I’m not a particularly snoopy wife. for the most part I trust Mr NQN and the only thing that I’m likely to spring him doing is hiding computer parts and hoarding things as he loves collecting junk mail and computer parts. However, he does like to see what I’ve been up to on occasion. Nothing like going into my email which he is welcome to but seeing what I’ve been looking up on the computer on occasion or even what I’ve been saying on twitter or facebook.
One day he said to me “Mon cheri, your google searches are very strange.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Your history shows that you googled ”If you tasered someone in the balls, would they die?’ and ‘Where can I pilot a jet fighter plane in Sydney?’…”
“Well, haven’t you always wanted to know the answers to those questions?” I asked him.
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| April 12th, 2011 by Not Quite Nigella
One evening, Mr NQN and I were watching a television show where a character had asked his spouse to describe him in five words. I turned to Mr NQN and told him the five words that I would use to describe him.
1. Sweet
2. Handsome
3. Messy
4. Clever
5. Naughty
Despite my better instincts, I asked him to give me five words to describe me. He was thoughtful-he always thinks before speaking and he came up with this list.
1. Caring
2. Loyal
3. Determined
4. Stubborn
5. Stubborn
Notice how the same word appears on the list twice, just for emphasis? I protested. I think most of the world is stubborn and it’s us Taureans that get a bad rap. There’s always the nod from a non Taurean to another “She’ a Taurus you know” followed by an exchange of knowing looks.
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| January 13th, 2011 by Not Quite Nigella
A few weeks ago, I was invited to attend the screening of Eat, Pray, Love by the lovely people at Fisher & Paykel. At the pre screening event, I was amongst a group large of magazine editors and writers and even though I was the only online person, I felt welcome rather than an oddity (how times have changed!). I got to chatting with a group from Home Beautiful and was introduced to Vanessa who works there. She had tried some of the recipes on Not Quite Nigella and spoke of a recipe of her own which was a simple five ingredient chocolate cake that had no butter or oil and was gluten free!
I am not gluten intolerant or coeliac but from holding competitions and writing about it, I know many NQN readers are or know people that are so I was eager to try this. The cake itself is wonderfully light-when first baked this had an almost mousse like quality to it which is just wonderful. It is frightfully easy and as there is no butter or oil it doesn’t require creaming. Most importantly it doesn’t taste lower fat (ok there is chocolate and the almond meal but you know what I mean right?) or gluten free. And as Vanessa says, it is even good the day afterwards!
As for the movie, well of course I was going to like the bits about Italy the most-after all that is where the “Eat” from the title comes from. I can’t compare it to the book as I haven’t read the whole book but I did think that the film did see to go on for a very long time and by the time India finished I was fidgeting like mad and just praying (no pun intended) for Bali to come along. Has anyone seen the film? What did you think of it? I know it was panned by critics but I was still curious to see it. I didn’t think it was anywhere near as bad as the critics said that it was. It was entertaining enough and like the hopeless optimist that I am I am glad that it helped me nab this wonderful recipe from Vanessa!
So tell me Dear Reader. do you know many gluten intolerant people or are you one yourself?
This is also my entry into Deeba’s Monthly Mingle event!
Vanessa’s Chocolate & Apple Gluten Free Cake
- 4 eggs, separated
- 115 g/4.06 ozs. castor/superfine sugar
- 115 g/4.05 ozs. plain chocolate, melted
- 1 medium sized apple, peeled, cored and grated (I accidentally chopped it but grating is better I think)
- 125g/4.4 ozs. almond meal
1. Preheat oven to 180C degrees/350F
2. Lightly grease and line a 20cm cake tin (I used a heart tin as I only had a 22 or 23cm tin and didn’t want it to turn out too flat)
3. Beat egg yolks with sugar until pale and creamy. Mix in melted chocolate, almond meal and grated apple.
OK it doesn’t look pretty but it tastes great, I promise!
4. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form & fold into apple+choc mixture.
