FFwD - Beef daube with carrots & elbow macaroni

This week's FFwD recipe is Beef [cheek] daube with carrots & elbow macaroni.  There are no cheeks here - just beef.

This was absolutely delicious, and a complete meal in a pot:

 

 

 

 

To see what the other FFwD cooks thought, visit the LYL section of the website.

Daring Bakers - November - Twelve Days of Cookies

It's time for November Daring Bakers.

Holiday season is the time for sharing and Peta of Peta Eats is sharing a dozen cookies, some classics and some of her own, from all over the world with us.

I am very time poor at the moment, so I only made one of Peta's 12 cookie recipes, and the simplest one I could find.  My choice was the Foaming Milk Cookies.  Peta explains:

Foaming Milk Cookies are an old family recipe from my mother in-law, perfect for the allergy sufferers. There are no eggs in the recipe. I have made these with water, juices and a variety of milk substitutes. I have used butter and margarines. I have used gluten free, rice, nut and coconut flours. I have added spices, nuts, dried fruits and chocolate chips. This recipe always works.

Even better, they take 10 minutes to prepare, 1 hour to freeze while you go off and have a life, and 10 minutes to bake.  What could be easier?

The dough was very soft, but froze into logs well.  I rolled my logs in red sanding sugar to make them festive with as little effort as possible.

Here is te recipe for those who are interested in making these cookies:

Ingredients

1½ cups (340 gm) (12 oz) sugar
½ cup (120 ml) milk
4 cups (560 gm) (20 oz) all-purpose (plain) flour
1 cup (240 ml) (225 gm) (8 oz) softened butter
1 teaspoon (5 gm) bi-carbonate soda
2 tablespoons (30 ml) hot water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to moderate 350°F/ 180°C/gas mark 4.
2. Rub the butter into flour until it looks like fine breadcrumbs or blitz together in a food processor.
3. If you use your food processor tip the flour and butter into a metal bowl.
4. Melt the milk and sugar together.
5. Dissolve the bi-carbonate soda into the hot water.
6. Add to the milk and sugar and mix quickly into the flour/butter until well combined.
7. The mixture will be runny but it will firm up as it cools.
8. When the dough has cooled roll it out to 1/5-inch (1/2-cm) thick and cut out with the cookie cutters or roll into logs and freeze for ½ - 1 hour until firm and cut it.
9. Place on greased trays and bake in a moderate oven for 10 – 15 minutes or until golden.
10. Allow to cool slightly on the tray and then move to cooling rack.

Thanks to Peta for hosting us this month.  To check out many other Christmas cookies, view the slideshow in the Daring Kitchen website.

FFwD - Herbed Olives

This week's French Friday with Dorie recipe is Herbed Olives.  Just like it says on the tin, this recipe involves macerating olives in herbed oil that you make yourself.  Flavours include coriander, fennel, rosemary, thyme, garlic, chilli, pepper, salt and bay.  I didn't have fresh seeds, so I used the crushed variety instead.  I used a mixture of black and kalamata olives that I had in my fridge.

If you can see the olives in my photo, you are doing better than me.

I have no idea what these olives taste like, as they are meant to macerate for at least 8 days before being eaten.  I only just made mine, so I won't know for a while yet.  However, if the smell coming from the pan in which I made the oil is anything to go by, these will taste fabulous!

To see some more herbed olives, visit the LYL section of the FFwD website.

WWDH - Roast Vegetable Frittata

This week's Wednesday with Donnay Hay recipe, chosen by Chaya, is Roast Vegetable Frittata, from Modern Classics I or online.

 I was having a dinner party, and one of my guests was vegetarian, so this frittata turned out to be a delicious choice for the main course, served with a bean salad and a tomato bocconcini salad:

To sse what Chaya and Margaret thought of this dish, visit their websites.

BWJ - Best Ever Brownies

For Baking with Julia this week, we were assigned Best Ever Brownies.  Our host was Monica of A Beautiful Mess. Now, I am a little cynical about recipes claiming to be the best ever - that is a pretty broad and subjective claim.  I am not sure that these brownies are "the best ever", but they are pretty good.

I made mine with the proper chocolate for the first time ever, courtesy of my US trips:

As a heads up, "unsweetened" and "bittersweet" chocolate are not the norm in Australia, hence my chocolate came from the Ghirardelli store in The Great Mall, Milpitas, CA.

I probably baked my brownies a smidge too long (~30 minutes), as they were fudgy rather than gooey inside, but this was good - I could not imagine that the critical audience that I have to deal with would have appreciated "gooey" and would instead have interpreted it as "underdone".

To see what the other BWJ bakers thought of these, visit the LYL section of the BWJ website.

FFwD - Goats Cheese Mini Puffs

Friday has rolled around again, and yes, it is French Friday with Dorie time.  This week's recipe was Goats Cheese Mini Puffs.  Luckily, I had a dinner party last weekend, so I had plenty of helpers to eat these puffs.

Basically, this recipe involves making choux buns and filling them with a goats cheese-based filling.  I didn't have any cream cheese, so my filling was 150g goats cheese, some chopped fresh chives (in lieu of herbed goats cheese), and enough cream so that the filling was smooth when beaten together with an electric mixer.

Et voila - you end up with a delicious little savoury that is so good, it is difficult to stop eating.

To see some more of these, visit the LYL section of the FFwD website.

Have a good weekend.  

Betty's of Harrogate Christmas Pudding and Mincemeat

This year, I had not so much a stir-up Sunday but  stir-up Tuesday on the Melbourne Cup public holiday in Melbourne.  As well as a Christmas cake, I made a Christmas pudding and mincemeat using recipes from Betty's of Harrogate published in The Guardian here.

This was a bit of risk taking, because I have never heard of Betty's of Harrogate.  However, the illustrations of the Christmas pudding and cake were so good that I decided to give it a burl.

And boy, was it worth it - I was rewarded with the handsome pud at the top of this post, albeit after 5 hours of steaming. After last year's disasters, I was ecstatic.

I have also used the Betty's of Harrogate  recipe for mincemeat in the same article:

Tim says he loves fruit mince tarts, so I have made this mincemeat in the hope that it will mature nicely and be the perfect basis for some fruit mince tarts. 

I am so excited that Christmas is coming - I can't wait to get stuck into the rest of my Christmas baking.

Wednesday with Donna Hay - Smoked Ham and Cheddar Quiche

This week's Wednesday wih Donna Hay pick comes from Margaret, who chose Smoked Ham and Cheddar Quiche.  You can find the recipe online here, as well as in Modern Classics I. 

After a few insipid quiche offerings from cafes, I had gone off quiche, but this dish reignited my love for it.  Even though I messed with the pastry by using margarine to cut down on saturated fats, and I substituted half the cream for skim milk, I still loved the end result.

I served my quiche with some steamed veg - and it was perfect, as well as colourful.

To see what Margaret and Chaya thought of this quiche, go visit them.

Nigel Slater's Chrismas Cake - Take II

Melbourne Cup Day was Christmas cake baking day for me.  I like to bake a different recipe every year, and I thought I was being novel when I chose Nigel Slater's Christmas Cake from The Kitchen Diaries, which is also online here.

However, if I thought I was going where I had not been before, I was sadly mistaken.  A quick Google search led me to my very own post on the same Christmas cake, two years ago.

Oh well, it may be an oldie but it is certainly a goodie.  I was very pleased with how my cake turned out, and I will happily feed it with brandy between now and Christmas.  I may even branch out and ice it this year - who knows?

The gorgeous Santa atop the cake comes from the Christmas shop in Carmel, CA - I bought it on my June holiday to the States.  I had forgotten all about him until I baked my cake and pudding and was looking for ways to decorate them - and out popped Santa.

How is your Christmas preparation going?  Have you baked your cake yet? Or are you too busy with Thanksgiving to have got that far yet? 

Toblerone cheesecake

 
On Saturday night, I had three friends over for dinner.  It has been a record year for dinner parties for me, as this was the third one I have had this year.  The first one, I actually forgot about until my friend texted me to confirm the time; the second one went OK, but I was slightly flustered as I was not quite ready when the came; but this one seemed to be almost hitch free (if you discount the fact that I knocked over a carton of cream in the fridge).

For dessert, I made a Toblerone cheesecake that I had tried at a relative's birthday party back in March, but it has taken me until now to get around to making it.  Here's a peek inside:

It was delicious, but next time I would use less Toblerone, as it tended to set up and make hard lumps of chocolate inside the cheesecake.  Not that the punters were complaining; it just makes the cheesecake hard to cut.  The recipe, from my second cousin Kay Lewis, is as follows (formatted as Kay wrote it):

BASE
1 x 250G PACKET	BUTTERNUT SNAP BISCUITS
150G	MELTED UNSALTED BUTTER
200G	WHOLE ALMONDS
METHOD
CRUSH BISCUITS AND ALMONDS IN FOOD PROCESSOR.
ADD MELTED BUTTER AND MIX WELL.
PRESS INTO 25CM-SPRINGFORM TIN AND BAKE IN MODERATE OVEN FOR 10 MINS AND COOL.
FILLING
3 TSPNS	GELATINE
1/2 CUP	WATER
500G	PHILADELPHIA CREAM CHEESE
3/4 CUP	CASTER SUGAR
1/2 CUP	CREAM
2 TBLSPNS	KAHLUA LIQUEUR
300G	TOBLERONE CHOCOLATE
METHOD
PLACE TOBLERONE CHOCOLATE IN A BOWL AND MICROWAVE ON MEDIUM LOW UNTIL MELTED.
PLACE GELATINE AND WATER IN A CUP. STIR AND PLACE IN A DISH OF HOT WATER TO DISSOLVE, THEN ALLOW TO COOL.
BEAT PHILADELPHIA CREAM CHEESE UNTIL SMOOTH. ADD SUGAR AND BEAT WELL.
ADD CREAM, LIQUEUR AND GELATINE AND STIR WELL.
POUR CHEESE MIXTURE OVER PREPARED BASE, THEN POUR IN TOBLERONE CHOCOLATE AND SWIRL WITH A KNIFE TO CREATE
A MARBLE EFFECT.
CHILL OVERNIGHT IN REFRIGERATOR.
DECORATE WITH SWIRLS OF WHIPPED CREAM AND CURLS OF CHOCOLATE.

Daylesford Escape Part 2 - Mercato Restaurant and Harvest Cafe

While we were in Daylesford, I took Tim for a belated birthday dinner at Mercato Restaurant.  At Mercato, the food is modern Australian - but however, you describe it, the food is excellent.

On our way to Mercato, we passed this unusual redback spider gate, an homage to Aussie culture:

and a gallery featuring this Australian-inspired Alice sculpture:

and this trio of children on a horse outside The Royal in town: 

The reception area at Mercato sets the scene for the evening, with walls lined with glasses and wine:

I was already feeling full from our Silver Streak train trip, so we skipped entree and went straight to main course.  Tim ordered seared fillet of kangaroo, thyme scented potato gnocchi, baby spring vegetables, red wine sauce ($37.50):

while I opted for the spiced spatchcock, quinoa pilaf, sautéed chard, pistachio nuts,
mint & lime infused Meredith sheeps milk yoghurt ($38.50):

The spatchcock was absolutely devine, with three large pieces of spatchcock coated in a heavenly spice mix.  I would definitely have this again.

For side dishes, we ordered steamed beans with toasted almonds ($8.50) and roasted pumpkin, Persian fetta, pine nuts and thyme ($10.50): 

My pick of these was the pumpkin - the fetta was a lovely smooth contrast against the sweetness of the pumpkin.

Despite being incredibly full by now, and although we had a rather lacklustre slice of commercially made lemon tart on the Silver Streak (the only real letdown), we ordered a dessert to share, and I am glad that we did.  Tim chose lemon curd, Italian meringue, shortbread crumb and macerated raspberries ($15.50):

This dessert was like a deconstructed lemon meringue pie.  It was really devine, with a smooth, just tangy lemon curd bedecked with piped meringue that had been hit with a blow torch, the traditional pie crust being converted into shortbread crumbs, and some macerated raspberries to add a bit more tang to contrast with the sweetness of the meringue.

Next morning, after a satisfying, well-fed sleep, Tim and I headed out for breakfast at The Harvest Cafe.  Tim ordered this fabulous fruit toast, that I was lucky enough to share:

The plate was even decorated with three tiny flowers, hidden under the strawberry in the above shot.  The fruit toast was studded with a delicious mix of raisins, apricots and cranberries, and was served with the most wonderful tasting strawberry jam (it was so good that I bought a huge pot of it for $9).

We both ordered the muesli, again decorated rather prettily:

and served with milk, yoghurt and honey:

We really liked the honey too, and found out that it was local Des O'Toole's Honey.  Tim had been asked to bring home some honey, so we went and bought some at the Daylesford Sunday Market.

I couldn't resist showing you this charming bicycle sculpture inside The Harvest Cafe: 

Isn't it cute?

We spent the rest of our time in Daylesford exploring.  This included scaling the steepest hill in the world (well, maybe I exaggerate - a little) to visit the Convent Gallery:

The Convent Gallery is complete with its own chapel, where you can hold a wedding if desired:

Our efforts in climbing the hill were rewarded with this magnificent view from the balcony of the Convent Gallery:

I couldn't close off this post without sharing this funny sign with you:

It was outside Frangos & Frangos, where we finished off our Daylesford adventure with a local beer.

Mercato at Daylesford

32 Raglan Street

Daylesford VIC 3460

Ph  03 5348 4488

 

Harvest Cafe

29 Albert Street

Daylesford VIC 3460
Ph 03 5348 4022

 

Convent Gallery

Cnr Hill & Daly Streets

Daylesford VIC 3460

Ph 03 5348 3211

Daylesford Escape Part 1

Last weekend, Tim and I went to Daylesford in country Victoria to get away from it all.  We stayed in this pretty house (Carrington House), which was conveniently close to town.

We went for walks by picturesque Lake Daylesford:

 
where we saw a really funny looking bird:

along with regular ducks and black swans.  We also went for walks down flower-bedecked country roads:

 
with plenty of ups and downs to keep it interesting.

On Saturday evening, we went to Daylesford railway station: 

 
and took a ride on the Silver Streak:
 

 
with the Rusty Relics, Richard Bevan and John Meir, entertaining us with music:

 
until we reached Musk, where the station sign had fallen off and had to be nailed back up:

We got off the train at Musk and were served some lovely finger food by caterer Jennie: 

 

and we were also served with finger food on the train, including these spinach and ricotta traingles with asparagus:

 
and we were plied with as much as alcohol as we could drink:

For me, this was not very much.

We did it all again on the return journey from Musk to Daylesford and lived happily ever after.  It was lots of fun.

 

THE END