Autumn Skirlie

This is an adaptation of an old Scottish dish. We've eaten it a lot lately in the cooler evenings, rushing into the house after 6pm five nights a week and juggling homework, vision therapy, showers and sibling rivalry... somewhere there I try to feed us more than vegemite toast and this fits the bill pretty well.

The boys love it, and reheated with scrambled eggs in front of the fire the next morning, it's pretty close to wonderful.

~Autumn Skirlie~
(serves 3 as a main with a bit leftover)

4 tbsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped (or spring onions, leeks etc)
2 cups rolled oats (not quick oats)
1.5 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
about 1/3 cup boiling water?
1 cup tinned red salmon, drained and flaked
1 large lemon, zested and juiced (2 if they're small)
2 large handfuls spinach, washed and roughly shredded
(or any other greens - kale, par-cooked broccoli, red lettuce are all good)
freshly ground black pepper


Heat the oil on low in a non-stick frying pan. Add the onion and cook until transparent.

Add the thyme leaves and oats and stir well. Cook on a lowish heat, tossing every few minutes, until the oats are beginning to colour -  about 5-10 minutes.

Add the lemon zest to the boiling water and pour over, stirring well and cook a couple more minutes - the oats will soften slightly but keep their shape. Add more boiling water if needed.

Stir in the salmon, lemon juice and black pepper, then pile the spinach on top and put the lid on to steam the spinach. When the spinach has cooked down, stir it through and serve - preferrably in front of a fire!

Cumquat Cordial

The original recipe for this was in ounces and pints and came from a woman who lived near us; her life was a story of resilience and hard work, intelligence and cheerfulness. As time passes and I learn more about life's challenges, I find her even more inspirational. Mrs O'C gave us recipes and conversation; challenged us to think critically but act pragmatically; loaned us boxes and boxes of books and encouraged us to believe that we could achieve whatever we set our minds toward.

As my boys made their own version of Cumquat cordial recently I thought of Mrs O'C and what a wonderful woman she is. My parents brought an enormous bag of cumquats a week ago so D helped me juice them and we made the real thing - it's tangy and sweet and a hundred times better than any commercial mix.

I've removed the sodium benzoate preservative, which means you need to store it in the fridge/freezer. The best cumquats for this are the round sourer Calomondin variety - they are also best for Cumquat jam.


~Cumquat Cordial~
2 1/2 cups cumquat juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 cups water
900g white sugar
1 teaspoon citric acid

To juice the cumquats, halve them and squeeze over a seive in a bowl. Reserve the seeds and freeze them for use in setting jam.

Heat the water and sugar in a saucepan and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Dissove the citric acid in a little hot water and stir in.

Stir in the juices while the sugar water is still warm, then bottle in sterilised bottles. Store in the fridge or freeze until needed.

Once makes almost 2 litres of cordial.

Quince Paste/ Membrillo

It's a year to the day since last posting; we've had lots of food memories with friends since then but none have made it past my folder into blogland. Running too hard with work, kids and life. But there have been exciting discoveries - sweet potato leaves are a fabulous substitute for spinach or silverbeet. Truly.

Now quince time has come again, and we are making quince paste. This recipe has evolved from combining several others and is made in the microwave - no possibility of burning. Very easy.

~Quince Paste~
quinces
white sugar

We make reasonably large amounts, so say 8 quinces and about 600g sugar. Wrap each quince in alfoil, place in a baking paper lined tray, and roast in a medium oven until they are tender. Remove and cool in the alfoil.

Unwrap quinces, peel back off the skin and work out the core and any lumpier granules around the core; discard these. Push the flesh through a seive with your hands and a large spoon, then weigh the seived quince.

Measure out half the weight of sugar, so for 1.2kg seived quince you will need 600g sugar. Stir quince and sugar together in a large microwave proof bowl (twice the volume of the quince+sugar) and cook on Medium for 10 minute bursts, stirring between each. Continue cooking until it is thick enough - when you pull a spoon across the bottom of the bowl it will leave a distinct trail.

