Category Archives: Food Glorious Food

chunky chicken macadamia pie

Posted on by
24

Finally a pastry that I’m really happy with. Natural yogurt, where would I be without you…

Pastry

200gms butter

2 cups plain flour (300gms)

110gms natural yogurt

1 tsp vinegar

In a food processor pulse flour and butter until resembles bread crumbs. Tip out into a bowl and add yogurt and vinegar. Mix through and then knead until a smooth consistency and then pop into the fridge for awhile. Take out and roll to the thickness you want. With a ramekin that’s been turned up side down and wrapped with baking paper, drop it over the top and squish it in a bit.  Then into the oven at about 180C until golden. (I used a spatula about half way through the cooking to flatten the top (which will be the bottom) you don’t have to do this though.

When they are cooked, just flip it gently out and fill with your favourite pie flavours.

Chunky Chicken Macadamia

In a pot add

a good slurp or two of olive oil

4 cloves of diced garlic

chopped up chicken breast or thighs

cook them up until the chicken is cooked through

add two chopped zucchini

a lemon rind strip

a good grind of black pepper

2 tps stock powder

a little water

1 tps dried oregano

and lastly 3 heaped teaspoons of plain flour

cook it all until it thickens a little and smells lemony chickeny.

Pop spoons of the mixture in to the pie shells and add some toasted macadamias or whatever other nut you may have locally.

the humble crumble, and a little bit on what I think…

Posted on by
57

I’ve waffled along on a few other people’s blogs recently about a few things food related. Things that I have felt are important, and before I know it my fingers have typed out half an essay. Rather than completely taking over someones comment sections saying what I think I’m going to try to rustle up a few brain cells and see if I can form an opinion here on my own blog.

Here’s a little snippet of what I think…

(Scroll down to the bottom if you want to skip the soap box waffling and go straight to the crumble.)

* I think it makes sense to eat seasonally.

* I think it makes sense to try and get a lot of your foods as locally as you can, (if you can).

* I think it makes wonderful sense to know what you are eating, and where it came from.

* I think it makes a huge amount of sense to know how to cook.

You don’t have to be cooking like a chef, but a little cooking knowledge can go a long way. You need to eat, so maybe you need to cook. Seeing pre-cooked rice, and avocado in a tube in the supermarket makes me sigh. Is this becoming our normal? Cooking rice, surely is no more difficult than learning to tie your own shoelaces, (maybe not at the same age.) It’s tricky to begin with, gauging the right way to do it, but then with a little practice it becomes second nature and you just do it.

Why do people say they can’t cook? This brings up so many questions in my mind. Is it because they have no interest in it or are daunted by being in the kitchen? If kids were brought up watching other adults go about preparing evening meals, I think it becomes second nature and an almost default setting for them. Here, stir this pot while I chop this. Turn it off when you see bubbles. Do this enough times and without even noticing you child has just absorbed some valuable cooking experience. Maybe that experience won’t be drawn upon completely while they are still living at home and busy being an insufferable teenager, but that experience will be invaluable when it’s time to move out. (No need to buy pre-cooked rice and avocado in tubes then.)

It’s never too late to learn to cook. My grandfather in his late 70’s started to cook, and I’m really proud that he has taken that on. Not out of necessity, as my grandmother still produces the majority of the meals, but out of interest. A school fundraising cookbook landed on his lap, and something in the bottom of his belly was ignited. He started to bake. Under the watchful eye of my grandmother, he starting producing snacks and meals and getting an obvious enjoyment from it. I think he also cottoned on to the fact that if he cooked, he could cater things to his own taste buds and not what someone else wanted him to eat. Sweeties!

