Mini Cup Cakes

I am really enjoying the Food from the
"Party Line with Hearty Boys TV Show".
I trialed 3 of their dishes for Lucy’s Birthday in an earlier blog.
Very successful.

Anyhow
Here is the recipe for their Mini Cup Cakes.
These were cooked and decorated by Katie (her design)
with recipe supplied by me.
They look sensational.
These were for a little girls birthday party.

It is a slightly different method than normal, you heat the butter and milk together
and add to egg, sugar and dry ingredient mix.

The recipe makes heaps and there were only a handful left from this beautiful tray of cakes.

You need
3 eggs
½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup of milk
6 tablespoons butter

1 ¾ cups flour
2 teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 175C
Mini muffin tins
Hint make sure they are well greased for easy removal

Whip eggs and sugar till fluffy
Add vanilla
Sift and add dry ingredients just a
little at a time, you don’t want to be wearing a flour suit.

Meanwhile heat milk and butter don't boil.
Just enough to melt the butter.

Finally fill the tins ¾ full.

Into oven…this mini muffin size (pictured) should be done in 10 minutes
If your tins are slightly larger allow for that in the timing.
Quite often little kids only eat the icing on the cup cakes, but these little nibbles were gobbled down, hardly any left.

Saturday Dinner

Currently at home alone…I was invited to dinner with Katie and Chris.
The temptation was extra gripping.
She was making Lamb Shanks.
I saw a wonderful way to roast vegetables (inspired by Tim McRoberts
on Food TV he is a Canadian chef) and cooked them to accompany the wonderful shanks

First the vege

You will need for 4 people (there were left overs…good lunch the next day)

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 fingers potatoes per person
2 med carrots cut into 12 sticks
2 little turnip each
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 baby onions each
2 whole cloves garlic each
2 handful sliced mushrooms
3 stalks of silverbeet sliced stalks and all
3 stalks of celery chopped

Bouquet Garni
1 stalk of celery cut in half horizontally
3 sprigs thyme
3 b ay leaves

8 black olives
Juice ½ lemon
50 gms feta crumbled
Several basil leaves...torn for garnish

If your you can cook in your roasting pan on the stove top do this in one stage
I decided to spread the cooking over 2 frying pans and then transferred to a roasting dish to finish off the dish.
First put oil into a med hot pan
Add potatoes, carrots and turnips
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook gently 10 mins
Toss around
Add onions garlic cloves, mushrooms, celery and silverbeet
Saute another 10 minutes

Meanwhile make the Bouquet Garni
Lay thyme and bay leaves on 1 piece of celery place the other piece on top and tie up with string.
Get ready to roast in 180C oven.
Put all veges and Bouquet Garni into roasting pan
Roast until fork tender about another 15 minutes
Squeeze lemon juice over
A good grind of freshly ground black pepper
Pile onto platter
Crumble over feta cheese and tear basil leaves for garnish


Now from Katie’s Kitchen
Katie is always looking for recipes without tomatoes as she has an allergy
She developed this delicious dish very simple

Katie’s Lamb Shanks
To feed four
I large lamb shank per person
3 tablespoons flour
Sea salt & freshly ground black freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large red onion peeled and chopped
2 large carrots peeled and chopped
2 sticks of celery chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 bottle red wine
1 litre chicken stock
2 large sprigs rosemary

Season the flour with salt & freshly ground black pepper and dredge
each shank, shake and brown all over in hot pan in the oil
Remove and set aside.
Add chopped vege to pan and coat with oil
Saute 5-6 minutes.
Deglaze pan with red wine
Reduce down a little
Add chicken stock

Carefully return shanks to pan along with rosemary sprigs
Bury them in the liquid.
Bring back to boil
Turn heat down and simmer
2-3 hours till shanks are fork tender.

Remove from pan
Skim fat off pan juices and reduce down by half.
Taste and test the seasoning and adjust with salt & pepper if needed.

Return shanks to pan
These are now ready to serve as soon as you are ready
We served them sitting on some mashed kumara.
And yes, we did demolish that large shank.
They were great.

The Fruits of My Labour

Late Summer - Early Autumn
The best time of the year for tomatoes.
I made my pilgrimage out west to get the best outdoor tomatoes around.

First I made the famous Grandma’s Tomato Sauce. Courtesy of my friend Anne’s local pharmacist who supplies me with the formula…which makes it so special.

