Roast Pumpkin, Chorizo and olive salad

I found this salad in the Masterchef magazine dec 2011 and made it for big BBQ.  A fantastic salad... love love loved it! So did everyone else too.

You will need:
2kg small jap pumpkin, seeded and washed halved and sliced into thinnish wedges (24 if you are using whole thing).
2 chorizo sausage sliced
1/2 cup kaamata olives
1/4 cup green olives
1 bulb garlic in separated but left in skins
1 long red chilli seeded and chopped finely
80g piece day old sourdough or rustic loaf torn roughly into pieces (croutons)
6 sprigs thyme
1 1/2 teaspoon sumaac
100 mls extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon zested and juiced

what to do:

Preheat oven fan forced to 220 C
Use very large roasting pan or two pans so as not to overcrowd ingredients ;)
Place pumpkin, chorizo, garlic, olives, chilli bread and thyme into a bowl. Sprinkle with sumac, dazzle with 1/4 cup of oil, and bless with salt and pepper to season.

Fondle ingredients to combine.
Transfer mixture to pans and roast for 25 mins until golden brown
Transfer to platter. Whisk remaining olive oil and lemon juice, and anoint dish and scatter with lemon zest.

Tuck in...
Amazing.

pomegranate salsa

I rejoice at xmas time because I can easily get my hands on Pomegranates and they aren't too expensive. This salsa is a great accompaniment and I usually make it when having BBQ with steak/ sausages. The acidity of the salsa is a great counterpoint for rich meat.


Ingredients

2 tomatoes quartered deseeded and finely chopped
1/3 cup parsley or coriander chopped
seeds/ juices (yum) from one 1 pomegranate
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon pomegranate molases
season with salt and pepper

Combine ingredients in bowl.....delish!

Rocky Road kid style

Super easy, super delicious.

2 blocks white cooking chocolate (or you could go mix it up and go 1 x white and 1 x milk choc)
1 bag jelly snakes
1 bag marshmallows (or the mini ones in the cooking aisle)
1 bag jelly lollies
desiccated or shredded coconut

Line baking tin with greaseproof paper.
Chop up lollies and marshmallows and spread all over paper.
Sprinkle coconut over them.
Melt chocolate in microwave, about 1 min at a time, stirring in between.  Doesn't take long.
Pour melted chocolate over lolly mix.
Sprinkle more coconut over top.
Put in fridge until solid.
Chop up.
Eat.

Margaret Fulton's ChristmasCake

I make this cake every year and it is a rich fabulous cake that we can never leave alone long enough for it to mature. It's a lot of work cutting up ingredients but if you have help with it's not too bad and definitely worth the effort..


Ingredients:
Dried fruit/nut


375 g raisins chopped
375 g sultanas chopped
250 g currants chopped
125 g mixed peel chopped
125 g glace cherries halved
6 dried apricots, nectarines, peaches, (i sometimes substitute dried mango as well if i cant find peaches chopped.
125g blanched chopped almonds
4 tablespoons rum and brandy


cake mix


250g butter
250g brown sugar
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons marmelade/ golden syrup
1.5 cups plain flour
.5 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice
5 eggs
blanched almonds and glace cherries to decorate


Day before making cake:


chop all nut/ dried fruit  put into large bowl and add alcohol. Mix well.  Cover and leave overnight to soak.


Next day:
Using electric mixer beat butter until soft/ creamed.  Add lemon brown sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Add golden syrup. Mix well.
Sift flour, baking powder and mixed spice together in separate bowl.
Add 2 tablespoons flour mixture to dried fruit and mix well so that it doesn't sink to the bottom of the cake.
Add eggs one at a time beating well into mixture, add tablespoon of flour mix to wet mixture if it curdles in between eggs. Add the remaining flour into the cake mix and then fold through the fruit mix. You might want to transfer cake mix into huge mixing bowl to incorporate the fruit otherwise the batter wont fit. (there is a lot of it)


To prepare the tin you need a 24 cm square or round cake tin greased and lined with 2 layers of baking paper. Put the mixture into the tinand drop the tin a couple of times onto the counter to  settle the mixture int the tin.


Decorate with cherries and almonds.


BAKE


In a preheated oven at 150 degrees for 2 and 3/4 hours or until a fine skewer inserted into cake comes away clean.


HINT:


Keep checking on the cake after half way thru and cover the top with foil so it doesn't burn.


When its cooked and removed from oven turn cake upside down lift the paper and sprinkle the hot cake with extra rum/ brandy. Wrap in a clean tea-towel and leave to cool on a cake rack. Wrap in grease proof paper and then foil.


Try keeping your hands off it.... its sensational!!!

Mixed fruit ready!!! Soaking in booze.

All done ......out of oven. Now, how long before we crack it open???

beautiful lemons

My Mum has just returned from visiting friends at their farm near Rylestone.  They grow everything, make their own cheese, sauces, jams and marmalade.  I scored some freshly made goats cheese and several very large lemons.  Hence, a lemon cake tonight.

Thanks to Monica and bestrecipes.com.au - Monica's Lemon Cake

Now to find a recipe for the goats cheese. Or maybe I'll just eat it on crackers...