From my family home in the UK

Well it's been great being back home, ensconced in the folds of family, tradition and food. It's been 3 weeks here and we have been busy running around helping my sister Farah prepare for her wedding ( which is next week by the way) hence the lack of blogging.
But my mum has been busy in the kitchen cooking everyone's favourite dishes, so I thought I would post some photos of some of the lovely food we have been eating. Recipes to follow.
A busy week next week with the wedding and then off to Dubai and Abu Dhabi for a resort holiday and then back to NZ. I look forward to posting some great blogs when I get back.

Enjoy!

Till next time

Ashia.

Spice of Life - NZ House & Garden, June issue 2013

 Well here it is if you missed getting yourself a copy of the magazine.  The team at NZ House & garden did a fabulous job.

Recipes & Text - Ashia Ismail-Singer

Food Styling - Bernadette Hogg

Photographs - Manja Wachsmuth

 

Thank you to everyone that went out and bought the magazine. I really appreciate your  support and kind words. 

Enjoy!

Till next time

Ashia  

One Pot Wonder

Who doesn't salivate  at the word chocolate brownie, that gooey warm chocolate on the inside and chewy on the outside, perfect warm with ice cream as dessert on a cold evening ( or  anytime for that matter) don't let me stop you from indulging, our brownies do not survive in the tins for very long!

I love baking brownies, they are easy and require no fuss, a perfect delight, cold,  for a picnic or equally moreish warmed and served with cream or ice cream. Definately a one pot wonder.   There are so many versions out there, this is divine!

This makes 12-16 depending on the tray you use and the size you cut them

250g Butter
2 Cups muscovado sugar (light brown)
4 Eggs
1/2 Cup Dark good quality cocoa
2 Tsp Vanilla essence
1 Cup dark chocolate chopped up
1 Cup Plain flour (sifted)
1 Cup dessicated coconut
1 Tsp Baking powder
1/2 cup raspberries (when in season) optional

1. Pre heat the oven to 180 c

2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the cocoa, stir over a low heat for 1-2 min.  Remove from the heat and add the sugar ( you can use ordinary white sugar).

3. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure you beat well between each egg, add the vanilla, coconut and chopped chocolate and then the flour and baking powder.  Stir the mixture until it is smooth and luscious and everything is well mixed.

4. Pour into a lined shallow baking tin, I used a square one 23 x23 x 5 cm, it doesn't matter, you will cut them to your desired pieces.  When in season I scatter  raspberries in just before baking, and gently push them in just  below the surface.

5. Bake for  25-30  min, the brownie will look set but  with a wobble when you take it out, and the skewer comes out chocolaty, this is good.  Transfer to a rack to cool and then cut in the desired pieces, dust with icing sugar and you can serve these warm or cold.  Yum!

 

Enjoy!

Till next time

Ashia

Sausage Tray Bake

This is a great meal to do when you have a large number to feed, or simply don't have the time to cook, just chuck everything in a tray and you will have a lovely heart  warming meal.

It is adapted from Delia's sausage, thyme and apple bake.  The sausages she uses are pork and  then she compliments it with thyme and apple.  I don't eat pork so have often made it with beef or lamb sausages.  And used rosemary, but i still use the apple. And this time I also  added chunks of carrot, I don't usually, but it actually tasted great.

This recipe serves  3-4 people I usually double it.

1 Tbl Olive oil
500g New potatoes thickly sliced (I leave the skin on)
2 Tbls Onion Marmalade
2  Red apples (whatever is in season - peeled, cored and cut into wedges)
2 Tbl  chopped thyme and /or rosemary
500g Lamb or Beef sausages
2-3 carrots peeled and cut into 3-4 cm chunks (optional)
300ml Chicken/Vegetable  stock

1. Pre heat the oven to  180c.  Heat the oil in frying pan and cook the potatoes over a high heat for 2-3 min until they start to brown.

2. Transfer to a roasting pan and stir though the onion marmalade, add the apples and carrots  with the chopped herbs and plenty of seasoning.

3. Tuck in the sausages in amongst the potatoes and apples and then pour over the stock to almost cover.  Bake for 50-60 min until everything is cooked through. Serve with your choice of vegetables.

 

Enjoy!

 

Till next time

 

Ashia

Media coverage!

Well what a busy and exciting month it's been.  With the food feature in NZ House and Garden - June issue and then an interview with the Breeze radio as a follow up!

If you have missed the radio interview, it is on their website now, so if you go on to Auckland Breeze Radio website it's there on the homepage,   they have called it "Ashia's Dream" .  They have done a fabulous job with it, it's great!  here is the link too :

http://www.thebreeze.co.nz/Regions/Auckland/Home/tabid/76/Default.aspx

The June issue of NZ House & garden should still be available but not for long! So if you haven't got your copy, hurry!  I will be posting the article on my blog when the magazine goes off sale too so look out for it.

