Tangelo Cakes with Rhubarb Cream

Ingredients
Tangelo Confit
2 tangelos, cut into 5mm-thick slices and seeds removed
2 cups water
1 cup sugar

Rhubarb Cream
250g rhubarb, cut into slices
¼ cup tangelo juice
¼ cup sugar
4 tablespoons mascarpone

Tangelo Cakes
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
½ cup tangelo juice (from about 2 tangelos)
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
12 slices tangelo confit

Method
Tangelo Confit
Place the tangelos in a saucepan with the water and sugar, and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 20 minutes until tender. Cool in the syrup.

Rhubarb Cream
Place the rhubarb, tangelo juice and sugar in a small saucepan and simmer until the rhubarb is tender (around 10 minutes). Taste and add a little more sugar if necessary (it depends on the sweetness of the tangelos and rhubarb).

Allow to cool completely then mix gently with the mascarpone. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Tangelo Cakes
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 12-cup muffin tray with oil and line the bases with rounds of baking paper. In a bowl beat the eggs and sugar until combined. Add the tangelo juice and olive oil.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a separate bowl. Add the flour into the wet mix a third at a time, combining well. This will make quite a runny batter. Pour into the muffin tins and bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

Cool for 5 minutes before removing from the tin. Top each cake with a slice of tangelo confit. Serve either warm or cold with a spoonful of the rhubarb cream. Serves 12.



Enjoy!

Pistachio and white chocolate cake

Cake:
6 eggs
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
2/3 cup sugar
5 tbsp boiling water
180 g. peeled pistachios
2 tbsp cake flour
2 tbsp cornstarch

Filling:
5 oz white chocolate
2 cups whipping cream

To cover:
150 g white chocolate
5 tablespoons cream
3 tbsp cocoa butter (butter)

Additional: peeled and chopped pistachios for decoration

1. Make the filling a day in advance. Bring the cream to a boil and add to a chopped chocolate. Stir gently until chocolate melted and allow to cool. Keep refrigerated until next day.
2. Preheat oven at 375F. Draw eight 9" circles on a parchment paper.
3. Whip egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff peaks adding gradually 1/3 cup of sugar. Set aside.
4. Whisk egg yolks with remaining sugar until light and fluffy.
5. Put pistachios into a blender or food processor and grind very fine (until it start forming paste). Stir pistachio paste into boiling water. Add slowly to the yolks.
6. Sift flour and cornstarch over yolk mixture, add 1/3 of the whipped whites and fold in gently. Repeat with remaining whites.
7. Spoon 1/2 cup of the batter into drown circles and bake for 5-8 min until springs back, when touched. Allow to cool.
8. Whip cooled filling. Spread prepared cake circles with the chocolate filling. Do not cover sides and top of the cake with the filling.
9. To cover the cake, melt the chocolate with cream, add cocoa butter. Stir gently to blend and cover the cake top and sides. You can dust cake with shredded coconut and cover sides with chopped pistachios.



Enjoy!

Sandwich with Barbecued Lamb, Watermelon and Tzatziki

After yesterday’s barbecue, we still had most of a barbecued leg of lamb left over. And I decided to slice it up and put it into white bun with some salad, cucumber and watermelon and toped the filling with some tzatziki. And it was a very good decision. I think you can use any lamb - grilled, fried or baked.

For 1 sandwich:
50 g. Lamb (grilled, barbecued, baked)
1 white bun or 2 slices of sandwiches bread,
few arugula or spinach leaves,
about 30 gr. of watermelon pulp,
couple rings of red onion,
4 cm piece of cucumber,
2 tbsp Tzatziki (or you can mix 2 tbsp natural yogurt with 1 small garlic clove)

Put the arugula leaves, sliced lamb, cucumber, onion and watermelon on the half of the bun and top with Tzatziki. Cover with bun top and serve immediately.



Enjoy!

Barbecue Lamb Salad with cucumber, capsicum and orange dressing

Barbecue Lamb Salad with cucumber, capsicum and orange dressing is a refreshing simple summer salad. You can make it with warm or cold barbecue lamb. 

Serves 4
500g lean lamb leg steaks, trimmed of excess fat (or you can use already cooked meat)

Marinade:
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
1/4 cup sweet sherry
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
3 teaspoon salt reduced Worcestershire or soya sauce

2 cups mixed salad leaves
1 Lebanese cucumber, sliced
1 yellow or red capsicum, slised
1/2 red salad onion, sliced

DRESSING
½ orange, for juice and zest
2 tablespoons red wine or sherry vinegar
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Trim any visible fat from lamb and place in a large dish. Combine marinade ingredients and pour over the lamb, turning to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. Heat a barbecue, grill pan or non-stick fry pan to high. Remove lamb from marinade and cook to desired effect, for the most tender and moist cut its best still pink inside, about 3-4 minutes each side, depending on thickness.

Remove from heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes, covered loosely with foil. Slice thinly.

Arrange salad leaves in a bowl with the cucumber, capsicum and onion and top with sliced lamb. Shake together the dressing ingredients in a screw top jar and pour over the salad.



Enjoy!

Strawberry jam with vanilla and pepper

I like jams with whole berries. And I often use berries from jam in desserts and for cake decoration. Today I tell you how to make strawberry jam with vanilla and pepper. Fantastic jam with beautiful vanilla flavor, perhaps the most delicious jam I've ever tried.

1 kg strawberries
1 vanilla pod
5 peas of black pepper
800 gr. sugar
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tablespoon vodka


Grind the black pepper in a mortar, cut the vanilla pod into 4 pieces, scrape the seeds out. Clean strawberries, put them in the pan, sprinkle with sugar. Add vanilla seeds, vanilla pod pieces and pepper.
Put on the medium heat, bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Leave to cool, keep in a cool place for a couple of hours (or overnight), to allow berries to soak in syrup.

Pour the vodka and put the pot on low heat. Bring it to boil, skim the foam. Cook for 5-10 minutes (depending on the variety of strawberry, if more juice was formed it need more time to boil). Remove from heat. Remove vanilla pod pieces. Cool and pour into sterilized jars.



Enjoy!

Strawberry jam with rosemary, juniper berries and balsamic vinegar

Today I tell you how to make Strawberry jam with rosemary, juniper berries and balsamic vinegar. Exciting and aromatic jam with whole strawberries. Also it's a best accompaniment to your cheese plate. 

INGREDIENTS
500 g strawberries (fresh or frozen)
1 sprig fresh rosemary
300 gr. sugar
2 tbsp vodka
5 juniper berries
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
little bit of cracked black pepper


Clean strawberries, put them in the pan, sprinkle with sugar. Add rosemary sprig and juniper berries. Put on the medium heat, bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Leave to cool, keep in a cool place for a couple of hours (or overnight), to allow berries to soak in syrup.

Pour the vodka and balsamic vinegar, add black pepper. Put the pot on low heat. Bring it to boil, skim the foam. Cook for 5-10 minutes (depending on the variety of strawberry, if more juice was formed it need more time to boil). Remove from heat. Remove rosemary and juniper berries. Cool and pour into sterilized jars.



Enjoy!

Strawberry jam with mint and port

At the height of summer and strawberry season it is perfect time to make delicious jams. I made a few variations with strawberries. Today I tell you how to make strawberry jam with mint and port. Exciting and aromatic jam, perhaps the most delicious jam I've ever tried.

INGREDIENTS
500 g strawberries (fresh or frozen)
5 leaves fresh mint
300 gr. sugar
4 tbsp port wine (sherry).

Clean strawberries, put them in the pan, sprinkle with sugar. Put on the medium heat, bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Leave to cool, keep in a cool place for a couple of hours (or overnight), to allow berries to soak in syrup.

Pour the port and put a mint leaves. Put the pot on low heat. Bring it to boil, skim the foam. Cook for 5-10 minutes (depending on the variety of strawberry, if more juice was formed it need more time to boil). Remove from heat. Remove mint leaves. Cool and pour into sterilized jars.

Enjoy!