Winter warm-ups

It is the time of year that Aga owners feel particularly smug about their ridiculously extravagant purchase and are basking in the warm hue of their cosy kitchens.

 It has been a wickedly cold winter so  it is a relief to have one warm room in the house and not have to set the kitchen fire every morning.    We have lambs galore frolicking about the wet and muddy paddocks....they are doing really well this year, despite the cold, after the good start we had in the autumn.

Daffodils in the morning light

We have been on a steady diet of warming winter soups...

and burnt-bottomed brussels:

I even came across a recipe for parmesan broth and had to try it.  I read about this on Food 52, via the Huffington Post here and since I had a cupful of parmesan rinds in the fridge I gave it a go.  NEVER throw out your parmesan rinds.  They have so much flavour and can be added to soups and stews or keep them in a plastic bag in the fridge until you have enough for a broth.  It is great in minestrone or any soup really, and can be used instead of stock for risotto.   It also freezes well.

And because there is a lot of rocket in the garden I made rocket pesto:

I don't think there is any need for a specific recipe, but I toasted some cashews (say 1/3 cup), and threw them in the food processor with a couple of good handfuls of rocket (about 100g) and whizzed it up with olive oil, a splash of lemon juice, salt and pepper until it was the right consistency the flavour was balanced.  Parmesan is optional.  I have been adding it to soup, putting it on grainy bread under an egg or some avocado or smoked salmon and also made this delicious chicken:

This makes a quick and easy midweek meal and again is so simple it really doesn't need a recipe.

Just get some chicken pieces (I usually buy marylands and cut the drumsticks off) and gently push the pesto under the skin as far as you can.   Place on a baking dish and season with salt and pepper.  

Cut a lemon in half and add to the pan with a couple of unpeeled cloves of garlic.  Drizzle with olive oil and bake in a hot oven for approximately 30 minutes, turning half way, until nicely browned.

It was good with some celeriac mash and spinach from the garden.

This clematis is like a phoenix rising from the ashes.  I thought I had killed it last summer and now, in the middle of winter, it has raced up the pole and popped out a flower when I least expected it.  So pretty.

Catching up

WHERE has the time gone??  We have had a frantic couple of months, for reasons I won't go into for fear of boring you to tears.  Suffice to say very little time has been spent inside as the garden is absolutely humming  and bursting with the fullness of spring so keeping up with the lawns and weeding is a constant battle.

I haven't even had time to report on my wonderful trip to the Agrarian Kitchen back in August, which I promise to do very soon, maybe if we get more rainy days.  Yes, this spring is throwing everything at us:  it was 26 degrees on Saturday, pouring with rain and 12 degrees today.  When I was driving back from Robe last week it was hailing so hard it looked like there was snow on the road and I had to pull over:

No wonder there are so many people suffering from nasty colds and flu, including the poor 'usband who can expect divorce proceedings if he doesn't get rid of the shocking cough/chest infection that has been plaguing him for the last couple of months.  My sympathy is waning and let's face it, men are not always the best at looking after their health.  Despite several courses of antibiotics he has coughed his heart out for ages (often all night) and is only just getting better.  It is quite possibly genetic.  My poor mother in law is enduring a nasty bout of bronchial pneumonia and has required some nurturing.  When you are feeling rotten and can't face cooking the thing you really need is nourishment in a bowl.

RESTORATIVE CHICKEN SOUP - makes a big batch, you can use some and freeze some

Chicken soup is the perfect remedy:  loads of vegetables and a hit of protein that has not had the life cooked out of it, steaming hot and life affirming.  

1 nice free range chicken

1 onion, don't bother peeling, cut into eight wedges

1 tblsp olive oil

2 celery stalks with leaves (use one and the leaves for the stock, one for the finished dish)

2 big carrots (again, one for the stock, one for the finish)

1 bay leaf

1 teasp black peppercorns

good handful of parsley, stalks and leaves

Noodles optional, any will do but try Wiechs, from the Barossa Valley in SA....hands down the best for the job.

Preheat the oven to 200c.

Place the onion on a roasting tray.  Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towel.

Place the chicken on the onion and roast in the oven for 30 minutes until it is nicely brown on the top.  This will help the stock to be a beautiful golden colour.

While the chicken is cooking prepare the stock.

Into a stockpot put one chopped stalk of celery and its leaves, the carrot, bay leaf, peppercorns and the parsley, leaving a bit for garnish at the end.  Fill the pot about half full of water.

Take the chicken out of the oven and gently place it in the water.  Scrape the onions and any pan juices into the pot too.  Fill the pot with water until the chicken is covered.  Bring to the boil and simmer very gently for about 45 minutes (you can do this in the Simmer oven of the Aga, it may take a little longer).

While that is cooking neatly chop up the remaining celery and carrot.

Check the chicken after 45 minutes, you want it to be just cooked.  Take out the chicken and put it on a plate to cool.  Strain the stock and return it to the cleaned out stockpot.

Bring it to the boil and add the chopped vegetables and a good few handfuls of noodles (dried ones will take as long as the veg to cook, fresh ones can be put in at the last minute).  Give the soup a bit of a skim and keep doing this as it cooks.

Take all the meat off the chicken and remove the skin. Shred it and add to the soup just before serving.

Check for seasoning and scatter over some chopped parsley.

And give it to someone you love.

Farewell to 2012

I thought I should sneak in a last post for 2012.  I can't believe the month of December has slipped by without so much as a cursory glance in the direction of this blog.  It's been a bit of a whirlwind: lots of end of year bits and pieces, a trip to Adelaide, friends to stay, school break ups, gardening and general Christmas busyness.

Flowers on the potatoes

Some South African friends came to visit the weekend before Christmas.   We chased kangaroos, watched the shearing, played lots of cricket and went yabbying.

Ate lots of this,

drank far too much of this:

We had our first Christmas at home this year.  After lunch my mother-in-law declared that she would never cook Christmas lunch again and after more than 40 years of preparing the feast, I think she deserves a break.  The tree is down, decorations packed away, linen napkins and placemats washed and ironed, holly and ivy removed from the mantlepiece and pine needles swept away.  Quite a relief really.

It has been non stop in the kitchen, but alas very few photographs to show for it.  I made my first batch of strawberry jam from home grown strawberries, which was gratifying...

Here is a good chicken dish for the holidays.  It looks like it might be tricky, but is really so easy.  Just marinate in the morning and bung on the BBQ when you get home from the beach.  The kids will appreciate a change from a sausage in bread, which is their standard dinner at this time of year.

First you need to butterfly a chicken.  DON'T PANIC.  It is very simple, but you do need a pair of poultry shears (cheap).  Place the chook breast side down on a chopping board with the parson's nose facing you.  

With the shears cut along one side of the back bone from tail to neck.  Pull open the bird and cut along the other side of the back bone and remove it (use it for stock). 

 Turn the chicken over and open out then press firmly down to break the breast bone.  Hard part done.

Season with salt and pepper and then marinate in a large zip lock bag in the fridge for up to 24 hours.  I would put it in a dish and turn over a couple of times.  Here are a couple of marinades you could try:

1/2 cup lemon juice

3 cloves garlic, crushed

handful each of parsley, thyme and oregano, all chopped

1/2 cup olive oil

Mix together and add to bag.

Here is one based on a Nigella Lawson recipe:

1 carton buttermilk

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tblsp dijon mustard

1 tblsp maple syrup

1 tblsp olive oil

salt and pepper

Mix in a bowl and add to bag.  The buttermilk makes the chicken very tender.

I then cook this on the BBQ skin side down, with the lid down for about 15 minutes (don't let the barbeque get too hot, you don't want it to burn), and flip it over and give it another 20 minutes.

Don't know about you, but my sweet peas have been a bitter disappointment this year.  They were so amazing last year.

I just couldn't get the seeds to germinate.  I have just pulled up the most enormous onions..

and the garlic looks good too..

I hope you had a lovely Christmas.  Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2013 and hopefully there will be less chaos and more time for new recipes and news from the garden.  See you next year!

A lot on

It was a stunning morning yesterday..

The clivias are looking so pretty..

We have, as Tim would say, got a lot on at the moment.  We're lamb marking, Tim is in China on a trade delegation looking for lamb markets, there's been sports day and a school dinner, it's frantic in the office, golf, the weeds are bouncing out of the ground (how do they get so big in such a short time??), there's mowing and cutting back to do constantly and we seem to be always on the road to Melbourne.

Still I'm loving the blossom

and the spring flowers:

Needless to say, not much interesting cooking has been going on but now that the days are getting longer I have definitely moved into spring mode with less long and slow cooking and more throw it all in at the last minute.  This chicken dish is a perfect example:

I know it's a bit soon for home grown cherry tomatoes, but sometimes needs must.

Preheat the oven to 200c.

Allow 1 1/2 chicken thighs per person, cut them all in half.

Put them in a roasting dish lined with baking paper.  Halve an appropriate amount of cherry tomatoes and black olives and scatter them over.  Add a couple of unpeeled garlic cloves.  Drizzle with olive oil (I used a little Cobram Estate garlic olive oil and a little basil infused olive oil) and season generously with salt and pepper.  Cook in the oven for approx 20 - 25 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.

While that is happening I steamed some cauliflower and pureed it with a little butter, sour cream and salt and pepper.

Serve the chicken with the cauliflower and some chopped basil over the top, making sure you drizzle over the pan juices.  Quick, delicious and low fat.  We had this with some pan fried rainbow sliver beet from the garden.

I braised the last of the brussel sprouts, broccoli and carrots from the garden a few nights ago:

I just melted a small knob of butter in the pan, added the vegetables and poured over about 1/2 cup of chicken stock.  Cooked them until tender and finished them with lots of salt and pepper a sprinkling of fresh parsley.  So simple.

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.