5. Pour into tin and bake for 45 mins.
6. Dust with icing sugar and serve with cream and fresh strawbs. tastes even better the day after!
| November 16th, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
Allow me to draw you a rather woeful picture: we have finally moved into our new place and were waiting for our new oven to arrive. My baking fingers were itching to bake something. Like an addict I’d pore over cookbooks flagging the recipes that I wanted to make and don’t you know it, they were all cakes that required an oven. My hands would twitch, wanting to beat something or whisk something. Pictures of delicate macarons were pored over lustfully and longingly, my fingers stroking the pages. All things that required my long awaited oven. Until my friend Kathy (who I want to employ one day as she is such a fantastic ideas person unless of course someone else has already hired her) linked me to this recipe for a Five Minute Cheesecake in a Mug from the blog I Really Like Food.
Now those of you that have made baked cheesecakes know that they’re a long process. Whole cheesecakes take at least an hour in the oven although the mixing of one is a relatively quick process. So it should be possible surely? I tried a few variations trying to make my own version using raspberries and some turned out ok and some barely passable but the final recipe if I can say immodestly was rather good indeed.
The raspberries and lemon balance the creaminess and sweetness of the cheese. The key of course is to whisk it thoroughly. If it’s not mixed properly, the resultant cheesecake will be awfully lumpy – it needs to be smooth which does involve some elbow work. I refused to use the Kitchenaid for it, after all the key was to make it as easy as possible with as little equipment and washing up as possible. Like the Five Minute Chocolate Mug Cake, timing is the key. I dislike giving timings for microwaves as they vary so much but mine took 60 seconds on 50% power and then another 45 seconds on 50% power but do check and adjust. It will cook further once it’s out of the microwave.
Of course it’s not an entire miracle and you do need to chill it for a couple of hours to get the true, cold cheesecake texture but you can console yourself with the idea that you only have to cook it for 5 minutes. Might I add that one of the best things is that you really need to use low fat cream cheese and sour cream – yes you need to if you want to beat this by hand. The beautiful part is that it doesn’t taste low fat and truly only takes 5 minutes. OK so it is a miracle indeed.
So tell me Dear Reader, what culinary miracles do you dream of performing? Dinner on the table within 15 minutes? A neverfail souffle or the ability to throw amazing dinner parties? Or something else altogether?
And because it’s Wallpaper Wednesday, here is your image to help you get through Hump Day!
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| October 14th, 2009 by Not Quite Nigella
Even though I’m Australian I know I don’t do a lot of native Australian foods. Not because I don’t like them – on the contrary – but ingredients aren’t particularly easy to come across. However markets and food festivals are often places where you can pick up native Australian bushfoods such as Wattleseed or Lemon Myrtle. I came across a stall at the Easter Show called Barbushco where they offered us small slices of a Lemon Myryle cheesecake they had made in order to demonstrate how to use their spices. We were instantly smitten. Light and fluffy and with that aromatic Lemon Myrtle scent (much like Lemongrass or Lemon Verbena), it was a fabulous Australian take on a lemon cheesecake.
I’ve made plenty of baked cheesecakes in the past but never an unbaked cheesecake. I was surprised at how easy it was (having put aside a whole afternoon to make it only to find that it was done within 40 minutes) in comparison. The different, lighter texture as opposed to the thick, creamy baked cheesecake texture was something not to eschew but to embrace at times where lightness and ease will do. The ground Lemon Myrtle is a pretty green shade as the leaves are used and they impart such a delicious sweet lemony aroma. If you’re unable to get Lemon Myrtle then you can always substitute it with a good quality lemongrass powder or Lemon verbena. Or alternatively, you could use any kind of sweet sauce like a caramel sauce swirled through, a berry or fruit puree or your favourite chocolate bar chopped up into small pieces and stirred through.
As a whole cheesecake, it is a little shallower than your normal towering hunk of baked cheesecake and this is no surprise given that it only uses 250grams or 9 ounces of cream cheese. The ratio of crust to filling is also more equal than say a typical cheesecake so the first thing I thought of was a cheesecake slice where sturdiness and a thicker base is a desirable and necessary feature. Mr NQN was so in love with this idea that I decided to make the slice version the next day. It was a fabulous slice and out of the two shapes, I preferred it in the squares as this was easy to pop in a lunchbox.
So tell me Dear Reader, do you prefer a baked or a non baked cheesecake and what is your favourite Cheesecake flavour?
Also in some very exciting news, I have made it to #2 on the Top Australian Women Bloggers list!
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| July 7th, 2009 by Not Quite Nigella
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