Food for Friends and Family

It’s really winter now.

2011-05-11T16:05:00.000+10:00

In fact when I log into www.weatherzone.com.au it’s currently 4.3C, but flick down the screen for the ‘feels like’ line and it reads -1.1C!

Its cold.... I’m sitting at my desk with the gloves that Geraldine made me for my birthday (thank you G), the cardigan she knitted me last year and the scarf she knitted me! I am wearing other clothes or I’d be sitting here with a really cold bum but it’s these hand knits I am so grateful for…thank you again G.

The fire is burning, hot cup of tea beside me but it’s really food you want on days like today.

I’m dreaming of Arancini that I made last weekend, perfect cooking for cold days when you want to stay in side beside the stove stirring.

This recipe is one of Joseph Vitale of Bottega Restaurant in Melbourne and is easy and really warming.

50ml olive oil

¼ onion, finely chopped

200 gm Arborio rice

3 cups chicken stock

1 tbsp finely chopped thyme

50 gm parmesan grated

30 gm butter

40 gm provolone piccante

Plain flour for coating

250 gm white breadcrumbs for coating

Sunflower oil for deep-frying

Heat oil in a saucepan over a low heat add onion, stir occasionally until tender, add rice, stir to coat, then add stock, little by little until rice is slightly over cooked and stock is absorbed. Add thyme, parmesan and butter and stir until creamy, remove from the heat. Meanwhile finely grate 15g provolone, add to the rice mixture, spread over a tray and cool to room temperature then refrigerate to chill 1 ½ hours.

Cut remaining provolone into 5mm cubes and set aside. Shape walnut sized balls of rice mixture with your hands, then push a provolone cube into the centre of each, pressing rice around to enclose completely. Roll rice in flour, beaten egg and finely breadcrumbs. Refrigerate on a tray for 30 minutes.

Preheat oil in a deep saucepan to 200C. Deep-fry arancini in batches, turning occasionally until golden.

We served these with a basil, onion and tomato salad on a big dollop of Aioli.

Delicious.

Love

Mary

Got to love holidays

2011-05-11T15:59:00.000+10:00

This year Easter Monday and Anzac appeared on the same day and we where awarded with an extra day off. We figured it would be rude not to utilise the time and grabbed Maggie and some kiwi friends from Raumati and met up in Port Douglas.

As well as everyone indulging in the many activities available including diving, snorkelling, shopping, beach walking, rain forest and crocodile gazing we took in a lot of really good food.

A couple of highlights in the restaurant scene are http://www.salsaportdouglas.com.au/ and http://www.2fishrestaurant.com.au/ both we had exceptionally great quality meals and really nice nights. I’d recommend them both and while your there don’t forget to have a sunset sip upstairs at the courthouse hotel, it’s become a bit of a tradition for us.

Food when on holiday always tastes better, we barbequed a few nights but I think the best meal of the trip was a few prawns we served with a traditional potato salad, a green salad and a tomato, mozzarella and basil salad.

Nothing fancy, just fresh and lots of it!

Happy holidays

Love Mary

The best Vietnamese Crispy Pancakes

2011-04-19T14:26:00.000+10:00

It’s been a few weeks of rushing around and little time to write anything in my blog. Nick and I enjoyed a road trip to Brisbane where we both had a few days work and had a chance to see Joe and Megs new Australian home and celebrate his promotion with a glass of champagne. We had a great night out with them and Maggie then travelled to Byron where the five of us spent the weekend celebrating Meg’s birthday.

We enjoyed a meal at ‘The Petit Snail’ www.thepetitsnail.com.au traditional French food made with love before a rather long journey home. The following weekend was another trip for yet another birthday in Sydney celebrating Jo's with a suprise party. After all these celebrations it was nice to have a weekend at home to recharge before taking off again this weekend to Sydney and on to Port Douglas for a few days holiday over Easter.

With all the comings and goings we have still had time to make Apple Chutney from the apples we collected just over our fence and some Strawberry Jam and Spiced Fig Jam from local fruit. The pantry is looking healthy.

While with Maggie and Meg we talked (amongst many other things) Vietnamese Pancakes so here is the promised recipe. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for fresh, healthy and really tasty food. You need to eat them as they are made so they are great kitchen bench / bar eating for a casual evening.

Pancake batter

Mix all the following ingredients together

250g rice flour

1 T potato starch

1 t turmeric (ground)

2 t salt

1 T white sugar

2 cups warm water

1 250g can coconut cream

The pancake is cooked on just one side until crisp and golden, spread a thin layer in a medium heat pan - reduce the heat and pop a lid on and cook about three minutes. Fill and served immediately with lettuce cups and a dipping sauce.

The filling

Pork – I use a small amount of minced pork simply cooked plain in a pan

Prawns – cooked, I poached quickly in a little water

Bean sprouts

Garlic chives or chives

Green onions

Serve with - iceberg lettuce cups, mint leaves, sliced cucumber, coriander

Dipping sauce – mix ¼ cup caster sugar with 100ml boiling water, when dissolved add 50ml fish sauce and 100ml white vinegar

Enjoy, Love Mary

Season fresh APPLES from Orange

2011-03-21T11:27:00.000+11:00

We have just finished a really enjoyable weekend with the highlight being our first flight with my husband as pilot. Nick took me for a local flight from Orange Airport taking in surrounding towns of Millthorpe, Carcoar and Springhill before a look at the huge Cadia Mine then around Mt Canobolas over some spectacular vineyards and magnificent properties and home. It was a smooth flight with a perfect landing and I can’t wait to get up there with him again.

