D … Desserts

Who doesn’t love dessert? The word comes from the French desservir, meaning to remove what has been served. Since the 16th century it has referred to the food consumed after the main meal has been removed.

Wendy served Mango-Coconut Dessert Soup with homemade icecream. Ten minutes to prepare and one hour in the fridge for this deliciously simple dessert.

Laura made Poached Pears in Spiced Brown Sugar Syrup, accompanied by Baked Ricotta with Honey, Almonds and Orange Syrup.

Kathy prepared Chocolate Mousse. A dessert spread must have chocolate!

Pauline made a colourful Dragonfruit Cheesecake with freshly-picked dragonfruit – watch those prickles!

And Sue prepared a classic Sticky Date Pudding.

Credits:

Wendy’s Mango Coconut Dessert Soup is from Havoc in the Kitchen. See the Recipes page for her ice-cream recipe.

Laura’s Baked Ricotta is from Women’s Weekly Food.

Her Poached Pears recipe is from taste.com.au

Pauline’s Dragonfruit Cheesecake is from Tropical Fruit World.

Kathy’s Chocolate Mousse is from Donna Hay.

See our Recipes page for more recipes.

B … Brunch

 

What to prepare for Brunch?  In 1895 Guy Beringer, in Hunter’s Weekly, wrote a plea inventing the term.

He claimed “Brunch is cheerful, sociable and inciting.  It is talk-compelling.”  He added a PS. “Beer and whiskey are admitted as substitutes for tea and coffee.”  In more modern times, the news blog SFist blamed its popularity on Sex and the City.

Well, we didn’t have the beer or whiskey but there was plenty of “bubbles” (not champagne – trying to keep France’s Appellation d’Origine Controlee (AOC) happy), and there was plenty of talk and a “cheerful, sociable and inciting” time had by all at Pauline’s.

We started with Marie’s Lemon Scented Baked Ricotta accompanied by Kathy’s Stewed Peaches.

Lemon Scented Ricotta and Stewed Peaches

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was followed by Sue’s Savoury Pancakes with Smoked Salmon and Caviar.

Savoury Pancake, Smoked Salmon and Caviar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next course was Jeannie’s Swiss and Ham Overnight Breakfast Strata and Kathy’s Stuffed Mushrooms.

Swiss and Ham Overnight Breakfast Strata

 

Stuffed Mushrooms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we had Anne’s Sausage Rolls with Sage, Apple and Pistachios and Wendy’s Hash Brown Egg Cups served with chutney.

Sausage Rolls with Sage, Apple and Pistachios

 

with Hash Brown Egg Cups

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dessert was Julie’s Cinnamon Scrolls and Pauline’s Pistachio, Yoghurt and Cardamom Cake.

Coffee Scrolls

 

Cardamom, Yoghurt and Pistachio Cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Credits:

Wendy’s Hash Brown Egg Cups were from taste.com.au

Jeannie’s Swiss and Ham Overnight Breakfast Strata was from livinglocurto.com

Kathy’s Stuffed Mushrooms was from a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe.

Pauline’s Pistachio, Yoghurt and Cardamom cake was from grouprecipes.com

See our Recipes page for more recipes.

Our Q and R day – a Quality Repast

Because our Q day had to be postponed, we combined Q and R for our day at Laura’s.  The theme was Royal (Queen?) or Red and the recipes were to include Q and/or R ingredients.  Laura had two guests present; her sister-in-law, Debbie made our table centre, with cupcakes iced to look like roses to fit our theme and Laura’s daughter, Sonia made Rhubarb tartlets as her contribution

Table

Sonia’s Rhubarb Tartlet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We started with Laura’s Quince and Brie wrapped in Filo pastry.

Quince and Brie Filo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We followed these with Nadine’s recipe, adapted from Italian Meatball, incorporating Ricotta cheese and replacing the listed breadcrumbs with Quinoa flakes.

Quinoa Meatballs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kathy made Stuffed Capsicum in which she replaced the recipe’s rice with red Quinoa. Her recipe was sourced from the Greek Cookbook by Tess Mallos.

Stuffed Capsicum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Julie made Eggplant Rabbit Rhode IV  that was full of flavour.

Rabbit Rhode

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wendy made a Rabbit and Quinoa dish cooked in a tasty tomato sauce, and served with Rocket and Cherry Tomatoes.

Rabbit Quinoa

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pauline prepared Queenfish Green Curry served with Jasmie Rice and Papadums

Queenfish Green Curry

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marie made a delicious dessert of Creamed Rice and Raspberries.

Creamed Rice

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finished with Laura’s Raspberry Ricotta Mousse , served with Melting Moments of Raspberry Cream

Raspberry Ricotta Mousse

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joan was unable to attend as she was visiting her new grandson, Jack, but she submitted a recipe of Zucchini, Quinoa and Chicken Salad. See our Recipes page.

Credits
Pauline’s Queenfish curry from taste.com
For more great recipes, check out our Recipes page.