Custard Rasin Rice

1/2 cup rice
3 cups milk
1/2 cup raisins
1/3 cup butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
Cinnamon or nutmeg

Mix rice with 2 cups milk in a saucepan. Cook until tender.
Add raisins and butter to cooked rice.
Combine eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt and remaining milk. Stir into hot rice mixture.
Pour into greased 2 litre baking dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
Set in pan and fill pan half full of warm water.
Bake in 350 oven for about 30 minutes until set.
6 servings.

Apple Crumble

This is the same basic recipe as the Fruit Crumble posted on this Blog the only difference being that it is in a large domestic size. This sweet is my son Daniels all time favourite thing to eat. It is a recipe that I was given by the director of a child care centre that Daniel used to attend. It was a recipe that her family always enjoyed. I have since added the muesli and the sultanas. You can leave them out if you like.
Serves 10-12

2 cups flour
3 large tbsp butter/margarine
1 cup muesli
2/3 cup dessicated coconut
1.3 cups sugar
1.5kg apples, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup sugar, extra
1/2 cup sultanas

To make the crumble. Rub butter into the flour untill it resembles fine breadcrumbs, stir through the muesli, coconut and sugar, one at a time.
Place the apples in the bottom of the baking dish Sprinkle the extra sugar over the apples. Sprinkle the sultanas over the apple. Combine them into the apples.
Gently top the apple with the crumble mixture. Smooth off gently. Bake at 200degrees Celsius for 15-20 mins. The top will not become very browned as the butter is blended only with the flour.

Spaghetti Bolognaise

Everyone has a favorite way of making Bolognaise Suace and this is my favourite way at present. I love the flavours of cumin and ground oregano. A jar of prepared spaghetti sauce mix is a tasty, easy and fast way to go, they are just a bit too expensive for me. We made this Sauce in Community Kitchens on 2/9/08 and teamed it with another of my favourite recipes which is Apple Crumble.

1kg minced beef
2 onions, diced
2x700ml Italian cooking sauce
4 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp Bonox
4 large cloves garlic
2tsp cumin
1 tbsp ground oregano
vegetables as desired, i.e capsicum, zucchini, celery

Brown the onions, add the mince to the onions and brown that too. Stir while cooking.
Pour the Italian cooking sauce over the meat, add the tomato paste. Stir well to combine
Add the vegetables, stock, and herbs.
Simmer for appromimately 15-30 minutes. Stirring occasionally.
Sauce will have a better flavour if it rests for 24 hours.
If the sauce is required for Lasagna, add extra fluid such as 2x cans peeled tomatos, added at the same stage as the tomato paste.
Serve with pasta. and Parmesan cheese sprinkled over.

Lemon Cheesecake

This recipe is being "cooked" at our community Kitchens session on 16th August. I am looking forward to the results. This is my very favorite cheesecake recipe. When my mum makes this cheesecake it is always lighter and fluffier than mine. I have added the extra step that she does. She always beats the sweetened condensed milk seperately. I haven't seen that step in any other recipes. I am doing it mums way now.
250g "Nice" biscuits, crushed
100g butter, melted
25o grams reduced-fat cream cheese
3 tablespoons lemon (and lime) zest, finely grated
400g can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lemon (and lime) juice
2 teaspoons gelatin, can be be omitted if using full fat cream cheese
Lightly grease a 20-cm round nonstick spring form pan.
Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan, remove from the heat then add the crushed biscuits stir well to combine. Press crumbs into the base of the pan, smoothing with the back of a spoon or a straight sided and flat bottomed drinking glass. Refrigerate while making the filling. Use the freezer to bring the temperature down quickly on hot days or if you are short on time.
Put 1.5 tablespoons hot water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over. Stand the bowl in a saucepan with about 1–2 cm hot water, and place over low heat for 1 minute until gelatin has softened. Remove bowl from saucepan and whisk gelatin, using a fork, to dissolve. Set aside to cool slightly. Using electric beaters, beat the cream cheese and dissolved gelatin with the lemon (and lime) zest until combined. Using clean electric beaters and a clean bowl, beat the sweetened condensed milk until light and fluffy. Have the biscuit base ready for the filling before you go to the next step. Beat the sweetened condensed milk and cream cheese together, continuing to beat until smooth for approximately 5 minutes. Gradually pour in the juice at the end. The mixture will thicken very quickly.
Pour the cheesecake filling into the base and refrigerate overnight or until set.
Serve with fresh fruit topping, i.e passion fruit pulp, kiwi fruit or strawberries. You can set jelly over the fruit if you like.

