Red Hen Cooks

christmas cooking - shortbread and gingerbread

2011-12-22T01:11:00.000-08:00

Cammy's Shortbread

as transcribed from a letter she sent to me when I was a young mother far from home.

14 oz flour -half each of plain and self raising
4 oz Castor sugar
2oz ground rice
1/2 lb butter -leave out over night to soften (nowadays I zap it ever so carefully in the microwave)

Sift flours, sugar and ground rice into a mixing bowl, adding soft butter work with clean hands (I hope she didn't think that I'd forget to wash my hands as a young mother living miles from home in Kalgoorlie when she sent this to me!) until it becomes like soft bread crumbs that hold together when you squeeze a fist full, if it is too dry to hold add a little more butter. Using a willow tin (one of those small slice trays) or 3 Quiche pans (Cammy used to buy those round alfiol tin disposable pie dishes and use them to give as gifts wrapped up with cellophane)
Put the mixture into pans and press & pat (obviously the pressing and patting is important as she underlined it! She actually used to use her fist to press it down giving the surface a knobbly textured surface) until it becomes shiny & sprinkle with a little more caster sugar and cook in a slow oven 150-175 for 1/2 to 3/4 hour or until light golden brown. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and cut into serving size pieces while still warm.
She even included cutting instructional diagrams for me. For the rectangular slice pan it is 6 across the short edge and 5 along the longer edge then the round one has a circular small scone or cookie cutter cut out then one must cut it in quarters from the centre cut out and then each of those quarters into further thirds!

All recipes shared ended with love, God bless and enjoy

Swedish Gingerbread (Via Anki's Swedish cook book)

3/4 cup whipping cream

1 cup of sugar

2/3 cup light corn syrup or molasses

1 1/2 tblspns baking soda stirred into 2 tspns water

3 1/2 cups plain flour

Lightly whip cream. Add the sugar, syrup, ginger, lemon and soda - mix. Add almost all the flour (I tipped it all in because it seemed very sticky at this point - But don't panic it's ok) and knead lightly.

Cover and let rest at room temp over night. (Luckily I had accidentally left my air con on all night as I found out later that as we are in australia and not Sweden Anki and her mum both leave theirs to rest in the fridge!) But fortunately all was well and the mixture was no longer very tacky and with a little flour and a couple of sheets of baking paper the dough was reasonably easy to handle and several hours later we have a huge dish full of yummy cookies, as I used the molasses my cookies have a slight hint of licorice to them. YUMMMMY!

Oh yes I forgot to write it down again bake for 7 minutes at 175 *C

gluten free low fat upside down apricot cake.

2010-10-06T08:43:00.000-07:00

This is a remarkably light sponge for a gluten free cake: The non allergic people at the party were none the wiser and came back for seconds!

1 and a half Tblspns of brown sugar.

400g can of apricots drained well

3 eggs separated

half a cup of caster sugar

half a tspn vanilla paste

2 thirds of a cup of Self Raising gluten free flour mix

Pre heat oven to 160*C. Grease pan and line with baking paper. Sprinkle brown sugar on base and arrange apricots on top of the sugar with the cut side up.

Beat egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar beating well until sugar is all gone and mixture is smooth and glossy. Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla. Sift flour into mixture and fold through gently with a metal spoon. Gently smooth over apricots and bake for 30 - 35 minutes. Allow to cool in tin for 5- 10 mins before turning out onto plate. Best eaten on the day it is made but it can be frozen for up to three months.
I served it with very not low fat double cream.

I am going to try this sponge with different fruit like blueberries or apple or pears...

oaty toffee biscuits (based on the weight watchers Lace biscuits)

2010-10-06T08:27:00.000-07:00

4 tble spns of Melted reduced fat butter,

half a cup of brown sugar,

half a cup of rolled oats

a quarter of a cup of slivered or flaked almonds. (I might try pecans next time)

Mix them all together in a bowl. Place half teaspoonfuls of mixture 5cm apart. Cook for 10 minutes at about 160*C :they will melt and spread- boy do they spread, they need all that space! Where they ran together I just pushed them apart and shaped them back into rounds before leaving them to cool and set for 5 mins before shifting them to a wire rack to completely cool.Alternatively just leave them and snap them apart when the are cool as you transfer them to the wire rack.

curried parsnip and apple soup.

2010-10-06T08:17:00.000-07:00

2 medium onions peeled and chopped

2 medium potatoes peeled and chopped

4 medium parsnips also peeled an chopped- chop in thin circles to cut through the woody or stringy bits that you can get with parsnips.

1 red apple peeled and chopped.

1-2 tablespoons of olive oil

1tspn each of curry powder and cumin

1 L of good veggie stock

About 1 cup of milk (reduced fat is fine.)

Fry the onion and potato in hot oil to brown a little and create some of those yummy brown bits, add the spices and fry off for a minute to release the flavours. Then add the stock. Throw in the parsnips and apple and simmer until veggies are all tender. Pure with hand held blender stir in about a cup of milk.

Rustic Spelt Pasta

2010-08-14T08:43:00.000-07:00

Tim has discovered that eating wheat makes him feel quite unwell, but he is able to tolerate Spelt flour. Wheat free products are very expensive or not particularly nice. So I thought I'd try making pasta with Spelt flour. I have to say that it was well worth the effort- it really wasn't all that fiddly or difficult and the pasta was delicious. I'll be making this one again! This pasta was made to go with some left over mince with peas and corn- not your traditional spag bol and not really blog worthy but it is the one that my girl prefers.

Rustic Spelt Pasta

1and 3/4 cups of spelt flour

3eggs

one very generous pinch of salt

Mix together with a knife in a large mixing bowl. Knead as the dough comes together for a few minutes. Add a sprinkle of extra flour if needed. I added about a tablespoon or two, eggs vary in size so it is tricky to be exact,plus I am not an exact cook I go by feel and instinct. Wrap in plastic wrap or damp cloth for 10 mins to rest (the dough not you it's not hard work!)

Roll pasta through pasta roller. TIP: I found that this flour was a little sticky I don't know if it was my quantities or they type of flour but I found it easier to cut the dough in small pieces and run them through the pasta roller in these smaller batches. do all of them at each number down to about the third last one.

Slice them into strips and cook in a large pot of salted boiling water for about 1 or 2 minutes according to your taste. I did a practice one first.

(Sorry about the lines through the photo's this keeps happening randomly when I upload photo's on Blogger since I changed to the new format- I don't know what I am doing!??!)

Where has the time gone?

2009-10-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

I spent most of my holidays unwell and this last week at school has been a blur. The low point included an abusive, graphically rude note put in my letterbox by a student I had growled at at school on the last day of last term. I don't expect that all kid will like me but I don't expect to be bothered at home by them. The mother was informed and she was beside herself with embarrassment so hopefully it wont happen again.

At least one little girl was so pleased to be back at school, in her words she missed me so much she wished there were no holidays. Everyone told me not to take it to heart but it isn't nice to be on the receiving end of something like that and when it follows you home it is a little unpleasant.
Bantam Boy's mocks are done, only a couple of weeks to the real thing. I am not convinced that there is anywhere near enough study being done. We are all a little grumpy and stressed around here at present so I have tried to stay away from here so as not to bore you all silly with my whinging! My posts my be few and far between until the end of this TEE caper. Although if I am not working (I was at school till 8pm on Friday getting stuff ready for art blast- a huge cross district display of children's art work.) I may have more time just to potter, organise my house and myself and maybe take some photos of what I've been doing.

My friend D and I went into the travel agent today to book our flights and organize our elephant trekking trip to Thailand. We plan to spend a night in Phuket, from there the elephant hills people will pick us up and take us into the national forest. Where we will do these things. (Photo's from the Elephant hills luxury tented camping tours website.)

This is D's 50th birthday wish - to trek on an elephant.

