Cookbook challenge: Hor d’oeuvres

This is my first week participating in the Cookbook Challenge??and the topic was Hor D’oeuvres. I took the (rather boring!) opinion that this meant finger food and decided to make… sausage rolls!

Theme: Hor d’oeuvres
Cookbook: AWW Cook (How to cook absolutely everything)

Sausage rolls were actually one of the first things I learnt to cook – thanks to my Nan. And although it has been years since I’ve made them, they are certainly an easy, yet delicious thing to make! I think we are so used to just buying sausage rolls for our dinner parties from the pack, that we dont consider making them anymore. Its a shame! I whipped these up in a short time on Friday night for the boy to take to cricket the next day. He reported back that they went very quickly, which can only be a good thing!

Sausage Rolls

1 medium brown onion, chopped finely
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
500g sausage mince
500g beef mince
1 egg
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon barbeque sauce
2 tablespoons finely chopped flat leaf parsley
6 sheets ready rolled puff pastry
1 egg lightly beaten
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1. Preheat oven to 200C fan forced. Line oven trays with baking paper.
2. Combine onion, breadcrumbs, minces, egg, paste, sauce, and parsley in a large bowl.
3. Cut pastry sheets in half lengthways. Place equal amounts of filling mixture length ways along centre of each pastry piece. Roll each piece from wide edge to enclose filling. Cut rolls into 6 pieces, place rolls, seam side down, on trays. Brush with egg, sprinkle with sesame seeds, cut small slit on top of each roll. Bake about 25 minutes.

(modelled by my lovely sesame assistant!)
4. Serve hot, with tomato sauce if desired.

(Sorry for the blurry pictures, I was in a rush and didnt realise how blurry they actually were!)

oh and I totally forgot to cut the sausage rolls up into minis before baking… we got a call when we were just starting to make them saying we were expected somewhere that night (I was already in my pjs at this stage!) and so I ended up finishing these in a rush! Didnt affect the taste though!

If anyone else wants to join the Cookbook Challenge, head on over to My Food Trail

Strawberry “milkshake” cupcakes

Perhaps the use of quotes around milkshake was excessive, but the recipe I followed for these were just plain strawberry – but they totally reminded me of a strawberry milkshake. Not surprisingly Ben (who always orders a strawberry milkshake at breakfast) really liked them!

These were also made for the morning tea and went down quite well!

Strawberry cupcakes

 2 tbsp strawberry jam
½ cup finely chopped fresh strawberries
1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
1 ¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
½ tsp vanilla extract
4 drops pink or red food colouring
1/3 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a standard muffin tin with papers. In a small bowl mix together fresh strawberries and jam.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the egg whites, food colouring and vanilla, beating well on low speed after each addition.

Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk in 2 additions. Beat on medium high until no traces of flour remain, scraping down the sides as you go. Do not overbeat. Fold in the strawberry mixture until just combined.

Divide the batter evenly amongst the pans, filling each ¾ full. Bake until light and golden – 25 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool for 1 hour before icing.

For the icing I mixed together some nutellex, icing sugar and strawberry jam – it was a touch runnier than I would have liked, but tasted great.

I was surprised by how much I liked these - normally I will go for the chocolate option over strawberry, but the mixture of the jam and real strawberries worked quite well. The lack of egg yolk also made them a light and fluffy cupcake.

Slice shot! Just wanted to show you the lovely pink colour inside!

Vanilla “surprise” cupcakes with chocolate icing

A farewell morning tea proved to be a perfect excuse to make some cupcakes. Only this whole no-dairy thing means re-thinking every thing I cook and trying out new ways of finding substitutes.

With that in mind, I decided to start simple – with a vanilla cupcake. I used my go-to vanilla recipe:

Vanilla Cupcakes – Cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunski

1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup sugar
6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg, plus 1 large egg white at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole milk

 Preheat oven to 350F. Line a standard muffin tin with papers.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the egg and egg white one at a time, beating well on low speed after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk in 2 additions. Beat on medium high until no traces of flour remain, scraping down the sides as you go. Do not overbeat.

Divide the batter evenly amongst the pans, filling each ¾ full. Bake until light and golden – 18-20 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool for 1 hour before icing.

I subbed the butter with nutellex and the milk for soy milk.

I also threw in a little surprise:

A piece of dark chocolate (dairy, nut, gluten free. Oh the fun I am having!)

The result was a nice, fluffy cupcake with a melty chocolate centre! mmm!

