Holidays at last

Weather conditions are downright crappy at the moment. Freezing cold, wet and windy. So I'm heading north to a warmer climate tomorrow, for a much needed break from daily routines. Darwin is the destination, and at least I can seek a reprieve from the sub zero temperatures each morning, enjoying a sip by the pool, fresh tropical fruit, varied Asian cuisines, with a side trip to Singapore for a touch of shopping and more food delights. Herb crusted rack of lamb was the most adventurous dish prepared this weekend, apart from Vegemite on toast!!

For the crust, combine fresh herbs, bread crumbs, a couple of good dollops of grainy mustard and moisten with olive oil. Press onto lamb racks and roast at 200 C for 10 minutes, then turn oven down to 170 C until done. This was simply served with roast vegetable salad on a bed of rocket, with balsamic reduction dressing.

I'm off to pack. If anyone knows which horse is going to win the Darwin Cup, I'd be grateful for the tip.

Adults Only Tiramisu

With the amount of alcohol in this recipe, I had to warn my daughter not to drive after eating this luscious Italian dessert. Her probationary license stipulates zero alcohol content in your system, and I'm sure a breathalyser test would have registered way up there after only a couple of mouthfuls. Luckily only the biscuits are quickly "dipped" into this potent brew, otherwise we'd all end up happily tipsy, not that that would be an issue. I must confess I have only made Tiramisu once before, and that was due to a request from my eldest when she turned 16. Because she was "grown up" in her eyes, the customary birthday cake made way for this "adults only" dessert. Maybe it was her way of consuming alcohol right under my nose, instead of waiting for a party with her friends!! She is now 24, well and truly grown up, and I'm happy that I have an excuse to make it again. So are the dessert deprived members of this family. They all think HHDD is fabulous, because they can indulge in the rare treat of desserts after a meal. When I told my youngest what the theme for this month was going to be, she insisted we shop for the ingredients immediately. I wonder if her enthusiasm would have been the same had the theme been some savoury dish. I think not.

Alexandra, from Addicted Sweet Tooth, the deserved winner of the last round of Hay Hay it's Donna Day, a fun event now under the wing of Bron Marshall, has chosen Tiramisu for this months challenge. This is a no-bake (right up my alley when it comes to desserts), rich Italian dessert, that literally translates as "pick me up" or "make me happy/less sad". We all know the virtues of coffee, chocolate and alcohol, each providing a momentary state of euphoria. Combine them all together and what do you get? An exhilarating uplift with every spoonful, equally addictive as the individual ingredients can be on their own. Just don't drive for a while. Enjoy your happiness.

Tiramisu

Prep time: 30 minutes

2 hours refrigeration

Ingredients

300 ml espresso coffee

3 ½ tblsp Marsala

2 tblsp Kilkenny cream (coffee and chocolate liqueur)

2 tblsp brandy

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

3 eggs separated

75 g caster sugar

300 g mascarpone

Cocoa for dusting

100 g good quality dark chocolate, grated

Savoiardi biscuits

Chill six 300 ml glasses. Combine coffee, coffee liqueur, brandy marsala and vanilla in a large bowl and set aside.

In a bowl beat egg yolks with sugar until light and fluffy, then mix in mascarpone. Beat eggwhites intil soft peaks form, then fold into the mascarpone mixture.

Dust the base of each glass with a little cocoa and sprinkle with some of the grated chocolate. Add a spoonful of the mascarpone mixture to each glass. Quickly dip the biscuits, a few at a time, into the coffee mixture and arrange in a single layer on top of the mascarpone, breaking biscuits to fit if required. Dust with cocoa and chocolate and then repeat layers again, finishing with mascarpone. Leave to chill for a couple of hours in the fridge and then dust again with cocoa and grated chocolate.

BBD #12 Small Breads

Krispy Kreme © donuts are not common in Australia...yet. Their franchise has obviously hit the major capitol cities, but not the small rural communities, and hopefully it will be a long time before they do, if these copycat donuts are any indication as to why people are raving about them. Who needs another fast food franchise in their town? Not me. Bread Baking Day #12 is travelling to India this month, where Aparna, from My Diverse Kitchen has chosen small breads as the theme. This is a monthly event created by Zorra from Kopchtopf, and I was just in the right mood to make donuts this last weekend. And as I'd just whipped up a batch of delicious lemon curd, I thought I would incorporate the tangy flavour with the sweet bread, and fill the donut "holes" with it. Personally, I think the holes are the best part!

