winosandfoodies

Lemon Matcha Cookies Recipe

I've been a fan of @missesdelicious'  blog Delicious Days since...... forever.  Her banana nutella cupcakes are an all time favourite in our house.

A little late night reading in bed last week, I happened upon Nicky's lime matcha cookie recipe. Perfect for converting to a Thermomix recipe. Nicky's cookies are a variation of the matcha cookie recipe by   Kelli at Lovescool .

I replaced the limes with lemons. My cookies are not as green as Nicky's - the fault of slightly past the 'use by' date of my packet of matcha.

LEMON MATCHA COOKIES (adapted from Delicious Days)

INGREDIENTS

• 80g (3 oz) icing sugar
• 2 teaspoon matcha tea powder
• 2 lemons (Nicky used 3 organic limes)
• 150 g (5.25 oz) cold butter
• 1 pinch salt
• 200 g (7 oz) flour (plus a little more for rolling out dough)
• 25 g (1  oz) cornstarch
• 3 medium egg yolks
• 75 g (2.75 oz) sugar

METHOD

• Place icing sugar and matcha powder into Thermomix. Pulse a couple of times to mix.
• Wash 1 lemon and finely grate the zest.
• Cut butter into cubes and add to the matcha/sugar mix, along with the salt and lemon zest. Pulse a couple of seconds until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• Add the flour, pulse to mix in.
• Set dial to closed lid position. Add egg yolks. Knead about 10 seconds on Interval speed.
• Divide dough into two pieces, shape into a finger thick slab, wrap in Gladwrap and place in fridge for an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 170C (340F) or if using a convection oven 150C (300F).
• Line baking sheet with baking paper.
• Wash remaining lemon and grate zest finely, mix with sugar and place in a bowl.
• Dust work service with flour and roll out the dough to desired thickness. (Mine were about 0.5cm). Cut cookies out of dough.
• Roll edges in lemon/sugar mixture. Place on baking tray.
• Bake in oven until cooked through without browning. (10 - 15 minutes)

Here is an alternate Matcha Cookie recipe I have made in the past.

 

Chocolate and Pear Clafouti Recipe

Like I said last week, clafouti is my comfort food.  Usually I stick to the original  Julia Child recipe

My most recent clafouti was from a recipe by Jules at Stonesoup.  Her chocolate clafouti was delicious but I wanted a little more texture.

Chocolate and pear are a recognised food match. Who hasn't enjoyed the fabulous  Poire belle Helene created by Escoffier and named after Offenbach's opera, La belle Helene.   Jamie and Nigella have both been down the  the chocolate pear path.

Here's my chocolate pear marriage.

CHOCOLATE AND PEAR CLAFOUTI

INGREDIENTS

• 4 small pears
• 80 grams flour
• 80 grams sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup cream
• 1 cup milk
• 50 grams dark chocolate (I used Lindt 70%)

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 200C
• Grease baking dish with a little butter
• Cut tops off pears to use as decoration
• Peel and dice pears and place into greased dish
• Break chocolate into squares and add to pears
• Mix sugar and flour together
• Add eggs, cream and milk and whisk until blended
• Pour mixture over fruit and chocolate
• Bake in oven until cooked, about 35 - 40 minutes

Remove tops of pears

Peel and dice pears

Decorate clafouti with tops of pears

Delicious when sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with cream or ice cream

FULL DISCLOSURE -  The chocolate used in this recipe was sent to me by Lindt Chocolate.

Chocolate Clafouti

Clafouti is my comfort food.  Here is a chocolate version I made this weekend after seeing the recipe over on Stonesoup.

Cookie Wands for Parties

 

Over the years I made plenty of novelty cakes for the boys birthdays, and sometimes for their friends. I have made them all  - planes, boats, trains...even a hot hair balloon for one party.

If Kids Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse had arrived in my post box when my boys were tiny, I just know they would have wanted me to make the 3 D Fishbowl.  Just one of some great ideas  from Liv Hansen and Kaye Hansen,  the mother daughter team behind the Whimsical Bakehouse books.

This particular book received mixed reviews on Amazon, one that it repeated much from their previous book.  It was all new to me as it is the first of their books I've come across.  The majority of my readers are from North America, so the fact metric measurements are not included won't bother them.  Personally I'd like to see all recipes, in all cook books, in all measurements.

Not having any little kids around I got together with my son's fiancee (who also has no little ones around) and together we made the Magic wands, which she has shared with her work mates.

First make a sugar cookie dough

 

Roll out rested and chilled dough to 1/4 inch (61/2 mm)  thickness. Cut star shapes with a cookie cutter.

