Food Art and Random Thoughts

Cranberry Walnut Bread

2009-12-28T09:33:00.000+13:00

One of the coolest benefits of having a blog is meeting new people through your readership or by postal exchanges. Here is a recipe from my new blog friend Esme who I met through the latest round of Blogging by Mail (organised by Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness).

I used butter instead of margarine (I couldn't possibly work for a dairy company and have margarine in the house!) and I didn't put raisins in as I didn't have any. I halved rhe recipe to make one loaf and probably overcooked it just a little. It certainly didn't need an hour in my oven - 30 minutes would probably have done it. No harm done though - just an excuse to spread more buter on the sliced loaf. YUM. Next time I think I might put in some frozen cranberries in lieu of the raisins. You can find Esme's original recipe here.

Esme’s Cranberry Nut Bread

Ingredients
1 cube margarine (1 stick)
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
3 c flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
2/3 cup raisin
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 can whole cranberry sauce

Method
In a large bowl cream margarine and sugar
Beat in eggs one at at time
Add dry ingredients
Add cranberry sauce, nuts and raisins
Turn into 2 greased and floured loaf pans
Bake 1 hr at 350 degrees (or until loaf tests done)
Cool 10 minutes
Turnout to wire racks to cool

Truffles and Treats

2009-12-27T12:00:00.000+13:00

I like to give homemade treats and preserves as Christmas presents and this year was no exception. I made truffles (the cheat's kind with cookie crumbs rather than with chocolate and cream), rocky road and some date and rice bubble balls. I really think that making edible gifts like these should not be reserved for the holiday season. They are so easy, relatively inexpensive and make a great gift at any time of year.

Carla's Liquer Truffles

Ingredients
1 packet plain biscuits eg wine, Girl Guide - crushed
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
185 grams icing sugar
125 grams butter - melted
4 tablepoons (or more) liquer of your choice
Coconut

Method
Place biscuit crumbs, cocoa, and icing sugar in a bowl
Add melted butter and liquer
Form into balls and roll in coconut
Set in the fridge

For a nice variation you can roll the trufle mixture around a halved marshmallow.
I made Malibu rum truffles for my first batch and for my second batch I used Frangelico and added some hazlenut paste to the biscuit mix. I dusted the Frangelico truffles in cocoa powder rather than confusing the flavours and rolling them in coconut.

Rocky Road

Ingredients
Two king sized blocks of chocolate (400g- 500g) - I used Cadbury Dairy Milk
1 packet mini marshmallows
1/4 cup chopped salted peanuts
1/4 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped dried fruit - I used dried strawberries

Method
Line and 8" x 8" cake tin with baking paper
Melt chocolate
Add other ingrediets and stir well to combine
Spread into prepared tin and chill
Cut into desired size pieces when set

Note: You can vary the combination and quantities of nuts and fruit to suit your taste. Try some chopped turkish delight with pistachio nuts for a festive looking rocky road. You could even use white chocolate if you wanted.

Odd Balls
From the Foodlover's website - no other source given

Ingredients
1/c cup sugar
75 grams butter
1 cup dates
2 cups rice bubbles
Coconut

Method
Slowly heat the sugar and butter in a saucepan
Add dates
Stir and mash with a potato masher until soft and pulpy
Remove from the heat and add the rice bubbles
Roll into balls and then dip in coconut
Chill until firm

Oatmeal Cake with Coconut Frosting

2009-12-26T13:17:00.000+13:00

Back in July I visited my dear friend Deb in Kentucky and was not at all surprised that she offered me a piece of cake with my afternoon cup of tea. It looked like one of my favourites (also a Deb recipe) - Lazy Daisy Cake, but it was somethink just a little bit different. Most Americans will probably have tried this cake before. From my investigations the recipe seems to have been around for about 50 years old and appears everywhere you google. I made the cake for some co-workers recently and it went down a treat. The cake is so moist and tender you'd never suspect there was something healthy like oatmeal in it.

Deb’s Oatmeal Cake

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups boiling water
1 cup oats (regular or quick-cook, but NOT instant)
1 stick butter (4oz)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Method
Mix boiling water and oats in a bowl and let stand approx. 20 minutes
Meanwhile, cream butter and sugars
Add eggs and vanilla and beat well
Add oat mixture
Sift in dry ingredients and mix
Bake in a greased 9 x 13" pan at 350 F for 30 - 40 minutes (until
center tests done)
While still warm, spread topping (recipe below) on cake and return to oven to broil for around 5 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Topping
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter (or a little less) (6oz)
1/2 cup cream
2 cups coconut

Sa Sa..... Salad

2009-12-20T12:30:00.000+13:00

Spinach, avocado, strawberry and asparagus salad to be exact.

