Stone fruit

I'm back already.  So much to share and I'm on a roll.  Plus it's about 38 degrees outside, far too hot to be shovelling cow manure onto the garden, which was my original plan for the day.

We have had a hot and dry spring and summer this year but that seems to have suited the stone fruit:  there were lots of apricots...

and a good haul of nectarines..

After making enough apricot jam to last until next year I still had lots of apricots to use up so instead of stewing them I decided to make caramel apricots, which can be eaten as a pudding,

or put in a tart.

CARAMEL APRICOTS  

About a kilo of apricots, stoned and halved

250ml water

125g castor sugar

50g butter

1/2 vanilla bean, split

Put the sugar and water in a frying pan and cook to a light golden caramel.  Stir to dissolve the sugar, then try not to stir it while it is bubbling away.  Don't walk away because it will burn in a matter of seconds.  As soon as it starts to colour nicely, take it off the heat and let it sit for a minute, giving the pan a bit of a swirl so the colour is even.  Stir in the butter  and vanilla bean then add the apricots and return to a gentle heat for 6-8 minutes until the apricots soften.

These are bloody delicious just with ice cream and some toasted nuts but you could also use the crumble topping  I mentioned last time.  This also works with nectarines....equally delicious.

While we are on the topic and because I had a couple of requests, here is the recipe for the Nectarine Cake I put on Insta the other day.  You could do this with apricots or plums, I'm sure.  

NECTARINE CAKE

About 1 kg of nectarines (it doesn't matter if you don't quite have a kilo)

200g butter, room temperature

1 cup castor sugar

Finely grated rind of 1 lemon

1 teasp vanilla extract

3 eggs

250g SR flour 

1 teasp baking powder

2/3 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup honey

Preheat the oven to 180C and butter and line a 22cm springform pan.

Peel the nectarines by dropping them into a pan of boiling water for about a minute.  Remove and let them cool slightly before peeling and halving, removing the stones and cutting into quarters.

Cream butter, sugar, lemon rind and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well.  Sift flour and baking powder and add with the buttermilk and fold gently until well incorporated.  Pour into prepared pan then arrange the nectarines on the top.  Bake for approx 45-60 minutes until cooked when tested with a skewer.

While it is cooking gently melt the honey and when the cake is cooked brush with honey to glaze (you could also use apricot jam).  Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before removing the side of the pan.

So make the most of the last of the stone fruit, which I noticed is still in the markets.

I also wanted to share a couple of podcasts that I have been listening to...both are totally addictive and I can't wait to go on a long drive of do the ironing so I can listen.  And I hate ironing.  I am a bit slow of the mark with the first one, Serial, which came out a little while ago, but I started listening to it late last year and have been trying to catch up ever since.  Two fascinating stories analysing possible miscarriages of justice; I won't go into too much detail because it will sound more boring than it is but see what you think...only proviso is that you must start at the start.

The other one is Chat 10 Looks 3, a chatty discourse between Annabel Crabb and Leigh Sales in which these two engaging super women "talk about books, television, radio, movies, food, politics and whatever else they feel like".   I have been onto this one for quite a while.  It is hilarious and haphazard: taped at their houses, or in a car, or a random ABC office and is always fascinating.  Both of them have demanding, deadline-driven jobs in journalism, write books, produce television shows,  keep abreast of politics and have young families so how on earth they manage to even read a book or watch television is beyond me.  How I would love the intellectual dexterity to actually remember the book I have just read, let alone chat wittily and intelligently about it....and I no longer have small children (which usually causes a degree of brain rupture) as an excuse.

It may only serve to confirm any feelings of inadequacy that you might harbour but it definitely worth a listen.

Honey

Well hello blog, fancy meeting you in this dusty dark corner of the internet.  It has been a long time I know, and I was even thinking of abandoning you, but you have been saved by the honey.  More on that later.  I took this photo of the sweet peas back in the Spring, which is when I started writing this post.  The Summer has been busy but there's been lots of action in the kitchen and with Autumn approaching I thought I'd get back into it.

So much to report.  Since our last encounter I have learnt to make Komboucha,

which I will discuss in another post.

Have been to Marrakech:

And Chengdu in China

We  had a visitor on the verandah:

I have also been watching a bit of this:

and spent a bit of time here

It is horribly dry here and I am in a state of despair about the garden.  There has been little rain here since September and the farm is looking pretty parched.   In all the time we have been here I have never known this dam to be dry:

I haven't been able to keep the lawn green at all, and it went brown just before Christmas.  Some of the trees in the outer garden that don't get watered may not make it.  Oh well, I suppose it is February and it is southern Australia, so to a degree it is to be expected but I really cannot wait for it to rain.

At least I have been able to keep the veggie garden going...

But getting back to the honey.  I am delighted to announce that the beehive I was given for my birthday has yielded a spectacular 30kgs of honey from two extractions.

It is really very good honey, and I can say that because, let's face it, it's the bees who do all the work. My contribution comes from making different flowers available in the garden all year for the bees to go about their business.  So needless to say I have been trying to use it in some different recipes, but really, on toast, with butter, is hard to beat.

PAN FRIED PEARS WITH HONEY Serves 4

2-3 pears (not too ripe), peeled, cored and quartered

1 tblsp butter

1 tblsp brown sugar

1/2 teasp cinnamon

1/4 cup verjuice

another 1 tblsp butter

1/4 cup good quality honey

1 teasp vanilla extract

grated rind of 1/2 lemon

toasted hazelnuts or crumble topping to finish

Melt the 1 tblsp butter in a frying pan over a medium high heat.  Add the sugar and cinnamon and stir until well combined. Add the pears and cook for a couple of minutes until golden on both sides.  Remove pears from the pan and place in a serving dish.

Add the verjuice to the pan and boil rapidly for a minute or two stirring occasionally until the sauce has reduced slightly.  Stir in the remaining butter, honey, vanilla essence and the lemon rind and simmer for a further couple of minutes.  Pour the sauce over the pears and top with hazelnuts or crumble topping.

Crumble topping:

You can make this in a big batch and keep it in a container in the freezer.  Then use it to sprinkle over any fruit or ice cream to add a bit of crunch.

50g SR flour

15g ground almonds

35g castor sugar

100g cold butter

Preheat oven to 180c.  Line a large baking sheet with baking paper.

Whizz above ingredients in the food processor in short bursts till it resembles chunky breadcrumbs (don't over do it).   Spread the mix onto the tray and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes.  Check and give it a good mix around, it will brown on the edges first.  Cook until evenly golden, about 10 more minutes.

Lemon time

When the snowflakes are out, I know it's really winter, and gosh haven't we been dealt some wintry weather lately?  It's been very hard to prise myself out of the warm doona in the dark to take the dogs for a run in the mornings (let's just say that it doesn't happen every morning) and I think they prefer to be here anyway...

The farm is looking lovely and green at the moment, although it's hardly wet 'n muddy, which it often is at this time of the year.  We have been carrying what can only be described as the United Nations of the cattle world.....

We had a lovely trip to New Zealand in the holidays, to stay with some friends near Queenstown.  It is impossibly beautiful.....

and enormous fun. 

When we got home I was faced with the urgent need to prune the roses.  It's a big job, but I'm always so glad when it's done:

The Albertine is always the worst

After very busy holidays with the kids home and two lovely English vet students staying with us it is all very quiet on the kitchen front.  Tim is off carbs, dairy and sugar which is somewhat limiting but I must do all I can to support him.  As you can see the lemon tree is fully laden so I have putting them to work and not just in the gin and tonics.

In this jar is the peel of 3-4 lemons and vinegar.  I leave the lemon and vinegar to infuse for 2-3 weeks then dilute it 50/50 with water and use it as a multi purpose spray.

Cheap, effective and environmentally friendly...got to love that.  I also made a lemon syrup yoghurt cake, which has to go into the category of an oldie but a goodie:

LEMON SYRUP YOGHURT CAKE - with a whisper of rosemary:

185g butter, softened

1/2 cup castor sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/4 cup ground almonds

1/2 teasp bicarb soda

1/2 cup natural yoghurt (I use greek)

2 lemons

Syrup:

2 lemons

1/4 cup castor sugar

1 sprig rosemary

Preheat the oven to 180c.  Grease and line a 20-22cm round cake tin.

Cream butter and sugar for a few minutes until pale then beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides as you go.

Sift flour and bicarb soda and fold in with the almonds.

