Tag Archives: recipes

Golden light rye rolls

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Breakfast has always been my favourite meal of the day.

Travelling overseas, it was always breakfast time that excited me the most. What did the locals eat? How did they start their day?

Germany was always my favourite. A substantial rye bread, cheese, meat and muesli. I read once that the German breakfast was the best way to start the day in terms of low GI and giving lasting energy through out the day. Compared to their neighbouring companions in Italy, who often start the day with a strong coffee and some sweet biscuits to dunk in. Not that I didn’t like that breakfast as well, however I would quite often be hungry two hours later. By lunch time I would be chasing my tail, eyes looking vague and softly muttering oh please feed me.

Malaysia I was also happy with. Eggs and roti (roti telur) being readily available, a little sambal on the side with some tea laced with condensed milk to wash it all down. There’s quite a lot to like of condensed milk early in the morning.

Bagni di Lucca had posted recently on eating breakfast in Finland. While smoked salmon and I are not friends, the picture of the rye bread rolls, remained at the fore front of my brain until I just had to have a go at baking the little fellas.

I enjoyed them so much, there have been at least four batches since. Just the thing to start your day with. It’s not a bowl of cafe au lait, or a straight off the hot plate roti telur. But teamed up with some tarty marmalade and cheese or some avocado/black pepper and tomato and I’m a happy mama. Giving me lots of energy to think about my next meal…


Golden light rye rolls

200g starter (100%)

250g strong bakers flour

100g rye flour

50g golden flaxseed

200mls+ water (approx, may need more.)

1 tsp dark malt flour

1 tsp salt

extra

1 tbls rye flour

80mls boiling water

Mixing ingredients together. Resting period of about 40 minutes before adding the salt, mix again plus a quick fold. Prove. Shape. Now make up the rye water mixture. (I first did this for this 100% rye, and wanted a similar soft top.) Slowly adding your boiling water, while quickly whisking your rye flour. Once mixed together just leave it until the bread is finished the final prove. Just before the bread rolls go in to bake add a good spoonful of the rye mixture to the top, smoothing it over. Squirt with water and pop in the oven at 240 with steam.

This post submitted to yeastspotting.

Almond pesto- Frugal Friday

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Pesto is one of those dead easy, whiz it up and away you go kind of meals. The only thing that stops me is pine nuts. Yes, I love them, they are delicious. However I can’t source any local ones and they are really quite expensive. Swapping the pine nuts to a cheaper and more local nut works just as well though.

I’ve made it with pecans, walnuts before and for this one it was almonds. Blitzing whole almonds in a blender (skins on) then adding 2 bunches of fresh basil, some grated parmesan and some great local olive oil. It’s an accompaniment to lots of dishes. It never lasts long in this house, but this amount will give a good sized jar, which I just top up with some extra olive oil, and then keep it in the fridge.

Eat it stirred through pasta, a little chopped up chilli and extra parmesan.

Mixed with rice, baby spinach, and crumbled fetta.

Or simply on some toasted sourdough, bruschetta style.

Time, sourdough and a little Pecan and Prune Bread

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Sourdough seems to put a lot of people off by the time factor of it all. Before I started making it last year, I liked the idea of sourdough, but even making the  starter seemed too lengthy, too time consuming, and a whole lot of hassle really. When I finally jumped in and just made the thing, it was a ohh, is that all? So with the starter bubbling away, I jumped in and away I swam with my sourdoughy… err… dough.

So is it time consuming?

Does it take a lot of work?

Does the convenience of sliced shop bread lure me over some times?

Time consuming, I don’t think of it as. (Saying that, I’m not trying to fit in with a paid job that requires my attention away from home for the majority of the day.)

You do have to plan a little. I don’t wake up in the morning and think ohh, today I shall make sourdough and have it on the table by lunch time. It’s usually a 3 day process, but it certainly doesn’t take 3 whole days to make it.

Sourdough is using natural yeast, so it works on its own time. Some times that sourdough is a sprightly young energetic woman with places to go and people to see. Bubbly and so full of spirit.

