Donuts dusted in nutmeg sugar

One of my all time favourite pleasures in life are donuts just out of the oil and dusted in sugar and cinnamon. I love, love, love them! A few years ago I decided to spend mothers day with my mum in Tassie. It also happened to be the same weekend as Agfest (a massive Agricultural event) and dad was in the Rotary caravan making none other than sugar coated donuts- you betcha I volunteered to help!

I know how bad they are for you and I know you really don't need them, and this is why I haven't had one since then. However, when I got the latest Saveur email and saw the delectable photo of donuts I couldn't help but whip up a batch. They would have to be one of the easiest recipes I have made in a long time and they taste fantastic!!!! But don't take my word for it, click on this link and make them for yourself....your family, neighbours, whoever. I can guarantee one thing, they won't last long.

And while I'm on the subject of favourite things, I also am an avid lover of cake stands and lids (I know weird right?) anyways, this is a great find and a wonderful blog that kindly featured family of foodies as one of it's favourite blogs of the month, so if you have time, stop by and check it out.

Lasagne and Lemons for a ten year old

Can it really be true? March 8th was the last time I posted?
How is it that it is the 21st already? Am I getting slacker or is life moving a little to fast for me these days? It couldn't possible be the fact that I have my fingers in to many pots?.....no, that is not possible!

Well between the 8th and the 21st my eldest managed to turn 10. Yep, I can hardly believe I am now the proud owner of a ten year old. I am thankful that he doesn't yet smell of boy germs, he still knows how to smile and laugh on occasion and will have a conversation with me that doesn't involve grunting or starting the sentence with "Oh come ON mum!" or "What the......?"

No, I am happy to report I catch him grooving away on his headphones to the latest tunes (thank god for headphones) and he manages to hold a conversation at the dinner table that doesn't revolve around Pokemons!

Just like every other year Max chose his birthday meal. I thought I could of been in for a new selection of foods, alas, beef lasagne won hands down and I think it will be on the menu for a few more years to come, especially if he keep on growing the way he is.

 Max's cake was another story!
Thankfully my copy of Saveur arrived the week before his birthday and it was the issue FULL of awesome Southern cakes. Max's favourite cake is lemon cake. I usually make him a regular pound cake and then fill it with lemon curd, and then Nic does a cool design on the top. This year was a little different. When I showed Max the four tiered layered lemon cake in Saveur he was sold on it and so was I.
I'm not sure if this is the year when we stop doing novelty cakes for him but there was no way I was carving up this one and dousing it in hideous food colouring so it can look like a football!

Now I totally admit that my photos do not do this cake any justice and for that I am annoyed but let me just tell you it tastes unbelievably good. I'm not sure you noticed the picture up top, but I only made half a cake. After reading 10 egg yolks and mega mounds of butter I decided the four of us really didn't need to stuff ourselves on cake for the next week. It may not look normal but let me tell you, we would of demolished the whole thing if it was there and my hips can only hold so much!

 If your up for a bit of layering, baking and whipping then go to Saveur on line and give it a go, you won't be disappointed.

My birthday trifle

I was supposed to write this and say, "it was my birthday yesterday....."
That was seven days ago.
What can I say, November/December is the time of year when people like to eat/party/celebrate and generally have fun. This is a good thing seeing as I have built a business around it, however, it also means a lot of early mornings and late nights rolled into one. This is my excuse for having my Thanksgiving turkey post up for over two (or is it three?) weeks.

A tradition in our family for whoever happens to be having a birthday, is for them to choose whatever cake he/she desires. Nic usually goes for gold and I have to spend at least two days in the kitchen putting it all together while I love a good lemon, orange or chocolate cake with rich frosting and not much else.
This year however, was a bit different and I blame it on this months issue of Saveur!
That's right, when you put a photo that yummy and delicious on the front cover I had no other option BUT to say "I want that for my birthday cake".

Nic was taken aback, he could almost have thought I'd been abducted by aliens instead of spending all those hours at work- I NEVER, EVER want whipped cream, chocolate custard (and this sweet, sweet dessert had white AND dark chocolate custard!). I was quite surprised myself but it was my gut feeling and I went with it.

I am happy I gave him a few days notice because it wasn't a day job. The trifle was made over two days and Nic even came home early on my birthday to finish it. To say it was a mission would be an understatement!

I don't think our photos do it justice; we don't own a see through trifle bowl like the one in the photo above, but if the one on the front cover of Saveur tasted anything like the one Nic made then it would of been outstanding.
 Biting into the ginger cake soaked in sherry was pure delight. Adding the blueberry white chocolate custard kicked it into third gear, while the dark chocolate and raspberry custard blew it out of the park!!

