Jasmyne Tea

Upside-Down Sticky Banana Cake

This cake is a thing of beauty. Disillusioned by years of average banana cake, I didn't think I could get excited over it again until I tried this recipe. The cake itself is fluffy and gorgeous, the bananas turn out golden and beautifully caramelised on top, and the caramel topping slowly permeates through the whole cake if you leave it long enough. Served warm with a dollop of ice-cream, you might find your faith in banana cake restored as well.

Upside-Down Sticky Banana Cake
Recipe received from my SIL Melissa

INGREDIENTS

Cake
180g self raising flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 medium ripe banana
2 tbsp sour cream
2 large eggs
180g brown sugar
90g unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping
60g unsalted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 large, just-ripe bananas

To Serve
vanilla ice-cream

 

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C, fan forced, and grease a 23cm round cake tin. Set it aside.

2. Make the caramel topping by melting the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat and adding the brown sugar and salt.  Stir occasionally for a few minutes or until glossy, then take off the heat. Pour caramel into the prepared tin, coating the bottom evenly.

3. Peel and thickly slice the bananas, and place the slices into the bottom of the tin, covering as much of the caramel as possible. Set the tin aside.

4. Mix together the flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mash the banana and then mix in the sour cream.

5. In a third bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until fully combined, for about 2 minutes. Add the butter and vanilla and mix for another couple of minutes (if you have a food processor, use it!). Add the egg mixture to the banana mixture and stir to combine. Then add this mixture to the flour bowl and mix thoroughly.

6. Carefully pour the cake mixture over the banana slices in the cake tin, and bake for 40-45 minutes until the cake is golden. Cake should spring back when pressed gently in the centre.

7. Remove cake from oven, and leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edges of the cake, then place a serving plate over the tin and flip the tin and the plate over. Leave the tin upside-down on the plate for 30 seconds, then gently lift the tin. Let the cake cool for 5 minutes or so, then serve with ice-cream.

Caramel Chicken

Yes sirree bob, you read that right:

Caramel. Chicken.

This dish is the bomb.com. The bees knees. The cat's meow. It's awesome, it's radical, groovy, neat and hip.

It's simply splendid.

But don't take my word for it. Try it out yourself! It's quick and easy, the ingredients are cheap, and the recipe results in choice morsels of chicken smothered in a thick, syrupy sauce that's balanced perfectly between sweet and savoury.

Caramel Chicken
*Adapted from Bill Granger's Best of Bill

INGREDIENTS

8 chicken thigh fillets, skinless, quartered
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 brown onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cm piece of ginger, finely grated
freshly ground black pepper
60 mL (1/4 cup) dark soy sauce
115 g (1/2 cup) soft brown sugar   
60 mL (1/7 cup) fish sauce

to serve
steamed rice
steamed snow peas, asparagus, or chinese broccoli

1. Combine the oil and chicken together in a bowl and toss. Heat a large frying pan over a high heat, then cook the chicken in batches - 2 minutes on each side until browned. Remove from the pan.

2. Reduce the heat to medium, add the onion, ginger and garlic and cook for 5 minutes, adding more oil if needed. Return the chicken to the pan, sprinkle liberally with pepper, add the soy sauce and stir to combine.

3. Cover the pan, reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Increase the heat to high, add the sugar and stir. Cook uncovered for 3-5 minutes until sauce is dark and syrupy and the chicken is thoroughly cooked.

4. Add the fish sauce and stir to combine. Take off the heat, and serve with steamed rice and veggies.

Chocolate Cake with Whipped Ganache

In my cooking experience, I've mangled many a recipe. Often it's from not having the right ingredient and trying to substitute; sometimes it's because Stephen has snuck up behind me and added an extra pinch of salt or sprinkling of raisins because he doesn't think I'm doing it right. And sometimes, I have no idea why it hasn't worked out.

Take this birthday cake for example. The chocolate cake recipe is a favourite of mine, and has become a staple - no problems there, it turned out dense and moist the way I like it. The chocolate ganache, however, was being bitchy and we couldn't work out why it wasn't thickening. After many attempts at cooling it down, we finally decided to try whipping it - I mean, it IS half cream, why the hell not?

As you can see, the results were favourable:

If you don't know how to make ganache, here's a handy little recipe. Then, when it's cool to the touch but not thickened to the point of usual ganache, whip with a hand-held mixer for 30 seconds to a minute. Spread promptly onto cake of choice!

Gary Mehigan's Apple Strudel

Hi Everyone, Stephen here.

It has been a few months since I've posted anything here. Balancing two jobs and a full time PhD only leaves me spare time to spend with Jas. Now that the uni semester has ended I've got a bit of time on my hands and started catching up on the latest Masterchef season.

About two weeks ago in their masterclass Gary Mehigan had cooked an apple strudel with a vanilla custard and I knew I had to give this recipe a shot. It reminds me of a few great memories: apple strudel in Poland and Germany whenever I went with my dad; when he would make it himself at home when I was young; and more recently the friends I was staying with in California would make strudel in the mornings. And its a perfect dish for the weather we are facing over the next couple of months.

Apple Strudel with Ice-Cream and Vanilla Bean Custard

The recipe can be found on the Masterchef website here

INGREDIENTS

Strudel pastry

• 225g plain flour, plus extra for kneading
• 1 whole egg
• 125ml warm milk
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 30g butter, melted

Apple Filling

• 5 pink lady apples
• 60ml brandy
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ cup raisins
• ¼ cup flaked almonds
• Zest of 1 lemon
• ¾ cup (165g) brown sugar
• 125g fresh sourdough breadcrumbs
• 60g butter, melted for brushing
• Icing sugar, for dusting
• Double cream, to serve

Vanilla Custard

• 300ml pouring cream
• 200ml milk
• 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped
• 5egg yolks
• ¼ cup caster sugar
• 25g corn flour

Method

Strudel Pastry and Apple Filling

1. Preheat oven to 180°C fan forced.

2. For pastry, place flour, egg, milk and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough paddle and beat at a low speed to combine. Add butter, increase speed and beat to a smooth dough. Turn onto a lightly floured bench and knead until smooth, elastic and doesn’t stick. Place in an oiled bowl, cover and allow to rest for 35-40 minutes.

4. For filling, peel, core and quarter apples. Roughly cut into medium chunks. Place in a bowl with brandy, cinnamon, raisins, almonds and lemon zest and toss to combine.

5. Reserve 1/3 of each brown sugar and breadcrumbs and set to one side. Add the remaining brown sugar and breadcrumbs to the apple mixture, toss to combine and allow to sit, covered, for flavours to infuse.

6. Sprinkle bench with flour, roll out dough to a rectangle approximately 40x60cm and very thin. Take a 60cmx80cm piece of cloth or clean tea towel and sprinkle with plain flour. Use a rolling pin to help you transfer the pastry onto the cloth and gently pull pastry by the edges until it is transparent. Ensure thick areas are worked to a similar transparency and dough isn’t sticking to the cloth. Trim edges.

7. Sprinkle pastry with reserved breadcrumbs and sugar, then spoon apple mix down the length of the pastry in a rectangular shape 3-4inches wide and piled up high. Sprinkle apple and pastry with reserved breadcrumbs and brown sugar.

8. To roll, use the cloth to fold the ends of the pastry over apples to encase, fold the sides of the pastry over to seal and roll up loosely into a thick, plump and elongated strudel shape.

9. Transfer to a baking paper-lined oven tray and brush with melted butter. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden and pastry is crisp.

10. Allow to cool slightly before dusting heavily with icing sugar.

 
Vanilla Custard

11. Place cream, milk, vanilla pod and seeds in a saucepan over a medium heat and just bring to the boil.

12. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until thick and pale. Whisk in corn flour, pour half of the hot cream into egg mixture, whisking continuously. Pour into remaining cream mixture and return to a medium low heat. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon until mixture is thick and coats the back of a spoon. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl placed over a bowl of iced water and stir custard until cooled to room temperature. Pour into a serving jug.