Simple cooking doesn’t have to be tasteless. I’m sure some of my most stand out meals have been the ones with the least ingredients. Zucchini quickly cooked in some diced local garlic and olive oil, with a little sourdough on the side and I’m a happy woman. For a lot of lucky people there is an amazing amount of choice of foods out there. Simple doesn’t have to mean an un-interesting diet.  Olive oil, garlic, asian/middle eastern style spices, and legumes can be cheap and all help in making a meal mind blowing within minutes. Choice is a wonderful thing. I really value the fact that I have food choice and I don’t want to feel indifferent about those choices.

Celebrity and competitive cooking shows aren’t a bad thing. In prime time television in every corner of the globe there is probably a cooking programme going on. A lot of people have embraced the celebrity chef and televised cooking competitions. If this encourages people to cook, to jump off the couch and head towards the kitchen, surely it can’t be a bad thing.  A celebrity chef as a pin-up idol seems to be a much nicer alternative to some C grade celebrity famous for being famous. If I had a tween, I would much rather posters of Jamie Oliver on the wall than ….some toad who just got arrested again. There will always be some negative things to watching these programmes, but I really think the postitives far out way. I’ll take watching and learning how to cook a souffle over another dead body in CSI something or other any day.

Knowing where your food comes from, brings a sense of value. I love knowing where my food comes from if I can manage it. When ever a meal is produced from either making it myself or buying the ingredients from a producer I have met or know something of… pickle me in ginger if I don’t feel warm and fuzzy from it. I’ll be more inclined to eat in moderation and be mindful of how it tastes. Mouthfuls aren’t being thrown back willy nilly without a backwards glance to the plate.  If I’ve just spent 2 days making that sourdough, I’m damn sure I’m going to appreciate every crumb of it. I’m really proud to be able to produce something tasty to go on the family table. I have a lovely memory of the first time Monkey Boy helped out making dinner. The pride he had, and the joy he got in telling Mr Chocolate, “I made that…isn’t it delicious!”

Knowing how to cook helps with staying on a budget. Knowing how to cook and stretch the ingredients that I have, has taken time and practice, (and still with much more learning to go.) Knowing how to cook gives you cooking options. Cooking to a budget, also makes you resourceful with ingredients. I’m sure that as a family unit we are spending less on food now than when Mr Chocolate and I were Monkey-less. It bugs me serving up the same meal for 3 consecutive nights, I lose interest and so do The Monkeys…But, I do get a kick out of ‘upcycling’ the meal into something else.

Bolognese- to mexican beans- to huevos rancheros

Left over rice- to bread

Dhal- to lentil burgers

Porridge- to sourdough oat bread

I also get a huge kick out of being able to preserve the seasons. Jams, chutneys, marmalades are staples and used daily in our family eating habits. Jams are used to sweeten homemade yogurt, marmalades to jazz up toast and chutneys to take a simple dinner to another level. In time to come, (with more space and more access to produce) I would love to have preserved fruits, tomato sauces, passatas and other goodies all lining my cupboards, but for the moment I’m happy with what I am doing. They aren’t tricky, and it saves us money. Oodles of it, I’m sure.

Having my own vegetable garden would be lovely, but… I can’t grow more than a few token extras where I am. So, by choosing to buy from local farmers markets, or using CSA boxes when ever I can, (and it’s convenient) it helps with buying locally, eating fresher and knowing what’s in season. When I shop at the local fruit and vegetable shop or supermarket, yes, it’s convenient by being all in the one spot, but I wouldn’t have a clue whats in season. Not a tooting clue.

The internet is full of recipes. Lots of them. You can learn how to make just about anything you could possibly imagine at the click of a button, and this I think is rather lovely.

So tell me…  what do you think? Everything up for discussion if you have the time and the inclination…

The Humble Crumble

There are so many variations on the humble crumble. It can be a quick an easy dessert stand by, and without it in my life there would be a huge crumbly hole.

