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by bitsofcarey

Happy holiday food

December 20, 2012 in Baking, Crush mag recipes, desserts, Roasts, tarts

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Balsamic roasted tomatoes and goats cheese tarts
Issue 25

Now, don’t these tarts look festive? Just looking at them make me so happy so I thought I’d share the recipe and a photo gallery of delicious dishes that are just perfect for the festive season. And best of all, they’re fuss free. Yay! To find the recipes for the gallery pics, go to Crush! Online magazine and find them in my Monday to Sunday feature, recently revamped to “What’s cooking with Carey” in the mentioned issues.

So first up, the recipe:

Rustic balsamic roasted tomatoes and goat’s cheese tarts

Crisp, melt-in-your-mouth goodness. Top with some micro herbs or basil and you’re good to go!

Makes: 9
Difficulty: easy
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
1 roll puff pastry, thawed out in the fridge
250 g assorted baby tomatoes
1 T (15 ml) olive oil
2 T (30 ml) balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground salt and pepper
100 g chevin, cut into 9 slices
Micro herbs or basil leaves for garnishing

Method:
Preheat the oven to 220˚C.

Cut the pastry into 9 squares and press into a well greased muffin tin. Prick a few holes on the bases. Chill in the fridge while prepping the filling.

Place the tomatoes on a roasting tray (cut larger ones in half, leave smaller ones whole) and drizzle with oil and balsamic. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for +- 20 minutes until burst and blistered. Set aside to cool.

Turn oven temperature down to 190˚C.

Place a slice of cheese in each pastry case and top with tomatoes. Fold the corners of the pastry over the filling.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Serve immediately topped with micro herbs (Basil and rocket)

Easy ne?

Now, some teasers and inspiration for your holiday nosh:

For a simple lunch, picnic or light dinner…

Sticky chicken wings with chopped salad tossed in blue cheese dressing
Issue 23

Gammon burgers with coleslaw and grilled pineapple
Issue 23

Bacon, caramelised onion and brie quiche
Issue 24

And some roasts?

Slow roasted pork belly with fennel slaw
Issue 25

How can I not throw pork belly into the mix? And this is a quite a fresh take on the classic pork belly – served with an apple and fennel slaw and a zingy citrus dressing. YUM!

Roasted spatchcock chicken with lemon and sage
Issue 26

The most tender chicken you’ll ever make with serious flavour.

Italian style slow roasted lamb with spinach polenta
Issue 26

This lamb is melt-in-your-mouth tender and a rather awesome way serve lamb this Christmas if I do say so myself. This is damn tasty. Love!

And just when you thought I was done, if you haven’t spotted my feature on Food24 showcasing my 7 flop proof desserts for Christmas, go check it out! There are some cool step-by-step galleries too.

I can’t believe the last time I posted was in October!  Good gracious me, where has the time gone? I’m such a shite blogger! Hahaha! Honestly though, this chicka has been working freaken hard but hopefully it’ll all pay off in my 2 year plan! Holding thumbs.

Here’s wishing you all a happy and blessed Christmas.
xxx

Please note: Images and recipes are property of Carey Boucher Erasmus and Crush Online magazine

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by bitsofcarey

“Blogiversary” blueberry and lemon muffins

March 8, 2012 in Baking, Sweet treats

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Today, 2 years ago, I ventured into the exciting world of blogging on Food24. It feels like I have my own little family on this blogasphere with the likes of the food24 team, old bloggers, new bloggers and of course my regular readers. Words cannot express how much all of you inspire me. I learn somehting new everyday. Thank you all for your support throughout the years. P.s. Those of you that want to subscribe(or resubscribe) to my blog or follow me on twitter, see my side bar!

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that I don’t have a huge sweet tooth, but every now and then I get a craving for something that is sweet but also tart. Walking past all the gorgeous punnets of bluberries at PnP, I couldn’t help but think how divine they’ll be in a soft and spongy muffin with a lemony kick. So I rushed home with bluberries in hand like it was the Olympic torch and started baking muffins for dinner – yes, you read right, dinner. Mwahahahaha! These muffins came out just as I imagined which resulted in me doing a happy dance in the kitchen(Come on, we’ve all done that!). To make them even more luxuriant, I whipped up some a cottage cheese icing and drizzled some over the muffins. Drooling? It’s amazing how much joy breaking open a freshly baked blueberry muffin can bring, I love how the berries burst and become all gooey. Enough babbling, here’s the recipe. xx
Blueberry and lemon muffins
makes 9 large or 12 standard

