Author Archives: bebsrecipes

STEAK PARMA

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I think this recipe must have been a forerunner of the now traditional pub style Parmas. It tastes surprisingly good and works well with chicken too. You can use pre crumbed meat to make it easier, but freshly crumbed is probably nicer.

Steak Parma cropped

 

STEAK PARMA

  • Veal or steak pieces (thinly sliced)
  • Plain flour, Egg, Breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese *See note below
  • Tomato soup
  • Mozzarella cheese – sliced
  • Oil

Coat the meat pieces in egg and the breadcrumb mix, then fry lightly in oil. Place in an ovenproof dish, top with the tomato soup and sliced Mozzarella cheese. Cook in a moderate 180°C for ½ hour.

*How to coat meat in breadcrumbs: Season plain flour with salt & pepper. Beat the egg with a little milk in a shallow bowl. Mix the breadcrumbs with parmesan cheese. Coat the meat lightly with plain flour, then dip the floured meat into the egg mixture. Roll the meat in the breadcrumb mix.

RICE MEXICANA

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I doubt that this is even close to being a genuine Mexican recipe, but it does show the influence that “foreign” food started to have on Mum’s recipe collection. It was another Sunday night tea – easy to make, filling and tasty. I love that it was written on a brown paper bag!!

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RICE MEXICANA

  • ¾ cup rice (uncooked)
  • 1 tablespoon dripping
  • 1 dessertspoon lemon juice
  • 1 rounded teaspoon curry powder
  • ½ cup tomato puree
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups stock or water
  • 1 small onion
  • 250g minced steak

Wash rice and fry in dripping with chopped onion till a light brown then add salt, curry powder, lemon juice, tomato puree, minced steak and water or stock. Stir till boiling then simmer for ½ hour or until rice is cooked. Lift lid of saucepan 5 mins before serving to dry out rice. Serve with grilled cheese on top.

NANA’S CHEESE MEATBALLS

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Mum’s been bringing these Cheese Meatballs to our house for all sorts of events for years. They are especially loved by my daughter, who on Mother’s Day this year made this batch for us. They were great, just like her Nana’s.

Cheese Meatballs1

CHEESE MEATBALLS

Ingredients:

  • 500g beef mince
  • 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
  • 1 egg
  • Pepper and salt
  • Cubed tasty cheese
  • Oil

Sauce:

  • 1 x 400g can tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
  • ¼ cup water
  • ½ teaspoon sugar
  • Salt and pepper to taste

To make the meatballs: Place the mince, breadcrumbs, egg, pepper and salt into a bowl and mix to combine. Press ¼ cup of the mixture into a patty. Place a cube of cheese into the middle of each patty and fold over the mince to enclose. Heat a little oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and cook the meatballs for 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Place the meatballs in a baking dish. Pour sauce over and bake at 180ºC for 30 minutes.

To make the sauce: Blend tomatoes, add other ingredients.

Serves 4 – but can easily be doubled or tripled if you have a big crowd to feed.

FRENCH PEAR TART

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This is actually one of my recipes from the early days of my dinner party hosting. Since I starting this blog I find myself remembering and cooking not only Mum’s old recipes but my own as well. I served this a couple of weekends ago at lunch for a group of friends. It originally came from the Anne Marshall New Idea Cookbook published in 1976. It’s great warm or cold.French Pear Tart

FRENCH PEAR TART

185g Rich Short Crust Pastry (see below)

  • Filling:
  • 3 ripe dessert pears
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons castor sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
  • 250ml (1 cup) sour cream
  • Topping:
  • 2 tablespoons plain flour, sifted
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 60g (2 tablespoons) butter

Make pastry and chill according to directions. Roll pastry out and line a 20-23 cm (8-9 inch) flan tin or glazed ovenproof flan dish. Trim and decorate edge and prick base. Chill while preparing filling.

Filling: Peel pears, cut in half lengthways and remove core. Place pears neatly in pastry tart shell, narrow tops towards centre. Beat egg, stir in sugar, salt, spices, lemon rind and sour cream. Pour neatly over pears.

Topping: Mix flour with brown sugar and nutmeg and rub in the butter to make coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over top of tart.

Bake in centre of a hot oven at 200ºC (400ºF) for 25 minutes or until filling is set. Cool on a wire cooling tray. Serve French Pear Tart cold or warm as a dessert or with coffee. It’s delicious. Serves 6.

RICH SHORT CRUST PASTRY

  • 185g (1½ cups) plain flour
  • Pinch of salt
  • 125 (4 tablespoons) butter
  • 30g (2 tablespoons) castor sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1-2 tablespoons cold water

Sift flour and salt into a cold mixing bowl. Cut butter into flour with a round bladed knife, then mix in with cool fingertips until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in castor sugar with knife.

Mix egg yolk with cold water and mix into flour gradually with a round bladed knife until mixture forms a dough which leaves sides of bowl cleanly. Knead very gently until smooth. Wrap in greaseproof paper and chill for at least 30 minutes before use. Roll out and use according to particular recipe.

