Boxing Day with the twits

We had our orphan's Christmas lunch food marathon this year with the usual suspects this year, which left my sisters (aka The Twits) to their own devices for the day. To make up for the fact that we "Ruined their Christmas" by not spending it together, Neil and I had them round for Boxing Day lunch.


We knew straight away what we were going to serve:

• Cherry tomato, bocconcini & pesto tartlets
• Neil Perry's succulent chicken with tzatziki (from Good Food)
• Spinach, walnut, goats cheese and pomegranate salad with lemon vinaigrette
• And Lee bought around her specialty - vegetarian couscous salad.

And what's Christmas (or Boxing Day) without a decadent sweet treat like Blueberry cheesecake!

Post-dinner (and once the food had settled a bit) we headed down to Double Bay for a kick around with Neil's new football. It was a great day!

Gingerbread: Take 2

I'm stubborn when it comes to cooking and wasn't about to be beaten by something as simple as gingerbread... so the first thing I did when I woke up this morning was to make the liquid base. Then during our weekly trek to the supermarket a few hours later I picked up a lamington tin... this was a round I was going to win!

Since gingerbread batter is so thick, I made sure that this time when I tested the cake for doneness I put the skewer in horizontally through a crack in the top. I found that even with the shallower pan, it still had a bit more to go, and I ended up adding 15 minutes to the cooking time.

Round 1 result vs Round 2 result

The cake was lighter than expected and the cinnamon sprinkled on top (which I was going to leave out) was 'the icing on' the icing on the cake. I don't think this is going to last long in the tin...

I really am my grandmother's grand-daughter

For my 21st birthday, Nana as always, took charge of baking the cake. The request was for 'the usual' - chocolate - which Nana could churn out whilst sleepwalking with both hands tied. I arrived home from Auckland (where I was studying) and a few nights later we had a big dinner at Mum's. The end of the meal came and out came the cake - two layers of Nana's signature chocolate cake sandwiched with mock cream and topped with a thick layer of chocolate icing and coconut. It was perfect as always... but Nana was first to point out it 'wasn't the cake she had been planning'. You see, Nana had tried not one, but FOUR different recipes to make the perfect birthday cake and each attempt had ended up in the bin. It was too dry, or didn't rise high enough, or an ingredient was omitted... Mum was shocked to hear she had thrown away completely edible cakes because they weren't up to Nana's very high cake standards and we all had a good laugh at Nana's kitchen perfectionism.

Well, after last week's icing disaster (which was very close to being a 'bin' moment), I've just returned from throwing away an attempt at Gingerbread with Lemon Glace Icing from the August 1986 issue of The Australian Women's Weekly.

My first mistake was to substitute the required pan size. The recipe called for a lamington pan, which I didn't have, so I just lined a round tin. My second (and most fatal) mistake was not adjusting the cooking time to suit a deeper baking tin. As with all gingerbread batters, this one was quite 'dry' so when I tested the cake, the skewer came out nice and dry and I pulled it out to cool. It took almost an hour for it to sink, but I blamed it on a careless transfer to the wire rack. I went ahead and iced the cake thinking all would be okay... but instead of cutting out a photo-worthy piece, I ended up with a 'cooked on the outside raw on the inside' slice worthy of nothing more than the wheelie bin downstairs.

So I took my lead from the original kitchen perfectionist and bundled the whole lot into a plastic bag and into the bin. if there was any doubt I was cut from Nana's apron cloth it's gone now. I just hope my next attempt(s) don't end up in the wheelie bin as well!

A 50/50 success on the biscuit front

I bought some new kitchenalia this week - two cookie cutters (a dog bone and a foot), a rolling pin and some measuring cups - so I was looking for a new-old recipe to try them out on. I figured biscuits were the way to go, and found a recipe for Vanilla Glaze biscuits in Nana's recipes. I stayed true to the biscuit recipe, but did do a small modification to the glaze... adding pure orange essence just because I hadn't used it in a while.