125 ml (1/2 c) vegetable oil
125 ml (1/2 c) sugar
2 eggs
1 small tub (+ – 175 ml) plain yoghurt
Juice and zest of 2 lemons
500 ml (2 c) cake flour
2.5 ml (1/2 t) bicarb
15 ml ( 1 T) baking powder
pinch of salt
125 g fresh bluberries

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius(conventional) or 180(convection).
Beat the oil and sugar together. Add the eggs and beat until light and creamy.
Stir in the yoghurt, juice and zest.
Sift dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Add the berries and coat well with the flour mixture(this allows them to be more evenly dispersed into the mixture).
Fold the dry mixture into the egg mixture until well combined. Try not to over mix.
Spoon into a well greased muffin tin (fill them just over 3/4 full)
Bake for 15 – 20 minutes.
Best served slightly warm.
Lasts up to 5 days in an airtight container.
TIP: you can use thawed frozen berries.

For the icing (optional):
85 g butter, softened
500 ml icing sugar
+- 100 ml smooth cottage cheese
2 ml vanilla essence
15 ml lemon zest

Beat the softened butter and sugar together, add the cottage cheese bit by bit beating all the while until it’s reached the consistency you desire. Stir in the essence and zest.

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by bitsofcarey

Marmite rules! Cheesy marmite muffins

December 9, 2010 in Baking, Snacks

15 Comments »

Good old faithful Marmite. Most people have a jar of it in the cupboard for the days when you can’t stomach anything else and all you can handle is comforting salty marmite toasties. It’s there for you when you have a cold, tummy bug or just a craving for marmite and cheese on toast…ooh… or with butter on white bread! Veggiemite, bovril, oxo, whatever your fancy- You either love the stuff or hate it. I personally love marmite and veggiemite - in small doses though. But what else can you use this gooey stuff for? It just sits in the cupboard for months!

 

I recently found a useful way to use marmite in baked products! And don’t worry, they are not overpowering at all! Small doses remember…

 

My first encounter with a marmite and cheese tea cake was at my brother’s 30th. His friend’s Mom, Tessa, baked it for ”D” as it was one of his favourite treats. I never pictured my bro for a marmite lover! When I first heard and saw what it was, my first reaction was, “Yikes! that’s weird!” but to be quite honest it was complete nostalgia on my taste buds! There are no words to describe this comforting bake. All I can say is that it’s slightly sweet with a yummy “marmitey” cheesy taste.  Since then I have been obsessed with developing bakes with marmite. ..

 

First up: MARMITE AND CHEESE TEA CAKE:

This is perfect for a tea time treat, it’s “sweetish” like a scone, but savoury too!

You will need:

90g butter

50ml castor sugar

 1 egg

250ml milk

375ml flour

10ml baking powder

2ml salt

 

SAUCE

125ml butter

15ml Marmite

 

TOPPING

250ml grated cheddar cheese

 

 

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Whisk the butter and sugar together until creamy, add the egg and beat. Whisk in the milk.

Sift over the flour, baking powder and salt and fold in to combine.

Place in a greased 23cm cake tin or oven prood dish and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden.

In the meantime melt the butter and Marmite together.

Remove the cake from the oven and pour over the sauce while the cake is still hot. Sprinkle over the cheese and pop back in the oven for 5 minutes.

Serve warm or room temperature.

 

AND…CHEESY MARMITE MUFFINS

After weeks of pondering, a Marmite and cheese muffin came to mind, I wanted a bake that wasn’t sweet at all, rather, a savoury snack.

makes 12

You will need:

420 g (750 ml) flour

20 ml baking powder

2 ml salt

200 g (375 ml) mature Cheddar cheese, coarsely grated

100 g butter

30 ml marmite

300 ml milk

4 large eggs

extra marmite

extra grated cheese

                                                              

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Sift the dry ingredients together and add the cheese.

Melt the butter and marmite together, allow to cool slightly then combine with the milk and eggs.

Add to the dry ingredients.

Fold gently with a wooden spoon – do not over-mix. The mixture should look lumpy.

Spoon into greased muffin pans, drizzle with a bit of marmite and sprinkle with more cheese. 

Bake for 20 – 25 minutes.

Turn onto a cooling rack to cool slightly.

Eat warm or room temperature.

Perfect as a snack or for the lunch box!

 

 

So here’s to Marmite and all other concentrated yeast/ veg/meat extract spreads!

