Dolla's (husband's) cheesecake goes vegan, gets frozen

August 22-24, 2020

Speaking of mock dairy, I've been saving up a can of sweetened condensed coconut milk. The last time I used condensed milk was for a cheesecake, and I thought it would be fun to try veganising that recipe. This provided me with an excuse to buy that new-ish vegan cream cheese I like again too.

The last small vegan conversion challenge was choosing a biscuit to crush for the base. I chose Arnott's Nice as a decent analogue of the Milk Coffee biscuits in the original recipe, but I also noticed that Arnott's Gingernuts and Choc Ripple biscuits are vegan. They definitely invite some flavour adaptations to this base recipe, like cookies and cream, or ginger, coconut and lime.

Since we're still not in much of a situation to share food, I halved the recipe again, this time forming it a loaf tin. I bought fresh blueberries to try the topping option I didn't have the first time around. Everything came together well and I refrigerated the cheesecake overnight to set. It didn't set. I switched the cheesecake to the freezer for another day, where it set better than I dared expect! It was colder than planned, of course, but also very creamy, not at all icy, and tangy with lemon juice.

I don't particularly have any bright ideas for setting this cheesecake at room temperature, and I'm in not rush for a solution. The frozen cheesecake is remarkable, and is only going to be more appealing as spring comes our way.

Dolla's (husband's) cheesecake goes vegan, gets frozen
(veganised from this recipe)

base
200g Nice or other vegan biscuits (e.g. gingernuts or choc ripple)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
160g margaine

filling
2 x 250g vegan cream cheese (I used Made With Plants)
2 x 320g cans vegan sweetened condensed milk (I used Pandaroo)
juice from 4 lemons

topping option 1
400g blueberries

topping option 2
finely sliced rind of 2 lemons
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup caster sugar

Fold the biscuits between two sheets of baking paper and smash them to crumbs with a rolling pin. Pour the crumbs into a bowl and stir through the cinnamon. Melt the margarine in a small saucepan and pour it over the biscuit crumbs, stirring to thoroughly combine. 

If you're able to, reuse the baking paper to line a 22cm springform cake pan, adding extra as needed. Spray the pan with oil. Press the biscuit crumbs into the cake pan, forming a wall up the sides of the pan as well as covering the base completely. Refrigerate the base.

Use a food processor or electric beater to combine the cream cheese, condensed milk and lemon juice, until they are completely mixed and smooth. Pour the filling over the base and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, ideally overnight.

For topping option 1, place the blueberries on the top of the cheesecake when it's ready to serve.

For topping option 2, remove as much pith and pulp as you can from the lemon rind. Place the rind, water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring them to the boil, allowing the syrup to thicken. Arrange the rind and syrup over the cheesecake when it's ready to serve.

Pauline's world famous smoothie

May 31, 2020

Friends, this is it: the last recipe from the Lab Farewell Cookbook! It's the last one for me to try, placed last in the book itself, contributed by the last person who'd ever cook for anyone in the Lab. Pauline is the beating heart of this workplace; always trusted to know what's going on, and how to help, with a sympathetic ear or a joyous laugh as the occasion calls for it, and the most wicked commentary subtly inserted into her group emails. Pauline does not cook, and firmly retreats when the Lab Culinary Competition rolls around each year.

Can you imagine my delight when Pauline made an exception and added a recipe to my book? It's deceptively simple and perfectly useful for everyday eating - the fruit smoothie. There are two elements here that I especially like. First, mango makes it especially sweet and juicy! ('Tisn't the season, so I bought mango in a can.) Second, a couple tablespoons of muesli give it some bulk and round it up to a full breakfast.

Unfortunately our blender is still out of action, so I was relying on our less hardy stick blender for my first few smoothies. It did an admirable job, and this made for multiple very handy breakfasts on the work-from-home winter workdays that I slept late and needed to eat at my desk.

Pauline's world famous smoothie
(a recipe from the Lab Farewell Cookbook)

Ingredients: banana, mango, berries, muesli, dairy-free yoghurt (I used coconut), almond milk.
Recipe: chuck everything in the blender and process the life out of it.
Bonus points: soak the muesli in a little almond milk ahead of time to soften its texture.

Aaron & Sophie's kombucha

May 15-30, 2020

Over the past few years, kombucha has overtaken coconut water as the non-alcoholic drink filling the fridges of veg*n restaurants. I've typically searched around both, looking for an iced tea or mineral water instead. I would never have entertained the idea of making my own kombucha if Aaron and Sophie hadn't included a recipe in the Lab Farewell Cookbook.

My friends Troy and Bec are much more dedicated kombuchers, and shared some of their excess scoby so that I could take this on. Aaron and Sophie's recipe is simple and clear, with all the extra tips that a newb like me needs, like: don't let metal touch the scoby, and: avoid oil components in your flavoured tea. The recipe also offers lots of flexibility in the tea and fizz flavours that you can add to the green tea base. (For all these reasons, I'm posting their full recipe with permission rather than paraphrasing it myself.)

I chose apple and ginger flavours for my first batch, and carefully worked through the steps over the course of a fortnight. The 10-day taste test was promising, and the final batch was thoroughly enjoyable! It had the sweetness of apple juice, a gentle tang akin to apple cider vinegar and a very subdued fizz. The ginger wasn't so distinct, so that's something to work towards perfecting.

