Chocolate Mug Cake

4 tbs flour
4 tbs sugar
2 tbs cocoa

mix together:
1 egg beaten
3 tbs oil
3 tbs milk
Vanilla if you have it
3 tbs choc bits optional.

Add wet to dry and mix. Put in 2 mugs and cook for 3 mins in microwave. Allow to stand before eating. 1000 watt microwave used.

Kerrilee

Pecan Sour Cream Cake

250g butter
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
300g carton sour cream
1 and 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup sr flour
1 tsp bicarb soda
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
2 tblsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Grease a deep 23cm round pan.
Cream butter, essence and sugar in a small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy; beat in eggs one at a time, beat until combined.
Transfer mixture to a large bowl, stir in sour cream then sifted flours and soda.
Spread half hte cake mixture into prepared pan, sprinkle with half hte conbined pecans, brown sugar and cinnamon. Spread evenly with remaining cake mixture, sprinkle with remaining pecan mixture; press gently into cake mixture. Bake mod oven 1 hour or so. Stand 5 mins before turning onto wire rack to cool.

Keeps 3 days (yeah, sure!)

Chocolate Cake in a Mug

The Most Dangerous Choccie Cake Recipe in the World After all the talk on buddies about the muffin in a mug cake, I thought you might like this one that was sent to me...

· Get out your biggest mug. (Mine is a 500ml pottery beer mug.)
· Break an egg into it.
· Add 2 tbsp sugar (2x20ml)
· Add 2 tbsp cocoa
· Little splash of vanilla
· Beat well with a fork
· Add 1 tbsp self-raising flour
· Add 1 tbsp milk
· Add 1 tbsp oil
· (in that order, so you don't get the measuring spoon all yukky)
· Mix it all up with the fork until no lumps. Makes 180ml total
without extras.

· (Optional extras at this point are a slurp of your favourite tipple,
and/or a couple of leftover baby Easter eggs, or 1-2 tbsp chockbits, or 2 or
3 after dinner mints, chocolate ginger or whatever rows your boat.)

· Cook for 1 minute 20 seconds in a 1600W microwave, adjusted for the
power of yours. The mixture rose up almost to the top of my big mug, then sank back to twice the starting size. According to the original (erroneous) recipe "the mixture does rise up above the top of the mug, but don't worry."
Do you believe that?
· Stand 1 minute.
· You can shovel it out with the fork and eat it straight away, or top
up the mug with whipped cream and shovel it out anyway, or
· Tip it out on a plate and shovel from there, which makes room for
more fruit and veg, cream and/or icecream. Any chocolate you added will melt like a frosting if you let it sit for an hour, or sauce if you are a greedy guts who thinks waiting for cake to cool, and chocolate to harden is a pointless exercise.
· This is a light cake with a few holes in it. It is not as onerous as
restaurant chocolate cake to eat, but might be with ½ a cup of Baileys poured over it. You could probably make it more onerous by adding more oil, but what's the point? Don't want to kill yourself, do you?

SUGGESTION: Email this to a friend and agree on a time for coffee and cake over a phonecall. Five minutes before you ring them, put the kettle on, and make your cake while the kettle is boiling. Enjoy. It's a whole new take on "I saw you pull into the driveway and just popped a batch of scones in the oven!"

Louisa

Veal With Peperonata & Gnocchi

Speaking of cooking, this is what we had for dinner last night and it was ROOLLY yummy!

Serves 5
Peperonata:
2 x 400 g tins crushed tomatoes
1 red onion, cut into thin wedges
2 crushed garlic cloves
1 long green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 red and 1 yellow capsicum, deseeded and finely sliced
1 tblspn red wine vinegar
2 tspns white sugar

Mix all the ingredients together, season with salt and pepper and add half the mixture to the slow cooker.

