First Tomato Harvest

Had the first big harvest of ripe tomatoes yesterday, popped them into the sink for a good wash before chopping and coring.

Some had blemishes that were easily cut away but most were sound.

Chopped them into fairly small chunks and added them with 4-5 cloves of sliced garlic.

and a couple of finely sliced red onions into a large pan.

Simmered them for several hours and then added a sprinkling of dried oregano, 

cooled and popped the result into 2 cup portions in ziplock bags and into the freezer.  Got 5 x 2C bags of base to use to make sauce, chutney and even to use for cooking.  Happy with that, not a lot of work, certainly easier than the whole peeling business, and I think a better result than processing the entire batch in a food processor, although that said I will be using the processor for the next batch as I think the base will be smoother and therefore more suitable for a basic tomato sauce.

Christmas Ice-Cream Cake with Raspberry Sauce

 Sis phoned a couple of days before Christmas and while chitter chatting she mentioned this dessert she had seen a recipe for, no idea where she saw it but it was basically Christmas Cake, cut into slabs and lain on the bottom of a shallow cake pan, then topped with slightly softened ice-cream, re-frozen and then sliced into squares and served with either cream or custard, or perhaps even brandy custard.  Sounded yum, so yum that it stuck in the brain.

Fast forward to day before Christmas Eve, and it dawned on me that although everything was under control for the Big B.B.Q.Brecky on the Deck, including Maple Glazed Bacon with the Sourdough Ricotta-Tomato-Mushroom Bruschetta (now that is definitely going to be repeated and featured here) The Luncheon Ham had been glazed, using the ever fav Macadamia Honey Glaze and all the salads were ready to roll, but....there was no Chrissy Cake....oops!!, but not too worry too much because it all came together easily a little later on, sort of like someone was looking out for us all.

While we were visiting our fav deli, a 'new to town' deli and deserving lots of support, I spotted some lovely imported glazed fruits - my oh my - we haven't had those available in our neck of the woods for more years than I care to remember, it was far too late to even think of the usual Christmas cake made with those lovelies so I went for the easy way out, the old fruit cake that the entire family enjoys, and you probably have a recipe for as well.
I snaffled a nicely moist bag of mixed fruits, including a few red cherries, grabbed a can of green glace cherries from France and added 2 of the aforementioned succulent glazed figs and baby pears that I chopped and added to the other fruits.

Mixed up the cake, and as usual, there was a fair bit of mix left over, now I usually pop the left over mix into a tiny individual pan to use as a gift, but this time I popped the leftover, and to be truthful, a big spoonful extra of mix into a small (7") square sandwich pan, baked it with the big cake for about 20 mins and when it was cooled I popped it back in the pan, squished some ice-cream over the top and re-froze it.  I also made up a sugar syrup using 1 C sugar and 1 C water, boiled it until it was a light syrup, added a frozen pack of raspberries and reduced down to a nicely thickened sauce to serve with the dessert.
I kid you not - it was a hit - truly a hit.  The pic above is the last 1"ish  square saved because it was mentioned that this recipe should go in our family recipe book under "Easy Christmas".

In case you don't have the recipe for this ever so easy and variable cake, I will give you the basics.
1 kg of mixed fruit
2 cups of fluid
2 cups Self Raising Flour or Plain....doesn't seem to make a big difference.

Soak the fruits in the fluid for at least a few hours, recipe recommends overnight, then add the flour, stir together and bake in a low 160 deg oven for 80mins to 90mins.

now for the variations:-
for the mixed fruit I always pop in at least 100g of glace cherries, I also have been know - when a little shy of mixed fruit to pop in some dried prunes, chopped up a bit of course

for the fluid, you can use
one heaped tablespoon of cocoa dissolved in hot water,
or  some instant coffee granules also dissolved in hot water
or  fruit juice
or  tea - even some of the fruitier teas such as those sold by T2
or  half cheap Marsala wine and water - that one was with the dates......desperate for a cake and no time to shop...(Yummy cake actually - surprisingly)
The self raising flour sometimes seems to make a slightly lighter cake but it all seems to depend on the type of fruit........or perhaps the vagaries of the day.
Now we have the secret:::
I have seen this recipe maligned on the net as being too stodgy, well the secret seems to be to cook it low and slow, with lots of paper and or foil surrounding it.  I line the cake tin (a 6" square deep tin) with 2 layers of al-foil and 2 layers of silicone paper coming up well above the rim of the pan
I also have a piece of foil loosely cover the cake for the first 40 mins. of cooking time in a fan forced oven of only 160 deg Celsius, place the cake low in the oven, not the bottom but not the middle if you have a choice.
After 40 mins, remove the foil - the cake will look uncooked and, well, not happy, ignore it, don't panic, leave it in the oven for another 10 to 15 mins and then check with a straw, bamboo skewer, cake skewer, whatever, the idea is to make sure the center of the cake is cooked and the straw comes out clean, if in doubt leave it another 5 mins.  This is a very moist cake and can take a little extra time in the oven without drying out, whereas under cooking it....well then you are back to the complaints about stodge!

