leftover lamb roast fritters

Wow - you know what? These were particularly tasty. I was very pleasantly surprised. We had a big leg of lamb for lunch East Sunday and I didn't want all the leftover meat to go to waste, so I did a few searches for leftover lamb and adapted the recipe I found here.

leftover lamb roast fritters

1 to 2 cups diced leftover lamb
1 egg
1 cup SR flour
140ml milk - approx
salt & pepper to taste
1 to 2 tsp herbs (I used 1 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp basil and 1/2 tsp ground cumin)
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1 carrot grated
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 shallots chopped
butter and oil for cooking

Pan fry the shallots and garlic and put with the lamb, vegetables, salt & pepper, herbs.
Combine flour, egg and milk.
Beat with a whisk until thick and lump free.
Add more milk until batter resembles lightly whipped cream consistancy.
Fold in diced lamb mix.
Heat a fry pan to medium heat add a knob of butter and equal quantity of oil.
When hot add a ladle full of batter at a time cooking until bubbles form on top turn over and cook for 30 seconds more remove to papered plate and cook the rest adding butter and oil as necessary. Keep warm in the oven if required.

My tips - left over roast veges added to this mix would be great. You could also grate a zucchini in, but you'd have to remember to squeeze it dry before adding it to the mix.

I served it with leftover *real* gravy from the roast the other day - definitely a winner! The mash was good too! If you don't have real gravy, fake grave would probably taste OK too. But not as good.

ricotta scones

No photo - but can guarantee they're delicious.

preheat oven to 190.

2 cups SRF
1/4 cup caster sugar
60 grams cold chopped butter

rub butter through til crumbly

1 egg lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
add enough fresh ricotta to make 3/4 cup (so approx 1/4 cup)
mix together

make a well in the flour, cut the wet mixture through with a knife. Turn the sticky dough onto a floured surface and knead lightly. Roll out to 2cm thickness - cut with a round. Place onto a lamington tray and bake for about 13 - 15 minutes until golden. Serve warm with butter or jam and cream.

Spiced bikkies recipe

This recipe will probably be available soon on the taste.com.au website. But I'll put it here now because it's GOOD! It's from the Dec/Jan issue of Delicious magazine.

Spiced Bikkies (AKA edible decorations)

2 1/4cups plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp mixed ground baking spices (I used a combination of mostly ginger, then nutmeg and cinnamon)
1tsp pepper
pinch of salt
120g unsalted butter
120g dark muscovado or molasses sugar or dark brown sugar
2 eggs
3tbs honey

1cup flour (or more) extra for cutting.

It's probably easiest to process this in a food processor.
Combine flour, baking powder, spices, S&P.
Add butter and sugar and mix until smooth.
Combine the eggs and honey separately. With the processor going, add the egg mixture slowly - just enough to bind the mix and not necessarily all of it. Divide the mixture into 2 or 3 balls and wrap them in plastic then refridgerate. Chill them for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 160 celcius. Line your trays with baking paper.

On a floured surface roll out one of the dough balls. Sprinkle extra flour over the surface as required to stop it from sticking. Roll it out to about 5mm thick and use your prettiest cookie cutters to make shapes. Keep re-rolling the dough as needed to cut more shapes. I had to keep using more extra flour to stop it from sticking. If there's a small amount left at the end, nobody will think badly of you if you eat it raw. Personally, I made a disc and cooked it because my will power is amazing. Also, I got my fix from the beaters and bowl...

If you want to make hanging decorations, use a plastic drinking straw to cut a small hole in the top of your shape. When they bake, the bikkies expand and some of the holes may close over. Also, make sure you leave a bit of space in between in biscuit on the tray.

Cook for about 15 to 20 minutes. They'll have risen and should be a little browned around the edge. Take them off the tray to cool. They'll be a bit soft at first. Eat one before it goes hard. Then eat another one after it's cooled down a bit. Eat the ones that were a bit wonky or the hole filled over on. Noone will know.