 

Carefully place a skewer into star

   

Bake cookies and cool them to room temperature.

Prepare the royal icing

 
Cover cookie with a layer of royal icing and dip cookies into sanding sugar or other candy decorations. Keep the bowls of  icing mixture covered with a damp cloth or plastic wrap to stop it hardening while not being used. Finish cookies  by piping patterns around edges with royal icing. Tie a ribbon around skewer below the star.

 

.....they look just as pretty without the extra piping

   

DISCLAIMER: I was offered this book to review from the publisher.

Pea Soup for Hay Hay Its Donna Day

Juls Kitchen, last months winner of Hay Hay Its Donna Day has chosen Pea and mint soup for the June event.

As I didn't have any mint I replaced it with garlic chives. It was so -so, I think I'd prefer it with the mint.

Pea Soup with Garlic Chives

• 3 cups frozen peas
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1.5 litres water
• 2 teaspoons vegeta stock
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic chives

Place the peas, potato,water and vegeta in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to the boil, cover and cook for 10 minutes or until potato is soft. Remove from heat, add the chives and blend soup with a stick blender.  Taste and add salt and pepper to season.

Serve with a dallop of sour cream and some chive flowers.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup Recipe

With winter days  around 22C (71F)  you would think soup was the last thing on my mind.  Summer or winter, I love my soups. I especially love my soups when paired with a toasted cheese sandwich for lunch.  I wasn't going to post this, until one of my  Project 365 buddies asked for it.

I don't use a recipe for soup, rather I just make it up as I go.

For this,  set the oven at 180C.

In a baking dish place 3 red bell peppers  (chopped into halves and seeds removed), 1 onion halved, 3 cloves garlic (unpeeled, but remove skins after baked), 1 carrot (cut into chunks), a couple of sticks celery. *

Roast for about 1 hour until vegetables are soft.

Remove from oven and throw the vegetables into the blender or Thermomix. Add about a cup of water and 1 teaspoon vegeta stock and blitz until smooth. Add milk or cream to achieve the right consistency and blend.

I have served it with a spoon of sour cream and a sprinkle of edible soil.

*UPDATE: I forgot to include the following step in the recipe. Drizzle vegetables with olive oil and sprinkle a little salt over before placing in the oven to roast.

Ginger Crunch Recipe

Over dinner many families discuss world events or politics. I imagine this week,  sport is being discussed at dinner tables all over the world. Our family dinner conversation is  films, music and computers. When we aren't talking  film, music and computers we talk about food. We talk about food so much, one of the boy's girlfriends commented on how much we talk about food.

Ginger Crunch came up in a family discussion recently. My children reminisced how I made it every week for their school lunch boxes. Sorry, but no, I didn't.  For many years I worked out side the home and didn't have time to bake. The Ginger Crunch came from the supermarket.

They insisted they remember me making it, because they remember I burnt the edges.  Amazing what a  six year takes with them into adult life. I trawled the depths of my memory and I do have a vague memory of burnt edges. So I guess I made it once and that is the memory they have carried with them. 

This week I made Ginger Crunch (from the Edmonds cook book)...... this time without burnt edges.

GINGER CRUNCH

BASE

125 g (4 ozs) butter

125 g (4 ozs) sugar

200g (7 ozs) flour

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 190C (375F)

Cream butter and sugar, add sifted dry ingredients. Mix together and press into base of a greased shallow tin. I use a 20cm x 30cm  (8" x 12") tin.

Bake 20 - 25 minutes and remove from the oven.

TOPPING

4 tablespoons butter

8 tablespoons icing sugar

4 teaspoons golden syrup

2 teaspoons ground ginger

Place topping ingredients in a saucepan and heat until melted. Pour over cake while hot and cut into squares before it gets cold.

Banana Cake Recipe

I don't think there is a household in New Zealand that doesn't have the famous Edmonds  cookbook in the kitchen drawer. It's not one of the pretty  books with enticing photos you display on the coffee table......or have on the bedside cabinet for dipping into late at night before you go to sleep.  I've never even put mine on the book shelf. It sits in the drawer and only sees the light of day if I want to make a banana cake or afghan biscuits.

It's a good basic cook book with traditional recipes. You'll find all your childhood favourites like afghans, lamingtons, melting moments, peanut brownies. It covers pastry making and preserving, pickles, chutneys,meat, vegetables. In fact everything you need to know is in this book. I should cook from it more often.

My copy is a bit battered, the back cover is missing and the rest is held together with a rubber band.

The banana cake is one of  those simple cakes you can mix up in a flash. Back in the '80's when I owned a little lunch bar in Auckland I'd make a couple of these every day. The original recipe suggests baking in two sandwich tins and filling with whipped cream. I bake it in one tin and ice the top with a butter icing.

BANANA CAKE

125 g (4 ozs) butter

175 g (6 ozs) sugar

 2 eggs

2 mashed bananas (or 3 if bananas are small)

1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

2 tablespoons boiling milk

1 teaspoon baking powder

 225 g (8 ozs flour)

METHOD

Grease a medium cake tin ( I use a 19cm springform pan)

Cream butter and sugar.

Add eggs, mashed bananas, then bicarb of soda dissolved in boiling milk.

Lastly add flour and baking powder, previously sifted.

Spoon into cake pan and smooth top.

Bake in a preheated 180C (350F) oven. Cake will take about 30 - 40 minutes depending on size of pan and how efficient your oven is.

Remove cake from pan and cool on wire rack.

Ice with 1 1/2 cups icing sugar blended with a tablespoon of softened butter and a little milk added to make a spreading consistency

Kumara Curry Recipe

I had never heard of  kumara  until we moved to New Zealand.  A roast dinner in New Zealand is not complete without a few kumara tossed in with the potatoes and roasted.  So much nicer than the sweet potato I grew up with in Australia.

Thankfully they are now available in Australia.  Although I  love them roasted,they also make a great soup. This week I discovered they make a quick and easy vegetable curry for lunch.

KUMARA CURRY (lunch for 2)

1 large orange kumara, peeled and cut into cubes about 2cm

1 tablespoon each of oil and butter

1 small onion, sliced

1 cup coconut cream ( I make my own in the Thermomix)

1 level teaspoon each of salt, tumeric, curry powder

Parsley for serving

METHOD

Melt butter and oil in medium saucepan

Add onion and cook until soft

Add kumara and cook a few minutes to seal with out browning

Add salt, spices and coconut milk

Cover with lid and cook until soft, about 10 minutes

Remove lid and cook until liquid reduces a little

Serve with crusty bread

Orange Cheesecake for Hay Hay Its Donna Day

Hay Hay Its Donna Day is back, overseen by  Denise at Chezus . This month, host Mardi at Eat.Live.Travel.Write has chosen Donna's Blackberry Cheesecake Pots. As blackberries are out of season in my neck of the woods  I replaced them with our new seasons oranges.

ORANGE CREAM CHEESE RECIPE

250 grams cream cheese

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup cream

zest of 1 orange

segments of 1 orange, pith removed

METHOD

With a blender mix the cream cheese,sugar, cream and orange zest until smooth. Chop half the orange segments and stir through the mixture.

Spoon into pots, decorate with orange slices and serve with a biscuit or cookie.

What I Did With My Second Bar Of Lindt Fleur De Sel Chocolate

Remember when I lost my Lindt stash? (di$claimer) Well, the lovely Sarah at Lindt kindly send me some more....and he's what I did with the bar of Fleur de Sel.

First, I made praline

Line a tray with baking paper

Over low heat  dissolve 1/2 cup caster sugar in 2 tablespoons of cold water.

Increase heat to high and bring to the boil.

Boil with out stirring for 5 - 7 minutes, or until mixture turns golden. I use a candy thermometer and take it to 75C. Remove from the heat and rest for 2 minutes.

Add 1/4 cup slivered almonds.

Pour onto prepared tray. Allow to cool, Break into shards.

Crush praline into small pieces. I used a stick blender.

Next

Break bar of Lindt Fleur de sel into squares and place in a heat proof bowl. Place bowl over hot water (Water must not touch base of bowl) until chocolate melts.

Place a little chocolate into small paper cases.

Add a layer of crushed praline.

Cover with a layer of melted chocolate.

Set in fridge. Remove paper cases and serve.

I'm still working on getting the ratio of chocolate to praline right. I think the top layer (which ends up on the bottom when served) should be slightly thinner.

But the salt of the chocolate goes fabulously with the praline. I'm not even sure fabulously is a word. But it suits.

Russian Tea Cakes Recipe - aka The Heroin Cookie

'Some nights, when I think no one is looking, I tiptoe quietly into the kitchen.  By the light of the moon,  shining through the kitchen window, I open the pantry door. Standing on tiptoes I reach into the back of the cupboard and take out the blue tin. Very carefully I remove the lid.   In the semi darkness, my fingers search the tin for one of the little white orbs.  I quickly pop it into my mouth. My eyes close and I learn back against the wall. Bliss. The cookie barely needs chewing. It melts by the warmth of my tongue. I lick my lips to catch any missing flecks of the sweet powdered sugar.'

Last week I decided to declutter my collection of recipes. I came across a cookie recipe  I'd printed off,  from Cath at  A Blithe Palate.

