Little chocolate cakes

Hello everyone, this is going to be my last posting on this blog. I have been writing it since January 2008 and today's recipe is number 150, which seems a good number at which to conclude. It's funny to look at the list of recipes I have shared - it is a compendium of all the things I love to eat! I could quite happily just rotate through all the recipes here for the rest of my life. Of course I won't, there are always new cookbooks calling me with something different.

I decided to conclude with what would really have to be my most favourite food in the world, chocolate pudding. The recipe comes from Jill Dupleix's Simple Food, a book from which I have cooked nearly every single thing. She calls the dish cakes, but she suggests pulling them out of the oven a little bit early so that you can enjoy the luscious squidgy texture. That's how I cook these cakes and I serve them as puddings with cream, ice-cream and chocolate sauce.

Thank you to everyone who has read my blog and provided me with comments and feedback. It made me really happy whenever anyone told me that they had cooked something from the blog, or their family had a favourite recipe from the blog, as that was the original intention. I hope you keep returning to it and find it a useful source of delicious inspiration!

Love from Jane

Little Chocolate Cakes

Makes 12

What you need:

• 200g dark, bitter, top quality chocolate, chopped
• 100g caster sugar
• 120g butter
• 100g ground almonds
• 4 eggs, separated
• Icing sugar for dusting

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. In a bowl sitting above a simmering pan of water on the stove, combine the chocolate, sugar and butter and stir as they melt into a smooth, glossy sauce.
3. Remove from the heat and cool for five minutes.
4. Add the ground almonds to the chocolate sauce and stir well.
5. Beat in the egg yolks, one by one, until well mixed.
6. Place the egg whites into a large, dry bowl and beat until stiff and peaky.
7. Stir a large spoonful of egg white into the chocolate mix to lighten it, then gently fold in the remaining egg white.
8. Spoon the mix into lightly buttered large muffin moulds, or a 12 hole muffin tray lined with doubled muffin paper cases.
9. Bake: if you want a pudding texture check at 15 minutes; if you prefer a cake effect, check at 25 minutes.
10. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before removing the puddings from their moulds, and serve as you prefer.

Pizza with prosciutto and ricotta

Hello everyone, I had lunch today at a place I really like called The Cook's Garden in North Turramurra, which I think I have mentioned before. I had a really simple but delicious slice of grilled bread, piled high with roasted capsicum, roasted golden beetroot, grilled haloumi and rocket. I haven't tried golden beetroot before as the traditional version doesn't appeal at all, but it was very good and seemed to have a much firmer and drier texture than the usual purple one.

This week's recipe is a favourite pizza, from a Women's Weekly book called Cooking For Friends There are so many different combinations that you can use for a pizza but this one seems to be just right every time.

Have a great week. Love from Jane xx

Pizza with prosciutto and ricotta

Serves six to eight

What you need:

• 3 medium tomatoes
• 3 x medium sized pizza bases
• 1/2 to 1 cup tomato paste
• 300g baby spinach leaves, washed and dried
• 1 large red onion, thinly sliced
• 9 slices prosciutto
• 1/4 cup loosely packed, coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves
• 300g fresh ricotta
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed and stirred through the olive oil

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 240C.
2. Cut each tomato into eight wedges.
3. Place the pizza bases on oven trays.
4. Spread each base with a third of the tomato paste.
5. Top each pizza with equal amounts of tomato, spinach, onion, prosciutto, basil, ricotta and pine nuts.
6. Drizzle each pizza with equal amounts of the garlic oil.
7. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the top of each pizza is browned lightly and the base crisp.

Chocolate and cranberry biscuits

Hello everyone, this week's recipe comes from one of my favourite cook books, Epicure Chocolate. These biscuits are lovely and chewy and make a nice big quantity.

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xxx

Chocolate and cranberry biscuits

Makes 35-40

What you need:

• 200g butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup condensed milk
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/4 cups dried cranberries (you could substitute raisins)
• 1 cup chocolate bits, dark, milk or white, whichever you prefer (use good quality ones, not compounded chocolate)

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Cream the butter, sugar and condensed milk.
3. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.
4. Sift the flour and baking soda into the creamed mixture.
5. Stir in the rolled oats, cranberries or raisins and chocolate bits.
6. Place tablespoons on greased oven trays and press down with a fork.
7. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden.

