Peanut Butter Cream Pie

Peanut butter and chocolate, particularly together, are two of my favorite things.  I loved those Reese's ads in the 80's where peanut butter tankers would crash into chocolate delivery trucks with ensuing "You got your chocolate in my peanut butter" and "No - you got your peanut butter in my chocolate".  Also, I should have gotten a job as a peanut butter tanker driver. 

The combination of flavors isn't grown up...it isn't sophisticated.  But oh my goodness...I do love it.  So, for the unsophisticated and immature amongst us, here is one of my favorite recipes.  I have a bajillion more peanut butter and chocolate recipes, and if you really want more along this theme...feel free to comment on this post and let me know what you would like to see more of.

Ingredients:

Crust -

1 1/2 cups Oreo cookies

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter


Filling -

One block of cream cheese (8 ounces/250 grams), softened

3/4 cup peanut butter

1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

3 cups whipping cream

Method:

Crust -

Heat the oven to 350F/175C.

Put the Oreo's in a food processor and pulse until completely crumbed.  Add the peanut butter and pulse until it comes together. 

Shape the mixture into a 9-inch pie pan. Bake until set, 7 - 10 minutes. Cool completely.

Filling -

Mix together the cream cheese, peanut butter and powdered sugar until there are no lumps.  I use a hand mixer for this to make sure all the ingredients are completely incorporated.

In a separate bowl whip the cream to form stiff peaks, then fold it into the cream cheese mixture.  Make sure it is all mixed together well.  Pour the mix into the pie crust. Chill the pie 3 to 4 hours before serving.

Banana Muffins

So, bananas cost the earth here in Australia at the moment.  We got a good deal on some bananas last week and bought several...then promptly forgot that we had them.  Most probably they were neglected because we have gotten so used to a world without bananas. 

I noticed them on our kitchen bench tonight, and they were very ready to be used but FAR beyond edible...but I'm picky about my nanas.

So, muffins.  I can't remember if I've posted a banana muffin recipe on here or not and tonight I'm too lazy to check.  I've been messing with my default recipe, and what I did tonight came up magically good.

Have any bananas lying around well past their use-by date?  Try this.

Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

1 3/4 plain flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 really really ripe bananas

Method:

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

In a small bowl, smash the heck out of your bananas.  This is very therapeutic after a day of work.  I usually squeeze a small bit of lemon juice on the banana to prevent it from going brown, but you don't have to.

In a separate small bowl, whisk the egg.  Add the oil, sour cream and vanilla and mix well together. 

Pour the banana and the wet mixture into the dry mixture, and mix well.

Spray a muffin pan with non-stick baking spray, and fill the cups about 3/4 full.

Bake in a 165C oven for about 25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.


These muffins freeze really well.

Perfect Pulled Pork

The perfect pulled pork is all about the pig.  We are lucky to have a really fantastic local butcher, who kindly cut the pork shoulder I needed for this dish.  I recommend a pork shoulder of about 1.5 kilos with a small bit of bone in it and a good layer of fat on top. 

Dry Rub:

1 Tablespoon ground cumin
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon onion powder
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 Tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon paprika
1/2 cup brown sugar

Mix well and store in an air tight container

Brine Solution:

1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 liters cold water
2 bay leaves
3 Tablespoons dry rub mix

Add salt to cold water and stir very well until all the salt is completely dissolved.  Then add the brown sugar, dry rub, and bay leaves and stir well to combine.

Method

Rinse the pork shoulder and place in a large container (a Tupperware box of some variety).  Pour in the brine solution until the shoulder is completely covered.  Put the lid on and put in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. 

Remove the pork shoulder from the brine solution and pat dry with paper towels.  Place in a baking pan that is bigger than the meat by at least 5 centimeters in length and is at least 10 centimeters deep.

Sprinkle dry rub onto the surface of the meat and massage in such that it sticks to the surface.  Coat all sides.  Make sure the fat layer on the shoulder is facing up before cooking.

Place the baking pan uncovered in a 100 C oven on the middle rack.  The meat needs to cook until the center of the shoulder reaches 95 C (use a meat thermometer). It could take anywhere from 12 to 24 hours to cook, depending on your cut of meat and your oven. 

When the meat is done cooking, pull it out of the oven and cover with foil.  When the meat cools down to about 75 C, it can be shredded.  This should be done very easily with two forks.  It's best to remove the fat layer before shredding, if it hasn't already melted. 

To serve, the pork tastes great just shredded in a crusty roll.  You can mix BBQ sauce through it and eat any number of ways...also delicious. 

So...it's Friday night and I've already starting cooking our Sunday night dinner!  The beautiful pork is brining away in our fridge.  For our dinner Sunday night, I will be mixing through some BBQ sauce and then topping with a creamy sweet potato mash to make a southern version of shepherd's pie.  Can't wait!

Moussaka...or "The Full Extent of My Greek Recipes"

So, I love Moussaka.  I have always kind of thought of it (apologies to my Greek friends) as Greek lasagna.  I don't have a good palate for cooking Greek food, but I adore eating it.

This version of Moussaka is inspired by Masterchef.  George's momma came on and made her version of the dish, and it looked scrumptious.  I've altered her recipe with some of my touches, and think this is a pretty good version of the classic.

All that said...making this seemed to use up every dish and pan in my kitchen.  Be prepared.  Also, it took longer than I thought it would...but it was worth the effort.

Moussaka:

Ingredients

3 eggplants, sliced 5mm thick
4 tablespoons salt

drizzle of  olive oil
300g lamb mince
200g pork mince
200g beef mince
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon dried cinnamon
400g can of crushed tomatoes
700ml bottle of tomato passata

Olive oil & Canaola oil, for frying
3 large potatoes, sliced 5mm thick

Bechamel

100g butter
100g plain flour
600ml full cream milk, warmed
125g keflagraviera cheese, grated
1 egg yolk

Method

Lay eggplant over a shallow tray or dish and sprinkle liberally with salt. Cover with muslin or paper towels and set aside for 30 minutes.

Heat drizzle of olive oil in a large frying pan or saucepan.  Add onion and saute briefly.  Add the lamb, pork and veal mince and cook until browned and the meat breaks up. 

