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.

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.

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.

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.

Cornflake coconut crunchies

Hello everyone, it has been a hectic week with my gorgeous friend Chris Andersen from Minneapolis in town. We have been catching up with lots of different friends in all sorts of fabulous places around Sydney. I loved cocktails and smart bar food at Rockpool Bar and Grill, http://www.rockpool.com.au/sydney/bar-and-grill/, dinner at Mission Restaurant and Bar http://www.missionbar.com.au/ and lunch at North Sydney Cellars Cafe http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/good-living/restaurant-reviews/north-sydney-cellars-cafe/2010/01/11/1263058240812.html. To say nothing of a hot chocolate at Bather's Cafe....And last night I had dinner at a great find in North Turramurra of all places, The Cook's Garden http://www.tablesonline.com.au/restaurant/NSW/Turramurra/The-Cook-s-Garden/index.html. It's in a house and really beautifully done up. The food was luscious and there's a shop at the front where you can buy chocolates and handbags! It really doesn't get any better!

So to calm me down, this week's recipe is a very easy biscuit mix, which I made recently for a crowd. You can whip up the mix in five minutes and then have the biscuits in and out of the oven in no time at all. They are deliciously moist with all the coconut they contain. Do use a good brand coconut, not some cheap and nasty generic product. The recipe comes from my Women's Weekly Biscuits And Slices book.

Have a happy week! Love from Jane xx

Cornflake coconut crunchies

Makes about 40, depending on how you size them.

What you need:

• 2 cups cornflakes, which you can either lightly crush or leave whole
• 2 cups self raising flour
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 250g butter, melted

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 190C.
2. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
3. Combine the corn flakes, sifted flour, both coconuts and brown sugar in a large bowl.
4. Stir in the eggs and butter.
5. Place spoonsful of the mixture onto the baking trays, leaving some space in between.
6. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until lightly browned.
7. Remove from the oven and after a couple of minutes transfer the biscuits to wire racks to cool.

Roman summer skewers

Hello everyone, I just had my regular visit from our local Jehovah's Witnesses. I know that many people don't like having these people turn up on their doorstep, bible in hand, but I must say I don't mind it at all and in fact really enjoy the couple of minutes they spend with me. I'd much rather the JWs than those annoying sales representatives flogging pay TV! (Who always reel in shock when I admit that actually I rarely turn on the set...) Anyway, in the eleven years that I have been living here I have been visited by various representatives of the JWs and they are always very lovely, gentle people who aren't afraid of talking about their faith. Usually they give me a couple of their magazines and read me a line or two from the bible and we have a bit of general chit-chat. Currently it is a teenager called Imogen who calls by with her Mum and today her little sister Ruby as well. They are such nice people and I feel blessed to have a minute with them.

But you are here for my recipe, not my musings on who arrives at the doorstep! This week's recipe is another great party one that I have tried out. I found it in Good Living in a feature from a book that had been published recently called Party: The Complete Guide To Food And Drinks. This one is soooooo simple but very effective. Try it next time you are asked to bring a dish to a party and you'll see what I mean!

Have a lovely week. Jane xx

Roman Summer Skewers

Makes 20

What you need:

• 20 cherry bocconcini
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon pesto (Even better if you make it yourself; check my recipe in November 2008)
• 40 small fresh basil leaves
• 20 cherry tomatoes
• 20 pitted black olives
• 20 cocktail sticks (supermarket)

What you do:

1. Drain the bocconcini and place in a bowl with the olive oil and pesto.
2. Stir until coated, cover and leave to marinate for 15-20 minutes.
3. Thread the bocconcini, a tomato, two basil leaves and an olive on to each stick.
4. Arrange on a platter and serve.

That's it!

Oat and chocolate slice

Hello everyone, I'd love to say that my failure to post any recipes for the last couple of weeks was because I was out watching endless sessions of Julie and Julia, but it was actually because my computer was away being fixed. Again. Hopefully for the last time. At the same time my washing machine died. Happily I now have a new washing machine, but I think it's very sneaky that while there is a lot of talk about how good front loaders are for the environment, NO-ONE mentions that they take smaller loads and each cycle takes nearly two hours!! That's a well kept secret. I guess one advantage on a warm day is that as I take out each load the last lot is dry and ready to come in again!