Chicken sandwiches

Hello everyone, today I went on one of Maeve O'Meara's fabulous Gourmet Safaris http://www.gourmetsafaris.com.au/ which was an amazing lunch at Azuma Japanese restaurant. We were entertained and informed by Maeve and a gorgeous Japanese woman called Miko, and were fed what seemed to be a never ending supply of delightfully flavoured and delicately presented morsels. We started with a tasting plate of six different items in various dressings and sauces, then progressed to the biggest bento box I have ever seen. It was so hard to decide in what order to try each section as they all looked and sounded delicious from the description we had on our special menus. I think if pressed I would plump for the wagyu beef as my favourite bite, but it was all outstanding. Dessert was home made vanilla icecream, fresh fruit and these amazing starchy dumplings, which you drowned in a black sauce, which was described as a Japanese sugar syrup and tasted like molasses. It was amazing, generous and a lot of fun. If you haven't tried a Gourmet Safari before I really recommend them and you can choose from a huge array of banquets, walking tours and even gourmet holidays!

This week's recipe is something that is very simple but when done well, with very good ingredients, is just the best. It's a recipe from Good Living, and I feel safe in saying the best chicken sandwich recipe I have ever tried.

Have a good week. Love from Jane xx

Chicken sandwiches

Serves four, easily

What you need:

• 1 roast or BBQ chicken
• 6 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon freshly chopped tarragon
• 1 tablespoon seeded mustard
• 2 sticks celery, washed and finely chopped
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 8 slices sourdough bread
• 2 large handfuls of watercress or rocket, washed and dried

What you do:

1. Remove the chicken meat from the carcass and shred finely.
2. Mix the chicken in a bowl with all the other ingredients except the bread and leaves.
3. Lay out the slices of bread and spoon the chicken filling onto four slices.
4. Top with watercress or rocket and the remaining bread slices.
5. Cut in half and serve.

Warm winter salad of radicchio, wild rocket and feta

Hello everyone, this week I am wondering if you can do something for me. My beautiful cat Bellatrix has gone missing and I am trying to do everything I can think of to find her. She disappeared on Wednesday 11 August from our home in Cromer. I have searched the surrounding streets, calling her name, and done a letter box drop with a flyer with her photo asking for assistance. My brother in law has searched under the house and I have scoured surrounding bushes, surveyed the roof and called her name until I am blue in the face. If you happen to know anyone at all who lives in Cromer, I implore you to direct them to this photo of Bellatrix and ask them to look out for her. Her name, my mobile number and her Vet's details are on a tag on her collar and she is microchipped so any Vet who scans her could contact me. All help very much appreciated!!

This week's recipe comes from the July edition of delicious magazine. It is a Jamie Oliver recipe.

Jane

Warm winter salad of radicchio, wild rocket and feta

Serves six

What you need:

• 3 radicchio lettuces, outer leaves removed


• 3 slices good quality bread


• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced


• A large handful of pine nuts


• A large handful of raisins


• Olive oil


• 200ml balsamic vinegar (I'd recommend using half this quantity, and taste and adjust if you think it needs more)


• 75g wild rocket


• 200g feta cheese

What you do:

1. Cut radicchio into quarters.


2. Grill in a dry, very hot pan on top of the stove for 3-4 minutes until nicely charred on all sides. Remove to a large bowl.


3. Chargrill the slices of bread.


4. To make the dressing, fry the garlic, pine nuts and raisins in a little oil over a medium heat.


5. When the garlic starts to colour, take the pan off the heat and pour in the balsamic. Most of the liquid will evaporate when it hits the pan, so you end up with a sticky dressing. Leave to cool a little.


6. Roughly tear up the radicchio and bread, then place back in the bowl and toss with the dressing.


7. Divide the radicchio and bread among serving plates.


8. Top with rocket, any pine nuts and raisins left in the bowl and crumble over the feta before serving.

Double chocolate muffins

Hello everyone, this week I heard someone say that the Melbourne Cup is only a few weeks away. Well, that is probably stretching reality somewhat, but it did give my heart a lift and the thought that tomorrow heralds the beginning of the last month of winter for another year is a very good thing. I have tried so hard to not complain about the cold weather this year as I usually do (and have realised how many others do, I must have been drowning out their voices previously) but I will be so glad to welcome back longer, brighter, warmer days.