I topped with some chocolate icing (nutellex, icing sugar, cocoa and some melted dark chocolate all mixed together) to give it some more chocolatey goodness and I was quite surprised by how I couldn’t taste a difference to the normal cupcakes! They were perhaps a touch dryer? So next time I will incorporate a touch more milk. That said, a banana in the mixture was always my favourite milk alternative!

Slice shot!

They went down a treat at morning tea and I was just grateful I had something I could actually eat because the temptation may have proved too much amongst all those other cakes and cheeses!

Broccoli and pesto tagliatelle

Broccoli is one of those vegetables I regard as a necessary evil. You know its good for you, but you eat it begrugingly. Thats why when I saw it in pasta, my first thought was EWWWWWW. But, I decided to give Jamie Olivers Ministry of Food recipe a go anyway. Pasta is not necessarily good for you – so if you can combine the goodness of the evil broccoli with the carby goodness of the pasta… it would have to be a winner, right?

What I didn’t realise would happen, is how much we would both like this. The broccoli had a different flavour to when you simply boil it as a side dish, and the potato really did give a bit of creaminess to the dish. I think the fresh pesto I made also helped!

RECIPE

“This is a quick version of a classic Italian dish called tagliatelle alla Genovese. Before you think Im barmy for putting potato shavings into a pasta dish, I should explain that it is actually very authentic to add sliced or mashed potato to pasta. It lends a wonderful creaminess that works so well and tastes amazing – you must try it.”

 Ingredients

1 medium potato
1 head of broccoli
a large bunch of fresh basil
70g parmesan cheese (omitted)
sea salt
400g dried tagliatelle
4 tablespoons green pesto

To prepare your pasta 

• Wash and peel the potato and cut into very thin shavings using a peeler
• Slice the end off the broccoli stalk
• Cut little broccoli florets off the head and put them to one side
• Halve the thick stalk lengthways, then slice thinly
• Pick the basil leaves and discard the stalks
• Grate parmesan

 To cook your pasta

• Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil
• Add the tagliatelle and broccoli stalks and cook accordingly
• 2 minutes before the tagliatelle is cooked, add the broccoli florets and potato slices
• Drain everything in a colander over a large bowl, reserving some of the cooking water and return to pan
• Roughly chop your basil leaves and add to the pan with pesto and half the parmesan
• Give it a good stir and if the sauce is too thick, add a splash of the cooking water to thin it out

Home made basil pesto

Pesto is just one of those things I never thought to make myself. But when necessity (allergies!) meant that I couldn’t eat the store bought variety anymore, I wasn’t willing to go without.

It was seriously simple too! And it had such a different flavour… it was really rich, full and a lot fresher tasting too! So I am very glad I gave this a shot! Now if only my blasted basil plants would stop dying on me, I could make pesto fresh from my garden!

RECIPE

2 cups firmly packed basil leaves
½ cup roasted pine nuts
2 cloves garlic, quartered
½ cup olive oil
1/3 cup parmesan cheese (I subbed in some feta)

 1. Process basil, nuts and garlic until finely chopped. Add in oil, in a thin, steady stream until combined. Add cheese, process until combined.

Yorkshire pudding

The Jamie Oliver cookbook has done it again… to say I was curious when I saw the recipe for Yorkshire puddings was an understatement. I have never actually tried one, and when I asked Ben about them (he lived in England for a year) he said they were soooo delicious.

I decided to brave the recipe (which was simple when you got into it) and make them! Not having any clue what they were meant to taste like made these a little tricky… but I think we got there in the end!

The taste, quite simply, was like a puffy, hot, pancake! Ben said it tasted like it was meant to, albeit a smaller version (apparently theyre huge over there) Im not sure what I think of them… on the one hand, yum, fluffy pancake, on the other…. well it was a bit too sweet for a dinner thing?

I think if I were to make them again (and I probably will… we have some english friends who miss their puddings!) I would use a bit more salt and pepper and keep them in the oven a touch longer.

Ingredients

Makes 12 (I got

 3 eggs
115g plain flour
Pinch of sea salt
285ml milk
Vegetable oil
 

To prepare

Whisk the eggs, flour, salt and milk together in a bowl to make your batter. Pour into a jug and rest for 30 minutes before you use it – this will help make it smoother, giving you light and crispy puddings.

