Beef In Black Bean Sauce

Best Beef Recipes
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Beef In Black Bean Sauce

Hello! Wow. What a weekend I had. Did you have a weekend? I bet you did.  We have been cooking lots of things! We have!  We made this (imagine arrow pointing to images above). Well. Cam made this. Beef In Black Bean Sauce. Mmmm.  This reminded me of a big Chinese Restaurant I once went to in Mount Gambier.  It was quite huge and red and velvety and was no doubt once very opulent and swish.   The toilets were outside and it was beautifully ramshackle when we went there.  That was about 15 years ago, mind you.  I wonder if it still there....  The people there were lovely and the food was ace too.

Now, this dish would not have been out of place at said Mount Gambanese Chinese Eatery.  It was quite delicious, in a comforting, retro way.  It reminded me of the Australian Women's Weekly Chinese Cooking Class Cookbook.  I think it appears in that too.  Ah.  That is a pretty great cookbook, isn't it?!  Do you have it?  My parents used to cook from it when we were little and we always got MOST excited when we saw it appear on the kitchen bench.

Have you made this?  Do you like this?  Do you have the red AWW Chinese Cooking Class book?  Have you been to Mount Gambier?

xx Pip

NB :: Click recipe to enlarge and print, if you would like to!

Health Potato Salad

Super Salads
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Health Potato Salad


Hello!

I must admit I have a total adoration for potato salad.  I love it. In a sandwich ideally with some chilli and lots of salt and black pepper.  Or white pepper even. I love white pepper.  I know it's considered a bit daggy, but it is a really lovely addition to something needing a bit of a boost. Don't underestimate white pepper, my friends.  Sometimes I make a really simple potato salad with some boiled potatoes, a gloop of mayonnaise, a diced avocado and some spring onions and lemon juice. Yum.  If you like potato salad, you should try that, it's super good.  You can even mash the avocado with the mayo first, if dicing seems to green and messy.  That works really well too.

This recipe is called Health Potato Salad.  Yep.  Cam made this one night last week.  We had it with chicken made the Nigella way, which involves cutting the chicken down the backbone and squishing it flat, marinating it with nice things and then popping it in a medium oven until it is nice and golden and delicious.

I really like this herb filled salad, it's real Summery picnicky happy day food.  I confess I did not even eat any chicken, I just had the salad in one of those yummy Vietnamese rolls with chilli sauce.  It was tres yum.  Do you think that is yum? Do you like potato salad?  Will you make this? Or is this always on the table at your family bbq, already?

xx Pip

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:: Coconut Ice

Homemade Confectionery
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Coconut Ice


THIS was one of my superfaves when I was a kid! Did you love coconut ice?!  Did you?!  I love it still.  I do!  Yes!

 I made the second recipe :: Creamy Coconut Ice :: and yes it does have COPHA in it!  Maybe that will freak you out?  Oh well.  It is delicious.  We have all been eating it all afternoon, although Emma was not at all into the COPHA idea and she just had her garish fruit cake instead.  She does NOT know what she is missing out on!

You probably know that there is a different coconut ice recipe which has condensed milk in it.  I like that one too, because I get to eat the leftover condensed milk from the can.  I love condensed milk.  I once made condensed milk ice cream and it was totally delicious and even a bit chewy!  YUM!  That's how much I like condensed milk.  I must never have it in the house, I tell you, or else I will eat WAY too MUCH and Ari will give me a disapproving glance.

So, glances aside... I give you... Yellow Box Coconut Ice. Maybe you would like to make some too?!  Who could resist, really... it is CREAMY and super sweet, just as it should be!

xx Pip

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Pip's Potato Latke

2 cups of grated potato :: peel and coarsely grate the potatoes and then put in your salad spinner and spin dry :: pat dry with a paper towel if they are still a bit soggy.
1 small onion, grated as well
3 tbsp plain flour
2 eggs
salt and pepper
oil for frying :: we need to shallow-fry in around an inch of oil
Optional extra ingredients:: clove of garlic, freshly chopped herbs, grated lemon rind, smoked paprika, chilli

NB :: don't let your grated potato sit around - it will go brown and yicky - grate and use it straight away.

Mix the grated, dried potato with the other ingredients (except the oil).

Heat the oil until a pinch of the mixture fries up nice and golden quickly. Now plonk spoonfuls of your potato mixture into the oil and flatten with a spoon until a cm or so thick. They don't need to be perfect - kind of poke the spoon into the centre of the plonked mixture to make a few little holes for the oil to seep up into. This helps the middle cook evenly. No one likes raw potato! Cook until golden and then flip over and cook the other side. Drain on kitchen towel and transfer to the oven to keep warm. These are nice cold too, though!

Simplicity Chocolate Cake - via NMAA

I made this today. It turned out great. I used a bit more butter and dutch cocoa and a tablespoon of espresso instead of instant.


2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp cocoa
1 cup SR flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp instant coffee

Grease a ring tin very well and heat oven to 350F

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs. Add cocoa, vanilla and coffee. Add flour and milk alternately. Bake for 30 mins. Cool in tin and then turn out.

Upside Down Pear Cake

3 pears, peeled, halved and cored
175g butter
175g caster sugar
175g self raising flour
3 eggs
3 tablespoons of milk

grease and line your 20cm cake tin with baking paper. preheat oven to 180C.

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time. Fold in flour, then milk.

Place pears into bottom of the lined tin. Spoon mixture evenly over top of pears and smooth out.

Bake for 45minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes and then turn out onto serving plate.

Y to the UM.

via Eat Drink Live by Fran Warde

Things To Try :: Zucchini and Cheddar Toast

2 grated zucchinis - with all the moisture squeezed out of the gratings
200g good cheddar cheese, also grated
1 finely diced shallot
1 small egg
a slosh of worcestershire sauce
bread for toasting
salt and pepper.

Mix all ingredients except the bread together.
Plonk spoonfuls onto bread making sure it's not layered super thick and it's pushed to the edges of the bread nicely.
Grill and eat with a big glass of wine (or beer) or if you are saintly, iced water.

via Eat Drink Live by Fran Warde