Add crushed tomatoes, tomato passata, tomato paste and water.  Add garlic, italian seasoning and cinnamon and then bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for ½ hour. Season with salt to taste.

While the tomato sauce is bubbling away, pour a mixture of olive oil and canola oil (to your tastes - but word of advice, don't use extra virgin olive oil) into a frying pan approximately 1cm deep and place over a high heat.  Shallow fry potatoes for 3-4 minutes on each side or until tender. Drain on paper towel.

Pat dry the eggplant and wipe off the salt.  Pan fry the eggplant on each side (in the same oil as the potatoes) until golden yet still firm. Drain on paper towel.  If you don't want to cook the eggplant in oil, it tastes lovely grilled and works just as well.

For the béchamel, melt butter in a heavy based saucepan. Add the flour and stir over a low heat for 2 minutes. Slowly add warm milk, stirring continuously until thick. Mix in keflagraviera cheese and an egg yolk, and then season to taste with salt.  The cheese is already kind of salty, so go easy.

Preheat oven to 180C.

To assemble, oil the casserole dish and layer as follows:  Meat sauce, potato, sauce, potato, sauce, eggplant, sauce, potato, eggplant and remaining sauce. Cover with béchamel.

Bake for 45 minutes until browned and béchamel has set.

Enjoy!

Canadian Food Adventures

A long break from posting, courtesy of working overseas in Canada.  I confess we ate a lot while there but I wasn't able to do too much creative cooking.  That said, we had a couple of really excellent food experiences while in Toronto - both involving meat. 

We were lucky enough to be living next door to one of the most amazing butchers I have ever had the pleasure of patronising.  Should you find yourself in Toronto, make your way forthwith to Medium Rare Butchers http://www.mediumrare.to/.  We bought some bison steaks, kobe beef sliders, free range thick cut bacon annd some of the nicest minced beef ever.  Everything we got was amazing, and for every thing we bought and tried there were ten things we wanted to try. 

From a restaurant point of view, we found a place that serves the best BBQ ribs I have ever eaten.  Ever.  I'm from Kansas City...and this place aced the BBQ I've had there.  So, this is high praise.  The restaurant in question is called "Montana's" and you can check them out at http://www.montanas.ca/.  The ribs were perfectly cooked...tender and meaty, sticky and enormously messy.  We opted (both of the times we ate there!) for their apple butter BBQ sauce on the ribs and I don't think I'd change that.  Amazing.  I can go on at length using all the superlatives at my disposal...suffice to say I am very much looking forward to my next trip to Canada in August.

I will be figuring out how to post pictures, and trying to accompany my recipes with photos from now on.  Apologies for the long break in updating - I will make it up with a super delicious recipe inspired by my time in Canada. 

I love the combination of salty and sweet in these biscuits.  FYI - these are American style biscuits (i.e. sort of like scones).

Maple Bacon Biscuits

Ingredients:

500gr bacon, cut into 1/2 -inch pieces
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
250 gr butter, cut into 1/2 -inch cubes
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup, divided
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
1 egg yolk
1 egg
1 tablespoon cream
Maldon Sea Salt

Method:

1. In a medium frying pan, cook the bacon over medium heat until cooked but not crispy, 10 to 12 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate or pan, to remove excess fat.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. Using a pastry cutter cut in the diced butter until it resembles small peas. Stir in the bacon, then one-fourth cup plus 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and the buttermilk until the dough just comes together (it will still be clumpy). Don't overwork the dough.

4. On a lightly floured surface, gently press or roll the dough to 1-inch thickness. Cut the biscuits using a 2-inch round cutter; it should make 24 biscuits. Place 12 biscuits on each of two baking paper lined baking sheets, spaced 2 inches apart. Freeze the trays just until the biscuits are chilled, about 10 minutes.

5. Heat the oven to 180C. While the biscuits are chilling, prepare the egg wash. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk, egg and cream. Brush the chilled biscuits with egg wash and top each with a pinch of the Maldon sea salt.

6. Bake the biscuits until they just begin to brown, about 25 minutes (you should easily be able to pick the biscuits up off the tray). Remove the tray from the oven. Quickly drizzle 1 teaspoon of the remaining maple syrup over each biscuit, then place the tray back in the oven for 3 minutes more. Serve while still warm.

Never Fail Chocolate Mousse

My husband loves chocolate mousse.  For his 21st birthday, his "birthday cake" was an enormous bowl of his mom's famous Toblerone Mousse.  And a spoon.  Unfortunately for my husband, I have never really been able to make a proper mousse.  Perhaps my folding technique isn't up to scratch...I've never really figured out what my failing is with mousse.  A couple of years ago I cooked up a recipe for a mousse that never fails - largely because it doesn't have egg whites I think.  This recipe makes a denser, richer mousse...almost a "chocolate pot".  If you use a high cocoa percentage chocolate, you'll need to add a bit of sugar to the cream when you are whipping it.  Do be sure to use good quality chocolate.

And yes, this recipe does work with Toblerone. 

Chocolate Mousse:

Ingredients

300 grams melted chocolate, recommend bittersweet or 60% dark
300 mls thickened cream
2 eggs, lightly whipped
2 teaspoons vanilla

Method

Melt the chocolate in a medium sized bowl in the microwave until it is completely melted.  I microwave for 45 seconds at a time, and stir in between.  Usually takes about 3 minutes.   Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whip the cream until it is making soft peaks.

In a third small bowl, lightly whip two eggs (just with a fork).

Stir the eggs into the melted chocolate.  Stir well until the egg is thoroughly mixed in.  Add the vanilla and stir through.  Add the cream - one large spoon first (mix it through to loosen the mousse) and then the remainder of the whipped cream.  Stir through well, but gently. 

Transfer the mousse to serving bowl or individual ramekins and chill for two hours before serving.

Kiwi Fruit Sorbet

Kiwis are cheap and delicious at the moment - we recently got 8 for $1 at the local farmer's market and they were beautiful.  Unfortunately, we ate a couple and then forgot about them for a few days - and they got quite ripe when we weren't looking. 

My mother-in-law had been experimenting with sorbets, and recently made a delightful kiwi fruit sorbet. 

Inspiration met opportunity!  So, last night I decided to wing it and make my own version of the sorbet.

I wanted a sorbet that was quite tart, so decided to add a bunch of lemon juice too.  When making sorbets you need to make the unfrozen mixture more tart and/or sweet than you want the final mix to taste, as freezing dulls both. 

Kiwi Fruit Sorbet:

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1 cup water
2/3 cup lemon juice
7 - 8 peeled kiwis

Method

Put the sugar in the water in a small heavy bottomed pan.  Heat over a medium heat, stirring regularly, until the sugar is melted and forms a syrup.  This should take about five minutes.  Put the syrup in the refrigerator to cool it down.

Puree the kiwis in a food processor or with a stick blender.  Add the lemon juice and put in the fridge to chill until the sugar syrup is chilled.

Mix the fruit and syrup together well and put into an ice cream maker.  Freeze according to your machine's instructions. 

Hot Fudge Peanut Butter Sauce

While I am equipping you with brownies, it seems only charitable to include a topping for any sundae that may get made.  This stuff is evil, and as an act of self preservation I would recommend making a half serve and sharing it.  Thanks go entirely to Nigella for this one.  No need for modifications - it is magnificent as is.

Hot Fudge Peanut Butter Sauce:

Ingredients

175ml cream
100 grams chopped chocolate (I use Ghiradelli chocolate chips)
100 grams smooth peanut butter
3 Tablespoons golden syrup

Method

Put the cream, chocolate, peanut butter and golden syrup into a saucepan over a medium heat.  Stir regularly, and the sauce should be ready in about two minutes. 

I can't think of a better example of immediate gratification.

Brownies...further musings on a subject near to my heart

I've been conducting extensive testing recently...on brownies.  I've made different batches of the "melted chocolate" variety - for which I have earlier shared the recipe.  I believe, for my tastes, I have perfected the "melted chocolate" variety.  Many folks have tried them and loved them, so I'm happy with where that is at. 

However there is another whole class of brownies - the "cocoa" brownies.  These are more like the "packet mix" brownies I remember eating when I was growing up, and have a different (in fact, cakier) consistency.  I'm a declared chewy brownie fan, but have found a recipe that has that ephemeral "sort of cakey sort of chewy" consistency.  These are good when you really need brownies fast and don't have any chocolate in the house...they are a slightly (ever so) lighter style of brownie (to which I am referring only and exclusively to texture...I'm sure these pack a caloric punch just like the other ones). I can't profess to have perfected these yet, but they are damn good.  I thank, as always, Nigella for her inspiration though I have slightly modified her recipe.

Brownies:

Ingredients

3/4 cup salted butter (the best quality you can find)
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 pinch salt
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray a 9 x 13 pan with baking spray.

In a large bowl, combine melted butter with the sugar, and mix well.  Add the cocoa, flour, baking soda and salt.
Break the first egg into the batter, and stir through until incorporated.  Add the second and third eggs the same way.  Add the vanilla with the third egg.
If you want to add nuts, this is the point that you should.  About half a cup of nuts should suffice, but I think they are an abomination in brownies so would recommend you test this out yourself.
Pour into the pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. The edges should be firm and the middle should be slightly sunk - don't over bake them or they really do go cakey.

And we know what I think about that.  Bleh.

A glass of milk is a nice accompaniment, and sometimes you just need a fork and the entire pan.  Sigh.  Depends on your day.  These are great under ice cream in a sundae, and are robust enough to stir through ice cream and hold their shape (if you were say, homesick and missing Ben & Jerry's Brownie Fudge ice cream and decided to replicate it).

Corn Bread

It's the perfect accompaniment to soups, stews, chili...and people have clear views of what makes a good corn bread.  Some love a sweet corn bread and some hate it too sweet.  I have a sweet tooth, so I would never complain about a sweet corn bread.  That said, sometimes I like to have a honey butter on the corn bread and even I have limits.  So, two recipes for corn bread below.  One is sweet - it comes up crunchy and beautiful all on its own.  With a bit of butter, it is a delight.  The other recipe is far less sweet, and I've included a recipe (if you can call it that) for honey butter.

Golden Sweet Cornbread:

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Method

Preheat oven to 400F (200C). Spray or lightly grease a 9 inch round cake pan.
In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir in egg, milk and vegetable oil until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.


Corn Bread:

Ingredients

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 400F (200C).
In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and soda. Combine eggs, buttermilk, honey, and oil; add slowly to the dry ingredients. Mix until blended. Pour into 9 inch square pan.
Bake until golden, about 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.


Honey Butter

Ingredients:

250gr butter (the best quality you can get)
3 Tablespoons honey

Method:

Allow butter to soften slightly at room temperature.
Using and electric mixer, whip butter and honey together in a bowl until well mixed.
Roll butter up in wax paper, allow it to chill, and slice when ready to use.

Tomatoes and more tomatoes

When I was a kid, I hated tomatoes.  There is a photo of me at around 5 years old, being encouraged to eat a cherry tomato.  You could be forgiven for thinking it was a stink bomb aimed at my mouth based on my expression.  I've learned to love tomatoes.  Two of my favorite recipes are quite healthy "meat-free" options - one uses fresh tomatoes and the other, canned.

Pappardelle with Roasted Tomato, Spinach & Ricotta:

Ingredients

¼ cup good balsamic vinegar
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 medium tomatoes or 8 Roma tomatoes (about 600g worth) cut into wedges
375g pappardelle pasta (the wide ribbon shaped pasta)
100g baby spinach leaves, trimmed
2 tablespoons olive oil
200g ricotta
salt to taste

Method

Preheat oven to 180C.

Combine vinegar, 1 Tablespoon olive oil, and garlic in a small jug.  Place tomato, in a single layer, on oven tray.  Pour vinegar mixture over tomato.  Roast, uncovered, for about 25 minutes or until tomato is browned lightly and softened.

Cook pasta until tender.

Combine drained pasta, tomato, spinach and oil in large bowl.  Break ricotta into approx 3cm pieces.  Add to pasta mixture, toss gently to combine.

A word of advice - use the best quality pasta you can get, or make your own.  This is a dish of simple flavors, and the pasta is center stage. 



