easy recipes

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Tiramisu – Intolerance Friendly Kitchen – Georgia McDermott

Intolerance Friendly Kitchen

**Images courtesy of Georgia McDermott**

Tiramisu: because if cream, carbs, coffee and booze can’t lift your spirits, there’s probably not much that will. Tiramisu traditionally uses mascarpone and whipped eggs for the creamy layer and rum or Marsala for the alcohol. This version uses lactose-free whipping cream, gin or a FODMAP-friendly
spirit of your choice, and gluten-free savoiardi to keep the FODMAP content low.

Tiramisu

LOW LACTOSE
FODMAP FRIENDLY
GLUTEN FREE
Serves: 6–8
Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time: 30–40 minutes


FOR THE SAVOIARDI:
(makes 30–40 biscuits)
4 extra-large eggs, separated
110 g (½ cup) caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
80 g (½ cup) fine white rice flour
60 g (½ cup) tapioca flour
50 g (½ cup) almond meal
40 g (¼ cup) icing sugar (to finish)


FOR THE COFFEE MIXTURE:
125 ml (½ cup) fresh espresso coffee
2–3 tablespoons gin or FODMAP-friendly spirit of choice
310 ml (1 ¼ cups) hot water


FOR THE CREAM MIXTURE:
500 g (2 tubs) full-cream, lactose-free whipping cream
80 g (½ cup) pure icing sugar


TO FINISH:
70% cocoa solids dark chocolate, to grate unsweetened cocoa powder, to dust

METHOD
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 large baking trays with baking paper. I like to lightly oil the trays first so the paper doesn’t move when I pipe. Place flours in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Combine egg yolks, 55 g (¼ cup) caster sugar and the vanilla bean paste in a large bowl or stand mixer. Using
electric beaters, beat on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5–10 minutes.

Place egg whites in a separate clean, dry bowl. Using clean electric beaters, beat until the whites become frothy, then gradually add the remaining caster sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Gently fold half the egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture. Repeat with remaining half until just combined. Gently fold
flour mixture into egg mixture until just combined.

Place your piping bag in a tall glass, and spoon mixture into the bag. I generally use a ziplock bag with a 2 cm hole cut in one corner. Twist the top to seal. Pipe mixture onto prepared trays to create roughly 10 cm × 3 cm biscuits. Sprinkle with icing sugar.

Bake savoiardi for 8 minutes, then swap the trays and bake for another 5 minutes. Turn the oven down to 150°C and bake for another 10 minutes or until the savoiardi are crisp or tops are golden. Set aside to cool completely on trays.

To make coffee mixture, combine all ingredients in a wide, shallow bowl. Set aside.

To make the cream mixture, combine cream and icing sugar in a large bowl and, using electric beaters, beat until light and fluffy.

Construct: Quickly soak one savoiardi at a time in the coffee liquor mixture. The crunchier the savoiardi, the longer you can leave them to soak. Arrange the soaked savoiardi in the base of a 1.6 litre capacity serving dish.

Once you have completely covered the base of the dish, top the savoiardi with half the cream mixture. It is more important to completely cover the top of the tiramisu (for aesthetics, anyway) so make sure you save enough for that.

Top the cream layer with a generous grating of dark chocolate (I like to use a microplane). I think this chocolate layer makes the difference between an okay tiramisu and an amazing one. Repeat with another layer of savoiardi (any leftover coffee mixture can be drizzled over the biscuits here) and then
carefully spread over the remaining cream mixture. Finish with a super generous grating of the dark chocolate and dust with cocoa powder. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve (see notes).


NOTES
This recipe for savoiardi should make close to 40 biscuits, which is the perfect quantity for a
1.6 litre/28 cm dish. I have found that savoiardi batter often varies in the amount of biscuits
it yields. I recommend keeping enough ingredients for another batch on hand, just in case. If
your batch comes out with significantly fewer, make another half or whole batch to avoid
getting caught out later. They keep well in an airtight container and are delicious dipped in
espresso. Tiramisu is best served the next day, when the flavours have had a chance to meld
and the cream has set nicely. Leftover tiramisu keeps, covered, in the fridge for 1–2 days, if you can restrain yourself for that long.

** My Note – For those who are time poor – I have found GF savoiardi biscuits in my local supermarket which I have used in this recipe. YUM

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Vegan Breakfast Banana Bread – Intolerance Friendly Kitchen – Georgia McDermott

Intolerance Friendly Kitchen

**Images courtesy of Georgia McDermott**

The year 2020 taught us a few things, and one of them was the importance of a good banana bread. This version is refined sugar free, dairy free and vegan, which all sounds pretty good to me. While the quantity of ripe banana in this bread is within FODMAP limits, it might not agree with some. If you don’t get along with ripe bananas, use just ripe or slightly under-ripe ones instead. I find it can be helpful
to roast these first to bring out their sweetness and flavour. p

LACTOSE FREE
GUM FREE
EGG FREE
VEGAN
FODMAP FRIENDLY
GLUTEN FREE
DAIRY FREE
Serves: 8–10
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 40–55 minutes

Vegan Breakfast Banana Bread

200 g (1 ¼ cups) fine white rice flour
60 g (½ cup) tapioca flour
2 ¼ teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
200 g banana, ripe or just ripe

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 21.5 cm x 11.5 cm (base measurement) loaf pan.

Place flours, baking powder and soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl and whisk to combine.

Mash the banana in a medium bowl, keeping some larger chunks for texture. Mix in the dry ingredients.

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. Stir in any additions here if using (see notes). You can top the bread with some thinly sliced banana coins or
slices, but this is optional.

Pour the mixture into the pan, sitting it on a baking tray. Cook for 40 minutes, or until the top is golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. If necessary, cover with foil and continue to cook for a further 10–15 minutes, or until cooked through.

Set loaf aside to cool in pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Slice and serve with vegan, FODMAP-friendly yoghurt if desired.


NOTES
This banana bread will keep in an airtight container for up to 3–4 days.
You can mix in several things here: chocolate, nuts or berries. Just make
sure any additions are vegan, low FODMAP and gluten free if they need

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Strawberry Crumble: Lunch at 10 Pomegranate St – Felicita Sala

 

Author and Illustrator: Felicita Sala

Publisher: Scribble 

Piccolo Angelo Photography (@piccolo_angelo_photography)

3 punnets of strawberries

1 tbsp lemon juice

200 g flour

1/2 cup slivered almonds

80g sugar

100g butter

creme fraiche to serve

 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Cut strawberries in half and place in a small oven tin with lemon juice and a spoonful of sugar.

Cut butter into small cubes and mix with flour and sugar in a bowl . Rub the mixture with your fingers until you have a crumbly mix, like wet sand.

Cover strawberries with the crumble mix, sprinkle almond son top.

Bake 40 minutes until golden.

 

Serve with creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream.

 

 

 

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Black Bean Soup: Lunch at 10 Pomegranate Street- Felicita Sala

Author and Illustrator: Felicita Sala

Publisher: Scribble 

Piccolo Angelo Photography (@piccolo_angelo_photography) 

 

Black Bean Soup

3 cans of Black Beans ( or 750 grams cooked and drained)

2 garlic cloves minced

1 red onion

1 tsp crushed cumin

1/2 green bell pepper (capsicum)

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp oregano

500ml stock (or bean cooking liquid)

4 strips of bacon chopped

juice of 2 limes

 

Finely chop onion and bell pepper. Heat up a large pot. Add some olive oil and fry bacon for 2 minutes, until brown.

Add onion and bell pepper and cook on gentle heat for 5 minutes.

Now add garlic, cumin, oregano and tomato paste. Stir and cook another minute.

Add the beans and the stock and season with salt. Simmer for 1/2 an hour stirring occasionally.

Add lime juice at the end and serve with rice and some coriander (optional).

 

Serves 4-6

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Marinated Mackerel: Adriatico – Paola Bacchia

Adriatico_cover

From Adriatico: Stories and recipes from Italy’s Adriatic Coast by Paola Bacchia

(Smith Street Books, September 2018 – AU$ 55, NZ$ 65)

 

Marinated mackerel

Sgombri in aceto

 Marinated mackerel

SERVES 4 AS AN APPETISER

300 g (10½ oz) mackerel fillets (about 900 g/2 lb before cleaning)

250–500 ml (8½ –17 fl oz/ 1–2 cups) white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons finely chopped mint

1 large clove garlic, finely chopped

3 tablespoons good-quality extra virgin olive oil

sea salt

 

Wrap the mackerel fillets in a clean piece of fine white cloth (I use pieces of old cotton sheets but you could also use muslin or a tea towel) and tie the ends with string or elastic bands, so it looks like a bon-bon. Place the parcel in a saucepan filled with room-temperature water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 2 minutes, then remove the parcel and allow most of the water to drip off it.

 

Place the parcel of mackerel in a medium ceramic or glass bowl and pour in enough vinegar to cover the fish completely. Set aside for 1 hour.

 

Combine the mint, garlic and olive oil in a bowl and set aside to steep.

 

After an hour, remove the parcel from the vinegar and open the ends. Gently remove the fish fillets (take care as they may stick to the cloth and break). They should be mostly white; if they are still very pink, drop them directly into the vinegar and check them in 5–10 minutes. It’s fine if they are pale pink.

 

Pat the fish dry with paper towel and place on a serving plate. Drizzle with the infused olive oil and season to taste with sea salt.

 

Authors note:

Fresh mackerel are beautiful fish to look at, with their large eyes and colourful silvery skin. They are plentiful and easily caught in spring, when they approach the shore to eat tiny anchovies.

 

You might think that marinating the poached fillets in vinegar would make the flavour overwhelmingly acidic, but it’s quite the opposite. It removes any excessive fishiness from the delicate fillets and – when dressed with extra virgin olive oil, garlic and mint – imparts a well-balanced lightness. It is the kind of appetiser you would want to share on the terrace with close friends on a warm summer night over a bottle of crisp Fiano, a white wine typical of the Gargano.

 

I usually ask my fishmonger to clean the innards from the mackerel, and then fillet them at home, although you could always see if your fishmonger would do the filleting part too. Make sure you remove any bones with fine tweezers – there aren’t many but it’s worth taking the trouble. If you can’t find mackerel, use large sardine fillets instead.

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Review: My Asian Kitchen – Jennifer Joyce

My Asian Kitchen cover art

My Asian Kitchen

Jennifer Joyce

Murdoch Books

ISBN: 9781760522704

 

Description:

A celebration of modern Asian cooking, in 100 healthy, flavour-packed traditional and modern dishes

 

Bao buns, pho, sushi, poke bowls, gyoza, ramen and kimchi have devotees on every high street – now Jennifer Joyce shows how easy it is to create these zingy, fresh, healthy flavours at home. From grilled sticky skewers and steak tacos, salads, rice bowls and dumplings, to prawn katsu bao and miso-glazed ribs, this is an adventure in the dazzling diversity of modern Asian cooking. Jennifer’s exquisitely simple recipes, no-nonsense explanation of ingredients, hand-drawn diagrams and beautiful photographs are all you need to start cooking in your very own Asian Kitchen.

 

Author bio:

Jennifer Joyce is a successful food writer, author and stylist based in London. She is American-born but has been resident in the UK for more than 24 years. Working for leading UK magazines and newspapers, such as BBC Good Food, Waitrose Kitchen and Jamie Magazine as well as The Guardian and Daily Telegraph, she draws on her unique dual talents of creating mouth-watering recipes and styling the dishes for photography. Leiths School of Food and Wine in London hosts Jennifer’s popular cookery classes and she has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows in the UK and US, including the BBC’s Today and Good Food Show Live. My Asian Kitchen is Jennifer’s eleventh book. Her previous titles for Murdoch Books are My Street Food Kitchen, Meals in Heels and Skinny Meals in Heels. 

 

https://www.murdochbooks.com.au/browse/books/cooking-food-drink/food-drink/My-Asian-Kitchen-Jennifer-Joyce-9781760522704  

 

 

My View:

This is my new go to Asian cookbook. My Asian Kitchen has beautiful look; clean, modern with an almost minimalist look to it – the food is the show piece. The recipes are accessible – most ingredients readily available in the supermarket. There are great instructional notes on how to make/fold/roll: spring rolls, Vietnamese rice paper rolls, Bao buns etc and a very useful glossary.

