White Bean Salad with Haloumi, Asparagus and Seared Tomatoes

I have had haloumi in the fridge for ages and really needed to use it and wanted a recipe with asparagus  since it is in season at the moment. This recipe was pretty easy to make and the end result was good.
I'd use more lemon next time and make sure the haloumi is served at room temperature. I served it cold from the fridge which was not ideal.





White Bean Salad with Haloumi, Asparagus and Seared Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 C of cooked white beans (or a 400g can, rinsed and drained)
• 1/4 C roughly chopped fresh mint leaves
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 1/2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 6 asparagus spears, woody ends removed
• 6 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 100g haloumi cheese, drained and sliced

Method

1. In a large bowl combine beans, mint leaves, lemon zest, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of olive oil and toss to combine. Divide among 2 serving plates.
2. Place asparagus and cherry tomatoes on a large plate, coat with ½ a tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper.
3. Heat remaining oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add sliced haloumi and fry for a couple of minutes, turning halfway through, until golden on either side. Remove haloumi from pan and place onto a paper towel to drain. Add asparagus spears and cherry tomatoes to the hot pan and cook, turning occasionally, for 4-5 minutes or until asparagus is bright green and just beginning to char.
4. Place a few haloumi slices, asparagus spears and cherry tomato halves on top of each portion of white beans, and serve with a lemon wedge to the side.

Refrigerator Cucumber Salad

As summer nears I'm on the look out for salads. This one appealed because it lasts in the fridge for up to 2 months...if it has the chance.
Our evening meals in summer are usually eaten outside and usually have a variety of salads to select from so this will be ideal.

I used my mandolin to slice the veges thinly - it was really quick and easy.
I only made a half recipe, but this made a lot.









Refrigerator Cucumber Salad

4 thinly sliced cucumbers 1-large  sliced red onions 1-large  sliced green bell  peppers (or color of your choice) 1-tbsp salt 2-cup white vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar) 1 1/2-cups sugar (I missed this out altogether) 1-tsp celery flakes 1-tsp red pepper flakes (I used chilli flakes) Mix cucumbers, onions, peppers and salt; set a side. Put vinegar, sugar, celery flakes and pepper flakes  in a pot and bring to a boil. Once mixture comes to a boil remove from heat and  add 2 handfuls of ice until melted. Place all veggies in large mouth canning jars (2 quarts or 1 half gallon jar) Pour mixture over cucumbers,  store in refrigerator. Will keep up to 2 months Makes 2 quart jars- amount will differ based on the size of your veggies. I made mine with fresh from the garden so they may have been smaller than store bought.

Butterflied Spiced Roast Chicken

This recipe came from my most recent Cuisine Magazine. It always has a 'Quick Smart' section which gives simple quick recipes by one of my favourite NZ chefs Ray McVinnie.
While it doesn't look fantastic in the photos it was really nice and quick and easy to prepare.

Butterflied Spiced Roast Chicken

Cut down each side of the backbone of a whole chicken and open it out flat.
Place in a roasting dish skin side up and rub with crushed garlic, ground cumin and cinnamon, chilli flakes, salt and extra virgin olive oil.
Roast for 1 hour at 200 degrees C then serve.

Individual Lemon Delicious Puddings

I've tried a lemon delicious pudding before but it didn't go so well. I think it had something to do with doubling the recipe?
This one however was a success!
The recipe made 8 of the little glass jars I use for desserts, although I would fill them more next time. The mixture didn't rise much.
The dessert was enjoyed by all who ate it, and by me the next night eaten cold from the fridge!

Easy, quick and yummy. I would make this again!

Individual Lemon Delicious Puddings

• 150g butter, melted
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1 1/4 cups SPLENDA® Granular
• 3/4 cup self-raising flour
• 1 cup milk
• 4 eggs, separated
• Icing sugar mixture, to dust
  
  • Method
  1. Step 1
     Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease six 1 cup-capacity ovenproof dishes.
  2. Step 2
     Place butter, rind, juice, SPLENDA®, flour, milk and egg yolks in a large bowl. Whisk to combine.
  3. Step 3
     Using an electric mixer, beat eggwhites until soft peaks form. Fold one-quarter of the eggwhite into lemon mixture until combined. Gently fold in remaining eggwhite.
  4. Step 4
     Spoon mixture into prepared dishes. Place dishes in a large baking dish. Pour boiling water into baking dish until halfway up sides of smaller dishes. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden and just set. Dust with icing sugar. Serve.

John's Birthday Cake(s)

My husband John turned 50 about 2 weeks ago. To celebrate we gathered friends and family at our favourite local Japanese Restaurant - Taiko.

Despite things being pretty crazy for us at the moment - John is about to deploy with the Army to South Sudan for six months and some health issues for me, I wanted to do something special for a cake for him.


When I first met John he worked for Apple New Zealand - his job description was 'Apple Evangelist'. In my career Apple computers have been a very important tool. Apple products are pretty important to all of our family. My idea for a cake was to use the 'Apple' logo as inspiration. I hunted on 'Pintrest' for ideas and found some good ones. Several years ago the Apple logo had rainbow stripes...this seemed like a great idea.

