Tag Archives: summer

Mangoes in Ginger Wine

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If you want to be sure to get every bit of flesh off the stone the best place to eat a mango is in the bath.

My mother in law once attended an official lunch at Government House in Hong Kong. For dessert the waiter passed round a platter of whole fruit. She was tempted by the mangoes, but knew that this would not be a good idea. Eating a whole mango delicately with a knife and fork is not easy and you wouldn’t want it to shoot across the table and land on another guest’s lap. Experienced guests like my mother in law played it safe and took a banana or an apple. One lady, through lack of experience or perhaps without thinking, chose a mango. Everyone finished their fruit quite quickly then sat back to watch this poor woman struggle with her mango. It took forever, but to give her credit she persisted and finished the task. Perhaps a round of applause would have been a nice gesture.

Here in Australia the mango season is in full swing. I’m always tempted to buy a case of 12, but there are just the two of us and after a few days the mangoes have ripened to the point where the remaining few need to be used immediately. Mangoes in ginger wine is a delicious solution and will keep in the fridge for a day or two. I think this recipe will appeal to my friends at the Sarojin Resort in Thailand and I’m sure they could cut up the fruit more decoratively than I have. Perhaps the chef can give me a lesson next time I’m there.

4 large fresh mangoesMangoes in Ginger Wine
¾ cup Stone’s ginger wine
2 Tbs chopped glace ginger or ginger preserved in syrup

Peel and slice mangoes and place in a serving bowl. Heat ginger wine with ginger and pour over. Chill and serve very cold.

Serves 4-6

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.

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

Mayonnaise

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Home-made mayonnaise is delicious and you can whip up a batch in less time than it takes to go to the corner shop and buy some. Some recipes use egg yolks, but I prefer this lighter version using whole eggs – unless I happen to have some egg yolks left over from another recipe which need using up. Instead of two whole eggs you can use four egg yolks, or one egg and two yolks. Using more yolks makes the mayonnaise more yellow. From the basic recipe it’s easy to make tartare sauce to serve with fish or a pink dressing known as Salsa Golf in Spanish, to serve with seafood.

It’s important to “warm” the ingredients by mixing for a minute or so before adding the oil, to stop the mixture from curdling. Despite taking this precaution, occasionally you may find yourself with a batch of curdled mayonnaise.  Maybe it’s caused by the freshness of the eggs or the weather, who knows. To solve this dilemma start over again and make a fresh batch – maybe half the recipe if you don’t want to end up with too much! Once that’s made, gradually add the curdled batch to the good batch through the chute of the food processor, with the machine running. This usually does the trick.

I find a food processor much easier than an old-fashioned blender where the ingredients tend to get stuck down the bottom and there’s far more risk of curdling. Adding extra vinegar at the end allows you to adjust the mayonnaise and give it a bit more tang.  Using 100% olive oil results in a mayonnaise which is too rich for my taste and is much more likely to split. However, replacing a small amount of the canola oil with olive oil works well and gives a richer flavour.

An Australian tablespoon is 20mls compared with an American tablespoon which is only 15mls.  Refer to this page for more details on weights and measurements.

 

2 large eggs
2 Tbs cider or white wine vinegar or lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 heaped tsp hot English mustard
2 cups (500ml) vegetable oil such as Canola or Sunflower
About 1 Tbs vinegar or lemon juice, extra

Place eggs, vinegar, salt, sugar and mustard in a food processor and process for a good minute to thoroughly mix and warm the ingredients. Gradually add the oil through the chute with the motor running. Towards the end the mayonnaise will thicken up nicely. Add extra vinegar or lemon juice. Store in wide-mouthed jars with lids in the fridge. Keeps for up to 3 weeks.

Makes about 3 cups

Seafood Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise
½ cup cream or sour cream
1-2 Tbs tomato sauce (ketchup)
A few drops of Tabasco sauce to taste
lemon or lime juice to taste
2 tsp Cognac or brandy (optional)

Mix together and refrigerate before serving. Adding Cognac gives the sauce a different taste for a change.

Makes about 1½ cups

Tartare Sauce

1 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbs spring onions, finely chopped
2 Tbs drained capers, finely chopped
2 Tbs gherkins, finely chopped

Mix all together and serve with fish.

Makes about 1½ cups

Chilled Carrot and Orange Soup

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On a very hot day you can’t beat a bowl of ice cold soup. Not everybody will agree with me on this – chilled soups are something you either like or you don’t.  My Dad didn’t like them, even though he was quite adventurous, loved Asian food and most of the things I put in front of him.

The best known cold soups are probably Spanish gazpacho and Russian Borscht, a soup made with beetroot which can be served hot or cold and which is popular in many Middle European countries. I have about three other favourite recipes including this one for Carrot and Orange. The soup is equally delicious served hot.

