Peanut Butter Cheesecake with Hot Chocolate Sauce

Ummmmm, this is... really... really... really... awesomely delicious. Every time I make it the whole thing disappears quickly. Please take note that I am plagerising myself as this has appeared previously at my other blog. Here, I'll even put a pic up of the finished product:

Looks tasty, don't it?

And here's how to make it:

Frozen Peanut Butter Cheesecake with Hot Chocolate Sauce and Chocolate Chip Cookie Crust

What you need:

For the crust:
1/3 to 1/2 pound of crunchy chocolate chip cookies
2-3 tbsp melted butter --slightly cooled
1 tbsp milk

For the Filling:
3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup of cream
1/2 pound softened cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar

For the chocolate sauce:
1/3 to 1/2 pound dark chocolate --chopped coarsely
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup cream



What you do:

In a food processor, process the cookies until the are a fine texture. Then add the butter and milk; process some more.

Press the crust mixture into a buttered pie or flan dish. Chuck it in the fridge for an hour to harden and set.


For the filling; add the peanut butter and cream to a small saucepan, then mix/whisk over low heat until it's combined. Let it cool. While that's cooling, mix the cream cheese and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixers (you know, the kind with the beaters you licked as a kid?), until it's smooth. Then stir in the peanut butter mixture thoroughly.

Put the filling into the crust (duh), then chuck it all in the freezer overnight.


The next day...: Just before serving, make the hot chocolate sauce. Put the dark chocolate and butter and cream in a small saucepan and heat slowly while stirring (you don't need a double boiler for this).

Now, in order to get the frozen cheesecake out of the dish it's in you'll want to fill a sink with about an inch of hot water.  Carefully place the dish with the cheesecake in the hot water (it'll float, trust me) for about 45 secs to a min. Remove from the water.  Then just pop the frozen cheesecake out of the dish to slice it up, no worries. The hot water melts the butter that you buttered the dish with while still keeping  the crust and filling frozen. Neat trick, eh?

Then (here's the easy part): slice the frozen cheesecake and top with the hot chocolate sauce.

Oh yeah, this hot chocolate sauce can be used for LOTS of things; use your imagination!

Crumpets

Yes, I realise that some of you in the US may not even know what a crumpet is. I had heard of them but had no idea what they were when I arrived down here. They are SOOOOO tasty! I prefer them with just butter, but you can slather anything on them you can think of. Whatever you'd put on toast, waffles, or pancakes goes great on crumpets.

When a friend of ours visited in 2001, she had crumpets for the first time ever. Everyday she was here she had crumpets for brekkie. When she got back to Anchorage she tried in vain to find a place that sold crumpets, but to no avail. She had to wait 6 and a half years before having another crumpet (she visited recently).

Anyways, I thought I do a public service recipe for those of you starved for crumpets and are in a land where you can't get them. Even if you are in a land where you can buy them premade at the shops you definitely want to make them yourself. Much, much better than pre-packaged. My mum-in-law is from the land of crumpets and she says that mine are much better than store bought ones.

When I started to formulate my crumpet recipe, I did a bit of searching around on this internet doohickey (you may have heard of it) and found that most from scratch were yeast based. I didn't want that cus I wanted mine to be quick and easy.

So I did what any good kitchen bloke would do: Made it up as I went! And guess what? First time was a charm! Am I good or what? No, don't answer that.

You'll want some good quality cooking rings, 10 cm (4 inches) in diameter. I make mine on my big ole outdoor grill hotplate so I can make several at once. If you're doing them on the stovetop you'll want a good, thick, flat griddle pan (cast iron is best) and you should be able to make 2 to 4 at a time depending on your griddle size. Grease the rings and griddle surface well (I like to use bacon fat) unless your cooking rings are nonstick like mine :)

Dave's Quick Crumpets

What you need:
4 cooking rings
one good griddle surface
2 cups bread flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
4 tbsp butter
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups of water

I know it seems like a lot of liquid for only 2 cups of flour, but the batter should be just runnier than pancake batter.


What you do:
Melt the butter, and then set aside to cool. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Beat the eggs and water. Chuck it all together (make sure the butter is cooled) and mix the heck out of it. You want it to be smooth, not lumpy like waffle or pancake batter. Don't be afraid to use a whisk.

