Tiramisu

I like to make people birthday meals, or at the very least, birthday desserts.  I ask people what their favorite dessert is, and then offer to make it.  Twice I've even been challenged to make up a whole new dessert for the occasion.  I'm surprised how little I'm asked for old standbys like chocolate cake.  I've even been asked for Tres Leches cake by two different people.  This was the first time I was asked to make Tiramisu, although I've asked for it for my birthday before.  It's been a long time since I'd made one, and I had forgotten how simple it was.  It doesn't even require any baking.  Honestly, the hardest part is tracking down the ingredients, so I thought I'd give a few tips for where to start hunting.  

Marsala wine isn't going to be in your supermarket wine aisle; you'll have to go to Total Wine or World Market or someplace similar that has more wine to choose from.  Sponge fingers or lady fingers can be found at Harris Teeter or other nice grocery stores, and often in the bakery section even though they are a prepacked cookie.  The first time I made tiramisu because it called for espresso I actually went and bought several espresso shots at a coffeehouse.  I didn't drink coffee at the time and was sort of stymied what do at home.  You really just need to brew a strong pot of coffee, and you'll be fine.  Marscapone cheese is usually in that fancy deli cheese refrigerator case, and I've found it at several stores, but be prepared to pay at least $4 for a tub of it.  In a pinch, you can substitute cream cheese.  Once you've assembled the ingredients, it's pretty fast.

2 cups strong black coffee

1/2 cup marsala
3 eggs, separated
1/3 cup sugar
8oz mascarpone cheese
1 cup cream, lightly whipped
1 large packet of sponge fingers (savoiardi)
unsweetened cocoa, for dusting

Pour coffee and marsala into a shallow dish. Set aside.

Beat egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl with electric beaters until pale and thick. Add the mascarpone and whipped cream, mixing gently until just combined.

Beat egg whites in a medium bowl with electric beaters until soft peaks form. Using a large metal spoon, gently fold egg whites into the mascarpone mixture.

Dip enough sponge fingers into the coffee mixture to cover the base of a 8 inch square ceramic dish. Cover the biscuits with one-third of the mascarpone mixture. Repeat layers 2 times, ending with the cream. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Dust generously with cocoa and serve.

Cilantro and Sweet Chili Shrimp

Or as it was originally called, coriander and sweet chili prawns.  Fort those of you who might not already know this, cilantro is the leaves of the coriander plant, so coriander the spice and cilantro come from the same plant.  Aussies just call both coriander.  This was a very simple and yummy dish that we inhaled with much gusto.  Sweet chili sauce is in every grocery store here, even Aldi, and they use it in everything.  I'm actually kind of addicted to the sweet chili and sour cream flavored kettle chips.  At home for a long time, I could only find it at World Market, but I'm pretty sure I bought my last bottle at Walmart.  I think the only brand they sell at home is Mae Ploy, which is sort of The brand of chili sauce.  It's great for dipping egg rolls, too, sort of like sweet and sour sauce with a kick.  The first time I ever had it was with a Thai sticky rice dish that was phenomenal.  Anybody know where I can find sticky rice in the Durham area?  I haven't been able to locate it yet.

2 lbs uncooked shrimp, peeled, deveined, and the tails off

1/2 cup teriyaki sauce

1/2 cup sweet chili sauce

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

juice of 1 lemon or lime

1 tablespoon chopped mint

2 tablespoons olive oil or melted butter

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 package (about 6-8 oz) fresh snow peas or sugar snap peas, any strings or tough parts removed (Trader Joe's is a good place for this) 

Place shrimp in a bowl.  Add sauces, cilantro, juice, mint, butter/oil, and garlic, tossing well.  Allow to marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.  

Heat a frying pan or wok on high heat.  Add shrimp with marinade and peas.  Cook for about 3-5 minutes until shrimp curls up and turns pink.  

This would probably be excellent over rice or an Asian noodle of your choice, but we just ate it plain.  It has lots of extra sauce/juice that would flavor the rice/noodles.

Vegetables Vegas

This recipe was originally called Confetti Vegetable Mould in an Australian cookbook, and Daniel and I both agreed that sounded disgusting.  I asked him what I should call it and he said Vegetables Vegas because it was glitzy.  He said I could also use Vegas in dishes that involved a certain amount of chance.  "Chance?" I asked, "Like what?"  He said you could call chicken tartare chicken Vegas because you were playing salmonella roulette.  My husband is so funny.