When it is ready, spread the quince flat in a baking paper lined tray and place it somewhere to dry. We use the fan oven with the fan turned on and no or very low temperature, but have also tried a dehydrator and under glass in a sunny spot. A solar dehydrator would be perfect, or the back window of your car in the sun.

Test it to see when it is set, then store wrapped in alfoil in an airtight container.

Homemade quince paste is more granular than the commercial product, but the smell is divine and the colour deep ruby red. Perfect for autumn picnics.

Lemon Yoghurt Cake with Passionfruit syrup

Adapted from a Donna Hay recipe. We made this recently to use the lemon and passionfruit glut, and it was delicious - beautiful texture. Would be good for afternoon tea or dessert.

~Lemon Yoghurt Cake with Passionfruit Syrup~

125g butter at room temperature (cool climate!)
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup thick plain yoghurt
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
2 1/2 cups SR flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

syrup:
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup water
2/3 cup passionfruit pulp

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Sift flour and baking powder together. Stir juice, rind and yoghurt together.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Add a little flour at the end to stop the mix curdling.

In a large bowl fold the dry and wet ingredients through the creamed butter mixture and combine so it is mixed well. Spoon into a 23cm round cake tin or large ring tin (I used a large bundt tin) and bake for 40 minutes or until skewer is clean. I covered it loosely with alfoil for the first 20 minutes, and then it needed only a further 8 minutes uncovered to finish.

Leave the cake in the tin for 5 min to cool, then turn out on a rack and cover loosely with a cloth. I left the bundt tin upended over the top of the cake, which allowed space to cool but kept it warm.

For the syrup: combine ingredients in a saucepan and heat on low heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Simmer 4-5 minutes until the syrup thickens.

Pour half the hot syrup over the cake and serve with cream or icecream and the remaining syrup.

D rated it 95 out of 100 and T gave it a 9 out of 10.

Frangipane Tart

This began with an apple flan from the Woman's Weekly a long time ago. I've substituted pear, nectarine, peach and plums, and all are good. Figs look beautiful but somehow the taste doesn't work. I think quince could look spectacular, must remember to try it when they are in season again.

~Frangipane Tart~
350g frozen puff pastry
1.5kg Golden Delicious apples or similar amount of fruit to substitute
100g ground almonds or hazelnuts
7 tablespoons sugar
1 lemon, zested and juiced
375ml cream
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
2 tablespoons brandy
3-4 tablespoons flour

Butter a 12" flan dish (in future I'll try a rectangular dish to cut squares) and line with pastry.

Peel and core apples and cut into 1cm thick slices, or halve and stone plums/nectarines etc. Mix fruit with lemon juice, zest, and 2 tab sugar.

Sprinkle the pastry base with almond meal and arrange fruit evenly on top. Bake at 200 degrees C for 15-20 minutes.

Whisk cream, eggs, vanilla, brandy, 5 tab sugar and flour together until smooth - I use a stab mixer. Pour over the fruit and cook 15-20 minutes until the centre isn't wobbly and the bumps are starting to colour.

Serve warm or cool, with cream.

Chicken (& Lamb Shanks) with 39 Garlics

We ate this a few nights ago, on a cool rainy evening, in an effort to use the beautiful purple striped garlic from early summer; this Italian hardneck variety doesn't seem to store for long, whereas the Australian white keeps well.

It's an adaption of an Ian Parmenter recipe from the mid 90's. He used red wine rather than oil for the base, and I prefer stock. Unsuprisingly he didn't use lamb shanks, but we had a few on hand and they were delicious; sticky, rich and sweet with garlic. I think it would be fine to substitute beef, lamb or pork for the meat.

~Chicken & Lamb Shanks with 39 Garlics~
1 medium onion, chopped roughly
slurp olive oil
2 lamb shanks
6 chicken legs
500ml chicken stock
39 unskinned cloves garlic
500ml chicken stock
rosemary and thyme sprigs
(6 juniper berries crushed - I left these out)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
100ml milk
2 tab cornflour

Heat the oil on low and cook the onion until golden and sweet. Remove from the pan and turn up the heat. Brown the lamb shanks and chicken legs all over and remove.

Use some stock to deglaze the pan and pour this into a crockpot or casserole dish. Place all of the ingredients (except the milk and flour) in the crockpot/casserole and cover.

Cook for 6-8 hours in the crockpot, or 1-2 hours at 140 degrees C in the oven (casserole) - or until the meat is tender and falls away from the bone.

Remove the meat and bones, and garlic, to a large serving bowl and keep warm. Strain the liquid and simmer this in a pan until it is reduced to half its volume. Squeeze the pulp from the garlic cloves into the reduced liquid. Mix the cornflour and milk until smooth, then thicken the reduction with this, and simmer for several minutes to cook the flour.

Pour the thickened reduced stock over the meat and serve with jacket potatoes and lots of crunchy steamed veges.

Mather Street Tuna Pasta

The boys helped me create this recipe when we lived at Mather Street. T was only 4 but he chose what veges to add, and the result was delish.


~Mather Street Tuna Pasta~
6 single handfuls dry spiral pasta (can substitute cous cous)
4 large broccoli florets, cut small
1/2 large sweet potato, cubed into 1cm squares (sustitute pumpkin/zucchini/squash)
1 large tin tuna in oil
2 lemons, juiced and zested
2 finely sliced scallions
handful fresh parsley, finely chopped
black pepper
(parmesan to serve)

Cook pasta and drain cooking water into large serving bowl to warm the bowl.

Steam the veges, drain oil from tuna, then combine all ingredients in the (empty) serving bowl and toss well.

Serve with plenty of grated parmesan.

Pumpkin, Leek, Mint & Spinach Tart

This is several evolutions from the original recipe, which involved ricotta and far less veges. Mint works so well with both spinach and roast pumpkin.

T scored this recipe a 9.5 but D said it was minus 1000. I liked it, so poor old D will have to suffer again.


~Pumpkin, Leek, Mint & Spinach Tart~
6 sheets filo or 2 sheets puff pastry, or some alternate base, like coca flatbread
800g butternut pumpkin, peeled, seeded and cut in 1.5cm dice
olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
about 10 baby leeks (1cm diameter, 10cm length), cut into 2cm pieces
salt and pepper
200g fetta, crumbled
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups firmly packed, chopped spinach or silverbeet
2 tab finely chopped mint
2 tab grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Combine pumpkin, garlic, leeks, olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake for about 20 min or until pumpkin is browned. In the last 5 min of cooking, make space for the spinach on the tray; pile it on and loosely cover with alfoil to allow it to steam and wilt slightly. Remove veges from oven and cool slightly.

Lay the base on a flat tray and curl the edges up to hold the filling. If using filo, spray with olive oil between layers. Bake for a few minutes to help cook the base.

Combine the eggs with 2/3 of the fetta and spread over the base.

Layer the spinach over the egg mixture. Sprinkle over the mint. Arrange pumpkin and leeks on top, then crumble over the remaining fetta and sprinkle with parmesan.

Reduce heat to 170 degrees and bake for about 20 minutes or until egg mixture is set and all is golden brown.

This would work well as a cocas/pizza topping.

Preserved Olives

There are 5 small olive trees in our garden; when we moved here 2 yrs ago they were laden with olives, tempting and beautiful. I've been an olive scoffer since we stayed in Italy with my aunt when I was a child; somehow the taste of thick coffee, salty sweet proscutio, and rich olives stayed long after our holiday. Having our own olive trees is a delight :) What to do with them is another matter, with which I've experimented over the last few years. I'm still working on it ;) In the meantime here is a little WIP update on our olive preserving journey : From what I can read, preserving olives involves 2 steps - curing to remove the bitter oleuropein, then preserving for either a short or a longer period. Longer storage requires more precautions. Because olives are a low acidity food they are susceptible to bacterial contamination, so each step of preserving needs to be mindful of this. I'm not so keen on a dose of botulism. The first time we cured and preserved our olives I was blithley unaware of botulism risks, thinking that olives have been preserved for thousands of years in the mediterranean, so it can't be unsafe. So I cured them (mostly black) in brine, changing the brine daily for about 2 weeks, and allowing the salted water to go through the greywater onto our garden (yuck). Then bottling in a heavier brine solution with a layer of olive oil on top to keep the olives submerged. In the cupboard for a few months, and they were good; after 6 months they were darn good :D There was a slimey kind of layer on the top that creeped me out a bit, but I asked my Italian aunt and she said that was normal and it didn't harm you. The scientist in me says a Marg Simpson hmmmmm (I'd like to know what that slimey stuff is please), but they were delicious, no-one got sick, and obviously the slimey layer isn't uncommon. (Is this a head in the sand moment?) Last season there weren't many olives and they were shrivelled and dry so I composted them. Later someone said you can irrigate the trees prior to harvest to plump them up; I'll save that info for future drought years. This season the trees didn't flower at all; possibly due to extended drought, or maybe the serious haircut I gave them - they were covered in sooty mould and scale so I cut out a lot of growth from the middles to thin them and let the airflow through. Anyway they didn't flower last spring and there was no fruit this Easter. But friends have olive trees so we raided their orchard and picked a huge bucket recently. We didn't pick as many as I'd have liked b/c their horse kept threatening to trample the children; what a dilemma, to pick olives or let a large horse stand on your babies. This is what we've done this year : Cracked Green Marinated Olives Preserved Mixed Colour Olives Previously I had tried : Salted olives Brine cured olives This link is one of the most useful I've found http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8267.pdf It explains the different curing methods - water, brine, lye and dry salting. And the preserving methods - brine or oil for short term, and very strong brine, freezing, drying or pressure canning for longer storage. There are many other links and recipes around the net that use quite cursory curing and preserving methods, which don't sit so comfortably with me after reading about botulism. But everyone has a different level of risk assessment. We have begun eating this season's olives, and they are very good. So here is this year's recipe that we will use again : ~Cracked Green & Mixed Colour Olives~ green-ripe olives lemons cooking salt good quality white vinegar clean water 1. Use a full beer bottle to squash each olive on a cutting board, so ithe flesh is cracked open. This is far easier than making 3 slits in each olive, as we did the first time. 2. As you crack the olives, place them in a bucket of cool water, with a sliced lemon (or several) in it. When you are finished, drain the water, remove the lemons, and cover the olives with cool clean water. 3. Place a plate or something similar on top of the olives to hold them under the water surface. Drain the water and replace with clean cool water every morning and evening for around 12 days. Taste them towards the end of this time to check the bitterness and when it is mostly gone, it's time to move to the next step. The preserving brine will continue to remove bitterness, so it's ok for them to still taste a little icky. 4. Drain the olives and place in a large shallow dish. Sprinkle liberally with salt and leave, covered, for 24 hours. 5. Wash and drain the olives again and place in clean container. Cover with vinegar and place a plate or similar on top to submerge them. Leave for 24 hours. 6. Drain the olives and pack into sterilised jars. Pour over a strong brine, made from 4 cups salt dissolved in 4.5L water, leaving some space at the top to pour on a layer of olive oil. The olive oil should be about 1.5cm thick and should help keep the olives submerged. These will keep for a long time; I'm not sure how long as we eat our olives too fast! 7. Seal the jars and store in a dark place for at least 6wks. Place in the fridge after opening. The olives will be very salty in this heavy brine, so I like to drain and soak the olives in warm water, then marinate them with olive oil, citrus zest and fresh herbs.

Old Dani's Chinese Plum Sauce

Isn't plum the most beautiful colour? You could wear it. Actually I did at a few points during the process, as did the kitchen walls; it was a little sad wiping them down.

A big bowl of plums has been resting on the bench, waiting for this recipe. Yesterday we finally squeezed it into a space and there are 3 big jars of red sitting where the plums were. It's delicious, thanks Dani :)

The school asked us to bring a box of collage material next week, so while it simmered away I sorted through a tea chest of fabric scraps... and time slipped away until the faint smell of burning filtered through my fabric daydreams. Oops. A bit burnt on the bottom, but the burn hadn't tainted it so it was rescu-able.

~Chinese Plum Sauce~

8 cups plums, pitted, halved

1 cup onions, chopped

1 cup water

1 teaspoon ginger, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup rice vinegar or cider vinegar
1 teaspoon coriander, ground

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon cloves

*In large saucepan, bring plums, onions, water, ginger and garlic to boil over medium heat; cover, reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until plums and onions are very tender, about 30 minutes.

*Press through sieve and return to pan; stir in sugar, vinegar, coriander, salt, cinnamon, pepper and cloves.Bring to boil, stirring; reduce heat to low and simmer until mixture reaches consistency of applesauce, about 45 minutes.

*Fill and seal jars.Makes about 4 cups

I doubled the garlic and ginger :)

For more food inspiration go visit Dani at http://www.thekitchenplayground.com/

Fig & Ginger Jam

Grandma's southern garden grew ancient fig trees; imagination wrapped in the gnarled branches. They were fascinating plants to my northern eyes; trees didn't drop their leaves in our winter and very little in my childhood world resembled European fairytales.

She made fig jam each year. Our occasional visits south were punctuated by fig jam experiences; luscious chunks of fig in syrup with thick cream on fresh bread.

Figs do grow in the North, albeit for only few years before they die, as I found when we lived in the Top End. Each year the roadside F&V stalls outside Darwin would sell figs for a few brief weeks, so one year on the way home from "town" I bought a bag and rang Grandma for her recipe. This is what she told me :

"Use 3/4 pound of sugar to each pound of prepared figs. About 6 pounds of fruit takes half a cup of vinegar, and you can add 2 tablespoons of sherry or brandy if you like. Boil the fruit in a bit of water, then add the sugar when it starts to thicken - about an hour. Take off the stove and add the vinegar and sherry, then boil until it's thick enough - test in a saucer. Bottle it while it's hot."

We live further south now, where fig trees are plenty. Ours is only two feet high, but we are blessed with neighbours who are over-figged, so they've given us a few bags this season already.

Last night we had Dani's Fig, Feta & Bacon Salad http://kitchenplayground.wordpress.com/2008/03/11/while-the-cat-is-away/ and it was good :)

And we've made a version of Grandma's jam :


~Fig & Ginger Jam~
2lb prepared figs - trimmed and quartered
1 1/2 lb sugar
1/6 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tab sweet cream sherry
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 tab glace ginger, finely chopped

Cover the figs and gingers with as much water as you like - I prefer a runny fig jam with plenty of syrup to soak into the bread, but if you like thick jam you can cut into cubes (like the store-bought stuff), then use less water and add some Jamsetter with the sugar.

Bring to the boil, then add the sugar (and Jamsetter if you are using) and simmer until the syrup starts to thicken. Add the vinegar and sherry, then simmer until it jells - use a saucer in the freezer to test.

Let it cool a few minutes before bottling in sterilised jars.

The amounts above made 3 medium sized jars.

eta March 2009
Since this seems to be a popular page in search engines, I need to add that my mum advises to add lemon juice to help set the jam. And I've found it doesn't keep indefinitely in the pantry; needs refridgerating after a few months.

Rocket Pesto

This recipe was adapted from one I found on google. There is a commercial dip of rocket/cashew nuts that I like, so I tried cashews but the walnuts were nuttier and more peppery so I'll stick to them in future.

Rocket Pesto
3 cups rocket
4 cloves garlic
1/3 cup walnuts, toasted
1/3 cup parmesan, grated
200 ml olive oil

Whiz the first 4 ingredients in the food processer, till chopped, then slowly pour in the olive oil.

Most of what I made was frozen, for using on pasta and as dip when summer is gone.