The quickest and most basic way I have found is to…. melt 100gms butter. Add 1/2 cup brown sugar, and then add one cup of plain flour. Fork it through so it resembles bread crumbs and then lay it on what ever seasonal fruit you have.  Chopped fresh plums, cooked apples, mixed berries….endless possibilities. It can go in single ramekins, a large deep dish, a low flat dish, an oven proof pot. What ever you have that is bakeproof is fine. Fruit in and crumble mixture on top. From those three topping ingredients you can build. Additions of oats, lemon zest, ginger, coriander, vanilla, almond meal, make it cake-like, crispy, cobbler-esque…

So many combinations of deliciousness! Then bake it all at 180C, until golden.

Bircher Muesli or freezer surprises

Posted on by
20

Apple something or other that was for sure. Puree, pectin, juice?…

I don’t know what it was, as I wasn’t clever enough to leave label on it in the freezer. All I know it was apple-y, it was sweet and it was mighty fine.

The Monkeys had me grinding spoonfuls of it off the frozen sides of the tub into their sweet insistent mouths.

“More! More!” They demanded like noisy, needy little baby magpies.

Alright, alright… It’s ok, Mama doesn’t really want any of this sweet frozen apple-y goodness that she found way back in the freezer…not much anyway.

Bircher Muesli is one of those tasty meals in a bowl that you know is good for you and you can cater to your own taste buds. There are so many ingredients that you substitute one for another  and still get a great tasty bowl full. Dry ingredients start with oats, then you can add…slivered almonds, sunflower seeds, sesame, hazelnuts etc. Adding to that your wet ingredients, a grated apple, apple juice, milk, mashed banana, whatever tantilizes your taste buds. Leave it over night and then in the morning top it off with a dollop of yogurt, and some fresh or poached fruit. Imagination is your friend here.

It’s filling, low GI, and tastes like you should get a second bowl full.

Bircher Muesli

1 1/4 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup almond meal

1/4 cup linseed meal

1/4 cup pecan pieces

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup apple puree

Popped it all in together and then in to the fridge overnight for the dry ingredients to absorb the wet. Added a dollop of homemade yoghurt and a hand full of blueberries on top.

scones

Posted on by
27

I never seemed to have mastered scones. They have always been a hit or miss kind of affair. Some times delicate airy morsels begging for a little jam or cream. At other times hockey pucks. That if stuck together, could make a rather solid house for a pint-sized person. As a teenager I once made scones that had so much bicarbonate of soda in them that everyone’s mouth tingled for an hour after eating them, (I wanted to make sure they got that ‘lift’.)

Let’s just say my scones weren’t winning awards any time soon.

So with a canny eye, and a raised eyebrow, why would I be posting a recipes for scones?

As I finally cracked it, well I think I did. I finally got results that I felt were worthy of placing on the table instead of scuttling out the back when the hockey pucks were offered up. What changed? Back to Sally Wise’s presentation at the Taste Festival in Hobart. Wise by name and wise by nature it seems as I can finally say scones and I are friends, and it’s all thanks to watching her whip some up in just a few minutes.

Perfect thing to make for a relaxing long weekend.

Scones

3 cups s/r flour

1 cup cream

1 cup of water

Lightly mix the ingredients all together in a bowl. Once combined, on to lightly floured bench, pop your dough on, and then lightly knead with your finger tips. Flour the rim of a glass (or another cutter of some sort) and cut them out.  On to a tray, and then bake at 220C for 20mins.

 Just the thing to team up with your favourite seasonal jam.

hot cross buns

Posted on by
36

 Not long after I first started this blog last year, it was Easter, and I was inundated with posts taunting me with hot cross buns. Delicious little bready morsals. I scrutinized, I dreamed, I gazed longingly, I especially admired the sourdough ones. Then I got side tracked and I didn’t do anything about it. Maybe next year I muttered to myself.

Easter started rearing its head again and the taunting hot cross bun posts started tempting me with their alluring photos, and seductive spices once more. Plump sultanas and glazed tops…Oh what to do? Should I try them? Should I give them a crack?

 Of course you should, said the little tiny baker on my left shoulder.

Yeast or sourdough?

