Swedish cinnamon rolls

Who doesn't like cinnamon rolls? There's not a moment in the day when I don't fancy one. This recipe is Nigella's and as all her recipes its quite easy to make and you'll be very pleased with the results. When the rolls are in the oven, your place will smell like heaven...

Ingredients:

For the dough:

600g plain flour

100g sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

21g of dried yeast or 45g fresh yeast

100g melted butter

400ml milk

2 eggs

For the filling:

150g softened butter

150 sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 egg beaten

For the glaze:

1 cup icing sugar

splash of water

Method:

You need a 33cm x 24cm square cake tin, or you can make them separate in an oven tray. Preheat oven to200degrees. Mix the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a bowl. Mix the butter with the milk and eggs. Mix with your hands or in the mixer using the dough hook, until smooth and springy. Form a ball and place it in a oiled bowl, cover and let it rise for 30 minutes or more.

Form a rectangle with the dough, you may need more flour for the mixture to become less sticky, mix the ingredients for the cinnamon butter and spread it all over the surface of the rectangle, roll it until you have a sausage. Cut it into 2 cms slices and placethem in the baking tray, keep them some centimetres apart from one another, let them rise again, brush them with the egg and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

You can also try to make them stuck to one another in a cake tin, or in an oven dish, like in the photos above, let them rise for haf an hour or 45 minutes and bake them, 20 minutes or until a skewer comes away clean.

Once they are baked, transfer them to a cooling rack, let them cool and mix the ingredients for the glaze until it becomes a runny but sticky mixture and GLAZE!

Green tea noodle salad with prawns, ginger and chili

This is the salad I always make at home whenever I am in need of something healthy, spicy and oriental. I use prawns, but you can use chicken strips, or fish or turkey instead. Sesame oil gives this salad an aromatic touch, and if you want to enhance the flavours keep it in the fridge for half an hour before serving.

The main ingredient is the green tea noodle, and you can find them in any oriental supermarket, the same as the lemongrass.

You can use soba noodles or even spaguetti if you can't find green tea noodles. Same with the fish sauce, if you can't find it, it's OK.

Ingredients:

Half a packet green tea noodles

a handful of bean sprouts previously blanched in hot water for 3 minutes

half a red chilly thinly sliced

1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

5 or 6 cooked prawns

a handful of fresch coriander finely chopped

Half a red onion finely chopped

3 spring onions finely sliced (only the green part)

1 stick lemon grass finely sliced

sesame seeds for garnish

For the dressing:

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon fish sauce

the juice of half a lime

Method:

Boil the noodles according to the instructions in the packet, (if the instructions are in japanese, well...use your imagination) rinse with cold water when done and put them in a big bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients. In a small bowl, mix the ingredients for the dressing, pour over the salad and coat well. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve, sprinkle with the sesame seeds.

Checkerboard Cake

This is a fun to make and different cake, astonishing and impressive, this cake will really test your culinary skills as well as your patience and stillness ability when assembling it. The idea came from the Autralian womens weekly (again) but I change their sponge recipe. So, here it is:









First, you will need a deep 19cms cake tin. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. You will need two different sponges, on plain and one chocolate, then you have to cut them into thick strips and glue them using the glaze.





Ingredients:



For the white sponge:



90g softened butter

90g sugar

3 medium eggs

120g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon vanilla extract





For the glaze



3/4 cup apricot jam

2 teaspoons powdered gelatine or 3 gelatine leaves





For the chocolate ganache



6 tablespoons milk

4 tablespoons double cream

3 tablespoon water

41/2 tablespoon glucose syrup

250g dark chocolate in chunks













Method:



For the plain sponge:



Mix the butter and the sugar, add the eggs one at a time and the vanilla, then the sifted flour and baking powder. Pour in the tin and bake at 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer comes away clean. Stand cake 5 minutes before turning onto cooling rack.













For the chocolate sponge follow the same method but use 30 grams of cocoa powder, and 90g of plain flour.





Melt the ingredients for the ganache on a low heat, or the microwave, and cool to room temperature.Beat with wooden spoon until is thick and spreadable.













Once the cakes are done and cold, cut into equal strips. Heat the jam in the microwave and add the gelatine, (if you use the leaves soak it in cold water first). For assembling the cake, glaze every strip on all the sides (this will be the glue) and form a perfect square, alternating the colours. Spread the ganache all over the cake, store in the fridge for at least an hour, so it will be easier to cut it into slices, and enjoy this chocolate beauty....

Olive, tomato and parmesan baked ricotta

I was feeling lazy that night, didn't fancy a lot of cooking, I was looking for something light, quick and simple to make...and I found it, Australian women's weekly....again. This is their page, where you can find their tasty and fancy recipes. My vegetarian husband was more than happy, I was more than happy too!





Ingredients:



60g finely grated parmesan cheese



500g ricotta cheese



2 eggs



1 clove garlic, crushed



1 teaspoon finelay grated lemon rind



100g semi-dried tomatoes, or oven roasted tomatoes chopped(fresh tomatoes will do fine)100g pitted black olives finely chopped



Salt and pepper



50g fresh basil leaves finely chopped











Method:



Preheat oven to 180. Grease six hole muffin pan or individual ones. Divide half the parmesan among pan holes, shake pan to coat the sides.





Combine ricotta, eggs, garlic, tomato, olives, lemon zest, basil, salt and peper and remaining parmesan in medium bowl. Divide mixture in holes, smooth surface with a spatula. Bake for 20 minutes or until firm. Cool for ten minutes before unmolding.













Drizzle with olive oil, and serve with more bastil leaves, olives, rocket salad or bread.