When I first stumbled across Cath's blog she was on a road trip in the Napa Valley with friends. Wine country. Friends. Road trip......my kinda person.

Cath has a way with words. She has the rare ability to take you places in your head.  Her visit to the British Museum had me on the edge of my chair, my heart pounding. 

I remembered her writing about how good these cookies were.  As  Cath will be in my 'hood next year,  I thought maybe I should trial them before she gets here. That way I could make them for her if  she is missing home.

......and the rest is history. Cath's Russian Tea Cakes will forever be known in our house as heroin cookies.

Cath's Russian Tea Cakes Recipe

1 3/4 cups (6 oz) almond flour (this is finely ground blanched almonds; alternatively you may use other nuts and grind them to a fine meal in a food processor)
2 cups all purpose flour
6 T sugar
8 oz unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 t vanilla extract
1 t salt

Confectioner's sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 325. (I cooked them on 180C)

Cream butter and 4 T sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla until combined, then reduce speed and add the flour, almond flour, salt and the remaining 2T of sugar.  Using a small scoop or two spoons, scoop a spoonful of dough and roll it into a 1 inch ball.  Place them on a lined baking sheet. 

Bake them until they are light brown, approximately 20 minutes.  At ten minutes, switch the cookie sheets between the racks and rotate them so they bake evenly.  Do not let them overcook or become too brown.  Remove from the oven and dust them liberally with confectioner's sugar.  Cool on a rack.

To store, keep in an airtight container at room temperature.

Read   Cath's post on these cookies . You'll love it.

Paella In The Park

The worst paella I've had was in Spain. It wasn't up to the standard of the Ritz Hotel Madrid  version of Paella.  I've never eaten at the Madrid Ritz, but I have been making their version since the day I found the recipe in a 1999 Vogue Travel and Entertaining.

To be fair, the one time I tried Paella in Spain, it was in the lone restaurant of a tiny, hilltop village in  Northern Spain. As far away as you could possibly get from it's birthplace Lake Albafura, a lagoon in Valencia on the east coast of Spain.

The original paella would have been a mix of rabbit or chicken and seasonal vegetables. Seafood is a recent addition to the paella pan.

This is a easy picnic version of my usual paella. The Ritz recipe uses ham, pork, chicken, prawn  and scampi. I've simplified it, by removing the meats and scampi, and adding chorizo with the prawns.  All the vegetables are prepared at home and  then put together in a paella pan, set over a gas camp cooker at the park.

PAELLA

INGREDIENTS

150ml olive oil

1 medium onion, peeled and diced

4 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

1 chorizo sausage, sliced

1.5 litres chicken stock (room temperature) When I make paella at home I add heated stock.

600 grams short grain rice ( I use a Calasparra rice from Spain)

3 lemons, quartered

a large pinch of saffron threads, and 1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped, ground together in a mortar and pestle

1 cup green peas (frozen are fine)

1 medium red capsicum, sliced

500 grams green prawns, peeled

METHOD

Heat the oil in the paella pan (mine is a 30cm pan) over medium heat. Fry the onions until soft. (about 5 minutes).

Add the tomatoes and chorizo and cook, stirring, for another 5 minutes.

Add the stock and bring to the boil.

Sprinkle in the rice, stir and return to the boil.

Add the garlic and saffron mixture to the simmering stock.

Add the peas, red capsicum and prawns. Stir to mix.

Cook over high heat for 8 minutes.

Reduce heat to low and cook a further 10 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and rest for 5 minutes. Serve with lemon.

Pomegranate Memories For Cooking To Combat Cancer

You know how some days are etched in your mind. You may not remember everything about it, but something stands out to keep the memory of that day alive for the rest of your life.

This was one of those days. I was about 9, we were traveling home to Margaret River after a visit to my Grandmother in Perth. On the way we drove off the highway to visit my Grandfather, who was looking after a North Dandalup farm for his friends, while they took a holiday. 

The house was your typical farm cottage of the fifties. A few steps up to a front verandah, into a hallway with sitting room on left, main bedroom on right, big kitchen at the end of the hall way and a door out to the back verandah and bathroom and usually a lavatory built at least 10 metres from the house. Fruit trees in the yard.

I remember the day as a typical Perth summer day, hot as hades. A day when it's cooler outside than inside, especially a  post war farm cottage. My brother and I played under a tree on the lawn. A tree just like this one.

At some point that afternoon my grandfather reached up and picked some of the fruits and handed one to each of us.  Having never seen one before we had no idea how to eat it. I guess we figured it out because I remember trying the seeds and being seriously unimpressed.

