Make your Own… Pretzels

Pretzels originated in Germany, Austria and Switzerland during the middle ages, but today however are one of the most popular bar snacks throughout America.

As apposed to the small hard cracker like pretzels, this recipe is for the large soft ones.

Soft pretzels are easy to make but be warned, they are deliciously addictive. With a salty and hard exterior and a slightly salty and sweet chewy interior you can understand why they are a number one bar snack perfect along side a cold beer, or a gin and tonic – now all you need is a sports game to watch. Does cricket substitute for baseball?

Ingredients
500g plain flour
Pinch salt
4 packets (28g) active dry yeast
40g caster sugar
75g lard, softened and chopped finely
325ml, tepid milk
125ml salted warm water, for brushing
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt, for sprinkling

Method
Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan forced). In a bowl or food processor with a dough hook attachment mix together the flour, a pinch salt, yeast, sugar and the lard. Stir to combine and slowly add the milk until a moist dough forms. (Add the milk slowly as you may not need all of the milk depending on your flour and yeast.)

Cover with a damp cloth and leave in a draught free place for 15 minutes to rise.

After 15 minutes either by hand or with a dough hook kneed the dough until it is smooth and elastic. – This should take 15 minutes.

Dust your hands with flour and divide the dough into 12. Roll each ball into 40cm long rolls about 1cm in diameter. Roll each end slightly thinner and bring the 2 ends together. Twist the thin ends together and fold inwards to make a loose knot.

Place the pretzels in a greased baking sheet and brush with the salted water and sprinkle with salt.

Bake for 20-30 minutes, brushing the pretzels with more water twice again during the baking so they are crisp and golden.

Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.

Makes 12.

This Week’s Recipe: Nashi Pear and Cabbage Salad

Why Nashi Pear and Cabbage Salad?

I have forgotten how much I love a Nashi Pear.

Also known as Asian pear or apple pear, I remember them being extremely popular when I was in primary school. During the summer months if you wanted to fit in with the trends, you needed to have a nashi pear in your lunch box.

A cross between an apple and a pear, the nashi pear is nothing like sweet and tender European pears. Instead, they have a higher water content, giving them their characteristic crisp and grainy texture.

A salad is a fantastic way to enjoy this beautiful summer fruit.

A light dressing with a hint of Asian flair and crunchy earthy cabbage are both perfect matched with thin slices of this sweet crunchy and juicy pear.

When buying nashi pears look for large fruit that are firm and fragrant. Also look for ones that are wrapped in the unique white or purple lattice protective wrapping, as the high water content means they can bruise easily.

Having remembered this characteristic wrapping I am now not sure if the popularity at school was in fact the delicious fruit, or what accessories we could make from the wrapper…

Ingredients
300g cabbage, shredded
1 large nashi pear or Asian pear, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons white rice vinegar
1 teaspoon Mirin
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Chives
Salt
Pepper

Method

In a bowl whisk together the sesame oil, sugar, vinegar and vegetable oil. Season with salt and pepper.

In a bowl toss together the cabbage and pear and dressing and garnish with chives.

Serves 4

Bon Appetite

Make Your Own… Bubble and Squeak

Bubble and Squeak is a traditional English dish made up of left over vegetables (normally from a roast dinner) that are fried in a little butter.

In my family however bubble and squeak was never made from left overs as it was so popular.

I can remember my dad cooking potatoes, carrots and peas all to be added to his famous bubble and squeak.

Traditionally bubble and squeak is made by frying all the left over vegetables plus some bacon or left over roast meat with mashed potato until it browns and becomes crispy on the bottom.

In my family we always added some egg to help bind all the ingredients together and bacon was essential.

The recipe below is based on my fathers, however feel free to use the method along with left overs in your fridge. I find this recipe very handy to have at this time of year, as there always seems to be too much food in my fridge, plus it is great eaten cold the next day with some HP sauce.

Also note my fantastic new kitchen gadget - a condiment gun!

Ingredients
500g sebago potatoes, peeled, cut into 4cm pieces
2 carrots, peeled, finely diced
1/8 (320g) savoy cabbage, finely shredded
4 rashes bacon, finely chopped
1 brown onion, finely chopped
100g frozen peas
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 eggs, beaten
40g butter, chopped
Salt
Pepper

Method

Place potatoes in a large saucepan. Cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain well. Transfer to a bowl and roughly mash.

Fill saucepan with salted water. Bring to the boil over high heat. Add carrots and cabbage and cook for 2 minutes or until tender. Drain. Rinse under cold water. Drain well and add to potato.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and bacon and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until the onion is soft. Add the peas and toss until tender.

Add this mixture to the potatoes along with the egg and mix well.

Season with salt and pepper.

Heat butter and remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a non-stick frying pan over low heat. Add vegetable mixture, spreading evenly over base. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until base is golden and crisp.

