winosandfoodies

Pancake Tuesday Recipe

 

It is that time of the year again. Known in religious circles as Shrove Tuesday, it is the eve of Lent.

Pancakes are made to use up all your guilty pleasures, including butter, flour, milk, and eggs - the ingredients of pancakes.

We added a little maple syrup to ours today.

...and a little more till it ran over the sides of the plate.

My favourite Robert Carrier crepe recipe.

Ingredients
75g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 medium eggs
30 ml melted butter
150ml milk

Method
Sift flour and salt into bowl.
Beat eggs, stir into flour mixture with butter.
Add milk.
Strain, stand for 2 hours.

Then cook. You do know how to cook pancakes don't you?

ENJOY!!!!

Bread Wafers with Tomato and Chilli Jam to serve with Cheese

Here is my current favourite mid afternoon snack . Goat cheese served with bread wafers and a tomato and chilli jam.

BREAD WAFERS

Day old bread (or older), sliced

Remove crusts

Roll flat with a rolling pin

Brush with oil

Sprinkle with salt flakes and lemon zest. (play around with other flavours if you wish)

Bake in 180C oven for about 5 - 7 minutes. Keep watch as they go from ready to overdone in the blink of an eye.

Here's how mine look. They will be dry like a cracker.

TOMATO AND CHILI JAM

INGREDIENTS

500 grams tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped. Remove seeds if you wish, I don't bother.

1 and 1/4 cups sugar

juice of 1 lime

1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar

4 red chillies, thinly sliced (do not remove seeds)

1 teaspoon salt flakes

METHOD

Put the tomatoes in a large bowl, add the sugar and stir to combine. Place a plate on top and leave to stand for several hours

Put the tomato mixture in a heavy based pan, add the juice, vinegar, chillies and salt, bring slowly to the boil, stirring so sugar dissolves.

Reduce to a simmer, cook for about 30 - 35 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until mixture starts to thicken.

Pour into hot sterilised jars and leave to cool.

Seal when cold.

I don't know how long this will last as we eat ours in about 2 weeks.

More tomato recipes for those enjoying our summer produce

Use Real Butter -  tomato garlic pasta sauce

Simply Recipes - Basic tomato sauce recipes

White On Rice - Tomato jam

Oat Biscuits - Recipe

These are so easy to make I whipped them up when I had the oats out making breakfast yesterday.  The recipe is from an article on healthy eating in a newspaper. I replace the margarine with butter so maybe not so healthy...but tasty.

OAT COOKIES (BISCUITS)

150 grams sugar

2 tablespoons golden syrup

150 grams butter

2 tablespoons milk

150 grams porridge oats

150 grams self raising flour

METHOD

Heat oven to 180C

In a saucepan - melt sugar, syrup, butter and milk over a low heat until dissolved.

Add oats and flour, stirring well.

Place teaspoons of mix onto baking  paper lined tray.

Bake 10 - 15 minutes.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from tray.

Peaches in Marsala

My favourite, favourite summer dessert of all time.

I use a cheap $6 Angoves Bookmark Marsala wine.  It ain't the real thing  but it is eminently suitable for cooking fruit in.  Sshh, when no one is looking I take a swig from the bottle...ssshhh.

Place some firm peaches in a pot, drizzle a little honey over, split a vanilla bean and drop it into the pot, pour over half a bottle of marsala....come on...that's only 3 bucks worth.

Simmer peaches until soft, then remove them with a slotted spoon, boil the syrup till it reduces and pour over the peaches.

I love them served at room temperature with pouring cream.

Coffee Pavlova with Walnut Cream

We celebrate the birth of my first born, Chris, three days after Christmas.  Unbeknown to us he had plans to celebrate more than his birthday this year.  

Browsing through a Waitrose Food Illustrated, kindly sent to me by Keiko  earlier this year, he came across this pavlova and went in to raptures over it. The picture in the magazine IS amazing and sadly, mine looks nothing like it. 

Never be deceived by looks.  Despite the meringue mixture spreading before baking and then crumbling after baking, when I moved it to platter, the taste  was divine. It is a wonderful blend of flavours and textures - the crunch of meringue, the smoothness of the cream, a slight  bitterness to the sweet coffee syrup, all topped with the creaminess of walnuts.

At that point I had not planned on any specific dessert for the birthday dinner. Decision made.

