January was a busy month of holidays with lots of stone fruit and salads, swimming and sun cream.  It was a dry month with 2 scorching days of 44 Celcius  that left sad brown patches in the garden and kept us indoors with the air con on.  I had holidays on the first and last week in January so had time to relax and also time to go out.  In fact on the first week of January I ate out 6 out of 7 days.  That is a lot for me.  I will write more about eating out and other outings in My Monthly Chronicles soon.

At the start of January Sylvia changed her diet from vegetarian to vegan.  We have always eaten a lot of vegan food and now eat even more, though I still have some yoghurt and cheese on meals such as the above nachos and salad.  For a while Sylvia was so keen on eggs that it is odd not to have eggs is in the fridge.  Other than that, it has meant checking out lots of new products in the supermarket and trying new ideas in the kitchen. 
 

January starts with the end of the festive season.  We took down the tree, put away the cards and finished the treats.  There was leftover Christmas pudding, stollen, panforte and shortbread.   

One of my holiday meals that was easy to make and wonderful to eat was a Festive Roast Potato Salad that used up some of our Christmas leftovers and it is on my blog.

Vegan products 1: We tried lots of new vegan snacks.  One of my favourites was this bag of DJ&A mushroom crisps.  They were crispy dried button small mushrooms with very moreish seasoning.

Vegan products 2:  Damona vegan cheese is the only one that Sylvia has really loved.  She also is quite a fan of the Numo caramel chocolate bars - one of the good reasonably priced chocolate treats from the supermarket.  Which brings me to Sweet William rice crackle choc koalas.  I've never been a huge fan of their chocolate.  She liked the Plantein sweet chilli tenders but I was not so keen.  The FunDay caramel chews are nice but not really my thing.

Vegan products 3: Some vegan products were no surprise.  I have used Damona cheese before and I don't think it is a secret that Oreos are vegan.  We were impressed by the Oreo creme eggs, which were on sale when we needed to spend money quickly to get cash out at the supermarket for a purchase.  I was most amazed by Hellman's mayonnaise (because Hellmans do good egg mayonnaise it was good to see they can also do a vegan one that is not ridiculously sweet) and that our local Italian supermarket sells plant based Nutella that tastes good (and is made with chickpeas and rice syrup).

Vegan products 4: Sylvia really likes these little chia, rice and chocolate puddings.  I don't like those sort of desserts and was just amused by their name: Fancy Plants.

We returned to crispy tofu cutlets which we made in December 2023.  This time we tried in in the air fryer with a spray of oil.  I also double dipped it in the milk and breadcrumbs.  We served it with mash, gravy and green vegies.   Very good.  Perhaps not quite as golden as when shallow fried but delicious and crispy. 

Tofu cutlets always seem quite old-school vegetarian.  I quite like a lot of the older vegetarian recipes that have lots of nuts, tofu and beans rather than all the mock meat of today.  So I was delighted recently when Sylvia discovered the joys of reading my Moosewood Cookbook.  Of course she found it on social media but thank god someone is still talking about it.

One of our regular hot weather meals has been rice paper rolls.  We have been filling them with vermicelli noodles, vegies and fried caramelised tofu from micadeli.  That sticky tofu is so delicious we often eat some of it by itself but it also gives great flavour to the rice paper rolls without making it soggy.  I find that with the thick tofu sauce, the rice paper rolls it is plenty of flavour without a dipping sauce.  Mind you, I find that it thickens pretty quickly.  If I add 1-2 tbsp water to the sauce it means my sticky sauce doesn't quickly get dried on the bottom of my cast iron frypan.

It has been a month of lots of chopping up salad vegies but we have also been discovering some great new recipes that are bound to be favourites because they offer a lot for little effort.  

Another favourite was Zucchini pesto from Plant You.  It a matter of roasting zucchini and garlic and then blitzing them with cashews, basil, nooch, lemon and seasoning.  The sauce is quite velvety and lighter than regular pesto.  I really like that it holds its green colour longer.  It's been excellent with pasta especially on the first night when we had it with tofu bacon.

The zucchini pesto was great for lots of meals.  I had it for lunch with crackers rocket, capsicum and cherries.  (Mmmmm, cherries!)  I stirred some pesto into potato scones and then dipped the scones in more pesto.  And I had a lovely lunch of leftover pesto pasta with green capsicum, peas, tomatoes and cheese chunks.  (I had also wished I had celery in the fridge for it but we were out.)  