Tomato and lentil soup:

Ingredients

1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 cup red lentils
400 gram can chopped tomatoes
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
3 cups chicken stock
salt & pepper to taste

Method

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until sizzling. Saute the chopped onion and garlic until the onion is soft.

Add the dried red lentils, can of tomatoes, tomato paste and 3 cups chicken stock. 

Bring the mixture to the boil then reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring often, until the lentils are soft and creamy.

Taste, and add salt and pepper as required.

This soup is great served with some toasted, buttery Turkish bread.

Granola Bars

So I like to make sure my daughter has a healthy lunch every day, including lots of fresh fruit and whole grains.  My daughter inherited my sweet tooth, and would quite happily have her lunch box filled with fudge and Snickers.  As a part of the recent food revolution in our house, I have been making lots of the "snacky" things that we eat from scratch.  I can control the amount of salt and fat and sugar and preservatives - and importantly, I have at least expended effort and time for the junk food rather than just grabbing something from the cupboard.  It's instilled an appreciation in our family for the "treats" versus healthier food. 

In my quest to make healthier lunches for Claire, I researched what goes in to granola bars (muesli bars).  There is an unholy amount of crap in most of the supermarket brands - and it seemed a fairly simple thing that I could make fresh myself on a more regular basis.  Costco sells oatmeal in 5 kilo boxes (and huge bags and large tubs of everything else required), so they are really incredibly cheap to make. 

As per my philosophy on brownies, I prefer a chewy granola bar.  These aren't as chewy as some of the commercial bars, as they don't have the emulsifiers and guar gums etc in them.

Chewy Granola Bars:

Ingredients

½ cup packed brown sugar
½  cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy works)
¼ cup golden syrup/honey
¼ cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ - 2 cups cups oats (start with 1 ½ and add more as needed to get to the right consistency)
½ cup raisins/craisins/dried blueberries
½  cup chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven to 175C. Combine 1st five ingredients, stir well.  Add oats and whatever "extras" you are putting in.  Mix well to ensure everything is evenly coated.

Press into 8 inch square pan coated with baking spray.

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown.

Cool in pan (important - they will fall apart if you don't let them cool in the pan), then cut and wrap up individually in cling wrap. 

Basic Sweet Muffin Mix

I've always loved eating blueberry muffins and since I was old enough to use the oven, I have loved making blueberry muffins.  When I was a kid, I used boxed mixes and didn't really know much better.  Once I was out on my own, I wanted to learn how to make my own from scratch.  It took a few years of tweaking, but eventually my go-to recipe for sweet muffins emerged.  You can use most fruits in this recipe, but blueberries are still my favorite.  I've added cranberries and orange zest which was lovely, or you could add chocolate chips and raspberries.  In general, add about 1 cup of whatever it is you are adding. 

Basic Muffins:

Ingredients

1 egg
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 oil (canola or other mild tasting oil)
2 cups plain flour
3/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 - 1 cup of fruit/choc chips


Method

Heat oven to 200C/400F.  Grease bottoms of muffin cups.

In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients - flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

In a small bowl, beat egg then stir in milk, oil and vanilla.  Mix well.

Pour the liquid mix in with the dry ingredients, and stir until just combined.  It is likely to be a bit lumpy, but you should make sure to not over-mix.

Add whatever bits you are going to mix through, and distribute evenly into either a 12 regular size muffin tin or a 6 jumbo muffin tin.

Bake for 20 - 25 minutes.

Homestyle Biscuits & Gravy

For those of you not from the midwest of America, "biscuits & gravy" conjures up a horrible image of cookies with brown gloop on them - nothing could be further from the truth.  To a good Kansan like myself, nothing says home cooking like fluffy buttermilk biscuits and creamy, peppery, sausage gravy.  Transplanted to Australia, I found it impossible to get biscuits (scones are the only alternative here and they are emphatically *not* the same thing) and even more impossible to find American style breakfast sausage to make the gravy. 

As is my wont, I ended up figuring out how to make it all myself.  And just quietly, mine are better than what I've been able to find in most restaurants in the US.  The only difference is the "home made" element - the biscuits are fluffy but crunchy on the outside and the sausage mix is made from freshly minced pork.  Not a sausage factory in sight. 

These are more work than going out to a restaurant for breakfast (unless you are me and it involves at least 15 hours on an airplane) but you will notice the difference.  Trust me. 

Breakfast Sausage Mix:

Ingredients

1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Dash crushed red pepper flakes
Small dash ground cloves
1 pound (500 grams) ground pork

Method

Mix all ingredients together thoroughly, cover, and let sit overnight.  The flavors need to come together before you cook the meat.


Buttermilk Biscuits


½ cup butter
2 ½ cups flour (sifted)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold buttermilk (plus a bit to get the consistency right, up to 1/4 cup)
2 Tablespoons melted butter

1. Heat the oven to 230C/440F.  Cut butter into small cubes and freeze for 15 minutes.
2. Stir dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Cut in butter until mix resembles a coarse meal.
3. Stir the buttermilk using a wooden spoon into the flour mixture just until combined to form the biscuit dough; do not over-mix.
4. Remove the biscuit dough to a lightly floured board and knead 4 - 5 turns.  Pat/roll out to a thickness of 1 1/2  inches. Cut the dough into rounds using a 2 1/2 -inch cutter and place the biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet. Brush tops with melted butter.
5. Bake the biscuits until golden-brown, about 15 minutes.


Sausage Gravy:

Brown the Breakfast Sausage Mix until there is no more pink in the meat.  Using fresh pork mince, there may not be enough fat to make a good gravy - you will need to eyeball this.  If there isn't, add some butter and let it melt.  Stir in a rough equivalent of plain flour (e.g. if there are about three tablespoons of fat in the pan, add about three tablespoons of flour).  This isn't science and it isn't precise.  Cook the mix for about a minute, and then add some milk (give or take a cup to start with).  The mixture will thicken quickly, so you need to stir well and be prepared to add some more milk (not too much at a time and mix really well each time to avoid lumps).  As the mixture stabilises to your desired level of thickness, add some freshly ground pepper and some salt (to taste). 

To serve, crack the biscuits in half and pour over some gravy.

Forgive yourself in advance for this meal.

