As requested: my recipe for lumberjack cake

As you know, I love cooking for others and, missing cooking for a family, often cook cakes and biscuits for friends and my husband's colleagues.  Apparently, with all the packing I have been doing for our move to Brisbane, I  have been a bit remiss, according to  the recipients, in the supply of home cooked treats,  so I whipped up this cake.  It proved to be so  successful, I have been asked to give the recipe.  Here it is, dedicated to DJ, with thanks from liberating me from packing:

Lumberjack Cake

Ingredients:

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored, with the flesh diced.
1 cup of sugar
 185 g dates, diced
1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
125 g butter
1 egg
1 cup boiling water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup plain flour

Ingredients for topping:
60g butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup milk
 60 g shredded coconut

Method:

Combine apples, dates, bicarbonate soda and water.  Cool to lukewarm.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla and beat well.  Beat flour and salt alternatively with the fruit mixture.

With my wonky oven which bakes very hot, I cooked the cake for 40 minutes at 160 degrees, then spread the coconut mixture on top and baked it for a further 15 minutes.  I used to cook it at 170 degrees in my old oven for about 50 minutes and then allow 20 minutes for the top.

Turn out when cool.

(By the way, I love the topping, so often double the recipe to get more of it!)

As for what we have been eating while we are going through the packing, we have had

Beef cheeks in red wine

Cold beef cheek salad

Lots of take-always


and a meal at Ole in South bank:

Bouquet ones of anchovy

a racion of gambas y chorizo

Croquetas de Bacalao

And pulpo y chorizo.

Plus, a glass of red wine sangria.  As usual, good food, nice waitresses, and free people watching.

 

 

Feasting on a freshly caught snapper, scones and home made warm salad.

So what have we felt like eating at home lately?

 

Prawns, pickled seaweed, edamame, noodles with a seaweed garnish and a soya sauce dipping sauce:

 

Grilled lamb steaks, baked sweet potato, plantain and zucchini chips with corn:

Pork and vegetable jungle curry on rice:

Grilled chicken with mashed taro and jungle curry:

Lamb ribs and boiled vegetables:

Grilled chicken drumsticks with boiled vegetables:

  

my other half's new invention, Chai chiller:

 

 and this week's recipe,

Warm Seafood and Vegetable Salad 

 

Ingredients:

 

4 small Pontiac potatoes, thickly sliced and boiled with skins on in salted water until just cooked.

4 large stalks of kale, sliced

2 large shallots, cut into large chunks

1 large clove garlic, sliced

1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved

2 cups frozen marinara mix

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

 

Method:

 

Prepare the potatoes, drain and put aside.

Heat oil and sauté garlic and onions until tender.  Stir in the seafood and the kale  and stir until seafood begins to thaw.  Add tomatoes, and balsamic vinegar and seasoning to taste.  Just before seafood is cooked through, gently stir in potato.  Remove when the potato is heated through. 

Heat some olive oil.

 

We also visited the Box Hill market in Melbourne to satisfy a craving for rice noodle rolls (chee cheong fun, in Chinese) and  Sticky rice dumplings (zongzi in Chinese, and apparently known by other, less poetic names in Jamaica, according to a friend, due to them looking like drawers/underpants).

 

 

We were also lucky enough to be invited to dinner after my fisherman son-in-law caught a 3 kg snapper.  He baked it in the oven with a roll of foil inside to spread the heat and it was sweetly delicious and tender, with lovely crispy fins and tail, which Mister Nearly 3 liked the best!  Can't wait til his daddy goes fishing again! Thius was the best snapper I have had, but I can't wait to see what he does with a different species!  Fresh is definitely best!

 

As well as home cooked meals, I have been taken out for meals.

In Melbourne, I was introduced to Miss. Chu and had a brilliant meal of spicy beef and rice noodles.  Lots of ticks for this establishment!

 

 

In Brisbane, the cakes were good at French Twist's Newstead café, but goodness me, the surliness of the staff was not very appealing.  I was met with irritation when I attempted to obtain water, and didn't get one smile, thank you or sign of anything except resentment by the waitress. There are too many nicely mannered and friendly staff in Brisbane for people to put up with that sort of attitude!

