This roasted cherry tomatoes side is so good! If I had more cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes, I would do it more often.
Method:
Preheat the grill (or the oven quite high).
Use a small tray such as a brownie tin with some baking paper at the bottom
Splash a generous amount of olive oil over the tomatoes, grind some rock salt, add if you have rosemarry or fresh thyme. Toss the whole thing. you need to make sure there is only one layer if you are going to do that with a large bunch of cherry tomatoes.
Place under the grill for 10-15 minutes until wrinkly
Serve with a salad, a quiche, a meat, fish, cheese, anything really!
This recipe of banana bread is moist, rich and delicious. This is pretty much what you get in cafes all around Australia. If you would like a lighter recipe of banana bread look HERE.
Serve on its own, with jam, butter or salted caramel. After the second day, toast and spread some butter on it.
You will need a loaf tin to bake it (Frenchies, the loaf tin is wider than the “moule a cake”).
Ingredients
250 g butter
200 g brown sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract
4 eggs
3 to 4 ripe to super ripe bananas (400 g)
125 ml of buttermilk (or homemade substitute by adding 1 tsp of white vinegar to one cup of milk)
300 g of plain flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of sodium bicarbonate (bicarb soda)
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of mixed spice
If using unsalted butter, a pinch of salt
Method
Pre heat oven to 180 °C. Butter and line with baking paper a loaf tin
Mix butter and sugar until pale and creamy, add the eggs one at the time. Add the vanilla.
Mix in the mashed bananas, the cinnamon, mixed spice and butter milk.
Add all at once the flour, baking powder and bicarb soda. Mix from the centre out to avoid making lumps.
Pour the mix in the loaf tin and bake for just over an hour (up to 1.5 hour depending on your oven). If you oven is generally strong, reduce the heat to 160 after ½ hour in the baking. A baking needle inserted in the loaf must come out just moist, with no uncooked dough on it.
Let the banana bread cool in the tin for ½ h before turning on a rack.
Yum, yum ! And for bonus: this lunch box chocolate fondant slice is super mega easy and quick to cook. It is pretty much the case of mixing all ingredients together (no skills required there) and placing it in brownie tin or slice tin, bake it and this is it! In terms of effort value vs results, it rates pretty high!
That recipe is based on a can of condensed milk (replace sugar and need for butter).
If you are not going to use all of it within the coming days, best is to wrap in cell cling wrap and freeze. Place them in the kids lunch box, by the time they will eat them, they will be defrosted.
Now, on the butter: I tried without and with butter (70 g), both are quite satisfactory, the butter version is a little more rich and in term of taste a little more complex. The children did not make the difference between the two versions.
Makes 12 lunch box serves
Cooking time, with no added butter – 10 min (almost double if adding butter)
Ingredients:
1 can (about 400g) of sweet condensed milk
200 g of dark cooking chocolate
4 eggs
70 g of butter (only if you want to add a little more richness, otherwise omit)
50 g of flour
Method
Pre-heat oven to 180°C
Butter and line a brownie tin
Melt the chocolate (and butter if adding)
Add the eggs one by one and the condensed milk. Then add the flour.
Pour in the prepared tin. Make sure not to trap air bubbles as the batter is quite thick especially if not using the butter (to make sure, tap your filled tin on the bench a couple of time, this will make any bubble break)
Bake until cooked, the slice must be firm when touching (not wobbly), the edges will show a few crackling marks.
Cool down for a few minutes before cutting in portions.
This is my recipe of the cherry clafoutis. I tried a few recipes to get there: too sweet, too thin, too bland, too much juice lost…The “traditional” clafoutis recipe contains milk, egg, sugar and flour and critically cherries with pits ON!!!
My version is slightly different to the “traditional recipe” in that I have added a little tanginess (yoghurt) to pair with the taste of the cherry. I also choose to keep the pits (this is subject to many discussions in the cooking world. Check my post if you want to know more!
Before we start, a few tips:
Tip: Plan a dish in which your batter will be 4 to 5 cm thick when pouring the preparation over the fruits (or you don’t get that moist middle)
Tip: the clafoutis rises during baking, so have a couple of centimetres of free board (it will deflate when taken out of the oven).
Serves 4
For info, my dish was 17 x 17 cm
Ingredients:
300 g of fresh cherries,with pits and stems (remove the stems if you do not fancy them)
2 large eggs
40 g white sugar
50 g plain flour
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup of milk (50 cl)
1/4 cup of cream (60 g)
1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt (120 g)
a nut of butter (for the dish)
Method:
Butter and flour your dish
Preheat the oven on 170°C.
