300g butter
2cups white sugar
5 eggs
2t vanilla essence
2 cups cake flour
1teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
100g pecan nuts chopped
Icing sugar for dusting
Method
? All the ingredients should be at room temperature to ensure that the maximum amount of air can be beaten into the mixture.
? Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC.
? In a bowl, combine the butter and sugar and mix well.
? Add the eggs one at a time until well mixed and fluffy.
? Add vanilla essence and mix well.
? Sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter mixture and mix until well blended. Make sure there are no lumps. Add pecan nuts and mix through.
? Pour the mixture into a well-greased and floured loaf tin. The mixture should not be more than half of the tin to allow enough room for the cake to rise. If you are using a smaller loaf tin, divide the mixture into two batches.
? Bake for 1hour 20 minutes. To test if the cake is done, poke the thickest side with a toothpick or skewer. If it comes up with some wet mixture, crumbs or stickiness, bake it for a few more minutes. If it’s dry then the cake is cooked.
? Let it cool for 15-20 minutes in the tin then take it out. Dust with icing sugar. It is delicious served with a seasonal fruit salad.
Pan-fried steak with onions, mushrooms
4 beef steaks
Oil for drizzling
Sauce
3 teaspoons butter
1 onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
250g mushrooms, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
? Drizzle the steaks with a small amount of oil. Season on both sides with salt and pepper then let them stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
? Heat a pan and, when it’s hot enough, add the steaks. Preferably use a non-stick pan, if you don’t have one add a drop of oil to the pan before putting your meat in.
? Fry the steaks on both sides until a golden brown crust forms. For medium done steaks fry for eight minutes on each side and longer for a well done steak.
Sauce
? In a saucepan, melt the butter and add onions and fry until tender but do not let them brown.
? Add the garlic and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper. Sauté until mushrooms are tender.
? Serve the steaks immediately with the onion and mushrooms, mashed potatoes, steamed peas and carrots.
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