Pineapple Upside Down Cake

My first thought of this morning was Advanced Cardiac Life Support Revision versus Baking a Pineapple upside down cake. And you can all guess what one won. Instead of thinking adrenalin intravenous injections I was wanting a hit of sugar for a boost....and boy did I get one. This recipe has enough sugar to rot anyone's teeth!!!

I never really grew up eating this cake so I don't really know why I thought of it. It may have been because I had bought a huge can of pineapple rings but only really needed two rings to make the Hawaiian pizza we were having tonight.

I think I have missed out. This cake had a buttery sponge and was topped of with a gorgeous caramel flavored fruity topping. Yum. Perfect with a huge mug of tea whilst watching Emmerdale.

Some people use cherries as well as pineapple. I decided not too

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter

1 Cup Brown Sugar

6 Pineapple Rings

1 Cup Flour

1 Tsp Baking Powder

3 Eggs seperated

5 Tbsp Pineapple Juice

1 Cup Granulated Sugar

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Add the butter to a nine inch baking pan and put in oven until it melts (approx 5 minutes). Once melted sprinkle the brown sugar over evenly and place the pineapple rings on top. Leave to one side whilst you prepare the other ingredients.. In a medium bowl sift the flour, salt, and baking powder together. Then in another bowl whisk the egg whites until they become fluffy. In a third bowl whisk the granulated sugar and egg yolks together until they become creamy. Add the vanilla extract and pineapple juice to this and combine. Mix in the flour mixture into the egg yolk mixture until incorporated, then fold in the egg whites. Pour this over the top of the pineapples and bake on the middle shelve for approx 30-35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cake rack. Serve warm or at room temperature with a blob of cream or a dollop of creme fraiche.

Pork Wellington with a Red wine and Balsamic Reduction

My foodie nerdness is coming back!!! (Is 'nerdness' a word? Well I'm going to use it anyway). I always seem to get my inspiration for cooking after working a night shift. Maybe it is the long hours that give me time to think or maybe my stomach is just craving a proper cooked meal.

I originally bought some pork tenderloin to fillet and fill with an apple an herb stuffing, but to be honest I wasn't really in the mood for that. I was racking my brain as to what to make then my thoughts then turned toward a pork wellington. I  knew that beef was the most popular choice when making wellington but why wouldn't pork work? I seared the pork on each side and encased each piece of tenderloin in a mustard spread pastry casing.  A brushing of egg yolk made for a lovely golden topping once baked.

I served the tenderloin with roasted root vegetables, wilted spinach and a a red wine and balsamic reduction. I was very impressed with my creation (and the photos that we took). It was a crispy shell with the most succulent meat within. Perfect for a dinner party. I made individual wellingtons as I'm into that but for sure you could make a large wellington. My only advise would be to let the wellington sit for 5-10 minutes otherwise the pastry will crumble away and it won't look as esthetically pleasing. (How snobby am I!!!!)

Pork Wellington (Serves 2)

1 Medium Pork Tenderloin

Whole Grain Mustard

Pastry (Recipe found here but divided by half)

Salt & Pepper

Oil

Remove any fat and sinew from the tenderloin and cut in half. Season on all sides with salt and pepper and sear all sides in a hot frying pan. Remove from pan and allow to cool. Meanwhile make the pastry and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes minimum.

Cut the pastry in half and roll each piece out into a rectangle, large enough to wrap around each of the  tenderloins. Spread a generous amount of wholegrain mustard on the pastry and place the tenderloin on top. Wrap each tenderloin up in one rectangle of pastry and fold in the sides. Place the Wellington on to a baking sheet approx 10 cm apart  with the seam side facing down, Brush the tops of the Wellington with a beaten egg and bake in the oven at 350 degrees until the pastry turns golden brown approx 30-40 minutes.To serve cut wellington in half and serve with the red wine and balsamic reduction.

Red Wine and Balsamic reduction

I did this recipe by taste so this recipe is an approximation

1/2 Cup Red wine

1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar

1-2 Tbsp Sugar

Salt and Pepper

Place all ingredients into a pan and simmer hard until a thicken sauce develops. Season with extra sugar, salt and pepper as needed. Drizzle over Wellington.

Baked Onions

We've only done and gone it. We moved to our new home and are now living the dream. We left Vancouver December 22nd and arrived in Quesnel December 23rd. The journey was long yet exciting.

Our new home was freshly painted and waiting for our arrival. We drove up the drive and ran through the door like two hyperactive teenagers. The U-Haul was quickly unpacked. The Christmas tree was the first thing to go up followed by the bed and the positioning of the sofas. We finished the evening off with white zinfandel and a plateful of bacon sandwiches.

The following two days were spent organizing and turning our house into a home. My kitchen was perfect, there was more room than I had ever been used too and I was finding it hard as to how to organize it (so many cupboards). It soon became easier and my domain was set for the forthcoming Christmas dinner. We had planned to have a good Christmas dinner as we wanted to celebrate our moving in with a bang. We didn't go for the usual turkey as we had had a traditional Christmas dinner on Christmas eve round at our new friends house. We settled for Roast beef with all the trimmimgs.

