Honey soy salmon parcels

My daughter cooked this salmon, about 95 per cent on her own. How great is that! I heated the oven, put the parcels in to cook, then took them out when they were cooked. That's it. So, needless to say, this is very easy for children (my daughter is 10) to make with minimal supervision. And as an added bonus, it was very tasty and filling. We all enjoyed it very much.

What you will need

Serves four

Four pieces of salmon, skin off, about 100g each
2 cups fresh or frozen beans
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
2 teaspoons honey
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 small finger of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
Olive oil

What to do

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

On an oven tray, lay four pieces of aluminium foil, approximately 20cm x 20cm. Lightly grease each sheet with some oil, using a pasty brush. Gently turn up the edges of each piece of foil so that your sauce will not run out when you pour it over.

If using fresh beans, top and tail them. If using frozen vegetables, put the beans and peas in a colander and run some warm water over them in the sink, to defrost them. Drain well of excess water. Divide the vegetables evenly between the sheets of foil (place in the middle). Carefully place the fish pieces on top of the vegetables.

In a small bowl, mix the honey and soy sauce with a spoon until the honey is dissolved.

Drizzle this over the fish and vegetables. Sprinkle some ginger over the top of the fish (this is optional, you may not like ginger pieces).

Now close the salmon parcels, bringing the left and right sides of the foil together over the fish. Crimp together so it will not pull apart. Fold up the remaining sides into the middle of the parcel so that the sauce will not run out and the steam will be tapped inside.

Place into the oven and cook for 25 minutes. Once cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly before opening (watch out for the steam). Serve to the table in the parcels. Serve with some cooked rice or noodles.

Gingerbread muffins

Christmas baking today. The house smells wonderful. I wanted to make some muffins, as I had some beautiful little Christmas muffin cups in the cupboard, and I just love the smells of cinnamon and ginger in baking. Given that the weather is also freezing cold today - currently it is 1 degree Celsius outside - what better than warming up the house a bit with the oven.

I didn't ice my muffins; you could if you like, but they are lovely to eat warm, directly from the oven with a cup of tea. Did I mention the divine baking smell?

Eggplant schnitzel

These schnitzels are really gorgeous; crunchy, crispy coating and silky, soft eggplant inside. So, so delicious to eat. If there is anyone if your family who doesn't like eggplant, give them these and you might find they are converted. My grandmother used to make these when I was a child, so I have some nice memories of eating these too.

Mini caramel tarts

What I love most about this recipe; it's just so pretty! What I love second best; it has dulce de leche in it! What I love third best; crunchy, biscuity base. It goes on and on.....

Banana ice cream sundae

Very quick little recipe/idea for a dessert, or afternoon special treat.

This ice cream sundae was my little treat on a Sunday afternoon, after having a marvelous time at a friend's birthday party the evening before. I needed a little pick-me-up (as you do) and as the weather was hot and sticky, this cool treat hit the spot.

Cheesy bacon and egg pies

Quick idea for school lunch boxes, or perhaps an after school snack. Or you could just make a batch of these and keep on hand in the fridge for hungry people for breakfast. Or a picnic. Just about anywhere really!

Spaghetti nests

This idea is borrowed - thanks Barb! This is really a serving idea, rather than a recipe, but if you have children this will go down a treat. It's also an excellent way to use up extra pasta - even if said pasta is a bit dried up and stuck together.

Ricotta and banana pancakes

Today is Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day, the first day of Lent for Christians around the world.

I remember as a child eating lots of pancakes at school on this day and wondering what it was all about. 'Why would Jesus eat pancakes,' I thought.

Now I'm celebrating Pancake Day with my own children, which is lovely, but makes me feel a little old too.

This recipe using ricotta and banana is excellent for fluffy and very tasty pancakes. I like to eat them hot out of the pan with some golden syrup drizzled over the top. Just delicious. Maybe these will be my sacrifice for Lent (or maybe not)!

Tuna, salmon and sweet corn burgers

This was a real 'what is in the cupboard that I can cook quickly for lunch' recipe.