Some times that dough is a lethargic old man, shuffling along in worn out old slippers and a battered zimmer frame. You get stuck behind him, and you just know you can’t over take, as it would be rude. You just have to slow yourself down some and let the old fella set the pace.

Either way sourdough is boss. You can fiddle and tweak a little by finding a cooler spot to get it to slow down some or finding a sunny warm spot  to fasten things up a little. It all depends on the activity level of the starter, the flour and the room temperature though.

So does it take a lot of work?

No, not really. A starter feed= 1 minute. Wait 8-12 hours, feed again. Wait 8-12 hours, feed again. Wait 8-12 hours, mix up dough with a mixer and dough hooks. A plain dough=5 minutes of getting ingredients together and mixing. Go do something else more exciting for about 40 minutes, then mix again adding the salt. A quick 30 second knead. Leave it on the bench to think about things for a while. Read The Monkeys a story, have a shower, eye off some dark chocolate and then whack it in the fridge over night. In the morning, shape it (5 minutes), pop it on some trays and let it come back to room temperature- 4ish hours, slash. Bake.

1+1+1+5+30 sec+5  

That’s 13 minutes and 30 seconds of hands on time with the dough (a basic, nothing crazy loaf) over several days+ waiting and baking.

Some times I have to wait for the rising dough and sometimes it has to wait for me, we both have to be a bit flexible, which is the wonderful thing about sourdough, it is flexible. You can adapt the whole bread making process to suit you. I’ve mentioned this as one of my methods on making it work, but there are many other ways that other people do it, some that work for me and some that don’t. If it doesn’t fit in with your life style it’s going to become a pain. You don’t want it to become a pain.

So do away with the watch. Judge your bread on how it looks and just fiddle with it until you find out what works for you. Sometimes my loaves aren’t the greatest. Sometimes that extra 3 minutes baking turns into 15 and dark and crusty have a totally new meaning. Sometimes I don’t feel like washing yet another doughy mixing bowl, but… I always enjoy eating it and so do my family.

And that’s the trade off.

So jump in, give it a go, and if it doesn’t work out for you, it might later down the track.

*********

…and does the lure of sliced shop bread ever tempt me?… No chance. 

Pecan and Prune Bread

200g starter

50g oats

8 pitted and chopped large prunes

80mls hot water

large handful of chopped pecans

300g strong bakers flour

200-250mls water

1 tsp salt

Starter at 100% hydration. The 80mls of hot water to soak the oats and prunes beforehand. Mixed together and using a method that suits you.

(Baked at 240C with steam.)

* This post submitted to yeastspotting

Golden Syrup Ginger Puddings

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Winter has drawn to an end, and along with it the need for heavier, warming desserts after dinner.

Eeeek, hang on a second… I’d barely got started! I had mental puddings lined up, still waiting to be made. Hold off blossoming flowers, sit tight warming day time temperatures… there are puddings to be made. 

I wanted to make something without a whole lot of hassle, and not crazy, crazy sweet. (If you want to up the sweet, put more golden syrup in the bottom.) Easy to quickly put together and heats well over the next few days… or eaten cold in the middle of the night when hunger knocks on your door...*ahem*

Golden Syrup Ginger Puddings

200g softened butter

100g brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

2 beaten eggs

2 cups of flour (300g)

1/2 cup yogurt (125mls)

handful chopped uncrystallized ginger

Cream butter and sugar, add beaten eggs and remaining ingredients. In ramekins, a couple of spoonfuls of golden syrup (depends how sweet you want it) and then spoon pudding mixture on top. Place ramekins in a tray full of water in the oven. Water should come about half way up the sides of the ramekins. Bake at 190C for about 40 minutes, (cooked when a skewer comes up clean.)

Strawberries in Lemon

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Some delicious strawberries are starting to hit my kitchen bench. Just briefly.

Briefly as The Monkeys like to wrestle them out of my hands and flick them into the mouths quicker than you can say… hey, I was going to eat that.

I hid two punnets at the back of the fridge. It was the only way I was going to get this dessert out.

Strawberries in Lemon

2 punnets of strawberries (minus maybe a few…. they looked good to me too)

3 tbls raw sugar

3 tbls lemon juice

Let it sit for about an hour, letting all those juices think about things a while. Then put on the table with a flourish…. look what I just found at the back of the fridge!

