Rhubarb And Yoghurt Cake

I love making a good cake and school holidays has been the perfect time for me to do some baking with the kids. They love helping to measure out the ingredients and mix it all together, but the best part is licking the spoon! I used to love doing that as a kid too. Like mother, like daughter!

The other day I picked up a big bunch of rhubarb from the clearance table at the fruit shop. I went in for two things, but came out with cauliflower, a bag of yellow capsicums, purple carrots and rhubarb. You can't take me anywhere!

Last time I cooked with rhubarb it was in a Jamie Oliver recipe with pork. See that recipe here. It was absolutely delicious, but I knew that I wanted to make something sweet with it this time. I was going to make a lovely tart with ricotta and lemon rind, but thought that a good old-fashioned cake might go down better with the mums and kids coming over for a play date this morning.

The yoghurt makes the cake lovely and moist and gives it a slight tartness. If you wanted a slightly sweeter version, use vanilla yoghurt instead of natural, or one of the gourmet flavoured yoghurts with a flavour that you think will match the rhubarb well. The brown sugar also gives a beautiful richness and molasses-y flavour to the cake. If you don't have vanilla sugar to sprinkle over the top, just use extra brown sugar or even just caster sugar.

I'm guessing that the cake was a hit with everyone this morning, given how quickly it was demolished!

I hope you enjoy baking this cake too.

Rhubarb And Yoghurt Cake

60g butter, at room temperature

1 tsp finely grated lemon rind

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup SR flour

1 cup plain flour

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup natural yoghurt

A bunch of rhubarb, ends trimmed and cut into 2cm pieces (I had 10 sticks)

1 Tbs vanilla sugar

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees.

Grease and line a 23cm round tin.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or using hand beaters, cream the butter, sugar and lemon rind until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each one. Add the vanilla with the last egg.

Fold in the sifted flours and yoghurt. The mixture will be quite thick.

Stir in the chopped rhubarb to combine.

Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and spread to flatten the top.

Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the top.

Bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

Enjoy with a nice cup of tea or coffee :-)

Roast Turkey Shanks

It's been a busy week in the eat quaff laugh household and I haven't had much chance to sit down at the computer and write. With my parents over and school holidays in full swing, there has been plenty of baking, eating and drinking going on, but no time to blog.

Yesterday I came across some turkey shanks at the supermarket and knew that I just had to create something delicious with them. The fact that the weather had turned cold again made it almost irresistible to slow roast them. I love turkey, but generally only eat it at Christmas. I've certainly never had turkey shanks before, so was intrigued as to how they would turn out. I needn't have worried, as they were delicious.

After slow roasting, like lamb shanks, for 2 hours, the meat was tender and falling off the bone. Being the dark meat of the thigh, it had a stronger flavour than you would normally expect from turkey breast. I didn't want to overwhelm the flavour of the turkey, so I simply cooked it in onion, garlic and chicken stock. Now that I know that the shanks have a stronger flavour, I might try a tomato and wine based sauce next time.

I served my shanks with some lovely steamed asparagus and roasted cauliflower 'steak' topped with a panko crumb and sesame crumble. I had some left over sweet potato and cashew dip in the fridge that I spread on top too, but you could equally use pesto or just grated cheese and bread crumbs.

I was really impressed with the turkey and will definitely cook it again. The slow cooked meat would be lovely shredded and tossed through a salad, pasta or risotto. For a winter comfort dish, serve with creamy mash or polenta. Yum! The Steggles website has a number of recipes for different cuts of turkey, that sound great too.

Slow Roasted Turkey Shanks With Cauliflower Steak

2 turkey shanks

1 onion, cut into quarters and thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2 cups of chicken stock

1/2 a cauliflower (you won't need all of it)

1/4 cup pesto or dip

1 Tbs panko crumbs or regular bread crumbs

1 tsp sesame seeds

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Steamed asparagus, or other green vegetable, to serve

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees.

Heat a drizzle of oil in a fry pan over medium heat until hot. 

Add the turkey shanks and brown on all sides.  Season to taste.

Remove the shanks to an oven proof casserole dish with a lid.

Add the onion and garlic to the hot pan and gently fry until it begins to soften but doesn't brown.

Add the onion mixture to the shanks and then pour over the chicken stock.

Place in the oven and cook for about 2 hours, or until the meat starts to pull away from the bone.

Every half hour, turn the shanks so that the other side is in the stock, keeping the meat moist and helping it to cook evenly.

For the cauliflower, cut the piece in half and then cut a 2cm thick slice from each centre piece, to make two 'steaks'.

Place on a baking tray and drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until the cauliflower starts to soften.

