what will 2011 bring?
***
I’m not sure about the whole year,
but I know what it’s going to bring in the next few weeks…
a few bubbles
a little sourdough
a meaty question
some crochet action
and
a food festival (that I’m sooo excited about!)
stay tuned
***
Happy New Year
What will 2011 bring for you?
sand
snow
city
or countryside
where ever you are
wishing you happy holidays
see you in 2011
xxx
hippy gingerbread man
it’s a little cold out today
crime scene
comes from a big family
*****
125 grams softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 beaten egg
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup golden syrup
4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tps cardamom
3 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
Mix wet ingredients together. Mix dry ingredients together. Mix them all together. Knead it a little on a floured surface, until you get a smooth dough. Let it rest in the fridge for 1/2 an hour, then roll out dough .5cm thickness (or thicker if you prefer) and shape.
Bake at 190C for approximately 20 minutes, or until light golden.
Cool and then dress appropriately.
Stollen is a traditional German cake usually eaten at Christmas time. Filled with spices, fruit and nuts, then dusted with icing sugar. The shape is to represent an all wrapped up baby Jesus.
So, I had procrastinated for too long about whether to make this or not. Yes, no, yes, no…. To make or not to make?
Why would I make it?…
Because it’s delicious, I hadn’t made one before. Panettone was too daunting. I love all things German. I could sneak some marzipan in there. It would be a good Christmas cake to have. Doesn’t take a whole day (or several) to make…
Why wouldn’t I make it?…
Time factor. I’m squishing in quite a few things as it is, did I really need one more to add to the list? Not too many other dried fruit fans going to be around at Christmas…(no wait, that was a reason TO make it.)
Right let’s get cracking.
I had come across this delightful recipe. Who in turn had tweaked it from another German baker. Both sounded delicious, and as my german language skills are limited to asking how someone has slept, I opted for the English recipe.
Now obviously I can’t just follow a recipe to the letter, so a few tiny tweaks of my own were in order.
* 500gms of a mixture of sultanas, mixed fruit, macadamias, glace ginger, glace cherries, and almond flakes.
* I may have been a little heavy handed with the rum. My hand slipped and that’s the story I’m sticking with.
* Some Stollen has marzipan rolled within the dough log. This recipe didn’t have it. However, as my middle name is marzipan, I thought I should pop it in.
The shape wasn’t as easy as I had originally thought, however that just means I have to make it again and practise a little, (oh well. ) I hadn’t tucked in the top part enough, so there was a little unfurling.
Now I’m dying to cut into it. Smell it, see how it’s looking, but apparently it will taste better once ripened in a couple of days. Also, as these are to be taken else where and given to others, I couldn’t cut in to for photo purposes. (Although it was rather close, I nearly did.)
Fingers crossed it’s as delicious as I hope it is.
And for something completely different…a little Christmas in the city.
The first time I tasted a biscotti I thought it was a really stale biscuit. I kept going with it though, gnawing at the hard little morsel like a terrier with a bone until it was all gone. I was a guest and would never say no to anything I was given to eat in someone elses house. Looking around me, while gently massaging my poor gums, and discretely dusting all the crumbs that lay on my chest I realised that everyone else was dunking their biscuits in to either a coffee or little glass of sweet wine.
Ah… I tried again, reaching for another hard biscotti. If nothing else, my back teeth would a get a good work out. Dunk, dunk, dunk…a tentative nibble. Ohhh, now that’s the ticket!
Why didn’t some one tell me before?
Now for these little biscotti, there has been a varied trail of evolution behind them. The first batch tasted too plain, it lacked depth of flavours. The consistency was fine but the taste wasn’t grabbing me. Next batch, added green ginger wine and changed the sugar to a darker one. Much better in flavour, but did I need the chocolate? Third batch, chocolate gets ditched, green ginger wine and dark sugar stay. I think the winning combination. However if you do want to give them a try, tweak them to your own taste buds.
The great thing about biscotti is that they are really versatile with their flavour combinations.
2 eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar (if you can get a dark unrefined one, it gives more depth to the flavour. eg. Muscavado or dark molasses sugar)
1 tps vanilla essence
2 tbls green ginger wine
1/3 cup chopped uncrystallized dried ginger
1/3 dark chocolate chips (optional)
1 1 /3 cup plain flour
1/3 cup s/r flour
Mix all the ingredients together, and give a quick knead on lightly floured surface. Divide mixture in to two and roll out, approximately 1.5 inches wide. Pop in the oven at 180C for about 30 minutes. Take out and carefully slice on the diagonal with a serrated knife (bread knife). Lay biscotti down and back in to the oven for a further 10-15minutes at 160C either sides.
These little biscotti are good dunked into an espresso or a little dessert wine, (and if not, then prepare your back teeth).
Also an easy Christmas gift.
(top picture without chocolate, bottom with.)
Now instead of taking a bunch of flowers to someone what about a bunch of grissini?