 To cook

Turn the oven up to the highest temperature and let it preheat fully. As its warming up, put a muffin tray onto a baking tray and place on the top shelf of the oven. When oven is to temperature, remove trays, close the door and add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to each muffin hole. Pop the tray back in the oven for 5 minutes, until the oil is smoking hot. Open the oven door and slide the shelf with the trays on it halfway out. Quickly fill each muffin hole with batter then slide carefully back into the oven.

 (Sorry for the bad photo – Ben took it while we were working quickly so I didnt get burnt!)

Leave the oven door shut for at least 15 minutes and don’t open it to check how the puddings are doing otherwise they’ll end up sunken. After 15 minutes the puddings will be crisp and golden with a fluffy centre. If you prefer them crispy all the way through, turn the oven down to 150c and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove puddings from muffin trays, serve immediately.

All puffed and golden

Served with a traditional brits bangers and mash (I didnt get all the way through this meal! sooo filling)

Inside shot!

Beef Wellington

The Jamie Oliver cookbook has given me something new to try – a Beef Wellington. Sure, this is probably very different from a traditional one, but is a great use for mince, really tasty and relatively simple (albeit time consuming).

We both really liked this, and I was so surprised by how much flavour was in the mince, given that there arent many spices or juices in there.

Ingredients

1 onion
1 carrot
1 stick celery (omitted)
1 potato
2 cloves garlic
2 large field or Portobello mushrooms (I used regular mushies!)
Olive oil
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
A big handful frozen peas
1 large egg
500g minced beef
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Plain flour, for dusting
500g puff pastry

 To prepare your mince

Preheat oven to 180c. Peel and chop the onion, carrot, celery, and potato into 1cm sized dice. Finely grate the garlic (or, you know, use a crusher!). Clean and roughly chop the mushrooms so they’re about the same size as your other veg. Place all the veg into a large frypan on a medium low heat with 2 lugs olive oil. Pick the rosemary leaves off the stalks, finely chop, add to pan. Fry and stir for around 8 minutes or until the veg softens and is lightly coloured. Add the frozen peas and cook for another minute. Put the vegetable mixture into a large bowl to cool completely.

Crack the egg into a cup and beat it up. Add the minced beef to the bowl with a good pinch of salt and pepper and half the beaten egg. With clean hands, scrunch up and mix well.

 To roll and fill your pastry

Lightly dust your clean work surface and rolling pin with flour and roll out your puff pastry so its roughly the size and shape of a small tea towel. Dust with flour as you go.

 (I used pastry sheets)

Turn your pastry so you have a long edge in front of you and place the mixture along this edge. Mould it into an even, long sausage shape. Brush the edge of the pastry with the beaten egg. Roll the mince up in the pastry until its completely covered. Squeeze the ends together – it will look like a big Christmas cracker. Dust a baking tray with flour and place your Wellington on top. Brush all over with beaten egg.

Bake in preheated oven for an hour until golden. (Mine took 1 hour 15 – covered in foil)

Slice and serve (with salad so you arent completely unhealthy, although Jamie does recommend with roast potatoes and gravy)!

 We will be making these again and I really enjoyed trying something a bit different!

Spot + Nosh, Heathmont

Sunday breakfast (after 12!) used to be our thing, but since moving out to the burbs we have really struggled to find places to eat. We will drive and drive all around the Dandenongs before settling on a place on the other side of the mountain. It really is a different lifestyle out here – before we would just mosey up high st, or bourke rd and wala, cafe. Around here though… you have to know where you are going before you head off or you simply wont get fed!

A few weeks ago I noticed a new cafe open near my work – Spot + Nosh. It wasnt like the typical cafes around here (most of them are just bakeries with some sandwich fixings) because it was styled like an inner city cafe. With its fancy sign and interior design, it stuck out like a sore thumb!

This Sunday, we got the chance to give it a go.

Firstly, I must say to those of you who review restaurants quite frequently – I am in awe of the fact you can take photos and not feel subconscious about it! It took me a few minutes to work up the courage (Ben going “why are you taking photos again?” didnt help either!) but when I did – I got one photo so people didnt see what I was doing! Here it is:

I ordered the vego  breakfast – $13 – and I thought it was perfectly sized, because I left full but without the “ugh” feeling I usually give myself when I eat out! It had two perfect looking poached eggs (they must have had some kind of gadget to get them that way!) a wedge of avocado, home made baked beans (which needed a bit more extra kick), spinach, mushrooms and fried cherry tomatoes (I thought this was a nice change from the regular sized tomato). There was also a potato rosti on there, but mine was cold (Ben says his wasnt) and it was more mushy than crunchy.

