Wednesday 18 April 2012

Savoury Pinwheel Scones

I went to a cooking demonstration last night where Natalie Oldfield made these scones. They we so good I just had to make them the next day! The recipe is from her new cookbook Dulcie May Kitchen Everday, you can buy the book online here!



Savoury Pinwheel Scones
Makes 10
Time to make: 20 minutes

3C self raising flour, sifted
1/2 tsp salt
50g butter
1/2 C parmesan, grated
1 1/2 C milk
1 red onion, diced and fried
100g feta
1 tbsp parsley, chopped

Preheat oven to 120 degrees celcius. And line a baking tray with non-stick paper

Sift flour and salt together in a large bowl. Rub the butter into the flour to make it like breadcrumbs.

Add the parmesan and milk to make a firm, moist dough. Only mixing until it just comes together.

Turn onto a floured board and roll into a 25cm x 25cm square. Sprinkle over the parsley, feta and onion. Roll up to form a log and cut into 10 rounds.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Serve with a good lashing of butter! Seriously, worth the PP of which I haven't counted. My bad!

Friday 13 April 2012

Roasted Tomato Soup with Basil Sour Cream

This is delicious. We had this for lunch at cooking school today made by some advanced students and I just had to go home and make it!



Roasted Tomato Soup with Basil Sour Cream
Serves 2

1kg of vine ripen tomatoes, halved
1 Onion, peeled and halved
2 whole cloves of garlic, skin removed
1/4C of cream (I used light evaporated milk to keep it healthy)
A pinch of both: dried oregano and thyme
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a baking dish/ pan (just something with sides), place the halved tomatoes, and onion (cut side up) in the dish and roast for 40 minutes at 180 degrees celcius, fan bake. Once the 40 minutes is up, place the garlic in the dish also and put back into the oven for 10 minutes.

Once the tomatoes have cooked down, transfer all of the veges plus any juices in the pan into a pot, add the herbs and salt then blend with a stick blender. Remove any skins that may have blackened (if this has happened your oven may of been too hot, as all ovens are different!) Once blended, push through a strainer to remove seeds.

Bring the now soup to a gentle simmer and add the cream in at the last minute. Mix 2 tbsp of sour cream with 1 tbsp of chopped basil and place a small dollop in the middle of the soup. Serve with hot crusty bread. Enjoy!

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Meatballs

These meatballs are so delish! And this was the first time a had tried wholemeal pasta and I was pleasantly surprised, so good!






Meatballs
Propoints: 2pp per meatball
Makes 18
Total Propoints: 30
Serves: 6


500g premium beef mince
1/2 onion, finely diced
2 eggs
1/2C breadcrumbs
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp of garlic, crushed
1 tsp dried oregano
1C grated carrot
1/2 tsp sugar
salt and pepper 


Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, combining well.


Roll into 18 balls, and brown in a frypan on medium heat. Once the outsides of the meatballs have browned place on a baking sheet and bake at 180 degrees celcius for about 10-15 minutes until cooked through and the carrot is soft.


Serve with wholemeal pasta and a tomato pasta sauce. (For the sauce I used a tin of tomato puree, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp garlic, 1 tsp mixed herbs, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar and heated through)- PP not included.

Five Seed Bread

This is just delicious. Nothing tastes better than freshly baked hot bread with lashings of butter. Yesterday I went to a nutrition seminar at Natures Nutrition and the lady had made this bread, it was so yum I just had to make it. I have made a slight change and the recipe calls for half wholemeal flour and half white, I did not have any wholemeal flour at home so I used all white.






Five Seed Bread


3 C high grade flour (either all white or half white, half wholemeal)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C of each sunflower, pumpkin, poppy and sesame seeds
2 tbsp linseed
3 tsp yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 1/4 C warm water
2 tbsp olive oil


If using a bread machine, carefully measure all of the ingredients in the order on the list into the maker. Set to the normal bake cycle.