This week's recipe is a very easy slice that I found in my Panasonic cookbook that came with my microwave when I bought it about 15 years ago. I have adapted it from the original muesli recipe as I always have buckets of oats in the pantry, and I finish it in the oven as I don't really believe you can substitute the microwave for the baking step. You can add different things that you have to hand to the slice as well, such as nuts and as I have done, chocolate chips.

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xx

Oat and chocolate slice

What you need:

• 125g butter
• 1 cup brown sugar (you could halve this quantity if it frightens you)
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 2 cups oatmeal (or natural muesli if you have it)
• 1 cup coconut
• 1/2 cup sultanas
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

What you do:

1. Combine the butter, sugar and honey in a microwave proof dish and cook on high for a minute, stir, then cook for another minute on high.
2. Add the oats/muesli, coconut, sultanas and chocolate chips and mix well.
3. Press firmly into a baking tray.
4. Bake at 200C for about 10 minutes, or until golden.
5. Allow to cool then slice into squares.

Flourless peach cake

Hello everyone, this was one of those weeks when once again I was reflecting on sandwiches and puzzling yet again over why it's so hard to get good ones. This was prompted by the fact that for three days in a row I happened to have lunch provided in an office in the city (different ones each day) and the sandwiches varied in quality (and none were to die for). I guess the fact that they are done in bulk doesn't help, plus they are probably made some time in advance of being served so inevitably start to sag. I'm also intrigued at some of the combinations of fillings you see. Not all of which I find appealing! Happily today I can go and have the perfect sandwich made up freshly for me at my favourite cafe, accompanied by a beautiful cup of hot chocolate. Thank goodness there are some places that know how to get the basics right!

Today's recipe is for a wonderful cake that I baked recently and brought into the office to share. It is so moist you won't believe it and it went down really, really well, in fact I'd say it's the most popular one so far - the boys in particular really went for it. It's yet another from my favourite Epicure Chocolate book. It doesn't have an icing so I just served it with some thick cream.

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xx

Flourless peach cake

What you need:

• 225g ground almonds
• 225g brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons really good quality Dutched cocoa
• 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
• 1/2 cup milk soured with the juice of one lemon
• 2 eggs
• One handful of chopped dried peach

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 175C.
2. Grease and line a 20cm round baking tin with baking paper.
3. Mix the dry ingredients together.
4. Add the milk and eggs to the dry ingredients and mix well to combine.
5. Stir in the chopped peach.
   
6. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 45 minutes.
7. Cool in the tin and turn out very, very carefully, then use a second cake rack to flip over so it's the right way around. Because this cake is so moist it's liable to break very easily so be as gentle and careful as you can!

Date, gorgonzola and prosciutto tart

Hello everyone, I am very disappointed with myself because I just realised that only four days into Lent I have already failed! I have given up chocolate (and alcohol) for Lent but as I write this am sitting here eating a slice of (very delicious) chocolate cake!

You see, I drive past a shop called Kiss Me Cake every day and have been intrigued by it and desperate to get in there (although knowing once I do, if they are any good it won't be the last). Being the keen chocolate cake baker that I am it's important that I keep up my research on other people's baking, so I decided to pop in there today and see if anything appealed. Well of course, everything did, their cakes look and sound amazing. So I bought a slice of a milk chocolate and caramel cake and it really is delicious. Tastes home made. I will have to extend Lent by one day now to make up for this slip!

Today's recipe is another one of those things that has all my favourite ingredients in it, although I'm not overly fond of dates so I'm pretty sparing with them in this. It is very easy to put together and a bit unusual, so great for sharing with friends. It's from the 2006 delicious calendar.

