strawberry jam

I made strawberry jam last monday and it created such a heavenly smell i wished i had been able to capture the aroma with a smell cam and shared it on this blog.

The strawberries themselves weren't anything special they were a bargin @ 89c a punnet and just right for making jam, and as some of you might know i can't resist a bargain so i dived in without planning ahead.

I bought them at Preston market on the Friday intending to make jam over the weekend but along with attending dance performances and musicals (of the Poppins variety) I managed to get side tracked along the way. Surprisingly after spending a few days in the fridge i was pleased to find that the punnets held up well, there were only a few casualties and after washing and picking over I had an easy kilo to work with. I prefer to use a smaller firm fruit rather than the big fleshy ones - save them for dipping in chocolate, a real crowd pleaser (mmmmmm thanks Caz!). When buying i check to see that the fruit has good colour, not too over ripe and that there isn't any condensation inside the containers (a sign they have been picked wet) and no mush or mold showing through on the underside.

I checked out a few recipes online but returned to an old faithful recipe which is a kilo of berries for a kilo of sugar with the juice of one lemon thrown in. I would love to find jam recipes that uses less sugar but i am not so keen on runny jams, especially strawberry (although i would love to hear from anyone who can recommend one. I think apricots can work quite well with less sugar if they are a firm fruit.)

Other recipes suggested soaking the berries in sugar for a couple of hours before cooking or only boiling the fruit and sugar for 12 minutes as the berries were said to spoil.

However i kept it simple - I mixed the fruit and sugar together in a big pot, with the lemon juice and gently warmed the mixture through stirring it till the sugar dissolved. Once the sugar had dissolved I turned up the gas and brought it to a quick boil and kept the mixture rolling along on a steady boil for about 25mins. I tested it by coating the back of a wooden spoon and dripping a small amount onto a saucer to check the viscosity. You can add butter just before bottling but i didn't bother. I think this helps with removing the bubbles from the top of the jam but as you can see i don't tend to bother.

check out the colour!! (OMG it looks a bit like I just killed someone!)

parsley pesto

Its that time of the year again when we have an abundance of flat leaf parsley in the garden and while i let some of it go to seed to allow for next years crop I have been filling in some spare moments by making pesto with the rest. Pesto pasta is a form of comfort food in our house, it's one of the green foods that doesn't involve coercion or other forms of negotiation with non compliant minors.

I would normally add parsley to a basil pesto, its seems to alleviate the bitterness that can occur when chopping basil with a steel food processor blade (not the correct way but the quick way). Using the processor allows me to make pesto in bulk (literally bucket loads) and easily vary the consistency according to preference (chunky or smooth). I add it to vegie or meat sauces, mayo to dress coleslaw, lasagna, or spread it onto pizza bases. Recently I made some potato and spinach gnocchi and dressed it with parsley pesto which was feast of green! (that nobody complained about, much...)

3 cups of chopped parsley

1 cup of cashews ( i buy the broken ones much more affordable than pine nuts)

2/3 extra virgin olive oil

1-2 gloves of garlic

1 cup grated parmesan

pinch of salt

Process according to preference. Store in sealed containers in the fridge for a week (longer if you pour more oil over the top) or freeze. When adding to pasta retain some of the cooking water and/or add some olive oil to encourage good coverage.

Birthday girl

Well the birthday girl got her cake and she ate it too. I was surprised how significant turning six was,

for me rather than for M. It feels like its gettin

g serious and I don't just mean the party. She's a big girl and filled with ideas and attitudes which i tried for a couple of weeks in September to channel into party preparations and she did quite well.

She painted a donkey (outline supplied by V), helped make and paint the pinjate(sp?), wrapped the pass the parcel and iced the cake. The party planning was mostly driven by her and each morning

she would prepare me with "now you'll do such and such for the p

arty today won't you mum, or you'll buy......"

Prep parties seem to be quite important milestone and for weeks M was making lists and telling me who she was or wasn't going to invite but I put a cap on it and decided to limit it to girls from her school. I was pleasantly surprised to find them also filled with id

eas and attitudes, luckily i had a party plan!! P.S actual party cake was tri-coloured which i managed to over cook not that they cared they seem to only ever like eating the icing.

Little m thought it rocked as well!!

