A classic and easy pikelet recipe, which are mini pancakes and an Australian tea-time treat. They are light and fluffy, and delicious served warm or cold. Recipe with step-by-step photos. Pikelets Growing up in Australia, I loved eating pikelets for afternoon tea. My earliest memory of pikelets was when I was in primary school, perhaps about 8 years old, when our teacher made pikelets one afternoon and cooked them on an electric frying
Kugelhopf recipe with step-by-step photos. A kugelhopf is a yeasted bread, similar to a French brioche, which is perfect at breakfast or morning tea. Make this kugelhopf plain, with raisins or other dried fruits. What is a Kugelhopf? A kugelhopf is a yeasted bread which has been baked in a special mold, and it is typically served at breakfast in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The taste and texture of a kugelhopf is quite similar
This Hot and Sour Soup is a Chinese restaurant classic which takes only 30 minutes! Chinese New Year As a child, my mother went to great lengths each year to prepare a Chinese New Year feast which could feed our entire neighbourhood. The menu always featured a sticky rice cake filled with mung beans and pork, a Chinese Turnip Cake, endless platters of spring rolls (egg rolls), roast pork with gorgeously seasoned crackling – all served with fresh
Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks with Red Wine Sauce, served with a fresh gremolata. The lamb shanks are deliciously tender and the rich, full-flavoured sauce is perfect for serving with mashed potatoes, polenta or pasta. Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks It’s no secret that I love slow-cooking. With two young children to entertain, I find it easiest to do the sort of cooking that requires a leave-it-and-forget-it approach. But I hardly need the children as an
These Chinese Almond Cookies are a delicious way to celebrate Chinese New Year and to end any Asian meal. Chinese Almond Cookies I grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney, Australia, and our ritual every Sunday morning was to visit my mother’s favourite Chinese restaurant for Dim Sum.
A delicious and simple recipe with step-by-step photos for Chinese Barbecue Pork (Char Siu Pork) which you can make at home with everyday pantry ingredients in just 10 minutes! Char Siu Pork One thing I miss about living in Australia is being able to visit the local Chinatown, whether it be for a traditional Dim Sum breakfast, a browse through the colourful aisles of the Vietnamese grocer, or a visit to the Chinese bakery for their
Nothing is more Australian than an Aussie Meat Pie, and these party pies are a must at any gathering. An easy meat pie recipe using minced beef. Aussie Meat Pies You can’t get more Aussie than the meat pie. Those who know me would probably be surprised that I would even venture near something that can only be applied to the face with your hands (no knife and fork, please), but the truth is, I
This is the Ultimate Chocolate Cake! Layers of rich chocolate cake flavoured with real chocolate, cocoa powder and coffee, covered in a Chocolate Ganache Frosting and decorated with chocolate chips. Epic Chocolate Cake In deciding how to celebrate Eat, Little Bird’s first blog anniversary, chocolate cake instantly came to my mind, but I knew that it had to be a special one. For quite some years now, my online foodie friends have been raving
Recipe for Chocolate Mousse with step-by-step photos. A classic recipe for a decadent Chocolate Mousse served with cocoa nibs or chocolate chips. A great dessert to make ahead when entertaining. Chocolate Mousse With summer in full swing in Europe at the moment, a chilled dessert is the ideal way to end a nice meal. That or a big bowl of ice-cream. And one can hardly go past the quintessential French classic, a mousse
These Chocolate Coconut Bars are a classic recipe from the Australian Women’s Weekly. No fancy ingredients (just good quality cocoa). Perfect for school bake sales or to bring to work for morning tea. Recipe with step-by-step photos. With Australia Day approaching, my thoughts have been turning to traditional Aussie cakes and pastries, and these Chocolate Coconut Bars are hard to go past. Perhaps these slices are not what one would think of eating on Australia
Make dinner in about 30 minutes with this totally delicious Satay Chicken Stir Fry which uses peanut butter, creamy coconut milk and your favourite vegetables. You could also substitute the chicken for beef. Minimalism with Kids In the past 12 months or so, I have been on a mission to declutter our home. I have long aspired to have a minimalist home (I blame Pinterest) but I always felt that minimalism was incompatible
Jamie Oliver’s Get Ahead Gravy is the perfect accompaniment to any roast. Make it ahead of time for maximum flavour with minimum stress! Christmas Gravy When it comes to roast dinners, I think the gravy can make or break the meal. And as someone who needs lashings and lashings of hot gravy with her roast potatoes, I take no chances in this department and always try to make my gravy ahead of time.