Jane's Mum's apple torte

May 9-10, 2020

I've been building a habit of baking once a week throughout this lock-down period, most often from the Lab Farewell Cookbook. Jane reminisced that this dessert was usually cooked for a crowd in her family, originally by her mum. It is intended to tower at seven cake layers, making "~20 small but adequate servings". I've kept those quantities below but in practice, for lack of a crowd, I made two-thirds the recipe quantity into a four-layer cake. 

The cake baking is a little unusual. Jane explains that it's a little more like a biscuit dough, and instead of using a regular cake tin that dough is rolled out into big flat circles, each baked separately. I couldn't fit 9-inch circles on my trays, but I stretched as large as I could and traced circles onto baking paper in an attempt to build neat, consistent layers.

Between those biscuity layers, there's stewed apples and whipped cream. I stewed 6 apples, in the assorted varieties I had to hand, with 4 cloves, a tablespoon of brown sugar and a splash of water. I only stewed them to a point where they were soft but still held their shape. They made for pretty chunky layers in the torte and didn't spread out easily. I enjoyed their texture, but stewing the apples to collapse might make for a neater, more even torte.

The final direction is to give the torte a few hours rest between assembly and serving. It's a handy approach for a spreading out any party hosting stress, and it renders the torte easier to slice and serve. Our two-thirds torte made around 10 servings and they were more that adequate: they were a treat we looked forward to all week.

Jane's Mum's apple torte
(a recipe shared by Jane in the Lab Farewell Cookbook)

340g butter, at room temperature
255g sugar
3 eggs
255g self-raising flour
255g plain flour
(note: these two flours are equivalent to using 500g plain flour + 1 tablespoon baking powder)
generous pinch salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
600mL cream, whipped with 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 teaspoon sugar
4 cups stewed apple (Jane recommends 12 small tart granny smith apples with 5 cloves, a small sprinkle of sugar, and a small amount of water)

Preheat an oven to 160°C. Get out your largest baking trays, roll out a sheet of baking paper for each one, and trace a 9 inch-diameter circle on each paper. Roll out one extra sheet of baking paper.

Beat together the butter and sugar in a medium-large bowl. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Sift together the flours, salt and cinnamon, and gradually mix them into the butter mixture to form a soft, sticky dough. Divide the mixture into 7 balls. Place a ball on the blank paper sheet, then one of the circled papers on top, and roll out the ball until it fits the circle. Flip it over, peel off the plain paper, and place the biscuit and its circle paper on a baking tray. Repeat for the baking trays you have, then bake the biscuit layers for 10-12 minutes, until they're only just starting to brown at the edges. Repeat until you've baked all 7 dough balls into big biscuit circles.

When the biscuit layers have cooled and you're ready to assemble the cake, whip together the cream, vanilla and sugar until it's thick and sturdy. Spread a layer of stewed apple on each biscuit and place the first one apple-down on a serving plate; spread the top with 1/7th of the cream. Repeat each layer apple/biscuit/cream until everything is used up. Give the cake several hours at rest before serving: the flavours will mingle, the biscuit layers will soften, and the cake will be easier to cut.

Kaiserschmarren mit Zwetschgenröster

March 10, 2019 & May 2, 2020

In the Lab Farewell Cookbook, Edith introduced me to a traditional Austrian treat that's found in restaurants, and that she and her mum also make at home. Kaiserschmarren is simple and appealing, a pancake that's shredded into bite-sized pieces, showered in icing sugar, and served with plum compote. Apparently you can eat it any time of the day, as a main or a dessert, and I gave it a shot for a weekend brunch with our online quiz club.

Making the pancake was a boost to my kitchen confidence! I'm often put off by the process of separating eggs, whipping whites, and gently folding everything together. But I pulled it off for a recent cake, and I was ready to go again here. Making and flipping a huge pancake is another task that gets me nervous, but this one puffed up beautifully and held together as long as I needed it to. This probably doesn't even matter, since it's all shredded up before serving, but I was mighty pleased to watch it cook so neatly. As an added bonus, the shredding stage gives you a chance to cook through any runny bits of batter that might still be hiding right in the centre of the pancake. It's almost a failproof technique!

Edith mentioned but didn't include a plum compote recipe, so I did a little searching and found this one on Cinnamon & Coriander. It's got a mulled wine style to it, and adds depth and contrast to the cloud-like pancake pieces. The leftover plums made their way onto my yoghurt-and-granola breakfasts.

Kaiserschmarren
(a recipe shared by Edith in the Lab Farewell Cookbook,
and credited to Kronen Zeitung Koch Buch)

150g plain flour
30g sugar
generous pinch of salt
3 eggs, separated
milk, as needed
oil
icing sugar, to serve

In a medium-large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt. Add the egg yolks, and whisk in enough milk to form a thick dough.

In a separate medium bowl, beat the egg whites until they form peaks. Fold the egg whites into the pancake batter.

Heat substantial layer of oil (Edith says a finger thick; I did maybe 5mm) in a cast-iron frypan. Pour in the batter; allow it to cook until the pancake is bubbling on top and browning underneath. Flip the pancake to cook on the other side. Don't panic if it's a messy flip! When the pancake is cooked through, it's time to rip it into little pieces with two forks.

Transfer the pancake pieces to a plate and sift over some icing sugar just before serving.

