Today's recipe is a lucky dip from the savoury part of my little black box. This chicken risotto recipe is one I collected from my mother-in-law, Mary, one of the best cooks in Gippsland. I tend to tweak it a bit - well quite a bit judging by the amount of blue below - depending on what I have in the pantry. My usual tweaks are in the brackets in blue. Preparation and cooking times vary depending on the vegetables chosen and the state of the cook but I can usually have it on the table within 45 minutes of dicing the meat.
Chicken Risotto
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts, cut up [or 4 chicken thigh fillets - they are usually more tender and flavoursome]
1 onion [or 2 shallots - the French sort, not spring onions]
2 cups arborio rice [I usually substitute Clever rice as it's fairly fail-safe]
1/2 cup white wine [can be replaced with water and a teaspoon of vinegar for a bit of acid]
1/2 teaspoon chilli paste [or a sprinkle of chilli powder or one small mild fresh chilli]
2 teaspoons coriander paste [can use 1/2 teaspoon of dried coriander or a handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped]
Small can of corn [I prefer to use kernels sliced from one or two fresh corn cobs]
1 tablespoon olive oil
20g butter
2 cups chicken stock [or 2 cups of water with two chicken stock cubes will do]
Capsicum, zucchini, sliced - any other vegetables [I usually use a carrot, a capsicum, some sliced mushrooms, a small stick of celery, a couple of potatoes, maybe a tin of tomatoes (or a squirt of tomato paste), a handful of peas or beans - frozen peas will do]
Grated cheese [my favourite is grated parmesan, a staple in my freezer, but grated pizza cheese is a good alternative for a softer 'stringier' texture]
Method:
Brown chicken and onion [or shallots] in oil, add butter, stir in rice gradually. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add chilli and coriander, stir through.
Add wine [or water if preferred], simmer till absorbed.
Begin adding stock, 1/2 cup at a time.
Add vegies, corn with juice [if used canned corn] last. Add extra water if necessary. [Carrots usually take about 15-20 minutes to cook, other veges a bit less. Test a piece of chicken and a piece of carrot with a fork to see if they are done the way you like them.]
Stir through grated cheese so it melts just before serving.
[Need a change from chicken? Try replacing the chicken fillets with a couple of fish fillets - rockling or gummy shark/flake work well - adding the fish a couple of minutes after the vegetables so the fish isn't overcooked.]
[If you don't have coriander or chilli available, a good slurp of a stirfry sauce, something with soy sauce, chilli, lemongrass, honey or lime - that sort of thing - or teriyaki sauce or something similar will produce a tasty result.]
[Experiment! That's the best part of "Kitchen Chemistry".]
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Lemon Slice
Lemons are the only fruit growing in our backyard - anything else has been destroyed by possums - so recipes with lemon juice are always popular. This is one of the best. My youngest daughter keeps complaining that she has one square when she makes this slice and the next time she looks it's all gone. It's that sort of slice.
125g butter
250g sweet biscuits (Nice or Milk Arrowroot biscuits are local types that work well - basically any sort of reasonably plain biscuits will do)
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 cup coconut
3 tablespoons lemon juice
15g butter
Crush biscuits finely, add lemon rind and coconut. Mix well.
Add warm condensed milk and butter mix. Mix ingredients together by hand.
Press into greased lamington tin (28cm x 18cm).
Refrigerate for one hour.
Ice with lemon icing.
Cut into squares when the icing has set.
Lemon Slice
Ingredients
1/2 cup condensed milk125g butter
250g sweet biscuits (Nice or Milk Arrowroot biscuits are local types that work well - basically any sort of reasonably plain biscuits will do)
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 cup coconut
Lemon Icing
1 3/4 cups icing sugar3 tablespoons lemon juice
15g butter
Method
Put condensed milk and butter in a saucepan, stir over low heat until butter is melted.Crush biscuits finely, add lemon rind and coconut. Mix well.
Add warm condensed milk and butter mix. Mix ingredients together by hand.
Press into greased lamington tin (28cm x 18cm).
Refrigerate for one hour.
Ice with lemon icing.
Cut into squares when the icing has set.
Icing
Combine sifted icing sugar, softened butter and lemon juice in a bowl. Beat till smooth. Spread on cooled slice.Choc Chip Cookies
Baking together is one of the pleasure of family life and I have fond memories of my older and younger children gathered around the kitchen bench taking turns stirring the ingredients for this recipe and turning lumps of biscuit dough into balls.
The size of the balls varied a lot - some favour very big biscuits, others lots of small ones - but this is one recipe that is always a hit, whether cooked till crisp (my choice) or removed from the oven when lightly browned and still slightly squishy (tops with the younger members of the family).
Many of their friends have tucked in to a box of these biscuits at bring-a-plate functions and the box always seems to come home empty.
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg
1 3/4 cups self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
185g chocolate chips
(My favourite is a mix of dark chocolate bits, milk chocolate bits and some dark chocolate buttons but any mix will do, although most need to be the smaller choc bits rather than buttons to aid even mixing).
Shape teaspoons of mixture into small balls (about the size of a walnut). Place on a lightly greased tray, leaving room between the balls to allow for spreading (so about 12 on a typical small tray, 15 on a larger one). Bake in a moderate oven for 12 minutes. Makes about 36-40 biscuits.
(The spoons of mixture my children use end up more like golf balls than walnuts and need to be placed further apart on the tray as they spread while cooking - and they never seem to end up with more than about 24-30 biscuits).
Whatever the size, the biscuits are ready when the tops are lightly browned. The biscuits become crisper when they cool down so do not need cooking till crisp. Experiment with cooking time to find your favourite degree of doneness. Experimenting when cooking is half the fun - the other half is eating the results.
PS I'll try to add a photo next time I make a batch.
The size of the balls varied a lot - some favour very big biscuits, others lots of small ones - but this is one recipe that is always a hit, whether cooked till crisp (my choice) or removed from the oven when lightly browned and still slightly squishy (tops with the younger members of the family).
Many of their friends have tucked in to a box of these biscuits at bring-a-plate functions and the box always seems to come home empty.
Choc Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
125g butter1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg
1 3/4 cups self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
185g chocolate chips
(My favourite is a mix of dark chocolate bits, milk chocolate bits and some dark chocolate buttons but any mix will do, although most need to be the smaller choc bits rather than buttons to aid even mixing).
Method:
Cream butter and sugars, add vanilla essence. Add egg and beat well (mixture should become paler). Mix in sifted flour and salt. Add choc chips and mix well.Shape teaspoons of mixture into small balls (about the size of a walnut). Place on a lightly greased tray, leaving room between the balls to allow for spreading (so about 12 on a typical small tray, 15 on a larger one). Bake in a moderate oven for 12 minutes. Makes about 36-40 biscuits.
(The spoons of mixture my children use end up more like golf balls than walnuts and need to be placed further apart on the tray as they spread while cooking - and they never seem to end up with more than about 24-30 biscuits).
Whatever the size, the biscuits are ready when the tops are lightly browned. The biscuits become crisper when they cool down so do not need cooking till crisp. Experiment with cooking time to find your favourite degree of doneness. Experimenting when cooking is half the fun - the other half is eating the results.
PS I'll try to add a photo next time I make a batch.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Blueberry delight with berry sauce
Summers in Victoria can be scorchers, with the combination of heat and dry air making the state one of the worst spots on earth for bushfire.
But we are also blessed with an abundance of fresh summer berries so the season is my favourite despite the fire threat.
For a refreshing summer dessert, nothing comes close to a bowl of summer berries, with a dollop of creamy fraiche.
Most summers I combine strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, adding a few balls of watermelon and maybe the pulp of a passionfruit or two - with a splash of Grand Marnier for consenting adults.
But this season I have fallen in love with blueberries and come up with a simple dessert using frozen fruit so I can whip up a berry treat in a flash whenever unexpected visitors arrive.
Blueberries freeze well so I have been buying half a dozen punnets whenever they are reasonably priced and storing them in their punnets in the freezer.
To use them, take the punnet straight from the freezer, rinse the frozen berries briefly, put them straight into a serving bowl and top with your choice of creamy topping, berry sauce, or both.
Blueberry delight
Ingredients (for 6):
2 punnets of frozen blueberries
125g Mascapone
125g vanilla Fruche (or similar creme fraiche)
1 tab caster sugar
Creamy ``delight''
Whisk the mascapone, creme fraiche and caster sugar until smooth.
Place frozen blueberries in individual bowls and serve with a generous dollop of the creamy ``delight''.
How simple is that.
If I have a bit more time I like to top the dessert with a sweet berry sauce.