I am also off to my sister's wedding in the UK in 4 weeks time, and will be blogging from there with lots of yummy family recipes as I will be  in my family home cooking up a storm with my mum and  3 sisters.

So the next couple of recipes are simple no fuss, one tray, one pot, great if you are rushing around and perfect for winter

Enjoy!

Ashia

Cookbooks

I feel I have really neglected my blog since my last entry.  Life  has been pretty hectic, with the children back at school and the days getting shorter it seems there are never enough hours in the day!  I have been cooking, I promise,  scrumptious, slow cooked meals and warm hearty dinners and pies and casseroles.  All from my range of cookbooks and magazines that I collect and plenty from my own cookbook that is waiting very patiently to get published. Although I am very excited because this month NZ House & Garden has published a food feature, with some of my recipes.  It's called "Spice of Life" and it looks (and tastes) divine!  Thank you so much to Sally Butters and her team for a fabulous job! Go out and get a copy its on sale now in the shops.

Writing is a passion, I love books, I think technology is great too with Ipads and Kindles ect taking over the world, I still think there is a place for books.  Call me old fashioned but I love holding a book, turning the pages, it's tangible, you can put it  down and pick it up at your leisure. The same goes for cookbooks, the ones that are published beautifully look amazing just sitting on your coffee table to admire.

I have my favourites, that I use again and again. I never tire of buying new ones (so there is a hint for gifts!)  I love adding to my collection, I get an amazing feeling when I look through a gorgeous cookbook, the wealth of information of countries and their cuisines.  The ones that I really like are the ones that tell a story, of a world completely different to mine, you can learn so much about a country through the food.   I admire all chose amazing chefs out there who have the talent to create some amazing food.   I like collecting magazines too, this provides some light reading as well yummy recipes, and then I cut up my favourite ones (as the magazines take over the house!) and put them in a folder to refer back to.

I have a wish list of cookbooks that I want, and I don't think that I will stop collecting them, and hope that one day I will be adding mine to the collection. Watch this space!

Enjoy the article in NZ House & Garden!

Till next time

Ashia

Red Velvet Cupcakes for Mothers Day

Well Mothers Day (In NZ, Australia and USA) is actually this Sunday.  I am still trying to get used to all the different dates for all the  different celebrations now that we are living in New Zealand.  But I think dates aside, I don't really need any excuse to bake.  I will do this quite happily in any hemishpere on any date!

What a perfect way to say thank you to your mum, by giving her something home baked. (By all means indulge her with store bought presents too...we all like getting spoilt!)

Red velvet cupcakes is the epitome of indulgence in cupcakes, I feel.  That luxurious deep red (I know they don't quite look that gorgeous deep red yet, more like a dark pink that cant quite decide which colour it really is).  The secret is in the baking, then the colour morphs into the deep red velvet.

There are so many variations out there, but I was inspired by Nigella's version in "Kitchen".

For the cup cakes

250g Plain Flour
2 Tbl Cocoa powder
2 Tsp Baking powder
1/2 Tsp Baking soda
100g Butter (soft)
200g Castor sugar
1-2 Tbls of Red food colouring (you can use the gel paste, and then you will require alot less as they are very concentrated) I used a liquid form, adjust your amount according to the shade you prefer, it does get darker when you bake.
2 Tsp Vanilla essence/extract
2 Eggs
175 mls Buttermilk
1 Tsp Vinegar

1. Preheat the oven to 170 c and line your muffin trays with paper cases, I used a gorgeous black and white patterned case, so it was a real contrast with the red.

2. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl

3. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar until pale and and fluffy, and then add vanilla and all the food colouring, I know it  sounds crazy, but just do it, its liberating!

4. While continuing to beat, ad a large spoonful of the dry mixture  and then 1 egg and then another spoonful of dry mixture and then the egg and then the rest of the dry mixture.

5. Next beat in the buttermilk and vinegar and then divide the scrumptious mixture into the muffin trays.  Bake them for 20 min  and then leave to cool on a wire rack.

Creme Cheese Frosting

I love the tangy element in this frosting, i think all butter frosting is gorgeous but this just adds that sophisticated kick

500g Icing sugar
125g Creme cheese (full fat)
125g Soft butter
1 Tsp lemon juice
Sprinkles of your choice for decoration

Using a hand held mixer, blend the icing sugar and butter and creme cheese, add the lemon juice and beat until you have a smooth icing.  Decorate as you please, either swirls or ice the cupcakes using a spatula.

Tip
Un iced cup cakes can be frozen for up to 2 months. defrost at room temp for 2-3 hours.  The icing can also be frozen separately. defrost in the fridge overnight. Beat before using.

 

 

 

            The result,  a sumptuous cake perfect for all those yummy mummies out there!

Happy Mothers Day!

Enjoy

Till next time

Ashia