Delectable Lime Syrup Cake

Aren't you just loving that limes are in season? I picked the limes for this cake fresh from my potted lime tree. I must tell you, our young mate Dylan who lives two doors up, came to visit just before, seemed a bit tired after a full week at school, he's in Grade 7, and obviously needed some sugar because he asked me, very politely, "Pauline have you baked anything nice this week?"...... I generally have some thing baked I can give him to try, he's a very generous critic, but unfortunately this time the pantry and the freezer were bare of sweet things.

Crispy Teriyaki Chicken Wings, they're delicious party food

Crispy Teriyaki chicken wings at a party are always delicious as finger food, and to my way of thinking they are definitely party food. I wouldn't cook them just for Mr. HRK and me now, however if the family or friends were visiting, well that is a different story. I used to cook them as a treat sometimes when the children were younger and lived at home, and as an easy meal with rice and a salad they also stretch the budget. I was planning ahead for a family party when I marinated these,  so they went into a large freezer bag until mid-September for the party. It is safe to freeze the marinated chicken wings for 6 months. They cooked beautifully on the night of the party and did the disappearing act. I was lucky to get a taste, let alone a photo. However my friends you all know what cooked chicken wings look like I'm sure, so I'm afraid you will have to use your imagination with this one.  Just take my word for it that they were finger lickin' good and so easy.

I paid $4.00 a kilo for these at Woolworths yesterday, but last week they were only $2.00 a kilo. Now that would be a bargain. At that price I am happy to prepare and cut them up myself. However if you are time poor and feeling cashed up, chicken wings already dissected can be purchased at Lenards Chicken for $10. 00 a kilo. I think they were also marinated though. That's quite a markup isn't it for only 20 minutes work, and I prefer to make my own  marinade as then I know what has gone into it. (Apologies, this was written a little while ago, I forgot that I hadn't posted it, so prices might have changed again.)

Ingredients:

2 kg chicken Wings (Approximately 21-24 wings) Or 24 if you want to count out exactly 24 wings
3/4 cup (180 ml) Teryaki sauce
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger or 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons peanut oil
2 crushed cloves garlic
2 red cayenne chillis ( only 1 if they are a bit hotter), finely chopped, and deseeded
1 tablespoons brown sugar (I used Dark Muscovado sugar)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Cooking Notes:
*I only substituted the Dark Muscovado sugar because I had no Brown sugar (Oops, I was sure I had bought some)
*I substituted Ground ginger for the fresh stuff because we have recently dehydrated a lot of our home grown fresh ginger and it is amazingly fragrant and flavoursome

Preparation of the Wings:

Cut the chicken wings into three pieces at the joints. I thought this would be more onerous than it was. It only took me about 10 minutes all up. I removed all of the wing tips first and froze them, and then with a twist of both parts of the wing, it was easy to locate the soft part in the middle between the bones and slice through.
 

Reserve the frozen wing tips for another use such as making soups from scratch. I have frozen mine in small ziplock bags to use in my next batch of chicken stock.

Let's cook:

In a large bowl, combine the Teryaki sauce, peanut oil, ginger, garlic, chilli, sugar, sesame oil,and Chinese five spice. Add the chicken and toss with the marinade to coat all of the wing pieces.
Cover and then refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight in the frig.



Preheat your oven to moderately hot, 180 degrees C.

Drain the marinade from the wings and discard. Place the wings on an oiled cake cooling rack over a baking dish. I used an Alfoil baking dish to save washing up because of the amount of cooking I was doing. I think that one batch of wings was cooked directly in the alfoil baking dish and they worked out well.

Roast the chicken uncovered in the oven for about 40 minutes until cooked through and brown. Turn them once after 20 minutes if possible.

These are attractive to serve sprinkled with a few sesame seeds and a green garnish.

Have you started thinking about your Christmas menu yet? I think these wings might be on mine this year, after all they are easy party food.

Thanks for visiting,

Best wishes

Pauline

Beetroot Hummus, a delicious vegetarian dip

In Australia, Summer doesn't officially commence until December 1st and continues through the three hottest months of the year until the end of February. Here in North Queensland, though, it feels as if Summer has arrived, although by December 1st it will probably be much hotter, unless we receive some much needed rain. I think it's fair to say though that in my part of the world, the Barbecue season has begun, which also involves invitations to Barbecues at friend's houses. Different cultures have different ideas about what to take to a friends house when invited for a BBQ (the Aussie abbreviation for a barbecue), however here in North Queensland, we always ask what the host would like us to bring, which is generally some beer or a bottle of wine, or a salad, or a dessert, or just a dip. Beetroot Hummus isn't just a dip, it is the perfect dip to take and there is a fair chance that not many people there will have already tasted it, not one homemade from scratch anyway.

