First Pie I Have Made

Uschi asked what it was called. I said,"Sidney", "Mister Sidney Pie"!
A meat pie with a Morrocan hint given by harissa. 

Apple Struedel

Ingredients:
flour, about a cup or a bit more.
oil, a teaspoon or so.
water (must be tepid), roughly half to 2/3 the quantity of flour.
a pinch of salt.

[A word about the measurements] This recipe was given to me by an old Austrian cook. Like many with her background (eg my pasta teacher from a few years ago) she learnt by gauging quantities by eye. This the first recipe I have used which doesn't have strict measurement quantities but it isn't as hard as might be thought. If you want a bigger struedel, start with more flour! Give it a go, you'll be surprised.

Sift the flour and add the salt and oil. Then, mixing all the time, add water until the dough becomes soft but not so sticky that the dough sticks to your hands. It should feel a little tacky, but no dough should pull away from the main ball when you work it. If too much water has made the dough sticky add a bit more flour.
Once the right consistency of dough has been reached, keep working it for another 5 minutes
or more. Then form it into a ball, cover and let stand for at least half an hour.

Make your filling

Cheesecake filling:
600g Quark
200g Philadelphia cream cheese.
2 eggs (all or just the whites for fluffier filling)
Sugar, cinnamon, vanilla to taste.
Mix all to a paste
Sultanas/cranberries/currants for later.

Apple filling:
Peeled and cored apples. Sliced thinly by knife, grater or mandolin.
Sugar
Sultanas (I added cranberries too)
Fried breadcrumbs

Preparing the pastry:
Lay out a large cotton cloth to work on. This is important as we will see later.
Roll out the dough into a rough rectangle. It will be about 5-8mm thick, now the tricky bit. Carefully lifting the dough drape it over the back of your hands (palms facing down) and feed the pasty across the backs of your hands in a circular motion. It sounds a bit weird but the dough stretches itself under its own weight. When the dough gets as thin as you are game to let it lay it back on the cloth and continue to stretch it by pulling the thicker sections. Be careful during all this to avoid tearing or putting holes in it. The pastry should end up thin enough to see the cloth pattern through.
After all this the pastry edges can be trimmed to be roughly rectangular. The offcuts can be used to patch any small holes in the pastry or discarded or laid back in the struedel filling.


Add the filling:
Cheesecake:
Spread the cheesecake mix over the pastry being careful not to tear it. The filling should end up 5-10mm thick. Sprinkle with sultanas.
Apple:
Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the pastry. The crumbs absorb some of the juice from apples
and also cushion them slightly so they dont tear the pastry. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on the pastry then layer on the sliced apples. Over the pastry the filling should be about 1-2cm thick (your choice).

Rolling the Struedel:
This is where the cloth under the struedel comes into its real use. Start by taking one edge of the pastry and folding it back over the filling. Then, keeping the cloth parallel with that edge of the struedel, lift the cloth in a steady, continuous motion. As you do this the Struedel will roll up onto itself. When completely rolled up the cloth can also be used to lift the struedel into an oiled baking pan.
Place in an oven preheated to 180 C and cook for 20-25 minutes for a small struedel and 30-
40 minutes for a larger (more filled) one.

Jewel Rice (Morasa Polow)

Ingredients
- 400g Long grain rice
- 50g Barberries (black currrants or cranberries can be used instead, but barberries are the feature of this Persian dish, so it defeats the "Persian-ness" of the recipe. If black currants are used, no sugar is required)
- 50g Sultanas (raisins can be substituted)
- 50g Blanched almonds
- 50g Pistachio kernels
- 25g Hazelnut kernels
- 50g Walnut kernels
- 1 cup Fresh orange peel (mixed peel is OK as a substitute)
- 100g Butter or ghee
- 1 Tbspn Sugar
- Salt

Preparation
Rice
Rinse the rice to remove the surface powder and starch. If the rice isn't cleaned it will become sticky. Optionally soak it in warm water for 2 hours as well, then drain the water.

Berries
Wash barberries and sultanas with cold water and drain. Fry separately in oil or ghee over medium heat for a few minutes. Add some sugar to the barberries during frying.

Nuts
Wash the nuts with cold water, soak for about 15 minutes and drain. The pistachios and the walnuts should be soaked separately if you don't wish their colour to stain the other nuts. Slice or crush the nuts until the pieces are about the same size as the sultanas. Fry all the nuts for a few minutes, careful not to burn or discolour them.

Orange Peel
Thinly slice the orange peels. Boil for a few minutes, drain and repeat. Soak in cold water for an hour, drain, and repeat. Finally boil for a few minutes with a few spoons of sugar to remove the peel bitterness, and drain (dried mixed peel can be used instead of orange peel and this preparation avoided).

Method
Pour about 6 cups of water in a large pot and bring it to a boil. Add the rice and a spoonful of salt and continue boiling until the rice slightly softens, but is not completely cooked. This will take about 5 minutes. Pour the rice into a colander and wash it with slightly warm water. Set aside a cup (or a little bit more) of rice by itself. With the remainder, mix in the orange peel.

Pour a few spoonfuls of cooking oil or melted ghee into a pot and add the plain rice to the bottom to make a layer. This bottom layer prevents the orange peel buring during cooking. Pile the remainder of the rice with the orange peel on top. Form it into a cone or pyramid and poke some holes down through it to allow steam to pass up through the rice pile. Put about 50g of butter/ghee on top of the rice. Cover the pot and cook over low heat for about half an hour. If cooking time is increased, the bottom layer of rice becomes crispy (called ta-dig). If too much steam condenses under the pot lid it will drip down and make the rice soggy. Wrapping a cloth or teatowel around the lid will soak up the steam condensate.

When it is ready to serve, mix all the nuts, sultanas and half the barberries through the rice. The remainder of the barberries should be sprinkled over the top of the mix.

Tater Tot Hot Dish

Ingredients

- 400g Minced Beef
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2x420g cans of Campbell's cream soup - Any combination of mushroom, celery and/or chicken will work. I like one can of Cream of Chicken and one Cream of Celery. I don't like corn so never use it.
- 1/2 soup can of milk or water - if required to thin the soup
Various vegetables - I use a couple of carrots, two or three sticks of celery and a good handfull of fresh beans. Tinned vegetables would work instead of fresh. Corn would work if you wanted it.
- 1 kg pack Potato Gems - In the US these are known as “Tator Tots”. In fact, hash browns or even frozen chips would probably also work, but I haven't tried them.
- Cheddar cheese, grated

Baking pan or casserole dish - I use a large Pyex 2.8 litre rectangular dish, that's 9x13 in the old money or 15 cups.

Method

In a largish frying pan, brown the minced meat and onions. Into the pan put the soups, the milk/water, and the vegetables. Stir and cook until warmish/hot.
Cover the bottom of the baking pan with the potato things, pour the casserole mixture over them, and cover liberally with the grated cheese.
Bake at 180C (350F) for 45 minutes.
Let stand for 5 minutes and serve.

Christmas Biccies

Recipe Here

Ginger Beer Catastrophe!

While I was away one of my ginger beer bottles exploded! They were stored in the laundry sink for just such an eventuality, Yesterday another one went off with a mighty bang. It threw another full bottle completeyl out of the sink.












Ginger beer, a new explosive.

Prince Regent Cake

Prinzregententorte

Ingredients

Cake:
250g (9oz) Butter or margarine
250g (9oz)Sugar
1 packet Vanilla-sugar (small packet, approx 10g?)
4 Eggs
A pinch of salt
200g (7oz) Plain flour
50g (1.75oz) Gustin (cornflour)
1 level teaspoon (3g) baking powder

Filling:
1 packet Vanilla Custard (300g)
1 level teaspoon cocoa
100g (3.5oz ) sugar
5 tablespoons Cold milk
250g (9oz) Butter or margarine
1.75oz Coconut butter (optional)
425ml milk

Icing:
150g (5.5oz) Icing sugar
3 level tablespoons Cocoa
2-3 tablespoons Hot water
20g (0.75oz) Butter or coconut butter, melted.

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Method

For the cake:
Cream the fat and add to it the sugar, vanilla, eggs and salt. Mix and sieve together the flour, cornflour and baking powder and then add to the creamed ingredients a tablespoon at a time. Bake 8 separate layers out of the mixture. Spread about 4 tablespoons of mixture each time on the base of a well greased, round cake tin (with removable rim and 10.5”/26cm diameter). Take care that the mixture is not too thin near the edge, as it might become brown. Bake each layer without the cake tin rim until golden. Cool each layer on a cake rack after baking.
Oven: Moderately hot (180C)
Baking time: 8-10 minutes.

For the filling:
Blend the vanilla, custard, cocoa and the sugar with the 5 tablespoons of milk. Bring the 425ml milk to the boil, remove from heat, stir in the vanilla custard mixture and bring to the boil once more, stirring all the time. If coconut butter is used, add this to the hot pudding. Set aside to cool, stirring frequently to prevent a skin forming. Cream the fat and beat into the cold pudding gradually. Take care that neither pudding nor fat are too cool or the cream may curdle. Spread each layer with the filling and place on top of one another to build the cake.

For the icing:
Sieve the icing sugar with the cocoa, add the hot water, to give a good coating consistency. Add the hot fat and ice the cake.
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This recipe was bought to Australia by a German migrant, Annie Ringenberg, during the 1950's.
It was written down by Uschi's mum, as it was a family favourite. The "packet of vanilla sugar" is a bit of a mystery. We think it was a small sachet of vanilla used at the time. Maybe vanilla essence would do as a replacement. "Gustin" is a German brand name cornflour, any fine cornflour suitable for sponge cakes would be acceptable.
The cake is usually iced with a chocolate icing. Annie's special variation had a toffee covering on the top.

Gingerbread for shapes and houses.

Ingredients:

Gingerbread

100 g Butter
115 g Sugar (ordinary or caster)
230 g Golden syrup (approx 175ml)
1 Tablespoon Ground ginger (more is OK)
1 - 1 1/2 Tablespoons Ground cinnamon
1 Tablespoon Bi-Carb Soda (less is OK)
500g Plain flour
2 Eggs

Royal Icing

1 Egg white
200g Icing sugar (approximately)

Method:

Gingerbread

Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a double boiler over low heat. Stir Carefully until thoroughly incorporated.
Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
Add the spices and bi-carb into the mix and stir well (make sure it is cool or the bi-carb will fizz up).
With the (sifted) flour in a mixing bowl, form a cavity in the middle of the flour, add the beaten eggs and then the sugar mix. Mix it all together to form a doughy consistency. [I haven't used an electric mixer, but it would probably work using the dough hook attachments and a medium setting]
Add extra flour if the dough is still too sticky inside the bowl.
Remove the dough from the bowl, wrap in plastic wrap and put aside for about 30 minutes.
While the dough is resting, pre-heat the oven, 180C.
On a lightly floured surface roll the dough to about 5-8mm thick, use biscuit cutters for shaped biscuits. Gently place on trays and bake for approximately 20-30 minutes, depending on the size.


Royal Icing

Lightly whisk the egg white in a bowl, slowly whisk in the icing sugar to make a firm peaking icing. (It will look white and glossy).
Cover the surface of the icing with plastic wrap to prevent a crust forming.
Add food colouring as required for icing or can be used as a cement for houses etc.

Banana Cake

Ingredients:

1/2 cup milk
250g bananas (about 2 bananas)
1 cup sugar
2 cups self raising flour
2 eggs
60g butter

Method:

Put all the ingredients into the bowl of electric mixer. Sugar, sifted flour, lightly beaten eggs, softened butter and milk. Beat on low speed until combined, then beat on medium speed till smooth (about 2 minutes).
Turn mixture into greased 23 cm x 12 cm loaf tin or round 25cm spring form cake tin.
Bake in low to moderate oven (170-180C) approx 1 ¾ hours or until cooked when tested.
Cool in tin 10 minutes before turning out on wire rack to complete cooling.

More Pasta Cooking

My Ravioloni (chicken, spinach and ricotta filling)

Pasta Cooking

Thursday night at the "Homemade Pasta and Pizza" night.

The cannelloni that I made (quite nice it was too).











The teacher and me .














Making Raviolini (not mine). But I think I might have a go next week.