Gastronomology

Dateberry Delish

noreply@blogger.com ("Grendel") — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 04:10:00 +0000

I really should leave the creation of names up to someone else, but while the name I have given these treats might seem a bit bland that is certainly not the case with these delectable morsels.

Ingredients:

Medjool dates (fresh dates from the fridge at your grocer)
Small strawberries (smaller berries have more flavour)
Thick balsamic vinegar (I prefer the Mazzetti gold label - 4 leaf vinegar)
Honey
Roasted, salted cashews

Method:

Slice the strawberries thinly and drizzle with balsamic. Allow these to rest while you slice each date in half lengthways, removing the stone.

Place the strawberries in the halved dates, trickle honey over the portion then top with a cashew. If you like you can also add a few flakes of pick Murray River Salt for a great flavour contrast.

Simple, quick and amazing with espresso, turkish/greek coffee or black turkish tea.

Smoked Salmon Quiche

noreply@blogger.com ("Grendel") — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:38:00 +0000

Very basic, and very tasty!

Ingredients:

100g Smoked Salmon
7 eggs
1/2 cup of whole milk
3 slices of swiss cheese
salt
pepper
nutmeg
parsley
Shortcrust pastry

Method:

Grease a pie dish and lightly dust with flour - fit shortcrust pastry into the dish and lightly pre-cook this for 5 minutes at 200 degrees.

Slice the smoked salmon thinly, and chop the cheese into small cubes. Beat the eggs together with the milk and seasonings - pour this mixture into the pie dish. spread the salmon and cheese evenly around the dish and bake in a moderate oven for 30 minutes.

Serve garnished with a little sour cream and freshly sliced smoked salmon.

Lobscouse - with beef!

noreply@blogger.com ("Grendel") — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 09:42:00 +0000

Ah yes, its a theme thing. . .

I feel like that kid in 'The Castle' - "Dad, I made another stew".

This time it is beef, with a warm smokey flavour and loaded with winter vegetables.

"It is one of the oldest Forecastle dishes, and eats very savoury when it is well made" - The Far Side of the World

Ingredients:

1 Large Onion - diced
1 Leek - chopped
1 Swede - diced
1 Parsnip - sliced
3 large carrots - sliced
3 large potatoes - diced
450g Diced beef
500g Pumpkin - diced
1 cup of peas
400g of Borlotti beans
3 tablespoons of tomato paste
3 cloves of garlic - chopped
2 tablespoons of oil
200ml of dry white wine
ground pepper
salt
2 teaspoons of paprika (or smoked paprika)
pinch of ground cloves
pinch of nutmeg
water

Method:

Fry the onion and leeks together in a tablespoon of oil till translucent then remove.

Add the beef with remaining oil and brown. Return the leeks and onions to the beef and add the garlic. Stir and pour in the white wine.

Simmer for a few minutes before adding the tomato paste and seasonings. Add enough water to cover the meat the simmer for 30 minutes.

Top up with water as required. At 30 minutes add the borlotti beans - if using dried beans you'll need to have soaked them for 12-24 hours before use, otherwise tinned beans will do to substitute.

Simmer for a further 30 minutes then add the vegetables. Simmer for one hour stirring occasionally and topping up with water as required. The lobscouse should thicken quite well over this time - and will indeed"eat quite savoury" when done.

Makes 8 large serves or 14 small serves. One small serve is about 140 calories.

Lobscouse

noreply@blogger.com ("Grendel") — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:49:00 +0000

This is a favourite of mine - I have known the dish for many years, but not by this name. It is supposedly a welsh dish, but the Irish lay claim to one variant and the famous Lancashire Hotpot is yet another. The name 'Lobscouse' became familiar to me after reading Patrick O'Brian's superb Aubrey/Maturin seafaring series (on which the movie "Master and Commander" was based). Originally from the Norwegian 'Lapskaus', the welsh adopted both the dish and the name with only slight changes.

Yes, its a stew, and just in time for winter. My version is not exactly traditional, but it is tasty, filling and warming. Can be consumed with wine, mead or ale.

