What to make when you can’t give a present

My younger son’s teacher laid down the law in his class this Christmas, and said that she wanted NO Christmas presents from the families.  In fact, she’s getting the kids to do a “reverse advent calendar” this month instead.  Each day, a different child brings something to give to a charity that helps people in need, and at the end of the month, they will present it to the organisation. As we live in France, along with presents of toothbrushes, canned food, toilet paper and soap, absolute necessities such as Fois Gras, chocolate and tapenade have been donated. I’m waiting for someone to bring a basket of raw oysters and a bottle of champagne! Since we couldn’t give this fabulous teacher a present, my sons and I decided to make some Christmassy cookies for the teacher and the whole class to share. When the kids decorated the cookies, I set a limit to the number of balls they could put on each “tree” as otherwise, you would not have been able to see the actual cookies, but just a dithering array of sugar.

Cookies that are lots of fun to make with kids

The recipe for the cookies in very simple and lots of fun to make with the kids.  I have a video of my youngest son making them when he was too short to even reach the kitchen counter and had to stand on a stool.  I promise I won’t bore you with that video – those are the kind of things that only parents and grandparents should have to watch. He’s almost my height now (I’m going to be the one having to stand on a stool soon), but he still loves making them.

I haven’t included instructions for the icing or decorations as in the end, this cookie dough can be cut out into any shape and decorated or not, depending on what you have on hand (that goes with cookies….don’t decorate them with garlic slivers or olives….).  If you want to make the icing, mix powdered sugar with a small amount of hot water until you get a thick paste, add some drops of food colouring, then spread them onto the cookies.

I was going to throw in a photo of our real tree to get the holiday spirit going, but the kids really went to town on hanging tinsel this year and it looks a little like a Christmas elf has thrown up all over it, so instead I will leave you with this soothing, non stomach-churning photo of some snow as that’s what I’m wishing for for Christmas this year!

By Lisa Watson

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Ginger and cinnamon cookies

A recipe that's fun to make with kids: Ginger and Cinnamon Christmas tree cookies 

Course cookies, sweet

Cuisine American, New Zealand

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes minutes

fridge time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 18 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 275 g All-purpose flour 2 cups and 2 Tbsp, 10 oz
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 100 g Brown Sugar 4 oz
• 75 g Butter at room temperature 3 oz
• 1 Eggs
• 50 ml Golden Syrup 2 Tbsp
• 2 tsp Mixed Spice or 1 tsp ginger and 1 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

• Mix the dry ingredients together.
• Rub in the butter until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
• Mix together the egg and golden syrup, then add to the dough.
• Knead the dough until it forms a ball.
• Wrap the dough in cling-film and leave in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes.
• Heat the oven to 180°C /350°F.
• Roll the dough out onto a floured bench and cut out cookie shapes.
• Bake for 8 - 10 minutes.
• Leave to cool on a rack then ice as desired.
• The cookies will keep in an airtight container for at least two weeks.

The perfect stuffing for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has crept up on us with the stealth of a lion stalking its prey.  Where does the time rush off to in such a hurry?   Sometimes I with I had a brake-pedal so I could slow everything down just a little. If Thanksgiving is launching itself at us, that means that Christmas is not far behind it with its jaws gaping, ready to bite. It’s now time to push down the mild panic creeping over me and start getting a little organised!  One of the recipes I have been making regularly over the last few years for our Thanksgiving meal is this bread and apple stuffing.  Yes, I know that I’m not an American, but I do have a very good American friend living nearby who we celebrate with.  I’m very willing to sacrifice myself to taking on a festival from another country that’s all about eating!

How to control the cooking panic at Thanksgiving

The stuffing is cooked outside of the bird so that the top of it gets nice and crunchy. It’s perfect to make for Thanksgiving or Christmas too, as you can prepare it the day before up to the last step where you uncover it and put it in the oven to crisp up. While the turkey is resting after its roasting, you can throw the stuffing in the oven for about 20 minutes to finish cooking it. Well, don’t literally “throw” it in the oven, as you may end up with a bigger cleaning job than you already have….just slide it in nice and calmly with none of that last minute panic you may be sliding into because the gravy’s burning, the dog is trying to get at the turkey, half the guests haven’t turned up yet, and all your family keeps barging into the kitchen, one after the other, to ask for random unnecessary things.

Some other dishes to go with the stuffing

To get a full Thanksgiving or Christmas meal, look no further than Italian Kiwi! You could serve this stuffing alongside brined turkey, perfect roast potatoes, Bianca’s Slow-cooked Carrots, and for some extra colour: Stewed Red Cabbage with Apple! Then for a light dessert, you could make ahead some panna cotta.  There you go: a whole menu for you so now you don’t have to think about anything except for the grocery list!

Cookbook of the week

This week, instead of a travel photo of the week, I would like to tell you about a very important collaboration I worked on this year.  I am a moderator on a large community on Google+ called Foodies+, and we have been working to put out a book full of recipes from our members in time for the holiday season.  We’re very proud of the final result! This bread and apple stuffing is one of the many recipes that are in the book. The recipe book can be bought from any Amazon store and put on your Kindle or other device.  The best thing is, that all the proceeds will go to the charity Action Against Hunger: a world-wide organisation supporting those in need. So, get yourself a gift for Christmas and help hungry people at the same time!

By Lisa Watson

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Bread and apple stuffing

This stuffing is perfect to make for Thanksgiving or Christmas too, as you can prepare it the day before up to the last step where you uncover it and put it in the oven to crisp up.  

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

• 300 g Rustic bread 10.5 oz
• 1 medium Onion
• 150 g Celery 2 stalks
• 250 g Granny Smith apples 2 medium
• 50 g Butter 1.7 oz./3½Tbsp
• 250 ml Apple cider 1 cup
• 350 ml Water 1½ cups
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Chicken Bouillon Cube
• 1 tsp Salt

Instructions

• Heat the oven to 180 C/350 F.
• Chop the celery and onion. Peel and dice the apple into rough cubes.
• Cut the bred into cubes, approximately 2cm/1 in square, and put in a large bowl.
• Melt the butter in a large frying pan. Sauté the celery, apple and onion for 10 minutes on a medium heat.  Stir frequently. Take off the heat.
• Mix the cider, water, eggs, salt and bouillon cube together, then pour over the bread and stir well.
• Add the celery mixture to the bread and stir.
• Scrape the prepared mixture into a baking pan that is at least 20 x 30 cm/ 8 x 12 inch. Cover the pan tightly with aluminium foil.
• Cook in the oven for 35 minutes.
• Uncover the pan and bake for a further 15 minutes.
• The first cooking step can be done a few hours in advance.  When you are almost ready to serve your meal, put the stuffing in the oven for the last baking step and bake for 20 minutes.
• Make this stuffing vegetarian by adding vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.

What are Fave Dei Morti cookies?

I decided not to translate the name of these biscuits in the title, Fave Dei Morti, as I’m not sure how many people would want to read about cookies called “Broad Beans of the Dead”.  They don’t sound very appetising in English! The almond cookies are traditionally made in many regions of Italy at the end of October to be eaten during the period of Ognissanti, or All Saints’ Day. I read in a few places that these cookies were originally eaten at funerals in Ancient Greece.  I don’t know whether this is true or not, but it’s kind of nice to think that people could have a tiny taste of joy at such a sad event.

The origins of  fave dei morti

The biscuits were originally made with broad beans, but the main ingredient was changed to almonds as broad beans can be very toxic for certain people. In many Mediterranean countries, such as Italy, there is a hereditary condition called favism. For these people, eating broad beans leads to nasty symptoms and possible death (so the cookies were actually very aptly named once upon a time). The name fave has stuck, but now pretty much everyone can eat them without worrying about their health afterwards.

To colour, or not to colour?

The recipe for the fave dei morti cookies varies a little in different parts of Italy. Depending on where they are made also changes whether they are coloured or just left with the dough’s natural colour.  I liked the idea of making colourful biscuits, so I decided make them as they do in the North-East of Italy, with three different hues.  The red ones you see in the photo should actually be pink, not red.  I got a little carried away with the food colouring!  They tasted delicious anyway, but maybe are not as traditional to look at as they should be.

This post is part of the Cucina Conversations group.  This month you can find recipes from its members, celebrating Ognisanti and the Fall season. Here’s what you can check out:

Marialuisa’s Nzulli biscotti with almonds

Carmen’s Savoiardi biscuits

Rosemarie’s Castagnaccio

Francesca’s Fettuccine con Zucca e Porcini

Flavia’s Apple Torta Sbrisolona

Daniela’s Chestnut Pancakes (Necci) with Ricotta

By Lisa Watson

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Fave dei Morti

Colourful Fave Dei Morti Cookies are made in Italy at the end of October to celebrate "Ognisanti" (All Saints). Find the easy recipe to make them here.

Course cookies, Snack, sweet

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 45 cookies

Ingredients

• 150 g All-purpose flour 1 1/4 cups
• 250 g Peeled almonds 8.8 oz
• 50 g Pine-nuts 1.8 oz.
• 100 g Icing sugar 3.5 oz.
• 2 Eggs
• Lemon zest from 1 lemon
• 2 tsp Cocoa powder
• 1 pinch or drop Red Food Colouring

Instructions

• Heat the oven to 180°C /350°F.
• Use a food processor to blend the almonds and pine-nuts into a  "flour".
• Beat the eggs until they become thick.
• Sieve the all-purpose flour and icing sugar. Add it to the 'nut' flour, and mix.
• Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients, and mix well.
• Break the dough into three pieces.
• Knead the lemon zest into one ball, the cocoa powder into the second, and the food colouring into the third, until they are evenly coloured.
• Roll the dough balls into long sausages.
• Line a baking tray with baking paper, then break off bits of dough a little smaller than the size of a walnut and roll them into a ball, then flatten them very slightly. Place them on the baking tray with at least 5 cm/2 in distance between the cookies.
• Bake for 10 - 15 minutes until they are slightly browned.
• The cookies can keep for a week in an air-tight container.

Discovering history through an old recipe book

Who is Mrs Rawnsley? Where did she get this recipe for sponge cake from?  Did she make it up herself?  Did she get it from a friend or a neighbour?  These are questions that I’d love to have the answer to, but unless one of Mrs Rawnsley’s descendants is reading this post, I don’t think I’ll ever find out.   I found her recipe for sponge cake when I was carefully leafing through a very old cookbook that belonged to my grandmother (the one you can see below).  I mentioned the book briefly in my last post about growing up in New Zealand. The recipes are faded; some are so faint that they’re illegible.  Beside almost all of the recipes is the name of the person who gave them to my grandmother.

A life in recipes

This makes the book more than a collection of recipes.  It makes it the story of my grandmother’s life; who she knew, where she lived and how people ate at different periods of her life.  There are also some recipes in it, written very carefully by my mother when she was a little girl.  I can imagine her sitting at the dining-room table, studiously writing them down, with her tongue caught between her teeth in concentration.

The sponge cake is very easy to make. It is more the consistency of cake rather than sponge, but tasted it wonderful! It should be eaten within a day or two of making it.  I noticed that it goes stale quite quickly.

A little bit of soul searching

The cookbook leads us along the path of my grandmother’s life from when she started collecting recipes from my great-grandmother, to when she got married, left home and started to meet new people.  We all have a book like this inside of us: a trail of people we’ve met.  Some of them are passing acquaintances and some become friends.  Each and every one of them has some sort of impact on your life, just as you have an influence on theirs. Just remember that next time you smile at a stranger.  That could make the difference in their day! So, enough of the philosophy for now. Here’s the:

Travel Photo Of The Week

Of course, this week it’s a photo of New Zealand.  How can I make a sponge cake from New Zealand and not show you a photo from there too?  My brother and his family are very lucky to live close to this beach called Mangawhai Heads, up in the North of New Zealand. It’s known for its surfing, though it was pretty calm the day we were there (and empty!). We had great fun poking through the rock-pools with the kids.  The kids had great fun rolling and running down the huge sand-dunes behind the beach.  We left that one to them and waited sedately for them at the bottom.

By Lisa Watson

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Mrs Rawnsley's Sponge Cake

Mrs Rawnsley's Sponge Cake is a very old recipe from New Zealand, discovered in my grandmother's faded, falling-to-pieces cookbook. 

Course Dessert, sweet

Cuisine New Zealand

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 1 cake

Ingredients

• 3 Eggs
• 150 g White Sugar 3/4 cup
• 125 ml Milk 1/2 cup
• 40 g Butter 1 1/2 oz
• 120 g All-purpose flour 1 cup
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

Instructions

• Grease a cake tin with butter and line the bottom with baking paper. Heat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF).
• Beat together the eggs and sugar until they become pale and thick.
• Boil the milk and melt the butter in it. Pour the milk mixture slowly into the creamed egg while beating the batter constantly.
• Mix together the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar.
• Gently beat the flour mixture into the batter.
•  Bake the cake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch.
• Leave to cool for at least 10 minutes before running a knife around the edges and tipping out onto a wire-rack to cool completely.
• Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Why eat pancakes only one day a year?

Pancake Day has come and gone, but the need to eat them still lingers on…….it was Pancake Day (or Chandeleur) a month ago in France (and I think in a lot of the world), and we did the right thing and ate pancakes that day.  As you can see, I’m really on top of giving you the latest recipe information by publishing this post only 30 days after the actual event! On the actual day, the air was full of flying disks every which way you looked.  Some made it back to the pan; others took a little detour to visit various parts of the kitchen. To make the savory pancakes, I used buckwheat flour, which is the traditional recipe from that pointy bit of France called Brittany, which sticks out from the rest of the country like a rather large nose.

Fillings for savoury pancakes

Buckwheat flour pancakes, or crepes, can be filled with all sorts of savory goodies: the traditional filling you find in all the creperies in France is called “le complet“.  It has a cooked egg with a still runny yolk, melted cheese (gruyere or comté), and ham in it. Basically, you can put anything you like in it, as long as it’s nothing sweet.  Sweet things taste strange with the strong tasting buckwheat flour. Here’s a list of possibilities, but the only limit is really your own imagination:

• grilled eggplant, chopped tomato, black olives and goat cheese
• raw ham and gorgonzola
• ratatouille and sausage
• sausage and cheese
• asparagus and parmesan-bechamel sauce
• fried potato chunks, bacon and cheese
• bacon, mushrooms, red onion (sauté these ingredients before adding them)
• and many more!!!

Why buckwheat flour is so great

If you can’t find buckwheat flour, never fear, as these crepes taste pretty good made with plain flour too.  The advantage of the buckwheat flour is that for those of you out there who are gluten-intolerant, the grain the flour is ground from is not actually a grain but a fruit seed which is related to the rhubarb family, so there’s no gluten in it.  It’s incredibly good for you too as it’s stuffed full of vitamins and minerals.  That way you can feel as though you’re eating something healthy under all that melted, gooey cheese.

By Lisa Watson

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buckwheat flour pancakes

How to make gluten-free buckwheat (sarrasin) pancakes and what to fill them with.

Course Main Course

Cuisine French

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

resting time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 8 -10 pancakes

Ingredients

• 160 g Buckwheat Flour 5.5 oz
• 20 g Olive oil 1 Tbsp
• 1 pinch Salt
• 2 Eggs
• 400 ml Water 1 3/4 cups

Instructions

•  Put the flour and salt in a bowl.
• Add the eggs and oil.
• Whisk while pouring the water into the bowl in a steady stream.  After adding half the water, whisk the batter well until all the lumps disappear, then continue to add water while whisking.  the amount of water I have given is approximate.  Keep adding water until the batter is very runny: runnier than honey, but not as runny as water alone.
• Leave the batter to sit for at least 30 minutes,  You can make it the night before and store it in the fridge until needed.

To Cook The Buckwheat Pancakes:

• Heat a round crepe pan (a frying pan with very low sides)
• Brush the pan with a little olive oil.
• Either use a ladle, or pour the batter directly from the bowl (if you are feeling brave!), holding the pan in one hand and the batter ladle/bowl in the other. Tip the pan gently from side to side to cover the bottom of the pan.
• Place back on the heat and wait until the edges start to lift and the batter sets.
• Gently slide a wooden spatula underneath the pancake and slip it onto a plate.
• The pancakes can be stored on the plate in the fridge for up to 3 days if covered well with cling-film.

What is a snickerdoodle anyway?

I spent a few years living in California, which is where I was introduced to these fabulous cookies called snickerdoodles. When I first heard the name “snickerdoodle”, I thought it was another one of those strange poodle crosses, like the labradoodle (now, who wouldn’t want one of those?!). In fact, I eventually found out that snickerdoodles were butter cookies rolled in sugar and cinnamon, which was a little disappointing, but much easier to keep as a pet. The origins of the strange name seem to be lost in the mists of history.  My guess is that one day some cook just decided that it would be terribly funny to make everyone in the world try to say snickerdoodle as often as possible.

What to use instead of cream of tartar

Snickerdoodles call for an ingredient called cream of tartar, which can be difficult to get in some countries.  My supplier (i.e. my mother) brings it into France when she comes to visit from New Zealand. If you can’t get hold of cream of tartar, apparently you can replace it with 2 tsp of lemon juice for the taste, and/or 1 tsp of baking powder.  Now, I haven’t tried either of these replacements, so I can’t guarantee that they will taste/work the same (although the internet assures me that they do!).  I can’t see that they would hurt the snickerdoodles, so if you try it, let me know how it goes.

Snickerdoodles keep well for a week or so in an air-tight container after they’re made.  It’s very unusual that they last that long though.

Travel Photo of the Week

This photo comes from the U.S.A.: the home of snickerdoodles.  This is one of the most spectacular places I’ve ever hiked to. Arches National Park lies in the State of Utah near a very hip small town called Moab. The park is full of eye-bending rock arches, but this one is the most stunning, in my opinion. The rock formation is called Delicate Arch, for obvious reasons.  It is perched on the edge of a cliff that drops away into a deep valley.  I’ve hiked up here a couple of times, and the best time was just before sunset.  The sun setting on the orange rocks turns them a deep red colour.  If you go, take a headlamp with you so you can find your way back down the trail!