Berry sauce
Ingredients:
150g frozen blueberries
150g caster sugar
Method:
Combine frozen blueberries and caster sugar in a heatproof bowl, cover with lid or foil, place over a saucepan of simmering water and cook for about 2 hours, until the berries are a deep purple.
Squash the berries lightly to release the liquid and strain through a sieve to remove remaining skins.
Refrigerate until required.
The sauce should keep, refrigerated, for several days.
But I can't confirm this because I have never had any left after more than a day.
The sauce would be great over cake or icecream and works well with any berry fruits.
But we are also blessed with an abundance of fresh summer berries so the season is my favourite despite the fire threat.
For a refreshing summer dessert, nothing comes close to a bowl of summer berries, with a dollop of creamy fraiche.
Most summers I combine strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, adding a few balls of watermelon and maybe the pulp of a passionfruit or two - with a splash of Grand Marnier for consenting adults.
But this season I have fallen in love with blueberries and come up with a simple dessert using frozen fruit so I can whip up a berry treat in a flash whenever unexpected visitors arrive.
Blueberries freeze well so I have been buying half a dozen punnets whenever they are reasonably priced and storing them in their punnets in the freezer.
To use them, take the punnet straight from the freezer, rinse the frozen berries briefly, put them straight into a serving bowl and top with your choice of creamy topping, berry sauce, or both.
Blueberry delight
Ingredients (for 6):
2 punnets of frozen blueberries
125g Mascapone
125g vanilla Fruche (or similar creme fraiche)
1 tab caster sugar
Creamy ``delight''
Whisk the mascapone, creme fraiche and caster sugar until smooth.
Place frozen blueberries in individual bowls and serve with a generous dollop of the creamy ``delight''.
How simple is that.
If I have a bit more time I like to top the dessert with a sweet berry sauce.
Berry sauce
Ingredients:
150g frozen blueberries
150g caster sugar
Method:
Combine frozen blueberries and caster sugar in a heatproof bowl, cover with lid or foil, place over a saucepan of simmering water and cook for about 2 hours, until the berries are a deep purple.
Squash the berries lightly to release the liquid and strain through a sieve to remove remaining skins.
Refrigerate until required.
The sauce should keep, refrigerated, for several days.
But I can't confirm this because I have never had any left after more than a day.
The sauce would be great over cake or icecream and works well with any berry fruits.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Chrismas pudding in a basin
My aunts and Nanna always made their Christmas puddings with suet and tied them in a cloth.
The first time my mother tried to make a traditional pudding she ended up with a soggy mess, with more fruit in the saucepan than in the cloth.
I know now the secret is to boil the cloth first to close up the weave but Mum solved the problem by making her next pudding in a basin.
The Davis pudding has been made in a basin ever since and I have continued the tradition.
But being more time poor than my Mum I have simplified her recipe to make a Christmas pudding that tastes good and is a whiz to make.
The quantities below are enough for one very large pudding or two smaller ones.
I follow Mum's tradition and make two smaller puddings, one for Christmas dinner (it serves 10-12); the other for New Year's Day. Leftovers van be eaten cold for breakfast at any time during the Christmas holiday break.
I cook my puddings in stainless steel pudding basins with clip-on lids but Mum always made hers in two crockery basins (the white or cream ones that most kitchenware shops or discount department stores usually have).
If using a crockery basin you will need to put two layers of foil over the top of the pudding, after covering it with two layers of baking paper and tie tightly with string to stop any water getting into the pudding while it cooks.
Here is my simple recipe for a Christmas pudding in a basin:
1 x 1kg pack of mixed fruit (choose one with lots of raisins and sultanas and not too much mixed peel)
1 x 750gm pack of fruit medley mix (Coles and Safeway usually have it at this time of year)
250g plain flour
1 level teaspoon nutmeg
1 level teaspoon mixed spice
pinch of salt
250gm white sugar
250gm soft breadcrumbs (turn slices of bread into crumbs in a whiz or using a fine grater - the bread is easier to grate if it is a few days old but whatever you have available will be fine)
300gm butter or margarine
6 eggs
6 tablespoons brandy or whisky
300ml milk
Grease a large pudding basin (or two small ones).
Sift flour with spices and salt.
Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Add fruit, breadcrumbs and sugar.
Beat the eggs, add the milk and brandy (or whisky) and pour the mixture into the dry ingredients.
Mix well (the mixture looks a bit like sloppy porridge).