Copycat Krispy Kreme© Donuts

DONUTS:
2 cups scalded milk
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar, divided
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons yeast
4 eggs, beaten
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
7 cups sifted flour

GLAZE:
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup cold water

Melt butter in hot milk. Add 1 teaspoon sugar and salt. Allow to cool to lukewarm.

Beat in yeast, nutmeg, eggs and 3 cups flour.

Add rest of flour (dough will be sticky). Knead for 5 minutes then allow to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Roll out dough, cut into shapes. Do not re-roll dough. Allow to rise for 30-45 minutes.

Mix together ingredients for glaze; set aside.

Heat oil to 365F.

Fry donuts 2 minutes on each side or until brown.

Dip in warm glaze.

Makes 48 donuts

This makes a lot of donuts, so be prepared to be chained to the deep fryer for a fair amount of time. Also be prepared for the plate of donuts to disappear before the next batch has finished cooking. Make sure at least one is saved for the cook!

Moroccan mania for Taste and Create

Right now I'm in the height of a Moroccan obsession, and so I was duly excited to be paired up with Ann and Jack from from Redacted Recipes this month, for Taste and Create, a monthly event created and coordinated by Nicole.

Tagines are a regular guest at our dinner table, at least once a week. The mention of "stew" for dinner always brought comments of disdain from the family in the past, but if the word "tagine" is substituted, there isn't a problem. It sounds much more exotic, and of course it really is, because Moroccan spices make an ordinary old stew sing like a star.

So dinner last light was a lamb tagine. This dish was so delicious, the cinnamon really shone through, and the prunes gave it a fruity lift. I think it's the first time everyone ate zucchini without leaving it to the side of the plate.

Ann and Jack's recipe can be found here. I really wanted to serve this with their Za'atar Bread to mop up the luscious juices, but just ran out of time. I will make it next time though, and the lamb tagine will definitely be on our menu again.

Herbed Ricotta Fritters

When you have a couple of egg yolks staring at you, 1/2 kilo of ricotta in the fridge that you're undecided what to do with, want to make something really quick and easy, dying to sit and relax with drink in hand, then these little fritter-balls are the perfect solution to your woes.

Two cups of chopped herbs are folded through the ricotta/egg/flour mixture and shallow fried in minutes. The combination of herbs is entirely up to you. As we are in the depths of a freezing winter, with snow on the mountains and frosts on the ground, I'm still lucky enough to have the old reliables flourishing in the garden - rosemary, parsley and oregano.

Initially, I thought that these might be a bit bland and overpowered by the herbs, but after one bite my fears were put to rest. They would make a wonderful addition to any party platter, but I would double the recipe 'cause they're just so tasty.

Herbed ricotta fritters

Ingredients

• 500g fresh ricotta cheese
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup self-raising flour, sifted
• 2 cups mixed fresh herbs, chopped (we used flat-leaf parsley, oregano and rosemary leaves)
• 150g parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 2 cups vegetable oil, for shallow-frying

Method

1. Place ricotta in a sieve over a medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour to allow excess moisture to drain from ricotta. Drain, wash and dry bowl. Spoon ricotta into the bowl. Add egg yolks. Mix until well combined. Add flour, herbs and 1 1/2 cups parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Stir until well combined.
2. Preheat oven to 160°C. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Using 1 heaped tablespoon of mixture per fritter, cook fritters in batches of 4, turning often with a metal spoon, for 3 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack over a baking tray. Keep warm in oven while cooking the remaining fritters.
3. Place fritters on a plate. Sprinkle with remaining parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.

Simona, from Briciole, is hosting this months Weekend Herb Blogging event, the brainstorm of Kalyn, from Kalyn's Kitchen. There are some new rules being introduced for next weekend, rules for the better, in my honest opinion, so that this event remains primarily about herbs, so check them out here.

Fish and Fresh Fennel Tagine

You can't get any fresher than this. The dirt from my garden is still clumped to the fennel roots. The aniseed perfume is so much stronger than any supermarket bulb, left wilting on the shelves for who knows how long. The crunch as the knife slices through the crisp layers is almost deafening. The pleasure of eating something grown from scratch, and with a little love, is immeasurable.

Fish was on the menu last night and fennel and fish are a marriage made in heaven. This is yet another Moroccan inspired recipe which I adapted from my latest cookbook purchase, Moroccan Modern by Hassan M'Souli, a restaurateur from Sydney. I know I'm going to get my money's worth from this book, the recipes are just fabulous.

