This is a cake for all seasons. After all, it includes chocolate and we all love chocolate anytime, right? And the other main ingredients of roasted hazelnuts and creamy ricotta only add to the delight ….
ASPARAGUS AND PEA RISOTTO WITH STUFFED ZUCCHINI FLOWERS
It might seem strange but we’ve only posted one other recipe for risotto on our blog. There are so many out there we’ve wondered if the world really needs another … until now. Our Asparagus and Pea Risotto with Stuffed Zucchini Flowers is a celebration of the spring vegetables that are abundant (and cheap) in our markets right now …
SANTIAGO CAKE
GADO-GADO. VEGETABLES WITH PEANUT SAUCE
LEMON POSSET
Light and silky, this Lemon Posset is so easy to make that it’s almost like some sleight of hand is at work. Here’s how it works: boil cream and sugar, add lemon juice, pour into some attractive glasses or small bowls and place in the refrigerator for a few hours. Done. Now that’s my definition of magic ….
TANDOORI-SPICED GRILLED CHICKEN
This recipe for Tandoori-Spiced Grilled Chicken was given to me years ago by friends who knew I liked to cook. It came in a tiny book, and when I say tiny… I mean miniscule. It was about 50mm square. The book itself has disappeared (that’s how small it was) but a version of this quick, easy recipe lives on. The trick is to make the spice paste in advance. Double the batch and you’ll have a good supply to keep in the fridge at the ready ….
LEMON CURD
We’re yet to meet anyone who doesn’t like Lemon Curd – and what’s not to like about the buttery richness and the sweet ’n’ sour kick it delivers? Even children seem to like the tangy sourness. Most people have a recipe handed down from a Grandmother or favourite cook. There are many methods and slightly varying ingredients so we’re now adding our recipe into the mix ….
POT AU FEU
We’re calling this a Pot Au Feu but, really, it’s a simple riff on the French classic, in which beef and beef bones full of marrow are poached, along with vegetables, in stock. We have retained the vegetables and delicious home-made stock but have replaced the beef with tasty gluten-free pork sausages and tender duck breasts and have thrown some sake into the stock for good measure …
SCHOOL PRAWN AND BELUGA LENTIL SALAD
These beautiful little Beluga lentils are my new best friends, particularly when they’re part of this School Prawn and Beluga Lentil Salad. Named for their apparent resemblance to caviar (hmm, really?) Beluga lentils have all the advantages of other lentils, in that they’re packed with protein, iron, potassium, polyphenols, folate and fibre, and they’re also low in kilojoules. That’s not bad for a start ….
LATTICED APPLE TART
GLUTEN-FREE PARMESAN CIGARS
What is it? A stick? A baton? A long biscuit? Yes, it’s all of those things but we describe it as a cigar shaped, parmesan-flavoured, tasty snack. Eaten without adornment or wrapped in mortadella or dipped in tapenade, our Gluten-free Parmesan Cigars are lovely bites to serve with drinks or as part of an antipasti selection. There’s something very satisfying about nibbling one from end to end! ….
GLUTEN-FREE MISO-GLAZED EGGPLANT
There’s a casual little Japanese eatery not far from us that we used to drop into quite often, where we’d invariably order, along with other favourites, the Nasu Dengaku, miso-glazed eggplant. This is a Japanese classic, a very common dish in Japan. Fortunately for me, the version our local makes is Gluten-free Miso-glazed Eggplant, which is really delicious – so delicious I decided I had to try to replicate it at home ….
GLUTEN-FREE GINGERNUT BISCUITS
This has to be the easiest biscuit you could ever hope to make – even if it did take half a dozen batches to get the recipe just right. (You can never have too many to try!) But while whipping up a batch is simplicity itself, that isn’t the main attraction. The drawcard is the ginger – so if you don’t love ginger stop reading now ….
SPICY LAMB AND VEGETABLE PIE
SPICY LAMB AND VEGETABLE PIES
During our peak social isolation earlier in the year, we were having a drink with friends via Zoom and lamenting the lack of sharing meals together. I enthusiastically and a little rashly offered to make dinner for, and it deliver to, our friends so we could share it via Zoom.
I had a lamb shoulder in the freezer and, wanting to keep out of shops and Coronavirus’s way, I decided to use only what was in the house. Then Spicy Lamb and Vegetable Pies popped into mind.
I basically sliced and diced bits and pieces of anything and everything I had in the vegetable crisper, added some delicious Sri Lankan curry powder I had roasted and ground a few weeks before, placed the lamb shoulder on top and whacked it in the oven for three or four hours.
I did have some cream cheese in the fridge (I sound very well stocked) and so I used our Revenge Gluten-free Cream Cheese Pastry recipe. It’s a deliciously rich pastry and made the perfect tops for the pies.
