Make Your Own... Chilli Salt

A chilli lover is forever.

Chilli, a hot spicy ingredient that is feared by some and loved by others, is a unique taste that comes in many different forms and flavours but simply can’t be imitated.

This chilli salt is a must for any chilli fan. It is simple yet delicious and before you know it you will be using it on everything (except hopefully not your cereal).

For the rest of you who are still not sure about the chilli, make this salt and delve into the dark side.

This salt is the perfect way to dabble in the beauty of chillies, as you can use as much or as little as you like on anything at all. Added sugar to chilli salt, for me is essential and is what makes this salt taste so good.

Sugar balances out the sharpness of the salt and the heat from the chillies leaving you with a spicy flavour sensation that is remarkable to say the least.

Try it on pastas, sandwiches, salads, popcorn, grilled meats and fish.

Ingredients
10g (22) dried chillies
2 tablespoons caster sugar
100g sea salt flakes

Method
In a food processor, place the dried chillies and blitz for 1 minute, or until they are crumbly and flaky in texture.

Add the salt and sugar and blitz until well combined and the chillies are ground down to your desired consistency – personally I like the salt to still have chilli seeds scattered whole throughout it.

Store in an airtight container.

Makes 150g of salt.

This Week’s Recipe: Penne with Zucchini, Mint and Ricotta

Why Penne with Zucchini?

As much as I love pastas that are rich in flavour with a sense of the time put into making them, I also enjoy simple light pasta dishes that celebrate a few ingredients and a simple method. This pasta is one of the later and is perfect for the warmer months ahead.

The ingredient list is small and simple and can be bought in one grocery shop. Besides tasting great with a light sauce made by ricotta, a dab of butter and the natural juices from the zucchini, this pasta also seems to be a huge hit with kids of all ages.

To be honest I do not cook for small kids very often (as I don’t have any of my own). I do however, have friends who ask me what are some dishes that are ‘sophisticated’ yet their children will enjoy, without feeling like they themselves are eating from the kids’ menu – again.

Ingredients

320g penne

4 medium zucchini, grated

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1/3 cup mint, chopped

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley. Chopped

100g ricotta

30g butter

60g shaved Parmesan

Salt

Pepper

Method

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add 1 tablespoon salt and bring to the boil again and add the penne. Stir frequently and cook for approximately 6 minutes or until al dente.

In the meantime grate the zucchini and season with salt and pepper.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 3 minutes or until soft. Turn the heat to high and add the zucchini. Toss the zucchini for 1 minute or until liquid starts to release from the zucchini.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the zucchini. Add the ricotta and fold the ingredients together. Season with salt and pepper.

Just before serving fold through the mint, parsley and Parmesan.

Serves 4

Bon Appetite

For an adult only alternative, serve sprinkled with dried chilli flakes.

Make Your Own… Sugar Coated Rose Petals

What I love about sugar coated rose petals, besides the prettiness, is that they taste fantastic too.

Try eating a rose petal straight from the rose and it will taste slightly bitter, chewy and limp, leaving you with a funny texture in your mouth.

Sugar coat them and they not only taste beautiful, but that unique rose aroma and flavour is somehow enhanced and sweetened. They also become light and crisp – somewhat like a delicate rose candy.

Use these rose petals to decorate any dessert from chocolate mousses, semifreddos, custards and cakes.

I especially love using them to decorate my Hummingbird and Pistachio Lemon Syrup Cake. While making both cakes look beautiful they add a beautiful flavour too.

Ingredients

Rose petals

1 egg white

Caster sugar

Method

Gently whisk the egg white until they just look foamy. Place enough sugar in a bowl to cover the base about 1 cm deep.

Dip each rose petal in the egg white. Gently pat the petal on some kitchen paper to remove excess egg white and dip into the sugar. Coat each petal evenly in sugar and place on a cooling rack.

Repeat with the rest of the rose petals, making sure not to over lap any, as they will stick together while drying.

Leave to air dry completely for 12 hours, or overnight. Store in an airtight container for 2 days.

For a vanilla scented sugar crusted rose petals, add the seeds from half a vanilla pod to the caster sugar and process in a food processor for 2 minutes to break down the seeds.

This Week’s Recipe: Hummingbird Cake

Why Hummingbird Cake?

An all time Southern American favourite, the hummingbird cake made its first appearance in Southern Living Magazine in 1978.

What might have started as a variation on a simple banana cake, submitted to the magazine by Mrs. L.H. Wiggins, soon became one of the most sort after desserts around the southern states.

