Banana Bread

One of my favourite fruits is the versatile banana.  Bananas are a great source of nutrition they contain potassium which is known to help reduce the risk of, heart associated diseases - high blood pressure, stroke and heart attack. They contain electrolytes which help maintain our body’s fluid levels and this can prevent dehydration. Accordingly bananas are a great portable source of nutrition for cyclists or endurance athletes. They also contain vitamin B6 and folate.

If you buy green bananas you can speed up the ripening process by storing them in a brown paper bag.  If the bananas start to over ripen they can be frozen in their skins and used later in smoothies or for baking muffins or banana bread.

Recently we recently had a glut of bananas in our household which resulted in me trying out this recipe originally sourced from Martha Stewart Living, August 2004 and adapted to suit my available baking ingredients. Why not make a double batch and either freeze one for another day or better still give one to a friend.

Ingredients

½ cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 ½ cups plain flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup mashed ripe bananas

½ cup plain yoghurt or blueberry yoghurt

1 tsp vanilla essence

½ cup chopped walnuts

Preheat fan forced oven to 180C.

Line a loaf pan with baking paper or butter the loaf pan.

Cream the soft butter and sugar with your mixer or hand whisk until it becomes light and fluffy then add an egg, whisk, and then add the final egg and whisk until the mixture is incorporated.

In a separate bowl, blend the flour, nuts, baking soda, and salt.

Add to the creamed butter mixture with the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Fold in the bananas, yoghurt, and vanilla essence into the creamed butter mixture.

Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Rest in the loaf pan until cool, turn out and serve.

                                                                      

Spanakopita – Spinach and Cheese Pie

My first introduction to Spanakopita was in the 70’s when my dearly beloved and I spent 12 months travelling throughout Europe in our little 2 door Ford Escort station wagon. We were in Skopje in the Republic of Macedonia having a quick take-away lunch in one of the city parks. This triangular shaped pie was akin to a pasty made from very buttery filo pastry and filled with spinach and farm cheese (similar to cottage cheese). The taste of this extraordinary dish still lingers today whenever I think of the spinach, cheese and pastry combination. Our accompanying beverage may well have been the remains of a flagon of home- made Dalmatian red wine given to us by friends that we had visited in Gradac (Croatia) the previous week or it may have been a shot or two of rakia?

I had a few sheets of puff pastry left over from the sausage rolls made for the Red Sky Ride Cancer, fund raiser and also some goat feta cheese which was intended to be used for the Dux’s  18^th birthday -  so a pie recipe was on the agenda for the evening meal.  A quick trip the local IGA to get the few remaining ingredients and we had the makings for this superb dish.

There are many varied ways to make Spanakopita, small triangle shapes suitable for finger food, larger triangle as an entrée, a circular pie dish, or as a rectangular slice…...it’s a versatile dish and makes a great vegetarian meal.

Ingredients

150 gms Goat feta

250 gms Ricotta

2 eggs (for the filling and save some for egg wash)

1 bunch silver beet or 3 bunches English spinach

1 diced brown onion

4 cloves crushed garlic

½ tsp lemon rind

2 sheets low-fat puff pastry

Pre heat oven to 200C fan forced.

Line the pie dish with 1 sheet of the puff pastry and blind bake for 10 minutes then cool the pastry.

Remove stalks from the silver beet and blanch leaves for 5 minutes, drain and once cooled. squeeze the silver beat to remove any remaining water. Chop the leaves into 1cm dice.

Lightly sauté the onions just to soften and not caramalise.

Mix the chopped silver beet, ricotta, onion, garlic and fold in the lightly beaten eggs.

Season the mixture with pepper. (Tip - I avoid salt as the cheese mixture is quite salty.)

Fill the pie base with the mixture and add the top sheet of puff pastry. Brush the top with an egg wash and sprinkle the top of the pastry with some sesame seeds.

Bake at 200C for 20-30 minutes or till the pastry top is golden and slightly crispy.

Serve with a salad.

Beverage: Seeking advice on Twitter  - Thanks to  _ashul who suggested a Pinot Noir, sadly I didn’t have any in the house, however, I did have a Riparosso Illuminate 2006 Montepulciano d’Amruzzo. Any low tannin red wine would match beautifully with this dish.

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Potato and Cheese Pierogi

Potato and Cheese Pierogi

It’s been years since I tried to make pierogi and recently I had the pleasure of making them for the truffle and Long_Mach so they could get a taste of some of the ethnic cuisine I had when I was a boy.

Pierogi are similar to Italian ravioli and this dish is made throughout Poland, Ukraine and Russia  with various fillings.  When I was a youngster both my parents used to prepare this dish so I’m not sure if this is the Polish or Ukrainian version of this recipe. Traditionally in our house the filling would be potato and cottage cheese as per this recipe. Occasionally the cottage cheese portion would be replaced with sauerkraut. I have even seen some recipes where they were filled with turkey mince, this looks like a healthy alternative to the vegetarian version which I may try on another occasion.

