Spicy Chorizo & Spinach Pasta

This is a tasty and filling pasta dish with chorizo, spinach and whole lots of pasta! It’s quite simple to throw together for a yummy dinner and it’s also great for next day leftover lunches for the office. The whole deliciousness of the sauce lies in its spiciness, so just this one time cook something else for the kids so that doesn't stop you from going crazy with that Cajun spice! J

If you don’t have Cajun spice in your pantry you can still just use chili powder, black pepper or some chili sauce for the heat. It’s a very versatile and forgiving dish so you can experiment with different spices and sauces to flavor it and I promise it will still turn out pretty good. 

Spicy Chorizo & Spinach Pasta

Adapted from: Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

6 Chorizos, cut into bite sized pieces

3 teaspoons Cajun Spice, more to taste

250 grams macaroni or any pasta of choice

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons Butter

3 cloves Garlic, Minced

1 tomato, diced

2 cups of fresh Spinach

2 cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth

1/2 cup White Wine

1 cup Heavy Cream

Freshly Ground Black Pepper, to taste

Method

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain when pasta is still al dente; do not overcook!
2. Sprinkle 1 1/2 teaspoons Cajun spice over the chorizo. Toss around to coat. Heat 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a heavy skillet over high heat. Add the chorizo and sauté for a couple of minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a clean plate.
3. Add the remaining olive oil and butter. When heated, add onions, and garlic. Sprinkle on remaining Cajun spice, and add salt if needed. Cook over very high heat for 1 minute, stirring continuously so they don’t burn. Add tomatoes and cook for an additional 30 seconds.  Add in the spinach and stir until just wilted. Remove the vegetables from the pan.
4. With the pan over high heat, pour in the wine and chicken broth. Cook on high for 3 to 5 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Reduce heat to medium-low and pour in cream, stirring/whisking constantly. Cook sauce over medium-low heat for a few minutes, until cream starts to thicken the mixture. Taste and add freshly ground black pepper, and/or salt to taste. Sauce should be spicy!
5. Finally, add the chorizo and vegetables to sauce, making sure to include all the juices that have drained onto the plate. Stir and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until mixture is bubbly and hot. Add the drained pasta and toss to combine. Bon Appetite! J

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Banana Cake with Chocolate Ganache

For those who have never baked before, baking can seem very daunting. I know it was for me. I did not know where to start or what to do. Even most of the recipes that were said to be simple just looked scary with all the random ingredients and instructions a page long. Today’s recipe is a good one for beginners. It’s a basic moist and delicious banana cake recipe with an even simpler chocolate ganache. There are no surprise ingredients in here, just your everyday ones and the instructions are fairly simple to follow.  For anyone who is going to try their hand at baking for the very first time, here are a few tips that I wish I had known before I started baking.

1.      Read a recipe completely. No skimming or scanning. Go through the whole recipe ingredient by ingredient, step by step at least twice. This is so you don’t get halfway through the recipe and realize you've accidentally overlooked a key ingredient or tool needed.

2.      Always bring your standard ingredients like eggs, butter and milk to room temperature unless the recipe specifically calls for cold ingredients. In case you forget this step to quickly bring eggs to room temperature just immerse them in a bowl of warm water. And I've also read somewhere to soften butter quickly, grating the butter will help.

3.      Always preheat your oven. Almost every recipe has this as the first step for a reason!

4.      Always using proper measuring tool unless specified otherwise. Use the liquid measuring jars for liquids and the nested measuring cups for dry ingredients.

5.      Sifting your flour and baking soda and baking powder does really make a positive difference to the texture of the cakes.

So now that’s out of the way, here’s yet a banana cake with chocolate ganache recipe that you are going to love. It is super simple and easy to follow. And of course, the end result is yum! With regards to the ganache, don’t let the fancy name put you off. It’s even simpler to make than it sounds. It requires just two ingredients- chocolate and fresh cream and voila you have a decadent frosting to top your cake with. Please do try these recipes out and I’d love to hear how it turned out for you. Also feel free to send me pictures of your cakes too J

Banana Cake with Chocolate Ganache

For Cake

Recipe Source: Bakericious

Makes two 8 inch cakes 

Ingredients 

2 cups plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp baking powder

250g salted butter (at room temperature)
1 1/2 cups castor sugar
4 eggs (at room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 tbsp milk
1 1/2 cups mashed banana (about 3 bananas)

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Grease and line two 8 inch round baking tins with baking paper.
2. Sift together the plain flour, baking soda and baking powder. Keep aside. 
3. Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl.
4. Add in eggs, vanilla essence and milk and mix well.
5. Add mashed banana into the mixture and mix well.
6. Finally add in sifted flour and mix well and pour into a prepped cake tin.
7. Bake until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. If the top layer turns brown after 15 minutes, cover it with a piece of aluminium foil and continue to bake.
8. Cool cakes in the pan for 10 minutes then move onto a cooling rack.