13. To serve, cut strudel into thick pieces and serve with a drizzle of custard and a dollop of thick cream.

Cornish Pasties

"Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, ate a pasty five feet long,
Bit it once, Bit it twice, Oh my Lord, it's full of mice!"
- West Country schoolyard rhyme

This recipe is a winter favourite for us, a traditional Cornish Pasty - although, it's not traditional AT ALL according to the Cornish Pasty Association (seriously, don't these people have anything better to do?). The Cornish Pasty was awarded Protected Geographical Indication last year, meaning that a pasty has to comply with a whole list of rules to be considered Cornish. Rules include:

• A Cornish Pasty should be shaped like a ‘D’ and crimped on one side, not on the top.
• The ingredients should include uncooked beef and roughly chopped swedes, potatoes, and onion - carrots are frowned upon.
• Cornish Pasties must be prepared in Cornwall.

Anyways, rules are meant to be broken, right? This pasty was made right here in Oz, has garlic, carrot, and corn in the filling, and is crimped on the top. Because that's how we roll. And also how Curtis Stone rolls, who we stole borrowed this recipe from.

Cornish Pasty
*Adapted from here

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp + 1 tsp  olive oil
400g beef mince
1 small brown onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
1 baby potato, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
1/2 cup fresh corn kernels
1 medium tomato, finely diced
4 cups baby spinach
1/4 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
4 sheets short crust pastry, cut into 20cm rounds, leaving plastic on base
1 egg, lightly beaten
Grated parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large fry pan over high heat and brown the beef for 5 minutes, breaking up any clumps with a wooden spoon. Strain the beef and discard liquid from pan.

2. Place the pan back on heat and add 1 teaspoon of oil. Add the onion, garlic, and cook for 3 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the carrot and potato to the pan and cook for an additional 3 minutes.

3. Return beef to the pan, add the corn, tomato and spinach and cook until the spinach has wilted. Remove from heat and stir through the parsley, season to taste with salt and pepper and let cool for 15 minutes.

4. Lay the 4 rounds of pastry onto a clean work surface and divide the filling evenly between each round of pastry. Brush the edges of the pastry with the egg wash and carefully fold and crimp the edges together to seal the pasties. Remove the plastic and poke several small holes with a knife in the pastry to allow steam to escape whilst cooking.

5. Place pasties onto a baking tray lined with baking paper, brush with a little of the remaining egg

wash, and sprinkle the cheese over the pasties. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the pastry is glossy and golden brown, and the filling is cooked through. Leave to cool for 5 minutes before serving - with tomato sauce. :)

Oliebollen

I've been eating these for years, but I never knew what they were called until a month ago. Every year we used to drive the 8 hours (then 5 hours when they fixed the highway) to Albury to visit my grandparents, and the hours of boredom and fighting with my brother on the way were compensated by a batch of freshly fried Dutch doughnuts at the Sunday Trash & Treasure Markets.

The taste, smell and texture of those doughnuts are implanted in my memory forever - they have a beautifully crisp outer, and fluffy, soft innards. Studded with raisins and dusted with a liberal amount of icing sugar and cinammon, they were probably the ultimate comfort food of my childhood.

Recently I found the recipe here, and thought I'd give it a go - it was only when I fried a batch of these that I realised these Oliebollen were the doughnuts of my youth.

Oliebollen

INGREDIENTS

1 tsp sugar
2 small packets of dry yeast
4 cups flour
1/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 cups milk
1 tsp salt
1 peeled and grated Granny Smith apple
1/2 cup of raisins or sultanas
8 cups vegetable/sunflower oil

Icing sugar
Ground cinnamon

1. In a medium-sized bowl, mix the teaspoon of sugar into 1/2 cup (120 ml) of warm water. Sprinkle the yeast on top, stir, cover with then allow to stand for 10 minutes.

2. Mix together the flour and sugar in a large bowl and make a well in the middle. Add the eggs as well as the yeast mixture. Warm up milk in the microwave for approximately 30 seconds until lukewarm. Add half of the milk to the well in the flour and mix until all ingredients are combined. Add the rest of the milk and whisk until smooth.