This is included...

if she can do it I'm sure I can!

I've started walking this week to help improve my fitness to make sure I can. I also bought one of those weekly tablet containers with the days marked on them to make sure I take my thyroid medication every day as I am supposed to... it might help me loose weight so that I am not mistaken for an elephant!!!!

One of the tents...
inside the tent. My kind of camping!

We will stay at the campsite in the middle of one of the oldest tropical rain forests in the world for a few nights then instead of returning to Phuket we are going to Krabi for a night or two. From there we will take the train to Hua Hin where we will spend a couple of nights before heading to Bangkok. We decided that the train trip would be an interesting way to see a bit of the countryside rather than seeing the inside of an airplane! We also thought that the contrast between the forest in a tent and such a huge city like Bangkok would be fascinating.

I have to admit I am a bit nervous, mostly as I will be leaving Chicky Babe here. But she will be 17 by then and is looking forward to spending 10-12 days on her own! I am worried that she might follow through on her threat to get rid of some of my junk-or tea cups and fabric as I call them. I'm sure she wouldn't....yeah I'm pretty sure she wouldn't ...would she?!?!

Asparagaus and greek fetta tart

2009-05-10T00:08:00.001-07:00

This was so easy to make and delicious! This could be made as individual tarts using a bit more pastry and a cookie cutter to cut small circles to fit into a cup cake tray. Just chop the asparagus and mix egg in a jug to pour small amounts of the egg mixture over individual tarts, Just a word of warning you may need a spoon or knife to cut off the flow of the egg mixture as it will continue to flow out in clumps sometimes overflowing the tart cases!

1 sheet of frozen puff pastry defrosted.

about 200g of greek fetta cheese

two bunches of asparagus, pre steamed until just tender

6 large free range eggs

250 mls (1 small carton) of pouring cream

Press pastry into your favourite deepish pie dish.crumble in half of the cheese, arrange the asparagus on top then sprinkle the rest of the cheese.

In a separate bowl beat eggs with a fork, season with a little salt- remember the fetta is also salty. Mix in about three quarters of the cream and pour over the asparagus and cheese.

Drizzle most of the remaining cream in a spiral pattern over the top. (this gives a variety of texture to the dish so you will get patches of lighter textured less eggy creamier sections in your tart.)

Bake in a moderately hot oven until the egg mixture is set, and the top is a light golden colour, Make sure it is not too hot so as to burn the top.

Variations;

Keeping the basic egg mixture with cream the variations are endless....

Roast vegies and fetta or

Mushroom and your favourite cheddar cheese

pancetta, fetta and sweet corn.... tuna... oven roasted tomato and basil....

You can add as many or as few flavourings as you like, however sometimes simplicity works best.

Quince and coconut cake

2009-05-09T05:10:00.000-07:00

125g soft butter

3/4 cup caster sugar............creamed

3 eggs ...........mix in one at a time

3 cups sifted SR flour

1cup of coconut cream...............mixed in a bit at a time alternately with flour

Spoon into a greased and floured spring form tin

Top with Quince Poached in Sugar (3 quince, about 4 cups of water and 3 large tablespoons of sugar) simmer for an hour and a half, cool and spoon on top of cake mixture. After this time the quince will have turned a lovely pink colour and the pectin in the fruit will have made the syrup all jammy.

Bake in a moderate oven for aprox 50 mins.

Serve with thickened cream.

Sausage rolls!

2009-05-07T04:19:00.000-07:00

Having been allergic to preservatives, colourings and flavourings and MSG (not to mention raw onion, including raw garlic and any other thing of the onion family when raw, salmon, sword fish, cobbler- violently!!) Eating out is often a bit tricky. sometimes I just decide that I will put up with the consequences- except for the cobbler ones I avoid any fish that I am unsure of. But the other thing I miss are things like the occasional sausage and pies and sausage rolls.

