Saturday, 26 May 2012

teriyaki style salmon with stir-fry veggies

1/4c soy sauce
1c water
1/2tsp ground ginger
1/4tsp garlic powder
5tbs brown sugar
1tbs honey
2tbs cornflour
1/4c water
4 portions salmon
3 carrots
1 bunch bok choy
1/4 bunch shallots
3tbs soy sauce

to make the teriyaki sauce place 1/4c soy sauce, 1c water, ginger. garlic powder. brown sugar and the honey in a saucepan and place on the heat. mix the cornflour and 1/4c water together and add to the soy mixture and cook over the heat stiring untill it thickens. Set aside to cool.
chop up the carrots, bok choy and shallots.
place salmon in the teriyaki sauce and evenly coat it.
Heat a pan up on the stove with a splash of oil, once hot place salmon in pan serving side down moving it around for a few seconds to prevent it from sticking, cooking on each side for about 5 or so minutes depending on how thick it is. while it is cooking heat up a wok with a dash of oil and stir fry your veg, carrots first followed by bok choy and the shallots at the last minute along with the soy sauce.
Place the stir fried veg on a plate and place salmon on top. Serve.


cardamon and coffee panna cotta


375ml cream
375ml milk
1/2 c castor sugar
2 1/2 tsp gelatine powder
1 1/2 tbs instant coffee powder
4 cardamon pods crushed

 Place the cream and milk in a saucepan with the coffee powder and cardamon pods and bring slowly to the boil.
Remove the cardamon pods and seeds by draining it through a sieve, return to the heat and add the sugar stirring untill the sugar  dissolves.
Place 2 tbs of boiling water in a small heatproof bowl sprinkle the gelatine over it. Bring a small saucepan of water to boil. Remove from heat. Sit the bowl of gelatine in the water and stir until dissolved. Cool slightly, then stir into the cream mixture. Pour the mixture into serving dishes and place in fridge to set for four hours. serve with coffee beans.

Friday, 18 May 2012

Moroccan pumpkin pasta with sourdough garlic bread

Another Pumpkin recipe for you all!

1kg pumpkin
3tbs Moroccan spice
250g pasta (any kind you like!)
salt and pepper
4 slices sourdough bread
3 tbs oil
2 cloves garlic
1/4 bunch parsley

Preheat the oven to180 degrees celsius. Cut the pumpkin into 1cm dice and place on a baking tray that has been sprayed with oil to stop it sticking. Season with the Moroccan spice, a bit of salt and pepper and a dash of oil. Mix to cover it all, and roast in the oven for about 20 minutes.
While it is in the oven bring a pot of water to the boil and cook the pasta.
Preheat the grill and drizzle oil over the sourdough bread and rub the garlic into the bread. then finely cut up the garlic also and scatter over the bread. Sprinkle the finely chopped parsley over the bread and toast under the grill taking care not to let it burn (you could also put the bread in the oven if you want).
While the bread is cooking drain the cooked pasta and mix in the pumpkin with a little oil and salt and pepper, reheating if necessary. Serve the pumpkin pasta with a slice of the garlic bread!


Sunday, 13 May 2012

Genoise Sponge

We have to make one of these cakes at tafe soon. so I wanted to practice before then, and seeing as today is Mother's Day, it was the perfect oppotunity. The diffterence between this cake and a normal sponge cake is that the eggs a whisked with the sugar over water till thick (ribbon stage) and a normal sponge the egg whites and yolks are beaken separately. I filled the sponge with Vanilla cream and blackberry jam and then had cream on top!

eggs 5
castor sugar 150g
lemon zest 1/4 lemon
cake flour, sifted 150g
melted butter 50g


pre-heat the oven to 185 degrees celcius and lightly grease and flour a springform cake tin.
place the eggs and sugar in a bowl and whisk together and place bowl over a pan of simmering water, bring to 40 degrees celcius stiring it. once it has reached the temprature whisk it vigorosly over the simmering water untill it has become light, creamy and thick (don't let it get too hot). Add the lomon zest.
take off the heat and continue whisking untill it has reached room temprarture. Fold in the flour untill well combined then fold in the melted flour.
pour into cake tin and bake in oven for 20 minutes without opening the oven, then test the cake to see if it is done, bake for longer if needed. take out of the oven and place on cake rack to cool.