Summer Berries & Cherries

Summer memories for me involve memories of the summer fruits - watermelons, berries and cherries are my favorites.  As watermelon isn't known for its good baking qualities, my baking interest turns to berries and cherries.  This first recipe is somewhere between a cobbler and a clafouti - but it is super easy and a delicious way to finish off some summer cherries.  I've tried this with mixed berries (blackberries, blueberries and raspberries) and it just doesn't come out as well.  You can vary the amount of sugar in the batter to suit your own tastes - the recipe calls for 3/4 cup and that is my optimal level but you could probably make it with as little as 1/2 a cup.  Also, if you don't have a cherry pitter...run out and get one.  I only got my cherry pitter a few weeks ago (in advance of our French dinner party) and I fell in love with it instantly. 

Cherry Cobbler:

Ingredients

½ cup butter
1 cup flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup whole milk
3 - 4 cups pitted cherries
¾ cup white sugar
1 tablespoon flour

Method:

Preheat oven to 175C.  Place butter in 9 x 13 pan to melt (give or take 5 minutes, but make sure not to brown the butter).

Stir together 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and the baking powder.  Mix in the milk until well blended.  Pour in pan over butter.  DO NOT STIR. (sorry for yelling - but you really don't want to stir)

Toss the cherries with  ¾ cup sugar and 1 T flour.  Distribute over batter.  DO NOT STIR. (again, sorry for yelling...really don't stir this okay?)

Bake 50 – 60 minutes.

If you are looking for something delicious to do with some blueberries, blueberry scones are a nice idea.  I've made this recipe a few times, and they are a real treat.  I like to serve them with some lemon butter, and that flavor combination just makes me melt.  I use fresh blueberries in this recipe, but I do freeze them so that they are easier to work with and less likely to give you bright purple scones.

Blueberry Scones:

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 ¼ cups buttermilk
150gr blueberries

Method

Preheat oven to 200C.  Spray a shallow 20cm round pan with some non-stick spray.

Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl.  Pour in enough buttermilk to mix to a sticky dough - you may not need the full 1 ¼ cups of buttermilk, so take it slowly. Fold in blueberries.

Gently knead dough on lightly floured surface until smooth.  Use hand to flatten out dough to about 3cm thick.  Cut 8 5.5cm rounds from dough.  Place rounds, slightly touching, in prepared pan. 

Bake, uncovered, in hot oven about 20 minutes or until browned lightly.

Grimoire? Food Witch? Huh? Also, pudding.

By way of an explanation of the name of this blog, it's all my husband's doing.  Anthony's nickname for me for a very long time has been "food witch".  I'm meant to believe this is because I go into the kitchen, scrabble about with pots and pans and POOF out comes something delicious. 

I just simply love to cook - I'm certainly no chef and I have no aspirations for a career in a kitchen somewhere.  Cooking is a creative outlet and a major source of stress relief for me after a long day at work and being a mom/wife/daughter.  My family is all from the Midwest of the US, and like so many cultures around the world, we use food to show love and care for people.  Nothing like making someone a pie to show them you care.  I have learned to source premium ingredients and to explore varied cuisines, but really I'm still just trying to show people my love for them when I cook.

A Grimoire is a witch's textbook...filled with spells.  Anthony thinks I should write a cookbook with the same name...I debated long and hard about a cook book versus a blog - and obviously the blog won.  I don't want all of the administrivia and blah blah work blah that is involved in trying to get published.  So this blog will be the textbook of good cookery, and hopefully I will learn something about food as I write it.  Hopefully as a minimum you'll get a good recipe for brownies out of this exercise. 

I hope you are enjoying the blog...I'd really welcome feedback - the deathly silence makes me feel like I'm talking to myself.  Maybe that's a good thing.  But really - I want to hear what recipes are of interest, what you want to see more of, what you made and how it turned out.  In return, I promise to try and figure out how to get pictures working on this damn thing!

To leave you today with a little morsel, here is my recipe for Self-Saucing Chocolate Pudding - a British delight which I first discovered here in Australia.  It is everything I enjoy in a dessert, and super delicious.  Use the very best cocoa you can source, it is the big ticket flavor item in this dessert.  Served with some thickened cream, this is comfort food at its finest.  For those who use packet mixes, this should very easily replace them forever.  It is no more difficult, and infinitely nicer tasting.  I promise.

Self-Saucing Chocolate Pudding

Cake:

Ingredients

3/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup milk
1/3 cup melted butter
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

Method

For the cake, mix the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.  Stir in milk, butter and vanilla and beat until  smooth. Pour into an ungreased 8” casserole dish.



Topping:

Ingredients

½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 ¼ cups hot water

Method

For topping stir together sugars and cocoa and sprinkle evenly on top of cake mix.  Pour over hot water.  Do NOT stir.  Bake in a 160C oven for 35 – 40 minutes until center is almost set.

Coconut & Pecan Slice

Here in Australia we call it a slice...in America it is a "bar" but regardless of what you call it, this recipe is delicious.  I don't like coconut very much and I'm not a huge fan of nuts in food (I am actually a kind of an idiosyncratically ridiculous, picky eater with some things) but I love this slice.  It is rich and sweet, but just a lovely combination of flavors.  Everyone that eats this one wants the recipe...posting it here should lighten my work load.  Something different for folks who don't like chocolate but feel like a brownie sort of a sweet.


Crust:

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups flour

Method

1. Heat the oven to 170C/340F .
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Add the flour and mix well.
3. Place the mixture in a parchment-lined 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking pan, pressing the mixture firmly onto the base of the pan to form a packed, even layer.
4. Bake the crust until lightly golden, about 20 to 25 minutes. Set aside until cool.


Filling:

Ingredients

2 cups light brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
2 cups pecan pieces, smooshed

Method

1. Heat the oven to 170 degrees C.
2. In a large bowl, mix the brown sugar, vanilla and eggs well. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Combine the flour mixture with the egg mixture until thoroughly incorporated. Stir in the coconut and pecan pieces.
4. Pour the filling over the cooled crust, spreading evenly with a spatula. Bake until set, about 40 to 50 minutes. Cool before cutting and serving.

