Chocolate Fruit & Oat Cookies

This recipe is as a result of a recent Miele Cooking Class after purchasing new ovens for home

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 15
Freezing: Haven’t tried
Makes: Approx 20


Ingredients
125 g unsalted butter
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup golden syrup
1/3 cup sultanas
1/3* cup sliced dried apricots
1/3 cup slivered almonds
¾ cup self raising flour
1 cup rolled oats

Method
1. In a small saucepan combine butter, sugar & golden syrup. Stir over medium heat to dissolve sugar. Set aside to cool
2. Pre-heat oven to 180° C (conventional) or if using Fan Plus, then 160°.
3. In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients.
4. Pour the butter mixture over dry ingredients, stir to combine.
5. Spoon mixture onto trays, leaving room for cookies to spread.
6. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly golden.

Cool on trays.

Note:  After my first attempt wherein the cookies were a little dry, and after noticing that the teacher had arrived at class with a pre-prepared dough, I let the mixture rest for an hour before cooking them to give the rolled oats time to absorb the moisture from the liquid with which it was mixed.  This is NOT a necessary step.
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* The Miele recipe from which this comes uses chopped dates.

Bread & Butter Pudding with Prunes

Preparation Time: 10 minutes, plus soaking
Cooking Time: 1-1/4 hours
Freezing: Not recommended but has been done
Serves: 6-8 depending on serving size

Ingredients
25 g (1 oz) butter
6 slices sourdough rye fruit bread (or similar) – about 150g (5 oz)
3 eggs
25 g (1 oz) caster sugar
150 ml (5 fl oz) single cream
450 ml (15 fl oz) skimmed milk (approx – enough to cover bread)
30 ml (2 tbsp) brandy
125 g (4 oz) pitted, no-soak prunes, finely chopped
25 ml (½ tsp) ground cinnamon
25 g (1 oz) demerara sugar – approx.

Method
1. Lightly butter a 7.5 cm (3 inch) deep 1.1 litre (2 pint) ovenproof dish.
2. Spread one side of the bread with butter
3. Line bottom of dish with bread, then scatter ½ the prunes on the bread.
4. Put a second layer of bread on top of these prunes and then scatter the balance of the prunes on top. Finish with a final layer of bread, cutting bread to fit corners of dish.
5. Whisk together eggs, sugar, cream, milk and brandy.
6. Pour egg mixture over.
7. Leave to soak for about 40 minutes, lightly pressing bread into the egg mixture. (Weigh down if necessary by placing a small plate with weight on top of the bread mixture)
8. Place the dish in a roasting tin with enough warm water to come up about 2.5 cm (1 inch) up the side of the dish.
9. Cook at 170°C (325°F) for about 1-1¼ hours or until the pudding is lightly set.

Serve with a good vanilla bean ice-cream.

Mussels in White Wine

1 kg mussels
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion finely chopped (spring or salad onions)
5 cloves garlic finely chopped
½ cup flat Italian Parsley
Handful fresh Thyme
1 cup white buttery wine, eg Chardonnay
Salt to taste (small amount only)
Pepper – to taste
½ cup chicken stock (optional)
chilli flakes

• Clean the mussels. Remove the "beard" and scrub them under running water with a brush to remove any sand. Discard the mussels whose shells are not tightly shut.
• In a large pot, heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat.
• Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes until soft.
• Add the garlic and cook for another 3 minutes. Stir a few times to keep the garlic from burning.
• Add the parsley, thyme, wine, chilli flakes salt and pepper. Bring to boil.
• Add the mussels, stir well to coat them in the sauce, cover the pot and cook for 8-10 minutes over medium heat.
• Shake the pot a few times with the lid on to make sure that the mussels do not burn on the bottom.
• Pour the mussels and the broth into bowls and serve with crusty bread.
• Discard any mussels that are closed.

Broccoli & Leek Soup

Ingredients

225 g (8 oz) Broccoli

75 g (3 oz) Butter

2 Leeks, trimmed & sliced (white part only)

2 garlic cloves

25 g (1 oz) plain flour*

600 mls (1 pint) chicken stock

Salt & pepper

450 ml (15 fl oz) milk

150 ml (5 fl oz) single cream

Parmesan shavings to garnish

Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste

Method

1. Divide broccoli into florets and slice stalks into even-sized pieces.
2. Melt butter in saucepan, add broccoli florets and stalks and stir in the leeks and garlic.  Cook gently for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in flour and cook 1 minute, then gradually add stock and bring to the boil, stirring. 
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Cover and gently simmer for 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender and cooked through.
6. Remove from heat and allow to cook slightly.
7. Puree soup in a blender or food processor.
8. Return mixture to a rinsed pan, check the seasoning, stir in milk and cream and heat through gently.
9. Serve the soup hot, sprinkled with shavings of Parmesan and a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg.

Notes: 
This soup is also delicious served cold, in which case thin it with extra milk and cream (if you so desire).

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* Gluten Free --  Flour may be omitted without compromising the soup

Rhubarb with Orange & Strawberries

INGREDIENTS:
1 Bunch Rhubarb
Juice of 1 Orange
1/2 cup Sultanas
1/2 cup Dried Apricots (chopped)
1 Punnet Strawberries (hulled)
1/4 Cup Raw Sugar
2 Cinnamon Quills (or Cassia Bark)
2 tbs Strawberry Jam

METHOD:
Cut Rhubarb into 3 cm chunks

Juice the orange using a hand juicer to retain the pulp

In a saucepan, combine all ingredients EXCEPT the strawberries.
Bring to the boil.
Simmer, with lid on, for aproximately 8 minutes or until rhubarb is soft.
Add punnet of strawberries
If adding strawberry jam, add it now.
Heat through for approximately 4 minutes.  During this time, taste and add more sugar if necessary.  Turn off the heat and leave in saucepan for 10 minutes.

USES;
At breakfast time with muesli & yoghurt.
For dessert - Rhubarb & icecream, or Rhubarb Crumble

To Make Crumble: 
Mix 1 cup plain flour, 2 cups brown sugar & 125 g butter.
Place rhubarb in individual ramekins and top with crumble.
Bake 30 mins at 180 degress celsius.

Banana and Date Loaf

2 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2/3 cup (125g) fresh dates, pitted and roughly chopped
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup (2 large) mashed banana

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Grease & line a 24 cm x 13.5 cm loaf tin.
Sift flour, bicarb soda, & nutmeg into a large bowl. Add sugar and dates and mix until dates are well coated.
Combine milk, eggs and banana in a bowl. Fold into date mixture & mix until batter is well combined.
Spoon mixture into prepared tin. Bake 45-50 minutes or until loaf is cooked when tested with a skewer.
Cool for 5 minutes in tin, then turn out onto a wire rack.
Serve sliced and buttered or toasted.

I have been using this recipe for years. Originally, it was obtained from Sydney Markets.

Chicken Stock

Stock is the liquid obtained from the simmering together of meat, bones - or fish trimmings - with vegetables, seasonings and water. This liquid, strained and boiled down to a concentrate, form the foundation of good soups, stews and sauces with a meat or fish flavouring. They are the foundation of good cooking.

INGREDIENTS:

a 5 litre saucepan
Enough raw bones and poultry carcasses, scraps and chopped giblets to fill saucepan cold water
1 large carrot, peeled
1 onion, peeled and halved 1 celery stalk green top of a leek 1 bay leaf
6 peppercorns 2 cloves
1 garlic clove, unpeeled parsley stalks mushroom stalks
a few sprigs of thyme, marjoram or other herbs on hand

METHOD:
• Add all the ingredients to the saucepan and cover with cold water. Place over moderate heat and as the liquid comes to the boil remove scum which has begun to form on the surface with a slotted spoon.

• Partially cover the saucepan leaving a small space for steam to escape. Maintain liquid at a gentle simmer, for 4 to 5 hours or more. Boiling water should be added if the liquid evaporates below the level of the ingredients.

• When the stock is well flavoured, strain the stock into a bowl. Let the stock settle for 5 minutes remove the fat from the surface with a ladled. Alternatively leave the stock to cool then refrigerate until the fat has hardened on the surface and can be scraped off.

• When the stock is cold, cover and refrigerate it. It will keep for 3 or 4 days. Alternatively coil the strained stock down to evaporate some of the water content and to concentrate its flavour and jellied quality. Cool and freeze in a container.

Some helpful hints:

• Collect bones and meat scraps in the fridge or freezer and when a sufficient amount has accumulated make a stock.
• Chicken stock is suitable for any meat dish, whilst stock made from turkey or game carcasses is generally best used only in those specific dishes.
• Onion, carrot and celery are the usual stock vegetables. Starchy vegetables (potatoes) will cloud the stock and turnips, cabbage and cauliflower a too strong a flavour.
• Stock should be simmered, not coiled. Boiling will turn the stock cloudy ..
• To give the stock a good colour brown the bones and vegetables first. Place on a baking tray in a hot oven 200°C (400°F) for 30 minutes to crown, turn occasionally, then follow basic stock recipe.

• Stock are easy to make and will simmer with little attention, so make them when you are doing other things in the kitchen and keep them stored in the fridge or freezer for your convenience. They are every bit worth the preparation as they will add the best flavour to your soups and sauces.

Cooking can be stopped at any time, and continued later. If necessary leave the stock to cool, uncovered (or it may sour), refrigerate overnight, then next day reboil stock then continue to simmer to desired strength

Note: This recipe is a modification of a recipe given to me in a Cooking Class conducted by Victoria O'Neill in approximately 1984. I have been using it for that long. It works and has been the base for many a fantastic soup.