I purchased coloured fondant icing for the cake. The colours were not exactly right but it looked good. Luckily I had my Mum helping. The icing took far far longer than I expected! We measured the stripes of the icing, but the stretched when we lifted them on to the cake.
I used butter cream icing over the cake before laying over the fondant. The cake was made using my failsafe banana cake recipe with chocolate chips added.



I was a little unsure how many people I was feeding so decided to supplement the cake with 'camouflage' cupcakes as a 'nod' to the importance of the Army in

his life.
To make the cupcakes I just coloured basic cupcake mixture and added a bit at a time to create the pattern.



Butter Cream Icing

125 g softened butter
1 tbsp warm milk
flavouring of your choice
colouring of your choice
375 g icing sugar


Put the butter, milk and any flavour or colour in a mixing bowl or use food processor. Sift in the icing sugar a little at a time and beat well between each addition until it has all been incorporated and the mixture is light and creamy.

Slow Cooker Duck with White Beans and Chorizo

Duck isn't something I have a lot of experience cooking. I often order it when we go out and really enjoy it. When my last Cuisine magazine arrived with a recipe that was both 'slow cooker' and 'duck' I decided to give it a go.
The dish was really nice and it was pretty easy to make.
I'll make it again.







Slow Cooker Duck with White Beans and Chorizo
SERVES: 4Cook delicious winter meals using a slow cooker.

olive oil for cooking
4 duck legs
2 onions, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
250g fresh hot chorizo (I used Chorizos Garcia), sliced
1⁄4 cup red wine
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
2 cups chicken stock
400g can chopped tomatoes in juice
1 bay leaf
1⁄4 teaspoon bittersweet
Spanish smoked paprika
400g can butter beans (or use El Navarrico large butter beans), drained, rinsed
1 tablespoon chopped sweet marjoram or oregano leaves
potatoes cooked in duck fat and wilted cabbage to serve

Preheat the slow cooker for 20 minutes.

Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Add a dash of oil then slowly brown the duck legs on both sides. This should take about 10 minutes and allows the fat to render down.Remove the duck legs and set aside.

Drain off all but 1⁄2 tablespoon of the fat (allow the drained duck fat to cool, then use for roasting potatoes in).
Add the onions and garlic to the pan and fry until soft and golden. Transfer to the slow cooker.

Add the chorizo to the pan and fry until browned. Transfer to the slow cooker, along with the browned duck.

Pour the wine and vinegar into the frying pan and bring to the boil, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add the stock, tomatoes, bay leaf and paprika. Bring slowly to the boil then pour into the slow cooker. Cook on High for 3 hours.

Add the beans and half the chopped herbs to the slow cooker then continue to cook on Low for a further 1 hour.

Sprinkle with the remaining herbsthen serve with potatoes and cabbage.

In the oven 

Follow the recipe, transferring all the panfried ingredients to a casserole dish rather than the slow cooker, then cook, covered, at 150°C-160°C for 2 hours

Slow Cooker Whole Lemon Chicken

I've seen loads of whole chicken recipes for slow cookers and have always been a dubious. After all part of the attraction of a whole roasted chicken is the browned crispy skin.

I decided to give one a go this weekend and found the results really good. No the skin was not crispy and brown, but the meat was really succulent and the lemon used to cook with gave it a really nice flavour.

As usual my 'slow cooker' was too fast! When the recipe said X hours, I reduced it to about 4 and it possibly could have had a little less.

This would be a good recipe for cooking chicken that will be used cold for lunches or salads. We had it hot with gravy which was nice too although I took the skin off mine because it was too pale looking.

I also added potatoes and jerusalem artichokes to the slow cooker to make sure I had most of the meal cooked at once.

Slow Cooker Lemon Garlic Chicken

Ingredients

• 4 lemons
• 2-3 heads of garlic
• 1 whole chicken 
• Fresh rosemary, or any fresh herbs
• All-purpose steak seasoning or salt and pepper (I used smoked garlic salt)

Instructions

1. Cut garlic heads and lemons in half and lay in bottom of slow cooker.
2. Cut the bottoms off the lemons so they lay flat.
3. Add a sprig of rosemary, or any herbs.
4. Remove insides from chicken, rinse chicken and pat dry.
5. Season chicken well, inside and out, with all-purpose steak seasoning or salt and pepper.
6. Lay chicken on top of garlic and lemon slices and stuff the chicken with a garlic head cut in half, and a lemon cut in quarters.
7. Cover top of chicken with additional lemon slices and rosemary.
8. Turn slow cooker to high, and cook for about 4 hours, or until chicken reaches 165 degrees.
9. Slow cooker cooking times vary.
10. Important: Use a meat thermometer to check for doneness.
11. When chicken has reached 165, turn off slow cooker and let chicken rest for about 15 minutes.
12. Remove from slow cooker, carve and serve.
13. Liquid from slow cooker can be strained and served over chicken.