Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for November, 2011

Silver Palate Toffee Bars

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , on November 21, 2011| 54 Comments »

This quick and easy recipe comes from the Silver Palate Cookbook.

I first made it more than twenty years ago, and can still remember the excitement of my then work colleagues when I brought it in for morning tea.  It was very encouraging feedback for a kitchen novice.

The recipe itself is a doddle to make – the only tricky part is spreading the thick batter evenly into the pan, and that’s only because I use parchment paper to save on washing up.  The original recipe says to grease the pan, which would make the dough handling much easier.  I’ve found the simplest method is to spread the mixture out with my hands, and then smooth the top over with a spatula.

The bars are a delicious combination of brown sugar shortbread, chocolate and nuts.  They’ve proven to be as popular now as they were twenty years ago!

  • 250g (1 cup) unsalted butter
  • 210g (1 cup) brown sugar
  • 1 large (59g) egg yolk
  • 300g (2 cups) plain (AP) flour
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used homemade)
  • 340g (12oz) dark chocolate chips (I used Callebaut 811 54%)
  • 90g (1 cup) toasted flaked almonds (original recipe specified coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans)

1.  Preheat oven to 175C/350F or 160C/320F with fan.  Grease a 23cm x 30cm (9″ x 12″) baking pan, or line it with parchment paper.  Don’t worry too much about the pan size – mine was an inch longer (13″) than the recipe recommended, and it was still fine.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the egg yolk and vanilla, and mix well.  Finally, beat in the flour until well combined.

3. Spread the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 25 minutes.

4. Remove the pan, sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the top, then return the pan to the oven for a further 3 to 4 minutes.

5. Remove the pan from the oven and spread the melted chocolate evenly with a spatula.  Scatter the nuts over the surface, and allow to cool completely in the pan (be patient!) before cutting.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe

Read Full Post »

Big Boy Loves Me

Posted in Food & Friends, Musings on November 19, 2011| 37 Comments »

When my children were little, I loved them so much that it would occasionally cause my heart to ache.  I’m not speaking metaphorically either – sometimes the feeling would be so overwhelming that I’d actually feel physical discomfort.

They were so loving and trusting and perfect that I never wanted them to grow up.  I couldn’t imagine what kind of relationship I might have with them as adults.

Of course, they did grow up, and they’ve enriched our lives in the process, beyond anything we could ever have dreamed of.

Big Boy is now eighteen. Every Friday morning, he heads into town to do a couple of hours paid work for his Auntie Kate.  It’s not much, but it gives him a tiny bit of spending money.

Around midday, I’ll get a phone call…

“Mum, have you sorted anything for lunch yet?”

“Not yet, what did you have in mind?”

“Would you like a pork roll?”

And then Big Boy, one of the great loves of my life, will spend $5 of his hard-earned money and buy me a pork salad roll from the Vietnamese bakery.  It’s full of processed mystery meat, heartburn-inducing chilli, and a strange, unidentifiable pâté, encased in a crusty white bread roll.

I devour it with enormous enthusiasm.

With every bite, I think to myself…“Big Boy loves me.”

Read Full Post »

Salt-Crusted Bread

Posted in Recipes, tagged , on November 18, 2011| 40 Comments »

Pete and I were in Melbourne for less than forty-eight hours, but during that time we ate some truly amazing food.

Of course, it helps to have a friend like Davey who sent us an email with recommended dining venues before we even touched down.  One of his suggestions was Cumulus Inc, a fantastic restaurant within easy walking distance of our hotel.

Every dish we ate there was noteworthy, but the true star of the show for me was their white house bread, a flavoursome chewy sourdough with a lightly salted crust.

I was inspired to attempt something similar at home.  Here’s the recipe I came up with – it’s a variation on Joanna’s white toast bread, adapted to sourdough and baked in a gerry-rigged pullman tin.  The quantities below make a single long loaf, although my photos show a double batch…

  • 200g active sourdough starter ( 166% hydration, ie. fed at a ratio of one cup water to one cup flour)
  • 350g bakers/bread flour
  • 175g semola rimacinata di grano duro (remilled semolina flour)
  • 175g Italian 00 flour
  • 375g water
  • 15g extra virgin olive oil
  • 12g fine sea salt
  • 10g brown sugar
  • Maldon sea salt, for the pan

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients together to form a shaggy dough, then allow to rest, covered, for 30 minutes.

2. Give the dough a quick knead in the bowl, then cover again and allow to prove until roughly doubled in size. Prepare a long loaf tin by spraying with vegetable oil (I use canola) and sprinkling a generous pinch of crushed Maldon salt all over the sides and base.  My tin was 28cm x 11½cm (11″ x 4½”).  Preheat the oven to 220C (430F) with fan.

3. Scrape the proved dough onto a lightly oiled surface and shape it into a loaf.  Place the dough seamside down into the prepared tin – it should fill the tin to about halfway. Cover with cling film and allow to prove until the tin is approximately three-quarters full.  Sprinkle the top of the dough with a little more crushed Maldon salt.

4. Spray a long flat pan with oil and place it over the top of the loaf tin.  I used a biscotti pan.  As the lid didn’t lock into place like a real pullman tin would have, I weighted it down with a cast iron griddle.

5. Reduce the oven temperature to 210C (410F) with fan and bake the bread, complete with lid and weight, for 40 minutes.  After the initial baking time, remove the pan from the oven.  Uncover it, tip the loaf out, and check for doneness by tapping on the base of the bread to see if it sounds hollow.  Return the loaf in its pan minus the lid for a further 10 minutes or more if necessary.  Allow to cool completely before slicing.

Note: If you’d like to try this recipe using a starter at 100% hydration (ie. fed with equal quantities by weight of flour and water), reduce the bakers flour to 325g and increase the water to 400g.

The finished loaf had a fine, tender crumb with a few small holes.  It held its shape well when sliced…

The entire crust was covered with a light dusting of sea salt…

This perfect sandwich bread is reminiscent of the bread we had at Cumulus Inc., but quite different in flavour and texture.  Nevertheless, it’s a happy reminder of the lovely meal we had there, and a great addition to our baking repertoire!

Read Full Post »

Duchess of Spotswood

Posted in Food & Friends, tagged on November 16, 2011| 46 Comments »

Pete and I were in Melbourne last weekend for Sarah’s memorial service.

On Sunday morning, our friends David and Maree took us to a cafe in Spotswood, which boasted a most unusual breakfast menu (click on the photo above, plus this link, for a better look). Situated in a former industrial area, this little venue was hidden in a quiet line of mostly closed shops.  The place was packed.

I had an inkling of what was to come when the waitress informed us that the specials of the day were crumbed lambs’ brains with gentlemen’s relish (not made from naughty body parts, although I did ask), and home-smoked trumpeter. The breakfast menu offered black pudding, Cumberland sausage, yabbies, ox tongue, field mushrooms, pig’s jowls and more.

Pete had the Poetry (In Motion), a selection of prunes, walnuts, orange zest and yoghurt, served with homemade oat biscuits…

I couldn’t go past their signature Duchess of Pork dish.  In true Miss Piggy fashion, I also ordered a side of the most amazing black pudding I’d ever tasted.  The Duchess was a delectable concoction of shredded and reassembled crispy pig’s jowl served with fried eggs, truffle sauce and a thick slab of sourdough toast…

Maree ordered the Prince of Wales, a warm cured salmon fillet plated on a bed of asparagus, watercress and spinach, and served with potato bread and poached eggs…

Dave ordered the King’s Woodcock (not the Full English as I mistakenly wrote earlier – my pedantic friend has rung to correct me). It came with scrambled eggs, chutney and lamb sausages, and a side order of homemade black pudding (Dave also said that I had to point out that the black pudding was made inhouse)…

Melbourne is a long way from Sydney, but we might need to fly down again just to try out a few more dishes from this wonderful menu!

. . . . .

Duchess of Spotswood
87 Hudsons Road
Spotswood   VIC  3015
Phone (03) 9391 6016

Read Full Post »

In My Kitchen, November 2011

Posted in In My Kitchen, tagged , , , , , on November 14, 2011| 71 Comments »

In my kitchen…

…is a chocolate chip cake, made to a recipe from the Green & Black cookbook.  The cake itself was quite ordinary, but the topping was wonderful…

I scattered over Moo’s magic sugar crystals, and they set like shards of polished glass…

In my kitchen…

…is this stunning French clay speculaas mould, a gift from our friend Maureen.  It’s finished to look like stained wood.  I haven’t figured out how to use it yet, so I’d be grateful for any tips…

In my kitchen…

…is a ginormous tin of sliced jalapeños.  We went to buy a small jar during our last visit to Harkola, and found one for $4.50.  Then we walked past this 2.8kg tin for $8…

In my kitchen…

…are the baby garlic bulbs that didn’t grow to a decent size this year.  They’re all under an inch in diameter.  We’ve been eating them up, and they’ve been delicious…

In my kitchen…

…is a little porcelain wren, or at least that’s what Pete thinks it is.  It’s a gift for my mother…

In my kitchen…

…is a bowl of salt roasted almonds.  The process turns their shells papery crisp and gives them a delicious, addictive taste.  We buy some every year to add to our Christmas hampers…

. . . . .

Tell me, what’s happening in your kitchen this month?

If you’d like to do an In My Kitchen post on your own blog, please feel free  to use this format, and to leave a comment here linking back to your post.  We’d all love to see what’s happening in your kitchen every month too!

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »