I really enjoyed seeing Bompas and Parr when I went to Melbourne for the Food and Wine Festival, as I mentioned in a previous post.

They introduced me to the idea of adding alcohol to jelly. This idea seemed to really appeal to my youngest who is turning 18 in April and we decided to serve some at her birthday party. I thought I had better have a practice run first and make sure I have the recipe under control before the big occasion. Can you remember you eighteenth? I can’t. I am not sure what sort of celebration we had. In the olden days when I was young(she says with her croaky  old voice) it was more common to celebrate your twentyfirst. Nowadays  eighteen seems more appropriate. I can’t believe you used to give people a key with 21 on it for their 21st?

Firstly we went to the local “Grog shop”. I have to admit to not being much of a drinker, so this was an unusual experience.  My husba and I wandered down to the back and saw rows and rows of vodka. I had a hard time making a decision which infused vodka to buy, blackberry, lemon, lime?  In the end Mango won.

The resulting jellies have quite a strong little punch so you wouldn’t want to consume to many.

RECIPE

Ingredients

For 500 ml/18 oz this is enough for 25 shot size jellies.

200 ml of mango vodka

juice of one lemon

juice of one lime

50ml of sugar syup

(Sugar syrup is simply equal parts water and sugar. Heat the water then remove from stove and pour in sugar and stir until dissolved)

200 ml of water

4 gelatine leaves (Only use gelatine leaves not powder)

Method

Place the mango vodka in a measuring jug and add the lemon and lime juice, then the sugar syrup and water. You can adjust the proportions but make sure you end up with 500mls.

Cut the leaf gelatine into a heatproof bowl and add enough of the mixture to cover. Let the gelatine soften for ten minutes.

Bring a pan of water to the boil and place the bowl of gelatine and liquid over the pan of boiling water. Once the gelatine has melted, add some of the rest of the mixture to the gelatine. Give it a stir and then add to rest of the liquid. Pour all of this through a sieve to make sure no lumpy bits of gelatine are left. Pour into shot glasses and place in refrigerator overnight to set.  It is up to you whether you leave them in the shot glasses or unmold them.

No Comments | In: Desserts | | #

This is a wonderful dish I learnt from my husband’s Italian relatives. Whenever I serve it, it is eaten with gusto and lots of delightful sounds coming from guests. It can be served as an accompaniment or as a meal in it itself with salad and a rustic loaf of bread. When choosing your eggplant, find firm medium size fruit. My father in law prefers the ones that only have a few seeds when cut open. I have grown eggplant in my garden in normal garden beds. They are easy to grow and don’t need spraying.

Use the best olive oil you can buy when dressing your food but for cooking, it does not have to be of such a high standard. Once you heat olive oil it’s properties change. The passata is available at supermarkets or any good italian deli. If you belong to an Italian family you might be able to get your hands on a home made bottle.

By the way if you can find the time could you please vote for me in Bloggers Choice Awards the link is in the side bar. Thanks so much.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 bottle of passata 700 ml bottle
4 medium aubergines
1/2 chopped onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 handful fresh basil
1 handful fresh oregano

1/2 cup of vegetable stock

Oilive oil

250 g mozzarella

Salt and pepper
Grated parmesan

Method

Dice the onions and chop the garlic finely, and fry in olive oil until translucent and fragrant. Add the Passata to the saucepan and stir to combine everything. Add the oregano and season with salt and pepper. Taste to check whether you need more salt . Add more olive oil for flavour. Set the finished sauce aside.

To prepare the eggpalnt or  aubergine, slice it into rounds about 1 cm thick, lightly salt to remove the juices and leave in a colander over a sink for half an hour.The eggplant will have little beads of moisture on them. Wash and pat dry then fry each round in olive oil (the aubergine slices are like little sponges, so you’ll need plenty), until brown on each side. Drain on kitchen paper and season with salt and pepper.

First spoon some sauce into the bottom of the baking dish then set out a layer of aubergine slices in the bottom of a baking dish. Place some basil leaves on top. Pour over a layer of sauce, layer some grated mozzarella and parmesan, then more aubergine, more basil, more sauce and so on. If you think it looks a little dry you can add a sprinkle of vegetable stock over the whole dish.When you’ve used everything up, sprinkle over the parmesan and bake for 45 minutes at 180° C, until brown on top. Scatter over some fresh basil.

Buono Apetito

Serve with crusty bread to mop up the rich juices.

3 Comments | In: Gluten Free, Meals | | #

I have been experimenting with a Cherryripe inspired brownie and blondie. A blondie is a brownie that is made with white chocolate instead of dark or milk chocolate for those of you who hadn’t heard the term before. I have come up with this recipe for the white chocolate version. You can use the same ingredients to make a dark chocolate version if you like. I have used a combination of cherries from a tin and dried sour cherries from Black Pearl Epicure. I think the result is pretty good. Most of the cherries seemed to have sunk to the bottom so in the next batch I will sprinkle some gluten free flour over them before adding them to the mixture.

Recipe

500gm of White Chocolate

250gm Butter

4 extra large eggs

1  cup of castor sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 1/2 cups almond meal

I cup of desiccated coconut

1 tin of cherries drained and dusted in gluten free flour

1 cup of dried sour cherries

METHOD

Preheat oven to 350F or 180C.

Prepare baking pan (lamington pan) by lining with baking paper.

Melt chocolate and butter until just melted

Stir in vanilla

Beat eggs and sugar together until thick, then stir in cooled chocolate, butter mixture. Add coconut and almond meal. When completely incorporated add dried cherries and drained dusted cherries,

Spread into the pan and bake for 50 mins. The surface should look flaky. Put in fridge to cool (overnight is best), then cut into desired portions.

No Comments | In: Brownies, Gluten Free, Other Delights | | #