Creme Caramel Brulee

When too much of a good thing is not enough.

Caramel

Mix      1 cup sugar

            ½ cup water

Heat, stirring until dissolved. Then boil over medium heat without stiring until a brown caramel colour. Test by removing a placing a little on a plate, but be careful not to over cook or it will taste burned.

Place into 6 ramekins and swirl to distribute the caramel up the sides. Don’t allow the bottom caramel to be too thick or it won’t melt properly.

Preheat oven to 150.

Custard

300mls cream - unthickened

200mls milk

1t vanilla essence or extract

½ cup sugar

Heat until nearly boiling, then cool a little.

Whisk together

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

Add slightly cooled milk mixture, whisking as you add it.

Strain through a fine strainer, and pour into prepared dishes.

Place folded tea towel on the bottom of a baking dish. Place creme caramels into baking dish and pour boiling water around them to come 1/3 to ½ way up.

Cover with alfoil, and place in 150 oven for 20 mins. Turn the dish around, and cook another 10 minutes. After this time remove any that are set, and cook those not set for another 5-10 mins. The length of time in the oven depends on the temperature of the milk mixture before you put them in and the actual temperature of the oven.

Remove from oven and chill 4-5 hours.

Either turn them out to serve, or sprinkle with caster sugar and brown the sugar on top with a blow torch or under a grill on high.

Ham Jam

This is an amazing sauce for ham.

1 bottle redcurrant jelly
1 bottle St Dalfour cherry jam

½ bottle St Dalfour marmalade

¼c ham stock, optional (left over from glazing the ham)

2t seeded mustard

1t hot English mustard

1t grated ginger

Cloves and cinnamon to taste

2T brown sugar

Mix together mustards, stock, ginger, cloves and cinnamon. Heat to release flavours.

Add redcurrant jelly and warm to melt. This takes longer to melt than the jam and marmalade.

Add jam and marmalade.

Warm to melt together. 

3 Vegie Meals Kids Like

Roasted Vegies

Roasting vegetables allows the natural sugars to caramelise and the flavours to concentrate.Try zucchini, broccoli, capsicum, onion, pumpkin.The smaller the pieces, the more delicious outside there is.To roast vegies, dice into smallish pieces and toss together in a bowl with salt, sugar and oil. Pour into a flat roasting pan that is lined with baking paper. Roast at 200 until brown, at least 30 mins. Stir occasionally.

Salsas

Salsas are great. Very finely chop vegetables such as cucumbers, tomatoes, avocados, red onions. Add any fruit such as mango, oranges, apples. And add seasonings such as chilli, cinnamon, thyme, garlic. Serve a tablespoon per person as a sauce for meat.

Gado gado

Make a salad with raw and cooked vegetables eg potatoes, beans, cucumbers, tomatoes etc. Add a protein such as hard boiled eggs, tofu or chicken. Cover with sate sauce and sprinkle with fried onions.

See also Chicken in Honey Mustard Sauce adapted from Cook's Illustrated 

http://shannonfamilyrecipes.blogspot.com/2011/07/chicken-with-honey-mustard-sauce-based.html