Thursday, March 28, 2013

Easter long weekend

It's safe to say that I've been baking like a mad thing!

I can happily tell you that I have not bought one hot cross bun from either of the two big supermarkets (or anywhere in actual fact) and the majority of the ingredients of my homemade buns are organic: organic, home-pushed egg, organic water flour, organic sultanas... 

B delighted each of his preschool teachers with a goody bag of hot cross buns this afternoon as a 'thank you' for their dedication to the job.

We are heading to the farm for the Easter long weekend where's no mobile reception. J is so snowed under at work that he suggested staying home to do work. "That is exactly why we are going away," was my response. I know it's difficult to tear yourself away from work especially when it's busy but sometimes you need perspective too. Family time is the most important thing in the world. Work can wait. It will never be all done. No one, on their death bed, ever said "I wish I worked more."

We are meeting friends from Melbourne and Ulladulla down the coast and it will be so good to have our kids playing together. We've all known each other since BK (before kids) and there's so much to catch up on!

We are planning an Easter egg hunt with the six kids, a BBQ brekky, a BBQ lunch,  and a swim.

I have packed the essentials for the kids - books, Lego, drawing implements... but I remembered that I had a stash of egg decorating kits hidden away that I bought on sale (50c each) after Easter last year! I have egg stickers, dye and I'll take some onion skins to dye eggs too. I'll have to practice 'blowing eggs.' There's always a chance it will rain so it's good to have these activities up my sleeve. If we don't get them done it's because we're outside enjoying the sunshine and there's always next year!

Are you heading away for Easter? Do you celebrate a traditional Easter or a variation on the theme, like we do?



 

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

tagine dream

A few months ago I 'broke the budget' and bought a tagine. Actually they were on sale and we'd only been out to a local Moroccan restaurant a few nights before so I was inspired. I bought a Microstoven tagine (25cm) and it cost about $30 (down from $60). You can see why I couldn't resist!

The great thing about the Microstoven is that it can be used on the hotplate, that way you can cook off and caramelise your flavours before they cook through in the oven.

The first dinner I cooked in the tagine was a lamb dish and I was so disappointed. I didn't give the lamb enough time to cook and it was tough. I have since cooked a chicken dish and tonight we'll have another chicken dish.

ingredients
serves 2 


2 onions
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tspn each of cumin seeds, tumeric and cinnamon
2 tspn coriander seeds
2 chicken marylands
1 small potato, diced
1 small sweet potato, diced
500ml homemade salt reduced chicken stock 
10 dates
2 halves homemade preserved lemon, cut into narrow strips

For the cous cous
500g cous cous
2 tblspns olive oil
2 tblspns lemon juice
Butter
Pepper
Salt

optional: a few threads of saffron

method
Preheat the oven to 160ºc. Cook off the onion, garlic, tumeric, cinnamon, coriander and cumin seeds. Remove from the heat and add the chicken. Brown the chicken. (These organic marylands are cheap as chips and a good alternative to thigh fillets.)


Remove the chicken and return the onion and spices to the pan. Add the diced vegetables, preserved lemon and return the marylands to the tagine. Pour in 200ml stock around the ingredients of the tagine and nuzzle the dates in between the chicken and vegetables. Pop a couple under the chicken too. Sprinkle a couple of saffron threads on the chicken before placing it in the oven for an hour and a half.

There are a few benefits of having a husband who has to jet-set for work. He returns with kitchen 
supplies from across the globe. This saffron came home after a recent trip to Greece. 


Serve with freshly chopped vietnamese mint, parsley and basil stirred through cous cous.

I will never make cous cous the way I used to (in a saucepan) after I watched Ottolenghi on SBS two weeks ago. Below is his method for cooking fluffy cous cous. This recipe requires 500g of cous cous. I halved this recipe for the two of us and used he remaining chicken stock inc combination with water.

