Monthly Archives: September 2011

Friday’s Favourite… Ten

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Holy Moly! Last week I went away for work for six days… and I feel like I’ve been going 99 miles an hour since I got back and I’m still nowhere near catching up on stuff. Work, home, blog, you name it. Is it just me that gets this?!

To top the week off, I managed to get caught up today in a crazy diesel spill in Lambton Quay. I’m not the diesel-in-the-eye victim by the way, I’m the unmentioned lady just behind the diesel-in-the-eye victim who went arse over kite, faceplanted and went for a slide in a diesel slick, getting diesel all over her favourite expensive clothes on her way to meet a friend for lunch. I’ve had such an awesome day.

So here’s my top ten posts for the last fortnight. These are all indulgent, decadent treat posts. Except the ones about asparagus. Right now, I feel like eating a small light meal of asparagus, and then all the other posts. All of them. Right now.

The asparagus advocates:

You know spring has sprung when asparagus is all over food blog land. Firstly, Hungry & Frozen’s give ‘em the old double whammy. This post of twin asparagus recipes makes my mouth water. See also Heartbreak Pie’s Three Little Words. Simple but delicious! And one more, see Toast’s The First Spring Asparagus.

If you’re not an asparagus lover, try Bunny. Eats. Design.‘s take on the vegetable. I laughed out loud.

That’s the savoury stuff out of the way… on to the diesel-memory-erasing comfort food:

Pease Pudding: Green Tea Chocolate Baked Doughnuts. I didn’t quite know what to think when I read this title. It sounded so right but it took me a minute to get my head around. Like when you see someone you know but in a completely different context and you have to ask yourself whether you actually know them, and if so, what the hell their name is. But on reflection, these sound soooooooo good.

Sasasunakku: Orange, Star Anise and Almond Cake. I love star anise and wish I used it more.  Now I have a new use for it, and it involves cake. Double win.

Toast: Chocolate Caramel Tart. This recipe made the health control freak in me recoil in a horror previously unknown. But isn’t this one of the most beautiful, elegant desserts you’ve ever seen? I think it would be worth it.

Two Spoons: Spring & Summer Sweets. I’ve never been to j’aime les macarons, but all the photos I’ve seen indicate that they make the most beautiful macarons out there. Gorgeous photography!

Treehouse Kitchen: Honey, Cinnamon and Plums. Oh yeah. That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

Baking = Love:  Sticky Date Cake with Butterscotch Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Whoa. You need to check this out.

And your bonus ball tonight, Cupcakes & Cashmere’s Baubled Brooch How-To. Not a food post, but doesn’t this look so cool? Next time I come across an old brooch I’m totally trying this.

Right. Where’s the wine?

Favourite Shortbread

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OK, today I’m going to keep it short and sweet. Oh God. This is a post about shortbread. I told myself to avoid using puns on my blog at all costs. Groan.

This is our family shortbread recipe. It has never failed me. It’s buttery and has the best texture ever. We also have a variation featuring custard powder – that’s yummy too. I think the trick to lovely shortbread is to bake it really slowly and to keep a close eye on it near the end of cooking time. There’s a short window between beautiful pale perfectly cooked shortbread and golden brown crispy meh.

Shortbread makes a gorgeous gift, specially at Christmas time. People always say they love shortbread but haven’t had it for ages when I give them a batch. I always think my favourite homemade biscuit might be shortbread. Then I remember all my other ‘favourites’. Afghans. Belgian Biscuits. Chocolate Chippies. Gingernuts. Melting Moments. Lebkuchen. Anzac Biscuits. I won’t try to fight it. I can’t choose. They’re all winners on the day.

We used to have lots of biscuits at home growing up – more than cakes or sweets. I keep meaning to revive some of the forgotten ones, like rice crispies, sultana biscuits and coconut clusters (did anyone else have those?). What are your favourites?