Ingredients:

300 g Carrots, chopped
300 g Lamb or beef (or both!), sliced
300 g Potatoes, diced
300 g Pumpkin, diced (it will thicken the lobscouse)
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup of green peas – to be added at the end
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa
200ml dry white wine
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
Pepper to season
Salt to season

Method:

Dice the onion and add it with the oil to brown lightly in a deep heavy based pot - a big Le Creuset is ideal if you have one.

Add the meat along with the chopped garlic and brown until the first touch of caramelisation can be seen. Season with salt and pepper and add the white wine and tomato paste.

Stir until it thickens and add 3 cups of water and the chopped pumpkin. Sprinkle the cocoa over the top then cover and leave on a low heat for 30 minutes stirring occasionally and adding water to maintain the volume.

Add the potato and carrot and allow to simmer covered for a further 30 minutes - again, check every 10 minutes or so, taste and add seasoning as required.

When the meat pulls apart easily the lobscouse is ready - add the peas and simmer a further 5 minutes.

Meatball Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Alli) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:03:00 +0000

Ingredients:

One cup each of - carrot, celery, potato and zucchini diced
400gr beef mince
2 small handfuls of bread crumbs
3 cloves of garlic
one diced onion
1x 440gr tin tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
½ - ¾ cup of angel hair pasta
1 ½ L water
seasoning

Method:

Combine the mince, garlic and breadcrumbs and salt and pepper to make the meatball mix, then break into teaspoon sized pieces and roll into meatballs. Brown them off in some olive oil then remove them from the pan.

Sauté off the onions cooking with no colour then add the diced vegetables and cook for 2-3 minutes, add the water, tomatoes and tomato paste and bring to the boil.

Once it has come to the boil turn it down and simmer it, skimming off any scum that comes to the top.

Add in the meatballs and the pasta and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes until the vegetables are tender and the pasta is cooked, skim during the cooking.

Now check your seasoning, I use salt and pepper and knorr chicken stock powder

This soup makes 7 cup sized serves -

242 calories
1008 kilojoules
6.8g fat
16.1g protein
28.1g carbohydrates
3.6g fibre

Turkey, Mushroom and Spinach Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Alli) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:56:00 +0000

Ingredients:

1x turkey forequarter *
250gr mushrooms
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
½ zucchini
1 large potato
¼ cabbage
1x420gr super sweet corn
1x440gr tin diced tomatoes
1 cup of rice
2 bunches of English spinach
4L turkey stock

Method:
Thinly slice the mushrooms and sauté off in a little butter until the have browned. Add diced onion and chopped garlic and cook until the onion is tender, add in diced potato and zucchini and finely shredded cabbage.

Pour in stock, tomatoes and corn, bring to the boil and skim, reduce to a simmer and add in the rice and chopped turkey. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring and skimming frequently.

Finely chop the spinach ( wash the spinach twice and spin in a salad spinner to dry) once the rice is cooked check the seasoning then turn off the heat and stir in the spinach.

*roast the turkey forequarter for an hour and ½ at 200C, then make a stock out of it, to a big pot add some celery, onion and carrot and the turkey, cover with water (5L) and bring to the boil, once it has boiled turn it down to a good simmer and skim off the fat and scum and simmer it for 40 minutes, drain off the stock to a clean bowl, keep all the meat and throw away the vegetables, skin and fat.

Once it has cooled take all the meat off the bone and chop it for your soup.

This soup makes 17 1-cup serves, each serve has -

157 calories
656 kilojoules
3.4g fat
13g protein
19g carbohydrates
1.5 fibre

Basil Pesto

noreply@blogger.com ("Grendel") — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 03:43:00 +0000

Pesto is an amazing food - and one that Mrs Grendel and I do not share.

By that I mean that I love it and Mrs Grendel does not like, not one little bit, so when I eat pesto, I eat it alone.

I have had a terrific season for basil this year - I only grew 5 plants but each flourished and I have been supplying basil to the local pizzeria (owned by my next-door neighbour) for their Margarita pizza.