Doesn't this just shout summer? There are countless recipes for Spinach and Strawberry Salad with a poppyseed dressing but I've jazzed my salad up a bit with the addition of some asparagus and avocado. The creamy avocado and tender asparagus add a little textural something to the mix.

Spinach, Strawberry, Avocado and Asparagus Salad

Ingredients
1 bag of baby spinach leaves
1 punnet strawberries, sliced
1/2 a ripe avocado (or more if you want), chopped
1 bunch asparagus, blanched and sliced

Dressing
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespooon finely choppped red onion
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

Method
Combine salad ingredients in a bowl
Combine dressing ingredients in a jar and shake to combine
Dress salad just before serving

I made the salad a couple of weekends ago when we had a few guests at home for a barbeque. One of my friends was in charge of dessert and she brought this fantastic looking Black Bottom Pie which is a Ruth Pretty Recipe. You can't tell from the picture but the pie has a chocolate custard on the bottom and a silky vanilla topping. YUM.

Why I'm not putting up a tree this year....

2009-12-06T14:40:00.006+13:00

If this is what happens with a table top tree can you imagine the havoc with a full sized tree?

Perhaps it was an act of revenge after I tried to put a little santa hat on Sticky.

The Easiest Lemon Curd Ever

2009-12-04T18:00:00.002+13:00

Don't fall off your chair in awe over at the styliest photo ever on my blog!

This fantasticly easy recipe is courtesy of my blog friend Tammy. The great thing about it is that it's made in the microwave with no faffing about over a double boiler. My mixture looked a tad overcooked but a few seconds in the food processor and voila - velvety, unctuous, luciousness.

Tammy's Lemon Curd

Ingredients
200 grams butter
200 grams sugar
Zest of 2 lemons
120 mls lemon Juice
6 eggs, beaten and strained through a sieve

Method
Put the butter, sugar, zest and juice in a microwave bowl
Cover with gladwrap and microwave for 4 minutes on high
Stir then whisk in strained eggs
Microwave uncovered for 2 minutes
Stir with a whisk and then whizz in a food processor for about 30 seconds
Pour into sterilised jars
Store in the fridge

I have a new favourite way to use lemon curd - mix equal quantities of Greek yoghurt and lemon curd and serve with fresh summer berries.

There are some more lemon curd combinations I really want to try including a lemony tiramisu. I stumbled on this recipe after a reader left a comment and I thought hmmm why do I know that name? And then I realised it was a published food writer who was commenting on my lil ole blog. What a proud moment. Check out Sue Story's blog here. She is a contributing writer to one of my most used magazines and her Lamb Tagine recipe in Annabel Langbein's book The Best of Annabel Langbein is fantastic.

Meatless Monday - Mee Mamak

2009-11-30T06:00:00.000+13:00

When we lived in Wellington one of our favourite restaurants was a cheap and cheerful Malaysian place called Satay Village. My husband’s favourite dish there was the vegetarian Mee Goreng, mine was the Chicken Rendang or the Chicken Sambal depending on my mood. In Palmerston North we have a plethora of Asian restaurants but they are mostly Thai so my husband has been missing his noodle fix and I’ve been trawling the net trying to find a recipe for Mee Goreng to make at home. The recipe I’ve settled on is absolutely nothing like the Mee Goreng from Satay Village but is a quick and easy dish that is healthy and delicious. It’s from Cuisine Magazine’s website and you can find the recipe here. I didn’t used to use the beansprouts that the recipe calls for but after talking to a Malaysian girl at work she persuaded me that they are an integral part of the dish and that they add texture. I have to admit she’s right. While the recipe calls for a mixture of prawns, chicken and tofu, I only ever make it with tofu. I used to buy a type of tofu from Japan that comes in a tetrapak but it's the soft kind and you end up with a dish that has a scrambled egg effect. It's much better with the firm tofu that you can stir fry to let it soak up some flavour before adding the noodles.