Have a lovely week. Love from Jane xx

Date, gorgonzola and prosciutto tart
Serves four

What you need:

• 1 frozen puff pastry sheet, thawed
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 4-5 thin slices of prosciutto
• 2/3 cup pitted dates, roughly chopped
• 100g gorgonzola, crumbled
• 1 cup picked watercress leaves
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Place pastry on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
3. Fold in the edges of the pastry to form a 1cm border, then prick the base with a fork and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.
4. While the pastry is chilling, lay the slices of prosciutto on another baking tray and crisp in the oven for 5 minutes.
5. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg and bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.
6. Cover the pastry with another baking tray to flatten and bake for a further 5 minutes.
7. Lay the crisped prosciutto over the tart and scatter with dates and cheese.
8. Return to the oven for 3 minutes or until the cheese starts to melt.
9. To serve, scatter the tart with the watercress leaves and drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice, and slice.

Prawn cocktail

Hello everyone, isn't it great that we are finally getting some good hot summer days? I went down to the beach one night during the week for a walk around 8.00 pm and the place was packed - I had to wait ten minutes for a park! This kind of weather puts me in mind of prawn cocktails. When I was little we used to have family holidays with friends at their house at Lake Macquarie, and Patsy, the hostess, initiated me into the delights of the prawn cocktail. We would buy fresh prawns at the co-op during the afternoon, then go back to the house and peel a big mountain of them. I returned to this dish during the week as it's such a quick and easy one for mid week dinners. I experimented with the quantities for the sauce and think I have it just right, but of course, you should adjust the quantities to your taste.

Have a fabulous week, love from Jane xx

Prawn cocktail
Quantity for one - multiply as needed

What you need:

• Whatever type of lettuce leaves you like, watercress would be nice
• 10 king prawns, peeled
• 2 teaspoons mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon tomato sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• Lemon or lime quarter

What you do:

1. Shred the lettuce and arrange in your serving bowl/glass.
2. Arrange the prawns on the lettuce.
3. Mix together the remaining ingredients and drizzle over the prawns.
4. Serve with a wedge of lemon or lime.

Jam cake

Hello everyone, I was inspired to make this cake because I had a big jar of jam sitting in the pantry and I knew it would take some very dedicated toast eating to get through it otherwise. I made this cake when I got home quite late one night. It's so easy as you just throw everything into the food processor and then whack it into the oven. I tried out the cake on the boys in the office the next day (always willing to be my guinea pigs!) and they loved it. It doesn't have an icing, but I'm sure served with a big dollop of thick cream it would only be enhanced. The recipe comes from a very handy book called "3 Ways With Stale Bread" by Ross Dobson. It's a really handy book, I do recommend it.

Have a fabulous week. Love from Jane xx

Jam cake

Serves 10 very generously

What you need:

• 185g softened butter
• 185g brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 250g sour cream or creme fraiche
• 2 cups self raising flour
• 1 cup any jam you like

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180.
2. Butter or oil spray a bundt tin (they are the ones that have fluted sides and a kind of column in the middle so you get a doughnut shaped cake).
3. Place the butter and brown sugar in the food processor and blend till smooth.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, and blend for a few seconds between each addition.
5. Add the sour cream or creme fraiche and the flour to the food processor and blend until you have a thick batter.
6. Transfer the batter to a big bowl (it makes a big quantity) and stir through the jam.
7. Spoon the batter into the cake tin and bake for about 40 minutes. Do watch it - all the sugar in the batter makes it cook quickly so keep an eye on it from 30 minutes onwards.
8. Serve warm or at room temperature with cream, icecream, custard or all three.

Nat's Best Ever Brownies

Hello everyone, I went to Sculpture By The Sea yesterday and as usual it was fantastic. Splendid even, particularly as it was a gorgeous sunny day and there was a whale frolicking just off the coast. Unlike other years, there wasn't one sculpture that I thought particularly outstanding and which will stay with me for years, but lots of really good pieces, particularly ones that sculpted single pieces of silver or glass.

On the way over there, with no relevance to the conversation at the time, my niece piped up "Jane, we really like chocolate brownies" which reminded me of this recipe I have made countless times now and for which people always ask. It is so easy as you throw everything into a mixing bowl (not all at the same time) and just keep mixing. As a result, you get a great, smooth texture. This is yet another recipe from my Epicure Chocolate book, and the recipe was contributed by someone called Natalie who is herself a baker.

Enjoy. Love from Jane xxx

Nat’s Best Ever Brownies

What you need:
· 4 large eggs
· 360g castor sugar
· 320g salted butter
· 130g chocolate
· 120g plain flour
· 80g Dutch cocoa
· 160g cream cheese, chilled
· 180g raw walnuts or pecans, chopped roughly (about halves)
· Optional flavours: 2 tablespoons strong espresso or grated zest of one orange

What you do:
1. Preheat oven to 160°.
2. Line an 18cm x 28cm lamington tin with baking paper.
3. Using a hand held electric beater, beat the eggs and sugar for two minutes on a low speed.
4. While it is mixing, melt the butter and pour over the chocolate and stir to melt.
5. If you are using the coffee or orange, add to the chocolate butter mix at this point.
6. Scrape the chocolate butter mix into the egg mix and continue to beat on a low speed for two minutes.
7. Sift together the flour and cocoa.
8. Add the flour mix to the mixer bowl and mix for two minutes. At this point the batter should begin to look matte and creamy – if it is still dark and glossy, mix it for longer.
9. Drop marble sized pieces of the cream cheese into the mix and continue to mix. Beating in all of the cream cheese makes a rich, gooey brownie; gently folding in larger pieces gives a slightly different texture but it will still be moist.
10. Stir in the nuts.
11. Pour the mixture into the lamington tin.
12. Bake for about 30 minutes or until fine cracks begin to appear on the surface and the edges are starting to puff a little.

Tomato soup with tortellini

Hello everyone, as I said I would in last week's blog, I did lots of lovely cooking over the long weekend. I made a chocolate mousse on request for my niece for her birthday cake, and also tried out a recipe I mentioned some time ago for a pear and chocolate crumble. I thought the crumble was average, so will play around with the recipe to see if I can make it more to my liking.

I was given some beautiful finger limes before the weekend, so made a few winter salads using the lime juice in the dressing and they were beautiful! Such a great flavour. Good to know I have a lime supplier sitting just four desks away from me at work.

I also made this beautiful tomato soup, which features in the May edition of delicious magazine. My favourite section in the magazine is a feature called Tuesday Night Cooking. It always has really quick and easy yummy recipes in it. I actually had quite low expectations of this soup as it's so simple, there is nothing to it. I was happy to find that the flavour was stunning and I enjoyed it all through the week for lunch as well.

Have a fantastic week, love from Jane xx

Tomato soup with tortellini

Serves four

What you need:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 6 sundried tomatoes, drained and chopped
• 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
• 300ml vegetable stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon caster sugar
• 400g cheese and spinach tortellini

What you do:

1. Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat.
2. Cook garlic for 30 seconds until fragrant.
3. Add all of the tomatoes, stock and bay leaf.
4. Bring to a boil, then simmer over a medium-low heat for 15 minutes until thickened.
5. Cool slightly then blend until smooth.
6. When ready to serve, cook the tortellini in boiling water until cooked. Drain and place in bowls.
7. Heat the soup through and season with sugar, salt and pepper.
8. Ladle soup over tortellini and serve.

As an alternative to the tortellini, when you heat up the soup you can have some coucous sitting in the serving bowls. When you pour over the hot soup it will quickly cook the couscous and your soup will thicken up.

Chocolate bread and butter pudding

Hello everyone, isn't it nice to have that little bit of autumnal crispness in the air, while still enjoying lovely warm sunny days? You know that Easter must be around the corner when the weather is like this and I have the perfect dessert for you to cook for Easter feasts - an indulgent and totally delicious chocolate bread and butter pudding. Speaking of chocolate, I think there is a conspiracy among health professionals to break the spirit of chocolate addicts like me. Last year I mentioned to my GP that I thought my chocolate consumption was just slightly out of control and she threatened me with all sorts of behaviour modification techniques. Fortunately a friend gave me a tip that craving chocolate can be a sign of a magnesium deficiency. So I have been popping magnesium capsules this year and I must say it has made a huge difference. However, yesterday I was discussing this treatment in a health food shop and the nutritionist to whom I was speaking told me very firmly that "Of course, willpower has a big part to play in overcoming your chocolate habit." These people obviously just don't get it.