Waitrose Illustrated Recipes - Coffee Pavlova with Walnut Cream

...and the extra celebration...Chris and Maria announced their engagement. We are over the moon.

No wedding plans have been decided as yet. Maria's family live in Montreal so lots to consider before decisions are made.

Raspberry IceCream in the Thermomix

Healthy, low fat ice cream. Perfect for non dairy diets. You don't need a Thermomix for this, it can be made in a food processor.

It contains only 2 ingredients - bananas and raspberries. The recipe is from the Jill Dupliex book Lighten Up. I have asked Jill for permission to publish the recipe but have not received a reply.

It is pretty simple though. Peel bananas, chop into chunks and freeze overnight. Freeze berries overnight. Next day remove from freezer and leave at room temperature for 20 minutes. Place bananas and raspberries into Thermomix or blender and process until smooth.

Serve immediately or freeze in plastic container to serve later.

 

The bananas give it a smooth base. Add other fruits for other flavours.

Eggnog

Our decorate the tree day always includes eggnog and fruit mince pies.

MY EGGNOG FOR OUR FAMILY DECORATE THE CHRISTMAS TREE DAY

For 6 people

6 eggs

1 litre milk

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons vanilla essence

250 ml cream

Blend all together

Pour into glass and sprinkle with grated nutmeg

If you wish a slug of alcohol can be placed in glass before adding eggnog

I have always used raw eggs in my eggnog. You may prefer a recipe where the eggs are cooked.

 
I like the traditional red and green decor for Christmas.

The final decoration - the star.

Add tinsel and turn the lights on.

Pearl Couscous Risotto (Recipe)

PEARL COUSCOUS RISOTTO STYLE (for 2 people)

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 rashers pancetta

1 small onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup pearl Couscous

1 1/2 cups stock (chicken or vegetable) or water

salt and pepper

1 cup green peas. ( I use frozen and defrost them in microwave before adding)

3 tablespoons finely grated parmesan

4 tablespoons chopped parsley

METHOD

Place oil in heavy pot over medium heat.

Add onion and pancetta, saute for 2 - 3 minutes.

Add garlic and fry until you can smell the garlic. Don't brown the garlic or it will taste bitter.

Add stock or water and bring to the boil.

Stir in couscous and seasonings.

Bring to a simmer, cover pan and cook 8 - 10 minutes. Stir every couple of minutes to stop it sticking. Add more water if it becomes a little dry.

When it is cooked, the stock will have been absorbed.

Add the peas and heat through.

Stir through the parmesan and parsley and serve.

Disclaimer: I received the Blu Gourmet Pearl Couscous from a PR company.  

Please pop over and visit Jenius for other pearl couscous recipes. If you live in Australia you could win a packet. 

Apricot and Coconut Clafouti

COCONUT MILK CLAFOUTI WITH APRICOTS (Adapted from Julia Child recipe)

INGREDIENTS

4 apricots, quartered, stones removed

1 1/4 cups coconut milk

3 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

2/3 cups plain flour, sifted

1 tablespoon vanilla essence

pinch salt

METHOD

Set oven to 180 C

Place the clafouti pan into the oven and preheat

While pan is heating place in blender Coconut milk,eggs, sugar, flour, salt, vanilla. Blend on high speed for 1 minute.

Remove pan from oven and place a layer of apricots on bottam of pan. Pour over egg/milk mixture.

Bake in oven for 25 minutes or until cooked. Clafouti is cooked when a knife plunged into centre comes out clean.

I made the coconut milk in my Thermomix.  I have never used canned coconut milk to make it so do not how that would turn out. You could try making your own coconut milk by heating dessicated coconut in water, pulverising in blender and straining through muslin cloth. 

You might be interested in Julia's tip for measuring flour. If cooking  any of Julia's recipes I suggest using this method.

White Chocolate Cake with Mango and Pomegranate Syrup

I love how food  bloggers take one recipe and adapt it to suit themselves. One of the most adapted cakes on food blogs is Nathalie's chocolate cake   from Trish Deseine's book  Je veux du chocolat.

After seeing it at Chocolate and Zucchini I've  made it often. It is perfect for entertaining as it is best made the day before, wrapped in foil and placed in the fridge overnight.

Today I replaced the dark chocolate with white chocolate.  I reduced the amount of sugar as white chocolate is so much sweeter than dark and I dislike overly sweet cakes.

