"Cooking" ice cubes

I'm loving this post: Ice Cubes Recipe - teenagers take note!

The serving dish determines the meal?

A wet weekend spent at my mothers with an investigation into her glassware cupboard revealed some lovely antique-looking glass dishes that, once washed, said "chocolate mousse". This led me to think that sometimes it's better to choose the meal based on the serving dish rather than vice versa?

 Anyway, armed with the said dishes and offering to cook lunch today I took the opportunity to revisit the classic Margaret Fulton cookbook for our menu. Yes, I did find a chocolate mousse (page 143) and tucked away was a typed-written note for Spanish Cream which I also gave a go. While the mousse looked spectacular in the dishes the cream was another story, looking decidedly odd. Anyway, leaving it overnight and putting my trust in Margaret, the cream managed to set and was actually really lovely.

Given the vagaries of Sydney weather this weekend, deciding the main course proved challenging. Again, Margaret to the rescue. Her Meat Sauce for pasta (page 122)  is something I've wanted to cook for awhile and the Pasticcio (page 124) also seemed a sensible choice for both the warm and cold weather (and the ever-expanding guest list thanks to Facebook!). Turned out making, what I now call, a "Lasticcio", a combination of both recipes given Mum's request for lasagne and that the dish I used was a tad big!Two layers of meat sauce, and one of pasticcio along with a white sauce managed to work rather well. It was accompanied by a big mixed leaf salad served in another lovely crystal bowl.  

All in all a lovely day which turned into a spontaneous celebration as brother John was named DHLs Oceania employee of the year and brother Paul had a birthday and finished his school reports - well done both of you! Oh, and turns out the glass dishes belonged to my grandmother - something else to celebrate as we use and enjoy a lost piece of our history. If I can persuade Mum to part with them I'll be using them a lot more in future...

Oh, and to my Italian reader horrified by this travesty, remember cooking is also about improvisation as well as tradition!

Another Neil Perry treat

My quest for Panna Cotta continues. Came across Neil Perry's raspberry one in the Sydney Morning Herald on the weekend so keen to try it out at some point

Ingredients
1 litre double cream
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup frozen raspberries, thawed, puréed and strained through a sieve
3 leaves gelatine
2 punnets fresh raspberries
icing sugar, sifted

Instructions
Place the cream and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Add the strained raspberry purée to the saucepan. Soak the gelatine in water until soft, squeeze out and add the softened gelatine to the cream mix. Stir well, then strain the mixture through a fine sieve. Pour the cream mixture into 10 plastic dariole moulds. Place in the refrigerator to set for 4 hours or overnight. To serve, dip each mould into a bowl of hot water for a few seconds. Run a knife around the edge and turn the panna cotta out onto a plate. Place the fresh raspberries around the panna cotta and dust with icing sugar.
Serves 10.

Now just to find some "dariole moulds"...

Outdoor ovens .. and clever people

There are some very skilled people in this world, some have vision, some make things happen, some are great company, others good cooks. I'm lucky coz I have all this going on in my family, demonstrated today when we finally got our invite to experience the wonders of the Forestville Kelly's outdoor oven. It was built by brother Phil, capably supervised by brother Paul and with very nice finishing tiling from sis-in-law Lee and niece Sammy. 

Oven in full cook mode

The family (well parts of it!)

Today we were invited along for a birthday celebration and all participated in making our own pizzas. Lee's dough and homemade tomato sauce formed the base, and we could create to our hearts content - salami, prawns, ham, pineapple (yuk), capsicum, anchovies, capers, chilli, mushies, just to name a few! Our clever nephew Chris had marinated and baked some chicken which made a very tasty and unusual pizza. I know my Italian reader would have a fit but we enjoyed the many varieties on offer.

So, thanks for a lovely day Forestville (and Allambie) Kelly's, incredibly impressed with your combined talents, and here's to many more pizza parties and family get-togethers.

Oven in warming mode

On babies...and parties

A vintage tablecloth on fire, a dog on the vino, a major mozzie attack, and Georgia going 'a-over-t' on her chair. Yes, just another party at the Gonella-Kelly household!

"Nappy Cake"

One of the tables

There's something that brings out the mother in all of us when it comes to babies. And so it was when a bunch of lovely gals fronted up at our place for Laura's baby shower on Saturday. A great job with the decorations, beautiful food (mixed kebabs, very yummy sheftalia, a killer pasta salad, my chicken pilaf and enough cupcakes and lollies to keep our dentists in business for the next year) combined to celebrate the soon-to-be birth of baby Lily.

The girls

Present time

Surviving the aforementioned mozzie attack (epic Aeroguard fail btw!), we ooh-ed and aah-ed over the range of gifts including some really cute outfits, reminding us how tiny and lovely newborns are.


So, now with a backyard to clean and overflowing bins, at least NoMoreCookbooks has enough food to last the week. Best of luck Laura (and remember, no having the baby on the night of the Eminen concert...).