3. Cover the bowl with a damp dish towel and allow to rise in a warm area for about an hour. Once the dough has doubled, stir in the salt, apple and raisins.

4. Heat the oil in a large, deep pan or in a deep fryer. To check whether the oil is at the right temperature, stand the handle of a wooden spoon in the oil. If little bubbles form around it, the oil is ready.

5. Use two tablespoons to form and handle the dough, as well as a slotted spoon to remove the Oliebollen from the hot oil. Quickly dip the two tablespoons into the oil and form small balls of the dough with the oiled tablespoons, then carefully scrapeand drop the dough into the hot oil. Fry at least 6 Oliebollen at a time, but don't crowd the pan. Fry until golden brown on both sides, carefully flipping when required. Drain on a tray lined with paper towels.

6. Sieve powdered sugar over the Oliebollen as well as a dusting of ground cinnamon, and serve warm.

Barbeque Chicken with Toum

Now that it's winter, the barbeque makes less of an appearance at our place; really, no one wants to be hovering over a grill with an umbrella while the rain is pouring non-stop. So on one of those rare days when the sun peaked out from behind the clouds, we went ahead and started that barbeque without even knowing what to cook. Luckily inspiration came in the form of a craving for Lebanese charcoal chicken. Granted, the chicken recipe is more Morrocan or Tunisian than Lebanese, but I paired it with delicious toum and pickles like at Al Barakeh and said craving was satisfied.

Barbeque Chicken with Toum
Adapted from When I Get Home by Matt Moran

INGREDIENTS

1 1.6kg chicken, cut in half and flattened
1 lemon, quartered

Chermoula Rub
1/2 bunch corriander, chopped
1/2 bunch flat-leafed parsely, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp chopped ginger
3/4 tsp sweet paprika
3/4 tsp roasted ground cumin seeds
3/4 tsp roasted ground coriander seeds
150mL extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 long red chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp salt

1. Mix together the ingredients for the chermoula rub until combined, then massage the marinade into the chicken and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

2. Preheat the barbeque to its hottest setting (preferably a coal bbq), then cook the chicken skin side down for 15 minutes. Turn the chicken over and cook for a further 10 - 15 minutes, checking with a skewer inserted in the leg - if the skewer comes out hot, chicken is cooked. Remove chicken from the bbq, and serve.

Serve with a cucumber and tomato salad, pickles, lebanese bread and toum. I used the toum recipe from The Food Blog, and highly recommend it - the recipe produced a delicious, fluffy garlic sauce that went perfectly with the chicken.

Sweet Cheese Pie with Poached Quince

If there is one recipe you make from Turkey: Recipes and Tales from the Road by Leanne Kitchen, it has to be this one.

This book, although pure food porn, also has some amazing recipes that really show us that there's more to Turkish cuisine than pide and adana. The pictures (and the stories!) are colourful and vibrant, with a sort of rustic charm that really makes me want to visit Turkey.

Source

This pie is decadent and sweet, with a super crispy filo crust encasing a silky smooth ricotta mixture, flavoured delicately with lemon and vanilla. The oven poached quince lends its unique flavour and sweetness to the dish, matching it perfectly and making everyone reach for seconds.

Sweet Cheese Pie with Oven-Poached Quince
*Adapted from Turkey: Recipes and Tales from the Road by Leanne Kitchen

INGREDIENTS
Sweet Cheese Pie
220g caster sugar
1 tbs lemon juice
700g firm fresh ricotta cheese
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
2 eggs
2 1/2 tbs icing sugar
125 mL pouring cream
1 1/2 tbs sifted plain flour
8 sheets filo pastry
125g melted butter

Poached Quince
3 quinces, peeled, cored and halved
330g caster sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
625 mL boiling water

1. For the oven-poached quince, preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Arrange the quince halves in a high-edged baking tray in a single layer, and scatter over the sugar. Pour over the boiling water, add the cinnamon sticks , then cover the dish with aluminium foil and cook for 45 minutes.

