Entries for archive: 2010

Found 6 entries.

Lemon Frosted Lemon Cake

A delicious and tangy lemon cake. Nice for those family occassions. Will keep for several days in an airtight container.

Ingredients

Serves: Makes one 23cm (9") cake

For the lemon cake:

  • 225g unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated white sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • zest of 1 large lemon
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 tsps baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup (60 ml) fresh lemon juice

For the lemon frosting:

  • 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
  • 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Method

Lemon Cake:

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C with rack in centre of oven.
  2. Oil or Butter a 9” cake pan.
  3. Beat butter and sugar until light, fluffy and pale in colour. Use of electric mixer is preferred but can be done manually.
  4. Add each egg mixing well in between. Beat in vanilla extract and lemon zest.
  5. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt then add to batter along with lemon juice. Mix only until incorporated.
  6. Pour batter into pan, smoothing the top.
  7. Bake about 40 – 45 minutes and place on wire rack to cool.

Lemon Frosting:

  1. Place icing sugar in a bowl and combine with the lemon juice.
  2. Drizzle over cooled cake so the frosting drips down the side.
  3. Let the icing set before covering.

Labels: cake,, lemon,, icing-sugar

Inserted: 2010-06-19 12:29 (1 month, 1 week ago)

Roasted Tomato Soup

Originally from: 101 Cookbooks

Ingredients

Serves: 4

  • 5 tomatoes, quartered
  • 1 red capsicum, quartered
  • 3 onions, quartered
  • extra-virgin olive oil
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • sea salt
  • 2 – 3 cups vegetable stock or water
  • 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 190°C.
  2. Rub down one or two baking sheets with olive oil (or use parchment paper).
  3. Arrange chopped tomatoes, capsicum, onion and garlic onto trays – skin side down. Lightly salt both trays.
  4. Bake for 45 mins (tomatoes should collapse and onions brown). Turn any onions if they get brown. Remove garlic if too brown.
  5. Make up the stock.
  6. Either:
    1. Place all roasted veggies into a large bowl and puree with a hand blender.
    2. Alternatively, blend batches at a a time in a traditional blender with some of the stock.
  7. Leave as chunky or smooth as you like. Mix up all ingredients along with the rest of the stock and the paprika.

Instead of the smoked paprika (which I didn’t have), I used a half teaspoon of hot chilli powder, which gave the soup a good kick.

Also, once the roasted veggies are out of the oven and you’re ready to blend, pop some bread into the oven to warm up so you can have nice hot bread along with the soup. I used some Turkish bread, slightly buttered.

Labels: soup

Inserted: 2010-05-25 11:11 (2 months ago)

Birmingham Balti

I really liked this recipe. Originally from the Vegetarian Society website. Otherwise known as “Aubergine, Potato and Chick Pea Balti” but I like “Birmingham Balti” more.

Ingredients

Serves: 4

For the vegetables:

  • 2 tbs vegetable oil
  • 1 onion, peeled and finely sliced
  • ½ tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 potato, peeled and cut into 1 cm cubes
  • 1 aubergine, cut into 1 cm cubes
  • 410g tin chickpeas, rinsed & drained
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • ¼ tsp ground turmeric

For the sauce:

  • 2 tbs vegetable oil
  • 1 onion, peeled and finely sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 tsp root ginger, peeled and grated
  • 4 cm cassia bark (optional)
  • 6 whole cloves
  • 450g tin chopped plum tomatoes
  • ¼ tsp ground turmeric
  • ½ tsp ground coriander
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • 1½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp red chilli powder to taste

To finish:

  • 4 tbs fresh coriander, finely chopped
  • 200ml water
  • ½ tsp garam masala

Method

For the vegetables:

  1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the sliced onions and cumin seeds. Cook for 3 minutes
  2. Add the chopped potato, aubergine, chickpeas, ground coriander, cumin and turmeric. Stir to coat vegetables evenly and then cook over a high heat for 3 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove from pan and set aside.

