Bridget’s spiced slow cooked lamb shanks

Serves 4

3 lamb shanks
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1tbs coriander seeds
1 tsp dried red chilli flakes
1 tbs fresh rosemary
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbs flour
1 tbs olive oil
1 garlic clove finely chopped
2 large carrots, diced
6 sticks of celery, diced
2 medium onions, diced
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
170ml white wine
6 anchovy fillets
3 tins whole plum tomatoes
1 handful of fresh basil or flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

Season the lamb shanks with salt and pepper
Smash up the coriander seeds and dried chilli, mix with the finely chopped rosemary and dried oregano. Roll the lamb in this mixture and press it in well. Dust with the flour.
Heat a thick bottomed casserole, add the oil and brown the shanks. Remove from the pan.
At this point you can transfer them to your slow cooker if you are going to be using this. Otherwise you will put them back into the casserole later and cook in the oven.
Add the garlic, celery, carrot and onion and sweat until softened with a pinch of salt.
Add the balsamic vinegar and reduce to a syrup.
Add the white wine and simmer for two minutes.
Add the anchovies.
Add the tinned tomatoes.
Either transfer the mixture to the slow cooker or return the shanks to the casserole and put into the oven.
Oven cook with the lid on in a 180 degree oven for 1 ½ hours and then a further ½ hour without the lid.
Cook in the slow cooker on high for 6-8 hours.
Skim the fat off and taste for seasoning.
Before serving stir in the fresh herbs.
Serve on mashed potato.

Lamb and red wine casserole

I know its not the prettiest photo (this is before cooking) but this meal was super easy and delicious. I used to make a lot of soups and stews in my Le Crueset casserole pot but now that I have a slow cooker, I have been wanting to make better use of it. This recipe was the perfect jumping off point.

Lamb and red wine casserole.

6 large lamb loin chops
1 large onion diced
2 cloves of garlic chopped
3 carrots chopped
2 cups of red wine
1 tbs tomato paste
1 1/2 cups of beef stock
2 sprigs of rosemary
2 springs of thyme
2 tins of borlotti beans

Season some flour and lightly coat the chops before browning them in a frying pan. Remove and place in the slow cooker.
Saute the onion until translucent in the same pan then add the garlic and carrots, cook for a few minutes until softened.
Add to the slow cooker and pour in the wine, beef stock, tomato paste.
Add the herbs and cook on high for 6 hours until the meat falls off the bones.
Add the drained borlotti beans and cook for as long as necessary until the sauce has reduced.

Serve over mashed potatoe.

Cappaccino Fudge Cheesecake

This Australia day I decided to make something different to take to friends for dessert. My regular recipes include baked cheesecake and banoffee pie but this time I wanted to make something truly indulgent. If there is one blogger I aspire to, its Deb from Smitten Kitchen and
I decided to make something I have had bookmarked for a few months from her website:
http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/11/cappuccino-fudge-cheesecake/

I had to make a number of adjustments to Deb's already adjusted recipe. I decided to make a simple cookie crust and in the end I left off the ganache decorating because I was transporting the cheesecake still in its tin before plating up and just couldn't face the extra work! I also would have preferred to make this cake ahead of time and let the flavours mature but I ran out of time on the weekend so made the cake in the morning. In my rush I didn't ensure the base and ganache layer was sitting level in the freezer so the one side of my cheesecake had a thicker layer of ganache than the other. (You know which side I cut myself a slice from!)

Overall I would say this is a winner however it was just too hot for us at lunch and so no one felt really starving for a piece and instead we all had small helpings which is probably better for THEM in the long run, but not for me because I now have two quarters of cheesecake in my freezer and a container of ganache which I just can't resist eating. Sigh.

Below is my adjusted recipe. Please refer to Deb's if you want something a little more technical!

Baked Cappaccino Fudge Cheesecake.

