Strawberry Muffins

Strawberry muffins

Ingredients

• 400g plain flour, sifted
• 3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar
• 1 tbs baking powder
• Grated zest of 1 orange
• 1 punnet (250g) strawberries, chopped
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 300ml buttermilk
• 80g unsalted butter, melted, cooled
• Icing sugar (optional), to dust


Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a 12-hole muffin pan with paper cases. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, then stir in berries with a wooden spoon. Mix eggs, buttermilk and butter in another bowl, then add to dry ingredients. Stir to just combine - don't over mix. Pour into pans. Bake for 15-18 minutes until risen and pale golden. Cool. Dust with icing sugar, if desired.

Can substitute milk for buttermilk and chopped white chocolate can be added.

delicious. - February 2008, Page 116
Recipe by Valli Little. Photography by Brett Stevens

Whole orange cake with wine syrup

Ingredients (serves 8)

• 3 large (about 250g each) oranges
• Melted butter, to grease
• 5 eggs
• 315g (1 1/2 cups) caster sugar
• 200g (2 cups) almond meal
• 75g (1/2 cup) self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 375ml (1 1/2 cups) botrytis-style dessert wine (none in Jakarta, so I used sweet sherry...great)
• Double cream, to serve

Method

1. Place 2 oranges in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over high heat. Drain. Return oranges to the pan and repeat process (this will reduce the bitterness of the peel). Return oranges to the pan once again and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, adding more water when necessary to keep oranges covered, for 1 hour or until oranges are very tender. Drain. Set aside for 2 hours or until cooled to room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 160°C. Brush a round 20cm (base measurement) cake pan with melted butter to lightly grease. Line the base with non-stick baking paper. Cut oranges into quarters. Remove the white cores and any seeds. Place in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth.
3. Use an electric beater to whisk the eggs and 215g (1 cup) of the sugar in a large bowl until thick and pale. Use a metal spoon to stir in the orange mixture. Add the almond meal, flour and baking powder, and stir until just combined. Pour into the prepared pan and use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface. Bake in preheated oven for 1 1/4 hours or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly.
4. Meanwhile, use a zester to remove the rind from the remaining orange. (Alternatively, use a vegetable peeler to peel rind from orange. Use a small sharp knife to remove white pith and cut into very thin strips.) Juice the orange and place in a medium saucepan along with the rind, wine and remaining sugar. Place over low heat and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Cook, without stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until syrup thickens slightly. Remove from heat.
5. Turn cake onto a wire rack over a baking tray. Spoon the hot syrup and orange rind over the warm cake. Set aside for 30 minutes to cool. Cut cake into wedges and place on serving plates. Drizzle with any remaining syrup and serve with double cream, if desired.

Good Taste - November 2005, Page 111
Recipe by Sarah Hobbs Photography by Chris Court

Notes from web site:

• A little time consuming with the oranges, but it was worth it I think! The cake was yummy, so were the aromas! Only used half the sugar and was plenty sweet. As a previous reader said, the whole 375mL is not really necessary for the sauce, you could probably get away with maybe 200mL
• Absolutely Yum! Keeps extremely well for days. Instead of botrtis syrup I did a orange glaze! Yum Yum
• A delicious cake. I used a mini muffin pan so only needed to cook the cakes for 25mins. I didn't have the wine so substituted a large slurp of Frangelica liqueur. I think I may try Cointreau next time.
• Very easy and so delicious! I prepared the oranges the day before which made it much quickerEasy, but time consuming to make.
• Great for entertaining. I would use only 200-250ml wine for the syrup next time and serve the remaining in glasses to accompany the dish, as you end up with too much syrup. I also cooked this for an hour (not 1 1/4 hrs) and it was slighlty overcooked, so watch the cooking time.

Basic pancakes, suitable for kids cooking

Ingredients

1 cup self-raising flour
1 cup milk
1 egg

Method

1. Pre-heat a large non-stick frypan.
2. Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix until just combined.
3. Chill batter in fridge for 30-60 minutes.
4. Lightly grease the pan with butter or cooking spray.
5. Cook large spoonfuls of batter until bubbles burst on the surface and the edges start to go dry.
6. Turn and cook other side until golden brown.

Beef Penang

We have this every week at the moment, the kids LOVE it. We have substituted chicken for the beef and it tastes great as well.

Ingredients (serves 4)
* 800g gravy beef (chuck steak), cut into 3cm pieces
* 400ml coconut milk
* 400ml coconut cream
* 2 tablespoons palm sugar
* 2 tablespoons fish sauce
* 4 kaffir lime leaves, tor
* 1/3 cup (55g) toasted peanuts
* Steamed jasmine rice, to serve
* Thai basil leaves, to serve
Curry paste
* 4 long dried red chillies
* 2 purple Asian shallots, finely chopped
* 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
* 2 fresh coriander roots and stems, finely chopped
* 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
* 1 stalk lemongrass, white part only, finely chopped
* 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 2 tablespoons finely chopped galangal

1. To make curry paste, place chillies in small heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water and soak for 15 minutes. Drain well, then remove and discard seeds. Finely chop chilli. Place chilli, shallots, garlic, coriander and seeds, lemongrass, cumin, nutmeg and galangal in a mortar. Gently pound with pestle until a paste forms.
2. Place beef and coconut milk in a large saucepan over low heat. Cook, covered, for 2 hours or until beef is tender. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.
3. Place coconut cream and curry paste in wok over high heat. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until cream begins to split. Add the beef, palm sugar, fish sauce and lime leaves and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly. Remove from heat. Season with fish sauce and palm sugar. Add peanuts; stir to combine.
4. Serve in bowls with jasmine rice, if desired, and garnish with Thai basil.


Notebook: - June 2008, Page 110 .Recipe by Sarah Hobbs. Photography by Ben Dearnley