This recipe for snickerdoodles is adapted from a recipe from a fantastic cookie book called (wait for it!) “Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt In Your Mouth Cookies” By Alice Medrich.

By Lisa Watson

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Snickerdoodle cookies

How to make Snickerdoodles: The Great American Cookie

Course Dessert, sweet

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

fridge time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 35 - 40 cookies

Ingredients

• 225 g Butter 7.9 oz
• 275 g Sugar 9.7 oz
• 2 Eggs
• 380 g Flour 13.4 oz
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Cream of Tartar
• For The Coating:
• 4 Tbsp White Sugar
• 1 tsp Cinnamon

Instructions

• Cream the butter (at room temperature) and sugar together until fluffy.
• Add the eggs and beat in.
• In a separate bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients, except those for the coating.
• Add the flour mixutre to the creamed butter and stir until the dough becomes smooth.
• Cover the bowl with clingfilm and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, or up to one day.

When you are ready to make the cookies:

• Heat the oven to 180°C (375°F).
• Mix the sugar and cinnamon for the coating in a shallow dish.
• Roll the cookie dough into walnut-sized balls, then roll them in the coating mixture.
• Place them on a cookie sheet covered with baking paper. Leave about four fingers of space between each cookie so that they can spread.  I usually fit 12 cookies on a regular-sized cookie sheet.
• Bake for 10 - 12 minutes until the cookies are golden in colour.  Take them out of the oven and leave them to cool on the tray for a few minutes.

Zucchini or courgette, the frittata tastes good with either name

So, do you call these long green vegetables zucchini or courgettes?  After living in various English-speaking countries where each country uses slightly different words, I’ve forgotten who calls them zucchini and who calls them courgettes. Anyway, whatever they’re called, thanks to the Summer, there are tons of them floating around right now that need to be used in a hurry! So, that’s where this zucchini frittata comes in.  You can cram it with lots of zucchini so that they don’t rot in the fridge. 🙂

Slice them, dice them, or grate them

You can slice or dice the zucchini, depending on your preference; or even grate them.  Any way they’re cut works fine in frittata, as long as the cubes aren’t too thick.  I prefer to slice mine into rounds, but that’s mainly because I’m awfully lazy and hate dicing vegetables.  Why can’t they make all vegetables into exact cubes so that all the pieces comes out the same size? Actually, joking aside, I have seen a photo of cube watermelons.  Apparently it makes them easier to pack.  I’m not sure that I would want to buy one though.

I was recently showing a friend how to make frittata and realized that there are all kinds of little hints that help it to come out well. So, after my teaching experience, here are all the hints that will guarantee a successful frittata comes out at the end!

Eight tips and tricks to help you realize your dream frittata

1. Don’t beat the eggs too much. They should be just mixed together.
2. Use a non-stick frying pan.
3. Let the vegetables cool at least to warm before adding them to the egg.
4. If you are using a watery vegetable, such as spinach, squeeze all the liquid out of it that you can before you add it to the egg.
5. The oil in the frying pan should be medium-hot.  If you put your hand over the top of it, you should be able to feel the heat coming off, but it shouldn’t be shimmering.  If it is too cold, the egg will stick to the pan; if it’s too hot, the egg will blow up in your face!
6. Lift a corner of the frittata every now and then once it starts to set.  If it is browning too much, turn the heat down.
7. Before trying to flip the frittata, lay a tea-towel along your arm so that you don’t get burnt by splashes of hot oil.
8. If you’re scared to flip the frittata, keep the lid on tight and let the egg set completely.  It’ll taste just as good if it’s not browned on both sides.

Travel Photo of the Week

This week comes from the Salento region in Puglia, far down in the heel of Italy’s “boot”.  Centuries ago, these watchtowers lined the coast all around the South of Italy to guard against invasions by the Saracens.  The towers were close enough that you could see the next ones from the one you were standing in.  That way the signal could be passed quickly to get the defenses ready (as the Saracens were never just coming for a cup of tea). Nowadays, most of them are in ruins like this one below. It makes a great sightseeing trip to drive along the coast and visit them.  There are nearly 60, so you may not be able to see all of them!

I’m going to be taking a break for the next couple of weeks to clean out some spider-webs and drink a Spritz or two  Enjoy the rest of August!  There are all KINDS of super things that will be coming up on Italian Kiwi in September!

