Banana bread.

I have made this recipe what feels like a hundred times of late, due to a recent combination of cheap banana prices and numerous afternoon tea dates. I stumbled across this recipe during my university years and it has been in my cooking notebook ever since. It is quick, easy, and turns out beautifully every time...

Ingredients.
4 ripe bananas
1/3 cup butter - room temp!
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups flour
pinch of salt

To Make.
- Preheat oven to 180oC.
- Use electric mixer to combine butter and bananas in a large mixing bowl until combined.
- Mix in sugar, eggs and vanilla until combined (mixture should lighten slightly).
- Sprinkle baking powder and salt onto mixture.
- Sift in flour and mix to combine.
- Pour mixture into greased loaf tin.
- Bake for one hour then cool on wire rack.
* Sometimes I like to add slices of banana along the top of the loaf.

Sam xox

Tomato relish.

This Christmas I will be filling the stockings of my nearest and dearest with homemade food items. This weekend I whipped up a batch of tomato relish, following an old family recipe. I can't share it with you, but I did find one that is quite similar here.

Having planted eight tomatoes plants a few months ago, I am now flooded with ripe tomatoes ready for picking. This causes a little trouble seeing that my dear hubby hates tomatoes, so there is no way we I am able to eat through them all. That's where tomato relish comes in...

My recipe calls for 3kg of tomatoes. I was able to provide this purely from my veggie garden (and yep this did make me feel kinda good!).

Here's a tip. If you need jars to store this sort of thing, but just don't have enough stockpiled, instead of buying empty jars from the supermarket (these were $2.45 each) try finding a food product sold in jars that you can store another way at home. For example, I purchased spaghetti sauce ($1.89), was able to transfer the sauce into bags and store in the freezer to be used later on. I was then left with six large jars which I washed, then sterilised in the oven. Here's a how to guide for steralising jars.

I transferred the hot mixture into the hot jars, sealed then left them standing on their lids to dry. This creates a seal.

Once cool I covered the lids with scraps of fabric cut into circles with pinking sheers, then secured with twine. I labelled each jar with homemade labels I found here. I simply opened the image in 'paint' and added the text in the space.

Sam xox

Chicken, grape and champagne pie.

It has been so cold here! We have been having a bucket load of rain. Which is not very common for us in Australia. It has literally been raining non-stop for the past week. This sort of weather cries out for warm, hearty, comfort food...

Recently I joined our local library. As we live in a (very) small town now, the local library is one of only half a dozen facilities here. I found a number of cookbooks and gardening books though, and have spent many nights curled under a blanket reading through them.

My favourite book discovery has by far been Maggie Beer's "Maggie's Kitchen". Seriously, where has this cookbook been all my life? Her recipes are brilliant, slightly complex but very achievable, and after cooking this incredibly delicious pie, and am having a difficult time deciding what to cook next.

So I thought I should share this recipe with you. However, be warned, it is amazing. You will end up with a pie that people would swear came from a gourmet pie shop. The combination of flavours and the sour cream pastry really is that good!

Chicken, Grape and Champagne Pie

Ingredients

40g butter
extra virgin olive oil, for cooking
3-4 large chicken thigh fillets with skin-on (about 770 g), cut into 3/4" square pieces
sea salt
2 leeks, white parts only, cleaned and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup Champagne or sparkling white wine
1/4 cup plain flour
1&1/2 cups chicken stock
1&1/2 tablespoons finely chopped French tarragon
1&1/2 tablespoons finely chopped thyme
225g seedless green grapes (to yield 1 cup picked grapes)
1/2 preserved lemon, flesh removed and rind rinsed and finely chopped
2 tablespoons verjuice
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil spray, for greasing
1 egg, lightly beaten

Sour Cream Pastry
250g plain flour
200g unsalted & chilled butter
120ml sour cream (approx)

Method

Heat butter in a large frying pan over high heat until nut-brown, then add a splash of olive oil. Season chicken with salt, then sauté in batches until lightly coloured. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add leeks and garlic to the pan and cook over low heat for 5 minutes or until soft. Increase heat to high, then deglaze pan with Champagne or sparkling white wine and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes or until wine has reduced by half. Sprinkle in flour and whisk in well to combine, then add stock and bring to the simmer. Add chicken, and thyme, stirring gently to combine, and then cook for 4-5 minutes. Add verjuice and simmer for another 2-3 minutes. Add Tarragon and preserved lemon, season with pepper and add salt if needed. Remove chicken from heat and when cooler add grapes and then pop into the fridge to chill.

Meanwhile, make sour-cream pastry. To do this chop all the butter into small cubes. Weigh flour and put into mixer. Blend flour and butter until it resembles a large breadcrumb consistency. Add 2/3 of the sour cream. Then continue adding slowly until dough forms a ball. Turn onto a floured bench and pull together with your hands into a rectangle shape. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 20 minutes before rolling out and lining your tin.