For Ganache

Ingredients

400 grams dark chocolate, broken into pieces

250mls fresh cream

Method

1. Pour the cream into a medium pot and heat it until it is almost but not quite boiling. You’ll know it’s ready when bubbles start to form around the edge of the pot. 
2. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate.Let it sit undisturbed for 2 minutes, then stir until the chocolate is fully melted into the cream. 
3. Whisk until smooth and glossy. When you start to stir it, you think it won’t come together, but it will.
4. Allow to cool slightly before pouring over a cake. For fluffier icing, allow to cool until thick and then whisk until light and fluffy.

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Homemade Plum Jam - No Pectin

A friend of ours stopped by with a bag full of beautifully ripened plums just picked from her trees a couple of weeks ago. Instantly I knew I had to make some jam because there was no way I could eat through that whole bag myself as neither my husband or kids were too fond of fresh plums. I chucked the bag in the fridge and forgot all about it until recently. I finally got up the courage to make my own jam. This is the very first time I made my own jam so wasn't sure what to expect. But let me tell you the process is really simple and the results delicious!

This is the perfect way to make some of your own homemade pectin free jam and I promise it tastes much better that the store bought one.  All you need is fruit, or in this case plums, sugar, and a squeeze of lemon. That is it. Pretty easy, right? This recipe is a bit of a cross between plum jam & plum preserve I think. It still has some fruit chunks in it but it still spreads nicely onto the breads and pancakes.

You really don’t need any special jam making equipment here. I was only making one bottle, which by the way turned out too big though. Well, now I know for next time to get a smaller bottle. J The only pain in this process was sterilizing the jar for the jam. I washed it in hot soapy water, rinsed and dried in a low oven at around 120C until I was ready to bottle the jam. I did not do the whole water bath canner process as I was going to make only one jar of jam and intended to use it immediately and not store it for later. 

Let the jamming begin!!! J

Homemmade Plum Jam

Recipe Source: Rhubarb & Rose

Makes about two 500ml jars

INGREDIENTS

1kg plums

Juice of one lemon
750g caster sugar

METHOD

Rinse the fruit in running water.  You want to start with really clean fruit because we won’t be removing the skins. The skins mostly kind of dissolve during the cooking process and are almost unnoticeable in the final product.

Put 1-2 small ceramic plates in the freezer. This plate will be used to check the jam is cooked enough to set or not.

 Halve and de-stone the plums and juice the lemon.  Mix the plums, lemon juice and sugar in a heavy bottomed, large saucepan.

Cover and leave to macerate for at least an hour to allow the sugar to extract some of the juice. I left mine for over 5 hours. 

Heat the plum mixture over medium-high heat, stirring as needed to prevent sticking, until jam starts to foam & boil, about 15 minutes. 

Continue to cook, stirring minimally and lowering the heat if necessary to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of your pan, until foaming has subsided, about 15 minutes longer. Scrape any foam off jam surface with a stainless steel spoon as needed.

Continue to cook after foaming has subsided until bubbling has slowed and jam looks glossy, 5 to 15 minutes. The color of the plum will turn darker when they cooked.

You can pick up and discard the skins with a fork, if desired. Or be lazy like me and just stir them in, and be happy that you are reserving all that nutritional value of the fruit into the jam! 

When the plum halves have broken down and jam has thickened, begin testing for doneness: Get the plate from the freezer and place a bit of the jam over it. Again, put this plate in freezer for a minute and then remove from it. Test the jam, run a spoon or your finger through the jam and if it leaves the track clear, it is ready. If jam is too runny, return to heat and cook, stirring frequently and repeating the spoon test every 5 minutes, until jam passes test.

Remove pan from heat and allow mixture to rest for 1-2 minutes. Pour the jam into the sterilized jar/s and put the lid on while it is still hot. The jar should also still be hot, or at least warm. I let the jar cool down on the bench and then stored it in the pantry. Store the jam in the fridge once you've opened it.

This explains the testing of doneness for jams a bit more and has pictures to help you understand.

Enjoy!

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