This dish is abundant with coriander and parsley. The tomato chermoula is so versatile in it's uses, as a marinade, or even as a sauce for pasta marinara, I think I will always make double the recipe from now on.


Pam, who cooks, sews and knits in her "spare time" from Sidewalk Shoes is kindly hosting Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging this week.

Fish tagine

Ingredients

• 4 x 2 inch thick firm fish fillets (try swordfish, dhufish, Ling or cod fillets)
• 2 cups of tomato chermoula (see recipe below)
• 1 large fennel bulb (the original recipe used celery sliced lengthways)
  
• 1 carrot
• 2 potatoes
• 1 small red capsicum
• 1 small green capsicum
• 2 tbsp of tomato paste
• 2 cups of fish stock
• A handful of kalamata olives
• 1 preserved lemon cut into wedges
• 4 roma tomatoes halved and roasted
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander

Method

Marinate your fish fillets in the tomato chermoula for at least two hours.

Slice the fennel (or celery) and place slices parallel across the tagine base. This stops food from sticking and burning to the bottom.

Next place the fish fillets over the fennel. Next slice the carrot diagonally in 1cm slices. Peel and slice the potatoes in the same fashion. Deseed and remove membranes from capsicums and slice the flesh to be double the thickness of the potatoes. The slices need to be varied accordingly so that they all cook in time.

Alternate the carrot & potato slices around the outer edge of the tagine and on top of the fish. Place the capsicums in alternating colours on top of the whole dish.

Mix the tomato chermoula with the tomato paste and fish stock and whisk until well combined. Pour over the vegetables and the fish, and top with olives and preserved lemon wedges.

Cover with tagine lid and simmer over a low heat for 45 minutes.

Serve the fish tagine directly to the table, garnished with tomatoes and sprinkle with fresh coriander.
Tomato Chermoula

Tomato Chermoula is a great accompaniment for seafood dishes.

Ingredients

• 1 tblsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves chopped
• 2 brown onions diced
• 4 x 400g cans of crushed tomatoes
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander
• Salt & pepper

Method

Gently heat the oil in a saucepan and sauté the garlic and onion until soft. Add the tomatoes, cumin, and lemon juice. Simmer gently for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the fresh herbs and remove from heat. Season to taste. This can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Potato Salad with Labneh and Herbs

Yoghurt cheese, or labneh, is a favourite and impressive appetiser that I adore. I love the creamy texture of this "cheese", spread over lightly toasted bread or crackers. It always adds 5 star power to a meze or antipasto platter. It's extremely versatile and can lend itself to a numerous combination of savoury or even sweet flavours. My preference is to marinate it in garlic infused olive oil, chilli flakes and herbs. If you're after a sweet labneh, it can be made with a splash of rosewater or combined with a fragrant honey.

Ingredients

1 kg of Greek yoghurt
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp crushed dried chillies
1 tblsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tblsp chopped fresh oregano
Garlic infused olive oil, enough to cover (or just add a couple of slivers of garlic cloves to your jar)

Place yoghurt over a sterilized piece of muslin or cheescloth. Bring the four corners together and tie firmly with string. Hang this bag, suspended from one of the shelves in the refrigerator, catching the whey over a large bowl. Leave for 2-3 days until the yoghurt stops dripping.

Roll the labneh into small balls and place on tray covered with baking or parchment paper, and leave overnight in fridge again, to allow the balls to dry out slightly.

Sterilize your jars by washing them and placing them in a 150 C degree oven for 15 minutes.

Lower the labneh balls into the jar, sprinkling each layer with the herbs and chillies, cover with garlic oil, and store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.



The labneh was a wonderful addition to a warm potato salad, also heavily laced with herbs and a delicious maridade/dressing. Kalyn, the creator of Weekend Herb Blogging, is taking time out from tending her beautiful garden, to host her event this week.

Warm Potato Salad, with labneh and herbs

INGREDIENTS

1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 teaspoon za'atar (Lebanese spice)
¼ cup (60ml) olive oil
salt and pepper
800g Kipfler potatoes, scrubbed and halved lengthways
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 red capsicum
1 cup picked parsley leaves
1 cup picked coriander leaves
200g labneh balls in chilli, roughly chopped
50g pine nuts, toasted
Lebanese bread, to serve

METHOD

Preheat oven 200°C (180°C fan-forced).

Whisk lemon zest and juice, za'atar and oil together; season with salt and pepper. Toss half of dressing over potatoes with garlic and place onto a flat baking tray. Bake 30 minutes or until crispy and golden.

Place capsicum over gas flame until blackened and transfer to a bowl; cover with plastic wrap and cool. When cold, remove black skin and tear flesh into large pieces.

In a large serving bowl, combine parsley, coriander, labneh, pine nuts, capsicum and roasted potatoes and mix gently.

Drizzle remaining dressing over potato salad and toss until evenly coated. Serve immediately with fresh Lebanese bread.

Bread Baking Day # 11 - Sprouts

Happy Birthday BBD! One year old already, and growing stronger each month. Congratulations Zorra. You must be proud of your baby. So for this month, Zorra from Kochtopf is hosting her very own event's birthday party and chosen sprouted bread as the theme. I must lead a very sheltered life, because I had never heard of sprouted bread, let alone tasted it. So of course I had to do some research on the subject. Essene bread was a noticeably popular search result, and this bread dates back to prehistoric times when a grain/water paste was made to make a thin wafer, cooked on warmed stones. If you visit Zorra's site, there is a very interesting history of how this type of bread originated, and the scientific reasoning as to why it's so good for us.

I'm afraid that I'm more of a "modern" baker, not having the precious time to sprout my grains or wait around for a bunch of rocks to heat up in subzero temperatures. So after lots of reading about sprouted breads, and the methodology used, I opted for store bought alfalfa sprouts, which I love tossed over a salad, or combined in a sandwich. Sprouts and bread form a very nice partnership indeed.

Because I had a pot of vegetable soup bubbling away on the stove in readiness for an easy Sunday night meal, I thought mini sprouted bread loaves would make a pleasing and nutritional accompaniment to the meal. The addition of peppitas, which are shelled pumpkin seeds, enhanced the flavour to a new level.

At first I was hesitant about adding the sprouts to the unmixed ingredients, fearing that they would end up a mushy pulp, but this didn't happen surprisingly. You could still pick the odd sprout out of your teeth after eating! They tasted fantastic, and were the star attraction of the meal. What a perfect way to use up leftover sprouts, which continue to grow in the fridge, before they spoil. I will definitely be making these again.

Alfalfa sprouts and peppita bread

3/4 c Plus 2 tablespoons Water

1 1/2 ts Salt

2 tb Honey

1 cup of alfalfa sprouts

2 tb Olive or Vegetable oil

3 1/4 c Bread flour

1/2 c Unsalted raw pumpkin seeds (peppitas)

1 tsp Yeast

Instructions

Measure carefully, placing all ingredients in a mixer and knead for about 6 minutes, or until dough is not sticking to the bowl, and feels quite firm. Let dough rise until for 2 hours (it won't be visibly doubled but the oven spring is great). Divide dough into eight equal pieces and shape into mini loaves. If you have deep rectangular or round muffin pans, grease lightly with oil then dust over flour, and place your dough into pan. Let loaves rise again for another hour or so, and place in very hot oven (450 F) for 10 or 15 minutes, then turn heat down to about 350 F for another 15 minutes, checking that the edges don’t burn. When cooked, turn out onto wire tray to cool.

Befuddling Muddleine's

It's Taste and Create time again, an event founded by Nicole at For the Love of Food, where you are given a partner, visit your partner's blog, and chose a recipe to recreate in your own kitchen. So this month I'm off to Great Britain to the home of Hippolyra, who has an incredibly healthy and tasty blog, Fuss Free Flavours and I'm all in favour of anything "fuss free". As soon as I saw the recipe for Genoise Batter Madeleine's, something I had never tried before, I knew my decision was made. I even had a Madeleine tray, brand new and waiting to be tried, in the cupboard. I purchased this tray a couple of years ago, when I renovated my kitchen, and tossed all of my old stuff out, replacing it all with brand new shiny items.

Righto...lets get started. The eggs and sugar were happily mixing away. Time to grease the shiny new tray. What new tray? It was gone...not a trace. Every cupboard and drawer was upturned. Where else could it be? In the meantime the Genoise batter was not going to wait. The kitchen had been turned upside down in my vain attempt to locate the missing tray. I could only surmise that I had lent it to my octogenarian neighbour at some stage, and she has "forgotten" to return it. I was very suspicious of her having early stage Alzheimer's, and now that suspicion was seeming more of a reality. Of course she wasn't home when I was running around like a mad woman doing circles, so I had to improvise with another pan (which I didn't even realise I had!). Could the Madeleine tray have morphed into this tray that I'd never seen before? This was turning into a fiasco, and I felt as though I had completely lost my mind, along with the tray. Perhaps it was me with early Alzheimer's. It's still a mystery and it's annoying the crap out of me.