The baking part was easy, but when it came to the glaze things came a little unstuck with the first batch. As you can see, the glaze cracked while it was firming in the oven. I put too much faith in the timer and wandered off instead of watching their progress... ooops. The second batch went a lot better, with the glaze firming in two minutes (rather than the four that made the other lot ugly). The taste test (still warm from the oven... the only way I'll eat biscuits) was passed and I was forced to go in for a second - just to check the cracked ones were edible of course.

Banana-na Cake

Nana's a prolific banana cake baker. Every time I stayed at nana's she'd always have one sitting on the bench to be taken home to Auckland. Most of the time it made it back intact, but once or twice we'd get hungry on the way home and eat a slice. Work lunches that next week were the best! I delved through Nana's recipes positive I'd come up with at least one banana cake recipe, but on my first pass I came up empty handed. Then... success! I'd put a pile of recipes aside in my 'to try' pile and 'Bella's Favourite Banana Cake' was among them.
Our hopeless oven did cause a few problems, with the cake taking 1hr 15 rather than 45 minutes to cook. I was a bit worried about the result, but it turned out perfectly! It was a high, moist cake that wasn't 'soggy' in the middle or on the bottom.
I had a few limes left over from dinner the night before (mmm Frangelico and lime on ice), so made a tart lime icing with the zest and juice of two limes.

Delish!

Cooking a "decent dinner" for the twits

The twits (aka my beloved sisters Amy & Lee) made the mammoth journey from Manly into 'unsafe' Surry Hills just to eat my food today. I was touched... really!

I was told it had to be a 'decent meal otherwise we're not coming'. With such expectations to live up to I got up early and hit the Pyrmont Growers Market with Sarah & Joh. The menu came together pretty easily as we explored the stands. A big bag of the most summery tasting vine-ripened tomatoes and a large bunch of basil were quickly earmarked for bruschetta.
A few stalls along I found some green beans and bright, firm capsicums, so they were put down for the veg part of the meal. A huge ciabatta loaf and some creme fraiche also went into my bags. Neil scored some beautiful smoked shortcut bacon, and I also got a huge bag of broccoli and some Lemon Myrtle pasta. Yum! Breakfast was a hard choice, but I managed to narrow it down to a large, sultana-filled snail from the patisserie.

A trip to the fishmonger with the cripple (aka Neil) in the afternoon yielded four nice red snapper fillets which would be steamed with lime wedges and a basil leaf for the main.

I wanted dessert to be something a bit special that I hadn't tried before, so I decided on a chocolate and apricot tart that Sarah had made for Andre's birthday dinner in June (pic below). We hunted high and low for the recipe in her vast collection of mags, and finally found it in Delicious.

So the menu in the end was...
Tomato bruschetta (ciabatta brushed with leftover roasted garlic, diced tomatoes, shredded basil and Horopito oil)
Red snapper with capsicum sauce
Green beans, red & yellow capsicum and cherry tomatoes
Chocolate & apricot tart with creme fraiche

And the twits ate every bite!

The pasta disaster that turned into a winning dinner!

We've had a packet of Barbushco Lemon Myrtle Fettuccine sitting in the cupboard awaiting the perfect sauce since our June excursion to the Good Food and Wine Show. This weekend I searched high and low for the perfect sauce recipe that would show off the flavour of the lemon myrtle, but everything I found was either heavily oil or cream based.

This pasta called for a light sauce and just a few veges to let the subtle lemon myrtle flavour shine through.

So here's what I came up with....

Lemon Myrtle Fettuccine with Broccoli & Mushrooms
250g lemon myrtle fettuccine
1/2 onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, sliced
1 medium head of broccoli, chopped
4 large mushrooms, sliced
Zest of 1 lemon
1 cup vegetable stock
1/2 cup white wine
100ml cream
Salt & pepper to season

• Saute onions and garlic in a large frying pan until soft. Add broccoli and mushrooms and cook over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes.
• Add stock and simmer for 5 minutes. Sprinkle over zest and add wine. Stir to combine and leave to simmer for a further 10 minutes or until the liquid reduces by half.
• Cook the pasta in boiling water until al dente.
• Add cream to the sauce and simmer for 2-3 minutes or until sauce has thickened. Season to taste.
• Drain pasta and return to the pasta pot. Pour over the broccoli and mushroom sauce and stir to combine.

