HOT DOG PARTY

What a great way to celebrate my 17th birthday with a Posh Hot Dog party, local free range outdoor reared pork made in to pork and apple Happy Sausages, home made brioche Hot dog buns and for the fixings see my menu!

My Posh Hot Dog Menu

Me and mum learnt all about Hot Dog history, how the German immigrants in America served a sausage called a dachshund in a bun then a famous cartoonist for a paper drew a sketch of the hot dog and as the story goes he wasn’t sure how to spell dachshund so he drew the dachshund dog in a bun and Ta-Da the term hot dog was coined!  Also we learnt that 18th July is National Hot Dog Day too.

Menu

My Hot Dog history lesson continues as I learnt that each state has their own iconic Hot Dog Recipe so I put my favourite on my Posh Hot Dog party menu, the create your own fixings were fried onions, chilli beef, cheese, bacon, sauerkraut, jalapeños, dill pickles, raw onion, mayo, chipotle mayo, tomato ketchup, hot dog mustard and Coney Island Beavers Mustard.

My Bacon and stripes hot dog.

Menu selection, my favourite is the chilli dog and cheese, even better with mac n cheese!

Loving my hot dog stand, mum almost gave in a brought me a full on street hot dog selling cart ! 

Theses retro fun hot dog cartons were great on the day as lots of my teenage friends wanted to load up their dogs and go back in to the man cave for pool and gaming, so these were a cool container.

Awesome Corn Dogs

These are my favourite too sausage on a stick!  What’s not to love fabulous corn bread coated franks with a mustard dip!

FLORIDA GATORS BIRTHDAY CAKE

My 17th birthday Florida Gators cake was so awesome, I loved it.  My mum is not a baker and only makes one cake a year, my birthday cake!  Mum watched Buddy from cake boss on you tube to see how he made his 16ft life size alligator cake and followed his lead and made me the best most awesome Florida Gators Alligator Cake!

I had four cake flavours in my cake the head was coffee and walnut, the whole body chocolate fudge, half the tail was carrot cake and the rest was lemon drizzle, a flavour for everyone.

To make the alligator first draw your alligator body shape on your cake board, then place your cake circles or squares on the board, carve the cake to the shape drawn, cover with frosting, add the eyes, eyebrows and nose now.

Roll your icing out to your thickness then roll across a alligator skin impression mat, place on your alligator cake, repeat until covered, when covering the head you can mould the icing over the eyes and nose to create a more life like look.  Using a chopstick or special tool join up the alligator skin on the joins to hide the seam.  Using edible spray paint add some texture to the alligator.  Next make four legs by rolling a large ball of icing to a burrito shape, pinch out 4 claws and bend to look like a leg.

To make the spines roll out your icing about 2 inches thick, cut the icing to the shape of the tail and pinch up spines in three lines of spines and place on the tail, for the body you will need four lines of spines.

Roll out your t shirt icing and coping the picture place on the alligator with the name and number of the birthday boy or girl.

HOT DOGS

Best Ever Hot Dogs

 Local farm outdoor raised Happy sausages in my homemade hot dog buns loaded with soft fried onions and stripes.  My first practice run for my Posh Hot Dog Birthday party and these were a delicious success.

Ingredients 

(makes 8)

The Hot Dog Buns

500g 00 flour

10g Himalayan sea salt

50g olive oil

30g fresh yeast (15g dried)

320g warm water

8 sausages

2 onions sliced

1 tbsp olive oil

The Stripes

French’s American Mustard

Tomato ketchup 

Mayonnaise 

Place the flour, olive oil, salt and if using dried yeast in a bowl add the water, if using fresh yeast add the yeast to the warm water with a pinch of sugar, stir to dissolve, add the water to the flour mix and bring together, knead for 7 minutes until smooth and springy to the touch.  Place back in to the bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave to prove at room temperature for one hour.  Once proved shape the dough in to a long rectangle approx 6 inches long and divide in to 8 equal hot dog rolls, place in a tin that means the buns have to touch, cover with a tea towel and leave to prove for a further hour.  Brush the tops with milk, bake in a preheated oven 200 C for 20 to 25 minutes until hollow when tapped.  Leave to cool on a wire rack and pull apart to separate each bun.

While the hot dog buns are cooking grill or griddle cook the sausages and soften the onions in the olive oil, set up your stripes bottle the stuff a sausage in your buns and load with your choice of fixings.

WOOD FIRED PEPPERONI PIZZA

I love cooking in my family’s home made wood fired Pizza oven this is one of my favourite things to do with my mates and family, we make a great mess but have the best pizzas ever!  They only take two minutes to cook and my mum helps me make up loads of dough so we can make as many pizzas as we like, this is also good as sometimes we go wrong!  

I am a Pizzaiolo!



Best Ever Pizza Dough

Ingredients 

500g 00 blue caputo Italian flour

10g Himalayan sea salt 

50g extra virgin olive oil 

15g yeast

320g water

Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and either by hand or by machine with a dough hook mix for seven minutes, then dust a little flour over the dough mix and gently form into a ball, cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave in a warm area to prove for 1-2 hours until doubled in size if you want to use immediately, then other options are leave to prove slowly in the fridge for 24hrs, this is what I do as it gives me much more control over time and usage, this will keep for 48hrs in the fridge ready to go when you are, you can also freeze any left over dough at this stage, then when ready to use remove from the freezer defrost and once up to room temperature use as you would fresh.

Pizza Ingredients 

1 can san manzano tomato’s 

1 onion chopped

1 clove garlic chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp dried oregano

1 bag pizza cheese Mozzarella super melty 

1 pack sliced pepperoni 

Make the pizza tomato base sauce by gently softening the onions and garlic in the olive oil, add the tomato and bring to a simmer, take off the heat and blitz to a smooth sauce, stir in the oregano and season with salt and pepper if needed.

Now your ready to rock and roll, divide the dough into 6 portions roll out each dough ball into a thin pizza base, spread a ladle of the San Marzano sauce over the base, top with torn pieces of the mozzarella and finish of with pepperoni, place on your pizza stone or in your pizza oven and cook for 2-3 minutes in a wood fired oven or 15-20 on a pizza stone in the oven, as a rule when the cheese is bubbling all over that's it Ta da done...

My friends have lots of different combinations of their favourite pizzas, BBQ chicken and spicy meatballs and of course the Hawaiian, where as nan loves peppers, onions and garlic, Grandad is just cheese and tomato with olive oil and Mum and Dad love a original Margarita with fresh basil.

QUESADILLA SWEET CHILLI GOOEY CHEESE

Serious gooey melty cheese pull, charred sautéed peppers and caramelised red onions with sweet chilli sauce this is so darn good make plenty as it's not a dish for sharing 

Prep time 5 minutes / Cooking time 10 minutes

Ingredients 

(serves 1-2)

2 large soft flour tortillas 

200g grated mozzarella cheese

50ml sweet chilli sauce 

1 glug olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1/4 red pepper diced

1/4 green pepper diced

1 small red onion sliced

1 small bunch fresh coriander chopped

1 tub sour cream

To Cook

Heat a skillet medium hot, add the olive oil, peppers and onions, sauté for five minutes until slightly caramelised, remove from the skillet, place the skillet back on the heat, lower to a medium heat, add the butter to melt.  Place one flour tortilla in the skillet, sprinkle with half the cheese, all the peppers and onions, some fresh coriander, the sweet chilli sauce and finish off with a final layer of cheese, place the remaining flour tortilla on top, leave to gently cook for approx five minutes, to turn over place a plate on top of the skillet and turn over so that the quesadilla is now on the plate, slide the quesadilla back in to the skillet and leave to gently cook for the remaining five minutes ensuring that all the cheese has melted.

To serve drizzle with sour cream more sweet chilli sauce and the remaining fresh coriander, serve cut in to quarters and enjoy

BUTTERMILK CREAM SCONES

Best Scones Ever...

Light delicate melt in your mouth scones with a puff pastry technique that allows the scones to rise up high with a crispy cheese crust and light layers throughout loaded with cheese.

Prep time 10 mins / Resting time 15 mins / Cooking time 20 mins

Ingredients 

(Makes 12)

190g butter grated

600 plain flour

80g caster sugar

40g baking powder

160g buttermilk

160g double cream

200g grated cheddar cheese

Pre heat your oven to 220 degrees C, then when ready to cook reduce the oven to 200 degrees C.  In a large bowl rub the butter into flour, add the sugar and baking powder then cheese keeping back a little for the tops, then fold in the buttermilk and cream until you have a just combined ball.  Tip out on to your work surface and press the dough out with the heel of your hand to about two inches thick then fold in half, rotate the dough by 90 degrees and press out again then fold in half and rotate again, repeat this twice more so four folds and turns in total.  Cover and leave to rest for 15 minutes.

Cut into your scones, place on a stone baking tray, brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese and bake for 20 minutes until the scones are golden brown and hollow when tapped on the bottom.

BLUEBERRY RASPBERRY FREE RADICAL ANTIOXIDANT DETOX CRUSH

In a nut shell whenever we eat any food we creat free radicals, these when are allowed to build up from a unbalanced poor diet create oxidative stress on our cells which in turn becomes very harmful can lead to diseases like cancer and heart disease.  This is simple to avoid by eating a balanced diet and introducing plenty of antioxidant foods that scavenge free radicals removing from our bodies giving us the most optimum health benefits.

Ingredients 

(serves 2)

200g blueberries organic 

200g raspberries organic

6 ice cubes

Place all the ingredients in a blender and pulse, blitz until liquid, pour in to you mason jars with a straw and enjoy straight away, that's it!

GOOD TO KNOW

While both raspberries and blueberries are some of the most promising foods to eat with the ability to fight against cancer they both bring strength together to the table.  Blueberries are highest in Vitamin K, while raspberries give 54% of your RDA of Vitamin C and are much higher in fiber.

BLUEBERRIES

Vitamin C, full of photochemical caroteroids, antioxidant, anti inflammatory, rich compounds.

Natural super foods, compounds help your liver protect your body from free radicals and oxidative stress, these are linked to disease and ageing.  Anthouyanin and polyphenols inhibit the proliferation of disease cells in the liver.

RASBERRIES

Antioxidant, anti inflammatory, boosts heart health, lowers risk of coronary heart disease, helps with weight loss, increases metabolism, low on glycemic index with little impact on blood sugar, high in fiber, helps protect against cancer, eases arthritis pain.

ALLIGATOR BITES MADE SNAPPY

While I was over in the states I just had to cook alligator while watching swamp people on History, I fried a whole batch up and the whole family loved it.  I decided on Cajun seasoning as the swamp people are of Cajun origin.  Nice and spicy snappy bites of alligator tail fillet.  These tender melt in your mouth bites were even better with some original Louisiana hot sauce and cool blue cheese dip, I just buffaloed a gator!  

Ingredients

(serves 4)

454g bag Alligator tail fillet

1 tub Cajun spice mix

1 cup AP flour

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 ltr peanut oil for frying

Heat the oil to 180 degrees C, place the Cajun seasoning, salt and flour in a large bowl and mix to combine.  Dust the alligator bites in the Cajun seasoned flour and gently tap off any excess flour. 

In small batches place the seasoned alligator in the hot oil and fry for 2 to 3 minutes until lightly golden brown, remove from the oil and drain on some kitchen paper, serve hot with sides of Louisiana hot sauce and a creamy blue cheese dip, that’s it.

ALLIGATOR TACOS

Alligator tail fillet tacos, these are awesome!  My dad loved them I seasoned the alligator in Cajun spices and served in a soft corn taco with all the fixings and my Cajun remoulade.

Ingredients

(makes 8)

454g Alligator tail fillet

1 tub Cajun spices 

1 cup AP flour

1 ltr peanut oil for frying

1 bottle of Cajun remoulade

The Fixings

Ice berg salad

Guacamole 

Pico de gallo

Coriander

Chives

Fresh jalapeños

8 soft corn tacos

Heat the oil to 180 degrees C, place the Cajun seasoning and flour in a large bowl and mix to combine.  Dust the alligator bites in the Cajun seasoned flour and gently tap off any excess flour. 

In small batches place the seasoned alligator in the hot oil and fry for 2 to 3 minutes until lightly golden brown, remove from the oil and drain on some kitchen paper, pile high on a plate.  Heat the corn tacos till warm.

Serve family style on the table with all the fixings, so everyone can stuff them full of flavour for a lip smacking gorgeous taco.

WOOD FIRED SAN MANZANO PIZZA

Wood Fired Pizza's 

There is nothing more satisfying than making your own SAN Manzano Pizza and cooking it in your own wood fired pizza oven.  My mum built this pizza oven herself and is very proud of it.  Check out her blog Flower pot kitchen build your own wood fired oven.  

The secret to the most amazing pizza dough is in the ingredients and proving method, the professionals make their dough using the very best Italian 00 flour and leaving the dough to slowly prove in the fridge, YES the fridge over 24hrs, this is actually a easy method giving you more control over time.

Ingredients 

(Makes 6 pizza's)

The Dough

500g 00 flour

15g dried yeast

10g sea salt

50ml olive oil

320g water room temperature

Toppings 

San manzano tomatoes 

Di Campaina Buffalo mozzarella 

Fresh basil leaves 

First make your dough, you can once made leave to prove in a warm kitchen for around one hour tomprove, then your dough is ready to go the difference in proving your dough slowly in the fridge for 24 hrs is the improved texture in the dough when cooked as the slow proving gives you a crispier base.  Also the added bonus of being ahead on the day!

BONUS

Once your dough has proved you can now FREEZE the dough in portion balls so that all you have to do to be ready to go I whip out the dough, leave to defrost and come up to room temperature for about one hour and your a pizza a go go!

Place the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl, in the measuring jug of water add the yeast and leave for a couple of minutes, its woth noting that if salt comes in contact with dried yeast before mixing it can de activate the yeast which will result in a low proven heavy dough.

Add the oil to the mixing bowl along with the water and yeast, mix bringing together to form a dough ball, either by hand or with a dough hook on a mixer knead the dough for seven minutes until smooth and elastic.  

Prove how you want to, when ready to use roll out on a slightly 00 floured work top and top with your favourite toppings and cook, these take a couple of minutes in a wood fired oven or if using a pizza stone in your oven around 8-10 minutes.  Enjoy.

LOUISIANA ALLIGATOR FRY

Crispy Cajun seasoned fillet of alligator tail succulent and melt in the mouth tender, great on its own but even better tossed in Louisiana hot sauce and served with a rich creamy blue cheese dip.

1 pack Louisiana alligator fillet

1 box Cajun seasoned fish fry coating

1 ltr peanut oil for frying

1 bottle Louisiana hot sauce

1 bottle blue cheese sauce

Heat your oil to 350 F / 180 C toss the alligator chunks in the Cajun fish fry coating, then fry the alligator for around 3 minutes until cooked all the way through, drain on kitchen paper and serve hot as they are or tossed through Louisiana hot sauce with a side of blue cheese dip.

DEEP FRIED BUTTER BALLS

These balls of hot seasoned garlic butter are awesome, the crispy shell gives way to a burst of intense creamy buttery flavour, these are a once a year treat and well worth the wait.  I saw these on the food network program at the Texas State fair and though while I’m in the states I am going to have to make these, they went down really well and everyone loved them.

Ingredients 

(Makes 16)

4 sticks butter softened

2 cloves garlic minced

1 tsp crushed red chillies 

1 box fish fry coating

2 eggs beaten

1 cup seasoned flour

1 ltr peanut oil for frying

Mix the garlic, chillies into the butter, using two teaspoons, form the butter mix in to small one mouthful bite size balls, place on a tray and pop in the freezer for a hour.  Set up your dredging station with three bowls, one with the eggs, one with the flour and one with the fry coating.  

Take the butter balls from the freezer once frozen and roll in the flour, then the egg and lastly the fish fry coating, place the balls back on the tray and back in to the freezer.  Once the coating has frozen the balls are ready to fry. 

Heat your peanut oil to 350 F / 180 C and fry the balls for approx 30 seconds, as soon as you get a little spatter of butter breaking out of the crispy shell remove the balls and place on kitchen paper.  Eat with caution as hot butter can burn.

CATFISH FRY CAJUN TACOS

Melt in the mouth tender succulent Cajun coated catfish served in a white soft corn taco with all the fixings.  No noodling required for this catfish fry!  

Ingredients 

(makes 4)

4 white raw corn tacos

1 catfish fillet

1 box Cajun seasoned fish fry coating

1 ltr peanut oil for frying

1 tomato finely diced

1 fresh jalapeño finely diced

1/4 green pepper diced

2 tbsp chopped coriander 

AMERICAN BLUEBERRY PIE

RUSTIC

I made this for my friend Troy, he lives in Australia and was over visiting and I asked what pie he would like thinking chicken and mushroom or steak, but No he wanted blue berry pie and we Troy returns later this year he has put a forward order in for chocolate eclairs! 

Ingredients 

(makes two pies)

The Pastry

450g plain flour

110g grated lard

110g grated butter

1 pinch of Himalayan sea salt 

180ml cold water

The Pie Filling

300g blueberries

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla paste

Make the Pastry first as this will need to chill in the fridge for half an hour.  Place all the ingredients except the water in a large bowl and gently mix evenly, add the water and bring to a ball, wrap in cling film, press the ball flatter in to a disk and chill in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Place the sugar, vanilla and blueberries in a saucepan over a low medium heat and cook until they resemble blueberry jam, remove from the pan and leave to cool.

Cut the pastry in half and one half can be frozen for your next batch.  Cut the remaining half in half again and shap into balls, roll out to the thickness of a pound coin.  Line the pie tin with the pastry, and trim off any excess, I like to crimp the top edges of the pastry for that rustic farmhouse look.  Line the inside of the pastry with baking paper and baking beans, 

Pre heat your oven 180 degrees C and bake for 15 minutes, remove the baking beans and parchment paper and bake for a further 5 minutes, add the pie filling and finish of baking for a further 10 minutes, serve warm with cream.

RICE CUSTARD PUDDDING

I made this for my dad after watching a Michelin Star chef do it for his restaurant and why yes this has taking rice pudding to a whole other level it is not your traditional rice pudding and scare blue!  There was not skin!  

This is much richer and more of a creme englaise custard rice pudding, in its own right a gorgeous pudding but the main reason is that the skin is missing, and I know for some of you traditionalist this is a big part of your rice pudding, this I will work on, yuk! from my dad’s point of view it is the best bit and essential.  But with all that said, my family still gobbled it all down with delight.

Ingredients

(serves 2)

90g pudding rice

90g sugar

250ml double cream

250ml full fat milk

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

5 egg yolks

Wash the rice several times and place in a pan with the cream and milk, bring to a gentle simmer and cook for approx 20 minutes until the rice is cooked, meanwhile place the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla paste in a bowl and whisk until light and fluffy.

Take two ladles of the rice milk from the cooker and add to the egg yolks mixture, whisk quickly to incorporate, add the rest of the rice milk and mix well, add everything back to the saucepan and cook gently for a further 2 minutes and then serve.  If you want a hint of skin place the rice pudding under the grill for a couple of minutes, this will not give you that traditional thick baked skin but might be a compromise.

HOMEMADE HOT PIRI PIRI SAUCE

Homemade Piri Piri Sauce

This fabulous hot sauce is a great favourite of mine, I like to marinate chicken in this sauce and will serve it as Piri Piri chicken burgers, roast Piri Piri chicken, which is great in salads, tacos and wraps.