Serve hot or cold with your favourite condiment.

Serves 4

This Week’s Recipe: Preserved Lemon and White Bean Dip

Why Preserved Lemon and White Bean dip?

This is a deliciously simple dip that once again proves that sometimes the simple things in life are the better.

I often make this dip in the warmer months when it is too hot to eat and you just feel like grazing. I either enjoy it as a dip with bread or fresh vegetables or serve it under a grilled piece of fish or meat. It is exceptionally good along side my olive oil poached tuna.

The preserved lemon adds a fantastic fresh and zingy flavour, the rosemary a herbaceous depth and the beans are creamy and filling.

Ingredients
1 x400g can good quality cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup olive oil, plus extra for serving
1/4 preserved lemon, flesh discarded, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary
Salt
Pepper

Method
Place beans in a food processor with oil, lemon, garlic and rosemary. Season with salt and pepper.

Process until smooth.

Heat a little extra olive oil in a saucepan until warm and drizzle over the dip. The warm oil will highlight the rosemary and freshness of the preserved lemon.

Note: This dip improves with age and can be made up to 2 days a head of time. Simply omit the warm olive oil until serving.

Bon Appetite

Make Your Own…Parmesan Cheese Sticks

Parmesan cheese sticks are a classic that are not going anywhere any time soon. Pastry twisted and baked with cheese have been a popular nibble before dinner parties, at cocktail parties and picnics for as long as I can remember.

Even today you see heaps of varieties at the supermarket ready for the next social event.

I have to be honest though and admit I am not a fan of store bought cheese sticks. To me they taste stale and the cheese always artificial.

I prefer to make my own as they are dead easy and taste far far better.

Ingredients
2 sheets ready rolled puff pastry
50g butter, melted
165g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
Salt
Pepper

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

Lightly brush the pastry with butter, and then sprinkle with 1/4 cup of cheese and a pinch of chilli and season with salt and pepper. Fold each sheet in half, bringing the top edge down towards you.

Brush the tops of each sheet again with butter and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cheese and a pinch of chilli flakes.

Using a sharp knife cut the dough vertically into 1 cm wide strips. Hold each end of the pastry strip and stretch and twist in the opposite directions.

Lie on a lined baking tray and bake for 10 minutes or until puffed and lightly brown.

This Week’s Recipe: Multicolour Sushi

Why Multicoloured Sushi?

The name might sound a little funny, however it is the best way to describe it.

This sushi all came about because I, being an absolute ‘foodie’ (meaning that although I may be swamped creating, testing, photographing and styling recipes all while working at my paid job and having a fridge full of food to eat) thought it would be a great idea to make sushi for dinner.

Being a little over worked and tired, I started to cut the carrots and cucumber into batons but before I realised it I had cut them all into brunoise.

I carried on and decided to mix the vegetables into the cooked rice along with some cooked tuna. The result was a very eady sushi to roll that not only looks lovely but taste great too.

What I really love about this sushi is that no matter what bite you have you always have a mouthful of flavour and not just rice!

Enjoy making it at home for friends or family (it is a great recipe for young chefs to make too).


Ingredients
1 cup sushi rice
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
4 sheets noir,
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 Lebanese cucumber, finely chopped
1 tin of good quality tuna
soy sauce
pickled ginger
Bamboo mat

Method
Place rice and 1 1/2 cups water in a saucepan, cover and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

Turn off the heat and leave covered for a further 10 minutes.

Whisk together the sugar and vinegar until dissolved.

Spread the rice onto a tray and sprinkle with the vinegar. Leave to cool. When cool mix through the cucumber and carrot.

Lay a nori sheet shiny side down. Place rice on the sheet leaving 1 cm at each end. With wet fingers press the rice until it is 1/2 cm thick.

Start to roll up from the end that is closest to you. Continue to roll tightly by lifting the bamboo mat as you go. Wet each end and push gently to seal.

Slice the sushi into 1 inch long pieces with a sharp wet knife.

Serve with soy sauce and pickled ginger.

Make 16 pieces of sushi.

Bon Appetite

This Week’s Recipe: Crispy Eggplant, Miso and Bean Sprout Salad

Why Miso Eggplant and Bean Shoot Salad?

During winter I love drink hot miso, I love the robust salty flavour and the way it fills me up when I get one of those snack attacks but don’t want to attack the waist line.

Come spring and summer however and I find that I am not as inspired to satisfy my miso cravings with a hot beverage.

This summer I don’t plan on missing out.

This salad is my first miso summer inspired recipe and it is already a favourite.

Fried eggplant not only has a great texture to it, but also a great flavour. Don’t worry too much about the oil-frying factor in this salad. If your oil is hot enough the eggplant will crisp without getting too soggy and oily. Plus any excess oil from the eggplant flavours the dressing, which purposely has none.

