Whole Cauliflower

For me this dish ticks all the boxes. It's delicious, cheap, has stunning presentation and is healthy.

Method

Microwave a whole cauliflower covered on high for about 5 minutes. Stand for a further 2 or 3 minutes.
Place in a heated serving dish and cover with pesto, either bottled or homemade.

Homemade Pesto

• 1/4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted in a dry frypan for 4 to 5 minutes

• 4 medium cloves of garlic, toasted in their skin for 7 minutes in the same frypan as the pinenuts 

• 2 cups packed fresh basil leaves

• 1/4 cup of flat leaf parsley

• 100mls extra virgin olive oil, salt (to taste)

• 1/4 cup grated parmesan

• 1/2 tspn salt

• Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.

Pound Cake Adapted from Cook's Illustrated - Metric

I love Cook's Illustrated but can't understand why they don't publish metric measurements alongside imperial. Also, I prefer to weigh ingredients because it's so much easier.

Ingredients

500g butter

3 large eggs

3 large egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

200g self raising flour (CI use plain flour)

½ teaspoon table salt

250g sugar (1¼ cups)

Method

 1.      Cut butter into 1-tablespoon pieces and place in bowl of standing mixer; let stand at room temperature 20 to 30 minutes to soften slightly (butter should reach no more than 15 degrees celcius).

2.      Using a fork, beat eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla in liquid measuring cup until combined. Let egg mixture stand at room temperature until ready to use.

3.      Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 160 degrees celcius.

4.      Generously butter 9 by 5-inch loaf pan; dust pan liberally with flour and knock out excess.

5.      In standing mixer fitted with flat beater, beat butter and salt at medium-high speed until shiny, smooth, and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping bottom and sides of bowl once with rubber spatula. 

6.      Reduce speed to medium; with mixer running, gradually pour in sugar (this should take about 60 seconds).

7.      Once all sugar is added, increase speed to medium-high and beat until mixture is fluffy and almost white in color, 5 to 8 minutes, scraping bottom and sides of bowl once.

8.      With mixer running at medium speed, gradually add egg mixture in slow, steady stream; this should take 60 to 90 seconds.

9.      Scrape bottom and sides of bowl; beat mixture at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes (mixture may look slightly broken). Remove bowl from mixer; scrape bottom and sides.

10.   In 3 additions, sift flour over butter/egg mixture; after each addition, fold gently with rubber spatula until combined. Scrape along bottom of bowl to ensure that batter is homogenous.

11.   Transfer batter to prepared loaf pan and smooth surface with rubber spatula.

12.   Bake until golden brown and wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 70 to 80 minutes.

13.   Cool cake in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes; invert cake onto wire rack, then turn cake right side up.

14.   Cool cake on rack to room temperature, about 2 hours. Slice and serve.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffeecake

Thanks Naomi for this recipe. So delicious.

Butter Cake & Crumb Topping

2 cups all purpose flour

¾ cup sugar

125g butter, cold and cut into chunks

½ tsp bicarb soda

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¾ cup sour cream (full fat)

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Filling

250g cream cheese, room temperature

¼ cup sugar

1 large egg

Strawberry Filling

1 ½ cup fresh strawberries, cut into pieces

3 tbsp sugar

3 tsp water

1.5 tsp cornflour

Preheat the oven to 175C. Line an 20cm round pan with removable bottom with non-stick baking paper.

Prepare the strawberry jam.

Combine the cornstarch and water to make a slurry in a bowl. Mix the strawberries and sugar in a pan. Cook over low heat until the strawberries release their juices about 5 minutes, then add the cornstarch mix and stir until well combined. Stir for another minute or two until it has thickened. Remove from heat. Let cool to room temperature while you prepare the rest of the cake.

Prepare the cream cheese filling.

Beat the cream cheese on medium speed for about 30 seconds until smooth. Add in the sugar and egg and beat until well combined.  Set aside.

Prepare the cake.

Combine the flour and sugar together in a bowl. Using a pastry cutter or just 2 forks, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Measure ¾ cup of the mixture and set aside. Add the baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix well.

In another bowl, beat the sour cream, egg and vanilla extract until well blended. Using a hand whisk or a spoon, stir gently into the flour mixture until just incorporated. Batter may be a bit lumpy. Set aside.

Spread the batter in the pan, with about ½ inch up the sides, also leaving a ½ inch border around the edges bare (like making a well). Pour the cream cheese mixture over the batter, being careful not to go beyond the border. Spread the strawberry jam on top of the cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle the remaining ¾ cup crumbs over the strawberry filling. Bake for 50-55 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes before removing the cake.

