Laws of the Kitchen

Christmas muffins

2009-12-10T08:00:00.002+11:00

Christmas is getting closer - hooray! My team at work is going to Christmas drinks at the historic Regatta Hotel in Toowong this afternoon. It is a large airy hotel with huge verandahs - perfect for a town which swelters in the heat and humidity every summer. My favourite piece of Regatta Hotel history is that Sigrid Thornton's mum, Merle, and a friend once chained themselves to the bar of the hotel to protest against women not being able to enter the public bar in hotels in Australia as late as the 1960s - this ban seems ludicrous now!

In keeping with the Christmas spirit, I'm going to share another fruit mince recipe that I made for the bake sale - this time in the form of Christmas muffins. The recipe again comes from the Christmas baking supplement to the December 2009 issue of Australian Good Food magazine. Unfortunately, I didn't get to taste these, because I wasn't buying back my own baked goods, but they sure smelled good.

To make these muffins, you will need:

1 1/2 cups fruit mince
125ml vegetable oil
80ml milk
1 lightly beaten egg
200g self-raising flour (I used the wholemeal variety)
75g sugar

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius, and line 4 x 12 hole mini muffin tins or 1 x 12 hole muffin tin with muffin papers.

Place the mince, oil, milk and beaten egg into a bowl and stir well to combine. Add the sifted flour and sugar, and stir until just combined.

Fill the muffin papers 2/3 full, and bake for 15 minutes (for minis) or 25 minutes (for full size muffins) in the preheated oven or until cooked through. Remove the muffins from the oven and unmould from the tins immediately. (If you don't, the papers tend to steam off.)

Enjoy!

Fruit mince pies

2009-12-09T08:15:00.000+11:00

Good morning everyone! It's wacky Wednesday, and today as promised, I will reveal what I did with some of my fruit mince.

We had a bake sale to raise money for the Salvation Army on Monday, so one of the treats that I made was fruit mince pies. These are a traditional British Christmas treat that we have imported. They consist of a shortcrust pastry shell filled with fruit mince, and topped with more shortcrust pastry - often in a fancy shape like a star or a heart.

The dough recipe that I used, from the Australian Good Food Christmas Baking supplement (December 2009), was very short and buttery indeed - which meant that I had a very hard time making the pies in the exceptionally hot weather that we've had. Also, it meant that the pies were quite flaky and crumbly, so they didn't travel well between my house and work. I can't comment on the taste, because I donated all the pies, but if you have a yen to try these, the recipe is as follows:

300g sifted plain flour
1/4 teaspoon sifted baking powder
185g chopped butter
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup fruit mince
1 eggwhite

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius, and grease 2 x 12 hole patty cake tins. (These are smaller than muffin tin holes, so if you don't have patty tins, you can use mini tart moulds.)

Put the sifted flour and baking powder into a bowl, and rub in the butter until it forms crumbs. Mix in the egg yolks and lemon juice to form a dough.

Knead the dough lightly, then divide it into two pieces, press each piece into a disc, and wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least half an hour.

Remove the dough from the fridge. Roll out half of the pastry to 3mm thickness, then using a 6.5cm round cutter, cut out 24 circles and place into the patty tins or tart moulds.

Put 2 teaspoons of fruit mince into each pie shell. Roll out the remainder of the dough to 5mm thick, and using a star or heart shaped cutter, cut out 24 shapes and use these to top the pies. (I didn't have quite enough dough, so I topped 4 of my pies with leftover gingerbread dough.)

Brush the tops of the pies with the lightly beaten eggwhite, then bake the pies for 20 minutes or until golden. Leave the pies to cool in their tins; this is important because they are quite fragile due to the flaky nature of the pastry. To serve, remove the pies from their tins and dust with icing sugar.

Fruit mince pies are usually enjoyed as an afternoon tea treat with coffee or tea.

Hope your Christmas preparations are coming along nicely!

TWD - Sables

2009-12-08T07:00:00.001+11:00

This week's Tuesday with Dorie challenge was Sables, chosen by our host, Bungalow Barbara. For the uninitiated, sables are an ultra-buttery shortbread biscuit, formed by rolling logs of chilled dough in sugar then slicing them into biscuits.

This recipe came together relatively quickly and easily. My cookies do not look as perfect as Dorie's, but then again, I'm a lawyer, not a pastry chef. I rolled the cookies in some clear Wilton decorating sugar that I received from Nikki in Blogging by Mail last year.

The resulting cookies were very buttery and melt in the mouth - not surprising given the amount of butter in them!

I gave this batch of cookies to my friend Ruth, who has managed to break her ankle, and has just had an operation to have her leg joined back together. She gets married in less than a month, and it is very, very hot here right now, so I do feel for her and hope really hard that the same won't happen to me - ever.

These appeared to be a favourite among the TWD group - to see how they went, go to the TWD blogroll. Barbara will post the recipe sometime on Tuesday, her time.

Fruit mince, Margaret Fulton style

2009-12-04T08:00:00.000+11:00

Little Jack Horner sat in the corner,

Eating a Christmas pie.

He put in his thumb,

and pulled out a plum,

And said, 'What a good boy am I.'

Traditional nursery rhyme

One of the building blocks for many traditional Christmas goodies is fruit mince. As a child, I hated fruit mince, because of its rather dense, slightly cloying texture, and of course, it usually contains citrus zest - a big ewww ingredient for a child!

However, I am now more "mature" in my tastes - I drink red wine, I eat blue cheese, and I am happy to have the sharpness of citrus zest in my food. Happily, this also means that at Christmas, I can indulge in treats such as fruit mince pies.

I've never made my own fruit mince or fruit mince pies before, so this is a new adventure for me. There are literally hundreds of different recipes for fruit mince, as with every other Christmas treat, so to tone down the noise, I went straight to a recipe by Australia's original doyenne of home cooking, Margaret Fulton. This recipe is in Margaret's Fulton's Christmas, printed last year, and can also be found in the Australian Good Food Christmas Baking supplement with the December issue of Australian Good Food magazine, presumably because Suzanne Gibbs, Margaret's daughter, co-wrote the book and is a staff writer for Australian Good Food. There are no plums in Margaret's recipe, so Jack Horner will have to amuse himself in other ways.

