Part of our regular dinner menu rotation, this dish is great to use up a decent amount of zucchinis and eggs. Also, it is very forgiving in terms of volumes of ingredients. The below volumes are approximate. Add/subtract what you like/don't like to suit yourself. 

The original recipe comes from Pilsbury after it won a competition in 1980. Passed on from OG's grandmother to his cousin then to us, I've adapted it to suit the locally available ingredients and palettes. 

Apologies, I haven't edited any of these photos. Straight from a phone camera to you! I'll try and update when I can.
Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
3 to 4 zucchini, thin-sliced (or however many you have to use)
250g mushrooms, sliced (or however many you want to have in it) (optional)
40g butter
1 Tblspn oil for frying
Herbs (dried or fresh)
 - Parsley 
 - Basil 
 - Oregano
 - Dill
5 to 6 eggs (beaten)      
250g grated cheese (recommend using a mixture of mozzarella, cheddar and colby)
Enough puff pastry to line baking dish
Dijon mustard (~4 tablespoons)
2 to 3 tomatoes, sliced
salt and pepper to taste
½ teaspoon garlic powder or 1 clove freshly minced garlic (optional) 


Method
1. In a large skillet, saute finely diced onions in butter and oil. Add sliced zucchini and herbs (and minced garlic or garlic powder). It is also a good opportunity to also add some turmeric powder (coz why not!). Saute to soften and set aside.



2. To the same pan, recoat with oil and butter and saute mushrooms until soft and set aside to cool. (Can put into the same vessel as the cooked zucchini. 

3. In a large bowl, beat around 5 to 6 eggs, add some water to stretch it if needed. Add cooled zucchini/mushroom mixture.

4. Line pie or casserole with defrosted puff pastry. Lightly spread a layer of mustard on the pastry. Line base of pie with some grated cheese (either cheddar or mozzarella. Mozzarella was the original recipe but i use cheddar or colby). 




5. Add remaining cheese to egg mixture and pour into pie dish. Top with more cheese (if you want). Add sliced tomatoes on top. This neat little trick stops the top from over browning or burning too much on top. 

I added some goats cheese to half of this... not necessary though

6. Place in preheated 180C oven til the egg is set and pastry is browned. At least 30 minutes depending on the size and shape of your dish. Remove from oven to cool slightly then serve.

Note: you can also use chopped spinach and/or silverbeet as additions or substitutes.

You know those times when you just have a tonne of broccoli in the fridge and you think - what am I going to do with all this! Soup it! Fantastic for the cooler weather and so comforting. It's also a great option to use up any cauliflower and zucchinis you may have too.

This recipe can be made vegan and is a great vegetarian option. For those who miss their meat - try adding a few fried bacon bits before serving but it really doesn't need it.

I love this recipe as it's really creamy without the need to add cream due to the potatoes and it's very easy.

Ingredients
1 to 2 heads of broccoli, cut into small florets
1/2 a head of cauliflower (optional)
1 to 2 zucchinis (optional)
1 onion, small diced
2 to 3 potatoes, cut into small cubes
Dried (or fresh) herbs:
 - bay leaf
 - parsley (a generous tablespoon)
 - marjoram or oregano (a heaped teaspoon)
 - thyme (very minimal)
Spices:
 - turmeric powder (about a shake or two)
 - grated nutmeg
~4 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
oil/butter to saute
salt/pepper to taste

Method
1. In a large pot, heat oil/butter to generously coat the base. Add onions and saute til translucent. Stir in potatoes, herbs and turmeric. Stir until aromatic. Do ya smell it?! Stir in broccoli (and cauliflower and zucchini if using) until it starts changing colour.



2. Add stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until all veges are soft (around 10 to 20 minutes). Stir occasionally.





3. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Using a stick blender, blend contents until smooth. Stir in grated nutmeg. Season to taste.



4. Serve. You can add a dollop of sour cream if you want it even creamier. Top with some shredded cheese and or bacon bits for slightly different texture and added saltiness.

Other toppings I've enjoyed include sesame seeds, sesame oil, Nigella seeds (also known as black caraway, black cumin, nigella, kalojeere, and kalonji), marash pepper (or any red pepper flakes - eg piment d'espelette), fried onions, roasted macadamias, fresh parsley, grated Parmesan cheese. for Let me know your favourite topping suggestions by commenting below.

It's been so long since I've last posted a blog (over a year! WOW). I'm still cooking but I haven't made much effort to record my creations on this blog. If you're keen beans you can check out my instagram for the latest fongolicious-ness.

This particular recipe was inspired by the need to clear the fridge of soon-to-expire ingredients. In this case, the firm tofu. I don't normally buy the stuff, so a few weeks ago I though - oh why not...! As I don't normally use it, I didn't really have an idea on HOW to use it. With excess salad ingredients too, the meat-free banh mi was created. Not an original idea but still good. I'm actually posting this for a friend but I hope you also enjoy it and find it helpful. 

Please also note, I wasn't totally accurate with my quantities, so obviously do what's best for your palette and these are just rough quantities. 

Ingredients 
Lemongrass & Coriander Tofu
2 Tblspn soy sauce
pinch of garlic powder
pinch of ginger powder
1 tspn shaved lemongrass (I've been using the frozen stuff from the Asian grocery store)
1 tspn dried coriander leaves
1/2 tspn dried chives
1/2 tspn chilli paste
pepper (be generous)
olive oil for frying

Basil, Sesame & Chilli Tofu
2 Tblspn soy sauce
pinch of garlic powder
pinch of ginger powder

I have this habit, some would call it a vice, of buying recipe books and probably never cook anything from it and it sits nice and pretty on a bookshelf. On a recent walk past this bookshelf, I decided to read a cupcake recipe book. A book I don't recall making anything from but it had pages so neatly tabbed. Hmm, what did past-me like so much in this book she had to tab them. It was with good reason I tabbed those pages. There was a number of interesting sounding recipes with unique flavour combinations - this one in particular - Pistachio and Cardamom! 

It must be fate I came across this as I had all the ingredients on hand. This will make for a good dessert after a dinner of curry! And indeed it did. I decided to turn this recipe into a cake, rather than cupcakes. It just meant altering the cooking time. Admittedly - this cake is nicer a day or two after it's been made, it will be going in the regular rotation! It reminds me of barfi (an Indian sweet) that I grew up with in Fiji, especially when I opened the lid of the blender! YUM!!!

I didn't following the recipe's "suggestion" to serve with a honey yogurt topping but you're welcome to mix 250g (1 cup) of plain yoghurt with 1 tablespoon with honey. I also added turmeric for some colour and vanilla essence and cinnamon powder for flavour.

Ingredients
Cake
140g (1 cup) pistachio kernels
1/2 tspn ground cardamom (I slipped a bit when I tried to measure out half a teaspoon, so it's closer to 3/4 to 1 tspn)
150g butter, chopped
185g (1&1/2 cups) self-raising flour
170g (3/4) caster sugar - I cut this down to half a cup (125g)
1/2 tspn turmeric
1/4 tspn cinnamon
1/2 tspn vanilla essence
3 eggs
125g plain yoghurt

Syrup / Glaze
115g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
100ml water 
rind of 1 lime (grated)

Method
1. Preheat oven to 170C. Line sides and base of a 8 inch / 20cm round cake pan (spring form works well). 

2. Place pistachios and cardamom in a food processor and pulse until chopped and resembles large crumbs. Add butter, flour, sugar, turmeric, cinnamon and process until crumbly (finer crumbs), scrap down sides with spatula if necessary. 



3. Add eggs, vanilla and yoghurt and continue to process until all is combined and resembles a runny cake batter.






4. Pour mixture into prepared cake tin and bake in preheated oven for 30 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Turn cake out and place on serving plate. Poke some holes in the top with skewer/tooth pick to allow syrup to be absorbed by the cake. 






5. While cake is baking, make syrup/glaze but DO NOT over boil this - the syrup will go hard! In a small pot, over low heat place water and sugar. until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to boil and add lime rind and simmer for 5 minutes. Drizzle or brush syrup over warm cake. Decorate cake with a sprinkle of ground cardamom (and honey yoghurt).

Following an impulse purchase of a bundt cake tin, it sat among my collection of bakeware for months. Then I received some lemons from my mum, I thought to make use of this tin. I was a bit nervous at first - what if it doesn't come out - it will be stuck there forever! Over dramatic - just a little! After researching an few different blogs, I decided to bite the bullet and use the bundt and make lemon poppyseed cake for my weekly family dinner. It turned out PERFECT-O! Thanks to Sally's Baking Addiction. The cake is moist, not too sweet, great tangy lemon-y flavour. Made this twice more in subsequent days to use up to lemons and share the love.