Homemade Mayonnaise

It was mentioned to me recently that we only cook two recipes from any one cookbook, which sounds ridiculous when i think about how many books i have but perhaps it's not far from my truth. I have been meaning to post this recipe for Mayo for some time, as it is one I always return to. It's taken from my tatty old Moosewood cookbook a wholesome whole foods delight i bought (?maybe it was a present?) sometime back in the 80's (yes the good old days) and I haven't gone near supermarket mayonnaise since. I tend to make it when eggs are plenty and with the onset of spring i am pleased to report that my girls are laying well. The three chicks we raised from the creche hatching have all turned out to be ladies (although not laying yet it looks like it will be any day now), so we have seven chickens in total. When out on my walks along the Merri Creek I pick them a bunch of greens so that when i let them out to free range they tend to by pass my vegies. I have some garden beds fenced off but none the less they still get in and their scratching around can cause enough damage to make me twitchy. So watch out ladies if you don't prove you can earn your keep.....

Mayonnaise makes 3.5 cups

1/2 cup vinegar (or part or all lemon or lime juice)

1 tsp honey

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp tamari

2 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

Beat together in a blender (eggs should be at room temp)

Gradually drizzle in while blender is still running

2.2 cups of oil (I have used extra virgin olive oil in the past but i find its flavour too strong, so i either mix it with another oil such as rice bran or just do rice bran or whatever i have avail.)

The mayonnaise will thicken as the oil is drizzled in. As soon as it thickens stop or it will thin again.

You can add pesto parsley ( I will post about this soon) or garlic to make aioli or thin it down with a little milk to cover a coleslaw.

chocolate cake

Mariana is very excited as she turns 6 at the end of the month and she asked me if i could make her a practice birthday cake. This is a simple oldy but a goody chocolate cake recipe and as you can see it satisfied the demand!

125gm butter

175gm sugar

2 tlbsp. golden syrup or honey or omit

1 egg

1 .5 cup flour

2tblsp cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup milk

1 tsp baking powder

cream butter and sugar

add egg and golden syrup and mix

sift in flour, bp and cocoa and add alternatively with baking soda mixed in with milk

line a cake tin with baking paper

bake at 180 or slightly lower if using fan oven for 1hr. keep an eye on it and it the top is cooking to fast cover with tin foil

ice with chocolate icing and serve with lashings of cream!!

Tofu Vege bake with Pomegranate molasses and prunes

This photo doesn't do this meal justice, but it was so good that i thought i better take an image and post it. I guess if your not into tofu you could replace it with chicken.

Tofu Vege bake with Pomegranate molasses and prunes

Chop pumpkin, potato, parsnip, leek, carrot in to 2cm cubes

Place in a deep enamelled cast iron pan with some olive oil and mix together

Begin cooking with lid off for 15mins

Mean while

Cut tofu block in to 2-3cm cubes place in a bowl

Add finely chop 1-2 garlic cloves

Sprinkle with Tamari and a good lathering of Pomegranate molasses

Mix and marinate for 10mins

Take cooking pan out of the oven

Add a handful of prunes, sour berries (sorry i don't know the name), pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Mix tofu and vegies together and bake with the lid off 45 – 60mins approx at 180. allow vegies to brown and mix every 20mins or so.

Chop silver beet in to pieces about 2cm

10 mins before ready remove pan from oven place silver beet on the top of the vegies and return to oven with lid on to cook through.

Serve with cous cous

Cabbage, Parsley, Ricotta Cannelloni

Once a week we get an amazing box of local and seasonal organic vegies and fruit. Its always a bit of a mystery what's in the box which makes for part of the fun. While eating seasonally makes good environmental and health sense it means you need to be creative with your cooking or it starts to get a little bit repetitive. I like to experiment and on a whim i will throw things together. The next couple of posts are recipes that i have either adapted to what's in my fridge or i have made them up. They require you to intuit quantities and timing a little as they have not been tested, let me know if you have any success or failures with them. p.s because i am trying to get the kids to eat them the flavours a simple - you could try adding chilli or anchovies to the cannelloni stuffing if you like.

Cabbage, parsley and ricotta Cannelloni

One box of Cannelloni tubes

Finely cut ¼ of a green cabbage and steam

Finely chop onion and lightly brown in olive oil

Add one finely chopped clove of garlic

In a bowl bring cabbage and onion mix together

Add ¾ cup finely chopped parsley and one egg

1- 1 ½ cups of crumbled ricotta Salt and pepper to taste

Tomato sauce

One onion finely chopped One clove or two of garlic finely chopped

Tin of tomatoes chopped 2 tblespoons of tomato paste plus tin of water or one bottle of Passata

In a pot brown onion in olive oil add garlic

Add tomatoes tins + paste or sauce

Salt and pepper and dried or fresh oregano for flavour

Cook till sauce thickens slightly say 20 mins

While sauce is cooking fill Cannelloni tubes with vege mix

Place in a heavy bottomed (cast iron) pan and cover with tomato sauce

place lid or tinfoil over the top and cook 30 -40mins till pasta tubes are soft. You may need to add a little bit of water if the sauce is drying out too much.

