Cheese Pinwheel Scones

From Commonsense Vegetarian, Murdoch Books, 2011.

There were a few ends of cheeses in the refrigerator so this recipe looked like a good way to use some of them up.

Firstly the scone dough was made. In a bowl I placed 250g flour, a tablespoon baking soda, a good pinch of cayenne pepper. I didn’t sift, though I should have; I just did a tossing type of stir. I then rubbed in 30g cubed butter to make fine breadcrumbs. Milk (180ml) was poured in and mixed until a dough was formed.

As soon as the dough was formed it was rolled out to make a rectangle of about 20 x 25cm. Onto this went a mixture of cheeses: 40g each of crumbled feta, grated parmesan and grated cheddar. Beginning from the longer side this was rolled up into a sausage shape and pressed together tightly. It was now cut into slices about 2cm wide.

An oven tray was prepared with baking paper and the slices placed on it about 2cm apart. This went into a 220ºC oven for about 12 minutes when the scones were golden. They were taken out and, while they were still warm, served.

These were wonderfully savoury and the scone dough had become a little crisp on the outside but remained light on the inside. The next day the remaining scones required a quick burst in the microwave to bring them back a little to their first-baked stage.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Blueberry and Lemon Trifle

From Trifle: Heavenly Layers, Michelle Keogh, Penguin Books, 2012.

After Christmas I began thinking about the trifle that was made. I always seem to make the same one, with just a few variations. It was time to try something else.

I took 300g macaroons and spread them with blueberry jam. They were then broken into pieces and dropped into the trifle bowl.

It was now time to make the jelly. I squeezed juice from 4 lemons, making 240ml juice. I poured half of this into a small bowl and sprinkled on 10g gelatine. I let it stand while I made sugar syrup.

The syrup was made with 160g caster sugar in 240ml water. This was brought to the boil to dissolve the sugar. It was removed from the heat and the juice with the gelatine in it added. It was stirred until the gelatine had dissolved. The remainder of the lemon juice was added.

I now sprinkled over the macaroons a little over 100ml limoncello. They did not readily absorb the liquid. I let it stand for a few minutes but there was still limoncello at the bottom of the bowl. The jelly meanwhile had cooled so I poured it into the bowl. Now I had a bowl with the bottom filled with a lemon jelly mixed with limoncello and a lot of floating macaroons. I sprinkled a couple of handfuls of blueberries over the jelly. I covered the bowl and placed it in the refrigerator. I hoped that this was how it was meant to be and that it would all set properly.

It did set well so I now made mascarpone cream to go on top of this. I placed 300g mascarpone, 140g lemon curd and 60g caster sugar in the mixer and whisked it until the sugar had dissolved and all was well mixed. Separately I whisked 240ml cream until it had soft peaks. This was folded into the mascarpone mixture and the whole was placed over the lemon jelly and smoothed out. It went back into the refrigerator over night.

Naturally I compared this with the standard one that I usually make. While this one was very acceptable with its wonderful lemon tang, I think I still prefer the more standard trifle.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking ✔✔

Broccolini with Lemon, Parmesan and Pine Nuts

From Coles Magazine, June 2014.

Broccolini is in season at the moment and it is just wonderful.

For this recipe I steamed a bunch of broccolini until it was tender. While it was steaming I dry roasted a good handful of pine nuts. The broccolini then went onto a serving plate. It was drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice was added. It was then topped with shavings of parmesan cheese and pine nuts were sprinkled over. A pinch of salt and some freshly grated black pepper added to this favourite vegetable.

This could become my favourite way to serve this vegetable.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔            Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔✔

Tunisian Carrot Salad

From Gourmet Vegetarian, Jane Price, Murdoch Books, 2007.

I always enjoy meals with the flavours of the Middle East.

I peeled and sliced three carrots and put them in a pot of salted water to bring them to the boil and cook them until they were just done. They were drained.

Meanwhile a dressing was made of a garlic clove crushed in a mortar and pestle with a little salt, a little ground cumin and a few grindings of black pepper. This paste was mixed with a ¼ teaspoon harissa, a touch of red wine vinegar and some olive oil. After tasting to see that it worked well it was poured over the carrots.

About a tablespoon of chopped parsley was added together with 6 black kalamata olives. At serving time a boiled egg was sliced into quarters and added to the dish.

A pleasing salad.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔ 

Cheesy Spinach Mash

From Coles Magazine, June 2014.

There are heaps of variations to potato mash and I generally like to try them all. This one began with a normal boiling of 300g potatoes while I prepared the other ingredients.

I grated 35g cheddar and sliced 35g baby spinach leaves.

Once the potatoes were cooked I drained them and mashed them with about a tablespoon butter. I quickly added the spinach as I wanted it to wilt in the hot potatoes. The cheese went in next while the mash was still hot so that it could melt in. Lastly I added a little milk to make the mash creamier. A little salt and a lot of freshly ground black pepper went in.

This was an acceptable variation. I don’t expect it’s one that I will use that often but one to keep in mind in case.

Taste: ✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