Category Archives: Food Glorious Food

Super Easy Chocolate Chip Biscuits

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Now who doesn’t like Chocolate Chip Biscuits? They are easy thing to make that seem to appeal to a lot of taste buds. I always seem to be making some sort of basic biscuit, but occasionally I like to splash out and make something a bit sweeter. Keeps Mr Chocolate happy, The Monkeys quiet and gives a mama something to dunk into an afternoon pick-me-up coffee. Also a good thing to take around to a friends house… or a neighbour, or that family down the street that are now cleaning up flood water.

Go on, what are you waiting for…

Chocolate Chip Biscuits

125gms softened butter

1/3 cup muscavado sugar (or other dark unrefined sugar)

1 beaten egg

1 tps vanilla

2/3 cup plain flour

2/3 cup s/r flour

2/3 cup choc chips

Mix ingredients in that order. Roll into balls, squish them down. Bake at 180C until golden.

Now how easy is that?

meat…could you? would you?

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I have meat on my mind. Not the usual thing on my mind and a little less exciting than the next sourdough to construct, but non the less it’s there.

A few things in blogland had prompted the thinking and also just a natural progression I guess of wanting to know where my meal comes from.

This household doesn’t eat a lot of meat. Monkey Boy and Mr Chocolate really enjoy it, but Little Monkey and I can take it or leave it. Free range chicken, organic minced beef, free range ham, and organic sausages seem to be the usual selection of what we choose from. Nothing too exciting there. Over the years, other meaty items just slowly got bumped off. Canned tuna, daily ham on sandwiches, fresh fish…all for various reasons, now don’t usually find themselves on our every day dinner table.

In my little world, the majority of our meat is bought from the supermarket, butcher, or if I’m lucky enough some farmers markets. Ideally what am I looking for? Meat that has been ethically raised, sustainably produced, not compromised on taste, and at a budget that doesn’t hurt the hip pocket. Is that just too hard though on a day to day level for most people?

Many people can’t argue with the convenience of a supermarket. However there is an increase in buying organic, local, free range pieces. If I can manage to get it, I love being able to buy meat either straight from the producer (easier at a farmers market) or at least knowing the area in which it is from and buying through a middle person.

Some of my recent meaty prompter’s…

Pick a pig– Friends put me on this link from the UK. A system that lets you buy your animal, it’s reared by the farmer, slaughtered and then gets delivered to you in the cuts you ask for. A large up front cost, but….you are getting a whole lot of pig there. Also you know where your pork cuts are coming from. I would love to know if there are any people doing something similar in Australia. On a large scale this is a really interesting way of cutting out the middle man. Another similar scheme again in the UK is Yorkshire Meats

Perennial Plate, an online short documentary style programme on sustainable foods- warning it is a little graphic.

Gourmet Farmer– you know I am a fan. What the man has documented on his show is his journey of going from city fella, to small town living. Rearing animals for his own consumption, learning how to kill chickens, and send his heritage breed pigs to the slaughterer.

Slow Living Essentials- cute fuzzy ducks, and I was thinking dinner.

So whats my beef? (every pun intended.)

Have we become completely desensitized to seeing animals being killed for our plate? I know I don’t feel completely comfortable with it. I would like to think I could do it. Raise an animal, bump it off and then eat it, but could I? I feel if I am willing to eat it, I should be willing to admit that cute little piglet is going to get its head taken off and make some truly delicious ham. It could be a real turning point to vegetarianism for me. However… I would like to think I could rear an animal and either assist in some way in the slaughtering process or do it myself…. Confronting as it most certainly would be.

When you see the meat being sold in the supermarket all wrapped in styrofoam and plastic, all cut up and ready to go. There is usually very little to show you that this pink piece of flesh was once a mooing four legged creature. Feathers still stuck to your chicken pieces? Most people get rather unhappy if this was the case. I remember unloading some groceries from the supermarket in Italy once and there tucked away under the cling wrap and styrofoam was Ms Guinea Fowls head still intact. In my world, I’m not used to that. If I see meat I don’t expect it still to look like the animal it once was. I don’t want any happy memories of a life it once had floating around the room still. But this also seems ridiculous…almost a little precious. It is meat, which means it used to be an animal. Is that as silly as denying a chip in front of me used to be a potato growing in the ground?

Is it merely enough to know what you are eating and where you bought it from? There being no need to kill it yourself, when some one else can do it for you? Will more people begin to choose their meat while thinking of it being sustainably sourced, organically produced, locally harvested and ethically raised. I would like to think so, but feel we have a loooong way to go first. It’s turning around a whole mind set. A whole meat eating culture that needs to be slowly changed.

Should we be taking a moment to acknowledge and honour the life that has been giving up for our plate?

I understand why someone would become a vegetarian for ethical reasons. I also understand why people truly enjoy eating meat. (we still talk about that pork dish at ARIA.) I do think however, that people should know where their dinner came from if at all possible. How many primary schools would teach young children about where their meat comes from? How many parents would talk about it to their young children? How many highschool students would get to study the make up of an animal, different breeds, how to raise them, slaughter, and then cook them? (Agriculture is a chosen subject, in very few highschools.) If this is a part of our every day lifestyle why wouldn’t we be able to learn about it from the beginning.

English, maths, science, food*.

Incorporate it in to learning how to grow, and harvest vegetables. Surely these are important principles that people seem to be so far removed from these days.

I’m still trying to work out where I stand with it all. It’s not easy. Do you eat meat because it’s there, it’s healthy, it’s what everyone else does? Do you eat all parts of the animal avoiding any wastage? I’m not a fan of any kind of offal, however it does seem rather silly to breed a huge beast for consumption and then only eat half of it.

I would like to think that any meat I ate was treated as humanely as possible in their life beforehand. A chance to live as a young calf, piglet, lamb should, before going ‘down town’. Being mindful of every mouthful of meat that I eat. Being thankful that a life has been given up to feed my families belly’s. Thinking about it where it came from and not taking it for granted that I am here and I need and deserve to eat that eat meat! Happy paddock loving animals look differently to large production ones. Australians are one of the top meat eating countries in the world. A weekend BBQ isn’t usually a success unless there is an array of meaty goodies on offer.

Now I could waffle on and on about this meaty topic and go round and round in circles. For the sake of not boring you all to numbing tears I wont. However I will pass this over for discussion. (Feel free to disagree.)

What do you believe in?

Is buying our meat at the supermarket simply progression? Modern times. We have moved on from backyard butchery. A time now of convenience of food…

Do you consider where you meat comes from when selecting it for the dinner table?…

Do you like having that distance between you and that furry beast/ succulent juicy steak on your plate?

Could you rear and slaughter your own animals for eating if you had access to it. (Either via someone elses farm and livestock, or your own.)

…and would you want to?

*******

* I know that in some wonderful schools the Edible School Yard programme or Kitchen Garden programme is up, running and doing really well. This is still a minority in most schools as far as I am aware though. It is also still dependent on the community to get it up, running and maintaining it.

Sweet Chilli Sauce

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Some people love chilli and some people hate it. Some people start sweating profusely and some just get a little light glow when they eat it. Most of the time I really enjoy it. It can enhance a meal, and take it to another level. Or it can also blow my socks off, make my eyes water like two taps, and make it impossible to converse with. As the subject at hand is only… dear god, how am I going to get through this meal! (Like a recent situation at a mexican restaurant with friends.)

My new favourite chilli sauce is a Louisiana Hot Sauce that my brother gave me. Damn, it’s good. I’m rationing it out as I don’t want it to end. It’s a little sweet, a little peppery, a little hot and a whole lot of tasty. Turns every meal that I’ve put it on into a mmmmm meal.

The recent Mexican meal certainly wasn’t the hottest I have eaten. That particular chilli was a sambal eaten in Sabah, Malaysia. A tiny little family run hole in the wall in the jungle. It looked hot, you could see it was hot. It sat in the middle of the table taunting fellow diners with its fiery temptation. I liked hot, I’d built myself up for this…I could do it. I was also not stupid, I knew that there was a small dish for a reason. Small dish means take a small amount. So I did. You could not have got a smaller amount of sambal on my tongue. It was minuscule, a pin head size. I took it straight, I wasn’t scared….So. Hot. So. Darn. Hot. My eyeballs shot out. My tongue was instantly numb. My hand reached for the glass of water. Then the jug. I’m not sure what I ate for the rest of the meal as my tongue was still lying in a comatose state against the side of my mouth. With taste buds stripped. I straightened myself up and continued on with the enjoyable meal with my companions. Hey, you should really try the chilli…

Sweet Chilli Sauce

200gms long green chillies

8 small red chillies

2.5cm long knob of ginger

7 cloves garlic

2.5 cups white vinegar

2.5 cups sugar

3 tps salt

Blitz the the chilli, ginger, garlic in what ever you have at home. A couple of seconds is all it needs. Pop it in to a pan, cook off for a minute, then add vinegar, sugar and salt. Stir, and keep it at a rolling boil until it thickens a little (30-40 mins.)

Now this little number is a bit hot, but not crazy hot and it still has flavour. After seeing a demonstration by Sally Wise at the Taste Festival and seeing how quickly she pulled this together, I was inspired. I’ll never, ever buy sweet chilli sauce again. There is absolutely no need. Whack a bottle of this in the fridge and it will keep for ages. Now if you don’t like it so hot. Simply take the seeds out of the chilli or at least some of them, (I didn’t though for this batch) as the heat is in the seeds.

Now go make something delicious to serve it with.

Hobart Farmers’ Market

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Second day of my super quick stay in Hobart and I was lucky enough to be staying just a block from the Hobart Farmers’ Market. One of the smallest Farmers Market I have been to for a while, but filled with stalls that I could have happily bought from each and every one. These markets are a little different to my local one, as only the people that actually grow, raise, produce or pick the goodies can sell here. (Got to love that.)

Two stand outs for me were…

Grandvewe Cheeses– a certified organic sheep cheesery located in Birchs Bay. The cheeses truly delicious, but the Vanilla Whey liqueur…ooo la laa! Holy smokes that was tasty. After a little rearranging of my hand luggage, a bottle of this delectable beauty was popped in. I’m a big fan of anything vanilla, but this took vanilla to another level. If you had told me before I had tasted it, I would be grasping a bottle of fermented sheep’s whey, (a by-product from cheese making) infused with vanilla bean… I would probably have cocked an eye brow and looked a little sceptical. Sold by the lovely James and his charming French companion, (whom I rudely forgot to ask his name). A bottle of this stuff would be worthy of either visiting the markets for, or stopping off at The Cheesery door. Great on ice cream, a dash in an espresso or just straight.

My second stand out for the Farmers Markets was meeting and talking with Matthew Evans. *sigh* Yes I got to meet my idol. I managed to not turn in to a puddle of nerves…just, and would have happily grilled him with questions for the whole morning on all things rare breed, slow food, sustainable and Tasmanian living. However, at the risk of looking like a complete crazed stalker… I didn’t. I also didn’t get to taste any of his Rare Food free range piggy products as I had a plane to catch, (but they did look delicious). Looking over the products, reminded me of what bacon was supposed to look like. I can only imagine how it would taste. Matthew and his business partner Ross, use heritage breed pigs for their products, (at the moment Wessex Saddleback and Berkshire) and this week these same pigs would be fed a tasty diet of cherries, to enhance that delectable sweet meat on their ample bodies.

So why am I a Mr Evans fan? Because watching his series, (and reading his blog) Gourmet Farmer gives me hope that one day my family and I can achieve something similar. A city person learning to do things from scratch. Anyone that is willing to swap a city life to one of rare breed rearing, artisan producing and taking a stand for what they believe in regarding what goes on a dinner plate…I have to applaud.

This is the life I aspire to. A life in the stunning Tasmanian countryside, peppered with some of the best food products in the country. Not a life of ease and convenience, but one of taste and ethics. Real food, that is simple, and yet complex and intricate on the palate. Real food that’s produced by that fella down the road or that lady over the hill. All enhanced by like minded people in a community setting that inspires others to strive to do what they feel passionate about.

The fact that Matthew Evans and his fellow food producers seem to be doing this, inspires me.

So for the moment, he will continue to be my ‘pin up’ Gourmet Farmer. As this lets me dream, of a land with hundreds of varieties of heirloom apples and free range heritage breed pigs when I am standing on a busy city intersection, waiting to cross and engulfed in car exhaust fumes.

Taste Festival

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TASTE FESTIVAL– Hobart, Tasmania. 28th December- 3rd January

A wonderful week long foodie festival that I was lucky enough to enjoy for the first time, I was there over two crammed days and one night. A festival showcasing some of Tasmania’s delicious locally produced foods, with a dash of music, busker action and children’s area thrown in for good measure.

Why was I there for such a short time and where on earth were my usual entourage of The Monkeys? Back home stepping out with Dadda for the weekend. Mama was having a little ‘me’ time and enjoying the best Christmas present ever from her husband.

So many tastes to linger on… but where to start?

Taste Theatre– Running sessions throughout the day. Presenters talked of what they know and love best. From local chefs, artisan food producers, and wine makers. Tetsuya Wakuda even popped in. I managed to catch two presentations. One with Sally Wise demonstrating how easy it is to make your own preserves and scones. The other, an interesting talk on Slow Food within Tasmania. Both great and well worth the tiny entrance fee ($5 and gold coin donation respectively).

Another great thing to do at the festival was the Red Hat Tours. Run by volunteers, (mine was done by the lovely Peter and Margaret, members of Slow Food). $15 for a guided talk around some of the stall holders, whilst also sampling some of the deliciousness they have to offer.

I did ‘Mad about Cheese’ which covered four local food producers. Two of the stand outs being, Bruny Island Cheese Co. and Tasmanian Highland Cheeses.

Bruny Island Cheese Co. is run by Nick Haddow, artisan cheese maker. He’s taken his back ground of cheese making around Europe, and put in to his Bruny Island business with a Tasmanian touch. These were some seriously delicious cheeses. From day old soft cheeses (O.D.O.) to the  rather exciting new Raw Milk C2. This was the first time at the festival, that a raw milk cheese (that had been legally recognised) has been available to the public in Australia. I can only hope that this opens more doors in the raw milk industry as this was a truly wonderful cheese. (You can read more about raw milk within Australia here.)

If only I had an esky and larger hand luggage allowance, I think I would have been coming home with rather a lot of cheese goodies.

 

Thorpe Farm- Tasmanian Highland Cheeses is a family run business that has seen 7 generations of family members passionate about farming. John Bignell recognised the fact that his family needed to diversify from farming just sheep, and started expanding with wheat, wasabi, horseradish, venison and also on to cheese. Now perfecting their cow, goat and sheep milk range of cheeses, the charismatic Will (his son) was selling at the Festival. Also truly tasty cheeses. Marinated fettas and secret recipe Blue Cheese being amongst the tastings. There was also the aptly named “2 Sexy Twins” goat chevre which was a perfect way to end the day with a cracker or two. (Again, the esky!)

This stall was 50 people deep every time I went by. I still didn’t get to taste them, but judging from the keen crowds, they were good, really good.

If you like your wine, Taste was certainly the place to be. Buy a glass at the start, (or bring along last years one) and off you go. (As a greener option, I loved this. No plastic glasses!) With more stalls then you can shake a wine glass at, there was plenty to choose from.

A stand out wine maker for me was Bream Creek Vineyard. The winery is located on Tasmania’s South East Coast, and produces some excellent cool climate wines. Talking with the lovely Fred Peacock, (it had been a long day/week and he was still more than happy to answer all my questions). He has owned the family run vineyard for the past 20 years. My favourite drop was the rare variety, Schonburger…”rose petal and subtle tropical fruit/lychee characters. The palate is persistent…” (Just like me, I persistently came back the next day to buy a bottle.) All grapes are hand picked and with the offer of a set aside pair of secateurs for me, I say who needs to go to Italy or France for a working holiday?

The over whelming feeling I got from the festival, from the producers and volunteers involved. Was passion, and a whole lot of it. Passion for the area in which they are in, and the world class foods that are coming out of it. I can’t help but feel a little in awe of someone that is willing to put their everything into food and wine they so obviously believe in. From trialing, diversifying, willing to risk and perfecting. I think they are on to some bloody great winners here.

Most of these products I focused on at the festival aren’t readily available on mainland Australia. However there are a few ways and means, and availability in a few selected mainland stockists. This to me just makes it even more special. More of a reason to come down and seek them out. Everyone knows things are enjoyed more if you have to make an effort to get it. If that means a flight, a ferry, a day long car trip, a mail order system or a holiday that factors in a food festival. Well then that’s what it takes. But.. to be honest, I think it’s definitely worth the effort, and your belly, mind and palate will thank you for it.

ginger bread men out and about

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hippy gingerbread man

it’s a little cold out today

crime scene

comes from a big family

*****

Ginger Bread

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

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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.

Ginger Chocolate Biscotti

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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.

Ginger Chocolate Biscotti

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.)

A foodie gathering

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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 lovely day out that introduced me to some great local products that I didn’t know about. Time to sample a lovely array of tasty delectables. A chance to listen to some top Aussie chef’s speak about things they are passionate about and pass on some handy cooking tips. To also watch a master baker pass on his skill and knowledge with sourdough, (and you know that’s where my heart lies…deeply embedded in sourdough.)

Spiced Indian Potatoes- Frugal Friday

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Spiced Indian Potatoes

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.

garlic

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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.

 

 

Rustic Apple Plum Pie

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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.

Pastry

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!!