Friday night dinner: ajisen ramen

I miss Japan!

Happy Birthday Rhonda

A rainbow fish made out of cupcakes using this tutorial.

Happy Birthday to me!

Burnt butter caramel slice

Thanks to this recipe from Cook Republic.

Biscuit base

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

1/2 cup brown sugar

125g butter, melted

Mix together, pour into lined lamington tin and bake until golden. 

Caramel topping

1/3 cup golden syrup

125g butter, melted

1 400g can sweetened condensed milk

Stir together over low heat for about 5-7 minutes (caramel will be smooth and thickened).

Pour caramel over biscuit based and put in oven for 25 mins at 180 degrees - or until caramel is browning in spots (my oven was at least 25 minutes).  Cool for a couple of hours before serving.  Attempt not to eat all at once. 

As you can see, it's a simple recipe, so it just calls out for modifications - what about adding nuts?  I am going to try one batch with salted peanuts and another with unsalted macadamias, will report back.

Zucchini slice

A cheap and cheerful dinner - zucchini, a little pancetta and half a tomato + a few pantry basics.

4 grated zucchini
3 rashers of bacon/slices of pancetta
1 chopped onion
1 cup SR flour
5 eggs
1 cup grated cheese
1/4 vegetable oil
Tomato slices

Preheat oven to 200 degrees
Line loaf tin
Mix all ingredients together, except tomatoes
Pour into loaf tin and top with sliced tomato.

It looks pretty black when it is cooked, 1 hour later, but it is super moist and delicious - with crispy edges!

Mini german pancakes

Somewhere between a poffertje and a yorkshire pudding - a mini german pancake using this recipe.

straight out of the oven, you can see they are just beginning to collapse

only a couple of minutes later, and they have collapsed entirely

stuffed full of apple, strawberries and greek yoghurt

I made a half batch, 3 per person, which seemed to be a good amount:

1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/8 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius

In food processor, mix all ingredients EXCLUDING butter

Slowly add butter in, keep blitzing

Distribute in muffin tin and bake for 15 mins, or until done (as per top picture)

Broccoli and sweet potato soup

Do you ever a craving for some fresh, rather plain vegetables?  Sometimes I get so caught up in trying interesting sauces or blending flavours that the individual ingredients can't stand out.

This soup is the remedy - a soup that really tastes of fresh vegetables and not much more.

Served with some of the world's best garlic bread, breadstick, homemade garlic butter and some parmesan.