Homemade Piri Piri Sauce

2 red peppers roasted 

1 red onion charred

4 cloves garlic chopped

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 lemon zested

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 

1 habanero or scotch bonnet chilli (more for hotter)

1 tsp smoked sweet paprika

11/2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp Himalayan sea salt 

1 tsp black pepper

1 bay leaf

Finishing ingredients 

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 lemon zested 

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 

1/2 cup olive oil

Roast the peppers and onions on a plancher flat top or skillet, charring all over, deseed the peppers, in a blender purée the charred peppers and onion, add the garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, apple cider vinegar, habanero, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper, purée to a smooth sauce.  Pour the puréed sauce in to a saucepan add the bay leaf and gently simmer for half an hour, remove from the heat and leave to cool, transfer the sauce back to the blender, add the remaining finishing ingredients the lemon juice, lemon zest, apple cider vinegar, purée and finally drizzle in the olive oil while the blender is still running.  That's it, adjust the seasoning if needed and keep any left over in the fridge.

MOTHERS DAY CHEF’S BREAKFAST EGGS BENEDICT

A chefs breakfast for my mum on Mother’s Day, I love being a executive chef as I know what needs to be done and I got to instruct (boss)! my dad around the kitchen making this perfect eggs benedict for my Mum, with eggs from our legbar hens, home cured ham from our own pigs, spinach from the garden and homemade butter my mum makes this is a truly special breakfast.

Ingredients 

(serves 2)

The Hollandaise Sauce

3 egg yolks

1/2 a lemon juice

200g hot melted salted butter

1 pinch black pepper

1 tbsp finely chopped chives

The Benedict

2 English muffins toasted

4 tbsp butter

100g spinach

2 slices top quality ham

4 poached eggs

50ml white wine vinegar

This is a cooking all at the same time breakfast, so you need octopus arms, it comes together fast so be ready to serve.  Bring two saucepans full of water to a rolling boil, place 50 ml white wine vinegar in one and the other one of the saucepans needs to double as a double boiler for cooking the hollandaise sauce, place a third saucepan on a medium heat and add the butter to melt and stay hot.

Crack the eggs individually in to small bowls you can poach the eggs first and then 30 seconds before serving drop them back in to the hot water off the heat to warm back up, this really helps lower the pressure on bringing this whole dish together at once.  To poach the eggs whisk the water creating a vortex in the centre gently slip one egg in count to 30 then slip the second egg in poach the eggs for two minutes, remove and place on a plate to one side.

To make the hollandaise place the egg yolks in a glass bowl with the lemon juice, place the bowl over the simmering water and whisk the egg yolks keep whisking for about 30 seconds the egg yolks will fluff up and thicken, remove the bowl from the heat and slowly whisk in the butter this is now done, leave to one side.

Place 2 tbsp of butter back in to the saucepan, place on a medium heat, add the spinach and stir this will only take one minute to welt.  Place the muffins under the grill to toast, butter generously and place on your plates, top with the spinach and ham, meanwhile place the poached eggs back in to the hot water off the heat and place the hollandaise back over the double boiler for 30 seconds whisking all the time, take the hollandaise off, season with black pepper, take the poached eggs and place on top of the ham on the muffins and spoon over the warm hollandaise sauce, sprinkle with chives and that’s it, enjoy this breakfast of chefs.

PIRI PIRI SAUCE HOMEMADE

Succulent moist tender piri piri spiced and sauced roasted chicken, this is a winning dinner you can serve it as a roast, shred it and stuff tacos or build a salad bowl and any left overs for sandwiches and wraps (but there is never any left overs)!

Prep time 5 minutes / Cooking time 50 minutes / Resting time 20 minutes

Ingredients

(serves family 4)

1 organic or free range chicken 1.5kg 

(I find this bird goes further than the cheaper alternative and higher welfare)

1 bottle nandos hot Piri Piri sauce (homemade recipe below)

1 tbsp sea salt

1 tsp white pepper

2 tbsp Piri Piri dry spice (recipe below)

Piri Piri Dry Spice Mix

Blitz everything in a processor 

6 fresh chillies 

2tbsp dried chillies

4 cloves of garlic grated

1tsp salt

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp paprika

So simple, take your whole chicken, un-teather and squash flat ish, sprinkle with salt, pepper and the piri piri dry rub spice mix then pour all over with your hot sauce the pop in the oven 200 degrees C / 385 F for 20 minutes then reduce the oven temperature 180 C / 350 F, cook for a further 30 minutes, remove from the oven, cover and leave to rest for at least 10 minutes but more like 20 minutes, it really does make a huge difference to the juicy, moist succulent tenderness of the chicken.  That's is...below my family's favourite tacos.

Homemade Piri Piri Sauce

2 red peppers roasted 

1 red onion charred

4 cloves garlic chopped

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 lemon zested

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 

1 habanero or scotch bonnet chilli (more for hotter)

1 tsp smoked sweet paprika

11/2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp Himalayan sea salt 

1 tsp black pepper

1 bay leaf

Finishing ingredients 

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 lemon zested 

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 

1/2 cup olive oil

Roast the peppers and onions on a plancher flat top or skillet, charring all over, deseed the peppers, in a blender purée the charred peppers and onion, add the garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, apple cider vinegar, habanero, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper, purée to a smooth sauce.  Pour the puréed sauce in to a saucepan add the bay leaf and gently simmer for half an hour, remove from the heat and leave to cool, transfer the sauce back to the blender, add the remaining finishing ingredients the lemon juice, lemon zest, apple cider vinegar, purée and finally drizzle in the olive oil while the blender is still running.  That's it, adjust the seasoning if needed and keep any left over in the fridge.

ICE BOX COOKIES

How cool are these ice box cookies always ready to cook from a minutes notice straight from the ice box (how cool is that!)

Prep time 15 minutes / Cooking time 10 minutes

Ingredients 

(Makes 50)

345g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

200g caster sugar

1 lrg eggs

225g butter

150g cherries or mixed peel

1tsp vanilla paste

Executive Chef Oscar

I just love to cook, food is a gift that makes your friends and family know they are thought of and loved.  

Method

In a large bowl cream the butter until soft and smooth, add the sugar and cream until light and fluffy, add the egg, salt and vanilla and mix to combine, mix the baking powder and salt with the flour and slowly fold in to the creamed butter.

Divide the biscuit dough in half and using parchment paper form the dough in to two rectangle logs.  Wrap in the parchment paper and place in the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days, or place in the ice box for up to a month.  If cooking from frozen leave the biscuit dough to come up to temperature for 15 minutes before slicing of your biscuits.

To Cook

Pre heat your oven 180 degrees C, baking biscuits from the fridge slice off as many biscuits as you want, place in a baking tray and bake in the oven for 10 minutes until lightly brown, once cooked place on a cooling rack and leave to cool, if you can! 

Ta da the gorgeous finished biscuits, this batch for my nan.

CORN CHEESE

I stumbled across this brilliant Korean spin off from Mac n Cheese, one spoonful in and it was a winner dinner with my gang!  Gorgeous creamy cheese sauce, peppered with crispy sweetcure bacon, fresh red Serrano jalapeños and grilled corn off the cob with the ultimate cheese pull!

Prep time 20 minutes / Cooking time 15 minutes

Ingredients 

(serves 4)

4 corns on the cob

4 rashers sweetcure bacon unsmoked

1 red Serrano chilli fine diced

50g butter

50g flour

400ml - 600ml full fat creamy milk

100ml double cream

1 pinch Himalayan sea salt 

1 pinch white pepper

200g cheddar grated

100g Parmesan Reggiano finely grated

100g mozzarella grated

50g fontina optional

Bring a pan of water to a rolling simmer, season the water with sea salt, add the corn on the cobs and simmer for around 15 minutes until the corn is tender, drain and remove the cobs, leave to once side to slightly cool, then carve off the corn from the kernel and reserve to one side while you make the bechamel sauce.

In a cast iron skillet or hob to oven casserole dish melt the butter then add the flour and stir to combine, add 400ml of the milk and whisk until smooth, add the cream and leave to gently bubble away meanwhile heat a skillet medium hot add a glug of olive oil then the chopped bacon and sear until crispy, add the chopped Serrano chilli and the corn stir to combine.

Back to the bechamel sauce, add all the cheeses but only half of the Parmesan, stir in until melted, if the sauce is too thick add a little of the reserved milk to loosen, next add the sweet corn mixture and mix, top the dish with the remaining Parmesan cheese and bake in the oven for 15 minutes until bubbling and browned off, serve immediately. 

SWAMP SOUP

I love the swamp, I love gators and I love Cajun!  This good for you green soup is really tasty but very swamp looking which is super cool too, no alligators were harmed in the making of this soup!  A good soup for Halloween fun.

Cooking time 15 minutes

Ingredients 

(serves 2)

1kg petite pois peas

1ltr chicken stock

Himalayan sea salt 

White pepper

Bring the chicken stock to a simmer, add the peas and simmer for 10 minutes, blitz with a stick blender, taste and season with salt and pepper.  Leave to stand for 5 minutes and the peas will separate and sink to the bottom off the stock!  Stir to combine before eating...

SALTED CARAMEL TRIPLE CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE

OSCAR STYLE

WoW what a show stopper of a cake, as usual I like to go big!  This recipe came from one of my Birthday presents and what a gorgeous first cake to bake for my friends and family, there is going to be NO dieting around me this year 😆

Allow yourself a couple of chilled me time hours

3 x 20 cm sandwich cake tins lined

Ingredients 

(Serves 8-10)

The Cake

400g plain flour

640g caster sugar

180g 75% cocoa powder

1 tsp bicarbonate soda

1.5 tsp baking powder 

1.5 tsp sea salt

4 lrg eggs 

2 tsp vanilla extract

120 ml vegetable oil

410 ml buttermilk

250 ml water

Shaved chocolate to decorate

Salted Caramel

290g caster sugar

35g golden syrup 

20 ml water

160 ml double cream

1 tsp sea salt

80g unsalted butter room temp

Chocolate Frosting 

I00g icing sugar

200g cocoa powder

320g unsalted butter room temp

150 ml whole milk

First make the salted caramel, this was super exciting as I have never made this before and it acts up like a bubbling volcano, really exciting.  Follow the method to the letter otherwise you can end up with a lumpy separated sauce.  In a pan put the sugar, golden syrup and water, do not stir at all on a medium heat let all the ingredients melt together, when there has been a slight colour change to a light brown, take off the heat and slowly pour in the cream whisking all the time until smooth.  Then put the caramel back on the heat for a couple of minutes and boil until 115 C, remove from the heat immediately add the salt and transfer to a bowl, pop in the fridge to cool and set.

 

Now to make the cake batter, pre heat your oven to 175 C, in a large bowl place the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, bicarbonate soda, baking powder and salt, beat to a smooth mix, in a large jug whisk the eggs, vanilla, oil, buttermilk and water.  Slowly pour this to the dry ingredients whisking in until just combined then beat the mixture for one minute.  Pour equally in to your three tins, pop in the oven and bake for around 30 minutes until light and springy.  Turn out on to a wire cooling rack and leave to cool.

While the cake is cooling make the chocolate icing, this sometime just goes wrong for me and separates, but today it did not Ya!  In a large bowl place the icing sugar, cocoa powder and butter, whisk until sandy in texture, slowly add the milk then keep whisking for about five minutes until light and fluffy.

Now to layer the cakes, you can cut the cakes in half for a more dramatic layered look like I did or just stack them, place the first layer on your cake stand and spread a third or sixth of the caramel depending on how many layers, repeat, I also like to spread some chocolate fudge over the layers too!  Once all layers loaded cover the whole cake in the chocolate fudge icing and finish off with shavings of chocolate and enjoy.