pronto - orecchiette with cavolo nero and sausage

pronto - orecchiette with cavolo nero and sausage

3 Jun 2011

Last month's Delicious magazine was a bumper Italian issue. So far I've only had time to make this recipe for orecchiette with sausage and cavolo nero. I've tried to track down the recipe for you, but so far no luck.



The recipe wasn't too labour intensive and once I'd tracked down the orecchiette, the organic cavolo nero from Eveleigh Markets and some sourdough bread, the rest of the ingredients were already in my pantry.

I used beef sausages rather than pork sausages and the recipe certainly made a few sausages go a very long way. The pasta dish was delicious by the way - full of flavour and lots of interesting textures.

I bought both a new camera and a laptop during the week, so I've got a full weekend ahead setting both up before I head on my trip. 2 weeks today and counting down!

Have a great weekend,

Jillian

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passover chocolate mint brownies

passover chocolate mint brownies

8 May 2011

I was living in Canada when I made brownies for the first time. I was invited to a bbq and made the brownies from a recipe I'd brought with me from Australia. I'd never even tasted one before but I must have made a squillion since then. I've been using and adapting the same recipe for years now and I think it's just about perfect. 

I decided to try adapting the recipe so I could use it during Passover. I wasn't quite sure the best way to substitute the flour though. Those of you that have done Passover baking know that superfine matzo meal is much more absorbent than regular flour and I was a bit worried the brownies would be a disaster. The first batch I made were chocolate raspberry brownies and I used superfine matzo meal.

If you look really carefully you can see how grainy the mixture looks.

I covered the bottom layer of brownie mixture with a punnet of raspberries and the mixture was so thick it was impossible to spread it over the raspberries. I did the best I could, put the brownies in the oven and kept my fingers crossed.

I took them into work and they were a roaring success. I took 2 home with me to try. Firstly, they were very squidgy which is what you want in a brownie but the combination of chocolate and raspberries made them taste quite sinful.

I needed to take something with me when I visited Farmer Andrew during the Anzac Day/Easter weekend so inspired by this post I decided to make a batch of mint brownies. Just reading the quantity of sugar in the recipe made me lapse into a diabetic coma, so I hunted down a more suitable recipe for chocolate mint brownies. I was taking a quick look at smitten kitchen and one of Deb's readers (comment 66) mentioned using half potato flour/half superfine matzo meal as a flour substitute, so that's what I did.



Now growing up I always loved the combination of chocolate and mint so I was eager to taste these.



The chocolate mints you get here in Australia are much smaller than specified in the recipe, so they melted during the cooking process.

How did they taste - incredible! There is just a subtle taste of mint and as you can't see the mint inside, every-one asks how you get them to taste that way. I may have unlocked the secret of perfect brownies - just make them with superfine matzo meal and potato flour. Who knew?



I hope you enjoyed the mega brownie post. See you all again on Wednesday.

P.S A belated Happy Mother's Day every-one. 

Jillian

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Homewares II

Homewares II

6 Feb 2009

I meant to post this ages ago. When I went overseas last year I planned on buying some new homewares to jazz up my food styling. Lack of space coupled with a poor exchange rate meant that I came home with little. I had to spend a few hours at Helsinki Airport on my way back to Sydney and I had no idea how fantastic the shopping was going to be. I've always loved the pared back look of Scandinavian design so I was in heaven browsing through the Iittala glassware. Unfortunately as I was already loaded down with my camera bag, I could only buy what I could carry. My one purchase - an Alvar Aalto oak serving tray. Next time I'm going with an empty bag!



I styled my Mediterranean lunch of feta cheese (a brand called Dodoni and it's the nicest feta cheese I've ever eaten), kalamata olives and turkish bread using my new purchases from Country Road and Helsinki, on a table runner from Cloth. Tomorrow it's meant to be 40° C so if it's too hot to cook dinner, I may be dining on watermelon and feta cheese salad.

Happy Weekend,

Jillian

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