To be honest, I thought it was going to be a disaster, but it was REALLY, really good. So try it...

Leek and black pepper risotto

We had a pile of leeks in the fridge and I was itching to turn them into something tasty. Leek and potato soup was out because I'd just made a big pot of red lentil soup... so the next thing to come to mind was - surprise - risotto!
I wanted to keep it simple, so sauteed up a huge pan of leeks in some butter, then got onto the risotto. I used white wine and decided to spice things up a bit with coarsely ground black peppercorns.

The result was an extremely tasty leek and black pepper risotto which was topped with parmesan and some delicious truffle oil from our trip to Italy last year.

Spicy apple cake

A pile of apples in the fruit bowl resulted in another excuse to delve into my trove from Nana's Recipe Drawer - and the winning recipe was a Spicy Apple Cake from Woman's Day.

The recipe was very quick and easy, but the cooking time was blown out to 1 hour 20 mins by my cursed oven! Damn you landlord and your ancient cooking device.

The result was a slightly dry cake (slightly saved by the fresh apple). Next time I think I'll pre-cook the apples to compensate, but Neil had no complaints so it can't have been too bad.

The Russians are coming!

After having it in practically every lunchbox from the age of about 10 to 17, I never thought I'd ever eat Russian Slice again... let alone bake it myself!

Looking for something a bit different for Neil's 'elevenses' and 'fourses' this week I found myself thinking back to the baked treats that Mum used to make. Coconut Rough was out because Neil doesn't like coconut, chocolate chip biscuits have been done to death, and he had birthday cake the other week, so that left the Russian!

Surprisingly it came out exactly as I remembered it... kinda cakey and full of juicy sultanas. I'll have to check with Mum what sort of icing she used to use, because the thin layer of vanilla just seemed too sweet.

I can see this one returning to my repertoire.

Flowers for Nana!

Well, flowers for me from the lovely Neil because Nana is in hospital! My beautiful, wonderful invincible Nana...

We hope she makes a speedy recovery and is back in the kitchen whipping up a storm VERY soon.

xoxoxox

Get Stuffed!

Any meal that includes steak and bacon on the same plate makes for a very happy Neil, which is why this week's Nana's Recipe Drawer creation had to be her Stuffed Scotch Fillet.

Handwritten (and slightly hard to read), the recipe was fairly quick and easy to recreate. We teamed it with some golden polenta batons (made with plenty of parmesan) and sauteed green beans.

For me, it was another version of mushroom ragout (spot the mushie freak!) with fresh shitakes, oyster mushrooms, dried Chinese mushrooms and good ol' buttons from our trip to Norton Street Grocer. I added some nice peppery rocket rocket too.
Next time we'll probably cook the meat for a little less than the hour recommended as Neil prefers his cow medium-rare, whereas way-back-when the preference for meat was well done.

Roll on next time (and I may even try some).

Birthday High Tea at The Observatory

The Oliver sisters are on a quest to sample every High Tea offering in Sydney. This month it was the turn of The Observatory Hotel's Globe Bar. We even had an occasion this time - Lee's 24th birthday - so we ordered champagne... a glass each of Moet Rose. Mmmm.

We'd been looking forward to High Tea at The Observatory for a long time, and they didn't disappoint. We started with mini sandwiches - cucumber & mayo, salmon & mayo, egg and wholegrain mustard and cheddar & tomato.

Next up were the scones, and thank God they weren't anything like the solid hockey pucks we had at the Stamford Circular Quay! Creamy, soft and still warm from the oven, we covered them with lashings of double cream and strawberry conserve (with real chunks of strawberry). The conserve was so tasty Amy took to it with her spoon and finished the bowl... classy!