Easy Lemon Tart

This recipe was posted on the Community Kitchens website, the contributor had this to say about the tart,
"Delicous no-pastry lemon tart, we didn't use too much lemon because of varied tastes, but you may like to be a bit more generous with the rind, and get a stronger lemon flavour."

4 eggs
1 cup cream
1/2 cup plain flour
3/4 cup milk
1 cup castor sugar
125 grams melted butter (good quality marg is fine to use)
1 cup coconut
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind

Grease a straight sided 25cm pie dish.
Preheat oven to moderate, (175 to 180, gas)
Whisk eggs in a bowl, gradually whisk in sifted flour, and remaining ingredients, until well combined.
Whisk in melted butter last of all.
Pour mixture into pie dish.
Bake approximately 45 minutes (depending on your oven) till golden on top, and set.
It will set further once starting to cool down.
Serve warm or cold, dusted with sifted icing sugar - and cream, if feeling a bit decadent......

Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Bake

This recipe was the one we cooked at the community Kitchens group on 12th August. It was really tasty. We usually make adjustments to our recipes to improve them but not on this one. It was good how it was. We doubled the recipe and had 16 serves. Also, I forgot to put the sour cream in, so we had it on the side, it was great. A side salad would have been a great addition to the pasta bake.
500g rotini pasta, uncooked
30 g butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups broccoli florets, finely chopped
1 tbsp plain flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
pinch chipotle chile powder (optional)
250 g Cheddar cheese, shredded
2 onion, finely diced
500 g ground chicken
230 g sour cream (optional)
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente, 7 to 10 minutes. Drain, cover, and set aside until needed.
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat, and stir in 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add 1/2 the broccoli; toss and cook just until tender, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle broccoli with flour, and cook 1 minute. Stir in the chicken broth, and bring to a boil. Pour in the milk, and stir to blend. Season with salt, pepper, and chipotle pepper powder, if desired. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer mixture until sauce thickens, 8 to 10 minutes. Mix in half the cheese and stir until melted. Remove from heat.
Heat the remaining olive oil in another large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the onion, ground chicken, and remaining broccoli. Cook and stir until chicken is evenly browned and no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Reduce heat, and cook until liquid is reduced, about 5 minutes.
Preheat grill to High. Lightly grease 9x13 inch baking dish.
Toss the pasta with the broccoli sauce until evenly blended. Stir in the sour cream, if desired. Stir the broccoli sauce mixture into the chicken mixture. Spoon into the prepared baking dish. Top with remaining cheese.
Cook under preheated griller until cheese melts and browns around the edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Alternatively, oven bake 10-15mins.

Gwens Secret Fried Rice Recipe

Gwen is one of our Community Kitchens participant. She says that she always cooks this dish for family gatherings and parties, she says there is never-ever any leftovers and she always gets compliments. We all agreed that it is very yummy. It worked well as a main dish because it is loaded with meat and eggs. It is the best fried rice I have ever eaten!
Serves 15
8 cups Rice, steamed
12 eggs
1/2 cup milk
3 chicken thigh fillets
500g bacon pieces
250g bean shoots
2 small cans prawns
8 spring onions
4 garlic cloves
Olive oil
Sesame Oil
Soy Sauce
Using the rice steamer, cook the rick as per the instructions. When cooked transfer the rice to 2 large baking dishes. While waiting for the rice to cook, prepare the other ingredients.
Beat the eggs together with milk. Heat the olive oil in a large frypan. when the frypan is hot pour in the eggs. Stir the eggs often and break them up as you go, so they form in small lumps. Set the eggs aside. Clean the pan.
Dice the chicken in very small pieces. Stir fry the chicken with a little extra olive oil.
Dice the bacon and add to the pan with the chicken. Stir fry to combine and to prevent burning.
Open the cans of prawns and drain them, discard the liquid. Add the prawns to the chicken and bacon. Add the bean shoots, spring onions and garlic to the pan, stir fry untill all ingredients are combined and hot.
Divide the contents of the pan, half going into each of the two baking dishes with the hot rice. Drizzle 1/2 tablespoon of sesame oil over each dish. With a large spoon fold the ingredients together to ensure that everything is well combined.
Place both dishes into the oven at 180deg Celsius. Bake for 10 mins uncovered, turn the Fried Rice at least once during that time, to ensure that there are no dried out bits. If serving time is delayed the baking dishes will need to be covered with foil, as the rice will dry out quickly in the oven.
Serve.

Bread Pudding

This "oldie but a goodie" has been tweaked every which way to suit whoever is doing the cooking. The good news is that you cant really go wrong with this old fashioned sweet. The recipe is very forgiving, you can substitute as much as you like. The only rule is that you keep the egg to milk ratio right and make sure all the bread is wet before baking. Some variations could be, fruit bread instead of white bread. Dried apricots instead of the rasins, or canned fancy fruits like berries could be used. Cooked at the community Kitchens on 12th August, gave about 18 serves. I am not quite sure, we had so much I gave half of it away.
1x 600g loaf of day old (or older bread) Bread, diced large.
4 Cups of Milk
4 Eggs, beaten
1tsp vanilla essence
1 Cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Cup raisins or sultanas
I small can fruit or fruit puree, or 1/2 cup jam.
Pre-Heat the Oven to 350F (180C, Gas Mark 4).
Butter an ovenproof dish. Combine the Eggs, vanilla, sugar and half the milk. Put the diced bread into the baking dish and pour the other half of the milk evenly over the bread, sprinkle the rasins or sultanas. Let the bread stand for 5 minutes then pour over evenly the egg, vanilla, sugar and milk mixture. Sprinkle over some extra sugar mixed with the cinnamon.
Bake in the oven for 45 minutes, or until almost set in the center.
Serve with hot custard.

Vegetable Soup

This was the first recipe cooked in the first session of the City Life Community Kitchens. It is a very tasty recipe. It is hearty and filling, everyone was surprised how much flavour it had.
2 onions peeled and diced
1 carrot peeled and grated
3 sticks of celery chopped
½ swede peeled and grated
1 parsnip peeled and grated
1 sweet potato peeled and diced
1 zucchini
1 can of corn kernels
1 can of Borlotti beans
½ cup red lentils
1½ cups of dry wholemeal pasta
2 litres vegetable stock
2 litres water
3 tbsp olive oil
Oregano ground
Parsley
In a large stockpot heat the vegetable stock. In a separate pan heat the oil. Saute the onions and celery and carrots, when tender add them to the stock.
Bring the soup to the boil, begin to add the other ingredients one at a time,making sure the soup continues to keep boiling.
Firstly add the lentils and beans.
Then add the hard vegetables such as the sweet potato and swede.
Lastly add the zuchinni and corn kernels.
Add the herbs and season with salt and pepper.
Stir frequently while simmering, cook for 30mins.
Add pasta and simmer for another 10minutes or until the pasta is cooked.
Serve with chunky homemade croutons.

Bacon and Mushroom Soup

This recipe was a big hit with the males in our Community Kitchens Group. It has a big meat and potatoes taste and its a bit creamy. Opinions were divided which soup was better, this one or the vegetable soup that we made on the same day. Julia McCartan said she would post this one on the Community Kitchens website. Check out the other recipes on there. The link is on my page.
4 medium red potatoes
2 onions diced
350g fresh mushrooms
8 rashers bacon cooked then diced
3 tablespoons Olive oil
2 cloves garlic
½ tsp chilli powder
2 cups milk
1.5lt water
½ teaspoon sugar
2 Creamy Bacon and Mushroom flavour base
Additional 4 cups water
Cut peeled potatoes into 1 inch cubes. Boil water in a stockpot. Add potatoes, cook until tender. Drain, but save the liquid. Set potatoes aside. Cook bacon in the stockpot, using just a little oil to stop it sticking. Remove it to cool. When cooled, chop the bacon into small pieces.
Finely chop onion. Re-heat oil and bacon drippings in the pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic to the pot. Stir frequently, cook until tender but not brown. Remove the cooked onion and garlic from the pot and set aside. Saute the sliced mushrooms in the pot then return the onions and garlic.
Gradually add cooked potatoes back to the stockpot. Add the flavour base to saucepan then the reserved cooking liquid from the potatoes and the additional water. Add the milk, sugar, chilli powder and season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir well. Add bacon. Simmer for thirty minutes over very low heat.
Stir frequently.

Pumpkin Soup

This soup was made at Community Kitchens on 5th August. One of our participants rated this soup 20 out of 10. You cant ask better than that. The croutons are worthwhile making too, the recipe is below and they are much more fun than toast.
Knob of butter and 1 tbsp olive oil
1kg butternut (squash) pumpkin, or jap or kent varieties.
3 potatoes chopped
1 onion diced
2 stock cubes (vegetable or chicken)
1.5 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated or minced well
1 litre of water
Salt and Pepper to taste
Handful of fresh coriander leaves to serve (optional)
.... or fresh parsley chopped finely to serve
dollop of cream to serve (optional)
sprinkle of nutmeg to serve
chunky homemade parmesan croutons

Peel the pumpkin with a potato peeler or small knife. Chop into 2cm cubes. Chop the potatoes into similar cubes, it's up to you whether you peel them first or not. Peel & chop the onion. Melt the butter with the oil in a large pan. Then fry it gently in the pan, with the lid on, until it starts to soften. Check and stir to make sure it doesn't brown. Add the potatoes to the onions and stir to coat well with the oil. Add the pumpkin. Stir well. Cover and cook for 10 minutes on low heat, stirring occasionally. When the potato has started to soften add the water to the pan crumble the stock cube into the water. Turn up the heat and bring to the boil, simmer gently until all the vegetables are soft - about 15 minutes. You might need to add more water. Add just enough to cover the vegetables, or the soup will be too runny. Use a stick blender to liquidise the soup or mash it very well then strain through a mesh sieve (retaining the liquid), push the solids through the sieve with the back of a spoon, stir, then serve. When serving place a dollop of cream in the centre of each bowl, sprinkle with nutmeg. Garnish each bowl with chunky homemade croutons and a pinch of fresh coriander or parsley.

To make chunky homemade croutons, cut an old unsliced loaf of bread into inch thick slices and cut again into cubes an inch wide and deep. Put the bread into a baking dish and drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with some dry grated parmesan cheese. Bake croutons at 200deg Celsius for 10 mins stirring once during that time. Serve on top of homemade soup.

Greek Croustade

1/2 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen chopped spinach
1/4 c. chopped onion
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. plain flour
1/2 tsp. dried tarragon, crushed
pinch pepper
1/2 cup. milk
2 beaten eggs
3/4 cup. crumbled feta cheese
10 sheets phyllo dough
1/3 c. melted butter
For filling, cook spinach according to directions; drain well, with hands press out excess liquid. Cook onion in 3 tablespoons butter until tender. Stir in flour, tarragon, and pepper. Add milk, cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Stir about half of mixture into eggs; return all to saucepan. Stir in spinach and cheeses. Set aside. Unfold phyllo dough; remove one sheet. Cover remaining phyllo dough with damp towel while working. Brush the one phyllo dough sheet lightly with some of the 1/2 cup butter. Place one end of the folded sheet in the center of a 12-14 inch pizza pan, extending the other end over the side of the pan. Repeat this with phyllo and butter and arrange strips in spoke fashion evenly around the pan. Spread the filling in an 8-inch circle in the center of phyllo dough. Starting with the last phyllo strip, lift the extended end and twist it and then coil it to center so spinach mixture (it will look like a rosette). Lightly press it down. Repeat this all the way around. Drizzle with any remaining butter. Bake in a degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until top is golden brown. Serve warm and cut like a pizza wedge.

Capsicums and Mushrooms

The following ingredients are for one pizza,
Tomato pizza base sauce
6 oz. shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/2 small capsicum sliced and cut into smaller pieces
4 mushrooms sliced and cut into smaller pieces
5 black olives stoned and cut into quarters
1 teaspoon or more oregano
Preheat the oven to 255° Celsius.
Grease a rectangular 15 " X 11" baking sheet or a standard 14" pizza pan with olive oil, flatten the dough using your fingers or a rolling pin. Spread a single serve of pizza base sauce on the pizza dough.
Top with sliced mushrooms diced capsicum and olive pieces. Sprinkle with cheese.Bake 15-20 minutes, or until topping and crust are lightly browned.

Hawaiian Pizza

The following ingredients are for one pizza
Tomato pizza base sauce
3/4 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/2 can sliced pineapple
3/4 cup. diced bacon
1/2 sm. green capsicum cut into rings
Preheat the oven to 255°Celsius.
Grease a rectangular 15 " X 11" baking sheet or a standard 14" pizza pan with olive oil, flatten the dough using your fingers or a rolling pin.
Spread a single serve of pizza base sauce on the pizza dough. Top with pineapple, bacon and green pepper rings. Sprinkle with cheese.
Bake 15-20 minutes, or until topping and crust are lightly browned.

Marinara Pizza

The following ingredients are for one pizza
5 tbsp. chopped garlic
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp. dry oregano
fresh basil leaves (optional)
Preheat the oven to 255° Celsius.
Grease a rectangular 15 " X 11" baking sheet or a standard 14" pizza pan with olive oil, flatten the dough using your fingers or a rolling pin. An Italian pizza crust should be nice and thin. Spread a double serve of pizza base sauce on the pizza dough.
Bake the pizza for 10-15 minutes until almost cooked, remove from the oven to add ingredients. Sprinkle the pizza with the garlic and the oregano. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to keep the garlic soft. Cook the pizza for another 5 minutes but be careful not to burn the garlic, otherwise it will taste bitter.
Serve with fresh basil leaves on top (optional).

Tomato Pizza Base Sauce

will cover 2 Pizzas or 1 Marinara Pizza
2 cups chopped canned tomatoes
2 Tbsp. tomato juice
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
Combine the tomatoes with all other ingrediedients
Spread the sauce over the uncooked pizza base.
Top as required.

Pizza Dough

(makes 3-4 medium size pizza bases)
4 cups unbleached bread flour
1.75 cups water (approximately)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon yeast (or 1 cup of leaven for sour dough)
Mix flour, yeast and salt in a suitable bowl. Add the water gradually and mix with a strong spoon. Increase or decrease the water according to desired dough consistency.Knead the dough, then cover it and let it rise until double in size.
Divide the dough into 3 or 4 pieces (about the size of a tennis ball). Shape the pieces into balls, place them on a floured board, cover them and let them rest for a few minutes.
Roll out the pieces on a floured board to a thickness of about 5mm and place them onto greased pizza trays. Cover them and let them rest for a few minutes before adding the toppings.

Little pork dumplings

Thes yummy little dumplings were made at the Community Kitchens Group on 30th July. It was good to experience making these little guys. A comment made was, they could have been a bit more flavourful. We could maybe try adding some spices and stock powder next time. They were lots of fun to make. I think kids would like it too.
500g minced pork
2 green onions (spring onion), chopped finely
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons soy sauce
salt and pepper
1 raw egg beaten
2x 275g packet gow gee pastry
Dipping sauce
¼ cup (60ml) soy sauce
2 teaspoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons brown sugar
Combine all of the ingredients, except the wonton wrappers, in a large bowl and mix well.
Place 1 level teaspoon of filling into the centre of each wrapper.
Moisten the edges of the wrappers with a little water and gather the edges together to enclose the filling and form a pouch.
Place the dumplings in a single layer on a tray lined with baking paper.
Bring a wide frypan of water to the boil. Drop the dumplings, in batches, into the water. Simmer the dumplings for about 3 minutes or until cooked through.
Remove the dumplings with a slotted spoon, drain well and serve with the dipping sauce.
For the dipping sauce, combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Beef Chow Mein

We made this one at the Community Kitchens Group on the 30th July. Everyone said they enjoyed it. All bowls were empty so that was the proof. We served the little pork dumplings afterwards. I have adjusted the recipe that appears below because the original recipe had too much liquid and not enough vegetables. We would have liked some rice to be served up with it so I have added that to the bottom of this recipe.
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1kg beef mince
2 medium onions chopped finely
8 cloves garlic, crushed
3 tablespoons curry powder
2 carrots cut into thin sticks
4 celery stalks sliced diagonally
1 can button mushrooms, sliced thinly
1 cup stock
1/2 cup oyster sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
4 packets of shelf fresh hokkien noodles
............. or 4 cakes of 2 minute Ramen noodles cooked
1 cup frozen peas
1 wombok (350g), shredded coarsely
2 heads of brocolli in small pieces

Heat oil in wok; stir-fry beef, onion and garlic until beef is browned. Add curry powder; stir-fry about 1 minute or until fragrant. Add carrot, celery and mushrooms; stir-fry until vegetables soften.
Add stock, sauces and noodles; stir-fry 2 minutes. Add peas and wombok; stir-fry until wombok just wilts.
Serve with rice or extra ramen.