Wheatbelt Casserole

This is my own recipe, a perfect hearty casserole for a cold day when you want something that is both easy and tasty. It brings together the tastes of the Western Australian wheatbelt and the surrounding bush (lamb and kangaroo, and wheat pasta), along with good old garden vegetables and herbs.

Of course, given that this is an international board, most of you won’t be able or inclined to cook with kangaroo meat (or, for that matter, with vegemite). Don’t worry, you can replace it with beef. But if you’re in Australia or can get hold of kangaroo where you live, I would thoroughly recommend it. It’s low in fat, low in kilojoules, high in iron and very tasty.

This much will feed two, three or four people depending on how hungry you are!

Ingredients:

200g lean kangaroo fillet (or beef fillet), cubed
150g lean lamb fillet, cubed
2 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
375mL liquid stock (broth) – I used vegetable but beef would be fine
2x ~400g (1 pound) tins diced or crushed tomatoes
1 large brown onion, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced into rounds
2 tsp mixed herbs (I used one tsp each of Lamb Herbs and Italian Herbs – just use whatever you like best!)
1 tsp vegemite (optional)
1 tsp red Tabasco sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

180g dry pasta (I used spirals; shells or any other medium-sized shaped pasta would be good too)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C (356 F)

2. In a large freezer bag (or sealable plastic container) place 2 tbsp cornflour, a dash each of salt and pepper, and the diced meat. Seal the bag / container and shake to coat all of the pieces of meat in the flour. Continue shaking until all flour is taken up.



3. Dry-fry the meat in a hot frypan until the flour is browned.



4. Place the meat in a casserole dish (I used a stoneware casserole with a lid – the dish must be coverable) and add all other ingredients except pasta, including salt and pepper to taste. Stir thoroughly until ingredients are spread evenly throughout.



5. Place covered casserole in the pre-heated oven and cook for one hour.

6. After one hour, remove casserole from the oven and add pasta. Stir thoroughly and return covered casserole to oven.

7. Cook for another hour, then it’s done!



Remember that this will be *very* hot when it first comes out of the oven. Don’t burn your mouth out of enthusiasm to taste it! I recommend that you dish out the casserole into bowls or plates and then let it sit out for 5 minutes before tucking in. Enjoy!

Chocolate Rum Balls

This is another of Mum's recipes, but I've made them a few times myself. They're a pretty-much-failsafe recipe for an afternoon tea or after-dinner treat.

They need to be made in two stages (usually, over two days) as you have to make the cake first.

Ingredients:

Cake:

4 oz (110g) margarine
4 oz (110g) caster sugar (super fine sugar)
2 eggs
4 oz (110g) self-raising flour
3 metric (20mL) tablespoons cocoa or to taste
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
dash milk (optional)


Rum Balls:

Cake as above
3 metric (20mL) tablespoons apricot jam (US jelly or preserves)
½ metric cup (125mL) dried apricots, finely chopped
½ metric cup (125mL) dessicated coconut (shredded coconut)
2 metric (20mL) tablespoons rum
2 metric (20mL) tablespoons water
chocolate sprinkles to coat (these: choc sprinkles -  Cora tells me that they're called the same thing in the US :-D)


Method:

Cake:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 C (350 F) and grease and flour a large cake tin (pan).

2. Cream margarine and sugar until fluffy.

3. Add eggs one at a time, creaming until mixed.

4. Add sieved (sifted) flour and cocoa and mix until absorbed. Taste-test to see whether more cocoa is required.

5. Add vanilla essence and mix in thoroughly.

6. The mixture should be at dropping consistency (if you lift a dollop up on a spoon and turn it sideways, the dollop should fall off). If it’s too stiff, add a little milk.

7. Add cake mixture to greased and floured tin, smooth over and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

8. Leave cooked cake until completely cold before proceeding to next step.


Rum Balls:

1. Place cold cake, broken into pieces, into food processor, and blend until it forms fine, even crumbs.

2. In a large bowl, combine cake crumbs and all other ingredients (except chocolate sprinkles) thoroughly

3. Roll into balls a little smaller than 4cm (1.5 inches) in diameter

4. Roll each ball in chocolate sprinkles to coat and refrigerate until required. These can also be frozen for several months – just take out of the freezer to defrost a couple of hours before they are required.

Pavlova Roll

I will be making this next Friday for friends so will have picture then.
This is in metric measurments.

Serves: 6
Prep time: 30-50 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients -
4 egg whites
½ cup or 110g caster sugar + 2 extra TBS
2 cups or 500ml whipped thickened cream
250g strawberries, halved
1 or 85g kiwi fruit, sliced
2 TBS passionfruit pulp

Directions -
Preheat oven to 200c or 392f.
Grease 26cm X 32cm swiss roll pan, line base with baking paper or foil (I prefer foil), extending paper 5cm over edges of long side of pan.
Beat egg whites until soft peaks form; add sugar, in batches, beating until dissolved between additions.
Spread the mixture into prepared pan and bake for 10 mins or until lightly browned.
Turn meringue onto sheet of baking paper, sprinkle with extra sugar.
Gently peel away baking paper, stand for 2 mins.
Spread a third of whipped cream over slightly warm meringue.
Place strawberries and kiwi fruit length ways in centre and then roll firmly from long side.
Refrigerate for 30 mins.Trim ends, cover top with remaining cream and decorate with passionfruit pulp.

Note: You can use different fruits, I often add banana and pinapple.