Baked Birthday Cheesecakes!

A couple of nights ago, at about 9pm I decided I wanted to bake a cheesecake for my 25th birthday which was yesterday . A bit ambitions considering I didn't have all the ingredients and it was going to take hours. However, ludicrous challenges and deadlines seem to suit me well so off to the shops I went.

It wasn't until I got home and went to grease my pan when I realised my spring form pan is actually my mothers and I don't live with her anymore. Duh. So i decided to make mini cheesecakes in the muffin tray.

The recipe was a combination of two, one I found in a magazine which i'd already started and one for mini cheesecakes from Exclusively Food.

Here is the variation recepie I ended up with.

For the base:
Half a packet of morning coffee biscuts, crushed;
100 g butter, melted;

For the Filling:
500g (2tubs) cream cheese (coles smart buy spreadable);
2/3 cup sour cream;
zest and juice of 1 lemon;
1/2 cup caster sugar;
2 eggs, .

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. In food processer crush biscuts. When butter is melted add to the food processer with the biscuts and blend together.
Line muffin tray with patty cases. Add a heaped teaspoon of the base mixture to each patty case. Press down. I used the bottom of my babushka measuring cups to press the base into patty pans.
Using my Mixmaster I blended the cream chease till soft. Add the sour cream, sugar, lemon zest and juice and mix together. Add eggs one at a time and mix till combined.
Pour filling mixture into each patty case and bake for 20 minutes. Once bakec cool in pan for 30 minutes. Chill over night and remove from patty cases to serve. Serve with whipped cream, fresh fruit and raspberry coulis.

Roast Capretto

We recently discovered a wonderful new bulk butcher nearby! Not only can we stock up on wonderful quality staples, these guys carry some beautiful hard to get meats and poultry. When I saw a leg of goat or Capretto, I was quite excited. While I've never cooked goat, or eaten it for that matter, I love lamb, and am so seduced by Greek cooking. If only i had a spit! I went home and did some reading on cooking goat. Thanks to some great blogs, and a wonderful document courtesy of Mathom Farm Goat Dairy in Tasmania I found some great recipes for goat.
One of these was thanks to Ivy at Kopiaste to Greek Hospitality. I used her Cypriot roast goat recipe as a base for tonight's dinner. I also added some of my own favourite touches.

First I threw some potatoes, carrots, red onions, garlic and rosemary in the bottom of a roasting pan, with a drizzle of olive oil, and sprinkle of salt and pepper. I inserted some garlic and rosemary under the skin of the goat. I rubbed some Maldon Sea Salt, black pepper, and Cobram Estate Olive Oil into the meat, which was placed on a roasting rack in the tray. Into the pan I poured 1/3 of a cup of water, juice of half a lemon, and a drizzle of olive oil over everything. Top with a generous pinch of freshly ground cinnamon and some oregano.

I cooked the meat for an hour in a preheated oven of 180 degrees C. At half an hour I turned the meat, and added some parsnip and swede, which was used for a puree.

After an hour of cooking, the meat was removed and rested under some foil for about 10 minutes.

While the meat was resting I took the parsnip and swede out of the roasting tray and made a puree in the food processor with melted butter mixed with milk and added dollop of sour cream. I seasoned it with a pinch of salt, pepper and cinnamon.

The rest of the vegetables were left in the oven which was turned up to 200 degrees C. In the last minute or so I threw in some chunks of feta to bake.

The finished dish was better than I could have hoped. The goat was tender and full of flavour, the veggies tasted delicious with the baked feta and the parsnip and swede puree was amazing!

Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice Recipe Blog: Oven Roasted Corn in Chile Coconut Milk

From one of the blogs I follow - looks delish.

Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice Recipe Blog: Oven Roasted Corn in Chile Coconut Milk: "I have been obsessed all summer long with the combination of corn and coconut milk! The two ingredients naturally complement one another,..."

Lamb Pot Pies

On Sunday night we made pot pies with the left over roast lamb. This time we roughly followed a recipe from taste.com. The mixture was cooked in the Chasseur, and the pies were cooked in a 200 degree C oven in ramekins.




Scott browned the onion and garlic with some chilli and coriander in the Chasseur while I cut the lamb into small cubes, along with some sweet potato and carrot. Since the lamb was already cooked we didn't want to cook it for too long because it would go chewy. Instead we added it with the veggies, a can of tomatoes, some tomato paste and stock. I also threw in a hand full of peas.

We simmered the mixture with the lid on till the sweet potato was soft - but not completely cooked - since the pies still had about 20 minutes to cook in the oven. I wanted to be really careful not to overcook the lamb.


At this stage I cut two sheets of puff pastry into quarters. After about 15 minutes I spooned the mixture into ramekins, and covered each with two squares of puff pastry, one over the other like an eight pointed star. I scored a cross on top of each and washed them with some water. They cooked in the oven for about 20 minutes, until the pastry was golden brown.

Roast lamb and veggies

On Thursday night I made a roast dinner. The recipe is based on a George Calombaris recipe that I found in Good Food Magazine. I used a 1.3 kg boneless lamb shoulder and cooked it and the veggies in my Chasuer Cast Iron French Oven.

Rosemary and Garlic are inserted in the lamb, which is then brushed with a paste of cumin, Cobram Estate olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast at 180 degrees c for about 1.5 hours - depending on how you like the meat We eat it rare to medium rare.

The veggies go underneath the meat with about 40 minutes to go. Sweet potato, potato and baby carrots. I just drizzled olive oil over them and sprinkled a hand full of cumin over and seasoned them also. I put some garlic cloves and sprigs of rosemary in here too, and a quartered onion.

I rest the lamb wrapped in foil for about 20 minutes before carving. In this time I baked asparagus and green beans with a crust of breadcrumbs and Parmesan.

Add some Gravox to the liquids at the bottom of the pan for gravy, and don't forget the fluids from the rested lamb - that adds the best flavours.

Paired with an Audrey Wilkinson Merlot from our very own Hunter Valley- delish!

Popcorn - testing blogging from my iPhone

My homemade Southern Style popcorn seasoning:

Gravox cheese sauce powder, chilli powder, paprika, Cajun seasoning, salt and a touch of pepper with melted butter (as much as you are willing to add!). Exact quantities unknown, i just put it all in a container and taste till its about right. On goes the lid and shake to combine. Easy and seriously yummy!

lt;span class=" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">ShoZu" border="0">