The Monday Issue: Recipes

Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Matcha Made in Heaven: A Thrift & Thread Collaboration

WORDS Lucinda Burtt | PHOTOGRAPHY Vanessa Low

A sponge sandwiched with strawberries and cream is one of afternoon’s delights.

If you can’t beat a classic, add a twist. Matcha is poison green but fine in flavour

and the powder pairs perfectly with vanilla.

- PREPARE -

You’ll need a square sponge, a quantity of creme patisserie, whipped chantilly cream,

a fistful of fresh strawberries and matcha powder. Follow your favourite vanilla sponge

cake recipe adding two heaped teaspoons of matcha with the castor sugar. Likewise

matcha-up the creme patisserie, adding two heaped teaspoons with the flour. Chantilly

your cream by adding a few drops of vanilla essence with a tablespoon of icing sugar

during whipping.

- ASSEMBLY -

Cut your sponge square into two even rectangles and then split lengthwise. Sandwich

with alternating layers of whipped cream and creme patisserie. Any remaining creme

patisserie can be smothered over the top and sides of the cake. Slice washed strawb-

erries and layer over the top of the cake. Finish with a dusting of matcha.

- SERVE -

Serve as a single slice or arrange into artful cubes with a bowl of steaming matcha on

the side.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Food Experiments: POPSICLES!

It is a well known fact that IKEA-browsing merits the same sense of addiction that would be associated with the likes of ASOS-browsing, or peanut-butter-from-the-jar-licking. The products of these activities promising an increased value and enjoyability of life ("it's not just a pen, it's a principle"). From a new couch, to a metre of fabric, to a new whisk - these products all hold the promise that my life would be undeniably more fulfilling if such item were a part of it. Of course though, in most times the reality is not as grand or romantic as was originally hoped. However, not in this instance - that of the CHOSIGT! IKEA's ice pop maker! Really it's just freezing fancy ice, but it's been utterly addictive fun!

Here are some ideas I've tried thus far:

APPLE & STRAWBERRIES

1. Pour in apple juice

2. Slice strawberries and evenly distribute between molds

3. Freeze!

DARK CHOCOLATE, MIXED BERRIES & YOGHURT

1. Grate a block of dark chocolate into each of the molds (this will make the chocolate tip)

2. In a separate container/bowl mix some honey with Greek yoghurt

3. Spoon about a tablespoon of yoghurt into each mold

4. Shave some more dark chocolate into each

5. Add the mixed berries (which can be bought in a tin) and some of the juices

6. Add yoghurt, then chocolate, then berries again until the molds are full

7. Freeze!

PEACH ICE TEA & MANGO

1. Add peach slices (I used Goulburn Valley peach slices in mango juice) into each mold

2. Pour ice tea on top (I used Lipton Peach ice tea)

3. Pour the mango juice from the peaches

4. Finish with a layer of peach ice tea

(Hopefully the layers make a nice slightly marbled effect)

5. Freeze!

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Meringues (from Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals)

Tonight I made meringues for dessert, from Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals (page 246). Although the recipes are presented as parts of a multiple-dish meal, the book is still a handy resource for picking and choosing single dishes from the sets. Next to the Crispy Potatoes (page 196), these are my favourite thus far!

Like most times I try to follow recipes, this one did not go to plan. Especially as some ingredients are a little hard to get your hands on (Jamie, what is chicory? I've never heard of it, and apparently neither have the food retailers of Sydney). But even with the use of substitutes, the results were finger-licking tasty - so here is the recipe for future reference:

Meringues (p.246) - Vanessa's edit

Ingredients

1 Mango

Handful of cherries

Tin of passionfruit pulp

1 tablespoon runny honey (or more to taste)

6 tablespoons of Greek yoghurt

Pack of 10 meringue nests

Mint leaves

Method

1. Put yoghurt in a bowl

2. Add the honey and stir through

3. Thinly slice mango cheeks and chop cherries, then stir into the yoghurt

4. Place meringue nests on a board

5. Dollop yoghurt into each meringue nest

6. Top with a thin slice of mango and a piece of cherry

7. Garnish with a little passionfruit puree and a mint leaf; drizzle a little honey over the top

It's like a gourmet yoghurt, but the sweet crunchiness of the meringue makes it a topnotch dessert!

* Update - PS I tried this again & most of the meringue nests were crushed in their packets. So instead we put the crushed parts in small bowls and made impromptu eton messes - check the out here!

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Waldorf Salad

I just made this salad and it's delicious!

Recipe (edited from taste.com)

Feeds: four

Time: depends on how fast you can chop!

Ingredients

1 lemon

2 medium red delicious apples

1 pear (I added this)

2 tbsp whole-egg mayonnaise (I substituted this with aioli and would highly recommend it!)

3 celery sticks + leaves

1/2 cup of walnuts

1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced

1 block of haloumi (I added this to the recipe and highly suggest that you do too!)

1 clove of garlic

Method

1. Dice the garlic and add to fry in a pan. Cut the haloumi into thick slices and once the garlic is golden, place the slices in the pan. Cook until both sides are slightly brown and crunchy. Set aside to cool.

2. Place half the lemon juice in a large bowl. Halve and core the apples and pear. Thinly slice. Add apple and pear to lemon juice. Gently toss.

3. Combine mayonnaise and remaining lemon juice in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Thinly slice celery stalks. Chop leaves. Dice the haloumi.

4. Add celery, celery leaves, haloumi, sliced onions and walnuts (I put them in a zip-lock bag and whacked them on a table to make them smaller) into the apple/pear mixture. Gently toss to combine. Serve drizzled with mayonnaise!

Bon Appétit !

Monday, November 28, 2011

Baked zucchini flowers with cheese

Olive oil, zucchini flowers and cheese from Eveleigh Farmers' Markets

Eveleigh markets always has such an exciting array of food - I couldn't resist the attempt to try to bake these zucchini flowers with wash rind cheese!*

Recipe

1. To prep the zucchini flowers, pull out the filaments

2. Lay them flat on a baking-paper lined tray

3. Cut slices of the cheese and place them inside the petals

4. Sprinkle salt, pepper and olive oil

5. Bake!

* NB - The result, despite being amazingly cheesy and delicious, was the cheese melting and the flowers losing their shape and becoming completely flat. In the future it would be best to use a firmer cheese such as ricotta. A fun experiment nonetheless!