Baby Brights

2009-11-27T13:23:00.003+13:00

Here's a preview of something I've been working on recently instead of baking - the photo doesn't do the fabulous bright fabrics any justice at all. I was searching for ideas for jelly roll quilts and came across a really neat site MaryQuilts.com which has lots of cool ideas for quick and easy quilts, especially quilts for charity. I need to make a quilt for my cousin who has a significant birthday next year and I've been looking for ideas.

As yet this practice piece has no owner but I have someone in mind....watch this space.

Blogging by Mail - Indulge Me Package Shipped

2009-11-26T21:02:00.004+13:00

A teaser but hopefully not a spoiler. I shipped my package today and it's on its way to someone who, like me, has a cat, or maybe two. Come on now - you didn't really think I'd spill all the beans did you?

Here's another clue or at the very least another adorable picture of my girls.

One Bowl Chocolate Cake

2009-11-24T23:00:00.001+13:00

When it comes to cake I'm not a huge fan of chocolate but I think I may have found my new go to recipe for the times someone says "make mine chocolate" ....

It's light and tender with a subtle chocolate flavour and yields a pretty decent sized cake. This recipe is so easy - just add all the ingredients to one big bowl and mix – no sifting, no creaming of the sugar and butter! And you can even use light yoghurt if you’re that way inclined…

One Bowl Chocolate Cake

Ingredients
115g butter, softened
1 ¾ cup self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup cocoa
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons instant coffee dissolved in ¾ cup hot water
¾ cup natural yoghurt – (or use your favourite flavour such as strawberry or use a low-fat yoghurt option)
2 tablespoons raspberry jam (I had none so used plum)

Method
Grease a rectangular cake dish (a 9" x 13" pan works well) and preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius/ 350 degrees fahrenheit
Add the following ingredients to a big bowl and mix (you can use your arm muscles or an electric mixer
Pour mixture into pre-greased dish and bake for 45 minutes or until cake tests done
Cool and turn out onto a cake rack
Once cool, ice with butter icing

Butter Icing
Cream 115g butter
Add the following and mix
¾ cup icing (powered) sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon water

Blogging By Mail - Indulge Me

2009-11-24T22:41:00.004+13:00

The wonderful Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness has gone a little nuts and organised another round of Blogging by Mail. Yes, I KNOW, at this time of year - what IS she thinking! I couldn't be more delighted. I love these events because they are a great way to meet new bloggers and of course you get good mail. Because I lived in the US for 3 years and I feel that I have a special connection with the place, I always ask Stephanie, very nicely of course, if she will match me up with someone in the US. That's all I'm sayin' - y'all 34 other participants will just have to wait and see who I am sending to.

The hard part about sending stuff overseas is that all the really cool things like candy and books are expensive to send. My BFF lives in the US and our birthday and Christmas packages to each other usually put us back about $35-$50 for postage alone. For once or twice a year we just suck it up. So, dear BBM partner, if you are reading this, keep things light and small - please.

Oh and just so I don't have a photo-less post and this blog isn't called Food Art and Random Thoughts for nothing, I thought I'd share some photos of Smudge and Sticky.

How cute and adorable am I?

It wasn't me who did this

No really it wasn't.

OK so maybe it was but look at what my sister is up to...

Preserved Lemons

2009-11-11T06:00:00.000+13:00

Around this time of year I usually start making some preserves to give away as Christmas gifts. I thought I should try and do something with those pesky lemons of mine and thought that a nice big jar of preserved lemons would make an excellent Christmas gift. My first hurdle was to find a jar big enough to hold the lemons. Then I discovered that my lemons were in fact too big to fit more than about 3 of them in a jar. There was no option but for me to go to the supermarket and buy lemons which seemed completely ridiculous since the whole reason for me wanting to make preserved lemons was to use up my own supply. The lemons I purchased were imported from the US and probably Lisbon variety.

There are lots of recipes out there for Moroccan Preserved Lemons and if you google preserved lemons you'll find plenty of other blog entries but there's not a lot of variation in what you do.

Preserved Lemons

What you need
A very large glass jar with a lid
LOTS of lemons
Salt
A bay leaf or two
A cinnamon quill

Method
Wash and dry your lemons
Cut a little off each end of the lemon
Cut your lemon almost into quarters but leaving one end intact (I really don't see why you can't cut them completely into quarters and if I'd done that I could have fit them in the jar)
Sprinkle each lemon generously with salt
Place in the jar
Fill the jar with lemon juice
Poke the bayleaf and cinnamon quill in the jar
Seal and leave for at least a month before using

To use
Rinse the lemon and discard the flesh
Slice the lemon rind finely and add to your chosen dish be it a tagine or a salad or even muffins like Barbara from Winos and Foodies did. I tried Barbara's muffin recipe and they were delicious.