Chilled Carrot and Orange Soup

500-600g carrots, peeled and sliced
1 large onion, chopped
25g butter
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1½ – 2 cups orange juice (fresh or from a carton)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Pinch of sugar
Finely chopped fresh dill and cream to garnish

Cook onion in butter till soft, add carrots, stock, sugar and simmer until tender. Blend till smooth in blender, add orange juice to reach desired consistency, check seasoning and chill.  Serve garnished with dill and a swirl of cream. Can be served hot.

Serves 6

Variation: for a creamier soup replace ½ cup of the orange juice with cream.

Pavlova

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My friend Chris Wride in Paris has just requested my recipe for Pavlova via the Café Cat Facebook page.  He remembers I served it at a dinner when we were living there. Well his timing couldn’t have been better. We’ve just picked our first raspberries and one of the nicest ways to enjoy fresh berries, especially raspberries, is in a Pavlova.  Chris your wish is my command!  Here it is.

Australians and New Zealanders argue about where this dish originated and both claim it as their national dessert.  It doesn’t really matter who invented it – it’s a world class dish by any standards.  Sometimes I make individual ones but they’re a bit more fiddly.  One big one can be whipped up in no time at all.

Pavlova

4 large egg whites (approx 125g) at room temp
250g caster sugar
1 tsp white or cider vinegar
1 tsp cornflour
400ml fresh cream, whipped
2-3 cups fresh berries such as raspberries, blueberries, strawberries

Serves 10

Preheat oven to 170°C.  Place a sheet of non-stick baking paper or foil on a large baking tray and draw a 25cm circle on it using a dinner plate.  Place egg whites in a large bowl and whisk using electric beaters until soft peaks.  A Kenwood or Kitchen Aid mix-master is ideal for this, but hand held beaters will do, although it will take twice as long. Gradually add sugar and keep whipping until you have a stiff, glossy meringue with no crunchy bits of sugar left.  Halfway through stop the machine and scrape mixture down from sides of the bowl.  Add vinegar and cornflour then pile the meringue onto the baking paper circle.  Spread to an even thickness then remove some from the middle to the edges so you end up with a meringue which has a dip in the middle for the cream and fruit.  Bake for 10 mins then turn off the oven and leave there till cool.  Fill pavlova with unsweetened whipped cream and berries. Dust with sifted icing sugar (optional).

Notes:

  • leftover egg whites from a recipe which uses only yolks can be stored in a plastic container in the freezer, adding more on other occasions.  Thaw and weigh: one egg white weighs 30g (1 ounce) more or less
  • if there is any trace of egg yolk left in the whites they will not whip
  • all ovens differ so you may need to adjust the oven temperature and/or the cooking time till you get this right
  • the finished meringue should be crisp on the outside but soft like marshmellow on the inside
  • passionfruit pulp is also nice on pavlova and some people like to use slices of kiwi fruit

Curried Chicken Salad

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Over the years I’ve stopped making some of the recipes I collected in my teens because my taste has changed, or maybe they were never that special to begin with and new ones have taken over as favourites. Others have evolved over the years with slight modifications and improvements – cutting down on fat or sugar, or smartening up the presentation.

This curried chicken salad, which I’ve been making for decades, falls into the latter category. When I’m asked to bring a plate and take this dish I am always asked for the recipe, so I can’t imagine I will ever cross it off my repertoire. The original version used canned pineapple, which was very popular in the UK when I was growing up.  I don’t think I ate a fresh pineapple until I was well into my 20s, but everyone had a few cans in the pantry to add to coleslaw, serve with grilled ham steaks or add to fruit salads.  Nobody needs to buy canned fruit these days with such a wide selection of fresh fruit available.

This dish makes a perfect addition to a cold buffet and is a great way to make one roast chicken serve a crowd. It’s easy to double, triple or quadruple, any leftovers go down well the following day and I’ve also made it using leftover roast Turkey from Christmas lunch. The dressing and all the ingredients can be prepared the day before. It looks nice in individual servings, piled onto a large lettuce leaf or in a whisky tumbler lined with lettuce.  If you want to be really swish, serve the salad in hollowed out fresh pineapple halves, with the green tufty bits left on and of course use what you’ve dug out in the salad. Garnishing with red chilli brings this dish into the 21st century.

Curried Chicken Salad

Meat from one large roast chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1½ cups thinly sliced celery (sliced on the diagonal looks nice)
2 cups seedless grapes
1 cup fresh pineapple cubes
¾ cup flaked almonds or unsalted cashew nuts, roughly chopped
To garnish: Thin slivers of red chilli or red capsicum
Dressing:
1½ cups mayonnaise (preferably home-made)
2 Tbs lemon or lime juice
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs chutney or relish
1 Tbs curry powder or paste
1 Tbs grated onion

Dressing: Chop chutney if it’s very chunky. Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Toast almonds or cashews in a dry frying pan, stirring frequently, until golden, then remove from pan and cool. Prepare the chicken, grapes, celery and pineapple and refrigerate each separately. Recipe can be prepared to this stage up to 24 hours before serving.
If you have time, mix chicken with dressing and refrigerate for a couple of hours for flavours to blend. Mix in celery, grapes and pineapple just before serving.

