Out of season

We have had some glorious afternoons lately...

Lambs are arriving thick and fast..

The garden is in the final throes of winter..

So it does seem like an odd time to be thinking about strawberry ice cream.

We were given three large punnets of strawberries by some visitors recently and although I probably should have made jam, for some reason the ice cream gods were speaking.  I've never made strawberry ice cream before so I did a bit of research and this is what I came up with.

STRAWBERRY AND VINOCOTTO ICE CREAM - makes about a litre

For the strawbs:

About 3 cups strawberries, washed, hulled and cut in half

1 tblsp castor sugar

2 tblsp vinocotto, to taste

a squeeze of lemon juice

Put the berries into a frying pan with the sugar and the vinocotto and cook over a gentle heat, stirring, until the strawberries have softened and the juices released.   

Squeeze over some lemon juice to taste.  You can add more vinocotto if you wish. Allow to cool.  Keep about 1/2 cup aside and chop into smaller pieces (only if you would like some strawberry bombs throughout the ice cream) and puree the rest.  I did this in a jug with my stick blender, but they can go in a food processor or blender.  Refrigerate.

For the ice cream:

2 eggs and 3 egg yolks

3/4 cup castor sugar

a vanilla bean, cut in half

1 1/2 cups milk

2 cups cream

Put the milk in a saucepan with the vanilla bean and bring to the boil.  Remove from heat and allow vanilla to infuse for a few minutes.  Scape out seeds and add to the milk.

Beat the eggs and sugar for a few minutes until pale, then gently pour in the milk whisking.  Return the mix to a clean saucepan and stir continuously until the custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon.  Do not allow it to boil.  Cool slightly then refrigerate until cold.

Add the cream, strawberry puree and strawberry bits and churn in an ice cream machine.

Other things to come out of the kitchen lately include these yummy lamb ribs, marinated with garlic, mint and rosemary with a yoghurt dipping sauce. 

For the dipping sauce, combine the zest and juice of one lemon, 1 tblsp chopped mint, 1 tblsp honey, 1 tblsp olive oil and 1/2 cup yoghurt.

An oldie but a goodie...parsnip puree with breadcrumbs..

Mum used to make this and it is great for winter:  boil some parsnips, mash (best done with the stick blender) with butter, a tablespoon of cream and salt and pepper and put in an ovenproof dish.  Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and dot with butter, then cook in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes.  This photo does it no justice at all.

And finally, the newest member of the family...Twiggy...

Winter drinks

There's some interesting fungii in the garden at the moment...

and lots of lambs are being born out on the farm..

The winter so far has been fairly mild, there have been few frosts and not too much rain: this time last year the flats were flooded.  The conditions are ideal for the ewes and lambs and there is plenty of feed.   I say mild, but it is still winter and there are times when a fortifying hot drink is called for.

There is a teacher at our local school who makes his own cider.  At an old farmhouse on our property there is a cider orchard and he comes every year to collect some of the fallen fruit to add to his brew.  Here are a couple of bottles from last year's crop:

It is very dry, not at all like the commercially produced "dry" ciders and I thought it would lend itself to a bit of spicing up.  If you are using a commercial cider, it is probably not necessary to add sugar, up to you, and just add spices to your liking.  This would be great to take out on a winter's picnic.

I tipped a bottle into a saucepan and added:

1/4 cup caster sugar

1 cinnamon quill

a few gratings of nutmeg

2 star anise

5 cloves

2 strips of orange zest

the juice of half the orange (you can add the rest if you fancy)

Boil for about 5 minutes then take off the heat and leave for at least 30 minutes for the flavours to infuse.  Strain and reheat gently then pour into glasses.

Hot spiced cider, by the fire, good book....what more could you ask for?

Chef crush

I have a new chef crush.  Yes, move over Jamie, Bill, Hugh and Nigel.  Dan Barber is my new man and I have no idea what his cooking is like.  You need to get to know him.  With any luck this man will have a huge influence on the future of food, agriculture and sustainability.
Read this article
Watch this video
It will make you think twice about which fish you buy.

Organic farming is tough, we have seen many farmers come and go: on a large scale the farms are mostly too expensive to run.  We all so want it to succeed.  Tim always says that to be green you need to be in the black.  That is sadly why our food is grown the way it is today: it's cheaper and measurable to farm in monocultures but the cost is the depletion of resources, particularly the soil.  I'm not quite sure how Dan Barber intends to feed the world, but there is no doubt he is on the right track and you've got to love his vision.

In our own small way, we are trying to do the right thing.  We are regenerating the soil by using a specially developed calcium rich, molasses based liquid fertilizer.  The improved quality of the pasture has significantly reduced the use of herbicides or pesticides, the sheep are happier, fatten well and cut more wool.  And it is brilliant on the vegetable garden, I'm growing mega veg, even in my slightly clay soils, and the soil is improving all the time.  So we can at least be self sufficient to a point.

On the menu in the past week....

Pea and ham soup

which has also been going in the lunch box:

I saw some lovely sardines at the local fish shop on Monday and just had to get them for lunch.  They were topped with a mix of breadcrumbs, lemon zest and juice and parsley, then flashed in the hot oven of the Aga (220c) for about 10 minutes.

Brain food in a good way..

There was also a ripping fish pie:

FISH PIE  Serves 4

2 nice sized pieces of fish of your choice.  I used some lovely boar fish.

8 green prawns

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1 bay leaf

2 slices of lemon

40g/ about a tablespoon butter

1 leek, rinsed and chopped into rings

150 ml white wine

1 tblsp flour

chopped spinach or sliverbeet, lightly steamed

parsley

Puff pastry

Put the milk, water, bay leaf and lemon slices in a saucepan and bring gently to the boil.  Chop the fish into chunks and add to the simmering milk with the prawns.  Cook for 2 minutes, then remove the fish with a slotted spoon and put on a plate.  Set aside the liquid in the saucepan, leaving the bay leaf and lemon to infuse.

In a sturdy pan melt the butter and cook the leek for about 5 minutes until it is soft.  Add the white wine and let it sizzle and cook down for a few minutes.  Add the flour and stir for a minute.  Strain the milk onto the leek mix and stir in with a whisk until smooth.  Stir until the sauce thickens and comes to the boil.  Simmer gently for a minute or two.  Add the fish, spinach or silverbeet and parsley and season to taste.  Put it into a pie dish and either cover with a sheet of puff pastry or do what Sophie did and make some pastry shapes instead.  Just brush the pastry with some beaten egg and put it in a hot oven till it is puffed and golden.

Keeping warm

It is school holidays and the kids have a few friends over today.  The weather is miserable so they are entertaining themselves indoors (I'm too scared to look) and have been making pizza, home made dough and all: 

I am waiting for it to stop raining so I can go outside and do some jobs in the garden.  The jonquils are looking so pretty...

We had a lovely week away in Queensland so it is a bit of a shock to be back in the cold.

Everyone must have been in Bali because there was no-one there..

I asked the kids to fill the wood baskets.  They over-delivered somewhat..

I saw this cartoon on The World According to Lady Aga  blog during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. 

I wonder if mine will last that long.
Did I show you my lovely pumpkins?  Time for more pumpkin soup.

Haven't been doing much cooking this week, but had some lovely walks.

We had a cracking frost the other day..

the kale doesn't seem to mind,

nor does the broccoli.

The Aga has come into its own in this chilly weather.  It is keeping our kitchen toasty warm and is churning out some hearty winter fare, especially casseroles cooked long and slow and spectacular roasts.  The only snag is that it the busy housewife occasionally forgets what went in and this happens....

It took quite a while, but at last my medlars have finished "bletting"

It was only a small haul, so I decided to try medlar jelly.  I washed them and boiled them with a quarter of a lemon for about an hour until they were soft.  Fished out the lemon and strained them through my jelly bag (muslin or a big chux, clean, folded in two would do the job).  I measured the resulting liquid and for every cup of liquid I added 3/4 cups of sugar.  Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar then boil rapidly until setting point is reached.  Bottle in sterilized jars.

It is quite sweet, but would be good with lamb, chicken or venison, maybe added to gravy or with cold meats or a sharp cheddar.

This unremarkable-looking pasta dish was suprisingly good and gobbled up in seconds by the starving troops.  It was born from laziness....I cooked the pasta in the sauce to save on dishes.

Cook a chopped onion in olive oil and add some chopped bacon and cook for about five minutes.  Add batch of roasted tomato sauce and bring to the boil.   Add pasta (a big handful of curly pasta per person, plus a bit extra), return the the boil and cook until the pasta is al dente.  This could be done in the simmer oven of the Aga.   I kept it simple and just finished it with parmesan, but you could go to town and add olives, capers or anchovies, like a puttenesca, if the mood takes you.  The pasta seems to absorb the sauce, giving a great flavour.  Good one for the holidays.

Winter salads

It's quiet in the garden at the moment.  There are only a few flowers...

A very pretty salvia that seems to flower all the time

 We have been busy cutting wood.  Never too young to learn how to wield a splitter....

We had to hurry before the rain came...

I made a really good crunchy chopped green salad the other day.  There is so much lettuce and celery in the garden I feel obliged to use it.  The salad veg seems to be happy in the winter even though it isn't a salady time.  More lettuce/celery concoctions will follow.  I shredded lettuce, any sort, celery, fennel, and any other green things I could find in the fridge, a bit of cucumber, some finely sliced broccoli and half an avocado from memory.  Make a dressing:  (this is based on one from smitten kitchen) 

1/2  cup buttermilk

1 tblsp good mayonnaise

1 tblsp apple cider vinegar

1tblsp verjuice

1 teasp sugar

1 tblsp chopped chives

salt and pepper

Add or subtract any ingredients to taste.  Toss in a bowl with the dressing and finish with some toasted flaked almonds.

The other thing I've been experimenting with is farro.  The one I use is from Mount Zero, which is near the Grampians, not far from us.  Farro is a grain that is similar to brown rice but with more nuttiness and a bit less stodge. It can be used in the same fashion as rice, lentils or couscous, in salads, soups and risottos.   I went for a warm vegetable salad.  First  toast the farro in  a pan over a medium heat, which was the recommendation on the back of the packet.  Be careful not to burn it.  

Put it in a saucepan, cover with water and simmer for 20 minutes or until it is soft.  Choose any vegetables you like,  I had a haul  from the garden...

Chop them, drizzle with olive oil, season and roast for 20 minutes in a hot oven (about 200), more if you like them a bit crispy.

Mix the vegetables and farro in a big bowl and dress with olive oil, lemon juice, a good dash of vinocotto and salt and pepper.

These salads are great on their own, but would also go well with these tasty little lamb ribs...

These were blanched in boiling water then marinated in:

1 tbslp olive oil

1 tblsp dijon mustard

1 teasp malt vinegar

2 tblsp tomato sauce (homemade)

1 teasp maple syrup

1 tblsp dried oregano

Leave them for a few hours and either barbeque or roast in a hot oven until nicely browned.