Monthly Archives: November 2011

Fresh Broad Bean Salad

Posted on by
10

A wee salad for Mondays.

I don’t think I ever had broad beans going up. My parents HATED them as kids and they were a vegetable they didn’t want to inflict on the next generation.

I am nothing if not curious. Last year I decided to give them a try, just to see what the (negative) fuss was about.

I’ve just been using the frozen variety. Tipped out of the bag into hot water and steamed gently in their pods, they are pretty average. Not that bad, but kind of grey and a bit too chewy. I think this is what mum and dad were fed, but maybe boiled for 15 minutes longer than that, even.

If you just lightly steam broad beans though, and take them out of their pods, Good Things Happen. I admit, shelling beans is not a fun pastime. It’s a bit time consuming and possibly too fiddly for a weeknight. But it’s worth it once you know the secret: grey broad bean shells are hiding tender, zingy little bright green nuggets of goodness inside.

I think they’re a nice green side (instead of, or mixed with peas, or green beans etc), or I came across this salad recipe last year and have been loving it ever since. In fact, I made it for my parents without really saying what we were eating… and they loved it. Mum even copied out the recipe. I think she’s made it a few times since and has surprised herself by becoming a broad bean fan!

The recipe’s not mine, it’s from Healthy Food Guide, so I won’t reproduce it, but I really recommend it! The recipe can be found here.

Hope your Monday’s been swell :)

Friday’s Favourite Five

Posted on by
1

Favourite five food blog posts this week -

Baking Equals Love: Delicious expectations: mocha brownies. Yum. Nessie’s photos are gorgeous and I’ve already printed off the recipe. I’m always obssessed with trying new baking recipes, but Nessie made a nice point about the reliability and comfort of your tried and trues :)

My Darling Lemon Thyme: Mango Yoghurt Popsicles. Summer is nearly here – this year I’m planning on making lots of home made icy treats (the kind that you’re probably supposed to make for children). These look delicious!

Bron Marshall: Christmas Tea Panna Cotta with Cranberry Gelée. Bron is an amazing photographer and I loved getting tips from her at the conference a couple of weeks ago. The colours in this dessert are so striking!

Our Kitchen: Pecan Pie with Medjool Dates. I hadn’t really followed this blog until one of the writers gave a talk at the food bloggers’ conference – they really do have the coolest jobs ever. I love dates and this pie sounds gorgeous.

Delicious Days: Fabulously Flaky – Sherry’s impromptu fruit galette. Delicious Days is a blog sold as “so pretty you could eat it”. It’s pretty much true. The photography of this galette is stunning, and I’m imagining it made with central otago stone fruit when it finally arrives… drool.

Enjoy your weekend :)

Plum Rugelach

Posted on by
4

These little pastry creations are Rugelach. Have you ever heard of them? They are new to me, but I have fallen for them. Big time.

Rugelach are a traditional Jewish pastry – a little crescent made from cream cheese or sour cream pastry wrapped around a sweet filling. I discovered them in New York (next to the fug bahs), and have been desperate to recreate them at home.

The rugelach I bought looked more like pinwheels; they had just been rolled into a log and sliced, but all reputable recipes I’ve found have them cut into wedges, then rolled up from the wide end in – like croissants. This makes them messier and stickier but (or maybe therefore) infinitely more adorable.

Discovering the cream cheese pastry when you take the first bite is amazing. I don’t think I’ve come across proper cream cheese pastry in bakeries here, and I’ve gotta say, we are missing out, people! Especially in these rugelach with sweet, jammy fillings – it is like a toasted bagel with cream cheese and jam, but in pastry form.

I have many ideas for things to fill rugelach with (including raspberry & currant, apricot & walnut, dark chocolate, almond cream…). This time I used some of my plum & blackcurrant jam, along with a few raisins.

Plum & Blackcurrant Rugelach
Adapted from several recipes at and via kosherfood.about.com
Makes many many many.