I finally got around to picking up some pine nuts so that I could prepare a small tub of pesto to flavour the much smaller meals I eat these days.

Pesto is high in calorific content, so use it sparingly but the flavour from this recipe is intense so you actually don't need much at all.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups of fresh basil leaves
3-4 cloves of garlic (see below)
60 grams of grated Parmesan cheese
55 grams of toasted pine nuts
5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Method:

There are very few things so easy to prepare. First toast the pine nuts very gently and loow to cool. You can either do this by placing them on a tray in a low-to moderate oven for 10-15 minutes until they just start to brown, or my preferred method is to place them in a large frypan at very low heat and stir continuously until browned. Allow the pine nuts to cool and head outside to pick your fresh basil. If you have none of your own, make sure any basil you buy is very fresh. Wash the basil and dry the leaves gently.

Peel the garlic gloves and add these, along with the basil, cheese and pine nuts into a food processor. Give it a quick pulse and slowly add the oil. When you have an even consistency spoon it carefully into a small container for storage. Pesto can be frozen if you pour a layer of oil on the top before freezing. Allow to thaw slowly in the fridge for a day before use.

I've never had to freeze mine - it doesn't last that long around me.

Note on buying garlic - it is really important to choose garlic carefully. Locally grown garlic has an allicin content high enough to give it that delicious garlic 'bite' and allowing the garlic flavour to be heard along with the fresh basil.

Imported garlic, especially that from China, is very 'weak' in comparison. The Chinese garlic is often bleached white and the monoculture of garlic variety that seems to come from China lacks anything like the fresh locally grown product. Some imported garlic from Argentina and Mexico falls between the locally grown and Chinese garlic for flavour.

Vital Statistics

For those interested in such information one serve of this recipe (about a 15th of the total amount you make) includes approximately:

98 Calories
408 Kilojoules
9.9g Fat
2.1g Protein
0.4g Carbohydrate
0.1g Fibre

Obviously the less you use, the less calorific content. To get the totals for the recipe - just multiply by 15.

Pumpernickel Bruschetta

noreply@blogger.com ("Grendel") — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 03:13:00 +0000

A key ingredient of this meal is a pesto that I make myself - and I'll post the recipe for that shortly, however, this was today's lunch, and it was very tasty - as well as colourful.

Ingredients

It is a simple meal with simple ingedients:

1 Ripe Tomato
4 Marinated Kalamata Olives
1 tablespoon of soft cream cheese
1 slice of whole rye pumpernickel
1 tablespoon of fresh pesto

Method

Simply smear the pumpernickel with cream cheese, dice half a tomato and several olives (I used 4 large ones) and scatter across the bread. Top with pesto. A variation you might like to try is a little diced red onion. I don't generally add garlic as my pesto is loaded with it.

Pesto for me has never been about small jars or tubs, for as with coffee I am a pesto snob. I make it fresh and eat it within a few days, which means I make only small amounts at a time. Shortly I'll post my pesto recipe - which is remarkably similar to many other pesto recipes, although mine tends towards thicker and with more garlic than most.

Vital Statistics

For those interested in such information this meal includes approximately:

235 Calories
984 Kilojoules
11.7g Fat
6.2g Protein
26.6g Carbohydrate
5.8g Fibre

By using a 'light' cream cheese you could easily cut the fat content considerably.

Pumpkin Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Alli) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 02:33:00 +0000

Ingredients :

1kg pumpkin (kent or jap)
300gr fresh tomatoes or a 440gr tin of crushed
1 onion
seasoning
water

This is a nice quick soup, throw it all in the pot cook it up and whizz it!.

Peel and roughly chop the onion. Peel and chop the pumpkin and cut up tomatoes (or add in your tin of tomatoes, cover it all with water and put it on the heat, bring it to the boil then simmer it for 20 minutes or until the pumpkin is falling apart.

To season I use knorr chicken seasoning and salt and pepper, always season a little at a time so you don't over do it.

Let your soup cool for 1/2 an hour then whizz it either with a hand held mixer or put it in the blender, check your seasing one more time and then it is ready to serve.

