Easy Chilli

I only have one photo of this delicious one pot meal, as I didn't intend to publish it. A friend wanted the recipe to share, so here it is. Enjoy Tania and friends. x



Easy Chlli
4 - 6 Serves

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 white onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
500g ground beef
1 tablespoon ancho chilli powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
600ml tomato passata
125ml beer
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 x 400g black beans, drained and rinsed


Heat the oil in a medium Dutch oven. Fry the onions for 5 minutes on medium heat until softened. Add the garlic and fry for a further minute. Add the beef and fry on high heat for 5 minutes until browned, breaking up any lumps as you go. Add the chilli powder, cumin, smoked paprika and salt and cook for 2 minutes. Add the passata, beer, Worcestershire sauce and bring to boil. Boil for 5 minutes, then reduce to heat to the lowest your burner will go. Place a piece of baking paper directly on top of the chili, then put the lid on the Dutch oven and cook very slowly for 2 hours. Add the beans and cook for 10 more minutes.

Vanilla Bean Scones

These really are the best scones I've ever made.

Vanilla Bean Scones

slightly adapted from here

For the Scones:

3 cups plain flour (I use "00")

2 tablespoons polenta

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

170g cool unsalted butter, diced

¾ cup buttermilk, plus extra fro brushing

¼ cup maple syrup

1 egg

1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

For the Glaze:

1 cup icing sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Make the Scones:

Preheat the oven to 190C and line a baking tray with baking paper. Set aside.

Put the flour, polenta, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and stir to combine. Use a pastry butter (or your fingers) to cut in (or rub in) the butter until you have a rough, crumbly mixture.

Put the buttermilk, maple syrup, egg and vanilla bean paste into a jug and whisk to combine. Pour into the dry ingredients and blend just until it comes together, but there are still dry pieces. Dump the mixture out into a work surface and bring the dough together with your hands, flattening and folding the dough a few times (this building flakiness). Make two discs from the dough and cut each into six scone wedges. Place them on the prepared tray and brush the tops with buttermilk. Bake for 18 - 20 minutes until they are light brown on top. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.

Make the Glaze:

Whisk the glaze ingredients together until smooth. Drizzle over the cooled scones.  Leave to set for an hour before eating.

Espresso and Hazelnut Bundt Cake with Dulce de Leche Drizzle

I adore Tasmania. It's were husband and I spent our honeymoon. "Back in the Day" we took our classic Alfa Romeo on the boat from Melbourne to Devonport and spent the next three weeks on a road trip which covered the length and breadth of this gem of an island. We've been back with the boys a few times over the years, but we recently spent an extra long weekend back in Hobart, while our boys attended a beach volleyball camp in Sydney. We don't spend a lot of time away from our sons, so a weekend of indulging in the things we like to do, without having to consider them, was a luxury we took full advantage of. Imagine hours of walking, reading, window shopping, browsing book shops, museums and galleries. Drinking wine on the pier, going out for late dinner dates and slow walks home. The weekend also involved things the boys love to do, like sleep-in, have long breakfasts, stroll through markets, go to the movies (The Square, Lady Bird and Sweet Country), stop for afternoon tea in quaint cafes and eat lots of cake. We didn't elaborate too much on those things when they asked us what we got up to without them. What they don't know won't hurt them, right?... It can be our little secret. And on the topic of cake...

Espresso and Hazelnut Bundt Cake with Dulce de Leche Drizzle

adapted from here

For the Cake:

260ml water

1 tablespoon instant espresso granules

125g unsalted butter, chopped

60ml coffee liqueur

300g "00" flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

210g hazelnut meal

330g caster sugar

85g dark muscovado sugar

2 eggs

125ml buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon sea salt flakes

For the Drizzle:

150g dulce de leche (homemade or store bought)

80g icing sugar, sifted

2 teaspoons boiling water

Make the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease and flour a 2.5 liter capacity bundt pan. Set aside.

Put the water, coffee, butter and liqueur unto a small saucepan over medium heat and cook until the coffee has dissolved and the butter has melted. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, hazelnut meal, caster sugar and muscovado sugar together. Add the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, salt and butter mixture and whisk until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, place the pan onto a baking tray and bake for 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

Make the Drizzle:

Mix the drizzle ingredients together until smooth and drizzle over the cooled cake.

Almond Bread

If I can almost see the weekend from here, then I can almost smell the almond bread for weekend breakfasting from here too.

Almond Bread

slightly adapted from here

Makes two loaves

75g hot water

150g milk

50g olive oil

1 egg

15g fresh yeast

500g bakers flour

1 teaspoon salt

50g almond meal

150g slivered almonds

7 teaspoons caster sugar

Oil two 18 x 11 x 10 cm bread tins. Set aside.

Put the hot water, cold milk, olive oil, egg, yeast, flour and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix for 5 minutes, then rest for 1 minute. Add the almond meal and slivered almonds and mix on low for another minute. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave in a warm place for about 45 minutes. Gently and briefly knead the dough in the bowl and rest for a further 20 minutes.

