Feed the Birds, Tuppence a Slice

While on an excursion doing research for the upcoming Chow Down to Eurovision 2014,  the group was offered some stone age bread.

Bread with no flour? What is this crazy talk??

It was like a scene from my Big Fat Greek Wedding come to life, What you mean you don't put no flour in the bread?.........ok I use spelt?

I'd never heard of it, but loved the nutty deliciousness.

So no flour, just seeds and nuts, which makes it fit into the Paleo diet (if that kind of thing floats your boat)

The chef's reply when asked for the recipe was "Google it!"

So after some Googeling, recipe comparison and testing, this is my take on the Nordic nut bread.

There are more seeds than what I found traditionally which I think gives a better firm multigrain bread texture rather than one of crispy seeds.

I'm not one for trendy diets but for me this bread is a perfect breakfast as 1 slice will keep you going for hours....and that's just the chewing! (kidding)

The only down side is it's best not to quickly grab a piece before meeting people unless you like the blacked out tooth look.

Nordic Nut Bread aka Stone Age Bread

• 100g slivered almonds
• 100g walnuts
• 100g linseeds
• 100g sunflower seeds (kernels)
• 100g pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• 50g sesame seeds
• 50g black sesame seeds
• 50g poppy seeds
• 50g black and white chia seeds (or just 1 or the other)
• 2 1/2 tsps. sea salt flakes
• 5 eggs
• 100ml olive oil

Method

• Preheat oven to 150°C
• Line a medium loaf pan  (25.5 x 14.5 x 6cm)
• Add all the seeds and salt to a mixing bowl and combine well
• Add eggs and oil to a jug and whisk with a fork
• Pour egg mix into mixing bowl and stir till the seeds and liquid is very well combined
• Pack into the lined loaf tin
• Flatten the top of the loaf and make sure there is no excess liquid (it will just be cooked egg and not look great)
• Bake for about 1 hour and 15minutes.
• It will be oily at the bottom
• Remove from the tin and place on a wire rack over a tray to cool, and release any extra oils
• When cooled it isn't oily but moist with a nutty texture
• Enjoy with cheese, salmon, poached eggs, avocado or just on it's own for that long lasting breakfast
• Some recipes use whole almonds but I think the slivered give a better end result as the nuts cook all the way through
• It will make another appearance with a slight variation when the Chow Down to Eurovision 2014 heads to Copenhagen, so watch out for that! #eatus 

Heaven is a place on earth.....with blue cheese and quince paste.

In My Kitchen March

After being a bench warmer for In My Kitchen - February, I'm back in business and ain't it grand!


In My Kitchen......
....is some delicious barely seared tuna. It's something I saw on a Jamie Oliver show years ago and just love the clean flavours. I often forget about it which is crazy as it's the perfect dinner with some miso soup.
Mental note: I need to make this more often! 

 

In My Kitchen.....

....are lots and lots of apples.

 

Thankfully the tree has decided to produce after last year's appleless season.

 

Apart from just eating and juicing them I've made apple jelly. It tastes exactly like McDonalds hot apple pie, which is amazing how tastes sticks in your mind as I've not eaten at a McDonalds for over 14 months now (YAY!)

 

Apple chutney is next on the list, any other suggestions?



 

 

This is a beautiful filling for cupcakes.

 
 In My Kitchen....
....there is the start of something exciting.

I have bitten the bullet and bought a new camera and accessories to enhance the visual presentation here. Though the irony of taking these snaps on my phone is not lost on me .

Stay tuned as I learn what I'm supposed to do with them.

 

 In My Kitchen.....
.....well not quite my kitchen but I thought I should share my toot paper....well you know what I mean!

I found some toilet tissue that even by just going to the loo it is creating some good in the world, and there can never be enough of that.

According to their website each roll equals a person in a developing country having access to a toilet.
*Not sponsored

 

And finally now grab a tissue....you have been warned!