Savory Breakfast Scones

Basic Mixture

3 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
3/4 cup lemonade
3/4 cup Greek yogurt 

Flavourings
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 onion, fried

250g bacon, chopped and fried

Preheat oven to 200.

Combine flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl.

Combine lemonade and yogurt in a large bowl.

Add cheese, onion and bacon to the wet ingredients.

Stir dry ingredients into wet, and mix lightly until it only just comes together. Don't overmix or the scones will be tough.

Shape into a circle about 2-3 cm high, like a thick pizza.

Bake at 200 for 30 mins, or until golden brown on top.

Cut into wedges like a pizza and serve. 

Options

Instead of these flavourings you could try a combination using chorizo, ham, haloumi, fried mushrooms, cooked asparagus, wilted baby spinach, 1/2 can creamed corn, or herbs like basil or parsley.

Use soda water for a less sweet scone. Or another flavoured drink eg ginger beer or fanta.

Or you could make them sweet using dried, stewed or tinned fruit, nuts and spices.

Caution - don't use wet ingredients like tomatoes, or the juice from the tinned fruit.

Mediterranean Braised Green Beans with Mint and Feta Cheese

You can also use frozen green beans for this recipe, but adjust the cooking times. Still use the bi carb of soda because it softens the beans. 

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon bi carb soda
750g green beans, cut into 2 to 3-inch lengths
1 tablespoon tomato paste
450g can diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
Red wine vinegar
100g feta, crumbled (1/2 cup)

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 275°F. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add garlic, allspice, and cayenne; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add water, baking soda, and green beans and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, tomatoes and their juice, salt, and pepper.

2. Cover pot, transfer to oven, and cook until sauce is slightly thickened and green beans can be easily cut with side of fork, 40 to 50 minutes. Stir in mint and season with vinegar to taste. Sprinkle with feta and serve warm or at room temperature.

Serves 4 to 6 as a side dish

A dollop of yogurt spooned over the beans adds nice tang.

Why this recipe works:
In order to quickly create braised green beans that are ultra-tender but not mushy or blown out, we first cook them in baking soda and water, to partially dissolve the pectin in their cell walls and let water enter to soften their fibrous skins. We then add tomatoes to neutralize the soda and let them simmer gently in a low oven.

From Cook's Illustrated

Lemon Cream Chicken with Oven Baked Rice

Serves 4-6

This dish is easy to serve to a crowd. The recipe doubles or triples easily, but the time in the oven may need to be longer for both dishes.

Lemon Chicken

1kg chicken thighs or breasts

2-3 lemons

350 mls cream

Salt and pepper

Place chicken in saucepan and cover with water. Bring to slow simmer, and cook 5 mins. It needs to be slightly underdone. Remove chicken cool and dice into 1cm pieces.

Grate zest from lemons, then juice.

Combine diced chicken, lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper in an ovenproof dish. Add cream. Stir to combine. Cover and reheat in oven at 150 for 15 mins, or until hot.

Serve over rice.

Oven baked rice

2 cups basmati rice

4 cups water

2 tbs butter

1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 150.

Boil water.

Add butter, salt and rice. Reboil and stir. Place in a covered dish in oven.

Cook 25-30 mins. Fluff up before serving.

Pork Spareribs in sticky garam masala

Combine in a pot large enough for the ribs to lay in one layer

2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons garam marsala
100 mls water
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Simmer a minute or two to combine then add
1kg pork spare ribs

Cover and cook over medium heat appx 30 mins.

Remove ribs from liquid and turn heat to high.
Evaporate water until the sauce is nice and sticky,
but not burned.
Return ribs to pot and reheat.

Cranberry Sauce

500g fresh cranberries, washed and dried

500g granulated sugar

2 tablespoons port

1 cinnamon stick

½ teaspoon ground allspice

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 orange, zested and juiced

In a medium pot, combine all ingredients and simmer with lid off for 10 mins.

Some of the cranberries will burst and some will remain whole.

Allow to cool before serving.

Spiced Nutrigrain

Heat together until fragrant, either in a saucepan or microwave

1/3c oil

2 tablespoons garam masala

4 shakes tabasco

2 ½ teaspoons salt

Combine with

300g Nutrigrain

Chocolate Crackles with Cinnamon and Chilli

Makes : 24

4 cups rice bubbles

1 cup icing sugar

1 cup desiccated coconut

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon chilli powder, or to taste
3 tbsp cocoa, sifted

250g copha, chopped

Method

In a large bowl, mix the Kellogg’s Rice Bubbles, icing sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, chilli & coconut.

Slowly melt the copha in a saucepan over a low heat.

Allow to cool slightly.

Add to rice bubbles mixture, stirring until well combined.

Spoon mixture into paper patty cases and refrigerate until firm

Brown Sugar Glazed Bacon

Preheat oven to 150 degrees celcius.

