Win a $50 Byron Bay Cookie Company hamper!

While in Byron Bay recently, I had the pleasure of visiting the Byron Bay Cookie Company's headquarters and retail outlet to learn more about their range of products. I also had the pleasure of sampling some of their delicious baked goods - lucky me! :)

Many of you reading this post will already know about Byron Bay Cookie Company's cookies - they are avaialble in a vast range of flavours and there are plenty of gluten-free options. They can be seen in cafes and coffee carts around Australia, as well as on airlines and in selected department stores both in Australia and the UK. Their products are now also available for purchase through http://www.cookie.com.au/ and http://www.amazon.com/.

The Byron Bay Cookie Company has been around since 1990 and is probably best known for its large, iconic cookies. Nowadays though, there are also the smaller, delicious biscuits from Luken & May, and crispbreads from Byron Bay Gourmet Foods.

My personal favourites are the white choc chunk & macadamia nut cookie, the brand new muesli cookie, as well as the Byron Bay Gourmet Food's wonderful (and Sydney Royal Show gold medal winning) rosemary & sea salt crispbread - great served on a cheese platter. I'm also a big fan of the Luken & May range - great for sharing at home, or a lovely gift when visiting family/friends.

*** GIVEAWAY ***

Thanks to the good people at the Byron Bay Cookie Company, one lucky Diary of a Ladybird reader has the chance to win this wonderful hamper of delicious Byron Bay Cookie Company products, worth $50!

To enter:

1. Simply tell me what your favourite Byron Bay Cookie Company product is by commenting on this post.
2. Then, email me a copy of your comment along with your full name and delivery address to diaryofaladybird[at]gmail[dot]com.

Entries close at midnight AEST July 26 and the giveaway is restricted to Australian residents only (sorry!). The winning entry will be selected by random.

Good luck!

Ladybird x

*** This giveaway has now closed ***

Congratulations to Erin of Gravelly Beach in Tasmania!

Orange, cardamom and almond cake with orange-blossom yoghurt

The orange and almond cake is one of my all-time favourites and when I came across this old GT recipe, I just knew I had to give it a try. It was quite a while ago that I discovered it, and stuffed the recipe away in my folder that I fondly refer to as 'those recipes I'd like to get around to making... some day'. With a fresh year ahead of me, it seemed only timely that I conquer procrastination in the kitchen and get on with some of these recipes :)

Orange, cardamom and almond cake with orange-blossom yoghurt
Recipe from Gourmet Traveller (December 2009/January 2010 issue)

Ingredients
2 oranges, washed
250g caster sugar
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
pinch of ground cinnamon
300g blanched almonds, finely ground in a food processor (I used store bought almond meal instead)
1 tsp baking powder
5 eggs
Puring icing sugar, for dusting

Orange-blossom yoghurt
150g thick natural yoghurt
20g pure icing sugar
1-2 tsp orange blossom water, to taste

Method

1. Place oranges in a large saucepan, cover completely with cold water and bring to the boil over high heat. Cover with baking paper and a plate to weigh the oranges down, then cook until oranges are soft (2 to 2.5 hours). You may need to top up with extra water to keep oranges covered. Drain, cool, then remove and discard calyx and seeds from oranges and coarsely chop.

2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Process oranges, sugar and spices in a food processor until finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl, add almonds and baking powder and set aside.

3. Meanwhile, whisk eggs in an electric mixer until pale (3-5 minutes), add orange mixture and whisk to combine (10-20 seconds). Pour into a buttered and baking paper-lined 22cm springform pan and bake for around 50 minutes until golden and an inserted skewer withdraws clean Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then release sides of pan and cool completely.

4. Meanwhile, for the orange-blossom yoghurt, combine ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate until required.

5. Dust the cake with icing sugar and serve with the yoghurt.

This cake is incredibly moist... the texture is sublime! The flavour of the spices is so delicate and doesn't distracting from the orange flavour - they just add a nice little twist on a classic. For me, I could quite happily eat this cake on its own without the yoghurt as I was not a big fan of it as a side. Next time I make this, I think I'll sprinkle some chopped pistachios over the cake and serve it with creme fraiche in place of the orange-blossom. But before then, I have a heck of a lot of other recipes to share with you, so I had better get cracking!