Finally after years it is becoming far easier to find in the average supermarket preservative, colouring and flavouring free foods. Just recently our local "Growers Fresh" gourmet deli supermarket has started to stock organic gluten free sausages. I LOVE them. And at about $1.40 each sausage they are extravagant as far as sausages go I would never have thought I would look upon the humble sausage as a gourmet treat. The other day I made a good old sausage curry.

Nothing inspiring just fried onions, sausages, curry powder, diced potato, A tin of crushed tomatoes a dash of water and a preservative free stock cubeand a sprinkle of frozen peas and corn. YUM!!! A childhood dish.

On the weekend I got a sheet of puff pastry sliced it in half . I removed the sausage meat from it's casing and lay it along the centre of the pastry (about two sausages for each pastry half) I rolled them up and chopped them into small "party sausage rolls". After about 20mins in a hot oven, Finally after YEARS of salivating at staff morning teas I could eat some sausage rolls!

Spaghetti and Meatballs

2009-05-06T02:53:00.000-07:00

After I had the family over for dinner my nice text me to ask me for thr recipe. I realised my recipes are more like lose suggestions. This is the instructions I emailed to her.
Ok here goes this is what I did for the dinner we had.
Into a big bowl put....
1.5 kg of good quality mince meat- not the cheapest one but it does not have to be the super fine choice brand one, as a little fat in the mince improves the flavour.
Sometimes I add onion ( I can't remember if I did that on the last occasion) but if you do it must be diced finely and fried to a light golden brown and cooled before adding to the raw mince. usually I add 1 onion but for this quantity I would have used 2.
add a good pinch or shake rather of dried marjoram or oregano (about a tspn. maybe a bit more in such a big quantity)
A good slurp of preservative and colour free tomato sauce (Hinze brand) about a table spn or more per 500g I think)
a couple of eggs (only one if you have between 500g and 1kg closer to 1kg and over use 2 eggs
A good grounding of sea salt and a bit of pepper.

Now get your hands messy squishing it all together until well combined. (wash your hands)
Using a desert spoon measure out even quantities of meat and fashion into meatballs.
Fry in a heavy based pan with a slurp of good quality olive oil- this will stay in the pan so make sure it is good as it will flavour the sauce. Don’t add to much or it will make the sauce oily and unpleasant, just enough to help the frying process. (At this point if you have used cheaper mince you may want to drain off most of the fat but leave all the caramelised stuff on the base of the pan as it adds flavour.

now when the meatballs are cooked pour over 1 (or two bottles for a big quantity ) of passata or sugo that’s the tomato pure in a bottle which has only tomato and salt. crumble in 1 or two "massel" brand salt reduced preservative free msg free natural stock cubes. Allow it to simmer long enough for the flavours to develop and the sauce to thicken or until you are all so hungry you can't wait any longer.

Serve with your favourite type of el dente pasta and parmesan cheese that you have to grate yourself (not the yucky powdered type)

Enjoy!
(this is how my grandmother used to sign off all her recipes)

corn cakes topped with beans and sour cream

2009-01-22T03:09:00.000-08:00

This is a recipe I have kind of adapted from a meal I had with my friend 'A'. This is far more 'corny' than the one she made - from memory and the basic recipe calls out for adaptation. Try adding spices like cumin or coriander to the batter. Mixing in fresh corn kernels is good and a good strong Cheddar added to the batter is yummy too. You can add chic peas and use bessan flour for a change.

I used this little teacup as my cup measurement.

Corn Cakes topped with beans and sour cream

1 cup plain flour (substitute corn flour or your fav. gluten free flour to make it wheat free)

1 cup of instant /fine polenta

about 1 cup of milk (I just remembered I didn't actually measure the milk, you need enough to make a thick batter when all ingredients are added.)

1 tin 420g tin of creamed corn

1 egg

Salt to taste.

mix all ingredients together to create a thick batter.

Put desired portions into a heavy based pan, with a small amount of olive oil if you think you'll need it. I made little corn cakes but you could make them much larger if you prefer, much like pikelets or hot cakes.

