Relishing Royalty

Finally Summer has hit with a vengeance, and I’m loving it. My social life is crazy right now, as everyone is just happier in the warmer weather and there are so many outdoor things to enjoy in Perth when the sun is shining :), not to mention the silly season is upon us – Christmas parties, lunches, concerts, street festivals – so much is going on right now and I’m really having a ball.

I was recently reading historian Kate Williams‘ book Young Elizabeth : The Making of Our Queen, which mentioned the dish created by royal chefs to be served at the Queen’s coronation lunch in 1953. Aptly titled Coronation Chicken, this dish has become an iconic British chicken salad dish, with many variations.

Basically this is poached chicken, dressed with a mixture of mayonnaise, curry powder and fruit chutney.

You can see both the original recipe and a healthier, modern take by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, here. I made mine above by taking elements from both – I used low-fat mayonnaise and Greek yoghurt for the dressing base, and fruit chutney rather than apricots, but I did poach 2 chicken breasts rather than use leftover cooked chicken. I also topped with shaved parmesan to cut through the sweetness, but actually it was still too sweet for me – too kind of “fruity” in an overpowering kind of way.

I like the concept, and it was easy to make, but I will try it again with just yoghurt and no mayo next time, and chopped dried fruit instead of the very strong fruit chutney.

Happy Summer Fooding!

 

Another Quick Salad

Creating a healthy meal in a hurry does not have to be complicated. This salad incorporated what I had on hand at the time, as well as including beetroot and pear, two things that (according to practitioners of Chinese medicine) are very good for the skin. As I have had rosacea for years, I try anything and everything to give my skin a helping hand.

Steam 1 whole beetroot in the microwave (skin on or off, up to you). Trim roots and cut into wedges.

Place a heap of baby spinach leaves on your plate, and top with beetroot wedges, chopped pieces of ripe pear, chopped avocado, bits of cheese of your choice (I used torn bits of shaved Jarslberg as that’s what I had, but I also like feta or blue, or sauted cubes of yummy haloumi) and a sprinkling of walnuts.

For a dressing, just whisk together some extra-virgin olive oil, sherry vinegar (use balsamic if you can’t find sherry vinegar, which is expensive but lovely for this kind of thing) and a bit of dijon mustard – drizzle over the salad and tuck in!

Happy Summer Fooding!

Zucchini Bread (Cake?)

It’s interesting that carrot cake is always cake, but banana cake and zucchini cake are often called breads. The ingredients for all of these are very similar, but we never say carrot bread (or beetroot bread!) do we! I think they’re all really cake, because bread in my view is generally a savoury thing. But who am I to argue with the masses…….

Anyway I came across this great looking zucchini “bread” recipe a couple of weeks ago via a Food.com e-newsletter, and decided to make it for morning tea at work, last week. As I had successfully made my usual carrot cake in the bread machine the week before, I looked at the zucchini bread ingredients and thought hmmmmm they’re very similar in quantity etc. so I’ll do this one in the bread machine too.

It worked, but it was not as moist as the carrot cake, so I think this one would be better eaten straight after cooking (I made it the night before taking it to work). Also it didn’t rise quite as much and I think would have been better on the medium crust setting, which would have baked it about 8 minutes longer. It was good enough to be a “keeper” though, so I will change the baking time slightly next time.

Below is my bread machine version for 1 cake – if you want to do it the original, oven way, here is the website I got it from – which is in fact quantities for 2 loaves.

The Ultimate Zucchini Bread (CAKE!!)

In order, place the following ingredients in bread machine bowl:

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

1 1/4 cups grated zucchini

1 tbsp orange zest, grated

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1 3/4 cups plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp bi-carb soda

1/2 tsp salt

Bake on bread machine’s Cake setting, with Medium crust and 750gm loaf settings.

If you’re feeling like a more savoury bread, try this lemon & dill bread, also in the bread machine. I made this again recently and we had it at work with apricot & almond cream cheese on top – a great combination with the bread flavours.

Happy Fooding!

Carrot Cake Bread Machine Style

Ready for morning tea at work

My lovely bread machine, best friend for years, also has all those fancy functions like jam and cake. I’ve never tried making jam in it, mainly because I’m just not a sweet eater and wouldn’t really use it – I am a definite Vegemite Kid and the idea of eating sweet stuff for breakfast is, well, just plain full of wrongability, as the smegheads  from the Dwarf would say!

I have, however enjoyed making this carrot cake recipe in my current bread machine (which is my second one as my first, beautiful, trusty Sanyo died 3 years ago after 15 years of faithful service and being used to death, literally).

I do have a great non-bread-machine carrot cake recipe, but really this is so easy to do that I haven’t made the other one for years. It is from the recipe leaflet that came with the machine, and works a treat.

I have a Sunbeam Quantum Smartbake – but I’m sure if you have a different machine the same or similar settings and quantities will work just fine. I transferred all my favourite old recipes from my old machine to the new one without a problem.

Carrot Cake

2 eggs

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1 1/2 cups grated carrot

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 cup SR flour

1/2 cup plain flour

1 rounded tsp bi-carb soda

Place ingredients in bread machine in the order listed. Bake on the CAKE setting, with light crust and 750 gm loaf size chosen.

Ice as desired, or if you can’t be bothered making icing, sprinkle with icing sugar through a sieve.

I made this the evening before I wanted it for work, and it was still beautifully moist the next morning – and disappeared very quickly!

Happy Fooding!

Tower of Taste!