Harvesting is starting out this way with Apples, Pears, Apricots and Grapes all ready or near for picking.

These apples are from the trees just over our fence so couldn’t be fresher. The possums have been sitting in the tree having a feast, if it s good enough for them…

You will know this one it’s an all time favourite but what better idea can you think of to do with a fine apple (except to eat fresh of course).

APPLE CRUMBLE feeds 4-6 people

You will need about 750g of prepared fruit – Apples, rhubarb (needs to be cooked with a little sugar first, berries, peaches anything you like really or a mix – I like rhubarb and strawberry or apple and raspberry. You can also get clever with spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, nice if it’s a straight apple crumble or even a vanilla pod with stone fruit would be great. You could even try the zest of an orange or lemon.

THE TOPPING

120g self raising flour

90g butter, cold and diced

6 tablespoons of brown sugar

In a mixing bowl put the flour and a pinch of salt, add the cubes of butter and using the tips of your fingers rub the butter into the flour. Stir in the sugar. Pop the mix in the fridge or freezer for 10 minutes or so or until ready to cook.

Add the fruit to an over proof dish - sprinkle with the topping and put in a pre heated oven 180C for about 40 minutes

I think my favourite has to be a plain apple crumble with a little home made custard or good vanilla ice cream ....are you allowed to eat crumble and ice cream for lunch? Enjoy the Apples that are arriving in the shops right now – just check they are March 2011 NOT 2010!!

Love

Mary

Tea and Cake on the River

2011-03-15T17:15:00.000+11:00

I’m considering blocking this blog from all except those that are following the site so if you are keen to keep in touch with us through reading this blog you will need to click on the ‘follow’ tab. I’m getting a few hundred readers of the site and prefer to keep this more personal so would like to restrict access to people we know….if you are having problems with the link or set-up let me know.

Those of you that know us also know we love a good cake. Mum has been encouraging of Nick taking up the careful art of baking and in turn this leads to a growing collection of baking books.

While thumbing through one of Nicks books (that my Mum had gifted to him at some point) I found and baked the following cake. It was served last weekend while boating on the Hawkesbury River with friends and calls for big cups of tea! I’d recommend it as a dense and most cake, really tasty and does look better than the photo I promise.

One of the ingredients is milk powder which I don’t think I have bought for years if ever, I’m intrigued as to what people do with milk powder as there seemed to be a lot of it in the supermarket when I went looking - any ideas? Make home made yogurt possibly….what else? And no it wasn’t baby formula – but I guess you could use it if you have access….why not.

From the book – A treasury of New Zealand Baking

Weekend Cake

Makes a 20cm round cake, preheat oven 180 C, lightly grease / line with baking paper your tin

1 whole orange

1 cup pitted dates

½ cup walnuts

125g butter softened

1 egg

6 tbsp milk powder

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup water

Chop the orange, including the skin, then whiz quickly in the food processor. Add the dates and walnuts, processing until coarsely chopped.

Place the butter, sugar and egg in the food mixer and mix until smooth. Sift the milk powder, flour and baking soda together. Combine the fruit mixture, water and dry ingredients. Pour into the tin.

Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Quick and simple, tastes great and keeps really well.

As a side we have a spectacular show of flowers on the Yucca plants at Castlecrag, if they weren't 12 foot tall and spiky I might have cut the flowers they are so beautiful.

Love

Mary

Brick Chicken

2011-03-15T11:44:00.001+11:00

It’s been a busy few weeks with trips to Sydney and a weekend on the Hawkesbury. We have farewelled friends from Orange and work for both of us has been a busy. This week we are both in Sydney for work then hope to see a quiet weekend. Maybe time to book a couple of short holidays we have planned. Later this month we will also be in Brisbane, great timimg to catch up with Joe and Meg who have arrived for their three year stint there. It will be nice to have a few more family members close by.

The garden continues to provide us with fresh produce. What looks to be the last of the tomatoes where enjoyed after slowly cooking them in a pan with a little olive oil, lots of finely sliced garlic and some thyme. Just as they where ready I splashed some verjuice in the pan and they where perfect with a simply grilled piece of Atlantic Trout. Delicious and couldn’t have been more simple.

On a fun note we decided to try a recipe I had found in an American cook book ‘Brick Chicken’.

I took a chicken, cut in half through the breast and back bone then removed the back bone , rib cage and thigh bones. After seasoning really well with salt and pepper I placed the chicken, skin down in a very hot pan with a little oil. On top of the chicken I placed another pan and in this I stacked all the tins I could find in my pantry. The recipe had called for a couple of bricks but they weren’t available at the time. Made for an amusing sight as you can see below.

After about 10 minutes of cooking at a moderate heat we removed most of the tins and decided instead to use a couple of weights from the gym (not getting much use in there anyway) and continued cooking for another 8 minutes. I then removed the weights and the top pan and turned the very flat, gold brown chicken over. At this point remove any excess fat from the pan and add a ½ cup of stock and a good squeeze of half a lemon and cook for a further 3 minutes or until cooked. The end result was a crispy skinned, really moist and tasty chicken, served with some simply cooked spinach, tossed in a pan with a drizzle of olive oil and a taste of white wine vinegar – it was a great, fun method to quickly cook a very tasty chicken.

Enjoy

Love Mary

PS The full recipe for Brick Chicken can be found in 'The New Brooklyn Cookbook' by Melissa Vaughan & Brendan Vaughan or visit Marlow and Sons in Brooklyn New York apparently its been on the menu there for years.

