lemon myrtle beer

one of my favourite beers, it has a floral nose with a citrus palate and is perfect as an aperitif or with a light salad or seafood. perfect as a summer beer, i still can't resist a couple even in the cold.

you can buy it here
http://www.beerstore.com.au/detail.asp?beerID=668

the greatest burger

Just before we went to melbourne my partner and i decided to use up some leftovers by making burgers, however we ended up buying ingredients for it instead as we just couldn't resist and the result ended up being one of the best burgers we have ever tasted.

We started with some fresh, soft sourdough rolls and used a packet of chickpea and sunflower seed veggie patties, we topped it off with fresh spinach, beetroot slices, pinapple slices, a fried egg, lovely ripe avocades, cheese slices, bbq sauce, japanese whole egg mayonaise and slices of juicy tomato.

Despite dribbling a fair bit down our arms we devoured the lot and are planning on making them again and again.

chickpea and sunflower veggie patties (I highly recommend them)
http://australianeatwell.com.au/show_product.php?pid=00002

coconut cupcakes

To make these cupcakes I modified a vanilla cupcake recipe.

You will need:
1 1/2 cups of SR flour
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup shredded coconut
100 g butter
1 1/3 cups sugar

beat the sugar and butter together until you have acheived a pale yellow colour, add eggs beat into mixture and add coconut and milk. slowly add the flour, mixing as you go, bake on 180 c for about 30 mins.

the best part of making cupcakes is icing and decorating them. For the chocolate icing refer to the earlier recipe.
for the lime icing I added butter to icing sugar, lime juice and a 3 drops of yellow food colouring to 1 drop of yellow to get that lovely lime green colour, I usually make the icing by feel depending on how much i need.
for the strawberry icing I mixed butter with icing sugar and a little water, a drop of red food colouring is enough for just a light pink colour and i added half a teaspoon of strawberry jelly crystals for flavour.
decorate them however you like and watch them disappear before your eyes!

sausage and lentil stew

nice easy dinner tonight, my partner loves sausages and i decided to make something a little different with them. this meal turned out really really well, i could have eaten two bowls but i restrained myself. i used garlic and parsely beef sausages and think this recipe would be great with any gourmet style of sausage, i was thinking of trying it again sometime with a spicy sausage or chorizo as this would suit the meal well.

you will need
6 flavoured sausages
1 tin of lentils
2 large potatoes
3 small tomoatoes
1/2 zucchini
1/2 carrot
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
handful fresh basil leaves
3 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

start by peeling and cutting the potatoes into fairly large chunks and putting them on to boil. boil some water in another pot with a splash of vinegar and poach the sausages. fry onion, garlic, tomato and basil in pan with some oil. add zucchini and carrot along with the stock and bring to boil, add the potatoes and sausages. when all ingredients are cooked through add the lentils and season. i add the lentils last so they stay fairly firm. season to taste and serve with crusty bread and butter

two of my favourite things

Tibetan red flower liniment is perfect for relieving stiff muscles, cramps and strains, just apply a little to the affected area, it has a gorgeous fragrance that's sure to perk you up in no time. It activates blood circulation and relieves pain.
you can buy it here http://www.amazon.com/Tibet-Red-Flower-Oil-Analgesic/dp/B002VKAPDY







Ceylon tea is a black tea from sri lanka, it's golden in colour and has a distinct flavour. I particularly love these lemon Ceylon tea leaves and the box it comes in is so cute and you can use it again and again.
you can buy the teabags here http://www.tealaden.com/product/lemon-tea-bags-161.cfm

apple and rhubarb pie

Dinner with my partners parents tonight and seeing as how she was dishing up lasagna and homemade garlic bread I thought a nice warm pie would be just the thing to finish off the meal. I haven't made shortcrust pastry for awhile and my pie crust fell apart a little (I like to call it rustic) but looked amazing in the end and tasted just as good.

for the pastry you will need...
500g plain flour
250g cold butter
100g icing sugar
2 eggs
splash of milk
pinch of salt

sift the flour and icing sugar into a large mixing bowl, add butter and massage into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture is the consistency of breadcrumbs. make a well in the centre of the mixture and add eggs and milk, mix gradually into the mixture using a butter knife so as not to handle the pastry too much. knead until the pastry is a smooth ball and wrap in glad wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

while the pastry is is the fridge you can ready your filling

you will need...
6 large grannysmith apples
4 - 6 stalks of rhubarb
about a cup of sugar
cinnamon quill

remove the leaves from the rhubarb and cut into chunks, boil these first with some sugar and using about 2 cups of water only, until they have softened. peel the apples and cut into slivers, add to rhubarb with rest of sugar and cinnamon quill, stew until soft.

when pastry is ready separate into 2 balls, a larger ball for the base with a smaller one for the lid.
roll out base with a rolling pin and place in pie dish. i try to put some fork holes in the base of the pastry before i blind bake it for about 15 minutes. while this is baking, roll out your top layer. use a pastry brush to brush some apricot jam onto the base and pur the filling into the pie, put the layer on top of the pie and trim for looks, (dont cut it too small like it did or your pie will split!)
brush top layer with an egg white and milk wash and sprinkle with sugar, you can decorate it however you like with the left over pastry. sprinkle plenty of sugar over all and bake at 180 c for around an hour.

you can serve it with cream or icecream but my personal favourite is with custard

cranberry and stewed apple loaf cake

another gorgeous recipe from my mother. cheap, easy and so yummy you'll want to eat the whole thing. She always made it with sultanas but seeing as how i dont keep them around i decided to try it with cranberries instead, adding the apple for sweetness.

you will need...

4 weetbix
1 cup SR flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 cup of dried cranberries
1/2 cup of stewed apple (i usually stew my apple with a cinnamon quill and grated nutmeg)

crush weetbix finely and add rest of ingredients into a mixing bowl, stir well and pour into a greased and floured loaf tin. bake in the oven at 160 c for around half an hour

This loaf is perfect sliced thinly, spread with buttter and enjoyed with a pot of tea.

delicious chocolate icing

I have had some chocolate cake in my freezer that i made a few months ago and needed to be eaten so i decided to make some chocolate icing for it and serve it up for dessert last night. Problem, no cocoa powder, instead what i did was this:

melt about a handful of dark block chocolate and the same of milk block chocolate, add a splash (or two or three) of port. add icing sugar to thicken and mix in some butter for a creamy spreadable texture. (you will just have to play this one by ear as i have no idea of how much of what i put in)

it came out tasting delicious and i finished the cake off with some black cherries and a sprinkle of icing sugar. we ate it with whipped cream and my partner and my brother gave it the thumbs up.

mum's famous lamb casserole

I decided to make a lamb casserole today, in part due to the enormous casserole dish my partners mother gave me and in part due an old family recipe from my own mother. The best thing about this casserole is how cheap and easy it is to make, and the lamb just melts in your mouth. this recipe feeds 6 (good sized serves) but if u don't want this much casserole just use less portions, it also freezes well as long you take the meat off the bones first.

you will need...
6 good sized pieces of lamb (budget cuts are great for this dish as it is slow cooked)
2 medium onions
3 cloves garlic
6 medium potatoes
3 large carrots
1/4 of a medium sized pumpkin
1 zucchini
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
1 litre chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

chop onion and garlic finely and fry lightly in oil, sear the meat on either side to seal the juices in and put it all into large casserole dish. cut vegetables into good sized peices and add to meet, cover all with the stock and put into preheated oven (160 c) and cook for 4-5 hours or until lamb is falling off bone.

I generally serve this with pasta or fresh crusty bread and butter. The perfect winter meal

Greetings

Hello hello hello, i created this blog to showcase some of the best recipes, foods and books i have come across, as well i will be posting about some recipes as yet untried. please enjoy and if u have a recipe or book or have just found something awesome in your travels, email me and let me know.