Blog Party #38 - Birthday Baking

Stephanie from Dispensing Happiness invited me to Blog Party #38 which is a party for her very own self. I wanted to contribute something typically kiwi so I opted for Lolly cake which might be quite difficult to replicate if you live outside of New Zealand or Australia. The closest thing to malt biscuits in the US would be graham crackers. As for fruit puffs... hmmmm..... They are kind of dry and I have a suspicion that they're like those circus peanuts candies in texture. You could probably substitute marshmallows.

Lolly Cake

Ingredients
1 packet of malt biscuits
120g butter
1/2 a can of sweetened condensed milk
1 packet of fruit puffs
Dessicated coconut to coat

Method
Crush the biscuits very finely in the food processor. IMHO this is not one of those biscuit concoctions that is nice with "pebbles in the sand"
Melt the butter and mix it with the condensed milk
Chop the fruit puffs in half
Combine the crushed biscuits, fruit puffs and butter/milk mixture in a large bowl
Form into a log shape and roll in coconut
Refrigerate until firm
Cut into slices


Lolly cake even has its own website which includes a recipe and a bunch of other stuff about variations. There's even an entry on Wikipedia.

Happy Birthday Stephanie.

LiveSTRONG with a Taste of Yellow - 2008

My blog friend Barbara over at Winos and Foodies is hosting an event in support of Lance Armstrong's LiveSTRONG day which is a one-day initiative to raise awareness and funds for the cancer fight. LiveSTRONG Day 2008 will occur on Tuesday, May 13.

Barbara's event is called A Taste of Yellow and requires participants to make something involving a yellow ingredient. Last year I made an inedible yellow cake, a banana cake with lemon glaze and a yellow lentil curry. This year I'd like to share with you a delicious side dish that my sister-in-law made for me recently. It is a really good accompaniment to fish.

Sicilian Peppers

Ingredients
4-6 peppers - a mixture of red, yellow and orange. Don't use green ones as they are a bit bitter
3 cloves garlic
Olive oil
1 tablespoon capers - rinsed and drained
6 anchovy fillets
1/2 cup mixed olives of your choice - I used pitted kalamata olives and some pimento stuffed green olives
3 tablespoons wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
De-seed peppers and slice into thin strps
Slice garlic
Saute peppers and garlic in olive oil until caramelised
Add capers, anchovies and olives and stir to combine
Mush the anchovies up a bit if necessary (see note below)
Finish off with the wine vinegar
Serve warm or at room temperature

Note: 1. The original recipe called for 6 tablespoons of olive oil and I about died when I saw SIL cooking with that much oil. OK I know that olive oil is the good kind of oil but you sure don't need that much. I used about a tablespoon and it was plenty. 2. If you have anchovy haters at your dinner table don't tell them what's in the dish and they'll never know. The anchovies mush up to nothing if you stir them in well and then all they do is give a subtle depth to the flavour.


I dedicate this recipe to my family and friends who have been touched by cancer.

Monthly Mingle - Earth Food

Meeta of What's for Lunch Honey? asked "What action are you taking that helps the earth? It does not have to be anything spectacular or a list of 100 things - just the one small action that you consciously do that reduces the impact."


What has a cat got to do with a monthly mingle you might ask? Well read on and you'll find out...

I am fortunate to live in a city which offers recycling as part of our weekly rubbish collection so we separate out our plastics, glass, papers, cans and regular rubbish. We also have a compost bin in our yard although I'm a little bit lazy about using it for kitchen waste. I’ve taken the recycling of our newspapers one step further though. I volunteer at the local SPCA every 2nd Sunday and they use cut up newspapers as liners for the kitties’ litter trays. So each night after I’ve read the newspaper I sit at the kitchen counter and cut up my paper and save it till I’m next at the SPCA. This is a job I’d ordinarily do during my time at the SPCA so I figure if I’ve done it before hand I get to spend more time loving on them all. Who could abandon a gorgeous creature like "Sylvia"? I am pleased to report that she didn't stay with us long and went to a good home.


Ok - so here's my recipe and for a change it is a completely original creation which evolved because I made a tomato and lentil soup that tasted far too sharp. I knew that a touch of sugar would take the edge off the sharpness but I felt that it needed something more. A pureed pumpkin base seemed an obvious choice and my instincts proved correct because the resulting combination was delicious and the pumpkin gave the soup a velvety base that contrasted nicely with the chunky bits. I’ve since made this soup 3 times and each time it has been a little different depending on the pumpkin (crown is a tad more watery than buttercup) and the seasonings and the quantities of other vegetables. Also, I’m truly my mother’s daughter and can’t resist putting a little something extra in my soups – most recently some leftover French onion soup. That batch was without a doubt the best.

Pumpkin, Tomato and Lentil Soup
Serves approx 8

Ingredients
Pumpkin – about half a butternut or big chunk of crown
Onion ½ - 1 depending on your preference
Garlic 2-3 cloves
Carrot 1
Celery 1-2 stalks
Green pepper ½
Canned diced tomatoes in juice 1-2 cans – Moroccan or Indian spiced are nice
Lentils - organic of course! I used canned lentils because I had trouble sourcing dry lentils in the supermarket and I didn’t think that soup was a good use of my box of lentils de puy!