How to make and serve raclette, a traditional Swiss dish, at home with a raclette grill. Tips on what kind of cheese to use, and what to serve with raclette. Raclette Cheese has featured quite a bit on my blog lately, and for good reason – we are coming into winter here in Switzerland! As soon as the nights start to become a bit chilly, the Swiss can be seen tucking into a
A quick and delicious recipe for cranberry sauce using fresh or frozen cranberries. Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson. Homemade Cranberry Sauce No Christmas feast is complete without some cranberry sauce, and considering how easy it is to make cranberry sauce from scratch, I would highly recommend doing so instead of reaching for the shop-bought kind.
Baked Camembert with Honey & Raspberries is a delicious addition to any cheese platter, and perfect as an appetiser for small parties. Easy to prepare with just a few ingredients, with tips on how to cook your camembert to perfectly. Thank you to Baer AG for sponsoring this post. Please note that the content and opinions are my own. Baked Camembert Switzerland is almost synonymous with cheese and, with the vast array of different cheeses produced in
A quick and easy no-bake Chocolate Chip Cheesecake using mascarpone. It takes only 15 minutes to prepare! No-Bake Cheesecake I have previously, in my post for Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake, lamented about my inability to make a baked cheesecake work and I am afraid the situation remains unchanged. But I make no apology for it – I’m still happy to stroll to the local Starbucks for my fix of their New York Cheesecake
These mini Strawberry Shortcake Cakes have a light, fluffy (dairy-free) sponge filled with a mascarpone cream filling and fresh strawberries. A great recipe to enjoy in summer with seasonal strawberries. The following post is sponsored by Lindt & Sprüngli AG, but the content and opinions are my own. As a mother to two young toddlers, my idea of the perfect Mother’s Day would start with a few extra hours in bed, preceded, of course,
Deliciously sweet, sticky and spicy cocktail sausages. Perfect for entertaining! As an expat living in Switzerland, it is hard to ignore comments about the cost of living here and how everything is extraordinarily expensive. Indeed, when you compare the cost of some products sold in neighbouring countries, the same product can sometimes be triple the cost in Switzerland.
An easy & delicious recipe for Chinese Tea Eggs, perfect for a simple dinner or as part of a Chinese New Year meal. Chinese Tea Eggs Following on from my previous post where I shared my recipe for Chinese Turnip Cake, it seemed only fitting to also include my recipe for Chinese Tea Eggs. If you are planning a Chinese New Year lunch or dinner, or any Chinese-inspired feast, these Chinese Tea Eggs
This light and fluffy Vanilla Sponge Cake with Mascarpone Frosting is elegant and simple, and the cake itself is dairy-free. Top with any seasonal fruits of your choice, such as strawberries, raspberries, or even a mix of fruits. Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas celebration and a wonderful start to 2017. What are your New Years’ resolutions?