Shortbread

8 oz butter, softened
4 oz icing sugar
12 oz flour
2 Tbsp cornflour

Preheat the oven to 150°(c) and line 1-2 baking trays with baking paper.

Lots of people use food processors for mixing shortbread; I use my Kenwood cake mixer. Sift the dry ingredients and place in the mixing bowl with the butter. Mix well – it might look a bit crumbly but leave the beater running a minute, it will be fine.  You can also mix by hand.

Tip the mixture out onto the bench and knead it a little; it should come together nicely. I roll my dough into two long square logs, 4cmx4cm, and cut into 5-7mm thick slices with a sharp knife. Shortbread pieces with cut edges (rather than the ends of the logs) are always the best, so I shave the ends off as thinly as possible. Someone usually eats those mixture scraps before they get to the oven. But when I bake any kind of biscuits, I make a tiny deformed one with whatever scraps of dough are left, and then I’m allowed to eat that one warm out of the oven. Silly rule I know, but sometimes it’s the little things that keep you going.

Set the little 4x4cm squares onto the baking trays (they don’t spread so don’t worry about leaving acres of space in between). I prick my slices twice with a fork diagonally (see picture) but each family has their own quirks, so don’t mess with how your grandma makes it!

Bake the shortbread for about 30 minutes, one tray at a time if you can. Start checking after 25 minutes. The shortbread shouldn’t change colour, they’ll just be changing from creamy to very pale golden when they’re done. The bottoms are usually a little more golden, that’s a good way to check.

Cool on a rack and store in a tin or container. Shortbread keeps really well and is probably the best freezer of all the biscuits I know. Voila! In case you’re wondering, the swan below serves no useful, meaningful or symbolic purpose. I just kind of like it.

ANZAC Biscuits

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I have a raft of sweet posts saved up for the next few days… I had a bit of a baking festival over the last couple of weeks. All my favourite biscuits and puddings. My golden baking rule is that I’m not to bake unless we are expecting people or it is destined to be taken off-site (work morning teas, gifts, etc). I have not been following this rule. Sigh.

But I am on a new health kick inspired by the lovely spring weather. So for now the baked goods are safely tucked locked away in the freezer. I’m a pretty healthy eater all the time actually, so it’s not too severe a change, but I’ll admit that typing up these recipes and adding images to the post isn’t easy… the freezer is calling me. Caaaaaaaaaaaallliiiiiiing me. Must remind self of beautiful fresh and healthy recipe posts coming up in another week or two.

For now, I hope you like ANZAC biscuits! I love them. They fall into my beloved category of fairly modest baking – they’re not the size of a CD and the height of a thick book, bulked up with chocolate. While I love multi-media sized chocolate-stuffed food, I can’t eat it every day. But ANZAC biscuits, like my Grandma’s apple shortcake and my Nana’s jam drops make an ordinary afternoon cup of tea a little more ‘treaty’ without turning it into a meal. Know what I mean?

This recipe makes lovely chewy, golden syrupy biscuits. They compete with gingernuts for the coveted ‘best biscuit with cup of tea’ title. They’re good on baking day but even better the next. If you haven’t tried making ANZAC biscuits at home before, try this recipe out. They are nicer than bought ones (I should know, I bought the tin and ate the originals!).

ANZAC Biscuits

1 cup rolled oats*
1 cup coconut
¾ cup flour**
1 cup sugar
4oz butter
2 Tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp boiling water

*I used the big wholegrain ones this time around, but normal porridge type oats are the classics
**Try wholemeal flour. It doesn’t negate the butter and sugar, but you might feel more virtuous!

Preheat the oven to 180° and line baking trays with baking paper.

Mix together the oats, coconut, flour and sugar. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, gently heat the butter and golden syrup, stirring them so they melt together. Find a small ramekin or cup and mix together the baking soda and boiling water. Let it fizz a wee bit and dissolve before adding it to the saucepan. Keep it over the low heat and stir the mixture very briefly- it will foam up a bit and smell divine. Add this mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients. Stir the lot together – the mixture will form a crumbly dough.

I use a round (as in hemi-spherical, if that’s a word) tablespoon measure to form the biscuits. I use it like an ice cream scoop, pack it fairly firmly and gently ease the little mound of dough onto the baking tray. Don’t flatten them, they do that on their own in the oven – so be sure to leave a bit of space around each biscuit. Mine take exactly 10 minutes. Leave them to cool a little and firm up on the trays before transferring to a rack to cool completely. Makes 36.

Spiced Meringues with Strawberry & Raspberry Cream

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Hi again! I’ve been away for a week and had my Spanish recipe posts scheduled to publish – but I feel like I’ve been off the radar a bit! So no Friday’s Favourite Five last week – but I’ll make it a favourite ten list for next week, once I’ve caught up on all my favourite blogs.

Just before I left, I found my first punnets of New Zealand strawberries and raspberries at my local market. I don’t usually buy fresh raspberries – too expensive, and frozen are so easy to use - but these fresh beauties were $3 a punnet so I couldn’t resist. And the strawberries were lovely and sweet. I used the berries to make a strawberry & raspberry cream which we had for dessert with these spiced meringues.

It’s been so nice having warmer weather… I can’t wait to get some asparagus this week! But nevermind spring… this dessert is a taste of the summer to look forward to!

These meringues are actually a pretty healthy dessert. I don’t often use cream but made an exception here – strawberries and cream are pretty special. If you want a healthier option, you could use a low fat vanilla yoghurt, or the frûche product that Yoplait sells would be a good substitute. You can use different berries or other fruit too; some lightly stewed or poached rhubarb  would be delicious!

I made just two large-ish meringues out of this mixture. We were feeling greedy. But if you wanted cute little desserts, you could easily make this into four slightly smaller discs.

Spiced Meringues with Strawberry & Raspberry Cream
Serves 2-4

Meringue:
1 egg white
50g caster sugar
¼ tsp mixed spice

Cream Topping:
150ml cream
1-2 tsp icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla essence (or use extract or paste)
2-3 Tbsp plain yoghurt
about 100g strawberries or raspberries, or a mixture of both

Preheat the oven to 150°(c). Line a baking tray with baking paper.

To make the meringue, whisk the egg white until soft peaks form, and then whisk in the caster sugar, one teaspoon at a time. Once all the sugar has been whisked in, you should have a beautiful stiff, glossy meringue mixture. Whisk in the mixed spice.

Spoon the meringue mixture into however many piles you want to make on the baking tray. Use the back of a spoon to smooth the piles into discs about 2-3cm high. Place the tray in the oven and turn the heat down to 120°.  Bake the meringues for about 50 minutes, then turn the oven off. Leave the meringues to cool in the oven. You can do this step in advance – the meringues should keep in an airtight container for at least a day or two.

To make the cream topping, choose a few of the best looking berries to use as a garnish later and set those aside. Hull the rest. Place the hulled berries in a food processor and whiz to a purée. I don’t mind the seeds being in there, but if you want you could pass the purée through a sieve.

In a large bowl or jug, whip the cream with the icing sugar and vanilla (use more icing sugar for tarter fruit). Fold the fruit and yoghurt into the cream, and spoon on top of the cooled meringues. Garnish with the reserved berries and sprigs of mint.

Enjoy!

Tarta de Santiago

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The final post in my series on a Spanish tapas & paella dinner party. I think I mentioned that one of my guests was dairy and soy free. Actually, it was really easy to plan the dinner menu with that in mind, but a little more difficult when it came to desserts. I find most European-y desserts are creamy or chocolatey, and when you take those options out, there’s not a lot left! But I started thinking a cake would be the way to go. I came across dozens of recipes for a Tarta de Santiago, or St James’ Cake. Then it was just a matter of finding one that didn’t use butter. This one was the way forward.