It is rich and you only need a small slice. The Flavor Bible has a number of suggestions to enhance white chocolate. I served it with fresh mango, pomegranate syrup and some tiny pastry stars with flaked almonds. 

Pastry stars are a great way to use up pastry scraps when pie making. Just cut out shapes, brush with egg white or milk and sprinkle with flaked almonds. 

In my attempt to rescue the pomegranate syrup   I added to much water and it has spread on the plate.   I'd love to hear your favourite fruit and white chocolate combination?

WHITE CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH MANGOES AND POMEGRANATE SYRUP

INGREDIENTS

200 grams white chocolate, broken into pieces

200 grams unsalted butter, cut into large cubes

180 grams sugar

5 eggs

1 rounded tablespoon plain flour

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180 celsius.  Grease an 8 inch cake tin with a little butter and line base with a circle of baking paper.

Place chocolate and butter into a heat proof bowl and place over simmering water in pot until chocolate and butter melt. Stir to amalgamate.

Remove from heat and allow to cool a little.

Add sugar and mix in. Mixture may separate at his point but it will come back together after eggs are added.

Add eggs one at a time, blending in after each one is added.

Stir in flour.

Pour into prepared cake pan.

Bake at 180 degrees Celsius about 25 minutes or until cooked through. It may have a slight wobble in the middle and that is okay. Cake will rise and then sink as it cools. Cool in pan. Then remove and wrap in foil and place in fridge overnight. Remove one hour before serving.

The cake can be eaten immediately if you wish but the texture will be quite soft.

Serve with fruit and nuts to complement flavour.

I have been having major problems with my oven and despite the repairman fixing it last week it still overheats and the top of the cake did burn. The cooking time may vary with your oven.

UPDATE: A reader made this and found it very fatty. She didn't say which brand of chocolate she used. My cake was made with a Lindt white  chocolate. Like all food I think  quality ingredients ares important for the best results . Although my family liked it I found it too rich for my tastebuds. I also think it is better eaten immediately rather than storing overnight.

Pomegranate Syrup

 

What would I  do with 6 bottles of pomegranate juice I received from POM Wonderful?

For starters I love to just drink the stuff straight. It has a real tartness in the after taste which I like, Bryan didn't. We also drank it with ice, slice of lemon and topped up with sparkling water. Brys preferred it that way.

I tried it as a jelly, heating it and adding gelatin powder as I could not find any sheets locally. Very tart but I think it would work with something really sweet like a pavlova. Sadly it did not make for  a pretty sparkling jelly as it had a rather cloudy appearance.

When I saw Kevin at Closet Cooking had a post on making syrup I thought perfect. It would be ideal for making salad dressings or it could be drizzled on sweet dishes. Unfortunatley I took the heat a little too far and ended up with slightly more than syrup and not quite toffee. Maybe some one can tell me what temperature I should take it to on a candy thermometer to stop it at the syrup stage.

 

Whilst it was fun to photograph it falling into a glass it is a little to thick to use as a syrup.

 

Kevin's recipe for Pomegranate Syrup

Elise at Simply Recipes has a version

As much as I love this juice it would not become a regular purchase for me as it is made in the US and shipped to Australia. Now if  POM could produce a locally made version this good I'd buy it.

Mingle With Meeta and A Mango

Today we are Mingling with Meeta at What's For Lunch, Honey?. She has invited us to share Brunch. When I Brunch I like to start with  fruit, followed by a main involving eggs and finally finish with coffee and a little sweetness. 

Brunch is an ideal way to entertain if you are on a limited budget.  There is no need to serve alcohol but if you fancy a glass of wine, a  Prosecco or  low alcohol  Spumante work well.

I'm a fan of the fruit and labneh combination. You may remember the time I served it with apricots.

I love mangoes and here in Queensland they grow the best mangoes. We are at the beginning of our mango season. They are around $2 - $3 each but as the season progresses you'll be able to buy a bucket of mangoes for that price.

This dish is a perfect combination of sweet and juicy mango, salty prosciutto, the smooth and tart labneh and the hot chili.

Make your labneh the day before you plan to use it.

GRILLED MANGO WITH PROSCUITTO AND LABNEH

Ingredients

1/2 a mango per person

2 teaspoons sugar per mango half

2 strips of prosciutto per person

Labneh and sweet chili sauce for serving.

Method

Cut the cheeks from mango.

Score each half in a diagonal pattern.