 

 

 

This book has all my favourites: Prawn laksa, Japanese vegetable miso curry, fried rice, sliders, poke bowls, ramen, rice paper rolls and so much more. Feeling hungry just looking through this 🙂

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Review – Food Hacker, Clever Cooking For Busy People: Rosie Mansfield

Food Hacker by Rosie Mansfield cover art

Food Hacker 

Clever Cooking for Busy People

Rosie Mansfield

Penguin Random House Australia

Ebury Australia

ISBN: 9780143788782

 

Description:

A recipe book of innovative food hacks to make preparing delicious, simple meals quick and easy.

Rosie Mansfield is a food hacker. She’s also a professional nutritionist, and has created an innovative and fun recipe book of hacks – simplified recipes to make cooking, quick, easy and stress-free.

These kitchen tricks and shortcuts will inspire you to whip up homemade snacks and meals that will nourish a long and happy life. Every recipe is nutritionally balanced and delicious, and designed to be as straightforward as possible to fit into busy lifestyles. Recipes have been stripped down to their bare essentials – this is the most basic of food preparation using equipment and ingredients we all know and love. Learn how to whip up cheap, fast and simple weekday meals in a jiffy, like rustling up an omelette in a mug, nachos in a sandwich bag or pad thai in just one pan.

All the nutrients, half the time and less washing up.

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/food-hacker-9780143788782

 

My View:

This little book is  a jem.  The recipes are easy to follow, quick and tasty. At last a book that caters for one serving 🙂

 

Check out the link discover more about Rosie and to score a free recipe extracted form the book.

 

 

 

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Honey Mustard Glazed Pork Chops: Julie Goodwin’s Essential Cookbook – Julie Goodwin

Julie Goodwin’s Essential Cookbook ($39.99), published by Hachette Australia.

Honey mustard glazed pork chops
Serves 4 Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes + marinating time

⅓ cup honey
⅓ cup whole grain mustard
⅓ cup white wine
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 pork loin chops
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup cream

1 Combine the honey, mustard, wine and garlic in a bowl. Add the pork chops,
ensuring they are coated all over, and marinate for 10 minutes.
2 Heat the oil in a large chef pan over medium-high heat. Remove the chops
from the bowl, reserving the marinade, and cook for about 4–5 minutes on
each side or until golden and just cooked through. Remove from the pan and
rest under foil.
3 Place the reserved marinade in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Cook
for 2–3 minutes until reduced by half. Stir in the cream and simmer for about
2 minutes or until thickened to a saucy consistency.
4 Drizzle the chops with the honey mustard sauce and serve.

Honey mustard glazed pork chops p.54

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Chocolate Coated Honeycomb: Chocolate – Kirsten Tibballs

Chocolate - Cover

Images and recipes from Chocolate by Kirsten Tibballs (Murdoch Books) RRP $49.99 available now in all good bookstores and online.

Chocolate-Coated Honeycomb

Serves: 6–8  Difficulty: Easy      Gluten-free

Honeycomb is simple to make but there are a few tips to ensure you create a perfect result every time. When adding in the bicarbonate of soda, just whisk it until combined or else you’ll knock out all the air. The honeycomb needs to be coated in chocolate shortly after it has cooled to avoid it absorbing moisture and going soft.

 

Chocolate Coated Honeycomb

225 g (8 oz) caster (superfine) sugar

55 g (2 oz) honey

85 g (3 oz) liquid glucose

10 g (3⁄8 oz/2 teaspoons) bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), sifted

480 g (1 lb 1 oz) good-quality milk chocolate, coarsely chopped

 

Place a large sheet of baking paper on a heatproof surface. Put the sugar, honey, glucose and 40 ml (1¼ fl oz/2 tablespoons) water in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until it starts to boil. Once boiling, stop stirring the mixture. When the temperature reaches 157°C (315°F) — if you don’t have a thermometer the bubbles on the surface should reach a light golden colour — add the sifted bicarbonate of soda and whisk just a few times to incorporate. Pour the honeycomb mixture onto the baking paper and don’t move it until it is cold.

Temper the milk chocolate. Break the honeycomb up into small pieces and mix it through the tempered chocolate until well coated. Spread the honeycomb on a tray lined with baking paper and leave at room temperature to set. If your room temperature is too warm, place in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Break the honeycomb sheet up in large chunks and serve or wrap in cellophane or sealed packaging to present as a gift. This has a 4-week shelf life if left in a single sheet. Once broken up, it will need to be eaten within a few days.