Preheat fan-forced oven to 220 deg C. Now grease either one large pie tin or four individual ones, depending on how you want to make this pie up. Roll out pastry, line the bottom of the tin, but remember to keep enough pastry to cover the top of the pie too! I like to brush the tops of my pies with some egg, and then sprinkle over some herbs. Don’t forget to make little slits in the tops of your pies with a sharp knife too. Bake for 25-35 minutes (until top is golden).

If you would like to learn more about this amazing cook, you can visit her website here.

Let me know how you go,

Sam xox

French onion soup.

Jamie and I have both been struck down by nasty bugs recently, Jamie more so than I. He has been suffering badly from a flue that doesn't appear to want to leave his body. There seems to be a few nasty bugs floating around Sydney at the moment, and I think it might have something to do with the cold weather and rain we are having at the moment. For the past week I have left for work while Jamie makes his way from bed to couch where he curls up under a blanket. It is here that I find him, still lying, upon my return some 9 hours later :-(

By day 5 I decided to resort to a hearty home cooked soup that would warm his belly and hopefully encourage his body to finally kick that bug.

I made Donna Hay's French Onion Soup, and it turned out to be delicious! Her recipes never seem to fail me.

~ This soup made me cry - a lot! All those onions! ~

~ Donna recommends this soup should be served

with toasted cheese sandwiches ~

The verdict? Jamie is back to 100% health (though the jury is still out on whether this soup fixed him).

You can find the recipe here.

Hope you're all having a brilliant weekend!

Sam xox

Lemon tart.

I made this lemon tart recipe over the Easter weekend when we had my family visit. It is dead simple to make but looks impressive when removed from the tin and served.

Ingredients:

- 185g biscuits, processed to fine crumbs

- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

- 90g butter, melted

pure icing sugar, to serve

Lemon Curd

- 3 lemons

- 4 eggs

- 1 cup caster sugar

- 125g butter, chopped

Method:

1) Lightly grease a 2cm deep, 24cm (case) loose-based round flan pan. Combine biscuit crumbs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and butter in a bowl. Press into base and sides of prepared pan. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

2) Make lemon curd: Finely grate rind of 1 lemon. Juice all lemons. Whisk eggs and sugar together in heatproof bowl until well combined. Add lemon rind and 2/3 cup lemon juice, whisking constantly until well combined. Place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (do not allow bare to touch water). Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 20 to 25 minutes or until thick and custard-like. Do not allow to boil. Remove from heat and whisk in butter.

3) Pour lemon curd into chilled tart case. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

~ Trying my best Julia Child impression ~

Sam xox

Monte carlos.

Seeing that the hot cross bun recipe was a bit of a hit with you all, I thought I would share another.

You see, there is a bit of a 'thing' in my office at the moment for Monte Carlo biscuits. Packets of these treats appear regularly during the working week, and are quickly consumed by us. We have a great appreciation for this biscuit, with one staff member committing to naming his first born son Montgomery Carlos in honour of this great baked wonder.

I found a recipe for these in my "The Country Women's Association Cookbook" (thanks mum!). For those who aren't from Australia, the Country Women's Association was formed in 1922 and is an organisation that aims to improve the conditions for women, children, and families living in Australia, especially those in remote and rural locations. It is our largest women's organisation, and currently has 25,500 members! Go girls!

Here is their recipe...

Monte Carlos

Cream 115g butter and 1/2 cup sugar in bowl. Add 1 well-beaten egg and beat well. Add 1/2 cup desiccated coconut and 2 teaspoons golden syrup, mixing well. Sift in 2 cups plain flour and 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda. Mix until dough forms.

Break off small pieces and arrange on a greased baking tray. Bake in a 180C oven for 15 minutes. When cooked, fasten two biscuits together with raspberry jam and icing.

Sam xox

Hot crossed yum.

I know we are still a while away from Easter, but with the cooler days over the past week I decided we needed a little warming and tried my hand at baking hot crossed buns. I had never made these before, but figured it couldn't be that different to making bread or pizza dough. Some flour, milk, yeast, and a LOT of kneading!

These were so yummy and pretty cheap to make. I think these will be a regular feature of my baking repertoire.

Here's the recipe:

(taken from Modern Classic's 2 by Donna Hay)

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk

4 1/2 cups plain flour, sifted

2 teaspoons mixed spice

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

50g butter, melted

1 egg

1 1/2 cup sultanas

1/3 cup candied mixed peal (optional)

1/2 cup plain flour, extra

1/3 cup water

1 quantity glaze*

Place yeast, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and all of the milk in a bowl and set aside for 5 minutes. The mixture will start to foam, indicating that the yeast is active.

Add the flour, mixed spice, ground cinnamon, butter, egg, sultanas, mixed peel, and the remaining sugar to the yeast mixture and mix using a butter knife until a sticky dough forms.

Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for 8 minutes or until it feels elastic.

Place in an oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and allow to stand in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Divide dough into 12 pieces and roll into balls.

Grease a 23cm square cake tin and line with baking paper.

Place the dough balls in the tin, cover with a clean tea towel, and set aside for 30 minutes, or until they rise.

Preheat an oven to 200C (400F).

Combine the extra flour and water, place in a piping bag, and pipe crosses on the buns.

Bake for 35 minutes or until browned and springy to touch.

Brush with the warm glaze while the buns are hot.

Serve warm with butter.

Makes 12

* Glaze: Place 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 water in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add 2 teaspoons powdered gelatine sprinkled over 1 tablespoon water and cook for 1 minute. Brush warm glaze on buns.

Sam xox

Choc-chip cookies.

Choc-chip & Peanut Cookies

Seriously the best ever...

I made these cookies on Sunday and took them to work to share with my colleagues on Monday. The verdict was unanimous - they are delicious!

If you would like to try your hand at making a batch, you can get the recipe here.

Sam xox

Homemade chicken pie.

I would guess that many of you would probably not have heard of Margaret Fulton. However in Australia she is a household name.

Margaret Fulton is our version of Julia Child, the woman who taught Australian housewives that there was more to cooking than 'meat and three veg', and exposed these woman to things like pizza, fried rice, curry and spaghetti! In her original cookbook, Margaret dedicates an entire page to the introduction of pasta. She writes:

"Turn spaghetti in sauce so strands are coated, using a spoon and fork. Spear a few strands with fork, then twirl fork against spoon so that spaghetti coils around the fork. When a neat package is formed, lift from the plate."

I can just picture an Australian housewife practicing this pasta-eating method in the privacy of her 1960's kitchen.

I am lucky enough to own a copy of her original cookbook "The Margaret Fulton Cookbook" which I picked up at a local thrift store many years ago. It is in remarkably good condition and contains many timeless recipes.

Unlike Julia Child, Margaret Fulton did not have her own television show. She was famous for her writing about cooking, and was a regular feature in the Australian Womans Weekly magazine. These days, Margaret Fulton has a number of cookbook publications under her belt, made countless TV guest appearances, received an OAM, and was recently formally recognised as a National Living Treasure.

Last night I cooked Margaret's 'Chicken Pie' from her most recent cookbook "Margaret Fulton's Encyclopedia of Food and Cookery". It is a 750 page cooking adventure!

There is only one word that can describe this pie. Yum. I will say it again. Yum.

Photo of my pie.

Here is the recipe taken from the book:

Chicken Pie

1 large roasting chicken

1 carrot - sliced

1 brown onion - sliced

1 bay leaf

1 tsp salt

6 black peppercorns

90g (3 oz) butter

6 mushrooms - sliced

2 Tbsp flour

1/2 cup cream

freshly ground black pepper

1x375g packet frozen puff pastry

beaten egg yolk to glaze

Put chicken in a large pan. Add carrot, onion, bay leaf, salt and peppercorns. Cover with hot water to top of thighs and bring to the boil, skimming occasionally. Simmer gently for 20 mins. Allow chicken to cool in stock for about 1 hour, then remove to a dish. Joint chicken and remove all flesh from bones. Skin and cut into large chunky pieces.

Place chicken meat into pie dish and cover with a little stock to keep flesh moist. Return bones to stock and boil for 10-15 mins to reduce it. Strain and leave to cool. Measure two cups of stock and chill so that fat will rise to the surface and settle for easy removal. (The remaining stock can be used as a base for soups or sauces).

Melt 1 Tbsp butter in a small frying pan and fry mushrooms over high heat for a few minutes. Remove and add to chicken. Melt remaining butter in a saucepan and blend in flour. Add reserved 2 cups stock, stirring to make a smooth sauce. Stir in cream and season with salt and pepper.

Spoon sauce over chicken and mushrooms and mix gently. If you have a pie funnel, place it in the centre. Roll out pastry to size which fits pie dish. From remaining pastry, make strips to go around rim of dish and some leaf shapes to decorate the top of the pie.

Brush top of pie with egg yolk. Bake in a preheated hot oven (200c/400F) for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to moderate (180c/350F) and bake for a further 20 minutes.

Serves 4-6 people.

(I served this pie with asparagus, green beans, and bacon fried together in a pan, and a French baguette stick to mop up pie juice - yum!).

* My tips after making this recipe:

1) You can cook chicken breast and shred it and buy ready made chicken stock,

2) Add more flour to make the sauce thicker,

3) Line the bottom of the pie dish with pastry too - makes it taste a lot nicer,

4) I added boiled carrots and peas when the recipe says to add the mushrooms to the pie,

5) Make an extra one because everybody will want seconds.

Sam xox