Tuscan style octopus salad

Last weekend we took a trip to lakes entrance for the day with my cousin. We found a lovely fresh seafood shop that sold fresh octopus ::

After clean and gutting the octopus I put it in a simple stock of carrot, onion, parsley and pepper corns and simmered it for an hour and a half.

I cooked some potatoes and served the octopus with some fresh parsley, chilli, Sicilian olives, spanish onion and some lemon and olive oil. Yum!

Quinoa Salad

Dressing

• 1 cup orange juice, reduced by half and let cool
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• pinch of cumin 
• zest of 1 orange

Combined  the juice, cumin and rind and slowly pour in the olive oil while wisking. Season to taste.

Salad

• 1 cup white quinoa
• handful of mixed herbs- Mint, basil, Italian parsley, coriander
• 1/2 cup sultanas or raisins
• 1/2 a diced Spanish onion
• segment of one orange 
• small bunch of rocket leaves, torn. 
• seeds of 1/2 pomegranate
• 1/4 flaked almonds
• 1 tsp cumin
• pinch sea salt

Cook the quinoa with 3 cups of water for 15 minute.
Roast the almonds with the cumin and sea salt with a light spray of canola oil.
Let the quinoa cool slightly and combined all ingredients together and toss with orange dressing.
 

My favourite part of this salad is the sweetness of the sultanas with the herbs and crunchy cumin roasted almonds.
I made this for myself for lunch while Michael wasn't home because he hates everything that I've used to make this salad! It's also very, very healthy.

Erica.

Chocolate & Mandarin Brownies

Recipe

• 250g dark chocolate
• 1/2 cup castor sugar
• 2/3 cup cocoa
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 4 eggs beaten
• 250g melted butter
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups mandarin jam  

Preheat oven to 140°C.

Melt the chocolate with the butter.

Sift together into a bowl the flour, cocoa & baking powder.

Whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract.

Stir together the chocolate mixture with the egg mixture then add the flour along with 1 cup of mandarin jam and stir until combined.

Pour the mixture into a lined 22cm square tin and bake for 45 minutes.

Serve warm with remaining mandarin jam.

Mandarin Jam

 Recipe

• 10 mandarins
• 250g castor sugar

Peel and segment the mandarins and cook over a medium heat until the fruit is very soft.

Add the castor sugar and stir until its completely dissolved.

Cook until the jam is thick. 

Let cool and store in a sterile glass jar in the fridge.

I've been given lots of fruit and vegetables this last week- pomegranates, pumpkins, grapes and mandarins.
I plan on baking beautiful chocolate brownie that needs this mandarin jam.

Erica.

The cook & the chef

Michael's parents are staying with us from Tassie so my Mother In-law, Lorraine and I whipped up a beautiful sponge cake for morning tea to test out my new Kitchenaid.
Apart from making lamingtons I had not made a proper sponge cake before so Lorraine showed me, the chef , how to make one. 

whipping the eggs

We used a Women's weekly Perfect sponge cake recipe and filled it with freshly whipped cream and raspberry jam.

It didn't last very long and was enjoyed by all.
I need to buy another tin so I can bake two halves at the same time, we cheated by cutting the one in half. (it still worked)

Erica.

Rock Cakes

Its a wet, cold morning here in Mildura and I have just washed all my new fabric so there will be no sewing today so its a perfect time to bake a quick batch of rock cakes before I go to work.

I really love sultanas so my favourite biscuits are Rock Cakes. My Grandma always has them in her biscuit container in her kitchen which I raid every visit.

Recipe

• 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 115g unsalted butter
• 1 cup sultana
• 75g caster sugar
• 2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Place flour and baking powder into a large bowl, then rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Stir in fruit, sugar and zest. Add eggs, stirring together, until combined.
Place a small tablespoon sized mould on a greased baking tray, leaving space for spreading between each one.
Bake for 15 minutes or until golden. Let cool


Erica.

Miso eggplant

I have eggplant coming out of my ears in my veggie garden at the moment so I can try a few different recipes that I've wanted to try.

There is a delicious miso eggplant on the menu at my favourite Japanese restaurant, Akita -in North Melbourne, we go there for shabu shabu but this is another yummy dish they have, so I had a go at making it myself at home, it was very easy and tasted delicious.

RECIPE

• 2 tbs mirin
• 2 tbs white wine
• 4 tbs white miso
• 3 tbs sugar
• 2 eggplants
• 2 tbs sesame oil
• 1 tbs toasted sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 180 °C
Slice the eggplant in half, place on a lined baking tray and brush the cut side with sesame oil, bake for 15 minutes turning the eggplant half way through to cook evenly.
In a small saucepan place the mirin, wine, miso and sugar. Simmer until sugar and miso dissolve.
Spoon miso sauce onto the cut side of the cooked eggplant and bake for one minute or until the sauce starts to bubble. Serve with the toasted sesame seeds and some sliced spring onion.

Nasu Dengaku (Japanese eggplant with miso)

 Erica.

Culture night - Vietnam

Last night we had our friends over for our first "culture night @ the O'Keeffe's ", an idea we came up with on our honeymoon to invite our friends over for dinner and visit a different country each time, lastnight it was Vietnam.

On the menu we had:

• Rice paper spring rolls
• Fried tofu in tomato sauce 
• Pork belly with pickled beansprouts 
• Cocoanut rice pudding with caramelized pineapple

 

Vietnamese vegetarian rice-paper spring rolls

Fried tofu in tomato sauce

Vietnamese inspired pork belly with caramel fish sauce glaze and pickled bean sprouts

Cocoanut rice pudding with pineapple

Vietnamese is one of my favourite cuisines, That and Japanese!
My husband fell in love with Tofu in tomato sauce while we were in Vietnam, which is surprising because he isn't usually that keen on tofu and vegetarian dishes.
My favourite dish of the night was the pork belly, the crackle was crisp and the pork was juicy and the sauce was full of flavour. I have been wanting to have a go at cooking pork belly at home for a while and this one was a success!!

Next culture night I think we will visit Italy..

Erica.

home baking- banana bread

My house smells amazing after baking a beautiful loaf of banana bread!

 Recipe

3-4 over ripe bananas
2 eggs
1 cup castor sugar
130g soft unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla essence 
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
                                                                 
Combine all five of the first ingredients in to the kitchenaid and beat them for approx 2 minutes (my bananas were so ripe that they mixed in with all the ingredients)
Gently fold through the flour along with the baking powder. (I am to lazy to sift the flour).
Line a loaf tin with baking paper and bake on 180 °C for approx 50 minutes.

It would also be really yummy with a cup of walnuts or chocolate chips mixed through.

The best way to eat it; straight out of the oven with loads of soft butter and a cuppa tea.

Erica.