Bee’s Kitchen

I only learnt the tricks of making roast pork a few months ago during my trip to Melbourne. The pork crackling on it was delicious; each mouthful was crunchy and piping hot.

2kg pork forequarter roast
1 brown onion (cut into 6 pieces)
1 red onion (cut into 6 pieces)
1/2 butternut pumpkin (chunked)
1 cup broccoli (cut to bite sized pieces)
1 carrot (roll cut)
1 bulb of garlic
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Preheat oven to 230 degrees Celsius.

Pat dry the pork skin with a paper towel, then score the skin of the pork with a sharp knife about 2 cm apart. Rub with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Stuff a few cloves of garlic between scored lines for flavour.

Cook pork for 25 minutes then reduce temperature to 200 degrees Celsius and cook for a further 1 hour, add in vegetables then cook for further 30 minutes.

Or use meat thermometer and insert into the thickest part of the meat, once it reaches 77 degrees Celsius then tada, rest for 15 minutes then ready to eat!!

I highly recommend buying one of these little things, they are only about 10 dollars form homeware stores and will give you a perfect result time after time. Juicy and tender mouthful after mouthful of meaty goodness.

Preparation Time – 5 minutes
Cooking Time – 5 minutes

Serves – 2

Ingredients

4 large eggs
4 slices mixed grain bread
Butter

Method

1. Place eggs in a saucepan with enough water to cover, heat on high till water boils, once boiling, keep and eye on the time for 3 minutes to give a creamy hot centre, and soft solid whites.
2. While waiting toast bread then butter and slice into soldier strips.
3. Serve straight away, dipping soldiers into the golden cream yolky goodness.

Simply delicious little parcels of yummy flaky pastry with meaty char siu (BBQ Pork) centres. My family love eating these as snacks, even if there are trays and trays prepared they wouldn’t last till the morning.

Preparation Time – 20 minutes
Cooking Time – 15 minutes

Makes – 18

Ingredients

Filling
250g char siu
1/2 brown onion (chopped finely)
1 tbsp sesame oil

Sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp hoisin sauce
1 tsp ginger (grated)
1 tsp garlic (crushed)
1/4 cup water

Thickening
1 tbsp corn flour
3 tbsp water

Topping
1 egg (beaten)
2 tbsp sesame seeds

Pastry
2 sheets of ready made puff pastry

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Combine oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, hoi sin sauce, ginger, garlic and water in a small bowl. In separate bowl combine corn flour with water and set aside.
2. Using a medium non stick fry pan, add sesame oil then onions and cook till softened, then add in char siu, cook till warmed then add in sauce, simmer for 2 minutes then add thickener, stirring till combined. Everything will thicken up, pour into a bowl, cover and leave in fridge for 10 minutes to cool the mixture.
3. While waiting prepare pastry, cut one sheet vertically into 3 even columns then 3 even horizontal rows to form little squares.
4. Scoop one tablespoon of mixture onto each square, bringing bottom corner up diagonally to form triangle. Use a fork to seal edges, place on greased baking tray, and brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Repeat process till all pastry is used.



5. Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot!

Preparation Time – 20 minutes
Cooking Time – 15 minutes

Makes – 24

Ingredients

125g butter (softened)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
110g caster sugar
120g almond meal
1 egg
100g plain flour
2 tablespoons raspberry jam

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Grease oven trays; line with baking paper.
2. Beat butter, extract, sugar and almond meal in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg, beating until just combined; stir in sifted flour.
3. Drop level tablespoons of mixture on trays 5 cm apart. Use handle of wooden spoon to make small hole (about 1cm deep) in top of each biscuit; fill each hole with 1/2 teaspoon jam. Bake about 15 minutes; cool jam drops on trays.

Women’s Weekly – Cakes BIscuits & Slices

I absolutely adored watching the original Korean version of this movie called Il Mare (The Sea) with the characters Sung Hyun and Eun Joo.
So was greatly looking forward to the American remake with two of my favorite characters, Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.

If you enjoy watching romantic love stories, this is one with a few twists and turns. Keep an open mind when watching this and you will really enjoy it. The main characters Alex (Keanu) and Kate (Sandra) communicate between two different years through a magical mail box, and like any good romance they gradually fall in love through their letters to each other.

Adding some spice to things, we find out that Alex and Kate have met on a few occasions already with out realising the significance the other held. They tempt fate by arranging to meet but will it turn out how Kate expects…..

Enjoyable movie to watch!

My mum loves baked things with raisin’s or sultana’s, so i decided to make some chocolate raisin cookies, I found the recipe at the back of the sunbeam raisin box!

Preparation Time – 10 minutes
Cooking Time – 10 minutes

Makes – 30

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup raisins
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp cocoa
100g butter (softened)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg

Method

1. Place flour, baking powder, cocoa and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.
2. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in egg.
3. Mix in dry ingredients and raisins.
4. Place tablespoons onto a biscuit tray, press down and bake for 10-12 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. Cool on tray before removing.

Vanilla buttercake cupcakes
90 g butter (softened, cubed)
½ tsp vanilla essence
½ cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup self raising flour (sifted)
2 tbsp milk

Chocolate icing
10 g butter
½ cup milk
2 cups icing sugar (sifted)
¼ cup cocoa powder (sifted)

Additional
1 cup desiccated coconut
¼ cup raspberry jam
½ cup thickened cream (whipped)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line 12 standard muffin pan with paper cases.

Beat butter, vanilla, sugar, eggs, flour and milk in medium bowl until mixture is pale yellow colour. Scoop mixture into cases then smooth evenly.

Bake in oven for 20 minutes, and then cool on wire rack. Remove cases from cakes.

To make chocolate icing, in a heat proof bowl over a saucepan, melt butter, adding milk, icing sugar and cocoa until smooth and coating consistency.

   

Dip cakes fully in chocolate icing then drain off excess, roll in coconut, then place on wire rack to set.

Cut cakes in half and fill with jam and cream.

YUMMY!

Preparation Time – 30 minutes
Cooking Time – 1 hour

Serves – 6

Ingredients
6 lasagne sheets
Meat Sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, diced
500 g mince beef
500 g jar pasta cooking sauce
100 g mushrooms, sliced
Cheese Sauce
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup plain flour
2 cups full cream milk
1 cup grated mozzarella and cheddar
Salt and pepper to taste
Additional
1/2 cup grated mozzarella and cheddar
Grated Parmesan cheese

Method

1. Preheat oven 180 degrees C.

Meat Sauce
2. Using large non stick fry pan, heat oil, adding mince beef, onions and mushrooms then frying meat till brown. Stir in pasta cooking sauce and add salt and pepper to taste

Cheese Sauce
3. In a medium saucepan, add butter, flour, milk and heat on medium, continuously whisk to maintain a smooth consistency, this will gradually thicken. Stir through one cup of cheese till smooth.

4. Place a layer of lasagne sheets at the bottom of baking dish. Top with a third of the meat sauce sprinkle a little cheese and a third of the cheese sauce then add another layer of lasagne sheets. Arrange other layers the same. Smooth the top layer and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake in oven for 1 hour.

A great way to have everybody involved with the preparation and cooking process is to make a batch of pizzas for dinner.

We like to combine 3 different cheeses for our very own pizza cheese. The Mozzarella being the main cheese, it’s mild and creamy flavour perfect for giving those stringy cheese bits when you pull apart the slices. To give the cheese a bit more flavour tasty cheddar band Parmesan are added.

300 g mushrooms (sliced)
1 brown onion (diced)
1 green capsicum (thinly sliced)
1 red capsicum (thinly sliced)
1/4 cup black olives (sliced)
1 cup pineapple (sliced)
250 g honey leg ham
250 g salami
250 g spicy pancetta
2 cup mozzarella
1 cup cheddar
1 cup parmesan
mixed herbs
salt & pepper

Tomato sauce
6 pack Lebanese bread

Preheat oven to 250 degrees c.

We like to use Val Verde cooking sauce

Place bread onto a plate, spread enough tomato sauce to cover the base, and remember to leave a small edge. Sprinkle a layer of the pizza cheese, and then add toppings as desired.

Place in oven for 10 minutes, or until toppings are cooked through and cheese has fully melted. Slice and serve with salad.