coffee fruit 'n nut cake

My mothers were good cooks in a hearty, early vegetarianism way. We had solid staples: curry, vege shepherds pie, pizza, pasta with tomato sauce, soup, nutroast... In the 90s we discovered the stir fry and by my late teens they were getting all fancy like and making cajun tofu with mango salsa 'n shit.

But an area where they were particularly skilled (in my opinion) was the hearty cake. Before they had moved to Haberfield and been inspired to make italian ricotta cake (or found ethics and hit on the vegan cupcakes), they made Barm Brack: a super hearty fruit cake with just fruit, tea, sugar, eggs and flower in it. I loved it and never understood why Louise ruined the formula each Christmas by adding alcohol, peel, spices and icing.

I've been meaning to make Barm Brack for years and finally hit up Teresa for the recip yesterday. But I couldn't bring myself not to get inventive so my altered recipe is below. To make the original, ditch the nuts and spices and swap the coffee for tea! Nice and English.

Ingredients:
1.5 cups dried fruit (I used raisins, currants, turkish apricots and chopped figs)
1 cup brown sugar
1.75 cups coffee (I used cafetiere coffee, not too strong)
1 egg
1.25 cups self-raising flour
1 cup chopped nuts (I use almonds and hazelnuts)
1 teaspoon ginger powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon

DAY 1
1. Make coffee and then let it cool.
2. Pour coffee over fruit, stir in sugar and leave to soak overnight.
Incidentally I forgot to let the coffee cool and I forgot to add the sugar til the next day, but it worked just fine all the same.

DAY 2
preheat oven to 175 celcius
3. Beat the egg and stir into mixture.
4. Sift flour and stir in.
5. Beat well - by hand is sufficient.
6. Add nuts and spices.
7. Pour into pre-greased loaf tin and place in oven.
8. Bake for 1hr 45 mins or until cooked - keep an eye on it. When you can insert a knife and it comes out clean it's done.

The results are divine. Divine I say!

Great warm with butter!

Next time I'm adding chocolate chips!!!!!

...

sweet potato and blue cheese muffins

so these delicious muffins have been adapted from a recipe Annabelle gave me...though I have, as is my habit, changed them substantially and added a bunch of extra ingredients...The original recipe had pumpkin, blue cheese, flour and egg...mine has -

Ingredients (makes 12):
400g chopped sweet potato
160g self raising flour
juice of a lemon
4 eggs
2 cloves garlic
half an onion
splash balsamic vinegar
splash tabasco
80g blue cheese
a handle of spinach leaves chopped
handful chopped parsley
tablespoon chopped rosemary
handful crushed walnuts
handful toasted pinenuts (fry in a dry pan or pop under the grill til browning)
olive oil for frying
salt & pepper

preheat oven to 200 celcius

1. boil the chopped sweet potato

2. meanwhile, fry the finely chopped onion and garlic in olive oil til softened then splash in tabasco and balsamic

3. when sweet potato is soft, mash it and mix it with the onion and garlic and lemon juice

4. leave the potato mixure to cool - it's important it isn't hot or it will cook the eggs when you add them!

5. once the mixture is cool, stir in the eggs (beaten before you add them) and the flour

6. add the nuts and herbs and spinach and stir to combine

7. season with salt & pepper

8. spoon half the mixture into muffin trays, place a nob of blue cheese in the centre of each muffin and then spoon mixture over the top to cover the cheese

9. bake in oven til starting to brown a little (took me about 25 minutes!)

these are great warm or cold. the blue cheese is pretty rich. if you don't like blue try a goat or feta. omnomnomnom!!!

...

tvp and noodle stir fry

So I've never cooked this tvp business before but a workmate bought some and didn't like it so she gave it to me. It's never a good sign when someone dislikes something so much they give it away, but I was willing to give the stuff a go even if it does look like dog food.

So! I made tvp stir fry and while the texture is a bit strange it's nice to have tofu in a different way and I'll probably use it again, though perhaps not often.

I haven't put very exact quantities (as if I ever do), because stir fries are so haphazard for me.

Ingredients:
1 cup tvp (you need to soak it in 1 cup boiling water for 5mins, I put a quarter of a vege stock cube in too)
rice noodles
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
small nob ginger, grated
small stick lemongrass, chopped finely
half an onion, chopped
1 red chilli
broccoli broken into florets
red capsicum, chopped
mushrooms, sliced
soy sauce
kecap manis
juice of half a lemon
sesame oil (or vege oil)

1. soak the tvp
2. meanwhile, fry onion, garlic, chilli, ginger and lemongrass in sesame til softened but not browned
3. add mushrooms
4. when mushies are starting to brown, add tvp
5. add soy, kecap manis, lemon
6. fry for a while
7. add broccoli and capsicum (and, well, any other veges you like)
8. add noodles, toss and fry

*this one isn't rocket science but it was my first go with tvp so i wanted to give it a post*
...

Alanta's Stuffed Eggplants

My lovely housemate Alanta left so we thought we'd throw her a dinner party. One of her favourite things is eggplant and thus, these stuffed eggplants were born.

Though, as with any recipe, acknowledgements are never so simple a one person's favourite veg. The stuffing stems from a rice bake my friend Amy used to make in high school...combined with a jaffle I had at a queer porn film fest a few weeks back.