Forty years passed before I came across another pomegranate. Again I remember the day clearly. The Barossa, autumn,  a wine festival, holidaying with dear friends. Nope, still not impressed with pomegranate seeds.

And then one day last year I was given a glass of pomegranate juice to try. It was like a light went off in my head. Finally, I understood the attraction of pomegranates.

I am now, possibly their biggest fan. The tart juice,  arils scattered on a chicken tagine,  sprinkled over a fruit platter, dipped in chocolate. Some days I'm happy to just sit in the sun and eat them one by one straight from their shell.

The modern pomegranate, now grown commercially in Australia, is more pulp, less kernel. Which is good taste wise, but for kids who like to play spit the kernel the furtherest, not so much fun. 

And how good is pomegranate for you? Pretty darn good they say. High in antioxidants it's an ideal subject for Mele Cotte's annual Cooking To Combat Cancer event.

 There are probably easier and more modern ways to juice pomegranates...but I kinda like the old fashioned way. Standing at the bench, pushing down on the seeds to extract  the juice and thinking about my grandfather.

Breaking apart the whole fruit and removing the arils, as the seeds are called... it's a little like mining for rubies.

Scrape the pomegranate arils into a strainer.

I use a small plate to push down on arils to release the juice.

I love this juice.

Please visit Mele Cotte and support Cooking To Combat Cancer.

Orange and Prune Rice Cake Recipe

Some months back Tea mentioned a book from Murdoch Press called Bake It.  I came across it when browsing in a book store recently. However this is a reprinted copy, and I personally feel not as well presented as the previous book. It is a smaller size - about the size of a novel. It does have some great recipes though.

I also found it really irritating that some of the recipes have the ingredients  on one page and you need to turn the page for the method. Which is fine I guess if you indulge in a  bit of mise en place and get all your ingredients together and measured out before continuing with the recipe. I don't always do that. In fact I rarely do that. And yes I know that's bad practice. And yes some days I mess up the recipe because I don't do that. But that's just how I do things in the kitchen. 

ORANGE  AND PRUNE RICE CAKE (adapted from Bake It)

1 vanilla bean

200 gr (7 oz/1 cup) medium grain rice

1 litre ( 35 fl oz/4 cups milk)

2 1/2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest

4 eggs, lightly beaten

170 gr (6 oz/3/4 cup) caster sugar

200 gr (7 oz) fresh ricotta cheese

60 gr (1/2 cup) slivered almonds

Prune filling: 200 gr (7 oz) pitted prunes

115 gr (4 oz/1/2 cup) caster sugar

125 ml (4 fl oz/1/2 cup) orange juice

METHOD

To make filling - soak prunes in 2 1/2 cups boiling water for 30 minutes. Add prunes and water to orange juice and sugar and bring slowly to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 15 minutes, or until prunes are soft. Cool the prunes in the liquid, then strain, reserving the liquid.

Split vanilla bean down centre and scrape out seeds. Put beans and pod into a saucepan with rice and milk. Bring slowly to a simmer, then cook over medium-low heat for 15 - 20 minutes, or until rice is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed. Set aside, covered for 20 minutes, or until cooled slightly. Remove vanilla pod.

Preheat oven to 170C (325F).

Lightly grease an 18cm (7 inch) round spring form cake tin and line base with baking paper. Wrap a piece of foil around the outside of the tin and up the sides to completely seal it.

Combine the zest, eggs, sugar, ricotta in a bowl and, using a wooden spoon, stir until smooth. Add the egg mixture to the rice and stir to combine.

Pour half the rice mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Arrange the prunes on top, pour over the remaining rice mixture and scatter the top with the almonds. I forgot the almonds, so when serving I sprinkled some crushed praline over the top. Which I think was better anyway.

Put cake tin into a roasting pan and pour enough boiling water into pan to come half way up sides of cake tin. Bake 50 minutes or until cake is firm in the centre. Cover the cake with foil half way through cooking if it browns too quickly.

Meanwhile, put the reserved prune liquid into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 15 minutes, or until the liquid has reduced by one third. Cool the rice cake in the tin. Unmold onto a serving plate and serve with whipped cream and the syrup.

UPDATE:   This post was written before Tea's post about sharing recipes.  I subbed orange juice for the alcohol. I also forgot to add the slivered almond before baking, so added a topping of crushed praline.

Pomegranate and Chocolate

Ooh yeah, this is good. Fiddly, time consuming, messy.....but oh so good. Pomegranate seeds in chocolate.

I was wondering how to use my pomegranates when Maryam tweeted she was was nibbling on chocolate coated pomegranate seeds. And so from  afternoon nibbles in Marrakesh this recipe was born.