So,whatever health professionals think about the delights or evils of chocolate, this dish is a Bill Granger recipe from an April 2003 delicious magazine. I have cooked this pudding many times and it always disappears rapidly. It is super easy to make - you can prepare it in five minutes and then bake it while enjoying the main meal. I've heard that any leftovers of this pudding make a great breakfast the next morning. Not that I can speak from personal experience on that one.

My photos of this dish aren't great (clearly my skills only lie in limited areas), but you will get the idea.

Have a happy week! Love from Jane xx

Chocolate bread and butter pudding

Serves 8

What you need:
· 3 eggs
· 375ml/1 ½ cups thin cream
· 375ml/1 ½ cups milk
· 110g/ ½ cup caster sugar
· 2 tsp vanilla extract
· 6 butter croissants
· 200g chocolate, roughly chopped (Lindt milk chocolate is very good)

What you do:
1. Preheat the oven to 160C.
2. Place eggs, cream, milk, sugar and vanilla in a bowl and whisk to combine.
3. Cut the croissants into small pieces and arrange half the pieces in an ovenproof baking dish.
4. Scatter the croissants with chocolate and top with the remaining croissants.
5. Pour the custard over the croissants and set aside for 15 minutes to soak, pressing down occasionally so that croissants soak.
6. Bake in an oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until the custard is set and the top is puffed and golden.

Serve with cream and/or icecream if you want to be super indulgent.

Yellow prawn tortillas

Hello everyone, did you notice how relieved everyone was to reach Friday this week? We had a shorter week because of the Australia Day holiday, but everyone was still very worn out by the end of the week. It must be the shock of life resuming its normal pace, with everyone back at school and work and other activities starting up again.

Yesterday I took my nieces to see the Diana exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum, which was excellent, but more importantly, on our way we had lunch at a great little Malaysian restaurant right near the Museum called Kopitiam. The girls loved the roti bread which soaked up the sauce from the chicken curry. Best of all we had leftovers to take home with us, although I had to hand our foodbag in with my umbrella when we reached the Museum entry. Fortunately all our goodies were still intact when we collected them on the way out!

This week's recipe is really delicious and another great one for children, or for adults if you are entertaining, as the diners can put the dish together themselves after you have prepared the prawns. It was featured in the Summer Living section of the SMH during January, and I have just modified it slightly. I found mini and jumbo sized tortillas at the supermarket when I was shopping for these, so depending on the size of those for whom you are cooking you can provide the size of the food to match!

Yellow prawn tortillas

Serves four

What you need:

• 1 packet soft corn tortillas
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable/sunflower oil (sounds a ridiculous amount, I know, but when I first made this in a small amount it seemed right proportionately so use your judgement)
• 1 onion, sliced
• 120g (or to taste) fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons ground coriander
• 3 tablespoons turmeric
• 1 1/2 tablespoons (or to taste) chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup tap water
• 24 green medium tiger prawns, peeled
• Put out on the table small bowls containing chopped tomato, finely diced shallots, chopped chillies, chopped mint, brown sugar, salt and quarters of limes

What you do:

1. Heat one cup of oil in a pan on the stove over a medium heat and cook the onion until it is translucent. Cool slightly.
2. Place the cooked onion and its cooking oil into a blender with the ginger, garlic, spices, salt, 1/2 cup water and pulse until smooth. I did this in my bamix which is now bright yellow from the turmeric!
3. Combine the mix with the remaining water and cook over a low heat for five minutes or until thickened. Allow to cool.
4. Add the peeled prawns to the mix, toss to combine and refrigerate for two hours.
5. Heat the remaining 1/2 cup of oil in a frying pan over a medium heat.
6. Add the prawns and marinade and cook until the prawns turn bright orange.
7. Serve the prawns with the tortillas and your diners can mix and match the ingredients you have placed in bowls before wrapping up the tortillas and eating.

Polenta pizza

I've always loved cooking and spend a lot of time poring over cook books and magazines, planning my next meal.

It's amazed me over the years how many people don't like cooking, or can't find the time, or think it's difficult, or are just uninspired. I have worked with numerous people (generally parents of young children) who go into a panic every afternoon at around about 3.00 pm, wondering aloud "What am I going to cook for dinner tonight?" So I started sharing recipes from dishes that I had cooked that I thought my cooking challenged friends might find useful.

