Back to Blog - Lamb Ragu recipe

Its been a long long time. Well over a year! Its been a busy one for us. We renovated our house which was hellish but worth it now that I have a fabulous kitchen instead of one with the doors falling off in my hand. Whilst renovating, we lived upstairs in two rooms and I had to do all my cooking using a microwave, a steamer and slow cooker. It was a voyage of discovery - I was surprised to find that you can cook pasta really quite well in a microwave and my chocolate rice krispie birthday cakes were a triumph (see pic below).

The biggest news in the last year was the arrival of Monkey Junior at the end of June last year (fortunately the renovations were mostly complete). He is a gorgeous little boy and the Monkey loves him dearly. He doesn’t love food quite as much as she does but I’m rising to the challenge of trying to find meals to feed a baby, a toddler and adult all one go - hopefully the subject of a future blog...

Winter is upon us here in Sydney so the slow cooker has come out of its summer hibernation. I made a giant lamb ragu a couple of weeks ago to double as a birthday dinner for our friend Fletch who adores lamb (and eats four times what a normal person eats so it had to be big) and also as a take out meal for my neighbour who just had twins. After they both asked me for the recipe, I decided it was time to get back on the blog. So here it is – my lamb ragu recipe enough for 8 adults at least. Easy to halve the recipe but just using one lamb shoulder but it seems a shame to not make enough for leftovers and freezing to get you through the winter although you could be restricted by the size of your cooking vessel.

The instructions below are for a slow cooker but you could also cook it in a well sealed oven dish in a low oven.

Ingredients
2 Lamb Shoulders (bone in, excess fat removed) – mine were about 1kg each
3 large onions – chopped
4 carrots – chopped
4 celery sticks – chopped
4 garlic cloves – finely sliced
100g chopped pancetta/lardons/bacon (optional)
2 tablespoons tomato puree
250ml white wine
3 tins chopped tomatoes
Handful of fresh rosemary, chopped
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
Olive Oil
Grated Parmesan to serve

In a large frying pan, brown the meat in a little olive oil, place into the slow cooker. Brown the vegetables (apart from the garlic) and the pancetta in the frying pan. Add the garlic and tomato puree, cook for about a minute and add the white wine. Cook until the wine has reduced a little and throw it all into the slow cooker, adding the chopped tomatoes and rosemary. Cover and cook on low* for about 7 hours – a couple more won’t hurt at all. If I’m home I poke the meat a bit to help it start to break into the sauce from about the 5 hour point. When its cooked to your satisfaction, fish out the bones and season to taste before serving with parmesan, pasta and a green salad.

*Different slow cookers vary in terms of heat. With my new slow cooker, I find I need to add the ingredients hot or pop it onto high for the first hour to get the food bubbling or it’ll take a ages to get to that stage on low but I didn’t need to do this with my old one.

Sorry - no pic of the lamb ragu so I thought I'd include one of my rice krispie birthday cake pics instead:

High Tea at the Park Hyatt

The view from our table - pretty special!

My mother-in-law is over from Ireland at the moment and it was her birthday on Sunday so we were looking for something nice to do in the afternoon and I'd set my heart on taking her for High Tea in the afternoon. It turned out that Mr Jen's best friend's mum has the same birthday so we decided to take them all together. I had initally planned to go to the Gunners Barracks in Mosman but it was booked up by the time I phoned so it was back to the drawing board. The trouble with most of the high teas in Sydney is that they all seem to include champagne in the package - I'm sure that's not a problem for lots of people but we had a good few non-drinkers in the party and even I prefer for my money to go on the food than covering the cost of the drink. Eventually I had the idea of the Park Hyatt who offer a high tea for $36 a head or $49 including a glass of Nicolas Feuillate champagne at the harbourkitchen&bar. The only problem was that I couldn't find any reviews online. I normally love to check out an array of reviews before visiting anywhere new but I'd been to the bar there for dinner before and knew the view was stunning so I took the risk!!