Needless to say the Madeleine "fingers" turned out great, even if they look nothing like Madeleine's. I'm sure every French person is guffawing with laughter, so in respect for the true and proper Madeleine's, I'm renaming mine Muddleines, so as not to offend anyone, especially Hippolyra. And when I find my tray, I will make proper Madeleine's, damn it!


"And that's all there is -- there isn't any more."

"Waste not want not" Chestnut Soup

Although the peak of the chestnut season has passed, there are still a few chestnuts floating around at Farmer's Markets. Up until now, I had never tasted a chestnut. Absurd you say? Probably. And I've never tasted a truffle. Even more absurd. Growing up, chestnuts were only available if you knew someone who had a chestnut tree. I didn't. Commercially produced chestnuts were unheard of. Now, however, it's a very viable market for farmers looking at ways to increase their income. And when you realise the labour intense process of getting them out of their tough shells, you can fully understand why pre-cooked, pre-shelled and frozen chestnuts are such an exorbitant price.

I painstakingly set out to see what all the kafoofle was about with these so-called "nuts", which are actually the only nut that is classified as a vegetable, and the only "nut" allowed to be eaten on the Pritikin Diet.

And honestly, I really don't think I could be bothered to do it all again. The slitting of the tough outer shells was labourious to say the least. I was in constant fear of losing a digit or two along the way. Roasting was the easy part. The removal of those damn tough layers was pretty much the final straw.

I couldn't for life of me imagine why I had always yearned to smell freshly roasted nuts sold from a street vendor on a snow covered New York sidewalk. That's what Hollywood does to you I guess.

So with the meagre handful or two that I extricated from those shells, I thought Chestnut Soup was about the easiest option I could take from here on, apart from tossing them all in the garbage. But as consumers, we waste so much food each year, equating to approximately $400 AU per household. I could use that extra money each year, so from now on I'm not going to waste food. Full stop.

My new rule of thumb is to buy what is seasonal, fresh and only the amounts that I need. As the local Farmer's Market is only held on a Sunday morning, this can cause problems for the rest of the week, hence daily visits, or at least every second day, to the supermarket are required. From now on, I'm going to make sure that I can actually access everything in the crisper part of my fridge, instead of finding slimy vegetables down the bottom that I'd forgotten I'd even purchased. My pantry is so well stocked, I should only need to visit the meat and veg and dairy aisles of the supermarket for at least the next 6 months. The doors of my fridge groan with the weight of jars of condiments that have only had a teaspoon of their contents removed, and no doubt diminished in flavour as well. The shelves have ridiculous amounts of cooked left overs that no one bothers to reheat and actually have again as a meal. The dog usually has them for dinner. I honestly over cater and I need to stop doing that.

So for the chestnut soup, in went a plate of left over roasted potatoes and garlic at the last minute. All blitzed up, nobody new the difference. In fact it added a new dimension to what was probably going to be another bowl placed in the fridge, forgotten, forlornly shoved to the back, only to be tossed out along with the slimy veges. The recipe called for 1.5 litres of chicken stock. I only had a litre, but there was a half litre of beef stock buried in the bowels of the fridge, which was still within its "use by" date, so that was tossed into the soup as well. Waste not, want not, my mother has always said.

Chestnut Soup

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 1kg chestnuts
  
• 80ml (1/3 cup) olive oil
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 3 celery sticks, chopped
• 125 gm pancetta, or lean bacon
  
• 1 tbs chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 red-skinned potato, peeled, chopped
• 1.5L (6 cups) chicken stock
• 150ml thick cream

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. If using fresh chestnuts, use a sharp knife to cut a cross into the flat side of the chestnuts. Transfer to a baking tray and bake for about 30 minutes, until chestnuts feel quite soft. Set aside until cool enough to handle (they peel much better when warm), then use a small knife to remove the shells and any furry skins. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion, celery, pancetta, rosemary and garlic and cook over low heat for 5-6 minutes until the onion softens and the mixture just starts to turn golden. Add chestnuts, potato and stock. Season, then bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes. Taste and season again with freshly cracked black pepper.
   