Divide the dough into two even portions and shape them into balls, cover with a damp tea towel and leave them to rest for 25 minutes.

Lightly flour a work surface and press the dough balls into rectangles. Fold them into thirds, like you would a business letter, and then roll them into a fat sausage shape. Place the loaves, seam side down, into the prepared bread tins. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave in a warm place for about an hour until puffy.

Preheat the oven to 210C fan-forced.

Use a spray bottle to squirt some water into the hot oven to create some steam and quickly place the tins onto the middle shelf. Reduce the temperature to 180C and bake for 35 - 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn them out onto a wire rack to cool.

Mediterranean Orange Cake with Cardamom Creme Anglaise

If I ever needed any excuse to eat cake, the fact that it's fresh out of the oven would be good enough for me.

Mediterranean Orange Cake with Cardamom Creme Anglaise

slightly adapted from here

For the Creme Anglaise:

500ml full cream milk

1 vanilla bean split in half lengthways and seeds scraped

3 cardamom pods, bruised

5 egg yolks

70g caster sugar

For the Cake:

180g almond meal

65g fresh breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon orange flower water

1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest

150g caster sugar

4 eggs

160ml vegetable oil 

Make the Creme Anglaise:

Heat the milk, vanilla bean and seeds and the cardamom pods in a saucepan over medium heat until almost boiling. Remove from the heat, discard the vanilla bean and set aside.

In a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks and sugar until combined. While whisking, pour the warm milk over the egg mixture. Return the mixture to the stove and stir over low heat until it coats the back of the spoon (around 86C). Do not boil. Stain through a fine meshed sieve and set aside to cool. 

Make the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 170C. Lightly grease the base and sides of a 22cm round cake tin and line with baking paper, making sure the paper comes up 2cm above the top of the pan. Set aside.

Put the almond, breadcrumbs, baking powder and orange zest into a bowl and whisk to mix. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the sugar and eggs together until thick and pale. Gradually add the oil and orange blossom water and beat until well combined. Use a large metal spoon to fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for about 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.  

Allow to stand in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack rack to cool.

Bundt Cake with Chocolate and Walnuts

This is one of those no-frills, quick-to-whip-up, "plain" cakes. They are inevitably far more delicious than they might look. Under promise, over deliver is the name of the game.

Bundt Cake with Chocolate and Walnuts

350g unsalted butter, at room temperature

350g caster suagr

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

5 eggs, at room temperature

½ cup buttermilk

450g plain flour

150g corn flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

200g chopped wanuts

100g chopped dark chocolate

Icing sugar, for dusting

Whipped cream, for serving

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 24cm Bundt pan. Set aside.

Put the butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium high for about 5 minutes, until pale and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and buttermilk and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl, mix the plain flour, corn flour and baking powder together. Sift if over the butter mixture and gently fold it in. Fold in the chopped walnuts.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with the chopped chocolate and spoon in the remaining batter. Level the top and bake for about 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Dust liberally with icing sugar and serve with generous dollops of whipped cream.

Lamb Kefta

I know if I make meatballs for dinner, there'll be smiles all round. It doesn't matter what kind of meatball or what type of sauce they are in, the last ball in the pan will be fought over and the sauce mopped up with chunks of bread. Meatballs are my fallback position. You know those days when you pace up and down the supermarket aisles for ages, wondering what you are going to make for dinner and nothing immediately presents itself as a viable option? Those are my meatball days. You can bet, when my head is cloudy and I'm struggling for meal ideas, there's definitely a chance of meatballs. (And yes, I apologise for that last sentence.)

Lamb Kefta

Serves 4 - 6

slightly adapted from here

For the Kefta:

600g ground lamb

1½ tablespoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon ground coriander

2 garlic cloves, minced

Finely grated zest of ½ lemon

For the Sauce:

1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

150g moghrabieh

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 onions, finely chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 large cinnamon quill

1 tablespoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons Aleppo pepper

1 x 700g bottle passata

750ml chicken or beef stock

100g pine nuts

Toast the Moghrabieh and Pine Nuts:

In a large, wide pan over medium-low heat, add 1 tablespoon of the oil. Once the oil is hot, add the moghrabieh and cook in the oil until golden and toasted. This will only take a few minutes. Add enough boiling water to cover the moghrabieh and boil for about 5 - 8 minutes until they are starting to become tender. Remove from the pan, drain and set aside.

Wipe the pan dry and toast the pine nuts until they too are golden. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Make the Kefta:

Put all the kefta ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Take 2 tablespoons of mixture and form into balls.

Add 1 tablespoon of the oil to the pan you toasted the moghrabieh and pine nuts in over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and cook for about 4 - 5 minutes, turning regularly, until browned all over. Remove from pan and set aside.

Make the Sauce:

Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan, lower the heat to medium low. Add the onions, garlic, cinnamon and cumin and cook for about 3 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan. Be careful not to burn the spices. Add the chickpeas and the passata. Bring to boil and add the stock and simmer for about 10 - 15 minutes, until reduced by half. Return the meatballs to the pan and add the moghrabieh and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened. Remove from the heat and sprinkle with toasted pine nuts.