Herby cheesey dumplings for stews

Cook these for 20 minutes on top of ready stews.

300g self-raising flour, 100g butter, 2/3 cups milk, pinch salt, cheese and herbs of choice. I like LOTS of fresh herbs, rough chopped. Rub flour and butter, mix into dough with milk, add cheese and herbs. Roll into balls. Can cook like little scones for other applications. Such as snarfing down with butter and ham for lunch. Kid favourite.

Peach and raspberry cheesecake

For the base: a 250g packet of Arnott's Granita biscuits and 100g butter, melted. Blend, mix, press into lined base of slice tin. Chill for 30 minutes.

For the cheesecake mix, first rough chop and microwave one peach. Chuck in blender with 2 x 250g packs cream cheese, 120g sour cream, two eggs, some vanilla, and 1/2 cup sugar. Pour onto chilled base.

Sprinkle 100g raspberries over the mix, then arrange thin slices of peach over the top to cover everything. Bake at 150 c for 45 minutes. Open oven door and let cheesecake sit there until it cools. Then chill for 2 hours. Yes, this is a bit of a marathon. Eventually, after that, they let you eat it. You deserve it by now, you're probably famished.

,,, Addendum....

OK So I made this once, and it was a great success and very tasty but for next time I want to try to following:

• Leave out the raspberries, they amount to nothing. If you want the flavour make a coulis for after. 
• Increase the peach puree by about three times in the mix, leave out some of the cheese and increase by one egg. Maybe add a tablespoon of cornstarch or so. Also add some lemon zest. 

Thai Fish in Bamboo Cups

For the paste:
Lemongrass, shallots, garlic, tumeric (fresh), dried chilies, galangal  .....  kaffir lime, toasted peanuts, coconut milk. ---> Blend into a paste.

Fry paste in oil, add sugar, soy sauce, salt, kaffir lime and coconut milk. Thicken with beaten eggs and add fish chunks. Into banana cup, into steamer for 10 mins. Serve with rice.

Kamaboko

450g white fish, 2 egg whites, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, 4.5 tbps cornflour, 4.5 tbsp sake, 1 tbps mirin, food colouring if you desire.

Chuck everything in a blender and shape the resulting paste into whatever you like. If you want, colour it, roll it, have fun. Whatever you do, wrap it up in a foil sausage so it can be steamed. 

Steam for 20 minutes, then chill. Ready for use. Easy as. 

Bruschetta - various

Variant 1: (the green one on the left)
Anchovies, tomato, lemon juice, roast garlic, parsley, basil, marjoram. Into blender, salt and pepper.

Variant 2: Camembert and salami

Variant 3: Roasted red peppers, green onions, blue cheese.

Variant 4: Caramelized red onions in a red wine reduction with slices Camembert on the top. Maybe could have done with some near-carpaccio beef slivers on top.


Everything is on sliced baguette (in this case) grilled with olive oil and seasoning.

 

Custard Tarts

You know those custard tarts you buy in the shop that have disappointing amounts of custard and don't taste of anything? This isn't one of them.

Pastry:
250g flour, 185g butter, 1.5 tbsp icing sugar, 1 egg yolk, iced water. Blind bake in four/five generous muffin tins, 10mins with pastry beads 10 mins without, at 200 degrees.

Custard:
1 can condensed milk, 1.5 cups milk, 2tbsp custard powder, 1 eggs, vanilla essence. Cook in saucepan until thickened. Pour into tart casings, chill. Consume with nutmeg grated on top.

Combo for Asian night

Sushi, gyoza, and veg stir-fry.

Gyoza skin is made from 2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp salt and 120ml boiling water. Filling is traditionally shredded cabbage and pork mince. You can steam these babies or fry them for about 3 minutes each and then add a splash of water and cover the pan for about 4 minutes for them to steam/fry. Delicious.

The sushi and stir-fry - well, you do them as you please, don't you?