Zwetschgenröster
(slightly adapted from a recipe on Cinnamon & Coriander)

60g sugar
600g (about 6 large) plums
300mL red wine
juice of 1 orange
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon vanilla-infused white rum

Place the sugar in a medium-large saucepan over even, medium heat until the sugar is melted and turning golden brown. While the sugar is melting, wash the plums, slice them into halves and remove their stones. When the sugar is golden brown, carefully add the red wine and cinnamon stick. (For me, the red wine hissed a lot and the sugar seized up - don't worry too much about this.) After letting the mixture cook for about a minute, add the orange juice and plums. Cook the plums, stirring regularly, until they're tender and the sauce has thickened a little. I took about 20 minutes on a low bubble for mine, because I was happy for the plums to collapse. Turn off the heat and stir in the rum. Allow the compote to cool to room temperature and store it in the fridge.

Georgian kidney bean salad

April 30, 2020

Yung was one of my longer-serving colleagues in the Lab, and (along with Cassie) a key organiser of the annual culinary competition. We've been talking about and sharing food for over a decade, and I was confident that the unassuming kidney bean salad she submitted to the Lab Farewell Cookbook would be something special.

I'll come clean straight up and admit that I used canned and not dried kidney beans for the job. As I read through the recipe I was tempted to use ready-ground spices, too, but that would have been a mistake. The freshly toasted coriander, fennel and fenugreek brought a lot of life to this dish! There's also plenty more flavour to be had from three fresh herbs and a dousing of wine vinegar. This dish could easily be shared between two people for one meal, and I'll likely double all quantities to ensure generous leftovers in future.

We asked Yung what she likes to serve alongside her Georgian kidney bean salad, and her recommendations had my mouth watering: 

...we often have it as part of  a meal w other salad-y dishes like grilled eggplant rolls stuffed w labneh & roast capsicum or grilled zucchini topped with feta & and a drizzle of balsamic & olive oil or roast fennel topped w grated cheese. But always some good bread to accompany it.

A pattern of grilled/roasted vegetables with cheese, and bread on the side. We didn't end up researching more recipes from Georgia; instead I reinterpreted these features and made a cornbread stuffed with vegetables and herbs, and topped with cheese (recipe up next!).

Georgian kidney bean salad
(a recipe shared by Yung in the Lab Farewell Cookbook;
she adapted it from Olia Hercules' Mamushka)

200g dried red kidney beans (or 400g can kidney beans, drained and rinsed)
1 small-medium onion, thinly sliced into half-moons
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
salt & pepper
1-2 tablespoons dill
1-2 tablespoons parsley leaves, chopped
1-2 tablespoons coriander leaves and stem, chopped
2 tablespoons sunflower oil

If you're using dried kidney beans, cover them in at least 8cm of water and soak them overnight. Drain the beans, put them in a saucepan and cover them in fresh cold water. Bring the beans to a boil, then simmer them for 35-50 minutes, until they achieve your preferred texture. Drain the beans.

Place the coriander, fennel and fenugreek seeds in a dry frypan and toast them over medium heat until fragrant. Transfer them to a mortar, add 1/4 teaspoon rock salt, and crush the spices to a powder with a pestle.

Heat the sunflower oil in a frypan over medium heat. Add the onions and fry them until they're soft and caramelised, at least 15 minutes. Add the cooked beans, pepper to taste, and the ground spices, stirring everything thoroughly.

Transfer the beans and onions to a serving bowl, and add the sugar, salt and wine vinegar to taste. When you're happy with the flavour balance in the dressing, stir through the fresh dill, parsley and coriander. Serve warm or cold.

Flourless chocolate cake

April 25, 2020

Yes, it's more cake from the Lab Farewell Cookbook! And it's another classic style of recipe that's worth having in one's repertoire: a gluten-free chocolate cake shared by Bron. 

The preparation and final product both reminded me of brownies as much as cake. The batter builds up from melted butter and chocolate in a saucepan, fills out with almond meal instead of flour, and develops a distinctive elasticity when the eggs get mixed in. The egg yolks, anyway... the spot where this differs from a brownie is when you skip the baking powder, separate the eggs, and fold in puffy whipped whites at the end. It's a neat way to deal with what's otherwise a very dense batter.

I most appreciated Bron's advice on baking time: 

undercooked = creamy mousse, overcooked = cakey. Can't go wrong!

Since I like my baked goods closer to fudgy than cakey, I picked the minimum cooking time of 55 minutes. By my assessment, this generated a texture right on the boundary between fudgy and cakey. I'll be tempted to try a 45-50 minute bake next time round to see just how fudgy this can get!

Bron's other excellent parting advice was to serve this cake with thick cream or yoghurt, and some strawberries. I did, and they set it off perfectly.

Flourless chocolate cake
(a recipe shared by Bron in the Lab Farewell Cookbook,
where it's credited to Sue Shepherd's Irresistibles for the Irritable)

1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup water
150g butter
150g dark chocolate
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 1/4 cups almond meal
4 eggs, separated

Preheat an oven to 150°C. Line a 22cm springform cake pan with baking paper, and grease it.

Set a medium saucepan over low heat, and add the cocoa, water, butter and chocolate. Continue cooking and occasionally stirring until everything is melted and smooth. Turn off the heat and whisk in the sugar, almond meal, and egg yolks. (I didn't get going with the egg separations until after I turned off the heat, which gave everything a little time to cool down.) Transfer the chocolate mixture to a large bowl. 

Place the egg whites in a small-medium bowl and beat them with an electric mixer until they form soft peaks. Gently fold half the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then follow up with the second half. Pour the cake batter into the cake pan.

Bake the cake for 55-65 minutes, and allow it to cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes. Serve with plain yoghurt or thick cream, and strawberries.

Dolla's (husband's) cheesecake

April 18-19, 2020

This Lab Farewell Cookbook recipe is one I was guaranteed to love: it's a classic, unbaked cheesecake. It comes from Dolla, who famously doesn't like to cook, but has shared food from other family members at the annual Lab Culinary Competition. I have fond memories of her mum's felafel and dolmades, and this cheesecake is her husband's specialty.

I'm posting the full recipe quantity below, but I actually halved it this time around. My half-quant still generated about six servings to take us through the week, and I was able to assemble them in some cute little tins I received for my birthday last year. The biscuit crumb base should be ground finer than you can see pictured above; sadly our food processor conked out while I was preparing this recipe, and I finished the job clumsily with a pestle and mixing bowl. (I reckon my usual baking paper-and-rolling pin approach would beat it.)

The filling is so simple and so effective; just cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, and lemon juice. It's creamy and tangy, and it sets firmly without being gelatinous. I couldn't get hold of fresh blueberries that I was happy with, so I had some fun trying my hand at the candied lemon topping.

Dolla's (husband's) cheesecake
(a recipe shared by Dolla in the Lab Farewell Cookbook)

base
200g milk coffee biscuits
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
160g butter

filling
2 x 250g blocks Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temperature
2 x 395g cans sweetened condensed milk
juice from 4 lemons

topping option 1
400g blueberries

topping option 2
finely sliced rind of 2 lemons
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup caster sugar

Line a 22cm springform cake pan with paper and spray it with oil.

Grind the biscuits and cinnamon in a food processor until they form fine crumbs (mine, photographed above, were too coarse). Melt the butter in a small saucepan and pour it into the food processor, blitzing further to thoroughly combine. Press the crumbs into the cake pan, forming a wall up the sides of the pan as well as covering the base completely. Refrigerate the base.

Use a food processor or electric beater to thoroughly combine the cream cheese, condensed milk and lemon juice, until they are completely combined and smooth. Pour the filling over the base and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, ideally overnight.

For topping option 1, place the blueberries on the top of the cheesecake when it's ready to serve.

For topping option 2, remove as much pith and pulp as you can from the lemon rind. Place the rind, water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring them to the boil, allowing the syrup to thicken. Arrange the rind and syrup over the cheesecake when it's ready to serve.

Pearl couscous salad

April 18, 2020

With this Lab Farewell Cookbook salad recipe, Cassie nailed our cooking style! It's made substantial with couscous, green and leafy with mint, studded with nuts, and shimmering with Ottolenghi's favourite ingredient, the pomegranate seed.

Still, it's not a repeat on any of our usual recipes. It's years since we bought pearl-sized couscous, and I enjoyed its bubble tea-type chewiness. I didn't realise that we're outside pomegranate season, so the fruit was a bit paler than it should be. Cassie has since advised me that you can buy pomegranate seeds frozen, so I'll be more attentive and keep that option to hand in future.

This is the kind of dish that's great as a dinner-time side, leftover on its own for lunch, or as a potluck contribution. I can imagine its flashes of green and red looking very festive as part of a Christmas spread. This time round, the two of us paced it out over a few days in tandem with a roasted cauliflower, grape and cheddar salad.

Pearl couscous salad
(a recipe shared by Cassie in the Lab Farewell Cookbook)

2 cups vegetable stock
1 cup pearl couscous
1/3 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses
pinch of ground allspice
juice of 1 lemon
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/2 cup pistachios, toasted
small bunch mint, leave picked and stems discarded
seeds of 1 pomegranate

In a medium-large saucepan, bring the stock to the boil and add the couscous. Cook until couscous is soft (timing can vary a lot depending on its size; check the packet for guidance). Drain, if the water is not all absorbed. Stir half of the oil into the couscous, and set it aside while you prepare the other ingredients.

Place the remaining oil, pomegranate molasses, allspice, lemon juice and spring onions in a jar. Screw on the lid and shake the jar vigorously, until the dressing is emulsified.

In a large bowl, stir together the couscous, dressing and remaining ingredients. You may like to set a few pistachios and pomegranate seeds aside to sprinkle over the top.

Sémola con vino

April 2, 2020

I've been using these lock-down weeks to methodically work through the dessert recipes in the Lab Farewell Cookbook, and it has been a treat. This pudding from Linda is something I'd already had the good fortune to taste at a past Lab Culinary Competition. She explained that it's a typical Chilean dessert, with quantities chosen by eye and lots of flexibility as to how runny or firmly set you prepare each layer.

I proceeded with a little caution because I recalled this being a rich dessert. Since there's only two of us at home, I decided to quarter the quantity and serve it in cups rather than making an entire flan. I ended up wishing I'd made a little more. (The recipe below shows the regular quantity, and I'd estimate that it would make around 8 serves.)

The texture of this pudding is velvety smooth, and its flavour has a two-tone contrast of milky-mild semolina, steeped with cinnamon, up against a darkly fruity red wine sauce. I thought it looked pretty in individual glasses, and I think I'd choose this serving style again even if I was making enough for a larger group.

Sémola con vino
(a recipe shared by Linda in the Lab Farewell Cookbook)

1 cup semolina
1 L full cream milk
500 mL red wine
3-4 tablespoons cornflour
sugar, to taste
cinnamon stick
~5 cloves
piece of orange or lemon peel

Choose your serving dish: you could use a flan dish, a baking tray or individual bowls or cups.

Pour the milk into a saucepan and add the cinnamon stick, adding a little sugar to taste. Bring the milk up to a simmer, then whisk in the semolina and stir it regularly. When the semolina has thickened, pour it into your serving dish(es) and allow it to set.

Pour the wine into a clean saucepan, leaving half a cup aside. Mix the cornflour into that half a cup, until there are no lumps left. Add the cloves, orange peel and a little sugar to the wine in the saucepan and bring it all to a simmer. Gradually stir in the cornflour, continuing to stir as the mixture thickens. Pour the wine over the semolina and allow it to set before serving. Eat within 3-4 days.

Sweet yoghurt plait bread

March 29, 2020

A lot of folks in lock-down have been baking bread, and our local supermarket has been consistently cleared of yeast. We had a couple of sachets and some bread flour in reserve at home from our irregular pizza making, so I could go right ahead with my own autumn plan for sweet yoghurt plait bread.

This is yet another recipe from the Lab Farewell Cookbook, and it comes from my long-time colleague Victoria. The bread is really a lightly sweet bun, spiced with cinnamon, studded with dried figs and smothered in a thick lemon icing. With all the proving and plaiting it's a solid afternoon's work, but I was ready for it, even pulling out the heavy old mixmaster with the dough hook. 

I'm not sure that I've ever plaited dough before, but it was easier than I expected! Any imperfections are slightly magnified during proving, then hidden again by icing and slicing. The one slight alteration I made was to use a bit less lemon juice when icing the second loaf - I love the tanginess, but the extra liquid means that most of the icing runs off the bun.

The loaves are sticky stunners, both whole and sliced. I made sure to show off a piece in my workplace's weekly morning tea skype session.

Sweet yoghurt plait bread
(a recipe shared by Victoria in the Lab Farewell Cookbook,
where it's credited to Jane Lawson's Spice Market)

bread
650g white bread flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3 teaspoons (9g) instant dried yeast
2 eggs, lightly beaten
250g yoghurt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup honey
60g unsalted butter, chopped and at room temperature
1/2 cup dried figs, chopped

glaze
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk

icing
3 cups icing sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice

Set up an electric mixer with a bowl and dough hook, or a large bowl (with a wooden spoon and strong arms at the ready!). Stir together 600g of the flour with the cinnamon, yeast and salt.

Very gently heat the milk in a small saucepan to just barely more than lukewarm. Take it off the heat, then whisk in the eggs, yoghurt and honey. Pour this mixture into the flour bowl. If you're using a stand mixer, mix for 3 minutes at the lowest speed. Add the butter and figs, and mix for a further 10 minutes at medium speed, until you have a smooth and elastic dough (mine was very sticky, and I added a bit more flour). If you're mixing by hand, work through the ingredients in the same order and turn the dough onto a clean surface and knead it for 10 minutes.

Lightly oil a large bowl and drop the dough into it, tossing it around to coat it in the oil. Cover the bowl and leave it in a warm place to rise for 1.5-2 hours, or until it has doubled in volume. Gently punch the dough and turn the dough onto a clean, floured surface. Divide the dough into 6 equal-sized portions, and roll each one into a length of about 30cm. Plait together three lengths at a time to form two loaves, and tuck the ends underneath. Place the loaves on lightly greased baking trays, cover them with damp cloths, and allow them to rise for a further 30 minutes. Use this time to preheat an oven to 220°C.

Make the glaze by whisking together the egg and milk in a mug; brush it over the tops of the loaves. Bake the loaves for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 180°C and bake for 20 minutes more. The bread should be golden on top. Allow the loaves to cool.

When the loaves are cool, whisk together the icing sugar and lemon juice to form the icing. Drizzle it over the loaves and allow it to set before slicing and serving.

Almendrados

March 28, 2020

One of the terrific little surprises in my Lab Farewell Cookbook was that the compilers tracked down my friend and mentor Louisa for a recipe. Louisa and I were officemates over a decade ago, and we're still in touch even though neither of us has been employed in that office for years.

Louisa knows my tastes well, and shared a simple cookie recipe that's gluten-free and includes a vegan option. Louisa explained that Almendrados are a traditional Jewish recipe eaten during the Passover week. They're are made mostly from almonds and sugar, bound together with an egg (or potentially tofu!) and flavoured with lemon.

My one early COVID-lockdown panic-buy was a big bag of raw almonds, so I blanched some of them myself to make these cookies. (It's easy to do, but a bit tedious to pinch the skins off 2 cups of soggy almonds.) Since they don't contain any baking powder, these cookies don't puff up or spread at all during baking: whatever shape you form the dough in is roughly how they'll look.

They're crackly with sugar on the outside, tender in the centre, with a meringue-level sweetness but an almond-based chewiness. I found that the (not so Spanish!) lemon myrtle popped up in some mouthfuls more than others. These have been just the right little treat to nibble mid-afternoon, with a cup of tea, as we've been working from home.

Almendrados
(a recipe shared by Louisa in the Lab Farewell Cookbook)

2 cups blanched almonds, plus ~30 extra to decorate
1 cup sugar
1 egg or 1/4 cup silken tofu
zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon ground lemon myrtle

In a food processor, thoroughly grind the 2 cups of blanched almonds to a coarse powder. Add 3/4 cup sugar, egg/tofu, lemon zest and lemon myrtle, and pulse until a dough is formed. Cover the dough in a bowl and refrigerate it for at least 12 hours.

Preheat an oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray or two with paper.

Line up the dough bowl, a smaller bowl with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and the lined trays. Take scant tablespoons of the dough, roll them into balls with your hands, and roll the balls in the sugar. Place the dough balls on the baking tray and press a whole almond into the top of each one.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the cookies are just starting to go golden and are still soft on the inside.

Rosmalai

March 7, 2020

It's a long time since I've tried my hand at any South Asian desserts, and I welcomed the chance to learn about rosmalai. My colleague Anwar included this recipe in the Lab Farewell Cookbook, and explained to me that this style of rosmalai preparation is specific to the Cumilla district of Bangladesh. It is a recipe for the dairy lovers; made with large quantities of milk powder and fresh milk, sweetened with plenty of sugar and spiced distinctively with cardamom.

The milk powder-based dumplings were not difficult to make, but I should probably have spent a little more time kneading their dough before I dropped them into the sweetened warm milk. Anwar explained that the aim is for smooth, shiny dough that just barely holds together into small balls. 

I couldn't believe how quickly they expanded into spongey dumplings! There's abundant extra milk to serve them with, and they're very comforting both served warm on the spot, and cooled as leftovers. Based on Anwar's photos, it looks like rosmalai are usually garnished with pistachios and almonds. I didn't have any on hand and brightened up my serve with a little candied citrus peel instead.

Rosmalai
(a recipe shared by Anwar in the Lab Farewell Cookbook)

1 1/2 cups milk powder
1 teaspoon plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ghee
6-7 cardamom pods
1.5L milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
salt, to taste

In a medium-large bowl, mix together 1 cup of the milk powder, the flour, baking powder and ground cardamom. (Consider adding a pinch of salt in future.) Mix through the ghee (I used a fork to distribute it through the dry ingredients).

Crush the cardamom pods. In a large saucepan over low heat, stir together 1L of the milk, 1/2 cup of the sugar, and the cardamom pods. Stir it to dissolve the sugar and leave it on a low, warm setting while you prepare the dough.

Thoroughly beat the egg, and add half of it to the bowl of dry ingredients. Stir the egg through, and continue adding more as needed to form a dough. Gently knead the dough. Take generous teaspoonfuls of the dough, roll them into balls and drop the balls into the saucepan of milk. When they're all in, cover the saucepan and let the dumplings cook on that low heat for about 10 minutes. They'll triple in size, look spongy, and float.

While the dumplings are cooking, get out a second saucepan and heat together the remaining 1/2 cup milk powder, 500mL milk and 1/4 cup sugar, until the sugar is dissolved. Turn off the heat.

When the dumplings are cooked, pour in the second saucepan of sweet milk. Allow everything to cool down before served. I garnished mine with a little candied citrus peel, but I'd use pistachios or flaked almonds if I had them on hand.

Gazpacho & Tortilla Española

March 1, 2020

My Spanish colleagues kindly contributed a couple of traditional recipes to The Lab Cookbook, and I made them both on a Sunday afternoon. Guru & José shared their method for making a Spanish tortilla, while Esti and Luis illustrated a recipe for gazpacho. 

I was especially keen to try the gazpacho while the weather was warm and tomatoes were in season. The method is easy: simply blend everything together and strain it! My strained soup was silky-smooth, but I'd also be tempted to make this unstrained in the future (the prep would be even easier and feel a smidge less wasteful). It was so summery and refreshing, with the flavours of capsicum and cucumber complementing the principal tomato.

The Spanish tortilla seemed like a suitable side dish to add a bit of heft to our meal. The ingredients are short and simple - potatoes, onion, eggs, olive oil - but it takes time (and a lot of olive oil!) to cook the potatoes and then some care to form the omelette. I cooked the potatoes and onion in advance to minimise dinner-time stress, and we heartily enjoyed the result: it's dense, rich, works well both warm and at room temperature, and it extends to several meals.

Both recipes used simple ingredients, yet challenged me to take on new approaches in my kitchen that I wouldn't have otherwise. Better yet, there's a high chance I'll revisit both.

Tortilla Española
(a recipe shared by Guru & José in the Lab Farewell Cookbook)

1 kg potatoes
1 onion
5 eggs
salt, to taste
extra-virgin olive oil (lots!)

Peel the potatoes and slice them thinly; peel and roughly chop the onion.

Heat a generous amount of oil in a frypan over moderate heat; you need enough to completely cover the potatoes. Fry the potatoes and onions until the potatoes are tender (I did mine in a small cast-iron pan in several batches). Strain the oil from the potatoes and onion, and place the potatoes and onion in a large bowl. (I strained and reserved the oil for future cooking.)

Thoroughly beat the eggs, then pour them over the potatoes and onion. Add salt, and gently stir everything together.

Heat a little oil in a small pan, and tip in the omelette mixture. Cook it over a moderate heat, using a spatula to shape the omelette into a thick cake. When the base is very well cooked, invert the omelette onto a dinner plate and slide it back into the pan to cook on the other side. You can invert it again a couple more times - if it's not too delicate, this might help with the shaping.

Slide the omelette onto a plate to serve warm, or at room temperature.

Gazpacho

(a recipe shared by Esti & Luis in the Lab Farewell Cookbook)

1 kg tomatoes

1 green capsicum

1 cucumber

2 cloves garlic

50mL olive oil

50g bread

1 cup water

salt

30mL balsamic vinegar

Roughly chop the tomatoes, capsicum, cucumber and garlic and place them in a blender. Pour in the remaining ingredients and blend until as smooth as possible. Strain the liquid and discard the solids. Serve the liquid gazpacho cool, garnished with croutons. 

Insider tips for prettier pulla

December 15, 2019

We had a lot of fun last autumn baking Finnish pulla, but of course our first attempt wasn't nearly as pretty as our friend Heini's! Heini lives back in Finland now, but she kindly offered to come over for for a pulla-making workshop at our place with fellow pulla-fan Tash, when everyone was briefly reunited in Melbourne. Here are a few extra tips I picked up on the day.

First, Heini takes her time with the dough to mix it thoroughly. She adds the flour gradually, patiently stirring it to make a smooth, completely lump-free batter before the next round of flour goes in. She kneads in the butter with the same determination, scrunching it in with her hands and working the dough until it's got some stretch. You've really gotta get in there and get sticky!

When the dough's ready to roll, it's rolled thinly: it's worth persisting, even as it bounces back, until its around 4mm thick. A big, thin rectangle of dough makes for lots of spiral layers in the finished pulla. We already had the right technique for slicing the cinnamon dough roll into triangles (pictured above right), but our shaping needed a little finesse. The technique is to hold a dough triangle so that its longest side is on the bench and its shortest side is pointing upwards; press firmly on that top tip with both thumbs to flatten the roll. It's almost impossible to apply too much pressure; making a dent in the centre is usually a good thing (see photo above left).

Our kitchen's second batch of pulla were beautiful and bountiful: enough for snacking on the spot, sharing with friends and relatives, and freezing for more fun later. The overarching lesson was: there's no fear of overworking here! A firm and patient hand is the best way through every stage of the pulla  process.

Pan de yuca

December 15, 2019

In the couple dozen times I've flicked through my Lab Farewell Cookbook, I've often noticed this recipe for pan de yuca (i.e. cassava bread) and wondered what the best occasion might be for making it. The neatly handwritten recipe didn't explain whether I should be serving these as snacks or as part of a main meal, or if there might be a classic condiment to spread on them. (The source website has a bunch of fun variations - I'm most taken by the ones stuffed with guava paste!)

My second reservation was the texture: these breads are completely gluten-free, based primarily on tapioca starch and cheese. Most of us love a bit of melted cheese, but I worried that the high dose of tapioca would form something gummy or gluey. Nevertheless, I took a chance on them as a snack to share with a few friends visiting our house, and the entire batch was eaten by the time they left! 

These little breads have a bouncy, lightly chewy texture that's a touch like sourdough bread, but mostly not like wheat-based bread at all. My combination of half mozzarella and half sharp cheddar lent them a little elasticity and a lot of flavour. Even though we didn't give them the chance, I get the impression that these breads get stale and tough fast. I shared them just one plateful at a time, leaving the extras in the still-warm oven to extend their freshness. The recipe gave other strategies for storage that allow you to freshly bake just the quantity you want to eat on the spot: refrigerating the dough whole, freezing individual dough balls, and simply microwaving leftovers.

Now that I know how easy they are to make and eat, I won't hesitate to make this unusual dough again.

Pan de yuca
(a recipe shared by Dave in the Lab Farewell Cookbook,
where it's credited to laylita.com)

2 1/2 cups tapioca starch
4 cups grated cheese (use a mixture! mozzarella, queso fresco, parmesan, etc)
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
115g butter, at room temperature
2 eggs
2-4 tablespoons of water or milk

In a large bowl, stir together the tapioca starch, cheeses, baking powder and salt. Melt the butter in a microwave or small saucepan over a stove and pour it into the bowl, stirring just to spread any heat around. Crack in the eggs, and then stir everything together thoroughly to form a dough. Add a little water or milk if you need it, to reach a dough consistency. (You can store the dough in the fridge for a couple of days if you like.)

Line a baking tray or two with paper. Roll tablespoons of the dough into balls and place them on the tray(s). (You can freeze the dough balls at this stage for weeks if you like.) Refrigerate the balls for 30 minutes (I skipped this, with no ill effects). 

Preheat an oven to 250°C. Bake the breads for 7-13 minutes, until golden brown on top. Serve warm.

A festive low-FODMAP cake

December 10, 2019

The lowest common dietary denominator in our book club is a little restrictive: among us there are vegetarians, vegans, the gluten-intolerant and a FODMAP manager. We usually meet up at a pub or quiet restaurant, and ordering individual meals solves most issues. However, we held an extra-special in-house event for Christmas this year! There were tacos and book-swaps and a statistics slideshow (we've been collecting our book scores in a spreadsheet) and I made darn sure there was dessert.

Dessert was another miracle recipe from my Lab Farewell Cookbook. Pia really puts it all out there with this chocolate-berry cake: it's gluten-free and FODMAP-friendly, with vegan options. And I'll admit it's also a little intimidating: I've not made a bundt before, the gluten-free flour is actually 6 flours combined, and the vegan option on the topping is aquafaba. Gluten-free cakes are dicey at the best of times, and I wondered if this one would taste any better than a compromise. But Pia is a master cake baker, and I was ready to put my trust in her.

I was right to do so! I greased that bundt pan with a thoroughness I'll never replicate, and I gently formed a little ditch in the cake batter to house the berry filling. The cake cooked through, cooled for hours, and shyly emerged from its pan without cracks or bumps. The aquafaba was too light and foamy to hold up extra decorations (e.g. see the strawberries, mint leaves and silver cachous pictured below), but it formed a pretty, snowy cap on a handsome chocolate cake.

Most importantly, it tasted terrific. The cake isn't gummy or chalky or rubbery, as gluten-free cakes can be. The texture is a little fudgy, and the rich chocolate and berry flavours are guaranteed to distract you from that last wisp of suspicion that this isn't a 'normal' cake. We ate it with strawberry and pina colada gelati, and it was a hit. The only thing more popular was my slide of correlation networks (not even joking).

Pia's recipe is another long one that's well laid out, and she's given me permission to reproduce it in full below. Note that 350°F = 177°C.

A far-from-ordinary potato salad

December 7, 2019

I'm fond enough of your regular, mayonnaise-dressed potato salad (hold the bacon, please) but I definitely have room in my life for switching it up. In the Lab Farewell Cookbook, Alys shared an excellent method for doing just that. It tilts the ratio of potatoes to other fresh veges (sugar snap peas! a rainbow of cherry tomatoes!), showers them with dill, and livens up the dressing with horseradish, mustard, and apple cider vinegar.

Although this version doesn't have the thick gloopiness of mayonnaise, the mustard dressing still emulsifies and thickens with whisking and melds with the starch on the potatoes. The effect is much creamier than you might initially expect.

We ate big piles of this salad alongside a Just Add... steak smothered in fried onions: a beaut summer barbecue vibe scaled down for two. We'll be sure to scale up and road-test this salad at a potluck before the season is over.

A far-from-ordinary potato salad
(a recipe shared by Alys in the Lab Farewell Cookbook,
where she credits it to The Green Kitchen by David Frenkiel & Luise Vindahl)

700g small new potatoes, halved or whole depending on size
15 mini tomatoes, in a variety of colours if you can, halved
150g sugar snap peas, sliced lengthways
1 large handful dill, coarsely chopped
optional: roasted carrot, avocado pieces

dressing
2cm piece fresh horseradish or 2 teaspoons horseradish cream
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons Dijon or seeded mustard
salt and pepper, to taste
optional: lemon juice and grated rind

Boil the potatoes in salted water then simmer them until cooked, about 15 minutes.

Place the tomatoes, sugar snap peas, and dill (plus carrot and avocado, if using) in a large serving bowl.

Whisk the dressing ingredients together, or shake them until emulsified in a lidded jar.

When the potatoes are cooked, drain them and add them to the salad bowl. Stir through the salad dressing and you're ready to go!

Zucchini bread

December 1, 2019

In the Lab Farewell Cookbook, Casey advised me that this recipe is a long-time favourite in his family and that it's best enjoyed by a fire. I didn't save this zucchini bread for winter, but I did choose one of the cooler weekends for it, where pottering around the oven felt good.

I've not made zucchini bread before, but I think it sits alongside banana bread and carrot cake as one of those dense, textured loaves that feel wholesome and breaks up the afternoon nicely alongside a cup of tea.

With that point of comparison, the texture of the batter wasn't quite what I expected. The honey, coconut oil, eggs and water-charged zucchini completely overwhelmed the wholemeal flour and formed a very runny batter, with the cake still looking very jiggly after the prescribed 35 minutes. This might be in part because of my choice of cake tin - the recipe advises something much larger and presumably the batter usually spreads out a lot further than I allowed it to. I baked my loaf for an extra 10 minutes, and that did the job: the centre was very moist, and exterior was thoroughly toasted without getting burnt. It's so moist that I decided to store it in the fridge to avoid mold.

This zucchini bread has a lovely honey aroma, that toasty/tender contrast, and I'm already established as a sucker for walnuts in this context. And the recipe has arrived just in time, as I've really over-used my favourite banana cake recipe these past couple of months.

Zucchini bread
(a family recipe shared by Casey in the Lab Farewell Cookbook)

1 cup wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup rapidura, brown or raw sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 eggs
3 cups grated zucchini (2 medium zucchini)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat an oven to 175°C. Line a cake tin with paper (Casey recommends 8 inch x 8 inch, I used a smaller loaf pan).

In a medium-large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients - flour through to sugar.

In a large bowl, whisk together the honey, vanilla, coconut oil and eggs until well combined. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the bowl, stirring as you go. Fold in the zucchini, and then the walnuts. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake until a skewer comes out clean - it's OK if it's still a bit jiggly. The original recipe prescribes 35 minutes, and I found that 45 minutes worked well for my loaf.

Burmese fermented tea leaf salad

October 26-31, 2019

This recipe from the Lab Farewell Cookbook is actually two gifts. I'll tell you about the second gift first: the recipe is for a salad with an ingredient I've never encountered before, fermented tea leaves. There's a not-so-authentic-but-it'll-do recipe for making them at home, and I took it on with a 'lil help from my friends.

My mate Toby is an expert in all things tea, and he recommended Assembly in Carlton for green tea leaves that are good enough to eat. The leaf prep is simple: rehydrate, drain and lightly ferment in salt, flavour with garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. The result is, to me, a distant cousin of pesto - it's got that concentrated green flavour, but the tea is lightly bitter instead of summery and sweet like basil. Following the recipe's general guide, I teamed it will a little pickled ginger, then generous shakes of salted roasted peanuts and fried shallots.

The first gift is the written recipe itself. It's a rollicking read that runs to two-and-a-half pages, and instead of paraphrasing it I'm submitting it whole, with permission.