Saturday, January 30, 2010

Fig, watercress and blue cheese salad with candied walnuts

Hello everyone, I had a kitchen disaster last weekend when my fridge broke down on that very hot Saturday. The fridge repair man came on Monday afternoon and diagnosed....yes, dead. It was the first fridge I had ever bought and nearly sixteen years old so it has given me good service, but really, it would be helpful if they flashed up warning messages like "One week to go!" Of course I had a freezer full of food and quite a few things in the fridge and had to throw it all out. And of course, with the public holiday intervening, my new fridge didn't arrive until Wednesday morning, so it was four very hot days with no way of chilling food! It was a challenge and I'm glad to have the new one in place. Now I'm busy filling it once more!

This week's recipe is one that I made during the week and it was lovely and refreshing. It comes from the December 2009/January 2010 issue of delicious magazine. It's one of those great salads that makes a meal, although of course you could serve it as a salad with other things if you were feeding a few. The walnuts are very easy and taste delicious, probably even better made with butter as in the recipe - I had to use olive oil as I had tossed out my almost melted butter!

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xx

Fig, watercress and blue cheese salad with candied walnuts

Serves four

What you need:
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus 1 teaspoon for the figs
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • A squeeze of lemon juice
  • 3 ripe, fresh figs, quartered
  • 2 teaspoons caster sugar
  • 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
  • 1 bunch watercress
  • A handful of seedless red or green grapes, halved
  • 200g blue cheese, sliced

Candied walnuts

  • 20g unsalted butter
  • 1 cup walnut halves
  • 1/4 cup caster sugar
  • 1/2 - 1 teaspoon caynenne pepper (optional; you could sprinkle over normal ground black pepper if you prefer)

What you do:

  1. For the candied walnuts, line a baking tray with baking paper.
  2. Melt the butter in a saucepan.
  3. Add the walnuts, sugar and pepper, then stir for 1-2 minutes until the sugar melts and coats the nuts.
  4. Remove from the heat and use a spoon to spread the nuts out on the baking tray. Leave for a few minutes to set.
  5. Combine the olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard and lemon juice in a small bowl.
  6. Season the dressing with sea salt and pepper, whisking to combine, then set aside.
  7. Place the figs, cut side up, on a small baking tray.
  8. Sprinkle with the sugar, balsamic vinegar and additional olive oil.
  9. Place the figs under a grill for five minutes or until golden and bubbling. Remove from the grill and set aside.
  10. Arrange the watercress and grapes on a serving platter and top with the grilled figs. Lay slices of cheese over the top, drizzle with the dressing and serve sprinkled with the walnuts.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Prawn skewers with rice salad

Hello everyone, gosh it's a hot summer's day in Sydney today! Mum used to say on days like this she wished she could put a zipper into the cat's coat, and I'm thinking that today. Bellatrix doesn't look too uncomfortable, but it would be lovely to unzip that fur coat and help her out of it.

My freezer is acting in a very suspicious way too...I reached in for some ice cubes this morning and there seemed to be some significant thawing going on. I do hope it's just because of the very hot temperature outside but I am starting to wonder if I'm going to be taking a trip to the new fridge shop this week....

I'll ignore it for the minute. This week's recipe is another of Bill Granger's (from Bill's Open Kitchen) and is one of those dishes that just tastes like summer. When I made it I did the full quantity of the rice salad so that I had some for lunches during the week. I know it looks like a long list of ingredients, but many of the ingredients for the salad are the same as for the prawns and once you have done all the chopping of the ingredients you are nearly there.

Have a wonderful week! Love from Jane xx

Prawn skewers with rice salad

Serves four

What you need:
  • 3 thick slices of sourdough bread
  • 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 24 medium green prawns, peeled and deveined
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
  • Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Lemon wedges to serve

Rice salad

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 4 cups COOKED white rice (boil up two cups of uncooked rice)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
  • 1/3 cup roughly chopped flat leaf parsley
  • 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
  • 1/3 cup green olives, pitted and sliced

What you do:

  1. Soak eight wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes to stop them from burning during cooking.
  2. Preheat the oven to 200C.
  3. Place the bread on a baking tray and toast for 20 minutes or until lightly golden.
  4. Remove from the oven and leave to cool, then turn into breadcrumbs in a food processor.
  5. Toss the prawns in the olive oil.
  6. Add the remaining ingredients, including the breadcrumbs, and mix well so that each prawn is evenly coated in breadcrumbs.
  7. Cover with gladwrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  8. To make the rice salad, combine the oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
  9. Add all of the remaining salad ingredients and toss until well combined.
  10. Preheat a grill or a BBQ to high.
  11. Thread 3 prawns onto each skewer, curling and skewering the tails to maintain a round shape.
  12. Cook for 2 minutes on each side, or until golden, and serve with the lemon wedges and rice salad.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Cherry slice

Hello everyone, being such a warm day today I decided to pop over to Glace, an icecream shop in Leichhardt. I can buy their products locally, but thought it would be good to go to the actual shop and view all the possibilities. It certainly is an icecream lover's delight - you can buy single or double scoops to eat on the spot (yes, I indulged, a scoop of Belgian chocolate), tubs in all sorts of luscious flavours and a range of other interesting icecream treats, like the snowball, which is a ball of coconut flavoured icecream enrobed in a coat of chocolate and sprinkled with coconut!

This week's recipe is a sweet treat which caught my eye every time I saw it in my scrapbook of cut out recipes. It's exactly like cherry ripe and so easy to make - a nice treat. Do be very careful with the food colouring - I was a little careless and my cherry slice was very brightly coloured!

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xx

Cherry slice

What you need:
  • 600g dark cooking chocolate, chopped
  • 500g desiccated coconut (buy a good quality one, not the no name version, as you want a nice, moist coconut)
  • 100g copha, melted
  • 395g can condensed milk
  • 150g glace cherries, very finely chopped
  • A few drops of pink food colouring

What you do:
  1. Prepare a 30cm x 20cm cake tin by lining with foil.
  2. Melt half the chocolate and spread evenly over the foil lined tin.
  3. Rest, covered, in the fridge, until set.
  4. Place coconut, melted copha, condensed milk and cherries in a large bowl and stir together to mix. There will be a moment when you think there is far too much coconut and it will never combine, but it does.
  5. Very carefully add a few drops of food colouring and stir through (do it drop by drop).
  6. Spoon the coconut mixture over the chocolate base and use the back of a spoon to press evenly.
  7. Refrigerate until set.
  8. Melt the remaining chocolate and spread evenly over the coconut mix.
  9. Return to the fridge until set.
  10. Cut into bars with a warm knife. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Cranberry and walnut brie

Hello everyone, I've managed to meet friends for lunch four work days out of five this week, all in different cafes in the city, and all have been really good lunches (as well as delightful company, of course!) On Monday I went to Bacco, a great Italian cafe on the ground floor of the Chifley Plaza, which does a roaring trade, and when you try their gorgeous salads and super fresh sandwiches, you can see why. They also get a big tick from me for their yummy hot chocolate. Order the large and it is like a soup tureen the cup is so large.

On Tuesday I went to the cafe in the Kinokuniya bookshop at Galeries Victoria. I have to say that my expectations were low and there was only a very small selection, but I had a really lovely vegetable frittata.

On Wednesday I went to Salon on the ground floor of Governor Macquarie Tower where they also do fabulous sandwiches and salads. I had two salads, one of which was the most beautiful combination of rocket, shredded carrot, grilled haloumi and lovely plump sultanas, in a tahini dressing in which you could see and crunch the sesame seeds. It was so good I went back and had the same salad the next day as a takeaway!

Finally on Friday I went to Taste on Sussex Lane, as I have had a yummy baguette there before. This time I had a baguette with roasted vegetables and bocconcini and fresh tomato and rocket. Again, it was very good. So unusual to have consistent quality all week! Of course all of this means that this coming week I will have to eat in at my desk, taking in my own home made salads and sandwiches...

This week's recipe was something I made to take to a Christmas party. It comes from the December/January issue of delicious magazine and is so yummy! Everyone loved it. And best of all, you actually get two treats out of it! I found that there was so much cranberry sauce I was able to freeze half of it and serve it as the most divine (and pretty) granita. The alcohol in it saves it from freezing to a solid block of ice, so when you want some you can just pull it out of the freezer and scoop into bowls to eat or drop some into your champagne flute!