Having said that, I do love winter cooking and have just popped some fennel with a lovely crunchy topping into the oven to bake for my dinner. It is a recipe in the August edition of delicious and as I love fennel, I was very keen to try out both the baked fennel and a fennel soup from the same article. Another lovely thing to have baking on a cold winter morning, as I did last Sunday, is a batch of muffins for morning tea. Now I have baked my fair share of muffins over the years and I have to say, I think these are the best yet. They are so chocolately (as the name suggests) and very moist. Do make sure you use very good quality chocolate - I have been buying the chocolate buttons from Adora chocolate (in the plaza outside the Sofitel Wentworth in the city) and they are excellent. I'm sure you'll think these muffins are great too when you whip up a batch yourself!

Have a happy week! Love from Jane xxx

Double chocolate muffins

What you need:

• 150g dark chocolate, either buttons or chopped
• 125g unsalted butter, chopped
• 2 cups plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 150g white chocolate, either buttons or chopped

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.
3. Place the chocolate and the butter in a saucepan over a very low heat and stir until melted and combined. Set aside to cool slightly.
4. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl.
5. Add the sugar and stir to combine.
6. Whisk together the eggs and buttermilk.
7. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients.
8. Stir in the cooled chocolate and the white chocolate bits, and stir everything together just until combined. DON'T over mix - muffins need a very light hand.
9. Divide the mixture between the prepared cases and bake for 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the muffins shows they are cooked. You might want to leave them slightly under-done in the middle to get a nice fudgy texture.
10. Serve as is or drizzled with a little melted dark chocolate if you wish.

You can also serve these muffins as a pudding for dessert, by warming gently and serving with cream and/or ice-cream and chocolate sauce. In that case you might want to make six larger muffins.

Sicilian Potato Salad

Hello everyone, a chair that I had sent away to have re-upholstered has just been delivered back to me. The chair belonged to my great grandmother and was passed from her to my grandmother's sister, Aunty Sheelah. When Aunty Sheelah died some years ago the chair came to me. I've wanted to have it re-done for years, as it was in a rather old lady-ish pink, so I'm very excited to have it all done! I have gone for more of a neutral look, using a linen fabric in a colour that might be described as a slighter darker shade of oatmeal. The possibilities for cushions to dress it up are endless! I will look forward to sitting in my chair at some stage during the weekend and continuing to devour an anthology of short stories by one of my favourite authors in the world (who has sadly departed this world), Carol Shields.

Now as regular readers know, I love my potatoes, and am firmly of the view that you never can have too many potato salad recipes. This week's one is from my favourite food writer, Matthew Evans. I found the recipe years ago in his column in Good Weekend magazine. He says that the dish originates in Palermo. It's certainly delicious and best served warm or at room temperature.

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xx

Sicilian potato salad

Serves 4-6

What you need:

• 1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 kg potatoes, preferably waxy, washed and/or peeled and cut into cubes
• 1 large Spanish onion, peeled and chopped
• 60g capers, preferably salted, soaked for 15 minutes and rinsed
• 150g green olives, rinsed well
• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons caster sugar
• 1-2 teaspoons salt

What you do:

1. Heat enough oil in a frypan to fry the potatoes until nearly cooked through.
2. Add the onion and fry until it becomes translucent and the potatoes are fully cooked.
3. Add the capers and the olives.
4. Whisk the vinegar with the sugar and some salt and pour over the potatoes.
5. Simmer for a few seconds, then turn off the heat and allow the vinegar to soak into the potatoes.
6. Season to taste and serve in a pretty serving bowl.

Linguine with lemon, parsley and mint

Hello everyone, this week's recipe is one I cut from the newspaper some time ago. It's one of those really simple pasta dishes that you can whip up in a hurry (after you have prepared the lemon oil ahead of time). It's lovely and delicate with a good tang from the lemon and mint.