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We tried the meal prep burritos - also from Plant You.  Sylvia was keen to have burritos  whereas I prefer a burrito bowl.  Overall it was very good with Mexican spiced rice, tofu "beef" and chipotle lime cashew.  We loved the spiced rice.  I really liked the cashew cream, though Sylvia found it a bit sweet and not salty enough.  And of course we had lots of vegies.  

I was not a big fan of the tofu beef.  I didn't really like the overall texture of the chunks of spiced tofu and also felt it was not dark enough.  The rice and tofu were similar colours and I felt there should have been more difference.  My preference if I was to have these chunks would be a dark sauce rather than just a spice mix.  We found it was improved with a tin of whole black beans in a seasoned sauce - that you can see below.  Alternately it would be good to have the tofu cut smaller or grated and then fried up with brown lentils and finely chopped walnuts with a bit more of a sauce.  

The recipe for the meal prep burritos, was intended to make 10-12 burritos so it lasted us a few meals.  On the second night we had it for tea, we remembered that we had bought corn chips and this went very well with it.  

We have made the Mexican spiced rice again.  I have tried a couple of Mexican spiced rice recipes in the past but they have been fiddly and stuck to the bottom of the saucepan or taken a while in the microwave.  I am not sure it this rice was nicely fluffy without sticking because my paranoia about burning led me to use 4 and 1/2 cups of stock rather than 3 cups.  I think that the rice might also work with brown rice instead of basmati.

 

This meal looks similar to the meal prep burrito bowls but on this occasion I only made the spiced rice and did not bother with the tofu and cashew cream.  On top of the rice was grated carrot, celery, capsicum, tomato, lettuce, roasted almonds, diced cheese, yoghurt and chipotle plus Sylvia's seasoned chickpeas.  

It is just the thing to eat in front of the telly on a hot day and watching the tennis as I marvel at the skill and athleticism of the players, with the soundtrack of the thwack of the ball and squeak of the sneakers in the quiet moments between commentary and cheers!

On one summer day when we were busy Sylvia made nachos by layering corn chips, whole black beans from a tin, and grated Damona cheese. I topped mine with salsa, lettuce, tomato, purple cabbage, red capsicum and yoghurt.  You can see the final dish at the top of the post!  It was excellent. Just the thing for a night I was more busy washing all the potting mix off my arms than preparing dinner.

 

This was the work before our nachos dinner: re-potting the camellia.  I have had the plant for about 20 years and it was ailing so we took it out of its pot and found it was really root-bound.  It took a lot of work to take the dirt from around the roots so we could re-plant it in a larger pot.  I'd like to say it is flourishing now but it is a bit sad.  It is hard to know how much is from the heatwaves soon after or the shock of a new home..   

 

Sylvia is quite happy to eat the plant based Golden Gaytime ice creams.  I don't love the dairy Golden Gaytimes as much as I used to as a kid but I really liked this Lamington version.  It had a lot of chocolate with the coconut ice cream.  I know it is traditional to have the biscuit crumb coating but surely a Lamington Golden Gaytime could have some coconut flakes in the coating.

We had a trip across the river to the Melbourne's eastern suburbs to pick up this sweet little Tiffany lamp that Sylvia bought online.  It's looking lovely on her desk.

I made a collage birthday card for my mum.  Cakes, flowers and a cup of tea are her sort of thing.  We had a lovely celebration meal by the seaside restaurant.  I have written a post about lunch: At the Heads, Barwon Heads.

While out looking for second hand books to use for collage, Sylvia found a childhood favourite: Angelina Ballerina.  It made for a cute collage to hang on her wall.

We made some donations to the op shop.  I found a food processor that I had not used for 10 years.  It still worked so I hope someone else will find it useful.  I also reluctantly put this picture in to the op shop.  The framed poster has sentimental value because I bought it when in Berlin decades ago.  It is from the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and is a photograph by Eugene Atget who was a photographer in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century.  

The photo on the poster was taken by Atget in about 1900 of a house at 54 Rue Vieille du Temple on the corner of Rue des France Bourgeoise in the Marias in Paris.  It was built of stone, when most houses in Paris were made of wood, in the early 16th Century by the wealthy Jean Hérouet, a royal treasurer.  It was restored in the 19th Century, badly damaged by the Luftwaffe in World War II and subsequently rebuilt.  On our last trip to Paris, we stayed nearby in the Marais, but I did not know the connect with the poster at that time.

I have always loved looking at the blur of a human figure who was moving too fast for the long exposure needed by cameras in that time.  But I have too many pictures to find a home for it and hope that someone else gets as much enjoyment out of it as I did.

Much as I try not to accumulate too much a birthday is a time for a few fun presents.  An old plate, a cat and a book on a card, little elephant candles and a literary feminist book.  I am also looking forward to some experience presents.

Another fine meal was a One Pot Pearl Couscous with onion, kale, carrots, celery, sun dried tomatoes and chickpeas.  We added more vegies because we ran out of zucchini.  The coconut milk and nooch at the end took it up a notch to be something we want to repeat.

I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event. If you would like to join in, send your post's url to Sherry by 13th of the month.  Or just head over to her blog to visit more kitchens and her gorgeous hand drawn header.  Thanks to Sherry for hosting this event that brings together wonderful bloggers who share glimpses into their kitchens.  

One of the joys of Christmas are the crisp golden roast potatoes on the plate of a festive roast dinner.  We always have heaps and there are often leftovers.  Potatoes are so versatile because they can be enjoyed so many ways but there are times their texture is not always so soft and pillowy - one is when it is cooked, frozen and thawed, and another is when they are chilled after roasting.  A cold roast potato can be sad but is also easily resurrected by returning to the oven or, in many kitchens these days, the airfryer.

This was my first time air frying leftover roast potatoes and I was delighted with the result.  While they were heating, I burrowed about the fridge for bits of pieces that were in the fridge after Christmas - celery, pecans, dried cranberries and some pickled red onion.  I also heated some peas from the freezer because I love peas and they are always so good with a roast dinner.

I wanted a creamy salad which is easier to start with a mayonnaise but tastes better when mixed with some yoghurt, mustard and lemon juice.  

By the time I made the salad there were not many Christmas dinner leftovers in the fridge.  If I had had any nut roast left I would have chopped up some to add.  I would love to have chopped up some of the lovely spiced roasted carrots or pigs in blankets that Sylvia made or even, if we were in the Northern Hemisphere, I would add some seasonal brussels sprouts.  

I have written out a recipe below based on what I did but it is not a recipe that will adapt to your kitchen.  You could use whatever is about.  It is the sort of salad you can whip up quickly and then return to reading your book in a peaceful house.  Leftovers are great in salads.  They are such a wonderful way to get through Twixmas in an Aussie summer without needing much energy at all.

More recipes to use up leftover roast potatoes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:

• Cabbage and potato with parmesan (gf) 
• Fontina onion and potato tart  
• Patatas bravas (gf, v)
• Roast potato and rosemary bread (v)  
• Roasted potato salad with black olives and greens (gf, v) 
• Tortilla de patatas (Spanish potato omelette) (gf, v)  
• Vegan bubble and squeak frittata (gf, v) 
  
  

Festive Roast Potato Salad
An original recipe by Green Gourmet Giraffe
Serves 2 as a lunch

Roast potatoes (about 16 pieces or from 4 medium potatoes)
2 chunks roast pumpkins diced (optional)
1/2 to 1 cup peas, cooked
1-2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1-2 tbsp pickled red onions, sliced
1-2 tbsp pecans, chopped
1-2 tbsp dried cranberries
1 tsp capers
handful rocket

Dressing:

2-4 tbsp yoghurt
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp mayo
1 tsp seeded mustard
seasoning

If you are using leftover roast potatoes, first heat them either in the oven or airfryer until hot and crisp - about 15-20 minutes on a medium high heat.  (Include any leftover roast pumpkin in this reheating if you are using it.)

Make the dressing by stirring the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl.  Season to taste.

Place salad ingredients, except the rocket, in a medium to large bowl.  Pour in dressing and mix together until everything is well coated.  Add rocket and toss a couple of times.  Serve while potatoes are warm. 

On the stereo:
The Milk-Eyed Mender: Joanna Newsome 

I love lasagna.  But it is an effort.  I was excited to hear about lasagna soup.  It fits my lifestyle so much better.  To make a traditional lasagna involves lots of pans and steps.  There is a saucepan for the the vegetable/protein filling, a frypan for the cheese sauce, the even layering in the roasting tin and then waiting for it to bake.  It is a revelation to hear that you can have all the joy of sheets of pasta with a creamy sauce of lots of vegies and protein with a melty cheesy topping with a lot less of the slog!

Sylvia first made lasagna soup last year.  It was amazing with a vegan bolognaise made with a cauliflower, walnuts and mushrooms minced meat from this vegan ragu recipe.  It was rich and thick and reminded me of a lasagna that is hot out of the oven and will not hold its shape.  Sylvia liked this because it was easier to make bolognaise sauce and break up up lasagna sheets rather than doing the layering.  She topped it with basil and spoonfuls of ricotta that had been mixed with parmesan, salt and pepper.  The soup with ricotta mixed through tasted great.  There was grated cheese in the soup but it was not so noticeable. 

When I asked for the recipe, I found she did not have one.  This year I had a go at a lasagna soup based on warm happy memories of Sylvias soup but making it even easier without making a vegan minced meat.  I could not find the recipe of my dreams so I read a few and then did my own thing.  

I made this lasagna soup in August in the depths of wintery weather.  It was the third soup I had made in a week and still we welcomed its comforting mass of creamy beany pasta.  I used cashew cream because I prefer its taste to dairy cream and Sylvia prefers it because it does not upset her stomach like pasta.  But we used mozzarella and ricotto when serving it.  It would not be difficult to convert to all vegan or all dairy if it suited.

As a bonus, it used up lasagna sheets that were years out of date.  They were found in the shadows at the back of the pantry and were still good to eat.  This is the beauty of this soup: it is great for using up broken bits of lasagna and the odd ends that have not fit the exacting nature of layers of traditional lasagna.  There are so many reasons to make this soup!

I found Em the Nutritionist's social media after linking from The Annoyed Thyroid's IMK post.  While idling browsing her recipes, I found this one, which it was intended for carnivores.  The creamy ragu looked great delicious and was easy enough to convert to vegetarian.  

The downside to not layer the lasagna sheets is that it clumps together.  I guess the Italians had figured this out!  I have found that even when stirring lasagna sheets into the ragu a little at a time, it still clumps I have tried to separate them with a spoon and fork but have given up on ever getting rid of all the sheets the cling to each other.  It just is a nature of the dish.  And they still cook through.  The upside is that it is satisfying to break up the lasagna sheets and not have to be precious about trying to keep them whole as I layer them.  (There is always one that breaks when it shouldn't and another that I break badly as I try to fit it to the dish in a traditional lasagna.) 

As always the fresh kale piles high, well over the top of my pan but, like the leek and mushroom, it cooks down.  What seems like so many vegetables does not look quite so generous a helping once cooked into a dish.  Despite this, I really love all the vegies in this dish.  The veg and sausages are so satisfying that it would be fine to make this vegan without cream cheese or mozzarella (and you would need to check that your sausages are vegan).  I love the lasagna sheets getting crisp edges under the grill.

 

I also love the cheese crisping up under the grill.  a bit of crisp lasagna as well as golden brown gooey lasagna very pleasing in the topping.  I think I did this one under low heat on the grill because it took longer than the one below that I made tonight.

Indeed, we loved it so much that within two weeks of making it, we had it for dinner again.  This time there seemed to be more vegies but it was excellent yet again.  I didn't have chestnut mushrooms this time so I used more button mushrooms but also added in some wood ear and one chestnut mushroom from an exotic mushroom pack.  It is one of those dishes that seems different every time and can be tailored to what is on hand.  Sylvia is already declaring it a new favourite dish to eat over and over.  It is a good one coming into summer.  Although it is quite rich, at least we don't need to turn on the oven for this lasagna!

