Weekend Cooking: Sunshine, Lemons and Sea Salt by Donna Hay

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was going to try to start cooking along more regularly with the Lamb's Ear Cookbook club. The February cookbook is Sunshine, Lemons and Sea Salt by celebrated Australian cook Donna Hay.

As you might note from the photo above, I actually own quite a few cookbooks by Donna Hay, and yet I don't often cook out of them. Part of the reason is that everything looks so beautiful that I am intimidated by it. And because it always looks so good, I assume it must be complicated. When I cook I do tastes good, I don't often do looks beautiful! I am therefore often guilty of using her books as though they are coffee table books. I mainly just look at the pictures. 

I am not only talking about the food. Even the book is beautiful, with great pictures, a nice layout, and a ribbon! I love it when a cookbook has a ribbon. It instantly makes it a better book!

The book starts with a chapter on styling where she gives tips on how to make your lunch or dinner settings look amazing by saying things like "consider those vintage copper pots, ceramic saucepans and teapots in your cupboards the unsung heroes of your table." I don't really have any of those in my cupboard**, but I get her point. The styling tips continue throughout the book, especially in the menu sections 

The book is then divided into a pretty normal structure with chapters called

Sunrise: Win the morning, win the day (yes, I suspect Donna Hay is a morning person! lol)

Light lunching

Summer nights, simple dinners

Sunny sides that double as snacks

Sweet and sunny treats

Anything-but-basic basics

From there the structure of the book changes into a section called Coastal Celebrations where we get four suggested menus for entertaining from starters to mains and desserts, including the aforementioned styling suggestions. The four menus are called

Sailing into lunch

Summer in bloom

There's no party like a taco party

Coastal 

I have already cooked quite a few things from this book, but there is more I would like to make including the recipes below.

Tomato and mascarpone tart - This was so delicious and would be super easy if you bought premade shortcrust pastry

Crushed potato galette - We served this when we had family for dinner, and it was a hit. Soft on the inside, crunchy outside. Will definitely do again. 

Crispy lemon and garlic roast chicken - A bit unusual with the use of miso paste but definitely tasty and we plan to make this one again.

Thai chicken in lime and coconut - It's always good to have another tasty meatball recipe. I am thinking about having a whole week of different meatballs but I am not sure the rest of my house would agree

Korean fried chicken burgers - Making this tonight!

Sticky soy and miso chicken

Passionfruit powder puffs

Lemon and elderflower bundt cake

Passionfruit meringue tart

Crispy meringues with poached vanilla pears

Originally, I borrowed this book from the library, but we have already cooked quite a lot out of the book, and some of the recipes could end up in our regular recipe rotation, so I did end up buying it!

When I was thinking about recipes to share, I originally had something else in mind, but when I said we had made this recipe in my Weekly Meals section last week, Jackie mentioned that she was curious about this recipe so I decided to share this one instead. 

Thai chicken in lime and coconut (Donna Hay)

750g chicken mince
6 Thai lime leaves (also known as kaffir lime leaves)
2 tbspn finely grated ginger
2 tbspn finely grated lemongrass
2 tbspn finely chopped coriander leaves (also known as cilantro)
1/2 cup (30g) panko breadcrumbs

Lime and coconut sauce

1 tbspn grapeseed or vegetable oil
1/3 cup  (100g) store-bought Thai red curry past
400ml coconut milk
1/2 cup (125ml) good quality chicken stock
1 tbspn fish sauce
1 1/2 tbspn lime juice
1 tbspn caster (superfine) sugar
2 Thai lime leaves, finely shredded, extra

To serve

Extra coriander (cilantro) sprigs, shiso leaves (optional) and lime wedges

Place the chicken, lime leaves, ginger, lemongrass, coriander and panko in a large bowl and mix to combine. Roll the mixture into 16 balls and place on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm.

To make the lime and coconut sauce, heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the oil and curry paste and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant.

Add the coconut milk, stock, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and extra lime leaves and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened and reduced. 

Add the chicken and cook for 10 minutes, turning halfway, or until cooked through.

Serve with the extra coriander, shiso leaves (if using) and a squeeze of lime. 

**I have asked my husband to rejig the storage in one of the spare bedrooms so that I can reorganise to see if I have any of things I could use for smart styling. The challenge then will be to fill it up, right?

Weekly meals

Saturday - Scrambled eggs on toast
Sunday - Mexican Chicken and Rice
Monday - Pork Schnitzel, mash, mushroom sauce and broccoli
Tuesday - Nasi Goreng
Wednesday - Chicken green curry pie
Thursday - Chicken, mushroom and broccoli pasta bake
Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

In My Kitchen: January

Welcome to the first Saturday of the month where I share everything I have made over the previous month. For the first time in months, I had a lot of activity in the kitchen, and I have to say I really enjoyed it!

First up I made Hummingbird Cakes to go with my Cook the Books post about Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees by Aimee Nezhukumatathil which I posted last week! I had been craving something with cream cheese frosting, and these hit the spot! And bonus, I will now be able to find the recipe whenever I want to rather than just stumbling on the bit of paper on occasion.

Jamie Oliver's Cook Book Club has taken a bit of a nosedive, so I have gone back to looking at my Australian cook book clubs for inspiration. This year, the Lamb's Ear Cook Book Club has a book of the year, the monthly cookbook and new for this year is an ingredient of the month. For January, the ingredient was stone fruit, so I went searching through my books and found a recipe for something called Chaja Cake from one of the cookbooks I got for Christmas, Everybody Loves Cake: Sweet Bakes and Stories by Alisha Henderson.  This cake (pictured at the top of the post) originates from Peru, and oh my goodness, it was so good. It is a super light sponge, filled with peaches, dulce de leche and cream, and then the outside is smothered in cream and then the sides are covered with crushed meringue. It was so good! So good, in fact, that I am making it again today, although this time I am going to use store bought dulce de leche. When I next have a gap in my Weekend Cooking posts I will share the recipe.

Continuing on the stone fruit theme, Donna Hay shared a recipe for Upside Down Pavlova on her Facebook page and so I made that too. You can choose whatever combination of fruit you like but I used fresh peaches and plums (we won't mention the blueberries that had been in the freezer for too long) and then you top it with meringue and bake it! It was another delicious recipe, although I think that I needed to buy the fruit a couple of days earlier so it was a bit riper! I actually have Donna Hay's latest cook book out from the library at the moment because it is the February book of the month. I think I am going to end up buying it!

Have you tried the viral Japanese cheesecake? The idea is that you take a tub of yoghurt, you put some biscuits in it and put in the fridge to set. When you eat it, it is supposed to taste like cheesecake. Now, cheesecake is one of my favourites, so I had to try it. We tried it with Greek yoghurt and very plain biscuits. It does have a cheesecakey texture, particularly because the biscuits soften and so are reminiscent of the base, and it doesn't taste bad, but it still tasted very Greek yoghurty. I would try it again with maybe vanilla yoghurt and different biscuits or there is a brand here that does lemon curd swirl yoghurt and I have heard that is good with Anzac biscuits

I have bought more cook books so far this year than I did all of last year! I mentioned earlier that the cook book club has a book of the year, and that is The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater. My idea is that I am going to read with the seasons, so when he is writing about July I will read it in January, but I haven't kept up yet. I will try to do better in February.

The other book I bought is Arnotts: The Cook Book. Late last year I went to a book event where the bookseller was talking about the fact that there were three books that she couldn't keep in stock and this was one of them. It is a bit gimicky in that it is recipes that are made using Arnott's biscuits but there are some things in there that I will make. I think I will most likely start with Vanilla Slice but we will see.

In terms of new things in my kitchen this month, there isn't much. In mid January, we went to Perth for the weekend and spent time with my aunties and one of my cousins. Every time I go over there, my aunt buys me a bottle of spearmint milk (yum) and I get new wine recommendations. We don't drink a lot at home but I will go out and buy whichever wine we like after going over there. This time, we tried these two wines from Aldi. Given that I seem to have a bit of a peach thing going on at the moment, I particularly enjoyed the Peach Bellini wine although the Limoncello is very drinkable too

I did buy some new summery everyday place mats and table runner which you can see in some of the photos

In terms of other foodie events, it was our  meetaversary in early January. Apparently we can't call it an anniversary now that we have a wedding anniversary as well. It was 9 years ago that we first met, so we went out to dinner at the Meat and Wine Company. It was a delicious meal featuring lots of meat (naturally given the name of the restaurant) and some South African flavours. 

Last weekend we went to a new show that is on at the casino in the city. It was called Piper's Playhouse and is an interesting mix of Paris cabaret, magic, drag, burlesque and circus type acts and lots of champagne. The acts were very, very good, and the night was a lot of fun. After the show, the venue turns into a piano bar and the crowd really got into it! I think even the pianist was a bit surprised by some of the things that the crowd did last night! When I head about it, we had to try one of the desserts which was this shoe.  The shoe that you see above is actually all made of white chocolate and was filled with fresh berries and served with cream and berry sauce! Really it is just berries and cream but it certainly looks impressive.

Weekend Cooking posts from the last month

Cook the Books: Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Blog Tour: The Boulangerie on the Corner by Susan Buchanan

The Sweet Life Café by Helen Rolfe

Japanese Chicken Curry

Dinner at the Night Library by Hika Harada

Three Japanese Books Set in Cafes/Restaurants

In My Kitchen: December

New Recipes

While I am not doing the 52 new recipe challenges this year, I do still want to keep track of new recipes I try so I will add them here each month

Hummingbird Cakes

Chaja Cake

Japanese Cheesecake

Roast Chicken

Japanese Chicken Curry

Crispy Lemon and Garlic Chicken

Weekly meals

Saturday - Out for dinner
Sunday - Swedish Meatballs with mash
Monday - Baked Tuscan Chicken
Tuesday - Chicken Stir Fry with noodles
Wednesday - Pressure Cooker Spag Bol
Thursday - Out for dinner
Friday - Out for dinner

I am sharing this post with In My Kitchen hosted at Sherry's Pickings.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: Everything is Indian by Justin Nararyan

When Justin Narayan's Everything is Indian was announced as the May selection for the Lambs Ear Cook Book Club, I was curious about the book without being convinced that it was one that I needed to buy so I borrowed it from the library. Before the book was even due back at the library, I had already purchased it and had it delivered as I know that we are going to be cooking out of this book in the future!

Justin Narayan was the winner of Masterchef Australia in 2021. He was born and bred in Australia and has a Fijian Indian background and this mixed background is reflected in the ideas and flavours in this book. In the introduction, Narayan ponders on the importance of food in creating connections with other people

When you first look at a recipe or think about cooking, I don't want you to think about how to make it tasty. I want you to think about how to make someone happy. Think about who you are cooking for rather than what you're cooking. Whose that person is they are more important than what you cook. Food is just a way to connect with them and make them feel something That is is how my mum and my parti (grandma) cooked.

He also talks about growing up in Australia

The recipes in this book are about me, my culture and where I come from. Food is how I relate to the world and these recipes are how I've related to the people around me. It starts with the Fijian-Indian recipes I grew up with (traditional and easy versions you can make in around 30 minutes), then it goes into all the dishes I've learned to cook growing up in Australia. It's a melting pot of cultures here - when it comes to food, I think Australia is one of the best places in the world - and that mix of cultures is part of me. It's part of who I am and its inspired me.

The three main recipes sections of the book are titled 

The Family House

Love, Entertainment, Hunger, Pressure: Everything That Made Me a Cook

I Grew Up Very Confused: Maybe We're Not That Different

In The Family House we see a lot of the Fijian Indian recipes so there are a lot curries, but also recipes for roti bread, lolo bread and other dishes. Interestingly, for the Masterchef fans,  Justin has shared two chicken curry recipes related to his appearances on the show. One is what he is calling The OG Chicken Curry and was the dish that he first shared with the judges on the show as his signature dish. The second curry is called The "Chicken Curry" That Got Me a Masterchef Apron. Why the "chicken curry ". Because it is served as a juicy piece of chicken breast with a chicken skin crackling, a curry sauce and cauliflower puree. It's not your normal looking curry.

In the second section we find recipes such as roast chicken, pizza, pork belly as well as Victoria sponge, caramel slice and lots of different sauces

In the final section, we see how everything can come together to make the familiar new. For example, there is a Green Chicken Curry Tacos recipe and a Fried Fish Sando with Curry Tartare. A sando is a sandwich - Australians have a tendency to short words and/or add sounds to the end. In this case it was both. For those with a sweet tooth, there is an amazing looking recipe for Chai Creme Brulee, as well as Dessert Tacos and Tres Leches cake which can be made either with the traditional flavours or by giving it an Indian flavour twist. 

So far we have made 

Curry Roast chicken with marsala roast potato and raita

Prawn Curry

Curried Sausage rolls

We have actually made the roast potato a few times, and this has now become our go-to technique of how to make roast potatoes. We don't always do the spices but the technique is a winner.

Just some of the other recipes we intend to make include

Caramel slice

Fried Eggs with Roti

Egg Curry

Potato Curry


The Caramel Slice is an example of several recipes in the book where you can either use the more traditional recipe or use the with a twist variation.  In this case, the traditional caramel slice recipe of biscuit base, a caramel layer and then covered in chocolate is adapted by adding vanilla, cardamon and grated nutmeg into the caramel mixture. You then sprinkle roasted pistachios on top of the chocolate.

The book is super colourful and easy to use. It has a great table in the front where you can say I need to cook something, let's say cooking for a crowd, and then there are a list of the recipes that you might want to use which includes recipes for tacos, Portuguese chicken, curries, lamb shanks and more

When I was thinking about which recipes to share, it had to be the Curried Sausage Rolls which got a very big thumbs up in our house. One thing I would clarifiy is that in Australia, puff pastry comes in sheets that are around 20cm square, so the size of the rectangles will be about 10 x 20cm. Also, in the recipe the instruction is to bake until GBD which stands for Golden Brown and Delicious. 

I didn't put the seasoning on the ones I made in this picture, just in case you were wondering.

And now, I am craving Curried Sausage Rolls. Good job I have some mince in the fridge!

Curried Sausage Rolls


1 tablespoon light olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon Fiji masala powder or garam masala
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon chilli flakes
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) minced (ground) lamb (see tip)
½ cup (30 g) Japanese (panko) breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 puff pastry sheets, thawed if frozen
200 g (7 oz) tasty cheese, grated (optional)

Egg wash

2 tablespoons milk
1 egg


Seasoning

½ teaspoon chilli flakes
½ teaspoon flaky sea salt
½ teaspoon cumin seeds

To Serve

Your favourite sauce (there are no rules)




Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat, then add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is lightly browned. Add all the powdered spices and chilli and cook for 30 seconds. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let it cool to room temperature. Add the lamb, breadcrumbs, salt and egg to the bowl and massage with your hands or a spatula until you have a smooth uniform mixture. Cut or shape four even rectangles from the puff pastry (if it's store-bought, just cut each sheet in half).

Spoon a quarter of the lamb mixture along one side of a pastry rectangle, about 1 cm (½ inch) from the edge.Scatter the cheese over the lamb mixture, if using. Roll up the pastry, starting from the lamb edge, to enclose the filling. Arrange so the seam (where the pastry edges overlap) sits underneath the sausage roll log. Repeat with the remaining pastry and lamb mixture. Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F). Line a tray with baking paper.

Meanwhile, slice each log into six even pieces for party size or in half for a meal size, then place the sausage rolls on the prepared tray. Mix the egg wash ingredients in a small bowl until combined. Ina separate bowl, combine the seasoning ingredients. Brush each sausage roll with the egg wash, then sprinkle the seasoning over the top. Bake until the sausage rolls are GBD (see page 13), about 30–35 minutes. Serve with sauce.

Tips

You can swap out the lamb mince for any other kind of mince. If you want to make these in bulk and freeze them, place the tray in the freezer after rolling. Once frozen solid, transfer to a ziplock bag and store in the freezer for up to 2 months. When you’re ready, preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F), egg wash the frozen sausage rolls, season and bake from frozen for 35–40 minutes.

Weekly meals

Saturday - Away
Sunday - Tuscan Chicken Pasta Bake
Monday - Pizza
Tuesday - Nasi Goreng
Wednesday - Bacon, Vegetable and Risoni Soup
Thursday - Mexican Chicken and Rice
Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: In My Kitchen - May

Welcome to the first Saturday of the month where I usually share everything I have made over the previous month. It has been a busy month in our kitchen with lots of baking and new recipes tries!

However, before we talk about this, I shamelessly stole the above pic from Jackie at Junkboat Travel because I feel seen! Often if I am baking I say to my husband that I am creating lots of washing up and the side outcome is something delicious to eat!

Speaking of baking here's what I did make this month

Raspberry Shortbread Cookies with White Chocolate - I made this after reading The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe by Catherine Greer. I reviewed the book and shared the recipe, which is a family recipe,  here.

Chocolate Eclairs - My husband had been asking me to make eclairs for a while but I kept on putting it off as I was a bit intimidated by it! However, once I decided to make it, it is doable. The recipe, which I shared as part of my Cook the Books contribution a couple of weeks ago, makes a lot so I still have some in the freezer. When I first filled the eclairs, I made it with a chocolate glaze and chantilly cream filling. The next time, I refreshed the shells in the oven, and then used the passionfruit and milk chocolate ganache from the macarons as the glaze and chocolate cream

Curry sausage rolls - Yes, this is a rare savoury bake, and it was delicious! The recipe comes from Justin Narayan's Everything in Indian. 

Passionfruit and Milk Chocolate Macarons - My friend and I went and did a class to learn how to make macarons! It was such a great day. I shared about this experience here. 

Chocolate Brownie - It's been an age since I made my favourite chocolate brownie recipe by Bill Granger! It went down a treat!

I haven't bought many cook books this year. When this book, Everything is Indian, was announced as the cook book for Lambs Ear Cook Book Club, I borrowed it from the library. After cooking a few things from it, we agreed that we needed to own it! I am planning to share something about this book in the next couple of weeks. I also got Taverna by Georgina Hayden out from the library. We really liked her book Greekish, so I need to find some time to look through the book before it has to go back to the library!

My most useful purchase this month was two storage containers which are the perfect shape for sheets of premade pastry and things like wraps or rotis. I don't know how I lived without them! I keep on finding new ways to use it, but at this stage, I am resisting the urge to buy any more. 

We did have a very nice French dinner a couple of weeks ago. In fact, we had a very French weekend. I had already made eclairs, then we had the dinner before we went to see the arena version of Les Miserables which was amazing, and then I made macarons the next day. I wasn't sure what to expect of the dinner. It was a fixed price menu in the restaurant at the arena, and to be honest I kind of expected to walk away thinking that it was an okay dinner, potentially overpriced but worth it for the convenience of already being in the stadium. It turned out the dinner was delicious, the portions were generous and it was well worth doing! 

I had crab tart, mushroom pithivier and potato gratin. In theory, the dessert came boxed up so that you could take it into the show with you to eat later, but we ate it in the restaurant. It was a gingernut base with layers of strawberry and rhubarb.

 

52 Recipes Challenge

Here are the new recipes we tried this month.

Raspberry and white chocolate shortbread cookies

Curry Roast Chicken, Masala roast potatoes and Raita - from Everything in Indian

Curry Sausage rolls - Another recipe from Everything in Indian. This one got rave reviews from Robert.

Spicy Prawn Noodles - My son was away for a few days so we had prawns. We don't cook these when he is home. 

Spicy Beef Noodles - This came from Dominique's Kitchen and we tried this because it was a two person recipes

Chocolate eclairs

Potato Gratin - I had a craving for potato bake. This recipe came from RecipeTin Eats

Cottage Pie - Another recipe from the RecipeTin Eats site.

Sausage and veggie gravy traybake  - And yes, another RecipeTin Eats recipe.

Before next month I should check to see what the tally is and how close I am 

Weekend Cooking posts from the last month

In My Kitchen - April 

The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe by Catherine Greer

Afternoon Tea Diaries - Red at Oxitea Rooms

Cook the Books: The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club

The Tea Ladies by Amanda Hampson

Macarons class

Tucci in Italy/Nonnas - Italian Food

Weekly Meals

Saturday - Schnitzel, chips, broccoli, mushroom sauce
Sunday - Sausages and potato gratin
Monday - Beef and broccoli noodles
Tuesday - Cottage Pie
Wednesday - Sausage, vegetable and gravy traybake
Thursday - Chilli Con Carne
Friday - Out for dinner

I am sharing this post with In My Kitchen hosted at Sherry's Pickings.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: Advent by Anja Dunk

 

A while ago now I bought a book called Advent by Anja Dunk which was an early selection of the Jamie Oliver Cookbook Club . Actually, the full title  is Advent: Festive German Bakes to Celebrate the Coming of Christmas. So far, I am really loving this book which is separated into 24 different chapters (one for each day of Advent) with all different types of bakes for each chapter. 

The author talks about a Bunter Teller which translates as "colourful plate" and in this context means a colourful plate of Advent biscuits. She talks about how every German household would have a stock of baked goods at this time of year for when visitors arrive, and you then put out a selection of biscuits, and perhaps give some as a gift.

Part of the reason why the book is broken into these 24 different chapters is that there would be a specific order in which you bake the colourful array of biscuits. 

The order in which they are baked acts as a calendar; a countdown measured in biscuits. The butter-less biscuits, many of them old-fashioned varieties such as Lebkuchen, which keep the longest, are baked first, followed by nut biscuits, then macaroons and meringues. We bake butter-rich ones such as Vanillekipferl after all of the aforementioned, and finally the last things we make are all the sweets and truffles. The biscuit are usually stored in a towering stack of tins kept at the ready to plate a selection up whenever neighbours and friends pop round.

It's my kind of advent calendar, although not if I have to do ALL the cooking!!

As an idea, here are some of the different chapters. The second chapter is for several different versions of lebkuchen including how to make your own spice mix, lebkuchen hearts (filled and unfilled),  old-fashioned honey lebkuchen and more.I have made a soft gingerbread biscuit several times previously which is inspired by lebkuchen. I tend to take them to work to share with my colleagues and they are always a hit! I shared this recipe a few years ago! They are honey and orange-y morsels of goodness! However, in this chapter, you will find the real deal.

