Leek and Crab Lasagne

Karen Martini on Better Homes and Gardens is a bit hit and miss for me.    But when she hits, she hits it out of the ballpark.  I saw this recipe on the show a few weeks back and thought it looked interesting and mentioned it to hubby.  He was practically drooling just talking about it so I picked up this months edition of the magazine and gathered the ingredients. The original recipe uses fresh lasagne sheets and capers - hubby detests capers so I didn't use them and I had some dried lasagne sheets to use...

Crab meat my friends isn't cheap though - and although the recipe calls for 200g, I used 400g.  And that cost me a bit - but in hindsight totally worth it - it made enough for us, a leftover lunch and gave some to Nanny.   This would impress the pants off friends at a dinner party I'm sure (well hopefully not literally) but Hubby has already told me this is his new birthday meal - he's pretty impressed!


Ingredients:
4 leeks, sliced
4 cloves of garlic
200g crab meat
100g butter
700ml fish stock
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup plain flour
100ml cream
1 packet large curly lasagne (or whatever you like!)
1 tub baby bococcini
180g mascarpone
fresh grated parmesan


 Method:
In a saucepan place 30g of the butter with garlic and leek, over medium heat cook until the leeks are soft and a bit golden on the edges.

In another saucepan (hope your dishwasher is empty!) bring your fish stock up to a boil with the bayleaf (I used 2 small fresh ones from the garden..)

In another saucepan (yes I'm serious) heat the remainder of your butter until it starts to bubble and go golden, add the flour and whisk quickly - add the stock bit by bit still whisking until all the stock is in the mixture and it's like a gravy.  Discard the bayleaf.

Add the cream and then pour the leek into the sauce or vice-versa.

Preheat oven to 190 degrees c.

Put a bit of the leek sauce on the bottom of your baking dish and put your lasagne sheets on top.

Then start layering.... 1/3 at a time - crab meat, baby boccocini, dollops of masarpone, leek sauce and then sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan and black pepper.

Keep going, layer after layer until all done.  Cover with baking paper (will stop the cheese sticking to the top) and then a layer of aluminium foil.

Place in the oven for 50 minutes with the foil and baking paper on and another 15-20 minutes with it off.

Let it sit for about 15 minutes before serving.  Oh my - you're going to congratulate yourself (and by then you've done all the washing up too!)

OK, who wants some?

Easy and impressive - caramel centred apple cupcakes

When I was in my early twenties I worked and lived in Jersey, Channel Islands.  I worked with a family who lived in my street in London for the summer - as a Nanny.  The Mother of the children's father was the Seigneur of Jersey - which his duty was to present the sovereign two mallards when they visited the island.

The manor was beautiful and had a hedge maze, hounds, horses, a dairy.  Oh the milk was like cream and I used to take the kids up to the dairy each day to collect the milk and pat those beautiful cows which the longest eyelashes you've ever seen!

Of course I partook in the local fare which is jersey caramels.  Oh they are so good there.  I never ate caramels before then and even now when we eat the ones here are aren't even a scratch on those ones I remember my time in Jersey with fondness.  Even the time when I got chicken pox and had to go to the beach each day with the children.  In summer.  Yes, pass the Jersey Caramels please.

Makes 18

Ingredients:

125g butter at room temperature

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 large apples, cored and processed or chopped very finely

1/2 cup milk

2 cups self raising flour

18 jersey caramels

Method:

Preheat oven to 190 degrees c

Place butter and brown sugar in a bowl and beat on high speed for 4 minutes - it needs to be light and fluffy.

I used pink lady apples because they are nice a sweet but use what you have - it's a good excuse to use those bruised apples the kids won't touch!

This is in the thermomix for 15 seconds on speed 5.

to your butter/sugar mix add eggs, vanilla (I love the paste!) and milk.  Mix well.

Add apple and flour, mix until combined only.

Look how beautiful it is!

Spoon into cupcake papers and push in a jersey caramel into the centre of each.   I just used the Woolworths homebrand type.

They look so beautiful already!

Bake for 15-17 minutes until the tops are a light golden brown.

They are lovely warm but don't eat them straight out of the oven because my friends, caramel burns!  I put a few in the freezer straight away for the kids because they were swarming!

And yes, they smell as good as you think they will!

And if they are still warm-ish look!   How cool!  (serve them with icecream as dessert if you like!)

30 Stash Meals for when you're away from home...

These are for those of us out there who cook on the weekend for a busy week ahead, or are going away and leaving the family behind to their own culinary devices!   Bookmark on Pinterest and share with your friends, you'll come back to this post to save you time and worry about what you or your loved ones are going to eat when you're not around to make it on the spot!

A modern twist on a family staple- Sausage casserole -

My hubby has been sabotaging my efforts in the kitchen of late.  Not intentionally but every time I buy beef mince to go with the sausage mince in my freezer, which is intended for meatloaf, hubby makes nachos.  I really need to label the tupperware containers.  Anyways, I have had the sausage mince from my butcher for a while and I like to get through everything in the freezer so I thought I'd make a sausage casserole.

This one is tasty and saucy and just what you want in a casserole, the potato top makes it an all-in-one-meal.   Add whatever veges you have handy - clean out the crisper!  No side servings, just serve it up and gobble it down.  Kids love sausages and when you tell them there's sausage in and the gravy factor, they will be asking for seconds, trust me.  In hindsight I should have made two - to stash for later.  Very annoyed I didn't now!

