Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Thanks!


Hi everyone,

Just a quick August roundup for you from Repertoire Food. Well, we've had the most traffic we've ever had per month since I started this blog way back in April 2009 - so a big thank you to all my wonderful readers and supporters of this blog.

It is the final day of winter here, and I am looking forward to shedding some layers and exploring some lighter food, I have seen some beautiful salad recipes from our friends in the Northern hemisphere and am looking forward to trying them out this summer.

The garden has suddenly sprouted into life, and yesterday I picked my first ever home grown radish. It was sort of misshapen, but I was rather proud of myself!

So onwards and upwards folks! I have some wonderful recipes coming up in September, and something cooling right now waiting for its closeup. Of course, you know it probably involves chocolate, right?

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Passionfruit and lemon steamed puddings

photo: Penny Williams

The spell-check function here on Blogger disagrees with me that "Passionfruit" is one word (and not two!), so we'll just have to labour under the assumption that it is, folks. The only thing that annoys me more than restaurants with "no bookings" policies is bad spelling...

Rant over.

I was recently looking for a quick dessert to make on a weekday evening, and came across steamed puddings. Of course, I have made them before, but only large puddings, which of course take about an hour and a half to cook. I spied the "1/2 hour individual moulds" on the recipe and was instantly converted. This recipe is based on that old favourite book of mine - "Cookery The Australian Way" (Fifth ed. - Cameron, Russell and Williams). I went a bit off the books with the flavouring since I had some lemons and passionfruit to use up.

This recipe makes approximately 6 ramekins, depending on their size (mine are 150ml).

Passionfruit and Lemon Steamed Puddings

Ingredients

1/2 cup (125gm) butter
1/2 cup (125gm) Castor sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 and 1/2 cups (225g) SR flour
1/2 cup (125ml) milk
juice and zest of 1 and 1/2 lemons
4 tbsp passionfruit pulp (I used tinned passionfruit pulp here)
Whipped cream, the serve

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl.
2. Add egg and mix well.
3. Stir in lemon juice and zest, then flour and milk. Mix thoroughly.
4. Into the bottom of the ramekins, spoon the passionfruit pulp evenly
5. Place pudding mixture in ramekins (being careful not to mix with the passionfruit too much), approximately 2/3 full
6. Seal tightly (leaving room for the puddings to rise) with aluminium foil and rubber bands.
7. Bring water (enough to fill a large fry pan approximately halfway) to boil and place ramekins inside.
8. Cover with a tight fitting lid and occasionally check that the water has not boiled dry.
9. Leave for approximately half an hour, until the puddings have risen underneath the foil.
10. Remove foil, invert puddings and remove from the ramekin and serve with whipped cream.


Sunday, August 7, 2011

Chorizo and halloumi bake (after Nigella...)

Photo: Penny Williams

No wonder I couldn't find this one in any of my Nigella cookbooks! It's been so long since I actually consulted the recipe - I actually couldn't quite remember the name of it. As it turns out, Nigella's recipe uses Merguez sausages, and I have always used chorizo. Looking up "Chorizo" in the index was no help at all. Thank goodness for Google! I just adore this recipe - it is good for both midweek dinners all the way up to dinner parties - all you need to do is adjust the amount of ingredients you put in. For example, for the 2 of us, I just out in a couple of potatoes, 1 onion, whereas the quantities are easily changed to feed many more. And, even better, if you are trying to limit your own consumption of carbs, you can fill up your plate with vegetables and you'll never feel as though you are missing out.

Chorizo and Halloumi bake (for 2 - adjust quantities for larger groups)
Adjusted from Merguez with halloumi and flame roasted peppers - Nigella Express

Ingredients

2 chorizo sausages
125gm halloumi cheese
2 potatoes
1 onion
1 each of red, green and yellow capsicum (bell peppers)
a handful of cherry tomatoes (please feel free to substitute regular cut up tomaotes if that is what you have)
To serve: crusty bread and baby spinach or other greenery

Method

1. Cut potatoes and onions into chunks and put into a roasting pan.
2. Slice the capsicums and add them to the pan.
3. Roast for approximately 1 hour at 200 degrees Celsius, until the potatoes are cooked (if you find everything else has cooked too quickly, you can take out the onion and capsicum.
4. Add the cut up chorizo sausage, and sliced halloumi.
5. Add the chorizo, halloumi and halved cherry tomatoes to the pan (put the onions and capsicums back in if you have removed them
5. Return everything to the oven and cook until the halloumi is melting and the chorizo is browned. It should take about 10-15 minutes.
6. Serve with crusty bread and baby spinach.

Photo: Penny Williams

I am sitting here in the lounge room in front of the heater. The cat seems to be enjoying the warmth far more than I am though....Just a perfect expression of a lazy Sunday evening...