Chapter 8 is all about Stollen, from full cakes to Stollen bites. Chapter 10 is full of spiced biscuits, from Spekulatius to the famous Pfeffernusse. Did you know that pferffernusse can actually be either white or brown. The difference is the kind of pepper that you use. I swear I have only ever seen the white version. Chapter 16 is all about meringues, including very sweet meringue mice and chapter 22 is all about marzipan sweets. There was an earlier chapter about marzipan biscuits too.

Throughout the book, the chapter divides are Christmassy lithographs which the author created herself, and all the photos are her own as this book was created during lockdowns. As I flick through the book there are so many things which look utterly delicious. There are cakes, biscuits, desserts and more. It's a lovely book! And the cover is gorgeous too. It has a fabric cover with gilded word and decorations, and a lovely yellow ribbon for a book mark. I do love it when a cookbook one of those!

What I will say, is that, maybe unsurprisingly, there are a lot of nut heavy recipes in this book, so if you have any allergies in your house maybe this might be an issue. The big guy, who used to be referred to as the little chef many years ago on this blog, has a tree nut allergy, but most of the time he won't eat what I bake anyway, so I can get away with it a bit! Just have to make sure he knows not to eat any of them.

I chose to make two recipes out of the chapter that is titled Makronen (macaroons). The first was Schokokusschen, which are chocolate kisses. In effect they are not dissimilar to chocolate meringue kisses although you do add in some flour. The other recipe I have made is Kokosmakronen- coconut macaroons, which are super simple to make! These should both keep for a couple of weeks in an airtight container! 

Schcolkusschen (Anja Dunk)
Chocolate Kisses

2 egg whites

90g soft light brown sugar

Pinch of fine sea salt

1/2 vanilla extract

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)

1 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour

Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan forced/350F and line a large baking parchment.

Put the egg whites into the bowl of a free-standing electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or use a mixing bowl and electric hand-held whisk) and whisk for a couple of minutes on high speed until stiff peaks form. Turn the speed down and add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, whisking all the while, until it is all incorporated and you have a glossy meringue. Now add the salt and vanilla extract and whisk for a further couple of seconds before adding the remaining ingredients. Whisk for a final 30 seconds so the flour and spices are incorporated.

Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm/ 3/8 inch star shaped nozzle. Alternatively, use a plastic freezer bag, which you have snipped the corner off to leave the same size opening.

Pipe little peaks of 1.5cm /1/2 inch diameter onto the sheet; they don't spread all that much so you only need a little space between each one.

Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes until firm to the touch but not browned. Cocoa powder does have a tendency to burn easily, so make sure you check them after 15 minutes. The longer you leave them in the oven the crisper they will be.

Allow to cool completely on the sheet before storing in an airtight container, where they will keep well for up to a month.

Weekly meals

Saturday - egg and chips
Sunday - Honey Pepper chicken
Monday - Sausage mash beans and gravy
Tuesday - Out for dinner
Wednesday - Nothing
Thursday -Baked Tuscan Chicken (new)
Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: Polish Honey Cake

For a person who doesn't particularly like honey, I seem to be cooking with it quite a bit at the moment. The most recent recipe that I have tried is a Polish Honey Cake from In Belinda's Kitchen by Belinda Jeffery. This book was chosen as the Lambs Ear Cookbook Club book of the month a couple of months ago but I hadn't yet had the opportunity to cook from it. Given that I need to return it to the library I needed to get to cook something asap!

In addition to the honey, one of the other key ingredients in this recipe is dates. This is an ingredient I haven't cooked with a lot either. The combination of the honey and dates, along with the spices was a winner, and we will definitely having this one again.

However, we didn't quite follow the serving suggestions. Last weekend I cooked this on Saturday morning thinking we would have it for dinner, but we ended up going to watch my son play basketball. It was at an odd time so we got takeaway for dinner on the way home. Then we were out for breakfast and dinner on Sunday so there was no need for cake. This meant we didn't actually try it until Monday, and then we proceeded to have it as breakfast during the week. So for us this is a Polish Honey Breakfast Cake!

There are a couple of other recipes that I do still want to try out of the book, so I might need to reborrow the book. We'll see!

It certainly looks like Max gives this book his seal of approval

Polish Honey Cake (Belinda Jeffrey)    

¼ cup (20g) flaked almonds
400g unsalted butter
1 cup (350g) honey, plus extra to drizzle
1 firmly packed cup (200g) brown sugar
3 cups (450g) plain flour
1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1½ tsp ground ginger
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
300g pitted dates, roughly chopped
2-3 tsp very thinly sliced glace ginger
1 egg, lightly beaten
¼ cup (60g) sour cream
½ cup (125ml) hot black tea
2 tsp vanilla extract
Thick cream or vanilla bean ice cream to serve

Preheat oven to 160º. Grease a 25cm non-stick bundt pan well, then press almonds into base and a little up the sides.