Making pierogi is a labour of love and time consuming so it’s best to make a big batch for freezing. This recipe makes about 24 pierogi depending on the size of the cutter.

Ingredients

Potato and cheese filling:

½ brown onion finely diced and lightly sauted in butter (for serving)

2 cups cold mashed potato (firm consistency)

1 cup - 250 gms cottage cheese (I used low fat variety)

Season with salt and pepper

Pierogi dough:

2 ½ cups plain flour

1 egg

100ml water

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp sea salt

Mix the flour salt in a large bowl making a well in the centre. Add the egg and oil to the mixture and gradually mix in the water/oil to make soft dough adding more flour or water as necessary as different types of flour have varying absorption rates. Kneed on a floured board until smooth. Cover with tea towel and let the dough rest for 20 - 30 minutes.

Fill a large pot with water a table spoon salt and bring it to the boil for the pierogi.

Line a baking sheet with baking paper for the filled pierogi.

Mix the potato and cheese filling, check the prepared filling ensuring it can hold its shape.

Divide the dough in half leaving half covered.

On a floured bench roll out the remaining half to about the same thickness as lasagna pasta.

Using a floured cutter cut out as many circles as you can from the rolled out dough. Put remaining off cuts aside to roll out later to make more circles.

Using a teaspoon place a spoon full of filling on to each circle then gently fold each in half to form a half moon.  Press the edge to ensure a good seal, you can use a fork to create a neat finish.

Place each filled pierogi on the baking sheet and cover with tea towel to prevent them drying out.

Cook about 6 pierogi at a time in the boiling water gently stirring the pot with a wooden spoon to prevent them sticking to the bottom of to the pot. Once they rise to the top (about 3-4 minutes) lift them out with a slotted spoon and place in buttered dish ensuring they are lightly covered with melted butter to prevent them sticking to each other.

If more than one layer use a baking sheet between layers.

Once cooled these can be placed in freezer trays or bags for later use.

To serve: Saute 1 finely diced brown onion in butter adding periogi to the sauted onion to lightly brown and heat through. (Option use diced bacon as an alternative to onion).  Serve with sour cream on the side.

You may also slice up some polish sausage like krackerwurst lightly frying in some butter to serve as a meat portion with the pierogi.

Beverage: If wine is your fancy a nice Pinot Gris would go down a treat, for me a Peroni Beer is the go, if you’re watching the carbohydrates try the Boag’s Classic Blond beer.

Fish Tajine

Recently our dear friend, the LL.D, prepared a wonderful dish at a banquet held for an intimate group of friends celebrating the New Year and the birthday of his dearly beloved. It was with amusement we all reflected on the time Prof LL.D was all set to prepare the evening meal for the group while holidaying in Kalbarri. He was determined to have fish on the menu on this occasion, as after all it was a fishing town and fish was in plentiful supply.  He announced to the group it would be “fish surprise” and set off to purchase the necessary ingredients for the meal while the others rested. 


As the sun was setting, back home after a few beers, salads prepared, it was time to fire up the BBQ and cook the fish. Only one problem - there was no fish to be found!!!!! Oh dear - What now - our dear friend retraced his steps endeavouring  to locate the missing fish he had purchased, only to realise many of the shops were closed.  He hurried back to the fish shop to find all fresh fish had been sold - which meant no fresh fish to be had for the BBQ. The “fish surprise” was beginning to look like - No FISH!  ....... SURPRISE!!!!  (Unbelievable as it was, for a fishing town, all that remained was some thawed hake used for ‘fish n chips”.) Dejected he returned home from the chip shop with some battered fish fillets. 


Prof LL.D’s dish, the ”Fish Tajine”, which he prepared for the New Years eve soiree, certainly made amends for the faux pas of his previous attempt at preparing a “fish surprise”.  Any anxiety he may have experienced around the meal was not warranted as the dishes he’d prepared for the evening were outstanding and clearly a lot more sophisticated than fish on the BBQ. 


I was inspired by this dish and decided to attempt to prepare the ”Fish Tajine”, for our guest AT, who was abandoned by AA and the Dux who went were off to Melbourne for a few days shopping. So this blog is dedicated to Prof LL.D and our good friends sharing great food, fine wine and memorable stories.

Fish tajine (serves 4)

Chermoula marinade

1 red onion
3 cloves garlic
1 coriander plant including the root and stems (thoroughly washed)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp paprika
½ cup olive oil
½ preserved lemon remove pith and dice

Process all these ingredients in a food processor or if you are using a mortar and pestle all the soft ingredients will need to be finely chopped.