Sourdough!! Said the little baker with a firm kick to my head… duhh!

Right.

Sourdough it was. But which recipe? Internet, nothing was quite right. Bourke Street Bakery Cookbook?… Nah, not quite right either. Real Food Companion? Closer, but not sourdough. Back to hack basics again then. Let’s play.

Batch One.

Not bad.  Consistency is good, soft, chewy and still light. Needs a bit more salt and lacking a bit in the spices. Definitely needs more oomph factor. I was feeling lazy and couldn’t be bothered rolling them into balls, so did a slab, used a divider and then gave another prove. This resulted in a non eye-catching brick like piece. For the glaze I did straight honey, which was too annoyingly sticky.

Batch Two.

Upped the spices and the salt. Added mixed fruit instant of just sultanas and currants. Wasn’t quite enough prove time though, so there were a few too many large holes once cooked. Still feeling lazy and went with the slab again. This time, dividing it just before cooking hoping that would make them less of a brick slab. Not really, still a great wedge of hot cross bun. Taste though, I was happy with and wouldn’t change anything further. The glaze was diluted a little and less sticky.

Third batch

I did a commercial yeast variation to see how they would be. Was feeling less lazy and actually rolled them, although was a bit sloppy with the sizes and the crosses. Verdict…still demolished by The Monkeys, but my heart still lies firmly in sourdough. Time factor is definitely a plus though when you are using commercial yeast. Not the whole day process that can be sourdough. (See the bottom of post for regular yeasted recipe… which looks remarkably similar to the sourdough one. For a semi sourdough recipe see the EDIT at the end.)

Hot Cross Buns-  

(sourdough)

100gms currants

100gms sultanas or mixed fruit

2 tbls brandy

150mls hot water

Mix together and soak the night before.

Dough Mixture

250-300gms starter (100%)

600gms strong bakers flour (4 cups)

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp dark malt flour

1 tsp cardamom

100g sugar

250mls water/milk*

100g softened butter*

(* omit these if you want vegan ones)

Mix all together, except for the salt and then leave for a while, 20-45mins (autolyse period.)

Add 2 tsp salt. Mix together. Prove for an hour or so. Quick fold on lightly floured surface. Back in to bowl to prove for another or two. Fold. Prove again. Shape into a big square to fit the tray. Prove.  Use divider to shape into buns. Add the crosses.

Cross mixture

1/2 cup flour

1 tbls sugar

1/2 cup water

Mixed together and then into piping bag.

Bake at 210C for 20-25 minutes. Glaze when still hot. (1 tbls honey, 1 tbls water mixed together)

Hot Cross Buns-

(dried yeast)

100gms currants

100gms sultanas or mixed fruit

2 tbls brandy

150mls hot water

Mix together and soak the night before.

Dough Mixture

2 tsp dried yeast

600gms strong bakers flour (4 cups)

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cardamom

1/2 tsp dark malt flour

100g sugar

250mls water/milk*

100g softened butter*

(*omit these if you want vegan ones)

Mix all dough ingredients together, leaving out the salt and leave for 20-40 minutes, (autolyse.)

Add 2 tsp salt, mix together. Prove for an hour or so, and give a quick three way fold. Leave for another hour or so. Divide dough into even balls and roll. Placing on tray. If you are feeling lazy, pop the slab on the tray and divide just before baking. Another prove for 45 minutes or so, and add the crosses.

Cross mixture

1/2 cup flour

1 tbls sugar

1/2 cup water

Mixed together and then into piping bag.

Bake at 210C for 15-20* minutes, check them if the are golden and sound hollow with a little tap, pop them out. Glaze when still hot. (1 tbls honey, 1 tbls water mixed together).

**********

*My yeasted ones cooked quicker, than the sourdough ones.

(This post submitted to yeastspotting)

***********

EDIT- Each year I have tweaked these, until finally I have a hot cross bun that I’m really happy with. There is a semi sourdough recipe that I have been using a lot here if you like the taste of sourdough but need to speed things up just a little.

semi sourdough hot cross buns

Chocolate Brandy Layer Cake

Posted on by
38

The man looked at me.

It’s for cooking with, right?

Ah yes, yes it is.

Now how did he know that the brandy I was attempting to buy, was for cooking and not straight consumption? How did he know that I wasn’t hot footing it home, with The Monkeys in tow. Home to make Brandy Alexanders for cocktail hour for when my dear Mr Chocolate got home from a long days work. Cocktails matched with an assortment of jellied canapes and devilled something or others.

I don’t know how he knew, but he knew. I mustn’t have had the Brandy Alexander cocktail look going on that morning. Instead, I had the wholesome cook look happening… or was it the flustered mama shopping with kids in tow look, I can’t remember now.

I explained that yes, he was right, it was for cooking, I needed it for a cake and some hot cross buns, and I had run out of my brandy stash. He cocked an eyebrow, and looked at me as if I had just started beatboxing I’m a little teapot….

Cooking all that?…Is that because of My Kitchen Rules?*

Um no, no it isn’t…

Chocolate Brandy Layer Cake

150gms softened butter

140gms caster sugar (3/4 cup)

2 tps vanilla

3 egg yolks

40gms cocoa (1/3 cup)

300gms s/r flour (2 cups)

150gms yogurt (3/4 cup)

3 egg whites whipped to peaks

Cream softened butter, sugar and vanilla essence together. Add egg yolks, yogurt, cocoa and flour. (looks quite stiff at this stage.) Add whipped egg whites by folding through the mixture. Pop into  a greased, lined springform pan and bake at 180C fpr approx 55 minutes.

Allow cake to cool in tin for 15 minutes and then out on to a plate.

When completely cool, cut cake into thirds, (3 discs).

Mascarpone mixture

vanilla bean mascarpone

150mls cream

1 cup icing sugar

I made my own mascarpone from 450mls cream (details on how to make it are here.) Then whipped 150mls pouring cream to soft peaks, adding the vanilla bean mascarpone, and 1 cup icing sugar. Keep an eye on it, don’t let it over beat. You are looking for soft peaks, holding itself together.

60mls hot brandy  needed now

On the first cake layer, drizzle 1/3 of the hot brandy followed by a little less than 1/3 of the mascarpone mixture and then add some grated dark chocolate, (I used 75% cocoa). Second layer of cake on, and the same format. Brandy, mascarpone, grated chocolate. For the last layer, spread a thin layer of the mascarpone first, (this will keep any footloose crumbs at bay.) Then add the remaining mascarpone and grate more dark chocolate over the top.

The cake held together really well. It wasn’t intensely chocolatey or sweet. The yogurt and mascarpone kept it lovely and moist to eat, (even 4 days later being kept in the fridge.) The light was falling fast and so were The Monkeys, (dinner was calling) so the photos didn’t do this little cake any justice, but I’ll definitely be making it again.

* My Kitchen Rules, a cooking competition programme with teams of two competing against each other.

piggy options for a city gal

Posted on by
28

To market, to market,

to buy a fat pig

home again, home again,

jiggety jig…

Today it’s all about the pig.

It’s been a lengthy porcine process, searching and asking around, and it’s still far from over. What I wanted, was to find some piggy products coming from a pig that has had a chance to frollick in the paddocks, rolled in the mud and has nuzzled the earth. A pig that has been farmed in an ethical fashion. Has a taste a good pig should and can be bought without handing over a small mountain of money. A pig, that I could find out a bit more from the people who had reared it, and of the whole process of birth to abbatoir for the ham intended pig.

Could I do it? What piggy options does a city girl have?

Living in the city surrounded by more city, shopping in city food areas… is it possible to get that kind of information and pay those kind of dollars without it becoming a pain in the pig trotters?

Let’s see.

probably the best tasting ham I've had

First up. Pig products are available everywhere. A lot of people like their porcine products. Bacon and ham get regular look ins for many family meals. Butchers and super markets sell a whole range of products for reasonable prices. The ham, salami, pork products that are readily available however, usually come from conventionally farmed beasts. Animals that are farmed intensively, with breeds selected for their rapid growth and maximum dollar.

A taste comparison between the two is easily distinguished. From what we had bought in the past, a comparison between a wet salty pale ham compared to a much more flavourful darker sweet meat, was really hard to compare. They weren’t even in the same field…*ahem*

I was looking for free-range, heritage breed pork products that I could access relatively easily. I didn’t want it to be eaten every day of the week but as a special occasion in small amounts every few weeks or so. A bacon, lettuce and tomato roll once a month, yep that would do nicely.

Supermarket, nothing to be found there, standard pork products. Butchers in my local area… The conventional ones either raised an eyebrow and scowled at me, within an indignate no, they didn’t know where exactly the pig was from, and yes of course it was free-range if it says it is. Now I don’t want to be a poop, but if it’s free-range, I’d love to know where it’s from and what sort of breeds they are using. If they don’t know, could they find out. Difficult. One organic butcher in my area came up with the goods though. Pasture Perfect ham and bacon, yes ma’am, up north somewhere they come from. With a little googling around, yes indeed. Pasture Perfect is based in Ashford, NSW. (Have a peek at that their website if you would like to see some truly cute pictures of their black Berkshire  pigs.)

I liked what I saw but what other options are there within my area, so I delved a little deeper.

Feather and Bone– Suppliers of sustainably raised meat. Has a large range of regular products along with some seasonal meats. Sign up for a really informative weekly email and they’ll also let you know what’s on offer for the week, and importantly where the meat has come from.

Melanda Park– located in Ebenezer, NSW. “A marriage of heritage and modern breeds…” Distributed by Feather and Bone.

Ormiston Free Range Pork– located in Mudgee. Offers farm visits and runs pig handling courses. Products can be delivered to certain neighbouring areas and are sold through one Sydney retail outlet along with Pyrmont Growers Markets.

Tewinga– located in northern NSW. Distruted by Feather and Bone.

Pasture Perfect– Certified organic pasture raised Berkshire pork. Stockists to buy from.

At the farmers markets I’ve been going to lately, pork products is not something I’m regularly coming across, it seems to be a bit hit and miss. Some times the products are there and sometimes not. I did see a stall a few days ago that had a range of products from South Australia. When I was in Hobart Rare Foods also had a great looking range, but not a lot since. Maybe with customer demand the market will increase and I will see more of these products (and local ones) regularly at my usual haunts. Or maybe I just haven’t searched hard enough. Unfortunately I don’t feel I can just accept “free-range” without questioning exactly how they’ve been kept and how free range that actually means.

Our food environment seems to be rapidly changing and it’s really hard to keep up with what’s happening. For the moment it seems generally most people are happy to eat conventionally farmed pig, in time to come I’m wondering whether this will change. For me, I would much rather pay more for my meat, eat it sparingly and know where it has come from. Knowing how and where the animal was raised, and what sort of breed it was. Compared to not knowing and paying less. Yes, it takes more of an effort, and may not be as convenient as buying at the nearest supermarket or corner butcher…but maybe things weren’t meant to be so convenient?

Piggy Interests-

Black Berkshire– Kuro (black) Buta (pig)- A heritage breed of pig originating from Britain. Prized meat in the pig world.

Rare Breeds Trust of Australia

* From one corner of the world, to another. I know I’m lucky enough to have readers from all over and this company information won’t be relevant to a lot of people. So please feel free to mention a local company that is truly free-range, organic or you know more about the particular breeds used and how they are reared. It may help others in your own local area find these great products, that are quite often harder to find.

custard biscuits

Posted on by
51

As a kid I was rather attracted to anything with custard in it. My mum’s egg custard using our backyard chook eggs was a firm favourite, along with a coconut custard pie that she would sometimes make. Always offering to ‘wash’ the pot for her, I would scrape out every last tiny spec left on the bottom of the pot. This was the beginnings of building my strong custard foundations.

My sister and I next discovered that custard powder was an easy way to make your own after dinner treat. Just add milk, cook and your away. A lovely bowl of sloppy sweet goodness. (My sister using so much custard powder in there that the spoon would stand straight up in it.)

My grandmother always used to keep ready-made custard in a carton in the fridge, for when ever hungry grand kids came to stay. I’d eat my weight in it for dessert, followed quickly by breakfast over the top of my weetbix, (these sorts of things you can get away with when you bat your eyelashes, and try to look like a hungry waif. Grandma was always keen to feed me up.)

Outside the home, if we ever went to a bakery it would always be a custard tart, or a custard slice (vanilla slice) that I would choose. There was no need to consider anything else as clearly custard reigned supreme in the bakery choices.

These days my custard consuming as been curtailed a little. The palate is a little more picky and the metabolism a little more sluggish than my frantic teenage appetite for all things custard. Although I did recently introduce Little Monkey to a beautifully delicate French patisserie custard slice. He was keen. As he elbowed his way through to the last portion that I had stupidly been slower to eat. Looks like the little fella might be following in similar custardy footprints.

Custard Biscuits

Cream together

200gms softened butter

100gms (1/2 cup) caster sugar

then add

70gms (1/2 cup) custard powder

225gms (1 1/2 cups) plain flour

1 tps vanilla essence

mix together, and shape

I used a piping bag to shape these, or you could easily roll them into balls and squish them down as well. Bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes, or until a light golden colour.

feeding the troops with Anzac biscuits

Posted on by
33

Monkey Boy has a multicultural day at school this week, which asked everyone to bring in a plate of food from their respective cultures. I needed something quick, easy, nut free and not requiring a whole lot of thought process. Also something I could do the weekend before, so it had to store well.

Anzac Biscuits you didn’t fail me.

Out of my trusty CWA cookbook, the ever present Anzac Biscuit recipe lay proudly on its page. An eggless biscuit (cookie) initially created to send to troops in far off lands during war time. Wives, mothers and daughters made these biscuits for their loved soldiers, using ingredients that they could easily get hold of and could still be eaten after a long transportation time.

Maybe this time I would even follow the whole recipe to the letter. No short cuts and no changes… Imagine that.

On closer inspection of my pantry I discovered I didn’t have some of the ingredients, so would have to adapt. (I clearly wasn’t meant to follow recipes to the letter.)

I think my biscuits were a bit softer and paler due to less bicarb soda and using the self raising flour instead, (if you want them crunchier, just cook them for a touch longer). Still good to eat though, and I didn’t need to put in that much sugar as was originally called for. As the only troops that were going to be eating my ANZAC biscuits were a class full of excitable five year olds.

ANZAC Biscuits

125g melted butter in a bowl

now add

3 tablespoons golden syrup  (*1 tablespoon)

in a little cup

2 tablespoons boiling water

and

1/2 tsp bicarb soda  (*1 tsp)

add the bicarb mixture to the golden syrup mixture, then add

100g (1 cup) rolled oats

90g (1 cup) desiccated coconut

110g (1/2 cup) raw sugar  (*220g sugar)

150g (1 cup) plain flour

(*original recipe amounts)

Roll in to balls and squish down. Bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes or until golden.

Sustainable Seafood

Posted on by
22

Some useful links…

Slow Fish– Slow Food International’s Slow Fish campaign.

Fish Fight– Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s campaign.

Greenpeace International Seafood Red List.

Sustainable Seafood Guide– Australia.

Tuna– Industrial tuna fishing brings in big money as people love the stuff. It’s a cheap, tasty form of protein that appeals to many, either in the form of the handy little cans or eaten fresh and whole.

Greenpeace’s Canned Tuna Guide. Which brands to aim for and which ones to dodge.

http://www.fish-4-ever.com/ A UK based company, that uses skipjack tuna caught in the Maldives. Line and pole method.

A short snippet of what line and pole method actually means. (I found this fascinating!)

What you can do

Read more about the topic

Blog about it

Send a letter

Start a conversation about sustainable fishing

Vote with your dollar.

songs to make cupcakes to

Posted on by
22

Cupcakes were on the menu.

Nothing fancy, just simple little numbers to be eaten after dinner. Mr Chocolate’s parents were coming over. A special dinner to celebrate my father-in-laws birthday and to also celebrate the fact that he and Mr Chocolate’s mother had been in the country for 40 years.  I was thinking a pavlova with a few typical Australian flavours thrown in, however Mr Chocolate seemed to think vanilla cupcakes would be better. Needing a tiny excuse to make mascarpone, I agreed.

The boys were out, and I had myself a little mama time. Time to get the oven cranked and perhaps some music to.

What songs to make cupcakes to?…

I used the Strawberry Vanilla Cake recipe, and just changed it to mini cupcakes.

Now how to make your own mascarpone?

Thanks to my trusty The Real Food Companion book, I wanted to have a go at making it. Mascarpone is soft and mild Italian cheese. It’s usually quite expensive to buy, but well worth it to be used in desserts, such as Tiramisu or my birthday meringue cake last year. I also use it diligently instead of a butter frosting for cakes. I had tried to make it late last year, but wasn’t bowled over with the results. So I wanted to redeem myself. Now where was that mascarpone love?

Mascarpone

300mls cream

2 teaspoons lemon juice

In a pot bring the cream to a simmer, adding the lemon juice and cook for about 1 and half minutes. Allow the cream to cool completely in the pot, and then pour into a muslin lined strainer and leave for 1-2 days in the fridge. For this one I popped in a vanilla bean directly after I had turned the pot off and allowed the bean to infuse with the cream for about 15 minutes. I then gently squeezed the tiny vanilla specks out, and into the fridge the whole lot went for at least 24 hours.

Result, is a speckled mascarpone, with a lovely real vanilla flavour. Just cream, lemon juice and vanilla bean.

It came out thick, smelling lovely and tasted like mascarpone.  You have to plan a little a head of time but it beats buying it.

Quickly whisked it up a little, and then adding 1/2 cup of icing sugar to the mixture. Slap it on to the cupcakes and decorate with strawberries.

Optional Australian flag.

****

…but the songs, what about the songs to make cupcakes to?…

Boy and Bear

an unattractive tasty plum cake

Posted on by
40

I knew in my mind the sort of cake I wanted to make. Not too sweet, using half plums, and perhaps a little almond meal in there. Could  I find a recipe within my collection that was even remotely like it, no. Not a whisker. I didn’t want to trawl the internet, so it was back to hack baking. I’m certainly no stranger there.

Springform pan greased and lined with parchment paper on the bottom. Cutting 5 plums in half, lining them up round side down and then sprinkled with a tablespoon of sugar.

In a mixing bowl add,

150gms softened butter

1 cup raw sugar (approx 140gms)

cream together, add

2 beaten eggs

1 tps cinnamon

1 cup natural yogurt (approx 250mls)

1 cup almond meal (approx 100gms)

1 cup s/r flour (approx 150gms)

Spoon mixture on top of plum halves and bake at 180C for approximately 1hour 15mins.

Now let’s address the elephant in the room. It doesn’t look pretty. It really doesn’t. I couldn’t photograph its prettier angle, as there was no prettier angle. The food stylist was clearly out for a long lunch. It is what it is, an unattractive tasty plum cake.

That’s ok though, these things happen in every day cooking.

* Edit. I forgot one litttttle thing. I flipped the cake. So the bottom is now on the top. If you would like to see how an unflipped cake looks, read on down in the comments and you will see Keri’s superb looking cake she made.