A simple and delicious Celeriac and Chestnut Soup. Christmas is often a time for indulgence, whether it be treating yourself or loved ones to a special gift (or three), or enjoying the festivities with an abundance of good food and maybe too much champagne. After feasting on Duck Confit Parmentier and multiple serves of our favourite Chestnut Cream Pavlova for Christmas lunch, my husband asked for a simple vegetable soup for dinner later
A Chocolate Pavlova with Chestnut Purée, which is perfect at Christmas or any time of the year! An easy chocolate pavlova recipe which is a delicious twist on a Mont Blanc dessert. A great recipe using sweetened chestnut purée. Merry Christmas everyone!! I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas celebration with your friends, family and loved ones. Christmas in our home today started with a leisurely breakfast … until the children
A stunning and delicious Roquefort Cheese Ball to impress your guests! A lovely Aussie friend was recently telling me about her menu plans for Thanksgiving, and my interest was piqued when she mentioned that she would be making a cheese ball for the appetiser. Her cheese ball, if she was still in Australia, would have been comprised of cream cheese with cheddar and good ol’ Coon, sprinkled with curry powder and decorated with fried onions. I was
Gluten-free Chocolate Cinnamon Stars (Zimtsterne) which are perfect at Christmas. Despite the fact that I rarely bake cut-out cookies, I seem to have amassed a large cookie cutter collection over the years. And one person who seems to highly appreciate this part-time hobby of mine, is my little boy.
A fun recipe for a Dinosaur Cake using a Sour-Cream Chocolate Cake & Betty Crocker template. Dinosaur Cake This year was the first time my son was really excited about his birthday. And the moment I announced that we would be having a little birthday party for him, he immediately asked for a green dinosaur cake as an hommage to his favourite character, George, from Peppa Pig.
Try these delicious savoury Potato Churros with Red Pepper Sauce. With her talent for introducing tasty twists on popular classics, Rachel Khoo has delivered yet another delicious spin, this time on the classic churros. Churros are traditionally served at breakfast alongside a rich hot chocolate but, in countries like Australia and the US, they are more commonly found as hot snacks rolled in cinnamon and sugar, and dipped in a chocolate sauce. These
Delicious Sticky Chinese Pork Ribs which are marinated overnight for maximum flavour. Sticky Pork Ribs I wish I could be more comfortable eating ribs in public but, the reality is, I enjoy eating them more in the comfort and privacy of my home; somewhere where I can gnaw at the bone like a messy cavewoman and lick my fingers with glee. I think it is definitely a dish best eaten in the company
A twist on a traditional Galette des Rois using hazelnuts and apples. I have always wanted to make a Galette des Rois for the Epiphany and finally plucked up the courage today. In France, it is a cake which is traditionally eaten on 6 January, although some shops and bakeries make the most of this event by selling them up to a few months before the big date. But like any seasonal treat,
Merry Christmas everyone! It is a rare occasion for us to celebrate Christmas in Zurich, a rather welcome change as it has given me the opportunity to cook on Christmas Day, something which might prompt fear and dread in most people but has instead filled me with glee as the Christmas season started to approach.
Spice up the Christmas cookie jar with these Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Cookies. I love baking at this time of the year. With the scent of cakes and bakes heady with cinnamon and ginger wafting from the kitchen, you can really start to feel Christmas in the air. And what better way to kick off the festive season than with a batch of homemade gingerbread cookies?
Merry Christmas everyone! Wishing you all a happy holiday season with your families and loved ones. Thank you so much for your support and company this past year on Eat, Little Bird. 2014 looks to be an exciting year ahead and I look forward to sharing more of my favourite recipes and travel tips here on this blog. Eat, drink and save room for Christmas pudding!
These bite-sized Mushroom Tarts have a flavoursome mushroom filling with a golden puff pastry base. They are perfect for entertaining and would delight both vegetarians and meat-lovers alike. We are hosting a small cocktail party this weekend or, as they call it in Switzerland, an apéro, where the evening will be fueled by lots of small canapés and finger food. Hubby is rather excited by all of the possible wine pairings and I
A flavoursome Chicken Liver Pâté which is perfect for appetisers, dinner parties and even to use in a Vietnamese Banh Mi. Making Chicken Liver Pâté is easier than you think and it can be ready to serve after just a few hours to firm in the fridge. Chicken Liver Pâté As someone who squirms at the thought of eating livers or offal of any kind, I happen to love chicken liver pâté. Perhaps
Delightful no-bake Lemon Curd Tarts made with crushed speculoos or digestive biscuits and topped with a homemade lemon curd. A simple but spectacular looking dessert! When I think of lemon tarts, I think of the French classic, tarte au citron. However, the following recipe happens to be inspired by the lemon curd of the English kitchen. A lemon tart is traditionally made with a shortcrust pastry base and filled with a tart lemon custard, and which
My husband and I are delighted to announce the arrival of our first child, a healthy and bouncing little boy, in late November. He has inherited his mother’s love for sleep and eating, except, of course, his mother has been doing little of either in recent weeks 😉 In preparation for his arrival, I had lined up several posts in readiness for publishing on this blog in the coming months, but pregnancy is
I recently offered to help out at a kid’s birthday party and somehow ended up with the task of making the actual birthday cake. My first thought was to make Nigella Lawson’s Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake, a simple two-tiered chocolate cake covered in a thick, chocolate frosting with maybe some (shop-bought) sugar flowers for decoration. Simple. I had made this cake many times before and knew it to be a very reliable recipe.
A simple recipe for baked Chicken Curry Puffs. Curry Puffs A visit to most Chinese restaurants will reveal curry puffs on the appetiser menu and I always have a soft spot for anything wrapped in pastry. I could sometimes quite happily forego the main dish and just sit down to a huge serving of curry puffs!
Easy to make Gooey Chocolate Cakes filled with Nutella and raspberries, perfect served warm or cold. Gooey Chocolate Cakes with Nutella I have a weak spot for any recipe which contains Nutella. Although it is a welcome comfort just on its own, spoon directly in the tub, I find it equally irresistible in baked goods. Take the Madeleines with Nutella, as an example.
Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings to everyone! I hope you have had a wonderful season cooking and baking your Christmas favourites, as well as being inspired by some new recipes.
I have never really been a big fan of Swiss biscuits, Christmas or otherwise. In all fairness, I haven’t really sampled too many because, quite frankly, they are not always the most appealing when lined up next to the fancy American cookies or British biscuits. When presented with the choice between a cookie oozing with morsels of chocolate and a Läckerli, the latter doesn’t stand a chance, despite the fact that Läckerli is derived from the
As soon as the street vendors start setting up their chestnut-roasting stations in Zurich, I know that Christmas is around the corner. I adore these roasted beauties, their sweet and fluffy interior making for the perfect street snack when you need something warm and filling. Sometimes when the air is bitingly cold, a little bag of roasted chestnuts is the perfect excuse to warm your hands while you are waiting for your tram.
If there is one cake which I always look forward to making and eating at Christmas, it would have to be gingerbread. Whether it is gingerbread in the form of beautifully iced and spicy biscuits, or the more sticky and moist sponge cake, I love them all. Anything which is heady with the aromas of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger is something I would be happy to sit down to with a big mug
Easy recipe for White Christmas with Pistachios and Dried Cranberries, perfect for Christmas gifts. White Christmas Recipe If you are a fan of white chocolate, you will love White Christmas. I’m not sure where this recipe originated from and how the name came about, but it is ridiculously easy to make and serves well as a sweet treat throughout the festive season, not to mention that they are great as Christmas gifts too.
In a perfect world, my biscuit tin would be constantly stocked with homemade biscuits and cookies, ready for those moments when I sit down to my afternoon cup of tea or when friends and neighbours drop by unexpectedly. Unfortunately, my full-time job often prevents the opportunity for frequent baking during the week, something which I try to make up for over the weekend. I know that dried cranberries are available throughout the year, but
With Christmas looming around the corner, my thoughts have been turning to holiday baking and the return of seasonal favourites which make their annual (but much anticipated) appearance around this time of year. I always look forward to the first batch of fruit mince pies, which is a rather curious phenomenon for me considering that I am actually not a big fan of fruit mince. In fact, I loathe fruit cakes and traditional Christmas