3. Set aside the soup to cool slightly, then blend in batches. Return to the pan, stir in the cream and reheat. Serve drizzled with the rosemary pesto (optional).
   

Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging travels to the UK this week, and Joanna from Joanna's Food is kindly hosting the event. I think I'll send these prickly vegetable nuts as my entry. Be sure to check her roundup which showcases herbs, fruit and veges from all over the world.

A Mean Tagine

A hearty winter meal, combining lamb, tomatoes, herbs and spices was on the menu this week, after a few rainy days. Although the temperatures have been quite mild (so far) for this early stage of Winter, it's still cool enough to crave a belly warming meal, and this dish certainly fit the bill. I threw it together after a hard day at the office, and it was ready in no time. Frying off the meatballs was no trouble, as you just need to brown them so they retain their shape, whilst bubbling away in the rich and spicy tomato sauce. The coriander added at the end of cooking was the finishing touch to a very satisfying meal.

Astrid from Food Paulchen's Blog is kindly hosting Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging event for this week.

Lamb Kifta Tagine with Eggs

Ingredients Meatballs

• 500g lamb, finely minced
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp finely chopped parsley
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil for frying
• 
  

Ingredients Sauce

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 2 cans tomatoes (400g), drained and chopped
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper
• 500ml water
• 1/3 cup parsley leaves, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup coriander leaves, finely chopped
• 6 eggs

Method

To make the meatballs, combine the ingredients and, using wet hands, form the mixture into walnut-sized balls. Heat the oil and brown the meatballs all over. Drain well on paper towels.

For the sauce, heat the oil in a heavy-based casserole dish and lightly sauté the onion and garlic until translucent. Add the remaining ingredients, except the water, fresh herbs and eggs, and stir well. Then stir in the water and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer the sauce, uncovered, for about 30 minutes or until it has reduced to a very thick gravy.

Add the meatballs to the sauce and continue cooking for a further 8 minutes. Carefully break the whole eggs into the sauce, cover with a lid and cook until the eggs are just set – about 5 minutes. Serve at once, liberally garnished with the fresh herbs and with plenty of Turkish bread at the side to mop up the runny egg yolks. Alternatively, accompany with a dish of plain buttered couscous and a dollop of thick natural yoghurt.

Roast chicken, fennel, preserved lemons and olives

I've planted fennel in the garden for the first time this year, and boy do I wish I had planted a lot more. I just love it, roasted and caramelised, devouring every last morsel of it. Fennel can be a bit like coriander to some - you either love it or hate it. It's aniseed flavour marries perfectly with chicken, olives and my other favourite, preserved lemon.

This is a Maggie Beer recipe from her book Maggie's Harvest, and although it is in the Summer section of the book, this is such a comfort food in the winter as well. Fennel is an autumn vegetable and there is a male bulb and a female bulb. Round and bulbous, a female. Longer and thinner, a male. That's typical! I wonder what sex mine will turn out to be when I dig them up. Curvy, voluptuous females I hope!!

This dish is a weekly staple. It's quick, very little preparation is required and best of all it tastes fantastic.


Chicken pieces roasted with olives, preserved lemon and fennel

2 kg chicken thighs, skin on, trimmed of excess fat
2 preserved lemons, flesh removed, rinsed and cut into long strips
2-3 baby fennel bulbs cut into 1 cm slices
freshly ground black pepper
EEVO for cooking
24 black olives with pips (otherwise the flavour dissipates)
sea salt flakes
1-2 tblsp verjuice
freshly chopped flat leaf parsley

Marinate the chicken in a bowl with the fennel, preserved lemon, pepper and enough olive oil to coat the mixture. Leave for at least an hour for the flavours to meld.
Preheat oven to 220C. Divide the chicken and marinade between two roasting dishes, ensuring there is enough room for the chicken, so it doesn't overlap. Add the olives then season with salt.
Roast for 10-15 minutes then turn oven down to 180 C. Cook until chicken is golden, and juicy, but keeping an eye on the marinade to make sure it doesn't burn.
Remove from the oven, drizzle with verjuice and a tblsp of the best olive oil you can afford, and leave to rest, covered for 15 minutes. Just before serving, add the parsley and pan juices to moisten the chicken.

Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging this week is hosted by Maninas from Maninas:Food Matters.

Maninas hails from Croatia, a country that I would dearly love to visit one day. Take a look at her great site, as well as Postcards from Croatia. Just beautiful.

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.