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.