Tag Archives: Queensland nut

A couple of repeats and some squid

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Tonight we repeated Yorkshire puddings with the ocean trout, horseradish and cream cheese, plus we had calamari and then cheesecake. The Jamie Oliver recipe is really good.

Sizzling in the oven

Getting bigger

This short video just shows how good they sizzle in the oven.

This is a great plate of puds.

Straight out of the oven, two different sizes.

Smoked ocean trout with horseradish and cream cheese

Smoked ocean trout with horseradish and cream cheese with yorkies

Smoked ocean trout with horseradish and cream cheese with yorkies

Smoked ocean trout with horseradish and cream cheese with yorkies

Squid is good You should check out dileeshus she loves squid

Sizzling squid

Resting squid

Lots of squid

Plated squid

The squid was amazingly tender and fresh and perfectly cooked. The dipping sauce Bron made was delicious.

Dessert is chocolate and peanut paste cheesecake with Queensland nut brittle

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Australia Day cheesecake

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For the past few weeks Bron has been talking about cheesecake since she made a white chocolate cheesecake some weeks ago. She has had her eye on a recipe from Nigella Lawson. To give it more interest, Bron chose Nigella’s Chocolate peanut butter cheesecake.

I need to digress and explain why this has more interest for me. I grew up in Queensland in the 1960s and 1970s. We only knew of peanut paste and Queensland nuts. We’d heard of peanut butter and Macadamia nuts but our impression was that only southerners used those terms. As Queenslanders we knew better. There are a few sites that mention the debate, e.g., Peanut Butter or Peanut Paste? and there is also a Facebook page. As far as I’m concerned, the edible species in the genus Macadamia found in Eastern Australia are Queensland nuts and that’s how I shall always know them. While it may be Australia Day, I am and always will be a proud convinced and convicted Queenslander.

Last night I also learned that 24 January is national peanut butter day in the USA from food blogger John-Bryan Hopkins also known as the Foodimentary Guy.

Back to the important stuff though. This is a baked cheesecake. Nigella describes it best, “This is not for the faint-hearted. Unashamed indulgence, wallowingly so, is what this recipe is all about: think reese’s Peanut Butter cup in cheesecake form. For that reason, I don’t bake this in a water-bath as I do the Banoffee cheesecake. The water-bath is excellent if you want a silky texture, but for me, the peanut butter constituent demands a certain amount of pleasurable, palate-cleaving clagginess. And baked like this, too, the top gets a slight crust when it’s cooked, making it all the easier to spread the chocolate topping.”

Baking in the oven

Straight out of the oven

Time for the chocolate topping.

Here comes the chocolate topping

It is good.

Smoothed over chocolate

Melted chocolate swirls.

Chocolate swirls

The finished product with the Queensland nut brittle similar to the cheesecake we had at Kingley’s steak and crab house.

A perfect slice of cheesecake with Queensland nut brittle

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Some of the preparation happened in a new blender.

A weekend in food

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I know a lot of fellow bloggers have started 2012 with posts about resolutions and reviews of 2011. I thought my first post for 2012 should be about a weekend of food enjoyment.

On Friday night we caught up with friends and enjoyed steam boat and pavlova at their place. We’ve enjoyed steam boat with them before and it has always been a fantastic meal. Steam boat is also known as hot pot. I remember steam boat as a kid, Mum had an electric boat and we had many happy meals putting meat, vegetables and noodles into the simmering water. On Friday night we enjoyed marinaded pork, beef, chicken and prawns. We had three types of noodles and heaps of Chinese vegetables. At the end, three egg yolks were beaten in and we had the best soup to finish.

Steam boat preparation. Everything ready.

Steam boat preparation. Everything ready.

A bowl of awesome goodness.

For dessert we had a pavlova lovingly made by our friends. This pav was amazing. The cream was whipped coconut cream and pouring cream. It had a lovely coconut flavour and a smooth texture. The fruit included banana, passion fruit, mango, pineapple, Chinese gooseberry (kiwifruit), blueberries and strawberries.

The platter was about 60 cm in diameter. Four adults polished it off in one hit. It was awesome.

A huge pavlova

We accompanied the pavlova with one of the all time best ice creams. Weis‘ mango cream with Queensland nut (Macadamia) chunks.

My favourite ice cream Weis' mango cream and macadamia chunks

My first (of three) helping.

My first of three helpings of awesome pavlova

The empty platter, all gone in one go

We finished the evening with chocolate and port. Well I didn’t have port, but it was a great evening. Lots of laughs. We really treausre these times with our friends. Especially the work and social related conversations. I’m glad I don’t drink otherwise I’d forget how much I laugh when we’re all together.

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