This month’s Donna Hay magazine was all about the caramel, rich, decadent, smooth caramel.
I am usually more drawn to chocolate, or vanilla, but caramel still has its place in my sweet fantasies. There are a number of recipes I’ve earmarked to try, but the simplest and easiest one by far was homemade dulche de leche.
Dulche de leche is a Spanish caramel, usually made with condensed milk. I have heard about it being made by heating the condensed milk while it’s still in the can in a water bath, but the stories about exploding boiling caramel put me off that method. I was pleased to find this simple version, and put it to the test this weekend.
I have plans to make vanilla icecream and swirl through a vein of dulche de leche – I’ll report back if successful. I also added a pinch of sea salt whilst whisking the caramel, for that salted caramel effect. Completely optional of course.
So here it is – probably the easiest recipe on this site, and certainly the one with the shortest ingredient list!
Ingredients
- 2 395g cans sweetened condensed milk
Directions
- Preheat oven to 200* and put the kettle on to boil.
- Place the condensed milk in an ovenproof baking dish. Cover tightly with aluminium foil (I also put my glass lid on top of the alfoil).
- Place the baking dish in a larger deep-sided baking tray.
- Put in the oven and fill the dish with boiling water until it reaches 2-3 of the way up the sides of the dish.
- Bake for 1 hour 30 mins to 1 hour 45 mins or until caramel in colour - the darker you go the more bitter (in a good way!) it will taste.
- Remove the dish from the oven and whisk the caramel until smooth to remove lumps that form whilst baking.
- Spoon into sterilized glass jars.
- Keep in the fridge for up to 1 month.
This recipe came up as one of the most popular zucchini recipes on Taste.com, with a 5-star rating and over 500 people recommending it.
That seemed like a pretty good endorsement, and even better I had all the ingredients, and it didn’t take long to prepare.
This one will be going into the rotational recipes (recipes that I make on a semi-regular basis: see J’s mum’s spinach pie, spaghetti bolognese, chilli). It was so easy, quite healthy (well, semi-healthy anyway), made plenty of leftovers and tasted even better the following day. There are nights when that is all I want my dinner to be – gourmet, complex, rich and hearty is all well and good but not on a Thursday night after a big day/week and when all I have eaten is a salad for lunch.
I recommend you give this recipe a try, and don’t be surprised if it makes it into your rotational list as well! I haven’t typed it out as the recipe on the site is really very clear and easy to follow – it’s not rocket surgery!
Zucchini slice
Sometimes the gods of cooking smile on you, or the stars align, or some other act of fate or kismet occurs and you have all the ingredients for a dish at the same time, in appropriate quantities and without requiring substitutions. Or so I thought…
There were beef strips thawing in the fridge when I arrived home, and as I didn’t have a dish planned, I started perusing the contents of the crisper to see what else was on hand. Half a red capsicum and half a green capsicum were crying out to be used. I knew I had onions (what self respecting cooking doesn’t have a ready supply of onions?!). Cumin is the most popular spice in my kitchen…The slow-moving cogs in my brain finally came up with beef fajitas.
I spent 10 minutes ransacking my cooking magazine collecting for the recipe for flour tortillas I knew I had earmarked only recently – I finally found it in Donna Hay magazine February/March 2012. Amazingly, I had every ingredient required for that recipe as well.
I set out my ingrediants and I went to work, chopping and measuring. J came home to the smells of frying capscium and spices, and to see me rolling out tortillas. When he asked what was for dinner, I happily replied “beef fajitas”.
He left the room. He came back. “Wait – wasn’t that lamb in the fridge?”
Yes my friends, I made the ultimately rookie mistake and thought the lamb was beef. I hang my food blogger head in shame. Of course, once I tasted the meat, it was obvious.
For the record, this meal works well with lamb instead of beef. But I have written it with beef as the main ingredient!