On arrival I was very surprised that the restaurant was half empty. For such a great location, I would have expected it to be packed but given that I had to do a lot of online digging to even find out that they offered high tea, I suppose many people wouldn't have found it.

We ordered our tea from the very helpful and attentive waitress who also informed us that the tea and coffees were unlimited which was a pleasant surprise after the tiny pot that I got at the Victoria Rooms with their high tea.

Our trays of goodies!

Scones, raspberry jam and cream

The food arrived promptly. We started with the savouries. I felt like the tea could have been weighted slightly towards savoury with the addition of a savoury pastry or similar but my fellow diners were very happy with the balance. There was a smoked salmon sandwich with avocado, a ham wrap and a bruschetta topped with tomato and beetroot cream. All were delicious.

We then moved onto the sweet stuff! I was impressed with the scones which were still warm. I felt like we should have been given butter as well as the jam and cream but I didn't bother asking for any. One downside was the cream - I think it was whipped ordinary cream instead of the double cream that was promised on the menu (although not on the online menu). Would it really be too difficult to get hold of some clotted cream??

The top plate contained caramel mocha eclairs, mini pastry shell filled with raspberry ganache and topped with berries and a mint macaroon with chocolate ganache. I really couldn't pick a favourite as they were all so good - I wish my macaroons were even half as good as that.....

Lastly we hit the chocolate. There was a very dark truffle which I loved and a little pastry case with chocolate and raspberry which I unfortunately didn't get to try as Mr Jen stole mine! There was a also a cupcake on that level topped with white icing and a little piece of gold leaf. This was probably my only slight disappointment of the afternoon. Firstly one of the cakes wasn't iced properly and was missing its little gold cap and they were just plain cupcakes with a plain icing.

I forgot to mention the tea! There was an extensive tea menu plus a range of herbal infusions and coffees. I went for the orange pekoe, mainly because I like the name and I didn't want anything too strong tasting to clash with all the cakes!

In summary, a fabulous high tea with one of the best views in Sydney. I will certainly be bringing out of towners there in future, or even just Mr Jen who was totally blown away by his first high tea experience.

harbourkitchen&bar

Park Hyatt Sydney

7 Hickson Road

The Rocks

NSW 2000
(02) 9256 1661

http://www.harbourkitchen.com.au/

Daring Bakers Challenge January 2010: Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars

Firstly, I know I've been a very slack blogger. I'm blaming Christmas for December and a visit from my Mother-In-Law this January. The second shouldn't really be an excuse at all as I've had extra help with the monkey and done loads of eating out which I really should've documented. I will endeavour to improve my frequency in 2010.

To be honest I wasn't very excited when I saw this months challenge and kind of forgot about it until Mr Jen asked about it on Australia Day (26th January - a day before posting was due!!). I was all baked out that day as I'd made a big pile of lamingtons and considered dropping out of this challenge but felt much more energized this morning and set straight to it.

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Nanaimo Bars are a classic Canadian dessert, named after the town where they were created; Nanaimo (pronounced Nah-nye-moh) and apparently you get them everywhere in Canada. They consist of 3 layers: a chocolately, nutty biscuit base, a custardy middle layer and chocolate on the top..

The whole cooking process was very straightforward. I didn't bother with the gluten-free options as I didn't have time to get the flours today and my only gluten free friend is on a detox so wouldn't appreciate me turning up with these on her doorstep!! The Graham wafer recipe produced far more than I needed but I didn't think of reducing the quantities so I left some dough in the freezer for another time. I forgot to prick them with a toothpick but they didn't seem to rise too much.

I've heard that they're equivalent to digestives (I think because both get used for cheesecake bases) but I found them completely different. They're nice and crunchy and have a more complex flavour due to the dark brown sugar, honey and vanilla.

