June Delicious

At first glance, there did not seem to be many recipes I wanted to make in the June edition of Delicious.  It felt like a let-down after the beautiful Italian (May) issue. But then I looked back at what I had actually made from the May edition, and I had only made 5 dishes from the issue:

• pumpkin rotolo
• crisp fried ravioli
• lamb caponata
• pasta with panagratatto
• mushroom lasagne (which I didn't really like)

I think the May edition sucked me in.  All the recipes looked great, but I didn't really want to make them...

On the other hand, as I turned the pages of the June edition I quickly found 9 dishes I really wanted to make (and honestly think I willmake).

• Rhubarb loaf
• Hot smoked salmon
• Paprika and sour cream chicken
• Herb baked blue eye
• Onion tart in walnut pastry
• Chocolate and olive oil toasts
• Vietnamese chicken and rice soup
• Nasi goreng (from scratch)
• Green pancakes

 The pear tart on the front looks delicious, but I don't make desserts often - I prefer to bake cupcakes and biscuits!

Golden wedding anniversary cake

G's maternal grandparents recently had their Golden Wedding Anniversary (that's 50 years of marriage).  To celebrate, they renewed their vows with their original priest (who is now a bishop) and enjoyed lunch with all their family.

I was responsible for the cake:

On a lamb bender

Have I mentioned how much I like lamb?  You wouldn't believe that I didn't eat much meat growing up, and ate none at all between the ages of 18 and 21  All those statements are true, and now I really enjoy eating lamb.

Most of the time I cook, but every so often I like to take advantage of some of the amazing fresh produce shops in my area.  I really like the butcher in the Canberra Centre, City Select Meats.  They have an amazing selection of sausages (I've tried a few) and some great simple semi-ready meals.  By 'semi-ready' I mean mini roasts, or kebabs, or lamb parcels.

The advantage of buying semi-ready meals individually?  G and I can choose different flavour combinations!

I still don't 'dine on swine' as a general rule.  That includes bacon.  Some people do not believe me when I say that pork and bacon are the same, and I don't tend to eat it.  I have eaten little scerricks of jamon in Spain or crispy pancetta crumbled on top of a spicy tomato risotto, but, as a general rule, I stay away from pork.
This means I avoid all the semi-ready meals that include bacon.  I am not a huge fan of fruit + meat or cinnamon in practically any form!

I chose a red curry lamb parcel and G had a mulled wine parcel - currants, cinnamon and red wine.  The only thing I would eat of all those ingredients?  The lamb!

Lamb Caponata

I really like lamb.  When I lived in Japan I missed it a lot, and tried to find ways to deal with that.  At Christmas I visited Singapore and ate a lot of lamb - I particularly enjoyed it at a Brazilian restaurant there (link to the restaurant).  I also ordered some meat from The Meat Guy who delivers frozen to your door (link in case you are living in Japan).

The lamb caponata in the May (Italian) issue of Delicious combines lamb and olives - the other food I missed an awful lot in Japan, and looks fabulous on the page.

I bit the bullet and bought the required amount of lamb - 750grams which was not cheap, but thankfully the flavour was ultimately worth it!

It was quite a simple cook - everything done in a pan on the stove and then layered into the baking dish and into the oven for 45 minutes.

It looked absolutely delicious before the potatoes went on:

and then in the bowl, ready to eat:

Update - americolor food writer pens

I only blogged a short time ago about how I wanted a set of the americolor food writer pens (post here).  And G gave them to me!

They came with a martini shaped cookie cutter...

I have already had some fun with the textas:

Nuvolone (cloud souffle)

I don't usually feel like putting much effort into breakfast.  During the week I have fruit and yoghurt, a muffin with vegemite and a coffee.  At my desk at work.  On the weekends breakfast follows a run and a shower, so I am usually pretty hungry which means I usually don't do anything that requires a recipe.

Usually we eat tomato and cheese, and maybe a fried or scrambled egg, on toast.  Last Sunday however, I put in a lot of effort.

1.  whip 2 egg whites per person, with a splash of white wine vinegar, and some salt.

2.  put the egg whites around the edges of a ramekin and slide in the 2 egg yolks (you separated from the whites)

3.  Pour in a couple of tablespoons of pouring cream, some salt and pepper, 15 grams of butter (in small cubes) and a couple of tablespoons of grated parmesan and then move the egg whites over the top and cover it all up.

4.  Oven for a few minutes - 4 or 5 at 200 degrees.

5.  Devour with buttery toast!

Fifi the Poodle

Last weekend a friend came over to use my kitchen aid sponsored kitchen and make her daughter's birthday cake - Fifi the Poodle.

If you google 'fifi the poodle cake' you will find comments such as "If any of your children ask for the Fifi the Poodle cake out of the Women's Weekly Birthday Cakes Book, Volume 2, run for the hills screaming".  Not exactly inspiring.  In fact, down right terrifying.  But my friend ignored that comment and make the fifi cake.

It took a lot of butter and sugar.  We made 3 quantities of butter cake and 2 quantities of buttercream icing, so between 550 and 600grams of butter in total.  Wow.  Not much less sugar to be honest.

And as you can probably imagine, it took a fair while to mix up the cake batter, then it had to cook, and cool, before the poodle shape could be cut out.  Long enough to watch The Little Mermaid actually.

Then we cut the poodle, covered it with pink buttercream frosting and then hundreds of marshmellows and ended up with this masterpiece: