whisks' orange coconut custard

this is my answer to making a dairy, egg and gluten free pouring custard to serve with christmas pudding, or any cake, or anything (or nothing) for that matter.

the rind an orange
60 grams sugar
10 grams maize cornflour
500 grams coconut milk
orange liqueur, optional, but nice to add for something festive

place the orange rind, sugar and cornflour into the thermomix bowl and grind on speed 10 for 10 seconds. take a good long sniff of this mixture - it smells so good.
add the coconut milk and cook for 8 minutes at 90 degrees at speed 4.
if you're adding some orange liqueur, now's the time to add it...at your discretion, and give it a stir in the thermomix on speed 4 for about 5 seconds.
pour this into a jug and serve. just a warning, this is hot, so if you want to have a taste, spoon some out to let it cool, then have a taste. very delicious. as with all custards, this one will form a skin. if you like the skin, you don't have to doo anything. if you don't want a skin to form, place a piece of baking paper on the surface of the custard and remove it before serving.

vanilla custard, just like grandma's

on saturday, i got together with a few friends who were longing for some old fashioned comfort...old fashioned comfort food. so after having a nice comforting risotto, i made vanilla custard from scratch. no custard powder, and the yellow in the custard came from the eggs. yolks to be specific.

the verdict? one of the guys sighed and proclaimed it to be just like gran's and breathed in all the vanilla-iness. and everyone nodded in agreement and continued eating their custard. lol.

2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons maize cornflour
3 egg yolks
1/2 litre milk
vanilla bean paste to taste

pop it all into the thermomix bowl and set the thermomix to cook at 80 degrees for 7 minutes on speed 4. so good. so easy. no comparison could be made with the bought stuff.

strawberry mousse...thermomixed!

need i say that this is so easy? the most fiddly thing about this is sprinkling the gelatine over the water...

1 1/2 teaspoons gelatine
1/3 cup water
100 grams sugar
250 grams strawberries
300 ml cream

place the water in a bowl and sprinkle the gelatine over the water. place the bowl over hot water to allow the gelatine to swell. stir to dissolve the gelatine and set aside.

place the sugar, strawberries and cream into the thermomix bowl and blend together on speed 8 for 15 seconds. add the gelatine mixture and mix for 5 seconds at speed 5.

pour the mixture into your favourite glasses, ramekins or bowls and refrigerate until set.

one pot rice cooker meal

tonight, when miss c called, i suggested another easy meal option. this is something easy to make if you have a rice cooker.

measure the rice and water into the rice pot as usual. season some chicken or pork (or your preferred meat...or no meat at all) with salt and pepper (and whatever other seasonings you fancy - herbs...or you can use asian seasonings - sesame oil, xiao xing wine, ginger...) and place this on top of the rice. top this with some vegetables (broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, peas, asian greens) and set the rice cooker to cook the rice.

there you go - an easy pot pot rice cooker meal. if you have leftovers, make a soup with the leftovers by adding some stock or water to the pot the next day. the rice will thicken the liquid, and if you want the soup to be more substantial, add an egg (or some eggs) to poach in the soup.

care package 1: seasoned flour

miss c, having finished school, has left home and is now living in canberra. and while i miss her, i know she has to leave home at some stage. miss c never learnt how to cook before she went on her merry way, but now, a few months down the track, is bulding up a respectable repertoire, and quite a healthy one at that. to junky things up, on one trip back to canberra, i gave her a bag of my homemade seasoned flour so she could have southern fried chicken or chicken fried steak (shock horror)! i figured if she felt like something junky, it would be better homemade.

1 cup plain flour
1 cup maize cornflour
2 teaspoons seasoned salt (yes...seasoned salt)

mix this throughly and store in an airtight jar until needed.

i'll give instructions on what to do with this in my next post.

quick apricot mousse

remember my strawberry mousse from last year? i thought that was pretty effortless. this is even more so. and three ingredients, to boot.
this is another offering from the same australian women's weekly menu planner i got the cream cheese flan from; this one's from page 54.

825 gram can apricot halves
2 teaspoons gelatine
300 grams sour cream

drain the apricots and reserve 1/2 cup syrup. sprinkle the gelatine over the syrup and allow to soften over a bowl of hot water.
puree the apricots, add the sour cream and gelatine mixture and mix until combined throughly.
pour into individual dishes and refrigerate until set.

isn't that easy? i'd suspect that it might be diabetic friendly if you used apricots in natural juice, but you should check that out with a dietician just to make sure.

roasted capsicums

on the tail of my post about convenience foods, i like finding easier ways of doing things without sacrificing taste. roasted capsicums have always been one of those things which finds itself in the "fiddly" basket....much loved, but fiddly.......gone in a blink, but forever to prepare...sort of...
so......i did a bit of a taste test thing with roasted capsicums: capsicums roasted whole and sliced off the core.
roasted whole requires the capsicum to spend more time "cooking" and as such, the fruit releases a lot of juice. slices spend less time being grilled and are firmer than their whole counterparts and retain their juices.
another consideration is capacity. one capsicum, sliced, takes up more tray space, but doesn't take so much time to get to the point of being peelable. more whole capsicums can be placed on a tray, but has to be turned until blackened all around, and by that stage has collapsed and is mushier in texture.
slicing the capsicum also enables the bottom of the capsicum to be blackened easily (when left whole, i always think it's that awkward spot) and there is also not the problem of having capsicum seeds scattered throughout.
so were the capsicums sliced off the core and roasted able to meet the deliciousness of whole roasted capsicums? i loved them. this is a personal opinion. i loved them because they still had a bit of chewiness and bite...they weren't as messy to prepare...and i like how they quicker to prepare, getting them closer to instant gratification.
i used capsicums which had nice thick flesh, so the resulting roasted capsicums were nice and meaty.

french onion dip

i can't believe i'm adding this recipe, but add it i must because miss c went to nooms' place and had it and thought it was soooo good. miss c needs to know how to make it in case she has a craving for it one day and doesn't know what to do. isn't it ironic how miss k knows how to make this, but doesn't eat it (she's not into sour cream), while miss c has absolutely no idea about what's in it, let alone make it, but loves it?
this recipe is for the dried packet soup mix, as opposed to the french onion dip which requires onions to be cooked from scratch - i'll post that another day when i am inclined to do so.
laugh away, but this isn't bad for those occasions when you really only want junk, and you really don't want to buy ready made french onion dip, do you, when this is so easy to make yourself?
(hint: this might not be a bad addition to ones repertoire for when schoolies comes around)

1 packet french onion soup (salt reduced, because it's already soooo salty)
1 carton sour cream

combine both ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl with a small whisk until everything is nicely married together. pour into a serving dish, cover and chill until required.
serve with crackers, vegetable sticks or chippies (it's not too bad on baked potatoes either).

lemonade, like at the easter show, but probably healthier

do you ever buy those big lemonade drinks they sell at the easter show? you know, the ones which are in a big tank with the lemon rinds floating in them and lots of ice? we do, and we buy the really big one because we like to share it (between the three of us, and no one else). it's always so refreshing and the acidity's just right to cut the greasiness of all the junk we eat when we're at the show. doesn't this sound bad? so much junky food...and drink.... i reason that it comes once a year, and the show's the only place where we get this kinda stuff. i'm sure it's available all year round at markets and the like, but for us, that's the only time we see it.
this lemonade is my imitation of the one at the show, but i'm sure it's better because it's home made, and as such, we would take extra love and care when we make it. like washing the lemons before we use them and not adding any preservatives or anything unnatural.....and since this is so wholesome sounding and all, one of these days, i'm going to post something to "balance" it, like the recipe for corn dogs (yum) and cheese on a stick (yum yum).
we didn't make it to the easter show this year, so i think miss k might be entitled to her annual quota of junky easter show food, albeit my version of it.

1 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice (about 6 washed lemons, and retain the rinds for the garnish)
7 cups water
1 cup granulated sugar

combine the lemon juice with the water and sugar in an 2 litre jug and stir to disslove the sugar. if you like, you can stir, go away and do something and come back to it and give it another stir, and before you know, it would have dissloved.
place the jug in the fridge until ready to serve.
to serve, fill a large glass with ice and fill the glass with the lemon concoction. to give it the full easter show effect, put half a lemon rind in the glass, as they do. me? i like to slice the rind into slivers before adding it to the drink, so they release lots of lemon flavour.

strawberry mousse

for one reason or another, i have always avoided making mousse. i don't know whether it was the gelatine aspect, the cream whipping aspect, having to use the blender then having to wash it up, or in this case, the use of fresh, luscious berries in a dessert, when i often wonder why people don't just eat the berries just as they are, rather than fiddle with something so perfect. however, now i know why one would make a strawberry mousse - because it is soooo delicious, and oh so easy, especially the way i do it. and what made me take the plunge? it's strawberry season now and perhaps i couldn't justify not making a mousse anymore.

1 punnet (250 grams) strawberries, washed and hulled
1/2 cup sugar
300 mls cream
2 teaspoons gelatine
1/3 cup boiling water

place the gelatine in a small bowl and pour the boiling water over and stir until the gelatine has completely dissolved. set aside while the straberry mixture is being prepared.

place the strawberries, cream and sugar in the beaker of a 1 litre capacity coffee plunger and use a bamix (or other kitchen wand) to blend the contents together. once smooth, pour in the gelatine liquid and blend again.

pour the resulting mousse mixture into 150ml capacity serving glasses or ramekins. the size of your glasses will determine the number of servings you get; i usually get about 5-6 servings and find that this is ideal - any bigger, and one could experience mousse overload, and any less may not be quite satisfying enough.

refrigerate for a couple of hours, or overnight, if time permits. we tend to go through these mousses very quickly (read they are eaten as soon as they set, if not before), however, i did find one behind some other containers in the fridge which was a couple of days old and still very delicious, so i can say they do keep a couple of days quite happily.

buttermilk scones by whisks

after making pumpkin scones yesterday, i though i'd give buttermilk scones a go. these scones are very good - the best i have ever had. i have always wanted to make scones, but have resisted because there is always talk of one having to have a light touch with them and i guess i didn't want to know what type of touch i had. i'm very glad that i've bitten the bullet and now know i can whip up a batch of scones with the best of them. i actually think that things like scones should actually be tackled with gay abandon - homemade ones should surely beat bought ones any day. so go ahead and be brave - give them a go and surprise yourself, because if i can do it, you can do it too!

2 cups self-raising flour
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
80g butter
100g sultanas (or dates, cranberries, dried sour cherries, chocolate chips)
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk soured with 1 teaspoon vinegar)

preheat oven to 200 degrees C and line a 20 cm square cake tin with some baking paper.

mix together all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar and salt), then rub in the butter with your fingertips till the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. i very often use my hand held mixer and room temperature butter to do this step - it's fast, and i don't end up with messy hands.

add the dried fruit and toss to coat the fruit with the buttery flour.

make a well in the middle of the dry mixture, then pour in the buttermilk and quickly stir together until you get a sticky dough. sift a little flour onto the kitchen bench and tip the dough onto the flour. sift a little flour over the top of the dough and press the dough lightly to about 4-5cm in depth. dip a 5cm round cutter into some flour and cut out the scones, placing them closely together in the prepared cake tin.

bake for 20 minutes, or until the scones are golden and sound hollow when lightly tapped on the top.

remove the tray from the oven and place a clean tea towel snugly on top of the scones for 5 minutes before serving with some homemade strawberry jam and freshly whipped cream!

porcupines

these are groovey looking meatballs with "something extra"- the rice pops up during cooking so the meatballs look like little porcupines! real old fashioned comfort food. i've suggested minced beef and tomato soup here, but the choice of meat and soup can be varied to suit individual tastes. i'll give you some examples to get you started:

chicken with cream of chicken
lamb with vegetable
beef with cream of mushroom

i'm sure you get the idea.

also, this is easily translated to an oven ready meal by using a casserole dish instead of a frypan, and popping it into the oven heated to 180 degrees C for an hour. easy, really.

1/2 kg minced beef
1/2 cup uncooked regular rice
1 finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 can tomato soup
1 cup water

combine minced beef, rice, onion and seasonings together.
form tablespoonfuls into meatballs.
arrange meatballs in a single layer in a non stick frypan.
stir together the tomato soup and water and pour over the meatballs gently.
cover the pan with a lid and place over medium heat, then simmer for 45 minutes.
Uncover and simmer for another 15 minutes.
serve over extra rice, if desiredrice.
makes 4 to 6 servings.