I package all my soups into one cup serves and freeze them, an average serve is 1 1/2 - 2 cups.

chicken and vegetable soup

noreply@blogger.com (Alli) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 07:36:00 +0000

Ingredients:

3 carrots
1/2 celery
2 parsnips
1 small turnip
1 small swede
1 zucchini
3 medium potatoes
1/4 cabbage

1 brown onion
3 gloves of garlic
1 can of beans
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 cup of rice (uncooked)
400gr cooked chicken
4 rashers of bacon
parsley

Now this soup is a main meal in itself. Your spoon will stand up in the bowl. This is also a big pot of soup, those ingredients fill an 8L pot, feel free to 1/2 or 1/4 it. Also feel free to leave anything out you might not like, these are my favourites.

Wash and prepare your veggies, I grated the carrots, celery, swede and turnip.

I diced the potatoes, zucchini and the parsnips, I like to have something to chew.

Here is everything prepared and ready for cooking.

First saute the mushroom, I like mine with some colour to them.

Then ad the onion, garlic and bacon.
(bacon is optional, I had some in the fridge)

Now add the grated and diced veggies.

The cabbage, corn, chicken and rice go in second last.

Bring the soup to the boil, you will see scummy stuff on the top, scoop this off as you don't want it boiling back into your soup, this also gets rid of any fat you have used.

Now ad your cabbage, rice, chicken, corn, beans and tin of diced tomatoes, skim the top and simmer for 15 minutes until the beans and rice are tender then stir through the chopped parsley.

This soup freezes beautifully, I bag one cup serves into clip lock bags, flatten them and freeze them. This soup made 24 cups of soup.

Other variations -

cook off 500gr of mince with the onions and leave out the chicken and bacon.

Swap the rice for vermicelli pasta

Stir through finely chopped spinach once you have turned it off.

chicken, sweetcorn and noodle soup

noreply@blogger.com (Alli) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 07:18:00 +0000

Ingredients:

500gr cooked chicken
2 x 440gr tins super sweet corn
1 1/2 L chicken stock
1/2 cup plain flour
1 cup (uncooked) vermicelli pasta

Ad 1L of stock to a pot and bring it to the boil.

While your stock is heating put your flour into a bowl and with a whisk, whisk in the cold stock until you have a smooth paste then add the rest of the stock to the bowl.

When the stock comes to the boil whisk in your slurry of flour and stock, this is what is going to thicken your soup.

Keep whisking until it starts to thicken then add in the corn (juice included) and the chopped chicken.

Bring it back to the boil and add your vermicelli and simmer for 10 minutes and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cauliflower, cheese and bacon soup

noreply@blogger.com (Alli) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 07:29:00 +0000

This is rich and very tasty with a lovely velvety finish and a wonderful smell.

ingredients:

150gr bacon
1 brown onion
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 a cauliflower
500gr potatoes
1 L water
500ml milk
chicken booster
salt and pepper

1 cup of grated tasty cheese

Roughly chop the onion and garlic and slice the bacon, cook off without colour in some olive oil or butter for about five minutes.

Chop the cauliflower and peel and chop the potatoes, add them to the pot and cook them for 2 or 3 minutes.

Add to the pot 1L of water and 500ml of full cream milk and a tablespoon of chick stock powder, or if you have chicken stock replace the water with stock.

Bring it to the boil then turn it down and simmer gently for 30 - 40 minutes until the potatoes are very tender. Turn it off and leave it to cool slightly for 30 minutes.

If you have a hand held mixer use that to process it, otherwise put it through the blender, once it is blended stir through a cup of tasty grated cheese.

This soup does not freeze well as you can not reheat it to a high temperature as it will split and look very revolting, it will keep in the fridge very well for 3 days, this recipe makes 3L of soup.

reheat it gently on the stove or on 70% heat in the microwave.

back to basics : chicken stock

noreply@blogger.com (Alli) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 07:07:00 +0000

I love making stocks, I remember back in the olden days when I was a saucier the first thing I would do when I walked into the kitchen was put on my stocks. This one is a home style version because who has a 120L pot tucked away in their kitchen.

