cooking challenge 28: chocolate and date brownies

I absolutely love brownies, and always have. There's something about the rich, moist, melt in your mouth, crumbly sweetness that just knocks my socks off.

I made these as a gift, hence the wrapping, but I ended up eating all the ones that didn't fit in the box. Whoopsies. However, I can still thoroughly recommend these as a gift, or party treat, or just something to whip up and take into work for friends!

You will need:

240g good quality dark chocolate (70%)
1 cup caster sugar
150g unsalted butter
3 eggs, beaten lightly
1/2 cup dried dates, chopped
1 cup plain flour

What to do:

Preheat oven to 180'c and lightly grease a shallow baking tin.

Over a moderate heat in a small saucepan, melt the butter. Remove from heat and add 200g of the chocolate and stir constantly until it is a liquid. Transfer to a small bowl and refrigerate for a maximum of 10 minutes - do not allow the butter to set.

Remove from fridge and stir in sugar, eggs and flour until combined. Add dates and remaining 40g of chocolate. Pour into the prepared baking tin and use a spatula to smooth the surface.

Bake for 30 minutes. Allow to cool before slicing and serving. Dust with cocoa or icing sugar.

Next time I make these, I think I will add macadamia nuts, or ginger, or orange rind. Something to make them just a little more sophisticated. Of course, Baileys would also do the trick...!

challenge 27: tart lemon pie

You will need:

For the lemon filling:

4 lemons (juice and zest)

130g caster sugar

5 eggs

150ml double cream

For the pastry:

250g good quality plain flour

140g unsalted butter - at room temp

60g icing sugar, sifted

3 egg yolks, room temperature

a little water

What to do:

To make the pastry, mix the butter and icing sugar to form a soft paste. Add 2 egg yolks and beat until combined. Sift the flour over the top and use your fingertips to rub it into the butter mix until it reaches the consistency of rolled oats. Add a little dribble of water (approximately a tablespoon - give or take) and use your hands to knead into a firm dough. Don't knead it for more than a few seconds - you really just want to get it to hold together. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 170'c.

Meanwhile, to make the lemon filling, mix the eggs, juice from the lemons, zest and sugar and whisk until combined and a little frothy. Pour in the cream and continue whisking. Refrigerate.

Remove the pastry from the fridge and, on a lightly floured surface, roll the pastry to approximately 4mm thickness. Lay the pastry gently into a flan tin and prick the base with a fork all over. Blind bake for about 15 minutes, remove from the oven. Take out the rice/beans to expose the pastry base. Use the remaining egg yolk as an egg wash to coat the pastry base. Bake for a further 20 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, transfer the lemon curd mix to a deep saucepan and slowly warm it, on a low heat, stirring constantly to ensure the sugar doesn't catch and the eggs don't curdle. Pour the lemon mixture into the pastry case and bake for a further half hour or so. The tart will have the consistency of just-set jelly when ready. Leave to cool before serving - drift icing sugar and lemon zest over the top before serving with a thick dollop of cream.

Will I make this again - definitely. I haven't yet, because I know I will end up eating 75% of it, but I do think it makes such a great summery treat, and the buttery pastry is the perfect foil to the tartness of the filling. Enjoy!

bacon and leek pasta with mushrooms and spinach

You will need:

3 rashers of rindless bacon

1 leek

a handful of baby spinach leaves

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

10 button mushrooms

1/2 cup single cream

1/4 cup white wine

Olive oil

Prepared Pasta

What to do:

Chop onions, leek, garlic and mushrooms. Julienne the bacon. Rinse the spinach.

In a large frying pan, heat your olive oil and then add the onions, leek, garlic and bacon. Fry for several minutes until the bacon is browned. Add the mushrooms and fry for another five minutes or so. Splash in the white wine and season with salt and pepper. Add spinach. Let the white wine reduce by half, then add the cream. Stir well.

Add to prepared pasta and serve immediately, topped with parmesan cheese.

ice-tastic!

D's sister gave me these ice trays- aren't they sweet? From Ikea, I've got fish and starfishies which now decorate my drinks. Love 'em!

delicious scones

You will need:

250g self-raising flour

pinch of salt

200ml milk

60g unsalted butter

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 200'c.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the self raising flour and salt. Use your fingertips to mix in the butter, until it has the consistency of breadcrumbs.

Mix in the milk and stir with a wooden spoon until you have a dough. Knead it gently, then roll to the thickness of between 3 - 4 cm. Use a small cup to cut rounds and lay them on a non stick baking tray.

Bake for 10 - 15 minutes until lightly golden.

Scones freeze beautifully - wrap them individually and then just microwave them for 30 seconds before serving with jam and cream. Yum yum!

blue cheese souffle

You will need:

100g good quality blue cheese
30g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons cornflour
300ml milk
2 free range eggs
a little extra flour for dusting
salt and pepper

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 180'c - 200'c.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, over low heat. Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon to form a paste. Slowly whisk in the milk and the seasonings and continue stirring until you have a sauce consistency. Remove from the heat and add the yolk from the eggs, and the blue cheese. Stir until combined.

Whisk the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gently stir the whisked egg whites into the blue cheese mixture, taking care not to lose the fluffy texture of the egg whites. Sprinkle the reserved flour into a couple of ramekins. Ladle the egg mixture in and bake for 25 - 30 minutes. Don't open the oven to check on their progress or they won't cook properly.

Would I make this again? Yes. I can't wait to keep working on this recipe. The flavour was just amazing. I used a very bitey blue, and with the fennel salad, it was a delicious entree.

cooking challenge twenty three: blue cheese souffle

One of the reasons I started this challenge was to learn to make souffles, particularly savoury ones. I was so happy with the flavour of these but I have a fair way to go technically. What they lacked in beauty they made up in taste. Mmm. I served them with a fennel salad and little croutons.
For our main course, we had a salad nicoise with salmon instead of tuna.

And for dessert, we had a rich chocolate ganache cake, topped with hazelnuts and served with double cream and strawberry coulis.

cooking challenge twenty one: chocolate tart

Here's the recipe for the deliciously gooey chocolate tart I made a few weeks ago, as a cooking challenge. This is so beautifully simple, and effective.

You will need:

300g dark cooking chocolate

250ml thick cream

60g unsalted butter, cubed

100g flour

1 egg

pinch of salt

pinch of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of cocoa

2 tablespoons icing sugar

What to do:

To make the pastry, beat the butter, icing sugar and egg together with an electric mixer until pale and well combined. Sift in the flour, cocoa, salt and cinnamon and gently combine using a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms. Knead gently on a bench until you have achieved the right consistency, then wrap firmly in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180'c.

Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough to approximately half a centimetre in thickness and drape into a shallow cake tin. Freeze for 10 minutes then blind bake the pastry shell for approximately 20 minutes, until cooked through, then set aside until back to room temperature.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a double boiler, whisking constantly. Add the thickened cream. Once the pastry has cooled, pour the melted chocolate mixture and refrigerate for 4 hours or until firmly set.

Just prior to serving, put it in the freezer for 5 - 10 minutes to firm the chocolate. Use a knife that you've dipped in hot water to slice. Delicious.

I would give this a 10/10. A sure fire hit, easy and quick to make. I have actually made a spare batch of pastry which is in the freezer, and as I always have dark chocolate in the pantry and cream in the fridge (!) I know that I can whip this up whenever I have guests coming on short notice. It is seriously delicious - the crunch of the pastry and the sweet, softness of the chocolate. Divine. Next time, I'm going to blend some crystallized ginger into the pastry mix and put some pistachios into the chocolate.

cooking challenge twenty two: coq au vin

I think there's an air of romance that surrounds this classic French recipe. It's a meal that is said to have existed since Roman times, and immediately makes me think of convivial chatter, friends around a rustic table, crusty baguettes and tasty sauce. Well, friends, the reality was somewhat of a let down. It was nice, but for the amount of preparation fiddling, I can think of a heap of other dishes that are much more satisfying and tasty. I am going to keep tweaking the recipe and my technique, to see if I can make it more to my taste.

Here's the recipe, nonetheless.

(Just a few last tips: You need to start this at least 24 hours before serving. The chicken needs to be cut into 8 pieces. I did this without poultry scissors, but it was hard work. I'd recommend getting your butcher to do this, or buy the equivalent amount of chicken pieces - breast, thighs, wings, drummies etc).

You will need:

1 organic chicken.
4 spare drumsticks
2 tablespoons browned flour
1 teaspoon each of salt, pepper and stock powder.
4 bacon rashers, diced
2 cups button mushrooms, brushed clean
2 cups schallots, peeled
2 celery sticks, sliced into 1cm thick rounds
1 litre Merlot or Shiraz
Parsley

What to do:

Boil the red wine for about 20 minutes, until it has reduced and concentrated. Cool.
Mix all the vegetables except the mushrooms, the boquet garni (I used parsley, thyme and chives) and chicken pieces in a large bowl. Season with salt, pepper and stock. Add the cooled red wine and refigerate, covered, for at least 24 hours.


Strain through a colander, reserving the liquid, then separate the chicken from the other ingredients. Pat dry with paper towel. Discard the boquet garni and reserve the vegetables. Heat some butter in a large frying pan, over moderate heat. Fry the chicken pieces until slightly browned. Remove and set aside. Fry the vegetables off in the same pan, same juices.

Preheat the oven to 180'c.

Transfer the vegetables to a large flame proof, oven proof casserole and add the browned flour. Stir over moderate heat until it has a gluggy consistency. Add 1/3 of the reserved red wine mixture and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. It will thicken and bubble. Add the rest of the wine, and the chicken, and bring back to boil. Cover the casserole dish and transfer to the oven for half an hour or so.

Meanwhile, in the same saucepan you fried the chicken and vegetables, fry off the bacon and mushrooms until crispy and browned. Add to the coq au vin right before serving, as well as the parsley.

I served this with roasted vegetables and garlic bread, as well a beautiful rice pilaf that D's mum makes (I will blog that recipe soon, it's divine!). I'd give this an 6.5/10. I would make it again, but I'd thicken the sauce more, and add something else. Let me think about it... I'll get back to you.

an ode to mum

I absolutely love my mum's style. When I last visited her, I took these snaps and, now that I have internet, I'm able to share them with you too, so you can see how homely and and country chic my mum's kitchen is.

Don't you just want to pull up a chair and have some pumpkin soup? :)

the challenges resume...

I did a cooking challenge for the first time in a long time the other night.

The cooking challenge was a dark gooey chocolate tart with a choc orange crust. I served it with caramelised orange and almond essence.

For our main course, I made a cauliflower veloute with pea puree, crushed chats and crispy skinned atlantic salmon.

I made some savoury scrolls to snack on for entree - capers, tapenade, sundried tomato and goats cheese. Very nice. I served them with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Recipes coming this afternoon!

dd.x

baked camembert

This is one of the most delicious snacks ever. Clearly, it's a heart attack waiting to happen, so we don't have it too often, but when we do, we have to fight for every last scrape of the gooey cheese.

You will need:

1 wheel camembert (or brie if you prefer)

Rosemary

4 cloves garlic

100mL white wine

Coarse sea salt

Crackers or Turkish Bread

What to do:

Pre heat the oven to 100'c.

Stab about 12 slits in the cheese. Peel the garlic and slice each in half. Stab them into the slits. Put sprigs of rosemary in the other slits. Rub a teaspoon of sea salt into the surface of the cheese and put it into a small and shallow dish. Pour the wine over the cheese.

Bake the cheese, uncovered, for 10 minutes, then cover with a lid, or alfoil, for another 10 minutes. Serve with crackers or toasted bread. It should be gooey and smooth, as above.

Absolutely. Delicious.

pomodoro passata (tomato pasta sauce)

A traditional passata would be strained through a fine sieve to remove the seeds, but I think this is a beautiful (and low fuss) way to make pasta sauce. It's hearty and robust and it lets the star of the dish really shine through. The quality of ingredients makes a difference - plump, juicy tomatoes, fresh from the vine, and cold pressed extra virgin olive oil. Last time I made this, I tossed some salty olives through at the last minute.

You will need:

10 ripe tomatoes
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 tblspoons olive oil
3 birdseye chillis (optional)
250 ml water
salt and pepper to season

What to do:

In a saucepan, over low heat, fry off the garlic and onion until slighty translucent. If using chilli, add here. Meanwhile, quarter the tomatoes. Add to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Add the water and cover. Cook for 20 minutes, checking every so often to make sure it's not sticking to the bottom. If necessary, add more water.

It will reduce down to a thick tomato paste, as below.

Serve with pasta and aged parmesan cheese, or as a pizza sauce.

perfect pikelets

These brought back such beautiful memories from growing up. My nanna would always have made a heap of pikelets whenever I went to stay, and she'd serve them with fresh, creamy butter. They're one of my favourite breakfasty treats, and my nephew loves them too, so what better breakfast to make when he came to stay over?

You will need:

1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
3 tblspoons caster sugar
1/2 cup skimmed milk
1 tblspoon butter, melted.

Butter to serve.

What to do:

Sift the baking powder, sugar and flour into a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and crack the egg in. Add the milk and melted butter and use a fork to slowly incorporate the mixture until smooth.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan over moderate heat. Put a little bit of butter in the pan, then use a paper towel to wipe away any excess.

Drop the batter in with a tablespoon. After a few minutes, once small bubbles have started to form, flip them over and fry the other side. Best eaten fresh, otherwise, reheat gently in a microwave before serving.

vegetarian sausages

I fell in love, properly, with cooking when I was about 12. My mum had this fabulous recipe book - the name escapes me at present, but I think it might have been Green Feasts? I would pour over it page by glorious page and taste the flavours with my eyes. The only recipe I ever actually produced from the pages of that book was a vegetarian sausage. It was a long time ago, so I've forgotten the exact recipe, but the essentials are unchanging and easily replicated.

You will need:

Approximately 3/4 of a standard size loaf of bread
1 free range organic egg
1 corn (on the cob)
1 small cooking onion
3 garlic cloves
1 cup loosely packed flat leaf parsley
1 small red bell pepper
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated and loosely packed (optional)

Olive oil for frying.

What to do:


Preheat the oven to 180'c.

In a food processor, wizz the bread until you have coarse breadcrumbs. Remove half of the mixture and put it in a mixing bowl. Quarter the onion and peel the garlic cloves. Add them to the processor and blitz until a moist mixture forms. Add the parsley and pulse for a few seconds. Transfer the wet bread and onion mixture to the large mixing bowl. Slice the corn from the cob and add to the mixing bowl, as well as the bell pepper, diced. If using, add cheddar cheese.

Whisk the egg in a small bowl and add to the bread mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Use your hands to form sausages - the above quantities should yield about 10 - 12 small and fat sausages.

Fry over moderate heat, rotating every few minutes until properly sealed. Transfer to an oven tray and finish off for about 15 minutes.

Yummy and healthy breakfast. dd.x

cooking challenge twenty: slow roast leg of lamb with crushed chickpeas

As you can probably tell from the above, I seem to have leaped over the final hurdle in my meat eating quest with great gusto. Now, I have made friends with my local butcher and am working my way through the various cuts of meat at my disposal. Amazing.

This roast took ALL day. I modified a recipe from the most recent Australian Gourmet Food & Travel (aka, my bible).

You will need:

1 x leg of lamb (mine was about enough for 6 people)
3 lemons
2 x 400g chickpeas
1/4 cup olive oil
1 litre chicken stock
50g dried harissa
150ml Olive Oil
250ml water
1 cup loosely packed flat leaf parsley
1 spanish onion, roughly diced

What to do:

Mix about 100ml olive oil with the harissa, and the juice and zest from two lemons. Chop what is left of these lemons and scatter them over the base of a deep roasting pan. Rub the harissa mix over the skin, place the lamb on top of the sliced lemon and leave to absorb the flavours for around 3 hours. It's winter here, so I left it covered, on my bench top, but if you're cooking somwhere hot, refrigerate it for 2 hours then remove for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 150'c. Pour 250ml cold water into the base of the pan. Cover with foil. Roast for 3 hours, then turn the temp down to 120'c and continue to roast for 3 - 4 hours.

Ok, for the crushed chickpea side dish, strain and rinse the chickpeas, then add them to a deep saucepan with the litre of chicken stock. Simmer for 30 minutes. Ladle out 1 cup of stock, and then strain the chickpeas. Add them and the reserved stock to a food processor and "pulse" for a few seconds until they are slightly mashed.

Fry off the onion in a little oil. Add the chickpeas and parsley, and the juice from the final lemon. Drizzle with remaining olive oil before serving. Season with salt and pepper.

When this is done, the meat will literally fall from the bone. It is the most tender and succulent way to roast meat that I've ever tried. I can't wait to attempt this with pork belly, and I'm also going to try using red wine or ale instead of water.

Will I make this again? Oh, yes. I am going to be making this as often as time permits!!

long, lazy days

Hi fellow foodies.

I apologise for my absence.

I haven't fallen into the abyss. Though for my northern hemisphere friends, Australia might well seem like it.

My internet access is patchy. My kitchen appliances even more so. I am a food loving blogger without access to all the things that make me tick most.

However, I have taken up a blissful lifestyle by the beach, and the regular recipes should resume within the week.

I haven't desserted my challenge. Just the opposite. This low-fi time has provided a great opportunity to peruse endless cook books and fantasise hungrily about what's to come, what's to learn.

love, dd.x

rosemary and sea salt focaccia

This is one of my favourite baking tricks. It's so easy, always tastes great, and while it takes a-g-e-s, this is mostly because you have to keep leaving it to rise. In fact, the longer you can give it between kneads, the better the end result. And oil - lots and lots of good quality extra virgin olive oil. Don't try to make this without the right quantity of oil, or you'll just get a dry, powdery bread. Ick.

You will need:

2 sachets of dried yeast (14g)
600g strong white bread flower (type "00")
1 1/4 cups tepid water
1/2 cup good quality olive oil
3 tbs good sea salt (I use Maldon)
1/2 tsp cooking salt3 sprigs of rosemary

What to do:

Put the flour, yeast and cooking salt into a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Make a well in the centre. Pour in all of the olive oil except 2 tablespoons, and the tepid water. Combine first with a spoon and then knead, in the bowl, with your hands.

Sprinkle some flour onto a work surface and knead the dough until it is elastic (about 10 minutes). Sprinkle the reserved olive oil into the mixing bowl and return the dough. Cover with glad wrap and leave to rise for an hour, or until the dough is twice its original size.

Remove the dough from the bowl and knead it to remove the air. Lightly oil a rectangular baking tray. Roll the dough out to roughly the size and then ease it into the tin. Use your fingers to push it into the corners.

Preheat the oven to 180'c (fan forced). You don't want the temp to be too hot so this may take a bit of experimenting to get it right. You don't want it to get too brown on top.

Make indents in the top surface with your finger tips. Sprinkle a little more olive oil and the maldon sea salt over the top, and add rosemary sprigs into each divet.

Bake for around 40 minutes. It should be lightly golden and soft and springy to the touch. Leave it to sit for 10 minutes and then serve with good quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Delicious!

cooking challenge week nineteen: jam doughnuts (yum yum)

Growing up in Australia, warm jam doughnuts were a tuckshop regular. I went to a small school and in those days, the canteen only opened on Tuesdays and Fridays. You would staple your 45c into a corner of a paper bag, write your name and order on the front, and then five minutes before lunch, a designated canteen liaison would get to leave class and collect a cardboard box brimming with the treats of the day. Jam doughnuts, coated generously with cinnamon and caster sugar, were the most popular treat by far.

I used to bite into them, and let the jame ooze out, and my fingers would be sticky and pink with jam when I was finished.

And so I have learned to make them. They are not difficult, but they are time consuming and messy, and positively dreadful for you, so I am not going to be whipping these babies out too often. Having said that, the first batch I made was a gift for a friend. We packed as many as we could into a polka dot red box and ate any that couldn't fit in about two minutes.

You will need:

4 cups plain white flour

2 x 7g sachets fresh yeast

300ml full fat milk

2 organic, free-range eggs

1/2 teaspoon caster sugar plus extra for dusting

1/2 teaspoon salt

Really great strawberry or raspberry jam

Flavourless vegetable oil for deep frying

What to do:

Mix the yeast sachets with a 1/2 teaspoon sugar and 1 tablespoon warm water. Stir well until you get a thick paste. Put it in a draft free place for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, put the flour, salt and butter in a large bowl and use your fingertips to rub them together, until you get the consistency of bread crumbs. Put it in a warm place for 10 minutes.

Put the milk and eggs into a bowl and whisk until combined. Pour into a well in the middle of the flour mixture. Add the yeast paste. Mix to a dough. Add more flour if too wet, more milk if too dry. The dough should be elastic and stretchy.

Cover and put in a warm, draft free place for an hour. The dough should double in size.

Put the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll to about 2cm thickness. Put a teaspoon of jam in the centre of HALF of the circles. Put some water into a little bowl and use your fingertips to run water around the edge of the circles. Lay a dough circle on top of a jam covered circle and press down. Repeat with all the dough. Once you've done this, set them aside for another half hour until they've risen some more.

