Hasselback Scalloped Potatoes

I have seen people posting this on Facebook, I have found more than a dozen recipes as to how to make this. And considering that it does look so very edible, I decided to give it a go. However, I have to say, it is not as the recipes on the Web... I may be too little of a cook to achieve it the way their pictures look, but I just couldn't duplicate their techniques. 

Ingredients

6 whole potatoes
cold butter
cheese, sliced and grated
olive oil
Ground black pepper
cayenne pepper
whipped cream/sour cream/buttermilk
cream cheese/ cottage cheese

Method

Wash and slice the potatoes, but do not cut through.

Slice the butter into slices of about 2mm thick, as well as the cheese. 

Alternating between the grooves in the potato, place the butter and cheese slices in the grooves. (one groove cheese, one groove butter). Well, that's how they say you should do it. I couldn't manage it, and this is my attempt:

Drizzle olive oil over and gallantly grind black pepper and salt over. Bake in an oven at 180 degrees C, until the potato is done. 

Top generously with grated cheese, pour over the cream or sour cream or buttermilk, and sprinkle some cayenne pepper on top. 

Place it back in the oven and bake until the cheese is completely melted and starting to brown. 

Remove from oven, add a dollop of cream cheese or cottage cheese, and serve!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Red Velvet Ruins

Red Velvet Ruins

Well, these are called Red Velvet Ruins, because it was supposed to be Red Velvet Cupcakes, but the cupcakes got ruined by my very old muffin pans, so we turned them into Ruins… Turned out decadently sweet and moist and yummy!! My biggest hang-up with cupcakes is that the cake is normally dry and the icing too much and too sweet. Well, this is the best of both. In one.

Cupcakes

Ingredients

½ cup butter, soft

1 ½ cup sugar

2 eggs

2tbs cocoa

4tbs liquid red food colouring

1t salt

1t vanilla essence

1cup buttermilk

2 ½ cup flour

1 ½ t baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)(koeksoda)

1tbs white vinegar

Method

Preheat the oven to 175degrees C. Cream the butter and sugar together.

Add the eggs one by one. 

 Mix the cocoa and the food colouring to form a paste...

 ...and mix that in with the egg mixture. 

Whisk together the salt, vanilla essence and buttermilk until well combined. Sift the flour. 

Taking turns, add the buttermilk and flour to the egg mixture. 

Mix well. 

Until smooth and shiny...

Combined the baking soda and vinegar. Add to the dough and gently fold through, avoiding too much mixing. 

Spray cookie/muffin trays with non-stick spray. Scoop in to fill it just to the half way mark. 

Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, and test with your tester needle to confirm. Remove from the oven.

(Credit: Allrecipes.com)

Icing

Ingredients

500g icing sugar

125g cream cheese  (I used cottage cheese….)

125g butter

1t lemon juice

Method

Whisk the icing sugar using a hand blender. 

Add the cottage cheese and mix until thoroughly combined. 

Add the butter and mix until creamy. 

Add the lemon juice and mix until creamy and smooth and glossy.

(Credit: Nigella.com)

NOW…

Take the cupcakes and crumb them into the icing, mixing with the hand blender at first. 

When it gets too thick, use a wooden spoon and blend well.

Place in freezer to cool. Once cooled or frozen (your preference) scoop with ice cream scoop, add some sprinkles and enjoy!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Baked Mince Roll

Since I swopped Wednesday and Monday around, so that I could make that absolutely divine Potato & Leek Soup, yesterday had to be Mince day. I leafed through a recipe book and found my inspiration... This has quite a rich taste to it, and it is so easy to make and fairly quick, too. 

Preparation Time: 20min
Cooking time: 50min
Difficulty Level: Easy
Serves: 5

Ingredients

500g mince
2tbs soya sauce
1tbs balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup red wine
1t spice for mince
1t origanum
1tbs sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 410g in tomato and onion
1 1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2tub cream cheese
3tbs mayonnaise
butter
olive oil
1 roll puff pastry

Method
Fry the mince in a little olive oil. If needed, add a little water (3tbs). Make sure the mince grains are loosened well. Add the soya sauce, balsamic vinegar and red wine.

 Stir through. Add the spice for Mince, origanum and sugar. Add salt & pepper to taste, although I will be very careful to add more salt. I only added pepper. Mix well. Add the tin tomato & onion and let the whole mixture cook for a little while, put on the lid, remove from the heat and let it cool down.

Whisk the cream cheese and mayonnaise together. Roll out the puff pastry very lightly. Lightly coat the pastry with a layer of butter. Then add the cream cheese mixture.

