Just Swanning Around with Chantilly Cream Puffs

When Suzanne from Home Gourmets announced the theme for this months Hay Hay it's Donna Day, I quietly cringed. Choux pastry....Aaarrgghh! I love eating the stuff, but successfully cooking it is another matter. My first and only attempt, up until now, was quite disastrous. After reading up a bit on how to make Choux, I realised now that I did every possible thing wrong in my first attempt. My pot was too small, the heat wasn't right, I felt that I had to stir it like a cement mixer...the list goes on. However, this event that is now nurtured by Bron Marshall and originally conceived by Barbara at Winosandfoodies is all about setting participants a challenge. And who doesn't love a challenge?

So with the assistance of Monsieur Larousse, who states " The first stage in making the paste is to heat the liquid (water or water and milk) and butter until the butter melts. This should be done slowly at first, without allowing the mixture to boil (if the liquid boils before the butter melts, it will reduce)". Wish I'd known that important little tip the first time. When referring to mixing the paste until a ball forms, Monsieur Larousse kindly points out "do not beat the paste at this stage or the fat will separate out slightly, making it oily". Yet another mistake I made first time round. Merci, Monsieur.

I decided to go ahead with Chantilly Cream Puffs, because I love saying Chantilly in French ("shahn-tee-yee "), and I have always put vanilla and sugar in my whipped cream, unknowingly making Chantilly cream all along. When he stated that these cream puffs are made to resemble swans, I nearly swallowed my tongue. Oh puhleese, can I just get the puffs right before murdering them with my lack of artistic abilities? Oh well, looks like I have more challenges on my plate than I expected.

The result? Not quite perfect (even a bit tacky) Chantilly Swans. Once again my family thanked Hay Hay it's Donna Day for allowing them to devour this indulgent pastry, which they have been deprived of in the past. You never know, I might even have another go at this satisfying paste. It's not as hard to make as I thought it was....once you know the secrets!




Chantilly Cream Puffs

Choux Paste
In a medium sized pot add 1 cup of water, or equal parts milk and water to make 1 cup. Toss in a large pinch of salt and 65 g (5 tblsp) of softened butter cut into small pieces. Add 2 tsp caster sugar. Heat gently until the butter melts, then bring to the boil. As soon as the mixture comes to the boil, remove the pot from the heat, add 125 g (1 cup) of plain or all purpose flour and mix quickly. Return the saucepan to the heat and cook until paste thickens, stirring (it takes about a minute for the paste to leave the sides of the pan). Don't overcook the mixture or beat it vigorously as this will make it greasy or oily. Beat in 2 eggs, the 2 more eggs one after the other, continuing to beat hard until a smooth glossy paste is obtained (I did this last step in the KitchenAid ...much easier).

Pipe or spoon onto baking sheet and place in a heated oven (220 C) for 10 minutes, reduce temperature to 200 C and continue cooking until golden and crisp. The initial warmer temperature is to create steam inside the bun, causing it to "puff". Pipe some backward "S" shapes (think of the number 2) onto the baking sheet. Obviously these "necks" won't need to be baked as long as the puffs, so I placed them on a separate small tray and put them in the oven towards the end of the cooking time.

Chantilly Cream
Place 400 ml (1 3/4 cups) of very cold double (heavy) cream, 100 ml very cold milk and 1 tblsp vanilla sugar in a chilled bowl and whip. When the cream starts to thicken, add 40 g (3 tblsp) caster sugar continuing to whip until thickened to desired consistency.

Split and cool the buns, then cut the top off each bun, cutting the top in half lengthways which will form the swan's wings. Fill the buns with chantilly cream . Place a "neck" at one end of the bun and stick the "wings" into the cream on either side. Dust generously with icing sugar.

Mougrabieh or Giant Couscous

There is only one thing I vow never to do again in my life, and that is to cook "instant" couscous. Never again will I open a cardboard box, pour boiling water over the grains, fluff and serve. I know it's easy, sometimes even half edible, that is if you add a ton of herbs or other ingredients to spice it up with, but compared to the "proper" couscous, it doesn't have a "hope in Hades" of landing on my dinner table again.

The reason I'm so vehement in my distaste for instant couscous is that I've tried the "real stuff". And it's far from being instant. Whilst not labour intensive, it's time consuming to prepare, and you need to be organised in advance. But the final result runs rings around the couscous a la cardboard. Call me a food purist, I'm easy with that. Taste and texture win hands down over convenience I'm afraid.

When I stumbled across a packet of Mougrabieh, or commonly known as giant couscous, in my local health food store, I couldn't get to the counter quick enough, fearful that someone would do a waist high rugby tackle on me, and steal my much coveted treasure.

The secret to perfect couscous is to steam it over a fragrant liquor. The semolina grains of Lebanese Moghrabieh are much larger than Morrocan couscous grains we are familiar with and they swell up to the size of baby peas, so a conventional steamer insert was easily used.