Real Men Eat My Quiche

We had a picnic this evening at the Zoo, all part of a work family night thing.  There was an Abba cover band playing - Babba - and it was quite an enjoyable evening (despite the constant drizzle and eventual rain storm).  I had thought about making a potato salad but Ant doesn't really like it (he eats mine but only out of kindness).  I had a recipe for an asian noodle salad but thought that might be a bit messy to try and eat sitting on a picnic blanket.  Inspiration struck when we were in Tasmania, when we were out for lunch.  On the specials board was a "chicken, cheddar and chives quiche" - light bulb moment ahoy.

So, I made a variation on this for our picnic.  Anthony said it was one of the best quiches he'd ever eaten, but I think he is biased.  I have to say I really enjoyed it too - it was somewhere between a quiche and an eggy tart and the flavors mixed together nicely.  I substituted caramelised onions for the chives and I used the breast meat from a grocery store rotisserie chicken...so a lot of the hard work was already done.  I made the pastry myself (and the recipe I use is Maggie Beer's classic and it is surpisingly easy and infinitely tastier than store bought pastry).

Pastry:

Ingredients

125 grams plain flour
100 grams chilled butter
65 mls sour cream (approximately)

Method

Chop all the butter into small cubes. Weigh flour and put into mixer. Blend flour and butter until it resembles a large breadcrumb consistency.

Add sour cream and process until it starts coming together.

Turn onto a floured bench and pull together with your hands into a rounded shape. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 20 minutes before rolling out and lining your tin.

Blind bake at 200C for 10 minutes. Remove the baking paper and weights, and bake for a further 5 minutes.

NOTE: When lining the tin, have the pastry come up high as the pastry will shrink.  This pie crust works great for savory dishes but also works really well in sweet pies too.  This makes enough for one crust, double recipe for a two crust pie.


Filling:

Ingredients

2 x rotisserie chicken breasts, chopped in 1 cm chunks (we had the rest of the chicken for lunch, so no waste!)
125 grams sharp crumbly cheddar, crumbled
50 grams medium sharp American cheddar (orange cheese)
1/2 cup caramelised onions (from my crockpot recipe)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups cream
fresh ground pepper, to taste
sea salt, to taste
pinch of sugar

Method

Layer cheddar and chicken in the bottom of the baked pastry shell. Spread onions out on the top of the cheese and chicken. 

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and then add the cream.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add a small pinch of sugar to the egg mixture and whisk one final time.

Pour egg mixture into the pastry shell.  Bake for 15 minutes on 200C, then turn the oven down to 160C and bake for a further 30 minutes.  The top of the quiche should be golden brown - depending on your oven this could take another 10 minutes or so.  Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Cheddar Cheese Risotto

So this is a third hand recipe, but the source is the patron saint of comfort food - Nigella herself.  When trying to describe this culinary exploit to a friend, I described it as "mac & cheese for grown ups".  I don't think this is an unfair summary, and it was certainly delicious and and very much in the comfort food category.  I've adapted it a bit further again even from the original and my derived source, but I was certainly really happy with it. 

Risottos are a bit of a pain in the butt to make - in that, like a child, they demand your full attention or destruction ensues.  That said, the flavor of a properly made risotto makes up for this 20 - 30 minutes of focused attention. 

This recipe actually only has a cup of cheese in it across four good sized portions - so not too bad in the health stakes but I wouldn't call it "everyday" food.  Make sure you use arborio rice - there isn't really a good substitute for this when making a risotto.  And of course, the chicken broth should be a good one.  I don't always have home made on hand, but find a nice broth that is full of flavor and not too salty.  It's also really important that the broth be heated - don't take a shortcut and avoid this or the whole cooking process can go a bit awry.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
300 grams (10 oz) arborio rice

125 ml (1/2 cup) white wine
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 liter (4 cups) chicken stock, heated

200 grams (7 oz) cheddar cheese, cut into small cubes
3 T chopped chives

1/4 cup bread crumbs (preferably panko)

Method:

Melt the butter in an oven proof pan, add oil and onions. Cook, stirring, until onions are clear and beginning to brown.

Add rice, stir thoroughly so that each grain of rice is coated in butter and oil. Then add wine and mustard, and cook until wine has been absorbed by rice. Add stock, 1/2 c. at a time, stirring until the stock is absorbed by rice.

Add about 3/4 of the chopped cheddar and stir until the cheddar is melted.

Top with bread crumbs and remaining cheese and pop in the oven to bake at 200C/400F until the cheese is bubbly. Serve topped with chives.

Current Favorite Slow Cooker Recipes

My slow cooker is slowly becoming one of my favorite kitchen tools.  At the moment I am using my slow cooker to caramelise onions - thanks to some tips from http://www.savour-fare.com/ (my current favorite foodie blog).  I have been using caramelised onions in everything - but my favorite (and least healthy) use is in home made French onion dip. 

Ingredients:
3 to 4 large onions, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons olive oil
3 Tablespoons butter, melted
large pinch of sea salt
2 cups sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
additional salt to taste

Method:
Place onions, olive oil, melted butter and pinch of salt into your slow cooker, and stir to coat. Cook on high for 10 - 12 hours, or until onions are deep caramel brown.  I find that I need to stir the onions every few hours - when I have left them unattended they get more brown around the edges and not brown enough in the middle section of the slow cooker.  This could just be my slow cooker, but the first time you make these...keep an eye on them and learn how your slow cooker works.

Once the onions are all a rich brown, turn off the slow cooker and drain all of the cooking liquid off the onions. Mix the sour cream and mayonnaise together in a bowl, and add onions to taste.  I like to use LOTS of onions in my dip, but everyone is different so add to your heart's content.  Taste the dip, and add some sea salt (have I mentioned that I love the Maldon sea salt flakes?  I highly recommend them) to your desired level of saltiness.  Just remember, you're likely to be eating this on salty chips - so don't go overboard.  Also there's enough fat in here to cause a coronary...no need to up your sodium levels to guarantee it! 
Refrigerate the dip for a couple of hours before serving, it will thicken up in the fridge.

Any leftover onions should go in the fridge - you can pop them in a meatloaf, add to home made pizza or put on hamburgers.  These onions are amazing, and in the slow cooker they are just soooo easy.


