Lamb, Rosemary and Apple Sausage Rolls

My little patch of herbs growing under an
olive tree growing in a wine barrel

Lots of delicious ingredients in these Sausage Rolls.  I used mince lamb (400g) and mince beef (250g) as the combination of meats and with the fresh herbs (mostly from my little herb plot!), fruit chutney and grated apple it was a real winner with the family.  I made quite big sausage rolls and we had them for dinner with vegies.

In her book Annabel suggests using the base mixture of meat, apple, egg and onion and then making a Greek version by adding olives, garlic, rosemary and feta.  Or an Italian option with sundried tomatoes and basil.  That is a real "split screen" moment Annabel - LOVE IT!  The sausage rolls I made were delicious and with the Chilli Jam I made a couple of weeks back on the side even better!  Catherine

Chilli Jam (First Try!)

Ok, so in my into to this Blog I said there would be some successes and perhaps some failures too - this isn't really a failure as it still tastes delicious, but it's just not quite right.  I'm going to have another go of this recipe as I think I cooked it a bit long so the finished product is quite dark in colour and is very thick and not easy to get out of the jar.  Having said that, the flavour is amazing!  The ginger and lime is really strong and the chilli certainly gives is a big kick and the after taste leaves a beautiful Thai feel in your mouth.  We've used it on quite a few things, including Annabel's Lamb, Rosemary and Apple Sausage Rolls and we even added it as a condiment to Will's special "2 Minute Noodle Pancakes" (have promised to post them on my Blog, so apologies to Annabel in advance!).  Anyway, the chilli jam is good but I reckon next time it will be phenomenal!  The sensational ingredients include garlic, chillies, ginger, kaffir limes leaves, sugar, lime zest, rice vinegar, fish sauce and soy sauce.  See how if might have a lovely Thai feel?!  I am looking forward to having another go at this one soon.  Catherine

Lemon Curd Tarts

These were lovely.  I still have some of the tart shells in the pantry, kids loved them and some even made their way safely to MGGS for a special tasting.  The "thumbs up" was given, I will definitely be making these again!

The pastry was really lovely, it was made with butter, caster sugar, egg, flour and polenta!  Have not used polenta in a pastry before and it was really nice, quite a grainy texture and the pastry was so crunchy and very delicious.   Mine weren't as perfectly shaped as Annabel's but I was happy with the way they turned out. Catherine

Lemon Curd

Lemon Curd!  This was fun to make, quite easy and the lemons were from my tree!  With such few ingredients this silky smooth curd was a real pleasure.  The kids have loved it on toast but I couldn't resist making the little lemon tarts for no real reason except to just enjoy!  I gave a small jar of curd to Dr John who appreciated it and is thinking of preserving some of his own lemons and after tasting this, might even move into making lemon curd!  So the only ingredients are caster sugar, butter, lemon zest eggs and the juice of about 6 lemons.  What was a good Annabel tip was to pour the curd through a sieve as there were a few flecks of egg white so once they were gone the mixture was so smooth with not a lump to been seen and a beautiful consistent colour.  Yum!!

Espresso Hazelnut Ripple

OMG!  This was amazing, what a simple but sensational recipe!  I bought the Lindt 70%  dark cooking chocolate and just a fairly average Plaistowe white cooking chocolate.  The combination with the hazelnuts in the white choc and the ground coffee in the dark was to die for.  I roasted the hazelnuts to remove the skins and then just lay the chocolate in alternate rows on the baking tray, pushed a knife through a few times to make the swirls and then in the fridge to set!  Could be easier and couldn't be yummier! Catherine

Strawberry Cloud Cake

Strawberry Cloud Cake - Yum - as Annabel would say!  This was such an easy recipe and it was really delicious, hardly any effort to make and doubled as a dinner party dessert as well as a birthday cake for Joly!  It was different to an ice cream because it was just so light, made with egg whites and whipped for about 10 minutes giving it a smooth "meringuey" texture. I think the base was a little too think and given the dessert is frozen, if the base is too thick it's hard to break with your spoon when it comes time to eat.  I used Marie biscuits and with adding coconut, cinnamon and butter, it gave a lovely tropical flavour rather than just a plain biscuit base that you might make for a cheesecake.

The photo in Annabel's book shows a really high set cake but I noticed in the DVD that when Annabel and her friends were eating it, the topping was half the size.  As I had a fairly big springform tin, I decided to double the recipe so I'd have plenty.  This was a great idea as it made a really beautiful big cake and I have some leftover filling which I put into small ramekins in the freezer which the kids have enjoyed as a little treat!

Annabel suggests mixing the topping of egg whites, sugar, strawberries, lemon juice and vanilla with an electric beater, as my electric beaters are woeful,  I put the ingredients into my processor with the mixing blade and just let it run for about 8 minutes.  By that time, the mixture had increased so much in volume that it was touching the lid of the processor!  Poured onto the base and in to the freezer for at least 4 hours.  

Andrew helped make the beautiful berry syrup from frozen raspberries, sugar and water.  A few batches at a time through the sieve and it was sensational.  A little syrup over each slice of cloud cake was magnificent.  There was plenty of syrup spare that has been used up on those extra little treats from the leftover topping.  

This is usch an easy one - a must try recipe, Happy Birthday Joly!

Catherine

An impromptu Invitation....

Sometimes the most impromptu invitations turn out to be the most wonderful occasions and last Saturday was no exception.  Timmy and Susan invited us around for dinner to celebrate Joly's birthday.  The dining room table was set beautifully with a gorgeous centre piece of jonquils and freesias and topped off with not one but two bottles of Penfolds Grange Hermitage!  It didn't seem quite right that we be drinking the wine that we gave to Joly for his 40th a couple of years ago but he insisted!  It was one of those times that become a treasured memory as we all shared that superb wine together as life long friends.
When the invitation came for the last minute get-together, of course I asked what I could bring, so when Samc suggested a dessert, I went straight to the Free Range Cook and looked up the recipe for the Strawberry Cloud Cake which doubled as Joly's birthday cake.  I also made the Espresso Hazelnut Ripple to have with coffee, both were delicious and went very well the the magnificent meal that Smac provided.  A very memorable night with dear friends and I am thrilled to be able to add both recipes to my blog. (Posts on their way!)  Catherine

Sticky Buns

Annabel's Sticky Buns were fun to make.  I really enjoyed making the dough from scratch, waiting the hour for it to rise, the smell of the risen dough is so beautiful and its' so exciting to see it double in size.  This was a really easy recipe, nothing fancy but really delicious.  The kids are going to have them in their lunchboxes for the week, it will be interesting to see how they taste after being in the Tupperware for a few days, I imagine they won't be as nice as they were straight from the oven!  Annabel suggests that you divide the dough in half and freeze one lot.  I chose to use both halves which made about 40 buns (they aren't very big), the first lot I put in a baking tray lined with baking paper and they were probably spaced out a bit much, the second lot I put in two round cake tins and I thought they came out of the oven looking much nicer. They were a bit hit with the family!

The first batch I basted with a sugar and water syrup which gave the buns a lovely gloss.  By the time I was ready to baste the second lot, the syrup has gone a little bit crystallised but I used it anyway and this gave quite a nice crunchy coating which looked a bit more rustic and tasted just as good!  Highly recommend this recipe if you have the time.  Catherine

Annabel (and Robyn's) Ultimate Chocolate Cake

Okay, maybe this blog should have been called "OUR" Journey with Annabel!  Here is Annabel's Ultimate Chocolate Cake made by my gorgeous friend Robyn!  It looks amazing and those who were lucky enough to try it said it taste as amazing as it looked!  Hopefully Robyn will post a comment on how she found the recipe was to make and then we can know if there was anything tricky that she came across.  The ingredients are quite simple; SR Flour, sugar, vanilla extract, cocoa, baking soda, butter, milk (or yogurt  - which did you use Rob?), eggs and coffee.  The topping is Annabel's beautiful Chocolate Ganache which I am looking forward to making. 

This weekend I made Annabel's Sticky Buns for the kid's school lunchboxes.  They were a hit in the house - even took some up to Grandma and Grandpa for afternoon tea yesterday!  Grandma commented (more than once!) that they were lovely and "very professional", she thought they'd retail for at least a couple of dollars in a shop!  I'll post more photos of how the Sticky Buns went once everyone has had a good chance to digest Robyn's magnificant chocolate cake!
Catherine

Lemon Preserving continued...

I sliced the lemons and put them in the freezer last night ready to be bottled.  Annabel tells me that by freezing the lemons first, it breaks down their cell structure which speeds up the preserving process.  The first recipe I'll use the preserved lemons in will be Annabel's Chermoula Marinade.  The marinade she uses in her Spicy Chicken Skewers and just by adding sour cream or Greek yogurt to the marinade it makes a beautiful sounding dipping sauce - think I'll do both!

Once the lemons have been pickled for about a weeks Annabel says they'll be ready to use but they will improve over several months so maybe I'll wait to make the Chermoula Marinade until later in the year, a summer BBQ perhaps.
I bought these funky preserving jars at The General Trader today.  They are prefect for the preserved lemons and I bought a couple of smaller ones to make some of Annabel's Lemon Curd.
So in the jars I put the frozen lemons, lemon juice, bay leaf, salt and grapeseed oil.  Lids are on and they're ready to be left to use later in the year - can't wait!