1/2 cup plain flour
5 even sized pieces of osso bucco
butter and olive oil for frying
150 ml white wine
625(ish) g packet gnocchi

Season flour with salt and pepper. Coat the meat in the flour and shake off the excess. Fry on medium high heat until well browned on both sides and place in an even layer over the peperonata in the slow cooker. Add the wine to the hot pan to deglaze, allow to boil for a minute or so then pour over the meat. Cover with the remaining peperonata.

Cook on high for approx 6 hours. When almost ready, cook gnocchi according to packet instructions. Remove meat carefully from sauce and keep warm. Add the gnocchi to the slow cooker to re-heat through in the sauce.

To serve, spoon the gnocchi and peperonata sauce into bowls, top with a piece of osso bucco and sprinkle with gremolata.

Gremolata:
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 crushed garlic clove
large handful of flat leaf parsley, very finely chopped

Mix all together in a small bowl.

Beef with Mandarin

Oh my goodness - I've been sick and resting (sleeping) a lot. I found my folder (it's a photocopy of the book) and it says Chinese and Asian Step-By-Step. I always thought it was a ww book but maybe not. I will check next time I go to mum's she has the original :-)

Here is the recipe - and it is with mandarins (the fruit) I like the mandarin flavour and add a bit of juice as well.

Preparation time: 25 mins
Cooking time: 5 mins
Serves 4

350g rib eye, (finely sliced)
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons dry sherry
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon peanut oil
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 teaspoons dried mandarin or tangerine rind (explanation below recipe)
2 teaspoons soy sauce (extra)
1 1/2 teaspoons caster sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cornflour
1/3 cup beef stock

Place meat in a bowl

1. mix soy, sherry, ginger and sesame oil together, stir through meat to coat. Let stand 15 minutes Heat the oil in a wok or heavy-based frying pan, swirling gently to coat base and side. Add beef and stir-fry over high heat for 2 minutes until meat changes colour.

2. add the pepper, rind, extra soy and sugar. Stir-fry briefly.

3. dissolve the cornflour in a little of the stock, add remaining stock.
Add cornflour mixture to the wok. Stir until the sauce boils and thickens

Serve with rice or steamed breads.

DRIED MANDARIN/TANGERINE PEEL
Commonly used as a seasoning in slow cooked dishes, dried mandarin and tangerine peel are easily prepared at home and can be stored in an air tight jar in a cool place for months. Make up a good quantity when the fruits are in season.

Use a vegetable peeler to slice the peel thinly; cut the strips into small pieces and carefully scrape off any remaining pith or flesh. Place the pieces in a single layer on a baking tray and place in a preheated moderate oven (180 deg) for 15 minutes or until the peel has dried. Three mandarins produce about a third of a cup of peel.

Sauces for Silverside & Mash

What is the best sauce to serve with Silverside, mash and veges?
Merrin

White sauce with parsley, capers and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Donna

White sauce with a handful of cheese thrown in.
Janet

Use about a cup of the cooking liquid, mix a couple of tablespoons of flour and a teaspoon of dry mustard to a thin paste with a bit of water, whisk into the cooking liquid and bring to the boil. When thickened, add a good handful of chopped parsley. Mmm, mmm.
Brenda

I usually do a white sauce with onion.
Lynn

All those variations of white sauce are yummy - I do a white sauce usually too. If I'm feeling really extravagant I also make a sauce that Dene told us about a few years ago.
I just found the original email (from 2005!!) here is the recipe cut and pasted.

Balsamic Glaze
2/3 cup beef and tomato stock (I use beef stock plus a spoonful of tomato paste), 3 tablespoons plum jam, 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar and 3 teaspoons sugar. Combine in a small saucepan, and simmer until reduced and syrupy. I still make the white sauce as well, and it all tastes absolutely divine together. Serve with mash (add cheese and garlic) and honeyed carrots. Mmm Mmmmm!!
Whitney (and Dene)

I love a mustard sauce. White sauce with seeded and Dijon mustard added. (Melt butter add flour, cook for a couple of minutes, add milk. Stir over low heat until it thickens and boils. Add mustard to taste.)
Debbie Packham