It's pretty simple, just pomegranate seeds in melted chocolate. Now you could go all out and temper the chocolate first. But I didn't. I just melted the chocolate and dipped the seeds in and set on parchment paper on a tray in the fridge.

I did put a lot of effort into cleaning the seeds first. Which is necessary to remove the pith from the peel. Cut the pomegranates in half and scrape the seeds out into a bowl of water. Rinse the seeds, then lay out on paper towels to dry. Blot top of seeds with a paper towel. Leave to dry for a couple of hours before dipping.

Melt chocolate in a basin over hot water, making sure the hot water doesn't touch the basin containing the chocolate. I made two different types, one with the seed totally covered and one with seed showing.

1. Dip some of the dry seeds into melted chocolate. I used a Lindt 50%  dark chocolate. It was just sweet enough to of set the tartness of the seeds.

2. Place a teaspoon of chocolate onto parchment and carefully drop a seed onto the top and leave to set.

I feel these would work well with white chocolate. They also would make a great decoration for cakes. Imagine adding a touch of gold leave alongside the red seed.

We had them with after dinner coffee.

They should be kept in the fridge and eaten within a few days.

DISCLAIMER: I received the pomegranates from Royal Pom Australia and the chocolate was a gift from Lindt Australia. The pomegranates are from the first  commercially grown crop in Australia.

Gravlax Sandwiches To Make For Your Mum

If only I'd known how easy gravlax is to make I'd have made it years ago. It was only when @frombecca at  Inside Cuisine  posted the gravlax  recipe from the salt book I discovered how simple it was.  I cured a little salmon for two days and.....voila....... my own gravlax.

Gravlax, meaning buried salmon in Swedish, originates in the middle ages.  The fish was lightly salted and then buried beneath bark as way of preserving the fish for winter.

Check out Inside Cuisine for the Gravlax Recipe from the salt book.

I served my gravlax in mini sandwiches with pre dinner drinks. It is the perfect  treat for your Mum this Mother's Day.  These sandwiches could also be made with smoked salmon.  But honestly, you really should make your own gravlax.

SANDWICHES FOR YOUR MUM

Ingredients

Bread, white and wholemeal

Gravlax or smoked  salmon

softened cream cheese

mayonnaise

finely chopped dill

Method

Flatten bread slices with a rolling pin.

Slice gravlax and cut into shapes with pastry cutters.

Spread bread slices with softened cream cheese, then cut into shapes with pastry cutters.

Place gravlax slice between two shapes.

Roll edges in mayonnaise and dip into finely chopped dill.

Rhubarb Oat Muffins Recipe

Several weeks ago somebody posted a basic rolled oat muffin recipe. I have no idea who it was.  If you've seen it around, let me know so I can give them credit for the original recipe.

I've made several batches using different additions. They are currently my favourite baking to take to  friends, especially a friend undergoing chemo at the moment.

Every where I look, food  bloggers are cooking with rhubarb  in the northern hemisphere. When I saw rhubarb at the shops yesterday it's not surprising I suddenly craved rhubarb.

I sprinkle my rhubarb with raw sugar and bake.

Bake at 180C for 15 minutes for a delicious caramelised treat. I was using this in muffins but it is delicious with yogurt  or sprinkled with crumble topping and a pouring of cream.

RHUBARB OAT MUFFINS WITH WALNUT TOPING

Ingredients

1 cup milk

1 cup rolled oats (not quick oats)

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 large egg at room temperature

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup baked rhubarb

Topping

30 grams butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons brown sugar

40 grams chopped walnuts.

Rub butter into flour and sugar and add chopped walnuts. ( I was lazy and threw the whole lot into a food processor and the walnuts were chopped too fine).

Method

Combine milk, oats and vinegar in a large bowl and let stand one hour.

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a muffin pan with cupcake papers.

Crack the egg into the oat and milk mixture, add brown sugar and mix to combine. Stir in melted butter.

Sift remaining ingredients into the bowl (flour,salt,baking powder, baking soda, and spices). Gently fold into batter, taking care not to over mix.

Gently stir through 1 cup of the cooked rhubarb into the mixture.

Spoon into muffin cases I used 1/2 cup measurement and ended up with 10 muffins.

Sprinkle topping over.

Bake in oven until tops are browned and muffin springs back when touched. The cooking time will depend on the size of the muffins. Mine were quite large and took 20 minutes. Smaller muffins could take as little as 10 - 12 minutes.

Queen of Tomato Tarts

A riff on the classic French Tomato Tart, these could be made using any shape. I was inspired to turn them into hearts after watching Alice in Wonderland. They would be perfect for Valentine's Day.

INGREDIENTS

Puff pastry (I used commercially bought puff pastry).

Dijon mustard

Tomatoes, cut into thick slices and then into heart shapes with the smaller cutter.

METHOD

Line an oven tray with baking paper.

To make the pastry cases you will need two different sized pastry cutters of the same shape. For each tart, cut out two of the larger shapes. Using the smaller cutter cut a heart from the centre of one large heart.  Brush a little water on outer edges of bottom shape and place cut out on top. I found I needed to work quickly getting the cutout onto the bottom heart. My apartment gets a lot of sun and I have problems with pastry these days, which I never had in the cooler New Zealand climate. With a fork, prick the inner  base a couple of times.

Spread inside with a little Dijon mustard.

Place a slice of tomato in the centre and place in oven until risen and nicely browned. I baked mine at 200C for 8 minutes. You could add a little crumbled goats or feta cheese over the cooked tart before serving.

Lightly risen and the perfect snack .
 

I also baked the little heart pastry cut out pieces which can be used as a garnish on soups or desserts.  Actually you could make a dessert this way by using jam or fruit in the centre. After it is cooked add a dollop of cream and top with a mini heart.

Ginger Chocolate Dipped Candied Lemon

Somewhere in Sydney, someone  is enjoying  MY Lindt Fleur de Sel Chocolate. Somewhere between the cinema and Trissalicious' building I lost my Lindt goodie bag. I had it when I left the cinema (I loved Alice In Wonderland in 3D by the way) but I didn't have it when I got into Trissa's car. Peter jumped out and checked the roof of the car, we stopped and checked the lifts. But nope, no chocolate.

Now it's not like I didn't have enough chocolate. I had plenty of Lindt bunnies, big and small, eggs...big and small.........and some filled with peanut butter. My boys fell in love with Reece's Pieces on a visit to the US when they were little kids, Those Lindt peanut butter eggs were gone before you could say Happy Easter.

I had plans for that Fleur de Sel. Plans that involved lemon, tequila and chocolate. Yes, I planned on soaking lemon slices in tequila, candying them in sugar and dipping them in the Fleur de Sel chocolate.

Instead I woke up in my Sydney hotel room in a cold sweat when it occured to me I'd put my goodie bag down in the foyer of the building where Trissa worked, as we headed to the car park. I wanted to re organise my other bags so I didn't drop my dark chocolate egg engraved  by Thomas.

Oh no, what if the security guard comes across it .....and thinks it's a bomb........ and they evacuate  the building....... and blow up my bag of chocolate. I think not. I suspect he saw the bag, smelt the chocolate and thought all his Easters had come at once. I bet he took it home to his partner........ and got lucky. This Fleur de Sel Chocolate is that good.

With no Fleur de Sel I figured I could  use the bar of Lindt Ginger chocolate  in my cupboard. So I drank the Tequila, then candied the lemons and dipped them in the Ginger Chocolate.

How to candy lemons. I used Jen's method.

CANDIED LEMONS

Wash and slice 2 unwaxed lemons into thin slices.

Blanch in boiling water for 1 minute.

Dissolve 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.

Add lemon slices and simmer for 1 hour. Mine went a little over and started to caramalise....I should have stopped at one tequila.

Remove from the  hot sugar syrup and drain on a rack for 24 hours.

Break a bar of chocolate into squares and melt in a bowl placed over hot water.

Dip candied lemon slices in melted chocolate and place on parchment paper to set.

Enjoy

ZOMG This Truffle Butter Is Good

I've made butter before. It was the first thing I made with the Thermomix.

Unbelievably good and so easy. As a kid and growing up on a farm, making butter involved shaking a jar of cream until your arm fell off or the cream turned to butter, whichever came first.  It was pretty good butter though. To make butter, the fresher the cream the better the butter.You couldn't get cream any fresher than sticking a jug under the milking machine spout. A minute or so earlier it was still inside the cow.

Our recent dinner at  Tetsuyas began with bread rolls and truffle butter.  The minute I opened my goodie bag from Tetsuya and saw truffle salt I knew I'd be creating my own truffle butter as soon as I got home.

Into the Thermomix went  600 ml of fresh cream,  process for 3 minutes and you have butter. Drain off the buttermilk, wash butter and flavour with salt. I made 3 different butters with 3 different salts.

Tetsuya's - truffle salt

Halen Mon - a sea salt smoked over Welsh oak

Murray River pink salt.

Butter will last in the fridge for about two weeks.

The bonus of making butter is you end up with a cup of buttermilk  which went into  a tray of banana muffins.

 To make it in a food processor check out the butter post on Kiss My Spatula .  It takes a little longer than the Thermomix but I'm sure it tastes just as good.

