Grief control. Knitting, cakes and chicken tray bakes

Grief. It’s a strange thing. Different very time. Why did I think I’d feel the same after my dad died as I would after my mum did?

I guess it is (blessed) inexperience. But it has been so much harder.

Anyway. I’m out the other side of (most of) it now. And I have a very neglected blog.

I haven’t been sewing as much as normal. But I have been doing some cooking and knitting.

So. Let me tell you about it. Starting with the cakes first because my dad had a sweet tooth.

The cakes

Lemon and ricotta cake

Delicious on its own or with blackberry and strawberry compote and ice cream as a dessert.

• 250g unsalted butter, diced and softened
• 220g (1 cup) caster sugar
• zest and juice of 2 lemons
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 250g ricotta
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 220g almond flour
• 75g (1/2 cup) SR flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• pinch salt

1. Preheat oven to 160C (fan). Grease a 23 cm springform pan and line the base with paper
2. Cream butter and sugar with zest until pale and creamy
3. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well in between
4. Beat in ricotta, a little at a time
5. Whisk almond flour, flour, baking powder and salt separately
6. Reduce speed, add vanilla, the dry ingredients and lemon juice to the mixture, and mix until combined
7. Whisk egg whites separately until stiff peaks form and then carefully fold egg whites into cake mixture
8. Spoon into tin, smooth surface and bake 50-60 minutes

This delicious moist cake recipe is from David Herbert’s column in the 25-26 July 2020 issue of the Weekend Australian magazine.

 

Persian love cake

This is a super easy gluten free cake that is deliciously moist and with fabulous spicing. Super pretty too, especially when you fortuitously have Persian fairy floss in your pantry and use it for decoration!

Adapted from Poh Bakes 100 Greats

• 300 g (3 cups) almond flour
• 185 g (1 cup) caster sugar
• 220 g (1 cup) firmly packed soft brown sugar
• 120 g (generous 1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 250 g Greek-style yoghurt
• pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 2 teaspoons rosewater
• 4 tablespoons flaked almonds
• 4 tablespoons pistachios, roughly chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (fan).
2. Grease a 24 cm springform pan and line the base with paper.
3. Combine the almond flour, caster sugar, brown sugar and melted butter in a food processor until you have an even, sandy consistency.
4. Divide the mixture in two and tip half into the pan. Press the crumb mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan.
5. Add the eggs, yogurt, salt, cardamom, and rosewater to the remaining crumb mixture and whisk until there are no lumps.
6. Pour over the crumb base and sprinkle the flaked almonds and pistachios over the top.
7. Bake for 50-60 minutes

Serve this cake with a dollop of Greek yoghurt – it helps balance out the sweetness

The pistachio and almond topping makes this cake very attractive. No need for pink fairy floss to make it pretty – it already is!

 

The chicken tray bakes

Moroccan chicken tray bake

This is another one of David Herbert’s recipes from the Weekend Australia Magazine – the 13-14 June 2020 issue.

• 4 tablespoons harissa paste
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 6-8 chicken pieces (David recommends skinless thighs – I’ve made this a couple of times, every time with something different – skin-on Marylands, skin-on thighs and skinless chicken chops – all good)
• 2 red onions, quartered
• 2-4 zucchini, cut into 2 cm slices
• 8 capsicum pieces from a jar
• 50g whole blanched almonds  (I used flaked)
• 3 tablespoons roughly chopped parsley (I just picked the leaves off)

Couscous

• 175g (1 cup) instant couscous
• zest  half lemon
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons chopped mint
• 2 tablespoons chopped basil
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• seeds from half a pomegranate
• 2 tablespoons sultanas ( I used currants)

1. Preheat oven to 180C (fan)
2. Mix harissa and vinegar in a large bowl.
3. Add chicken pieces, onion  and zucchini and gently mix to coat. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Transfer to a large roasting pan and cook uncovered for 25 minutes, turning halfway.
5. Add capsicum and almonds and cook a further 10 minutes or until chicken is tender
6. Meanwhile, make couscous:
   • Put couscous in heat proof bowl and add 350mL boiling water, stir, then cover and leave for 5-7 minutes.
   • Stir through Zest, garlic and herbs; drizzle with oil
   • Add pomegranate seeds and sultanas and toss well
   • Season with salt and pepper
7. Scatter chicken with parsley and serve with couscous and lemon wedges (I made a space in the roasting pan, piled the couscous in, added lemon wedges and served it straight from the pan)

I highly recommend this – so simple and yet so delicious. It is almost my favourite chicken tray bake recipe.

