Monte Carlo Biscuits

Hope's delicious Monte Carlos have been a favourite biscuit amongst our family for as long as I can remember. When our daughter said she would love Ma Ma's (my Mum's) original recipe, I was inspired to find it. I've really enjoyed doing some research, baking a few batches of biscuits, comparing her handwritten recipe with others, and now I am very happy that I can bake Monte Carlo's exactly the same as Mum did, from her original recipe. They taste perfect.

Hope's Date Rollettes, a classic delicious biscuit

Imagine a delicious, oval shaped biscuit rolled in coconut, and surprisingly encasing a sweet, chewy, and caramelly edible date, and you have Date Rollettes, a confection which my Mother used to bake for us on a regular basis. We loved them.

Crunchy Nut Apple Crumble

Apple Crumble is comfort food in a dish. Sometimes a very simple recipe can provide you with the most unexpected treat. This recipe for Crunchy Nut Apple Crumble is no exception. It is also a good friend's recipe, so it is tried and true.

The Best Air Fryer Chocolate and Coconut Weet-Bix Slice

This chocolatey, crunchy biscuit slice with a rich chocolate icing will hold it's own and steal the show on any coffee table. It is like a little slice of Aussie history on a plate, but the Air Fryer has brought it back on board to now. This is the first sweet confection I have made in my new Russell Hobbs air-fryer (no promo intended) and I'm  thrilled with the result. 

My Christmas Shortbread

 

You can call this Christmas shortbread, Scottish shortbread, plain shortbread, magical shortbread, delicious shortbread, Granny's shortbread, or Vintage shortbread. What's in a name anyway, because the main thing is that this is a delicious biscuit recipe and a cinch to make in time for Christmas. Only 3 simple main ingredients are needed. Just what you need at Christmas time.

Christmas Brandy Plum Pudding

It's the countdown to Christmas, and I really hope that Christmas still brings lots of excitement and love to most families on Christmas Day. We generally try to keep it simple with the catering, leaving the traditional Christmas favourites to make yet another appearance, such as my Mum's Brandy Plum Pudding with homemade Vanilla Custard or ice-cream for dessert, and the traditional Christmas Cake. 

Nostalgic six minute Apple and Cinnamon Tea Cake

 

This classic Apple Tea Cake was perfect to bake one wet weekend, and is a cake I've been meaning to make again for quite a while. It doesn't need to be raining either by the way to bake this one. Tea cakes are meant to be made very quickly, in 6 minutes in fact, when visitors are on the way, popped into the oven for 30 minutes and be ready to enjoy with them while still warm. Once again, apple and cinnamon are an amazing combination. If you have apples in your crisper, this cake isn't far away.

Self-saucing Economical Date pudding

 

Do you ever need a quick but delicious pudding for dessert just because you want some comfort food in a hurry, or for just no particular reason?  Dear Readers, this is a simple uncomplicated post, which I think is in keeping with a dessert that is very easy to throw together. A self saucing pudding always hits the mark. This post is laced with nostalgia. The recipe is based on a pudding that Mr. HRK passed on to me from his Mum whose name was Jessie, a long time ago when we were first married. I've swapped out the currants and sultanas for dates this time and we love the result. All of the ingredients were already in my pantry so that was easy. 

One Pan Salmon Kedgeree

Kedgeree can be served for breakfast, brunch, lunch or for an easy dinner. Because it can be eaten cold, it's also perfect for on-the-go lunches. Most of the ingredients in this recipe are staple items in every pantry. If you have a can of fish or some poached salmon, an onion, curry powder, cooked rice, and eggs, a simple version of this recipe can be made.  Or replace fish with roasted pumpkin, a vegetarian option. 

Chinese Chocolate Chews

 

Do you ever need to bake something quickly on the weekend when you hear that friends are coming over later, and you have a lot going on? Or you just feel like something chocolatey and easy to bake, that sounds like me.  This is an iced chocolate biscuit slice to solve that problem. So quick, easy and delicious as well, and who doesn't love a chocolate slice with lots of chocolate icing. If you have nuts on hand, crush a few and sprinkle them across the top while still warm, or sprinkle coconut over the top. If you are cutting down on sugar, I think that a sugar substitute would also work well in this recipe. This recipe is from one of my Mum's original recipe books which I was reading through just the other day, and I spotted this one. I don't think a recipe like this one ever dates.

Light and Fluffy Weekend Cheese Muffins with Roasted Capsicum, Basil and Baby Capers

Homemade Savoury Muffins are at their best eaten on the weekend for an easy relaxing lunch. Are you feeling a bit peckish? As with most muffins the basic ingredients of flour, salt, cheese, oil or butter, eggs, and buttermilk, cream or sour cream need to be used with these, but then after that they are one of the most versatile baked goods on the planet. I made these this morning rather impulsively after I had baked a cake, using up bits and pieces left in the refrigerator.

In My Kitchen, March 2021

It's March already, and as I start to write this, the tropical heat has been replaced by rain showers today, as Cyclone Niran builds up off the Far North Queensland coast to a Category 3 and keeps us all guessing as to her next move. These systems are so unpredictable and still seem to keep the meteorologists guessing, despite all the technology at their disposal. One minute they are intensifying and moving out to sea, next report it is stationery and could track south. So we will see. I have a well stocked pantry, however many times living here on the coast we have burst into action fortifying our property as the cyclone approaches, only for it to wave to us as it passes down the coast further south. However the winds and rain from this cyclone have already annihilated valuable banana plantations up North costing the industry millions of dollars.It's tough being a farmer. P.S. A week later, life took over for a while, and thankfully for us the cyclone has moved East and is now a very destructive Category 4-5 over New Caledonia. They are in our thoughts as they battle this dreadful storm. 

I brought these orchid flowers inside when they bloomed a few weeks ago. This is my Cattleya Bowringiana Orchid, a very old species which my Mum originally gave me. The Cattleyas are showing signs that they will flower in the next couple of months, and I'm really looking forward to that. I hope to have some flowers to show you over the coming weeks.  With the weather starting to cool down slightly, I hope to start some gardening again in a few weeks.

February was a quiet time for us, with Mr. HRK having sinus and septum (nose) surgery two weeks ago, and thankfully he is starting to feel a bit better now. Recovery hasn't been pleasant. So leading up to this and up until now I have been cooking the kind of meals he loves, which is just good old fashioned cooking. I don't have many photos to share but we really enjoyed this dish of Cottage Pie, although my Mum always called it Shepherd's Pie due to her Scottish origins I suppose. Cottage Pie is made from minced beef, and Shepherd's Pie traditionally is a base of savoury minced lamb. Both are delicious.  The topping is creamy mashed potato, and lots of it. I often add a layer of seasoned sliced tomato between the mince and the potato.

Savoury minced beef has lots of potential for use as a base in minced pies, Cottage pie,  pasta sauce, Chilli Con Carne or just  mince on toast for an easy tea or cooked breakfast. It also freezes very well as a batch. I lightly sauteed 2 onions, 4 carrots, 3 stalks of celery, added a kilo of beef mince and browned that off,  and added my secret ingredient, a tablespoon of vegemite and mixed it in well. The vegemite is Mr.  HRK's family secret. Then for extra flavour, 2 teaspoons of dried mixed herbs or fresh equivalent if you have them, and 2 tablespoons each of Worcestershire sauce and Tomato sauce take the dish to superstar status. I also added a can of tomatoes, and sliced zucchini and finely chopped capsicum can also be added. Mince for a cottage pie may need to be thickened with a little cornflour and water or the juices will spill over the side during the cooking process. 

