Bounty of the month–Strawberries in September and October

Posted on by November 15, 2012
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When I was a little girl I remember not really liking strawberries–they always seemed tart–but I was so not wanting to miss out that I would swallow them whole rather than give them to my brothers who obviously loved them.
I am a bit more mature about my response to food now and having tasted some divine examples of strawberry sweetness, I do know that good strawberries exist.
The sweet, hard-to-describe floral, candy perfume of ripe flavour-filled strawberries is intoxicating, and when that wafts through the market stall, they sell themselves.
When in season and 500g punnets selling for $2, resistance is futile.
My boys have been known to buy a punnet each and slurp their way around the market with juice stained fingers and sweet smelling breath.

The strawberry is, in technical terms, an aggregate accessory fruit, meaning that the fleshy part is derived not from the plant’s ovaries but from the receptacle that holds the ovaries. Each apparent “seed” (achene) on the outside of the fruit is actually one of the ovaries of the flower, with a seed inside it. In both culinary and botanical terms, the entire structure is considered a fruit (Wikipedia).
There are  about 9 varieties of strawberries grown in Australia, and I really don’t know the scientific differences. My nose, eyes and taste buds help me choose.

So that is some of the technical stuff.
The initial obvious employment of strawberries is to satisfy the sweets compartment–strawberries and cream, strawberry jam, in fruit salad, on pavlova, strawberry ice cream, in a smoothie or milkshake, strawberry and champagne (sparkling wine) jelly, tarts, mousses, cheese cakes…
But how about strawberry and duck risotto; strawberry, feta and rocket salad; strawberry relish glazed pork belly; strawberry and balsamic vinegar salad dressing…and something I have been toying with for a while-Strawberry,balsamic and pepper sorbet:
Ing:
500g strawberries, hulled
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup caster sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1 egg white, beaten until soft peaks

Method:
Dissolve sugar in water and bring to the boil.
Remove from heat and cool.
Puree strawberries with vinegar and mix in pepper.
Mix syrup in with puree. Fold in egg white.
Pour into icecream machine and churn according to instructions. Decant into plastic container and freeze.

Zingy and refreshing. Maybe could do with even more pepper. Or maybe not!

 

Random Lunch Challenge–Sparrow Grass fit for royalty

Posted on by October 13, 2012
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Asparagus. Or sparrow grass as I called it as a child.
Last week we noticed that asparagus had hit the market shelves.
Fresh, local asparagus at $5 a kg as a basis for RLC was an opportunity to be exploited.
Simple dish using asparagus? Hmm.
Steamed/grilled with…free range, home-grown eggs and something.
Something???
I suggested maybe pesto.
No.
“Hollandaise sauce mum..that’s what you have with asparagus and poached eggs.”
Not that we ever have that at home.
But observed in the general mix of foodie things in our lives.

$3.45 worth of asparagus bagged us 4 fat spears of asparagus each,  4 free home grown eggs, $2.20 for a commercial hollandaise sauce (which was actually relatively decent) and $1 for a big bread stick and our lunch ended up costing $6.65. For 4.
Fresh, just boiled, bright green asparagus, topped with a poached egg with all it’s oozy yolk mingling with the hollandaise and fresh cracked black pepper, and bread to mop it all up. nom nom nom.
Simple dish.
Simply delish.

Random Lunch Challenge–a planned lunch, an oasis and the Ancient of Grains.

Posted on by October 8, 2012
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Last Saturday lunch was not random.
Last Saturday lunch was planned. In the diary, “locked in going to happen” planned.
Lunch at my Aunt and Uncle’s home in an oasis of a garden in the dairy country of Gippsland is always a joy and treat.
For years, long lunches have been enjoyed over delicious food, sitting around the table for hours, bantering and laughing, with discussions about food, about the functional design of food vessels or chairs (very creative people in the family), relationships, travel, listening to my uncle’s great yarns (like the story of him trying to jump a creek, only to land on a bloated dead sheep that he thought was a rock!)
My Aunt is a wonderful cook (as are my cousins) with a great attention to detail and fine cutting and presentation, and my Uncle is The Boss of the Weber kettle BBQ. Last Sat, we had kettle BBQ roasted porterhouse steak, done to juicy perfection.
Succulent, carnivore’s heaven.
Fluffy jacket potatoes and a couple of salads–Freekeh salad, and roast onion, rocket, Gorgonzola and walnut salad–completed the mains. And Hazel’s home made bread of course.
Dessert was a fabulous lemon “souffle” with sweet scented strawberries and blood orange segments. Perfect finish.
We came away feeling well fed and that bit more nourished and appreciated.
As we always do.
To compensate for no RLC description, I am divulging my Middle Eastern inspired rice salad which I cooked for Sat. However, I used the ancient of grains–Freekeh–instead of rice. Freekeh is cracked young green wheat grain. I kind of like playing around with recipes and I believe as one gets confident with flavour and ingredient pairings, then one should tweak. I also had fun playing around with the word Freekeh. Nothing rude!

Freekeh Salad
3 cups cooked Freekeh (See instructions on packet)
1/3 cup toasted flaked almonds
1/3 cup pistachio kernals or toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup currents
1/2 cup barberries
2 chopped onions that have been fried in 2 tbs olive oil until soft and caramelised.
1 tsp ground cummin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp salt flakes
1/2 cup light vegetable oil
1 cup cleaned and chopped fresh coriander leaves
Juice of 2 limes.

Mix all ing together, putting in nuts just before serving if not eating salad immediately.

Long lunch with family.
Freekehn great! (There, I got a little word tweak in!)

Random Lunch Challenge–a bye, the Grand Final and a trifle win.

Posted on by October 8, 2012
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The goal is to partake of Random Lunch Challenge each Saturday (market day) but sometimes it just doesn’t get there.
Last Saturday the ball was dropped.
RLC was pipped to the post by something called The Grand Final–the play-off game between the top Australian Football League teams.
Short of the Melbourne Cup, it is pretty much the top Melbourne-specific sporting event.
So, BBQs rule the lunch hour on GF day and that’s where all the boys went off to. BBQ and football on the big screen at a friend’s.
I had other plans.
Now, I could dream up some BBQ related recipe to write about, but I will share what kept me from too high stress levels whilst the game was on tv in the background:
I made 40 lemon and quince trifles for my godson’s engagement party that night and a family lunch the next day.

I was eating my usual porridge in the morning one day a couple of weeks ago and I thought I would try some homemade quince jelly on it. Mmmmm.
The other day, indulgent as it was, I put quince jelly and leftover lemon cream (from the last marriage course session) on my porridge. Who would have thought porridge could become breakfast dessert?
I loved the combination of flavours, so my brain started working on the dessert for the party and lunch.
Something like… trifle.

Lemon and quince trifle
I cut rounds of sponge cake, then built layers of cake sprinkled with my Aunt’s homemade Limoncello, my homemade quince jelly, homemade lemon curd (see the “A’peel of Lemons” post in Bounty of the month) made with my chooks’ eggs and a neighbour’s lemons, and lemon-zest infused sweetened whipped cream, topped with a sprinkle of gingernut crumbs.
Lemon treasure with jewels of quince jelly.

Even Quality Controller who hates trifle finally relented and had one and liked it. He will deny this to his mother, of course!

So, despite no RLC and a somewhat subdued atmosphere at favoured team being pipped to the post themselves, the trifle seemed to be a winner. Goal!!!
And anyway, the crowds at both events were well behaved and enjoyed themselves.
Celebrating a new team developing, a birthday, and family.
Good relationships and good food.
Win Win.

Cup.of.truth

Posted on by September 27, 2012
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I love my coffee.
I am not a food critic or cafe reviewer or coffee blogger.
I just want to share a little treasure that to me is a great example of what I mean by good hospitality, which happens to have good coffee as part of the package.
When “our” barista Courtney left our coffee haunt at the South Melbourne Market, the loss was palpable.
Great coffee, friendly banter and the taking and delivering of orders using our names were sadly replaced by table numbers and IMHO not as good coffee.
We grieved Courtney’s moving on.
We also moved on.

But a television advertisement for the Metro in which Courtney appeared in a cafe let us know he was still around.
I was really in need of a coffee yesterday whilst on an adventure in town with my boys, and I thought we’d check out and see if the cafe in the arcade under Flinders Street Station was his.
We found the compact cup.of.truth and Courtney recognized us straight away, chatting warmly to us, asking whether we still shop at the market and asking how my husband was, remembering his name, even coming around the counter to greet the boys and ask where they were up to.
He and his fellow barista delivered great coffee to the 8 or so people in the 10 mins we hung around whilst I enjoyed my latte.

The truth is, out of a small space, Courtney has made a great space.
The truth is, I like being treated like a human of individual significance, not just a number. That’s what makes for good hospitality.
The truth is, I will go back there as priority when I am in town and I want my coffee. Great coffee.
The truth is, the cup. of. truth over floweth.

Chocolate Moussetard

Posted on by September 26, 2012
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This creation was one part of the Ohh La La dessert quartet made for the marriage course. See Sweet Goodness For The Sake of Love post.
This simple chocolate dessert is a hybrid of chocolate mousse and chocolate custard pots.

I wanted to make a chocolate mousse that was not just rich chocolate and cream and not containing raw egg as it was for a crowd that I knew had some pregnant women in. It also had to be in the right sized presentation dish and I was not going to risk my 20+ mini latte glasses by baking chocolate pots in the oven.

So, with a nod to Heston Blumenthal, I made what I am calling chocolate Moussetard. Even Heston uses commercial custard (see his Exploding cake recipe). Read on.
It set well, was silky smooth, chocolatey enough but not sickeningly solid chocolate ganache (which in itself is wonderful but not what I was looking for).

Chocolate Moussetard (c) with Pedro Ximinez:    

Ingredients:
175 g cream
1 1/2 cups gluten free commercial custard (Fresh, with no artificial junk in. Found in the dairy section at the supermarket)
170g dark chocolate 70%, melted over hot water or carefully in the microwave.
2 tbs Pedro Ximinez sherry

Method:
Heat cream and custard together in microwave-proof glass bowl until just to the boil. Whisk in Pedro Ximinez.
Stir into melted chocolate that is sill warm. Mix until smooth.
Pour into bowls or glasses that are on the smaller side. Chill for at least 3 hours.
Take out of fridge 15 mins or so before serving to allow the flavours to come through and the texture to be not too firm.

Random Lunch Challenge- Baby beetroot and goats cheese salad

Posted on by October 1, 2012
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The start of the holidays seems to have caused an immediate non engaged mode from my boys, so the task of choosing something randomly for lunch was just a tad too demanding today.

So they had to deal with what I created, and  they actually did so very willingly.

I found some baby beetroot for 99c a 250g bag.
Cheap.
Had to use.
Got 4 bags full.
Roast beetroot and goats cheese salad was the first lunchy thing that would work, so I went to our deli and bought some goats cheese for $2.50. I wanted some crunch and normally I would use toasted pine nuts, but budget really didn’t allow for that. I bought some Balsamic vinegar flavoured croutons.
$9.00 total.
After washing then roasting the beetroot in olive oil, they were tossed with the croutons, some chopped parsley, the olive oil from the pan, the diced goats cheese  AND some pine nuts I found in the pantry (bonus). An added bonus was a dollop of dill and garlic spiked yoghurt dressing from dinner last night.

A tasty, satisfying and enjoyable random lunch enough for 5 with wholesome and  colourful results.

Sweet Goodness for the sake of Love

Posted on by September 22, 2012
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The warmth and sweet smell of Spring is in the air.
The blossom trees are resounding with the buzz of busy bees.
And for me, over the last few weeks I’ve been a little bit like one of those industrious little creatures, gathering the nectar and making the honey.
I have been gathering ideas, then sourcing ingredients, then making a series of desserts for a course that my husband (AKA Quality Controller) and I were facilitating.

It was a marriage course. 9 couples attended a series of 7 sessions, once a week.
Our aim was to make the setting in the church hall as romantic and intimate as possible, with dimmed lights, linen table cloths, candles, menu of the night, coloured serviettes and flowers, and suitable music. (I am somewhat kicking myself for not taking more photos, but blogging about this was not then in my thinking). The couples watched a teaching DVD and discussed issues privately with each other.

And being a marriage course, I tried to link the dessert and flowers with the topic of the night.

1.
“Strong Foundations”  Sticky Date Pudding with toffee sauce and dollop cream; (idea of favourite classic, reliable goodness)
Purple Orchids, symbolizing beauty and strength
Lilac serviettes

2.
“The Art of Communication”  Leatherwood honey panna cotta, saffron oranges, cardamon sugar biscuits; (idea of words sweet like honey or slightly acidic with a need for sweetening…a bit special and spiced.)
Alstroemeria, symbolizing friendship and devotion
Burgundy serviettes

3.
“Resolving Conflict” Chilli Chocolate Brownies with Passionfruit ice cream and passionfruit coulis; (What better way to symbolize this topic than with the fire of chilli and the soothing coolness of passionfruit ice cream, with a hint of passion. Works really well.)
Red and Orange Gerberas, symbolizing beauty and innocence
Orange serviettes

4.
“The Power of Forgiveness”  Blueberry Croissant “Bread and Butter” Pudding with orange and blueberry sauce and cream. (Sort of a comfort, homely dessert with a twist)
Blue Iris symbolizing courage, faith and hope
Dark Blue serviettes

5.
“Family Back grounds” Fruit salad–strawberries, pineapple, mangoes, watermelon, kiwi fruit, oranges–with lime sorbet and coconut ice cream. Echoing the idea that families are often a real mix.
Rannunculus were used really because of the mixed colours as the “official” symbolism didn’t apply.

6.
“Good Sex”  Ooh La La Chocolate Dessert Quartet: flour-less chocolate Torte, chocolate mousse topped with chocolate Pop Rocks, raspberry and rose water jelly, chocolate wafers, cream. This decadent, evocative dessert plate was so much fun to prepare and seeing the couples discover the sexy crackling pop rocks brought out the Heston Blumenthal in me (satisfaction at seeing my aim realized).
Red roses, symbolizing passion and love.
Red serviettes
Red foil covered chocolate hearts.

7.
“Love In Action” Lemon tart, raspberries, lemon cream. (Just smacks of all things loving and serving)
Pale pink roses with lime tinged outer petals, symbolizing grace and elegance.
Couldn’t find pale pink serviettes the right size so used yellow. Looked great.

All this sweet goodness was a means to an end
– the enriching of some marriage relationships. For the sake of Love.

Random Lunch Challenge–We are Purple Potato Pizza Eaters

Posted on by September 8, 2012
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Right from go, today it was going to be potato and rosemary pizza for the challenge.
The thought had sprouted and taken root–they were one eyed, focused, and firing to find pizza bases and the right sort of potatoes.
And of course the rosemary was growing at home, the garlic in the garlic basket and the olive oil in the pantry.
The undressed pizza bases were scored at the cost of $2.66 for 4 dinner plate sized. (Boys actually purchased 9 for $6 as part of a deal, so we were flexible with the RLC rules.) The remaining bases have been frozen for future use.

A trip to the friendly market  potato stall man and the ensuing discussion led to the purchase of the recommended Purple Congo potatoes, which were to be sliced thinly and laid on the garlic, chopped rosemary and olive oil doused base.
Another dressing of garlic oil and then 10 mins in a hot oven filled the house with the heady aromas of garlic and rosemary.
The potatoes cost $3 for 8, of which we ended up using half.
So, $2.66 and $1.50 plus free rosemary, about 80c olive oil and 50c garlic, give or take. Total of about $5.50.
Cheaper than chips.
We are and will again be, purple potato pizza eaters.