Coquitos - Coconut Macaroons

I've been baking and cooking a lot lately. Also taking lots of photos. Both are very addictive. :)
Today couldn't be any different :)

Yesterday whilst looking at pictures on Flickr, I ran across some really pretty cookies made by Karen. They were Scottish shortbread and had been piped, and had a glace cherry on top.
They reminded me of the coquitos (coconut macaroons) I used to have in Uruguay when I was a child. Last night I was on a mission to find a recipe, but I wanted a Uruguayan one. And I found this one. It's in Spanish, but basically the ingredients are

6 egg yolks
150 g dessicated coconut
150 g sugar
50 g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence

You basically mix all the ingredients and form the mix into balls which you roll on the icing sugar.
I don't like to use just yolks when i have no plans for the whites, so I set upon doing my own thing following the list of ingredients. So this is what I used

COCONUT MACAROONS
Ingredients
4 large eggs
250 g dessicated coconut
200 g white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs water (optional)
Method
Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees. Mix all ingredients in a bowl. If your paste is too thick to pipe with a large piping tip, then add the water, and keep adding one tablespoon of water at a time until you get a consistency you can pipe. If your eggs are extra large, you may not need the extra water.
Bake in a medium to hot oven for 30 minutes or until done.
YUM YUM, i love these...
I don't remember ever having made them before, but they are so easy, i will surely make them again ;)

Palmiers with Passionfruit Curd - Dessert Day 8

Part of today's dessert comes to you courtesy of the very talented Thérèse-Marie (Feasting on Pixels)

I made her palmiers recipe using frozen puff pastry. As I've mentioned before I use Borg's which is vegan.
I also only had vanilla sugar, so that is what I used.

The passion fruit curd recipe came from the Taste website. I modified this recipe slightly as follows.

Once your palmiers are cooked, serve with a dollop of passion fruit curd, I'm sure Boone will be adding some vanilla ice cream to it as soon as I turn around ;).

Passion fruit Curd

Ingredients

10 large eggs
360gms of white sugar
350gms of Les Verges Boiron passion fruit puree
250gms of chopped chilled butter

Method
Mix eggs and sugar until well combined, in a microwave safe glass bowl. Add butter and puree and stir.
Cook in microwave for 10-15 minutes. You must cook this mix only 1 minute at a time. You need to take it out of the microwave and stir it after each minute.
It is ready when the mix is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Thanks to Kathryn I have found out that this can be kept for up to 4 weeks in sealed jars in the fridge.

This mixture will fill up to 6 250ml jars.

Make sure your jars are sterilised. You can do this by washing them in hot soapy water, rinsing and then drying in a very hot oven.

Please don't burn yourself ;)

Day 7 Dessert - Nectarine Hearts (a very easy dessert)

This was dessert for day 7

Nectarine Hearts (a very easy dessert)

Ingredients
1 sheet pre made puff pastry (I use Borg's which is vegan)
1 small nectarine sliced thinly
Icing sugar to dust
Vanilla ice cream

Method

1. Cut 6 large hearts out of your puff pastry using a cookie cutter.
2. Place three of them on a lined cookie sheet
3. Cover each heart with thin slices of nectarine making sure you leave a border of nectarine free pastry in order to join the top
4. Cut a small heart out of the center of the remaining large hearts and stick on top of the hearts on the cookie sheet
5. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown
6. Dust with icing sugar and serve with vanilla ice-cream.

Dinner Day 7 - Vegetable & Chickpea Risotto

Tonight's dinner was another easy one. Risotto with chinese broccoli and almonds, followed by nectarine hearts with vanilla ice cream. Everything was a big hit with hubby who ate every last bite.

Recipe for nectarines hearts HERE

Vegetable and Chickpea Risotto

Ingredients

1/2 cup raw white rice
1 Tbs olive oil
200 g cooked chickpeas
100 g potato chopped
1/2 can tomato puree
1/2 medium zucchini chopped (200gms)
1 small fresh carrot chopped
1 small onion chopped
1 small red capsicum chopped

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin powder
6 button mushrooms cut in 6

1 tsp Zest Mama Africa Flavour

1 tsp tumeric

2.5 cups of water
1 vegetable stock cube

Method

1. Heat olive oil in a large pan
2. Sautee onion and capsicum until tender
3. Add vegetables and spices, and stir till it's all mixed well
4. Add rice and mix in till the rice is all coated in spices
5. Add water, stock cube and tomato puree
6. Simmer for 45 minutes or until vegetables and rice are done
7. Serve with stirfried chinese brocolli

NOTE: The potato will take a while to cook, so to ensure your rice doesn't end up overcooking, cut up the potato in small pieces (no larger than 1cm cubes)

Sunday Dinner - Day 6

I took a break from cooking over the weekend. Boone likes to have vegan pies (which we buy from a vegan bakery) and cereal for breakfast on weekends. On Saturday we went out to dinner so there was no need to cook either.

Today I went back to the kitchen with a vengeance.

