Date and Pecan Cake

Two week ends ago the weather was so beautiful perhaps the best summer week end we have had for the last few years, not one drop of rain ! A group of us were guests of my great foodie friend Viki and her husband at their Whale Beach house. Bindy is a fabulous baker and true to form bought a date and walnut cake with her. Absolutely delicious, the girls said the recipe was from an old country friend.
The cake is such a traditional country afternoon tea addition. One would normally think cooler weather with cakes but it went down a treat. We lounged on the beach until 3pm, a slight offshore breeze not too hot, umbrellas and chairs and lots of chat and laughter. After packing up and walking up the track, we were a little peckish. I couldn't resist a plate of cake with a little butter, whilst we prepared a very late lunch, with a little glass of French bubbles of course. I attempted this but with pecans because I didn't have any walnuts in the pantry. Just as yummy I thought!
A great one for the school lunch box as well.

1 cup chopped dried dates
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 egg
pinch salt


Preheat oven to 175C
Grease a loaf tin or line with baking paper
Sift into a bowl self raising flour, sugar, bicarb of soda, nutmeg and salt.
Melt in a saucepan the butter, water and the dates. Bring to boil and continue boiling for a further minute. Stand aside and let cool slightly.
Pour into the dry ingredients and mix well. lastly add the egg and mix in. Pour into the loaf tin and bake for approx 30 minutes.

Someone just had to have a bite!

Chicken Involtini with Sweet Potato and Ginger Puree

I love this little chicken dish and the fact that it can be made the night before or well ahead is a bonus.
It is fabulous for a large group and I have often served it when entertaining a group of women. It is tasty and light goes a long way and never ceases to please. I usually serve it with a kumera mash but you could do a pumpkin, green pea, even  garlic potato. The last time I tried it with a cannelli bean and garlic mash and whilst it tasted great it didn't have a lot of plate appeal. The chicken looks better on a contrast colour. A green salad is all you need for an accompaniment and serve it with a drizzle of thickened stock or a veal demi glaze.

6  half chicken breasts { 2 breasts will feed 3 people even 4 if serving to women or small eaters so 6 breasts could potentially feed 18 but assume it will feed 12 and then there could be some left for seconds
18 pieces of prosciutto approx 3 pieces of a good prosciutto per breast
3 cups fresh breadcrumbs
90 grams toasted slivered almonds
1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1 cup chopped chives
1 cup parmesan cheese grated
1/2 cup pecorino grated
toothpicks
Glad bake

Puree

4 sweet potato
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup cream
2-3 tablespoons finely grated ginger
S+P


Boil the potatoes until tender. Mash with all the ingredients and set aside until serving. You can add more ginger if you like, more stock or less cream which will make it thinner.

Toast the almonds. Use a food processor to turn the bread into crumbs. Place in a bowl and mix in the herbs and cheese and toasted nuts.
Place a breast between two sheets of baking paper . Pound with a meat mallet or rolling pin. The paper stops it getting shredded to bits. You will end up with a flat quite large piece of chicken.
Lay three pieces of prosciutto on a sheet of paper or a board the same way to how you are going to roll it. Place a breast on top and spread some of the breadcrumb mixture on top leaving a little room free at the outer edges. Carefully roll the breast up as tightly as you can like a huge pinwheel. When you are finished secure it with toothpicks. You could also use cooking twine. It doesn't have to look really neat as it will be fine when cooked.
When finished all the breasts  wrap each one in a clean piece of baking paper  and roll the ends like a bon bon and put into a baking dish.
If not eating until later  place in the fridge.
Remove from the fridge about half an hour before you are ready to cook it. Heat the oven to 180C . Cook for about half an hour in the glad bake and then open the parcels  cook for a further 15 mins. This keeps the meat moist and gives it a bit of colour

Serve will a green salad of baby spinach, mint rocket and a bunch of cress. Toss the salad with lemon and olive oil and sea salt.

Flattened breast

Rolled with the prosciutto before securing with toothpicks

Lumpfish Caviar Pate

Caviar is the roe from the fish or sturgeon of the Caspain and Black Sea. Beluga is the most commonly known very expensive and sort after for those who can afford it. So lumpfish caviar is the poor mans caviar from an actual lumpfish. It can also be a generic term for the roe from a variety of fish including salmon. Never having had the pleasure of eating Beluga, I am content with the lumpfish caviar.
This dish never fails and everyone loves it. A very old one, but a good one. For some reason I usually only make it at Xmas, not sure why. As my children have gotten older the whole thing is devoured pretty quickly as they love it too. I decided to make it recently when entertaining. Simple quick and easy and light enough not to spoil the dinner.
I serve it with the pita toasts ( see blog from 5/7/12) or just a simple water cracker if you don't want to be bothered with making the pita.


8 hard boiled eggs
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons butter
1 small red onion
1 bunch flat leaf parsley
carton sour cream
1 jar of black caviar
1 jar of red caviar
Salt and pepper

Once the eggs are cooled peel them and put into a bowl. Mash them with a fork and add the mayonnaise, butter, salt and pepper to taste.
Layer this mixture in a dish.
Chop the red onion finely and mix with the sour cream.
Cover the egg mixture with the sour cream.
Chop the parsley finely.
Finally, spread the red caviar down one side of the sour cream and the black down the other side leaving a space in the middle. Fill the space with the finely chopped parsley.
It tastes as good as it looks!

Spinach and Feta Pie

I have just spent another day touring Greenacre and sampling the delights of Middle eastern food.

I enjoyed some little pastries called borek, which is really the generic term for Turkish pastries that come in a variety of shapes from triangles, semicircles, cigars and squares. They are filled with cheese, herbs and greens and are made from phyllo, short crust, puff or the Turkish version of phyllo, yufka.

They are found all over the Mediterranean sea board countries and are called brik, boregi, empanada, pittas, pastillas and spanakopitta depending on their origin. All are delicious as a meal in themselves or as finger food for entertaining.
The day of food tasting reminded me of my travels to Greece and Turkey in my younger years. These yummy little parcels we ate all the time as they were so cheap and of course we had very little money.
We would hang outside the pastry shops and wait until they came out of the ovens and pounce on them devouring them in minutes.
I make this spinach and feta pie a lot, probably because it reminds me of those carefree days in the Greek Islands, when time stood still and we didn't have a thing to worry about !

My version is a large pie to feed the crowd as a meal. You can make the same recipe in small triangles or cigars shapes for party food. It is a bit of a fiddle but worth the effort. After you have made this a few times,you may find you like more of one cheese than the other, or a little more chives. I am sure mine is different every time I make it. Remove your phyllo pastry from freezer to fridge overnight to thaw.

250 grams feta cheese
4 tablespoons parmesan cheese grated
80 grams ricotta cheese
1 egg 
4 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
500 grams spinach frozen or a bunch of fresh spinach
2 tablespoons  chopped chives
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
pinch of nutmeg
10 sheets phyllo pastry
6 tablespoons melted butter

If using fresh spinach, chop and discard stems,  steam  until wilted and drain very well, squeeze excess water out. The same applies to frozen, after cooking the excess water must be squeezed out or your pie will be watery.
Mash the cheeses together and mix with all the other ingredients in a large bowl.
Cover the phyllo with a slightly damp tea towel, as you work, as it will dry out and become brittle.
Brush a sheet of the pastry with melted butter, and layer into the pie dish one at a time until you have five layers..
Fill the dish with the spinach and cheese mixture. Cover with five more layers of pastry buttering each as
you go. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake in 175C oven until pastry is golden.

