Beans ...

are pretty!

Lemon and Blueberry Pikelets

I love pikelets. Partly because they're delicious little mini pancakes so what's not to love, but also because they take all of 15 minutes from getting the frypan out of the cupboard to sitting down and eating.

This is the type of thing I'm looking forward to cooking with my own kids. But as we are just starting the TTC rollercoaster that is clearly a little while away yet!

Lemon and Blueberry Pikelets
Recipe adapted from the Original Cookbook by the Australian Women's Weekly, 1977, p178

1 cup self-raising flour
pinch of salt
1/4 ts bicarbonate of soda
3 tbs sugar
1 egg
2 ts melted butter
2/3 cup sour milk (made by adding 1ts vinegar or lemon juice to the milk and letting it stand in a warm place until it sours ie. goes squidgy and lumpy - I do this first thing and it's ready by the time everything else is assembled)
Zest of 1 lemon
approx 1 cup blueberries, either fresh or frozen

Sift dry ingredients together and add sugar. Mix to a smooth batter with beaten egg and milk, then fold through the melted butter and lemon zest.

Heat and grease frypan then drop in dessertspoonfuls of batter (I do 5 or 6 at a time but it depends on the size of your pan and flipping skills). Top each with a scattering of blueberries.

Cook until bubbly on top and golden brown underneath. Flip each one to cook other side. This second side may take a little longer than the first if you have used frozen blueberries.

Remove and repeat. Makes approx 12 pikelets. Delicious served hot from the pan with butter, maple syrup or just a dusting of icing sugar.


Note to self - next time wear gloves when handling blueberries to avoid freakish blue fingernails!

Sharing

These are my boys! Leonardo on the left, Picasso on the right. You'll see a lot more of them if you stick around :)

Mediterranean Lamb Salad

This is another throw-together dinner that doesn't really have a recipe, but we make something like this at least once a week. There's just something about the combination of tomato, fresh basil and capers ... I could eat it every night! With it's beautiful colours it also makes a really nice winter meal - it takes your mind off the grey outside.

Mediterranean Lamb Salad

500g large pasta shapes
500g lamb leg steak
1 large red capsicum, sliced into thin strips
1-2 punnets cherry tomatoes (I used 3 roma here because the cherry tomatoes were blah)
1 bunch fresh basil, chopped just before serving
1/2 red onion, sliced finely
200g fetta, diced or crumbled into small pieces
1 jar capers, drained and rinsed
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Cook pasta as per packet instructions.

Meanwhile cook the lamb until just done then remove from the pan to rest under foil. In the same pan toss the capsicum over high heat until it is slightly charred and soft (if I had time I would roast it whole and remove the skin - this is a cheat's version).

In a large bowl combine olive oil, lemon juice, capers, onion, tomato and fetta. Season with pepper at this stage (you won't need any salt). As soon as the pasta is cooked, drain it well and add it to the bowl with the dressing. Slice the lamb into strips and toss through. Chop basil and add last thing before serving.

Enjoy!

Serves 6-8

Tuesdays with Dorie: Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler

Another Tuesday, another dessert! I'm really going to have to start exercising more often to burn off all this sweet stuff. At least there is fruit in this one so I can pretend it's healthy! (We won't talk about the huge scoop of Sara Lee vanilla ice cream on top).

Amanda at Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake chose this week's recipe. I found it online at Cook Almost Anything, and this was a really lucky find because the recipe had been converted into 'Australian'. I completely agree with Haalo's observations there about how Dorie's (and a ton of other cookbooks) are written purely for the American market. We don't measure butter in sticks or cups. It's so much simpler to measure/weigh everything and then you KNOW it's accurate. Particularly when baking is an exact science and requires exact proportions of ingredients. This is actually one of the main reasons I haven't purchased Dorie's book*. Anyway, you can find the recipe at the link above.

I think I have made a cobbler exactly once before. We tend to stick to crumbles in our house because they're easy and always delicious. The cobbler was also incredibly easy to put together - the filling just stirred together and the topping blitzed in the food processor.

As I mentioned last week N loves rhubarb so this was always going to be a winner. I had to use frozen fruit for both the rhubarb and the cherries. They actually did have fresh cherries at the supermarket but it's completely the wrong season so they've been imported (which makes me cranky) plus they were ridiculously expensive.


The only changes I made to the recipe were the proportions of fruit. I used a 350g box of cherries and a 450g box of rhubarb. I also added some extra sugar (approx 1-2 tbs) to account for the acid from the extra rhubarb.

The taste test ...

Well it tasted great but the presentation was lacking - the balls of dough on top didn't spread out at all which was a bit odd. I would also prefer a greater ratio of fruit to topping. Overall we enjoyed it but would definitely tweak the recipe if we were making it again.

Next week we have Summer Fruit Galette!

*Remember I am not officially a part of TWD, just playing along at home!