Have a lovely week! Love from Jane xx

Linguine with lemon, parsley and mint

Serves four

What you need:

• 1 lemon
• 150ml extra virgin olive oil
• 500g linguine
• 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped mint
• Freshly ground pepper
• Sea salt

What you do:

1. Finely grate the lemon rind and squeeze the juice of the lemon into a bowl.
2. Mix in half the olive oil with the rind and juice and leave for an hour so that the lemon flavour seeps into the oil.
3. Cook the pasta.
4. When the pasta is nearly ready, warm a serving bowl.
5. In that bowl, whisk together the lemon oil mix, the remaining oil, cheese, parsley and mint and 5 or 6 spoons of the pasta cooking water.
6. Drain the pasta and toss in the bowl with the sauce, adding pepper and a little salt if needed.
7. Serve immediately.

Jamie's burger

Hello everyone, this week's recipe is quite easily the best tasting burger I have ever encountered. That's a big call as I have made a lot of burgers in my time but there was just something about it that made it extraordinary. It comes from Jamie's America, a book I am absolutely loving (having never bought, read or used any of Jamie's other books I'm now thinking that might have to be the next serious addition to my cook book library).

Now I'm not going to give you the whole recipe from the book - it's well worth doing but really, once you have the basic burger you can put together your burger with any bread, salad and sauce you like. I'm sure you will love this mix.

Have a great week. Love from Jane xxx

Jamie's burger

Serves six (I found the quantity very generous)

What you need:

• Olive oil
• 2 medium red onions, peeled and chopped
• 4 slices of bread, crusts removed and blitzed in the food processor (if you already have breadcrumbs in the freezer, just use them)
• 500g good quality lean minced beef
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 heaped teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large egg
• A handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

What you do:

1. Add a splash of olive oil to a frying pan on a low heat and add the onions.
2. Fry, stirring now and again, for about ten minutes or until the onions are cooked, then put aside to cool.
3. Mix the onion with the rest of the burger ingredients.
4. Form the mix into patties, as small or as large as you like.
5. (If you have time to spare) Put the burgers into the fridge for about an hour to allow them to firm up. I didn't and they stayed together beautifully.
6. Preheat your oven to 200C, or fire up the BBQ.
7. Cook the burgers to your liking - I did 20 minutes in the oven.
8. Combine with your chosen bread, salad and sauce. Jamie gives a recipe for a spicy mayonnaise to go with these burgers which works really well but you could add whatever you like.

Not-for-the-faint-hearted hot chocolate

Hello everyone, with the freezing cold weather this week I have been drinking more than my fair share of hot chocolate. I have found a source of quite good chilli hot chocolate close to my office, and there really is no better way to defrost early in the morning! I am also enjoying the luscious hot chocolate from Mitra's Chocolates in Mosman. They do a chilli hot chocolate that really packs a punch, and their milk chocolate is very good too.

This week's recipe shows you how to make incredible hot chocolate at home, just perfect for cold winter nights. It is a recipe I cut out from Good Living a few years ago, created by Matthew Evans, and I think it is in his new book, The Real Food Companion.

(Greg, this one is for you!)

Have a happy week! Love from Jane xxx

Not-for-the-faint-hearted hot chocolate

Could serve either one or two - up to you!

What you need:

• 150ml milk
• 100ml cream
• 100g dark chocolate, broken into smallish bits (generally I prefer milk chocolate, but in this recipe dark is definitely preferable; milk is just too sweet)
• 1 tablespoon really good quality cocoa powder, sifted
• 1-2 tablespoons brandy, cognac or whisky

What you do:

1. Heat the milk and cream carefully in a small pan until warm.
2. Whisk in the chocolate and sifted cocoa.
3. Bring to just near the boil, remove from the stove and whisk in the alcohol.
4. Serve in front of a fire or the heater.

Red cabbage salad

Hello everyone, this week's recipe is something that I have copied from one of my favourite Italian restaurants. It's very simple and you can work out the quantities to suit your tastes.