First Aid and Chilli

2011-02-17T16:26:00.000+11:00

Last week I attended a 2 day First Aid course, not the standard first aid which most people do or at least should do, this one is the Mental First Aid course. With 1 in 5 Australians suffering with some form of mental illness in their lifetime it’s become essential to know how to deal with a situation if it happens. I have certainly had my share of staff that needed help over the years and wish I had learned these skills some years ago. If anyone has an inkling of interest its well worth your time and yes I will be watching you all…….I have the certificate.

I also had my regular trip to the Gold Coast which I do each month and luckily this coincided with Maggies birthday so also had a night in Brisbane. We had a great evening in a Restaurant called Ortiga www.ortiga.com.au. It’s a Spanish restaurant that has been open just a year serving shared plates, magnificent food, the three of us shared numbers of dishes like Croquetas ,Mar y montana of oysters with pig trotters and stinging nettle picada and Codorniz rellena – stuffed quail with fennel and black olive picada. And these Pimientos De Pardron with baby calamari.

Sorry not a good photo, taken descretly in a restautrant but all the food definitely had the wow factor. I had purchased a night off especially for this birthday from Feb Fast so was able to share a bottle of 2006 Neudorf Chardonay from Nelson NZ which if you can find I’d highly recommend.

Its still febfast we are 17 days into it and both being strong. Looking forward to this being over, it’s a bit dull eating good food without a decent glass of wine to complement. Thanks to all those who have sponsored us to date we are almost at our target of $500. If you would like to support us the address is -http://www.febfastfundraising.com.au/team_debere

The weather turned from oh so hot to cold this week so we cooked a very un seasonal pot of chilli. We served it with sour cream, avocado, chopped corriander and grated cheese and loved this for its comfort. It makes a really large pot so you could freeze or just keep eating….Or turn it into a base for Taco’s or Boritos or Nachos…..for crowd.

Chilli For the Slow-Cooker

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1KG minced beef

2 large onions chopped

2 green pepper chopped

2 red pepper chopped

Fresh green halapenos (straight from our garden) depending how hot you like it, I added 6

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large can diced tomatoes

1 small can tomato paste

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1 tablespoon sea salt - might need a bit more

½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1 tablespoon chili powder (or less if your feeding children)

1 tablespoon oregano

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon cocoa powder

2 tablespoons brown sugar

As needed: water

Brown the meat, in a separate pot cook the onion, when soft add peppers, garlic and fresh chilli, combine all other ingredients and cook for at least an hour or in the slow cooker at least 3 hours.

Love

Mary

Feb Fast and Flix

2011-02-07T12:03:00.000+11:00

What an amazing week, so hot it was really hard to work over 30 degrees for a week!

But who are we to complain, a bit of heat and a few bad nights sleep is all we got, while hundreds of people are homeless in Queensland and today the front page is 40 homes in WA lost to fire. Frightening times for so many people in Australia.

So have just enjoyed another great weekend. We attended ‘Flix in the Stix’, as it sounds an outdoor movie / music experience held in the local botanic gardens. A number of award winning short films, interesting and thought provoking, humorous and beautiful. There where also a couple of slots where Mark Seymore (x hunters and collectors) was on stage – could have done with less of that but he was a big hit with a number of chair dancers close by that made it all allot more entertaining. All in all a really nice way to spend a Saturday evening with a picnic dinner and a couple of camping chairs, especially for those participating in Februarys – 'Feb Fast'

For those of you that don’t know….

FebFast Ltd challenges people to press the pause button on their alcohol consumption during the shortest month of the year, and at the same time raise funds to help reduce alcohol and other drug related harms amongst young Australians.

Proceeds raised through registration and fundraising go towards the Australian Drug Foundation, YSAS (the Youth Substance Abuse Service in Victoria), Mater Health Services Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Withdrawal Service (Queensland), The Ted Noffs Foundation (NSW and ACT), BushMob (Northern Territory) and Mission Australia youth alcohol and other drug services in WA, SA and Tasmania.

Further funds will also be distributed through a grants program for smaller grass-roots organisations.   For more information about FebFast and its beneficiaries visit www.febfast.org.au

If you would like to sponsor us just follow this link….

http://www.febfastfundraising.com.au/team_debere

Back to food.........while in Spain last year Nick and fell head over heels for salt cod, prepared in a number of different ways but at the moment I’m trying to perfect a recipe for salt cod croquettes…so Friday was our second version, it takes a bit of thought as the cod must be soaked in several changes of water over at least 48 hours prior to making the croquettes. You can only just see these ones that we served with prawns, on mayo and with Rocket and Roasted home grown little Tomatoes.

I’m definitely not there yet. The ones here tasted okay – they looked great but not anywhere near as light as the ones we where eating in Madrid, just means we have to eat more I guess….I’ll share the recipe once I’m happy with it but if anyone has the perfect recipe I'd love you to share.

Love Mary

Pizza and Ice Cream

2011-01-31T14:51:00.000+11:00

Saturday was women’s finals of the tennis so what better than pizza for a night in front of the television. Nick had made some great ice cream so it really was a night of home made fast food!

We like our Pizza best with a home made base and just a few toppings.

As long as you have a bit of mozzarella cheese, a decent tomato sauce for the base, a couple of tomatoes and a couple of basil leaves you can have a great pizza. We added mushroom to one and prosciutto to both and had a really tasty couple of pizzas.

We are lucky enough to have been given a pizza maker which I would recommend to anyone but if you don’t want to go that far a good pizza stone or even a terracotta tile (unglazed) will do fine. Make sure you heat up the oven or barbeque well before you start cooking and it will be great.

