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.

Long weekend

We are recovering from a lovely long weekend.  It is a bit of a tradition that we have a houseful of friends, we eat, we drink, we do lots of farmy things and on the Sunday we go to a friend's picnic in the paddock, which seems to get bigger and bigger as the years go on. 

We had some slow roasted lamb and picked veggies from the garden to cook, chased sheep

and got so muddy the kids hung their boots in the tree to dry...

We made mulled wine to take to the picnic on Sunday.  It was, I have to say, the best brew yet.

which was pretty much the tone of the weekend.

All good fun.  But back to the usual grind and I was thinking about a conversation we had over the weekend about getting dinner on the table every night and keeping it interesting...

It can become a chore.  Here is a super easy lamb recipe that is an oldie but a goodie.  Mum used to cook this using older, tougher chops, but I used some loin chops that were left over from the weekend and they worked well.  This is perfect to stick in the oven when you are on the way out the door for afternoon sport.

SAVOURY CHOPS - Serves 4-6, depending on the size of the chops

6 chops - use any cut

2 tblsp each of the following:  brown sugar, cornflour, vinegar, tomato sauce (homemade if possible)

1/2 teasp each of ground ginger, curry powder and mustard powder

1 1/2 cups water

2 tblsp sherry

salt and pepper

Trim chops of excess fat and put in a casserole dish.  Mix all the remaining ingredients and blend well.

Pour over chops and if you have time, marinate for a few hours.  Don't worry if you can't.  

Cover with a tight lid and cook at 150c for two hours.   Good with mashed potatoes.

A few winter goodies

I love winter.   Now that the Aga is on all day our kitchen it toasty warm it is time for some slow roasting and winter casseroles.  Yesterday was cold, wet 'n miserable all day and, with fires roaring, I got to do my favourite thing, which is hang out in the kitchen and catch up on some cooking and inside jobs.  I made some lemon cordial from the new season's lemons..

I can't tell you how much I am loving roasted cauliflower.  You need to cook it in a hot oven with a lick of oil so it gets burnished on the edges.

Whilst I am happy to eat it on its own, it enters a new realm when doused with a tahini sauce:

To make the tahini sauce, blend 3 tblsp olive oil, 2 tblsp tahini (unhulled if you can get it), the juice of a lemon and 2 tblsp tamari.  Give it a good mix around then taste it and add more of whatever you think it needs.  Add  little water if it is too thick.  I usually go heavy on the tahini because I love it, but you may prefer it to be more lemony.  You can add a bit of honey if you like it sweeter.  

Then sprinkle over some toasted sesame seeds and some chopped parsley.  I serve it with a blob of greek yoghurt sprinkle with some sumac.

Here are some other things I have made this week:

Slow roasted shoulder of pork

I slow cooked it for 7 hours then flashed it in a hot oven for 30 minutes to crisp up the crackling.  It was  incredibly tender.

Tarte tatin for dinner on Saturday night (rhubarb in the centre)

At last some carrots have been successfully extracted from the veggie garden.  In the past I have never had much luck with carrots, but this time I dug a deep trench and filled it with a light potting mix to plant them in, then gave them lots of liquid fertilizer.

The broccoli has been wonderful too.

One of my favourites

I planted two of these beautiful camellias in a pot outside the kitchen window.  I love the buttery cream flowers, hopefully there will be more to come.  Another reason to love winter..