Gently mix in the yoghurt and the grated juice and rind of two lemons.

Turn into tin and bake for 30-45 minutes, depending on your oven. 

While the cake is in the oven make the syrup so the rosemary can infuse.

Heat the juice and zest of two lemons with sugar and the rosemary in a saucepan stirring until the sugar dissolves.  Set aside.

The cake will be ready when it is golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Using the skewer, poke holes all over the cake and pour the syrup over so that it can soak in.  Allow to cool in the tin then using a plate over the top, flip it over then flip onto your serving plate.  You can make some more syrup for when you serve it up if you like.  This is one of my all time favourite cakes, on a par with Nigella Lawson's Damp Lemon and Almond Cake from How to be a Domestic Goddess, which uses rather more butter and eggs.

Another use for the mighty lemon is this herby lemon salt from The Kitchn, I am definitely going to make a jar of that this afternoon.  I also whipped up a lemony salsa verde, which would go so well with lamb, beef or chicken...

Of course it is also time for Seville oranges, so I always make my year's supply of marmalade in the middle of winter:

PS:  If anyone would like some lemons let me know.  I also have lots of purple iris if anyone needs to fill a dry sunny patch in the garden.  This is what they looked like in the spring:

Winter

 These jonquils were bravely showing their faces on the first day of winter.  Today the garden is quiet and wet after a good gentle rain last night.  The farm is looking green and after some warm winter days the feed has grown.

It has been pretty quiet in the kitchen lately as well, we have been away a bit and I'm afraid the vegetable garden is not providing the abundance that it possibly should.  We have been replenishing the beds with compost mix so it is ready to go but not much can be planted at this time of year.  And my  new chooks have been decimating any new seedlings.  Look what they did to the kale:

Tim is delighted...he hates kale and really cannot understand what all the fuss is about.  I use it to make kale chips.  He hates those too.

I was delighted to find the last of the granny smith apples that the birds had left behind...

So I picked them and have been making cakes and good old stewed apple with cinnamon and cloves....it is wonderful on porridge with yoghurt.

There's masses of rhubarb so I made a couple of batches of apple and rhubarb relish, which goes very well with cold meats and cheese.  Based on a recipe from the CWA cookbook.

APPLE AND RHUBARB RELISH:

This relish has a lovely ruby colour.  I also did a batch in the Aga overnight and it became a brown colour but is still delicious, reminiscent of Branston Pickle, and excellent with a sharp cheddar.

750g rhubarb, washed, trimmed and chopped

3 big or 4 small green apples, peeled, cored and chopped

300g onions, chopped

small knob of ginger, grated

2 small red chillies, seeded and chopped

150g sultanas (optional)

1 tblsp brown mustard seeds

1 teaspoon salt

1 cinnamon stick

500g sugar

1 3/4 cups white wine vinegar

Put all the ingredients into a large pan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve sugar.  Simmer uncovered for about 1 1/2 hours until thickened, stirring occasionally.

Pour into sterilised jars and store in a cool, dark place.

I have also been making Medlar Jelly:

The other thing I wanted to tell you about, and have been meaning to for ages, is pickled celery.  It's probably more of a summer thing but it is such a good way of using up excess celery I make it all year.  It is also really good with cheese.

I have used Herbie's pickling spice but if you can't get it, don't worry, you probably have all the ingredients in your pantry.

PICKLED CELERY

Slice the celery to whatever size you like and put it in a jar.

In a saucepan put:

1/2 cup water

1 cup white wine vinegar

2 tblsp sugar

1 tblsp salt

2 teasp pickling spice 

OR if you don't have the pickling spice:

2 teasp mustard seeds

1 teasp black peppercorns

1 teasp fennel seeds

1 teasp cloves 

1/4 teasp chilli flakes

1 bay leaf

Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve sugar.  Take off the heat and cool slightly,  have a taste and adjust if necessary.  Pour over celery and allow to cool. 

  Keep in the fridge.  It lasts for ages and is particularly delicious in egg sandwiches.

While I'm on the topic of eggs and because it seems to be so long between drinks for this blog I have to tell you about my latest thing:  steamed eggs.  I often make one for lunch to put on top of a salad that is looking a bit boring.  You steam the egg for exactly six minutes then run it under a cold tap before peeling.  So good sprinkled with za'atar.