Then for dessert I made Apple Crumble, another family favourite. I also poached some pears in a red wine sauce, served with ice cream of course for a little extra pink pizzazz. Mr. HRK could actually taste all of this food after his surgery, so he was in seventh heaven. This is all very easy cooking, the type of food I grew up with. However it is healthy, tasty and just perfect for those times when we aren't feeling very well. I feel a bit guilty even writing about these dishes dear reader as they are probably in your regular cooking repertoire as well, however I can't really presume that they are.Much better for us than refined food from the supermarket or takeaways and they contain lots of fibre. I am so pleased that all of our food is mostly cooked from scratch.

This is my original Apple Crumble recipe which I have been told by my family not to change.

APPLE CRUMBLE

FRUIT (apple)

4-6 Granny Smith cooking apples, peeled and chopped into quarters
1-2 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup water

(However when rushed I have also used a large can of cooked apples, it does the job.)

Other Fruit Variations

Rhubarb and apple
Pie peaches
Stewed dried apricots

CRUMBLE

1 cup plain flour (wholemeal is preferable)
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons coconut
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon Rolled oats 

Crumble waiting to be added as topping for the apple

Let's cook

1.  Peel and core apples and slice thinly.
2. Place in a saucepan with water and simmer gently until soft. Add sugar to taste and stir to dissolve.
3. Allow to cool then pour into a pie dish, keeping back excess juice.
4. Place flour in a bowl then rub in butter with the fingertips.
5. Add sugar, coconut, rolled oats and cinnamon and mix well until a good crumbly consistency.
6. Sprinkle lightly on top of apples.
7. Bake in a moderate oven until lightly browned on top.
8. Serve hot or cold with boiled custard .

(I like doing steps 4 and 5 by hand, however you could use the food processor.)

POACHED PEARS IN RED WINE

This Poached Pears in Red Wine recipe is simple but sophisticated and because it is based on fruit and red wine, must be healthier as a dessert. 

Serves 4. Prep and cook time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups  sugar
2 cups  red wine
2 cups water
1 cinnamon stick
Juice of 1 lemon or 2 strips of lemon rind

4 cloves
4-5 just ripe pears, with stems attached

Let's cook:

Place sugar, wine, water, cinnamon and lemon juice into a medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture comes to boil. Reduce heat; simmer for 5 minutes or until slightly reduced.

Meanwhile, peel pears and, using a small sharp knife, remove cores from underside of pears.

Lower pears into the poaching liquid and simmer upright in the sauce, uncovered, for 20-30 minutes or until tender, turning pears occasionally during cooking so that they colour evenly.You might like to cover the pears with a round of baking paper nicked with scissors, so that the stems poke through. It helps if the pears fit snugly into the saucepan to reduce movement. My saucepan was a little too large but the pears still cooked beautifully. I should have added an extra pear for good luck.

Transfer pears to a heated plate and cover to keep warm. Boil the remaining liquid for about 10 minutes or until it becomes syrupy. Serve pears with syrupy red wine sauce and ice-cream or double cream, if desired.

TIP: I cooked the pears early in the morning before I left home for a mid-morning appointment, and kept them in the frig with some of the sauce in a covered container. I warmed up the pears and the sauce in the microwave just before I served them. They were delicious. 

Another option is to simmer down some of the sauce until it is almost like a toffee consistency. This is then really delicious dribbled down the pears.

This is such a cinch of a dessert recipe to make, I have vowed to make it more often. Pears  transform into such an elegant dessert, and have so many delicious uses in dishes, and now they are available all year round.

One other night I cooked a Baked Rice Pudding, which is always very easy to make and delicious. It is Mr. HRK's favourite.

Ready to pop in the oven

A baked rice pudding, straight out of the oven

February was my birthday month, and I had a lovely day, which was just a few days before Mr. HRKs operation. Wasn't that lucky? We went out for lunch to our favourite Vietnamese restaurant, spoke to our daughter and our family in the Falkland Islands, and I received lost of beautiful messages from my special friends.

