SUNDAY NIGHT AT THE MANOR

preparing the pig`s head

After 4 .5 hours of oven baking the cheeks are ready to be served

Amelia's willingness to try something new  is so refreshing ..

The pork cheek was served with roasted whole apple.

The cheek was falling off the bone , so soft and full of juice .

The next course was a duo of fowl , butterflied and stuffed quail with crumbed kiev rounds on a cauliflower  mash .

We finished tea with a slice of almond tart and mascarpone

Over 4 hours we shared great conversation , ideas , wine and food .

BAKED VEGETABLE RISOTTO

I sliced up a fennel bulb, 2 heads of broccoli , 3 carrots, 2 onions , a small bulb of garlic , 2 handfuls of spinach leaves , 1/4 celery , placed them on an oven tray with a drizzle of oil and baked them on a low heat till tender .
Then placed the vegies in a soup pot with a litre of vegetable stock and 500 ml of fish stock .

Bought it back to the boil and simmered for 40 minutes .

Turn off the heat , cover and allow to cool.

Once cooled process to a puree .

I then placed a drizzle of oil into a pan over a low heat and added 4 cups of medium brown rice , 1/4 cup of black rice , 1/4 cup of red rice and 1/2 cup of red quinoa ....

 

stirring continuously to heat through , then I added 5cups of vegetable stock and slowly

added the roast vegetable puree .

Stir continuously over a low heat , until the rice absorbs the stock and is well incorporated through the puree .

 

Then turn off the heat and cover the pan  to allow the flavours to infuse .

The last thing to do is to stir through  4 tbs of mascarpone and 4 tbs of  cream .

A very warm and filling meal on a cold winter's night .

 

ALMOND TART

Preheat your oven to 160`deg C.
This recipe can be found on the 350gm package of 'sunbeam ' almond meal .
The best thing about this recipe ..is it really works .
Prepare a loose bottomed tart flan with cooking spray .
In your electric mixer beat together 250gm of butter /margarine , 2 /3`rds of a cup of castor sugar with the rind of 1 lemon ....this process takes time .....beat  until light and fluffy .
Beat together 4 eggs ( at room temp ).....now add them a little at a time to the batter .
Stir in 220gm of almond meal and 1/cup of rice flour ....
Pour the prepared batter into the prepared flan pan and top with fresh berries of your choic , I used thawed frozen cherries ....
Bake for 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean...
Stand in pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack for another 10 minutes prior to serving .

FRENCH JELLIES

Soak 28gm of gelatine in 4 tbs of water .
Place 4 tbs of water in a medium saucepan with 455gm of castor sugar and slowly bring to the boil .
Add the gelatine and simmer for 20 minutes .
Add flavouring and colourings ..( I used rose water essence with an orange colouring ).
Pour into a wetted slice tray .
Allow to set , then cut into squares and dredge through icing sugar .
These are delicious ....!

RUSSIAN CARAMELS

Melt 110 gm of butter \ margarine in a medium saucepan over a low heat
Add 1 tin of condensed milk , 225 gm of soft brown sugar and 2 tbs of golden syrup.
Stir over a low heat till dark brown and the mixture leaves side of saucepan .
Pour into a greased slice tray or square cake pan
Leave to cool.
When cool mark into squares and cut .

MOIST VANILLA BUNDT AND MUFFINS

Preheat your oven to 160 deg C

I beat together 6 eggs and then poured them into the bowl of the kitchen aid and slowly added 1/2 cup of castor sugar ,
Keep the mixer running and pour in 2/3rds cup of extra virgin olive oil , followed by 2 cups of tepid water ( lukewarm ) , and 1 dsp of vanilla extract .
Slowly add 4 cups of a good quality self raising flour .
Prepare muffin cases with cooking spray and pour batter 1/2  filling  the muffin holes .
I like using the bundt pan for cakes .......the finished cake looks very inviting , it is easy slice ...
A bundt cake can be easily sliced in half  horizontally , making the offered slices smaller thus making the cake go further ...
Bundt cakes are so easy to ice or for  pouring syrup over .
Prepare your cake pan with cooking spray and I like to lightly coat the pan with a sprinkling of flour , tapping out the excess .
Pour in the batter to half filling the pan , then allow the pan to sit on the bench for 20 minutes .
Then place in the oven and allow to rise and cook through ..
45-50 minutes for the cake , 20-25 minutes for the muffins or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake /muffins comes out clean .
Remove the cake from the oven when cooked through and leave stand in the pan till cool and then invert onto a cooling rack and liberally coat with lemon curd ........
Delicious ..

.
 

LEMON AND CAULIFLOWER SOUP

This is a very special soup ...
Peel and halve 1 medium sized onion along with 2 large garlic cloves .
Heat a tbs of oil in a soup pot over a medium heat .
Stir in the onion , garlic , a generous pinch of chilli flakes and 1/2 tsp of salt .
Stir to combine and cover the pot , reduce heat allowing the onion and garlic to sweat and soften , do not allow them to brown .
I add one zucchini unpeeled and sliced  ( optional )
Trim the green leaves  from the cauliflower .
Quarter  the cauliflower and then chop each quarter into smaller pieces .
Now carefully remove the zest from 1 lemon.
Add 1 litre of chicken stock to the soup pot  along with the cauliflower and the lemon zest .
Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer , partially cover the pot with a lid and simmer till tender .
Puree the soup with a stick blender and then stir in 2 tbs of mascarpone and 4 tbs of finely grated Parmesan cheese .
Season to taste with lemon juice ...
 If you want a complete meal in a pot add a precooked chicken ,discard the skin ,bones and stuffing and shred the meat into cauliflower and lemon soup .
Serve with crusty bread .
Enjoy .