Place butter and honey in a saucepan over low heat, stirring, until the butter has melted. Stir in brown sugar.

Meanwhile, combine flour, soda, ground ginger and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add dates and glace ginger and toss to coat.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, sour cream, hot tea and vanilla, then whisk the egg mixture into the melted butter mixture.

Make a well in the centre of flour and pour in butter mixture. Lightly whisk to a loose batter, then pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then invert onto the rack and cool completely.

Slice and serve drizzled with extra honey, with cream or ice cream.

Weekly meals

Saturday -  Takeaway

Sunday -  Out for dinner

Monday - Smoky pork chops with mash, broccoli and gravy

Tuesday - Steak with roasted baby potatoes

Wednesday - Pork Nachos

Thursday - Out for dinner

Friday - Chicken Friccasee

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: RecipeTin Eats: Dinner by Nagi Maehashi

I am not quite sure how, but I wasn't familiar with Nagi Maehashi's website RecipeTin Eats until this book was chosen as the book of the month for the Lambs Ear Cookbook Club a few months ago. I must have been living under a rock or something!

Whenever there is a new cookbook announced for the cookbook clubs I am in, I try to borrow it from the library which is what I did with this one. We picked this book up from the library and I was flicking through it in the car. By the time we got home, my husband said we need to buy this book. And he was driving!

I love the way that this cookbook is put together. For each recipe,  you obviously have ingredients and instructions on how to make the dish. In addition there is an introduction for each recipe as to why you should cook it and also notes which might be substitution suggestions, or cooking tips, and every recipe has a tip regarding leftovers. In addition, each recipe includes a QR code which you can scan and it will take you to the RecipeTin Eats blog where you will find more hints and tips including videos.

The book is broken into a number of chapters which are Everyday Food, Effortless, Stir-Fries and Noodles, What I Do with a Piece of..., Pasta and Cosy Food, Meal-worthy Salads, Mexican Food, Asian Bites and Soups, Bigger Things, Sweet Endings and Everything Else You Need.

There are just so many clever features. For example in the What I Do with a Piece of .... chapter  she takes a protein and then talks about what she would do with it. Another example is in the sweet section, there are recipes for chocolate cakes, vanilla cake and numerous other desserts, but there is also a double page spread where there are 10 different variations of buttercream frosting. In the stir fry section, she shares her formula for a good stir fry as well as her go to stir fry sauce and in the Mexican chapter there are a number of essential sauces and sides included

We have tried a few recipes so far but there are so many more that we want to try. Somewhat strangely most of the ones that we have tried are for chicken. Here's what we have tried so far:

Butter Chicken

Chorizo Potato Stew-Soup

Pad See Ew

Juiciest, Easiest Roast Chicken Ever



The most recent recipe that we tried was Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta Bake which was delicious the first night we made it and still delicious when it was reheated! I am planning to make it again this weekend! The kids are coming for lunch on Sunday to see my husband who had surgery this week, so this is what I will be cooking. 

If you were to scan the QR code in the cookbook for this recipe, it takes you to this page where you can watch the video associated with the recipe. I was pretty happy with how it turned out!

There is one thing that I absolutely love about this cookbook and it is nothing to do with the recipes. It is that at the back of the book, each team member who worked on the book is acknowledged, but it isn't just a list of names but rather there is a photo for each of them. It's a simple touch but so lovely.

And, of course, there's Dozer, the author's Golden Retriever who is the official taste tester! Adorable.

I am not the only one who has loved this book I am sure. After all, it made the New York Times bestseller list and won both Book of the Year and Illustrated Book of the Year at the recent Australian Book Industry Awards.

I think it is pretty obvious that I am loving cooking from the book! And I am now following her on Facebook so that I can see new recipes that come out. I sure hope she is going to publish another cookbook because I won't worry about borrowing it from the library first. That is one cookbook that will be pre-ordered!

Weekly meals

Saturday -  

Sunday -  

Monday - Creamy tuscan Chicken Bake

Tuesday - Creamy Tuscan Chicken bake

Wednesday - Pulled pork and mash

Thursday - Honey chicken and rice

Friday - Steamed fish, rice and veggie

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: In which I borrow far too many cookbooks from the library

A couple of months ago I mentioned that I had recently learned that Jamie Oliver had a cookbook club. And after that I learned about an Australian cookbook club as well called the Lambs Ear Cookbook Club. The reason why I joined the second one was to get to know about the Australian cookbooks that are being released.

I enjoy buying new cookbooks as much as the next person, but two monthly cookbook clubs does mean two new cookbooks every month. If you aren't sure you are going to cook from them, that is not only pricey but takes up space on the bookshelf too! So, where possible,  I am trying to borrow the books from the library. The only problem with that is sometimes the books take so long to come in that the month is over. I am finding that when I have the cookbook during the month, it is easier to find things to cook out of them as everyone is excitedly posting what they have made.

Today I am going to share the cookbooks that I currently have out from the library. 

More Fish More Veg by Tom Walton - I know that we should eat a lot more fish than we do, and should be way more adventurous with vegetables than we are.  The reality is that of the three of us who live in this house, I am the one who likes fish the most. And vegetables for that matter.

I have, however,  convinced Robert to try at least a couple of the fish dishes before I return the book to the library. 

There are also a couple of interesting vegetable dishes, which look impressive because of the way that they are served. One is a roasted pumpkin which is halved that you then pile a jeweled rice on top of. 

One thing I really like about this book is at the bottom of a lot of a button, there is a section which says this recipe goes well with which is a nice touch

One of the cool things about these kind of cookbook clubs is that the choices cover a variety of cuisines. This month's book for the Lamb's Ears Cookbook Club is Salamati: Hamed's Persian Kitchen by Hamed Allenyari with Dani Valent.

A lot of people are enjoying the section of omelettes, and I was skimming through there was a recipe for a tomato omelette that caught my eye.

There are a lot of authentic Persian recipes in the book, but there are also a lot where the author has given non traditional recipe a Persian twist.

One of the things I like from this book is that for various  seasons and special occasions there is a suggestion for a feast and it tells you which dishes complement each other. I also like that the food is so colourful and that each recipe has a little story about his memories or why he chose it.

Interestingly, there is a rice pudding dish with roasted rhubarb that Hamed worked on with Julia Busittil Nishimura, whose book is below.

I really like looking at this book and I would like to own it, but I am not sure how much we would actually cook out of it.

At the bottom of the pile of books in the photo above you may be able to notice that there is a magazine. In addition to the monthly cookbook, they have an annual option and this year it is about cooking from Delicious magazine, so I just grabbed one from the library on a whim.

Around the Table by Julia Busuttil Nishimura was another selection from Lambs' Ears cookbook and I think this is one that I am definitely going to buy.

This book had me at hello, by which I mean that I opened the book to the first recipe and it was for something that I had been thinking that I want to make!  

It is an interesting mix of predominantly Italian and Japanese recipes, but there are other influences throughout the book.

A couple of the recipes that caught my attention were the Summer Nectarine and Raspbery trifle,  a Pear & Polenta Torte and a Lemon Mascarpone Tart.

The final cookbook for this post is, unsurprisingly, from the Jamie Oliver Cookbook club - One: Simple One Pan Wonders by Jamie Oliver

This is Jamie Oliver's 26th cookbook. It makes me wonder how easy it is for him to come up with new concepts for each book. In this book, the idea is that you only use one pot, one casserole dish, one baking tray to cook with. 

Most of the recipes are are relatively simple, with not too many ingredients and use some store bought ingredients rather than making everything from scratch.

There are some interesting ideas here. There is a whole chapter on Frying Pan Pasta where you use fresh lasagne sheets as the pasta base, therefore meaning that you don't need to boil the pasta separately and then add to the rest of the ingredients

There is another chapter on the Joy of Eggs which has a few different versions of Shakshuka.

One recipe that I am definitely going to try before returning this book is a Baked Lemon Cheesecake which is made in an ovenproof frying pan. 

The current choice for the JO Cookbook Club is Hopper by Karan Gokan which is Sri Lankan food. I can't get this book from either of my libraries and I still haven't quite decided if I want to buy it. I am definitely interested in going to a Sri Lankan restaurant to try hoppers, which I had never heard of before this.

I wouldn't mind owning this book but of these four books, if I can only buy one, it would Around the Table. Of course, there's nothing to say that I am only allowed to buy just one!

I have bought one cookbook which I absolutely love cooking from which I will post about in the coming weeks.

Oh, and if you are wondering about the book on the top of my artistically photographed pile of books, it is a foodie related novel that I grabbed on a whim on my way out of the library. I mean, I borrowed it, I just didn't walk out the door with it. Now to find time to read it.

Weekly meals

Saturday - 

Sunday -  

Monday - Meatballs with mozzarella

Tuesday - Out for dinner

Wednesday - Out for dinner

Thursday - Cheese and crackers

Friday - Cumin cheese on toast

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page