Another bloody gluten free chocolate cake

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Me: Hey, Kid 1, do you want to come and watch Deep Purple play Smoke on the Water?
Kid 1: What does that even mean?
Me: You know, the very first riff you ever learnt on your guitar? It’s a video of the band playing the actual song.

Total silence from Kid 1. He didn’t even give me the courtesy of an answer.

It’s official folks.

I am old.

Speaking of age, WordPress kindly informed me the other day that this blog had turned one. My, it seems like only yesterday that I gave birth. How time flies when you are having fun.

To celebrate, here is the gluten-free chocolate cake baked for the Yak’s birthday a few weeks ago. Whilst stealing someone else’s birthday cake could be seen as a cruel injustice, I am really only stealing the idea of a birthday cake. First things first. To the man who actually ate this cake, Happy Birthday Mr Yak; you totally fabulous, dry witted, old before your time in a totally ironic way, Northern English bloke.

Secondly, Happy Birthday to this blog. It’s been a big ball of fun and I wish I could send all of you a piece of this light, fluffy chocolate cake action. As that is impossible, I will send you the idea of this old school chockie cake. The buttermilk gives the crumb a lovely moistness and as it’s not too rich, people usually come back for seconds. (Or thirds, hey, back off…leave some for me.) A dear friend has been making this cake for a few years and she changed it to a gluten free version when the Yak become a Coeliac.

Thanks for reading folks and enjoy your cake.

ANOTHER BLOODY GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE CAKE

WHAT YOU NEED
1 1/2 cups gf plain flour (220g)
2 tbl almond meal
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsps bicarb soda
1 cup caster sugar, raw or regular
1/2 tsp vanilla bean powder (or 2 tsp vanilla essence or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste)
1 cup buttermilk
185g butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs, lightly beaten

HOW YOU DO IT
Preheat oven to 160C and line a 22cm non stick springform pan or grease a non-stick bundt tin.
Sift flour, almond meal, cocoa, bi-carb soda, sugar and vanilla bean powder in a large bowl or a mixer bowl.
Add 1/2 the buttermilk and cooled butter and beat at a medium speed until combined.
Gradually add the rest of the buttermik, egg and the rest of the butter (and vanilla essence if you are using a liquid form).
Beat on medium to high speed for around 2 minutes until the mixture is thick and creamy. Don’t overbeat!
Cook for 50 minutes to one hour. Test with a skewer. Leave in tin for 5 minutes then turn out and cool complete on a cooling rack.
Dust with icing sugar. We ate it with strawberries and creme fraiche.

A recipe from a great friend and I have no idea where she originally got it from

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Ice-cream pants and an asparagus radish salad

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Of late, there seems to have been much just cause and reason for celebratory eating. A good portion of this happy eating has included the devouring of some excellent ice-cream and gelato.

So much so, that this Cheergerm has been forced to coin the phrase ‘ice-cream pants’.

Definition: when ones trousers/waistbands/knickers/undies/jeans/skirts have become ‘ever so uncomfortably tight’ due to the over indulgence of delicious ice-cream. An example sentence would be:

‘Oh dear, I have ice-cream pants.’

One could be forgiven in thinking that you had spilt ice-cream on your pants. (Whilst this has been known to happen, it is a rare occurrence for the true connoisseur of ice-cream.)

In essence, when you experience the state of ‘ice-cream pants’, it simply means you have been eating a bit too much of the good stuff. It is an indication that you need to reign it in, just a tad.

To counter ice-cream pants, salads such as these will be thrown down my gob on a regular basis. I will also be exercising more and am about to set off on a walk, it will be a long one. A few days or so.

The Hornsby Market had the most divine bunches of Prince like purple asparagus and rosy red radishes. A brand new packet of lemony sumac spice was sitting in the pantry, crying out in its little sumac voice ‘eat me, eat me’. The crunchy, spicy radish goes beautifully with the earthy delicate asparagus and this zingy, sweet dressing. The purple asparagus loses a tad of it’s vibrancy when cooked but still tastes delicious.

ASPARAGUS AND RADISH SALAD

WHAT YOU NEED
2 bunches asparagus (I used purple), woody ends removed and trimmed into 5 cm pieces
4 medium radishes, sliced finely. (I did mine on a mandolin.)
Vinaigrette
2 tbl extra virgin olive oil
1 tbl white wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsps honey
1 tsp sumac
1/4 tsp salt
Zest of one small lemon
Black pepper to taste

HOW YOU DO IT
Boil the asparagus in salted water for two minutes until just tender then immediately refresh the asparagus in cold iced water. Once the asparagus has cooled, drain well and pat dry.
Place asparagus and radish on a shallow platter or in a salad bowl.
Place the vinaigrette ingredients into a small bowl, whisk until combined and pour the mixture over the radish and asparagus. Toss the salad gently.
We ate this with the most awesome bowl of monster cold king prawns (well, the lads and I did) and a scrumptious potato salad.

Cooking Note: Sumac is a deep red, purple spice used mostly in Middle Eastern and Greek cooking. It has a tangy, lemony flavour. It is wonderful sprinkled over a plate of tomatoes or sliced avocado. It can also be used in a marinade or in a dressing, as is done here.

A slight Cheergerm adaptation of a recipe from the Taste of Home website. Link follows the photos.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/radish-asparagus-salad#.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hornsby-Market/151427154911192?ref=ts&fref=ts

A side of herb polenta bake and an aside

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Yak: You are a good lad, will you look after me when I am old?
Kid 2: Probably, but I might be somewhere else.
Me: Kid 2, if I were you, I would start running now. Unfortunately, I have nowhere left to run.

This hearty side of polenta is magnificent Yak food. It helps trick convince The Yak into feeling like he is not ‘missing out’. There is very little that this side dish doesn’t go with. We have scoffed it down with a ratatouille like vegetarian sauce as well as a creamy braised mushroom dish. It goes beautifully with a myriad of casseroles or good piece of meat or fish. Breakfast for dinner? Try it with a fried or poached egg and some steamed asparagus.

Chuck in whatever herb combination tickles your fancy. No fresh herbs? Then throw in a teaspoon of dried Italian herbs and let them steep in the stock whilst it comes to the boil. This version has parsley, thyme and a smidgen of sage. In the time it took me to prepare the thyme (boom tish) for this dish, my lads had gone to high school, got degrees, travelled the world and started families. Picking the leaves off thyme is one of the worst kitchen jobs. I would love to say I find it meditative but I don’t.

Take note if you will, of the beautiful wooden board that this polenta sits upon. Uncle R, a veritable goldmine of funny and punny one liners and the master of the ‘aside’ made this for me back in 1993. Whilst staying in Christchurch, NZ, with the always hospitable Uncle R and Aunty L, we took a day trip to Akaroa and stopped in at French Farm winery for a snack with flavour. Some of the food was served upon divine wooden boards that were labelled ‘French Farm Vineyards’. I admired them greatly and Uncle R, a collector of bits of wood (as well as of puns) said ‘Don’t worry niece, I shall make you a board just as nice as this one.’ (He would have said this in a silly voice, cause that’s how he rolls.)

Back at their house, he whipped up a piece of kauri (wood) into this gorgeous wee board, copying the details from the one back at the vineyard. It is exactly the same as the original version I had coveted. Bar one thing. It’s made with the love, care and thoughtful detail of my uncle, and it is far better than anything I could have ever purchased for myself. And that my friends, is something that you just don’t get bored of.

GARLIC AND HERB POLENTA BAKE

WHAT YOU NEED
1 cup gluten free veggie stock and 2 cups water (the original recipe calls for 3 cups of stock but I find it too salty for my taste.)
1 cup instant polenta
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup chopped fresh herbs (such as parsley, sage, thyme, oregano) this is a bit flexible I have also used 1-2 to 1 cup with great results.
3 tbl grated Parmesan
30g butter
Salt to taste
3 tbl grated Parmesan extra for topping

HOW YOU DO IT
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 15cm x 15cm baking dish with baking paper. I use a larger one and it makes a wedge of polenta that is about 22cm x 18cm and 3cm high.)
Bring the stock and water to the boil in a medium saucepan.
Pour in the polenta and cook over a medium heat for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly, the mixture should be very thick.
Stir in the garlic, chopped herbs, parmesan and butter and taste for seasoning.
Pour/spread the mixture into the baking dish. Smooth the surface and sprinkle with the extra Parmesan.
Bake for 20-30 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden brown.
Cut into triangles, squares or into whatever damn crazy shape you wish.
Serves 8 with one piece each.

Recipe from The Gluten-free Kitchen by Sue Shepherd

http://frenchfarm.co.nz/wordpress/

Hungry Games and Scott’s Farewell Square

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As of late, I have been immersed in what is known as YA (Young Adult) fiction. It happens to involve a lot of ‘end of the world’ type scenarios. It is here we usually read of a hapless teenager who has found him or herself in a dystopian society where survival of the fittest is the order of the day. They fall chastely in love with another luckless adolescent or mayhaps a vampire, all whilst changing the course of history.

I have come to the conclusion that if I were to be suddenly transported into such a scenario, I would not last long. I would simply poop my pants and suffer a major heart attack whilst being shot at/hunted by mutated animals/jumping from train to train/taking part in a battle to the death or wearing a shimmering on fire mockingjay type outfit. I would be the sad loser who lay down and just died of fright.

With that, I give you this old school Weet-Bix slice. In my own adolescence there was often a version of this wheaty bake waiting at home. Made by mum in an attempt to ward off any ‘Hunger Games’ type scenarios that may have occurred between myself and my three sisters. In turn, it is now one of my lads fave morning or afternoon tea delights.

My mum usually baked a melt and mix version but I have provided here a creamed butter and sugar version from my fave NZ baking cookbook, ‘Ladies: A Plate’. This slice is named Scott’s Farewell Square due to the fact that the famous explorer Captain Scott’s last expedition, sailed from Port Chalmers New Zealand, in November 1910. Alexa Johnston, the author of this cookbook, tells us that the recipe appears in a 1960’s Dunedin church recipe book. She imagines that a plate of this moreish slice may have been given to the ill fated Scott and his team before they sailed away to the South Pole.

This is the kind of hearty baking that will sustain hungry adventurers of all ages. (I have decided to enrol my lads in a survivalist course, just to maximise their chance of staying alive if things go bottoms up in the future. At the very least, they need to know how to shoot a bow and arrow or stake an evil vampire if needs be.)

SCOTT’S FAREWELL SQUARE

WHAT YOU NEED
115g butter
1 cup/140g brown sugar, coconut or rapadura sugar
1 egg
2 tsps golden syrup
1 1/3 cups/170g wholemeal flour
1 pinch salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbl Cocoa powder
4 Weet-Bix finely crumbled
1 cup/85g desiccated coconut
3/4 cup/100g chopped dates

Icing
3/4 cup icing sugar
2 tbl Cocoa powder
1 tsp butter, melted
Extra coconut for sprinkling

WHAT YOU DO
Preheat oven to 180C and line a shallow tin with baking paper. (The slice is roughly 22 x 22cm so I used a bigger tray but not all of it.)
Cream butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl (I used a mixer) until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and golden syrup and mix until it comes together.
Sit in the flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa powder.
Mix in the Weet-Bix, coconut and dates and stir thoroughly to combine.
Spread evenly (about 1.5cm – 2cm thick) into a baking tin and bake for 15-20 minutes.
Remove from the oven, let cool in the tin for about 15 minutes then put on a wire rack to cool.

Icing
Sift the icing sugar and cocoa together into a bowl.
Make a thin chocolate icing by adding the melted butter and a little hot water to mix to a spreading consistency.
Spread over the cooled slice, sprinkle with the extra coconut and cut into squares when the icing has set.
Makes 16 squares.

Cooking Notes: the original recipe also calls for 55g each of raisins and chopped walnuts. I leave them out due to sproglets preferences but feel free to chuck them in. I have knocked back the amount of sugar and icing sugar from the original recipe and used wholemeal flour.

A Slightly Cheergerm adaptation from ‘Ladies A Plate’ by Alexa Johnston.

A gluten free Weetbix made from sorghum was recently released in Australia so a GF version slice will be posted in the near future, as well as a melt and mix chocolate Weetbix slice recipe.

Teeny weeny gluten free blinis and a fancypants morning tea

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Sometimes when there is a significant birthday, (you know, we all just turned 21 recently), our mothers group have been known to celebrate by putting on a fancypants morning tea.

We figure we can do a bloody nice job without forking out the big bucks elsewhere. It’s also a great excuse to use some of the lubbly jubbly old plateware that this Cheergerm voraciously crazily sensibly collects.

My food contribution to this delectable spread was a gaggle of gluten free blinis topped with silky smoked salmon, a burble of sour cream and and a dash of dill.

Other goodies included squares of a moreish gluten free chocolate cake, a beautiful Tasmanian squodge of Brie and chockie dipped strawberries. One of our number has discovered a gluten intolerance, hence we rolled ‘mostly GF’ so she could enjoy this slap-up feast.

A traditional Russian blini is a yeast raised buckwheat pancake that symbolised the sun. They had pride of place in a festival called ‘maslenitsa’ that marked the end of winter and the start of spring. How totally appropriate I thought (in complete research hindsight).

These nutty tasting, light gluten free beauties do not contain yeast, instead, I separated the egg whites and beat them into peaks before folding through the batter. They are best eaten on the day you make them. If that isn’t possible, I suggest warming them slightly before devouring them with whatever topping you so desire. On saying that, I have had them without being heated the next day and they were still delicious.

GLUTEN FREE BLINIS

WHAT YOU NEED
1 cup plain gf flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 cup of milk
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1 tbl neutral oil
Extra pinch of salt
Little bit of butter or oil for the non-stick pan frying pan.

HOW YOU DO IT
Sift flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar into a large bowl.
In a jug or small bowl, beat the milk, egg yolks, vinegar and oil together.
Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and stir to combine.
In a separate clean bowl, whisk the egg whites with the extra pinch of salt iuntil stiff peaks are formed.
Fold the egg white mixture into the combined flour and milk mixture.
Let the batter rest for about 30 minutes.
Heat the non stick pan to a medium heat, brush with a little butter or oil. Place teaspoons sizes if you want really weeny blinis or a dessertpoon full for a small blini, into the pan. Cook for around 2 minutes until bubbles start to form on the surface of the blini. Flip and cook for another 45 seconds or so on the second size. (My first batch is never the best, as the pan heats up the blinis tend to cook faster. )
Remove to a teatowel and cover. This keeps the blinis soft and nice like a snuggly blanket.
Keep cooking until all the batter is used up.
Makes about 30 small blinis. In this case I topped them with finely diced smoked salmon tossed in a big squeeze of lemon juice, a wee blob of sour cream and a sprig of dill. They are lovely with jam and cream as well.

Cooking note: variations in this batter may occur due to the size of the eggs used and the type of GF flour blend. Add a bit of extra buckwheat flour if the mixture isn’t as thick as a pikelet batter should be or a dash of milk if it’s too thick. The batter should be almost spongy, the photo below may give you an indication of the required texture.

A Cheergerm adaptation of a recipe from The Weiser Kitchen website. Link follows after photos.

http://theweiserkitchen.com/recipe/gluten-free-buckwheat-blini/

Titanic and a gluten free date slice

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I swore I would never watch the movie, Titanic.

Managed to avoid it for years. Then, one stormy night, it came upon the TV and I did.

Lord, I loved it. Lord, I was surprised.

Leonardo Di Caprio, what a wee spunk. And the luminous Kate WInslet.

That kiss at the stern bow (I ain’t no freakin sailor) of the boat is the stuff that Mills and Boon is made of, on steroids. A sweaty palm on a fogged up window, the boat was heating up on the inside whilst the outside temperature dropped ominously.

All along, you know what is going to happen. Making this love story seem more heightened and intense.

Yeah, the ending sucked. Like really sucked. And mayhaps, you think the movie really sucks.

But this slice doesn’t.

If Kate and Leonardo had made it to a desert island (geographically unlikely I know) they could have made this slice with its tropical coconut and dates. Bummer.

The zippy lemon icing is the perfect foil (such a strange saying) to the sweetness of the dates and rich coconut. It’s like a bunch of hula dancing Hawaiian hotties jumped into your mouth and had a party.

