spanish night

This is from our Spanish night.

We made spicy sausage and cheese tortilla


red onion and orange salad


stuffed tomatoes


apple empanadas

easy sponge

When I got my stand mixer I was determined to master a sponge cake.
I searched through cook books and the internet and came up with several recipes to try.
This was the first one I tried as it was simple and easy, didn't have fifty different ingredients and it worked well. I have used it since.
I did try a different recipe not long ago but while I really liked the texture the rest of the family did not. So I will stick with this recipe for the time being.

Sponge Cake:

Ingredients:
4 eggs, separated
1 C sugar
1 C SR flour
1/2 C warm milk

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Beat egg whites until very stiff, slowly add sugar while still beating, then add yolks, and lastly add warm milk
3. fold in flour gently and pour into 2 lined sandwich tins and cook in a moderate oven for 20 minutes.
4. Cool and serve at room temperature.

To serve: I usually fill with jam, lemon butter (as in the picture) or passionfruit butter and Vienna cream (whipped cream with icing sugar and vanilla added). Place other half on top and dust with icing sugar or if you use passionfruit butter you may like to ice this with passionfruit icing.

my favourite things: toaster

The above toaster is my latest kitchen friend.
I have been looking for the last twelve months or so for kitchen equipment that lasts, has long warranties or can be fixed when it breaks rather than thrown away.
As we use our toaster everyday I think it is worthwhile to buy something that is going to last rather than have to constantly replace it.
I am sick of putting up with toasters that do not cook properly- the last toaster we bought drove me insane as you would have to press it down twice to get it to cook the bread and then watch the second time that it didn't burn, or toasters that last 6 -12 months and then die.
We have been using since February a toaster that we got from Paul's uncle, a little two slice toaster. It obviously couldn't stand up to the rigours of a family of eight and died last week.
A few days of cooking toast under the grill was not very successful so I went back to the internet and compared the two brands I was thinking about- this one won.
It is a Sunbeam Cafe Series 4 slice toaster.
It has a 5 year warranty on the elements and they are replaceable.
Yes it is more expensive than the average toaster but it will last me at the bare minimum 5 years, so it will actually work out cheaper in the long term.
It also has a lovely crumpet feature that we tried the other day.
I don't get crumpets too often as they contain the preservative 282.
It cooks the crumpets to perfection with the top brown and the bottom not burnt.
They were a lovely breakfast treat smothered in butter and honey.

my favourite things stand mixer

This is my Kitchen Aid Ariston Stand Mixer, I got it just before Christmas last year.
It was not technically a Christmas present, but a tax return present.
For most of last year I had to use my food processor for everything.
My blender had broken, one of the kids dropped the hand mixer and broke it, and my processor was not looking too good either but it was the only thing I had.
I decided to invest in good quality appliances that have long warranties, and that could be fixed rather than thrown out when broken.
My Kitchen Aid was one of these.
I love it!
I can actually make a lovely sponge with it and it is nice not having to stand and hold a mixer while I'm whipping things.
We use the dough hook for pizza or bread dough and it gets it done in no time.
I haven't got any attachments for it yet but am considering an ice cream attachment, and a mincer/ sausage maker.

melt- in- the- mouth vanilla biscuits

These delicious biscuits are exactly as the name implies melt-in-your-mouth. I make them in the food processor and they are very easy. You need to put them in the fridge for an hour before baking so not a last minute thing. But you can have the dough in the fridge or freezer ready for any last minute morning teas.

Melt-in-the-mouth Vanilla Biscuits

Ingredients:
180g butter, softened, chopped
1t vanilla bean paste (you can use extract)
1/3C icing sugar plus extra for dusting
1 1/2 T milk
1 3/4 C plain flour
2T cornflour

Method:
1. Put butter, vanilla, icing sugar into food processor, whiz until smooth. Add milk whiz again. Add sifted flour and cornflour, whiz until just forms a dough.
2. Place into fridge for 10 minutes until firm enough to roll.
3. Roll dough into a 30cm log, wrap in plastic or baking paper and refrigerate for 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 160C. Grease oven trays (I usually use baking paper)
5. Cut dough into 4mm slices. Place on trays. Bake about 10 minutes or until just golden. Stand on trays 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool slightly.
6. While still warm, dust biscuits liberally with extra sifted icing sugar. Cool completely.

pizza

Pizza, pizza I like to eat the pizza, tomato and the cheese pizza pizza please!