On Friday night whilst poring over the menus of several restaurants, (trying to find one to dine out on Saturday night) I read the description of a salad that had my taste buds calling out. It was a rocket, white peach salad with a balsamic reduction. We didn't end up going to that restaurant for dinner, we went to Kobe Jones, and the food was spectacular.

Still couldn't forget about the salad. I wasn't able to buy rocket or white peaches, ;) So I improvised with other ingredients.

Here is tonight's dinner feast :)

Stuffed Zucchinis
Ingredients
5 medium sized zucchinis cut in half (About 560gms)
1/2 a large onion chopped finely
1 Tbs olive oil
120gms grated pumpkin
1 small (90gms) red capsicum chopped finely
150gms cooked chickpeas
1 medium (80gms) grated carrot
Freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup soy milk (you can use regular milk or cream if you like)
salt
cracked pepper

Method

1. Using a melon baller or a spoon scoop put the flesh from the zucchinis. Put flesh aside, as it will be used for the soup.
2. Lay them on a tray lined with baking paper, and season with cracked salt & pepper
3. Preheat oven to 180 degrees
4. Heat oil in a non stick pan and sautee onions and capsicum
5. Add carrots and pumpkin and cook for a few minutes.
6. Add chickpeas and mash them roughly into the other ingredients
7. Add soy and cook until the mixture is thick
8. Add grated nutmeg and salt to taste
9. Spoon filling into zucchinis and bake for 20-30 minutes until zucchinis are tender
10. Serve with rice and salad

Zucchini, Onion & Corn Soup

Ingredients
270gms zucchini flesh (use the flesh leftover from the above recipe)
1/2 large onion chopped finely
1 Tbs (20mls) olive oil
1.5 cups of water
120gms fresh corn kernels
1 Massel Beef stock cube (these stock cubes are vegan)

Method

1. Heat oil in a pot, and sautee onion
2. Add zucchini, and 2/3s of the corn kernels
3. Add stock cube and water and simmer for 15 minutes until zucchini is tender.
4. Process in a blender, and place back into the pot.
5. Add the remaining corn kernels, and cook for a further 5 minutes
6. Add freshly grated nutmeg, salt & pepper to taste

Spinach & Nectarine Salad

Ingredients
80gms of baby spinach leaves
1 small nectarine (washed and sliced)
1/4 of a small onion, sliced very finely
40gms flaked almonds
4 Tbs balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs olive oil
Method

1. Place balsamic vinegar in a non stick pan and heat until it is reduced to a thick sauce, about 1/2 of it's original volume.
2. Place spinach in a bowl, followed by nectarine, onion and almonds
3. Dress with cracked salt, balsamic reduction and olive oil

This was the salad inspired by the peach and rocket salad at Markov.
I will have to try the one at that restaurant one day, but the version I've come up with is delicious!!! I will be making this one for the family at Christmas :)

Uruguayan Fruit Salad

This is a dessert that is very popular and traditional at Christmas time in Uruguay. I made the one below for New Year's Eve 2007. We normally have it all throughout the summer as it is very refreshing and also makes a few fruits go a long way.

Uruguayan Fruit Salad
1 red apple
1 large orange
1 nectarine
2 plums
1 x 400gm can of peaches (in natural juice)
1 x 150gm can of pineapple pieces (in natural juice)
1 large banana
200 gms of cherries
2 passion fruits
200 gms of any type of seedless grape
1 punnet of strawberries.
1 1.25 lt bottle of Fanta

1. Place canned fruit in a large bowl along with it's juice, make sure you cut the peaches into small pieces.
2. Wash remaining fruit thoroughly.
3. Place cherries and grapes (minus stalks and any leaves) in the bowl.
4. Cut up remaining fruit into small pieces and place in the bowl.
5. Cover with Fanta.
6. Chill and serve for dessert, lovely summer dessert, especially during the holidays when we need a stomach cool down after a heavy meal :)
   
   NOTE: Any of the fruits above can be omitted.
   

Roasted Vegetable Salad - Day 5 Lunch

This is a very straight forward lunch. There is a tip though, a great tip that will save you heaps of time cleaning up. Im sure lots of people know about this already, but i had forgotten about it until the other day.

The tip is to line your baking tray with non stick baking paper before putting on the veggies, this prevents sticking, your veggies come out a lot nicer, and you dont have to kill yourself scrubbing the tray afterwards.

Roast Veggie Salad with Walnuts
a piece of pumpkin
1 medium sized Beetroot
2 small washed potatoes
1 medium onion
1 carrot
6 walnuts

Peel, wash and cut all the vegetables and place on a roasting tray that you've previously lined with non stick baking paper.

Sprinkle with a little salt. Drizzle with olive oil and bake in a hot oven for 1-2 hours, the baking time will depend on how big you've cut your beetroot, this is the veggie that takes the longest.

Halfway through baking add the chopped walnuts and continue baking.

Serve with baby spinach leaves or as is. It looks pretty dull as is, but tastes yummy all the same. I had no greens to go with it. Next time i will certainly put the spinach leaves.

Turns out that after i took the photo Boone added rocket and parsley. He said it was delicious.