Place the fruits (with pits and stems) at the bottom of the dish.
Mix the eggs and sugar together, ass the milk, cream, vanilla and yogurt. Combine
Add the flour
Poiur the batter over the fruits trying to keep the stems going upwards
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool until serving wrm or cold.
It keeps well at room temperature or in the fridge for a couple days.
This chocolate version of the galette des rois works a wonder. Kids and adults love it and it is so easy to make. Seriously! (as my 7 y. o says all the time).
The principle is the same than the traditional creme frangipane one: 2 layers of puff pastry with an almond base cream filling (creme frangipane) in the midle and a little “feve” (a piece of ceramic about 1 cm long) hidden in the filling.
I know, it looks I bought it at the bakery! No, I needed somewhere to store it safely and had some spare boxes.
Serves 8
Ingredients:
400 g of puff pastry (better if butter puff pastry, in Australia, Careme provides a ready-made one and can be found in deli shops, if you want a recipe, here is my puff pastry recipe, I make it all the time now!
100 g of caster sugar
150 g of good quality dark cooking chocolate
1 egg
100 g of almond meal
25 g of butter, melted
2 tablespoon of milk
1 egg yolk
1 feve (if you don’t have any, use a large ceramic button or a shell)
Method:
For the filling: melt the chocolate with 2 tablespoon of milk. Once melted, add the egg, sugar, almond meal and melted butter. Mix well.
Preheat the oven to 170ºC
In a small bowl, mix the egg yolk with 2 tablespoon of milk or water to make an eggwash, you will use it to assemble the galette and brush it before baking.
Divide the pastry in the pieces and using a rolling pin and a little flour, prepare two disks of 25 cm diameter.
Cover a baking sheet with baking paper and place the first disk on it. Pour the filling and spread evenly leaving a 1.5 cm border all around. Place the feve in the garnish but not right in the middle (or you will for sure cut right through it when serving)
Using a small sharp knife, score the exposed pastry and brush with eggwash. Place the second disk over the top. With your thumb press the two disks edges together regularly moving your thumb around the edges. Use the sharp knife to score the top with lines making diamond shape or square shape patterns. Brush generously with eggwash and bake until golden brown for about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool down. It can be eaten slightly wam or at room temperature. Do not place in the fridge!
And by the way the one with the feve in its piece is the king/queen and has to choose a queen/king!
These kids chocolate truffles is a must try (and adopt!). Chocolate truffles can be a bit bitter for children when coated with cocoa. Well, just change the coating! Here we used 100s & 1000s. Great result! My daughter initiated it for the school end of year class party.
Making chocolate truffles is a great activity for kids and they can pretty much do it all on their own. Oh yes, they will love getting their hands dirty for rolling the chocolate in small balls! You may need a few “no licking the fingers” rules there!
This recipe makes about 30.
Ingredients
Use a good quality chocolate, a couverture chocolate is even better but you can also use a compound dark cooking chocolate, it will still be delicious.
330 g of dark chocolate 70% cocoa
25 cl (250 ml) of cream
50 g of good quality soft butter (real butter please, no substitute here)
a pack of hundreds&thousands or other small size sugar coloured decoration.
Tip: you can always use the mortar or food processor to further reduce the size of the pieces if to long.
Method:
Cut the chocolate in small pieces with a large knife, place in a bowl.
Boil the cream in a saucepan
Pour the cream on top of the chocolate, cover for one minute then mix well until all the chocolate is melted.
Add the butter, mix well. Place in a shallow container (aim at 1.5 cm thickness of chocolate) and refrigerate for 2 hours minimum until firm.
When ready to shape the truffles, you have 2 options:
Either use a teaspoon, scoop out the equivalent of a macadamia nut (for those who don’t know macadamia, it is between a walnut and a hazelnut). Roll in your hands to form a ball
Reverse the chocolate preparation on a chopping board, cut stripes 1.5 cm thick, repeat in the other directions to obtain cubes and roll each cube in a ball
Transfer the balls to a large based plate with 100 & 1000s and roll them until coated (different techniques below).
7. Transfer to a storage box and keep in the fridge until you ready to serve. The truffles can remain at room temperature for some time, it all depends on the temperature.
Madeleines are very versatile biscuits. They taste great and look good. The madeleine recipe is also super easy!
Madeleines can be served on their own for the afternoon snack, or with coffee or tea. They can also be used for picnic and parties , they do not require cutting and always present well.
You will need a special madeleine print mould, use a metal one or silicone one, both work well. A number of online stores sell them. It is better to have two of those, as it will ensure a prompter cooking time.
Makes 24
Preparation – 15 minutes
Cooking – 15-18 minutes per batch
Ingredients:
125 g of butter
2 large eggs
150 g of caster sugar
1 pinch of salt (omit if using salted butter)
150 g plain flour
The zest of one lemon (non treated)
Method:
Warm up the oven to 160-170°C
If using metal madeleine prints, butter the bottom of each print.
Melt the butter and set aside
Mix together the eggs and sugar until creamy and light (use a whisk).
Add in the butter, salt and lemon zest. Mix well.
Add the flour. Mix well.
Using a spoon, fill each print of the mould halfway.
Place in the oven until cooked for 15-18 minutes. The cooking time will vary between ovens.
Turn over on a cooling rack, making sure the madeleines are not on top of each other and allow to cool before storing away.
This version of the french traditional yoghurt cake contains double the amount of yoghurt. It is a great cake, even better when served with poached fruits and the poaching liquid reduced to a syrup.
This recipe is from Delicious, Simply the Best by Valli Little. In the book, the cake is served with sangria poached fruits, I served mine last time with white wine poached pears.
Ingredients:
1 cup (280 g) of Greek Yoghurt
1 cup (220 g) of raw caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup (80 ml) of sunflower oil (sunflower oil will not alter the flavour of the cake, olive oil will change the taste)
2 eggs
1 2/3 cup (250 g) of plain flour
1 tsp of baking soda
1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
finely grated zest of 1 orange
Method:
Preheat the oven to 170 °C and grease a 20 cm spring form cake pan and line with baking paper.
Combine the yoghurt and sugar in a large bowl and whisk to combine before adding the eggs. Beat well between each addition.
Add at once the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Use a whisk is you have some lumps, they will disappear straight away. Finally add the zest and mix to combine.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for 45 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. If the cake is getting brown too quickly cover loosely with aluminium foil.
This banana and chocolate chip cake is ultra easy. It is one of my recipes made in a place where I had no recipe book or access to recipes and not enough flour. I have used some oat flakes, it makes the banana cake much lighter. For the chocolate chip, I recommend using a good cooking chocolate and cutting it roughly with a large knife.
This recipe is appreciated by all, kids love it, adults too! You can choose to omit the chocolate or swap for dry cranberries for example.
Ingredients
2 large ripe bananas
3 eggs
100 g butter
180 g plain flour
3 generous tablespoon of instant oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
75 g cooking chocolate cut in pieces
100 g white sugar
Method:
Preheat the oven at 180°C.
Butter and flour a log cake tin
Mix together the sugar, eggs and melted butter
Puree the bananas and add them to the mix
Add in one go, the oats, flour, baking powder and chocolate and mix.
Pour into the tin. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out slightly moist (not wet!). If your oven is strong reduce to 160 degrees to avoid burning the top of the cake.
Remove from the oven and turn over a cooling rack to cool down.
This strawberry white chocolate cookie was a happy find on PInterest. The recipe is from Vera (from Oh my god chocolate desserts blog). I have adapted a few things, and added some comments. They are beautiful and chewy, especially when still warm. I froze most of the second batch and use them for lunch boxes or afternoon snack.
The recipe is VERY easy to make.
Ingredients
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt (remove if using salted butter)
1/4 cup butter-softened
120 g cream cheese
3/4 cup caster sugar (1/2 cup is probably enough, I find them a bit sweet)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup chopped fresh strawberries
2 tablespoon lemon juice
150 g white chocolate-chopped
Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
Pour fresh lemon juice over chopped strawberries, drain them after a few minutes. Chop in pieces as convenient (not less than one centimetre)
Beat butter with sugar and cream cheese until it’s light and fluffy.
Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
Toss together 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, salt, chopped white chocolate, chopped stawberries and baking powder.
Add flour mixture to the wet mixture and fold in gently. Either use a large scoop or your hand.
Drop heaping tablespoon of batter onto a baking sheet covered with baking paper. Make sure to leave a couple centimetres space in between.
Set the cookies in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes before baking.
You can choose to bake them for 13-15 minutes until the edges become golden brown, they will be very chewy and quite friable, I baked my second round with spots of golden brown over the top, it was a bit easier to handled and when cold they are more tasty (more cooked).
Transfer the baking paper to the cooling rack (slide it). Let the cookies cool a few minutes and them remove from the baking paper.
This recipe is the one I grew up with and cook for my family. The recipe calls for beer which lighten the batter and allows for thin crepes. The alcohol disappear during cooking.
I recommend a crepe pan. I have tried in other
Crepe pan
fry-pans, I can tell you, it is not easy because of the high edges and because your pan must strictly be not sticky and not scratched.
The crepes recipe below calls for a resting time of 2 hours, if you don’t have that time in front of you, it will also work, the crepes will be thicker. If you have no beer or prefer not to use beer, use water and milk. Crepes are very forgiving in terms of ratios. Careful not using only milk or your crepes will be brittle. If you increase the quantity of eggs, your crepes will be quite thick and filling.
Ingredients:
This will easily serve 4 people for dessert. Left overs can be covered and placed in the fridge.
500 g of plain flour
4 eggs (depending on size)
1 beer (300 ml)
1/2 cup oil (sunflower)
1/2 L milk
water
Method:
Place the flour in a large bowl, make a hole (we all it a well in French) in the middle and place in it, the eggs, oil, beer and milk.
Mix with a whisk until smooth. You may have a few small lumps, don’t worry to much at this stage. The batter will be quite thick, you want to make it thinner by adding water, the consistency must be the one a drinking yogurt.
Let it rest for at least two hours.
Get yourself ready to cook, things can go quickly, get organised, everything must be in close reach.
To cook, use crepe pan (s). Heat up the pan, when hot pour 2/3 of a ladle in the pan, by turning your wrist (while holding the pan), spread the batter over the bottom of the pan. Pour out the excess if too really too much. Pop any bubbles if they form.
Cook until the sides are brown AND the bottom is fully dry (no wet spots), turn over, cook for a bit less. Transfer to a plate.
Now 3 MAJOR tips:
The first crepe if most of the time a write off (for the cook)
If you pan needs a bit of greasing, cut a potato and stick the section cut at the end of a fork. Place the flat edge in oil then “paint” the bottom of the fry-pan. This method will limit the amount of grease you use and avoid using multiple absorbent paper sheets. If you have a piece of lard, it works perfectly well too.
Tip – use a cut potato to grease your pan
The heat under the fry-pan will need adjusting, somewhere between low and high. It will take a few crepes to get there.
To serve
The most simple fillings are:
white sugar with (optional) a dash of lemon juice (yum!)
soft brown sugar
jam
honey
lemon curd
chocolate / Nutella.
One crepe recipe which became quite famous is “Crepes Suzettes”, this requires a little more work.
Many of you would have seen crepes filled and then folded in two and then further folded to form a triangle. This is not the case everywhere. In my family, we rolled them, much more fun especially when you are a kid!
Keep the crepes warm by covering them with some aluminium foil and placing them in a warm oven (switched off).
The recipe for this cherry tomatoes and mozzarella risotto is from Marcus Wareing in his book “One Perfect Ingredient”. The photo above is also from that publication but I can tell you, it looks exactly like in the photo.
Ingredients:
1 head of garlic
30 cherry tomatoes
About 150 g of mozzarella divided in 20 mini-balls
A handful of fresh, young marjoram sprigs. Use other herbs such as basic if you prefer (this is a comment of mine)
825 ml of good stock (the recipe says chicken or vegetable stock, clear stock is better but I made it with ham hock stock in the past, it was amazing)
175 mL of tomatoes juice (I use a can of cherry tomatoes)
100 g unsalted butter, diced
400 g arborio rice
100 ml dry white wine
2 tbsp tomato puree
75 g Parmesan cheese, grated
sea salt flakes and freshly grounded black pepper.
Method:
Place the garlic cloves skin on (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT) in a shallow roasting tray with olive oil, salt and dry herbs, put under the grill for 20 min or until soft in the middle. You can also do them in a small frypan on very low heat. The inside will be melted (and even if you don’t like garlic, you will love this version of it, trust me!).
Put the tomatoes in another roasting tray, again toss with olive oil and rock salt and place in the oven. Roast for 15 minutes.
Season the mozzarella balls with salt, dried basil, pepper and lemon juice; put aside.
Mix broth and tomato paste and tomato juice, heat on low temperature. Keep warm.
Melt half the butter in a thick based and deep pan. Add the rice and stir for 2 minutes.
Add the white wine. Turn the heat down. Add the broth in small portions: let the rice absorb it and stir after each addition. Cook for 15-20 minutes stirring between additions.
When the rice is almost al-dente , stir in the remaining butter and the parmesan. Remove from the heat and stir in gently the mozzarella balls and roasted tomatoes and roasted garlic. Add a splash of the roasted tomatoes juice is any.