Combine finely shredded red cabbage with raisins (which you may wish to plump up ahead of time in some verjuice), walnuts and chunks of gorgonzola dolce. Dress with your best extra virgin olive oil and balsamic. Toss together the ingredients, transfer to a deep bowl and serve with pizza, pasta, lamb, fish...whatever you are having for dinner.

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xx

Gnocchi with gorgonzola, spinach and walnuts

Hello everyone, I had such a piece of luck today. About six months ago I was out shopping with my friend Anne in Lane Cove and we spent some time in a small local art and craft gallery. A gorgeous brood of crackled pottery hens had just arrived and I was enormously tempted to buy them. I resisted at the time, although I really loved them, as there was something about the chickens that made me keep picking them up and stroking them. Today we went in there again and guess what, there were two chickens left, sitting on a shelf as if they were waiting for me! Of course I snapped them up straight away this time and they are now happily adorning my home.

This week's recipe is one of my favourite combinations of ingredients. It's a recipe from Good Living from a few years back, a good one for winter. It's definitely time for me to cook it again as I happen to have all of the necessary ingredients laid in, to be used in a couple of other dishes.

Have a lovely week! Love from Jane xx

Gnocchi with gorgonzola, spinach and walnuts

Serves four

What you need:

• 500g good quality gnocchi
• 100ml chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 100g gorgonzola, crumbled
• 75g baby spinach
• Freshly cracked black pepper
• 1/3 cup fresh walnuts, lightly toasted and chopped
• Freshly chopped flat leaf parsley, to serve (which is code for optional)

What you do:

1. Cook the gnocchi in a large saucepan of boiling water until tender. Drain well.
2. Place the chicken stock and butter in a large pan over a medium-high heat.
3. Stir the stock until the butter has melted, then simmer for 2-3 minutes or until reduced by half.
4. Add the gorgonzola and stir until the cheese has just melted.
5. Toss the gnocchi with the gorgonzola sauce and baby spinach, and season with pepper.
6. Serve sprinkled with the walnuts and parsley if using.

Apple crisp

Hello everyone, this week I launched into the Sydney Film Festival on Opening Night with a really, really beautiful film called South Solitary. It stars Miranda Otto and I highly recommend it when it has its general release. It was a great story, very funny at times, and the location, scenery, clothes and settings were gorgeous.

Thankfully it was such a great film as the opening night speeches were endless and boring. I really don't know why they had to be inflicted on those of us at the public event - they should have been confined to the opening night party afterwards. The Minister for the Arts and the Lord Mayor both gave blatantly political speeches, so I enjoyed the irony of the Minister who received a completely irrelevant and inappropriate special acknowledgement from the Minister for the Arts being sacked two days later!

Anyway, to calm me down, another fruit crumble, as this is just the right time of year for them. This one is a really simple one that comes from my beloved book Heart Of The Home.

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xx

Apple Crisp

Serves four to six

What you need:

• About 4 Granny Smith apples
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup oats
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 teapoon nutmeg
• 1/3 cup softened butter

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Butter a baking dish.
3. Peel and slice the apples.
4. Arrange the apple slices in the baking dish.
5. Mix together the remaining ingredients and sprinkle over the apples.
6. Bake for 30 minutes or until the apples are tender and the topping is golden brown.
7. Serve it hot or cold with thick cream and/or icecream.

Maple glazed roast potato and apple

Hello everyone, I've had a lovely week off work these last few days and seem to have spent a lot of time in the car driving all over Sydney running endless errands that have been piling up. One advantage is that on several occasions my trips took me close to specialty food shops that I have wanted to try but which aren't normally on my way anywhere. I was particularly fortunate to strike two specialty chocolate shops on one day. One was Adriano Zumbo's chocolate shop in Balmain, at which I had heard there was very good hot chocolate to be had. So I stopped there to sample it and it was really quite good. Not as good as Koko Black in Melbourne, but good enough to make me think about going back to try the various flavours of hot chocolate on offer. Then later that day I noticed a shop called "Christophe...Ses Chocolats", a chocolate maker, which is in a suburb called Russell Lea. On my way back I stopped in and bought a handful of chocolates and they were delicious! So nice and fresh and there were so many beautiful sounding flavours it was hard to choose! I think it will be a good thing to go back to work and remove myself from all these temptations.