Baked Stuffed Minced Lamb- Kibbe

I am a great fan of Middle Eastern food and the cookbooks of Claudia Roden and Paula Wolfert and more recently  have added the fabulous Ottolengi books to my collection.
So this week I asked an Armenian friend to escort me around his favourite places to shop. My sister and I ventured to Greenacre and Auburn and visited the best food outlets for middle eastern food supplies.
We were very much in the minority as far as the burka goes, but all the women and men working in these grocers, welcomed us and were very helpful in explaining  the varieties of spice mixes and sharing of their favourite recipes.  A few giggles with a bit of lost in translation in some cases !We shopped in their grocers and dined at a Lebanese restaurant  Al Aseel  and had the most beautiful, baba ghanoush, hommus, garlic dip, Tabouli, felafel's and skewers of  marinated chicken, lamb and shish kebab. The felafel was divine. Crispy on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside.!
Everything was so fresh and tasty. No alcohol is served at this restaurant but we were very happy to join the locals with a huge glass of lemon juice with fresh mint, simply delicious and so refreshing on a hot day.
We then ventured onto a coffee and nut roaster who sells to the public. The fragrant aromas wafted out of the place as we parked the car. The problem with the freshly roasted nuts, they were nearly all consumed before we finished our day !
We stopped at Ablas for the most amazing array of baklava and middle eastern sweets and chocolates.
The variety of sweets that we would call baklava, was enormous but again patient explanations were given
as to their differences..
What a wonderful day out ! So, with a  full tummy and a car full of goodies, I came home totally inspired to cook. Coffee, nuts, pomegranate molasses, rose petal jam, green chilli sauce, bulgur, baba ghanoush, hummus, Turkish delight, baklava and Persian fairy floss and loads of fresh herbs and vegetables were purchased.
I haven't made Kibbe for at least 15 years and had forgotten how easy it is and better the next day. A great  transportable dish for summer . I used the spice mix I purchased from the grocer, which does not have the listed ingredients on the packet. The smell of it is quite intoxicating. The following recipe is my version of old and I made two lots one using the spice mix I bought and they were very similar in taste. This is not the little tear dropped shapes you get at Al Aseel, but easier to prepare.Give it a try!

2 cups cracked wheat bulgur ( you can use fine, but this time I purchased a coarser grain )
1 kilo minced lamb plus see below
1/4 teaspoon of mixed spice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup sesame seeds
olive oil
2 cups chicken stock

Stuffing

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 large onion finely chopped
125 grams lamb mince
1/8 teaspoon all spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped mint


Treat the bulgur like rice, couscous or quinoa, 1 cup makes two. Place into a saucepan with the hot stock and simmer until soft and the stock is absorbed. Approx 10 minutes. Alternatively you can soak the wheat in a bowl just covered with cold water. Drain and remove any excess liquid and set aside.
Meanwhile, for the stuffing lightly brown the pine nuts in the olive oil and remove from the pan.Saute the onion until tender and add the lamb mince and cook until all traces of pink disappear. Drain any fat, add the nuts spices and mint.

Stuffing

Lamb mixed with bulgur and spices

Mix the bulgur and lamb with the mixed spice, nutmeg, cayenne and black pepper in a bowl. The best way to do this is with your hands.
Divide the mixture in half. Spray a baker approx 23 x 30 with olive oil and layer half of the meat mixture into the dish and flatten down.
Add the stuffing and spread evenly across the uncooked lamb mixture.
Top with the remaining meat mixture and smooth down.
Cut into a diamond pattern and sprinkle with sesame seeds and drizzle with a little olive oil.Bake in a preheated oven for 20 mins, turn down to 160C and cook for a further 10 mins.
I serve this with tabouli and a minted yoghurt.

