Easter Seafood

This Good Friday just past we enjoyed a lovely seafood lunch in the Autumn sun. Nothing too complicated, just fresh local seafood prepared and cooked simply.

Creme Caramels

We had a huge feast a few Sundays ago after visiting the local farmers market and butcher. We came home with fresh vegetables, local goats feta and an amazing rack of lamb. We cooked up the lamb and made roast vegetables, with a roast beetroot, rocket and goat's feta salad to start with. It was divine. (I'll post about the main event a little later on.) 

I made these creme caramels for desert. It was my first attempt and they turned out pretty good. Though the caramel was a little over cooked, so it had a toffee taste to it. But overall they were quite enjoyable. It was nice to try a new desert, as I don't often cook them. The recipe I used was this one from Ian Hewitson.

Retro 

Creme Caramels

Ingredients

•  175 gm caster sugar
• 100 ml warm water
• 2 cups milk
• 1 vanilla bean, halved lengthways & seeds scraped out (I used vanilla extract)
• 4 large eggs
• thick cream

 

 

 

Method

• Preheat oven to 165°C fan forced (185°C normal).
• To make the caramel, put 75 gm caster sugar and the warm water in a small pot and gently cook until golden, swirling every now and then. DON’T STIR! (If you are a caramel lover, double the quantities.)

Making the creme mixture with the Sunbeam Mixmaster

• Put the milk and vanilla in another pot and gently bring to the boil. Remove from the heat.
• Whisk the eggs with the remaining caster sugar in a large bowl with an electric beater until pale and thick. Then pour in the boiling milk, continually mixing, and strain well, removing any foam. 

Bain Marie

• Place 4 dariole moulds (or ramekins) in a baking tray and divide the caramel between each one. Then top with the custard and pour boiling water into the tray to come up about halfway. Cook in the oven for about 30-40 mins until just set. Cool and refrigerate.
• When ready, turn out the crème caramels onto individual plates and serve with a dollop of cream on the side.

Mexican Tortilla Stack

I love this recipe. The tortilla stack is so delicious and perfect for a cold Autumn night like the one we had a few days ago. It's really quite easy too. I use a recipe from trusty taste.com with of course my own small additions that take the flavour further. Don't be deceived this Mexican style lasagna is full of flavour and is so filling! While you may not want to, you are going to have to tell yourself when to stop. Or else you will need someone to (attempt to) carry you to bed. It's so moreish, with the Mexican mince and beans, melted cheese and guacamole. Yummo!

Im back!

Hello! I have been so terribly lazy on blog maintenance these past months. I've returned to uni to complete my final year of my Teaching Degree so study has taken up a lot of my time.
Luckily, i've been busy cooking. Im going to try and bring you and Homemade up to date. I've also been spending a lot more time taking photos. I love taking photos of my food, but have been getting out there and capturing my beautiful part of Australia, Newcastle. Im on Instagr.am so you should check me out there, @kittykaty180. There's lots of great photos of delicious food.
But for now ill be updating the blog, starting with something I made recently for the first time in months. Mexican Tortilla Stack! So check out the post and please keep an eye out for more exciting stuff. We really have had some fun in the kitchen over this summer just past.

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,..."