Tajine ingredients

1kg fish fillets snapper or silver perch (Cut into7-10 cm pieces)

1 red onion thinly sliced

2-3 cloves garlic crushed

1tbs EVO

4-5 tomato cored and thickly sliced

1 large red chilli seeded and diced

¼ preserved lemon remove pith and dice

½ lemon juiced

¼ tsp sumac

½ cup each mint leaves and broad leaf parsley roughly chopped

1 cup natural yoghurt

1tbs harissa paste (add more if you like your condiments extra hot)

Method

Marinade the fish fillets in the Chermoula for 30 – 60 minutes.

Preheat the tajine add evo and gently sauté onion until it begins to soften. Line the base of the tajine with sliced tomato and season with sumac salt and pepper. Place fish and marinade on top of the tomato mixture and sprinkle with chilli, preserved lemon and ½ of the mint and parsley with a squeeze of the juice from half a lemon.

Cover the tajine with a lid and gently cook the mixture on a low heat for 20-30 minutes. Just before serving gently stir through the remaining mint and parsley as a garnish.

Mix the yoghurt and harissa paste.

Serve with Couscous and Turkish flat bread.

Beverage suggestion: We had a 2003 Chain of Ponds –The ledge shiraz compliments of our honoured guest AT which was delightful with the S.Pellegrino sparkling natural mineral water on the table.

Fish in a paper parcel

Went to our favourite providore of fish in Mt Lawley Swish ‘n’ Chips yesterday and was pleased to see that a fresh supply of Blue-eye Trevella was on the ice tray just waiting to be selected. I have prepared this fish as a curry several times but didn’t have all the necessary ingredients so decided to try something different. I tracked down a recipe originated by Valli Little from Delicious magazine and made a few minor changes to give it more of a Mediterranean influence.

Ingredients (2 serves)

2 fish fillets approx 125 gms each Blue-eye Trevella or any other firm white fish

2 lemons sliced into 4 pieces

8  Kalamata olives pitted and sliced

1 cup tomato flesh thick dice

2 bay leaves

2 cloves garlic sliced

2 sprigs of fresh thyme

¼ cup dry white wine

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 beaten egg white

Baking paper –  Tip if you use foil omit egg white.

Method:

Preheat fan forced oven to 200C.

Cut baking paper into 2 x 30cm squares.

Season the fish with sea salt and ground black pepper.

Place  pieces of lemon on each piece of baking paper and place a fish portion on each sheet.

Scatter the garlic, thyme, olives, bay leaf and tomatoes over each fish portion.

Drizzle each fish portion with EVO and dry white wine.

Brush baking paper edges with beaten egg white and fold over edges to make a parcel allowing room in the parcel for steam to cook the fish.

Put fish parcels into oven and reduce heat to 180C bake for 15 minutes.

Serve with your favourite steamed vegetables.

Beverage: A full bodied white wine such as Chardonnay or Semillon would do justice to this meal. 

Christmas Cake

After listening to Kate Nelson, also known as Floral Apron, on ABC radio I was inspired to bake my first Christmas cake. After all, we were going to be the host family for the Christmas 2009 Rellie Bash. I was somewhat apprehensive as baking was not part of my culinary  repertoire. Needless to say true to her word this was a really good foolproof recipe and judging by the feedback from family it was an outstanding success. This may have been due to the half bottle of brandy lovingly brushed on to the cake for the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Ingredients

3 cups (500g) sultanas

1 1/2 cups (250g) raisin chopped

 2/3 cup (140g) red glace cherries, quartered

3/4 cup (125g) dried currants

 3/4 cup (125g) mixed peel

2 tablespoons marmalade

 1/2 cup (125ml) brandy

250g softened butter

grated orange rind of one orange

 grated lemon rind of one lemon

 1 cup (200g) firmly packed brown sugar

 4 eggs

2 cups (300g) plain flour

2 teaspoons ground allspice

2 tablespoons brandy extra for brushing the cake when cooked

Method

 Line the base and sides of a 19cm deep square or 22cm deep round cake tin with 3 thicknesses of baking paper, bringing the paper 5cm above the edge of the cake pan.

Mix fruit, marmalade and rum in a large bowl.

Beat butter, rinds and sugar in a small bowl with electric mixer until just combined and then beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, until just combined between additions.

Using a wooden spoon stir the butter mixture into the fruit mixture then mix in the sifted flour and spice.

Spread mixture evenly into the prepared cake tin.

Bake in a slow oven for 3 1/2 hours. (Or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.)

Cover the cake with foil if top is browning too fast.

When cooked, brush extra brandy over top, cover the hot cake still in the pan with foil and allow to cool completely.

Wrap the cake in foil and store in cool dry space.

The cake can be made and stored for several months. 

Tip: Brush the top of the cake with 2 tablespoons brandy every few weeks and you will be rewarded by extra flavor and a beautiful moist cake when it is finally ready to be eaten.

Beverage: A nice cup of tea, Orange Pekoe or English Breakfast would go down a treat. Or perhaps a Morris of Rutherglen liqueur tawny port as suggested by Long_Mach.