In addition to my love of my slow cooker, I also really love Costco.  Our local Costco has an amazing butcher, so we get some great value meats but in bulk.  I recently got a batch of boneless beef short ribs that were lovely and was trying to figure out what to do with them.  I watched an episode of Giada at Home and got inspired to make this dish in my slow cooker - slow roasted beef short ribs in a red wine and roma tomato sauce served with penne rigate.

Ingredients:
1 kilo (2 pounds) boneless beef short ribs
drizzle of olive oil
sea salt & freshly ground pepper (to taste)
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 cans whole roma tomatoes
1/2 cup red wine
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 cup beef broth
500 grams (1 pound) penne pasta
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Method:
In a heavy pan, sear the boneless short ribs in a drizzle of olive oil.  Lightly season them with sea salt and freshly ground pepper while searing. Remove the ribs and place in the bottom of the slow cooker. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions go translucent.  Make sure not to burn the garlic, add a bit later than the onions if you are worried.  Tip the onions and garlic into the slow cooker over the top of the beef, evenly spread. 

Add the tomatoes, wine, beef broth and mustard to the slow cooker. Cook on low for 8 - 10 hours. 

Remove the ribs from the cooking liquid. Using a large spoon, remove any excess fat from the surface of the cooking liquid.  Using a stick blender, puree the liquid in the slow cooker.  Pour the sauce into a saucepan and keep warm over low heat - the goal of this is to reduce the liquid a bit. Using 2 forks, shred the meat into small pieces and stir the shredded meat into the sauce. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Cook the pasta according to packet instructions, and ladle sauce over the cooked pasta.  Serve with some freshly grated parmesan.

I also find some sort of bread accompaniment is helpful to sop up any remaining juices in your bowl.

Quick Dinner - Slow Roasted Flavor

We had a long weekend away, and got home with not too much time for cooking dinner.  I wanted to make something relatively healthy...quick and full of flavor.  Quick was very important.  Full of flavor is always a must. The result is this recipe - Roast Curry Chicken & Vegetables.

Ingredients:
750 grams peeled sweet potato cut into 1 inch cubes
3 small peeled red onions with root and stem ends removed, and cut into wedges
1/2 cup canola oil, divided
Salt and pepper
200 mls plain Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons curry powder
750 grams skinless, boneless chicken thighs
Roti or Naan, for serving

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200 C.

Combine the ginger, garlic, curry powder, yogurt and  1/4 cup of oil and stir to mix. Toss the chicken in the yogurt mixture and let marinate while peeling, chopping and generally sorting out the veggies.

Toss the sweet potato and onion in 1/4 cup of the oil. Spread out in a 9 x 13 inch pan lined with foil, and season generously with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Arrange the chicken on top of the vegetables.

Roast for about an hour, until the vegetables are tender and the chicken is browned. Serve with roti or naan.

Moorilla, MONA & The Source Restaurant

Should you find yourself in Hobart Tasmania, I can heartily recommend a meal at "The Source Restaurant".  The restaurant is part of the Moorilla winery complex, which also now includes the re-designed Museum of Old and New Art (MONA).  http://www.moorilla.com.au/

My meal was great - not quite "Vue due Monde" great, but lovely nonetheless. 

I had a starter of onion veloute with a parmesan mousse and an onion caramel.  I can't do this dish justice by trying to describe it...it was by far the best course of the meal for me and the flavors were superlative.

For my main, it was spatchcock with a layer of truffle under the crispy skin, truffled cabbage, and a truffled sauce.  Truffle overload, but in the best possible way.  Also on the plate was the chef's play on an "egg sandwich" which was an egg yolk served between two thin croutons.  The spatchcock was lovely, the cabbage was even surprisingly nice...the truffled sauce made the whole dish.  I'll confess the egg yolk grossed me out - I loved the idea of it, but when I bit into it the texture was...let's just say "off putting". 

Dessert was a "chocolate and praline" bar.  A simple mousse of hazelnuts layered with a light chocolate mousse, placed on top of a hazelnut praline - all coated in chocolate. 

Service was great, and Anthony throws in a solid recommendation for their microbrew - he tried a bottle of their Moo Brew Pale Ale and said it was one of the best beers he's ever tried.

All up, a great day.  The Museum is certainly worth a look too!

While on the subject of perfection...

Brownies.  I know there are theories about who invented them, what cooking mishap they resulted from...noise noise blah blah CHOCOLATE. 

When you want a chocolate hit...when your day sucked...when you want to pamper a friend (and sometimes that friend is yourself)...Brownies are the answer.  I've been known for my brownies for a long time - I make a mean brownie.  There are two schools of thought regarding brownies - cakey (wrong) and chewy (right).  I feel like I finally perfected my recipe with this recipe, and am thankful to all the other bakers whose ideas I took a little of here and there.  These might not be perfect for you, but they sure are for me. 

I tend to weigh the ingredients that are listed as weights, and use cup measures for those that call for cups.  I'm quirky that way.

Ingredients:

• 300 g (10.5 ounces) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 150 grams (5.5 ounces) unsalted butter
• 175 grams (6 ounces) sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
• 100 grams (3.5 ounces) white chocolate chips or chunks
• 100 grams (3.5 ounces) milk chocolate chunks

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160 C (320F) and grease and line an 8-inch pan with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl resting over a pot of barely simmering water, melt chocolate and butter, stirring gently. (Don't be tempted to do this in the microwave...the chocolate and butter melt in different times and it is worth taking this one slowly) Remove from heat and stir in sugar and vanilla.
3. Stir in eggs, one at a time. Stir in flour and salt. Fold in white and milk chocolate chips.
4. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a tester inserted in the centre of the brownies comes out clean. Cool before slicing.
Again, a nice big glass of milk is a good companion for these.  Happy baking!

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Perfected?