Saving the sweets till last, we were very excited about the mini creme brulee, chocolate mousse with gold leaf, mini fruit tart, almond florentine and mixed berry cake. The almond florentine was crunchy with a rich toffee centre and definitely my highlight, followed closely by the creme brulee.

Being the good sister, I sent the sisters home with a birthday cake (not that they needed anything else to eat), this time a carrot cake with lime cream cheese icing. The recipe was a combination of two I found online - on taste.com.au and the other on epicurious.com

Unfortunately it wouldn't all fit in the container, so I did manage a small taste test. The verdict? Moist, crunchy from the walnuts, the sharp tang of the lime icing... delish!

Neil's Birthday

Neil's birthday was on June 26 and this year's cake was a Devil's Food Cake. Unfortunately I couldn't find my regular recipe so I turned to epicurious.com for help.

I was a little concerned at the amount of sugar listed in the recipe, but I trusted the authors and the result was a very large food cake that was rich without being sickly. I decorated it with chocolate icing and Maltesers a'la Nigella Lawson. Despite the fact we were heading to a friend's for a pot luck dinner an hour later, we did the candles and wish thing and shared a slice as we got ready.

Dinner at Andre and Pierre's was a combined birthday for Andre (who was off overseas to celebrate) and Neil. The usual suspects were there and we were each responsible for a course (and several bottles of red wine.

On the menu:
Tomato and basil risotto (Me)
Warm roasted winter vegetable salad (Jackie)
Roast ram (Joh & Pierre)
Followed by Chocolate and apricot tart with rhubarb ice cream and marscapone (Sarah)

Boy was I feeling rotund after that meal!

The day I ate chicken and other food tales...

Well, Sunday June 17 will be a day my parents rejoice and I feel kinda weird about. After 7 years as a vege I ate chicken. Two mouthfuls and yes it was premeditated.

The recipe was Parmesan Chicken - torn by Nana from the March 1995 issue of Australian Women's Weekly. The making of this dish has been several weeks in the planning (or is that psyching) and a wet, rainy day was the decider.
Neil made mash (being English he's something of an expert) and I made some Mushroom Ragout to supplement my foray into cannibalism.
And the verdict? Chicken tastes like... well, nothing really. The crust was tasty though.

It was a perfect end to a day in the kitchen in which Ginger Kisses (so-so) and Red Lentil Soup (a new regular) played the role of amuse buche.

Everyone has a specialty... mine is:

Risotto!
This incarnation is a Trio of Tomato Risotto with King Prawns & Basil (I ate it sans prawns). Yum.

A Gluttonous Sunday

Today started off badly and turned out to be one of the best Sunday's I've had for a while. I was rather hungover after a night out at the football so started the day with a big bowl of my homemade muesli topped with kiwifruit. From there it was off to Primo Italiano 2007, a food festival which was part of the Sydney Italian Festival. It was really busy and a bit of an assault on my still-recovering senses, but a trip to the Beppi's stand for a plate of polenta with wild mushrooms and parmesan and a bottle of San Pellegrino Aranciata sorted me out. (Tamzin had the eggplant parmigiana which was also delish!).

Next up was a chocolate, almond and ginger filled sweet shortcrust pastry (started with s...). It was melt in the mouth heaven! Feeling more than a little stuffed, we moved on to the second part of the day's activities... rollerblading! Tamzin is a bit of a pro these days but I'm a complete novice again after many years with my feet firmly planted on the ground.

We did a couple of laps of Centennial Park and despite a few hiccups with stopping (i.e: I couldn't) I managed to finish the afternoon without stacking once. Well done me... Dinner was a rather boring affair (soup) so I decided to whip up an old family favourite - Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding. As if I needed any more food today!









Mum's Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding
1 c flour
1 tbsp cocoa
2 tbsp melted butter
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c milk
1 tsp vanilla
Topping:
3/4 c brown sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
1 3/4 c hot water

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
• Sift flour, baking powder, salt sugar and cocoa together into a large ovenproof dish.
• Add milk, vanilla and butter and beat until smooth.
• Sift over combined cocoa and brown sugar and gently pour over hot water.
• Bake for 55-60 minutes or until spongey.
• Serve with a dollop of organic unsweetened yoghurt.

Mmm cookies

I know the way to a man's heart is through his stomach because my early attempts to woo Neil (baked goodies for his lunches every day) obviously succeeded. An unfortunate side effect of this is having to drag myself into the kitchen every weekend to whip up a new batch of treats for 'elevenses' and 'fourses'. Pfft, who am I trying to kid... I LOVE those hours spent baking.

The latest treat was bill granger's Chocolate Peanut Chunk cookies. Now, after not one but two bill granger scone recipe disasters I was ready to avoid his baking recipes and just stick to the savoury meals... but I gave him one more chance. Glad I did... these were so good I even took some for my lunch.

The Biggest Morning Tea

Work held its Biggest Morning Tea cancer fundraiser on Wednesday 31 May and after the success of my cupcakes at my bosses bbq earlier this year, I couldn't resist whipping up another batch. I use the Magnolia Bakery recipe with a few slight adjustments as the originals are just too sweet for this side of the world.

Bored and Baking

I've had a hankering for a good hunk of ginger crunch for a while. Auntie Pauline used to do a good crunchy GC, but since then every piece I've come across has looked the part, but has ended up too base-y, not ginger-y enough or just plain disappointing.

During my trawl through the contents of Nana's Recipe Drawer I found this little gem of a recipe that ticked all the boxes.

GINGER CRUNCH
Base:
125g butter
1/4 c sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 c plain flour
1 tsp ground ginger

Icing:
2 tbsp butter
3 tsp ground ginger
2 rounded tbsp golden syrup
1 tbsp water
2 c icing sugar

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and line an 18x28cm slice tin with baking paper making sure to have enough at the sides so you can pull the slice out when it's cooled.
• For the base: Cut the cold butter into cubes and place in a food processor with the flour, baking powder and ginger. Pulse until the texture of coarse breadcrumbs. Press the crumbly mixture into the slice tin firmly and evenly.
• Bake for about 10 minutes or until evenly and lightly browned. While hot, it will still feel hot. While the base cooks, prepare the icing.
• For the icing: Place the butter, ginger, golden syrup and water in a saucepan and heat without boiling until melted. Take off the heat and stir in sifted icing sugar. Beat until smooth.
• When the base is cooked, take it from the oven and pour the warm icing over the hot base. Spread evenly over the base.
• Leave the slice in the tin to cool and set.
• When it has cooled completely, remove from the tin. Slice into large squares and store in an airtight container. Do not refrigerate!

Fat Pancakes

It wasn't until I started reminiscing about my favourite childhood food memories that I remembered Nana Brownie's Christmas morning breakfast. We'd arrive at 8am with a pillowcase of presents from Father Christmas clutched in our hands all sugared up from eating Chocolate Santas.

Nana would be in the kitchen stirring pancake batter and checking the progress of the bacon, and Grandad would be in the lounge on his chair with a glass of ginger ale. Christmas morning breakfast was always the same: fat, fluffy American pancakes, crispy bacon (coated in flour before grilling for extra crunch), orange juice and gallons of real maple syrup sent over from Canada by Uncle John. I used to call them "Fat Pancakes" and still do...

FAT PANCAKES
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp brown sugar
2 free-range eggs, beaten
250ml milk
50g butter, melted
Butter for frying

• Sift the flour, baking powder and brown sugar into a bowl.- In another bowl, mix the eggs and milk.
• Combine wet ingredients into dry and add melted butter.
• Whisk with a balloon whisk until the batter is smooth.
• Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
• Heat a frying pan on a medium-high heat, then add a little butter.
• When butter is foamy, pour in a large cooking spoon of batter. Circle pan to spread the mixture.
• Cook for 1 minute or until golden, then flip to do the other side.
• Keep pancakes warm on a plate in a low oven
• Nana used to put a sprinkling of sugar between each layer.
• Serve in stacks with your choice of crsipy bacon, caramelised bananas, fresh fruit, real maple syrup, golden syrup or lemon and sugar.