Relish the Thought!

The pre-Christmas rush has well and truly set in so just a quick post this afternoon!

In addition to my Citrus Sea Salt, Christmas Rocky Road and Fruit Mince Tarts; featuring in my Christmas gift guide this year in this deliciously spicy Eggplant Relish!


Enjoy it alongside a platter or cheese and biscuits or simply spread it on a slice of crusty bread, whatever takes your fancy!

Whats more, it couldn't be easier to make! Simply throw your ingredients into a pot and let the stove do the rest. Now thats my kind of recipe!

Spicy Eggplant Relish

 

Adapted from this recipe at taste.com.au
Makes about 4 cups



2 large eggplants, cut into 2cm cubes
2 tbsp salt
2 small red capsicums, deseeded and cut into 2cm pieces
250g brown onions, cut into thin wedges
10 fresh pitted dates, roughly chopped
500ml white wine vinegar
250g brown sugar
A long red chili, sliced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
4 tsp cumin seeds


Place the eggplant in a large colander and sprinkle with the salt. Toss to combine and allow the colander to stand in a sink for an hour. Rinse well to get off any excess salt and pat dry with a paper towel

Combine the eggplant with all of the remaining ingredients in a large saucepan and cook over a high heat, stirring until the mixture comes to the boil and the sugar has dissolved.

Simmer, stirring regularly, with the lid off for 2 hours or until all the excess liquid has evaporated and the mixture is thick.  Remove from the heat and allow to stand for 2-3 minutes before spooning into steralized jars.

  

It's a DIY Christmas!

 

There really is something special about fresh fruit in summertime.

Whether its bright red cherries a top a pavlova or the sweet flesh of a mango making faces and hands sticky - everything just looks, smells and tastes more alive!

As I've mentioned previously, I love to give my family homemade food gifts at Christmas time, and in Australia this means fresh summer fruits are in abundance! Heaven!

When scouring the Internet looking for inspiration I happened to come across this recipe from In Sonnet's Kitchen and as a lover of zesty citruses I simply couldn't pass it by.  

I made a couple of adjustments from the original recipes and now, making their Christmas debut, little jars of this delicious Citrus Sea Salt will be taking pride of place in my families' gift hampers, ready to season whatever meats or vegetables they desire in the new year.

 

 Citrus Sea Salt

3 cups Sea Salt 
2 lemons, zested
3 oranges, zested


Preheat oven to 110 degrees C

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix to combine. Spread the mixture evenly over a baking tray and bake for 2 hours to dry it out, stirring halfway through.

Allow the salt to cool completely and then pour into individual jars.   

Voila! The perfect gift done and dusted! 

  

On the 12th Day of Christmas...

Ok, so there are actually 14 days until Christmas, but whose counting?!


In my last post I shared my recipe for Fruit Mince Tarts so, sticking with the Christmas spirit, this time around I'm bringing you a super delicious recipe for seasonal Rocky Road.

What makes it 'seasonal' you ask? Well swap your traditional crushed biscuits for gingerbread, trade those dried fruits for glace cherries and add a smack of brazil nuts and you have yourself a delicious slab of chocolate-coated Christmas spirit!


This recipe is actually based on this one from the ever-fabulous Nigella Lawson, with a few small changes. I don't think she will mind though... look at that smile!

Christmas Rocky Road 

Makes about 16 pieces (depending on how greedy your slices are cut!) 



250g dark chocolate
250g milk chocolate
175g butter
1/2 cup golden syrup
150g Brazil nuts, roughly chopped
150g red glace cherries
125g mini marshmallows
200g crushed gingerbread


For The Gingerbread  

65g butter
1/4 cup golden syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp ground ginger 
2 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1 1/4 cups self-raising flour




*Note: this gingerbread is quite spicy because you still want the full flavour effect when its broken into small chunks and mixed with the other slice ingredients but you can adjust it as you see fit. It also makes more than is required for this recipe but that just means you have a delicious snack to munch on while the slice is setting!*

To Make the Gingerbread:

Place the butter, golden syrup and brown sugar in a saucepan and melt over a low/medium heat, constantly stirring, until totally melted and combined. Set the mix aside for 30min to cool.