Ingredients
- 2 cups Plain flour, sifted
- 2 teaspoons Sea salt
- 2 teaspoons Dried chilli flakes
- 25 grams Cold butter, chopped
- 1 cup Hot water
Directions
- In a food processors combine the flour, salt and chilli.
- Add the chopped butter and pulse in the processor until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Add the water and pulse until it just comes together.
- Turn out on to a floured surface and knead until smooth.
- I let mine rest for about 20 minutes while I prepared other bits of the meal, but the recipe doesn't require this.
- Divide the dough into 15 equal pieces and roll each piece out to 20cm round with a rolling pin.
- Heat a large frying pan over high head.
- Cook each tortilla for 30-60 seconds each side until lightly browned.
- Stack the tortillas, covered, in a warm spot until ready to serve.
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- 150 grams Beef strips (Lamb can also be used)
- 1 medium Red capsicum, cut into strips
- 1 medium Green capsicum, cut into strips
- 1 clove Garlic, diced
- 1 medium Onion, sliced
- 1-2 teaspoon Cumin
- 1 teaspoon Sweet paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon Chilli powder
Directions
- Add a splash of olive oil to a frypan and bring to a high heat.
- Cook the beef strips in batches until browned.
- Remove beef from frypan and set aside.
- Add more olive oil to the pan and reduce heat to medium.
- Add onion and capsicum and cook until soft.
- Add garlic and spices and cook until fragrant.
- Add the beef and cook until heated through.
- Serve on tortillas with corn and tomato salsa, avocado and sour cream or natural yoghurt.
Fino Food and Wine is a wholesaler operating out of Oxford St at Bulimba. I must confess, I didn’t even know it was there. However, I imagine if you are a restauranteur in Brisbane you sat up and took notice when they arrived in town.
Last week J and I were lucky enough to attend a food bloggers’ beer and food matching night at Fino’s warehouse. The beers were supplied by @goodbeermatt who is clearly a man who is passionate about beer – and his enthusiasum is contagious. There was Michael from Fino, a man who knows his cheese and smallgoods. And as a special treat, there was @PepeSaya, all the way from Sydney, making fresh butter in a Kitchenaid in the corner.
What I love about these events is getting to speak to people who genuinely love what they do, love food and are passionate and interested in engaging other people in discussion about all these things. It is inspiring to meet people who find a way to make a living out of what was once a hobby.
One of the smallgoods highlights were the Quattro Stelle Nduja Traditionale – a spreadable salami made from pork mince and fat as well as a heafty dose of chilli and then fermented and smoked. Such an unusual product, and one that you’ll have trouble finding retail – unfortunately there isn’t a whole lot of demand for it in Brisbane deli’s yet. I recommend giving it a try if you ever get a chance, it’s a pretty unusual and tasty product!
The Milawa goat’s cheese Camembert was also a big hit, and I was pleased to see it is an Australian product. The breads were supplied by Flour and Chocolate, a new patisserie at Morningside. I hope they set up shop somewhere on the north side soon! I would love to get a real bakery out on this side of town.
Good Beer Matt brought a long a large selection of beers, but one of the most interesting was “Seeing Double” from the BrewBoys brewery in Adelaide. This was such a strong, smokey beer that went beautifully with blue cheese. For someone who is not much of a beer drinker, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this pairing.
Finally, there was Pepe Saya’s butter. It truly is something that you have to try for yourself. I love butter (and I am a big believer in butter over margarine) but I don’t think I ever really understood how different artisan butter is to your supermarket varieties (even the better supermarket varieties). We were sent home with some small pats of butter, which we will savour over the next few weeks. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see how easy it was to spread straight out of the fridge!
Thank you to everyone who put together this event. We had a great time, and learned a lot. Not a bad way to spend a Wednesday!
Full disclosure – J and I paid to attend this event, but the butter samples were a nice surprise!