I felt like I was taking a chance on this recipe because I don't like cauliflower, and it calls for a whole head of it.  I have to admit, it was really good.  This one will definitely be made again.  A tip, if you have a food processor, use the shredding disc on the carrot and zucchini and this will go very quickly.

1.4 lbs cauliflower (one large head) stems removed and cut into smaller florets

10 oz carrots, grated (about 3-4)

10 oz zucchini, grated (about 2 medium)

4 tablespoons smart balance

1/2 cup green onions, chopped

2 tablespoons flour

8 oz milk

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

3 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

Prehead oven to 350.  Cook cauliflower in microwave until tender (about 5 minutes).  Meanwhile, make sure to drain as much water from the grated carrots and zucchini as possible.  Melt 2 tablespoons of the smart balance in a large saucepan and saute the cauliflower, stirring and mashing, until it is quite dry and soft.  It should not brown.  Add the carrots, zucchini, and onions and cook for 4-5 more minutes.

In another saucepan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons smart balance and stir in the flour and cook 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add in the milk slowly (this is a basic roux), and whisk until the sauce boils and thickens.  Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Temper the eggs, then add them into the milk mixture.  Add the cheese.  Pour over the cooked vegetables and mix well.  

Cook in a greased casserole dish for 30 minutes or until firm to the touch.

Two more lettuce free salads

I get sick of lettuce salads quickly, so I am always on the look out for more salads that are a bit more unusual.  I found two more recently, a cucumber salad and another green bean salad.  The second is pretty similar to the first green bean salad I posted, but I though since I am encouraging you to experiment, this was a good example of how you could change up a recipe.

The first is a very simple cucumber salad.  I could wash a cucumber and just munch on it like a carrot stick, but as that looks a bit odd, I thought I'd go for this salad instead.

2 large English cucumbers (if you like them peeled, you can do that)

3 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup white vinegar

3 Tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons fresh dill (or 1 T of dried)

Slice up the cucumbers and sprinkle the salt over.  Let it sit for two hours (sort of like sweating an eggplant).  Then squeeze the cucumbers dry, wringing out as much water as you can.  Add the rest of the ingredients into a small bowl and whisk.  Pour over cucumbers and refrigerate overnight.  

For the original green bean salad recipe go here:  http://durhamfoodandart.blogspot.com/2011/05/three-yummy-salads.html.  This one is sweet instead of salty.

1 lb fresh green beans, trimmed and snapped into smaller pieces

2 oz pine nuts

Dressing:

1/4 cup fresh or frozen raspberries, pureed

1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar (white or red wine vinegar would work, too)

2 teaspoons whole grain mustard

pinch salt

2 teaspoons honey

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

Bring salted water to a boil and blanch green beans for 2-3 minutes then rinse in cold water.  Drain well.  Puree raspberries in food processor, then add the rest of the dressing ingredients.  Pour over green beans.  If eating immediately, add pine nuts and serve.  It actually tastes a bit better after it has set a bit, but don't put the pine nuts in until serving.  If you used fresh raspberries, you could add some to the salad, but I only had frozen on hand.

Variations on a Theme-how shrimp and stick shift driving are the same

Note:  Don't miss the cooking challenge issued at the end of this!

Recently when looking through a friend's recipe collection I was surprised to find that she had 10 recipe clippings that were all basically the same shrimp dish.  One might use oil instead of butter, or teriyaki sauce instead of soy sauce, fresh chilis instead of chili sauce, etc.  I thought to myself, why on earth did she feel the need to cut out and paste into a notebook the same recipe.  Then it occurred to me--to her they are completely different recipes.  Many cooks I know are so afraid to stray from a recipe, that if they want something slightly different, they look for a whole new recipe instead of making the variations themselves.  I was poo-pooing people's fear to experiment, but then I realized I have the same problem, but in the car, not the kitchen.

My husband has been trying to teach me stick shift for like the last 7 years.  I'd have a lesson or two, get overwhelmed, and refuse to try again.  This spring because we knew we were going to have only manual cars in Australia, I begrudgingly agreed to make a better effort.  I would shudder and die, and roll backwards and make horrible screeching sounds.  I proclaimed, "I can't do it!"  Daniel looked at me very puzzled and said, "But you are doing it."  I demanded to know what he was talking about.  "You're getting from point A to point B.  The car is moving forward; you're not hitting anything.  It's not going to be perfect right away, you just have to keep practicing, but you are doing it."  My only response was, "Oh."  By May I was able to do some of the interstate driving when we went to Indiana.  We're doing lessons now on left handed shifting while driving on the left side.  Am I perfect--Nooo way.  Do I still die a lot?  Yep.  But I'm trying to remind myself that I AM actually doing it.

The same applies to recipes.  I think I've mentioned before that my first attempts at cooking earned me the nickname Torch.  Have all my experiments turned out great--Nope.  Just a couple of months ago I tried to make up a pasta dish with what I had in the fridge and it was awful.  I dumped the whole thing in the trash.  When you first try to experiment with recipes there might be shuddering, screeching from you or your guinea pigs, and the whole thing might die on you.  I would like to point out, though, that you are are doing it.  Something was cooked, you tried something new, and you hopefully learned something to apply toward future experiments.  This is why you keep frozen pizzas handy.  If it doesn't work, you and your family aren't going to starve.  If you don't persevere, you're not going to learn how to get good at it, though.

To help walk you through the process, we're going to use a simple recipe that has nearly infinite variations you can try:  Chicken Salad.  Below is my default chicken salad recipe, which is itself a variation on what my mom used to make.

1.5 lbs of cooked chicken, diced
1 cup mayo
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 cup roughly chopped walnuts
1 cup red seedless grapes, sliced in half
1 tablespoon tarragon

Directions:  put all ingredients in a bowl and mix.  Refrigerate for at least an hour for best flavor.

Now, this is a very tasty recipe that never fails to get compliments when I serve it at showers.  I could be content with it as is, maybe just switching up the bread I serve it on--croissant to sourdough bread.  Maybe I'll get really wild and serve it over salad greens as an actual salad instead of a sandwich.  I'd be missing out on many other great chicken salads, though.

So, how are we going to mix it up?  Let's go an ingredient at a time and brainstorm.

1.  Chicken:  In this picture, I used 3 large chicken breasts that I had grilled the night before with a sprinkling of salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.  I was grilling pork chops the exact same way and knew I was going to make chicken salad the next day, so I thought as long as the grill was hot, I might as well cook the chicken, too.  At home, where I can get a rotisserie chicken at Costco for $5, I just by one of those and remove all the meat and dice it up.  When I'm really in a hurry or forgot to defrost chicken, I use premium canned white chicken.  It's doesn't taste as good, but in a pinch it works.  My mom always used to boil a whole chicken, take the meat off, and then she also had broth to make soup.

2.  Mayo:  Don't like mayo, or watching your calories?  Trying using low fat mayo, or half mayo/half fat free sour cream.  You can also use half mayo/half Greek Yogurt.  Don't like it creamy at all--use Good Seasons Italian dressing or your favorite balsamic, just enough to moisten the mixture.

3.  Celery:  Hate the stuff?  Just leave it out. Want to add a bit of licorice bite?  Chop up a fennel bulb instead.

4.  Walnuts:  Like the celery, if you don't like nuts, you can always leave them out.  Do you prefer pecans, almonds, or cashews?  Just substitute the same amount of the nut you like.

6.  Grapes:  Again, you could leave them out, but try instead diced Granny Smiths for a sort of chicken/waldorf salad.  Dried cranberries could be really good, too.  If you went for a Moroccan or Indian Curry spiced chicken salad, raisins, currants, or dates might even work.

7.  Tarragon:  My mom always used dill instead of tarragon.  You could use 2 teaspoons of curry powder for a curried chicken salad instead.  Add a little onion powder or garlic powder.

I'm issuing a cooking challenge here.  I want to see you experiment.  Here is a link to my Potato Salad Plain and Simple recipe:  http://durhamfoodandart.blogspot.com/2011/04/potato-salad-plain-and-simple.html.  I want to hear about how you changed it up.  If it was a failure, I want to hear about it; if it was a smashing success I want to hear about it.  No fair cheating and looking up other potato salad recipes, just think what you might to change, and go for it!  Take a picture if you can, and email me your story at durhamfoodandart@gmail.com and I'll update how it's going on the blog.

Orange Almond Cake with Cream

I found this on Jamie Oliver's website, and was at first skeptical because I'm not a big fan of his.  Everyone in Australia swoons over his stuff.  It is an improvement over traditional English food, but it's still English food, people.  However, this particular recipe is Middle-eastern in origin and was one he republished from someone else's cookbook.  It's from Diane Henry's Crazy Water, Pickled Lemon, so I figured it was safe.  We had a neighbor drop off a bag full of oranges, and I was looking for ways to use them.  This cake is actually excellent without the cream, but is great with it, too.  It has not much sugar at all, and no butter or oil.  Instead it uses ground almonds for the fat, which are better for you than butter.  You can either grind the almonds yourself in a coffee grinder, or just buy almond meal at the store.  I've found it with the Bob's Red Mill products before.  They seem to use it in cakes a lot more in Oz, so it's easy to find and you can buy it in bigger bags.  I would suggest storing it in the freezer like you would other nuts.

Ingredients
1 Orange
3 Eggs
1/2 cup Sugar 

1/2 cup Splenda
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1tsp Baking Powder
1 3/4 cup ground Almonds or almond meal

FOR THE CREAM
2oz Orange Marmalade
4 ½ oz Mascarpone Cheese or light cream cheese
2 Tbs Greek Yoghurt
2-3 Tbs powdered sugar
1 tsp Orange Flower Water (can be hard to find outside of a gourmet food shop, so if you can't just omit it)

Method
Put the orange unpeeled in a saucepan, cover with water and simmer for an hour.  Let cool. Cut the orange in half, remove the seeds, and purée in a food processor. You really just want the pulp and juice, not the membranes that separate the orange into sections.

2. Grease a 20cm (8in) spring-form tin or cake pan and you can line with parchment paper if your pan has a tendency to stick. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Beat the eggs and sugar together until they’re pale and thick. Fold in the flour, baking powder, almonds and orange purée. Pour into the tin and bake in oven for about an hour, or until skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Start checking it after 40 minutes, though.  My was done at 40.  Turn the cake out to cool

3. To make the cream, melt the marmalade in a small pan. Let it cool slightly, but don’t let it set, then mix it with the mascarpone and yoghurt. Add powdered sugar to taste and the orange flower water.

4. Sift powdered sugar over the cake (optional) and serve with the marmalade cream.

Throw another skippy on the barbie!

This post should probably come with a warning.  If you are a vegetarian or pregnant and the sight of raw meat makes you nauseated, you should maybe skip this post.  However, for you meat eaters out there, I'm going to show you how to make perfect steak.  I happen to be using kangaroo (called skippy here because of a Lassie-like TV show that featured Skippy the kangaroo instead of a collie), but the same method works for regular steak.

I come from a family who likes their meat well done.  That sucker better be dead, gosh darn it.  With some meats this is a wise course of action.  Who wants a medium rare chicken breast--ew.  Also, it is a good idea to cook pork all the way through.  However, I eventually decided that I like my beef on the pinker side, but always seem to cook it a bit too long.  It sometimes has a bit of pink left in the center, but more often than not I end up with well done when I'm shooting for medium or medium rare.  Well, my friend Louise from the market in Melbourne taught me how to get it right every time.  She explained why each step was important, and sadly I forget why some are, but I remember for the first time being convinced that each step was in fact important.

First step, take your meat out of the fridge and let it set on the counter for about 15 minutes before you're going to cook it.  Don't let it set there longer than that for bacteria reasons, but you want it to take the chill off.  While you are waiting, fire up your grill or pan to make sure it is good and hot.

Next, oil your meat, not the grill or pan.  You'll just smoke things up, and it actually can make things messier if you oil the grill/pan.  At this point, opinion differs somewhat.  Some will say season now, some say you shouldn't season until you've cooked the meat because the salt can make it tough.  I've never had the tough problem, but I have had the problem of feeling like the seasoning didn't penetrate the meat, so I season at this point.  If you have a good cut of meat and you're cooking it right, you really only need the oil, salt and pepper.  I often add a bit of minced garlic, too, but I'm a garlic addict.  

If you are grilling any veggies to go with the meat, give them the same oil and seasoning treatment.  I love my  meat with grilled onions and mushrooms, so I throw them on, too.  I also had some zucchini I wanted to use up, so it went on as well.

Put your heat to about medium, and place the meat on the grill.  Don't put your veggies on yet, or it they'll turn to mush before the meat's done.  Now, in the words of Louise, "Don't poke at it, don't flip it, don't time it. Wait patiently until pink juice rise to the surface of the meat, then turn it and wait for the juice to rise again."  This was the biggest key for me.  I'm a constant flipper, and I was never quite sure what I was looking for.  So, this is what your meat should look like on the top right before you flip it the first time:

I know that's sort of gross looking, but it's for educational purposes.  It should look exactly like that.  Also, at this point, if you're grilling veggies, now's the time to throw them on.  That will give them just enough time to cook while you wait for the second side of the meat to cook.  Once you've flipped it you are waiting for those red juices to come to the top again, but they are a little bit harder to spot the second time.  It's easiest to spot on the side there:

You will note that I brought the raw meat out to the grill on a white plate, and now the finished meat is on a blue plate.  Don't put the done meat back on the plate with the raw juices--not sanitary.  As soon as you get the meat on a plate, cover it tightly with foil and WAIT!  You have to let meat rest after you cook it.  This continues the cooking process and evenly distributes the heat and juices throughout the steak.  If you cut into it immediately, all those lovely juices just go right out onto the plate.   For rare, let it rest two minutes, for medium three minutes, and four for well done.  I did the three minute rest, and here's what it looked like:

It was sooo good.  I really like Roo because it's the good for you red meat.  You get all of the benefits of beef (protein, iron), but without the fat.  The veggies came out nicely too:

Obviously, most of you won't have access to kangaroo, but try it the next time you have beef.

Sticky Date Pudding

If you are following our Australia blog, you know that this was the dessert that warranted a return trip to a restaurant in Melbourne.  Not just popular there, it is all over the place in winter in Australia.  Burger King even has their own version.  Since then, I've been determined to learn how to make it and make it less fattening.  One taste was all I needed to know that it was loaded with butter and sugar.  Since there a ton of dates in it, I didn't seen the need for all the sugar.  After looking a several recipes, here's the version that I came up with.  The speed at which it disappeared I feel was a pretty good recommendation.  Again, ignore the pudding part of the name.  It's a cake.

2 cups chopped dried pitted dates

1 cup water

1 tsp baking soda

7 tablespoons smart balance or similar

1/3 cup Splenda brown sugar blend 

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 tsp baking powder

For the caramel sauce:

7 tablespoons smart balance

1/2 cup splenda brown sugar blend

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup fat free half and half or evaporated milk

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a deep 8 or 9 inch round cake pan.  Place the chopped dates and the cup of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and stir in baking soda.  Let cool for about 10 min.

Cream smart balance and Splenda brown sugar with a mixer until fluffy.  Add eggs and mix well.  Add vanilla and mix again.  

In a small bowl, whisk together baking powder and flour.  Add to butter mixture just until combined.  This is a dense cake, so it's not necessary to whip a bunch of air into it, and overmixing will just making it harder for the baking powder to do it's job.  Fold in the dates (don't drain them).  Pour into the cake pan and bake about 35 minutes.

Once the cake is done, put it on a cooling rack and make the caramel sauce.  Place all ingredients in a saucepan and melt.  Stir frequently and bring to a boil.  Let cool a bit and it will thicken up.  Serve over warm cake.  If the cake is not demolished immediately, one slice with some cold caramel sauce spooned on top, should be microwaved for about 20 seconds.  I imagine this would be even better with a little whip.  

Mushroom Lasagna

This was sooo good.  I checked out a vegetarian cookbook at the library in Hervey Bay.  It's by Charmaine Solomon, one of their celebrity chefs.  I found several recipes in there I'd like to try, so you may be seeing more posts.  I was worried it didn't have enough cheese compared to what I would normally put in a lasagna, but it was plenty creamy and flavorful.  You saute the mushrooms in butter and oil and then add sour cream, so the extra cheese wasn't necessary.  I did change the type of cheese used and added some fresh spinach because I had some I wanted to use up.  She uses tasty cheese, which is the Australian equivalent to American cheese.  It's a little bit better than American in that it at least has the texture of cheddar, but doesn't really taste that great, either, despite what the name would imply.  I also thought a cheddar like cheese was not what I wanted in a lasagna.  So, this is my version:

12 oz sliced mushrooms

6 oz baby spinach

1/4 cup butter (I used Smart Balance)

2 T olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup light sour cream

one box Barilla no boil lasagna (or whole wheat if you can find it in no boil)

15 oz reduced fat (part skim) ricotta

1 cup light mozzarella

1/3 cup shredded Parmesan

2 cups favorite jarred marinara sauce (I like Bertolli)

Melt butter with olive oil in a large skillet.  Add mushrooms and cook for a couple of minutes.  Add spinach and wilt.  Season heavily with salt and pepper and remove from heat.  Stir in the sour cream.

Grease a 9 x 13 pan.  Put a half a cup of pasta sauce in the bottom.  Top with lasagna sheets.  Layer on 1/3 ricotta, then 1/3 mushroom mixture, 1/2 cup mozzarella and 1/2 cup sauce.  Then more lasagna sheets, 1/3 of ricotta, 1/3 mushroom mixture, and the other 1/2 cup mozzarella, and 1/2 cup sauce.  Top with your last layer of lasagna sheets, last 1/3 of ricotta, last third of mushroom mixture, and last 1/2 cup sauce.  Sprinkle with 1/3 cup of Parmesan.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.     

Fish Taco with lots of Goodies

The full name for this dish was Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos with Red Cabbage Slaw, Avacado Tomato Salsa, and Pineapple Habenero Hot Sauce.  I thought that was a bit long.  This is a Bobby Flay recipe.  I almost always like his, and it combines many of his strengths:  Mexican flavors, grilled meat, and lots of color.  I found this recipe trying to find something to do with a pineapple our host had left us that was on it's last leg.  I also had some very ripe tomatoes that needed using.  I couldn't actually find any Mahi Mahi here, so I substituted Barramundi.  It's a popular relatively cheap white fish here that is somewhat similar in flavor, although I discovered I like it even better.  It comes in huge fillets.  The picture of the cooked fish is just one fillet.

This recipe involved a decent amount of prep.  It wasn't difficult, and if you have a food processor, it won't take you as long as it did me, or a sous chef you can draft for chopping.  It was well worth the effort though.  I will definitely be making it again.  Also, if you have some of the slaw leftover it is good on sandwiches--gives it a tangy crunch.  Make your citrus vinaigrette first, then the pineapple hot sauce, then the slaw, and finally the salsa so your avocados don't brown too much.


Ingredients
• 4 (8-ounce) mahi mahi fillets
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Citrus Vinaigrette, recipe follows
• 8 (6-inch) flour tortillas (we used whole grain larger ones)
• Red Cabbage Slaw, recipe follows
• Tomato and Avocado Salsa, recipe follows
• Pineapple hot sauce, store bought or recipe follows, for drizzling


Citrus Vinaigrette (not pictured alone, but is on the fish):
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 heaping tablespoon honey
• 1/2 cup canola oil
Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend for 1 minute.

Charred Pineapple-Habanero Hot Sauce:

• 1 ripe pineapple, preferably Golden pineapple 

• 2 tablespoons canola oil 

• 1 large Spanish onion, coarsely chopped 

• 1 container frozen pineapple puree, thawed 

• 2 habanero chiles, chopped 

• 1 cup rice wine vinegar 

• Salt and pepper 

• Honey to taste

Peel and core the pineapple.  Slice it and then grill the slices until nice and golden with grill marks.  This step isn't absolutely necessary, but it improves the flavor.  Place the rest of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree.  I couldn't find the pineapple puree, so I just left it out and it was fine.  It make a ton (around a quart).

Red Cabbage Slaw:

• 1/4 cup rice vinegar 

• 1 tablespoon sugar 

• 2 tablespoons canola oil 

• 1/4 head red cabbage, finely shredded 

• 1 large carrot, cut into fine julienne 

• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves 

• Salt and pepper 

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. 