2. Turn the quince halves over and cook for a further 45 minutes, until the quince halves are tender. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the syrup. Cut the quince into wedges to serve, retaining the syrup.

3. For the pie, combine the caster sugar with the water in a saucepan over medium-low heat and bring to a simmer. Cook for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and add the lemon juice. Leave to cool.

4. Process the ricotta, vanilla seeds, eggs, lemon juice mixture and icing sugar in a food processor until smooth. Add the cream and pulse until just combined. Add the flour and pulse until smooth, then set mixture aside.

5. Brush a 24cm round baking dish with melted butter. Place a sheet of filo pastry in the base of the dish and brush liberally with butter (keep the remaining filo sheets under a damp tea towel to prevent it drying out). Repeat with the rest of the filo pastry,  placing each sheet at an angle so that the overhang evenly lines the dish.

6. Spoon the ricotta mixture into the pastry case, and fold the overhanging pastry over the filling to cover. Tear up a leftover sheet of filo pastry and scrunch up the pieces to fill in any gaps in the middle of the pie. Bake the pie in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes, or until golden and slightly puffed. Remove from the oven.

7. Spoon the reserved quince syrup over the top of the pie, then leave to cool to room temperature. Cut the pie into slices and serve with the quince on the side.

Antipasto Roulade

It's so exciting: Stephen's sister Melissa has gotten to the point where she's testing out recipes for her kitchen tea, and I'm going wedding dress shopping for the first time tomorrow for my own wedding. Things are moving forward! *girly squeal*

One of the recipes was straight off the top of her head, an idea she had whilst perusing the menu at her reception venue. It's quite ingenious - a roulade made up of all of our favourite elements on an antipasto platter, including prosciutto, bocconcini, sundried tomato and eggplant. It's quick, it's easy, and it's something I'll definitely be busting out when I next have a party.

Antipasto Roulade

The recipe is quite simple, and it really depends on what you like. We started off with approximately 12 pieces of prosciutto, laid out on a sheet of cling wrap in 2 groups of 6 slices, each overlapping to make a sort of large rectangle. Bocconcini cheese slices were then layered on top, then thin slices of pickled eggplant and sundried tomato. The whole thing was carefully rolled up while still managing to keep the cling wrap on the outside, then refrigerated for an hour or so to set. When ready to serve, we just carefully sliced 2 cm thick pieces with the cling wrap still on, unwrapping when each slice was cut. Served with a bit of lettuce for garnish and some balsamic vinegar, and hey presto!

You can easily use any other type of antipasto you like, such as artichoke hearts or capsicum.

Sticky Date Cake with Butterscotch Sauce

So apparently there are people out there who have never had sticky date  pudding.

"What sort of deprived childhood did you suffer through to not ever have had sticky date pudding?!?!?!" I yelled at Stephen. In front of his mum.

Oops.

Despite my chronic foot-in-mouth disease, Stephen's mum graciously deigned to try this totally awesome sticky date cake, smothered in a sexy butterscotch sauce. It's thick and luscious, and gorgeous when served warm. All in all, not a bad specimen to have as your first sticky date experience.

Sticky Date Cake with Butterscotch Sauce
*Adapted from Bill Granger's Best of Bill

INGREDIENTS

300g medjool dates, pitted and chopped
1 tsp bicarb soda
70g diced unsalted butter
170g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 lightly beaten eggs
185g self-raising flour, sifted
185g soft brown sugar
200mL cream
150g unsalted butter, extra

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and grease and line the base of a 20 cm spring-form cake tin. Put the dates in a saucepan with 250mL of water and cook, stirring occasionally for 5-6 minutes until the water has been absorbed. Remove from the heat and stir in the bicarb and 70g of butter; set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

2. Transfer dates to a large mixing bowl, add the sugar, vanilla and eggs and stir well. Fold in the sifted flour until combined, then pour into the prepared tin and bake for 50 minutes (check if it's cooked with a skewer inserted in the middle). Leave in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out and cool on a wire rack.

3. For the butterscotch sauce, heat the sugar, cream and extra butter in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook over a low heat for 3 minutes, then pour over the sticky date cake to serve.