As I mentioned in the previous post, I have been house sitting here in England. We had been shopping for the staples... milk, eggs, bacon, bread, vegemite, chocolate ... but I neglected to buy butter for baking - what on earth was I thinking?
As a result, when I baked yo-yos to take up the hill for another afternoon tea, I had to use the 'low fat, olive oil based spread' I had here in the fridge. Mmmmm?!
The yo-yos baked well but as one might expect, they weren't yellow, and had a very bland taste! I think they were saved by the very lemon-y icing I stuck them together with!
Still, we all ate them. We did have to explain to the 12 yr old English friend what a yo-yo was, but once she gathered they were a little like a shortbread, she too ate hers with gusto!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Scones
I've been making some scones here in England lately as my sister 'T' claims I make the best scones ever... but it seems, to keep getting the compliments, one has to keep making the scones ;-)
On the snow days when school was closed I made some scones for the wet, cold hungry troops to eat after a long day tobogganing down the slope. It seems the most popular scone in 'T's' house is the 'plain scone' with the obligatory jam and whipped cream - we are in England after all :-)
Just because I love them though, I made 'sultana scones' too, which also were eaten quite quickly.
Yesterday I asked the family down to our house for afternoon tea - well actually 'T' rang me and asked me to invite them down for afternoon tea ;-)
As we're house sitting at the moment, and I don't have a full range of ingredients at hand, I was a little constrained with my choices for afternoon tea, but of course scones had to be on the agenda. I baked the popular 'plain scone' but for a change, I also did a 'cheese scone' and an 'apple roll' too.
As far as the children were concerned, the 'plain scones' still won out, but there was one eater of the 'cheese ones' and he even took the left overs home.
Sadly, the 'apple rolls' weren't the most successful, but still eminently edible.
I have no photos, but I do have the recipes!
On the snow days when school was closed I made some scones for the wet, cold hungry troops to eat after a long day tobogganing down the slope. It seems the most popular scone in 'T's' house is the 'plain scone' with the obligatory jam and whipped cream - we are in England after all :-)
Just because I love them though, I made 'sultana scones' too, which also were eaten quite quickly.
Yesterday I asked the family down to our house for afternoon tea - well actually 'T' rang me and asked me to invite them down for afternoon tea ;-)
As we're house sitting at the moment, and I don't have a full range of ingredients at hand, I was a little constrained with my choices for afternoon tea, but of course scones had to be on the agenda. I baked the popular 'plain scone' but for a change, I also did a 'cheese scone' and an 'apple roll' too.
As far as the children were concerned, the 'plain scones' still won out, but there was one eater of the 'cheese ones' and he even took the left overs home.
Sadly, the 'apple rolls' weren't the most successful, but still eminently edible.
I have no photos, but I do have the recipes!
'Plain scones'
2 cups plain flour
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine
skim milk
Preheat oven to 200°C.
Sift the flour and a large pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl.
Add the spread and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
Stir just enough milk into the scone mixture to make a soft, dough. Turn onto a surface sprinkled with a little flour and knead lightly for a few moments
Roll out the dough to a thickness of 2.5 cm. Use a biscuit cutter to stamp out rounds. Place the scones on a baking sheet, brush with the remaining milk mixture. Bake for about 12-15 minutes until well risen and golden brown.
'Cheese scones'
225 g self-raising white flour
2 tbs butter or margarine
40 g Grated Tasty Cheese
2 teaspoons of mixed dried Italian herbs
25 g grated parmesan cheese
skim milk
Preheat oven to 200°C. Sift the flour, baking powder and a large pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the spread and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
Stir the cheese into the rubbed-in mixture.
Stir just enough milk into the scone mixture to make a soft, dough. Turn onto a surface sprinkled with a little flour and knead lightly for a few moments.
Roll out the dough to a thickness of 2.5 cm. Use a biscuit cutter to stamp out rounds. Avoid twisting the cutter as this prevents the scones from rising well.
Place the scones on a baking sheet, brush with the remaining milk mixture and sprinkle with the reserved cheese.
Bake for about 12-15 minutes until well risen and golden brown.
