Lemon & Basil Risotto

On the same rainy day I made bread, we also had friends over for dinner. I remembered once eating at Paul's aunt and uncle's place (Andrew being an exceptional cook), and having a great Lemon Risotto. Now I'm sure he said it was from Cuisine, so I had a bit of a hunt and found this recipe. Now if it's not the same one, I really don't mind as this was really amazing. Not to mention super easy!

Ingredients

1 cup basil leaves

pinch of sea salt

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 onion, sliced

black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

300 g arborio rice

250 ml white wine

750 ml chicken or vegetable stock, heated

zest and juice of 2 lemons

sea salt

extra basil leaves

parmesan

Method
Pound the basil in a mortar with the sea salt and extra virgin olive oil until you get a fairly fine emerald green mixture. Set it aside.

Gently cook the garlic and onion with some black pepper in the olive oil until the onion is soft. Add the rice and saute a couple of minutes over a medium heat until the rice �sings� (that is, makes a faint, high-pitched cooking noise). Add 1/3 of the wine and stir until it is absorbed into the rice. Repeat this until the wine is all absorbed, then start adding the hot stock a ladleful at a time, stirring all the while. When the last of the stock is absorbed by the rice add the lemon juice and zest. If the rice is still at all chalky stir in some hot water until it is tender. Stir in half of the basil oil, and season the risotto well with sea salt. Serve immediately on hot plates, drizzling over the remaining basil oil and adding more basil leaves and plenty of grated parmesan.

Serves 2 - 3.

If you have any risotto left over, fry little patties of it to have with drinks tomorrow night. (Leftovers - yeah right)

To Serve
Wine suggestion: riesling

http://www.cuisine.co.nz/contentImages/food/Lemon_risotto.jpg

Food miles

On a recent Girls' Weekend to Stratford-upon-Avon we had a bike ride in the country, and passed Charlecote Flour Mill.
I found this visit interesting for two reasons. The foodie one is obvious. The less obvious one is the geek-property-lawyer. I find the historic quirks of land ownership here fascinating, and when I found out the mill was still owned by the people who owned the "big house" over the road I really saw that the old traditions and systems really weren't too old after all.


Amber & Leona at the mill with their bikes - water wheel behind

Back to the foodie...

It took no time at all for me to decide to buy a small bag of flour to take home. And when we had a grim weekend, staying in and making bread seemed like a good idea.

Of course I didn't have a brown bread recipe, so I looked at the Hot Cross Buns one, and started playing.



I ended up with a good batch of dough based on...

300ml warm water, 500g of wholemeal flour, 2T yeast, 2T golden syrup and a dash of olive oil.

The water, yeast and golden syrup were mixed together and left for about 20 mins to get all bubbly.

Then I played with the flour, oil and water mix, kneading until shiny. Leaving to double in size. Making two loaves and then leaving to double in size again.



Bake for 15-20 mins until it sounds hollow... and serve with NZ honey. Yum.

Honey Feijoa Cake

Well - what to do with all those feijoas?? Seems that despite our neighbour cutting their feijoa tree down we still manage to obtain hundreds from somewhere. At the moment there are lots of Feijoa recipes in the NZ Herald from Amanda Laird. Here is one that caught my eye...

Makes one 22cm cake

80g softened butter
3/4 cup honey
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup mashed feijoas
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vanilla sugar
1/2 cup toasted almonds, roughly chopped

1 - Preheat oven to 180C and grease the cake tin.Cream the butter and honey until pale. Add eggsone at a time, beating after each. Beat in vanilla.

2 - Fold the feijoas into the mixture. Sieve the flour,baking powder, baking soda and salt. Fold through the milk. Combine the vanilla sugar and almonds.

3 - Spoon the cake mix into the tin, bake for 15minutes then sprinkle the sugar and almond mixover the top of the cake. Return the cake to the ovenand continue cooking for another 20-25 minutes or untilan inserted skewer comes out clean.

Brenda's Brilliant Brownies

I used to think the Ghiradelli brownie, made from the packet, was the BEST but then I came across this recipe with obscene amounts of butter and sugar. Yummo!

250g (80z) butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 brown sugar
4 eggs
1 1/3 plain (all purpose) flour
3/4 cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 170 C (325F).

Beat the butter, vanilla, sugar and brown sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. (It helps to start with soft butter.) Add the eggs one at a time and beat well.

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder over the butter mixture and fold through. (The resulting mixture is quite dry, not runny.)

Plop the mixture into an 20cm (8in) square cake tin base lined with baking paper and bake for 40-50 minutes or until set. Cool in the tin. Cut into squares and serve warm or cool.

Girdle Date Scones

Need to whip up a quick dessert or morning tea but don't want to turn on the oven? Here's my variation on an old classic:

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tbsp butter
milk (or buttermilk) to mix*
chopped dates

Sift dry ingredients. Rub in butter and add dates. Add sufficient milk to make a fairly soft dough. Roll out fairly thin, make into a round and cut into eight or so segments. Cook on a hot greased girdle (I use my le creuset frying pan) five minutes of each side. Serve with lashings of golden syrup.

*I distinctly recall the first time I made scones when we were living in Bertram Street. The directions said "milk to mix" and I poured in too much resulting in a gluggy mess that not even Cindy, the dog, would eat.

Simnel Cake

Well, I've had to have helpers come over to help me eat the trial run of Hot Cross Buns, and a friend came over with some Simnel Cake that we could help HER eat! This scrummy cake is found in the Edmonds cookbook and is also an Easter tradition in the Wong household. Placed around the edge, are eleven marzipan balls to represent the true apostles of Jesus; Judas is omitted. (I notice that Wikipedia tells us there is also a layer of marzipan icing on top, but Kay did not ice it this time)

350g Marzipan
250g butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cup sultanas
1 1/2 cup currants
1/2 cupmixed peel
1/2 cup glacé cherries, chopped

Roll out marzipan on greaseproof paper dusted with icing sugar to fit a 22cm round cake tin. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift flour and baking powder together. Mix in sultanas, currants, peel and cherries. Fold into creamed mixture. Place half the mixture in the greased and lined cake tin. Cover with marzipan layer then the remaining cake mixture. Smooth top. Bake at 150 degC for 2 hours. Reduce heat to 130 degC and bake a further 1/2-1 hour or until an inserted skewer comes out clean when tested. Leave to cool in tin.

Trial run before Easter....

They taste good too!

A Message from Mum

No recipes today but here's a message from Mum:

I just wanted to let you know that I'm doing the World Vision 40 Hour Famine this year. I'll be helping provide the basics of life to children in need around the world by taking part. But I need your help. Please sponsor me to take part in the Famine. It will make a world of difference, creating hope and a future for many children's lives.

You could sponsor me in person or through my own online Famine Book. It's easy. Just click this link and provide your details. The Famine website is secure and accepts all major credit cards.

Thank you for considering sponsoring me in helping to provide the basics of life.

.

Pipis and Pasta

This family favourite is from the family Wilson, who collected Pipis at Aotea Harbour. They kindly invited me over to their house to share them. They also had homemade pasta, but could be made with packet stuff for a quick and tasty meal.


Leave pipis overnight soaking in salt water to "spit" the sand, steam open, remove from shells then drown in the following (to taste)
- lime juice
- chilli (fresh, or just the jar of paste stuff)
- little olive oil
- salt/pepper
- little tabasco

Zaaluk - Smoked Eggplant Salad

Another that Brenda emailed me, way back in 2002!

2x 300g eggplants
100 ml olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic
500 ripe tomatoes, roasted peeled, seeded and mashed (I just chopped up ordinary tomatoes)
3 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
4 tbsp chopped coriander leaves (I skipped these)
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp cumin seeds, roasted and ground (the secret ingredient I think)

Roast the eggplants over charcoal or hot coals, otherwise roast in a hot oven until the skins are blistered and the flesh is soft. Peel the eggplants, discard the skins and chop the flesh, Heat the oil in a pan and cook the garlic with the mashed tomatoes for 10 minutes. Add the chopped eggplant and remaining ingredients and gently cook for 10 minutes more, then remove from heat. Allow to cool before serving.

Red Lentil Curry

I don't know if Brenda remembers, but she sent this to me on an email a couple of years ago.

"As promised, here is the red lentil curry recipe. It is not dinner party fare but a very hearty meal that takes less than 20 minutes from start to finish. Just the thing for those nights when you get home to an empty fridge and too tired to do anything!

By the way, I have replaced the coconut milk powder with liquid coconut milk/cream quite successfully.

I also keep a pack of longlife sealed chappati in the pantry which make a perfect accompaniment.

PS: The recipe is from www.thelentilcompany.com.au which looks like it has some other good recipes. "


RED LENTIL CURRY
Serves 4

1 1/4 cups (250g) TLC red split lentils
2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
2 tbs oil 1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbs chilli paste
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/3 cup instant coconut milk powder
Naan bread or rice to serve

1. Bring lentils, stock and tumeric to the boil then simmer, covered, for 10 mins. Stir occasionally.

2. Fry onion in oil until soft then add garlic, chilli, cumin and coriander. Stir for 2-3 mins.

3. Stir the onion and spices into the lentil mixture then add tomato. Stir in the coconut milk for 1-2 mins.

4. Serve with naan bread or rice.

Pipi Fritters

Collected Pipis in Nunguru Harbour on New Years day - Left them to soak in a bucket of salt water over night so they would spit out any remaining sand and then the following morning we steamed them open and ate quite a few. So sweet and juicy! After a rummage in the pantry for ingredients, we cooked up the rest into Pipi Fritters for breakfast. So it went a little something like this....

Whisk 2 eggs

add:
pepper/salt
grated lemon rind
pinch of chilli powder
and a couple of finely sliced fresh mint leaves

mix in 3 tablespoons of flour
2tsp of baking powder

add the coarsly chopped pipis (about a bread n butter plate full)
and 1/4 finely diced red onion

Mix

then add sploshes of beer till the desired consistency is reached.

Scoop out of mixing bowl with tablespoon and fry on medium heat in butter or oil. Made about 12 (fed 4 of us). Eat in the sun and enjoy!

Panforte

Credit to the book....
Food with Attitude, Kate Fay & Jeremy Turner (a Hodder Moa book, published 2005, NZ)

Mum made this and loved it. Gave it away as gifts this Christmas.

-Annie Mantell's Panforte-

160g runny hunny
150g castor sugar
125g whole blanched almonds
125g hazel nuts
750g of Lexia raisins or plump fat raisins
1tblsp orange zest
1tblsp lemon zest
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp mixed spice
125g plain sifted flour
2tblsp cocoa

Preheat oven to 160 deg C. Grease and line a 25cm springform cake tin and line with baking paper. Melt honey and sugar gently in the saucepan, and slowly bring to a simmer. Simmer mixture until sugar and honey are combined. This should only take a few mins. Set mixture aside, combine the other ingredients in a large bowl. Add the honey and sugar mixture and mix well. (best to mix with your hand to ensure the nuts and raisins are well covered) The mixture will look dry. With wet hands, press mixture into the prepared tin, packing it down tightly. Bake for 45 mins. Until top is lightly browned and crunchy. Cool, remove from tin, and cut into 30-40 small pieces. (or cut from block when required to eat and serve.)

Russian Fudge

From Mum's *falling apart* Edmonds Cookbook - 1976 edition, 15th printing deluxe edition (worth keeping just incase it varies slightly in new editions!).

1 1/2 lb sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tin of sweetened condensed milk
4 oz butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 tblsp golden syrup

Put sugar and milk into pan and bring to the boil. Add condensed milk, butter salt, and golden syrup. Boil 1/2 an hour stirring frequently. (Note: tends to stick to bottom if heavy based pan is not used.) Beat until thick, about 5 mins. Pour into greased tins, mark and cut when set. Vanilla and nuts may be added if desired.

Brandy Butter

... for Christmas pudding, from Mum

75g unsalted butter
75g castor sugar
75g ground almonds
grated rind of 1/2 an orange
45 ml brandy

Cream butter with wooden spoon. Then beat in the sugar, ground almonds and orange rind. When well mixed, add the brandy and stir till thoroughly incorporated. Pile into a serving dish (jam dish or butter dish) and chill until needed.

This brandy butter freezes well.

Stollen

Christmas food..... German traditional....

Found on a scrap piece of paper in Mum's pantry. This is the original recipe Mum used to make a few years ago. (She's been using a different one lately - shock horror) Mum said she hasn't made this version in a while cos it makes a fair amount that she gives away. (She said about 4 largish ones.) So here we go. Will have to ask Mum to elaborate on her brief instructions - which also happen to be overwritten in black felt pen with the note 'Rowan's wallet'.... wonder if he left it somewhere? Oh and sorry, it's not in metric - yet.

2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 lb butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
2 packages dry yeast (2 tablespoons)
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 tsp salt
1tsp lemon peel (fresh grated - or use mixed peel packet if no fresh)
1tsp almond extract
5 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup finely chopped candied orange peel (again, mixed peel packet if desperate)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup sultanas
1/2 cup currants
1/2 cup slivered almonds

(filling)
1 packet of almond paste (marsipan) - optional

(topping- a)
1 egg white beaten with 1 tsp sugar

(topping - b)
4 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup icing sugar


Bring milk, butter, sugar to the boil in a pan. When just on the boil, remove from the heat and cool. Sprinkle yeast onto the warm water in a seperate bowl, leave to activate.

Put 3 cups of the flour, salt, lemon peel in a large bowl, add the cold milk mix, yeast mix, and almond extract. Beat well.

Add eggs one at a time. Add fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants, slivered almonds and candied orange peel. And 2 cups of the remaining flour. Mix. Turn onto a board, knead till smooth, approx 10 mins. Use some of the remaining 1/2 cup of flour where needed (excuse the pun)

Rise until double. Approx 1 1/2 hours in a warm place.

Beat down. (ie: punch down in bowl with knuckles) Divide into 4. Mould each piece into an oval about 3/4 inch deep. If wanting a filling, use 1/4 of the marsipan (1 for each of the stollen) and roll the marsipan into a small 'sausage' to fit approx length of the oval. Fold the oval in half lengthways so that the bottom layer extends beyond the top layer by about an inch - sealing the filling at one end and not at the other*. (if you have the filling)
*Mum says, the filling often represents the baby Jesus in his swaddling clothes so imagine his head is peeping out - but not his feet.

Brush with egg white mix (see topping - a) Leave to rise in a warm place for about 45 mins.

Bake at 375 deg F (180 deg C) for 25 mins. While still hot, brush with melted butter and dust thickly with icing sugar (see topping - b) Put back into oven for a few minutes.

When cold, wrap in foil and store in a cool, dry place. Can be left for a week before eating, however in NZ it tends to go dry in our summer climate. But it does 'keep' okay for a while. Can even be frozen.

To serve, slice and eat!

Sago Plum Pudding

According to Delia, this was copied out of Mum’s mum’s handwritten recipe book - "I had to be careful... pages one through eight have disappeared into the time warp of pantries past..."

3 tablespoons sago
1 cup of breadcrumbs
1 cup milk half cup of sugar
2 ounces butter (melted)
1 teaspoon soda
1 cup sultanas

Soak sago in milk for three hours or overnight.
Mix in other ingredients.
(Mum recommends adding dried fruit or a few spices)
Steam 3 hours.

Creamed Onions and Peas

For Thanksgiving this year I had to write home to Mum to get this recipe as I happened to find what I thought were small onions in the supermarket. They were in fact shallots, but worked at the same...

24 – 28 peeled white onions about 1” in diameter (2,5cm)

2lb (1kg) fresh green peas or 3 packets frozen green peas thoroughly defrosted

2oz butter

4tblsp flour

¾ pint of milk

¼ pint cream

1 teasp salt

pinch white pepper

¼ teasp nutmeg

Place the onions in a 6 pint saucepan with enough water to cover them by about an inch. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to its lowest point and simmer the onions partially covered fro about 20 minutes, or until they show only a slight resistance when pierced with the tip of a small sharp knife. Drain the onions in a sieve placed over a small bowl and set aside. Reserve the cooking water to use in making the sauce.

Cook the fresh peas by dropping them into 10 – 12 pints of rapidly boiling salted water. Boil briskly uncovered for 8 – 10 minutes or until they are tender. Then drain the peas and immerse in a bowl of cold water for 2 – 3 minutes. This will stop them cooking and help keep their bright green colour. Drain and put the peas aside with the cooked onions. Frozen peas need not be cooked, merely defrosted.

In a heavy 5 pint saucepan, melt the butter over a moderate heat and stir in the flour. Remove the pan from the heat and pour in about ¾ pint of the reserved onion cooking liquid, beating with a wire whisk until the flour butter mixture is partially dissolved. Add the milk and cream, return the pan to the heat and cook, whisking constantly, until the sauce is smooth and thick.

Simmer for three to four minutes to remove any taste of uncooked flour, season with the salt, white pepper and nutmeg, then add the cooked onions and the cooked peas. Simmer for 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are heated through.

Taste for seasoning and serve.


The super stuffed turkey


The storm that hit on Thanksgiving Sunday

Texas Corn Bread

I received a number of corn bread recipes in response to my request. Needless to say, the ingredients were basically the same but the proportions vary enormously. This recipe kindly sent by Beverly makes a nice runny batter and moist corn bread. It goes great with turkey and cranberry leftovers!

1 c yellow cornmeal (I've also used polenta or coarse grind cornmeal)
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 t salt
1 c buttermilk
1 egg
1 T baking powder
1/2 c milk
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 c melted butter

Thoroughly mix the cornmeal, flour, and salt. Then add the buttermilk, egg, baking powder, milk, baking soda, and melted butter. DO NOT MIX!! DO NOT BLEND!! (Yet)

Grease an 8" square cake pan, muffin tins, or cornstick molds and heat them in the oven. Stir the cornmeal mixture until just combined and pour into the hot, prepared pan.

Bake at 450 degrees until done, about 20 minutes. The bread will be light and moist and brown and crusty on the bottom. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie

Sweet Short Pastry
Buy it if you must but it is so simple to make:

75g butter
3 tsp water
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg yolk (save white for pie filling)

Beat together in food processor until a blob forms. Don't try to roll into a flat sheet, just take clumps and press into your pie dish. Prick bottom of pie crust with a fork in several places.

I usually make three times the pastry and filling recipe which is plenty for two 20cm pie dishes. Any pastry and filling left over can be used in ramekins to make mini-pumpkin pies like this:

Pumpkin Pie Filling
Use this as a starting point and make up your own variations. Provided there are enough eggs to make a custard, the mixture is very forgiving:

1 cup pumpkin pulp (eg butternut or Jap/Kent)
1 egg (plus whites left over from the pastry)
1 dessert spoon flour
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg and ginger
2 tablespoons sugar

Blend together in food processor or big bowl until smooth.
Pour into base and cook 40 minutes at 200C (400F).

This makes a golden coloured pie like this:

If you use molasses/treacle instead of golden syrup and use brown sugar, you get a darker pie like this:

Other variations include adding grated fresh ginger and Chinese five spice. And I have it on good authority that cracks and pooling of sugar is the hallmark of a good pumpkin pie...