Wednesday 25 April 2012

Anzac Cake

Many years ago I happened to watch the cooking portion of an episode of Better Homes & Gardens just prior to Anzac Day, and Fast Ed was cooking Anzac Day Cake (rather than biscuits).  Feeling inspired, I scribbled down the recipe, which is lucky as I haven't been able to track down a recipe on the BH&G website. 

INGREDIENTS
melted butter for greasing
caster sugar for dusting
125g unsalted butter
250g golden syrup
6 eggs
120g self raising flour
120g rolled oats
150g dessicated coconut
80g icing sugar

METHOD
Preheat oven to 170c,line and grease a 23cm round cake tin,dust with caster sugar.

Melt butter and golden syrup in small pan over a low heat.Set aside to cool slightly,then beat in eggs.

Combine flour,oats,coconut and icing sugar in a bowl,stir in butter mixture.Spoon into prepared tin and bake for 20-25 mins or until a skewer inserted in centre comes out clean.

It being Anzac Day today, I decided to whip one up!

Wednesday 18 April 2012

(Friday Night Dinner) Tom Turtle

Time for dessert - ice cream cubes, a novelty, though you don't end up with much ice cream!

Flavours - peanut butter & jelly, creme brulee, pear & caramel and sweet corn.

(Friday Night Dinner) Trippy Tacos

Well, it was actually on Saturday...but it was delicious regardless of the day (check it out here).

Happy Birthday Uncle Rob!

2 layers of plain vanilla cake (from Cookery the Australian Way), covered in Duncan Hines vanilla frosting (after a swiss meringue buttercream epic fail) and crushed nuts.

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Lamb Shanks

Before I let G launch into his guest post, just wanted to give a shout out (and thanks) to my friend The Shy Lion who was kind enough to award me (and 14 other bloggers) the Versatile Blogger award!

G here, guesting on this venerable blog after a long absence  I am doing such because I am rather chuffed with myself after cooking some lamb shanks that were delicious.

Used a Jamie recipe, he's a big fave on this blog is old James. We had some lamb shanks in the freezer which we had bought a while ago, when spring lamb was at it's best and cheapest.  It's pretty simple too, as most of Jamie's stuff is.

Make some herby butter with rosemary, sage and thyme, salt and pepper.  Make a little pocket next to the bone to stuff the butter down into the heart of the meat.  Messy and yum.all at once.
 
 
Chop up some leek, carrot, onion and whole garlic cloves.  On a fairly large sheet of foil, place the vegies and a bit of the butter in a mound in the middle.  Place some oiled up shank on top, the handle straight up, and tightly gather up the foil around the shank.  As you seal it up, pour some white wine in to the packet of awesomeness for braising liquid and extra flavour

Cook on 180 for about 2 to 2.5 hours and serve in the parcels.  I served it up with some oven chips which had cooked with dried rosemary and salt on top.  Use the chips to soak up some of the liquid and to smoosh into the garlic cloves
 
Delish!

Saturday 7 April 2012

Monday 2 April 2012

Lunch at Red Spice Road

Towards the end of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, G and I went to Red Spice Road for a restaurant express lunch - that is, 2 courses, a glass of (Victorian) wine and a coffee.

At Red Spice Road, we had a banquet - turmeric chicken, wagyu salad and pork belly with black vinegar sauce followed by a passion fruit creme and coconut sorbet, all truly delicious!