(Note: all ovens are different so this temprature may be not right for your oven, this is just a guide, and the recipe from school)

Friday, 11 May 2012

Baby, It's cold outside.

As we are now heading into Winter I thought I would share some yummy Winter warmers to keep you snug during the coming months(all recipes I put on here serve 4 unless I say otherwise).

First is a Pumpkin, Spinach and Pine Nut Risotto.

1kg pumpkin
50g pine nuts
2cups spinach
2 cloves garlic
1 onion
1/2c butter
1/2 c dry white wine
1L vegetable stock
1 1/2 c aborio rice
1/2c parmesan
salt and peppper

Turn oven onto 140 degrees celsius
Chop the pumpkin into 1cm dice and place on a oven tray, season with salt and pepper and oil and roast in the oven for about half an hour or until soft. Toast your pine nuts in a pan taking care not to burn them.
 Finely dice the onion and place in a large saucepan with some oil and the butter and cook until translucent. Add the finely chopped garlic and cook  for 1 minute.
 Add the rice and stir it around untill all of the rice is coverd in the melted butter, add the wine and let that cook for another minute. Slowly add about 1 cup of the stock stiring the risotto continuously. 
Keep slowly adding the stock bit by bit taking care not to add too much at one time. Once your risotto is cooked add the roasted pumpkin and stir it in, trying to colour the risotto all throgh it but not breaking up the rice. Add the chopped spinach and  parmesan cheese. Stir them through.
Place in serving bowls and sprinkle with the pine nuts.





And the second recipe I want to share with you today is a Broccoli and Butter Bean Soup, That I found on http://sortedfood.com/#!/ it is a really nice soup and an awesome site.

 Beoccoli and Bean soup with Brie toasted Sandwiches

  • 1 onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  •  oil
  • 1 broccoli
  • 750ml Veg stock
  • 250ml Milk
  • 400g Butterbeans
  • 1 lemon
  • 8 slices of bread
  • 5 Tbs butter, room temperature
  • 200g brie 
   Dice the onion and sweat off in a saucepan with the oil for about 3 minutes.
crush the garlic and add to the pan  and cook for 1 more minute.
 chop up the broccoli into pieces,stalk and all, andadd to the saucepan along with the stock.bring it to boil and simmer for 10 minutes before adding the butterbeans, milk and zest/juice of the lemon.
Let it Simmer for about another 5 minutes before liquidising the soup until smooth( I used a normal blender as the stick blender I have is not that great). 
Heat up the sandwich press and butter one side of each slice of bread and then lay 4 of the slices butter side down, slice the brie as finwly as you can and lay the slices over the bread. sandwich the other slice butter side up onto and place onto the sandwich press and let them cook away for about 3 minutes. Serve the soup with a toasted sandwich. (Note: I also added 1/2 cup of baby spinach just before I blended it just for a bit of extra iron for my vegetarian sister)
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( Just a little side note: the photos are not that great, I know, it was bad lighting and I'm not a photographer. But both dishes sure tasted great!)

Saturday, 5 May 2012

Chai Latte Macarons

 I made Chai Latte Macarons the other day! ( still working on them, they're not quite perfect yet) but they aren't too bad. Just a bit longer in the oven next time I think!
 I could not find a Chai Latte macaron recipie anywhere online that I wanted to use, as they were all Chai Tea ones. so I did a mix of two others I had made before.
A coffee shell from one and a mascarpone variation filling from a ginerbread spice one. I just added some Cardamon, Cloves, Ginger and Cinnamon.
THE END PRODUCT! Chai Latte Macarons. Practice makes perfect, so I'm going to keep on trying!

Wednesday, 2 May 2012

About Me

My photo
A girl who cooks. My dream is to open my own little cupcake cafe, and just bake! I love everything about cooking. I want to share my passion and cupcakes with everyone.