Over winter we have been madly planting bare rooted fruit trees; cherry, pear, apricot, and peach (oh and an avocado) were added to our existing apple, lemon, plum, nectarine, feijoa and fig. In order to make room we had to remove some Wattles that had given us afew years of their optimistic yellow early spring bloom but unfortunately they had past their best. Years ago i did a Diploma of Horticulture - Orchard Management at Massey University in NZ so it will be fun to put my knowledge to good use.

We have the cherry, apple and pear planted up against a wire framework and hope to trygrowing them as a

fan, hopefully the pruning won't prove too

challenging.

The nectarine that i have been pruning in a standard form is blossoming and due to all the rain we have had lately i am hoping for a good crop this year.

meatballs and tomato sauce

Vito cooked for us tonight a dinner of meatballs and pasta in tomato sauce. Kids loved and for that matter so did I.

.5 kilo of mince (can be beef or a combination of pork and veal)

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg

1-2 tablespoon breadcrumbs

Salt and pepper

½ small onion finely diced

Optional finely chopped parsley

Mix and massage mixture together with your hands and form into balls

Shallow fry meatballs in a heavy pan

Finely chop one medium onion and 2-3 cloves garlic and fry in olive oil.

Once the onion is translucent add 1-2 tablespoons of tomato paste and fry with onions for a couple of minutes

Add tin of chopped tomatoes and 1 cup of water

Let sauce come to the boil and simmer with meatballs for 45 – 60mins

Tamarillo's also known as Tree tomatoes

I have been nurturing my Tamarillo tree all summer and my attentiveness is paying off with a nice crop of fruit ripening just outside our front door. These are a sub tropical fruit that have a huge following in New Zealand and while i find them on occasion in the supermarket in Australia they are usually really expensive. I Wikied Tamarillo and apparently their common name is tree tomato, they were renamed in NZ (in 1967) to differentiate them from the common tomato. The name is derived from the Maori word tama meaning leadership and the Spanish word amarillo meaning yellow. I know of the yellow variety but i am pretty sure the red ones are more common. They neither look or taste like a tomato so i don't know what the original concern was but Kiwi's are always keen to market a point of difference.

Being a subtropical they don't like frost, they are shallow rooted and like to be well watered and mulched. I have also found they don't tolerate the late afternoon summer sun so i have mine planted in our front yard where it gets mostly morning and early afternoon sun.

You can tell the fruit are ripe when the dark strips have mostly disappeared and the darkness has gone around the calyx. It helps to know as these can be sour little suckers, when we were kids we used to cut them in half and dip each in sugar. But if you know how to pick a ripe one you can eat them as is, just like my littlest fruit bat loves to. I also love stewing them with a bit of sugar, great for breakfast with muesli or with apple in a crumble for dessert. But best of all they make an amazing chutney that is much favored by my extended family.

18-24 tamarillo's or 1kg

3 Granny Smith Apples or 1/2 kg

3/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tblsp salt

2 cups raisins

2 cups vinegar

1 tlbsp mixed spice

3 cups brown sugar

Boil up some water in a pot on the stove and place Tamarillo's in for approx. a minute to scald the skin then peel them.

Peel and finely chop apples and onions

Place all ingredients in to a big pot except for 1/2 cup of vinegar

After it has been cooking for one hour add the 1/2 cup of vinegar

Cook gently for 2-3 hours, mashing gently towards the end

Pack into sterilized jars and store in a cool dark place

This chutney goes well with mature tasty cheese or hot and cold meats and i also like it with spinach pie.

lime and lemon marmalade

This marmalade is an absolute winner, beautiful golden glow in the jar and a tangy blast on the taste buds. I made it a couple of weeks ago in anticipation of Mum and Dads visit this week. Pity NZ customs made it hard for them to take some home with him, but it may well all be gone by then. I don't tend to use the jam set sugars (jam will be brighter in colour and less cooking time is required), nor do i bother with separating out the pips and pith. Purists would tie these in a bag with a string and boil them along with the fruit, but i am happy enough to include them in the mix.

6 lemons

6 limes

1.4 kg sugar (this can be warmed in the oven b4 hand if you can be bothered)

1.75 Ltrs water

Cut up fruits and soak overnight in water

Next day boil 1hr to soften fruit

Then add sugar and boil reasonably fast for an hour

check for setting towards the end by placing a small amount of jam on a saucer and see if a skin forms

Steralise jams and lids in the oven

Take pot off the element and allow jam to sit for a few moments then pour into jars and place lids on while hot.

persimmon freeze

Nancy from down the road gave me a beautiful box containing persimmons, feijoa's and limes from her garden. The feijoa's bring back memories of my childhood in NZ, as kids we would pick them up off the ground split their skins with our teeth and suck out the flesh. I recall one year i ate so many i got hives. These fruit aren't so well regarded in Australia (probably because of the abundance of subtropical alternatives), they are often left to rot on the ground.

I like both astringent and non astringent persimmons. Nancy gave us heaps of non astringent ones, you need to eat when their skins have gone transparent and their flesh is quite mushy. They make an amazing dessert -

1 Super ripe persimmon

50 g Mascarpone

Drizzle of Honey

5ml Amaretto

Freeze the persimmon for 24hrs then take out an hour or so before serving.

Cut in half, then drizzle each half with 2.5 ml of Amaretto over both cut sides.

Fold the remaining Amaretto into the Marscapone and serve over the Persimmon.

Once plated, spoon 2ml honey over the persimmon and Marscarpone.

This recipe is courtesy of Maggie Beer as seen on the Cook and the Chef. Must go and buy some more Amaretto!

brownies or biscuits ?

We went over to friends house for an extended afternoon tea yesterday and sat for awhile basking with our backs facing into the late autumn sun. These biscuits are always a crowd pleaser, so i took some along as its always good if i can get as many other people involved in eating them.

It's a fail safe biscuit recipe that is derived from the peanut brownie recipe in the SURE TO RISE Edmonds Cookery Book. (A New Zealand staple printed in its 17th edition in 1980 of which mine would herald from, and i am very fond of its blue type face with read headings, although the index is a bit annoying, its in the front and recipes are listed under sections - i much prefer alphabetical and in the back) I still make it on occasion with peanuts (but you have to be more sensitive to allergies these days than you did when this book was written) although I have found it works well with variations such as choc. chip or corn flakes.

I can just about make them blind folded and standing on my head (not suggesting you should try such a performance on your first go) my dexterity is necessary as i often make them with the help of M & m. They like to make the choice around flavors and extras and help in the shaping by imprinting or squashing the biscuits with a fork or their fingers. If you require a more uniform biscuit once you have combined all the ingredients you can form the mixture into a log and wrap it in glad wrap and refrigerate for an hour then cut it into 1cm sections.

Peanut Brownies

1 Egg

125g Butter

1 Cup of Sugar

1.5 Cups of Flour

1 tsp baking Powder (in the book they always promote Edmonds BP!)

2 dessert spoon cocoa

1 cup of peanuts

1/2 salt

Beat butter and sugar to a cream, then add egg, flour, BP, peanuts and cocos. Make into ball and flatten to 1 cm. (or roll into a log and put in the fridge wrapped in glad wrap). Bake 180*C 15mins

My Adaptations

Cut back the sugar 3/4 of a cup is plenty

Omit peanuts and salt

Add 3/4 cup of chocolate pieces cut up or drops or 3/4 cup of corn flakes.

mush vs muesli

Most mornings my kids start the day with a bowl of Weet-bix. They like to crumble up the wheat biscuits before adding the milk, but then they will only eat them when soggy. This seems wrong to me, I only ate my Weet-bix while still crunchy, and I find it hard to witness their mush making ritual. I much prefer to (go back to bed then) start the day with a bowl of muesli.
Here is my recipe -
1kg rolled oats - preferably organic
About 1 cup of each of the following (this will vary according to taste or what's in the cupboard)
- Nuts/seeds - almonds,pumpkin and sunflower seeds, Linseed or LSA,,
- Dried fruit- apricots &/or Sultanas or currants (sulphur free), shredded coconut
Method
Pour the rolled oats into a large baking pan
Chop up almonds and apricots
Add in nuts and dried fruit to oats and mix in ( at this point you will get the idea if you have the right balance of nuts, fruit and oats and can adjust according to taste)
If you want to toast it (more like a granola) warm oil and honey* till mixed then pour over and stir into muesli. Toast by placing in a low oven (150 )for 45 - 60 mins. Stir occasionally and check regularly so that the top doesn't burn. *I don't tend to toast mine any more so i can't remember the exact quantities but its about 1 third honey to 2 thirds oil.
Store muesli in an air tight container.

