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Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

George is a Star

Posted in Food & Friends, Recipes, tagged , on June 14, 2009| 8 Comments »

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A couple of years ago, we started routinely sending treats to school for Big Boy’s mates – a tradition that became known as “Feed the Friends Friday”.  One of his good friends, Gabby AKA The Screaming Mongoose, was particularly enamoured with the marshmallow cookies, although they would often overload his system. “Celia, they’re really great, but they make me mental in period seven..” (which was how long it took the sugar to kick in from the cookie he’d eaten at lunch time).

Last week, his older brother George made butterscotch bars and  marshmallow cookies from the recipes here and sent a sample home with Big Boy for us to try.  They were delicious, and what you see above is all that was left by the time I thought to take a photo. George made eighty marshmallow cookies for his church bake sale, which astonishes me – I get exhausted making a batch of twenty!

I can’t tell you how chuffed I am by this  – George is all of nineteen years old and he was able to decipher my recipes.  I know that actually says more about the man than anything else, but I’d like to think it says a little bit about the recipes too.  Thanks George, you’ve made my day!

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Caramelised White Choc Bar

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , on June 11, 2009| 17 Comments »

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I’m still playing with my David-Lebovitz-via-Valrhona-inspired caramelised white chocolate.  Today I discovered a way to temper it, so that I could mould it into bars.  I’m actually pretty excited about this!

I made a big batch of the CWC (as it’s now known here), then spread some of it onto a sheet of parchment paper.  Once it set hard, I broke it up, retempered it with more white chocolate callets, then poured it into block moulds.  They’re gorgeously glossy right now, but I’m not sure if they’ll hold their temper overnight.  Then again, I’m not actually sure they’ll last that long given the way Big Boy hoovered a small block when he got home from school.  Now he wants a caramelised white chocolate milk shake and Pete still wants to make CWC icecream!

Edit 12/06 : raced out of bed at 5.30am to check the bars (how sad am I?) and they haven’t bloomed overnight!  They’re still glossy and shiny and tempting, no white streaks of cocoa butter to be seen.  Hmmm. I wonder if it’s too early to eat some…

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Kamut

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , on June 10, 2009|

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Over the past couple of years, we’ve been experimenting with ancient wheat flours – specifically Spelt and Kamut.

According to Richard Bertinet, Kamut (or Khorasan, as it was known in its native Iran) “has been grown in subsistence farming systems for centuries.  The flour is slightly more fibrous than wheat flour, with a sandy golden colour and a lovely earthy flavour – almost a taste of the fields. ”

Kamut is now grown organically in Australia and available at a  reasonable price from health food stores like Santos Trading.  It’s a little tricky to work with, as it has a weaker gluten structure than standard bakers flour.  As a result, the dough lacks elasticity and doesn’t rise much.  Despite that, the 100% kamut sourdough loaves I made recently had a surprisingly tender crumb and a delicious nutty flavour.

Kamut bread is well suited to cheese in much the same way as walnut bread is.  We made an entrée inspired by Philip Johnson’s E’cco – toasted kamut slices were topped with sliced bocconcini, grilled, then served with pan fried tomatoes and Kalamata olives, and finished with fresh pesto.  It was a great start to dinner!

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Caramelised White Chocolate

Posted in Food & Friends, Recipes, tagged , , , , on June 7, 2009| 14 Comments »

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The amazing, irrepressible David Lebovitz has been making caramelised white chocolate.  It’s just so wrong and yet…I can’t stop eating it.  I made some last night with half a kilo of Callebaut white callets. It is ludicrously good and far too easy to make.  Thankfully it set rock hard in the jar overnight, or I’d be eating it now for breakfast.  Having said that, it microwaved to gooey perfection in under a minute.

In case you’re wondering – the photo above is just white chocolate – nothing added or subtracted.  The chocolate turns a rich toffee brown in the oven as the sugars in it darken and caramelise. Pete wants to make it into icecream, but I reckon we should just eat it with a spoon!

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. . . . .

Tah dah! We’ve turned this into a caramelised white chocolate bar!

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Christina’s Parmesan Cookies

Posted in Food & Friends, Recipes, tagged on June 6, 2009| 4 Comments »

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We had a terrific meal at Christina’s house recently and, whilst every aspect of it was superb, these Parmesan cookies  were a standout.  I was content to sit and eat them all night long. Naturally, I had to pester Chris for the recipe the following day.

They’re quick to make, providing you have a strong food processor.  The cookies really highlight the flavour of the Parmesan, so make sure you use a good quality cheese.  Do not, under any circumstances, even contemplate using the packaged unrefrigerated stuff and if you can help it, avoid the stuff in plastic bags in the fridge cabinet at the supermarket.  Try instead to track down some freshly grated Parmesan at a good Italian deli, or, failing that, buy a block and grate it yourself.

  • 125g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
  • 110g finely grated Parmesan cheese
  • 150g plain flour (I used half plain and half spelt flour)
  • 1 teaspoon paprika

1. Place all the ingredients into the large bowl of a food processor and pulse until they combine into a dough and form a ball.  You might need to add a little water if the mix is too dry, but my batch didn’t need any.  It takes quite a few pulses, so keep going, even if it looks like it isn’t going to come together – it will eventually.

2. Tip the dough out onto a work surface and shape it into a log about 5cm in diameter.  Wrap it tightly in cling film or parchment paper and chill for an hour.  Preheat the oven to 175C (with fan).

3. Cut the roll into 5mm thick slices and bake on a tray lined with parchment paper for 12 – 15 minutes.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe

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