In 2009, David Herbert released 'The Really Useful Cookbook' as a follow up to 'Complete Perfect Recipes. It costs almost twice as much as his first book, contains a number of drool-worth colour photos encased in a hard cover. It is worth it? I can't say I have used it as much as 'Complete Perfect Recipes' but if you are a fan of David Herbert's non fuss food, it's a must.
My dear friend Mellie and her lovely fiancee Aaron are back in Brisbane for Christmas. So when Mel text me today to see if I had time to hang out, I just jumped at the chance and said I would bake a Custard Tart. Slightly selfish on my part as I love Custard Tarts and wanted to try out my brand new tart tin. I've only made mini tarts from this David Herbert's Custard Tart recipe so I was keen to try out a 25cm tart. Here is a photo of the filled blind baked shell.
2 large eggs, 3 egg large egg yolks, 100g caster sugar beaten until thick. Combine with 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon of brandy. Heat 500ml of cream until small bubbles appear around the edge of the saucepan and pour into the egg mixture.
Because I was expecting guests I decided to present the tart with some toffee. I placed 250g of caster sugar and a tablespoon of water in a saucepan, stirred until all the sugar was dissolved and then left the mixture to become golden. Once it was golden I then grabbed a spoon and drizzled the mixture on oiled paper to create gorgeous webbing. Here is result, served with vanilla ice cream. Mmmm.
P.S. To clean your toffee coated saucepan, add some cold water to the pan and pop it back onto the stove to dissolve. So easy!
A bare freezer signals the need to make a big batch of work lunches and it's been a while since I made a delicious Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni. My recipe comes from David Herbet's The Really Useful Cookbook. The first step is to make a simple sauce from 800g of tinned chopped tomatoes, two cloves of garlic and a couple of springs of thyme and to reduce the mixture for 20 minutes. 
While the sauce is reducing, I chopped 150g of spinach, two tablespoons of fresh basil and a clove of garlic. I then mixed the fresh ingredients with 500g of ricotta, salt, pepper and 1/4 of nutmeg. Prepare a baking dish and spread half of the sauce on the base.
After the mixture is combined, take a handful and spread it on half a lasagna sheet and roll the sheet into a tube. Lay the tube on top of the sauce with the cut side down. Continue this process until you have filled the tray. 
Spread the remaining sauce on the top of the cannelloni and sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan. Pop the cannelloni into the 200°c oven for 20 minutes or until the pasta is tender and the cheese is golden.
When the pasta is warm, cut the tray down the center and either serve or wait for it cool and the pop into the freezer. I've made this dish a number of times for work and it freezes and reheats extremely well. 
