Spring

Spring is well underway here; last week we had some very warm days but because it is western Victoria, today it is 10 degrees and raining in a brief return to winter.  I have been frantically busy in the garden trying to keep the weeding, mulching and mowing under control but today it was really time for some inside jobs, which get somewhat neglected at this time of year.  I knocked up a couple of quiches for the weekend:

as well as some flatbread from Smitten Kitchen and a light eggplant dip to go with it.  

Sometimes baba ganoush can be a bit sharp from the raw garlic but this version is smooth and really delicious.  We had it alongside some lamb a few nights ago too.

EGGPLANT DIP

2 eggplants

olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1 tblsp tahini

1 teasp cumin

juice of a lemon

1 tblsp honey

salt and pepper

herbs of choice to scatter over the top (parsley, mint)

Preheat the oven to 190c.

Halve the eggplants, cut diamond slits into the flesh and drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.  

You can either put them on a baking tray and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or put face down onto the barbeque and cook with the lid down for 30 minutes, which will give you a more charred flavour (just make sure they are not burning).  I turned them over and put them on the floor of the roasting oven of the Aga and they browned nicely...

Sorry this is blurry, I just wanted to show you the lovely colour

Meanwhile wrap the garlic in a bit of foil, drizzle with olive oil and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until soft.

Scrape out the flesh of the eggplants and put them in a food processor (or you can us the bamix or even just mash them with a potato masher or fork) with the squeezed out garlic.

Add the tahini, cumin, lemon juice,  honey and salt and pepper and whizz the mix.  At this point you can add more tahini, cumin, lemon juice and seasoning to taste.

Here is a pic of the flatbread, which would go well with any dip...

I made some nettle soup last week.  It is incredibly green:

I picked some cumquats the other day..

and made some marmalade:

There has been so much going on lately that I think I will save up for the next instalment.  It is hard to be inside at the computer when there is so much to do in the garden at this time of year, so fingers crossed for another rainy day.

Loving Spring

I have been trying to finish this post for a couple of weeks.  Although we have been at home for the holidays, there has been plenty of activity and the interruptions are continuous.  There has been golf and tennis, farm work and gardening, footy finals and shooting, rain and sunshine.  We have scrambled over the Grampians

and trampled over Mt Napier.

 There are lots of pretty things in the garden at the moment:

The Mme Alfred Carrier is the only rose flowering so far

I have been growing some giant rhubarb...

which was then cut up on a tray, drizzled with orange juice, a bit of orange zest, some brown sugar and roasted for 15 minutes before becoming a crumble with a few strawberries thrown in (recipe another day).

I made a really good chicken dish last week.  Rave reviews.  You must try this as it is sooo easy.

Preheat the oven to 200c.

Put as many chicken thighs (bone in) as you think you will need on a baking tray.  Halve enough new potatoes for everyone and scatter around the chicken.  I was able to dig up some from last year's potato crop in the old veggie garden.  

Place strips of proscuitto over the top of the chicken and dot about some unpeeled garlic cloves and sprigs of thyme.  Season with salt and pepper.  Put in the oven for 20 minutes.  I did this in the Roasting oven of the Aga which is very hot.

In the meantime in a small bowl mix 1 tblsp dijon mustard, the juice of 1/2 lemon and about 2/3 cup verjuice (you could use white wine).  After the 20 minutes take out the chicken and pour over the verjuice mixture.  Give it another 20 minutes until the chicken is golden and cooked through.

Signs of Spring and the AGA

Spring is on the doorstep.....there are drifts of daffodils everywhere,

the viburnum,

the echiums

 

the honey-scented buddleja salviifolia, 

and the broad beans are all starting to flower,

 and the rocket is rocketing...

The Aga is finally installed, I had to wait a week for the tiles to be finished but here it is at last:

The kitchen is warm all day.  I am LOVING IT.  I can't wait to try a slow cooked leg of home grown lamb.  There hasn't been time as we have been away a lot in the last couple of weeks.  In the meantime there has been lots of experimentation, trial and error, some burnt toast and confusion with the timing mechanism, but we are getting there.

Yesterday I made marmalade.  

Don't know why that photo has a dark band at the bottom

I make it every year when the Seville oranges come into our local fruit shop and make enough to last a year, including some to give away.  As the making of marmalade is a bit of a labour of love I go for a fairly simple recipe, based on the one in Stephanie Alexander's Cook's Companion, which she in turn got from a "competent Western District cook".  So thank you western district lady, I wonder if you are nearby.

ORANGE MARMALADE

No measurements, all depends on how much fruit you have.

Seville oranges (I had seven)

plus 2 sweet oranges

salt

sugar

Quarter the oranges and remove the central membrane.  Flick out about a tablespoon of pips.  Thinly slice the fruit.  Weigh the fruit and put into a large pan and for every 500g fruit add 1.8 litres of water and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.  Wrap the reserved pips in muslin or a square of Chux and add to the pot.

Simmer until the peel is quite soft.  Remove the pips and leave overnight in a large ceramic or stainless steel bowl.

Next day, measure the fruit and water and for every cup add 3/4 cup sugar.  (The original recipe has one cup of fruit and water to one cup of sugar but I find that too sweet).  Bring to the boil and cook for about 30 minutes at a rolling boil until it passes the wrinkle test.  It can take longer depending on the amount of pectin in the fruit.  For the wrinkle test, place a saucer in the freezer for a few minutes then put a teaspoon of marmalade on the saucer and return to the freezer for another few minutes.  Run your finger through the marmalade and if it wrinkles it is ready.  Put into hot sterilized jars.

This batch made 13 jars of varying sizes.

It is on the way..

I am very excited.  I have just placed an order for one of these:

My husband cannot understand why we would buy an oven that costs as much as a recent model small car and it has taken me twelve months of gentle persuasion to convince him that we really do need an AGA.   When we did our kitchen up five years ago I decided that I wanted a big efficient modern oven, and a little one on the side rather than an AGA, the cost of which did seem a huge extra expense at the time. 

The epiphany came to me about this time last year, when filling in time before a dinner in Melbourne I passed the AGA shop, where a cooking demonstration was underway within.  Having cooked on many ancient AGAs in England and Scotland years ago, I was impressed at how much more efficient they were now and less likely to lose heat.  And heat was the thing that won me over.  It will be a pleasure indeed to have one room of the house that is always warm, and rather nice to have one less fire to set and light in the darkened hours of a winter morning.

They come in a dizzying array of colours:

but eventually I decided on this colour:

which is pewter and not unlike the stainless steel of the current oven.  Which I might add, I have managed to sell (thanks Di).  What do you think would be good in my mostly cream country kitchen?

I have to wait for 12 weeks for it to arrive from the UK and there may be a little joinery required, probably more than I'd hoped, and I may get yelled at, but he'll love it in the end.  Can't wait to chuck out the microwave, toaster and slow cooker and learn how to cook with this remarkable stove.