Margaret's recipe makes a whopping nine cups of fruit mince; I scaled it down to two thirds. However, the original recipe in all its glory is as follows:

500g raisins
500g currants
500g sultanas
120g chopped blanched almonds
2 peeled, cored and grated Granny Smith apples
330g packed brown sugar
150g melted butter
185ml brandy or rum
1 teaspoon mixed spice
grated zest and juice of 2 oranges

Process the fruit and almonds together in a food processor until coarsely chopped. You may have to do this in batches, depending on the size and horse-power of your food processor, and depending on whether you make the full recipe.

Put the chopped fruit and nuts into a bowl, add the remaining ingredients, and stir well to combine.

Cover the fruit mince and chill for at least 2 days before using, stirring daily. You'll be surprised at how it sucks up all the liquid and becomes quite dense! The fruit mince will keep for several months stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator (if it lasts that long!).

On the weekend, I will be making some goodies for our work bake sale using the fruit mince. I will post about these soon.

Mini Christmas Puddings

2009-12-02T13:42:00.001+11:00

Mrs. Cratchit entered, her face crimson, but smiling proudly, with the pudding resembling a cannon ball, all speckled, very firm, sprinkled with brandy in flames, and decorated with a sprig of holly stuck in the centre. Oh! The marvellous pudding!

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

My favourite part of Christmas dinner is plum pudding and custard. I love the fabulous, fruity-alcohol smell, the rich smooth flavour, and the sweet custard flowing down the sides (brandy butter or cream optional). No matter how full I am after Christmas dinner, there is always room for Christmas pudding.

I have started my Christmas baking (although my cake was made in June!), and as part of the gift packages that I am giving to friends, I am including an individual boiled Christmas pudding each. I made these on the weekend when it was 35 degrees Celsius, and as I have no air conditioning, it may be considered a little enthusiastic of me to boil these inside for the required 4 hours! However, now they are done, and I am proud of them (although I can't taste them myself).

I used a recipe by Emma Shearer of The Manse Restaurant in Adelaide which appeared in this month's Delicious magazine. It was perfect because it was already designed to make 6 individual puddings.

To make these puddings, you will need:

1/2 cup each of sultanas, currants, raisins and dates (I left out the dates)
1/4 cup dried mixed peel (I left this out)
grated zest of 1 orange
1/4 slivered almonds (I used flaked almonds)
1/2 cup brandy
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup mixed spice (I used cloves)
1 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
125g softened butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 eggs
100ml milk

Put the fruit, peel, zest and almonds into a bowl with the brandy, stir to combine, and leave to rest for at least 4 hours.

Grease six x 1 cup dariole moulds.

Sift the flour, spices and a pinch of salt together into a medium bowl, stir in the breadcrumbs, and set aside.

Put the brown sugar, white sugar and butter into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium speed until light and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well.

Remove the bowl from the mixer, then fold in the fruit mixture, and finally, fold in the flour and milk.

Divide the batter evenly between the moulds and smooth the tops with the back of a spoon.

Cover each mould with a piece of pleated baking paper and a double layer of pleated foil, and seal tightly with string:

Put a saucer into the base of a large saucepan and stand the moulds on the plate. Pour water into the saucepan until it comes half way up the sides of the moulds. Cover the saucepan and bring the water to the boil, then turn down the heat so that the water comes to a simmering boil, and boil for 4 hours. You may need to top up the water (I checked on it every hour), being careful not to get any water into the moulds. (Because my saucer was not flat, a couple of the puddings unfortunately got a little damp during boiling, but are still OK.)

At the end of the cooking time, remove the moulds carefully from the water, and immediately remove the foil, paper and string:

Immediately unmould each pudding by running a knife around the edge of the pudding to loosen it from the mould, then carefully tipping it upside down onto a plate:

And voila - you have Christmas puddings! (Give the top of the mould a few taps if the pudding stubbornly clings to the mould.)

This is the first of my Christmas baking posts. More will come as I progress! (This will happen soon, as we have a Christmas bake sale for charity at work on Monday.)

TWD - Rosy Poached Pear and Pistachio Tart

2009-12-01T07:00:00.002+11:00

This week's Tuesday with Dorie is hosted by Lauren of I'll Eat You, who has chosen the alliterative Rosy Poached Pear and Pistachio Tart for this week's recipe.

As you can see, this tart is an absolute feast for the eyes with the contrasting muted green and red, and would be a fabulous centrepiece at a dinner party. It also tastes obscenely good - the pastry cream contains pistachio nuts, which gives it an interesting flavour and texture as well as giving it a green hue, and the pears poached in red wine are tender and flavourful. The caramelised chopped pistachios on top add texture, and their hard crunchiness contrasts nicely with the softer filling beneath.

However, the drawback of making this tart is that it is major production. There are four separate components to make (five if you make the pouring syrup), and two of those components need several hours to chill. I ended up making this tart over 4 nights, starting with making and freezing the unbaked pie crust on day one, then making the pastry cream on day two, poaching the pears, baking the pie crust and caramelising the pistachios on day three, then finally assembling it and making the syrup on day four. Once again, you can't just decide to make this a couple of hours before guests arrive; you need to plan and set aside the time to make the various components and assemble the finished tart.

OK, enough of the analysis. There is only a photo of the finished product in Dorie's book, so I thought it would be fun to show you the step by step photos.

First, here are the poached pears, drained of the poaching syrup:

Aren't they a gorgeous colour? I poached my pears in a bottle of 1997 Mount Tambourine Black Shiraz that I had hoarded for years, then promptly ruined for drinking when the cork disintegrated into the wine on opening.

And here are the pears sliced in half to demonstrate the contrast between the coloured outer pear, which touched the poaching syrup, and the tender but uncoloured inner pear:

This is the pistachio pastry cream; you could choose to strain out the nuts, but I liked the texture that they added to the pastry cream:

These are my caramelised pistachios, which went slightly sticky even after one night:

And finally, here is the finished product, sliced to show the layers:

I made the optional syrup to go with my tart, figuring that any leftovers would be delicious poured over icecream:

I loved this tart, but because of the time intensive nature of this tart and the expense of the ingredients, it won't be in regular rotation here. However, for a special occasion, it is a real winner as an adult dessert.

To see the recipe, go to Lauren's site; and to see how the other TWD members went with this tart and what they thought, visit the TWD blogroll.

