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).

Retro and Delicious - Prawn Cocktail

Isabella and I often have sushi for lunch while out shopping. Earlier this week she had sushi and I had prawns and salmon with a seafood sauce. It got me thinking about how much I loved prawn cocktails as a child. It was a real treat although they were usually small tinned shrimps rather than large prawns we had. I even bought ice-burg lettuce for the base.

We all loved this as a started with Isabella gobbling as much as the rest of us and asking for more.









Chopped ice-burg and rocket
Sliced and chopped tomato
Large cold cooked prawns
Thousand Island dressing
Coriander
Fresh lime to squeeze over
Salt and pepper.

Feijoa Butterscotch Self-Saucing Sticky Pudding

Yes, it's feijoa season and I'm on the look out for new feijoa recipes.
This one worked well, but probably promised a it
more than it delivered. It was nice to have individual puddings and it is probably a good way to ensure portion control - something we are not so good at in our house!
It was really, really easy to make and the result was good. Next time I'd probably slightly reduce the amount of feijoa in each pudding and slightly reduce the boiling water added in the last stage.
My oven suffered a bit from the overflow of sauce.

We had them with runny cream which soaked in well.

FEIJOA BUTTERSCOTCH SELF-SAUCING STICKY PUDDINGS

Ingredients

• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 100 gm butter melted
• 3 tablespoons golden syrup
• 6 large feijoas, halved
• 6 tablespoons extra brown sugar
• ½ cup boiling water
• icing sugar to dust

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Coat 6 one-cup capacity oven proof ramekins or small pudding bowls with non-stick baking spray.
2. Place the first measure of brown sugar, the flour, milk, egg and vanilla and melted butter in a food processor and mix until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl so the mixture is thoroughly combined.
3. Pour equal amounts of the golden syrup into the bottom of each ramekin. Scoop out the feijoa pulp, keeping it intact, and slice into each ramekin. Pour the batter over the top of the feijoa, filling each ramekin to just three-quarters full. Sprinkle each pudding with a tablespoon of extra brown sugar, then gently pour ¼ cup of boiling water into each ramekin. Do not mix the water in, just carefully pour it on top.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the puddings have risen and are firm, set and golden brown. Serve immediately with a dusting of icing sugar and, if desired, a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Slow Cooker - Sugared Cinnamon Almonds

This recipe has been catching my eye so I decided to give it a go. It seemed to good to be true...but it really works and the end result is fantastic. I made half the recipe just in case it was a disaster. They seemed to cook faster than the recipe said but I left them in for the full time.

I'm now keen to experiment a bit and try adding different spices. I think a slight hint of chilli would be great with the sweetness.

These will be an ideal Christmas gift.






Slow Cooker - Sugared Cinnamon Almonds

4 Cups whole raw almonds

2 Egg WHITE

1 Tablespoon Vanilla

1 Cup Brown Sugar

1/2 C. Granulated sugar

2 Tablespoons Cinnamon

Dash Salt

Gather your ingredients and spray the stoneware of your large crock pot with cooking spray.

In a medium sized bowl, blend sugars, cinnamon, and salt.

In a large bowl, whisk together egg whites and vanilla until good and frothy.

Add almonds.

Toss until the almonds are very well coated with the egg mixture. Add Sugars and stir to coat the almonds thoroughly.

Dump the almonds into your slow cooker and cook on low for about or up to 3 hours (this varies by slow cooker. for this batch, mine went for just under 2 hours before I removed them), mixing every 20 minutes or so. It’s important to mix your almonds fairly often because nuts tend to burn easily due to their high oil content. The sugars can also burn.

Once the almonds have finished cooking, I spread them out onto a baking sheet to cool. As they are cooling, I like to break them up a bit with a wooden spoon as they tend to clump together.

Greek Slow Cooker Chicken

Thanks http://www.mommiecooks.com for the picture

I love the combination of garlic and lemon so this recipe looked like a good one to try. That coupled with the fact that my oven is not working other than to grill prompted me to give this one a try.
My picture didn't look so good, so I've used the one from the site I found it on
. I guess we are used to beautifully browned chicken and the slow cooker doesn't do that so well.
The recipe was easy and in my slow cooker cooked faster than the time listed in the recipe.
I'll be making this one again. Possibly preparing in advance freezing then cooking while I'm at work.

Greek Inspired Slow Cooker Chicken

1 Lemon, Juiced
4 Garlic Cloves, Minced
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1/2 Cup White Wine
1/4 Cup Chicken Broth
1 tsp Dill
1 tsp Rosemary
1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Whole Chicken, Broken into it's Respective Pieces

Directions:

Add all the ingredients with the exception of the chicken to the marinade.

Mix up well.

Add in the chicken and coat all the pieces completely.

Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 4 to 6 hours.

Serve over noodles with sauce from the slow cooker spooned over the noodles and a little feta and olives for good measure.