By Lisa Watson

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Eight Tips and tricks To Make A Perfect Zucchini Frittata

Eight Tips and tricks To Make A Perfect Italian Frittata

Course buffet, entree, first course, Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 1 frittata

Ingredients

• 3 - 4 medium-sized Zucchini
• 6 Eggs
• 2 Tbsp Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1 tsp Salt
• To taste Pepper

Instructions

• Slice the zucchini into rounds about 1 cm (1/2 inch) thick, or chop into cubes.
• Heat a frying pan with 2 - 3 Tbsp of olive oil. Cook the zucchini until they become slightly translucent and browned (approximately 10 - 15 minutes). Drain them on a kitchen paper-towel and leave to cool a little.
• Wipe the pan with a paper towel and add another 3 -4 Tbsp olive oil. Heat on a moderate heat.
• While the oil is heating, put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat them until the eggs become homogeneous.
• Stir in the zucchini.
• Pour the mixture into a frying pan and cover the pan with a lid.
• Check the egg mixture every 5 minutes. When it is set on top, your frittata is done!  This step should take 10 - 15 minutes.
• If you would like the frittata browned on both sides, slide the set frittata onto a plate and then place the pan over the top of it (after pouring out the excess oil). Flip everything upside-down and then place the pan with the frittata in it back on the heat for 3 - 4 minutes.

Hot cross buns, chocolate eating, and musings about the Easter Bunny

Easter is nearly here.  I can hear the hoppity-hop of little bunny paws as they stuff their baskets with Easter eggs…..well, there must be more than one Easter Bunny, right?  Otherwise how would he get the Easter eggs to all the kids on time?  You can’t tell me that he does the Santa trick!  He doesn’t have a sleigh, OR reindeer!  Anyway, aside from eating way too much chocolate, another thing I love to eat around the Easter holidays are hot cross buns. I’m not sure why hot cross buns and actually called “hot cross buns”, as they don’t have to be hot when they are eaten, though they do taste awfully good with butter melting into them when they’re straight out of the oven.  The cross is obvious.  I’m sure it has religious (or pagan) significance, but I’m not going to get into that stuff here.  Just make the hot cross buns and enjoy them, and don’t worry about the symbolism behind them!

Multi-purpose rolls

This recipe comes from my mother.  When I was in New Zealand this time last year (yes, it’s taken me an entire year to get this recipe up!), I made them without the spices and brushed the tops of the buns with milk before cooking them to give them a nice shiny top, and they came out fabulously as dinner rolls.  So, not only can this recipe be used for Easter, but you can make the rolls for Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or just for the heck of it, if you like.

A quick recipe

The hot cross bun dough only goes through one rising, which also means that they’re quick to make (well, quick in making-bread terms).  You can have them on the table in only 2 1/2 – 3 hours from when you weigh out the flour to when you take them out of the oven.  The photo above is before the rising, and the photo below is after, just to give you and idea of how much they should grow.

Hints and tricks from experience

I actually forgot to put the sultanas in when I made these as one of my sons ate the ones that I’d weighed out in anticipation of adding them to the dough, and I didn’t notice.  So, I can tell you after scientific testing, that they taste good also without the sultanas, just not as sweet. The cross is an optional extra.  It doesn’t add anything to the taste.  You can do it just to prove that the rolls are indeed hot cross buns.  I think next time I would just brush milk over them and forget about the cross.  As you can see in the photo below, unless you have a piping bag that you can use, making the cross with the edge of a teaspoon can be quite messy.

So, I wish you all a very happy, and non-rainy Easter full of good things to eat (we’re having a leg of New Zealand lamb, of course!).

Travel Photo of the Week

This is Whangarei Heads, a small peninsula which juts out from the East coast of New Zealand near the town of Whangarei.  I spent a lot of time here when I was growing up, getting into all sorts of trouble with a friend whose parents owned a farm just across the peninsula from where this photo was taken on top of a monolith of craggy towers called Mount Manaia. It takes about an hour or so to wend your way up the slopes through the forest (where once I got lost with the aforementioned friend: a story for another time). The view from the top, as you can see, is spectacular!

By Lisa Watson

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Hot cross buns

An easy and quick recipe for home-made Hot Cross buns from New Zealand.  

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Rising time 2 hours hours

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 300 g All-purpose flour 2 cups
• 10 g Dry Yeast 2 Tbsp
• 50 g Sugar 4 Tbsp
• 1 tsp Salt
• 250 ml cold water 1 cup
• 250 ml boiling Water 1 cup
• 50 g Butter 2 Tbsp
• 2 Eggs
• 2 tsp Cinnamon
• 4 tsp Mixed Spice
• 500 g All-purpose flour 3 3/4 cups
• 50 g Sultanas (or currants) 1/2 cup

Instructions

• Mix the first lot of flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix.
• Add the cold water, then the boiling water and mix until smooth. Leave for 2 - 3 minutes.
• Add the second lot of flour, the cinnamon and mixed spice. Mix, then add the sultanas.
• Knead for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth.  Keep sprinkling flour on the dough if it is sticky.
• Put a clean tea-towel over the bowl and leave on the bench for 15 minutes.
• Line two trays with baking paper, then break off pieces of dough approximately the size of an egg. Roll them into balls and place them on the trays, spacing them so that there is room for them to expand.
• Leave to rise for  2 hours until they double in size.
• Heat the oven to  200ºC (375ºF).  If you would like the buns to be shiney on top, brush them with milk. To make the crosses, put 2 tbsp of flour into a cup.  Dribble water in and stir until a thick paste forms.  Use a piping bag or the side of a teaspoon to draw the crosses on top of each bun.
• Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until the tops of the buns are golden-brown.

Excuses and Anchovies

I know it’s been quiet for a couple of weeks.  Sorry about that.  Thanks to two weeks of school holidays in which there were sick kids, one after the other, just to make sure we spent the whole first week at home, then a week of holidays in Italy, I didn’t have time to come and visit my blog.  This recipe is one that I’m pretty proud of as I made it up myself!  I had some foodie-type people coming for dinner and wanted to make something special.  This roasted red pepper flan with anchovy sauce is inspired by a traditional dish called Bagna Caoda in Piemonte, Italy.  It’s kind of like a fondue, but the sauce is made of anchovies and tonnes of garlic.  You dip Winter vegetables, such as red peppers, Jerusalem artichokes, cardoons and celery into the hot sauce and eat them.

A terrible confession and what to do if you don’t like anchovies

I have to admit that I actually HATE anchovies and if people with you eat bagna cauda, you will suffer from the smell right into the next day.  It’s one of those everyone-or-nobody kind of meals!  I remember when my Italian husband insisted (a long time ago) that even though I didn’t like anchovies, I would like bagna caoda, since after all the simmering of the anchovies and garlic, the anchovies don’t taste like anchovies anymore. I trusted him, and HE WAS WRONG! It tastes totally like anchovies, which is fantastic if you like them. Anyway, these red pepper flans are very delicate and if you don’t like anchovies, you can make the sauce for your guests and a bechamel sauce to drizzle over the red pepper flans for you. If you DO like anchovies, you’re in for a real treat as the red peppers and anchovy-garlic sauce are a perfect match!

What forms to use and how to roast peppers

Flans seem so sophisticated, but are incredibly easy to whip up and serve at a dinner party.  The trickiest thing in the recipe is getting the flans out of the muffin tin.  To  make it a little easier, grease the wells really well with butter or oil and place a circle of baking paper at the bottom of each well.  You can also use those silicon forms that come in all shapes and sizes.  They’re easier to un-mold, and then you can have almost any kind of fanciful shape you like: a star, a teddy-bear, a house……yes, I’ve actually seen those shapes in silicon. To make these flans, you just need to throw the red peppers in the oven to roast a day or two before you actually want to make the flans.  I’ve found that if you roast them whole, then let them cool, it’s really easy to peel off the skins.  You don’t need to do all that putting them in a plastic bag thing, which is probably not so good for you anyway as the plastic molecules probably go into the red peppers.

Travel Photo of the Week 

This week the photo comes from the home of Bagna Caoda: the Piemonte region of Italy.  This photo is taken in Jouvenceaux, in Val di Susa. It  is actually Italian, although it has an incredibly french name!  The french border is 20 minutes away, and you can see forts on top of the mountains in the surrounding area which have been used for many years during various border altercations. Now it’s a peaceful place since the Italians and the French get along pretty well these days.

By Lisa Watson

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Red Pepper Flan with Anchovy Sauce

Red Pepper Flan with Anchovy Sauce is an easy to make, very elegant starter. Find out how to impress your guests here!

Course Appetizer, entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 40 minutes minutes

Ingredients

For the Flans:

• 4 Red peppers Capsicums
• 4 Eggs
• 3 Tbsp All-purpose flour
• 1 tsp Salt
• Pepper to taste
• 200 ml Milk 1 cup

For the Sauce

• 10 -12 Anchovies in oil
• 5 -6 Tbsp Olive oil
• 2 Garlic cloves
• 6 -8 Capers
• Chives a small bunch

Instructions

• Put the peppers in an oven dish and bake whole at 180°C (350°F) for 45 minutes. Leave to cool, then peel off the skin, remove the green stem and scrape of the seeds with your fingers.  This step can also be done 1 - 2 days before you make the flans.