Then people started urging me to do something more with my recipe advice. I didn't want to write a book because I don't actually create the recipes I cook - I use the inspiration that is already there. So in 2007 I started an email recipe service, sending a recipe a week to a small group of friends. The recipe was always something I had tried out during the previous week, and loved, or a dish I had made many times because I had marked it as a winner. Gradually my subscription list grew as more people heard about it and all of a sudden one of my subscribers had created this blog for me! So now anyone can access the recipes that I love and hopefully be inspired to cook luscious meals for themselves, their families and friends.

Thank you to Gabrielle for so generously creating this blog for me, and to all my early subscribers who have been so encouraging and given me feedback about the recipes I have shared. When I first came up with the idea I only thought it would be of interest to about five people, so I have been amazed at how it has taken off!

This week's recipe is great for summer, it's easy and allows your imagination to run wild! It's a pizza made with a polenta base and you can top it with whatever ingredients you like. If you haven't cooked polenta before now is the time to become familiar with it - it's one of my favourite comfort foods. I think this recipe comes from a 2006 edition of delicious magazine - another feature of the cooking world with which you should become familiar if you aren't already. I use the recipes from delicious all the time as they are outstanding.

Enjoy this week's recipe, and have a look around the blog. Not all of the recipes and emails I have sent previously are posted yet, so hopefully I'll get around to adding them during the year.

Polenta Pizza

Serves four

What you need:

• 1 cup instant polenta
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 crushed garlic clove
• Tin of chopped tomatoes
• Pizza toppings of your choice (best to keep it simple - let a few good ingredients shine)

What you do:

1. Bring the milk and water to the boil in a saucepan.
2. Add the polenta in a steady stream and stir until it thickens and is coming away from the sides of the pan (if you don't have the energy to go on you can just add whatever grated cheese you have to hand at this point and eat it as is. Be careful because cooked polenta is always so hot!)
3. Lightly grease a 25cm x 30cm baking tray and line with baking paper, extending the paper over the two long sides by 2cm.
4. Pour the polenta onto the tray and cool it until it's set, or cover and refrigerate until you are ready to continue.
5. Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat and cook the garlic, stirring, for one minute.
6. Add the tomatoes and cook uncovered over a lower heat for 25 minutes until thick.
7. Preheat the oven to 180C. If you are using your pizza base straight out of the fridge bake it for ten minutes before adding your toppings. Spread the tomatoes over the polenta base, add your chosen toppings and bake for about 25 minutes, until any cheese you use is melted and the base is crisp.
8. Cut the polenta pizza into squares to serve. Next time you can use entirely different toppings!

Blue cheese quesadilla

Hello everyone, happy new year! I hope your celebrations were fun and safe and included lots of delicious food. This week’s recipe is perfect for lazy summer evenings when you don’t want anything heavy. I know that some people don’t like blue cheese, so you could substitute any other cheese, but really, some of the creamy blue cheeses that you can buy at supermarkets are lovely and it works really well in these sort of toasted sandwiches.

If you are still on holidays, have a lovely week and if you are back at work, console yourself by planning some nice dinners so you know what you have to look forward to at the end of a long day.

Love from Jane x

Blue cheese quesadilla

Serves four

What you need:
· 750g English spinach leaves
· Sea salt and pepper
· 400g fresh mozzarella balls
· 200g creamy blue cheese
· 8 flour tortillas

What you do:
1. Wash the spinach leaves well and shake dry.
2. Heat a dry, non stick pan and add the spinach. Cook quickly, wilting the spinach as the water evaporates.
3. When the spinach is wilted, squeeze it dry, finely chop it and toss with salt and pepper. Keep the pan on the stove on a medium heat.
4. Slice the mozzarella balls finely and roughly chop the blue cheese.
5. Arrange slices of mozzarella over one tortilla, scatter with chunks of blue cheese and strew with spinach. Top with the second tortilla, pressing down lightly.
6. Cook the tortilla sandwiches in the heated fry pan (you don’t need any oil), over a medium heat for about two minutes until lightly browned underneath. Turn the sandwich to cook on the other side.Slide the tortilla sandwich onto a plate and cut into quarters and eat quickly. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.