Tag Archives: easy

Prunus Plum Jam

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If you live in Australia and have access to a prunus tree, now is the time to make jam. In Canberra you find them in many public areas. The fruit which is not eaten by the birds just falls to the ground and rots. I have a friend whose dog thinks they’re delicious and eats any she can find at the park where we meet with our four legged friends. Her owner has to stop her so she doesn’t get an upset tummy. While the plums are too acid to appeal to most people uncooked, they make a delicious, tangy jam with a lovely bright red colour.

Prunus plums seem to ripen at different times on different trees, so you need to keep an eye on your target and pick them before it’s too late. As soon as the birds start to take an interest you need to be quick! One week they’re ready, the next they’re all gone.

The plums are quite small so removing the stones by hand after the fruit is cooked is the easiest way to do it, but it does involve getting your hands into the pot! If you miss some it only gives authenticity to the finished product. Well that’s what Matthew who was doing the de-stoning said.

The more pectin fruit has, the more acid it tastes and the more quickly it will set. Some jams, such as strawberry and apricot, can take forever to reach setting point, which is why recipes often suggest adding some lemon juice. One way to check if the jam has reached setting point is to put a small plate in the freezer and let it get very cold, then put a teaspoon of jam on the plate (taking the jam off the heat while you do it) to see if it sets. With experience you can tell just by looking. With Prunus Plum Jam it’s not really necessary to test because the fruit has lots of pectin and the jam sets very quickly. Many jam recipes call for the same weight of sugar as fruit, but we prefer ours to be more tangy so I always cut down. This jam is delicious on toast, with scones or swirled through thick Greek yoghurt as a dessert.

Prunus Plum Jam

2 kg ripe prunus plums
500 ml water
1 kg sugar
1 knob of butter about the size of a walnut

Wash plums and place in a large heavy-based saucepan or preserving pan. Add water, bring to the boil and simmer, stirring often, until fruit is soft. Cool then remove as many stones as possible, by squeezing the fruit by hand. Add sugar and bring slowly to the boil, stirring. When sugar has dissolved boil steadily, stirring often, for 3-5 minutes until setting point has reached, then add the butter. Meanwhile heat 6-8 clean jam jars in the microwave on high for 2 minutes (without their lids). Pour hot jam into jars and seal immediately. Keeps for up to a year in a dark cupboard. Refrigerate after opening.

Makes 6-8 jars depending on size

Berry Meringue Ice Cream Slice

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Not everyone likes Christmas pudding, so I like to serve two desserts on Christmas day, so people can choose. This Bill Granger recipe for an easy ice cream slice full of berries and chunks of meringue appeared in the December issue of Delicious. We have raspberries in the garden at the moment, so it was perfect.

Some people, who shall remain nameless, had both the Christmas pudding and the ice cream slice. They blamed this indulgence on me saying it was too hard to choose.

Berry and Meringue Ice Cream Slice

350g berries (I used raspberries)
600ml thickened cream or whipping cream
2 Tbs icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
50g bought meringues broken into chunks
To serve:
Runny honey and extra berries (I used a mix of raspberries and halved strawberries)

Grease a 1.5L loaf pan and line with plastic wrap or use a silicone pan which doesn’t need to be lined. Drop some berries into the loaf pan – these will be the top of the slice. Whip cream with sugar and vanilla to soft peaks then fold in berries and meringue. Pour into pan, shake to remove any air bubbles, and smooth top. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 3 hours or overnight.

Remove from freezer 20 minutes before serving. Tip out and garnish with extra berries, drizzle with honey and cut into slices to serve.

Serves 8-10

Note: frozen raspberries are fine for the ice cream, but if you can get them fresh ones are best for the garnish. Mango and passionfruit could be used instead of berries.

Garlic butter

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As I made a batch of garlic butter to have in the fridge over the holiday season I thought to myself that it’s one of those recipes which has become “retro”. Popular in the seventies and eighties, we used it in garlic bread, on steaks and grilled fish and in Chicken Kiev. But then it went out of favour, along with prawn cocktail, beef bourgignon, steak Diane and all the other dishes we enjoyed before gastronomy took off. Suddenly these recipes weren’t posh enough.

Whenever I serve garlic bread to a crowd – fresh from the oven and oozing home-made garlic butter – it always disappears. And a dollop of garlic butter on a freshly barbecued steak, piece of fish or succulent prawn is delicious. So here’s the recipe. Oh and it’s probably a good idea to label the container so the kids don’t ask why the butter’s gone green!

Garlic butter

3 heaped Tbs fresh parsley leaves, stalks removed
3 Tbs snipped chives or the green ends of spring onions
1-2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 250g tub spreadable butter
pinch salt

Place herbs in food processor and process till finely chopped, stopping to scrape down the sides halfway through. Add garlic, butter and salt and process till mixed. Return to the plastic butter container and refrigerate. Keeps for 2-3 weeks in the fridge, but much longer in the freezer. Just thaw long enough to use what you need then put back.