We all loved this divine invention, Alex has asked for it next year and we all wrapped our spoons around the final crumbs. Nic had totally out done himself and impressed me to no end.
I am a year old, a little greyer and so, so happy.

Schnitzel Holstein

After last week's Saveur-a-thon Nic and I are of the opinion that we should search out a few more of the healthier recipes. When we were putting together last week's 'collections' we looked greedily at the pictures,  read out some of our favorite ingredients and thought nothing about the weeks meals as a whole. This is why we managed to eat not one but two types of crumbed meats, lots of fried food and very little vegetables!
Now don't get me wrong, we loved every last bite, however I think this week needs to be re-directed at a more family health conscious level... there will be no more crumbing of meat and lashings of butter in our house much to the boys' disgust.

On that note I'd like to tell you about the lovely veal schnitzels we ate last week.
When I first saw the picture in Saveur mag (issue 74, page 87) I've gotta tell you I wasn't jumping out of my chair to make it. Nic on the other hand couldn't wait for his veal schnitzel.
My most awesome butcher  came to my assistance and just bashed and crumbed a few veal schnitzels minutes before I walked in, so that cut my prepping time in half- something I am always happy with!
At home reading down the list of ingredients I realised I need to ad lib a bit and make this into more of a 'family' meal. For one thing, both boys were not even touching the anchovies, let alone the pickled beetroot that the recipe suggested as a serving accompaniment. We talked Max into at least trying some capers with his veal, telling him they are very salty and acidic- he loved it (all his favourite flavours).
Of course Alex didn't want a bar of it so he enjoyed his schnitzel and fried egg with oven roasted carrots and potatoes but wouldn't eat the pumpkin.

This is a very quick and easy meal to prepare and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of flavour. Adding anchovies and capers really cuts through the richness of the egg, while the texture of the schnitzel had us gobbling down every last bite.
 I don't know when I will go back to this recipe again but I am really glad we chose it (I think I need to thank Nic for this one). I always forget about the beloved schnitzel yet every time I make it in whatever form, it always gets rave reviews from my carnivores!

Lamb Salad-Saveur style

Succulent slices of lamb, roasted pistachio nuts, capers and roast garlic vinaigrette are a few of the flavours that went into this delicious dish and I cannot claim credit for any of it. Here at the Baker residence we have decided to dip into the culinary world of Saveur magazine for a few weeks and try some of the hundreds of recipes I have collected over the past 7 years.

I LOVE Saveur magazine as I have said many times. Nic and I have also made quite a few recipes over the years and always enjoyed the end result. However, like many other families out there we got caught up in the 'usual' family cycle meaning making the usual meatballs, making the usual roast chook. Now there is nothing wrong with this and I am certainly not complaining about the lack of flavour, but it was time for a change of flavours in our household. I/we wanted to taste other people's food.
 Don't get me wrong I love experimenting with flavours, textures and ideas but I also love to taste the way other people think when preparing food.
A prime example was this delicious lamb salad I found in issue 123 (page 66) of Saveur.
 The heading splashed across the magazines front cover states "Why lamb rules", and there on the front cover are two fabulous looking cutlets you just know taste sweet, juicy and down right delicious--of course I wanted to flip the page and read it from cover to cover back in 2009 and again last week!

I have made many a lamb salad and eaten oodles of lamb cooked in many different ways but one thing that stood out in this recipe was the use of mushrooms, capers and anchovies all mixing in with the regular lamb flavours (rosemary, roast potato wedges and thyme just to name a few). We added this recipe to our weekly list.

Another aspect to this challenge was for ME to follow the recipe as closely as I could. I am not allowed to do the usual skimming through the recipe, not really reading the method (thinking 'of course I know how to make a roast lamb salad')and doing what I think best. NO, I am making an extra effort to follow instructions and looking forward to the end result- untampered to the best of my ability.

Now having said that, I did need to change a few ingredients--for example when I asked my butcher for lamb top round he just looked at me and asked what the heck I was on about. In the end we both decided a butterflied leg would be a great substitute. Second, the recipe called for oyster mushrooms.....I love oyster mushrooms however the boys think they taste like a slippery, slimy- yeah, I don't think I need to go any further, you get the drift! Instead I bought enoki mushrooms and thought they would work a treat. My third and last sub was frisee lettuce. I once served this to the boys last christmas. Alex didn't touch it at all while Max chewed through a few leaves telling me it tasted like chewing on thorns, I just stuck with arugula leaves.
I'm not to sure I am allowed to reprint this recipe (copyright etc) so if you pop on over to Saveur's website, you can look it up in their archives, just remember it is from issue 123 and simply named 'Lamb salad'.

Ok now for the Baker families opinions:

The dressing of roasted garlic, sherry vinegar, capers, anchovies and olive oil was fantastic! A crisp, rich and tart flavour all rolled into one and when paired with the lamb itself, you couldn't stop eating it.

Alex being Alex decided he didn't like lamb (?) but loved the dressing so he sucked the salad dressing off the arugula leaves (no surprises) and lamb. Devoured all the oven roasted potato and rosemary wedges and of course didn't touch the butter and thyme sauteed mushrooms.
Max ate everything except, wait for it, the mushrooms!
I would definitely make this salad again, however I did find it took much longer to prepare than I thought it would, but maybe that was because I followed everything to the T? Not sure but next time I will no doubt take short cuts and possibly make the dressing ahead of time--great BBQ salad without a doubt.

Swedish candy & honey comb

OK so now it is time to admit I made a mistake in the kitchen- wow who would of thought right? (who am I kidding, it happens all the time and I just call it 'creating', that's my story and I am sticking to it!). However, this time round I couldn't blag my way out of it. You see the weather was not on my side and I don't know why for the life of me I decided to make honey comb and then coat it in chocolate on what was one of the hottest days in Sydney last week.

I started off in high confidence, I hadn't made honeycomb for about a year or so and I wanted to make sure I made it correctly. Sugar and glucose boiling away- all good, I even got the colouring almost perfect without a candy thermometer so I was feeling pretty happy despite the constant trickle of sweat running down my back.

The disaster happened when I started to cover the honey comb with chocolate. I kind of forgot I needed a 'controlled' temperate room! Despite my actions of popping the chocolate covered honey comb in front of a fan and then last resorts putting it in the fridge (big no,no but I was desperate) it was NOT firming up. Right at this critical point of me loosing it the boys just happen to walk into the kitchen asking for food and trying to stick their fingers in the melted chocolate which sent me on a 5 minute rant about god knows what. All I do know is they didn't wait around to see if mum had time to whip them up a light snack (I think psycho mummy popped out).

Anyway taking Nic's advice and moving right along, I decided to make the  delicious looking Swedish toffee I had been reading about in the latest Saveur magazine- which is a seriously good issue this month. The candy I am referring to is on page 59 and I am sure you can find it at saveur.com . It is called Polkagriskola (peppermint caramels).

After reading the recipe and then re reading it I decided I should be able to make it without freaking out and thinking I am totally useless. I am happy to report the recipe was a snap, I didn't have a thermometer but it didn't seem to matter, the results were wonderful. A delicious caramel toffee that was full of flavour and irresistible!

In the end I wrapped the caramels in cellophane and turned them into lollies for gifts. My honeycomb didn't make it I'm afraid, by the time the heat dropped and the chocolate had finally firmed up, my honey comb was tacky and sticky so I ditched the lot and decided to only make it in winter!

Corn pancakes with bacon

I had a request from a friend the other day for a red velvet cake. She was going to the christening of her new god son and wanted to have a magnificent cake to celebrate; what better way to show your affection than with a red velvet cake!
While flicking through my piles upon piles of Saveur mags I came across a Chicago issue and felt a little homesick. A corn pancake recipe caught my eye and with the leftover buttermilk I had in the fridge (from RVcake) I was able to make them and remember the flavours of our American life.   Now Australia and America have a lot of common food items but there are huge differences in ingredients used. For example, I'd forgotten how much oil I use to use in my 'American' cakes and batters. No wonder they turned out moist and delicious every time!
I didn't have cornmeal for my flapjacks/pancakes/hotcakes whatever you call them so I substituted polenta and they were really yummy. The recipe stated 'you must use lots of butter when serving and cooking'- I love that! You'd never see that in a modern Australian recipe, everyone is so conscious of weight, fat, calories etc so I found it very refreshing to read 'pile on the butter'.
Don't get me wrong, I am all for healthy living, good food and a healthy lifestyle BUT I am also aware that there are some foods that cannot be messed with and if some woman in the South side of Chicago who has been making these for the past twenty years tells me to serve her recipe of corn pancakes with lashings of butter then that is exactly what I am going to do........but hang on why stop there, bacon seems to be a good side for this meal so you know I topped it all off with rashers of bacon and then drizzled over maple syrup!
If your in the mood for a culture treat, whip up a batch of these corn pancakes, fry up your bacon and dig in. I probably wont be making them again for another month or so but that is alright, it gives my guilt time to stop messing with my brain!

Corncakes


3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup polenta (coarse)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup oil
2 eggs

Method
Place all dry ingredients into a medium size bowl and stir with a whisk to combine.
Place all wet ingredients into a large jug and whisk lightly to combine then pour into dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Do not over mix otherwise the batter will be over worked and cakes will be to heavy.
Melt butter in a medium hot frying pan and cook for to minutes on each side, place in a tea towel to keep warm until all the batter is cooked.
Serve with lashings of butter.