winosandfoodies

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.

A Lesson in Gyoza

 

 

 

 

 

I haven't made gyoza  for ages.   Chris asked me to show him how to make them so this morning a quick lesson in the kitchen and we had lunch. They aren't perfect but they were good.

For a step by step tutorial, from one I consider an expert, visit my  friend  Jen at Use Real Butter and see how she does it.  Jen calls them potstickers. I know them as gyoza as I learnt to make them when Ryoko stayed with us in Auckland.  

I bought prerolled wrappers but maybe someday I'll make my own dough.

Preserved Lemons

You'll need  a clean jar, lemons, salt and lemon juice.

Scrub lemons to remove wax coating. Ideally use unwaxed lemons if you can get them. Slice into quarters leaving one end attached.

Place a tablespoon of rock salt into centre of lemon and place in jar. Cover with lemon juice and seal. (I would normally squeeze lemons for this but today have taken the easy way and used bottled juice.)  Store in a cool dark cupboard for 1 month. To use rinse lemon quarter and remove pulp. Cut peel into slivers and use in recipe.

It was after I started making these I discovered I didn't have a jar big enough to take more than one lemon.

Others have made preserved lemons and written far more detailed recipes.
Elise
Sam
David
Heidi

Turkish Delight - ful

A box of rose pink turkish delight had me thinking about posting a few things pink in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month.  All our desserts this month have had a pink tinge.

TURKISH DELIGHT ICE CREAM WITH RASPBERRIES

Vanilla Ice Cream and a few drops of rose pink food colouring

Turkish Delight chopped into small squares

Raspberries and raspberry jam

Sweet shortcrust pastry, cut into desired shape and cook in oven. Cool.

To Make

Soften vanilla icecream a little, blend in food colouring and add half chopped turkish delight. Work quickly so ice cream doesn't melt completely.  Place into moulds lined with plastic wrap or muslin. Return to freezer to harden.

Heat raspberries and jam in a small saucepan. Push through a sieve to remove seeds. Cool.

To Serve

Remove ice cream from freezer and upend onto plate. Decorate with raspberry sauce, remaining turkish delight and pastry shapes.

Variations - You could use any flavoured icecream in place of the coloured vanilla. I did it this way as I wanted the rose pink colour but with a vanilla taste.

Amounts will depend on how many you are serving.

TURKISH DELIGHT TRUFFLES (makes 10 truffles)

100 grams dark chocolate, chopped into bite size pieces
130 ml pure cream
75 grams turkish delight, chopped into small squares
cocoa powder and icing sugar for rolling truffles in.

Place cream into a small saucepan and heat.

Pour cream over chocolate and stir until it melts.

Cool and then stir in turkish delight.

Place in fridge and allow mixture to thicken.

Using a teaspoon scoop out small balls of mixture and drop into cocoa/icing sugar mix.

Using hands roll into a smooth ball and place in serving cases.

If not serving immediately, store in fridge. Roll in cocoa/icing sugar mix again before serving.

Adapted from Saha by Greg and Lucy Malouf

 

FLORENTINES WITH TURKISH DELIGHT

David Lebovitz is responsible for several major purchases I've made recently.  He mentioned Thermomix and I now have one, he mentioned the Ottolenghi cookbook and I now have one.  It is a beautiful book and this is the first recipe I've made from it. Because I'm reduced to typing with one hand this week I'll refer you to David's blog for the original  recipe. 

The addition of the turkish delight is an idea I found in another Greg and Lucy Malouf book. I added the turkish delight to the Florentines in the last minute of baking.

Best Ocean Trout Salad

This is the salad we had for lunch today. Remember this salad from 2006?  It looks the same but there are slight differences.   The 2006 salad contained smoked salmon and telegraph cucumber. Fast forward to 2008 and I've used  lebanese cucumber with  feta cheese, both thinly sliced by mandoline and topped with smoked ocean trout.

There is no recipe. Just layer thinly sliced cucumber, then feta, top with smoked ocean trout, slivers of red onion, drizzle with olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice, a few leaves of flat leave parsley, sprinkle of salt and a grinding of pepper.

Bryan insists I tell you he considers it the best salad he has eaten in his entire life.

Salmon Salad circa 2006

No time to post this week so here is what I ate on this day in 2006. Tomorrow we have friends arriving from Perth for a week of fun. Maybe I'll serve this for Sunday lunch.

Enjoy your weekend everyone.

