Cauliflower & Prosciutto Pasta

I found this recipe in the Canvas magazine that came the NZ Herald on 2nd June 2012. We had just discovered the wonder of brussel sprouts, so I took the recipe home and tried it. Unfortunately I lost those photos when I lost the hard drive, but I still had the recipe. Today I made it again, and it was just as delicious as I had remembered.

Boil 400g pasta and set aside. Cook 6 slices of prosciutto (we use bacon instead) in a little olive oil, then set aside. Using the same pan, fry 400g of cauliflower and 200g sliced brussel sprouts with 3 cloves of garlic. In a bowl, combine 1 cup cream, 3 egg yolks, 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Add the cream mixture to the pan of cauliflower and brussel sprouts. At this point, I add the chopped bacon, although the recipe says to put it on last when serving. Add the pasta to the frypan and stir until the cream sauce thickens. Serve with a little extra parmesan grated on top.


Sooooo good!

Orange & Cardamom Cupcakes, with Orange & Whiskey Icing

Today Caitie and I made Orange and Cardamom Cupcakes, using a recipe from the Wild About Cupcakes book by Rachel Lane, published 2009.
The recipe calls for combining 1 cup flour, 1/3 cup ground almonds, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Separately, beat 90g butter, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons orange zest and 5 cardamom pods, ground.

Caitie had fun opening the cardamom pods, and then using Steve's mortar and pestle to grind the cardamom.






The beaten mixture didn't seem to be turning creamy, but with perseverance (and a lot of beating), we got it there.




Then we added the dry ingredients to the wet ones, along with 2 eggs, 3 tablespoons orange juice and 2 tablespoons of plain yogurt. We actually used sour cream instead of yogurt. They were baked for 25 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

While the cupcakes were cooling, we made Geoff Scott's Orange & Whiskey Icing - 1 cup icing sugar, 50g butter, 1 teaspoon orange juice, 2 teaspoons whiskey. So yum.


We took the cupcakes around to Sue & Jim's house. Everyone enjoyed one, and Uncle Jon and Steve had two each! I call that a success!

Apple Snow

Jim's Aioli