Easy and yummy winter dinner

Lamb shank, fennel and pearl barley scotch broth. Recipe here.

Apart from all the labour intensive chopping of vegies to go into it, it was a pretty easy dinner. I made it in the slow cooker and I didn't bother browning anything, I just threw it all in and cooked it on low for about six hours. By then, all the lamb had fallen off the bones so all that I needed to do was take the bones out and serve it up with some bread. The fennel had mellowed out so there was just a hint of its flavour rather than having an overpowering aniseed taste.

You can add other vegetables to it if you like. I had a few over-ripe tomatoes on the kitchen bench that I used up. We got an extra bag of potatoes in our online shopping order this week so I chopped up a few of those and put them in as well. An extra carrot or two. A bit more pearl barley than what the recipe said. It easily served our family of six with enough for seconds and probably a bit more for me to take for lunch at work later in the week.

Yum. Just the right dinner to sustain me for the evening ahead as I'm revisiting how to prescribe a wheelchair ahead of the student tutorial tomorrow morning (not a topic I'm overly familiar with...)

Making my own chicken stock...and a few other cooking adventures

I've never bothered to make it before. It's rare that I have a spare three to four hours on a cool wet day to let it simmer on the stove. But today I had those spare hours, and a chicken carcass sitting in the fridge as well. So the stock is currently doing its thing on the stove. It smells fantastic.

When it's finished cooking, I'm going to use it to make bacon, leek and pearl barley soup for dinner tonight.  

And since I'm busy using up stuff from the fridge, I'll also be baking a rhubarb and yoghurt cake for dessert this evening. 

I've never made the bacon and leek soup or the rhubarb cake before either. So it's a trifecta of new recipes that I have on the go here today.

Hmmm....I think cooking could be becoming my new form of assignment marking avoidance. When I was writing my Masters thesis a few years ago, I used to clean the house when I was procrastinating about sitting down at the computer to write. Never before (or since) had my house been so clean. 

But cooking is heaps more fun as a procrastination strategy. Anyone else cooking anything yummy today?

Image from here.

Hot cross bun season

I love making my own hot cross buns. Like most things you make yourself, they taste heaps better than the ones from the shop.  I have the dough on the first rise now and I'm going to leave it overnight and finish them in the oven tomorrow morning so they're lovely and fresh to eat for breakfast. This is the first time I've tried the leaving overnight thing. I wasn't sure if I could do that or not but several blogs said it was okay so I am giving it a go. Punching down the dough is my favourite thing to do in the whole process of making them (kneading is a close second) so that will be my first job when I get up tomorrow.

Roll on tomorrow morning.

An interesting sermon on the Proverbs 31 woman

Check out the link here if the video above isn't working. It goes for a long time. I don't think you need to listen to all of it to get the gist of what he has to say. He does say that women should read their Bibles and fill their minds with the word of God. That part I don't have an issue with. It's when he starts to get into detail about what a woman's life should look like that we depart company.

He spends a lot of time talking about women cooking. Here are some examples:

31:00 Women, are you too busy? You better be too busy cooking because that's what the Bible says you should be doing.

36:12 I didn't let my wife have a TV when we got married. She didn't know what to do with her time because we had no kids and she didn't have a job. I told her "Just cook me three awesome meals a day. Just really hit it out of the park."

37:30 I just wanted my wife to do something that mattered. Like cooking!

38:20 I really just want to give my wife a ton of freedom. Cook what you want!

53:25 A virtuous woman is one who has a plan. She's got a plan for breakfast, she's got a plan for lunch, she's got a plan for dinner.

Okay. So I'm quoting some of this out of context (and some of it I have paraphrased...). But I was left with the distinct feeling that he really wants his wife to get into that kitchen and cook him something. I haven't quoted the bit where he checks up on his wife via webcam when he's away and if she's not in the kitchen, he asks her why she's not there.

And don't get me started on what he has to say about public schools being run by Satan and how the University is filling your mind with scum. When I trawled through some of the comments on this and found a link to his wife's blog (called ARE THEY ALL YOURS?!?? - and yes, the capitals and question marks/exclamation marks are quoted verbatim...) I discovered they are into all kinds of conspiracy theories on the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Scary stuff.

I know this probably isn't an indication of a meek and quiet spirit (something else he talks about at length in his sermon) but I did find a little perverse enjoyment in the fact that while I was sitting here watching his video and writing this blog post, my husband was busy preparing tonight's dinner....

And here's another yummy after dinner treat

Sugar and spice roasted almonds. Recipe here.