Sprinkle mango half with a spoon of raw sugar.

Caramelise mango by placing cut side down in a fry pan for about 1 minute. Alternatively you could place under the grill or blast with a gas torch.

Serve with thinly sliced prosciutto, labneh and sweet  chili sauce.

 

I'd follow the fruit course with my Sort of  Omelette, Maybe A Frittata.

At this time of the year some mini Fruit mince pies would be perfect with coffee or tea.

Persimmon also pairs well with Prosciutto.  As it is persimmon season in the Northern Hemisphere you could experiment.  I'd love to hear your suggestions for your favourite sweet and savoury pairings

Great Pie, Nice Coffee, Grumpy Wife

I cannot remember the last time I was this grumpy.  In the making of this pie  every possible thing that could go wrong,  went wrong.  From the pastry, to the oven, to the photography. I swore, I cursed, I cussed. Everyone that had ever upset me in my entire life copped it today.

Wherever I turn lately I face frustration. The major frustration being the continuing side effects of my recent chemo. But I'm not here today to bitch about cancer or chemo. I'm here to tell you I came close to giving up blogging  this week.

Yes, I fell into the trap of losing my focus. I'd forgotten why I started blogging. Suddenly I found myself blogging for an audience. I wanted to be one of the popular bloggers. I wanted to style as beautifully as Helene and Bea. I wanted to write as engagingly as Jamie and as amusingly as David. I wanted to capture scenes as brilliantly as Jen and Keiko. I wanted to be as popular as Clotilde and Pim and Elise and Sam. I wanted, I wanted, I wanted. Stop. Enough already.

That is not why I started blogging. What happened to writing my own little on line diary where my family and friends could check in and see what I was up too? Suddenly I was planning my days around what I would cook and photograph. I was checking the sales in Target for props. I couldn't walk past a second hand store without looking at the napkins and old china. I was accepting freebies from PR companies. (Actually I don't mind the free cookbooks).

If  there weren't any comments on my post when I opened my mailbox each morning I would sink into depression.  I found myself checking my stats and counting my visitors and how many pages they viewed.  Why? What happened to turn me into this needy person needing affirmation in the virtual world of blogging.    I get plenty of love and attention from my family and friends.  Although I should say some of the most special  people in my life, I have  met through blogging. I cannot imagine how poor my life would be without them.

Blogging has morphed from personal online diaries to fully fledged media sites.  Somehow blogging became a business. There are now so many fantastic blogs out there with beautiful photographs and intelligent writing.  Many bloggers are now making a living from their blogs.  Blogging has become a way of getting into food writing or scoring a cook book deal. And there is nothing wrong with that. I'm happy for those that have advanced their careers via their blogging. But it isn't why I started blogging.  And it isn't what I want out of blogging.

I want to post when I feel like posting. I want to cook what I want to eat not what will photograph well. I want to spend my money on a great bottle of wine to enjoy and not a dozen different plates to use as props. I want to spend more time playing with my camera and taking photos of faces and flowers and less of cakes and cookies. Mostly I want to turn the computer off for part of my day and read a book.  

Today I'm sharing my favourite apple pie recipe.   I haven't made this in twenty years. It is from a magazine back in the eighties. I can't remember which one. I should warn you though this pastry isn't the easiest to work with.

PASTRY

185g butter

1/3 cup caster sugar

1 egg

1egg yolk

1 cup plain flour

1 cup self raising flour

1/4 cup cornflour

1/4 cup custard powder

FILLING

6 large Granny Smiths apples, peeled,cored and thinly sliced

finely grated zest and juice of one lemon

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon each of ground cloves and nutmeg

1 tablespoon of cornflour

GLAZE

1 egg white, lightly beaten

1/3 cup flaked almonds

METHOD

To make pastry, beat butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Add egg and egg yolk and beat until smooth. Stir in sifted dry ingredients and knead lightly until smooth. Wrap the pastry in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Make filling by placing prepared apples, lemon zest and juice, sugar and spices in a large, heavy saucepan and stirring over high heat until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 8 - 10 minutes until apples are soft. Remove from heat and allow to cool, then blend in cornflour.

Roll out  two thirds of the pastry between two sheets of plastic wrap. Line a lightly buttered 25cm, deep, fluted flan tin with pastry. Fill with cold apple mixture. Roll out remaining pastry and cover the pie. Make several slits in top to allow steam to escape while baking, glaze with beaten egg  white and top with flaked almonds. Bake at 220C for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 180C and continue baking a further 50 minutes. Cover pie lightly with foil if pastry is browning  too much.