I’ve decided I’m bringing back afternoon tea on the weekends. There is something so enjoyable about sitting down with a cup of coffee (or tea) and a sweet little snack. So far we’ve had banana muffins, butter cookies, peanut cookies, apple and carrot muffins (recipe to come!) and these sticky date cookies. Obviously not all at once!
I actually made these for the first time as a Christmas gift for some friends. There were quite a few leftover which Julian single-handedly demolished (I was still exercising self-control on my sugar detox). When I asked J what I should bake, he piped up and suggested these. I take that to be an endorsement of the recipe. The cookies themselves are soft, sweet and delightfully moreish. They remind me a bit of a spice cookie, or a gingernut and the date flavour isn’t overly pronounced. You can eat them as they are, or roll them in icing sugar (as I have done here). The icing sugar is really just for decoration.
This recipe is taken from the Women’s Weekly “Christmas Food” cookbook, but rest assured the cookies are lovely year-round!
Ingredients
- 1 cup Dried dates, coarsley chopped
- 2 tablespoons Golden syrup
- 2 tablespoons Water
- 1/4 teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 1 teaspoon Finely grated orange rind
- 1 3/4 cups Plain flour
- 3/4 cup Caster sugar
- 100 grams Butter, coarsley chopped
- 1 Egg
- 1/4 cup Icing sugar (optional)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 160*C (fan forced). Line two baking trays with paper or grease.
- In a small saucepan, combine the dates, syrup and water. Bring to the boil over high heat.
- Remove from heat and stir in the bicarb soda and orange rind.
- Leave to stand for 5 minutes, then process in a food processor until mostly smooth.
- Cool the mixture.
- Process the flour, caster sugar, butter and egg together with the date mixture until it comes together.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Roll mixture into teaspoon sized balls and place on the trays.
- Flatter slightly and bake for about 15 minutes. It's better to take them out a bit early if you want softer cookies.
- Cool and then toss in icing sugar if desired.
It had been a rough week, and it was only Wednesday. At times like these, I live by the concept of “comfort food”. I’m not saying that it is wise, or healthy, to eat like this all the time. But there is a reason we are drawn to rich, indulgent foods, and it’s not just biology. It’s the memories they invoke – Nana or Mum’s cooking, overcast and cold days where a big bowl of pasta warmed you through, a time when calories and weight was irrelevant and you just ate because you enjoyed it and you were hungry.
Perhaps it is all in my head, but after I ate this meal I felt comforted. It didn’t make my problems disappear, but it was a pleasant interlude. And after all, isn’t that enough?
Ingredients
- 500 grams Pasta (macaroni or other small type)
- 1 medium Onion, diced
- 2 cloves Garlic, diced
- 1 cup Broccoli florets, roughly chopped
- 1 Bay leaf
- 3 tablespoons Unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup Flour
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 3 cups Whole milk
- 1 cup Cheddar, grated
- 1 cup Parmesan, grated
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup Breadcrumbs
Directions
- Preheat oven to 200*.
- Cook pasta on stove in boiling salted water according to directions.
- Meanwhile, in a large heavy saucepan heat olive oil over a medium heat.
- Add onions and cook until translucent.
- Add garlic and diced broccoli and briefly fry, being careful not to burn.
- Remove from pan and set aside.
- In the same pan melt butter.
- Add in flour and mustard and cook, stirring for about two minutes until flour mixture has darkened. Make sure there are no lumps!
- Gradually whisk in milk, stirring constantly. Add bay leaf.
- Turn the heat to low and let simmer, stirring regularly, until the sauce has thickened.
- Stir in 1 cup grated cheddar and 1/2 cup grated parmesan.
- Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat. Remove bay leaf.
- Add back in onion, garlic and broccoli mixture.
- Stir through pasta and pour into a greased baking dish.
- Top with breadcrumbs and 1/2 cup parmesan.
- Turn oven down to 180 and cook for 15-20 minutes until topping is browned and crunchy.
- Serve with a side salad (because it's all about balance right?!)
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