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

Garlic Butter Flatbreads

Flatbreads are super easy to make and they are versatile too! Turn them into garlic naan, middle eastern wraps, use them to make mini pizzas or cut them into little triangles and toast to make pita chips perfect for platters! I got this recipe during lockdown from my lovely friend Jess and it is a cracker! 

Makes 4-6 flatbreads. Prep time 10 minutes (+ at least 15 minutes to rest dough) Cook time: 20 minutes.

INGREDIENTS

FLATBREADS

• 2 cups self-raising flour (or plain/high grade flour with 2 1/2 tsp baking powder added)

• 3/4 cup milk (of any kind), or plain yoghurt or water
• 1 1/2 Tblsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt

GARLIC & HERB BUTTER

• 2 Tblsp softened butter

• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped

• 2 tsp finely chopped parsley

METHOD:

Place the flour, milk, oil and salt in a bowl and mix to combine. 

Knead on a floured surface for 5 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. Divide into four or six portions, and leave on the bench to rest for at least 15-30 minutes (this helps relax the gluten).

If using garlic and herb butter, mix all the ingredients together. 

Heat a large, heavy bottomed skillet or fry pan on medium heat. Roll each piece of dough out into a roughly 25cm circle and lightly brush with a little oil. Place in a hot pan and cook for about 2 minutes each side or until puffed and golden. Spread with garlic and herb butter whilst still hot. Repeat with remaining dough. Serve hot.

Tips

• The dough needs at least 15mins to rest (to relax the gluten) but you can leave it for several hours on the bench, or even over night (if leaving overnight, just make sure you wrap it tightly in plastic wrap to avoid a skin forming on the outside.
• Gluten-free flour can be used to make flatbreads, but use yoghurt to add protein to help with keeping the bread together.
• Whilst the flatbreads are best eaten freshly cooked, you can reheat them in the oven, wrapped up in tinfoil to stop them drying out.
• If you don't have a pastry brush (for brushing flatbreads with oil), just drizzle each flatbread with a little oil before placing in the hot pan.

Enjoy xx

Banana, walnut & date loaf

Don't be in too much fo a rush to toss out your overripe bananas- they are great for feeding the vege garden as the skins are full of Potassium (K) but they are also perfect for making some scrummy baking to fill the tins! This loaf is so good with a spread of butter and a hot cuppa for smoko.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Tblsp softened butter

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 very ripe bananas, well mashed
• 1 1/2 cups self raising flour
• 2 Tblsp milk
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup chopped pitted dates or sultanas

METHOD:

Heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease, line with baking paper or use amazing non-stick silicone, 22cm x 11cm x 6cm deep loaf tin.

Place the butter and sugar in the mixer or food processor and cream well. Add the egg, then the bananas a little at a time, then the flour. Dissolve the bicarbonate soda in the milk and add to the mixture. Mix/process until smooth.

Fold in the walnuts and the dates or sultanas. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 40-45 minutes. Test with a skewer to see if the loaf is cooked in the middle. If the loaf is cooked, the skewer will come out clean.

Enjoy xx

Chocolate Chip Banana Bars

 

When you have an abundance of ripe bananas, you should give this classic from Gran's book a whirl. This is the easiest recipe and is great for smoko or add yoghurt or ice cream for a yummy dessert. There are plenty of bananas in this recipe so I think you can call it a healthy snack to go with your cuppa...

INGREDIENTS

• 5 very ripe bananas about 1 2/3 cup

• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup oil any type
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup chocolate chips divided

METHOD:

Heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease or line with baking paper, a 40cm x 25cm tin.

Peel bananas and mash. Stir in brown sugar, oil, milk and eggs until combined. Add in dry ingredients and stir. Fold in 1/2 the chocolate chips.

Spread the batter into the prepared tin and sprinkle remaining chips on top. Bake 18-22 minutes, until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely and cut into squares.

Makes 24 bars.

Enjoy xx

TIPS:

• I use chocolate drops or buttons because gran used to but i'm sure it would be just as scrummy with chips if that's what you have to hand.
• Using coconut oil gives a lovely flavour
• replace the flour with wholemeal flour to make them a little more filling
• Eat one while they are still warm and the chocolate is all melty... so good (this reminds me so much of gran, she always let us take one before they ahve cooled on the bench!)

Beef Thai Green Curry - slow cooker

With beef that litterally falls apart, pumpkin, beans, and a rich aromatic sauce this is the ultimate mid-week comfort food that you will roll out time and time again. Perfect for busy working people, it takes hardly any time to throw together and is the perfect end to a chilly winters day. 