This week's recipe is a great winter time dish and just luscious. The original recipe uses kumara, but being the potato lover that I am I substitute potato. You can use either or even both. It's from the Autumn/Winter edition of SOS and a very good dish to have in your cold weather repertoire.

Have a wonderful week. Love from Jane xxx

Maple glazed roast potato and apple

Serves six

What you need:

• 1.5kg potato and/or kumara, peeled and cut in chunks
• 2 large Granny Smith apples, cored and quartered
• 100g unsalted butter
• 180ml orange juice
• 125ml maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• Sea salt and cracked pepper

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 175C.
2. Place the potato and/or kumara and apple into an earthenware dish which will hold them snugly.
3. In a small saucepan over a medium heat, make a syrup with the butter, orange juice, maple syrup, ground cloves, salt and pepper.
4. Pour the syrup over the potato/kumara and apple.
5. Cover the dish with foil and roast in the centre of the oven for an hour, basting every 15 minutes.
6. Remove the foil and continue to cook for about a further 30 minutes, or until caramelised, basting as necessary.

Tagliatelle with onion sauce

Hello everyone, last night I was meeting some friends to see the wonderful Irish writer Colm Toibin as part of the Sydney Writers' Festival and we went for a bite to eat beforehand at the GPO Cheese and Wine Room in the city. It was great! It's a very atmospheric kind of place and the staff were warm and welcoming. The menu was wonderful - I really had trouble choosing. In the end my friend Ann-Maree and I shared a vegetarian dips plate and a plate with three cheeses matched to three half glasses of red wine. It was all so good. I really can't wait to go back there again and again! With some evening sessions at the upcoming Sydney Film Festival there should be more opportunities.

This week's recipe is a very simple and beautiful pasta dish. It comes from one of my favourite writers, Diane Seed, in her book The Top One Hundred Pasta Sauces. I hope you like it too!

Love from Jane xxx

Tagliatelle with onion sauce

Serves four

What you need:

• 500g tagliatelle
• 100g butter
• 500g onions, thinly sliced
• Chicken stock
• 200ml cream
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Grated nutmeg
• Parmesan cheese for serving

What you do:

1. Melt the butter and cook the thinly sliced onions in a covered pan over a low heat until they are soft. Do not let them brown.
2. Cover with chicken stock and simmer, with the lid on the pan, for another 25 minutes.
3. Start cooking the pasta following the packet directions.
4. Allow the onion mix to cool a little, then puree it.
5. Stir the cream into the onions, then add the salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.
6. Drain the pasta and stir through the onion sauce.
7. Serve the pasta and sauce with Parmesan cheese served separately.

Spaghetti with ocean trout and capers

Hello everyone, yesterday I went to one of the first events at this year's Sydney Writers' Festival http://www.swf.org.au/ which was a talk by the founders of the famous Bourke Street Bakery. It was held at the Surry Hills Library and the two speakers, Paul Allam and David McGuinness, shared some of the "secrets" of the bakery. It was fascinating, and a lovely addition was on that arrival they had a generous selection of their famous tarts set out on a big table, so that everyone could have one on the way in! It was a really good start for this year's Festival for me.

This week's recipe comes from Pete Evan's book Fish, from which I have had mixed results, but this one was a real winner, particularly as I had left work late that day, so was anticipating a late dinner, but despite the lengthy list of ingredients, found that it cooked up pretty quickly and was delicious.

Have a lovely week. Love from Jane xx

Spaghetti with ocean trout and capers

Serves four

(If you don't like capers by all means leave them out, I don't think their deletion will impact too markedly on the dish).