Consistency: Thinner than pancake batter, that's for sure. I started with 1 1/2 cups water and added 1/4 at a time to the batter till it got as thin as needed.

Crank the heat on your hot plate or flat griddle. Grease your rings and the griddle and put the rings on the cooking surface (they get hot, careful!). Then turn the heat down as LOW as possible! These suckers will need 4 to 7  mins before flipping so you don't want the bottoms to burn.

Pour the batter into the rings till each ring is half full. They will rise all the way to the top during cooking, no worries. Holes and bubbles will form as they cook: that's supposed to happen! You'll know they are ready for the rings to come off cus the tops won't be "wet" when they are ready. This'll happen after 4 to 7 mins of cooking depending on your griddle temp. Carefully take the rings off (use tongs, they'll be hot) and flip the crumpets over to brown the top --takes about a minute.

Taadaa! Perfect, quick crumpets! Eat them hot with anything slathered on them or let them cool and pop them in the toaster when you're ready to eat them. They freeze great and can be toasted straight out of the freezer.

Aren't I so nice to share this with you?

Here's a pic of the finished product so you'll know I'm not pulling your leg:



The choice of toppings in the pic are butter, strawberry jam, and lemon butter.

Hummus

WARNING! WARNING! DANGER!!!! EXTREMELY HEALTHY RECIPE!!!!!

Hmmmm, now how many different spellings are there for hummus... humus, humous, hummos, humos, hommus, homus, homos, hommos, hommous. I think that about covers it, no worries.

How many different ways are there to make hummus (sp)? An unimaginable amount! Really, there's lots. There ain't nothin special about mine. But what will make this post special, you ask? I'm going to give you a bunch of tips, tricks, variations and more info than you could possibly want about humos (sp) and it's ingredients.

Ready? Here we go!

Firstly, let me say that if you buy premade humous (sp) in a store then you are wasting money and your health. Make it fresh! Cheaper and better for you (meaning no preservatives nor trans fats). It is also the EASIEST thing you'll ever make. Well, except for maybe that cracker plate you served with processed cheese goop on top of each cracker and thought you were being clever and sauve; you naughty person you.

Back to the post.

Some of you in the US may have heard of garbonzo (garbanzo) beans and some of you may have heard of chick peas. Guess what? They are the exact same thing! They are also one of the most healthiest things you could eat, and when made into humous (sp) you'll have pretty much a super food.

Canned or fresh chick peas? I use canned, but only because down here in Oz the ingredient list is: chick peas, water, salt. I can handle that, no worries.

What the heck is tahini? Quite simply, tahini is ground up sesame seeds. That's it. This is also one of the best things you can eat, and it has a very long shelf life even without preservatives. Why? Cus it's got something that other seeds don't have: Sesamol. Sesamol is a natural preservative so your jar of stone ground sesame seeds (which is tahini) will last a long time without the oils breaking down.

You can make your own tahini, but most shops sell it in a jar. How do you know which to buy? Just look for the brand where the sesame oil has separated and is on top of the goop. That's the one you want. Oh, and make sure the ingredient list has only one thing: sesame seeds. Just give it a quick stir to re-emulsify it. Also don't worry about it getting cloudy if you store it in your fridge; it's supposed to do that at cooler temps.

Alrighty then; on with the recipe!


Hummus (and all the spelling thereof)

What you need for the basic recipe:

One food processor
One can of chick peas --425 grams, drained (I think that'd be about a 12 oz can for those of you in that other hemisphere)
2 tsp tahini
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp sea salt
1 or 2 tsp olive oil (if needed)

Supplemental bonus stuff:
Please note: I wouldn't try all of these together

cumin powder
coriander powder
chilli flakes
onion
white pepper
lemon juice
lime juice
roasted garlic
powdered sumac
black pepper
cardamon
aniseed
curry powder
oregano

Mix and match depending on the style you'd like.

Moroccan: sumac, aniseed, cardamon, lemon
Mexican: cumin, coriander, chilli, lime
Indian: curry powder, black or white pepper
Eastern Med: roasted garlic, oregano, onion

this list can go on...


What you do:

This is easy! Chuck it all into a food processor and push the button. "Push the button, Max!" Ummm, that quote is a reference from Jack Lemon shouting to Peter Falk about 50 or 60 times during the movie The Great Race, circa 1960's. I have it on DVD (good sword fight scene in it too).

