Recipe: Citrus Tart

The great thing about this tart is that your don't have to bake it blind. You can make the base several hours or a day ahead if you like - but cover it in the fridge so it doesn't dry out.

Mix 125g butter, 1 cup flour and 1/2 icing sugar in a food processor. With floured hands, press the dough into a 21 cm loose bottom flan tin. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (it bakes best from cold).

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Place 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup lemon juice, rind of 2 lemons, 2 tablespoons custard powder and 3 eggs into the food processor and mix. Pour into the chilled base. Bake for 25 minutes until the pastry is crisp and the filling set. Dust with icing sugar.

Dinner Party Menu

These two recipes helped me throw a successful dinner party a few weeks back. I also served crackers, brie, cammembert and rosemary & garlic chips as an entree, and espresso truffles with coffee.

The Mains: Cannelloni by Food in a Minute

Ingredients
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
250 g Wattie's Frozen Chopped Spinach, defrosted and drained
250g container Tararua Cottage Cheese with Tomato and Basil
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup grated parmesan or tasty cheddar cheese
420g can Wattie's Condensed Tomato Soup with Diced Tomatoes
1/3-1/2 cup water
125 g packet dried cannelloni tubes
1/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs

Method
1. Heat a dash of oil in a frying pan and cook the onion and garlic until soft. Stir in the prepared Wattie's Chopped Spinach and set aside to cool.

2. Stir in the Tararua Cottage Cheese with Tomato and Basil, tomato paste and half the grated cheese. Season with pepper.

3. Combine the Wattie's Condensed Tomato Soup with Diced Tomatoes and water. Pour half into the base of a lasagne-style dish.

4. Fill the cannelloni shells with the cottage cheese filling and place the cannelloni on top of the soup. Pour over the remaining tomato soup mixture to cover. Mix the remaining Parmesan cheese with the fresh breadcrumbs and sprinkle over the soup.

5. Bake at 190°C for 25-30 minutes until the cannelloni is tender. This amount serves about 4. I doubled it and gave each person 3 tubes.



The Dessert: Banana Butterscotch Pudding by Bill Grainger

125 g (1 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour
a pinch of salt
120 g (1/2 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 banana, mashed
200ml milk
85 g (3 oz) unsalted butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
vanilla ice cream to serve
Topping
140g (3/4 cup) soft brown sugar
1/4 cup golden syrup
250 ml (1 cup) boiling water

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4). Sift the flour, salt, sugar, baking and powder into a bowl. Add the banana milk, butter, egg and vanilla extract and whisk together until well combined. Pour into a greased 2.5 L baking dish.

To make the topping, place the brown sugar, golden syrup and water in a small pot and bring to a boil. Pour the boiling mixture carefully over the pudding, then bake for 30 - 40 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Apparently it serves 4 but I quite happily dished up 7 servings.

Recipe: Pizza bases

Here are two recipes: one for if you're in a hurry and one if you have time to do things properly. With both of these, I find that the recipe makes too much for one pizza - so either freeze half or just do half the quantities. My favourite part is always kneading the dough. It's almost therapeutic. Seeing the dough rise is fun too.

1. From Alison Holst's "Dollars and Sense Cookbook"
This makes 6-8 individual pizzas, or one large 25-35cm base - apparently.

Measure 1 1/4 cups warm water and 2 Tbsp sugar into a mixing bowl or food processor bowl. Stir or process to dissolve (double-check that the water is lukewarm), and add 1 Tbsp dried yeast granules. Mix or process briefly again, and leave to stand for at least 5 minutes until the yeast starts to bubble.

Combine 2 Tbsp oil, 1 cup self-raising flour, 2 cups plain flour and 1 tsp salt in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the bubbling yeast mixture and mix well. Add a little extra flour, if necessary, to make a dough that is firm enough to turn out and knead on a floured board. Knead until smooth and satiny, then cut dough into 6-8 pieces for individual pizzas or one large round. If making individual pizzas, roll each portion of dough out to form a 15-18 cm circle and place on well-oiled baking trays. Leave to stand for a few minutes while you prepare the toppings you want, then bake at 220 degrees celsius for 10-15 minutes until the dough is golden brown around the edges and lightly browned underneath.

2. The recipe from the good old Edmonds cookbook
Serves 6

Put 1 Tbsp active yeast, 1/2 tsp sugar and 1 cups tepid water in a small bowl. Set aside for 15 minutes or until frothy. Sift 1 tsp salt and 3 cups plain flour into another bowl. Add 1 Tbsp oil and yeast mixture. Mix well.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic. Light oil bowl. Return dough to bowl. Cover with teatowel and set in warm place until double in size. Punch dough down in the centre then lightly knead again. Press into lightly oiled 25cm pizza pan. Spread with toppings and cook at 220 degrees celsius for 15 minutes or until well risen and golden.

Recipe: Champion Cheese Muffins (Alison Holst)

These muffins are yummy, easy to make, and becuase of the cheese in them, you add no butter to the mixture. Apparently it makes 12 medium sized muffins - I ended up with 10.

Put 2 cups (200g) grated tasty cheese, 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour*, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 Tbsp sugar and a pinch of cayenne pepper into a large bowl. Mix lightly with your fingers to combine.