 

In My Kitchen........
.......there have been more tears than socially acceptable for a 6ft, 39 year old man to shed.

Last week we lost our little darling Sailor, the bringer of ultimate cuteness to our home and the reason I am useless at cooking rabbit.

Not because I have any issues with eating rabbit, I'm ok with identifying Pets vs Food but I'm pretty sure she put a jinx on the house so no matter how hard I tried it always turned out rubbish.

No bunnies where harmed in the making of this photo but there was some pretty poorly executed photo shopping.

It was very sudden but thankfully her last peaceful moments were spent in the loving arms of AB, I can't think of a better way to go really.

Sorry to be such a downer but I'm hoping this tribute will save me a whole heap of cash on therapy!

(which, naturally I can spend on kitchen ware )

 

Thanks to Celia from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for hosting the monthly In My Kitchen, check out the other kitchens.

Coldcannon

I would love to say I am ultra foodie forward by creating dishes where no cooks have gone before. The truth is often there is no plan, I just make stuff up as I go along.

 

This is mainly the case around midweek dinners, racing from work, to create something spectacular with whatever is left in the fridge.

 

Our adventure begins while some Kipfler potatoes were merrily roasting.

 

I had some spring onions and wombok (Chinese cabbage) and cheddar, if only the potatoes weren't already roasting I could have made a colcannon. (I know you can mash roasted potatoes but not Kipfler, too fiddly)

 

So long story short and borrowing some wisdom from Kate Perry things can be Hot'N'Cold, so Cold-cannon was born.

 

 It has all the flavours of colcannon but with a freshness and crunch.

 

The original was meatless but I have never been one to say no to some crispy lardons, or even some speck as pictured below in another version.



 

 

Cold-cannon

• 1kg potatoes (the variety is up to you)
• 1/2 a large wombok
• 4 spring onions finely sliced
• 150g speck sliced (or 250g crispy lardons we all know not all of them will end up in the dish)
• 150g grated cheddar or parmesan
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil

Method

• Roughly chopped the potato into even pieces, just a bit bigger than bite size.
• Add to a baking dish with a good amount of olive oil, not drowning but enough to paddle.
• Season the potato with salt and pepper
• Bake in the oven till crisp and golden on 180°C, about 45mins.
• Finely shred the wombok and add to a large bowl
• Add the hot potatoes and combine
• Mix through the spring onions, speck/lardon and cheese
• Season to taste but it shouldn't need much with the salt from the meat, cheese and potatoes.
• I find because the potatoes go in hot out of the oil it doesn't need a dressing as such as the combination of oil, fats from the meat and cheese do this job. If you prefer it creamier stir through a couple of tablespoons of sour cream.
• I love it with a steak or on it's own as a work lunch!

 

 

 
 

More tales from the wood panel Chinese

The 2014 Chinese Lunar New Year welcomes the year of the Horse (or whores as the BBC typo read, true, Google it).

I am thrilled about this year for no other reason than that it is no longer the year of the Snake! (Still hate them)

To accompany the Ham and Chicken rolls previously mentioned, I thought I'd recreate another authentic dish from the wood panelled Aussie-Chinese restaurants of my childhood.

Now when I say authentic I'm talking a restaurant that was more like a converted house on an inconvenient bend of the main road of East Gosford, its not quite Guangzhou.

Dome rice is the name I remember this dish by but I have no recollection whether that is what it was called on the menu.

I always found this dish magical as a kid, firstly because it had white sauce and that really should have only ever been used for vegetables. (what were they thinking??)

And secondly I had no idea of how they made the rice take on a shape, let alone fill it. I had visions of the rice being built up and around to enclose that special combination goodness. Those rice ads where the rice took on the shape of famous landmarks only further confused me.

In reflection I don't believed I was a particularly thick kid but the idea of serving an upside down bowl of rice just didn't cross my mind.

This doesn't take long to cook but there is a bit of prep at the start. It also seems like there are a million steps but it's really just a stir fry, in a bowl of rice with a white sauce but packed full of flavour and memories. 

