Mary Berry’s Cornish Fairings

- Alex Prichard 1 Comment

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Last Friday the small child and I were heading out for an afternoon play date so I decided that we should make something to take along. As there was no way I was going to the shops in the morning (in my defence, we’d been shopping on Thursday afternoon) I had to make do with what was in the house. So what follows is a genuine store cupboard recipe.

I first made Cornish fairings a few years ago but never blogged the recipe and, of course, couldn’t for the life of me remember which one I’d used. However, Mary Berry’s 100 Cakes and Bakes offered a recipe and one for which I had all the ingredients. I was a bit concerned because her biscuits looked nothing like Cornish fairings (in my opinion) should.

However, you can never really go wrong with a ginger biscuit, can you?

My biscuits turned out looking exactly like Berry’s, so a big tick there. However, I’ve done some research and have some ideas what needs to be done differently to get a much more distinctive cracking pattern on the biscuits. Disappointing, because last time I made them they were picture perfect … but it’s provided me with an excuse to make more.

These biscuits are full of ginger spice and are hard and crunchy, so they’re perfect for dunking. A big hit at home, with the small child demanding a biscuit for breakfast on Saturday.

Rest assured, he didn’t get it!

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Mary Berry’s Cornish Fairings

Ingredients

  • 100g plain flour
  • ¼ tsp ground ginger
  • ¼ tsp allspice
  • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 50g butter (I used salted as that's what I had)
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 75g (roughly 2 generous tablespoons) golden syrup

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 160°C fan.
  2. Mix the dry ingredients with the butter until crumbly. Add the golden syrup (warmed, if it is very cold weather) and mix to a soft dough.
  3. Either divide into 24 or, using a teaspoon, scoop out small walnut sized portions, roll and gently flatten on a baking sheet (lined with baking paper).
  4. Cook for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, remove and tap the tray firmly on the bench before returning to the oven for a further 5 minutes.
  5. The biscuits should be golden.
  6. Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container. They will easily last 3-4 days.
https://eatingadelaide.com/mary-berrys-cornish-fairings/

Mushroom Mania 2014 at The Highway

- Alex Prichard 1 Comment

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Disclaimer: My mushroom meal was paid for by the Australian Mushroom Growers Association (AMGA).

A couple of weeks ago I was approached by the AMGA to see if I was interested in joining them in promoting #mushroommania2014.

You may have noticed that there are relatively few recipes featuring mushrooms on this site. This is because no matter how much I like them (and I do, very much) Andy will not countenance them. Apparently, they taste of dirt. I guess they are one of those polarising ingredients.

However, they are super healthy, come in a variety of forms/shapes/flavours and are both flexible and extremely easy to use. At their simplest, raw and sliced into a green salad is an easy start and they often play a supporting role in a good beef and mushroom pie. And then there are dishes where the mushies themselves have the opportunity to shine. Of course, they are also ‘meat for vegetarians’ (I really hope I’m not the only person who remembers that ad!) and will often feature in a vegetarian menu.

This was one occasion where I didn’t feel bad about leaving Andy at home. I rustled up a couple of friends who were happy to eat mushrooms and we headed along to The Highway, which is supporting mushroom mania to the extent that Nick Finn, the head chef, has developed a mushroom month menu.

Due to quite a late booking for a school night (all three of us have small children so bed time came before food) so we passed on entrées. But for the record, I would definitely have chosen the truffle and taleggio polenta sticks.

All three of us ended up choosing the porcini gnocchi with blue cheese and white wine cream sauce (how much of a perfect winter dish does that sound?) with one of us opting to add prawns.

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This was a really well balanced dish. There are a lot of strong flavours at play here and getting them right, as well as getting the gnocchi right, is something that not all kitchens will get right. The gnocchi were light and pillowy and carried the sauce perfectly. There was enough sauce to coat the gnocchi but not drown them and the dish actually tasted of mushroom with the blue cheese adding a shot of piquancy.