 

 

 

IN Mt.Tamborine, Queensland, at the beautiful home of some friends, we feasted on brilliant home made cheese scones with cream, strawberry jam, butter and /or fresh sweetly tart strawberries and freshly brewed tea or coffee.  And, it was all so pretty!  I felt I had died and gone to heaven!

 

 

 

Recipes: chocolate peppermint ice cream and yummy gluten free biscuits

I have gone back to cooking for two and among the meals I prepared were a vegetable curry with a date chutney

spaghetti with a vegetable and marinara sauce

smoked mackerel and vegetable salad

Grilled NSW rock oysters

and clams in a white wine sauce

I also shared food with other friends, one of my favourite ways of eating. 

At an artists' play date we all contributed ( though, as usual, the hosts contributed the most) so had a great mixture of quiche, bread, dips, cheese, meats, olives, biscuits, icecream - sort of an antipasto type meal.

At another meal, the host prepared a beef curry

and Hainan chicken

with rice, and assorted sauces.  I was very restrained, but could have eaten it all - and licked the pots!  Another friend contributed sticky date pudding and cream.  Again, I was restrained and did not lick out the container, or take all the sauce!  I contributed chocolate peppermint icecream and banana cake.

Chocolate Peppermint Icecream Recipe.

Ingredients:
140g  Peppermint Crisps
2 litres good quality vanilla ice cream
1/2 to 1 cup creme de menthe ( depends on your taste.  My kids add even more)

Method:
Crush peppermint crisps.  Stir it and the creme de menthe into the softened ice cream.
Put back into freezer until ready to use.

Although I don't have photos, upon request, I am giving you my recipes for two very nice biscuits.  The first recipe, I forgot to put in enough sugar as I usually do and dipped them in chocolate to add a bit of sweetness, but I think the original recipe ( which follows) is best.  It is great for gluten free friends.

Pistachio biscuits

Ingredients:
3/4 cup pistachios
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup sugar
1 2/3 cup almond flour
1 1/2 large eggs
1 block of chocolate

Method:
Heat oven to 325 degrees.
Process 2 tablespoons sugar with pistachios.  Add flour and 1 cup sugar. Process on low. Add eggs.
Roll spoonfuls of dough into balls. Flatten a bit.
Bake 10-12 minutes on greased trays.
Once cool, seal in airproof tins.

Brown sugar hazelnut biscuits based on Matthew Evan's recipe.  Also gluten free.  It is also good using other nuts like almonds and hazelnuts.

Ingredients:
1 cup hazelnuts
1 cup almonds
Just under 2 cups of brown sugar
40 g butter
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
About 4 tablespoons icing sugar for dusting

Method:
Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
Pulse nuts in food processor until crumbly
Put into small saucepan with sugar, butter, egg whites and butter and heat until butter is melted.
Cool and roll into balls.
Roll into icing sugar then place on baking paper lined trays, placing them spread apart.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until they start to change colour.
Cool and store in airproof container.

Recipe of the week: quinoa salad

We have had a variety of meals lately.  As you may have gathered, I like cooking when I can vary what we have every night.  I hate routine!  Among the meals, we have had:

 

Fried rice with vegetables and chicken:

 

 

Okonomiyaki with ham:

 

 

Sourdough toast and Eggs Flamenco:

 

Bean and vegetable stew with brown rice:

Lemon delicious pudding :

Bean, vegetables and chorizo on sourdough bread:

Stargazer fish with a green Asian vegetable stir-fry:

Roast lamb and vegetables:

Steak and mushrooms with mashed potato and salad:

And, very yummy roast chicken and vegetables cooked by my son and his girlfriend:

This week's recipe is a Quinoa salad:

Quinoa Salad

 ( N.B.  I vary these vegetables according to what I have in the fridge.  I have also used pomegranate, sweet potato, spring onions and cooked zucchini, for instance).

Ingredients:

1 cup white quinoa
2 cups water
French dressing
Handful sliced snowpeas
I bunch blanched asparagus, diced
Kernels from a large ear of corn
1 diced Lebanese cucumber
1/2 cup pepitas
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup cooked pumpkin, diced
1 cup sliced/diced lean cooked lamb (I used left-over roast)

Method:

Rinse quinoa then add 2 cups of water and cook on high in microwave for 10 minutes.  Cool.
Mix other ingredients in a large bowl.
Add cooked quinoa and French dressing and stir together.

We also went away for a weekend with friends.  The first night, they made us a delicious chicken and capsicum curry and chocolate brownies.  We had popped into Camberwell market, so the next day for lunch, we had assorted dips and cheeses, stuffed pepperberries, pickled octopus, smoked ham, smoked trout

artichokes

and a French bean and slivered almond salad.

As well as eating at home, we have also eaten out.

We went back to Wagamame in Chermside to revisit  and had chicken gyozo

beef skewers

 salted edamame

and sauted green vegetables.  Tasty and great service, as usual.

My recipe for mixed carrot salad.

We have done a lot of home cooking.  My other half made me  some lovely pancakes for breakfast.  I love them with maple syrup and lemon:

I cooked chicken and wild mushroom stew with brown rice and beans:

Italian sausages, kale and tomatoes and potatoes:

mackerel and rice and stir-fried vegetables

 

roast pork hock, sauerkraut and baked potatoes:

 

 

forest mushroom risotto:

 

 and one of my "bits of this and bits of that meals", with an Asian theme this time:

 

(barbequed pork)

 

(Japanese pickle)

(Mieng Kham, Chinese pickles, Japanese fish roe, steamed Chinese broccoli,  and Edamame).

One of the " highlights" of the week was a trip to Ikea for some verandah cushions.  Hunger struck so we tried the food there.  Bob had the meatballs " tastes like soggy cat biscuits dog and preservative" and my friend and I had the seafood salad ( okay, a bit tasteless).  However, we also bought a variety of their bottled foods to take home .  One night we had another bits and pieces meal.  We had their dill herrings, onion and herrings, their orange herring roe and their pickled cucumbers,

with some smoked pepper trout,

a home-made potato, dill and caper salad,

a garden salad,

 and a dip.  The meal was judged a success.

The home made recipe this blog is for a  mixed carrot salad.

Warm Mixed Carrot Salad

Recipe

2 purple carrots
2 orange carrots
Large handful snow peas
Large handful pine nuts
1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar
2 dessert spoons sugar
Salt
Pepper

Method

Brown pine nuts in a heavy pan, put aside.
Heat balsamic vinegar and sugar till boiling.  Simmer until sugar is dissolved and liquid is reduced by half.  Put aside.
Peel carrots then slice into strips.
Slice snow peas into strips.
Place a steamer on top of a pan of boiling water and steam carrots for a few minutes.  Add snow peas and steam until just heated through.

Remove and place vegetables in bowl.  Sprinkle over the pine nuts and the glaze.  Stir through.

As we had guests staying with us, we had a lot of meals out.

Cakes at the Queensland Art Gallery Café were very nice, in lovely surroundings, with friendly, efficient staff.

My chocolate mousse cake was wonderful.

At Café Alto in The Powerhouse, we feasted on sardines:

olives and grissini

mussels in a spicy tomato sauce

gnocchi with a creamy seafood sauce.

We didn't have a seat outside, but still had a good meal and enjoyed ourselves.

In Southbank, we visited Ole.  The ladies shared a jug of sangria

and we feasted on spiced almonds

croquetas of bacalao ( the best croquetas I have had in a long time)

patatas bravas

scallops with chorizo, octopus with chorizo, and prawns with chorizo.  great food.  Great service.  And, you can people watch the passers by.

 

 But wait, there was more!  Chicken curry at Dello Mano, in Newstead was very tasty and the service and ambiance very pleasant:

Lastly, we had delicious macaroons at Le Bon Choix in Paddington.  Pity the service isn't a little more interested and affable.  It is like communicating with automatons. ( the service in the Hamilton store is a bit better).

 

Lastly, but not least, we had a duck confit, orange and kipfler potato salad with a mustard sauce at the GOMA River Café.  Vey nice and a pleasant location.