Sheet pan chicken tikka

This queen of all tray bakes from Smitten Kitchen is still my favourite.

The version below is double the recipe (recipe serves 4) and so well and truly smothered in coriander and pickled red onion that you wouldn’t know there was chicken and potato and cauliflower underneath.

• For the chicken
  • 4 cm piece of ginger, peeled and minced
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 fresh green chili seeded and minced
  • 1/2 cup yogurt
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder or cayenne
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • 1 kg chicken thighs or drumsticks (skin-on, bone-in)
• For the vegetables
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4-6 potatoes, peeled if desired, cut into 2 cm chunks
  • 1 small cauliflower, cut into 2 cm-wide florets
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• To finish, if desired
  • A few thin slices of red onion
  • Lemon wedges
  • Salt
  • Dollops of yogurt
  • A few tablespoons roughly chopped coriander, parsley or mint

1. Combine ginger, garlic, fresh chili, yogurt, salt, and spices  in bowl. Add chicken pieces and toss to coat evenly. Let marinate for 15 minutes or up to a day, covered, in the fridge.
2. Preheat oven to 180C.
3. Add potatoes, cauliflower, salt, cumin and olive oil to the roasting pan and toss together with your hands until evenly coated.
4. Remove chicken from marinade and leave excess behind. Make spaces in the vegetables for chicken parts throughout the pan.
5. Roast in oven for 20 minutes, then toss the potato and cauliflower to ensure they’re cooking evenly, and return the pan to the oven for 10 to 20 minutes more (i.e. 30 to 40 minutes total roasting time), until chicken and vegetables are cooked through.
6. While it roasts, if you’d like to use lightly pickled onion rings on top ( it adds colour and a nice tangy fresh zip to the dish) separate the rings and toss them in a small bowl with a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Set aside until needed.
7. When chicken and vegetables are cooked, top with dollops of yogurt, herbs and scattered the above onion rings all over.
8. Serve right in the pan.

Truly delicious!

 

The knitting

This winter I finished off two long term WIPs.

A cable hat

This is from Moda Vera Mawson yarn and the pattern was on the ball band.

Memorable mostly for my daughter’s delight in the truly terrible photos of me modelling it (actually I have to admit that it was a lot of fun taking these photos).

But also memorable because I finished this off in the hospice at the bedside of my beloved father. Plus I used a cute label from KATM.

A lacy shrug

This one was started on holiday in Yorkshire – that’s Richmond castle in the background! It’s the wrap from pattern #5954 in Wendy Aran with Wool yarn, both purchased in a little shop in the middle of Leicester.

Happy holiday vibes to this one.

I don’t have any ‘good’ modeled shots of me wearing this (this is as good as it gets), but it was worn a lot WFH over winter. It is one of those great things to add for a little bit of extra warmth whilst sitting in a chilly home office.

The sewing

I know. Its time to get back to sewing…

Coming to the blog soon..

What I’ve been cooking this summer

This summer I’ve discovered a fabulous new salad, two great cakes and a new gluten free cookie recipe.

Carrot and edamame salad with soy ginger dressing

Salad:

• 1  x 450g packet of frozen shelled edamame beans
• 2 medium carrots, shredded or grated
• 2 spring onions or half a red onion, finely sliced
• a generous few handfuls of salad greens, some shredded
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, lightly toasted

Dressing:

• 1 tablespoon grated ginger
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and cook the edamame for 2-3 minutes or until tender (they float to the surface). Drain well and run under cold water to stop them cooking further.

To make the dressing, put everything into  screw cap jar or small bowl and mix well to combine.

Combine all the salad ingredients in a large serving bowl. Mix well then drizzle over the dressing. There will probably be more dressing than needed, but it is delicious with whatever salad you are making the next day, or over cooked rice or noodles.

