Saturday, April 28, 2012

Rum & Raisin, Black Forest Trifle

I simply don't do pretty food photos very often, so you'll have to use your imagination when I describe my rum & raisin, black forest trifle. It was made using my cocoa brownies as a base layer instead of sponge cake, and is extremely decadent so not recommended for the faint hearted.

1 recipe cocoa brownies (add 100g crumbled rum & raisin chocolate to the mix)
approx 600g pitted cherries (1 l...arge jar will work)
1/2c good quality rum (no Bundaberg!)
500g custard
200g rum & raisin chocolate (a bar of Cadbury will suffice!)
approx 400g thick cream
2 tsp icing sugar

Drain juice from jar of cherries and replace with 1/2 c rum - soak overnight.

Break up remaining 100g rum & raisin chocolate up and place in saucepan with custard. Warm until chocolate has melted and mix into custard. Leave to cool, stirring occasionally so film does not coat top of custard.

Place cooled brownies on bottom of trifle dish. Place rum soaked cherries on top of brownies. Next, pour the chocolate custard mix over cherries, then leave the whole lot to 'soak' in the fridge overnight.

Day 2 - Whip cream with icing sugar, top the trifle, then indulge!

*Tip: If you want the brownies to be lighter, replace 1/2c standard flour with self-raising. The brownies will crumble, but the dish will be lighter.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Agnello con Sottaceti

Abruzzi is the region of Italy my grandmother was from, and I've been keen to try out some of the recipes she used to cook, however sadly, most of the family has forgotten them. So, I'm reading about regional Italian foods, and tonight I'm trying out what is meant to be an Abruzzi dish - agnello con sottaceti. This is an easy and pleasant dish!  Use as much or as little of ingredients as suits the numbers you are serving!

Heat olive oil in dutch oven. Brown diced lamb with minced garlic, then add white wine and rosemary, simmering until tender.  Next, add in some pickled vegetables and simmer for approximately 10 minutes more.  Serve with a nice loaf of crusty Italian bread.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Rosemary Lemonade

The rosemary lemonade is just a variation on my basic lemonade, but it certainly turned out well!

4-5 lemons
4 1/2-5 cups water
1/2 cup sugar (I do 1/2 brown sugar & 1/2 white)
2 sprigs rosemary

You can play with the amounts of everything of course to make it as sweet or tart as you like.

Cover one sprig rosemary with 2 1/2 cups hot water & let sit for 20 mins.
Juice lemons & keep pulp.
Remove rosemary from water.
Add lemon juice and sugar and stir until sugar dissolved.
Add rest of water, which should be cold, then place bowl in fridge to cool.
When cool, put in pitcher along with other sprig of rosemary. Serve over ice.