Enjoy this salad as a light lunch or matched with any Japanese inspired dishes.


Ingredients
1x 400g eggplant, cut into 3 cm cubes
250g cherry tomatoes cut in half
100g bean sprouts (Chinese mung bean shoots)
Vegetable oil
Picked coriander leaves for garnish

For the dressing
1 teaspoon red/white miso paste
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

Salt
Pepper

Method
In a large frying pan heat 1 cm of vegetable oil until smoking hot. Carefully add the egg plant (they may spit a little) and cook for 8 minutes or until golden brown, making sure to turn them every few minutes or so. Remove and drain on absorbent paper.

In the meantime in a bowl whisk together the ingredients for the dressing until the sugar and miso dissolve. Season with a little salt and plenty of pepper.

In a large bowl toss the tomatoes, bean sprouts eggplant and dressing and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serves 4 as a side.

Bon Appetite

Make Your Own… Tangy Lemon Dressing

Summer heat means salad season. When it is too hot to eat a big meal, salads are the perfect answer.

They do however have a reputation for being a little bit boring. To me an interesting salad always lies in the dressing.

This lemon dressing is nothing but boring. It is bright and fresh with subtle flavours that give it an extra something.

Toss it through a simple leafy salad, or any of your favourites. I personally love it on a salad of cherry tomatoes, avocados and lettuce. The sourness of the lemon is great with the creaminess of avocadoes as well as making the tomatoes taste sweeter.

This salad dressing will keep in the fridge for 2 weeks.

Ingredients

21/2 lemons, juiced
2 teaspoons caster sugar
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
180ml olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Method
Stir lemon juice, sugar, garlic and mustard together until sugar dissolves, then whisk in both oils and season.

Allow the dressing to stand for 10 minutes at least for the garlic to infuse.

Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Makes 250 ml.

This Week’s Recipe: Strawberry and Frangipane Tart

Why Strawberry and Frangipane tart?

Frangipane is a classic French term that refers to a sweet filling made from and flavoured with almonds. It can be used to fill anything from cakes, tarts and other sweet pastries.

I was inspired to make this strawberry and almond filled tart after watching the film Julie and Julia. In short this film, based on a book by Julie Powel, depicts the early culinary career of chef Julia Child, and the life of a newly 30 year old Julie Powel who aspires to cook 524 recipes (in a year) from one of Julia Child’s famous cook books, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Julia Child, an American living in France after WWII did what no other woman had done before and attended a professional course at the prestigious French culinary school Le Cordon Bleu.

Fifty or so years on, I also attended Le Cordon Bleu school, London and started my Grand Diplome de Cuisine et Patisserie.

Frangipane, was one of the first fillings I learnt to make in Patisserie class. We used it in every thing from custard fruit tarts glazed with jam, to Danish and the classic Pithivier. I will never forget the excitement I had when I took home my first tart, filled with frangipane and decorated with fruits and berries. I rode on the tube thinking that it was the best tart that any Patisserie in Paris would have seen.

This simpler version is deliciously easy, with a sweet buttery almond filling studded with strawberry compote all encased with in a crisp inside a sweet crust sweet crust.

Enjoy it for afternoon tea, dessert or at a picnic.


Ingredients
1 quantity of sweet short crust pastry

For the compote
250g punnet of strawberries
1/3 cup caster sugar
Zest of half a lemon

For the Frangipane
100g butter, softened
1/2 cup (100g) caster sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup (100g) almond meal
1/4 cup (40g) plain flour, sifted
1 tablespoon flaked almonds

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C fan forced.

Make the pastry and chill for 30 minutes.

For the strawberries. Wash and hull and cut in half. Place them in a small saucepan with the sugar and lemon zest.

Cook on a medium heat for 15 minutes, or until the strawberries start to soften. Take off the heat and allow to cool.

Using a rolling pin, roll the pastry out between 2 sheets of baking paper into a 3 mm thick disc. Line a 22cm round fluted tart pan (with a removable base) with the pastry making sure to press it evenly into the corners. Trim any excess and refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Prick the base 4-5 times with a fork. Line the tart with baking paper and fill with dried beans and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the beans and paper and bake for a further 7 minutes or until the pastry looks dry.

Meanwhile for the frangipane beat the butter and sugar together with an electric beater until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat for another 2 minutes.

In a separate bowl mix together the almond meal and flour and fold into the butter and egg mixture.

Spoon the frangipane into the prepared tart and top with strawberries. Using a teaspoon push some of the strawberries under the frangipane mixture and sprinkle the flaked almonds.

Reduce the oven to 160°C fan forced and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the frangipane has set.

Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Serves 8

And as Julia Child always said

Bon Appetite