And welcome 2013

Well we are a month into the year, I hope it is treating you well so far.  It has been a busy month of holidays, with plenty of beach time ...

with short periods at home in a mad frenzy of trying to resuscitate my dying garden.  The front lawn looks like this:

It is beyond depressing.  It is just so dry, until last Thursday we hadn't had a drop of rain since October, which is rare in this part of the world....driest Spring/Summer since 1932.  No matter how much water (in our case slightly salty bore water) I put on, there is no substitute for the nitrogen-rich rain that falls from the sky.  The 13 mm we had on Thursday has freshened up the garden a bit, but will probably not help the summer crops.  Even the real dry weather garden stalwarts, like the roses, buddlieas and euphorbias are looking miserable.  The plumbago seems happy even though it gets no water..

And think of those poor Queenslanders, who have been flooded out for the second time in two years.

Even the agapanthus looks scorched

We have not had a good start to the year.  It is largely utilities that are letting us down:  no power last Friday, a massive burst water pipe in the garden (no water for days on end) and our rainwater has run out.  It is unheard of for this to happen before the end of January.  And our hot water service in the bathroom has packed it in.

There's plenty of action in the veggie garden

so there's been apricot jam, zucchini slice and pesto galore.  I also made some zucchini soup which I am proud to announce was made exclusively with vegetables from the garden:  yellow zucchini, onion, garlic and a potato to thicken it  up.  Even the chicken stock was homemade:

I was given a large bucket of blood plums so I made plum sauce..

and a very nice plum cake:

PLUM CAKE

200g butter

2 cups castor sugar

1 tblsp honey

6-8 blood plums (mine were very small so I used a lot more), halved and stones removed

3 eggs

slosh of vanilla essence

200g SR flour

1/4 teasp Dutch cinnamon

3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 180c.

Butter and line a 25cm cake tin with baking paper.

Put half the butter and sugar into a saucepan with the honey and heat until the butter is melted.  Pour this into the cake tin and swirl to cover the base.  Arrange the plums cut side up over the mixture.

Beat the remaining butter and sugar until light.  Add eggs, one at a time and add vanilla.

Add flour, cinnamon and milk and fold gently until just combined.

Spoon the mixture over the plums and bake for approx 45 minutes until golden and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Put on a rack and cool in the tin.

Run a knife around the edge of the cake and place a serving plate on the top and invert the cake.  Leave for a minute or two then gently remove the tin.  Serve with cream.

Fickle autumn weather

This was the haul of tomatoes I picked on Monday.  The bushes are loaded with green tomatoes that just won't ripen, but two days of 38 degrees seemed to get them going.  I don't think I'll get too many this week as it's forecast to be cool.  Today it is 20 degrees and blowing a gale.  I still haven't got enough to make sauce or relish, but I am prepared to be patient.  Is anyone else having the same problem?

I saw a Jamie Olive recipe for plum sorbet with sloe gin and thought I should try it.  Sloes don't grow around here, but they do in Tasmania.  I would love to grow some so I could make my own sloe gin for hunting expeditions.  Instead I used Vinocotto, which was a perfect substitute.

PLUM SORBET WITH VINOCOTTO Serves 4-6

1kg of blood plums

80g castor sugar

50ml vinocotto 

Cut the plums in half and remove the stones.  Put them in a plastic bag and put in the freezer for about 2 hours.

 About 5 minutes before you start, get the plums out to thaw a bit.  Put them in the  food processor with the sugar and vinocotto and whizz until smooth, adding more sugar or vinocotto if you think it needs it.

I then put it into a container and back in the freezer.

Take it out about 5-10 minutes before you intend to serve it.  

Serve with a some berries, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or with some thin ginger biscuits, or just on its own.

Nearly autumn

I know when autumn is approaching, the belladonna lillies start to unfurl.

It is also when blood plums are at their best.  I bought some the other day and decided to make a pudding.  I snipped a recipe out of a newspaper ages ago but it ripped and I lost half so there was a degree of guess work in this.

PLUM AND ALMOND THING

This amount will do about 6-8 plums.  

60g soft butter

55g castor sugar

1 egg

40g almond meal

30g slivered almonds (flaked would work as well)

Preheat the oven to 170c.

Cut plums in half and place in an ovenproof dish.  I threw in a broken cinnamon stick for good measure.

Cream the butter and sugar and add the egg.  Fold in the almond meal and the almonds.  Dot the mix over the plums. 

Bake for about an hour until it is nice and brown on top.  Serve with cream.

This gaping hole is where my fridge belongs.  It packed it in last week so has gone to Mortlake for repairs.  We are operating out of the beer fridge which is inconvenient in itself, but the beer (and wine) is sitting on the laundry floor because we expected to be a temporary arrangement.  Thank god, though, for the beer fridge.

Been having salads galore lately.  Love this one in particular, with beetroot from the garden.  Just grate some carrot and beetroot (easiest in the food processor), add some grated ginger, and loads of chopped mint or coriander or both.  A drizzle of olive oil, lemon juice and lots of salt and pepper is all it needs.