In a small container beat 1 egg and 1 cup milk until evenly combined. Pour all the liquid onto the dry ingredients, then fold the two mixtures together, taking care not to overmix.

Spoon the mixture into 12 medium muffin pans, which have been buttered or sprayed with non-stick spray.

Optional toppings: Sprinkle with a little extra cheese and paprika or chilli powder.

Bake at 210 degrees celcius for about 12 minutes, until the muffins spring back when pressed in the middle and are golden brown.

*If you don't have self-raising flour, you can just use ordinary flour and 1 1/2 tsp baking powder.

Recipe: Chocolate Caramel Square

This is absolutely delicious. One of those treats you shouldn't make too often because you know you'll want to eat more of it than you should.

Cream 4 oz/125 g butter and 4 oz/125 g sugar. Add 1 egg, then 1 1/2 cups of flour, 2 tablespoons of custard powder, and 1 teaspoon of baking powder. Divide the shortcake in two. Press half into a biscuit baking tin.

For the filling, melt together 3 oz butter, 1/2 tin condensed milk, 2 tablespoons of golden syrup, and 1/4 cup of sugar. Pour over the base. Sprinkle with small bits of the remaining shortcake mixture.

Bake at 180 degrees celsius for 20-30 minutes. Once baked, make chocolate icing* and spread over the square. Cut into servings once set. Yum!

* Mix 2 teaspoons margarine/butter, 2 dessertspoons cocoa powder, a little boiling water and enough icing sugar to make a smooth consistency.

Recipe: Pavlova

Ah, the quintessential Kiwi dessert. Mandatory at Christmas, but perfect for a treat at any time of the year. Here's how you do it:

Beat 4 eggs whites until soft peaks form. I recommend doing this with an electric hand beater, if you want to use your arm afterwards. Gradually add one cup of sugar, beating until dissolved (about eight minutes). Fold in one tablespoon of cornflour into the meringue with one teaspoon of lemon juice or vinegar. The finished pavlova is firm and shiny.

Put greased paper on a large flat tray and make the pavlova as high as the required amount of marshmallow (some people prefer a flat crispy pavlova - but I like my marshmallow!). Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, then turn off. Leave to cool with the pavlova inside (middle of oven). It should take at least an hour for the oven to cool down, and when it has you have the perfect pavlova!

The most popular toppings are cream and strawberries or kiwifruit, or passionfruit.

Check out these links

For intellectual stimulation: Arts and Letters Daily

For something to eat: E-cook

For something to read: Book Club

For somewhere to walk: New Zealand Tramper

And for a little light relief: Spank the Monkey

Recipe: Sultana biscuits

This recipe is from Jo Seager's "Sugar & Spice", and is a somewhat healthier alternative to chocolate chip biscuits. It's also something you can bake if you're out of eggs. A note to hurried bakers - you need to allow time for the wet ingredients to cool, so it's a good idea to go away and do something else in the meantime. Don't preheat your oven until you get back.

In a large saucepan, melt 125g butter. Then add 1/2 C white sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk, 1 desertspoon of golden syrup, and one teaspoon of baking soda. Mix until it fizzes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Stir in 1 and 3/4 C flour, 1/2 C sultanas and 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence. Mix well. Roll into little golf balls and place on a well-greased or baking paper lined tray. Press down with a wet fork. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 160 degrees celcius. Leave on a baking tray for one minute then carefully remove to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.

Apparently it's supposed to make 36... I think I made about 25.

Recipe: Yorkshire Pudding

This is one of those odd English creations, which originated as a way to fill tummies cheaply (i.e. without meat). It was always a favourite in my family, and now my husband is a firm convert. I'm always amazed as to how many people haven't heard of it. But no roast meal is complete with these little gems, drenched in gravy. I think that, traditionally, the pudding was served at the beginning of the meal, in order to fill the aforementioned tummies, but we like to eat it at the end, as a final treat. Here the version we make. You can make one big pudding, but we tend to make 12 individual ones in a sort of antique muffin pan. Here's what you need to know.

Make the batter at least 1/2 an hour before dinner - several hours is better. In a bowl, put 2-3 heaped tablespoons of flour, and a good pinch of salt. Mix with a spatula. Add 1-2 heaped tablespoons of milk powder and mix well (I have often made this without the milk powder when we'd run out, and it was fine. Just use some milk as well as water at the end). Add one egg, and mix to a smooth consistency. Then add a little water, and mix again until smooth. Keep adding a little water and mixing, until you have a kind of porridgey consistency. Then leave until you're ready to use it.

The key to good yorkshire pudding is hot oil/fat. Get the tray/dish you'll be baking it in, and put in just enough oil to line the bottom (the oil will expand when hot). Your oven should be at least 200 degrees celsius - you would have had your roast meat and veggies in there. Put the oil in for a good five minutes. Take it out, immediately put the mixture in (it may need a little stirring first, and perhaps a bit more water) and put in the oven. Bake until risen and gold brown - should be about 10 minutes. Cool on a rack for a few minutes, and then serve with lashings of gravy.

As you can see, this recipe is rather approximate - it's one of those things that you just fiddle with until you get it right. I think that you're only supposed to have yorkshire pudding with roast beef, but we like it so much that we have it with any roast - beef, lamb, even chicken.

Enjoy!