Recipes

Fig and Sour Cream Cake

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

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A friend of mine has recently enjoyed a surfeit of fresh fruit. Apparently, the birds in his suburb aren’t quite as fat as those in my suburb (hello, denuded plum and pear trees) and he spent a weekend preserving fruit. The upshot of this was that I received a jar of fig jam as well as a big container full of figs.

I duly ate a ton of fresh figs, tried to share them with Master 4 (he refused, although I suspect that his curiosity would eventually have got the better of him) and then needed to think up a way to use up some more in a rather more bulk fashion. I also had some sour cream kicking around in the fridge that needed using up (we had planned to make some avocado cream to go with some quesadillas but lost interest) so I figured that a fig and sour cream cake would use up both figs and sour cream.

A quick recce of the internet didn’t turn up the ideal recipe but I figured I have enough cake baking experience to borrow a few ideas here and there and then wing it.

The result was excellent – not massively figgy (I was being a bit cautious as the extra moisture in fresh fruit can cause problems) but the cake had good flavour and has kept exceptionally well. Straight out of the oven it was very fragile and crumbly but by day 2 it had firmed up. It is beautifully moist and the mix of vanilla and fig flavours is just delicious.

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Fig and Sour Cream Cake

Ingredients

  • 125g unsalted butter, softened
  • 175g caster sugar
  • 200g self raising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla paste (I used Heilala - that stuff is pretty good!)
  • 2 eggs
  • 150g sour cream
  • 4-6 figs, finely chopped

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 160°C fan (180°C conventional). Grease and base line a 20cm springform tin.
  2. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the vanilla paste. Combine the flour and baking powder and then add to the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time then beat through the sour cream.
  3. Finally, lightly beat through the chopped figs.
  4. It is a relatively loose mixture.
  5. Tip into the prepared cake tin nad bake for 40-45 minutes (45 minutes in my oven) - until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
  6. Allow to cool a little in the pan before cooling on a rack. The cake will sink but will sink EVENLY (if it collapses in the middle, it's underdone!).
  7. This cake doesn't need icing but you could serve with yoghurt or cream.
https://eatingadelaide.com/fig-sour-cream-cake/

Sambal Chicken

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

Sambal chicken

Straya (that’s ‘Australia’ to most of the English speaking world …) Day is just around the corner and here in Adelaide we’re looking at a cracking long weekend, with temperatures in the mid to high 20s. Perfect for … BBQ.

I found this chicken skewer/kebab recipe relatively recently and as sambal oelek is one of my all time favourite condiments I had to try it out promptly. We had ourselves all planned to BBQ this and then … the heavens opened. And while Andy would have been (mostly) dry while doing the cooking, the hot plate itself was so wet that Andy doubted he’d even get things hot enough to dry it out, let alone cook on it.

And no one wants a wet kebab.

Thank goodness for grills! Even though it was really a bit hot in the house to be turning on the grill, we had no option. There was no incentive to start messing around with skewers – we just cooked the chunks of meat and off we went!

You don’t need to be too fussy over quantities and we didn’t bother following the original recipe’s instructions about boiling up left over marinade and so on. If you are doing BBQ food you want bang for buck, not lots of messing around!

This, along with the Xinjiang lamb skewers, is definitely going to be on our BBQ go-to list!

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Sambal Chicken

Ingredients

  • 1 tsp light brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 2 tbsp sambal oelek
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp Sriracha
  • 1 tsp ginger, finely grated
  • approx 500g chicken thigh fillets

Instructions

  1. Chop the chicken thigh fillets into skewer size chunks.
  2. Mix all the other ingredients together and marinate the chicken for at least an hour - overnight is always best.
  3. Thread chicken on to skewers and cook on a hot BBQ (or grill). Serve with salad.
https://eatingadelaide.com/sambal-chicken/

Vanilla Madeleines

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

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Christmas is tricky. Andy and I always struggle to buy each other Christmas presents. While Master 4 has a never ending list of Lego that “we need to buy” we are far trickier customers. Obviously, anything food and wine oriented goes down a treat with me … so in the past I have received things like black lentils, szechuan peppercorns or molecular gastronomy chemicals. And wine. And maybe some more wine.

The Christmas just gone we were faced with the usual dilemma. Andy decided he wanted a PVR but that we should wait for the post Christmas sales (no present bought as yet … this is going to go the same way as the ladder a few years ago – which was bought in April). After some thinking I announced that I wanted either a madeleine pan or a friand pan. I showed Andy pictures of what I meant (he’s not quite as well versed in cake as I am) and on Christmas morning I scored both. They were both Bakers Secret – a brand which I’ve used a couple of times before and been impressed with. I bought my dad a pile of their pie tins and they’re excellent. They’re non stick but they’re very sturdy and robust, with a good weight to them. The non stick surface seems to be of a good quality too – which is what you’d expect if you’re going to the bother of making a good pan/tray in the first place.

A quick survey of recipes showed that I could make use of my madeleine pan immediately, so once present opening was done and Andy and Master 4 were busy building the Lego-robot-monster, I nipped out to the kitchen to check my supply of almond meal and try out this easy madeleine recipe.

This is a super fast, easy, and apparently foolproof recipe. I’ve made it a couple of times (madeleines are going to be my new “I-need-cake-in-a-hurry” thing) and messed around with flavourings. On one occasion I subbed honey for the almond essence but the flavour didn’t really come through and the edges of the madeleines caught with the extra sugar so that’s going to need a bit of tweaking.

What I love about these little cake-biscuit hybrids is, not only are they quick, but they are small. I complain a great deal about the ridiculous size of cakes and biscuits in cafés. These are the perfect size for an afternoon tea snack without spoiling your appetite for dinner.

Note that putting the madeleines in the freezer before cooking is (supposedly) what gives rise to the bump.

Also, I found that my oven comes up to temperature in the 10 minutes of freezer time so you may not need to turn yours on right at the start!

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Vanilla Madeleines

Ingredients

  • vegetable oil spray for greasing your madeleine pan
  • 2 eggs
  • pinch of salt
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 50g plain flour
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • 40g ground almond
  • scant ½ tsp vanilla paste
  • scant ½ tsp almond essence
  • 25g unsalted butter, melted

Instructions

  1. Grease madeleine tin lightly using spray oil (a quick spray in each hole and then use your finger to ensure the spot is well greased).
  2. Preheat oven to 190°C (fan).
  3. Whisk eggs, salt and sugar together until frothy (easiest if you have a stand mixer). Add remaining ingredients and whisk to combine.
  4. Spoon mixture into madeleine pan. Place (flat!) in freezer for 10 minutes and then transfer to oven and cook for 10 minutes. Allow madeleines to cool on rack.
  5. Serve dusted with icing sugar, if so inclined. Cup of tea or coffee essential and dunking recommended.
https://eatingadelaide.com/vanilla-madeleines/