Garlic Bread: make diagonal cuts in a French baguette, not quite through to the bottom. Spread each slice with garlic butter. Wrap the loaf in foil and refrigerate or freeze till needed. Thaw if frozen then bake in a hot oven for about 15 minutes. Serve hot.

Gravlax

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Gravlax is a Nordic dish consisting of raw salmon which has been cured in salt, sugar and flavoured with dill. It’s popular all over Scandinavia and traditionally served with dark bread and a sweet mustard sauce as a starter or as part of a buffet, which they call a smorgasbord.

When we were posted to Copenhagen we ate a lot of gravlax and I acquired the recipe. It’s very easy to make, cheaper than the bought version and can be made ahead and kept in the freezer. Perfect to whip out as needed and serve to guests over the holiday season. Serve as an alternative to smoked salmon, with bagels and cream cheese or in canapes.

My original recipe said to use salmon fillets with the skin on, which is what I have always done. However, I found some very nice fillets in Costco, with the skin and pin bones all removed and decided to see how they would work. They were perfect, with no waste. Removing pin bones is a pain in the neck so all I can say is good old Costco as there are absolutely no bones. If you buy fillets with the skin on that’s fine. People love the sauce so I usually double the recipe. Any left over also goes well with smoked salmon, ham, cold roast beef or chicken.

If two fillets is too much just do one, cut in half, and sandwiched with half the salt, sugar and dill mixture.

Gravlax

¼ cup salt
¼ cup sugar
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 whole salmon fillets, skin and pin bones removed, each weighing 800-1200g
1 large bunch dill, finely chopped in food processor or by hand, including stalks
freshly ground black pepper

Mix salt, sugar, pepper and dill. Place about a third in a large ceramic or glass dish about the size of the salmon fillets and spread out evenly. Then place one fillet on top. Sprinkle with another third of the salt/sugar mixture, then place the second fillet on top. Sprinkle with remaining mixture, pressing it into the fish. Cover with plastic, place a small chopping board and a weight such as a brick on top then refrigerate for 4-6 days to “cure” the fish. Each day turn the salmon over.

Remove fillets and rinse off salt/sugar/dill mixture under the tap. Pat dry with paper towels. Wrap each fillet in plastic wrap and freeze until needed. I usually cut each fillet into 3 and wrap each piece individually before freezing, but a whole fillet looks more spectacular on a buffet table. Remove gravlax from the freezer and thaw a bit. Slice thinly on the diagonal while still slightly frozen, which makes it easier. Garnish with fresh dill and lemon wedges. Some people like to serve it with a few capers and slices of red onion. If liked serve with dark pumpernickel or rye bread and Sweet Mustard Sauce.

Sweet Mustard Sauce

¼ cup Dijon mustard
1 tsp hot English mustard (powder or ready made)
2 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs white wine or cider vinegar
⅓ cup vegetable oil
3 Tbs chopped fresh dill

Place all ingredients in a jar with a lid and shake vigorously to emulsify. Keep a few fronds of dill for garnish.

Fish ‘n Chips

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I grew up in the UK in the 60s when there were almost as many fish and chip shops as there were pubs. As the fish and chips came out of the hot oil they were put into grease-proof paper bags, then wrapped in old newspapers. This created an unforgettable aroma as you ran home with the hot package and it didn’t detract at all from the flavour. They were delicious! Sixpenny worth of chips was an after school treat, doused with dark malt vinegar and sprinkled with salt. Now everything has to be wrapped in pristine white paper, prices have shot up, the batter on the fish seems thicker and many of the fish and chip shops I remember as a child have closed.

Everyone – well almost everyone – loves fish and chips. If you fall into that category then an electric deep fat fryer is a good investment. I keep mine in an old fridge in the garage, where we store wine and beer. I only use it for fish and chips so I leave the oil in the pan and use it 2-3 times over one or two months, before throwing it out and starting afresh.

This batter takes less than a minute to make and it’s very light and crunchy.

canola, sunflower oil or similar
3-4 medium potatoes (choose a variety suitable for chips)
400g thick, chunky white fish fillets, such as cod, hoki
1/3 cup self-raising flour
salt and pepper to taste
soda or sparkling mineral water
To serve:
Tartare sauce
lemon wedges
1-2 cups frozen peas, cooked

Heat oil in deep fat fryer. Peel and slice potatoes and cut into chips (fat or thin, as you like) then dry well with paper towels. Test oil and when a chip starts to sizzle as soon as you put it in, it’s hot enough. Cook chips until tender but pale, then lift the basket and let the oil get very hot again, before lowering for a final crisping. Tip chips into a dish lined with paper towel and sprinkle with salt. Cover loosely with foil so they stay hot.

While chips are cooking cut fish into long chunky sticks 2-3 cm wide. Mix flour with salt and pepper and enough soda water to make a very thick batter. Go slowly, you won’t need much. Add all the fish to the batter, then turn to coat thoroughly. When chips are done cook the fish for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown and crispy. Gently lower them into the oil one piece at a time. Drain on paper towels and serve with the chips, tartare sauce, lemon wedges and peas.

Serves 2-3

Note: if you don’t have a deep fat fryer a deep pan will do. The oil needs to be about 10cm deep.

Pasta with Smoked Salmon and Cucumber

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Smoked salmon is much cheaper than it used to be, especially if you buy it in half kilo packets, so I usually have some “on the go” in the fridge.  It’s handy for creating a quick salad or pasta dish such as this one, slightly adapted from a recipe in Delicious magazine.

Pink peppercorns, known as baies roses in French, are fragrant and only slightly peppery. According to Wikipedia, they are not real peppercorns but were so-called because they look like them. They go well with most recipes using smoked salmon or gravlax. You can probably tell from the photo that I only had chives and no dill, but it still tasted good!

400g spaghetti or fettuccine
1 Lebanese cucumber or half a telegraph cucumber, peeled, seeds removed and diced
1 Tbs olive oil
1 cup sour cream or creme fraiche
1 Tbs white wine or white Balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 Tbs capers, rinsed and drained
2 Tbs chopped dill
2 Tbs chopped chives
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon and juice of ½
200g smoked salmon, chopped
To garnish:
Extra chopped herbs
Pink peppercorns (the dry ones, see photo)
Or Salmon Roe

Sprinkle cucumber dice with salt and leave to drain in a colander for 30 mins then rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Cook pasta according to packet instructions, drain and mix with the oil.  Mix sour cream, vinegar, garlic, lemon juice and rind, capers and herbs in a bowl.  Then add pasta, cucumber and smoked salmon.  Divide among 4 bowls and garnish with extra herbs and pink peppercorns or salmon roe.  The dish will be warm rather than piping hot.

Serves 4

Veal Terrine with Cherry Sauce

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If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I get a lot out of a subscription to Delicious magazine which was given to me as a gift. I am usually inspired to make several dishes each month and have yet to be disappointed.

This recipe for veal terrine is quick and easy to make. Cherries are in season and we had some sitting in a dish in the kitchen as I read this recipe. Their fate was thus sealed. I didn’t have any pistachios so substituted macadamia nuts. Pistachios being green would have looked more attractive, but the crunch of the macadamias was great. It’s one of the nicest terrines I have ever eaten and the sauce really makes it. As you can see from the photo, I didn’t quite get the chicken layer in the middle!

Enough pancetta, streaky bacon or proscuitto to line terrine
1 Tbs olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tsp thyme leaves
750g pork and veal mince (you could substitute chicken, pork or turkey mince)
1 egg
½ cup fresh breadcrumbs
½ cup pistachio kernels
1 cup pitted cherries
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 chicken breast cut into slices

Cherry Sauce:
1 cup pitted cherries
1 cup dried cranberries
finely grated zest and juice 1 orange
⅓ cup sugar
1 cinnamon quill
¼ cup Marsala, port or other fortified wine

Preheat oven to 170°C. Line a 1.5L terrine or silicone loaf pan with pancetta or bacon, leaving enough overhang to fold over the top. The original recipe calls for 20 slices of pancetta. I used about 8 slices streaky bacon and didn’t bother with the overhang.

Heat oil in frying pan and cook onion, garlic and thyme for 3-4 mins, stirring, over medium-low heat until soft. Place mince, egg, pistachios and cherries in a bowl. Add onion, season well and mix thoroughly.

Press half the mixture into terrine and arrange chicken slices down the centre. Pack with remaining mixture and fold excess pancetta or bacon over the top. Cover with foil and place in a deep roasting pan. Add boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the terrine. Bake for our hour, cool to room temperature. Place terrine on a tray, cut a piece of cardboard to fit top, weigh down with cans and chill overnight.

Place all ingredients for sauce in a pan and simmer for 15 minutes or until thickened. Cool. Turn out terrine. Slice and serve with the cherry sauce.

Serves 8

Variation: when cherries are out of season use canned ones or leave them out, increase the veal mince to 850g and use 2 cups of dried cranberries in the sauce.

Oven-Roasted Vegetables

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Whenever I make oven-roasted vegetables I always think there will be lots of leftovers. But they’re so delicious, not to mention healthy, so everyone comes back for seconds and there’s none left.