This is a slight adaptation of a recipe by Emma Galloway published in Cuisine in issue 197, Nov/Dec 2019.

Chocolate chip sour cream coffee cake

Cake

• 120 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
• 300 grams caster sugar
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups sour cream
• 390 grams plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons bicarb soda
• 3/4 teaspoon fine salt

Filling and Topping

• 2 cups dark chocolate chips
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 175°C.

Butter a by 23 x 33 cm baking pan and line the bottom with baking paper. This makes a big cake! I used a roasting pan because none of my cake tins are that large.

In a large bowl, cream butter and 300 grams sugar. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla.

Whisk flour, bicarb soda, baking powder and salt together into a separate bowl.

Alternately mix in sour cream and then dry ingredients into butter mixture until both are used up and the batter is smooth and very thick.

In a medium bowl with clean beaters, beat eggs whites until stiff, then fold gently into batter.

In a small dish, combine the cinnamon and remaining 100 grams caster sugar for filling and topping.

Spread half the cake batter in the bottom of prepared pan and spread smooth. Sprinkle with half of cinnamon-sugar mixture and 1 cup of chocolate chips. Dollop remaining cake batter over filling in spoonfuls. Use a spatula to gently spread it over the filling and smooth the top. Sprinkle batter with remaining cinnamon-sugar and remaining chocolate chips.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, rotating halfway through, until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan.

This recipe is from Smitten Kitchen, published online at https://smittenkitchen.com/2006/11/chocolate-chip-sour-cream-cake/

Lemon blackberry yoghurt loaf

• 1 1/2 cups (190 grams) + 1 tablespoon (10 grams) plain flour (if you’re skipping the fruit, you can also skip the last tablespoon of flour)
• 2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (230 grams) plain whole-milk yogurt
• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3 extra-large eggs
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (approximately 2 lemons)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups (about 255 grams) blackberries, frozen
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Grease a 22 by 11 by 7 cm loaf pan. Line the bottom with baking paper. Grease the sides of the pan.

Sift together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and oil. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

Mix the berries with the remaining tablespoon of flour, and fold them very gently into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before flipping out onto a cooling rack. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in (a pastry brush works great for this, as does using a toothpick to make tiny holes that draw the syrup in better). Cool.

This recipe is from Smitten Kitchen, published online at https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/04/lemon-yogurt-anything-cake/

 

Salted Peanut Butter Cookies (gluten free)

Makes 26 to 28 cookies with a 1 2/3 tablespoon scoop. I used a 1 1/4 tablespoon quenelle scoop loaded up generously and made 25 cookies

• 1 3/4 cups (335 grams) packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups (450 grams) smooth peanut butter
• Coarse-grained sea salt, to finish

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line a baking sheet with baking paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the light brown sugar and eggs until smooth. Whisk in vanilla extract, then the peanut butter until smoothie and completely incorporated. Yes, that’s all you need to do. So easy.

Scoop out mixture onto the prepared baking sheet.  I had an appointment to attend to I put the scooped out cookies on the baking tray into the freezer for over an hour before I baked them. This is recommended to get the tallest cookies and the striations across the top of the cookies, but I did it out of necessity and poor timing.

Sprinkle the cookies lightly with coarse-grained sea salt just before baking. Bake cookies for 14 to 15 minutes. When finished, cookies should be golden at edges.

They’ll need to set on the sheet for a minute or two before they can be lifted intact to a cooling sheet. Once they have cooled completely they are crisp outside and soft inside. Delicious!

This recipe is also from Smitten Kitchen, published online at https://smittenkitchen.com/2015/10/salted-peanut-butter-cookies/

Zucchini fritters with salmon, lemon slice and orange muffins. All gluten free

Are you lucky enough to have a group of likeminded sewers, creative knitters, crocheting geniuses, embroidery queens and other crafty people to share your obsessions with?

I am. And they are fabulous.

My group has a very healthy emphasis on delicious food and wonderful conversation as well as endless cups of tea and craftiness. One of the crafty people is a coeliac, so gluten free food is the go.