You can also ice these with royal icing and pretty sparkles. I didn't. It makes about 40 - but this depends on the size of your cutter shape!

lemon slice'n it up

I've made this recipe twice in one week now. Mmm. It's good. Nice lemony tang. First time I overcooked it a little (the time I give should be right now), but keep an eye on it as it browns quickly. I also added loads of shredded coconut to the topping on the first batch which was really nice too.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line a 18cm x 28cm lamington pan. Lining it means you can lift the whole thing out to slice it after it's cooked.

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup icing sugar
150g melted butter
Combine these together and press the mixture into the pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

400g sweetened condensed milk (low fat version works great)
1 egg
1 medium to large lemon - rind and juice
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp baking powder

Mix together sweetened condensed milk and egg, then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well until combined. Return to the oven and bake for about 20 minutes (watch it) or until the topping is set.

Allow to cool in pan. Refrigerate. Cut into squares and sprinkle with icing sugar before serving.

Jamie and Fran's chocolate biscotti

This recipe comes from a book I bought in a second hand book store in Berkeley CA many years ago. It's called Cooking with Friends, as in the TV show friends (published 1995). Here it is on Amazon.

There's loads of yummy looking recipes, but mostly I love the fancy photos of the cast and quotes from the tv show. This recipe is described as follows:

When the women from Mad About You walk into Central Perk, they mistake Phoebe for Ursula and think she's working a second job. They tell Phoebe they want two lattes and some biscotti. Phoebe says "good choice" and sits down. Eventually Jamie and Fran find a waiter and get some of the biscotti with macadamia nuts.

2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbs (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup macadamia nuts (I used pistachio)

Preheat oven to 350 (180 celcius). Grease and flour a large baking sheet and set aside.

Mix flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together. set aside. cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the dry ingredients until well combined. The dough will be stiff and fairly dry. Stir through the nuts.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Divide into 2 and roll each half into a log that measures about 12 inches long and 2 inches wide. Transfer the logs to the prepared baking sheet, leaving room for them to expand.

Bake until firm to touch. About 35 minutes.

Remove from the oven. Where an oven mitt to hold the logs in place. Use a serrated knife to cut them on the diagonal into 3/4inch thick pieces.
lay them on their side on the baking sheet and return to the oven for abut 5 - 10 minutes or until crisp.

Cool on racks and store in airtight containers for weeks. If they last that long.

Makes about 28 biscotti.

Other favourite quotes from the book...
Ross: I just thought we'd go out to dinner. And then I'd bring her back to my place and I'd introduce her to my monkey.
Chandler: And he's not speaking metaphorically.

Rachel: I'm not just waitressing. I... I... also write the specials on the specials board and... and I take the dead flowers out of the vase... and sometimes Auturo lets me put the chocolate blobbies on the cookies.

Monica: Hey, great skirt. Birthday present?
Rachel: yeah.
Monica: from who?
Rachel: From you. I exchanged the blouse you got me.

chocolate meringues with bailey's cream

Bill Granger, Aussie Chef. Worth keeping? YES!

As always, when trying this recipe I recommend using the freshest ingredients you can get hold of, and the best quality chocolate. I used Green & Black's 72% cocoa baking chocolate. This recipe makes 8 and the meringues can be stored in an airtight container for a few days.

All your utensils must be really clean and free of grease or this won't work!

4 eggwhites
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
100g good quality dark chocolate, grated
(careful of your fingers, they don't taste as good)
pinch salt

Preheat your oven to 120C.
Line a large baking sheet with grease proof paper.
Use an electric beater to whisk eggwhites and salt in a bowl until soft peaks form.
Add the sugar 1 large spoonful at a time and continue to whisk until stiff and glossy.
Gently fold through the grated chocolate.
Spoon onto baking sheet into 8 portions.
Bake for 1hr 15mins until dry and crisp.
Turn off oven and leave the door ajar for the meringues to cool.


(Pre-baked meringues. I didn't get a photo of the finished product!)

Bailey's cream
Simple stuff! 300ml of the thickest, dollopy cream around (like King Island double cream) and carefully stir through about 30 - 50mls of baileys.

Serve a meringue with a big dollop of cream and a couple of strawberries, or other berries on top. It's sure to be a hit! (Well it was for me anyway).

