Bitter Sweet Recipes

This recipe was given to me quite few years back by a friend’s mum when we went to stay on their farm in central Queensland.

Its very quick, easy and tasty and is surprisingly filling. It can be served as a posh starter to a meal, or, as I prefer, in a big warm bowl on a lazy night in front of the TV.

This recipe yields 2 large serves or 4 small starter serves. It is best eaten on the day of cooking, but you can keep it in the fridge for about a day if you like.

INGREDIENTS

Half a head of Cauliflower
Generous teaspoon of Crushed Garlic
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
pinch of nutmeg
2 vegetable stock cubes or about 3 cups of veggie stock
3 tablespoons of grated parmesan
a knob of butter
1/2 cup cream (or milk)
salt and pepper

METHOD

Cut the Cauliflower into medium sized chunks.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan with the garlic. Add the cauliflower and stir until the cauliflower is lightly browned.

Add in your veggie stock and nutmeg then simmer until the cauliflower is soft (about 5 minutes).

Using a stick mix (or your blender, carefully!) puree until it is no longer lumpy.

Add the parmesan, butter and cream. Puree again until combined. Taste your soup and season as needed. Warm again slightly before serving.

VARIATIONS

You can make a healthy variation of this soup by omitting the butter, reducing the parmesan (or using low fat cheese) and using light milk instead of cream. If you do this you may need to add in 2 teaspoons of corn flour to thicken the soup up.

I decided to embark on making some dulce de leche the other day after reading about dulce de leche brownies. Im not really much of a fan of brownies but I absolutely adore caramel.

So I went down to the shop to buy the sole ingredient of Dulce de Leche; Sweetened Condensed Milk. Removed the Labels off the tins, Lined a Big pot with a tea towel (to stop the rattling) and started boiling the cans. When the water started boiling the teatowel dislodged itself and started floating in the top of the water so I decided to take it out and make do without it. After all, delicious gooey caramel is worth three hours of rattling!  About half an hour into the boiling I decided to read the labels which I had removed off the can and noticed in big bold letters it read “ATTENTION: DO NOT HEAT IN CAN”. At first I panicked, but hey, life isn’t so much fun if you follow the rules all the time!

There are a lot of different recommendations that come with making dulce de leche,  one is to poke holes in the lid of your cans and not immerse in the boiling water. Another is to just pop them in, keep them immersed the whole time, cross your fingers, and hope for the best. Some people say you should only make it in the oven, others say to pour out the contents of the condensed milk into a saucepan and heat while constantly stirring until it turns into caramelly goodness.

Being a little bit lazy at the best of times, I went for the cross-your-fingers-and-hope-for-the-best option.

Well 2.5-3 hours later, the tins have a strange kind of expanded look to them, the lid looks scarily as if it is going to pop off, and the sides are slightly curved out. I decided that I should leave them to cool down for a few hours while I went to work… and hopefully when I get home I will be rewarded with some delicious dulce de leche.

Ok I lied… I really couldn’t wait for it to cool down I cracked open one of the tins over a bowl to see molten hot caramel flow out. I would caution against this as sugar burns are not always fun but if you really cant wait then be VERY careful.

I am storing one tin unopened in the cupboard and the contents of the opened one in a sterilised glass jar. This can be used for many different sweets, to fill pie cases, to make banoffee pie, to warm and pour over ice cream , as a sweet dip for sugar puff twists (will be posting a recipe soon) or you could just eat it on its own with a spoon for a sneaky midnight snack.

Guess who got to lick the tin...

I am the first to admit that I don’t like eating bananas once they get to that brown spotted stage. Usually when my bunch of bananas start to ‘turn’ they are immediately peeled and chopped into small bits to be frozen and used in smoothies. This time I got to them a bit late and they were already quite brown and beginning to go soft, perfect for banana bread.

Because the weather is starting to warm up I wanted to make a summery banana bread, I was searching around for a recipe and came across Janelle Bloom’s Banana and Coconut bread (as featured in Super Food Ideas magazine), which intrigued me because it used coconut milk as the ‘wet’ ingredient.

So now I am writing this waiting for my banana bread to bake and enjoying the delicious scents wafting from the oven. My teapot is waiting and the water is boiled so I can have a nice cup of tea with that first slice hot from the oven…

An hour later the banana coconut loaf is ready, it has a nice sweet chewy crust and a very moist spongy texture. Definitely my new favourite recipe for banana bread, this is going into my permanent collection, nice one Janelle!

Two days later and the banana loaf is still moist and delicious, it has a wonderful texture with lots of little bits of banana and the coconut flavour complements it wonderfully.

This recipe makes a large loaf… don’t do what I did and put it in a small tin! Janelle’s recipe states that it will keep well in an airtight container for about a week.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup castor sugar
1 1/2 cup self raising flour
1 cup mashed banana
1 cup coconut milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

METHOD

Grease and Line a large loaf tin, and preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celcius.

In a large bowl combine dry ingredients.

Mash your banana and combine with the rest of the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.

Pour wet mixture over dry mixture and mix until combined. (it will look a little lumpy due to the chunks of banana and the coconut)

Place batter in your prepared pan and cook for about one hour until your loaf is lightly browned and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

So I know everyone has their own recipe for a baked dinner… but I thought I would share mine anyway.

I grew up in a house where pork crackling was coveted by every member of the family, when I was younger and we had pork roast at grandmas house my aunt and mum would sneak into the kitchen and steal the crispiest bits of crackle before they even made it to the table!
Everyone would get their piece of crackling and save the best till last, all you could hear at the end of the meal was the crunch of crackle between our teeth and the remnants of the salty fat being sucked off our fingers.

I was vegetarian for about 10 years as a teenager and have also grown very fond of all kinds of roasted veggies. Now when I make a roast I include whatever veggies are in the pantry; sweet potato, carrot, potato, onion, capsicum, pumpkin, aubergine, zucchini… the list goes on. I cook my roast veggies very plainly with cloves of garlic, a good glug of olive oil and thyme leaves sprinkled over the top (fresh is preferred, however, my herb garden is looking a little sad at the moment).
The same goes with cooking the pork, I think with a meat like pork it is best to let the flavour of the meat shine through and then complement it with flavours such as apple sauce (traditional) , cranberry sauce (my favourite) or even mint sauce (my man’s favourite) at the table.

My lovely man bought a very strange cut of pork leg that I haven’t seen before the other day and I was pondering over how to cook it. It says on the packet that it is a ‘bone in roasting leg of pork’ but it appears like a HUGE bone in steak. I was a bit worried that the crackle wouldn’t crackle (because it was around the edges of the meat) so I cut it off and cooked it in a separate pan, and I laid the flesh on top of my veggies for roasting.

I love to always cook excess veggies when I make a roast as I love them the next day on a salad, or just to eat on their own. This will really serve as many as you would like to serve depending on the size of the roast that you get and the volume of veggies that you cook.

INGREDIENTS

Pork Roasting Cut
Olive oil
Garlic
Thyme
Salt

Roasting Vegetables such as;
potato
sweet potato
carrot
pumpkin
onion
garlic cloves
turnip
sweede
zucchini
capsicum
aubergine

Steaming Vegetables such as;
broccoli
cauliflower
green beans
peas
METHOD
Preheat your oven to 220 degrees Celcius, Prepare two baking trays by rubbing generously with olive oil.

Wash, peel and slice your chosen veggies into manageable sized chunks (you want it to all cook at the same time so keep this in consideration when cutting the vegetables)

Prepare the pork rind. I removed the pork rind from this piece of meat because it was around the sides of the meat and I didn’t think it would crackle effectively there. You can leave it on, or cut it off and cook it in a separate tray depending on what you like.

To prepare the rind you must dry it well with a paper towel.

Then rub it with few tablespoons of olive oil.

Finally sprinkle a generous amount of salt onto the rind and rub it in.

Lay the vegetables in a tray and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with thyme leaves, slice the cloves of garlic in half and nestle them in-between the veggies.

Now you can place you roast on top of the veggies like I have or cook it in a separate pan.

I prepare my meat by rubbing it lightly with olive oil, crushed garlic and thyme leaves.

Place the crackle in the oven on 220 degrees Celcius for 20 minutes, it should bubble and spit and start to brown and crackle before your eyes (keep an eye on it).
Turn the oven down to 180 degrees celcius and place your veggies and meat in to the oven  (if they are not already in there). Leave your crackle in there for the remainder of the cooking time.

The general rule is that you need to cook your roast for about 40 minutes per kilo of meat, keep an eye on it towards the end. It may need more or less roasting time depending on the cut of meat (i.e.. if it has a bone or not).

Allow the meat to rest for 15-20 mins before carving. Serve with a platter of your roasted and steamed vegetables as well as all of the necessary condiments.

I love anything Apple and Cinnamon flavoured, it’s just one of those great flavour combinations which manage to make me feel warm and cozy every time I eat or smell it. So on this very cold night I decided it would be nice to make my version of an apple and cinnamon tea cake (to enjoy in bed with a cup of tea while reading my latest library book).

This cake has quite a fluffy spongy texture with a nice crust around the edges. The sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on top also gives the apples a yummy sweet crunch that goes very well with the sweet brown sugar cake below. Perfect to enjoy with a cup of tea in the cold weather!

This cake can be stored in an airtight container for around two days after cooking, but it is best enjoyed on the day of baking. I like to cook it in my pyrex pie plate instead of a traditional cake tin, I prefer the ratio of apple to cake because I dont like tea cake that is 3 inches thick, but if you dont have a pie plate a medium cake tin is also ok.

INGREDIENTS

190 grams Self Raising Flour
Pinch of Salt
80 grams Cold Butter
120 grams of Brown Sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

2 small Green apples

1 1/2 tablespoons of White sugar
3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
METHOD

Grease and line a medium cake tin or a pie plate (I use a pyrex pie plate for this cake), Preheat your fan forced oven to 160 degrees celcius.

In a large mixing bowl combine the flour and salt. Cube your cold butter and rub it into the flour using your fingertips. (You can also do this in a food processor, just pulse it until you get the right texture)

Stir in the brown sugar making sure to crush any lumps with the back of a wooden spoon.

Make a well and add the egg, milk and vanilla. Whisk well to a smooth batter.

Pour your batter into the prepared tin. Peel, core and slice your apples, and arrange the slices on top of the batter. Sprinkle with your mixture of cinnamon sugar.

Bake in the oven at 160 degrees celcuis for 20 minutes, until the apples are caramelised and golden and the cake beneath is cooked.

Allow it to cool before slicing and serve with a dollop of whipped cream and a steaming cup of tea.

This is my man’s newest favourite dessert cake, he’s not big on decadent chocolate desserts or fancy desserts with spun toffee and chocolate strawberries, but he LOVES anything citrus from lemon meringue pie to key lime pie and souffle of the orange persuasion.

This orange cake has a strangely satisfying chewy and moist texture, which, when warmed is almost pudding like. It is not  a cake that you would serve for afternoon tea but it is a simple classic dessert to finish off any meal. With every slice of the cake you will see the pressure of the knife push out the sweet orange syrup and then get sucked back into the cake like a sponge. This dessert absolutely must be served warmed with pouring cream, whipped cream or a decadent dollop of heavy cream.

This cake contains no extra fat (except from the egg yolks) so I found that it keeps really well for up to a week refrigerated. I just heat each slice till it is warm in the microwave before serving. The extra syrup poured over the cake after cooking will keep it very moist and delicious.

INGREDIENTS

4 large fresh eggs, seperated
1 cup of sugar
1 cup plain flour
1 cup self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tablespoon of orange zest, grated
1 cup fresh orange juice

1 cup fresh orange juice, extra
1/4 cup sugar, extra

METHOD

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees celcius, and prepare a large round spring form cake tin by greasing , flouring and lining the bottom with greaseproof paper.

In a large, clean, dry bowl beat your egg white to stiff peaks.

In a small bowl combine the egg yolks and the sugar.

In a separate large bowl sift the flours and the baking powder. Make a well and add the orange juice, orange zest and the egg yolk mixture.

Slowly combine until you have a smooth thick batter.

Fold the egg whites in to the batter in two batches and pour into prepared tin.

Bake for 30 minutes until firm and toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Make your orange syrup with the extra orange juice and sugar, boil until it is thick (about 5 minutes)

While the cake is still warm poke about 20 holes in the surface with a tooth pick, and pour half of the orange syrup over the cake. When this has absorbed, turn the cake out onto a large plate, pour the other half of the syrup onto the bottom of the cake.

Slice and serve warm, dusted in icing sugar with pouring cream on the side.

These messy little pies are so easy and yummy. They are really easy to throw together for a quick and tasty dessert. The rough lids that leave gaps around the edges allows the steam to escape during cooking which will ensure you have a crisp shortbread crust and delicious caramelisation of the sugar around the edges to create a sweet sticky toffee effect. Of course you can make them neatly for beautiful presentation, but I like the idea of a rustic pie that is just begging to be smooshed into ice cream and eaten.

I make these using a texas muffin pan with 6 holes. I find that they are the perfect size for a satisfying dessert and allow a perfect ratio of shortbread crust to apple filling. This recipe serves 6. They may be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 days after cooking but are best served warm and fresh.

