worth peanuts?

I am used to finding recipes and meal ideas in odd places.  But a biscuit recipe in an issue of a mountain biking magazine?  Wow, that one surprised even me.  I suppose though that biscuits would be convenient refueling for a busy biker. 

 

The recipe was for peanut brownies, which I made half with peanuts and the other half with chocolate chips, so there's something for everyone.  The recipe itself called for Chelsea's low GI sugar, but I just used raw sugar (or white, whatever you have in the pantry).  Suddenly the lunchboxes look far more interesting!   

 

125 g butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

2 tbsp cocoa

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup raw peanuts/choc chips

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees celcius and line two baking sheets with baking paper.
2. Cream butter and sugar then add egg and beat to combine.
3. Fold through dry ingredients and peanuts/choc (I split the mixture into two here, to keep the peanuts and chocolate apart). 
4. Roll into balls and press flat on trays with fork.  Bake for 12 minutes.  

Ota 'ika

Raw fish.  Initial thoughts that spring to mind is of old-school farce, slapping someone across the face with a fish, rather than of delicacies from the deep.  But, when you give it a second thought, you realise just how prevalent raw fish is in the diet of many cultures, and increasingly in our own - cerviche, sashimi, some sushi, an veritable plethora of dishes using raw salmon. 

We've recently returned from holidaying in Tonga, swimming with humpback whales around the Vava'u Islands, where we were seriously spoilt for choice of good restaurants and cafes - thanks Tropicana, Ovava, Aquarium, Mango and Marina (and there are many more, but there's only so much eating one can do before one (a) runs out of holiday and/or (b) risks being mistaken for the whales we were swimming with)!  One of the local dishes we stumbled upon was ota 'ika.  Ota 'ika (literally 'raw fish') is basically diced fish that been marinated in lemon or lime juice until the surface becomes opaque, then mixed with coconut milk (much like cerviche).  From there seemed to be many alterations, depending on availability of produce and the whim of the person making it.  Most of the ota 'ika I saw used a lot of dill, but I'd be inclined to go for coriander and mint myself.  It's quite rich, so as an entree is perfect. 

Small portion per person fish, diced - snapper, gurnard, tuna etc - or mahi mahi if you're in the islands!
coconut milk (about 1 tin per 2 fillets)
lemon or lime juice
salt and pepper
fresh herbs, roughly chopped
veges - capsicum, tomato, spring onion, maybe a little cucumber

NB: There are no exact measurements because, frankly, how much of everything you put in will depend on personal taste, the look you are going for (chunky and full of bits and pieces, or more simple with just herbs and fish) and the type of fish you're using.  Trial and error - it'll taste fab no matter what!  Furthermore, don't feel that you have to just use fish - if you have mussels, scallops, pipis, squid or crab use those.  Yum!!

vanilla sky

We had some white choc left over from making Mum's birthday cake, so decided it was cupcake time.  I'm not a fan of white chocolate, but somehow vanilla and berries turn it into a completely different kettle of proverbial fish.  Yum! 

65 g butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
3/4 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
c. 1/2 cup each chocolate + berries

FOR ICING:

50 g butter, softened
2 cups icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp milk

1. Heat oven to 160 degrees fanbake (or a little higher if your oven doesn't have fanbake).  Line 12 muffin tin with paper cases.
2. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time. 
3. Add flours and milk and beat to combine.  Stir through chocolate and berries - I used macadamia white chocolate. 
4. Spoon mixture into cases and bake for 20 - 25 minutes. 
5. Cool on a wire rack. 
6. Whip icing ingredients together and ice cooled cupcakes.  Decorate as desired. 

Sing us a song, you're the piano man ♪♪

It was Mum's birthday a few weeks ago and she had a dinner party with family and friends to celebrate.  I decided to make her a birthday cake, 'cause lets face it - who wouldn't love a fancy birthday cake eh?  Kids get 'em every year, but in the realm of adults' birthday parties they're pretty scarce.  Which may be because as adults we have more sophisticated tastes and can therefore appreciate a party-cake alternative, such as creme brulée, or tiramisu.  

Or maybe it's just because, as teens, we stopped wanting those kiddy type cakes (sooooo lame), and that was the end of an era.  Anyhoo, colourful cakes are definitely in vogue again, and it's time we all got out some lollies, food colouring and had a bit of fun.  And next time it's your Mum or Dad's birthday - make them a cake - I don't know a single Dad who wouldn't secretly LOVE a racing car cake, even if he's 80. 

My Mum is a fabulous pianist, so when I decided to make her a piano-shaped cake (which I had actually made once before, so knew that whilst it looked quite involved, it was in reality simplicity incarnate), fresh from the pages of the Australian Women's Weekly Kids Birthday Cakes book, inherited from Mum herself (there's a duck cake in there which crops up in photos from my 1st birthday).  You can use any type of cake really, provided it's a relatively firm one - banana cake etc not a good idea.  So chocolate, vanilla, a good ol' butter cake.  For the piano it needs '2 packets of cake mix' worth of cake.  The first time I made it I just double the recipe for a standard butter cake, but this time I chose the line of least resistance and got 2 packets of Edmonds Angelic Vanilla Cake.  And it was really yum, so win-win. 

I baked the double-lot of cake mix in a 23 cm (or thereabouts) tin, for approximately 60 minutes - about 45 minutes in I needed to cover it with tin foil, so the top didn't get any more brown.  The key with decorated cakes is - make it a day in advance.  You want it a 'day stale', so to speak, as then the cake doesn't crumb when you're spreading icing on it. 

When ready to decorate I cut the cake about 3/4 of the way through, so I had one large rectangle (for the upright part of the piano) and one long skinnier rectangle, to sit in front for the keys.  Cover the whole beast with chocolate vienna cream icing (see below) and decorate using white chocolate and liquorice (or something else white and black).  I like to make a wee music stand and what not, to give it some personality - ideally the piano would've had a candelabra set on top, but I could only find a mini wine bottle.  But hey - it was for an adult after all eh? 

VIENNA CREAM:

125 g butter

1 1/2 cups icing sugar  

2 tbsp milk

1. Beat butter and half of sugar together until pale. 
2. Gradually add milk, then beat in the rest of the sugar. 
3. If wanting chocolate or coloured cream, add a couple of tbsp cocoa, or food colouring. 

NB: Make the vienna cream on the day you want to use it.  Once the cake is decorated, keep it somewhere cool, but do no refridgerate, as the butter in the cream may harden and start to separate. 

What'd you do when life hands you lemons?

There are many good answers to that question - get a bottle of gin or tequila, make lemonade, polish the furniture.  I'm normally partial to the gin suggestion, but as it's only just past 10 am, I'll refrain for the moment. 

I came across this recipe the other day, channel surfing.  One of those TV cooking demos was making what looked to be really easy, and using lemons.  We had a large bowlful of those citrussy little gems which, if not dealt with promptly, were going to be wasted, which I hate.  So, off to the supy to buy some frozen berries (them being out of season at the moment) and voila!  We enjoyed it at the beach over the weekend, and now the remnants are enlivening our lunches.  I forgot to take any pictures of it once cooked, but I'm sure you can imagine what a lemon-berry loaf looks like.  Make some lemon icing if you fancy, I didn't bother and frankly it didn't need it. 

125 g butter
3/4 cup sugar
zest from 2 lemons
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour, sifted 
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 cup berries (I used mixed)

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.  Spray/line 23 cm loaf tin.
2. Cream butter and sugar.  Add zest and beat in eggs one at a time.
3. Add flour and lemon juice and fold until just combined. 
4. Fold in berries and spoon into tin.
5. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until cooked through.
6. Remove from oven and allow to rest in tin for 10 minutes before turning onto wire rack. 

corn, three ways

Okay, for any of you who read that header and thought of gritty French films, get your minds out of the proverbial gutter.  I'm taking the piss out of what seems to be de rigeur in restaurants at the moment - having *xyz*, three ways is the cool thing to do.  Kyle and I have seen it so many times that its become a bit of a personal joke, to try and figure out just how the three ways might be, and why they bother.  For example, duck, three ways - so you get a bit of leg, a bit of breast, and some duck confit.  The first two are cooked the same way, and the third, well I didn't actually know what that was until I looked in wikipedia (the waitress not being sure, and the chef far too busy and important to explain to her).  Don't get me wrong, I love trying out new flavours, and different cooking methods, but sometimes it just seems to be done for the sake of presenting a range, at the expense of the food. 

But anyway, moving on.  To corn, three ways.  This is actually about muffins.  Corn, bacon etc muffins.  And the muffins have three types of corn - polenta, kernels and creamed.  And they're yum.  We tried them fresh out of the oven (perfect Sunday afternoon treat), and I've got one lined up for my morning tea, heated, with a little butter.  Do you ever go to a cafe and just seeing all the food in the cabinets makes you want to go home any bake?  Most of the time I resist the urge, but not yesterday.  They had some arancini (panko-crumbed risotto balls), which looked tasty.  That got me thinking about savoury yum foods.  Then the guy started bringing out the blueberry muffins for the day and my afternoon's fate was sealed.  But, not having blueberries, and fancying doing something with bacon, these muffins arrived in our oven... 

1/2 cup polenta
1/2 cup milk
3 (or more...) bacon rashers, rind removed, chopped into cm pieces
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 chilli, chopped
1 1/2 cups SR flour
1 tbsp castor sugar
400 g tin corn kernels, drained
50 g creamed corn
100 g butter, melted
2 eggs, lightly beaten
salt and pepper
24 cubes cheese (1 cm cubes)
grated cheese, for top

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius (180 if you're using fan bake).  Spray 12 muffin tins.
2. Mix polenta and milk in a small bowl, cover, and set aside to stand for 20 minutes.
3. Saute bacon, onion and chilli until bacon cooked and veges softened.  Remove from heat.
4. Sift flour and sugar into a large bowl.  Stir in corn kernels, creamed corn and bacon mixture.  Add melted butter, eggs, salt and pepper and polenta mixture and mix until just combined.  You may need to add a dash more milk, if batter not battery enough.  But remember to add only a small bit extra at a time, 'cause you can't take it back out! 
5. Place a cube of cheese in bottom of each muffin tin.  Spoon batter into tins.  Press second cheese cube into centre of each muffin and sprinkle with grated cheese. 
6. Bake for 20 minutes, or until muffins are golden and an inserted skewer comes out clean. 

Hot shots, part deux

It's pie time again, but this time of the individual variety.  Over the weekend I made the chicken pie for my Mum, who'd come to stay for a couple of nights.  Wasn't too sure how Harry would take to it, not being a big fan of sauces/gravies etc.  But as we all know, kids will never cease to surprise you, and he loved it.  And asked if I could make it again the next night.  We compromised, left it a few nights, and changed chicken for mince, but the result - winner!  This time the pies were made in wee ramekins, rather than a large pie dish (partly because I only had 2 sheets of pastry left, rather than the 3 required for a large pie), and to be honest I think I preferred them that way.  Remember to spray the ramekins and prick the bottom of the pastry, to ensure even cooking.  I've been informed that we're having the mini-pies again soon, with the chicken filling.  Always happy to serve! 

For the mince filling I just did a kid-friendly bolognese (so no tandoori paste or harissa or anything).  This time I used:

500 g mince

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely diced

1 tbsp sugar

couple handfuls mushrooms, very finely chopped (to disguise them...)

salt and pepper

splash of red wine

1 tbsp worchester sauce

dollop sweet chilli sauce

1 tin tomatoes

1. Fry onions, garlic, salt and pepper in a little oil.  Add mince and brown (you may need a little more oil). 
2. Sprinkle over a little sugar, stir into mince. 
3. Add 'shrooms, wine and sauces.  Stir to coat mince. 
4. Add tomatoes, combine, and leave on low to simmer away for a while (ideally an hour), stirring occasionally. 
5. Spoon into pastry, top with pastry, brush with egg and bake for 20 minutes or so (until pies golden. 

You will have a good amount of mince left over so either make lots of pies (I only made 4), or use it for a spag bol the following night.  You can also freeze the bolognese, for next time you want to make pies.