Crust
250g chocolate biscuits
7 tablespoons hot melted unsalted butter

Ganache
1 1/2 cups thickened cream
500g dark chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup Kahlúa

Filling
3 1/2 x 250g packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 tablespoons dark rum
2 tablespoons instant coffee

1 tablespoon ground espresso coffee

1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs

Topping
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

For crust:
Finely grind cookies in processor. Add butter and process until crumbs begin to stick together, scraping down bowl occasionally, about 1 minute. Transfer crumbs to 10-inch-diameter springform pan with 3-inch-high sides. Wrap plastic wrap around fingers and press crumb mixture firmly up sides to within 1/2 inch of top edge, then over bottom of pan.

For ganache:
Bring whipping cream to simmer in large saucepan. Remove from heat; add chocolate and Kahlúa. Whisk until chocolate is melted and ganache is smooth. Pour 2 cups ganache over bottom of crust. Freeze until ganache layer is firm, about 30 minutes. Reserve remaining ganache; cover and let stand at room temperature to use later for creating lattice pattern.

For filling
Position rack in middle of oven and preheat to 180degreesC. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until blended. Beat in flour. Stir rum, instant coffee, ground coffee and vanilla in small bowl until instant coffee dissolves; beat into cream cheese mixture. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl.
Pour filling over cold ganache in crust. Place cheesecake on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until top is brown, puffed and cracked at edges and middle 2 inches move slightly when pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour 5 minutes. Transfer cheesecake to rack. Cool for 15 minutes while preparing topping (top of cheesecake will fall slightly). Maintain oven temperature.

For topping:
Whisk sour cream, sugar, and vanilla in medium bowl to blend. Pour topping over hot cheesecake, spreading to cover filling completely. Bake until topping is set, about 10 minutes. Transfer cheesecake to rack. Refrigerate hot cheesecake on rack until cool, about 3 hours.

You can decorate the cooled cheesecake with the remaining ganache. Or just leave it and eat the ganache with a spoon, like I did!

Bridget's sticky chicken curry and noodles

This is another meal that Mum made for us while she was staying after Stella was born. Its so delicious and decadent and yummy that I could happily eat it every week. Its on a monthly rotation here at the White House.

4 tbs teriyaki sauce

2 tbs brown sugar

2 tbs olive oil

500g of diced chicken thigh (you could use chicken wings or mini-drumsticks, just messier to eat)

2 tbs tikka paste (this is what the original recipe calls for, we weren't able to find it here in Oz so we used a thai basil & garlic stirfry paste instead)

1x 400g can coconut milk

200g padthai noodles (I used thick egg noodles)

2 ripe mangoes (I used one tin. First time using tinned mango and I wouldn't eat it straight from the can but its good for cooking when ripe mangoes aren't available)

1 red onion thinly sliced

1 green chilli finely chopped

1 cup of coriander finely chopped

Juice of a lime

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Combine the teriyaki sauce, brown sugar and 1 tbs olive oil, toss the chicken to coat and then place on a baking tray. Bake for 20-25 minutes turning and basting with the remaining marinade until cooked and sticky.

In a saucepan saute the stirfry sauce until fragrant and then add the coconut milk. Allow to simmer for 25 minutes until reduced. Add the cooked noodles and coriander and lime juice. Distribute between bowls and top with chicken, sliced mango and onion and a garnish of chilli and coriander (to taste.)

Amy loved the sticky chicken on its own and I have left the chilli out the last few times I made this as it disagrees with Stella. I also added a splash of fish sauce to the coconut milk sauce but only because we love it! You can use different stirfry sauces and make it as hot or as flavoursome as you like!

This is our new favourite meal and given half a chance we would eat it at least once a week! Its a forgiving recipe and I am sure you could adjust it to suit your tastes, hold the capers, increase the olives, leave off the coriander.

Bridget's chicken with capers, olives and prunes.

Marinade:
8 chicken thighs - remove skin
3 garlic cloves
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp pepper
1/4 cup dried oregano (or Italian herbs)
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup pitted prunes
1/2 cup pitted green olives
1/4 cup capers (with a little of their juice)
3 bay leaves

Before baking:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white wine
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh coriander

Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a glass jug and pour over the chicken thighs. Marinade overnight or all day. I find depending on how much olive oil I use that sometimes the marinade can solidify in which case leave the chicken out for longer before cooking.