This is the recipe I use for my base. It will make 4 medium size bases.

Thin Pizza Dough

1 x instant active dry yeast sachet

¼ teaspoon of sugar

1 ½ to 2 cups lukewarm water

4 cups good quality bread flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon of oil

Combine yeast, sugar and 1 ¼ cups water in a small bowl, set aside in a warm spot until mixture starts to bubble – 15 minutes or so.

Meanwhile put flour and salt into the bowl of your kitchen aid and pour yeast mixture slowly into the flour, knead for about 5 minutes.

Brush the top with the oil, cover and stand for about ¾ hour or till it has doubled in size.

Turn out to a floured surface and knead for a couple of minutes. Divide into 4 parts. Roll to desired size, I place this onto a sheet of baking paper and then add toppings or you can pop it straight on the pizza stone and top there. Delish..

I'll come back to the iceceam later...
Love Mary

Stuff it!

2011-01-29T15:20:00.000+11:00

Happy Australia Day to everyone.

Cricket has turned to tennis and we are now enjoying the semi finals of the Australian Open with a few surprises. What a great time of year for sport!

Its been particularly warm and we seem to be in the wrong house away from the pool and the air conditioning, makes working very hard but can’t complain about the weather as it continues to caste a terrible toll on so many and it looks like more to come.

I’m very proud to say that today Nick went solo for the first time today so it won’t be too long now and we will be able to check out the countryside together from above. I’ll take photo’s I promise.

The highlight of our food during the week had to be the stuffed capsicum ….If you read my last entry we had a great pilaff and with some left over I decided to use it to stuff some beautiful red capsicum (pepper).

Simply cut the top off the pepper, clean out any seeds and fill with the pilaff. Pop the top back on and bake at 150C for about an hour or until soft. We served this with some char grilled chicken fillet, a few roasted tomatoes and a sprinkle of basil leaves. Now that’s a delicious way to use leftovers.

We have been using loads of tomatoes and loving them cooked with a few new potatoes which we served with a grilled piece of Tasmanian salmon or as last night in a salad……simply cut served with steamed potatoes, lots of leaves some avocado and Queensland Prawns very nice.

Nick is currently making burnt caramel ice cream to eat with the tennis tonight and I am making pizza, I will let you know how we go.

Have a great weekend

Love

Mary

Home grown tomatoes

2011-01-24T13:23:00.002+11:00

We have just spent a lazy weekend of not too much except a nice dinner out on Saturday and lots of cricket .

Nick took me to dinner at a local vineyard Restaurant called Racine at La Colline http://www.racinerestaurant.com.au/ just a few K’s up the road on Saturday night.
I enjoy cooking very much but there is something very special about being taken to a restaurant that shows spectacularly the talent and dedication of someone that has trained for years, honed their skills and opened a restaurant that producers something traditional (French) but with a great twist of their own, needless to say we had a wonderful evening…bliss.

So my taste buds were working overtime on Sunday wanting something not to match but definitely to satisfy like Saturdays dinner. I had a big help from the weekend food magazine and took a leaf out of Neil Perry’s suggestion this weekend of a simply marinated fillet of chicken, served with a Rice Pilaf and some vine ripened tomatoes. For me the highlight really was the tomatoes which I picked that afternoon.

The tomatoes served simply chopped with a little salt and pepper, olive oil and a sprinkle of red wine vinegar, popped the chicken on top and served it alongside the following pilaf. Fabulous….check out our tomatoes…..they taste just like tomatoes!!!!

Rice Pilaf serves 4

60g unsalted butter

2 tablespoons of Olive oil

2 cinnamon sticks

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 large red onion, thinly sliced

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

2 tablespoons currants

¼ cup shelled pistachios

300g basmati rice, soaked in water for 1 hour

500 ml chicken stock or water

Heat the butter and oil in a saucepan with a lid, large enough to fit the rice when cooked. When the butter foams add the cinnamon and salt, then onion. Fry over a medium heat for 10 minutes stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft. Add the cardamom, turmeric, currants and pistachios and cook gently for 10 minutes until the onion is golden brown.

Drain the rice and add to the pan, stirring 1-2 minutes then pour in the stock, cook on high for 5 minutes then reduce, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat, rest for 5 – 10 minutes and serve.

Love Mary

Fruits of our Garden

2011-01-21T12:07:00.000+11:00

We have just spent another week in Sydney with paint and scrubbing brushes in hand. But the results are a house that looks like it did 18 months ago. Now we face the dilemma of do we re rent or not? Decisions, Decisions….

Happily back to Orange and I was really concerned that my garden would have been scolded by a week of sunshine and no rain.

How can it be that a country ruined by floods in some areas is dry as a bone in others.

We had our share of water in and around this area and people have faced devastating effects from flood just down the road but even in Brisbane Maggie is at work, business as usual as she has been right through this period without much effect at all while just down to road people have lost their homes and much worse . This is an amazing country indeed.

Needless to say our garden was dry but not gone. Last night we had the produce of the garden on a plate, eggs, tomatoes, zucchini, basil, new potatoes all together in a Spanish Omelette, I think the only thing in it we didn’t produce was the olive oil…..

As a side before going to Sydney I had the issue of too many tomatoes on a vine and needed to take a few out. What to do with green tomatoes…I’ve always been intrigued by the notion of fried green tomatoes.

I simply dipped them in polenta flour and fried in olive oil, served them with a salad of basil and red tomato and corn fritters. It was all really tasty.