When assembling my Nanaimo Bars I found I needed to refrigerate between layers due to the heat in my kitchen but the process was simple nonetheless. I was pleasantly surprised to find that mine looked very similar to the ones created by this months host. I found them a bit sweet but I used dark chocolate and some very dark dutch cocoa which balanced the sweetness a little. I have packed them all off for Mr Jen to take into work tomorrow where I'm sure they'll be gratefully received!

Looking forward to next months challenge now - I'm hoping for bread or cake!!

Here is the recipe if you'd like to have a crack at them.

Preparation time:

• Graham Wafers: 30 to 45 minutes total active prep, 2 ½ hours to overnight and 45 minutes inactive prep.
• Nanaimo Bars: 30 minutes.

Equipment required:

• Food Processor
• Bowls
• Parchment paper or silpats
• Cookie sheets
• Double boiler or pot and heatproof bowl
• 8 by 8 inch square pan
• Hand mixer or stand mixer (You may use a wooden spoon, but this makes it much easier!)
• Saucepan
  

For Gluten-Free Graham Wafers

Ingredients

• 1 cup (138 g) (4.9 ounces) Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)
• 3/4 cup (100 g) (3.5 ounces) Tapioca Starch/Flour
• 1/2 cup (65 g) (2.3 ounces) Sorghum Flour
• 1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon (4 mL ) Kosher Salt
• 7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
• 1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.
• 5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk2 tablespoons
• (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.
2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.
3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.
4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.
7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.
8. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.
9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.
   

Nanaimo Bars

Ingredients:

Bottom Layer

• 1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
• 1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
• 1 Large Egg, Beaten
• 1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
• 1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
• 1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

Middle Layer

• 1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
• 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s)
• 2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar

Top Layer

• 4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
• 2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter

1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.
   

Additional Information:

• These bars freeze very well, so don’t be afraid to pop some into the freezer.
• The graham wafers may be kept in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
• If making the graham crackers with wheat, replace the gluten-free flours (tapioca starch, sweet rice flour, and sorghum flour) with 2 ½ cups plus 2 tbsp of all-purpose wheat flour, or wheat pastry flour.
• Watch the wheat-based graham wafers very closely in the oven, as they bake faster than the gluten-free ones, sometimes only 12 minutes.
• For the Nanaimo Bars, if making with wheat, replace the gluten-free graham wafer crumbs with equal parts wheat graham wafer crumbs

Daring Bakers November Challenge: Cannoli

I was both excited and nervous when I found out this month's challenge: cannoli. I love cannoli (especially the ones from Pasticceria Tamborrino in Five Dock with the ricotta and rum filling....) but I've never thought of making it myself and I'm very unaccustomed to deep frying. Anyway the month kind of got away on me and I only remembered today that it was posting day so as soon as the Monkey went down to sleep I got straight into it! One very good thing about the recipe is that the ingredients are typical storecupboard fare so you don't have to buy anything extra (depending on your filling) so I put the dough together in no time and didn't feel the need to even get out the food processor.

I was originally planning on just making the stacked version but when I found out that you could use cannelloni pasta in the cupboard I thought I'd give the tubes a go. The whole process was surprisingly easy although I think I should've rolled them a bit thinner to get more of the desirable "blistering" effect.

I did hit three small hurdles along the way:1: Not enough oil - as I left it so late (evening of 27th and Daring Bakers have to post on the 27th) I only had about an inch and a half so had to turn my cannoli as they cooked but that didn't seem to be a problem. 2: The ricotta I had in the fridge to fill them turned out to be past its sell by date and I was exhausted and nothing would convince Mr Jen to go to Bondi Westfield to buy some on a Friday night when Stargate or similar was on TV. When the cannoli had cooled I dipped the ends in some melted dark chocolate and began my improvised filling. I decided to just fill one tonight and get some ricotta tomorrow so I improvised with some greek yoghurt which I mixed with vanilla, rum and some icing sugar. 3: The heat of my kitchen eventually got the better of me and despite a spell in the freezer, my filling kept running out of my cannoli but its nearly 10pm so I grated a little chocolate on top and took a quick snap.