Below my version of events.

Ingredients:

Cake
2 & 3/4 cups (343g) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (30g) cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt (reduce if using salted butter)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup poppy seeds
1 cup (230g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1&1/4 cups (250g) granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
zest of 2 large lemons
juice of 2 large lemons (about 1/2 cup)
1 cup (240ml) buttermilk, room temperature

Lemon Simple "Soaking" Syrup
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
juice of 1 large orange (about 1/2 cup)

Lemon Glaze
1/2 cup (60g) sifted icing sugar
juice of 1/4 large orange or (2 Tablespoons)
At this point I actually used the leftover "soaking syrup" and kept adding enough icing sugar to make a runny paste.

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 175C. Greased bundt tin with melted butter thoroughly. Set aside.

2. Sift the flour and cornstarch together into a large bowl. Whisk in the salt, baking powder, baking soda, and poppy seeds. Set aside.

3. Using a cake mixer, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and beat on high speed for 2 minutes until creamy and pale. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the eggs and the vanilla. Beat on medium-high speed until combined. Beat in the lemon zest and lemon juice. 

4. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, and mixing each addition just until incorporated. Do not overmix. The batter will be slightly thick.

5. Pour/spoon the batter evenly into the prepared bundt pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cover the cake loosely with aluminum foil if you begin to see the top browning quickly. Once done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes inside the pan. Then turn out onto cooling rack.

6. During this time, make the simple syrup. Combine the granulated sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stirring constantly, cook until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside.

7. Place warm bundt cake on a large plate or serving dish and spoon the syrup on top of the cake. Allow cake to cool completely.

8. With the leftover syrup whisk in icing sugar to form a thick and runny paste. Do this a tablespoon at a time. Drizzle over cooled cake. Slice and serve.

When someone says "profiteroles" it's usually followed by a "Yum!" reaction from me. Seeing profiteroles (even a picture of one) is usually followed by salivation. Yes I LOVE profiteroles! However, every time I've tried to make it, I'd fail miserably. I had never successfully made choux pastry. I've been through numerous recipes, even a Gordon Ramsey recipe where I watched his video on YouTube! Granted after every failed attempt, I'd sulk until I'd forgotten about my failure. 

In recent times, I've resorted to just buying it or getting others to make it. Especially at Christmas, my cousin Evelyn would bring a batch to the family gathering. Secretly, it was probably the one thing that motivated me to come to these functions.

During the year, my friend's mum would kindly make us a batch occasionally for our dinner parties / board game nights. Impressed every time we saw that platter of cream-filled chocolate covered sweet morsels, I finally got my hands on her recipe. I tried it out and SUCCESS! It was taken from a recipe book supplied with a kitchen electrical appliance of some sort. Who would have thought those picture-less books would have such good recipes!? Oh well, I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm grateful! I'm not going to try any other recipe. I'm not going to try and modify this recipe. That's it! It works and here it is, drop the mic, shut it down. The search ends here!

Huge thank you to Pete and his mum for this recipe! 

Makes about 30 (but this will vary depending on how big/small you like them)
Choux Pastry
Ingredients
80g butter
1 cup water
1 cup plain flour, sifted
4 eggs

Method
1. Preheat over to 220C. Line two oven trays with baking paper.

2. Place butter and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to just a boil slowly. 



3. Add flour to the butter water mixture all at once and beat/stir with a wooden spoon until dough forms and leaves the side of the pan. 



Note: Using a wooden spoon doesn't fluctuate the temperature of the mixture. This is important for this recipe.

4. Remove dough from heat and cool slightly. Place dough in a large mixing/stand-mixer bowl. and beat with the paddle attachment on medium for about a minute. This will further cool the mixture. 

5. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each addition. You will notice the texture of the mixture change after adding each egg. After the fourth egg, it will be stiff and shiny. Increase the mixer speed to high and beat for another minute.



6. Fill mixture in a piping bag with a large nozzle (or no nozzle). Pipe rounds of dough onto prepared baking trays. Using wet fingers, push down the peaks of the rounds to avoid them getting more burnt than the rest. If you don't have a piping bag, you can drop tablespoons of dough onto the tray.



7. Bake for 15 minutes at 220C. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DURING THIS TIME. Reduce the heat to 160C and make for another 15 minutes. Turn oven off and make a small slit in each puff and leave in the oven to cool, keeping the oven door open a-jar. 



Creme Patisserie (custard filling)
Ingredients
2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup corn starch

Method
1. Place milk and vanilla in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil.

2. I a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar together until thick and pale. Add corn starch and whisk to combine.

3. Slowly pour in hot milk mixture to the egg mixture and continue to whisk. Pour mixture back into pan and keep whisking over medium-high heat until thick. This may take about 10 minutes or so. Remove from heat, cover surface with plastic wrap and set aside to cool. 

Ganache
Ingredients
150g Dark melting chocolate, roughly chopped
70ml thicken cream

Method
1. Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until just boiled. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Stir until all chocolate has melted. Set aside to cool slightly.

Assembling the Profiteroles
Once both custard and choux puffs are cool, fill custard in a piping bag and pipe to fill the choux puffs using the slits you made earlier. 



Gently spoon chocolate mixture over the top of each puff. Set aside or in fridge to allow the chocolate to set. 

Serve fresh! 

Ever watched cartoon characters eat a burger? You know that perfect bite when they chomp into it and you wish all food was cartoon food. I'm not saying these are cartoon burgers but they're pretty close! Different elements make up this awesome burger which I'll outline in this blog. However what makes a good burger a great burger is the quality of ingredients. You don't need to be all organic and "granola" about it, but be mindful of the ingredients you're putting together and seek out the best you can.

Starting with the bun. It should be soft, not sugary and has some integrity so it doesn't just fall apart when sandwiching a bit of meat.

Moving onto the bacon, if you're using it. It must be smoked bacon. Remember, not all bacon is smoked. Some are cured by other means. Those you should avoid. In Australia, you'll find what they call "streaky bacon". This is the ideal bacon cut for burgers. Take your time with cooking this. Don't add oil to the pan when you're frying this as enough fat will come out of the bacon. Use medium heat and let is crisp up good.

Last but not least the beef. In the past we'd always use store bought mince. Those days are over. We now buy rump steaks and hand mince them. This way, you know what meat is actually in your mince (not offal, bones and cardboard). Remember to include a good ratio of fat to meat (20/80 is ideal). I find rump is a great cut, well priced with good fat ratio. And I hear you asking, "how do you hand mince meat". You don't need a meat grinder. You simply cut the meat fine. I also suggest separating the meat with the fat and cut those up separately then mix it together afterwards. Be sure not to overwork the meat, as in handle it too much. I truly believe home, hand minced beef is the secret to a great burger.

Other ingredients to consider include slowly sauteed onions and mushrooms. Opt for cos lettuce if you can. It has more of a crunch and less water content. Pick a melty cheese. Jack, colby or cheddar are good options.

I'm not going to outline every single step in assembling a burger as everyone has their own "style". Below is a recipe to flavouring of the patty and a few tips we've learnt. Note, the quantities are rough and largely "free pour". So trial and error with your flavours. Add more if you like more flavour, add less if you want to keep it simple.

Patty mix Ingredients
~500g Hand mince beef
1 egg
1/4 to 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
~ 2 Tbpsn tomato sauce/ketchup
~ 2 Tbpsn worcestershire sauce
~ 2 tspn dried (or fresh) parsley, (sometimes I put oregano and minced garlic too).
~ 1 tspn salt
pepper to desired quantities


Patty method
Mix all the above mentioned ingredients together in a large bowl until just combined. Allow to rest and flavours mature. Cover and leave overnight in the fridge or set aside for a few hours.

Portion patties appropriate size to the buns. Roll in balls then flatten. Following my visit to the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, I "juicy lucy" -'ed these patties. I put a little piece of cheese in the middle of the patty before frying it.

Fry in a well greased, pan on medium to medium high heat. Tip here is to only flip once. When you flip, you can melt a slice of cheese while the patty is frying on the other side. Another tip: lately we've been frying the bacon first, then cooking the patties in the bacon fat. This definitely adds extra flavour. You could also BBQ the patties for that nice char-grilled flavour.

Construct burger, eat and enjoy!