Saturday 17 August 2013

Almond Crescent Cookies



This is a delightful Greek biscuit that is crumbly and sweet. 

Made these while I was on vacation in Australia.

Recipe coming soon...

 

Beautiful cookie mix

Shaping the dough into little crescents

Sunday 12 May 2013

Pizza as good as Dominos??


If you're like me and you love anchovy on pizza, you'll like the picture above.  Make your own pizza base and top it with meet galore! Olives, cheese and then a fan of anchovies!!

15 minutes in a hot oven and you're sorted.

Enjoy!!




Saturday 30 March 2013

Meat Pie from last night's BBQ leftovers


We had a BBQ at my sister's place a few nights back and invariably this always gives us lots of letovers.  Sausages, pork chops and steaks.
 
So the next day I was up early and made my own puff pastry.  My idea was to cut all the meat up small, combine them with onions, mushrooms and beef stock and make a pie filling with grated cheese that would put the leftovers to good use.   
 
It worked a treat!!
 
Enjoy!!
 
 
 

No Hot Cross Buns this Easter




 Had some fun making cinnamon rolls yesterday.  The yeast here in Home Hill works so well giving a really light and airy cinnamon roll.

Happy Easter!!






Wednesday 27 March 2013

Strawberry and Kiwi fruit Pavlova

Made this fabulous pavlova last weekend.  Enjoying making desserts and other dishes in my mum's kitchen during my holidays.

Strawberries were sweet, kiwi fruit was a little disappointing. But the colour is fantastic and the pavlova was great.

Enjoy!!

Sunday 10 March 2013

Eggs Benedict a real favorite


This dish combines so many flavours and taastes.  The poached egg, topping crunchy bacon overlaying fresh pancakes.  The topping is a creamy hollandaise sauce and garnished with parsley.  On the side are lightly sauteed cherry tomatoes that have been marinated in olive oil, garlic and parsley.

Enjoy!!

Poached Pears in a Port/Wine Reduction

I really enjoyed making this one.  First time poaching pears and this sauce reduced beautifully.  The marscapone cheese and cream/sugar combined well to give a full spectrum of tastes in this delicious dessert dish.  Pure indulgence!!

For better pics of this check out my friend's blog http://ckiong.wordpress.com

Ingredients

- 6 pears (cored, peeled and halved)
- 1 1/2 cups port
- 1 1/2 cups red wine
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 5 anise stars
- cinnamon sticks
- 1/2 cup marscapone cheese
- 1/2 cup cream
- 1/2 cup icing sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions


  1. Pour the port, wine, sugar, anise and cinnamon sticks in a heavy saucepan.  Bring to the boil and then simmer 15 minutes.
  2. Put the pear halves in the sauce and cook for 30 minutes till tender.
  3. Remove the Pears to a dish.  Continue to cook the sauce to it reduces to a syrup.  Strain and keep for later.
  4. The last 4 ingrediensts combined and whisked to form a cream.  Use a piping bag to serve with 2 pear halves and a topping of the syrup.
Enjoy!!

Monday 4 March 2013

Almond Biscotti Single Bake

I tried this single bake Almond biscotti recipe.  Saves having to wait 3 days between 1st and 2nd bakes.

Cut this one to be half an inch thick - the idea is a crunchy exterior met by a softer interior and of course the star of the show are the almonds.

Recipes on the internet I often find are too sweet so I modified this one to use half a cup of sugar rather than 1 cup of sugar.  I think next time i'll split the difference and use 3/4.  I reckon the baking time should drop to 40 minutes rather than 50, next time round.  Still a really crunchy, nice biscotti which is easy to prepare...

Ingredients
-  2 cups plain flour
-  1 tsp baking powder
-  pinch of salt
-  1/2 cup sugar  (note what i said above, use 3/4 cup)
-  3 eggs
-  2 tbs rum
-  1 tsp almond extract
-  1 tsp vanilla essence

Directions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 150 degrees, 140 for fan-forced.
  2. Roast 150g almonds.  Allow to cool and coarsely chop.
  3. Sift the dry ingredients and mix the sugar and set aside.
  4. Beat the eggs, rum, and extracts until fluffy and pale.
  5. Combine dry ingredients, almonds with the eggs mixture to form a sticky dough.
  6. Pour out onto a greased baking sheet on a cookie tray.
  7. Shape into a rectangle about 10 inch x 6 inch.
  8. Cook for 50 minutes until firm (I want to try 40 minutes).
  9. Allow to cool on the tray for 10 minutes.
  10. Use a sharp knife to cut into 1/2 inch strips.
  11. Turn the biscotti cut side down and cook for a further 15 minutes.
  12. Turn to the opposite side and cook for another 15 minutes till browned.