More recipes with vegetarian sausages on Green Gourmet Giraffe:

• Baked curried sausages (vegetarian) (gf, v)  
• Creamy vegan gnocchi soup with sausage and kale (v) 
• Pumpkin and sausage roast (v) 
• Tomato sausage barley soup (v)
• Warm pasta, lentil and sausage salad (v)
  
  

Vegetarian Sausage Ragu with Broken Lasagne
Adapted from Em the Nutritionist's tiktok
Serves 6-8

6 vegetarian sausages (300g)
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 large leek, diced

2 sticks celery, diced

200g chestnut mushrooms, diced

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped (or 1 tsp rosemary)

600-800ml boiling water


2 teaspoon of vegetable stock powder
1-2 heaped tbsp cream cheese

1 heaped tsp seeded mustard

250g packet of lasagna, broken into pieces


2 large handfuls of kale, torn
Handful or two of grated mozzarella

Heat a deep ovenproof pan (mine was cast iron) over medium heat.  Meanwhile, slice and then chop sausages into small uneven pieces.  Fry the sausages over the 5 or so minutes in olive oil, stirring occasionally so it has a chance to brown.  Add leek, celery, mushrooms, sage and garlic with a pinch of salt and some freshly ground pepper.  If it is too dry, add some more olive oil (vegetarian sausages don't release all that oil like meat sausages).  I added these as I chopped them so they were soft and cooked down by the time I finished but if you want to add together then fry for about 10-15 minutes.

Add the boiling water (I added 750ml at first but found I needed to add more water), stock powder, cream cheese, and mustard,  Check and adjust seasoning.  Gradually add lasagna sheets.  (I piled my lasagna sheets on top of each other but it would be better to add a few and stir to cover with sauce, add a few more and stir and so on and until they are all in the pan.  This will reduce the amount of trying to separate the lasagna sheets so they don't clump together and cook unevenly.)  Bring to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes until the lasagna is almost cooked.  Stir occasionally to make sure the pasta is not sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Add more water if it seems to be sticking.

Stir in kale and simmer for a minute or two, then  remove from heat.  Sprinkle with mozzarella and place pan under the grill (broiler) for 5 to 10 minutes until cheese is golden brown. Let sit for 5-10 minutes (if you can).  Serve hot or warm.  Can be kept in a fridge a few days or frozen.

Vegetarian Lasagna Soup 
An original Green Gourmet Giraffe recipe 
inspired by Midwest Foodie, Easy Cheesey Vegetarian, and Ela Vegan
Serves 

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2-3 sticks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp dried Italian herbs
400g tin of diced tomatoes
3 cups water 
2 tbsp tomato paste
400g tin of brown lentils, rinsed and drained
400g tin of canellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp salt (I used smoked salt)
1 tsp stock powder
freshly ground black pepper
4or 5 large kale leaves, ripped into small pieces 
2/3 cup cashews*
1 1/2 cup water 
2 tbsp pesto
handful mozzarella
few spoonfuls of ricotta cheese 

Fry onion, celery and carrots in oil over medium heat until softened (5-10 min).  Stir in tinned tomatoes, 3 cups of water, tomato paste, lentils, canellini beans, mustard, salt, stock powder and pepper.  Check and adjust seasoning.  Break lasagna sheets into the soup, gradually adding with stirring between every few sheets so they don't clump so much.  Boil then simmer for about 10 minutes .  While it is boiling, blitz cashews and 1 1/2 cup water to make a pouring cashew cream (*I make cashew cream in a high powered blender - if your blender is less powerful either soak cashews and use cashew butter).  Once lasagna is almost cooked, stir in cashew cream, water and pesto.  Simmer for a few minutes until kale is bright green and softened.  Serve and swoon!

Notes: Since making the recipe I have added extra tomato paste and cashews to the recipe because it needed a bit more.  It is quite flexible with adding more or less of the vegies or changing the herbs and pesto flavourings.  I saw a few recipes use red lentils and that would be a nice alternative to the beans and brown lentils, and perhaps I will try it some time with a vegan mince meat.
 

On the stereo:
The Köln Concert: Keith Jarrett

Ghost carrots and cucumbers: Sylvia cut thin slices of carrot and cucumber.  Then she made a zig zag line at the bottom of each and use a metal straw to cut out the eyes and mouths .  Bits of vegetables got stuck in the straw and she had to blow a few out.  They added fresh vegetables, colour and a touch of spookiness to the platter.

Pumpkin cheese ball: Sylvia mixed cream cheese with grated red leicester cheese, grated smoked cheddar cheese, chopped olives and chilli paste (which she used instead of the chopped pickled jalapenos that she usually uses).  Then she spread out a large square of clingwrap on the table, scattered it with grated red leicester cheese and wrapped it up in a ball.  She wrapped a few rubber bands around it to make pumpkin-like indents and let it firm up in the fridge overnight.  When she served it, she unwrapped it and added a stalk from a capsicum on top.  It was so delicious!

Sweet Halloween Treats 

Oreo bats: Sylvia took a third of the oreos and twisted them apart into two biscuits.  Then she cut them in half.  The other two third of the oreos were twisted apart.  She used pistachio paste to glue down the two halves as wings and pressed the other half of the cookie on top.  (She says next time she would used melted chocolate so it would harden up and keep them in place better.)  She found the pistachio paste good for adding candy eyes and choc chip eyebrows. These were pretty easy and cute.

Apple mouths: Sylvia cut green apples in eighths (fourths were too chunky).  Then she cut a wedge out of the skinned edge and covered the insides with pistachio spread.  She cut the strawberries into strips that were thin enough to curl and arranged them on the  pistachio spread like a tongue.  The she placed rice bubbles (rice krispies) around the edge of the pistachio spread like teeth.  They were a nice fruity snack but the pistachio paste was quite sweet.
 

Postscript - comparison with the Women's Weekly's caterpillar cake

Their directions are so much simpler than my own.  I was initially confused by their instructions to "press fork in sides of cake, cover entire cakes with Vienna cream".  Then I realised they meant to stick a fork in so you could hold the cake a loft while you covered each little cake in icing/frosting.  The writing back then might have been far briefer because print is so much more limited than online but they did have good ideas.  I will definitely try sticking a cake on a fork if I make this again! the cake

If I made this cake for kids I would make a boring vanilla cake because kids are far more interested in a fun looking cake than a great tasting cake and no one does nuts for kids birthdays these days.  However I don't have as many kids to make cakes for any more so I am happy to spend a bit more time on a delicious cake with a simple decoration, even though my teenage kid had made me promise to do a proper Hungry Caterpillar cake soon!  Watch this space!

More fun cakes on Green Gourmet Giraffe blog that are suitable for adults:

Aboriginal flag cake 
Choc Mint Drip cake with candy mountain 
Halloween cake - eyes in the dark 
Medieval castle cake for chocolate lovers
Vegemite jar cake

Dubai chocolate caterpillar cake 
A Green Gourmet Giraffe original recipe

• 12-24 round/domed chocolate brownie cupcakes - see below
• Pistachio frosting - see below
• Desiccated coconut - about 1 cup
• 1/2 to 1 cup Dubai paste (pistachio cream mixed with fried katafi pastry)
• 2 candy eyes, choc chips or raisins to be eyes
• 2 toothpicks 

If you your brownie cupcakes are regular size cupcakes, slice in half.  Prepare your half spheres or half cupcakes if necessary trim the flat edge to be smooth and even for spreading.  

Take a generous spoonful of Dubai paste and spread over the flat edge of a cupcake half sphere and sandwich together with another sphere.  You might need to smooth the Dubai paste at the join of the half spheres if it is jagged and sticking out.  

Spread frosting around the edge of the ball and roll in coconut.  I found that handling the ball with my fingers left dints in the balls.  I would try using two forks next time to minimise the marks from handling.  (If the cake was sturdy enough, I would try to stick a fork in so that it could hold the cake aloft or in place while I covered it in the frosting.  (See discussion of the Women's Weekly recipe in the introductory text.)

Arrange the balls on a plate (I only used 7 balls but could have used more if there were more people at the lunch).  At one end stick the choc chips or candy eyes or raisins on with extra frosting to a ball to represent eyes.  Stick toothpicks in to be like antennae.

Chocolate brownie cupcakes
Adapted from Cupcakes Galore via Green Gourmet Giraffe 
Makes 24 small cupcakes or 12 regular cupcakes

180g chocolate
80g butter
120g brown sugar
2 eggs
150g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt 

Preheat oven to 180 C and grease or line 1-2 x 12 hole cupcake trays (The tray I used is known as a gem scone baking tray in Australia but was not a heavy cast iron.  It has half sphere holes.  For the brownie cupcakes a silicone tray would be better than a cast iron tray which is common in gem scone baking trays because you want brownies under rather than over baked.  I didn't quite fill each hole and I got 2 x 12 trays of the small cupcakes.  Alternatively you could do 12 cupcakes and split them in half but your tray might not give the round shape that my tray gave.)