The green tomatoes stayed really firm, tasted slightly tart but in a nice way, I’d recommend you give it a try. Other than pickle the other way I know is to sauté with garlic and we may well try that version tonight.

Stay well and dry

Love Mary

Pork and Fennel just made to go together.

2011-01-12T13:47:00.000+11:00

Pork and Fennel, just made to go together.

We had such a nice relaxing weekend, dinner with friends on Saturday night and a drive to Parks on Sunday to witness its biggest event of the year - the Elvis Festival. Not just any festival, this one is the largest annual event outside of Memphis. My observation - why did so Elvis’s choose the year he died to cover…so many peanut butter sandwiches it must have taken to reproduce that look…. And in sparkly and lycra too…maybe once is enough for me.

Saturday dinner in Orange we wanted something tasty but simple. This is adapted from one of our favourite dishes - 4 hour roast pork.

Take a piece of pork, in this case it was a piece of boned shoulder, laid flat in a pan.

I mixed in my mortar and pestle 6 cloves of garlic, ½ teaspoon of chilli flakes, 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds and the rind of a lemon. Once mixed add a splash of oil and the juice of the lemon, pour over the pork and leave for a few hours.

When your ready to cook, pop 4 halved fresh fennel bulbs In the bottom of a roasting pan and place the pork skin side up on top. Add the marinade to the dish. Rub the skin with a little oil and salt and place into a hot oven for 30 minutes then turn the oven down to 160 for a further 1.5 hours. After an hour or so add a few potatoes to the dish. That’s it, serve the pork sliced with a bit of the crackling and some of the vegetables from the pan. Finnish with a drizzle of pan juices.

This was a really tasty dinner and sop easy to prepare. Really good if you just don’t want to spend the night in the kitchen when all the fun is happening outside!

Enjoy

Love Mary

2 things Australia and New Zealand can’t agree on!

2011-01-12T13:22:00.000+11:00

Since coming to Australia all those years ago there has been lots of debate about 2 significant things the first in Bacon and Egg Pie and what should go in it? And the other is of course who first cooked the mighty Pavlova.

Bacon and Egg Pie to the purest don’t include tomato, peas or cheese, its egg and bacon (I'm a purest), a little salt and pepper and the best flaky pastry you can buy or make. I introduced this marvel of cooking to Nick on a trip out to the Hay Plains last year when we stopped for dinner on the side of the road and I produced a big chunk of cold pie, he’s sold on them.

And how easy to make! Line a pie tin with pastry add some cooked and chopped bacon (as much as you like) add enough eggs to fill your pie (you can beat these slightly or not), season and pop a pastry top on. Brush the top with a little beaten egg to add shine and pop into a hot oven. By the time the pastry is deliciously golden brown the eggs will be cooked and the pie ready to serve hot or cold.

The Pavlova has been in the news recently with a lot of debate over who first produced this desert. Finally the result has been announced - the first recorded recipe was in New Zealand. I laughed at one comment by an older Australian and very well known cook who said it couldn’t be New Zealand as they don’t get passionfruit there, actually they grow wild in many gardens in New Zealand (not a native) and in Australia rare to find and when you do, very expensive. Shows what she knew.

Anyway, over Christmas I observed a friend making Pavlova and really needing to take the pressure off I have included the easiest of recipes I have tried and fail safe too.

Easy Pavlova

You will need an electric beater for this, I use my Kitchen Aid.

A note about EGGS you need large eggs, room temperature and several days old – most of you won’t have an issue there your eggs are probably months old if purchased from the supermarket, up to 6 months we recently read!

Preheat your oven to 180C with the rack in the centre. Place a piece of baking paper on an oven tray.

Make sure your mixing bowl in clean and dry.

4 egg whites

1 ½ cups caster sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon cornflour

4 tablespoons of boiling water

Place all ingredients into the mixer; add the boiling water last and beat for about 10 minutes or until the mixture is shiny and stiff.

Spoon out onto your baking paper and place in the oven bake for 10 minutes, lower the heat to 150C and bake a further 45 minutes. Turn the heat off and allow to cool in the oven for at least an hour.

Transfer to serving platter, cover in whipped cream and fruit of choice. Just please don’t add bananas ….please.

Good luck, Love

Mary

Wouldn’t want to be a chicken for quids!

2011-01-05T13:19:00.000+11:00

Ro and Keith have very kindly been looking after the chooks, apparently they are very well behaved when staying with friends.

We have been rewarded with at least one of them laying so I was in the middle of deciding what to cook that would use both the fresh eggs and the new potatoes out of the garden when we heard a bit of a ruckus outside. The chooks where outside about 6.30pm and from nowhere appeared 2 little dogs. One of the dogs had decided although twice his height a chicken might be worth a try….so imagine a chicken being chased down the drive by a dog followed by Nick and a rather larger dog (Tana), comical yes but the poor chicken lost most of its tail feathers, more of its mind but luckily for the dog not its life. Turns out they had got out of a neighbours yard.

I’m hoping that wasn’t the laying chicken. We got back to the house to find another one sheltering in my study of all places. Once all chickens where back outside I was able to get back to the task at hand.

Crispy potato cake

4 large potatoes

1 small onion

2 eggs lightly beaten

1 T flour

½ cup chopped parsley

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Grate the potatoes and onion. Wrap them in a tea towel and squeeze out the excess moisture. Put all ingredients except the oil in to a bowl and combine well. Heat a 22cm non stick oven proof pan over a medium heat and add the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the potato mixture, cover and cook for 10 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally to stop the cake sticking. Heat under a grill for a further 6-7 minutes until cooked and brown.