DATE, COCONUT AND LEMON SLICE, GLUTEN FREE

WHAT YOU NEED
1/2 cup sorghum flour (60g)
1/4 cup brown rice flour (40g)
1/4 cup tapioca flour (40g)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp Xanthum gum
1 big pinch salt
1 cup desiccated or shredded coconut
1 cup dates, chopped
1/2 cup rapadura, coconut or brown sugar
Zest of a small lemon
125g butter
1 egg, lightly beaten

Lemon Icing
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tbl lemon juice
15g butter, melted
1/4 cup extra coconut for sprinkling on top of slice

HOW YOU DO IT
Preheat oven to 180C.
Line an 18cm x 28cm slice tin with baking paper.
Sift the flours, baking powder, xanthum gum and salt into a large bowl.
Stir in the coconut, dates, sugar and lemon zest.
Add the melted butter and beaten egg and mix well.
Spread into the baking tray and bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown and firm. Cool in the tray.
Lemon Icing. Whilst the slice is cooling, add all the ingredients in a bowl and combine until smooth. Spread over the slice and sprinkle with the coconut. Cut into 12 squares and serve in an airtight container. This slice is a bit crumbly when you cut it but the rest of the slice holds together well.

Cooking Notes:
If you don’t have all of these flours you can use 140g of your preferred self raising gf flour blend.
This icing is thin but I knocked back the amount of icing sugar to try and minimise the sugar content a tad.

A Cheergerm adaptation from a recipe from the Womans Day website. See below for the link to the original recipe.

http://www.womansday.com.au/food/recipes/readers-recipes/2008/7/date-and-lemon-slice/

Gluten free zucchini fritters and a hankering

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Kid 2: ‘I am a tiny bit weakened by winter and I think I am allergic to it, kind of like Kid 1 is allergic to spring.’

Kid, I hear you. Winter has weakened me, I hanker for stone fruit, light salad greens, vibrant vegetables, pretty frocks and fizzy wine. I long for sunshine on my pillow and swims in the pool on long, endless summer days.

My Cheergerm soul pines for the high pitched deafening buzz of cicadas and I yearn to be strong armed by sproglets into buying ice-cream at inappropriate times of the day.

Summer is now in sight and this is the kind of food that we will be eating.

Soft goats cheese marinated in olive oil and herbs makes another stunning appearance in these little beauties. The cheese provides the salty tang and works a treat with the pop of peas, zing of lemon, aromatic mint and springy zucchini. These fritters were light, like a summer sky. Don’t be a hater, just get it down you alligator.

GLUTEN FREE ZUCCHINI AND GOATS CHEESE FRITTERS

WHAT YOU NEED
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
120g besan flour (chickpea flour)
2 large or 3 small zucchinis grated and squeezed well to get rid of excess liquid
1 cup frozen peas
Zest of one lemon
1 large handful of mint, roughly chopped
1 tsp salt
Black pepper, a few generous grinds
100g marinated goats cheese
3 tbl olive oil

HOW YOU DO IT
Preheat oven to 180C.
Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add all the ingredients except the goats cheese and mix well.
Crumble the goats cheese into the batter and stir to combine.
Heat the oil in a medium to large saucepan over medium heat.
Add two large tablespoons of batter per fritter to the pan.
Cook for 3-4 minutes until a light golden brown then turn over and cook for 2-3 minutes on the other side. Remove to an oven tray lined with baking paper.
Repeat this process until all the fritters are cooked.
Place tray of fritters in the oven for 10-15 minutes to cook through, this also turns them a tad more golden and crunchy.
Serve with a dipping sauce of either sour cream and sweet chilli, plain yoghurt and sweet chilli, salsa, or a tomato chutney. Great with a green salad, coleslaw, steamed beans or broccoli.
Makes around 10- 12 fritters, depending on how big you make them.

Cooking note: sometimes chickpea flour gets watery in a batter, if this happens, add an extra spoonful or two into the batter halfway through cooking.

A cheergerm adaptation of a recipe from the Taste website, link follows the recipe.

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/31267/zucchini+pea+and+mint+fritters

Gluten free raspberry blondies; call me

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Call me, (call me) on the line, call me, call me, any anytime. Ah, Debbie Harry, singer of that iconic seventies new wave punk band, Blondie. You were the epitome of cool with your husky tones and mad two toned hair.

This is not that kind of Blondie. The other day, Kid 1 said to Kid 2 in a disappointed parent tone of voice ‘You are such an excluder’.

Dark chocolate is my bestie, milk chocolate is a good friend but thus far, white chocolate has always been excluded from the party.

White Chocolate: Go on…be my friend, go on, like me.
Cheergerm: White Chocolate, you are just too needy for me and well, I don’t want to hurt your feelings but you are too damn sweet.

Not wanting to be accused of being ‘An Excluder’, I got me a block of fancy pants white chocolate. In high hopes that the greater cocoa mass (30% as opposed to well, nothing in some other brands) might make it less tooth achingly sweet. Having always adored a brownie, it seemed only fair to try baking a gluten free blondie.

This recipe took two attempts, and was more successful the second time around. A flour change (like an underwear change) made a textural difference and I adjusted the baking time. There is no denying that this is a sweet baked goodie but it had that smooth, good chocolate mouth feel. The tangy raspberries cut the white chocolate richness perfectly and the crackle ackle meringue like exterior contrasted with a beautifully moist centre. It was taken to a family shindig and was gobbled up quickly. My hesistancy was assuaged by the rave reviews. This blondie goes really well with a good cup of coffee.

Will white chocolate be invited to the party more often? Yes, but only every now and then. (I would so invite Debbie Harry to the party if I thought she would rock up.)

GLUTEN FREE RASPBERRY BLONDIES

WHAT YOU NEED
125g unsalted butter, chopped
220g Callebaut white chocolate, chopped (or any good quality white chocolate)
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
2/3 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, whisked
130g gluten free flour. I used 100g (3/4 cup) GF plain flour and 35g (1/4 cup) almond meal, sifted together.
2/3 cup frozen raspberries

HOW YOU DO IT
Preheat oven to 160C (150 fan forced). Line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper on bottom and sides.
Melt the chocolate and butter in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring continuously until the mixture is melted and smooth. Remove saucepan from heat.
Stir vanilla and sugar into the chocolate mixture and set aside to cool for 5 minutes. (The mixture will look a little odd but don’t worry, it all comes together in the end.)
Add eggs and mix until combined.
Fold in flour and stir until combined.
Add raspberries and fold gently through the mixture until combined.
Pour into the tin and bake for 50-55 minutes until set. Rotate pan in oven halfway through cooking.
Allow to cool completely in the tin.
Cut into 20-25 small squares (it is rich).

This has a longer slower cooking time to keep it as ‘blonde’ as possible. If you find it is too soft in the middle for your personal preference once you cut it, you can pop it back in the oven on 150C for about 15 minutes just to make it a little less squidgy. I know that brownies are meant to be super squidgy but I think this white chocolate version is better if cooked a little more. Again, maybe that’s just my weirdness about white chocolate coming through…


A Cheergerm adaptation of a Woolworths online recipe. See below photos for link to original recipe.

http://www2.woolworthsonline.com.au/Shop/Recipe/1169?name=raspberry-blondies

Mad men and gluten free gingernuts

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A lot of expensive property has been sold, mortgaged and bartered for in our household as of late.

The words ‘jammy little fella’ has been uttered out of the Yaks mouth more than once.

Other phrases also often heard are:

‘I’m buying it.’
‘You cheated.’
‘I can’t believe you landed on my property.’

Along with a few sentences I hope to never hear out of the mouths of my angelic babes when they are all growed up.

‘I am in jail.’
‘I can’t get out of jail.’
‘I owe you $500,000.’
‘Hey! We’re in jail together!’

Yes, I am living in a household of Mad Monopoly Men. It’s not a game this Cheergerm adores (however, offer me a game of charades or Cluedo and I will trounce you sir, wipe the floor with you, annihalate…..well, you get my drift) but it’s a game I love to hear my mad monopoly men play. The shouts of joy, groans of disappointment and the clickety clack of the dice rolling on our kitchen table.

Kid 2 has landed on Mayfair ten times in a row. Someone should conduct a study on chance, based on this child’s uncanny ability. Kid 1 has stated that next time he shouldn’t be allowed to buy it, as all that power is going to his head.

This treat is for all you mad monopoly lovers.

My kids didn’t have a hope in hell of not loving ginger baked goodies. This New Zealand born, Aussie raised Cheergerm suckled on ginger kisses (a biscuit) and gingernuts as a babe. No such thing as breast milk in those days. Here you go little six month old baby, suck on this gingernut and while you are at it, we will put you in the back of a dodgy European car in an untethered woven bassinet covered by a piece of flimsy netting. In case of an accident, the netting was really going to save me. Thank-you zealous safety people of the world who realised that netting was not a deterrent from being thrown through the front window of a questionable European car.

