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.
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.
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