A Mexican Feast! Ole!

I have a new friend!

The lovely Sarah has just moved here from New York, and I invited her, and her gorgeous black pug to lunch. I decided to do Mexican, mostly because I hear from my American friends it is what they miss most, a good Mexican place.

The only thing was, I loath re-fried beans, and I didn't want to do tacos, or fajitas, etc etc.

So a quick check on a few different American cooking sites and I'd found some fabulous recipes to try out. On the whole, it wasn't too bad at all (I think). I learnt a couple of things along the way, and will be improved for next time! but it really was a yummy and health meal. I will definitley be making these again!

The Menu

Spiced Shredded Pork

Mexican Corn Cakes

Avocado Salad

Rocket & Pepita Salad

Spiced Shredded Pork

This is really easy, and you could make it ahead of time: it would be delicious cold. A note, if you aren't going to do the avocado salad, then put a slice of avocado on top of the corn cake, then top with the pork.  

500g pork fillet

500ml chicken stock

2 small onions, finely diced (about 1/2 cup)

1/2 fresh jalapeno, finely chopped

(I couldn't find a fresh one, so bought a jar & used that. Jalapeno really does have a distinctive flavour, so I'd try and use even preserved jalapenos, rather than use 'asian' chillies)

1 bunch coriander (enough for 2.5 loosely packed cups)

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons bitter

2 ripe tomatoes, sliced

1/2 cup sour cream

1) Combine the pork, stock, half the onions, the jalapeno, coriander, cumin, bay leaf & 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a saucepan & bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 10-15 mins, stirring
occasionally. If you have a thermometer, you want the pork to reach 60'C (140'F).

2) Remove pork, and shred using 2 forks. I overcooked mine, which is why it is diced in the picture above! My bad - too much white wine & chatting!

3) Combine the shredded pork w/ the remaining onion, butter & 1 tablespoon of olive oil and season well. Place under the griller until golder brown (4-7 minutes). Actually, the recipe said to 'broil'. I think this means grill, but since I wasn't sure, I grilled it for a while, and when not much happened, I just threw it all in a frying pan over strong heat. If you know what broiling is, please tell me!

4) Serve atop the corn cakes w/ the sour cream & tomato. 

Avocado Salad

This was, for me, the highlight of the meal! It is so easy, and it was delicious. Don't be put off by the picture above & all that raw onion. When they are combined with the lime juice etc below, the end result is quite mild, and really delicious!

1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons, plus 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 3 limes)

2 teaspoons sugar

1 jalapeno chilli, chopped (per the pork recipe, I had to buy a jar of japaleno's)

1 cup lightly packed coriander leaves

1/2 cup olive oil

4 avocado's, thinly sliced

salt & pepper

1) In a small bowl, combine the onion w/ 2 tablespoons of the lime juice, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, tossing to combine. Let the lime-marinade onion mixture soak at room temperature for at least one hour (or for a day, covered in the fridge). The onion will soften, and brighten (like your favourite fabric softener!).

2) Make the dressing: combine the 1/4 cup lime juice,jalapeno, coriander & remaining 1.5 teaspoons of sugar, seasoning with salt to taste. Blend until smooth (I like to use my bamix thing for this). With the motor running, add the oil in a steady stream until incorporated.

3) just before serving, slice the avocados & arrange on a serving plate. Top with onion, drizzle with the dressing & serve.

Mexcian Corn Cakes

These are so yummy! They are easy to make, and would go so well with a variety of toppings. They would also be quite nice cold, taken to a picnic.

The recipe (which is from Martha Stewart) calls for 'Cotija', which "is a crumbly, aged white cheese". I am a resourceful woman, but I am confident that there is no where in Australia where I could find this! I used haloumi instead, because it seemed a better choice than feta (it isn't as strong, or as salty etc). You could probably use some goats cheese too. I will try that next time.

FYI - As I've said before, this is like 'Maize' flower here, and you can buy it in health food shops. What is sold as 'cornflower' in the supermarkets is a thickening agent, and will give you an awful result!

One last thing: The mixture I had left after I'd made about half was quite dry, so I added more water, actually more than I intended to, so the mixture was quite 'wet'. I found this gave a much better end result than the dry ones! The warm water quantities listed below are per the original recipe (another Martha Stewart!), but add more water if you want. By 'wet' I mean that they were kind of sticky, almost sticking to the palm of my hand when I rolled them, but not quite.

1.5 cups corn flour

1/2 cup plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup grated haloumi (or just slice very thin)

2 cups coarsely chopped fresh or frozen corn kernels (about 2 ears)

3/4 - 1 cup warm water

4 - 6 tablespoon vegetable oil, for frying

1) Whisk together the flowers, baking powder & salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the haloumi & the corn kernels. Add the water, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring after each addition until the mixture holds together.

2) Heat 1/4 cup of the oil in a frying pan over medium heat until hot, but not smoking. Scoop a heap of the mixture, and use your hands to shape a patty. I could have made mine a little flatter I think.