For nursing us to health when ill and for providing us with B vitamins when spread on our school sarmies( even though we did not enjoy it back then!)

Go marmite!

C x

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by bitsofcarey

Lemon and Blueberry Tart

November 19, 2010 in Baking, Sweet treats, tarts

12 Comments »

I must be honest, I don’t really have a sweet tooth, however when it comes to lemon tart, I cannot resist! My first encounter with this delectable eye-watering, jaw-locking creation was at Olympia Café in Kalk Bay a few years ago, and to this day, I still go for my fix every month! I made my version of a perfect lemon tart recently (with the help of my boss, colleague and friend, Kelly. Thanks for the recipe K! I know you are reading this! Ha ha!). I added some blue berries to the mixture, it just added another dimension to the tart and we all know lemon and blueberries are a match made in heaven!

 

 

I love this recipe, the pastry is so quick and easy and by whipping the cream, the tart filling is as light as air!

 

You will need:

 

Pastry:

250 ml cake flour

Pinch salt

45 ml castor sugar

50 g butter

Zest of 1 lemon

1 egg yolk

30 ml iced water

 

Place all the ingredients into a food processor and whizz until the dough forms a ball. Wrap up and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Grease a 24 cm quiche tin. Roll the pastry out on a floured surface and line the tin.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and nutty brown.

Reduce oven temp to 160 °C

 

Filling:

3 eggs, lightly beaten

200 ml castor sugar

Zest and juice of 4 lemons (or 3 large lemons)

250 ml cream

250 ml blue berries

Icing sugar for dusting

Some blueberries to serve

 

Whisk the eggs, sugar and zest together until thick and foamy. Stir in the lemon juice.

Whip cream to soft peaks and fold in together with the blueberries. Pour the cold filling into the hot pastry and bake for +- 35 minutes or until set.

Serve chilled and even better the next day!

When ready to serve, dust with icing sugar caramelize the sugar with a blow torch or pop under the grill briefly.

I just dusted with icing sugar and topped with fresh blueberries. YUM!

Serve with whipped cream( unsweetened)

 

OR try my quick filling:

4 egg yolks

150 ml castor sugar

Zest and juice of 3 lemons

250 ml reduced fat cream

 

Whisk all the above ingredients together and pour over hot pastry.

 

Thanks to  Aletta at Food 24 and Kalahari.net, I was given the opportunity to review Bill Granger’s new book, ”Bill’s Basics”. I have been lapping up every word and pic since I received it and will be cooking and photographing some of the recipes over the weekend! So watch this space on Monday!

 

Have a great weekend all!

 

Here’s to cooking and eating and a bit of drinking!

C xx

 

 

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by bitsofcarey

Fruit and seed crunchies

October 16, 2010 in Baking, Snacks, Sweet treats

6 Comments »

Last week I had to develop a low fat and low GI snack. I pondered long and hard and eventually came up with these bikkies. They are packed with cranberries, dried apricots, mixed seeds and oats. The fat and sugar content is low in comparison to many other biscuit recipes I have seen. They are delicious and you don’t feel bad eating 2 or 3 of these with your tea. I can guarentee you won’t eat more than that because it is no.10 on the satiety scale, with all the slow energy release oats, high fibre dried fruit and omega fatty acid rich seeds. These will be great crumbled up and sprinkled onto your yoghurt in the morning. What great timing, Inspiration set a biscuit challenge last week, so I thought why not share with you all!

Makes +- 25 biscuits

You will need:

125 g soft margarine(e.g Flora)

250 ml brown sugar

5 ml vanilla essence

4 egg whites

250 ml cake flour

5 ml baking powder

125 ml nutty wheat flour

750 ml rolled oats

250 ml mixed seeds(sunflower, pumpkin ans sesame)

250 ml dried cranberries

125 ml chopped apricots

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees

In a large bowl, cream the marg and sugar until light and fluffy, add the vanilla and then pour the egg whites bit by bit beating continuously until combined.

Add all the remaining ingredients into the bowl and stir until well combined, damp and sticky.

Squash into small balls and place onto a greased baking tray.

Press the balls down with fork.

Bake for 10 minutes then reduce the temperature to 170 degrees and bake for a further 10 minutes. Allow to cool.

 

OTHER IDEAS:

Replace seeds with 250 ml of dessicated coconut(this will increase the fat content though).

Add some cinnamon or all spice to the mixture if you like.

