Wednesday, 31 January 2018

Spicy Mango Sauce

This Mango sauce goes wonderfully well on crumbed chicken, prawns, fish or pork.  Handy to keep in your repertoire as it elevates the dishes to a tasty new level. You can add the chilli to your preferred amount.










Ingredients

3/4 cup finely minced mango refer Tip below
1/4 cup rice vinegar
Juice from 1 lime
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 red chilli finely chopped

Garnish
1 tablespoon shredded mint or fresh coriander

Method

Combine finely sliced mango, rice vinegar, lime juice, crushed garlic, red chilli, hot chilli paste (sambal oelek) in a bowl until well combined.

Cover and chill for 30 minutes to let flavour combine.

Top with shredded mint or coriander.



Tip

For a better consistency it is best not to use a food processor or blender to puree the mango.
Simply remove the skin from the mango, then using a vegetable peeler, peel slices off the mango until you reach the seed.  Then with a sharp knife and chopping motion, cut into a pulp consistency.

Mamma Marmalade


Wednesday, 24 January 2018

Stewed Spiced Apples

Simple flavours are so delicious.  There is something so comforting about the aroma and flavour of spiced soft stewed apples.  I like to serve these as a fruity spoonful alongside my Custard Pudding Cake or just on their own - unfussy but good.  It is so easy to add variety – a few sultanas or maybe a few toasted almond chunks. Change the spices or add a splash of brandy or Calvados.  Simple. Nostalgic. Home cooking.    Enjoy!  Colleen
Spiced Stewed Apples by Feed Your Inner Cook
Preparation     5 minutes
Cooking            Allow 20 – 40 minutes.  Time will vary depending on apple variety used.  

Ingredients
7 - 8 medium large apples.  I like to use 3 Granny Smiths and Royal Gala for the rest.  Use the apples you enjoy – golden delicious are great too.  
Bit less than ¼ cup sugar
Splash of water
Pinch of ground cinnamon or ground cloves
2 teaspoon good quality honey
Options – splash Brandy, few sultanas, chopped roasted almonds (Unsalted)

Method
Peel the apples then halve and remove core.
Cut apples into pieces.  I usually cut each half in half then those pieces into thirds.  Good to have different sized chunks so some with go mushy and others keep a bit of texture.
Place the apple chunks into a large saucepan.
Add a splash of water (start with about 1/8 of a cup) can add more if needed later.
Gently heat the apples and stir regularly.
Continue cooking and stir the apples so heated evenly.
Cover with a lid so apples cook and steam in their own juices.
Check regularly and stir until apple softens. If too watery, remove lid to allow evaporation.
Add a pinch of spice and the honey and stir through.
Taste and add a little more if needed.
Add any optional extras that you may wish to mix through.
Allow to cool a little.  Can be served warm or at room temperature.

                                                 Enjoy!   Colleen

Monday, 15 January 2018

New Year's Goals 2018


Happy New Year ! Now that we are several weeks into 2018 you may need a little help with some tasty recipe ideas to support those goals of "eating more vegetables" or "eating healthier".  Just to keep you motivated and inspired we at FYIC have looked through the archives for some of our most popular recipes.  Why not give some of these a try.

Fregola & Zucchini Salad

Coronation Cauliflower




Smoked Paprika Pumpkin Soup
Vegetable Patties

Roast Vegetable Couscous



Feeling back on track

Mamma Marmalade





Wednesday, 10 January 2018

Cherry Pie

I guess you can tell which ingredient is in season, second blog to feature this tasty fruit. We had the wonderful bounty of 4 members of the family working for the same company and each received a box of gorgeous Australian cherries as their Christmas bonus. After distributing as many to friends and family we still had some leftover, they were too delicious to waste. So after spending half an hour pipping the little deep red Christmas baubles, they were ready to bake in to a pie. Thanks to Jamie Oliver for the inspiration.



Ingredients

600 g pitted cherries
30 g butter
1 lemon
1 Tablespoon plain flour
1 1/2 Tablespoon cornflour
150 g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large free range/organic egg
6 Tablespoons milk

Pastry

255 g cold butter, diced
500 g plain flour (extra for dusting)
150 g icing sugar
6 large free range/organic egg yolks

Method

Pastry
Combine in the food processor, butter, flour and icing sugar, whizz until it looks like fine breadcrumbs.
Add the egg yolks, one at a time and wiz, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of chilled water until the mixture becomes a ball.
Knead on a lightly floured board for 30 seconds. Divide into 2 and wrap in plastic warp and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour.
Lightly grease a 22 cm pie dish with butter.
Remove one of the pastry dough's from the fridge and and roll out on a lightly floured surface to form a 30 cm circle approximately 4 - 7 mm thick.
Chill the pastry case whilst making the filling.

Filling
Preheat oven to Celsius 200 degrees
Place pipped cherries in a bowl with lemon zest and juice, flour, cornflour, sugar and vanilla extract. Mix well. Leave at room temperature for 10 minutes.
Remove pie dish form the fridge and spoon filling into pastry shell, Dot with diced butter.
Roll out remaining pastry, drape over the rolling pin and place on top of the pie. Press edges together to seal.
Cut 3 slashes on the top to let hot air escape during cooking. Beat the egg with milk and brush over the pastry.
Bake for 10 minutes then lower the heat to 180 degrees Celsius for an additional 40 minutes or until browned.

Serve with Ice cream or cream.

Very Yum!
Mamma Marmalade


Thursday, 4 January 2018

Cherry Panettone Trifle - Christmas leftover magic

I love Christmas leftovers.  Nothing is ever wasted.  This dessert is great to share before Christmas but also makes use of delicious leftovers for bring-a-plate days over the New Year gathering festivities.
                                                    Enjoy!  Colleen


                                     Cherry PanettoneTrifle by Feed Your Inner Cook 


Serves                      I made enough for 10 
Prep, construction    15 minutes prep then 10 minutes construction
Cooking                    None but need to allow 8 hours for jelly to set and a few hours at least for trifle to chill and moosh together

Ingredients
Leftover Panettone  - I had about 4-5 inches of the wide round disc left.  Tear into chunks to make 2 layers.
400gm tin (approx) sliced peaches in natural juice - well drained (reserve juice)
a couple of tablespoons Sweet Sherry or Fruit Juice (from peaches) to moisten the panettone
2 jelly packets. I prefer the natural colour type.  Set as directed but use 1/2 cup less water.
Custard - maybe 500 ml (?) I always seem to have leftover Christmas custard
Cherries - lots :  some for middle and a handful for garnish.  remove the Pits for the layered cherries.  A cherry pitter is a great investment if you see one on sale - lasts for years
Whipped Cream - whip with some sifted icing sugar and reserve for topping
flaked almonds for garnish - toasted
few mint leaves - optional

Method
place a layer of panettone in base of glass trifle bowl.  Drizzle with 1/2 the juice/sherry
layer with 1/2 the peach slices, 1/2 the jelly chunks, 1/2 the custard and all the pitted cherries.
Repeat with remaining panettone, juice/sherry, peaches, jelly and custard
Top with the whipped cream
Garnish with reserved cherries, toasted almond flakes and mint leaves.
Allow to chill - preferably overnight
                            Enjoy!  Colleen