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

Apricot Jam

One morning, one of the girls from office handed me a big bag of apricots.

"From my tree!" she said, "do you have an apricot tree?"

"Nope!", said I, "you want me to have everything in the bag?"

"Yeah sure you can have it", she said, and walked away with  a smile.

"Ok, no problem, I'll make apricot jam!" I yelled out behind her. She turned around and nodded approvingly.

And so it shall be done, apricot jam, here we come.

 B's apricots

the apricots were rinsed and pitted, and chopped into smaller pieces

and placed over medium heat with a cup of water.

the usual proportions is 1kg of fruit to 1kg of sugar! but this was a bit too much for me

so for the 1kg of fruit i had added around 750g of sugar.

still sounds like a lot, but it IS jam after all... and without that much sugar the desired 'jammy' consistency may not be achieved.

so when the fruit had softened and started to break down, in goes the sugar, and mix constantly to avoid burning. keep an eye out until the fruit has reduced to a pulp

i read about a 'consistency' test where you place a teaspoon of the mixture on to a chilled plate and place the plate inside the freezer; take it out after a couple of minutes, then if you push the jam with a finger and it wrinkles as above, then it is ready. if it just runs over, then it needs more time to cook.

I finished it off by mixing in juice from 1 lemon and about 3 tablespoons of cherry brandy.

pour onto sterilized jars - these used to be Doritos salsa jars!

love the color!

i prefer to slightly seal the top with parchment before putting the lid on it.

Carrot Cake

AND WE'RE BACK!!!!

YES!!! Apologies, it has been a while. We have been away on holidays, and had gotten back to work, and that pretty much explains everything!

It had been a Christmas holiday, which included a lot of eating, a big wedding, drinking, eating, messing around, eating, sweating due to wonderful humid tropical weather, eating, and oh did i say eating? Yes there was a lot of eating lovely wonderful Filipino food.

Anyway (wipes dribble) this post is NOT about Filipino food, but about a carrot cake that was a huge hit among colleagues - I thought I'd write it down before I forget how I made it. Only because there is a high probability of me forgetting about this compared to memories of our Christmas holiday.

This carrot cake was conceived because I found myself in possession of several carrots that have been in the fridge for 2 weeks. By several carrots I mean more than 1 kg. And no I don't think two weeks mean these carrots have gone stale but they might not be very nice eaten fresh.  And so I retrieved my handy baking bible and found a recipe for a very moist carrot cake. 

This is my version of this recipe.

The Recipe for the Very Moist and Very Tasty Carrot Cake

2 cups plain flour

2 tsps bicarb

2 tsps baking powder

2 tsps ground cinnamon

a couple of good handfuls of almonds (or 1 cup of slivered almonds - the original recipe called for walnuts)

1 3/4 cup caster sugar (original recipe required 2 cups)

1 tsp salt

4 eggs

1 1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 cups of grated carrots or the equivalent of grating around 4 medium sized carrots (original recipe needed 3 cups)

Pre-heat oven to 175C. The original recipe called for a square baking tin, but I used my bundt tin, sprayed with canola oil.

Sift flour, bicarb, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and sugar into a bowl. After sifting into the bowl I usually give it a quick whisk to further incorporate air and to make sure the dry ingredients are well mixed. (reduces the need to overmix after putting the wet ingredients later… overmixing results to a heavy (if not tough!) cake.

 I only had whole almonds so I gave them a good slicing using my mezzaluna. Which was my best excuse for the day to use this thing.

In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and vegetable oil until it turns into a nice thick yellow emulsion. 

Grate the carrots using a box grater, and mix into the emulsion. Pour wet ingredients on to dry and fold until well incorporated. Fold nuts in.

The mixture might look dry at first but keep folding, and it will be a nice thick batter. Pour onto prepared tin and bake for 40-50minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

 Serve warm with vanilla ice cream on top, but it is also yummy served at room temperature for afternoon tea.

this one was made with a special little muffin cup, for my Official Taster, baked only for 15minutes

Now I realize I have a bit of catching up to do, but hopefully the photo above is enough to distract you for a while before you start asking for photos of the holiday!