Perfect Couscous and Other Things Moroccan

Hello and welcome to readers of Maryam of My Marrakesh

Plain  Couscous
350g couscous, rinsed and dried
1/2 teaspoon  salt
400 ml warm water
2 tablespoons  olive oil
20 g butter, in small pieces
Topping
15 g butter
 2 tablespoons blanched, flaked almonds or pine nuts.

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Put the  couscous into an oven proof dish. Mix the salt and water and pour  over the couscous. Let the couscous sit for about 10 minutes to absorb the water.

With your fingers, rub the oil into the couscous  to break up the lumps and aerate them. Scatter the butter over the surface and cover with a baking paper or foil.  Place dish in the preheated oven for  until the couscous is heated through, about 15 minutes.

To prepare the almonds or pine nuts,  melt the butter in a  frying pan over medium heat, add the nuts  and stir until golden, watching carefully so they don't burn.  Remove from pan and place on kitchen paper to drain.

Take the couscous out of the oven and fluff up the grains with a fork. Serve it from the dish or tip it onto a plate and pile it into a high mound, with the nuts scattered over the top.

Serves 4 - 6 .

Stuffed Tomatoes

150g couscous

1/2 teaspoon salt

150ml warm water

3 - 4 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

4 large tomatoes

1 onion finely chopped

a teaspoon sugar

1-2 teaspoons mixed herbs

a bunch each of fresh flat leaf parsley and fresh mint, finely chopped

1/2 preserved lemon, finely chopped

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 180C (350F)

Prepare couscous as above using 1 tablespoon of the oil.

Remove the top of each tomato and save. Use a large spoon to scoop out seeds and pulp. Set aside. In a heavy based fry pan, heat the remaining oil and stir in  the onion. Fry until it softens, then stir in the tomato pulp and sugar. Add the mixed herbs and cook until the mixture forms a thick sauce, Season as required with salt and pepper.

Add the tomato mixture to the couscous,  mix well. Add the fresh herbs and preserved lemon and  combine. Spoon the couscous mixture into tomato cases and top with reserved lids. Place the stuffed tomatoes in a baking dish, drizzle a little olive oil over. Bake in a preheated oven for 20 - 25 minutes. Serve immediately while hot or  at set aside and serve at room temperature.

Watermelon Salad With Citrus and Mint

1 .5 kg watermelon
3-4 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
a small bunch fresh mint

Remove skin and seeds from the watermelon. Cut into bite size cubes and place in bowl. Sprinkle orange juice over watermelon. Cover bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Place watermelon cubes onto serving platter and scatter with fresh mint and serve.

Serves 4 - 6

Recipes inspired by and adapted from Flavours of Morocco by Ghillie Basan.

Pop Tarts Like Pim et Isabelle

When I saw these over at Pim's this morning I knew I'd be making them. Perhaps I've overcooked mine a tad but they were good despite the slight dark edge.

Pim has step by step instructions so head on over and check it out.

Tribute To Sher

With so many blogs it is almost impossible to know them all. I didn't know Sher at What Did You Eat until this week when news of her passing dominated Twitter and other blogs. She knew my blog and even said nice things about me. I'm sad I didn't get to thank her for her kind words. I'm pleased to be able to participate in this tribute to Sher organised by her food blogging friends with a link to Sher's family provided by  Glenna at A Fridge Full Of Food.

I chose a pasta recipe  Sher posted on 17th July 2007. I love this passage from the post.

I want a dish that's easy to prepare, with as little cooking required as possible, but the taste shouldn't be compromised in a quest for simplicity. And I want to use some of the tomatoes that are piling up from my garden.  Otherwise, I'll use them for one tomato sandwich after another, winding up face down in a gutter with tomatoes, bread, and a mayonnaise jar clutched in my hands.  I'm in a 12 Step Program for Tomato Sandwich Addicts, so I know of from where I speak.

I can see Sher had a great sense of humour and  I agree with her sentiments - "we should not compromise taste for simplicity". 

Spaghetti Aie E Oio with Fresh Tomatoes and Basil.

I have altered  the recipe by using grape tomatoes and parsley. Here is Sher's original recipe she adapted from a Marcella Hazan recipe.

1 pound of spaghettini, (thin spaghetti)
salt
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
finely chopped red chili pepper, to taste
1/4 to 1/2 pound very fresh plum tomatoes (or substitute other variety)
a small handful fresh sweet basil leaves

1.  Cook the pasta in well salted boiling water. As it does so, core and skin the tomatoes, using a blade peeler--or hold them over a flame briefly until the skin blisters and it can be peeled off.   It might be difficult to use the blade peeler if you aren't using plum tomatoes. (Regular tomatoes have thinner skins, using the burner or blanching them for about 20 seconds in boiling water might be better.) After removing the skins, cut in half and seed and juice them, then cut in small dice. 