Before cooking sprinkle the brown sugar and wine over the chicken. You can adjust the amounts you want to use at this point. I like to make sure the baking dish I use is shallow enough that some chicken pokes out so this goes brown and sticky when cooking.

Bake uncovered for 50-60 mins, basting frequently.

At this point remove the chicken from the marinade and transfer to a serving dish. Pour the sauce into a pan and reduce until thickened to your liking. I usually boil rapidly for a few minutes and then add a mixture of 2 or 3 tsp of cornflour dissolved in hot water. This helps the sauce to thicken and gives it a glossy texture.

Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve over steamed rice.

This meal is even better the next day for leftovers.

I have been wanting to organise our eating habits and meal plans a little better now that Stella is a little older and less likely to sleep for hours at a time. I really need to be more organised with our meals so that we can spend less and eat more healthily. I will be working on this over the coming weeks and posting my meal plans, recipes, shopping lists etc to the blog.

These are the current meals on my meal planner, in no particular order.

Chicken fajitas
Mince Tacos
Spaghetti bolognaise
Chicken and Rice with peas
Chicken risotto
Fish and chips
Fishcakes and Cous cous
Pasta Bake with sausages
Sausages and mash
Meatballs and Sauce with Spaghetti
Meatballs and gravy with mash
Pasta with tomato, peppers & peppadews
Cauliflower soup
Lamb chops
Thai Beef Curry
Thai Chicken curry
Ham and pea Soup
Spicy pumpkin and coconut soup
Citrus chilli pork with cashews
Sticky Chicken curry and noodles
Pasta E' Fagioli
Chicken with prunes and capers
Beef burgers
Chicken snitzel
Chicken Tikka Masala
Creamy chicken pesto pasta
Homemade pizzas
Pork stirfry with ginger and green beans
Sweet and sour sausage stew
Taglietelle with chicken
Vietnamese lemon chicken with peanuts
Oxtail and mash
Lamb shanks

This is another one of Mum's recipes from when she stayed with us and took care of us after the birth of Stella. I have made it twice since, its fast becoming a firm favourite.

Sticky Chicken Curry & Noodles

Ingredients

4 tbs teriyaki sauce

2 tbs brown sugar

2 tbs olive oil

quantity of diced chicken thigh fillets (I use about 5/6 for 2 people)

2 tbs tikka paste (we weren't able to find this here in Oz so have been using Thai basil and garlic stifry paste)

the juice of a lime

1 400g tin of coconut milk

200g pad thai noodles (I have been using a packet (containing 2 serves) of thick egg noodles - couldn't find them this time so thin egg noodles are pictured)

2 ripe mangoes sliced (no ripe mangoes so used one tin)

1 red onion thinly sliced

1 cup coriander, chopped

Preheat the oven to 180degrees celcius and combine in a mixing bowl the teriyaki sauce, brown sugar and olive oil. Toss the chicken in the marinade to coat and then place on a baking tray and bake until cooked through and sticky.

In a saucepan add the remaining olive oil and the tikka/stirfry paste. Fry over a medium heat for 20 seconds until fragrant then add the coconut milk. Simmer for 20 minutes until slightly reduced, add the cooked/heated noodles and coriander and squeeze in the lime juice. Distribute amoung your serving bowls and leftovers containers and then top with the sticky chicken, diced mango and sliced onion. Garnish with coriander.

We had a BBQ at our house on Sunday to take advantage of the Queen's Birthday long weekend. Ron and I used to entertain all the time and then we moved to Australia, into a small house with a dangerous deck and had our entertainment budget cut by one salary. I realise that having friends round doesn't mean a three course dinner like it used to and so we have had casual evenings, BBQ's and lunches but nothing with quite this many people, and a new baby. There were 8 adults and 8 children under the age of 4 which was fun. I made sure to keep the menu simple and easy to prepare ahead of time.

This is what we ate:

To start - a selection of cheeses served with grapes and crispbread, a selection of dips with crackers/chips and doritos with salsa dip.

For main Ron did two easy carve legs of lamb on the BBQ, these are an brilliant invention prepared by our butcher where the leg is boned out leaving one section still on the bone then rolled back up again and tied so you roast it with the bone attached but can carve it straight down like a rolled roast. The lamb was heavenly, perfectly cooked by Ron and served with mint sauce/jelly and preserves.

I served the lamb with my special roast potatoes and a winter salad of mixed leaves and baby spinach with roasted butternut and pinenuts. I only realised the next day that I forgot to crumble the feta cheese over the salad but no one missed it.

The meal was wonderful, everyone commented on how delicious and simple it all was and it was so easy to prepare that morning thanks to my angel baby Stella who slept all morning. But where I really excelled myself was with dessert. I hardly ever make desserts unless I bake but I really wanted something tasty with wow-factor that was easy to make, luckily I found just the recipe a few days before.

Banoffee Pie
250g digestive biscuits
160g melted butter
300ml thickened cream
5 small ripe bananas

Toffee sauce - 1/2 cup or 100g brown sugar
395g can condensed milk
160g butter

Line the base and sides of a 22cm springform pan with baking paper, chop the biscuits in a food processor and pour the melted butter in until the crust comes together. Press into the pan and chill in the fridge until needed.

For the sauce combine the brown sugar with 3 tablespoons of water in a heavy bottomed pan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to medium-high and boil without stirring, occasionally swhirling the pot and brushing down the sides with a pastry brush dipped in water for about 3-5 minutes until the syrup turns a deep amber. Reduce the heat to medium-low and whisk in the butter and condensed milk. Continue whisking for 5-8 minutes until the sauce thickens.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool then spread 3/4 of the mixture over the chilled crust and put it back into the fridge until ready to serve. Whisk the cream until billowy peaks are formed and then slice the bananas finely. Stir most of the bananas through the cream and spoon onto the toffee filling using the reserved bananas to decorate the top. Just before serving reheat the remaining sauce and drizzle across the top of the pie.

Some meals and tastes are so ingrained in my past that to smell an old favourite cooking can take me right back to my childhood. This is one of those meals. It was a recipe that my aunt used to make on request and I seem to recall that it became a special occasion dinner, on the eve of returning to boarding school, or the first night of holidays for both my cousins and myself. Eventually it found its way onto our request list too so Mum would make it for my sister and I. She even made it in huge batches and froze it into bags for me to take back to university one time which made me immensly popular in my student digs!

While Mum was staying with us in the days after Amy was born in 2006, she cooked endless meals that just appeared in front of us whenever we were hungry. Its a wonderful gift to have someone you love prepare food for you when you are least capable of making your own and she really helped Ron and I through the rollercoaster that was Amy's first few weeks in the world. This visit was the same excecpt this time Mum had Amy at her feet in the kitchen! She still managed to make us a wonderful selection of delicious meals and like last time, she left her recipe binder with me so I can add some of our new favourites to our regulars. I will post some of these new recipes but I only had one request this time, sweet and sour sausage stew!

Sweet & Sour Sausage Stew.
The quantities are easily adjustable, more sausages, more sauce, more veg depending on how many you are cooking for and how many leftovers you want. The recipe as it is feeds 4.

6 pork sausages
2 onions
1 carrot
1 capsicum/pepper
1 small cucumber/ can be substituted for a handful of small gerkins if you like the flavour
1 can pineapple chunks

Sauce - I like to double this to make it extra saucy, depends on how much veg you use.
60mls water
60mls pineapple juice
60mls brown sugar
30mls vinegar
15mls tomato sauce
15mls soy sauce
10mls cornflour

Fry the sausages in a casserole pot until browned. Remove and cut into chunks.
Cut the veg into strips and gently fry in the casserole, add the drained pineapple chunks.

Combine all the sauce ingredients in a pot and heat, thicken with the cornflour and pour the sauce over the veg in the casserole. Add the sausages back, stir and put into the oven at a low temp 140degrees for about 30mins until bubbling and hot.

There is massive room for personal input with this recipe, more pineapple juice in the sauce if you prefer it sweeter, more vinegar and the gerkins if you like it sour. I like to double or triple the recipe and add lots more carrot and capsicum and then freeze it into portions for later.

Serve over steamed white rice.

Tonights dinner was a variation on this Thai Curry recipe which has become my go-to quick midweek meal.

Ingredients:
600g diced chicken breast (grabbed a pre-cut bag from the freezer)
1 medium onion diced
2 tbs green curry paste (this was the open jar in the fridge, could have been red)
juice of a lime
dash of fish sauce
big handful of finely chopped coriander
1 can of coconut milk
1/2 bag of frozen green beans

Instructions:
Fry the onion and chicken in a little vegetable oil until browned, make a hole in the middle and add the curry paste, fry for a few seconds till fragrant and then stir in. Add the coconut milk, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and add the frozen beans. Cook until softened, add the lime juice and a few splashes of fish sauce and the chopped coriander.

Serve over fragrant steamed rice, or for an even quicker meal like we had tonight, soak some egg noodles in a little hot water and serve over those.

Unbelievably delicious and ready in under ten minutes. This hit the spot BIG TIME tonight and I might pull a Nigella and sneak into the kitchen in the middle of the night to tuck into the leftovers that Ron is supposed to be taking to work tomorrow!

Lemon and Poppyseed Muffins.

2 cups self raising flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup poppyseeds
grated rind of 2 lemons
100g butter
2 large eggs
1 cup milk

Lemon drizzle
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat fan oven to 190 degrees with a rack above the middle shelf
Measure flour, sugar, poppyseeds and rind into a large bowl.
Heat butter till melted, beat eggs with milk and mix together.
Mix liquids into the dry ingredients, do not overmix.
Spoon into muffin tray lined with muffin papers

Bake for 10-15 minutes until they are golden and the tops spring back to the touch.

Cool in the pan for a few minutes, transfer to a wire rack and spoon the lemon/sugar mix over the tops.

CHANGES: These were delicious but had too many poppyseeds, the original recipe called for 1/2 a cup which I would definitely change to 1/3 or even 1/4. Also the muffins could have had more lemony flavour so I would use the juice of the other lemon to add to the batter to enhance the flavour. I would also consider cooking out the lemon/sugar drizzle mix a little just to dissolve the granular sugar but the crunch was nice.

Right, so I have made myself a little badge, swopped it out for the other one on my sidebar and will be accepting defeat graciously! Instead of blogging here everyday this week I have been walking the coastal path from Bondi to Bronte, enjoying fresh fish and chips on the water at Watsons Bay, walking on the beach up the coast at Palm Beach, sharing lunch with my daughter at the Newport Arms overlooking Pittwater and all the yachts and eating bbq'd prawns on our new deck with friends from faraway whom we haven't seen in a long time. Its been a blissful week complete with late night chats, wedding highlight videos and a scan where we decided not to find out the sex of our unborn baby and still aren't regretting that choice!

I will continue to use this food blog to post about recipes I make and things that are directly food related, so bookmark me or add me to your feedreader, but in the meantime a more regular service will resume over at The Super Whites blog complete with pregnancy postings and photos of Amy and deck updates.

Things I plan on cooking/baking/making when our guests have departed and I have some timre on my hands. You can hold me to this list, I will tick them off and report back - also, any other suggestions appreciated.

• Spanish Tortilla with potatoes, capsicum, onions and chorizo, set with egg.
• Chicken, sundried tomato and mustard pasta. (As seen on Cooksister recently)
• A variation on this chickpea and roasted capsicum salad as seen on Smitten Kitchen
• These apple pancakes, also from Smitten Kitchen
• A cheesecake slice in the true aussie tradition of slices
• Cinamon rolls like the kind you buy in the bakery or at coffee shops
• Pasta bake
• Veronica's pastryless quiche - this sounds so easy and delicious, just right for lunches and snacks in an emergency

I am tired, its nearly 11pm which is WAY past my bedtime, but I blog. We have friends staying with us from the UK on an extended honeymoon around Bali, Australia and New Zealand so we have been busy. Tonight we left Amy with Grandma and Grandad and drove into the City to meet Brendan and Rachel for drinks and dinner. They had spent the day sightseeing and we met up at the Harbourview Hotel before heading off to the Austrlian Hotel in The Rocks to sample their beer menu and fulfill another pregnancy craving - roast duck pizza.