Roasted Tomato Soup Recipe

I don't have recipes for soups, I just make them up as I go with whatever is on hand.

My favourite soups usually involve roasting the vegetables first, especially when it is tomato soup.

ROASTED TOMATO SOUP

Pre heat oven to 200C

Into baking pan place 6 medium tomatoes, 1 onion, peeled and cut into 1/4's, a couple of sticks of celery, a few cloves of garlic, 1 lemon cut in half.

Drizzle with a little olive oil and add a sprinkling of salt flakes and toss.

Place in centre of oven and cook until tomatoes are soft and onions caramelised, about 20 - 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and place tomatoes and onions into food processor or blender, squeeze garlic cloves from their skins and add, squeeze lemon  and add juice to processor. Add juices from baking pan.

(UPDATE: A reader left a comment she found the lemon overpowering and spoiled the soup. My lemon was not particularly juicy and only added a hint of taste. So maybe add juice after you blend then taste as you go to get the level you want.It is important to roast the lemon as it caramelises and sweetens the juice. Or leave the lemon out of the recipe).

Process until smooth. Add a few dried chili flakes if you like it with a bit of heat.

I serve it quite thick If you like a  thinner soup add cream or milk. Reheat without boiling.

 

Feasting On Art Recipe Contest

Recently I discovered the delightful  blog of Megan Fizell in Sydney, titled Feasting On Art.    Megan combines  her academic background in art with her other great  loves of  food and photography.

To celebrate her first year of blogging at Feasting on Art, Megan has requested we create an original recipe using the ingredients in the  Renoir painting, Strawberries.

I've taken the sweet path with my recipe for Lemon Delicious. Everyone should have a Lemon Delicious recipe in their repertoire. Quick and easy to make,  when served with berry puree and pouring cream, it becomes an elegant dessert for any dinner party.

LEMON DELICIOUS PUDDING

3 lemons
60 g butter
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs separated
3 tablespoons self raising flour
1 1/2 cups milk

Preheat oven to 180C and butter a 1 litre oven proof dish.
Zest and juice the lemons.
In a medium bowl cream butter, sugar, lemon zest and egg yolks.
Add flour and milk alternately to make a smooth batter.
Mix in lemon juice.
Whisk egg whites until firm and fold gently into mixture.
Pour mixture into prepared dish.
Stand dish in baking pan and pour hot water to come half way up sides of dish.
Bake for 45 minutes in fan oven or 50 minutes in regular oven.
Leave to stand on the bench for 10 minutes, then serve with berry puree and pouring cream.

BERRY PUREE

Place a cupful of berries ( I used a combination of strawberries,blueberries and blackberries), a couple of spoons of sugar and a slug of port into a saucepan, Cook until berries are soft, then puree and sieve to remove seeds.

Pear and White Peach Crumble Recipe

I felt like a mid afternoon snack  today so I whipped this up to use  the over ripe pears sitting in my fruit bowl. It is quick, easy and delicious.

PEAR AND WHITE PEACH CRUMBLE

4 medium sized ripe pears, peeled, cored and sliced

2 white peaches, peeled and sliced

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons cornflour

Crumble topping

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup plain flour

3/4 cup raw sugar

3/4 cup  butter (about 170 grams)

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180C or 350F.

Mix flour and sugar into the chopped fruit and place into an ovenproof dish.

In a food processor blitz the oats, plain flour, raw sugar and butter and sprinkle over the fruit.

Bake in oven until crumble is browned and fruit soft. It will take around 25 minutes.

I serve it with thickened cream.

Mango Ginger Dessert Recipe

Over the weekend, the plan was to make the Mango Refrigerator Cake  featured on  New Asian Cuisine.  Along the way, somehow  it morphed into something totally different. It doesn't look as stunning as the original but the taste was sensational.

For something a little different serve it as a deconstructed dessert.

MANGO GINGER DESSERT

1 large ripe mango, peeled and sliced

6 sponge fingers

1 cup ginger beer

250 grams mascarpone

100 ml of thickened cream

1 cup icing sugar

1/4 cup of sliced candied ginger

METHOD

Blend mascarpone and cream together. Add icing sugar and mix until all lumps are gone. Fold in the ginger.

Break or slice sponge fingers into small pieces and dip in the ginger beer. Place in the bottom of a glass.

Top with some of the cream mixture.

Add mango slices to top.

Serve. This amount will make enough for 6 people. 

The photos I took over the weekend were a disaster so these were a couple I quickly snapped today before we ate the last two.

Don't forget to purchase your ticket in the H2OPE For Haiti raffle.