Meanwhile, put the vegetable oil into a deep sauce pan and bring up to around 180'c. Carefully deep fry the doughnuts in batches for around 2 minutes - they will become quite a dark brown. Don't overcrowd the oil. Lift them out into a paper lined colander.

Mix some sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and run the doughnuts through the mix. You're done! Enjoy whilst warm.

Will I make this again? yes, yes, yes! Already have!! So great, and such a lovely treat to give good friends. I want to try baking them instead of frying them, and also using different jams for fillings.

prawn toasts

Believe it or not, this recipe and these quantities made 8 prawn toasts, which I think is more than enough for 2 - 3 people to share as a starter.

You will need:

4 medium - large prawns (uncooked)
2 tablespoons cornflour
1/2 tablespoon ground white pepper
a pinch of salt
1 egg white
Baguette, sliced into 8 rounds, approximately 1cm thick.
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 cup oil for frying

What to do:

Peel the prawns. Use a paring knife to run down their backs and remove the vein. Flush with cold water.

Use a very sharp knife and carefully mince the prawns. Put into a mixing bowl. Combine the pepper, egg white, cornflour and a pinch of salt and stir to make a thick paste. Some recipes advise you to fridge it here for a half hour or so, but I didn't, and they turned out brilliantly.

Spoon the mixture onto the toast, and press down gently. Use all the mixture. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan (non stick) over moderate heat.

Cook the toasts prawn side down for 1 - 2 minutes. Don't let them burn! Watch them very closely. As soon as the prawn mixture becomes opaque and the sesame seeds have started to darken, gently flip them over (watch out for the oil splattering). Brown the bread (30 seconds, max) and serve immediately, with some light soya sauce on the side.

O. M. G. These are seriously so, so, so goooood. Calorific. Yes. Carbtastic. Totally. Nutritious? Not really, no. But absolutely crave inducing. Your friends will love them. You will love them. You must make them.

cooking challenge week eighteen: thai green curry

This challenge is technically easy - the trick is getting the balance of flavours right. I personally like curries that are fresh, robust but with only a kick of spice, rather than an overwhelming hit of heat.

You will need:

For the curry:

2 tins coconut milk
Selection of vegetables, including broccoli, mushrooms, tofu, bean sprouts, carrots, mangetout.
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons light soya sauce

For the paste:

6 small green birdseye chillis (whole)
3 cloves garlic
about 3cm length ginger, sliced
1 cup loosely chopped coriander, including stems
2 lemongrass stalks, sliced (just the soft core)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander

What to do:

Put all the ingredients for the paste into a food processor and blitz until the consistency of pesto. Leave for a few minutes whilst you prepare/chop/slice your vegetables.

Boil or steam your vegetables for around 3 minutes. You don't want them to be too al dente, as they will get a few extra minutes cooking time in the curry.

Fry off some oil in a large frying pan/wok over moderate heat. Add onion and garlic, and tofu/seafood/chicken (if using). Fry until browned. Add the curry paste and stir constantly over moderate heat until fragrant. Pour in the tins of coconut milk and stir thoroughly. Allow to heat until simmering, then add vegetables and season with fish sauce, sugar and soya sauce.

Cook for another two minutes. Serve with steamed rice.

thai-tastic

As you know, the cooking challenges have been coming fast and furiously so that I can keep the recipes flowing whilst abroad, and this means we have been eating almost more than humanly possible. As an antedote to the rich, creamy European meals we both love, I decided to make a clean and spicy curry for this week's challenge. We both adore Thai food, and have lived within 100 metres of a thai restaurant in every one of our homes.

We started off with prawn toast - a real favourite, and another surprisingly simple dish to prepare. Keep in mind, I don't have a food processor, and only the most basic of kitchen appliances, but as long as you have a sharp knife, you'll be able to easily whip these up yourself. Recipe coming in the next few days!

The curry turned out really nicely. I worked with the vegies that were locally sourced, and I think any combination would have worked well. I really like loads of broccoli, cauliflower and potato in my curry.

For dessert, we had a coconut and strawberry cocktail. Why not combine our sweets with some vodka, at the end of the evening!?

Happy cooking!
dd.x