This cake was gorgeous. I served it with fresh strawberries and a little yoghurt (not for the dairy free-er!) and it worked beautifully. I’m glad I didn’t settle for a cream-based dessert. A light cake and fresh fruit was a nice finish to the dinner – it was elegant and sweet without tipping any of us over the edge into the land of the uncomfortably full. I have more experience in that land than I care to mention. Plus, I’m not 100% on my special dietary requirement knowledge, but I think this cake is gluten free as well as dairy and soy free, right?

The cake also provided Mr J. with a constructive afternoon activity (that makes him sound more like my child than my husband, doesn’t it? Hmm). He scoured the internet for pictures of St James’ sword or cross, to trace onto graph paper and to cut out painfully neatly. Thanks, Mr J.!

Tarta de Santiago (St James’ Cake)
adapted from Cook It Simply

6 large eggs, separated
pinch salt
200g caster sugar
large pinch ground cinnamon
250g ground almonds
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180°, Prepare a 24-cm deep-ish springform cake tin. To do this, I roughly cut some baking paper a little bigger than the loose base of the tin, and put this over the base before clipping the tin back together (i.e. the paper sat between the base and the side-y piece of the tin. The photo a bit further down might help). I then lightly sprayed the sides and paper-covered base of the tin with cooking spray.

Whisk the egg whites and salt in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Then whisk in half the caster sugar, one tablespoon at a time, until you have a glossy meringue texture.

In another large bowl, beat the egg yolks with the rest of the caster sugar and the cinnamon. Beat until thick and increased in volume. Fold in just a little of the egg white mixture to start with, and then fold in the remainder gently. Then fold the ground almonds in. Spoon the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for about 45 minutes. Check it after about 30-35 minutes – if it is browning too quickly, put a baking tray over the top of the tin so the cake can still cook but not get a tan. My cake had risen too high to do this so I tied on a bonnet made of baking paper:

Once the cake is golden and firm (but still springy), remove it from the oven and let it cool in its tin for 10 minutes.  I started getting worried at this point because the cake looked slightly dark and shrunken in the centre, like my paper bonnet had caused it to steam itself:

But I needn’t have worried! When I turned it out onto a wire rack to cool completely after 10 minutes, it looked perfect. Eerily perfect. I don’t think I’ve ever made a cake that looks like this:

When it’s cool, dust it with icing sugar – if you like the traditional look, use a stencil of St James’ sword.

This is also my recipe for this month’s Sweet New Zealand, started off by Alessandra Zecchini and being hosted this time by Pease Pudding. Looking forward to seeing the other entries!

Spanish Salad with Smokey Dressing

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Another recipe from that Spanish dinner. I cannot vouch for its Spanish authenticity. I based it loosely on this Laurie Black recipe for a Spanish Pepper Salad. I played around with the dressing, and added black olives, goat’s cheese and prosciutto, but hopefully I’m still allowed to use Spanish in the title.

The resulting salad has lovely smokey, salty flavours which I love, and they’re set against the creamy goat’s cheese and sweet capsicums and tomatoes. Drool. You may note that capsicums (capsica?) are not present in the photograph. That was a sad story. I forgot they were in the oven while I was dealing with my rogue beef empanada dough. Let’s just say the capsicums were more char than grill. But what the hey, I figure that from a menu of 9 new (to me) dishes, a bit of burnt capsicum and a “deconstructed” version of empanadas wasn’t too bad!

