Are we there yet?

Hi there friends!

 There is something strange about holidays. We spend all this time preparing for one day; buying, making, baking, cooking, wrapping, planning and forget that we have to live in the meantime. The only thing in our fridge at the moment is Christmas chocolates and home-made presents! I haven't read anything that doesn't have the words 'celebrate', 'merry' or 'spirit' in it since September. Nothing I eat doesn't faintly taste like cloves.  Even my dreams have Christmas carols in them and you can't swing a sock for hitting Santa or ANOTHER huge leg of ham.  The other thing I simply can't get my head around is Turkeys!  Frightfully bland things, and absolutely enormous. What's more is that, because everyone only cooks them once a year, no one knows how. Their already bad conditions are made worse from over-cooking and dryness.
  And although I quite agree with eating as much as you can, whenever you can, I feel like I shouldn't be eating anything at all so I can fit in as much as I possibly can for Christmas dinner. It is quite confusing indeed.

Anyway, enough ranting from the Grinch here is something that has been keeping me sane in the meantime. A nice and easy stir-fry, while I twiddle my thumbs and wait for Christmas.  In between making potato-stamp cards and papier-mache tree decorations it is recommended that you take 5-10 minutes out of your Christmas schedule and have dinner.  This, and boiled eggs, seems to be the only thing anyone could possibly have time for.

I'm using a lot of udon and ramen noodles at the moment,  quite delicious and marvellously good for you

  The trick to making something delicious out of a time-poor environment is good ingredients and lots of seasonings. The more garlic, ginger, soy sauce and kecap manis the better. If you are breaking you Christmas Curfew and spending a naughty half-hour on dinner, you might like to try grilling (or wok-frying) some eggplant. Cut it into 1cm thick slices, salt it and leave it to sit in a colander for half an hour while you resume knitting. Then wash the salt off, pat dry with a tea-towel, oil them and toss them onto a hot, hot griddle pan. If you are not so fortunate to own one of these or are sick of cooking in the nude because your griddle pan makes the house so darn hot, then cut the slices into batons 1cm or so thick and wok fry with lots of oil.

 My stir-fries only seem to work if I am prepared. So unless you are much luckier than I, cut everything up beforehand. Crush the garlic and ginger, thinly slice some onion or golden shallots (if you are that way inclined), toast up some sesame seeds, chop up carrots, broccoli, zucchini, green beans, spring onions and coriander. Cook your eggplant and whatever you plan you have with it- noodles or rice or something else vaguely accommodating.

James takes off a bit of skin around the edges, I'm still not sure if it's just because it looks pretty or is less tough.

Our beautiful griddle

Add your oil to a hot Wok and toss in your golden shallots, let these caramelise before adding the garlic and ginger (if you're looking for a quick way to help caramelise and cool down the pan throw a bit of palm sugar in). From here you can add meat of some kind, should you so please with an extra dash of oil to stop it sticking. Then throw in the vegies in the order of slowest to cook to fastest- broccoli and zucchini first ect... Stir through the noodles with a slurp of the cooking water so they don't clump together. Then season! I'm a big fan of a teaspoon of black bean paste, a decent shake of sesame oil and sriracha chilli, a solid soaking of kecap manis and soy sauce and heaps and heaps of finely chopped coriander, fresh chilli and spring onions with a good handfull of bean sprouts. Then you can sprinkle over your sesame seeds and top with a quick omelette cut into strips. 

  Eat very quickly and get back to your Christmas puddings. 

Obviously my favourite wooden spoon

Ohh Jolly!

Hi Friend!

Sorry for being the laziest blogger in the world. I'm having one of those weeks/months/years but I am back on the horse. I think it is all down to the festive season, I get so excited I am too exhausted to do anything but be excited. There are presents to think about, our Christmas feast to dream up, puddings to make, lights to put up, cranky people to deal with... No wonder Santa is a fat, old goat living in the South Pole all I feel like doing is eating Ginger Nuts with a cup of tea and ordering some elves around to do it all for me, even then I'd probably still go grey.

 So because Christmas is such a strangely stressful time James and I have decided to by-pass the horrid shopping malls and superstores and make as many presents as we can. We are also ordering a few little goodies from companies that we love. Today we got some beautiful chocolates delivered to our door all the way from Western Australia (we guiltily decided they were worth the food miles when we tasted them). The company is Bahen and Co. and they have sourced non-genetically modified, organic cocoa beans and turned them into the most luscious chocolate with vintage machinery and well...visit their website http://www.bahenchocolate.com/ - they are a lot more eloquent than I.

In the Christmas spirit I have also started some festive baking, mostly procrastinating with scrumpy, easy things to avoid the fact that I still haven't made any Christmas puddings. One of these such things was an edible Christmas Wreath!
 It starts with a simple yeasted dough...

The Raspberry Christmas Wreath

•  Mix 1tsp dry yeast, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 125ml luke warm water, 1 1/2 tbsp warm milk  together and stand (5mins) until the yeast bubbles. 
• Add the yeast mixture to 1 1/2 cups of plain flour, 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil,  1/2 cup of currants, the rind of an orange, 3 tsps of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp of ground cloves in a bowl. 
• Mix together to form a dough then turn out and kneed on a floured surface until smooth- 7 minutes or so.
•  Place dough in a bowl, cover with a tea-towel and leave to prove somewhere toasty for an hour and preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius.

From here you can make a simple raspberry or strawberry jam by cooking 200gms of the chosen (can be frozen) berries with 150gms of castor sugar over a medium heat until it thickens then cool completely or -use one of your favourite jams.

Rolling up the dough, if you are confused about where to make the cut think of cutting the roll in half from my left hand down length ways to my right

I must recommend making the raspberry jam, it was very easy and rather delicious. Make double and have it on toast.

•  Roll the rested dough out into a rectangle around 55cm to 25cm on a floured surface with some sort of rolling implement. I use a wine bottle but I suspect a rolling pin may suffice. 
• Spread with 1/2 a cup of jam, homemade or otherwise, and roll up quite tightly length ways like you would a jam roll.
• Once you have your jam roll looking dough, take to it with a very sharp knife  and slice it in half length ways. You will have a bit of a sticky mess, but this is what you want- to be able to see all the layers of jam and dough.
• Join the top of the two pieces together so you have one long half-a- jam-roll and slide onto a sheet of baking paper.
• Twist the dough carefully and join the ends together to form a wreath. Slide the wreath on the paper onto a baking tray.
• Brush with milk and sprinkle with raw or brown sugar then bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until it is completely cooked through.

The first cut of curranty goodness

You simply must eat some then and there, all hot and sticky with a cup of tea and a little cream, but save a slice for a midnight feast or morning tea the next day as the flavours seem to get even better.                        
   Leave it out of the fridge, tightly wrapped in a plastic bag and if you've forgotten about it for a bit toast it up as you would a hot-cross bun.

Thanks friend,
Ruby

The Humble White Bread

The Basic white bread a.k.a the lackof time/effort bread

This white loaf style bread with dried yeast is for those days where you want fresh hot bread for your dippie eggs but do not have the time, effort or a combination of both.

The essentials for 2 largish loaves!

Pizza stone/baking tray/ anything that you can preheat in the oven then place your bread on

An oven with fitted gas, electricity or wood power

1kg of the flour of your choice (i normally use 70% strong white flour 30% demeter organic plain flour, ground fresh in dungog by the lovely Fosterton Farm Bakery (the people who supply that scrumptious bread at subo! (i could just eat a loaf of that with subo's tasty butter))

14g of Dried yeast (if you plan on making bread this way often or making your own pizza bases i recommend buying the 100g (i think) tins at the supermarket then store in fridge as it will save you heaps)

600ml of tepid water + extra for your hand (especially in summer, make sure the water just has it's chill taken away (not warm)

20g of salt 4 teapsoons is not accurately 20g of salt but if you dont have a scale than it should suffice.

some good quality baking paper (not homebrand, this makes your life so much easier)

Process:

Mixing!

