it was just as lovely. In fact the flavours had matured a little as so often happens with food that has spices in it, and it tasted even better. One of those things that can be prepped the day before you need it.
Enjoy! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Ciao
xoxo
So to keep my mind focused today, and make myself feel a little healthier I'm going to tell you all about my Carrot and Cumin Salad from Sunday. Coincidentally, this would have been a great accompaniment to last night's feast. I did alter the original recipe slightly, cooking methods, etc but nothing drastic. This is a very, very easy recipe and will be an excellent addition to the usual repertoire of summer BBQ salads, certainly will be added in our house. It comes from one of my favourite recipe books - The Simple Art of Marrying Food and Wine.
What you'll need:
6 medium carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp Ground Cumin
1 tsp Cumin seeds
Olive oil
100ml Orange Juice
A handful of coriander - if you love it, add more, if not go easy.
Don't scrimp on the orange juice. A good quality, real orange juice will add flavour and the stuff from concentrate is just plain bad for you.
What you need to do:
1. I used the food processor on the fine slicing setting to chop up my carrots. It meant that they weren't all exactly the same size, gave it a great rustic look and cut them finer and quicker than I could do by hand.
2. Add the olive oil to a hot pan - 4 tablespoons was recommended by the recipe - I used a couple of healthy lugs. Add the cumin seeds and ground cumin to the oil and mix. With the finished product I felt I could have added more.
3. Add the onions and cook on a medium heat for 4-5 minutes to soften but not colour.
4. Add the orange juice and heat that through, then add the carrots. Because they were so finely chopped they didn't need to cook for long. I like my carrots with a bit of crunch, and I was making a salad not mash!!
5. Add a little bit of water, season and cook for a couple of minutes until it's all heated through. Taste the carrots to see if they're the desired texture. If you want softer carrots, cook for a little longer. I cooked them for a couple of minutes and let the sauce reduce a little bit.
6. Take the carrots of the heat, strain the sauce from the carrots, back into the pan and reduce down till it's a little thicker and more syrupy. I think that took 2-3 minutes. Pour the sauce back over the carrots and mix through. Allow to stand and cool.
7. Once cool, add the coriander and serve at room temperature.
The whole process took about 15 minutes and I did it early in the afternoon so it could just stand and cool. I had it cold the next day out the fridge and it was just as lovely. In fact the flavours had matured a little as so often happens with food that has spices in it, and it tasted even better. One of those things that can be prepped the day before you need it.
Enjoy! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Ciao
xoxo
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Some important dedications before we get onto the business of food...
I'm nearing the 5 month mark of no blog posts and that's a record I really don't want to hit! The reason for this spectacular laziness? None really, plenty of excuses, not many dinner parties and a thousand other details getting in the way. We did have a wonderful trip to Bali a month ago for my birthday that I will write about, but otherwise there's been different socialising and eating to stay trim and fit. Not that that isn't blog worthy, but there hasn't been much on the new and exciting front.
And then everything happens at once. We had a dinner party for the first time in ages and a few life events (that I'll get to) reignited the flame and here I am again with recipes, pearls of wisdom, and general stories to impart and entertain you with - and to keep me sane. I've found that without this regular blogging, or any of my writing really, my head gets too full of words and they either all come out at once or they get bottlenecked and can't make an appearance at all. A writers block if you will.
I digress. Let's begin at the beginning. The feast I'm about to tell you about is definitely the inspiration and body of this and the next couple of blogs, but there needs to be a dedication or 2 in here. In the last 3 months, 2 of my most important food mentors/teachers/guides have passed away. Both my grans. They both taught me very different skills but ultimately had the same set of knowledge. As I was preparing some of the dishes for Sunday night I got to thinking of their influences on how I cook and eat, and the skills they taught me in my day-to-day life. So this and any related posts are dedicated to Granny Fay and Nana.
Granny Fay, my paternal grandmother, passed away almost 3 months ago and she taught me all I needed to know in the craft department. I learnt to knit, embroider, craft, crochet and sew from her. I also learnt how to make chocolates for Easter and crackers fo Christmas. She was the Queen of the melktert or milktart, a traditional South African custard tart, that she was so good at she sold at a home industry and sold out within hours - after making 50 of them (or some such number). She taught me how to make delicious custard slices and sausage rolls from scratch, and every weekend I went to visit her was a new project. We would make something in the kitchen or be sewing something.