Cream Cheese Pastry
200g butter
250g cream cheese (not spreadable or lite)
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour

Fruit Filling
Plum & Blackcurrant Jam (or any berry flavour, really)
½ cup raisins or currants

To glaze
1 egg
2-3 Tbsp sugar

To make the pastry, cream the butter and cream cheese together. Add the sugar vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the sifted flour and mix lightly. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for at least an hour (I made mine the day before).

When you’re ready to make the rugelach, preheat the oven to 180°, and line a couple of baking trays with baking paper.

Divide your dough into four. Lightly flour a surface to roll on – keeping in mind that you need to cut the dough on it, so get a board if you’re not ok with cutting directly on your bench!. Roll your first portion out into a circle, about 3mm thick. Give the jam a good stir to loosen it up, and spread it over the circle, starting from the centre and moving outwards, and leaving about 2cm clear at the outside. Don’t spread too thickly or the pastry will be too messy to bake, and that would be tragic. Sprinkle the raisins on top of the jam.

This is where it gets sticky. Get a sharp knife and cut the circle into wedges like a pizza; I think I cut mine into 10-12 wedges. Starting from the outside (wide) edge, roll each wedge up. Ideally you end up with the point on the underside of the crescent, so you can place it seam-side down on a prepared tray. Repeat with the other three portions of dough.

Brush each pastry with a little beaten egg, and sprinkle with sugar, and bake 20-25 minutes, or until golden.

Tabbouleh

Posted on by
7

Me: OK, think of something to write about tabbouleh.

Me: Gotta make it sound fresh and interesting. OK.

Imaginary Pen: Tap, tap, tap.

[awkward silence]

Me: Well, let me think. It’s a salad. It has a filling cracked wheat component. You can take it to barbecues.

Brain: Yeah, loving all that fresh-and-interesting-ness.

Me: Do you have a better idea?

[awkward silence]

Me: I thought not. Maybe I’ll just let it speak for itself.

Brain: Mondays are hard.

Tabbouleh
Serves 6-ish 

1 cup bulgur/cracked wheat
4 spring onions
1 onion
3 tomatoes
1 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
½ cup chopped mint
¼ cup slivered almonds
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup lemon juice
large pinch chilli powder

Place the bulgur in a heatproof bowl, and pour boiling water over it (enough to cover the wheat). Place a plate or a lid on top and leave it for 15 minutes (like how you prepare couscous, just left for longer). Drain and rinse the wheat in cold water, drain again and set aside to cool.

Prepare the other salad vegetables – finely chop the spring onions and onion, dice the tomatoes and chop the herbs. If you’re using almonds (highly recommended), dry toast them until they’re just fragrant. Mix with the cooled wheat.

Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice and chilli powder, and season to taste. Toss through the salad to coat and serve.

Side note: while I was thinking of things to write about tabbouleh, I googled it and came across this article on David Lebovitz’s site. Turns out this kind of tabbouleh bears little resemblance to the traditional Lebanese dish. Two thoughts – firstly, this salad is still nice and a dish worthy of being made anyway, secondly, let’s try the traditional Lebanese way next time :)

Friday’s Favourite Five

Posted on by
4

Very exciting, I am in Auckland shopping this weekend. Have lots of things planned, including a visit to Little & Friday at long last! I’m sure it will live up to its esteemed reputation.

So, my favourite food blog posts this week:

Baking Equals Love: Going nuts over chocolate peanut butter cupcakes with caramel peanut glaze. These sound amazing, especially the peanut butter & cream cheese frosting. And Nessie’s piping work is so gorgeous!

Bunny. Eats. Design. Birthday Ham. I forget that it would be possible to serve a hot ham at times of the year other than Christmas or New Year. This glaze recipe sounds fantastic, but you should definitely check out the parasols hung from the tree as decoration! So pretty.

Heartbreak Pie. A beetroot and a birthday. I love beetroot, but Mr J – not so keen. Next time he’s out I’m planning on trying Heartbreak Pie’s beetroot risotto with goat’s cheese. Drool.

Lovely Wee Days: Spiced eggplant & peanut salad. I’m finding the eggplant from the markets has been really good the last 2 or 3 weeks. I’ve been roasting it a lot and just serving it as a side, but this salad with a yoghurt dressing looks divine.