If I have time, I always make this dip from scratch, which involves buying the fresh beetroot from the Farmer's Markets, boiling them, allowing them to cool and then removing the skins, chopping them up, and whizzing them up in the food processor with the other ingredients. The flavours are earthy and sweet, and the colour is a vibrant rich pink, one of my favourite colours for lots of things. Beetroot hummus can also be made from tinned or bottled beetroot which is fine, but the natural earthiness of the beetroot is slightly camouflaged by the pickling vinegar. Take this to a BBQ or even to a dinner invitation with some flatbread, sourdough bread, chopped vegetables or even crackers, and it will be a winner. I try to keep a batch in the refrigerator as a snack in between meals if we are feeling peckish, as it is very healthy and keeps for a couple of weeks. It also freezes well. I hope you try this recipe this weekend as I know you will enjoy it.

Ingredients:

450g freshly cooked, cooled, peeled and chopped beetroot, or tinned or bottled chopped beetroot
400g freshly cooked chickpeas, or  tinned chickpeas
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon tahini
1 tablespoon lemon juice (or 2 for more of a tang)
2-3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Method:

Place the cooled and chopped beetroot, chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice and garlic in the food processor bowl and whizz up until thoroughly mixed to a paste.

Keep the motor running and slowly add the olive oil though the chute of the bowl. The mixture will thicken up and become smooth and start to develop some shape from the blades. Add a little more oil and lemon juice if it is still too thick.

Season with salt and pepper to your taste, mix again and spoon into your serving bowl.

Serve with warm sliced Turkish bread or Sourdough bread.

 I like to garnish mine with black and white sesame seeds and chopped parsley.

For more hummus recipes see:
Home made chickpea hummus
Parsley hummus

Add some pickled zucchini as well to the platter for extra pizazz.

What do you like to take to a BBQ if you are invited to one, and has your BBQ season started yet?

Hoping you have an enjoyable day in your part of the world, and keep smiling.

Best wishes,

Pauline

Slow Cooker Beef, Spinach and Prune Tagine

When I was precooking the combination of onion and garlic with the fragrant spices in this dish, the cinnamon, cumin, turmeric and ginger, my mind drifted to our holiday a few years ago in amazing and exotic Granada in the south of Spain, just over the Strait of Gibraltar from Morocco which is still on my bucket list by the way. The Moroccan style foods we ate in Granada were delicious including the tapas, and have probably given me the taste for Tagines and spicy vegetable accompaniments. Then I wandered to the famous spice markets in Istanbul, Turkey where the aroma from the piles of colourful spices are intoxicating. For my friends reading this who don't like eating dates in their food, and there are a couple, I actually think they could be left out of this dish but definitely keep the prunes.. There is enough going on without them. 

Couscous Salad with Fresh Mint, Coriander, Parsley and Feta cheese

I made some healthy Couscous to accompany a Beef Tagine I was slow cooking, and then as happens in my kitchen, I thought the couscous looked rather boring and bland so I started adding ingredients from what I had and this is what I ended up with. I now had colour on the plate as well as a nutritious side dish.This salad is delicious, versatile and the  simple dressing gives it a nice zing. A dressed grain salad will keep well for a few days in the refrigerator, whereas a dressed green salad is often limp and inedible the following day. Couscous  salad can stand alone for lunch, or is a marvellous accompaniment to a spicy or Middle Eastern style dinner. Other vegetables can be added as well, such as sliced zucchini or sweet corn, after all it is basically a salad. I remembered this idea from a recipe I found here quite a while ago.

I picked this bunch of gerberas this morning from my garden which bring sunshine into the house. They really need breaking up into smaller plants, but now I can't bear to do it whilst they are flowering. I hope they make you feel happy as well.

With Summer approaching here in the Southern Hemisphere I will be making this easy Couscous meal on a regular basis. In the Northern hemisphere though, it can also be a healthy addition to accompany hot meals.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

1 cup Wholemeal couscous

1 1/4 cups boiling water

1 cup of finely chopped coriander

1/2 cup finely chopped parsley

1/2 cup finely chopped mint

1/2 red onion, chopped very finely

1/2 cucumber chopped very finely

1/2 red capsicum, chopped very finely

3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts

2 tablespoons finely crumbled feta cheese (optional)

Dressing:

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tablespoon honey or agave syrup, slightly warmed up so it is runny

Juice of 1 lemon and the zest

Good pinch of cumin.

Method:

Pour your couscous into a large heatproof bowl, add the boiling water and rest covered for 5 minutes. Remove the cover and fluff up with a fork.