2.  Put the olive oil, about 1/2 teaspoon salt, the tomatoes, hot pepper (if using it) and garlic into a large bowl.  When the pasta is cooked, drain well and add to the bowl.  Add the basil, torn in smaller pieces if the leaves are big.  Toss the pasta well, adding more salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.  Serve immediately.

Goodbye Sher.

Tomato Tart

Tomato Tart is one of those easy dishes that can be made even easier by using a shop bought shortcrust pastry. I make my own pastry with a shortcrust recipe from Stephanie Alexander's book The Cook's Companion. For the filling use quality ingredients like the best cherry tomatoes you can find, Maille mustard, good olive oil,  Maldon salt,  and freshly ground pepper.

It was only after I put the tart in the oven, I googled tomato tarts to see how long they should be cooked, when I discovered most recipes blind bake the pastry shell before adding the topping. I didn't and the  tart was perfectly okay.

Filling
2 punnets of cherry tomatoes, cut  into halves
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Olive oil
Flaked salt and freshly ground pepper

Pastry
240 grams plain flour
pinch of salt
180 grams unsalted butter
3 tablespoons water

Sift flour and salt onto the work bench
Chop butter into small cubes and rub into flour
Make a well in the centre of the flour and add water
Use a pastry scraper to blend ingredients into rough lumps
Gather together to form into a ball, dust with flour, flatten to a disc and wrap in cling film
Place in fridge about 20 minutes

Remove pastry from fridge, roll out and line tart pan with a removable base
Spread mustard over base of pastry
Top with halved cherry tomatoes
Sprinkle with salt and pepper and  drizzle with a little olive oil

Bake at 200 degrees about 30 minutes or until pastry is browned and tomatoes have caramlised.

Spiced Salt For Bri

Earlier this year we dined at Harrisons in Port Douglas.On each table was placed a sweet little mortar and pestle containing a spiced salt. I've been intending to make my own spiced salts ever since.

 

Last week Jaden at Steamy Kitchen did a post on Asian flavoured salts. It was enough to kick me into action and make some spiced salts for our table.

I wanted to find a way to get more of the cancer fighting food turmeric into my diet. I also wanted to support the initative of  Jugalbandi  and their photographic CLICK  event in support of  Figs With Bri. Bri is currently undergoing treatment for cancer. Bee and Jai at Jugalbandi have organised a fund raiser to help Bri and her family with medical expenses. They chose the colour yellow for the photography event as it is the colour associated with cancer.  Remember LiveSTRONG Day and the fabulous array of yellow food.

I chose a traffic light set for our  table.

Red - Maldon salt and sweet hot paprika
Green - Maldon salt and matcha powder
Yellow - Maldon salt andturmeric powder

Visit Jaden for spiced salt ideas.

....and help Bri by entering your own yellow food photo.

Waiter There's Dried Fruit and Nuts In My White Chocolate and Matcha Cream Pots

 
 
Last week we took a trip to the Sunshine Coast, a couple of hours driving north of here. After a visit to the Buderim Ginger Factory I came away with a packet of organic uncrystallized ginger. This is like crystallized ginger but without the sugary coating. Across the road is the Macadamia Nut factory and after sampling the entire line up of flavoured nuts we  decided on a 1kg bag of raw macadamias.

I've been so busy the past couple of months I haven't had time to enter many blog events but I thought I might combine my nuts and ginger, which is not actually a dried fruit, and enter Waiter There's Something In My - Dried Fruit and Nuts, hosted by Andrew at Spittoon.

After a little thought I decided macadamia nuts and ginger would make perfect partners for white chocolate and matcha. I googled white chocolate pots and the first one up was one from my favourite  Tartelette.

 Earlier in the week I made another Tartelette recipe  - Lemon Madeleines. 
 
Without the lemon glace icing you can see the perfect little bumps.
 
These would be perfect served with my adapted Tartelette recipe for white chocolate pots.