Unfortunately it is a secret recipe but do have a look I am very proud.

Meanwhile there still quite a few kilos of tomatoes left so I called on Mrs Elizabeth David for her wonderful Cream of Tomato and Potato Soup.

Very simple and so beautiful.
You can taste the butter potato and tomato quite separately.

So

The white part of 2 leeks finely sliced
15 gms of butter
250 gms of tomatoes chopped
300 gms of potatoes peeled and diced
Sea salt
Sugar 2 cubes
Ground white pepper
1 litre water

Garnish
100 mls cream
Parsley or Chervil finely chopped

Just melt the butter and add leeks before it bubbles
The idea is soften without browning the butter or the leeks
Add the tomatoes, let them cook till they start to give out their juice
Add the potatoes
Salt, sugar and white pepper
Cover with the water and bring to the boil
Simmer about 25 minutes till potatoes tender.

Put through a food mill
Return the puree to the rinsed out pot and add cream
(She advises that in warm weather you scald the cream
It may curdle with the acid of the tomatoes.

Test seasoning and add more salt if necessary .

Serve with a sprinkling of parsley or chervil and a grind of freshly ground black pepper

I also garnished with some grated parmesan cheese.
This is a French Dish and it was OK but…not brilliant

Lucy's Birthday

It was Lucy’s Birthday



and the family came around for a Birthday Dinner
With Drinks we had Catherine’s fabulous egg sandwiches (we forgot to take a picture)
They were wolfed down





And we also had
Warm Goats Cheese with Sherried Figs and Onions

300 gms soft goats cheese.
2 onions sliced finely
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic chopped
2 sprigs rosemary
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

10 dried figs sliced
50 mls water
¼ cup sherry

First place figs in saucepan add water and sherry
Bring to simmer turn heat off and leave to steep.
This will plump up the figs

Meanwhile sauté onions and garlic in extra virgin olive oil with rosemary
Season with salt & pepper
Till soft and translucent
Mix in figs
You may not need all of the liquid your choice.

Break up goats cheese into gratin dish
Pour over onions and figs
Into 170C oven for 20minutes

Serve with slices of fresh baguette or maybe even croutons.

I took this picture before the cheese was completely covered with the fig onion mix so that the method is shown

Butterflied leg of lamb

Get your butcher to butterfly a lamb leg
Make marinade

1small can crushed pineapple
2 tablespoons soy sauce,
2 tablespoons dark rum,
1 tablespoon honey,
2 cloves garlic crushed,
2 tablespoons French mustard.

Marinate lamb about hour minimum
Place onto roasting tray
Into a 210C preheated oven
Cook 10 minutes
Reduce oven to 200C
Cook for 20 minutes per kilo
For medium lamb (my favourite)
Test with a skewer if blood runs
Remove from oven
Cover with foil and
Sit for at least 20 minutes

It’s important to baste with marinade every 10 minutes adding a bit of water if marinade is starting to burn.



Salsa
Feeds 4 people

1 punnet Cherry tomatoes halved,
Slice 1 red onion,
Finely dice 2-3-slices of fresh peeled pineapple.
2 fresh corns cobs or 1 cup frozen corn
Roughly dice Avocado
Finely chop 1 red chili,
Zest of lime and
8-10 mint leaves chopped

Dressing
Dress with
3 parts extra virgin olive oil
1 part lime juice
Freshly ground black pepper and good pinch sea salt.

Pop corn cobs into microwave for 2 mins per cob
Remove and slice kernels off cob and place in a large bowl
Add all other ingredients.

Dress and leave for at least 2 hours before serving.

Serve this with
Basil Smashed Potatoes and Peas



1 med potatoes per peson
1 cup frozen peas
Big handful of Basil leaves
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
Sea Salt
Extra virgin olive oil
Cook potatoes in the last 5 minutes add the peas


In a big bowl –
Rip the basil leaves
Add 4 cloves of chopped garlic
Add pinch sea salt
Pour hot potatoes and peas on top and
Proceed to smash each potato with a fork...
(when I did this for 6 people got a little bored with the fork and roughly smashed them with the potato masher,)
This will release the oils from the herby seasoning
Pour a generous amount extra virgin olive and serve.

