Cooking Can be Simple

Chicken Kebabs

Traditionally most Greek kebabs are known to use lamb however chicken is a lovely alternative – cut up the chicken and marinate in mixture of olive oil lemon crushed garlic salt and oregano. Thread onto skewers and cook on preheated grill or barbeque. Brush with marinade as it is cooking

Calamari

Delicious calamari takes me right back to the greek islands in a flash. There is a difference between calamari and squid so when you buy it make sure you are getting what you pay for. Calamari is generally more expensive. Ask the fishmonger to clean it for you but you can clean it yourself. Cut [...]

Greek Salad

I have seen many variations of Greek Salad in my time but the most traditional is home grown tomatoes , quartered and halved with slithers of onion, cucumber cut into either slices or quartered pieces. I like to add some green or red chilli and of course some lovely feta cheese either layered over the [...]

Moussaka

This is my recipe I have had since 17yrs of age…..I made it up watching my mother cook the moussaka…she never had a recipe for anything in those days and since then it has gone through many changes ……so you can adapt this basic recipe to your own taste Make this your first step- Eggplants [...]

Anzac Biscuits

April 25th, 2012

Stella

Every year I try to honour the Anzac tradition by making some Anzac biscuits. This year I thought I would try Merle Parrish’s recipe. Word has it she has been making these since she was 7 years of age and has won awards – I wasnt disppointed.

I follwed her instructions and rolled out teaspoonfuls instead of my usual tablespoons full of mixture and they were quite nice .

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup white sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp boiling water
1 tsp bicarb soda
160g butter, melted

Method

Preheat oven to moderate (170C) and grease two large baking trays.

Sift the flour and ground ginger into a mixing bowl, and add the oats, coconut and sugar. Make a well in the centre.

Stir the golden syrup, boiling water and bicarb in a small bowl until combined. Add to the dry ingredients, along with the melted butter. Mix well.

Take heaped teaspoons of mixture and roll into balls. Place onto trays, and flatten gently.

Bake for 6–7 minutes, until lightly golden.

Cool on the trays for 10 minutes, until they firm up slightly, then lift onto wire racks to cool completely.

April 5th, 2012

Stella

Haven’t made Hot Cross Buns for a few years now. Every year I intend to make them but I always wait till Good Friday to honour tradition – then of course Good Friday comes and goes and I don’t get around to it. So this year I didnt wait – I made them last week and of course I had to go with Margaret Fultons recipe – the time honoured matriarch of Australian cooking.

I added some mixed peel and used both currants ans sultanas – they tasted sooo good!!

Ingredients

4 cups (600g) plain flour

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp salt

60 g butter, softened, plus extra to serve

1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar

1 x 7g sachet dried yeast

1/2 cup (80g) sultanas or currants – or both

1/4 cup mixed peel

1 cup (250ml) lukewarm milk, plus extra, for brushing

1 egg, lightly beaten or extra milk, for glazing

1/3 cup (50g) self-raising flour

Glaze

2 tbsps warm water

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp gelatine

Method

Sift flour, spice and salt in a bowl. Rub in butter, until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in sugar, yeast and sultanas or currants.
Make a well in centre of dry ingredients. Stir in 1/2 cup warm water, milk and egg, gradually incorporating surrounding flour to mix to a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball and place in a clean, greased bowl. Turn over once so that top of dough is greased.
Cover bowl completely with plastic wrap and a tea towel.

Leave to rise in a warm place for 1-1 1/2 hours until doubled in bulk.
Lightly grease a baking tray, two 20cm cake pans or a larger round cake pan. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently pat out to 3cm thickness.

Cut into 14 pieces and gently shape each into a ball, always keeping the tops uppermost as you shape to keep them nice and smooth. Place buns on prepared tray or cake pans. Cover

loosely with plastic wrap and a

tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 20-30 mins.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius or 180 degress celsius fan. Brush buns with beaten egg or extra milk.

Combine self-raising flour and 1/4 cup water in a small bowl until smooth. Spoon into a snap lock bag, snip end and pipe crosses on buns.

Bake buns for 15 mins, until golden brown.

Meanwhile stir together water, sugar and gelatine until sugar dissolves.. Brush buns with glaze and stand near open and turned off oven until glaze is dry. Serve
Tip: It may be necessary to cover buns with brown paper if crosses are browning too quickly. When cooked, remove from oven and brush with Glaze.

Yield 14

March 30th, 2012

Stella

I have never baked a cheeecake before but this recipe was too temting to ignore I am glad I tried it – I wasnt disappointed. Taken from Good Taste Magazine on the taste.com.au website

Ingredients

Melted butter, to grease
1 x 250g pkt plain sweet biscuits
1 x 100g pkt hazelnut meal
150g butter, melted
3 x 250g pkts cream cheese, at room temperature
140g (2/3 cup) caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
3 eggs
1 x 180g pkt good-quality white chocolate, finely chopped
150g frozen raspberries
Icing sugar, to dust

Method

Brush a 20cm (base measurement) springform pan with melted butter to lightly grease. Place biscuits in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely crushed. Add the hazelnut meal and butter, and process until well combined. Transfer mixture to prepared pan. Use a straight-sided glass to spread and press mixture firmly over base and side of pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.
Preheat oven to 160°C. Use an electric beater to beat together cream cheese, sugar and vanilla paste in a bowl until smooth. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition until well combined. Use a spoon to gently fold in chocolate and raspberries.

