Armenian Nutmeg Cake

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I had a vague recolection of eating this cake once as a kid. It had popped back in my mind and the kitchen wasn’t going to be a happy place until I knocked one off.

Boy am I glad I did. So easy, and quite, quite tasty. The yogurt in it keeps it lovely and moist, letting the cake still taste just as good about 5 days later, and the nuts give it a bit of texture. It does puff up quite a bit with the bicarbonate soda in it, so don’t as I did, open the door and to peak inside, as it will deflate a little.

Also where ever you are, change the nuts on top to what’s local to you. I’m sure a lot of different kinds will taste just as delicious.

Armenian Nutmeg Cake

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups s/r flour (300gms)

125gms softened butter

mix it all together, until it looks like fine bread crumbs. Halve it. Placing one half in a greased and lined tin (approx 23cm- I used a springform), press it down firmly.

with the other half add

1 cup natural yoghurt

1 egg

1 tsp bicarbonate soda

2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tps cinnamon

mix it together, and pop it on top of the other mixture

decorate with whatever nuts are in your area, I used macadamias.

Bake at 180C for approximately 50 minutes.

Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles…

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Bubbles Recipe

Glycerine    1 part
Dishwashing liquid    2 parts
Water   7 parts

(Recipe is approximate. You may have to play with the ratios a little.)

Most kids get a kick out of bubbles. Actually I like bubbles, so perhaps there are a few adults out there too that would be keen for a bubble recipe. I just use my kids as an excuse to use them.

Bubbles love a wet environment. So if it’s humid, rainy kind of weather, perfect for bubbles. In the bath, with the bathroom door shut (trapping that moist air in ) perfect for bubbles. Snowing outside…I have no idea, but give it a go. It could  be perfect for bubbles. When the bubbles pop straight away they are drying out, the glycerine helps to stop that, and the moisture in the air as well.

Make your mixture up and leave it a few hours, or even over night (I’m not sure why, but it seems to work.)

You can use anything as your bubble maker. We had an empty container that had been given to us previously, but an old wire coat hanger twisted in to a circle can work just as well. Bigger bubbles!

Now go get to those bubbles.

(they also make a great inexpensive gift.)

 

* Where to buy glycerine from? Your local chemist. Not expensive and will do you quite a lot of bubbles.

the week that was

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The week that was.

My brain is a little scrambled this week. Flitting from one side to the other, one idea bouncing to the next.

I’ve got creative energy to burn but not sure where to direct it.

Maybe it’s because of  Valentines Day looming, and a new transition period for us. I feel an overwhelming love for my boys and Mr Chocolate at the moment, that seems so big I just want to squeeze them until they beg to be unsquashed.

Monkey Boy started school. He was fine. Little Monkey and I ran around like crazy people doing 101 things in between drop off and pick up time. Seeing Monkey Boy grin from ear to ear as he waves goodbye to us, tramping his way up to the classroom. Seeing that same grinning smile as he rounds the corner to be picked up in the afternoons. The whole transition is certainly made easier by seeing him so happy.

Contentment in a cup of chai tea.

I over heard an older kid in the playground declare to his friend that he was a “common nerd” for not being able to climb a tree properly. He then proceeded to show his friend how it was supposed to be done. This still makes me chuckle two days later.

Mr Chocolate working too much. Showing him some love by making ham and egg pizza.

A wobbly tooth.

Rainy Saturdays with The Monkeys, spent making, glueing, cutting, taping, and creating. Not giving a hoot about the mess that lay trailed behind them.

Breathing in and breathing out. Ready to start again…

What’s been happening in your week?

Coconut Eggplant Curry- Frugal Friday

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Coconut Eggplant Curry

In a pot add

1/2 cup of desiccated coconut, dry fry it until golden coloured and pop in to another bowl.

In your pot add

vegetable oil, diced garlic, onion, knob of ginger, dried coriander, cinnamon, cumin, tumeric.

Cook it up until it smells fantastic.

Now add a diced eggplant, a can of tomatoes, a can of coconut milk or cream, your dry fried coconut and 8 kaffir lime leaves.

Leave the lid on and let it simmer until the eggplant has cooked down. Salt to taste.

Serve it with rice, a squeeze of lime or flat bread.

This recipe was originally a beef curry from The Real Food Companion. I’ve morphed it quite a bit now though so it barely resembles its parentage. The key to the curry is the kaffir lime leaves. I’m lucky enough to get them fresh from my dads tree, which I then stock in the freezer so I always have them available, (they last for months.)  If you don’t have access to these wonderfully fragrant leaves, lime zest could be substituted, or perhaps some other citrus type leaf (?)

 

landshare Australia

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Last year some time I wrote about communal gardens and roof top vegetable patchs in the city. From there I was put on to the organisation Landshare in the UK, brought together by River Cottage (Hugh Fearnly- Whittingstall). That in turn led me to the Australian Landshare project, which hadn’t yet launched…(still with me?) Well now it has launched. It’s off and racing and needs peoples support for it to be as successful as the original one.

So what’s it all about?

“Landshare Australia brings together people who have a passion for home-grown food, connecting those who have land to share with those who need land for cultivating food. The concept of Landshare began in the UK, launched through the River Cottage television program in 2009, and has since grown into a thriving community of more than 57,000 growers, sharers and helpers across the country. Now that Landshare is here in Australia, we welcome you to come and take part in this fantastic initiative.”

Landshare is for people who:

  • Want to grow vegetables but don’t have anywhere to do it
  • Have a spare bit of land they’re prepared to share
  • Can help in some way – from sharing knowledge and lending tools to helping out on the plot itself
  • Support the idea of freeing up more land for growing
  • Are already growing and want to join in the community

Landshare Australia

Honey Oat Sourdough

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I want to be a bread geek.

I want to know everything there is to know about yeasts, and flours. The whole process fascinates me. Every time I pull a loaf out of the oven I am amazed at what I have before me. Particularly the wonderful beast that is sourdough. Every loaf is different, each one with it’s own little personality. I want to play with so many different ingredients, then pull it all together into a simple loaf.

Will I ever get to be a bread geek?…I don’t know. My small to medium sized brain seems to struggle with the why’s, how’s and when’s, but I’m slowly getting better. I know I’m geekier than 8 months ago, when I first started on making my own sourdoughs. I also know there is a lot more to learn. I guess that’s all right though…

Bread is a fairly forgiving staple, my family all enjoy the experimenting and I get to muse on the next concoction of dough that I will play with. Wondering on the how, where and when of the loaf coming together, and  loving every part of it.

Pepper the conversation with hydration levels, protein percentages, lames, banettons, biga, poolish, wild yeast, epis and my interest will immediate be sparked. All words that less than a year ago I would have smiled politely and wondered what language you were speaking, as I hadn’t the foggiest idea what you were talking about.

I can put Mr Chocolate to sleep with my constant mutterings and musings when trying to nut out the next bready dilemma I’m having. Lying in bed I’m trying to juggle flour ratios and proving times, while he quietly says the occasional uhuh…and heads out to sleep land. I only realise he has stopped doing his job (being the sounding board that I like him to be), when my question of what do you think? Is greeted with eyes closed, soft nose whistles and the odd body twitch.

Leaving me to my own bready geek talk.

Honey Oat Sourdough

200gms starter

1 1/2 cups strong bakers flour (225gms)

1 cup whole rolled oats (I soaked these in 1/2 cup hot water first)

150mls water (approx)

2 heaped tbls honey

1 tps salt

Mix, prove, fold, prove, shape, long slow overnight ferment in the fridge, bring it back to room temperature. Slash. Bake at 250C with steam.

 

This post is submitted to the wonderful yeastspotting.

 

milk and ricotta

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I recently bought unhomogenised milk. It had been so long since I had last seen it, that I just stood there and marvelled at it. A layer of cream sitting on the top, the  colour, and the little molecules of fat sitting on top of my tea. It really was worthy of marvelling at…sitting quietly looking into my tea with a contented smile and a slight raise of the eyebrows.

So what does homogenised mean? In a nut shell, it means it’s all been mixed up. All the fat and the milk has been mixed together, so when you buy it, it just comes out straight and white. Why is most milk homogenised? Because it looks better…and that’s the only reason.

There is a lot to be said about really great fresh milk. There is also a lot be said about inferior milk that is sold at really cheap prices.*  Availability is our problem. I can’t always get to somewhere that sells different brand milks. It’s frustrating that the leading super market brands don’t have much variety happening in their milk section. Especially as one of our leading generic brands smells and tastes like mouse. I thought I was the only one to imagine it, but a friend backed me up. Sipping on some milk some time ago and all I could think about was long pink tails, and tiny furry bottoms…No mousey milk for me please.

Looking at my unhomogenised milk, pondering on all the milky goodness I could be making from it. Cheese, yoghurt, ice cream, scones, breads, all using some form of the milk…

Next up I wanted to try making ricotta. Following The Real Food Companion instructions I had my lovely milk (Over the Moon), sieve, white vinegar, pot and wooden spoon all ready. I didn’t have two litres of milk so I quartered the recipe. I knew it wouldn’t result in much but as a first run, I didn’t want to waste a drop of the good stuff either on any mistakes. 500mls of milk in the pot, bring it to a foam (or 90C, not yet boiling) and then add 2 teaspoons of white vinegar to create the curds. There was a little bit of curdling action, but not a lot. The whey hadn’t separated enough. Frowning in to my pot I decided to heat it up again. 1/2 a tps more?…oops my hand slipped, make it 1 tsp more. A little gentle stir and instant separation. Ahhh, that’s better. Gently scooping it out to some muslin and a sieve, I’m left with ricotta. Really, rubbery ricotta…

Checking with the local cheese bloggers Gavin and Christine, I try to work out what I did wrong. Too hot? Too much vinegar? It tasted ok, but it really was a tad rubbery. I sat on it for an hour or two and then decided that I would try it again, other wise it would bug me all day.

Second go. Left it at 2 tsp of vinegar, different milk this time and just a fraction longer on the cooking time. We are talking extra seconds cooking time, that’s all. Those extra seconds made the difference. It was softer, more delicate, and really good….and really quite easy.

(The whey that I was left with, went into some sourdoughs.)

Third time around and I’m definitely getting the hang of it. I can’t believe how easy it is to make and how I hadn’t done this before. I’m also struck by how so many really easy recipes have fallen by the way side in order for things to be convenient for people. Such simple meals that can be made with so little ingredients, if only people knew how. This is the sort of conversation topic that could be passed back and forth over and over until the cows came home, milked themselves and made their own ricotta… but for the sake of airing a little, I’ll continue.

These simple cooking lessons that could be taught to another person in an afternoon seem to be quietly slipping out the door. Things like yoghurt, ricotta, labneh, mascarpone, sour cream, butter and all their lovely by-products, are simple to make and yet they can be quite expensive to buy. Not to mention all the plastic tubs that you are buying along with the products. Some would argue that they are recyclable, and yes they are. But if you can spare an extra 5 minutes to make a kilo worth of yogurt, than you have just saved 52 plastic kilo tubs of yoghurt per year, (going on a kilo a week, even more if you are eating daily individual tubs.) Visualising how much that would be for a single person  or a family, in a life time is….sobering. No more plastic tubs and saving a fair whack of money to boot.

Maybe a reason to go give someone a dairy cooking lesson?

What’s for lunch?

Ricotta

raw almonds

chopped dates

drizzle of honey

* For more information on Australia’s cheap milk problems please read here.

** For a different way to make ricotta and using goat milk, have a look at Linda’s The Witches Kitchen.

summer loving jam

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I don’t know if this was the best name for the jam. It’s been such an odd summer. Bakingly hot this week, a huge cyclone hitting the country and catastrophic flooding in recent weeks. The middle of the night being woken by the smell of a fire, it’s certainly been an odd summer. Fruit and vegetable prices are set to increase due to the natural disasters effecting so many farmers, so I actually feel kind of lucky to be able to even make this jam. To be in a position to cook up and store some of summers beautiful stone fruit offerings. Eaten mindfully and enjoying every spoonful that’s for sure.

Jam really is so easy to make. It’s been said countless times before, but it really is such a great way to preserve the season.

Equal parts sugar to fruit, (generally) if needed some pectin of some sort. Cook it up until it thickens and hey presto, done.

Summer Loving Jam

plums- two kinds

peaches

nectarines

juice of one lemon

 

ratio

1 kilo fruit

1 kilo sugar

500mls water

I just roughly chopped the fruit and then gently with a hand held mixer, blitzed any big lumps. If you don’t have that, cut it finer, (or enjoy your lumps.)

Cooking at a rolling ball, until cold saucer test stage. In to sterilised jars and store.

he’s unfurling

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I think Monkey Boy is unfurling. Actually I know he is.

Not a day goes by, that he doesn’t say something that stops me in my tracks and making me turn my head to listen, really listen to him. I can’t keep up with the rate his brain is racing at. Some where along the lines he’s leaving the baby boy behind and turning into a real boy.

Questions that make me stop and consider my answers. Not answers easily rolling off my tongue, as say the wrong thing and I know it will be back to bite me.

He unfurls a little more.

Seemingly uninterested in a conversation he will come back hours after, having considered every part and now has come up with his own conclusion.

He told us recently in a matter-of-fact tone, he didn’t want to be bothered by dying. He really loved our family, and that every one should eat a good diet to be as healthy as possible, so we could live as long as possible.

Those bread rolls look really tasty in the cake shop but Mama your’s are a lot better for us, so we should eat them.

The other day he saw a man on a push scooter. We were both excited by it as it was different to the usual kinds. He thought about it and then said…” when the man’s finished with his scooter and doesn’t want it any more, maybe he will leave it on the street and then we can have it. Then we move, we can leave our other scooters that we don’t need anymore on the street for someone who needs them too. Do you think that’s a good idea?”

I think that’s a great idea.

He’s reading and doing simple maths. They both suddenly clicked and I am so glad I’m there to see it. Watching it all suddenly make sense. Seeing that twinkle in his eye and excitement wash over his face when he realises he can work things out for himself. Not because he’s been made to, but because he wants to.

Makes my heart swell with love, pride and so many other emotions that I dare to pack into it…

This week he starts school. Looking so proud in his new uniform, his excitement is contagious.

He’s getting ready to unfurl just a little more.

chevre, it’s a little bit goaty

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I’m having a bit of a goaty moment. Not the whiskers on my chin kind, but goat cheese. Otherwise known as Chevre. I had tasted a few really great goat cheeses while I was in Tasmania and I wanted to continue the love when I got home. However, I didn’t want just any old goat cheese. I wanted to see if I could find a great local one. A quick search, and hey presto…I found Willowbrae.

Willowbrae is a family run goat farm, based at the foothills of the Hawkesbury Valley. They produce a number of products; from an unsalted 8 hour cream, the very popular fresh curd, marinated fetta, and mould ripened cheeses.  Talking with David (at Fox Studio Farmers’ Market) who runs the front and back end of the business, (as he described) he milks the goats twice a day, while his wife and daughter do the cheesemaking.

The more I try of goat cheeses, the more I like. The very popular fresh curd is subtle, creamy, and really soft on the palate. I find this kind of cheese is really versatile to play around with. Whether it’s teamed up with a savoury style dish or something sweeter.

So what does Chevre mean? It translates as goat in French, and is a generic term used for any goat cheeses. Musing on this I wondered if Italians called Chevre…well Chevre. Apparently not. Caprino is their term for goat cheese. Again derived from the word capra, meaning goat. I kind of liked the sounds of caprino. (But then as many people before me have said…everything sounds better in Italian.)

Back to the Chevre. Where to buy some of Willowbrae’s delicious cheese? See here for market days and times.

And what to do with it once you have the tasty little goat milk goodness in hand?

First up, I quickly made up some sourdough flat breads. Some of my dad’s garden cherry tomatoes, (the sweetest I’ve tasted in years.) Some of the creamy chevre, and a drizzle of The Little General’s olive oil.

Simple, I know where it all came from and damn tasty.