Tuscan pine nut cake

I was having a dinner the other evening for a few neighbourhood friends and in anticipation of our trip to Sienna this fall I decided on Tuscany as a theme.  I found this recipe on yummly.com It was from a food blog called Jul's kitchen, Recipes and stories from Tuscany. This is a blog I think I will be returning to. I also made it for Easter dinner as there was something about it that reminded me of Easter, maybe all the eggs, and it was very very good.

• 180 g of butter at room temperature
• 150 g of sugar
• 3  eggs
• 180 g of  flour
• 10 g of baking powder
• 1 handful of shelled pine nuts

For the custard:

• 3  egg yolks
• 4 tablespoons  flour
• 500 ml of  milk
• 2 tablespoons of raisins, soaked in Vinsanto, Tuscan sweet wine or sherry

Make the custard first as it needs to be cool when you add it to the cake. Heat the milk in a saucepan until it starts to simmer, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and flour, then pour in the hot milk in slowly whisking continuously with a whisk. Put the custard on a low flame and stir constantly until it begins to thicken: remove it from the heat, add the raisins and let it cool. I did not have a raisons or vinosanto unfortunately, so I used dried cranberries soaked in sherry and it worked just fine.

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Whip the butter at room temperature with the sugar for a few minutes until it becomes creamy and light. Add the eggs gradually, one after the other, waiting for the first to be completely mixed before adding the second. Stir in the flour sifted with the baking powder.

Grease and flour a 23 cm wide spring form pan

Separate the dough into two equal parts put half the batter into the prepared tin and level the batter off.

Spread the cold custard over it.

Roasted chicken with fennel and pasta

This is a dish that I made while up at Whistler to feed the returning skiers. I wanted to make something that did not require me do a lot of cooking near serving time, using few dishes and I was presented with a lovely free range chicken as my main ingredient. For the most part I was trying to use what I found in the fridge, which was fairly well stocked.

To feed 4

1 whole chicken cut up or equivalent in pieces
1 fennel bulb sliced
1 onion chopped
4 cloves of garlic peeled and sliced
2 cups of grape tomatoes or you could use large ones sliced
1 cup of pitted olives.
3 table spoons of olive oil
4 cups of dried penne pasta
1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
1 bucket of baby arugula
juice of 1 lemon

Put the fennel onion and garlic in large shallow roasting tin.  Place the chicken pieces on top and scatter over the tomatoes and olives, then drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive and salt and pepper.

Place in a 400 oven for about 45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and crispy golden.

Chicken cacciatora

I believe I got my love of food from my father, though he never really cooked, getting good food was always important.  Today he sends me recipes that he sees on the Internet that he thinks I will be interested in.  I take this as a request for me to cook it for him, and so being the dutiful daughter I made the chicken cacciatora recipe from The Guardian newspaper that he had emailed me recently. Though of course I changed it a little, I just can't help myself, I get that from my mother!

2 tbsp olive oil
4 chicken legs, divided into thighs and drumsticks (skin removed if desired)
1/2 heads of garlic, cloves cut in half
1 small onion chopped
Small bunch of rosemary
1 carrot, peeled and diced
Half a glass of white wine
250ml decent chicken stock
1/2 quart home canned tomatoes or small can of chopped tomatoes

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based casserole dish over a medium-high heat. Fry the chicken in batches until golden brown on all sides.

Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. Fry the garlic, onion, rosemary and carrot, with a little more oil if necessary, for a few minutes until slightly golden.

Ruby lake resort

Over 20 years ago, my husband and then two small sons were going for a week on Texada Island along with my parents and were looking for a place to stop along the way.  We saw a sign for Ruby Lake Resort and so we stopped in.  It turns out that it had recently been bought by a family from Italy and they were serving authentic trattoria style Italian food right here on the Sunshine Coast. It was such an amazing surprise, and it was the first time my very picky eldest son tried eating something other than bread or pasta no sauce (penne with gorgonzola sauce).

We have been coming here ever since and the chef even catered my 50th birthday at my friends cabin in Pender Harbour. And from that gorgonzola sauce my son has moved on to be quite a discerning diner.  After an afternoon of swimming in Ruby lake we decided to treat ours selves with an early dinner there before taking the ferry home.

Ruby Lake

It was an extremely hot day and the shaded patio looked very inviting.

They grow their own herbs, gather wild mushrooms and generally try to serve local fresh and in season.  In fact while we were ordering the "free range chicken" wandered by.

To start we ordered The ocean wise seafood platter wild prawns, local clams, mussels, and scallops steamed in white wine-Pomodoro sauce, garlic, and Italian herbs which was served with bread for sopping up the delicious juices.

This was absolutely delicious and a very good way to start a meal.

Eggplant lasagna

Actually this is kind of a cross between lasagna and eggplant Parmesan.  I had two small eggplants that I wanted to use as a side dish to go with my rosemary lemon garlic barbecued chicken and so I came up with this.

Feeds 6 as a side dish, but probably only 3 if this was your main dish.

2 small or 1 large eggplant sliced in 1/4 inch thick slices
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 cup of fresh ricotta cheese
1 jar of canned tomato puree
1/4 cup of bread crumbs
1/2 cup of grated  Parmesan

Brush the eggplant with olive oil and lay the slices on a preheated barbecue or you could grill them in the oven on a roasting tin. Cook on both sides until they are cooked through and are a little charred

Rosemary, lemon, garlic barbecued chicken

It is only the end of March, but we are enjoying summer like weather and it is a 4 day weekend, it does not get much better than that.  Friends had just arrived home from a trip to Rome and we invited them over for kind of Italian meal on the deck.

I had some chicken legs in my freezer from Hopcott's and as it was such a beautiful day, I decided to break out the barbecue for the first time in 2013.  This I am afraid required quite a bit of cleaning as there had been critters under that cover!

Feeds 6

6 chicken legs cut in half
1 lemon cut in half
4 cloves of garlic sliced very thinly
2 sprigs of Rosemary with the leaves pulled off
4 tablespoons of olive oil
salt and pepper

Place the chicken in a container to marinate and squeeze the juice out of one half of the lemon and cut the remaining half in to small pieces.  Add the lemon juice, lemon pieces and the remaining ingredients and marinate the chicken.

Easy home made cranberry pork Italian sausage

I have always thought to myself when presented with a new situation, or skill to perform "I can do that, how hard can it be?" When I was 16, and working on the weekends in a store selling sewing supplies, a customer came in and asked if I could recommend a seamstress to sew a dress with the supplies that she had bought.  "I can do that for you" I said. Now I had never made any clothes before, but she took me at my word and using the pattern, (and I expect help from my Mother who was a very god seamstress) I delivered the made dress.  So when presented with the fact that I could not get to my favourite sausage store to buy sausages for New Years I thought "how hard can making sausages be?"

Well in fact a lot easier than making a dress for the first time.  I do not have a sausage stuffing machine, but I was making sausages to go inside a sausage roll, so I did not need to stuff them. I also do not have a meat grinder, so I bought ground pork instead of grinding it myself.

I did a little research on sausage ingredients and found that the ratio of salt to meat is important for a sausage, and the addition of fennel seed is important for an Italian sausage.

2lb ground pork
1teaspoons of salt
1 tablespoon of fennel seed.your blender to grind them up, or do it manually in a mortar and pestle.
11/2 tablespoons sweet paprika
1tablespoon of  finely minced fresh garlic
1/4 cup of dried cranberries (optional)
1tablespoon of black pepper
1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes

I ground my fennel seeds in a pestle and mortar, but you could also use a spice grinder.

Roasted Vegetables lasagna

I was cooking a couple of items for a colleague at work for her husbands birthday.  She could probably have done this herself, but with me taking the main courses, she could throw together some salads and decorate and hit the party rested and relaxed.  The food theme was to be Italian, so I made a couple of dishes of pasta al forno ready to put in the oven 30 minutes before dinner I also made a vegetarian lasagna using roasted vegetables.

I am not a big lasagna or even pasta eater myself, but it is a favourite in my family.  Having said that I do like roasted vegetable lasagna better than the regular meat version, and so this is what I made as a vegetarian option for their dinner.

1 Asian eggplant sliced, you could use a regular one, but I prefer the mildness of the Asian type
1 zucchini sliced
3 large bell peppers or 8 small ones
1/2 fennel sliced
8 small tomatoes halved
About 1/4 cup of olive oil
Sprig of rosemary

1 cup of ricotta
3 cups of shredded mozzarella

Slice all the vegetables fairly thickly so they do not completely fall apart, and lay in a large roasting tin. Sprinkle with the rosemary salt and pepper toss and then drizzle with the olive oil.  Place in a 400 oven for about 1/2 an hour, stirring up half way through.

Pasta al forno

My husband is one of 5 siblings, who all live within an easy drive of each other, and they like to get together fairly often.  The most recent gathering was at our house for a games night (they love to play games) so with spouses and some family friends it was 12 for dinner.  I wanted to be participating in the games as well, so I decided to make this baked pasta dish that could be made ahead and thrown in the oven at the last minute. The quantities I have given are for one lasagna sized dish which would feed 6 people or 4 hungry teenage boys!

My sister in law is vegetarian so I made two dishes one with meatballs and the other without.

Meatballs
Equal quantities of ground beef and ground pork I used about a lb of each
2 garlic cloves grated or smashed
1 tablespoon of rosemary
1 bunch of fresh basil chopped
1/2 cup of fine breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper

Combine all the ingredients with your hands, there really is no other way.

Using a small ice cream scoop or spoon if you are not lucky enough to have one, portion out into balls about the size of a large walnut.  Place them on a high sided cookie sheet lined with parchment paper to stop them from sticking and to help with clean up.

A duo of crostini appetizers

For our Italian dinner last week we decided to make two different crostini as an appetizer.  These were both ideas that I had seen at some time in the last week or so, though unfortunately I do not really remember where, but I had thought they would be a good idea to try.

They were both incredibly easy and can be thrown in the oven just as your guest arrive after being prepared ahead and only take a matter of minutes to heat up.

For both crostini prepare the bread ahead, even a day if you that organized which sadly I never am.  Slice a baguette fairly thinly and lay on a cookie sheet in a 350 oven for a couple of minutes until just turning golden brown.  Then turn over and cook again for a couple of more minutes to turn the other side golden brown.  This is not the time to take the garbage out or make a phone call as they can burn very quickly and really need to be watching,  I speak from experience here as I have burnt crostini more times than a care to remember.

Balsamic caramelized onion and Parmesan cheese crostini

For enough for 12 people

2 sweet onions (or regular if you can not get them) sliced very thinly
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 spring of fresh thyme
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

Put the olive oil in a non stick pan add the onions and cook slowly for up to half an hour stirring occasionally until they start to turn golden brown.  (you could take the garbage out or phone a friend now) Add the fresh thyme and stir more often as they get darker as they can burn at this point.  When the onion is dark brown and has reduced down to about 1/4 its original size add the balsamic vinegar and stir in.  These are now ready to use and can sit around for several hours or longer in the fridge until you are ready to put them together.

About an hour before you are ready to cook them place a little onion on each crostini and top with a piece of shaved Parmesan, I used a potato peeler to to shave the Parmesan.

Pork braised in milk Italian style

I saw this dish on a Jamie Oliver show several years ago, and when my friend from England who I have been cooking with since we were about 12, decided to cook an Italian meal we decided to try this.

We were having 14 friends over for dinner so we had to cook 2 pork loins and this served 14 with meat left over for a couple of care packages and dinner on Monday night.

2 pork loins
2 tablespoons of olive oil
A large handful of fresh sage
4 cloves of garlic sliced
4 cups of milk
grated rind from 2 lemons
juice of 2 lemons.

Brown the pork loins in olive oil on all sides.

Cassa Fabesso - A Port Moody treasure

I had heard of Casa Fabesso last summer when a friend of mine told me about this very authentic Italian Restaurant down at Reed Port Marina just off the Barnet Highway. But I had not got around to going and my Father had been saying that he was interested in going, so last week in the last throws of Summer the two of decided to go try it out.

We were greeted by Anna and shown to our table, we had declared at the time of booking that we would have the seafood dinner and seafood we had.  There are no menus and each course arrives with a quick explanation by Anna, but I did not feel that I was being talked down to, like I sometimes do in these circumstances.  The first course was bruschetta topped with a home cleaned and preserved anchovy.

Bruschetta

This was just a couple of bites, but it was delicious and there were many more courses to come.  The next dish was perhaps my favourite tuna carpaccio.

Tuna carpaccio

We got a thin slice of tuna served with a wonderful fresh citrus dressing it was every bit as good as the tuna carpaccio I had in Sorrento last November.  Both of us loved this dish so simple but so fresh and good.

Pesto grilled chicken and Caprese salad

I was having some good friends over for dinner on Friday night after work, I only had about 1/2 hour prep time and I am trying to eat low fat so what  could I cook? On Thursday on the the way home I stopped in to "The Red Apple" on Hastings for inspiration, and they had wonderful fresh boccoccini, so I decided on Italian.

They also had some wonderful looking local new potatoes and tomatoes on the vine and had some chicken breasts in the freezer. Obviously I had to make caprese salad slices of tomato layered with the cheese sprinkled with salt, pepper a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I served this on a dish that I had bought in Capri last year which had caprese salad on one end rather cute.  I love buying serving dishes when I travel they make the best souvenirs, though I think I really should not buy any more I have run out of storage.

While we were sitting on the deck enjoying a pre dinner glass of wine we had hummus and carrot sticks, again with the healthy low fat food.  I served hummus in an adorable little pig dish I bought in Seattle last year.

How could you resist this little pig

I defrosted the chicken during the day while I was at work and then marinaded them in a form of pesto.