A beautiful cake filled with banana, crushed pineapple, coconut, ground cinnamon and ginger is light yet moist and flavourful. In a typical American fashion, the cake is decorated with a cream cheese icing, not to mention the essential iced layer in the middle.

This cake is a must for the warmer months ahead; with its tropical flair it is sure to please the crowds.

With such a unique name it is a pity, Mrs L.H Wiggins did not follow through with an explanation. Over the years, however, there have been many theories, some of which I think take the cake:

•Hummingbirds are known for drinking only sweet enough nectar from flowers. This cake is just as sweet.

•Containing bananas and pineapples, which are popular in the tropics, especially Jamaica, this cake uses the national bird of Jamaica for its own name.

•This cake is that delicious that it makes you HUM with delight while eating it.

Ingredients

450g tin crushed pineapple, well drained (reserving 60ml syrup)

150g (1 cup) plain flour

90g self-raising flour

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

220g (1 firmly packed cup) brown sugar

45g (1/2 cup) desiccated coconut + 2 tablespoons for decorating

1 medium banana, mashed

2eggs

180ml (3/4 cup) vegetable oil

For the Icing

40g butter, softened

60g cream cheese, softened

240g (1 1/2 cups) pure icing sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon finely grated orange rind

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan forced).

Sift the flours, bicarbonate of soda and ground spices together in a large bowl. Add the banana, pineapple and 1/2 cup coconut and mix together.

In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, pineapple juice and vegetable oil and fold through the flour mixture.

Line a 22cm spring form pan with baking paper and pour in the cake batter.

Bake on the middle rack for 30-40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

In the meantime beat the butter and cream cheese together with an electric beater until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla essence and orange zest.

Gradually add the icing sugar and beat until all sugar is dissolved (you can test this by rubbing a tiny amount of icing between your fingers, if you feel tiny grains of sugar continue to beat until they dissolve).

When the cake is cool, cut in half horizontally with a serrated knife. Place the base, bottom side down on a platter and spread 1/3 cup of icing all the way to the edges.

Carefully place the other half of the cake, with the top facing up on top of the icing and press together. To make lining the cake back together easier, I mark one side with a little vertical cut so that when I slice it in half I have markings of where to line it back up again.

Spread the rest of the icing over the entire cake.

Toast the remaining coconut in a dry frypan on medium heat for 2 minutes or until golden brown. To decorate, gently press the coconut onto the sides.

If desired decorate the top of the cake with more coconut, edible flowers or dried banana chips.

Serves 8

Bon Appetite

Make Your Own… Butterscotch Sauce

Butterscotch has a unique and extremely popular taste. While butterscotch has that unique bitter sweetness of caramel, it is far more decadent. Think Werthers Originals – aside from other caramel flavoured sweets, these always somehow taste better. That is because of the added butter.

While caramel is essentially burnt sugar, sometimes with the addition of cream, butterscotch is burnt sugar with the addition of cream and butter, making a rich buttery, bittersweet sauce that is unforgettably good.

Add it to ice cream, make delicious milkshakes or drizzle it over cakes as a simple yet decadent icing.

Butterscotch sauce will keep in the fridge for about 6 weeks, if you can keep it there that long!

Ingredients

125g caster sugar

125g butter, diced

250ml double cream

Method

Place the sugar and 1 tablespoon of water in a pan over medium heat. Cook until it turns to caramel (you may need to swirl the pan occasionally to distribute the sugar, however do not stir as the sugar will crystallize). Cook until the caramel is dark golden in colour.

Take off the heat and whisk in the butter and cream. When making the sauce remember that the contents of the pan will be extremely hot, so be careful when mixing cold ingredients to avoid splashes.

If the caramel solidifies when whisking return to a medium heat and stir gently until it becomes liquid again.

Makes approximately 500 ml butterscotch sauce.

This Week’s Recipe: Asparagus and Broad bean Salad with Almonds Capers and Green Olives

Why Asparagus and Broad bean salad?

A perfect spring salad, this dish is a celebration of a beautiful season in Australia. During the months of spring the days get warmer and longer - just a tease of the summer to come.

To me, spring is all about the new season’s produce. Somehow vegetables at this time of year taste all together better. Tasting fresher, sweeter and crisper, I am always inspired by new flavours and textures.

This salad is a perfect way to enjoy spring and its bounty, when asparagus and broad beans are at their best (during October). These vegetables are matched with a simple dressing of finely chopped hard-boiled eggs, green olives, capers and toasted chopped almonds.

The balance of flavours is delicate yet entertaining, accentuating the natural beauty of the vegetables.