 

Place the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir to combine them. Stir the egg yolk into the butter mixture and then add it all to the dry mix.

Stir everything together until it forms a soft dough and use your hands to roll it into balls (about three-times the size of a golf ball) and flatten onto a baking tray lined with non-stick paper, leaving a 3cm gap between each disk. 

Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 12 minutes then remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking tray for 5 minutes. Move to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely. 

For the Rocky Road:

Line the base and sides of a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.

Place the chocolates, butter and golden syrup in a heatproof mixing bowl and microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring each time, until the mixture in totally melted and combine.


Roughly crumble the gingerbread into small chunks and add to the chocolate mixture along with the nuts, cherries and marshmallows. Stir to combine and spoon the mix into the prepared cake tin. 

Refrigerate for at least an hour or until set and firm.

Remove the slice from the tin and slice into small squares.

If you wish, decorate with a sprinkle of icing sugar and serve to your adoring friends and family, or wrap in cellophane bags to make the perfect gift! 


  

  XXOO

   

'Tis the Season!

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!”

― Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

 

Believe it or not, it's that time of year again! Working in a cafe, I have witnessed first hand the way in which shops are suddenly become full of decorations, carols and an inexplicable increase in the level of crazy-eyes, distressed looking shoppers clamouring for the perfect gift.

I can do without the stress.

That's why every year I love to make homemade food gifts for my family. No, not the stingy kind! More like the "I-actually-thought-you-might-enjoy-this-rather-than-some-useless-thing-you-don't-actually-need" kind. 

Once I have my ingredients I can get home, crank up the music and dance my way around the kitchen knowing I am giving my loved ones something they will love and which can't be bought in any store!

 For my family I usually put together a whole assortment of jams, chutneys, sauces, spice rubs etc. but for my friends, who have more of a sweet tooth (and less diabetes!),  I usually put together plates full of biscuits, truffles, puddings  and all other forms of sugary Christmas goodness!

Hey, it only comes once a year right?

Amongst that  collection of goodies I love to throw in a batch of fresh fruit mince pies. I have one particular English friend who I make these for every year and her hubby loves them! Glowing reviews from an Englishman? Doesn't get much better than that!

These tarts not only make the perfect gift but can also be whipped up in on time for the yearly Christmas party or simply to wolf down with a cup of tea, whatever you fancy!

Give them a go yourself and sound of in the comments below with your thoughts!

Fruit Mince Pies

Makes about 10


For the Pastry: 

1 1/4 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp custard powder
2 tbsp icing sugar
80g butter, cubed
1 egg, separated
2 tbsp chilled water



For the Fruit Mince Filling:

**Note: I quite like this recipe which comes from Gourmet Traveller but if you don't have the time to make a proper filling you can simply use a 410g jar of store-bought fruit mince (I promise I won't tell!)

280g brown sugar
200g raisins
2 Granny Smith apples, coarsely grated
100g butter, melted
100ml muscat
100g each of currants and dried sour cherries
100g each of glace figs and fresh dates, finely chopped
70g candied orange peel, finely chopped
40g cedro (or candied lemon rind), finely chopped
Finely grated rind and juice of 1 orange
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp each of grated nutmeg, ground cloves and ground ginger



If you are making your own fruit mince: combine all ingredients in a sterilised contained and refrigerate for between 24hrs to 8 weeks (the longer you leave it to sit the stronger the flavours will be).


To make the pastry by placing the flour, baking powder, custard powder and icing sugar in a food processor and blend to combine. Add the cubed butter and process again until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.

Add the egg yolk (save the white for later!) and the chilled water and process until the mixture starts to come together as a dough. Remove from the processor and knead the mixture on a floured bench until you have a smooth dough.

Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes or until chilled. When it is ready, unwrap the dough and place it in between two sheets of baking paper then roll it out to about 4mm thick.


Use a circular cutter to cut 10cm circles from the dough and line 10 individual tart tins with the pastry (or cut the pastry to fit whatever sized tart cases you have on hand). Re-roll your leftover dough and cut out stars (or whatever shape you want to sit atop your tarts).