I will try to add a pic of some more elegant looking fillings tomorrow!

While I was initially daunted, I think I would definitely make these again, especially as the shallow frying was quite effective. What a way to end a dinner party!

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Equipment:

Cannoli forms/tubes - optional, but recommended if making traditional shaped cannoli. Dried cannelloni pasta tubes work just as well!

Deep, heavy saucepan, enough to hold at least 2-3-inches of oil or deep fryer

Deep fat frying thermometer. although the bread cube or bit of dough test will work fine.

Metal tongsBrass or wire skimmer OR large slotted spoon

Pastry bag with large star or plain tip, but a snipped ziplock bag, butter knife or teaspoon will work fine.

Cooling rack

Paper bags or paper towels

Pastry Brush

Cheesecloth

Sieve or fine wire mesh strainer

Electric Mixer, stand or hand, optional, as mixing the filling with a spoon is fine.Food Processor or Stand Mixer – also optional, since you can make the dough by hand, although it takes more time.

Rolling pin and/or Pasta roller/machinePastry or cutting board

Round cutters - The dough can also be cut into squares and rolled around the cannoli tube prior to frying. If making a stacked cannoli, any shaped cutter is fine, as well as a sharp knife.

Mixing bowl and wooden spoon if mixing filling by hand

Plastic Wrap/Clingfilm

Tea towels or just cloth towels

Required: Must make cannoli dough and shells. If you don’t have or do not want to purchase cannoli forms, which I would never ask of any of you, you could simply cut out circles, squares, or any shapes you want and stack them with the filling of your choice to make stacked cannoli's aka Cannolipoleons (directions below). If desired, you can channel MacGuyver and fashion something heat proof to get traditional shaped cannoli (6-8 inch sawed off lengths of a wooden broom stick or cane, sanded down and oiled, is THE authentic cannoli form!), or non-traditional shapes such as creating a form to make bowls, or even using cream horns if you happen to have them. Mini cannoli would be great too, and I've provided links to retailers of cannoli forms of all sizes.

Also, for those who don't like to cook or bake with alcohol - grape juice, cranberry juice, pomegranate juice, apple juice..any sweet juice of a fruit, especially ones used in or to make wine, can be substituted. Just add a little more vinegar to insure you get enough acid to relax the

dough

Variations: The filling is YOUR choice! Anything you want to fill them with is perfectly fine, sweet or savory, or you can use the filling recipe provided – making whatever changes you want to it. Cannoli would make a great addition to a Thanksgiving dessert table/spread. In many Italian households, during the holidays, cannoli is always part of the dessert offerings. You could also make a Thanksgiving themed cannoli, like pumpkin cannoli (I came up with a great pumpkin filling recipe below) or apples, pecans, walnuts, any dried fruits etc. An idea to gussy up your cannoli is; dipping the rims of the shell in melted chocolate and rolling in chopped nuts or sprinkles, then letting them set prior to filling. Dipping or pressing mini chocolate chips into the filled ends OR just stirring mini chocolate chips into the filling prior to stacking or filling whatever shaped shells you come up with, is another great idea and makes a nice presentation The sky is the limit here, be creative! Naturally, if you have any dietary restrictions, by all means, go with it. I’ve provided a link to a gluten-free cannoli recipe and a slightly savory vegan cannoli recipe to help get you started.
Bonus option: Make your own ricotta and/or mascarpone cheese! http://lisamichele.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/eating-my-curds-and-ditching-the-whey/http://www.bakingobsession.com/2009/05/02/homemade-mascarpone-cheese/
Technically, I know, this is not baking, and if you prefer to steer clear of the deep fry, you can bake the shell. You won’t get the snappy, blistery texture and appearance that make cannoli so special, but I’m sure it’ll taste good nonetheless. Here’s a link where the cook bakes some of his cannoli shells: http://www.ifood.tv/network/cannoli/recipes
Lidisano’s CannoliMakes 22-24 4-inch cannoliPrep time:Dough – 2 hours and 10-20 minutes, including resting time, and depending on whether you do it by hand or machine.Filling – 5-10 minutes plus chilling time (about 2 hours or more)Frying – 1-2 minutes per cannoliAssemble – 20–30 minutes
RECIPE NOTE: THE EQUIVALENTS FROM THIS RECIPE WERE PREPARED USING THIS CONVERSION SITE: http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/index.asp.