INGREDIENTS

Shortbread crust
170 grams of plain flour
pinch of salt
55 grams of white sugar
115 grams butter
1 large egg yolk
1 -2 tablespoons cold water

Apple Filling
90 grams of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
pinch of salt
pinch of nutmeg
1 tablespoon of plain flour
4 apples of your choice (I used pink lady because they are in season)

METHOD

Make the Shortbread Crust

Combine the dry Ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and rub in the butter until you have a wet sand texture.

In a small bowl whisk together the water and egg yolk and add it to the flour mix.

Mix until it comes together an form it into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Make the Apple Filling

Combine everything except for the apples in a large mixing bowl. Stir until all ingredients are combined and it forms a crumbly mixture.

Peel, core and slice your apples. Mix them into the sugar mixture until well coated.

Assemble

Grease your 6 hole texas muffin tin and preheat your oven to 170 degrees celcius.

Divide the shortbread pastry into 6. Divide each ball into a larger and a smaller ball so you are left with 6 larger balls and 6 smaller balls of shortbread pastry.

Roll out the larger balls into round circles to fit the muffin tin holes as a ‘crust’. fill the crust with the apple mixture. The apple mix will shrink slightly during cooking so it is best if they are well filled.

Roll out the smaller balls and use these as “pie lids”. I like to make mine a little messy as the holes  and gaps around the edges allow the sugar around the edges to caramelise, allows the steam to escape to stop them becoming soggy and it gives the pies a home made feel.

Bake for 25-30 mins until the tops are crunchy and golden and you see caramelised sugar around the edges of each pie.

Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream and a dusting of icing powder.

Just out of the oven... my golden knot loaf made with wholegrain flour and sprinkled with white and black sesame seeds

This is my recipe for homemade bread. There is nothing better than getting a golden loaf of freshly baked bread out of the oven and slathering a warm slice with butter and devouring it. There is a misconception that making bread is a difficult and laborious  job but it’s not! True, it takes around 2 hours to produce a loaf but 90% of that time is spent with the bread sitting in a warm spot doing its own thing. Your loaf will only really require attention for 10 -15 minutes and the results are really worth it. So if you have a day at home, or a lazy weekend, how about trying to make your own loaf of homemade bread? and before you think its too hard just remember they have been making bread since 25BC… its not that hard.

This recipe will make one small loaf enough for around 6-8 slices or 6 rolls. It doubles well but just keep an eye on the texture of the dough and add extra flour if it is sticky or extra warm water if it is dry. Because this is a homemade bread free of preservatives, it will not keep well so it is best if you eat it on the day of baking, however it will make great toast the next morning.

INGREDIENTS
300g bread flour (I like to use a seedy bread mix, but white flour is fine too)
190ml of lukewarm water
1 heaped teaspoon of active dry yeast
1/2 a teaspoon of sugar
1/2 a teaspoon of salt

METHOD

In a small bowl combine the water, sugar and yeast. Mix well and set aside for 5 minutes until the yeast is frothed and activated.

mixture of active dry yeast, water and sugar

5 minutes later, the yeast has frothed up to show that it is active and is ready to be used

In a Large bowl combine the flour and salt, add the yeast mixture to a well in the middle and stir until you have a ball of dough.

Seedy bread flour with a well full of the yeast and water mixture, ready for mixing

mixed dough on a floured surface ready for kneading

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured benchtop and knead for 6-8 minutes until you have a smooth elastic ball of dough that is not sticky.

smooth elastic ball of dough after kneading

Depending on the flour you use, you may need to add some more water or flour to your dough to achieve the right consistency. Ideally your dough should be soft and smooth but not sticky.

Place your ball of dough into a lightly oiled bowl cover with a plastic bag and a clean tea towel and sit in a warm spot for 45 minutes until it is doubled in size.

dough that has doubled in size after a sucessful first rise

Gently punch your dough down and knead for another 2 minutes.

Shape into the desired shape and place on a greased tray, or bread tin, and allow to rise covered in a warm place for a further 30 minutes.

Bread in the shape of a knotted loaf

During this time preheat your oven to 160 degrees celcius.
After the bread has risen spray with a fine mist of water and sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds if desired.

ready to go in the oven

Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown and a hollow sound is made when you tap on the base.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing… if you can wait that long.

VARIATIONS

You can get fancy and add cheese and herbs to the dough after the first rising, or sprinkle different nuts and seeds on top. You can also make your dough into any shape you desire from rolls to knots, french sticks to sandwich loaves. Use your imagination or google images of bread shapes for some ideas and tips of shaping your bread.

