soup time!

This is one of my favourite recipes, for a soup that I made on the weekend, and some twitter peeps asked me to share, but then I realised, I didn't take a photo of it before it got all eaten up... it does look and smell and taste delicious, I promise! And it's so good in this horrid weather (2 full weeks full of rain!?!?)... so after some umming & arrhing about an appropriate image to accompany the recipe, I remembered that I hadn't shown you all my lovely Paper Boat Press magnets, I bought them at Finders Keepers, and I love them.

And now for the Recipe-- Chilli, Corn and Red Capsicum Soup:

1 coriander sprig (cilantro)
4 corn cobs
30g butter
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
1 tablespoon plain flour
2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup cream

1. Trim the leaves off the coriander and finely chop the roots and stem. Cut the kernels off the corn cobs.

2. Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the corn kernels, capsicum, onion and chilli and stir to coat in butter. Cook, covered, over low heat for 10 minutes. Increase heat and add the coriander stem and root, cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Sprinkle with flour and cook for another minute. Take saucepan off heat, gradually add the vegetable stock, then add 2 cups of water, and return to the heat. Bring to the boil, reduce to simmer for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

3. Ladle 2 cups of soup into a blender and puree until smooth, return to the saucepan, and add the cream. Season, and sprinkle with coriander leaves.

Yum.

B.

What I'm cooking right this minute...

Thank goodness for my collection of Womens Weekly and Family Circle cook books! Most of them are a bit old school, and the recipes require a little 'contemporising', as they are all second hand, but they save the day again and again!

Chicken with lemon and rosemary:

You'll need:

2 tbs olive oil
12 free-range chicken drumsticks
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1  cup vege stock
1/2 cup white wine (I'm using a sauv blanc)
1 tbs grated lemon rind
2ts lemon juice
1 tbs freshly shopped rosemary
2 tsp of cornflour
1 tbs water
1/4 cup cream

You need to:

Heat oil in pan, add chicken and brown; remove from the pan. Add garlic, stock, wine, rind, juice & rosemary to same pan, bring to the boil before returning chicken, let simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken from pan, add the blended cornflour and water, and stir over heat until sauce boils and thickens. Add chicken and cream and serve.

I also parboil a bunch of baby potatoes and add them to the pan. Yum yum... photos later!

B.

How to win friends and influence people...

Chocolate and Ginger Biscuits: The trick is to share them!

Ingredients:

• 250g unsalted butter


• 1 cup raw sugar


• 2 eggs


• 1tsp vanilla essence or paste


• 2.5 cups SR flour or plain flour w. baking powder


• 100g dark chocolate, chopped into pieces


• 100g crystalised ginger, chopped into pieces

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 190^oC.


2. In large bowl, cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time.


3. Gradually add flour to the butter mix until well combined. Add ginger and chocolate, and evenly mix through.


4. Make teaspoon sized balls of the batter and lay out on a lined baking tray. Cook for 10-15 minutes, depending on how soft you like your biscuits.

Yum, yum, but I need to make some more... none left, and that was a rather large batch!

B.

Raspberry Clafoutis

I made this yesterday, and it's a beautiful rich, but light desert that is kind of like custard but also like cake, kind of like cheesecake in texture, but not dense... try it, and see! You don't have to use raspberries, the original recipe I had, used cherries, and I think it's a traditional dish made in France during cherry season (don't quote me on that though!), I used bottled cherries once and it was delicious, but I think blueberries would also be lovely, as would apples!

You need:

I cup caster sugar

3 cups of raspberries, fresh or frozen is fine-- I used frozen

1 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

4 large eggs

1 3/4 cups of cream

1-2 tsp of vanilla essence

grated zest of 1 lemon

icing sugar for dusting

To make:

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C. Butter a medium size baking dish, sprinkle with 2 tbs of caster sugar, and spread the raspberries in the dish. Bake for 10 minutes, there may be a lot of juice--do not discard!

In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the eggs and remainder of caster sugar (medium speed is fine). Add the flour mix in 2 additions, alternating with the cream in one addition. Add the vanilla and lemon zest and stir to combine... it smells fantastic by this stage!

Pour the batter over the raspberries, sprinkle a little extra caster sugar on top, and bake until puffed and golden brown, about 30-35 minutes. Let cool slightly and dust with icing sugar before serving!

This is mine cooling! Look at all that raspberry goodness!

B.

Recipe Monday

Carbonnade of Beef, aka Beer Stew

I've been eating this recipe my whole life because it comes from one of my Mum's favourite cookbooks, she gave me the recipe a couple of years ago and its become a staple winter fave around here... 

Serves: 6

Cooking time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

1 kg of steak: chuck, round or blade (I think blade is best!)

2 tbs butter

2 large onions, sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tbs plain flour

1 cup of beer*

1/4 cup hot water

2 bay leaves

1 1/2 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper

pinch of nutmeg

3 tbs brown sugar

finely chopped parsley for garnish

Instructions:

Wipe and trim beef. Cut into cubes and brown in butter; remove to a plate. Reduce heat and saute onion until soft, add garlic and cook a little longer. Stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes. Return beef to the pan and pour in beer and water; stir constantly until mixture thickens and just begins to bubble. Add remaining ingredients, cover and simmer for one and a half hours, until beef is tender. Remove bay leaves, season and sprinkle with parsley.

- I add some parboiled baby potatoes to the pan about hour before eating, and I also throw in frozen peas just before it's ready.

* The beer you use matters! I always use VB (Victorian Bitter), which is generally a horribly bitter tasting beer that I don't like, but when mixed with the ingredients, such as brown sugar, it works perfectly. I've tried a lot of different kinds, it seems the fancier you get, the more you have to add later to correct the taste!

Try it!

More recipes at and via amityville boronia.

B.

Recipe Monday, appears to be on Wednesday this week!

I need to share with the world the best ever brownie recipe. It's really quite divine, and simple as... I was far too lazy to cook the mocha chiffon cake I had in mind on the weekend, so instead whipped up a batch of these on Saturday (and another on Sunday, because they make it through the night...)

Ingredients:
115g unsalted butter
240g castor sugar (confectioner's)
3 medium sized eggs
80g plain flour
70g cocoa powder (I prefer Nestle... it really seems to make a difference in this recipe)
1 tsp baking powder

+ a hand full of nuts or choc chips or whatever you have, chopped roughly... I think macadamia nuts make this dish just that little bit more divine!

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 165 degrees Celsius; Line a 600g loaf tin with baking paper.

Cream the sugar and butter until smooth and pale, gradually add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until well combined.

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder, and fold through the butter mixture along with nuts or chocolate bits.

Pour the mix into the loaf tin and bake for 30-50 minutes... broad spectrum I know, but I bake for about 35 minutes, which leaves you with a fudgy, yummy, moist centre, but cooked enough to stay together.

Leave the brownies to cool for a little before serving... Yum yum!

Enjoy!

B.

Recipe Monday... on a Tuesday!

Lemon and Lentil Soup

I know it sounds kind of funny, and it doesn't look too swell, but this is a great soup, and it only takes about half and hour to make. I made a huge pot of it on Sunday afternoon and we ate it for lunch and dinner.

You'll need:

olive oil
1 brown onion, diced
1 tbs ground cumin
1 tbs ground coriander
2 tbs finely grated lemon zest
1 1/2 cups of red lentils, rinsed
2 cups of veggie or chicken stock
1-2 cups of water

Some yoghurt if you like.

All you need to do is:

1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add onion, cumin & coriander until soft and brown (about 5 mins).

2. Add the lemon zest, lentils, stock and water; bring to the boil and let simmer for 20 minutes. You want it to be cooked, but not mushy.

3. That's it! You may need to add some more water, depending on the consistency you prefer, taste it and add some yoghurt if you like that kind of thing-- I usually put a tea spoon into my bowl.

More recipes at Amityville Boronia, and look at the scrolls I made from Jemma's recipe a couple of weeks ago... they didn't last long!

Woo hoo!
B.

Recipe Monday

Gingerbread Men

You'll need:

200g butter
90g white sugar
90g brown sugar
¼ cup molasses
2tsp cinnamon
1tsp ground ginger
4 cloves, pounded in a mortar
1 egg
550g plain flour
2tsp bi-carb soda
pinch salt

1. Cream butter and sugar. Add molasses, spices and egg, and mix well.

2. Sieve together the flour, the bi-carb and salt, and add butter and egg mixture a bit at a time; stir well after each addition.

3. Knead the dough a couple of times to make sure it is well mixed. Refrigerate for an hour (but I don’t always do this and they’re fine!).

4. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

5. Roll out dough on a floured bench until 3mm thick. Using a cookie cutter, cut out as many gingerbread men (or whatever shape) as you can.

6. Placed on a lined baking tray, and bake for 12 minutes until the edges are slightly browned. Cool on a wire rack, then ice or sprinkle some icing sugar on top!

Jemma at Amityville Boronia has a Mr. Linky up, so if you have a recipe to share, pop over and play along!

Enjoy,

B.

P.S. I forgot to mention: I had trouble buying molasses at the supermarket... try health food stores!

Lemon Semolina Biscuits

These are my fave biscuits! They are lemony and soft, and they really make you think about what they must be putting into store-bought biscuits, which are all hard, and just don't compare...

200g plain flour

100g semolina

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsbp bi-carb soda (baking soda)

pinch salt

110g unsalted butter

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

200g sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

grated zest and juice of a lemon

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

60g sugar, for rolling

Soften the butter by leaving it at room temp for 30 minutes.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, semolina, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and set aside.

Cream together the butter, olive oil and 200g of sugar, until light and fluffy.

Add the egg, yolk, vanilla, lemon zest and juice until well combined.

Bit by bit, add the dry ingredients until a soft dough forms.

Wrap the dough in cling-wrap, flatten into a disc (I usually set this up on a plate), refrigerate for 90 minutes.

Preheat oven to 170C; put the 60g of sugar in a bowl.

Using lightly floured fingers, take a small piece of dough and roll into a ball, about the size of a golf ball; roll the ball in sugar and place on baking sheets covered with baking paper.

Each ball should be about 4cm apart.

Bake for 20-25 miuntes.

Cool and store in an airtight container.

B.

Real Lemony-Lemony Goodness

SERIOUSLY... BEST EVER LEMON TART RECIPE IN THE WORLD!
Pastry:
150g unsalted butter
80g icing sugar
35g almond meal
1 egg
250g plain flour
1tsp vanilla paste

Lemon curd:
5 eggs
270g sugar
juice and zest of 5 lemons
350g butter

Combine butter, icing sugar and almond meal. Add the flour, vanilla paste, and a pinch of salt, mix until combined. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Grease 5cm tart tins and dust with flour. Roll the pastry until 3mm thick. Line each tin with pastry and rest for 1 hour (or the pastry will shrink).

Preheat oven to 180oc, and bake for 10-15 minutes (until pastry is golden). When cooled, fill with lemon curd.

Lemon Curd: mix eggs and sugar. Add the juice and zest. Cook in a bowl over boiling water (stir constantly, do not let boil). When thickened, strain onto butter and blend with a hand held mixer.

Now... be prepared to have the yummiest mix of lemon-sugar goodness... when I haven't had them in a while, and I forget how intense the flavour is, my taste-buds go a little berserk!

Guillaime Brahimi, Good Weekend Mag. Sydney Morning Herald.