Have a jar or two of Candied Quinces in your larder, some whipped cream or ice cream and you’ll have a delicious dessert on the table in an instant. Or use them, as we’ve done, in our Quince and Almond Cream Cake, or our Candied Quince and Ricotta Cake. Try replacing the rhubarb with Candied Quinces in our Rhubarb, Orange and Almond Tart ….
I make a lovely honey mousse – yes, I know I shouldn’t be saying it myself – but it has a really luscious but melting texture..
n the lead-up to a wedding in the family, (catering for a completely gluten-free reception for 40 people, but more of that later) my husband came home with some shopping, beaming, because he’d managed to score 14 punnets of beautiful strawberries for $7.50...
I’m very lucky to live near the Sydney fish markets. I try to time my shopping to avoid the weekend rush and the madness of the carpark, but in the middle of Chinese New Year...
I’d been at a conference all day. He’d been at home, in the studio. We met in the city and wandered down to the newish Barangaroo precinct on Sydney Harbour. We decided to try a few different restaurants on the strip so he chose the Spanish Bórn, where for our first course we had delicious little morsels and sampled for the first time a gluten-free beer and a chardonnay from Spain ....
Chocolate Almond Rochers are lovely sweet, crunchy treats which, if the chocolate is tempered (melted) correctly, will stay in perfect condition for several weeks. The almonds are very simply candied in the oven and then tossed in dark, milk or white chocolate, or all three. They key to success is in the tempering of the chocolate ....
Traditionally hoisin sauce is made with fermented wheat and soy beans. It is flavoured with five spice powder and is robust, sweet and garlicky. While gluten-free versions are available, we prefer to make our own and use black bean sauce as the base for our hoisin sauce. Once you have your gluten-free black bean sauce, home made or purchased, then making our Hoisin is a ten minute exercise ....
I was inspired to convert to gluten-free some of Kylie Kwong's recipes from her cook book 'Simple Chinese Cooking' but as most coeliacs and gluten-intolerants will know it’s often not so easy. Many common Asian ingredients such as soy sauce and even rice wine can contain gluten and while gluten-free versions of a lot of these ingredients do exist, often they’re not readily available resulting in a trip to a specialty shop at the expense of spontaneity ....
Semi freddo (the Italian for half cold) is considered a half frozen dessert and is made from egg yolks, cream, sugar and any flavouring you fancy. It is a good alternative to home made ice cream, if you don’t have an ice cream machine, as you don’t have to churn the semi freddo mixture. You can freeze it in individual moulds or in one piece as we’ve done here to serve as a birthday cake ....
Anzac Biscuits started out in life as a staple in soldiers’ rations – a very (very) hard, nutritious but unpalatable alternative to bread. In Gallipoli, they became known as Anzac Tiles, and creative ways were found to get them down. They were grated and turned into porridge, or soaked in water with jam, and baked over a fire to make ‘jam tarts.’ (Sounds like seriously wishful thinking.) ....
I recently bought some king prawns because they looked so very fresh, with bright colour and long perky antennae. I took them home and looked in the fridge and pantry for something to go with them. I found tinned tomatoes and some feta. A memory of a tasty Greek meal from years ago flooded in and I had my dish. Baked prawns, tomatoes and feta. Not trendily innovative but a true classic and a delicious combination of seafood and cheese ....
Finding an excellent gluten-free Hot Crossed Bun can be almost as daunting as the thought of producing a batch at home so this Easter we’re baking Hot Crossed Muffins instead. They make a very easy alternative with all the spicy flavour and dried fruit plumpness of a traditional Hot Crossed Bun, without all the fuss ....
The most common melon in Spain is the Sapo de Piel, literally ‘toad skin’ melon, but it’s often called Christmas melon too because it keeps so well. It’s deliciously sweet when ripe, which is when the skin turns bright yellow between the characteristic dark green markings. It’s fairly freely available these days here too, although it’s most often simply called Spanish melon ....
Ever since seeing the movie ‘Amadeus’ many years ago, I have lusted after the large and rather provocative looking chocolates which were offerred to Mozart’s wife by the composer, Salieri. My memory is that he tells her in a rather seductive way that these delicious looking morsels are called Nipples of Venus and that she promptly wraps her plump lips around one of these generously proportioned items, wide eyed and giggly ....
Jan’s daughter-in-law, Zoe, came up with these fabulous Walnut Crispbreads. They are quite rich and make a delicious base for all sorts of canapés. We’ve topped one with goats’ cheese and tobiko (flying fish roe) and the other with gravalax, pickled cucumber and dill and mustard sauce but the toppings will only be limited by imagination and what’s on hand in the fridge ....
