Nicoise Pasta - Best Chocolate Cake -Thai stuffed Peppers

We are about to embark on a "Fab and Gay Adventure Around New Zealand"
I have warned the various friends with whom we shall be staying and they don't seem to be too terrified as yet!
Meanwhile our lovely Emily is leaving Juice TV to go to London with her partner Wayne.
Unfortunately we won’t be here for her farewell. So I made a special lunch on Friday.
She requested Roasted Vegetable Nicoise Pasta.
I posted that in May of Last year but I will do it again with the quantities for 12 people.

This is a great dish for a crowd.
Prep can be done earlier in the day.
I like to serve it just warm, wonderful blend of flavours

3 cans best tuna in olive oil
3 small potatoes per person par boiled 3-4 minutes
500 gms green beans topped and tailed
1 med red onion per person peeled halved and thick sliced
1 tin anchovies broken into small person
2 heads of garlic in skin just bang with heavy knife
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt, freshly ground black pepper
White balsamic vinegar you can use white wine vinegar but
this is a great product for dressings
2 punnets cherry tomatoes halved
Black olives as many as you like

1 egg per person hard boiled, shelled and quartered
Big handful basil leaves
Handful parsley chopped
Parmesan cheese finely grated
Vinaigrette Just your favourite one

500 gms penne pasta

Heat your roasting pan on top of the stove and slosh in 2-3 tbs olive oil
Add potatoes, beans, onion, anchovies, garlic,
Season everything with sea salt & pepper, then toss the vege around till
all covered in the oil.
Let them get started for about a minute on the element,
then transfer to the oven heated up to 200◦.

Roast 15-20 minutes.
Throw in tomatoes and olives season again and a little more oil
Prepare to this stage cover and leave till later.

Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling well salted water till it still has some bite
Drain
Meanwhile pop vege back into 200C oven while the pasta is cooking

Break up the tuna into bite size pieces
Remove vege from oven
Add pasta and add tuna then drizzle on a little more oil…
and sprinkle over about 3-4 tbs white balsamic vinegar
Pour into a nice big serving platter
Arrange cut eggs on top
Throw around the herbs and just a little vinaigrette
Look doesn’t this look good

Of course there must be a cake
I got this recipe from my daughter Katie
She found it in a Cook book called The Cake Bible
It is very moist and delicious. I made 2 cakes
Nice big cake…feeds lot of people
These quantities are for 1 cake only
My friend Catherine gave me this great hint.
Warm your sugar before creaming. It makes life so much easier.
Try it…it works
So you need

125 gms softened butter
2/3 cup sugar warmed
½ cup icing sugar
2 eggs room temperature

1 ¼ cup SR flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup cocoa
Pinch salt

1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven 180C
Grease and flour your tin.
I like to line the bottom with a circle of baking paper.
Also cover the outside with a wet newspaper collar as shown here

Cream butter and sugars
Add eggs one at a time
Beat well

Sift dry ingredients
Mix milk and vanilla

Add dry ingredients milk mix alternately

Bake 40-50 minutes check after 40 minutes cake is ready when a skewer comes out clean
Let cake sit on a rack for 10 minutes in the 10 then turn out and cool.
It’s important that the cake is cold before you iced.

Icing/Frosting
This is really easy just pop in the food processor

1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons warm water
4 cups icing sugar
Pinch of salt
Food colouring

Add butter 2 tablespoons water and 1 cup icing sugar into food processor
Whiz to cream
Add rest of icing sugar
Blend then add colour drop by drop till desired colour.
You are probably going to have to add more water.

It needs to be a spreadable consistency.
Actually I should have made more for a cake this size, keep that in mind.

A trick we learnt from the cake decorating class you pipe a moat around the outside of the cake it helps to keep in the filling.
I pureed some raspberries and blackcurrants with a raspberry liqueur for the filling
Made the moat, spread out the filling inside that.

Then spread more frosting

Iced the cake
Just a simple message.

Had to use the flowers left over from the course

She was a happy chappy

We will miss you Em.

Bon Voyage.

Just a cross section of the cake.
It’s a great cake the berry puree really gives it a lift

Laura Calder “French Food At Home” had a programme on Aperitif
We had friends for dinner, Stu from Sydney was here again.

I really liked the idea of this delicious loaf. A Tea Bread I guess it really is.

1- ½ cups flour

1- ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon ground pepper

3 x eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup plus

1 Tbsp butter, melted

2/3 cup olives, pitted and sliced

125 gms bacon, about 4 slices, cut into lardoons and fried

1 cup Grated Gruyere cheese or grated Parmesan Pinch of salt, to taste

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary (optional)

Heat the oven to 350ºF/180ºC.

Butter and flour a loaf pan.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl, and stir the pepper through.

Beat the eggs into the flour.

Beat in the melted butter.

Stir through the remaining ingredients to distribute evenly.

Spoon the batter into the pan and bake 45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Cool slightly.

Remove from pan.

Slice, and serve with drinks.

I think I left it in too long. It was very frothy and I didn’t test with the skewer early enough.
See the bubbles. Well when you take it out and let it cool a little it settles down

Nevertheless it was delicious I would do it again. Very easy too.

I needed another aperitif and thought of this idea.

I remember having a sort of fish mousse stuffed green pepper at Yum Char which are delicious.
So why not stuff red pepper halves with the a mixture for Thai Fish Cakes

The fish cakes were from a recipe I had seen Rick Stein prepare.
so I though I would adapt his recipe.
A good one too. It's that Thai fish cake texture you are looking for almost a bit rubbery.

Thai Stuffed Red Peppers

6 red, or orange or yellow peppers or a combo

500 gms meaty white fish cut into chunks
1 tablespoon palm sugar
1 chili chopped
3 tablespoons coriander stalks and all,
2-3 Kaffir lime leaves chopped
Juice and zest of 1 lime
1 big teaspoon Thai red curry paste
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 egg

Cream

Put all of the ingredients into the food processor except for cream
Whiz until it forms a paste
Add some cream to thin it out a little (1-2 tablespoons)

Take a spoonful and fry it in a little oil to make a little cake
Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

Halve and core peppers
Blanch in boiling water
Cool
Fill with mixture
Place in an oiled baking tray
Add ½ cup water
Cover with foil and bake about 20 minutes at 200C

You can make these early in the day and refrigerate
Take out at least an hour before serving to bring to room temperature
Cut into half and arrange on a platter and garnish with sliced basil and chopped coriander

I was pleased with this dish.
It’s quite filling so actually 1 quarter each is enough for hand around.

Would make a good first course on a bed of dressed greens
2 quarters each would do.
Garnish with lime quarters