Place in the prepared basin (or basins). The mixture should be a couple of centimetres below the top of the basin to allow it to rise a bit while cooking.
Cover with two layers of baking paper (gently push it down to the surface of the pudding).
Then add the lid (or a couple of layers of foil tied down with string).
Place each basin in a saucepan with enough boiling water to reach halfway up the side of the basin.
Cover the saucepan with a lid and boil gently for 6 hours (if one large pudding) or 5 hours (if two smaller ones), checking the water level regularly and topping up with more boiling water when necessary to keep the level about halfway up the basin.
The pudding will keep in its basin in the fridge for at least a year but can be used as soon as you want.
I usually make mine about a month before Christmas but this year I am totally disorganised and will start making it later tonight, just in time for Christmas.
On the day you want to eat the pudding, place the basin in a saucepan as before and boil gently for another two hours.
Serve with brandy custard, brandy cream, brandy sauce or all three, with a dollop of vanilla icecream to make it truly decadent.
Any leftover pudding can be sliced and heated in a microwave, or in a colander over simmering water, or served cold with cream or icecream.
Happy Christmas!
(I will put my recipes for brandy cream, brandy sauce and brandy custard on my blog later in the week, time permitting).
The first time my mother tried to make a traditional pudding she ended up with a soggy mess, with more fruit in the saucepan than in the cloth.
I know now the secret is to boil the cloth first to close up the weave but Mum solved the problem by making her next pudding in a basin.
The Davis pudding has been made in a basin ever since and I have continued the tradition.
But being more time poor than my Mum I have simplified her recipe to make a Christmas pudding that tastes good and is a whiz to make.
The quantities below are enough for one very large pudding or two smaller ones.
I follow Mum's tradition and make two smaller puddings, one for Christmas dinner (it serves 10-12); the other for New Year's Day. Leftovers van be eaten cold for breakfast at any time during the Christmas holiday break.
I cook my puddings in stainless steel pudding basins with clip-on lids but Mum always made hers in two crockery basins (the white or cream ones that most kitchenware shops or discount department stores usually have).
If using a crockery basin you will need to put two layers of foil over the top of the pudding, after covering it with two layers of baking paper and tie tightly with string to stop any water getting into the pudding while it cooks.
Here is my simple recipe for a Christmas pudding in a basin:
1 x 1kg pack of mixed fruit (choose one with lots of raisins and sultanas and not too much mixed peel)
1 x 750gm pack of fruit medley mix (Coles and Safeway usually have it at this time of year)
250g plain flour
1 level teaspoon nutmeg
1 level teaspoon mixed spice
pinch of salt
250gm white sugar
250gm soft breadcrumbs (turn slices of bread into crumbs in a whiz or using a fine grater - the bread is easier to grate if it is a few days old but whatever you have available will be fine)
300gm butter or margarine
6 eggs
6 tablespoons brandy or whisky
300ml milk
Grease a large pudding basin (or two small ones).
Sift flour with spices and salt.
Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Add fruit, breadcrumbs and sugar.
Beat the eggs, add the milk and brandy (or whisky) and pour the mixture into the dry ingredients.
Mix well (the mixture looks a bit like sloppy porridge).
Place in the prepared basin (or basins). The mixture should be a couple of centimetres below the top of the basin to allow it to rise a bit while cooking.
Cover with two layers of baking paper (gently push it down to the surface of the pudding).
Then add the lid (or a couple of layers of foil tied down with string).
Place each basin in a saucepan with enough boiling water to reach halfway up the side of the basin.
Cover the saucepan with a lid and boil gently for 6 hours (if one large pudding) or 5 hours (if two smaller ones), checking the water level regularly and topping up with more boiling water when necessary to keep the level about halfway up the basin.
The pudding will keep in its basin in the fridge for at least a year but can be used as soon as you want.
I usually make mine about a month before Christmas but this year I am totally disorganised and will start making it later tonight, just in time for Christmas.
On the day you want to eat the pudding, place the basin in a saucepan as before and boil gently for another two hours.
Serve with brandy custard, brandy cream, brandy sauce or all three, with a dollop of vanilla icecream to make it truly decadent.
Any leftover pudding can be sliced and heated in a microwave, or in a colander over simmering water, or served cold with cream or icecream.
Happy Christmas!
(I will put my recipes for brandy cream, brandy sauce and brandy custard on my blog later in the week, time permitting).
