Summer Treats: Super Easy Ice Lollies

They are very yummy and very easy. All you need are Lewis Rd Creamery's Whitaker's Chocolate Milk, ice block mould and sticks (of course, you also need a freezer:)

We love Lewis Road Creamery's Chocolate Milk (they also do Coffee Milk and Vanilla Milk but Chocolate is the wickedest one:). It's rich, so you can only drink a small glass at a time. I just pour the milk into the ice block mould and freeze until firm then insert sticks and freeze further until solid. It's beautiful - if you have guests for lunch or dinner this summer, no need to break sweat over complicated pudding. Serve your guests, young and old, with these ice lollies and watch the smiles on their faces!

Sangria - in the Park or Not

When I think of Sangria, I cannot help also thinking of Lou Reed and his Perfect Day. But I tell you what, you don't have to wait for perfect days- you can have it on any warm days, in the park or not. Sangria is so easy to make, so easy to drink and so very, very easy to get drunk on!

I make my Sangria in a jug - about a litre or so, a little bit at a time and top up as we go. You can also make it in bach in a a punch bowl and that would be beautiful as a centrepiece by itself. It also looks so festive for Christmas or New Year parties.

1 Bottle of red wine, I use New Zealand Merlot
750 mil. of Sprite or 7Up, better from cans than bottles
200 mil Cognac
200 mil Pomegranate Juice or Cranberry Juice
1 cup Strawberries, chopped in chunks
1 cup Cherries, pitted
Ice cubes

Mix everything in a jug or glass bowl. If you make it in a jug, make half portion at a time. Substitute cherries with raspberries or blueberries - or mix them all. Enjoy!

Surinder's Christmas Shortbread Biscuits

Last week I had a get-together- before -Christmas with my friends, Surinder and Dee. Both of them were my gym instructors at some points and our friendship has grown from then on.

Surrinder gave me these wonderfully yummy shortbread biscuits she baked herself. They were so yummy Bob and I gobbled all of them in 2 days - very festive, I'd say:) She also kindly gave me the recipe - only 3 ingredients.

You'll need:
225 grams of butter
1 cup icing sugar
2 cups plain flour, sifted

Preheat the oven to 130 degrees C.

Cream butter and icing together. Stir in flour to form dough and roll out on a floured surface to about 1/2 cm thick. Cut with shaped cookie cutters and prick with fork a few times for decoration.

Bake on a baking sheet for about 1 hour. Easy isn't it? Thank you very much, Surinder.

Laksa

Love Laksa, no worries. It's easy now with store bought paste and you don't have to sweat over that seafood stock any more. I use Asian Gourmet's Singapore Laksa Paste - funny enough, it's made in Thailand.

Just follow the instruction on the packet - you can use either white rice noodles or egg noodles. If you use egg noodles, instant noodles are easy and quick. If you use rice noodles, you need to soak them in warm water for an hour or so. Then cook them in boiling water until soft and cooked through. The direction on the packet tells you to fry the paste with oil - you can add a couple tablespoons of coconut milk  (the fatty bit from the top of the can) as well. Add some vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, bok choy or curly kale, green capsicum - don't stick to just beansprouts. Make sure you carrot and broccoli are cooked through unless you like them crunchy. You can also add some mushrooms but I think mushrooms are too watery and do not enhance the taste of this dish. Don't go overboard with coconut milk either - remember this is a soup not curry, so you have to dilute it to be drinkable or slurpable.

I also use chicken meat as well as prawns in my Laksa - prawns add some seafood-ness to it. Don't forget some boil eggs and chopped spring onion and coriander, Try making it and enjoy.

Baby Shower and Carrot Cake

 My very good friend, Debbie, is going to be a grandmother and pretty soon - she's due on 27 December. But it can be any day now, really, depending on how soon or how late Baby Maude decides to see the world.

Last Saturday we had a Baby Shower get together at her place. About 20 of us, girls of different age and two little boys; Debbie's friends (who know Charlotte pretty well), Charlotte's friends, Charlotte's friend's mom and Charlotte's friends' kids (2 boys, 1 girl). I know Charlotte since she was a school girl - then she went on to be a journalist. TV presenter and travelled the world over. Now she comes home to stay and raise the kid. Wow...I feel ancient:) 

We had a lot of yummy finger food and drinks and that Sangria. Lovely, lovely Sangria!Someone made this beautiful carrot cake - decorated with a few stems of lavender and it looked and smelled gorgeous. Late on Debbie just add these tiny ducklings on the cake - perfect for the occasion. However, these ducklingss were not edible and many of us has to spit it out on to our serviettes! We had a laugh and the hostess just had to collect her ducklings and hand wash them.

Crushed Avocado

Just a simple idea yet very delicious and nutritious - I don't know why people are up in arms about Nigella's Avocado on toast . She just throw several ideas together for breakfast dish and I don't see anything wrong with it. Some people you cannot please - I'd say. Long time ago when she introduced a dish from leftover - and that leftover was peking duck - some people complained that it was too posh. Now it's too simple with avocado!

I am not Nigella Lawson's avid fan but I have time for her. I still make my Rocky Road  using her recipe. My favourite food at my favourite local cafe is Crushed Avocado on Toast> Simplicity yet effective - I can't see anything wrong with it. If you don't like avocado, try tomato salsa instead, If you also don't like tomatoes - well, maybe you shouldn't read food blogs after all:)

Note: Sorry for blogging sporadically - it's getting silly around here.

Pizza Sauce:Pasata

You can freeze this homemade Pasata sauce for months (if you haven't eaten it all!) so it's worthwhile to make the whole portion. This recipe is enough for 3 medium pizzas (30 cm).

You'll need:
1 can of chopped Italian tomatoes in juice (400 gr)
1 clove of Garlic
1 tablespoon Sri Racha Chili sauce
1 tablespoon Thai Sweet Chili sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/2 teaspoon dry oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt

Place all the ingredients in food processor and blitz until almost smooth. Lumpy bits here and there is OK - pour the content into a thick saucepan. Bring to the boil on medium high heat briefly and reduce the heat. Let it bubble gently for 8-10 minutes. The sauce will thicken up a bit. Remove from heat. Let it cool down before transferring to plastic tubs.

Butter and Cream Cheese Cake: Summer Variation

I know it's cheating but I can't help it. The weather has been quite warm and we see a lot of strawberries in the green grocers now. I bought 2 punnets a few days ago along with a bag of dried ones. My favourite butter cake is the one with cream cheese instead of milk and I think it will taste quite nice with some strawberries. It looks pretty too with a bit of food colouring and fresh strawberries and cream.

Just use the recipe for basic butter and cream cheese cake here and add 2-3 tablespoons of chopped dried strawberries (add a teaspoon of flour to chopped strawberries to coat so the pieces will not lump together). Drop a few drops of pink or red food colour to give the mixture a pink glow. Serve with whipped cream and fresh strawberries for the afternoon tea.

Pasta with Cherry Tomato Pesto

I tried to make an easy dinner the other day and remembered I had a jar of store bought sun dried tomato pesto in the cupboard so I thought I would have pasta with that pesto as a side for my crumbed chicken. Alas, looking closely at the label, I found that the pesto contained cashew nuts which is a no, no for Bob. Well, I didn't have sun dried tomato on hands so had to resort to half a punnet of cherry tomatoes in the fridge. The result is quite OK so I have to share this recipe with you, especially those of you who cannot tolerate nuts.

For a side dish for 2, you'll need:
20 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 clove of garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil, and extra for frying
A pinch of salt
A pinch of sugar
1 tablespoon tomato sauce
2 tablespoons grated tasty cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon pine-nuts, toasted
1 1/2 cups cooked spiral pasta (Rotini)
1 teaspoon chopped basil or coriander
Extra grated cheddar

Fry garlic in small amount of oil on medium heat until fragrant then add tomatoes, fry further until soft. Add salt, sugar and tomato sauce. Remove from heat and rest to cool down a wee bit.

Place tomato mixture in a food processor with pine-nuts and grated cheese. While motor is still running drip 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the mixture. Pour the 'pesto' over cooked pasta and toss well to coat, if you like it a bit sharp, you may add a teaspoon of wine vinegar but this is optional. We like it without any added tang. Add chopped basil/coriander and extra cheese. Serve as a side dish to your meat dish.

Simple Chicken (Crock) Pot Roast

I should have done this dish more often as it is easy and yummy, Just put the chicken in the crock pot and forget about it for 4 or 5 hours and have a great meal afterwards. I did this last week - inspired by John Grisham's The Appeal that I'm reading at the moment. I must be a bit hungry when I read to the bit that they went to the Trial Lawyers Convention and ate roast chicken and broccoli, albeit cold in the novel it still sounded quite yummy. So I went out to buy a whole chicken for my roast chicken venture.

For 2, you'll need:

Roast Chicken
1kg whole chicken, giblet removed
Salt & pepper
1 medium onion whole, peeled

Rub the chicken inside out with salt and pepper, pop the onion in the cavity and brown the skin on all sides in a hot pan with a little bit of oil. Place a deep dish upside down in the crock pot (slow cooker), put the chicken on top of the dish and cook on low for 4 or 5 hours ( the cooking time depends on your slow cooker.

When the chicken's done - rest it on a cutting board and cover with foil. Save the cooking juice for gravy but skim the fat off as much as you can.

Gravy
2 Tablespoon butter
2 Tablespoon flour
1 1/2 cup chicken cooking juice, if the juice is not enough, add water to make up to this
Salt & pepper to taste

Gravy is basically velouté sauce in my book but when I fry flour in butter, I like it to be a bit darker than blonde. Add the juice gradually and keep stirring until the sauce thickens. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes or so. Taste the sauce and add more salt & pepper if needed.

Cut up the chicken and serve with boiled potatoes, carrots and of course, broccoli. Pour gravy on top, eat with or without cranberry jelly.

Simple Burger

Bob likes homemade burgers and I grudgingly make them from time to time. I try to avoid cooking them when the weather is not good (and we cannot open the doors and windows). Not that I don't like them but because I have to scrub the range hood the next day. Anyway, my burger recipe is very simple (just like Heston Blumethal's:) - you need only salt and pepper for your beef patties (no breadcrumbs, onions or ketchup please!)

For 2 you'll need:
250 gram of prime beef mince
1/8 tablespoon of salt
2 or 3 rounds of freshly ground pepper
A bit of oil for frying
2 good quality rolls (whole meal from Bakers' Delight will be good), toast
Cheese slices
Fresh tomatoes, sliced  (chopped Cherry tomatoes are sweet and yummy)
Mayonnaise (I use Japanese Kewpie)
Caramelised onions (optional)

Add salt and pepper to the mince, use your hand to mix it lightly just to combine. Shape the mince into 2 patties, about 1.5 cm thick. Fry the patties in a hot pan, put 1 teaspoon of oil on the patties instead of in the pan. Fry until nicely brown on both side, flip them often so they don't get burned but cooked through. You can fry onion slices in the same pan to go on top of the patties if you'd like.

Place the patties on the bread, topped with cheese slice(s), tomato slice(s) and a little bit of mayonnaise.

Chilli Concarne with White Beans

Long, long time ago when I was young, my mother had to soak (small) kidney beans overnight for this dish. Now we have canned beans - ready to cook, no more soaking. I think canned red beans are still quite firm and a bit chewy. suitable for long cooking. I like white beans (Cannellini), they are a lot softer and quicker to cook. They are also a bit bland so you can be a bit heavy handed with seasoning.

For 2, you'll need:

250 grams Premium Beef Mince
2-3 rashers bacon, chopped
350 gram can Cannellini Beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cups canned chopped tomatoes in juice
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped or minced
1 - 2 tablespoon Marsala or Port
Oil for frying
2-3 tablespoons Sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 oregano
1/2 teaspoon white sugar
Chilli Powder
Pepper


Mix the dry ingredient from salt down to pepper in a small jar and set aside.

Fry bacon in an iron casserole until crispy, remove from the casserole and drain on paper towel. In the same casserole, fry onion and garlic until fragrant, add mince and brown for a few minutes then add Marsala. Add beans, shopped tomatoes - bring to the boil and place lid on. Decrease the heat to low and let it simmer for half an hour or so.

Add ketchup and dry seasoning and a bit of bacon. Taste and add more salt, chilli powder and sugar if needed. Let it boil for a few minutes and remove from heat. Serve warm garnished with sour cream and crispy bacon and don't forget some garlic bread (and brush your teeth well after eating this:)

Espresso Pannacotta

Again, I have been caught up with work and social things that I did not blog early in the week. It does not mean I didn't have time - I did have some spare time but I just wanted to sit back and not lift my fingers. Apologies for my idleness (does it sound better than laziness?)

My lovely friend in Belgium just sent me her mother's recipe for Sabayon. Very kind of her and I think it might be beyond me at the moment but I will try, I promise.

For the time being, I can just make this quick and easy pudding - not really a last minute dish as it needs to set in the fridge for a couple of hours. If you have an espresso machine at home, use it to brew a shot of espresso. The result is miles better than an instant or a plunger version.

For 2 you'll need:
3/4 cup full cream
1 shot of espresso (about 45 mil)
1 teaspoon gelatin powder
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons thickened cream or lightly whipped cream
1 teaspoon sweetened condensed milk (optional)

Brew one shot of medium to strong espresso and leave to cool down to touch and transfer to a jug. Sprinkle gelatin powder in the coffee a leave for 10 minutes. Place full cream and sugar in a saucepan and heat up until the sugar is completely dissolved. Pour hot cream into the espresso mixture and stir until all gelatin is dissolved. Divide the mixture into 2 moulds. Leave to cool down before refrigerating for a couple of hours.

Serve cold with whipped cream - I add sweetened condensed milk to thickened cream. It reminds me of my Thai Cafe con Leche. Yum, yum in a grown up way.

Udon in Miso Soup

Long, long time ago when I still had to commute to the city - I frequented this little cosy cafe where it served this yummy soup in Winter. It's Gloria's Cafe on Anzac Ave where you ate at the same table as the University students, lecturers, bankers and former All Blacks. I have heard that Gloria's is still there after all these years so they must have done something right!

It might not be the same recipe that I make but the results have not been too bad over the years. It's quick and easy to make.

For 2 you'll need:
250 grams Udon noodles (it comes in vacuum pack of 500 grams from Countdown - if it's too difficult to find, no worries, just use 2 packs of instant yellow noodles, cooked and drained), soaked in boiling water for a few minutes until soft and drained
200 grams Chicken, cooked and shredded
4 pieces of Fried Tofu Triangles, each cut in 4
3 sachets of Instant Miso soup Paste
1 litre Chicken Stock
1/2 Red Capsicum, sliced
1 Carrot, sliced
1 cup of chopped Greens; bok choi, kale, spinach
1 Spring Onion, chopped - for garnish

Add stock into a cast iron casserole and bring to the boil - add chicken and carrot. When the carrot is soft, add the greens. Add miso soup paste, stir well then add tofu and udon or cooked yellow noodles. Add more water and Kikkoman sauce if needed. Divide into the bowls and garnish with chopped spring onion. Serve hot.

Buttercup in Coconut Milk

This is one of typical Thai puddings. It is to be eaten warm (not hot) or at room temperature (which is quite warm in Thailand). Some will claim that it tastes a bit like salted caramel - maybe it is but Thais have been putting salt in their puddings way back when long before salted caramel is fashionable as it is now.

For 2, you'll need:

150 grams buttercup, skin partially peeled and cut into small pieces
1  cup coconut cream
1/4 cup water
60 grams palm sugar, chopped
1/8- 1/4 teaspoon salt

Place coconut cream, water, sugar and salt in a saucepan and put on the stove, using medium low heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil and add buttercup pieces. Cook further for a few minutes until the buttercup is cooked. Easy as!

Note:any pumpkin will do, but buttercup will hold against heat much better and do not disintegrate into mash.

Tamarind Eggs

This Thai old fashioned dish is not very common these days but it has been Bob's favourite.

Ingredients:
4 Hard-boiled eggs
Oil for shallow frying
4 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons Tamarind extract (available from Asian Groceries)
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon Crispy Fried Red Onion (available from Asian Groceries)

Shallow fry the whole eggs on medium heat until golden brown on all sides. Set aside and leave to cool down a bit.

In a saucepan place sugar, water, and salt together. Stir and put to the boil on medium high heat until it it starts to colour. Remove the saucepan from heat and add Tamarind extract - you might not need all 4 tablespoons but some would prefer more so adjust it to your own taste. Put the saucepan back on the stove and let it boil further until it is thickened.

Cut the eggs into halves and pour the Tamarind sauce over them, sprinkle with crispy fried onion and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve warm or at room temperature with rice and green stir fry.

Note: In Thailand we call these eggs - son-in-law's eggs. It has been told that one day the son in law asked the mother in law what she was cooking for dinner in demanding tone - the grumpy mother in law then quickly replied 'I am going to cook your nuts (eggs in Thai slang) in Tamarind Sauce'.

Cream Cheese and Butter Cake

With zest of our homegrown lime - this cake smells so delicious even before the pan hits the oven.

For 22 cm ring pan, you'll need:
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
110 grams butter
80 grams cream cheese
180 grams caster sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest of 1 lime (or lemon or orange)

Pre-heat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius

Grease ring pan or bundt pan well

Sift flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together and set aside. Beat butter and cream cheese together at medium speed until combined and pale - add sugar and beat further on. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat until combined at each addition. Add vanilla and lime zest - then lower the speed and add flour. Mix well and transfer the cake mixture to the pan. Tap the side a few times to get rid of excess air bubbles. Bake for 45 minutes - if the top starts to get too dark - cover loosely with foil.

When the cake is done - rest for 10 minutes before removing from the tin. Serve with sour cream or whip cream and lime zest.

Asian Style Beignets (ปาท่องโก๋-ish)

In Thailand we have eaten the Chinese beignets for ages and surprisingly they have not strayed too faraway from the Chinese ones, apart from shapes, maybe. We have them with savoury things like rice porridge and soft boiled eggs and we have them with sweet things like condensed milk and soft tofu in ginger syrup. Street vendors would have their big wok out in the mornings and fry these crispy beignets to the breakfast crowd.

I have tried making these away from home and they are not too bad. I do not have ammonia carbonate so I omit it in my recipe which is not a bad thing because ammonia carbonate tends to give a strong smell. It doesn't matter that my Chinese beignets will not be extra crispy.

You will need:
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon canola oil plus a lot more for deep frying

Add sugar and yeast to warm water - add 1 tablespoon of oil, mix well and leave in warm place for 5 minutes or until frothy. In a food processor,place flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together and pulse to combine. While the motor is running, add yeast mixture and process until it the dough forms into a soft ball. Remove the dough and place into a well oiled bowl, put cling wrap over the bowl and leave to rise in the dark warm place (I rest mine in the oven) for 2 hours.

Knock the dough down and roll on the floured surface, roll to about 1 cm thick. The dough will be wet-ish so you need a bit of dusting flour. Cut the dough into strips with pizza cutter - about 1 x 7 cm. Rest for another five minutes and then deep fry them on medium high heat until golden. Drain on absorbent paper. It's best to serve them warm but you can also keep then in the freezer and re-heat in the oven.

You can also stick two strips of dough together in the middle before frying as they do in Thailand - just use a bit of water as a glue. I am not very good at this:)

Mexican Style Fried Rice

My apologies for posting sporadically - I have been snowed under recently with work. My posting will be pathetic like this for a wee while so please bear with me.

Ingredients
1 stick Chorizo, cubed
1 Frankfurter, cubed
1/2 cooked chicken meat (leftover roast or BBQ will be ideal), cubed
3 cups cooked rice
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup mixed frozen carrots, corn and peas
A bit of coriander leaves to garnish
oil for frying
1 tablespoon tomato sauce
1 teaspoon Sri Racha chilli sauce (optional)

Seasoning Mix: 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon dry oregano, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin (optional) and  a sprinkle of white sugar - mix all this in a jar, you might not need all of it, just test the food as you cook.

We start with egg crepe - add a bit of salt and pepper in beaten eggs. In a wok on medium high heat, wipe with a little bit of oil and add the egg mixture, swirl the wok around so that the egg covers the surface. When the edge starts to come away, roll gentle with spatula from one end to another. Remove from heat and rest until cool enough to handle, slice thinly and set aside.

In the same wok, add more oil and fry onion and garlic until fragrant. Add meat and fry further until heated through, then add vegetables (it helps if you warm the veges in microwave first). Fry for a few minutes. Add rice, sauces and seasoning mix. Break lumps of rice gently as you turn the mixture. Add a bit more oil if needed. Add sliced egg crepe, reserve some for garnish. Serve warm. Enjoy.

Creamy Corn & Chicken Pie

1 can Cream Style Corn (try to use one with lower sugar & salt contents)
400 gr. Chicken tights, skinless, boneless, cubed
2 cups Greens (I used Spinach & Kale), chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
Salt & Pepper
50 gr. Grated Cheddar
2 sheets Ready Rolled Frozen Puff Pastry, thawed
1 egg, beaten
Oil for frying

Season chicken with salt & pepper and brown in a pan on medium high heat - set aside.

In the same pan. add a little bit more oil and fry onion briefly, add spinach and kale and fry further for a minute or two. Remove from heat.

Mix fried vegetable, chicken and a cream style corn together - leave to cool completely.

Grease pie tin (I use 20 cm round spring form tin) and line the bottom with baking paper. Place the the first sheet of pastry in the bottom of the tin and work to the side about 3-4 cm high. Cut the excess and patch carefully, fill with chicken and corn mixture and cover with the second pastry sheet. Crimp the edge tightly and prick with fork in 3-4 places. Brush with egg. Chill the pie for at least 15 minutes.

Baked in pre-heated oven (200 degrees C) for 45 minutes - cover with a piece of foil if top of the pie gets too brown after half an hour. Rest the pie for 15 minutes before serving.