Apple crumble

APPLE and PINEAPPLE CRUMBLE

This is such a lovely easy desserts, or for tea.  Kids love to help with crumbling the butter into the flour - such fun!  The oats, apples and pineapple make it pretty healthy too - Yummy!

Ingredients:

1 can (400g) unsweetened pie apples

2 fresh apples, peeled, cored and cubed

1 fresh pineapple, peeled and cubed

2 Tbls (30ml) Apple Juice

1/2 cup (125ml) flour

1/2 cup (250ml) brown sugar

1 tsp (5ml) cinnamon

A sprinkle of nutmeg

75g Butter

1/2 Cup (125g) Rolled oats

Ready for the topping to go on

Method:

- Mix the Apples and pineapple together and put in a medium sized oven proof dish.

- Add the apple Juice.

- Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a separate bowl.

- Add the butter, and rub into the flour mixture, until it resembles breadcrumbs.

- Mix in the oats.

- Sprinkle the crumbly topping evenly over the apples.

- Bake at 190 degrees C for about 35 minutes or until the topping is golden brown.

- Serve warm with cream, custard or ice-cream
Serves 8


This post links to:
Fab Sweet Recipes Pinterest
Our Delightful Home
This Silly Girl's Life
This Chick Cooks
No Minimalist Here
Love Bakes Good Cakes
Favorite Blogger Recipes Pinterest
Stone Gable
Snippets of Inspiration

Creamy bacon mushroom spaghetti

CREAMY BACON and MUSHROOM SPAGHETTI with FRESH AVO
Pasta is so lovely to make and the number of sauces that can be made to go with pasta are endless.  This is a recipe for a lovely creamy one, nice on a cold winter night.

Ingredients:
1 Tbls (15ml Olive oil
6 rashes bacon, chopped small
1/2 onion, chopped finely
1 tsp garlic, crushed
1/2 caspium pepper, chopped
1/2 red chilli, chopped (optional)
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
black pepper, ground
1 tsp chicken stock powder
1 tsp cornflour (maizena)
250ml cream
A few squeezes of fresh lemon juice
1 packet Spaghetti (made as per packet instructions)
1 Fresh Avocado (to garnish)
Grated cheese of your choice

Method
- Fry the bacon and onion in the olive oil until the bacon is a golden brown.
- Add the garlic, pepper, chili, and spices.
- Mix the cornflour in a cup with a small amount of cream to form a paste, gradually adding more cream, add to the pan.
- Stir until sauce thickens (about 10 minutes)
- In the interim cook the spaghetti as per packet instructions.
- Add the lemon juice to the sauce once it has thickened.
- Mix the sauce into the spaghetti
- Plate, and garnish with freshly sliced avo and grated cheese
Serves: 4


This post links to:
Fab Savoury Recipes Pinterest
The Best blog Recipes
Love Bakes Good Cakes
The Prairie Homestead
Our Delightful Home

Chermoula paste

CHERMOULA PASTE
This is a Moroccan (North African) spice or paste used as a rub on meat or fish.  Or added to stews, soups and curries and wonderful added to cous-cous.   This is a recipe out of a friend's cookery book, I have been utilizing ever since.
I like to buy my spices whole and grind them myself, I find the flavour is much more intense and fresh doing it this way.

Ingredients:
1 Tbls (15ml) Cumin
2 Tbs (30ml) coriander seeds
1 Tbls (15ml) paprika
1 and 1/2 tsp (7,5ml) dried chilli flakes
4 large cloves garlic, peeled
3cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled
3/4 cup (185ml) fresh parsley, leaves and stalks
3/4 cup (185ml) fresh coriander, leaves and stalks
3 Tbls (45ml) fresh lemon juice
2 Tbls (30ml) water
1 Tbls (15ml) olive oil
Method:
- crush the cumin, coriander seeds.
- Place the cumin, coriander, paprika and chilli into a dry pan and heat until aromatic.
- Place the garlic, ginger and roasted spices in a blender.  - Blitz.
- Add the parsley & coriander - blitz again.
- Add the lemon juice, water and olive oil for a final blitz until smooth.
- For a rough paste, just mush it all with a mortor & pestle - this is usually how I do it to save time.

This post is linked to:
Fab Savoury Recipes Pinterest
Sustainable Suburbia
The Velvet Moon Baker
Flour Me with Love
Stone Gable
This Girl Cooks
The Best Blog Recipes
Our Delightful Home
Snippets of Inspiration

Fabulous Pizza

FABULOUS PIZZA
I love Pizza, and living out here in the bush, we seriously lack restaurants or any take-out places, which means making your own.  This recipe is my favourite.  It is super easy and makes 4 wonderfully thin pizza bases which can be topped with whatever topping tickles your fancy.  After making this very easy recipe, you may wonder why you ever go out for pizza, when you can make it even better at home.

Ingredients:
6oog White bread flour
10g Sachet dry instant yeast granules
2ml salt
350ml luke warm water
30ml olive oil
Crushed garlic
Tomato paste
salt
Cheese (Mozzarella, Cheddar, Gouda)
Parmesan cheese

Method:
- Put flour, yeast and salt in a mixing bowl, mix up evenly.
- I put mine in a mixer which is equipped with a dough hook, and leave it running on low.
- Add olive oil and warm water slowly.
- The dough will form into a big ball, It must not be sticky.  Keep kneading with the mixer, or by hand for about 10 minutes until the dough is quiet pliable.
- Put a tea towel over the bowl and leave in a warmish spot to double in size (about an hour)
- Preheat oven to 220 degrees C
- beat down the dough and roll into a short fat sausage.  Cut evenly into 4 pieces and roll into 4 balls.
- sprinkle some flour on the kitchen top surface
- sprinkle flour on baking tray
- Roll each ball out into a thin circle shape - place on the baking tray
- Spread some garlic, and tomato paste over the base, sprinkle with salt.
- Add your toppings of choice (see below for some cool ideas)
- Sprinkle a healthy dose of cheese (whatever you choose or a mix).
- bake in a hot oven (220 degrees C) for about 20 minutes, or until the cheese just starts getting golden splodges.
- Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, top with fresh rocket or Avo

Topping ideas
- Sliced pear and blue cheese, (with fresh rocket added after baking)
- Fig, brie cheese & walnuts
- Brinjal  (Egg plant), sun-dried tomatoes and  pepperdews (mild chilli)
- Artichokes, Capers, olives and anchovies, (with fresh avocado after baking)
- pizza is a great way of using up bits and pieces in the fridge!  Anything goes really.

Tips:
- I do 2 pizzas at a time, and freeze the dough of the other two pieces.  Next time  I just take the dough out the freezer in the morning, put in a bowl covered with a tea towel to allow to defrost and rise.

This post is linked to:
Bread and Pizza Pinterest
Cooking for the Seven Dwarfs

Perfect Pancakes

PERFECT PANCAKES
Pancakes remind me of lovely Lazy Sunday mornings at home.  Hot pancakes with cinnamon & lemon is just such a wonderful weekend breakfast treat.

Ingredients:
1 Tbls (15ml) Sugar
2 Eggs
300ml Milk
125g Cake Flour
Pinch of salt
Butter for frying

Method:
- Cream together the eggs and sugar, gradually stir in milk
- In a separate bowl, Sift Flour and salt.
- add, egg, milk mixture gradually to flour mixture, beating continuously.
- Continue beating for about 2 minutes, then allow to rest for about 10 minutes.
- Heat butter in a frying pan over medium heat.
- Ladle some batter into the pan, swirling the pan to get a thin even layer covering the surface.
- Cook for about 1 minute until mixture has set, turn over and cook another minute.
- transfer to a plate, and pile them up in an oven to keep warm.  set at about 80 degrees C.

To top: 
- sprinkle with cinnamon, lemon juice and sugar and roll up.
- or how about yoghurt and honey for a real breakfast treat.
- or get decadent with berries and cream.


This Post Links to:
Fab Sweet Recipes Pinterest
The Best Blog Recipes
Cooking for the Seven Dwarfs

Stuffed Calamari Tubes

STUFFED CALAMARI TUBES with SWEET CHILLI

Ingredients for the stuffing

2 Tbls (15ml) oil

1 Onion

1 tsp (5ml) crushed garlic

1 small red chilli pepper, chopped finely
1 cup rice

1 cup white wine

1 cup vegetable stock
1 Tbls (15ml) tomato paste

1 tin (400g) diced tomato

1 tsp (5ml) mixed dried herbs

Pinch cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp (2.5ml) Turmeric

salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for the tubes

1kg small calamari tubes

Olive oil
60ml sweet chilli sauce

Method for stuffing
- Fry onions in oil until translucent,
- add garlic and chilli
- Stir in rice
- slowly add the white wine, and vegetable stock, stirring gradually from time to time for about 10 minutes.
- add in the rest of the ingredients.
- cook over low heat until the moisture has been absorbed by the rice. (about another 10 minutes)
- allow to cool
Putting it all together
- Carefully spoon the rice mixture into the calamari tubes (I find a knife works well for this)
- Close the top of the calamari tube by 'threading'a toothpick through the tube.
- pour over a healthy amount of sweet chilli sauce
- heat some olive in a frying pan
- fry in small batches over a hot pan for a few minutes at a time (about 5 minutes), until the calamari is cooked (no longer translucent)

Tips:
- Just add the broken tubes and tentacles to the mix, they can get fried up with the rest of the "perfect'tubes.
- Wonderful as a classy finger snack at a braai - done on a flat plate over the coals.

This Post links to:
Fab Savoury Recipes pinterest
Adventures of a DIY Mom
Setting for Four
Flour me with Love
This Gal Cooks
Love bakes Good cakes
Anyonita Nibbles

Stuffed pimento peppers

STUFFED PIMENTO PEPPERS
I bought some beautiful huge pimento peppers the other day, mainly because I want to try and see if I can get the seeds to grow.  I decided on stuffing these beautiful peppers with a stuffing and baking them in the oven - they were delicious.  Here's the recipe.

Ingredients
2 large pimento Peppers, halved longways down the center
3 Tbls (45ml) Thick Plain yoghurt
4 sliced brown bread (wholewheat is great), crumbled
1/2 cup (125ml) grated cheddar cheese
1 tsp (5ml) capers
1/2 tsp (2.5ml) yellow mustard seeds, grinded
1/2 tsp (2.5ml) aniseed, grinded
1/2 tsp (2.5ml) cumin, grinded
1/2 tsp (5ml) dried sage
1/2 tsp (5ml) fresh mint leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
- heat oven to 190 degrees C.
- Cut the pimento peppers in half longways, remove seeds and pith
- Cut off crusts of bread and crumble with your fingers.
- Add, bread, yoghurt, cheese, and capers to a bowl, stir by hand altogether.
- Grind together the mustard seeds, aniseed and cumin, add to the bread mixture
- Add in remaining ingredients and mix
- Spoon into the peppers
- Baked in a greased pan for about 25 minutes until golden brown on top
- Serve with a lovely fresh garden salad for a light meal or as a side dish to a main meal.

This post Links to:
Fab Savoury Recipes pinterest
This Chick Cooks