Italian Almond Biscuits

This recipe is adapted from recipe #10538 at bestrecipes.com.au. These delicious biscuits are so simple to make and they turn out exactly the same as the ones you can buy at Cibo with a lovely toasted flavour and soft marzipan-like centre.

Ingredients

3 egg whites (700g/doz)

300g ground almonds (about half white and half brown)

240g caster sugar

a tiny splash of vanilla essence

~ 6-8 drops of almond essence

~125g flaked almonds

Method

Beat the egg whites until runny (not aerated) then mix in the sugar, essences and almond meal to make a sticky mixture. You can taste test and adjust the almond essence at this stage.

Drop small spoonfuls into a bowl containing the flaked almonds and shape into small logs.

Place onto paper-lined baking trays and bake at 160C (fan forced oven) for around 15 minutes or until the flaked almonds are just starting to turn light brown.

Pork Loin Stuffed with Fruit Salad and Macadamia Nuts

Ingredients

Dried fruit salad, finely chopped (6 prunes, ½ pear, 2 slices apple, 1 nectarine or peach, 2 apricots)

white wine

½ cup coarsely crushed raw macadamia nuts (put nuts in a plastic bag and bang with a mallet)

scant teaspoon of ground coriander

ground black pepper

½ cup loosely packed fresh white breadcrumbs

1.5kg pork loin (boned)

Method

Sprinkle white wine over the dried fruit and leave it soften. Mix in the nuts, spices and breadcrumbs.

Open the pork loin and cut if required, to make a flat piece that can be rolled and tied. Place six pieces of cotton cooking twine under the meat.

Spread the stuffing over the meat then roll and tie as tightly as possible with  twine.

Rub the meat with olive oil and a generous amount of salt.

Place into a hot over (220C) until the skin is crisp then reduce temperature to 180C and cook for 2 hours. Check with a meat thermometer before serving (should be 75C/170F). Serve with potatoes and a green salad.

This can also be cooked in a covered BBQ such as a Weber or Weber Q. In a Weber use the indirect method. In a Weber Q, place the meat in a baking paper-lined foil tray on the roasting trivet and use foil under the trivet to shield the meat from direct heat. Cook over high heat initially to make the crackling crisp and reduce the gas setting to medium once the skin is crisp.

 

Slow Cooked Veal and Mushroom Casserole

I prepared this for the family evening meal the other night. It was finally cool enough weather to enjoy an old fashioned casserole. I cooked it in my slow cooker but if you don't have a slow cooker either GET ONE! or cook it in the oven or on the stove top over very low heat. It makes a really healthy and complete meal, served with white rice and is enough for 6 people.

Ingredients:

800g diced veal

1 large leek, sliced

400g button mushrooms, sliced (thickly, into about 4 slices per mushroom)

4 fresh tomatoes, chopped

1 tsp Massel chicken stock powder

200mL dry white wine

1/4 tsp dried tarragon

2 leaves fresh sage, chopped

zest of 1/2 a lemon

3-4 carrots, sliced into large chuncks

1-2 tblsp plain flour

fresh parsley

Method:

Put the diced veal in the slow cooker.

In a non-stick frypan, soften the leek in about 1 tblsp oil then add to the meat.

Brown the sliced mushroom in the non-stick frypan in a little oil then add to the slow cooker.

Then add the rest of the ingredients to the slow cooker (except the flour and parsley).

Bring to the boil on high then turn down to low setting and cook for a total of about 4 hours.

Before serving, mix the flour with water to make a paste then thin using the juices from the casserole and gently mix into the casserole to thicken the juices. Add the fresh parsley before serving.

Tiramisu

This is my favorite dessert to entertain with, it is simple, prepared in advance and since the main ingredients are coffee, chocolate and cream you cannot go wrong.

This recipe is from Stephanie Alexander and Maggie Beer's Tuscan Cookbook and honestly this is the only thing i have cooked out of it so far, but i have made it about 10 times so i think that is okay.

The recipe is easy to adapt to a larger quantity and i often make a 3/2 quantity.

You can make it in whatever bowl you like, and as neatly or as messily as you like, i just finished this one with a stencil i cut out of a piece of paper and dusted with icing sugar to make it more special.

Recipe follows,

Homemade Gnocchi with Bolognaise Sauce

 

Here are my little Gnocchis ready to be poached, notice i didn't bother with the indenting with a fork it makes the process a lot quicker. 

 

Here is the finished dish with the bolognaise, and a delicious non edible bay leaf sticking out.

Pork Loin Stuffed with Almond and Apricot

Sorry i didn't take a picture of it served and cooked but this is it stuffed and rolled ready to go in the oven.
The quality of the pork loin from the butchers was so much better than what you get at coles or woolworths in termes of the size of the cut and it was absolutly fantastic.

This recipe was pretty simple i just make up a stuffing mixture placed in the center of my pork loin after removing the excess fat from the cut and then rolled it up and tied it. (If your not sure how to tie it just look on the internet but its pretty much just a really long present :P ) Stuffing recipe below...

Mango, Pumpkin and Chickpea Curry

Since mango is in season this is really a recipe worth trying, the whole mustard seeds really make this dish delicious.

I found this last year when I was searching for a mango and chickpea curry recipe, and this was the best one i found.

This curry is probably best with as a choice of a range of curries since it is slightly sweet.