For the sauce:

  1. Heat the oil in the pan. Add the onion, crushed garlic, grated ginger, cassia bark and whole cloves. Cook for 3 minutes.
  2. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients: chopped plum tomotoes, turmeric, coriander, cumin, salt, sugar and chilli to taste. Cook on a high heat for 2 minutes.
  3. Lower to a medium heat and cook for a further 3 minutes stirring occasionally.
  4. Remove the cassia bark and blend the sauce roughly with a hand blender. Add the vegetables to the sauce along with the finishing ingredients: chopped coriander, the water and the garam masala.
  5. Cook over a low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with Basmati rice and/or naan bread.

Labels: curry, eggplant, balti

Inserted: 2010-05-11 09:55 (2 months, 2 weeks ago)

Spiced Pilau Rice

This fragrant this is lovely to serve with curries and spiced dishes.

Ingredients

Serves: 4

  • 250ml (one cup) of long grained white rice (generally basmati)
  • 550ml of boiling water from kettle
  • 1 Tsp groundnut oil
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 2.5cm cinnamon stick
  • 3/4 tsp cumin seeds, crushed
  • 2 cardamom pods, crushed
  • 1 dsp ground turmeric
  • 1 bay leaf
  • salt

Method

  1. heat oil in thick-based saucepan and soften onion for three mins
  2. Stir in all the spices, bay leaf and salt for one minute
  3. Stir in the rice until well coated
  4. Pour in boiling water and stir once
  5. Put a snug lid on and simmer gently for 15 mins or until rice is tender
  6. Tip into serving dish and remove cinnamon stick, bay leaf and cardamom pods
  7. Fluff with a fork and serve (cover with a tea-towel to keep warm if longer than 5 mins)

Labels: rice

Inserted: 2010-04-27 09:35 (3 months ago)

Curried Nut Roast

This has been a great find and I love it. Thanks Delia! (From her 'Complete Cooking Course’.)

Ingredients

Serves: 4

  • 225g hazel or Brazil nuts or walnuts, finely chopped
  • 2 medium onions, finely chopped
  • 1 medium green capsicum, finely chopped
  • cooking oil
  • 75g wholewheat breadcrumbs
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1 tsp dried or 2 tsps fresh chopped mixed herbs
  • 1 Tsp mild curry powder / 1 dsp host Madras curry powder
  • 225g tomatoes, peeled and chopped
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • salt and freshly milled black pepper

Method

  1. Pre-heat over to 220℃
  2. Grease an 18cm square cake tin
  3. Gently fry onions and capsicum in the oil until soft (10 mins)
  4. Mix nuts, breadcrumbs, garlic, herbs and curry powder in a large bowl
  5. Stir into this the onions, capsicum and tomatoes. Mix thoroughly.
  6. Beat egg, add to mixture and bind together
  7. Pack mixture into cake tin and bake for 30-40 mins or until golden

Serve with spiced pilau rice, yoghurt, mango chutney or a fresh tomato sauce. Also nice served cold with salad.

Labels: curry, walnut, hazelnut, brazil-nut

Inserted: 2010-04-27 09:27 (3 months ago)

Asparagus, Pea and Spinach Pasta

Original Recipe: Prawn, pea and asparagus pasta

The sour cream adds creaminess, the lemon and chilli little spikes of flavour, and the greens and asparagus give a lovely freshness.

Ingredients

Serves: 2

  • 100g spaghetti
  • 1 bunch asparagus
  • some oil
  • 1 chilli, sliced
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 good handfuls rocket or spinach
  • 3/4 cup peas, frozen or fresh
  • 1 tablespoon light sour cream

Method

  1. Put on a pan of boiling water for the spaghetti
  2. Cut up asparagus as desired
  3. Add spaghetti to water
  4. Toss sliced asparagus in a little oil, add peas, chilli and lemon zest. Stir-fry until heated through.
  5. Take off the heat, throw spinach in and stir through a couple of spoons of sour cream (add a small amount of pasta water for sauce)
  6. Add drained pasta, toss, season and serve

Labels: asparagus, spinach, pasta

Inserted: 2010-01-26 07:28 (6 months ago)