My strongest food influence and my biggest fan, Nana, passed away a couple of weeks ago. As my maternal grandmother her influence on what my mom cooked and passed down to me is obviously strongest. I can see it in the food traditions we have at Christmas and all year round. And some of my favourite dishes are ones that her or my mother would have or still do cook. And here's where I started thinking of her influence in my cooking. I was chopping onions to make the upcoming Carrot and Cumin salad and realised that this particular method of onion cutting was taught to me by her, in her kitchen in Old Belvidere, Knysna. I was sifting the flour for the biscotti and her advice to sift the flour 3 times to make sure the sponge cake was light and fluffy was as clear as day. I'm only sad she won't be able to read this and see that I still use those skills! After my grandfather had passed away, and while Marty was working nights, we had plenty of discussions while on Skype or the phone about cooking meals for 1 and how I often adapted bigger recipes for it, or the different storage methods. She was always interested in what we were doing and loved to read this blog.
I have no doubt over Christmas we will be having a few dishes that these ladies have always served up for our family, and hopefully we can start some new traditions of our own to carry on to our future generations along with these.
And now the feast. After a few fabulous dinner parties last year - particularily in BBQ season - and a couple where attendance was lacking, we decided to take a break and eat out a little more. You get stuck in the same dishes and menus when you don't eat out and experience new trends in food. We also had a fabulous set of guests to invite over who love food as we do and would appreciate something different. This was a feast! Quite literally a anti-pasti/tapas-inspired meal where we could enjoy unique flavours and dishes, but be able to pick and nibble and chat without too much hassle during dinner.
It consisted of -
A Selcection of olives
A selection of dips - namely basil pesto, salsa verde, garlic aioli, horseradish cream, tzatziki, yogurt, farmstyle relish and the list goes on
Cured meats
Smoked salmon
Bruschetta and fresh baguette
Tomato Salad
Chorizo sticks - cooked mild chorizo - YUM
Prawns marinated in garlic, olive oil, chilli and parsley
Carrot and cumin salad
Guacamole
Cucumber sticks
Fennel, radish, celery salad
There was also marinated lamb skewers and Portuguese chicken skewers but we never got to those because we were all full! I'll let you know what they're like because that's leftovers for the week!
And dessert....
Deconstructed truffles with homemade biscotti, nuts, cocoa and fresh fruit ~ a Jamie Oliver recipe.
The biscotti and carrot salad recipes and posts are to follow as they were the most interesting and not pre-bought or prepared. We have made the avocado salsa before and everything else was wonderfully easy. Wine flowed freely and I had a lovely Moscato from Montalto, Mornington Penisula to serve with dessert. A fabulous evening with fabulous company is all that one can ask for, but we got added inspiration and that's pretty great for the next few dinners! Keep reading for 2 awesome recipes...
Ciao for now
Helen
xoxo
And then everything happens at once. We had a dinner party for the first time in ages and a few life events (that I'll get to) reignited the flame and here I am again with recipes, pearls of wisdom, and general stories to impart and entertain you with - and to keep me sane. I've found that without this regular blogging, or any of my writing really, my head gets too full of words and they either all come out at once or they get bottlenecked and can't make an appearance at all. A writers block if you will.
I digress. Let's begin at the beginning. The feast I'm about to tell you about is definitely the inspiration and body of this and the next couple of blogs, but there needs to be a dedication or 2 in here. In the last 3 months, 2 of my most important food mentors/teachers/guides have passed away. Both my grans. They both taught me very different skills but ultimately had the same set of knowledge. As I was preparing some of the dishes for Sunday night I got to thinking of their influences on how I cook and eat, and the skills they taught me in my day-to-day life. So this and any related posts are dedicated to Granny Fay and Nana.
Granny Fay, my paternal grandmother, passed away almost 3 months ago and she taught me all I needed to know in the craft department. I learnt to knit, embroider, craft, crochet and sew from her. I also learnt how to make chocolates for Easter and crackers fo Christmas. She was the Queen of the melktert or milktart, a traditional South African custard tart, that she was so good at she sold at a home industry and sold out within hours - after making 50 of them (or some such number). She taught me how to make delicious custard slices and sausage rolls from scratch, and every weekend I went to visit her was a new project. We would make something in the kitchen or be sewing something.
