1st Master Chef Magazine

I AM A MASTER CHEF TRAGIC! There I said it out loud :) I love to sit down almost every night and watch the show, and yes I HAD to have the magazine hot off the press :) Actually when I bought it I had our 17 year old junior from work with me......she called me lame! ha ha. Well I have cooked a couple of recipes so far out of this Mag and they weren't masterpieces...but they tasted great :) 

So true to my promise here is the first instalment of cooking from one of my magazines!  

Nonna's Egg and Meatball Lasagne

Serves 6
Preparation: 40 minutes 
Cooking: 1 1/2 hours


Ingredients
500g each minced pork & veal
105g (1 1/2 cups) fresh breadcrumbs (now I couldn't make any! forgot to buy the sour dough   so I used bagel crisps that were in the pantry instead and they worked a treat!)

1 bulb of garlic, cloves separated & peeled 
12 eschalots, peeled (these can be hard to get, try The Fruit Basket in Mt Pleasant) 
415ml olive oil
2 onions finely chopped
4 Roma tomatoes, peeled & seeded or 400g can whole peeled tomatoes, drained (I didn't drain mine and it turned out a bit wet)
2 x 400ml bottles passata (sieved puréed tomatoes)
2 tsp chopped rosemary
1 1/1 tsp chopped thyme
400g fresh lasagne sheets ( I couldn't get any so I used the dried ones) 
12 slices prosciutto
8 hard boiled eggs, sliced (I didn't slice these until needed)
300g buffalo mozzarella or bocconcini, torn (I used bocconcini)
100g (1 1/4 cups) finely grated parmesan or pecorino (I used parmesan) 


Rocket Salad to serve

Method

To make meatballs, combine mince, breadcrumbs and 1 tsp salt in a large bowl, the using damp hands roll half tablespoons of mixture into balls. Place meatballs onto a an oven tray lined with baking paper, cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes to firm. 

To make confit garlic and eschalots, place garlic and eschalots in a saucepan and add 375ml of olive oil (1 1/2 cups) to cover. Place pan over low heat and cook for 30 minutes or until tender. Drain, reserving the oil. Cut eschalots and any large cloves of garlic in half. Heat 2 tbs of reserved infused oil in a frying over high heat and cook eschalots and garlic until golden. (Remaining infused oil can be refrigerated for up to one month and used for cooking or dressings) 

 Meanwhile, heat remaining 2 tbs olive oil in a large saucepan over medium - high heat. Add onions and cook for 10 minutes or until soft. Roughly chop tomatoes and add with passata to the saucepan. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat and bring to a simmer, then add meatballs, cover with a lid and cook for 20 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through. Stir in rosemary and thyme. 

Preheat oven to 200C. Grease a 3.5L (14 cup) oven proof dish, then spread a spoonful of the tomato sauce (without meatballs) over the base. Top with a layer of lasagne sheets, then add half the meatballs and tomato sauce. Tuck half the confit mixture in between the meatballs, then top with 6 prosciutto slices, half the eggs and half the mozzarella. Add another layer of lasagne sheets, then the remaining meatballs and sauce. Tuck the remaining confit mixture between the meatballs and top with the remaining 6 prosciutto slices, egg and mozzarella. Finish with a layer of lasagne sheets. Scatter parmesan over and lightly sprinkle with water ( I actually added a bit more of the sauce to the top before I used the parmesan) Cover dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes, then remove foil and bake for a further 10 minutes or until the top is golden.

Stand lasagne for 15 minutes before slicing and serving with rocket salad. 

My Notes 

Overall a really nice dish, when I make it next time I will reduce the salt as it tasted overly salted to me, and I could probably live with out the egg. 

As I noted above I forgot to drain the canned tomatoes and this made for a wetter mixture and the lasagne was a bit sloppy to cut and I couldn't get a good photo. 

This photo is one I took of the lasagne in the Master Chef magazine  

Flourless Chocolate Orange Cake
Serves 8 - 10 
Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking: 50 minutes


Ingredients
200g dark chocolate, chopped (I used dark choc buds)
150g unsalted butter
1 tbs finely grated orange zest
5 eggs separated
160g caster sugar
150g (1 1/4 cup) almond meal
cocoa powder, to dust


Chocolate-Orange ganache
200g milk chocolate (I used dark)
80ml (1/3 cup) thickened cream (I used pouring cream) 
1 tbs Cointreau

Method
Preheat oven to 180C (my oven is fan forced so I did 160C) Grease and line a 22cm (9 inch) round cake pan.


Place chocolate, butter and orange zest in a saucepan over low heat and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool. 


Beat egg yolks and sugar on high until thick and creamy, then transfer to a larger bowl. Gently fold in chocolate mixture and almond meal.


Beat egg whites on a very high speed to soft peaks and, in 2 batches, fold into chocolate mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes and then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.


Meanwhile, to make ganache, place chocolate in heat proof bowl. Place cream and liqueur in a saucepan and bring to a boil, then pour over the chocolate and stir until smooth.


Dust cake with cocoa powder and serve with warm chocolate - orange ganache. 

My Notes
An absolutely gorgeous cake that stays fresh and moist for days! 
I served it differently and waited until the cake and the ganache were cool and used the ganache as an icing and then dusted with cocoa powder. 
This cake will become a very firm favourite in this house! 
Also there is way more than 10 serves as the cake is SO rich, double it to 20 serves!