​We all know by now that Tiramisu translates as 'pick me up'. It's a classic dessert, it's simple to make, it looks amazing, and it's delicious.

I recently tried this version of the tiramisu at my Goddaughters house, she made it and we all loved the flavour. Now Gino uses Amaretto (I don't like amaretto, at all), so when my goddaughter used frangelico instead (which I love), I thought this would be great. Well one bite in and I loved it.

So for New Years Day this year, I thought I'd give it a go myself. Now I will say, the flavour was delicious, but it was not perfect, it was a little wet, a little soggy, a bit too creamy. What went wrong, reason number one, I didn't really follow the recipe properly, I didn't beat the double cream. I thought it was thick enough, but it wasn't, so the mascarpone mixture didn't set properly. Second reason, which I have found out recently, mascarpone brands matter. Normally I have never bought the Woolworths (or Coles) or any other generic brand of mascarpone, but have you ever tried to find mascarpone cheese around Christmas time, it is impossible to find, it's always sold out. So when I finally found the Woolworths brand I grabbed it. Well I have since found out these generic brands of mascarpone are too thin and won't set, and that's why my cream layer was too thin and didn't set. So as I loved the flavour, I needed to make it again.

​So today I am making my third attempt at this tiramisu, fingers crossed, all goes well with it.

Now lets talk liqueurs, I love Frangelico, it’s a hazelnut flavoured liquor. I also love Kahlua or Baileys, which are coffee flavoured. Other options: which I haven't tried but could work is Croatian Rum (it's fabulous in desserts, brandy or Marsala. Use what you love. You could even make it alcohol free and use hot chocolate, or vanilla extract to flavour the coffee.

Tip: The tiramisu needs to be covered and refrigerated for a few hours. In my baking dish this tiramisu goes all the way to the top, if I covered it directly, when I took off the cling film, it would take off some of my cream. So what I do is, I break two chops sticks in half (I always save the chop sticks I get with sushi, as I use my hands normally at home or we use our own 'fancy' chopsticks I bought) and poke them in near the corners of the tiramisu. Then I cover the tiramisu over those sticks and my cream is untouched. I'd rather have four small holes, than my whole cream ruined. You can see the holes in one of the photos below.

This is a great dessert to serve at parties, because you can make it in advance, it's quick to make, it feeds many and it's delicious. It's time you give this a try.

​Recipe adapted from Gino D'Acampo's cookbook 'Gino's Italian Coastal Escape'

Serves 8-10

350ml cold strong black coffee, preferably
espresso
150ml frangelico (hazelnut liqueur)
200ml double cream
5 medium eggs, separated
6 tablespoons caster sugar
500g mascarpone cheese
50 Savoiardi sponge fingers (ladyfingers)
Cocoa powder for dusting


Put the coffee in a medium bowl and stir in 4 tablespoons of the frangelico. Set aside.

Pour the cream into a medium bowl and whip until thick enough to just hold its shape and form soft peaks. Set aside.

Place the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl and whisk using a balloon whisk (or electric hand held mixer) for about 5 minutes until thick and pale. Add the mascarpone and beat thoroughly. Gently fold in the whipped cream and remaining frangelico.

Put the egg whites in a separate bowl and with clean beaters, whisk with an electric hand whisk on full speed until they form stiff peaks. Using a metal spoon, gently fold one third of the egg whites into the mascarpone mixture until well blended. Fold in the remaining egg whites in 2 stages. Set aside.

Dip one of the biscuits in the coffee for 2 seconds (no longer) and place it in the bottom of a 20 x 30 x 7cm ceramic dish, with the sugar-side facing upwards. Repeat until the bottom of the dish is covered with half the biscuits.

Spread a third of the mascarpone mixture over the biscuits,  then cover with another layer of the biscuits dipped in coffee. Spread with half of the remaining mascarpone mixture, then cover with another layer of the  biscuits dipped in coffee. Spread the remaining mascarpone mixture on top and smooth the surface using a palette knife.

Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 3 hours.

Just before serving, remove the cling film and dust with cocoa powder.

​Now either slice and serve the tiramisu or you can get a spoon and dollop out your serves, like you would with a trifle.

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​​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​I love when you find a recipe, by chance, and it turns out far greater than you ever expected. The ones that you find just because you need to use up an ingredient in the house. In this instance that ingredient was the tomato.

I had four tomatoes that were not at their peak, slightly over ripe, you could still eat them, but I felt they were now better to use cooked than eaten fresh. I wanted to make a soup, I wanted it to be an Asian style soup, as following the soup would be a stir fry. I wanted it to be easy to make.

I came across this one, saw the ingredients list and questioned if we'd like it. But after looking at a few more recipes, I came back to this one because it was quick, it was easy to make, I had all the ingredients at home and most importantly, it was an egg drop soup.

Was I completely blown away by this soup, I was, it was delicious. My current favourite thing are egg drop soups, I absolutely love them. The eggs strips formed when you slowly drizzle egg into a hot soup, which replace noodles, I think is fabulous.

Now I love it with the shallots and coriander in it, while some of my family preferred it without, so that is up to you whether you add it or not.

If you are looking for a quick, easy and tasty soup idea for dinner, look no further.

Recipe adapted from thewoksoflife.com/

Serves 4-5

2 tablespoons oil
4 medium tomatoes, about 560g, roughly chopped
2 cups chicken stock
4 cups water
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
½ teaspoon white pepper
Salt, to taste
2-3 eggs, beaten
3 teaspoons cornflour
2 shallots, finely sliced, optional
4 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh coriander, optional


Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the tomato chunks and stir-fry for 5 minutes until the tomatoes are softened and start to fall apart.

Add in the chicken stock, water, light soy sauce, sesame oil, ground white pepper and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, and then lower the heat so that the soup is simmering with the lid on. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Now you don’t have to, but I blitzed the soup with a stick blender, because my son wanted me to.

Now quickly beat the egg in a small bowl and in another bowl, whisk together the cornflour and water.

Use a spoon slowly swirl the soup in a whirlpool motion. Keep swirling as you pour in the cornflour mixture, until well incorporated. 

Now pour a thin stream of egg into the middle of the whirlpool as you slowly swirl the egg into the soup. This is how you get that pretty egg drop effect.
​
Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with chopped scallions and cilantro, if using. Serve hot.

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​This tomato focaccia is fabulous!!!!!! And there is no kneading involved. 

If you have never made bread, but always wanted to, this is the perfect recipe to start with.

My two older kids and husband were out on boxing day and wouldn't be home for dinner, so I asked my youngest what he wanted for dinner and he asked if I could make a tomato focaccia. Now I already make a thin and crisp focaccia, but this time I felt like a thick and fluffy one. So I went looking for a recipe and I came about this one, I thought, it looks easy, I have the time, so I went with it. 

This is delicious, hands down, my favourite focaccia. The middle is soft and fluffy and the edges are crisp and crunchy. The tomatoes on top are fabulous. I added on garlic and rosemary as we love it on focaccia. My son and I couldn't stop eating it. In the meantime, my husband came home, tried it and loved it to. The next day I baked another one and my two other kids, and my sons Italian girlfriend loved it also.

This recipe is literally mix a few ingredients in a bowl, let it rest for 2 hours. Spread it in your baking dish, let it rest an hour. Top it, let it rest while your oven heats up. So all really need, is time here.

I think this will become by Sunday bread, when there is no bread in the house and I just don't want to go to the shops, this can be made. Take off the tomatoes or leave them on, change what I put on top, and it's different bread. I will try it with olives, or a combination of olives and tomatoes. The original recipe suggests shallots on top to, I think I'd like that.

Now I prefer to use baking paper here, as my first one stuck a little. So that just eliminates that ever happening.

For those like me that don't like honey, you can't taste it, but you can use sugar if you prefer.

My baking tin is the size mentioned below, I wouldn't go smaller, it will be too thick. But if only had larger, you probably could, your focaccia will just be thinner. But trust me, buy the right tin, you will make this again and again.

Buy a great olive oil here, it will make the difference. Supermarkets always have half price sales on olive oils, buy the expensive one when it's half price, it's worth it.

