It's feijoa season again! So I'm taking the opportunity to try to tick off a few more recipes.

This sponge was very unusual. It starts with making an Italian meringue! You then beat the egg yolks into your marshmallow-y meringue, followed by the dry ingredients. It also contains a somewhat alarming amount of ginger. And uses mostly corn starch (cornflour), rather than regular white (wheat) flour, as the main component of the dry ingredients.

I've made a lot of cakes that incorporate beaten egg whites. And a few that incorporate a French (uncooked) meringue. And I've seen icing and pie recipes that call for cooked meringues (like Swiss or Italian). But I've never seen a cake that uses a cooked meringue before. It was unusual, but did seem to work quite well. The Italian meringe was very stable and took the egg yolks nicely without a noticeable loss of volume. And the resulting sponge was very very light. Reiver noted that it had a very slight graininess to it, but I'm not sure whether that was down to the meringue, the cornflour, the ginger, or something else entirely.

The original recipe calls for splitting the sponge and filling it with whipped cream and feijoas. And, while there's nothing wrong with this approach, it does mean that you need to eat the whole cake fairly promptly. So, as an alternative, Reiver suggested that we just cut and top individual wedges of sponge to make it easier to enjoy over the course of a few days.

Photo goes here.

Ginger Sponge with Feijoas and Cream

Slightly adapted from NZ Women's Weekly

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, separated
• 6 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 7 Tbsp. cornstarch (cornflour)
• 1 Tbsp. soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 5-6 tsp. ground ginger, divided
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
• 300mL heavy (35%) cream
• 1-2 Tbsp. icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar
• 2 c. feijoa flesh, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line the bottom of a 23cm (9") springform pan with baking paper. Do not grease the sides of the pan!
2. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks.
3. Beat in the egg yolks.
4. Sift in the cornstarch, flour, 4-5 tsp. of the ginger, and the baking powder and gently fold to combine.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
6. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 25 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and drop onto counter or floor once or twice (to help prevent it from sinking in the middle, apparently).
8. Allow to cool in tin for 10 minutes.
9. Run a knife or spatula around the sides of the tin, then remove the sides.
10. Turn cake onto a cooling rack and carefully remove the bottom of the pan and peel off the baking paper. Allow to cool completely.
11. Add the icing sugar and the remaining ginger to the cream and beat until stiff.
12. Either split the cake and fill it with the cream and chopped feijoas, dusting the top with icing sugar as desired, or top individual slices with cream and fruit.

Beef and Potato One-Pot Rice

It's been a while since I've watched any Aaron & Claire videos or tried any of their recipes. This one-pot rice is from one of their more recent posts, and looked quite appealing. Plus, we already had all of the ingredients on hand!

I did mess it up slightly by trying to scale the recipe up. We had 450g of beef rather than the 300g the recipe called for, so I just bumped it up to a 1.5x batch. It still came out tasty. But it took much longer to cook than stated in the recipe. Next time I think I'd just stick with the standard recipe and go slightly heavy on the beef if I had a larger amount available.

Photo goes here.

Beef & Potato One-Pot Rice

Slightly adapted from Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

Rice

• 2 c. uncooked white rice (pref. short-grain)
• 2 c. water
• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce¹
• 1 Tbsp. mirin
• 1 tsp. dasida (or other bouillon powder)
• 1 Tbsp. oil
• 300-450g ground beef
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 green onions², chopped (whites and greens kept separate)
• 225g white or cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 2 Yukon Gold potatoes, diced
• salt and pepper, to taste
• pat of butter³

Sauce

• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. mirin
• 1 Tbsp. gochugaru (Korean chile flakes)
• 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
• 1 green onion, green parts only
• 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

Directions

1. Rinse the rice, then add enough water to cover by at least a cm or two and set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, combine the water, soy sauce, mirin, and dasida and set aside.
3. Heat the oil over medium heat.
4. Add the beef and cook for ~2 minutes, break up, and cook for another minute or so.
5. Add the garlic, white parts of the green onions, mushrooms, and potatoes and stir to combine.
6. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Cook for 5-6 minutes.
8. Drain the rice and add it to the pot.
9. Stir to combine and cook for a minute or so.
10. Pour in the seasoned water, scrape the bottom of the pot, stir well, and bring to a boil.
11. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for 15 minutes.
12. Meanwhile, mix up the sauce by combining the soy sauce, mirin, gochugaru, sesame oil, green onion, and sesame seeds and mixing well. Set aside.
13. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes. Do not uncover!
14. Remove lid and fluff rice.
15. Sprinkle with green parts of green onions, top with a generous pat of butter, and stir them in.
16. Spoon into bowls and top with sauce as desired.

