Category Archives: Food Glorious Food

In my kitchen

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In my kitchen sat my absolute favourite pie in whole wide universe…. lemon meringue. It had been a while since I had made it and Monkey Boy asked ever so nicely if I would. I didn’t want to disappoint, so made it, gave him a small slice, and packed him off to bed. This left me to admire a rather large slice of my own. Lemon meringue pie is one of those lick the bowl when your done kind of moments. Yep, it really is.

And I would have been crazy not to make one, as I had these fat gifted backyard lemons sitting on my kitchen table waiting to be loved.

A trial of a Pear and Ginger Slice. Amazingly enough I actually followed a recipe this time. It wasn’t bad, I would tweak it a little to cater more to my taste buds. But definitely not bad.

The last of my dad’s pumpkins. The orange of the flesh in these pumpkins has been amazing. Nothing like a super market bought one what so ever. I’m still thinking about my pumpkiny options.

My new mixer love arrived. Oh my sweet, sweet goodness how I love it! (Very, very nerdy post to come soon.)

In my kitchen, there has been quite a lot of my staple salad. I very rarely tire of eating kale… which is lucky, as there is quite a bit around at the moment.

and lastly, in my kitchen sits two new pans. I’m not usually one to buy new kitchen gadgets just for the sake of it, (despite desperately needing a new cooking pot- as I had burnt the crap out of one of my usuals.) Mr Chocolate wanted these, and if it had just been me, there is no way I would have got them. Thankfully I did though, as I am hooked. Cooked on low to medium, ceramic coating, no oil used, heats up really quickly, (and makes a perfect pancake!)

What’s been happening in your kitchen?

linking up with the ever lovely Celia@Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

surprisingly good chocolate hazelnut brownie

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I think hazelnut chocolate is my second favourite chocolate, I boldly declared to Mr Chocolate.

It’s not quite as good as marzipan, but it’s definitely up there… trailing off just a little as I mused on the merits of both of them.

Yep… hazelnut and chocolate, they go really well together.

After voicing my new-found decision of having a second favourite chocolate, I decided I needed to revisit the taste as quickly as possible. Just in case my bold statement had been made in haste. Chocolate…check. Hazelnuts…check. Fifteen minute window period to put it all together?…check. Melt, stir, pour, bake.

It seemed too easy.

Usually my baking needs a few tweaks, a change here and there, and trialled a few times to get it right. So I was surprised after tasting a corner of this one to find it worked just the way it was. I tried another corner just to make sure. No, seemed fine there too. A third corner? Yep, pretty similar to the other two corners.

It really was a surprisingly good hazelnut brownie.

Chocolate Hazelnut Brownie

200g chocolate (50%)

250g butter

200g brown sugar

4 beaten eggs

2 tsp vanilla

150g hazelnuts (I blitzed whole ones)

50g self raising flour

In a pot add the chocolate, butter, sugar and vanilla. Gently melt it down and add remaining ingredients. Pop into a greased and lined tray.

Bake at 180C for approximately 35minutes, and then let it cool in the tin.

a bowl full of sushi

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It’s quiet.

Not a murmur, not a word. Just the rhythmic sound of two forks being taken from bowl to mouth.

The Monkeys are eating two bowls of sushi. This is their favourite dinner at the moment. Not daintily rolled between a sushi bamboo mat, instead carefully constructed by their own little hands. I get it all out, prepare the ingredients and then they assemble what they would like to go in there.

Healthy, looks good, they get to help put it together and most of all they love to eat it.

I can’t help but feel a teeny bit pleased. Pleased and proud of my vegetable loving children. Sure they won’t touch zucchini, mushrooms, sweet potato or spinach. Eggplant also isn’t getting a look in any time soon, but what they won’t eat- they make up for. If that means a bowl full of sushi, with a selection of raw vegetables in there, I’m more than happy to give it to them.

I know kids can be picky little things, but if you plant the seeds of eating healthily from the very beginning and get them involved it sets them up for later on. Once a week, the Monkeys wrestle over who gets to bring in the vegetable box after it’s been delivered to our back door. Carefully sorting what’s in there and what exactly it all is. We don’t get to harvest a great deal from our (rather pathetic at the moment) plant pots, so this along with going to farmer’s markets is a second best. Sorting, learning, preparing and then eating it.