Ingredients

2 bunch asparagus, trimmed

550g broad beans (220g shelled)

1/4 cup salted capers, washed and drained

30g blanched almonds

100g whole green olives (preferably not in brine)

2 hard boiled eggs, peeled

2 tablespoons E.V.O.O

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Salt

Pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan forced). Line the almonds on a baking tray and toast for 5-8 minutes, or until golden. Leave to cool.

Boil the asparagus in a large pot of salted water for 4 minutes. Add the broad beans and boil for a further 3 minutes, or until the asparagus is tender and drain. (If desired, peel the broad beans once boiled).

Chop the eggs, almonds and capers finely and place them in a bowl. Cut the cheeks off the olives and add to the bowl along with the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well and check for seasoning.

To serve slice the asparagus lengthways and divide amongst the plates along with the broad beans. Spoon a generous amount of the egg, olive and almond mixture on top.

Serves 4

Bon Appetite

Make Your Own… Traditional Boozy Trifle

A time-honoured dessert (or better said, pudding) is still as delicious as ever. Although it may seem dated the trifle still celebrates with its sponge, custard, berry and cream layers all made better with that essential hit of alcohol.

I choose to use Cointreau (a rich bitter sweet orange flavoured alcohol), however if you want to be traditional Sherry will suit perfectly.

Enjoy a trifle with friends as an easy make a head dessert that can feed a large crowd.

Ingredients

1x 85g packet jelly crystals, preferably port flavoured

600ml thick custard

1x400g packet of sponge (or 20x14cm sponge)

1 punnet strawberries

1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar

100ml alcohol such as Sherry, Cointreau or Brandy

5 tablespoons icing sugar

300g pouring cream

1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out

2 passionfruit, seeds and pulp scooped out

Method

For the Jelly:

Mix the jelly crystals according to packet instructions making sure to substitute 100 ml of water for 1 tablespoon of alcohol. Pour into a lined tray and refrigerate for 1-4 hours.

For the Sugar Syrup:

Place caster sugar in a saucepan and cover with 160ml of water. Bring to the boil or until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the rest of the alcohol and allow to cool.

For the Strawberry Coulis:

Hull and wash the strawberries. Blend until smooth in a blender with icing sugar. Refrigerate until needed.

For the Cream:

Whip the cream and vanilla in a large bowl until soft peaks form.

To assemble:

Dip half the sponges in the boozy syrup and squidge into the base of a glass bowl or trifle dish. Cover with the strawberry coulis and continue to layer by dipping the rest of the sponges in the syrup and placing them on top of the strawberry coulis layer.

Remove the jelly from the fridge, cut into 2cm pieces and spread on top of the sponges.

Pour over the custard, and top with whipped cream.

To finish drizzle with passion fruit pulp.

Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

Serves 8

Pistachio and Rosewater Palmiers

Named after the distinctive shape that resembles the leaves of a palm tree, these pistachio and rose water versions take this simple sugary treat and makes it a stand out.

Hinted with rose water and studded with sugar ground pistachios these palimiers are sweetly caramelised, beautifully flavoured while having that perfectly flaky and buttery pastry.

Ingredients

110g (3/4 cup) pistachios

55g (1/4 cup) caster sugar + 2 tablespoons for dusting

3 teaspoons rose water

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

20g butter, softened

3 sheets ready roll puff pastry

1 egg, beaten

4 tablespoons icing sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan forced).

Blend pistachios, 1/4 cup caster sugar, cinnamon, rose water and softened butter in a food processor to form a paste.

Sprinkle a large chopping board with caster sugar and place one sheet of puff pastry on the sugar. Using a rolling pin press the pastry into the sugar.

Spread 1 tablespoon of the nut mixture along one edge of the pastry about 1 inch wide and continue to do the same on the opposite edge.

Fold the two opposing sides of the pastry inwards to meet at the middle of the sheet. Flatten the pastry and brush with a little beaten egg.

Fold in half so that one pistachio filled end is lying directly on top of the other forming a 1 1/2 inch folded piece of pastry.

Repeat with the other sheets. Wrap each completed sheet in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes and line 2-3 trays with greaseproof paper and dust with half the icing sugar.

Slice the palmiers into 1 cm slices, and place cut side facing up on the dusted baking trays 1.5cm apart. Flatten the palmier slightly with the palm of your hand.

Dust with the rest of the icing sugar and bake for 10 –12 minutes or until they are golden and puffed.

Allow to cool and store in an airtight jar for up to 1 week.

Makes 32

Bon Appetite