Whittering about Whitebait

2009-11-05T16:58:00.000+13:00

Today's biology lesson: In New Zealand, whitebait are the juvenile of certain galaxiids which mature and live as adults in rivers with native forest surrounds. The larvae of these galaxiids is swept down to the ocean where they hatch and the sprats then move back up their home rivers as whitebait. In other parts of the world whitebait refers to much larger fish.

Whitebait fishing season is very short (about 10 weeks in most areas) and because they are such a delicacy whitebait commands big prices during the season and you can pay upwards of $70 per kilogram. You can of course by frozen whitebait from China but it just ain't the same.

Whitebait in its raw form - not very appetizing looking

Check out the beady lil eyes of these teeny weeny fish

Now that the eyes disguised with lots of cracked black pepper the whitebait are transformed into fritters

Whitebait Fritters

Ingredients
250 grams/1/2 a pound of whitebait
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
Salt and LOTS of cracked black pepper (it disguises their eyes!)
Butter for the frypan

Method
In a bowl, mix the egg and flour until smooth
Add the whitebait and stir gently to combine
Season with salt and pepper
Put a little butter in a frypan on medium heat
Drop a spoonful of fritter mix into the pan and cook for 30 seconds
Flip and cook on the other side
Serve with buttered fingers of fresh white bread with lots of lemon juice on the side
YUM!

Pink Ribbon Cupcakes

2009-10-09T18:00:00.000+13:00

I wanted to make something for Pink Ribbon day but was was in a bit of a hurry and didn't really have time to come up with something fun and interesting. As you can see, my frosting efforts need A LOT of practice. Considering this was the first time I'd made cupcakes in a very long time and the first time I'd used a piping bag in a very long time I don't think they look too awful and anyway, people were so enchanted by the pink sugar glitter they didn't notice anything else.

Liz’s Carrot and Banana Cupcakes

Ingredients
150ml/ 1/4 pint mild flavoured oil (I used rice bran)
250g/8oz self raising wholemeal flour
2 tsp baking powder
150g/5oz light muscovado sugar (I used brown sugar)
60g/2 oz walnuts, coarsely chopped
125g/4oz carrots, grated (I used 2 medium sized carrots)
2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1 tablespoon milk

Method
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl
Mix well until thoroughly combined
Spoon into cupcake papers
Bake at 180C/350F for 20-30 minutes or until they test done
Note - this will depend on the size of your cupcakes. Mine were quite large as I only got 10 cakes from the mixture. They took about 30 minutes
Transfer to a wire rack to cool
Decorate as desired

Happy Birthday Queenie

2009-06-03T16:52:00.003+12:00

The first Monday in June is a public holiday in New Zealand to celebrate the birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. It's our last long weekend until Labour day at the end of October and pretty much marks the beginning of a dreary winter. What better way to celebrate than to have an afternoon tea served on fine china. Tiaras compulsory of course.

We had a lovely range of goodies including pikelets with cream & jam, little bread cases filled with a cheesey corn mixture and topped with tomato, chocolate cake and club sandwhiches. My contribution to the tea was something quick and easy because I was going out the night before and didn't have much time to bake. I made my reliable, tried and tested orange cake. It's one of those ones where you bung everything in the food processor - no creaming required and best of all it doesn't even need icing. I've blogged about it before and you can find the entry.
here

Mama's Got A Brand New Bag #2

2009-04-07T18:00:00.000+12:00

I wrote this random post and filed it away in draft but since I've not been baking much lately I figured it was time for this little piece of randomness to be used.

Some time ago I had a day to myself in Wellington, my home town. Well actually Upper Hutt is my home town but Wellington is where I worked for over 15 years. They say you can't beat Wellington on a good day. Unfortunately the day I visited was drab and drizzly. This is a photo I took of Wellington harbour from the bus to Upper Hutt looking out towards Oriental Bay.

Here's a look at the sea from the east coast of New Zealand, this time looking across to Kapiti island. This was on my bus trip home to Palmerston North.