WHITE CHOCOLATE AND MATCHA CREAM POTS WITH MACADAMIA NUTS AND GINGER
(Enough for two greedy people or 4 sensible people)

1/2 cup heavy cream
100 mls whole milk
150 grams white chocolate
3 egg yolks
25 grams raw macadamia nuts roasted in oven for 10 minutes and finely chopped
25 grams crystallized ginger, sliced, or if you can get it, uncrystallized ginger.
2 teaspoons matcha powder dissolved in 4 teaspoons milk

1. Combine milk and cream and bring to the boil.
2. Melt white chocolate over hot water
3. Whisk egg yolks into melted chocolate
4. Pour boiling cream into chocolate and eggs whisking constantly. Bring temperature up to 71C (160F). It will take about 3 1/2 - 4 minutes.
5.Remove from heat into stainless steel bowl placed in bath of iced water.
6. Cool, stirring constantly with whisk till it comes down to 32C (90F), about 4-5 minutes.
7. Divide mixture into two bowls. To one add the chopped macadamia nuts.
8.To the other add the matcha and chopped ginger.
9. Pour macadamia mixture into glass and leave to set in fridge for a couple of hours.
10 Add matcha and ginger flavoured chocolate to top. Leave to set in the fridge.

The matcha flavoured chocolate is not as green as I hoped and maybe I need to add more. If anyone has a formula for flavouring with matcha please leave a comment.

Moroccan Haloua With Dates

I came across these charming little sweets when I was researching ideas for My Breakfast with Maryam. It is the same dough I used  to create the little almond topped breakfast cookies.

They are the perfect little baby sweet and just right for Phe/MOM/enon who is raising awareness for March Of Dimes, March For Babies with her event Blogging For Babies.

This is my adaptation of the original recipe from a book featuring recipes by Fatima Mouzoun.The original recipe uses almonds, walnuts and orange flower water.

Haloua covers all kinds of sweet foods and pastries, and among them are the many different sweets and cookies served on festive occasions. I think these would be  fun to make with friends. All the rolling, flattening, stuffing could do with the distraction of some good conversation. Enjoy them with tea or coffee as they really do melt in the mouth as Fatima says.


Haloua With Dates

Dough
300 grams (2 2/3 cups) plain flour
250 grams (2 1/4 sticks) softened butter.
4 tablespoons orange juice

Put the flour in a medium bowl and make a well in centre
Put the softened pieces of butter into the well. Knead  butter into flour by hand.
Work in orange water.
Knead well together and roll into a ball..

Filling
250 grams (1 1/2 cups) dates
100 grams (2/3 cup) blanched almonds
50 grams (1/2 cup) cashews
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
 4 tablespoons orange juice
Place all ingredients into  a food processor and chop until a smooth paste is formed.
Take a teaspoon of paste and roll into small date shapes.

Garnish
250 Grams (2 1/4 cups) icing (powdered) sugar

To make Haloua
Take a small ball of dough by hand and squeeze flat.
Place one of the date pieces on it and fold over dough and pinch ends together. If dough sticks to your hands roll teaspoonfuls into a ball drop into a bowl of flour and then flatten between palms of hands.
Place on a baking paper lined oven tray.
Bake at 180C for 15 minutes.

When cool sprinkle with the icing sugar to serve.

Want to know more about Little Wonders March for Babies Team? Fantastic!! Here is the Team Page. Any amount that you can sponsor is extremely appreciated. Please, please help spread the word and sponsor Little Wonders if you can! Thank you!

A Slice Of Cake For Cooking To Combat Cancer 2

Chris at Melcotte has announced her annual Cooking To Combat Cancer event. I hope you will join her. Chris has thoughtfully made the closing date April 29th so as not to clash with LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow, which finishes on April 19th. Isn't she just the sweetest person? Thanks Chris.


When I was diagnosed with cancer I bought all the books, read all the information, listened to all my friends, talked to my oncologist. I drank gallons of freshly juiced carrot juice, beetroot juice, apple juice. I swallowed flaxseed oil by the tablespoonful. I loaded my oatmeal with wheatgerm and bran.  I drank the cleanest possible water by investing in an expensive filter.

Then one day I decided I didn't want the rest of my life to be controlled by what and how I ate. If I felt like carrot juice I would have it. I no longer would be juicing carrots and washing that damn juicer every morning. Somedays my grape juice would come in a bottle marked 13.5% alcohol. I had exercised and eaten reasonably healthy all my life. Changing my diet to bran and flaxseed oil  would make no difference to my future....and god I hate flaxseed oil.

Now this didn't mean I would go out and eat cakes and sweets with gay abandon. No, that would just be silly wouldn't it? However the occasional cake or piece of chocolate would not hurt me. And cakes can be a little healthy with the right ingredients.

