Granny Apple Tarte Tatin

Apples baked with crispy flaky pastry and the aroma of cloves - a lovely, winter warming dessert everyone will love!  Enjoy!  Colleen

Apple Tarte Tatin by Feed Your Inner Cook

Apple Tarte Tatin by Feed Your Inner Cook

Apple Tarte Tatin by Feed Your Inner Cook

Ingredients
1 - 1 1/2 sheets puff pastry - thawed.  Big enough to cover the cooking pan
4 - 6 granny smith apples.  Peeled, cored, quartered.  Enough to tightly fill the pan
some lemon juice - paint over the apples to stop discolouring
3/4 cup castor sugar.  melts easier than regular sugar
1/4 cup water
tiny pinch ground cloves
100 gram butter, cubed and softened
Option:  Toasted Flaked almonds for topping

Method
Preheat oven to 200 oC
Heat the sugar and water in a 22 cm ovenproof frypan or castiron frypan until sugar dissolves and is deep golden colour.  Brush down sides of pan to avoid crystallising.
May take 8 - 10 minutes to brown.  
Remove from heat and stir through the butter until combined.
Place the apple pieces tightly in the caramel and cook again for 3 minutes. Note: Apple pieces shrink a bit so overcrowding is ok at the start.
Turn the apple pieces and cook again for 3 minutes. Watch so caramel does not burn.
The dessert is cooked upside down so the apples touching the pan base will be the top of the dessert when presented.  Check on apple curve presentation (the cut side will be facing you) and firmly packed into the pan 
Sprinkle with a little ground cloves and remove the pan from heat.
Top with the pastry and either trim excess or tuck little overhangs into the pan.
Prick the pastry several times with a fork to allow steam to escape.
Cook in oven 20 - 30 minutes until golden brown.
Remove from oven and allow to stand for a few moments.
May need to loosen sides with a knife.  Carefully cover with a large serving plate and flip to invert.  
Scatter some toasted flaked almonds over if desired.
Serve with cream, custard or icecream.  
                              Enjoy!   Colleen

Slow Cooker Osso Bucco

July is about as cold as it gets in subtropical South East Queensland. So we have a limited time to enjoy those hearty winter warming comfort dishes.  I had a full day of appointments so I prepped the meat and vege the night before and simply combined in the slow cooker the next morning. What greeted me as I walked through the door from a big day was the tantalising aroma of dinner.  Simply served with some honey carrots and pearl couscous it couldn't have been easier or tastier.  Please try to include the Gremolata it's the cherry on the top.

Ingredients

2 Tablespoon plain flour
6 Veal Osso Bucco
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 large brown onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
4 sticks of celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup red wine (I added another 1/2 cup close to serving as the flavour lessens with the long slow cooking)
2 x 400g tin tomatoes
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup beef stock
4 sprigs fresh thyme
salt and pepper

Gremolata

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
1 clove garlic, crushed


Method

Combine flour and salt and pepper in a bowl, lightly dust the veal.
Heat oil in a large fry pan.
Add onion, celery and carrot to the pan, cook stirring until soft, add the garlic at the end so it does not burn.
With a slotted spoon remove vegetables to a plate.
Add a little more olive oil.
Brown veal in batches

At this point I combined all into a container and placed in the fridge overnight.  You can skip this step if you want and place straight into slow cooker.

Turn on slow cooker and tip in all ingredients from container.
Add tomato paste, beef stock, tin tomatoes,wine and thyme.
Cover and cook for at least 6 hours.

Gremolata

Combine parsley, lemon rind and garlic in a small bowl, stir to combine.

Serve Osso Bucco with Gremolata and mashed potato/cous cous and vegetables.

Delicious.

Note: Any leftovers can be topped with puff pastry the next night for a tasty pie.

Mamma Marmalde

Baked Vegetarian Curried Pumpkin Gratin

This may seem an odd combination of curry and cheese but the combination of winter vegetables and a crunchy topping turns it into a warm comfort food perfect for an easy winter dinner.  Hope you enjoy! Colleen

Curried Pumpkin gratin by Feed Your Inner Cook

Preparation    15 minutes
Cooking          1 hour (baking in oven)

Ingredients
add more or less of each veg depending on meal size - this is just a guide

approx 3/4 - 1 kg pumpkin (Kent or Qld Blue - not a watery variety) - peeled, seeded and cut into small chunks
1/4 caulflower - cut into small florets
3 Kale leaves - stalk discarded, leaves shredded
2 cloves garlic - crushed
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (optional)
2 shallots - finely sliced  (sometimes called spring onions/long thin green tubes)
1 tin brown lentils - rinsed and drained
300 ml light cooking cream
1 tablespoon curry powder
tiny pinch salt
Options:  chilli , ground pepper, different veg - ie baby spinach etc

panko breadcrumbs or soughdough bread small chunks for topping
grated cheese for topping
Pepitas - pumpkin seeds for topping - it needs something crunchy on top!

Method
Preheat oven 180 Celcius
Grease and prepare a 2-3 inch deep ovenproof dish - 4 -6 cup capacity OR a few dishes depending on your needs 

Tumble and mix up the small pumpkin chunks with the cauliflower, kale and shallots along with the lentils into the prepared dish / dishes
In a bowl - whisk the curry powder, garlic, thyme and salt until well combined

Pour the cream mixture over the vegetables and cover tightly with foil
Bake for 30 mins.  
then check on tenderness of pumpkin - if any is still quite firm run a sharp knife through the veg for quicker cooking.
Remove foil and sprinkle with the bread and cheese.  Return to oven for 20 minutes.
Check on tenderness of veg - should be cooked.  If not, cook for further 5 min approx.
Sprinkle over the pepita and bake for a further 5 minutes.
Topping should be golden .  Remove from oven, allow to sit for a few minutes before serving.              Enjoy!  Colleen

Macadamia Shortbread

Our little recipe blog now has so many family recipes and is becoming a treasure trove of favourites.  I regularly make Mamma Marmalade's Shortbread and am so grateful that Mamma Marmalade shared this gem with us.  
Although mine are not as pretty as hers, they taste delicious and last for a week in an airtight container - perhaps even longer if I hide them!

When I made them last weekend, I decided to add some macadamia chunks to half the recipe mix - it was a great success and I was able to serve 2 types of biscuits from the one recipe base.  
So, keep making the original, but if you are after an easy variation - please try these nutty delights!    Enjoy!    Colleen

Macadamia Shortbread by Feed Your Inner Cook

Preparation       20 minutes

Cooking             25 - 30 minutes

Makes               30 - 36 biscuits approx

Ingredients

250g softened butter  NOT melted
110g caster sugar
250g plain flour sifted
125g rice flour    -  sift with the plain flour

good handful macadamias - roughly chopped into halves and some quarters (This was enough for half batch- as I like to serve a nut free option as well.  Add more macadamias if you want to make the entire batch with the nuts).

Method

Preheat oven to 130 degrees C

Prepare 3 flat biscuit oven trays  (no sides)

Beat butter and sugar in a small bowl until white in colour, (takes a little while) 

add flours one dessert spoon at a time (do not rush this process).

Macadamia Variation

I halved the mixture  and stirred the macadamia chunks through half the dough.  Rolled and baked as below.  You could add more macadamias for the entire batch.

Roll teaspoonfuls of the mixture and place on a greased oven tray, press down gently with a fork

Bake for 10 minutes at 130 degrees C and then 15 minutes at 120 degrees C.  Depending on your oven you may need longer, lift the biscuit to see if the bottom is browned.  The top should remain pale.

Cool and enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee

Thanks to Mamma Marmalade for the inspiration.   Enjoy!   Colleen