Another superhero theme done and dusted! These Avengers cakes were for a 5th birthday. {Red velvet and cream cheese frosting; vanilla sponge with vanilla buttercream}
Well, my 3-year-old couldn’t keep his eyes {or hands for that matter} off these cakes! I had to hide these at night from sneaky little fingers…
Let me start off by saying that I am NOT a ‘surf ‘n turf’ fan… I find the whole concept a bit tacky – it’s just too much and nothing really ‘fits’.
Ok, so with that out of the way, let me tell you that this carpetbagger business is quite delicious, contrary to previous conceptions.
I used venison fillet, and what you must always remember with venison, that I learnt last year when I first started to cook with it, is that it is a naturally lean meat and needs a bit of fat or creaminess and it also likes to be paired with sweet things like fruit or sweet wines.
So, what is a carpetbagger? Well, it is a piece of steak, stuffed with oysters – in a nutshell.
I didn’t stuff the steak with the oysters, in fact, I didn’t even use oysters… I used smoked mussels and used it in the sauce.
You will need:
1 large piece of fillet steak, cut into thick steaks
1/2 a cup of cream
100g butter
About 100ml Cape Ruby {aka Port}
1 tin smoked mussels
Freshly ground sea salt
Heat the butter in a large, heavy based pan. Season the raw steaks with salt and fry both sides in the butter until they are medium to rare. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Add the port and let it deglaze the pan. Add the cream and mussels and another dollop of butter.
Let it reduce ever so slightly and return the steaks to the pan to let it simmer for a few minutes in the sauce. It should be cooked to about medium.
Serve with a simple salad of beetroot, feta and mixed herbs. I used watercress, baby spinach and rocket.
I boiled the beetroot, then let it cool. Once cooled, I removed the skin and thinly sliced it.
I drizzled it with olive oil, a splash of lemon juice and a sprinkle of ground sea salt.
Use this with a selection of greens and then add feta and vanilla flavoured pumpkin seeds.
I guess these vanilla seeds are not very kosher when it comes to Banting, etc, but they are so yummy and just elevates your salad to another level. A yummy sprinkle isn’t too bad in the greater scheme of things…
Enjoy! X
I LOVE these doll cakes and secretly want one for a next birthday… {Yes, that would be for a 30-something birthday…}
Anyways, so I was thrilled to bake this birthday cake for a friend’s little girl’s 4th birthday.
Rainbow layers inside with vanilla bean buttercream – but sadly no inside photos 😦
What a pity the Italians lost last night…
Anyhoo, here are some fun cupcakes I made for a local Italian restaurant, in honour of last night’s game:
What is the ultimate comfort food? What would you say?
Is it something that is so good, it’s bad for you, or is it something so full of nourishment and goodness, filled with childhood memories?
It depends on how you look at it…
I think that a hearty bowl of chicken soup is one of those ultimate comfort foods – full of nourishment, it warms you up on a cold winters night, it soothes away any discomforts and illness – it’s like the ‘mother’ of all soups! Literally. It is like a mother’s touch – soothing, comforting and healing.
There are many, many different versions of chicken soup, but this has got to be my favourite. All thanks to my talented brother, who taught me how to make this.
You will need:
1 onion, chopped
A handful of baby leeks, or 2 large ones, chopped
250g streaky bacon or pork rashers, cut into strips
Chicken {you can use just the carcass, or for a meatier soup, use a whole chicken, already roasted}
1 liter of chicken stock
1 egg
Olive oil
Butter
A splash of dry white wine
Sauté the onion and leeks in some olive oil and butter until soft.
Add the bacon and fry until cooked. Deglaze the pot with a splash of wine and then add the chicken and the stock and simmer for a couple of hours until the chicken falls from the bone.
The flavour should also be nice and intense.
Just before serving, drizzle a whisked egg into the soup to create little egg drops – delish!
The egg adds a bit of body and a slight creaminess, it’s really fantastic.
I’ve been using chicken and bacon ever since I’ve first made this soup – such a winning combo.
Alright, give this soulful chicken soup a try – it’s a goodie! X
I literally have a fridge chock ‘n block full of lettuce – in a variety of sizes and types… In the middle of winter…
Why?!
Anyways, so I thought I’d better use some of it, and concocted a delicious salad that’s actually perfect for winter.
This will be a fab brunch salad too!
You will need:
A variety of salad greens {I used baby butter lettuce, watercress, wild rocket and bay spinach}
1 avo, diced
Parmesan cheese, shaved
Olive oil
1 tbs dijonnaise
Boerewors {roughly 700g}, chopped into bite-sized pieces
250g streaky bacon, cut into strips
Poached eggs {1-2 per person}
Red wine vinegar
Place the sausage and bacon in an oven dish and grill in the oven for about 35 minutes, rotating it every so often so that everything can brown nicely.
Drizzle the salad greens with some olive oil and a splash of red wine vinegar and add the cheese and avo.
Mix the dijonnaise with 2 tbs of olive oil and sprinkle half over the salad.