Remove from the oven, spread with dip or pesto and sprinkle with sesame seeds and panko crumbs. 

Drizzle with a little more oil and return to the oven for another 10 minutes, or until the cauliflower is cooked through and the crumbs have browned.

To serve, place one shank, one cauliflower steak and a bundle of asparagus spears on each plate. Spoon over some of the turkey cooking sauce and onion.

Enjoy!

And To Drink....

We picked up this bottle of 2006 Charles Melton Voices of Angels Shiraz when we were in the Barossa Valley about 5 years ago. It probably wasn't the best match to have with the turkey shanks, but it certainly was a delicious wine. Having a bit of age on it, the tannins had softened and it had become a beautifully complex wine with some oaky spiciness, but still with plum and red berry characteristics. I could quite easily have drunk this wine without having any food with it at all!

My husband felt like a nicer red wine with dinner, and being a Shiraz fan, this was his selection. The turkey was really quite meaty and being dark meat, rather than white breast meat, it had a stronger flavour than I would have expected. A white wine, even an aged Chardonnoy, wouldn't have quite worked either. I think probably a Grenache or even a Merlot, with lots of fruit flavours, but without much tannin, would have been better.

Even though this Shiraz wasn't the perfect match, it did still have characteristics that were lovely with the meal. If I had cooked the turkey with tomatoes and red wine, it would have been wonderful!

Fancy Chicken And Salad

As well as being the first birthday of eat quaff laugh this week, I've also had my parents over to stay, so it's been a great chance to cook up some nice meals and open some lovely wines.

I picked up the recipe for last night's dinner years ago, and I've finally got around to making it.

The vincotto and orange glaze on the chicken was beautiful - slightly sweet, but with a hint of bitterness as well. Served with the rocket, feta, red grape and caramelised walnut salad, it was just delicious. I ended up only needed a very small amount of the glaze, so you could either make half the recipe, or put it in the fridge to use another time.

I think this recipe is definitely going to become my go-to dinner in summer. While the walnuts do take a bit more time to prepare, you can make them in advance. I didn't use up all of mine in the salad, as I thought it might make it too sweet, so now I have leftovers to make a fancy dessert. Never a bad thing!

For a more interesting salad to take to a BBQ or gathering, make the salad by itself, without the chicken. Much more interesting than potato salad or coleslaw. Instead of chicken, you could always use lamb or pork. Crispy skinned duck fillets would be fantastic too.

With the warmer weather on the way, now is the perfect time to try this for a weekend lunch or dinner.

Vincotto Chicken With Rocket, Grape and Caramelised Walnut Salad

Caramelised Walnuts

100g walnuts

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/4 cup water

Cover a baking tray with a sheet of baking paper.

Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan.

Stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved, then simmer over medium heat without stirring.

Watch the mixture carefully as it can easily turn from clear to burnt in the blink of an eye!

Remove from the heat when it turns golden brown, add the walnuts and stir to coat in the caramel.

Quickly pour the walnuts and caramel onto the baking tray and spread out into a single layer.

Allow to cool, then break into small pieces.

Glaze

1/2 cup vincotto

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1 1/2 Tbs honey

1 galric clove, finely chopped

1 tsp soy sauce (or to taste)

Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat.

Stir until the honey dissolves, then increase the heat and simmer for about 1 minute.

Taste and add extra soy sauce, if needed.

Dressing

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1/2 Tbs verjuice or white wine vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a small jar and shake to combine.

4 chicken breasts

3 cups of rocket leaves

1 medium bunch of red grapes, stems removed

100g soft feta (Danish is perfect), diced

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Using a meat mallet, beat the chicken into roughly 1 1/2cm thick pieces.

Place chicken on a baking tray and brush liberally with the glaze. Turn and brush the other side.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

During cooking, brush with the glaze another couple of times.

In a large bowl, combine rocket, grapes and feta.

Gently toss to combine with the dressing.

To serve, place salad on the plates, top with a handful of walnuts and one piece of chicken.

Enjoy!

And To Drink....

Last night we were a bit greedy and decided to open two bottles of wine. A bit fancy on a school night,  I know!

Mum and Dad live interstate, so I don't get the chance to see them very often, so opening good wine when they visit makes perfect sense. Champagne is obligatory for family dinners and what better bottle to open than a Champagne Jacquesson Cuvee no 735. This wine was based on fruit from 2007, so had a few years of extra complexity to it.

This Champagne was delicious! Yeasty and toasty with some acidity and lemony flavours. It wasn't overly heavy and was the perfect aperitif to have with some cheese before dinner. 

I could certainly drink a lot of this Champagne!