Spanish Salad with Smokey Dressing
Serves 4-6 as part of a tapas spread

Vinaigrette:
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil
flakey sea salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

Salad:
3-4 tomatoes
1 large red capsicum
cos lettuce leaves
1 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
60-80g creamy goat’s cheese, sliced or cubed
50g very thinly slice prosciutto, sliced or diced

To make the vinaigrette, whisk all ingredients together. Adjust the seasoning to taste and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cut the tomatoes into halves or quarters, whatever you prefer (I find quarters are a little more manageable when it comes to the eating), and cut the capsicum in half. Place the tomatoes and capsicum on a tray or dish lined with baking paper – capsicum skin side up, and tomatoes cut flesh side up. You could drizzle them with a little olive oil if you like; I just popped mine straight in the oven. I think they take about 40 minutes, but keep a close eye on them (see above). Once the tomatoes are looking roasted (like in the photo), and the capsicum skin has started to blister, take them out. While they’re still hot, pop the capsicums in a plastic bag to cool. Then when they’re cool enough to handle, the skins should peel off easily. Slice the capsicum thinly.

You know, if you were in a hurry, you could always buy sliced roasted capsicum from the deli. You could also use semi-dried tomatoes, or I imagine you could find viable alternatives to roasting the tomatoes at a good deli.

Starting with the cos leaves, assemble the salad ingredients on a serving platter, and drizzle with vinaigrette just before serving.

Beef Empanada Crumble & Pork and Almond Meatballs

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I wanted a couple of meat tapas dishes as the main attraction at my spanish tapas night. These pork and almond meatballs were A. Mazing. You should definitely try them. As for the planned beef empanadas… well, that dough wasn’t my friend. The details are below, but long story short, they … evolved… into a savoury crumble. Actually, it was pretty good. And I was pleased with my resourceful cooking. Who knows, maybe I’ll make this savoury crumble again one day, this time intentionally.

Beef Empanadas, or in my case, Beef Empanada Crumble

Dough:
1 cup plain flour
½ cup polenta (coarse or instant)
1 Tbsp sugar
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup rice bran oil
a third to a half cup cold water or dry white wine

I made this dough recipe up from several sources – one of my guests was dairy and soy free, so couldn’t use any butter. And I don’t do deep frying. So I wanted something I could bake. I was careful to keep quantities in the same proportions of other recipes, but as you’ll see, the Empanada Dough God wasn’t smiling on me.

Blend the flour, polenta, sugar, baking powder and salt in a food processor. Add oil and a little of the water/wine gradually until the mixture becomes crumbly. Take off the food processor and knead with extra water/wine if needed, until the dough comes together. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least an hour before using.

I got this far. I must admit I wasn’t entirely convinced it had ‘come together’, although it did feel ok. I put it in the fridge. After an hour, took it from the fridge. I dusted the bench with a little polenta. I turned the dough onto said bench. It was in no state to be rolled out. The plan had been to roll it out to 3mm thick, and cut out 8-10 circles, brush egg glaze around the edge of each circle, place a bit of filling in the centre (recipe below), and fold the circle in half, crimping the edges with a fork, brush the circle with egg glaze, and bake for about an hour.

But that dough wasn’t going anywhere. So I pressed it into a greased brownie pan. Not sure why, really. I baked that at about 175° for about 20 minutes I think, until it looked appropriately firm. Meanwhile, I made the delicious filling.

Beef & Spinach Filling: adapted from this Lauraine Jacobs recipe

150g beef mince
¼ a small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
½ tsp allspice
½ tsp grated fresh nutmeg
½ tomato, chopped
1½ Tbsp tomato paste
¼ cup dry sherry
½ long red chilli, chopped
300g packet frozen spinach portions, microwaved (3 mins on high) and chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Heat a large frying pan and cook the mince for about ten minutes, until crumbly and lightly browned. Add the onion, garlic and spices, and cook a little longer until the onion softens. Add tomato, tomato paste, sherry and chilli and cook over a high heat until the juices start to evaporate, and the mince is cooked through. Stir in the spinach and adjust the seasoning. I served the hot beef mixture with the still-hot polenta dough crumbled on top. The crumble had a great polenta taste and ‘grit’ to it – the dish was pretty tasty despite its deconstructed state.

Pork & Almond Meatballs

These were so good. The meatball recipe was adapted from a Taste magazine recipe I found here, and the dipping sauce is a variation on my basic pasta sauce.

Meatballs
150g pork mince
½ Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
finely grated zest of ½ a lemon
½ Tbsp chopped Italian parsley
15g finely chopped blanched almonds
1 small egg, lightly beaten
¼ tsp salt

Mix the mince, vinegar, garlic, lemon zest, parsley and almonds together. Add the eggs and salt. With damp hands, roll into small meatballs (canapé or cocktail size – edible in one bite). Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, bringing back to room temperature before baking at 200°, for about 15 minutes, or until cooked through.

Tomato Sauce
1 tsp olive oil
½ a small onion, very finely chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
¼ tsp smoked paprika
1 Tbsp tomato paste
4-5 fresh tomatoes, chopped (or use half a tin)
¼ tsp dried oregano
½ Tbsp red wine vinegar

Heat the oil in a frypan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened, then add garlic and paprika. Stir in tomato paste and cook for a minute or so, then add tomatoes and oregano. Simmer gently for 10 minutes or so, then add the vinegar and adjust seasoning to taste.

Serve the meatballs with cocktail sticks and sauce on the side.

Catalan Tomato Bread and Catalan Spinach

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These are two recipes from my Spanish tapas and paella dinner a couple of weeks ago. These rounded out the ‘something green’ and ‘something carby’ requirements of my menu.  They also ticked an extra box, ‘something Catalan’.

 I mainly came across Catalonia in my linguistics studies. It’s a politically and culturally autonomous part of Spain, and includes Barcelona. The Catalan language has had a somewhat troubled past but seems to be getting a boost from the Government these days – public education is in Catalan, and businesses have to use Catalan as well as Spanish in menus, and posters etc, or they can face fines. Catalan public television broadcasts only in Catalan. It’s also the only official language in Andorra, a tiny little country nestled between Spain and France (thanks, Wikipedia!).

So, back to the dishes. I found this Ray McVinnie recipe for Catalan Tomato Bread – not a recipe for the bread itself, but instructions on rubbing tomatoes on lightly toasted bread, so the bread gets covered in tomato juice and seeds and little bits of flesh. Sure, I thought. That looks nice. But we need more tomatoes. So I made semi-dried tomato bread. The recipe comes from Simon & Alison Holst’s New Zealand Bread Book, which I bought when we got our breadmaker. I really like the book actually, it’s got every kind of bread I can think of, and all their recipes have breadmaker and by hand instructions. So you can make your bread entirely by hand, or get the breadmaker to do the donkey work on the dough before you shape the bread yourself and bake it in the oven, or the breadmaker can do the whole dang thing.

When I’m feeling authentic and virtuous I make the bread all by hand. But that doesn’t happen very often. And it certainly didn’t happen on this day. So Panasonic came to the rescue.

As for the Catalan Spinach, it’s really just steamed spinach with toasted pine nuts and raisins. It doesn’t sound that incredible but it’s funny how such a simple addition can really lift plain spinach and turn it into something special. It was goooooooooood! And healthy. Bonus. 10 Points.

Home Made Catalan Tomato Bread

 Semi-Dried Tomato Bread – from Simon & Alison Holst’s New Zealand Bread Book

3 tsp surebake yeast
1 cup warm water
¼ cup tomato paste
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup wholemeal flour
2 cups high grade flour
¼ cup chopped semi- or sun-dried tomatoes
1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil (optional)

By machine: Measure all the ingredients into your bread machine in the order the manual tells you to. Set to NORMAL cycle, and choose your crust etc, and hit START. Or, you can set it to dough and shape the dough yourself, then bake it (as in the by hand instructions). I have a Panasonic breadmaker and set it to LARGE loaf.