YUM.

serves 8

Ingredients:
4 large eggplants
2 cups (uncooked quantity) brown rice
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic (depending how much you like garlic...)
button mushrooms
big bunch english spinach
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 blocks danish feta (sorry i don't know grams, a block should be about the size of your palm, and about an inch thick...)
a handful chopped parsley
good splash tabasco
seasoning (i use salt, pepper, cumin and paprika)
sesame seeds and parmesan to garnish

1. Halve each eggplant lengthways. Rest it on its side first to see where it will comfortably sit then slice lengthways accordingly.

2. You need to scoop out the flesh of the eggplant leaving about 1cm in. Use a small sharp knife and carve out the majority, setting it aside (you will use it). I then smoothed and got the leftovers with a spoon.

3. Salt the eggplant (innards and shells) and set aside. After 10 mins or so wash and press dry.

4. Chop garlic and onion and fry in olive til soft but not browned.

5. Add chopped mushrooms and eggplant and fry for a while to soften and mingle the flavours.

6. Meanwhile, cook the brown rice. I am lazy and use a rice cooker!

7. Stir together the rice, eggplant, mushrooms, spinach, feta* and flavours (tahini, salt & pepper etc)

8. When the filling is cold, add crumbled feta and parsley

9. Stuff eggplant halves with the mixture and place on oiled baking trays. Splash oil over the eggplants (this will speed up cooking, give a nice crispy skin and flavour).

10. Sprinkle the tops with parmesan and sesame seeds.

11. Bake til cases have softened and the top is browned and crispy.

omelettemuffins!

I saw a recipe in a magazine somewhere for omelettemuffins (my title not theirs). The premise is simple. Omelettes in muffin trays. BEST EVER. I made some this evening based on ingredients used by Annabelle in a lovely tarte she made me when in Sydney. But possibilities are endless and I can't wait to try all kinds of omelettemuffins. these were dinner ones.

what i put in (made 6 muffins):
4 eggs
teaspoon tahini
half teaspoon honey
splash milk
broccoli and cauliflower broken into little florets
slice of pre-marinated / cooked package tofu cubed small
sprinkling of cumin
splash of tabasco
pepper and salt
a little grated cheddar and parmesan
a little dried rosemary

mix everything together in large bowl, stir well, spoon into oiled muffin tray, sprinkle with parmesan, bake at 200 degrees.

happy eating!

Moonbooty Marsden’s Marvellous Marmalade

I quit my law degree a couple of weeks ago. I sum it up with the stolen phrase “capacity does not equal desire.” My fellow law-school-drop-out Hill said, rather wittily might I add, “I would rather spend the next 6 years making marmalade than building up a HECS debt.

So we made marmalade.

Got a recipe of the net. The times were wrong and we changed it to suit our taste. We made a shitload and have been handing it around town, but it was tres popular so we’ll need to make more.

I WILL UPDATE THIS WHEN I TRY SOME MORE CHANGES AND MAKE IT BETTER.

Ingredients:
• 2kg Onions (we used brown)
• 6 cloves garlic
• 3 chillis (ours weren’t strong so we added a few pinches of dried flakes, depends on your taste and the strength of your chillis)
• 1 tables spoon fresh thyme
• 200ml Port
• 750ml red wine (we used shiraz)
• 350ml red wine vinegar (you could use a bit less than this as ours was acidic)
• 4 tables spoons olive oil (you'll need an extra 100ml or so to make up for the butter)
• 140g caster sugar (next time I am using brown as I think it’ll give a richer flavour)
• pepper and salt

they said 140g butter though next time I am just using olive oil = vegan, plus the butter is visible in the jars so not pretty. so yeah. don't use butter.


1. Chop the onions. Cry (unless you are the sensibly snorkelled Hill!) Cut them in half and then finely slice into semi circles.
2. Finely chop the garlic, chilli and thyme.
3. Heat the oil in a large sauce pan with the oil, and then add the onions, garlic and chilli.
4. Stir all still covered in oil and starting to soften.
5. Sprinkle over sugar, thyme, salt, pepper and splash Tabasco.
6. Now you slow cook the onions. The recipe called for 40-50mins. We needed closer to an hour and a half. The recipe said the juices needed to evaporate. Butter doesn’t really evaporate. Flawed!
7. But this is true: “The onions are ready when they're really soft and sticky. They should be so soft that they break when pressed against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon. Slow cooking is the secret of really soft and sticky onions, so don't rush this part.”
8. Pour in the wine, vinegar and port and simmer everything, still uncovered, over a high heat, stirring every so often until the onions are a deep mahogany colour and the liquid has reduced by about two-thirds. The idiots at some internet site said 30mins. Pah! Closer to an hour! Or more!9. It's done when drawing a spoon across the bottom of the pan clears a path that fills rapidly with syrupy juice. Leave the onions to cool in the pan, then scoop into sterilised jars and seal.

Can be eaten straight away, but keeps in the fridge for up to 3 months.

Yum! Really good with vintage cheddar and crackers, or dolloped onto an omelette or on salad or tart or on a vege pie bought late at night with friends. Or by the spoonful if you’re my friend Lisa.