I had a lovely wander around Wellington and took the opportunity to snap a few photos. Here's a sculpture on Featherston Street that caught my eye.

And here's a picture of one of New Zealand's cultural icons - buzzy bee. It's right beside the largest wooden building in the southern hemisphere.

It's quite appropriate that Buzzy Bee is not far away from "the beehive" - our parliament building.

I did a little shopping at Moore Wilson's which is an Aladdin's cave of foodie accessories. When I spied the little blow torch in my favourite shade of turquoise and at a reasonable price I just had to have it; similarly the lime green kitchen timer. I usually use the timer on my microwave but many's the time I've either forgotten to put the timer on or wanted to use the microwave for something else in the middle of baking. My new timer is magnetic and will stick to the fridge. It's also big enough to take with me if I leave the room to go update my Facebook page or whatever else might be on the agenda for the day. Here's a tip for you re timing in general which is quite useful. As you put your cake in the oven, note down the time on a piece of paper. Sure it won't help you if you leave the room and get distracted by something but it's a good standby if you are in the kitchen and had forgotten to put the timer on. The tea towels - well they're in my favourite colours and I couldn't pass them by. Lastly some Maldon sea salt which has been smoked - I've not tried it yet and I'm sure it'll be good although I'll be judicious about what I use it on/in. Once I made a rogan josh curry which called for paprika but all I had was Spanish smoked paprika. I can tell you it does NOT have any place in a curry and it's a fusion combination that doesn't work. I am the laughing stock of my Indian friends who take great joy in reminding me of my faux pas.

If you are in doubt about my favourite colours check out my shoes....

What's in a name?

2009-03-10T18:00:00.001+13:00

My mother and I enjoy a good play on words and are also known for using malapropisms. It’s our greatest fear that one day we’ll say something and people won’t “get” the humour and think we are just stupid like a certain US ex-President. When I was growing up we always referred to Rhubarb as Rupert and a popular winter dessert in our household was Rupert Crumple. Today I present to you a very tasty Rupert cake recipe.

I had a large amount of cream left over from a dinner party and thought it would be a good idea to use it up in a cake that perhaps called for buttermilk in keeping with my well publicised theory that dairy is pretty much interchangeable. My mother-in-law had given me some rhubarb from her garden so I searched for rhubarb and buttermilk and came up with a recipe from Allrecipes.

I read a lot of the reviews which mentioned cutting down the sugar, upping the rhubarb, adding oats to the topping and adding extra spices so I decided to tweak the recipe and see how it turned out. I’m pleased to say that this is definitely a keeper. It’s a very moist and tender cake, probably on account of all that wonderful fat from the cream. Usually I don’t know how well cakes keep because more often than not I take my baking efforts to work and there are never any leftovers. Most recently I baked this cake for my father-in-law’s birthday and it was eaten over a long weekend. If anything the cake got moister.

Rhubarb and Ginger Cake
Makes a 9" x 13" cake

Ingredients
½ cup butter (4 oz)
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 cup cream (or milk) soured with the juice of half a lemon or 1 tablespoon of white vinegar
4-5 cups sliced rhubarb
½ cup crystallised ginger washed (to get the sugar off), and sliced (optional)

Topping
¼ cup butter (2 oz)
1 cup brown sugar (very lightly packed)
½ cup rolled oats (regular, not quick cooking or steel cut)
1 tsp cinnamon

Method
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy
Add egg, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon and beat well
Into a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda and salt
Add dry ingredients alternately with cream to the butter and sugar mixture.
If desired toss the rhubarb in a little flour (I omitted this step with no ill effect)
Add the sliced rhubarb and ginger
Spoon into a lined and greased 13” x 9” cake pan
Combine butter, brown sugar, rolled oats and cinnamon and sprinkle over the top of the cake.
Bake at 350 degrees F/180 degrees C for 40 minutes or until cake tests done.

This is the cake before going into the oven - just use your imagination for how delicious it looked after baking. I'm sure it would be delicious served warm from the oven with a dollop of cream on the side.

When Life Gives You Lemons....

2009-02-20T18:00:00.000+13:00

.... make Yucca!

While living in the US we we were introduced to a wonderful party drink called yucca (yucka) and despite having an abundant supply of lemons I'd never actually gotten around to making some of my own. The weekends have been sunny and the pool has been hovering around 30-31 degrees celsius/88 degrees fahrenheit - perfect conditions for a nice refreshing batch of yucca or as I like to call it "electric lemonade".

I think what had put me off making yucca until now was the fact that the original recipe calls for a 5th of vodka (750 mls) and unless you have company that's just a little too much alcohol for two people. Also, I've been unable to find a large enough glass jar. I scaled the recipe down by about a quarter and use an empty Ocean Spray Cranberry juice jar which works pretty well.

Here's the recipe:

Yucca Cocktail

Ingredients
175 mls vodka - approximately 6 fluid ounces
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Ice
3-4 large lemons, deseeded and chopped small enough to fit through the mouth of your jar
A large glass jar with a wide mouth lid

Method
Mix vodka and sugar in the jar
Add lemons and ice
Wrap in a towel and shake until the sugar dissolves and the towel is starting to stick to the jar

Serve over ice in a tall glass
Enjoy

A Viola for Valentine's Day

2009-02-16T13:00:00.001+13:00

I feel like a big old blog fraud because I haven't posted since last year or participated in any blog events. Just as well I hadn't made any new year's resolutions about posting more often. This past weekend I invited my friend Marti around for dinner because her husband was out of town and I thought she might like company on Valentine’s Day.

On the menu was Chicken Marbella which is a classic recipe that never goes out of date and is a great make ahead party dish. You can google it and find a frillion entries about it including one by my cooking hero Ruth Pretty. I served the chicken with chunky cut, pan fried potatoes seasoned with my current favourite condiment - smoked Marlborough sea salt from the Smoke and Spice Company. This spice blend reminds me a little of McCormick’s Montreal Steak Seasoning and I highly recommend it, especially for steak or lamb on the barbeque. It is also great on fresh tomatoes on toast - Vogel's of course. For a bit of green we had some steamed green beans sprinkled with toasted flaked almonds.

Dessert was something quick and easy – my mum’s lemon mousse(previously posted under a Hey Hey It’s Donna Day entry) which I served in mini brandy snap baskets and decorated with canned boysenberries. The combination of sweet yet tangy mousse, crispy brandy snaps and juicy berries was fantastic. Marti asked for seconds which was a nice compliment.

My husband and I aren’t much into Valentine’s day and we didn’t even buy each other a card this year but look what I got……

This little pansy had self-seeded and was growing in the middle of our back lawn. My sweetie mowed around it especially for me - wasn't he thoughtful.

Joe Crow Chicken

2008-11-24T18:00:00.001+13:00

As photos go, this is as uninspiring as they get, but the recipe is completely worth it.

We recently purchased a new barbeque for the summer season - a big stainless steel mothership of a barbeque. My role is the preparation of the food rather than the actual cooking and I have a major issue in that all my husband wants to cook on the barbeque is sausages, steak, meat patties and the occasional shrimp on a skewer. All in all a barbeque is just a giant and expensive kitchen appliance. My goal this summer is to encourage him to be a little creative and this recipe was my first attempt. First I had to get over my aversion to using chicken meat other than breasts. Yes I know that thigh meat is moister and more succulent than breast meat, but by the time I cut out all the fat and oogey bits, the meat that's left is very messy looking - especially when I forget to buy boned thighs. My tip for any like-minded chicken choppers is to use lots of minced garlic in the marinade to conceal any bits of fat that might be left on the meat.

Tequila Lime Chicken

Ingredients
Chicken
Olive or avocado oil
A generous slosh of tequila (I used Jose Cuervo Gold - don't waste your good Patron or Herradura on this)
Juice of 2-3 limes
A squirt of sweet chilli sauce or some finely sliced fresh red chilli
A handful of chopped coriander/cilantro
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped

Method
Place your prepared chicken in a bowl
Add a little oil and mix with the chicken to combine
Add remaining marinade ingredients and leave to marinate for 4-6 hours or even overnight
Cook on the flat plate of your barbeque until done

This would be delicious served with a mango or kiwifruit salsa

Blogging By Mail - 10 Things or Less

2008-11-17T18:00:00.002+13:00

Stephanie, from Dispensing Happiness organised another round of her highly popular Blogging by Mail. Blogging by Mail brings back good memories for me because it was a BBM event which was the kick in the pants for me to start blogging. I'll always be thankful to Stephanie for that. This time the brief was "10 items or less". Can you believe that 116 participants signed up for this round?

