Pig n' Duck Cooking

Photos of our new garden

2011-12-12T14:15:00.000-08:00

Here's a few shots of what's been happening in the veggie garden...its quite different climate and soil wise to where we lived previously. This garden gets full sun all day which isn't so good for your tender leaf plants such as lettuces and basil...so shade clothes are used during the hotter parts of the day. The cloths also come in handy for frosts which we still are getting some mornings.

Compost heaps stacked in the top corner of the yard. Always good to get one of these going asap when in a new garden!

Beet root is a must for us and a late planting of broad beans is proving very successful.

A real winner in the garden has been collards and the red kale...recipes to follow!

Lettuce and parsley growing under the shade of the red kale.

Thyme in full flower, a great bee attractor!

The cherries are doing ok, but lost a lot of blossoms last month due to some really strong winds. Cherry slugs have started to appear but a quick spray with pyrethrum and squashing by hand seems to be working for now as the trees are still small.

Raspberries have started to fruit and ripen.

So there you have it just a few things that are going on around here...well its back to work with me!

Pontville Desam take two

2011-11-30T22:58:00.001-08:00

Sourdough Desam loafs, made just perfect, tasted wonderful, cut into thin slices and dipped in olive oil and pinenut dukkah

Apple and homegrown strawberry strudel

Potato gnocci served with a sage and butter sauce and a pesto herb garnish.

A very busy day in the kitchen last friday...could it be we were having guests?

Sourdough number five

2011-11-13T14:07:00.001-08:00

White Sourdough, desam bread...1.2 kilo's of flour for these two babies! As you can see the first loaf didn't last long out of the oven. this bread has an excellent flavor and I'll definitely will make it again once I can get a hold of more organic white flour. The recipe can be found here read through it carefully, I didn't and missed some important points but as you can see the bread was very forgiving.

Pig made an excellent basil blue vein and olive oil mix, that he brushed on top of the bread, which had been toasted.

A white spelt

2011-11-06T13:23:00.000-08:00

Week four and my 4th sourdough bread. I really wasn't up to baking another loaf on the weekend but the starters looked a little on the crappy side..I'm still not sure weather I have to toss 200 gm out and replace it with another 100g each of flour and water if I'm not going to use the 200g to make bread....or can I add the 100g of water and flour to the starter to increase it's volume??
After a bit more research on the internet I've still no answer to this but I did find that I could change my liquid starter into a drier dough starter...making it easier to look after as it can remain "unfed" in the fridge for longer. so I've experimented with the white starter. I aslo read some very exciting methods of feeding starters..pineapple juice, crushed grapes and beer lees..this is all very inspiring...I love this side of baking where you can experiment with odd ingredients! So with my new found inspiration I went and made a white spelt bread using my wholewheat starter...and I have to say the best so far.

I tried a new mixing method of where all the wet ingredients are hand mixed first and then you add the flour a little at a time...as it was a warm day I only let the first rise last for 5 hours to which the dough had already risen almost to the top of the bowl...after turning him out and folding him into the tin I left him to rise a second time over night...first thing yesterday morning he was baked.

Last night he was almost all consumed with cheese and last last years vegetable pickles! YUM.

date and walnut sourdough

2011-11-04T18:32:00.000-07:00

This was the third sourdough I've made. The flavor was a lot deeper more like a rye bread. The recipe was the same as I used below..just added the fruit and nuts before folding and shaping it for the tine. Very nice with blue vein cheese and quince paste...home made of course!
So what will I make this week end...maybe a white sourdough as one of the wholewheat starters has been slowly converted to a white starter.
So stay tune...

Second time around

2011-10-26T03:36:00.000-07:00

Well it worked..I left the dough to rise for 24 hours and it looked amazing this morning.
I poped him into his tin and let him rise for another hour and them into the hot oven he went.

Ingredients

150g organic white flour
400g wholemeal wheat Spelt flour
20g sea salt, ground finely
350ml water
200g sourdough starter made from 1:1 spelt flour and water

What to do

Combine the white flour, wholemeal wheat speltflour, salt, water and sourdough starter in a large bowl. Mix until a just combined.
Rest for 20 minutes.
Air knead for 5 minutes on a lightly flour dusted table.

Place in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap or damp tea towel. Make sure tea towel doesn't dry out.
Place in a cool place for 24 hours until mixture rises slightly.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Shape the dough by folding the edges over once. Place in a bread tin and leave for an hour to rise.

Score the dough with a sharp knife. Bake at 240°C for 35 minutes. Reduce heat 180°C and bake for a further 10 minutes. Transfer the bread to a wire rack to cool for 30-60 minutes.

recipe is based on Spelt flour recipe from the Gourmet Farmer

Day 7

2011-10-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

It's day 7 for my sour dough starter and everything Jamie Oliver wrote about he's 7 day starter has been spot on...right down to the smells, and bubbles!

Last night the little fella actually rose quite high..so I knew he was working. This morning he collapsed a bit but was still frothy and mousse like....and ready to be turned into bread...I used a recipe from the "Gourmet Farmer" however as I really love air kneading...I decided to slap the dough around for 5 minutes and rest it for 4-6 hours....or maybe a day...we'll see how it goes.

This dough is more wholewheat spelt flour and only a small amount of organic white flour. Here we see our dough before kneading.

After air kneading....what a difference!....As for the rest of the starter I added another 100g of spelt and water...now I'll just leave him to ferment and then pop him in the fridge. He'll need to be fed again in 4 days.

So with all my free time it's off to play in the studio...

A Second Start

2011-10-21T14:58:00.001-07:00

Start again!! really good instructions on making and keeping your starter is so hard to find. I've been doing a bit of research online and found a few good youtube demo's but the best place to date, surprisingly was Jamie Oliver's website, There he writes about a seven day starter recipe...so this is what I'm going to follow.
I really wanted to use the recipe from a book I purchased last year, 'Wild Sourdough' by Yoke Mardewi, beautiful photographs and feel to the book..the bread recipe's are wonderful but the information for making the 'starter' was very limited and was not the right starter that she used for most of the recipes in the book...she made a liquid starter with a 1:1.5 ratio of flour to water and most of the recipe's use 1:1 ratio of flour to water...which is not a liquid starter...being a novice at making sourdough and the price of organic flour you really don't want to keep experimenting and stuffing up..you want to get it right.

So here goes my second attempt...it's day 5 for my starter and I've already tossed out 200g of starter and replenished it with 1 cup of flour to 1 cup of water.....

I used a electronic scale to measure accurately how much starter I had and how much I was removing.

I did read somewhere that the starter I'm removing can be used for bread making..so to experiment I made a simple white sourdough with my spelt four starter... pain au levain

Weighed and mixed all the ingredients...

just mixed it enough to make a ball of dough..It was then left to rest for 20 minutes
And then the fun started..air kneading..this involved lifting and slapping the dough onto the table for 5 minutes...the change in the dough's appearance and texture was amazing!

Very silky and elastic...which is just what you want....it was then left to rise for 6 hours...which was time well spent painting and making dolls..:)

Did the dough rise after all this time...maybe hard to tell...feeling frustrated...but still the dough looked and smelt sweet...so I continued on, after all it was only an experiment...after placing the dough into its tin and leaving it to rise in a warm oven for another 2 hours...it was late evening by now.....not much change had happened...but I baked him anyway...and here he is he may not have risen and weighs a tonne but he tastes pretty dam good...I call him "The Pontville Brick'

see how he almost resembles the stones in the wall....he was very yummy and went well with my home made seville marmalade!

Off to add 100g of flour and 100g of water to the starter...should have close to a 600g less liquid starter.

A new starter

2011-10-13T15:52:00.000-07:00

It's been far too long since I've posted here..lots of changes for the Pig and Duck this year. We've moved house..no longer are we close to the city of Hobart we have moved to the country, a 4 acre block with a new garden and orchard to play in, new bird discoveries to make..have already spotted European Golden Finches and Falcons. Echidna's waddling about, wallabies in the distance and a dog called Ralf that is soon becoming good buddies with our cat Ned.
We are also on tank water something completely new to me and saving water will be an interesting challenge with our gardening, cooking and showers. Fortunately our hot water is free..powered by a solar system...the whole house is solar passive, a cement floor and acts as a thermal mass as the sun moves across the north facing double glazed windows.

We also have a new kitchen and I'm hoping to get a lot more cooking done than in the old place..the stove there never browned my cakes and muffins I always had to finish them off under the grill...so with a brand new stove and living 35 minutes drive away from Callington flour mill, what better way to start my new life here in the country than to journey into the art of sourdough bread..and to start my voyage three days ago I made my first starter it has just started to ferment.

To make the starter I used 150 grams of wholemeal spelt flour and enough water to make a sloppy pancake batter. Left in a warm place, like a thermal mass concrete floor! Tomorrow I'll probably will need to "feed" it with 1:1 flour and water...I'll need 500gms of starter to make my first sourdough loaf.

Studio One Muffins

2010-08-21T16:26:00.001-07:00

Blue Berry buttermilk muffins I made whilst at Dunmoochin!
As kitchen equipment was only the bare necessities I experimented with using what I had.

Exipment.
One coffee mug if you don't have a measuring jug.
Teaspoon
tablespoon
wooden spoon
butter knife
colander if you don't have a flour sifter
Muffin pan
cooling rack
large mixing bowl or large pot.

Ingredients
2 mugs/cups of plain flour
1/2 mug/cup of sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder
1 egg slightly beaten
1 mug/cup of buttermilk
4 tablespoons of melted butter
1 generous cup of frozen blueberries/any berry or banana or other fruit chopped into small chunks.

Prep
1. Preheat ovenh to 180 degrees
2. grease and flour muffin tins
3. Melt butter

Instructions

Sift flour, baking powder, and sugar into large pot/bowl
In another bowl combine egg, buttermilk and melted butter
Make a well in dry ingredients and pour in the egg mixture
Rotate bowl/pot while gently mixing in ingredients with a butter knife or wooden spoon until just moist.
Gently flod in the berries
Fill muffin tins 3/4 full
Fill any empty muffin cups with a bit of water
Bake in hot oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until muffins are slightly brown and firm on top. Test with a skewer or press gently on top to see if muffins spring back.
Remove muffins from tin immediately and place of cooling rack.
Put on the jug and make a cup of your favorite tea, put a chair outside and enjoy!
Be careful of the native wild life they will try and poach your muffins when your back is turned.

Tips

If using self raising flour instead of plain flour no need to add baking powder!
For Muffins that are moist in the middle a with a nice firm top, combine the egg and liquid ingredients and let the mixture sit until the butter is almost solidified. Then stir a little more and add to the dry ingredients.

Hot Cross buns!!

2010-04-21T02:41:00.000-07:00

in the oven , looking good

I could eat them all year round. The smell of fresh hot cross buns evokes wonderful childhood memories of Easter, my dad would make bake these on Easter Saturday morning while we kids were busy in the garden searching for colored eggs. And what's happened to this tradition the looks of the faces of children these days when I told them that the eggs we were looking for were not chocolate but hard boiled eggs! They where the best! My mum showed us all the games to play with your egg, like see who had the hardest egg, you had to smash the pointy end of your egg into your opponents egg, bad luck if they didn't know their pointy egg ends!
There was another game where you had to as hard as you could throw coins into an egg and if it stuck the money was yours...try doing that with a chocolate egg...Kids just don't know how to have fun anymore!

A tip for using your old pair of boots

2010-03-03T02:07:00.000-08:00

don't throw away your old boots tun them into planters. These are an old pair of blundstones. Much loved and well used, I couldn't part with them! So I turned them into a container to grow my chives in. and as you can see they are doing very well. Just put in a little layer of gravel and then your potting mix. No need to add holes for drainage as these are an old pair of boots and water leaches out slowly through the seams and any holes on the soles.
You don't have to grow chives and small pant will work well, parsley, a strawberry plant, pansies, violas, cat grass, thyme and lawn chamomile.

arty artichokes!

2009-10-29T00:07:00.001-07:00

I'm so happy that the artichokes are doing so well this year. I was a little worried as I moved them from a spot that they where for two years. But when the neighbors tree lost some branches it opened up an area in the garden that had previously been heavily shaded.
Just picked about 20 of them, I'll use a couple in a dish with broad beans and bottle the rest.

Blimey I just noticed that I have 10 followers!! Wow thanks everyone. I guess that means I have to put a bit more impute into this blog! Not to worry I have heaps of recipes I've been needing to type out and its a great way to see how our garden is progressing throughout the years.

Our Tomato plants today

2009-10-29T00:05:00.000-07:00

the tomatoes are now growing happily in the green house alongside other seedlings of chili, giant basil, dill, cucumbers, corn, parsley, thyme, radicchio, lettuce, bush pumpkin, cabbage, broccoli and zucchini.

Early plantings of tomatoes, protected from late frosts with plastic skirts and a hessian cloth.

raising tomato seeds

2009-08-19T01:30:00.000-07:00

yeah for warmer weather! I was beginning to worry that we where not going to get enough warm days for doing any gardening, its been wet and cold..weeds are about the only thing that's looking green and healthy...well at least Big Bunny gets to eat fresh greens!
Every year we save seeds from our best tomatoes, we choose them by their early ripeness and size. Tomato seeds are easy to save, just squeeze the pulp into a glass jar with a little warm water and allow to ferment for a couple of days. The fermentation process allows the pulpy stuff around the seed to break down. Strain in a sieve and gently wash under a tap rubbing the seeds to remove the remaining pulp. Place the seeds onto a plate to dry out. Store in an envelope and leave in a dry and cool place. Seeds should last for about 4 years.
A week ago I planted some seeds into a few punnets that I enclosed in a plastic freezer bag and left them on the stone hearth in front of the wood fire to rise. This was perfect as the sun and the nights fire kept the hearth nice and warm. The seeds rose in about 6 days. The punnets were then placed into little foil trays and put onto our window ledge during the day and removed back to the hearth at night.
So far they are doing well. When they get their first true leaves they will be put into individual pots and hardened off before going out into our green house permanently.

turning tomato's into sauce!

2009-06-04T15:32:00.000-07:00

a recipe that was given to us by our Sicilian friends.....shhhhh don't tell anyone

garlic crushed into a paste
a little olive oil
basil leaves, fresh
tomatoes
a large pot

method
On a low heat pour in your olive oil, add the garlic and allow to soften, do not brown.
Wash and roughly dice tomatoes and place in a blender.
do this a few at a time.
Whiz it for a few seconds until smooth.
Pour into your pot and turn the heat up.
Keep adding the pureed tomato.
Bring to the boil and then down to a simmer.
Add your basil leaves.
Reduce your tomato sauce until you have a nice rich consistency.
A method I use to tell when my sauce is just right to bottle is as it is cooking the tomato pulp sinks slightly from their water content. When the water on the top has disappeared the tomato pulp is left looking a little dull and has a lovely texture to it.
Pour the sauce into hot sterilized jars and seal. we often boil these jars for 7 minutes. Once the water has cooled down enough for the jars to be removed. they can then be dried and stored in a dark cupboard. If done properly you will hear the lids pop. Sauce can last for 2 years.

apple tart

2009-06-04T15:28:00.000-07:00

broad beans and artichokes

2008-11-16T12:06:00.000-08:00

Broadbeans and artichokes are in prime picking at the moment. I found this recipe on the ABC site for the cook and the chef, the link is on the side bar. It sounded easy and I had all the ingredients so I thought I'd test it out. This recipe is very Sicilian in presentation and flavour.
I definitely give it the thumbs up!

artichokes, prepared and marinating in olive oil and champagne vinegar.

washed and peeled broad beans

ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

4 tbsp water or white stock

350 g broad beans, fresh or frozen

350 g peas, fresh or frozen

4 small artichoke hearts, cooked, quartered and marinated in olive oil and white vinegar

4 tbsp lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

pinch grated nutmeg

10 leaves fresh mint

Serving Suggestion:
Garnish with oven-dried Roma tomatoes

Saute Onion in oil until transparent.
Add all other ingredients except mint.
Cover pan and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
(Note: Peeling the broad beans improves the texture and appearance of this dish.)
Stir in mint (some whole leaves and some chopped); cook for five more minutes.
Serve hot on a bed of couscous and garnish with tomatoes.

Instead of couscous I served it with individual baked polenta and chopped tomato.

almond half moons

2008-11-09T12:29:00.000-08:00

INGREDIENTS

250 g all-purpose flour
65 g white sugar
105 g ground almonds
225 g unsalted butter
0.5 whole vanilla bean

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C).
Mix dry ingredients. Cut in butter with pastry blender, then quickly knead into a dough.
Shape dough into logs and cut off 1/2 inch pieces. Shape each piece into a crescent and place on a non-stick paper lined cookie sheet.
Bake approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Cool 1 minute and carefully roll in vanilla sugar. (To make vanilla sugar, blend 1/2 vanilla bean with 1 cup of sugar, sieve). Tip: vanilla sugar comes out like powered sugar, to make it stick to the cookie better, I mix it with regular sugar.

Traditional Gingerbread biscuits

2008-11-08T19:12:00.000-08:00

These gingerbread biscuits are the best recipe I've found and have been the most popular with everyone that has tried them. They contain no ginger!
Unfortunately when I wrote this recipe out many,many years ago and used some sort of electronic paper that slowly has faded the text.
Fortunately I had typed this recipe out for friends and hope that they can fill in the gaps for me.

1 egg

2 tblsp black treacle

2 tspns ground mace

2 tspns ground cinnamon

250g butter

oz of plain flour or dark rye flour

castor sugar
2 tspns dark chocolate powder
baking powder

What to do

Mix together egg, treacle, sugar and spices in a bowl. Melt butter, when it begins to cool blend into mixture. Sift baking powder and flour into mixture and using hands bind well and shape into a round ball. Cover with cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees and grease several baking trays. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface a little thicker than usual . Cut into shapes, place onto greased trays and bake in oven for 15-20 minutes.

rhubarb muffins

2008-11-08T18:40:00.000-08:00

The rhubarb is growing so well in the garden this time of year. It must be rhubarb muffin time!

What's in it?

2 cups plain flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 tspn cinnamon

1 large egg

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoon marmalade

3/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2tspn vanilla

1 1/2 cup fresh diced rhubarb stems

How to do it!

Butter and flour a 9 hole muffin tray or 18 hole small muffin tray.

Combine all the dry ingredients except the brown sugar. Whisk together brown sugar, egg and jam, then whisk in butter, milk and vanilla. Stir in rhubarb.

Pour mixture over dry ingredients and mix to moisten. Do not over mix.

spoon mixture into muffin cups about 2/3 full.

Bake at 200 degrees C, until lightly browned. Insert a satay stick to see if cooked, it should come out clean.

20-25 minutes

makes about 18 muffins using a small tin or 9 using a larger tin.

Seville Orange marmalade

2008-11-08T16:43:00.000-08:00

I've made this recipe several times and it has never failed!
I use the marmalde in muffins, steamed puddings, sauces for deserts, and as a marinade for roasted turnips and beetroot.

Ingredients

900g Seville oranges
1 lemon
1.8kg granulated sugar

You will also need a preserving pan or a large, heavy-based saucepan; a 9 inch (23 cm) square of muslin (or gauze); some string; a funnel; and six 1 lb (350 ml capacity) jars, sterilised.

Begin by measuring 4 pints (2.25 litres) water into a preserving pan, then cut the lemon and oranges in half and squeeze the juice out of them. Add the juice to the water and place the pips and any bits of pith that cling to the squeezer on the square of muslin (laid over a dish or cereal bowl first). Now cut the orange peel into quarters with a sharp knife, and then cut each quarter into thinnish shreds. As you cut, add the shreds to the water and any pips or spare pith you come across should go on to the muslin. The pith contains a lot of pectin so don't discard any and don't worry about any pith and skin that clings to the shreds – it all gets dissolved in the boiling.
Now tie the pips and pith up loosely in the muslin to form a little bag, and tie this on to the handle of the pan so that the bag is suspended in the water. Then bring the liquid up to simmering point and simmer gently, uncovered, for 2 hours or thereabouts until the peel is completely soft (test a piece carefully by pressing it between your finger and thumb). Meanwhile, chill the saucers in the freezer compartment of the fridge.
Next, remove the bag of pips and leave it to cool on a saucer. Then pour the sugar into the pan and stir it now and then over a low heat, until all the crystals have dissolved (check this carefully, it's important). Now increase the heat to very high and squeeze the bag of pips over the pan to extract all of the sticky, jelly-like substance that contains the pectin. As you squeeze you'll see it ooze out. You can do this by placing the bag between two saucers or using your hands. Then stir or whisk it into the rest.
As soon as the mixture reaches a really fast boil, start timing. Then after 15 minutes spoon a little of the marmalade on to one of the cold saucers from the fridge, and let it cool back in the fridge. You can tell – when it has cooled – if you have a 'set' by pushing the mixture with your little finger: if it has a really crinkly skin, it is set. If not, continue to boil the marmalade and give it the same test at about 10-minute intervals until it does set.
After that remove the pan from the heat (if there's a lot of scum, most of it can be dispersed by stirring in half a teaspoon of butter, and the rest can be spooned off). Leave the marmalade to settle for 20 minutes.
In the meantime, the jars should be washed, dried and heated in a moderate oven for 5 minutes. Pour the marmalade, with the aid of a funnel or a ladle, into the jars, cover with waxed discs and seal while still hot. Label when cold and store in a dry, cool, dark place. Then hurry up and make some toast to try some!

recipe came from Delia Smith

artichokes

2008-11-02T12:16:00.000-08:00

Artichoke cookery coming up next! I'm so happy that all the time and effort transplanting, separating and feeding the globe artichokes are paying off.Harvest time is soon approaching. Recipes to follow!

springing with seeds and weeds

2008-10-22T23:25:00.000-07:00

in our hot house Pig has been busy with raising corn, tomato and squash and zucchini's.

Punnets of little lettuce seeds!

As lovely as the coriander is when it flowers this lot is shading our onions and garlic...they haveto go! They are great bee attractors and have supplied us with fresh coriander through the winter. I'll harvest some of these tonight for our Mexican dinner tonight and to give away to friends tomorrow!

2008-07-25T19:06:00.000-07:00

last night I made cauliflower and blue vein soup!

Makes enough for 2
1 medium potato, washed, peeled and diced
half an onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, chopped and minced
half a cauliflower, cut into chunks
1 vegan chicken stock cube
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons of almond meal
butter and olive oil
water to just cover vegetables
a good tablespoon of blue vein cheese or to taste
toasted flaked almonds to garnish

In a pot melt a little butter and add olive oil Saute onions and garlic till transparent. Add garlic and potatoes, heat through. Add just a little water to stop garlic and potatoes from sticking. Add cauliflower and stir to heat through. Add water, enough to just cover the vegetables Bring to the boil then turn heat down to simmer. Cook until vegetables are soft. Remove bay leaf before blending!!! Add the blue vein and almond meal. Blend until smooth Season to taste. To serve Warm bowls, spoon in soup, sprinkle almond flakes in the centre and drizzle a bit of olive oil around the centre. Goes well with thinly sliced sour dough garlic bread. If your taste buds haven’t matured and blue vein is not to your liking then you can leave it out or if your not a vegetarian then it can be replaced with 1 strip of ziggy’s bacon chopped and fat removed!

apple tart and jam shortbreads

2008-06-27T17:41:00.001-07:00

Adult Chocolate macaroons

2008-06-27T17:14:00.000-07:00

Chocolate macaroons
125g plain chocolate
100g granulated sugar
30g coco powder , Valrhona Chocolate or Scharffen Berger Cocoa powder
140g desiccated coconut
50g almond meal
1tspn almond essence or rum !
2 egg whites
60g each of white and dark chocolate, Callebaut Chocolate

Do This
Melt chocolate and set aside to cool.
Whisk egg whites until they form a soft peak. Add 3-4 tablespoons
of the sugar and mix until the mixture is glossy and firm. Fold in the remaining sugar,
chocolate and coconut, followed by the almond essence.

Place rounded spoonfuls of the mixture 2.5 cm apart on prepared baking sheets.
Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15-18 minutes until the macaroons are dry on the outside
But moist and soft in the centre.
Melt the chocolates for the decoration separately. Half-dip the biscuits in to one or the other
Chocolate. Lay on silicon paper to dry.
Spoon the remaining chocolate into a piping bag and pipe contrasting lines over the macaroons.

butterfly cupcakes

2008-06-27T17:04:00.001-07:00

Very tiny mini butterfly cupcakes. A perfect little sweet for formal occasions!

butterfly cakes
125g unsalted butter, softened
125g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
125g self-raising flour
2-3 tbsp milk
Preheat the oven to about 180 degrees Celsius.
Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Whisk together the eggs and vanilla extracts and add to the butter/sugar mix gradually. Sift the flour and add. Add the milk.
Line a 12-bun muffin tin with muffin papers and share the mix between them. Bake for about 15-20 minutes and place on a wire rack to cool.
Decorate when cool. For the cupcakes I sifted icing sugar and added enough water and food colouring to make the icing runny enough. I then just topped them with a chocolate drop. For the butterfly cakes I beat unsalted butter with sifted icing sugar (how much icing sugar you add is a personal taste thing). I cut out the top of the cakes and cut these in half. I then filled the holes with the butter icing, replaced the tops to look like wings and dusted with icing sugar.

I' ve looked at so many recipes for this one and still my favourite for its simplicity and taste is Nigella's from the How to be a Domestic Goddess cook book

white tails and wedding plans

2008-03-03T17:48:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back Pig and I where asked to cater for a friends wedding.
We've catered for Xmas parties and sausage sizzles for fund raising but this sounded important. 65 people where attending and that included 7 kids and 1 baby.
YIKES!
We baked all day Saturday well past midnight. Slept until 3.30 Sunday morning when we started baking again plus adding the final decorations to biscuits and cup cakes.11.30 We drove to the reception house and went about doing the final cooking and plating. Guests arrived at 3.00 in the afternoon. More plating up of food and serving drinks. 5.00 the cake was cut and coffee and little deserts served. 7.00 most of the guests had left and a small amount of people grouped around the kitchen still hungry so we cooked and served more food. About 8.00 only the bride, the groom and us where left...they hadn't eaten all day so we cooked up some food for them too. When they left we stayed back till midnight cleaning up.
The menu
50 buckwheat blinis served with smoked salmon, cream fraiche, a caper and sprig of dill
30 Vietnamese rice paper rolls
60 mini blue vein cheese and zucchini frittata
200 prawns served with a cocktail sauce
50 roasted vegetable and polenta pastries
60 vegetarian sushi rolls, cheese and fruit platters
nibbles
homemade homus and a red bean dip
Thai marinated chicken skewers
marinated and lightly roasted asparagus spears
20 herbed stuffed muscles
20 muscles with a Spanish style sauce
60 homemade tiny sausage rolls
30 little weenies with tomato sauce (most of the adults ate these)
fairy bread
sandwiches with 4 different fillings
100 almond half moons
100 chocolate macaroons
70 mini butterfly cupcakes

We did have two lovely girls helping with the washing up and serving the guests.
Its hard to believe looking back that we did all this.
I wouldn't mind doing more catering. I enjoyed the challenge and it keeps my hand doing this sort of cooking.

zucchini muffins

2008-02-05T21:41:00.000-08:00

Whats in it?

2 1/2 cups of self raising flour, plain or wholemeal

1 Tspn bicarbinate of soda

2 medium sized yellow or green zucchinis, mgrated

1/2 onion, grated

1/4 red capsicum

1Tspn Mustard, what ever kind you have in the fridge

1/2 cup grated cheese

1 cup of skim milk

2 eggs

1/4 cup oil, sunflower oil

S&P to taste

What do I do?

Set oven to 180 C

Grease and flour a 9 hole muffin tin

Sift flour with soda into a large mixing bowl.

Add zucchini, red capsicum, onion and cheese. Using a dough scrapper combine the ingredients.

In another bowl mix milk, oil, eggs, mustard, S & P.

Add the wet ingredients to the flour and zucchini mix and stir through.

Spoon into muffin trays. Fill to just about full.

Bake in oven for 25 minutes or until cooked.

Lovely served warm with Zucchini soup! LOl

Pickled Zucchinis

2008-02-05T21:18:00.001-08:00

pickled yellow and green zucchinis with onions

Whats in it?

500 g zucchini's washed and quarted if using larger ones

2 cups white wine vinegar

1 Tblspn sugar

1/1/2 Tspn sea salt

1 bay leaf per jar

sprig thyme per jar

1 tspn fennel seeds

whole pimento

1 red chilli finely diced

6 whole black peper corns

2 Tblspn cold water

125 g picklinig onions (shallot or small white/brown onions)

What to do

Put the vinegar, sugar, salt, peppercorns, chilli, pimento, fennel seeds and water into a pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the Zucchini and onions and allow them to just heat through. Do not cook them.

They must retain their colour and firmness.

Pack the vegetables, a bay leaf and a sprig of thyme into hot sterilized jars and cover with the vinegar. Seal.

Place jars in a large stock pot of warm water and boil for 7 minutes.

Allow the water to cool before taking the jars out.

Store in a cool dark cupboard for 2-4 weeks before tasting.

our organic garden

2008-01-26T16:09:00.000-08:00

Growing in our garden at the moment are zucchini, rhubarb, radish, tomatoes, potatoes, bush pumpkin, pickling cucumbers, a variety of lettuce, corn, beans, beetroot, chives and a huge range of herbs.

Our zucchinis are growing so fast that we have become inventive in how to use them.

Here are a few of our favorites:

tempura zucchini flowers, served with lemon and sea salt

INGREDIENTS for 2 people

10-12 fresh zucchini flowers, washed and left to drain upside down in a dish rack

Tempura Batter: this must be kept cold as to make the batter crisp when fried.

I usually chill the bowl first.

2 eggs

250g of plain organic white flour

720ml of chilled water

1 ice cube

METHOD

Batter should be made just before serving so get that oil hot in the pan.

Lightly whisk the egg white and water together adding flour a bit at a time, don't worry about the lumps.

To keep mixture extra chilled add the ice cube

To check if the oil is hot enough drop a little batter into the pan, if it floats the oil is ready.

Dip flowers in one side and then the other.

Place in hot oil making sure to lay the flowers down away from you, so as the hot oil doesn't spit towards you.

It should take only a couple of seconds on each side.

Lift out of the pan onto a serving plate. Repeat with remaining flowers.
Serve with lemon quarters and sprinkle with sea salt.
Pig likes to dip his in a little soya sauce.

zucchini flower risotto

INGREDIENTS for 2 people

1 small brown onion, peeled and diced

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 cup of arborio rice, washed several times and let drain in sieve

1/2 cup cheap white wine, we use a $4.00 bottle of 'Sea Breeze, chardonnay'

11/2 cup of boiled water with one whole 'Massel' chicken flavoured stock cube. (these are vegetarian and tasty can be bought at your local supermarket)

1 bay leaf

50g of unsalted butter

Olive oil

5 zucchini flowers, washed

2 diced yellow or green zucchini

WHAT TO DO

Melt half the butter and a splash of olive oil in a pan on low heat, add onions and cook for 2-3 minutes until soft but not browned.

Add the rice, garlic, diced zucchini and bay leaf and cook, stirring until the rice is well coated with the butter and oil. Keep stirring until rice begins to crackle, don't let the rice colour.

Turn up the heat and pour in the wine cook for 1 minute. Bring the temperature down a bit and start adding the stock a ladleful at a time. Stir gently with a wooden spoon every 2 minutes.

Allow the stock to absorb into the rice before adding the next ladleful of stock.

The rice should be still a little nutty and not mushy when cooked fold in the zucchini flowers and turn off the heat. Add the last of the butter and stir through.

Serve on warmed plates piled into the centre of the bowls. Garnish with shaved parmesan and lightly steamed halves of snow peas!