Pull apart bread

Perfectly delicious pull apart bread, it starts with herb infused dough and is baked until golden brown and served pull-apart style. This flaky and flavorful bread is completely irresistible. Wait untill you smell it baking! This recipe is perfect for using as little slider buns or as a side with salad and meat from the BBQ. Credit to Arwen for sharing this recipe with me, however we have both agreed to try not to make this all the time!

INGREDIENTS

BREAD

• 300mls warm water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp of yeast
• 3 tbsp of oil or butter
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1tbsp mixed herbs- I use thyme & Rosemary and basil
• 3 cups of flour

TOPPING

• 60g of butter
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup of pesto
• 1/2 cup of cheese - I use a mix of Parmesan and Tasty

METHOD:

Combine yeast sugar and water and let yeast activate for about 10 mins.

Add in flour, oil, salt and herbs and mix on medium speed for around 8 mins, or knead on a floured surface for around 15 mins.

Leave in a warm place to double in size. This dough is really quick rising and doubles in around 20 mins.

Once risen, remove dough from bowl and start getting creative. You can make a few small loaves, or one big one! Pull apart 50cent size pieces of dough, roll into a ball and assemble into desired shape. 

For the topping, combine garlic and butter. Brush the top of the bread with the butter mixture. Brush the bread with pesto and sprinkle with grated cheese. 

Leave to proof for around 5-10 mins and bake on 180 degrees celcius until golden.

Tips

• Use your imagination for toppings, some ideas:
• Finely chopped bacon and cheese
• Change up the flavour of the pesto- sundried tomato, roasted capsicum or basil are great. The supermarket sells chunky pesto dips that also work really well.
• You can make some different types of loaves- either one big loaf, small buns or divide the dough up into 12 balls and roll each ball out into a small disc, put the topping on each disc and fold in half before stacking into a loaf tin to bake. The filling will be spread throughout the pull apart bread.

Enjoy xxx

Brunch Toast Cups

 

Gran used to make these for us in the school holidays and she said she used to use them as a smoko option for the shearers when they were farming. They have become my weekend go-to for a light lunch or if I know we need something quick or transportable (and little people love them too!). They are perfect for sending off in the lunch bag with the farmer for days of mustering when they need the energy but a hot lunch isn't an option and you can put pretty much anything in them, making them perfect for using up left overs too. 

INGREDIENTS

• 6 pieces of bread
• Butter for spreading on the bread
• 1/2 tin of spaghetti
• 1/4 cup chopped spinach
• 2 rashers of bacon (New Zealand farm raised please)
• 6 eggs (or 3 eggs mixed with 1 cup cream)
• 1 cup Grated Tasty Cheese

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius. Grease a large muffin tin. Butter the bread and place butter side down into the muffin tin. Mix the spaghetti and spinach together and then spoon into each bread cup, using even amounts in each. Chop the bacon and place even amounts in each cup. The eggs can be cracked in to each cup whole or beaten and pured into each cup. I prefer beaten because it soaks into the bread and makes it a little bit like french toast. Top with grated cheese. Place in the middle rack of the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes.

TIPS:

• I prefer beaten because it soaks into the bread and makes it a little bit like french toast
• If you are short on eggs or like a more french toast texture, beat three eggs and 1 cup of cream together and pour evenly into cups and let it soak into the bread.
• Swap the spaghetti for baked beans
• Swap the bacon for slices of cooked sausage (or keep both!)

Roll Up Scones

This recipe is published in the Waihi School cook book "Fuel for your family" it has been shared from the recipe book of a country mum. I'm sure thousands of these have been served up to hungry farmers around the country over the years, its the buttermilk that makes them so good and I love that you can make them sweet or savoury depending on whatever takes your fancy on the day.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups self raising flour
• 1/4 cup castor sugar for sweet scones, 1 Tblsp for savoury scones
• Pinch of salt
• 100g butter
• 400ml Buttermilk, approximately

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees celcius. Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a large bowl. Grate in the cold butter and mix through with a knife. Add the buttermilk and again mix through with a knife- don’t over-mix.Turn out onto a floured board and using a gentle touch, form into a rectangle shape approximately 2.5cm thick. Spread with desired topping. Roll as you would for pinwheel scones and slice. Place on baking paper. Cook for 10-12 minutes.

IDEAS FOR TOPPINGS:

• Basil and pesto with cream cheese
• Relish and cream cheese
• bacon, cheese and tomato relish
• bacon, cheese and spinach
• chilli jam and cream cheese
• date and orange. Soak dates first in orange juice
• Rasberry and peach
• Lemon curd
• Rasberry and mango
• Apricot and almond

Enjoy xx

Summer Vegetable Fritters

 
My grandmother used to say things that we would be all well served to take on board- one of these such statements was that "just because you have a lot of something doesn't mean you should waste it". She was talking about vegetables but it pretty much applies to everything in life- including money, friends and love!
During the summer in particular you can end up with a bit of a glut of some veges, these little fritters are a great way to use some of them up, especially when they are getting close to past their best. They are also a pretty handy trick for getting veges into the kids, and they freeze well so they can be a great addition to lunch boxes well after these veges are out of season.

INGREDIENTS

You can vary the vegetables you use depending on what you have on hand:

• 1 cup of grated potatoes
• 2 cups of grated/ finely chopped vegetables of your choice- carrots, spinach, onion, broccoli, corn, peas
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground corriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin seeds
• 3 eggs

METHOD:

Grate the potatoes and then wash and drain. Grate or finely chop the remianing vegetables (I use my Tupperware Turbo Chef to chop them up).
Beat the egss. Mix the dry ingredients and the beaten eggs until you have a smooth batter (try not to over-mix because the fritters will be tough). Add the vegetables and stir through the batter. Heat a large pan and add oil and/or butter to fry the fritters. Add heaped teaspoons of batter to the pan to create small fritters (small fritters are easier to cook all the way though without burning the outside). Fry until golden on both sides.

Serve as a side with dinner, as a yummy healthy snack or light lunch.

TIPS:

• You can make these in big batches and freeze the fritters, a quick heat in a frying pan will make them just like when you first made them. 
• Serve them in a stack with bacon or smoked salmon and some horseraddish mayo (see recipe here) for a quick and yummy brunch or lunch.
• These are a great addition to your kids lunch boxes. When we were kids, Gran used to put the mixture into metal cookie cutters in the pan- we obviously thought they tasted better when they were a cool shape!?!
• You can add chilli if you like them with a little bit of spice

Enjoy xx

Guacamole

Guacamole is great as a dip with corn chips or served with nachos as dinner

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 ripe avocados
• 1/2 teaspoon ground rock salt
• 1 Tbsp of fresh lime juice or lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp to 1/4 cup of very finely diced red onion or thinly sliced green onion
• a pinch of fresh sliced chilli (only if you like the spice)
• 2 tablespoons cilantro (leaves and tender stems), finely chopped
• freshly grated black pepper
• 1/2 ripe tomato, seeds and pulp removed, chopped finely

METHOD:
Halve your avocados and remove the flesh and place into a bowl. Roughly mash up the avocado with a fork so it is chunky mush. Add the lemon or lime juice and salt and stir together- the citrus will stop the avocados going brown.
Add the rest of your chopped ingredients, but I suggest that you add the chillies slowly and taste so you don't end up with your tongue on fire! Guacamole is great because it can be varied to your taste or what seasonal produce is available, start with this recipe and then mix it up to your taste buds.
Cover with plastic wrap until you are ready to serve (note: if you are making this ahead of time it is a good idea to leave your tomatoes out until just before serving and stir them in then because their flavour is diminished when put in the fridge.
Serve with corn chips or over nachos.

TIPS:

• For a very quick guacamole just take a 1/4 cup of salsa and mix it in with your mashed avocados.
• The most basic version of guacamole is mashed avocados with salt. Don't let the lack of availability of other ingredients stop you from making guacamole.
• To extend a limited supply of avocados, add either sour cream or cottage cheese to your guacamole dip. Purists may be horrified, but so what? It tastes great and it makes it go further- result.

Enjoy xx
A

Mini Bacon and Corn Quiches

These little gems are perfect for taking to a pot luck or to have made up in the freezer so that when unexpected guests arrive you can pop them straight into the oven and serve with some potato salad and tomato relish for a quick lunch.

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 sheets shortcrust pastry
• 600ml cream 
• 2 onions finely chopped 
• 2 eggs
• butter 
• 1 cup grated cheese 
• 200g bacon rashers, cut into small pieces, no rind 
• 1 420g can corn, drained 
• 2 Tblsp chopped parsley 

METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Using a pastry cutter or the top of glass, cut circles to neatly line cupcake or small tart tins. A 7cm cutter fits my cupcake trays perfectly. I use 4 trays, each fits 12 little quiches.
Gently fry the onions in a little butter until transparent, add the bacon and cook for another 5 minutes, until the bacon and onions are brown. Add the corn and parsley and mix together. Place a spoonful of this mixture into each pastry lined tartlet tin. Pour the cream into a mixing bowl, whisk in the eggs until well mixed, and pour a little (1-2 spoonfuls) into each tartcase to fill it nearly to the top. It is easiest to pour the egg and cream mixture into a small jug, as spoonfuls can get quite messy.
Sprinkle the top of each quiche with a little cheese. Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the quiches are browned on top.

Pork-chop sausage rolls

These happened by accident, I had a pork chop in the fridge but it wasn't going to be enough for the farmer and me to have for tea so I had to think of a way of making it stretch a little further. The farmer loves sausage rolls so I thought why not give them a try with diced pork chop instead of pork mince. We have found a winner here my friends, tasty and didn't take long. One chop made two rolls the width of my oven tray which meant not only did it stretch for dinner, there was a couple left for the farmer's lunch the next day! These would be great to wheel out for any time you need to feed extras.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 large pork chop 
• 1 onion
• 1 small leek
• 1 Tblsp olive oil
• 2 slices bread (no crusts)
• 2 Tblsp milk
• 2 Tblsp chopped parsley
• cracked black pepper
• salt to taste
• 3 eggs
• two sheets rolled out puff pastry
• 1 Tblsp sesame seeds

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Chop the onion and leek very finely. Cook  the onion and leek in the olive oil at a medium heat for about three minutes until softened. Set aside to cool.
Roughly chop the bread and place in a bowl. Pour over the milk and leave for 2-3 minutes. Mix the bread around so that there is no excess liquid. While that is soaking, take your chop and cut all the meat from the bone. Chop this as finely as you can so it looks like coarse mince. Now add the chopped pork, onion, leek, parsley, pepper, salt and two eggs to the bread in your bowl.
Mix with your hands until it is all combined (make sure your hands are clean!).
Take you two sheets of pastry, lay them out and arrange half of the mixture on each sheet in a sausage shape along the edge closest to you. Take your third egg and beat it up in a cup, use this to brush the far away edge of the pastry so that it will stick shut. Now roll up and press to secure. Repeat with both sheets.
Now you can choose whether you cut the rolls up at this point or bake as one big sausage and cut up after cooking ( I cut it up after but either if fine, before cooking is less messy because you don't get pastry flakes everywhere). Place your rolls seam side down on a baking tray and brush with the remaining egg. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and puffed.
Serve with tomato sauce.

TIPS:

• you don't have to use a pork chop, mince would probably work better but the whole thing behind this recipe discovery was that I had a chop- so I used it.
• You could add other veges to the filling if you chose
• 1/4 of an apple cut really finely and added to the mixture would also be yum

Enjoy xx
A

Bacon egg rolls

This is my version of egg rolls for a lazy dinner when there isn't much in the cupboard or no one can really be bothered with tea. You can add your own twist to what you put in them and they are ready in about two minutes.

INGREDIENTS: (per roll)

• 1 rasher bacon (or 2 strips)
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tblsp water
• Salt & pepper
• mozzarella cheese
• tomato relish
• 2-3 basil leaves 

METHOD:

Put two eggs and the water in a bowl and whisk until fluffy. Add your salt and pepper. Heat either a large non stick frying pan or your crepe maker. Pour the egg mixture into your pan a swirl to coat the pan (depending on the size of your pan you may have to swirl a few times until the egg has created a layer and there is none running any-more). Cook for about 1 minute until the egg is just cooked. Turn out onto a plate and top with cheese, tomato relish and bacon. Roll up to complete and put your basil leaves on the top.
Repeat for as many people you are feeding (or at least twice for the farmer who always wants more than one!).

TIPS:

• You can replace the water for cream for a lovely velvety egg roll
• You can add the grated mozzarella while the egg is still in the pan and it melts and goes all creamy.
• Oven roasted cheery tomatoes are yummy to put in when they are in season also.

Enjoy xx
A