If doing by hand:
Measure the yeast, warm water and sugar into a medium bowl cover and set aside for 15 minutes.


Sift the flours in another bowl and add the seeds and salt.


Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture and kneed for 10 minutes adding extra flour if needed until the dough springs back when gently pressed.


Gently coat the ball of dough in the oil and turn into a large, clean bowl. Cover and leave to rise for half an hour.


Place the dough into a loaf pan and leave to rise for another hour.


Once the dough has risen nicely bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 25-35 minutes or until the bread has browned and when tapped sounds hollow.

Thursday 2 February 2012

Crispy Noodle & Almond Cabbage Salad

This would be an amazing side salad for a bbq! Or any dinner really, its delish.  The recipe below which serves one would be great for a light lunch.






Crispy Noodle & Almond Cabbage Salad
ProPoints: 5
Serves: 1


1 Tbsp of dressing (recipe below)
1 1/2 C of cabbage, finely sliced
1/2 of a spring onion, finely chopped
10g crispy noodles (I used the Highmark brand)
20g roasted almonds, roughly chopped


Toss all of the ingredients in a bowl making sure all of the dressing has coated the cabbage well, season with a pinch of salt to taste which will balance sweetness of the dressing. Serve immediately. YUM!


Cabbage Salad Dressing
Propoints: 17 for the entire recipe
For 1 tbsp: 1PP
For 2 tbsp: 3PP


1/2 C caster sugar
1/2 C white wine vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce (1tbsp if you would like a stronger flavour coming through)
1 tbsp olive oil


In a small saucepan, gently heat through all of the ingredients on a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and once the dressing has cooled it is ready to use.


Done! If you would like to make this for 8 people, you can use 1/2 a cabbage, 3/4 C of almonds, 3 spring onions and 3/4 packet of crispy noodles with half of the dressing (or less depending on personal preference) following the above instructions, (PP will vary depending on serves)


:)





Saturday 7 January 2012

Santa!

Hahahahaha, i'm new to this food photography and I just asked my Grandma if the photo of the chocolate cake (the photo in post below) would make her want to eat it. Without knowing I took the photo, she said no straight away because it has a flower on it and she doesn't eat flowers. That's such a good point! Why the hell did I put a flower on it hahaha. Oh well, still learning.


Note to self: Don't put flowers on cakes. I thought it looked nice, but thinking about it now, it looks silly. Lesson learnt.


Decorated Christmas cakes:




Here is my first attempt at cake decorating! I was kinda proud cause I have never made anything like this before.

The BEST Chocolate Cake

SO. 2012, aye? Where did 2011 go! I love the start of the year, it is always so refreshing. Its kind of crazy how much my life in changing for 2012. This will be my 20th year alive (OMG!!!), I've said later skaters to my boyfriend (of nearly two years, for a teenager that's ageeees), I'm going to culinary school (lots of learning so you can't judge my skills just yet!), I am starting badminton again (which I haven't played in three years, stoked), I'm doing a gazillion cake decorating classes and I'm loving life!


Anyways. This cake. It is the easiest cake of my life, and yours. It is the most fluffiest hunk of goodness like you wouldn't believe therefore I suggest you try it, and once you do, I can nearly guarantee this will be your new staple FAV choc cake recipe.






Chocolate Cake
Serves: 12-16
Prep Time: 5 minutes (like no jokes, that's it!)
Cook Time: 1 hour ( two smaller cakes, less)
Recipe from: Annabel Langbein (legend!)


3 C self-raising flour
2 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 C cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda, sifted
200g butter, softened and cubed
1 C milk
3 large eggs
1 C boiling hot coffee


1. Heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Grease the sides and line the base of a 30cm round cake tin or two 20cm tins with baking paper.


Place all ingredients in food processor or bowl and blitz until the ingredients are combined and butter is fully incorporated.


Pour mixture into tins and bake for 1 hour or until skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin. Done!


Ice with your fav chocolate icing or ganache and you are good to go.