Little Box Brownie

A Baking Blog from Melbourne, Australia

Recipe

Saugage Rolls

by 11 Comments

Lets get one thing straight, me and sports don’t mix!! However any excuse will do to cook. So in the spirit of sport-mans ship, on the eve on one of the biggest events on the Melbourne calendar I made some sausage rolls, for the grand final ( Melbourne vs Sydney). I have no intention of watching the grand final, I do however have grand intensions of eating the sausage rolls.
Now these are cheats sausage rolls, as I happened to have some sausages in the freezer, and waste not want not, I say. So I used them up in these.

Sausage Rolls

Sausage Rolls

1 packet of sausages
4 sprigs of thyme
1 teaspoon garlic
1 teaspoon mustard
pepper
2 sheets of puff pastry
1 beaten egg
poppy seeds to sprinkle

Pre heat oven to 180

Remove the skins from the sausages and place the meat into a bowl. Then add the leaves from the thyme, the garlic, mustard and pepper and stir until combined.
Cut the sheets of puff pastry into two, then place the meat along the longest point and roll up, and brush the end with egg wash to seal it. 
Brush some egg wash over the top of the sausage roll and sprinkle  the poppy seeds over the top.

Serve with some good old tomato sauce.



Sausage Rolls

Now Dig in…

Dig in

Cider & Garlic Mussels

by 27 Comments

I was walking through the market today on my way to the studio, I happened to notice some glistening fresh mussels (which I will admit early in this post that I LOVE).  I couldn’t resist, so brought a kilo. I thought they would be good with the cider that I had left over from the weekend.

This dish was a little inspired by a meal I had many years ago in a little Irish pub in Dublin, ‘Johnnie Foxes’ with my partner and his sister. It was a big bowl of garlic and white wine mussels, finished off with a few slices of thick bread to mop up the sauce. 

2 Tablespoons of olive oil
1 small brown onion
5 cloves of garlic
1 kg of mussels 
1 small bottle of cider
1/4 cup of cream
a bunch of parsley
 Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add the chopped onion and garlic, cook until the onion is soft. Add the mussels and heat for 1 minute then add the cider and cream. Place a lid on the sauce pan and steam until the mussels open. Then remove from the heat and add the parsley. 

Best served straight from the pot, with a big roll of crusty bread, and a few bottles of cider. 



Mussels

Cider and Garlic Mussels

A bowl of Cider and Garlic Mussels


Cider & Garlic Mussels

by 14 Comments

I was walking through the market today on my way to the studio, I happened to notice some glistening fresh mussels (which I will admit early in this post that I LOVE).  I couldn’t resist, so brought a kilo. I thought they would be good with the cider that I had left over from the weekend.

This dish was a little inspired by a meal I had many years ago in a little Irish pub in Dublin, ‘Johnnie Foxes’ with my partner and his sister. It was a big bowl of garlic and white wine mussels, finished off with a few slices of thick bread to mop up the sauce. 

2 Tablespoons of olive oil
1 small brown onion
5 cloves of garlic
1 kg of mussels 
1 small bottle of cider
1/4 cup of cream
a bunch of parsley
 Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add the chopped onion and garlic, cook until the onion is soft. Add the mussels and heat for 1 minute then add the cider and cream. Place a lid on the sauce pan and steam until the mussels open. Then remove from the heat and add the parsley. 

Best served straight from the pot, with a big roll of crusty bread, and a few bottles of cider. 



Mussels

Cider and Garlic Mussels

A bowl of Cider and Garlic Mussels


Cinnamon Doughnuts

by 24 Comments

A few weekends ago, my partner and I went to visit his sister and her family. On the way we stopped at a small farmers market, where we brought some freshly cooked, and still warm doughnuts. The smell was irresistible, I nearly gobbled them up on the way. I’m pleased to say that I resisted until we got there. However since then I have had the desire to make some of my own fresh doughnuts as I have never attempted to make them before. I even had to buy a doughnut cutter from a local shop, I never even knew they made doughnut cutters, I had planned on using some round cookie cutters, but low and behold I found the perfect tool for the job.

Cinnamon Doughnuts

Cinnamon Doughnuts

Cinnamon Doughnuts

I have to say it was quite fun learning how to make a doughnut, and is definitely something I would do again. The smell of freshly cooked doughnuts wafting through the house is quite simply homely.

Doughnuts

3 1/2 cups of plain flour
1/4 cut of brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
7g of yeast

75 grams melted butter
3 eggs
1 cup of warm milk


Place the flour, sugar, yeast and cinnamon in to a bowl. Make a well in the centre of the mixture and add the eggs, milk and butter and mix until combined. Remove from the bowl and knead the dough on a well floured board until the dough is smooth. Should take about 5 to 10 minutes. Then place in an oiled bowl, cover in cling wrap and place in a warm spot for about 30minutes or until the mixture doubles. Remove from the bowl and knock the mixture back (re-knead it). Then roll the dough out and cut into doughnut shapes.
Heat some oil in a deep pot until hot. Place the doughnuts in the pot one at a time cooking on each side until golden, and cooked through.

Makes 10

Please check your first doughnut to make sure its cooked all the way through as this is something I didn’t do, and I had a few raw ones. I can tell from experience, once they have cooled a little and you pop them back in the oil they still wont cook on the inside, just get darker on the outside. Wasted doughnuts, is a very sad thing indeed 🙁