Home-Made Worcestershire Sauce- revisited

Well, today is the big day!  This morning I got up early (sleep was hard to find last night) and decided that this amazing stuff had to be bottled right this minute as the 2 weeks steeping time was up.  I opened up the jar and was met by the most wonderful, intense and a wee bit fishy aroma.  Just gorgeous!  So I grabbed the brand-new and freshly rinsed and dried Chux cleaning cloth to go about the filtering business.  I squeezed and I squeezed and I squeezed!  (After letting it drip thru for 1.5 hours first so you get an amount of very clear rather than cloudy sauce.) Till there was nothing left but dregs of the chillies and fish, and other goodies.  Then I poured it into little bottles, ready for use and for gifting to friends for Christmas.  I would heartily recommend this to anyone who likes a strong condiment.  This sauce is not for wimps!  Check out my previous post 2 weeks ago for the recipe.

ready for straining and bottling after 2 weeks steeping

use a new Chux to strain it; let it drip thru for 1.5 hours first

Santa being my little helper :) 

you need strong hands here

the final wringing out

lovely little bottles of sauce

all done!

This is a really tasty sauce, and not too fishy at all.  I used Ortiz anchovies which are not like those over-salted, bony little bombs you get in the tins.  I was amazed that you could make your own Worcester actually; it had never occurred to me that it was possible in the home kitchen.  I remember seeing a recipe for Coke a while ago, but it was for commercial quantities - i.e. take 300 kilos of sugar, etc. which I thought was hilarious.  I am going to hunt up other secret recipes and see what I can find and make:)

This is supposedly the secret ingredients for Lea & Perrins sauce found in a skip in 2009!  I don't think I will be attempting this version.  

Tim Tam Nutella Balls - or should that be truffles?

Updated December 2019:

What is better than Tim Tams?  Tim Tams AND Nutella of course.   The other day my groceries turned up in my kitchen with a massive 750g jar of the stuff (I had only ordered a small one and this was a substitute).   I had planned to make some Tim Tam balls as gifts this week, so I thought why not add some Nutella to the mix?  And let me tell you readers, it is quite delicious in these balls.  Now I just have to think of some more recipes for the other 700 odd grams left in the jar. I have a feeling these toothsome little truffles (Mr Pickings said I have to call them truffles- he thinks balls is too undignified) are going to be popular, so I may have to make some more soon.  Ooh, I have a recipe for Nutella liqueur too...

Ingredients:

100g hazelnuts

250g Tim Tams ( half original/half dark choc)

250g packet of cream cheese

2 (chubby) tbs Nutella

150g dark chocolate, melted OR 75g. dark chocolate AND 75g. white chocolate
a big handful of pecans, chopped
bling on top

Method:

Roast the hazelnuts in a 180C oven for about 15 minutes. Keep an eye on them so they don't burn. 

Cool them, then blitz in a food processor till they become fine meal. Make sure you don't turn them into paste!

Put aside till you do the rolling. 

Throw the biscuits into the processor and blitz till you have fine crumbs

Add the cream cheese and Nutella and blitz till combined - make sure you blitz this well, as you want it aerated and fluffy!
Add the chopped pecans and give it a quick blitz to combine

Spoon the mixture into a bowl and place in the freezer for 20 minutes

Take it out and form into balls of whatever size you desire 

Place back in the freezer for 15 minutes

Roll them in the hazelnut meal

Into the fridge they go for 15 minutes

Melt the chocolate in a Pyrex jug, (if using both white and dark, melt them in separate jugs) and cool for a few minutes so it is still melted but not too warm - I do this in the microwave
Dip the balls in the melted chocolate with a fork, place into small paper patty pan liners (or spoon the chocolate over the tops of the balls if  you're feeling lazy or rushed)
Throw on as much bling as you like!

Back in the fridge to chill

Wrap in cellophane for gifting

I actually roasted and blitzed 200g of nuts so I have some ready for my next batch!   I had bought one packet of biscuits not knowing they only come in 200 grams now so I had to rush off to the corner store to get more. But disaster, they had none. I bought some other sort of chocolate cream biscuits to make up the other 50 grams and it was fine.  I certainly picked a crazy day to make these, as it was 31C and super humid.  But it all worked out fine, and they are sitting happily in the fridge ready to be wrapped up and given to friends.  I saw a recipe the other day for a Tim Tam layer cake; someone had made the comment that it looked great but what was a Tim Tam?  I feel sad for those other countries that don't have Tim Tams on their shelves:)


Note to self:  use the small food processor for the blitzing!

My Sunday Photo 7 Nov 2014

White Chocolate Milkshake with a Violet Twist!

I was reading somewhere the other day that someone had had a white choc and violet milkshake at a cafe.  I have quite alot of violet liqueur sitting in my pantry from last Xmas when I made violet truffles, so this seemed like a great way to use some of it.  This was probably a bit of a crazy idea of mine 'cos I am lactose-intolerant.  I can have some dairy but I usually pay for it the next day.  Mr Pickings on the other hand loves his dairy and his white chocolate so there were no problems there.  I loved milkshakes as a child, but also had lots of stomach aches as Mum had no idea I shouldn't be having milk.  Remember the days of milkshakes in tall metal containers which ran with condensation down the sides? And the way that malted milkshakes were "the thing"?  Only wimps had plain shakes!  For some reason it is really difficult to get malteds these days, more's the pity.  Mr Pickings always asks for them when we are out, but it is rarely to be found.  He has a bit of a thing about milkshakes; he has tried them all over the country and in other countries and his conclusion is - make it damn cold! and bring on the malt.
So here's my version of a rich, and creamy shake.  I made it one way, but I will tell you from the start that next time I will make it another way.  Yes I know- it sounds a bit crazy.  More at the end of the recipe:)

ingredients:

90g white chocolate chips
3 cups milk
4 scoops of vanilla icecream
75 mls violet liqueur or other liqueur of your choice


method:

Simply blend all the ingredients together, but unless you have a monster processor or blender, you will need to do it in 3 lots - don't do what I did and throw the entire amount into the processor at once!  Oh lordy, milky stuff all over my kitchen! And I did it more than once if you can believe it.  Mr Pickings very kindly cleaned it up for me.
I found there were lots of tiny bits of chocolate left in the drink which was rather delicious really.  If I make this again, I will do what my instincts first told me to do (which I ignored in favour of trying something I had seen on the Net).  I think an easier way is to put the milk into a saucepan, heat it up till just starting to bubble around the edges, then pour it over the white choc chips and let it melt.
Cool it right down
Then add the ice cream and liqueur and give it a really good whizz till well combined and frothy.
Either way, it will be a delicious drink and leaves you with a little buzz from the liqueur.
You will get 3 good-sized drinks from this mixture.  Try other flavours of ice cream if you wish.  You could have all sorts of great combos!

In My Kitchen December 2014

Will I even bother to say how darn quickly this month, and end of year has come up?  Yes I will!  Eek, I am panicking. To-do lists coming out of my ears, and piles of gifts and wrapping paper everywhere.  The tree has gone up and is getting closer to being decorated.  Most of the Xmas lights are up, but there are still lots of bits and bobs needing attention. Aaaagh!  Maybe some of my home-made Irish Cream will soothe my tangled nerves.  Anyway, here we are once again joining Celia from Fig Jam & Lime Cordial for the monthly roundup in our kitchens.  Join in, if you can!

pretty purple tumblers-I love a good spotty item

more Falconware- who knew they came in grey?!

this book is fabulous-so many recipes to try.  Thanks to the blogger who put this one up:) 

lovely dark green plate from a shop in Morpeth.
Thanks to Lorraine for the post about this little country town

gorgeous ceramics from Milly Dent Design

who can resist rose-scented dark choc or dark choc pecans?

farm fresh NSW pecans direct from the farmer

an assortment of goodies- all delish!

more of Milly!

wonderful QLD caperberries-yum!

thanks to Maureen for this suggestion 

I bought a new stick blender + accessories= love it! (these are some of the accessories)

I  had a lot of fun in November collecting items for my kitchen, and I know we will all be super-busy with Xmas, and I am hoping everyone ends up with lots and lots of fabulous foodie gifts.  To all the other IMK'ers, Merry Xmas- just in case we don't "meet" again till next year.

Nuts and seeds - done to a crisp!

Well, I can't think of a name for these little chewy morsels.  They have nuts and they have seeds, and they are quite crisp with a touch of softness in the middle.  We were visiting our potter friend recently, and she handed us some little nibblies to chew on which were full of seedy goodness. (almost an oxymoron there - you know seedy in the sense of a bit unwell or shabby). They were delicious, and on leaving, she handed me the bag with the list of ingredients and said - "go forth and make some!"  So I thought I had better do just that. I checked out some recipes online, of which there are many for this sort of thing, and came across this one which pointed me in the direction I wanted to go.  I have ended up with something similar to this, but with a few tweaks of my own, and only half her quantity as I only had 2 cups of nuts/seeds! So here is my version of a very easy nutty/seedy/crisp/slice/thingy.  My version is sweet rather than savoury, but of course you can add herbs and spices if you are not after a sweet nibble.

ingredients: 

1 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/3 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup mixed nuts- I used cashews and walnuts
1/4 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup rice malt syrup
1 tbs honey
1 egg white
4-5 tbs water
extra cinnamon and mixed spice for dusting - perhaps a tsp of each; more if you like


Method:  

Throw everything into your food processor except the water and give it a good old blitzing
Pour in the water; try it with 4 tbs first and if you think it needs more, add the extra 1 tbs
It should be looking like a nice paste now, and the water brings it all together
You will end up with a very thick, moist paste
Grab yourself a lined baking tray - I used a 30cm x 20cm tray
Push the paste into the tray till you have a layer that is about 1 cm thick
Dust with the extra cinnamon and mixed spice
Score the top into diamond shapes
Place in a 180C oven for 20 mins
Turn the slice over, peel off the baking paper and put back into the tray so you now have the bottom on top!
Bake for a further 15 mins till golden brown
Leave to cool in the tray till cold
Break up into small pieces and eat!

Xmas nutcracker ready and waiting for duty

about to add the syrup and egg-white

ready for the blitz

blitzed to a seedy death!

pushing the paste into tray for baking 

dusting wth extra spice

scored and about to go into the oven

baked!

ready to eat!

This was a bit of an experiment, but I am really happy with how it turned out.  (Excuse the burnt edges, but they were still delish).  You could easily double the amounts to make 2 trays.  I had intended to do just that with the absolutely wonderful fresh pecans I bought from the farmer on our Sydney road trip.  Not even sure where we bought them, as it was the middle of the countryside north of Newcastle!  They are just the best nuts you will ever eat, but sadly they are not the easiest thing to shell, and I figured I would be there till 2015 shelling them!  So I made do with the nuts I already had in the house.  My Xmas nutcracker will have to wait till Christmas to get a good workout.
I had also been thinking of seeds lately as I am a temporary mum to my nephew's finches.  They are the cutest little things, and at night time they cuddle up together in their little house.  But they are messy little critters, and throw their seed around in a frenzy.  So it has been a seedy week chez Pickings!  These nutty bites will give you the energy to tackle any Christmas chore I am sure.  I know I am going slightly crazy with all my to-do lists!

the male on the left is giving his lady a good talking-to!

My Sunday Photo - 30 November 2014