Bircher Muesli from @EatShootBlog

This is a fabulous (and fabulously home written) recipe for Bircher Muesli that I was sent by a lovely lady on twitter (https://twitter.com/EatShootBlog). This one is mostly for Americo because I really want him to try it.

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup skim milk

1/3 cup blanched almond slivers

1/3 cup hazelnuts

2 tablespoons honey 

2 tablespoons lemon juice 

1 cup plain (low fat) natural yoghurt

2 med bananas

2 apples

• 1 peeled, finely sliced
• 1 unpeeled, finely sliced

1 pun net strawberries, halved

1 small mango

125g blueberries

8 mint leaves

Preheat oven to 180c P

lace the oats into a bowl. Cover with boiling water and leave to soak for 30 minutes or until soft. 

Tip into a sieve and let stand for a couple of minutes to drain. 

Transwer to a large bowl and add the skim milk. 

Place the almonds and hazelnuts on a separate small baking tray and bake in the oven until golden, about 5-8 minutes. 

Remove from oven and chop coarsely. 

Mix the honey, lemon juice and yoghurt into the oats + skim milk, then gently mix in fruit and nuts. 

serve in small bowls decorated with strawberries and mint leaves. 

Homemade Turkish bread

2 cups of bread flour

1 cup of water warm water

egg wash (1 egg, and tablespoon of milk)

teaspoon of yeast

pinch of salt and sugar

half tablespoon of olive oil

Sesame seeds and Black Caraway

Take the water and mix in a pinch of sugar and a pinch of bread flour, add the yeast. Let stand for 30 minutes in a warm place.

Add the flour a pinch of salt and olive oil and mix, kneed for 5 minutes. 

Place in container with olive oil, cover, for an hour.  

On floured baking tray, work out into shape, about a half inch thick. Use finger tips to make pattern on bread. Set aside for 20 minutes.

Cover it in egg wash, and sprinkle it with both seeds.

Preheat oven to 425º (220c) put it in or 12-15 minutes.

Let cool for 15 minutes. (don't let cool, eat it warm with fried haloumi cheese sprinkled with the black caraway seeds). 

In Australia the black caraway seeds go by Kalonji seeds and can be found in your local Indian or Pakistani grocery. If you can't find them ask the nice grocer. 

Cider roasted pork belly

Pork belly, fat scored
1 bottle of rekorderlig apple or pear cider
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon of crushed ginger (from a jar)
small bunch of thyme
1 tablespoon salt

Heat oven to very high heat (220-230c).

Pat dry the pork fat with a paper towel.

Run your finger along 2 sprigs of thyme to remove the leaves. Add the leaves to 1 tablespoon of salt and rub with the back of a spoon to release the oils from the leaves.

Rub the thyme salt into the scores of the pork belly skin.

Place the pork belly into a baking dish or casserole dish.

Pour cider around the pork belly to just below the level of the fat. Do not wet the fat.

Put the crushed garlic, ginger and thyme into the cider.

Place in oven, leave for 15 minutes to start the fat crackling, and then turn the heat down to 160c.

Bake for an hour to an hour and a half depending on the size of your pork belly.

Serve with roasted winter fruits and vegetable e.g. potato, parsnip, carrots, pears, apples.



You can make a gravy from the sauce by removing the pork belly from the cider to rest.

Put the baking dish on the stove to heat.

Mix together 2 tablespoons of corn starch, 1/4 cup of water, and a tablespoon of chicken stock until it's a smooth paste.

Mix the corn starch paste into the pan juices and constantly stir with a whisk until the gravy starts to thicken. Thicken to your liking.

Vegetarian Ragu and turning it into meat Bolognese sauce

Vegetable ragu:

Ingredients:
3 large carrots
3 large stalks of celery
3 zucchini the same size as the carrots
1 large tin of whole peeled tomatoes
lots of herbs. I use marjoram, oregano, basil and thyme.
2 large onions

In a food processor whiz all veggies but the onions into mush. Do in batches if you only have a small hand processor.

In a large saucepan cook the onions in a small amount of olive oil until caramelised.

Add the vegetable mush, put the lid on, and simmer for 2-3 hours for the flavours to infuse.

Allow to cool and then store in an airtight container.


Bolognese Sauce:

Ingredients:

500gm (a pound, ish) lean ground pork. you can also use veal or beef if you want. Get the good stuff from the butcher tho, the grind is smaller.
3 slices lean bacon (it's a real thing)
a hand full of button mushrooms chopped
1 large onion
a few shakes of worchestershire sauce
a few shakes of raspberry vinegar (not even joking)
A few large ladles of vege ragu

in a large saucepan or frying pan heat olive oil until hot.

Add bacon, onions and mushrooms. Cook until well caramelised. (I cooked until just shy of burnt and it added a really nice smoky flavour).

Add ground pork and stir constantly to break up. Cook until partially brown and then sprinkle with worchestershire sauce.

Add vege ragu to the type of sauce you like (I add a whole batch of ragu to 500gm of meat because I like a thin sauce, lesss ragu, thicker sauce).

Add a few good dashes of raspberry vinegar and some wine (if you so desire, I use white because its a bit softer/sweeter), put the lid on and simmer for at least an hour. The longer you cook the better it'll taste.

Rhubarb pudding with orange brown sugar sauce

Rhubarb pudding with orange brown sugar sauce

Give it a shot, I just made it up today. Feeds two, or one if you're really hungry and don't want to share.

Pudding:

1/2 cup self raising flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup rhubarb, roasted with crystallized ginger*

Sauce:
2 large orange juiced (dump the pulp in the juice for extra flavor)
1/4 cup brown sugar

method:

Heat oven to 180 (160 fan forced)
Brush medium sized pudding or casserole dish with melted butter.

Put the flour, brown sugar in a bowl.
Heat the milk and butter.
Add milk, butter and rhubarb to dry ingredients and mix.
Place in a medium sized pudding or baking dish.

Heat the orange juice and brown sugar in the microwave for a minute until the sugar is melted.

Carefully pour the juice mix over the back of a spoon onto the pudding batter.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until a skewer put into the middle of the pudding comes out clean.

Serve with cream or ice cream.



*To roast rhubarb:

Heat oven to 160c, 140 fan forced.
Wash and cut rhubarb into cm size pieces.
Place a handful of crystalized ginger in a food processor and whiz until fine.
Put slightly damp rhubarb and ginger crumbs into a large bowl and mix with your hands.
Place a single layer of rhubarb in the bottom of a deep roasting pan.
Spread any remaining ginger over the top.
Cover the roasting pan with foil, do not allow the foil to touch the rhubarb.
Slowly roast for approximately 45-60 minutes until the rhubarb dents when you press with your finger.
Place in a heatproof bowl while hot and mix to separate the rhubarb fibers.
Allow to cool in the bowl before using in pudding.