Catch-up Day 76 - Jelly cakes

These come from Australian chef Kylie Kwong. The boys love them and they are great to make with their help. But come to think of it, I love them. Make them in those shallow cupcake trays (a bit like Madeliene tins in depth, but just round in shape) and don't overfill - you want little cakes you can just pop in your mouth. Go crazy with different coloured jellies.

Cake
125g butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups SR flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

- Preheat oven to 180C
- Cream butter with sugar
- Add egg
- Fold in flour, milk and vanilla
- Spoon into greased patty-pan tins
- Bake for 10 minutes

Jelly
1 cup boiling water
1 packet jelly crystals
3/4 cup cold water
2 1/2 cups dessicated coconut
- Make jelly and chill for 2-2 1/2 hours

- When cakes are cooled and jelly is sort of half set, roll cakes in the jelly, then in the coconut.
- Gobble gobble gobble!

Catch-up Day 78: Mint yoghurt dressing

I'm not a big fan of cooking fish, even though it is quick, easy and highly nutritious, and the kids love it. Having just written that I realise just how stupid it sounds that we don't eat fish at least three times a week. I guess it's having to buy it fresh all the time and adding that step to the process - as opposed to just staring into the pantry - puts it in the too hard basket. Slack I know.

Anyway, when I do cook a lovely bream, snapper or flathead fillet, the following is a lovely accompaniment. It is also great with some grilled chicken or even just brown rice if you're having one of those nights.

1 cup yoghurt
2 tblsp lime juice
2 tsp fish sauce
4 tblsp finely chopped fresh mint.

That's it.
You can also season it with salt and pepper if you wish. Go on, knock yourself out.

Catch-up Day 77: the best sticky ribs ever.

This comes from Nigella. I love Nigella. I won't hear a bad word about her. Although once she made a dish with squid ink noodles, prawns and chilli and it just looked wrong wrong wrong. But I love her. I covet her waist, her skin and her ability to triumph over adversity to marry again into some serious shit money of a stratosphere I can only imagine.

Anyway, this is her ribs recipe and my GOODNESS it is good.

4 tblsp vinegar
3 tblsp soy
dash sesame oil
2 tblsp honey
cinnamon stick, crumbled
star anise - a few
lots and lots of ginger cut into sticks
4 spring onions
3 fat red chillies
Pork ribs - on the bone

Combine the marinade with the ribs
Cook in a covered baking dish at 200C for an hour
Uncover, raise the heat to 230C
Add another good slug of honey and 2 tsp five spice
Cook for another 30 minutes.

They'll be charred in places and sticky all over.

Seriously, these are so very very good.