preserving my sanity

In my early twenties i was working on a sub tropical orchard just north of Auckland (these were the days when i thought i could work outside all day in little more than a bikini) and I lived in a shared house opposite an abandoned orchard. (it almost feels like a previous life if i think of where i am at know.) Across the road there were acres of fruit trees laden with fruit and i couldn't bear to see them go to waste so i'd sneak in and pick a few buckets of peaches and nectarines after hours. This wasn't the first nor the last time i was to glean but for memory it would have been the first time i bottled some preserves.
It's funny to think of your life in terms of decades but some twenty years on i have found a renewed interest in preserving. My interest has been spurred by the renaissance of urban gleaning, produce swap meets and food co-ops (very inspiring to see people organising around food supply).
It requires a bit of energy which i have now that my kids are out of their baby phase (they can almost wield a peeler between them but progress would be slow if i were to rely on them for supply). I have a friend who has an annual get together with her sister to bottle tomatoes and last year I produced my first batch of bottled tomatoes with a lovely local friend. For the time poor it might sound like an act of drudgery, peeling cutting and stuffing into bottles but I find its possible to do it while overseeing kids and catching up with a friend or neighbor, talk about good value (who knows things might change and I might want to spend my free time hanging out in cafes again).
Recently i was given boxes and boxes of bottles by a friend who was cleaning out her parents house. When she offered them to me i said i would take them all, not knowing that her mother was a hoarder and that there would be the best part of fifty boxes going free. There were so many shapes and sizes of bottles i didn't even know existed. My friend was able to recall some of what her mother used to do with them; puddings, jams sauces but for the most i think her mother just liked hanging on to stuff. Lucky for me though, they are such beautiful forms i am going to have to be brutal and sort out what i am realistically going to use, or I might turn out like my friends mother. If you are in the neighborhood feel free to come and check them out i am happy to give away what i don't need.

Whose for Fig and Ginger Jam

This has to be one of my all time favorite jam recipes i make it almost every year, then promptly give as many jars away to friends because i easily tempted by it. The recipe was given to me some years back from the lovely Andrea McNamara during her PrinTinTin days. Its very easy and the flavors are oh so good- the sweetness is balanced by a bit of gingery zing with a touch of caramel is the closest i can get to describing it. You can use the brown or green skinned figs not to over ripe is good.
The recipe is as follows:
3 kg Figs (chop into quarters)
2kg sugar
650 mls of water
3 lemons finely cut
100 gms Glaze Ginger (chop according to taste)

Dissolve the sugar in the water and bring to the boil. Boil rapidly for 10mins.
Place figs and lemon in with the sugar and boil gently for 2hrs. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.
Add the ginger prior to placing in sterilised jars.

Kick Off!!

The whistle has blown, the referee's decision is in, its time for me to get moving - I can tell the season is right and the turf is ready, but before you get excited its not footy I'm going to blog about. I couldn't tell you the first thing about sports but i can share with you how the seasons influence my kitchen and garden. My mother Dorothy enjoys if not excels in these these homely pursuits, so I assume thats where my interests originates from. In the 1980's her Pavlovas and Meringues with their pert tips and crusty white edges (smothered in cream and kiwi fruit of course) were skillfully made, presented well and appreciated by those who came into contact with them. She also likes to potter in the garden and occasionally shares some of her wisdom with me. The other day she told me to 'plant leaks on the longest day and garlic on the shortest'. I don't know where these little gems of knowledge come from nor if they are relevant to Australia. Having moved from New Zealand over 20yrs ago i was interested to realise on my last trip home that my gardening knowledge has developed a specificity to Melbourne conditions - because of the drought over recent years and long hot summer days i no longer plant strictly to the north. I know have a variety of vegie beds, some which i consider more suitable for summer - plenty of morning eastern sun and shaded from hot afternoon western sun, and those that are more suited to winter. This weekend V built another vegie bed so I look forward to seeing how it goes in winter conditions.
I quite enjoy Autumn, i love the fruit (persimmons and quinces especially) and have been spending what ever time i can bargain making jam and a few preserves. I often get a bit stuck on making something and i will make it several times, either to perfect it or to adapt it more to my tastes. Last year i couldn't stop making quince tarts I am not sure what my calling will be this year.
One of the reasons for setting up this blog is to prompt myself to record what I am doing and any observations i want to pass on. They may on occasion be a bit weird (can't wait till i get a chance to talk about making liquid manures for the garden), i will include failures as well as successes because thats how i seem to learn. Happy reading and feel free to comment.