This song from the Hooley Dooleys (children's band like the Wiggles) always comes up when we make pizza.
We have just started making pizza's again after a long break. We were inspired by the pizza on Master Chef and have been making them ever since.
We had pizza on the weekend. Our new family favourite is prawn and chorizo sausage topped with some coriander leaves after it comes out of the oven. Our second favourite is roasted pumpkin, caramelised onions and fetta cheese, some basil leaves sprinkled over after cooking makes it delightful.

Here is the recipe for the dough - I usually double this and make 6 large thin crusted pizzas.

Pizza Dough

15g Dried yeast
2 T sugar
2t salt
250ml lukewarm water
1T olive oil
425g bakers flour (approx 3 cups)

Place all ingredients into the bowl of your mixer with dough hook attached and mix for about 5 minutes until the smooth dough forms (or you can mix by hand- if you are doing that put water sugar and yeast together in a bowl and when it starts to bubble put in other ingredients, mix together and then knead until smooth and elastic).
Place in a greased bowl and cover, put in a warm spot until doubled in size (I usually cover with a tea towel and put into my oven at a very low temp 50C).
Knead dough and cut into 2 or 3 pieces depending on how thick you want the base.

Top with your favourite toppings:
The key is not to overload the pizza with lots of different toppings - less is more 3-4 max. Sometimes fresh herbs added at the end give it a fresh feel.

Here are some ideas:

Prawn and Chorizo: cover base with harissa paste (or use tomato) top with mozzarella and then large green prawns peeled and halved, chorizo thinly sliced, sprinkle with a touch more mozzarella. After cooking sprinkle with fresh coriander leaves.

Pumpkin and Feta: Roast small thin pieces of pumpkin until cooked. Harissa or tomato paste on the bottom, add a layer of caramelised onions top with pumpkin and sprinkle with crumbled fetta, cook. After cooking add some more crumbled feta and torn basil leaves.

Chicken and bacon: dice and cook bacon, top base with BBQ sauce or tomato, add a layer of caramelised onions, add chicken (we used shaved breast from the deli) bacon and mozzarella, cook

Hot Salami Pizza: Tomato sauce (I use home made) sprinkle with mozzarella top with salami and halved cherry tomatoes- cook until crisp, tear some buffalo mozzarella and sprinkle over the top and add some fresh mint leaves (from master chef)

Meat Lovers: BBQ sauce, mozzarella and meats of your choice- ham, kabana, salami, chorizo, bacon etc.

Classic Ham and pineapple: BBQ or tomato sauce, top with cheese (we use some caramelised onions on this one - pictured top) ham and pineapple (we usually used crushed pineapple drained but didn't have any so used pineapple thins instead)- top with a bit more mozzarella and cook.

To Cook: Turn oven up really high to heat 230C. My oven has a function where I can use top and bottom elements together and this is the best as it cooks the base crispy and top browns nicely. Pizza should only take 6-8 minutes at this temp depending on thickness of base.

caramelised onions

These are a lovely accompaniment to meat, particularly, hamburgers or steak sandwiches.
They are great on pizza and a restaurant I go to always has some on their pate plates with pears and quince paste mmm.

They are easy to make and only take a few minutes. You can keep them in the fridge, but we never have any left over.

Caramelised Onions

2 red or Spanish onions thinly sliced
1/4 cup brown sugar
splash olive oil
splash balsamic vinegar

Put a splash of oil in the bottom of a fry pan and put onions in, place lid on and cook over low heat for a few minutes until soft- you may need to turn the onions a few times.
Do not brown the onions.
Add the brown sugar and stir until dissolved,
splash with a bit of balsamic vinegar and stir through.

easiest cake ever

This would have to be the easiest cake I have ever made and it is so versatile. Whenever I take it somewhere people want the recipe.
It is so easy I can just tell them and off they go, you don't even need to write it down it is that easy!
It came from another Home Ed family many years ago and I have been making it ever since.
It is the cake that I start all my kids off cooking by themselves.
I put this into one of B3's work boxes on Monday morning for him to make for morning tea.


There are lots of ways to vary it.
My favourite is to add 2 T cocoa powder, it sort of tastes like a lamington.
Yesterday when B4 made it with me for morning tea, we doubled the mix and added 4 T cocoa powder and put them into muffin tins (as in the photo).
A can of drained crushed pineapple makes a nice tropical cake.
Lemon icing is a nice touch if you want something fancier. I have made this with all sorts of sugar (brown, white, raw) and flour (wholemeal, gluten free, white) and milk (cows, goat, soy, rice) and it always turns out well.
So here it is - are you ready?

Coconut Cake
1 C SR flour
1 C sugar
1 C milk
1 C coconut

Put all ingredients into the bowl and mix with a wooden spoon or whisk and put into a lined loaf tin, bake at 180 C for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

That's it! I told you it was easy- go bake and enjoy!

deep fried ice cream balls

We have ice cream sundaes every Sunday afternoon for afternoon tea. Sometimes I like to do something a bit different and after having made these for a Chinese night last year, we have these occasionally (read twice). Allow time to make these. If I start early in the morning this gives them time to freeze properly between each layer, but if it is summer you may need to start the day before, you can also make them and have them sitting in the freezer until you want them.

This time instead of making the caramel sauce that is in the recipe I made the American hot fudge sauce as featured on Maya*Made's Blog- yummy. It goes down very well with some ice cream after the kids are in bed SHHHH!! don't tell them.

Deep Fried Ice Cream Balls

Ingredients:
2 L vanilla ice- cream
2 eggs
1/2 C milk
1/2 C flour
breadcrumbs

Method: you need to work quickly, so it can be good to have some helpers, make sure everything is very cold, pre freeze your trays so they are already cold.
1. Take ice cream out of freezer and scoop into balls, place on cold tray
2. Put into freezer and leave until really hard
3. Put flour, eggs and milk whisked together, and breadcrumbs into separate bowls.
4 Working quickly take ice cream balls from freezer and dip into flour, then egg mix, then breadcrumbs and back onto tray. Put back into freezer until really hard.
5. Take from freezer again and dip into egg mix and then breadcrumbs to double coat them. Return to freezer until ready to use.
6. To fry, place two balls at a time into deep hot oil (I found a saucepan half filled with oil on the stove better than a deep fryer as I could get the oil much hotter). Fry for 30 seconds or until golden brown, place on absorbent paper. Serve immediately with sauce of your choice. Mine are only small in comparison to the ones in a Chinese restaurant but just as yummy.

Caramel Sauce:
60g butter
1C brown sugar
1/2 C water
3 T Grand Marnier (optional)
1 T cornflour
1/2 C cream

Method:
1.Put butter and sugar into pan.
2.Stir over heat until butter has melted.
3.Add combined remaining ingredients.
4.Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves.
5.Increase heat, bring to boil.
6.Reduce heat, simmer three minutes stirring constantly.

chicken biryani

This is another dish we love, it is pretty simple but takes a little time because you pre-cook the chicken and make the stock. I will often make the stock earlier in the day and then make the biryani when we get home from soccer training. If you are short on time you can buy a BBQ Chook from the deli and use store bought stock. It is also simple to use with another meat. I sometimes use left over roast beef or lamb and make a stock from the bones. This recipe has been adjusted to my family size, for a smaller family reduce rice to 2 cups and stock to 3.5 cups for a larger family increase rice and stock accordingly

Chicken Biryani
(serves 8)

Stock:
1 whole chicken (it doesn't matter if it is frozen, I use a size 20 and will usually have some chicken left over for lunch or something else)
garlic
carrot
onion
celery (you can use the tops)
water to cover chicken 6-8 cups
salt

Place all ingredients into a large pot and bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1-1.5 hrs, you know that it is ready when the chicken is falling off the bone. Remove chicken and set aside to cool, break meat up into small pieces, this will be your meat for the dish, you can save bones and skin to make another stock if you wish. Strain vegetables from the stock and discard. Set stock aside.

Garnish:
2 T oil
3 doz whole almonds
2 onions sliced into rings

Heat oil in a large fry-pan or wok on med-high heat and gently fry the almonds until they are golden. Remove and rest on absorbent paper, fry onions rings until soft and translucent. Remove from pan and rest on absorbent paper.

Biryani:
2 T ginger peeled and grated
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 large onion, diced
4 cardamom pods, crushed
8 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1/4 C yoghurt
1/2 t turmeric powder
3 C basmati rice,raw
5 + cups stock
salt
chicken meat
sprig of coriander
optional extras: frozen green peas, sultanas

1. In a large wok or fry-pan fry the diced onion, garlic, ginger, cloves, cardamom pods and cinnamon.
2. Reduce heat to a simmer, add yoghurt and turmeric, mix to combine.
3. When all mixed sprinkle on rice, pour on 5 cups chicken stock, add salt (do not use salt is using bought stock), cover and simmer for about 15 minutes- keep an eye on it you may need to add more stock.
4. If adding sultanas and/or peas add after 10 minutes.
5. When the rice is cooked through turn off the heat and stir through chicken pieces and leave for a couple of minutes.
6. Spoon onto a serving platter and top with dollops of yoghurt, onion rings, almonds and some fresh coriander.

patty cakes

These are one of my standbys that are great for a last minute thing or entertaining, I often take these if I have to take a plate for morning tea, particularly for a large number of people.
These are also known as cup cakes, but I still call them patty cakes because I think of cup cakes as being slightly larger.
This recipe makes 24 -30 and if I double it I usually get almost 3 batches, but it will depend on the size of your pans. I love all things passionfruit, so passionfruit icing is a must. Here are some pink ones as well because B4 insisted on helping and wanted pink. I used cochineal which is a natural colour, but you could use some raspberry juice or other red coloured fruit.
You can make these into fairy cakes by cutting the tops off and adding jam and cream to the hole, cutting the top in half and replacing it so it looks like wings, dust with icing sugar to finish.

Patty Cakes:

125g butter melted
1 t vanilla essence
3/4 C castor sugar
2 eggs
1.5 C SR flour
1/2 C (125ml)milk

1. Line patty pan trays with paper patty cases
2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix with an electric mixer on low speed until ingredients are combined.
3.Then beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth and changes to a lighter colour. Drop a heaped tablespoon of mixture into paper cases.
4.Bake at 180 c for 15-20 minutes, turn onto a wire rack to cool.
5. Ice or decorate as you wish.

Icing: I like a hard icing on my patty cakes, so I usually just mix icing sugar and hot water together until I get a spreadable consistency.
For passionfruit use pulp from a passionfruit instead of water.
You can add lemon rind and juice for lemon icing, or orange rind and juice for orange icing
add some carob or cocoa powder to make chocolate icing.

homemade sausage rolls

What goes better with homemade tomato sauce than homemade sausage rolls! We had these for lunch the other day, they are also great for a party. This recipe comes from a cooking magazine. I have doubled the recipe for my family and made some other adjustments from the original. If you want less just halve the recipe.

Sausage Rolls

Ingredients:

4 slices wholemeal bread
1 medium carrot, grated
1 medium zucchini, grated
1kg mince
1 onion finely chopped
1/4 C tomato chutney (you could use sauce or tomato relish - for a spicy mix add chilli sauce instead)
6 sheets frozen puff pastry partially thawed
2 T milk

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 220 C. Line two large trays with baking paper
2. Place bread in bowl and cover with warm water, stand for 5 minutes and then drain. Squeeze bread to remove excess moisture.
3. Place grated carrot and zucchini (you may want to squeeze excess moisture from these), bread, mince, onion and chutney into a bowl and mix to combine.
4. Cut pastry sheets in half. Shape a handful of mince into a long sausage along the edge of a piece of pastry. Brush opposite side with milk, and roll up to encase filling. Cut into size you want (I usually do 4 or 6). Place with the seam side down on tray. Repeat with remaining mixture.
5. Brush tops of sausage rolls with milk and place into the oven. Bake for 20- 25 minutes until puffed and golden. Cool on tray for 5 minutes before serving with tomato sauce.

tomato relish

This is another thing I make when I can get cheap tomatoes. We use it on and in many things it is very versatile. It is lovely on Jatz or other savoury crackers with a thin slice of cheese for morning tea, or with cold meat on sandwiches or with steak or lamb from the barbie.