Place all the flour into a bowl, then in another bowl add your yeast to the water. Mix the yeast untill it is fully combined and let it sit for a few mins.

Slosh in the  yeastwater to the flour bowl (not need for a well or anything YOU HAVE A BOWL!) then mix with a spoon or the like untill roughly combined (it should be wet but not a sludge) i personaly like a wet loaf as it tends to rise better so my technique at this stage is to wet my hand (once the flour and water is combined a wet hand will prevent any dough from sticking to your hand) repeatedly while kneading the dough for around 2 mins i normally add in an extra 50ml by using this hand technique.

Now add the salt to the bowl and continue to knead untill the windowpane effect (break a small bit off then stretch it. If you can stretch it infront of a light source and the dough is so thin it is translucent without tearing) achieved. See below.

This can take about 10 mins but normally 5 or so. Next put the dough in an airtight container (i just put a plastic bag over the bowl i was using) out of drafts and let it sit untill it has doubled in size (in summer 1- hours, in winter 2-  hours)

congratulations the hardest part is done! now a little more work before you can reap your rewards!

Once the dough has rested you need to release some of the air (without breaking the air bubbles, delicate handling benefits your end product). Take your dough out of the bowl, by turning the bowl upside down and using a spatcular to slowly edge it out onto a lightly floured surface.

Next up, half the dough and wrap the dough back in on itself and smooth to make a ball this is explained in the video at http://vimeo.com/9457983.

From here you can leave it but if you want a batard shape loaf (more rectangular) you need to gently grab each side of the ball and like your shaking a sheet and gently stretch the ball outwards to create a rectangular like shape then gently press the dough into a rectangle on the bench. From here you start to roll the dough from the furthest edge towards you. About half way through use your palms to apply more pressure and at the end even more to seal the crease. This just takes practice, i am still a horrid shaper. Once shaped place on floured baking paper sheet and preheat the oven to 220 (make sure the tray/baking stone is in there!).

The next step is to leave the dough untill doubled in size about 45mins (you can press the dough lightly with your finger, if the dough springs back very slowly it is ready, if it doesn't spring back at all it needs to go in the oven asap.)

Before placing in the oven lightly flour the top of the dough then score the top by diagonally slashing 1-2cms into the dough evenly spaced (make sure the knife is very sharp, i use an old fashioned razor blade) slide the baking paper with the dough onto the pizza stone/baking tray but before you close the door spray some water into the oven (10-15 sprays) this will slow the crust from forming so the dough has time to rise. As soon as the oven door shuts drop the temp to 200.

Bake for 30mins without opening the door once (i know this is hard) unless you can see it is burning, The flour and spraying of water should keep the crust from burning before the inside is cooked. Tap the bottom of the bread at 30 mins and every 10 mins from there on. If it sounds hollow it is ready! (45 mins give or take)

leave the bread to rest out of the oven for 5 mins if you can.

On cutting the bread take some time to look smell and touch the bread. Study the loaf. If there is a dense line at the bottom of the loaf, just above the crust it was not quite cooked.

To improve your bread making, following a recipe to a tee wont help you as much as learning by trusting your senses. Learning how the dough changes to become elastic, how much water the flour needs or how the weather will affect the proving times.


Here is an amazing video of a top class bakery in San Fran- "Tartine Bread" http://vimeo.com/14354661

Some other great videos!
http://vimeo.com/18060783
http://vimeo.com/21348306

I haven't made much yeasted bread lately but here are some recent sourdough loaves including a barberry and sultana loaf.

Forgive me for the gramatical mistakes- James

Frittata? Spanish Omelette? Tortilla?

Hi Friends!

  I can't decide which, but my Dad has always called it a frittata so I will continue doing so until someone corrects me. We have always eaten frittata for Brunch, normally on a week-end with fresh bread, whole egg mayonaise, pesto (if it's lying around), sweet chilli (because it's always around) and Watties baked beans. Watties because they are a New Zealand brand and my Dad, a true-to-form New Zealander, is convinced everything that comes from that great nation is wonderful. In the case of Watties baked beans he is actually right, they are miles ahead of any canned baked bean, obviously nothing like homemade but they manage to hit the spot.
  I am no longer living at home though and I pull this one out when James and I are tired and hungry because it is the ultimate comfort food, rather tasty indeed and I could make it with my eyes closed I've been doing it for so long. So it is no longer a Brunch dish but a lazy dinner, thus I pair it with a salad and get rid of the bread.

The last broad beans of the season

  I always start with potatoes, I cut them in half and chuck them on to boil the minute I walk through the door. Then by the time I've unwound, had a shower and put the kettle on they are soft and ready. I usually use Kipflers so cutting them in half horizontally makes them thin enough but if you are using anything bigger you will want slices about 1-2cms thick.
 I heat a heavy based, oven proof pan, add some oil and spread the potato slices over the bottom to make a potatoey mosaic that covers most of the pan's surface. Let this cook, really cook out, over a low heat so they will hold their crispness when you add the egg mixture.
 When you are about 5 minutes in, add some thinly sliced onion (red or brown) and let it caramelise while the potato browns.  Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

The browned potato underside

   I use a basic, rough ratio of 6 eggs to 100mls milk to 150mls cream to 1/4 cup broken up or grated cheese (I use anything- mozzarella, parmesan, haloumi, ricotta, fetta ect.) and this seems to hold everything together and gives a light and fluffy result.
  James had gone to the Sandhill's community garden working bee that day, so we had a collection of foraged goods that I could add to the eggy mixture. Sprouting broccoli, zuccini, broad beans, asparagus, capsicum and herbs. Herbs are probably the the most important part of a frittata for me. I add at least half a cup of mint, parsley, dill or whatever else I can scrounge up and it seems to give the dish a lovely freshness.

Green friends with olives before I add the egg, milk, cheese and cream

   To pull it all together I  cut the all vegetables up, except the asparagus and I also grate the zucchini, add them to the beaten egg mixture with the herbs and season like a mad woman. Loads and loads of salt and pepper.  Pour this over the potato and onion and cook with a lid on over a low temperature . There should be enough liquid to cover all the veggies, if you have gone wild with too many delicious broccoli sprouts and peas (as I often do) just beat a bit more cream, milk and eggs together and pour it over the top.

After it has come out of the oven, it should puff up a little in the middle

 

  After 15 minutes or so when the mix is firming up and beginning to come away from the sides of the pan put the whole thing in oven and leave it with the lid on for 5-10 minutes. You can then take the lid of and brown up the top if it is still a bit uncooked in the middle. Let it sit for a bit and then turn it out onto a plate to reveal the pretty potato underside.
   What I think everyone likes about the frittata is that it is very, very forgiving and a marvellous way to clean out your fridge. Any old thing can be chucked in, frozen peas, old baked veggies, spinach, little unused ends of cheese, olives, artichokes, tomato ect....................

Keeeenn WAHH

HI Friend!

At the Farmies Market the other day James came across some Yellow Baby Beetroots. They have the most gorgeous colour and flavour and are rather easy to cook indeed. With all the hot weather we've been on a salad crusade and these seemed like the perfect salad addition. Even though I know we are all sick to fucking death of seeing Beetroot, Quinoa and Goat's Cheese Salad (along with spring risottos, bruschetta and pesto linguini) we happened to have Meredith goat's cheese and quinoa in the house, so we thought we'd give old Donna Hay a run for her money.

Skin the beetroots after boiling them for the beautiful orange colour

   James boiled the beets until soft (around 45mins to an hour) then cut them into quarters and braised them in a combination of water, white and red wine vinegar with honey, mustard, salt and pepper until they had begun to take on the flavours, this is rather personal- some people like it less acidic and more earthy (James) and others (Ruby) visa versa so keep trying them until you get the combination you like/   flip a coin. After they were cooked we tossed them through some chopped mint and parsley. I'm a big herb fan and I cannot encourage this step enough,  the salad is suddenly fresh and full of spring.

