Apricot Slice

This yummy slice is famous at Seaforth as Jean D's. She makes it for the funtions held at the community hall for the seniors, which are coordinated by M, my step mum. The icing is gorgeous as well.

1 cup coconut
2 cups self raising flour
6oz melted butter
1 cup dried apricots
1 cup sugar

Cover the diced apricots for half an hour with boiling water.
Melt the butter and mix with the dry ingredients and drained apricots. Press into a slice tray, Bake at 180 C for 30 minutes and then ice with lemon icing. Let it set over night before you slice it up.

Lemon Icing
3 cups icing mixture
1 rounded tablespoon butter (be generous as I think Jean has a big tablespoon)
juice of one lemon
Mix together. If too thick add a tad of hot water. I spread this while the slice was still warm it goes on easier.

I have a smallish slice tin and I think the recipe is designed for a bigger one. Still tasted good as a thick slice but as it is a biscuity texture the bigger slice tin would be better. I am going to try it with dates next time, I think that would be good. I love dates!

Potato Gnocchi

I made these out of this month's Recipes+ page 6. They are so good! And are one of KISA's favouites. It makes a lot so I have half the mix in the fridge. It means I will have to make Gnocchi again over the weekend as I don't think it will freeze well. Mashed potato tends to go a bit watery when frozen. You can serve it with your favourite sauce, I made a creamy garlic sauce out of what was in the fridge which was quite tasty.

4 large potatoes (1.2kg) equal size unpeeled
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups plain flour
Pinch of salt to taste

Place poatoes in a large saucepan and cover with cold water.
Cover with lid and bring to the boil. Uncover and cook for about 25 minutes until tender. I could have cooked mine longer as my spuds were quite big so there were some hard spots. I tested with a metal skewer.
Drain and cool potatoes a bit and peel the skins off. They will come off easily but boy spuds hold their heat well!!
Push potatoes through a wire seive so they are smooth. Season with salt. Add the flour and egg yolk and mix up well till it forms a dough. I used my hands by this stage.
Divide into two and put half aside unless you are feeding 6 people. Divide remaining dough into half and roll into a log about 30cm long on a floured surface. Cut the log into 3 cm pieces though I think you could make them smaller. Roll each piece into a ball, then press the tines of a fork into one side. Place on a floured plate or a tray.
Bring a pot of boiling water to a boil, and boil for 2 - 3 minutes until they float to the top. Remove with a slotted spoon and put aside. If you are making up the whole recipe, you will have to do this bit in batches.
Serve with the sauce of choice. We like creamy garlic prawn and Pesto Spinach sauce.

Pesto Spinach Sauce sauce:
1 quantity of cooked gnocchi
4 rindless rashers bacon, chopped
300ml of cream
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup sun dried tomato pesto
250g frozen spinach, thawed
3/4 cup mozzerella grated
1/2 cup shredded parmesan

Place cooked gnocchi in a greased rectangular pyrex dish.
Heat a medium frypan and fry the chopped bacon till crisp. Add cream, stock and pesto. Bring to the boil.
Reduce heat, simmer for 4 - 5 minutes till thickened slightly.
Stir in spinach. Add sauce mixture to gnocchi, stir to combine.
Top with cheeses.

Italian Style Country Loaf

I found this recipe in Recipies+ this month and made it last night as a test. Because it doesn't need much kneading I thought it would be good for camping. It turned out well, so will give it a try in the camp oven next!

1 teaspoon dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon sugar (may try 1 tsp next)

3 cups plain bread flour

1 teaspoon salt (I might try a bit more next time)

1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil

extra flour to knead and to dust

Combine 1/2 cup lukewarm water, yeast and sugar in a cereal bowl. Half fill the sink with warm water, stand bowl in the water for 10 minutes till it goes frothy.

Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Make a well and stir in the yeast mix and a cup of lukewarm water. Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Stand in a sink of warm water for 45 minutes until dough has doubled in size.

Knead dough on a floured surface for 2 - 3 minutes till smooth. It will be quite sticky now so use your fingertips to knead for a further 5 minutes, don't add too much extra flour while kneading though you will need to add a bit.

Place on a greased baking tray, shap into a 30cm loaf. Dust generously with flour and make 6 smaill cuts in the top with a small sharp knife.

Place in a cold oven. Turn oven to 190C or 170C fan forced.

Bake for 45 minutes until crusty and golden brown.

I put mine in a bread tin and it turned out well also. As you can see it didn't last long!

Slow Baked BBQ Ribs

Son 24 is home for a visit. The other night he cooked these for us. These were delicious!
1 rack of pork short ribs per person
crushed garlic, lots
Vegeta seasoning (or salt and pepper)
Smoky BBQ Marinade Sauce (we used Masterfoods)
Lots of time.

Preheat the oven to 150degrees C. Smother both sides of the ribs with the garlic and sprinkle on vegeta. Make a tent out of foil to completely enclose ribs. (*I am going to try an oven bag when I try these for myself) Bake in the oven for 3 hours.
Take out of oven and allow to cool. Crank up the oven to 250 degreesC. Smother both sides of the ribs in the smoky BBQ marinade sauce. Put back into the oven till sauce caramelises and sizzles about 10 to 20 minutes. Serve with Jacket potatoes and salad. The meat should just fall off the bones. Absolutely delicious.
* Made these with an oven bag for each rib rack and they turned out lovely and tender. I may have overdone them at the last bake so adjust that to 10 minutes. Of course all ovens vary.

Zucchini Slice

This is an old favourite and is on the menu tonight. I think everyone must have this one on file! Great for a pot luck or a side dish at a party. Nice with a salad at home.

5 eggs
1 cup self-raising flour, sifted
3 medium zucchini, grated
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 rashers rindless bacon, chopped
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease and line a 30 x 20cm lamington pan - I use a pyrex dish.
Beat the eggs in a large bowl until combined. Add the flour and beat until smooth, then add zucchini, onion, bacon, cheese and oil and stir to combine. Pour into the prepared pan and bake in oven for 30 minutes or until cooked through.

Dad's Seafood Soup

At our recent potluck birthday dinner, Dad made this soup and it was just beautiful. A phone call the next day got a basic list of ingredients but he was deliciously vague about quantities. My first attempt didn't taste quite right but will keep practicing. I will edit this again next time I make it.

2 onions, chopped.
garlic, about 4 good teaspoons crushed
tin of crushed tomatoes (I may try 2 next time)
anchovy sauce - yet to find this so I subbed 3 anchovies
oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon
assorted mixed seafood of your choice about 750g worth
cayenne pepper to taste, in our house that is about 1 tsp if it is fresh, 2 if it isn't- in yours maybe 1/4 tsp if you are shy
salt and pepper
white wine, I used 100ml, will use double that next time
cream, maybe half a cup.
stock/water (I boiled up some prawn scraps in 1litre of water for 30 mins)

Fry onions till soft, add garlic fry another minute then add cayenne fry another minute, add tomatoes, anchovy, oyster sauce, wine, stock and then simmer for a bit. Add seafood and cream, serve just a few minutes later when seafood has cooked - just. I sprinkled with chopped green onion as I had some in the fridge but any nice mild green herb like parsley or chives will do. Serve with garlic bread.

Muffins

This is a generic muffin recipe which you can use to make any muffin that takes your fancy, depending on what you like or have available or both. I have been successfully using this recipe in many variations for a while. I found it on the simple savings australia forum, and I have no idea who posted it. If anyone recognises it I would be happy to attribute it to its rightful author.

2 cups plain flour
4 heaped teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup sugar

Mix these in a large bowl. Stir in your chosen flavourings to these dry ingredients for example, chopped apple or sultanas, and the nuts or choc chips type ingredients.
If you are flavouring with mashed bananas add after the wet stuff.
Basically you add wet stuff to dry stuff and by adding fruit to the dry stuff it gets coated in flour which stops it sinking to the bottom. Surpisingly.
Next, melt 100g butter in a jug, add 1 egg and 1 cup of milk and whisk well. Add to the dry mix. When you add the wet stuff, do so gently, and only just mix it till the flour is mixed in. If you overmix, the mufffins will be tough.
Spoon the mix into muffin tins, it makes 12 genrous muffins.
Bake at 180degrees for 20 minutes. Test that the centre is cooked with a skewer.
Flavourings:
1 cup soft flavouring and 1/2 cup hard flavouring.
Like:
2 small chopped apples, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, sprinkle tops of muffins with sugar before baking
1 banana, mashed, 1.2 cup choc chips
1 cup frozen rasperries, 1/2 cup white chocoalte bits
1 tin peaches, well drained
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen or tinned, can add chop chips if wished
1 cup pineapple, 1/2 cup coconut
1 cup chocolate chips you can mix the chocolate types, 2 tablespoons cocoa powder added with the flour.
1 cup dates chopped, 1/2 cup walnuts, use brown sugar instaed of white, can serve like
stickydate puddings.
Savoury:
1 cup grated cheese, 2 rashers bacon, chopped and microwaved till cooked, some chopped onion.

To convert to a quick dessert, make up any of these, cook in a slice tin, cut into squares, dust with icing sugar, and serve with whipped cream or ice cream.