To serve, mound the salad onto a flat serving platter with lettuce leaves around the edge.  Or omit the lettuce and pile the salad into a serving bowl. Sprinkle with toasted nuts and garnish with the chilli.

Serves 6 as a main course or at least 12 as part of a buffet.

Crab and Leek Quiche

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A slice of quiche and a large salad makes a perfect evening meal in summer. People with bigger appetites can add some boiled new potatoes, with butter and chopped parsley or chives, sprinkled with sea salt and lots of black pepper.  If you have teenage kids a loaf of good old garlic bread won’t go amiss. Leftover quiche is nice for lunch next day.

One round or rectangular quiche shell made from shortcrust pastry
1 leek, chopped
1 Tbs butter
1 cloves garlic, crushed
100g pancetta, diced
2 Tbs white wine
1 Tbs flour
2 eggs
3/4 cup cream
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 Tbs chopped fresh herbs (I used Marjoram, but could be dill, parsley)
250g crab meat
200g brie or camembert, thinly sliced

Pre-heat oven to 180°C.  Bake the quiche shell blind (with foil and beans to weigh down) for 5-10 mins, then remove foil and cook for a few more mins until fully cooked but pale golden in colour. This is the secret to a good quiche which doesn’t have a soggy bottom! Meanwhile in a medium sized frying pan cook leek and garlic in butter over moderate heat until soft, but not coloured.  Add pancetta and continue to cook, stirring for 3-4 mins.  Add wine and cook till evaporated, stirring.  Add flour and mix well.  Add herbs and spread into quiche shell.  Top with crab, then cheese.  Beat eggs with cream and season to taste.  Pour carefully into quiche so it’s evenly spread.  Bake for 25-30 mins or until well risen and golden.  Serve warm or at room temperature with salad.

Serves 6-8

Variations: use grated hard cheese instead of soft cheese on top.  Use a splash of sherry instead of white wine.  Use a can of drained salmon or tuna, or some whole peeled prawns instead of crab.  Use bacon or ham instead of the pancetta.

Asparagus on Lake Como

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Some years ago we spent a few days in Varenna, on Lake Como in northern Italy.  We stayed in a small family-run hotel called the Olivedo we had read about in a travel forum.

Having read some of the comments on this forum we came to the conclusion that this was an Italian hotel run along the lines of Fawlty Towers.  In true Aussie spirit we decided to give it a go, hoping that the stunning views and home cooking would compensate for the eccentricities of the staff. Anyone who hasn’t heard of Fawlty Towers, just look on Wikipedia.

Unless it’s changed hands, the Olivedo is run by a middle-aged single lady called Laura and her mother, who does the cooking. On our first day Laura told us that dinner would be served at 7.30 pm, on the dot, and she meant it.  Late-comers have to go without as we witnessed one evening when a Belgian couple arrived at 7.50 pm and were sent away.  It’s a fixed menu with no choice, but fortunately it was all very good.  Halfway through our first evening meal we commented on how fit and slim Laura was, despite all the excellent food cooked by her mother. Before you could say Jack Robinson, or Bob’s your Uncle she fell to the floor and did 20 push ups, just to prove the point.

We were sitting in the bar enjoying a cup of tea one afternoon when an American hotel guest walked in.  She asked Laura if she could buy an ice cream from the freezer which was located there.  Laura tapped her watch and replied very sternly  “No, you can’t have an ice cream, it’s too late, it will spoil your dinner.” And that was that.

One day we were enjoying a pre-lunch aperitif on the front terrace when a very large group of German tourists arrived. They said they wanted lunch, so Laura said they could sit anywhere on the terrace. It was a cool and rather damp day and the average age of the group was over 80, so the tour leader not unreasonably asked if they could sit inside.  “No” Laura replied emphatically “Today we are eating lunch outside.  If you want to eat inside you will have to go somewhere else.”  So they did.

We stayed on Lake Como for six days. When I say that it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world I should add that during our stay it rained almost constantly. Anywhere that’s beautiful in the pouring rain is really beautiful!  The Olivedo was right up our alley. Give me a small unconventional family-run hotel any day rather than a boring five star chain hotel.

One night we were served grilled wild asparagus with parmesan cheese. Asparagus probably grows wild here, if only I knew where to go and pick it, but I had never seen it for sale until the other day when I found some in an Organic shop. Well maybe it was cultivated wild asparagus, but it certainly looked like the wild version, which is pencil thin. Here is my version of the Olivedo dish.

Grilled Asparagus with Parmesan Cheese

1-2 bunches asparagus (wild if possible)
50-75g grated Parmesan
good quality olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

Trim asparagus and steam till al dente.  Dry well with paper towels then place in a greased shallow dish, sprinkle with the cheese, drizzle generously with olive oil, then place under a very hot grill until browned and bubbly.  Grind some black pepper over then serve with crusty bread.

Serves 2-4