Friday Feast

Good morning and welcome to another Friday Feast. For those playing along at home ( or for those who want to ) Friday Feast is a fledgling link up ( which is so fledgling it doesnt even have a linky yet! ) where we each share a favourite recipe - sweet or savoury, dinner or dessert, budget or blue ribbon. It doesnt matter, as long as its delicious!

This week, i thought i'd go with something sweet:

Fruit and Nut Slice ( originally found in Recipes + magazine )
395g can sweetened condensed milk
125g butter, chopped
1tsp finely grated orange zest ( omit if you arent a fan of zest )
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
250g plain biscuits ( such as Arrowroots )
1 cup dessicated coconut
1 1/2 cups dried fruit of your choice
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts
1 1/3 cup milk chocolate melts

1. Grease 26x16cm base baking pan and line with baking paper, leaving over-hang at edges.
2. Combine condensed milk, butter zest and juice in small saucepan. Cook and stir over low heat until butter melts. remove from heat.
3. Process biscuits into fine crumbs. Add biscuit, coconut,dried fruit and nuts to condensed milk mixture. Stir to combine. Press and smooth into prepared pan. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least an hr.
4. Melt chocolate in microwave on medium setting in 30 second bursts, removing and stirring in between, until melted and smooth. Spread chocolate over slice to cover evenly. Let cool for 30 minutes or until chocolate is almost set, then cut into squares to serve.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've made this slice quite a few times for my mums group meet ups or morning teas, and i gave my dad the recipe so he could make morning tea for his secretaries at work, and it always gets a great reception. Its moist and a bit chewy and nice and sweet with the fruit ( i usually use dried apricot and cranberries, but you could throw in sultanas or glace cherries aswell ) and the best thing about from the cooks perspective? Its no bake! Plus, it uses ingredients that most of us would keep in our pantries, or that we might have left over from something else. Plus, it keeps for 4-5 days in the fridge - although i'm sure it will be all gone by then!

What about you? Do you have a recipe to contribute this week ? Go, do your post, and then come back and leave a link to the post in the comments!

Food, Glorious, Food!

I am so loving food right now. I'm loving cooking it, eating it, watching it being cooked on tv and i'm loving reading about it. I'm not loving it enough to get hugely, grossly fat though - so no worries about that. I'm just enjoying the rituals of food is all, and how it makes people come together and be happy. ( Most of the time - my failed attempt at soup last night didnt really make anyone happy ).

I sit down of a Friday evening and plan out a menu for the week - i go through my recipe magazines and very few cookbooks that i own and choose the recipes i'd like to make, and write out the weeks shopping list as i go. My mother always did it that way and i always thought she was a bit anal. But you know what? Its so much easier that way! No going to the freezer and/or fridge and going " Uh, what am i going to cook tonight ? " . No getting out your recipe only to find that you dont have any mushrooms/chicken stock/ peanuts ( or, you know, whatever ). I dont plan it down to the specific day though - i just ask Mick in the morning what he'd life for dinner, give him the options, and he usually says " Suprise me! ". Easy as that. This weeks menu includes a beef massamun curry that i'm really looking forward to and my first attempt at beer battered fish.

I'm also enjoying baking. I've baked something almost every week since Flynn has been born, just for that fun of it, and now that we're hosting mothers group at each others houses rather than going to a cafe there is even more incentive to whip up a yummy slice or some muffins. Plus, and i know this is a little big-headed, but i really like getting compliments on my cooking from the other mums. I made a slice a few weeks ago that got the thumbs up all round - i even got asked for the recipe! - and this weeks " Apple and Cream Cheese Friands " scored me a " gee you're a good cook! ". Big smiles from me! And i'm not a baking snob either - i'm totally happy to share my recipes. I know some people are all " oh no, its an old family recipe, i couldnt possibly share it with you " but most of mine come from magazines or http://www.taste.com.au/ so they aren't exactly a secret!

So, in the spirit of sharing, leave me a comment ( if you want ) with your favourite meal to cook, a link to a recipe, or to your favourite cooking website!

" I come from a land Down Under .... "

Happy Australia Day everybody! Today is a national holiday commemorating the day James Cook landed at Botany Bay, essentially " discovering " Australia. Basically, its a day where we get to take the day off, have a bbq with family and friends and watch the cricket ( or, in my case today, a marathon of Project Runway Australia ). How more Aussie could you get than that ? Its all about family, friends and food. And, speaking of food - I know you non-Australian type people think we Aussies eat some weird things. You've probably heard us use terms like " sausage roll " or " lamingtons " and wondered " What in the boojesus are they talking about ? What the hell is a lamington ? It sounds like some kind of uppity posh suburb of London .... " And so, in the Australia spirit of mateship and sharing, i've come up with my glossary of the Top 5 " weird " foods we Aussies indulge in :

*NOTE* ( They arent actually weird - theyre just different. Judge food by its packaging or its label ok ? )

VEGEMITE ( vej -e -myte ):

Come on now, you've all heard of it Vegemite, we're reknowned for it! I also know that you all probably think its downright disgusting - but, of course, i'm willing to bet 9 out of 10 of you havent ever tried it. To be truthful, all the foreigners i've ever seen taste Vegemite have almost choked on their own bile, so i guess its an acquired taste. Its pretty much a fermented yeast paste - its a little bitter, a little salty, a little something you cant describe. Its all also a little perfect on white toast!

PAVLOVA ( pav - low - vuh ):

Take a look at it - doesnt it look scrum-diddlie-umptious ? Yes, yes it does. It also tastes that way, which is probably why its one of Australia's favourite dessert recipes. Its a ( depending on your tastes, of course ) either a crisp and crunchy or crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, meringue base. The meringue base is then covered in sweet whipped cream and your choice of toppings. The traditional pavlova, as seen above, is whipped cream and a variety of tropical fruits, although some fancy people have made pavlovas covered in chocolate, nuts and marshmallow; chewy candies; or white chocolate and berries. But just remember - when in doubt, always go traditional!

MEAT PIE ( mee -t pye ):

Meat pies are as Aussie as hotdogs are American. That is, to say, meat pies are the " everyman " food of Australia. Its pretty much as it sounds - a pastry shell, much like any dessert pie, but filled with a mix of minced meat ( usually beef ) and a gravy like sauce. Meat pies are the favourite snack/casual dinner for Australian men everywhere, but are particularly well loved at any type of sporting event ( meat pie at the football ? Doesnt get more Australian then that! ). Also, please note - you can eat as many meat pies as you like, but if you dont eat them with tomato sauce ( no, not ketchup - TOMATO SAUCE ) you will never pass as a real Aussie.

WEET BIX ( wee-t bi -cks ):

A quintessentially Australian breakfast cereal. If you read the fine print on the box, it reads " The Breakfast of Champions ". Damn right it is! This is the breakfast cereal that always has some kind of Australian athlete ( currently cricket players ) as its spokeperson. Weet Bix, just like the meat pie, are pretty much the way they sound - that is, they are are small, rectangular biscuits of shredded wheat. Nice and healthy, if not a little bland. They're best eaten warm, so you can " cook " them by pouring on some boiling water or milk ( or nuking them in the microwave, for the time poor people out there ), and if you add a litte sugar or a touch of honey and banana - you wont find an easier, yummier, healthier breakfast anywhere! ( except maybe an organic retreat.... )

LAMINGTONS ( lah - ming - ton-s ):

Ah, the forementioned lamington. I am telling you, my craving for one of these whilst i lived overseas was enough to rival a pregnant womans desire for pickles in chocolate icecream. However, lamingtons are about a million times more delicious than that heinous concoction. Lamingtons are, in a word, awesome - they're little squares of white sponge cake, covered in milk chocolate and then rolled in coconut. So simple, yet so, so sweet! They can also be made with some whipped cream in the middle, but being the purist I am ( oh, and i'm not so big on cream... ) i prefer the good old traditional version best. Mmm.... lamingtons.

And there you be ladies and gents. Should you have any lingering queries in regards to an Australian delicacy you may have heard of, feel free to leave a comment and i'll endevour to clear that one up for you too. Viva el Australia!

( oh, wait, my bad, thats Spanish.... )