Banana Cheesecake

Posted on February 7, 2012 by DemeterG

Ā Did I mention that I love cheese? What better way to have cheese, than to turn it into a cake šŸ™‚ And to make it guilt free, I used light cream cheese and light sour cream. Unfortunately you can’t whip the light cream for serving, so I had to go the full cream stuff for that.

Ingredients:

150g digestive biscuits (I used McVities)
70g unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
500g light cream cheese, at room temperature
Ā¾ cup castor sugar
3 eggs
1 cup light sour cream
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 very ripe bananas, plus extra bananas for decoration
Ā¾ cup thickened cream, whipped
30g dark chocolate, curled or grated

Method:

Preheat oven to 180Ā°C or 160Ā°C if fan-forced.

Process biscuits to a fine crumb and stir in the melted butter and half the cinnamon.

Transfer the crumb mixture to a 22cm spring form pan and press the crumb mixture over the base. Chill for 15 minutes, until firm.

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.Add the sour cream, lemon juice, mashed banana and remaining cinnamon and beat until just smooth. Pour over crumb base and bake for 1 hour, until just set.

Refrigerate overnight.

To serve, cut into wedges and top with whipped cream, banana slices and chocolate curls. I used Banana Chips instead of fresh banana slices to garnish.

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Lemon Melting Moments

Posted on January 7, 2012 by DemeterG

These Lemon Melting moments have a lovelyĀ passion fruitĀ filling. The originalĀ recipeĀ keeps the seeds in, but I prefer to strain theĀ passion fruitĀ pulp, as I don’t like the crunchy seeds but love theĀ passion fruitĀ flavour.

 

Ingredients:

225g unsalted butter
80g icing sugar
200g plain flour
100g corn flour
3 lemons, zested
1 tsp vanilla extract

PASSION FRUIT FILLING:
4 passion fruit, pulp strained and pips discarded
200g sifted icing sugar
1 tbs liquid glucose
80g unsalted butter

Method:

Preheat oven to 170Ā°C.

Sift flours with Ā¼ tsp salt. In separate bowl beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add zest and vanilla, then gradually beat in the flour until just combined.

Roll 2Ā teaspoonfulsĀ of dough into balls, placing them on two trays lined with baking paper. Using the floured flat bottom of a glass, flatten the balls to 3.5cm rounds. Then, using the back of a floured fork, mark the biscuits with the tines of the fork.

Bake for 12 minutes or until biscuits are light golden, transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To make the filling, place passion fruit pulp and remaining ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on high until fluffy. Refrigerate 30 minutes.

Spread filling on half the cooled biscuits and sandwich together with other half, serve dusted with icing sugar

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Individual Wellingtons with Mustard Cream Sauce

Posted on December 31, 2011 by DemeterG

I am a bit of a sucker for meat wrapped in pastry and these individual wellingtons (they areĀ reallyĀ just glorified sausage rolls) were very simple to make and the mustard sauce was a delightful addition to dish along with DB’s onion and garlic mashed potatoes.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

300g beef mince (I actually used a mixture of pork and veal mince that was in the freezer)
Ā½ onion finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon of finely chopped parsley (the possums are still devouring my parsley plant so I used the Gourmet Garden chopped parsley in a tube – from the supermarket)
Ā½ tablespoon finely chopped rosemary leaves
Ā¼ cup fresh breadcrumbs – plus extra to sprinkle
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Ā½ tablespoon chopped, dried porcini mushrooms
1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 sheet frozen puff pastry
4 thin slices proscuitto

Mustard sauce
100g sour cream
2 tablespoon Dijon Mustard

Method:

Preheat oven to 200Ā°C

Combine beef, onion, garlic, tomato paste, herbs, breadcrumbs, Worcestershire, mushrooms, wholegrain mustardĀ andĀ most of the egg. Reserve enough beaten egg to brush the finished wellingtons. Season the meat mixture and mix well.

Ā Cut the pastry sheet in half and line each half with two pieces of proscuitto, then sprinkle with extra breadcrumbs. Divide the meat mixture in two and roll each portion into a long sausage shape and place along the proscuitto.

Fold over the pastry so the seal is along the bottom, leaving the ends open. Place in a baking tray. Brush with remaining egg and score the top of each wellington in several places.Ā 

Bake for 20 – 30 minutes until pastry is golden. Remove from oven and rest for 5 minutes.

Combine sour cream and Dijon mustard to make the sauce.

Serve with potato mash and pan fried spinach

Posted in Beef, Favourite Recipe, Recipes | Leave a comment

Pear, Almond & Chocolate Pudding

Posted on December 30, 2011 by DemeterG

This is a lovely twist on the classic chocolate self-saucing pudding. From the MasterChef Magazine Issue 12.
Makes 6

 


Ingredients:

40g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
2 pears, cored, peeled and cut into 1cm pieces (I used beurrƩ bosc)
1 cup selfĀ raisingĀ flour
Ā¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
Ā¼ cup ground almonds
1/3 cupĀ roasted,Ā slivered almonds
Ā¾ cup milk
100g dark chocolate, chopped (70% cocoa solids)
1 egg, lightly beaten

Chocolate Sauce:
70g unsalted butter, chopped
Ā¾ cupĀ firmly packed brown sugar
35g Dutch cocoa

Method:

Preheat oven to 180Ā°C

Grease 6 x 310ml (1Ā¼ cup) ovenproof dishes with softened butter. Divide the pears amongst the dishes and set aside.

Sift the flour, sugar and ground almonds into a bowl and then stir in the slivered almonds.

Place milk, chocolate and butter in a saucepan over a low heat and stir until smooth. Cool for 2 minutes, then whisk in egg until just combined. Pour over the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Spoon mixture evenlyĀ amongĀ the dishes.

Make the chocolate sauce by placing the butter, sugar, cocoa and 300ml water in a small saucepan and bringing to the boil over a medium heat. Whisk while heating to dissolve the sugar. Pour sauce over the dishes.

Bake puddings for 25 minutes or until puffed and tops are firm to touch. Stand for 5 minutes.

Dust puddings with cocoa and serve immediately with double cream or vanilla ice cream.

 

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Brandy Roasted Chicken with Mushrooms and Pearl Barley

Posted on December 26, 2011 by DemeterG

I love pearl barley in soup, so I was keen to try this recipe. The chicken was cooked beautifully with a nice crisp skin and the mushrooms & barley gave the dish a wonderful flavour. This recipe was taken from Donna Hay magazine April/May 2011.
Serves 4 – 6


Ingredients:

1.6kg whole chicken
4 cloves garlic, crushed
Ā½ cup brandy
Ā¼ cup olive oil
sea salt and cracked black pepper
50g butter
1 brown onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic extra, sliced
30g mixed dried mushrooms, rehydrated in 1 cup boiling water
500g fresh swiss brown mushrooms
1 cup pearl barley
Ā½ cup dry white wine
1Ā½ cups chicken stock

Method:

Place chicken, garlic, brandy, oil and salt & pepper in a bowl and toss to coat. Place in the fridge for 1 hour to marinate.

Preheat the oven to 200Ā°C.

Secure chicken legs with kitchen string. Heat a large non-stick fry pan over high heat and cook the chicken, breast side down, for 5 minutes or until golden. Remove chicken from the pan and set aside. Melt the butter in the pan and add the onion, garlic and cook for 5 minutes or until onion has softened.

Strain the dried mushrooms, reserving the liquid. Add the drained mushrooms to the pan with the fresh mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the barley and wine and cook for a further minute until the wine is absorbed. Add the reserved mushroom liquid and stock and stir to combine.

Transfer contents of fry pan to a baking dish and top with the chicken. Cover with foil and roast for 55 minutes. Remove the foil and roast for a further 10 – 15 minutes or until the chicken is golden and cooked through. Serve with the mushroom and pearl barley.

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