*For an adult version swap the lemon juice for a sweet white wine.

* For Sydney-siders locally grown strawberries are coming in soon, so keep a look out at your friendly local farmers markets.

strawberries and cream birthday cake

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He had said he wanted strawberries on it…and cream. Oh, and licorice.

Anything else little fella? 

Strawberries, cream and licorice cake please!

It was Little Monkey’s birthday and the food requests had come in. The other food to be eaten were minor details, the cake was where it was at.

Happy to oblige, I had an image in my head, and just hoped that I could cut the picture out of my mind and transpose it to a cake plate.

Basic cake recipe I used the same as the Pink Cupcakes, but doubled the recipe and baked it in a large spring form pan. The yogurt in it, really does give the cake a lasting quality, that seems to only taste better in the next few days, not going stale at all.

Cake was then sliced in half when cold, spreading bottom layer with some Summer Loving Jam, and half half mixture of home made vanilla bean mascarpone, and whipped cream.

Top layer on, and a thin crumb layer of the mascarpone mixture goes over all the cake, then smoothing over the final layer. Place strips of licorice and line up  strawberries.

Next, candles lit and birthday presents safely clutched in small fingers. Line up birthday diners, for an enthusiastic chorus of Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday Little Monkey.

sunshine, bare toes and biscuits

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Sunshine. A whole bundle of it.

24C and it’s still another month of winter to be had. I think the winter season might have other ideas though…

That’s all people, we gave winter a red hot go. You all wore your scarves, your gumboots, your big jackets, and complained a whole lot. The other seasons and I have had a little regroup and decided that spring may as well pop on over as they wasn’t much else happening in her neck of the woods anyway. Enjoy. 

Fair enough I say. Enjoy we shall. You can’t really complain about clear blue skies, and a warming sun on your back to warm some tired old bones. Tired old bones this week as the Little Monkey and I have been wallowing a little in self pity. Trying to fight off a rotten cold that just won’t seem to go away. I tried wallowing for a little, it didn’t much work for me though. Monkey Boy still needed to get to school, Mr Chocolate was busy working and dinner still needed to be on the table. Nope, wallowing had to be put aside. Besides, Little Monkey was far sicker and needed a calm hand to help him through it all, as he really was feeling miserable this week.

Biscuits helped. I thought they might. Jam ones in the middle… but they didn’t help enough, (that’s when I know the little fella is really sick.) They helped Mr Chocolate and Monkey Boy though, as they happily ate his biscuits.

Then the week came to an end and so did the cold. A lingering cough for the little fella, but he’s right back to looking for his biscuits.

So an afternoon snack, packed off to the local park for  some sunshine, bare toes and biscuits.

Coconut Jam Drops

200g softened butter

1 tsp vanilla

75g raw sugar

90g desiccated coconut

150g self raising flour

75g plain flour

splash of milk- (approx 2 tbls)

jam

Soften butter, cream vanilla and sugar together. Add the other ingredients and mix well. Roll them into tight little balls and use something lying around the kitchen to make a little indentation for the jam to go in. 1/4 of a teaspoon or so of jam popped in and bake at 180C for about 20 minutes.

It’s all feeling a little Nordic

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Something had been reignited again. It started with a holiday and then snowballed from there.

I’ve been reading.

Congratulations, I hear you mutter. But really it is a big thing. Books were getting piled up in ambitious piles and not moving. The newspaper was taunting me.

Then it all changed. Three books in three weeks and the ball was rolling, really quite fast. They were fat books too. The most I had been reading before that, was the back of the peanut butter jar… Even that was skim reading.

So what got me going again?

Stieg Larsson. The Millenium triology.

Goodbye Monkeys, goodbye Mr Chocolate, goodbye tv, *ahem* goodbye cityhippyfarmgirl blog… hello Sweden and your criminal mysteries.

Thoroughly enjoyed the books, all three of them.

Now with that being said, I have been immersed in all things Scandinavian and my taste buds are calling for food that would be fitting. Rye bread was obviously a must, along with anything else I could make happen.

