Belgium Biscuits

This one is an old favourite that Mum used to make. They are a little bit time consuming but soooo worth the effort.
Today's version are for the school 'cake sale' tomorrow so are not really decorated traditionally...and to be honest I think didn't look anything near as good as they should but I bet the children will love them.

I called Mum to get the recipe and instead of writing it out checked against my trusty 'Edmonds Recipe Book' and the recipe was the same.

I made these quite small - I used a very small wine tasting glass to cut them out. They don't need to be big because you get two as part of the finished biscuit.

Belguim Biscuits

Ingredients

126 g butter
75g Soft Brown Sugar
1teaspoon cinnamon
1teaspoon mixed spice
1teaspoon ground ginger
1 egg
225g flour
1teaspoon baking powder
raspberry jam 

 Icing Sugar (for the icing only)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C, cream butter and Chelsea sugar together. Add all the dry ingredients to the butter and Chelsea Soft Brown sugar. Mix it all together. Cut out circles (but have an even number!)
Bake on a cold greased tray and bake them for 15-20 mins. When brown, take out of oven and leave to cool. When the biscuits are cold, put together with raspberry jam in the middle.

Boil the jug, put about 1/4 - 1/2 a cup of icing Chelsea sugar in a bowl and then add a tiny amount of hot water. don't put too much otherwise it will be runny! it has to be runny enough to spread.

Put the icing on the top of the biscuits, sprinkle with jelly crystals or hundreds and thousands.

Green Tea Salmon and Coconut Rice

We watched this on Jamie Oliver's 15 minute meals several weeks ago and liked the look of it. After a trip to Auckland Fish Market today where we bought salmon it seemed like a good opportunity to give it a go.
While it took more than the '15 minutes' promised it is a good one to add to our repertoire.

When we saw it on TV Jamie only used a couple of tea bags. I used a lot...possibly too many.

The coconut rice was ok but not all of the family liked it so it probably wont be one we make again.

Green Tea Salmon and Coconut Rice

4 x 120g salmon fillets, skin-on

2 green tea bags

Olive oil

Salt / pepper

400g tin of coconut milk

300g basmati rice

½ lemon

method

1. Fill and boil the kettle
2. Place the salmon onto a plate, open the green tea bags and shake the green tea over the salmon. Season with salt and pepper and make sure the salmon is evenly coated on all sides.
3. Pour a small amount of olive oil into a frying pan over a medium heat and place the salmon in the pan, skin side down. Fry the skin side for at least four minutes then periodically turn the salmon until it is golden brown on the other sides.
4. Wash the rice thoroughly until the water runs clear then add it to a saucepan with the coconut milk, 400g water (refill the coconut milk tin) and half a lemon. Bring the water to a boil then place a lid on the saucepan and turn the heat all the way down. Cook for 10 minutes then turn off the heat.

Pear Liqueur and Pear Garden Cocktail

A few too many pears got me searching for a recipe to use them, I came across this one for a Pear Liqueur. Simple, probably lethal and very very yummy.

The finished liqueur has a subtle pear smell and is quite brown and cloudy but used in the cocktail below is amazing.
I had intended to make just one round but one was just not enough. I didn't met any resistance from the others drinking them with me.

The lemon juice cut through the sweetness of the other ingredients.
I used supermarket cranberry drink which was probably a bit too sweet. I'd use unsweetened pure juice next time.

The sugar syrup was made in a hurry but putting half a cup of sugar and half a cup of water in the microwave for 3 minutes, then stirring while hot. I left it to cool and it was perfect.

Because we don't use 'oz' measurements I just treated each as a part or measure using the measure that came with our cocktail shaker.


Pear Liqueur

1.5 lbs. pears ripe (.68kg)
750ml vodka (cheap is good)

Peel, seed, and stem the pears. Cut them into 1″ pieces and place in a large glass container (at least a half gallon – I doubled the recipe). Pour the vodka into the glass container. Seal tightly and shake the jar. Place the jar in a cool, dark location for one week. Strain the pear out and then let sit for another 2 weeks.

Pear Garden Cocktail

2 oz (part/measure) pear liqueur (which you just happily made)
1 oz (part/measure) cranberry juice
1/2 oz (part/measure) Crème de Cassis (black currant liqueur)
1 oz (part/measure) lemon juice
1 oz (part/measure) simple syrup (1:1 sugar:water – dissolve sugar, bring to boil for a minute, let cool)
pear, for garnish (optional)

Place martini glass in freezer. Pour everything except the pear garnish into a shaker, fill with ice, and shake until cold. Strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with pear slice and other fruity things.

Lemon Chicken with Cannellini Beans and Rosemary

I'm on the look out for low calorie meals at the moment. This one looked pretty easy and was one of those recipes that uses things you have in the house usually.
It was really really nice and full of flavour. I will be making this again soon.
The sauce had an amazing lemony, tomato flavour with a hint of rosemary. The beans worked really well with it too.
The other bonus is that it was really quick.
I served it with steamed vegetables and rissoni for the family members not being so careful about calorie intake!