Ladybird x

Nutella Cake - chocolate, hazelnut & other friends

Due to travel and the business of getting back into routine since returning from overseas, I haven't had a lot of time to discuss the Cookbook of the Month, The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit. However, I could not let the month slip by without sharing with you some of the great advice that this book offers for flavour pairings. No such book would be complete without a decent number of pages dedicated to chocolate and suitable pairings and examples of such delicious duos...

The usual and delightful suspects are there - chocolate & almond, chocolate & raspberry, chocolate & peanut, but there are some suggestions that rouse my curiosity and creativity...

Of course, the pairing of chocolate and its good friend the hazelnut comes as no surprise. The combination is probably known in the best form of the world renowned spread Nutella. It may not be especially daring, but by golly it works... Here is a recipe for a cake that combines chocolate and hazelnut (as well as a little hazelnut liqueur) to make an easy and decadent treat that won't last long! And yes, it's no misprint - it calls for an entire jar of Nutella ;)

Nutella Cake
Adapted Nigella Lawson recipe (serves 8 very generous Nigella portions, or 10 regular portions)

Ingredients
6 large eggs, separated
Pinch of salt
125g soft unsalted butter
400g Nutella
1 tablespoon Frangelico, rum or water
100g ground hazelnuts
100g dark chocolate, melted

100g hazelnuts (peeled weight)
125ml double cream
1 tablespoon Frangelico, rum or water
100g dark chocolate
25g milk chocolate

Method

1. Grease and line a 23cm springform round tin. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites and salt until stiff but not dry. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and Nutella together, and then add the Frangelico (or whatever you're using), egg yolks and ground hazelnuts.
3. Fold in the cooled, melted chocolate, then lighten the mixture with a large dollop of egg white, which you can beat in as roughly as you want, before gently folding the rest of them in a third at a time.
4. Pour into the prepared tin and cook for 40 minutes or until the cake's beginning to come away at the sides, then let cool on a rack.
5. Toast the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan until the aroma wafts upwards and the nuts are golden-brown in parts: keep shaking the pan so that they don't burn on one side and stay too pallid on others. Transfer to a plate and let cool. This is imperative: if they go on the ganache while hot, it'll turn oily.
6. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, add the cream, liqueur or water and chopped chocolate, and heat gently. Once the chocolate's melted, take the pan off the heat and whisk until it reaches the right consistency to ice the top of the cake. Unmould the cooled cake carefully, leaving it on the base as it will be too difficult to get such a damp cake off in one piece.
7.Ice the top with the chocolate icing, and dot thickly with the whole, toasted hazelnuts. If you have used Frangelico, put shot glasses on the table and serve it with the cake (this is optional, of course).

If you like chocolate and hazelnut as a pairing, why not consider some of these ingredients as unusual companions to chocolate as suggested by Niki Segnit, author of The Flavour Thesaurus:
- Lemon
- Chilli
- Cardamom
- Ginger
- Pear
- Anise
- Tomato

I endeavour to one day give some of these pairings a try in my kitchen - if only there were more time for cooking in life!

But tell me readers, have you ever tried any unusual flavour combinations with chocolate? And were they successful?


Ladybird x

Venetian Carrot Cake

Reading Nigella Lawson's book Kitchen is turning out to be quite an educational experience. She has certainly packed a lot of recipes in there, but there is also plenty of great tips, and very interesting facts about food.

For example, while reading this recipe for her Venetian Carrot Cake, I learnt that it was not the Americans that invented carrot cake, but rather, it was the Venetian Jewish community who made the first carrot cake. Unlike the American version which is usually quite big and accompanied with heavy cream cheese frosting, this cake is not a lot to look at. However, as Nigella promises "it is divine to eat". I couldn't agree more, but I'll give you more on my verdict a bit later.

The other great thing about this cake is that it is gluten free AND dairy free! Great to have another allergy-friendly recipe up my sleeve that isn't chocolate or orange and almond :)

First, here is the recipe for the cake, as well as the mascarpone cream to have alongside the cake if you wish.

Venetian Carrot Cake
(From 'Kitchen' by Nigella Lawson)

3 x 15ml tablespoons toasted pine nuts
2 medium carrots (200-250g)
75g golden sultanas
60ml rum
150g caster sugar
125ml regular olive oil, plus some for greasing
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
250g ground almonds
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
finely grated zest and juice of half a lemon

For the mascarpone cream (optional):
250g mascarpone
2 teaspoons icing sugar
2 x 15ml tablespoons rum

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/gas mark 4. Line the base of your cake tin (Nigella suggests 23cm round springform tin, I used a 20cm tin) with reusable silicone liner or baking parchment and grease the sides with olive oil. Toast the pine nuts by browning in a fatless pan; the oven alone is not enough to scorch out the paleness.

