Christmas at our place

Mum's salad of blanched beans with baby tomatoes, boccocini, pine nuts and pesto dressing

Christmas was ultra special for me this year.
My whole family collected in Perth at my parents' house for a fortnight, the house continually overflowing with people, and of course, food.
On Christmas Day itself we decided to celebrate outside, and in the evening. Perth can be extremely hot at this time of year, but we enjoyed between 28 and 30 degrees rather than the 42 degrees they have been experiencing since we came home.

My sister's Nigella-inspired salad of watermelon, lime, spanish onion, feta and black olives

We had a big breakfast in the morning of blueberry buttermilk pancakes and fruit platters, then spending a peaceful day opening presents. The little girl got more presents than she could focus on, but she did seem grasp a little of the concept of Christmas this year. Watching The Snowman on Christmas Eve with all the family was a big highlight.

My salad

 I was happy to be only contributing a couple of things to Christmas Day food-wise. As much as I love spending time in the kitchen, I have no desire to spend the whole of Christmas Day in there.
I simple baked pumpkin in maple syrup and tossed it through a spinach and pine nut salad (yes, there does seem to be a pine nut theme here!).

 

The main event was my Godmother Susie's Galantine.  Something new for me too. It's a totally boneless chicken stuffed in a duck then stuffed in a turkey. I'd never heard of it before, but apparently it's not new and is very popular in the UK. It was delicious, although I can't say it was always easy to tell which meat I was eating.  

Our festive table

Kevin brought a Christmas pudding that he made himself in the middle of the year. Moist and full of flavour. I only need a little taste of Christmas pud to reach my yearly quota, but I was more than happy to have a few mouthfuls of this. Accompanied by brandy butter.

 

My dessert contribution was a Donna Hay Cherry Pavlova. Unusually for me, I was forced to take the choice of Pavlova to a full family vote!  As I only made one during our holiday it was quite contentious. The classic mango and passionfruit combo was almost made, but I got a large vote for trying something a little bit more festive. 

Cherries don't exactly add the juiciness of mangoes and passionfruit, so Donna's suggestion of a cherry syrup worked so well. I boiled the cherries in the sugar syrup for 15 minutes until a deep cherry colour was achieved.

We finished up with more than a few plates of chocolates, turkish delight and some gingerbread made by the little girl and I.  A very memorable Christmas and I'm missing everyone so much already.

The Great Australian Pavlova Blog Hop - Brown sugar pav with strawberries and blueberries

When my twitter friend 84th & 3rd contacted me about the Great Australian Pavlova Blog Hop I was thrilled. My Kitchenaid and I were brought together to make Pavlovas quite frankly. I love making them, and sharing them. They seem to be the ultimate crowd pleaser for some reason, the sort of dessert that is only worthwhile if you are feeding over 8 people or so, perfect for a weekend barbecue or dinner party, but without looking like you've spent 10 hours slaving in the kitchen to produce it.

This pav was an experiment with brown sugar and trying to find that caramelly but not so sugary sweet perfection.  I went with the lovely Bill Granger's version of the brown sugar pavlova that also combines Greek yogurt with cream that again can counteract the dense sugary layer's sweetness. Keeping it simple and seasonal I scattered over strawberries and blueberries. Bliss.

Numerous ingredients for the meringue

Bill Granger's recipe calls for a number of techy baking ingredients that I'm not that familiar with. Arrowroot, cream of tartar and cornflour. But the combination did absolute wonders for the centre, it was soft and mousse-like and maybe just a little bit chewy. I'll be including them in the mix again.

Kitchenaid doing its thing!

The meringue shell starting to crack...

Pouring the cream & greek yogurt mixture onto the shell

Helping hand from the little cook

Quite decadent for Friday afternoon tea?

The sharing bit

Please make sure you visit a few pages on the Great Australian Pavlova Blog Hop. They are well worth the visit.

Lindt dark chocolate & raspberry pavlova

Yesterday was the first of probably a few barbecues to celebrate the Rugby World Cup.  It's the longest tournament ever (well maybe) with the final on 23rd October - so about 7 weeks of Rugby! About 15 of us got together yesterday - half adults and half kids these days, and I thought I'd try out an alternative version of Australia's favourite dessert - to suit slightly more adult tastes.

This one is by the fabulous Nigella, it contains both cocoa and shards of dark Lindt chocolate in the shell, uses only the best double cream (woah, so hard to get in Australia - I was missing the cream section at Waitrose the other day where you can get a million types of cream), raspberries and grated dark chocolate. I ended up using Gippsland Double cream, a wonderful discovery and exactly the deep creaminess I was after.

Pavlova is such a satisfying dessert to make, and I feel the work involved, now I have a Kitchenaid that just wurrs away making the perfect meringue, is quite limited. But the wow factor is still high. Win win. And it went down a treat.

Happy Rugby World Cupping everyone, and yes, I do support the Wallabies! Go Wallabies!

Anglo-Australian dinner

In Sydney the weather has changed overnight. Probably because my mum is visiting from Perth. It hasn't properly rained in months here, but we've just had 120mm in 24 hours.

All for the good though, as I suddenly felt like re-creating a dinner we had with the Rule family when we were on holiday in Yorkshire. Roast dinner doesn't feel right when it's 30 degrees and you need to feel strong to even put the oven on. But the constant rain and lower temperatures have made me much more inclined to take my time again in the kitchen.

Tom Rule also gave me a fabulous lesson in Yorkshire puddings when I was there. No 'only in Yorkshire talk', he made me feel that it was entirely do-able, and told me that he had taught himself. That totally bolstered my confidence, as I thought it would be the age-old tale of the family recipe that had been passed down.

The key, he told me over and over, was super hot pans that are pre-heated, along with the vegetable oil (that sits in the muffin pan). You've also got to be super-organised so that you can leave the Yorkshire puds until the last minute, and not need to open the oven. If you do that it takes all the puff and rise out of the puds, and they collapse on the spot.

He recommended Jamie Oliver's recipe, so we went with that.

 

My first yorkie puds. A very proud moment!

Of course, this has to be accompanied by all the usual suspects: beef, roast potatoes and parsnips.

 

I ground some black peppercorns and sea salt to roll the beef into.

 

Searing the beef prior to roasting in the oven.

 

Beautiful beef. It disappeared within 10 minutes flat.

 

Maybe not the perfect match to the meal, but I felt like whipping up a pavlova. Perfect way to end a lovely family dinner.

Epitome of summer in Sydney - Australian Pavlova

Everyone loves pavlova. The reception they get when produced at any lunch or dinner party make them so worthwhile. Since I bought my kitchenaid, I have been loving making meringue and pavlova. It makes it the easiest thing in the world - definitely don't think I'll be buying meringue cases from Coles ever again.
That crunchy outside combined with the marshmallow textured inside just can't be matched by the store bought long life variety.  Whipping the cream is even more fun - takes about half the time of a hand held whisk. But just take it from me, you can't walk away whilst it's whipping - it will surprise you and all of a sudden the cream will be halfway to cheddar cheese...

This recipe is really simple too. There is no need to make meringue the italian way - I really can't say that the results are any better for all that extra effort

Ingredients:
4 egg whites
pinch of salt
250g caster sugar (superfine)
1 tablespoon cornflour
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 300ml carton whipping/single cream
Fruit to decorate


Preheat the oven to 180C (350F/Gas mark 4).
Line a baking tray with baking paper
Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until the white are firm. This can be done in a stand mixer or with a handheld one.
Once firm, slowly add the caster sugar until all incorporated. When ready the texture should no longer be grainy (from the sugar).
Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, and fold in the cornflour and the white wine vinegar.

Place the mixture onto the baking tray and gently smooth into a pavlova shell shape. No need to make it look too perfect - home cooked meringues look beautiful with their one-off shapes.
Bake for 5 minutes at 180C then reduce the oven temperature to 150C and bake for an hour.
Leave the meringue to cool in the oven, and if possible, overnight.

Serve with the whipped cream, and covered in whatever seasonal fruit looks best. I've been inspired recently by Margaret Fulton's cherry pavlova. But you can't beat passionfruits from my garden- we're getting a few every day at the moment and pavlova is without a doubt my favourite way to use them. They really are the perfect antidote for that sugary meringue.

source: Woolworths website