Mastic and Cardamon Ice Cream

This is is a very unusual Ice Cream, a distinctive refreshing taste well worth trying, it comes from Cyprus. You can get the gum mastic from many delis.


1tbsp green cardamon pods
300mls milk
300mls double cream
1 cinnamon stick
85gms castor sugar
100mls rose water
1tsp mastic gum + 1 tsp sugar ground to a powder
200mls evaporated milk


Grind cardamon pods remove husks and crush seeds till a powder

Boil the milk and double cream with ground cardamon and a cinnamon stick
until 1/3 volume

Boil sugar ( 85gms caster) and 100mls Rosewater and allow to cool

Combine Rosewater, cream mixture and Evaporated milk stir in Mastic and sieve out the solids

Place in fridge to cool

When cool either place in your ice cream maker and let it do the work

Or

Place in freezer and whisk every half hour to avoid crystals forming

Vegatable and Chorizo Cratin

This is another quick and easy meal, lots of vege and flavour.


Slice and cook 3 Chorizo sausages

Then cook in the fat

1 sliced onion
1 sliced red capsicum
2 sliced leeks
3 sliced cloves of garlic

1/4 cup of sherry
1/4 cup of chicken stock

Add these cooked ingredients to 800gms of tinned butter beans

Sprinkle with grated cheese

Oven bake at 180c for 40 minutes

For my mushroom girl, you can add any amount of them that you like.

Dukka Pork Chops

A simple and tasty meal for a warm night.

1 pork loin chop per person
250 gms baby spuds per person
pak choy
sliced onion
Dukka
olive oil
salt and pepper

Boil the potatoes until done
Cover with olive oil salt and pepper
Oven roast 180 c for 40 minutes

Coat the chops with dukka pan fry then oven roast for 5-8 mins

Saute the onion and pak choy base finally adding the leaves until wilted

Serve with light Greek yogurt

Toad in the Hole

A simple British classic that is easy to make and serves a lot of hungry people.

Cook 500gms of sausages

then mix:
2 cups flour
2 eggs
2 cups of milk

You can season this mix with any combination of herbs you like


Then grease an oven proof dish add the cooked sausages and pour the mix over the top
Bake for 45 min at 180C or until it rises

You can add as much to this as you like just keep the proportions the same.

Chicken Greek Style

Chicken Maryland 1 per person

400 gms baby spuds
200gms calamata olives
10 small onions
5 garlic gloves
Lots of rosemary from the garden


Chuck everything into a baking dish coat with olive oil and bake

200 C for 1 hour, turn everything and bake for 1 more hour or until done.


This is simple and really nice.

Quick and Easy Dessert

This one comes from Good Food November 2008

300gms frozen Blueberries
1 lemon juiced
150gms light cream cheese
2tbsp icing sugar
1 small tub vanilla yogurt
1 orange rind zested
75 grams thin ginger biscuits, crushed

Heat the lemon juice and blueberries until soft

Mix cream cheese, sugar, zest. and yogurt with a blender until smooth

Layer in order

Biscuits
Berrys
Cream mix

Top with more crushed biscuit

Writing at the Kitchen Table

A lovely book by Artemis Cooper. It looks at the life of Elizabeth David, who in many ways was a very important writer in shaping British views on European food at the end of world war two.

David may not have been the greatest cook in the world but she had vision and had travelled widely before and after the war, giving her an extensive range of experiences to draw on. The ability to capture the imagination of the public and to take them along with you is important in introducing new ideas.

The one thing that Cooper goes to great pains to point out is the primitive nature of British food at this time and how much it needed to be revitalised, by new ideas and approaches. The key to this was not so much books but mass market magazines. They get into more homes and are more widely used as reference material in peoples kitchens.

Its a good book about an important person but on a personal note it seems that she often had a very unhappy life. The book is an official biography which means he had access to her notes and journals.

On the whole an interesting read.

Prawn and Leek Risotto

A simple but warming dish for when the weather turns a little cold.

Heat 2 litres of chicken stock in a saucepan

In a separate pan heat 2 tbsp of olive oil
Add 2 cups aborio rice
Coat rice with oil

Now add the stock to the rice a ladle full at a time, just enough to almost cover the rice and stir, as stock is absorbed add another ladle and so on.

The rice is supposed to retain a slight crunch when finished, but cook and stir until you feel it tastes right

Meanwhile

In a saucepan lightly cook:

1 Sliced leek
1/2 a sliced Spanish onion
1 crushed garlic clove
400 gms of prawns

Add to the cooked rice and stir through.


Enjoy!!

Spicy Lamb Pizza

This one comes from Febuaray Delicious (p129), really quick and easy.

Make a pizza base or buy one

Slice about 200gms of lean lamb
1tbsp of morrocan spices
chopped red onion
generous sprinkle of pine nuts
Garlic
salt and pepper

Turn into a nice cousre mince

Cover pizza base with this mix and 15 halved cherry tomoatoes

Bake at 200deg for 15 minutes

Dress with lemon and chopped Corriander


Serve with yogurt, diced mint and lemon.

Lamb with Dukka and Tzatziki

Lamb Cutlets:

Make a mixture of honey, Kechup Manis and Diced ginger
Coat Cutlets and dip
Into a bowl of chilli Dukka

Set aside to pan fry and the oven bake until done.

Potato:

Boil or microwave some bay spuds, coat with oil and cajun spice and oven bake for 30 mins at 180c

Tzatziki:
Grate 1 continental cucumber, peel, cut in half and remove seeds, squeeze out the liquid
Grate 3 radishes, squeeze out the liquid
1tsp grated garlic
150mls no fat greek yogurt
granish with mint leaves

Fried Chicken

Not a real tough recipe but quick and easily done on a busy night. Chicken for those who love it.


Chicken prep:

Take two chicken Maryland (one per person)

Add plain flour
1tsp ground cumin
2 tsp chilli powder (leave out if you don't like chilli)
1tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 tsp dried thyme
pepper to taste

Coat the chicken with the flour mixture and fry till brown
Place in a heated oven (200c) for around 30 minutes
For lower fat transfer to a baking tray

Vegetables:

Boil some baby potatoes or use the microwave
Coat with oil, pepper and dried cajun spices
Oven bake until golden


Too make it easy use a frozen vegetable mix in the microwave


Garnish:
No Fat Greek yogurt combined with some mixed herbs (Dill and flat leaf Parsley)
Tomato Ketchup for the vege.