Easy breadsticks, that look a bit different to your usual bready business. Usually made about the thickness of your finger, and as long as you want to make them. Perfect thing to give someone as a little gift, take to a picnic, or a funny little snack that The Monkey’s thought were very cool.
(adapted from The Bourke Street Bakery Cookbook)
600gms strong bakers flour
2 tps dried yeast
400mls water
3 tbls olive oil
2 tps salt
* 180gms old dough (I keep some in the freezer, you can easily omit this if you don’t have it though.)
extra sea salt
roughly chopped fresh rosemary
Pop all ingredients in to mixer, and mix until throughly combined (approximately 5 minutes). If using the old dough add it in, broken in to small pieces. Keep mixing on low, until dough is smooth. Cover with a damp tea towel and let prove for 1.5 hours with two folds in between at the 30 minute marks.
Put the dough on to a lightly floured surface and roll out to about 1cm thickness. Any tears in the dough just join it together, rest the dough for 5 minutes and then roll again. Once it’s rolled out let it rest for another 5 minutes and then cut the dough into strips. Any thickness you like, and then gently roll them in some fresh roughly chopped rosemary, and roughly ground sea salt. I twisted my ones which you can just make out in the end product. Pre-heat oven to 170C. Place them on a lined baking tray and let prove for 20-30 minutes. Turn oven down to 150C and bake for about 30 mins. I then turned the oven off, but left the grissini in their to further dry out.
Grissini should be dry with a great snap when they are finished.
This post submitted to Yeast Spotting.
What to do when a friend says I have free tickets to a foodie event, would you like to come on Sunday?….Hmmmm, let me think about that. Yes! Food and free ticket. Doesn’t get much better.
What are we seeing?
Master Chef Live. Billed as a live theatre and cooking festival, running over 3 days in December, it’s the first time the reality TV series has branched out in to this sort of thing. With cooking demonstrations, an extensive list of top Australian Chefs, junior master chef, hands on cooking classes and more food samples from producers than is possible for one City Hippy Farm Girl’s tummy. I have to say it was fun!
Some stand outs of the day were.
Brasserie Breads (top picture) 25 minute lesson on sourdough making. I have long wanted to do one of their classes and it just hasn’t happened for various reasons. Now, I’m not sure that I need to. I was able to get lots of little tips in that condensed lesson, that I am as ‘keen as mustard’ to try out when making my next batch of sourdoughs.
Geoff Hudson from The Italian Gardener (Italian vegetable and herb seed from Franchi Sementi, est 1783), was a likeable and knowledgable fella that just makes you want to go stick your fingers in some dirt and start gardening. Specialising in heirloom varieties from Italy, he had a vast array of seeds that made me yearn for a garden even more…one day, one day. (The website has an extensive selection of Italian vegetable treasures, along with an organic section.) In the mean time I am going to try my hand at a few chillies in a pot and I couldn’t resist buying some tomato seeds that may find their way down to my mother’s garden. (With a few fruit firmly set aside for me!)
The Little General was selling some knock out olive oils. Sam Mancini (on left) is the one pictured on the great looking bottles as a two year old. As a kid, The Little General was what he was affectionately known as. Locally produced and based in Griffith, in the Riverina area. This is a family run business that seems to be doing some great things with their olive crops, as this olive oil really was a delicious drop. I couldn’t resist buying a bottle as it was begging for some home made sourdough to be dunked in it…dunk me, dunk me.
There were two other stand outs of the day. One them being Rochester Ginger, a non- alcoholic ginger drink that came in two flavours, or two levels of gingery deliciousness. So I was quite happy to find out that one of their stockists was just local to me. I think this particular one may find itself being drunk quite a bit over Christmas, I do love anything with a hint of ginger.
Mayfield Chocolates is quite possibly the best chocolate I have tasted in quite awhile. Incorporating some distinctly Australian flavours in these tasty little numbers such as, Tasmanian Leatherwood Honey, Macadamia, Lemon Myrtle, Wattleseed, QLD Rum, and Kakadu Plum. An Australian company that is based out of Brisbane. If you live in the surrounding areas good luck trying to stay away from these once you have had a taste. Lucky for me, I don’t live in the area, (and for now I will ignore the fact that they have a n Express Post Trackable postage option….it’s for the best.
A nudge awake at 5am.
A frantic run towards the coast.
No buses.
Just have to leg it.
Wait sun!
Wait until I get closer to raise your sunny head above the horizon.
Please wait…I’m coming.
Chest heaving, legs running.
It feels so good. The Monkeys are still tucked up in bed, their Dadda can whisper the good mornings today.
It’s 5am, and it’s my time this morning.