Ingredients:

500g sausage mince

(If you don't have a butcher who sells sausage mince on its own just skin your snags!)

1 onion, finely diced

1 large carrot, finely diced

1 stalk of celery, finely diced

2 sprigs thyme

100g butter

100g plain flour (about 1/3 cup)

20g beef stock powder (4 tsp)

1 tsp white pepper

1/2 tsp salt

4 large potatoes, peeled and sliced 

Method:

In batches brown off the sausage mince, wait for it to go golden brown, you want it to be somewhat crispy - adds flavour!

Make a gravy by melting your butter, add your flour and stock powderto make a roux and gradually add 1 litre of water and all the thyme leaves to make a thick gravy.  I made mine in the thermomix - add all ingredients, put on 12 minutes, 90 degrees, speed 4.

This is the bit where I forgot that I hadn't put the blade or the base on my jug! 

Luckily I had rectified this before putting in the water!

After you've finished the sausage mince, add the onions, celery and carrot and lift off any crunchy bits off the bottom of the pan.... transfer when onions and carrots are soft.

Then pour over your gravy.... *drool*  but only say 3/4 of it.. I had a bit extra, I put it in the freezer for the next time I make regular snags..

Place your potatoes on top, swig over a bit of gravy and then sprinkle with pepper and salt.

Turn the oven on to 180 degrees c, place the dish in uncovered and let it bubble away for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Add it to your meal plan this week, great budget buster!

A bit for me, and another bit for me... gorgeous gingerbread cake!

I'm unashamedly a ginger fanatic.  Ginger snaps, ginger beer or ale, ginger bread houses.  Gingerbread cookies for me is the best part of Christmas but why limit yourself I think...?  This gingerbread cake uses stout (Guinness) and whilst your gingerbread certainly doesn't taste like beer it does give it a richness.. so good.

The great thing about this cake is also it's nice and spicy with a lovely caramell-y chewiness to the edges.    I have adapted it from the brown-eyed baker recipe just a few changes in the order in which I do things which makes it a little more logical for my kitchen and cut out some of the sugar too.  This is dairy free too!


Ingredients:
3/4 cup Guinness (or other stout)
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
2/3 cup of molasses
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tb freshly grated ginger
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder


Method:
Preheat oven to 190 degrees c

Over a medium heat bring the Guinness to the boil for about 2 minutes.   Remove from heat and add bi-carb.  It will froth up, just stir until it subsides and set aside for a few minutes.

To the Guinness mix add your molasses and brown sugar - transfer to the mixer.

Add your eggs, ground ginger, cinnamon, fresh ginger and canola oil.  Process until combined.

Add baking powder and flour and mix well.

Try not to eat it all at this point because it's already smelling amazing....

Pour into a greased tin lined with baking paper.  Tap the edges of the tin to get rid of the air bubbles.

Bake for 35-45 minutes - check with the skewer if you are unsure.

Leave to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before serving - it's absolutely delightful warm with a dollop of cream or cold, just by itself!

I'm soooo making this again!

No knead Artisan Bread - baked in a pot!

I love to bake and I love to eat bread and kneading dough is therapy.. however when I saw this recipe over at Frugal Living Now it went on the list.  It's been on the list for a long time and I took my long weekend to finally get it done.  It's staying on my list now and I see it becoming a Saturday night ritual.  Why Saturday night? Because you need to leave it for 12-18 hours before you can bake it.  

Whatchootalkingaboutliss?  I hear you all exclaim..!

Yes, 12-18 hours proving time.  This gives it the chewy crust, the yeasty-artisan-y- taste - it's totally worth the wait.

Bread doesn't get much easier than this - you can get hooked on this and although there were a few times I thought 'oh this isn't going to look right' - it does, you can't really stuff it up!

Ingredients:

6 cups bread/bakers flour (I think it's worth buying rather than just plain flour - I buy defiance brand)

1/2 tsp dried yeast (yes, I really wrote 1/2 tsp - it's not much right?)

2 1/2 tsp salt flakes

2 2/3 cups of cold water

Method:

Add yeast and salt to the flour in your dutch over or large pot that has a lid (if you don't just make sure you've got some good quality aluminium foil)

Add the water and mix with a spoon until it all comes together.  Place lid or cling-film on top and leave for 12-18 hours.

When you lift the lid it should look like this... cool right?

On a large surface place either a cotton tea-towel or large silpat sheet covered with flour, keep about a cup of flour on standby and flour your hands very well before picking up the dough out of the pot and shape into a ball best you can.

 Place it on your floured tea towel and wrap up and place in a bowl to prove for another 2 hours (I promise it will be worth it!)  1 1/2 hours into the proving place your pot/dutch oven with the lid/alfoil on in an oven and put the temp up to 200 degrees c.

Plop your dough in there at the 2 hour mark.  Put the lid on and into the oven for 45-50 minutes.  Take out, take the lid/foil off and bake for another 10 minutes.

At this point you'll want to dig right in but leave it for another 10 minutes, use a knife to ease the loaf away from the sides of the pot.

Turn pot upside-down and pop out your loaf.   Your house smells amazing and you are so hungry you could eat the whole thing..

 Look at THAT.    Much cheaper than the local baker and much fresher too.  Smother with butter and gorge yourself.  Go on, you waited for it!