But pies aren’t the only vehicle for using our lamb filling. Try shredding the lamb instead of cubing it and you’ll have a delicious sauce for gluten-free pasta. Or serve it over runny polenta for a warming and hearty winter dish. Top it with creamy mashed potato for a good old Shepherd’s Pie and any left overs could be mixed with some lovely homemade stock to make a quick and nutritious soup.
Happy cooking and sharing!
Rosie
SPICY LAMB AND VEGETABLE PIES
Serves 8
Start this dish the day before to allow for refrigeration.
Pastry
1.5 quantities Revenge Gluten-free Cream Cheese Pastry
Place the pastry in the fridge until ready to roll out. It will keep in the fridge for a few days if you prefer to make it ahead.
Filling
1 brown onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 leek, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 carrots, cut into 2.5cm chunks
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 large zucchini, finely chopped
2 long red chillies, one seeded, both finely chopped
¼ bunch cavolo nero, spines removed, finely chopped
5 very ripe tomatoes, chopped
3 teaspoons Sri Lankan meat curry powder (see below) (or any good quality curry powder)
1.5 kg lamb shoulder (bone in)
Salt to taste
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper or to taste
1 cup frozen peas
1 egg, whisked
Preheat oven to 130°C. Have at the ready a baking dish, preferably with a tightly fitting cover, deep enough to accommodate the vegetables and the lamb shoulder.
Combine the vegetables, tomatoes and curry powder (reserving the peas) over the base of the baking dish. Place the lamb shoulder on top.
Place a piece of baking paper directly on top of the meat then cover either with a tightly fitting lid or foil and bake for 3-4 hours or until the meat is falling off the bone, turning the lamb shoulder once during the cooking period.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool a little.
Remove the lamb shoulder to a plate. Strain the vegetables, without pressing down on them, reserving both the vegetables and the juices separately. Place the juices in the fridge to allow the fat to rise to the top and solidify.
Remove the lamb meat from the bone and cut into 2 cm chunks, discarding any very fatty or sinewy bits.
Combine with the vegetables, add the peas, season to taste and refrigerate until very cold.
To Assemble
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Remove and discard the solidified layer of fat which will have formed on top of the reserved, refrigerated juices. Place the juices in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer until reduced by half. Allow to cool. Combine the juices with the lamb and vegetable mix. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
Fill 8 x 350ml capacity, individual, oven-proof pie dishes with the lamb mixture.
In between two pieces of baking paper roll out the pastry to ½ cm thick, sprinkling the pastry with gluten-free flour if necessary. Cut out 8 shapes 1cm larger that the tops of the pie dishes. Return to the fridge from time to time if the pastry becomes too soft to work with. Any left over pastry can be frozen for a future use.
Using a small biscuit cutter, cut an air hole from the centre of each pastry shape. Brush the underneath side of each pastry shape with the whisked egg and place on top of the pie dishes, pressing down lightly around the rim. Squeeze the overhanging pastry in between your thumb and index finger to create a seal and an attractive edge.
Brush with beaten egg and bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the filling is hot.
Serve immediately with accompaniments of your choice.
PETER KURUVITA’S SRI LANKAN MEAT CURRY POWDER
2 dried red chillies
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1.5 teaspoons fenugreek seeds
1 clove
1 cm piece cinnamon stick
1.5 cm piece pandanus leaf (optional)
1.5 cm piece lemongrass, bruised with the back of a knife
1 sprig fresh curry leaves
¼ teaspoon black mustard seeds
Pinch turmeric
Place all ingredients except the turmeric in a heavy-based frying pan and dry roast over a low heat for 7-10 minutes or until fragrant. Remove from the heat, stir in the turmeric and cool.
Using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, grind the spices until a fine powder forms. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place, for up to 1 year.
ROASTED CAULIFLOWER, BLUE CHEESE SAUCE, PINE NUTS AND SAGE
Once upon a time home cooks across Australia did little to the humble cauliflower other than boiling the florets or occasionally smothering them in gluggy mornay sauce. Understandably, the cauliflower went out of culinary fashion for a while. But recent years have seen a resurgence in popularity as we have learned how to make them tastier and more interesting (due in no small part to the seductive recipes of Yotam Ottolenghi and his love of the blond brassica) ….
CANDIED QUINCE AND RICOTTA CAKE
MY DONBURI
A Donburi (meaning ‘bowl’ in Japanese) is a big bowl containing rice topped traditionally with fish, chicken or meat and vegetables simmered in stock. It makes for a hearty meal. In my version I do stick to the big bowl containing rice part of the tradition, and I do top it with fish, chicken or meat and vegetables, I just don’t simmer them in stock, preferring to grill ….
CREME CARAMEL WITH ORANGE
ROASTED BARRAMUNDI WITH RED VEGETABLES
A classic roast has always been a great way to feed a lot of people, but why not try Roasted Barramundi instead the usual lamb or beef. We had our regular gang of ten for a birthday dinner recently and the idea, rather than sweating over a hot stove, was to let the oven do the work. (Okay, confession time, minimal last-minute fuss was the real agenda.) ….
