TWD - Fresh Mango Bread

It's Tuesday with Dorie, and this week, our host Kelly of Baking with the Boys is taking us on a tropical detour with Dorie's recipe for Fresh Mango Bread.

I am not sure whether the "fresh" in the recipe title refers to the fact that you are supposed to use fresh mangoes, or that the bread itself (really a cake or quickbread) is freshly made. If the former, then I unfortunately cannot oblige, as it is many months past mango season in the southern hemisphere. I relied on good old fashioned tinned mangoes, which may have been a good thing, because I didn't get any "hairy" mouth feel that some TWDers got with their fresh mangoes.

My cake is very orange, not because of the mangoes, because I used carotino oil (a mixture of red palm and canola oil).

I was worried about this cake, because the tin ended up being very full (despite my using the recommended size of tin), and it looked suspiciously like it was going to overflow, volcano like, over the sides of the tin during baking. Also, the batter itself was rather odd and thick - at least Dorie warned us about this. However, the end result surpassed my expectations - this cake won't win any beauty contests, but it tastes moist and spicy and delicious. Sure, my raisins sunk to the bottom - but who cares?

It also gave me a little kick to hear the people at work commenting about how much they liked it, not knowing that I had made it and that I was listening with interest to their critique. This made it kinda special for me.

To see how everyone else at TWD went with this "bread", you can check out the TWD blogroll, and for the recipe, go to Kelly's site.

The rustic charm of Bill's Apple Fruit Cake

Bill Granger, the gorgeous guy of Australia's celebrity chef circuit (OK, he shares that title with Curtis Stone), has released a new cookbook evocatively entitled Feed Me Now! Bill says that this new book is designed to put forward quick meal ideas to help people (including himself!) to juggle their family-work balance. He urges readers to make mealtimes with family and friends a priority, and an experience that can be enjoyed. I love the sentiment, but it is not helpful to me when I live in a household of one with busy friends leading busy lives with their own families. However, one thing that I can take from Bill's philosophies is that food should be for pleasure, not just sustenance. Perhaps this is the greatest thing that I have learned since first taking an active interest in cooking, which I will attribute to the sparky young Jamie Oliver, whose early "fun and friends" cooking shows inspired me to want to live that dream myself.

Funnily enough, the first thing that I have made out of Feed Me Now! is not a meal at all, but rather, Bill's recipe for an apple fruit cake (p67). There is no picture of the finished recipe in the book, so I was kind of intrigued by what the finished product would look like. I also had all of the ingredients on hand (or thought I did until I found out that weevils had hitchhiked from Melbourne in my walnuts), which made me decide to give this cake a burl.

The result was a rather pleasing looking cake with a rustic "tea at Gran's" appeal, which is satisfyingly filling to eat. However, I initially found it the teensiest bit on the dry side - perhaps this was because my apples were on the small side, so there was not as much fruit as Bill originally intended to moisten the cake, or it may have been my choice of apple variety (Royal Gala, being a cross between Delicious and Cox's Orange Pippin). However, the next day, this cake had really come into its own, and was moist and flavoursome, with a lovely brown sugar crackly crust. Accordingly, that's my tip for this cake - leave it for a day to allow the flavours and moistness to develop before cutting it.

To make this cake, you will need:

75g raising
3 tablespoons warm tea
3 apples, peeled, cored and diced
250g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/4 teasppoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
180g brown sugar
60g white sugar
250g softened butter (shock horror, I used margarine to cut down on saturated fat)
3 medium eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
85g chopped nuts (Bill used walnuts, I used macadamias due to the unfortunate demise of my walnuts)
2 teaspoons grated ginger (I used one teaspoon of ground ginger instead)

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Leave the raisins to soak in the tea while you make the rest of the cake.

Grease and flour a 25cm bundt pan.

Sift the flour, baking powder, spices and salt together into a stand mixer bowl, and add the sugars, eggs, butter and vanilla. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer, beat the mixture, starting on low speed until the ingredients are just combined then increasing the speed, until the batter is light and smooth.