The Kitchen Reader - The Warmest Room in the House

2009-11-30T07:00:00.003+11:00

November's pick for The Kitchen Reader is The Warmest Room in the House by Steven Gdula. The book's title comes from the author's introduction, where he states that:

My family's kitchen was the warmest room in the house.

It's kind of hard writing this review today, as every room here is the warmest room in the house - our maximum temperature was 35 degrees Celsius, and it is still currently 26 degrees outside (and way hotter inside!).

However, Gdula is not referring to the temperature of his family's kitchen; rather, for him, it was the fact that the kitchen was the room where his extended family came together and stayed together as a family, thereby keeping their traditions and their pasts alive, which made it "the warmest room".

The Warmest Room in the House is a history of the American home kitchen in the twentieth century. It works its way, in chapters divided into decades, through developments and changes in the American home kitchen. Gdula assists readers to understand how the political and social changes which took place inside and outside the home led to corresponding changes in the kitchen. This made Gdula's book an interesting read, despite being purely historical; I would never have imagined that outside events could have such an influence on the domestic sphere of individuals.

The kitchen of the first decade of the twentieth century was often a dark and depressing place where only the servants entered. The labour was hard, and women who did not have servants spent much of their time in the preparation and preservation of food. There were none of the mod cons such as electric or gas ovens and refrigerators, and canning and other means of preserving were important.

During the 1920s, sweets and soft drinks replaced the prohibited alcohol as a means for people to indulge, which was counter-balanced by the fashion for small figures to fit into flapper fashion. It was the decade in which boxed cereal and sliced bread first hit the shelves, revolutionising the way in which people ate, as these were the beginning of "convenience" foods.

The 1930s saw the introduction of many new kitchen gadgets to take the labour out of kitchen chores, such as pressure cookers and sink garbage disposal units. Another important innovation was the gable topped milk carton, because it could be resealed without having a lid.

In the 1940s, the war led to unexpected developments in the home kitchen, as freeze-dried meat, the microwave, Teflon coating and aluminium foil came about through scientific research for defence purposes. Additionally, the stimulus to the economy started by the war effort led to affluence in the kitchen, by contrast to the Depression years of the previous decade.

Further technological developments in the 1950s meant that people could spend less time in the kitchen, and leisure time came into vogue. Bigger families also led to bigger homes with bigger kitchens, and the development of the open plan living area in ranch style house meant that people could interact with family and friends while preparing food. The invention of the modern electric refrigerator during the 50s revolutionised the way in which food was stored. In this decade, the beginning of the long association between men and barbecues also began.

The 1960s began people's awareness of potential food contamination through the very chemicals that were being used to increase yields, such as pesticides, commencing with Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. This led to the birth of the organic food industry. "Non-food" items such non-dairy creamers and artificial sweeteners were invented. The 1960s was also the decade when Julia Child first beamed into American homes, and urged people to ditch convenience foods in favour of cooking from scratch. Weight Watchers and similar organisations were also born during the health conscious 60's.

In the 1970s, as both men and women entered into the workforce in greater numbers and became time poor, technological advances in gadgets (such as the food processor and the Crock Pot) and convenience foods (such as Hamburger Helper and frozen dinners) became popular. People also became more familiar with authentic international cuisine such as Chinese, Italian and Greek.

The 1980s saw the battle of the bulge launch into full swing, as studies showed that Americans had become unhealthy on high fat and sugar laden diets. Diet books and diet foods were all the rage (as they still are today). Poultry and fish became more popular in American diets than ever before. Chickens became easier and cheaper to raise due to scientific advances in disease control, which helped poultry's popularity on the dinner table. Americans also branched out into more exotic international cuisine, such as Japanese, Vietnamese and Thai. Beautification of the kitchen came into vogue in the 80s through Martha Stewart.

In the 1990s, "Frankenfoods" (genetically modified foods) were approved for sale by the FDA, continuing the trend of technological advancements in the kitchen, while at the other end of the spectrum, nostalgia overtook the kitchen, with the re-emergence of the martini and retro-inspired kitchenwares becoming popular. This was also the era when people stockpiled non-perishable foods in preparation for the Millennium Bug which threatened to bite at the turn of the next century. Increases in the price of food during the 90s saw the return in popularity of foods such as the Hamburger Helper, originally developed to help people to save time but which now also helped them to save money by making more of less. The 90s was also the dawn of online grocery shopping - another technological advancement which meant that people could attend to the necessities without ever leaving the house.

Gdula finishes his history of the American kitchen with a short chapter on where the American kitchen may go from here. He concludes with this summation of the role of the American kitchen:

In its recipes we find our past; in the daily preparation of its meals we celebrate the present; and in our desire to share these recipes, meals, and moments with family and friends again, we look hopefully toward a warm and comforting future.

Although I am an Australian, I found Gdula's book interesting, because there are obviously strong parallels between the development of the Australian and the American kitchen, and we have been influenced by similar world events and share many aspects of American popular culture, from television shows through to groups such as Weight Watchers. I enjoyed learning how and why many things that we now take for granted were created, and after reading this history, I am appreciative that I have a modern twenty-first century kitchen rather than a labour intensive turn of the twentieth century kitchen.

Gdula clearly demonstrates how wider social, economic and political issues impacts on the domestic life of all Americans (and of course, everyone). Although The Warmest Room in the House is a history book, it is certainly never dull, and makes interesting reading for foodies and modern historians alike.

Yoghurt Cake with Blueberries

2009-11-29T22:55:00.004+11:00

This weekend, I commenced my Christmas baking and preparations in earnest, so I didn't have time for complex side ventures. However, as a simple item that I could take to work to share, I made Clotilde's (of Chocolate & Zucchini) Yoghurt Cake, and threw in a few blueberries for additional flavour.

Clotilde tells us that this cake is the first one that French children learn to make because it is so simple - what's not to like about that? She also accurately describes this cake as fluffy and not too sweet.

I enjoyed my slice of yoghurt cake with a scoop of vanilla icecream:

I own Clotilde's first book, Chocolate & Zucchini, which contains this recipe. It is a beautiful book, and well worth the purchase price. There are plenty of recipes, just like this one, with lovely photographs for each recipe, and a nifty set of conversion tables in the back (which I use all the time for oven temperatures when making American recipes).

Hope you had a great weekend!

Daring Bakers - Holy Cannoli!