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¹ I used a mix of 2 parts light soy to 1 part dark soy. ^Back
2 We were short on green onions, so I just used 1 yellow onion in place of the white parts of the green onion and then added the green parts of some green onions at serving. ^Back
3 I only just realized that I completely forgot to add the butter. Whoops! ^Back

This salad is meant to be made with grated, freshly roasted beets. I didn't have any fresh beets and didn't really have the energy to roast, peel, and grate them anyway. So, instead, I used tinned, sliced beets and just julienned them for the salad. I'm very pleased with how this worked out and would absolutely do it again.

Polish Cold Beet Salad

Slightly adapted from Everyday Healthy Recipes

Ingredients

• 1 (450g) can sliced beetroot, julienned
• 1 apple, peeled and grated
• 1 small red onion, minced¹
• 2 dill pickles, grated²
• 2-3 tsp. oil
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
2. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.
3. Adjust seasoning to taste.

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¹ I didn't have any red onion on hand, so I just used some dried onion flakes in my salad. ^Back
2 Since my beets were already pickled, I just used two small/baby dills in my salad. If you're using unpickled beets, then I'd recommend using 3-4 baby dills or 2 larger ones. ^Back

Polish-Style Braised Pork Shoulder Chops/Steaks

I haven't been feeling up to much cooking lately. Funny how being nauseous and exhausted 24/7 will do that! I did manage to make one dinner this week though. Reiver had found some pork shoulder chops for a good price, so I cast about for something tasty to do with them and hit upon this recipe. Served it with some roast potatoes and a beet salad and it was excellent!

The original recipe just calls for pork and onions, with optional mushrooms as an additional extra. I added the mushrooms and also threw in some carrots and peas toward the end of cooking, both to bulk it up a bit and to boost our veggie intake. So, in the end, it came out as what basically amounted to a pork stew.

We both really liked this one. Although I think I would add a bit more flour next time since, with only 1 Tbsp. of flour, the sauce didn't thicken up very much at all. Other than that, though, it was lovely!

Polish-Style Braised Pork Shoulder Chops

Slightly adapted from Everyday Healthy Recipes

Ingredients

• 700g-1kg pork shoulder chops/steaks
• 1 Tbsp. oil (optional, see below)
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 3/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 Tbsp. paprika (sweet or hot according to preference)
• 1/2 Tbsp. mixed dried herbs¹
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 allspice berries
• 3 onions, halved and sliced thick
• 3 cloves garlic, halved or chopped
• ~100g white or cremini mushrooms, sliced (optional)
• 1 1/2 c. chicken or vegetable stock, divided
• 1 Tbsp. Dijon or Roman mustard
• 1 tsp. light soy sauce or Maggi sauce
• 1/2 tsp. honey (optional)
• 1-2 Tbsp. flour
• 2-3 carrots, cut into coins (optional)
• 1 c. frozen peas (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F).
2. If the pork has a fat cap, trim it off.
3. If you have trimmed fat, render out some of the lard to cook with. Otherwise, heat up 1 Tbsp. of oil in a Dutch oven.
4. Combine the salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and herbs and use this mix to season the pork on both sides.
5. Sear the pork over medium heat for ~2 minutes on each side.
6. Add the bay leaf, allspice berries, onions, and garlic.
7. Add the mushrooms (if using).
8. Pour in ~1 c. of the stock.
9. Cover and transfer to oven for 1 hour.
10. Combine the mustard, soy sauce, honey (if using), flour, and a small amount of the remaining stock and stir to combine.
11. Add the remaining stock to the mixture to form a sauce.
12. Pour the sauce into the Dutch oven along with the meat and onions and do your best to stir it in.
13. Add the carrots and peas (if using).
14. Cover and return to oven for an additional 40 minutes.
15. Serve with potatoes or rice and/or a vegetable side of your choice.