As a child, the idea of sitting through an eggplant or mushroom dish set me up for an hours worth of good solid gagging. These truly were horror vegetables that were put on this earth just to torture me. A few decades on and funnily enough what are two of my favourite vegetables?… Eggplant and mushrooms. The seed had been planted, the palate had already been explored, and then it was just a matter of finding out how I liked to eat those two little vegetables.

So that’s what I’m doing with The Monkeys. Expanding their palates and planting seeds. No, they don’t have to eat handfuls of mushrooms, broccoli, and zucchini. They can try a little bit each time though, just so to remember what it tastes like and then they can move on to what they really love. Vegetables like peas, capsicum (peppers), tomatoes, cucumber, corn, avocado, lettuce, pumpkin and carrot. Pop it all in a bowl of rice, with some shredded seaweed and a little line caught tuna, (Good Fish.)

There they have, a bowl full of sushi.

old fashioned brownie

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My grandmother recently gave me her mother’s recipe for brownie. Now this is brownie not as most of the world today knows brownie, (a chocolatey, decadent dense slab.) This is brownie that was born out of two world wars and one great depression. A time when making do and frugality skipped hand in hand and landed with a plop on your kitchen table top.

During this period, sugar was readily available, locally grown sultanas were in abundance and a simple slab of this would easily fill up hungry bellies. My grandmother in the 1960’s did the same thing with her children, reducing the sugar somewhat (it’s achingly sweet) and filling my dad’s childhood bottomless belly along with that of his siblings. I remember eating great squares of it when I would go and visit. The ting of the metallic cake tin as eager hands would cut just a little more.

Twenty plus years went by and speaking with Grandma she reminded me of it again. Asking whether I would like the recipe for the bottomless bellies of my own Monkeys. I sure did, but…. couldn’t promise I would adhere strictly to the recipe. (I have a proud “Hack Baker” reputation to uphold here!)

(original recipe without the mixed spice)

First go, and I did follow it to the letter, (well almost, I didn’t have any mixed spice, which sort of loses the ‘brown’ effect. Ooops.)

It’s tooth achingly sweet, but gets a thumbs up from Little Monkey and visiting friends tasting it. One friend said it’s exactly as her grandmother would have served up during the same era in the UK. I do like it, it’s very plain and simple, but I think I could probably fiddle with it and jazz it up just a little.

So I did.

Now I had set my self rules with this though. It still had to be frugal and simple, with minimal butter, and no egg at all. I did wonder to myself as I handed out another slab for The Monkeys to eat, what my Great Grandmother would have thought about this slightly jazzed up version of her trusty old recipe.

I like to think she’d have liked it.

Great Grandma’s Brownie

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 cup sultanas

1 tbls butter

1 cup plain flour

1 tsp cinnamon, nutmeg, mixed spice and baking powder

Boil water, sugar, sultanas and butter together for approximately 5-10 minutes. Allow to cool, add remaining ingredients. Bake in a greased and lined tin at 180C for approximately 30 minutes.

My Old Fashioned Brownie

1 1/2 cups currants and raisins (or mixed fruit)

2 cups water

3/4- 1 cup brown sugar

50g butter

zest of a whole orange

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

3 cups self raising flour (450g)

Add all ingredients together (except flour) in a pot and boil for about 5 minutes. Allow to cool completely. Add flour, fold through and pour into a greased and lined square tin.

Bake at 180C for approximately 40 minutes.

how to slam a tim tam

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Sometimes life leaves you no other options.

Sometimes you just have to buy a packet of chocolate biscuits and dunk them… Sometimes these kind of things just need to be done.

Step One- Open your packet of Tim Tams.

Step Two- Nibble the opposite ends

Step Three- Dunk one of the nibbled corners into an appropriately dainty tea cup and suck.

Stop sucking when your dunking liquid of choice, goes up to the top. Inside the biscuit is now squishy and soft with the hot liquid going through it.  Quickly drop the whole biscuit into your mouth before losing it to a messy slop inside your cup.

Step Four- Smile contentedly.

Step Five- Repeat as necessary.

Dark Chocolate Honey Ganache Cones

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 a little lurker

Dark Chocolate Honey Ganache…

I had been thinking about this combination for at least a year. Dark chocolate ganache… a strong honey… and perhaps some chopped lightly toasted hazelnuts wouldn’t go astray either.

Now pastry or no pastry? A tart could work…

Then I saw the mini cones, done. How easy would that be. Construction began.

Little Monkey liked the sounds of it, he wasn’t leaving my side. No no, not for a second. That little barnacle was tricky to pry off without a wayward chocolatey spoon clasped in his hands.