Merry Christmas everyone. May 2011 be a fantastic year for us all

I had had my eye on a recipe by Nigel Slater... Baked Onions. I thought this would go perfectly with the medium rare roast. And it sure did. I was slightly put of by the fact that you have to boil the onions first. I thought the smell would be horrendous but to be honest they gave of very little aroma. After preparing them, in they went into the oven with a good splash of cream and a twist of salt and pepper and out came this dreamy silky vegetable....Yum.

Our Christmas dinner I have to say was one of the best I have ever cooked. It was a perfect meal to celebrate our moving in.

Baked Onions (Makes 2 portions)

2 Onions skinned

Cream

Salt & Pepper

Freshly Grated Parmesan (Optional)

Boil the onions until tender Then remove from pan and allow to cool slightly. Cut the onions in half from root to tip. Place in an oven proof dish flat side down. Pour over cream until well coated. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle over Parmesan and bake for 25-30 mins in a preheated oven set at 350 degrees until golden and bubbly.

Sausage and Garlic Pasta

I stumbled across this recipe from a Nigel Slater book. The picture caught my attention first followed by the ease of making the dish. The original recipe calls for fresh thyme and no sausage although I think he does mention that you can add sausage or chorizo to the pasta.

I normally strip the sausage meat from the skin and break the sausage up into bite size pieces before pan frying them but today I bought the wrong sausages so I just sliced them instead. Any flavored sausage works well although I do try to avoid heavily herbs sausages as they can take the flavor away from the fresh herbs in the pasta sauce.

You also want to try to use a pasta that can hold the sauce. Pasta shells and penne would work well unlike tagaletelli or linguine where the sauce will slip off. I make this recipe by eye so the recipe below only gives an approximate amount of ingredients, so go with your gut feeling

Sausage and Garlic Pasta (serves 2-3)

2 Medium Garlic Bulbs

2 Cups Pasta (Fusilli)

1 Cup Half and half

2-3 Sausages

1Tbsp of finely chopped fresh Oregano

Salt and Pepper

Oil

Firstly you will need to roast the garlic bulbs. Place the garlic onto a piece of foil. Sprinkle with Oil and seal the foil around the garlic. Roast in a pre heated oven at 350 for approx 30 minutes or until the garlic is soft. When roasted alllow to cool before squeezing out all the garlic from the cloves.. Meanwhile strip the sausages from their skin and fry off bite size pieces in a skillet. Drain off any fat and remove the sausage. Over a medium heat add the roasted garlic to the skillet and some of the cream. Mash the garlic with the back of the spoon and combine with the cream. Simmer until the sauce gets thicker and keep adding the cream until you get the right consistency and enough sauce.(The longer you simmer it for the thicker it will become). Season with salt and pepper and add the oregano and the sausage. Stir to combine. Cook the pasta until al dente and add to the skillet and coat well in the sauce. Serve immediately alongside a crisp salad. Sprinkle wit Parmesan cheese if desired.

Greek Spinach and Feta Flatbread

I am undergoing an experiment and I hope to God it works, as my kitchen is producing some fantastic aromas and the thought of this flat bread is making my mouth water so much. Our kitchen cupboards are pretty bare this week and I have a fridge full of odds and sods. Nothing seams to go together. Sitting alone in the cheese box of my fridge was a medium piece of feta left over from a previous salad that needed to be used up. I scoured the fridge for any remaining ingredients that could go with this tangy cheese. There is was, half a large box of baby spinach leaves. I really didn't have to think too hard as to what I wanted to do. Originally a spinach and feta pie came to mind but I had no eggs to make pastry as Ian and I had devoured them over brunch yesterday. My thoughts then turned towards a type of flat bread. I had seen a recipe some time ago using two Indian roti's that sandwiched together some potato, onions and spices. I thought this idea might work with the spinach and feta...hence the experiment.

Spread the filling out flat leaving space at the edges

As I was making the filling I new what flavors I wanted and added them by taste. The filling turned out darn tasty..with a dash of this and a dash of that the perfect filling was made. I used my trusty tortilla recipe minus the oil to make the flat bread and allowed it to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes before rolling it out into small discs. A small amount of filling was added onto the top of the discs before being covered with another disc and rolled out to make a thin flat bread. At first I found that some of the filling did ooze out of the edges but with a bit of practice that ooze was minimal. These were then pan fried in a dry pan until the flat bread began to brown. The smell was amazing..I couldn't wait to tuck in. These would be perfect served alongside a Greek salad salsa. I had some of the filling left so I used this to serve alongside as a dip. Hummus would work well too.