When they are cooked about 2 or three mins each side. Pop them onto a plate and top with the same kind of ingredients you would put on a taco. I used shop bought bean dip lettuce, coriander, some grated cheese and a little dollop of sour cream, although plain yogurt is a good substitute if you prefer something a little lighter.

Although they were yummy all together they were a real treat just plain too. Crisp and sweet, the polenta gives it a great texture.

little birdy teacup

2008-10-04T02:16:00.000-07:00

I love this cup. Thrifty Tim found it in his travels and bought it home for me. I think it is perfect with it's delicate yet strong pattern and the beautiful striking colours. I think tea tastes best in a beautiful fine china cup. And as I tend to use all but my most precious teacups regularly on a daily basis they tend to get chipped or broken and it becomes a lovely chance to find another favorite teacup!

burnt butter biscuits

2008-10-04T02:10:00.000-07:00

Cammy catered for all our special occasions with her sponges or fruit cakes for christenings and weddings.

Cammy's Burnt Butter Biscuits
1/4 lb butter, brown and when cool add a good 1/2 cup sugar, mix in 1 beaten egg and 1 cup SR flour. (all of this is done in the saucepan you have used to brown the butter!)
Roll tspn fulls into balls, press half an almond on each and cook in a moderate oven for 10-15 mins. Leave room for them to spread
For a Change: Add 1/2 cup of dessicated coconut to the mixture and leave off the almond. (I actually like to add the coconut and put a whole almond on!!! Cammy didn't write it here but I recall her pressing them lightly with a fork especially if they didn't have the almond on them.)

Cammy's Father's Favourites
1/4 lb butter (melted)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup coconut
1 cup SR flour
1 cup chopped dates
Place all thesein a bowl and mix. Then add 1 beaten egg. Put in an oblong tin (she would press it gently into the tin using her knuckles- giving the surface a unique ripple.) Bake in a moderate oven for20-30 mins (the longer it is left the dryer it becomes it is more chewy if cooked for only 20 minutes, play with it until you find what you prefer, as Cammy got older she preferred it dryer, I like it chewy!)
For Variation: add dried apricots and walnuts (I prefer pecans myself)

Cammy's Teacup

2008-10-04T02:08:00.000-07:00

I love this tea cup. It was my grandmothers. She gave it to me on my birthday just before she passed away. It is a lovely connection to her, best used when drinking tea and eating 'burnt butter biscuits'. Something she always had on hand being so easy to make and delicious, although I grant you the name doesn't sound too promising. It refers to burning or rather browning the butter before mixing in the other ingredients. Shortbread was her other specialty, OH and 'fathers favourites'- a yummy slice made with dates and apricots. And her sponge cakes were divine. I have never managed to make them although I have her handwritten instructions. She passed away 13 years ago this last week. Actually it wasn't until I sat down to write this that I thought of that, I didn't consciously choose the teacup for that reason. It was the first one my hand went to.... Funny that.

Cammy's Fathers Favourite.

2008-10-04T02:02:00.000-07:00

Holiday baking

The ingredients...

mix them all together...

press them into the tin and bake...

Yum, Cammy's Father's Favourites!
(Cammy was my grandmother, Christina. As her first grandchild I christened her Cammy because I had trouble saying Granny and it stuck...almost everyone ended up calling her Cammy!)

Cranberry, vanilla cake with rose water icing.

2008-10-04T01:58:00.000-07:00

This is my afternoon tea and today's teacup. Pretty isn't it? The cake is my creation a plain vanilla cake with crasins (dried cranberries) added the icing is a butter icing with rosewater flavour.

Cranberry vanilla cake with rosewater icing.