3) Fry the patties in batches, turning once, until golden brown, or around 3 - 4 minutes each side. Transfer to a plate lined w/ a paper towel to drain. Add more oil to the pan, if necessary, for the next batch. You can cover them w/ foil to keep warm whilst the remainder cook.

Rocket and Pepita Salad

1/3 cups pepitas
2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 bag of rocket
salt & pepper to season

1) preheat oven to 180'c. Spread the pepitas on a baking sheet and toast until golden brown, 10-15 mins. You can do this a day ahead & store in an air-tight container.

2) In a large bowl, combine the vinegar & cumin, whisk in the oil. Season w/ salt & pepper. (This dressing can be stored in the fridge, covered, for up to 2 days). Add the rocket, tossing to combine, then scatter over the pepitas.

Snickers Cupcakes

Today is RSPCA Cupcake day in Australia.

My dog is a pound dog, so this is a cause close to my heart. With alot of effort by the gorgeous Anne, we were able to raise somewhere in the vicinity of $1500. It costs $1 / day to feed a pound dog, so every bit really does count.

I volunteered to make some cupcakes, and these beauties were hands down the most popular!

It is actually a really simple premise, and only marginally fiddly. Make a chocolate cupcake. Ice it with peanut butter icing, add a slice of snickers, and drizzle over some chocolate. Yum!

This recipe says it will yield 18 cupcakes. This is not quite true, but it definitely gives more than 12. I know the mixture is quite runny, so when you fill the patty cases, you may be tempted to pour quite a bit into each case. Don't - these rise quite a bit. A few of mine ran over and fused together (though this is nothing that a serrated knife can't take care of!).

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups plain flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 caster cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk (or milk + a dash of lemon)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, 
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line a muffin tins with patty cases. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Try & use a mixing bowl that has a pouring lip.

Mix in eggs, water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla until smooth, about 3 minutes. Pour the batter into the cases & bake, until tops spring back when lightly touched, about 20 minutes. You may need to rotate the pans halfway through - just see how they are all cooking, and spin the trays if necessary. Let cool in tins before removing to wire racks.

Peanut Butter Buttercream

1 cup peanut butter (I like to use crunchy)
100g butter, softened
3/4 cup icing sugar (sifted)

Cream peanut butter & butter in a mixer w/ the paddle attachment, on high speed. Reduce the speed to low and add the icing sugar, stirring on low until combined. Once incorporated, increase to high and beat until fluffy & smooth, around 3 minutes. Use immediately.

Melt 100g of chocolate in the microwave in 30 second bursts. It should only take 2. Stir very well in between each burst. Even if there are chunks after the 2nd burst, don't go for a 3rd time. Just stir w/ a teaspoon and the heat of the melted chocolate will melt any remaining bits.

Cut a snickers bar into quarters (length ways, and then in half again). Put a snickers quarter onto the iced cupcake. Use a teaspoon to drizzle chocolate over the snickers & the cupcake. Allow to set.

Choc Almond Meringues

Hello Everyone!

As some of my regular readers know, ever since Thanksgiving I have been endeavouring to make my way through the enormous number of eggwhites I accumulated as a by-product of making all that ice-cream.

I found this recipe on one of my favourite newspaper websites, The Guardian. 

It really is incredibly easy, though if you did have an electric whisk/beaters of some sort that would definitely make life easier - manually beating eggwhites to stiff peaks is a hard task!

The end result is fantastic - I took some to my new neighbours, and they made me pretty popular!

200g dark chocolate
The whites from 4 medium eggs
(this is 120ml in case you have them stored)

175g caster sugar
50g honey
100g icing sugar, sifted
Flaked almonds
 
 
 

 
 
 
Cover a baking tray with foil or nonstick baking paper, and heat the oven to 140C (120C fan-assisted)/ 285F/gas mark 1. Melt the chocolate and set to one side. In a large bowl, and using an electric whisk, beat the egg whites until stiff, then add the caster sugar a third at a time, whisking on high speed until smooth, glossy and very thick, so the meringue mix holds its shape.

Beat in the honey until just combined, then gently fold in the icing sugar. Gently fold in the chocolate – stop folding before it's fully amalgamated: you want it a little streaky. Place small spoonfuls on the prepared tray – the meringues will go flat if too big – scatter with almonds and bake for about two hours.

Home Made Pasta!

OK, so this may seem extreme, even by my standards, but seriously: pasta has 2 ingredients: flour & eggs. It takes about 3 minutes to make, then 30 mins to rest, then 10 mins to roll.

And you don't necessarily need the flash machine (though thank you brother! He bought me the ice-cream maker too . . . he is a good birthday appliance purchaser!). You can just use a rolling pin, or even a wine bottle dusted w/ flour!

This very basic recipe is by Jamie Oliver, who I've noted previously I used to be a little indifferent about, but I am now a mild convert: his stuff just works!

I also have a fresh pasta recipe in a wonderful River Cafe cookbook, but it is more fussy, so I think I'll work up to that one. I looked at their ice-cream recipe book once, and it had said to use 18 eggs! 18!!!

I prefer to keep things simpler, hence Mr Oliver prevails.