CANNOLI SHELLS

2 cups (250 grams/8.82 ounces) all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons(28 grams/1 ounce) sugar

1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.06 ounces) unsweetened baking powder

1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon (approx. 3 grams/0.11 ounces) salt

3 tablespoons (42 grams/1.5 ounces) vegetable or olive oil

1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.18 ounces) white wine vinegar

Approximately 1/2 cup (approx. 59 grams/approx. 4 fluid ounces/approx. 125 ml) sweet Marsala or any white or red wine you have on hand

1 large egg, separated (you will need the egg white but not the yolk)

Vegetable or any neutral oil for frying – about 2 quarts (8 cups/approx. 2 litres)

1/2 cup (approx. 62 grams/2 ounces) toasted, chopped pistachio nuts, mini chocolate chips/grated chocolate and/or candied or plain zests, fruits etc.. for garnish

Confectioners' sugar
Note - If you want a chocolate cannoli dough, substitute a few tablespoons of the flour (about 25%) with a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process) and a little more wine until you have a workable dough (Thanks to Audax).

DIRECTIONS FOR SHELLS:

1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.

2 Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8” thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch – small/medium; 4-inch – medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it’s shrunk a little.

3 Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once, as the oil from the deep fry will keep them well, uhh, oiled..lol). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little.

4. In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer's directions. Heat the oil to 375°F (190 °C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.

5. Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.

8. Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.

9. Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.

Stacked cannoli:

1. Heat 2-inches of oil in a saucepan or deep sauté pan, to 350-375°F (176 - 190 °C).

2. Cut out desired shapes with cutters or a sharp knife. Deep fry until golden brown and blistered on each side, about 1 – 2 minutes. Remove from oil with wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, then place on paper towels or bags until dry and grease free. If they balloon up in the hot oil, dock them lightly prior to frying. Place on cooling rack until ready to stack with filling.

ASSEMBLE THE CANNOLI:

1. When ready to serve..fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain or star tip, or a ziplock bag, with the ricotta cream. If using a ziplock bag, cut about 1/2 inch off one corner. Insert the tip in the cannoli shell and squeeze gently until the shell is half filled. Turn the shell and fill the other side. You can also use a teaspoon to do this, although it’s messier and will take longer.

2. Press or dip cannoli in chopped pistachios, grated chocolate/mini chocolate chips, candied fruit or zest into the cream at each end. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and/or drizzles of melted chocolate if desired.

TIPS AND NOTES:

- Dough must be stiff and well kneaded

- Rolling the dough to paper thinness, using either a rolling pin or pasta machine, is very important. If the dough is not rolled thin enough, it will not blister, and good cannoli should have a blistered surface.

- Initially, this dough is VERY stubborn, but keep rolling, it eventually gives in. Before cutting the shapes, let the dough rest a bit, covered, as it tends to spring back into a smaller shapes once cut. Then again, you can also roll circles larger after they’re cut, and/or into ovals, which gives you more space for filling.

- Your basic set of round cutters usually doesn’t contain a 5-inch cutter. Try a plastic container top, bowl etc, or just roll each circle to 5 inches. There will always be something in your kitchen that’s round and 5-inches if you want large cannoli.

- Oil should be at least 3 inches deep and hot – 360°F-375°F, or you’ll end up with greasy shells. I prefer 350°F - 360°F because I felt the shells darkened too quickly at 375°F.