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Christmas Pudding in a Cloth
CHRISTMAS puddings should always be made in the first week in November, according to my cooking bible, the 1974 Cordon Bleu Monthly Cookery Course.
That’s probably why my friend Jamie is desperately seeking a recipe for a traditional plum pudding and put in a request to Jan’s Kitchen.
I can still remember my Mum’s first, and only, attempt at making a pudding in a cloth the way my grandmother and aunts made them.
The pudding oozed out into the water leaving a soggy, if tasty, mess in the cloth.
Then Mum discovered her culinary guru Jean Bowring made her pudding in a bowl. What was good enough for Jean was good enough for us and from then on at Christmas we ate delicious cakey bowl-cooked puddings.
When I inherited responsibility for the Christmas meal, I continued Mum’s tradition.
I have adapted a few recipes to make my own version of the traditional Christmas pudding but have never made it in a cloth.
So to meet Jamie’s recipe request I headed to my black box and recipe book collection.
The search turned up lots of variations on the traditional plum pud but only two mentioned boiling the result in a cloth.
Both assumed you knew how to prepare the cloth, which I knew I did not.
My friend Marion came to the rescue.
``You have to boil the calico first,’’ Marion said.
She said the boiling removed size and other chemicals from the pudding cloth and made it shrink, closing up the holes in the weave.
While the cloth is still hot from boiling, she sprinkles it liberally with flour.
The heat of the cloth ``cooks’’ the flour, forming a crust. This keeps the pudding mix in the cloth.
Then she adds the pudding mix, pulls the calico up tightly into the traditional pudding shape and ties the top firmly, leaving a calico ``stalk’’.
Marion boils a large pudding for about four hours, a small one for about two hours then hangs it to dry ready for Christmas day.
On the day, she boils the pudding again for a couple of hours and serves it with traditional sauces, such as brandy sauce, brandy custard or brandy cream.
At our house we can’t decide which sauce to have so usually have all three, followed by a much-needed lie down.
I will add my Christmas pudding recipe and recipes for the various sauces later this week but here are the two recipes I found for Christmas pudding boiled in a cloth.
The first comes from a recipe book put out by the mothers at Tarnagulla Primary School in about 1981.
The second comes from a recipe leaflet put out by Sunbeam Dried Fruits.
One uses butter, the other suet. My nanna and aunts always used suet, which they bought from the butcher and grated.
The Cordon Bleu cookery course says suet from the butcher is superior to the dry suet available in supermarkets.
Tarnagulla in the 1980s was renowned for its good cooks. ``Ladies’’ had to bring a plate to golf days at Tarnagulla. It was worth the drive from Melbourne to play on the ``sand scrape’’ course just for the afternoon tea.
That’s probably why my friend Jamie is desperately seeking a recipe for a traditional plum pudding and put in a request to Jan’s Kitchen.
I can still remember my Mum’s first, and only, attempt at making a pudding in a cloth the way my grandmother and aunts made them.
The pudding oozed out into the water leaving a soggy, if tasty, mess in the cloth.
Then Mum discovered her culinary guru Jean Bowring made her pudding in a bowl. What was good enough for Jean was good enough for us and from then on at Christmas we ate delicious cakey bowl-cooked puddings.
When I inherited responsibility for the Christmas meal, I continued Mum’s tradition.
I have adapted a few recipes to make my own version of the traditional Christmas pudding but have never made it in a cloth.
So to meet Jamie’s recipe request I headed to my black box and recipe book collection.
The search turned up lots of variations on the traditional plum pud but only two mentioned boiling the result in a cloth.
Both assumed you knew how to prepare the cloth, which I knew I did not.
My friend Marion came to the rescue.
``You have to boil the calico first,’’ Marion said.
She said the boiling removed size and other chemicals from the pudding cloth and made it shrink, closing up the holes in the weave.
While the cloth is still hot from boiling, she sprinkles it liberally with flour.
The heat of the cloth ``cooks’’ the flour, forming a crust. This keeps the pudding mix in the cloth.
Then she adds the pudding mix, pulls the calico up tightly into the traditional pudding shape and ties the top firmly, leaving a calico ``stalk’’.
Marion boils a large pudding for about four hours, a small one for about two hours then hangs it to dry ready for Christmas day.
On the day, she boils the pudding again for a couple of hours and serves it with traditional sauces, such as brandy sauce, brandy custard or brandy cream.
At our house we can’t decide which sauce to have so usually have all three, followed by a much-needed lie down.