Wayfaring Chocolate: Seriously Rich Chocolate Brownies, with Cadbury Action. I’ve just started following this blog, which rocks! I’m loving these chocolate brownies and Hannah’s write-up of product reviewing… and the debate about chocolate brands among the comments!

And your bonus ball this week is: Colour Matching at Mousehouse blog. Sweet combinations. And I seriously want mustard yellow nail polish now! Might have to bring some back from Auckland ;)

I’ll be back soon with some new salad recipes… and more Christmas ideas I’ve been working on. Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Food Bloggers Conference & Red, Red, Red Beef

Posted on by
14

I spent last Saturday at New Zealand’s first annual food bloggers conference. It was such a great day! It was nice to meet lots of the other food bloggers, and come away with heaps of new ideas and enthusiasm. Other bloggers have done great write-ups (see accounts from Pease Pudding, At Down Under, Alessandra Zecchini, Easy Food Hacks and Toast.

Thanks to Alli of Pease Pudding for putting the day together, and also to the sponsors:

Cook the Books – Kohu Road -  Gü - Teza - I Love Pies - Mad Millie – Pacific Harvest - Whittakers - Kokako - Gravity - Bell Tea - Annies - Photo & Video International - Coopers Creek - Loaf - Cuisine - Hubbards - New Holland Publisher

The conference got me thinking about why I started my blog in the first place. There were a variety of reasons – including to meet new people (after Saturday, tick!), to try new things in the kitchen (tick), and to have a way of sharing favourite recipes (well, obviously, tick). I set out with a plan to focus on tasty, healthy, not-prohibitively-expensive, every day food. Because while I love cooking fancy food and putting dinner party menus together, I take great pleasure in rustling up simple but delicious food on weeknights. I also find that a lot of my friends want to cook this kind of food, but don’t have a lot of recipes to start with.

I’ve posted a few of these kind of recipes on the blog, but not as many as I’d like. The thing is, baking and sweet treats are a lot easier to photograph and blog about! When I’m cooking on a weeknight, we’re hungry and tired from work, and just want to eat, rather than set up a photo shoot while our dinner gets cold! Plus, the natural light’s dim by then, and photographing gets a bit trickier. You get the… picture.

But I’m setting these concerns aside. I’m going to try and focus back on these weeknight meal recipes, and so to start as I mean to go on, here is what we had for dinner tonight! It has red meat, red wine, red curry paste, and red lentils. And tomato paste. Which is also red. Yeah.

Red, Red, Red Beef

600g beef (I used rump steak; chuck or blade would also be good)
cooking oil spray
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 large carrot, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 courgette, sliced
1 cup red wine
2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp red curry paste
1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 cups beef stock
1 Tbsp dried rosemary, or a couple of sprigs fresh
1/2 cup red lentils*

*You got me here, I actually meant to use red lentils, but discovered we had run out. Turns out brown lentils work too.

Preheat oven to 170º(C). If you’ve got a casserole dish that works on both stove top and in the oven, use that; if not, use a large frypan. Spray chosen vessel with cooking spray, and place over medium-high heat. Brown beef in two batches, and set aside.

Spray the pan with a little more oil, turn the heat down a little, and cook the onion, garlic, carrot, celery and courgette until softened. Add the red wine and simmer until the liquid reduces – by about a half. Then stir in the flour, curry paste and tomato paste until smooth. Add the beef stock and rosemary, and bring to the boil.

If you’re using a frypan, now is the time to transfer the mixture to an oven-proof casserole dish. Tip: I put my casserole dish in the oven while it preheats, so that you’re not putting your nice hot beef casserole into a cold dish and then waiting for it to heat up.

Place the casserole in the preheated oven and cook for an hour. Then add the lentils, cover again and cook for a further 30 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Season to taste and serve. I had mine plain but would be yummy with mashed potatoes or couscous, and some steamed greens.

Christmas Cake

Posted on by
15

I love Christmas!!!

