Monthly Archives: June 2013

Gran’s Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding

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IMG_4492When we were younger we would have dinner about once a week at Gran & Grandpa’s. On the menu there would always be a roast, usually either pork, lamb or beef, and a pudding of some sort. Hands down this was our favourite.

IMG_2805Gran would typically have the batter prepared and in the buttered dish and the sugar and cocoa measured and mixed ready to spread over the batter. One night I finished off the pudding for Gran to put in the oven. I sprinked the sugar & cocoa mixture over the batter and boiled the kettle. I had strict instructions (coming from the table) that the water had to be boiling when it was poured on top of the pudding. So, if I can pass anything on…make sure the water is BOILING!

Ingredients
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 egg
2 tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup milk
Sauce
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Sift together flour, castor sugar & salt.
Add melted butter, egg & milk, beat until smooth. Pour into a pre-prepared greased dish.
Mix together sugar & cocoa. Sprinkle over batter. Just before putting in the oven pour boiling water over the batter.
Bake for 30-40 minutes. Once ready the sauce will have bubbled up slightly around the sides of the pudding and the pudding will be firm to touch. If still unsure test the pudding with a skewer, making sure it comes out clean.
The pudding is particularly delicious with vanilla ice cream!
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Heston & Meg’s Mac Cheese

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I came across this revolutionary way of making cheese sauce on my way back from visiting James in Darwin. Heston Blumenthal’s series was available to view on the inflight entertainment. I managed to fit in the Cheese show. With nothing else to write on, I jotted down the steps on the back of a footy ticket.

Cheese sauce usually begins by making a roux of butter & flour. This sauce changes the rules…there is no butter and no flour. As Heston points out, the flour sucks up the flavour of the cheese…to get that delicious cheesey flavour you need to add far more cheese to get the same effect. Dad hasn’t ever really liked Mac Cheese, it’s too “gloopy” for his taste. However, he loved this version, he even went back for seconds.

It can be eaten as a meal by itself. However, we like to serve it as an accompaniment, particularly to steak.

Now, we all know how to cook pasta, but for this recipe I recommend a different way. Instead of cooking it in litres of water as usual, using ‘just enough’ water will make sure the starch from the pasta is not thrown down the sink. It will help thicken the cheese sauce and it will be deliciously creamy! This recipe calls for 250g of pasta, cook in just 550ml of water.

Ingredients

250 ml dry white wine
300 ml chicken stock
Parmesan rind
80 g cheese, finely grated (the choice is yours! I prefer to use tasty for a mid-week meal or Gruyere for special occasions)
1 tbsp corn flour
2 tbsp cream cheese
4 rashers short-cut bacon, diced
1 small can corn kernels

Method

Pour wine into a saucepan, bring to a simmer and reduce to 30ml. Remove from heat and add the chicken stock and parmesan rind. Rest for 20 minutes.

Coat the finely grated cheese in corn flour. Once the chicken stock mixture has rested, remove the rind and reheat to the point where the cheese will just melt. Remove from the heat to stir through the cream cheese.

Cook the bacon until just cooked. Add the bacon and corn to the cheese sauce.

Cook the pasta in 550ml of water until al dente. Keep a close eye on it so that you don’t burn the pasta (or pan). There will be no need to drain the pasta as there’ll be no water left! Stir the pasta through the sauce. If you like, sprinkle with more cheese and/or breadcrumbs and bake at 180°C for 15 minutes. Let the Mac Cheese rest for 5 minutes before serving.

 

 

Fresh Pasta

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I know it’s easy to open a packet of dried pasta and dump it in a pot of boiling water, but for a little more effort you can make your own pasta…and the results are worth it!

I have the luxury of having a Kitchen Aid stand mixer with a pasta attachment. I knead the dough in the mixer and then with the electric pasta roller I have two hands free to feed and catch the pasta. However, you can easily knead the dough by hand (which I’m sure the purists would recommend) and roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Or, use a combination of both!


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The following quantity will feed 2 for a decent sized dinner.

Ingredients

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Method

Put the flour and salt in the bowl of the mixer. Make a well and crack both eggs into the well. Start mixing on low speed until all ingredients are combined. You may need to add a little water (just do it little by little, very quickly you can have too much!) if the mixture is too dry.

Increase the speed to medium and knead for a couple of minutes. The dough should be slightly sticky but not stick to your hands. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the gluten to relax.

Once rested it’s time to roll out the dough. First step is to laminate the dough. This means the dough needs to be rolled out on the largest setting (1) several times, folding it over each time and feeding it through again until the dough is smooth. Flour the dough as required, but try to avoid over-flouring. Keep feeding the dough through the rollers, decreasing the thickness each time. For pasta I roll down to thickness 4. Cut into strips of your desired width – tonight we’re making pappardelle – nice wide strips.

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Cook the pasta in salted boiling water. It should only take a couple of minutes to reach al dente. Add to your favourite pasta sauce…tonight we’re having slow-cooked lamb ragù…deeeeelicious!

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