Replace the cranberries with any other dried fruit, eg. sultanas, raisins, chopped dates etc.

 

Now look at that! Bursting with goodness!

 

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by bitsofcarey

Smoked snoek and spinach “cheesecake”

October 6, 2010 in Baking, Fish

10 Comments »

I developed this recipe about a year ago when I was going through a savoury cheesecake phase and I have to say that this is a legendary one! You’ll have to bake this and taste what I am going on about! Now, if you do not eat smoked snoek, you can replace it with same amounts of smoked salmon offcuts, smoked angelfish or roasted butternut…something nice and bulky. I throw in baby spinach, for some colour and it does add to the flavour somewhat. It’s called a cheesecake because it has 2 tubs of smooth cottage cheese, some gruyere for richness and of course some eggs to help it set when baked. This is very easy to make, you just pop all the prepped ingredients into a food processor, pulse until smooth, pour over a tuc biscuit crust, yes you read correctly, a tuc biscuit crust and bake! So so more -ish…

What you will need:

1 packet of tuc biscuits or 200 g savoury biscuit of your choice

50 ml butter or olive oil

1 onion, chopped

100 g baby spinach

pinch of cayenne pepper

15 ml cake flour

250 g smoked snoek, stripped off the bone(make sure you get all the bones out!)

2 tubs smooth cottage cheese

250 ml grated gruyere cheese

3 eggs

black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Crust: Place the biscuits and butter(you don’t need to melt it) in a food processor and blend until it resembles damp sand, then press into a greased 23 cm springform tin and bake for 8 minutes.

In a frying pan, saute the onions in a little oil until soft and slighlty golden, then add the spinach and allow the leaves to wilt. Remove from the heat and stir the flour through to absorb the excess liquid.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180 degrees.

Put spinach mixture and all the remaining ingredients into the food processor and blend until smooth.

Pour over the crust and and bake for +- 45 minutes, will have a slight jiggle in the middle but mostly set.

Allow to cool slightly before slicing. Even better refridgerated overnight and brought back to room temperature.

Serve with a light watercress salad.

 

P.S you may notice that I did not add salt, I find the snoek salty enough. However, it’s up to your own palate!

 

We are off to Tulbagh for the weekend and I cannot wait, I might even try my hand in fishing! ha ha! Let’s see how that goes…

 

Have a SUPER weekend all!

 

C x

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by bitsofcarey

Cheese and herb mielie pap “muffins”

August 13, 2010 in Baking

16 Comments »

 

Cheese and herb mielie pap “muffins” topped with sweet roasted tomatoes

 

A stylish way to serve mielie pap. Serve with stews and casseroles, with your braai or even on it’s own!

 

To cook the pap:

750 ml  pap

1.5 L  boiling water

5 ml     salt

 

Bring to a simmer and stir until thickened. Cover and allow to steam for 5 minutes. Allow to cool slightly.

 

5 ml mixed herbs

Ina’s Seasoned salt

25 ml olive oil

250 ml grated cheddar cheese

2 eggs, beaten.

 

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Add all the ingredients to the cooled pap. Squash into a greased muffin tray. Bake for 25 minutes. Top with roasted tomatoes and wild rocket.

 

 Sweet Roasted tomatoes

 

250 g Rosa tomatoes

10 ml Olive oil

25 ml balsamic vinegar

5 ml brown sugar

Salt and pepper

Some fresh or dried rosemary

 

 

Place all the ingredients in a baking tray, make sure the tomatoes are well coated.

Roast for 20 minutes at 200 degrees or until soft and slightly charred.

 

And here you go, pimped up mielie pap!

 

To this recipe and more, click on http://www.crushmagonline.com/

 

 

 

P.s. I feel the need to write why I feel blessed! Very random, but this is what comes to mind…

 

I love my husband and our two boys – fred and Charlie

I love our families

I love our friends

I love my job because I’m in love with food

I’m grateful that my brother is doing much better

I’m grateful for my recovery and health.

I love our little house

I’m grateful that hubby puts up with my mad cooking attacks

I’m grateful for our warm bed at night and the electric blanket!

I love coffee – even though it gives me migraines

I’m grateful for the creation of bread

and olive oil

and balsamic vinegar

I love Cape Town

I’m so proud of little Fred, he loves eating rocket and carrots – my little vegetarian pug!

I’m so grateful that my siamese cat graces us with his presence every night and sleeps between his mom and dad.

 

Have a great weekend all

 

hugs C x

 

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