Housewife

I cooked the most amazing dinner for my housemates the other night #ifidosaysomyself

Slowcooked shoulder of lamb with roast cauliflower salad and spiced sweet potato.

The lamb was on the slow cooker from 8am til 7.30pm and the sides took 20 minutes to pull together. Such an easy and relatively healthy dinner. 

The lamb was based on this Jamie Oliver recipe, but I put about 1.5 cups of chicken stock in the bottom of the slow cooker because I had it on for so long and didn't want it to dry out.

The roast cauli salad was from the Women's Weekly fast diet cookbook. It was kind of similar, sort of, almost, to this one.

And then there was the sweet potato that was gingery and delish with preserved lemon and fresh coriander. Find it here.

I cheated with dessert and picked up some absolute delights from Millstone Patisserie in Malvern. Get there as soon as humanly possible. Run, don't walk. It's phenomenal.

Sweet tooth fairy

I love a food blog as much as I love Wednesday nights on the couch with Farmer Wants a Wife on telly. Possibly even more.

On my usual Pinterest stalking adventures the other night, I came across a fabulous Pin by Miss Brown Button herself . . . an iced vovo cake.

I followed the links through and found myself at what only could be described as Heaven.

Raspberri Cupcakes is my new favourite blog. I have an unhealthy obsession with it. The strange bit is that I'm not much of a sweet tooth, yet the pics of these masterpieces have been drooling on my keyboard.

Stephanie's very clever recreations of chocolate bar and biscuit classics have me most impressed. Whether it's the Tim Tam cake or Rolo cake, she manages to reinvent a family favourite for the fussiest of cake lovers.

I think I'd like to put in an order for that trifle next year. The only one I know who'd be up to it is Anna.

Do you accept the challenge, Miss P?

xo

Pics from here

What's behind the Red Door?

  

Hello Christmas!

Red Door Bakery has opened in my 'hood!

I'm so excited, you haven't tasted pastries until you've tried Red Door.

They're a bit of a new Adelaide institution - making a name for themselves at pop up markets and in the groovy industrial 'burbs. Seriously, check out the lineup out the front door. There were all cleaned out by 1.45pm. Talk about popular!

Their sausage rolls are out of this world. Hay Valley lamb and Moroccan eggplant brilliance. And the classic Berkshire free range pork and sage is a winner too.

And the pies, ooooh the pies. They're not your stock standard sort. Sure, they've nailed the traditional beef but do yourself a favour and try the chorizo, chicken and white bean or the beef, shiraz and mushroom (and I don't even like mushroom!). The pastry is something else, buttery and flaky. And perfect.

And the sweets deserve a post all of their own. Wow.

I tried out the new digs on Saturday with my gorgeous GS (that's Godson Maxie) and his fam. We bought a little bit of everything so we could sample it all.

They were sold out of their first batch so we had to wait for the next lot to come out of the oven. While we waited, we snacked on pizza that was awesome - they folded it in half and toasted it so it was deliciously crispy on the outside. I think it was a Greek lamb special with yummy minted yoghurt.

A good start.

We tried each of the pies I listed above plus the pork sausage roll. No holding back there!

We also loaded up on a plate of sweets to share.

The chocolate brick with salted caramel is out of this world. You should see the oozy middle collapse when you bit in. Heavenly!

We also had a Belgium chocolate and hazelnut tart, lemon curd tart and banana and caramel muffin.

Zara the butterfly was in her element (I'm just glad there wasn't a picture of me stuffing my gob!)

We walked away with a stunning spiced fruit sourdough and caramelised and chorizo bread stick. And to think we didn't even sample a quarter of the menu!

Oh stop it. I can't talk about the goodness anymore! Just get yourself there . . . and don't forget the original Croydon home! If you're lucky, they'll also make an appearance at the next Bowerbird Bazaar.

Red Door Bakery