Couldn't sleep

Plum Jam

For someone who thinks she is physically and mentally tired....

... She ends up making jam at 3am. WTH?

Old Fart

the Old Fart meets Stewie

 A clear amber ale with a creamy head. Not too bad, I'd say. Easy drinking, great on a summer's day. This was a trial version.  Wouldn't mind getting a bunch of this though. However I did forget how much it was. Hehe!

Previous venture on drinks here

An Afternoon Treat

Sometimes, the simplest things can be quite sensational, especially for  fresh ingredients that need no special treatment.

We had some tomatoes from the garden and I thought I'd just make a quick salsa made of the tomatoes, parsley and spring onion, with a bit of salt, pepper and olive oil. I made soda farls (griddled, unleavened bread made of wholemeal flour, salt, bicarb and buttermilk - they are the simplest bread to make!) and opened a tin of wild salmon. And some cheese. And Guinness.

Made an otherwise lazy afternoon a lazier one. :)

PlantPower

I used to receive a constant supply of flowers on Valentines Day, sometimes (or most of the time) for no reason at all, but after moving into the house on the hill, the need for florists had diminished due to our own constant supply of flowers all year round. 

The funny part is although we both agree that the 14Feb celebration is 'corny', we still end up getting each other gifts. Last year, I got this gorgeous  tagine. This year, I had plants to add to my little garden :) I was requested to select from a wide variety of options at Bunnings and while there was a fig tree that looked irresistible (it can really grow big - and we have plenty of big trees already) I managed to snatch these pretty things instead :

passionfruit - a vine/climber, good against the fence, with vibrant flowers

(left) pomegranate (a shrub) and lemongrass

sugar plant

now this one is very interesting

You can probably guess that the Sugar Plant is from the herbs department, and may be named as such because it tastes sweet, but you would be really surprised at how sweet it can be! I had a little sneaky taste of the leaf prior to the purchase, and it was simply amazing. After a quick google, I found more information, and it's actually a member of the sunflower family, with really really spectacularly sweet leaves. You should try it to believe it.  

So, passionfruit. sugar leaf, a red-colored fruit in the guise of pomegranate.... and who thought Valentines Day was corny?

(ps : the lemongrass was a replacement for a bunch that died during that hot summer)

Lily

One of the best things about the house is that it was previously owned by avid gardeners. After some time  it was eventually rented out and the fabulous garden was never the same. 

However, it does still show signs of how much time and attention were devoted to the garden.

Like this blooming beauty, which just showed up at the side garden :)

Luv-A-Duck and No Bake Cheesecake

And so it was 14 Feb...
And to join the rest of world in celebration of love  - we decided to give some love to a duck from Luv-A-Duck.

It's a store right next door to our office and they specialize in... you guessed it! DUCK!

This was a particular dish that I wanted to try out after making a batch of plum sauce. It was the perfect excuse :) And because the store really has good produce, there wasn't much needed to make the meat a lot more tastier. A very simple yet tasty meal  - and if you like your duck meat still slightly pink in the middle, you've come to the right spot!

Best part is that you only get to use 1 pan for cooking all 3 components. Winner!

5 Spiced Duck Breast with 
Wilted Silverbeet and Chickpeas
Served with a Homemade Plum Sauce


2 medium sized duck breasts, skin slightly scored
1.5 teaspoons five spice
salt and pepper to taste
a bunch of silverbeet, chopped
a tin of chickpeas, rinsed
juice of half a lemon
1 onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3-4 tablespoons of plum sauce
dash of cherry brandy

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.

The five spice was also a homemade spice mix and echoes the spice used for the plum sauce. The silverbeet and lemon were from the garden.

Season the duck breast with the five spice mix and place skin side down on a hot pan, searing it for 3-4 minutes, then turn to the other side and let sizzle for another minute, then place it straight into the oven for 10 minutes. It should still be slightly pink in the middle if you press it and it still feels a bit firm but slightly springy.

There should be a lot of duck fat after this exercise. Let the duck breasts rest on a separate plate. Drain some and leave about a teaspoon's worth or so in the pan, and then add the garlic and onions and place back over medium heat. Stir until wilted. Toss in the silverbeet and chickpeas, and when the silverbeet is almost done (not overcooked!), finish off with lemon juice and a touch of salt and pepper.

Serve the silverbeet and chickpeas on a plate and place the duck on top. On the same pan, heat about 3 tablespoons of the plum sauce and add a dash of cherry brandy. Let sizzle a little bit.

The duck would have rested a fair bit after this time. Place the duck on top of the silverbeet and then spoon over the plum sauce. Serve immediately.

 just a touch of pink

And we also got dessert!

This dessert was also a fairly simple thing to make. It's a no-bake lemon cheesecake, inspired by another Nigella recipe. 

biscuit base :

125g Arnott's chocolate biscuits

75g soft butter

300g cream cheese

60g sifted icing sugar

250g double cream

juice and zest of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Prepare a springform tin by greasing and lining the base and sides with greaseproof paper.

Blitz the biscuits until crumbled, then add the butter until it is like soft sand. 

Press evenly on to the base of the springform tin.

Refrigerate for 15minutes or so.

Meanwhile, whip cream cheese, icing sugar, double cream and vanilla extract together until well incorporated and smooth. Add lemon juice and zest, it will thicken up a bit more. Pour on to the prepared biscuit base and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.

And that's it! Very simple and tasty!!

You can either top it with cherries or blueberries...

or maybe serve with some bubbly?

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

This was a (valentines?) treat for some people in office - some of them do not eat egg (vegetarian/vegan) so I looked for a recipe for chocolate cupcake (being something that everyone will  surely like!)  that do not use egg . And there is a lot out there!

Anyway, here's another recipe for an eggless cupcake - this makes 12 really full cupcakes. Might even make 18 if the cupcake liners are only filled halfway with the batter so that after it is baked,  the frosting can sit at almost on the same level as the edge of the liner.

Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes
dry ingredients :
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 cup plain white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cocoa powder (I used Cadbury cocoa powder)


wet ingredients :
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup vegetable oil (or just use 1/2 cup vegetable oil - i just like to use olive oil!)
1 cup water (or milk - but then it's no longer a vegan recipe)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon vinegar

Pre-heat oven to 180C and line muffin tray with cupcake liners. 
Whisk dry ingredients in a bowl, and wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
Combine wet+dry and mix until moist and well blended (be careful not to overmix!)

Bake for around 20-25 minutes.


You can serve this plain or make it a bit more decadent by piping on some frosting.


(non vegan) 
For the frosting I used 100g cream cheese, 50g sifted icing sugar and 50g melted butter beaten together using an electric beater and piped onto the cupcakes. I also added half an Arnott's chocolate biscuit (I had some lying around because I made a cheesecake and this was the biscuit base!) and little sprinkle of hundreds and thousands for a bit of fun and color.


I didn't get the chance to taste any of these but I was told they were quite appreciated. Not sure if it's the taste or the gesture. Either way works for me. :)

More Harvest Photos

Back in November he planted the tomatoes - and now they look like this!

pretty tall ones!

We were almost resigned to the fact we may not see these plants grow because we were gone for more than 3 weeks on holiday last Christmas. Thank goodness for really awesome neighbors... and lucky that the net had helped them get a bit of protection from the really nasty sun.

waiting for that special moment ... 

odd one out

we picked some of the green ones because vine-ripened tomatoes get eaten by insects first!

(who spend more time in the garden than we do...!)

