Tag Archives: recipes

Weaving bread and why its fun to play with your food

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I have this very fond memory from when I was a kid. Staying at my Nana’s house and being ‘let loose’ in the kitchen. She gave me a plate full of flour, sugar, milk, sultanas, an egg and spices. With these ingredients I could do what ever I wanted and then she would cook it. Blissfully happy, I have no idea how it tasted, but I remember vividly the pride I had that I could choose what ever I wanted to do with those ingredients. It never happened again, and if I was cooking at home I always had to follow a recipe. Mum said I had to learn the basics first before I tinkered. Actually she was right, darn right. Because I know a lot of the basics now, tinkering with food makes more sense then when I cooked that flour, milk, sultana  concoction.

Playing with food and its different flavours can be so much fun. The last few months I have been playing with sourdoughs, love it, love it, love it. The last few weeks I’ve been playing with plaiting sourdoughs, plaiting, plaiting, plaiting. Then just I was about to embark on a certain ‘starfish’ that needed an intricate amount of plaiting, my brain said oh oh oh…but what if we did this instead?…Cross this with that, then that with this…Oh ok…Lets give that a whirl.

sourdough woven bread

…and that dear people is why it’s fun to play with your food. As you never know what you’re going to get.

If you would like to weave your sourdough. Make up your usual dough and when its time to do the shaping make your self a large square. Cut equal strips to go down and across. (For this one I did 8×8 strips) Making sure the strips are well floured, otherwise they will just blob together when having the final prove. Then tuck and loop, tuck and loop. For the edges, trim and then gently tuck under to tidy the sides up.

This bread makes for a good addition to soup, as it easily pulls apart.

* This post submitted to yeast spotting.

Coconut Sourdough with lashings of Strawberry Jam

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Many many moons ago, when I was a footloose and fancy free youngster, I worked in England for a little old lady. Charged with looking after this delightful old lady, it was up to me to make sure she was cared for and entertained. Being a little old lady she didn’t like big meals but she sure liked lots of little ones. There was breakfast, morning tea, 11’ses, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and supper…alright maybe it wasn’t that many. But it felt like it. Afternoon tea however was a must. At precisely 3pm, a cup of tea and a little something to tide her over until the next meal would be served. Now more often than not, she would be rather partial to a packet of crisps and a quick nod off in the comfy armchair. Only for her to wake up awhile later with fallen crisps surrounding her and only the backpacker carer to blame it on.

Sometimes though, she would like a piece of cake or bread and jam. Accompanied with a little recital from the poetry in “Alice in Wonderland”. As I  was always happy to make cake and love to read this was always a really nice way to spend the afternoon.

Winter sun peaking through the curtains, little old lady with jam and bread perched on her knee and footloose and fancy free backpacker reading… “will you walk a little faster? said the whiting to the snail, there’s a porpoise right behind me and he’s stepping on my tail…”

Coconut Sourdough with Strawberry Jam- just the thing for a little afternoon tea.

Strawberry Jam

750gms roughly chopped and hulled strawberries

750gms sugar

1 lime juiced

1/2 lemon juiced

Cook the strawberries and sugar together. As there is no water in this recipe, keeping stirring continuously until moisture comes out of strawberries (otherwise it will burn.) Add juice of lime and lemon and cook until gets to wrinkle stage or do the saucer test. Bottle it up or just keep in a bowl in the fridge, (it gets eaten pretty quickly round here.)

Coconut Sourdough Loaf

175gms starter

1 1/2 cups bakers flour

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

200-250mls water

2 tbs honey

3/4 tps salt

What I did was mixed, over night ferment, 2 folds over about 5 hours. Final prove in tin for about 20 minutes. Baked at 250C initially for about 15 minutes and then down to 180C for a further 10 minutes. This was only a small loaf as it was an experiment. I’m not sure whether it’s the honey or coconut which hinders the rising process for the sourdough, (or it could be both). There were a few holes, but it is a denser loaf compared to my normal sourdough.

A hit though for The Monkeys when they were whooping it up for a little something to tide them over until dinner time.

The Lobsters Quadrille Lewis Carroll

“Will you walk a little faster?” said a whiting to a snail,
“There’s a porpoise close behind us, and he’s treading on my tail.
See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!
They are waiting on the shingle — will you come and join the dance?
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you join the dance?

“You can really have no notion how delightful it will be
When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to sea!”
But the snail replied “Too far, too far!” and gave a look askance —
Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, could not join the dance.

“What matters it how far we go?” his scaly friend replied.
“There is another shore, you know, upon the other side.
The further off from England the nearer is to France —
Then turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance.
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you join the dance?

