rhubarb, strawberry and rose water crumble with rich egg custard

there's so much to pick from my garden at the moment

cabbages

carrots

celery

cumquats

broad beans

garlic
lettuce

parsley
rainbow chard
rocket

spinach

strawberries

turnips

watercress

lots of herbs and edible flowers

and 

red red rhubarb..at last..

rhubarb, strawberry and rose water crumble with rich egg custard

tea with hazel

ingredients crumble

250 gms strawberries hulled

6-8 rhubarb stalks cut into 3 cm batons

1 tablespoon (tbs) sugar

1/2 to 1 teaspoon (tsp) rose water concentrate

seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod

1/2 tbs corn flour

70 gms butter cut into dice

70 gms castor sugar

70 gms light moscovado sugar

70 gms plain flour 

2 tbs oats

method crumble

~ place rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, vanilla seeds, rose water and corn flour in a baking dish and mix gently

~ mix castor sugar, moscovado sugar, flour and oats and rub in butter

~ strew fruit with the crumble

~ bake at 180 deg for about 30 minutes or until the fruit is bubbling and the top is browned and crisp

ingredients custard

3/4 cup of full cream milk (i use organic unhomogenised)

1/4 cup pure cream

2-3 tbs extra milk

1 egg yolk

1 tbs sugar

1 1/2 tbs corn flour

1 tsp vanilla (i used home made)

method custard

~ put milk, cream and sugar onto heat

~ mix corn flour, egg yolk and extra milk to form a thin paste

~ add a few tablespoons of hot milk to the egg mix (to prevent curdling) and stir well

~ take the saucepan off the heat and add the strained egg mix

~ put the saucepan back on the heat and cook stirring until the custard just comes to the boil

~ take off the heat and add vanilla

tastes even better eaten while sitting outside in the sunshine

herbs de provence and rose olive oil cake

do you remember in the seventies when carrot cakes were all the rage? no..weren't even born then! well..believe me when i say they were de rigueur and cutting edge gastronomy back then..what? a vegetable in a cake? oil instead of butter? wow!

i got on the carrot cake bandwagon with great enthusiasm..come on..i'd just returned to australia after having lived in a small town in the mountains of northern greece for a few years..i was easily excited.. 

one day i thought i was being clever when, instead of using a flavourless oil, i used extra virgin olive oil to make my usual carrot cake..no surprise then that it tasted strongly of olive oil but my taste buds just weren't up to the flavour in a cake even though they were olive oil inured so i reverted to the flavourless stuff..now fast forward to yesterday when i put all of my decades old extra virgin olive oil in cake prejudices aside to make this recipe..the cake has herbs de provence in it too..what? herb de provence in a cake? wow!

i found the recipe for this herbs de provence and rose olive oil cake here when i was looking for ways to use all the grapefruit my girl kat gave me..the flavours in this cake intrigued me but i wasn't sure how i would like them but i think they're wonderful..i thought the rose water* would dominate but it's quite subtle and goes really well with the grapefruit..and the herbs de provence* add intriguing and delightful notes that complement the delicious fruity flavours of the olive oil..not being one to waste much i made candied peel from the juiced grapefruit skins..that was the only thing i did differently..oh..hang on..i did cut down on the sugar a bit..

note: * i used a french rose water concentrate imported by the essential ingredient purchased from here and herbs de provence, brought back from france by my dear friend robyn, that included rosemary, thyme, basil, marjoram and summer savoury..

have you come across any flavours that have intrigued and surprised you lately?

bitter grapefruit and whisky* marmalade

my girl kat brought me a whole lot of home grown fruit recently that she got from work..several of her colleagues had taken apples, lemons and grapefruit to work for anyone to help themselves but because there were so few takers i became the lucky recipient..i've made a few different things as well as this marmalade but i still have many kilos of fruit left..none of it will be wasted

bitter grapefruit and whisky marmalade

tea with hazel

makes 5 jars

ingredients

1 kilo grapefruit

1 kilo sugar**

1 litre filtered water

1/3 cup whisky (i used chivas regal that was gifted to me by a friend for cooking)

method

~ cut the grapefruit in quarters, remove and retain any seeds, and then slice the fruit finely

~ place the seeds in a muslin square and tie up into a sachet with string

~ place the grapefruit and sachet in a large saucepan, add water, and leave overnight or for about 12 hours

~ boil the fruit for 30 minutes

~ add warmed sugar but do not allow to boil until the sugar has completely dissolved

~ once the sugar has dissolved boil rapidly, stirring every now and again, until set has been reached

~ add whisky and boil for a minute to cook out the alcohol

~ squeeze the seed sachet to extract as much pectin possible and discard the sachet

~ ladle the marmalade into warm sterilised jars and cap immediately

notes:
*   'whisky' denotes scottish whisky whereas the spelling 'whiskey' denotes irish or american whiskey
** i tasted the jam as it was reaching set and it was not sweet enough so, after removing the jam from the heat, i added an extra 250 gms of sugar..after the sugar had dissolved i brought it back to the boil and set was reached quickly

i really like the bitter flavour of marmalade..do you?

this post submitted to punk domestics

galactoboureko with fortified wine and spice poached crab apples

bougatsa, galatopita and galactoboureko are some of my favourite greek sweets..whenever i go back to greece i make a beeline for a little hole in the wall shop in pagrati athens for bougatsa (they also sell spinach, meat and cheese pie)..i always worry that the shop might have disappeared but it's always right there where it's always been and with the same pies that i've loved since i was living there in the 70's..

they're great pies to eat for a quick breakfast on the run..when you go there the generous sized pieces of pie are already cut from larger pies that are cooked off site on huge trays..and when you order a piece the man working there..it's always a man..wraps the pie ordered in greaseproof paper and pops it into a paper bag..the exchange of paper bag and money is so quick and easy..i don't remember the exact cost but they're not expensive and they're really good quality..

while i love the quick and easy on the go bougatsa my favourite way of eating it is sitting down at a table either in a zacharoplasteion..cake shop..or in a bougatsaria..where they only sell bougatsa and coffee..with a glass of cold water and a greek coffee with 'ligi' zakeri..a little sugar......bougatsaria aren't everywhere in greece though..in my travels i once came across a small seemingly anachronistic bougatsaria in soufli in the north east of greece early one morning while i was waiting for a bus..it was the only place open at the time and it was, again, run by a man..it had the best bougatsa ever..and i also know of a couple of iconic bougatsaria in ioannina where my former husband comes from..i'm sure there are many others that i don't know of..yet..the reason i like to eat bougatsa at zacharoplasteia or bougatsaria is because of the way it's served on a plate, cut up into small bite sized pieces and dusted with cinnamon and icing sugar, and eaten with a desert fork..it's so relaxing eating it this way..

as i said earlier bougatsa is often consumed on the run and often for breakfast whereas galatopita and galactoboureko are eaten sitting down in a cafe (or it's bought to take home or as a gift) and it's eaten later in the day..greek people don't tend to eat a sweet course after a meal but they do love to linger in a cafe with a sweet little something and a coffee in the afternoon or at night..another difference is that bougatsa is thin..about one to two centimetres thick..but galatopita and galactoboureko are thicker and can range from between four to six or more centremetres thick..and instead of being dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon as bougatsa is both galatopita and galactoboureko are doused generously in a citrus or floral sugar syrup...and incidentally the only difference i can ascertain between galatopita and galactoboureko is that galatopita has filo on the bottom only and galactoboureko has filo on both top and bottom..anyway..whichever way they come they are all delicious..to me..and most greeks!

galactoboureko

tea with hazel
makes 12 generous sized serving pieces

ingredients

30 gms butter

200 gms fine semolina

2 litres milk (i used unhomogenised organic milk)

1 1/4 cups sugar* (or more or less according to taste)

3 eggs lightly beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla (i used my own)

10-12 filo pastry sheets

melted butter

method

~ in a large saucepan melt butter and once bubbling add semolina and stir for a few minutes to lightly toast and then take off heat

~ slowly add milk while whisking to prevent lumps forming

~ return the saucepan to the heat and cook until thickened and just coming to the boil

~ remove from the heat and add sugar, vanilla and, while stirring well to prevent the mixture curdling, slowly add the eggs

~ pour mixture through a sieve to remove any lumps

~ set aside to cool

~ butter a 32 cm x 22 cm x 4cm tin and layer with 6 buttered filo sheets allowing the excess to hang over the sides of the tin

~ pour the semolina custard in the tin and layer with a further 4-5 buttered filo sheets folded in half

~ bring the over hanging filo sheets over the top filo layers and brush the top with butter
~ spray the top with water to help prevent the filo lifting during baking

~ bake at 180 deg c for 40-50 minutes or until the top is browned and the custard set

note

* a greek cook would typically use a lot more sugar in this type of recipe than i did

fortified wine and spice poached crab apples

fortified wine and spice poached crab apples 

tea with hazel

ingredients

1 kg organic crab apples* stalks intact

500 mls fortified wine (i used pfeiffer topaque**)

1-2 tablespoons sugar or more according to taste

1/2 to 1 cinnamon quill

3-4 cloves

2 cumquats*** (or use orange peel with white pith removed)

method

~ place wine, sugar, spices and cumquats in a large, shallow saucepan and heat gently to dissolve the sugar

~ once the sugar has dissolved bring to the boil, reduce the heat to barely a simmer, add just enough crab apples to form a single layer, cover with a cartouche (to avoid too much evaporation), and cook gently, lifting the paper and turning the fruit every so often so that the crab apples cook evenly

~ remove any crab apple as soon as starting to soften

~ cook the remaining crab apples in batches in the same manner

~ refrigerate and use within about two weeks

notes

*     i used malus gorgeous crab apples picked from my own tree

**   i used this wine because i rarely drink and i had half of a bottle languishing..i didn't have enough so i opened another bottle! the wine was gifted to me by my daughter kat who had been gifted the wine by the wine maker who is a friend of hers

*** yeah i've got thousands of them so i use them in everything possible

serving suggestions

~ serve as the greeks typically do with a flavoured sugar syrup or do as i did and serve the galactoboureko with just a dusting of icing sugar and cinnamon, or, both that and some poached crab apples and the delicious fortified wine and spice syrup..the crab apples have a slight tartness which compliments the sweetness of the custard and syrup..either way is good..to me..not sure if most greeks would approve of me mucking around with an already great recipe..

dedicated to my boy nicholas who left for greece this week

and to his girl ruby who joins him in a month
they worked so hard to make their trip happen
so proud
so much love

cumquat cake

i pruned my cumquat tree yesterday..it's looks so much better now that its heavily fruited lower branches have been removed because the bit of trunk now showing gives the garden a bit of depth and you can see my not so discrete anymore for eating stinging nettle patch..i don't know why it took me so long to work out that a good prune was in order because its demeanor's been bugging me for quite some time..

i find pruning's always a bit of a mixed blessing..there's the good bit where i like to stand back and admire my handy work and congratulate myself on another job sorted..but then slowly my eyes dare wander towards the mountain of prunings and suddenly my mood changes..in this case there was the old classic pruner's branch disposal dilemma to contend with as well as the dozens of cumquats that needed removing from the branches..

dealing with the branches was easy..i dragged them round the back and i'm ignoring them..for the moment..i made a cumquat cake for afternoon tea with some of the cumquats..such a lovely treat to have with a cup of tea after all my hard work..i pruned my roses too..probably a bit early but i'm one of those people who, once they get a pair of secateurs in hand, are a gardening menace..anyway, to use up the stash of cumquats i've ended up with i'd have to make about a dozen cumquat cakes..even i can't eat that much cake..

cumquat cake

recipe adapted from here

ingredients

300 gms deseeded cumquats
150 gms golden castor sugar
150 gms ground almonds (commercially packaged)
50 gms ground almonds (not too fine with skin on)
100 gms dessicated coconut
1/2 teaspoon sodium bicarbonate
2 tablespoons self raising flour
3 eggs

method

~ mix all dry ingredients together
~ process cumquats until pureed
~ whisk eggs and sugar until pale and frothy
~ gently mix dry ingredients and cumquat puree into egg and sugar mixture with a metal spoon
~ pour into greased and lined 22-23 cm spring form tin
~ bake 180 deg c for about 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake just comes out clean

comments/serving

~ this cake has a slight bitterness which i like and it's not very sweet so the cumquat syrup (i used my cumquat cordial which is thick enough to use as a syrup) i served it with was a welcome addition..and it's versatile and quick and really easy to make..

happy monday monday everyone..x

winter

how i love winter

it's been cold enough to

 celebrate the new season with an open fire

cook comforting food

and cosy up in one of my quilts 

oh..how i do love it 

apple, rhubarb and ginger crumble*

tea with hazel

serves 4

 ingredients

6 medium sized granny smith apples 

4 stalks rhubarb (i used homegrown)**

1-2 teaspoons finely grated ginger

1 tablespoon (tbs) golden castor sugar

70 gms butter

70 gms castor sugar

70 gms moscovado sugar

70 gms plain flour

2 tbs oats

method

~ peel, core, cut each apple into 8 sections, and place in acidulated water
~ cut rhubarb into 4 cm pieces
~ place apple pieces in a large saucepan with 3-4 tbs water and cook over low heat stirring gently until the apples are al dente
~ place apples in greased oven proof dish along with rhubarb, ginger and sugar
~ rub the butter into the flour, sugar and oats and top the fruit with the crumble mix
~ bake at 180 deg c until the crumble is crisp and brown and the fruit underneath is bubbling

serving

~ serve with cream, vanilla ice cream or as i prefer with a homemade vanilla custard

notes

*   i've been making apple crumble for years using the same recipe but i changed a couple of things recently such as adding ginger instead of lemon to the fruit and oats to the crumble mix..i've tried adding oats before but not in such a small quantity..it seems to make the topping adhere just the right amount so that it's biscuity and crunchier than my previous crumble..
**  at last i have the variety of rhubarb i want and like..the thinner stalked red one..my last two attempts at growing it resulted in unnaturally zealous plants with green stalks that stayed green despite everything..i tried to love it but i was put off by the green gloop it cooked into so it had to go..

this in pristine condition enamel dish is a recent op shop purchase..

do you love winter too?

cumquat cordial

please don't judge me too harshly when i tell you this but i've watched the film 'meet the parents'! there's a scene in the film where milking a cat is discussed..now you're probably wondering what the heck cumquat cordial has got to do with cats and their mammaries but bear with me..

i've made a few cumquat recipes over the last few years..there've been brandied cumquats and cumquat peel, cumquat jelly (the  gelatine one), cumquat marmalade, cumquat jelly (the jam one), cumquat curd and cumquat delicious (like lemon delicious but without the lemon)..and i've added cumquat marmalade to bread and cake..if you had a cumquat tree like mine you'd understand..and you can't give them away because the only people i know who'd be interested in all things cumquat already have their own supply to deal with..but don't get me wrong here people..i'm not complaining..it's just that cumquats are so small..yeah they're ever so cute and they smell adorable but they're the devil to juice..

cumquat cordial

sally wise

i doubled the recipe which made 6 bottles

ingredients

1000 gms cumquats washed and stems removed
3 kgs sugar
8 cups boiling water
2 heaped tablespoon citric acid

method

~ place sugar, citric acid and water in a large bowl and stir until the sugar is dissolved
~ process cumquats finely, add to the sugar solution, and then leave until cool
~ strain through a muslin lined sieve pressing to extract as much juice possible
~ pour into sterilized bottles and refrigerate

to serve

~ a splash of cordial with soda water or water

comments

even though this cordial is delicious i think it needs a higher cumquat to sugar ratio..and that's not just because i've got so many cumquats i don't know what to do with them! to counteract the sweetness i've been adding some fresh juice to each glass of made up cordial and that's worked well but next time i make the cordial i'm going to add it directly to the syrup to get the tangy flavour i'm after..i've given up on the juicer method since i made a miraculous discovery that's entirely technology free..i just squeeze each half between my fingers..mieow!

do you make cordial? if so what's your favourite?

fresh pomegranate juice and raspberry jam

a ripe homegrown pomegranate is a beautiful thing..i just love peeling off enough of the pink leathery skin to get a purchase with my fingers so that i can tear the fruit open..but it's not just a tactile thing because the tearing open makes a lovely sound..and then inside is the visual delight of the glistening ruby jewels nestling in white papery folds..i know some advocate banging the back of the opened fruit with a wooden spoon to extract the arils but for me that's a bit brutal..i like to extract the fruit with my fingers..gently..gently..

some fruit just doesn't lend itself to public consumption..i'm thinking mangoes and maybe bananas..and for me it's also pomegranates because i don't like the seeds..i haven't come up with a way of extracting the chewed seeds elegantly from my mouth so i eat and seed spit in private..although i don't mind downing a few in a salad..

one way around the seed thing is to juice the pomegranate but that's easier said than done..well for me anyway because i haven't discovered a nifty non spattering crime scene way of doing it yet..it took me ages yesterday to press the arils with a spoon against a sieve to extract the juice for my jam but not as long as the bloody cleaning up took..but it was worth the effort!

fresh pomegranate juice and raspberry jam

tea with hazel
makes 2 jars of 250 mls and a bit

ingredients

500 gms raspberries*
500 gms sugar**
150 mls fresh organic pomegranate juice***
juice of half of an organic lemon

method

~ place ingredients in a large saucepan and heat over low heat until the sugar has dissolved
~ bring to the boil and boil until set has been reached
~ pour into sterilized jars and cap immediately

notes:
*     i used very reasonably priced fresh tasmanian raspberries..frozen berries could be used but i prefer not to use those available at the supermarket because they're imported
**   i like a tangy jam but for those who like their jam sweeter increase sugar quantity to 550-600
*** i needed 2 medium sized homegrown pomegranates to attain this amount of juice

now i want to make scones to have with my jam..with a whisker of cream too of course!

this post submitted to punk domestics

urban foraging

the bluestone cobbled lanes in my suburb were built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for the night men who emptied the closet toilets..despite their less than salubrious history the lanes hold a fascination for me and when i go walking down one i'm taken to another world..

out the front, on the main streets, houses and gardens on their best behaviour

less self conscious when viewed from the lanes

back fences ramshackle and discordant

creepers and trees run riot

hear the sounds of the night man's cart

the clip clop of the horses hooves

and the wheels on the cobbled bluestone

in the eerie early morning dark 

see the vapour steaming horse nares

smell the sweaty hot horse smell

and (ignore) the stench of human excrement

tough, dark and serious

don't mess with me

volcano spewed aphanite
hewn by human hand
and hauled from the west of melbourne

i never see anyone else when i go walking down any of the lanes and that i like..it's a way of getting away without getting away..and an added bonus are the fig festooned branches that drape themselves seductively across my path..each autumn i am able to pick figs to my heart's content..and this year has been no exception..usually i just eat them fresh but this year i decided to have another go at making fig jam..yep..i've made fig jam many times before but even when i've added lemon peel and juice to counteract the sweetness i've still found fig jam sickly sweet..

not too sweet vinegar fig jam

tea with hazel

makes 1 medium jar*

ingredients

450 gms slightly under ripe figs, stems and blemishes removed, and cut to preferred size (i cut mine small)

325 gms sugar

100 mls filtered water

40 mls red wine vinegar

2-3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

method

~ place sugar, water and red wine vinegar in a saucepan, heat slowly, stirring, until sugar has melted, then bring to the boil

~ add the figs and boil until setting point has been reached (i used a potato masher to break up persistent pieces of fig)

~  remove from the heat and stir in balsamic vinegar to taste

~ pour into sterilised jar and seal

note:

* the recipe may be doubled but any further increase in quantity tends to effect the cooking and setting times which can have a deleterious effect on the taste, colour and consistency of the jam


are you an urban forager? if so, what do you find in your area?

this post submitted to punk domestics

don't judge a banana by its colour

one black mummified banana languished in the fruit bowl for a while until it became an embarrassment..i secreted it in the vegetable crisper so my daughter (who's now living with me) and sunday's birthday guests (especially those to whom i'm related) wouldn't see it and so i could spare myself the strange looks..you see..i just knew that banana was destined for stardom! 

oh no..not another banana bread recipe

ingredients

250 gms organic white bread flour

100 gms organic wholemeal flour

2 ripe bananas mashed*

1/4 cup sultanas

1 cup low fat milk*

2 tablespoons (tbs) cream*

2 teaspoons (tsp) coconut butter

1 heaped tbs organic candied lemon peel (i used homemade) finely cut*

2 tsp honey

1 tsp yeast

1 tbs active starter

2 tsp murray river salt

filtered water

castor sugar

a little extra milk

method

~ in the bowl of a stand mixer add flours, banana, milk, cream, coconut butter, peel, honey, yeast, and starter and mix adding filtered water if necessary to achieve a shaggy dough

~ leave to autolyse for 20-30 minutes

~ add salt, mix briefly, rest for 10 minutes then mix briefly again

~ remove bowl from stand mixer, cover with a damp tea towel and leave until doubled

~ remove dough to a flour dusted bench and gently knead in the sultanas

~ place the dough in a bread tin and leave, covered, to prove

~ brush the top of the loaf with the extra milk

~bake at 220 deg c for 20 minutes, cover with brown paper or foil, reduce oven temperature to 200 deg c and continue to bake for another 20 minutes or until cooked

~ spray the top of the loaf with water and sprinkle generously with castor sugar and return to the oven for 3-4 minutes (optional)

note: * these are all foods i used to avoid food waste

low fat milk: my daughter makes coffee every morning and once she's boiled the milk for the coffee a couple of times she used to discard it but i now get her to keep it for me to use in bread making

cream: i served cream with a cake i made for my son's birthday and there was some left over that i'm slowly using up

candied lemon peel: my neighbour recently gave me most of her beautiful lemon crop and i retained the rinds after juicing and candied them..

caveat: so much of my cooking is informed by what i'm growing and what i have in the kitchen..sure.. sometimes i need to shop for a particular ingredient to make a meal that i've planned but it's more the exception than the rule..this means that i rarely replicate dishes exactly..and i certainly don't expect anyone to replicate the recipes i post..it's just fun to share my passion..having said that though it's one of the best banana breads, yeasted or otherwise, that i've ever made..x

this post submitted to yeast spotting

edit note: for those not trying to use up ingredients like i was use full cream milk and omit the cream

orange, currant and pistachio cous cous salad

i first came across this salad when i was working in a cafe while i was studying for a degree as a mature age student..along with typical cafe work we were also required to cook, make salads and do a lot of ingredient preparation..for instance on a sunday i'd make scones first thing in the morning before opening the cafe and throughout the day in between the other work we'd make omelettes in electric frying pans for anti pasta or make and cook terrines..we'd also do a lot of chopping and grating of various vegetables according to the future needs of the chef or ourselves..

navel oranges are fantastic at the moment..the ones i prefer are the thicker skinned variety and at the moment they are $0.68 c/kilo at my local shop so i bought a whole lot yesterday and i used some to make this salad..i don't follow an exact recipe but to make it you need couscous, finely cut parsley, orange rind (i like long thin curls), orange segments, orange juice, currants and pistachios..just make sure you prepare all the ingredients first before adding the juice because it's hard to mix them all in once the juice is added and add enough juice to make a fairly wet mix..after sitting for a while it will be absorbed..oh..and i like to add the pistachios at serving time otherwise they go too soft..

 i even like to eat it for breakfast!

blackberry clafoutis

we took off east last week to go in search of blackberries again after our meagre pickings out west the previous week..as soon as we arrived at the spot i had in mind we spied the burgeoning bushes..in a short amount of time we filled our containers and we could have continued to pick an almost unlimited amount but we were constrained by a lack of containers and the heat..i've eaten quite a few of the 3 kilos i picked, made a blackberry syrup, frozen about half a kilo and today i made a blackberry clafoutis..

blackberry clafoutis
tea with hazel

ingredients

350 gms blackberries

330 mls milk

60 gms cooled melted butter

60 gms plain flour

80 gms sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

extra butter

1 tablespoon extra sugar

method

~ heat oven to 180 deg c

~ butter a 2 litre oven proof shallow dish

~ place berries in the baking dish

~ beat eggs, add flour and butter, and beat well until flour incorporated

~ mix in vanilla, milk and sugar

~ strain mix over berries

~ cook for 30 minutes

~ sprinkle with extra sugar and continue to bake until the top is browned and the custard is just set (mine took 10 more minutes) 

serving

serve warm

i served it with a spoon of double cream and a drizzle of chambord


note

i don't like clafoutis too heavy or sweet so i have adapted my recipe over time to suit my preferences

chocolate cupcakes with morello cherry custard and almond praline cream

a dear friend of mine came for dinner last night so i decided to make cupcakes for sweets with some flavours that have been lingering at the back of my mind for a while..even as i put the different elements of chocolate cake, morello cherry custard, morello cherries and almond praline cream together i wasn't sure whether it would be a harmonious combination or a disaster..happily they were deemed a success..

chocolate cupcakes with morello cherry custard and almond praline cream
an original tea with hazel recipe

ingredients

cupcakes*

125 gms unsalted butter

125 gms castor sugar

80 gms srf (self raising flour)

20 gms plain flour

20 gms dutch cocoa
2 eggs

2 tbs milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp mahlepi (optional)**

pinch salt

icing sugar

morello cherry custard

1 jar of morello cherries drained and juice reserved

2 tbs corn flour

2 tbs castor sugar

3 tbs kirsch

praline cream

1/2 cup castor sugar

2-3 tbs water

1 tsp lemon juice

1/3 cup almonds

double cream

method

~place the almonds for the praline cream on a tray and cook on 180 deg c until roasted

~set aside to cool
~place cooled almonds on a baking paper lined tray

~lower oven temperature to 170 deg c

~line a 12 hole 100 ml capacity muffin tray with paper cases 

~sift the srf, plain flour, cocoa and mahlepi

~beat the butter, salt and castor sugar until pale

~add eggs one at a time beating well between each addition

~add flour and cocoa mix and milk and vanilla in two batches beating gently between each addition 

~divide batter between muffin cases 

~bake for 20 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer
~set aside to cool

~place 1 cup of the reserved cherry juice on to heat
~add 2 tbs castor sugar (or extra to taste)
~mix 2 tbs corn flour with a further 1/4 cup of cherry juice
~add a little of the warm cherry juice to the corn flour mix
~then add the corn flour to the saucepan and cook until thickened and just coming to the boil
~remove from the heat and add the kirsch
~set aside to cool

~in another saucepan put the sugar on to heat
~add the water and lemon juice and stir until the sugar crystals dissolve brushing down the sides of the pan with a brush dipped in boiling water
~increase heat and cook until the sugar turns a medium caramel colour
~remove from heat and immediately pour over the almonds
~once cooled process the almond praline finely leaving a few small pieces of toffee

to assemble***

~mix the half of the praline with 100 mls cream
~cut a deep cone shape circle from each cupcake
~cut the cone segment in half horizontally and put the cupcake top part aside
~spoon a large teaspoon of the cherry custard in the cupcake
~press four morello cherries gently into the custard
~top with a large teaspoon of praline cream
~place cupcake tops on the cream pressing them gently to secure
~dust with icing sugar

notes:
* this is a recipe that i've adapted over the years..replacing some of the srf with plain makes the cake a bit denser which is what i wanted here
**adding the mahlepi to this recipe was another one of my attempts to experiment with a less well known greek ingredient..i thought the bitter almond and cherry flavour of the mahlepi would compliment the morello cherry custard with the kirsch and the almond in the praline but i couldn't really detect it at all in the cake..next time i will double it..i was more cautious this time after my masticha disaster
***the praline cream and cake assembly are best done close to serving time..

it's a 'happy st patrick's day' coincidence that the cake is on a green plate..x

pomegranate wonderful..

'oh you are a wonderful thing..you've lived up to your name..only two years old and you're planted in a northerly position exposed to the hottest, driest and windiest weather in summer but this year you've produced your first crop ever of eleven pomegranates'..

'pomegranate wonderful'..punica granatum

'your fruit looks so lovely hanging on the tree like decorative and festive orbs that, on the one hand, i don't really want to pick you..but i'm also tempted to taste those secreted ruby jewels teasingly hidden among your white parchment like folds'..

i decide to tear one open and i find the palest pink facetted seeds that taste a little tart but that are deliciously juicy..they need another month to be fully ripe i think..but i will not waste these gems because i will use the juice in a salad dressing..

go to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomegranate
if you are interested in reading about the
pomegranates rich and fascinating
cultural and symbolic history

'icecream' for breakfast

in winter when it's cold many of us want a warming breakfast such as a bowl of steaming porridge which is a favourite of mine..but it's summer here in melbourne. and the temperatures have been around the 34 deg c range over the last two days and the prediction is that tomorrow will be more of the same..so for me a hot breakfast is not on my preferred breakfast menu..

i was getting ready this morning in my typical leave everything to the last minute style so breakfast was either not going to happen or it was going to be a hurried affair..of all the various options ranging from toast to cereal to grabbing a banana on the way out of the door none appealed so in the end i decided to make a smoothie..and because i didn't have much milk the smoothie was very thick even though i added a little water.. in fact it was more like an ice cream than a drink and so for decorums' sake i served it in a bowl and ate it with a spoon..and surprise surprise it was really good..in a cool way..

i've made plenty of smoothies before but today by sheer chance i had created a deliciously cooling and very healthy breakfast for a hot summers' morning..and i realised i'd made the summer equivalent of winters' steaming bowl of porridge..

breakfast 'icecream'

it's not really a recipe but more of an idea..but this is what i did today..

100 mls organic non-homogenised full cream milk
1 frozen banana (i cut bananas into chunks before freezing them for ease of use later)
1/4 cup frozen rasberries
1 tbs lsa (linseed, sesame seed and almond mix..i grind my own but it can be bought ready ground..
filtered water

put all ingredients except for the water into a blender or food processor or use a stick blender (i use a bamix) and process until smooth adding filtered water if necessary to achieve the consistency desired..scoop into a bowl and eat immediately while it's still frozen..


there are also many other delicious summery options that come to mind such as replacing:

the banana and/or raspberry with fresh or frozen mango, strawberry, pineapple, peach, pear, blueberries, passionfruit (add after processing the 'ice cream'), stewed apricots and so on..

some or all of the milk with yoghurt or buttermilk or fresh fruit juice

the milk with soy or almond milk


other ingredients could be added either before or after processing depending on the ingredient and personal preference too to personalise the 'icecream' such as finely ground oatmeal, chia seeds, flaxseed oil (linseed oil), honey, maple syrup, cocoa, coffee granules or frozen espresso, other nuts apart from almonds and dried fruit such as cranberries, sultanas and figs..in fact most favourite smoothie ingredients could be adapted to suit breakfast 'icecream'..

i know i was in a hurry but i really must learn to eat more slowly!

so tell me what would you put in and/or on your breakfast 'icecream'?  

i love making jam..

i think it's embedded in my dna..let's face it it's not that long since human survival depended on preserving food in seasons of plenty in readiness for leaner times..now, at least in australia, we can buy most food stuffs all year round and so there is no intrinsic need for us to stock our larders for survival purposes..but there is something deep within my psyche that gets great joy and comfort from the process of preserving and also from the knowledge that i have been involved in a minor way in my food supply chain..i feel pretty darned good when i open up my preserves cupboard and see the jars of jam glistening orange or ruby, the lycopene capsules in the guise of tomato puree and the naked slices of bottled pears and apples..

i said i love making jam but i only really love eating it when it's quite fresh..so once it's a few months old i tend to only use it in cooking in foods such as steamed puddings, tarts and biscuits..part of the problem for me is the way the colour and flavour deteriorates over time when the jam is cooked to a good set..to avoid this i tend to boil my jam to a light set but then it is prone to mould..

today i decided to experiment with my strawberry jam making by pureeing the fruit rather than cutting it into pieces..and because i find most strawberry jam too sweet i added a lot more lemon than most recipes recommend and i also added citric acid..then i cooked the jam to a light set so that it can be used as a sauce on ice cream or yoghurt, as a jam for filling cakes, crepes or on toast or bread or swirled through home made ice cream after churning..i was going to add grand marnier to the jam before bottling it but i decided that it would be more versatile to add it to the jam at the time of use..and for the first time i processed my jars of jam in my fowler's preserver rather using the usual method of bottling the jam in sterilized jars and capping with lids or cellophane..if i find that, in the long term, the keeping quality and the flavour of the jam is superior to it being bottled in the traditional way i will continue using this method..

strawberry jam or preserves

ingredients (i made two 1 kilo lots)

1000 gms strawberries washed and hulled
900 gms granulated sugar
juice 1.5 lemons
1 tsp citric acid

fowlers vacola method

put a plate in the freezer to use to test the jam set
wash 8 (for 2 batches of jam as above) each of: size 14 (300 mls) vacola jars, 3 "lids, size 3 rubber rings and clips
put rubber rings on jars and place them on a heat proof non metalic surface
have a funnel and ladle ready
set up vacola unit

puree berries in a food processor or blender and place in a large heavy saucepan

bring to the boil, lower heat, and simmer for 15 minutes

remove from the heat and stir in the sugar, lemon juice and citric acid

place the saucepan back on a low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved
brush down the sides of the saucepan with boiling water to remove any sugar granules

once sugar is dissolved turn up heat to high and bring to the boil 

once boiling place a heat mat under the saucepan to prevent scorching

stir often removing scum as it develops

test jam set at regular intervals by placing a teaspoon of jam on the plate from the freezer and, after allowing it to cool, pushing a finger into the jam..if it wrinkles it is ready..take the jam off the heat to prevent overcooking the jam while testing set especially as the jam gets closer to being ready
once the desired set has been reached turn off the heat and stir in an almond size piece of butter to dissipate bubbles and any remaining foam*
ladle jam into jars and leave to cool before sealing with lids and clips
place jars in unit and fill with cold water, turn on the heat, and process the bottles for one hour (it should not boil in this time)
once processed empty unit and remove the bottles to a heat proof non metallic surface to cool
after 24 hours the clips remove clips and check the seal by observing for concavity of the lid and the security of the lid's placement
label when cool
store in a cool dark place

traditonal method

8 jars with 250 mls capacity

new lids or cellophane covers and rubber bands and labels

vinegar

place clean jars in the oven, together with a metal ladle and a funnel, on 100 deg c to sterilize while 

preparing the jam

put a plate in the freezer to use to test the jam set

follow method above to *

take jars from the oven and place on a heat proof non metallic surface

ladle jam using funnel into hot jars and seal with lids or cellophane covers that have been wiped with vinegar and secured with a rubber band

label when cool

store in a cool dark place

afternoon tea anyone?

mango ice cream

in summer when mangoes are at their best and cheapest i indulge and buy a box of them every now and then..many are eaten as is..the cheeks are cut off and the flesh slashed to the skin forming easily dispatched cubes.. even with this method it's a messy business especially defleshing the seed which my less than salubrious self can be found doing, dripping mango juice down my chin and onto my clothes if i'm not careful, leaning over the kitchen sink..

before i came across these beauties yesterday i'd been contemplating sweet mango recipes and very few of the ideas i came up with appealed to me..i don't fancy mango in cake or cake with mango curd but when i thought of mango ice cream it definitely seemed very appetizing..so i looked online and found a recipe that i adapted today to suit what i had on hand and also because i like to play around with foody ideas..

i didn't have to buy anything to make the ice cream.. the lemons i have are home grown ones that i bought last week from an op shop for 0.20 cents each, i made yoghurt last night using a method recommended by brydie and my mint is rampant..and instead of glucose i used honey, and just to see the effect i replaced some of the yoghurt with coconut cream and i added the lemon zest because i love to come across bits of lemony zest goodness in ice cream..

8 large not too ripe mangoes for $12

mango icecream recipe

ingredients

1 large or two small ripe mangoes peeled and flesh cut into medium dice

50 gms icing sugar

50 gms honey

juice and zest of 1 large or two small lemons

400 gms yoghurt 

100 gms coconut cream

1 tbs finely cut mint

method

put all ingredients except for lemon zest into a food processor and process until well pureed

add lemon zest

churn in an icecream maker according to the manufacturers instructions (i have a kitchen-aid ice cream making attachment)

remove ice cream from the churn and place it into a bowl, cover with foil and place in the freezer

at the same time as i bought the mangoes i bought 2 kgs of bananas for $3..now that might not sound that exciting to some of you..but to us aussies..well to this aussie it is great because i haven't bought bananas for months because they've been $15 per kg..the price increase was due to the devastation of 85 per cent of the $200 million industry by cyclone yasi early in the year..but the plantations are producing again after intensive redevelopment of the industry..

i think my banana buying frenzy was a tad over enthusiastic because i now have a dozen bananas that will ripen fast in the heat we've been experiencing in the last few days..i will freeze a few peeled bananas for smoothies and make banana ice cream using a similar recipe to the mango ice cream..hopefully that will take care of them..it seems to be the story of my culinary life that i start fires in order to work out the best way to put them out :)   

the ice cream is good by the way..a nice balance of sweet, sour, creamy, minty and fruity mango flavour..i'll let you know how the banana ice cream goes..i rather fancy putting a praline through it or maybe making a butterscotch sauce to swirl through it after it's set a bit..i'll see at the time..