We had these for dinner but made smaller they would work perfectly as finger food with a glass of wine. The flavours work well together. Today, I was checking my statistics to see who was viewing my blog and I saw several hits coming through from Youtube but I don't have any videos on there so I had to investigate and followed the links back and found a young girl talking about her November favourite things and she mentioned my Jamie Oliver recipe of cauliflower macaroni cheese as one of her favourite recipes. Some of her tens of thousands of followers have been visiting me. If you do follow the link to see her video, beware that it really is for young teenagers. You just never know who is reading your blog, folks. There are too many links to follow back on any given day but those ones stood out because they were from Youtube. I have been trying to persuade my son to make a video of me cooking - well my hands cooking anyway - but I haven't been successful yet. He had to do one for … [Read more...] about Haloumi, Pea & Mint Fritters
An experimental dinner with good friends
Last night, we had very good friends over for dinner. They happen to be the parents of Dario's girlfriend, Alex. You see, we met at anti-natal classes so Dario and Alex have known each other since the womb. They played together as children but then we moved to the other end of Auckland and our get-togethers got less frequent until there was a period of two years between the ages of 14 and 16 when they didn't see each other. Then they did and a mini-explosion happened and they really saw each other – not as two childhood friends but as a male and a female. They are now 22 years old and it’s still going strong. Anyway, Stephen and Genevieve came for dinner last night and I love cooking for them because they are so appreciative of my efforts. They are good enough friends that I can experiment on them and that’s what I did. We started the evening with small tarts made with puff pastry and three layers of flavours. The first layer was peas, salmon, ricotta and lemon whizzed … [Read more...] about An experimental dinner with good friends
Smoked Salmon Tartlets
On Sunday night, we had dinner with some dear friends we hadn't seen in a while and it was a fantastic catch up at their new, old home. They love villas with heaps of character and make gorgeous homes wherever they live. I thought this was a great opportunity to make some appetizers that others could taste besides us and I came up with these smoked salmon tartlettes to take with us. I had hoped to find some pastry shells in the supermarket to save time but they only had sweet ones so I bought pastry sheets instead. I know - I should have made the pastry myself and if you want to, I have a good recipe I use here. The filling was delicious and you could mix it up as much as you want. Empty pastry shells are a blank canvas which can be filled with whatever your imagination can create. This recipe is not low Fodmap. Smoked Salmon Tartlettes Print Prep time 30 mins Cook time 10 mins Total time 40 mins Serves: 24 tartlettes Ingredients 4 … [Read more...] about Smoked Salmon Tartlets
Chocolate, Banana, Coconut Slice – sugar, gluten & dairy-free
I have cracked the gluten-free, dairy-free and sugar-free muffin and this weekend I attempted a slice that said decadent yet had no gluten, dairy or sugar. It was quite a mission and I had to gather together a few different ideas from recipes I had seen around the food blog world but none eliminated all three elements so I had to experiment and I have succeeded in making something rather wonderful. You do have to like banana, coconut and chocolate but if you do, this is your new best friend. I got the idea for the middle layer from The Life of Clare. This is not a low Fodmap recipe. Chocolate, Banana, Coconut Slice Print Serves: 28 small squares or 14 larger ones Ingredients For the bottom layer: 4 tbsp unsalted peanut butter (with no added sugar) 4 tbsp coconut butter 3 tbsp cocoa powder 2 ripe bananas For the middle layer: 1 cup walnuts ¼ cup dried coconut 2 tbsp coconut oil 9 soft dates ½ tsp teaspoon vanilla extract ¼ cup cacao nibs 1 … [Read more...] about Chocolate, Banana, Coconut Slice – sugar, gluten & dairy-free
Healthy Baking – Round-Up Part 1
Over the months since I started this blog, I have created many healthy sweet snacks, baked and unbaked. I thought I would do a summary of them for those who prefer not to eat too much fat and sugar but don't want to give up on sweet treats. Many are gluten-free and/or dairy-free and/or sugar-free. I have discovered I have more than will fit in one post so this is part one. Cranberry, Chocolate and Date Truffles - gluten and sugar-free Banana Strawberry Muffins - dairy, gluten and sugar-free Banana, Chocolate, Cranberry & Coconut Muffins - dairy & sugar-free Almond, Orange & Cashew Cupcakes - dairy and gluten-free White Raspberry Chocolate Cookies - dairy-free Orange, Chocolate & Coconut Cookies - gluten & dairy-free Ginger, Coconut, Raisin & Oatmeal Cookies - gluten and dairy-free Almond, coconut & Chocolate Chip Cookies - dairy & gluten-free Caramel Granola Bars - dairy & … [Read more...] about Healthy Baking – Round-Up Part 1
Asparagus and Vegetable Tart – vegetarian and gluten-free
Last night I made this vegetarian tart I found in the Dish magazine. It is all vegetables apart from some cheese and two eggs. How about that for healthy? The majority of the vegetables create a kind of pizza base which hangs together reasonably well as long as you bake it for long enough. I would suggest turning it in the oven a few times to get it browned evenly. Make sure you time the cooking of the asparagus so they are ready just as the base comes out of the oven. That way, you will have a hot meal. This is not a low Fodmap recipe. And now a quick summary of The Taste of Auckland food festival, which I went to last weekend. My sister and I had a wonderful time sipping and nibbling on endless free offerings and bought a few small courses from the top chefs in Auckland. I had a prawn concoction from Euro Restaurant, which was packed with flavour but had very little substance and also a deconstructed cheesecake dessert. I am not sure why a cheesecake has to be deconstructed … [Read more...] about Asparagus and Vegetable Tart – vegetarian and gluten-free
