A weekend of family and baking

I had one of those weekends where I just couldn't stop baking.  Maybe it's because I'd been away from home all week and needed to re-connect with my kitchen.  Or perhaps it's because we had people coming to stay and I just love looking after houseguests.

Pear and cinnamon cake - courtesy of a Weight Watchers recipe.  Trust me - it tasted every bit as delicious as it looks!

My sister has a cupcake fetish and I just love making them too - seeing as she was one of the guests staying over I figured it was a nice excuse to bake some.  My latest creation: mocha "bunny" cakes.  I used a cheap packet mix (buttercake) and added espresso, also adding coffee to the buttercream.  The ears are simply marshmallows cut in half.  The flavours worked really well; the cake wasn't sweet at all - almost bitter with the espresso - the buttercream is super sweet but also balanced out by the coffee.  Sis took most of them home; my brother and his girlfriend (who also stayed) took the remaining two. 

The morning after the night before.  With two guests left (my brother and his girlfriend), I thought it was a perfect occasion to cook up some fluffy pancakes from my "Cookery the Australian Way" book - still my favourite, and first ever, cookbook. 

I had some smoked salmon in the fridge (not unusual!) and felt like someting savoury, so topped my pancake with salmon, light sour cream, dill and lots of cracked pepper.  So simple but delicious.

My brother's girlfriend, A, made the suggestion to have chocolate pancakes.  I happened to have some dark chocolate in the cupboard - which was roughly chopped and mixed into some of the batter - the chocolate melted as the pancakes cooked and oozed out when they were cut into.  I didn't try any myself but everyone assured me they were tasty.  How could you go wrong with melted chocolate, really?

Quickie smoked salmon pate

My siblings and I are all addicted to smoked salmon; devouring it any chance we get. It could be because we are from a long lineage of seafood devotees and it reminds us all of holidays and good times. It could also be attributed to our Scandanavian heritage (including a great grandfather who was a Whaler by trade*). Those Norwegians, you gotta hand it to 'em. The majority of the year is spent trying to keep warm and stay alive - and it's not exactly the friendliest climate for fresh produce. But they make the most of what they've got, and they do have quite a lot of salmon virtually on their doorstep, year round.

Smoked salmon is one of those wonderfully flexible ingredients which can be stored in the fridge/freezer for a few weeks in an unopened pack and whipped out for a multitude of occasions. Breakfast? Salmon eggs benedict. Lunch? Classic white bagel with smoked salmon, cream cheese and capers. Dinner? I've been known to eat it straight from the pack with a fork, with a sprinkle of lemon splashed over and washed down with a New Zealand Sauv Blanc. Absolute heaven!

Today I found myself in a frustrating fishy conundrum: 200 grams of beautiful Norwegian dill-smoked salmon + a dinner gathering and far too many options for producing something to take for "nibbles". The solution? A quick and very simple smoked salmon "pate", the recipe found on the taste.com.au website (where I go for easy and last minute recipes when I'm all outta ideas). I modified their recipe only slightly by adding dill and extra sage.

Ingredients:

200g smoked salmon
120g creme fraiche (or mascarpone)
100g room temp unsalted butter
8 fresh sage leaves
dried dill

Method:

Process the salmon in a food processor until finely chopped, add creme fraiche and process briefly until it just comes together. Add 3/4 of the butter and process, again until it just comes together smoothly. In a pan on high heat, melt the butter until it goes that lovely nut brown colour, throw in the sage leaves and immediately remove from heat. Season the salmon mix with dill and pepper (it shouldn't need salt), then spoon into a serving dish. Arrange the sage on top and pour over the remaining sage butter. Refrigerate until ready to be served.

* Hey, it was a long time ago. Back when whales were in greater supply and Greenpeace didn't exist.