They are certainly very more-ish. And very very easy to make. They would be good for a Christmas-time treat, but let me tell you they're pretty yummy at this time of the year as well.

I halved the recipe quantities in the above recipe link (that meant they all fitted into one large baking dish) and that's easily made enough for us to eat here at home. I'm now thinking of making a few bags for the school fete next week.

Lemon and thyme roast chicken

Recipe and photo from here.

We've been on a quest for a while to find a nice roast chicken recipe. It's not easy. I quite enjoy a home cooked roast chicken, but Chris doesn't like roast chicken as much as he likes other roasted meats. He says it's because roast chicken was just about the only roast his family ever had when he was a kid, so it quickly became done to death for him.

Tonight we tried this one. It wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, in the picture from the magazine it all looks a bit burned. Not sure what was going on with the food styling there.

It was pretty easy to make. No stuffing involved. I don't mind eating stuffing, but making it adds extra time to the cooking that I'm mostly too lazy to bother with.  To cook the roast, you just heat the oven up to 200 degrees. Then you wash the chicken under cold water, pat it dry, and put it into a roasting dish breast side down. Then you stick a lemon that you've cut into quarters into the cavity, and put a couple of halved lemons, a whole clove of garlic cut in half crossways and some thyme around it. Add about three quarters of a cup of chicken stock to the dish, sprinkle more thyme on top, spray the chicken with some olive oil and season it with salt and pepper.

Then you cook it for an hour and fifteen minutes (that's for a 1.8kg chook, we had a 2.1kg one so we gave him a bit longer). After that you take it out, flip the chicken over so it's breast side up, and cook it for another fifteen minutes or so.

Serve with all the usual roast chicken accompaniments. We had potatoes, corn and beans. The juice in the pan would probably make a nice light gravy to go on the meat, or you could mix a regular gravy mix into the juices if you wanted to.

Usually with a 2kg roast we have leftover meat to use for sandwiches but most people went for seconds tonight so the carcass is pretty bare. I think that means it went down well.

Rhubarb crumble slice

This is a really easy slice to make and it tastes very yummy served warm with a big dollop of cream on top of it.

I found the recipe in a Donna Hay newspaper column a few years ago. Great for church morning teas or any other "bring a plate" function.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
100g butter, melted
1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar
1 cup (150g) plain flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
1/2 cup (40g) desiccated coconut
1/4 cup (60ml) milk
1 bunch rhubarb, trimmed and chopped
3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar, extra (you could probably get away with a bit less...)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
double cream, to serve
Crumble Topping
1 cup (150g) plain flour, sifted
1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar
100g cold butter, chopped

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Combine melted butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, coconut and milk in a bowl and mix well to combine. Spoon into a 17cm x27cm slice tray lined with baking paper and bake for 20 minutes or until golden and firm to touch.
Combine rhubarb, extra sugar and vanilla and spoon onto base.
To make crumble topping, combine flour, sugar and cold butter, using your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until it is a crumbly consistency.
Spoon onto rhubarb and bake 35-40 minutes until golden. Slice and serve with cream.

Enjoy!

Winter chill sets in...bring on the comfort food

Not so cold in relation to other areas of Australia, I'm sure, but for us it is a little cooler than normal.

So the winter comfort food is being devoured in earnest here. Tonight's dinner is going to be a chicken pot roast with apples and cider, and I am currently deliberating over which flavour of self-saucing pudding I should make for dessert. Butterscotch or chocolate....

Firing up the kitchen blowtorch

A few weeks ago, I bought a creme brulee set that was on special at Woolworths. Four ramekins (that I didn't need) and a blowtorch (that I did).

When I opened up the box, I discovered that the blowtorch was empty. Not surprising, I guess, since I assume it wouldn't be safe to ship little blowtorches filled with gas across the world.

So then I had to work out where to go to find some gas to fill it up with. My Google searching suggested that getting it filled at the kitchen shop was the most expensive option, so I thought I would try and find a more budget-friendly option. Woolworths didn't have anything that I could find, so then I asked at the petrol station when I filled up with petrol. The woman there thought that maybe a tobacconist would have it.

I've never had cause to visit my local tobacconist before now (our local one is catchily called "The Durrie Den"). But the guy was really helpful, considering he sells products that kill people to make a living. And five dollars later, I am now the owner of an aerosol can of gas that I can use to fill it up. He showed me how to fill it up and at first, we thought it didn't work even though we could clearly hear the gas hissing out of it. I wasn't impressed at the thought of having to repackage it all back up and return it to the shop, but fortunately when I came home and read the instructions, I managed to get it fixed myself. Fixing things myself is a rarity here so I felt pretty pleased about that.

Now that I know what I need to buy, I will probably try to source a supplier that I am ethically more comfortable with. When I got home and told Chris about it, he said he wouldn't have set foot in a cigarette shop to buy anything at all because he has spent too much time working with people who are dying of smoking related illnesses. I could see his point. I might give Bunnings a go next time (any other suggestions would be appreciated!). Or maybe the kitchen shop will have to be the way to go, regardless of the expense.

So, anyway, I made up the creme brulees this morning and they are now busy setting in the fridge. And this evening, we will all be able to stand around and ooh and ah at the debut of the blowtorch to caramelise the sugar on top of them.

Can't wait.

Fruity polenta slice

It's pouring rain here today (and the teachers are on strike at school...not such a bad thing since there's nothing worse than doing school pick-up with small children in the rain) so I did some baking this morning.

I'll add a photo later, but I tried out a new recipe I found and made fruity polenta slice. I'm a big fan of polenta in cakes and slices, it adds a lovely crunchy texture to the finished product.

Recipe is as follows:

Ingredients
1 tbsp honey
250ml (1 cup) hot tea
320g (2 cups) mixed dried fruit
180g (1 cup) polenta
250g (1 2/3 cups) self-raising flour
100g (1/2 cup) brown sugar
110g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
200g butter, chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon
zest of 1 lemon, chopped
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 eggs

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Dissolve the honey in the hot tea, pour over the dried fruit and set aside to soak. Allow mixture to cool while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Butter a slice tin, line sides and bottom with baking paper and butter lightly.
Combine polenta, flours, sugars, butter and cinnamon. Rub butter into dry ingredients until the mixture has a fine breadcrumb texture.
Add lemon zest, juice and eggs and mix well. Drain the dried fruit thoroughly and add to the mix. Stir until well combined.
Spoon mixture into prepared slice tin and smooth the top.Bake for 30-40 minutes or until set and golden brown. Slice into whatever size you like to serve. It would probably be nice for a dessert with a big dollop of cream on it.

The recipe comes from one of my favourite cookbooks, In the Kitchen, by Allan Campion and Michele Curtis. I think this book has just about every recipe you will ever need in it.

Here's a great blog

If you are often cooking meals for other people at church (or anywhere else, for that matter). It's called Food That Serves and it has all kinds of helpful hints and meal ideas for cooking for other people.

There's a great post about pie-makers on it. I don't own a pie maker myself (we just cut up and squish the pastry into our ancient pie dishes) but I'm seriously tempted to get one after reading that post. For winter meals, we often make pies to give away. Over the weekend, we made a double quantity of savoury mince and made a shepherd's pie for ourselves and a pastry pie for a family at church. It sounds like the pie-maker might make the step of making the pastry fit into the dish properly a little less painful. The supermarket pastry squares always seem to be just that little bit too small.

Kaffir lime: Our weekend fruit identification challenge

We found one of these under a tree behind the unit we stayed in at our church weekend away. There were heaps of them so we didn't think anyone would mind too much if we picked up one to bring home with us (is it bad to confess that we stole a piece of fruit while we were on church camp??). When we found it, we knew it was some kind of citrus fruit but we'd never seen a wrinkly citrus fruit before. They look a bit like the surface of a brain.


Google images is very helpful when it comes to identifying unknown fruits. So now we know it's a kaffir lime.

I've only ever used kaffir lime leaves in Thai cooking until now. Does anyone know what you can do with the fruit part? Would you just use it like a regular lime?

I also have three bunches of rhubarb (locally grown, we bought it from a roadside fruit shop on the way home yesterday) to use up. I know how to do poached/stewed rhubarb and can do an apple and rhubarb crumble. I'd welcome any suggestions on what other things I could do with it....

Easter feasting

Roast loin of pork, roast potato and sweet potato, beans and carrots (made by Chris). We served the meat with some plum chutney that I made yesterday based loosely on a recipe I found here.

We had lots of plums that needed to be used up, so I made little plum and hazelnut cakes for dessert. I substituted almond meal for the hazelnut meal. They taste just as good either way.

And obviously I have also consumed (some) chocolate today as well.

Yum. But I can feel some exercise will be required tomorrow to recover from all of this...

Cooking night here...

Chris is making an Austrian maple syrup spice cake to take to work tomorrow for his birthday. He's managed to work in the same place for six years without ever celebrating his birthday there, just by not telling anyone when it was. Now they are onto him and because the birthday cake policy there is BYO, he has to bring one. It's the first time he's made this cake and our tin was the wrong size (too small). Fingers crossed it will work.

And when he's finished in the kitchen I'm going in there to make white chocolate creme brulees for tomorrow night's birthday dessert. I have made plain creme brulee before so I'm branching out to try something new. It's my favourite dessert rather than his (he likes it too but not as much as I do) so perhaps a bit of a selfish choice for his birthday. I'm sure we'll enjoy it anyway.

Making playdough can be very therapeutic

Even if you can't produce the colour requested by the two year old (she wanted orange) because all you have left in the food colouring box is green or blue.

And it was still enjoyable even when, after choosing blue from those two options, she then decided after the colouring was added that she wanted green instead.

I want to make more of it now. I think I will go to the shops tonight and buy up all the different food colourings so I can make a whole lot of batches in lots of colours.

Karen's cooking adventures: Cinnamon scrolls

Made these yesterday while it was pouring rain outside. Yum.

Resisting posting about Carpe Diem article...

...because it seems as if everyone else in blogland is doing so. If you want to read it, it's here.

So I tried to think of something else and you guessed it....I've got nothing.

It's pouring rain here. Really pouring. Flooding is likely. Trying to decide whether it is heavy enough to cancel our haircuts this afternoon.

Other status updates:

Me: I spent the morning baking because it's cold and wet. Pumpkin scones and pumpkin fruitcake. They look yummy. Now to resist eating too much of either of them.

Aidan: Getting his school holiday homework done. He has to do a Powerpoint presentation about his holidays. I'm trying to convince him that sound and animations on Powerpoint won't save a bad presentation. I think he could get up there and say the holiday consisted of us begging him to get this done.

Liam: Building Kirrin Island and Kirrin Cottage out of Lego. I've already photographed a rather large Lego castle this morning (I'll try to add a photo of this later).

Rosie: Now in bed, but spent the morning unpacking all her toys that I'd carefully tidied away yesterday. You wouldn't believe how much time toddlers spend doing this until you have experienced it.

Rowan: Due to wake up for a feed any minute.

Hope everyone else is enjoying today.

Karen's cooking adventures #2 - Frogs in the pond

Monday's dessert-making effort doesn't happen often here. Most nights we don't even eat dessert. The kids might have yoghurt or some fruit if they're lucky (or well-behaved).

But because it's the holidays, I'm feeling a bit more inclined to make something sweet for after dinner.

If you don't want to spend the whole afternoon baking a pie in the heat, another popular dessert in this house is frogs in the pond. This only takes five minutes to make. Just prepare jelly (use any flavour you like) as per packet instructions, pour into ramekins or plastic cups and refrigerate. Prior to serving, unwrap chocolate frogs and stick them into the individual ponds. (Photo from here because mine have only just gone into the fridge).

Too easy. And nice and cool to eat after a hot day.

Karen's cooking adventures...plum tart with pistachio crumble

Inspired by a conversation about pastry-making I was involved in over the weekend, I had a go at making a pie for dessert last night. From scratch. A plum tart with pistachio crumble sprinkled on the top (the photo above shows the pie before the crumble was sprinkled on it). From this book that I have out of the library at the moment.

I've never had much joy making shortcrust pastry from scratch. It says in the profile thing on the side of my blog that I like baking sweet things but that should probably include the disclaimer "only if they're really easy."

But I was pleasantly surprised this time around. The pastry turned out very well. It was a cool day so I think that helped. This recipe also involved creaming the butter and icing sugar together first, using an electric mixer, rather than the rubbing butter into the flour method. Then I stirred in the flour and egg to bring the dough together. After it had rested I rolled it out between two pieces of baking paper. Peel off the top layer, invert the other piece of paper into the pie dish and hey presto...a pastry shell.

Well, it wasn't quite that easy. Inverting the baking paper with pastry attached was harder than it sounded. But I managed in the end. And I think the reduced handling of the dough made a big difference. It didn't crumble nearly as much as it has when I've tried to do pastry in the past.

It tasted great. It had a frangipane filling made from ground almonds. It was a bit soft when we cut into the pie (our oven has a bad habit of over-browning things so they look cooked on top but inside they're still getting there) but cooked enough to eat.

It took almost all of yesterday afternoon to make. But it was satisfying to achieve a successful home-made pastry base at last. On a cool day, there's nothing quite like eating warm pie with ice-cream on top.

Frozen chocolate cherry mousse

I made this (and took the photo of it as well). Recipe is here. It's very easy. And very yummy.