These special little cupcakes are a mixture of two recipes from The Australian Women’s Weekly book “cupcakes”.
They are a great alternative to traditional lemon meringue pie and they deliver just the right amount of coconut and lemon flavours for an indulgent treat. The pretty decoration and unusual frosting and really easy to do, and they look great arranged on a platter for a birthday party or get together.

This recipe makes 12 standard cupcakes, or 6 texas muffins, or 1 medium cake. It needs to be eaten on the same day of cooking however you can prepare the lemon curd a day in advance for faster assembly on the day. This recipe is not suitable for freezing, and will be affected negatively by prolonged refrigeration. This recipe can be doubled.

INGREDIENTS

Coconut Cake
125 grams softened butter
2 teaspoons of finely grated lemon zest
150 grams White sugar
2 whole fresh eggs
80 ml Milk
60 grams Desiccated Coconut
185 grams Self Raising Flour

Lemon Curd Filling
4 egg yolks
75 grams White sugar
2 teaspoons of finely grated lemon zest
60 ml Lemon Juice
40 grams Butter

Marshmallow Meringue Frosting
220 grams White sugar
80 ml Water
2 egg whites

Coloured Sugar
White sugar
1 drop of yellow food colouring

METHOD

Make the Lemon Curd:
Combine all ingredients in a clean bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisk constantly until mixture is thickened and will coat the back of a metal spoon. Cover the surface of the lemon curd with cling wrap and refrigerate until cold.

Make the Coconut Cakes:
Preheat your oven to 160 degrees celcius and prepare a 12 hole standard muffin pan or a 6 hold texas muffin pan by lining them with paper cases.

Beat the Butter, zest and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the milk and coconut, then fold in the flour.

folding in the coconut and flour

Divide the mixture amongst your prepared muffin cases and bake in your preheated oven for 20-30 minutes or until they are golden brown and spring back to the touch.

Place on a rack to cool.

Make the frosting:
When the cupcakes and curd are cold, prepare the frosting. Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan and boil without stirring, until mixture thickens but does not colour. This should take about 5 minutes.

boilling sugar syrup

In a large clean bowl, whip your 2 egg whites to soft peaks with electric beaters. With the beaters still running slowly start adding the hot sugar syrup in a small stream to the egg whites, continue to mix well until all syrup is added and your egg whites are volumous, white, glossy and very fluffy.

Hot sugar syrup being beaten into the egg whites

Assemble:
Scoop out about a tablespoon of cake from the top of the cupcakes.

Cupckaes with holes ready to be filled with curd

Fill the hole with a tablespoon of curd

Cupcake Filled with Lemon Curd

Ice the cupcakes with the marshmallow meringue frosting. You can pipe it on or spoon it on and create peaks with the back of a spoon.

Make the coloured sugar by combining the sugar and food colouring in a small zip lock baggie and shake till all the sugar crystals are evenly coloured.

Sugar coloured Yellow

Sprinkle it over the tops of the cupcakes.

VARIATIONS
If you like you can use a blowtorch to lightly brown the meringue frosting. It is already technically cooked due to the use of hot sugar syrup but this will give it a nice appearance and a slight crunch.

If you like you can also make this recipe into a full sized cake. Just bake the cake mix in a medium round cake pan, slice in half and fill with lemon curd and then ice with the frosting.

This is one of the easiest, yummiest soups that I make frequently during winter. Its really the type of soup where the throw all the ingredients in the pot and its ready to eat in about an hour with no fuss.

Its a good soup to freeze in single portions for a quick and easy meal, and the flavour is just as good if not better after freezing. Its also great because its is a hearty winter meal with ingredients that are easy to come by and very economical.

As mentioned above, this soup can be frozen successfully for up to a month, just defrost in the fridge the night before serving and reheat in a pot. You can also store it in the fridge for up to 3 days after cooking. This recipe will serve 6-8 people.

INGREDIENTS

500g of Dried Split green peas
1 Ham Hock
1 Large carrot diced
1 brown onion diced
1 stick of celery diced
2 small dried bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon of mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
3 chicken of vegetable stock cubes
7 cups of water

METHOD

Prepare split peas by rinsing them in water, removing any dicoloured peas and draining well.

Place all ingredients in a large pot and bring to the boil. Turn down to a simmer and allow to simmer for 40-60 minutes, until the peas are soft and the hock is tender.

Remove the hock from the soup and cut off all the excess ham. Discard the fat and the cleaned bone and return the ham flesh to the soup.

Cooked ham hock ready to remove the meat to return to the soup

Remove the Bay Leaves before serving.

Meat from the Hock, returned to the soup

Season to taste and serve with some crusty bread or dinner rolls.