Category: recipes

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… 

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.

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….

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.

gardening · recipes

Beans

JudithLeave a comment

broad beans

Every year I raise a patch of broad beans – and not because I am a broad who loves beans – but rather because I enjoy presiding over a vigorous leafy crop laden with produce. A thick forest of tall growth bursting with fat pods does wonders for the soul.

Invest in a packet of seed and plant yourself some rows when next you are given some sunny moments of alone time on a future weekend. If the soil is moist, there is not much else to do but wait for a few weeks to see your bean shoots appear. Once established, rather than deep watering, broad beans love a good spray. Soon white flowers with black spots will appear – the forerunner to your pods. During this period, as your crop develops, make regular visits and marvel at the dense growth.

Other than a gentle watering, these beans will ask nothing of you, will not notice if you’re sporting gumboots with pencil skirt and will stand silently by you as your strategy for dealing with an aberrant child is formulated.

Here is a soup derived from a recipe in my new soup bible, a tome that will be seeing me well through Winter 2013 and beyond. (Many of my favourite food people have had a hand in this book: Sophie Grigson, Monty Don and Sarah Raven, so it was impossible not to own a copy.)

1 tbsp olive oil
3 onions sliced
1 leek sliced
1.5 kg shelled broad beans
4 garlic cloves crushed
4 new potatoes, peeled and chopped
salt and pepper
flat leaf parsley
parmesan cheese

  1. Heat oil in a large pan over a medium heat.
  2. Add onions and leek. Soften for 10 minutes stirring often.
  3. Add the beans, garlic, and potatoes. Stir then pour in 3 litres of water. Season well with salt and pepper.
  4. Increase heat and bring to the boil, then simmer for 15-20 minutes. Cool and then process with stick blender.
  5. Serve with parsley scattered over and some parmesan cheese on top.

broad beans growingPostscript: People originating from distant parts prefer to eat the beans freshly from the pod, with a glass of arak to see them down. Therefore, my beans rarely make it to the cooking pot, with often only a pile of vacated skins left abandoned on the counter top as evidence that they ever were.

recipes

Soup

JudithLeave a comment

soup vegetables

There comes a point where it is time to literally take stock, and when I reach this juncture, this is the soup I turn to. It ticks all boxes: nutritious, economical, substantial, simple, and when a dietary line must be drawn in the sand, it is always the first meal that kicks off the new regime.

One of the fastest ways to churn through dollars and ingest large portions of energy dense food, is to buy lunch. If the decision regarding what to eat is made minutes before consumption, it is heavily influenced by raging hunger hormones and low blood sugar. All rational thought will evaporate when a large roast pork roll with gravy at $10 a pop looms. By the end of the week, $50 has also evaporated, and 500 grams has cleverly attached itself in its place – except not to the wallet but rather the waistline.

The best way I have discovered to sidestep this scenario, it to have a pot of soup on hand. Dished swiftly into a soup mug or bowl in the morning, a quick zap at lunchtime and a nice lunch is available. No purses opened, no lipids stored.
1 tbspn olive oil
1 onion sliced
1 leek sliced
3 sticks celery chopped
2 medium carrots chopped
1 litre chicken stock
salt and pepper
1/2 cup rice
1 can chick peas or butter beans
handful of shredded cooked chicken
parsley

  1. In a large pot, heat the oil on a medium heat and gently cook the onion, leek, celery and carrots, until the onion has softened.
  2. Add the stock and season with salt and pepper. Increase the heat and add rice.
  3. Once the soup has reached the boil, turn down to a simmer and cook for 15-20 mins, or until rice is cooked.
  4. Add the chickpeas/beans and shredded chicken and simmer for a further  10 minutes.
  5. Serve with parsley scattered over and fresh bread on the side.

vegetable, chicken and rice soup

Postscript: This is the kind of soup that can be added to or subtracted from. Check your refrigerator or your preferences and make the necessary changes.

recipes

Plum

Judith4 Comments

PlumsFor keen preservers, the produce section at the supermarket or the local fruit shop is a veritable candy store over the summer months. After the monotonous display of apples, pears and bananas over the chilly months, it is easy to be dazzled by the array of mangoes, peaches, nectarines and apricots on offer. Plums arrive a little later and often so briefly, that if excess time is spent admiring and pondering, the window of preserving opportunity slams shut, and another year must pass before these beauties arrive again.

So my friends, do not be caught out. Gather your old jars, select a choice kilogram of nicely ripened plums (any variety) and after an hour or so pottering in the kitchen you will have about five lovely jars of plum jam.

1 kg plums
1 kg jam setting sugar

Remove stones from plums and chop finely or process in the food processor. In a large pan add chopped plums and sugar, and cook over a low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Increase heat and boil rapidly for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and test a small amount of jam on a saucer that has been chilled in the freezer. The surface should wrinkle when pushed. Pour hot jam into hot sterilised jars and seal immediately. Leave to cool and then wipe away any stickiness on jars with a damp cloth. Add your labels.

Plum jamPostscript: Purchasing a kilogram of fresh plums is a win –  win situation. You are either going to end up with a well stocked pantry shelf, or if time gets away and good intentions are lost, a lovely fresh feast.