This bread rises very high, so make sure you use an extra large bowl. You may find you don't need the whole two hours in the first step, if it is very warm where you are.

1 cup in Australia is 250ml
1 tablespoon is 20ml
​1 teaspoon 5ml

So if you have never made bread or focaccia. Try this one, you will love it.

Recipe adapted from madaboutfood.co/

Serves 8

2 cups warm water
2 teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1 tablespoon dried yeast
4¼ cups bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
3-4 cloves garlic
​1 sprig fresh rosemary
1½ cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half
Sea salt flakes, for topping, to taste
​
In an extra large bowl, add the honey, yeast and olive oil. Add 2 cups of warm water, stir and let the mixture sit for 3-5 minutes, or until it starts to froth up a little.

Add flour and salt to the wet ingredients, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ones with a wooden spoon. Mix the dough with a wooden spoon as much as you can and then using a wet hand, continue to mix the dough until all the ingredients look mixed together, and a wet dough has formed, it takes about 30 seconds.

Leave the dough in the bowl and cover it with cling film and also with a tea towel. Place the dough in a warm spot to proof for 2 hours.

During the two hours the dough should double in size. The dough will reach a peak and then start to fall. If your dough is proofing in a particularly warm home, it may take less than 2 hours to proof. If your dough is proofing faster than 2 hours, you can move on to the next step earlier.

Prepare a 33cm x 22cm baking tin, by spraying with cooking oil and lining it with baking paper. If you have a great non stick pan, you don't need the baking paper, but mine is old and my first focaccia stuck to it, so I line it with baking paper.

After the first proof, pour a generous amount of olive oil to coat the bottom and up the sides of your prepared baking pan. By generous I mean, it needs to be nicely oiled, or your dough will stick if you don't use baking paper, and even if you do use baking paper, the oil helps with crisping up the outside of your focaccia.

Grab the dough out of the bowl with one hand and pour into the baking pan.

Now again using wet hands, gently spread the dough out to cover the base of your pan. Cover the dough with a damp tea towel again and proof for another hour.
​

In the meantime, chop up your garlic and rosemary, place in a bowl and top with olive oil, to cover. You will need about 1/4 cup oil here.
After the hour is up, the dough should have expanded to fill the metal pan and it should have fluffed up. This dough now is so beautiful, now using your fingers make dimples in the dough with your finger tips. Be sure to press all the way to the bottom of the pan with your finger tips and make uniform dimples.

Drizzle over your garlic and rosemary mix, make sure the oil goes all over the focaccia and into the dimples.

Take the cherry tomato halves and press them into the top of the dough. Be sure to press down on them enough that they stick into the dough during baking. Top the whole thing with some sea salt flakes. This is to taste, but you want the whole focaccia to get a little of the flakes, at least a tablespoon is needed.

Allow the dough to proof once more, this time uncovered, for about 20 minutes, while you preheat the oven to 245C/225C fan forced. (I bake mine fan forced).​

​When the oven is preheated place the pan in the oven to bake for 20-25 minutes or until the focaccia is golden brown, mine takes the 25 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and serve immediately.

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​Another Tuesday, another Croatian dish. By now those that follow me know that every Tuesday we cook Croatian food in my house. Why, because I am continually trying new things, so sometimes I forget to cook Croatian. On Tuesday now I cook something either I grew up on, or my husband grew up on, or something we both never had, but we wanted to try.

​This gulas (pronounced goolush) is something that my husband grew up on, this is his mum's kind of cooking.

Vinski gulas is simply a goulash with wine in it. This is simple cooking, simple ingredients, with a delicious end result.

This is something my family love, hope you do to.

Recipe adapted from Hrvatska Kuharica by Nikice Gamulina-Game

Serves 6

50ml sunflower oil
3 onions, diced
150g panceta, cut into thin batons
1kg chuck steak
150ml tomato paste
​300ml red wine
1 teaspoon marjoram (optional)
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon vegeta
​Salt and pepper, to taste
3 potatoes, about 300g


Place a large saucepan over a medium-high heat, add the oil and onions, sauté for 5-10 minutes until the onions have softened. Add the pancetta, cook for 1 minute. Increase the heat to high, add the meat. Cook stirring for 5 minutes. Now decrease the heat to medium-high and continue to cook the meat, stirring regularly for about 15 minutes. 
​
Add the tomato paste, stir for about a minute, to cook the rawness out of it. Now add the wine, marjoram, paprika and vegeta. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Now add enough water to just cover the meat, I added 2 cups here. Bring the boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered for one hour and twenty minutes, stirring occasionally. If your sauce is thickening too quickly, you can add a little more water, if needed.
​
Now add the potatoes, my sauce thickened a lot, so I added one cup of water here also, to help cook the potatoes properly. Simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered. Now this is done when the meat is soft and the potatoes have cooked through. The meat being soft is the most important part. Here you adjust your seasoning by adding more salt, pepper or vegeta, if needed. Also here I adjust the sauce, if it's too thick, add a bit more water, if it's too thin, cook a little longer, uncovered.

Once the meat, potatoes and sauce are how you like them, serve hot with a crusty bread.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/vinski-gulas.html 
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​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​The best thing about my Eating Around the World Adventure is the discovery of new foods I would never have ever tried, if I hadn't started this journey. 

A gyro or gyros is a Greek dish made of meat, traditionally pork, chicken or lamb, cooked on a vertical rotisserie (think doner kebab) and usually served in a flatbread with tomato, onion and tzatziki. Now for my family of five, I am not going to cook my chicken that way, so I have chosen to either barbecue or pan fry on a griddle pan the chicken and simple serve it the same way.

This is delicious, the flavour combination here is truly amazing, the chicken with the tzatziki, with the salad, all wrapped up in the best pita bread I have ever had, this is one great dish. This is actually my second gyros recipe on my blog, the other has a Lemon Chicken marinade instead, but as I loved them both so much, I had to add them both. 

This Greek Chicken Gyros is a great recipe for entertaining. It is really fast to prepare, and you can make things in advance. If you can barbecue it, then you can cook all the chicken in one go and then you can just lay everything out on the table and everyone helps themselves.​

With the chicken I like to butterfly open the thick bits, so the chicken is the same thickness all the way across.

​If pan frying the chicken, I preheat my oven to 180C, and as I work in batches I keep the cooked chicken warm in the oven whilst I fry off the rest. The first batch in the case I cook 1 minute less per side, so it continues to cook in the oven, not overcook, only the final batch I cook perfectly on the stove top.

The Pita Bread can be made in advance and reheated, if needed.

The Tzatziki keeps well for one week in the refrigerator. This Tzatziki recipe makes way more than you need, but we love it, so we love making extra for the next few days to snack on.

​The Salad can be made a few hours in advance.

Recipe adapted from www.recipetineats.com

Serves 4-6

1 kg boneless skinless chicken thigh fillets
​
Marinade: 
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp Greek yoghurt
1 1/2 tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
Black pepper, to taste

Tzatziki
2 cucumbers
1 1/4 cups plain Greek yoghurt
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
1/2 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp salt
Black pepper, to taste

Tomato and Cucumber Salad
3 tomatoes , deseeded and diced
3 cucumbers, diced
1/2 red spanish onion, peeled and finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves
Salt and pepper, to taste

Pita Bread:
500g self raising flour, plus extra, for dusting
500g Greek Yoghurt
1 tablespoon Baking Powder
½-1 tablespoon sea salt
Olive Oil Cooking Spray
​​
Place the Marinade ingredients in a ziplock bag and massage to mix. Add the chicken into the ziplock bag and massage to cover all the chicken in the Marinade. Marinate for at least 2-3 hours.

Make the Tzatziki: Coarsely grate the cucumber using a box grater. Once grated, using your hands, squeeze out as much liquid out of the cucumbers as you can. Place the cucumber in a bowl. Add remaining ingredients then mix to combine. Set aside in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes, but a few hours is even better, to chill.

​Make the salad: Combine ingredients in a bowl.

​Make the Pita Bread: Place the flour, yoghurt, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until a dough forms. Add a little water if the mixture seems too dry, or more flour if the mixture seems too wet.
 