The second bottle we opened was a Turkey Flat limited release 5 month skin contact Roussanne. This wine was only released to the public last week and I managed to snap up three bottles, which were delivered yesterday. The fruit came from the Barossa Valley in South Australia.

Having 5 months skin contact, made this a lovely golden colour with beautiful stone fruit, honey and quince characteristics. There was still some acidity, but the overwhelming flavour was of being in an orchard at spring time. The sweetness perfectly complemented the glaze on the chicken, the caramelised walnuts and the salty feta.

This was a wonderful wine combination, that I hadn't even planned. I'm so glad I have another two bottles left to experiment with on another occasion.

Happy Birthday eat quaff laugh

Happy Birthday to me...
Happy Birthday to me...
Happy Birthday eat quaff laugh...
Happy Birthday to me...

How time flies. I can't believe that it's already been 1 year since I started on my blogging journey. After meeting up with some other Melbourne bloggers on the weekend, I have realised just how much I have to learn!

Over the past year I've shared with you some of the food and drinks we've enjoyed and I hope that you have enjoyed reading about them. Maybe you've even had a go at cooking one of my recipes or have tracked down one of the wines I've written about.

Thank you so much for joining me on my journey.

To say thanks and Happy Birthday to me, have a piece of lemon slice. Nothing fancy, very old school, but yummy anyway. If I can resist eating the other half tin of condensed milk, I'm planning to try making another slice using mandarin instead. I think that would be lovely too.

Here's to many more birthdays and many more delicious meals and wonderful wines :-)

Lemon Slice

250g plain sweet biscuits

1 cup desiccated coconut

1/2 tin condensed milk

125g butter, melted

Finely grated rind of 1 lemon

Prepare a 20x30cm slice tin by lining it with baking paper.

Place biscuits in a food processor and whiz until they are finely crushed. If you don't have a food processor, put the biscuits in a bag and crush them with a rolling pin.

In a large bowl, combine biscuit crumbs, coconut, condensed milk, butter and lemon rind.

Stir well to combine and make sure all the mixture is wet.

Press the mixture into the tin with the back of a spoon, making sure you even it out and spread it well into the corners.

Spread the icing over the top and refrigerate until set.

Cut into squares to serve.

Icing

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

1 1/2 Tbs lemon juice

Combine icing sugar and lemon juice in a bowl and mix until combined. 

You want the icing to be quite thick, so add extra icing sugar, if needed.

Purple Cauliflower Soup

I'm always looking for new fruits and vegetables at the local shops and love when I stumble across something that's a little bit out of the ordinary. The purple cauliflower I found this week certainly was a bit different.

Like a little kid, I was attracted to the bright pinky purple colour. Not knowing if it was going to taste any different to the regular variety of cauliflower, I just knew I had to buy it and turn it into purple soup!

I did a bit of research into purple cauliflowers to find out about them and apparently they are actually one of four naturally occurring coloured cauliflowers. White is the regular colour, but purple, green and orange are also available. The colours come from small amounts of other minerals and elements. Purple contains an antioxidant called anthocyanin, which is also present in red cabbage and red wine. As soon as I read this, I knew I'd like it!

The orange variety contains beta carotene, also found in carrots, and the green variety can be either a hybrid of broccoli and cauliflower, which are both from the same family, or a mutant form of white cauliflower that produces chlorophyll. The science nerd in me found this really interesting!

I didn't want to do anything too fancy with my purple cauliflower as I wanted it's beautiful colour to come through. The soup was perfect after a big weekend of eating and drinking and great on a cold night with some fresh crusty bread. There was a little more sweetness and a slight nuttiness to the flavour, which was just delicious. I garnished mine with some creme fraiche and dill, that was left over from the weekend, but you could use cream or parsley, if you had it. A few toasted macadamia nuts would give a wonderful crunch too.

If you stumble across coloured cauliflower, make sure you buy it and have a go at creating something delicious. I'll definitely be eating my coloured veggies from now on!

Purple Cauliflower Soup

1 purple cauliflower, outer leaves removed, stem and florets chopped into large pieces

A drizzle of olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 onion, chopped

6 cups of chicken or vegie stock

Salt and pepper to taste.

Creme fraiche and dill to garnish

Heat a drizzle of oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.

Add the garlic and onion and cook until starting to soften, but not brown.

Add the cauliflower and stir to coat in the oil. Cook for 5 minutes, or until it just starts to soften.

Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the cauliflower is soft.

Allow to cool slightly, then blitz with a stick blender into a smooth soup. Season to taste.

Serve the beautiful purple soup with a drizzle of creme fraiche, a sprinkling of dill sprigs and some fresh crusty bread or toast.

Enjoy!