Chocolate and Ricotta Cake

Made by my lovely Marloes over the Christmas holidays, this cake was so nice i had to try it out myself! :p so I asked Marloes the recipe and did it here in Sydney for a friend's bbq. The cake was still a bit warm when we ate it, mmmmmh, delicious! and so did think the others!
The ricotta really gives a light and soft touch to the cake and the chocolate & hazelnuts make it smell amazing! perfect for dessert, snack or breakfast :)

Ingredients (for a 10in cake pan long):
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour (250 grams)
- 3,53 oz ricotta (85 gr)
- 3,52 oz chopped hazelnuts (85 gr)
- 3,52 melted pure chocolate (85 gr)
- 7/8 cup sugar (175 gr)
- 1/4 cup melted butter (55gr)
- 2 eggs
- 1 pinch salt
- 3 teaspoons bakink powder
- milk if necessary

- icing sugar to sprinkle (optional)

Method:
Beat the eggs with sugar until frothy. Add melted butter, ricotta, salt and flour and baking powder sifted together, mix well (if the mixture is too hard, add a little milk, I have added two tablespoons). Add chopped hazelnuts and chocolate, mix well. Transfer the mixture into a buttered and floured cake pan and bake in the preheated gas oven at 300-335°F for 55 minutes about (do the toothpick test). Remove it from the cake pan and let cool on a rack. Sprinkle with icing sugar if you want, serve and Enjoy! :d

Crumbed bocconcini & grilled tomato salad

OK, I got a bit delayed (although i did my first receipe weeks ago), but here I am! ready to rrrumble, chop, scoop and sizzle! and make our tummies feel nice and satisfied :)

My first receipe, I found in the free magazine you get at Coles Supermarkets, but I have to admit I did change it a bit as it is an alergy-free receipe and I didn't have all those alergy-free ingredients. so i'll just write down the receipe with my changes immediatly, ok? :) Here it goes:

Serves 6 * perparation 20min * cooking 10min


180g little bocconcini cheese (drained) --> mini mozarella
1/3 cup plain flour, sifted
1 egg, beaten
1 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
1/3 shredded parmesan
oil for cooking

SALAD
250g mini roma tomatoes, halved
4 thin slices prosciutto
100 g rocket leaves
basil leaves for garnish (note: i forgot the basil, so i just did it with rocket&spinahs leaves)

DRESSING
1/2 cup basil leaves, shredded (note: i did without this)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar, or to taste

1. Pat bacconcini with paper towel. One by one, dust in flour seasoned with salt and pepper to lightly coat and dip in egg. Place in a bowl containing combined breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese and roll to coat. Press coating on well. Place on a plate and chill for 30mins.
2. To make Salad: Preheat oven to 180°C or 160°C fan. Arrange tomatoes vut side up and prosciutto on two baking trays. Bake for 10-15mins, until prosciutto is crisp and tomatoes have collapsed slightly. Break prosciutto into pieces and toss together with rocket and tomatoes. Set aside.
3. To make dressing: Whisk together dressing ingredients, until combined.
4. Heat enough oil in a frying pan to shallow fry crumbed bocconcini. Fry in 2 batches until crunchy and golden. Drain on paper towels. Scatter bocconcini over salad, toss gently and drizzle over dressing. Garnish with basil.

That's it, enjoy! I was the only one eating my try-out, but did like it. Even took a little pic (it's not the best, but gives you an idea :))

Triangles croustillants à l'agneau

Une recette idéale pour une soirée ou un plateau télé, inspirée d'un des livres des chefs de Mmmmh!.

Pour 20 triangles :

- 400 gr. de viande d'agneau hachée

- 10 feuilles de brick

- 1 poivron jaune, 1 poivron vert et 1 poivron rouge

- 2 oignons

- Quelques branches de persil

- 1 bouquet de coriandre

- 1 càc de gingembre moulu

- 1 càc de paprika doux

- 3 càs d'huile d'olives

Hacher finement les oignons, peler et couper les poivrons en petits dés et hacher le persil et la coriandre.

Dans une casserole, faire fondre les oignons dans l'huile. Faire ensuite revenir les poivrons, puis ajouter la viande, les épices et les herbes. Bien mélanger et laisser mijoter jusqu'à ce que la viande soit cuite. Saler et poivrer. Egoutter le mélange dans une passoire.

Couper les feuilles de bricks en deux et faire les triangles... Alors! Pour les triangles... Faites comme vous pouvez! Plier la demie feuille de brick (ronde) en deux dans le sens de la longueur, placer une bonne cuillère de farce dans un coin, laisser suffisament d'espace pour pouvoir replier le bord sur la farce, replier le reste de la bande en triangle... je sais ce n'est pas très clair... essayez, vous verrez bien! et prévoyez peut-être 2 paquets de feuilles de brick la première fois! ;)

Faire dorer les triangles des deux côtés dans un four préchauffé à 180°.

Enjoy! Virg*

Soupe aux carottes et aux lentilles

Une petite recette toute simple, inspirée de plusieurs autres... Le seul et unique testeur, moi!, a bien apprécié sa p'tite soupe!

Dans une casserole, faire bouillir 1 litre d'eau avec un bouillon cube aux légumes, du curry en poudre, du cumin en poudre, de la coriandre en poudre et du gros sel (doser selon ses goûts).

Ajouter un oignon émincé, de l'ail, 500 gr. de carottes coupées en rondelles épaisses d'un centimètre environ et 150 gr. de lentilles crues.

Couvrir et laisser mijoter environ 1/2 heure (si je me souviens bien!).

NE PAS MIXER et ajouter 4 cuillères à soupe de fromage blanc.

Enjoy! Virg*