Check out last year's tomato harvests here

Meanwhile, not everything is growing very well. We had a few carrots which look a bit stunted in growth - probably because they bolted quite quickly. Our experimental Australian garlic didn't fare very well either.

the really small carrots and homegrown garlic... compared to the size of store bought garlic.

i know it's not fair to compare but this is just to give perspective on the size

One evening we had a very simple supper of smoked kipper, homegrown tomatoes, parsley and spring onions (the green part was eaten by some insects and we were left with the 'spring onion bulbs'!) on home made sourdough bread.

sometimes simple is superbly satisfactory

finished with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and freshly cracked black pepper

There is  a huge satisfaction derived from being able to harvest these plants and consuming them in their freshest form. Knowing how it grew and where it grew, combined with a few simple ingredients from the pantry, make for satisfying food, not just for the body, but for the soul as well. :)

Homemade Plum Sauce

We had a pretty good harvest of plums from the backyard because this time around, we managed to beat the possums to it by harvesting earlier and not waiting for the fruit to ripen at the tree (it was a lesson learned the hard way). Most of the fruit was consumed fresh, some had unfortunately rotten away while stowed in a cool dry place to ripen (which probably meant that place wasn't dry enough!)

Anyway there are still some leftover plums, around 3 kilos worth.  I made half as a savoury batch of spiced plum sauce and left the other half to further ripen before I turn that into jam.

last year's plum jam

I did a little research on plum sauce recipes and found that the most common spice associated with it are either star anise, cinnamon, or five spice (star anise and cinnamon are actually spices used in a five spice mix - check out my previous 5 spice mix here). The ingredients for this sauce was inspired by several other recipes, but in the end I just sort of made it up as I go... nothing new there! Aside from the 5 spice mix I added a few whole pieces of star anise and freshly ground szechuan peppers to highlight these flavors further.

The amount of honey and spices all boils down to a taste preference, as well as how sweet or tart the plums are. These ones aren't very sweet at the time - which is good, because I wanted the sauce to be too sweet - otherwise that's jam!!

Spiced Plum Sauce

1.2kg blood plums, pitted and chopped

1 cup water

1 onion, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 star anise

10 pcs ground szechuan peppercorns

10 pcs ground black peppercorns

4 tsp 5 spice

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp ginger powder

6 tblsps honey (may vary depending on how sweet you would like the sauce)

salt to taste

you will also need  bottles!

In a big pot over medium heat combine all ingredients except honey and gently simmer until the plums break down and the consistency thickens. This may take around 30min or more. It is best to stir constantly to ensure the sauce doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the honey, reduce heat and let simmer further.  

heavy plums

one bowl is around 1.4kg

love the color

sichuan pepper and black pepper corns before they were bashed to bits

simmering

When it looks and tastes the way you want it to be - it's time to take it to the next level! Using a stick mixer blitz the mixture while still warm!

blitz it

although this blitzing can be messy business!!!

To ensure there are no nasty lumps, pass the sauce into a sieve before pouring into prepared jars.

more yummy mess

saucy!

Seal the jars, and take a moment to enjoy your handiwork.

 

life is good!

This made around 4 bottles (of various sizes!) . Let it sit in the fridge to let the flavours develop further, or use immediately if you wish!

Parsley Harvest

Remember the parsley that seemed to have taken over that little patch of soil in the front garden?
It is still alive and thriving! However it's fate has been decided today because it has gone quite unruly... so today's harvest is not about the parsley leaves, but the parsley seeds.

 yes, that is a full sized wheelbarrow overflowing with parsley that has gone to seed.

i've been googling recipes for parsley seeds but it looks like there's not much :D

this bunch is now drying at the garage. can't let things go to waste!

We also have an interesting house mate who dwells among the parsley.

 curious little fella

I Baked my Pet and It Was Good!

No it's not a pet dog nor a pet cat.

My pet is wild yeast, captured in a bottle - a sourdough starter. And now meet it's reincarnation

 

And this is how I made it!

First - the sponge. The sponge is made of the sourdough starter, taken out from the fridge and emptied into a bowl.... 

...mixed with a cup of flour (I used wholemeal flour because for some reason I ran out of plain flour!) and a cup of warm water.

Mix well, and leave in a warm place to ferment. 

You know it's ready when it's bubbly, frothy, and smells sour (!) - this one even had a bit of hooch - the beer-smelling water sitting on top of the mixture. The longer you leave it, the more sour the sponge would be.I made this on a really hot and humid Melbourne summer day so this did not take too long (around an hour). In some instances it could take overnight.

Before you get carried away this step is important, as it ensures a constant supply of starter!!! Ladle some back on to your trusty wide mouthed jar (rinsed from before!) and give it a fresh feed of 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water, and put it back in the fridge. (at this point I have replenished the supply of plain flour in the pantry). 

To make the dough, I used 

2 cups sponge

around 3 cups of plain flour

2 tsps sugar and 2 tsps salt

a healthy dose of extra virgin olive oil 

Mix in the flour a little at a time and knead until the dough is elastic. Let the dough rise in a warm place - this happened overnight in my case (it varies from place to place!)

When dough has risen, punch down and knead lightly (I just gave it a couple of folds and turns) and shaped it into however which way you would like - I just made mine like this and placed it in a baking tray sprinkled with a bit of coarse semolina.

A couple of lazy slashes by a sharp knife on sticky dough resulted to not-so-pretty top slashes! Ah well, pardon me, I'm new to the sourdough stuff :) I find that the dough really felt different compared to breads made with instant yeast that I've done before. 

I covered it with a tea towel and left to rise again for a couple of hours (around 3).

Then we're ready to bake! I've read that it's best to NOT pre-heat the oven and to place a container with water at the bottom rack of the oven for extra moisture. I set it to 180C and placed the dough in the middle rack. I saw a video on youtube where the dough was sprayed with water every 5-10 minutes while it is baking, to create a crispy surface. The bubbles that evaporate create this crunchy surface. The bread was done in 30 minutes (or when the bottom sounds hollow when tapped).

It was indeed a crunchy crust, and it turned out to be soft and fluffy inside. The flavor was unmistakably 'sour', and will definitely be part of more rounds of experimentation as I try to learn more on - ahem - 'artisan breads'. :D hahaha!

 Now - not everything turns out right the first time in this kitchen - the photo below was actually my first sourdough bread. As I got the timings wrong, the second rising took overnight, and resulted to a VERY sour bread!

it was still a crunchy crust, but very dense, quite flat, and very sour. didn't stop me from making another one, did it?

I would love to get my hands on any of the books by this guy who's received excellent reviews on his books on bread. Next on the to-buy list!

Chocolate Pasta

I made this some time ago, but have never made it to the blog. Thought I'd publish it here as it is quite an amazing treat.  Fresh pasta cooks very quickly, but like most things one needs a fair bit of practice to make the pasta-making process a less tedious one.  

fresh chocolate pasta

(serves 2 for an afternoon treat, maybe 4 for dessert, as this can be quite filling!)

100g type 00 flour
25g coco powder (preferably dutch cocoa)
20g icing sugar
pinch of salt
1 large egg
a good glug of extra virgin olive oil

Mix the ingredients by hand (use your fingers as a whisk!) and knead lightly until it becomes a smooth pliable dough. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about an hour and a half.


After the dough has rested, bring out the heavy equipment and start rolling!

Cut and set aside before cooking it in boiling water. It should be done in a minute! You'll know when the pieces rise to the surface. 

for the sauce

2 (square) pieces of dark chocolate

2 tbsps butter

a touch of extra virgin olive oil

honey

2 pcs star anise

a tiny pinch of red chili flakes

melt butter in a saucepan over a low fire with a bit of olive oil. add star anise and chili flakes, let flavors infuse for a couple of minutes. melt chocolate pieces and honey. stir the dark glistening concoction until you can't help but toss the cooked chocolate pasta into sauce because you have this huge urge to eat it. 


serve immediately.

perfect with hot strong coffee