Line an oven dish with baking paper

Combine

     ½ cup flour,

     1/3 cup brown sugar,

     1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or dry English mustard

     1 teaspoon of cinnamon, optional

Coat each slice of bacon with the flour mixture
Arrange on baking tray

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes.

Ricotta and coffee cream

From Marcella Hazan

This is the most amazing low fat high flavour dessert I have ever tasted. And amazingly easy as well. Maximum effect, minimum effort.

Process

     500g ricotta

     120g/ ¾ cup sugar

     100mls dark rum

     100 mls very strong espresso coffee

Do not overprocess or it will become runny.

To make a chocolate version substitute 5 heaped teaspoons cocoa powder and 100mls water for the coffee. 

Keena's Christmas Cake

Adapted from "More Gretta Anna Recipes"

Makes 3 cakes

500g each of currants and sultanas and rasins. Total 1.5 kg.

230g  each of mixed peel, glace ginger, chopped dates. Total 690g.

350g glace cherries.

175 mls rum

175 mls brandy

175 mls mixed essences such as vanilla, rum, and almond.

600g plain flour

250 g almonds

500g butter

500g brown sugar. I prefer using dark brown sugar. 

4 tablespoons mixed spices including cinnamon, nutmeg and a maybe a small quantity of cloves

10 eggs

Soak fruit  overnight with brandy, rum and essences, stirring occasionally to allow all the fruit to come in contact with the liquid.

Line 3 x 20cm cake tins with baking paper. For a square tin on baking paper with the 'curl' facing up. Mark the corners with pencil, then cut out squares from the 4 corners of the paper using the pencil marks as a guide. Invert the paper, and place it in the tin, folding the sides up.

Preheat oven to 170.

Place whole almonds in oven for 10-15 mins until lightly toasted.

Toss fruit mixture with flour.

Cream together butter, sugar and spices.

Add eggs and beat to incorporate. (mixture will look curdled)

Add butter/sugar mixture to fruit and mix very thoroughly

Spoon into prepared cake tins.

Bake 40 min. Rotate tins front to back and top to bottom. Bake another 30 mins. Change positions again then turn oven off and leave 20 mins.

Remove from oven and cool in tins.

Pour 1 tablespoon brandy over each cooled cake.

Wrap cake in cling wrap and then tightly in alfoil. Cake will keep for at least a year.   

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

Chicken with honey mustard sauce (based on Cook’s Illustrated Pan Seared Chicken Breasts)

1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees

2. Place chicken in baking dish.

Optional – prick with fork 5 times and rub with salt.

Optional – cover with foil

3. Bake at 150 for 30 mins

4.Make a slurry with 2 tablespoons melted butter, 1 tablespoon flour and 1 teaspoon cornflour Brush this over the top of the chicken breasts.

5. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in frypan and fry chicken slurry side down until brown.

6. Brush other side with slurry, flip and fry until brown.

7. Remove chicken to plate.

Optional – mix together 1 tablesponn mustard, 1 tablespoon honey and 4 tablespoons cream.

Add to pan, heat and pour over chicken breasts.

Almost no knead bread

A delicious bread with a thick crust and dense crumb.
Combine

3 cups bread or pasta flour

½ teaspoon salt

Mix together

1/3  cup beer

¾ cup plus 2 Tablespoons water

1½ teaspoons salt

Stir into a rough ragged ball. Cover and stand 8-18 hours.

Turn out onto a floured benchtop and knead 10-15 times.

Stretch into a ball and place in a baking paper sling in a casserole dish. Cover and let rise 2-3 hours.

Remove bread from dish, and place dish in oven. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Place 2 slashes across bread 1cm deep. Sprinkle with a little flour.

When dish and oven are hot, use paper sling to pick dough up and place in casserole dish. Cover with lid. Place in oven and reduce to 220.

Bake 30 mins covered, then uncover and bake a further 30 mins. 

This recipe is adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Wasabi Lime Dressing

This is so simple, yet so delicious. Serve with fish - raw or cooked.

Combine
1/2 teaspoon wasabi
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon mirin
Salt to taste

French Pot Roasted Chicken

Ingredients

1 chicken

Oil and salt

Preheat oven to 130 degrees C.
Use a deep pot that can go on top of the stove, and in the oven.

Heat a little oil over medium high heat in the bottom of the pot.

Place the chicken breast side down, and heat 5 mins, or until brown.

Turn chicken over and repeat on the bottom.

Cover pot and place in the oven for 45 mins to 1 hour, depending on the size of the chicken.

Sauce (optional)

Remove chicken to serving dish, and boil juice over high heat until thick and syrupy.

Carve and serve.

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