Serve warm or cold with lightly whipped cream.

Walnut Cookies

Nutritionally walnuts are packed full of goodness. Of course adding flour, butter and sugar probably negates all the good they do but these little cookies are rather nice with a coffee.

The pretty pink table runner in this photo was a gift from the lovely Kat at Our Adventures In Japan. Pop over and read about her life in Japan.

WALNUT COOKIES

85 grams ground walnuts (Pulse walnuts in food processor to grind)

100 grams sugar

150 grams plain flour

130 grams unsalted butter at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

1 cup icing sugar

METHOD

Preheat oven to 165C

Place walnuts, sugar, plain flour, butter, vanilla essence in a bowl and mix together.

Place teaspoonfuls of mixture on a tray covered with baking paper. Allow room for spreading.

Bake in oven 15 minutes or until cooked.

Leave on tray for 5 minutes.

Place icing sugar in a wide bowl. Dip warm cookies in icing sugar to cover both sides. Place on cake rack to cool.

Store in airtight container. I place mine in the freezer and remove them as needed. They defrost in a few minutes.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

My plan was to make two types of cookies today - Chocolate Chip cookies and Oat Biscuits. Checked the pantry and no cocoa powder.  Then I couldn't find the oatmeal cookie recipe I'd cut out of the  newspaper last weekend.

Food blog search brought up a recipe called Oaty Chocolate Cookies at Butter Sugar Flour containing both rolled oats and chocolate chips and no cocoa powder, so I went with that one.

I made one change to the recipe. It seemed an awful lot of sugar so I reduced the amount to 140 grams. Perfect for my palate. A slightly healthy cookie with the rolled oats, not overly sweet and better for my thighs.

Apple Galette

 

After such long time out of the kitchen it is wonderful to feel motivated to actually do a little cooking.  For too many weeks I have not had any urge to cook and even less urge to pick up my camera.  Slowly, the cooking urge is returning, the photography urge is taking a little longer.

Yesterday I made this apple Galette after seeing it on Jen's blog  use real butter. You'll find the Apple Galette  recipe there...and also some of Jen's wonderful Colorado in Autumn photos.

 

Melon Salad

I am really enjoying fresh fruit again....and I've found a way to serve it as a savoury accompaniment to meat and fish. Today I served it with a   couple of slices of prosciutto for lunch. Perfect.

MELON SALAD

Rock melon, seeded, peeled and diced.

Red onion, sliced

Fresh mint, chopped

Lemon juice, Olive oil, salt and pepper

Combine melon, onion and mint.

Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Adjust quantities to number of people being served.

Blueberry Muffins

An oldie but a goodie. I've been making these muffins for years and the family never tire of  them. I'm not doing much in the kitchen at the moment as one of the side effects of my recent chemo is numb fingers. Until it clears, which is still a couple of months away, it is all a bit difficult. However with Bryans help today I made a batch for morning tea.

Blueberry Muffins
Sift together:
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder

Blend:
3/4 cup natural yoghurt
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and toss in a cup of blueberries.
Spoon into muffin tins.
Bake at 200C for 20 minutes.
To serve -  Cut a slit in the top and add a sliver of butter and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Weekend Lunch and a Tomato Salad

There is nothing nicer than sitting down to lunch on the weekend with the family. Especially after a visit to the markets for supplies. We lay my beautiful Basque linen cloth out and cover it with an array of bread, salad, salami, olives and a couple of nice cheeses.

This tomato salad was particularly good because the tomatoes were particularly good. It's pretty simple to make. Just slice some tomato, add some torn basil leaves, chopped red onion, good salt, and drizzle with olive oil.

Potato and Pepper Salad

Jen at Use Real Butter posted a  potato and green chili salad  using a variety of potato types and chili. It sounded fabulous and this is my interpretation of it. I replaced the chili with red pepper as there was a lack of green chili in my market.

INGREDIENTS
small new potatoes,halved
red pepper (capsicum), roasted,peeled, seeded and chopped into slices.
red onion, finely sliced
olive oil
lemon juice
salt and pepper to season.

METHOD
Place potatoes in a baking dish with a good drizzle of oil and sprinkle of salt.
Place in an oven preheated to 200C.
Bake until cooked, about 40 - 60 minutes.
Mix potato, pepper, onion in bowl.
Add oil, lemon juice,
Season as desired.
Serve at room temperature.