Tip the dough onto a clean work surface and dust it with a little extra flour. Knead the dough for 1 minute then divide into 10 equal portions.
 
Dust a rolling pin with flour and roll the pieces of dough into small circles (about 14cm diameter). Roll them out thin as they puff up when frying.

Place a frying pan over medium heat, spray the pan with the cooking spray, place the pita in the pan and spray the pita. Repeat this process for every pita bread. Cook each flatbread for a couple of minutes on each side or until lightly chargrilled, and serve hot.

​Brush the outdoor grill with oil, then preheat on medium high. Or heat 1 tbsp of oil in a fry pan over medium high heat.

Remove chicken from Marinade. Cook the chicken for 5-6 minutes on each side, until golden brown and cooked through (cooking time depends on size of chicken).

Remove the chicken from the grill/fry pan onto a plate. Cover loosely with foil and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

If your chicken thighs are large, you may need to slice them.

Get a pita bread or flatbread (preferably warmed) and place it on a plate. Place some Salad down the middle of the bread, then top with chicken and Tzatziki.

Roll the wrap up  and eat or you can eat it with a fork and knife if you prefer no mess, but I say embrace the mess.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/greek-chicken-gyros-with-tzatziki.html 
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​My family unanimously said this was the best way they have ever eaten pork neck. They absolutely loved this.

This recipe came as a complete surprise to me, I had never heard of it, I had no idea I would be cooking this tonight. I had gone shopping with the intention of cooking something Polish, as that is the country we are currently cooking from on our Eating Around the World Adventure. I had chosen to make Kotlety Schabowy, which is Pork Schnitzels. I chose to use pork neck instead of chops, just because I find the pork neck juicier and tastier. But when I got home, my daughter asked what's on the menu for Croatian Tuesday.
Bugger!!! I forgot it's Tuesday.

Every Tuesday is Croatian Tuesday in my house. As I love to cook food from all over the world I sometimes forget to cook food that I grew up eating. So to keep my own traditions going and to make sure my kids are exposed to Croatian food, I decided to cook Croatian at least once a week. (Since starting this we as a family have decided it needs to be at least twice a week, it can be more, but the minimum is twice a week).

So now, using the ingredients I have at home and what I purchased today, I need to cook something Croatian. Quick google search, found this recipe idea, watched a few videos, so many different variations, finally settled on this recipe.

My son then comes into the room and asks what's for dinner, I explain that I was going to cook polish pork schnitzels, but because it's Croatian Tuesday, I've changed it. He responds, but I really feel like schnitzels. Really!

So now I'm making both Pork Schnitzels and Samoborski Kotleti.

On Croatian Tuesday I try to cook something old (something I've made before) as well as something new (something I have never tried before). My something old this week is the schnitzel, a schnitzel is a schnitzel in every country, so it will pass as my mum called schnitzels Pohano Meso when I was younger. My something new was Samoborski Kotleti. 

Back to this recipe, my family, no kidding, said this was the best pork they have ever eaten. It is soft and juicy and just plain delicious. The sauce they could not get enough of. For something so easy, this was fabulous. 

And when I say easy, this is crazy easy, a few simple ingredients, simple and quick cooking, it's a 30 minute meal.

My youngest son I will add, did all the pounding of the meat and the crumbing part for the schnitzels, all I had to do was fry them. So while this recipe was cooking, I could concentrate on frying the schnitzels. 

I served it with restani krumpir as we love it and the original recipe suggested it. But I think I would prefer it with plain mashed potato better next time.

With the wine, just something you like to drink, just not a sweet wine.

So if you want to try something new, that's easy and delicious. This recipe is for you.

Recipe adapted from recepttura.com/ 

Serves 4-6

60ml sunflower oil, for frying
6 pork neck slices, about 1cm thick
Salt and pepper, to taste
6 tablespoons plain flour
1/3 bunch parsley, to taste, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
375ml (1 1/2 cups) water
​1 teaspoon vegeta, to taste
375ml (1 1/2 cups) white wine
​
Season the pork slices with salt and pepper on both sides. Dust both sides with flour.

Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat. If possible use a pan that can fit all the pork slices in one go, otherwise, do it in batches.

When the pan is hot, place the pork slices in and fry them for 5 minutes on each side. You want to get a nice colour on the meat here. Remove from the pan and set aside until needed.

Add in the garlic and parsley, sauté it briefly (about 30 seconds), then add the water, vegeta, stir, and wine. Stir.

When it comes to the boil, return the meat in a single layer, or slightly overlapping, and simmer covered for 10 minutes.

Now turn the meat over and simmer for an additional 10 minutes to reduce the liquid into a sauce. This time uncovered. Any parts of the meat not in the sauce in the first half of the cooking, should be on the bottom and in the sauce now, if you have overlapping bits.

Now if you would like your sauce reduced more, which I do, I just remove the meat from the pan, cover loosely with foil to keep it warm. And allow the sauce to simmer away, over a high heat, until reduced to your liking, takes about 5 minutes. Once it is to your liking, you can return the meat to the sauce to reheat if needed, or just pour the sauce over your meat on a serving plate, if your meat is still hot.

Serves with mashed potatoes.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/samoborski-kotleti.html 
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​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​A lot of the chicken wing recipes on my blog have an Asian influence. So during our Greek week when I saw this recipe using simple Greek flavourings I really wanted to try it.

These were delicious, my kids who are my food judges, really liked them. What I loved was they were one, tasty and two, different from the other wings I make.

The original recipe was for 1kg of wings, but I always make 2kg, you can always add extra lemon if needed, this really is a to taste kind of a recipe.

If by chance the chicken is cooked but not browned how you would like it, just turn on the grill for 3-5 minutes and it will be perfect. 

This is a simple, tasty, Greek inspired dish that I will happily make again and again.

​Recipe adapted from Helena and Vikki Moursellas' cookbook Taking you Home xx

Serves 4-6

2kg chicken wings
1/2 bunch fresh oregano, roughly chopped
2 lemons
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon white pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup dried oregano


Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan forced.

Clean the wings of any feathers and place in a rectangular baking dish.

Scatter over the fresh oregano. Cut the lemons in half and squeeze all of the juice over the chicken, leaving the remaining rinds of the lemon in the tray.

Season the wings with salt, pepper and the dried oregano and pour over the extra virgin olive oil. Using your hands, massage the flavourings into the chicken.

Place in the oven and bake for 50 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/lemon-and-oregano-chicken-wings.html 
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This is an easy midweek meal idea that tastes so so good. There is just something fabulous about a creamy mushroom sauce.

I fry the chicken thighs in two batches and I try to make it uniform in thickness, so if you have thick parts on the thigh, butterfly them open, but keep the piece whole. I fry them uncovered for the first side, then when I flip them, I tend to cover them, to ensure they get cooked through properly.

Mushrooms-I used swiss brown, but you can use button, portabello or any mushroom you like really. I absolutely love enoki mushrooms in it as they act like noodles to the dish.

Now I love this with mashed potatoes, but you can serve it with rice, polenta, pasta or simply with fresh bread. I also love this with a green salad.

This is something you can make as a quick midweek meal or something fancy enough to serve at your next dinner party. ​

Recipe adapted from www.recipetineats.com/

Serves 6-8

8 large chicken thigh fillets
 salt and pepper, to taste
20g unsalted butter
20ml olive oil

Mushroom Sauce:
60g unsalted butter
600g swiss brown mushrooms, sliced 
3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
200g enoki mushrooms, ends trimmed
1/3 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup chicken or vegetable stock
450ml thickened cream
2/3 cup parmesan, finely grated
2 tablespoons chives, chopped

Mashed potato, to serve
​
Sprinkle each side of your chicken thigh with salt and pepper, then sprinkle with flour and use your fingers to spread it all over the surface.

Melt butter with the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium high heat. Add 4 chicken thighs and cook for 4-5 minutes until golden brown, flip the chicken, cook for 1 minute, then cover with a lid and cook a further 3-4 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked through. Remove from pan, cover and keep warm. Repeat with the next 4 chicken thighs.
​
In the same frying pan, add remaining butter and increase heat to high. Add mushrooms and cook for 4 minutes, until starting to turn golden brown on the edges.

Then add garlic and the enoki mushrooms and a pinch of salt and pepper, and continue cooking for another minute until both garlic and mushrooms are golden.

Add the white wine, cook for 30 seconds to a minute, scraping the bottom of the pan, until wine is mostly evaporated and the alcohol smell is gone.

Add the chicken stock, cook vigorously for 1 minute so it mostly evaporates. Then add cream, lower heat to medium and simmer for 2 minutes until it reduces and thickens slightly.

Stir in parmesan, taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.

Return chicken to sauce for a minute or two to reheat. Garnish with chives and serve as-is in the pan, for people to help themselves (or transfer to serving platter, if you prefer). Alternatively, serve a portion of chicken onto each plate, spoon sauce over and garnish with more chives.

Serve with mashed potato or fresh bread. 

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Recipe adapted from Manuela Darling-Gansser's cookbook Winter in the Alps

Serves 4-6

1.5 litres water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
​300g coarse polenta

Put the water and salt in a large pot and bring to the boil. Add polenta in a steady stream, whisking constantly to avoid lumps. Turn the heat down to low and cook the polenta for 30-45 minutes, stirring from time to time. When the polenta comes away from the sides of the pot, it is cooked.

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​Unfortunately I never got to grow up with my grandparents, as they lived in Croatia and I grew up in Australia. I never got to eat anything my grandparents cooked, unfortunately that is just how it is. So these days I ask my parents what they ate as kids so I can try and replicate some things from their memories. Now I don't have their recipes, I have to rely on my mothers memories (a lot) or try things from the cookbooks I have, or simply google someone else's grandmother. But at least I get to try things my grandparents made or liked to eat. For instance my mum's dad loved pork with sauerkraut on polenta, my dad's mum made amazing gnocchi, adding chicken fat into her dough, my mum's mum baked amazing bread.

So now here we have pogaca (pronounced pogacha). My mum described to me the bread my grandmother made, she even told me she decorated the bread with a fork, so the fork decoration is here to keep that tradition alive.

Now when I bake this bread I always make two. One to eat as normal bread (as I usually bake bread when I don't have bread in the house and I really don't want to go to the shops for just bread) and one gets eaten hot with garlic and parsley oil on top. It's the same recipe, just an added step or two which I've described below.

​To turn it into garlic bread mix together

50ml olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3g salt
20g parsley, chopped
20g parmesan cheese, finely grated (optional)

Now after you have let rolled out the dough and rested it for 30 minutes. Use a pastry cutter to make the indents into the dough, in a criss-cross pattern, you want to go in deep with your indents, but do not cut all the way through. Pour over the garlic-oil mixture and bake as in the recipe below.


This bread is nostalgic to me, and I love making it, hope you give it a try and love it like I do.

Recipe adapted from www.youtube.com/@appetizing.baking (watch the video here)

Makes 1 pogaca

250ml warm water
5g dried yeast
5g caster sugar
5g salt
​25ml olive oil
450g bread flour

Extra virgin olive oil, for brushing
​​Sea salt flakes, to taste


In a large bowl add your warm water, yeast and sugar, give it a stir, leave for 5 minutes. Add oil give it a quick mix, add flour and salt, mix with hands, until a dough forms, then knead a few minutes until a smooth dough forms. Cover bowl with cling film and a tea towel, and leave to rise for an hour, or until at least doubled in size.

Preheat your oven to 180C/160C fan forced. Line a 32 x32cm baking tray with baking paper.

Remove dough from the bowl with lightly floured hands. Knead for a minute, then shape into a circle. Roll with a rolling pin to make a circle approximately 2cm thick. Place on your baking tray. Cover with a tea towel and let rise for about 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes if you want to make garlic bread, now follow the instructions above.

If you are just making a plain pogaca, decorate your dough now by pressing on it with a fork to form a pattern. Brush a little extra virgin olive oil over the top. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes, to taste.

Place in your preheated oven for 25 minutes.

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