Baked Stuffed Kibbe

Quinoa Salad

What fabulous weather we are enjoying! Sunshine and the beach ! We have just been to New Caledonia enjoying the French food and brushing up on our French language skills. Yes, we did a lot of eating and drinking. Lots of duck, beef and seafood. Unfortunately, some of their better restaurants that I had earmarked to go to were closed for the Xmas New Year Break, but we still managed to find plenty that weren't. When we were last in Spain and did a fabulous gourmet walking tour in Madrid one of the  memorable meals was a simple grilled steak. But it was the method of cooking ! It was heavily salted and cooked on a  very hot stone grilled at the table, with each diner given their own stone. This enabled you to cook it to your liking. It was delicious and very succulent. I came home with wonderful ideas of getting my own stones, but I could never source the make of the stone and the restaurant would not tell me. That was the end of that idea.
Whilst in Noumea, we came across a stone grill restaurant. We had many a choice of beef, Australian, New Zealand and local in every cut available.It was just as memorable, absolutely delicious with an accompaniment of French beans in butter and garlic, french fries of course and a choice of sauces. Oh the simple things are often the best, providing the quality is good.We ate lots of seafood, loved the Mahi Mahi dumplings in a very light seafood bisque and the duck in a variety of fabulous sauces, cheese souffles,creme caramel, cheese platters. Oh calories calories and more calories
So as we do its New Year and we go on a diet. Maybe the steak without the buttery beans and french fries.
I have been doing a few quinoa ( pronounced keen- wa) salads. It has been grown in South America for centuries and comes in black and red grain as well. The wonder grain that can replace any other grain and is full of protein, iron and fibre and is gluten free. So a quinoa salad is filling and nutritious, with very little fat, not only great for vegetarians but dieters as well .I like to use stock as it adds more flavour, as the grain can taste bitter. Experiment with the ingredients, chopped apricot and cashews would be yum also.

1cup quinoa
2 cups chicken stock ( water is fine or you can use vegetable stock )
1 red onion chopped.
4 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
4 tablespoons sultanas
4 tablespoons chopped coriander
4 tablespoons chopped parsley
small red capsicum
seeds from 1/2 large pomegranate
S&P

Heat the stock in a saucepan on the stove and add the quinoa. Bring back to the boil and simmer until all he stock is absorbed. Approximately 15 minutes.
Saute the red onion and add it to the quinoa. Add the chopped herbs and chopped capsicum and sultanas.
Remove the membrane holding the seeds of the pomegranate, turn upside down over the bowl and bash the hard skin with a spoon to release all those luscious seeds.Lastly add the pine nuts.
I dressed it with a dressing of olive oil, balsamic and a little honey. Delicious, all you need, its a meal in itself.
Well maybe for a dieting girl.!

The remainder of the Xmas cake consumed pre diet of course !

Capsicum Chilli Relish

Well Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.
As usual the Christmas meal was fabulous. We only had fifteen this year way less than normal but still managed to have far too much food. We always start with a smoke roasted salmon with caper berries, wasabi  mayonaise and some pickled red onions. I make the pita chips to go with it. Also this year I did an old favourite, the egg caviar which went down a treat  All of this was devoured with some French bubbly as we watched a flurry of Christmas paper and ribbon fly around the tree, as presents were unwrapped. Lots of fun and frivolity.
This year Bob cooked the turkey Gordon Ramsey style and I have to say it was sensational. Not to mention the carving. He began by  removing the drumsticks then the whole breast from the bird on each side along the bone and then cutting it quite easily down into slices. Presentation stunning! I am sure this method can be found on the internet.
We had a Saskia Beer black pig for the ham, always delicious. Lots of salads and crunchy spuds to accompany it. Christmas pud, beautiful berries, ice cream and brandy custard.... yum, chocolates, more champagne, more wine, more chocolates and as usual, some dancing !!
After we have finished the fabulous excesses of Christmas and are perhaps on holiday, you may like to make this very moreish relish, to go with the left over ham. Capsicums are plentiful now.
You need some left over sterile jars as well, to put the finished product into.I usually make this before Christmas and give it as a hostess gift for drinks parties.



