Little lemon raspberry swirl cheesecakes

Ingredients:
40g butter, elted
½ cup frozen raspberries, thawed
2 Tbsp icing sugar, sifted
375g traditional cream cheese
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs (size 6)
finely grated rind 1 lemon
1 cup finely ground gingernut biscuits (about 11) use any other hard biscuit if you wish
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method
Preheat oven to 160°C. Line a 12-muffin pan with paper or foil cases. Mix the finely ground gingernuts and butter in a bowl. Divide mixture among the paper cases, pressing down firmly. Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from oven and cool. Turn down oven heat to 125°C.

To make the raspberry purée, mash the raspberries to a pulp with the back of a fork then strain through a sieve into a bowl, pressing down well with the back of a spoon to get as much juice as possible. Discard seeds. Stir icing sugar into purée.

Place the cream cheese and caster sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat just until the mixture is smooth, light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until combined after each addition – you may prefer to do this with a hand whisk, to avoid overbeating. Finally, add lemon rind and vanilla essence.

Pour the cheese mixture over the biscuit bases, filling right up to the top of the cases. Place small drops (about ½ tsp) of the raspberry purée on top of the cakes and, using a wooden skewer, carefully swirl it through the cheese mixture. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until just set and no longer wobbly. Open oven door and allow the cakes to cool completely in the switched-off oven. They do shrink as they cool, but that is perfectly normal.

~ Recipe from Taste Magazine.

Garlic prawn couscous

Serves 2

1 cup couscous
1 cup water
1 1/2 tbsps oil
salt to taste

3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 medium - large onion finely chopped
1 small bowl frozen peas and sweet corn
8-10 small of 6 large prawns

1. In a bowl pour the water, 1/2 tbsp oil and some salt to taste and bring to boil.
2. Stir in the couscous and keep aside covered for about 15 mins or till all the water is absorbed.
3. In a pan, heat the rest of the oil and fry the onions and garlic.
4. The onion needs to be translucent. add the prawns and saute.
5. Add the peas and corn and cook.
6. Season to taste with salt and pepper and maybe a little chilli powder if you want.
7. With a fork, fluff out the couscous.
8. Once the veg and prawns are cooked, add the couscous to the pan and mix throughly.
9. Garnish with chopped coriander.

Serve hot & Enjoy!

Chocolate Caramel Tart

Chocolate Pastry 
320g plain flour
60g cocoa
160g caster sugar
Pinch salt
160g cold butter, diced
2 eggs


Caramel Filling
395 gm can Condensed milk
50 gm butter
2 tbsp golden syrup


Chocolate Filling

1 cup heavy cream

150 gms bittersweet chocolate, chopped

A pinch fine sea salt 


Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. 
2. Place the flour, cocoa, sugar, salt and butter in the bowl of a food processor and process until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the eggs and process until dough just starts to come together. 
3. Turn on to a lightly floured surface and gently knead until just smooth. Shape into a disc and cover with plastic wrap, then place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest. 
4. Roll out the pastry to about 3mm thick. Line a shallow tart tin with a removable base with the pastry and trim any excess. Place in the fridge for 15 minutes to rest. 
5. Line pastry with baking paper and fill with rice. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove paper and rice and bake for a further 5-10 minutes or until firm to touch. 
6. Once the pastry is cooked set it aside on a wire rack to cool. Once cool, turn out of the tart tin.
7. For the caramel : While the pastry is cooking, put the condensed milk, butter and golden syrup into a heavy bottomed saucepan and stir over low heat till the mixture thickens and becomes a lovely golden colour. Remove from heat and let it cool for a while.
8. When the caramel is still warm (still has a slightly pourable consistency) spread it in the tart shell. Let it fill about half the tart shell.
9. For the Chocolate filling: Heat the cream over medium heat till it boils. 
10. Pour the cream over the  chocolate pieces in a bowl and let it rest for a couple of minutes. Mix the chocolate and cream together with a pinch of salt to make a smooth mixture.
11. Pour the chocolate mixture over the cooled caramel in the tart shell. Spread to cover the caramel. 
12. Set the tart aside for about 2 hours to set. 
13. When it is firm, cut into wedges and serve with some crème fraíche.

Enjoy!

Pizza

Ingredients:

1 Basic Bread recipe
I reduced the quantities for the basic bread recipe and used 400 gm flour to 3 tsps of dried active yeast and about 300 ml water to make two large pizzas. After all, 1 Basic bread recipe will make about 4 pizzas!

Toppings of your choice: cheese, olives, mushroom, sausages, bacon, basil etc.

For a Pizza Base, at Step 10 of the basic bread recipe, divide the dough into 4 pieces and roll it out into an irregular round shape 0.5 cm/1/4 inch thick.

Spread your toppings on the base and place it on a pizza stone or baking tray in the oven at the hottest possible temperature for 5-7 mins until the toppings have melted and the base is slightly golden.

Enjoy!

Basic Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

30 g fresh yeast or 21 gms dry yeast (i.e. 3 7 gm sachets or about 7 tsps)
30 gms honey (or sugar)
625 ml just over tepid water
1 kg strong bread flour (I use all purpose flour)
30 gms salt
Some extra flour for dusting

Method:

1. Dissolve the yeast and honey/sugar in half the water
2. On a clean surface or in a large bowl, mix the flour and salt. Make a well in the middle and pour in the yeast mixture.
3. Using your fingers, making circular movements, slowly bring in some flour till the yeast mixture is absorbed.
4. Pour the remaining water into the well and slowly incorporate all the flour to make a moist dough. (Some flour may need more water while others less so adjust the quantities accordingly).
5. Knead the dough well to activate the gluten and develop the structure of the dough. Use the extra flour on you hands to stop the dough from sticking.
6. Lightly flour the dough, shape it into a round and place on a baking tray.
7. Deeply score the top of the dough with a knife so that it can relax and prove with ease.
8. Leave it for about an hour or so in a warm draught free place till it doubles in size. (I usually pop it in the oven of the microwave- both switched off of course! Cover it with cling film to speed things up a bit.)
9.  When the dough has doubled in size, knock the air out by punching it and kneading it again for about a minute.
10. Now you can shape it into whatever shape you like - round, flat, stuffed... - and leave it to prove again. This second proving stage is important to give the bread its lovely soft texture.
11. Once it has doubled in size, you can bake your loaf. Be careful not to knock the air out when putting it in the oven, Be gentle while closing the door etc. 
12. Put the loaf into a pre-heated oven (depending on the recipe variations you are following - for the plain loaf, I baked it at 200 for 25-30 mins) 
13. You can tell its cooked by knocking the bottom. If it does not sound hollow pop it back in the oven.
14. Once done, place on a rack to cool... cut slices or chunks.
    
    Enjoy!  

Fudgey Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Add ons:

1-2 cup chocolate chips (semisweet, white, butterscotch, peanut butter) or raisins or chopped maraschino cherry or chopped nuts or M&M' or Reese's pieces or miniature marshmallow

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Grease an 8 inch square pan or line with foil.
3. In a medium bowl combine melted butter and cocoa and stir until cocoa is dissolved.
4. Add sugar and mix well.
5. Add eggs one at a time and stir until well combined.
6. Stir in vanilla, flour and salt until you no longer see any flour (do not overmix).
7. Fold in any of the add-ons you want,
8. Spread in pan and bake for approximately 25 minutes.
9. DO NOT OVER-BAKE -- your brownies will come out dry. Adjust time/temp accordingly for your oven. If you do the knife/toothpick test, it should come out with moist crumbs, not clean.
10. Cool completely before cutting into squares.
11. For vegetarian omit the marshmallows.
12. For double recipe, bake in 9x12 pan and add 5 minutes to baking time. For a double batch you could reduce the sugar to 11/2 cups and the cocoa to 3/4 cup so it isn't too sweet or too bitter. 
13. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream  or just have it on its own! 

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Karen's Brownie recipe on recipezaar.com

Beef Steak

This is what I do...

2 beef steaks
1 tsp dried herbs (I use what ever variety I have - mixed herbs usually)
1 tsp salt
some pepper to taste
1 small onion chopped
1/2 cup sliced mushroom
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup stock
1 small knob of butter
2 tbsps oil

Sprinkle salt, herbs and pepper along with 1 tbsp oil on the steaks. Rub in and set aside.
Heat oil in a skillet and place the steaks in it. it should sizzle when you put the steak in.
Cook steak on each side for 3-4 mins till it is browned.
Put the steaks on a plate that is oven proof and place in a very hot oven on the grill setting.
Put the onions into the skillet and fry till slightly brown.
Add the mushrooms and stir.
Add the wine and stir to deglaze the pan (i.e.lift all the meat that's stuck to the skillet)
Take the steaks out of the oven and let them rest.
When the wine is reducing, add the stock and then put in the butter.  Just swirl the butter around . You don't need to stir it in. Take it off the heat.
Place the steaks on a serving plate and pour some of the gravy on it. Serve with boiled vegetables, salad or mash.

Enjoy!