WHAT DO YOU KNOW?

WHAT DO YOU KNOW? Here are the answers to last months cooking quiz.. 1. Wide egg noodles?....Pappardelle pasta. 2. Goats cheese?.....Chevre cheese. 3.Another name for the herb Cilantrao?.....Coriander. 4.What do eggplant, potato and tomato have in common?....They all belong to the nightshade plant family. 5.A staple food made from a mixture of ground grains, seeds, water and salt?.....Bread. Your November challenge ... 1. What is a pandan? 2. What is the difference between baking powder and bi carb of soda? 3. We know it as wild rice, but what is it ? 4.What is gluten? 5.What is the differnece between a lemon and a lime ,as both fruits are yellow when ripe?.

CAESAR SALAD

This is my favourite summer salad and it is so easily turned into a main meal. Ingredients.....shaved Parmesan cheese, 2 cos lettuce hearts, 4 poached eggs, 2 rashers of thinly sliced lean bacon, 4 slices of bread cut into cubes, 4 anchovie fillets. Ingredients for the salad dressing......1 cup of of whole egg mayonnaise, 2 tbs of minced garlic, 1 tsp of wholegrain mustard, 1 tsp of Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp of lemon juice, cracked black pepper. Fry the bacon slices in a little canola oil. Remove the bacon from the pan and add the cubes of bread and fry in the bacon fat, tossing until crispy. Now mix all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, toss lettce, bacon,crispy bread and anchovies with the combined dressing. Divide between 4 serving bowls. Garnish with shaved Parmesan and a soft poached egg. If you decide to serve the Caesar salad as a main dish top the salad with cooked chicken torn from a roasted chicken or chicken pieces that have been grilled or steamed. This is very good , either way you choose to serve.

THE MANOR AUSSIE XMAS CAKE

INGREDIENTS.....2 x 227gm cans of crushed pineapple, 1 cup of castor sugar, 125gm of butter/ marg, 2 and 2/3rd cups of dried mixed fruit, pinch of salt, 1 tsp of bi carb of soda, 2 lightly beaten eggs, 1 cup of plain flour, 1 cup of self raising flour, 1 tsp of mixed spice, 2 bags of Allen's ripe raspberry lollies, 2 bags of Allen's spearmint leaves, lollies. Place the crushed pineapple, castor sugar, marg/ butter, mixed dried fruit and salt in a large saucepan and simmer over a low heat for 15 minutes. Then stir in the bi carb of soda, remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Preheat your oven to 160 deg C. When completely cool add the 2 beaten eggs and mix well. In a separate bowl, mix together the plain flour, the self raising flour and the mixed spice. Fold the flour mix into the fruit mixture. Grease and line a 20cm round pan and a mini round pan. Divide the batter between the 2 pans. Bake in the preheated oven for 2 hours or until a skewer inseted comes out clean. Leave the cooked cakes in the pans to cool on a wire rack. When the cakes are totally cooled you can ice them , I just use a a basic white icing made with icing sugar, a little butter and a few drops of milk. Liberally ice both cakes with the icing mix around the sides and over the tops. Cover the small iced cake with the ripe strawberry lollies over the surface and sides. Now centre the small cake on the surface of the larger cake. Now line with a few circles of the mint leaf lollies around the base of the smaller cake on top of the larger one. There you have it ....your very own Aussie Waratah Xmas cake. Enjoy Merry Xmas.

EVERLASTING SYLLABUB

INGREDIENTS......1 lemon, rind finely peeled, juice strained, 1/2 cup of white wine, 2 tbs of apera ( cream sherry), 60gm of castor sugar, 1 and 1/4 cups of cream, grated nutmeg. DAY 1..Place the lemon rind, lemon juice in a bowl with the wine and sherry and leave covered overnight covered with cling film at room temperature. DAY 2.....Strain the wine and lemon mixture into a large deep bowl of your mixer. Now add the castor sugar and whisk until it has dissolved. I then poured in the cream and continue to whisk until it thickens and holds soft peaks on the whisk. When the cream is ready, spoon the syllabub into serving dishes. Once in the glasses the cream will not spoil. Keep the syllabubs in a cool place for up to 2 days in advance. All the recipes I have read for syllabub from long ago, say they should not be refrigerated, but as the syllabub originates from much cooler climates than ours and in a time when health regulations were non existent. Therefore I suggest you can keep them refrigerated up to 2 days or longer ,( temptation will win out !). In keeping with the Xmas theme i topped the syllabubs with green and red sprinkles.. The flavour is divine.

FRENCH STYLE CREPES

Ingredients......200gm of plain flour, 625ml of milk, 4 beaten eggs, 2tbs of melted butter/marg, pinch of salt, canola oil spray, lemon juice to drizzle and icing sugar for dusting. Mix flour and salt together in a bowl, make a well in the centre and pour in the beaten eggs. Slowly pour in the milk while stirring. Beat the batter until small bubbles appear on the surface. Now stir in the melted butter/marg. Spray the canola oil and wipe with paper towelling to spread the melted butter/ marg evenly over the surface of the pan. Cook over a medium high heat for 1 minute and then using a metal spatula cook the other side for 30 seconds. Repeat the process with the remaining batter, spraying and wiping the pan with the butter/marg when needed. Fold the crepes in quarters and serve immediately, drizzled with lemon juice and dusted with icing sugar.

TZAZIKI

Well, it is all about Xmas.....and tzazki is a great way to share, not just at Xmas anytime throughout the year. Ingredients.....250ml og Greek yoghurt, 3 cucumbers(grated), 4 tbs of minced garlic, 100ml of olive oil, 50ml of white wine vinegar, 2 tbs of dried dill, saltto taste, black olives to serve. Place all ingredientsin a bowland mix well. Refrigerate overnight to let flavours infuse. Serve with warmed pita bread and black olives.

CHOCOLATE FOR THE LEAD UP TO XMAS.

I have filled the jars and plates for the up coming Xmas season and visitors dropping in. " There is no love more sincere than the love of chocolate, you can give without loving, but you can't love without giving,and the gift of chocolate is the most loving of all."