Lime and Gin Mousse

I used to make this dish years ago and for some reason stopped...maybe it was a little person who takes up a lot of time?
A friend coming for dinner who loves citrus seemed like a great excuse to bring this recipe out again. That and the fact that I could make it well in advance of dinner time.
I made this along with Persian Chicken Pilaf which went down so well last week - and was quick and easy to make. They both have citrus flavours so went well together.

My diners really really enjoyed this dessert with proclamations of 'best dessert ever' and they did disappear very very quickly!

Lime & Gin Mousse

SERVES: 6The tart flavour of this chilled mousse is perfect for a summer dessert.

To obtain a perfect mousse it is important to have the beaten ingredients all at the same soft texture.

4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon grated lime zest
1/3 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon gin
2 teaspoons gelatine
3/4 cup cream
2 tablespoons sugar, extra

For the decoration
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup water
shreds of lime zest

Beat egg yolks, sugar and lime zest until thick and lemon coloured.

Combine lime juice and gin in a small stainless steel bowl and sprinkle the gelatine over. Dissolve gelatine by standing the bowl over a second bowl of hot water. Allow this to cool to room temperature, then gradually stir into the egg and sugar mixture.

Beat the cream until soft peaks form. Fold this into the mousse mixture.

Beat egg whites until soft peaks form, gradually beating in the extra sugar. Fold into mixture in two batches. Pour into 6 glasses and refrigerate overnight.

To make the lime decoration, dissolve the 2 tablespoons of sugar in the water and then bring to a simmer in a small saucepan. Add the shreds of lime zest and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove zest and place a few shreds in the middle of each dessert.

Roasted Chickpeas

I've bought roasted chickpeas before and quite like them - although I'm always a bit worried about breaking teeth while easting them as they are very crunchy. After seeing several recipes recently I thought I'd give them a try. They were really easy but I think needed longer to get them all crunchy.

I'd probably make them in bulk next time and cook dried chickpeas first.
I used smoked garlic salt to flavour them that had been ground int he mortar and pestle - the flavour was great.

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas

INGREDIENTS

1 15 oz. can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons of spice mixture (a curry, Morrocan, or Mexican spice mixture work well)

DIRECTIONS

Make sure the chickpeas are completely dry after draining and rinsing them. Otherwise they'll end up chewy and soggy.

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Drain and rinse chickpeas in a colander. Pat dry.
3. Toss chickpeas in a medium sized bowl with olive oil, sea salt, and spices.
4. Arrange chickpeas on a baking sheet in a single layer.
5. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until crispy. While baking, shake pan or stir chickpeas to avoid burning.
6. Transfer to a serving bowl.
7. If desired, sprinkle and toss with more spices.

Fish With Parsley and Hazelnut Crust

I'd marked this recipe in the most recent Cuisine magazine...it was another of the quick weekday meals - the Chicken Pilaf I made last week was one of these too.

The recipe was for the fish and also included a vege dish to go with it. What a great meal.
Of course I substituted ingredients...for some reason hazelnuts are hard to find at the moment. I've tried a few places, so I substituted with cashews. My parsley supply has been gobbled by our chickens - ha! fixed them today by installing some new fencing and reclaiming our gardens. I substituted the parsley with coriander.  I also added a lime infused oil in the nut mix to bind it together adn then used this to cook the veges.

I really liked this dish. The layered potatoes and leek was really easy...in fact the whole dish was pretty easy. We will be eating it again.

Roasted fish with parsley & hazelnut crust

SERVES: 4
2 tablespoons olive oil 
4 red-skinned potatoes, washed, thinly sliced 
1 large leek, white part only, thinly sliced 
1 1⁄2 cups (375ml) gluten-free vegetable stock 
3⁄4 cup flat-leafed parsley leaves, finely chopped 
1⁄3 cup hazelnuts, roasted, finely chopped 
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest 
1 clove garlic, finely chopped 
4 (about 180g each) skinned and boned John Dory fillets 
300g brussels sprouts, thickly sliced 
1 cup frozen peas 

Preheat the oven to 220°C. Brush a roasting pan with 1 teaspoon of the oil. Layer the potatoes and leek in a thin layer over the base of the pan then drizzle with 1 cup of the stock. Bake for 20 minutes. 

Meanwhile, mix together the parsley, hazelnuts, zest, garlic and 1 1⁄2 tablespoons of the remaining oil. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Put the fish on a clean work surface. Spoon the parsley mixture evenly over one side of each fillet, using the back of the spoon to lightly press to secure. Remove the potato mixture from the oven and arrange the fish over the potato, crust side up. Return to the oven and bake for a further 6-8 minutes or until the potato is tender and the fish is just cooked.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the sprouts and fry, tossing, for 3-4 minutes or until lightly golden. Add the remaining stock and the peas and bring to the boil then cook, tossing, for 2-3 minutes or until the peas are heated through and the sprouts are tender. Taste and season. 

Spoon the potato mixture and fish on to serving plates. Serve with the sprouts mixture.

Chocolate and Pear Pudding

This was one of the daily recipes I get emailed from Mindfood magazine. I have not made any yet but since this was a Maggie Beer recipe I thought I'd give it a try.

The example in the recipe was in a deep round
dish. I made it in a rectangular dish that was more shallow.

It cooked for just over an hour and was well cooked - possibly a bit too much around the edge.

The result was a very rich and very nice dessert. The contrast of the pear was nice with the richness of the chocolate.

Chocolate and Pear Pudding

Serves 8

5 small pears (total weight 440 g)

375ml verjuice 1⁄4 cup

55g castor sugar

300g dark chocolate 70% cocoa

250g unsalted butter

4 free range eggs

2 free range egg yolks

200g brown sugar

60g plain flour, sifted

40g dutch cocoa sifted (unsweetened)

Pre-heat a fan forced oven to 160˚C.

Cut peeled pears into wedges (sixths). Cut out the core.

Over medium heat place the pear into a medium size pot. Add Verjuice and sugar and simmer 10 minutes, or until the pears are cooked.

Remove from heat and remove the pears from the syrup. Cool, then cut each piece in half.

Melt chocolate and butter over a low heat in a bowl on top of a small pot (the chocolate mustn’t come into contact with steam). Blend the chocolate and butter and cool.

Beat eggs, egg yolks and sugar in an electric mixer until thick and pale.

Stir in the chocolate mixture, then fold in flour and cocoa.

Place the pears in a large greased baking dish (20 cm x 9.5 cm). Pour in the chocolate mixture and place on a baking tray. Bake for approx. 1 hour to 1½ hours until pudding comes away from the sides and the centre should be a little gooey.

Serve warm dusted with cocoa and crème fraiche.

I found this recipe in the most recent Cuisine magazine. What appealed to me was the fact that it was pretty easy and used only one pan to make.

I had picked up an amazingly big bunch of fresh coriander from the Tauranga Farmer Market this weekend so the final deciding factor was the fact that it had lots of fresh coriander in it.

The combination of spices smelled amazing while this was cooking. It was easy and pretty quick. I did the first few steps then left it until closer to when we were going to eat.

I made a couple substitutions - peas instead of broad beans and mandarin instead of orange. I also served Isabella's before sprinkling on the coriander which I used a lot of - more like a cup than 1/4 of a cup.
I didn't have almonds so left them out but I'd get them for next time because I think the crunch would give a nice contrast. I think there could easily be a few changes to this dish and it would still be great.

This dish got rave reviews - even from Isabella (5 years). 

The coriander added great flavour and the greek yoghurt gave it a really nice zing.

I'd happily make this for guests.We will be having this again soon!

Persian Chicken Pilaf

SERVES: 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
600g skinned and boned free-range chicken thighs, cut into 3cm pieces
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1⁄2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup basmati rice, rinsed
1 1⁄2 cups (375ml) gluten-free chicken stock
zest and juice of 1 orange
4 silverbeet leaves, thinly sliced
2 cups frozen broad beans
1⁄4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1⁄2 cup Greek-style natural yoghurt
1⁄4 cup coriander leaves

Heat half the oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Add half the chicken and fry, turning, for 3 minutes or until lightly browned all over. Remove to a plate then repeat with the remaining chicken, adding more oil if necessary.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in the saucepan then add the onion and fry, stirring, for 2 minutes. 
Return the chicken to the pan, along with the cumin, turmeric, cinnamon and ginger. Cook, stirring, for 
1 minute or until fragrant. 

Add the rice, stock and orange juice to the pan. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to low and cook, covered, for 12 minutes or until the rice is tender. Remove from the heat. Top the rice mix with the silverbeet leaves then cover and set aside for 5 minutes. 

Meanwhile, cook the broad beans in a large saucepan of boiling water for 2 minutes or until tender. Drain well. Peel the broad beans, discarding the grey outer pods, so you are left with the bright green inner beans.

Use a fork to gently toss the silverbeet through the rice mix, along with the broad beans and almonds. 

Divide the pilaf among serving plates then serve topped with a dollop of yoghurt and sprinkled with the orange zest and coriander. 

Caramelised Apple Tart

My Ooooby boxes over the last few weeks have contained a lot of apples. We eat quite a few but the fruit bowl seems to be overflowing with them at the moment. I needed a dessert for dinner because a family member was coming (any excuse for dessert is a good one) and found this one.
I think it originated from a Martha Stewart recipe, so decided it would probably be quite good.

I really liked that the pastry was made in the food processor (it was so quick) and could be made in advance.
I also prepared the first two steps of the apple in advance which meant I only had to add the pasty and bake it as the final preparation.

It was pretty easy but from memory my feijoa tart tartan recipe was super easy too and these two are very similar.

Caramelised Apple Tart

INGREDIENTS

• All-purpose flour, for dusting
• Pie Dough (see below)
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6  Rome Beauty or McIntosh apples, peeled, cored, and each cut into 8 wedges

1. Directions
   
   STEP 1
   
   Preheat oven to 425 degrees. On a floured work surface, roll out pie dough to a 1/8-inch thickness (or unfold store-bought dough). Invert a 25cm plate on top of dough; trim dough around plate with a sharp paring knife to form a round (discard scraps, or save for another use). Refrigerate until needed.
2. STEP 2
   
   Assemble the tart in a 20-25cm
   
   
   
   
   
   cast-iron skillet. Press softened butter evenly into the bottom of the skillet, then sprinkle with the sugar. Arrange apple wedges in a circle around edge, then fill in the center with remaining wedges. Place skillet over medium heat, and cook until sugar mixture is light amber in color and bubbly, 8 to 10 minutes (syrup might brown unevenly).
3. STEP 3
   
   Transfer to oven; cook until apples have softened, about 30 minutes. Carefully place dough round on top; bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes more.
4. STEP 4
   
   Let cool, about 20 minutes. Run a knife around edge of skillet; invert tart onto a serving platter. Replace any apples that may have stuck to bottom of skillet; drizzle with any remaining pan juices. Serve warm or at room temperature
   
   

   
   

   Pie Dough 

   INGREDIENTS

   • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
   • 1/2 teaspoon salt
   • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
   • 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces.

   DIRECTIONS

   1. STEP 1
      
      In a food processor, pulse flour, salt, and sugar several times to combine. Add butter.
   2. STEP 2
      
      Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces remaining.
   3. STEP 3
      
      Add 2 tablespoons ice water; pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed (if needed, add up to 2 more tablespoons ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time). Do not overmix.
   4. STEP 4
      
      Turn out onto a floured work surface; knead once or twice, until dough comes together. Flatten dough into a disk; wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Greek Yoghurt Pancakes

The little person in our house loves pancakes. We have tried a few different recipes and the ones that have butter milk or some kind of dairy ingredient seem to be the best.

I found this recipe on Pintrest and am really glad we gave it a try.
The greek yoghurt was made in our yoghurt maker so was quite cheap.

The batter is really think and needs quite a long time to cook. The end result is a soft fluffy pancake.
I made some with frozen berries and some plain which we ate with Maple syrup.

Greek Yogurt Pancakes

Ingredients

• 350ml of  Greek yogurt
• 2 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking soda

Instructions

1. Open the yogurt container and stir the yogurt until it’s smooth and creamy. Crack an egg over the yogurt and stir to combine leaving. The resulting mixture should be pale yellow in color and have a few lumps here and there.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and baking soda.
3. Pour yogurt/egg mixture into the bowl with the flour and baking soda. Stir to combine. The batter will be extremely thick.
4. Spoon the batter onto a sprayed griddle or pan heated to medium-high. I usually make four big pancakes, but you could also make 8 smaller ones.
5. Flip the pancakes when they start to bubble a bit on the surface. Cook until golden brown on both sides and serve with butter, syrup, fruit, Nutella….anything! Enjoy!