Firstly pour boiling water onto the moghrabieh, add I tablespoon of olive oil, a good pinch of salt and another good pinch of Ras el Hanout. Let sit for 10 minutes, moving the grains around occasionally so they don't stick together. This process removes some of the surface starch.

Add the aromatics to the cooking stock:

1 litre (2 pints) water
1 onion
1 hot chilli
1 cinnamon stick
10 strands of saffron
1/2 tsp cardamon seeds
2 bay leaves

Place drained couscous in the steamer, cover and steam for 2 hours, until the couscous is soft.

I then added the steamed couscous to this recipe which really satiated my Middle Eastern food cravings. Wonderful dish to serve with grilled meats or a tagine/braise. Just perfect for a cold, rainy autumn evening.


Lebanese couscous with roasted butternut squash and preserved lemon

Ingredients

1 preserved lemon
1 1/2 lb. butternut squash, peeled and seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch dice
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 3/4 cups moghrabieh couscous
1 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preparation

Preheat oven to 475°F.

Halve lemons and scoop out flesh, keeping both flesh and peel. Cut enough peel into 1/4-inch dice to measure 1/4 cup. Put lemon flesh in a sieve set over a bowl and press with back of a spoon to extract juice.

Toss squash with 1 tablespoon oil and salt to taste in a large shallow baking pan and spread in 1 layer. Roast in upper third of oven 15 minutes, or until squash is just tender, and transfer to a large bowl.

Cook onion in 1 tablespoon oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until just beginning to turn golden. Add to squash.

Cook couscous using method outlined above. Add couscous to vegetables and toss with 2 tablespoon oil to coat.

Add lemon peel and juice, parsley, nuts, raisins, ground cinnamon, and salt to taste. Toss to mix well.

Wandering Chopsticks is this weeks host of Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging
After browsing her blog, I think Vietnamese food will fast become one of my favourite cuisines as well.

Fancy a bit o' crumpet?

Melissa from Baking a Sweet Life is hosting Bread Baking Day #10, and the theme is "breakfast breads". In Australia, our traditional breakfasts derived from English cuisines from the late 1700's, when this country was settled with mainly convicts from "The Mother Country". I know one of my ancestors was a convict, relocated to Tasmania, for stealing a sheep. Naughty Rufus!! Way back in those days of hardship, food was simple, with flour being one of the main staples, even though it was, more than often, weevil infested and acrid. Damper was a common staple among the poor, and whilst that is a treat to make in the camp oven when you're out camping (obviously), a more civilised and lady-like breakfast is a piping hot crumpet, with butter and honey oozing through the holes onto your plate, to be mopped up with the last piece of remaining crumpet.

According to Wikipdia "Crumpets, also known as pieclets, are generally circular though long and square varieties also exist. They have a distinctive flat top covered in small pores and a resilient, slightly spongy texture. Crumpets alone are bland and generally eaten hot with a topping (usually butter). Other popular accompaniments include cheese when melted on top of the crumpet, jam, Marmite, marmalade, honey, peanut butter, cheese spread, golden syrup, and maple syrup."

The term "crumpet" has also been given the slang meaning of reference to an attractive woman, however in this society of equal rights and feminism, that term is not bandied about in public as much now.

Although the preparation was time consuming, the end result was well worth the wait. Never again will I grab a packet of supermarket crumpets, which I now liken to discs of fluffy cardboard. The only bit o' crumpet to be had in this house are these babies.

English Crumpets

Preparation Time 30 minutes

Cooking Time 40 minutes

Makes 30

Ingredients

• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp (7g/1 sachet) dried yeast
• 250ml (1 cup) warm milk
• 250ml (1 cup) warm water
• 450g (3 cups) plain flour
• 1 1/2 tsp bread improver
• 1 tsp salt
• 250ml (1 cup) water, extra
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• Vegetable oil, to grease
• Butter, to serve
• Honey, to serve

Method

1. Combine the sugar and yeast in a medium bowl. Gradually pour in the warm milk and water and stir until yeast dissolves. Cover with plastic wrap and stand in a warm, draught-free place for 10 minutes or until mixture is frothy.
2. Combine the flour, bread improver and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the yeast mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until well combined. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draught-free place to prove for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
3. Combine extra water and bicarbonate of soda in a jug. Use an electric beater to beat the flour mixture for 1 minute or until mixture deflates. Gradually add the water mixture, beating well between additions, until well combined and smooth. Cover batter with plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes to rest.
4. Brush a large non-stick frying pan with vegetable oil to lightly grease. Brush six 7.5cm-diameter non-stick egg rings with oil to lightly grease. Place egg rings in frying pan over medium-low heat. Pour 60ml (1/4 cup) of batter into each ring. Cook for 7 minutes or until large bubbles come to the surface, the base is golden and the top is set. Use an egg lifter to turn and cook for a further 1 minute or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack and remove egg rings. Set crumpets aside. Repeat, in 4 more batches, with remaining batter, greasing and reheating the pan and egg rings with oil between each batch. Serve crumpets with butter and honey.

