Author Archives: Meg

About Meg

I grew up in inner-city Melbourne...then moved to the country. Then my brother moved to Darwin. What do I call him? Pudding, of course! But his real name is James. So, here's something for pudding. You might want enjoy it too!

Macadamia & Choc Chip Cookies

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IMG_4878These cookies are just delicious. The savoury nature of the macadamia makes them very moorish, so be careful! They are so good they don’t need much more of an introduction really! I have to thank Judy Harper for this recipe, but I have no idea where she originally sourced it from.

Makes 18

Ingredients
200g butter, softened
180g brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups plain flour
1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped
1 cup milk choc chips
1 cup white choc chips

Method
Preheat oven to 180ºC.
Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and continue to beat until well combined.
Stir the flour through the butter mixture. Once combined add the macadamias and choc chips. The mixture is quite stiff so I find it easier to mix the nuts and choc chips through by hand than with a spoon.
Pull roughly 2 tablespoons of dough from the mixture and make a ball, it will be slightly larger than a golf ball but smaller than a tennis ball. Place of a baking paper lined tray and flatten slightly. Continue with the rest of the dough. You should get about 18, depending on the size of the cookies.
Bake for 12 minutes.
IMG_4881The cookies will keep well in an airtight container for several days…but they probably won’t last that long!

*For a variation you could use any combination of choc chips that you like, you might like to substitute the white choc chips for dark.

 

Farro & Bean Soup

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IMG_4334The soups keep coming for winter. The thing I’m loving most about soup at the moment is that one batch will last a couple of meals for the two of us. Nothing like a night off cooking when you’ve got a newborn…or anytime! This is just like a minestrone but with a couple of extras, the beans and faro. This recipe has evolved from Guy Grossi spelt & bean soup recipe.
I have served it here with some crusty bread…delicious!
Serves 4

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely diced
1 celery stick, finely diced
1 capsicum (any colour), diced
1 parmesan rind
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 potato, 1 cm dice
1 can borlotti beans, drained
1 can cannellini beans, drained
500ml chicken stock
100g farro
1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
Grana Padana or other parmesan cheese, grated

Method
IMG_4331Heat oil in a large saucepan over a low-medium heat. Add onion and sauté for 2 minutes then add carrot, celery, capsicum, garlic, potato and parmesan rind. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. While this is cooking down drain and rinse the borlotti and cannellini beans. Divide the beans in two and mash half the beans and set the other half aside.
Add tomatoes, mashed beans and chicken stock and cook for 20 minutes. Then add the whole beans and farro and simmer for a further 20 minutes until the farro is tender. Remove the parmesan rind and stir through the chopped parsley. Serve with grated Grana Padana.

 

Blueberry Muffins

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IMG_4623I love muffins, who doesn’t?! However, I’m often disappointed by muffins that I’ve made compared to some that I’ve purchased. Maybe it’s because I use a standard muffin tray rather than the giant ones that are served up in cafes and bakeries. The only thing better than a normal muffin is a giant muffin! So I went in search of a good muffin recipe and I’m happy to say that this one doesn’t disappoint. This is adapted from a Donna Hay recipe. I have substituted the milk for buttermilk, increasing the volume slightly. The blueberries could easily be substituted for other fruits. I made these with frozen blueberries today – I’m still waiting for my blueberry tree (which I planted about a year ago) to fruit.
Makes 12

Ingredients
375g self-raising flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
220g caster sugar
100ml vegetable oil
1 egg
190ml buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
300g blueberries, fresh or frozen
Raw or granulated sugar, for sprinkling

Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line a 12 hole muffin tray with patty pans.
Combine flour, baking powder and sugar in a bowl.
In a separate bowl whisk together oil, egg, buttermilk & vanilla extract.
Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients and stir to combine, the mixture will be quite thick. Stir through blueberries.
Spoon into the muffin tray and sprinkle each muffin with a little sugar. Bake for 30 minutes.

Still in a muffin mood? Why not try some apple & rhubarb muffins as well!

Chicken & Sweet Corn Soup

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I never used to like soup. My standard line was, “I don’t like drinking my meals.” These days I have come around to the idea of soup, but I do prefer the chunkier ones. This one has some good weight to it. Of course, you could make it finer or chunkier depending on your preference. But, winter is here so I thought it was time to get back into soup making. The genius thing about soups is that if there’s just two of you, one batch of soup can last for several meals – perfect when there’s a new bub in the house!
Serves 6

Ingredients
1 litre chicken stock
2 chicken breasts
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp finely grated ginger
1 tbsp cornflour
1 420g can creamed corn
1 300g can corn kernels, drained & rinsed (or fresh if you have it)
100g ham, finely diced
2 egg whites
1 tsp sesame oil
6 spring onions, finely sliced

Method
Start by poaching the chicken. Put the chicken stock (cold) and chicken breasts in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Once boiling reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Once cooked remove the chicken from the stock and set aside to cool for 5 minutes. Once cooled, shred the chicken to your liking.
Make a paste with the cornflour and a bit of the chicken stock (about 50 mls), adding the stock slowly. Add the soy sauce, ginger and cornflour paste to the stock and stir until the mixture starts to thicken (about 2 minutes). Add the corn, creamed corn, shredded chicken and ham and cook for a further 2 minutes.
In a small bowl lightly whisk the egg whites. Add them to the stock, stirring constantly. White ribbons should form as the egg whites cook through. Remove the soup from the heat.
Finally add the sesame oil and spring onions. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve hot with some nice crunchy toast – you could even make your own sourdough!

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Vanilla Ice Cream (**egg-free**)

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IMG_4492I’m on a roll with ice cream at the moment. Particularly these egg-free mixtures as they are so quick to knock up. Mix it all up, chill it down and then later throw it in the ice cream maker. 25 minutes later it’s done…and delicious! I made this last night to accompany a craving for Gran’s chocolate self-saucing pudding. In my opinion, the pudding must be served with vanilla ice cream! Again, this recipe is from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop. I will eventually get around to putting up my favourite custard-based vanilla ice cream which is a Phillipa Sibly recipe.

Makes about 1 litre.

Ingredients
500ml cream (35% fat)
250ml milk (full fat)
150g sugar
Pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean
3/4 tsp vanilla extract

Method
In a saucepan, heat 250ml cream, sugar, salt and vanilla bean (split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape seeds out into mixture, as well as adding the bean). Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
Remove from the heat and stir through the remaining ingredients, mixing until smooth.
Chill the mixture in the fridge and once completely chilled churn in your ice cream machine according to manufacturer instructions. If you can manage not to eat the lot then and there store in the freezer!

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Chocolate Ice Cream (**egg-free**)

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Given the recent hard work devoted to Croissants& I thought I would treat myself to a new ice cream maker. After all, there have to be good rewards for hard work! My old ice cream maker was ok but would tire before the ice cream was properly churned and frozen, despite having an inbuilt refrigerator. This time I opted for a model where you have to pre-freeze the bowl – this is slightly annoying given our freezer space is usually at a premium and you have to semi-plan to make ice cream. However, if you’ve got the room I don’t see why you couldn’t leave the bowl in the freezer whenever it’s not in use.

So, what was going to be the first flavour put to the test in my new machine? A super easy chocolate recipe which I have adapted from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop. This ice cream is so super simple as it doesn’t require making a custard. Simply heat the cream, add the ingredients, mix, chill and churn. I managed to get this done the day after we got home from hospital with our beautiful little daughter Lucy, it’s that simple! Plus it’s great for anyone with an egg allergy.
Makes approximately 1 litre

Ingredients
405ml cream (35% fat)
50g Dutch-process cocoa powder
200g sugar
pinch of salt
170g dark chocolate, chopped (I use 55% cocoa solids)
405ml full-fat milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method
Whisk together cream, cocoa powder, sugar & salt in a large saucepan and bring to the boil, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and whisk through the chopped chocolate. Once the chocolate has completely melted stir through the milk and vanilla extract. As dark chocolate doesn’t melt as easily as other chocolates with a higher fat content you may need to process it in a food processor to get a super smooth consistency.. Sometimes I need to do this, others I don’t.

IMG_4439All you need to do now is chill the mixture in the fridge. Once completely chilled churn in your ice cream maker, according to manufacturer instructions.

 

 

IMG_4443If you’re feeling adventurous you can add whatever mix-ins you fancy to the ice cream. Add these in the last 5 minutes of churning. On this occasion I added some milk and white chocolate chunks as well as some chopped roasted almonds.
Want to try a custard based ice cream? Check out my peppermint chic-chip ice cream.

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Earl Grey Tea Cake

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IMG_4300I came across this recipe over a year ago in a delicious. magazine. It sounded interesting and through I would give it a go for a staff morning tea. Although the batter seemed a little interesting as I mixed everything up according to the recipe it all turned out well. It was a hit at a recent open garden we did at Balgowan in Neerim South.  The only tweak that I have made to the original recipe is to cut down the amount of butter – it just seems excessive to me and I haven’t missed it since reducing the quantity.
This recipe will make a square cake tin, but if you want to make 2 loaf tins worth simply increase the quantities by half.

Ingredients
140g fresh dates, chopped
1 tsp bicarb of soda
180ml brewed earl grey tea (the strength is up to you, obviously the stronger the brew the more the flavour will come out in the cake)
2 granny smith apples, peeled and grated
185g self-raising flour, sifted
135g brown sugar
110g butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs

Method
Preheat oven to 160ºC and grease a square cake tin.
Place dates, bicard of soda and tea in a bowl and stand for 10 minutes. Using a blender, blend the date mixture until smooth. Set aside
Combine apple, flour and sugar in a bowl. Add butter, vanilla, eggs and date mixture and mix well to combine.
Pour into the greased cake tin and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

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Naan

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We love naan but it’s not very easy to find in the supermarket (or good ones at least) when you’re making your own curry at home. And surprisingly it can quite often be disappointing from Indian restaurants, even if the rest of the meal is delicious. Andy has attempted naan before and it turned out like stodgy cardboard – yep, it really tasted as good as that sounds! I’ve always put it in the too hard basket until I received Short & Sweet: The best of home baking  by Dan Lepard from my brother-in-law & partner for my birthday. I came home from work and gave it a crack, the only trick is that it needs proving time so I had to start fairly promptly once arriving home if we were going to eat the naan with dinner rather than have it for dessert.
It might seem like a lot of ingredients but there’s really not much to it, just throw them all into the mixing bowl. I used half this quantity as there was just the two of us eating and we managed to get 4 decent sized naan out of it. The original recipe caters for only 4-6 naan for a full batch but they must be super big…too big for our frying pan. You can make plain naan or brush it with a little garlic butter, sprinkle with different seeds, it’s up to you, but start with the basic recipe and you can decide if you want flavourings later as you only add those during cooking.
Makes 8

Ingredients
100ml cold milk
125g low fat yoghurt
50ml boiling water
1tsp dried yeast
300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
50g wholemeal flour
0.5tsp bicarb of soda
0.75tsp sea-salt
1tsp sugar

Method
Combine milk, yoghurt, boiling water and yeast in the bottom of a mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and kneed until combined – I use my Kitchen Aid but you can easily knead by hand. It should be a soft sticky dough. Cover with cling film and prove for 30 minutes in a warm, draught-free place. Knock-down the dough (knead lightly) and then continue to prove for a further hour.
Lightly flour the bench top and tip the dough onto it. Divide the dough into 8 even portions. Working with one at a time roll out the dough until about 2-3 mm thick. The original recipe says to roll out to 1-2cm thick, however they puff up hugely in the pan and they were too thick and stodgy for our liking. The thin versions were still light and fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside.

Rolled to about 2mm thick, it's much lighter

Rolled to about 2mm thick, it’s much lighter

Rolled to 1cm thick it was very puffy!

Rolled to 1cm thick it was very puffy!

Heat a large frying pan on a moderate heat and cook the naan one at a time. Each naan only takes a few minutes on each side. If adding flavour do it now. When you first put the naan in the frying pan brush it with whatever you like. In this instance I had crushed a garlic clove into about 20g of melted butter. The naan with bubble on top and brown on the bottom. Once the naan starts to brown on the underside (this will only take about 2 minutes) flip and cook for a further minute. Keep warm while cooking the remaining naan, either in foil or in a warm oven (about 100°C).
Although I haven’t tried it, apparently they freeze well.
This naan is perfect for mopping up the juices of either VJ’s chicken curry, black pepper and yoghurt curry or mussamun shanks. Or you might have another favourite of your own! It would also be great served with dips for a light lunch or pre-dinner snack.

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Hot Cross Buns

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With Easter just over 5 weeks away it’s definitely respectable to get stuck into hot cross buns. And, if you’re anything like me you’ll need a decent amount of lead time to get them done in time! I’ve been making hot cross buns for several years now with most attempts failing. The flavour was there but not the texture, they really should have been called hot cross rocks. I have finally tweaked a recipe that seems to produce fluffy, yummy buns. It is important to use the right yeast though. I find a massive difference between brands and I will only ever use Tandaco if using dried yeast. Most of the time I use fresh yeast, but that can be hard to come by. Some bakeries will sell it to you, and it’s super cheap. However, you could use either kind of yeast, as long as it’s Tandaco if using dried yeast.
It’s not traditional but I love adding chopped dried apple in my hot cross buns which gives the buns a certain lightness. I’ll typically use a mixture of mixed peel, dried apple, sultanas & currants, often in quantities reflected by what’s available in my pantry at the time. But you can really add whatever fruit you like – or no fruit at all, which is what Andy prefers. OR…thanks to certain bakery chains people have now cottoned onto chocolate hot cross buns, just swap the fruit out for choc chips. Whatever you do, have fun making them and even more fun devouring them!
Makes 12

Ingredients
465g strong flour, such as 00 (I will often substitute out 100g for wholemeal flour for a richer taste)
35g caster sugar
1tsp sea-salt
10g dried yeast, or 28g fresh yeast
1.5 tsp allspice
1.5 tsp cinnamon
235 g dried fruit (Last time I used 20g mixed peel, 80g dried apple, 35g currants & 100g sultanas)
Zest of 1 orange
200ml milk
60g butter, softened
1 egg, lightly beaten
Crosses
35g flour
40ml water
Glaze
25g caster sugar
0.25tsp mixed spice
50ml water

Method
In a small saucepan heat milk and butter until tepid. Remove from the heat and whisk in the egg.
Combine all ingredients in mixer bowl, adding the milk mixture last. Using the dough hook attachment knead on slow speed for about 2 minutes. Initially the dough may seem quite dry but will loosen up as it keeps mixing. Once all the ingredients are combined increase the speed to medium and knead for a further 6 minutes. Cover the bowl with cling film and set aside for 45 minutes, or until doubled in size, in a warm, draught-free place.
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Remove the dough from the bowl and divide into two – I find it easier to work with smaller pieces. Roll the dough out into a sausage about 1.5-2″ in diameter. Divide into 6 pieces, shaping each piece into a ball. Place the buns in an oiled tray (I use a lamington tray, even if it is slightly too big. You may have a better sized tray than I). Repeat with the remaining dough. Tip: Place the bans fairly close together so that when they rise they will touch each other. This will encourage them to rise upwards rather than out so you get nice high buns…not flat ones. You can see in the picture that I haven’t spaced the buns evenly in my lamington tray, otherwise they would never make contact. It’s ok to have a bit of unused tray real-estate!
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IMG_4076Cover the tray with a damp tea-towel and set aside in a warm, draught-free place for a further 45 minutes to an hour, they need to double in size. My favourite place if propped above the coffee machine! Don’t forget you will need to preheat your oven to 210°C so check on your buns after about 30 minutes to see if they’re almost done rising. Also, the cross mixture needs to be made. Simply mix the flour and water together and tip into a piping bag. If you do not have a piping bag you can use a sandwich snap lock bag and cut the corner off – it needs to be fairly robust plastic as the mixture is fairly still. Once the buns have risen sufficiently pipe the crosses onto the buns and place in the oven. Cook at 210°C for 10 minutes and then reduce the oven to 200°C for a further 10 minutes. The buns are ready once they sound hollow when tapped.
While the buns are cooling make the glaze. Combine sugar, mixed spice and water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Brush the buns with the glaze while they are still warm.
Enjoy your buns with butter or however you like! I prefer mine toasted with a little butter – the top half is always my favourite with the chewy cross and extra sweetness of the glaze!

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Chocolate Tart

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IMG_3251This is the best ever chocolate tart…and I mean EVER! A crispy shell forms on top and then opens up to a soft, but not gooey, chocolate centre before you hit the crisp pastry that lies beneath. It is absolutely divine served with vanilla ice cream – or you may prefer cream.
If you’ve never made your own pastry before now is the time to start. Don’t be daunted by it, it’s really quite simple. I use this recipe whenever a sweet pastry shell is required, it works time and time again. It can be made by hand but I prefer to use my food processor. The trick with pastry is to handle the dough as little as possible, you need to keep your hot little hands away from the buttery goodness. In the food processor you really don’t need to make any contact with it at all. If making it by hand, just work quickly and in a cool area. If you’re making pastry on a hot day you’ll need luck on your side.
I think I initially pulled the pastry recipe from a cookbook called The Food of France – it’s an excellent book. The tart filling is from Delicious. Wicked Desserts.
Serves 8

Ingredients
Sweet pastry
340g plain flour
pinch of salt
90g icing sugar
150g unsalted butter
2 eggs beaten
Chocolate tart filling
150g dark chocolate (55% cocoa)
120g unsalted butter, chopped and chilled
5 eggs
220g caster sugar
70g plain flour, sifted

Method
For the pastry, in a food processor whizz up flour, salt and icing sugar until well combined. Add the butter, make sure it’s chilled, and pulse until the dough reaches a consistency of breadcrumbs. Add the eggs and process until just combined, be careful not to over process it. If making by hand, combine flour salt and icing sugar. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the consistency of breadcrumbs. Stir through the eggs. At this point it is the same for both methods. Turn the dough out onto the bench and knead for about 15 seconds until smooth. Wrap the dough in cling film and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. Tip: If you want to work quicker with your dough flatten the dough into a disc to chill it down quicker.
IMG_3243 IMG_3247While the dough is resting grease a 24cm loose bottomed tart pan and preheat the oven to 180°C. Make sure you get into all the grooves if using a fluted tin. Once the dough has rested remove it from the fridge and begin to roll it out on a floured bench top. Again, try to work quickly. Once it has reached the desired thickness, about 4mm, roll the dough up onto your rolling pin to loosely place over the tart pan. Ease the dough into the pan, try not to stretch the dough at all, and gently push it into place making sure the pastry comes into contact will the entirety of the pan. Trim the excess dough about 1cm above the edge of the pan, the pastry has a tendency to shrink which this will allow for. Place back in the fridge to rest for another 10 minutes, longer on a hot day.
Once rested remove from the fridge and fill with baking weights (or rice), using a sheet of baking paper as a barrier. This will ensure your pastry doesn’t puff and rise when you don’t want it to. Blind bake for 10 minus, remove the paper and the weights and bake for another 10 minutes. It is cooked once the pastry has taken on a matt look and there are no shiny bits left. Remove from the oven and it is ready to be filled.
To make the filling place the chocolate and butter in a double boiler to melt the chocolate and butter. Wait until half the chocolate has melted before stirring it. Remove from the heat and set aside. In another heatproof bowl whisk together the eggs and sugar and place over the simmering water. Whisk continuously until thick, this can take a while. Once you lift some of the mixture out main part and it drizzles back in leaving an indentation it is done. Whisk in the chocolate mixture and finally the flour.
IMG_3248Pour the filling into the pastry case and bake for 20 minutes or until just set – when you put your finger gently on top you shouldn’t get too much of a wobble.
Serve warm or at room temperature and definitely with vanilla ice cream, or cream if you must.

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