So baking will be a continuous theme here - I love (a little too much) baked goods.  I am forever striving to perfect some of my key recipes...and chocolate chip cookies are an all time comfort food.  I think I may have perfected these, at least for my tastes.  Give them a go...they are surprisingly easy and if, like me, you always forget to soften your butter when making cookies these are for you!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
250 grams salted butter (I use Danish butter) - for Americans this is two sticks
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
350 grams semi sweet chocolate chips (12 ounces)
Sea salt, for garnish (I use Maldon sea salt)

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius (350F). While the oven is preheating, melt your butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan until it goes nutty and a bit golden brown.
Pour butter into a large mixing bowl.  Add brown sugar and white sugar to the melted butter, and mix until the sugars are thoroughly combined and the butter is incorporated. Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix well.
Add flour, baking soda and salt, and mix until all the ingredients are incorporated. Add chocolate chips, and stir until they’re evenly distributed throughout the batter.Refrigerate the dough until it is firm enough to scoop, about twenty minutes.
On a large, non-stick cookie sheet drop spoonfuls of the dough about the size of a walnut. Sprinkle each bit of dough with  a tiny sprinkle of sea salt.
Bake for about 9 minutes. The cookies may still be soft in the middle. Let them cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheets, then transfer to a rack.

Eat and enjoy.  A glass of milk makes a nice accompaniment.

French Dinner Party

After a lovely trip to France, my husband Anthony and I wanted to start a gastronomic dinner club.  We have two friend couples who both love to cook and (even more importantly) eat and they were intrigued by the idea.  And thus the Dinner Party was born!  Each couple would bring either an entree, main course or dessert and we agreed to follow a theme for each dinner.  The first dinner theme was French.

Anthony and I were lucky enough to snag the dessert course for our first dinner party. 

The entree for our meal was extraordinary - our friend Euan outdid himself with a seven course amuse bouche starter.  We started with an aperitif of champagne, then a mouthful of corn & garlic soup served in a shot glass.  Beautifully presented on a platter were four more courses - a salmon sliver served with a champagne sauce, a quail egg cooked in a brioche slice, steak tartare, and an onion tart with a goat's cheese foam.  The "final" course of our entree was a champagne jelly.  Truly an amazing start to the meal.

The main was a flavour packed cassoulet - tender duck and spicy sausages slow cooked with white beans and herbs.  Filled with different flavours, it was a traditional country dish that we all loved.  Served with this was a salad with roasted beetroot and orange segments.  Delightful!

Our dessert was a three course feast.  We started with some beautiful cheeses from the French stand at the Queen Victoria Market - a triple cream brie, a raclette and a triple cream blue.  We served these with toasted hazelnuts and dried pear halves, all accompanied by a beautiful Sauterne wine.

Second course was a dark chocolate tart served with Cointreau poached black cherries. Now is the time for recipes. 

Pastry:
225g plain flour
125g chilled butter, chopped
60g powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
2 tbs chilled water

Method:
Place the flour, butter and icing sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and water, and process until the dough just starts to come together. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Shape into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.
Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a 4mm-thick disc. Line a round 3cm-deep 23cm (base measurement) fluted tart tin, with removable base, with pastry. Trim excess. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.

It is incredibly important to let the pastry rest or it will shrink when it bakes.

Preheat oven to 200°C. Line the pastry case with non-stick baking paper and fill with pastry weights or rice. Place on a baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and pastry weights or rice. Bake for 10 minutes or until crisp.

Tart Filling:
150g good-quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
185ml thickened cream
1 tbs cocoa powder
2 eggs, lightly whisked

Method:
Reduce oven temperature to 180C. Place the chocolate, cream and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat. Add the egg. Whisk until just combined. Pour into the pastry case. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes or until just set. Set aside for 3-4 hours to cool.

Cherries:
60ml (1/4 cup) Cointreau liqueur
60ml (1/4 cup) water
100g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
800g fresh cherries, pitted

Method:

Place the Cointreau, water and caster sugar in a saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil. Add the cherries and cook, stirring, for 5-8 minutes or until the cherries soften and the syrup thickens slightly.  Use a slotted spoon to remove the cherries to a container.  Let the remaining syrup reduce to half its volume. 

Serve the sliced tart with cherries and a drizzle of the Cointreau syrup.

The tart is delicious - rich but not overwhelming. Also it didn't travel very well to dinner...and I was not happy with how it presented.  Fortunately we ate it by candlelight so I didn't get a lot of complaints, but I knew it didn't look perfect.  Be gentle with it is the message here - the crust is light and flaky and oh so fragile.  Also, it melts in your mouth.  Yum.
For our final course we made a trio of sorbets - apple, lemon and raspberry.  For the apple sorbet, I just juiced some pink lady apples and added some lemon juice - then put it in the ice cream freezer.  To be honest, I was quite disappointed in the apple sorbet.  The texture was too icy - I think it required some sugar syrup and if I were to do this again I would definitely do it differently.  The other two sorbets were delicious, and came out exactly as I intended.

Lemon Sorbet:

3 cups water
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups lemon juice
1 T lemon peel, grated

Method:

In a saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil.  Cook and stir until sugar is dissolved (about 5 minutes).  Add lemon juice and peel, and then cool in the fridge.  Once it is cool, freeze according to ice cream maker instructions and then allow to firm up in the freezer for about 2 hours.

Raspberry Sorbet:

500gr raspberries
Juice of 2 oranges
Juice of 1 lemon
1 1/2 cups sugar
 
Method:

In a food processor blend raspberries to a purée with the lemon and orange juice and sugar. Strain to discard raspberry seeds.Freeze according to ice cream maker instructions and then allow to firm up in the freezer for about 2 hours.

If I perfect my apple sorbet, I promise to share the recipe.

The dinner party itself, whilst full of great food and good friends, had a few surprise bonuses that I didn't anticipate.  Firstly, it was all much more chilled out than I had thought it would be.  Because the stress of the dinner party was shared across three couples, no one actually really got stressed.  It also was great to see people being creative with food. 

Our next dinner party theme is "finger food".  I'm wracking my brains for a good menu - we are going to be doing the main course.  I'm thinking of a sort of "retro" fingerfood approach...but haven't yet settled on a final menu.  Suggestions welcomed!

The Beginning

After much pestering from my supportive husband, I'm setting up this blog.  My charter is to share my adventures in food creation and enjoyment.  I plan to blog about amazing food experiences, both my own and when eating out.  I will talk about flavors and smells and what they evoke.  It will be personal but hopefully also resonate with others.  I promise to include recipes and weblinks and tips and as much details as I can muster. 

I haven't mastered photography, so pictures may be a few posts away.

Adventures ahoy!