o frabjous day!

Month: July 2005

  • Banana and Pecan Bread

    This is adapted from a Doris Brett recipe. Everyone who bakes has their perfect banana bread recipe, but I’m not quite sure that this is mine. It’s delicious, moist and uses plenty of bananas (which is an important element in making banana bread – usually it’s done to use up overripe bananas that have been…

  • Mars Bar Biscuits

    I had a craving for a sweet chocolate biscuit one night, and came up with these. The pieces of Mars Bar make chewy chocolate caramel chunks within the dough. I cooked mine for too long, and they’re more crunchy than I’d like, although the chewiness of the Mars Bars do contrast well with a crunchier…

  • Cream and Bacon Gnocchi

    This recipe is from the lovely and delightful Angela. I was a little unsure about it, especially when I plopped the gluggy from-a-packet gnocchi into the sauce, but I suppose a certain glugginess is in the nature of gnocchi, and it went well with the creaminess of the sauce. It’s a very simple and tasty recipe…

  • Pear and Honey Muffins

    These are very sweet and sticky muffins, and are quite dense and moist as well. The fresh and almost tart taste of the pear goes beautifully with the warmth of the honey and ginger. They’re adapated from a Diana Linfoot recipe in More Muffin Magic. There’s more than enough mixture for 12 normal muffins –…

  • Broccoli Upside Down Cake

    This is one of Clotilde’s recipes, and very delicious it is too. I must say, when I look at the above picture, I don’t find it looks particularly appetising – I prefer my broccoli crisply steamed – but I assure you that it tastes beautiful. The polenta based cake is crisp on the bottom, and…

  • Beetroot and Chickpea Dip

    This is a recipe from Lana, who often seems to come up with fabulous vegetarian recipes I haven’t tried before. This is a very thick and delicious dip or spread, and is such a gorgeous colour, I don’t know how you can resist making it. Perfect picnic food. 2-3 large fresh beetroots 4 cups dried…

  • Roast Garlic Pasta

    This is a delicious recipe from The Daily Bread, which I’ve altered a little, and renamed. It’s a very garlicky pasta dish, and is also fairly oily – in a lovely way, but it mightn’t suit delicate stomachs. Good both warm and cold, this is a wonderfully versatile dish. I can foresee it appearing in…

  • Cranberry and Chocolate Chip Biscuits

    I haven’t made biscuits for years, but suddenly felt the urge to today. I’m planning on taking my excess baking to work tomorrow, and I thought a few biscuits would go down well. This is a chocolate chip recipe from a generic cookbook called Better Baking, which I’ve altered by adding the cranberries. They’re very…

  • Sweet Potato and Couscous Salad

    This is a light, warm, lemony salad. I had a slightly different version at a friend’s house, and have since adapted it for taste, and to suit what I’ve had in the fridge. The roast sweet potato goes well with a green crunch – here I’ve used green capsicum, but baby spinach is lovely as…

  • Prune and Chocolate Cake

    This is a delicious, richly spiced and dense cake. It’s a recipe from Doris Brett’s Australian Bread Book, which I think is now out of print, but is a wonderful book full of unusual cakes and breads. This particular cake is not only very easy and quick to make, but also versatile – it can…