Chocolate Ice Cream

Makes 1 quart

1 can (14-ounce/400 grams) sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup (180 grams) whole milk (full fat milk, 3.5 - 4% butterfat)
3/4 cup (175 grams) heavy cream (whipping cream, 36 - 40% fat)
6 ounces (170 grams) bittersweet chocolate, chopped finely (bittersweet - extra dark, more than 35% chocolate liquor, 65 - 70% cocoa)
1/4 cup (25 grams) cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder (or two tablespoons freshly-brewed espresso)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
A pinch of fine sea salt
5 teaspoons (12 grams) cornstarch ( best to follow 12g on weighing scale)
2 tablespoons cold water

To garnish:
Very fruity extra virgin olive oil
Smoked sea salt flakes

1) In a large pan, whisk sweetened condensed milk, whole milk and heavy cream until combined. Set the pan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.

2) Take off heat and add the finely-chopped chocolate, cocoa powder, instant espresso powder, vanilla extract and salt. Whisk until the chocolate melts and the cocoa powder is completely dissolved.

3) Mix cornstarch and cold water in a bowl with a fork until completely dissolved, and add to the ice cream base. Whisk until combined.

4) Place the pan over medium-high heat and cook, whisking constantly, scraping the sides and the bottom of the pan to prevent burning, until thickened, for 8-10 minutes.

5) Transfer to a heatproof bowl and set aside, uncovered, to cool for half an hour. Don't worry if a skin forms on top. When the bowl is cool enough to handle, cover with plastic wrap and chill thoroughly--preferably overnight--in the refrigerator.

6) Before transferring the chilled ice cream to the freezer, stir or whisk to dissolve the skin on top and scrape into a container. Cover with plastic, this time pressing the wrap against the ice cream to create an airtight seal; put the lid on (or cover with an additional layer of plastic wrap) and freeze until firm enough to scoop.

* This is from A Cup of Jo. Although it makes an awesome ice-cream, it does freeze to pretty hard! You'll have to thaw it out a bit to serve. When you do serve it, it's really more of a fudge. So rich and really pretty good. However, my husband prefers the Chocolate Pudding instead. 

One pot pasta

Serves 4

340g pasta
340g cherry tomatoes, halved if they're too big
1 large onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes or chili powder
4 chicken breasts, cubed and marinated in salt, olive oil, chili powder (or flakes), or paprika
6 large mushrooms, sliced
2 sprig basil
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
pepper
41/2 cups water
shaved parmesan

1) Put all ingredients except the parmesan in a pot and bring to a boil over high heat.

2) Stir occasionally till sauce thickens and pasta is al dente.

3) Dish to bowls and garnish with parmesan, olive oil and extra basil.

* This recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart's One Pan Pasta. I added the chicken and mushrooms for more protein but feel free to keep it vegetarian. I also used chili powder instead as I love my spice and chili flakes just don't cut it. 

Australian Damper

Serves: 6-8

250 g self-raising flour
½ teaspoon salt
25 g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
175 ml milk

1. Sift the flour at least 2 -3 times. Mix the flour with the salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the flour with the tips of your fingers, until it resembles fine crumbs.

2. Optional stage: Add 100 g grated cheese to the mixture before adding the milk and sprinkle with a little extra cheese before baking. Also add 2 tablespoons of chives or parsley. You can experiment with any flavours e.g olives and sundried tomatoes, chilli and coriander etc. (The one in the picture is curry powder, cubed boiled potatoes and sliced red peppers)

3. Stir in the milk with a butter knife) to make a soft dough.

4. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and shape into a soft, smooth ball. Try not to knead too much.

5. Set the ball of dough onto a tray or baking sheet and flatten gently to make a round about 17 cm across. Cut a deep cross in the dough and brush lightly with milk.

6. You can also roll it out to 1 inch or so thick and use a cookie cutter to cut out circles to form scones or biscuits. It will make 8 and a little extra bit for the dog!

7. Bake at 190°C for 30 minutes until golden.


* If  you want it to be sweet, add 2 tablespoons of sugar to the mixture with the milk. The milk can also be replaced with beer.

Hainanese chicken rice

Serves 4 - 6

For the chicken

1 big chicken

1 inch knob of ginger

5 - 6 cloves of garlic, whole

2 stalks spring onions

1 pandan leaf, tied into a knot

splash of tsao tsing wine

salt & finely ground white pepper

For the dipping sauces

1) Chili sauce

big red chilies

small red chilies

grated garlic

grated ginger

sugar

lime juice

salt

oil and some of the chicken soup

(all blended) 

2) Ginger garlic sauce

Some ginger, peeled

Some garlic, peeled

Spring onions, chopped

salt

sugar

oil and some of the chicken soup

(Blend all ingredients. Fry the ginger, garlic and spring onions in oil first) 

3) Thick soy sauce

For the chicken soup

1 pot of water

4-5 slices of ginger

garlic

pandan leaf tied to a knot

spring onions

salt

For the chicken sauce

Sesame oil

Light soy sauce

Chicken soup

For the rice

Rice, washed and dried.

Fat from the chicken's backside and trims, cut into small pieces

Whole peeled garlic, lightly smashed

1 stalk spring onions, tied to a knot

1 stalk pandan leaf, tied to a knot

For garnish

Coriander leaves

Spring onions, julienned and soaked in ice cold water

Slices of cucumber

1) Wash the rice till the starch runs clear. Dry.

2) Clean and dry the chicken and stuff the garlic, ginger, spring onion and pandan leaf into the cavity. 

Rub the skin with salt and pepper. Then with tsao tsing wine.

3) Bring the pot of water to a boil with the garlic, ginger, spring onions and pandan leaf. Once the water boils, immerse the chicken fully into the water. Turn off the heat, cover and leave it for 30mins. Turn it back on again to bring to the boil, then turn off and cover for another 30 minutes.

4) Remove the chicken and rub it all over with sesame oil, and leave to rest. Reserve some stock for the chili, garlic, and chicken sauce. Use the rest to cook the rice.

5) For the chili sauce, blend all the ingredients in a food processor with a bit of the stock.

6) For the ginger garlic sauce, blend the ginger and garlic. Add some oil to a fry pan and fry till fragrant. Add the salt, sugar a bit of the chicken soup and spring onions.

7) Fry the pieces of chicken fat in a wok until the fat renders out. Add in the whole garlic cloves and fry till fragrant. Add the rice and fry till it turns slightly light brown or smells slightly toasted.

8) Add the rice to the rice cooker, and add the appropriate amount of chicken soup in the cooker. If there's not enough, add water. Then add the spring onions and pandan leaves. 

9) When the rice is done, remove the garlic, spring onion and pandan leaves and fluff the rice.

10) In a small bowl, combine light soy, stock/chicken soup and sesame oil. (You can serve this separately for dipping or pour it over the chicken after it's been chopped). 

11) Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces. 

12) Arrange sliced cucumber at the bottom of the serving plate and then the chicken pieces on top. Pour sauce over, if you want.

13) Garnish with the coriander leaves and spring onions soaked in cold water.

* If you want to cut down on cooking time (greatly!) just use store bought chili sauce and mix bottled minced ginger and bottled minced garlic together. It isn't the same but it will do! 

This is also my own recipe and I've probably made this about 5 times. (It's a lot of work!) It's always undergoing changes as I experiment a lot and I'm not very good at taking exact measurements.

Crispy Ricotta Romano gnudi

Serves 4

250g fresh ricotta (1 tub). If using fresh, drain the liquid
200g Italian pecorino romano cheese, grated
1 large egg, lightly beaten
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
pepper
1 cup plain flour, plus extra for dusting

1. Mix ricotta, romano cheese, egg, nutmeg and ½ cup of the flour. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Using your hand, mix ingredients together to form dough like consistency. Add remaining flour and mix to form a stiff dough.

2. Transfer dough to a floured surface and roll into cylinders. Wrap each cylinder in cling film and leave in fridge to rest.

3. Remove from fridge and cut into 1 inch dumplings and scatter over floured plate.

4. Place pasta into a large pot of boiling salted water. As it rises to the top, remove and place in a colander to drain. Transfer to a plate to air dry.

5. In a pan or skillet, add some olive oil and butter and fry the dumplings till crisp brown.

Best served with homemade tomato sauce, basil and extra grated pecorino romano cheese.