Back in 2001 and thanks to AFS, our beautiful French daughter, 16 year old Diane, entered our lives.  She introduced me to Yogurt Cake, where she would use the yogurt jar to measure the ingredients. Together we made lots of yogurt cakes in the 12 months she lived with us.
  
Now she is all grown up, graduated, and coming to visit us in July. I'm not sure who is more excited, her or me. So I thought now might be a good time to renew my yogurt cake making skills.  This recipe is from Clotilde's Chocolate and Zucchini cookbook.  It contains two cancer fighting ingredients. Firstly yogurt, and secondly I have added some blueberries to the original recipe.

Gateau au Yaourt
2 eggs
250grams (1 cup) whole milk plain unsweetened yogurt
200g (1 cup) sugar
80ml (1/3 cup) vegetable oil
240 grams (2 cups) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon light rum
1/2 cup blueberries

Preheat the oven to 180° C (350° F), line the bottom of a round 25-cm (10-inch) cake pan with parchment paper and grease the sides.
In a large mixing-bowl, gently combine the yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla, oil, and rum.
In another bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture into the yogurt mixture, and blend together until just mixed.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Place blueberries on top, they will sink into the batter as it cooks.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean. Let stand for ten minutes, and transfer onto a rack to cool.

Thanks Chris for hosting Cooking To Combat Cancer.


 

Rice Pudding from Isabel's Cantina

Just before I went on holiday last year several books arrived into my mail box.  One being Isabel's Cantina by Isabel Cruz .  I took it on holiday, I took it home, then we decided to move to Australia so it was packed into one of the many boxes labelled cookbooks. Since being unpacked it has shared shelf space with the remainder of my collection I had decided to keep. ( Some  went to good homes) .

Our favourite Creampuff  did an extensive review of the book last year......and tested many of the recipes. 

I finally got out of the pool  did a little cooking this week.  I wanted to try the rice pudding as it has condensed milk as an ingredient.  And who doesn't like to have a can of that open  in the fridge to sneak a spoonful of when no one is looking.  Isabel serves hers with mango but I decided to serve mine with nectarines stewed in white wine and sugar.

Rice Pudding with Cinnamon, Star Anise and Fruit
(Serves 4)

1 cup medium or short grain rice
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 cups whole milk
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
3 whole star anise (I left this out as I didn't have any)
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

Bring two cups of cold water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the rice and the salt, stir once, reduce heat so that the mixture simmers. When the rice has absorbed most of the water (about 20 minutes), add the whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, star anise, cinnamon and vanilla bean.  Stir thoroughly to combine.

Simmer the pudding over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it begins to thicken, 15 - 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low and begin stirring regularly to avoid scorching as the pudding begins to thicken to an oatmeal consistency. This can take about 30 - 45 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

Remove the star anise, cinnamon and vanilla bean. Refrigerate the rice pudding until cold, at least 1 hour or, covered,  for up to  three days.

Serve the chilled rice pudding in individual bowls and top with fruit.

I think I will use this book more living in the warmer climate of the Gold Coast than I would in the cooler New Zealand.

Fig Balsamic Vinegar and Baking Powder

Fig Balsamic vinegar is my drug condiment of choice at the moment. Having found the supermarket one overly sweet I decided to make my own.  A Google search came up with several recipes but I decided to go with my own. Fresh figs are in season here but you could use dried figs.

FIG BALSAMIC VINEGAR
250 ml balsamic vinegar (regular supermarket, nothing expensive)
10 fresh figs, chopped
1 tablespoon vanilla.
1 tablespoon honey
20 grams dark chocolate ( I used 70%)

Place all ingredients into a saucepan and place on medium heat.
Heat until it boils and then turn temperature down to low.
Simmer for an hour.
Remove from stove and leave to stand overnight.
Drain solids and return liquid to pan. (You could try using the fig pieces in another recipe. I did not experiment)
Boil on high heat until reduced and thick and syrupy.
Pour into container and store in the fridge. I don't know how long it will keep as it is the first time I've made it.

I have also begun making my own baking powder using Heidi's recipe.

BAKING POWDER
1 part baking soda (bicarb of soda)
2 parts cream of tartar
2 parts arrowroot (I didn't have arrowroot so used cornflour)

Mix everything together and store in an airtight container. It should last for a month. To test if it is still active drop a teaspoon into a  glass of hot water. If it bubbles vigorously, the powder is still active.