These biscuits were pretty moreish, ginger zingy and bicarby zangy. Hard on the outside, slightly softer in the middle. Not quite the same as it’s gluten laden kissing cousin but pretty bloody decent. Next time I will double the recipe as it makes 16 smallish bikkies. Barely touched the sides.

GLUTEN FREE GINGERNUTS

WHAT YOU NEED
110g gluten free self raising flour
1 slightly rounded teaspoon ground ginger
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
40 g raw caster sugar
50g unsalted butter room temperature
50g (or 2 tbl golden syrup)

HOW YOU DO IT
Line a baking tray with non-stick paper and preheat the oven to 180C.
Sift the flour, ground ginger and bicarbonate of soda together into a mixing bowl.
Add the sugar and lightly rub in the butter till crumbly.
Add the golden syrup and mix everything into a stiff paste. No liquid is needed as the syrup is enough to get the mixture to the right consistency.
Divide the mixture into quarters, as evenly as possible, then each quarter into four and roll these pieces into little balls. (They are quite little.)
Place on baking sheet, leaving room between them as they spread out a bit.
Flatten slightly (to 1.5cm) and bake in centre of oven for 10-12 minutes.
They will spread out and gain a lovely cracked appearance.
Cool on baking tray for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling and store in an airtight container.
Makes 16 bikkies.

Thanks Delia Smith for the original recipe, from Delia’s Cakes revised edition 2013, Hodder and Stoughton. I just changed the flour to a gluten free blend. You are a goddess of baking and good sense.

http://www.deliaonline.com

http://www.griffins.co.nz/by-name/gingernuts

Diving in bed and eggplant curry

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If I said to you that my husband likes to dive in bed, you could be forgiven in exclaiming ‘What the!’

Calm down. It’s not what you think.

The Yak, when in the throes of sleep, likes to dive.

By this I mean, imagine you are watching the Olympic Games. A diver performs a breathtaking inward two and a half somersaults in the pike position, finishing off with a perfect rip entry.

When The Yak rolls over in bed, it is not a gentle roll or turn. He is an elite athlete, standing on the end of a diving board. He then performs an incredible triple pike turn in the tuck position, before landing back atop the mattress on the other side of his body.

The bed is merely a trampoline for his nightly diving shenanigans. The re-entry that he makes when diving back into the mattress, does not translate into the same pretty ripples that a pro diver makes when hitting the water.

I am merely the judge, holding up score cards.

8.0
9.0
7.5

Rest assured (because I certainly can’t), I would rather be sleeping.

We have this curry often, actually, we have all kinds of curry often. Cause that’s how we roll.

Mustard seeds and potato are like Laurel and Hardy, Sonny and Cher, fish and chips, bubble and squeak or some may even say, the Cheergerm and the Yak. They just go together. Little pops of bright mustardy goodness paried with the soft potato is the bees knees.

Eggplant are the sponges of the vegetable world. Not like the gross, mouldy thing that may or may not be hanging in a dark corner of your shower recess. But in an awesome ‘suck the flavour out the delicious ingredients that you pop in with it’ kind of way.

Earthy, spicy, unctuous eggplant and brightly flavoured potato (how very Nigella of me). Please sir, can I have some more?

EGGPLANT AND POTATO CURRY

WHAT YOU NEED
2 tbl cooking oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 cm fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 large peeled potatoes, cut into 1-2 cm cubes
2 small eggplants, cut into 3 cm cubes, partially peeled (see photo below)
1 tin crushed tomatoes
12 dried curry leaves
A big handful of roughly chopped coriander

HOW YOU DO IT
Heat the oil in a medium sized saucepan, add the onions and sauté a few minutes until they start to soften.
Add garlic and ginger, cook for about 30 seconds then add all the spices and salt. Cook for 1 minute, take care not to burn the spices.
Add potato and stir, add eggplant and stir through.
Add tomatoes and 1 and 1/2 cups of water and the curry leaves.
Simmer on low to medium heat for approximately 1 hour until the potato is tender. Check for salt.
Add a handful of chopped fresh coriander to your taste.
Serve with basmati rice.
This has a zing as I used quite hot chilli powder, use less if you don’t like it spicy, use more if you like a bit of Johnny cash…

A Cheergerm creation

A happy Father’s Day to my own dad Mr Bagpipes, to the excellent Yak who is an outstanding Dad to our sproglets and to all you other big Daddies out there.