Dunk in a cup of hot coffee...

Enjoy!!






Sunday 3 March 2013

Eggs Benedict on a pancake base


Here is a little variation of eggs benedict.

I've made a pancake for the base, then loaded it with 2 pieces of crispy bacon, a poached egg and hollandaise sauce.  Cracked pepper and parsely completes the garnishing.

Start the day with this and I guarantee you'll have the energy to waltz through the day...

Enjoy!!

Tuesday 26 February 2013

Sunday Roast Chicken



Sunday afternoon roast chicken with roast potatoes and onions and a cob of corn..  The gravy was sensational...


Wednesday 20 February 2013

Apple Crumble and Vanilla Custard


How's this for a nice warm dessert... No gym today for me, feeling fat after eating this one!!  But it's one of my favorites...

Ingredients 

(for the apple crumble)

  1. 5 small apples, 550grams, core, peel and cut into quarters
  2. 2 tbs fine brown sugar.
  3. 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  4. 175g plain flour
  5. 115g unsalted butter
  6. 115g fine brown sugar

(for the custard)

  1. 1 x 200mL container whipping cream
  2. 150mL milk
  3. 50g castor sugar
  4. 6 egg yolks
  5. 1 tsp vanilla essence



Directions

  1. Pre-heat oven 180C (170C for fan-forced)
  2. Arrange the apple quarters on the bottom of an oven proof glass dish.
  3. mix the 2 tbs brown sugar and cinnamon and then sprinkle atop the apples.
  4. Set in the fridge for a bit.
  5. In a medium bowl mix the 115g of sugar and flour.
  6. Cut in the butter like making a course meal.
  7. Sprinkle atop the apples and bake for 30 minutes until the apples bubble.
  8. While the apples cook make the custard.
  9. In a heavy based saucepan mix the cream, milk and 2 tsp sugar.
  10. Heat to a simmer and then turn the heat low.
  11. Whisk the egg yolks and the remainder of the sugar together until fluffy and pale.
  12. Add some of the warm milk to the eggs, continue whisking.
  13. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan, add vanilla  and stir on low heat until custard thickens (20-30 mins)
  14. When the apples are ready allow 5-10 minutes to cool before serving.
Enjoy!!


Tuesday 19 February 2013

Breakfast Delight



Crispy bacon and a fried egg sunny side up is great already.  But the main event in this breakfast is ham and mozzarella cheese enclosed in a shell of puff pastry...  Be patient and give the pastry time to cook in a pre-heated hot oven, 210C, and you'll be riding the day on this delight...

Enjoy!!


Monday 18 February 2013

Glazed Lemon Cheesecake




Made this glazed baked lemon cheesecake for a dinner with friends last Saturday night.  In the spirit of Chinese New Year the colour is deliberately red and yellow!!  That and of course Queensland colours...

The raspberries were fresh from Merkato.  Unfortunately they had little taste, so I marinated them in a sweet combination of Masala wine and sugar.  


Enjoy!!

Here's what you need...

Collection of Tess Gerritsen Novels


I decided to take a photo of my Tess Gerritsen novel collection.  I bought a lot of these in Bangkok where they were quite a bit cheaper than Kuala Lumpur.  So far I have read "The Silent Girl" (not pictured here), "Harvest", "Vanish", "The Surgeon", "The Aprentice", "The Sinner" (not pictured here),  "Body Double", "The Mephisto Club", "The Keepsake (Not pictured).  Currently reading "Ice Cold".

They are such gripping reads and if you're into thrillers, with plenty of focus on the medical side then I really recommend Tess Gerritsen.  Some of the endings are great but there is plenty along the way to keep you guessing and wanting to read on.

My ratings for each so far are :

The Silent Girl :  9.5/10  (Absolutely brilliant story)
Vanish :  7/10
Harvest : 5.5/10  (I think this was one of her earlier novels.  Definitely got better with more experience).
The Surgeon : 7.5/10
The Apprentice : 7/10
The Sinner : 6.5/10
Body Double : 9.5/10  (Another real special novel.  Gripping story, a little spine-chilling actually).
The Mephisto Club : 8.5/10
The Keepsake : 8/10
Ice Cold : Reading Now...
Last to Die : Haven't bought this one yet...




Wednesday 13 February 2013


What's better than ordering Domino's Pizza delivery?  Making your own at home of course!!

Fun and easy and you can top with your own favorite toppings.  The only annoying thing in KL is that my local supermarket doesn't sell anchovies - that's really a missing piece to an otherwise nice pizza.

Start by making your bread dough.  Use 2 cups of plain flour, a pince of salt, a tsp of yeast mixed with a small amount of room temperature water.  Combine these and need the dough until a point where if you press with your finger it expands back out.  Leave covered in a greased bowl for 30-45 minutes to allow the yeast to make the bread rise.

While the bread is resting I caramelise one large onion and mix in chopped capsicum, so that these are well cooked and soft to top the pizza.

After that, punch it down roll it out to the desired shape.  I roll the crusts over and put mozzarella cheese within the crust.

Top the pizza with tomato paste or sauce then your favorite toppings.  Here i've used ham, salami, olives, onion and capsicum.  Lot's of mozzarella cheese on top.

Pop it into the oven on 200C for 10-15 minutes and enjoy in front of the tele!!

Enjoy!!

Tuesday 12 February 2013

Chocolate Mousse


I really enjoyed this fluffy, light chocolaty mousse, topped with pitted prunes.  Easy to make, takes about 30 minutes, refrigerate for a further 30 minutes if you want to serve it nice and cold.  An ideal dessert for a hot day...

Ingredients


  1. 100g semi-sweet chocolate
  2. 2 tbs unsalted butter
  3. 3 tbs strong coffee
  4. 1 tsp Bundaberg rum  (reminds me of the flood victims.  Hope you're all doing ok)
  5. 3 large eggs (separated)
  6. 1 tbs castor sugar
  7. 250mL whipping cream

Directions

  1. Melt the chocolate and butter in a medium bowl, over a pot of simmering water.
  2. Add the coffee and rum and whisk until all is melted.  Remove from heat.
  3. Whip the cream till stiffness forms and then refrigerate.  Wash beaters to prepare for the egg whites.
  4. Once the chocolate cools to a point where a small portion is just warm to taste, add the egg yolks.
  5. Whisk the egg yolks in with the chocolate and the mixture should thicken and glisten.
  6. Beat the egg whites till stiff peaks form and then beat in the sugar.
  7. Retrieve the cream from the fridge and in stages gently fold the cream and egg whites into the bowl containing the chocolate mix.
  8. The mousse should now form, light, airy and great to taste.
  9. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Enjoy!!

Friday 1 February 2013

Chocolate Peanut Butter Souffle




 A light and airy dessert, but what the hell, let's have it for breakfast!!


Ingredients

- 4 ounces of fat-free cream cheese
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup of chocolate chips
- 4 eggs separated
- 1/4 cup of sugar
- confectioners sugar and butter for lining the ramekins

Directions

  1. Prep the oven to 170C and the grill on the lower part of the oven.
  2. Prep ramekins by greasing the sides and coat with confectioners sugar.  Freeze till ready to use.
  3. Heat the first 4 ingredients on a low heat taking care not to scorch the chocolate.
  4. Remove the pot from the heat.
  5. Beat the egg yolks until creamy and then gently fold into the cooled chocolate mixture.
  6. Take care to clean the beaters before beating the egg whites till stiff peaks form. 
  7. Gradually add the sugar once the peaks form.
  8. Gently fold this into the mixture combining the wonderful airy souffle mix.
  9. Pour the mixture into the ramekins levelling off just below the top.
  10. Place in the oven for 15 minutes.  The souffle will rise above the top and hold its shape.
  11. Serve immediately from the oven.
Ramekins prepared for the oven



Fold in the beaten egg whites 
Beaten egg yolks get folded into the mix

combined chocolate, peanut butter and cream

Chocolate, peanut butter and cream and cream cheese ready to  heat


Tuesday 15 January 2013

BBQ back in action


After a one year hiatus i finally bought gas for my bbq.

Nothing like the taste of a fillet cooked on the barby