Today the Friday Morning Cooking group made the best picnic salad I’ve had in a long time. Our group meets every Friday morning at 10 am and it’s a great opportunity to have a cup of coffee or tea, a piece of cake and a chat with friends.  I look forward to my Friday food adventure.

This salad takes a bit of time to prepare because everything has to be sliced or diced but every bit is easy and the salad can be made up to a couple of days in advance.  All you need is your picnic basket, this salad and some chicken.  I’d probably stop at the shop and get a rotisserie/bbq chicken on the way to the picnic and save myself some work on picnic day.  Once you arrive, slice or pull apart the chicken, add the dressing to the salad and plate it up.

The dressing is only chopping a few ingredients, adding a few more ingredients, mix and let the flavors combine before using.  It tastes SO good!  If you want to prepare your own chicken, you can do that too.  Mix some garlic, fresh ginger, soy sauce and lime juice and soak some chicken tenders for 15 minutes and then grill in a hot pan til just done.  For my picnic I used a store bought chicken to save time.

The ingredients in this salad aren’t expensive and it makes a LOT of salad.  You can use Vietnamese mint, plain old regular mint or a combination of regular mint, spearmint and Vietnamese mint.  I used Vietnamese mint and garden variety mint and it was delicious.

If you use a V slicer (mandolin), a salad maker or a shredder or a food processor, then this salad doesn’t take very long at all.  If you’re doing it all by hand, it will take some time but nothing in this recipe is difficult. Just slice and chop and place everything in a large bowl.

Looks messy I know but the taste is oh so good.  Once you have the dressing made and the chopping and slicing done it’s all down to plating or storing for that fantastic picnic you have planned.  The salad mix will stay in good shape for three or four days if you don’t add the dressing til just before you serve the salad.

Just add the chicken, drizzle with the dressing and it’s time to eat!  Here’s the recipe:

 

 

Sounds decadent, doesn’t it?  It’s made out of free range eggs, so it’s got to be healthy, right?  This is not a dessert you’d make for every day but it’s a stunning finale for a light dinner party meal. Because it’s made out of meringue, you might think it’s a light dessert too, but don’t let it fool you.  There’s lots of yummy cream on it.

There’s a story behind this dessert.  When I first moved to Australia we had what I lovingly refer to as “the first parental visit” to our home for dinner.  I’m a pretty good cook and I wasn’t the least bit concerned but my darling husband was fretting.  He wasn’t fretting in a big way but I could tell he wanted this to go well.  He’s the baby of the family and has always been a bit spoiled.

He wanted his parents to like me and I am American – you know, of those gum chewing Americans you see on TV.  I’m not kidding.  All Americans live in big cities and they chew gum — that was my inlaws’ impression of me before they ever met me.  I have no idea where the gum chewing came from, but I suspect it was on TV.  I laughed it off and said, “Look, all they have to do is meet me and they’ll like me, I promise.”

Him:  What are you serving for dinner?

Me:  Oh.. maybe the pork fillet with apple onion marmalade (it was my fave at the time)

Him: You don’t know what you’re cooking yet??

Me:  No, why?  It’s just dinner for God’s sake.

Him:  You haven’t met my mother, it’s never just dinner.

Me:  I should expect the inquisition?

Him:  Not that bad but you’ll be judged by what you serve and how you serve it.

Me:  Then it’s their problem not mine.

Him:  Oh right, I can see a disaster looming.  Seriously, what ARE you going to cook?

Me:  Ok, I’ll make the pork and I’ll serve a pavlova for dessert

Him:  Have you ever made a pavlova?  That’s a pretty Australian dessert.  It took my mother years to perfect hers. You can’t serve a dessert you’ve never tried, especially to my mother!

Me:  It’s a dessert.  I can read a freakin recipe.  Will you calm down?

Him:  Can you make a cheese platter up just in case the pav doesn’t work out?  Can you do it for me?

Me:  (while rolling my eyes out of my head)  Yes, dear, I can do that for you.  Stop fretting. They will like me.  I’m a likeable person.  You like me, don’t you?

And that’s how it went.  Pavlova is a dessert created for the famous Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova during one of her visits to Australia (or New Zealand – both countries claim the dessert as theirs).  It’s similar to a cake but made out of meringue.  Dry on the outside by soft, moist and delicious on the inside.  Think lemon meringue pie without the lemon or the crust. It’s topped with heaps of whipped cream and on top of the cream are berries or other fruit and on top of that, drizzled passionfruit pulp.  It’s easy to love what we lovingly refer to as a “pav”.

I decided I’d “Americanize” the pavlova (notice I didn’t type Americanise – it still doesn’t seem normal even after all these years) and instead of the standard whipped cream, berries and passionfruit, I’d make chocolate whipped cream and add chopped roasted hazelnuts.  Oh, and I’d make it two layers.  You don’t want to hear what he had to say about that!