Fill your pastry cases about 3/4 of the way with fruit mince and then place your star cutout on top. Lightly brush with your leftover egg white and bake at 160 degrees Celsius for 20min or until the pastry is lightly golden.

Remove the tarts from the oven and allow to cool in their tart tins for 10 minutes then remove from their cases and cool completely on a wire rack.

   

Simply dust your tarts with a little icing sugar and voila  - Christmas has arrived!

Bonbon Macarons

Another macaron post?

 

Yup

 

Getting sick of writing about them yet?

 

Nope. Never. But for those less enthusiastic about these miracle biscuits as me, FEAR NOT!  I have plenty of non-macaron related posts coming in the very near future so stay tuned from them... but for now, ENJOY a little more crunchy, chewy goodness!

 

 

Just a quick "howdy-do" from me today. For the past few weeks I have been totally consumed all those things which come with the seasonal Christmas Spirit! Between work, baking up a variety of homemade treats, braving the shopping centres and trampling little old ladies just to get that last jar of fruit mince, to be honest I feel like a need a holiday from the holidays!

So now the craziness is over (hope you all had a happy and safe break!) I finally have the time to share with you a little gift idea I came up with this year. My girly-friends and I have a little tradition of meeting up for either a Christmas breakfast or dinner at the end of the year and, some of us being poor uni students and all, we tend not to give each other presents or otherwise just give little token gifts.

As you may be aware for the past couple of weeks I have been making batch after batch of macarons and since my friends are always commenting on my latest cooking photos (my Facebook is really more about food porn than me!) I thought it might be nice to make them up some Christmas macarons. Using some plain red and white shells (see my past recipes here and here ) I made up a batch and filled them with a cinnamon-spiced ganache I kind of just made up as I was going along and then wrapped them up a la bonbon style and finished them with curling ribbon to make a festive little gift.

 

 

 



So simple yet so effective.

Call me old-fashioned (wow, I think using that saying made me age about 100 years!) but I still feel like homemade gifts are incredibly special and a great way of showing people that you are prepared to put in the time and energy to making something unique for them. Anyone can go out, throw some money at a cash register and hey-presto - Instant present! But wrapping up a couple of biscuits in cellophane and tying the ends with curling ribbon, then actually curling it! That takes real dedication!

Yes Christmas is over, but you could really make these little babies as a mini present all year round. I know I fully intend to! 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy! xo

Christmas Macarons

Deck the halls with boughs of holly

Fa la la la la, la la la la

Shove a macaron in your face hole-y

Fa la la la la, la la la la

   

Yes, once again 'tis the season for Christmas cooking and after a bit of a delay I have finally got myself into the swing of things! Needless to say many of the gifts I give in the festive season are edible and in the weeks leading up to the big day most of my hours are spent bustling around the kitchen making a mixed array of jams, spice rubs, biscuits, truffles, oils, relishes, tarts etc. etc. (keep and eye out as I will be putting up some of these recipes as soon as I have my jars and bottles prettily wrapped!). So, when my sister told me she was after some Christmas treats to take into work this week it took me a few minutes to calm myself, wipe the excitement froth from my mouth and decide to make her, surprise surprise, MACARONS!

Not long ago I wrote a post about my foray into the crazy world of multi-coloured macarons and promised that it wouldn't be my last post on the subject (seen here). Guess what? I wasn't kidding! So, here we go again and I give you my latest attempt at the two-tone macaron - Christmas style!




Holly = Instant Christmas-ication

As per the pink/red and white colour of the shells, my initial plan was to make a candy cane flavoured filling based on the recipe of the wonderful Mr. Zumbo (just google Adriano Zumbo + candy cane macaron to check it out).

 

 

 

 

 

However, just like seeing a film featuring a suicidal looking Kristen Stewart, all too often for my liking I find my best laid plans going awry and in the end a shortness of time (mixed with a little bit of pure laziness) meant that I just whipped up a simple white choc ganache with a few drops of peppermint essence to fill these little babies with.

