Pear Pecan and Caramel Puddings with Ginger Ice Cream

Posted on 8 July 2015 by Linda Peek

This delicious dessert is adapted from one which appeared recently in Gourmet Traveller. On a cold winter’s day it just hits the spot.

6 small ripe pears
Poaching liquid:
1 litre water
2 Tbs sugar
1 stick cinnamon
1 vanilla pod, split
Pudding mix:
1 cup pecan nuts (or walnuts)
1 cup self raising flour
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1 cup milk
½ cup brown sugar
125g butter
6 rounded Tbs Caramel (see note below)
¼ cup raw sugar (optional)
Ginger Ice Cream:
2 cups whipping cream
1 can condensed milk
3 tsp powdered ginger
½ cup crystallised/glacé ginger, chopped

Peel pears and leave whole. Place water, sugar, cinnamon stick and vanilla pod in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 mins. Add pears and simmer for 25 mins or until cooked. Drain pears and discard syrup.

Preheat oven to 180C. While pears are cooking blitz the nuts in food processor, then add flour, vanilla, cinnamon, eggs, milk and melted butter and mix till combined. Grease six one and a half cup ramekins or small pudding bowls. Divide pudding mixture between the bowls. Place a rounded tablespoonful of caramel in the middle of each, then sit a pear on top and push it down into the pudding. If liked, sprinkle with a little raw sugar. Bake for 25-30 mins or until puddings are golden brown and well risen. Dust with icing sugar and serve topped with a scoop of Ginger Ice Cream.

Ice Cream: with electric beaters, whip cream until soft peaks then add condensed milk and powdered ginger and continue to whip until combined. Fold in crystallised/glacée ginger with a rubber spatula then scrape ice cream into a plastic container with a lid. Cover and freeze for several hours or until firm.

Serves 6

Note: use a can of Nestlé Top and Fill Caramel or in South America use Dulce de Leche (Manjar) or make your own from a can of condensed milk (see Banoffi Pie recipe). Instead of six small pears you can use 3 very large ones peeled and cut vertically in half.

Roast Chicken with Jerusalem Artichokes and Lemon

Posted on 17 June 2015 by Linda Peek

The Jerusalem artichokes from our veggie garden are ready to use, so I went through some cookbooks looking for new ways to use them. This easy and delicious recipe comes from Jerusalem by one of my favourite chefs, Yotam Ottolenghi and his partner Sami Tamimi.

I’ve made a few slight adjustments. The original recipe uses fresh tarragon which I didn’t have, so I used marjoram which grows profusely in our garden and doesn’t get hit so early by the frost. It worked well. If you don’t have any saffron add a couple of teaspoons of turmeric. Ottolenghi says to peel the artichokes but it’s such a fiddly job we just scrub them and trim off any black bits.

If you don’t have Jerusalem artichokes substitute parsnips, pumpkin, sweet potatoes or ordinary potatoes.

500g Jerusalem artichokes
8 chicken thighs, skin-on, trimmed
Juice of 1 lemon
12 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
12 shallots, peeled & halved lengthwise
1 lemon, halved lengthwise & sliced thinly
1 tsp saffron threads
¼ cup olive oil
¾ cup water
1½ Tbs pink peppercorns (optional – see note)
1 Tbs fresh thyme leaves or 2 tsp dried
2 Tbs fresh marjoram or tarragon, chopped
1 to 2 tsp salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
To serve:
Extra chopped herbs
Extra lemon juice

Scrub and trim the artichokes, then cut into even chunks about 2cm thick. Place in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 mins, drain. Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well with hands. Cover and leave to marinate for 1-2 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 220°C. Tip chicken and marinade into a rectangular roasting tin (mine is non-stick) and spread out evenly. Cover with foil and roast for half an hour. Remove foil, baste chicken with the juices, then roast for a further 15 mins or until cooked and nicely browned.

Serve garnished with some extra chopped fresh herbs and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Serves 4

Note: pink peppercorns are not really peppercorns at all (look them up on Google if you’re interested). You can buy them in specialty shops such as The Essential Ingredient. They go well with smoked salmon, Gravlax, chicken and fish dishes.

Lamb & Quince Tajine in a Slow Cooker

Posted on 27 May 2015 by Linda Peek

Moroccans make their casseroles in earthenware cooking dishes with domed lids called tajines. So the word “tajine” is used to refer to both the cooking pot and the casserole you make in it. Recipes often combine meat or poultry with dried or fresh fruit and sometimes include some honey and a few nuts.