Tomato Relish

Ingredients:
1.5kgs tomatoes
500g onions
2 cups sugar
2 ½ C vinegar
1 T flour
1 T curry powder
Pinch cayenne
1 T dry mustard
1 T salt

Method:
1. Cut up tomatoes and pour off 3/4 C of juice.(place in a colander over a bowl and let juice drip into it, you may need to shake or press a little, this does take a little time- see picture above)
2. Cut up onions finely (food processor)
3. Put in a saucepan with tomatoes, sugar, and vinegar.
4. Boil slowly until thickens (this takes about 3/4-1hr)
5. Blend flour, curry powder, cayenne, mustard, and salt with tomato juice.
6. Add to saucepan and stir until boiling
7. Cook gently for 3 minutes.
8. Bottle in warm jars and seal when cool.

tomato sauce

Whenever I can get tomatoes this cheap or cheaper or even free I make tomato sauce and tomato relish. We love it, last time I did this I made so many that I thought it would last us 6 months, I think it was lucky to last 6 weeks. It tastes so much nicer than store bought and is much more versatile, we use it on many more things than bought sauce.

Here is my recipe for tomato sauce: It comes from The Commonsense Cookery Book this was originally compiled by the NSW Public School Cookery Teachers Association. My mother had one when she went to school in the 1940's and my sister had one when she went to school in the 60's and mine is from the 80's. I am not sure they even publish them any more. I have had mine since I was about 15 and it has lost its cover and is falling apart. Every time I cook with it now I type the recipe onto the computer with any adjustments that I have made. My notes are in italics.

Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:
3kgs ripe tomatoes
250g apples
250g onions
2 cloves garlic
1 C sugar
2 T salt
1 Chilli
½ T cloves
½ T peppercorns
1 T curry powder
2 ½ C vinegar

Method
1. Wash tomatoes and cut up roughly.
2. Peel and slice apples and onions.
3. Cut up garlic finely
4. Place in saucepan; add all other ingredients.
5. Boil gently 2 hours.
6. Strain through a course strainer ( if you let it cool slightly and then put it in the food processor this makes this part easier and less messy, if you like it chunky pour straight into bottles, for a smooth product strain into a jug which makes it easier to pour into the bottles).
7. Bottle in warm jars and seal when cool.

passionfruit butter/ lemon butter

We have been enjoying making lemon butter and now passionfruit butter.
It is quite easy, but takes a little time stirring until it thickens.
We love them both on toast, on scones, as a filling in a sponge with some whipped cream, and the passionfruit butter is also yummy on ice-cream!

Here is the recipe for lemon butter with the passionfruit variation at bottom:

Lemon Butter
Ingredients:
4 eggs beaten
4 large lemons
500g sugar
125g butter

Method:
1. Grate rind of lemons and squeeze juice.
2. Place butter and sugar in double saucepan. When butter is melted add juice and grated rind of lemons. The add eggs.
3. Stir until smooth and thickened- about 20 minutes.
4. Bottle and seal. Store in Refrigerator

Passionfruit Butter: use 10 passionfruit instead of lemons

scones

One of the easiest and quickest things I make for morning tea would have to be scones.
Let me tell you I hate rubbing in with a passion- if a recipe told me to rub in forget it- well that was how it used to be until I discovered the wonders of the food processor. Now when the recipes tells me to rub in I will automatically reach for my trusty food processor. This works great for shortcrust pastry, biscuits and scones. So here is my scone recipe from my good old Common Sense Cookery Book, adapted for the food processor.

Scones

Ingredients:
2 C self raising flour
pinch salt (most of the time I don't add this)
2 T butter
1C milk

Method:
1. Heat oven to 230 C- 260 C
2. Put flour and salt and butter into your food processor and turn on, whiz for about 30 seconds.
3. While food processor is running pour in the milk slowly, you may not need all of it.
4. Turn processor off when dough comes together in a ball.
5. Place onto a floured bench and flatten to 2cm thick
6. Cut with a round cutter and place onto a greased tray (I usually use baking paper)
7. Place in oven for 10 minutes when light brown on top turn oven down to 180 C for a further 5-10 minutes until cooked through.
8. Serve hot with condiments of your choice.

I will usually include whipped cream ( I always make Vienna Cream with icing sugar and vanilla) with my scones and as pictured here we have passionfruit butter and lemon butter, but butter and jam are lovely as well.