Honeycomb

I made another batch - I tell you I love this stuff ;-)

Some of the girls from Ballas were with us this week and although we did make the necessary stop off at the 'lolly shop' for supplies, when I suggested it, making some of Donna's honeycomb was greeted with a resounding yes! Now admittedly these girls have never tasted said honeycomb before so all understandable really – especially after hearing me talk about it!

 

This iteration I think was the best yet – even H'o'M, previously not a big fan, enjoyed this batch! My strategy was a little more particular this time I think. Deciding when the sugar was completely dissolved into the butter, honey and maple syrup is clearly a crucial step and one I have been a tad cavalier about in the past! Also, once the bi-carb is added – making a fantastic chemical reaction – I was more precise when I stirred them all together, and mixed for a longer time.

End result – more even and crunchier honeycomb

Sadly I forgot to take a photo and have sent the results back to Ballas with the girls. Sorry!

The sweetness of spring!

I'm back at the farm revelling in the large kitchen again ;-)

Last night I made a 'free form apple pie' for dessert. This is a fantastic recipe because it really doesn't matter what it looks like as a final result.... it's supposed to be like that!

Just make the pastry - gotta love those food processors which make a mockery of all pastry techniques ;-) - then roll it out, pile all the apples on top and fold/pleat/stretch the pastry over the apples to make the free form part of the pie! So easy and it looks pretty too!

Served with ice cream or cream or indeed whatever dairy product takes your fancy, it's perfect ;-)

We're having some more teenage visitors for a couple of days this week, so I thought I'd make some of the necessary sweet things today - won't have time tomorrow as am being 'a lady who lunches' with friends ;-)

It's always nice to have some biscuits in the house, so I decided to make some ANZAC biscuits. I love the crispiness of these biscuits and I also love the story behind them. They were a favourite of my friend D in America too ;-)
I have taken to making quite small biscuits these days. Instead of a large tablespoon of mixture I'm now using a small teaspoon of mixture. I like the bite size-ness of them, plus it means you can have more ;-)
I have an ice-cream scoop about the size of a teaspoon which is perfect for this job. So much simpler than scooping with a traditional spoon shaped implement. Just scoop, squeeze and drop ;-)

To satisfy the chocolate cravings of said visitors - and I know there will be a need for chocolate - I thought a 'raspberry brownie' would be nice. This is a favourite of the mob in Ballas.
It's a very very chocolatey, gooey brownie studded with the rich red jewels of raspberry. I'm not sure what makes it so rich....could be all the butter or the 250g of dark chocolate or could it be the sour cream?

It's really good!

Pilaf

We were having dinner with mum the night before her big trip to Africa, so I wanted something light, quick and filling. Pilaf!

For those who don't know, pilaf is basically a rice dish cooked in a flavoured broth - hence its ability to be transformed according to what flavours one adds to it! A pilaf can be made in so many different varieties, with so many different tastes, but we have a couple of favourites. This one, first cooked many many years ago when we lived up in the big smoke, is not a regular one, but it is tasty.

To make this pilaf I simply browned a red onion with carrot and chorizo sausage for several minutes. To that, I added garlic, chilli, ground cumin and chopped coriander root and cooked this mix for several more minutes. In goes the rice, which is stirred to make sure that all the rice grains are covered in the seasonings, then hot stock is poured in. Boil it, then bake it for 30 minutes and you're good to go! 

As is my wont I served it with some steamed broccoli and steamed green beans 

lunch w Ms Maxam

My friend came for lunch on Thursday. It was quite a treat as we don't get too many visitors down in our resort town, and also I haven't seen Ms Maxam for quite a while! She has been a keen follower of this blog and comments regularly, so I felt like I wanted to cook something for her.

A light lunch was in order because we're both fairly conscious of fat content, and also we were planning a beach walk after lunch! Mmmmm, so many factors to consider.

Well firstly I made some focaccia again! The last bake was such a success that I felt sure I could replicate it. So.... I made them (I didn't halve the recipe this time so ended up with 2 loaves),  but as I was kneading the dough I realized I had forgotten to add the small amount of sugar required to the yeast. No wonder it wasn't bubbling like last time, those poor little yeast molecules had nothing to feast upon!
I had to keep going as it was far too late to do anything about it now. I left the dough to prove for an hour and it did rise, so I was thinking it all might be OK! It *was* OK too!
As last time, I sprinkled some salt, basil, oregano & chili flakes on top of the uncooked bread to add a touch of pizazz to the finished bread!
The bread cooked beautifully and the only thing I noticed was that there weren't as many focaccia type bubbles in the bread this time. It was more loaf than focaccia perhaps.

We ate both loaves though ;-)

I whipped up a 'tomato and ricotta tart' for the lunch too. I made a few renovations to this recipe... I had a little feta left in the fridge so I mixed it in with a low fat ricotta. Also the recipe asked for puff pastry, but I used a few sheets of filo instead. I know one is supposed to layer filo pastry with melted butter, but I just gave each layer a quick spray of canola oil instead. It clearly was a bit crunchier than it should be, but far less oily!
Next time I make this tart though, I would add a little more zing to the ricotta mix. I felt it lacked a little something, although Ms Maxam and H'o'M disagreed with me.
I served the tart with a green salad consisting of lettuce mix, avocado, cucumber and broccoli drizzled with some balsamic vinegar and lime oil mix.

I think we ate well ;-)

Mussel Soup

I did it, I finally made the ginger and mussel soup from Donna's Magazine!

A few issues along the way...
         firstly I had or remember how to clean mussels properly - it's clearly been a long time since that seafood course in London ;-) Once I had all the beards pulled out - remember people, it's a quick tug down, not up or the whole mussel comes out too - I scrubbed those little suckers well and they were ready for the stock pot!

I sautéd me some ginger, garlic and onion then added the mussels to steam in some fish stock and coconut milk. Add some chili and coriander and served 'em up!

Sadly, as with many of these quick soups of Donna's, it was not a resounding success. The stock just hadn't had time to develop any flavours and so tastes like a nonblended mix of the various ingredients! The mussels were good though - very fresh from the local area - and we ate them all!

 but the broth.... not so much!