Toss the finely chopped vegetables through the couscous and then add the herbs,  mixing through lightly.

To make the dressing, add the ingredients including cumin to a small glass jar, screw on the lid and give the jar a good shake. You could also use a small whisk to mix it all together. This isn't a complicated dressing so shaking it up in the jar works fine. Add a little salt and pepper to taste if you think it needs it. If this is being served with spicy foods I don't think it will need it.

Toss the dressing through the couscous and add the pine nuts.

Add the crumbled feta if you are using that. 

This is now ready to serve or store it in the refrigerator.

This will keep well, covered in the refrigerator for 5 days but it won't last that long.

I hope you are having a fabulous weekend wherever you are. I did a lot of cooking on Friday, so we are eating mostly leftovers this weekend, which just keep improving in flavour, and it makes for a nice relaxing weekend. I'll be ready to start cooking again on Monday. Do you sometimes like to have a weekend off from cooking as well?


Best wishes,

Pauline.

Butterflies and Tropical Splendour in Springtime at Cairns Botanical Gardens, FNQ

A Butterfly on a Red Pentas

Surrounded by beautiful butterflies and exquisite tropical orchids, I thought I was in Heaven, however I was in the Orchid House and the Butterfly exhibit at the Cairns Botanical Gardens, in Far North Queensland. The gardens are impressive to say the least. Coastal Cairns like most of Australia, hasn't had any rain, and yet the gardens have retained their tropical Springtime splendour. The Orchid House was our first destination within the Gardens because of my passion for Tropical orchids, and when I could bring myself to leave, we followed the well constructed paths and discovered lots more.  Are you feeling like a visit to the Tropics? Dear Friends, I hope you enjoy some of the photos I took along the way.

This butterfly was undeterred by the amateur photographer taking a close up shot.

Butterflies love Pentas. It's as simple as that.

Red Pentas flowers, loved by the butterflies

This Cochlic Stema Adoratissimum plant from the Orchid House, pictured below was just stunning, so stunning that I took three photos of it. If you live in Cairns, you too can grow this one.

A Cochlic stema adoratissimum

Yellow orchids always make a beautiful show.

A delicate yellow Aggregatum orchid below.

This purple soft cane dendrobium hanging modestly from  a branch was so impressive. One of my aims in life is to grow one to this size. Just beautiful.

A glorious display of Phalaenopsis.

Beautiful Begonias

Most orchid lovers have a Vanda or two in their collection. The purple one looks like one of mine, which unfortunately isn't in flower.

This trailing Button orchid is growing as an epiphyte on a tree with the neighbouring Tillandsias. Then I find the tranquility of the waterlillies in a glistening oasis in the Orchid House.

On venturing out into the gardens we found these red Brazilian beauties.

ACANTHACEAE. Megaskepasma erythrochlamys. Brazilian Red Cloak

One of the benefits for me from visiting Botanical Gardens, apart from enjoying the surrounding beauty of the plants, is also being able to identify and name  plants in my own garden. The Brazilian Red Cloak grows well in the rainforest section of our garden, despite often needing a hard prune back. My Mum who always lived in Rockhampton where I grew up, gave me a cutting of this many years ago however she didn't know what it was called, and neither did we. It was a bit spindly in her back yard garden in Rocky, however it has thrived at our place in Mackay in the more tropical environment. Obviously it thrives in Cairns and makes quite a show. It would do any backyard in a tropical habitat proud. It's full name is: ACANTHACEAE. Megaskepasma erythrochlamys or Brazilian Red Cloak from Venezuela, South America.

It's time to give the fabulous Friends of the Cairns Botanical Gardens a plug.

We were there on a Thursday, and the Friends had an impressive table, full of plants for sale, just near the kiosk. These had come out of a nursery of plants propagated by the Friends themselves and were selling for $8.00 each. We bought a few for ourselves which we are thrilled with, and also bought a couple for Shannon and Dan's new garden in Cairns. If you fancy any of the plants that you see in the Gardens for your home garden, within reason of course,  the Friends welcome meeting you and will walk back to their nursery and most probably have the plant you want. This is such an economical way of buying new plants  such as the Brazilian Cloak, which often aren't available through the commercial nurseries. We left feeling like very happy shoppers with a box full of plants.

Bromeliads

A massed variety of Bromeliads make quite a show, and whilst I couldn't take photos of all of them, this one stood out in the crowd. It is named Queen Mary which is rather nice and originates in Cost Rica. I presume it was discovered a long time ago. However  beware, these can become a very large plant.