Now the things I would change next time for this dessert are - I would make my own ice-cream, using Aunty Barbs ice cream recipe, and pour it over the cake to freeze.  Yes, I would make brandy custard to serve with it, barely warm brandy custard one side and raspberry sauce the other......pretty close to Heaven for a quickie!!

Spiced Honey Glaze for Roasted Vegetables

Our eldest Son and his Darling came for lunch and spent the afternoon with us, lovely and relaxing, and great to have some one on one time with them, especially with the new little bub due soon.

The D.D.I.L also bought along a copy of the Donna Hay Christmas Book and shared the following recipe with us.  They had used it on the vegetables they prepared for the other side of the family for Christmas Dinner, and it was a smash hit, so much so that they will be using it on a regular basis in the future.

Talk once again got around to 'the family recipe site' and D. offered to set up a web site for the family to use, the idea is that each family member will be able to log in and post their fav recipes for the rest of us, we are all foodies so looking forward to having our own web address, in the meantime I'm going to resurrect this site with the new lables option it will do as my record for a bit.

Spiced Honey Glaze for Vegetables
1/2  C warm honey
1 tea ground chilli
1 tea ground sweet paprika
1 tea ground cumin
1 tea ground coriander
S & P

Mix and brush generously over roasted vegetables for last 10 mins of roasting time
This mix is enough to brush vegies for 8 serves

no pic for this dish yet so here is one of a new member of our family, our new Collie Sam, almost 2 years old now but still a real muffin!

New Year's Day - Breakfast of Champions, Light Crab Lunch

How does that saying go......start the year as you intend to continue??......well this had better not be how we continue our food year....unless of course the meaning is 'trying something different', yes, that well do, trying something a little different.

Found this recipe, submitted by TexasBaker, while cruising the Nigella Lawson 'Express' site, changed a few minor things and the presentation to treat the Darling to something yummy to celebrate New Year.

The Darling is not a fan of scrambled eggs, so changed to a fried egg each, not a fan of tortillas either, so used a slice each of a nice hard bread.......so with a few alterations, this is what we had.

1 largish potato, grated but not squeezed out
2 Tablespoons finely chopped onion
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 large or 1 small chorizo sausage
2 eggs
1/3 Cup grated colby cheese
1 Tablespoon mashed avocado (just for me- yep Darling not a fan)
2 teaspoons Greek Yoghurt or sour cream if you prefer
2 teaspoons sweet Chilli Sauce
2 slices of bread, lightly toasted

Heat oil over medium heat in a heavy based frypan, add potato and onion, stir occasionally as it cooks, this will stick like billy oh, but just keep scraping those lovely brown crispy bits of potato up and stir them through.
Add sliced chorizo to pan and crisp, still stirring occasionally
Scoot everything to one side and fry 2 eggs in the oils in the pan.
Toast your bread lightly, if you are an avocado lover, spread avocado over unbuttered toast, top with grated cheese and place under griller to melt.
Top melted cheese with 1 teaspoon each of Greek Yoghurt, and the sweet Chilli Sauce
Continue layering with the crispy browned potato and onion mix, then chorizo slices and top with your softly fried egg.

No Pic.......but it got a big thumbs up from the Darling........now what healthy salad will we have for lunch???

TexasBaker's Recipe:-

CHORIZO, POTATO AND EGG BURRITOS

These are so good, and can be made in advance and heated for 1 minute in the microwave on a busy morning. I love these with sour cream and left over guacamole. Salsa would not hurt either.

Ingredients

• 1 cup shredded potatoes
• ¼ cup diced onions
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 links chorizo sausage
• 6 Eggs
• 4 burrito size tortillas
• Shredded cheese, cheddar, jack or Colby

Method

1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the oil. Cook the potato and onion until cooked through. Add the chorizo and cook for 8 minutes, or until hot and steamy.
2. Scramble the eggs in a separate bowl and pour over the sausage mixture. Cook the eggs, stirring constantly, until they reach your desired level of doneness.
3. Warm the tortillas in the microwave.
4. Place a layer of cheese in the center followed by the egg and chorizo mixture.
5. Wrap into a burrito and eat.

Serves: AS REQUIRED

Recipe posted by TexasBaker  ON NIGELLA SITE

CRAB AND AVOCADO SALAD with JAPANESE DRESSING

another recipe inspired by Nigella Lawson and her 'Express' T.V.  Show.

After such a heavy breakfast, we definitely needed a light lunch, this Crab and Avocado Salad fitted the bill perfectly, based on a Nigella Lawson recipe, halved the ingredients and used finely shredded Chinese Cabbage as a bed instead of the Rocket.  

Ingredients and Method I used:

Place in a screw top jar:

1 tablespoon Mirin

1/4 teaspoon wasabi paste

1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar

2 drops sesame oil

good pinch Maldon sea salt

Shake well and divide into two separate bowls

Finely slice a scant 2 cups Chinese Cabbage,

add to one bowl containing half the dressing, 

toss well, plate onto 2 serving plates.

De-seed and finely slice half a long red chilli

add to second bowl containing dressing

add 1/2 cup shredded Fresh Crab Meat

add a good squirt of Lime Juice and toss well

Press crab into any mould - I used a 1/4 cup measure - and invert onto salad

Top Crab with some finely sliced green onion

Using a melon baller, scoop rounds of Avocado around Crab onto salad.  Enjoy!

Simple, Fast, Easy, Low on the Calories and very enjoyable....will certainly be repeating this one.

The melon baller is a tip from Nigella Lawson and I have used it a lot over the last few days, no more squidgy peeling of Avocados and if there is a little bit that needs to be missed, easily done.

Pepper Steak in a Bowl - real comfort food

Well, it might be spring, but cold nights are still with us, which makes it just fine to be trying out recipes from my latest aquisition, - yep - another birthday has come and gone and the wonderful gift vouchers are still giving...giving...giving. 
I used part of one voucher to Snaffle a copy of Gary Mehigan's cook book 'Comfort Food', well worth the purchase, I've always said that if you see a recipe you love in a book, grab the book, it's worth the purchase price, well this book looks like being a well loved cook book.  There are many recipes that interest, but Garry Mehigan's Tuscan Beef Stew with Black Pepper and Potatoes is going to be a family fave........Mehigan justifiabyly describes this dish as pepper steak in a bowl.

There are great instructions in Garry Megigan's book, and I would encourage you to buy it.

Pics of the steps of how I created this rather warming and comforting dish.

and of course, because I am only cooking for three serves, and didn't have all the right ingredients, this is what I used.
1 brown onion, cut into wedges
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
3 dutch carrots, cut into chunks
600grms diced beef - bought as such from butcher, which I heavily coated with cracked black pepper on both sides.
1 thick slice bacon, (the recipe calls for pancetta, sadly the butcher only had wafer thin slices, so I opted for some of his bacon, using just the meaty parts, leaving the fat for the dogs dinners.
thyme sprigs, bay leaf,
1 litre fluid, made from about 100/150 mils of each red and white wine and topped with water....should have been beef stock but sadly, none on hand.
Kipfler potatoes
Sno Peas
After browning the meats and vegies, I added the wines, stock and herbs and simmered away.  Adding some nice kipfler potatoes about 30 mins before beef being done and at the last minute, adding some sno peas for greens.
Mehigan suggests parsley sprinkled over and crusty bread to serve - really could have done with the bread, the juices were just delish and would have been wonderful sopped up with nice fresh bread....perhaps next time, and there will be a next time!!

Chocolate or Vanilla Slab Cake

An emergency cake, simply stirred together in one bowl, quickly cooked into a slab, this cake is perfect for last minute visitors, lunches or to use as a base for several ideas for quick desserts.  It is cheap, easy, fast and can be varied in many ways.

Ingredients:
125grams butter
1/2 (half) cup milk
2 large (60gram) eggs
1 cup Self Raising flour
3/4 cup sugar (castor for vanilla cake - soft brown for chocolate cake)
2 tablespoons either custard powder for vanilla cake or cocoa for chocolate cake

Line a 11" x 7" slice pan with baking paper. 
Pre Heat oven to 160 degrees for fan forced or 180 degree.

In small microwave proof bowl, melt 125 grams butter,
add 1/2 cup milk
add two large eggs and lightly whisk through milk and butter

Into a mixing bowl
Sift 1 cup Self raising flour
2 Tablespoons either custard powder for vanilla cake or cocoa for chocolate cake
Add 3/4 cup sugar - castor for vanilla cake - brown for chocolate cake

Using a whisk, Stir dry ingredients together,
Add butter, milk, egg mixture and whisk together,
Pour into slab pan and cook in 160 degree oven 25 to 30 mins or until cake springs back when lightly touched.

The cake makes a thinish slab, and can dry out very quickly if overcooked.

Chocolate Cake with Caramelised Blood Orange Slices
Serves 2
I cut a slab from the end of the cake, halved it, sandwiched it with a simple chocolate ganache of melted dark chocolate and sour cream, topped the tower with two wedges of caramelised blood orange slices and served each half with a dollop of vanilla yoghurt.