* You can freeze the uncooked dough and drop them in boiling water straight from the  freezer.

Crockpot Pulled Pork

Serves 4-6

1 large white onion, sliced thin
1 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
350 - 400g boneless pork butt or shoulder
¼ + ½ of the quarter cup cider vinegar
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
¾  teaspoons sugar
¼  teaspoons dijon mustard
2-3 crushed garlic cloves
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons soy + 4 tablespoons water

Extra
Sugar
Salt
Vinegar
Cayenne

1. Rinse pork roast under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.

2. Place onions in crock-pot. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, paprika, kosher salt and pepper; mix thoroughly. Rub mixture all over roast and place the roast on top of the onions.

3. In a medium bowl, combine vinegar, Worcestershire, red pepper flakes, sugar, mustard, garlic salt and cayenne pepper; whisk to combine. Drizzle about 1/3 of vinegar mixture over roast and soy + water mix. Cover and refrigerate remaining vinegar mixture.

4. Cover crockpot; cook on low for 6-7 hours.

5. Remove meat and onions; drain. Chop or shred meat and onions and mix with extra sugar, salt, vinegar & cayenne.

6. Place the chopped meat back into the pot to keep warm and drizzle about the rest of reserved vinegar mixture over the meat.

7. Serve with coleslaw in a hamburger bun.

* This is adapted from My Baking Addiction. I wasn't over the moon about this recipe but it still tasted good. Will have to experiment more. 

Mini pork pies

Makes 6

Pork filling:
 350g pork shoulder (including fat), or combination of pork shoulder and fresh sausage meat to make 350g (you can use all sausage meat if you like)
 110g back bacon rashers, derinded

2 garlic cloves, crushed

 1 sprig fresh thyme with leaves removed
 salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper

Optional: 2-3 anchovy fillets, chopped, with 1/2-1 teaspoon of anchovy oil

Hot-water crust pastry:
 450g plain white flour, plus a little extra for dusting
 a pinch of salt
 50 ml milk
 50 ml water
 150g butter

Glaze:
 1 large egg yolk

Equipment:
1 jumbo 6-cup muffin tin

1. If using pork shoulder, coarsely chop in a food processor or hand chop with a knife into 1cm cubes or smaller but don't mince.

2. Combine all the other filling ingredients and pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

3. Measure flour and salt for the crust into a mixing bowl.

4. Cut butter into cubes. Add milk and water into a saucepan, and add the butter. Place the pan over gentle heat. When butter has melted, turn up the heat to bring it up to a boil. As soon as it does, pour it over the flour and mix with a wooden spoon till it forms a dough.

5. Turn the dough out on a work surface to bring it altogether. Take 2/3 of the dough and divide it into 6 parts. Roll each part into 6 balls and place 1 in each of the muffin tin.

6. Press each ball onto the base and up the sides of the cup to the top. The pastry may tear but don't worry, just fix it by pressing some more pastry on the tear. This pastry is very easy to work with, so if there's a mistake, don't panic! Treat it like play dough.

7. Spoon equal amount of pork filling into each of the cups.

8. Sprinkle more flour on the surface and roll out the remaining pastry and cut out 6 rounds for the lids.

9. Paint each of the edges of the lids with beaten egg yolk, and over turn it onto the muffin cups. Use a fork and press to seal the egg-yolked edges onto the top of the pies.

10. You can use any left over pastry to make decorations. Glaze the tops using the rest of the egg and make a 1 centimetre steam hole in each pie.

11. Place the muffin tin on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes on middle shelf. After 30 minutes, remove the baking sheet from oven.

12. Remove the pies from the muffin tin carefully using a knife and oven gloves, and place directly onto the hot baking sheet.

13. Place it back onto the oven and bake for another 20-25 minutes or until the pies are golden brown.

14. Leave to cool on a wire rack. Serve hot or leave in fridge for a cold lunch.

* This is adapted from Delia Smith's recipe. I've simplified it a little with the ingredients. Omitted the anchovy essence, allspice, sage and mace. I mostly have thyme in my kitchen so that's why I used it in this recipe. You can really use anything you like or have! In this recipe I have doubled the pastry measurements from Delia's original recipe as I didn't find there was enough.