Pâté de Campagne

'Pâté de Campagne', also sometimes called a 'Terrine' is a coarse ground pâté that is baked in a loaf pan inside a water bath. Terrines normally incorporate two types of meats and use dried fruits in the center, such as figs, apricots or cherries. This terrine used pork and veal minces, with chunks of ham in the middle. It was wrapped in streaky bacon and was not difficult to make, but did require a certain amount of pre-planning, as with all these recipes. In my opinion, the terrine was not seasoned enough, it needed more salt than the recipe asked for. I am starting to realize that the MasterChef cookbook often underestimates how much seasoning and herbs are needed in their dishes as this was a little bland. We had this for alfresco lunch on Sunday, accompanied by crusty sourdough ciabatta, a tomato and basil salad and pickled onions & cornichon. It's still summer, yay!
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/gallery/2010/jul/30/how-make-pate-de-campagne

Ratings:
Taste: 8
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 7

Soda Bread with Pumpkin accompanied by Feta Filo Pie for lunch and Sausages with Onions for dinner

Yesterday I called a photographer called Jay Heifetz, a professional photographer from Fremantle, WA, for some advice on how to take pictures of food. He gave me some valuable advice regarding taking photographs and how I should use lighting and staging to get the most of out of the dishes. He takes wonderful photographs, not just of food, have a look at his website www.heifetzphotography.com.au. I hope my pictures from here on can be half as good as his!

Soda bread is an easy bread to make, which doesn't need too much kneading. It doesn't rise, so goes in and comes out of the oven the same shape. I seriously underestimated the amount of flour needed to made the bread. Cleaning my hands was a very difficult process, because the mixture was so sticky. I had to call for help numerous times and add lots more flour! I got very frustrated with the whole process and was told by my mother to "take my anger out on the bread"! We ate the pumpkin bread for lunch accompanied by feta filo pie and salad. The bread was slightly sweet and I served it with butter, which made it taste similar to scones!
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.hungrycouplenyc.com/2014/09/pumpkin-soda-bread.html

Ratings:
Taste: 9
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 6

Making feta filo pie is quite challenging and I found out the hard way. You have to squeeze all the water out of the spinach otherwise when it is cooked it will make the bottom all soggy. I made the recipe in a hurry, forgot to squeeze out all the spinach and got a soggy bottom! The flavours were nice, particularly the pine nuts and raisins, but the texture was not. As I say with some of my dishes, unfortunately, "this wasn't my favourite".
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.aww.com.au/food/recipes/2007/5/spinach-and-feta-filo-pie/

Ratings:
Taste: 4
Appearance: 4
Difficulty: 7

Last night was a reverse Cinderella story, my parent's went out to the ball and I was stuck at home, cooking for my ugly "step"-brothers! For dinner I made sausages, onion gravy and mashed potatoes, but to put it more appropriately, bangers and mash. I substituted this recipe for the liver and onions in the MasterChef Cookbook, because apart from my father, nobody else likes Calves liver. Sausages and onion gravy is the perfect comfort food, too bad that I have to finish my project at the end of this term before it the weather turns colder. A delicious meal, but where was Prince Charming?! Sorry, Jay, even with all your fabulous advice, nothing could make this meal look attractive!
For similar recipe go to:

Ratings:
Taste: 9
Appearance: 3
Difficulty: 4

Courgette Quiches for lunch and Orange Glazed Gammon with Endives for dinner

I just realized that the tea party post was my 50th blog entry! Now I have completed 98 recipes and counting! Instead of making 'little pastry cases' (as it says in the book), I made a couple of big quiches, one for lunch today and one for lunches during the week. With the quiches, I added bacon into them and Mummy's home grown mini courgettes. Delicious!
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1132640/courgette-quiche

Ratings:
Taste: 8
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 6

Before searching, I didn't know that Australia sold un-cooked ham joints, they all seem to come conveniently sealed, on the bone and cured! So, I cooked a gammon for the first time! It was a simple recipe, where ham is boiled in a couple of bottles of diluted Apple Cider. The skin is then scored and glazed (with my Mother's homemade orange, lemon and grapefruit marmalade) and the gammon is roasted in the oven. I put endives and potatoes in the roasting tin and tossed them in lemon juice (as I didn't have any oranges). Having looked on wikipedia, it says that endives are a member of the chicory family, which includes radicchio, escarole, frisee and curly endive. I found them to be a bit too bitter, which is presumably why they were included in this recipe, because the orange glaze was very sweet and the meat was salty.
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/honeyandmarmaladegla_93186

Ratings:
Taste: 9
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 5

Pea, Courgette Quiche for lunch and Orange Glazed Gammon for Dinner

I just realized that the tea party post was my 50th blog entry! Now I have completed over 100 recipes and counting! Sorry it's been a while since my last post, I was working on the essay behind the project, which is due next week. For this recipe instead of making 'little pastry cases' (as it says in the book), I made a couple of big quiches, one for lunch today and one for lunches during the week. With the quiches, I added bacon into them and Mummy's home grown mini courgettes. Delicious!
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/15308/mini+ham+cheese+quiches

Ratings:
Taste: 7
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 6

Before searching, I didn't know that Australia sold un-cooked ham joints, they all seem to come conveniently sealed, on the bone and cured! So, I cooked a gammon for the first time! It was a simple recipe, where ham is boiled in a couple of bottles of diluted Apple Cider. The skin is then scored and glazed (with my Mother's homemade orange, lemon and grapefruit marmalade) and the gammon is roasted in the oven. I put endives and potatoes in the roasting tin and tossed them in lemon juice (as I didn't have any oranges). Having looked on wikipedia, it says that endives are a member of the chicory family, which includes radicchio, escarole, frisee and curly endive. I found them to be a bit too bitter, which is presumably why they were included in this recipe, because the orange glaze was very sweet and the meat was salty.
For similar recipe go to:
https://www.wheelandbarrow.com.au/blog/recipes/mains/honey-orange-glazed-ham

Ratings:
Taste: 9
Appearance: 9
Difficulty: 5

Kedgeree followed by Lemon Meringue Pie

My parents had 'Lovely Luke' and his even lovelier girlfriend 'Pip' coming round for dinner. Again, the perfect opportunity to tick a few more recipes off my list! Since it was a weekday, I decided to make something easy. Kedgeree is a traditional British breakfast dish made from curried rice, smoked fish, hard boiled eggs, parsley and lemon juice. Obviously the MasterChef cookbook recipe was an adaptation of the typical kedgeree, because it used coriander instead of parsley. Of all the days for Coles to not have their smoked cod from New Zealand, today had to be the worst! I had to substitute with ling fillets, which were actually very nice and once the curry powder was added, you really couldn't tell the difference. Using the milk to poach the fish and then to cook the rice gave the dish a lovely creaminess, not dissimilar to a curried risotto! I served the dish with some broccoli florets.
For similar recipe look below:

http://www.gourmettraveller.com.au/recipes/recipe-search/classic-dish/2008/3/kedgeree/

Ratings:
Taste: 10
Appearance: 9
Difficulty: 4

The earliest recorded recipe of Lemon Meringue Pie was attributed to Alexander Frehse, a Swiss baker from Romandie. This was up there with pavlova as one of my most spectacular dishes to date! The lemon filling thickened so very quickly, who would have thought that lemon curd was so easy to make?! The topping looked spectacular and held its shape very well. The dessert was lovely, but incredibly sweet - even for my sweet tooth! And yet again, anything with pastry seems to break up when I try to get it out of its case, which never looks particularly good presented on a plate! None of this seemed to bother Luke, who finished off any leftovers of both the Kedgeree and pie!
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3482/ultimate-lemon-meringue-pie

Ratings:
Taste: 8
Appearance: 10
Difficulty: 8

Tea Party with Scones, Carrot & Walnut Cake and Shortbread.

As Julia Child says, "A party without cake, is just a meeting!" I agree wholeheartedly with Julia and my tea party had a delicious cake and I made some lovely English tea to have in the garden. The carrot and walnut cake worked very well with a cream cheese icing. It was nice and moist, but unfortunately there was none left, as carrot cake is everyone's favourite tea time treat!
Shortbread is a delicious side for a nice cup of tea. My grandmother always has to have a cup of tea with any food (you should hear her after an ice cream!) Delicious shortbread, crumbly and melt in the mouth, so much better than the shop bought variety.
The pronunciation of scones is the cause of much debate; are you a "scownes" (rhymes with stones) eater or do you prefer to eat "skons" (rhymes with gone). We are firmly in the "skon" (rhymes with gone) camp! However, whichever way you say it, scones are the epitome of the quintessential English tea. The next dilemma whilst having a cream tea, is whether to eat the scones Devonshire style or Cornish....does the cream go on before the jam or visa versa? apparently I would fit in well in Devon, when the rest of my family should reside in Cornwall! I was slightly disappointed with these scones, as they didn't rise as high as I had hoped and they were a bit dry.

For similar recipe go to: Carrot and Walnut Cake

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/18529/carrot-walnut-cake.aspx
For similar recipe go to: Shortbread
http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/easy-shortbread-1283
For similar recipe go to: Scones
http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/23134/easy-scones.aspx

Ratings: Carrot and Walnut Cake

Taste: 9

Appearance: 8

Difficulty: 7

Ratings: Shortbread

Taste: 9

Appearance: 8

Difficulty: 4

Ratings: Scones

Taste: 6

Appearance: 6

Difficulty: 5

Aubergine Massaman Curry followed by Custard Tart

On Saturday night we had a family curry evening. I made the 'Aubergine Massaman Curry' from the MasterChef cookbook, although I had to tell my younger brother Archie, that it was just 'Massaman Curry'. Amongst the long list of his dislikes is Aubergine (Eggplant)! Massaman is a Thai curry of Muslim origin, usually containing coconut milk, roasted peanuts, potatoes, bay leaves, cardamom pods, cinnamon, palm sugar, fish sauce and tamarind sauce and of course this one included aubergine.
My father made a 'Mushroom bhaji' and a 'Chicken Tikka Masala' (the same recipe I have used before from the MasterChef cookbook) to accompany my dish. The whole meal tasted delicious, served with lime pickle, mango chutney, rice and poppadoms, popped laboriously by me in the microwave!
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.homecooksrecipe.com/2009/09/thai-massaman-curry-with-eggplant-and.html

Ratings:
Taste: 8 (but for children a 6)
Appearance:7
Difficulty: 5

It seems that Custard Tart would be a great dessert to bake around Christmas time, as the filling tastes a bit like eggnog (not that I would really know) - or so I have been informed by 2 reliable sources (yes my parents!) The crust should ideally be made from amaretti biscuits, but other biscuits can be used and I used simple Granita biscuits. The recipe includes 60ml of dark rum, but after tasting it I realised that I should have used half of that amount with us young ones around...I think my parents were fine though! It was a lovely smooth creamy dessert, not dissimilar to a thin boozy cheese cake, but it was too rich for my brothers and me and I think that school would have had something to say if they'd known that we had been given alcohol in our school lunch the next day! Again, it was difficult to find an exact match for the recipe, so I am using one of my 7 allowed MasterChef cookbook prints, hope you can read it ok?
For exact recipe see below:

Ratings:
Taste: 8 (again for children a 6 due to the rum)
Appearance: 9
Difficulty: 6