2. Grate the carrots in a food processor (for ease) or with a coarse grater, then sit them on a double layer of kitchen roll and wrap them, to soak up the excess liquid.

3. Put the golden sultanas in a small saucepan with the rum, bring to the boil, turn down and simmer for 3 minutes.

4. Whisk the sugar and oil - I use my freestanding mixer, but it wouldn't be much of a faff by hand - until creamily and airily mixed.

5. Whisk in the vanilla extract and eggs and when well whisked, fold in the ground almonds, nutmeg, grated carrots, golden sultanas (with any rum that clings to them) and, finally, the lemon zest and juice.

6. Scrape the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula. The batter will be very shallow in the tin.

7. Sprinkle the toasted pine nuts over the cake and put into the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the top is risen and golden and the cake tester comes out sticky but more or less clean.

8. Remove from the oven and let the cake sit in its tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes before unspringing and leaving in on the rack to cool.

9. Remove the cake to a plate to serve; mix the mascarpone with the icing sugar and rum and put in a bowl to spoon alongside, for those who want.

The Verdict

Delicious! This cake might not be the prettiest cake around, but what it lacks aesthetically it makes up for in flavour and texture. It is wonderfully moist, and the flavour is superb - not obviously carroty, and with a hint of lemon. This recipe is definitely a keeper!


Ladybird x

Sweetcorn Polenta with Aubergine Sauce

It's been a little while since my last mention of the Cookbook of the Month for September - Plenty by Yotam Ottelenghi. So without further delay, here is another great recipe from this wonderful book!

What initially attracted me to this recipe was the way the polenta is made - not from the dry grain, but rather, from fresh corn! The result is a much sweeter, softer and less uniform polenta. Because of the sweetness of the polenta, you really do need to add the feta cheese to balance it out. That combined with the aubergine sauce and voila, a delicious heart-warming supper :)

My polenta was a little on the runny side for two reasons - First, I neglected to properly measure the amount of water I cooked the corn in. Secondly, I was getting hungry and impatient!

Ingredients
6 corn cobs
500ml water
40g butter
200g feta, crumbled*
1/4 tsp salt
black pepper
* I used danish feta as it is lovely and creamy.

For the aubergine sauce
150ml vegetable oil
1 medium aubergine, in 2cm dice
2 tsp tomato paste
60ml white wine
200g chopped peeled tomatoes (fresh or tinned)
100ml water
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1 tbsp chopped oregano, plus whole leaves to garnish

Method
First make the sauce. Heat the oil in a large pan, then fry the aubergine on medium heat for 15 minutes, until nicely browned. Drain and discard as much oil as you can. Stir in the tomato paste, and cook for two minutes on medium heat. Add the wine and cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes, water, salt, sugar and oregano, and cook for five minutes, to get a deep flavoured sauce. Set aside.

To make the polenta, remove the leaves and 'silk' from each corn cob, then chop off the pointed top and stalk. Stand each cob upright on its base, and use a sharp knife to shave off the kernels. You want to have 550g of kernels.

Place the kernels in a medium-sized saucepan and pour in the water, to cover. Add half the butter and cook on a low simmer for 12 minutes. Lift out the kernels with a slotted spoon, and transfer to a food processor. Process for quite a few minutes, to break as much of the kernel case as possible. If the mixture is too dry to process, add a little of the cooking water.

Now return the the pan with the cooking liquid and cook, while stirring, on a low heat for 10-15 minutes, or until the mixture thickens to a mashed potato consistency. Now fold in the remaining butter, feta, salt and pepper, and cook for two minutes longer. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Divide the polenta among shallow bowls and spoon some warm sauce in the centre.

Ladybird x

How to make gelatine free panna cotta

A short while ago, I wrote about agar agar as an alternative to gelatine and I promised you I would road test the ingredient in the kitchen. True to my word, I did. Panna cotta is a beautiful dessert that can be found on menus everywhere, but I wanted to see if it could be made using agar agar in place of gelatine.

The real test was to replicate the texture of panna cotta, famously decribed by Nigella Lawson when she said that it should have "the quiver of a 17th century courtesan's inner thigh". What a way to describe it! But really... how does she come up with these analogies?!