What you need:

• 500g spaghetti
• 1/2 cup light olive oil
• 4 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped banana chilli
• 6 anchovies, roughly torn
• 60g choppped green olives
• 2 tablespoons baby capers
• A large handful of chopped flat leaf parsley
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 400g ocean trout, skin and bones removed and cubed (it's really important that the skin is removed, I forgot this detail when I purchased my fish and consequently had some difficulty with the cubing)
• 3 handfuls of rocket
• 4 tablespoons salmon roe (optional)

What you do:

1. Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling water until al dente.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil, garlic and chilli in a large pan until the garlic starts to turn golden.
3. Add the anchovies, olives, capers and parsley.
4. Drain the pasta, add to the pan with the garlic mix and toss well.
5. Add the lemon juice and ocean trout and season with salt and pepper.
6. Stir through for 30 seconds. The idea is for the fish to be served rare, so you are just warming it slightly around the edges and then allowing it to cook a little more when served from the heat of the pasta.
7. Add the rocket and mix through until slightly wilted.
8. Transfer the spaghetti and fish to a serving bowl and garnish with salmon roe, if using, before serving.

Cashew ginger fingers

Hello everyone, last Sunday we celebrated Mum's seventieth birthday over lunch at Aqua Dining at North Sydney. I hadn't been near the pool for over twenty years and I have to say the addition of this glamorous restaurant is a master stroke (no pun intended). It was a gorgeous sunny day and our table looked out over the pool and the harbour. The service was flawless and the food heavenly. I had the Hiramasa Kingfish and it was one of the most beautifully cooked pieces of fish I have ever eaten. The restaurant also did a cake for us and it was luscious, all full of strawberries and mascarpone. All in all, an outstanding restaurant experience.

This week's recipe is a quick and easy slice from my Women's Weekly Biscuits and Slices book. I wouldn't say that this is one of their better books but from time to time I'll make something from it that is good, and this is one of those.

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xx

Cashew Ginger Fingers

What you need:

• 125g butter
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 cup self raising flour
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

Topping

• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 60g butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoons golden syrup
• 1 cup unsalted, roasted cashew nuts, chopped
• 1/4 cup finely chopped glace ginger

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Line a 20cm x 30cm lamington tin with baking paper.
3. Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Stir the sifted flour and ground ginger into the butter mix.
5. Spread this mix evenly over the base of the prepared tin.
6. Bake the mix in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool in the pan.
7. To make the topping, combine the icing sugar, butter and golden syrup in a saucepan over a medium heat and stir until the butter is melted.
8. Stir in the nuts and ginger.
9. Spread the hot topping evenly over the cold base.
10. Cool before slicing into fingers.

Bill's Creamy Semolina With Bay Leaf And Parmesan

Hello everyone, last night I was lucky enough to have dinner at Barrenjoey House at Palm Beach. I've been wanting to go there for a while and was really looking forward to it, although somewhat disappointed that Darren Simpson was such a recent departure from the head chef role. It turned out to be just the kind of place I like - large and airy, with a real "by the seaside" feel to it. The food was gorgeous. They had fish and chips on the menu and I just knew it was the sort of place that would do it well, which was the case, and then I followed up with chocolate souffle which was divine - all warm and melting chocolate. The only downside was that just before I left home to go there I realised that the shops wouldn't be open this morning, being ANZAC day, and I still had a few items to buy for the lunch I was serving today that I had planned to buy fresh! So at 11.00 last night I was wandering around a supermarket snatching up herbs and croissants.

Now today's recipe is another from the ever reliable Bill Granger. It dates from the time he used to do a breakfast segment on Angela Catterns' breakfast show on local radio (yep, 2005). I loved listening to that slot, and obviously the sound of this particular recipe appealed as I printed it from the ABC website and have made it a few times now. I really love semolina (very similar to polenta) and this is a good one for dinner on cooler nights.

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xx

Bill's Creamy Semolina With Bay And Parmesan

Serves about four

What you need:

• 1 litre of milk
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons of sea salt
• 170g semolina
• 60g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Freshly grated nutmeg, if you have it

What you do:

1. Place milk, bay leaves and salt in a large saucepan and bring to the boil over a moderate heat.
2. Reduce the heat and slowly add the semolina in a thin, steady stream, stirring constantly with a whisk to prevent lumps forming.
3. When all the semolina has been added, adjust the heat so the mixture bubbles, and stir constantly until the semolina pulls away from the side of the pan, which will take about 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Stir through the cheese and a sprinkle of nutmeg if you have it.
5. Remove the bay leaves and serve.

