November is birthday season in the Hungry House. Yesterday, Miss 8 became Miss 9 and in less than a fortnight, Miss 10 will morph into Miss 11. Between these two birthdays we will be hosting a double birthday party. What is the collective noun for a large group of little girls? A squawk? A shriek? A giggle? Whatever it is, I feel the need to warn the neighbours before 25 under 11s descend upon my house. Continue reading
Before I start this recipe a confession: I dislike peaches with a passion. Growing up we had a peach tree in the front yard and my brother and his mates took great delight in throwing over-ripe peaches onto the road for cars to drive over. SAfter being driven over multiple times the smell of ripe, pungent fruit would linger and linger. That smell would be enough to turn anyone off for life… Continue reading
I love an easy, no churn ice cream recipe! Even if you are living in a part of the world currently covered in snow and frost, I promise you that your guests would be thrilled to be served a bowl of home made chocolate, rum and raising ice cream. Continue reading
Summer in Sydney is just too hot. Balmy days. Hot nights with no drop in temperature. Cooking is just too hard and dinner is often salad or something equally refreshing.
While I won’t go near the stove for make a meal I will happily prepare something sweet. Continue reading
These are the cutest incarnations of lamingtons I ever did see! For non-Aussies, a lamington is a sponge cake coated in chocolate icing then drizzled in coconut. Super yum. Continue reading
As I’ve mentioned before, summer and I are not friends. I don’t like heat, humidity, flies, insects, sweating. Obviously I shouldn’t be living in steamy Sydney but here I am. And as much as I adore baking it is sometimes just too damn hot to turn the oven.
That’s where this beauty of a dessert comes in. I found the recipe in a back issue of the wonderful delicious magazine and had, serendipitously, made meringues a few days earlier. Continue reading
A recent excursion to Bilpin in NSW introduced me to the exquisiteness of fresh apples. When I say fresh, I mean picked from the tree moments before eating. I am guilty of popping into the supermarket on my lunchbreak to stock up on apples for my daughters’ lunchboxes but after trying these amazingly fresh apples I won’t be doing that again.
I was lucky enough to be invited recently on an ‘apple adventure’ day in Bilpin, a pretty little hamlet outside of Sydney, by the lovely Belly Rumbles. Check out her blog here: http://bellyrumbles.com/
Isn’t it great?
Anyway a group of food bloggers did a tour of an orchard, where it was all systems go in the packing sheds.
Then we visited a pick your own orchard, which was so much fun. We were given delightful little straw baskets to fill with produce, and I felt quite relaxed and happy as I chose the most wonderful apples from the tree.
The difference between freshly picked Australian apples and the often floury, picked-months-ago-and-kept-in-cold-storage numbers from the supermarket couldn’t be more stark.
Greengrocer 1, big chains 0.
I used some of these beauties to create an easy apple ice-cream by the fabulous Donna Hay. The Hungry Dad declared it one of the best he’s ever had, which is strong praise indeed.
The best thing is, you don’t even need an ice cream maker – pretty cool, huh?
GATHER:
2 cups grated apples [Donna specified Granny Smiths but I used red delicious]
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
3 eggs
2 egg yolks, extra
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup caster sugar [I reduced Donna’s quantity of 1 cup]
2 cups pouring cream
crumble
½ cup slow cooking rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
100g chilled butter, chopped
2 generous shakes of cinnamon and allspice
LET’S GET TO IT:
Place apple, cinnamon, lemon zest and juice in a non-metallic bowl, toss and set aside.
In a large ceramic or glass bowl put eggs, extra yolks, vanilla and sugar and place over a pan of simmering water.
Using hand-held electric beaters whip for six to eight minutes, until pale and thick.
Remove from heat and cool slightly.
Place cream in bowl of electric mixer and whip until stiff peaks form. Using a big silver spoon gently fold in the egg mixture, stirring until incorporated.
Gently fold in apple.
Pour into two litre metal cake tine, cover with foil and freeze overnight.
Serve, then top with crumble.
crumble:
Place flour, sugar and oats in a bowl and rub in butter until it is the texture of lumpy sand. Sprinkle over a dash of cinnamon and allspice.
Tip onto baking pan & bake for around 15 minutes at 150C or until golden. Cool before using.