For this you will need 600g of '00' flour. The flour is very important - do not use regular plain, and certainly not self raising. The results will be unappetising at best, disastrous at worse. Thankfully many deli's & grocers now sell "Tipo 00" flour. Mine was purchased from Fratelli Fresh for only $3.50.

Sift the 600g of flour into a large bowl, and make a well in the centre. In a separate bowl, lightly whisk 6 eggs together (ideally organic - when a recipe is as simple as this, you need the freshest, best ingredients possible).

Pour the whisked eggs into the 'well' in the centre of the flour, and using the tips of your fingers, incorporate the flour, a little at a time, until it is all combined. Once combined, turn out on to a lightly floured surface to knead it. You need to knead the dough to release the gluten within the flour so that you will have lovely & spring 'al dente' pasta, and not a soggy mess. Pasta is the opposite to pastry - you DO want the gluten to activate when you make pasta.

So roll up your sleeves & get kneading! There is no trick to kneading: smooch the dough over the counter with your hands, pull it apart, roll back together, then throw it down onto the counter top, then pull it all back together again. Then repeat. And repeat. Roll it out, weave it back together again. Any which way you fancy, all you need to do is just keep working the dough until it starts to feel silky & smooth, instead of rough. This took me about 5 minutes, but I had had a G&T & was chatting, so it almost certainly can be done in less time!

Wrap your now smooth dough in clingwrap & pop it into the fridge for 30 minutes.

Clear your countertop. You want the largest, uninterrupted counter space possible. If you don't have a pasta maker, don't fear! Cut off a small-ish amount from the dough (something the size of your palm), and place it on the flour-dusted (tipo 00) countertop. Use a rolling pin (or wine bottle) and start rolling it out. Turn the dough itself every few rolls so it doesn't stick the the countertop. When you have the dough to the desired consistency, cut it into the shape you want, dust it with flower, and then hang it.  A clean coathanger is fine, but make sure the strands are separate;  don't do it like I did in this picture. It will all clump together, and you'll be standing over a pot of boiling water frantically trying to detangle it before dropping it into the pot!

If using a pasta maker, dust it with the 00 flour, cut a lump of pasta, the size of your palm, and flatten it with your hands. Set the pasta machine to the widest setting, and roll the dough through. Take the machine up a setting, and pass the dough through again. Fold the pasta in half (either by length, or width, whatever you think best), click the machine back to the widest setting, and roll it through again. Repeat this process another 5 times. It may seem like alot of work, but it only takes a few seconds, and the end result is a very silky pasta!

Now I stopped here, though Mr Oliver recommends continuing on until you have worked the pasta through each setting. My pasta was going with a very thick sauce, so I was happy keeping it thicker. Plus I was tired & wanted to get eating!

Heat a large saucepan of water until boiling, salt it well, then cook the pasta until al dente, around 5 minutes.

I served this with a sauce made of left overs and it was really lovely.             Saute 1 onion & a few cloves of garlic in a pan over low heat, until soft, but try not to give them too much colour. I then added the 1 rasher of smoked bacon I had in the fridge (diced). I then added the left over roast pork (diced). Next I threw in around 15 - 20 baby tomatoes (halved). Mix to incorporate, turn the heat to very low, pop the lid on. After half an hour I added half a bottle of passata. Put the lid back on, and let it cook down for an hour or so, stirring occasionally. Add some red wine if you fancy, and then 10 minutes before serving, throw in some rosemary.

Bread & Butter Pudding . . . . The Sticky Date version!

As I have posted many, many times, I hate waste. The amount of food that gets thrown out by many homes is ridiculous. I'm not fantastic either, but i do try and use everything that I can (make stocks from roasts, or meringues with the eggwhites not needed for making ice-cream etc).

Its winter which makes it prime sticky date making time! I made one last weekend, but as it was just for one friend & I, there was quite a bit left over, which was clingwrapped & placed in the fridge. 

I am not a fan of regular bread & butter pudding, which is no doubt a hangover from school days, where it was insipid white bread soaked in batter & served as a steaming congealed mess. My Mum made a brilliant version though with some croissants that were a day or so old. 

Bread & butter pudding is traditionally made with sultanas. I didn't have any, but I did have some dates. You are meant to soak them in brandy, but I didn't have any, so I used the port instead.

So I thought . . .  . . what would a sticky date / bread & butter pudding be like? The answer: Freaking Awesome! This is one of the best puddings I have made this year!

85g dates, chopped

2 tbsp port, warmed

5 eggs

300ml pouring cream

300ml milk

40g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

8 x 1.5cm thick slices of white bread

(or old sticky pud, or croissants, or brioche)

Preheat the oven to 180'c. Soak dates in the port. 

Combine eggs, cream, milk, sugar, vanilla & cinnamon in a jug & whisk to combine. Butter an oven-proof dish, and lay the slices of whatever you are using in the dish, scatter over the dates & the port, then pour over the batter, and let stand for as long as you can (an hour is great) so that the slices absorb some of the batter. 

Scatter some sugar over the top, and then bake for 30-40 mins until golden. Serve with vanilla ice-cream or thick cream.