Melt butter, chocolate and sugar.  Stir in eggs one at a time to make it glossy and thick. Gently stir in flour, baking powder and salt until combined.  

Spoon mixture into prepared cupcake holes so they are only about 2/3 full.  Bake for 12 to 16 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out with some crumbs on it. (If the skewer is clean it is too dry.)  Cool on a wire rack 

Pistachio buttercream frosting 
adapted from Annika Eats

1/2 (125g) cup butter, softened
1/2 cup pistachio cream
1 tbsp tahini (optional)
1 1/4 cup icing sugar (aka powdered sugar)
1/8 tsp fine salt
1-2 drops of green food dye (optional)

Use electric beaters to beat the butter and pistachio cream (and tahini if using) until creamy.  Gradually add the icing sugar, a few dessertspoons at a time, and then salt until well mixed.  If you want the cream to be greener, add a drop or two of green food dye.

On the Stereo:
Eyes Open: Snow Patrol

I am not a football person but I like to watch the Grand Final each year.  Nor am I a mushroom fan and yet I sometimes find those little Fun Guys oddly irresistible.  So this year for our grand final platter, I decided to make a mushroom, walnut and brie pâté.  It was really the brie and the walnuts that made it worth playing with mushrooms and it was worth it.

We went out to the farmers market in the morning to buy some fine baking because if I was going to be eating mushroom pâté I wanted some good bread to eat with it.  But I did not buy the beautiful mushrooms at the market.   They are so gorgeous with their tiny enoki and fluffy lion's mane and blue oyster mushrooms.  A bit too fancy for my mushroom aversion.  I prefer the neat little Swiss brown mushrooms from the supermarket.

WanderCooks where I found the recipe called it an easy 20 minute recipe and they were right.  I took a bit of time to go and snip some fresh herbs from the garden.  Then I went searching for sherry and could only find a bottle of red wine.  But the roasting walnuts, frying mushrooms and melting brie were quick and before I knew it I had a creamy mixture to blend into a smooth pâté.

I had the pâté ready before the grand final pre-match entertainment but was still arranging the platter when Snoop Dog played.  I had a quick look every now and again but it looked so American that I wished they had chosen a local musician.  I know I am old school when it comes to aussie rules football.  For me, seeing Mike Brady sing Up there Gazaly was the highlight of the entertainment.  

Finally we had our platter and could sit down to the watch the match.  I was surprised how much I loved the mushroom pâté.  It was full of flavour and silky smooth.  I liked it far more than I liked the grand final.  While I am not a huge football fan, I loved Geelong as a kid and still get my hopes up when they play in the "granny".  

It was an intense game for the first two quarters with so much holding the ball and stopping the play and the two sides neck and neck.  But by half time I had seen enough football and the prevalence of Brisbane in the second half was enough to bore me.  Yet again my team let me down.  I was sad.  But it is ok.  After all I don't really follow them during the season.  I just like them to win a grand final.  And it was a good excuse for a platter.

More mushroom recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:

Creamy vegan mushroom and wild rice soup (v)
Festive Mushroom Pie 
Gyoza with mushrooms and lime leaves (v)
Haggis stuffed mushrooms  
Lentil and mushroom nut roast (v)
Mixed Asian mushrooms with dashi (gf, v)
Mushroom and chocolate risotto (gf, v) 
Mushroom, chestnut and couscous sausages
Mushroom whisky gravy (v)
Steamed mushroom buns (v)

Fry walnuts over medium heat in a cast iron frypan while you prepare the vegies.  When they smell done, roughly chop and set aside.

Pour oil into the frypan and fry the onions and garlic for a few minutes until the onion is translucent.  Add mushrooms and thyme for about 5 minutes until soft and swimming in their juices.  Stir in red wine and parsley for a minute or so.  Then dot with chunks of brie and give them a few minutes to get all melty.  

Mix in the frypan with a spoon to make it a nice creamy mixture.  Spoon mixture into a tall jug and smoosh with a handheld blender to make a smooth pâté.

Serve warm or keep in the fridge until you are ready to eat it cool or at room temperature.   (They say to top pâté with butter in the fridge but I had it in a airtight container for a few days in the fridge and it was fine without butter or oil on top!)

On the Stereo:
Remember us to Life: Regina Spektor