For the Filling

2 Tbsp Cream Cheese

1 Tbsp Sour Cream

1/2 Onion finely diced

1 Garlic Clove minced

Small box of Baby spinach leaves

1/2-1 Tsp Ground Cumin

1/2 Tsp Dried Oregano

Juice from 1/2 Lemon

Grated Lemon zest

Feta Cheese Crumbled (Add to taste)

Salt and Pepper

For the flat bread

Click here

(Do not add oil)

Prepare the flat bread, cover in clingfilm and chill for at least 20 minutes. Meanwhile in a frying pan soften the onion until translucent, add the garlic, spinach, cumin, oregano, lemon zest and lemon juice and wilt the spinach. Season with a small amount of salt and plenty of pepper. Remove from the pan and set aside to cool. Add the sour cream and cream cheese to the pan and allow to melt together. Chop the spinach mixture up finely and add back into the pan with the crumbled feta. Combine well. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Remove from pan and allow to cool.

Remove the flat bread dough from the fridge and divide into several golf ball pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a ball. On a floured surface press the dough ball flat with the palm of your hand. Using a rolling pin roll the dough into small discs approx 5-7 mm thick. Add a teaspoon of the filling into the centre of one disc and spread thinly. Brush water around the edges of the dough before covering with another disc. Seal the two pieces of dough together and gently roll out to a thinner disc approx 5 mm in total. In a dry frying pan over a high heat add the flat bread and brown the underside. The bread will begin to bubble and brown spots will appear on the dough. Flip the bread over when this happens and brown the other side. Continue to make up the flat breads untill all dough has been used. Serve warm with a dip of your choice.

This experiment worked so well. The flat breads do need to have a dip served alongside otherwise they may be too dry.

Thumb-print Cookies

My mum used to make a similar cookie to these, she called them Viennese whirls. Mum's had a lighter  shortbread cookie  underneath the jam. She used to pipe the cookie mixture into a paper case and then add the hot jam once they were baked. These cookies are the closest I can get to them and  as I am not much of a baker, these were darn good. The only downside is that you can't eat them straight out of the oven unless you want third degree burns to your mouth. (Not nice). They are well worth the wait though.

Thumb-print cookies (makes 12)

1/2 Cup Softened Butter

1/4 Cup Packed Brown Sugar

1 Egg

1 Cup Flour

12 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1/4 Cup Finely Chopped Walnuts

2/3 Cup Melted Jam

1/4 Tsp Salt

Cream together the butter, sugar and egg yolk only until light and fluffy. (Reserve the egg white in a separate bowl). Stir in the flour, vanilla extract and salt. Shape dough into small balls. Coat in egg white then roll in the walnuts before placing them on a lined baking sheet approx 2 inches apart. Bake in a 300 degree oven for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and using a wooden spoon handle poke dents into each cookie. Add a dollop of the melted jam into these dents and continue to bake until the cookies are browned and baked through. The original recipe called for 8 minutes. I let mine bake for approx 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool before enjoying....

Warming Chilli

You can't beat a bowl of hot steamy chilli on a cold fall or winters day. It warms you up through and through and can be served almost alongside anything, nachos, cheese scones, biscuits, crusty bread, rice, baked potatoes, corn bread, salad...the list is endless. I find chilli so versatile and for that reason I tend to make a large batch of chilli and freeze any leftovers (that's if we ever have any). I have been experimenting with my chilli for a while trying to get the spiciness right. Ian likes a hot hot chilli where as I like a mild chilli. I do believe though that my taste buds can take a little more heat than what they once did. I always stick to the main ingredients when making a chilli but  recently have been trying out new flavors to make my chilli more rounded.

I have been reading a few recipes and some have used a shot of coffee to give the chili a rich flavor. I thought that I would give this a go. Other options included adding plain chocolate to the pan and using different chilli's. After my experiment tonight I think I have perfected the perfect chilli....well at least for moi!!!

Chilli

500g Minced Beef

1 Small Sirloin steak cut into 1cm cubes

1 Medium Onion

1 Medium Green Pepper

3 Garlic Cloves

2 Smoked Chipotle Peppers and 1tsp Juice from Can

1Tsp Ground Coriander

1Tsp Smoked Paprika

1Tsp Paprika

2 Tsp Cumin

2 Tbsp Tomato Paste

1 Shot of Espresso

Salt

1 Can Crushed Tomatoes (300ml approx)

1 Can of Kidney or romano beans 

11/2 Cups Beef Stock

Flour for coating the steak

To begin with finely dice the onion, garlic and green pepper. In a large pan add a splash of oil and gently sweat the onion,garlic and pepper until they become soft. Meanwhile coat the cubes of steak in the flour and add to the pan and brown. Add the minced beef and brown. Then add all the spices and stir well to coat the contents of the pan. Add the liquid ingredients and tomato paste and mix well. Finally add the beans. Season with salt and simmer on a low heat for at least an hour to allow the flavors to develop whilst stirring occasionally. (The longer the chilli stays simmering the more flavorsome it comes). I simmer the chilli with the lid on but if the sauce is not thick enough I remove the lid for a while until it thickens up. Serve warm.