  Quinoa (or keenwaah as I like to say in my Prruudee and Truudde voice) can be quite the tricky devil, I have found the solution to the sometimes bitter flavour is to soak and then rinse it before you cook it for at least an hour. Then use the same technique and measurements as you would for rice (around 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water) and let it steam out until it's absorbed all the water. For salads we put the cooked quinoa in the oven to crisp up at 180 degrees celsius for 10 minutes or so. This gets rid of the waterlogged texture that can make your salad all soggy.

Beautiful Meredith goat's cheese- never mind the price it is cheese textured gold

  Because we had them lying around we also chucked in some broad beans. Broad beans are James' favourite, I am still not sure what all the fuss is about (especially with all the peeling that has to be done- take the shells off, peel them once, then peel them again!). But they were rather tasty in the salad I had to admit. We also threw in a few toasted walnuts for good measure and crunch. We used our normal run of the mill dressing- 4 parts olive oil to 1 part lemon juice, 1 part vinegar, 1/2 part honey (or to taste), 1/4 part mustard, salt, pepper and a clove of garlic smashed and left to macerate in the dressing bottle.

Salad, Potatoes and some refreshing lemony water in our NEW JUG!

I was going to try and pretend that we were having a healthy 'Salad only' dinner, but to be truthful I also demanded CHIPS which really means roasted potatoes (this time we used Kipflers, good choice indeed) cut into chippy shape with copious amounts of salt and rosemary. Because even though the salad was deeelicious there isn't much that can't be improved by some scrumptious potatoes.  Wouldn't you agree?

Urban Foraging

Hi Friends!

We have been watching old Hugh in the River Cottage series for a while now. Quite enjoyable indeed, although his puns are atrocious. What has been most inspiring though is his Urban Foraging.  Because we have no garden it is of particular interest, fresh herbs and vegetables can never be a bad thing. We have since been on a quest of our own. Romping around Newcastle having a sneaky peek here and there. We have been quite successful so far, mind you we have found the Sandhills community gardens that have a most marvellous collection of herbs, fruit, greenary and vegetables. They do not go by a plot system which is also handy because the whole community is then welcome to take a little as they need. Working Bees are held the first Sunday of every month so we can give back and keep the garden going. 

Here are some Urban Foraging super spots

The Secret Tomaty Vine:

While Sandhills tomatoes are still green this beautiful cherry tomato tree is red as a Ruby. Situated in the park across from Nobby's (maybe a stray seed flown over from the community gardens) it is calling to you and singing songs of a Sunday brunch with pan-fried cherry tomatoes in mint and parsley.

  More sneaky spots for you to scour include a roadside rosemary bush on Nobby's Road on the town side of Fort Scratchly. It's a huge sprawling bush with fragrant rosemary that sure beats the the dried old sticks at Woolies. On the way back from the beach James pulls over and I leap out like a bandit and pick enough for some Potato Salad made with the rosemary, caramelised onions, spring onions, mint, parsley, capers, salt and pepper covered with a dressing of an egg yolk emulsified with olive oil then finished with a dash of lemon juice, white wine vinegar, honey and whole grain mustard.

A crunchy, spicy radish salvaged from SandHills Community Gardens

The Zucchini bush at SandHills is at its spring best, with beautiful flowers that we've been stuffing with ricotta and herbs or simply deep frying with a basic batter and adding to salads. 

  Another spot (in case you can't be bothered to head down to what seems to be the windiest place in Newcastle (Sandhills)) is a cluster of herb bushes- basil, parsley, mint- right above the Gardens on Shepherd's Place right next to the Coen's Building.

More from Sandhills with these gorgeous 'Baby Thai Eggplants' soon ready for a curry or a stir fry.

  Also head down to the 'Bogey Hole' and along the coast to find Samphire seaweed, an excellent addition to salads.
 For things like herbs, kaffir lime leaves, edible flowers, nasturtiums, lettuce, spinach, occasional mulberries and strawberries the sandhill is a great place to start and the working bees also teach you quite a lot.

Let us know of any other great spots (and if you happen to see a lemon myrtle tree) and we shall have another update soon.

A good, old fashion Pud

Hi Friend!

Speaking of bread and butter pudding in my last post made me have a real yearning for this comforting, wintery dessert (even if it was in a rant about my bread intake). It was a stinking hot day yesterday, and I seem become rather irritable in the heat, so I moped around complaining for most of it BUT then in the evening a storm struck! The weather cooled and I regained conciousness and made this scrumpy, old fashioned Pud.
 I've always been a bread and butter pudding fan, the memories of some food stays with you for your whole life and this is one of those. When I was about 4 my crazy, hippy parents decided it would be a good idea to live in a comby van and travel around Australia. Turned out it was a good idea, my sister and I had the most marvellous time camping around. For a while we abandoned our van and lived in a revamped bus in Alice Springs, it would get so very cold at night and my Dad would make the most beautiful, belly warming bread and butter pudding for us to eat around the fire.

 For this one I used a fruit loaf from the Sourdough Bakery on Dennison Street in town. It's dense and spicey and even has figs so it was quite perfect. I free handed a custard with four eggs, about 300mls of cream, a vanilla bean, a quarter of a cup of brown sugar (ajust to taste) and a fine slurp of Liquor 43 (Pedro Ximenez or Brandy will also do the trick). I poured this over about 8 buttered slices of the fruit bread that I had layered with cinnamon, nutmeg, chopped dates (dried or fresh will both do nicely) and frozen raspberries in between. Cook for around 45mins to an Hour (or until you can press on the top quite firmly and the custard will not spill out) at 180 degrees celcius. Eat with great gusto with ice-cream and save a little for the fridge becasue it even better for breakfast the next day.

The Scrumpy Crumps

Hi Friend!

 We have delicious news indeed. Making Sourdough through a trial and error process has resulted in a large stock of bread. Should the apocalypse come our freezer should be able to sustain the majority of Newcastle for at least a month, we just have so much bread. It is delicious, nothing is tastier than bread and butter, but I am sick to death of it! I'm sorry James, but I am. Toast for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, garlic bread for dinner, bread and butter pudding for dessert. Our clothes were becoming tighter and our bathroom visits longer. The problem with bread is that you can eat so much of it.
 I began searching for a new carbohydrate. Something sustaining yet exciting, that I wouldn't just eat all the time. A breakfast treat! Pancakes were boring, my muffins were old hat, muesli takes too long to chew-my jaw gets sore (joking but a little bit serious). After trawling through a myriad of books and magazines I found Crumpets! In all their soft and holy glory.

Alright these aren't going to solve the clothes problem, they are filled with milk and delicious, delicious butter but they did solve my restlessness.  They are also very rewarding to make and surprisingly simple. They remind me of being little, my mother used to buy them if we were extra good (or she was too exhausted with us four to make dinner) and smother them with butter and honey.
 I can't deprive you of the recipe any longer, if you are even there, are you? I spect not, but here it is anyway:

                                                               Crumpets
Makes 20 Crumpets

Ingredients
-750ml Milk
-7gms Dry Yeast
-1 Tsp Caster Sugar
-30gms Butter (finely diced) and extra for frying
-500gms (3 1/2 Cups) Plain Flour

Equipment
A large bowl, a pouring jug, A decent eggflip, A heavy based frypan, crumpet rings although egg rings or even scone cutters do the job if you are desperate.

How to:

Warm the Milk over a low heat until it reaches blood temperature and in a separate bowl dissolve the Yeast in two Tbs of it. If the milk is too hot you will kill the yeast, but if the milk is too cold the yeast won't activate so it requires some delicacy, I find it better to go under than over temperature. 

  Dissolve Sugar in remaining the Milk and stir in the Butter until melted and combined. Make sure the butter is softened or you might have a bit of hard time with this.

  Whisk Flour and Salt together in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and stir the milk mixture  followed by the yeast. Mix until combined then cover and leave for an hour in a warm place. Your mixture should now be bubbly and thick but still able to be poured. Transfer to a jug.

  Grease your Crumpet Rings and a heavy bottomed Fry Pan with Butter. Heat over a medium flame, place the crumpet rings in the pan and fill then 3/4 full. Don't be tempted to go the whole hog because they rise quite alarmingly. 

  Cook for 6mins or until you begin to see holes atop the crumpet. Remove the rings and turn the crumpet over with an eggflip or something of the sort. Cook for another 2mins  or until the base has browned. Serve immediately with butter and honey or other delicious jams.

Notes:

  Thanks 'Feast' magazine and Matthew Evans for this gorgeous recipe. If you get sick of your wife in Tasmania I will always let you cook me crumpets.

•   If you have made too many for your little self, then wait until they have cooled and store them in your  fridge or freezer as they come up marvellously well toasted. 
•   If you are more Savory inclined omit the sugar and serve with Poached eggs or even just Vegemite and butter. 
•   If your crumpets are browning too fast on the bottom and not forming holes in time turn the heat down (although not too far as too low a heat with also affect hole formation).

  

The Green Helping Hand

Hi Friend!

It has been rather dry these past weeks in Newcastle and although we are starting to get a bit more rain the state of our garden has been rather pitiful. This could be put down to a number of things a) it is a very good day when we remember to water it b) our 'garden' consists of a couple of pots on a balcony so small that to have a barbecue you would have to stand inside the house to turn your sausages and c) the soil in these pots is so hard and dry I often think it is cruel to keep worms in there. So things were looking bad for us indeed. Instead of stealing soil from our nearby park, my cat-woman stealth suit isn't quite ready and James strongly objects, we decided to get some fertiliser from the 'Green Helping Hand'!

Sunflower sprouts, so easy even we managed

The 'Green Helping Hand' is a locally based company that is reducing Newcastle's food wastage by  taking degradable food scraps from Cafe's and Restaurants and composting them. Anyway, we used some of the liquid fertiliser that Nick delivered to our very door on our sick little plants. They are making a full recovery, thank goodness, because I HATE buying herbs. So here are our herby babies:

Our Beautiful Dill!

Balcony Radishes on the way

 More dill for us! Yippity!

Our sad, sad mint on its way back, go strong friend

Thanks Nick and Nick, for our Garden revival!!

Summery Goods

Hi Friend!
Summer is nearly here and all the fruits that remind me of Christmas and family and celebrations are just starting to poke their little heads out. Mangos, Lychees, Cherries and Blueberries all make me so happy. Quite often I dream of being a fruitarian during the Summer, when it is so hot all I want to do is eat watermelon and dive into swimming pools of berries and ice cubes. Of course what really happens is I eat lots of Christmas pudding and trifle and seriously contemplate buying those coat hangers that stretch your jeans for you. Anyway, James and I have fallen in love with this All-fruit Ice-Cream recipe, that probably can't even be classified as a recipe because all it really entails is freezing all your old and over ripe bananas and mangos, buying some frozen raspberries and blending it into Ice-creamy submission (even if your food processor sounds like it's about to die). Add a dash of cream or milk, or even Soy Milk to loosen it if you must and eat it straight away, preferably in a hammock, in the South of France.

Here are our results!
Strawberries, Blueberries, Guava, a scraping of a Vanilla Bean, Custard Apple, Chocolate Pudding Fruit, Yellow Sopote, Cherries ect. are all wonderful fruity ice-cream ideas as well. Just freeze them until they on the brink, a little soft, and zuzzzz them up.

The Creature in the Fridge

About six months ago, due to the lack of reasonably priced, good quality sourdough I decided to bake my own.  I started with yeasted breads but with the lack of flavour and keeping properties I pursued the quest for the perfect Sourdough loaf. Ruby's father gave me an offshoot of a 20year old starter, as he is an artisan baker, and some vague instructions telling me to go with my instincts. It turned out to be good advice and with lots of trial and error loaves eventually started to become edible.

Rye Starter

Every week I bake around 4-5 loaves and sometimes barter with Ruby's work friends.  The process of turning salt, flour and water into bread still manages to amaze me. The seasonal changes effecting the sourdough process is another aspect I enjoy. After reading a lot of contradicting recipes and tips I have managed to nut out one of my own.

The ratios are:
Flour- 100%
Water- 60-70%
Starter - 25-35%
Salt- 2%

The process briefly:
Mix flour, water, starter => Knead untill well combined then wait 20mins => Add salt and knead until you achieve a window pane effect => Prove in airtight + humid space till doubled, best time is around 10 hours (the longer the better flavour) in summer this means chuck in the fridge => Shape the dough into loaves then rest in airtight place untill it rises about 50% (untill you poke the bread and it doesn't spring back) this is 2-3 hours in summer and around 5-8 in winter. => By the time the bread is ready have your oven + tray/pizza stone preheated to highest temp (mine is 260 Degrees Celsius) => Score the dough with a sharp knife or razor and chuck bread into the oven. => Spray water into the oven (10 mists or so) then drop temp to 220 Degrees Celsius and close the oven door => The bread is done when a hollow sound is created when you tap the bottom, for a kilo loaf it generally takes around 40mins though check it after 20 or so.

I shall into this in more detail later. I have found over the six months I have been making bread you learn to see and feel the changes and when things should be done, purely with the senses.

I love taking the time to create things from little as well as save money. Below are the results

Spiced fruit bread with some easy labna!

Nothing beats fresh bread and cheese

- James

Old Timers

Hi Friend!

Sorry about the false promises. We were  flat out yesterday cooking stuff,  lounging around in the spa (my parents are staying in a holiday house) , and eating treats. Because we plan to do the same today, although we promise to take a few photos,  here are some back dated goods. 

Crackers!

Asparagus at the Sandhills Community Gardens

Above are some beautiful sea salt crackers that we made with our pasta machine using a simple bread dough.

 500g Flour, 250mls Filtered Water, 40mls Olive Oil, 12g Fine Sea Salt, 7g Dried Yeast, 2 tsp Honey.

  Mix the flour and salt together, make a well and stir in the honey and oil. Dissolve the yeast in the water and add gradually to the mixture, you may not need all of it. Bring together with your hand, the dough should be firm but not dry. 

  Kneed until you achieve a window pane effect 

(break a little piece off and stretch it, if it doesn't break

 and you can see light through it- you're going well). Prove until doubled in size in an air-tight container (about 90mins).

 Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Once proven, roll out the dough to around 2mm or as thin as possible on a floured surface. We cheated and used a pasta machine, it seemed to work quite well. Although you can probably avoid a trip to the gym if you do it by hand. 

  Line a tray with nonstick baking paper. Using a shape knife cut the crackers to your desired shape (triangles, rectangles, whatever is easy for you), place them on the trays and mist with water and garnish with whatever you have at hand- Sea Salt, Rosemary, Chilli Flakes, Oregano ect.

 Bake until lightly golden- about 10-12 minutes and don't worry if they are a little soft when you first pull then out. They will become crunchy and delicious upon cooling. Serve with Dips and store for up to a week in an airtight container.

Weekly Haul from the Newcastle Farmers Market

We try and get to the Farmies every Sunday for some fresh and local goodies. A lot of people say it's much to expensive but I find it one of the loveliest parts of my week and we manage to find many a bargain. We also seem to eat twice the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables than if we miss it because if it's in your fridge, you can't resist using it. 

Starting Out

Hi Friend!
How do you do?
We (James and I) are quite well. We are youngens living in Newcastle N.S.W starting up a blog in hope of finding some others to read.
 We are having a dinner for James' 21st- his family and mine are down from the Byron Shire. This is quite nerve racking as they have not all met before. Anyway, we will be blogging our adventures or misadventures. As you do, we have a lot of grand plans for the week-end's dinner and although they will probably not all come to light we are starting tomorrow with homemade dolmades. There is the most marvellous difference between homemade and shop made dolmades and eating them warm is one of the loveliest experiences! I shall post the recipe tomorrow