To feed 4

Large bunch of basil
3 garlic cloves
Juice of one lemon
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of hot pepper flakes
1 teaspoon of salt
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

daring cooks challenge - home made pasta

Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks' July hostess.  Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine.  She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!

I had just returned from Italy and there was a dish that we had in a restaurant on the last night in Florence pappardella with wild boar sauce, that I really wanted to recreate so it was a challenge made in Heaven.

pappardelle with "wild boar" ragu

Ok I didn't find any wild Boar on the Sunshine Coast, but at the Oak tree Market I did find some really good fairly lean pork shoulder.

You really want pork shoulder or some other tougher kind of pork with some marbeling as if it is too lean it will not fall apart and shred as it should, on the other hand you do not want gobs of fat in it.

2 tablespoons  olive oil
1 pound cubed wild boar, may substitute pork shoulder, if desired
1  diced onion
4 diced carrots
2 stalks of celery chopped
2 garlic cloves sliced
1 small can of crushed tomatoes
1/2 bottle of  red wine
1 bay leaf
1 sprig rosemary
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig sage

Home made cheese - Queso Fresco

I read about this method of making cheese a little while ago and I have been dying to have a go.  It is the same method (and in fact the same cheese as ricotta) Saturday we were having some friends over for dinner and I decided to use this home made cheese in an Italian inspired salad which was a combination of several recipes.

Salad with Queso Fresco

Don't be put off by the idea of making cheese, it was incredibly easy, made with ingredients that are probably in your kitchen at all times and the results were well worth it.

4 litres of milk (I used whole milk)
Juice of two lemons
1 teaspoon of salt.

Pour the milk into a large stainless steel or enameled pot such as le cruiset. Heat slowly stirring often until the milk is just about to come to a boil.  This is 195 degrees, but as I could not find a candy thermometer (possible because I don't own one) I just watched until the bubbles around the edge of the pot started to increase and get larger.  Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice, stir in and let stand for a 5 minutes.  The milk should start to separate in to curds and whey, mine did not, so I put the heat on again and after a couple of minutes it separated beautifully.  I guess I need to get a candy thermometer.

Separated milk

Roast parmesan fennel

As I think I may have said before fennel is a vegetable that I think is much underused.  This method of cooking it is trying to replicate how I had it cooked in Italy a couple of years ago and is now a regular accompaniment to our Sunday dinner.

Very simple like a lot of Italian food it all depends on good ingredients.

1 medium fennel bulb sliced
1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmesan
3 tablespoons of good fruity olive oil
Juice of one lemon.

Cut the top of the fennel bulb

Decapitated fennel bulb

Roasted vegetables

Roast vegetables is a an old standby of mine that I cook on a very regular basis, in the winter they go well roasted in the oven along with a roast meat or poultry of any kind, and in the summer they are a regular on my barbecue.

My favourite vegetables to roast are Bell peppers, eggplant, onions, zucchini, fennel, mushrooms.

Baked cheesy spaghetti

This a recipe that is based on one from one of  my favourite cook books by John Hadamuscin I have changed it a little over the years but it remains a favourite.  This is a good dish to make ahead when you want to come home and have a good hearty dinner in the oven in a matter of minutes.  Or to take away to the cottage for the weekend for that first dinner on Friday night when you arrive late. Just throw in the oven  and by the time you have unpacked and poured your first drink it will be ready.

This is cheating a little but make the same sauce as for Italian sausage week night pasta Or you could use any tomato sauce or even a jar of pasta sauce if you were desperate.

baby artichokes vinaigrette

I found some baby artichokes the other day at the Red Apple on Hastings and had to get them as I don't often find them especially at this time of year.  I served it as a side dish to go with my Italian Pot roast as it is an Italian dish, but in the summer I have often used it as part of buffet of salads.

Fresh artichokes can be a little intimidating if you have never dealt with them before, but actually these baby ones are easier than the large ones.

First slice them in half top to bottom and then cut the tops and bottoms off, slicing the top off just before it gets to the thickest part of the artichoke.

Comfort food - Italian pot roast

Sunday night we had 8 for dinner, it had been another cool crisp day, and my husband had been snow shoeing with a friend and his brother. I felt we needed something warming and slow cooked.  In the freezer I had a blade roast that needed to be used so I decided to to make pot roast, to mix it up a little I used some Italian flavours and called it Italian pot Roast.

• 1 medium boneless pot roast
• 2 large garlic cloves cut in to slivers
• 2 large garlic cloves sliced
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary (or a tablespoon dried)
• 1 cup of red wine  (you can drink the rest)
• large can of crushed tomatoes (Good Italian ones work best)
• Handful of chopped parsley for garnish.