We planted a quince tree about three years ago and recently picked our first quinces. Just two. So I decided to use them in a Moroccan lamb and quince casserole. Instead of using my traditional cooking pot, which I bought when we were holidaying in Marrakesh, I made it in my slow cooker.

Fresh or frozen pomegranate seeds add a nice splash of colour, but they’re not essential. They freeze well – so stash some away when they’re in season. A little goes a long way as a garnish.

I made a large stacking ring by removing the top and bottom from a 425g can of tuna and used it to arrange the couscous in the centre of the plate with the lamb on top.

2 Tbs olive oil
1.2kg lean lamb, cut into 2cm dice (leg or shoulder)
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp chilli powder or flakes
1 tsp turmeric
1 cinnamon stick, broken in two
½ tsp saffron threads
2 quinces, peeled, cored and cut into eighths
2 Tbs honey
4 Kaffir lime leaves (optional)
2½ cups chicken stock (or water and a cube)
1 Tbs fish sauce
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
To serve:
Couscous
Chopped fresh coriander
1 cup lightly toasted pine nuts
Pomegranate seeds (optional)

Heat oil in a large frying pan and brown meat on both sides in two or three batches. Remove meat and place in slow cooker. Add garlic and onion to pan and cook gently, stirring, for 5-10 mins or until softened. Add the five dry spices and cook for one minute, stirring.

Add the spice and onion mixture to the slow cooker with the quinces, honey, stock, lime leaves and fish sauce. Cover and cook on High for 5-6 hours (or on Low for 8-10 hours), adding the sweet potato and chickpeas about halfway through the cooking time. Slow cookers vary, so you will have to adjust the cooking time as you go. If possible check and stir the tajine every hour or so.

Serve tajine on a bed of couscous, garnished with chopped coriander, pine nuts and pomegranate seeds.

Serves 8

Note: if preferred, cook the casserole in a heavy casserole dish with a lid in the oven at 170°C for about two hours, adding the sweet potato and chickpeas about halfway through.

Banoffee Pie

Posted on 20 May 2015 by Linda Peek

Condensed milk which has been cooked until it turns into a thick caramel is called Dulce de Leche in South America.

It’s popular all over the region and sold commercially in large quantities. I first came across it when we were living in Chile, where they call it Manjar. Many traditional desserts in Chile use Manjar and some people eat it like jam on bread or toast. It’s sold in supermarkets in various sizes, in toughened plastic or foil bags.

Here in Australia Dulce de Leche is sold in a few specialty shops, but it’s easy, if a little time-consuming, to make. Place two unopened tins of condensed milk in a large saucepan, cover with water and boil for two to two and a half hours. The tins must be fully submerged at all times because, as Nigella Lawson says, you don’t want to have to clean caramel off the ceiling. Nigella suggests you boil a few tins at a time as they keep indefinitely until opened. But if you can’t be bothered making your own Dulce de Leche, buy Nestlé’s caramel filling instead. It’s not quite the same, but it’s close.

With biscuits and caramel in the store cupboard, cream in the fridge and a couple of bananas in the fruit bowl, you can whip up a Banoffee Pie in a jiffy.

200g Digestive biscuits (plain or chocolate coated)
60g unsalted butter, melted
1 tin Dulce de Leche (see method above) or use Nestlé’s Caramel Filling
½ cup cream
2 large bananas, sliced
300ml thickened or whipping cream
Chocolate to grate

Crush biscuits until fine in food processor. Mix with melted butter then spread evenly over the bottom of an 8″ (20cm) pie or flan dish and press down firmly. Chill in the fridge until set.

Heat Dulce de Leche or caramel filling in a small saucepan with the half cup of cream and whisk till smooth with a hand whisk. Allow to cool, then spread caramel over the biscuit base. Slice bananas and arrange over the caramel. Whip cream until soft peaks form then spread or dollop over the bananas. Decorate with grated chocolate. If preferred spread the whipped cream on first with the banana slices on top, then the chocolate, which is what I’ve done in the photo.

Serves 6-8

Alternative presentation: layer crumbs, caramel, whipped cream, banana and grated chocolate in short whisky tumblers. This free-form method makes it easy to halve the recipe which will serve 4-6, depending on size of the tumblers. If you want to cut down on fat and calories, just use biscuit crumbs in the bottom and leave out the butter.