Ottolenghi's cous cous

Line the base and sides of a roasting tin, approximately 20 x 30 centimetres, with baking paper and put in the couscous, along with ½ a teaspoon of salt. Pour over 800ml of boiling water and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir and leave to soak for 10 minutes, covered with foil. Dot the soaked couscous with the butter cubes, cover with foil again and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and fluff up with a fork.
Once the couscous has cooled slightly transfer it into a large bowl.
Finally add 2 tblspn lemon juice, ½ teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of pepper and mix gently. Finish with a sprinkle of herbs.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

my fish pie

ingredients
4 large potatoes, cut into cm cubes
2 tablespoons milk
1 knob butter
2 leeks, washed, white parts sliced into 5mm rounds
2 carrots, grated
bunch washed and finely sliced kale
1 handful parsley
4 medium fresh fillets fish, cut into 5cm x 5cm pieces
juice of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons seeded mustard
salt and pepper, to taste

method
Preheat the oven to 230ºc. In a large saucepan, cover the potatoes with water and boil until soft. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the leeks and fry until they are soft and becoming translucent. Add the carrots and stir intermittently for 2 minutes until carrot softens. Add the kale and parsley and 2 tablespoons water and stir intermittently. Remove from heat once kale has wilted. Drain the potatoes. Add the milk and mash. Season with salt and pepper.


Line a large (30cm x 15cm) Pyrex dish with the fish pieces. Squeeze the lemon juice over the fish. Evenly layer the fish with the kale mixture and spread the seeded mustard over the top. Cover with the mashed potatoes and breadcrumbs.


Bake for 25-30 minutes until the breadcrumbs are browned and crunchy. Yum!

optional

You can also add a handful of cheese between the kale and potato layers. Usually, recipes for fish pie call for firm fish but I don't think it matters all that much. The dish isn't so much about how it plates up but how the flavours meld together. I've used bream for this recipe but when I've made it, in the past, I've used salmon and prawns too.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

raising children who 'think'

Most people in Sydney complain about their commute to work. I have to say that I think my husband and I have made a good thing out of a potentially frustrating thing.

A couple of times a week J runs to his stored kayak and kayaks across the harbour to his work. Of course this is the labour intensive way to commute but he loves it. He gets his 'me time' and gets fit too. My one day of work has been a blessing after four years of full-time parenting. I love going to work. I get brain stimulation and adult contact. My Thursday is also my Monday and my Friday wrapped in one!

I have to leave the house just before 7am to get across Spit Bridge before it gets really hectic but I am not complaining. Each work day (when I don't get a lift with a friend) my 'me time' is in the car with a podcast - usually from Conversations with Richard Fidler - and this morning I stumbled on a beauty!

"Hara Estroff Marano is Editor-at-Large of Psychology Today in the US. She argues that modern attitudes to parenting mean anxious mums and dads are crowding out the unsupervised play that kids used to enjoy. As a result children don't get much opportunity to solve their own problems, to practise co-operation and to test their leadership skills. She is the author of the provocative book A Nation of Wimps." (http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/03/10/3160467.htm, [n.d.])

Hara's podcast was based around the fact that unsupervised play "turns on genes for brain growth... (so children gain) control over (their) attention, (their) ability to pay attention, control over their emotions and, ability to control themselves." 

Who wouldn't want this for their children?

Too often parents are controlling the lives of their children from their majors and marks at school to their socialising. Children are being driven from soccer to Mandarin to violin lessons and tutoring. I have to say that, as a teacher, I have witnessed this even with children as young as four and five!

You can listen to the podcast (or download it) here.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

one a penny, two a penny







This is my second batch of hot x buns in as many days. It pays to perfect a recipe and what works for one person may not work for another. I find it funny that a recipe, written in black and white, with the same method and ingredients can result in a different outcomes.

I decided to try a different recipe for hot x buns (mine were quite stodgy) and came across a recipe in my bread maker manual. This recipe required 1 tablespoon each of mixed spice and cinnamon. I love spicy hot cross buns! My bread maker kneaded the dough for an hour and a half which made for the fluffiest little morsels to have ever come out of the bread maker!

For a few years now I have wondered how I could volunteer at a local organisation but with two children I couldn't figure out how that would work. Some years ago, when B was small, we had a babysitter once a week so I could work for a local education centre that assisted marginalised and homeless men to get employment and re-educate. The work was somewhat satisfying but a few hours a week wasn't enough to get my teeth into it.

A month ago I was sitting at a bakery cafe when two women walked into the shop and came out with a garbage bag full of day-old bread. The women worked for a community centre that provides assistance to women escaping relationships of domestic violence (among other services). That started my brain ticking.

I love cooking. I love the idea of volunteering and I don't like seeing the fruits of my labour go to waste. Whipping up a cake once a week (if I have time) for the women's support group is a good way to bake for fun and volunteer without having to find care for the kids. It helps the community centre save their money for more important expenses.

Do you volunteer for an organisation? Have you ever wanted to but couldn't work out the logistics? Volunteering Australia has a stack of information for people considering volunteering their time or you could do what I did and find a local organisation that could utilise your skills. It could be once a year - serving hot meals on Christmas Day.

I made this batch of hot cross buns for the women today. I hope they enjoy them.

ingredients for Breville bread maker

I have included this especially for Mum and Grug!

290ml water
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tblspn butter
1 tspn salt
2 tblspn sugar
3 1/2 cups (525g) bread flour
3 tblspn milk powder
1 tspn bread improver
2 1/4 tspn yeast
1 tblspn ground cinnamon
1 tblspn mixed spice

* Use dough setting (8 on mine). At completion of cycle, knead in 1 cup (150g) sultanas and 1/4 cup (45g) mixed peel. My cycle took 1 hour and a half. The machine did all the kneading so I was pleased!

method

Divide dough into 18 pieces and shape into rounds. (I used a floured surface and a sharp knife). Place closely together in a lightly greased (I greased then floured) tin. Cover loosely with cling wrap and leave to stand in a warm area for 20  minutes or until doubeled in size. To make the paste for the cross, combine the self-raising flour and water and beat to a smooth paste. Put into a baking paper funnel or a small piping ban fitted with a plain nozzle.** Using a sharp knife, make a slight indentation int he shape of a cross on top of each bun just before baking and pipe the prepared paste into the cross.
 
Bake in a preheated oven 190ºc for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Meanwhile, to make the glaze, sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a small saucepan. When softened, dissolve over a low heat. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat. Remove buns from the oven and brush with the glaze while still hot. Stand the buns in a warm place, such as near the opened door of the turned off oven. This helps to set the glaze.


** I didn't have a piping bag so I filled a snap-lock sandwich bag with the paste and cut the corner of the bag to make an impromptu piping bag.

hot cross buns

For a few years now I've wanted to attempt hot cross buns but I've always remembered after Easter. This year I'm getting in early and reminding you too! These are a great morning tea inclusion for the lunchbox.

After I made this batch I was inspired to try another recipe so I'll add that in another post. 

Margaret Fulton's Hot Cross Buns

ingredients
4 cups (600g) plain flour
1 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
14g (2 sachets) dry yeast
60g butter, diced
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
1/2 cup (80g) sultanas or currants – or both
 1/2 cup (250ml) lukewarm milk
1/2 cup (250ml) lukewarm water
1 egg, lightly beaten

paste for cross
1/4 cup (35g) SR flour
2 tablespoons cold water

glaze
2 tbsps warm water
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp powdered gelatine

makes 12-14

method
Sift flour, spice, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Rub in butter then mix in currants or sultanas and peel. Stir in sugar and yeast.

Blend in the water, milk and the egg. Mix to form a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth and elastic.

 Shape into a ball, place in a clean, greased bowl and turn the ball over so that the top of the dough is greased. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hrs or until doubled in size.

Turn the risen dough onto a lightly floured work surface and gently press out to 1cm thick. Divide the dough into 12-14 pieces and shape each into a small ball. Place balls on a greased baking tray, at least 2.5cm apart. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 20-30 minutes*. Preheat the oven to 200ºc.

To make the paste for the cross, combine the self-raising flour and water and beat to a smooth paste. Put into a baking paper funnel or a small piping ban fitted with a plain nozzle.**


Using a sharp knife, make a slight indentation int he shape of a cross on top of each bun just before baking and pipe the prepared paste into the cross.


Bake the buns for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, to make the glaze, sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a small saucepan. When softened, dissolve over a low heat. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat. Remove buns from the oven and brush with the glaze while still hot. Stand the buns in a warm place, such as near the opened door of the turned off oven. This helps to set the glaze.

Serve warm, halved and spread with butter.

variations

You can also add 1/4 cup candied peel. I really don't like it so I didn't!

*The sun had moved from the first time they were in the sun rising so the hottest part of our house was atop the guinea pig cage! There, they caught all the sun and rose beautifully!

** I didn't have a piping bag so I filled a snap-lock sandwich bag with the paste and cut the corner of the bag to make an impromptu piping bag.










Monday, March 18, 2013

a feast from Lebanon

I don't believe that I haven't attempted an Ottolenghi recipe... until now. In fact, up until about 3 weeks ago I had only heard the Ottolenghi restaurant name and not associated it with a chef or achievable, homemade recipes.

Three weeks ago I was sitting at J's work, having lunch, when a colleague came to the table with his own lunch. As you'd expect I peered over the rim of the Tupperware container. "What are you eating?" I asked. "Kafta with pearl barley cooked in pomegranate molasses."

At that moment I remembered I'd bought a jar of pomegranate molasses at Cedars of Lebanon in Canberra in August last year. In the very next moment I mentally committed to finding the Ottolenghi recipe and cooking it!

I think this may well have been the most satisfying feasts I've made and fortunately we ran in to another of J's colleagues at our loal Bunnings on the Sunday morning I'd set aside to cook it so, despite hardly knowing them, we invited them to our house to share our food.

* Lamb and beef kafta (find the recipe here) I LOVE the pine nuts in these!

ingredients
400g minced lamb
400g minced veal or beef
150g onion, finely chopped
2 large cloves of garlic, crushed
50g toasted pine nuts, roughly chopped, plus extra whole ones to garnish
30g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, plus extra to serve
1 large medium-hot red chilli, deseeded
and finely chopped
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
1½ tsp ground allspice
¾ tsp grated nutmeg
1½ tsp ground black pepper
1½ tsp salt
For the sauce
150g light tahini paste
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 medium clove of garlic, crushed
2 tbsp sunflower oil
30g unsalted butter or ghee (optional)
sweet paprika, to garnish

method
Put all the kofta ingredients in a bowl and use your hands to mix everything together well. Now shape into long, torpedo-like fingers, roughly 8cm long (about 60g each). Press the mix to compress it and ensure the kofta is tight and keeps its shape. Arrange on a plate and chill until you are ready to cook them, for up to one day.
Preheat the oven to 220C/gas mark 7.
In a medium bowl whisk together the tahini paste, lemon juice, 120ml water, garlic and a quarter of a teaspoon of salt. The sauce should be a bit runnier than honey; add one or two tablespoons of water if needed.
Heat the sunflower oil in a large frying-pan and sear the kofta over a high heat; do this in batches so they are not cramped together. Sear them on all sides until golden brown, about six minutes for each batch. At this point they should be medium-rare. Lift out of the pan and arrange on an oven tray. If you want them medium or well-done, put the tray in the oven for two to four minutes.
Spoon the tahini sauce around the kofta, so it covers the base of the tray. If you like, also drizzle some over the kofta but leave some of the meat exposed. Place in the oven for a minute or two, just to warm up the sauce a little.
Meanwhile, if you are using the butter, melt it in a small saucepan and allow it to brown a little, taking care that it doesn’t burn. Spoon the butter over the kofta as soon as they come out of the oven. Scatter with pine nuts and parsley and finally sprinkle some paprika on top. Serve at once.

* Pearl Barley and Greens with Pomegranate Molasses (a variation on Ottolenghi's Wheat Berries & Swiss Chard with Pomegranate Molasses. Find the link to the recipe here.

Wheat Berries & Swiss Chard with Pomegranate Molasses
Jerusalem, Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi
serves 4

ingredients
1 1/3 lbs. Swiss chard
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 large leeks, white and pale green parts, thinly sliced (3 cups total)
2 Tbsp. light brown sugar
3 Tbsp. pomegranate molasses
1 1/4 cups hulled or unhulled wheat berries
2 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper
Greek yogurt, to serve

method
Separate the chard's stalks from the green leaves using a small, sharp knife. Slice the stalks into 3/8-inch slices and the leaves into 3/4-inch slices.
Heat the oil and butter in a large heavy-bottomed pan. Add the leeks and cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the chard stalks and cook for 3 minutes, then add the leaves and cook for a further 3 minutes. Add the sugar, 3 Tbsp. pomegranate molasses, and the wheat berries and mix well. Add the stock, 3/4 tsp. salt, and some black pepper, bring to a gentle simmer, and cook over low heat, covered, for 60 to 70 minutes. The wheat should be al dente at this point.
Remove the lid and, if needed, increase the heat and allow any remaining liquid to evaporate. The base of the pan should be dry and have a bit of burnt caramel on it. Remove from the heat.
Before serving, taste and add more molasses, salt, and pepper if needed; you want it sharp and sweet, so don't be shy with your molasses. Serve warm, with a dollop of Greek yogurt.

* Baba ghanoush

ingredients
2 large (1kg) eggplants
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup (60ml) lemon juice
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika 
fresh parsley for serving
fresh pomegranate seeds, optional, for serving
method
Cook eggplant on a heated grill plate (or grill or barbecue) for about 30/35 minutes, turning four times, or until skin is blackened and blistered, and flesh is very soft. Cool eggplant.

Peel eggplant and discard skin. Blend or process the eggplant with the remaining ingredients, except for the pomegranate seeds & parsley until smooth.

Serve baba ghanoush sprinkled with pomegranate seeds, fresh parsley and additional paprika.

* Flat bread (to soak up any extras). This was a variation on my favourite pizza recipe. I'm not entirely confident that I can recall this recipe accurately. I'm sure there's plenty of flat-bread recipes out there.



 baba ganoush






Believe me, this was worth all the work and it was a really enjoyable feast to assemble. Our guests were well-fed and the kids were, as usual, pretty good at trying everything. (They'd get pretty hungry around here if they didn't. They'd get pretty hungry if they didn't eat gourmet though, sometimes they'd prefer cheese on toast.)

Do let me know if you make this! I'd love to hear how you go.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

St Ives Wildflower Garden

St. Ives Wildflower Garden is located within Ku-ring-gah National Park and is open to the public (8am - 5pm) every day (except Christmas Day) and admission is free.

Since becoming a mother four years ago I have discovered many places in Sydney that I didn't know existed. As I didn't grow up here I have not had that long to explore but I have found some amazing places within our city. Sometimes I am surprised by their proximity to the city or to big highways. I love that in some places you really can pretend you are 'somewhere else!' The Blue Mountains always has this affect on me but the Wildflower Garden is a good substitute without the lengthy travel time from the city.

St Ives Wildflower Garden has walking tracks suitable for children and adults and more experienced walkers too. I'd definitely recommend it for under 5's. There's a five minute sign-posted walk through a wetland on a boardwalk. You can also visit the education centre (where you can find a map) and a fern enclosure. Situated at the end of a short walk is a picnic area with shelters. It is frequented by black wallabies. There is a children's playground and toilets too.

Each August the gardens holds a Festival of the Wildflower so keep and eye out for that leading in to spring.






Thursday, March 14, 2013

be a knight, do it right

I read an article recently about how people's Facebook statuses are bathed in lies.

My cousin-in-law pointed this out when I posted the following pictures of a Saturday morning project on Facebook so I should preface the pics with an accurate description.

It's 5:16am. There are two little people in our bed. (In fact, would you consider it still 'in bed' when my legs are hanging over the side and the rest of my body is squished into the smidgen of bed that was once the only thing we had that we didn't have to share with our kids?)

I'm not complaining but my ribs are also sore from the dozen or so kicks I received in the night - an unfortunate consequence of P's reflexes.

There's snoring. Loud snoring.

And it's not my husband. It's not me. It's not our son. It's our two-year-old daughter.

I'm just trying to get some 'sleep' in those last few moments of the night when four-year-old B has a sudden urge to make an announcement "I need to do a poo!"

The snoring stops and at that moment B also decides to poke his sister in the cheek as a parting gift as he jumps up, launches himself across me, (another foot in the guts) and makes his way down the corridor to the bathroom screaming "MUMMYYYYY! Can you please turn on the bathroom light?"

Sure. I'm awake.

Skip forward to 8:00am. We've been awake almost three hours. The kids have watched their week's ration of television and we fooled ourselves in to thinking we had another couple of hours sleep.

I've whipped up bacon and eggs (fresh from the chookies), we've made good coffee and the newspaper's been delivered.

*sigh* I just love Saturdays. *sigh* I just love family time.

"What's that B? Oh. You've finished brekky?"

And I just sat down.

"And you want me to make you a knight's outfit?"

Sure. Why not? It's not as though I've even opened the newspaper yet.


Wednesday, March 13, 2013

variation on a theme


When I was about 15 a close family friend asked me to assist her with a catering job. We were catering for the Narooma Blues Festival when it was in its infancy and my first task was to make a batch of brownies. The festival was held over a long weekend and we needed enough for the three days so my task was to make them in a huge tub that came up to my hips - one you might find holding dry stores in a health food shop.

The brownie making wasn't without its challenges, as you can imagine with a batch that big, and we went through dozens of eggs. I remember writing down the ingredients list and then dividing it so that the batch was more suited to a small family!

This is another recipe from Donna Hay's Modern Classic Book 2 but I like to experiment so when I made this batch of brownies yesterday I also added 1/2 cup each of broken walnuts and frozen raspberries. I guess you could add any nuts, white chocolate or blueberries.

J and I could have been found having a cup of loose-leaf (the best kind of) tea and a sneaky brownie out on the back verandah while the kids were inside playing Lego this morning.

chocolate brownie

200g dark couverture chocolate*, broken into pieces
250g butter, chopped
1 3/4 cups brown sugar (I used 1 1/4 cups instead)
4 eggs
1/3 cup cocoa powder, sifted***
1 1/4 cups plain (all purpose) flour, sifted
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

I also added half a cup each of chopped walnuts and frozen raspberries.

* I just used some dark eating chocolate I had stashed in the cupboard.
** I used 1 1/4 cups instead
*** I used carob powder. I loved this flavour combined with the dark chocolate.

Preheat the oven to 160ºc. Place the chocolate and butter in a saucepan over a low heat and stir until smooth. Allow to cool slightly.
Place the sugar, eggs, cocoa, flour and baking powder in a bowl. Add the chocolate mixture and mix until combined. Pour the mixture into a 20cm square slice tin lined with non-stick baking paper. Bake for 50 mins or until cooked. Cool slightly in the tin. Cut into slices. Serve warm or cold. Makes 16 slices.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

wrap up of the week

In the kitchen:

Pumpkin, spinach, feta, pine nut 'sausage rolls'

Combine baked pumpkin (baked in olive oil with whole garlic cloves), diced feta, and wilted spinach (then squeezed by hand to move moisture), one egg and toasted pine nuts. Remember to squeeze the garlic clove contents into the mixture. Roll in ready-made organic puff pastry (available at Harris Farm Markets).

I found that the 'sausage roll' style tended to ooze a bit so decided on putting nine generous dessert spoonfuls of mixture on a sheet of pastry (a couple of centimetres apart) then laying a second sheet over the top, cutting into squares and pressing down the edges. My 2 year old brushed them generously with a beaten egg so they browned in the oven (200ºc for about 16 mins or until golden).

Serve with a salad and plum sauce (see below).



Fish cakes with Vietnamese salad

A few weeks ago J spreaded the last of my grandfather's ashes (on his way to work) from his kayak between North and South Head in Sydney. Within minutes he'd hooked a 50cm long Australian salmon (thanks Brownpa) so we researched a few good things to do with salmon aside from grilling the fillets. We came up with this variation of fish cakes. Unfortunately J didn't catch any fish this week but Harris Farm was having a special- buy 2kg of bream for the price of 1kg so I made these again.

Salad: finely slice purple cabbage, grated carrot, spring onions and capsicum. Add a handful or so (depending on taste) of finely sliced Vietnamese mint, coriander and Thai basil and drizzle with lime juice, sesame oil, and fresh chilli dressing. Sprinkle with sesame seeds (or freshly roasted peanuts) and serve immediately.

Fish cakes: place fillets of fish, few kaffir lime leaves, half a lemongrass stickand equal quantities of fresh coriander, parsley, spring onions & finely diced potatoes in to a food processor. Process until a thick paste is formed. Shallow fry in organic coconut oil and serve with the Vietnamese inspired salad and sweet chilli sauce.

Plum sauce

I used the recipe from Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Companion.



Mangoes: preparing for hibernation

Mango season is so short and I dream about mangoes when its not Summer so I've come up with a way that I can cherish mangoes - for smoothies or cakes. Slice fresh mangoes and squeezed mango pulp and juice (from pips). Place in sandwich bags (or spare containers) and place in freezer for use in Winter.

A girlfriend was only telling me today that she's done the same thing with fresh passionfruit that was given to her. She has frozen the pulp in ice cube trays.


Tomato concentrate

My grandmother and my friend both had a surplus of tomatoes that they gave me so I have retained some for salads this week and have made a batch of tomato concentrate with the remainder.

Tomato concentrate: fry off two red onions and four garlic cloves. Add diced tomatoes and a tin of water. Add basil (this is where my frozen basil leaves came in handy), and handfuls of parsley. Reduce until thick and blend in blender. Freeze.* You can also add red wine before reducing but I forgot. I'll add it to my thawed sauces instead.


Bread: It's easy to forget that convenience of a bread maker but I am getting back 'into it' this week. It's definitely as convenient as going to the shops to buy bread, and cheaper.

In the garden:

Turns out our tomatoes are finally ripening. Some of them are blistered and many of them are being nibbled by a keen possum or two but I am managing to salvage a few.

Chooks: 

Our chooks are finally laying more regularly. They went off their laying for a while there. It's hard to say if it was the adjusting to the three additional chooks or the heat. They are giving us, on average, three beautiful eggs a day.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

my peanut butter & carob chip biscuits

Ingredients

125g unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or vanilla bean seeds from one vanilla bean)
1 teaspoon lemon rind, grated finely (I use a fine mandolin)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed lightly
1/2 cup unsalted crunchy or smooth peanut butter (I prefer Sanitarium from the healthfood isle because the ingredients are just peanuts.)
1/3 cup carob buttons broken into pieces
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Pinch salt

Method

Preheat a the oven to 180°c.

In a larger bowl cream the butter, vanilla extract, lemon rind and sugars. Add the peanut butter and mix well.

Add the sifted flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and carob pieces and mix with a spatula until well combined.

With your hands, roll into balls the size of walnuts and place on trays lined with greaseproof baking paper. Press each biscuit gently with a fork - first crossways and en lengthways.

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden. Cool biscuits on trays for 10 minute then transfer carefully to cooling racks.

Makes approx 24


Friday, March 1, 2013

threading...



The weather has been quite unpredictable in Sydney of late so I've had to think of a few indoor activities for the kids. Earlier this week I bought a bag of oranges which reminded me of weaving activities I'd set up for my Kindy kid.

I had some twine and I tied one end to the end of a strip of orange bag then wrapped a piece of sticky tape tightly around the other end (much like the end of a shoelace) so it was easy to thread.

B sat for some time threading the twine in and out of the orange bag and then announced "Mummy! I've made you a shower ball!" and that's exactly what it looked like when he'd finished.

Fine motor skills include molding play dough (squeezing, pulling, stretching), manipulating small objects (e.g. jigsaw pieces), cutting with scissors, drawing, tracing. Strengthening the muscles in the hands helps to develop the pincer grip and the muscles used to coordinate a pencil when writing, manipulate a fork etc,.