The meringue recipe was sourced from April 2007 Delicious. magazine.

rosemary-pesto lamb rack

Last night's dinner. No photo's here, but there are on the epicurious site. I followed the recipe exactly and it worked perfectly. I even enjoyed the pesto more than I thought I would.

rosemary-pesto lamb rack

Donna Hay's choc-malt brownies

This recipe is from issue 11 - Spring 2005. I make it whenever I can find an excuse. I'm pretty good at finding excuses to make things cakey and chocolate. Don't think about the ingredients too much, just make it and eat it - ok?

250g dark chocolate, chopped
310g butter, softened
2 cups brown sugar
5 eggs
1 1/4 cups plain flour (all purpose)
1/4 tsp baking powder
5 tbsp cocoa powder
1 cup malt powder
extra malt for dusting
(note: Donna also adds 1 cup choc chips - but I think that's going too far..)

Preheat the oven to 150C. Place chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat and stir until melted and combined.
Place sugar, chocolate mixture and eggs in a bowl and stir to combine.
Sift together flour, baking powder, cocoa and malt and stir into the mixture. (Add the choc chips here if you want them)
Spoon the mixture into a greased and lined 20 x 30cm (8 x 12in) baking tin. Bake for 50 minutes or until set. Cool the brownies in the tin. Cut into squares and dust with extra malt at the time of serving. (It dissolves into the brownies if you store them that way).

This recipe gets a rating of 5/5.

making pesto

My Japanese host family (father and daughter - mum is back home taking care of the bakeries) is coming over for dinner on Tuesday evening. My host sister Ayumi is vegetarian, so I'm making an Italian vegetarian dinner party. I've taken the recipes from this months Delicious. magazine, which has it's annual Italian special.

First up, homemade pesto, to make into a delicious looking pesto lasagne.

Pesto Sauce

200g of basil leaves


200g toasted pinenuts


3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped


200ml fruity extra virgin olive oil, and a big pinch of sea salt or like I've used, lake salt.


Pop it all into a blender and mix together until lovely and creamy. Like the photo below.


Ready to serve as is over pasta or in a salad.

I'll be adding 100g grated pecorino (or parmasan) and 250g fresh ricotta and layering it between fresh lasagne sheets to make into the pesto lasagne. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes in a moderate oven until browned. I'll post a photo when it's done.

It's ANZAC Day here

I've tried to give my Pa a call, but it's nice that he didn't answer the phone, because he's probably down at the club with his mates and Gram enjoying their company and telling old war stories.
ANZAC for the non Aussie/Kiwi's out there is Australia New Zealand Army Corp. It is a public holiday to remember our fathers who went to war and died for our country. It began with WW1 and the 25th April was the day they first landed. History buffs can read more on this anzac site.
It has been raining pretty constantly here today, so the dawn service looked funny on TV - just a huge sea of umbrella tops.
We made anzac biscuits. As I do every year.

My chief baker is our exchange student Hashi.


They don't look cooked in this picture, but they were. And they were yum!


Of course, we enjoyed them with some delicious organic chai.



Here's the recipe I use. There's lots out there, but these are lovely and chewy.
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup coconut
2/3 cup brown sugar (white is OK)

Mix all the dry ingredients together.

Dissolve 1tsp bicarb soda into 2tbsp of hot water.

Melt 125g (4oz) butter, stir through 2tbsp golden syrup (like molasses), then stir through the bicarb mixture.

Mix the butter mixture through the dry ingredients (it might look a little crumbly, but that's OK). Place teaspoonfuls on a greased tray. Bake in moderate slow oven (325F or 160C) for about 10 minutes. They're soft when you first take them out, but they harden up when they cool down. Eat whilst warm with a lovely hot cup of your favourite drink. And think of all the old blokes who were once young boys sent off to a war they had no idea would be so horrific.

Raspberry cheesecake brownies

Ooh lala!

before...

after....

The recipe is from my favourite magazine - delicious. The original recipe is right here.

I screwed it up of course - and put all the sugar in the brownie instead of saving the right amount for the cheesecake. I put less sugar in the cheesecake instead. In fact, it tasted good with less sugar, so next time I make it I'll use less sugar all round.

This is what I'll try:
# 200g best quality dark chocolate (I used black and green's organic 70% cocoa cooking chocolate)
# 200g unsalted butter
# 300g sugar (200g for brownie base, 100g for cheesecake)
# 5 eggs
# 110g plain flour, sifted
# 400g cream cheese
# 1 tsp vanilla extract
# 120g raspberries (I used frozen because fresh ones are too expensive here)

I'm going to try setting the oven at 160C. Grease and line a 20 x 30cm lamington pan.
# Place the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water until melted. Set aside to cool slightly.
# Cream the butter and 200g of the caster sugar until pale, then add 3 of the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the melted chocolate, then fold in the flour. Spread three-quarters of the mixture into the lined pan.
# In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese, remaining sugar and eggs and the vanilla extract until smooth, then spread over the chocolate base.
# Dollop the remaining chocolate mixture over the cream cheese layer and use a fork to swirl the chocolate. Poke the raspberries into the top and bake in the oven for about an hour or until it doesn't wobble when you jiggle it.
# Set aside to cool, then cut into squares and serve.

It was still good with too much sugar, but I'm sure it'll be heaps better next time...mmm.

swap, new furniture and inspirations

A weekend trip to Ikea for my sister, of course ended up costing me over $100 on stuff I didn't know I needed until a shuffled through the maze of rooms with 100,000 other Sydney-siders. What's new, huh? Besides, because it takes 3 hours minimum to get through the shop AND it always costs so much, you never end up going too often. The crowds frustrate and anger me no end. I have no patience for crowds. Ask Paul. So I got a few 'essentials' including 2 new little tables for convenient 'eating in front of the telly' time. Also convenient crafting and blogging table too, may I add!

I've finished putting together the parcel for Kristen for Ellia's Sweet Pea Valentine Swap

oooh. Wonder what's in there...I was so over the moon about how perfectly everything fitted into this recycled box I had been saving. Wonderful!

I have been so busy reading so many great blogs. Recent inspirations include (but not limited to):

This fantastic crocheted scarf at Bella Dia. When it gets colder....

Jess Hutch is now screen printing her sketches onto large pieces of fabric. Soo lovely.

Fooooood. Jennifer at Mama urchin has made the most delicious looking pizza from SCRATCH. I so want a pizza stone for our oven. I truly believe it would motivate me to make my own pizza. true.

Being the basic sewer that I am, I have not yet attempted zippers, or anything zipper related - like cute little pouches. This may change now with a little help from Claire at needle book, who has recently plunged into the zipper pouch world herself, and provided links to useful tutorials she found.

Sally (nice name) at Shim and sons is sharing with us the most beautiful pin boards - no. sewing. required.

Dinner - Grilled Barramundi and Sweet Potato Salad

Dinner tonight.

I've based the sweet potato recipe on one that I found here on nine msn. I was looking for something low carb. Hate to be following a trendy diet, but anything's worth a shot within reason.

My version is a bit different.

Sticky Roasted Sweet Potato Salad (sounds nicer)
Serves 2 as a meal or 3~4 as side salad

2 small sweet potatoes peeled and chopped into chunks
Spray cooking oil
Sweet chilli sauce

Preheat hot oven (200C). Spread potato on a non-stick baking tray spray with oil and drizzle with sweet chilli oil. Bake for 40 minutes or so, checking and turning to make sure they don't burn too much.

Leave the potato to cool. While it's cooking put the rest of your salad together:

1 can chickpeas rinsed and drained
2 cups (approx) baby spinach leaves
handful of salad seeds

Dressing

200ml diet fruit flavoured yoghurt (I got the nectarine flavour)
handful of fresh coriander (cilantro?) chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice

I kept the dressing separate to the salad til the end and drizzled it over the salad and fish before serving.


Fish

2 pieces white fish with skin on (I used Barramundi)
olive oil
handful of coriander and thai basil chopped
sea salt and fresh pepper

Rub the oil into the skin and then rub in the herbs. Crack the salt and pepper over the skin too.

Grill fish skin side first until crispy looking, then turn for just a few minutes to finish cooking the fish. It's done when the flesh flakes easily when poked with a fork.

This was my fish ready to turn.

Scroll back up to the top and that's what it looked like all served, moments before we pounced on it. YUMMO. We have left over salad (enough for 1 lunch tomorrow) and the fish was so big we were completely stuffed.