Week 2: Christmas Desserts

WEEK 2: Christmas Desserts

Meringue Ice Cream Loaf

Serves: 8-10
Time: 15 minutes prep (3hrs overnight freezing)
Ingredients:
350g strawberries
600ml whipping cream
2 tablespoons icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
50g meringues, broken into chunks

Method:
Grease a 1.5L loaf pan and line with cling wrap or use a silicone one. Drop some berries into the loaf pan – these will be the top of the slice. Whip cream with sugar and vanilla to soft peaks then fold in berries and meringue. Pour into pan, shake to remove any air bubbles, and smooth top. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 3 hours or overnight.
Remove from freezer 20 minutes before serving. Tip out and garnish with extra berries, drizzle with honey and cut into slices to serve.

Tip:

• You can either make your own meringues or use store bought ones which are much easier to use. Buy coloured meringues for a nice colourful loaf

Chocolate Bundt Cake

Serves: 8
Time: 1hr 15 min
Ingredients:
2 cups cake flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1 ½ bicarbonate of soda
½  teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla essence
¾ cup sour cream
3 cups grated baby marrow
200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
1 cup cherries

Ingredients:
Pre-heat oven to 180°C. Grease a Bundt pan and set aside.
Combine flour, cocoa powder, bicarb and salt in a bowl and mix together. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl beat sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla and blend well. Add sour cream and beat until well blended. Add dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Mix in the baby marrow and chocolate and cherries.

Pour batter into pan and bake for 50 -60 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes and remove from pan

Tip:

• Instead of the cherries you can use any canned fruit of choice.
• Serve with warm custard or drizzled with warm chocolate sauce.

Week 1 : Platters

Week 1 : Platters

Savoury Platter

(Serves 8–10)

For the crustless quiches you’ll need:
6 large eggs
6 egg yolks
⅔ cup milk
⅔ cup cream
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup Cheddar cheese; grated
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup asparagus heads
1 cup cherry tomatoes; halved

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190 °C. 
2. Lightly spray two 24-cup mini muffin pans with cooking spray.
3. Bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. 
4. Add the broccoli and blanch until bright green and softened but still crisp, about 30 sec. 
5. Using a slotted spoon, transfer immediately to ice water to stop the cooking. Then do the same with the asparagus. 
6. When cool, strain water and pat dry with paper towel. 
7. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, milk, cream, salt and pepper. 
8. Transfer to a large glass measuring jug.
9. Divide broccoli, asparagus and tomatoes evenly amongst the muffin trays (ensure to leave some for the top), and top with cheese. 
10. Fill as many as you can to just below the rim with egg mixture. 
11. Place broccoli, asparagus and tomatoes on top (make sure each veg tops the muffin tin that has the same veg at the bottom) and add a pinch of cheese to the top of each quiche.
12. Bake until the tops are puffed and just beginning to brown, about 15 min. 
13. Transfer to wire racks and let cool for about 5 min., then turn the quiches out of the pans, arrange on a platter, and serve.

Tips:

• For variety you can also crumb some crispy bacon over the top of each quiche.
• Wilted spinach also works well with these. 

For the puff pastry boerewors rolls you’ll need:
Egg wash
250 g Championship Boerewors; casings removed
1 packet ready-rolled puff pastry; thawed
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 °C and line baking sheet with baking paper.  
2. On a lightly floured surface, unroll pastry; cut crosswise into three 25 x 9 cm strips. 
3. Brush with mustard. 
4. Divide sausage amongst the pastry. 
5. Arrange rolls, seam-side down, on prepared pan. 
6. Cover and freeze until firm, about 15 min. 
7. Cut each roll crosswise into 8 pieces (about 2,5 cm). 
8. Brush with egg wash and bake until puffed and golden (about 20 min.) 

Tips:

• I always make extras of these and then individually freeze them before putting them in a freezer bag or container so that I can just pop them in the oven for my son, or when I have unexpected guests over. 
• You can also make them with chicken sausages for a chicken version or pork sausages for a pork version. 
• Just add an extra 5–10 min. to your cooking time if using frozen. 

For the falafel you’ll need:
2 x cans chickpeas; washed and drained
1 medium onion; roughly chopped
¼ cup fresh parsley; chopped
2 cups spinach
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
¼ tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
Vegetable oil for frying

Method

1. Place chickpeas, onion and garlic into a food processor and blitz until smooth. 
2. Add remaining ingredients and blitz until well combined. 
3. Transfer to a bowl and roll mixture into balls. 
4. Heat oil and deep-fry until golden and crispy. 
5. Serve warm with mint yoghurt sauce.