Chocolate Caramel Pecan Tart

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Now as I might have mentioned before, chocolate is pretty much a staple in this household. The Monkeys quite happily eat squares of 72% cocoa dark bitter chocolate, while I don’t think this is normal taste bud behaviour for little people. I don’t have a problem with it in small quantities, ( I would rather they had a square of that than a packet of smarties.) It’s good stuff! However they will not be trying espresso coffee and red wine any time soon, as with those taste buds they are sure to like it.

Now after my little kitchen crisis. After I had sat on the floor with a teatowel over my head, with thoughts of “this is the end of my cooking FOREVER!” I had a little pause, got back to basics, caught my breath and then made this little baby. It’s a little bit pastry, it’s a little bit caramel, it’s a little bit nutty and it certainly is quite a bit chocolatey.

…and did The Monkeys like it?

Of course they did…Mr Chocolate had to wrestle the last piece from their sticky little paws.

Chocolate Caramel Pecan Tart

pastry

150gms softened butter

1/2 cup icing sugar

1 2/3 cup plain flour

1 tps vanilla

2 tbs water

Add dry ingredients and butter. Either use processor or by hand until resembles bread crumbs. Add vanilla and water. Knead on lightly floured surface, until mixed well. Wrap dough and place in freezer for ten minutes. Roll out to desired shape, (I did individual tarts) and bake blind in greased tart tins. 180C until lightly golden. Allow to cool.

caramel

1 cup condensed milk

1 knob of butter

2 tbs muscavado sugar (or other dark unrefined sugar)

Pop them in a pot and stir over medium heat, until it turns to caramel. Don’t let it get to thick as it will be harder to manage. Add layer of caramel to cooled tart dish.(Option- you could add toasted pecans within the caramel.)

ganache

150mls cream

150gms dark chocolate

Bring the cream to a boil and then turn off heat. Drop broken chocolate into the cream and stir until melted through. While ganache is still runny, pour over caramel tart. Place in fridge and allow to set.

toppping

toasted roughly chopped pecans

*** I obviously used pecans here, but I do think they would taste just as well with any other nuts you may have on hand. Hazelnuts were my first choice, but as the only ones I could find were from Europe and I had pecans grown locally…it had to be pecans.

The real food companion

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Finally! In my hot little hands I have the The Real Food Companion by Matthew Evans. Now I have been waiting for this book patiently for quite awhile now and finally here it is…sorry did I say patiently?… impatiently for quite awhile now. Matthew Evans, other wise known as Gourmet Farmer, known formerly as Chef, and Food Critic.

Was it worth the wait?

*big sigh*…yes.

This book is really something special. He writes so passionately about what he believes in, I think it would be very hard not to get caught up in that enthusiasm and run with it. It’s a truly wonderful book full of backgrounds, information, ethics and not to mention delicious ‘real’ food recipes. It’s the kind of book that you curl up on the couch and read from beginning to end not wanting to put it down, (if it wasn’t for The Monkeys, so you have to frequently keep putting it down) book marking page after page to go back to.  For me, true escapism into a world that I hold really, really important. Your belly and your soul are left feeling nurtured.

From making your own mascarpone to Tiramisu. The dilemma of what egg to buy, to Lemon Curd and mayonnaise. Heritage breed meats and a Beef, Coconut & Lime leaf Curry (very tasty that one.) At 574 pages, its got a whole lot and then some, in it.

So a new book to be putting under my pillow, Bourke Street Bakery Cookbook move over please…


crisis of confidence in the kitchen

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I like experimenting in the kitchen. Sometimes it really pays off to experiment and find out what sort of deliciousness you can cook. However. Sometimes those end results scream go back to the kitchen and it’s grilled cheese sandwiches for you my friend.

A crisis of confidence in the kitchen that’s what I had recently. I think I got carried away… Other aspects of life were being challenging and I wanted the security and comfort of making something up and it being delicious. Sure, maybe I should have held back a little and tried not to do so many new things at once…but, I didn’t.

Date and Almond Sourdough Triangles– nope. Just didn’t work for me. They tried, I gave it a red hot go, but still nope.

Sourdough Pizza– not enough time to prove, so quite a dense base. It could be worked on though…there is hope for that one.

Chocolate Tangelo Cake– sweet mama, that was disgusting. All effort, no taste. Mr Chocolate even refused to eat that one. It even ended in the bin, it was so hideous…picture? God no.

Strawberry Scones, (top picture) I still think this could work (maybe) it’s just….I really do suck at scones.

Was I doomed to be a kitchen failure for ever?! Oh the horror!…

However, after a little pause. Some time to reflect, a little recalibration with a fried egg and salad my mojo snuck back.

Chocolate Caramel Pecan Tart here we come.

* So whats the moral of the story? Playing in the kitchen is fun. Experiment, find out what works and what doesn’t. Don’t be put off by burnt bread, raw biscuits, runny marmalade. Yes, they are annoying but you learn from them. Kitchen mistakes can quite often be salvageable and turned into something else. If you are running in to consecutive mistakes, just take a break and go back to the basics again.

And, above all…DO NOT make a Chocolate Tangelo Cake.

Plaited bread and a frugal meal

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What to do when someone is coming over for lunch or dinner and all that is on offer is a simple soup. Budget, time, resources all point towards a simple nourishing, belly warming soup. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. But how to turn that flaccid celery, pumpkin looking like its going to produce its own penicillin and the odd carrot or two in the bottom of the crisper into a delicious meal?

Place some simple plaited bread that looks pretty in the middle of the table and your meal is complete. After being inspired by Heidiannie and all her plaited and beautifully presented bread, I had decided to give it a go too.

Pumpkin Soup

good slurp of olive oil

a couple of sticks of celery

big hunk of pumpkin chopped up

carrots

Cook them up in some stock, then wizz with hand held mixer when soft. Add a spoonful of ready made asian sauce, (rendang, green curry paste etc) to give it an extra zing.

Serve with some fancy looking bread, (that’s actually really easy…shhh).

sourdough plaited bread

sourdough plaited bread

For more on braiding bread check out Celia’s latest post.

Date and Orange Spiral Biscuits

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Date and orange. The two flavour combinations had been stuck in my head and were not going anywhere. I wanted to play….

Date and Orange Icecream, Date and Orange Cake, Date and Orange Lamb Tagine, Date and Orange Sourdough…ok maybe not the last one…or mayyybbe…but certainly these little babies.

Date and Orange Spiral Biscuits

Date Mixture

300 gms Medjool Dates

1/2 grated orange rind

juice of 1 orange

In a pot slowly cook up mixture, until dates soften and mixture becomes like a thick paste. Cool.

Biscuit Dough

120gms softened butter

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 grated orange rind

1 beaten egg

1 cup plain flour

2/3 cup S/R flour

Cream the butter and sugar and then add the orange rind and beaten egg. Then add flours. KNead lightly and roll out on to a lightly floured surface. Roll to about 1cm thick.

Add date mixture to the dough, carefully spreading out mixture. Roll up and trim edges.

Gently pressing in the roll and turning as you go, to get any air spaces out. Cut to 1cm thickness, and line on a tray with baking paper. Bake at 180C for approx 30 minutes.

Iced VoVo’s

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The humble Iced VoVo I mentioned back here in this post. Since I mentioned it, I have been plagued by thoughts of these biscuits. I eyed them off in the supermarket, $1.90- bargain…but so full of ‘stuff’. Tickity Tock goes my brain... lets give them a crack. Not the most wonderful thing I have ever made… But they were fun, and I really did have a giggle while eating them.

Now I’ve made them, I can move on.

Iced VoVo’s

Biscuit Base

125gms softened butter

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 beaten egg

2 tps vanilla

1 1/2 cups plain flour

Cream butter, sugar, vanilla, egg and then add flour. KNead to a smooth dough. Roll out to an approximate square shape and then with a knife cut out squares the size you would like. Bake at 180C, until light golden and cool.

Coconut Icing

Equal parts icing sugar to desicated coconut, adding a little water as you go. Just enough to bind the two together.

Squish it together and lay them on the biscuits, add a dollop of jam in between (I used my Vanilla Plum Jam) and viola…Iced VoVo biscuits (of a sort.)

Sri Lankan Love Cake

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What do I think of when I think of Sri Lanka, little island in the Indian Ocean?

Beautiful white sandy beaches with swaying palm trees. Swinging in a hammock, being hypnotized by the sound of crashing waves.

Fish on your plate at dinner time. So fresh, you can still hear the whispered words of the fisherman I wonder how much I will get for this big one?

Wild majestic elephants being heard in the near by jungle as you sip your locally grown tea.

A selection of short eats (small entree sized finger food, Sri Lankan style tapas/yum cha to go- if you will) to choose from as you wonder around in search of the next ancient Buddhist temple to discover. Sri Lankan cuisine that is so full of flavours that your taste buds want to sing every time you eat.

Ancient rock fortress, Sigiriya. With so much history within its rocky walls, that you feel quite overwhelmed at the thought of how much this amazing rock had seen.

A kind of driving that can be only described as tiring. Honk when you are going to over take, honk when you are over taking, honk when you have over taken, honk when you would like to over take…and then begin again.

A country floored by the 2004 Tsunami.

Umbrella Lovers- if you wonder down to the beach, you will be sure to find some young couples sharing some ‘alone’ time, sitting under an umbrella. These umbrellas dot the surrounding areas, as couples shield themselves from prying eyes.

Buffalo yoghurt being made in earthen ware pots, lining the sides of the roads sitting in the sun. (similar to a Greek style yoghurt- thick and creamy, and oh sooo delicious.)

Love Cake, a cake with so many different recipes and variations. Usually made for celebrations. I hadn’t actually tasted this one before, but with the ingredients and the name…

Whats not to love?

Love Cake

150 gms crushed cashew nuts (cadjunuts)

125g semolina

3 eggs

150g sugar

125g softened butter

1 tbs rose water

1 1/2 tbs brandy

1/2 tps cinnamon

1/2 tps cardamom

1/2 tps nutmeg

Separate the eggs. Whisk together softened butter, 3 egg yolks, and sugar. Add semolina, cashews, rose water, brandy, spices.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks appear and fold into mixture. Cook in a square tin, greased and lined with paper. Bake at 180C for approx 25 minutes or until golden.

(recipe taken from a local Sri Lankan cookbook and adapted.)

Travels with Sourdough

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Almond and Raisin Sourdough

The underside of the Almond and Raisin Sourdough. A toasted almond crunch to a slice.

Wholemeal sourdough.

Sunflower and Linseed Sourdough Panini.

Date and Pecan Sourdough

350gms starter

600gms flour

2/3 cup chopped medjool dates

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 tbs raw sugar

good shake of cinnamon

1 1/2 tps salt

I made this sourdough on the warmest day so far that I have toyed with the sourdoughs. Consequence- a lighter sourdough then I would normally make as it rose so quickly. I did two lots of folds in between proves. Verdict- um yes please! (My mum liked this one too, and said that I could make some next time I came down to visit. Have starter…will travel.)

Cumquat and Lime Marmalade- Adults Only

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I am an adult and I like marmalade.

I am an adult and I also like dark chocolate and espresso coffee.

I am an adult and can stay up late at night, (I can… but, I dont.)

I am an adult and I can say no thanks to steamed fresh beetroot, purple cabbage and offal…and I like that I can say no.

I every time I take a bit of this delicious marmalade, it screams to me I am an adult. Why? As The Monkeys don’t like it and it’s all for me.

Me, me, me.

Last time my dad came to visit, he brought a bag full of fresh cumquats. This was a fruit that I hadn’t tried before but knew it was frequently used in marmalades. Did a little reading, researching and then tasting (souRRR!) There wasn’t enough to do only cumquat marmalade but lucky for me my dad had also brought a whole lot of huge limes from his tree. So Cumquat and Lime it was.

Finely slicing up all the fruit and reserving all seeds from the cumquats. Seeds were soaked in 1 cup of water overnight and sliced fruit covered in water and also soaked over night. The next day looking at my little bowl of seeds and water I was absolutely thrilled to see all the pectin had oozed out. A clear gelatinous little bowl full that gets cooked up in the marmalade, (ditching the seeds of course.) Sugar added. Cook it up and ready when a small saucer has been placed in the freezer, and a spoonful of the marmalade sets when placed on the cold saucer.

Result, one adults only marmalade. (Although its kind of worth it to get the kids to try it, just to watch their faces screw up…or is that the evil me?)

Passionfruit Shortbread

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When Mr Chocolate came home with a whole stack of passionfruit, my mind was thinking oh what to make, what to make? As I am pretty much the only one in the household that likes passionfruit, I could do as I pleased with those tarty little treasures that originate from South America. Feeling the pull of the trusty biscuit, Passionfruit Shortbread it was.

I also made some for Monkey Boy’s pre-school fundraiser cake stall. They already had at least 20 people doing cupcakes, so I decided to stand alone with the biscuits. If nobody bought them, I knew Mr Chocolate would…its the kind man he is.

Passionfruit Shortbread

125 gms softened butter

1/2 cup sugar

Cream butter and sugar together, then add

pulp from 3 passionfruit

add flours

1 cup plain flour

2/3 cup s/r flour

Mix together and then place on a lightly floured board, roll with rolling pin until approximately 5mm thick and cut out. Cut out to desired shapes. Bake at 180C until pale golden.

Eat with enthusiasm, or sell them off at the next cake stall.