tastypoints

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes (Gluten Free)

2009-03-30T21:07:00.002+11:00

We made these cupcakes recently with our friends Mickey and Alane. The recipe comes yet again from delicious magazine. For being Gluten Free, we found these cupcakes to be very moist and airy. Jess also added the always popular buttercream icing for a few extra tasty-points.

Makes 9-12 Cupcakes

* 6 eggs, separated
* 150g (2/3 cup) sugar
* 200g (2 cups) almond meal
* 200g (7 oz) quality Dark Chocolate - broken into pieces
* 150g (2/3 cup) unsalted butter, chopped

Preheat oven to 160 degC (320 degF). Mix the egg yolks and 1/3 cup sugar in a large bowl. Stir in the almond meal - forming a thick mixture.

Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl by setting over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir until smooth and remove from heat.

Whisk the chocolate into the Almond mixture until well combined (may still be lumpy).

In a clean bowl, beat the eggwhites and reaming sugar with electric beater (a key) until soft peaks form. Fold eggwhite into the chocolate mixture in 3 batches, being careful to keep as much air in the mixture as possible.

Place mixture into lightly greased muffin tins and bake for 18-20 minutes.

Light topping - powder sugar and serve with strawberries.

Heavy (and tasty) topping -

* 1/2 stick butter
* 1/2 lb of powder sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine ingredients until smooth. Spread over cool cupcakes.

Cedar Smoked Salmon

2009-03-22T16:24:00.004+11:00

This is a quick, easy and incredibly tasty recipe that we found thanks to a Cedar Plank purchase at Restoration Hardware in the states. Now that we are in Australia, we have actually substituted cedar paper for cedar planks (due to the size of our grill), but the taste is the same. Also, using the cedar makes cleanup very easy on the grill. Hope you enjoy!

Makes 2 Salmon Fillets

INGREDIENTS

* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (olive oil will work as well)
* 1 tablespoon soy sauce
* 3 tablespoon, choice of: chardonnay, bourbon or whiskey (we use Jack Daniels)
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1 tablespoon brown sugar
* Freshly ground pepper to taste
* 2 salmon fillets
* 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Combine all liquid and dry ingredients (save lemon juice) in a bowl. Blend and set marinade aside.

Remove any pinbones from salmon. Leave whole or cut into individual servings. Place into a shallow dish, add marinade and trune to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

Preheat Cedar Plank. Place salmon skin down on plank. Cover and let smoke for 8-10 minutes (or until done).

Transfer remaining marinade to a small sauce pan. Gently simmer on stovetop until reduced by half. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Brush or drizzle onto salmon before serving.

Wines of South Australia

2009-03-15T20:37:00.003+11:00

We recently had a 2-day tour of South Australia's Barossa Valley wine region. Due to the dry climate and high summer temperatures, the region is mainly known for the 'reds' however we had a few white wines that were also very good. Below is a recap of some of our favourites.

Two Hands Wines
This was our first wine stop in S.A., and it proved to be a good starting point. We learned a bit about the region from the cellar door server (who happened to be from the states). The standout wine for us (considering price) was the 2007 Gnarly Dudes Shiraz. The runners up; 2006 Zippy's Black, 2006 Ares, and 2006 Aphrodite.

Villa Tinto
After lunch, we tried Villa Tinto winery based on a recommendation from our accomodations. This is a very quaint family run winery, with some great stories. Our Favourits here include; 2006 Albert's Block Cabernet and something a little different - the Mercedes Blend (Cabernet/Semillon/Shiraz).

Rolf Binder
We chose to stop at Rolf Binder wines, just to go inside the massive cellar barn structure. Not surprisingly we also enjoyed hearing the story behind the winery during our tasting. Favourite here was the 2006 Heinrich Shiraz Mataro Grenache (GSM).

Hentley Farm - Barossa Valley Wines
Far and away our favourite wine tasting of our trip to S.A.! This new winery has great appeal as drive through the vines to get to the cellar door. The entire farm house is being renovated to include a 'rustic modern' feel to match the already renovated tasting room. All the wines were excellent, however if we had to pick these would be our choices; 2006 Stray Mongrel (Grenache Shiraz Zinfandel), 2006 The Beauty Shiraz, 2006 The Beast Shiraz.

Blueberry Scones

2009-03-07T17:38:00.004+11:00

This recipe comes thanks to our subscription to Delicious Magazine. This is perhaps my favourite magazine (and I was a devoted car magazine addict for about a decade). Anyway, Jess and I tried this one out today and found it very easy and tasty. It is not super sweet which is a good change from our other breakfast recipe.

Makes approximately 8 Muffin size scones

INGREDIENTS

* 1 2/3 cup (250g) plain flour
* 1 tbs caster sugar
* 3 tsp baking powder
* 100g chilled unsalted butter, chopped
* 2 eggs, lightly beaten
* 1/2 cup (125ml) pure cream (thin)
* 1/2 cup (85g) blueberries - lightly tossed in flour
* 1 egg, mixed with 1 tbs milk
* Butter (optional), to serve

Preheat oven to 200 C.

Pulse the flour, sugar, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a food processor (or mixing in a bowl works just as well). Add the butter and pulse until rough combined (there will still be lumps of butter). Tip into a bowl and mix in the eggs and cream with a knife, being careful not to overmix the batter. Gently mix in the blueberries with your hands [tossing them in flour first helps mix them in the dough].

Spoon the dough into the muffin tins. Brush with the egg and milk glaze. Bake for 15-20min or until golden. Serve warm, with butter if desired.

Grilled fish with lime & avocado relish

2009-02-20T18:09:00.001+11:00

A very nice summer recipe thanks to Delicious Magazine. I would prefer a rough guacamole to the avocado relish in here, but both are good.

Serves 4

* 2 tbs olive oil
* 4 x 180g blue-eye fillets with skin (or other firm white fish)
* Steamed rice, to serve

Lime, Coconut & Avocado relish
* 1 lime, plus lime wedges to serve
* 80g coarsely gratred fresh coconut
* 1 small red chili, seeds removed, finely chopped
* 5cm piece ginger, cut into matchsticks
* 1 cup coriander leaves
* 1 tbs fish sauce
* 1 tsp sugar

For the relish, segment the lime. Cut off the skin and white pith, then holding the fruit in your hand over a bowl to catch the juice, cut each segment away from the membrane with a small sharp knife. Roughly chop the flesh, then add to the bowl with the coconut, chili, avocado, ginger, coriander leaves, fish sauce and sugar. Season the relish to taste with sea salt.

Heat the olive oils in a large non-stick frypan over high heat. Slash the skin of the fish fillets a few times, the season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the fish fillets to the hot fry pan, skin-side down, and cook for 2-3 minutes or until skin is crisp and golden. Turn and cook for a further 1-2 minutes or until just cooked through.

Divide steamed rice among four serving plates, top with the fish fillets and spoon over the relish. Serve with the lime wedges.

90-minute Cinnamon Rolls

2009-02-19T18:49:00.005+11:00

The first recipe on the list is easy and unbelievably delicious...however with that taste comes all the bad stuff (i.e. calories, fat, etc...), but lets not dwell on that stuff. We found this recipe on allrecipes.com and you enjoy it as much as we do.

INGREDIENTS

* 180 ml milk
* 55 g margarine, softened
* 405 g all-purpose flour
* 7 g instant yeast
* 50 g white sugar
* 3 g salt
* 60 ml water
* 1 egg
* 220 g brown sugar, packed
* 7 g ground cinnamon
* 115 g margarine, softened

ICING

* Powder (icing) Sugar
* Dash of milk

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in margarine; stir until melted. Let cool until lukewarm.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 1/4 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt; mix well. Add water, egg and the milk mixture; beat well. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has just pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.
3. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, cinnamon, softened margarine.
4. Roll out dough into a 12x9 inch rectangle. Spread dough with margarine/sugar mixture. Roll up dough and pinch seam to seal. Cut into 12 equal size rolls and place cut side up in 12 lightly greased muffin cups. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until browned. Remove from muffin cups to cool. Serve warm
6. For the icing, combine powder sugar and milk (a tiny bit goes along way). Apply to rolls while warm.

New blog now with more calories

2009-02-19T18:31:00.006+11:00

So I have started another blog, this time relating to food and wine (hopefully). This is more a chance for me to get to play with Blogger (hosting via google) all while documenting our attempts at cooking (and food photography) and a wine journal. Anyway, I hope you enjoy...if anyone reads it.

Also, the name of this blog comes thanks to a phrase used by my brother.