A turbinectomy is not a funny hat!

Hello to my fellow bloggers 😊. I apologise for not being very present on WordPress. I’m recovering from nose and sinus surgery so am not up to doing much anyway. I had a total bilateral turbinectomy including my ethmoid sinuses and the shaving of my septum that was all wonky and blocking my nostril.

I should be back on my feet and baking in a little while. I’m looking forward to being able to breathe easier and smell things better very soon. I should also be looking much more glamorous than I do in the above picture 😜. I am recovering at my in laws Maxine and Johns house in Perth and they are spoiling me. Love them to bits. Jason and I will head back to the cool of Albany tomorrow I think.
Take care everyone and I’ll be back soon xox

Upside Down Caremalised Pear and Almond Cake (Gluten Free)

Yay! Its coming into winter over here in Albany Western Australia and pears are appearing in the supermarkets and various farmers markets around the place.  I love pears. They lend themselves to so many different recipes both sweet and savoury.  I bought some gorgeous russet and gold coloured Beurre Bosc pears yesterday and then I went searching for a recipe for them. Something pudding like but that my husband Jason , who has severe gluten intolerance, could also enjoy.

I found this lovely recipe written by a lady by the name of Shaina Olmanson from her blog Food For My Family. Here is how I interpreted it and I stayed faithful to her recipe. It looked a lot taller in her blog photos but it really is more like a flan in depth. Very yummy!

First assemble your ingredients and grease and line the base of a  20cm(8 inch) cake tin with baking paper

 

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

1-2 Beurre Bosc pears

2 eggs, separated

1/4 cup granulated sugar (I used raw caster sugar)

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

3/4 cup of almond meal/flour

2 tablespoons arrowroot powder (I used cornflour)

1/4 teaspoon of ground cardamom

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).

In  a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the brown sugar and pinch of salt and stir, cooking till the edges bubble and the sugar is dissolved.

Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. I forgot to do this (adding the vanilla) and the end result worked just fine 😀  Immediately pour the caramel over the baking paper and spreading it out until it coats the base entirely.

Slice the pear in half, de-core it and slice into 1/8-1/4 inch pieces. Arrange the slices over the caramel, fanning them out from the centre.

Beat/whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. You should be able to hold them upside down like I have in my picture and not have them fall out 😀

In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks till thick and pale yellow then add sugar, almond extract, almond meal, arrowroot or cornflour, and the cardamom. The mixture will be quite thick and lumpy.

 

Gently mix in half the egg whites until they’re incorporated, then fold in the remainder of the egg whites. Don’t worry if the batter is streaked with white, its all good :). Do not over mix.

Pour the cake mix over the pears, spreading into an even layer fully covering the pears.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until the top is golden brown and center of cake is set.

Remove from oven and invert onto a plate while still warm. Serve warm or at room temperature.

 

I have to say it tasted divine! I ate it standing at the kitchen bench whilst it was still hot 😀

It would also lend itself to the addition of some unsweetened clotted cream as it really is sweet.

Bon appetit!

Pork Rillettes.

I’ve decided that Mum was right. Christmas IS  about food as much as it is about the Nativity . The baking of it, sharing of it and eating it. I know she is smiling wherever she is in spirit. That was her mission in life, especially at Christmas. Make sure everyone has food and never goes hungry. I’ve been baking up a storm over the last couple of days. Today, for instance, I’ve put 2 smaller Christmas cakes in the oven for my daughters and realised I have to make another one for my brother. Joy! That means I get to bake more cake and we will also have a spare cake for us! 😀 Yesterday, I made something I’ve never made before but must order whenever I go out and see it on the menu. Often seen as part of a Charcuterie plate, Pork Rillettes. I used a recipe by Simon Hopkinson which you can find here;

http://www.simonhopkinson.tv/recipe/33/pork-rillettes.aspx

Here is what I did and how I baked it with lots of pictures to help you out.

Ingredients

1 tbsp. sea salt

1 tbsp. caster sugar

2 bay leaves

6 cloves

About half a nutmeg ( I used about half a teaspoon of ground nutmeg)

1 level tbsp. juniper berries

2 tsp black peppercorns (I used mixed peppercorns)

1.2kg belly pork, bones and rind removed, but both reserved

500g fresh pork back fat

4-5 sprigs of sage, roughly chopped ( I also added some sprigs of thyme as well)

6 large cloves of garlic, crushed and loosely chopped

200mls dry white wine

Starting bottom left corner of picture: Bay leaves, cloves, caster sugar, peppercorns, nutmeg, juniper berries, sea salt.

Using a small food processor, grind together the first 7 ingredients to a fine powder.

Cut the belly pork and fat into approximately 2 cm cubes. Add this to a large bowl and sprinkle with the powder. Thoroughly mix together with your hands, turning the meat and fat over and over, then add the bones and rind of the belly (left as large pieces making them easier to remove once cooked) into the mix. Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight.

 

The next day, pre heat the oven to 140c/gas mark 1. Put all the meat, pork fat and bones into a solid based pot and add the wine.

  

Add the garlic and sage (and thyme if your using).

Mix everything together with your hands.

Place the pot over a low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring often: this is only to bring the pot up to heat before it goes into the oven. Put on the lid and slide it into the oven. Cook for 3 hours. Remove from oven and leave to cool for about 20 minutes.

Take out the pork skin and bones and thyme sprig left overs and discard. Suspend a colander over a large bowl and tip in the contents of the pot. Allow to drain for about 5 minutes, then decant the liquid fat from the bowl below the colander into a jug, reserving the pork juices and residue left behind.

  

Tip the long-cooked pork back into the first bowl that has the residue juices in it and, using a hand mixer on a low setting, briefly blend the small pieces of meat and fat into shreds. Add some of the liquid fat from the jug a little at a time whilst blending with the hand mixer until it forms a creamy texture. The mixture should be floppy and glistening with fat.

 

( a small warning here from someone who knows 😉 make sure your bowl is deep, otherwise everything in the vicinity gets flecked with pork rillettes)

Now pack the rillettes mixture into small pots or similarly sized Kilner jars (I used mason, it doesn’t matter). Smooth over the surface and then spoon/pour over at least 1/2 cm of the remaining pork fat to seal each one. Attach the lids and refrigerate to mature for at least a week before eating. You can keep these for up to six months as long as they’re packed into clean pots with no air pockets in the mix.

 

I use the gratuitous photobombed image for sizing of jar comparison, thank you Jason 😀

After a week, scrape off the fat to reveal the meat. Eat with either split baguettes or crackers and some nice cornichons or even a nice spicy chutney or fruit relish if having as part of a charcuterie plate.

I had such fun making these and Jason and I cannot wait to have a taste. The smell of the Juniper berries reminded me of the Bombay sapphire gin I so like. For anyone worried about the amount of fat in this dish, your only meant to have a small amount of it at a time and it is a vital part of the dish both for taste and for preservation of the meat. Don’t fret, just enjoy!

Bon apetit!