A great combination

We also had Balsamic Chicken


Balsamic and Tomato Chicken Breasts.
This is a great dish for a crowd . Everybody loves balsamic vinegar
You can even prepare the previous day.
Just sauté the breast
Make the sauce
Store them separately in the fridge and bring to room temperature
Then combine and cook just before serving.
Don’t overcook the chicken in the sauté process as it will bee cooked through whilst in the oven. This will keep the sometimes easy to dry up chicken moist.

For 8 people
1 small breast per person
Vege oil to sauté
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
25 gms butter
2 large onions sliced
6 cloves garlic finely chopped
2 punnets cherry tomatoes halved
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 cups light red wine probably a pinot noir

Chopped parsley to garnish

Season then sear chicken breasts on both in oil till golden brown
Don’t over cook
Set aside in serving dish

Add butter to pan and throw in onions and garlic
Season
Cook till soft
Add tomatoes stir well to coat with onion mix.
Add balsamic and red wine and reduce by half
Just a gentle simmer.

When you get to this stage you can store in fridge as suggested above,.
But if you continue straight away
Pour sauce over chicken

Into 175C oven 15 minutes
This should ensure the chicken is cooked right through and moist

If you have prepared ahead I suggest you increase the cooking time to 25 minutes.

Serve with rosemary cous cous.

Rosemary cous cous
The suggestion is to use the Israeli cous cous for this dish but normal cous cous will do.
Whatever cous cous you use just follow cooking instructions on the packet
But do try the Israeli it is sensational

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 large sprigs rosemary leaves removed
3 cups cous cous
6 cps chicken stock
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
Large knob of butter

Heat oil in saucepan
Add rosemary leaves to sizzle
The add cous cous and coat well

Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Add boiling stock and follow with manufacturer’s instruction.
Simmer about 20 minute still cous cous absorbs all the stock

Of course there was too much cous cous and salsa so we stored them together in the fridge.
Wow what a taste treat the next day
Here is a quick pic of the leftovers



The crowd were enjoying it

Helen made a wonderful Rum and Raisin Cheesecake
And Jacqui came to the Party complete with a Baked Cheesecake covered in Blueberries.

Both cakes were so rich and fabulous.

Here from Helen's Kitchen
Rum and Raisin Cheesecake
This is a grandiose dessert to be savoured and enjoyed. It’s ideal for a party as it can be made a couple of days ahead and stored in the fridge – in fact it’s even better that way as it allows the flavours to mingle and meld. It certainly carries an AO rating, with a wallop of rum that makes your breath run hot for just a minute. Don’t worry though – you’d need to eat the whole cake to blow any drink driving test. If you are a rum and raisin fan you’ll adore this combination. If you aren’t, well you are about to be converted.

Base
250g wholemeal digestive biscuits
1tsp cocoa
¼ cup golden syrup
80g unsalted butter

Filling:
1 cup + 2 tablespoons rum
1 ½ cups raisins, roughly chopped
5 ½ tsp gelatine
½ cup cold water
450g cream cheese
1 ¼ cups icing sugar
3 cups chilled cream

Crush biscuits to a fine crumb and combine with cocoa.

Melt golden syrup and butter together. Add to crumbs and mix well. Press firmly into the base of a 26m springform cake tin lined with baking paper. Chill

Filling: Pour rum over raisins and leave to soak overnight (or heat in the microwave for 2-3 minutes on high). Strain rum into a pot. Mix gelatine and cold water until duly absorbed.

Add gelatine to rum and stir over gentle heat until dissolved. Do not allow to boil. Remove from heat and cool but don’t chill or it will set.

Beat cream cheese using an electric beater until soft and free of lumps. Sift in icing sugar and beat until smooth. Stir in raisins. Add cooled gelatine mixture and beat well.

Whip cream to very soft peaks and fold into cream cheese mixture until evenly combined (do not beat).

Pour cheesecake mixture over chilled base. Tap tin gently on a hard surface to release air bubbles. Chill 3-4 hours until set.

Cheesecake will keep 4-5 days in the fridge, sealed with plastic wrap to prevent the absorption of any fridge odours. When ready to serve, run a hot knife around the inside of the tin to free the cheesecake before lifting off the sides of the tin to free the cheesecake before lifting off the sides of the tin.
Prep Time: 35-40 Minutes
Makes: 12-14 servings

HELEN’S NOTE
I didn’t have a cake tin big enough (just used a 22cm tin) so just filled ramekins with the remaining filling mixture. It’s Very rich and although it says it serves 12-14 people these are very generous serves. Really delicious and ‘grownup’ and quite boozy.