By hand: Measure the yeast, water, tomato paste, sugar, salt, oil and wholemeal flour into a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Cover and leave for 15 minutes in a warm place. Stir in the high grade flour, tomatoes (and the basil if you’re using it). Make a soft dough just firm enough to knead. Knead for 10 minutes, until the dough forms a soft ball that springs back when gently pressed. Turn the dough in 2-3 teaspoons of oil in a clean, dry bowl. Cover with cling film and leave in a warm place for half an hour.

Lightly knead the oiled dough for 1 minute. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, then pat it into a cylinder that will fit in your loaf or bread pan (or shape it round and bake it in a cake pan). Place it into the greased loaf pan and leave it to rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size. Brush with milk (if you like) and bake at 200°C for about 30 minutes.

 To make it into Catalan Tomato Bread – a Ray McVinnie recipe from Cuisine

1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled and cut in half
1 very ripe tomato (a vine-ripened one if you can), cut in half
extra olive oil and salt, to serve

Slice the bread into 15mm slices and lightly toast. Rub each toast slice with the cut clove of garlic, and then with a tomato half, so that you leave plenty of tomato juice and seeds on the bread. Drizzle with olive oil and serve sprinkled with salt.

Catalan Spinach – from this recipe I found randomly

1 Tbsp olive or avocado oil
1 Tbsp pine nuts
2 Tbsp raisins
1 bunch spinach, washed and stems trimmed
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, and add the pine nuts. Watch them carefully; it’s a fine line between aromatic and burnt. As soon as they smell lovely, add the raisins, and let them plump for 1 minute. Add the spinach. Toss for a minute while the spinach wilts. Splash in the balsamic vinegar and toss for another 30 seconds. Season to taste and serve straight away.

Friday’s Favourite Five

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I don’t know about you, but I’m glad this week is coming to an end! I’ve been flat out and I’m ready for a break. Everyone I meet seems to be feeling just a bit under par. Not quite sick enough to stay home from work, but not quite 100% either. There’s some lingering fatigue-y bug hanging around Wellington.

So I like to welcome a weekend with some gorgeous-looking comfort food… here are my favourite blog posts from the last few days.

Pod and Three Peas: Chicken, Kaffir Lime and Chilli San Choy Bau. I really, really, really like Thai food. And I love San Choy Bau but don’t make it often because there are only two of us. And when the San Choy Bau is long forgotten, the iceberg lettuce never seems to get any smaller. There’s only so much iceberg a girl can eat. But it might be worth it for this chicken dish. Looks so nice and fresh and, just what I love, healthy.

Toast: Herbed Olives. Don’t these look gorgeous? I’m definitely making these  next time I have people over for drinks. And I really hope someone comments on them and asks where I bought them so I can say ‘Oh, I just made them. It was nothing, really.” I love home made versions of things you don’t think could be made at home. Nice post, Mairi!

Smitten Kitchen: Red Wine Chocolate Cake. I don’t follow very many overseas food blogs, but I do love Smitten Kitchen. The writing and photography is great, and there is such a big variety of recipes. I don’t think I’ve ever tried red wine chocolate cake, but I can imagine how well the flavours would go together. On the list for my next dessert making opportunity. This was also quite a special post from Smitten Kitchen following the 10th anniversary of that day.

Treehouse Kitchen: Chocolate and Pear Cake.  Um, so this cake is looking pretty incredible right now. It kind of defies definition. It looks like a hybrid cake- pie-slice-brownie teeming with deliciousness.

Mousehouse: I seen the little lamp. A while ago I put a link in to Megan’s dollhouse, which has been featured all over the place. I thought it was already pretty amazing, but wait. Like the best ginsu steak knives, it got better. And I love Katherine Mansfield’s story. All good!

Have a nice weekend!

Spanish Tapas & Paella – Time for a Sangria

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I had some girlfriends coming over for dinner a couple of weekends ago… I love having people over for dinner so I can try cooking new things, and spend a day in my kitchen putting a meal together. Not everyone’s cup of tea, I know, but I love it.

I wanted to try a new type of cuisine for the girls. I’ve been wanting to try some Spanish cooking for ages, so what better opportunity?! Plus, after a few weeks of dreary winter weather (this was before the beautiful spring days we’ve been having in Wellington), I decided we need some colour. So Spain seemed a good choice on both counts.

I don’t know about you, but my cooking background has mainly been a good grounding in ‘kiwi’ home cooking (which I see as based on British cooking, but a bit lighter, with some Asian flavours and a few unique dishes thrown in). Like most New Zealanders, I cook some South East Asian food at home, as well as Indian, a little Middle Eastern, Moroccan, Mexican (probably Tex Mex admittedly), and French and Italian.

But I’ve never really cooked Spanish food at home. Spanish cuisine, especially tapas, has had a resurgence in restaurants over the last few years, but the food, other than the odd paella, hasn’t made it as far as my home dining table. Am I alone in this?

The thing that I loved about putting a tapas menu together was I could pick lots of little dishes, and prepare most of them in advance. And because they were all new – if one flopped, no problem! I could pretend it never existed! Plenty more food to go round!

This was the menu for the evening:

Spanish Tapas & Paella Party

- White Sangria -
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- Home Made Catalan Tomato Bread -
- Garlic Prawns & Potatoes -
- Pork & Almond Meatballs with Tomato Dipping Sauce -
- Beef & Spinach Empanadas -
- Catalan Spinach -
- Spanish Salad with Smokey Dressing -
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- Paella with Chicken and Chorizo -
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- Tarta de Santiago (St. James’ Cake) -

Clearly, we needed to start the night off with a few drinks. A white sangria was in order.

There are thousands of sangria recipes out there. It would appear that every Spanish family has their own, and I imagine it’s one of those things that nobody makes quite right except your family. Like pav. I based my Sangria recipe on several I found at www.spain-recipes.com. It was gorgeous – I especially loved the apple juice ice cubes. Can’t wait to try it again in summer using my favourite Central Otago stonefruit. 

White Sangria

Apple juice, for ice cubes
1¼ cups water
1 bunch fresh mint
½ cup sugar
3 cinnamon sticks
3½ cups wine
1 pear, cut into chunks or slices
1 peach, pitted and sliced
2 nectarines, pitted and sliced
1 large orange, sliced crosswise
2 small lemons, sliced crosswise
1 lime, sliced crosswise 
3 cups sparkling apple cider

The day before…
Pour the apple juice into two ice cube trays and freeze.

Combine the water, half the bunch of mint leaves, the sugar and cinnamon sticks in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil over a medium heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. Once the syrup is at room temperature, remove the mint leaves and cinnamon sticks and discard.

Pour the syrup into a large container – if you can fit your serving vessel (punch bowl or jug) in your fridge, then use that. I found it easier to use a big plastic container (needs to be able to hold 2-3 litres). Add the wine and prepared fruit. Mix well, cover and chill overnight. Get the apple cider in the fridge chilling, too.

Just before serving
Pour the syrup, wine and fruit mix into your punch bowl or serving jug(s), and mix in the (chilled) apple cider. Add your apple juice ice cubes and the remaining fresh mint leaves from yesterday. P.S., I like the way my fruit randomly arranged itself into a face on the side of the jug!

This mixture filled two big water jugs like this one – there’s a lot of fruit to fit in! For a starter drink at a dinner party, it serves about 8-10. I had some left over so I re-used the apple juice trick and froze sangria ice cubes. I think they’ll make a nice addition to a G&T. And I’m sure there’s a use for all that wine-soaked fruit once you’ve finished the sangria, if you’re into recycling.

By the way, this post has got me thinking about what other parts of the global food map are missing from my repertoire. I don’t really know any cooking from eastern Europe or Russia (except Beef Stroganoff and the less said about that, the better). And I don’t think I cook any South American food. I love making Moroccan dishes but that’s only a small part of the African continent… what other cuisines would you love to try cooking at home?