You can use any combination of vegetables and there are some important rules. Cook the vegetables in a hot oven i.e. 200C or 400F in a very shallow baking tray in one layer – otherwise they will stew in their own juices rather than roasting. Also it’s important to cut vegetables which cook quickly, such as zucchini, into larger pieces than the rest. When cooked the vegetables should be slightly charred on the edges, while still maintaining a bit of crunch. The first photo shows them just out of the oven. The second photo shows them served on a bed of rocket, garnished with some soft goat’s cheese and toasted pine nuts.

2-3 large carrots, peeled
2 red or yellow peppers (capsicum) or one of each, seeds and membranes removed
4-6 small yellow squash (if available)
3 onions – red or brown
4-6 zucchini (courgettes)
6-8 whole garlic cloves
Olive oil, salt and pepper
Balsamic glaze or vinegar
Chopped fresh parsley or coriander to serve
Optional additions:
1 eggplant (aubergine)
1 sweet potato
parsnips or pumpkin

Preheat oven to 200°C. Cut vegetables into sticks or chunks, onions into quarters or eighths depending on size. Leave garlic cloves whole. Place all the vegetables in a shallow baking tray in a single layer. You don’t want them all on top of each other, so use two if necessary. Drizzle generously with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and mix well with your hands. Roast vegetables for 30-40 mins, turning a couple of times during cooking time. Serve at room temperature, drizzled with balsamic glaze or balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with chopped herbs.

Serves 6-8

Lemon Drizzle Cake

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Google has links to lots of recipes for Lemon Drizzle Cake. My version contains sour cream so it’s very moist and will keep in a tin for up to a week. If preferred omit the final lemon icing and serve instead dusted with sifted icing sugar. It’s really deliciously lemony and makes a nice dessert served with pouring cream and strawberries.

I found a long narrow loaf tin in a second-hand store recently and decided to use it for this cake.  It was a bit small for the amount of cake batter, so as it rose the cake tumbled over the edges and I had to trim some off in order to remove it from the tin. It also stuck to the sides of the pan – as you can see from the photo. Now I know why the previous owner got rid of it!

The lemon icing is optional.

Syrup:
Juice from 1½ large lemons
¾ cup icing sugar
Cake:
125g butter (preferably unsalted) at room temp
1 cup caster sugar
2 large eggs
Grated zest from 2 lemons
pinch salt (not needed if you use salted butter)
1½ cups self-raising flour, sifted
1 cup sour cream or crème fraîche
⅓ cup milk
Icing: (optional)
Juice from ½ large lemon
¾ cup icing sugar

Preheat oven to 170°C.  Grease a loaf tin or 20cm round cake tin and line the bottom with baking paper. Grate zest from the lemons then juice them. Syrup: Heat lemon juice and icing sugar in  a small saucepan, stirring until dissolved.

Cake: Place butter and caster sugar in a food processor or electric mixer and process until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and when thoroughly incorporated add flour, sour cream, milk and the lemon zest.  Stop motor to scrape down the sides, then process for a few seconds more. Scrape batter into cake tin and smooth the top. Bake for 50-60 mins or until well-risen and golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

When cake comes out of the oven leave it in the tin.  While it’s hot gently make holes all over the cake right through to the bottom with a skewer.  Spoon the warm lemon syrup over slowly, allowing it to soak in.

When cake is completely cold remove from tin to a cake rack. Icing: Place lemon juice and icing sugar in a small bowl and mix until smooth. Spoon over the cake in a drizzly pattern.

Blueberry Pie

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Fruit pies freeze well and are handy to whip out for dessert during the holiday season. Just bake for about half an hour, so it’s not quite thoroughly browned, cool and freeze, covered – a shower cap is ideal! When you want to serve the pie thaw (remove shower cap!) and reheat for 20-30 mins in a moderate oven to finish off the browning.

Pastry:
See recipe for Apple and Blackberry Pie
Filling:
About 450-500g frozen blueberries (pkt sizes vary)
grated zest 1 large lemon
juice ½ lemon
½ cup sugar
3 Tbs cornflour
1 punnet fresh blueberries (about 125g)
2 eating apples peeled, cored and diced
1 egg, beaten
Granulated sugar

Make pastry and chill wrapped in plastic wrap. Thaw frozen blueberries. Place in large saucepan with lemon zest and sugar. Heat to boiling point, then add cornflour mixed with lemon juice and cook, stirring until very thick. Add fresh blueberries and diced apple and cool.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Roll out half the pastry to line a large deep dinner plate or similar sized pie dish, trim off excess. Fill with blueberry filling. Roll out remaining pastry and cover pie. Trim off excess pastry, seal and crimp edges. Use any leftover pastry to make leaves to decorate the top. Brush with beaten egg, arrange “leaves” on top, brush those also. Bake for 35-45 mins or until well browned. Or bake for only 25 mins until light golden, remove from oven, cool then refrigerate or freeze until serving time.  To serve put back into a moderate oven for 20-30 mins. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Serves 12