I had also kept in the back of my mind this beautiful lady’s crisp bread recipe from the beginning of the year. It was time to give that one a go, and I’m so glad I did. They make the perfect base for an open sandwich, and I think they will definitely become a staple around here.

 

Knekkebrod

200g spelt flour

200g whole oats

100g pepita

100g sunflower seeds

100g LSA (linseed, sunflower and almond meal)

25g sesame

350mls water

These are the ingredients I used as it was what I had on hand. I can see how they would be incredibly versatile though, and using any ingredients that you really like. I loved them, and am definitely going to make them regularly now. See here for Turid’s original recipe though.

The Split Pea Soup I suspect is not just restricted to Swedish eating, however Jamie Oliver has a recipe for it in his Swedish section in this great book, and while I adapted it to what I had on hand and my taste buds, the one thing that I think is genius was to put mustard on top. Now, I love my mustard but I would never have thought to add it to a Split Pea Soup, so thanks Jamie.

Split Pea Soup

adapted from Jamie Oliver’s “Jamie does…”

A good couple of slurps of olive oil

add a couple of diced sticks of celery, and an onion

cook it down a little

add 500g of washed split peas

and about 1.5 litres of stock (I use vegetable stock)

1 tsp oregano

and simmer it for about 45 minutes or until soft.

Serve with a dollop of mustard and knekkebrod.

spiced warm hug

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Brown slop. Thats what I hear you say. Brown slop in a pretty bowl….Actually you are right, it is.

But, it’s good brown slop.

Had a light dinner and need a little something else to ease you into the evening?

One spiced warm hug coming up. That’s what this dish is, or that’s what it feels like when you eat it. Warm, nourishing, you can feel those spiced milky arms envelope you. Feeding your inner soul with its goodness of spices and hint of lemon. Giving you the quiet sugar kick that you were after with out crushing all your taste buds in one mighty swoop. Some nights don’t suit chocolate, some nights are a simple curl up on the couch with a spiced warm hug.

Some people might say brown sloppy rice pudding, I say spiced warm hug please.

Spiced Warm Hug

2 cups milk

150mls cream

1/3 cup muscavdo or molasses sugar (or any other dark unrefined sugar)

6 green cardamom pods

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp dried ginger

1/3 cup any short grain rice

1/4 cup sultanas

1 large strip of lemon rind

Bring milk, cream, spices to a simmer, turn it down a little lower, so it doesn’t bubble over. Now add the rest of the ingredients and stir continuously on a gentle simmer for 15 minutes. Then put the lid on the pot, turn off the hot plate and leave it for 20 minutes. Don’t peek, it’s still doing its thing.

Eat on the couch, with a blanket on your lap, and a book by your side.

soup with olive oil parmesan crackers- Frugal Friday

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It’s been awhile since I did a Frugal Friday post. Too long.

It’s winter here, and this week has been wet, rainy, soggy and grey. Perfect weather for soup.

My dad had given me a pumpkin from his garden, and the leeks were looking plump and juicey. Soup it was.

Leek and Pumpkin Soup

A good couple of slurps of olive oil in a large pot

finely chopped leek popped in

cooked until it wilts a little

then drop in your pumpkin pieces

add some water/stock and stick the lid on until soft

whiz it up with a hand mixer

Super basic soup that can be eaten as is or added to. I like adding natural yogurt and tomato chutney on top. Or some thai curry paste if you want a kick in the pants. The best soup is made with great vegetables. If the main ingredient is a tasteless old pumpkin…well the soup is going to taste, tasteless.

Olive Oil Parmesan Crackers

1 1/2 cups (225g) plain flour

1/2 cup (25g) unprocessed bran

1/4 cup (60mls) hot water

3/4 tsp salt

60mls water

80mls olive oil

grated parmesan

black pepper

Add hot water to bran, give it a minute or so to soak in and then in a mixer with a dough hook add all the ingredients and mix until comes together. Parmesan and black pepper put in amounts to your taste (or any other flavours). Knead the mixture for about 10 minutes until you have a stiff dough and then leave covered for about 45 minutes. Roll out to a couple of mm’s and cut what ever shapes you want. Place on a tray and grate extra parmesan over the top. Bake at 180C until light golden and crispy through. Shake them around a bit when you get them out of the oven to pick up any extra parmesan while they are still hot.

caramel hazelnut chocolate tarts

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I’m not allowed to make these very often, as restaint happily sits outside the front door and away from ear shot. Just the right size to pop into your mouth in one sugary sweep. Gone like a flash, as the hand reaches for another… ahem, and another.

See. Troublesome little tarts they are. Trouble with a hazelnutty bottom, a sticky caramel middle and just enough chocolate drizzled on for some to get stuck on your top lip.

You’ve been warned.

Caramel Hazelnut Chocolate Tarts

Pastry

1/3 cup toasted hazelnuts

1 cup plain flour (150g)

100g chilled cubed butter

All into a food processor until resembles bread crumbs. Divide mixture and press into greased mini muffin tray (I also cut strips of baking paper, lining one hole with a strip- easy to pop them out then.) Bake at  180C until a light golden. Press mixture down with a teaspoon to compress it while it’s still hot.

Caramel

In a pot, add one can of condensed milk (395g), 30g butter and 2 tablespoons of golden syrup over a low heat. Stirring until butter melts, then bring it up to a simmer, and keep stirring until mixture thickens and darkens a little. Divide the caramel over the pastry tarts, cool for 5 minutes and then over to a wire rack.

Chocolate

Melt the chocolate really slowly and then drizzle it over the tarts. If you melt it slowly the chocolate should stay ‘in temper’, and will avoid any streakiness, (if you don’t mind a bit of streaking now and then, just go for it.)

Dancing Lemon Vanilla Stars

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There he was in front of me, eyes intensely locked to mine.

His body convulsed like he was touching an electric fence down in the back paddock. Convulsing in time with the deep thumping bass. The twisting colourful lights bounced off his eyes. When he widened them it gave him a slightly manic look. I awkwardly looked away, thinking he must have been doing this for quite some time for everyone dancing here, but no. He only had eyes for me. He had followed my shift of focus and was again in my line of sight, seemingly getting closer.

His body convulsing from one side to another, his eyes locked again, and he grinned from ear to ear this time. Using his hands in some odd dance like feature that made me think of a baby dinosaur. He was trying to impress me that was for sure. I stifled a giggle. I didn’t want to offend him, but it really was hard not to laugh at his intensity of moves.

The thumping music, darkened corners, squeals of happiness, flashing colourful lights and this odd little red head who was trying his very best to impress me with his dance moves. Except this wasn’t a night club, those club days were but a foggy memory, and that red head was pint sized, lucky to be 3 foot tall. I was at Monkey Boy’s school disco, and currently surrounded by about 200 squealing five, six, and seven year olds and their siblings.

I had Little Monkey perched on my hip clinging to me as only a little monkey could. Too dark and too noisy for him.

Monkey Boy looked on with big wide eyes. Uninterested, when a pretty little class mate tried to gently take him by the hand and coerce him to dance in the centre with her. He clung on to his mama’s leg, (not sure how long that will last.) She looked hurt on the second attempt to try and convince him to dance with her. Flicking her long hair, as she moved off into the heaving dance floor.

Some boys were break dancing. Girls were jumping and giggling in circles. One girl did her very best robot to two unimpressed older boys, and all the shy kids stood by and watched from the side shadows.

Swap the venue, add another metre in height to everyone and not really much had changed since back in my nightclub days. Except here, no stink of spilt beer and vodka mixers.

(I did however, suspect a little too much diluted apple juice… and clearly that little convulsing pint-sized red head may have had a drop too much.)

 lemon vanilla stars

200g softened butter

150g sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tsp lemon rind

225g (1 3/4 cup) plain flour

Cream butter and sugar, add vanilla and lemon. Then mix through the flour. Chill in fridge for a little while wrapped in plastic (if weather is warm) and then roll out (I find rolling between two sheets of baking paper easiest, as it’s a sticky dough), cut out stars and bake at 170C for 20 minutes.

This dough also freezes easily into a log, then just cut off rounds to bake as you need them.