¹ The original recipe calls for herbes de Province. I didn't have any, so I used a mix of Italian seasoning and dried tarragon. If you're making your own blend from scratch, you could consider including basil, fennel seeds, lavender (very sparingly!), marjoram, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, savoury, and/or thyme. ^Back

Thenga Paal Kozhi (Chicken with Red Chiles and Coconut Milk)

We were tragically out of cilantro when making this and had to do our best with parsley, which isn't really similar at all, but it was still delicious. It requires some lead time because of the marinade and long simmering time, but is pretty low-effort to actually make.

Thenga Paal Kozhi

From 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer (p. 139)

Ingredients

• ¼ C white vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp ground turmeric
• 1 small red onion, coarsely chopped
• 6 medium-sized cloves garlic
• 3 dried red Thai or cayenne chiles
• 1 whole chicken, skin removed, cut into eighths; or ~1.5kg bone-in chicken breasts and/or thighs
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• ¾ C coconut milk
• 1 ~400mL tin diced tomato
• ¼ C finely chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Puree vinegar, salt, turmeric, onion, garlic, and chiles in a blender.
2. Coat the chicken pieces in the marinade and refrigerate, covered, for 30-120 minutes. Do not marinate overnight.
3. Once marinated, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
4. Add the chicken and marinade, meat side down. Cook until some of the marinade boils off and the meat is browned, 5-7 minutes.
5. Flip the chicken and brown the other side.
6. Pour in the coconut milk and tomatoes. Lift the chicken slightly to let it coat the underside and stir together.
7. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, basting the chicken every 3-4 minutes, until cooked through.
8. Remove and buffer the chicken. Stir cilantro into the sauce and boil uncovered until it thickens to the desired consistency.
9. Serve the chicken bone-in or disassembled, as you prefer, covered or tossed with the sauce.

Unfortunately the avocado that I got for this wasn't quite ripe yet, so I had to make it without that particular ingredient. It was still tasty though! A bit more involved than most scrambled eggs, but good if you have the ingredients on hand and want something particularly hearty for breakfast.

Photo goes here.

Elegant Scrambled Eggs

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 4 tsp. butter, divided
• 100-150g mushrooms, sliced
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 c. chopped cooked chicken breast
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1 tsp. lemon juice or red wine vinegar
• 8 large eggs
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 Tbsp. dry white wine
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• chives and/or roasted red pepper, to serve
• sour cream, to serve (optional)

Directions

1. Melt 1 Tbsp. of butter over medium heat.
2. Add the mushrooms and shallot and cook until softened (5-10 minutes).
3. Add the chicken, avocado, and lemon juice/vinegar, remove from skillet, and set aside.
4. Beat the eggs with the milk, wine, salt, and pepper.
5. Melt the remaining 1 tsp. of butter over medium-low heat.
6. Pour the eggs into the pan and cook for a couple of minutes.
7. Add the chicken-mushroom mixture and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until eggs reach desired doneness.
8. Serve garnished with red pepper and/or chives and a dollop of sour cream.

This is a great breakfast. Maybe just don't try to bake the potatoes from scratch first thing in the morning. Bake them the night before and just warm them back up and finish off the prep in the morning. Or "bake" them in the microwave.

Timings aside... I really like this as a breakfast. It's very satiating. You get starch, protein, healthy fats, and a bit of dairy. The only thing it's missing is a bit of veg! I half-wonder if you could get away with mixing a bit of spinach into the potato. I actually think that would be really nice. And Reiver suggested that some chopped chives or green onions would be a nice addition as well.

Eggs in Baked Potatoes

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 4 large baking potatoes
• 4 tsp. butter
• 1/4 c. sour cream
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 c. chopped frozen spinach, thawed (optional)
• 1/2 c. grated cheese, divided
• 4 large eggs
• 1-2 green onions, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F) and pierce the potatoes all over with a fork.
2. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for ~1 hour. (Or microwave on high for ~10 minutes.)
3. Split the potatoes lengthwise. Do not cut all the way through! Press on the ends to force them opem a bit.
4. Add 1 tsp. of butter and 1 Tbsp. of sour cream to each potato.
5. Use a fork to break up the flesh of each potato and mash in the butter and sour cream.
6. Season to taste with salt and pepper, 1 Tbsp. of the cheese, and ~2 Tbsp. of spinach to each potato (if using). Mix well.
7. Make a well in the centre of each potato (pushing the flesh to the sides).
8. Transfer the potatoes to a greased baking dish.
9. Crack an egg into each potato and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
10. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 18-20 minutes (or until eggs reach desired doneness).
11. Sprinkle with green onions and serve.