You will need -

2 carrots
4 sticks celery
1 large brown onion
1.5kg of chicken chops (this is just the thigh bone and the meat, no other bits)

roughly chop your vegetables and put them in your pot, an 8-10L pot would be best.

In a hot oven roast the chicken skin side up for 30 minutes, put the chicken and the liquid from the chicken into the pot with the vegetables. I kept the skin because it ads colour and flavour to the stock.

fill the pot to the top and put it on the stove on high and start to bring it to the boil.

The most important thing you can do for your stock is skim it, get a ladle and a bowl and as you see the fat and scum form scoop it up and get rid of it, if you don't and you leave it you will end up with a cloudy stock.

Once it has reached the boil, skim it again and reduce the heat so it is just simmering. Simmer for 20 minutes, turn off the heat and let it cool.

When it is cool put the whole thing in the fridge over night, then you can remove any leftover fat, take out the chicken and strip the meat off them and strain the stock. If you want to keep some stock for later use you can put the strained stock back on the stove and bring it to the boil and reduce it until your volume is 1/4 of its original. Once it is cool you can freeze it in ice block trays and you now have concentrated stock.

I use the chicken chops because I want both the meat and the stock for making soup. You can simply use bones or a whole chicken raw, the process is exactly the same, even the cooking time. if you use a whole chicken you must let it cool over night in the stock, it produces really lovely tender chicken.

Blackberry Syrup

noreply@blogger.com ("Grendel") — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 11:55:00 +0000

It is blackberry season and while these thorny brambles may be a noxious weed from an agricultural perspective, the small black gems that you have to fight your way in to retrieve are very nearly worth the trouble.

Mrs Grendel made two batches - the first had something go slightly wrong, but the second was delectable and will serve over icecream or even as part of an espresso based drink.

Fortunately I didn't have to dodge the thorns or brave the heat, I merely waited at home for Mrs Grendel to bring back the treasure chest of blackberries (from a secret location).

They are an impressive sight, and at around $10 per 150 grams in our local store the haul Mrs Grendel brought back was worth nearly $100.

The syrup we made can be poured straight over ice cream, used as a flavour base in an ice cream, gelati or sorbet or even as a cordial in a cocktail.

You can of course just eat the berries but then I'd have only an empty bowl and nothing to blog about.

Ingredients:

1 kilogram of Blackberries
250 grams of sugar
water
1 vanilla bean

Method:

Wash the berries berry gently, slice down the length of the vanilla bean to halve it. Add with sugar to the saucepan. Add water and bring to a slow boil.

Once boiling reduce to a simmer for half an hour. Strain the berries and pour the hot syrup into sterilized preserving jars.

Seal and refrigerate.

Guacamole

noreply@blogger.com ("Grendel") — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 05:09:00 +0000

Guacamole is a favourite in the Grendel residence. There was a little issue for a While as Junior Grendel Number Two was not only a double-dipper, but a tertiary dipper as well and bits of child-spit-soaked corn chip really are as unappetizing as they sound.

My recipe was one I developed while a teenager working in the Fruit and Vege section of the local Coles. On Saturdays we were allowed to place samples of the produce with the display's and this included a horrible packet based Guacamole mix to which you just added an avocado. It put me off the avocados so I made up my own recipe to better 'sell' their qualities.

The trick is to get really good quality avocados. I prefer to use the Haas variety and just at the point where they are soft to the touch but still green and pale yellow inside. Other varieties can be used but are often fibrous and don't mash cleanly.

Today is Christmas tree dressing day at the Grendel house so I made a small bowl to snack on while we hang the decorations.

Ingredients:

1 avocado
100ml sour cream
1 half lemon (juiced)
2 cloves of garlic
pinch of seasoning salt
pinch of pepper
dusting of paprika

Method:

Halve the avocado and scoop the flesh into a bowl. Mash with a fork then finely chop or crush the garlic. Add the garlic and lemon juice. Season with the salt and the pepper - taste at this point and adjust seasoning. You may need to add more lemon if you are using very fresh garlic cloves as they often have a wonderful but powerful flavour.