- If using the cannoli forms, when you drop the dough on the form into the oil, they tend to sink to the bottom, resulting in one side darkening more. Use a slotted spoon or skimmer to gently lift and roll them while frying.

- DO NOT crowd the pan. Cannoli should be fried 2-4 at a time, depending on the width of your saucepan or deep fryer. Turn them once, and lift them out gently with a slotted spoon/wire skimmer and tongs. Just use a wire strainer or slotted spoon for flat cannoli shapes.

- When the cannoli turns light brown - uniform in color, watch it closely or remove it. If it’s already a deep brown when you remove it, you might end up with a really dark or slightly burnt shell.

- Depending on how much scrap you have left after cutting out all of your cannoli shapes, you can either fry them up and sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar for a crispy treat, or let the scraps rest under plastic wrap and a towel, then re-roll and cut more cannoli shapes.

- Push forms out of cannoli very gently, being careful not to break the shells as they are very delicate. DO NOT let the cannoli cool on the form, or you may never get it off without it breaking. Try to take it off while still hot. Hold it with a cloth in the center, and push the form out with a butter knife or the back of a spoon.

- Fill cannoli right before serving! If you fill them an hour or so prior, you’ll end up with soggy cannoli shells.

- If you want to prepare the shells ahead of time, store them in an airtight container, then re-crisp in a 350°F (176 °C) oven for a few minutes, before filling.

- Practice makes perfect. My first batch of shells came out less than spectacular, and that’s an understatement. As you go along, you’ll see what will make them more aesthetically pleasing, and adjust accordingly when rolling. My next several batches turned out great. Don’t give up!!

Sugar Free Banana and Mango Muffins

As the Monkey is just as fond of cakes as her mother, (I actually found her leafing though "How to be a Domestic Goddess" by Nigella Lawson today - pointing at the photos and saying "Yum Yum") I'm always looking for ways to make recipes healthier without sacrificing too much taste. I generally just cut the sugar amount in half and I never miss that extra sweetness. Today I found myself with a load of overripe bananas and an overripe mango so after the Monkey went to bed I set to some quick baking. I decided to turn them into muffins and try leaving out the sugar altogether in my usual recipe. The results were a huge success - you wouldn't satisfy a sweet tooth with them but they were sweet enough for my taste and the fruit kept them very moist which tends to bode well for freezing - their final destination. My concern was that they might not rise very well with all the fruit but it didn't seem to be a problem.

Just so you know these are what I call "proper" muffins less sweet and cake like than the so-called muffins they sell in the supermarket.

This recipe started out life as the Banana and Butterscotch Muffins in Nigella Express http://www.nigella.com/recipe/recipe_detail.aspx?rid=155 - the most fabulously easy muffin recipe although I've never found the butterscotch morsels so substitute with chocolate chips or raisins.

Ingredients

Very Ripe Bananas (3 large, 4 medium or 5 small - I used 5 little organic ones)

1 Very Ripe Medium Sized Mango - finely chopped but leaving a few larger chunks - I scrape off the skin so you end up with a bit of puree in there too.

2 Eggs

125ml vegetable or other light oil - I used rice bran oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

280g Plain Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1: Preheat oven to 200 degrees and line a 12 bun muffin tin with muffin cases (I used my little silicon cases as I find better to freeze cakes without paper cases as they go soggy in the defrosting process)

2: Mix the eggs, oil and vanilla in a bowl

3: Mix the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in another bowl

4: Tip the egg mix into the dry ingredients and mix through

5: I then re-use the egg bowl to mash up the bananas (to save on washing up!) and add to the muffin mixture and mix through

6: Lastly mix in the mango

7: Spoon into your muffin cases and bake for about 20 mins

Cooking Club - The Inaugural Meeting

My friend Emma had the great idea to start a cooking club for all her foodie friends. She was inspired by her parents who live somewhere that where there are no decent restaurants so they and their friends started a dinner club where they take turns in cooking a fancy three course meal for the others. Emma did some research and pared down some other ideas for cooking clubs and went for the following format; We take turns hosting the club with a few wildcard restaurant dinners in between. The host picks the theme which could be anything from an ingredient to a national cuisine. The host cooks a dinner on that theme and everyone else brings a recipe on the same theme.

