Yoyos - Just like Nana used to make.

Okay, so I didn't create this recipe. It's from the classic Edmonds Cookbook that you'll find in most NZ households. It is however one that I've been enjoying for as long as I can remember. I have the best memories of sitting on the kitchen bench at my Nana's house, helping to roll the dough into little balls and pressing them down with the back of a fork. Then once they were cooled helping to ice them. You can often find a similar variation of these biscuits in cafe's called melting moments. 

Basically they're a delicate shortbread filled with butter icing. Yoyo's however have the addition of custard powder which gives them a really tasty creamy twist. My Nana used to add a tiny bit of lemon to the icing, and in this variation I've added passionfruit, you could easily swap the passionfruit for 2 tbsp of lemon juice instead, depending on the season.

See below for the recipe.... as these are the perfect rainy day baking treat. 

Rainy days call for Passionfruit Yoyos aka Melting Moments - just like nana used to make #meltingmoments #familytraditions #rainydays #rainybakes #baking #yoyos #cookies #passionfruit #custard #iwanttoeatthemall #justlikegrandmausedtomake #okayiimprovisedonthepassionfruit 

Post shared by Stef Parker (@sparkmypantry) on Feb 17, 2017 at 4:27pm PST

YOYOS

Ingredients (makes 15-20 biscuits - 30-40 balls):

• ​175g butter, softened
• ¼ cup icing sugar
• ¼ tsp vanilla essence
• 1½ cups Edmonds standard flour
• ¼ cup Edmonds custard powder

Butter filling:

• 50g butter, softened
• Pulp from 1 passionfruit (or 2 tbsp lemon juice) 
• 2 Tbsp Edmonds custard powder
• ½ cup icing sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Line two baking trays with baking paper.

Cream the butter, icing sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.

Sift the flour and custard powder together and mix with the creamed butter to form a soft dough.

Roll teaspoonfuls of the mixture into balls, place on the prepared trays and press down with a fork.

Bake for 15–20 minutes until lightly golden. Leave on the trays for a few minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the icing, simply beat all the filling ingredients together until light and fluffy. 

Once the biscuits are cooled sandwich them together with the butter icing. 

Enjoy - these delicate morsels won't last long! 

Pea and Ham Soup

I'm pretty sure that every family has a pea and ham soup recipe that's been handed down through the generations. Except mine... It's something I never ate as a child and for years couldn't work out what all the fuss was about. In the last few years however I've become quite a fan of the humble bacon hock and the powerful flavour hit is delivers when gently simmered away in this hearty warming soup. Despite never having it as a child, I know my children and their children will definitely be familiar with this recipe. Finally, I think I've perfected it! Let me know what you think. 

Ingredients (Serves 6):

• 4 tbsp oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tsp dried sage
• 1 leek, white part only, finely sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 400 grams of dried green split peas
• 10 peppercorns
• 1 bacon hock, or leftover ham bone - make sure it still has some meat on it though! I use freedom farms bacon hock, they're about $8 each and it has a decent amount of meat still on the bone. 
• 1 cup of frozen peas
• salt and pepper to taste
• buttered bread or toast to serve. 

In a large soup pot heat oil on a medium heat. Add onions, garlic and sage, saute gently for 3-5 minutes. Add the leek and carrots and continue cooking on a medium heat for another couple of minutes. 

Add the dried green split peas, peppercorns, bacon hock and cover with 2 Litres of water. Bring to a gentle boil before reducing heat to low and covering. 

Simmer for 2 - 2.5 hours stirring occasionally. You may need to top up the water if it starts to reduce too much. After 2 - 2.5 hours you'll notice the peas have begun to disintegrate. Perfect! 

Use tongs to remove the bacon bone from the soup and set aside to cool a little. Ladle about a third of the soup into a blender to whizz till smooth, return to the rest of the chunky soup before adding the cup of frozen peas. 

Simmer for another 3 - 5 minutes. Meanwhile, remove the meat from the pork bone and shred with a fork. 

Finally taste the soup, and if necessary add a little salt and pepper. Remember the bacon bone is already very salty, so it shouldn't need more than a teaspoon extra. 

Ladle soup into bowls and top with shredded meat. Serve with buttered bread or toast. Or if you're like me, add a smear of marmite to your toast as well, for an extra salty kick! 

Mum's "Meat Dish" Banana Cake

I call this "meat dish" banana cake because traditionally the recipe actually makes enough to bake it in a meat-dish, and usually we do. It's the perfect cake to whip up to feed a crowd and is always a pleaser with even the fussiest of eaters. I found the recipe in my mother-in-laws hand written recipe journal and this cake, along with the others in the journal have been feeding my husband and his brothers and cousins for decades. So rest assured, it has been rigorously quality assurance tested. 

If you don't fancy making one large tray cake, you could (as I did this time), bake two 22cm round cakes and either ice both, or layer them. I also had enough batter to make a dozen cupcakes, which I've popped in the freezer for another day. 

The chocolate chips were an optional extra that I tried this time, though my MIL wasn't too sure about me changing the recipe, it turned out just as luscious as always. 

You can ice it with cream cheese frosting, a chocolate buttercream, or as I did a simple lemon and/or chocolate icing sugar mixture. Mix 2 cups of sifted icing sugar with 2 tbsp melted butter, and enough liquid to form an icing of your desired consistency. For lemon icing, add lemon juice as the liquid, and for chocolate icing, sift 3-4 tbsp of cocoa powder in with the icing sugar, then add enough water or milk to form the paste. Spread onto the cooled cakes. 

Ingredients (to make one "meat dish" slab cake, or two 22cm round cakes and 12 cupcakes): 

• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 2 cups white sugar
• 7 overripe (practically black) bananas, lightly mashed
• 1 cup or 175 grams of chocolate chips (optional) 
• 3 cups of plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda 
• 225 grams melted butter

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and grease or line your cake tins. I always grease the sides and line the bottom with greaseproof paper, this means you'll never have any trouble removing the cake from the pan. 

Using an electric mixer (I used a kenwood cake mixer, but a hand mixer would work), beat the eggs and sugar until light light and fluffy, almost foamy - this is the most important bit for a good cake. Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder into another bowl. 

Add the bananas to the egg mix and beat well to combine, then add the chocolate chips, beat again. 

Pour the sifted dry ingredients on top and either on a low speed with your cake mixer, or with a wooden spoon fold the dry and wet ingredients until just combined (about 6 turns of your cake mixer), some flour may still be visible. Finally add the melted butter and mix again till everything is combined. 

Pour the batter into your prepared cake tins and put into a hot oven. 

Bake times vary depending on the size of your tin: for a large slab cake bake about 45 minutes, round cakes approximately 35 minutes, and cupcakes approximately 20 - 25 minutes. Just keep an eye on them and test with a skewer. When the skewer comes out clean the cakes are done, also, your nose will let you know when they are nearly done as the smell coming from the oven will be amazing. 

My assortment of cakes and mini-cakes...  

... which never last very long

Mac 'n' Cottage Cheese

It's coming to that time of year where we need to think of creative, but tasty ways to use up ALL of that ham. So here is my version of Mac 'n' Cheese. It's a little bit less fuss than standard mac 'n' cheese, because there's no white sauce to make, which makes it ideal to throw into the oven when you have a busy house. Plus the leftovers are delicious cold as well. To make it simply mix cooked pasta with sautéed onion, then stir through a basic mixture of cottage cheese, with a few generous handfuls of all that leftover ham of course, bake and devour. The below quantities serve four, but it can be easily doubled, or tripled to feed a crowd. 



Ingredients (serves 4) 

• 300g dried pasta, macaroni or spiral pasta are good shapes to use
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/2 green capsicum, diced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• handful of fresh thyme, or 1/2 tsp dried
• 250g tub of cottage cheese
• 1/3 cup of blue top milk 
• 2 large free range eggs
• 1 tsp salt 
• 1 tbsp cracked pepper
• leftover diced ham, about a cup full
• 1 tomato, thinly sliced
• 3 tbsp breadcrumbs
• 1/3 cup cheddar cheese, grated

To Serve: Salad and your favourite relish. 

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius and grease a lasagne dish (approx 18x25cm for this quantity).  

Cook pasta in rapidly boiling salted water for 1-2 minutes less than the packet directions. You want it to have a little bit left before it bakes. Drain and set aside. 

Over a low heat, sauté onions, capsicum and thyme in olive oil for 5 - 10 minutes until softened. 

In a large bowl beat cottage cheese, milk, and eggs with a fork. Add salt, pepper, ham, cooked pasta, and cooked onions and capsicum and mix till well combined.  

Spoon mixture into the greased lasagne dish and flatten with the back of the spoon. Layer sliced tomatoes on top. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs, then with grated cheese. 

Bake for 40 minutes until egg mix has set and it is golden on top. 

Now here's the hard part. Wait for 5 - 10 minutes before using a metal spatula to cut and scoop out slices. 

Serve with relish and a large salad. 

Enjoy. 

Spring Spaghetti with Garlic Almond Crumb

This is one of my favourite ways to eat spaghetti, aside from bolognaise or puttanesca. Okay, I love spaghetti, but this one is pretty special. It's a dry style as opposed to a sauce. Served with lightly fried broccoli, spring onions, add poached eggs, a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and then covered in the crunchy, spicy breadcrumbs. The breadcrumbs can be made in advance and set aside to cool. 

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 6 cloves of garlic 
• 1/2 cup of almonds 
• 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs - try panko crumbs if possible
• 2 tbsp olive oil 
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 400 grams dried spaghetti
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 - 4 spring onions, finely chopped on an angle
• 2 cups of broccoli florets
• 4 or 8 eggs
• 1 tbsp white vinegar 
• 1/3 cup finely grated parmesan (optional) 
• salt, pepper and olive oil, to serve

Peel and crush the garlic, roughly chop the almonds, then heat first measure of olive oil in a heavy based saucepan over a low heat. Add the garlic and almonds and sizzle, stirring for a few minutes, till cooked, but not burnt. Add the chilli, oregano, breadcrumbs and next measure of olive oil (approx 2 tbsp), and continue to cook on a low heat till they are golden. Remove from the pan and set aside.

In a pot of boiling water, cook the broccoli florets for 1 or 2 minutes, drain and set aside to cool a little. Fill the pot with more water and bring to the boil for the eggs. 

Cook the spaghetti in another pot, according to the packet directions. 

Meanwhile, in the same pan that you cooked the breadcrumbs, add another tbsp of oil, and the broccoli, spring onions and spinach. Cook for 5 or 6 minutes on a medium-high heat till a little crispy. 

To begin plating the pasta, drain and toss through with a little more olive oil. Separate into serving bowls. Top each bowl with a spoonful of the broccoli mix. 

When the egg water is at a low simmer, add the vinegar, crack eggs in one at a time and with a slotted spoon, gently make sure they are not stuck to the bottom of the pan. Cook for 3 minutes or until whites are done. Scoop out with the slotted spoon and place 1 or 2 eggs on the top of the broccoli, sprinkle with a little parmesan and a quarter of a cup of breadcrumb mixture. 

Salt, pepper, and yes, more olive oil. 

You won't regret it. 

Enjoy. 

Rocket and Mushroom Omelette‏

Eggs are a great start to the day and lately my favourite way to eat them is in an omelette.

I add ground linseed (also known as flaxseed) to my omelettes to boost dietary fibre. Linseed is often used as an replacement in recipes for those with allergies, and is great added to porridge or sauces which need thickening. You'll find it in the baking aisle at most supermarkets.

Ingredients (per person):

• 2 free range eggs
• 1 tbsp ground linseed
• 3 tbsp of your choice of milk 
• salt and pepper 
• 3 mushrooms, sliced
• handful of fresh rocket leaves
• oil or butter for frying.

Method

Mix eggs, linseed, milk, salt and pepper and whisk well with a fork.

Heat oil or butter in a large pan and cook mushrooms on a low heat for 5 minutes till softened. Remove mushrooms from the pan and set aside.

Keep heat low and heat another tbsp of oil or butter, then pour in egg mixture. Swirl to coat the pan.

Cook for a few minutes before spreading mushrooms over half the omelette. Place rocket on top of mushrooms, then fold the other half of the omelette over top.

Cook for another minute or two till cooked through then serve with buttered toast and a dollop of relish.

This is one of the recipes I created for NZDads.co.nz

Friday night = Pizza night

Pizza is one of those things that's always satisfying. Especially, when it's homemade. Sure you can buy a plethora of pizza bases ready to go, and sure, they taste good enough, but homemade, homemade is always so much more satisfying. Tonight I split the base in two and made one, a vegetarian favourite, broccoli and feta, the other, spicy chorizo and mushroom, with homemade tomato sauce. 