Back to the recipe...

Ahhh, ummm... that's it! Now wasn't that so easy? And very very very very healthy too.

Garlic, and the roasting thereof.

GARLIC

In case you didn't guess, I kinda like garlic. Hell, I can eat a whole clove raw. Chomp down on it, chew it up and swallow. However, I don't recommend that for beginners.

In case you haven't guessed, there are no vampyres in this household, but I do have to keep my horns filed down and the leathery wings tucked under cus you do know I can see in the dark.

There will be a recipe here, but bear with me while I talk a bit about garlic.

Firstly, it's EASY to grow your own. Just push a single clove into good, moist soil about an inch (pointy end up). And magically, just like ANY other bulb, it'll sprout soon. Water regularly, fertilise if you feel the need to. Plant multiple cloves 8-10 cm apart (3-4 inches). It'll grow year round down here in South Oz, but up in that other hemisphere I'd imagine you'd want to plant in early spring.

When it's grown (you'll know, duh), dig DON'T PULL the bulbs out. Don't forget to use the greens, they make a nice addition to many many thing and can be eaten raw or steamed or whatever. I actually harvest the greens for use as the plant grows. Chop em up and use as you would chives. There's also lots of other good uses for them: be creative!

Garlic Cloves

You don't need a garlic press, nor any type of garlic peeler. To quickly peel garlic, put a clove between your palms and rub your hands quickly back and forth. You'll soon figure out the pressure to get the outer 'paper' off without mashing the clove.

To mash the clove without a press, just place the clove on a wooden cutting board, then put the flat of your kitchen knife on the clove, then lightly and quickly tap the flat of the knife with your fist (NO, you won't cut yourself, sheesh). Then just mince it up and use it, simple. You also get a lot of good garlic juice. Just scrape it off the board with your knife to add to whatever.

You can blanch garlic, boil it, or (my favorite --favourite) roast it.

Roasting garlic softens it to a buttery, squishy consistency and mellows the taste out so much you wouldn't even guess it's garlic. The taste is so smoothed out you can spread it directly on bread.

Good things about garlic: It's anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and a powerful anti-oxidant. It's GREAT stuff. If used properly you'll never even know it's there. My bro-in-law says he hates garlic and can't stand anything with garlic. Hmmmm, he eats a helluva lot of it! Ahhh, Mike, if your reading this: I'm sorry.

Ok, here's how you roast garlic:

What you need:

4 or 5 whole heads of garlic
Little bit of olive oil
some kind a oven roasting pan


What you do:

Slice the tops off each garlic head (that means take a half cm (quarter inch) off the pointy end). Place them bottom side down (that's the side with the roots) in your roasting dish. Drizzle the top of each head with olive oil. Cover roasting pan and chuck it in a hot oven for a while. You can also sprinkle some grated parmesan over the top of each head before drizzling the olive oil on top.

How hot? around 190 C (375 F) works.
How long? 45 mins or so (every oven is different). You'll know they are done when the cloves look like they are trying to squeeze themselves out the top of the head (as soon as you see this once you'll know what I mean), and they are very soft.

Remove from oven and let em cool. Once cool, just grab a garlic head and squeeze the garlic cream out.

Uses: Way too many to mention! You'll figure some out on your own, I'm sure.

Oh, roasting dish: you don't need a pricey ceramic garlic roaster, sheesh! A glass dish, an enameled one, or even a cookie tray with an aluminium (aluminum) foil tent over the garlic. ANYTHING.

Banana Tart

I noticed a few days ago that one of my readers was interested in my banana tart recipe from my holiday feast. Since bananas are now back in season and cheap here right now (less than a buck a pound) then I thought this'd be a good time for the recipe.

The trick is the filling (the banana stuff). The casing is simple. Just get a pack of shortcrust pastry sheets, use a 3 inch cookie cutter, put the cut rounds into something like this:



Poke the bottoms a bit, and then bake in an oven till the pastry is done. Or you could do it even simpler: just go to the shops and get a pack of pack of pre-cooked tart shells. But they are much more expensive than the sheets.

Side note for suzer: you can get the above baking tray at Coles, they're around 6 dollars and last forever.