Friday, December 10, 2010
European trip
The great trip to Europe began a couple of weeks ago and I have been far too busy or far too tired to consider blogging about where I've been and what I've eaten. Today I am changing that! ;-)
We flew Australia's favourite airline to England and so I thought as this is ostensibly a 'foodie blog' I'd blog the food we ate on the long haul flight. It's been a while since we've chosen to fly this airline as, to be honest, the service and food was fairly abysmal the last time we were on this carrier. On this trip however I thought they had improved no end!
We left Melbourne at a strange time - 11:55pm - so were fed at 4 stages and at slightly bizzare times too! Although I hasten to add we were both ready to eat each time the 'hosties' came around with the food (and drinks) trolley ;-)
Our first meal was supper on the leg from Melbourne to Hong Kong. This tray was laden with 'cucumber and cherry tomato salad with a lemon and chardonnay vinaigrette', the main dish - which was a choice of 'sage roasted chicken with a pearl barley and mushroom risotto' or twice cooked pork in a spiced master stock with fragrant rice'. Both H'o'M and I chose the chicken - because who would order pork on the plane????
The dessert was a hideous though a 'white chocolate mousse' which tasted of nothing but whipped cream! Not even a hint of chocolate! Blah!
We were supposed to sleep now, but I didn't get too much shut eye...we tried to watch movies instead, but I just couldn't concentrate.
So next was another meal....breakfast! Just a light one this time. OJ, fresh melon salad, cereal, date pain de mie (whatever that is).
At some stage just before we landed at Heathrow, we were served with lunch. I guess this got us into the time zone of England as we were landing at 12:30pm.
Lunch was very tasty and the tray was absolutely laden with food! There was the obligatory salad - this time a 'vegetable salad marinated with sesame dressing' and I chose the 'steamed fish with cantonese rice wine sauce, rice and choy sum'. The big draw card for me was the choy sum actually. I ate most of the fish and the vegetables, but H'o'M ate my rice after he had eaten his own 'braised beef with mash and green peas'!
As you can see, there was also 'Tim Tams' - which H'o'M ate both packets of - bread, biscuits and cheese.
We were very definitely well fed!
We flew Australia's favourite airline to England and so I thought as this is ostensibly a 'foodie blog' I'd blog the food we ate on the long haul flight. It's been a while since we've chosen to fly this airline as, to be honest, the service and food was fairly abysmal the last time we were on this carrier. On this trip however I thought they had improved no end!
We left Melbourne at a strange time - 11:55pm - so were fed at 4 stages and at slightly bizzare times too! Although I hasten to add we were both ready to eat each time the 'hosties' came around with the food (and drinks) trolley ;-)
Our first meal was supper on the leg from Melbourne to Hong Kong. This tray was laden with 'cucumber and cherry tomato salad with a lemon and chardonnay vinaigrette', the main dish - which was a choice of 'sage roasted chicken with a pearl barley and mushroom risotto' or twice cooked pork in a spiced master stock with fragrant rice'. Both H'o'M and I chose the chicken - because who would order pork on the plane????
The dessert was a hideous though a 'white chocolate mousse' which tasted of nothing but whipped cream! Not even a hint of chocolate! Blah!
We were supposed to sleep now, but I didn't get too much shut eye...we tried to watch movies instead, but I just couldn't concentrate.
So next was another meal....breakfast! Just a light one this time. OJ, fresh melon salad, cereal, date pain de mie (whatever that is).
No photo of these meals!
After a hideous sleep - again - we were woken with breakfast. It consisted of a 'potato and egg frittata, with bacon and oven roasted tomato'. On the side there was fresh fruit salad, yoghurt and orange juice ... for dessert there was even a banana muffin. It all sounds quite fancy when described like that but of course was just the usual airline fare really.
It was tasty though and I ate the majority of the frittata, but left the yoghurt as it was strawberry - clearly not my favourite ;-)
At some stage just before we landed at Heathrow, we were served with lunch. I guess this got us into the time zone of England as we were landing at 12:30pm.
Lunch was very tasty and the tray was absolutely laden with food! There was the obligatory salad - this time a 'vegetable salad marinated with sesame dressing' and I chose the 'steamed fish with cantonese rice wine sauce, rice and choy sum'. The big draw card for me was the choy sum actually. I ate most of the fish and the vegetables, but H'o'M ate my rice after he had eaten his own 'braised beef with mash and green peas'!