We served this with a simple salad and a couple of sliced of smoked salmon.

This is a photo of the potatoes we grew this year, how good do they look!

Enjoy the potato cake its great.

Love Mary

Happy New Year to you all.

2011-01-05T12:59:00.000+11:00

We spent a very happy Christmas day with Maggie and James at the Parkers, Nick followed it up with boxing day cricket which if you follow the Ashes at all you will understand why he had such a huge grin on his face when he finally landed back in NSW that night.

The week between that and New Year was spent in Castlecrag. Lots of gardening and cleaning to get done but it was nice to have the time there.

We had dinner with our neighbours one evening and as well as being such interesting and generous hosts you can be assured of receiving very good food. They are both Russian born and arrived in Australia via China so more often than not the food has the flavours of their life and travels. We had a wonderful evening and I convinced Marina to share this great dish.

She recommends you cook plenty, as Gary’s said, he likes to eat this dish three nights in a row!

Blinchatie Pirojkl - Meat pies made with Pancakes

This was served with a simple salad of cucumbers and herbs. Delicious!

We returned to Orange for New Year and had a really nice night with James and Liz, a couple of their friends from Melbourne and John, Tash and Aerin.

Love Mx

Happy Christmas

2010-12-23T12:51:00.001+11:00

Its such a busy time of year for Nick and I. We kick off our celebrations with Nick’s birthday on the 1^st of December when we put up the Christmas tree, toast Nick and look forward to our big party season. After Nick’s birthday we have our wedding anniversary which this year was mine to organise.
It wasn't very hard to make this husband very happy...boat...water...fishing.....

We spent three perfect days, blue sky and warm weather on a boat cruising around the Hawkesbury. Nick had a new fishing rod and all the stuff that goes it so he was well occupied. Along with lots of swimming, books and deciding where we would go each night it was the perfect getaway.

Simple food is the key to boats and this one had a barbeque so we ate big Aussie breakfasts prepared by Nick and dinners of Steak and Mushrooms and Asparagus one night and Chicken and Capsicums the other. Lots of good wine and the bonus of a tin of foie gras we had bought back from France this year. Very special indeed.

After a weekend like that we fell into Christmas which this year meant a big family get together in Sydney with all our family there. Geraldine and Brian where such generous hosts and gave us a veritable feast of Prawns and Ham served with an assortment of beautifully thought out salads and more. Best of all it was a great time to catch up with everyone and luckily without the stress that so many family’s talk of at this time of year. We have a clan that laughs, supports and encourages. I could sell tickets to this family celebration.

We will return to Sydney this week for Christmas with friends and I’d guess more great food. I must confess to feeling a little miffed I can’t cook dinner myself but perhaps next year we will be celebrating in our own home again. Instead I’ve been allocated a desert and tonight will cook the following rather decadent chocolate cake.

Chocolate Oblivion – serves 10-12

675g bitter chocolate, broken into pieces

350g unsalted butter, cut into cubes

9 eggs

Preheat the oven to 220c, prepare a cake tin (30x5cm) and line with baking paper.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of hot water until smooth. The bottom of the bowl should not be in contact with the water. Remove the bowl from the pan to cool a little.

Beat the eggs in a bowl over simmering water until they start to thicken. Remove from the heat and continue beating until soft peaks are formed.

Fold half the eggs into the melted chocolate, combine, then fold in the remaining egg mixture.

Pour into the prepared cake tin, cover with buttered foil and place in a bain-maire of very hot water. It is essential, if the cake is to cook evenly, that the water comes up to the rim of the tin. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes, remove the foil and bake for a further 10 minutes until just set.

Allow the cake to cool – it will continue to set as it does so – then turn out on to a plate.

This recipe comes from The River Café Cook Book by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers

We hope to be spending time in Orange over New Year, a little reflecting time on what has been a big year of driving trips to Adelaide, Brisbane and Byron Bay and flights for me to New Zealand for a few days and then our big trip that took in New York, London, Madrid, Paris and Hong Kong and so much in between. Lots of work for us both and some great new friendships. Its been a very happy year for us both.

Happy Christmas to you all.

We look forward to lots more visitors in 2011 and look forward to seeing you all very soon.

Happy eating

Love Mary

Christmas turkey....

2010-12-09T13:03:00.000+11:00

Couldn't resist showing you this chap ....

Looks who's come to visit....

He has to be 30 cm in length and right outside the back door having a sun bake,

Tana was obviously very keen to make friends but I kept him well inside.

We also have ducks, rabbits, possum, a terripin in the dam that Nick decided after moving twice off the road would be safer with us... and of course a huge variety of native birds.

Christmas turkey

All I can advise is this….if you are going to cook turkey do what the Americans do – Brine it first!

There are not many things we like to follow from our friends in the USA but let’s face it they are renowned for the quality of their roast turkey.

This is what you need to do and I tell you its worth every step.

Wash and dry or buy a new bucket big enough to hold the bird.

Prepare the brine by bring all ingredients to the boil till sugar and salt is dissolved. Allow the brine to cool and if necessary add some ice to bring the temperature down.

Wash the turkey well, rub the inside liberally with sea salt.

Submerge the turkey into the cold brine. Keep the turkey cold. If the turkey is frozen it can be brined until thawed.

You might consider keeping the brine and turkey in a large plastic bag inside an esky with ice around it if you run out of fridge space with all that Christmas beer.

Leave the Turkey to Brine for 6-8 hours.