My strongest food influence and my biggest fan, Nana, passed away a couple of weeks ago. As my maternal grandmother her influence on what my mom cooked and passed down to me is obviously strongest. I can see it in the food traditions we have at Christmas and all year round. And some of my favourite dishes are ones that her or my mother would have or still do cook. And here's where I started thinking of her influence in my cooking. I was chopping onions to make the upcoming Carrot and Cumin salad and realised that this particular method of onion cutting was taught to me by her, in her kitchen in Old Belvidere, Knysna. I was sifting the flour for the biscotti and her advice to sift the flour 3 times to make sure the sponge cake was light and fluffy was as clear as day. I'm only sad she won't be able to read this and see that I still use those skills! After my grandfather had passed away, and while Marty was working nights, we had plenty of discussions while on Skype or the phone about cooking meals for 1 and how I often adapted bigger recipes for it, or the different storage methods. She was always interested in what we were doing and loved to read this blog.
I have no doubt over Christmas we will be having a few dishes that these ladies have always served up for our family, and hopefully we can start some new traditions of our own to carry on to our future generations along with these.
And now the feast. After a few fabulous dinner parties last year - particularily in BBQ season - and a couple where attendance was lacking, we decided to take a break and eat out a little more. You get stuck in the same dishes and menus when you don't eat out and experience new trends in food. We also had a fabulous set of guests to invite over who love food as we do and would appreciate something different. This was a feast! Quite literally a anti-pasti/tapas-inspired meal where we could enjoy unique flavours and dishes, but be able to pick and nibble and chat without too much hassle during dinner.
It consisted of -
A Selcection of olives
A selection of dips - namely basil pesto, salsa verde, garlic aioli, horseradish cream, tzatziki, yogurt, farmstyle relish and the list goes on
Cured meats
Smoked salmon
Bruschetta and fresh baguette
Tomato Salad
Chorizo sticks - cooked mild chorizo - YUM
Prawns marinated in garlic, olive oil, chilli and parsley
Carrot and cumin salad
Guacamole
Cucumber sticks
Fennel, radish, celery salad
There was also marinated lamb skewers and Portuguese chicken skewers but we never got to those because we were all full! I'll let you know what they're like because that's leftovers for the week!
And dessert....
Deconstructed truffles with homemade biscotti, nuts, cocoa and fresh fruit ~ a Jamie Oliver recipe.
Ciao for now
Helen
xoxo
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
ANZAC biscuits...an appropriate baking experience.
Tomorrow is ANZAC day in Australia and New Zealand, so a more appropriate biscuit couldn't have been made. Having not grown up on these biscuits, they were a welcome and tasty discovery - along with Afghan biscuits, but that's a whole other set of ingredients ;)
I actually made the first batch of ANZAC biscuits a couple of weeks ago, I think I may have mentioned that over Easter. They didn't last longer than a day, BUT they were a deviation on the recipe. In my excitement I had forgotten a key ingredient - dessicated coconut - so I quickly sourced a recipe without coconut and kinda blended them. Home-baking at it's finest. The results were different. They tasted like a home-baked biscuit, and were actually quite nice and thin and chewy they way I like them, but they were something I had to get used to. This was the excuse I used to try at least 8 of them from the batch. In retrospect to these, I'd use a little more flour, and a little less butter as they spread quite a lot.
Here's the recipe I adapted:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
125g of butter
2 tbs golden syrup
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 160degC. Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Sift the flour into a large bowl. Stir in the oats and brown sugar.
2. Put the butter, golden syrup and tbs of water in a small saucepan (in the 2nd recipe I did this in the microwave). Stir over a medium heat until melted. Stir in the bicarb.
3. Pour the butter mixture into the flour mixture and stir until combined.
4. Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls. Place on the trays, about 5cm apart.
5. Press with a fork to flatten slightly. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. These were better cooked a little longer.
6. Set aside on the trays for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack so it cools completely.
So, yesterday. Yesterday was a grotty, wet day and it felt like baking was needed. There is something very homely about the rain pouring outside, biscuit mixture being mixed and the smell that wafts through the house as those babies cook to golden perfection in the oven. In fact, even as I'm sitting here reliving it in my mind for you, I wish I was at home in my kitchen whipping up biscuits and slow-cooked casserole, because the temperatures have plummeted and the heavens continue to open. Hopefully tomorrow will be much of the same and I can enjoy it cooking something delicious!