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While we might have passed on entrée, we did find room for dessert and we all tried out the Mushroom Patch. The menu describes this as chocolate soil, pistachio sponge and caramel ice cream. It was decorated with mushroom caps that were a marshmallow/meringue hybrid. This dish really split the table – from the enthusiastic “I would definitely order this again!” to the much less sure “I don’t think I would …”. Personally, I’m not a fan of marshmallow so I would have loved the dish had the mushroom caps not been there. I would have loved it even more had it been a big slab of pistachio cake with chocolate sauce and caramel ice cream … Is that because I’m a piggy?

Yet again the Highway gets a big tick.

Now, if you like mushrooms and you’re active on social media, you have the opportunity to win yourself a $100 gift card during July. Just eat out (you do have to eat out) and enjoy a mushroom meal and then share it via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

While this competition is open Australia wide, if you’re looking for some Adelaide based inspiration, you might want to suss out some of the following venues (thank you to the AGMA for these suggestions – I have not necessarily eaten at these places!): Vino Ristorante, Auge, Assaggio and Regattas. Of course, plenty of other restaurants and pubs will have mushrooms in at least one dish – so you really have no excuse!

What is your favourite mushroom meal?

The Highway
290 Anzac Highway
Plympton SA 5038
ph: 08 8297 8155

The Highway / HWY on Urbanspoon

Charmaine Solomon’s Lamb Doh Piaza

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

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On first moving to the UK I remember being amazed by the range of curries available in curry restaurants. I lived in Rochester, in Kent, and at least ten curry restaurants within walking distance of my flats. And every single one had at least one curry I hadn’t heard of before. Having (almost literally) grown up on a diet of rogan josh, vindaloo, butter chicken and raan, curries like jalfrezi, dhansak and phal seemed positively exotic.

I put in some hard yards and after serious research I had the distinctions under my belt and could negotiate my way around a menu in my sleep.

I’m pretty sure that a doh piaza was something with which I was not conversant before heading to the UK. The key thing with a doh piaza is that it’s all about the onions. Indeed, ‘doh piaza’ means ‘two onions’. As with all curries, a long slow cook is in order, so don’t try to whip this up after work. I made this on Monday for Wednesday night’s dinner. I kept aside the second batch of onions, ready to add (along with the garam masala) as the curry was heating up.

This is not a super spicy curry (I ate mine with plenty of hot lime pickle!) and it doesn’t have a scary list of spices so if you’re something of a curry novice, or don’t cook curries often, then this is a great recipe to have in your repertoire.

The basis for this recipe comes from Charmaine Solomon’s classic Complete Asian Cookbook and, perhaps less so than usual, I apologise for what is probably an uninspiring photo. But we all know curries are tough to photograph!

 

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Charmaine Solomon’s Lamb Doh Piaza

Ingredients

  • 700g diced lamb
  • 500g onions
  • 3 large cloves garlic
  • chunk of fresh ginger, peeled
  • ~ 30g plain yoghurt
  • 1 heaped tsp chilli flakes (or substitute chilli powder - but always to taste)
  • half a packet of coriander, roots included
  • 1 tbsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • ghee
  • oil
  • 4 cardamom pods
  • ½ tsp garam masala

Instructions

  1. Heat some oil and ghee in a heavy based pan that has a lid.
  2. Finely slice half the onions and cook until golden. Then set aside.
  3. While cooking the onions, roughly chop the remaining onions and put in a food processor with the garlic, chopped ginger, yoghurt, chilli, fresh and ground coriander and cumin seeds. Process until smooth.
  4. Once the sliced onions have been browned, add the chopped lamb to the pan and brown. You may need to do this in batches. Set the meat aside.
  5. Add a little more ghee to the pan and then add the onion and spice mix. Cook, stirring frequently, until it darkens in colour and oil starts to appear at the edges. Be patient.
  6. Return the meat to the pan, add the cardamom and stir well. Turn the heat down to low, cover and cook slowly until the lamb is tender. Allow at least a couple of hours.
  7. When ready to serve, stir through the sliced fried onions and garam masala. Cook for a further fifteen minutes and then serve with rice (or naan).
https://eatingadelaide.com/charmaine-solomons-lamb-doh-piaza/