Apple and cinnamon tea cake

A few years ago I received a Donna Hay cookbook from an electricity company that I had recently switched to. It is entitled Simple Essentials: Fruit, that contained various recipes for summer fruits. I was thrilled about getting this cookbook and thought, wow, I could really whip up some beauties. Not sure if this was a thank you gift from the company or was it a secret inducement for me to cook more, which in turn would increase my use of electricity and thus my electricity bill would soar. Conspiracy! It was not to be. It was then to lie abandoned in my kitchen draw to be eventually claimed by my daughter as her own. I would not look into this cookbook to seriously consider making anything for two further years.

The years rolled by, I had turned greyer, my children had grown taller and my husband pretty much stayed the same. He is ageless. The kids and I were to head over to their friends place and at first I thought, I told myself I need to get something for them as a thank you gift. Then I thought, what would be better was for me to cook something that would show I did appreciate the invite. I had a recipe that I had my eye on for the past two week and so I made it today. Here is an apple and cinnamon tea cake from Donna Hay.

The ingredients

185 grams softened butter

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2/3 cups caster sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups of plain flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

1/3 cup of milk

Topping

4 small green apples

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup apricot jam, warm

The method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

Place the butter, cinnamon and sugar in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and creamy.

Gradually, one by one, add the eggs and beat well.

Sift the flour and baking powder over the butter mixture and add the milk, stirring until combined.

Line the base of a spring-form tin with non-stick baking paper and spoon in the mixture.

For the topping, cut a row of deep slits in each apple half and arrange on the top of the cake. I used two apples as they were too big and there was no way 8 apple halves would have fitted on top of the cake.

Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and then sprinkle over the apples. Place it in the oven and bake it for 50 minutes. Then remove the cake from the oven and brush the cake with warm jam and then return it to the oven for a further ten minutes. Then your cake is ready to eat.

I had some issues with removing it from the pan as the baking paper had finished. I had to turn it upside down on a plate, remove the baking pan's bottom and then put it upright on another plate. A small part of it got stuck to the plate and so the pictures below are when the cake was untouched, still stuck to the pan.

Valentine Raspberry cocktails

Give me a cocktail over wine and beer any day. I am definitely not a beer and wine person. I like to mix random things to create pretty colours and sweet yummy tastes. This valentines, hubby return early from work. So I made a drink that embraced the colour of love, which was kindly donated by raspberries. I added vodka and lift and created the following drink. It was not the greatest taste. Raspberries were too bitter and there were too many of them. I would have love to add some mint and coconut liqueur but had none. Would they have gone together? Who know, but you won't know without trying. Here is my drink of love.

Ice cubes embracing the love

Chocolate Dipped Cappuccino Biscotti

I have really never tried biscotti before, well not that I can really remember having this Italian treat. So I thought why not make it, then I would have tried it and would know something about this twice baked biscuit. So I launched the computer, loaded Google and with great fussiness I selected a recipe. It combined two of my favorite flavors, coffee and cinnamon and it was to be dipped in chocolate. Ohhhhh yumminess. It could then be eaten with a cup of coffee. Double yumminess. I actually dipped only the one slice in chocolate and the others I left without. Why, I just did not really feel like melting chocolate. A moment of laziness, though it does not pay to be lazy when cooking. Though had a pretty full weekend and it was Sunday and I went out shopping for half of the day and only had the afternoon left. The afternoon then would consist of getting the gang ready for Monday, so there was not much time for me to sit down and do nothing. Hence cranky lady. Saturday is a day for things you have to do and then Sunday is a day to get ready for Monday. Monday results in Mondayitis. Okay, that is enough of my ranting. 

Okay, it is time for the recipe and the lovely shots of my progress. My finished product will be displayed and I tried to get a tad be creative with its presentation. Perhaps I should quit will I am ahead, well maybe behind. Anyway here it is.

The ingredients

1 cup toasted and chopped hazelnuts

1 3/4 cup of flour

3/4 cup of sugar

1 tablespoon of instant coffee powder

1 tablespoon of ground cinammon

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup of margarine

2 large egss

Chocolate coating for dipping

The method

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray with baking paper.

In a bowl combine the flour, sugar, coffee, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the margarine and combine the margarine with your fingers until it forms coarse crumbs.  Stir in the nuts and eggs.

On an floured surface, allow the mixture to form a log. 

Place it on the baking tray and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove it from the oven and cool for 20 minutes. Then with a serrate knife the log into 3/4 inch thick slices. Return the biscotti to the oven and baked for 15 minutes.

 

Remove it from the oven and allow the biscotti to cool. In a double boiler melt the chocolate and when smooth dip one side of the biscotti into the chocolate. Refrigerate the biscotti until the chocolate is set. This is the step that I missed but they were divine regardless. 

Gazpacho

Well, it has been rather warm this past week in Sydney. Cooking meant converting your kitchen into a sauna and the meat was not the only one that was getting marinated. While the meal was being cooked, baked, deep fried, you were being marinated in you own sweat. Not a good image, so pardon my crassness and potentially putting you off food for a moment.

This is not the greatest span of above 35 degree Celsius temperatures I experienced. Many years ago, I experienced an Indian summer. The monsoon rains did not reach New Delhi that year. The evening temperature did not drop below 30 degrees on most nights. Each and everyday hit 46 degrees Celsius for two months before the temperature finally started to creep downwards. It was a dry heat and there was very little wind. Going outside only meant a hasty retreat indoors. I tried to combat the heat by crunching on ice cubes, guzzling down ice cold water and putting wet towels that I put in the freezer on my head. There was no air conditioning and we had coolers, I believe is what they called them that cooled the air as it past through the machine. Here in Sydney I tried to combat the heat by not cooking, sandwiches were my best friend and I actually looked forward to going to work to be in air conditioning. The last point... an exaggeration. I remembered a Spanish soup that I have heart about but never cooked, that was perfect to make during the warm summer months. Gazpacho.It is a cold vegetable soup served cold that requires no pan, no oven.

The ingredients

5 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

5 garlic cloves, minced

2 Lebanese cucumbers, seeded and diced

1 red onion, thinly sliced

1 ripe avocado, peeled and diced

4 cups of chicken stock

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

2 tablespoons chopped parsely

4 tablespoons chopped cilantro

salt and pepper to taste

half a cup of extra-virgin olive oil

The method

Combine all the vegetables in a bowl.

Add the stock, lemon juice, olive oil and vinegar and stir.

Add the fresh herbs and season with salt and pepper. Chill the soup in the fridge and served cold. 

The perfect cool refresher for a hot day with no need for a heated, stuffy kitchen.

Lamb Roast

Warning, this is not a recipe to cook on those hot days that Sydney has been experiencing lately.

The lamb roast was always a special Sunday lunch as a grew up. My parents labored away, preparing the lamb, battling with the pumpkin and peeling the potatoes. This was a two hour preparation including cooking time and then my favorite Sunday lunch was ready. I had my lamb with horseradish cream, like wasabi, use to clear out my nostrils. The lamb had garlic in it. I love the cooked soft garlic that left me with some degree of garlic breath. I had my crunchy roasted potatoes. I did not have the pumpkin. I have not be inclined towards pumpkin since I can remember and I even tried it recently. The taste did not agree with me and neither can I tolerate it.

I had a few days off  from work just recently. I became rather ambitious a few days prior to my much too short break to make a lamb roast, with roasted potatoes, pumpkin, sweet potato. Also some green beans on the side. I had doubts in my mind if I could really get away with it. All those years my parents made roast lamb, what was I doing? Sitting around, reading books, writing, drawing, studying. I was rather the somewhat the creative sort way back when. That is pretty much all gone now. So I cursed myself for not paying more attention to my parents roast lamb all those years ago.

Here is the meal that I created. I will not do I step by step picture process for this one. The recipe I used is below and then further down, another image of the creation.

The ingredients

A leg of lamb, which ever size you require

1/4 cup of olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

6 unwashed potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters

1 kilo of butternut pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cut into desired size

1 sweet potato

400 grams of green beans

The method

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. With the lamb in a roasting pan season it with salt and pepper. Rub it over with some olive oil. Make 1 cm deep silts in the lamb and insert the garlic. I used about 7 garlic cloves, love garlic. When I was a teen and had lots of time on my hands which did not require me to go out. I would have garlic bread with practically raw garlic. I had bad breath for days and so do not do that anymore. Also, this is the step where my daughter told me that the leg of lamb looks disgusting. A week later she told me that she was having thoughts about becoming and vegetarian. Perhaps that thought grew from me telling her if she would like to become when she grew older.

After 15 minutes of roasting the lamb in the oven reduce the temperature to 180 degrees Celsius. Now the time required in roasting the lamb varies on how rare or well done you want it to be. I am no expert on this. I like my meat cooked well done, burnt, well no not really. I read on a website that I cannot recall, that if you skewer it and the juices run clear then it is well done. 

Now on a separate baking tray, place the potato, pumpkin and sweet potato on it and brush them with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place them in the oven so as to time it with the removal on the lamb. They should take about 40 minutes. Leave them a touch longer if you want you potatoes crispy. 

Meanwhile, I pan friend the green beans with some olive oil and salt until soft.

When done, remove the lamb and the vegetables from the oven and allow the lamb to rest. Carve the lamb and serve with the vegetables.

It was not as good as my parents but I am somewhat impressed with myself on my first attempt. The lamb was not as well done as I would have liked, lets say it was medium well, if there is such a thing. The vegetables were fine.