Sprinkle the cheese over evenly.

Once the mince has cooled down, spread over the cheese, evenly over the whole pastry sheet. Roll up from one side - some mince may escape, enjoy the titbits!! Carefully pick up and place in a casserole dish. Wash with eggwash or milk. 

Bake in an oven at 160degrees C for about  30 minutes until golden brown. 

Slice and serve with a fresh garden salad. And enjoy!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Potato & Leek Soup

I thought of this as a light, quick soup to make, perfect for Sunday dinner after a heavy (absolutely divine!!) Sunday lunch..
Ya, ehh... no. Although very easy and with quite few ingredients, it is not a "light" meal.. It is so filling, and tasty, you can't stop eating even if you wanted to! The soup in itself is carb-friendly (yes, I know, potatoes is seen as the "enemy", along with bread and cookies, but I do not agree. There is absolutely nothing refined about potatoes... it's naturally found in nature. So I believe it's good for you!! Enjoy your potatoes!!). But my son who has recently developed an interest in cooking, wanted to make bread. So I let him bake a bread... 
Very few things in life comes close to the taste of freshly home-baked bread and butter.
I couldn't resist!!

Preparation Time: 30min
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Difficulty Level: Easy
Serves: 8

Ingredients

13 potatoes (I counted 2 per person, but some were small potatoes, so I added 3 more)
4 leeks
1 onion
2 twigs rosemary
250ml cream
900ml water
1 cube chicken stock
1/2 tub cream cheese
4tbs butter
lemon zest

Method

Cook the potatoes - skin on - till soft.

 Rinse under cold water, remove the skins. The skins comes off very easy. I recommend taking off a bit more flesh, to make delicious potato-skin chippies! 

Melt the butter in the pot. Finely mince the leeks and onion together. Check the leeks to make sure there isn't any soil in and that the outer leaf is fresh. Remove it if it isn't fresh. Fry the onion and leek in the butter until it just starts to brown. 

Cut the potatoes in cubes and mix with the onion mix. Dissolve the cube chicken stock in the water and add it to the potatoes. Add the rosemary and salt and pepper to taste. 

Mix and let it cook on low heat for about 20 min. Add the cream and cream cheese. Mince by hand or in a blender, depending on how smooth you want to make the soup.

Mix through and add the zest. If you want it thicker, let it cook a little longer. If you want it more watery, add some water. 

Serve hot with the skin-chippies, and freshly baked bread with butter...

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Risch's Lemon Cheesecake

Cheesecake is one of the easier desserts to make, and since you can make it low carb, I decided to try it. However, all the no-bake recipes asks for sweetened condensed milk. To the great distress of my kids, I don't have any. I really don't like it. Making it sounds like a schlep. I wasn't in the mood for baking a cheesecake... So... I made my own no-bake, creamy, smooth lemon cheesecake!! Not as sweet as the traditional ones, though. But very very delectable!!

Preparation time: 30min
Setting Time: 2 hours, minimum
Difficulty level: slightly skilled
Serves: 6

Ingredients

1 packet lemon jelly
1 packet marie biscuits
250ml cream
1/4cup castor sugar
125g cream cheese
1/4cup lemon juice
10g gelatine
125ml warm water
4tbs butter

Method

Crush the marie biscuits finely. Melt the butter and mix with the biscuits to form a moist mixture. Line the bottom and sides of a baking dish. 

Whip the cream to a thicker consistency. Add the sugar and whisk until sugar is dissolved and the cream has a shine to it. Add the cream cheese and whisk until completely combined. 

Dissolve the gelatine completely in the warm water. Add the lemon juice to the cream mixture, mix quickly and well. Add the gelatine. Mix quickly and very thoroughly. Pour into the baking dish. Put in the fridge to set. Make the lemon jelly according to the packet instructions. Let it set in the fridge. When it is thickened, but still liquid, carefully pour onto the cheesecake mixture to form a layer on top. Let set in the fridge.

My drawback with this was the jelly... my son made the jelly and he did not read the instructions thoroughly. So the jelly didn't want to set so well. I poured it over the cheesecake mixture, but because it was still way too liquid, it simply seeped into the crust. 

This didn't take anything away from the taste, though. This cheesecake is so smooth and creamy, with such a light hint of the lemon, and a subtle sweetness... you'll never believe it is homemade!!

Serve with Candied Lemon and leftover jelly.
And enjoy!!

Yours in oil and veggies... and dessert!

Risch