Dome Rice
Ingredients

• 1-11/2 large mugs of basmati rice
• 2 chicken thigh fillet diced
• 200g beef diced (I had some scotch fillet)
• 2 x pinch bi carb soda
• 2 tbsp. oil (peanut/canola)
• 2 tbsp. sesame oil
• 4 Chinese sausages, diagonally sliced
• 1 brown onion, diced
• 2 carrots (see note on vegetables)
• 1 zucchini,
• 1 broccoli stem
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1 small thumb ginger finely chopped
• 200g green prawns (halved if large)
• 2 spring onions chopped
• small handful of sliced bamboo shoots
• Small handful of chopped baby corn
• 6-8 quartered straw mushrooms (more if they are smaller)
• 2 tbsp. Chinese cooking wine
• 2-3 tbsp. Oyster sauce
• Salt and a pinch of Schezuan pepper to taste
• a few toasted almonds to decorate

 Method

• Place chicken and beef in two separate bowls of cold water and a pinch of bi carb soda
• Allow to rest for 20-30 mins (this is what makes the meat silky tender)
• Cook the rice (I use the microwave method of 1 mug rice 2 mugs water)
• Blanch the vegetables
• Make white sauce (see directions below)
• Drain the chicken and beef separately and pat dry with paper towel
• Into a hot wok add the oil and sesame oil
• Fry off the Chinese sausage them remove just the sausage and place in a bowl
• Repeat with chicken, fry till just cooked and remove to the bowl
• Repeat with beef, fry till just cooked and remove to the bowl
• Leave the juices in the wok as this forms the base of the sauce
• Reduce the heat and add the onions, garlic and ginger stir fry until tender
• Add the meats and prawns back to the wok
• Add all remaining ingredients and
• Add about a 1/4 cup of the white sauce to the wok and combine
• Take off the heat

• To assemble dome
• Spray a glass bowl with oil
• Spread the enough rice to line the bowl with a thin layer (about 3/4 of the rice)

My bowl has a diameter of 22cm and is about 12cm at it's centre

My walls are a bit thicker than I would normally have them, the rice was very hot and I was hungry!!

• Fill bowl with stir fry
• Cover with a layer of rice to enclose it all, press firmly so it takes on the shape of the bowl
• Place a plate over the bowl and then flip it over
• Remove the bowl and you'll have a great looking rice dome!

Steaming!

To serve pour over hot white sauce and top with some toasted almonds or more decorative vegetables.
There were only ever 3 almonds on the top of this dish at the restaurants but live a little and add a few more, I think I have 6!

 


 


 


 

 

White Sauce

Ingredients

• 40g butter
• 60g plain flour
• 250ml chicken stock
• 500ml light milk 

Sauce Method

• In a  saucepan melt the butter
• Add the flour and stir to combine, cook the flour for about 1 minute
• Add stock and milk together in a jug (or use all milk and a good quality stock cube)
• Slowly add some stock/milk mix  while whisking to make a smooth sauce
• As the sauce thickens add more stock a little at a time, you might not use all the stock.
• While whisking let the sauce cook to thicken further for a few minutes, it should have a thick pourable consistency (but not thick enough you can cut it!)
• Season to taste

Vegetable Note:

If you have a lot of spare time on your hands or don't mind heading to the land of all things naff, you could can use various cutters to shape the vegetables.

 

The broccoli stem adds element of surprise as it is a pale green star that looks nothing like it but tastes like broccoli.

 

The zucchini I sliced lengthy ways around the outside so I got .5cm thick slices with the skin on one side for the colour contrast.

 

Blanch each vegetable separately in boiling water for about 1 minute, then  refresh in icy water.

 

 

 

Jam vs No Jam, the great lamington debate!

 

I must declare right from the get go, I am 100% #TeamNoJAM!

Putting jam in a lamington just seems a very unnatural thing to do to me. It may be because of how I was brought up, you would never have seen jam in any of my Nan's lamingtons.