I had restocked the baking shelf after using up all the flour in last week's banana bread, and yes I had purchased the dessicated coconut to give the ANZAC biccies another go. The recipe that I'd originally got was off www.taste.com.au and had exceptional reviews, so I wanted to give it a try.
This is the original recipe, unmodified and it was a success! I think I'd use a little more butter the next time I make it because the mixture was a little dry, but not unworkable.
Ingredients:
1 cup (150g) plain flour
1 cup (90g) rolled oats
1 cup (85g) desiccated coconut
3/4 cup (155g) brown sugar
125g butter
2 TBS golden syrup
1 tsp bicarb of soda
(use either cup measures or weights with dry ingredients)
Method:
(as above)
1. Preheat oven to 160C. Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Sifter flour into large bowl. Stir in the oats, coconut and brown sugar.
2. Put the butter, golden syrup and 2 TBS water into a microwave proof bowl. Heat till melted (about 1min on a 1100W microwave). Stir till combined and melted. Stir in bicarb.
3. Pour the butter mixture into the flour mixture and combine.
4. Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls. Place on tray about 5cm apart and press with a fork to flatten slightly.
5. Cook for 10 mins or until golden brown (in my oven that was bang on 11mins :))
6. Set aside on the trays for 5 minutes, then transfer onto a wire rack so it cools completely.
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Enjoy!! This one is definitely going into the recipe journal. And with thousands of little scraps of paper being jammed into the recipe journal, maybe writing them out will be a fun job to do on ANZAC Day.
After putting these into the oven yesterday, and making a cup of Chai and Vanilla tea, I decided that we've done enough baking for a little while and it's time to get the chef to pull something out of the hat. Any suggestions let me know, but I think some savoury culinary beauties must be on the cards for the upcoming posts, don't you?
There is nothing that can quite compare to the smell of fresh biscuits baking, but slow-cooked lamb shanks or a beautiful, made-from-scratch tagine maybe able to put in some competition!
I'll keep you posted!
xoxo
I actually made the first batch of ANZAC biscuits a couple of weeks ago, I think I may have mentioned that over Easter. They didn't last longer than a day, BUT they were a deviation on the recipe. In my excitement I had forgotten a key ingredient - dessicated coconut - so I quickly sourced a recipe without coconut and kinda blended them. Home-baking at it's finest. The results were different. They tasted like a home-baked biscuit, and were actually quite nice and thin and chewy they way I like them, but they were something I had to get used to. This was the excuse I used to try at least 8 of them from the batch. In retrospect to these, I'd use a little more flour, and a little less butter as they spread quite a lot.
Here's the recipe I adapted:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
125g of butter
2 tbs golden syrup
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 160degC. Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Sift the flour into a large bowl. Stir in the oats and brown sugar.
2. Put the butter, golden syrup and tbs of water in a small saucepan (in the 2nd recipe I did this in the microwave). Stir over a medium heat until melted. Stir in the bicarb.
3. Pour the butter mixture into the flour mixture and stir until combined.
4. Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls. Place on the trays, about 5cm apart.
5. Press with a fork to flatten slightly. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. These were better cooked a little longer.
6. Set aside on the trays for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack so it cools completely.
So, yesterday. Yesterday was a grotty, wet day and it felt like baking was needed. There is something very homely about the rain pouring outside, biscuit mixture being mixed and the smell that wafts through the house as those babies cook to golden perfection in the oven. In fact, even as I'm sitting here reliving it in my mind for you, I wish I was at home in my kitchen whipping up biscuits and slow-cooked casserole, because the temperatures have plummeted and the heavens continue to open. Hopefully tomorrow will be much of the same and I can enjoy it cooking something delicious!
I had restocked the baking shelf after using up all the flour in last week's banana bread, and yes I had purchased the dessicated coconut to give the ANZAC biccies another go. The recipe that I'd originally got was off www.taste.com.au and had exceptional reviews, so I wanted to give it a try.
This is the original recipe, unmodified and it was a success! I think I'd use a little more butter the next time I make it because the mixture was a little dry, but not unworkable.
Ingredients:
1 cup (150g) plain flour
1 cup (90g) rolled oats
1 cup (85g) desiccated coconut
3/4 cup (155g) brown sugar
125g butter
2 TBS golden syrup
1 tsp bicarb of soda
(use either cup measures or weights with dry ingredients)
Method:
(as above)
1. Preheat oven to 160C. Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Sifter flour into large bowl. Stir in the oats, coconut and brown sugar.
2. Put the butter, golden syrup and 2 TBS water into a microwave proof bowl. Heat till melted (about 1min on a 1100W microwave). Stir till combined and melted. Stir in bicarb.
3. Pour the butter mixture into the flour mixture and combine.
4. Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls. Place on tray about 5cm apart and press with a fork to flatten slightly.
5. Cook for 10 mins or until golden brown (in my oven that was bang on 11mins :))
6. Set aside on the trays for 5 minutes, then transfer onto a wire rack so it cools completely.
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Enjoy!! This one is definitely going into the recipe journal. And with thousands of little scraps of paper being jammed into the recipe journal, maybe writing them out will be a fun job to do on ANZAC Day.
After putting these into the oven yesterday, and making a cup of Chai and Vanilla tea, I decided that we've done enough baking for a little while and it's time to get the chef to pull something out of the hat. Any suggestions let me know, but I think some savoury culinary beauties must be on the cards for the upcoming posts, don't you?
There is nothing that can quite compare to the smell of fresh biscuits baking, but slow-cooked lamb shanks or a beautiful, made-from-scratch tagine maybe able to put in some competition!
I'll keep you posted!
xoxo
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
The Quiche Pastry debate...Part 2
I've actually been knocked down this week with a stomach bug. It took everything out of me, and by Monday I still wasn't eating much. But, chef extraordinaire was out at a meeting and some dinner needed to be made. I had to attempt to eat it, considering I hadn't had anything solid since a sandwich at lunch time - it's done wonders for my diet (there is a hint of sarcasm there as I'd rather not have had the bug!) Cue some comfort food and the perfect opportunity to road-test the next pastry recipe.
As I've said time and again, the love of a quiche has got to be in it's ease. The filling and pastry had to be easy again this time because I wasn't feeling up to the challenge.
Here's the recipe:
1/2 cup oil
2 TBSP milk
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups of flour
pinch of salt
Beat it all together. Sift your flour, add the pinch of salt, pop the oil and milk in a well in the flour and beat with electric beaters and it makes an easy, crumbly base.
This time I chopped up heaps of broccoli and a little ham (leave out for the veggies and this is an easy meal for many!) I had in the fridge. I'd also bought a little bag of pinenuts and slivered almonds and threw that across the broccoli. Egg mix and in the oven. Now I overcooked this one a little. That could explain why the base was extra crumbly and a little drier than I liked. Marty also reckons that because I used oil instead of butter that would also add to the dryness. Next time, I'll pay more attention to the quiche in the oven and less attention to the TV and we'll see if it helps.
So, how did this rate:
Ease - 9/10
Flavour - 6/10
Overall - 7/10
A definite second choice. I did love the filling though and it's leftovers for dinner tonight, so maybe when my appetite has returned I'll enjoy it even more.
Let me know your ratings and which was better. Part 3 will be along in the next few weeks, don't want to be over-quiched!
xoxo
As I've said time and again, the love of a quiche has got to be in it's ease. The filling and pastry had to be easy again this time because I wasn't feeling up to the challenge.
Here's the recipe:
1/2 cup oil
2 TBSP milk
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups of flour
pinch of salt
Beat it all together. Sift your flour, add the pinch of salt, pop the oil and milk in a well in the flour and beat with electric beaters and it makes an easy, crumbly base.
This time I chopped up heaps of broccoli and a little ham (leave out for the veggies and this is an easy meal for many!) I had in the fridge. I'd also bought a little bag of pinenuts and slivered almonds and threw that across the broccoli. Egg mix and in the oven. Now I overcooked this one a little. That could explain why the base was extra crumbly and a little drier than I liked. Marty also reckons that because I used oil instead of butter that would also add to the dryness. Next time, I'll pay more attention to the quiche in the oven and less attention to the TV and we'll see if it helps.
So, how did this rate:
Ease - 9/10
Flavour - 6/10
Overall - 7/10
A definite second choice. I did love the filling though and it's leftovers for dinner tonight, so maybe when my appetite has returned I'll enjoy it even more.
Let me know your ratings and which was better. Part 3 will be along in the next few weeks, don't want to be over-quiched!
xoxo
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