Recipe - Banana Upside Down Cake

Found this great recipe on http://www.sprinklesomesugar.com/banana-upside-down-cake/

Serving Size: 9-12

Ingredients:

·         Topping (Bottom of the Pan)

·         1 cup brown sugar

·         6 tbs unsalted butter, melted

·         2 bananas, sliced into 1/4" rounds (or more depending on how you arrange them)

·         Cake

·         1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

·         1/2 tsp baking soda

·         1 tsp baking powder

·         pinch salt

·         3/4 cup brown sugar

·         1/4 cup granulated sugar

·         1 cup mashed banana (about 2 medium sized bananas)

·         1/2 cup buttermilk

·         1 tbs vanilla

·         1/3 cup oil

·         2 eggs

Method

1.       Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9" round baking pan very well, set aside.

2.       Combine melted butter and brown sugar. Press mixture into bottom of the pan. Arrange banana rounds on top of brown sugar mixture. (This will ultimately be the top of your cake.)

3.       In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients and whisk very well for one minute. Add in the wet ingredients and stir until completely combined and no lumps remain. Don't over mix. Pour cake mixture into prepared pan on top of bananas. (It may look like too much batter, but don't worry it's not.) Bake for 42-47 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.

4.       Let cake cool for 5 minutes in pan then turn out on a large plate or platter. (If you wait too long, the caramelized brown sugar will stick to the pan!)

5.       Cake is best served warm out of the oven but will stay moist and fresh for up to 5 days in an airtight container. This cake is able to be made the night before the day needed for consumption.

Recipe - Risotto with mushroom magic (vs magic mushrooms – eek!)

BROTH

Ingredients 

• 400g button mushrooms, very thinly sliced
• 100g dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in 1 cup warm water to soften
• 2 eschalots, thinly sliced
• 1 head garlic, sliced in half horizontally
• 5 thyme sprigs
• 1 fresh bay leaf
• 250ml dry white wine
• 100ml Madeira or port
• 1000ml chicken stock

Method 

1. Throw all the above into the slow cooker. Remove anywhere from 4 – 8 hours later. Although … you can’t stuff this up so if it goes for longer it’s no big deal.
2. Ta-Da …. You now have the broth.

RISOTTO

Ingredients 

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 1/4 cups Arborio rice
• 2 cups peeled chestnuts (best way to peel is by boiling – turn to YouTube if you need more guidance)
• 2 1/2 cups stock (if you fall short use boiling water)
• 100g shaved parmesan

Method 

1. Heat the oil and butter in a heavy based pan over low heat and fry the onion and garlic for a few minutes until soft.
2.  Add the rice and peeled chestnuts.
3. Stir thoroughly making sure the rice is well coated with the oil and butter. Continue cooking for three minutes.
4. Heat the stock until it is just simmering. Add to the rice mixture a cup at a time, allowing each addition to be absorbed by the rice. Continue until all the stock is used. The rice should be cooked and creamy.
5. Add the shaved parmesan to the risotto.

Recipe - Brandy Pudding With Brandy Butterscotch Sauce

This is a Masterchef recipe … it is PERFECT for a dinner party and has instantly gone onto my top 10 :)

Ingredients 

• 2 eggs
• 480 grams /2 cups sugar
• 190 grams/ 1 ¼ cups plain flour
• ½ cup milk
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 165 ml brandy
• 225 g butter, plus 35 grams / 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
• 250 ml/ 1 cup cream, plus more whipped for serving
• Strawberries, for serving
• Spun sugar, for optional garnish
• Select all

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 20cm cake tin.
2. Place the eggs and 1 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until pale. Add the flour and mix to combine. Combine the milk, vinegar, 40 ml brandy and melted butter in a small bowl and then add to the egg mixture and beat to combine. Add bi-carb soda, mix well and pour mixture into prepared tin.
3. Place cake in the oven to bake for about 40 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, to make the sauce, place butter, remaining cup sugar, cream and remaining 125ml brandy in a saucepan and set over medium heat. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring until well combined. Remove from heat.
5. Remove cake from oven. Prick all over with a skewer and pour half the sauce evenly over. Allow to sit until sauce has soaked in, about 5 minutes.
6. To serve, slice pudding and place on plate. Serve with strawberries, whipped cream, remaining sauce and garnish with spun sugar if desired.

Source

Recipe – Chickpea and Asparagus Salad

Today’s experiment in fact worked out J

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. oil 800g chickpeas rinsed, drained, dried
• ½ tsp. chilli flakes.
• 2 ½ tsp. garam masala. 
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2cm-piece ginger, peeled, 2 bunches asparagus
• 1/2 cup coriander leaves, chopped
• 1/4 cup yoghurt
• Juice of half a small lemon and season

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 190°C/170°C fan forced.
2. Place chickpeas on a lined baking tray. Sprinkle with chilli flakes.
3. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon garam masala.
4. Season and toss to combine. Roast for 35 minutes or until dry and slightly crisp.
5. Meanwhile boil the asparagus until just cooked then immediately rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process, drain and dry
6. Meanwhile, combine garlic, ginger, turmeric, yoghurt, coriander leaves and 1 ½ tsp. garam masala in a bowl. Season
7. When the chickpeas are finished roasting add them and asparagus to a bowl and leave to cool.
8. Stir through a tablespoon of the yoghurt dressing, add lemon and season
9. Place the rest of the dressing in a small bowl for those that would like extra, either with this salad or also use as a dipping sauce for meat

Recipe – Silvia Colloca’s Buttermilk, Olive Oil and Chocolate Chips Tea Cake

INGREDIENTS (serves 8)

·       280 gr (2-1/2 cups) of self-raising flour, sifted

·       150 gr (3/4 cup) of caster sugar

·       finely grated rind of one orange

·       150 gr (3/4 cup) of dark chocolate chips

·       pinch of salt

·       200 ml (3/4 cups) of buttermilk

·       80 ml (1/3 cup) of olive oil

·       1 egg, beaten with a fork

·       1 teaspoon of vanilla paste or extract or the seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod

HOW TO

1.  Preheat your over to 180 C (395 F).
2.  Line a cake tin with baking paper.
3. Put flour, sugar, salt , 2/3 of the chocolate chips and the orange zest in a large mixing bowl.
4. Pour the buttermilk and the oil into a jug. Add the egg and vanilla and mix with a whisk for a few seconds.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the large mixing bowl, mix with a wooden spoon just so the batter come together, but don’ try to make it smooth. If the batter feel a little dry, add a couple of extra tablespoons of buttermilk. If too wet, add 1-2 tablespoons of flour. As all flours vary slightly, it is always a good idea to adapt quantities according to the ingredients you are working with. Lumpy, sticky batter=soft moist cake!
6. Pour the cake mix into the prepared tin, scatter the remaining chocolate chips on top and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the top is slightly golden and, if pierced with a wooden skewer, it comes out clean.

Review - The Rustic Pearl - Surry Hills

Great honest Turkish food with a pleasing price tag! I'll let the pictures do the talking for this review...

For lunch we ordered from the lunch menu (no ... not being Captain Obvious ... they have an all day Breakfast menu).

To start we had the Chilled Apple Tea - delicious!!!

The mains were ordered included Watermelon and Scallop Salad, Spinach and Ricotta Gozleme, Chicken Salad and a Lamb dish.

Dessert was also fantastic. We had the Banana and Nutella gozleme, Semolina cake, Flourless Chocolate cake

Overall a great cafe! It certainly went above and beyond typical cafe food. The one hour wait wasn't ideal but when the bill came and it was less than $40 a head ... we got over that pretty quickly as (for cafe food) it was excellent.