As you can see, there was also 'Tim Tams' - which H'o'M ate both packets of - bread, biscuits and cheese.
We were very definitely well fed!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Christmas Part 2
We had another family Christmas celebration last week. It's been lovely to have several days of celebration - especially so early in the season!
As I had organised a turkey for the last time, I decided to create a more modern menu this week and serve beef with salads and roast potatoes.
H'o'M fired up the BBQ and we roasted a rib of beef - think lamb rack but much much bigger! To prepare the beef I simply seasoned the whole cut with salt and pepper and that was that! So easy, but with a 'good' cut of beef there is very little that it needs to enhance the flavours.
I made a 'roast pumpkin and spinach' salad. I've made this salad before and it's very tasty. Next time though I think a handful of toasted pine nuts would add to the dish - a little extra crunch ;-)
I also made my own balsamic dressing rather than buy it from the market. I mixed a little extra virgin olive oil with some red wine as well as the obligatory balsamic vinegar in a jar and shook it until they all emulsified! I didn't make very much of it to be honest because I'm actually not a big fan of the dressed salads. I find that dressings tend to make everything soggy!
1½kg pumpkin, peeled and cubed
2 punnets cherry tomatoes, halved
garlic cooking spray
200g green beans, trimmed and halved
150g baby spinach leaves
350g feta cheese, crumbled
4 tbs Balsamic Dressing
Preheat oven to 200°C. Place the pumpkin and tomatoes in two separate baking dishes and spray both with garlic spray (tomatoes should be cut side up). Bake the pumpkin for 15 minutes, then add the tomatoes to the oven and bake both for a further 30 minutes, or until the pumpkin is golden and tender. Set aside to cool.Cook the beans in boiling water until tender, drain and cool under cold water. Drain.
To serve, arrange the spinach leaves on a platter and top with the pumpkin, tomatoes, beans and feta cheese. Drizzle with the balsamic dressing.
Mum bought over a salad too. Hers was a green salad made of lettuce, avocado, spring onions, avocado and for a dash of colour she sliced up some red capsicum and added it to the top! A very pretty dish!
individual pancetta stuffing
The adults meanwhile, drank champagne, chatted and opened presents while nibbling on Turkish bread dipped in lime infused olive oil and my dukkah!
Clearly the kids enjoyed the dukkah too :-)
I made a non-alcoholic punch for us all to share too. There was once a recipe I followed, but now it's just a matter of tasting the mixture and blindly trusting that 'The Force' has been with me! It's always different and always disappears, so I think it usually tastes good. It's a mix of
As I had organised a turkey for the last time, I decided to create a more modern menu this week and serve beef with salads and roast potatoes.
H'o'M fired up the BBQ and we roasted a rib of beef - think lamb rack but much much bigger! To prepare the beef I simply seasoned the whole cut with salt and pepper and that was that! So easy, but with a 'good' cut of beef there is very little that it needs to enhance the flavours.
I made a 'roast pumpkin and spinach' salad. I've made this salad before and it's very tasty. Next time though I think a handful of toasted pine nuts would add to the dish - a little extra crunch ;-)
I also made my own balsamic dressing rather than buy it from the market. I mixed a little extra virgin olive oil with some red wine as well as the obligatory balsamic vinegar in a jar and shook it until they all emulsified! I didn't make very much of it to be honest because I'm actually not a big fan of the dressed salads. I find that dressings tend to make everything soggy!
1½kg pumpkin, peeled and cubed
2 punnets cherry tomatoes, halved
garlic cooking spray
200g green beans, trimmed and halved
150g baby spinach leaves
350g feta cheese, crumbled
4 tbs Balsamic Dressing
Preheat oven to 200°C. Place the pumpkin and tomatoes in two separate baking dishes and spray both with garlic spray (tomatoes should be cut side up). Bake the pumpkin for 15 minutes, then add the tomatoes to the oven and bake both for a further 30 minutes, or until the pumpkin is golden and tender. Set aside to cool.Cook the beans in boiling water until tender, drain and cool under cold water. Drain.
To serve, arrange the spinach leaves on a platter and top with the pumpkin, tomatoes, beans and feta cheese. Drizzle with the balsamic dressing.
Mum bought over a salad too. Hers was a green salad made of lettuce, avocado, spring onions, avocado and for a dash of colour she sliced up some red capsicum and added it to the top! A very pretty dish!
Last celebration I made some Pancetta stuffing and didn't get to eat it because - well I forgot about it! So, this week I decided to make some more but this time remember to eat them!
I know you're not supposed to have stuffing with beef, but 'it's my party and I"ll have stuffing if I want to' ;-)
They were a huge success and I could have made twice as many and they would have all been eaten! Thanks to you Donna Hay!
They were a huge success and I could have made twice as many and they would have all been eaten! Thanks to you Donna Hay!
individual pancetta stuffing
2½ cups (175g) fresh breadcrumbs
1 brown onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
¼ cup (40g) toasted pine nuts
½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
100g butter
sea salt and cracked black pepper
12 slices pancetta, halved
Preheat oven to 180°C. Place the breadcrumbs, onion, garlic, pine nuts, parsley, lemon rind, butter, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well to combine.
Line 2 x 12-hole lightly greased mini-muffin tins with pancetta and fill with the breadcrumb mixture. Press down and smooth the top.
Bake for 6−8 minutes or until the pancetta is crispy and the stuffing is cooked through.
1 brown onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
¼ cup (40g) toasted pine nuts
½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
100g butter
sea salt and cracked black pepper
12 slices pancetta, halved
Preheat oven to 180°C. Place the breadcrumbs, onion, garlic, pine nuts, parsley, lemon rind, butter, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well to combine.
Line 2 x 12-hole lightly greased mini-muffin tins with pancetta and fill with the breadcrumb mixture. Press down and smooth the top.
Bake for 6−8 minutes or until the pancetta is crispy and the stuffing is cooked through.
Next time I made these bit sized morsels - after all I still have one more Christmas celebration this year - I would definitely mince the parsley a little smaller and as it seemed that every pine nut made it's way to the top of the stuffing and got a little burnt when cooking, I would mix it more evenly before cooking!
It was a lovely day outside for this celebration day, so we had had our nibbles and present opening on the back veranda. The boys played cricket, jumped on the trampoline and after the present opening even got to throw some water balloons at each other!
I made a non-alcoholic punch for us all to share too. There was once a recipe I followed, but now it's just a matter of tasting the mixture and blindly trusting that 'The Force' has been with me! It's always different and always disappears, so I think it usually tastes good. It's a mix of
- orange juice
- pineapple juice
- dry ginger ale
- passionfruit pulp
- apple cider
- lemon juice
- soda water and loads of ice - often in the shape of stars, hearts or snowmen!
After lunch we also had a birthday cake as there are two birthdays fast approaching which we won't be together to share. A flourless chocolate cake was the cake of preference this year. I made a raspberry coulis to pour over the top and with some double cream and/or ice cream, we were all set for the dessert!
A lovely day!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Cornbread!
It was MFM again - I know I know it's Thursday already but I've been busy!
This week I made the vegetarian chilli again because it was really good last time, but for a bit of excitement I made my first ever corn bread! We used to eat this a bit in restaurants when we lived in California - mainly with Mexican food - but I had never baked it myself.
H'o'M and I had been shopping recently at a funky little grocer/deli/provedore in Geelong and found some 'proper' polenta, not the instant kind, but real polenta!!! I have been wanting to try baking cornbread myself for a while now and Monday seemed like the perfect time.
All the stars were aligned and clearly I was meant to make cornbread!
The results were good!!
This week I made the vegetarian chilli again because it was really good last time, but for a bit of excitement I made my first ever corn bread! We used to eat this a bit in restaurants when we lived in California - mainly with Mexican food - but I had never baked it myself.
H'o'M and I had been shopping recently at a funky little grocer/deli/provedore in Geelong and found some 'proper' polenta, not the instant kind, but real polenta!!! I have been wanting to try baking cornbread myself for a while now and Monday seemed like the perfect time.
All the stars were aligned and clearly I was meant to make cornbread!
The results were good!!
It even tasted good today when I toasted it and had it with the left over chilli for lunch!
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