I had hungry children due home in an hour and no time to run to a grocery shop. A search through the pantry cupboard revealed a tin of tuna in brine, one tin of pink salmon and a tin of sweet corn. Put all that together and you get the above - tuna, salmon and sweet corn burgers. The children had theirs as burgers on a bread roll with some lettuce and tomato. I had mine with an avocado and orange salad. Just delightful, and the leftovers went well for lunch the next day.

Toasted waffles with custard berry cream pots

This is a complete cheat's dessert. Pick up a few ingredients from the shop and you can whip this up in about five minutes. The only 'cooking' required is the toasting of the waffles in the toaster. The rest is just 'placement' of the ingredients. But, it still looks very pretty and of course, tastes good.

You could easily make the custard berry cream pots a few hours before and store in the fridge until you are ready to serve. I think this would be a great dessert for a dinner party - it is visually stunning, but doesn't take too much effort. The perfect recipe for when you want to sit with your guests not be in the kitchen all evening.

Super-easy, cheesy sausage rolls

Three ingredient snack food recipe coming up.

Gather ready-made puff pastry, sausages and some grated cheese from your nearest grocery store and turn it into these sausage rolls.

Five minutes preparation time, 15 minutes cooking time and you have a 'homemade', filling and tasty snack or lunch if served with salad or vegetables.

These sausage rolls are totally kid-friendly and could be served at a party or as 'in front of the TV' snacks during the football.

Jam Drops

I like a good bikkie on occasion, especially with a cup of tea. A bikkie with a good dollop of sweet jam in the middle rates right up there.

I made these jam drops to take to a BBQ we were invited to. It was something a bit different than turning up with a cake or a bottle of wine. And the day of the BBQ was extremely hot, so bikkies went down a treat.

Luckily for me, I was given six jars of homemade jam recently. So I was able to use this jam in the middle of my jam drops - thanks Melanie for the jam. I put it to good use.

Layered Rainbow Cake

This pretty creation was my daughter's birthday party cake from this year. Isn't it so beautiful!

She saw this cake on the front of the April edition of BBC Good Food Magazine and wanted me to make it for our Easter celebration cake, but I wimped out and make a chocolate cake instead. 

But I couldn't deny her request for this year's birthday.

Yes, it is a bit of a fiddle and yes, it took me a whole day to complete, but the gasps of delight of my daughter and her friends (and me) when we cut it open at the party made it well worth while.

I went with a pastel colour scheme for the cake. Some other examples of this type of cake I've seen are almost 'radioactive' looking the colours are so bright. I wanted something a bit more subtle, with less colouring and I think it turned out really well.

The mascarpone icing was wonderful. It was lovely, thick and sweet and complemented the squidgy cake wonderfully.

I followed the recipe from BBC Good Food to the letter. It was easy and the sponges were moist and springy. As this was not my original recipe, I will not reproduce it here. If you'd like to make this cake, click here for the recipe.

Banana, raspberry and coconut bread

Quick recipe for banana, raspberry and coconut bread.

Desserts and cakes using banana are rare here is Austria. Most probably because the banana is a tropical fruit and there weren't many around when the traditional cake recipes were devised.

I sometimes get an interesting reaction from people when I bring banana muffins or a banana cake to morning tea. As was the case when I handed over this banana, raspberry and coconut bread to my host for as my contribution to afternoon tea by the lake.

But it went down a treat with all the hungry swimmers and I had to leave the leftovers there so the host could eat it for breakfast the next day! 
So it must have been alright.
Great with a cup of tea or coffee, or have it for breakfast - you could even toast it! The bread had the tang of the raspberries and the moistness of the coconut and banana. I also added cinnamon and nutmeg for a subtle hint of spiciness. Add some cold butter for a nice treat.

Meatloaf

This is a 'feed a crowd' dish. And there's not too much effort involved. The oven does most of the work for you. 

I think you could make this meatloaf after work and have on the table in an hour. Or make it the night before and heat slowly in the oven the next night. Or make a double batch and freeze one uncooked meatloaf for cooking later. 

In our house it is definitely a crowd pleaser, for the young and the not-so-young.

I served the meatloaf with warmed sauerkraut. If you don't like sauerkraut, a simple mashed potato compliments the meatloaf just as well.

Braised pork with potatoes and fennel

When I was small, the smell of fresh fennel was highly disagreeable to me.

Actually, I still find the smell of the green, ferny bits of the fennel very overpowering. I think it must be the aniseed smell, not my favourite at all.

However, I always looked at recipes that used fennel and thought that it must be alright as people seem to eat it and like it.

I have had a conversion to fennel in the last few years. You may say I have seen the 'fennel light'. I now really like the fresh, crunchy, almost sweet flavour of this vegetable. I have been known to make a huge bowl of finely sliced fennel with a lemon dressing and gobble this up for lunch!

I have not done much 'cooking' with fennel, preferring to have it raw in salads etc, but in the colder weather of a few weeks back, I threw some fennel into the baking dish when I made this roasted pork shoulder. The result was lovely. The roast fennel became quite sweet, and the texture was lovely and soft, similar to roasted celery. And the juices from the fennel permeated the potatoes and the jus for the meat.

The little people ate it, which I was pleased about, although one asked, "Mum, what is this?"
To which I replied," It's fennel and it's great, eat it up." Can argue with that, can you!

Falafel, lentil and celery salad

Quick and crunchy salad - chock full of texture and taste. This took 10 minutes to throw together. We had it with some simply-grilled pork steaks.

I love crunch and texture in food, especially in salads. The celery in this salad is super-crunchy, then there's the chewy falafel and the squishy lentils and ripe tomatoes.



I made a dressing with red wine vinegar, just because I really like it, but I think it really brings out the flavours of other ingredients. If you don't like the tartness of this type of vinegar, use plain white vinegar or cider vinegar, or add a little water to the dressing to reduce the tartness. Some lemon juice and olive oil would be good as a dressing too. This salad would also be great with some fresh parsley tossed through.

Pulled pork with oven-baked sauerkraut

I'm looking at this photo thinking 'it doesn't look like a very appetizing dish.' It might not look like much, but this was so tasty and satisfying.

This recipe is one for a chilly night, when you want some comfort-type food to warm you up.

The pork was juicy and the oven-baked sauerkraut, for me was almost heavenly. It was soft and delicious as it had absorbed all the juices from the pork, as well as the wine and stock.

This is my kind of comfort food!

Serve with some steamed broccoli or French beans.

Chicken and vegetable tray bake

This simple one-tray bake is a quick and easy family meal. It takes about 50 minutes to prepare and cook.
And you only use one tray for the cooking, so it also saves on the washing-up.

The juices of the ingredients combine to make to make a tasty sauce that you can spoon over the dish. And you can easily substitute your favourite vegetables or whatever veges are in the fridge into this dish too. For example, throw in some baby carrots, olives, capsicum, chunks of sweet potato or parsnip.

The trick to this dish is to place the ingredients that take longest to cook - such as the chicken and potatoes -  in first, so they have the longest cooking time. And then add the ingredients that take less time as you go along - such as the mushrooms and tomatoes. That way, all your ingredients will be perfectly cooked and ready to serve at the end of the cooking time.

Eggplant parmigiana bake

For my family, this was a lovely spring meal, even for the non-eggplant liking person among us (no names will be mentioned!). 

Once cooked, the eggplant becomes so soft and squishy. And the juices, combined with the tomato sauce and bechamel sauce is very tasty. For something different, I sprinkled the top with cheese combined with hazelnut meal, instead of breadcrumbs. The taste of the hazelnuts gave a bit of nutty sweetness to the dish, which I really liked. I grilled the top a little to make the cheese/hazelnut mix crunchy.

This dish would freeze very well, either cooked or uncooked. You could make a double batch, and freeze one for later. 

I think this eggplant parmigiana  makes a lovely, tasty meal. Serve it with a fresh garden salad and some crusty bread to mop us the lovely sauce.