2009-11-27T07:00:00.003+11:00

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

My cannoli were made according to Lisa Michele's recipe without any changes, given that I really only had a vague idea what cannoli were and had certainly never tried them before. I only made a half batch of shells, using Marsala, and quartered the given ricotta filling recipe, which contained chocolate, orange zest and nuts. The ends of the cannoli were dipped in chopped chocolate and mixed chopped nuts, respectively.

Here is my cannoli dough prior to rolling into submission:

I took the plunge and deep fried my cannoli shells, just as the recipe intended. I am scared witless of deep frying, but I survived intact, despite all of the protesting, popping and spitting from the oil in the pan. Despite my kitchen measuring 29 degrees Celsius on my digital thermometer, I wore a light weight cardigan while frying the shells so that I had some protection for my arms in the event that the pan spat too vehemently and caught my limbs. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to control the oil temperature that well, and some of the shells ended up a little on the dark brown side.

The shells blistered like they were supposed to, which made me feel justified in christening the pasta machine that had previously lived for 5 years unopened on the top of my kitchen cupboard to ensure that my dough was ultra thin. I understand from my research that ultra thin dough is required to obtain blistering of the shells. Here's the pasta machine in action:

And here are my unfilled but fried to perfection (errr - or a little more) cannoli shells:

I am proud that they turned out warty and ugly, just like they're supposed to. And as for taste - well, once filled with ricotta, they were delicious! When I bit into the crispy shell, it shattered and gave way to the moist, smooth filling inside, with a curious combination of flavours and textures that somehow seemed just right.

Thanks to Lisa Michele for being our host this month and introducing me to something entirely new (oh yeah, and making me conquer my fear of the deep fryer). You can get the recipe I used from Lisa Michele's post. To check out the many creative varieties of cannoli dreamed up by the other Daring Bakers, visit the blogroll at The Daring Kitchen.

TWD - All In One Holiday (Mini) Bundt Cakes

2009-11-24T07:00:00.004+11:00

Last Saturday night, I attended my high school reunion. It was one of those occasions where, almost until the last moment, I waivered as to whether or not I'd go. I wasn't one of the popular crowd at school, and did some regrettable things from time to time as all teenagers do, so I wasn't sure I wanted to revisit memories that I'd locked up and thrown away the key on.

However, I was brave, and I went. And I am glad that I did. It wasn't the ordeal that I imagined it might be, and dare I say it, I had fun. All that angst for nothing!

Tuesday with Dorie this week is a reunion of sorts, in that I re-made the All In One Holiday Bundt Cake, chosen by our host, Britin of The Nitty Britty.

Having made one large cake last time, I decided to halve the recipe and make mini bundts this time. I used a silicone pan and a metal pan to do this. All of the bundts in the silicone pan stuck, while none of the bundts in the metal pan stuck. Both pans were treated the same, so I am not sure what the story is. However, I do know that I will be sticking (forgive the pun) with metal pans in the future.

As ever, these cakes were delicious - moist, fruity and tangy. It is an absolute keeper of a recipe, and one of my favourite Dorie recipes.

You can check out everyone else's All In One Holiday Bundts at the TWD blogroll. If you'd like the recipe, it will be posted on The Nitty Britty.

Blueberry Lemon Curd Ring

2009-11-19T08:26:00.004+11:00

I had a yen to make bread recently, and after flicking through my books, I settled on the Blueberry Lemon Curd Ring on p228 of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.

My effort, pictured above, doesn't quite look like the author's version, which you can view, together with the recipe, on their website.

I'll blame the differences on the fact that my kitchen was pretty hot and steamy and the dough didn't take kindly to being manipulated when it was nearly melting into the tray.

The finished product tasted OK, but personally, I'd like more lemon curd in it. My friend Ruth didn't believe me when I said there was lemon curd in this bread (there is half a cup). I'd also probably chill it before making the slashes, because hot dough when slashed just melts back into the slashes.

If you try (or have tried) this, let me know - I would love to hear your tips. (Have just spotted a few bloggers who made this, including this one - they all look something like mine and not the authors' version.)

TWD - Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies

2009-11-17T07:00:00.005+11:00

This week's Tuesday with Dorie is hosted by Pamela of Cookies with Boys, who has chosen Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies. Now personally, I find that title a mouthful; however, they are very much like gingernut biscuits. There - now you all know what they are! (Well, as best you can given that they are apparently different in every Australian state.)

The batter for these cookies smelled devine - I wanted to eat it raw, but didn't. And when they were baking - the smell was out of this world! It was a smell to make you feel happy, full of brown sugar and spicy goodness.

I included all of the spices, including the black pepper (which some TWDers balked at), and used treacle instead of molasses.

These cookies tasted oh so good - they were crispy at the edges and chewy in the middle, and were densely caramelly delicious. I ate two while they were still warm - I couldn't help myself! I'd definitely make these again - they are fairly low fuss, although you need to freeze the gooey dough for half an hour before baking.

You can see what all the other TWDers got up to by visiting the TWD blogroll, and you can obtain the recipe for these cookies from Dorie's book or Pamela's site.

Christmas Cake Decorating at Black Pearl Epicure

2009-11-16T08:41:00.003+11:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ...

Christmas is creeping steadily closer, and preparations are well underway at Chez Cakelaw. Even though I go to my mother's for Christmas, I have for the past few years been making Christmas treats for my friends, which takes some planning to ensure that there is no last minute rush on, say, the depleted condensed milk isle or the dried apricots at my local grocery store.

On Sunday, just for fun and to get me into the Christmas spirit, I attended a half day Christmas cake decorating course at Black Pearl Epicure. As you can imagine, in such a short time, we are not going to be creating the Sistine Chapel of cakes, but our teacher, Judy C of Cakes by Judy C, showed us three simple designs. The first was simply sticking lustre dusted Christmas shapes and silver cachous on the cake; the next was creating a holly wreath around the edge of the cake; and the third, which I chose, was a candle design.

Here is my finished cake:

The hardest part was actually icing the cake itself, not the decorations. To make the candles, we just rolled up sausages of rolled fondant of different sizes, hollowing out the top of each with our fingertip to imitate a "burnt out" look. The candles (and all other decorations) were stuck to the cake with water. We then cut out holly leaves using a holy shaped cutter and green rolled fondant, marking leaf markings with a knife, which we stuck on in a twisty way at the base of the candles. The little holly berries are balls of rolled red fondant. Next, using royal icing, we piped on dripping candle wax and the candle flames, then finally, highlighted the piping with silver lustre dust and put a glow around the flames using gold lustre dust.

The ferns were painted on using a dab of Wilton green gel colouring which had been diluted with water to make a paint, while the non-edible ribbons were stuck on last using dabs of royal icing.

I think the cake is simple but effective, and Judy C was certainly a good teacher.

I hope your own Christmas preparations are going well!

Farewell to Fay - White Gold Passion Genoise

2009-11-14T21:48:00.010+11:00

On Friday, Fay retired to a life of freedom and cruises - we can't wait to hear what Fay does next!

In the usual fashion, I made Fay a cake. She wanted me to make her something new, so I chose the White Gold Passion Genoise from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Heavenly Cakes. It consists of a genoise soaked with passionfruit syrup, filled with passionfruit curd, then topped with a white chocolate cream cheese frosting.

Before I go further, a word from our sponsor - you can now buy the BloggerAid Cook Book online here. Laws of the Kitchen has contributed a recipe, once again using passionfruit, so check it and all the other fabulous recipes out! All proceeds go to the World Food Program's School Meals Program.

Here is Fay proudly displaying her cake, even before she knew what sort it was or had tasted it. Love ya Fay!

This cake is very involved as far as steps go, so I made the genoise and the curd one night and the syrup and the frosting on the night of assembly. The genoise worked out great - I loved Rose's tips, like combining some of the batter with the melted butter before incorporating the butter into the batter; I found that this prevented an oily separated pool forming at the bottom of the bowl. I also liked her idea of sifting the flour into the batter instead of just plonking some in before folding - it helped a lot in the combination process.

Here's a peek inside the cake, showing the layers:

The sweetness of the frosting is cut by the sharpness of the passionfruit, and together it makes a wonderful combination. None was left over, even though I cut the cake into tiny pieces for it to go around as far as possible.

The recipe is as follows:

Genoise

3 tablespoons clarified butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cake flour
1/2 cup minus one tablespoon cornflour

Preheat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius and grease, flour and line a 9" cake pan with 2" sides.

Put the clarified butter in a heatproof bowl and warm it until almost hot, then stir in the vanilla. Cover the bowl and keep the butter warm.

In a heatproof bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together. Put the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and heat, stirring constantly, until lukewarm.

Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk the egg mixture with a stand mixer for 5 minutes or until the mixture has quadrupled in volume.

Whisk together 1 cup of the beaten eggs with the clarified butter mixture. Set aside.

Sift half the flour over the rest of the egg mixture and fold in with a spatula. Once it has been combined, fold in the remaining flour and finally the butter mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20-20 minutes or until the cake is golden and has started to pull away from the sides of the pan. Unmould onto a wire rack sprayed with cooking oil immediately, then, leaving the bottom pan lining in place, turn the cake right side up and leave to cool completely.

Curd

3 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
42g butter
1/2 cup passionfruit pulp
pinch of salt

Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and butter in a saucepan until well combined. Whisk in 5 tablespoons of passionfruit puree and the salt. Cook the mixture on medium-low heat, stirring continuously, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of your spoon. Remove the curd from the heat and strain into a heatproof bowl, then stir in the remaining passionfruit. Allow the curd to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes before covering and refrigerating until cool.

Syrup

1 vanilla bean
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons passionfruit pulp

Put the sugar into a small saucepan, and scrape in the vanilla beans from the split vanilla bean pod, and rub them into the sugar. Add the pod to the pan, and stir in 1/2 cup passionfruit pulp. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil, stirring continuously, then cover it and remove it from the heat and allow it to cool completely. Transfer it to a jug and stir in the rest of the passionfruit pulp.

White Chocolate Frosting

100g white chocolate
2 x 50g butter
1 egg
1 egg yolk
170g cream cheese
1/2 tablespoon creme fraiche or sour cream (I used natural set yoghurt)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a baine marie, melt the white chocolate and 50g butter. Whisk in the egg and yolk, and continue whisking and heating the mixture until it reaches 60 degrees Celsius. Remove the mixture from the heat, and allow it to cool to ~20 degrees Celsius. To speed it up, you may refrigerate the mixture for around 20 minutes. (I had to - my kitchen temperature was 26 degrees Celsius!)

In a stand mixer bowl, whisk the cream cheese and 50g butter until smooth, then beat in the creme fraiche (or sour cream). Gradually beat in the white chocolate mixture and vanilla, then increase the mixer speed and beat until light and creamy.

Assembly

Using a serrated knife, remove the top and bottom crusts of the cake, and cut it in half. Brush the top and bottom of each half with the syrup.

Place one half of the cake onto a cardboard cake round. Spread it with 3/4 cup passionfruit curd, and place the other half of the cake on top. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the frosting, swirling the top, and place the cake in the fridge for an hour to set the frosting. Put small dabs of the remaining passionfruit curd on top of the frosting and swirl to combine.

Enjoy!

I recommend buying Rose's book if you are into making cakes - it is very beautiful and packed with wonderful recipes and tips.

Happy 40th Birthday to Sesame Street - Sesame Street Cupcakes

2009-11-11T23:35:00.016+11:00

Can you tell me how to get
How to get to Sesame Street ...

Today is the 40th birthday of Sesame Street. I grew up on a steady diet of Sesame Street and Playschool, so Sesame Street holds a special place in my heart. I can't remember for sure who was my favourite character, but I remember being fascinated by Mr Snufalufagus because he was so elusive. I also vividly remember being called "Big Bird" by a much shorter pre-pubescent boy in Grade 7 at Belle & Beau Ball dance practice for Project Club, so perhaps this explains my fascination with Mr Snufalufagus. Wow, that brings back some memories!

In honour of Sesame Street's 40th birthday (after all, you don't turn 40 every day), I have made some Sesame Street cupcakes. I found the general idea for the decoration here on Petit Chef.

For the base cupcakes, I used my favourite Crabapple Bakery Vanilla Daisy cupcake recipe. For Elmo, I used Wilton red ready-made icing, and piped it on with a plain tip in strands to imitate hair. I then stuck on half of a Delta Cream biscuit from which I had scraped the icing for the mouth, and an orange Skittle for the nose, and finally piped on the eyes using Wilton white ready made icing and Queen chocolate fudge icing.

For Oscar the Grouch, I made green buttercream icing which I slathered on roughly to give the effect of fluffy fur, and again used half of a Delta Cream for the mouth (but this time upside down because he's a grouch), and piped on the eyes. I ran out of Wilton white icing for the eyes, and at 9.30pm I wasn't in the mood to make more, so I scraped up the icing from the middle of the Delta Creams into a piping bag and used that to finish the eyes. It worked like a charm!

I think these cupcakes are gorgeous. They would be perfect for a children's birthday party, and are fairly easy to make - they just take time and patience to decorate, not to mention some elbow grease if you are using the large Wilton ready-made icing tubes to pipe with!

Happy 40th birthday to all the gang at Sesame Street!!

Berliner Pfannkuchen

2009-11-11T09:30:00.004+11:00

At midnight on 9 November 1989, the Berlin Wall began to be dismantled, ending 30 years of separation between communist East Berlin and West Berlin. On Monday night at midnight, the 20th anniversary of the occasion was marked in Berlin with celebrations, including the knocking over of painted foam dominoes to symbolise the coming down of the Wall.

I wanted to mark this auspicious occasion, so I have made Berliner Pfannkuchen, a type of jam donut which I understand to be a traditional recipe originating in Berlin. President John F Kennedy is famous for declaring on his visit to Berlin on 26 June 1963 that "Ich bin ein Berliner!" - which unfortunately literally translates to "I am a jam donut!"

I used a recipe for Berliner Pfannkuchen that I found on Cast Sugar's site. Like Cast Sugar, I eschewed the traditional dusting of icing sugar for a coating of caster sugar - as I am a sweet tooth too!

For some reason, my jam spread inside the donuts instead of being contained in an oozy single centre - but hey, they still tasted good! This is my first ever batch of fried donuts.

To all Berliners, congratulations and enjoy this momentous occasion!

TWD - Cran-Apple Blueberry Crisp

2009-11-10T07:00:00.000+11:00

This week's Tuesday with Dorie is hosted by Em of The Repressed Pastry Chef, who has chosen Dorie's Cran-Apple Crisp.

The recipe calls for fresh and dried cranberries. As I didn't have fresh cranberries, I substituted fresh blueberries, hence I ended up with a Cran-Apple Blueberry Crisp. I also didn't have traditional oats, and used quick oats instead, which seemed to work just fine. Stupidly, I halved the recipe (which makes 8 serves) and only made 2 crisps instead of 4. I was puzzled when the fruit filled the ramekins to the brim, and I had to throw away half the topping - and now I know why. I also quite happily ate what I now know was a double serving of crisp - oops. The other one is still in the fridge and will be eaten in two sittings.

This dessert tasted delicious! What can be bad about apples, cranberries and blueberries topped with an oaty, crisp topping. As you can see, the proof of the pudding is in the eating:

You can check out how the other TWD bakers went with the cran-apple crisps by checking out the TWD blogroll, and you can find the recipe in Dorie's book or on Em's site.

Parkin for Guy Fawkes Night

2009-11-05T07:00:00.002+11:00

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...

Tonight is Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Bonfire Night. It originates in the UK, and marks the anniversary of the night in 1605 when Guy Fawkes was found with several barrels of gun powder in the cellars of British Parliament to implement a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament and overthrow the government. The idea of commemorating this event is to remind people of the consequences of treason so that they are deterred from undertaking a similar course to Guy Fawkes, whose fate was to be hung, drawn and quartered.

On Bonfire Night, children burn effigies of Guy Fawkes (known as "guys") and bonfires and fireworks are lit to commemorate the event. Traditionally, jacket potatoes, toffee apples, treacle toffee and parkin (a particular form of gingerbread) are shared by revellers on Bonfire Night.

Guy Fawkes Night ceased to be celebrated in Australia some time ago when fireworks were banned because of the safety risks. My closest connection to Guy Fawkes Night is my mother's stories of enjoying fireworks with her family. However, in the spirit of the occasion, I have made parkin. I made Dan Lepard's parkin recipe, which you can find here. I omitted the mixed citrus peel, as I didn't have any, and used oats instead of oatmeal (as that is what I had on hand). The result is a delicious, dense, gingery cake that is perfect for taking to outdoor activities on Bonfire Night.

To everyone in the UK, I hope that you have an enjoyable Bonfire Night.

TWD - Chocolate Caramel Chestnut Cake

2009-11-03T07:00:00.008+11:00

Happy Tuesday to everyone! Things have been a little quiet at Laws of the Kitchen, as I have just returned from 4 days away in Melbourne to attend Derby Day and catch up with friends. We certainly had 4 seasons in 4 days, if not in one day, as it was cold and wet and grey on day one, hot and sunny day two, cool but sticky and overcast on day three and cool and sunny on day four. That's Melbourne for you! Luckily I am an old hand at guessing what to wear, and the weather was kind on Derby Day so I could wear my pretty race dress in traditional black and white, so all went well. (I didn't win anything, if you are curious, but had a lovely time.)

It's Tuesday with Dorie time again, and this week, our host is Katya of Second Dinner, who chose Dorie's Chocolate Caramel Chestnut Cake. This cake is a doozie - it consists of a base cake laden with nut spread (it's supposed to be chestnut, but chestnut spread being thin on the ground in Brisbane, I used hazelnut spread), filled with a chocolate caramel ganache and chopped tinned chestnuts, then glazed with a chocolate glaze and decorated with more chestnuts.

It is rather a rich confection, and a small slice goes a very long way, but it tastes delicious. It came together fairly easily for me - it even sliced into three portions quite neatly:

Here is the cake after being filled then slathered with ganache:

And again after being coated in the chocolate glaze:

Because of the time and money which goes into making this cake, it is not one that will make its way into my regular repertoire. However, it was delicious, and I would consider it again for a special occasion, perhaps using all hazelnuts, which are easier to acquire and in my view tastier.

To see how all the other TWD bakers went, check out the TWD blogroll, and for the recipe, go to Dorie's book or Katya's site.

I leave you with a slice of the chocolate caramel chestnut cake to help you through the day:

The Kitchen Reader - My Life in France by Julia Child

2009-10-31T07:00:00.006+11:00

The Kitchen Reader book for October is My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme. Alex worked with Julia in the last year of her life to put together this book from her memories and from old letters that the Childs and their friends and relatives had sent over the years. The idea for the book had first been floated by Paul Child, Julia's husband, in 1969, but it was not until shortly before Julia's death in 2004 that the idea came to fruition. It was a close call, as Alex had to finish the book after Julia's death.

My Life in France documents the lives of Paul and Julia Childs, not only during their time in France, but also during Paul's diplomatic transfers to Norway and back to America before his retirement. Through its pages, we learn how Paul and Julia came to be in France, and how Julia came, first to cooking and earning a diploma from Le Cordon Bleu, then to writing Mastering the Art of French Cooking (MtAoFC) and her subsequent TV career. I learned for the first time that Julia co-authored MtAoFC with two French women, Simone Beck (known as Simca) and Louisette Bertholle, and that the project to write a book on French cookery for American women was actually started by Simone and Louisette. It was not until their original publisher rejected their efforts and suggested that they find an American collaborator to help them that Julia's involvement with MtAoFC commenced. None of Julia's achievements came without considerable downs and lots of hard work. Perhaps the most striking aspects of Julia's personality which shine through in My Life in France are Julia's determination and committed work ethos. Without them, MtAoFC would never have been published.

The pages of My Life in France are littered with colourful characters, including the larger than life Julia and her sister, Dort, through to their cantankerous father, John McWilliams, the Childs' French maids, Coo-Coo and Jeanne-la-folle ("crazy Jeanne"), Chef Bugnard, Julia's teacher at Le Cordon Bleu, Julia's devoted friend Avis De Voto (who is integral in MtAoFC finally being published), Judith Jones, the editor who made MtAoFC happen, and last but certainly not least, Paul Child, the love of Julia's life. The relationship between Paul and Julia is remarkable, and I would consider myself extremely blessed if I find a soulmate who makes me feel like Paul made Julia feel.

Paul and Julia dubbed their apartment in Paris "Roo de Loo" (as it was located at 81 Rue de l'Universite), and it is here that much of the action in the book takes place. Although Paul and Julia are forced to leave Paris after 4 years for Marseilles due to Paul's work commitments, their hearts remain in Paris. While in Paris, Julia met Simca and Louisette, and together they started a cooking school called L'Ecole des Trois Gourmandes ("The School of the Three Hearty Eaters") before their book collaboration began. When Julia collaborated with Simca and Louisette on what was to become MtAoFC, there were so many hurdles to the book's publication that I am sure that Julia often had reason to recall one of Paul's favourite phrases, Illegitemus non carborundum est ("Don't let the bastards grind you down").

Julia's successful TV career began in 1962 after she returned to the US as a means of promoting MtAoFC, at a time when she had never even watched television. It was a baptism of fire, as the original three shows were filmed without interruption, and as Julia herself said, she was a complete amateur. However, those first three shows were popular enough for her show, The French Chef, to become a regular television program.

Child residences which feature prominently with Roo de Loo include their Provence getaway situated near the Becks called La Pitchoune (meaning "The Little Thing" and dubbed "La Peetch" for short), and their final home at 103 Irving Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, which Avis spotted for them, and from whence Julia's famous kitchen was relocated to the Smithsonian Institute.

The book's conclusion is rather poignant, as Julia's relatives and friends begin "to slip off into the wide blue yonder". However, a life as rich as Julia's gives reason to celebrate rather than to mourn. We are incredibly lucky that, thanks to Paul Child's original idea, Julia's dedication to that idea and Alex Prud'homme's ability to bring it to fruition, we are able to share some of the details of Julia's life, and be inspired ourselves.

My Life in France has a wonderful tale to tell, which is interesting and inspiring regardless of whether or not you have an interest in food or have seen Julia's shows or own MtAoFC. It gives readers an inside look at an extraordinary life and at a number of pivotal historical eras in modern European and American history.

Virtual Night In - Rose Biscuits

2009-10-28T09:04:00.005+11:00

Silver Moon Dragon of Dragon Musings is hosting a Virtual Night In for Pink October, which promotes breast cancer awareness. The deadline for entries was last night - I somehow thought it was 31 October, so this post is late, but I figure it is still 27 October elsewhere in the world. You can donate to this worthy cause by sponsoring Silver Moon Dragon's blog party here.

For my contribution, I have brought rose flavoured biscuits in the shape of pink girly shoes and dresses along. The biscuits are flavoured with crushed dried rose petals, and they are iced with pink icing flavoured with rose water. The recipe that I used is the same one that I used for the baby shower biscuits, but with the lavender substituted with rose.

You have until midnight on 27 October to contribute your entry, or you can help out by making a donation to this worthy cause.

A roundup of all blog party entries will be published at Dragon Musings later in the week.

Pumpkin apple spice bread

2009-10-28T07:00:00.002+11:00

Are your teeth aching after yesterday's Daring Bakers and TWD posts? Feeling the need for some powerful antacids? That's OK, this post tones it all down and goes back to a much less sweet, much more weight-friendly recipe in the form of a Pumpkin Apple Spice Bread, courtesy of Jill at Strawberry Spice.

Because it is autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, and with pumpkin-friendly Halloween and Thanksgiving coming up, there are loads of amazing pumpkin recipes popping up all over the blogosphere at the moment. As a child, I loathed pumpkin, and I only tried it again because I lived at a University residential college for 5 years, where it was eat your veges or starve! Pumpkin was one of the only pleasant surprises that we were served, and I am now a confirmed pumpkin fan.

This pumpkin apple spice bread (a cake, really) is not only delicious, but it is low in fat. It is also very forgiving, because in my absent-mindedness, I only added two egg whites instead of four, and it held together just fine.

To make this wonderful cake, you can find the recipe here. Apart from the accidental reduction in egg whites, my other tinkering consisted of using some stewed apple I had in the freezer instead of fresh apple, and replacing the raisins with currants and the pecans with cashews, for no other reason than that is what I had lying around.

This cake is delicious both warm and at room temperature. What else can I say - if you like pumpkin, make this cake!

TWD - Cherry Fudge Brownie Torte

2009-10-27T07:00:00.022+11:00

This week's Tuesday with Dorie challenge is a rich, decadent, Cherry Fudge Brownie Torte, chosen by April of Short + Rose.

You can easily guess what this dessert cake is all about from its title; however, I will confirm that it consists of a rich, dense, chocolatey (>300g worth!) base dotted with dried cherries soaked in cherry booze and made sticky with (in my case) raspberry jam, then topped with a contrasting mousse of marscapone, cream cheese and cream. Oh, and in case you can't work it out (according to this article, the Australian public needs to be told such things), it is highly calorific.

This torte tastes as devine as only that many calories can; however, you really only need a tiny slice of this to be satisfied, so when you spread the calories over the number of pieces of cake (I sliced at least 20 slices), it is not going to hurt once in a while as your treat of the day. And it does taste good - I could easily settle for the brownie layer less the cherry concoction and the mousse. It's not up there with my favourite desserts, but it is good.

You are supposed to flame your plumped up dried cherries with kirsch. I didn't have kirsch, but I have been harbouring a bottle of Danish Kirsberry for about two years after I decided I needed it during a raid on Dan Murphy's bottleshop in Prahran. (Yep, it's a well travelled bottle of Kirsberry - from Denmark to Melbourne to Brisbane.)

I also had a hard time finding the dried cherries. I remember that not so long ago I could buy them in the supermarket in Melbourne. Whether it's the change in geography which means that dried cherries just don't sell, or whether you never could buy them in Brisbane supermarkets, I could not find dried cherries in any of the 4 supermarkets that I canvassed. They weren't at the Powerhouse farmers market or New Farm Deli either (well, not without a chocolate coating). I found the Rolls Royce American version at Black Pearl for $17 per 200g (ouch!), before striking gold at The Nut Market at James Street Markets (at $5.95 per 100g, still not cheap, but affordable).

Here is the cherry-chocolate brownie base, which is definitely sturdy:

Mine puffed up and cracked slightly on top during baking, but settled down on cooling.

If that is not decadent enough, you top the base with a marscapone based mousse:

Marscapone is sold in supermarkets in 250g tubs, so I scaled down the mousse recipe in proportion to 1 tub of marscapone, and this provided a nice, thick topping.

If you would like to check out how the other TWD bakers went with this torte check out the Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll. For the recipe, check out Dorie's book or refer to April's blog (when it is Tuesday in the Northern Hemisphere).

Daring Bakers - Macarons

2009-10-27T07:00:00.016+11:00

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

My macarons are peach flavoured and filled with raspberry ganache. The nacarons behaved quite well, and had domes and feet, so I was pleased with them, even if they were not as aesthetically perfect as the macarons I made in July with a different recipe.

I had the benefit of reading the DB forums for the first half of the month before making these, and to flavour my macarons, I used peach tea, as suggested by Audax. The tea gave the macarons a pronounced peach flavour, and made flecks through the surface of the macaron for appearance and texture. However, even after 4 drops of liquid orange colouring, my macarons are not very peach-coloured - oh well.

Notice the feet!

It was the ganache, not the macarons themselves, which let me down. I tried a recipe for the ganache that says to add a third of a cup of raspberry jam to the cream and white chocolate for flavour. That is where disaster set in, and I ended up with a sticky, runny mess that never set up. However, chocolate is an expensive commodity, and I wasn't prepared to pour it into the bin and start again when really the point of the exercise for me was the macaron base, not the filling.

Despite the runny, hopeless filling, these macarons tasted delicious, and it hasn't put me off making macarons again should I have a yen to do so. However, it was nonetheless disappointing that the filling spoiled the appearance of the macarons.

Here's a shot of inside the macaron - it had a lovely chewy texture inside:

You can see a rainbow display of macarons of all varieties by going to The Daring Bakers blogroll. And for some cute as a button but no cal macarons, see Sian Keagan's wool macarons at Lushlee.

Slow Roasted Lamb & Chicken and Borlotti Bean Stew

2009-10-23T07:00:00.002+11:00

Happy Friday everyone! It's a good one for me because for the first weekend in ages, I don't have anywhere that I have to be or anything that I have to do. I am looking forward to spending my time tracking down some TWD ingredients which are exotic for Brisbane and to going to a Craft Fair to hopefully pick up some craft bargains (for all that craft that I do in my non-existent spare time, he, he).

To mix things up a bit, I am going to share a couple of main meals that I made recently - my true love is baked goods, but I enjoy cooking a good meal as well.

At the top of this post, I have featured in its uncooked state a leg of lamb that has been marinaded in accordance with Clotilde's recipe for Slow Roasted Shoulder of Lamb rubbed with Rosemary, Anchovy and Lemon Zest. Lamb shoulder is not within the province of my supermarket, so I made do with a leg of lamb. The little seeds you can see are mustard seeds, which I had a hard time buying - I went to three supermarkets before I found some.

I made this lamb when I had some friends over for dinner a little while ago. I have to tell you, this lamb tastes magnificent!!! My lamb marinated for a couple of days, and the flavour in the finished product (which I neglected to photograph) was devine. I served it with beans and jewelled couscous, and it was a hit. I don't like my lamb pink inside (it's an Australian thing), so I pumped up the heat for the last hour or so to ensure that the meat was lightly browned all the way through. Some of you may shudder at this, but I can assure you that it did not take away from the flavour in any way, and my guests seemed appreciative.

The next meal that I will share with you is Chicken and Borlotti Bean Stew. The recipe came under a slightly different name from p140 of the November edition of Australian Good Food. Now I know that you don't want me to bang on about calories, fat etc, as this is after all primarily a baking blog, but this meal is low in both, but still tastes good. The only change that I would have made is to season it with salt and pepper (the recipe is trying to be uber-healthy and doesn't talk about seasoning), but it is both hearty and delicious - a keeper for me.

To make this stew, you will need:

1 tablespoon olive oil
600g halved chicken thigh fillets
1 chopped onion
2 garlic cloves
2 cups (500ml) chicken stock
400g can borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
400g can crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon sage
2 sprigs thyme (I used rosemary 'cause that's what I had)
400g halved baby potatoes

Heat the oil in a wok or deep fry pan, then brown the chicken in batches and set aside.

Cook the onion in the same pan until soft and translucent, then add the garlic and cook until it too is soft. Add the stock, beans, tomatoes, tomato paste, sage and thyme, and bring the stwe to the boil. Add the chicken and potatoes to the pan, reduce te heat, and simmer for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Serve with salad greens.

Have a great weekend!