At any rate, I set about my task. It was a bit frustrating to begin with.. I found that agar agara is a far stronger setting agent than gelatine, so getting the amount right required lots of trial and error. However, 3 attempts later, I bring you successful gelatine-free panna cotta. It has the wonderful wobbliness and silkiness you'd expect of panna cotta, and is beautifully speckled with vanilla seeds.

I served this with strawberries in a simple balsamic syrup made by macerating the berries in balsamic vinegar and caster sugar to taste for about an hour (whilst the panna cotta was setting). Really though, there are so many ways to serve panna cotta. You could serve it with fresh fruit - whatever is in season and whatever takes your fancy :)


Vanilla Panna Cotta (egg, gluten and gelatine free)

an original Diary of a Ladybird recipe

(Serves 4)

300 ml pure (pouring) cream

1 vanilla bean

75g caster sugar

exact 1/2 tsp agar agar powder

sunflower (or other flavour-neutral) oil, to brush

1. In a small saucepan combine the cream and agar agar powder and set aside for 15 minutes.

2. Add the sugar and split, scraped vanilla bean along with its seeds. Place over medium heat and gently bring to a boil. Simmer for about 2 minutes, stirring regularly to stop the agar agar sticking to the bottom of the saucepan.

3. Remove from the heat and set aside. Meanwhile, lightly brush 1/2 cup capacity moulds with a little oil.

4. Remove and discard the vanilla bean pod, and straining the mixture through a sieve before pouring into the greased moulds. Allow to cool to room temperature before refrigerating for 1-2 hours minimum.

5. When read to serve, simply tip out onto the plate and add your chosen accompaniment.

So.. the verdict?

I was very happy with agar agar's results in this dish. It is an excellent gelatine substitute and is flavourless. Not only is it cheaper than gelatine, but it also sets in about an hour (not 4-5 like gelatine)! It requires a bit of trial and error to get the amount just right in a recipe, but when you do the texture and flavour is perfectly on par.

To read more about agar agar, check out my recent agar agar post here.

Ladybird x

Carrot Kheer

"Carrots and milk? Anna, that sounds gross..." Mr Ladybird warned - and so I threw down the gauntlet (in this case, an oven mitt)  and declared, "Game on!" Mr Ladybird is always rather frank is his opinions on food... so I do enjoy the challenge at times. At other times it can be a bit, well, pesky! But I could understand Mr Ladybird's hesitation. He has become somewhat of a kheer snob. There, I said it! Since I started making chaval kheer (a creamy indian rice pudding), he shuns others' versions (which is really rather sweet in a stubborn kind of way).

This recipe comes from British-Indian chef and author, Anjum Anand. I have had mixed success with her recipes in the past, but I was convinced the flavour combination would work a bit like carrot cake - sounds odd yet, somehow, it works.

Carrot Kheer
1L full cream milk
250g carrots, grated
1/2 tsp green cardamom seeds, finely ground
pinch saffron
3 - 4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp chopped pistachios to garnish
2 tbsp flaked almonds (optional)

1. Heat the milk in a wide, heavy-based saucepan, stirring and scraping the base with the spoon frequently to make sure the milk does not catch and burn. Keep cooking until it reduces by about one third - this takes about 25 minutes.
2. Add the carrots and continue cooking for another 15-25 minutes or until they are soft and the milk is as thick as you like it. (I like it at a just drinkable consistency) It will also thicken up slightly once chilled.
3. Stir in the sugar, saffron and cardamom powder, cook for another 2 minutes and taste for sweetness. Bear in mind chilling dulls the sweetness of food, so add a little more than you think you will need.
4. Cool and then place in the fridge for several hours, covered with clingfilm as milk absorbs flavours from other food in the fridge. Overnight is best to allow the flavours to infuse. When ready to eat, serve in bowls sprinkled with the nuts.

The result? Delicious, slightly carroty and beautifully scented kheer without the starchiness of its rice equivalent.

Oh.. and you'll never guess who came back for seconds ;)


Ladybird x

Polenta rounds with wilted spinach and roast mushrooms

Over the weekend  I discovered a new diet. I came to the realisation that the easiest way to curb your appetite and lose weight is to watch the television series Man vs. Wild. In each episode, a British guy called Bear is stranded in a region of the world and shows you how to survive and find your way back to civilsation. As fascinating as it all is, it's pretty gross, especially when it comes to what he eats.... Let's just say there are usually live animals involved - frogs, snakes, fish.. You name it, he eats it, cooked or uncooked. And it doesn't do much for my appetite.. in fact, it pretty much kills it.

