Oh, dear. Is that the time?

On May 29 of this year, I posted that I'd be using this site to record recipes. And then, on May 30, despite my better judgment, I went back to Facebook. You know what happened next.

So, here I am on December 23, getting ready to record my year in review and accepting that, after seven months, maybe I need to update my blog.

Okay, to begin with, here's a recipe. I've been very active on a certain slow cooker site on Facebook which links really well with the slow cooker central website. I've been an active member for about four months and, as a result, have been exposed to a couple of fads. My favourite recipe to come from the site is this Obsession sauce which I use for all sorts of sauces.

Obsession Sauce

1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp Mint sauce (I probably use more like 3 or even 4 Tbsps of the thick sauce because I really like mint)
1 packet French Onion soup
1 onion, diced or sliced into half rings (I personally prefer sliced into half rings)

Mix together, pour over any cut of meat (I love it on chicken) and place in slow cooker on low for around 4-6 hours depending on speed of slow cooker.

Too easy. Too delicious. I serve with mashed potatoes and carrot, but you could also serve on rice or with roast veges. I have also used the sauce to marinate roast lamb before slow cooking (cook on low about 8 - 10 hours).

Adapted recipe - Australian Eclair Cake

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm going to start blogging the recipes I adapt. The first featured recipe first appeared at Chef in Training and immediately took my fancy. This is Eclair Cake and I have to admit that it was, for me, love at first sight. However, like any great love, there's always room for improvement and as it's from the US, we here in Australia don't have two of the ingredients - Cool Whip and Graham Crackers. However, I am a smart and versatile little cookie (or biscuit as we say here in Oz) so I thought over my options and decided to adapt the recipe using Vanilla Fruche and Savoiardi Sponge Fingers. The reason these ingredients came to mind is because I make an amazing trifle using both these ingredients and even my trifle-ambivalent husband wolfs it down when I make it. So, a few weeks ago I made the adaptation and sure enough, it was a huge success.

Today the kids and I made it for tomorrow night's dinner (yes, it is one of those recipes that does well with a good rest) so I thought I'd post the recipe and a few pictures. Now, be warned, I'm not posting here with a view to food-porn, I'm posting recipes made in my own kitchen and photographed with my Samsung Galaxy 3 camera. They're not high-gloss or high-tech. They're more like a story your mama would tell you, wholesome, true and unfiltered.

So, here it is, my Australian Eclair Cake.

12 Savoiardi Sponge Fingers cut in half along the join (I use the really big ones)

1 packet vanilla instant pudding
500 ml skim milk
2 tubs vanilla Fruche

Frosting:
3 Tbs Meadow Lea Light Spread
3 Tbs cocoa
3 Tbs skim milk
1 cup icing sugar

1 cup white choc melts
1 cup milk choc melts

Method

1. Sprinkle pudding mix over milk and beat for 1 minute. Transfer to fridge and allow to cool for 14 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, layer a square casserole dish or cake tin with one third of the sponge fingers.

We're having my sons over for dinner tomorrow night, so I've doubled the recipe. They'll thank me later.

Second layer of biscuits on top of pudding layer

Depth shot. I think I might need a deeper dish in future.

3. Once the pudding has set, remove from fridge and mix in both packets of Fruche.
4. Spread half the pudding and Fruche mix over the sponge fingers.
5. Add another layer of sponge fingers (should be another third)

Frosting layer. The frosting is somewhat runny, but this is a good thing as it soaks into the various components of the cake.

 6. Add rest of pudding and Fruche mix and smooth over.
7. Add rest of sponge fingers.

8. In a separate bowl, slightly warm the margarine into the milk until it is just soft but not melted. Add cocoa and icing sugar and beat with an electric mixer until well combined and free of icing lumps.
9. Spread over savoiardi layer.

I'm not hugely fussy on making it look elegant. I want people to know I made this.

Erin stirs the chocolate melts

Connor turns Pollock with the white chocolate layer.

Apparently there's a smiley face in there. Apparently.

Erin also tries to be all Pollock about it, but turns more towards Pro Hart.

10. Heat both lots of choc melts but do not combine.
11. Once thoroughly melted, drizzle white chocolate over frosting layer.
12. Finally, drizzle milk chocolate over white and place in fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight.

Layering. It's not just for the 90s fashionista.

The savoiardi biscuits soften under the layers giving this its cakey-consistency.

So there you have it. Real food, real photography, real adaptation in the wild. I so can't wait for tomorrow night.

And now for something a bit different

Today I discovered a major flaw in my decision to delete my Facebook account. It all comes down to recipes or, rather, the lack thereof. Particularly my own. A couple of weeks ago I found this recipe on Facebook and really wanted to give it a go. The problem was, it's written in Americanese using USian products. However, I am a good cook (or so I believe) but better than that, I'm an excellent adaptive cook. I can take almost any recipe and make it low-fat or kid-friendly or Australian. And that's just what I did. I took the Eclair Cake (linked above) and turned it into Australian Eclair Cake. 

I cannot begin to describe just what a massive hit this was in our house. People not only begged for seconds, the bowls and spoons and serving utensils were licked so clean it was almost impossible to tell whether they'd already been through the dishwasher or not.

Tomorrow night I have my adult sons coming for dinner, so I've decided to make Australian Eclair Cake for dessert. The only problem is, I'm no longer on Facebook. Okay, in this case I don't really need the recipe (it wasn't that hard to adapt), but just thinking about the process I went through made me realise just how much I rely on FB as a storage system. 

I really, really do not want to go back on Facebook, so I've decided to blog my Evolved and Adapted recipes instead. I was all for starting a new blog, but Lee convinced me to use Battblush instead and use labels to make searching for recipes easier. I'll be using the labels adapted recipes and/or evolved recipes according to whether I've taken the recipe from a different site and used it as a base (adapted) or whether it's an old recipe I've learnt in the past and made my own (evolved). Where possible I shall endeavour to always either link to the adapted recipe or reference the evolved recipe. 

A general disclaimer: Recipes are one of those handwavery things that tend to suffer from a mishmash of copyright information and misinformation, so if you think I've stolen your recipe then please contact me so we can discuss it. As far as I can tell from my research, it's almost impossible to copyright a recipe as lists of ingredients and the method of putting them together cannot be 'owned'. What can be owned is the literary way in which those two 'ideas' come together. So, if your ingredients say "1 cup SR flour, sifted", that cannot be copyrighted. However, if you say "1 cup of SR flour, sifted beneath the golden rays of God's sun as the cock crows" then yes, you own copyright on that. I have as much right to say "place in fridge for 8 hours" as you have, but I cannot repeat your instructions to "Place in Aunty Mary's favourite red pot, the one Uncle Ralph gave her as an anniversary present and cook on middle shelf for 8 hours." I can say "Place in 9 inch square dish and cook on middle shelf for 8 hours."

I think. If you disagree, feel free to discuss.