Poach the eggs by bringing water to the boil in a deep pan or a small wok{I used a wok} and create a swirl. Add a splash of vinegar.
Once the water has reached a gentle boil, carefully place each egg into the water with a teacup. Let it cook for about 6 minutes for medium.
Add the bacon and sausage to the greens, then place the poached eggs on top and drizzle with the remaining dijonnaise dressing.
Voila – delish – enjoy! X
Hello and brrrrr…!
So, it seems that winter is here in all its glory. Freezing mornings and nights, with chilly yet sunny days and we just had a very, very cold weekend…
I sound a bit like the weather man, don’t I..?
Anyways, it’s that time of year when we crave warm comfort foods, usually in the shape of one-pot-meals or something baked and cheesy and carby… So if you’re trying to stay good and on the Banting or Paleo path, it’s really not that difficult! Ok fine, we all crave those carby things in winter, but you can still indulge in some serious comfort food, while sticking to your eating plan.
I’m totally in love with oranges at the moment, they’re in season and packed with vitamins. Yes, they contain sugar and so strictly speaking not quite an eat-as-much-as-you-can item on the Banting list, but just use them in moderation.
Oranges and spices can transform almost any food into a warm, rich winter staple…
Here is my recipe for slow-cooked orange spiced pork:
You will need:
+- 1kg Pork chops or stew cuts
1 orange {half of it thickly sliced! the other half juiced}
3 cloves
3 star anise
1 tsp honey
2 cups chicken stock
Salt
1 cinnamon quill
1 tbs soy sauce
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, roughly chopped
1 butternut, diced and cooked
{You will need a slow cooker / crock-pot for this recipe, although you could also make it in a large, heavy bottomed pot.}
The thing I love about using a slow cooker, is that you literally just place everything into the pot, switch it on and hours later you have a fab meal. The downside of using a slow cooker is that you don’t get that lovely browned meat flavour into the food, unless you brown the meat before putting it into the cooker. With this recipe, I don’t brown the meat first, I do it at the end by placing everything under the grill. This gives everything a slightly caramelised effect.
Enough babbling…
Start by placing the meat in the bottom of your slow cooker and just pack everything on top and around:
Place the cloves, star anise, cinnamon and ginger around the meat.
Season with salt. Combine the soy sauce, honey and orange juice and pour over the meat. Place the orange slices, as well as the half of squeezed orange on top and around everything.
Add the stock and let it cook on high for about 4 hours.
Once the meat is cooked {the meat will be cooked but the fat not rendered and still bleak-looking}, remove and dish it into an oven dish.
Drizzle some of the juices over the meat and place the orange slices on top, again. Add chunks of the cooked butternut and make sure everything has a drizzle of juices…
Roast in the oven for about 20-30 minutes, until everything is golden and some bits start to get charred.
Enjoy as is, with a glass of dry red of course! You can also add a few bits of mini lettuce or a micro salad, but let’s face it, who wants salad on a freezing night?!
I think it would also work with cauli-mash…
Oh my, is it June yet..?!
Where has the year gone? I turn a whopping age on Sat and it still feels a bit unreal… I just can’t cope with the fact that half the year’s gone already, I still feel as if I’m busy settling into the new year, preparing for the year ahead, meanwhile it’s halfway gone!
Anyways, moving along…
I made this fab quiche that is totally ‘good’ in every sense of the word. It’s carb-free and high fat, packed with healthy spinach.
And no, there are no ‘fillers’. I can’t stand it when you have quiche {not at my house!} and you can just taste that it’s been bulked up with flour inside the quiche.
So here’s my recipe for the ultimate spinach and feta quiche – Banting-style of course:
You will need:
200g of spinach, chopped and ready to use
1 onion, diced
100g butter
Olive oil
Nutmeg
1 cup cream
6 eggs
100g mozzarella cheese, grated
1 round of full-fat feta cheese
1/3 tub of cream cheese {Philadelphia or Lancewood}
Pink salt
Black pepper
Start by sautéing the onion in a bit of olive oil until soft, then add the spinach and wilt it down slightly. You don’t want it to be cooked dead…
Add the butter, a pinch of nutmeg and the cream.
Season to taste with pink salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Let this cool.
In the meantime, line an oven dish with baking paper and pre-heat the oven to 180C.
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and add the mozzarella cheese and crumble in the feta. Mix in the spinach mixture.
Now spoon half the mixture into the baking dish. Add dollops of cream cheese evenly all over and then cover with the rest of the mixture – the cream cheese should be like a hidden centre of creaminess.
Bake for 30minutes until it is set and golden brown.
This is perfect for lunch, served with some wild rocket or other mixed lettuce and herbs, perfect to pack for a picnic, or even just a light supper.
Ok, let’s face it, you could easily have this for breakfast too – so it really is the perfect breakfast / lunch / dinner dish!
Enjoy! X
This cake is for a little birthday boy – a decadent creation with a Ninja Turtles theme:
3 layers of vanilla sponge at the bottom with vanilla buttercream, and 2 layers of red velvet at the top, with a cream cheese frosting.
bespoke + custom cakes + cupcakes for special occasions 