Pineapple coconut loaf (1)

My mother baked for the two some years that we spent in the States. One of her best creations was a coconut cake. I was probably only 7 years old at the time when I first tasted it but even decades later, I remembered it as a scrumptious cake loaded with shredded coconut with a crunchy sugary topping. When I was older, I asked her for the recipe, but she couldn't remember it, claiming that she'd got the recipe off the papers or magazine and didn't keep it.

For years I'd been trying to find that recipe and even attempted a coconut loaf glazed with coconut milk syrup a couple of years ago but to no avail. A couple of weeks ago, when I was making a pork stir-fry with pineapples, it occurred to me that I could pair pineapple with coconut in a cake. Adapting my recipes for the madeira cake and lime & coconut cake, I made a pineapple coconut loaf. At the time I wasn't thinking about my mother's cake. But when I took the first bite of this pineapple coconut loaf, I nearly shrieked with excitement. Could I have possibly stumbled upon the right recipe?

Good Friday dinner: grilled salmon with cream cheese sauce

I got some gorgeous fresh organic salmon fillets and grilled one fillet on Thursday. Husband was working late and had to skip dinner that night. But it actually worked out as the next day was Good Friday and being a (semi-practising) Catholic, he had to eat fish.

Grilling salmon is nothing new to me and I am pretty confident that I can get crispy skin each time. But I wanted to try something new with it so I opted to make a cream cheese sauce to accompany the fillets. I also roasted some baby potatoes in duck fat and blanched a handful of runner beans.

Grilled salmon with cream cheese sauce, roasted baby potatoes, blanched runner beans

Shrimp and egg fried rice 蝦仁蛋炒飯

I've been flat out with work and life in general for the last couple of weeks. In addition to meeting the usual deadlines and finalising the paperwork for a new job, I was also studying for my RIAM Grade VIII violin exams, which included practical and aural/theory. The practical parts included three pieces and scales and arpeggios. I had the pieces ready shortly after I made up my mind to sit the exams in early March but I really had to scramble to get ready for the aural/theory. In the end, I think it went well.

The downside of being so busy was that I had no time to go grocery shopping. It was fine for a while as I had loaded up on meats when I last visited the butcher's, but for the last 3-4 days, I was hanging by a thread and had to be creative. Last night the fridge was practically empty. Luckily I still had some shrimp and garden peas in the freezer. I made a quick trip to the supermarket and picked up a tin of sweetcorn and a few stalks of spring onions, and voilà, shrimp and egg fried rice for dinner!

Shrimp & egg fried rice

Baked vanilla cheesecake with chestnut biscuit base

Having attempted pie/cake bases with almond flour and coconut flour, I decided to experiment with chestnut flour to make a base for a cheesecake.

I bought a bag (500g) of ground chestnut flour at Fallon & Byrne a while ago thinking that it would make for a good wheat-free substitute. I didn't realise that chestnut flour was high in carbohydrate content, making it an unacceptable safe flour according to Dr Davis of Wheat Belly fame. But I hate wasting food, so after a couple of months of letting the bag sit in the cupboard, I went ahead. Because of the use of chestnut flour, this cheesecake is strictly an occasional treat.

Baked vanilla cheesecake with chestnut biscuit base

Cranberry lime loaf cake with honey butter glaze

I froze a small box of fresh cranberries leftover from making the orange cranberry cake over Christmas last year. Since that cake went down a treat, I decided to use the rest of the cranberries to make a cranberry and lime loaf. 

Cranberry lime loaf with honey butter glaze

Banana walnut mini muffins

I had two very ripe bananas, one in the freezer and one in the fruit bowl. I decided to make my trusty banana & walnut loaf, except this time, I'm making it into mini muffins. This recipe is adapted from my banana & walnut bread. 

Banana walnut mini muffins

Sticky honey citrus chicken

The success of my sticky honey lemon chicken prompted an encore, with a couple of tweaks of course.

Sticky honey citrus chicken with kaffir lime basmati and French beans

Spicy Korean beef with avocado lime rice

Spicy Korean beef with avocado lime rice and steamed sugar snaps

Amaretti biscuits

After making the Greek almond cookies, I still had 2 egg whites left over from the coconut custard tart, so I attempted amaretti, another favourite accompaniment to coffee.