Great cake for a dinner party

This cake is one I saw on a great cooking show,  Good Chef, Bad Chef , I recommend using both almond extract and amaretto (Yum).  I think another good combination would be rose water and vanilla. 

 

You must check the cake with a skewer and make sure it comes out clean, mine takes a little longer than the recipe says.  I also put the juice of a half a lime over the cake when it came out of the oven - make it taste even better.  I also used almond slivers instead of flakes as they are a bit crunchier, seem to match the pistachios better.

 

Its an easy, gluten free cake that tastes wonderful!

 

 

Balti Chicken Curry

I adapted this from one of Jamie Oliver's recipies, it suits my family because one does not eat coriander, another not so hot on the chilli.  This will serve 4 very large servings, if you want to increase it to 6 just add some sliced carrots and potatoes about 1/2 way through the cooking time.  This will extend the dish perfectly.

You can use chicken thighs (as I do) or chicken drumsticks, or a whole chicken cut up, it is quite versatile really.  It is important to use a yellow capsicum, it seems to have the right amount of acidity for the recipie.  If you don't have any fresh tomatoes handy you can easily leave it out, and if you dont have any tomatoe puree, you can use canned tomatoes, but make sure you drain the juice off.  

If you like fresh coriander, add about 1/2 a bunch to the curry paste and blend with the other ingredients.  As always, adjust the chilli, garlic and ginger to your taste.  If found it did not need any salt and pepper, but taste and adjust accordingly.

If you want a good curry one of the secrets is to cook the curry paste really well, you want the  onions and pepper to fry with the paste until the oil splits from it if possible.

EASY APPLE SLICE

The original recipie comes from one of the 4 ingredients books.  It is so easy, and versitile it will become a staple.  You can have everything in the cupboard, and just buy some sour cream and away you go.  It's a great one to have up your sleeve.

You can use any type of stewed fruit - in fact, this is a good recipie for using up fruit near the end of its shelf life.  Try peaches, apples of course, apricots, berries  - the list goes on.  You can also vary the cake mix if vanilla sounds a bit boring.  Go gluten free with a gluten free cake mix.