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.