Add the sour creme and mix well. Serve it with your preferred crunchy dipping item.

Sangria

noreply@blogger.com ("Grendel") — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:35:00 +0000

Sangria is a traditional Spanish summer red-wine punch. There are any number of recipes for sangria and generally with the basics of fruit juice and red wine to begin with you can improvise endlessly to find one you enjoy.

I made a jug today and have been enjoying it slowly through the evening.

Ingredients:

1 Apple, diced
1 Orange, diced
1 lime, diced
60ml Triple Sec (Orange Liqueur)
100ml Port
500ml citrus juice (I used a lemon/lime/orange blend)
400ml red wine (you may increase or decrease this to your taste!)

Method:

Dice the fruit, pour the alcohol and fruit juice over the top (easy eh?)

Let it chill in the fridge - the fruit pieces soak up alcohol nicely.

Serve chilled over ice.

Pantry Tom Yum Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Alli) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 09:58:00 +0000

I know, soup is a strange one to be doing at the onset of summer. As I have recently (10 days ago) had gastric banding I am now at that stage where I can move from banana smoothies to pureed and slippy-down easy type foods. I am sure I now have 10 varieties of cup a soup in the pantry in the search of something with some flavour. This morning out in the back yard I spied our lemongrass and I knew then what I was having for lunch!

Everything apart from the tin of prawns came from the pantry so this isn't a truly authentic Tom Yum but a pantry Tom Yum suitable for someone with diminished capacity (for food that is)

Alli's pantry Tom Yum soup

Ingredients:

1 tin of prawns
1 packet of two minute noodles (discard the flavourings)
lemongrass
4 mushrooms (I had swiss browns)
garlic
chilli, fresh or dried
1 lime
2 spring onions
palm sugar
fish sauce (2 tblsp)
lime and chilli seasoning
chicken stock or booster

Method:

Boil some water and cook the two minute noodles, I broke them up into very small pieces.

In a pot sauté the mushies, I sliced these thinly then turned them and sliced them again, the garlic, chilli and lemon grass, add 500mls of water or stock (add your stock powder here), the fish sauce and palm sugar and simmer for 5 minutes.

Drain and chop the prawns (if you are operating on diminished capacity feel free to leave them whole!), juice the lime and finally chop the spring onion

Taste your broth, should be nice and flavoursome and very lemony, season to your taste and turn the temperature right down. Throw in the prawns and noodles and finish it with the spring onions and lime juice and serve!

Traditionally this soup have kafir lime leaves and coriander, I'm not big on coriander so I leave it out on purpose. It doesn't have noodles either but I like to make it as meal and the two minute noodles are going down ok right now.

Rumballs

noreply@blogger.com ("Grendel") — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:42:00 +0000

My mother has a book of recipes that she put together from recipes of her own, old family recipes, ones from friends and neighbours and weird concoctions we picked up while travelling.

Everything in our house was made by hand so as kids we learned to make most of the things in the recipe book and some I still remember today.

We used to make Rum Balls every Christmas in vast quantities that would be placed into jars and given to everyone. I don't like chunks of orange peel in anything other than marmalade so my Mother's Rum Ball recipe suited me just fine.

Ingredients:

12 crushed weetbix
2 tins of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup of raisins
200ml of Dark Rum
4 Tablespoons of cocoa (I'll be using West African Red)
Dessicated Coconut for rolling

Method:

Soak the raisins in 100ml of the rum. The longer the better - sometimes we left them to soak overnight.

Crush the weetbix into fine pieces (this was always my job) and add the cocoa powder - mix well.

Add one tin of condensed milk and work this into the mix. The consistency you are looking for is firm but pliable like a pastry dough - you may need to open and add all or part of the second tin.

Add the raisins and work them in gently (they'll be quite soft, what with all the rum they've drunk already. . .)

Taste the mixture - is it rummy enough? If not add a little more rum.

Use a teaspoon to measure out enough for each ball and roll the balls, dropping them into a tray of dessicated coconut - roll them in this then place into jars - best refridgerated for storage but removed an hour or so before eating.

Drink the remaining rum (this was always Grandad's favourite bit).

In fact, my Grandfather had a slightly different method that involved a swig of rum between each step. Seemed effective as his rumballs were famous.

Florentines

noreply@blogger.com ("Grendel") — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:41:00 +0000

For the last few years, Mrs Grendel and I have been making biscuits for little Christmas gifts. The most popular have been the Florentines.

While our recipe may not be traditional, it has the virtue of simplicity.

It is also very delicious!

As a simple recipe, it should pretty much work perfectly every time.

Ingredients:

6 Cups of Corn Flakes
2 Cups of sultanas
1 and 1/2 cups of flaked almonds
1 cup of red glace cherries
1/2 cup of green glace cherries
1 tin of sweetened condensed milk

Method:

Chop the glace cherries and mix all ingredients well.

You'll also need some chocolate for the bottom of the Florentines - get 300g-400g of the best courvature you can find for this (the 300-400g range is essential as some 'product testing' may be required).

Bake for 12-15 minutes at 160 degrees (Celsius) in a fan-forced oven. Cool the biscuits on a rack.

While the Florentines cool, gently melt the chocolate in a glass or stoneware bowl.

Use the back of a spoon to spread the chocolate then place back on the rack to cool.

Try not to eat too many at this point.

Share and enjoy.

Tiramisu

noreply@blogger.com ("Grendel") — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:39:00 +0000

I've been reading about coffee based foods and while Tiramisu has been a favourite for some time I have never taken the effort to learn how to make it.

Last week I made my first one - and it was good. Saturday I made a second one. It was also good.

So tonight I made a third - and remembered to keep the camera around.

And thus I now present - The Tiramisu at the end of the Universe!

Forgive me the dramatic photo - I'm pretty chuffed about the way these have been working out and I have been using that particularly fine Nicaraguan coffee that I mentioned at the beginning of the month as part of the base liquor.

The recipe I chose seems to be a fairly traditional one:

250g of mascarpone
4 eggs (separated)
5 tablespoons of sugar
1 cup of marsala
3 shots of espresso
5 savoiardi (lady finger biscuits)
cocoa or drinking chocolate for dusting.

Measure out the marsala and pour into a flat dish with the espresso. Place the savoiardi into the flat dish to soak up the liquor, turn the biscuits as required then list them carefully into a 2-litre deep dish. You may double the number of savoiardi if you wish but after my first tiramisu (which had double the number) Mrs Grendel gave strict instructions that SHE prefers more marcarpone and less savoiardi.

I'll leave you to guess what I prefer. . .

Separate the egg yolks and whites. Beat the whites until they are still and form peaks. In another bowl, cream the egg yolks and the sugar together before adding the marscarpone. Beat until smooth. Fold the egg whites into the marscarpone mix and then pour this over the savoiardi.

Dust liberally with cocoa/drinking chocolate then chill for 2-3 hours.

Like trifle this gets better on day two, but has rarely made it that far in our house.

Sweet Potato Chips

noreply@blogger.com ("Grendel") — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:38:00 +0000

My garden is producing sweet potatoes very well this year and I have a good crop of the golden ones at the right size now and a crop of the purple white-fleshed ones to follow in a few weeks.

I was peckish this afternoon and made myself a quick snack of sweet potato chips.

This was the easiest snack food and they were terrific - OK, not all of them were, but the third batch were pretty fine indeed.

I had to play to get the oil to the right temperature but once it was there they went along well.

I probably should have taken some photos, but they didn't last long enough.

Very easy, very enjoyable and I knew exactly what went into them.

To make them yourself get a good fresh sweet potato, wash and dry it (drying is important to stop oil splattering), slice it thinly - you can use a broad bladed grater or a vegetable peeler to get nice regular slices.

Heat up some good frying oil - canola, sunflower and other light oils seem to work the best.