My time to chase the sun…
in a pan take
a good double slurp of vegetable oil
pop in
1 diced onion
2 tps cumin
2 tps coriander
2 tps tumeric
(if you have them 2 tps mustard seed, black or brown)
1 knob of diced fresh ginger
2 cloves of diced garlic
gently cook all these ingredients, letting the spices waft around the kitchen tantalizing your taste buds
Now pop in 4 roughly cubed medium sized potatoes, (you can partly cook them in the microwave beforehand just to make the process quicker. Only partly cooked though, you don’t want mush.) Stir it round, spices and onions coating the potatoes. Done when the potatoes are soft when pierced through.
Serve with a dollop of natural yoghurt, and a seasonal salad.
Easy dinner for Frugal Friday.
Allow me a rant, just a little one…
Big inhalation now…so I can feel the rant build up a little.
Garlic. I’ve mentioned it a little before, but have restrained myself in the past, because…it gets me a little het up. (Garlic and canned tomatoes, but I’ll save that one for another post.)
Today though, I’m letting the garlic flag fly…
I love cooking, and I love using garlic in my cooking, and yet in recent times, there haven’t been too many dishes with even the hint of garlic in them. Why? Because I don’t want my garlic to come from China. Nor Mexico, or Argentina and these are the countries that we frequently import our garlic from here in Australia. I have nothing against these countries, I just really want to eat Australian garlic. From my readings, it seems that the majority of our imported garlic is from China where every bulb is rayed, sprayed and then resprayed against ‘critters’ coming in at quarantine. (Strict quarantine laws in Australia, require many products to be treated with methyl bromide.) That is a lot of handling for a little bulb, that by the time it gets to the supermarket shelf it’s old, wrinkled, soft, and bless its little heart ready to try and shoot. Tasteless and disappointing.
Where have all the different varieties gone? Where have our garlic options gone?
Garlic happily sits in so many flavoursome dishes. It brings a tasty depth, that few other vegetables can compete with in the same way.
I’m getting garlic envy from all the lovely blogs I have seen with tantalizing pictures of their freshly harvested garlic. I recently bought some “spring garlic” or green garlic from the farmers markets and it was divine. Stalks and all, a little bit more subtle than when its has been dried, but truly delicious and locally produced. Every meal that those little green stalks and bulbs went in to was treated as it should. With gratitude and thanks, and more than a little smacking of lips. It makes a meal. (Maybe wouldn’t make a cake…but I wasn’t going for the garlic chocolate cake combo anyway.)
Garlic is planted in the cooler months and harvested in the hotter months, approximately 17-25 weeks after planting. If you have any space at all, I highly recommend giving growing your own a go. I don’t have any. I tried doing it in pots and it just wasn’t in the right position for growing. So now I just get to look longingly at others growing it and put my nose in the air in a huff when I see the sad little excuses for garlic for sale in the supermarket. That is, until I see some locally grown garlic for sale and then will be pouncing on it with gusto.
So tell me, where does your garlic come from? What types can you get? Do you grow it? Do you find it tricky to grow? I would love to hear your garlicky stories…
*****
More information on growing garlic here.
Have some pastry, and fruit? Dessert doesn’t have to be fancy to taste good. I will quite often make a double batch of pastry, so it’s always in the freezer and ready to go. For this use what ever fruit is season, or if you have a batch of fruit from last season still lingering in the freezer, then it might be time to reacquaint yourself with it.
Roll out pastry, dollop on either cooked fruit, fresh berries, thinly sliced apples/sultanas/spices and then simply fold up the sides of the pastry and bake at 180C until pastry is golden. Done. Super easy, yes it is. Dust it with a bit of icing sugar if you want to ‘fancy’ it up.
If you would like to make your pie to look a little different, but not too much extra effort, try the stretched lattice look for a pie top. First up a pastry that is not going to crumble if you look at it.
150gms chilled butter
1 2/3 cups plain flour
1/3 s/r flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 heaped dessert spoons of natural yoghurt
In a processor add the cubed butter, flour, and sugar. Process until it resembles bread crumbs. Turn out to a bowl and add yoghurt. Mix well and then knead until well combined and smooth. Pop it in to the fridge and let it have a little rest (approx 30 mins). Now roll your pastry out to the thickness that you require. Line the pie dish, cutting any extras off. Spoon in the pie middle. I used a plum and apple mixture but you could use anything that you have at hand. Roll out the remainder of the pastry and slit it intermittently with a knife.
Once that is done, gently stretch the top over the pie. This stretches out the the slits, opening up the latticing.
With this one I then brushed it with milk and sprinkled it with raw sugar. Bake until golden.
Serve with a dollop of home made yoghurt or mascarpone.
Two easy ways to make a rustic* looking pie.
* Rustic meaning I didn’t spend hours making it look pretty. Still tasty and still got The Monkeys jumping up and down yelling for PIE!!
It’s getting hot out there.
Stone fruit ripening on kitchen counters
Excited little fingers grasping dripping icecreams
you start walking down the shady side of the street. That brief moment of cooler shadows.
weekend swims at dawn
hello summer…
cityhippyfarmgirl 