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xx

Cranberry and walnut brie

(The recipe is a huge quantity as it's for a crowd, so adjust as required to your own crowd)

What you need (for a crowd):
  • 1 cup port
  • 1 cup caster sugar
  • 2 cups (240g) frozen cranberries (in the freezer section of the supermarket)
  • 2 teaspoons cornflour
  • 300g soft goats cheese
  • 150g gorgonzola dolce
  • 1 large (3kg) wheel of ripe brie
  • 2 cups (200g) toasted walnuts, chopped
  • Watercress and toasted baguette slices, to serve

What you do:

  1. Place port, sugar and 1 cup of water in a pan over a low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
  2. Increase the heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes or until syrupy.
  3. Add the berries and cook for a further 2-3 minutes, stirring, until the berries start to burst.
  4. Mix the cornflour with 2 tablespoons of cold water to make a smooth paste.
  5. Add to the pan and cook, stirring, for one minute until thickened. Cool. (This sauce can be made up to four days ahead and stored in the fridge).
  6. Whiz the goats cheese and gorgonzola in the food processor until smooth.
  7. Split the brie through the centre (horizontally) into two rounds and place the bottom half on your serving platter.
  8. Spread with half the goats/gorgonzola mix, sprinkle with half the walnuts and pour over as much of the cooled cranberry sauce as you think works.
  9. Top with the remaining round of brie and repeat with the goats/gorgonzola mix, walnuts and berry sauce.
  10. Garnish with the watercress and serve with the toasted baguette slices. It really is spectacular and will be devoured.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Jamie's Waldorf Salad

Hello everyone and happy new year. I think everyone who lives in my street went to see the fireworks this year, as it was very quiet around here. I was completely engrossed in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood so the peace and quiet made me very happy.

Now I have to say that I am not a huge fan of Jamie Oliver himself, but over the years I have tried many of his recipes in delicious magazine and always thought they were very good. When I saw his latest book, Jamie's America, I had to get it. It reminds me very much of a book in a Time Life series on food in different countries that Mum had when we were children. I was entranced with the book on America as I found the cultural context, and the range of cooking styles and influences around that big country, fascinating. So I had exactly the same feeling when I came across Jamie's book.

Funnily enough, at the community dinners in which I participate, my team mate Margaret made a great waldorf salad one night. She kindly sent me an email with the details - she had found this recipe in a magazine at her hairdresser and copied it. (Well, the list of ingredients - someone had ripped out the instructions). So I had already tried the salad and had Margaret's list of ingredients in hand ready to make it myself when I discovered that the recipe came from Jamie's America. It's great, a really good summertime meal. (The comments in brackets in the ingredients list are mine).

Have a wonderful new year! Love from Jane xxx

Jamie's Waldorf Salad

Serves four

What you need:
  • 4 large handfuls of interesting green salad leaves, washed and spun dry (I have only recently started using a lettuce spinner, gosh they are good!)
  • 2 large handfuls of seedless green or red grapes (or you could have half and half), sliced in half
  • 3 medium sticks of celery, trimmed
  • 2 large handfuls of walnuts (approximately 100g), roughly chopped
  • A handful of fresh flat leaf parsley
  • 1 red apple
  • 150g mild blue cheese, such as dolcelatte (there's a nice mild King Island blue that comes in a roll which you can buy at Woollies which would work well)

Dressing

  • 1 heaped teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons white or red wine vinegar
  • Good quality extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 heaped tablespoon natural yoghurt
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

What you do

  1. In a large bowl toss together the leaves and the grapes.
  2. Finely slice the celery sticks and add to the salad.
  3. In a dry pan over a medium heat toast the walnuts. Keep an eye on them - they will only take a couple of minutes.
  4. Discard the tougher ends of the parsley stalks and finely chop the rest of the stalks, then put to the side for a minute.
  5. Chop the parsley leaves finely and add to the salad.
  6. To make the dressing, combine the mustard and vinegar and add the reserved chopped parsley stalks.
  7. Pour in three times as much olive oil as the dressing you have made so far (or less olive oil, depending on your preference) and mix together.
  8. Add the yoghurt and a good pinch of salt and pepper to the dressing and mix again.
  9. Drizzle a little of the dressing over the salad so far.
  10. Finely slice the apple into matchsticks and scatter over the salad.
  11. Add the toasted walnuts and dressing and toss everything together.
  12. Transfer the salad to a large serving platter, piling the grapes and walnuts over the leaves. Use a knife to break off little pieces of the cheese, scattering over the salad and serve.