Scatter a good handful of slices across the oil and whip them out as soon as they get a nice toasty colour.

Drain and season with some salt and ground pepper.

It takes a little work but the result is much nicer than chips from the supermarket.

(For the record I and Mrs Grendel consider 'Pringles' and their ilk to be an abomination and the creators of the same shall be condemned to an everlasting hell of peeling potatoes while standing hip deep in a vat of boiling chilli seed oil while listening to Mariah Carey)

Sweet Spiced Beer Sauce

noreply@blogger.com ("Grendel") — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:37:00 +0000

Mrs Grendel was away - and she had the car. So the boys were enjoying a 'Curious George' marathon, before Junior Grendel Number One decided to battle the forces of evil in Command and Conqueor while Junior Grendel Number Two watched Seasame Street for the 3rd time today.

I've had a loaf of bread in the oven and for some reason decided to make spiced beer sauce.

I have no idea what it is for. It is one of those things I make up from time to time and I have been thinking about it since we went to make our latest batch of beer (and added a stick of cinnamon).

I used a 500ml can of India Pale Ale, 1 cup of brown sugar, two sticks of cinnamon and some chopped fresh ginger. I reduced this over a low heat for half an hour. I then filtered the sauce before adding the ginger pieces and cinnamon sticks back into the jar.

A deep bronze colour while in the saucepan it is a dark treacle now and tastes great!

Now what? Beer sauce on ice cream? perhaps beer thickshakes, baked ham with beer baste, pears in beer sauce - the possibilities are endless!

Pancakes

noreply@blogger.com ("Grendel") — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:35:00 +0000

Pancake day is always a big deal in the Grendel House.

Both junior grendels like to help me mix the batter (my own secret recipe!) and then have to receive monogram pancakes as their reward (for some reason they taste even better as a letter.

It is always messy and sticky, but the added bonus of a big batch of pikelets to take to school/kindy the next day makes it very worthwhile.

This particular batter goes very with with a spicy coffee!

Now the Secret recipe (which is a secret no more):

Ingredients:

1.5 cups of SR Flour
half a cup of castor sugar
1 egg
teaspoon of baking powder
70g of butter
vanilla
salt
milk

Method:

Sift the dry indgredients into a mixing bowl then make a well in the centre. Place the egg softened butter into the well and add a dash of vanilla and half a cup of whole milk.

Mix and add more milk as required to get a smooth thick batter. Let settle for 5 minutes while the pan heats.

Heat the pan to a medium heat.

I find pouring batter from a jug the easiest way to make lots of pancakes with the least mess.

Test the pan with a pour of batter - If it rises nicely then you've got it.

Incidentally - we cook ours on a flat-based sandwich press, these are the most amazing things to cook pancakes on although you do have to make it level by placing something underneath. A bigger press is better - I can do 5 pancakes at a time on ours.

Zucchini and Sweet Corn Fritters

noreply@blogger.com ("Grendel") — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:31:00 +0000

I'm cheating a little because this is Mrs Grendel's skills on display, but I will claim credit for the homegrown (organic as well) heirloom tomatoes (Green Zebras and Tigers), zucchini and herbs that were used in the fritters.

This recipe uses polenta to add and extra element and nicely supports the fresh corn flavours. The zucchini are all young, with much more flavour than many of the sad tired examples you find for sale.

Served with mushrooms and bacon and a little fetta crumbled over the top to finish it off.

Not that long ago I was not a fan of Zucchini, but lately I have really been enjoying these ones.

Freshness makes a big difference with some vegetables and the plant's habit also make them a big hit with the camelia's along the back wall, providing a nice low shade to keep the soil moist and cool.

The zucchinis have also survived against the slaters that ravaged this year's cucumber and watermelon plants. I'm beginning to wonder if adding my coffee grounds to the garden might by hyping the little buggers up too much.

Our lime tree has been working over time on its very first fruit (there is only one!) but I couldn't bring myself to sacrifice it just yet, so the slice of lime sporting on the edge of my home brew, is regrettably as yet, a bought one.