Tag: vegetarian

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Roasted Cauliflower with Cheese Sauce

by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment on Roasted Cauliflower with Cheese Sauce
Roasted Cauliflower with Cheese Sauce

1 head of cauliflower
80g butter, melted
5ml salt

Cheese Sauce:
15ml butter
15ml flour
190ml milk
125ml grated cheddar cheese

Preheat your oven to 180℃.
Remove the leaves and cut down the stem of the cauliflower so that it sits without rolling around.
Place the trimmed head on a roasting tray and brush a third of the melted butter onto the bottom section, allowing the butter to run through.
Turn the head upright and brush it all over with the rest of the butter.
Sprinkle with the salt and a few grindings of black pepper.
Now cover the roasting tray with aluminium foil and roast in the oven for 30 minutes.
Remove the foil and brown the cauliflower – about 15 minutes.

For the cheese sauce:
Add the butter to a small saucepan set over medium-high heat and allow it to melt.
Sprinkle over the flour and a pinch of salt and stir to make a paste.
Cook the butter and flour for 2 minutes while stirring, until it reaches a golden colour.
Add the milk and whisk until blended and the sauce has thickened.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the cheese.
Stir until melted.
Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning to your taste.
Pour the cheese sauce over the cauliflower to serve.

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Tiramisu

by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment on Tiramisu
Tiramisu

Yields 12 individual or one 18cm x 28cm dessert.

175g lady fingers
400ml strong coffee, cooled
83ml marsala or dessert wine
4 eggs, separated
100g caster sugar
750g mascarpone

Add the egg whites to a bowl, add a pinch of salt and whisk until stiff peaks. Set aside.
Add the sugar to the egg yolks and beat with an electric whisk until dissolved.
Add the mascarpone and incorporate with the whisk until mixed through.
Add the whites to the mixture and fold through.

Assembly:
Pour the coffee and marsala into a flat bowl.
Dip the lady fingers in the coffee mixture and lay them in an even layer in a glass/individual ramekin.
Now scoop some of the mascarpone mixture onto the biscuits and level it out.
Repeat with a layer of soaked lady fingers and mascarpone mixture.
Refrigerate the desserts for 2 hours.
Dust with cocoa powder to serve.

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Butter Candle Bread

by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment on Butter Candle Bread
Butter Candle Bread

Prepare the butter candle the day before you intend to serve it:

80g salted butter
5 cloves garlic, minced
a small bunch of chives, finely chopped
1 small round bread
2 muffin paper cups
15cm length of cotton string

Place one paper cup in a muffin tin.
Take a second paper cup and make a small slit in the bottom.
Insert the string through the slit and pull about 2cm through to the bottom of the cup.
Place this second paper cup in the cup that is in the muffin pan.
Place a wooden dowel/chopstick across the paper cup and tie the string to it, so that you are creating a wick for your candle.

Melt the butter in the microwave, add the garlic and chives and stir together.
Pour the mixture into the prepared paper cup and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

Place a biscuit cutter, more or less the size of the muffin cup into the centre of the bread and hollow out the inside with your hands.
Keep the biscuit cutter in place and slice the rest of the bread into squares.
Remove the cutter and place the candle in the hollow.
Light the butter candle and wait for it to melt sufficiently to dip small pieces of bread into it.

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Banana Muffins

by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment on Banana Muffins
Banana Muffins

You may add 125ml of chocolate chips or the same amount of chopped nuts to these delicious, moist muffins.
Yields 12 muffins.

500ml flour
10ml baking powder
5ml bicarbonate of soda
2.5ml salt
5ml ground cinnamon
200ml brown sugar
100ml greek yoghurt
125ml sunflower oil
5ml vanilla
250g/3 very ripe bananas
2 eggs

Preheat your oven to 180℃ and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cups.
Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cinnamon into a mixing bowl.
Add the brown sugar and stir through. Set aside.
Add the yoghurt, vegetable oil, vanilla and eggs to a jug and whisk together. Set aside.
Add the bananas to a bowl and mash them.
Add half of the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir through.
Now add half the banana and mix again.
Add the rest of the liquid and the rest of the banana and mix with a spatula.
Spoon the mixture into the paper cups and bake for 25 minutes.
Cool the muffins on a wire rack.


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Hummus Wreath

by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment on Hummus Wreath
Hummus Wreath

This is a quick throw-together as a starter or snack board and can easily be made from ingredients you already have in your refrigerator. If you want to make the hummus from scratch you will find a few recipes with slight variations under my search button if you type in HUMMUS.
Quantities are for you to decide and adapt to your taste.

hummus
chopped herbs like chives and parsley
crumbed feta or ricotta
cocktail tomatoes
olive oil to drizzle over before serving

Serve the hummus wreath with crackers or melba toast.

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How to make a Creamy Salad Dressing

by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment on How to make a Creamy Salad Dressing
How to make a Creamy Salad Dressing

This recipe yields about 200ml of dressing and can be kept in the refrigerator for 3 days.

15ml honey
60ml apple cider vinegar
125ml oil
45ml greek yoghurt
the juice of half a lemon

Add the honey and vinegar to a small bowl and whisk together.
Drizzle in the oil, a little at a time while whisking continuously until all the oil has been incorporated.
Add the yoghurt and whisk until amalgamated.
Finally add the lemon juice and season the dressing with salt.
Keep unused dressing in a glass jar in the refrigerator.

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PaneScone

by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment on PaneScone
PaneScone

450g flour
2,5ml salt
10ml baking powder
150g butter, cubed
120g sugar
120g candied citrus peel
120g raisins
1 orange, zested
1 lemon, zested
250ml milk

Preheat your oven to 200℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Add the flour, salt and baking powder to a mixing bowl and stir to mix.
Add the cubed butter and rub it into the flour mixture with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the sugar, citrus peel and raisins and lightly mix through.
Add the grated zest of the orange and lemon and stir again.
Add small quantities of milk, stir and repeat until the mixture comes together as a dough.
Flour a work surface and place the dough on it. Flatten with your hands so that it is 5cm thick.
Cut out rounds with a biscuit cutter or a glass and place the scone on the prepared baking sheet, spaced apart evenly.
Bring the dough together to a 5cm thickness again and cut out some more rounds.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
Remove the scones and cool on a cooling rack.
Dust with icing sugar to serve.

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Limoncello Tiramisu

by Karen Claassen1 Comment on Limoncello Tiramisu
Limoncello Tiramisu

Lemon syrup:
125ml water
125ml sugar
1 lemon, peeled and juice
60ml limoncello

500ml whipping cream
60ml lemon juice
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
125ml + 60ml + 125ml lemon curd
190ml sugar
440g mascarpone cheese
2 packets ladyfingers (Boudoir biscuits)

For the lemon syrup:
Add the water and sugar to a small saucepan set over medium-high heat.
Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
Now simmer the mixture for 1 minute without stirring or fiddling with it.
Add the lemon peel and juice and simmer for 3 minutes.
Remove from the heat, strain through a sieve and set aside to cool.

Pour the cream into a mixing bowl and add the lemon juice, zest, 125ml lemon curd and sugar.
Whisk together with electric beaters until soft peaks form.
Add the mascarpone and mix on low speed until the mixture is fully incorporated and smooth. Set aside.
Pour the cooled lemon syrup and limoncello into a shallow dish.
Dip the ladyfingers in the mixture and lay them side-by-side in a 28cm x 22cm ceramic dish to form a compact layer.
Spoon half the mascarpone mixture on the biscuits and smooth it out.
Now spoon 60ml lemon curd on top and spread it out evenly.
Repeat the biscuit and mascarpone layers.
Spread the last 125ml lemon curd evenly over the top of the tiramisu.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.


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Coffee Rusks

by Karen Claassen1 Comment on Coffee Rusks
Coffee Rusks

This is a small batch of rusks and yields about 24 pieces.

250g butter, room temperature
250ml caster sugar
4 eggs
10ml instant coffee dissolved in 30ml hot water
10ml vanilla
10ml baking powder
250ml flour

Preheat your oven to 170℃ and line a 23cm loaf tin with baking paper.
Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
Beat together at high speed until creamy – scrape the mixture down once or twice in between mixing.
Add the eggs one at a time, waiting for it to be incorporated into the mixture before adding the next one.
Add the dissolved coffee and vanilla.
Add the baking powder and flour to a bowl and mix through.
Turn the mixer to a low speed and add two tablespoons of flour at a time, until you have no flour left.
Spoon the batter in to the prepared loaf tin and bake for one hour.
Cool the cake on a wire rack.

Slice the cake into rusk sizes: I like 2cm x 3cm.
Preheat your oven to 150℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Space the rusks evenly apart and place in the oven for 15 minutes. Flip the rusks over and bake for another 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cool completely.
Store the rusks in a glass container.