The wonderful Allison of Sushi Day sent me a box of goodies. She wasn’t sure what she could send from California to New Zealand so opted to fill my box with some of her favourite things. If you are a fan of sushi you really need to check out Allison's blog - it's awesome.

Candy corn: In honour of Halloween. We don’t celebrate it in a big way in New Zealand but the retailers are starting to catch on.

Green tea: Allison packed her favourite brand – Numi Gunpowder Green.

Mochiko: Allison suggested making this into a pudding which you can do in the microwave. I did a bit of googling and came up with a recipe for Mochiko Chicken on the Allrecipes site which sounds mighty tasty.

Inari: I had no idea that these little tofu wrappers came in a canned form and will be keen to try them out.

Coconut water: A favourite of Allison’s boyfriend Son.

Dry roasted edamame: I’ve only ever had fresh edamame before and these little slightly salty snacks are a delicious treat.

Honey Maid Graham Crackers: Allison wasn’t sure if we got these in NZ and she’s right, we don’t. The closest thing would be a digestive biscuit or a superwine. I think these are destined to become a pie crust and I’ll have to pick a typically American pie filling to go on top.

Quadratini Wafers: Made in Italy. Allison warned me that these little not too sweet vanilla flavoured wafers are addictive. She wasn’t wrong. I shared some with my co-workers at afternoon tea time but the rest were all mine and there aren’t any left!

Mixed rice crackers: The perfect snack to have with drinks for a Japanese themed dinner party.

Candy wipes: You might miss these in the photo as they look like a roll of candy but actually it’s little individual wipes which you moisten to use. A great thing to have in my handbag for emergencies.

Thank you Allison for a thoughtful package and of course a big shout out to Stephanie for organising yet another fantastic round of blogging by mail.

If you want to check out what I sent to my swap partner go and visit Melody at The Trap Door.

When’s the next one!

The Great Bake Sale of '08

2008-11-07T12:29:00.007+13:00

Recently my office held a bake sale to raise funds for our social club. This was the second such event we've held this year and I think people knew what was expected and went the extra mile. For my contribution I offered a cake made to order. So far the winner hasn't decided what she wants but I have given her a list of my tried and true recipes. Take a look at some of the fantastic entries.

A Swedish Apple cake

Fortunately not a lamb flavoured cake

Pumpkin Spice cake for halloween

Decadent chocolate cake

Pot black

Gingerbread house

Moo cake

Boozey chocolate cake

Chocolate cake decorated with chocolate finger biscuits and chocolate covered almonds

I feel mean posting without a recipe so here's something created by one of my colleagues which was what I bought at the bake sale.

Monica's Honey Almond Bites

You need
Pastry
Mascarpone
Slivered almonds
Honey
Chocolate

Method
Make some short pastry
Cut pastry into small circles (you can use a drinking glass as a cutting guide)
Place the pastry circles into a small muffin tin and then blind bake in a fan oven (pre-heated to about 180°C) for approx 7-8 minutes
Dry roast the almond pieces (approximately 100g) in the oven for a few minutes
Mix about two tablespoons of Clover honey with mascarpone cheese (1 packet) and add the almond pieces
Place the honey and almond mixture into the pastry cases and cover with melted dark chocolate

Potluck Italiano #2

2008-10-15T12:00:00.000+13:00

Longtime readers may remember an early post about a
potluck Italian dinner. Well we got together again for another round but with a slightly different guest list.

We started off with an antipasto platter. Don't you love how easy these are to put together by opening a few jars of this and that, and then artfully arranging things on a nice platter. We had salami, cheese, marinated sundried tomatoes, olives, gherkins, baby peppers stuffed with feta and melon wrapped in proscuitto. My tip for the day: remember that prosciutto and melon should be a one bite portion. Having a long strip of prosciutto dangling down your chin is not an attractive look.

Our next course was baked portobello mushrooms with pesto, tomato and mozzarella. If you like the taste of insalata caprese you'll love this dish because of its similar flavour combination. It would be a good option for winter time when fresh basil isn't available.

My non-cooking husband was up next and was determined to make his newly learned signature dish - Tuna Pasta Bake. It's the only thing he knows how to do other than poached eggs on toast or spaghetti/baked beans on toast. Well that's not quite true, - he actually makes a very decent salad. To be fair to the guy I barely let him in the kitchen except for clean up duty so he doesn't really have a chance to get creative. Our guests gave him a hard time because this particular dish is... shock horror... am I actually admitting this in public?.... made with the assistance of a packet of Maggi sauce mix and is not from scratch.