Turkey Brine

24 cups water

3 ½ cups salt (reduce by a cup if your leaving the turkey longer than 6-8 hours)

4 cups sugar

2 Tablespoons cracked black pepper

7-8 cloves garlic

5 bay leaves, crumbled

Pancakes for breakfast

2010-12-09T12:42:00.000+11:00

I had to share this recipe which I think is the best one I’ve found for an easy and quick pancake.

You can have them plain or as in this photo I threw in a handful of frozen boysenberries.

We like the sweet and savoury taste so mostly serve them with fruit either in or alongside and some grilled bacon and maple sauce.

My brother used to make stacks of pancakes and I am really fond of them, these are thick and can be made in quite manageable size so no need to panic about flipping, just turn….

buttermilk pancakes

250g flour

3 teaspoons of baking powder

A pinch of salt

2 tablespoons sugar

2 eggs

3 cups buttermilk

75g melted butter

Extra butter fort the pan

Mix all ingredients except the melted butter together and beat well. I throw it all in the kitchen aid for a couple of minutes. Then when well mixed add the melted butter.

Heat a pan, add a little butter and ladle 1/3 cup into the pan and cook for about 2 minutes until bubbles appear on the surface. Turn the pancake over and cook another minute. Transfer to a plate with a clean tea towel, cover and continue till mix is all used.

Serve with whatever you like….

They really are good and so easy.

Love Mary

Raining its pouring, Tana is snoring...

2010-12-09T12:39:00.000+11:00

Thanks for all the calls re the flooding, its raining (allot) here but we are high in Orange and not affected at all.

…except of course the grass is still growing and hasn’t been cut for more than a month. The front paddock will need a slasher through it as soon as it dries. You can’t even see Tana when he’s out there it's so deep. The dam is over flowing but all good.

I have however added this picture of the driveway of one of Nick’s staff just 20 minutes west of Orange, amazing.

The positive side of all this rain is the growth of the vegetables, we had a meal of baby zucchinis and zucchini flowers last night. Both of which I fried in a tempura batter and served over a salad of our lettuce leaves and our basil leaves and some asparagus and tomato.

Great meal and even better that it was mostly from our own garden. I popped a dollop of goats cheese on the top.

Stay dry

Love Mary

Christmas Cherries

2010-12-07T08:54:00.000+11:00

What would ham be without a few Pickled and Spiced Cherries – on this side of the world anyway!

For the past few years I have been pickling a box of cherries and now living so close to the cherry capital of Australia I have no excuse not to pickle again this year.

The recipe I have used is from one of my favourite books and I would recommend this to anyone…..Danks Street Depot by Jared Ingersoll. Jared is a kiwi that lucky for us here decided to jump the ditch.

I use the cherries with ham and with turkey and also serve them with pate or terrine. TRhey are also wonderful with roast duck.

Pickled and spiced cherries

Fills 2.5 litre jar

1kg cherries with stems on

750 ml red wine vinegar

500g soft brown sugar

6 cloves

6 juniper berries

4 allspice

1 star anise

The peel and juice of 1 lemon, cut into strips

1 stick of cinnamon

2 green cardamom pods

Pick through the cherries for any less than perfect ones, then rinse. Put all the other ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Boil for about 5 minutes, then add your cherries and cook for 5 minutes before removing the pan from the heat. Allow to sit overnight before transferring everything into sterilized jars. These keep for months.

Enjoy

Love Mary

Nick’s Vietnamese style Birthday Barbeque

2010-12-07T08:51:00.000+11:00

It was Nick’s birthday this week so we had a group of friends from Orange and Sue and Peter drove over from Sydney to celebrate the occasion.

As expected a few laughs and a lot of cheer. Good thing the cricket and a wet day gave the boys an excuse to snooze on the lounge the next day. Meanwhile the girls did a spot of Orange shopping, for you that haven’t been here there are some really nice boutiques, you just need to know where they are.

So we ate an entree of Barbecued Pork Balls with mint, cucumber, lettuce cups and Hoi Sin dipping sauce and Fish Cakes with fish dipping sauce, both recipes are from Nhut Huynh’s book titled Little Vietnam. For the main we served Cambodian Grilled Chicken (not Vietnamese but close enough)with Asian salad and Hot & Sour Sauce. For desert fresh mango served with sticky rice and coconut cream.

As I have already given you the Grilled Chicked and Asian salad recipes here is the pork balls…..

Barbecued Pork Balls -Serves 8 people as an entree

1kg lean pork mince

4 red shallots, finely sliced

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

2 tablespoons white sugar

½ teaspoon ground white pepper

18 bamboo skewers (soaked in water for 30 minutes)

Iceberg lettuce cups

Handful of fresh mint, sliced cucumber and Hoi Sin Dipping Sauce

Mix together pork, shallots, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and pepper. Using light oiled hands role the mixture into 3 cm balls, place the balls on a plate and steam in a bamboo steamer over simmering water for 5 minutes or until firm. Set aside to cool. Thread onto skewers and set aside till you are ready to barbeque. These can be prepared the day before and kept in the fridge. Barbeque or char grill, brushing with oil frequently for 2-3 minutes.

Serve balls on a large plate with lettuce cups, load the lettuce cups with balls, mint and sauce, wrap and enjoy.

Hoi Sin dipping sauce

1/3 cup Hoi Sin Sauce

2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce

1 teaspoon garlic infused oil

Mix well and serve.

Enjoy

Love Mary

Oh dear....

2010-11-22T17:34:00.000+11:00

We woke to a bit of a shock on Saturday when I was up quite early, standing at the kitchen sink and saw what seemed to be a very large dog with something the colour of a chicken in its mouth. Tana was beside me so on second look it was not at all good....

It seemed that the fox had ripped the side off the chicken coop off and taken all the chickens. We spent Saturday getting over the shock and Nick repaired the damage, strengthened the coop and bought new chickens. Apparently you just have to get over it and get on with it out here. Good thing we didn’t name the chickens or it might have been a bit more personal.

Unfortunately all the chickens had just settled and started to lay regularly so we are back to square one with frightened layers who will take a couple of weeks to settle into a routine. So no eggs!

The good news, cheer yourself up with food. I found some great quality barramundi ….

Fish and Zucchini Chips

Finely slice 1 ½ zucchini per person and lay in a single layer onto a sheet of baking paper on an oven tray (you’ll need a couple. Sprinkle lightly with salt and bake in a hot oven 200c till golden brown and crisp.

Mean while lightly coat the fish in a little seasoned flour and pan frie in a little oil.

Serve the chips with the fish and a dollop of Aioli, a slice of lemon and maybe a salad. We had some fresh snow peas. Its tasty and is a much healthier choice than fries.

Love

Mary

Spring really has sprung

2010-11-16T15:58:00.003+11:00

There is so much happening outside, not only is the grass over a foot high after just a couple of weeks but everything is growing. The lettuce 2^nd life (after rabbit) has them only days away from eating, there are buds on the zucchini, flowers on the tomato plants and all the trees on the property are green with new leaves.

We have enjoyed fabulous blossom and spectacular flowers that I clearly have no idea what to call except beautiful.

A little like my naming of the helicopter bird (apparently its a crested pigeon) due to the manner in which it takes off straight up into the air. Very entertaining.

I’m hoping someone can tell me what this tree is…..

Last weekend we had almost summer weather on Saturday and that didn’t stop Martin request I teach him how to make Yorkshire pudding – which in turn meant we needed to have a full roast beef. No problem, just a little warm. Remind me to keep the oven off for the next few months will you.

He did a great job – the pudding was great as you can see and I added gravy that you might want to try.

Here are the recipes for both.

Yorkshire Pudding

300ml milk

4 eggs

250g plain flour

Mix all ingredients, except the flour, with pepper and ½ a teaspoon of salt, beating them well together. Le the ingredients stand for 15 minutes and then whisk in the flour.

Meanwhile put a pan, I use patty pans but you can cook as one piece if you prefer, with 1 tablespoon or so of whatever fat you are using (I used vegetable oil) in a very hot oven. Into this intensely hot pan, pour the batter and cook undisturbed for 15 – 20 minutes and serve immediately.

This is obviously a Man's portion!

The Gravy

15g butter

1 onion chopped finely

Pinch of brown sugar

1 teaspoon flour

300ml beef stock

2 teaspoons of Marsala

Melt the butter and cook the onion very slowly, stirring often. When the onion is soft add the sugar and Marsala and let it caramelise. Cover with foil, putting the foil as near to the bottom of the pan as possible and continue to cook, still on a very low flam, fort about 10 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook a further 2 minutes.

Stir in the stock, bring to the boil then reduce to low and cook for a further 20 minutes. Puree or strain and add any meat juices.

This can be prepared a day early if your going to be pushed for time and can also be made with chicken stock and served with roast chicken.

Enjoy,

Love Mary

Week night fast food

2010-11-12T10:56:00.000+11:00

Week night fast food

We are definitely fast food, one dish, mid week eaters but still like tasty and healthy dishes.

This week we had a flying visit to Sydney where we both did a little work but really it was all about Leonard Cohen, wow what an amazing concert. It had to be hands down the best thing I’ve ever seen. If you get the chance go…and thanks Nick it was a fabulous surprise.

But travelling to Sydney in the week leaves little time for cooking so this week we had one of our current favourites. It sounds a little unusual but believe me if you haven’t started eating roasted cauliflower you will want to after trying this.

The other key ingredient in this dish is Quinoa (pronounced 'keen-wa' or 'kin-wah') is native to the upper Andes of Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. The most surprising feature of quinoa is its high protein content of 12-18% which is higher than meat.
It's also a good source of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and iron. It has a low GI, is gluten free and high in dietary fibre.

With all of these great features it is unsurprising that the Incas called it the 'mother of all grain'. If you haven’t yet discovered this it’s a great option in salads, use it like couscous and if you’re trying to cut down your evening intake of carbs this is a great find.

It’s easy to prepare, just simmer it in stock or water to cover, top it up as necessary till you see the seeds open and all the liquid is absorbed. Or follow the instructions on the packet. I can now buy this in the organic section of our local Woolworths, it comes in three different colors’ so please try it. I’m interested to hear your thoughts.

I found the following recipe in one of our national weekend magazines and have addapted it slightly.

Roasted Cauliflower with Quinoa

1 whole cauliflower

½ cup Quinoa

1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

1 bunch chives, finely chopped

Cheese, use goats, feta or Labanne or even a good quality yogurt will work what ever suits your taste or is in the fridge. My choice this week is Labanne.

Oive oil, salt and Pepper

Chop the cauliflower into small pieces and toss in a little olive oil in a roasting pan, season with salt and pepper. Place in a hot oven 180C. Turn a couple of times and cook till golden brown.

Meanwhile cook the Quinoa in the chicken stock.

Combine all ingredients except the cheese, season and add a little fresh olive oil to taste.

Serve with a dollop of Labanne, or a sprinkle of your chosen cheese.