(This recipe serves two people, so a total of 550 calories on the recipe, 275 calories per person)

Lemon Chicken with Cannellini Beans and Rosemary

Ingredients

• low-fat cooking spray
• 200g chicken breast fillets, skinless and cut into small pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon rosemary leaves, finely chopped and woody stem discarded
• juice and zest of 1 small lemon
• 1 x 400g tin of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 200g cherry tomatoes, halved (I used crushed tomatoes)
• 100ml vegetable stock (I used stock concentrate and made it really strong)
• 2 tablespoons low-fat plain Bio-yoghurt (I didn't add the yoghurt)
• salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

Step 1	Heat a large frying pan that has a lid, or a wok and then spray with low-fat cooking spray. Season the chicken breast pieces and then fry for 5 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.
Step 2	Add the garlic and cumin seeds and stir around the pan until the spices smell fragrant, then add the rosemary, lemon juice and zest, beans, tomatoes, stock and seasoning and stir to combine them all.
Step 3	Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
Step 4	Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a minute or two before adding the yoghurt, stir well and serve in warmed bowls.

One of the Disasters

Macaroons are a favourite of my 5 year old Isabella. As it has been a wet weekend I suggested we make some. My previous attempts have been really successful but today was one of those days when things just didn't work out.
Our finished product turned out more like chewy meringues...but looked cute. Like a macaroon? No.

Our neighbours got some as will some of the teachers in Isabella's 'team' at school tomorrow.

I think this will require some further investigation and experimentation!

Fish Pie with Slow Cooker Mashed Potato

I've had this mashed potato recipe pinned on 'Pintrest' for a while and was interested to give it a try.
It worked really well. I'm not sure it is a better option to boiling the potatoes but worth having as an option. The recipe said to leave the skins on. I decided not to as the mashed potato was topping a fish pie.
I used a Manuka smoke infused salt from Prenzel in the potato to bring a smokey flavour into the dish. I really like fish pie using smoked fish but today had fresh fish to use.
I let the potato cool a bit and the consistency changed a lot. I'd keep it hot int he future to keep the creamy consistency.

The fish pie recipe is from 'Food Gawker'...an Irish Fish Pie. Maybe because it had leeks in it? I added capscuim to increase the vege quota in the dish.

The final product was good. It took a while but I did it bit by bit over several hours while doing other things.

Mashed Potatoes in a Crock Pot 

• 1kg potatoes
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter, cut into chunks
• 1/2 tablespoon salt, plus
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup milk, warmed

1. Place the potatoes, water, and butter into a slow cooker.
2. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Cover, and cook on High for 4 hours.
4. Do not remove the excess water from slow cooker. This adds to the creamy texture.
5. Mash potatoes with a masher or electric beater, adding the desired amount of warm milk to achieve a creamy consistency.
6. Keep warm on low until serving.
7. Potatoes keep consistency for a couple of hours after mashing. Just keep the lid on the slow cooker and serve directly from there.

Fish Pie

Ingredients: 

750 gr white sea fish fillets 
2 large leeks ,chopped
2 strips orange rind 
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
6 peppercorns
2 bay leaves
6 parsley stalks
2 1/2 cups milk + extra 2 tbsp milk 
30 gr butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp flour

Use potato recipe above or...

1 kg potatoes
pepper, salt to taste
1 tsp ground sweet paprika 

Place fish fillets in a pan, add 1/ 2 of one leek, orange rind, nutmeg, parsley,bay leaves, peppercorns. 

Pour in milk and simmer over a low heat for about 15 minutes.  

Carefully remove fish fillets, strain liquid and reserve for a sauce. 

Melt butter in a pan, add garlic and rest of leeks. Cook over a low heat for about 7 minutes . 

Remove half of cooked leek mixture and reserve. 

Sprinkle flour over remaining mixture in the pan and blend unit smooth. 

Add reserved poach milk in a pan and stir until mixture comes to boil and thickens. Cut fish into chunky pieces and fold gently through the sauce. 

Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Use potato recipe above or...

Add reserved leek mixture and 2 tbsp milk  to mashed potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Pour fish sauce into shallow casserole  dish. Top with potato leek mixture. Sprinkle with paprika. 

Bake at 200°C for 20 minutes or until potato topping is golden brown.
Enjoy!

Feijoa Ginger Sponge Pudding

Our feijoa crop is nearly over. A very limited amount of fruit due tot he drought we experienced over summer this year. I was still determined to get a few new feijoa recipes made though.

We are all quite keen on ginger so this recipe seemed like a good one to try. It was either that or a feijoa cobber which is a real family favourite.

This recipe was a hit with the family and our dinner guest. It will be one I make again although in a smaller dish to ensure the sponge topping is a bit thicker...or maybe I will double the sponge?
The topping is a little bit like a ginger steamed pudding.





Feijoa Ginger Sponge Pudding

2 1/2 cups peeled and chopped feijoas
125 g brown sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tspn ground ginger
50 g butter
125g golder syrup
1 egg, beaten
75g g=flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger

Mix together feijoa, brow sugar, lemon juice and ginger and spread evenly across the base of a buttered baking dish about 20cm diameter.
Bake at 180 degrees C for about 15 minutes.
While fruit is cooking, cream butter and golden syrup in a food processor and blend in the egg.
Add flour, baking powder and ginger and process until combined.
Spread the sponge mixture evenly over the hot feijoa and bake for about 30 minutes or until the sponge topping is cooked through.
serve still warm with whipped cream (I used ice cream).