And I’m lucky this year to be getting a good break before Christmas, so I’ve got all sorts of decorating, cooking and baking projects in mind. I may well become unbearable.

But first things first. I’ve made my Christmas Cake nice and early so it can mature for a good few weeks before we make a start on it. And it’s a GIANT cake, so even if we start eating it on December 1 (the day the Christmas tree goes up), we’ll probably still be eating it well into January.

This is my family’s traditional Christmas Cake recipe.  It’s quite a typical New Zealand Christmas cake I think, with the trifecta of vanilla, almond, and lemon essences rather than alcohol (although that’s added later). I love it. Like many ‘family’ Christmas things, it wouldn’t seem like Christmas without it.

I have been trying little tweaks to the recipe over the last 3-4 years, and I think I just about nailed it last year, so I’m expecting the 2011 vintage will be the best yet. It’s a simple cake to make, but I’ve included quite detailed mixing instructions – Christmas Cakes aren’t cheap to make, so you want it to be as delicious as possible.

Time for a Little Something’s Christmas Cake
This mixture makes a very large cake – my tin is 10×10″, and about 3½” deep. You can halve the recipe to fill an 8×8″ tin (or 2/3 it if you want a deeper cake)**.

1 lb butter
1 lb sugar
½ cup golden syrup
10 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp almond essence
1 tsp lemon essence
1½ lb flour, sifted
2 kg mixed fruit*

*Firstly, a note on the mixed fruit. The quality of the cake really rides on the fruit you use. This year, I bought as much high quality bulk bin dried fruit as I could afford, and finely chopped it, then topped that up to 2kg with packaged mixed fruit (again, the best you can afford). The fruit from the bulk bin included dried pears, apples, figs, peaches, strawberries, apricots, kiwifruit, papaya, cranberries, raisins and currants. Alison’s Pantry bulk bins do a good mix called “orchard fruits”, and another called “berry zest”.

**Another instructional note – I mix my Christmas Cake in my Kenwood mixer. And it’s such a huge mixture that I can’t mix it all in one go – so I make the cake in two halves.

OK, down to business. Preheat the oven to 160º(C), and grease and line a 10×10″ cake tin. Soften the butter (just to room temperature), and chop the mixed dried fruit.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the golden syrup, and then the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. If the mixture seems like it’s starting to curdle, beat in 1 Tbsp of the sifted flour – that should fix it. If not, it’s probably not that big a deal.

Mix in the essences and the sifted flour, and then add the fruit, and keep stirring until it’s evenly mixed through. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin, and smooth the top with wet fingers (this should stop any rogue raisins sticking it out the top and burning). My family tradition is to leave the mixture sitting in the tin overnight, but I don’t know how much of a difference that makes. I’m still too superstitious to skip this step, in case the ghosts of great grandmothers past come back to haunt me for disrespecting the recipe.

I always ice our Christmas Cake, but if you prefer to decorate the top with glazed nuts and more dried fruit, this is the time to add it. I like almonds and cherries, but use whatever you like really! Place them on the cake, and brush with beaten egg to glaze the cake, and leave it 15 minutes before baking. (I’m going to make baby Christmas cakes in another couple of weeks and decorate them this way, so I can do better instructions then).

Bake the cake for 4-5 hours (mine took exactly 4 this year). If you find the top is darkening too quickly (I always do), place a baking tray, or a layer of aluminium foil over the top of the tin. Place the tin on a cooling rack, and leave the cake to cool in the tin. While it’s still warm, pour over about ¼ cup sherry over the cake. I’m sprinkling an extra tablespoon or so of sherry over the cake about once a week now too.

In another 2-3 weeks, I’ll be icing our cake with homemade almond icing, white icing, and then decorating with royal icing, so I’ll put posts up on those steps too. But until then… it’s never to early to get excited about Christmas!

Friday’s Favourite Five

Posted on by
Reply

For those in Wellington, how about the beautiful sunny day today?!

OK, this is a quick post, but check out my favourite five blog posts this week:

Eat, Bake, Love: Green Inspiration. Some pretty, eco-friendly upcycling ideas. 

