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!