125 g butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tspn vanilla bean paste
3 eggs
3 cups SR flour
1/2 cup milk
About 2/3 cup crasins

Cream the butter and sugar beat in the eggs one at a time. sift the flour and add to the creamed butter an sugar alterating with the milk, folding in with a large metal spoon. Mix in cranberries. Spoon into prepared cake ring tin and bake for about 40 mins in a moderate oven. (aprox 180'C)

icing:
about 75g butter
about 1cup pure icing sugar
about 1 tspn of rose water

cream butter and icing sugar together add the rose water. if the icing is too thick add a tspn of milk at a time until desired consistency is achieved.
( I just had a thought that coconut milk in the icing and a sprinkling of coconut on the top would also be good. Being allergic to food colourings, I might try the juice of the preserved wild hibiscus flower that we put in champagne to give the icing a pink colour.)

Red teacup

2008-10-04T01:54:00.000-07:00

My current favourite morning coffee cup. I recently bought a coffee machine and coffee grinder so am treating myself to a delicious morning flat white.

Oven Dried Tomatoes

2008-10-04T01:50:00.000-07:00

I tried making oven roasted/ semi dried tomatoes. they were delicious. Roma tomatoes were on special at the local vegie shop. I sliced them in half drizzled over a bit of olive oil and a tad of balsamic vinegar, seasoned them with salt and a bit of sugar and popped them in a hot oven until they looked about right (40 mins I suppose) Fantastic on crusty Italian bread with feta.

Not clarice cliff tea cup

2008-10-04T01:44:00.000-07:00

This tea cup is not, although it does remind me of one, a Clarice Cliff. I love it none the less.

Holiday High Tea

2008-10-04T01:41:00.000-07:00

I made an Apple and Rhubarb Crumble Cake.

I used the basic vanilla cake base from this cake but added 3/4 of a cup of milk rather than 1/2 a cup to make a less dense cake. I topped the batter with about 1 and 1/2 cups of stewed apple and rhubarb and topped with a crumble mixture
2 tble spns raw sugar
3/4 cup wholemeal plain flour
1tspn (or a good shake) of ground cinnamon
60g of butter
1/2 cup of chopped almonds

Rub butter flour and sugar together. Add almonds sprinkle over cake mixture. Bake about 50 mins in moderate oven until golden and skewer comes out clean.

Enjoy with organic clotted cream!

I also made Caramelized Onion and Fetta Tarts
These are so easy and very yummy! (Don't let on how easy they are as people think you are very clever!)

Caramelized Onions
3 or 4 spanish onions sliced
a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to cover the base of a frying pan
about 2 tble spoons of brown sugar
a good splash of balsamic vinegar
a good pinch of sea salt

Gently fry the onions in the olive oil as they start to go translucent add the sugar and balsamic vinegar continue to cook until they are soft well coated. Add salt.
At this point you will need to taste the mixture to see if more sugar or vinegar is required to get the balance right.

Tarts
Caramelized onions
puff pastry sheets
your favourite fetta (or blue cheese for a yummy variation.)
chopped rosemary

Cut pastry into squares and pop into patty pan or muffin tins.
Top with onion mixture, crumble over cheese and sprinkle with chopped rosemary. Bake in a hot oven until pastry is crisp and golden.

Coffee and Almond Crumble Cake

2008-10-04T01:33:00.000-07:00

I baked this cake and it's yummy.

Almond, Coffee Crumble Cake
(An adaptation of one by Gordon Ramsay)

Crumble topping
Rub together 40g butter with 60g of plain flour and 40g brown sugar. Mix in about half a cup of flaked almonds (omitted from the one in this photo as I had none in the pantry. But they do add a yummy crunch.)

Cake.
set aside and alow to cool one third of a cup of good strong expresso.
Cream together 170g butter and 170g raw caster sugar. Beat in 3 eggs one at a time. Mix in a tspn of good quality vanilla extract or paste.

Mix in half of the coffee with a large metal spoon. Mix in 100g of almond meal.

Sift together half a tspn of baking powder with 100g of SR flour and then fold it into the mixture.

Fold through the remaining coffee.

Spoon into a lined, greased spring form tin, sprinkle crumble mixture on top.
Bake for about 50-60mins at 170degrees celsius (150 if you have a fan forced oven)
Sprinkle with icing sugar to serve. (Nice warm or cold)