I have had the most delicious baguette I’ve ever had in my life! This was at the Tower of London, in their New Armouries Cafe, which only opened a year or so ago and is much, much more gourmet than the usual fast food rubbish you get at tourist venues – but with very reasonable prices.

I’m having all sorts of trouble pasting links into their usual place on my iPad, and in fact am finding the app very un-user-friendly, but if you search for Tower of London you’ll have no trouble finding the restaurant details.

This baguette was called a Wensleydale Waldorf, and contained: Wensleydale cheese, walnuts, celery, cranberries and apple. All but the cheese, was bound into a spreadable mixture with creme fraiche. It worked brilliantly and I am taking this combination home as something to definitely try for myself. It helped that the baguette was super fresh and soft, as I am having a lot of teeth problems and can’t cope with crunchy, hard bread at the moment!

I’ve done absolutely no cooking whilst here, but I have eaten a lot! In particular I have had some wonderful cheeses – too much really!

Happy Holiday Fooding!

 

Ploughing Away….

I’ve been quiet this week as I am in England at the moment, hence 1) not doing any cooking and 2) I’m busy seeing sights and travelling around. I am, of course, doing my best to eat lots of yummy food, and am doing my usual hunt for new & better Ploughman’s Lunches!

There is something sooooo satisfying about a platter of cheeses, crusty bread, pickled onions, ham and chutney. No two places serve it in the same way, although some are better than others!

I’ve had two so far on this trip. One was at a pub in Covent Garden, part of a franchise, so you can get this particular platter all over the country. Included was ham pork quiche, a pie really, with beautifully crumbly pastry. Everything on this dish was delicious and I certainly couldn’t get through it!

The other one I had was whilst on a day out to Ightham Mote in Kent with a dear friend I was staying with. After a lovely morning wandering around the beautiful gardens and medieval house, we went for lunch at a quiet looking pub at the tiny village of Ivy Hatch, called The Plough Inn. Inside it was ultra modern, not quaint and cosy like we expected, and the service was downright poor as they were very understaffed. The food was lovely though, we both had the Ploughman’s, ate every scrap! The cheeses were so good, and the bread was nutty, fruity and fresh, a perfect accompaniment.

I’m having an amazing time and have loads of gorgeous food photos to make your mouth water. I love food.

 

Happy Holiday Fooding!

 

Healthy Little Goodies

These balls are adapted from a recipe in a food magazine from a couple of years ago – I adjusted the quantities to suit what I had in the cupboard and how fussed I could be on the day. These are great for a sweet but reasonably healthy snack – perfect for lunch boxes or after school munchies. Certainly they all disappeared at work!

Apricot Energy Balls

200 gms dried apricots (the soft kind)

120 gms walnuts OR macadamias (or a mixture of both)

2 tbsp tahini

1 tbsp honey

1/4 cup sesame seeds

Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until finely chopped and sticky (add a little extra honey if necessary)

Using clean, damp hands, roll mixture into 3cm balls. Place on a dish lined with baking paper, and refrigerate for half an hour until firm.

Makes 18-20

Mixture can be doubled easily, and if you like you can roll the balls in either extra sesame seeds, coconut or cocoa.

Happy Healthy Snack Fooding!

A Sweet Old Favourite – It’s a Date!

Date slice, that is…..when I was in Melbourne recently, my mum made a delicious old family favourite that she used to make in the 70s. I don’t remember having it before so it was like discovering something new. Really yummy!

DATE AND WALNUT SLICE

1 cup SR flour

½ cup chopped walnuts

½ cup coconut

½ cup chopped dates

1 egg OR 2 tbsp milk + 1 tsp baking powder

120 grams butter

½ cup sugar

Mix flour, coconut, sugar, dates, walnuts with melted butter, then add beaten egg.  Spread on greased (or baking papered) scone tray with fork and cook 15-20 minutes in moderate oven (180C).

When cold, ice as desired – in this case lemon icing and a sprinkling of extra coconut.

Cut into slices.

Makes 24 pieces.

The photo above is my mum’s production – when I made it last week to take to work, I needed to alter it to make it suitable for a couple of people who can’t eat eggs. I substituted milk & baking powder, and it worked just fine, so that’s handy to know.

Egg-free version

Happy Fooding!

Choc Cherry Slice…..Again….and Again….

I was so happy with the choc cherry raisin slice I made the other day, that I have made it another two times since – 3 times in 3 weeks! I think this easy no-bake treat will be a firm, no-fail favourite for a long time to come. A great thing to have the ingredients always on stand-by for, as you can make it and cut up an hour or so later – it doesn’t take a long time to set, so you can easily make it at the last minute.

Yum!

Happy Fooding!

Cheese Platters….

Scones with smoked salmon & sour cream

Who says you have to pay for good quality posh nosh?!! Last Sunday I had a good friend over for a ‘stitching day’. We went out first, for a cuppa and scones, at the Peninsula Gardens Tearooms down by the river – unfortunately a bit disappointing compared to usual, as they have changed hands and the serving sizes/quality of scones had gone downhill. Such a shame, as I love to take visitors to this tranquil, pretty spot by the river. I hope it was just a one-off under-par performance.

Back home at my place, we had an afternoon tea of King Island cheddar, a French blue version of Labuche d’Affinois, that I purchased the week before at The Cheese Barrel in the Swan Valley.

I am pretty pleased with this cheese platter – you can make them look just as great at home, as what you pay squillions of dollars for! (and yes, that is champagne in that glass…..a bit of embroidery and lacemaking, a BBC mini series, food and bubbly – a perfect Sunday!)

Happy Fooding!