For The Flans:

• Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F) . Grease a muffin tray very well with butter or oil and cut rounds of baking paper to place in the bottom of each well. Fill a roasting pan with water so that it comes approximately half-way up the muffin cups.
• Put all the ingredients for the flan in a blender and blend them until you have a smooth mixture.  You can use a handheld blender for this step too.
• Pour the mixture into the muffin wells.
• Bake for 25 -30 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.  don't worry if they puff up.  they will get flat as they cool!
• Leave them in the forms to cool down.  When they are cold, carefully slide a knife around the sides of each flan and gently prise them out on to a plate.
• The flans can be made a day in advance. Cover well and keep them in the fridge until needed.

For The Sauce:

• Peel and slice the garlic, then put all the ingredients into a small pot.
• Simmer on the stove at a medium to low heat for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.
•  Leave to cool a little, then blend until smooth.

To serve the flans

• Warm them for 5 minutes in the oven or 1 -2 minutes in the microwave.. Put each flan on an individual serving plate. Drizzle the anchovy sauce over the flans, then chop the chives and sprinkle them over the top .

Notes

The sauce can also be made a day in advance.  Just before using, heat it to lukewarm very gently on the stove-top. If you heat it in the microwave, heat it on a very low power.  I put it in for too long and destroyed the sauce and killed the plastic container it was in. Be warned!

When plating the flan, chop chives and sprinkle them over the top for an added "WOW!" effect!

 

 

Why it’s time to make your own cookies

My kids have been eating way too many commercial cookies out of a packet recently, so I decided it was time to get baking. I often make ginger/cinnamon cookies with this recipe that I am going to share with you, but decided it was time for a change.  I used the same dough, but added some cocoa powder instead, and Lo and Behold! Out came chocolate caramel cookies!  And they were great! Usually when I make cutout cookies, the kids spend ages decorating them with all sorts of garish coloured sugar pearls and stars.  This time I managed to make these chocolate caramel cookies while they were out, so we adults can now eat them too without feeling sick from the sugar rush.  If you want to make them a little prettier, you could always drizzle chocolate glaze over the top of them.  Or find some random kid to smush silver balls and coloured sugar confetti all over them.

Tips to make the cookies more quickly

If you don’t want to do the whole thing with cookie cutters, you can roll the dough into a cylinder, wrap it in plastic wrap, refrigerate it, then slice it onto the cookie tray to bake.  If you want to be super lazy, don’t even cook the dough. Just eat it raw.  But, that may be going a little far.  If you’re that unmotivated, it might be better just to get some store-bought chocolate caramel cookies in the shape of stars. You can’t find them in the supermarket?  Well, that’s a good reason to make these cookies then!  My cookie-cutters are a little wonky after years of indelicate use from young children.  The star looks like it’s imploding and the gingerbread man cutter seems to have one skinny leg and one fat, but I like them that way as it reminds me of all the times my boys  and I spent around the kitchen table together when they were smaller. They’re not so enthusiastic about making them anymore, but they do still like to eat them though.

Just a note about this recipe.  If  the dough doesn’t stick together very well, add a little milk or water, a teaspoon at a time until it clumps together.  If you have no golden syrup, or don’t want the caramel side of the cookies, add the equivalent volume in milk.

For another kind of delectable cookie, you could try chocolate afghan cookies instead.

Travel Photo of the Week

This is a beach on the island of Sardinia, Italy.  I think the photo says it all! Pack your bags and go (after baking some chocolate caramel cookies).

By Lisa Watson

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Chocolate caramel cookies

Chocolate Caramel Cookies: better than store-bought! Use this recipe to make cookies with your kids!

Course cookies, Dessert, sweet

Cuisine New Zealand

Prep Time 40 minutes minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes minutes

Resting time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 48 minutes minutes

Servings 35 - 40 cookies

Ingredients

• 275 g All-purpose flour 2 cups and 2 Tbsp, 10 oz
• 30 g Cocoa powder 4 Tbsp
• 100 g White sugar 1/2 cup, 3.5 oz
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 75 g Butter 3 oz
• 75 g Golden Syrup 3 Tbsp
• 1 Eggs

Instructions

• Sift all the dry ingredients into a medium-sized bowl.
• Add the room temperature butter and rub it into the dry ingredients with your fingers until the mixture ressembles breadcrumbs.
• Mix the egg and golden syrup together then add it to the dough.  Mix in with your hands until the ball forms.  If the dough is too dry and won't stick together, add a tiny bit of water and keep kneading the dough.  Continue adding a teaspoon of water at a time until it sticks together.
• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.  You can keep it like this for at least two days.
• Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Take the dough out of the fridge and let it softn on the bench for 10 -15 minutes.
• Roll it out on a floured bench until it is about 1 cm thick.  Use cookie cutters or a glass to cut out the cookies and place them on a cookie tray lined with baking paper.
• Bake for 8 - 10 minutes.