delicious summer salad

who says salads have to be boring?? and after the gluttony that has taken place over the past 7 days, i think it's time to whip up some yummy and refreshing salads... this is my interpretation of a christmas salad i found in a delicious magazine...

ingredients:

1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved

2 tbspns of yellow soya bean sauce

2 and 1/2 tbpns olive oil

2 tbspns red wine vinegar

2 spring onions chopped finely

2 tbspns chopped coriander leaves

1 bunch of asparagus (cut into half or thirds)

handful of green beans (chop ends off)

handful snowpeas (string them)

cup and half of cherry bocconcini

place the tomatoes in a bowl with the soya bean sauce, oil and vinegar.

stir to combine, then set aside for 3omins.

stir in spring onions and coriander and set aside for 15 mins.

blanch asparagus, beans and snow peas in boiling water for 3-5mins or until just tender.

drain and refresh in ice cold water.

tear each bocconcini ball in half.

add bocconcin and greens to dressing and mix.

enjoy! ky xx

level of difficulty: can watch tv at the same time

time: flight from sydney to melbourne

end result: hi fives all 'round

'Twas the night before Xmas...

...and all through the house wafting aromas of the feast did abound! Natural born foodies (aka la famiglia) gathered round. The table laden with festive food fit for the eve! A clam pasta for entree set the scene, what followed was oven baked perfect snapper, a panzanella salad and lush platter of king prawns and sydney rock oysters. The perfect ending was of course a dish of lychees and cherries to prepare the way for the formage Frais pannacotta with honeycomb and raspberries... yum! What more could you want than a sumptious menu, family gathered around, wine a plenty....

The snapper was king, and a treat to make.. essentially, get up at the crack of dawn, head on over to your trusty fishmonger ( ie farros bros), prepare for your 1.75hr experience, as you join fellow foodies trying to lay their hands on some good quality fish. So for this snapper dish this is the key, you need good quality fresh snapper. Ask them to gut and scale it for you... back at home give it a bit of a wash, grab a good bunch of italian parsley, shove it where it's guts used to be, along with slices of two garlic (organic ) cloves, and three-four slices of preserved lemons. drizzle a little bit of extra v. olive oil in a baking pan, place the fish in there, add sea salt flakes and craked pepper and more oil and massage the top of the fish a little, cover with foil, place in preheated oven about 160... when eyes are clouded, fish feels fleshy should be good to go, at least twenty minutes depending on size of the fish... and then allow it to rest, and serve it up, its succulent, light white flesh- perfection really! Enjoy my own inspired creation Ange xx

xx

Level of Diff: Can watch tv at same time

Time: Flight syd-melb.

End Result: Drop everything now! MUST TRY THIS NOW!

Above is our feast closer... vindication for collecting recipes from all sorts of places, this is karen martini recipe from an old newspaper magazine a couple of years ago.. making the honeycomb from scratch is a must do!!

Now it's time to recover two days of sumptious feasting requires resting! merry Christmas!

Nigella comes to the party! - by ange

OK so here it is.. Jeff's b'day cake.. It's nigella's recipe - she calls it 'old fashioned chocolate cake'

For the cake you need :

200g each of p.flour and caster sugar

1tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarb.soda

40g best quality cocoa

175g soft unsalt. butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

150ml sour cream.

put all those ingredients in food processor, process till smooth. Divide batter among 2 20cm cake tins. place in oven at 180 C, check at 25mins but should need about 35mins. Cool 10 mins in their tins then turn out - some cracks are normal..

For the icing (and this is what makes it spectacular!!)

75g unsalt. butter

175g dark choc broken in small bits

300g icing sugar

1T golden syrup

125ml sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

sugar flowers to decorate (or whatever you want).

melt butter and chocolate. Add golden syrup to cooled choc mixture, followed by sour cream, vanilla. Add all this to the food processor where you have just whizzed the icing sugar, whizz altogether there you have it!

I put one cake piece on a plate, added some of the icing then added lots of raspberries, little more icing, added other cake on top, then smothered in icing... DIVINE! I coated cherries with remainng icing..YUM! It's a wonder what a fluffy flower will cover, my cake collapsed in one section!

Lvl Difficulty

Can watch tv same time

Time

Flight Syd to Melb

End Result

Hi 5's all round.

food that dishes itself

There are some things that don't need any effort other than schlepping to the shops and buying it. There are some days when even avid food lovers enjoy the simple easy pleasures of a quick gastronomic fix! No need to chop, bake, slice, thaw or anything, simple- sit down, open packaging and enjoy!

Today these things are:

Maggie Beer burnt fig and caramel ice cream
Tre Marie Italian classic pannetone
Almond magnum

None of them are exactly cheap, but oh so worth the indulgence!
"Do try them yourself" lol.. Ange xx

milo semifreddo

i went to an italian cooking class a couple of weeks ago and for dessert she showed us how to make a semifreddo al caffe (translation = coffee flavoured ice cream). as delicious as it was, the coffee kept me up all night! so, last night i decided to substitute it for milo and added more of this to the recipe as it's flavour isn't as intense as coffee is.

ingredients:

1/2 litre thickened cream

4 eggs

200g caster sugar

1/3 cup milo

4 tbspn milo dissolved in 60ml hot water

canola oil + a semifreddo tin (30cm)

instructions:

* first prepare the semifreddo tin by greasing it with canola oil then lining it with cling wrap

* beat the yolks with the sugar for about 6 minutes until it reaches a very white creamy consistency

* add the milo and then slowly add the milo/water mixture

* beat it with the mixer for few seconds until all the milo is amalgamated

* in seperate bowls beat the cream and then beat the egg whites

* add the cream into the milo mixture and finally fold in the egg whites

* once nicely mixed (careful not to overmix), place it into semifreddo tin, wrap cling wrap around to enclose and freeze overnight.

level of difficulty: can watch tv at the same time

time: flight from sydney to melbourne (not including freezing time)

end result: hi fives all round

love ky xx