Alas, Mr Ladybird is a diehard fan of the show, so somehow I still end up still watching it, albeit often peering through hands and screaming "Ewwww...!". So with Man vs. Wild a regular part of evenings in the Ladybird household at the moment, the size of our dinners on those evenings miraculously decreases, at least for me anyway. On such an evening, I decided I wanted to make something small with polenta. Polenta is one of those ingredients I really love but don't use enough, so I wanted to change that.

I decided to make polenta rounds topped with wilted spinach and delicious roast mushrooms. So here is a 'kinda-sort-of' recipe to this dish...

Polenta
This part of the dish can be made ahead of time, even 1 or 2 days ahead and stored in the fridge. This recipe will make a medium size slab of polenta which you can use for this dish, as well as others of your own creation. For example, polenta rounds topped with a fresh pesto and a slow roasted balsamic tomato, or you could even have some grilled polenta alongside some eggs, etc for a hearty savoury brunch.


Ingredients
500 ml water
500 ml milk
30 g parmesan cheese, grated
1 tsb butter
175 g polenta
salt and white pepper


Method
1. In a heavy-based saucepan, bring milk and water to boil and then whisk in the polenta until thoroughly mixed.
2. Reduce the heat to very low and simmer for 40 mins, stirring occasionally to stop it sticking.
3. Remove from heat, season, and mix through parmesan and butter.
4. Pour into a greased tray to set, smoothing to make it as flat as possible. It should be about a 2 cm thickness (I used a brownie tray and this worked well).
5. Allow to cool, then cut out two rounds with a food stack ring or egg ring.
6. Fry in a small amount of olive oil in a pan, turning once. Alternatively, brush with a little olive oil and cook on a griddle/chargrill pan unti lovely grill marks appear.

Mushrooms
I made the mushrooms by quartering button mushrooms and tossing them in a dish along with 2 crushed cloves of garlic, fresh thyme, olive oil, a small knob of butter and salt and pepper. I roasted them for 20 mins at 200 degrees celcius, and then crumbled a little dodoni fetta over the top and mixed through. The fetta lended a nice salty flavour to the mushrooms, and the creaminess of the fetta formed a light sauce when mixed with the pan juices.

Spinach
Wilting spinach is really quick and easy, and a good way to pack lots of healthy spinach into a meal with minimum fuss. In a large pan heat a drizzle of good olive oil and throw in a generous couple of handfuls of washed baby spinach leaves. Season and toss until the spinach is wilted, then remove from heat and use immediately.

To assemble the dish, carefully top cooked polenta pieces with wilted spinach and then mushrooms and a sprig of fresh thyme. Using a food stack ring may help. These are available from kitchen supply stores. Bon appetit!


Hope you all have a wonderful week :)

Ladybird x

Flourless chocolate cake

Sometimes only a good flourless chocolate cake will do on a weekend, and this one is very simple and oh so decadent... Perfect served warm with raspberries and cream.

It was also a good way to use up some eggs and leftover almond meal!

Ingredients
250 dark cooking chocolate
150g butter
155g caster sugar
100g almond meal
5 eggs, separated
icing sugar (for dusting)

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius and butter and flour a 20cm round springform tin. I also like to cover the base with a circular cutout of of baking paper.
2. Stirring occasionally, melt the chocolate, butter and sugar in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water.
3. Remove form heat and stir to combine. Then stir in ground almonds, and mix in egg yolks one at a time.
4. Beat egg whites until stiff and peaky, then stir a couple of spoonfuls into chocolate mixture. Then fold remainder of eggwhites through with care.
5. Put mixture into prepared tin and bake for 50-60 minutes.
The time, however, will depend on your oven, so make sure you do a skewer test in the centre of the cake to check that it is cooked through. If it doesn't come out 100% clean don't worry - at least you know it will be moist inside!
6. So that the cake does not collapse after baking, turn the oven off and leave the cake in the oven with the door open for 5-10 minutes, then remove to cool.

I was delighted with how the cake turned out because last time I made it, it sank quite a bit in the middle - but not this time! I think leaving the cake in oven with the door open for a few minutes made a big difference :)

I don't think flourless chocolate cakes are supposed to look perfect, but it's nice not to have it go *flop* and look like a crater...

It was nice and moist on the inside too, without being dry or grainy as flourless chocolate cakes can be sometimes.

So all in all a successful evening's baking. Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Ladybird :)