How to make cheese

Making cheese is easy, just boil some milk then  add some white vinegar to separate the curds. Drain in a cheese cloth  add some salt and voila! Cheese.

Watch this video to see how easy it is.

Cream Liqueur : If you like Baileys Irish Cream you will like this!

This week I have a beverage recipe.  Heres a way to save money and make your very own Baily's substitute.  I made some the other night.

Cream Liqueur

Ingredients

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup (250 mil) thickened cream (I use lactose free which is less cloying)

1 & 2/3 cups whiskey (or whisky or bourbon. The cheap stuff is OK)

1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

1 teaspoon almond flavoring

2 tablespoons chocolate sauce

1 teaspoon instant coffee dissolved in one tablespoon boiling water

Method

Put everything in a blender and blend. Pour into clean glass bottles and store in fridge. Wait at least 24 hours before tasting to allow the liquid to properly set. NOTE: Shake the bottle well before drinking.

Extra ADULTS ONLY  dessert recipe

Impossible Coconut Pie

I made this last night .Its the simplest dessert pie to make and just about fool proof. The coconut will rise to the top and the flour sink to the bottom to form a crust.  Its great with some ice cream or custard sauce.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1/2 cup plain flour
2 cups milk
1 cup shredded coconut
2  tsp vanilla flavoring
¼ teaspoon salt


METHOD

Put everything in a blender and whizz for 20 seconds. Pour in greased baking dish and bake for about 45 minutes at 200deg C

4 ingredients Maltese meat pie (torta tal-laham)

Now that Easter is over meat is on the menu again. For lunch I cooked us a quick and easy version of the Maltese meat torta. Must have been good as we both had seconds!

Ingredients

2 sheets frozen puff pastry

1 can Tom Piper braised steak with onions

1 cup frozen pies  (you can use just about any vegie but the Maltese use pies)

some butter

Method.

Put the pastry aside and let them defrost. Grease a pie dish and lay down a sheet of pastry.
Empty the can of braised steak  into the dish. Add the cup of peas , it doesn't really matter if they are still frozen. Mix well. Cover with the remaining sheet of pastry. Seal the edges with a fork.  Spread some butter over the top so it will brown. Cut 2-3 vents into the top to allow the steam to escape.  Then cook at 200 deg C for 45 minutes all until the top is golden brown.

Allow to cool then enjoy! Any leftovers can be frozen and heated in an oven latter.

4 ingredients Maltese Baked Rice (Ross il-forn)

I loved my mother's "Ross il-forn" baked rice , but it used to take her some time to prepare. I developed a simple but delicious version that only require  four main ingredients.

Ingredients:

2 cups rice

3  eggs

3/4 cups shredded cheese.

1  425g can  of Spaghetti sauce with beef

In a greased dish pour the rice , can of  sauce  and cheese.  Add 4 cups of water. Beat the eggs and add to the mixture. Mix well and add seasoning if required.

Place in a preheated oven at 200 C .  After 1/2  hour or so it will be partly cooked. The rice would have absorbed half  of the water but still sloppy. At the 1/2 cooked stage take out of the oven and mix  well to stop the eggs separating. Place back in the oven and cook until the water is absorbed.

Let it cool and eat!

Super duper easy Home made yogurt!

I thought I would take advantage of the cheap milk now available and make some yogurt. The results were delicious!

Ingredients :
1)  Milk . I used a  2 liters of full cream

  2) Some fresh natural yogurt as a culture starter.  used about 3-4  tablespoons. Not the flavored variety.

Method.

Heat the milk in a saucepan until it boils, stirring  regularly with a wooden spoon to prevent burning. Turn off when it boils. Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes, until it reaches 45 C . I used a cooking thermometer to check.  Add yogurt and mix in.

Now you need to keep it warm while the culture grows.  I poured the liquid into a plastic container, sealed it and placed it in a beach cooler bag. Then shoved and old blanket in the bag  over the  plastic container and zipped up the bag.  The next morning , after about 12 hours to allow the culture to grow . I opened the bag and voila! Fresh yogurt!

But wait there's more.

Ralph's World Famous 4 Ingredients Bread & Butter Pudding

Here's my recipe for bread and butter pudding which was published in the best selling"  4 Ingredients 2"  by Kim McCosker and Rachel Bermingham. They misspelled by first name but its me! I made it tonight so here's the recipe:

Ingredients
1 packets Fosters Egg Custard (make sure you use a custard which will set not remain a sauce)

2 &1/2 cups milk

Raisin Toast  slices.( I used 6 thick  Cafe style which are nice and spicy)

butter

Remove the crust from the bread , butter both sides and layer in a greased dish.  Pour the milk in a bowl and add the custard powder. Whisk until the power is dissolved. Carefully pour the liquid over the bread. Allow to soak through for at least 20 minutes.  (Stale bread works best as it absorbs the liquid better)
Cook in an oven at about 180 degs C for 30-45 minutes.  When the custard boils its done just allow the top to brown a bit. You can cover with some aluminum foil  if you are concerned it might burn.

Now I'm going to cut a slice and have it with some ice cream. Yum! Yum!