12 red capsicums
6 onions
12  red chillies ( if you aren't a fan of too hot cut down on the amount )
12 garlic cloves
750 ml vinegar
8 cups white sugar
salt to taste

Place the capsicums,onions, chillies and garlic into the food processor and pulse till chopped, fairly small.
Place a large heavy based saucepan on top of the stove and fill with the vinegar and chopped capsicum,onion, garlic and chillies. Cook this for 1 hour on a slow simmer.
Add the sugar and stir until mixed in. Cook for a further 1 1/2 hours, but you must stir it every 10 minutes or so as the mixture gets quite thick, it will stick to the bottom of the pan. When you are stirring, be careful as it tends to spit at you and could cause a nasty burn.

Cool slightly and spoon into the sterile jars. It will make about 6-8 jars depending on the size you use.

Rum Balls

What would our Christmas Fare be without the rum ball. My grandmother used to make these little delights as did my aunts, my mother is still making them and now we all do too. There are many recipes for the rum ball and I have tried a few but this is my favourite and its so easy.

250 grams butter
500 grams icing sugar
1 cup  chopped nuts
1 cup chopped sultanas
4 tablespoons dessicated coconut
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
4 tablespoons rum
chocolate sprinkles you may use coconut


Soften butter to room temperature. Sift icing sugar and the cocoa into butter. Add the nuts, coconut, and sultanas.
Mix the lot together to combine and add the rum mixing it in well. At this point you may like to add a little more icing sugar or coconut if you feel the mixture is a little runny.
Place it in the fridge for 15 minutes or so as it becomes easier to handle if cool.
Cover a plate with the chocolate sprinkles.Take heaped teaspoonfuls of the mixture and quickly roll in your hands into a ball. Roll the balls in the sprinkles to coat and place in mini paper cupcake containers.You may have to have a break, putting them back into the fridge to get cold again, whilst you enjoy a glass of Christmas bubbles, preferably French !
This amount will make approximately 48 and is easily halved.

Talking Turkey

Its only 8 more sleeps until Xmas Day with lots of eating, cooking and drinking ahead!
Just thought I would share with you some notes on the turkey. I am also going to give you a few stuffing recipes for the bird all quite different. In Australia we don't cook turkey a lot, except for festive occasions.  Everyone asks about the cooking of the turkey perhaps a little scared of ruining the main meal.They are generally bigger than a chicken and  have a tendency to dry out quite easily.
Whether your preference is a whole bird, a buffe, which is the breast on the bone with no wings, or a boned breast all of the following seasonings are suitable. The seasoning also helps to keep the bird moist.


Notes on the Turkey
If you are serving a lot of people you are better off buying two smaller birds than one giant one, therefore, less risk of a dry bird
Any frozen bird destined to be stuffed, needs to be completely thawed. The bird cannot be stuffed the night before and the seasoning must be at room temperature and the turkey stuffed just prior to cooking.
The turkey should be rinsed out and wiped with a paper towel and can be smeared with lemon and a few fresh sprigs of thyme. The bird must be smeared with butter and salt and pepper and loosely covered with foil. Some people also cover it in butter soaked muslin, if you happen to have some on hand.
For a 4.5 kg turkey cook in 220 C oven for 15 minutes, then turn down the heat to 180 C and cook for a further 2 1/2 hours. For the last 20 minutes take off the foil.
To test prick the thickest part of the thigh, just as the juices become clear remove immediately. rest the turkey for 15 minutes before carving.
All of the below seasoning can be added to.

Three Onion Seasoning   A little more traditional
5-6.5 kg bird
7 cups bread in large chunks
8 small leeks cut into 1/2 inch pieces, cut length ways then cross ways
3 medium  red onions cut into 1 inch pieces
12 large shallots
3 large celery stalks
3 tablespoons minced garlic 10 small cloves or 5 large
3 tablespoons chopped thyme leaves
2 tablespoons chopped sage
1 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
3 tablespoons butter
Rylstone olive oil
1 cup chicken stock

In a shallow baking pan, spread the bread and bake in a moderate oven stirring occasionally until golden, 10-15 minutes.Transfer to a large bowl.
Wash the leeks, and in a large pan cook the leeks, onion, shallots, celery, garlic and herbs with some salt and pepper in the butter and olive oil. Add the onion mixture to the bread and toss to combine. Stuff the turkey but leave some aside.
The seasoning can be made the day ahead to this stage and stored in the fridge covered. Approx 1 1/2 hours before the turkey is cooked drizzle the remaining seasoning with the stock and cook covered for about half hour, uncover and brown for 20 minutes.
This will give you a moist and a crunchy dry seasoning.