Pour mixture into the biscuit base. Use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour until just set in the centre. Turn oven off. Leave cheesecake inthe oven, with the door ajar, for 2 hours or until cooled completely (this will prevent cake from cracking). Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 2 hours to chill. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Serves 10

March 3rd, 2012

Stella

As part of our family Sunday dinner inspired by Nigella’s cooking show my mother and I made her meatloaf – a tradtional recipe in our household anyway but my mother uses a lot more herbs and ingredients and bakes it in a tomato based sauce . She hadn’t made it in quite a while so we were both excited to give Nigella’s dish a try. This was followed by Nigellas Strawberry and Almond Crumble

Ingredients

4 eggs

4 onions

5 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon table salt

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 kg minced steak

2 cups fresh breadcrumbs

approx. 20 slices streaky bacon

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil and then boil 3 of the eggs for 7 minutes. Refresh them in cold water.

Peel and chop the onions, and heat the butter in a thick-bottomed frying pan. Cook the onions gently sprinkled with the salt, for about 20 to 25 minutes or until the onions are golden and catching in the fat. Remove to a bowl to cool.

Put the Worcestershire sauce and mince beef into a bowl, and when the onion mixture is not hot to the touch, add to the bowl and work everything together with your hands.

Add the remaining raw egg and mix again before finally adding the breadcrumbs.

Divide the mixture into 2, and in the pan, make the bottom half of the meatloaf by patting half the beef mixture into a flattish ovoid shape approximately 9 inches long. Peel and place the 3 hard-boiled eggs in a row down the middle of the meatloaf.

Shape the remaining mound over the top of the eggs and pat into a solid loaf shape. Compress the meatloaf to get rid of any holes, but don’t overwork it.

Cover the meatloaf with slices of bacon, as if it were a terrine, tucking the bacon ends underneath the meatloaf as best you can to avoid its curling up as it cooks.

Bake for 1 hour, until the juices run clear and once it’s out of the oven let the meatloaf rest for 15 minutes. This should make it easier to slice. When slicing, do it generously, so everyone gets some egg. Pour meat juices over as you serve or do what you will gravy-wise

Gravy

50g dark muscovado sugar

125ml beef stock

4tbsp Dijon mustard,

4tbsp soy sauce

4tbsp tomato paste or puree

4tbsp redcurrantjelly

1-2 tbsp red wine vinegar to taste

To a saucepan, add the juices from the cooked meatloaf. Add all other ingredients and heat to combine. Whisk and pour into a jug to serve.

It was served with Nigella’s recommendedation of gravy and we made smashed potatoes roasted in the oven. Nigella suggests a baked potao in the oven or you could make your favourite mash.

March 3rd, 2012

Stella

A few weeks ago we were watching Nigellas Kitchen on TV and were inspired to make her Strawberry Crumble the following Sunday for family. It was an impressive dish that tasted as good as it looked

Ingredients

For the filling

500 g strawberries, hulled

50 g caster sugar

25 g ground almonds

4 tsp vanilla extract

For the topping

110 g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

75 g cold butter, diced

100 g flaked almonds

75 g demerara sugar

double cream, to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Put the hulled strawberries into your pie dish (approx 21cm/10in diameter x 4cm/2in deep or 1.25 litre/ capacity).

Sprinkle over the sugar, almonds and vanilla extract. Give the dish a good shake or two to mix the ingredients.

For the crumble topping:

Put the flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl and rub in the cold, diced butter between thumb and fingers (or food processor). When you’ve finished, it should resemble rough, pale oatmeal.

Stir in the flaked almonds and demerara sugar with a fork.

Tip the topping over the strawberry filling, covering the strawberries in an even layer and pressing the topping in a little at the edges of the dish.

Set the dish on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 30 minutes, until crumble topping has darkened to a pale gold and you see some pink-red juices seeping and bubbling out at the edges.

Leave to stand for 10 minutes before serving,

and serve with chilled double cream

Yum!!

February 2nd, 2012

Stella

I am not quite sure about the origin of these little treats as I have seen dozens of different versions. I know that they have been around in Greek cake shops ever since I was little and they have always been my favourite Greek sweet. I seem to remember them being quite bigger – however my memory is faded.

When my sons godmother Aleca came to visit she brought a plate of these for us and I was surprised to learn she had baked them herself. Wow!! I had to have a go at making them and I wasn’t disappointed – everyone that tried one loved it

Ingredients:

3 egg whites

11/2 cups sugar

3 cups almond meal

250gms almond flakes

1 tbslspn almond extract

1 tbslpn apricot jam

Method:

1. Heat oven to 180°C. Put egg whites in a medium bowl. Beat the whites until soft peaks form, add sugar and continue beating until sugar is well incorporated in the eggwhite.

2. In a large bowl, combine the almond meal, jam and extract. Fold the egg white mixture into the almond mixture.

3. Roll dough into walnut-size pieces to form a ball. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. You may need two trays as you need a little bit of space around each biscuit – they do spread a little. Roll the dough in flaked almonds

4. Bake until biscuits are golden and set. Approx 20–25 minutes. Transfer the baking sheets to a cooling rack and let cool. The cookies will harden as they cool.

Biscuits will keep for 7 days stored at room temperature in an airtight container.

Makes about 30

January 3rd, 2012

Stella

These have to be the best white chocolate mudcakes ever – simple to prepare and have never failed me

Ingredients

125g butter, chopped
1 x 100g pkt good-quality white cooking chocolate, chopped
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 egg, lightly whisked
3/4cup plain flour
1/2 cup)self-raising flour
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla bean scraped
sprinkles, to decorate

White chocolate ganache

2 x 180g pkts good-quality white cooking chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup thickened cream
2-3 drops pink liquid food colouring

Method

Preheat oven to 160°C. Line twelve 80ml (1/3-cup) capacity muffin pans with paper cases.

Combine the butter, chocolate, sugar and milk in a saucepan.

Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat. Transfer to a medium heatproof bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly.

Use a balloon whisk to gently whisk in the egg.

Sift the combined flours over the chocolate mixture and gently whisk until just combined.

Stir in the vanilla bean paste. Pour mixture evenly among prepared muffin pans.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean.

Turn onto a wire rack and set aside for 1 hour to cool completely.

Meanwhile, to make the white chocolate ganache, place the chocolate and cream in a medium heatproof bowl over a medium saucepan half-filled with simmering water (make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water). Use a metal spoon to stir occasionally until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Place in the fridge for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally, or until ganache is spreadable.

Use a round-bladed knife to spread cupcakes evenly with ganache. Decorate with sprinkles of choice.

Makes 12

I couldn’t resist adding a raspberry in every cupcake – as a little surprise – they certainly did add an extra bit of oomph!

Source Australian Good Taste - Recipe by Sarah Hobbs & Michelle Southan

December 29th, 2011

Stella

This recipe is from Belinda Jeffery’s book “Mix and Bake”

I have to say with or without the topping mixture this cake mixture is just yum

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups plain flour (gluten free white wings)
1 cup castor sugar
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup light olive oil
1 teaspoon white vinegar

Topping:
250g cream cheese
1/3 cup castor sugar
1 egg
1 cup dark chocolate bits

Method

Preheat oven to 180*C. Grease and line a 12-hole muffin tin – you can use paper cupcake cases if you like

For the topping beat together the cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix it in thoroughly, then stir in the chocolate bits.

Put flour, sugar, bicarb soda and salt into a bowl. Sift in the cocoa and mix it all together. In another bowl whisk together the warm water, vanilla extract, oil and vinegar. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients and stir them together thoroughly.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake cases so that they’re about two-thirds full. Scoop a heaped dessertspoonful of the cream cheese mixture on top of each one.

Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until the dark chocolate part springs back when pressed or a skewer inserted into the dark chocolate comes out clean.

November 28th, 2011

Stella

This cake is from the AWW – it is featured number 4 on their list of 10 bestcakes

Ingredients

250g butter, chopped
150g dark eating chocolate, chopped
2 cups (440g) white sugar
1 cup (250ml) hot water
1/3 cup (80ml) whisky
1 tablespoon instant coff ee granules
1½ cups (225g) plain fl our
¼ cup (35g) self-raising fl our
¼ cup (25g) cocoa powder
2 eggs, beaten lightly
cocoa powder or icing sugar, for serving

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160°C (140°C fan-forced).Grease a 23cm-square slab pan; line base and sides with baking paper.
2. Combine the butter, chocolate, sugar,water, whisky and coffee in a medium saucepan; stir over low heat until mixture is smooth, cool. Stir in sifted flours and cocoa, then eggs.
3. Pour into pan; bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes. Stand for 10 minutes; turn onto wire rack to cool.
4. Serve dusted with cocoa powder or icing sugar, if desired.

November 18th, 2011

Stella

these muffins taste as good as they look – recipe was taken from notebook magazine

Ingredients

2 cups (300g) self-raising flour
3/4 cup (155g) brown sugar
1 1/2 cups coarsely grated carrot
1 cup (100g) coarsely chopped walnuts
1 tbs finely grated orange rind
1 egg
1 cup (250ml) buttermilk
1/2 cup (125ml) vegetable oil

Icing

250g cream cheese
1 tsp finely grated orange rind, extra
1 tbs orange juice
1/2 cup (80g) icing sugar mixture

Method

Preheat oven to 200°C. Line twelve 1/3 cup (80ml) capacity muffin pans with paper cases.
Combine the flour, sugar, carrot, walnuts and orange rind in a large bowl. Combine the egg, buttermilk and oil in a jug and whisk to combine. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and gently stir until just combined (do not over-mix).
Spoon mixture evenly among the prepared pans. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
Beat the cream cheese with an electric blender until light and creamy. Add the extra orange rind, juice and icing sugar and beat until well combined. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the muffins to serve.

Simplest Most Delicious Food