Jam belonged in those "hot bread shop" type bakery lamingtons, you know the type of bakeries where if you were blindfolded you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the cakes as they all tasted the same.

Or worse supermarket long-life packaged lamingtons *Shudder*

Sometimes you have to do things for families you never thought possible.

AB's Dad is 100% #TeamJam so there have been times I have put other's needs above my own and added jam, even if I felt ill doing so.

Now this is where things take a scary turn.

There are 3 foods AB can't stand, chicken with bones, mushrooms and coconut, so making the greatest sacrifice of all for lamington kind I substitute the coconut for grated white chocolate.

The most satisfying part of this adventure is that he is never quite sure if the switch has been made until the tasting.

I believe the best part of Australia Day is embracing all the different viewpoints that come together to make up this great country, even those radical extremists who put jam and cream in their lamingtons! Seriously what is that??


I Can't Believe It's Not Coconut Lamington
Ingredients- makes 12 lamos

• 100g unsalted butter softened
• 100g caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 150g self raising flour
• 3 tbsp. milk

Icing

• 250g sifted icing sugar
• 2 tbsp. cocoa
• 5-10g knob softened butter
• hot water 
• 150g white chocolate (cold)

Cake Method

• Cream butter, sugar and vanilla with electric beaters
• Add eggs 1 at a time and beat
• Add flour, milk and mix
• Pipe batter evenly into lined cup cake tin
• Bake at 170°C for about 10 minutes (about 20 minutes if baking as a whole cake)
• Let cool slightly in the tin, then onto a wire rack to completely cool

To make icing

• Add icing sugar, cocoa and butter to a mixing bowl
• Add 2 tbsp. of the hot water and beat with electric beaters
• Add more water bit by bit till icing is glossy and very runny (about 5 tbsp. in total)
• Finely grate the white chocolate into a bowl (having the chocolate cold will help it grate and not melt in your hands)
• Coat 1 cake in icing making sure to remove any excess
• Roll the cake in the white chocolate to coat.
• This is a 2 hand job, 1 hand in the icing and the other in the chocolate. Your fingers will still get messy but it keeps the ingredients separate.
• Repeat with the remaining cakes and then chill them in the fridge for about 30 mins till set.

I bought this tray at Ikea because I liked the shape and had the idea of little toadstool cupcakes. I have never been able to get the patty pans that fit it but lining with baking paper helps them to not stick.

 

\

Celebrate diversity if they aren't all even!!

 

 

My Bake Off Birthday

I was going to title this "My Last Birthday Cake Ever" but I thought that may cause a flood of distressed messages.

What I mean to say is that upon my 39th birthday I discovered the cake that will feature at every one of my remaining birthdays.

It is no surprise to anyone that has stopped by before that I am "slightly" obsessed with the Bake Off in all it's guises.

• The Great British Off,
• The Great Irish Bake Off,
• The Great Australian Bake Off,
• The Pretty Good American Bake Off 
• The Disappointing Italian Bake Off

So this birthday I wanted the chocolate cake with the raspberries from the opening titles. 

 Source: Wikipedia

 

Surprisingly I couldn't find the recipe online but thought in reality to film the titles it was probably just polystyrene anyway.

I had lots of recipes for light airy chocolate cakes but I wanted this to be dense and rich so it would stick to your boots!!

This cake was developed after studying various recipes and the contents of my pantry.

The original version was great but this has been polished by making 5 in the past 2 weeks......yeah January diets! (and with Sunday bake club tomorrow make that 6)

You have to include the missing raspberry!

The Only Chocolate Birthday Cake
Ingredients

• 180ml strong espresso (or brewed NOT instant ever)
• 400g caster sugar
• 300g cooking chocolate (see note)
• 250g salted butter
• 60g hazelnut spread
• 140g crème fraîche
• 4 eggs (our girls produce eggs in the mid 50g range)
• 250g self raising flour
• 150g almond meal

For Ganache

• 200ml cream
• 250g dark chocolate
• Tiny knob of butter

3-4 punnets of fresh raspberries to decorate (depending how many are eaten before they hit the cake)

Method

• Add coffee, caster sugar, chocolate and butter to a medium saucepan
• Stir over low heat till the sugar dissolves and the rest is melted and combined (it will be deliciously glossy)
• Remove from heat and let cool to just above room temperature
• In a mixing bowl combine the hazelnut spread, crème fraîche and eggs
• Sift flour and almond meal into the mixing bowl and combine
• Add chocolate mixture and stir through till well combined
• Pour into 22cm round spring form cake tin lined with a high collar and base
• Bake at 150°C for 80-90 minutes till a skewer comes out clean and you can't hear anything from the cake
• Allow to cool completely

 

I could always get a job making those videos that don't always have the highest production values, e.g. haven't turned the phone the right way!!

Ganache

• Add cream, chocolate and butter to a saucepan
• Stir over very low heat till all melted and glossy
• Allow to cool for about 10-15 minutes prior to pouring over cake
• Place cake on wire rack over a lipped tray and pour ganache to cover cake
• This recipe makes enough ganache to cover the cake by pouring rather than spreading, this will also have a self levelling affect with the assistance of gravity
• The extra ganache will pool in the tray and is a bonus treat, just in case there wasn't enough chocolate.
• Let the ganache cool and set
• Decorate the top with raspberries

Add some gold leaf just to ensure the lily is sufficiently gilded
This isn't a cheap cake but hey it's a birthday!

Note about Chocolate:

Chocolate, like who you love is very much a matter for the heart.
You just like what you like, it's just that simple.
No amount of "but this brand or type is better" will have an affect on what you like.

So use the chocolate, the brand and strength of dark or milk you like best or combination of.

But not white, that's not chocolate! (can, worms, opened)

I mix the 300g with 200g Lindt 70% and 100g of Cadbury 45% dark chocolate. (not sponsored comment but happy to be sent to Switzerland again hint hint)

I'm also planning to make one using 85% dark just to see how far towards the dark side it can go.
 
Now with coffee it's a different story altogether, this has to be good espresso. If you don't have a machine at home grab some take away from a café.

I pride my home on never containing these 2 items, tracksuit pants and instant coffee, you just gotta have your standards.

Unfortunately I get too preoccupied with eating to take a good sliced shots

 

This was a new years day version, it hadn't quite cooled before I needed to serve it but still just as good.

 

Oh if only!

In My Kitchen - January 2014

Happy New Year, the first day of 2014 so you know what that means only 4 months till Chow Down to Eurovision 2014!!

I hope you all had a great festive season and this new year brings you everything you need.

It will be a quick tour in my kitchen today, very casual, so make yourself a cuppa or a glass of the hairy dog if you "celebrated" last night.

It's almost less In My Kitchen and more a showcase of how good Santa was. I am very grateful to be loved by wonderful people, but then again they are only human!

In My Kitchen....
...are lots of fresh raspberries that are so beautiful they should only be eaten fresh and whole.
It would be a crime to make them into jam or anything that breaks them down. (use the frozen ones for that unless you have your own crop and simply can't eat them all, as if)

My birthday cake was covered in fresh raspberries (recipe coming)

 

In My Kitchen....



.....is a Doctor Who apron and TARDIS mug, and yes I do believe it holds more on the inside.

There is also a matching teapot so you guessed it, I'm off shopping.

 



 In My Kitchen....
...are some lovely gifts of Maha pomegranate molasses, and some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Oh I have some plans in store for these babies.

 

In My Kitchen.....

.....is a little bit of light reading, or as AB calls it "more kitchen porn".

I can't wait to cook my way through these to keep learning more and more with just a little bit of eating as an added bonus

 

 

Thanks to Celia from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for hosting the monthly In My Kitchen, check out the other kitchens.