The theme of the first one was “Curries”. I contributed my Pakistani Haleem King of Curries recipe. (ADD LINK) Emma went down the South East Asian route and served beef satay skewers for entree followed by Indonesian Grilled Chicken for mains. For dessert lime and white chocolate cheesecake which was fabulous. The big hit for me was the chicken - the delicious taste combined with the quick and easy recipe had me already cooking it for Mr Jen and the Monkey three days later.

I came away from a lovely evening with a folder full of nice new recipes – perfect – bring on the next one!

Emma's Indonesian Chicken

8 chicken thighs (on the bone)

8 drumsticks (on the bone)

Marinade:

4 lemongrass stalks, outer leaves discarded and roots trimmed

a large handful of fresh coriander leaves

6 French shallots peeled and cut in half

8 large garlic cloves, peeled

2 thumb size pieces of fresh root ginger, shopped

4 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp curry powder

2 tsp pepper

½ tsp salt

4 tbsp Thai fish sauce

400ml coconut milk

Place all the marinade ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it becomes a rough puree.

Place the chicken in a suitable container and pour the marinade over the chicken covering well. Chill overnight or for at least 4 hours. Remember to turn once or twice.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Cook chicken (covered) in oven for 40 minutes and then remove foil. Cook for 30 – 45 minutes until tender and golden.

Serves 8

Daring Bakers October Challenge: Macaroons

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe. My results this month can only really be described as pretty disasterous! My macaroons did not turn out particularly well - in fact they may be the ugliest in history! They were all chewy but very little crunch. However they did taste fantastic!

The sticking point was my offer to Mr Jen to bake whatever flavour he fancied. He immediately picked raspberry. The recipe advised to avoid adding any additional moisture to the mix so I went in search of freeze dried raspberries or powder thereof. The only ones I was able to find were lyophilised raspberries from the Ferran Adria Range at Simon Johnson. Unfortunately these cost over $50 a tin which I thought was pretty steep (although I was tempted.....). Then I had a brainwave. When we were over in Ireland last year, Mr Jen decided he liked Special K Red Berries cereal. On returning to Sydney we couldn't find them until I saw an own-brand version whilst on a chocolate and baby wipes run to Aldi (its the best place to buy chocolate for baking!!). I stocked up on three boxes only for Mr Jen to do his usual cereal behaviour i.e eat a few bowls then go off it entirely....... With two boxes sitting on the shelf I decided to pick out all the raspberries - it didn't take long and I was quite impressed with my haul which I blitzed with the almond flour and icing sugar in the recipe.

My salvaged freeze-dried raspberries

While the raspberries were fairly dry they were a bit sticky so I'm definitely putting them down as the reason for my failure........ I made a dark chocolate ganache to fill them with (melt 200g chocolate with 150ml cream and 1 tsp of vanilla extract and then whisk until smooth and thick). The combination worked really well flavour-wise as the raspberries gave a tart edge to the macaroons and the ganache was pure chocolate with very little sweetness which I loved.

Anyway, here's the Claudia Fleming recipe if you'd like to give it a go. The methodology is pretty simple but next time I think I'll try aging my egg whites for a few days in the fridge and drying the macaroons for 30 mins-1 hour after piping and skipping the first oven stage in the recipe as that does seem to help according to other people. I decided not to add food colour due to the risk of additional moisture and I was happy for them to look a bit rustic (not quite this rustic though!)

Ingredients

Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.

2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.

3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.

4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.

5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).

6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.

7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Yield: 10 dozen. Ami's note: My yield was much smaller than this. I produced about two dozen filled macaroons.