 

Was this the original plan? No.

Did they still taste feakin amazeballs? Hell yes!

 

How can I experience this supposedly 'amazeballs' taste for myself? Well you have to make them, silly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas 'Candy Cane' Macarons

 

For the Macaron Shells:

2 egg white (at room temperature)

100g icing sugar

60g ground almond

60g caster sugar

1 tsp red powder food colouring *

 

*How much you need will depend upon the exact shade of colour you want to achieve, the brand of colouring used etc. so just add a little at a time until you get the colour you want.

You can also double the recipe easily if you want to make more! The quantities listed above only make 12 or so depending on how big you pipe them*

Method:

1. Put ground almond and icing sugar in a food processor or a small blender and process until they are finely ground.

2. Sift the blended mixture and set aside

3. With an electric beater (or your ass-kicking Kitchenaid mixer!), beat the egg white until frothy (start from low speed and increase slowly to maximum speed).

4. Add in the caster sugar in a little at a time and continue to beat at maximum speed for around 2 minutes until they reach the stiff peak stage.

5. Fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites with a spatula until the mixture is incorporated (don't overwork at this stage like I did! It only need to have just come together!)

6. Divide the mixture into 2 parts and add the red food colouring to into one part.

7. Fold each mixture until the batter flows smoothly and falls from your spatula

8. Spoon each mixture into a zip lock sandwich bag and snip the ends to make little piping bags then, trying not to squeeze the mixture out, put both bags into a larger piping bag so they are at the same height (i.e. so when you go to pipe the colours come out at the same time)

 

9. Line several baking trays with baking paper and carefully pipe out the macarons (aim for a roughly 2cm diameter, or whatever size you are after!)

10. Leave the macarons for at least half an hour for the 'skin' to form (when you gently touch the shell your finger shouldn't stick to it!). How long this will take can depend on the weather, temperature, humidity etc. so just keep gently poking them until they are ready. Poke, poke, poke!

11. Bake them in a 160C oven for about 7 min then turn the tray around to (to ensure they bake evenly) and cook for a further 7 min or until firm to touch ( to test if the macaron is cook, touch softly on the shell and when the macaron doesn't slide on the feet, it's ready!). If not yet ready keep a close eye on them and give them another test every minute or so.

12. When finished take out of the oven and leave to cook completely on the baking trays.

 

For the Candy Cane Filling:

 

100g White Chocolate

60ml Cream

Few drops of Peppermint Essence

50g Butter (optional)

*I never used to add the butter but I find it does give you a nicer consistency in the end*

Method:

1. Break the chocolate into small, even sized pieces and place in a heatproof bowl

2. Bring the cream to the boil (either on the stove or, if your short on time) in the microwave and pour over the chocolate

3. Leave the mix to stand for a minute then stir with a spatula until the chocolate is fully melted and the mixture is smooth

4. Add the peppermint essence (add as much or as little as you want, subtle or bold flavours: both a good!) and mix well

5. Allow the mixture to sit and cool until it is at room temp and has thickened then, if desired, using a hand blender to blitz in the butter.

6. Pipe the mixture onto the macaron shells and sandwich together. Voila! 











Macaron Madness!

Apologies for the terribly clique and totally unoriginal post title... I have been at work all day and unfortunately the functioning part of my brain seems a little unsparked! Nevertheless, I will try to string together some coherent sentences, add some pretty pictures and create some sort of half-decent post!

Like many self-confessed foodies, in the past few years I have fallen in love with the macarons - the more flashy, little rich kid of the biscuit community! The crisp outside, gooey centre and virtually limitless flavour combinations that can be crammed into these little delicacies makes them the perfect treat for those who love to experiment with their cooking. Just one trip to Adriano Zumbo's now famous patisseries and you will see what I mean! Every year these stores host the annual Macaron Day where people queue down the street just to grab a box (or two...or three...) as all the flavours are wheeled out - this years selection varied from the humble chocolate or lychee flavoured to the more unconventional Redskin, Caramelised Hummus, Duck Pancake and even Fried Chicken  (yup, those babies are actually deep fried!). Needless to say this won't be my last post on the subject!

Whilst I have tried and tested many different flavour combinations myself (salted caramel, simple as it is, remains my fave!) I had never before really experimented in crazy-ing up the macaron shell, until now that is! May I present to your my first attempt at the tri-colour macaron!



*drum roll please...*

As you can see my first attempt was not exactly a total success, I was a little rushed and trying to navigate a new recipe as I went which resulted in some air bubbles (see Exhibit A. above!), the white mixture being a bit thicker than the red and greens and some logistics issues in stuffing the three mixtures together into the one bag without covering myself in sticky, Christmas coloured joy!

Nonetheless I persisted and the result, though somewhat imperfect, was no less delicious. Particularly when filled with an 'Eggnog' inspired ganache...

Christmas Macarons With 'Eggnoggy' Filling

For the Macaron Shells:

2 egg white (at room temperature)

100g icing sugar

60g ground almond

60g caster sugar

1 tsp red powder food colouring *

1 tsp green powder food colouring *

*How much you need will depend upon the exact shade of colour you want to achieve, the brand of colouring used etc. so just add a little at a time until you get the colour you want.

Method:

1. Put ground almond and icing sugar in a food processor or a small blender and process until they are finely ground.

2. Sift the blended mixture and set aside

3. With an electric beater (or your ass-kicking Kitchenaid mixer!), beat the egg white until frothy (start from low speed and increase slowly to maximum speed).

4. Add in the caster sugar in a little at a time and continue to beat at maximum speed for around 2 minutes until they reach the stiff peak stage.

5. Fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites with a spatula until the mixture is incorporated (don't overwork at this stage like I did! It only need to have just come together!)

6. Divide the mixture into 3 parts and add the red food colouring to into one part and the green food colouring in the second part, leave the third part white.

7. Fold each mixture until the batter flows smoothly (so it looks 'magma-like')

8. Spoon each mixture into a zip lock sandwich bag and snip the ends to make little piping bags then, trying not to squeeze the mixture out, put all three bags into a larger piping bag so they are at the same height (i.e. so when you go to pipe the colours come out at the same time)

9. Line several baking trays with baking paper and carefully pipe out the macarons (aim for a roughly 2cm diameter, or whatever size you are after!)

10. Leave the macarons for at least half an hour for the 'skin' to form (when you gently touch the shell your finger shouldn't stick to it!). How long this will take can depend on the weather, temperature, humidity etc. so just keep gently poking them until they are ready. Poke, poke, poke!

11. Bake them in a 160C oven for about 7 min then turn the tray around to (to ensure they bake evenly) and cook for a further 7 min or until firm to touch ( to test if the macaron is cook, touch softly on the shell and when the macaron doesn't slide on the feet, it's ready!). If not yet ready keep a close eye on them and give them another test every minute or so.

12. When finished take out of the oven and leave to cook completely on the baking trays.

 For the Eggnoggy Filling:

200g white chocolate
80ml cream (I use whipping cream)
Brandy
Ground Nutmeg
Ground Cinnamon


1. Break the chocolate into even sized pieces and pour over the cream
2. Microwave on high for 30sec, stir well and microwave for a further 30 sec
3. Continue the above step until the chocolate is completely melted
4. Stir in as much of the brandy and spices as you like (some like it spicy, some subtle!) - I used roughly 60ml of brandy and about a tsp of each spice.
5. Set the mixture aside to cool and thicken and when ready pipe onto one macaron shell and sandwich with another shell.
6. Voila! You are done, now go eat those delicious little babes and enjoy!

FYI,  the recipe for the macaron shell is largely based on the recipes provided at http://www.macaron-fetish.blogspot.com.au/ - a wonderful blog recommended to me by one of my fellow Masterchef auditionees! Anyone keen on macaron-age should definitely check it out as it provides step-by-step and very detailed instructions on how to create macarons and also some great tips for overcoming those common mistakes!


Right post done, the hour is late and my eye-bags are hanging low and swaying too and fro... must be time to go!


Ciao! xo