I will add my Christmas pudding recipe and recipes for the various sauces later this week but here are the two recipes I found for Christmas pudding boiled in a cloth.
The first comes from a recipe book put out by the mothers at Tarnagulla Primary School in about 1981.
The second comes from a recipe leaflet put out by Sunbeam Dried Fruits.
One uses butter, the other suet. My nanna and aunts always used suet, which they bought from the butcher and grated.
The Cordon Bleu cookery course says suet from the butcher is superior to the dry suet available in supermarkets.
Tarnagulla in the 1980s was renowned for its good cooks. ``Ladies’’ had to bring a plate to golf days at Tarnagulla. It was worth the drive from Melbourne to play on the ``sand scrape’’ course just for the afternoon tea.
One of the good cooks was Beth Taig.
Here is Beth Taig’s Christmas Plum Pudding.
(The recipe is in pounds and ounces and I have translated it into grams. I would usually translate them to the nearest 5g but in this case have rounded to an easier amount as a few extra raisins and so on will make no difference to the result. I have also made a few changes in the method section to make it clearer.)
Ingredients
500g (1 lb or 16oz) plain flour
250g (½ lb or 8oz) currants
500g (1 lb or 16 oz) butter
500g (1 lb or 16 oz) sultanas
2 cups bread crumbs
2 tab marmalade jam
6 eggs
1 pkt (about 375g) raisins
250g (½ lb or 8 oz) sugar
1 pkt (about 375g) mixed fruit
1 cup sherry
1 teas mixed spice
1 des cinnamon
1 teas carb soda (bicarbonate of soda) dissolved in boiling water
Nuts if wanted
Method
Soak fruit overnight with sherry. Rub together shredded butter and flour. Put bread crumbs and 1 teas mixed spice and 1 des cinnamon into flour. Beat together eggs and sugar. Mix together well all fruit, flour and egg mixture. Add nuts (if desired) and marmalade jam. Lastly add the carb soda. Put on a VERY well floured damped cloth and tie tightly. Boil 5-6 hours.
NB Damp cloth in boiling water and wring out. Also place an enamel plate under pudding so it doesn’t catch on bottom while boiling.
Here is Sunbeam Dried Fruits' Traditional Christmas Pudding
Ingredients
375g (12 oz) Sunbeam seeded raisins, chopped
375g (12 oz) Sunbeam sultanas
250g (8oz) Sunbeam currants
185g (6oz) Sunbeam prunes, chopped
185g (6oz) chopped mixed peel
Grated rind of 1 lemon
90g (3 oz) blanched almonds, chopped (optional)
1 large carrot, grated
250g (8 oz) soft white breadcrumbs
250g (8 oz) butter or finely shredded suet
250g (8 oz) white sugar
125g (4 oz) plain flour
½ teas salt
½ teas nutmeg
1 teas mixed spice
4 eggs
¾ cup milk
½ cup brandy and ½ cup stout (or 1 cup orange juice)
Method
(The recipe is in pounds and ounces and I have translated it into grams. I would usually translate them to the nearest 5g but in this case have rounded to an easier amount as a few extra raisins and so on will make no difference to the result. I have also made a few changes in the method section to make it clearer.)
Ingredients
500g (1 lb or 16oz) plain flour
250g (½ lb or 8oz) currants
500g (1 lb or 16 oz) butter
500g (1 lb or 16 oz) sultanas
2 cups bread crumbs
2 tab marmalade jam
6 eggs
1 pkt (about 375g) raisins
250g (½ lb or 8 oz) sugar
1 pkt (about 375g) mixed fruit
1 cup sherry
1 teas mixed spice
1 des cinnamon
1 teas carb soda (bicarbonate of soda) dissolved in boiling water
Nuts if wanted
Method
Soak fruit overnight with sherry. Rub together shredded butter and flour. Put bread crumbs and 1 teas mixed spice and 1 des cinnamon into flour. Beat together eggs and sugar. Mix together well all fruit, flour and egg mixture. Add nuts (if desired) and marmalade jam. Lastly add the carb soda. Put on a VERY well floured damped cloth and tie tightly. Boil 5-6 hours.
NB Damp cloth in boiling water and wring out. Also place an enamel plate under pudding so it doesn’t catch on bottom while boiling.