I am always attracted to purple flowers in a garden, as are often the birds and the bees. The Petrea Mayensis beckoned me in to take a photo and reminded me of the beautiful Purple Salvia in my garden. This plant could be a must have for my garden one day if I can find a large enough spot for it to grow in.

I love these rich pink Medinillas, and different varieties are growing everywhere amongst the tropical foliage. I bought two varieties from the Cairns Friends during a previous visit to Cairns.

Pretty pink Torch Ginger

Heliconias

Ornamental Gingers are everywhere

Peace Lillies

White Peace Lillies or Spathophyllum lining a shaded pathway are quintessential to Botanical gardens and I love the serenity they project. These were all beautifully healthy and well cared for.

If I had stopped to take photos of all the beautiful plants in the Gardens I would still be there, and Mr. HRK long gone, ha, ha. However I left motivated, and enthused to revisit my garden at home and to just enjoy the pleasure that creating something special in the garden brings. I hoped you enjoyed some of the photos, and if you can, visit these glorious gardens at any time of the year,  you won't be disappointed.

The main reason for visiting Cairns was to celebrate our daughter's engagement to a wonderful young man, with an Engagement and Housewarming party. I've been alluding to that for a few weeks now. We had a wonderful time, and the food catering was a success. More about that later.

Thanks for stopping by,

Pauline

Party Pizzas and Lots of Rain

These Party Pizzas are so easy, that I feel a bit guilty writing them up as a recipe. Do you sometimes just feel like something really tasty like pizza, but don't feel like making your own dough or visiting the supermarket to buy ready made pizza bases, or spending the money to buy take away pizzas? These are the easiest bite sized pizzas I have ever made. They may be just bite sized, but they are BIG-sized flavours,with zero effort. In fact you will feel as if you have had a night off from cooking and everyone will be happy to pitch in and help. 

Great news for us is that we had 75 mm of rain last night, which is around 3 inches. It bucketed down and was windy and cold as well. Just like we expect a tropical wet season to be like. Showers were forecast, but we didn't expect this much rain. Hopefully the sugarcane farmers will be happy if they have harvested their cane and replanted. I wish though that we could send some of it off to the drought affected areas around Australia. Dylan, who is our 12 year old young neighbour from up the road came up for a chat after school just before, as he often does when Mum and Dad are working, and remarked how much he loves the rain. I agreed with him, but just reminded him that there are many children his age in Australia who have never experienced rain like that where they live. It's still overcast and it feels like there could be more showers on the way. Here's hoping, although the parsley is already looking waterlogged as is the pomegranate tree.

We are also happy that SBS is televising the U.S. Open Tennis tournament on TV now, and that our young Australian player, John Millman,who is from Brisbane and is a proud Queenslander, has made it to the quarter finals. I'm a bit sorry that it was Roger Federer he needed to beat to win, as Roger is also a favourite, but what a coup for John. He played the match of his life. So if you like watching the tennis, tune in tomorrow as he will be playing Djokovic (hope I spelled that correctly.) Fingers crossed for John Millman.

 Back to food. Pizzas are perfect on the weekend for brunch with a salad, or as an appetizer, or as a finger food idea for a party. They can also use up leftovers in the refrigerator as well, as the ingredients can be quite versatile. These are one of the items on the menu for our family party in 10 days time. 90 little pizzas can be made from a 10 pack Puff Pastry box. Very economical when catering. This recipe is for 18 pizzas which Mr. HRK and I enjoyed over a couple of days. Just increase the quantities as needed.

Ingredients for 18 mini pizzas

2 sheets of frozen puff pastry
2 cups grated tasty cheese
1 chopped red capsicum
1 cup classic pizza sauce (homemade or purchased)
1/2 cup chopped basil or oregano
1/2 cup roughly chopped black olives
Finely chopped bacon or salami to sprinkle over the top of the pizzas before baking

Thaw out two sheets of Puff Pastry. Cut each Puff pastry sheet into 9 squares. (For a larger quantity of pizzas, buy a 10 pack box of Puff Pastry and cut 9 squares from each sheet until each person has at least 3-4 pizzas)

Let's cook:

Grease two muffin trays very well and place a pizza square in each hole (18 for this recipe)
Throw the combined ingredients into a large bowl. Mix well together.
Brush tomato sauce over pastry bases.
3/4 fill pastry cases with ingredients and sprinkle with bacon or salami if desired.

Cook in a moderate oven for 20 minutes..



Now it's back to the kitchen to make some Chicken and vegetable soup for dinner. I'm going to enjoy this cool rainy weather while it lasts. It's moving on tomorrow apparently.

This is my Pizza recipe when I feel like making real pizza.

Bye for now,

Pauline