Ham in Coca-Cola

I rarely drink Coca-Cola. Every time I drink it I can practically hear my dentist telling me that nothing rots teeth like Coke. I'm not sure if that's true, but it certainly worked as a scare tactic on me.

I usually glaze baked ham in beer and pineapple. Sounds totally weird and disgusting but it works and it tastes good. However recently, when flicking through Nigella Lawson's How to Eat, I noticed the recipe Ham in Coca-Cola. Trashtastic!

I recently had some friends over for an early Christmas get together and I decided to try Ham in Coca-Cola. It was dead easy and yummy. Of course it's yummy - the Coke infuses the ham with syrupy, sugary goodness!

Ham in Coca-Cola (inspired by Nigella Lawson)

2 Litres Coca-Cola

Onion

Star Anise

2kg ham (I always buy a leg of ham that has the hock in it so I can turn it into pea and ham soup)

Brown sugar

Mustard

Cloves

Quarter the onion and pop it in a large stock pan along with the Coca-Cola, star anise and ham. Put the pot on the stove, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat. Let the pot simmer for about an hour and a half. I found that the 2litres of Coke only partially submerged the ham so every half hour I came and flipped the ham so it got a nice soaking all over.

After the ham has simmered take the ham out of the Coca-Cola and leave the Coca-Cola mixture and ham to cool.

When the ham has cooled enough so you can touch it, place the ham on a wire tray on a baking tray. Put a bit of water in the bottom of the baking tray. (This is to stop the horrible burning smell when the glaze drips onto the bottom of tray.)

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Remove the layer of fat on the ham and score the top part of the ham to make a diamond pattern.

In a bowl mix together about 100 gms of brown sugar, a squirt of mustard and a tablespoon or so of the Coca-Cola mixture to make a paste. Slather the paste over the ham.

Stud the diamonds of the ham with cloves.

Bake in the oven until the glaze makes the ham a lovely pinky, goldeny colour, approximately 1 hour.

Leave to rest and cool before serving.

Raspberry & Almond Frangipane Tart

This recipe is from Nigella Lawson's How to Eat. How to Eat is probably my favourite cook book. There are no pictures and I like to read it like a novel. It lives on my bedside table.

This tart is actually a Bakewell Tart. However, I tend to find people much prefer the Frangipane Tart name. In fact, I have had people refuse to eat Bakewell Tart, but when I call it Frangipane Tart, they gobble it. Silly!

A lot of Australians have never heard of Bakewell Tart. I never had and thought the name sounded rather stupid (a tart that bakes well?!). I subsequently found out Bakewell Tart is named after a town in Derbyshire, England. The legend is that an inexperienced servant to one Mrs Greaves of the White Horse Inn, stuffed up a jam tart and put the jam at the bottom of the tart instead of as a topping.

This dessert is very delicious, very popular and very easy. I also like it because I always have the ingredients in my cupboard/freezer. I have made it countless times. Sometimes, when I can't be bothered or don't have much time, I use frozen pastry (Careme is my brand of choice). Still tastes great, but I find the almond pastry lifts it that little bit more. I like it with some double cream.

Bakewell Tart / Raspberry & Almond Frangipane Tart (from Nigella Lawson's How to Eat)

For the almond pastry:

175 g flour

30 gm almond meal

65 gm icing sugar

130 gm butter, diced

one egg yolk

Sift the flour, a pinch of salt, the ground almonds and sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the diced butter and either use the dough hooks of your mixer or use a round bladed knife to cut the mixture (if preparing by hand).

When the butter is reduced to flakes, use your fingertips to rub the pastry. When the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, stir in the egg yolk. You may need to add a drop or two of cold water if the mixture is still crumbly. Form the pastry into a fat disc and pop in glad wrap or foil and pop in the fridge for 20 minutes.

After the dough has rested, roll out the pastry and line a 26cm round greased tart tin. I roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper to stop it sticking to the bench. Pop the lined tin back in the fridge while you make the filling.

(I realise that the pastry sounds rather fiddly but I reckon the whole process takes about 10 - 15 minutes)

For the filling:

125 g butter, softened

125 g caster sugar

3 eggs

3 tablespoons raspberry jam

300g raspberries (I usually use frozen)

125 g almond meal

15 g flaked almonds

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Melt the butter. Beat the melted butter, sugar and eggs together in your mixer. The mixture gets very glossy and thick (a little like meringue, but not as stiff). While the mixer is on, spread the jam on the base of the pastry case and cover with the raspberries.

Add the almond meal to the now voluminous egg mixture (just a quick stir to ensure it is distributed through the egg). Don't beat the almond in - you don't want to lose any of the lovely volume.

Pour the almond and egg mixture on the frozen raspberries. Sprinkle with flaked almonds.

Bake in a 200 degree oven for around 35 - 45 minutes or until the tart is golden and swollen.

I sometimes find the tart browns quite quickly. If I am worried the tart will burn I put a wooden chopping board on the wire shelf above to stop the heat directly hitting the top of the tart.

Serve warm.

Chocolate Eclairs

I'm always ripping out recipes that catch my eye in magazines or newspapers. I have lots of scrappy bits of paper floating around my desk with recipes for all sorts of things - panna cotta, chocolate cake, ravioli, meat ragu sauce. I really have to come up with a proper filing system.

Anyway, this recipe for chocolate eclairs is from the Good Weekend magazine (free with the Sydney Morning Herald or the Age). It's from Cath Claringbold who is one of the founders of Mecca Bah. Despite Mecca Bah being a chain restaurant (shudder). It's a good chain ('good chain' almost sounds like an oxymoron).

Chocolate Eclairs

120 g plain flour

250 ml milk (full fat please)

pinch salt

pinch caster sugar

120 g unsalted butter

4 large eggs

1 quantity pastry cream

good quality dark chocolate (melted)

To make the pastry cream:

300 ml milk (full fat please)

1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

3 egg yolks

60 gm caster sugar

20 gm plain flour

20 gm corn flour

In a saucepan eat the milk and vanilla seeds just to the boil.

Place the egg yolks, sugar and flours into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until pale and smooth.

Once the milk has boiled, remove from the heat and incorporate a third into the egg mixture. Mix and then pour back into the saucepan with the remaining milk.

Return the saucepan to a medium heat and, stirring continuously, bring the pastry cream gently to the boil. Stir for 30 to 60 seconds until it has thickened. Remove from the heat. Pour into a clean bowl and cover with cling wrap to prevent a skin forming. Leave to cool.

To make the choux pastry shells:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and sift the flour.

Heat the milk, salt, sugar and butter in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil and remove from eat. Add the flour and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth and starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, forming a ball. This takes about 20 seconds.

Return the saucepan to the stove over a low heat and continue to beat for 1 minute. Place the mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat at high speed for 30 seconds to release heat and steam from the mixture. (This can be done with a wooden spoon if you don't have a mixer)

Reduce the speed slightly and add the eggs, one at a time. The finished dough should be glossy and soft.

Place the dough in a piping bag and pipe 9cm lengths onto a greased, lined tray. Bake in the oven for 20 - 30 minutes or until the pastries are golden and crisp.

Place the pastries on a wire cooling rack. With a sharp knife make a tiny slit in the end to allow the steam to escape. Leave to cool completely. (At this stage the pastries can be frozen if you wish to have them later). My pastries deflated a lot while cooling.

To assemble:

Fill a piping bag with the cooled pastry cream. Make a tiny hole in the end of each pastry. Gently fill with the pastry cream until you see or feel it reach the other end.

Melt some dark chocolate and dip the tops of the eclairs in to ice.

Decorate your eclairs. I used crystallised violets which I bought from Black Pearl Epicure. I chopped them very finely to make into a purpleish, sugary dust.

Iced scrolls

A few weeks ago I was asked to help out with the catering on a low budget film. I was happy to help. I made these delicious scrolls for morning tea one of the days. I chose scrolls because they are cheap and fun to make. This particular recipe makes a LOT of scrolls, which was perfect because I was feeding 25 people. I made four large lasagne trays worth (about 60 medium scrolls).

Who/What/Where?

My name is muchas_gracias. Obviously that is not my real name (I would hope that no parents would be so cruel), but for the purposes of this blog and cyberspace, it is.

I love to eat and I love to cook. I would be quite content cooking, reading cookbooks and eating all day long if I didn't have to earn a living (and my waistline would permit it).

Unfortunately, my enthusiasm for food doesn't always equate to excellent cooking but never mind, practice shall make perfect!

I live in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is a lovely part of the world (although I didn't always think so). We are blessed with sunshine and glorious weather almost year round.

p.s. I realise my URL doesn't make complete grammatical sense, however all my first

preferences were taken!