Author: Judith

my blog is plainandsimpleblog.com
recipes

Mermaid

JudithLeave a comment

tuna indgredients

What do you get when you put tomato, garlic, tuna, rocket and olive oil together? Give up? A delicious sauce to stir through linguine AND to be hoed into within 15 minutes (ya hearing this Jamie?)

Canned tuna does not make it onto the top ten amongst our brood, so to find a combination of ingredients that carries it along discreetly is a wonderful thing. Somehow, this simple gathering seems to work its magic, and I am able to trot cans out of the pantry regularly without suspicious looks anymore. It’s possible that part of the mystery stems from the quality of the fish in the can and Serena is good stuff. (On the rare occasion that I am whipping this gem up for my own consumption, I use the chilli variety – and then you’re talking.)

Another explanation may be the mermaid. If my childhood memory serves me correctly, Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid was quite an enigmatic young lass, who returned to the sea leaving many questions unanswered. I’m not saying there is a connection – but this tuna definitely stands alone…..

 

tuna and rocket linguine

1 packet of linguine
olive oil
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
5 good-sized, ripe tomatoes, thickly sliced into rounds
large can of tuna
100g baby rocket
salt and pepper

  1. Fill a large pot with hot salted water and bring to boil. Add linguine and cook according to recommended time.
  2. Heat olive oil (be very generous) over medium heat in large frying pan and cook garlic and tomato slices.
  3. Turn slices regularly and when they begin to soften and breakdown, stir through the undrained can of tuna.
  4. Cook through for a few minutes and load rocket on top. Gradually mix rocket through, it will wilt and shrink.
  5. Season with salt and pepper.
  6. Drain pasta and return it to pot.
  7. Pour over the pan of sauce and mix through. Serve.

sirena tuna

Postscript: and not only is this product top quality, but Sirena and I can swap makeup and fitness tips while the pasta boils… 

family · health and wellbeing

Friend

Judith6 Comments

old ted

Depending upon how fortunate you have been across the years, you will have, positioned securely in the background of your life, a handful of souls who simply by the knowledge of their existence, will provide a level of psychological solidarity to your life that cannot be purchased or generated overnight. The significance of these people has been shaped through time and experience and they carry a history of you within them. Various life stages may mean that for extended periods we may see little of them, but neither the passage of time nor geographical distance will weaken the connective threadwork that has been firmly reinforced through hours of conversation, shared moments and candid disclosure. I am referring of course, to old friends.

It is so easy to fall prey to the sheer volume of ‘to dos’, that in a blink turn your days into weeks, months and sometimes years. The difficulty lies in recognising this so that before long you have a thousand loads of laundry done, one hundred kilometres of floor vacuumed, five hundred kilograms of vegetables peeled and one meaningful conversation with a friend. While I’m not advocating stained garb, a filthy house or packaged meals, I’m just being time-keeper, signalling that enough time has elapsed in one life station and it’s time to move to the next.

What prompts you to stare down the predatory time-eating beast clothed in schedules, chores and responsibilities may be a phone reminder, a calendar jotting or a strategically placed photograph. Whatever method you choose, embrace it, strut past this brute and seek out your friend. No doubt you will find them where you last left them, now filled with many new stories to relate and genuine interest absorb all of yours.

good to see you again

health and wellbeing · recipes

Toasted

Judith2 Comments

toasted cheese slices

There are very few days that cannot be salvaged with a generous serving of grilled cheese on toast and a cup of tea – preferably consumed in bed.

I realise statements like these catalyse nutritional authorities to lunge for their soap boxes, but I’m certain physicians of the psyche would applaud the mental payoffs gained from a good crunch of toasted cheese and an absorbing read.

Be it bitter weather, late arrival or hectic schedule, there are times where no straight thinking soul would consider assembling pots, pans and utensils. These are the junctures in life when a knife and a plate is all that is needed to see one happily sated. Feed this to tired children, antsy teenagers or to a drop-ins-for-coffee and witness storm clouds transform to rainbows.

With the encyclopedic range of cheeses and breads at our disposal, this delicious snack/meal can be as sophisticated or restrained as you like. In typical P and S fashion, mine comprises crusty white and tasty. With grill set on high, the kettle boiling and the anticipation of quality time spent with some engaging text, what hours ago seemed like an insurmountable day, suddenly appears golden.

cheese on toast Postscript: and of course a little bit of Instagram to garnish.

recipes

Honeycomb

Judith2 Comments

chocolate coated honeycomb

Ever wondered what to do with all that leftover honeycomb and chocolate you have? Nor have I, but if there’s ever a reason to stockpile it, this brownie recipe is the one. Shards of brittle caramelised sugar amongst fudgy chocolate brownie – pair this with a nice cup of tea and you have what I would consider to be the ultimate treat.

As autumn slides in, and with it the cooler evenings, what better way to see you through the complexities of Downton Abbey life than a cup of tea and a good chunk of this.

chocolate honeycomb brownie

In fact, I’m sure if Mrs Patmore had culinary associations with those ‘across the pond’, the resulting recipe exchanges would have made possible the serving of this racy brownie to the drawing-room, and all manner of crises may have been averted.

If only Tom could have chowed down on a piece of this scrumptious bake, I’m sure he would be less inclined to espouse his unpopular political opinions (unfortunately alienating him from his English in-laws). Edith’s recovery from her jilting would have been far more expedient had she been offered a slice,  and the stress caused by the recent financial crisis that almost had the Abbey thrust on the open market, would have swiftly been alleviated. Perhaps if Bates could have been slipped a piece through the bars, there would have been more joy in his life than simply Anna’s letters, and even the sourpuss O’Brien might have seen the positive after a good munch.

And, despite its American origins,  I’m sure Granny would have secretly loved it.

Not a Downton fan and haven’t a clue about anything I’ve just written? Don’t be concerned. If your blood is red (not blue) and you’re up for a bit of luxury in the evening, then here are the steps to take:

1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
180g butter
200g dark chocolate
3 eggs, beaten
100g chocolate coated honeycomb, roughly crushed

  1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius and line a rectangular pan with baking paper.
  2. Combine flour, cocoa, sugar and baking powder. Mix well.
  3. Melt butter and chocolate and pour into dry mix with the eggs. Mix until smooth.
  4. Stir through 3/4 of the honeycomb. Pour into baking pan.
  5. Sprinkle remaining honeycomb evenly over the top and bake for 35 minutes or until firm. Slice when cool.

instagram cadbury

Postscript: Just wanted to include a snap of an old friend who has accompanied me on many baking adventures and who gave a standout performance in this batch of brownies – Cadbury.

health and wellbeing

Rest

JudithLeave a comment

As we prepare to touch down into another weekend filled with ‘projects’ to tick off, ‘engagements’ to keep and ‘leisure activities’ to cover, don’t overlook the spine that supports all of this activity – rest.

In an age where we can artificially illuminate our lives beyond moonrise, we skew our natural sleep patterns by adhering to odd work shift hours, scheduling recreational pursuits well into the night and being lured by the temptation of digital entertainment, long after our bodies would benefit from simply being tucked into the sheets. Sleep, once a respected commodity, has now been relegated to the backstalls of our life choices.

However, short of returning to the Paleolithic age, we are not about to be forcibly blacked out from 7pm to 7am in the near future (mind you, with all of the current hype that surrounds the Paleo Diet it may not be surprising to see an emergence of a ‘darkness lifestyle trend’) so it’s nice to factor it in for yourself, where possible.

We have fauna in our midst that achieve this brilliantly.

Having said this, I cannot kip for all the tea in China, so rest defined by me, will be a quiet flip of a magazine or the week-end paper – enough time to turn a barking session into a casual shoulder shrug as I catch a glimpse of a teenage bedroom on my way down the hallway.

Finding a patch of peace somewhere, for a short space, is often all it takes to turn an Everest climb of an afternoon ahead, into a pleasant stroll among wild flowers. Even if sleep eludes, or may interfere with your night pattern, time out from the motion of life is a good thing – for us all.

Asleep in the hammock

Postscript: I really need to take a leaf out of the two and four-legged creatures under my roof – they all have the art perfected.

recipes

Roll

Judith2 Comments

sausage rolls

Party food for dinner – a concept that is greeted very warmly in this household.

Every time I enjoy someone’s homemade sausage rolls – and I have tried some incredibly inventive ones: Thai chicken, turkey, pork and chive – I make a mental note to serve them as a dinner dish, then promptly forget the idea! This week however, sausage rolls mentally materialised whilst planning the weekly meal schedule, so there was some rolling and cutting to be had.

Encapsulating vegetables, meat (and plumped up with grains if you wish), there is no reason to dismiss  these little delights as inappropriate on a nutritional basis. Visiting the local butcher for sausage mince rather than the supermarket, is a must, and we are fortunate enough to have one that produces a delish mix. Don’t take the following how-to too seriously, just put in what you like, bake and enjoy.

1kg sausage mince
2 carrots, grated
1 large onion, grated
1 egg, beaten
salt and pepper
any fresh herbs you happen to have on hand, finely chopped eg parsley, oregano, thyme
4 sheets puff pastry
milk for brushing pastry
sesame seeds

  1. Mix together (with hands) mince, carrots, onion, egg, salt and pepper and herbs.
  2. Lay out the first pastry sheet and slice in half.
  3. Make two long rolls of the mince mix and lay them down the centre of each half. Brush one long edge with milk and roll the pastry over the mince and seal.
  4. Brush the smooth top with more milk and scatter the sesame seeds over the top.
  5. Slice each log into four pieces.
  6. Repeat this process with the remaining two sheets. (If you have extra mince and pastry, keep going and make as many as you can, because after they have cooked, the sausage rolls freeze well.)
  7. Bake in a 180 degree celsius oven for 15 – 20 minutes or until cooked through. Serve with condiments of your choice.

Postscript: Some serious scoffing took place here, as this batch yielded 32 and none remain standing….

personal style

Kitsch

JudithLeave a comment

Hula girl air freshener

It may interest you to know that this fetching lass exudes an exotic fragrance as she stands hula-ing on the dashboard as you motor along on your daily commute. If you are not immediately repelled by this concept and its accompanying figurine, then you are one of us – a lover of kitsch.

The individuals responsible for coining the term kitsch and then defining it as tawdry vulgarized pretentious art, would never have been referring to my china double-fish serving dish, which has pride of place on the kitchen wall (as an example of course of unpretentious art). There is certainly nothing that could be described as vulgar about the luminous scales or the piercing eyes that these beauties exhibit. Is there?

wall hanging fish

And who could possibly consider these two wooden Canadian flying geese above the clock anything but the height of 2013 kitchen chic?

flying geese

I blame the era I was raised in, where impressionable minds were subjected to cringe-worthy nodding dogs, cuckoo clocks and ‘here ’tis’ plaques on restroom doors (fortunately I did manage to escape the garden flamingos and crochet dolly toilet roll covers of an earlier, yet equally kitschesque era). The legacy this early exposure has left behind, is an irresistible attraction to the quirky, character-filled odd stuff, that was all produced in Japan and shunned by those of sophistication as kitsch. If you consider yourself part of this cultured few, then this bright little fisherman with his nets at the ready situated amongst his quaint village infrastructure, would have little effect on your heart and soul as he appears at the bottom of your cereal bowl after the last spoonful is scooped away.

Alfred Meakin Fisherman

The slightly unsettling part of writing this post was the fact there was no lack of subject matter around this home to capture…..even down to the tea caddy.

Postscript: To clarify, the hula girl and her corresponding dashboard do not belong to me….not that there’s anything wrong with that of course.

gardening · recipes

Red

JudithLeave a comment

Bowl of Tomatoes

When faced with a beautiful fresh ingredient, the first response if often to take a complex approach and involve it in an elaborate recipe, only to lose its original charm. As we know, tomatoes are the foundation upon which many wonderful meals are constructed but taken singularly they are a true delight.

Tomato season is at its height right now, and we are being presented with healthy specimens to devour. The truth is, garden stock really outshines supermarket stock when it comes to the flavour of these beauties, so it seemed a shame to mask this in a pasta or casserole. Rather than sacrifice this rarity, I rallied the tomatoes’ flavour cousins: basil and parmesan, and built some rather clumsy rustic bruschetta on sour dough for lunch this week.

Tomato Bruschetta

If even that seems to be taking things a little too far, slice them in half and season with salt and pepper – a between meal snack that any nutritionist worth their salt would have to approve of.

Brown paper bag

Postscript: Some of you may have noticed I am having a love affair with Instagram at the moment, hence the ”’arty tomarty” images. I urge you to get involved and unearth your inner Annie Leibovitz.

recipes

Banana

JudithLeave a comment

Banana Cake

You may recollect (about a year or so ago), due to the devastating impact of the weather in the northern zones of our land, the banana crops were obliterated. It was not uncommon in ensuing months to see their price per kilogram reach $15. In our home (and I am certain in many others), bananas were given equal respect as would be paid a King Island lobster or a jar of Russian caviar. During this time of the banana’s elevated status,  ‘who ate the banana!’ was frequently shrieked, a child who returned one in their lunch box had a lot of explaining to do and never was a hand of the curved yellows left to blacken in the bowl. Ever.

Fast forward to modern times and we see our ‘nanas back to $2.99 kg – and the last couple in the fruit bowl at the week’s end resembling the ace of spades.

‘The great banana shortage of 2011’ has been indelibly burned on my psyche, so in true 1930’s depression style, I have been bagging the black boys up and tossing them in the freezer – two by two. Mrs Beeton would be thrilled to know, that this week, I have begun my resurrection of these frozen orphans and they have had a very happy ending in a delicious banana cake. Here is where their journey ended.

125g softened butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 cups SR flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 cup milk

icing sugar, lemon juice

  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and grease a loaf pan.
  2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy then beat in vanilla essence.
  3. Beat in egg.
  4. Add the bananas and mix through.
  5. Fold in the sifted flour.
  6. Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the milk and then gently stir this through the mix.
  7. Spoon mix into prepared pan and bake for approximately 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
  8. Mix icing sugar with some lemon juice and spread over the cooled cake.

lemon iced banana cake

Postscript: the turquoise and white bowl in the background is vintage Pyrex. The amish farming scene pattern it wears is called ‘Butterprint’  – and I just love it.

recipes

Vintage

JudithLeave a comment

Chocolate Ripple Log

As a child of the 70’s, any mother who produced a chocolate ripple cake for the ”sweets table” at a local function, won my everlasting respect.

Not sure if it’s the fact that its made from my favourite childhood biscuit, it’s delicious on a hot day straight from the fridge Nigella style, or it’s sheer simplicity, but this would be one childhood dessert that has carried over into adulthood for me, without skipping a beat. Sandwiching biscuits together with cream and making a log – it doesn’t come much simpler than that.

So with temperatures currently in the high 30’s, I could think of nothing nicer than opening the refrigerator to a chilled chocolately log at sunset. Extended setting time is required to allow the cream to seep into the biscuits and become all cakey. So, first thing in the morning, once everyone has vacated, pour yourself a coffee and trowel yourself a creamy log. The sense of accomplishment you’ll radiate by 9.30am will astound.

To get your chocolate ripple cake up and running, here is the recipe, straight from the crinkly pack – and if you feel the need to slip on a kaftan before you begin, by all means do.

1 x 250g packet Arnott’s Choc Ripple biscuits
500ml thickened cream
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
cocoa powder

  1. Using an electric mixer, whip together cream, sugar and vanilla until stiff.
  2. Spread a little of the cream along a long serving plate to make a base. Spread one biscuit with 1 ½ teaspoons of cream then top with another biscuit. Top with another 1 ½ teaspoons cream then place biscuits on their side onto the cream base on the serving plate. Repeat until all biscuits have been used to form a log.
  3. Spread remaining cream over entire log. Cover loosely with foil then refrigerate for a minimum of 6 hours to set. Just before serving, dust log with cocoa or sprinkle with grated chocolate if desired. Cut cake diagonally to serve. Serve with seasonal berries.

chocolate ripple sliced

Postscript: A friend will routinely pulverise a packet of chocolate ripples into powder, scoop the resulting crumbles into individual containers, throw in a scattering of sour worm lollies, and market them at fetes and cake stalls as ”Worms in Dirt'” …. just so you know.