This is what we enjoyed this week:

Zucchini fritters with smoked salmon

Ingredients

• 4 cups grated zucchini (about 3 small to medium sized zucchini)
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup gluten free flour
• oil and/or butter for shallow frying (we used a mixture of both)

1. Drain the zucchini in a strainer for 10 minutes then place in a clean dish towel and wrap up tightly and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. It’s amazingly green! Yay for chlorophyll! (mix the green juice with the left over lemon juice from the other things you’re cooking, drink it and feel like a super hero)
2. Add zucchini and the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large frypan over medium heat. Drop and flatten slightly a spoonful of batter onto hot pan

4. Cook 2-3 minutes on each side or until browned. Even better, get He who Cooks to cook the fritters. If he is wearing his favourite old green jumper, even better, it looks great in the photos.

.

5. Place cooked fritters onto a plate lined with a paper towel then continue with the rest of the batter.

6. Enjoy immediately with sour cream and smoked salmon, garnished with coriander or refrigerate the leftovers and scoff the next day while you’re cooking dinner.

Makes 12. (I made 1.5 times the recipe because I had lots of zucchini. That’s why I had leftovers)

Recipe from sugar free mom

Lemon and Coconut Slice

It’s winter in Australia. My sister in law is over run with lemons. I had to make a lemon slice! Lucky I love anything with citrus. Yes pity my poor family and friends.

• Crust
  5 T coconut oil
  3 T maple syrup
  2 cups shredded coconut
  1 cup almond flour
  1 pinch salt
  2 egg whites (save the yolks for the lemon curd)
  
• Filling
  3 eggs + 2 egg yolks
  6 T maple syrup( or if you run out like I did, 1 T maple sypup and 5 T honey)
  1/3 cup lemon juice + 1 T zest (around 2 lemons)
  1/3 cup almond flour
  

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C.
   
2. Melt coconut oil in a saucepan on low heat. Add maple syrup, shredded coconut, almond flour and salt. Stir around until everything is combined. Remove from the heat.
   
3. Crack two eggs, save the egg yolks for later and add the whites to the sauce pan while stirring. Keep stirring for about a minute. The mixture should be quite sticky now.
   
4. Line a 30×20 cm baking dish with baking paper and pour the coconut mixture into it. Use your hands, a spatula or the backside of a spoon to flatten it out. Press it down firmly so it becomes quite compact.
   
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes
   
6. Beat the eggs and the 2 egg yolks until frothy. Add the rest of the ingredients. Beat for two more minutes.
   
7.  Pour the mixture over the baked crust in the baking dish. Bake for around 16-19 minutes or until edges are light brown and center is set. Let cool for at least 10-15 minutes before slicing up the bars.
   
8. Cut into roughly 3 x 3 cm rectangles. Dust with icing sugar.
   

Recipe from  green kitchen stories

Yummy moist little orange cakes

This is my boiled orange almond cake that I make. All. The. Time. ( ask my long suffering family). This time I baked it in muffis cases and topped with He Who Cooks’ fabulous almond brittle: flaked almonds cooked in a pan with butter and sugar. Quantities? Don’t ask? He never measures).

I love this recipe!

Little lemony syrupy polenta cakes

Craft night at my place = gluten free yummy things (one of the crafty peeps is a coeliac). Tonight we had individual serves of nachos and these little cakes.

The cakes have that distinctive grainy polenta texture with moist lemon syrupy goodness.

Lemon polenta syrup cakes

• 160g unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup fine polenta
• 2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups almond meal
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced.
2. Grease a 12-hole, 1/3 cup-capacity muffin pan with butter. Remember to grease just outside the holes too.
3. Cream butter and sugar with lemon rind
4. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Mix polenta, almond meal and baking powder and then add to butter mixture with lemon juice and mix gently.
6. Spoon mixture into prepared holes. It will come almost to the top of the holes. Smooth tops.
7. Bake for 25 minutes.
8. Cool in pan for at least 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack over a baking tray.

Lemon syrup

• 2/3 cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

1. Combine sugar, lemon rind, lemon juice and 2 tablespoons cold water in a saucepan over low heat.
2. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until sugar has dissolved.
3. Increase heat to high. Bring to the boil. Boil, without stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes or until slightly thickened.
4. Remove from heat.
5. Carefully pour syrup over cooling cakes on the wire rack.

from Super Food Ideas – May 2009

And what’s on my sewing machine?

BurdaStyle 10-2012-118 in a navy and oyster striped stretch cotton

I’m not doing the bias cut layout for the front skirt, but placing the thicker navy stripes of the fabric at the hem. I’m using the thick stripes on the sleeves too, and made them short sleeves, not ¾ length as in the photo. Its looking good so far!

 

More daughter cooking: Rhubarb ‘Snacking’ Cake

I hope this is turning into a pattern.

Felicity turned her hand at one of Smitten Kitchen recipes.

This is what she did.

Cake

• 560 grams rhubarb
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 120 grams butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/3 cups plain (all-purpose) flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/3 cup sour cream

Crumb

• 1 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 60 grams butter, melted

Make the cake:

Print off the recipe from Smitten Kitchen site and get all your stuff out, except your baking pan. Realise you have to find an inch ruler before you can even find your pan. Realise you also have to convert from °F to °C before you can preheat the oven.

Finally, preheat your oven to 170°C and line a 30 x 25 cm baking pan.

Chop the rhubarb into about 1 cm pieces.

Zest the lemon before you juice it. Hah, see, not just a pretty face. Err, perhaps not so clever, using the zesting thing that makes long strips of peel. Ask mum to help and get slightly annoyed when she says she’s too busy unpicking the grey dress of doom. Mum does remind you that there’s a better thing for making fine zest. Don’t tell her that she has not been completely useless. Later, say nice things about her dress when she tries it on to check the fit.

Stir together rhubarb, lemon juice and 2/3 cup sugar and set aside.

Cream butter, remaining sugar and lemon zest. Add eggs one at a time.

Sift flour, baking powder, and ground ginger, add one third of this to batter, add half of the sour cream and then add another third, more sour cream and then the last bit of the flour mixture. Try to get a bit on your face so that Grandad knows you’re cooking.

Dollop batter into pan, then spread the cake into an even, thin layer.

Pour the rhubarb mixture over the cake. Dad didn’t buy enough rhubarb, so add something else, like blackberries from the freezer from February’s blackberry picking day. Eat all the leftover blackberries and remember the scratches.

Now start the crumb topping.

Stir together the the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon, then stir in the melted butter.

Scatter the crumble evenly over the rhubarb and blackberry layer.

Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, until a skewer poked in the middle comes out clean and the top is golden. Let Dad worry about this bit, because you have books to read, er, homework to do.

Enjoy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and bask in the compliments from your very lucky family. Tell them not to expect this often!

Dessert in a hurry

I guess we all have  those days when plans are changed and suddenly there are more guests than you first thought or your  children remember as you pop them into bed that they are supposed to bring cake to school tomorrow or friends pop in and you need a recipe for dessert in a hurry. This week  happily we have had guests for dinner Monday and Tuesday night that I had not originally planned and on these occasions I try to avoid experiments and fall back on something tried and true.

A  quick what can I make for dessert’ standby is cheesecake. Almost everyone likes it it needs nothing to  accompany it, save a little cream or ice cream if you want.

I like my cheesecake to be cheesy and have a little bite so I substitute sour cream for normal cream and prefer all cream cheese rather than a mix of cream cheese and riccotta. I like the slight tang of the lemon zest and have made this without the poppy seeds, but they do give extra flavour and interest.

The secret to stopping the cheesecake from cracking is to cool it slowly, Leave the cake in the oven when it is done, turn the oven off and leave the door slightly open until the cake has cooled.

Lemon and poppy seed cheesecake

Ingredients

125 g Nice biscuits (or similar)

45 g butter, melted

750 g (3 packs) cream cheese, softened

200 g sugar

15 g plain flour

10 ml vanilla extract

5 eggs, lightly beaten

120 ml cream

60 ml lemon juice

6 g grated lemon peel

45 g poppy seeds

method

1.      In a food processor, combine the biscuit and butter. Press onto the bottom of a greased 23cm. spring form pan. Set aside

2.      In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, flour and vanilla until smooth. Add the eggs, cream, lemon juice, peel and poppy seeds. Beat on low speed just until combined. Pour into prepared crust

3.      Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake at 180 degrees C for 55-60 minutes or until centre is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight.