Author: Blondie

Cherry and Lemon Ricotta Puffs aka Fritters

Cherry and Lemon Ricotta Puffs aka Fritters
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Cherry and Lemon Ricotta Puffs aka Fritters… These are an Italian-esk dessert, I would never go as far as to say these are a true Italian recipe.

I had a ‘test kitchen’ day about a month ago, lots of ricotta and lots of cherries to come up with recipes for. I eventually came up with 12 different cherry recipe ideas but really liked the idea of deep fried puffs (the other 11 are put aside for later)

This recipe is based on the Italian version of the Baci Di Ricotta; aside from adding fruit to the recipe, the consistency is much different. My version still has the ricotta as the feature whereas the Italian version can be almost a dough that comes out similar to a doughnut.

These are extremely moreish so don’t be afraid of making more than you think you will need!

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” – Virginia Woolf

Enjoy,  Blondie

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Homemade Ricotta Recipe

Homemade Ricotta Recipe
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Homemade Ricotta Recipe… There are so many gorgeous recipes using ricotta that I have decided to make my own for the first time.

Here are a few tips when making your ricotta…

Tip 1: You can make ricotta using just milk but the more cream you add the creamier it will be. You can get it to a consistency of mascarpone cheese if you add enough cream.

Tip 2: There really isn’t a need to use a thermometer, you can go by sight. When it starts to foam at the top then it’s ready to add the vinegar.

Tip 3: The longer you let the whey drain from the curds the firmer and drier the ricotta will be.

Tip 4: If you are using this ricotta for a dessert then omit the salt

Tip 5: Enjoy the process… it’s such a joy to do something that has been done for an eternity – a very simple pleasure

Cheers,  Blondie!

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How to make the perfect pork crackling

Finding Feasts | How to make the perfect pork crackling
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How to make the perfect pork crackling… Pork crackling is as important a part of my Christmas dinner as the ham or the pudding.

Every year my dad makes a delicious Christmas cocktail to greet all the family when we arrive, each year it’s different and sometimes quite experimental, but this is generally when the crackling gets eaten as no one can wait till dinner time – cocktails and crackling what better way to start a beautiful Christmas evening…

Since most of us in Australia will buy a Smoked Leg of Ham – and you can’t use the skin off this, you will need to buy the pork skin separately from your butcher. It is so cheap, if not free if you are lucky, so buy up big.

There are some vital elements to making this that will determine whether you succeed or fail…

Firstly, get pork skin that has quite a bit of fat still under the skin, at minimum there needs to be .5cm. It’s the the contrast of the  juicy fat under the crispy skin that makes pork crackling perfect!

Secondly, get your butcher to score the skin. You may think you can do it yourself but trying to score skin that’s flat on a bench is really hard. They have super sharp knives and can do it seconds flat!

Finally, the pouring over of the boiling water is what will open up the scored skin, which will then let in the salt, which then forms the crispy skin. Without one process the others won’t work.

Happy crunching!  Blondie.

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Coconut Beef w/ Thai Red Curry Paste… From Scratch

Coconut Beef w/ Thai Red Curry Paste…From Scratch
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Coconut Beef w/ Thai Red Curry Paste…From Scratch. This is a stunning, slow cooked Thai dish using Martin Boetz’s Red Curry Paste recipe from his stunning book, Longrain: Modern Thai Food.

If you are going to make one from scratch you must try this one! Plus it makes 1 cup worth of paste, which is basically 5 meals so it’s well worth the effort. I explain my favourite way of storing pastes and the such in the recipe so you have it easily on hand.

I used a gravy beef for my recipe as I love big chunks of melt in your mouth meat, that along with the sauce and the rice to sop it up with and you have a meal you would pay a small fortune for quite happily. Serve it with a side of shredded greens.

Coconut Beef w/ Thai Red Curry Paste…From Scratch

Enjoy, Blondie

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Pork & Lentil Thai Red Curry + Thai Pork Meatballs w/ Dipping Sauce

What to do with leftover roasting pork? Make Pork & Lentil Thai Red Curry + Thai Pork Meatballs w/ Dipping Sauce

With close to a kilo of pork to use (leftover from our Christmas in July) and the weather warming up, a roast was out of the question. Feeling like something Thai inspired I decided to do meatballs.

It feels like forever since I spent a day in the kitchen pottering around, which is why there are 3 different recipes included in the one post. The first one is…

Pork and Lentil Thai Red Curry

Pork & Lentil Thai Red Curry + Thai Pork Meatballs w/ Dipping Sauce

Mum does a gorgeous Curry Pork and Lentil soup, which can also be served over rice if you choose, so this is my version, Thai style!

The benefit of using a roasting pork for the curry is that the pork becomes beautiful and tender while simmering away with the lentils for 40 mins or so, but you can most certainly use pork mince. I also cooked them in the oven first though so they would retain their shape.

Some notes for making this dish…

Buy a pre made Red Curry paste – there are so many out there and it’s trial and error to find the one you will love. Be warned some are extraordinarily, mouth searingly hot!

If you do find that it’s just too hot for you but you love the flavour add some sweet yoghurt (not Greek style) and lime, works a treat.

Use coconut oil to cook with – it smells divine when cooking and has just so many health benefits – LOVE IT!

Thai Pork Meatballs w/ Sweet Chili, Dill and Coriander Sauce

Pork & Lentil Thai Red Curry + Thai Pork Meatballs w/ Dipping Sauce

While rolling out the meatballs I started feeling hungry – it was lunchtime, so quickly fried some of them up and they were just so good I had to give them their own recipe page, which is the reason for this second recipe. Served with a sweet and spicy dipping sauce they make a lovely plate of appetisers. Skewered onto some ornate chopsticks or served with the sauce already over them (very Christmasie) they are great tasting and so quick.

You can make these at anytime, freeze them and then cook as you need them.

Sweet Chili Sauce

Pork & Lentil Thai Red Curry + Thai Pork Meatballs w/ Dipping Sauce

I always have Sweet Chili Sauce on hand, it’s the only sauce my son likes so I make big batches of it and it lasts for ages. I also have the jar out on the kitchen bench so it’s always at hand to add to food that needs some sweetness, it’s used instead of sugar as it already has the chili infused and the zing of vinegar that is the perfect compliment to any Asian dish.

Enjoy, Blondie

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Checkered Birthday Cake – Dirt Block Minecraft Cake

Finding Feasts - Checkered Minecraft Cake
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Checkered Birthday Cake – Dirt Block Minecraft Cake… It was my son’s birthday last week and of course the cake was left to the very last minute. Considering last year’s cake was a hasty store bought chocolate cake that I threw coloured specks at, surrounded with plastic rings and stuck a Power Rangers dude on – which he absolutely loved – I knew the last resort would be, at the very least something similar. I mean really,  I have yet to hear of a kid having a tantrum when they saw their cake on their birthday, so long as it has candles, colour and people singing “Happy Birthday” you really can’t go wrong… but I still had hope that I could pull something spectacular out of a hat.

With only 2 days left, finally an idea comes to me… Minecraft!

Minecraft is his greatest love at the moment and I can’t believe that it didn’t hit me sooner. So with the clock fast ticking down, I needed a plan of action and unfortunately it was too late to pay someone else to make it – I had to do it myself.

Action plan…

Thursday: Make the sponge cakes – I ended up with 3 usable ones out of 5 made
Friday: Construct a work of art with fondant – Well it kind of resembled what I had finally decided on

What I was actually going to construct from the Minecraft game was still being tossed around at lunch on Friday, but settled on a dirt block (I realise that unless you know even the basics of this game a dirt block birthday cake just seems too strange for words).

Now, I love to sculpt and had this picture in my head of a beautiful dirt block that was going to wow all the kids (and anyone else who’s eye-line would pass across this Minecraft beauty) but being realistic I knew I needed something that would make this mound of dirt even more spectacular, just in case the outside wasn’t what I was hoping for.

Checkered sponge on the inside! The idea was to have the 8bit effect on the inside just in case the outside failed to represent that effect to my expectation. We want pixels!

I am very fortunate to have an amazing friend who is a stunning cake designer and was able to give me a few hours of mentoring on the Friday, who without guidance (and some tools) this would have been quite a unique cake, to say the least.

All up it was a great first attempt at cake sculpting and will next year aim to start something like this 2 weeks prior!

Oh… and complete respect to all cake makers/artists out there, it’s insanely hard to master sugar and they deserve every single dollar that they charge for their designs!

Happy Birthday…  from mum (Blondie) xxx

Finding Feasts - Checkered Minecraft Cake

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