As part of my audition video for Masterchef, we put together a little montage of a few chopping/slicing/throwing clips. Here’s me trying to flip a knife and then chop an eggplant with it… 
I created these easy spiced eggplant canapes for the video audition if you’d like the recipe. They’re pretty easy and very tasty, even if you think you don’t like eggplant!
Mmm mmm mmm! That’s the sound your friends will make when you feed them this baked brie. It’s surprisingly easy to make and tastes mind-blowingly good!
one full round of brie
few sprigs thyme and rosemary
one clove garlic, finely sliced
salt and pepper to taste
Buy a full round of brie, preferably one in a wooden box as you can use this wooden box to bake it in. (See Note)
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan-forced, or 200°C non fan-forced).
Unwrap the brie, and discard the wrapper. Place the brie on a square of baking paper, enough to come up the sides of the box, and put it back into the box.
Cut a few holes into the top of the brie with a sharp knife and insert sprigs of thyme and rosemary, slivers of finely sliced garlic, and season with salt and pepper.
Cover the entire box loosely with a piece of aluminium foil and place in the oven for about 20 minutes.
This can be served in the box, or removed from the box (carefully!) and is best eaten with a knife and a fresh baguette.
Enjoy!
You can get away with buying a cheaper brie and baking it in a small, preferably round, baking dish, by following the same baking paper and aluminum foil method.
Play around with flavours – try finely sliced sun-dried tomatoes and olives, with sprigs of oregano for a different taste.
Picture this - you have just busted the bank with a splurge on the latest Wayne Cooper collection in preparation for a soiree you have RSVP’d to ….. you open your diary and notice a note you pencilled in 'book hair style with Manuel, the chic hairstylist at Salary Strands Salon who I desperately want to do my hair however I will not be able to eat for the rest of the week should I book in…
Who doesn’t love a good scone? Soft and fluffy, perfect will all kinds of topping, scones are really easy to make and everybody loves them. For this recipe below, I have appropriated the Queensland Country Women’s’ Association recipe and made a slight change.
Of course you have to have jam and cream for scones, so I decided to make my own jam. I had a couple of nectarines which were sweet and ripe, and the resulting jam was exactly the right amount for this batch of scones. It was surprisingly easy to make and given the small quantity, storage and sterilising of jam jars never even came into the picture.
My friends and I devoured a batch on Sunday afternoon, and they joked that with every scone they ate, the dollops of jam and cream got bigger, till they were almost bigger than the scone!
Scones with homemade nectarine jam
(makes the perfect amount for a single batch of scones)
2 ripe nectarines (about 250g), diced into small pieces, stones and skins removed. (yields about 150g of fruit flesh)
100g caster sugar
Juice of 1/4 lemon
Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir without boiling until sugar has dissolved. Bring to a gentle boil and allow to simmer for around 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up the fruit pieces. Allow to cool slightly, then blend with a stab mixer, to break down any remaining large pieces.
(makes about 20)
The CWA recipe:
3 cups self-raising flour
1 cup cream – my variation: 2/3 cup cream, 1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup milk
Pinch salt
Preheat the oven to 220°C. Sift the salt and flour together in a large bowl. Make a well and gradually add the milk, cream and butter, mixing well to combine. Turn dough out onto a floured work surface and knead for a few minutes until a smooth dough forms. Flatten to about 3cm thick and using a small round cutter cut scones out of dough. Place scones closely side by side (touching) on a baking tray lined with baking paper and brush with a little milk or butter. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden.
Best served warm with lashings of jam and cream. Enjoy!
Other fruits I have tested with this jam recipe so far are sour morello cherries, strawberries and blueberries.
These tender juicy little bites of vegetabley goodness are really cheap and easy to make. When someone thinks of canapés, or hors d’oeuvres, eggplant is not usually the first thing that comes to mind, but these delicious little nuggets are a real surprise that will impress your guests and leave you looking like a master chef!
Easy Spiced Eggplant Canapes
(makes about 50 pieces)
1 eggplant, cubed
2 Tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons cumin
1 cup of plain flour
1 egg
1 Tablespoon milk
1 cup of bread crumbs
¼ cup whole egg mayonnaise
¼ cup cream
2 teaspoons chicken stock powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill
1 stalk sliced spring onions
salt & pepper to taste
Dice the eggplant into bite-size pieces. Mix 2 tablespoons salt and 2 teaspoons cumin together and dust over the cubed eggplant.
Set up three bowls: place 1 cup of flour in the first bowl; make an egg wash by whisking together the egg and milk in the second bowl; and the breadcrumbs in the third bowl.
Coat each piece thoroughly in flour, then in the egg wash, then coat liberally in bread crumbs.
Heat a fry pan over a medium heat with about a 1mm layer of canola oil (or other low-flavoured oil) to cover the base of the pan. Working in batches, fry the eggplant cubes, turning frequently, until browned and crunchy all over. Remove from the pan and drain any excess oil by placing the cubes on a paper towel.
Mix all ingredients together thoroughly, reserving a tsp of the sliced shallots for a garnish.
Enjoy!
It helps to work out a system by which you keep one hand dry and get one hand wet, otherwise the crumbing process turns into a much bigger mess than necessary! You can also use a fork to coat the pieces in egg and transfer them to the breadcrumbs to reduce the mess factor.
You can also fill a bag with flour and a bag with bread crumbs, place the pieces inside and shake well to coat. Do the breadcrumbing in smaller batches to ensure even coverage. I don’t recommend doing this with the egg wash.
These can also be made gluten free, if you substitute the flour and breadcrumbs for gluten free varieties. Orgran corn crispy crumbs make a tasty crispy coating, I found them in the gluten free section of my local supermarket. You can also leave out the milk from the egg wash for lactose intolerant guests.
I seem to be obsessed with all things sweet, and I love spending a Sunday afternoon baking up a batch of cookies to enjoy with an afternoon cuppa (and to take to work the next day to show off my wares). Biscotti are a traditional Italian biscuit, stemming from a Latin word that means “twice-baked”, this double baking process helps keep the biscotti fresh for a very long time. You can use a variety of whole nuts and some dried fruits in them to give them unique flavours, although the traditional kind were only made with almonds.
Vanilla almond biscotti
(Makes about 80 pieces)
2 cups plain flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ cup caster sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste / vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves or nutmeg
1 cup almonds*
Preheat oven to 160°C.
Sift the flour, baking powder and spices into a bowl. Add the caster sugar and mix together well. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs and add the vanilla to the egg mixture. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, add the almonds and stir to combine into a smooth dough.
Flour your work surface well, keeping the flour handy, because you will probably need more than you think. Turn the dough out onto the floured surface and knead until smooth, adding more flour to the surface and over the top of the mixture if it gets sticky.
Divide the dough in half and roll each portion into a log, about 20cm long. Flatten the logs slightly to create the classic oval biscotti shape.
Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and place in the oven for about 30-35 minutes. When it is ready, it should feel firm, but not rock hard.
Take the logs out of the oven and let them cool.
When cooled, use a serrated knife to cut into thin slices, about 3mm thick. Place the slices onto baking trays, lined with baking paper. I needed 3 large trays for this, and it’s ok to have the biscotti slices touching each other.
Bake for a further 8-10 minutes or until they feel crisp to the touch. Leave the slices to cool on the trays, before storing in an air-tight container.
Enjoy with coffee or tea (chai goes well with the vanilla flavour), or even a sweet dessert wine.
Frangelico and hazelnut biscotti: substitute the vanilla for Frangelico, and the almonds for hazelnuts.
Christmas biscotti: Substitute the almonds for unsalted pistachios and add ½ cup dried cranberries.
Macadamia and white chocolate biscotti: Substitute the almonds for macadamias and add ½ cup white chocolate.
* I recently found some delicious Coles brand ‘French vanilla almonds’ – almonds coated in a sweet vanilla toffee-like coating, in the deli section at Coles supermarkets. These taste especially good in this recipe. You could also try caramel or toffee almonds.
A gingerbread house is the very essence of Christmas
For me, a gingerbread house is a necessity every Christmas. Even though I don’t yet have children, I relish the day that I will be able to make these with my kids, and long into the future, make them with my grandkids. They smell so delicious, are so fun to make, and look incredibly impressive once put together. With a few little tricks, you can make an amazing gingerbread house too. Let me show you how!
Makes one house approximately 15cm high by 12cm wide
3 cups self raising flour
3 cups plain flour
260g caster sugar
3 Tbsp gingerbread spice mix
2 tsp ginger
250g soft unsalted butter
80ml thick cream
75g golden syrup
2 whole eggs
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl of an electric mixer.
