Individual chocolate puddings

100g butter
200g 70% dark chocolate
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups soft brown sugar
1 cup ground almonds
4 eggs, separated

Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
Melt butter and chocolate in a bowl over simmering water.
Remove from heat.
Mix together cocoa powder and sugar and add to chocolate.
Fold in almonds and egg yolks.
Beat egg whites until soft peaks are formed.
Fold into chocolate mixture.
If mixture seems a little stiff, add some warmed milk.
Spoon into ramekins.
Bake for around 30 minutes or until cooked.
Serve with cream.

Chicken with basil and parmesan

4 chicken breasts
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
6 rashers bacon
Garlic and ginger
50g butter
1 onion
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp mustard

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Brown onion, garlic, ginger and bacon until onion is soft and bacon is nearly cooked.
Combine breadcrumbs and cheese. Add to onion mixture
Melt butter in a saucepan and add Worcestershire sauce and mustard.
Dip chicken in butter mixture and then roll in crumb mixture until evenly coated.
Place crumbed chicken into ovenproof bowl, sprinkle with any left over crumb mixture and bake for around 25 minutes or until breasts are cooked.

Dark chocolate tart

Crust
1/2 packet wine biscuits
50g grated 70% dark chocolate
100g melted butter

Filling
200g chopped 70% dark chocolate
50g butter
1 egg, separated
1/3 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup whipped cream

Crush biscuits. Add melted butter and grated chocolate.
Press mixture into bottom and sides of a pie dish.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
Bake crust for around 30 minutes or until firm to the touch.

Melt chocolate and butter in bowl over simmering water.
Remove from heat, stir in egg yolk and cool.
Whisk egg white and sugar until sugar has dissolved.
Fold in chocolate and then fold in cream.
Spoon into tart shell.
Refrigerate for 2 hours or until set.
Serve with cream.

Chocolate clafoutis

A clafoutis "is a custard-like baked French dessert that is typically made by baking fresh fruit (traditionally cherries) and a batter, somewhat similar to pancake batter, in a baking dish."

This recipe could be made with something like plums but we left out the fruit.

50g plain flour
30g cocoa powder
75g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 cup cream
1 cup chopped dark chocolate (we use 70%)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Sift the flour, cocoa and sugar and mix in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, stir the vanilla, cream and eggs.
Add the vanilla mixture to the flour mixture and stir through.
Add the chocolate.
Spoon into a baking dish and bake for around 25 minutes or until cooked.

Prawn paella

1 onion
Garlic and ginger
2 tsp chili powder
250g sliced chorizo sausages
2 cups arborio rice
6 cups chicken stock
Tin tomatoes
Tomato sauce
1 cup white wine
20 large prawns (cleaned)

Bring stock to a simmer and keep it simmering.
Fry onion, garlic, ginger, chili and chorizo until onions are soft.
Stir in rice, tin tomatoes, tomato sauce and wine and simmer for about 3 minutes.
Add a cup of stock and stir gently until liquid is absorbed and then repeat with next cup of stock. This will take around 20 minutes.
Add the prawns and warm through - about 3 minutes.
Serve with crusty bread.

Green olives

Our olive trees in the garden bore a lot of fruit this year so we thought we would try and cure them ourselves.

Bash each olive with a rolling pin so that the skin cracks. This takes a long time and will stain your chopping board with olive oil!

Rinse and then place in a glass bowl with a plate over the top to weigh the olives down. Place in a cool, dark place and change the water every day. Leave for 10 days.

1 1/2 litre water
3 tbsp salt
3 lemons, cubed
2 tbsp dried herbs
2 cups white vinegar
10 cloves garlic
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
Olive oil

Boil the water and dissolve all the salt.
Rinse the olives and then cover with the salt brine.
Add the lemons, herbs, vinegar, garlic, cumin and coriander and stir.
Cover the surface with olive oil.
Leave in a cool, dark place for at least two weeks.
They will keep for around 2 months.

The pictures show the olives after harvest in the red bowl, after soaking in water and then the final solution with lemons etc.

Burritos

We normally use a burrito kit available at most supermarkets. The kit contains the burritos, seasoning and salsa sauce.

1 kg mince (don't need it all but can freeze the rest of the mixture)
1 onion
Garlic and ginger
1/2 cup water
1 green pepper
1 tin baked beans
Lettuce (chopped up)
Tomatoes (chopped up)
Grated cheese

Fry the mince, onion, green pepper, garlic and ginger until cooked.
Add the seasoning and water and simmer for 5 minutes.
Warm through the baked beans and salsa sauce.
Assemble at table by placing small quantities of the mince mixture, lettuce, tomatoes, beans, salsa and cheese and then fold over the burrito like an envelope.
Fingers are a must!

Feijoa cake with honey

The neighbours have a feijoa tree dripping with fruit so they gave us a bag - hence the recipe. The fruit makes it really moist.

50g soft butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
Around 1 cup mashed feijoas
2 cups standard flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
Cream butter and honey.
Add eggs slowly, beating all the time.
Add the vanilla.
Fold the feijoas into the mixture.
Sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Fold through the mixture adding the milk slowly as well.
Spoon the mixture into a tin and bake for around 40 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Chicken curry

2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground peppercorns
1 tsp cloves
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 onion
Garlic and ginger
4 tomatoes (roughly chopped)
Around 8 chicken thighs
Bay leaves
Tin tomatoes

Fry the onion, garlic, ginger and chicken in oil until the onion starts to colour and the chicken is browned.
Add all the spices and fry for about 5 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and contents of tomato can and stir.
Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Stir occasionally.
Serve with rice.

Tiramisu

1 cup strong espresso coffee (cooled)
1 egg
100 ml cream
200g ricotta cheese
2 tsp caster sugar
8 sponge finger biscuits (broken up - needs to be chunky)
Cocoa powder

Separate the egg.
Beat egg white until soft peaks form.
In a separate bowl, beat the cream until thickened.
Fold in egg yolk, ricotta and sugar.
Gently fold in the egg white.
Take half the sponge biscuits and dip into the coffee.
Arrange in the bottom of 4 serving bowls.
Spoon half the mixture over the biscuits.
Make another layer with the rest of the biscuits.
Spoon over the rest of the ricotta mixture.
Dust with the cocoa powder.