Finally Back, Small Recap. Dorie's Cocoa-Nana Bread

It feels like I haven't been blogging in months. I just clicked on the link then only to find it has been since June.

All that was left after a day...

Some exciting news! Finally opened my own Pilates Studio. Everything is quite busy at the moment which is great but not so great when you love cooking and cannot seem to find the time these days.

Quite a bit has been going on lately and I often use cooking as a stress release. Some people meditate. I simply cannot. There is something so comforting about baking. Maybe its the concentration needed to bake something with 20+ steps that in the end leads you being so consumed in the recipe the simple thing on your mind in the first place has somehow now disappeared...

Being always on the go I sometimes find it hard to make a decent breakfast. However one of my favourites is a protein shake blitzed up with a frozen banana. When I go to the supermarket I will always stock up when they have a special on those big bags of blackened bananas. Usually $1 for 2kg! Steal.

However due to the small space of my freezer, I somehow was left with quite a few banana and no recipe inspiration coming to mind. A few months ago I recently bought myself Dorie Greenspans Baking Book and weekly will check the blogs doing Tuesdays With Dorie, or TWD.

Something that caught my attention was Dorie's Cocoa-Nana Bread. At first I turned up my nose at the combination of chocolate and banana considering they are too very different flavours... if you are thinking this too, change your mind RIGHT NOW! Seriously an amazing loaf cake. Very dense, very moist and very easy. At first I was worried I had overcooked it as the centre was still quite gooey. The recipe reads to let it cool but being the impatient person I am I began to ate it and thought it was - just okay.

After coming home from teaching 6 hours this morning I had a piece, only to find that 'just okay' had now become, 'Wow I cannot believe I made THIS at that hour of the night'. (For a Pilates Instructor with very early morning starts, I seem to have a strange addiction to the middle of the night).

If you are bored. Have some bananas and are looking for something a little different. I would definitely give it a go.

For the recipe see Dorie Greenspan: From My Home To Yours. Or alternatively google, Dorie Greenspan Cocoa-Nana Bread.

I also thought I would include some snaps of what I have been cooking over the past few months considering I doubt I could ever go a week without cooking something insanely naughty...

Maple Pecan Pie

After being requested to make a pecan pie for my aunties birthday I began to freak out as I am terribly afraid of making a dessert for someones birthday then stuffing up and feeling as though I have ruined their birthday. A little silly I know but I take my cooking very seriously!

I researched A LOT of pecan pie recipes. Golden syrup VS corn syrup VS maple syrup VS brown sugar. So needless to say I was confused. I didn't want something TOO sweet, rather something a little bit more richer, not a too thick of a base either. I came across this recipe in my book COOK by the Australian Woman's Weekly and thought why not give it a try but did a few minor adjustments.

After tasting the mixture I felt it still seemed a little too sweet so I added an extra tablespoon of cream as well as a tablespoon of real maple syrup. After then tasting this, the mixture had a beautiful caramel flavour.

Only problem I really had was that the pecans didn't rise to the top. The recipe has 1 cup of chopped pecans in the mixture and then calls upon 1/3 of a cup to be placed in a pattern on top when the mixture is poured. I was a little bit disappointed but it still pleased.


RECIPE:

http://aww.ninemsn.com/food/freshtv/789282/pecan-pie

ADJUSTMENTS:
1. 3 Tablespoons of cream instead of 2 (I always used Gipsland double cream, 50% If i remember correctly and then served with this)
2. 1 tablespoon maple syrup
3. No apricot jam on top

Torta Alla Gianduia

I FINALLY RECEIVED MY KITCHENAID! YAYAYAY

Yesterday my father picked up my beautiful candy apple red kitchenaid for my birthday. Although my birthday is the 31st of August I was allowed to have an extra extra early birthday present for the fact that like myself, my parents are addicted to food and couldn't deprive themselves of all the sweets that I would be churning out.

Being extremely sentimental, I decided that I HAD to make something uber special that I would remember forever. After browsing through every cook book I own (I probably own close to 40) I stumbled upon my favourite, How To Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson. A book that I hardly ever use surprisingly even though its a favourite. I think mainly because of the amount of sugary goodness in all of her recipes. Not exactly for the health conscious.

I finally decided on the Torta Alla Gianduia. Consisting of chocolate and nuts, my two favourite things.

Fairly simple to make and much like any torte I was quite pleased with how it turned out and the beautiful flavour it had. Extremely rich, a beautiful textured cake and the ganache complemented it very well. You don't need much and coming from me that is saying something.

I decided to decorate mine a little differently as well. Nigella, in her variation, toasted the hazelnuts then scattered them on top. In attempt to make mine look a little more posh, i roughly chopped them and made a circular pattern with some in the middle.




Recipe: Torta Alla Gianduia by Nigella Lawson

Cake:
6 large eggs, separated
pinch of salt
125g soft unsalted butter
400g Nutella
1 tablespoon frangelico, rum or water
100g ground hazelnuts
100g dark chocolate melted

Icing:
100g hazelnuts
125ml double cream
1 tablespoon frangelico, rum or water
125g dark chocolate

Butter and line with grease proof paper a 23cm spring form pan and preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

In a large bowl whisk eggs whites and salt until stiff but not dry.

In a separate bowl beat butter and nutella together. Add frangelico (or whatever you are using), egg yolks, and ground hazelnuts. Fold in cooled, melted chocolate, then add egg whites in 4 batches gentling folding all together.

Pour into prepared tin and cook for 40 minutes or until the cakes beginning to come away at the sides, then let cool on a rack.

Toast hazelnuts in a dry frying pan until the aroma wafts upwards and the nuts are golden brown in parts, making sure you keep shaking the pan so they do not burn. Transfer to a plate then let cool and roughly chop.

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, add the cream, liqueur and chopped chocolate and heat gently. Once the chocolate has melted, take the pan off the heat and whisk until all lumps are remove. Refrigerate until mixture slightly thickens then ice the top of the cake. Garnish cake with hazelnuts and serve.

NOTE: I found it VERY hard to remove cake from spring form tin without it mildly splitting. I found it sort of 'glued' itself back together with the ganache.

Lemon Meringue Pie

After dealing with a breakup with my boyfriend this week, usually the thing that gets me through tough times is baking so needless to say a lot of cooking went on this week but unfortunately no pictures. Reason by my camera was lost- lost in my handbag. So that will tell you I probably need to downsize my bag.

I made a lemon meringue pie last night for the first time I might add and am extremely happy with my efforts as I just sort of threw the recipe today from elements from other recipes. The base is from Donna Hay's caramel slice which I am absolutely obsessed with and the rest I sort of tweaked myself.

Base mixture pressed into tin.

Cheesecake lemon filling after coming out of the oven.
Just after coming out of the oven.

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius and make sure all ingredients are room temperature.

Base:

1 cup plain flour
125g melted butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup dessicated coconut

Combine ingredients in a food processor until mixture resembles wet sand. You may need to scrape down the sides.

After buttering your spring form pan, line it with baking paper on the base and sides and then press mixture into the bottom of the pan and up the sides.

Refrigerate


Filling:

2 x 250g cream cheese (I used the light version)
300g sour cream (i used light)
3/4 cup of caster sugar
1 tbspn lemon rind (make sure is fine)
3 tbspn fresh lemon juice
3 eggs

In a food processor, process cream cheese and sour cream until all lumps are removed. Then add sugar, lemon rind, lemon juice and eggs. Process well, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to remove all lumps. (Don't be alarmed if the mixture is not too yellow at this stage, I find it tends to get deeper in colour after coming out of the oven).

Take tin out of fridge, wrap in heavy foil making sure it comes up the sides of the tin and place in a roasting tray. Pour the mixture into the spring form tin. Pour water into the roasting tray making sure it comes up about halfway up the side of the spring form tin.

Place in the oven and bake for around 55 minutes. (My oven for some reason cooks extremely fast and mine was ready in around 45-50 minutes). The mixture should have a SLIGHT wobble.

Leave in the oven with the door ad jar for 1-2 hours until cooled then place in the fridge for an hour.

Meanwhile to make the meringue...


Meringue:

Turn the oven now up to 200 degrees Celsius

3 egg whites
3/4 cup caster sugar
Pinch of cream of tartar

In a clean dry bowl using a mix master or handheld mixer, mix egg whites to soft peaks. Then add the cream of tartar still mixing and slowly add all of the sugar in making sure that it gets mixed in well so the meringue isn't grainy.

Taking the tin out of the fridge, using a palette knife, spoon the meringue on top of the cheesecake pie filling and smooth the edge making sure the top is as smooth as possible.

Place in the oven for around 5-8 minutes until top is lightly browned.


Take out of the oven. Leave at room temperature for 20 minutes. Run a hot knife around the outside of the cake and remove the outside of the tin then refrigerate for 2-3 hours. My family kept hounding me and we ended up eating it around 1ish hours after being in the fridge. It will still a tad warm but tasted amazing.


Don't be alarmed if the the base feels soft to touch as the mixture will still be setting. It will harden up.

Garden Table Cafe

Last minute idea of my mothers to head out for a lovely breakfast. We went to this lovely cafe called The Garden Table Cafe at Heritage Gardens. Im one of those people as soon as I get up I HAVE to have breakfast and im sorry to say the blog has suffered as, as soon as I got my breakfast I began to demolish it as fast as I could and then remembered about taking a photo.

Both mum and I ordered the same thing - Banana coconut bread with honey yoghurt, rhubarb and pistachio nuts. Amazing flavours and such an indulgent breakfast. So indulgent I couldnt finish it which is saying alot.

Perfect Pumpkin Soup

Considering the weather is so miserable outside and I have a photo shoot for dinner I wanted something light, easy to make and most of all comforting. Nothing beats a warm bowl of soup on a cold rainy day and especially one quite healthy for you. The recipe is from taste.com.au, the only real change I made was to serve it with a dollop of light sour cream rather than the pesto recommended. The soup is quite creamy and rich considering it doesn't contain any cream and also isn't very salty, always a winning factor for someone who doesn't really like salt.


Recipe: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/6220/perfect+pumpkin+soup

Changes: Omitted the pumpkin seed pesto for light sour cream.
Left out the cream fraiche.

Mums birthday at 305 Restaurant and Cafe

Just got home from an amazing dinner at 305 Restaurant and Cafe in Maitland. An utter gem to dine at considering all the other places to eat at would be considered 'pub grub' and there are only so many beer battered fries that I can take.

Complementary house made bread, served with antipasto spread and olive oil dip. Amazing flavours. As soon as you walked into the restaurant you could smell the aroma of the bread.

King Prawn and Preserved Lemon Bruschetta. Amazing. This coming from someone who hates prawns. Yes I admitt, im one of those people that says they like seafood yet the only thing they eat is squid. The taste was amazing, the lemon wasnt too overpowering but was beautifully balanced by the acidity in the tomatoes.

Pork Belly. My fathers favourite. Im not too sure what else is on the dish but all I know is the plate was practically licked clean after. I think dad has ordered this everytime we have dined here.

Chicken Supreme. I dont usually finish my mains but the texture of the chicken was amazing. I do not think I have eaten anything so light and moist before. The sauce, the name of which escapes me now, was amazing and complemented the chicken was well as the side salad which featured baby potatoes, tomatoes, fetta and almonds.

Atlantic Salmon on a bed of kipfler potatoes. Im not really a salmon lover but my mother quite enjoyed this dish. The reduced balsamic, one of her favourites, she said complemented the salad perfectly.

Duck confit on a bed of pappardelle. Dad enjoyed it, mum and I thought it was a little bit too salty however.

Lemon Tart with blueberry compote, macadamia crusted coconut gelato. AMAZING. This was my dessert and considering dessert is my favourite part of every meal I insisted on trying everyones. The lemon tart was filled with a beautiful tart curd and then the top was bruleed, I have to admitt I love cracking it with a spoon. The gelato seemed to be crusted in a nut like praline which was beautiful in contrast to the creamy texture of the gelato which wasnt too overpowering with the coconut. Im not a big blueberry fan so I passed these onto my father.

Mocha Bavarois with a cornell of double cream and I *think* an almond wafer, served with toffee and raspberry coulis. My first ever bavarois, the texture was so extremely light and worked well with the bed of coffee praline which it was on. Again, dad practically licked the plate clean.

Vanilla Bean Brulee served with plum crumble and pastry biscuit. The staff came out singing happy birthday and put a sparkler in the middle. Unfortunately as soon as I took the photo it went out but mum was quite suprised. Loved the dessert, said it was quite a good serve of creme brulee too. I also liked how it had the vanilla beans in it, I just think it looks a little bit more authentic that way.

Torta Caprese

In celebration of my mothers birthday I made her favourite cake, a Torta Caprese. Intensely chocolately with a gooey texture inside like a brownie with the outside browned slightly and crisp like meringue. Its gluten free which makes it that little bit richer for the fact its packed with almond meal (yum).

Sorry about my poor quality photos, thats what you get with a 2 megapixel camera phone and a shakey hand.


RECIPE
By Sophie Grigson, from Wicked by Delicious Magazine.

200g unsalted butter
200g dark chocolate
4 eggs separated
170g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g almond meal
Icing sugar and cocoa powder, to dust
Serve with icecream

Preheat oven to 150 degrees C. on fan forced oven. Grease and line 24cm springform cake pan with non stick baking paper.
Melt butter and set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, process chocolate or coursely chop making sure chocolate still retains a little texture.
Place egg yolks, sugar and vanilla in a bowl and beat until pale and thick. Fold in chocolate, butter and almond meal. (The mixture should be very thick)
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggwhites until soft peaks form. Gently fold the chocolate mixture into the egg whites in three lots using a big metal spoon.
Spoon into the cake pan, level the surface and bake for about 50-60 minutes (my oven cooked it in around 40) or until just firm to touch.
Set aside to cook in pan then remove.
Serve dusted with cocoa and icing sugar and with a scoop of vanilla icecream.

Enjoy.

Introduction

Hi there! Just a quick introduction, my name is Peta and I am a Pilates Instructor from the Hunter Valley and I can honestly say food is one of my favourite things in life. After reading everyone else's fab food blogs it has inspired me to make one of my own.

I hope you enjoy it!

:)