With the mixer on low, gradually add in the soft butter until evenly spread evenly through and the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add cream, syrup and eggs and mix until a soft dough forms.
Remove the dough from the bowl and knead on a floured surface until smooth. Rest the dough for 15 minutes before rolling out and cutting out your shapes.
Use the Cooking for Cheats gingerbread house template to cut your pieces to size, and use the remaining batter to cut a chimney, some trees and some gingerbread people.
Bake the larger pieces in the oven for approximately 30 minutes or until deeply golden. The smaller pieces (trees, chimney, people) will only need 15-20 minutes, so it’s best to put these on a separate tray and keep an eye on them.
2 egg whites
3 cups sifted icing sugar
½ tsp lemon juice / vanilla essence (optional)
To make a gingerbread house, you need a very strong icing. Beat 2 eggwhites until stiff peaks form (you can tell it’s done, if when you hold it upside down over your head, it doesn’t fall on you!). Gradually add the sifted icing sugar in small amounts and beat until absorbed. Keep adding icing sugar until the icing resembles a thick paste. The icing should just about form stiff peaks itself, and should definitely not be runny. Add lemon juice or vanilla essence and stir through to combine.
Start on the actual surface you will be building the house on, it’s pretty hard to move it later, without it falling apart.
Lots of squiggled icing holds pieces together
Take the front piece, and a side wall, and squiggle the end of the side wall with plenty of strong icing. Making sure the bases of both pieces are firmly on the “ground”, press the side wall firmly into the back of the front panel and hold for about 1 minute.
The side pieces fit inside the outline of the front and back pieces
You should be able to let go and have the piece stand up by themselves. Repeat the process with the second wall panel. Squiggle plenty of icing onto the remaining 2 exposed ends of the side walls and press the back panel into place, holding firmly on both sides for another minute until it holds. Allow the icing to set for 15-30 minutes before trying to attach the roof pieces.
stick the roof pieces on with plenty of icing
To attach the roof pieces, squiggle lots of icing onto the slanted edges of the front and back pieces, doing one side at a time. With an even overhang on both front and back, line up the first roof piece at the top of the peak, allowing the bottom of the roof piece to overhang.
You can help the roof piece stick, by inserting a sharp toothpick carefully through the top of the roof piece, into the upright section of the front piece. You can remove these when the icing has set, or just push them right in and ice over them to hide them.
Squiggle more icing underneath the roof panel, to help it stick to the side wall. Repeat with the second roof panel. You can also add more icing between the underside of the roof panels and the front panels. Cement the gap at the very top between the two roof panels with plenty of icing. You can start adding sweets and candy decorations at this point and add the chimney, with plenty of icing to hold it in place.
Stick the chimney on with plenty of icing and decorate the roof with colourful lollies
Now you can decorate your house!
Suggestions:
Squiggle a good amount of icing around the base of the house to hold it firmly to the surface.
Drip extra icing off the eaves to create icicles
Squiggle lots of icing onto the edges of the roof to look like snow and icicles.
Use the icing to stick the decorations onto the house and to hold trees upright, around the house.
Build a little fence using long thin sweets like licorice bullets or musk sticks.
Draw roof tiles on in a scalloped pattern with the icing, or apply a coating of freckles or white chocolate buttons.
Make a door out of lollies, or an offcut of gingerbread. If you want to get crafty, you can cut a door frame out of the template before (or after) cooking, and place a door in it, using a toothpick as a hinge in the top of the door frame.
For us, the gingerbread house looks different every year, depending on what’s going on in our lives, who is with us at the time, and what sweets we can find to hand. Go nuts and most importantly, have fun!
Enjoy!
Wrap your gingerbread house in clear cellophane and tie with a Christmassy ribbon to present as a gift
If you have to cut the pieces to fit better, don’t worry about it, you can easily cover up the cuts with icing and lollies and hide all your sins!
Make lots of trees and gingerbread men for people to eat, if you want the house to survive!
The house will keep, standing, for around a month, in moderate to cool temperatures (don’t refrigerate). It will stay standing, long after it is still good to eat, as it will naturally go stale after time.
If you want to eat the house, I wouldn’t recommend making it more than a week in advance.