CHOCOLATE NOODLES

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Don’t know where Mum got this recipe from, but I’m guessing she tasted it somewhere and was told the recipe by the cook. She either wrote it down then or when she got home. I’ve added a few instructions, but it’s typical of the hand written recipes from Mum’s collection, just the ingredients and she would work the rest out for herself. They taste great.

Chocolate Noodles

CHOCOLATE NOODLES

  • 1 packet plain fried noodles (Changs)
  • 1 tablespoon peanut butter
  • 200g chocolate

Melt the chocolate and peanut butter together, stir in noodles. Place spoonfuls on tray lined with baking paper and refrigerate until set.

EASY QUICHE

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This recipe is great for when you don’t have a lot of time and need to feed the family quickly. Traditionally Mum used to make it on a Sunday night.

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EASY QUICHE

  • 3 eggs
  • ¾ cup Pastry Mix
  • 125g chopped bacon or ham
  • 125g grated cheese (optional)
  • 1 finely cut onion
  • 1½ cups milk
  • 1 tablespoon dried parsley
  • Pepper and salt to taste

Beat eggs – add other ingredients. Mix together well. Pour into greased dish. Bake moderate oven for ½ hour.

TRIPLE CHOC BROWNIES

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Mum has always been a chocolate lover and this recipe with three types of chocolate ticked all the boxes for her.

Triple Choc Brownies cropped

TRIPLE CHOC BROWNIES

  • 125g butter
  • 200g dark chocolate, chopped
  • ½ cup caster sugar
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1¼ cups plain flour
  • 150g white chocolate, chopped
  • 100g milk chocolate, chopped

Grease a 20cm square cake pan, line base and sides with baking paper. Combine butter and dark choc in pan, stir over heat until melted and smooth. Cool slightly. Stir in sugar and eggs then sifted flour, fold in white and milk choc. Spread mixture evenly in prepared pan. Bake moderate oven for about 35 mins or until mixture is firm to touch. Cool in pan. Sprinkle with icing sugar over top, if desired.

CARAMEL SLICE

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This is a no bake slice that is easy to make and liked by everyone.Caramel Slice cropped

CARAMEL SLICE

  • 250g Marie biscuits
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon golden syrup
  • 3 tablespoons condensed milk
  • 125g butter

Break biscuits into small pieces and place in buttered dish or pan. Combine in saucepan the brown sugar, golden syrup, condensed milk and butter. Bring to boil and simmer for 10 mins. Pour over biscuit pieces stirring to distribute evenly. Leave overnight in fridge and then cut into squares and serve.

PICKLED ONIONS

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Italian families have a tomato sauce day, but the Smith family had a Pickled Onion night. Once a year Mum bought bags of small brown pickling onions, assembled the vinegar & spices, washed the jars and issued the order “If you want to eat pickled onions this year you have to stay home and help”. Not a job any of us particularly liked doing as top and tailing the onions and removing the skin may not sound all that hard, but in bulk it’s a big job. So with my Dad and brothers, who usually stayed well away from the kitchen, we set to work, with Mum supervising of course. The result was jars and jars of lovely pickled brown onions. They were eaten straight from the jar, if Mum didn’t catch you, appeared on salads, with plates of cold meat and in sandwiches – cheese and pickled onion was one of Dad’s favourites. They usually lasted all year and a fresh batch was always anticipated. While they may not be as popular these days, the Smith family still love them. I hope you enjoy them as much.Pickled Onions cropped

PICKLED ONIONS

(Fowlers Saucette is no longer available but we do now have pickling spices so I’ve substituted them and added a few more directions)

  • 2kg pickling onions, peeled (see note below)
  • 2.5 litre Malt Vinegar
  • 2.5 litre sherry
  • 1kg sugar
  • 60g salt
  • 8 tsp pickling spices or
  • 1tsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp mustard seed, 1 tsp black peppercorns, 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
  • cloves

Peel onions and soak with salt overnight. Next day drain (do not leave longer than overnight as you want the onions to be crisp). Rinse and dry with kitchen towel. Pack onions into sterilized jars add a few cloves to each jar.

Boil vinegar, sherry, spices and sugar together and let cool. Pour liquid over onions and seal jars.

NOTE: To shorten the onion peeling process you can top and tail the onions, then put the onions in a large heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to cool and once the water is cool the skins will just rub off. Drain and pat the onions dry, but don’t leave in the water once it has cooled as the onions will start to go mushy.

CHICKEN IN ORANGE

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This is one of Mum’s easy and tasty chicken recipes.

Chicken in Orange cropped

 

 CHICKEN IN ORANGE

  • 1 chicken
  • 2 tablespoons plain flour ]
  • 1 teaspoon curry powder ] Put in a bag and coat jointed chicken
  • 1 teaspoon brown sugar ]
  • Salt & Pepper ]

Put in a casserole and cover with the juice of 2 oranges. Cook in a 170º oven for 1 hour covered. Then take off lid and put 1 rasher of bacon on top. Cook a further ½ hour.