Method
Saute very finely diced (really teeny tiny – about the size of a lentil) vegetables in a little oil or butter. Up to you what you put in - it might depend on what needs using up in your fridge!
Set aside
Peel and dice the pumpkin and just cover with water and cook until the pumpkin is tender.
Drain the cooking water but save it
Mash the pumpkin
In a large pot add the sautéed veges and pumpkin plus as much pumpkin cooking liquid to get the consistency you like. It’s your soup so if you want to stand your spoon up in it that’s fine with me.
Add the canned tomatoes
Add the drained lentils
Adjust seasonings eg salt and pepper, cumin, garlic salt – whatever you fancy.
Add a teaspoon of sugar if tastes too sharp
This freezes really well.

Salad Stravaganza - Roasted Vegetable Salad

This recipe is in support of fellow foodies, Lis and Kelly in their quest for thinner thighs and tasty salads. It’s not quite salad weather here so my offering is something that can be served at room temperature or slightly warmed. It’s my version of an extremely tasty salad from Café Cuba in Palmerston North.

Roasted Vegetable Salad

Ingredients
Pumpkin
Kumara (sweet potato)
Red, yellow or green pepper - your choice
Coriander (cilantro), chopped
Spring (green) onion, sliced
Feta cheese (reduced fat of course), diced
Seasonings as desired

Method
Peel and chop the pumpkin and kumara into chunks a bit bigger than bite sized
If using fresh pepper chop into largish pieces as they’ll shrink a bit
Season to taste with sea salt and cracked black pepper (I’m currently addicted to McCormick’s Monterey Steak seasoning) and roast the pumpkin, kumara and peppers in a hot oven until cooked
I use an oil “mister” so I pretty much dry roast my vegetables. If you are not trying to cut back on fat feel free to drizzle your veges with some lovely EVOO. Yes I know - I post ONE Rachael Ray recipe and I'm channelling her already - sorry
Place your cooked vegetables in a bowl
If using peppers in a jar, chop them up and add to your pumpkin and kumara mix
Add the spring onions and coriander
Toss through diced feta
In my opinion it doesn't need any dressing but hey - it's your salad, do what you want with it. A little balsamic vinegar might be a nice touch
This is particularly nice served warm with a dollop of tomato chutney on the side

Blog Party #16 Takeout

Stephanie over at Dispensing Happiness invited me to her latest party. The theme was takeout or in Kiwispeak "takeaways". This is my first blog party and I'm very excited to be here. Hope you like my food.

We often go to a Japanese restaurant called Yatai Japanese Izakaya Restaurant and their food is awesome. The menu is along the style of Japanese bar where you order small dishes of food to share such as sushi, terayaki chicken and itty bitty fried whole shrimp. My husband’s favourite is their gyoza and I make a pretty mean version at home. He even thinks they are better than Yatai’s and that's a compliment. My recipe is courtesy of Simon Holst from his book Fast and Fantastic. Unlike many recipes this one does not have cabbage. The recipe makes LOTS gyoza and you can assemble them and freeze them prior to the pan frying and steaming stage.

The Chinese get credit for the invention of this little dumpling which is essentially the same as the Chinese Jiaozi. The gyoza was not introduced to Japan until the 1940's most likely adapted after the Japanese invasion of China in the late 1930's. Since then the Gyoza has become so popularized that there are Gyoza restaurants and even a Gyoza Stadium located in Osaka, Japan. The Gyoza Stadium has a museum complete with history and explanations of the many varieties of this adopted dish (This information courtesy of Gourmet Sleuth).

Gyoza

Ingredients
Filling:
1 large clove garlic
Freshly grated ginger
4-5 spring onions/green onions, roughly chopped
400g/1 lb pork mince
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
½ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
Dumpling wrappers
2-3 teaspoons oil
1-1 ½ hot chicken stock/broth
Dipping sauce to serve

Method
Chop the garlic, ginger and onions
Add the next five ingredients and mix thoroughly


Place a heaped teaspoon of the filling in the middle of a wrapper (don’t be too generous) or you won’t be able to seal the dumpling)


Moisten around the edges and fold the wrapper in half to make a half moon shaped package
Crimp the edges to seal
Sit the dumplings seam side up on a board


Heat about a teaspoon of the oil in a large non stick pan
Add as many of the dumplings as will comfortably fit with a little space between
Cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes until the bottoms are golden brown
Pour ½ cup of the hot stock into the pan, cover with a close fitting lit and cook for 5-6 minutes until almost all the liquid has gone and the dumplings are cooked through (cut one in half to test)
Place the cooked dumplings on a warmed plate and cover with foil while you cook the remaining dumplings
Serve with dipping sauce – I put out separate dishes of soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce

Makes about 30 dumplings

A nice cold beer goes well with Japanese food but I’m not a big beer drinker unless it’s a stinking hot day and I’m really really thirsty. Occasionally I’ll have a shandy which is beer and lemonade. Before you wrinkle your nose up I mean Sprite or 7-Up, not the homemade kind of lemonade. Proportions are to taste - I like mine about half and half.