That said, they were very understanding of my diet issues and made a big effort to ensure there was no dairy in the meal (unlike the London Tavern in Port Melbourne who had dairy in my meal on Friday and had me sick most of the weekend!) but, there are quite a few teething issues surrounding this place. The service was extremely slow (but friendly – they apologised profusely) and a bit confused as they told us to go to the counter to order, but then came and took our orders anyway, and they had run out of apple juice.

The place wasnt crowded, so perhaps as it gets busier and the owners get more experience, it may become quite a nice place for a Sunday breakfast. The menu has mainly foccacias for lunch, although the specials board has burgers, salads and pot pies, and for kids they even have fairy bread (I was sooo tempted!)

We might go back in a few weeks just to try it out again and see if things are improving!

Location: Heathmont Shops, Heathmont (Roughly around 110 Canterbury Rd Heathmont VIC 3135) and Sorry, no number, they dont have a yellowpages listing as yet!

Cherry tomato sauce with cheat’s fresh pasta

The other week I was scouring Dirt Cheap Books (3 for $10 sale – woo!) and a damaged copy of Jamie Olivers Ministry of Food caught my eye. At $8 and with just a tear on the dust cover, it was certainly a bargain. And while I have never been a fan of the Naked Ones shows, this cook book seriously impressed me. And while I cannot make the baked camenbert pasta, I could make this one as it easily turned dairy free.

The end result is a really tangy, but fresh tasting pasta. Who knew that using fresh lasagne sheets would give it such a different taste. The only hint I have – cut the sheets just slightly thicker than fettucine and make sure you separate each individual sheet as they wont separate in the water.

Ingredients

400g cherry tomatoes
4 cloves garlic
a bunch of fresh basil
400g fresh lasagne
100g parmesan cheese
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
2 knobs butter
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

To prepare your pasta
cut the cherry tomatoes into halves. Peel and slice the garlic. Pick the basil leaves off the stalks and put them to one side. Finely chop the stalks. Cut the lasagne sheets into strips. Grate the parmesan.

To cook your pasta
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Put a large frying pan over a medium heat and add a couple of lugs of olive oil and the garlic. Add the butter and let it melt. When the garlic starts to brown, add the cherry tomatoes. Give everything a good stir then add the basil stalks and half the leaves. Add the vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Drop your fresh pasta strips into a pan of boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. Drain in a colander over a large bowl, reserving some of the cooking water. Add the pasta to the frying pan with a splash of the cooking water and half the parmesan. Give it a good stir. Season to taste.

To serve your pasta
Divide the pasta between your plates. Sprinkle over the rest of the parmesan and the basil leaves.

 

 

 

Sweet corn, chicken and bean enchiladas

Normally I dont mind this whole “dairy free” thing on a day to day basis. Sure, it’s a pain when I want to eat out, but if I’m cooking its a simple substitute. Except when it comes to Mexican! Some days there is just nothing better than a burrito filled with cheese and sour cream and that is that!

Well, that is a thing of the past for me. So, I thought I would try making dairy free enchiladas, although in the end I did sprinkle a little goats cheese on there as I just couldnt resist!

The end result wasn’t too bad. Sure, I would have loved a bunch of cheese on there, but given that I had to take it away, I still quite enjoyed it. Ben didn’t notice a difference – we put cheese on his half of the enchiladas! I will say, I dont think cheese necessarily makes the Mexican food great. There is still a lot going on there – particularly if you top them with some homemade guac! mmmm

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 12 enchilada tortillas
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 1 red capsicum, diced
• 500g chicken, diced
• 1 zucchini, grated
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 large tomato, diced
• 310g can corn kernels, drained
• 400g can red kidney beans, rinsed, drained
• 200g jar taco sauce
• 3/4 cup grated tasty cheese (or not!)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Wrap tortillas in foil. Warm in oven for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and chicken, cook until chicken is cooked through. Add capsicum and zucchini. Cook for 3 minutes. Add chilli powder and cook, stirring, for a further 2 minutes. Add tomato and cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes or until soft. Add corn, beans and salt and pepper. Remove from heat and stir to combine.
3. Grease a large baking dish. Place 1/4 cup filling on 1 warm tortilla (keep remainder wrapped in foil as you work). Roll up. Place, seam side down, in baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling.
4. Spoon taco sauce over tortillas. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Serve immediately.

Source

Super Food Ideas – May 2005, Page 79