Drain the raisins. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, and using a rubber spatula, stir the apples, nuts, fresh ginger (if using) and raisins into the mixture. Place the batter into the prepared bundt tin and smooth the top.

Place the cake in the preheated oven to bake for approximately one hour or until cooked through. Bill recommends using a foil tent over the top of the cake if it browns too quickly.

Remove the baked cake from the oven, and leave it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before unmoulding it onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Just before serving, sprinkle the top of the cake with sifted icing sugar. Enjoy!

TWD - Tartest Lemon Tart

Who doesn't like a lovely lemon tart? It's light and sunny and attractive with a smooth mouth feel and just enough tartness to make your lips pucker slightly. And so were the qualities of this week's Tuesday with Dorie's Tartest Lemon Tart, chosen by Babette of Babette Feasts.

After so much chocolate last month, I was delighted with this choice. The tart uses one and a half whole lemons; however, I was not afraid of this, as I had already made the whole lemon tart posted on Smitten Kitten back in January. I just used whatever common garden variety lemons were available in Woolworths - Meyer lemons are mostly unheard of here. The only parts of the lemon skin that I discarded were the top and the tail, as those pieces are rather knubbly and thick.

Dorie instructed us to use a blender to make the filling instead of a food processor - but next time, I think I'll stick to the food processor, which gives a smoother end result:

Tha tart shell was a nutty version of Dorie's pate sable, which is much beloved by me, as you press it into the pan rather than rolling it out:

I had a few anxious moments when I realised that the tray on which I had put my filled tart to bake was too big for my oven, and the transfer of the loose-bottomed pie pan to another tray was not smooth. There was some spillage, and I feared that I would lose the lot.

However, as you can see, it all turned out well. If I have to be picky, the sides of my tart shell ended up a little over-browned, but still very edible.

I loved this tart - I had two slices of it. It also proved to be popular at work, as it was all gone by lunchtime.

If you would like to see how the other TWD bakers went with this tart, you can visit the TWD blogroll.

Inimitable Italian - Orange & Hazelnut Torta

I have just finished reading Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris. You have to read most of the book before you understand the significance of the title, but it is worth it. Although not as famous as Chocolat, and certainly a darker novel, I actually found this story more interesting and compelling, because there are many mysteries that only unravel slowly as the narrative goes on. If, like me, you are an impatient reader, this technique drives you forward, hungry to read the next instalment.

The story is told partly in the present and partly by flashbacks through the eyes of Framboise, an elderly widow with a secret past. Framboise's mother used to suffer from crippling migraines which were preceded by olfactory hallucinations of oranges. For this reason, oranges take on great significance in the story as the young Framboise learns that she can put her mother "down for the count" by furtively placing orange skins under the stove, so that the orange oils warmed and permeated the house, and in turn, tricked Framboise's mother into believing she was about to have another migraine.

Personally, I am not a huge fan of oranges in their natural state, as they are often difficult to peel and messy to eat. However, oranges in baking is a different matter, and there is nothing like orange (or other citrus) zest or juice to add a little sunshine and punch to baked goods.

The May 2009 edition of Delicious magazine is labelled "The Ultimate Italian edition", and is filled with Italian recipes from many different food writers, including Maggie Beer and Jamie Oliver. Gracing the front cover is the most amazing looking cake, and I knew that I had to make it as soon as I saw it. The cake is Valli Little's Orange & Hazelnut Torta. It is unusual in that it contains a whole orange, skin and all.

Valli dressed her cake with sugared rosemary and orange syrup and marscapone cream, but as mine was always destined to go to work, these accompaniments were not very practical. Accordingly, I converted the syrup into a glaze, and left off the rosemary and cream.

This cake is absolutely delicious! It is very moist because of the orange and carrots and butter it contains, and the citrus/toasted nuts combination was irresistable to me. It also seemed to be appreciated by the wider population, as the whole cake disappeared by just after lunch. (I no longer have a sizeable team to share my baked goods with, so I just placed it in the staff kitchen for everyone to share.)