Friday pizza night is a bit of a tradition in my house. One that began about 4 years ago, when I was flatting with other pizza and beer enthusiasts. We'd each do our own toppings, and share to see who could come up with the best combination. Tonight was the best night to bring the tradition back to life, firstly because I finally have a new oven (YUSS!!) and secondly, the rugby's on. 

I like to keep my base quite no frills, using the edmonds pizza base ratio, that way I let the toppings shine. The boys, both meatlovers, decided the broccoli was "all good!" and struggled to pick a favourite. 

Base

• 1 tbsp Edmonds active yeast
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 cup of warm water - it should be body temperature, mix half a cup of boiled water with cold water
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 cups of plain flour
• 1 tbsp oil

Mix yeast, sugar and warm water in a bowl. Set aside, somewhere warm and draught free (a 35 degree oven works well for this if its a cold day) for about 15 minutes till yeast has become frothy. Meanwhile get started on making on the toppings, as below. 

Mix in sifted flour, salt and oil. Combine with a knife till the dough starts to come together. Tip onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes. You'll feel the dough become smooth and elastic. 

Oil a large bowl, place the dough in and cover with a tea towel. Put back in the draught free warm place for about an hour till it's doubled in size. 

Preheat your oven, and pizza stone to 220 degrees celsius Punch the dough down and knead again before splitting it in half (or quarters if you want smaller pizza's). 

Roll gently, or press into 30cm pizza tray. Or if you have a pizza stone, roll the dough out on greaseproof baking paper - this makes it easier to get it off the bench and on the stone pre cooking. 

Once rolled, oil the base. 

Broccoli Feta and Red Onion Pizza 

• 2 red onions, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
• 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
• Oregano, salt and pepper
• 60g feta

Heat oil in a saucepan and on a low heat, sauté the onion, balsamic and garlic for about 10 minutes till softened, stirring often. Set aside

Prepare broccoli by lightly steaming or microwaving for 2 minutes

To assemble spread sautéed onion onto prepared base, sprinkle grated cheese and arrange broccoli florets over the top. Sprinkle with oregano, salt and pepper. 

Bake 15 - 20 minutes till golden. Remove from heat and crumble feta over top. Slice. Serve. 

Spicy Chorizo and Mushroom Pizza 

Tomato Base 

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 stalks celery, finely diced
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 1/2 tin crushed tomatoes (or 6 fresh) 
• 1/2 cup water or stock
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/2 tsp each of dried marjoram, thyme, chilli flakes and pepper
• 1 tsp each of dried basil, oregano, and salt

Toppings

• 1 chorizo finely sliced
• 6 mushrooms, sliced
• 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• handful of jalapeños (optional) 
• handful of marinated eggplant - artichoke, sun-dried tomato, olives or other antipasto veggies would also work well, just don't go overboard, simple is best. 

To make the sauce heat oil in a saucepan, add herbs and spices till they start to sizzle, reduce heat and add garlic, celery and carrot. Sauté for 5 minutes till softened. Add tomatoes and water or stock, increase heat, and cook, stirring every couple of minutes till sauce is thick. You can puree it, or leave it chunky, I like it chunky to be honest. 

Once base is ready, spread the sauce over, then half the grated cheese. Arrange mushrooms, chorizo, marinated veggies, and jalapeños on top. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes. Slice. Enjoy. 

Reinventing Leftovers

There are two things that are hugely important in home-cooking and which I pride myself in. 1. Re-inventing leftovers 2. Subtly ramming heaps of vegetables into a meal, to make it delicious, yet nutritious. 

You might remember a few months ago I shared my rabbit pie recipe, as always I cooked far too much, so froze a container of it for a rainy, or busy day. 

Tonight I reinvented my pie filling by disguising a plethora of vegetables into a rabbit ragu and serving it with penne pasta. 

There is no real recipe to doing this, it's just about keeping the meat base basic, and adding spices and vegetables to suit the dish. 

Sometimes a big pot spaghetti bolognese mince will become or burrito's or nachos with the addition of coriander, chilli and a little dark chocolate to the mix. Serve with salad sour cream and guacamole. Or it could become a pie filling, by reducing and thickening the sauce and adding some large chunks of carrot or mushroom. 

Tonight to re-invent my original pie filling, I sautéed diced zucchini and green capsicum till soft, added a little oregano, basil, cracked pepper and a pinch of cayenne pepper. The meat filling went in and was combined with a tin of tomatoes and handful of baby spinach, before simmering gently for 20 minutes. Finally it was served on penne with avocado slices and finely grated parmesan.  

Rhubarb Frangipane Tart

I was visiting friends recently admiring their bountiful vege patch only to notice a favourite treat of mine. Rhubarb. To be honest, I'm not actually sure if it is a fruit or a vegetable, it doesn't have seeds, so perhaps it is more a vegetable, but it's best served tart and sweet anyhow.
As I cut the stalks from the plant they bled their red juice all over the scissors so I knew it would be tasty. The stalks were a deep red on the outside, but bright green in the middle. The leaves, which are poisonous were discarded.
Many people add a lot of sugar to rhubarb when they cook it as it is very tart, sour, naturally, however I quite enjoy that contrast, especially paired with a buttery sweet filling like frangipane. So, when I cooked the rhubarb, I left if tart, not adding any sugar, just half a centimetre of orange juice, and a teaspoon of organic vanilla essence.
Frangipane is a french cake or tart filling consisting of creamed butter and sugar, eggs and usually almonds, but any nut can be used.

This recipe was adapted from my friends plum tart recipe. See below for other flavouring ideas. 

Rhubarb & Frangipane Tart

Ingredients

• 200g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 100g butter, cold and cubed 
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons of iced water

• 8 stalks rhubarb
• 2 tsp vanilla essence 
• 1/4 c orange juice, fresh or bottled
• 125g butter, room temp.
• 125g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 140g ground almonds
• 45g plain flour 
• brown sugar, for sprinkling

Chop rhubarb into 5cm lengths and place in a heavy based saucepan with orange juice and 1 tsp of vanilla essence. Cover and simmer on a low heat for about 15 mins, until the liquid is red, and rhubarb is soft. Once cooked, feel free to taste it, if you like you can add sugar, but beware that stirring it will cause the rhubarb to turn to mush. I leave mine without sugar, but that's my preference.  Leave to cool in saucepan

In a bowl place cubed butter, flour and salt. Rub together using fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs. To speed up the process you can do this in a food processor, which makes it very quick and easy, but less therapeutic. Once rubbed in, add the beaten egg yolk and chilled water, mix to form a firm dough. Cover loosely in glad wrap and chill 30 mins. 

Make a cup of tea and relax for a bit. 
Grease a 22cm tart tin and preheat oven to 180 degrees. 

Remove pastry from the fridge and roll out on a lightly floured surface. Press gently into tin and trim edges. 

Now cream the 125g of room temperature butter and caster sugar till light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, then flour, almonds, and remaining vanilla essence. Spoon this filling into the pastry. 

Carefully spoon pieces of the rhubarb flesh onto the frangipane filling and press down gently. 
Sprinkle a few tablespoons of brown sugar over the top 

Bake at 180 degrees celsius for 50 mins. 
Allow to cool slightly before cutting and devouring. 

Serve with any leftover stewed rhubarb and plain yogurt or vanilla ice-cream. 

We all went back for seconds, so maybe just cut larger pieces! We also all agreed that it tasted better the next day... so feel free to make in advance or save some for later. 

Variations - for me and you to try next time. 

• Pear and Ginger. Poach pears in water or wine with a few slices of fresh ginger. Slice and press on top. Add 2 tsp of ginger to the pastry dough also. 
• Plum and Cardamom. Tinned or fresh black doris plums, stoned, halved and pressed in cut side down. Add 1 tsp of cardamom to the frangipane mix. 
• Balsamic Fig. Half figs, press into frangipane cut side up, spoon 1/2 a teaspoon of balsamic into each fig half. Sprinkle with sugar 
• Pistachio and Raspberry. Swap ground almond for ground (unsalted) pistachio, or half and half. Press tinned or fresh raspberries into the frangipane. 

Should you try this recipe or any of these variations, please comment and let me know how they went. Or of you have any other flavour suggestions let me know. 

Happy Creating