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.

Home grown

The agapanthus have been lovely this summer, they just love the blazing heat.  It's time to cut them back now though so they don't spread their seed.  An English friend once told me agapanthus are considered an exotic plant in the UK.  Here they are verging on a noxious weed!

We had a totally homegrown dinner the other night.  It was very simple, but really you just don't need to mess with food that tastes so good as it is.

I was quite chuffed with this.   The lamb was tender.  The tomatoes have been beautiful, the basil abundant.  The zucchinis have just taken off so need to be checked every day so we don't end up with marrows.  There is immense satisfaction in turning those tiny seeds into food you can eat, with no pesticides or herbicides, producing food that is so full of flavour.

I marinated a pork scotch fillet last night.  It was also very tender.  I meant to cook it on the Weber, but got distracted and forgot to light the heat beads.  So it went into the Aga.  

I didn't photograph the finished product as Tim was very late.  So when it was cooked (thank you digital meat thermometer) I put into the warming oven where it sat for 45 minutes.  Such is the wonder that is the Aga, it was still perfect when we carved it, incredibly succulent.  Here is the marinade I used:

3 preserved lemon rinds (make sure you rinse them and scrape off all the pith), chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
a few flakes of dried chilli (you can use fresh, I just didn't have any)
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tblsp honey
1/4 cup olive oil
chopped coriander.
Combine the above and thin it down with some water if necessary.

I cooked it on a rack beneath which I put a sliced onion and some fennel.  I then poured in about 1/3 cup of verjuice with 1/2 cup water.  It took about an hour.

Sorry for the silence.  We've been away on a little adventure and it has taken a few days to regroup, recover and shuffle the kids off to school.  We did a bit of this...

and a bit of this:

We were not alone. Australians were there en masse, taking advantage of the favourable exchange rate.

It is always good to be home, it must have been so hot while we were away. It seems unbelievable that it is so dry here and yet in other parts of the country it just will not stop raining.  I had some fairies watering the garden which meant that what was left in the veggie garden was kept alive.

Beautiful basil...

and tomatoes on the way..

sweetcorn and zucchinis.

I have been busy making tuck to send back to school, bits and pieces for the school lunch box, pesto  and of all things, beef broth because I had the bones in the freezer, and who would have thought it was sooo good for you? (and here) 

I also made a Shepherd's Pie.  This really is family cooking at its most sincere.  I used the lamb leftover from a roast (teenager removed from the house = halved food consumption) and some potatoes from the garden.  It is very easy,  if I have enough meat I make two and freeze one.

Shepherd's Pie

The quantities are not really specific, as it depends on how much meat you have leftover.  

Olive oil

1 onion, peeled

1 carrot

1 stick of celery

1 clove garlic, peeled

About 300g cooked lamb

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 tblsp tomato paste or homemade tomato sauce (or both, taste and see what you think)

1 tblsp worcester sauce

1 teasp Vegemite

In the food processor whizz the onion, carrot, celery and garlic till it's finely chopped.  By all means do this by hand if you prefer.  

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy pan and gently saute the vegetables for about 10 minutes until  they are soft, don't let them brown.

While they are cooking chop the meat into big chunks and whizz in the food processor (you could use a mincer).  Add to the vegetables with the rest of the ingredients and cook on for about 10-15 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper (it needs plenty).

Place in a suitable dish and top with mashed potato.  

Bake in a moderate oven for 35 minutes till golden and bubbling.  Look the other way when your children add lashings of tomato sauce.

Doesn't the flowering gum look pretty next to the golden elm..

Happy New Year

It is 40 degrees outside today.

 There is a hot northerly blowing, drying my garden and the rest of the farm to a crisp.  Exceptionally unpleasant to say the least.  Still, it is cool in the house and a good opportunity to catch up on some jobs.

I promised a pic of my gravlax (after I started to carve it)

Do try this.  It is incredibly easy and goes a long way.  Great for a party.  

GRAVLAX - Adapted from a Gourmet Traveller recipe

1 side of salmon, skin left on and pin boned (about 1 kg)
500g coarse sea salt
400g white sugar
1 cup finely chopped dill
2 tblsp juniper berries, coarsely crushed
1/4 cup gin (or vodka)

Mix salt, sugar, dill, juniper berries and gin in a bowl.
Place a long piece of glad wrap on the bench and double it so you have a piece long and wide enough to completely wrap the salmon.  Put half the salt mixture on the glad wrap and place the salmon on the top, skin side down.  Cover with remaining salt mixture and wrap up tightly.

 Put in a big roasting tin with a baking tray on the top.  Weigh down with a couple of tins from the pantry (or anything heavy).
Refrigerate for 12 hours, then undo it all and turn over.  Re-wrap, replace weights and refrigerate for another 12 hours.  When we travelled to the beach I wrapped it in paper and put it at the top of the esky sitting on two freezer bricks and it survived the three hour journey with no problems.

I served this with some lovely dark wholemeal bread and lemon.  I made a mustardy vinaigrette to go with it because there was no dill in the shop to make my usual dill dressing that goes so well with salmon, crayfish and yabbies. 

DILL DRESSING

1 egg yolk

1 teasp dijon mustard

1/4 cup chopped dill

1/2 cup peanut oil 

2 teasp lemon juice

1 tblsp light sour cream

Whizz egg yolk, mustard and dill in the food processor.  Gradually add olive oil in a thin steady stream until thick.  Add lemon juice and whizz.  Stir in sour cream and season to taste.

Speaking of yabbies, we got our first catch for the summer the other day...

More on yabbies at a later date.

We came home from our beach time to find that the beetroots were enormous.  I love beetroot roasted and in a salad or just as a veg, but when it gets big I usually make a homemade version of the beetroot we get in tins.  This is quite an Aussie thing, a staple of the hamburger with the lot.

This  is for 4-5 large beetroot.  You can use smaller ones and leave them whole.

Wash the beetroot thoroughly and cook in boiling water until tender.

Cool and remove skin.  Cut into slices.

In a saucepan put:

3/4 cup water

1.5 cups white wine vinegar

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 teasp black peppercorns

1 bay leaf

10 cloves

1/2 teasp mustard seeds

1/2 cinnamon stick

1/4 teasp salt

Bring to the boil and simmer for five minutes then allow to rest for about half an hour for the flavours to develop.  Strain.

Put the beetroot into jars and cover with vinegar mix.  It keeps for ages in the fridge.

Had the best New Year.  While boating on the bay we saw a few of these:

Hope you had a good one too.  Here's to 2012, with lots of rain when we want it (now would be good).

Christmas

This was meant to be my Christmas Eve post, but time got away.  Our staff Christmas drinks was more festive than expected, leaving us all feeling a bit dusty on Friday.  I am thrilled to report that the tree was finally done, not as huge as last year's, but the man with his chainsaw could only give us 15 minutes of his time...

We relocated to the beach for Christmas.  I made gravlax for the first time and can I say it was really easy and delicious.  We were so not doing the turkey and plum pud this year.  I have just realised that I left my camera cord at home so I will publish the photos next week.

Oh, and we had an inch of rain last Sunday.  It is a simple equation: rain = happy husband.

 I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and here's to a happy and healthy 2012.

Christmas goodies

Still praying for rain.  It is so dry here.  Apparently some is coming tonight.  The Chinese Star Jasmine doesn't seem to mind.

I love these garlic plants coming into flower, it is like they have their own little hat..

I have been busy cooking up Christmas goodies to give as presents this week.  I have made lemon cordial and summer berry jam as well as preserved lemons and apricot jam,

 which I always make in December.   In a mad rush of blood to the head I was going to make a Christmas cake but decided to make a Bara Brith, which, according to our English jackaroo, is a popular Welsh fruit cake.  It is infinitely easier to make than a Christmas cake and although not necessarily a Christmas treat, I thought I should make it for him, he being so far away from home 'n all, and besides, his mother is Welsh.

After a bit of googling I discovered it is translated as 'speckled bread' and many recipes have yeast, but as luck would have it in a trawl through my recipe folder I found a clipping with an easier recipe, which I think came from Matthew Evans:

BARA BRITH

500g mixed dried fruit (just sultanas, raisins & currants)

85g sugar

300ml hot tea, best made in a pot

500g SR flour

2 tblsp marmalade

2 teasp mixed spice

1 egg, beaten

warmed honey to glaze

Start the day before.  Mix the fruit and sugar in a large bowl and pour over the hot tea.  Leave overnight.

Preheat the oven to 170c.  Grease and line a large loaf tin (or two smaller ones, it freezes well).

Give the fruit a stir and add the flour, marmalade, mixed spice and egg.  Mix well.

Put the mix into the loaf tin and bake for about an hour or until a skewer comes out clean.  Brush the top with warm honey when it comes out of the oven.  Cool in the tin for about five minutes before turning out on a cake rack.   Good with butter and a cup of tea.  This has been going out with the packed lunches to the sheep yards all week.

December

The Christmas Lillies are out a bit early.

Good grief...we are not only already in December, we are well into December.. where has the time gone? Christmas is looming and I am deeply ashamed to report that our tree is not yet up.  I need a man and a chainsaw with half an hour spare and that seems to be an impossibility at the moment.

The thing is, we are shearing and weighing and trucking lambs and it is all a bit manic because it has not rained here for ages.  This puts us into panic mode because we need the rain to freshen up the feed to keep the weight in the lambs.  The rain seems to be all going to the north, or to Melbourne and missing us altogether.  There are of course other farmers who are doing hay or harvesting who don't want it to rain...fussy bunch, aren't we?

Otherwise there have been races and school plays, a wedding in Perth, the kitchen garden at school, many trips to Melbourne and a couple to SA and loads to do in the garden.  I harvested my garlic the other day..

and now its hanging in the shed drying out.  I was, according to Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden  book, supposed to leave it until the summer solstice, but I was worried that it was rotting.  It is so nice to have your own garlic, as the imported stuff is sprayed with some nasty chemicals to preserve it.

There has been lots going on in the kitchen, just no time to blog about it.  I have made the bread that I saw on A Wee Bit of Cooking a couple of weeks ago, it is dangerously delicious, especially with strawberry jam...

We have had a great crop of broad beans this year.  I always blanch them and slip off the outer skin before using.  

Mostly I simply dress them in olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice and scatter with some chopped mint leaves...

or add some crispy pancetta and some shavings of parmesan, or even some marinated goat's cheese.

We have had quite a few double yolker eggs this spring....look how big they are compared to a normal egg.

The other thing I have been experimenting with is resting marinades for meat.  I found a recipe for a lamb resting marinade in Maggie Beer's Cooking with Verjuice book and have been trying it out with lamb.  It is easiest with a boned out leg, but can be used with one on the bone as I have done here:

So if you have time you marinate the lamb in olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt & pepper for a few hours before cooking it as usual.  Then as it comes out of the oven you pour the resting marinade over the lamb, cover and rest in a warm place for 15-20 minutes, turning it over a couple of times.  

Resting Marinade (loosely based on Maggie's version)

1/4 cup olive oil, 3 tablespoons verjuice, a couple of sliced shallots, roughly chopped parsley &  oregano,  s & p.    Mix together.  Maggie had preserved lemon in hers too, which adds a great flavour.

It occurred to me that you could do this with smaller cuts of meat, like steaks or lamb loins and just alter your marinade to suit your taste.