To make my "no frills" version of this cake, you will need:

1 thin-skinned orange (preferably seedless)
225g chopped butter
280g grated carrot
225g brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups hazelnut meal (I made my own)
2 cups self raising four
1/2 cup orange marmalade
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier (I used Cointreau)
50g roughly chopped toasted hazelnuts

Put the orange in a saucepan of simmering water and simmer for 45 minutes with the lid on the pan. Remove the orange from the water and cool.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius, an grease and line a 24cm springform pan.

Divide the orange into quarters, remove the remnant of the stem, and remove the seeds (if any), but leave the skin on. Place the orange segments, grated carrot, butter and sugar into a food processor and puree. Add the eggs to the mixture, one at a time, combining each before adding the next. Add the hazelnut meal and pulse the mixture for a few seconds until just combined.

Pour the batter into a large bowl, then fold in the sifted flour using a rubber spatula. Spread the batter into the prepared springform pan, and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until cooked through. Remove the cake from the oven and cool it in the tin for 10 minutes before demoulding onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

To make the glaze, place the marmalade and orange liqueur into a saucepan, and stir over medium heat until the marmalade has dissolved. Strain the mixture into a bowl to remove the orange peel, then stir the toasted hazelnuts into the strained jam. Pour the glaze over the top of the cake and spread over the top using a pastry brush.

If you like the citrus/nut flavour combination, do make this cake. It is easy, relatively quick (once the orange has been cooked and cooled!) and results in a moist, flavourful cake that is miles removed from the icing and cream-sodden confections that you find in so many bakeshops these days.






In honour of mothers everywhere, including mine and Framboise's (sorry about the oranges!), I am sending this to my friend (and a mother herself) Ivy at Kopiaste for her Celebrating Mother's Day event.

Salmon spaghetti

Jamie Oliver is one of my favourite TV chefs - I loved his "cheeky chappy" persona back in his younger days, and I have enjoyed watching him become a rounded individual who seems to care for the wider community and does what he can to improve lives through teaching cooking skills.

I own most of his books, including Cook with Jamie, which I would probably rate as my favourite. There are terrific categories of recipes which allow you to choose pasta, meat, fish, vegetables and desserts. I particularly like Jools Favourite Sunday Afternoon Pasta and his roasted chicken breast variations (especially with the lemon Bombay potatoes!).

However, not everything that I have made from this book has taken my fancy. For example, I found that the Fifteen Chocolate Brownies didn't really set properly (perhaps they were supposed to be gooey? For the record, my work colleagues loved them).

In the latter category is Jamie's Lovely Crab Linguine, which in my hands, became Salmon Spaghetti. Crabmeat is hideously expensive at present, tinned or fresh, and I couldn't justify the cost when the object was to save money on work lunches by bringing lunch from home.

I am not sure whether the flavour of the salmon, which is stronger than crabmeat, simply overpowered the other flavours (fennel, chilli, lemon), or whether this just wasn't my thing, but this didn't grab me at all. I also left out the fennel seeds and most of the 140ml of oil (which would have made the pasta soooooo much more calorific) - perhaps this had a strong influence. Unfortunately, I just felt that this dish did not have enough "oomph" - I would have much preferred a rich, tomato based pasta. However, to be fair, Jamie says that in its guise as crab linguine with all the ingredients, it is a favourite at his Fifteen restaurants.

To make my lower cal, lower budget version of this dish, you will need:

2 chillis, deseeded and finely chopped
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 fennel bulb, shaved into pieces with a vegetable peeler
2 tablespoons olive oil
500g dried spaghetti
400g tin of salmon
salt and pepper to taste

Put the chilli, fennel, lemon juice and zest and salmon in a heatproof bowl, season with salt and pepper, and heat over a saucepan of water which is brought to the boil. Carefully test the meat with your finger to feel when it is heated through, then remove from the heat.

Cook the spaghetti according to the packet instructions, and drain, reserving a little of the cooking water. Toss the salmon mixture through the spaghetti, adding extra lemon juice or reserved cooking water to loosen the pasta, if necessary. Decorate the top of the spaghetti with the herby tops off the fennel bulb, and serve immediately.

Unfortunately, I can only describe my attempt at this dish as "meh", even though it looks pretty. If you have tried Jamie's original, I'd love to hear what you thought. However, I can't say that I will make this again - and I have 5 more serves to eat. I can see myself ditching the "cut lunch" for a good old spud with ham and cheese from Toowong ...

Postscript: I rescued this dish by adding sweet chilli sauce to it - it was much better that way, though I am unlikely to make it again.

Beef Noodles with Orange and Ginger

It's been a while since I posted about anything other than baking, so to mix it up a bit, I am going to share with you one of the recent main meals that I made - Beef Noodles with Orange and Ginger.

I really like Asian flavours - they are crisp and clear, and the meals themselves are usually quite light, so you are not left feeling bloated afterwards. I am pretty hopeless at keeping down calories, so I was quite excited when I saw the Low Fat, Low Cholesterol Chinese Cookbook by Maggie Pennell and Jenni Fleetwood for sale at an online bookstore. If someone else helps me out with "healthiness", that is a great start.

Flicking through this book, the recipe for Beef Noodles with Ginger and Orange caught my eye. I have never tried orange flavours with beef before (although I once made marmalade chicken), and I am a fan of citrus and ginger flavours, so I decided that this was the dish for me.

As you can see, this dish looks pretty good with its burnished orange sauce. My only complaint is that I would have liked more vegetables in the recipe than just carrot and spring onion (easily fixed), and I found the portion size quite small (which is probably deliberate given this is a low fat, low cholesterol cookbook). Otherwise, I really enjoyed the unusual pairing of beef and orange, with the ginger zing in the background.

To make this stir-fry style dish (with my modifications), you will need:

450g lean beef, cut into thin strips
zest and juice of 1 orange
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornflour
2.5cm knob of fresh ginger, grated
175g rice noodles
3 teaspoons cooking oil
1 carrot cut into matchsticks
2 spring onions, thinly sliced

Put the beef, orange zest and orange juice into a bowl to marinate for half an hour.

Drain the beef, reserving the juice, and set the juice aside.

In a large bowl, mix the beef with the soy sauce, cornflour and ginger.

Cook the noodles in accordance with the packet instructions and set aside; keep them warm.

Place the oil in a large wok or frypan, and heat it until hot. Add the beef and stir fry for one minute, then add the carrots and stiry fry for another 3 minutes.

Add the spring onions and the reserved juice to the wok, and heat ntil the sauce boils and thickens. Remove the wok from the heat.

Serve the beef immediately over a bed of rice noodles. (Serves 4)

TWD - A Little Pick-Me-Up - Tiramisu Cake

This week's Tuesday With Dorie revolves around Dorie's delicious Tiramisu Cake, and was chosen by Megan of My Baking Adventures. I have made the Tiramisu Cake once before (I think it was the first thing that I ever made out of BFMHTY), but was happy to make it again, without any alterations, for a brand new audience. Unfortunately, there is no special occasion involved - other than TWD, of course.

My previous comments about this cake really sum up my thoughts. In making it, I used instant coffee powder instead of expresso powder, and it worked just fine. For the alcohol component, I used brandy. Luckily, marscapone is readily available in the supermarkets here, so I didn't have to make any substitutions (unlike some TWDers, who had the challenge of finding a substitute for marscapone). Although I thought it would be fun to do cupcakes second time around, I really didn't have the time up my sleeve (I left it until Monday night before posting to make it!), although I understand that a few TWDers did try this.

The finished cake looks like a huge cappucino - which is very cool for a coffee flavoured cake.

To see what the other TWDers thought about this cake, check out the TWD blogroll.