There are several schools of thought about how to make a pavlova and everyone has a different idea.  When I first looked up how to make a pav all those years ago I found a recipe that said, “keep it simple” and I’ve done that every time.  Some recipes call for vanilla, cornstarch (cornflour) or vinegar – I’ve never used anything but egg whites and sugar and mine come out yummy every time.

Then I whip cream and add chocolate syrup. How much?  Until it looks chocolatey.  I need to be better at developing recipes.  I’m pretty good at the creating but I’m not so good at the writing down what I did bit.  I change something every time.  It’s not a good look when you’re telling people how to make something to say, “add syrup until it looks chocolatey.”

When the layers are cool I spread the whipped cream on the bottom layer, sprinkle some chopped hazelnuts over the cream and drizzle some chocolate syrup over it.  Then it gets a bit tricky.  You have to pick up the top layer of pavlova and rip the baking paper off and set it down on top of the cream without breaking the delicate pavlova in the process.  If you are careful it works just fine, just don’t toss it around like a bowling ball because it’s quite fragile.

Once the 2nd layer is in place, I put the rest of the cream on top and finish with the rest of the chopped hazelnuts and drizzle with the chocolate syrup and it’s a beautiful dessert.

Now for the rest of the inlaws story.  My dessert looked just like this but I put it in the fridge behind something hoping hubs would forget and he did.  The parentals arrived, we had a lovely dinner and I brought out the dessert. MIL was duly impressed and did the oohing and ahhing.  I served his mother, his father and me pieces of pavlova.  I brought John a plate of cheese and crackers and said, “I told you I could read,” and told his mother the story.  There was much laughter and my dear husband had two pieces of pavlova and sat there beaming.

Don’t be afraid of trying this recipe or any recipe.  Cooking is never a contest — it’s about sharing food with family and friends.  This is a sweet dessert so you don’t need a very big piece.

Here’s the recipe!

 

 

Seriously, it is SO much better to make your own and if you’re cooking anyway, just add one more pan.  I was making some pork cutlets the other night for dinner and while they were cooking in the oven I decided to make some stewed apples to accompany them.  I peeled a couple of apples because there are only two of us at our table (you’d probably want to make enough for everyone).

I don’t bother cutting the apple apart and taking out the core.  I might be the Orgasmic Chef but I don’t overwork myself.  I just peel the apple and then cut a big slab off each side and then trim the ends and toss the core away. I might miss a teensy bit of apple around the core but hey, that’s the part that’s going to make me fat, so we’ll leave that out.  I slice the apple and put it in a saucepan with a little water and cook on medium until the apples are soft.

Don’t make the mistake that I did in my early years of cooking and add sugar at the beginning.  The apples will take FOREVER to get soft if you do.  Cook just the apple and some water and a bit of lemon juice til the apple is cooked and then add the other ingredients.

I think apples with pork are a match made in heaven.  I like the apples to be cooked but still in little chunks so it’s got more body on the plate and in my mouth.  If you want to give it a bit more zip you could soak some golden raisins in brandy and add those to the apples.

One of the reasons I love cooking so much is because I decide how much sugar, salt, spices and ingredients that go into my food.  I also love that my food that isn’t filled with preservatives.  If you like your apples with more liquid or you like them sweeter or not so sweet or you want more cinnamon – you decide.  Just keep tasting until it’s right for  you.

 

This is a sauce made out of apples but I wouldn’t call it real applesauce like you get in the jar.  It’s thicker and chunkier but it’s great as an accompaniment to pork.  One day I’ll post about preserving applesauce. It’s SO simple and easy to make.

 

 

In the US it would be butternut squash and sweet potato but whatever you want to call it, this dish makes an otherwise ordinary dinner, WOW.  I loved it.  My husband, who rarely if ever will eat leftovers (he must have been rich in a previous life), went to the kitchen and covered the leftovers and put them in the fridge so he could eat it today.  When I saw that, I knew it was a winner.  Even Charlie the dog was begging for plate scrapings but there weren’t any.

The sauce was thick and creamy and the potato and pumpkin were just cooked.  This is a simple to prepare dish that doesn’t require you to go out and buy a lot of ingredients you’ll only use in one dish.

I was cooking some pork steaks and wanted something different to accompany them on my plate.  I started Googling sweet potatoes and then scalloped sweet potatoes and then sweet potato gratin – you know how we all do it! One page leads to another and you leave  a comment and you follow another link and then you forget what you were looking for in the first place!

So I decided to go it alone and see what I could come up with.  I turned on the oven to 200°C (400°F) and then sliced the sweet potatoes thinly, like you would if you were making scalloped potatoes.  I had half a butternut pumpkin (squash) so I peeled it and cut it in half and sliced the halves into thin slices the same size as the potatoes.  They came out in fat ice cream cone shapes.  Cute.

I buttered a small baking dish (there are only two of us) and placed a layer of sweet potatoes on the bottom, then added salt, pepper and Gruyère cheese but not too much.  I didn’t want the dish to be overpoweringly cheesy — and Gruyère is distinctive but won’t grab you by the throat and yell CHEESE!

Then I did the same thing with a layer of butternut pumpkin (squash) finishing the layer with salt, pepper and Gruyère.  Two more alternating layers and didn’t put cheese on the top layer.  Then I was ready to make the sauce.  It’s a very very simple sauce.  I put the cream in a small saucepan and pressed 2 large cloves of garlic into it and pinched the leaves off fresh thyme, about a teaspoon and a half.  That’s it.  I heated the sauce almost to boiling to let the garlic infuse.

I poured the cream and garlic sauce over the potatoes and cheese and then added a final layer of cheese and it looked like this.  Notice that I didn’t use a huge amount of cheese but if you’re a big cheese lover, go for  your life and add all you want.  My husband is Australian and they don’t use anywhere near as much cheese in cooking as Americans do.  They eat a lot of cheese on plates with fruit and nuts for dessert.

To make sure that all the potatoes are evenly covered with the cream sauce, I wiggled the dish just a bit and then I covered it with foil and popped this baby in the oven for 40 minutes.  If you have a gratin dish, use that but I didn’t have one. (Christmas IS coming, hint hint to my husband who might be reading this). After the 40 minutes were up, I removed the foil and cooked uncovered til nicely browned.  Mine took another 30 minutes.

Depending upon how well done you like your potatoes, you can take the dish out of the oven anytime after it looks like this.

You’ll note that I didn’t put an amount for salt and pepper because everyone’s palate is different.  I don’t like much salt and my husband loves pepper so that’s how I cook.  Use what you like and you’ll be happier.  Here’s the recipe:

 

 

I know, you go to blogs and expect to find fancy recipes putting all sorts of wacky ingredients together for a smashing new dish this is a family favorite that everyone will love, even cousin Sadie.  Today we have for you not only pancakes, but the easiest and best pancakes I’ve ever had.  My sugar level probably went to a million but OMG they were SO good.

Seriously, if you can imagine forking into these babies, you’re my friend.  There will be the naysayers that it’s not healthy or there’s too much of this or that, that might well be true but honey, just one bite will send you into breakfast heaven. No, that’s not right these pancakes will send you into heaven any time of the day you eat them.

I did use butter and I used the real maple syrup from Vermont (costs a whack from here I can tell you), but it was well worth the expense.  If I take the time to cook something, I won’t skimp on ingredients.  If I can’t afford it, I’ll cook something I can afford.

You could make fluffy pancakes by separating the egg yolk from the white and whipping the egg whites but this is SO much easier than that and it only uses one bowl.

The secret is the little bit of lemon juice and bicarb in the mix.  1/2 a cup of batter in a medium hot pan that’s been wiped with butter or oil and when the pancake looks like this, flip it over, otherwise it’s going to be overcooked and tough.  You want to keep this pancake lighter than air.

Serve them with butter or you could top them with sauteed apples and cinnamon for a glorious change.

Here’s the recipe:

 

 

 

I woke up this morning and I wanted something good for me, fruity and yummy.  I opened the pantry and well, I just stood there.  You know how you open the pantry or the fridge and just stare at it hoping for divine inspiration?  Yeah, like that.  After a few minutes my eyes glanced over the box of Kellogg’s All Bran and then on to other things.  I thought about pancakes with maple syrup and that didn’t hit the good for me button so I went back to the box of All Bran and decided to make a fruity muffin.

I took the recipe from Kellogg and adapted it for my muffins. I like plain bran muffins (no I don’t, I just said that because it sounded good.  I can eat them but that’s where the line is drawn).  I love fresh apple cooked in anything and while I was in the pantry I yanked out a big bag of sultanas (golden raisins) and figured I could toss a few of those in there too.

Anyone who buys a muffin mix in a box is bonkers.  These muffins took no more than 10 minutes to prepare and the same amount of time to bake as a box version but with NO preservatives, plus all fresh ingredients.

I know some of you will tell me that any muffin isn’t very good for you with all the carbs and fat and sugar.  It’s still better than a pancake drizzled with butter and floating with maple syrup.  I don’t eat a lot so I don’t worry too much about what goes in to a dish as long as it tastes good going down.  For me, life is all about experiencing joy in the moment and this morning, these bran muffins hit the spot.  I ate about 3/4 of a muffin with a cup of coffee and I was set for the day.

These freeze really well too.  I made a dozen muffins and froze 10 of them.  I find that if I freeze them right away when they’re fresh, they are great on those days I want something more than a bowl of cereal.  Maybe I’ll want one in the morning but maybe I’ll want a poached egg on a thick piece of buttered toast.  heh

Here’s the recipe!