Variations:
Chocolate Cake
Cut in half, spread top of one half with raspberry Jam and either sour cream or whipped cream
spread chocolate ganache or butter icing on bottom of other half slice, sandwich together and top with more chocolate ganache or butter icing.

Vanilla Cake
Cut in half, spread top of one half with Lemon Butter and whipped cream. Place other half on top of cream and either ice with lemon icing or more whipped cream

Ice with Passionfruit Icing. 
Ice with Lemon Butter Cream Icing.

A new beginning.........

....well, its been awhile, there have been things that have kept me from blogging, nothing to spend time lamenting, just life I guess.....

Anyway life being what it is, it now feels like a good time to take up the bloging reins again. We have a tender tummy in our little group around the table, as well as one who needs to have the apetite tempted, one who needs to cut back on the much loved carbs and starches and one who needs to have a little bit of care for the cholesterol levels........oh yeah! and the biggie, the cook has been bad, very very bad........she has been giving the credit card a flogging, all in the name of  'the sacred stash'........oh dear, we need to budget.
Well, as we gather around our table, I will leave it to you to decide..........are all the criteria being met?? probably not and lets not loose sight of the fact that the Shitzu needs to be kept happy, there is nothing worse, belive me, nothing worse, than a depressed Shitzu, and he only likes chicken.

So for a tender tum I made Potato, Bacon and Leek Soup from these ingredients, 

Chop the bacon into small pieces, and crisp it up in just a little oil, about 1 teaspoon, remove the crisp bacon from the stock pot and place it to one side to be added to the finished soup later.
Melt the 50grams butter in the same pot, add the 2 chopped leeks, 1 chopped onion, 3 peeled and cubed potatoes and 1 clove chopped garlic, toss to cover in the butter and bacon brownings.
Put the lid on the pot and sweat the vegetables over a medium/low heat for 10 mins.
Remove the lid and add chicken stock to just cover, add the bay leaf and 2 sprigs of thyme, a generous grinding of pepper and sea salt. 
Simmer until the potato is soft and done.

Remove the thyme and bay leaf and using a stick blender, blend the soup in the pot, until it is smooth.
Return the bacon to the soup and simmer for another 2 mins.  Scatter the chopped chives and parsley over the top and serve with hot crusty bread rolls, straight from the oven.
It must have been o.k. as more bowls disappeared during the evening.

As a bit of a treat and an appetite tempter, I thought Garlic Prawns would be a good idea.  Well, I'm not that fond of prawns, having had a run in with one that certainly was not fresh some years ago, and yes, I have held a grudge.
 
Phoned one of the local fishmongers that have their own trawler, and fessed up that I really was a novice in the prawn purchasing game, Des was a font of knowledge and kindly took the time to give me some pointers and explained how prawns are sized, going past the small, medium and large that are all that you usually see available.  It's possible, and in fact easy, to order very large prawns, they come as U6 or U8, an old weight measurement from Pounds and Ounces days, U6 you get 6 to the pound, and U8 you get 8 to the pound, how easy is that!

I ordered a Kilo of U6, and was delighted to fetch these home to the kitchen.  That's a dinner plate they are resting on.

being larger they were easier to clean, still messy, but easier than their smaller cousins.  There are a squillion 'Garlic Prawn' recipes all basically the same.
I wanted these to have a fair bit of sauce but didn't want to use cream, so I made a prawn stock with the 'peelings', that is the legs, shells and tails. 

While the prawn stock was simmering away, I rustled up an avocado side salad.

TOMATO AND AVOCADO SALAD

6 baby roma tomatoes, halved and sliced

1 ripe avocado, cubed

1/4 cup diced red onion

Place above ingredients in a bowl.

DRESSING

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

Put all dressing ingredients in a screw top jar, shake and pour over tomato and avocado, toss the salad to combine.

Pile salad into lettuce cups to serve.

And now the prawns, Steam a small quantity of rice, you only need about 1/4 cup cooked per person to soak up the juices, have rice ready on warmed platter.

Pour a tablespoon of oil and a good nob of butter into a non stick pan with the garlic, heating until the garlic is just softening, raise the heat and add the prawns, cooking them pretty quickly until they have just turned opaque, do not over cook or the prawns will toughen. Lift onto the bed of rice.

Pour a couple of tablespoons of the prawn stock into the pan, swirling around and lifting up the juices and brownings, then pour the sauce over the prawns and rice.

Served them with the avocado, tomato salad.

Would I do them again? probably, but they were expensive protein at $30 per kilo.......so what with the butter and the cost, I guess I failed on two fronts, but heck they were tasty, there were 5 prawns each, and that size we really only needed 3 each, but there is something rather nice about a decadent prawn feast.