Mushroom Tart

I mostly post about my favourite meal of the week: Saturday morning breakfast. Last Saturday though, I had to make it something quick and easy as we had to leave home before 9am to run some errands. So there was no rolling around and stretching till 10 and having breakfast at 11!

Looking in the fridge I spotted a packet of mushrooms. So I decided to continue my theme of smothering my healthy fruit and veg with carbs/fat/sugar; this time in the form of ready-made frozen puff pastry.

MUSHROOM TART

Take out 2 sheets of ready-made frozen puff pastry. Stack onto a lined baking tray.

Preheat oven to 180 celcius (fan-forced)

When the pastry seems somewhat softer, press the edges together to seal.

Score a 2cm border around the edge then prick the centre with a fork.

Brush with beaten egg, bake for 10 minutes.

In a saucepan heat up a knob of butter with a drizzle of olive oil.

Fry up 1 clove chopped garlic and 1-2 eschallots until fragrant.

Throw in the packet of sliced mushrooms.

(What I wish I did at this point was splash in a bit of soy sauce or balsamic vinegar to flavour the 'shrooms.)

Spoon the cooked mushrooms (avoiding the liquid) onto the precooked pastry.

Using hands, crumble feta cheese over top.

Put back in the oven for another 15 minutes.

Garnish with baby spinach.

Blueberry Cake

I am guilty... I rarely eat the fruit and vegetables essential to a healthy diet. When I do, I tend to choose produce based purely on visual appeal when I'm at the supermarket. For fruit, that usually means berries. In this instance I picked up a punnet of blueberries that looked so attractive to me.

So what to do with a punnet of berries? Well I am bad. I can't just eat them as is, or in a fruit salad, or with yogurt. That's not my style. It needs to be smothered in carbohydrates, fat and sugar.

I'd done pancakes already here, and I had run out of patty cases to make blueberry muffins. It made me think, why not a cake? I tried to make it somewhat healthy by using olive oil instead of butter... but to be honest I think I would have preferred the butter :)

BLUEBERRY CAKE

Preheat oven to 160 Celcius. Lightly grease your springform cake tin.

Into KitchenAid bowl add 1 cup light olive oil, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 3 eggs and 3/4 cup sugar. 

Whisk to combine.

With the mixer running, alternately add 2 cups self-raising flour with 3/4 cup milk.

When smooth, pour into cake tin.

Scatter 1 punnet of blueberries onto surface of batter.

Bake for about 1 hour (until skewer comes out clean).

To serve, dust with icing sugar and dollop with whipped cream or cr­­ème fraîche

Strawberry Shortcake

I made this dish purely because it was a beautiful sunny afternoon and at about 3-4PM the light was perfect - which meant perfect light for food photography! I have a huge struggle with getting perfect light when it's not natural - all the lights in my house are yellow which end up making my food look disgusting!

Anyhow, I didn't want to miss the opportunity so I made something quick with ingredients I had.

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius.

Hull and quarter 2 punnets of washed strawberries.
Sprinkle with caster sugar to coat, leave at room temperature.

In a bowl combine 2 cups of self-raising flour, a pinch of salt, 4 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp baking powder.

Mixing with a spoon, gradually add 300ml cream and mix until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until a ball is formed.

Rest for 15 minutes.

Roll out dough 2cm thick and cut out 8x8cm squares. (I managed about 6 squares)

Place squares onto a lined baking tray, brush with water and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes, cool on a rack.

Whip 300ml cream with a few tbsp of sugar until soft peaks form.

ASSEMBLY:

In a dessert dish place one shortcake and place strawberries on top.

Place a dollop of cream on top.

Place another shortcake over top and top with strawberries.

Place another dollop of cream on top.

Crêpes with Chocolate Sauce

I've mentioned before how much I love Saturday breakfast. This particular morning I started on breakfast at 9:30AM - at this time on a weekday I'm working! I wish everyday was Saturday!

CREPES

Into a bowl combine 1/2 cup plain flour and 3 tbsp caster sugar.
Mix in 100g melted butter, then beat in 2 eggs, one at a time.
Gradually add a mixture of 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup water.
Cook on non-stick pan over medium heat - ensure batter is spread thinly.

CHOCOLATE SAUCE
Break up about 100g milk chocolate into a bowl.
In a saucepan heat up 1 cup thickened cream.
Whilst whisking, slowly pour hot cream onto chocolate.
Stir until chocolate is melted.

Good Friends, Good Food

We were in for a treat this past weekend. One of my good friends wanted to catch up so she suggested her and her husband come over and COOK for us! I simply had to show them where things were then sit down! Teddy was also happy with the visitors!

Tom making delicious lamb chops

Anna making crème brûlée

This is everybody's cue to leave

Coffee Cake

Winter has definitely settled in and is here to stay a while. This calls for dressing gowns, thick socks, long and hot showers and cuddles! It's not a season for going out on the town so we had our friends over for home-made pizzas. I baked bread for us to munch on with olive oil and balsamic vinegar while the pizzas baked.

We have coffee beans from Campos on automatic order every month or two. However I cannot keep up with consuming our supply, as I never get time to sit down to a cuppa these dark, cold mornings before work (sleep in the warm bed is currently taking priority). So I decided to make a coffee based dessert using ingredients I have in the pantry. My hubby requested coffee cheesecake but I had no cream cheese. So instead I presented the dinner table with a simple coffee cake drizzled in Baileys-spiked coffee syrup.

COFFEE CAKE

Into a jug mix 1/2 cup sour cream and 1/3 cup fresh coffee (I used my espresso machine)

Into KitchenAid bowl beat 180g soft unsalted butter and 1 cup brown sugar.

Beat in 3 eggs, one at a time.

With the mixer running, add half of the sour cream mix.

Add 1 cup self-raising flour.

Add the remaining half of the sour cream mix.

Add 1 more cup self-raising flour.

Pour batter into a greased fluted ring pan and bake for approximately 50 minutes at 160 degrees.

(Check with a skewer at about 45 minutes)

COFFEE SYRUP

In a saucepan mix 1 cup fresh coffee, 1 cup white sugar and 2 tbsp liqueur such as Kahlua

(I used Baileys Irish Cream)

Stir on medium heat until syrup thickens.

Pour all over the cooled cake. Enjoy.

Blanket

Just a quick post to showcase my latest crochet creation. I spent the past 3 weeks or so on a granny blanket with a rainbow of pastel colours!

The pattern is simple. Start with a 4-chain ring, then make a series of 3 double-crochet and one-chain combinations and around and around and around and around and around you go! At each corner of the "square" chain two instead of one, in order to make the 90 degree turn.

Teddy has decided it's his blanket

Cornflake Cookies

The humble box of cornflakes is possibly one of the most common items found in pantries all around the Western world. Such a simple creation; these little golden petals can be used so many ways to provide that perfectly light crunch.

My hubby was feeling a little under the weather today so I decided to cheer him up by baking some cookies. He loves cornflakes so I made a batch of cornflake cookies. Cornflake cookies are normally made with raisins but I'm not the hugest fan of raisins in cookies and Paul dislikes raisins altogether. So I put chocolate chips in instead!

CHOC-CHIP CORNFLAKE COOKIES

Mix together 125g soft unsalted butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar until fluffy

Add 1tsp vanilla extract and 2 eggs one at a time

Fold in 1 cup dark chocolate chips and 1 3/4 cups self-raising flour

Using a spoon, form balls of batter, then roll in a bowl of 1 1/2 cups crushed cornflakes

Place 3-4cm apart on a lined baking tray. Bake at 175 degrees celcius for about 20 minutes.

Prior to baking

Fresh, hot and golden brown

And crunchy :)

Strawberry Conserve

I love Saturday morning breakfast. It's the only day of the week where I can sleep in, lazily shuffle to the kitchen and take as much time as I want eating breakfast. Even breakfast at 11:00! Earlier in the week I had been wondering how to use a punnet of strawberries for the coming Saturday's breakfast. I figured it out - strawberry conserve on freshly baked baguettes! This recipe however requires preparation the day before.

STRAWBERRY CONSERVE

Place 1 punnet of strawberries and 1 cup of caster sugar in a bowl

(I cut the tops off then sliced each in half)

Refrigerate overnight

The next day place the strawberry sugar into a small saucepan with

1 vanilla pod (seeds scraped out and pod thrown in) and the juice of half a lemon

Stir to dissolve sugar then place on medium heat

Bring to a slow boil for about 25 minutes, stirring constantly

It is ready when thickened

Place into a sterilised jar and refrigerate when cooled

Danish salami & brie to munch with my bread

Coconut & Oatmeal Cookies

It was one of those cold nights after dinner that I was craving something sweet, something bite-sized to wash down with a hot cup of tea. After much deliberation over the contents of the pantry I threw together a batter for cookies. The flavours are similar to that of traditional ANZAC cookies.

COCONUT & OATMEAL COOKIES

Into my KitchenAid Bowl I combined 1 block of chopped unsalted butter and one cup of brown sugar.

After mixing these I added 1 egg and a tsp of vanilla extract.

I then added 1/2 a cup each of rolled oats and desiccated coconut.

Lastly I gradually added between 1-1 1/2 cups of self raising flour

(until "cookie dough" consistency is reached)

Using a spoon I dropped balls of dough onto a tray lined with baking paper.

Cookies are baked for 15-20 minutes at 180 celcius until golden brown.

Paris

I miss this beautiful city so much and am really sad that I could not visit for longer than 3 days (in early 2012). I don't know when we'll ever meet again but I hope we will xx

L'Arc de Triomphe

My very first glimpse of this magnificent structure at Trocadéro

Hôtel National des Invalides

Pont Alexandre III - Never have I seen a more spectacular bridge

Too impatient to stand in line to go up the Eiffel Tower so went to Tour Montparnasse instead - for a
bird's eye view of Paris WITH the Eiffel tower in it!

I was absolutely freezing but the wait to watch the sunset was well worth it

Carousels don't have anywhere near the same charm here in Sydney as in Paris

The magnificent fountain at Place de la Concorde

I love all the street food in Paris - crêpes, hot dogs on baguettes and washed down with "vin chaude" (hot wine)

Jardin des Tuileries - I guess I could appreciate this place more if it had been a warmer day and not the
frosty 4 degrees celcius it was this January day!

Monday-to-Friday Scarf

No recipe to post this weekend sadly! I was up at 5:30AM yesterday because I had a dental conference called "The Wonderful World of Dentistry" on in Darling Harbour which lasted all day. Dr Dan Fischer from USA was the key speaker and was absolutely inspirational! After it concluded at about 5PM I quickly rushed to purchase a birthday present for my brother Allan then hopped on a train out to my parents' neighbourhood for Allan's birthday dinner. I was exhausted and hit the sack as soon as I got home.

I will post however, a picture of my most recently completed creation - I call it my "Monday-to-Friday" scarf! Called so because I started it on a Monday and finished it on the Friday :)

2 skeins of 12-ply wool (pink and blue) used, crocheted with 5mm needle

Happy Long Weekend

This Queen's Birthday long weekend I have spent doing nothing in particular! I don't know whether it's age or work, but these days I long to stay home - no point working to pay for a home you don't even stay in right? :)

I kicked off the long weekend with a scrumptious breakfast of blueberry pancakes served with strawberries and cream! I added lots of vanilla extract because I love vanilla! It's worth spending the few extra dollars for extract rather than essence - you really taste the difference!

BLUEBERRY PANCAKES

In a large bowl (I used the KitchenAid) combine 2 cups self-raising flour, 1/3 cup caster sugar and 1/4 tsp bicarb

In a jug whisk 1.5 cups milk, 1 egg and 2 tsp vanilla extract

Turn the mixer on low speed whilst slowly pouring in the liquid mixture

Mix until combined

Gently fold in 1.5 cups of frozen or fresh blueberries, and 1 more tsp of vanilla extract for good measure

Heat large frying pan over medium heat

You can brush the pan with melted butter but my laziness prefers the clean convenience of cooking spray!

Cook batter by the 1/4 cupful, flip when bubbles form on the surface

Adjust the heat according to if your pancakes are pale or burning!

For the cream I whipped about a cup of thickened cream with a few tbsp of icing sugar and a dash of vanilla extract

I whip to stiff peaks because I find it easier for dipping fruit than the soft peak consistency