Cook Book Challenge : Peach and Mixed Berry Slice

Theme : Stonefruit

Cookbook : Bill Granger - Every Day

Recipe : Peach and Mixed Berry Slice

So... Here I am again.  Another cookbook challenge but this time, I'm determined to see this challenge all the way through.  After much discussion on twitter and at our cookbook finale lunch, it was decided to change it from weekly to fortnightly themes.  This will make it easier for all participants to keep up.  Talking from experience, if you fall behind, even a week, it's very hard to catch up.

I have decided to use Peaches for this fortnight's theme of stone fruit.  It is one of my favourite fruits.  Even though I don't usually cook fruit, as I like to eat them fresh, I decided to make a slice that also includes berries.  I used frozen berries but by all means use fresh ones. 

I loved this.  It's sweet and tart, chewy and crunchy.  It was a hit with the family.  It is something I would make again.

185g Plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp extra

125g chilled and diced butter

115g soft brown sugar

115g caster sugar

3 ripe peaches

90g frozen berries

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg, lightly beaten

185ml milk

1.  Preheat the oven to 160degC fanforced and grease and line the base of a baking tray 20 x 30cm.

2.  Peel the peaches by scoring a cross in the skin with a sharp knife, then blanch for 30 seconds in boiling water. Refresh in cold water and peel the skin away from the cross.  Slice into wedges.

3. In a large bowl, sift the flour and baking powder then rub in the butter with your fingertips.  Stir in both sugars.

4.  Press half of the mixture over the base of the tray.  Lay the peaches over the top and sprinkle with the berries.

5.  In a small bowl, combine the egg, milk and vanilla extract.  Add the extra baking powder tot he rest of the base mixture.  Add your wet ingredients and mix.  Don't worry if it's lumpy

6.  Pour evenly over the top of the fruit and bake for 45-50 minutes.  Cool in the tray then cut into squares when ready to serve.

If you would like to join, please register here.

Perfect Christmas Gift - Homemade Strawberry Jam

I love making and baking food Christmas gifts.  If I am organised enough, I like to make gifts for my family and friends.  I find it more satisfying to give homemade gifts rather than store bought ones.  

I decided to make jam, after finding I had an abundance of strawberries when we went strawberry picking.  I've never made jam before.  I guess it's because I've always thought it was complicated to make.  It couldn't be further from the truth.

I discovered this jam setting sugar.  It definitely makes it easier to make jam.  All you need are strawberries (or any other berries you like), jam setting sugar and a knob of butter to give it a bit of a gloss.

Place 1 kg of strawberries in a pot and smash them.  I like to leave it a little chunky so the jam has a little texture after it's cooked.  Add 1 kg of the jam setting sugar and place on a low heat.  Keep stirring until the sugar has dissolved.   Turn up the heat till the mixture gets to a rolling boil.  Let it boil for 4 minutes.  To check if it's ready, place a small dollop of jam on a saucer.  Drag your finger through it, and if it wrinkles, it's ready.  Skim off the foam on top and pour into sterilized jars.  

I will definitely make jam again.  If I knew it was this easy to make, I would've made this long ago.

Kulinarya Cooking Club March 2010 : Empanadas - a savoury and a sweet affair

Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and it's colourful cuisine.

Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes.  By sharing these recipes we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino food as we do.

This month's dish?  Well, it's Empanadas!

I was quite nervous about this month's featured dish.  I've never made it before but I have eaten it many times.  It's another popular party dish as it's easy to eat and of course, very tasty.  Empanadas originated in Spain.  It can contain a variety of fillings however the Filipino versions usually contain beef or chicken with  potatoes as fillers. It can be either deep fried or oven fried.

I am proud to say that this is my mum's recipe, which she has had so many years that she can't remember where she originally got it from.  It's even written in Tagalog (Filipino).  My mum's version uses pork mince with the addition of onions, garlic, potatoes, peas and sultanas for sweetness.  It is best to make the filling well in advance as it needs to cool completely before putting in the pastry.  This version is deep fried and it be honest, I prefer it than being oven baked.  The pastry turns out puffier and lighter as opposed to being  more biscuity when it is baked in the oven.

If you don't want to cook all the empanadas in one go, it freezes well for consumption on another day.

For this popular dish, I thought I'd also try a sweet version.  I came across some lovely sweet strawberries at our local green grocers and decided to try to experiment and make strawberry empanadas.  WOW! It was packed full of flavour and turned out better than I expected.  I used the same pastry recipe but added sugar to make it a sweet version.  For the filling, I cooked the strawberries with sugar until it was a nice syrupy consistency.  For a lighter filling, I added diced fresh strawberries after the filling cooled.  The texture and flavour of the empanadas was similar to a jam doughnut but way better.  

PASTRY :

2 1/2 cups Self Raising Flour

1/2 cup evaporated milk

2 eggs

2 tsp Baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.  Mix

2.  Add the butter and crumb into the flour until it resembles bread crumbs

3. Mix together the eggs and milk in a separate bowl and lightly beat

4. Pour the egg and milk mixture into the flour mixture

5.  Turn out onto a clean, lightly floured bench and knead until smooth

(for the sweet pastry add, a 1/2 cup caster sugar)

SAVOURY FILLING:

500g pork mince

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic

1 large potato, finely diced

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup sultanas

salt and pepper

Oil

1. In a lightly oiled pan, sauté the onion and garlic till transparent.

2. Add the mince and cook till brown in colour

3.  Add the potatoes, peas and sultanas

4. Season with salt and pepper.

5.  Set aside and cool completely before using.

SWEET FILLING :

1 punnet of strawberries (about 250g)

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1. Place about 3/4 of the strawberries, sugar and water into a pot on a medium heat

2.  Simmer the strawberries till it breaks down to a jam-like consistency

3.  Cool completely

4.  Before filling the empanadas, take the rest of the strawberries and chop into small dice and add.

TO MAKE THE EMPANADAS:

1.  Roll out your pastry and cut into rounds

2. Place about a teaspon of the filling in the middle of the pastry and fold  over both sides and enclose the filling making sure there are no holes

3.  Crimp the edges with a fork the seal.

4. Deep fry in oil for approximate 5 minutes until golden brown

5. Enjoy!

Other members of the Kulinarya Cooking Club:

Trish http://sugarlace.com

Kath http://acupcakeortwo.com

Trissa http://trssalicious.com

Olive http://latesrecipes.net

Caroline http://whenadobometfeijoada.blogspot.com/

Peach http://www.thepeachkitchen.com

Cusinera http://busogsarap.com

Asha http://forkspoonnknife.com

Malou http://www.impromptudiva.com/

Acdee http://acdee.blogspot.com

Valerie http://www.acanadianfoodie.com

Bel http://foodgeek.webs.com

Divina http://www.sense-serendipity.com

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

The Cook Book Challenge - Week 2 : Indian ( a catch up )

Week 2 : Cool

Recipe :  Mango Lassi

Cook Book : Floyd's India by Keith Floyd

I love Indian food and for this Indian theme, I didn't want to make a curry, simply because I tend to make curry a lot.  Hubby is a quarter Indian and naturally loves curry.  So I have made it my mission to find that perfect curry recipe for him.

For his birthday weekend, we had his family over and he asked for me to make Curry (surprise, surprise!).  So I thought, to accompany it, I'll make Mango Lassi.  I've never made it before but have had it dozens of times.  

Recipe

Puree any soft fruit of your choice, such as raspberries, strawberries, mangoes apricots or bananas, to make 250ml of puree.  Add the puree to 750 ml of natural yoghurt and 100ml of sugar syrup and blend with some ice cubes.

note:  to make sugar syrup, put 50g of sugar in a saucepan with 300ml water.  Place over moderate heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, then remove from the heat.  Leave to cool.  The syrup can be stored in the fridge for several weeks.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

It's been a busy year..

So... Here I am again. It's been a while since I posted anything on my blog. The past year has been quite busy with our Nando's store and being pregnant but I vow to get my blog up and running again... promise :)

Here's a few pics from the previous year that I managed to get pics of...

Deanna's 3rd Birthday. I baked and decorated her birthday cake. I got the idea from a book called "30 minute kids cakes". The birthday girl help decorate it.

Mooncake Festival 2009 at Queen Victoria Market. It was actually quite disappointing as there were only a number of food stalls. There weren't a lot of choices but we were all hungry so made do with what was there.

Cherry and strawberry picking in Bacchus Marsh. My family loves to go cherry picking in Summer. We used to go right across to the other side of town to Red Hill to do it, however we discovered cherry picking only 20-30mins away from us in Bacchus Marsh. Oh the joy!

Christmas Eve 2008

My rocky road snowy mountain

My parents' Christmas display.

Lobster was one of the main attractions that night

Yarra Valley Farmer's Market at Yering Station.

Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm. We make the pilgrimage every year.

Strawberry Kebab from the children's menu.

I hope to keep my blog updated with my food adventures. I hope you keep reading.

Bon Apetite,

Cherrie

The Elvis

Hmm... The Elvis

It's a toasted sandwich with peanut butter and bananas. What more can I say?


If you really need the recipe you can find it here.


Bon appetite,
Cherrie

French Toast Italian Style

For weekends, when I'm not too tired, I like to make up a nice brekky for the family. Today I tried making French toast with ciabatta, which is an Italian bread.



It turned out great. I love to cut it into thick slices so the eggy custard gets soaked into it giving it a pancake like texture and it seeps right into the holes of the bread. I fried it in lots of butter for that extra flavour.

To serve, I sprinkled cinnamon sugar with fresh strawberries on the side. We also poured a splash of maple syrup. (The real stuff, not the maple flavoured syrup)

Delish...


Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Anniversary Weekend

This weekend was our 6th Wedding Anniversary.

I was very fortunate to have been offered a complimentary stay at the Adelphi Hotel. After reading this post, one of the co-owners, Damien, was kind enough to offer me a free night at his hotel.

Adelphi Hotel is located at 187 Flinders Lane, Melbourne and is an intimate boutique hotel. The interior decor is funky and modern where every room has wifi, broadband, an LCD TV, a Bose iPod Dock and an autographed copy of Teage Ezard's cookbook. I have to tell you, I was sooo tempted to take the cookbook :p



The hotel staff were friendly and helpful. When we arrived there was a small fruit platter in our room and the general manager, Andrew, left a personal welcome note. Personal touches like that is what makes the Adelphi Hotel stand apart from those big multi-chain hotels.


Now, how can I talk about the Adelphi and not mention THAT pool!


The pool is located on the rooftop of the hotel, where part of it hangs over the roof overlooking Finders Lane. The part of the pool that overhangs has a glass floor so you can see down onto the street when you go for a swim. Unfortunately, the day was too cold to go for a few laps of the pool.



Here is hubby's contribution to the worlds most photographed pool...


On the ground floor of the hotel is Ezard's. An internationally acclaimed restaurant. Since we dined at Ezard's a couple of month's back (see this post), we decided to have our dinner at Neil Perry's Rockpool Bar and Grill. We have been here before earlier this year but we enjoyed it so much we decided to return. The menu hasn't changed much since our last visit but that was OK since I planned to have the wagyu beef anyway.

For starters, Hubby and I shared a ham and salami tasting plate. It consisted of Serrano Ham from Spain , Joselito Iberico Ham from Northern Spain, San Daniele Prosciutto from Italy and an Australian Salami. (I'm sorry I can't remember the name). Each ham had a different flavour from each other. Personally I liked the Joselito Iberico Ham. It was full of flavour and it melted in the mouth. (I have to go out and look for some to buy.)

For the mains, Hubby opted for the woodfired Grilled Pigeon with parsnip, pears and radicchio. I ordered the Wagyu. I am so glad I finally had a taste of the wagyu beef. It was tender and luscious in the mouth. For our sides we shared the "mac and cheese" and sauteed Brussel Sprouts with bacon, onions and burnt butter. As the waiter said "you gotta have your sprouts!" That was delish. The reason why it was so good, we found out later, is that fat from the joselito iberico ham was used in it.

And finally for dessert I had Orange Creme Caramel and Hubby had the Strawberry salad with vanilla panacotta. My creme caramel was nice and had a bitter tang to it due to the orange. Hubby's dessert was different. It was served in a martini glass. The strawberry "salad" had pistachios and tiny cubes of jelly. In the middle sat a layer of vanilla panacotta. It was topped off with rose granita. I think I would have liked that if it wasn't for the rose granita.... not a fan of rose flavourings.

Hubby and I had a fantastic weekend for our anniversary. On Sunday morning we picked up the Little One from home and went out for a drive.

Fantastic hotel, fabulous food and great company. That's Melbourne...



Bon Appetite
Cherrie

Golden Fruit

I know I didn't cook these and I didn't even grow them. These peaches are from my parents' garden. They are so sweet and juicy, no wonder they are so proud of them.