Notes & tips

• Prep: 30 mins (+ 10 mins standing, 1 hour proving & 30 mins resting time). Keep the heat of the pan low, and don't be tempted to turn the crumpets until the top looks quite dry.

Source

Australian Good Taste - June 2003, Page 156

Thanks to Zorra from Kochtopf for creating and overseeing this wonderful event.

Yummy? Me?

Wow, I'm chuffed! My first award, thanks to Zainab & meedo, is from two sisters who have an extraordinary blog, Arabic Bites.

They have received this award, rightly so, many times and decided to share it around. "Yummy blog award is the award given to a blog with most yummy recipes/photos". Thanks ladies, I'm honoured!

Now I have to nominate my "favorite yummy-licious :) dessert(s)that I have ever prepared/eaten". Hmmmm.....I'm not big on desserts, but occasionally I have the odd sweet tooth craving. So here goes:

1. Caramel creme, the only dessert in my repertoire when I was a teenager ( I must make them again!)
2. Good old fashioned apple pie that Mum makes. I love her sweet pastry.
3. Cherry Ripe chocolate bar. One is never enough!

As fate has it, I've been really "into" Middle Eastern food lately, partly due to the fact that my daughters gave me a gorgeous Emile Henry Tagine for my birthday/Mothers Day. So I'll be scouring Zainab & meedo's site for some interesting recipes and techniques. They make fantastic bread too, so pay them a visit soon!

There are so many "yummy" blogs around worthy of this award, it's difficult to choose only a few.

Burcu's Almost Turkish Recipes Because I love Turkish food
Nic's Cherrapeno Her desserts and sweets are to die for
Michael and Cindy's Where's the beef? Vegetarians with an enormous array of yummy foods

Veal Scallopini (well, almost) with Tortellini

Always being the adventurous weeknight cook, wanting something simple, quick, but not boring and bland, my thoughts turned Italian tonight. I had all of the ingredients on hand to make a speedy Veal Saltimbocca. The sage in the garden is just beautiful right now, and begging to be picked to encourage tender new leaves to grow. I love the literal meaning of saltimbocca – “jumps in the mouth”. The marriage of sage and prosciutto can definitely jump in my mouth anytime it wants.

However, teenage daughter wanted to know it this “salt and whatever” was going to incorporate pasta, something that I’ve not cooked in a while, and her cravings were getting the better of her. Well there goes my saltimbocca out the window, I thought. So, just to appease the menu requester, I opted for Veal Scallopini with veal tortellini, and just to appease the chef’s yearnings, tossed in some sage and prosciutto into the sauce. Everyone was happy, and nobody but the chef knew of the deviation to the original recipe. I quietly had my own little “jump in the mouth” party, unbeknownst to anyone else!

Veal Scallopini with Tortellini

Serves 4-5

Ingredients

750g thinly sliced veal steaks
to taste: salt and pepper
¾ cup flour
5 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 cloves fresh crushed garlic
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
¾ cup dry white wine 190ml
¾ cup mushrooms sliced (optional)
1 medium diced onion (optional)
8 slices prosciutto (very optional)
12 fresh sage leaves (very optional)
1 lb tortellini noodles 500g

Directions

Pound steaks with a mallet until really thin.
Add salt and pepper and dredge in flour.
Melt 5 tablespoons (105ml) butter in heavy skillet; add crushed garlic and sauté Veal Slices, lightly browning over a medium heat; turn but once.
Remove veal to a shallow baking pan.
Add remaining 2 tablespoons (30ml) of butter to skillet and sauté onions and mushrooms, prosciutto and sage leaves (optional ingredients) for 2½ minutes.
Add ¾ cup white wine and bring to a boil.
Simmer 2-3 minutes to blend all flavours.
Pour wine sauce over veal; cover pan and bake 35 minutes at 350ºF. (176ºC)
Cook tortellini noodles until tender in salted boiling water.
Drain and rinse.
Place tortellini noodles on serving platter.
Cover noodles with veal slices, and pour the remaining wine sauce over entire dish.

Kalyn's weekend herb blogging lands in the lap of Cate from Sweetnicks and my secret herb ingredient is sage. Shhhh, don't tell anyone.

Bombay Biryani

Taste and Create is a food blogging event, founded by Nicole, and for my first involvement in this fantastic themed event, I was paired up with Simran from Bombay Foodie. I love all food from India, so of course I was both excited and delighted with the selection. Each month Nicole draws participating blog names out of a hat and pairs them up with another blog. You visit the blog, scour over it with a fine toothed comb, chose a dish which catches your eye, recreate it, and then blog about it. Wonderful concept, and a great way to really delve into a blog. Simran loves to bake and she is also a "salad specialist", but I knew I had to make something authentically Indian, so I chose her aloo chhole biryani. The middle layer in this biryani is packed full of flavour, and she uses black chane as the key ingredient. As Simran explains "For the uninitiated, (that would be me) black chane are a smallish brown variety of chickpea grown in India". As I didn't have this particular ingredient, I substituted ordinary chickpeas, soaked overnight and cooked in the pressure cooker. I'm sure that this substitution didn't take anything away from the flavour of this dish however.

When I turned out the biryani "cake", I was extremely pleased with its appearance and even more so, the taste. What a fabulous dish to serve as a side at a dinner party. Opulent and elegant. Thanks Simran for taking our family to Bombay this evening.

Lemonade scones

Happy Mothers Day to all Mums out there. Put your feet up, relax and enjoy the company of those that have made you a mother. Put aside the thoughts of how tough it is to raise children through their varying stages of life, and cherish the thought that they really do love you as much as you love them.

This is a no fail recipe for the simple scone. My own mother could whip up a bunch of these without thinking twice about it. When I was a child, she patiently allowed me to rub the butter into the flour, adjusting my poor technique quite often. She would never have dreamed of using a food processor, not because they weren't invented in those days, but because making scones was somehow therapeutic to her, and her own mother taught her this way.

In all of my married years, I have yet to master a tall, fluffy scone. Sure, they were always edible, if only for the first hour, then they turned into the equivalent of hockey pucks. Sorry Mum, but the food processor is the only way I can produce scones as lovely as yours, and I shamefully admit, I have to add lemonade to give them that extra assistance. I hope I have made you proud!

Lemonade scones with jam & cream

Ingredients (serves 16)

• 450g (3 cups) self-raising flour
• 80g butter
• 310ml (1 1/4 cups) diet lemonade
• 1/2 cup whipped cream
• Raspberry jam, to serve
• Whipped Cream, to serve

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220°C. Grease a baking tray. Combine flour and butter in a food processor until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Transfer to a large bowl.
2. Add the lemonade and cream. Use a flat-bladed knife to stir until combined. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.
3. Press the dough out to a round 3cm-thick disc. Using a 5cm-diameter scone cutter, cut into rounds. Place scones, side by side, just touching, on prepared tray. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and scones sound hollow when tapped on base. Transfer immediately to a wire rack to cool. Halve scones and spread with jam and whipped cream.

Serve with a hot cup of tea, a warm sunny spot and a good book to read. Happy Mothers Day, Mum.

Lamb shanks in Wine Sauce

Autumn has well and truly arrived in its picturesque glory. The vibrant colours, the smell of wood fires burning, beautiful sunny crisp days and comfort food on the stove. It truly is a beautiful season, preparing us for the colder days to come.
My all time favourite cut of meat has to be the lamb shank. When we were kids, the lamb shank was always at the centre of arguments as to who would receive this juicy, succulent joint from the lamb roast. Back then, lamb shanks were considered a cheaper cut, and when feeding 4 hungry children, my mother would often buy a heap of shanks, at least one for each of us, to stretch her meager budget, as well as keeping peace at the dinner table.

Nowadays, the humble shank has skyrocketed to fame and fortune, deservedly so, taking on the new title of "Frenched Lamb Shanks". It is now leaner and supposedly more attractive to the eye. The taste will never alter, however the cost of the revamped shank seems to have risen as much as it's popularity. No longer is it a poor mans dish. It now receives star status on many a restaurant menu. If worse came to worse, I'd consider selling one of the children just to finance a meal of tender lamb shanks. Hopefully, for their sake, this won't happen in the near future.

My preferred method of cooking shanks is in the pressure cooker. And this recipe, with the richness of red wine and balsamic, was just the perfect autumn dish, and one I'll be "throwing together" on a week night more often. Served with pan fried rosemary and garlic potatoes, and a tossed salad, it was worthy of being shown on any classy restaurant menu.

LAMB SHANKS IN WINE SAUCE

2 large lamb shanks

Salt and pepper to taste

1 T. olive oil

10 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole

1/2 cup chicken or mushroom stock

1/2 cup port wine

1 T. tomato paste

1/2 t. dried rosemary (I used a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary)

1 T. butter

1-2 T. balsamic vinegar

Trim the excess fat from the shanks and season then with salt and pepper to taste. Heat the oil in the pressure cooker. Add the shanks and brown on all sides. When they are almost browned add the garlic cloves and cook until they are lightly browned, but do not burn them. Add the stock, port, tomato paste, and rosemary, stirring until the tomato paste dissolves. Close the pressure cooker and bring up to full pressure. Reduce the heat and cook for 30 minutes. Release the pressure and remove the lamb shanks. Return the pressure cooker to the stove and boil uncovered for 5 minutes to reduce and thicken the sauce. Whisk in the butter and the vinegar. Serve sauce over lamb shanks.

Laurie, from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska would have to be one of the most envied bloggers in the blogosphere, as she has a home in Alaska as well as Greece, and she is hosting Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging this week. Her amazing Greek dishes are to die for, so head over to her blog for a real food fest.

Slow Cooker Thai Red Curry Chicken

I've been itching to get out my slow cooker, so today was perfect for this opportunity. A thick fog blanketed us this morning, nothing but greyness and dampness, after an evening of downpours followed by soaking, soft drizzle into the small hours of the morning. These weather conditions actually excite me for 2 reasons. First of all the gloominess outside calls for cozy wood fires to be lit inside, with the aromas of slow cooked spicy food wafting in and out of every room. Secondly, and most exciting of the two, is it's nearly mushroom time, and with the drenching received on Friday night, followed by a beautiful sunny day (after the fog had lifted), I'm off in search of the elusive mushy tomorrow. Maybe I'll be lucky, maybe not.

This dish is extremely simple, as are all slow cooker dishes. Dump the ingredients into the pot, turn it on and walk away. This meal is done in 4 hours total and simple in flavour but tasty. Next time I would perhaps add some extra Thai ingredients such as kaffir lime leaves and a touch of lemon grass. The possibilities are endless. And maybe a sprinkle of chopped coriander, rather than the basil leaves (which aren't visible in the photo).

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1kg chicken thigh fillets, trimmed,
• cut in half crossways
• 114g Thai red curry paste (out of a jar is fine)
  
• 1 cup Chicken Stock
• 150g fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems trimmed, halved
• 230g can sliced bamboo shoots, drained
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 140ml can coconut milk
• 1/3 cup basil leaves
• steamed jasmine rice, to serve

Method

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook chicken, in batches, for 1 to 2 minutes each side or until golden. Transfer to slow cooker.
2. Reduce frying pan heat to low. Add remaining oil to pan. Add curry paste and cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes or until aromatic. Add stock and stir until curry paste has dissolved. Add mushroom and bamboo shoots. Pour mixture over chicken and stir to combine.
3. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 1/2 hours. Combine fish sauce, sugar and coconut milk in a jug. Stir into curry. Cover and cook on HIGH for a further 30 minutes.
4. Stir in basil. Spoon curry over rice. Serve.

Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging has arrived in Australia this week and Anh, of Food Lovers Journey, from Melbourne will be the kind hostess. Be sure to visit her beautiful blog full of lots of Vietnamese inspired recipes and great photos.

Chicken Tagine with preserved lemons and olives

Pre-cooked artwork

The plate is a canvas

Truly Moroccan. A mixture of flavours melded into one. With each individual mouthful, a new taste experience unfolded. Chermoula is now one of my favourite marinades, and I will be using this particular version for many years to come. Served with couscous and homemade Turkish bread, a perfect meal for a rainy, cool Autumn evening. Truly Moroccan, totally divine.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

Chermoula Marinade

2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger
1/2 preserved lemon, rinsed and thinly sliced
2 onions, chopped
½ birds eye chilli
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tbsp ground cumin
salt
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander, stems and leaves
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads, soaked in a little water
1/2 cup olive oil
2 bay leaves, torn in half

1 whole chicken, size 10 or 12 (or a mixture of pieces such as drumsticks and thighs, bone in)
1 tomato, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 large potatoes, cut into wedges
1 onion, sliced
1 tomato, sliced
150g pitted green olives
1 bunch fresh coriander, chopped
1 cup water
1 preserved lemon, cut into 6 segments.

DIRECTIONS

1. Marinade: Process all ingredients together in a food processor until finely chopped and thoroughly combined. Leave for 30 minutes before using. Can be stored in the refrigerator for up to seven days.

2. Wash and dry the chicken and remove backbone, wing tips and any excess fat. Cut into pieces. Rub all over with ½ of the chermoula marinade and refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours.

3. Combine the tomato and onion with a little more chermoula and spread into the base of the tajine (this will prevent the chicken from burning on the bottom).Arrange chicken pieces in the centre of the tajine on top of tomato mixture. Coat potato wedges with chermoula and arrange around chicken. Top with onion slices, then tomato slices and olives in between the potato wedges.

4. Mix chopped coriander with remaining chermoula and water. Pour over mixture. Decorate top with preserved lemon wedges.

5. Cover tagine with lid and cook on a very low gas heat for 45 minutes. Do not stir or lift the lid during the cooking process.

Watch a video of the simple preparation technique used to make this dish.

Trackie Daks, Ugh Boots and a well stocked pantry

An impromptu invitation, quite late in the afternoon yesterday, inviting friends to come over for dinner and a game of cards, left me in a slight panic. Why do I open my mouth before thinking? Time and time again I put myself in this situation. I was tired, the house was in a complete mess, I couldn't be bothered sprucing myself up to go to the supermarket (trackie daks and Ugh boots is not a good look in public)...why do I do this to myself?

The critics in my family, and there's quite a few of them, have often made fun of my well stocked pantry, and still "not a bloody thing to eat" in it. Well, there is, if you're willing to take the time to actually PREPARE something, I always tell them.

At least the finger food dilemma was solved with these great rice paper rolls, made with Light Chilli Philly, a can of crab meat (from the pantry) and coriander from the garden.


Simple and delicious, followed by Chicken, Preserved lemons and olive tagine, with a side of sage and onion couscous. The dinner was a hit, the boys opened a can of beer each, and the girls opened their can of whoop ass. Sorry guys, maybe we'll teach you how to win 500 one day. And I was still in my trackie daks and Ugh boots. Good friends couldn't care less.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 8 round (21cm-diameter) rice-paper sheets
• 160g sweet chilli light cream cheese (Kraft Philadelphia brand)
• 1 x 170g can crabmeat, drained (or you could use small cooked and peeled prawns)
• 1 celery stick, trimmed, halved crossways, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup loosely packed fresh coriander leaves
• Soy sauce, to serve

Method

1. Soak a rice-paper sheet in a shallow dish of warm water for 10 seconds. Drain on paper towel and transfer to a clean work surface.
2. Place the cream cheese in a medium dish. Spread 2 tsp of the cream cheese along the centre of the rice-paper sheet. Top with 2 tsp of crabmeat, a few pieces of celery and coriander. Fold in the ends and roll up tightly to enclose filling. Repeat with the remaining rice-paper sheets, cream cheese, crabmeat, celery and half the remaining coriander.
3. Place rice-paper rolls on a serving platter. Sprinkle with the remaining coriander and serve with sweet chilli sauce.

Margot, from the UK, and author of Coffee and Vanilla is hosting Kalyn's Kitchen Weekend Herb Blogging this round.

Bread Baking Day #9 - Oats

Whilst I can't bring myself to eat a bowl of porridge for breakfast, I can definitely sit down to some hot buttered toast, and this bread, Sesame and Honey Oatmeal Bread is going to be one of my favourite breakfast treats from now on.

This dough uses a slow rise method, so you can prepare it one day, and bake it the next, which definitely fits into my busy schedule of late. But as I had time on my hands yesterday, being a Saturday, I only let this bread "slow rise" for about 4 hours in the fridge. For once my impatience didn't cause any anguish, as the bread was rising rapidly, even in the cooler conditions.

The dough is quite dense, and I thought my KitchenAid was going to have a convulsion at one stage, so I finished the kneading by hand.

The health benefits of oats include lowering cholesterol levels, decreasing the risk of heart disease and cardiovascular disease. Oats are high in fibre and antioxidants. We should all eat more oats!!

Overnight Sesame-Honey Oatmeal Bread
from "The Pleasure of Whole-Grain Breads" by Beth Hensperger

makes 2 9-by-5-inch loaves

2 cups boiling water
1 cup rolled oats
6 tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
2/3 cup warm water (105 - 115F)
1-1/2 tbsp (scant 2 pkgs) active dry yeast
1/2 cup honey
6 to 6-1/2 cups bread flour
1/3 cup sesame seeds
2-1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp canola oil, for brushing
1 tbsp honey mixed with 1 tbsp hot water, for brushing

1. In a large bowl using a wooden spoon or in the bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the boiling water, oats, and butter. Stir to melt the butter and let stand until warm, about 30 minutes.

2. Pour the warm water into a small bowl or 1-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle the yeast and drop a bit of the honey over water. Stir to dissolve and let stand at room temperature until foamy, about 10 minutes.

3. Add the remaining honey, 1 cup of the bread flour, the sesame seeds, and the salt to the warm oat mixture. Beat for 1 minute, or until smooth. Add the yeast mixture; beat for 1 minute longer. Add the remaining bread flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating on low speed until a soft, shaggy dough that just clears the sides of the bowl forms, switching to a wooden spoon when necessary if making my hand.

4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth, soft, and springy, 1 to 2 minutes for machine-mixed dough and 3 to 5 minutes for a hand-mixed dough, dusting with flour only 1 tablespoon at a time, just enough as needed to prevent sticking. Do not add too much flour or the dough will stiffen up. Cover with a clean towel and let rest on the work surface for 30 minutes.

5. Generously grease the bottom and sides of two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans. Divide the dough into two equal portions. Pat each into a flat, fat oval and fold over to make a loaf with a thick folded seam down the center. Place in the prepared pans, seam side up. Generously brush the tops with canola oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, allowing for expansion, and refrigerate until the dough rises above the rims of the pans, at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.

6. Remove the loaves from the refrigerator, uncover, and let stand at room temperature for 1-1/2 hours. About 20 minutes before baking, preheat an over to 375 and position a rack in the center of the oven.

7. Brush the tops of the loaves with the honey mixture. (I sprinkled extra rolled oats on the honey, which helps them stick). Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until the tops are light brown and the loaves sound hollow when tapped with your finger. Cover loosely with aluminum foil halfway through baking if the loaves brown too much. Remove from the pans to cool on a rack.

Also, from the same book, I made Minnesota Oatmeal Egg Bread. I can't comment on the taste of this loaf (shown on the left), because my nextdoor neighbour, who has a serious butter fetish, left last night with this loaf under his arm. I only hope the oats have a good effect on his raised cholesterol levels.