I don't have any expectations about receiving gifts for my birthday anymore. However Mr. HRK and my wonderful daughter collaborated and bought me a cast iron Challenger Bread oven pot, online from the U.S. I was pretty amazed. So my friends I am now educating myself in perfecting an oval cob loaf in my new breadware. The first loaf I made turned out pretty well, but could have been larger. However the crust was very crusty and the bread tasted delicious. 

Cooking in this pot requires a very different technique to cooking  sourdough high top loaves in my loaf tins, and the high top sandwich loaves are more suited to slicing and freezing. I like to make a cob loaf for the weekend.

The only fault with this bread ware is that is very heavy to take out of the oven when it is very hot, and it does get very hot. It is meant to be heated in the oven for an hour prior to baking at 260 deg. C., the bread dough is then added, and the temperature reduced to 224 deg. C for 15 minutes. The lid is then removed and the bread cooks for a further 30 minutes. It then produces a lovely crusty loaf of bread.

I was concerned about the heat of this pot, so on the advice of Mr. HRK and my friend Julia, I bought a pair of welders gloves, this my friends was the high point of a shopping expedition to Bunnings. I kid you not. However, the heat of the pot is even too hot for these gloves, and they need to be doubled over to work. They will still be put to good use in my kitchen though or the shed. Challenger stock breadmaker's gloves, so I might invest in a pair of those when they restock, or buy a better pair of industrial gloves. 

So this weekend My Kitchen activity has focused on  bread making and experimenting and researching as we stay quietly at home until Mr. HRK feels a lot better. Our house has been smelling like a bakery, not hard to take at all.

These are photos of my first attempt at cooking my first sourdough loaf in my new bread pot. 

An improvised oval banneton for proofing

Adding an ice cube to the pot for some steam.

Into the oven she goes. The pot rests on the inverted lid for the second baking to prevent burning of the base.

The final product. When I am happy with the whole process, I will let you know. In the meantime, if you use Challenger bread ware, please contact me and let me know what works best for you.I would love to hear from you.

My first cob loaf baked in the Challenger Breadware.

I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event, that was started by Celia of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial,  If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by 13th of the month.  Or just head over to her blog to read more In My Kitchens. 

Best wishes

Pauline

Quick Blueberry Self Saucing Pudding

Need a quick but delicious pudding for dessert just because you want some comfort food in a hurry on a rainy and windy day, or for just no particular reason?  A self saucing pudding always hits the mark. This post is laced with nostalgia, focusing on a pudding recipe that Mr. HRK passed on to me from his Mum Jessie, a long time ago. All of the ingredients were already in my pantry so that was easy. I added dried blueberries to the batter instead of using currants or sultanas, as that's what I had left over from making my Rustic Blueberry Scones. I always try to keep a couple of packets of dried blueberries on hand as they come in so handy.

Friday Night Special for a family

Tuna and rice are the basis of so many economical and tasty meals and this one has been a family favourite for years. Preparing fast, easy and nutritious meals is the way to survive the summer we are having. Sometimes they take a little bit of forward planning, for example with this dish having the rice cooked in advance, but that is easy particularly if you cook a stir fry the night before accompanied by rice.

Date and Walnut Loaf Cake for an easy Afternoon Tea

Enjoy this Loaf Cake still warm out of the oven with a cuppa, or it will keep fresh for a few days in your cake tin, if it lasts that long. It has always been called a Loaf, mainly I think because it is traditionally baked in a loaf size tin. However, I have added cocoa powder to this recipe for more depth of colour and warmth of flavour, I have bypassed the step of cooking the dates, wet ingredients and bi-carb soda in a saucepan on the stove, it is too hot after all to be slaving over a hot stove more than is needed and it takes longer, and I think this all warrants a renaming of this classic masterpiece to a Loaf Cake. If biscuits can now be cookies, this can now be a cake.

However, leave out the cocoa powder, add a few more walnuts and you will capture the more earthy and nutty flavour of the walnuts and dates. I like recipes with options, don't you?

Golden syrup, walnuts and dates are staples in my pantry cupboard, and as such this Loaf Cake can be baked very quickly when required.

Enjoy your afternoon tea and happy Sunday dear friends.

Preheat your oven to a moderate temperature 180 deg. C. Bake for 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped dates

1/2 cup white or brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1 teaspoon Bicarbonate soda

1/2 teaspoon Salt

2 cups S.R. Flour

1 cup boiling water

1 tablespoon Golden Syrup

1 egg

60 g softened butter (or 2 tablespoons)

2 teaspoons mixed spice

1 dessertspoon Cocoa for a darker cake (optional)

Method:

• Put chopped dates, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, salt, golden syrup, butter, and walnuts in a mixing bowl.
• Add boiling water and mix well. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes.
• Then add beaten egg, followed by the sifted flour, mixed spice and cocoa.
• Cook in a moderate oven in a greased and lined loaf or ring tin for 30 minutes.

Thanks for dropping by,

Warmest wishes,

Pauline

An original recipe by Pauline @ Happy Retirees Kitchen

Easy Tuna Kedgeree (our Family Friday Night Special Recipe)

Friday Night Special is a McNee family recipe originally passed on by Neil's sister, Suzanne, many years ago. Whilst I still rely on memory, it was a good excuse to talk to Sue tonight to find out what the original recipe actually was. I had remembered it fairly well, but have obviously gradually increased the quantity of curry powder over the years. The original recipe was only two teaspoons.

Ma Ma’s Christmas cake

Firstly Prepare Dried fruits and nuts

Ingredients:

 1 kg mixed fruit + 1 doz. dates + 100g cherries or use 3 pkts Mixed fruit

3 oz almonds

1 lb. raisins 

Prepare the fruit and nuts the day before and warm the following ingredients together in a small saucepan until nicely blended.

1 tablespoon Rum, or brandy or sherry              

½ teasp each of vanilla essence, and almond essence                 

1 level dessertspoon golden syrup                                                      

1 dessertspoon each of lemon juice, orange juice, and coffee essence

1 level dessertspoon  dark jam  

 Pour this warm mixture over the prepared fruit and nuts - Cover and leave overnight.

Cake batter ingredients:

225 grams/8 oz butter

158 grams/8 oz light brown sugar                                                             

5 eggs                                                            

31 grams/2 ozs S.R. flour                                             

1 level teaspoon salt

225 grams/9 oz  plain flour                                             

¼ teasp each cinnamon, nutmeg, and mixed spice      

                         

Method:

Day of cooking:

Method: Cream butter and sugar until light and soft. Test each egg separately in a cup and beat them into the butter, cream one at a time, and add a little of your measured flour between the last 2^nd or 3^rd egg to prevent any risk of curdling.

Have ready the flours sifted together with salt and spices. Add these and blend smoothly and well. Last of all add the soaked fruits and mix evenly and thoroughly let it stand in the bowl for 10 minutes before placing in the prepared tins.

Place your wooden spoon upright in the centre of the mixture. It should not move if correct consistency.

Line your tin with alfoil, and 2 layers of brown paper or Glad Bake. Set oven at 180 deg. , and after 1 hour decrease to 150 deg. for approx.. 3 hrs.
OR ( Alternative oven temperatures that my cousin Rae suggests for cooking Christmas Cakes, are 200 deg. for 10 minutes, 150 deg. for 1 hour, and 110 deg. for 3 hrs.)

“A helpful hint for the baking of your Christmas Cake. After 1 hour of baking a rich fruitcake place on the bottom shelf of your oven, a baking dish, 3 parts filled with cold water. This prevents the bottom of your cakes burning and also the steam keeps the cake moist.”

Ma Ma's Christmas (Economical) Plum Pudding

This is the best Christmas Plum Pudding I have ever tasted. When my Mum passed on 5 years ago, I took on the family responsibility of cooking the Christmas pudding with some trepidation, however it turned out well, came out of the pudding bowl beautifully, and has remained on the Christmas menu ever since.