Tomato and Avocado Salsa:
• 4 plum tomatoes, chopped
• 2 ripe Hass avocados, peeled, pitted and diced
• 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 serrano chile, finely diced
• 1 to 2 limes, juiced
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 to 2 teaspoons honey
• 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Gently combine all ingredients in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Directions:  Preheat grill. Brush fillets with oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill for 3 to 4 minutes per side. This can be done on a griddle for less mess and fewer pieces of fish falling through your grate.  Then you also have it hot for heating up the tortillas.  Remove from grill and drizzle with some of the Citrus Vinaigrette. Let rest 5 minutes and then flake with a fork. This made fantastic fish that was really good on it's own, and I will probably make just by itself sometime instead of putting it in tacos.

Fill each tortilla with some of the mahi, top with the Red Cabbage Slaw, Tomato and Avocado Salsa, and drizzle with Charred Pineapple-habanero Hot Sauce.

Easier Eggs Benedict

I really like Eggs Benedict, but I've never made them myself.  I also hesitate ordering them in restaurants because they never come with anything.  For example, I go to IHOP and order an omelette and I get pancakes, too.  If I go to Perkins and order an omelette, I get an awesome muffin and breakfast potatoes.  At either of those places you order eggs Benedict, pay the same price, and get nada in the side dishes department. I've never made them at home because I've always been too chicken to poach eggs (pun intended, you may groan now).  I read in an Australian cooking magazine recently about an idiot proof way to poach eggs.  I tried both their method and just winging it.  Winging it resulted in egg drop soup; their method resulted in somewhat odd looking but perfectly poached eggs.  The same people that own the magazine also posted a recipe for easy hollandaise sauce, which I have also included.  

If you'd like bit of history of the name of this dish, see the bottom.  For the recipe and egg poaching method, continue on.

4 English muffins (we used whole wheat)

8 slices Canadian bacon or ham

8 eggs, poached

Easy Hollandaise:

200 grams butter (about a cup, I used the Aussie equivalent of Smart Balance)

3 egg yolks

2 tablespoons lemon juice, or more if you like it with a bit more zip

1 tablespoon hot water

pepper to taste

First, set some water to boil.  Then cook your ham, or if you prefer, some bacon, although that's technically Eggs Blackstone minus the tomato.  

Next make your hollandaise.  Melt the butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave. Keep warm.  Place egg yolks, lemon juice, and the hot water in a blender. Blend on high until mixture is pale and thickens slightly. With the motor running, add hot butter in a thin, steady stream. Season with pepper, and extra lemon juice and salt, if necessary. Note that you are not cooking the egg yolks here, in case you are against any consumption of raw eggs.  Half fill a large bowl with warm water (if water is too hot, the sauce will curdle). Pour sauce into a small bowl and place in the large bowl to keep it hot.  

By this time, your water should be boiling or close to boiling.  Get out a small bowl and your eggs, some cooking spray and cling wrap.  First, drap the cling wrap over the bowl with lots of wrap hanging over the sides.  Spray the middle of the plastic wrap and crack an egg into it like so:

Second, bring the corners of the plastic wrap up so you can tie a knot in it:

Repeat this with all the eggs until you have a collection of egg parcels that look like this:  

Drop them into simmering water and cook for 4 minutes for a firm white but still a runny yoke.  While they are cooking, toast your muffins and top with the ham.  Remove the parcels from the boiling water with a slotted spoon and then cut off the top knots and they should slide out pretty easily.  Be careful as they are hot.  

Place on top of the ham, and then drizzle with the hollandaise sauce.  Now that I know it is made of butter and egg yolks, I drizzled it pretty sparingly. 

History of the name: When I decided to make this, the Aussie recipe commented that this was an American dish.  I had never really thought about it, but if you had asked, I probably would have guessed it was French.  They gave us the quiche after all, and have a penchant for sauces.  Once I discovered that we invented it, I thought maybe it dated to revolutionary times and had something to do with Benedict Arnold, like a message that if you're a traitor you'll end up poached or toast, etc.  Turns out, there are some conflicting accounts, but after reading a couple of different articles, this seemed the mostly likely version to me:

1860s -Credit is given to Delmonico’s Restaurant, the very first restaurant or public dining room ever opened in the United States. In the 1860’s, a regular patron of the restaurant, Mrs. LeGrand Benedict, finding nothing to her liking and wanting something new to eat for lunch, discussed this with Delmonico’s Chef Charles Ranhofer(1936-1899), Ranhofer came up with Eggs Benedict. He has a recipe called Eggs a' la Benedick (Eufa a' la Benedick) in his cookbook called The Epicurean published in 1894:

Eggs à la Benedick - Cut some muffins in halves crosswise, toast them without allowing to brown, then place a round of cooked ham an eighth of an inch thick and of the same diameter as the muffins one each half. Heat in a moderate oven and put a poached egg on each toast. Cover the whole with Hollandaise sauce.     

Lemon Puddings

I have the happy problem of several citrus trees in our front yard in Australia.  Mostly it's limes, but we have been drinking a ton of limeade, so that takes care of most of them.  There are also a decent amount of lemons.  The lemons have a lot of seeds in them, unlike the limes which are practically seedless, so I am less keen to fish all the seeds out to make lemonade.  So, I have been looking for other ways to use the lemons where I only need one or two at a time so the seed fishing doesn't drive me batty.  Aussies are very fond of puddings, but I've discovered that a "pudding" is really a very broad category.  It's never what we would call pudding.  They call our pudding "jelly."  Jello is called gelatin, and jelly is usually called preserves, conserves, or fruit spread and occasionally jelly, which adds to the confusion.  Pudding is sometimes a cake, sometimes a steamed cake (such as figgy pudding or date pudding, which I have made before and is actually very tasty), and sometimes it is like this recipe which is sort of like a molten cake, or one of those pudding in the bottom cakes.  Cakes are also called cakes, so again, much confusion.  Regardless of how you would categorize it in the States, it was good.

A note about mixers:  At home I have a Kitchenaid stand mixer.  If you also have a stand mixer of some sort, you will not likely have a problem with this recipe.  I have found, however, that hand mixers are buggers when it comes to beating egg whites.  Sometimes it takes 10 minutes to achieve soft peaks, stiff peaks are hardly ever attainable, and because you are beating them so long, whatever you are putting them into tends to get tough.  Some hand mixers I have been unable to even make it to soft peaks, which was the case with the mixer here.  So, my pudding were much runnier than I would have liked.  If you have had problems with egg whites and your mixer in the past, you might want to skip the recipe or accept that you are going to have a lot more "pudding" in the bottom of your cakes that you might like.

70 g butter (approximately 1/3 cup)

200 g sugar (I used 1/2 cup regular sugar and half a cup Splenda)

5 eggs, separated

Finely grated rind of 1 lemon

1/3 cup plain (all purpose) flour (I used whole wheat flour)

300 ml milk, at room temp (ml is on your liquid measuring cup, so just look)

100 ml strained lemon juice

Icing sugar to dust

Double thick cream to serve (I didn't use it)

Preheat oven to 175 (350).  Beat the butter and 70 g (approximately 1/3 cup) sugar until pale.  Add yolks and combine.  Whisk in the rind, flour, milk, and juice.

Whip the egg whites until soft peaks.  Slowly add the remaining sugar and whip to combine.  Fold the eggwhites into the lemon mixture.  Divide among four ½ cup dishes.  Bake for 20 minutes in a water bath until the tops are golden.  Cool slightly in the water.  Dust the puddings with icing sugar and serve with cream.

If you are unfamiliar with soft and stiff peaks or waterbath:  

Soft Peaks: A term used to describe beaten egg whites or cream. When the beaters are removed, soft peaks curl over and droop rather than stand straight up.

Stiff Peaks: A term describing the consistency of beaten egg whites or cream. When the beaters are removed from the mixture, the stiff peaks will stand up straight.

Water Bath:  The French call this cooking technique bain marie. It consists of placing a container (pan, bowl, soufflé dish, etc.) of food in a large, shallow pan of warm water, which surrounds the food with gentle heat. The food may be cooked in this manner either in an oven or on top of a range. This technique is designed to cook delicate dishes such as custards, sauces and savory mousses without breaking or curdling them. It can also be used to keep cooked foods warm.