Left over dark chocolate ganache from the little fella’s birthday cake. Stir in some Leatherwood Honey, and pipe it in to some mini cones. Easy, and now I’m thinking of other possibilities based on this little combination to play with.

What do you think might work?

the pumpkin time had arrived

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pumpkin dhal

The pumpkin had been sitting there, waiting patiently on the kitchen table for weeks.

Days went by, and still nothing. Evening meals came and went on by, still no pumpkin passed our lips. I was waiting for the right moment, the right time to cut in to that deep orange flesh. It had been grown and given with thought and love. I wanted to eat it in the same way.

The time was right, the knife was sharp, our bellies were hungry.

The pumpkin time had arrived.

Pumpkin Scones

25g softened butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup mashed pumpkin

1 beaten egg

grated rind of half a lemon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

pinch of salt

3 cups sifted s/r flour

Cream butter and sugar together. Whisk in all other ingredients except the flour. Fold in flour with a knife. Turn out on to a floured surface and lightly knead, just until the ingredients come together. Cut out with a floured upturned glass. Pop on to a baking tray and bake at 210C for about 20 minutes.

scones and wool

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There is something wonderfully soothing about crocheting and knitting. The mediative repetition lulls you while you slowly watch your creation grow and grow. Click, clack, hook, hook…

Recently, when I was in Hobart at a conference. There was a wonderful lady there that had organised a beautiful Crafting Womb. Knitting needles and wool provided. All the listeners had to do was simply knit while they listened to the various speakers throughout the days. A speaker at the front and a silence that was filled with warmth… the gentle click clack of the needles weaving their magic.

So what were they knitting?

They were knitting squares for the Hamlin Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia. (For anyone that doesn’t know of it, please have a look at their website.)

Coming back home, I wanted to do something like this. I wanted to knit or crochet for someone else. A seemingly small gesture, that I knew I could do. I also mentioned it to a couple of friends who were just as keen, and so it begins. A morning at the park sitting in the winter sun, with our hooks and needles, grand plans to begin and continue.

It was a slow start, but with two babies, one toddler and three preschoolers- I think that’s ok. A chance to connect over some simple food and crafting. A brief period to slow it down a little and at the same time creating something that will be used and treasured by someone in need.

That’s something that I definitely want to be a part of.

These scones have been inspired by my baking guru’s Celia and Joanna. They created International Scone Week (actually it goes for a fortnight) and I needed no other baking encouragement. Scones it is.

Date and Orange Scones

3 cups self raising flour

1 cup cream

1 cup water

1 cup chopped dried dates

zest of half an orange (unwaxed)

a sprinkle of raw sugar

a pinch of salt

Lightly mix wet ingredients to dry, and turn out to a well floured surface. Lightly knead using your finger tips mostly, bringing it all together (you don’t want to handle it a lot.) Cut into circles (an upturned glass works well.) and place on a greased or lined baking tray. Bake at 220C for approximately 20 mins or until golden.

Eat with enthusiasm.

********

For anyone interested in creating their own knitting/crocheting group for charities, have a search to see what’s local to you. There are a lot of various charities that would all be appreciative of your woollen acts of love and also a beautiful chance to connect with others while doing so. So gather a few friends, pop on the kettle, grab the last of the biscuits from the biscuit tin and get crafting.

Hamlin Fistula Hospital

knitting for charities

best way to join your squares

inspiration to get you going

seasonal cooking July/August

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Not particularly pretty cooking, but tasty none the less this month. I’ve been playing with a few new ingredients lately which is always good. Also trying to jazz up a few of the regulars as well.

The ever reliable apple crumble with a pastry base to give it a bit of a twinkle. Lemon zest in the pastry, raw sugar and a pinch of coriander cooked in with the apple and a dash of vanilla in with the crumble topping.

Chinese Cabbage is getting a look in. This is a variation of my standard winter salad. Chinese cabbage, pecans or walnuts, apple and what ever else is looking good at the time.

Lemons are plentiful at the moment. Whispering words such as pie…pie…pie to me. It doesn’t matter what kind of pie. As long as it involves lemons and pastry somewhere within. This particular pie had potato flour in it as a thickening agent. Different for me, and I have to say… I quite liked it.

Swiss brown mushrooms, on swiss cheese, on sourdough. My favourite lunch at the moment. Not Mr Chocolate’s favourite lunch, although he does assure me he loves mushrooms. Loves them so much he only wants one or two a month.

I’m not sure it’s quite the same love we have for them.

And my little truffle…

High hopes and grand plans little fella. You live and you learn and all that. Next time, I’ll either buy a bigger one, or use it a lot quicker than which I did. Delicious yes, but I think some of its oomph was lost in between the buying and eating time.

Still tasty though, eaten with some wilted greens, scrambled eggs, sourdough, and a side of Mr Chocolate’s favourite mushrooms. Then again with a little softly cooked egg and shallots. The third egg I cooked was the best, (unfortunately not the one pictured.) The subtlety of the softly cooked egg with the generously grated truffle was quite delicious.

 

So what else is in season round these parts in the winter months?

blood oranges– the very small window of opportunity is now open. I’m thinking a blood orange cake…

rhubarb– I’m just waiting for the right bunch to come along and a rhubarb extravaganza is planned….but it has to be the right bunch.

potatoes– leek and potato soup for cool nights

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What seasonal cooking are you doing at the moment?

Hobart how I’ve missed you so

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Tasmania.

I’ve said it once, I’ve said it twice… actually I might have said it three or four times already. Fifth time?

Tasmania, I love you a lot!

This trip was just a quick one. A conference for me and the baby girl. Hitting the town for Mr Chocolate and The Monkeys.

From the conference, I came away inspired by a wonderful bunch of strong and beautiful women. Seeds have been planted and now I just need to tend to them and hopefully watch them grow.

I also came back with some delicious goodies to be played with. Fudge and walnuts from the farmers markets. Some lovely locally grown spelt, which I’m excited to being playing with. And… a truffle. The smallest truffle in the glass jar. After walking very, very fast (before it closed) to get to the little shop under the stairs where I had first smelt them last year, I got one. Seven grams of black fungus, that I’m still trying to work out exactly what it smells like. Earth, death, and sex they say. It’s a smell that I have trouble likening it to anything else I’ve ever smelt.

So what shall I cook it with?

I’m thinking a truffle sourdough, and perhaps a few truffled eggs to go with it. I’m a little unsure of how to go about the bread though. Shave it, grate it, when to put it in? Would the flavours be lost?

Planning what to do with it though, that’s half the fun isn’t it?

*******

If you have any wonderful truffle ideas, please tell.

first you need the rotten bananas… then you get the cake

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So what do we need to make a smoothie?

Rotten bananas… milk… honey… vanilla,  and some yogurt.

A little chuckle might have escaped from me at the first ingredient mentioned. I would have said it a tad more delicately, but hey, the kid was right. Rotten bananas make great smoothies.

I’m trying to teach The Monkeys that not everything needs to look their pristine best before using, and can be turned into other things. Those blackened bananas were just the obvious ones. Now what else could you do with those old apples, stale bread, drying rice?

Monkey Boy does get it, and the way his answers roll off his tongue so effortlessly makes me proud. Hopefully he won’t be one of those kids from my childhood saying “EEEEWWWW, look at your manky banana!” Instead, he’ll say “oh look, your bananas looking a little past it, why don’t you take it home and make it in to an enjoyable  smoothie or a cake”. He’ll say this just after he’s got his final exam results of straight A’s, and then probably ride off into the sunset on his white horse.

Or at the very least he might say, hey you’ve got a rotten banana, let’s go make a cake.

Either way I’d be happy.

Banana Cake

150g softened butter

150g raw sugar/brown sugar

350g  mashed banana (or 3 rotten ones)

2 tsp vanilla

2 beaten eggs

2 heaped spoonfuls golden syrup

2 cups self raising flour

*****

Whack it all in a mixing bowl. Mix it up. Grease and line a springform tin, then bake it at 180C  for approximately 45- 60 minutes.

the vegetable that everyone forgot- Frugal Friday

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Cauliflower.

Remember that one? It’s got a bad rep, as the tastless tree like cousin of broccoli. It’s not though.

In season now, it’s cheap, tasty and adaptable to oodles of dishes… just right for Frugal Friday.

Cauliflower and Potato Soup

A splash of olive oil

Half a head of cauliflower

One large zucchini

Six small dutch cream or kipfler potatoes (the waxy kind)*

One cube vegetable stock (or your own if you have it)

water

Cook it up until soft. Then blitz it up with a hand held blender. Serve with a scattering of lightly fried sourdough breadcrumbs, for some textural crunch.

* Remember all potatoes are not created equal. A good potato can be the making of your dish.