Salmon, cabbage and potato

Hello everyone, I had dinner during the week with my friend Jan who lives in Potts Point and therefore is never short of a new fabulous place to entice me. We went to the Sardine Room, and really just the name was enough to get me there, conjuring up images of a glamorous, 1940s style bar. It's actually a little restaurant in Challis Street in Potts Point, specialising, of course, in seafood. I was intrigued when the owner made a point of telling us that several of the dishes were cooked in stock NOT cream, which could be a selling point to some, but not me. Bring on the cream I thought to myself. In any case, we both plumped for a risotto which had fennel and something else, I've actually forgotten already but it was some sort of seafood, and really very nice. But as I was quite stressed that evening, the highlights for me were the lovely glass of red and the luscious slice of chocolate and hazelnut tort with frangelico mascarpone - I definitely needed that combination to make me feel more settled!

Now this week's recipe comes from Jill Dupleix's book Take Three. As she doesn't actually title the recipes in the book I have just named it according to the three chief ingredients, which may not sound that exciting, but it's a very nice dish. It has caraway seeds, which I always think impart a magic touch.

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xxx

Salmon, cabbage and potato

Serves four

What you need:

• 4 x 200g fillets of fresh salmon
• 1/2 medium white cabbage, cored and finely shredded
• 10 small potatoes (baby kipflers are around at the moment and very good)
• Sea salt
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 200ml white wine (or you can substitute verjuice)
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons caraway seeds

What you do:

1. Cook the potatoes, (either peeled or unpeeled, whatever you prefer) in simmering, salted water for about 15 minutes or until tender.
2. Cook the cabbage in simmering, salted water for about 10 minutes - you want it to remain fairly crunchy - then drain well.
3. Melt the butter in a large frying pan, add the wine and bring to the boil.
4. Add the drained cabbage and toss well.
5. Place the salmon fillets on top, cover tightly, and cook over a gentle heat for about 10 minutes until the cabbage is tender and the salmon is cooked but still pink and moist in the middle.
6. Gently remove the salmon fillets and keep warm.
7. Add the vinegar and half the caraway seeds to the cabbage and toss well for a minute.
8. Arrange a heap of cabbage on four serving plates and top each with a salmon fillet.
9. Drain the potatoes, cut in half and tuck them around the salmon.
10. Sprinkle with the remaining caraway seeds and serve.

Crunchy breakfast pear muffins

Hello everyone, well, Easter is upon us and I have been so good, resisting all egg and hot cross bun temptation so far. Unfortunately I think I have actually missed the hot cross bun thing for the year, but I'm sure there'll be some chocolate eggs or bunnies to enjoy between now and the end of the weekend. I am planning to call by Accoutrement in Mosman later today to pick up some treats as I have been ogling their gorgeous Easter display for a few weeks now.

This week's recipe is a quick and easy muffin which I whipped up yesterday afternoon, then sampled while losing myself in the DVD of The Time Traveller's Wife (definitely not up to the book standard). They are lovely and moist with the pear and easy to freeze, ready to be freshened up in the microwave. I found the recipe in Good Living some time ago. Regular readers will be surprised to learn that on finding some chocolate in my cupboard I threw that in too - chocolate works so well with pear and is a lovely surprise in a muffin!

Have a wonderful Easter.

Love from Jane xx

Crunchy breakfast pear muffins

Makes 6 large muffins

What you need:

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup wholemeal plain flour (you can use regular white if you don't have wholemeal to hand)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup plain low fat yoghurt
• 1/2 cup vegetable or light olive oil
• 1 cup peeled, diced pear
• 100-150g chocolate, optional
• 1/3 cup pecan nuts, finely chopped

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Using a 6 cup capacity muffin tin, either spray the holes with olive oil spray, or line with paper cases.
3. Sift together into a large bowl the flours, baking powder and cinnamon.
4. Add the oats and half a cup of the brown sugar and the chocolate if using, and stir to combine.
5. Whisk together the eggs, yoghurt and oil.
6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Muffin mixes do not like to be overmixed and will give you lumps of concrete if you stir too many times!
7. Gently fold through the pear.
8. Divide the batter between the muffin holes or paper cases.
9. Mix together the remaining brown sugar with the pecan nuts and sprinkle over the tops of the muffins.
10. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.