Food Opera: Lemon & Marmalade Cake. This is a new-to-me blog I discovered this week. I’m loving this rich, sticky, syrupy cake!

Lovely Wee Days: A few of our favourite things. OK, I’m including a round-up post in a round-up post, but this one features asparagus, whitebait, fancy fruit juice, and strawberry tart. What’s not to love?

Mrs Cake: How to Pipe Icing Roses. This is such a beautiful way to decorate a cake. I haven’t tried it yet but Mrs Cake assures readers it’s simple. I’m definitely trying it sometime soon :)

Hungry and Frozen: your shoulders are frozen, cold as the night. Possibly one of the most intriguing recipe titles yet, for Applemint and Fresh Turmeric Frozen Yoghurt. Looks yummy… plus I like the picture of the ballet shoes. I never got as far as pointe shoes but there’s something about ballet that tugs at my heart.

Have a lovely weekend everyone! I’m looking forward to catching up with other food bloggers this weekend.

P.S. I made our Christmas Cake last weekend so will put up a post with the recipe on Sunday… see you then!

Spicy Lamb Burgers with Raita

Posted on by
2

Lamb Good. Burgers Good. That’s all I really need to say.

I think this recipe came from an issue of Taste magazine last year.

Spicy Lamb Burgers with Banana Raita
Serves 6

Raita:
2 bananas
1½ Tbsp lime juice
1 hot green chilli, chopped
2 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 cup unsweetened yoghurt
½ tsp cumin
¼ tsp salt

Burgers:
½ cup chopped shallots
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1½ Tbsp butter
¼ tsp chilli powder
1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
¾ tsp salt
500g lamb mince
1 Tbsp lime juice
2 Tbsp unsweetened yoghurt
6 burger buns, or ciabatta rolls etc
mango chutney

Firstly, make the delicious raita. Peel the bananas and slice them thinly. Gently toss them with the lime juice, then add the other raita ingredients and mix gently. Set this aside in the fridge.

For the burger patties, cook the shallot and garlic gently (I used a spray of canola oil and a Tbsp water, you could cook them in butter if you must). Add the chilli, coriander seeds, ginger and salt. Set this mixture aside to cool a little. Then add the lamb mince, lime juice and yoghurt, and form the mixture into patties. Cook the patties quickly either on the bbq, or in a hot frypan, turning once, until cooked through.

Spread the bun cases with a little mango churtney. Add the patties and raita, and some other burger fillings if you wish, top with a little more chutney and sprinkling of fresh coriander, then the bun lid. I served mine with some spring asparagus, steamed beetroot, and cherry tomatoes. Beautiful!

Lemon Curd Layer Cake

Posted on by
6

I made this Lemon Layer Cake a few weeks ago. I had a day of cooking and photographing food to give my blog a bit of a new look. I wanted to keep a lemon-y theme, so this was the obvious choice!

Lemon Curd Layer Cake

Cake:
8oz unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1½ cups self-raising flour
1¼ cups plain flour
¾ cup milk
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest

To Layer:
Lemon Curd/Honey (home-made or store-bought)
Lemon Buttercream (see below)

Preheat the oven to 180°. Grease and line three round cake tins (I lined the base and lightly floured the sides).

Cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually, and beat until fluffy (about 3 minutes in an electric mixer). Add the eggs one at a time. In a separate bowl, combine the (sifted) flours, and add to the cake mixture in four parts, alternating with the milk, lemon juice and zest, and beating well after each addition.

Divide the batter among the cake tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in their tins for 10 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.

When completely cooled, spread the first cake with lemon curd, then lemon buttercream, place the second cake on top and repeat. Ice the top cake (and you could do the sides too) with lemon buttercream, and finish with a swirl of lemon curd to decorate. Coconut would be yummy too.

Lemon Buttercream

8oz unsalted butter, softened
about 6 cups icing sugar
½ cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the icing sugar, and then the lemon juice and zest. Beat until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the remaining icing sugar until the icing is thick enough to spread nicely.