INGREDIENTS

• 1kg of stewing steak cut into 2cm chunks, fat trimmed
• 1 Brown onion, finely diced
• 2 Tblsp Thai Green Curry Paste
• 1 Tblsp Crushed garlic
• 1 Tblsp Minced Ginger
• 1 Tblsp Lemongrass paste or fresh chopped lemongrass
• 1 Red chilli - finely diced or 1 tsp of chilli flakes
• 1 Tblsp Fish sauce
• 1 Tblsp Raw honey
• ¾ cup Coconut milk
• ¾ cup Beef stock/broth
• 4 fresh Kaffir Lime Leaves
• ¾ tsp Salt
• 1 cup diced Pumpkin - 1cm x1cm
• 20 long Green beans - chopped
• 2 cups spinach
• 2 cups Jasmine rice

METHOD:

Brown the meat in a pan, once browned put in slow cooker. Int othe same pan, add the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli and lemongrass. Stir through for 2-3 minutes until it smells delicious. Add to the slow cooker and stir through the meat to combine. Add all of the remining ingredients and stir to combine.

Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. Once its cooked, stir through the baby spinach.

Cook the rice and serve. 

TIPS:

• Curry Paste: 2 Tblsp Thai Green Curry Paste makes a mild curry. To make it medium, add another tblsp of paste. I use the Valcom brand.
• Lemongrass paste: I use the tubes that you find in the fresh food section by the fresh herbs.
• Kaffir Lime leaves: Find them in the vege department or in a bottle in the specialty food section. You can swap it out for lime peel or leave it out altogether.

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

Bechamel Sauce

This is a classic sauce that can be used as a base for heaps of recipes. Low and slow is the way with this one and it is best served with heaps of cheese and pepper!

INGREDIENTS

• 50g butter
• 1/4 cup plain flour
• 2 1/2 cups milk

METHOD:

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour, cook until bubbling while stirring with a wooden spoon. Gradually stir in milk. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat. Continue to stir over 4-5 minutes and thicken the sauce. Season with salt and pepper and add cheese if you wish to make a cheese sauce.

TIPS:

• Cook the roux until it is golden and nutty smelling, you don't want the sauce to taste of raw flour but be carefull not to brown- it changes really quickly and if it is overcooked it will not thicken.
• Warm the milk, it will cook faster and you will avoid the splatter fest that comes from adding cold milk to hot roux.
• Add the milk slowly, add about 1/4 cup first and stir though until the sauce is smooth. Adding it all at once is a fast track to lumps! Then add slowly whilst stirring until it is all added and the sauce is thickening.
• Cook it well! Once all the milk is added and the sauce is thickened, dip a spoon in the sauce and coat the spoon. Run your finger across the spoon, the sauce should not fill in the wiped away stripe. Once it is cooked, then add the seasoning and cheese.

Enjoy xx

Gran's Chicken & Vege All-in-one Lasagne

 

Gran was amazing at looking in the pantry and emerging with something to feed our family- I swear that lady could turn flour and water into a banquet at the drop of a hat. I'm still honing this skill and doubt very much that I will ever come close to her amazing home cooking. She did however leave this gem in her recipe book which is the perfect comfort food as well as for freezing in small portions for your little people. I think she would have been pretty thrilled to think her recipe is feeding little tummies.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Tin Tomatoes
• 1/3 Tin of Water
• 250g Spinach- chopped
• 100g Mixed Frozen Vege
• 2 Carrots- grated or finely chopped
• 1 Head of Broccolli -stalk included (chop finely or pop in the food processor)
• 400g Chicken- diced
• 1/4 Cup Flour
• 50g Butter
• 2 1/2 Cups Milk
• 1 Cup Cream
• 150g Spaghetti Noodles broken into 3cm pieces

METHOD:

Make a Bechamel sauce with the flour, butter and milk. In a slow cooker, put all of the veges, water, pasta and chicken. Stir through the Bechamel sauce and add the cream. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Serve with grated cheese and lots of cracked pepper.

TIPS:

• You can make this and freeze in portions for little people meals.
• Change up the veges depending on what is in season or you have in the fridge.

Enjoy xx 

How To Cook Broad Beans

Broad Beans were on my 'OK but not super keen on them' list until I learnt how to prepare them. Double podding, or double shelling is the process in which you get rid of the tough outer skins and use the bright green, tender tasty little morsels hidden within the beans and it's super easy! Broad Beans are great for salads, teamed with BBQ and adding to pasta dishes. They are easy to grow too- win win!

INGREDIENTS

• 500g Borad Beans (or however many you have picked from the garden for dinner!)

METHOD:

Remove the beans from the pod. Bring a pot of water to the boil and place the beans in the water. Boil for 2 minutes. Drain immediately and place in a bowl of iced or very cold water to stop the cooking process. Gently squeeze each bean until the middle pops out. Discard the outer skins.

Serve cold in a salad, reheat as a side or stir through your favourite pasta or risotto dish to add vibrant colour and taste!

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