Oh Dear....

February is the month, as I have mentioned, for recovering from the summer excesses, for Feb fasting and exercising madly.  Not that I can see the point of giving up drinking for a month when you know you will start again in a desperate frenzy of thirst in March.

It is possible to show some restraint, however, and I have been very good, back playing tennis, boxing and working like mad in the garden, eating well and having a few alcohol free days each week but something very sinister beckoned me at our local fish shop the other day and I fell off the wagon:

Crispy soft shell crab is not what you would class as a health food, but so so delicious.  My first encounter with it was at  Portsea this year, where my dearly beloved was playing in the annual social climb/ drink fest sorry, Polo tournament.  Whilst the dishy-for-an-ageing-rocker James Reyne was belting out a few classics at half time I was busy in the marquee acquainting myself with crispy soft shell crabs.

They were handing it around on trays served in a white bread roll, simply with nice mayo and iceberg lettuce.  Sublime.  So when I saw it in the fish shop, frozen, I thought I should have a go.  

With the muffin tops in mind, I thought  I should try a slightly more healthy approach so I made a salad:

I cooked the soft shelled crab in the oven at 180 for 10 minutes while I made the salad.  I arranged some salad leaves, chopped cherry tomatoes, torn mint and basil from the garden.  I then made a dressing of 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, 1 tblsp each of rice wine vinegar, mirin, fish sauce and soy sauce and a squeeze of lime juice.

You could go either Asian or Mediterranean with this.  Just yum.  It is still even better squashed into a soft bread roll with mayo and lettuce.  My advice is to keep well away.

Back to normal

School went back yesterday, yes on a Friday (don't ask), which was something of a relief as the last week can really drag on.  Despite all the rain in the rest of the country we have had a few hot days.  The kids had some fun in the dam last week:

 I spent the better part of the afternoon up a ladder pulling a rampant potato vine out of the pomegranate tree.  I had to be so careful to not damage the beautiful flowers:

There are lots of flowers on the tree, in fact there is lots of fruit on all the trees this year which made me realise that they need really good winter and spring rains to set the flowers and fruit. So it wasn't just my inadequate summer watering that caused disappointing harvests.  Here is the nashi tree, which has barely had a fruit on it for four years:

The tomatoes are so late as it has been cool but at last there is enough basil to make some pesto.

In all the years of making pesto I always found my brew to taste great but it was a bit dull and grey and never the stunning bright green of shop-bought pesto.  Until now.  I have discovered the secret of green pesto and it is worth the extra effort.

PESTO

This makes about a cup.

1 large bunch of basil

2 cloves garlic

1 cup of olive oil (maybe a little less, depends on how much basil you have.  Just add enough to make the consistency you like)

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan (best to use Grana or reggiano)

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

salt and pepper

Pick the basil leaves off the stems and discard the stems.

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil.  Put a big bowl in the sink and half fill it with water.  Add a cup of ice cubes to the water and put a strainer in the cold water .

Add the garlic to the boiling water.  Boil for a minute or so then add the basil leaves and cook for about 20 seconds.  Quickly drain into the strainer and plunge into the iced water.  

Cool for about a minute.  Drain well and squeeze out excess water.

Place basil and garlic in food processor and whizz until chopped.  Add pine nuts, olive oil and parmesan and process until smooth.  Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Bit messy.....

The last photo doesn't really do it justice, terrible light.  

Use on practically anything.

Absolving the sins of the festive season

Happy New Year.  Kilos heavier, we launch into 2011.

There has been lots of this:

a bit of this:

some of this:

 and way too much of this:

which has left us all feeling a bit like this:

(Breugel)

I am looking forward to school going back so some modicum of routine can return to our lives, alcohol free days can be inserted into the week and some exercise pursued for the purpose of good health.  The bulging muffin tops tell a tale.  

Let us start with breakfast.  This is quite obvious, but I MUST STOP EATING TOAST.  I know it should be forbidden but now that we can get our hands on some really good bread at the local deli it is extremely hard to resist.  Especially with the aforementioned raspberry jam or marmalade.  As total deprivation and self torture is really not my thing, I have been trying out Bircher muesli to steer me away from the toast.  I've never been much of a fan of Bircher muesli as it always seems so heavy and gluggy, and not a patch on my homemade normal muesli but I think I've come up with an acceptable version that is really very satisfying.

Bircher Muesli

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup apple juice (I used a nice cloudy one from Tassie)

1/2 a grated apple

1 tblsp natural yoghurt

juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 teaspoon honey

1/2 cup mixed berries (can include blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and a few sultanas)

1 tblsp flaked almonds/sunflower seeds/pepitas

Soak oats and nuts in apple juice and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning grate over the apple, add the yoghurt and berries of choice, lemon juice and a drizzle of honey.

Now all I have to do is get the boxing gloves back on....

Finally Christmas

The Albertine may have gone, but look what has come out just in time for Christmas Day.

We are having Christmas with my mother-in-law who is the most wonderful cook.  Always a very traditional lunch: turkey, ham, mountains of vegetables (including the old fave, tomato and onion pie).  Instead of plum pudding she makes a rather sensational sago plum pudding with custard. All I am contributing is the ham and some ocean trout tartare on blinis, both of which I am yet to make but if they look okay tomorrow I will take some photos.

Here is the glaze I use for the ham.  It is one that I snipped out of a newspaper years ago and works a treat:

Heat the oven to 180.  Put some foil or baking paper in a large roasting tin and put the ham on top.  

Pour over a couple of cups of cider.   Bake in the oven as is for about 45 minutes, basting every so often.

While that is happening, mix together:

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 teasp hot English mustard

2 teasp Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon of marmalade (sieved)

Take the ham out of the oven and using a sharp knife make a criss cross pattern over the ham.  Insert a clove into each diamond.   Spread with the glaze and return ham to the oven for about 30 minutes until nicely glazed.

We will all fall into a screaming heap over the next few days and enjoy the fact that there will be no shearing and no trucks of lambs to load.  Trying to fit Christmas into our busiest time of the year is quite a challenge.  The exhausted husband stepped in the door half an hour ago and asked why we weren't either going to or having Christmas drinks when all he's done over the last week is complain about how flat out he is.  In other words, Lambchops why have you not organised some entertainment for me this evening???   I am just loving a glass of wine on the verandah and the serenity, thanks...

Merry Christmas

Behind

I am so behind with my posts in the frantic lead-up to Christmas.  I picked these strawberries a couple of weeks ago and still have not had time to write about them.  They were beautiful but the birds got quite a few.  I decided to make some lovely pink Peach Sorbet to go with them:

Peach Sorbet


2 cups of sugar
Juice of 1 1/2 lemons
3 ripe white peaches
2 egg whites

Combine sugar with one cup of water and juice of half a lemon in a saucepan and heat, shaking pan occasionally over a medium heat until sugar dissolves.  Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and cool.

Peel peaches (plunge into boiling water for 30 seconds to do this), remove stones and process flesh in a food processor with remaining lemon juice until smooth

Stir into cooled syrup

Whisk egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form, fold into peach mixture and churn in an ice cream machine (or transfer to a freezer proof container, freeze until just set around the edges, whizz in food processor again and freeze until set).

More from the fatted calf

Just when I thought I was getting the freezer under control,  two lambs have now arrived.  It's scary in there.  I know there will be things that I won't see for years.  I'm battling on though and because they take up so much space I thought I should start making stock out of all those bones.


BEEF STOCK


1 bag of beef bones (from the butcher).  I'm not sure of the weight, just what will fit into your stockpot.  Try and get some knuckle bones and some with marrow which will add gelatin.
Olive oil
2 onions, not peeled, cut into quarters
2 large carrots, cut into chunks
Celery tops if you can get them or 2 sticks of celery cut into chunks
2 cloves garlic, not peeled
handful of parsley (use leaves and stems)
2 bay leaves
10 or so peppercorns

Preheat the oven to 190.  Place bones, onions and carrots in a large roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil.

Roast in the oven for about 45 minutes until nicely browned.

Pour the whole lot into the stock pot, getting all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan.  Add the celery, garlic, parsley, bay leaves and peppercorns.  Fill the pot up with water and bring to a gentle simmer, reduce to low and do not let it boil madly, use a simmer pad if you have one, and cook for 3-6 hours.

Skim the stock every now and then but do not stir the stock while it's cooking. 

Cook for as long as you can then take out the bones and strain the stock into a large bowl, cool and refrigerate.  Remove any fat that has set on the top (don't be too fussy, the fat has flavour too) and put into containers to refrigerate or freeze.  It keeps for 3-4 days in the fridge.

This is what happens if you go off and do something else and it boils a bit too hard:

See how it is a bit cloudy....try not to do this, although the flavour is just as good.  Five hundred times better than those crappy dried stock cubes you get from the supermarket.

This was the Albertine rose ten days ago.  I so love the look of a pretty climber on a bluestone wall.  Sadly the rain last weekend completely trashed the flowers and I have had to cut them all back. 

Love a good tray bake

I do this sort of food all the time.  It is so easy and a sort of no-brain, use what's in the fridge, chuck it in when you get home dish that always gets a rapturous reception from the starving hordes.

I find that bone-in chicken works the best for flavour and the cooking time required means that the skin gets nice and crispy.  I usually buy chicken marylands and cut off the drumsticks so the pieces are more manageable:

Then I add whatever vegies are at hand, usually red onion, cut into segments, red capsicum, cut into strips, sweet potatoes/carrots/pumpkin and sliced zucchini for a bit of colour. Throw in 4-5 whole cloves of unpeeled garlic, drizzle with olive oil and grind over a bit of pepper and a sprinkle of sea salt and that's it.  Into the oven for 45 minutes.

I put some asparagus in for the last 15 minutes.  Pour over the delicious pan juices when you are serving. Very good.

This was the sky on Thursday evening...looked very foreboding but we didn't get much rain.