Sorry about the photo quality but I made it for dinner and photographed under the kitchen lights.

Baked Apples for Cooking To Combat Cancer

Chris at Mele Cotte  has announced her blog event Cooking To Combat Cancer III for 2009. I decided to make a little Mele Cotte for Mele Cotte.

When one is diagnosed with cancer there needs to be a balance between eating healthy and enjoying life. Currently my tastebuds are screwed from my latest chemo and everything tastes and feels as if I'm eating cardboard.  Sometimes the food even smells like cooked cardboard. These Mele Cotte were delicious and were a welcome change from the cardboard taste of many  foods.

I'm over halfway through my chemo programme and have already booked a "finished chemo" celebration night at Peppers Spicers Lodge Scenic Rim for my birthday in July. My tastebuds should have returned to normal by then and I intend to make the most of the food and wine on offer at Peppers.

There really isn't a recipe for Mele Cotte (Baked Apples). You just core some apples and stuff them with a mixture of dried fruit, nuts, a little brown sugar and a knob of butter. Place apples in dish with a half a cup of water and bake at 190C for around 40 - 60 minutes.

Muffins - My Favourites From Heidi and Nicky

When I fancy a change from my usual Blueberry muffins I have two favourite standbys. These Banana Nutella Muffins from Nicky at Delicious Days are a family favourite.....and from Heidi at 101 Cookbooks - her  Espresso Banana Muffins are delicious.

ESPRESSO BANANA MUFFINS
 

Slightly adapted version of Heidi's Espresso Banana Muffins. The original recipe can be found in  her book Super Natural Cooking

INGREDIENTS

2 cups  flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups chopped toasted walnuts

1 shot espresso coffee, cooled down

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup plain yogurt

1 1/2 cups mashed overripe bananas

METHOD

Preheat oven to 375F.

Line muffin pans with paper cases.

Combine flour, baking power, salt, 3/4 cup of the walnuts in a bowl and whisk to combine.

In separate bowl cream the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the sugar and then the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla, yogurt and espresso.

Gently mix in the dry ingredients. You know if you over mix it will make your muffins tough.

Spoon into prepared pans, sprinkle walnuts over top.

Bake until golden, about 20 - 25 minutes. Cool in tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

BANANA NUTELLA MUFFINS

 

INGREDIENTS

2 eggs

125 grams soft butter

100 grams sugar

2 large ripe bananas

100 grams Nutella

100 ml milk

1 teaspoon baking soda

250 grams flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

METHOD

Preheat oven to 375F (180C). Line muffin pans with paper cases.

In a large bowl cream butter, sugar and eggs.

Fold in Nutella and mashed bananas.

In a separate bowl combine milk and baking soda and blend well.

In a separate bowl sift flour and baking powder.

Alternately blend part of the egg/butter mixture, then part of the flour mix, part of the milk....until everything is combined. Again do not over mix or you muffins will be tough.

Spoon mixture into muffin cases.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 - 25 minutes. Test with a skewer to see if muffins are cooked.

Cool and then ice or be creative or simply sprinkle with icing sugar.

Summer Salad

SUMMER SALAD

2 Avacado peeled and diced
1 Lebanese cucumber
3 tomatoes
2 tablespoons black olives
1/2 red onion sliced
1/4 preserved lemon, diced

Place prepared salad ingredients into a bowl and toss through with dressing.

DRESSING
olive oil, lemon juice, salt, 1clove crushed garlic

Scones

Sam's clotted cream post had me craving scones this week.  These were made in the Thermomix, using a recipe from their book. They were  much stickier than most doughs I've worked with before. It's probably the reason they didn't rise as high as I'd have liked. They did taste good though.

Scone recipe from Taste.
Scones made with soda water and cream.
Sam's scones.

......and I discovered if you don't have buttermilk in the fridge you can make your own. Just add 1 tablesoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to 1 cup of milk.

Pancake Tuesday

In my corner of the world it is already Shrove Tuesday. We celebrated with my favourite crepe recipe from Robert Carrier.

Ingredients
75g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 medium eggs
30 ml melted butter
150ml milk

Method
Sift flour and salt into bowl.
Beat eggs, stir into flour mixture with butter.
Add milk.
Strain, stand for 2 hours.