Couscous Seasoning ( for a fruity seasoning )
1.5 kg bird
65 grams couscous
80 ml chicken stock
35 grams chopped dates
35 grams chopped  dried apricots
35 grams toasted pine nuts
2 tablespoons apricot nectar
2 tablespoons chopped coriander

Heat the stock and pour over the couscous and leave to stand for 10 minutes.Add the remaining ingredients.


Apple and Prune Seasoning ( more substantial and my favourite )
3.5-5 kg bird
500 grams cooking apples
30 grams butter
12 spring onions
500 grams pork mince
12 pitted prunes, chopped
3 rashers bacon chopped
port for soaking the prunes
1/4 cup parsley
a couple of chopped sage leaves
2 cups soft white breadcrumbs
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon salt
black pepper
Warm the port in the microwave and soak the chopped prunes for about an hour. Peel and core the apples and chop into small pieces. If you choose to cook the apples you will have a moister stuffing. I leave them uncooked. Saute the onions in the butter and add the bacon, stir until cooked. In a large basin mix the pork, bacon, apples, breadcrumbs, herbs, salt, pepper and eggs. Add the prunes and the port to the mixture. Keep in the fridge until ready to use but take out approximately an hour before stuffing the bird.
If you have any of this seasoning left, roll into a sausage shape in foil and cook in the same pan as the turkey for the last hour. This can then be sliced as a sausage and place around the carved turkey on your platter.

Veal Parmigiana

A beautiful simple Italian dish. If you have your tomato passata already made, half the work is done. The veal can be crumbed and cooked well ahead of time with the tomato passata and cheese added right before you are ready to put into the oven. The time in the oven is really only heating time, so it doesn't need much more than 20 minutes, depending on the oven of course. One piece of veal per person, easy for catering purposes, maybe a couple of extra ones for hungry boys !






6 pieces of veal schnitzel
1 large egg
fresh breadcrumbs or Krummies 
Rylstone olive oil
grated cheese mix
I use a blend of mozzarella cheddar and parmesan, if you buy a blended cheese please add extra very good parmesan.








Tomato Sauce/ Passata
Rylstone olive oil
1 large onion finely chopped
3-4 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 kilo fresh Tomatoes, or 3 tins tomatoes
Chopped basil, parsley and chives 

Fry the onion and garlic gently in some Rylstone olive oil, until soft. Add the tomatoes and chopped herbs and simmer for about 15 minutes. If you would like to increase the quantity add some tomato puree like Sugocasa or Pomi.

Break the egg into a bowl and beat. Place a good amount of breadcrumbs onto a flat plate and mix in some salt and pepper if you wish. It is also good to add a couple of tablespoons of grated parmesan to the breadcrumb mix. Dip the veal pieces one at a time into the beaten egg and coat in the breadcrumbs. Press the crumbs into the meat and make sure each piece of the meat is covered well with the crumbs.You may need to use another egg if you are using more pieces of veal.
Heat the oil in a large fry pan and place a couple of the pieces of veal into the hot oil. Do not overcrowd the pan. Cook until browned on each side and remove. Drain on absorbent paper.
Preheat the oven to 175C.
Place the cooked veal into a greased large ceramic baker, so they aren't overlapping each other. You may have to use two dishes. Cover with a good quantity of the Tomato Sauce and the cheese mixture.
Place in the oven for approx 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and the dish is thoroughly heated.
Serve with a green salad or steamed vegetables.