It was lovely, the End.

Its been a long day, we have friends staying from the UK for a couple of nights and today we went out for lunch with Ron's parents to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary! In the absence of anything noteworthy to write about food, I shall leave you with photographs of my strong-willed child trying to eat her fried rice with chopsticks!
Look at the concentration on her face, she spent almost 20 minutes painstakingly picking up grains of rice and eating them with intense satisfaction. Its never too early to introduce her to new foods, tastes and cultures.

This is the best way to start a rainy Saturday morning. Instead of leaping out of bed to finish cleaning the house before some guests arrive tonight, I made myself a homebrand caramel macchiato, grabbed the papers, checked husband was in charge of parenting and went back to bed for another hour. Total indulgent luxury!

Yes, I look slightly disturbed in this photo. Its a combination of humidity (frizzy pregnancy hair) and the fact that I am almost at the end of making 2kg's of chicken schnitzel from scratch. One of these days I am going to have to price this out to see if it really is cost effective to make my own. Ron does say he much prefers the flavour of my homemade version and of course I make small portions that I bag and freeze for suppers for Amy, its just that its such a process. Trim chicken and cut into portions, place on wooden chopping board, cover in clingfilm, beat the crap out of them with a rolling pin, then flour with seasoned wholemeal flour before dipping into egg wash and coating in Kellogs crumbs.

They are mighty delicious served with a caesar salad though!

I was hungry for something substantial for lunch today and Amy and I had been to the supermarket this morning so we had a fridge full of options. I asked Amy what she wanted for lunch and suprise, suprise, she wanted pasta so pasta salad it was. Amy did taste the salad but as she has done since she started on pasta, she prefers hers plain with no sauce. I loved this salad and will definitely make it or variations thereof again.

Ingredients: cooked and cooled pasta shells, chopped cherry tomatoes, a can of mixed beans, chopped ham, shredded basil, half an avo chopped, grated parmesan and a dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

My poor husband and child, they are enduring my pregnancy cravings by default and so tonight's nutricious and delicious supper was bacon sandwiches on the bbq. We stuffed them with freshly harvested rocket from the garden so at least we did eat our greens. I have asked Ron to write a list of all the meals he would like to eat over the coming weeks and have promised to start cooking again! We have friends coming to stay on the weekend so I will have to be more organised which will be good motivation.

(Not a recipe I have made recently, but its still a great morning tea standbye!)
Marmalade Drizzle Cake

175g (6oz) butter at room temperature
175g (6oz) golden caster sugar
1 large orange
3 large eggs
75g (3oz) orange marmalade
175g (6oz) self-raising flour

Drizzle
110g (4oz) icing sugar
A few teaspoons of orange juice

You will also need:
A loaf tin measuring about 25x11x7cms (10x41/2x3in), greased with the bottom and sides lined with parchment paper

Preheat the oven to 180degreesC, gas mark 4.
Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy (this will KILL your arm!)
Finely grate the zest of the orange.
Beat the eggs lightly in a bowl with a fork.
Add the egg a little at a time to the large bowl of sugar and butter, beating thoroughly as you go (this will destroy what little strength you have left in your arms!)
Then beat in the marmalade and orange zest.
Fold the flour in slowly, firmly but carefully until there is no sign of the flour.
Lastly stir in the juice of half the orange.
Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin and lightly smooth the top.
Bake for 40 minutes (checking after 35 mins using a metal skewer, poke the loaf and if it comes out sticky, give it a bit longer)
Leave the loaf to cool in the tin, it will sink a bit, don’t panic! Then remove and cool on a wire rack. Sieve the icing sugar and mix it with as much of the remaining orange juice as it takes to ensure a smooth, slightly runny consistency (about two tablespoons) and then drizzle the icing all over the cake, making nice swirly shapes.