Duck with Cumquat Sauce

Posted on 6 May 2015 by Linda Peek

We have a cumquat bush which is 3-4 metres tall and very prolific. I love trying recipes which traditionally use oranges to see how they turn out with cumquats. This easy duck with orange sauce recipe which I’ve been making forever was easy to adapt and the result was delicious. The cumquats are just a garnish, so if you don’t have any you can leave them out.

Other cumquat recipes on Café Cat you might like to try are Cumquat, Date and Ginger Chutney and Cumquat and Almond Cake.

1 whole duck
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbs fresh rosemary leaves
zest of one orange
Orange Sauce:
¾ cup orange juice
¾ cup chicken stock
1 cup orange or cumquat marmalade
1 Tbs cornflour mixed with 2 Tbs water
1 Tbs lemon juice
Glazed cumquats:
16-20 whole cumquats
2 cups water
½ cup sugar

Preheat oven to 200°C. Prick duck all over with a fork. Place salt, pepper, rosemary and orange zest in food processor and pulverise. Rub this mixture all over and inside the duck. Roast for 40 mins per kilo and a bit longer if necessary. Duck should be nicely browned, crispy and cooked through.

While duck is cooking make the sauce. Place all ingredients in a saucepan and cook, stirring, until thickened. Leave aside.

While duck is cooking prepare the cumquats. Place in a saucepan with the water and simmer gently for 30 mins or until soft. Remove cumquats. Add sugar to liquid in pan and cook for 5 minutes to form a syrup. Return cumquats to the pan and continue to cook gently for 30 mins or until the fruit is glazed and syrup has reduced to about a quarter of a cup.

When duck is ready, remove it from the roasting pan and tip off all the fat, leaving just the caramelised juices. Mix the orange sauce into these pan drippings. Cut four servings from the duck (keep the rest to make soup) and return them to the pan. Spoon over some of the sauce and put back in the oven for 10-15 mins to glaze. Serve duck garnished with the glazed cumquats. Mashed potatoes go well with this.

Serves 4

Smoked Salmon with Mango & Avocado

Posted on 11 March 2015 by Linda Peek

My Swiss friend Esther served this simple but delicious starter for a ladies lunch she hosted. You can use smoked salmon or smoked trout and the recipe is easy to halve for two people. Served with a rocket salad and some crusty bread it’s enough for a light lunch.

2 ripe but firm avocados in 1cm dice
1 spring onion (white part and a bit of the green), finely chopped
2 tsp fresh coriander, chopped
Juice of 1 lime or half a lemon
2 ripe but firm mangoes in 1cm dice
1 small red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 slices smoked salmon or trout
To serve:
Lemon or lime wedges
Fresh chives
Extra Virgin olive oil

Arrange four stacking rings on serving plates. Mix avocado with spring onion, coriander and lime or lemon juice. Season to taste then divide among the stacking rings and press down firmly with a spoon. Mix mango with chilli, place on top of the avocado and press down. Top each serving with a slice of smoked salmon or trout. Remove stacking ring then garnish plates with a lemon or lime wedge, a couple of pieces of fresh chive and a drizzle of olive oil.

Serves 4

Seven Quick Desserts

Posted on 25 February 2015 by Linda Peek

We all need a few desserts in our repertoire which can be made in a jiffy.

The secret is to have a few basic ingredients on hand. For the Blueberry Parfait, for example, you need some Lemon Curd in the fridge and a packet of bought meringues (which keep for ages) in the pantry. Just add berries and cream to your shopping list, or nip down to the corner shop.

When I served this dessert recently and said “Would anyone like any more?” everyone said “Yes please”, so I had to re-load all the glasses!

In Australia you can buy a whole pavlova in a box and I used chunks of that instead of meringues because it’s softer and more marshmallowy. But either will do.

Blueberry Parfaits – in tall parfait glasses or tumblers place a dollop of whipped cream or thick Greek yoghurt, a dollop of Lemon Curd (preferably home-made), some crumbled meringue, more cream or yoghurt, then a few fresh blueberries. Repeat layers and serve immediately.
Mocha Mousse – dissolve 2 tsp instant coffee in 2 Tbs hot water. Mix into 1 cup Nutella chocolate spread. Whip 1 cup cream in another bowl and fold in. Lightly toast ½ cup skinned hazelnuts or almonds and chop coarsely. Break 8 sponge fingers into 6 to 8 small wine or Martini glasses. Drizzle with some Kahlúa or Bailey’s Irish Cream, top with half the chocolate mixture, half the nuts, then repeat. Dust tops with sieved cocoa. Chill before serving.
Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding – keep some brioche or croissants in the freezer to make this in one large dish or individual ones.
Blancmange – mix 6 slightly rounded tablespoons cornflour with 1 Tbs sugar and a little cold milk. Bring 1 litre milk and ½ cup cream to the boil then add the cornflour mixture and 1-2 tsp vanilla essence, stirring till thick. Pour into coffee cups which have been rinsed out with cold water. Refrigerate till set. To serve dip quickly in hot water and tip onto serving plates. Meanwhile thaw half a kilo of frozen raspberries with some sugar (to taste) and serve this compote with the blancmanges with some thick cream.
Mangoes with Ginger Wine – peel and slice 4 mangoes and place in serving dish. Heat ¼ cup Stone’s Ginger Wine with 2 Tbs finely chopped glacé ginger until hot, then pour over mangoes. Chill before serving.
Baked Apples – Use a large biscuit cutter to cut 4 circles from 4 slices of bread. Place in a buttered shallow baking dish, top each circle with a whole unpeeled apple, cored. Mix equal quantities melted butter, dried fruit/nuts and brown sugar – a couple of Tbs of each. Add juice and grated rind of an orange then use mixture to stuff the apples. Bake for an hour at 160ºC, basting often. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream or cream. The bread goes all crunchy and delicious.
Moroccan Fruit Salad – in a small saucepan heat the rind and grated juice of an orange with ¼ cup brandy or rum, ¼ cup honey, ½ cup water and a broken cinnamon stick. Pour over 4-6 cups mixed dried fruit such as sultanas, apricots and sliced figs and leave to macerate for several hours or overnight. Serve with toasted pine nuts and Labneh.

Summer Pudding

Posted on 4 February 2015 by Linda Peek

This is an old English recipe which was traditionally made in summer when the red berries are in season. Nowadays you can make it any time of the year with frozen fruit.

I made double the recipe in an 8 cup (two litre) bowl using a 1.5kg bag of mixed frozen berries from Costco. The mix consisted of blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. In England they would also have added a few blackcurrants, but unless you grow them yourself (as we do, but we’ve eaten them all this year!) they’re hard to find in Australia, even in season. It’s hard to say how much bread you will need – I used about two thirds of a loaf. There were just enough raspberries and blueberries in the garden to use as decoration.

750g mixed red berries, thawed if frozen
Sliced homemade-style white bread
100-150g sugar
To serve:
Icing sugar
Thick cream or whipped cream
A few fresh berries

Remove crusts from bread and cut to fit bottom and sides of 4 cup pudding bowl. It’s like doing a jig-saw puzzle! Put fruit and sugar in a shallow pan, cover and cook gently for 5-10 mins, shaking occasionally. Cool a bit and adjust sugar.

Using a slotted spoon, half fill basin with fruit, then a layer of bread, fill with remaining fruit and cover with bread. Spoon in enough juice to fill the basin. Use a knife around the edge of the bowl to make sure the juice goes down and colours all the bread. You will probably use it all. Place a small plate and a 1 kg weight on top and stand the bowl in a dish to catch juices. Refrigerate overnight.

To serve, run a knife with a thin blade around the pudding to loosen it from the bowl. Invert onto a serving plate then shake and it should drop out. Dust with icing sugar and serve with thick cream or whipped cream and a few fresh berries.

Serves 6-8

Sweet & Salty Cheesecakes with Cherries & Crumble

Posted on 3 December 2014 by Linda Peek

Adapted from a recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi, these Sweet and Salty Cheesecakes with Cherries and Crumble are delicious. The saltiness of the feta cheese and the final drizzle of olive oil gives this dessert the sophisticated Mediterranean flourish I have come to expect from recipes by this innovative chef.

The three components can be made in advance and the dessert put together at the last minute, making it perfect for entertaining. Leftovers will keep for several days in the fridge if they’re not polished off sooner by family members foraging for sustenance.

Instead of cherries you could use any fresh or poached fruit, such as sliced strawberries, poached rhubarb or peaches. For maximum impact serve in Martini or tall parfait glasses, although Ottolenghi just serves it scooped onto small flat plates.

Choose your best, fruity Extra Virgin olive oil to drizzle on top. You may be thinking “Olive oil, on a dessert?” but just try it.

Cream Cheese Mixture:
200g feta cheese
250g cream cheese (at room temp)
Grated rind and juice 1 large lemon
2-3 Tbs caster sugar, to taste
250ml thick cream (1 cup)
Cherry Compote:
680g jar Morello cherries in syrup (see note below)
1 Tbs sugar
Juice 1 large lemon
4 whole star anise
3 Tbs Grand Marnier or Cointreau (optional)
1 rounded Tbs Arrowroot + 3 Tbs cold water
Crumble:
125g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 cup Plain flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup slivered or flaked almonds
1 Tbs sesame seeds (preferably black ones)
Good pinch salt
To serve:
A few fresh berries (optional)
Extra Virgin Olive oil

Place feta, cream cheese, sugar, lemon rind and juice in food processor and mix till smooth. In a small bowl, whip cream with electric beaters until soft peaks form. Scrape cream into food processor and mix for a few seconds, just enough to thoroughly combine with the cheese mixture, stopping to scrape down the sides. Scrape into a container with a lid and refrigerate till serving time.

Drain and reserve cherries. Place juice in a small saucepan with sugar, lemon juice and star anise. Simmer for 5-10 mins then strain and discard the star anise. Put back in pan with the cherries. Add combined arrowroot and water and cook, stirring, until thickened. Add liqueur, pour into a container with a lid and refrigerate till serving time.

Pre-heat oven to 180ºC. Place flour, butter and brown sugar in food processor and process until it starts to clump together. Add nuts, sesame seeds and salt and process briefly to combine. Line a biscuit tray with baking paper. Tip out the crumble and spread out evenly. Bake for 10-20 minutes or until evenly golden brown. After 10 minutes move the crumble around with a fork, bringing the more cooked sides into the middle. Cool then store in a container with a lid.

To serve, place a dollop of the cream cheese mixture in 6-8 glasses. Top with some of the cherries, a few fresh berries (optional) and lastly sprinkle with crumble. Drizzle with olive oil and serve immediately.

Serves 6-8

Note: I used a jar of cherries from Aldi, but in season you can use fresh cherries, stoned and cooked with a little more sugar, or frozen ones if you can find them. The fruit will probably make enough juice as it cooks, but if not add a dash of water. Arrowroot is sold in the baking section of most supermarkets.

Variation: instead of using cherries slice a couple of punnets of strawberries and put them in a bowl. Add sugar to taste and a splash of white balsamic vinegar and leave to macerate for an hour or so.

Lemon Crumbed Chicken

Posted on 12 November 2014 by Linda Peek

This delicious chicken recipe is one I’ve had for decades. It comes from a time when nobody worried about cream and butter. If you want to cut down on the cholesterol and calories just leave out the sauce. Having said that, what’s half a cup of cream between four people?

The recipe is easy to halve for two people and makes a perfect mid-week dinner served with a salad. Kids will probably like it without the sauce and in fact chicken breasts are so big these days you might find once you’ve sliced them here’s enough for more than four servings, especially a couple of small kids.

4 chicken breasts
¼ cup lemon juice
½ cup dry white wine
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 Tbs vegetable oil
2 Tbs seasoned flour
1 egg beaten with 1 Tbs milk
½ cup dry breadcrumbs or Panko crumbs
2 Tbs ground almonds or cashews
1 tsp dry oregano
2 Tbs finely chopped parsley
1 Tbs finely grated lemon rind
1 Tbs grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs oil, extra
2 tsp flour, extra|
½ cup cream
1 Tbs chopped parsley, extra
4 wedges of lemon

Hammer out the thicker part of the chicken with a meat mallet so breasts have an even thickness, then marinate in lemon juice, wine, oil, S and P for 2 hours. Make the ground nuts by whizzing them in a food processor. Mix breadcrumbs with ground nuts, oregano, parsley, lemon rind and Parmesan. Drain chicken, keeping marinade. Coat in the lightly seasoned flour, then the beaten egg and lastly the breadcrumb mixture . Press on well and if there’s time refrigerate until ready to cook.

Heat butter and extra oil in a non-stick frying pan over moderate heat and cook chicken on both sides until golden brown and cooked through. This will take about 7-8 minutes each side. Remove from pan and keep warm. Add extra flour to the pan and stir to cook. Add marinade and simmer for 1 minute, then cream and heat but don’t boil. Slice each chicken breast into 5-6 slices and arrange on serving plates. Spoon sauce over chicken and garnish with extra parsley and lemon wedges.

Serves 4