Armenian Nutmeg Cake

I spent a lot of time when I was a child sitting on a tall step stool in my mums kitchen. I would sit and watch my mum as she prepared so many tasty creations for our little family or our extended family and friends. She made, and taught me, many of the traditional recipe's that her mum taught her. But she also tried new things with great success.
This is one of those recipe's, it is called Armenian Nutmeg cake. It became an on going favourite of ours and in particular a favourite of my Dads, who absolutely loved it when mum would make this.

She would make it when we had people over for dinner, or for other events we went to. But my favourite memory of this cake, is sneaking a piece from the back of the car as we drove to our yearly family holiday at Second Valley beach.
Preparing for our family camping trip always involved our home being filled with the most incredible aromas of my mums baking. I think the memory of that sort of love is the best gift a mother could ever pass on to her child and I am so grateful that my mum gave that to me. 

Whenever I am in need of going back to that beautiful time in my life, all I have to do is bake this sweet, spicy delight. You'll love it.

Ingredients:

1 cup of plain flour
1 cup of self raising flour
125 grams of un-salted butter, cold and cut into cubes
2 cups of brown sugar, lightly spooned into cup (do not pack down)
3 teaspoons of ground nutmeg
1 egg, lightly beaten with a fork
1 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of bicarb soda
1 1/2 cups of walnuts, roughly chopped

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Grease a 27cm x 31cm shallow baking dish with un-salted butter

Sift flours into a bowl and using your fingers rub in the butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add brown sugar and mix together.
Place half of this mixture into the greased baking tin, spread evenly and press down firmly to create a base.

 Dissolve the bi-carb soda in the milk.

Next, add the nutmeg to the remaining crumb mixture and mix well. Make a well in the centre and add the egg and the milk mixture, mix well.

Pour over the base and sprinkle walnuts on top evenly.

Bake for 30 minutes or until cake is firm and brown. Cool in the tray and then remove and cut into slices.

Makes approximately 20 slices.

Pasta alla Vasiliki

I have a book that I have been writing recipe's  in since I was  14 years old. The writing starts out that of a child and as you turn the pages you see it slowly mature and get more detailed.
The acquisition of a computer meant that the entries stopped about 10 years ago, but I still have the old book out on my kitchen bench regularly. Referring to it for some of my old favourites.
 Around half way through the well used and sometimes splattered pages is an entry from around the 18 year old stage. The hand written title is simply 'Pasta alla Vasiliki'.
Vasiliki is my very close friend and a kindred spirit whom I have literally grown up with for the past 20 years. Amongst a lot of other things, we share a passion for cooking for people we love. Even when we were crazy, confused teenagers, a favourite pass time of ours was experimenting with cooking.
This was a meal that Vas prepared for me one afternoon at her place. She showed me how she made it and I went home and wrote it down in my recipe book. I titled it 'Pasta alla Vasiliki' and that is what it must remain to be called.
 Like all great recipe's it has evolved over the years according to my tastes and desires and I've even changed the method slightly. But every time I make it I always get my old  hand written recipe out. When I open up to that page in my book it brings a smile to my face. I hear the laughter of two girls on the verge of adult life with so much greatness and many adventures ahead of them.
 I am so proud to say that we are still the closest of friends. I love that we have a shared passion for many things, but especially cooking. Thank you my dear friend.


Ingredients:

olive oil
1 brown onion, chopped
6 rashes of short cut bacon, trimmed of fat or rind and sliced
3 medium cloves of garlic, crushed
2 chicken breast fillets (approximately 600 grams), trimmed of any fat and cut into cubes
2 cups of dry white wine
2 medium bunches of broccoli (approximately 300 grams), cut into florets
300 ml of cooking cream
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 cup of finely grated Parmesan cheese
500 grams of penne pasta

Method

Add enough olive to just cover the bottom of a heavy based saucepan. Heat oil slightly and add the onions and bacon to the oil. Fry, stirring continuously over a low to medium heat until onions are soft and clear and bacon is slightly crunchy.

Next add the garlic and mix all the ingredients for about 30 seconds making sure not to burn the garlic. Add the chicken and stir through getting the cubed chicken browned and opaque on all sides.

When chicken is cooked through, add a little salt and pepper to start the seasoning and pour in the white wine. Next add the broccoli stir through all the ingredients to make sure it is mixed, place lid on saucepan and turn up heat to bring wine to the boil.

Once the wine has come to the boil, turn down to a simmer. Let the wine simmer for around 10 - 15 minutes by which time the broccoli should be starting to soften.

Turn heat down to low and mix through the cream. It is very important to add the cream to a low heat as if it is too high it could split. Bring the cream to a very gentle simmer, taste for salt and add it if needed. Place the lid slightly ajar and simmer sauce for 20 - 30 minutes or until sauce has thickened.

While sauce is simmering bring a pot of water to the boil, then add a teaspoon of salt and the penne pasta. Cook until aldente or according to packet instructions.

When pasta is cooked, drain and return pasta to pot. Add a little cream sauce to pasta to avoid it from sticking. When sauce is ready, pour whole ammount of sauce into pot with cooked pasta, stir through. Add parmesan cheese and stir through gently. Serve in large bowls with extra freshly ground pepper on top if it is to your taste.

Serves 4 - 6