April 2005 - Gingernuts

I have been rather neglectful of this poor little blog of late. I have been cooking up a storm but just have not had a chance to sit down and write to posts. Well, that is not exactly true, there has been times when I could have been writing but some how it just never seemed to happen. I guess that I just need to right motivation to write and the urge just did not hit until tonight.

I struggled with what to make from issue #37. It was not struggling in a nothing I want to cook way, it was the constant swaying back and forth as to which of the lovely recipes to make.

The first recipe that I was going to make was Juliet Kellow's Mediterranean Salmon. Juliet is a registered dietitian and has a column about super foods in delicious magazine. The Mediterranean Salmon is basically salmon fillets, thick sliced potatoes, garlic, cherry tomatoes and herbs that are baked in the oven for various lengths of time. The picture accompanying looks so good and I had fully intended on making this but I could never seem to find a nice piece of salmon to make it.

The next recipe that I really wanted to make was from the guest chef for the month, Tyler Florence. His recipe for Mexican Street Tacos with Pico de Gallo looked sensational. The recipe was packed full of all those flavours you would expect from Mexican food, chilli, lime, garlic and, unfortunately, coriander. I wanted so much to make this, even though I though it would be difficult to reduce the two recipes. Unfortunately since I do not (will not) eat coriander and I just did not think that it could be substituted without it really effecting the taste so I decided to cut my losses and make something else.

I moved on to planning to make a very simple but tasty sounding dish from the Junior Cooks column called Savoury Vegetable Puddings. It is basically vegetables, they used carrots and peas, in a thick cheesy batter in individual ramekins topped with breadcrumbs and baked in the oven. It sounds so simple and could easily be made with different vegetables. I had planned on broccoli, carrots and corn. I was going to have it with a nice steak however I just seemed to keep putting it off and then I had other meals planned so I decided make something else.

The final recipe that I was tossing up making and the one that I finally settled on was Bill Granger's Gingernuts. I really like ginger biscuits/cookies. I have a really nice recipe from my Mum's old Better Homes & Gardens cook book that is nice and gingery and rolled in sugar. I was drawn to these ones of Bill's as they used grated fresh ginger in place of the usual ground (dried) ginger. These were really easy to make, although I think that they could have done with a bit more ginger. I think next time I make them I will put in 4 or 5 tsp of grated fresh ginger just to give them more of a kick. They are lovely and soft and cakey, just the way I like them. I don't like the store bought gingernuts that are so hard they could break your teeth.

Gingernuts

Ingredients

• 2 cups (300g) plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 firmly packed cup (200g) brown sugar
• 3 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
• 125g unsalted butter, chopped
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp golden syrup
  

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180 C
• Put flour, soda, sugar, ginger and a pinch of salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine.
• Add butter and whiz until it resembles breadcrumbs.
• In a small bowl whisk egg and golden syrup together. Add to processor and whiz until it comes together. (I had to add about 1 - 2 tsp milk and finished combining with my hands.)
• Roll teaspoons of dough and place on lightly greased trays. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes (I baked for 12) or until lightly browned.