For our main course we had hearty meatballs in tomato sauce with basil and mozzarella served over fettuccine. To complement the meatballs I made green beans with garlic and almonds as well as my Sicilian pepper dish.

The finale was Tiramisu which was made with Frangelico and Cointreau for the booze component - it was a lovely flavour combination. To offset the richness I made a winter fruit salad of oranges and green kiwifruit. Even though I knew how I needed to cut the oranges I decided to google the technique and I came across two interesting blogs, Coconut and Lime, and The Scent of Green Bananas. These days when I'm searching for culinary assistance on the net I usually add "blog" to my search. I guess because I know that people tend to write about recipes and techniques they've actually tried that I trust them a little more. Sometimes I learn something along the way - did you know when you cut an orange like this the resulting piece is called a "supreme".

And what did we drink with all this wonderful food? We started off with some bubbles. No prosecco this time but a French bubbly followed by good old "Lindy", New Zealand's favourite methode traditionelle. From there it was onto a red (or four including two Chiantis), and a Matua Savignon Blanc which we had with the tuna dish. You could say we had a good night!

Announcing the Arrival of...

2008-10-07T17:14:00.006+13:00

....well that's the thing really, they don't have names and I need help.

We went to visit a breeder in Levin on Sunday intending to come home with a couple of Burmilla kittens. I love the look of their silver coats and little round faces. However, we had decided that we would let the kittens pick us and each Burmilla we approached would put her ears down and pull away from us. We ended up coming home with two Burmese kittens.

Barinka Shine is an 11 month old Blue Silver burmese and her half sister, Tabitha is a five month old chocolate silver. You can check out their parents here if you are interested. Billy Boy is their daddy and Barinka's mum is Paris, a blue Burmese; while Tabitha's mum is Kelli, a Chocolate Tortie Burmese.

Husband and I are disagreeing about their names because I want pretty sounding names like Phoebe or Lucy (apparently cats like names that end in an "ee" sound although how a person can know that I don't understand). When we were first talking about getting a pair of kittens we thought we'd call them Guido and Luigi after the characters in the movie Cars but those names don't fit our girls. Husband is not a fan of people names unless they are a bit "out there" hence our last cat being called Scooter and the one before that Allie which was actually short for Alligator and not a person's name at all.

I quite like the idea of finding a pair of names However, Lucy and Ramona (from that song by Michael Nesmith), Patty and Selma, Phoebe and Ursula, Patsy and Eddy; and Thelma and Louise were all turned down.

I've even toyed with a foodie names like Cookie, Coco, Bailey or Lindy (short for Lindauer, a bubbly NZ wine). As a kid we had a pair of Siamese cats which were named Sausage and Mash.

Let's get those suggestions rolling in.

Update 09/10/08: Husband has come up with Smudge for the grey kitty which suits her personality because she smooches and smudges all over you and, well, she's smudge coloured. As for the young one, someone suggest Sticky since she sticks to her sister like glue. I'm not sure I can live with that but I'm thinking about it.

The Great Palmy Foodlovers Winter Lunch of '08

2008-10-06T18:30:00.001+13:00

A few weeks (OK months) ago I got together with some of the local gals who are regular contributors to the forum on the Foodlovers website. We had lunch at Rendezvous restaurant and I enjoyed the rare privilege of taking photos of my food in public. Not that I’m complaining about the gloriously sunny day but the bright winter sunlight streaming into the restaurant made lighting for the photographs a bit difficult. I can’t remember who had what now but it looks like we ordered a portobello mushroom panini, poached eggs on a potato and salmon cake, and seafood pasta. I'm think there was another sammich and some Eggs Benny but those photos were likely victimes of the aforementioned sun strike.

After lunch we were all delighted by a surprise gift from Raewyn G. She’d handcrafted pretty little boxes and filled them with YUMMY chocolate fudge - so delicious that I don’t even think mine lasted the rest of the day. Raewyn said it was Tammy’s recipe and you can find it on her blog Wee Treats by Tammy - it's really really good (both Tammy's blog and the fudge recipe).

Thanks to Raewyn Mc for organising a very pleasant outing. Let’s do it again soon.