Here is Sunbeam Dried Fruits' Traditional Christmas Pudding
Ingredients
375g (12 oz) Sunbeam seeded raisins, chopped
375g (12 oz) Sunbeam sultanas
250g (8oz) Sunbeam currants
185g (6oz) Sunbeam prunes, chopped
185g (6oz) chopped mixed peel
Grated rind of 1 lemon
90g (3 oz) blanched almonds, chopped (optional)
1 large carrot, grated
250g (8 oz) soft white breadcrumbs
250g (8 oz) butter or finely shredded suet
250g (8 oz) white sugar
125g (4 oz) plain flour
½ teas salt
½ teas nutmeg
1 teas mixed spice
4 eggs
¾ cup milk
½ cup brandy and ½ cup stout (or 1 cup orange juice)
Method
Grease two small or one large basin. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Beat the eggs and add all moist ingredients. Mix the dry and moist ingredients together. Fill the mixture into the basins or, if preferred, use a well-seasoned pudding cloth. Place two thicknesses of foil over the basins and tie securely. Boil steadily for six hours for the large pudding and four hours for the small. On the day the pudding is to be served, boil for one hour.
May your Christmas be bright and your pudding a good one.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Mrs Resak's Almond Crescents
My house was opposite a railway line, just near the railway station.
My best friend Kathleen (or Katti) lived on the opposite side of the tracks.
Kathleen was Hungarian. Her parents were in the Hungarian Resistance and fled for their lives ahead of the Russian invasion by skiing across the border, leaving Kathleen and her brother behind with their grandmother.
Kathleen and I met at primary school in about 1960 when she and her brother were finally reunited with their parents in Australia.
Another neighbour was Maurice Chevalier. When he arrived in Australia the press mobbed him, thinking he was the famous French singer.
He wasn't a singer - but he was very French. We would stand gobsmacked when he came home from work and swept his wife Eileen into a very European embrace. Our parents did nothing like that.
Eileen was Australian but had studied French and they had probably met at the Alliance Francaise.
Eileen was the link between the Australian-born women in the neighbourhood and the new arrivals, most of whom spoke little or no English.
They would move into a group of houses on the other side of the railway line, live there for a few months and then leave. I have often wondered since if the houses were owned or rented by some sort of group that worked with refugees to help them settle in to their new country.
One year a group of refugees arrived just before Christmas.
I was too young to know much about where they had come from but I remember they seemed very sad.
Eileen Chevalier organised a morning tea so the refugee women could meet some of their neighbours.
They didn't speak much French either but they understood she wanted them to ``bring a plate''.
When they arrived at the morning tea, one woman introduced herself shyly as ``Mrs Resak'' (at least that was what her name sounded like to me). She brought a plate of small almond crescents, smothered in vanilla-flavoured icing sugar.
They were the most exotic biscuits I had ever eaten - light shortbreads that melted in my mouth.
Mrs Resak wrote out the recipe for me and Eileen translated it into English. The ingredients were given in grams but Eileen converted them to ounces.
I have made the crescents most Christmases since then and and always think of Mrs Resak when I do. I never met her again.
I hope you enjoy the crescents as much as my family do.
Mrs Resak's Almond Crescents
Ingredients110g (4 oz) plain flour
50g (1 3/4 oz) almond meal
95g (3 1/3 oz) butter
35g (1 1/3 oz) sugar
Ingredients110g (4 oz) plain flour
50g (1 3/4 oz) almond meal
95g (3 1/3 oz) butter
35g (1 1/3 oz) sugar
Method Mix all the ingredients together by hand, squeezing the mixture through your fingers.
Form into small crescents or ``Napoleon's hat'' shapes.
Bake in a slow oven 160C (325F) until pale brown, about 15 minutes.
While still warm, not hot, roll in vanilla-flavoured icing sugar.
Mrs Resak's vanilla-flavoured icing sugar
Mix two packets of vanilla (or vanillin) sugar with 225g (8oz) icing sugar.
Note: This makes a huge quantity, and vanilla sugar is expensive. So I usually shake a few teaspoons of vanilla sugar (from the spice section of the supermarket) in about a cup of icing sugar.
That makes enough vanilla sugar for a batch of crescents.
Mix two packets of vanilla (or vanillin) sugar with 225g (8oz) icing sugar.
Note: This makes a huge quantity, and vanilla sugar is expensive. So I usually shake a few teaspoons of vanilla sugar (from the spice section of the supermarket) in about a cup of icing sugar.
That makes enough vanilla sugar for a batch of crescents.
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