MONDAY PROJECT: Gift cakes

Here's a cute 'n simple way to present a cake.

Via Frolic!

Hungry

I got put onto http://www.tastespotting.com/ recently. Oh my gawd - where have you been all my life? Gorg pics of food, linking you to all sorts of different food blogs. It's where I found my no-knead bread recipe I now make every 2-3 days and also rave about incessently to anyone who will listen.
Today's find: Meyer Lemon Bars. A meyer lemon curd on a shortbread base. Well, OK then.
So many things to cook - so little time.

 Image: Bites out of life

Homemade Vogels bread

I can't find a bread that I like over here, so I had a faff about on that awesome font of knowledge; the www (honestly, what did we do before that?) for a good wholesome, easy bread to make myself.
I find the bread here really, really sweet, even when we're buying the ridiculously expensive Whole Foods organic palaver. Also, I like the idea of making bread myself, because when it goes stale after 3 days, I know I'm not eating a whole lot of added who-knows-what.
Anyway, good news. I stumbled upon an Annabel Langbein recipe called 'Busy People's Bread'. It is super-easy to make - i.e. there's no kneading, and just 10 minutes waiting time while you wait for the yeast to froth.
I whacked in a tablespoon of flax seeds as well, just to feel extra virtuous when eating your homemade bread.
And it was awesome - it tastes a lot like Vogels bread, something that when toasted and covered in butter and marmite, is a bit like NZ on a plate.
As an added bonus it also received rave reviews from the sidekick. Happy times all round.

Recipe here

More Christmas food

Continuing the Xmas food orgy, the idea of a baked brie appetiser seems very tempting for Christmas day. I've seen baked brie recipes in about 3 places now, I take that as a sign.
This whole baked brie with pecans and honey recipe from here is the current front runner.

Lemon curd

I made some lemon curd this week as thank you gifts for our Thanksgiving hosts.
I like making this back in NZ, as it's feels like a good way to use up some of the lemons that would otherwise be mown over in the back yard, even though you only use up about 2 lemons and 500gm of butter (ok, that's a slight exaggeration). But it still seems a good thing to make here, as even though lemons are like buying citrus gold, the free-range eggs here are next to nothing (well, compared to home).
I forgot to bring my usual lemon curd recipe with me to Boston, but after a search high and low on the trusty www, I came across this recipe which fit the bill - i.e. unlike others didn't extravagantly use 5 egg yolks (eggs aren't that cheap). And given that the recipe also told me the temperature to get the curd to, it gave me a good excuse to use the confectionery thermometer I bought ages ago (somehow I convinced Carl we needed one), for the very first time. Which I can report, works a treat.

Lemon Curd

3 large eggs
1/3 cup (80 ml) fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
1 tablespoon (4 grams) finely shredded lemon zest
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar
4 tablespoons (56 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into small pieces.

In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice until blended.
Cook, stirring constantly (to prevent it from curdling), until the mixture becomes thick (like sour cream or a hollandaise sauce) (160 degrees F or 71 degrees C). This will take approximately 10 minutes. - This stage always, always takes me about 20 mins.
Remove from heat. Whisk butter into the mixture until the butter has melted. Add the lemon zest and let cool. The lemon curd will continue to thicken as it cools.
Cover immediately (so a skin doesn't form) and refrigerate for up to a week.
Makes 1 1/2 cups (360 ml).

Recipe from here

Food photographer Beatrice Peltre

I love the food photography of Boston-based, French-born Beatrice Peltre.
Lots of natural elements and colour. So pretty.

 

Onto a winner...

These chocolate meringues have done me wonders in the quick-to-whip-up-yet-look-very-impressive desert department recently.



Chocolate meringues

3 egg whites
.8 C / 150g / 5 1/2 Oz. caster sugar
2-3 tsp cocoa

Pre-heat the oven to 275 Farenheit / 135 Celcius
Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form
Gradually whisk in the sugar until stiff peaks form
Fold the cocoa in
Spoon onto tray lined with baking paper
Cook for 40 mins

Top with dollop of whipped cream, some fruit (my go-to is the frozen blueberries we always have in the freezer) and dust with cocoa.

Stand back and wait for compliments to roll in.

Missing lemons

Isn't it kind of weird how you miss the little things about home? Like it goes without saying that I miss my hairy four-legged baby (Oslo) and family and friends. But I also really miss shooting out to the backyard in my slippers, to grab a couple of lemons off the tree to have with the fish Carl had just caught, or to put in a hot lemon drink. And of course, because I'd be heading outside, Oslo would be right on my tail, expecting that I was outside to throw a stick for him, or go for a walk to the beach. And he'd gallop around me, all excited for the potential outdoor adventure that was about to take place. So I would take my time grabbing the lemons, have a quick nosey at the goings-on over the back fence; maybe the cows would be out in the paddock, or there would be some clouds looming around and settling in over the hills. Then I'd pick up a stick for the four-legged excited thing and jump around with him for a bit, then stroll back inside with the just-picked lemons for our fish or cuppa.

It's just not the same paying 89cents each for NZ meyer lemons at Wholefoods.





Halloween fever

Halloween fever has really hit, and there are pumpkins everywhere, including Dunkin' Donuts offering Pumpkin Lattes.... yes, Pumpkin Lattes!!

Anyway, I'm getting amoungst it by attempting these two recipes...

 Caramel and chocolate dipped apples from here

Chocolate pumpkin cake from here. I'm actually entering a 'Fall flavours' cooking comp with this cake. If it turns out looking half as good as this picture I'll be chuffed. The reason I'm fascinated by this cake is not that it uses pumpkin (in a cake?), but it calls for canned pumpkin. You're not in Tairua now, Toto.

How cute...

...is this egg and soldier set from here?

How could you not have a happy morning? Even dedicated morning grumps, such as myself, would have to crack a smile if this is how your morning egg 'n soldiers was presented.



I think I'm gonna like Boston...

So I L.O.V.E. nachos. Have forever and a day been enchanted by the nacho, cheese, sour cream, salsa, jalapeno concoction.
And since it is now official that we are off to Boston in August (wahoo!), I was doing a bit of research on the place.
Perusing the http://www.boston.com/ website, I find this little article: 'Unique Nachos Around Boston'. It goes on to say ... "Some Boston area restaurants and chefs are elevating this snack and game day favorite to the next level, layering chips with lobster, goat cheese, chocolate mousse, even foie gras (!)."

Lobster??!!!! Happy, happy days. If I come back looking like a house, that'll be the reason.

Image: the lobster version - here

Oooo yeah.

This makes me want to spend the weekend getting busy in the kitchen, rather than moving from bed, to sun lounger, then to bed again, (reading trashy books), which is what I did have planned.

image: deliciousdays.com

Boo the end of the weekend

It was a good cooking weekend. Just love faffing about in the kitchen with a few projects on the go.

image: White Chocolate Lamingtons

Baked Beans

I've got the shits with myself now (not because of the beans) as I keep making these gourmet delights and then bluddy well forgetting to write them down so I can make them again. (Do you like how I take license to call them "gourmet delights", yes I know, so immodest, but in light of evidence to the contrary I will go forth and stake this claim.) I made a cassoulet the other week inspired by going to Parnell's magnificent French Markets, and it was rave-able. But do you think I can remember all the ingredients I used now? No.

But, back to the baked beans...before I forget them.

I get so sucked into the fruit shop accross the road, they have this health section that is heaving with roasted almonds, LSA seeds, dehydrated strawberries, bran, the list goes on. And I always have to stand there for at least 5 minutes, mouth agape, looking at all the goodness, making sure there's nothing that I haven't seen before, or don't need. My favourite bit is that all the packets have why the products are so good for you. Which is basically just another incentive to go bananas and stock up. Because you feel like when you buy the stuff you're just going to be reeking of health. Reeking, I tell you. (And you can conveniently ignore the fact that the dried mango slices you've munched 30 of, calorie-wise, you may as well have had a pack of 'party mix' lollies, because these are health-y.)

So, the latest outcome of a trip to the fruit shop was a bag of haricot beans. The pack promised "enhanced energy levels, supports the nervous system, aids liver function. They also have anti-cancer and anti-oxidant properties". I mean, why wouldn't you? Anyway here was the result.

image: donna hay (again, taking outrageous license that mine looked this good, but without any evidence to the contrary, see note above)

EM'S BAKED BEANS
1 C haricot beans
2 chirozo
400g whole peeled tomatoes
1 red onion
Sprinkle cayenne pepper (depending on how hot you want it, I just wanted a hint of heat)
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
S&P

Soak haricot beans overnight, then rinse (helps reduce"flatulence" apparently), the boil for 35 mins.
Meanwhile, caramelise thinly sliced red onions for 20 mins, then add sliced chirozo to the pan and cook a further 10 mins. This means all the nice chirozo fat goes through the onions. Mmmm...chirozo fat.
Next add the whole peeled tomotoes, seasonings, S&P and heat through. Finally add the cooked beans and combine (being careful not to 'moosh' the beans when you combine).
Serve to appreciative family members.

Seriously delicious. We had it for lunch 2 days running. And did I mention healthy?

Christmas Dinner

I was starting another blog just relating to food, and then I had the 4"x2" plank of reallity hit me in the head and say "Why? When you hardly get enough time to do just the one blog on interiors porn?"
Anyway, to cut a long story short, turns out the plank of reality won and I'm now adding my foodie adventures to this as well.
Here's something from Christmas last year. Whoa. That sounds like it was ages ago. It was a good family meal, and the hit was without a doubt, 'Ben's Mum's Smash Potatoes'. Which are the sort of thing you feed to anyone and they rave about it. But then when they find out the recipe it does somewhat take the shine off them, only in that those namby-pamby Heart Foundation folk aren't big fans of buttery goodness. But I can assure you that anyone who tries these most definitely is. (Even if they don't know at the time it's the copious amounts of butter making it taste outrageously good, and attribute it to your amazing cuilinary skills instead).
Recipe given word-for-word how I received it from Ben below.

The menu:

Lamb with garlic and rosemary from the amazing Westmere Butcher

Steamed Greens with Sage Butter

Ben's Mum's Smash Potatoes

{Clearly, I need a new pepper grinder}

The Setting

Kept it nice and simple as it was so hot and we had amazing blue hydrageas out which I thought should be the star of the show. Also made some circle placemats out of the B&W striped gift wrap roll I've got hanging around, as well as a vase cuff to match.

BEN'S MUM'S SMASH POTATOES

Smash Potatoes are a great idea, especially if you don't want to live.

Here's the recipe.
Boil the potatoes. Put bucket loads of butter in your dish and melt in the oven. Slightly crush the potatoes in the dish and roll generously in the butter. Grate parmesan cheese over everything and pepper and salt.
Cook in the over for a least an hour. Consume, then die instantly of heart disease.