Now for the filling!

Firstly, make LOTS. This stuff is so good you'll be eating it by itself. The riper the banana is the better it tastes. Even the ones that are totally black on the outside are great to use.

For every pound of banana, you'll want 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar plus the juice of one lemon.

What do you do? Chop up your bananas (peel 'em first), and toss them, the sugar, and the lemon juice in a saucepan. Heat it up, stir FREQUENTLY. Keep it at a temp that's just bubbling the mixture. When it starts to a light orangish/reddish colour, then it's done (15 to 20 mins, the riper the banana the quicker it cooks).

Pour/spoon into a bowl and let it cool. Once it's cool, spoon it into the cooked pastry shells. Then eat! You can top them with whipped cream, that's good too.

The banana filling can be used for many things: ice cream topping, a spread on toast, filling in a flaky buttermilk biscuit, or just eat it as is. When I buy bananas I'll hide 5 or 6 of them and let them go black; THEN they are great for making the filling.

Hollandaise Sauce

This post first appeared on my other blog, way back in the dark ages. For those of you who've been bored enough to trawl those archives, then you've seen (scene) this already. For the rest of you (especially all my new readers!), here ya go:

Have you ever had a rich, yellow, creamy, smooth, buttery sauce at a restaurant and wondered, "how in the hell do I make that?" Or you may have wondered, "what the heck is this wonderful sauce?"

It's that yellow sauce on Eggs Benedict; it's that yellow sauce on asparagus; it's that yellow sauce served with some types of fish... Yes, you've guessed right:

HOLLANDAISE SAUCE

But, alas, you've heard that hollandaise sauce is hard to make and it doesn't always come out 'right'. So off you go to the grocery store and buy a little packet of hollandaise sauce mix --you know the kind! Yup, the one with a paragraph of fine print ingredients that aren't fit to serve to your worst enemy (for those of you that gots em).

So you despair... You love the taste, but the pre-packaged crap will kill you and you don't know how to make the sauce from scratch. Never fear cus it's EASY!!! It takes all of about 3 MINUTES --no wait, it really only takes 45 seconds! No, I'm not doing a 'cheating' Hollandaise Sauce (hey, I can type Hollandaise in my sleep now), this is the real deal.

In fact, it's sooooo easy, I'm going to give you a few variations --of the recipe, get your mind out of the gutter, this is not Penthouse!


Here we go:

What you need:

1/3 cup (75 ml or 2 1/2 oz) of real butter (DO NOT USE MARGARINE!!!! More about that crap in a few posts...)
a pinch of salt (non-iodised sea salt! Ah, more about the salt you all have to put up with in the US soon)
1 tbspn (15 mls) lemon juice Have I mentioned I have my own lemon tree out front? No I haven't? Well I have now.
2 egg yolks eggs from chooks, not emus (An emu is a very cool bird, I'll try to upload a pic for y'all)


What you do:

In a small saucepan (Don't use a coated saucepan, BLECK!), heat everything except the egg yolks until the butter is melted but not bubbling. Then: TURN THE HEAT OFF.

Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl (ten seconds perhaps).

Pour egg yolks into saucepan while whisking like a lunatic (I can relate to that).

Use immediately

There now, wasn't that quick and easy? You can make the sauce in about 45 seconds with some practice getting the egg yolks out without the egg whites (I know three different ways, I'll pass them along to you eventually). BTW Always save the egg whites. If you aren't going to use them soon (more soon) then they freeze well, just make sure you put them in a container before tossing them in the freezer.


Now for some variations on a theme...

Use half lemon juice and half lime juice. Or all lime juice, they are both tasty.

Use some tarragon (great herb). Put the tarragon in the melted butter and let it sit for a bit before whisking in the egg yolks --you may need to SLIGHTLY heat the butter mixture back up. You can use either fresh or dried, no worries.

Roasted Leg o' Lamb

Ahhhhh, lamb... Anyone remember that sock puppet character that Shari Lewis (lady ventriliquist) did back in the 50's and 60's called Lambchop? It was on a childrens show, I do believe.

For those of you who are Lambchop fans, you may shudder as you read this: LAMB TASTES GOOD! I don't think I had ever eaten lamb till I arrived down unda, but I can understand why folks like it.

Lamb has a very delicate flavour compared to other meats. Very tender and it takes seasonings very well. Obviously, a strong, bold marinade or seasoning will overpower the lamb taste, so only use something like that if the lamb you are using is either a lesser cut, or you just happen to really like that flavour. BTW, teriyaki lamb chops on the grill are really good!

But, we aren't doing teriyaki lamb chops today. Neither are we doing the english minted lamb either. Oh, if you have lamb chops in certain parts of the UK it WILL be served with mint sauce.

No, today we are doing a leg of lamb roast with rosemary (drool)!

Rosemary is a great herb and it seems to be made for lamb. It's also one of the main herbs for chicken too (thyme and sage being a couple of others for them thar chooks). It'll grow wild down here with pretty much ZERO maintenance. If you'd like to grow it yourself you can. It propogates very well from cuttings, so if your neighbour has some, then you can have some too. If you live in an area that has winter *shudder*, then you better grow it in a pot cus you'll have to take it indoors when it's cold. It likes lots of sun and well drained soil. Don't let your indoor rosemary plant get too humid! Did you know that rosemary is part of the mint family? Well, know you do.

Quick aside: I was inspired to write this recipe down cus rachel did a grill lamb recipe on her blog and that reminded me of my steam roasted lamb. So thanks go to her, otherwise I might not of even thought of typing this in! BTW, hers sounds really really good.

Back to the food...

Roasted Leg o' Lamb

Whut u knead:

One leg of lamb on da bone
5 or 6 sprigs of rosemary, each one 8 to 10 inches long
a bit of sea salt
a bit of ground white pepper
a bit of dried mint leaves
one or two bamboo (or metal) skewers about the same diameter of the woody part of the rosemary sprigs
water
one big roasting dish with lid (it'll need to be big enough for the lamb leg)


Whut u due:

You might be able to see where I'm going with this, but for those of you who haven't figured it out... Here ya go:

Take a skewer and skewer the leg (of the lamb, not your own). Make sure you ream the hole out a few times, then follow the skewer with a rosemary sprig (the woody part of the sprig *should* push the skewer all the way through). If you can get the rosemary sprig all the way through (so that a bit of it sticks out on each side) then great. If not, no worries; just try to get it in a far as possible. Oh, push the thicker end of the sprig through first so you aren't "going against the grain" of the rosemary needles.

Same thing for the rest of the rosemary. Depending on the leg size and how far in you get the rosemary you'll use probably 4 to 8 sprigs.

Mix the bit of salt, pepper and dried mint in a bowl. Then give the leg (the one with the rosemary sticking out of it) a good rubdown with the seasonings. Place the leg in the roasting dish and pour about an inch of water around the leg. Cover that sucker and chuck it in a low oven for a couple of hours.

After 1.5 to 2 hours, turn the oven off, take lamb out, and pour the juices into a saucepan. At this point you have two was to go: cover the lamb and put it back in the oven for 15 mins while you do stuff with the juices, or leave it uncovered to "rest" while you make gravy from the juices.

I'll go through both!

1) Put the lid back on the lamb and return it to the oven (remember you turned the oven off already). To the saucepan that has pan juices, add a splash of red wine and then boil it till it's reduced by at least half.

After the sauce has been reduced, take lamb out of oven and carve it. You'll find it's very easy to carve; very very tender. Serve with roasted or boiled spuds and garden peas (cooked). Drizzle the sauce over everything.

2) Ok, so you've decided to do gravy, no worries. Gravy doesn't take long at all, so the lamb can set on you cutting board to rest for 5 mins while you make the gravy. It's easy: mix a tbsp or two of cornstarch (it's called corn flour down here) in some cold water. Bring the pan juices to a boil, turn the heat off, and whisk while pouring in the dissolved cornstarch. See? EASY!

Carve up the lamb, serve with spuds and peas; don't forget to put lashings of gravy on everything!


Hmmmmmm, what to do with the bone and all the offcuts... Well, there'll be some meat, gristle, cartilege etc hanging on it. Chuck it all in a big pot with lots of water and boil the heck out of it for a few hours! All the tasty marrow and great flavourings will be added to that water! TaDa: instant soup stock! Just make sure you strain it before storing it. You'll also want to defat the stock. I know of several ways to do that so just ask if you are interested, no worries.