Astrid from Food Paulchen is this months host of Bread Baking Day #9, a monthly event founded by Zorra of 1x umrühren bitte aka kochtopf (you can read more about bread baking day here)

Toffee Apple Clafoutis HHDD#19

Childhood memories bring to light many joyous moments, such as receiving my first Teary Deary Doll from Santa, or the feeling of jubilation riding my two wheeler, finally unassisted by Dad, and not crashing into the lemon tree in the backyard. Two memories really stick out though. The first is homemade toffees in patty pans, covered in hundreds and thousands or peanuts, which I could savour all day, wrapped in a handkerchief in my pocket when the sugar fix had wained. The second is autumn apples, Golden Delicious apples, the size of a softball on steroids, the juice running down to my elbows with every deafening crunch. These apples were straight from the orchards in King Valley, and a large box would always be sitting on the table of our back verandah, tempting us every time we walked past.

When Bron Marshall (the esteemed winner from last month) announced the theme for Hey Hey it's Donna Day #19 as clafoutis, I was a shattered woman. I'm not normally one who opts for desserts, and thought a savoury clafoutis, maybe baby tomatoes, prosciutto, goats cheese...something along those lines, would satisfy my savoury tooth. This is a popular monthly event founded by Barbara from Winosandfoodies. Check out both of these fabulous blogs.

Finally the penny dropped. Use what is in season. Tomatoes have finished...finito, kaput. Apples rule. So I have combined two of my childhood favourites, apples and toffee to make Toffee Apple Clafoutis.

Preparation Time

15 minutes

Cooking Time

60 minutes

Ingredients (serves 8)

• Melted butter, to grease
• 6 (about 1.2kg) golden delicious apples, peeled, cored, quartered
• 220g (1 cup) caster sugar
• 80ml (1/3 cup) water
• 100g (2/3 cup) plain flour
• 160g (2/3 cup) sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbs Cointreau liqueur
• 2 tbs vegetable oil
• 2 tbs vanillin sugar
• 500ml (2 cups) milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Brush a 10-cup (2.5-litre) ovenproof dish with the melted butter to lightly grease. Arrange apple pieces over the base of the dish.
2. Place caster sugar and water in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until mixture is golden, occasionally brushing down side of pan with pastry brush dipped in water. Remove from heat, allow bubbles to subside. Pour toffee evenly over apples in dish.
3. Combine flour and sugar in a bowl. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time. Add the liqueur, oil and vanillin sugar. Gradually pour in the milk, stirring continuously, until the mixture is smooth. Pour the mixture over the apples. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside for 10 minutes before serving.

Red Hot Chili Peppers= They're Red Hot

If I were a male, and I've often threatened to come back as one in my next life (the labour ward was one occasion that comes to mind), my prostate would be in perfect health. Why? Because I eat chillies. These little bullets contain capsaicin, which is known to have the ability to make prostate cancer cells commit suicide upon themselves. Chillies also have an anti-inflammatory effect on arthritis, migraines and muscle pain. And quite understandably, they are known as an appetite suppressant - probably because your tastebuds are anaesthetised for a prolonged period of time.

All of the sweating, burning, tears and sniffing may be unbearable for some people, but if you start adding small amounts of chillies to your diet, they become addictive, and you want more and more, or at least I do anyway. I'm sure my body has built up a toleration level, only for that level to be broken next time I try something hotter.

Bring on the heat I say. And with winter starting to creep into my bones, I made sure that I preserved what was left of my chilli plant in the garden, before the frosts come along and take them away from me.

Sambal Oelek, a red chilli paste, is what I made from my "crop". A little goes a long way, so my jar and a half should last me through the winter. My prostate endowed husband can't tolerate hot and spicy food, at least to the extent of gaining any major health benefits from it, so I might just try slipping it into his beer, all for the sake of prostate health of course. Wish me luck!!

Sambal Oelek

Ingredients

• 1 lb red chillies
• 5 1/2 ounces garlic, peeled and chopped
• 5 1/2 ounces tender young ginger, peeled and chopped
• 2 stalks lemongrass, thinly sliced (white part only)
• 6 fluid ounces vinegar
• 8 ounces sugar
• salt, to taste
• 1 tablespoon lime zest, chopped

Directions

1. Blend the chillies, garlic, ginger and lemon grass in a food processor or mortar and pestle.

2. While processing gradually add the vinegar.

3. Place the pureed mixture into a saucepan and bring to a boil.

4. Reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes.

5. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.

6. Add the salt and lime zest.

7. Remove from the heat, cool and bottle in sterilised jars, or if you want to freeze, place in freezer containers or ice cube trays

Used extensively in Thai, Indonesion and Malaysian foods, serve this as a condiment for those who can handle the heat, or use in stir fries and other dishes for flavour and yet again that addictive "heat".

Jai and Bee from Jugalbandi are the hosts of Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging # 128. They are famous bloggers who have their own successful photo event "Click", so if you're a budding photographer, check out their website and fire up your flashes.

Roasted beetroot fattoush, with feta and mint

Whilst not quite salad season anymore, especially this last week, where temperatures have plummeted, snow has been falling on the alps, wild winds have lashed our state, causing several deaths, power outages, and buckets of red dust dumped all over us from the Mallee, I can't go a whole week without at least one form of salad.

This dish is from Bill Granger, a noted Australian chef famous for his scrambled eggs, served at his Sydney restaurant, simply called Bills.

Fattoush is a Middle Eastern dish, using up stale pita bread, and incorporating a mixture of vegetables, usually with the addition of sumac for its bitterness.

This is a warm salad, so I've compromised my salad cravings with warm food comfort.



Ingredients
1 tsp sumac
1/2 tsp coriander seeds, toasted and ground
1/2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and ground
2 medium sized beetroot, raw
1 large or 2 small pita rounds, torn into thumb size pieces
2 tblsp olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
1 Lebanese cucumber, chopped
80 gms of feta cubed (I used my favourite, Persian Feta)
1/2 bunch picked mint leaves
1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley leaves
60 g baby rocket or baby spinach leaves
2 tblsp lemon juice

Method
Preheat oven to 160 c. Combine sumac, coriander and cumin seeds.
Place beetroot on a lined baking tray and roast for 50 minutes, or until tender.
Spread bread on a separate lined baking tray, then toss with extra oil and spice mixture, reserving 1/2 tsp. Bake the bread for the final 5 minutes of roasting the beetroot, until crisp.
Cool beetroot slightly, then peel and roughly chop. Place in a bowl with the bread, feta, mint, parsley and rocket. Add the lemon juice and olive oil, season with salt and pepper.
Toss gently to combine, then sprinkle with the remaining sumac and spice mixture and serve.

Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging is hosted by Kalyn herself this week, and I'm sure there will be a swag of entries from all over the world contributing to this marvelous event.

Slashing and inuendos

Finally!!! I did a worthy slash! However, I'm cringing as I type, because "a slash" in the Australian male vernacular, especially from the yobbo 70's era, is to urinate, and surprisingly Wikipedia even acknowledges the phrase "have a slash", evolving from the Scottish word slash, meaning a large splash of liquid. I can associate with that, as often that's what is on the floor of my bathroom (don't get me started on men and family toilets). I always associated the phrase with visions of guys doing a Zorro type "Z" on the urinal wall, you know, like with the slash of a sword. That's just my warped imagination though. None of this has a thing to do with my slash however.

I'm talking bread. A rye sourdough from my rye starter, flavoured with caramelised onions and caraway seeds. The bread looked as if was cooked before I even put it in the oven!


My previous attempts at slashing have been a long way from acceptable, and I think because the dough was quite dense, this assisted in my result.


I love eating this bread with sliced radishes, or a bit of cream cheese. The flavour is sensational, even if it does take a few days to prepare it.

I adapted the recipe from Peter Reinhardt's New York Deli Rye recipe, using a barm from my sourdough starter, adding the onions to the barm and refrigerating overnight. With this loaf, I refrigerated the final dough overnight as well, not especially to achieve more flavour, I just didn't have time to bake it that day. Artisan bread dough can be very forgiving sometimes.


So to all the Aussie blokes out there, women can slash too!

Peter's Ribs Greek Style

The best part about reading other people's blogs is the response I have when I see a recipe that I must try, do or die. It can either be from an eye catching photo that instantly instills growling hunger pains or from a special ingredient, be it either a clear favourite, or something completely unheard of, which tweaks my curiousity. This latter criteria was the case with Peter M's blog, Kalofagas, Pursuit of Delicious Foods. Peter is a passionate foodie, and a great ambassador of his Greek heritage, pumping out a recipe nearly every day on his entertaining blog.

Ground bay was the spice that started the tweaking, as I'd never seen it before or heard of it here in Australia. Peter vehemently insists that everyone get their hands on some ground bay at some stage in their lives. He promises that you won't be disappointed.


Well, I wasn't going to let a missing ingredient turn me off my pursuit. I had dried bay leaves in my spice drawer(s), and a coffee grinder in the cupboard, which I use wholly and solely for grinding spices. It's only a cheap grinder, and it took a few extra whizzes to get a fine powder-like consistency, but the aroma that came from the previously dead looking leaves was incredible, and I instantly knew that Peter had found a winner. I used approximately 6-7 dried bay leaves to obtain one teaspoon of powder.

Combine it with the other dried ingredients, and voila, the perfect Greek rub for baby ribs. I bet this would be good on lamb too, with the dried oregano in it. Peter served his dish with tzatziki as a dipping medium. Unfortunately, I'm the only tzatziki freak in this household, so roasted tomatoes and pan fried potatoes accompanied this wonderful dish. Efcharisto Peter for introducing such a wonderful flavour into our kitchen. Your rendition of Charcoal Chicken, Churrasco Chicken, is definitely next on my agenda. Yassou.