Arfi's Cupcake Spectacular

There are just so many food blog events now days I find it hard to keep up.  As much as I'd like to participate  in them all I can't.   An unfortunate ongoing side effect from previous  chemotheraphy is tiredness.  I need to plan ahead and make sure I shop the day before I am making and photographing my entry. That way my day is free to make my entry and photographed it and still leave me with the energy to write my post.
No matter how tired I was though I wanted to support Arfi's Cupcake Spectacular .  She is a friend I met through blogging and I miss her now I live in Australia.

And I wanted chocolate cupcakes, very chocolate cupcakes. With real chocolate not just cocoa powder. I searched the web with the words "chocolate cupcakes made with chocolate". Which is where I found these very chocolatey chocolate cupcakes.  Veronica's Test Kitchen adapted a Dorie Greenspan recipe. So here is my adaptation of Veronica's adaptation of Dorie.

Chocolatey Chocolate Cupcakes
For the cupcakes
120 grams cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
113 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
½ cup milk
60 grams dark chocolate, melted and cooled
For the glaze
100 grams dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 tbs icing sugar, sifted
30 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place paper muffin cases in a muffin pan

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Beat the butter at until soft and creamy.
Add the sugar and beat for about 2 minutes, until it is blended into the butter.
Add the egg, then the yolk, beating 1 minute after each addition.
Beat in the vanilla,
Stir in the  half the dry ingredients,
Add the milk, mixing until incorporated, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients.
Stir in the melted chocolate and mix it in with a metal spoon. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cases.
Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until the tops of the cakes are dry and springy to the touch and a knife inserted into their center comes out clean.  Cool to room temperature on the rack before glazing.

To make the Glaze
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of shimmering water.
Stir the icing sugar into the chocolate, followed by the pieces of cold butter.
Spread onto cooled cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles.

Some of you may have seen this last week when I accidentally hit the wrong button and released it to the world.  In trying to block it I then lost it and had resigned myself to writing a new post.  Then Sarah at Readable Science kindly sent me it from her reader. I may have lost some of the  early comments.

Kat's Mango Bread

Kat who shares her adventures in Japan  kindly shared her Mango bread recipe with me. Although it's called bread it is really cake....and it is delicious. I halved the original recipe and baked it in a slice pan so I could control my portions a little more. It's too easy to cut a large slice of a deep cake and I need to lose a bit of weight.

Here is the full recipe as written by Kat. It would make two loaves.

KAT'S MANGO BREAD

4c flour
4 tsp baking soda
4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
3 c sugar
1 1/2 c oil
6 eggs
1 c nuts chopped
1 c raisins
4 c mangoes, diced

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Let stand for 20 minutes
Pour into lined baking loaf pans
Bake at 350F (180C) for 45-60 minutes  (time depends on size of pans)

Cupcake Spectacular

There are just so many food blog events now days I find it hard to keep up.  As much as I'd like to participate  in them all I can't.   An unfortunate ongoing side effect from previous  chemotheraphy is tiredness.  I need to plan ahead and make sure I shop the day before I am making and photographing my entry. That way my day is free to make my entry and photographed it and still leave me with the energy to write my post.

No matter how tired I was though I wanted to support Arfi's Cupcake Spectacular .  She is a friend I met through blogging and I miss her now I live in Australia.

And I wanted chocolate cupcakes, very chocolate cupcakes. With real chocolate not just cocoa powder. I searched the web with the words "chocolate cupcakes made with chocolate". Which is where I found these very chocolatey chocolate cupcakes.  Veronica's Test Kitchen adapted a Dorie Greenspan recipe. So here is my adaptation of Veronica's adaptation of Dorie.

Chocolatey Chocolate Cupcakes

For the cupcakes

120 grams cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

113 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ cup sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

½ tsp pure vanilla extract

½ cup milk

60 grams dark chocolate, melted and cooled

For the glaze

100 grams dark chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 tbs icing sugar, sifted

30 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place paper muffin cases in a muffin pan

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Beat the butter at until soft and creamy.

Add the sugar and beat for about 2 minutes, until it is blended into the butter.

Add the egg, then the yolk, beating 1 minute after each addition.

Beat in the vanilla,

Stir in the  half the dry ingredients,

Add the milk, mixing until incorporated, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients.

Stir in the melted chocolate and mix it in with a metal spoon. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cases.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until the tops of the cakes are dry and springy to the touch and a knife inserted into their center comes out clean.  Cool to room temperature on the rack before glazing.

To make the Glaze

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of shimmering water.

Stir the icing sugar into the chocolate, followed by the pieces of cold butter.

Spread onto cooled cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles.