Green Gourmet Giraffe

Edinburgh - arrival and M&S Cafe

2009-11-26T23:11:00.014+11:00

Oh, it is lovely to be in Edinburgh again! So now that we have worked out wireless broadband in the apartment, I can share the good, the bad and the ugly about Edinburgh.

The plane food was rather forgettable other than a chocolate and raspberry cake with quinoa flour. We arrived in Edinburgh and Sylvia immediately charmed E's family. They had keys to the apartment where we are staying and we finally collapsed there on Monday night. My in-laws had done a fantastic job of stocking the flat with good food and making it baby-friendly.

I love the Scottish butter label with the wellies.

On our first morning, we headed out to Princes Street where the roadworks greeted us and obscured the view of the castle. You will noticed that the weather is gloomy grey. Sylvia's rain cover on the stroller has been very useful.

But the Scots are great at Christmas decorations and they shimmer brightly on dark days.

I couldn't wait to check out the food hall at Marks and Spencer. They have such wonderful prepackaged food here - on our first night we had a broccoli and stilton tart with crunchy cheddar topping. But I despair of the 'fresh' food. The sign on this shelf says Fresh Produce. It is not at all my idea of fresh. Why all that packaging!

We had lunch at the Marks and Spencer Cafe on Princes Street. E enjoyed chatting to the old dears who loved Sylvia.

The warm cheese scones are superb with lots of cheese through the scone. I also had a salad of pasta, pesto, tomatoes, spinach and pecorino cheese. It was nice but I was disappointed the tomato and basil soup was unavailable. Also much appreciated was the orange and raspberry juice. Delicious!

We still haven't made it to Gregg's Bakery but have drooled over the goodie in the window.

The UK does have a fine appreciation of vegetarians and I couldn't resist a couple of vegetarian cookery magazines. I did manage to avoid a purchase from the "tragic life stories" section of W.H. Smith!

The kids clothes are also great. Here is a little hat we bought for Sylvia. Isn't it so cute! We are off to lunch now so I will tell you about the fry-up at the top of the page another time.

Mexican Lasagne and our Jetset Baby

2009-11-22T14:03:00.008+11:00

The suitcases are almost packed and the perishable food in our kitchen is almost gone. By the time you read this we will probably be flying to Scotland. Hence, the cooking in our house lately, has been of the fridge-clearing type. I have tried hard not to be tempted to buy too much food. Instead I have turned my attention to odds and ends that need using.

I found a packet of corn tortillas that I had bought in a moment of enthusiasm and were now past their use by date. It seemed an ideal time to make tortilla stacks. Usually I layer wheat tortillas and chilli non carne, cover with cheese and cook for about 15-20 minutes. But I had some rice leftover from using up boxed curry one at the end of a tiring day. I remembered using rice in my burritos and decided to put it in the tortilla stack and it somehow morphed into a Mexican Lasagne with lots of layers. Perhaps inspired by my recent visit to the Tart ‘n’ Round Café, I made it both gluten free and vegan.

It was a success. Layers of rice and vegetables, tomato sauce, tofu cheese sauce and my attempt at Philippa’s parasalmond, it was a rich and interesting combination of colours, flavours and textures. I didn’t miss either wheat or dairy but it was lighter than a conventional lasagne. However, this is not always a bad thing. In the heatwave that followed making it, I was quite glad of a light main meal for a couple of nights that we could just pop in the microwave.

I am glad it worked because it was my last great cooking project before we go. Since then dinner has been made up of whatever needs using. I made a crustless quiche of mushrooms, spinach and vegie sausages, and have used some sausages and pasta sauce from the freezer.

Before I go, a few more quick notes. Thanks Ashley at Eat Me Delicious for sending me an One Lovely Blog award. I also wanted to comment on two arguements that I have heard recently. One came from a hardened omnivore, Sarah Palin, who said “If God had not intended for us to eat animals, how come He made them out of meat.” (Check out Jugalbandi’s post for an entertaining commentary on this.) If you believe this then surely you would also think it is ok to eat humans. The other comment from a vegan that seemed to not be thought through was that “we are the only species to drink another animal’s milk”. But if we are just following other species’ examples then surely we wouldn’t farm, wouldn’t cook and would forage for nuts and seeds and occasionally kill other species to eat. Just shows that both omnivores and vegans don’t always think about the implications of their arguments when they justify their diets.

But enough procrastinating! I will leave you with my Mexican Lasagne and return to my suitcases and my jetset baby. I expect this blog to be quiet for a few weeks. I am not quite sure what sort of internet access we will have in Scotland but I imagine we will wont have time for much blogging. I hope however to tell you about some good food in Scotland in the not too distant future.

Mexican Lasagne
Serves 6

Tomato sauce:

2 x 400g tins of diced tomatoes
1 onion
1 tsp cumin
1 chipotle chilli in adobo sauce, finely chopped
½ tsp oregano
½ tsp salt
½ cup lager beer
½ cup water
2 tbsp tomato paste (salt free)
400g tin of kidney beans, rinsed and drained

Rice and vegetable filling:

1 tbsp oil
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
half a bunch of kale, finely sliced
1 spring onion, finely sliced
1 bunch asparagus, thinly chopped
1 small zucchini, finely chopped
handful cooked and chopped broccoli florets
5 button mushrooms, finely chopped
400g tin of corn, rinsed and drained (I forgot)
2 cups cooked rice, approximately
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
¼ tsp salt
pinch cayenne powder
juice of quarter lemon

Tofu cheese:

350g firm tofu, crumbled
2 tbsp mayonnaise (I used soy)
¼ cup nutritional yeast
1 tbsp white miso
2 tsp mustard
¼ cup soy milk

Parasalmond:

1 tbsp nutritional yeast
½ tsp salt
½ tsp veg stock powder (optional)
2 tbsp almond meal
2 tbsp sesame seeds

12 corn tortillas (312g packet)

To make the tomato sauce: put all ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for about 40 minutes or till sauce thickens slightly, stirring occasionally.

To make the rice and vegetable filling: heat the oil in a large frypan and fry carrot and kale for about 5 minutes over medium heat or til kale is soft enough for you. Add remaining ingredients and fry for another 5 minutes over medium heat.

To make tofu cheese: mix all ingredients in a medium to large bowl using a fork til you have a thick sauce.

To make the parmasalmond: mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. I found mine quite salty, especially on the first night, and would omit the stock powder next time.

To assemble lasagne: layer corn tortillas, rice filling, cheese sauce, tomato sauce, corn tortillas, rice filling, tomato sauce, corn tortillas, cheese sauce, tomato sauce and parmasalmond in a large lightly-greased baking dish (I used my large roasting dish). Bake at 220 C for about 30 minutes till browned and crispy. Can be reheated in the microwave, and it tastes even better after sitting in the fridge for a day or two.

On the stereo:
John Peel: Right Time, Wrong Speed: 1977-1987: Various Artists

Carrot Salad and Pate

2009-11-21T18:08:00.007+11:00

I recently found a superb carrot, walnut and cranberry salad in the Vegetarian Times among Thanksgiving recipes. I find it surprising to find a salad in a Thanksgiving menu. It seems more suited to an Aussie summer (or an Aussie spring pretending to be an Aussie summer).

I didn’t have walnut oil or silken tofu so I substituted mayonnaise and olive oil in smaller quantities. I think if you wanted to be quicker you could just substitute mayonnaise for the dressing because the ingredients are about the same. I am not really into creamy salads but the dressing was quickly soaked up by the carrot and just was really flavoursome. Quite tart, which may be because I used mayonnaise rather than tofu.

I loved the addition of walnuts and cranberries, though I might reduce the walnuts next time as they were pretty intense. It is such a simple idea. Why can’t cafes make yummy protein-filled salads like this instead of cramming them with meat. You could eat this salad with a light green salad and some good bread and it would make a satisfying meal. Or it would be excellent in a salad sandwich.

It is a good opportunity to rave about a pate-cum-dip-cum-spread that I found at Radical Grocery recently: Smoked Tofu and Olive Pate (I think the other ingredients were just a bit of lemon juice and capers). We have finished the dip so I can’t tell you who makes it but it was one of those flavours that make you excited to know there are still great innovative combinations waiting to be discovered. It is very good on bread with some of this carrot salad. It reminded me a little of the liverwurst paste we had on sandwiches sometimes when I was a kid (but tasted much much better). E thought it tasted like smoked ham spread and my mum thought it tasted like smoked trout. Try it if you get the chance!

When not piling the salad on top of some smoked tofu and olive dip on bread, I served it alongside falafel that my mum brought over for lunch; for dinner with salad, bread and pate, and tofu burgers; and, after a few days when I discovered the remains in the fridge, I had it with sausage and lentil pasta. Delicious!

Carrot, Walnut and Cranberry Salad
Adapted from Vegetarian Times Nov/Dec 2009
Serves 6-8

2 tbsp (soy) mayonnaise
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp seeded mustard
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
¼ tsp salt
⅓ cup cranberries
3 medium carrots, grated
1 cup walnuts toasted and chopped

Mix the mayonnaise, oil, mustard, vinegar, lemon juice and salt in a small bowl. Place the carrots, cranberries and walnuts into a large salad bowl and toss with the mayonnaise dressing till all are combined. Can be left in the fridge for about 3-4 days in an airtight container.

On the Stereo:
Scott Walker sings Jacques Brel

Thanh Nga Nine - Vietnamese vegetarian appreciation

2009-11-19T22:58:00.008+11:00

On a sunny Sunday a few weekends ago, we met Yavanna and Chris for lunch on Victoria Street in Richmond. For anyone who doesn’t know the area, there is a heavy concentration of Vietnamese grocers and restaurants along this strip. My family usually goes to Thy Thy but I was interested in trying a new place - Thanh Nga Nine.

I love Asian soups with lots of noodles and exotic flavours but they so often have fish in the stock that I have become too wary to order them. So I was excited when I read AOF extolling the virtues of Thanh Nga Nine, including an appreciation for vegetarian food extending to stock. She referred to an article in the Age newspaper, which I presume is this one with a great story of a family on an odessey of sampling 22 Vietnamese restaurants in Victorian Street over a year.

Thanh Nga Nine is a clean modern restaurant with some traditional touches like a Buddah and Asian fabrics displayed on the walls. For the Collingwood tragics in my family, there is also a signed footy jumper. In one corner is a large fish tank full of a school of fish that darted about too quickly for my camera. I rang a few days earlier and booked a table because I wanted to check it was a baby-friendly place. They had set up a high chair when we arrived and there was room to park the stroller beside the table.

While service was occasionally a bit slow, the staff were most obliging. Tea was available upon arrival but it took a couple of requests to get some water. Finally we were told that it was taking a while to get the ice. The orders seemed to be taken a little quickly for me to fully peruse the menu but that was possibly because I was feeding Sylvia, who mercifully pretended to be a good eater. So I don’t have a good memory for the dishes but wanted to share my experiences.

The vegetarian section of the menu was quite substantial. Some of the starters were the sort you would find anywhere – spring rolls and rice paper rolls. But I was intrigued by the vegetarian mini pancakes. I was also determined to order a noodle soup, which is such a rare pleasure. I think I also might have spied a noodle and vegetable dish like they served at the Vina Bar, my favourite Vietnamese restaurant until its recent sad demise.

I am no fan of faux meat so it was unfortunate that I inadvertently ordered two faux meat dishes. The pancakes were light little pancakes with faux shrimp, what we think was a dab of mung bean paste and a sprinkling of what I think was faux fish seasoning. They were sort of interesting but too fishy for me. Yavanna who was sharing a plate of seafood pancakes with Chris, tasted the vegetarian version and said it didn’t taste as good.

Next my pho soup came and was full of faux meat – little dumplings and slices of some sort of white meat. I took one look and shuddered in horror. Very apologetically I explained that I did not like faux meat and had not realized it was in the soup. They kindly took it away and replaced it with a noodle soup with deep fried tofu, bok choy and bean sprouts. Not enough vegetables for me so I ordered a plate of steamed vegetables on the side, specifying that I wanted carrot and corn and broccoli like in Chris’ dish. I needed colour! Once this arrived I was very happy with my meal. The soup (pho) had a lovely subtle flavour of star anise and I enjoyed it very much with lots of flat noodles.

At the end of the meal, one of the waiters came to ask how our meal was. We said it was great but I talked to him about the faux meat issue. He said they had been considering rewriting their menu to make this clearer. I was impressed that he said his mother had recreated the pancakes for vegetarians because they were so popular. I stressed that I didn’t like faux meat but I know others would appreciate it.

Meanwhile the rest of the dishes were enjoyed. E had a chicken dish with lemongrass and Chris had an impressive spread of lots of seafood and noodles. But the starring dish of the day – for me at least – was Yavanna’s choice of deep fried eggplant. It was soft inside and crispy on the outside, had lots of peanuts and chilli and a delicious marinade but I can’t tell you any more than that. I will tell you to go and order it and taste how good it is for yourself. Even E, who is an avowed enemy of eggplant thought it delicious.

Despite my problems with the faux meat, it was a great meal out. I liked being able to try different dishes than the standard ones and appreciated the attitude of the owners in catering for vegetarians and families. No wonder it was busy. The food was not only delicious but also cheap. We walked away having paid $66 for the four of us for starter and main course. With interesting conversation and Sylvia doing her little dance in the highchair, it was a very pleasant lunch.

Thanh Nga Nine Vietnamese Restaurant
160 Victoria Street Richmond VIC 3121
Tel: 03 9427 7068
Open 7 Days, 10am to 10pm

Pizza for the Impatient

2009-11-18T23:02:00.010+11:00

I did it again! I bought fresh yeast and then was compelled to use it before it lost its zing. I made a great zucchini bread, which I hope to share soon but most of my yeast baking over the last week has been pizza.

Soon after I started blogging, I was amazed to find Katie at Apple and Spice making a yeasted pizza base that went straight into the oven without any proving. I get a little nervous about working with yeast and was impressed with the bold nonchalance with which she treated it. The very idea that I didn’t have to wait for yeast to rise seemed a great innovation. I meant to try it straight away and then I was distracted by other recipes.

I love the idea of waiting around for bread to rise and develop but often I want my loaf now. As the days warm up as we rapidly approach summer, I have less patience for bread. Having yeast to use in hot weather is no fun. Lately we have had days when I couldn’t bear to turn on the oven, and the heat zaps me of energy and motivation. So I have seized upon the cooler days (oh blissful 25 C) to bake. Even then, organizing myself around Sylvia is a bit of a challenge. I have found that Isa’s pizza base is great but you do need some time to do it. So I decided the time was right to try Katie’s pizza.

The first time I tried it, I followed Katie’s instructions and rolled it out as soon as I had mixed the dough. It was amazingly light, thin and unleavened. We had pizza with pesto, tomato, green capsicum, sundried tomato, olives, ricotta cheese and spring onion. I meant to make salad but didn’t manage to get organized. The pizza was quite small and not that filling. I should have known when the dough was about the size of my fist.

The dough was so easy to make that it seemed the ideal opportunity to finally try a dessert pizza. I mixed some honey and raspberries with ricotta and topped it with choc chips. I was pleased that when I left the dough for a short rest and used my hands rather than a rolling pin to stretch it, the pizza base was a little thicker and more bready. The topping was ok but not great. E was not at all enthused.

The next morning I decided to try it again but with cream cheese and nectarines. But when I opened the fridge to look for cream cheese I found some beetroot dip had spilled everywhere and in trying to clean it up I tipped blueberries all over the floor. At the moment Sylvia started crying. The pizza had to wait a few days till I found the time.

The cream cheese and nectarine topping was a great improvement on the ricotta job but I ran out of bread flour and added 1 teaspoon of gluten flour (vital wheat gluten) and some wholemeal flour. It was quite stodgy and I wasn’t sure it was cooked enough in the centre. However, a drizzle of maple syrup made it feel both decadent and suitable for breakfast.

Yesterday I finally found dessert pizza nirvana with a winning combination of cream cheese, chocolate and raspberries. It was creamy and chocolaty with the tart berries studded throughout. I had thought I would need some extra sweetener when it came out of the oven but it was sweet enough. Then after leaving it for about 10 minutes the chocolate was even more melty. Even the pizza cutter tasted good after making its way through that molten mess.

It was so good that E was swooning over it. It took me great self control to save some for dessert and to be nice and leave him some. It was so good that I didn’t care that Sylvia is starting to move about more and is now finding her way into the cat food bowl and our CDs or that Zinc spent the day miaowing at me to let her out even though it is too hot for her sensitive white fur, or that feeding Sylvia is a battle that zaps my energy or that I am behind in the housework as usual. This pizza is far better than a bex and a lie down.

Now I will be tempted to buy more fresh yeast just so I must make more chocolate pizzas. But then again, you don’t need an excuse for pizza that tastes this good and is ready in just over half an hour.

I am sending the chocolate raspberry pizza to Susan at for her weekly Yeast Spotting that continues to inspire me to bake interesting bread.

Katie's Pronto Pizza
adapted from Apple and Spice
Serves 1-2

For the dough
15g fresh yeast (or 7g dried yeast)
½ tsp caster sugar
50ml warm water
1 tbsp (15ml) olive oil
2 tbsp (30ml) milk
125g strong bread flour

Suggested toppings: Pesto, Olives, Semi sun dried tomatoes, Green capsicum, Tomato, Ricotta, Spring onion

Preheat the oven to 190 C. Mix the yeast and sugar in a medium mixing bowl till the yeast is liquid (or if using dried yeast mix with sugar). Add water, oil and milk. Then mix in flour until it comes together into a firm but slightly sticky dough.

Lightly knead for a few minutes on a lightly floured surface until it is smooth. Use a rolling pin to roll out to about 3-4mm thick and place on a baking tray that has been well dusted with polenta (Katie recommends you heat the tray but I didn’t for the savory pizza).

Arrange the toppings on the pizza and bake for 15-20 minutes until the crust is golden brown.

Chocolate and Raspberry Pizza
adapted from Apple and Spice
serves 2-4

15g fresh yeast (or 7g dried yeast)
1 tsp sugar
50ml warm water
1 tbsp (15ml) olive oil
2 tbsp (30ml) milk
2 tsp gluten flour
85g white plain flour
40g wholemeal plain flour
polenta, for sprinkling

Topping:
2 dessertspoons cream cheese (I used low fat)
100g choc chips*
handful frozen raspberries*

*Alternatively you can replace choc chips and/or raspberries with 2 nectarines thinly sliced.

Mix the yeast and sugar in a medium mixing bowl till the yeast is liquid (or if using dried yeast just mix with sugar). Add water, oil and milk. Then mix in flour until it comes together into a slightly sticky dough. Lightly knead for a few minutes on a lightly floured surface until it is smooth.

Turn on oven and heat to 190 C with a pizza baking stone inside. While oven is heating, let dough rest for 15 minutes in the mixing bowl – I didn’t clean or oil mine – covered by a damp tea towel. This time is quite flexible as I left it for different times depending on what I was doing while it rested.

The dough wont rise much but will puff up a little. Punch it down and press and stretch it gently to be about 5 mm thick, although it will be thicker on the outside which is ok because this part cooks more.

Have your topping ready and take pizza stone from the oven. Sprinkle polenta on the tray (but if you forget that is ok as I found out) and place flat circle of dough on the tray. Spread the cream cheese almost to the edge, scatter choc chips and then raspberries on top.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Sit for at least 5-10 minutes before eating because, speaking from experience, it will melt a bit more once out of the oven and will burn your mouth if you eat it straight away.

On the Stereo:
Scott Walker: The Collection

Polenta Pizza People

2009-11-16T11:06:00.009+11:00

Another weekend, another family birthday. They come thick and fast at this time of year but I am glad this is the last of them before we start the festive season. Today was the 5th birthday of my twin nieces Grace and Ella. I originally had said I would do the cake but as Rabbie Burns says, "the best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley."

The kiddies party in the park was at 10am, which is not a good time for Sylvia and me. We are not morning people and only managed to get there at 11.30 so it was lucky that my mum and Susie took over cake duties and taking a photo for me. They made the girls two gorgeous Barbie doll cakes with butter cream skirts decorated with glitter icing, icing hearts and shiny silver cachous. By the time we arrived the cakes looked like this:

My sister Fran managed to get in first with Sylvia’s Christmas presents. She had bought her some very cute silver sandals but worried that Sylvia would outgrow them soon so she gave them to her early. Sylvia is not even crawling yet so she doesn't wear shoes generally but I can see why Fran could not resist their charms. Unfortunately the moskitos felt the same way about my blood and kept coming back for more.

After the morning party, the family had a barbecue at home. A simple affair of sausages (with vegie sausages for me) and salad. Due to the heat and various diets, I decided against baking and made little polenta pizzas with faces instead.

I thought they would be good gluten free party food but Grace was not keen on them. Susie, who is also GF, liked them and so did other members of the family. They were quite large for party nibbles and I am not sure how easy it would be to make lots of them. I only got about 8 of them out of three-quarters a cup of polenta. But I would make them again.

After lunch I went for a swim with my 7 year old niece Maddy. She made me feel old when I told her that I remember when the area of Geelong where she lives was just fields and she started talking about dinosaurs. She also was amazed to find my car was 21 years old – ‘I didn’t know cars could last that long’, she said.

While we were playing in the pool, my mum made the Christmas pudding with some dried fruit I had soaked over night for her. I have made the pudding the last few years but this year I have less energy for it so mum helped. I just wish I could have been here to see how she does it, especially how she fits the mixture into a teatowel to boil it. When we got back, the pudding was merrily boiling and Sylvia had been awake for about 6 hours with only a 15 minute powernap but was playing on the rug quite happily. I was glad that she slept soundly in the car on the way home.

To make polenta pizza faces: I made up polenta in the microwave and spread it as thinly as possible in a shallow dish to cool. Then I cut round circles and placed them on baking trays. I spread each circle with some ricotta mixed with a little beetroot powder colouring. This not only represented pink skin but also gave something to hold the features of the face. Eyes were slices of olive with a small piece of cheese inside them, the nose was a thin triangle of carrot and the mouth was sun dried tomato. Then I cut sticks of mozzarella cheese and arranged it as the hair. Other things I might try when doing this again include as capsicum, capers, green olives with pimento in them and grated vegetables for hair. I baked them for about 15 minutes at about 220 C.

They looked cute but I wished that I had baked them with the bottom side up first to make it crispy – as I did with the polenta pizza tart. The bottoms were a little soft for my liking. However, this problem was solved at my parents’ place when we decided to put the pizzas on the barbecue. It warmed them up and the bottoms were brown and crunchy. I don’t have a barbecue but could heat them in a frying pan for a similar effect.

On the stereo:
The Colour of White: Missy Higgins

Tart ‘n’ Round Café: creative liberation

2009-11-15T22:45:00.009+11:00

I rang my friend Will to tell him I was concerned about him because we still had his hat that he left at our place months and months ago. These hot days are not ones to be without a hat. Yesterday while Sylvia slept, I drove to over to return Will’s hat. While I was over that way I had suggested we go to Tart ‘n’ Round Cafe in Thornbury High Street for a bite to eat. We strolled there wearing our sunhats.

I have wanted to try Tart ‘n’ Round for a while now since seeing it being raved about by other bloggers. It is a small local business that makes gluten free and vegan wholesale food and now runs a café new café that serves their delicious food. But when I went there I found that I had sampled the Tart ‘n’ Round baking before. I have seen their stall at Carlton Farmers Market and eaten their superb chocolate balls at Fatto a Mano bakery (228 Gertrude St, Fitzroy).

Tart ‘n’ Round has a stylish interior with brick walls, a corrugated iron counter and black shelves for food and crockware displays. I love a place that has lots of food to look at – bread and icecream in the fridge behind the counter; packaged fruit cake, chocolate balls and biscuits in a little corner of edible gifts and treats; and most importantly of all, a tempting dessert display in a glass cabinet. It all looked good.

We sat down to check the menu. While it was not huge, Will , who is a fellow vegetarian, laughed in delight because he could eat it all rather than avoiding all the meat. There were burgers, fritters, pasta, and more. He chose the lentil burger. I swithered between the lasagne and the chickpea salad but chose to taste both.

The service was prompt and friendly. Plates of large colourful meals were soon placed before us. Will had a large lentil burger in a bun with a generous side salad. When I later asked him how the bun was he said he never even noticed it was gluten free. He also had a mango smoothie that he thought quite ordinary but he swooned over the vegan ice cream.

My lasagne was layers of corn noodle, eggplant, pumpkin, mushroom and topped with thick rich tomato sauce. It didn’t taste at all like regular lasagne but I enjoyed the corny taste of the pasta and all the soft melting layers of vegetables. I had requested a half serve of the chickpea salad. It was most satisfying with lots of chickpeas, beans, carrots and avocado swimming in a lovely herby dressing.

Then our attention turned to the desserts. We had a tyranny of choices – biscuits, chocolate balls, tiramisu, lemon meringue pie, flourless chocolate cake, chocolate caramel slice, and even mince tarts. As I said above, I have purchased the crispy chocolate balls elsewhere. I know I should have tried something new but I love the caramel peanut balls so much and after Will’s glowing endorsement of the ice cream I was tempted to have both. (I have just realised that they are like my favourite chokito chocolate bar but better!)

I was convinced to try a warmed slab of the creamy, crunchy, chocolate covered peanut caramel balls with ice cream. It was wonderful but my eyes were bigger than my stomach. The ice cream was indeed incredibly smooth and creamy. But after my huge main course, I just couldn’t finish it. So anyone who claims that gluten free food or vegan food does not fill you up, just try Tart ‘n’ Round. In future I will just have a smaller peanut caramel ball – or maybe two because they are so good. Will enjoyed a hearty serve of tiramisu with ice cream.

Both of us left, pleased to discover a good local cafe. I must remember the take away option as well as eating in. They also sell ice cream in a tub, loaves of my celiac sister’s favourite GF bread, and for the Christmas season there are mince pies, puddings, fruit cake and special festive chocolate balls. So I recommend you try Tart ‘n’ Round if you are seeking vegan food (or either egg free or dairy free), gluten free food or just delicious food made with love and creativity.

Tart ‘n’ Round Café
839 High St, Thornbury 3071
Open: Wednesday-Friday 12.00pm -10.00pm, Saturday/Sunday 9.00am - 10.00pm, Closed Monday & Tuesday except for public holidays
Ph: 03 9480 0818
Web: http://www.tartnround.com.au/

PPN Sausages Pasta, Garden and Global Warming

2009-11-14T13:21:00.019+11:00

It is not yet summer and already we are suffering a sweltering heatwave. Yesterday morning I was pleased to hear my favourite radio show host Jon Faine making the point about climate change that a vegetarian in a sports car is less harmful to the environment than a meat eater on a bicycle. The talkback caller belligerently replied that he wasn’t about to stop eating meat. I wish there was more discussion about vegetarianism and climate change for people like this caller.

While I would love to live in a vegetarian world, I understand that this sort of change does not happen overnight. Incremental change is much more realistic. I think that a good start would be to encourage everyone to eat less meat. I love the idea of the Belgian town , Ghent, which is declaring every Thursday to be a vegetarian day.

But I know that there are some people who would find this idea challenging. Since I made vegetarian sausages with gluten flour, I have been experimenting with some sausage and pasta dishes. The sausages were a bit intense and rubbery when eaten alone but were fantastic in pasta dishes. It occurred to me that this is a meal I would recommend as a good way to start reducing your meat intake. If you don’t have the desire or time to make your own vegetarian sausages (you can also try a couscous and chestnut sausage or a rice and oats sausage), they are quite easy to buy in the supermarket (in Melbourne), as I did for the third dish. If you really want your meat, you could make these dishes with meat sausages but I would never recommend such a thing.

I have consciously been trying to reduce my dairy intake so I thought I would tell you about the meals in order of with cheese, with vegan cheese and then without cheese. All are quite substantial meals that can be made fairly quickly.

The Cheesy Pasta with Sausage and Veg (pictured at the top) was made with vintage cheddar cheese after a family afternoon tea. We were low in energy and surrounded by sweet leftovers. This dish took only 30 minutes to make and used up some of the scraps of ingredients around the house. It also had lots of vegetables, which we needed.

Mum had brought me some baby turnips she had found on special. I wanted to use up the cheese and, unusually, had cream in the house. I cooked both large and small pasta tubes to use up the dregs of packets. This was a very dairy-heavy dish that was delicious because the cheese was a really good one but it was a bit richer than I would prefer. I did enjoy having the sausages fried up into crispy bits that reminded me a bit of bacon.

Next I made Vegan Cheesy Pasta with Sausage and Veg. After making my vegan cheesy sandwich spread, I decided to try some of this sort of spread in a pasta sauce. The result was not particularly attractive as it looked a little curdled but it tasted good, especially with the sausages. I liked the wholemeal pasta with this one because it gave the dish a more wholesome feel. E said he enjoyed this one but it had a bit much pineapple. I stared at him in astonishment and then realised he was talking about the yellow capsicum.

For this second dish, I decided to use up the baby silverbeet or rainbow chard in my pot. My mum had given me the pot many weeks back and I had been unsure about when they were ready to pick. By the time I made this dish I decided they were well and truly past their peak but I was determined to use what I could. Homemade sausages, homemade cheese sauce, homegrown silverbeet. This made me feel like a real homemaker.

I have a before and after photo of the silverbeet in the garden. The first photo was taken soon after mum gave me the pot.

The second is taken just a few days ago. But one of the joys of a garden is the constant change. Even now it looks different. I pruned the lavendar bush yesterday and it looks like it has had a really bad haircut. Pruning is not a skill of mine but it had to be done. You can see that all the plants are drooping a little in the midst of our heatwave, except our little bay tree (is that a treelet?), which is full of new growth.

A few weeks back we also had our lemon tree full of flowers. When you think that every little flower is potentially a lemon, that is a lot of fruit. Too much for our young tree to bear.

But after our heat wave there are considerably less baby lemons still hanging in there. Fortunately there are still quite a few little ones that might become lemons we can use.

We even have a few little baby limes on our lime tree though I will be surprised if any of them become adult limes as they have an even tougher time than the lemons. I am just glad to see our lime tree doing well as it has always been the less healthy of our two citrus trees.

But enough of our stroll around the garden. Back to the pasta. The third dish to share is a Pasta with Sausage and Lentils. I made it a few nights back after a hot and busy day. I had been inspired by Cindy’s comment about the homemade sausages being good in Red Wine Lentils. It seemed like a good rich pasta sauce. But on the night in question, rich and heavy were not at all what I needed. I decided to make something that was far more like a warm pasta salad.

I chopped up all the vegetables, put the pasta on and dumped the lentils in a colander to rinse. All afternoon I had had a headache and suddenly I got a lot worse and had to lie on the couch. It was so simple to make that I could just tell E what to do to finish it off. By the time he was eating it, I had gone to bed. So the resulting dinner was considerably plainer than I had planned. This was a good thing when I needed to eat a little something later in the night.

When we had leftovers the next day, I added a few things I had planned to add the previous day and served it with a VT carrot, cranberry and walnut salad. It tasted lovely and I wished I had a more appealing photo to share but the lentils make it look all sludgy. Don’t be fooled by the messy picture, pasta and sausage is just the thing for a hot November night. And if you use vegetarian sausages just maybe you can help keep the heat down a little.

I am sending my sausage pasta dishes to Kait of Pots and Plots for this week's Presto Pasta Night (#139), an event founded by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast.

Vegetarian sausage cheese and veg pasta
Serves 3-4

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 sausages, diced
2 medium carrots, julienned
bunch baby turnips, diced
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 head of broccoli, diced
½ bunch parsley, chopped
100g vintage cheddar cheese, grated
3 tbsp cream
200g dried pasta
black pepper

Heat the oil in a large frypan. Fry onion, sausages, carrots, turnips and garlic for about 15 minutes on medium heat. At this point I had to turn it off and feed Sylvia but I think you could just keep on going. Add broccoli and fry over medium heat for another 15 minutes until broccoli is soft. While broccoli is frying, cook the pasta in salted water as per directions on the packet. Check vegetables are cooked and take the frypan off the heat. Add cheese, cream, drained pasta and black pepper. Toss to mix it all up and serve warm.

Vegan sausage, cheese and veg pasta
Serves 3-4

250g dried wholemeal pasta
2 fat vegan spicy sausages, chopped
1 carrot
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 spring onions
1 yellow capsicum, diced
1 small bunch asparagus, chopped small
small handful baby silverbeet (or spinach), chopped
125g grape tomatoes, halved (I would do more of these next time)

Cheese sauce

125g tofu
2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp mustard
juice of ½ very small lemon
1½ tbsp pesto

Fry the sausages and carrots in 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan for about 15 minutes over medium heat.

While these are frying cook the pasta in salted water as instructed on the packet and make the cheese sauce by mixing all ingredients together.

Add spring onions, capsicum, asparagus, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the sausage mixture and stir fry over low heat for about 8-7 minutes until just cooked but still a bit crunchy. Turn off the heat and stir in the baby silverbeet and tomatoes so they warm through. Stir in drained pasta and cheese sauce.

Warm sausage and lentil salad
Serves 3-4

1 packet of 6 small sausages
250g dried pasta
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped
½ red pepper, finely chopped
1 bunch asparagus, chopped
400g tin of brown lentils, drained and rinsed
1 generous handful baby spinach, chopped
1 small handful parsley, finely chopped
2 tblsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped
dash of cayenne pepper

Cook sausages under the grill (broiler). Cook pasta in salted water in a large saucepan as directed on the packet. While pasta and sausages are cooking, chop the vegetables. When pasta is cooked, drain and add remaining ingredients to the pasta saucepan which will still be hot. Stir until vegetables are warmed through – a few minutes. Chop sausages and add to vegetable mixture. Add pasta and toss together. Serve warm.

On the stereo:
Love Dreams: his 16 most beautiful melodies: Francis Lai

NCR Carrot, Chestnut and Lentil Soup

2009-11-12T21:57:00.012+11:00

I strolled down to Sydney Road, Brunswick last week and hit the shops before it became too hot for such walks. I returned home with a swag of goodies. Most exciting and intriguing were a packet of dried chestnuts from The Mediterranean Supermarket and a bunch of purple carrots from La Manna Fresh.

If only I had these carrots for my purple post but it was not to be. Prior to my delight at discovering this bunch, purple carrots were as elusive as the Scarlet Pimpernel. I have envied other bloggers their multi-coloured carrots but never considered that I might be lucky enough to find them for a reasonable price at a local fruit and veg shop.

Purple carrots are a rare pleasure but it did make me wonder, if the Dutch had not been so patriotic about breeding carrots to pay homage to the House of Orange, might we take purple carrots for granted today just as we do with the common orange ones. Or maybe we would have both. Don’t they look lovely together.

Serendipitously, Lisa had asked for root vegetable soups or salads in November for No Croutons Required, the monthly blog even she holds with Jacqueline. I knew this was an opportunity to show off my lovely purple carrots. The chestnuts were also beckoning. So I set my sights on a carrot and chestnut soup. Carrots are in many of my soups, though as background rather than featuring but chestnuts are still a bit of a mystery to me.

I set off in search of ideas about using dried chestnuts. Ilva in Italy seems to use them a lot – for example in her Chestnut, Rosemary and Parmesan filled Brussels Sprouts. I was pleased to see that Clotilde had a recipe for Carrot and Chestnut Soup. It seemed like I had the right idea. But I wanted something a bit more chunky with rice. Both Kevin and Sophie combined their chestnuts with lentils (oh and I had even tried the combination). So when I found some puy lentils in the back of the pantry, I threw them in.

The chestnuts did not look at all attractive. In fact, they reminded me of creepy brains. It would have been helpful to have instructions for cooking them on the packet. I thought they wouldn’t take too long once soaked, based on what I read on the net, but they took forever. Well after almost one and a half hours I wasn’t sure that they were cooked. But I just wasn’t sure what they were meant to taste like. Finally, I was hungry, so in frustration, I decided just to blend the soup.

I served dinner to E with trepidation, not expecting him to like it. It was a deep purple colour and quite thick and chunky. To my surprise, he loved it. It was very rich and sweet, despite quite generous seasoning. It was good but full of unusual flavours and textures that I couldn’t quite name.

It needed something. I sprinkled parsley over it but it needed something else to lighten it. I didn’t have any parmesan and if I had had more energy I would have tried making Philippa’s parasalmond (ground almonds, nutritional yeast, salt and sesame seeds). The next day I bought some yoghurt and it gave the lift it needed. Makes me think that maybe some lemon juice might have also helped. We ate it with salad over a couple of nights and it was great with lots of vegetables.

Overall, the soup was a success, albeit a little odd. I now have most of the bag of dried chestnuts to play with, if only I could be certain when they were cooked. More experiments await. I hope more purple carrots also lie ahead too.

Carrot, Chestnut and Lentil Soup
Serves 6

100g dried chestnuts, soaked overnight
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 litre vegetable stock
¾ cup white wine
1 litre water
1 tsp salt
10g dried porcini, chopped
750g carrots, diced
½ cup brown rice
½ cup puy lentils
5-6 button mushrooms, chopped

To serve:

yoghurt
parsley, chopped
black pepper

Fry the onion in olive oil for about 5 minutes in a large stockpot. Meanwhile drain the chestnuts and remove any brown bits of shell. Roughly chop the chestnuts.

Add the chestnuts, garlic, stock, wine, water, salt and porcini to the onions. Bring to the boil and simmer for at least 20 minutes. Add the carrots, rice, lentils, and mushrooms. Bring to the boil and simmer for about an hour or till rice, lentils and chestnuts are soft.

Blend and check seasoning. Add a little more water to thin a little if it is too thick. (I found I needed more water when reheating leftovers.) Ladle into bowls and top with yoghurt, parsley and black pepper.

On the Stereo:
The best of Jack Jones

The Wall, Rose Petals and Biscuits

2009-11-10T11:52:00.009+11:00

It was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall yesterday. I was not really interested in politics when it came down in 1989 so it wasn’t a huge event in my life. But I did visit Berlin in 1998 and viewed the remains of the wall including the wonderful “graffiti” on the East Side Gallery. So to celebrate the anniversary, I have a special photo of the weekend’s biscuits with one of my travel pictures and my tacky souvenir of a little bottle of rubble from the wall.

While the world was remembering the fall of the wall, my family celebrated my brother, Dave’s birthday. I went down to Geelong on the weekend for a barbecue and cake. I took down some pink heart-shaped biscuits, which are not really suitable for a boy’s birthday, but I had a yen to try them. They gave Dave a smile anyway.

I saw the cut out biscuits recipe on Cakelaw’s blog a few weeks back and bookmarked it. She used lavender, which I want to try. Then soon after she made the recipe again with rose petals. It was perfect timing as I was looking for ideas for some rose petals I had just purchased. At the same time I bought some beetroot powder and decided to try making the biscuits pink with it.

They are part of the amazing Herbies spices range that I found at Two Prickly Pears in Lygon Street. When I opened the rose petals the heady aroma took me back to my childhood. I am not sure why. Possibly because we would attempt to make perfumes with petals from the garden. I hoped the scent would remain in the biscuits but was not as strong once baked with the more dominant orange zest. The beetroot powder surprised me with a strong smell of beetroot but I was glad that this smell didn’t remain with the baking.

I decided to bake these biscuits at 10.30 on the night before going to my parents’ place. I was filled with foreboding and feared I would regret this as I have had a few baking spells late at night when I am waiting for something to come out of the oven and I just want to go to bed. But these biscuits were a cinch. Cakelaw put her dough in the fridge to chill and warned that the dough was so soft that it needed to be handled quickly and carefully. I didn’t chill the dough and found it quite easy to handle. It helped that I rolled it out on baking paper but I hardly used any flour. I was finished by 11.30, even with having to settle Sylvia during baking.

The dough might have been softer for Cakelaw because she is in Brisbane, which is hotter than Melbourne was on Friday (though I might need to chill the dough if baking it today with temperature at 34 C). She might have also found it harder to handle because she used larger cookie cutters. I decided to use heart shaped cookie cutters because they seemed appropriate for pink rose biscuits but you should check out Cakelaw’s gorgeous biscuit shapes – baby bottles, prams, ballgowns and shoes.

We loved these biscuits in our house. E was very impressed. They were a bit like pretty shortbreads – pink, very soft and buttery with a subtle fragrance and studded with the odd rose petal. I was impressed that they stayed pink. I was a bit unsure of the beetroot powder and didn’t use much, partly because I was worried it would flavour the biscuits but I think I will try using more next time. One reason I bought it was that it seems a more natural way to colour food than the usual chemical-filled pink food colouring.

After the barbecue on the weekend, we had a birthday cake for Dave. My mum had made a sponge cake with cream in it. As usual, she couldn’t resist making a few other treats. We were all amazed at her take on gluten free jelly slice. This is a favourite of my childhood, which I rarely have now because I have not come across a gelatine-free version (but I must try one with agar agar). It had well cooked Aunty Kath’s choc chip cookies and butter on the base, condensed milk, cream cheese and lemon in the middle layer and jelly on top. She made delicious little caramel tarts with gingernut crusts and some caramelised leftover condensed milk. My pink hearts joined the spread and were appreciated but too many in the family are on diets that don’t allow such food.

E was poorly and stayed at home but Sylvia and I had a nice time. She loved the swing in the yard and played with Cooper – when he wasn’t sucking on the door. My dad set up a tent in the backyard for my nieces who had lots of fun playing in it. I was amused to hear about 4 year old Ella discovering the origin of meat last week. She asked about the pork they were eating. When told it was a pig’s leg, she was asking about the pig who only had three legs. No, it was killed, she was told. Ella then quite cheerfully went around telling people about the dead pig! I was surprised she wasn’t that upset but at least she knows where her food comes from.

As for the rose petal biscuits, you only have to look around my parents’ garden to see where they come from. It is a blaze of colourful roses, although they are starting to feel the heat. Biscuits from the kitchen and roses from the garden are simple pleasures I highly recommend.

Orange and Rose Petal Biscuits
Makes about 36 small biscuits
From Cakelaw

125g butter at room temperature (I used margarine)
55g sugar
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons orange zest (of about half an orange)
150g plain flour
60g almond meal
35g cornflour (cornstarch)
1 tablespoon dried rose petals, chopped (or lavender)
½ tsp beetroot powder (optional)

Mix butter, orange zest, sugar and the egg yolk in a large mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix till it comes together into a dough. At this point, Cakelaw flattened hers between two sheets of baking paper and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes but I didn’t and my dough was ok to handle. Briefly knead dough into a smooth ball.

Preheat oven to 180 C and line two baking trays with baking paper or silicone mats. Roll out dough on a sheet of baking paper to about 5mm thick. Cut shapes and transfer to prepared trays with a little room between – but the biscuits hardly spread. Bake for about 12 minutes or until just starting to turn golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on the trays.

Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead until smooth. Flatten the dough with the palm of your hand, and place between two large pieces of baking paper. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin to a thickness of approximately 5mm. Roll out dough on baking paper and cut shapes – transfer to prepared trays.

On the Stereo:
The Velvet Underground and Nico

PPN Pasta Salad

2009-11-09T23:35:00.007+11:00

It is hot. It is the hottest November week in Melbourne on record since 1902. Today was a high of 35 C. It was still 24 C at midnight! Too hot. I'm hot and sweaty even as midnight approaches.

At 11am it was 28 C so I made dodgy banana berry muffins like these but using some baby oat flour as well as quinoa flour before it got any hotter. They weren’t great but I wanted to use up some bananas and Sylvia’s oat cereal that she is not eating. I cut up fruit to make a fruit salad a bit like this to have on hand. It is wonderfully refreshing. Less refreshing but oh so moreish is a new (and now melty) cashew and cherry chocolate I spied at the supermarket yesterday.

Sylvia and I have been drinking lots of fluids, eating watermelon, and dozing on the bed together. Not good weather for my baby or my cat. I would prefer to be in an air-conditioned office when it is so hot.

It is days like these I feel regret that we can’t run under a sprinkler outside. Sprinklers are outlawed in our drought and even if they weren’t, we don’t go outside in such heat because sunshine on a day like this means sunburn means skin cancer. Oh for those innocent summers of childhood. We lay in bed on hot nights and hoped mum would put the sprinkler close enough to the open window that drops of water would cool us down.

This is salad weather. I’ve been making lots and eating lots of simple salads. On the weekend I had a barbecue at my parents’ house with lots of lovely salads. Rice salad. Garden salad. Colesaw.

Last night I made pasta salad. I ate it again for lunch. Pasta salad can be heavy with too much pasta and/or too much creamy dressing. This one was just right with lots of vegetables so I am sharing what I did.

I am sending this salad to Chaya of Sweet and Savoury Says it All, who is hosting this week's s Presto Pasta Night (#139), an event founded by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast.

Pesto Pasta Salad
Serves 2-3

200g pasta – a bit less than a dessert bowl
½ cucumber, diced
1 carrot, grated
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
handful parsley, finely chopped
handful snow peas, chopped
1 bunch asparagus, chopped
2 dessertspoons yoghurt
1 dessertspoon mayonnaise
1 dessertspoon pesto

Cook the pasta in salted water according to the instructions on the packet. Meanwhile chop vegetables and put into large salad bowl, setting asparagus aside. Just before turning off heat on pasta, add asparagus. Drain and rinse under cold water. Toss with vegetables, yoghurt, mayonnaise and pesto.

On the Stereo:
This is My Life: Shirley Bassey

Grasping the nettle (soup)

2009-11-08T23:41:00.014+11:00

I was excited when AOF said she had nettles up for grabs (so to speak) and, once we found a time, headed over with Sylvia to drink peppermint tea, eat muffins and take away a bag of nettles. I was scared too. I haven’t seen nettles since I was warned away from them as a child. Deciding to cook with nettles feels a little brave and a little foolish.

I felt a little foolish when I realized I had on a t-shirt and washing up gloves, leaving much of my arms bare, and I also had bare feet. I was worried that everything the nettles touched might take on the sting. So I checked the internet. All the information about the sting says it comes from the stinging hairs attached to the leaf but nothing says they will or wont attach to taps or utensils or or my camera or babies. I also wondered if all the seeds would be carried by the wind when I took the branches outside and seed in my pot plants.

Despite my paranoia, it was only after preparing the nettles that I looked up the internet to find out about remedies for stings. Many are found around the house. Rosemary, dock, yarrow and sage leaves can help. Folk remedies for the relief of sting from a nettle include mud, saliva, or baking soda, oil and onions. Even nettle juice can take away the sting of nettles. My mum says they used to use blue bags (the little bags that used to make the laundry white) for stings. Fortunately I had no stings to remedy. But my search did get me intrigued about the history and culture of the nettle.

History of Nettles

Nettles have long been part of human history. There are quite a few varieties so I don't know which ones we have in Australia. Though often feared and hated as a bothersome weed, it seems there are few medical problems they can’t fix. Nettles can make hair glossy; ease eczema; treat arthritis, anemia, hay fever, kidney problems, scurvy, worms, and pain; be sniffed to stop a nosebleed; be used as a gargle for throat and mouth infections; reduce blood pressure; drunk as a muscle relaxant during child birth; and act as an antidote to venomous stings from animals. Nettles are said to taste a little like spinach – but have twice as much iron – (but you will find some who find they tastes like an Irish sweater) and have been traditionally cooked in soup, beer, tea, pudding and other dishes.

There are reports of the use of a nettle infusion in ancient Egypt. Roman soldiers are said to have taken their own nettles to Britain to treat tired and painful legs on long marches by urtification – or the practice of flogging with the fresh nettle plant – to stimulate circulation in the cold and wet climate. Hippocrates and his supporters had remedies using nettles.

Not only do nettles have medicinal and culinary uses but they make a fine cloth or twine. The earliest sign of nettles is the discovery in Denmark of burial shrouds dating back to the Bronze Age (3000-2000 BC). The plant has been used as a source of green dye. During World War I the German army used nettles as a substitute for cotton and for making soldiers’ uniforms. In World War II the British Government collected 100 tonnes of nettles to use for green dye for camouflage.

Nettles in Folklore

Bruce Burnett says that “the common stinging nettle has long been used as a protective herb. A vase of freshly cut nettles under a sickbed is supposed to help the patient recover from whatever is ailing him or her. Nettles sprinkled around the house will ward off evil. Nettles tossed on to a fire will avert danger and carried by hand will fend off ghosts. When carried with yarrow, nettles will bestow courage. In ancient Ireland, nettles were known as “The Devil’s Apron.” In Southern England they were known as “the Naughty Man’s Plaything”, where the Naughty Man referred to the Devil.

In Norse mythology the god of thunder is often represented by nettles and burning them on the fire or carrying them in your pocket (depending on which website you read) will protect you from lightning. In Denmark the sting of the nettle was supposed to ward off sorcery. Folklore also tells us that nettles will enhance fertility in men, pulling up a nettle by the roots while reciting the names of a sick person and their family would to cure a fever, and to dream of nettles is an omen of stringent circumstances and disobedient children or servants.

Rheumatics had nettles added to their bedding as a cure. If you wanted to keep rheumatism away (for prevention is better than cure) an Irish custom was to drink nettle soup three times in May starting on the first of the month. It was the responsibility of young children to collect nettles and there are accounts of them chasing each other with the leaves. Ouch!

An English rhyme advises “Tender-handed, stroke a nettle, / And it stings you for your pains. / Grasp it like a man of mettle, / And it soft as silk remains.” Curiously, 17th century herbalist and apothecary, Nicholas Culpeper is reputed to have said 'Nettles may be found by feeling for them in the darkest night'. Yann Lovelock records a few other sayings about nettles in his Vegetable Book:

He that handles a nettles tenderly is soonest stung.
It is better to be stung by a nettle than pricked by a rose.
If thy wad drink nettles in March / And eat muggings (mugwort) in May / Sae mony braw maidens / Wad go to the clay.

I think the last means that eating nettles in Spring would prevent the deaths of beautiful girls. Although according to folklore that Colin Spencer refers to in The Heretics Feast, it might be the deaths of gorgeous maidens feeding the nettles, given the belief in Denmark that nettles grow from the shedding of innocent blood. He points out that nettles are a sign of human habitation because they thrive on the toxic wastes of living creatures. It is said that in the Scottish Highlands, crofts abandoned after the Highland Clearances are full of nettles.

Wikipedia tells us that Milarepa, the great Tibetan ascetic and saint, was reputed to have survived his decades of solitary meditation by subsisting on nothing but nettles; his hair and skin turned green and he lived to the age of 83. He is known as the Green god.

Nettles in Literature

Nettles are referred to by some of the giants of the literary canon. In the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, The Princess and the Eleven Swans (also known as The Wild Swans), the coats the princess made to save her brothers were woven from nettles. Pepys wrote in his diary of having eaten ‘...some nettle porridge, which was very good’. And Shakespeare has Hotspur say in Henry IV (1:II:3) “out of this nettle (danger) we grasp this flower (safety)”, which seems to be the origin of the saying to grasp the nettle, meaning to face up to or take on a problem.

Nettles and the English

Herbal Legacy says that “the English poet, Campbell” (though I can’t find his full name) complained of little attention being paid to nettles in England – “In Scotland, I have eaten nettles, I have slept in nettle sheets, and I have dined off a nettle tablecloth.” Though it seems some were aware of the benefits of nettles. English poet, John Byrom, in 1728 wrote to his wife in Manchester, “I am fain to keep to my bed all day for this disorder, which, when I stir, troubles me; I am got to sack whey, nettle broth &c”

Today the English seem to have a fine appreciation for nettles. An annual Stinging Nettle Eating Championship is a popular event in Dorset. Contestants attempt to eat as much of the raw plant as possible. Whoever strips and eats the most stinging nettle leaves in a fixed time is the winner. The competition dates back to 1986, when two neighbouring farmers attempted to settle a dispute about who was responsible for controlling the weed. England also had a Be Nice to Nettles Week each year.

English band the Arctic Monkeys have a song called The Nettles. Stephen Nettles (fl. 1595-1647) was an English clergyman and controversialist from Shropshire. Possibly the most famous Nettles in England is John Nettles who stars as the detective in Midsomer Murders and gives murderers a sting of another kind.

Nettle Soup

Nettles can be used in a variety of recipes, such as polenta and pesto but the most common seems to be nettle soup (also known as "Brændnældesuppe" in Danish, "Nässelsoppa" in Swedish and "Nokkoskeitto" in Finnish). AOF helpfully advised me on handling the nettles and suggested I look at Lucy’s Nettle Soup recipe. While I do not have the elegant simplicity of Lucy, I love her cooking and turned to see what she had done.

It took me a few days to approach the challenge. By then, the nettles needed using or they would be heading for the bin. The bulk of the work seemed to be in picking the nettle leaves off the stalks, which took quite some time. AOF’s nettles were older and I am not sure if you would need to do this work with younger nettles. I had to clear lots of room on the sink for the work. On one side of the sink were a tangle of nettles, in the sink I dropped the leaves in the sink and the stalks in my large roasting dish on the other side. Midway through, Sylvia needed a feed. Poor little blog orphan!

Once the nettles were ready for cooking, the soup was quick and easy. I realized that my pasta insert for my stockpot was a good way to blanch the nettles with minimum handling. It didn't seem to produce a lot of nettles for my troubles but I guess that is the way of greens when wilted. I changed the recipe a bit, adding stock for more flavour, throwing in some of Sylvia’s baby puree of potato, asparagus and zucchini, and using soy milk rather than cream. I wrote out my version of the recipe below.

It made a thin velvety green soup, which Lucy described as grassy. I was pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted. Dinner was punctuated by questions like ‘so what do you think?’ and ‘can you taste the nettles?’ E is not normally a fan of thin soups but loved this one. We had it for a few nights and I enjoyed it for lunches too. I just couldn’t be sure how much I could taste the nettles and how much was just the silverbeet. Nevertheless I hope this is not my only culinary brush with the stinging nettle.

Other Nettle Recipes:

Nettle Pesto – Real Epicure
Nettle Soup – Chocolate and Zucchini
Nettle Temptation – Tofu for Two
Nettle Tortilla – Confessions of a Food Nazi
Rice with Nettles – Israeli Kitchen
Stinging Nettle Fritters – Palachinka
Stinging Nettle Pate – Small Footprint Family

For more information on nettles:

I am sending this to Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything … At Least Once who is hosting the fourth anniversary of Weekend Herb Blogging. This is a great blog event to focus on vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers in cooking. It was started by Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen and is now coordinated wonderfully by Haalo.

Nettle and Silverbeet Soup
Adapted from Nourish Me
Serves 6-8 (ie a lot)

1 carrier bag of nettles
2 tbsp margarine
2 small onions , chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 kipfler potatoes, chopped
4 cups vegetable stock
1 litre water
1 tsp salt
1 large bunch of silverbeet (chard), roughly chopped
Puree of 1 potato, ½ bunch asparagus, 1 zucchini (optional)
½ cup soy milk (or other milk)

Firstly, wearing rubber gloves, carefully strip the nettles from the stalks, trying to avoid skin contact. Dunk in boiling water for about 30 minutes, then run under cold water. Fry onions in margarine for about 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except soy milk, bring to the boil and simmer, covered, for about 12 minutes or until the potato is soft. Add soy milk and blend to a smooth grassy green puree.

On the Stereo
Nite Flights: The Walker Brothers

Recreating Pad Thai

2009-11-06T23:50:00.011+11:00

Every now and again I feel the need to recreate a meal I love eating in restaurants but am intimidated about making at home. Pad Thai is just such one of these dishes. I love it with the flat noodles, chunks of tofu, crunch of peanuts and fresh bean sprouts. Making it at home had the advantage of being able to make it my way. Lots of vegetables and no egg.

I decided to try it a few weeks back. I bought the tamarind paste and bean sprouts which are not usually in my kitchen. I searched recipes. I found Pim’s sage advice via Nupur. Pim takes your hand and walks you thought the elements of Pad Thai with lots of tips and chats about the sour, salty, sweet and chilli flavours. She is into her meat and seafood so I turned to Andrea’s Easy Vegan Cooking for a vegan recipe full of tofu and vegetables.

My first attempt was not quite right. I was intimidated enough to prepare everything before I started. The sourness of the gloopy tamarind paste gave the right flavour but the chillis weren’t hot enough and the long life soft noodles were too few and too soft. But I know I was close.

This week I returned to Project Pad Thai. I bought dried noodles which worked better – other than when I tipped them down the sink by accident when trying to drain them and had to scoop them up. I was amused to see the brand was Pandaroo and I thought the packaging was cute. The red chilli I bought gave a pleasing warm tingle, which is all I want given that I am a chilli wimp. I also added more tofu because I felt the first attempt was lacking a little there.

The ingredient, other than tamarind, that really challenged me was palm sugar. It is something that I have never seen before and didn’t really know what it was. I looked in small ethnic supermarkets without luck and then found it in the large local supermarket. It came in lumps that reminded me of sugar lumps but it was more sandy and together. I have seen that you can grate or chop it so I chopped it into small pieces and mixed it into the marinade where I think it dissolved. I am not sure it made the marinade very different to agave syrup that I used the first time. Now I have a box of palm sugar to use but I guess I can substitute it for regular sugar in baking. In future I probably wouldn’t bother buying it but I think tamarind is important to the flavour.

The second time I made the Pad Thai it was much better. The noodles and tofu seemed right and I loved all the vegetables. I forgot the lime wedges but we weren’t too bothered because last time E overdid the lime juice on his. I think bean sprouts are necessary but I hate having to buy a whole packet in a plastic bag when I only want a handful, especially as E doesn’t like them. As for fresh coriander, I avoid it and tried both basil and parsley which are ok but if you can stomach coriander it is probably more authentic.

I am pleased with the below version of the recipe. There was a little marinade leftover but Pim says it is better to have too much than too little and she advises that it can be kept in the fridge for next time. I recommend keeping it rather than tipping it all in as the noodles should be just coated with no sauce sloshing around. The preparation is very important as there is very little cooking involved. I quite enjoyed the slight crunch in the vegetables but make sure they are chopped into thin matchstick pieces.

Some of you will make Pad Thai without much fuss or sweat. But if you want help in making a good vegan one I suggest checking out Pim’s advice and I hope this post will also help. We are not going out for dinner very much at the moment and it is a small consolation to be able to have a favourite restaurant meal at home. I will be returning to this recipe and hope that eventually I will be more relaxed about it. It really isn't that difficult!

Vegetarian Pad Thai
Inspired by Pim
Serves 4

500g firm tofu, diced
200g dried rice stick noodles
2 tbsp oil
2 carrots, chopped in matchsticks
1/2 red capsicum, chopped in matchsticks
1 bunch asparagus, chopped in matchsticks
1 handful snow peas, chopped in matchsticks
3 spring onions, thinly slice vertically
10 button mushrooms, sliced

Marinade:

3 tbsp tamarind paste
3 tbsp tamari
1 tbsp kecap manis
2 tbsp chopped palm sugar
1 red chilli, finely chopped, or to taste
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

To serve:

handful peanuts, chopped
couple of handfuls of sprouts
small handful of coriander (or basil or parsley)
lime wedges to serve

Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a medium bowl and taste to check the flavours balance together. Toss tofu chunks in it so they are covered. Marinate for at least 30 minutes. You will probably need this time to prepare the vegetables if you cut at the same rate as me.

Now pour boiling water over noodles and leave for 20 minutes, then rinse under cold water.

While tofu and noodles are set aside, chop the vegetables. Then heat oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium heat. Use a spoon or fork to remove the tofu from the marinade. Stir fry tofu, carrot and mushrooms for about 4 minutes. (If you want to have leftovers, you can make up to this point but I found that the noodles were not great the next day.) Add noodles, asparagus, snow peas, spring onion and enough of the extra sauce to coat everything and stir fry for 1-2 minutes. Put any leftover marinade in fridge for another time.

To serve spoon some noodle mixture into a bowl. You can serve on a table with bowls of bean sprouts, peanuts, coriander and lime wedges for everyone to help themselves or you can arrange these on top of each bowlful.

On the Stereo:
At First Sight, Violets are Blue: The Stems

The Cornbread that Stops a Nation

2009-11-05T11:11:00.007+11:00

There are rumours that it wasn’t my cornbread that stopped the nation at 3pm on the first Tuesday in November this year. Some say it was a horse race not cornbread. However I am sure a marvellous cornbread is far more likely to bring a nation to a standstill than a horse race, even the Melbourne Cup.

I have been making cornbread for many years and have tried lots of recipes. Some good, some bad. I have made a few unusual cornbread recipes since starting this blog but no plain old common garden cornbreads. My problem is that when I want a cornbread, I have to trawl through all my recipes to find a good one.

I decided to find a good basic recipe and post it so next time I can turn to the blog. I have had some terribly dry cornbreads in the past, mainly due to too much cornmeal. A reasonable amount of wheat flour gives that lightness that balances the heavy cornmeal. I also love buttermilk or yoghurt and creamed corn to keep it moist and soft. So I searched for just such a recipe and then added cheese and parsley, which I love in cornbread for extra colour and flavour.

This recipe was easy and delicious and could be adapted to preferences. The cheese can be omitted or you could add chives instead of parsley or spice it up with some chillis. Corn kernels could be substituted for the creamed corn but you may need a little sugar or sweetener. This was just the cornbread recipe I had been seeking. It was hard not to eat all the bread fresh out of the oven but fortunately there was a lot of it.

I baked it this week on Cup Day. The Melbourne Cup might be a big deal in Australia, especially for those who get the public holiday and spend a day at the races filled with frocks, fascinators and many a flutter. At our house cornbread is more important. At 3pm when the horses sprinted out of the starting blocks, we sat down to watch with a satisfying, albeit late, lunch of cornbread, salad and strawberry, watermelon and apple juice.

I had cornbread left yesterday to take to meet up with my sister, Fran. Originally it was to be a lunch date but she had a working lunch and Sylvia is easier to feed at home. We met at 2pm for a quick catch up and I meant to eat beforehand but it took so long to feed Sylvia that I only had time to get mine together and rush out the door. I ate it outside in a park chatting to Fran, watching Sylvia play on her rug and surrounded by tennis courts and avenues of spooky trees.

My cornbread was great with salad. It was still soft and delicious the day after baking it. I am looking forward to serving this cornbread with chilli non carne or soup. I would like to believe the nation stopped this year as much for my cornbread as for the race. It is that good. Just ask the dinosaurs!

Cheesy cornbread
Adapted from about.com

4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk or yoghurt
3 large eggs
400g tin of creamed corn
125g grated tasty cheese
¼ cup chopped parsley (handful)
1½ cups yellow cornmeal
1 cup plain white flour
½ cup plain wholemeal flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon salt

Grease and line a 22cm or 9 inch square cake tin. Heat oven to 220 C or 425 F. Melt butter in the microwave in a microwave proof bowl or on the stovetop in a large saucepan. Add buttermilk or yoghurt, eggs, creamed corn, cheese and parsley. Mix with a fork. Add remaining ingredients and mix till just combined. Spoon into prepared tin. Bake for 20-30 minutes (it took me 30 minutes) until golden brown and cornbread springs back when lightly touched with a finger. Cool 5 minutes and then turn out on a wire rack to cool completely.

On the Stereo:
A Secret History: the Best of the Divine Comedy – The Divine Comedy

Boys Birthday, Number Two

2009-11-02T21:14:00.019+11:00

Yesterday we had a small afternoon tea for our second year of celebrating a birthday without our birthday boys. It is not easy when Alex and Ian were stillborn with not a breath of life and we must observe their death along with their birth. I wish it wasn’t so. It is important to remember their place in our family, and even more so with the arrival of Sylvia this year, who was a distraction yesterday but a joyful blessing nevertheless.

The day before I baked a birthday cake, took gluten free gingerbread dough from the freezer to bake into shapes and made pumpkin cheesecakes. I was glad they were done by the time Sylvia decided not to sleep. She refused all attempts to settle her to sleep yesterday. In desperation, E left a sink full of dishes to play her guitar and then walked her in the pram. Finally she slept in the World War II section of the library.

Meanwhile back at home, I began to decorate the cake with less than an hour till the family arrived, half the dishes still to be washed and mess all around me. People started to arrive as I was finishing the cake. I still had to get the gingerbread letters done so my little nieces helped to sprinkle (or heap) sparkles on them for me. My dad helped with the dishes, my sister tidied up Sylvia’s toys and mum busied herself around the kitchen.

It didn’t take long to arrange the food on the table and the chairs around it outside in the sunshine. My mum had brought us a bunch of roses from her garden, including a couple of sweet smelling Alex Red Roses. Maddy and Ella brought along jack o lanterns that they made with my American sister in law Miriam. Sylvia spent most of the time in the stroller in the hope she might sleep more but after a few grizzles she perked up and was wide awake.

We only have a small unit but the kids kept themselves busy. Cooper took great delight in constantly climbing the three steps to our back door and when he wasn’t climbing he banged on the shed door. My little nieces hopped and skipped and played with Sylvia’s toys and even disappeared inside to pet Zinc who was hiding in the bedroom. Grace found a little green caterpillar on the lemon tree. One of the most amusing moments was when everyone was suddenly quiet and the only voice to be heard was my sister Susie reading to Ella from our Cheeky Little Cats book, saying loudly, “haven’t you heard of an indicator, you mongrel”.

Susie went to a morning tea at work last week where there was no gluten free food so she was unable to eat anything. Yesterday we had plenty of gluten free treats, which meant to I could send a lot of leftovers home with her. My mum brought along some gluten free little cakes and gluten free choc chip cookies. I made grubs with and without ‘gluten’ biscuits.

I made some chocolate pumpkin mini cheesecakes. It meant I was able to use some pumpkin and my purple cupcake papers as a nod to Halloween. Doing mini cheesecakes made it easier to cater for gluten free guests. I used oreos for the gluten eaters and made an almond/coconut/soy flour concoction for the GF ones. When I made them, I just used a knife to chop and crush the oreos because I was worried the food processor would wake Sylvia. The GF crust seemed to work ok but I wish I hadn’t melted so much butter for the crust. I loved the cheesecake recipe that I found on Pinch My Salt but I added some choc chips and reduced the sweetness.

We didn’t need too much sweetness after the cake. I had asked E what cake to make. He wanted some butterscotch so I decided to make a chocolate banana cake and substitute chopped caramels instead of chocolate. If I had butterscotch chips I would use these. I have made this cake a few times before. I thought it was darker last time but it was still soft and delicious especially with dark chocolate ganache covering it.

The cake was the only non-GF food in the spread but we made sure that it had a GF element. A couple of weekends ago I tried making some gluten free gingerbread biscuits and took them down to Geelong especially for Susie and Grace. The biccies were ok but E was not keen. I actually liked them the second day when they were softer but they were slightly pasty and were not as chewy and dense as my bush buddies gingerbreads. So I was surprised to hear that after I left Geelong the nieces devoured them. I would like to try them again with a different gluten free flour mix, but I had some of the dough in the freezer to bake another batch.

I found a set of number and letter cookie cutters last week. I decided that, rather than making a little GF cake on the side as I often do, I would spread ganache – the best part of the cake – over gingerbread letters spelling Alex and Ian’s names. This gave some fun activities for the kids and something for the gluten free ones to eat. As the cookies are vegan, it would be possible to use vegan cream (like soyatoo) or coconut cream for the ganache and cater for them as well in this way. This batch was a little crispy but the next day when I tasted the ones with chocolate ganache the biccies had softened and tasted wonderful. They were the finishing touch we needed for the cake.

Lastly we had some chunks of watermelon that were popular. I had bought other fruit to put out but didn’t have time to chop it because we were so disorganized. E and I agreed that next time we must have some savoury food because the sweet food was pretty intense after not having a chance to eat lunch. But it was delicious party food that I hope my boys would have loved.

How to Make a Number Two Cake

You will need a 20cm ring tin and a 13 x 22cm loaf tin (or a thinner loaf tin if you have one). First make a template using a pen to trace around the tins onto paper – I used baking paper. Cut out these shapes. To cut a hole in the ring tin template fold the circle in half and in half again and again til you have a little wedge. Place wedge against the tin to measure where to cut the end off and when you unfold you will have a ring. (See photo). Arrange as a number two on the tray or plate that you will use for the cake. I used a baking tray covered in foil.

The day before decorating cake, make the cake and cookies using the recipes below to make the letters of names or words you want to display. I like the cake to have sat overnight to make it easier to handle. The cake is quite soft but don't worry if it collapses a little as the ganache will cover a multitude of sins.

Use the paper shapes to cut and arrange the cake to make a number two. I had to 'discard' (ie eat separately) some of the loaf cake and a little wedge of the ring cake to make the shape right. Spread ganache over the cake and sides but put a few spoonfuls to the side for the letters. Use coloured sprinkles to make stripes along the two. I used a spatula held above the cake to help me keep the edges a bit neat.

Use the remaining ganache to carefully spread over the letters with a knife and scatter sprinkles over each on a plate. Place letters along the sides to make words.

Choc-Caramel Banana Cake
Adapted from UK Safeway Magazine (c. 2001)

175g butter (I used margarine)
175g brown sugar (about 1 cup loosely packed)
175g self raising flour (about 1⅓ cups)
25g cocoa (about ¼ cup)
3 eggs
4 tbsp golden syrup
1 banana, mashed
1 banana, chopped
125g jersey caramels, chopped (or dark chocolate)

Chocolate Ganache:

250g dark chocolate
4 tbsp double cream
3 tbsp icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease and line a 13 x 22cm loaf tin and a 20cm ring tin. (In the past I have used a 23cm square cake tin).

Beat together butter, sugar, flour, cocoa, eggs, golden syrup, 1 mashed banana and 3 tbsp water until soft and creamy. (I did this by hand but you could use electric beaters.) Fold in chopped banana and caramels and spoon into prepared tins. Smooth tops and bake for 30-40 minutes until a skewer comes out cleanly. (My ring tin took 30 minutes, my loaf tin took 40 minutes and when I used a 23cm square tin, it took 45 minutes.) Cool in tin for 5-10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. (NB I found that the cakes stuck to the tin where the caramels had melted so I had to be very careful running the knife around the edge and giving the tin a shake to check it had come away from the sides before turning out.)

To make ganache, melt chocolate in a microwave oven proof bowl in the microwave (or use a double boiler on the stovetop) and then mix in cream and icing sugar. Set aside a few minutes to thicken if too hot (I find that melting chocolate in the microwave means it doesn’t get as hot as on the stovetop). Spread over the cooled cake.

Gluten-Free Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies
From Tastebook.com
Makes about 5 dozen 5cm diameter cookies

185g margarine (or butter)
¼ cup molasses
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1½ cups gluten free plain flour
1 cup rice flour
½ cup buckwheat flour
1 pinch salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
3 tsp baking powder
½ cup water, approximately
lots of corn flour (cornstarch) -- for rolling out dough

Combine margarine, molasses, brown sugar and vanilla til creamy (I did this by hand but you could use electric beaters). Fold in remaining ingredients except water and corn flour. Add water as necessary to make a moist ball of dough. My dough was very very soft so maybe I could have done with less water. Divide dough in half. Wrap each portion in cling film ad chill for at least one hour. It can be frozen at this stage.

Preheat oven to 170 C or 325 F. Line baking trays with baking paper (or silicone liner – I have just bought one).

Liberally dust work surface and rolling pin with corn flour. My dough was really soft (even after the freezer) and I needed lots of corn flour to handle it. Roll dough out to about ½ inch thick (that is what recipe suggests – I think mine were a little thinner but I wouldn’t recommend any thinner than ¼ inch as the thinner the dough the crisper the cookie).

Cut shapes as desired. An eggflip or spatula or just a bread knife is useful to lift shapes onto baking tray. Leave a bit of room for them to expand. Decorate shapes with a sprinkling of coarse sugar or dried fruit or just leave plain.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on the tray for about 5 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. I found they were better after a day or two.

Chocolate Pumpkin Mini Cheesecakes
Filling adapted from Pinch My Salt
Makes 12 mini cupcakes

Base (for 6 gluten and 6 gluten free):**

6 oreos
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp coconut
2 tbsp soy flour
8 tbsp ground almonds

Filling:

250g package cream cheese, softened
½ cup mashed (or pureed) pumpkin (about 250g fresh pumpkin)
1 egg
3 tablespoons maple syrup
¼ teaspoon cinnamon*
⅛ teaspoon ground ginger*
⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg*
½ cup choc chips

* NB I just gave a good shake of mixed spice and cinnamon
** Next time I would use less butter and add a little brown sugar and cocoa

Preheat oven to 190 C or 375 F. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin papers.

To make base: Crush oreos either in a food processor or by chopping and then crushing with a chef’s knife. Divide among 6 of the muffin papers and press down firmly with fingers or a teaspoon. For the gluten free base, combine melted butter, coconut, soy flour, and almonds. Divide among the remaining 6 bases and press down firmly.

Mix filling ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Spoon on top of each base, dividing evenly among the 12 muffin cups.

Bake in oven for minutes. Remove from oven and cool slightly then remove from muffin tray and cool completely. Chill in fridge till ready to serve – I chilled mine overnight.

On the Stereo:
Rockabye Baby Lullaby Renditions of Nine Inch Nails – Alex Gibson

Remembering Alex and Ian

2009-11-01T17:59:00.004+11:00

Today is All Saints Day, the day, also known as All Hallows or Hallowmas. In Mexico it is The Day of the Dead, a day to honour dead children and infants. My two little boys were born and died two years ago today so we remember them and all that they never did. I will tell you about their cake and celebrations soon. Happy birthday Alex and Ian!

Purple Pleasures, Purple Dinner

2009-10-31T23:43:00.024+11:00

A few weekends back I was visiting family and I was talking to my niece about my green post. When Quin was little she loved asking everyone their favourite colour and so she is quite aware that I love purple as much as I love green. Do a purple post, she suggested. She took my camera and set off taking some purple photos. Here is her purple arrangement.

We went looking for more purple. My mum often has irises in a vase:

Grace helped by pointing out some purple flowers in the garden:

Then we had a photo of Quin’s leggings, Ella’s top and Maddy’s bracelet.

My parents had been to Europe recently and contributed a photo of purple flowers at Kensington Palace:

I got home and started looking around for purple. We have a big purple sofa but other than that, we have splashes of purple, which are considerably less than the swathes of green. Purple books:

Purple bits and pieces, mainly from around the kitchen:

Sylvia’s purple clothes:

A purple design on a baby blanket (stitched by my high school teacher Mrs M whose passion for literature lingers with me even today):

I thought I might find a purple house on my walks around the neighbourhood but it was not to be. I looked and looked but was lucky to find a fencepost and a letterbox:

There were many purple flowers in gardens. I had hope of finding deep purple roses but finally had to settle for a pale mauve one:

I did find a purple picnic table at the Railway Hotel:

And some purple grafitti on the wall:

I came to the conclusion that there is not enough purple in our lives. It is all around us but only in small patches of colour. I want more. More purple beetroot burgers. More purple plum chutney. more purple blueberry soup. More purple cherry salsa. So I had to add to the purple recipes.

I wasn’t sure what purple food to feature until I came across a purple cauliflower at La Manna Fresh. It is a rare joy to find such an oddity. In fact, I haven’t seen one since my first blog event post very early in my blogging when I couldn’t for the life of me work out how to focus my camera properly. I had to buy it and all the other purple food I could.

Unfortunately due to the season, I was unable to find some fine purple discoveries over the past few years but you can see photos in older posts featuring or purple congo potatoes or purple asparagus or dried dragonfruit. Given time, I might even blog with purple basil and purple butter lettuce. In the below photo you can see my purple haul of cauliflower, beetroot, sweet potato, aubergine, cabbage, onion, garlic, potatoes, passionfruit, blueberries and beetroot chips.

My head was spinning with ideas. Dips. Stirfries. Soup. The first night I made cauliflower falafels that were a little too salty and not quite purple enough, despite purple ingredients such as purple corn flour, pomegranate molasses and red onion. I also made a dairy-free tahini sauce based on Tofu for Two’s sauce and added beetroot dip but it just ended up pink.

I wanted some really really purple food. Finally I settled on Fran’s recommendation of trying Cauliflower Rice. It was the perfect way to feature some of the purple cauliflower, which became an even deeper purple when cooked. (Alternatively I had considered a purple cauliflower mash.) With the view of keeping it simple, I then took my purple cabbage – it reminds me a bit of Edvard Munch’s painting, The Scream – and fried it up with lots of butter and salt. I roasted some beetroot and eggplant to add to the purple vegetables.

For the ultimate purple meal, I piled purple cauliflower rice, fried purple cabbage, roasted beetroot, roasted eggplant, falafel in layers on my plate. I finished it off with some tofu sauce that I would like to think is a very pale purple. It was dark, intense and full of butter and salt. I loved it. E was not so keen. We had leftovers that went into a purple soup the next day with some potatoes, sweet potato, lentils and water.

Not content with the purple falafel fry-up and soup, I also made a purple juice, which was delicious. It was unusual for me to strain it. I don’t have a fancy elecronic juicer and usually just puree with a hand held blender in a tall jug but this was too seedy and pulpy and I found using the bottom of a glass rather than a spoon helped the juice get through the strainer quicker.

I am dedicating this post to Quin who I know will love it. If you too have a passion for purple, I can highly recommend these dishes!

Cauliflower Falafels
Serves 4

¼ purple cauliflower, chopped and steamed
½ bunch parsley, chopped
2 tbsp purple corn flour
2 tbsp tahini
⅛ red onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp cumin
1-3 tsp pomegranate molasses*
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tin chickpeas
1-3 tsp tamari*
black sesame seeds and oil spray for baking

Note: I used 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses and 1 tsp tamari but the falafels were a little sweet and needed more seasoning. It was ok as the cabbage, cauliflower and sauce were quite salty. However, I suggest checking the taste and gradually adding teaspoons of both pomegranate molasses and tamari.

Place all ingredients except black sesame seeds and oil spray into the food processor and blend to make a paste. Line a baking tray with baking paper and drop teaspoonfuls onto tray. Use damp fingers to shape as round balls. Spray with oil spray and sprinkle with black sesame seeds. Bake for 30 min at 230 C.

Tahini Sauce:
Adapted from Tofu for Two
serves 4-6

3 tablespoons tahini
⅓ cup nutritional yeast
70 g tofu (optional)
1-2 garlic cloves
½ teaspoon salt
1 tsp agave syrup (or sugar)
2 tbsp beetroot dip (or additional 1 tsp agave syrup)
juice of 1 small lemon
⅔ cup water

Place all ingredients in food processor and blend til combined to make thickened sauce. I added more water than Heikki because I wanted it to be a pouring consistency but add the water gradually until you have your desired consistency.

Cauliflower Rice
Adapted from a book my sister has (I will get name soon)
Serves 4

¾ purple cauliflower
1 tbsp butter
1 clove garlic
¼ red onion finely chopped
½ tsp salt

Roughly chop cauliflower, then blitz in food processor til finely chopped. It will look a little like rice. Melt butter in large frypan over low to medium heat. Lightly fry onion and garlic for a couple of minutes. Add cauliflower and fry for about 5-8 minutes til cooked. If you are using purple cauliflower you will notice it changing colour when cooked.

Fried Cabbage
Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
½ red onion
2 garlic cloves
½ purple cabbage, thinly sliced
1 tsp salt, or to taste (it was quite salty)

Fry onion and garlic in butter and oil for a couple of minutes in a large frypan. Add the remaining ingredients and fry over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes or until cabbage is cooked and a little crispy around the edges.

Dukkah Roasted Eggplants and Beetroot
Serves 2

2 japanese eggplants, diced
1 beetroot diced
3 tbsp olive oil
1 heaped tsp dukkah

Toss eggplants and beetroot with oil and dukkah in a roasting dish. Roast for 50-60 minutes at 230 C until dark and soft.

Purple Passionate Pine Pom Juice
Makes about 2 glasses

½ pineapple, trimmed and chopped
pulp of 1 passionfruit
arils of ¾ pomegranate
½ punnet (60g) blueberries

Blend till mushy. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, using the bottom of a glass or other objects to push the juice through quickly. Discard the pulp left behind in sieve. Drink the juice and enjoy!

On the stereo:
Vauxhall and I: Morrissey

The joy of mouldy soy cheese and other quirky notes

2009-10-30T15:54:00.007+11:00

Yesterday felt like summer had arrived, albeit a wee bit early. The sun shone brightly and I felt every bit and more of the day’s high of 30 C in the car. I was delighted to find the first peaches of the season in the supermarket. We bought Sylvia baby sun cream and she wore her cupcake parade summer pajamas for the first time. One of the gardens we passed on a walk was even growing dolls. You wouldn't believe me if you didn't see this photo!

While at the supermarket there was yet another sign of Americans colonising our lives. Huge orange Halloween pumpkins, the likes of which I have never seen before in Australia. What really outraged me was that they cost a whopping $24 per pumpkin compared to the large wedges of our own Jap, Kent and Queensland Blue pumpkins that we usually buy for $2 or $3 per kilo. I am curious but not a sucker. I had a good laugh at the price with an old guy and a woman with her daughter. ‘I bet they don’t even taste good’ said the old bloke. Even more exciting shopping was found in the amazing range of Herbies Spices at Two Prickly Pears (253 Lygon Street, Carlton).

Sylvia didn’t like her stewed peach – maybe it wasn’t ripe and sweet enough as she screwed up her face at the taste – and I had made some dry hedgehog when hurrying yesterday. Peach puree, chopped hedgehog, yoghurt and fruit salad were a delicious combination – if I had been posh I would have layered them in parfait glasses but when alone, it is easy to have snacks so messy that photos aren't advisable.

For lunch a few days ago I had taken out the dodgy soy cheese (which had casein) to use it up in a sandwich with coleslaw. It had a big patch of mould on it. Straight into the bin. I looked around and had a bit of tofu so I mixed it with nutritional yeast flakes, mustard, mayo and miso. What a delicious discovery! It made me glad the horrid plastic soy cheese was mouldy.

The cheese spread is not a hard cheese for melting on toast under the grill or for grating but after my attempts to find a decent dairy free cheese, I much prefer this one. I suspect it would be a good vegan/dairy free cheese like ricotta or cream cheese to be used in lasagna, crumbled over pasta or stews, used in a tart or maybe with a bit of pesto it would make a nice dip. (Lucy suggests cashew goat’s cheese and Ricki has an almond feta cheese that looks interesting.)

I have now had it on my sandwiches 3 days in a row because it was so good. Today a friend Jane came over and I made her salad sandwiches and fruit salad. It felt very healthy. A litmus test of how well stocked my fridge is, is whether I can make a good salad sandwich. If you are looking for ideas, I can highly recommend avocado, coleslaw, fried vegie sausages, sliced tomato and this cheese spread. Delicious and easy, it is just the thing if you need energy to deal with a baby who will not sleep.

Vegan Cheesy Sandwich Spread
for about 3 sandwiches

150g firm tofu
2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 tbsp mayonnaise (can be soy mayonnaise)
1½ tsp white miso
1 tsp seeded mustard

Use a fork to mash tofu in a small bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix to combine. Great in a sandwich with tomato and coleslaw.

On the Stereo:
Wonderland Soundtrack: Michael Nyman

Snags, coleslaw and Julie/Julia

2009-10-29T23:21:00.011+11:00

This week I finished reading Julie ad Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell. Now that it is a major motion picture you probably know it. If not, it is the story of blogger Julie Powell who cooked all the recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year. While I am not that interested by the cooking, I understand some of the all night cooking adventures and long suffering partner waiting patiently for dinner. Indeed, that has been my story this week.

I was really interested to hear about the experiences of another blogger but her experiences in 2002 suggest that blogging has changed quite a bit today. Honestly, if she was a food blogger today I would be unlikely to visit her blog regularly. Her attitude to meat – liver is sexy, isn’t it funny killing lobsters, and her embrace of marrow, aspic and offal – just isn’t something I can enjoy.

I have never been a great fan of French food because it is full of meat, cream and butter. Not at all my thing. As for Julia Child, I find it interesting to read American bloggers talk about how significant she was in changing the face of cooking in America. She has barely rated a mention in Australian cooking history so she brings no nostalgic value for me.

I could identify with some of Julie Powell's blogging stories. The late dinners, the kitchen groaning under piles of dishes and the enjoyment of comments. I even felt a little comforted that she had disasters even worse than mine, such as a maggot colony in her kitchen. But there were no mention of photography. In fact, I wanted to see photographs throughout the book because that is important with food blogging. I also found that she talked about her blog readers (or bleaders) but never about visiting other blogs. She presents blogging as a performance rather than a communal activity. Maybe this has changed as blogging has developed.

One other element of blogging that was missing, due to her focus on one cookbook, was the tyranny of choice. So many great recipes, so many interesting variations. This week I have had to make difficult decisions over coleslaw and vegetarian sausages, both of which have many interesting version.

It started with cabbage and carrots on sale. I decided to make coleslaw. Normally I would chop just a bit of the cabbage but I have a new mandolin slicer and thought I would try that. It was so easy before I knew it I had sliced up half a cabbage. I had so much that I thought I would take advantage of the opportunity to try two dressings. Both were great in their own way.

I had intended to dig out some coleslaw recipes but was too overwhelmed because everyone has their own variation. Instead I winged it using what was in the fridge, the pantry and the herb garden. After all, although I don’t tend to make it often, I have made coleslaw enough not to really need a recipe. One coleslaw had an Asian style dressing with crunchy peanuts and spicy ginger and cayenne. The other was more Western style with the sweet cranberries as foil for the tangy mustard.

The first night I thought it would be a nice quick meal to whip up but it was after 8.30 that I served it. Alongside it were Apricot and Orange Glazed Tofu and leftover Lentil Salad. But I kept thinking how much I associate coleslaw with barbeques so Michael’s Chorizo Sausages came to mind.

I have talked before about how much I love vegie sausages. The idea of being able to easily produce my own appealed. I first wanted to try this gluten flour method very soon after starting blogging when I discovered the Seitan O’ Greatness from the PPK Forums. Then I saw the vegan irish sausages on Fat Free Vegan Kitchen which were adapted from Julie Hasson’s spicy Italian sausages. I wanted to try all three recipes but barely had time for one. So you see the dilemma bloggers facing like me with all the blogosphere plus oodles of cookbooks.

I followed Michael’s recipe, which came from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s latest cookbook, Vegan Brunch. They had a lot of spice so I reduced it considerably and added black pepper and fennel a la Julie (Julie Hasson, not Julie Powell). With a little more tweaking, they were finished. Sounds simple? Not when you are ready to eat and you realize the sausages need to steam for 40 minutes and then be fried. And everything takes longer with a baby. Not to mention the garlic crusher breaking mid-crush!

One reason I haven’t made these gluten sausages is my dislike of seitan and hence a suspicion of any food containing too much of it. The sausages were full of flavour, though not overly spicy, but they had a little of rubberiness of gluten. Truth be told, I think I preferred the Mushroom Chestnut and Couscous Sausages I made last year. I might have liked the gluten sausages more if I had managed to make them thinner. I did like the way they crisped up when fried, though I am still to try them under the grill, which is my usual way.

But the fried sausage slices, coleslaw, tomato and cannellini bean salad, and smoky spicy crackers was quite an impressive meal. Food bloggers might take their time over dinner but we do eat well.

Now I just need to think about how to use the other 6-8 sausages in the fridge. Sausage curry, anyone? Some other ideas below for cooking with vegetarian sausages:

Sophie’s Mediterranean sausage, fennel, cannellini bean and tomato gratinSusan’s Pasta with peppers and sausage
Susan’s Dublin coddle with vegan irish sausages
Vegan dad’s Potato, apple casserole with maple sausage
Vegan dad’s Fennel and mushroom lasagne
Veg Cooking Blog’s Sausage, kale and white bean stew

Chorizo sausages
adapted from Vegan Brunch via Where’s the Beef
makes 8-10 sausages

1 cup cooked pinto beans (I used tinned cannellini beans), rinsed and drained
2 cups vegie stock
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons tomato paste
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ cup nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon dry rubbed sage
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, roughly ground
1 teaspoon black pepper, ground
½ teaspoon cayenne
½ tsp smoked paprika
2½ cups gluten flour

Mash the beans in a large bowl and add the other ingredients in the order listed. Cindy had gluten flour halfway up the list but I think I would prefer to put it in last because it went all rubbery before I finished adding the ingredients. Stir everything well. I ended up using my hands and sort of kneading it in the bowl.

Prepare the steamer so it is ready for the sausages. To steam them all at once you will need a large one. I used my pasta insert in my stockpot to steam them.

Tear off 8-10 sheets of aluminium foil which are about 15 to 20 cm wide. Using your hands pull off a small amount of dough and roll into a rough sausage shape. Place lengthwise along the foil and then roll up tightly in foil. Squish foil at each end (but I found if I twisted it, it broke) so it looks like a Christmas bon bon. Place in the steamer and seam for about 40 minutes.

Unwrap to use and store in fridge for a week or so. I image they will freeze but haven’t tried it. Great sliced and fried.

Two Types of Coleslaw
serves 6-8

½ savoy cabbage, finely sliced
2 large carrots, finely grated
1 medium green capsicum, finely sliced
2 spring onions, finely sliced

For cranberry and mustard coleslaw:
¼ cup mayonnaise (or mixture of mayonnaise and yoghurt)
1 tsp seeded mustard
juice of ¾ lime
½ clove garlic, crushed
¼ cup dried cranberries
handful parsley, chopped

For spicy peanut and lime coleslaw
1 tbsp soy mayonnaise
½ garlic clove, crushed
½ tsp finely grated ginger
handful chopped peanuts
handful mint, chopped
juice of half a lime
dash cayenne

Mix cabbage, carrots, capsicum and spring onions. Place two thirds of mixture in large salad bowl and mix with cranberry and mustard ingredients. Place the remaining third of vegetable mixture in a medium salad bowl and mix with peanut and line ingredients. Will keep for a few days in the fridge but may need extra mayonnaise and/or yoghurt after being kept in the fridge as it gets drier when it sits overnight.

On the stereo:
The Best of Focus: Focus

Spring vegetable and lentil chowder

2009-10-28T12:48:00.009+11:00

It was a leisurely weekend with very little cooking. On Friday E has bought me a Smiths compilation album. It was on the stereo a lot over the weekend. “Heaven knows I am miserable now”, I sang along, reliving my student days while I fed Sylvia her breakfast. She just laughed.

After all our spring rain, we had plenty of sunshine. Saturday found us indulging in some leisurely reading in the backyard in the sun with Sylvia on some foam mats and rugs. Zinc basked in the sun. It was a day for drying washing, hunting out sun hats and watching the bees humming about the flowers on the lemon tree. Not a lot of time for cooking dinner.

I had to make up a puree for Sylvia so I extended this into our dinner. Just lots of vegetables that were extremely sweet before adding seasoning. It wasn’t great until I offloaded some unsatisfactory garlic and herb cheezly (vegan cheese) into it, which made it thick and tasty. You can substitute cheddar or parmesan if you don’t have unwanted cheezly but the chowder will be more gloopy, rich and full of cheese strings . I tried a spoonful of soyatoo soy cream but it was so sweet that I wouldn't recommend it.

On Sunday it was the last day of the Melbourne International Arts Festival. There has been very little energy for browsing the program in our house and even had we wanted to see some shows, they would have been sold out before we managed to think about tickets. Determined to see a festival show, we headed out to the Peter Greenaway’s light and sound show interpretation of Leonardo’s The Last Supper in the North Melbourne Town Hall. This was an intense experience with insistent cellos and vocals on the soundtrack and fast flowing changes in the way the picture was viewed through use of light. I particularly liked the close ups of flecks of paint on the canvas that were a veritable nanno landscape.

Consistent with our inability to organize ourselves to go out lately, was our unfortunately timing with the nearby Auction Rooms café where I wanted a bite to eat. It closed just as we arrived. So we went up the road to The Urban Burger. My burger was ok but a little heavy on the sauce and light on vegetables. E really enjoyed his beefy burger and the burger meister was charmed by Sylvia. I wasn’t too concerned about the lack of vegetables because I knew I had a chowder full of vegetables waiting for me at home. It was even better the second night.

Spring vegetable and lentil chowder
Serves 4-6 and 2 cups of baby food

1 onion, chopped
1kg thin carrots, peeled and sliced
1 medium potato, peeled and diced
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced
kernels of 3 ears of corn
1 cup red lentils
4 cups water
500ml vegetable stock
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cayenne pepper
generous dash of smoked paprika
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
2 small bunches of asparagus, chopped
large handful of parsley, chopped
150g grated garlic and herb cheezly, to serve (or your choice of cheese)
2 tbsp chives, to serve

Place onion and ½ cup of water in large stockpot and bring to boil. Simmer gently while chopping carrots and potato. Add carrots and potato and 3 cups of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 5 minutes (I simmered for about 15 minutes but I don’t think it was necessary to do it so long). Add sweet potato, corn and lentils. Simmer an additional 5 minutes.

If you are also making baby food, scoop 2 cups of soup into a separate saucepan, add ½ cup water and simmer another 10 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Blend and store in small serves in the freezer (I use iceblock trays). If there are no babies to cater for, just keep on making the soup without removing any of this puree.

Add vegetable stock, salt, cayenne, smoked paprika, garlic and zucchini to the stockpot. Simmer 5 minutes. Add asparagus and simmer another 5 minutes. Stir in parsley and cheezly or cheese. Serve in bowl with chives sprinkled on top.

On the Stereo:
The Sound of The Smiths: The Smith

Pumpkin bread pudding for interesting times

2009-10-26T10:54:00.010+11:00

E says that the road from Melbourne to Geelong is one of the most boring sights in the world. Well, you probably have heard of the Chinese curse, ‘may you live in interesting times.’ Likewise I can tell you that boring is sometimes kinder than interesting. I visited family in Geelong on Friday and on the way down and back there were interesting events that I would not recommend to anyone.

The event on the way there did not effect me much directly. It was a road accident that was so freaky it shakes your confidence in the world. A motorist stopped to help someone who had broken down and as he returned to his car he was hit and killed by a wheel flying off a passing truck. I am sure this is hard for his family to make sense of such random misfortune and I have been thinking of them. I heard about it just after I left and the reports said that the Princes Freeway was closed so I went via the suburbs to avoid it, which added quite a bit to my travel time.

We had a lovely time at my parents’ place. Friday was the birthday of my sister, my uncle and my grandmother. Susie and my grandmother were there and we have a roast dinner and sponge cake to celebrate. Sylvia had her dinner there next to her big cousin, Cooper. Fortunately my parents have two high chairs for the babies to sit in. It was a gorgeous sunny day and we were able to sit in the garden amidst an explosion of colour in the flower beds.

Unfortunately sunshine means that if you put on your parking lights on the car by accident it will be difficult to notice. By the time my brother told me I needed to turn off the lights they had been on for a few hours. So when I was tired and ready to go home with Sylvia settled in her car seat, I turned on the engine and found the battery was dead.

Ironically I had looked at my overdue bill for our roadside assistance scheme before leaving and thought surely I wont need to call on them today. But call, I did. Fortunately they didn’t quibble over a few days overdue payment and they didn’t take too long to arrive. My dad went out to meet them. Finally I went out to check how it was going and the car had gone. For a brief moment I thought my luck really was out today. Minutes later my dad drove it up to the house because he was giving the re-charged battery a burl.

I was tired driving home but was heartened by the thought of leftover pumpkin and chocolate bread pudding waiting for me in the fridge. It had been a long time coming. I went for coffee at Andre’s on Sunday with my friend Heather and bought a loaf of day old fruit bread. It seemed destined for bread pudding so I roasted some pumpkin for that purpose on Monday night and finally made the pudding on Thursday.

Now while life can be cruelly random, it can also be kind to us. I sometimes am amazed at how many food blogs are out there and it seems like good luck to chance upon some which have lots of recipes I want to try. Two of these are Ricki’s Diet, Dessert and Dogs and Meeta’s What’s for Lunch Honey. Some months ago I bookmarked Ricki’s healthy recipe for Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Warm Caramel Sauce and Meeta’s decadent Roasted Pumpkin and Chocolate Bread Pudding.

I took the chocolate and spices from Meeta but left out the eggs, cream and butter. I took the oats and soy milk from Ricki but didn’t feel the need or have the energy to add the warm caramel sauce. I used maple syrup which seemed so much nicer and appropriate than sugar. The result was a delicious Pumpkin and Chocolate Bread Pudding that was both healthy and decadent. The pumpkin sauce was a thick and comforting custard that could be eaten by itself but was even better with swirls of melting chocolate. The dense sourdough bread with generous studs of walnuts and dried fruit was lovely soaked in the sauce.

I can’t tell you enough just how fantastic this pudding was. I was shocked that E was not keen on it, even with a dollop of Soyatoo slag cream - he didn't like the nuts and dried fruit. I was also a little pleased because I wanted to just eat and eat it. But it did make a lot so I took a little slab of it down to my mum in Geelong to try. I was very glad to have discovered Ricki and Meeta’s blogs when I ate this pudding, especially on Friday night when I got home tired and in need of comfort. It was just what I needed.

I would not have discovered these blogs without blog events so I want to continue to the sharing. Mansi of Food and Fun Café is holding a recipe contest called A Sweet Celebration, which focuses on sweets and desserts. Her criteria for judging is originality, presentation, serving and measurement details, virtual taste & overall appeal. I didn’t do too well with presentation – as usual – but this pumpkin and chocolate bread pudding is so good that I am sending it to Mansi.

Pumpkin and chocolate bread pudding
adapted from Diet Dessert and Dogs and What’s for Lunch Honey
serves 6-8

1 kg pumpkin, peeled, trimmed and diced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
⅓ cup rolled oats (not quick or instant)
2 cups soy milk (or other milk)
⅓ cup maple syrup
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
1 medium loaf of stale sourdough fruit bread*
100g dark chocolate, chopped (I used one with 70% cocoa solids)

*You can use any bread if you don’t have a fruit bread. Meeta used challah. Ricki used yeast free pumpkin bread. If you want this gluten free you could use gluten free bread and use cornflour instead of oats or GF oats. If you want this vegan, make sure your bread is vegan. If you don’t use fruit bread, I can recommend a handful of walnuts and cranberries in the pumpkin sauce.

Toss pumpkin and oil in a large roasting dish. Roast at 220 C for 30-45 minutes until pumpkin is soft. At this stage you can put pumpkin in fridge for up to 3 days if preparing in advance (or coping with a small baby). NB once pureed, the pumpkin makes about 2 cups.

Using a food processor or a hand held blender puree pumpkin, milk, rolled oats, maple syrup and spices. (I tried this in my 1 litre jug and it was too small so I had to find a bigger container.) Slice the bread thickly and chop into quarters. Roughly chop the chocolate.

Grease a 22-23cm square ceramic or glass baking dish. Spread about a quarter of the pumpkin sauce on the bottom of the dish. Layer bread, chocolate, pumpkin, bread, chocolate, pumpkin, bread, chocolate, pumpkin. The top layer will be pumpkin and the sauce should coat each layer well. Sit for 20-30 minutes to allow the pumpkin sauce to soak into the bread.

While pudding rests, preheat oven to 180 C or 350 F degrees. Bake for about 50 minutes until the top is lightly browned and puffed. Sit for at least 10 minutes before serving. I prefer mine plain but others might like it served with cream or caramel sauce. Leftovers, if you are lucky enough to have any, can be reheated in the microwave.

On the stereo:
Right Here … A Go Betweens Tribute: Various Artists

Vegan feta crackers for sleepless nights

2009-10-24T18:59:00.013+11:00

It’s been a good week for food but not for Sylvia sleeping. I have cooked stuff that I have had in my head for too long. Much experimentation. Some good. Some bad.

I wish I wasn’t finishing off my pumpkin bread pudding as I write because it is superb. The wonderful memory of velvety nettle soup lingers on my tongue. I still have visions of my vibrant purple dinner. But I am a bit unsure about the gluten free gingerbread and am ready to throw out the poppy seed cupcakes. Most of these will appear on the blog soon, provided I can find time.

Today I wanted to tell you about how when babies don’t sleep it can drive you (to) crackers. Great vegan crackers! My idea of heaven this week is to lie in bed eating my tofu crackers and pumpkin bread pudding, reading a good book and drifting off into a long deep sleep.

Sylvia has been great at sleeping while we sleep until just recently when she has started to wake in the night. I saw the nurse for her 8 month check up yesterday and we discussed all sorts of reasons for this. The most likely seems to be that she is teething. A few people have suggested I try cutting dairy out of my diet, not just to help her sleeping but also for her dry skin.

I understand the sense of cutting out dairy. The introduction of lots of new foods as she starts solids is quite a strain on her little system as well as my varied diet that she consumes through the breast milk. Others have said it wouldn’t make much difference. Contradictory advice seems par for the course with caring for a baby. I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try going dairy-free for a week or two.

It wasn’t as easy as I expected. In the past I have enjoyed some vegan baking – once to the extent that my housemate got tired of it and left a note on the fridge saying ‘let the wild soy run free’! I don’t like eggy or creamy food very much but I love my cheese and yoghurt. On a couple of occasions I found myself eating cheese without even realising it. I had thought I could find some cheese substitutes but I haven’t found anything to love.

I’ve been to Radical Grocery (347 Sydney Rd, Brunswick). I’ve tried different vegan cheeses. I was surprised to find that the first soy cheese I bought was only lactose free but still had casein in it. It tasted like Kraft slices (or Velveeta). The tofutti cheese was so full of ingredients it didn’t look too healthy and the cheezly that I tried was dry. We bought soyatoo cream (which is called slag cream in our house because the German translation is Soya Schlag Crème) and was shocked at how sweet it was – more like that horrible synthetic cream in a can than anything out of a cow. E likes it. He also likes the soy milk we have bought. The dairy substitutes didn't thrill me but I loved the Lara Bars and fudge.

My dislike of vegan faux cheese is no surprise given that I have never been a fan of faux meat as a vegetarian. But what I have liked in the past are vegan cheese sauces such as this one, that are made out of ingredients such as tofu, nutritional yeast flakes, mustard, and tahini. So I decided to try reworking a recent feta and pepper cracker recipe that I loved.

The crackers are adapted from a Feta and Cumin Crackers recipe from Lisa’s Kitchen. I liked the idea of rubbing the feta and oil into the flour rather than using butter. They were quite bready rather than light and crisp like I expect of crackers (or dry biscuits). They are lovely plain or with some dips. I tried using tofu and nutritional yeast flakes rather than feta because I thought it would give the right texture and cheesy saltiness. I also added some pesto from La Manna Fresh (403-407 Sydney Rd, Brunswick) that I was pleased to find is vegan. The vegan crackers were as good as the feta ones, even better, E said.

I made a double quantity because I was optimistic about this recipe. I wished for even more. They were eaten quickly and with enjoyment. We ate them with nettle soup, E took some to work and shared them with colleagues, I took them to a friends’ house, I took some down to my parents’ place, and I even found myself snacking on one in the middle of the night after getting up to settle Sylvia.

This experience has made me think about a vegan diet. Niki has an interesting post on cheese from a vegan perspective. Kathryn directed me to an interesting article, ‘Against Meat’ by Jonathan Safran Foer in the New York Times (7 Oct 2009), which describes being vegetarian simply as not hurting animals. At a gut level, I feel right about being vegetarian – I had the upsetting experience of finding out that when our pet lambs had ‘gone to greener pastures’ we had eaten them. But I lived with chooks in the backyard and regularly visited dairy farms as a child and never felt these animals were being treated badly. I respect those who are vegan but I am not about to veganise my diet. However, I think I will try and reduce my dairy intake.

In thinking about being vegan, I have wondered about if a breastfed baby is a vegan. I had a look on the web and couldn’t find an answer. I’d be interested to hear people’s thoughts on this.

I am giving both feta and tofu crackers recipes and am sending the tofu crackers to Yasmeen who is holding an event called Health Nut Challenge 2: guilt free snacks. I think these fit the bill in more ways than one!

Feta Cheese and Pepper Crackers
adapted from Lisa’s Kitchen
makes about 3 dozen

1 cup of wholemeal flour
½ cup white bread flour
¼ cup buckwheat flour
½ teaspoon baking powder (Lisa used bicarb of soda)
100g feta cheese, crumbled
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
¾-1 tsp pepperberry, ground (or black pepper)
¾ cup milk

Place the flours, baking powder, salt, pepper, olive oil and feta in a large bowl and rub together with your fingers to combine. Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk. Stir to combine and knead briefly to form a ball. Wrap the dough in cling wrap and place in freezer for roughly 30 minutes if you are in a hurry or in the fridge for at least 45 minutes.

I found the dough quite soft once cool but still fine to work with if you are generous in dusting it with flour. Divide the dough in half. Roll out a portion of dough on a floured surface until it is about 0.5 cm thick. Use a scone cutter or glass to cut out rounds or shapes of your choice. Roll out the extra dough and repeat. Place crackers on baking tray lined with baking paper. Prick with a fork.

Bake the crackers in a preheated 180 C or 350 F degree oven for about 25 minutes until they are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Tofu and Pesto Crackers
makes about 6 dozen

2 cups of wholemeal flour
1 cup white bread flour
½ cup buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
350g firm tofu, crumbled
8 tbsp (120ml) vegan pesto
6 tbsp (90ml) olive oil
6 tbsp (90ml) nutritional yeast flakes
2 tsp sea salt
1 cup soy milk

Place the flours, baking powder, salt, nutritional yeast flakes, pesto, olive oil and tofu in a large bowl and rub together with your fingers to combine. Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk. Stir to combine and knead briefly to form a ball. Wrap the dough in cling wrap and place in freezer for roughly 30 minutes if you are in a hurry or in the fridge for at least 45 minutes. I left some of this dough in the fridge for 48 hours and it was ok although a little tougher than the fresh batch.

I found the dough quite soft once cool but still fine to work with but dust with lots of flour. Divide the dough into four portions. Roll out a portion of dough on a floured surface until it is about 0.5 cm thick. Use a scone cutter or glass to cut out rounds or shapes of your choice. Roll out the extra portions and repeat. Place crackers on baking tray lined with baking paper. Prick with a fork. (NB I forgot to prick the second batch and they puffed up a little.)

Bake the crackers in a preheated 180 C or 350 F degree oven for about 30 minutes until they are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

On the stereo
Classic Steve Winwood – Steve Winwood

MLLA Chana Masala

2009-10-22T23:03:00.004+11:00

It has been a while since I have made a good spicy Indian meal. Not only do I need to feel motivated but I also need to have the ingredients. I saw Ashley’s recent version of Lisa’s Chana Masala (Spiced Chickpeas) and felt it was a recipe I could do. Unlike Lisa’s other recipe for Chana Masala it didn’t need a special spice mix but got its bite from spices I had in my pantry.

It wasn’t overly difficult but was a little fiddly when rushing to make dinner before feeding and bathing a baby. I had thought it would be quicker but I should have known better. I know that the proper way to make a curry is to have all the spices ready beforehand but I didn’t have time. Hence, as I had some spices in the pan and was about to add the cumin seeds, I couldn’t find me. Tonight I gritted my teeth in frustration when I found them but it was too late for the curry last week. So I just used a bit more ground cumin.

The first night we ate it with tomatoes, cucumber and bread. The next night I had some potato and silverbeet to make a saag aloo to go with them but I was too tired after Sylvia had been partying all night. So we just ate leftovers with toast. Sometimes life is like that in our household!

The chana masala was great. Lisa loves her spices so it was no surprise to find that it was very very spicy, even without the fresh chillis. I looked for the cardamom pods to remove them but couldn’t find all of them and found them most unpleasant to chew on. (Is there a way to find them easily or do others just enjoy chewing them?) Other than the cardamom pods, I loved the fragrant and interesting spice mixture coating the chickpeas and found it strangely comforting to eat. A bit like an Indian version of baked beans.

I am sending this beany dish to Jeanne of Cooksister for the 16th helping of My Legume Love Affair, a blog event that was founded by Susan of the Well Seasoned Cook.

Chana Masala (Spicy Chickpeas)
adapted from Lisa’s Kitchen
serves 4

2 x 400g tins of chickpeas, drained (or cook 1½ cups dried chickpeas)
2 tablespoons ghee or a mixture of butter and oil
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
*2 teaspoons of cumin seeds
5 green cardamom pods
2 inch piece of cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves

1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoon ground coriander
*½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon turmeric

2 - 4 finely chopped hot red and green chilies (I omitted)
1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped (I used 3 small)
1 - 2 inch piece of ginger, grated or finely chopped

2 medium-large tomatoes, finely diced
juice from one small lemon
1 teaspoon of salt
freshly cracked black pepper
½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon of garam masala

* I couldn’t find my cumin seeds so I omitted from the recipe and added an extra 1½ tsp to the ground cumin.

Heat the ghee or butter and oil in a large pot. When hot, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, and bay leaves. Stir and fry until the mustard seeds begin to pop and the cumin seeds begin to brown. (I just let them gently fry till I had chopped my onion, so my bay leaves were a little darker coloured than is ideal.)

Add chopped onion, and fry until it begins to brown. Add the ground coriander, ground cumin, cayenne and turmeric to the pan and stir for about a minute until the onions are well coated with the spices. Then, stir in the fresh chilies, garlic and ginger. Fry for a few minutes.

Next, add the tomatoes and lemon juice and cook for about 10 minutes until the mixture starts to thicken. Add the chickpeas, salt, black pepper, half of the parsley, and the garam masala. At this point, I had to attend to Sylvia and just added the ingredients and turned off the heat for about an hour or so but this is not necessary if you don’t have a demanding baby. Cook for about 10 minutes to blend the flavours, adding a bit of water if necessary. The chickpeas should be fairly dry.

Remove the bay leaves and the cinnamon stick, and the cardamom pods if you can find them. Stir in the remaining parsley and serve hot.

On the Stereo:
Wilde Jaeger: Various Artists

Mr Natural Gourmet Vegetarian Pizza – heaps of vegies

2009-10-21T23:40:00.007+11:00

Every now and again I head over to Brunswick Street in Fitzroy and drive past Mr Natural’s pizza shop. It fills me with yearning for the days when we lived in Collingwood and were able to have their vegetable-packed pizzas delivered to our door. Many times I have wished to stop for a pizza but it is too awkward because we are headed for another destination or it is not dinnertime. So when the planets aligned this week, I made sure I didn’t miss my opportunity to have one of Mr Natural’s fine pizzas.

Sylvia and I headed there at 5pm, only to find that Mr Natural does not open till 5.30pm. A walk down Brunswick Street is no great hardship, even if it does mean crossing busy Alexandra Parade and being laid bare to the temptation of second hand bookshops. We were back when it opened and ordered a couple of small pizzas.

I am used to settling for whatever is the sole vegetarian option nestled among meaty pizzas and find myself spoiled for choice here. So many interesting pizzas! My favourites are the broccoli and the pumpkin. I chose the former partly out of sentimentality. It was here that I first discovered how good broccoli is on pizza. Especially with such an interesting combination of toppings: tomato, broccoli, mushrooms, olives, capsicums, feta, onions, cheese, parsley, sesame seeds and garlic.

Ordering for E is even harder. The menu has lots of bean sprouts, which I know he hates, so I don’t even consider the Razorback pizza because it includes tofu, bean sprouts and eggplant. The Bezalya pizza intrigues me with potato, olives feta, satay sauce and pumpkin among other toppings but it would be too much of a challenge for E. Even stranger is the oddly named Natural pizza with vindaloo curry sauce as well as vegetables, beans and cheese – does that sound natural to you?

Mr Natural caters for everyone. There is no standard vegetarian pizza of tomato, capsicum olives and cheese here. But you will find gluten free bases and vegan cheese. A ‘massive’ vegan pizza is available without any sort of cheese but all pizzas can be veganised or lactose free with the substitution of vegan cheese. We have an old menu that says they do yeast free but I can’t see any note of that in the more recent literature.

I decide upon the Chilli Beans pizza for E. It is piled with tomato sauce, borlotti beans, onions, capsicum, pineapple, cheese, garlic and chilli. This will illustrate just how unusual the pizzas are, when I tell you that this is one of the ‘classic pizzas’.

We don’t have to wait long but even so Sylvia has a little sleep. I wish I had taken my camera so I could show you the artwork on the wall which is pleasing to gaze at while I sit with a drowsy baby. It is a long drive home with the tempting smell of pizza wafting from the passenger seat. Dinner is very early for us. So early that we are able to eat together with Sylvia.

I love my pizza. They are better when piping hot from the delivery boy’s insulated case but they survive the peak hour traffic well. A little soggy under the weight of so much topping but the wholemeal base is still dense and nicely chewy. There are so many vegetables on top that I don’t feel the need for a side salad, although they are under a blanket of seedy cheese. Lotsa stinky garlic and intense feta make this pizza very tasty indeed. Since first tasting these pizzas I have found many good ones but I was so amazed when first encountering Mr Natural to find just how interesting pizza could be.

E on the other hand is all a bit Grim Eater over the pizza. He doesn’t like the beans or the pineapple and it doesn’t have enough chilli for him. (It did say on the menu that you could have it as hot as you liked but I forgot to ask and so did they.) He said he would have preferred the Margherita pizza. Actually, he decides he much prefers the Gringo and says that Mr Natural could learn a lot from Mr Mojo. I disagree.

I still think Mr Natural does some of the best vegetarian pizzas around. If only they could open a branch nearer us I would be a happy little vegemite. There is now a branch in St Kilda and a glossy menu has replaced the old red and white one we had on the fridge. So maybe there is some empire building that could come our way. If not, I will just have to be content with my infrequent pizza excursions to North Fitzroy for my favourite takeaway pizzas in Melbourne.

Mr Natural Gourmet Vegetarian Pizza
469 Brunswick Street. North Fitzroy
Phone: 03-9481-7775
Website: http://www.mr-natural-pizza.com/

Finnish Rye Bread – a fickle monster!

2009-10-20T21:32:00.012+11:00

I mentioned recently my bread baking binge that took place after I bought fresh yeast. The first bread I made with it was a Finnish Rye Bread that I have had written in my recipe notebook for years and years. Don’t know where I found it nor can I remember when I first made it but I have marked that I did somewhere back in the mists of time. More recently I have made it twice and it was quite different each time so I wish I could remember the other times.

A bag of rye flour had been sitting in my pantry far too long and I decided to make bread with it. Nigella has a recipe for rye bread that I almost tried but instead I decided to make a recipe that produced two loaves some weeks back when I was going to visit my grandmother. That way I could taste it to check it was ok and still give her a complete loaf.

This recipe is one where the liquid is warmed and then needs to cool so it takes a bit of time. Although the recipe below specifies that the liquid can be potato water, milk, beer or buttermilk, I prefer beer. My scribbles note that it makes the bread more sour. I think it also gives more flavour.

The dough, according to the recipe, should be left to rise for about 2 hours to double in size after kneading. When making it a few weeks back, the dough rose at a frighteningly fast rate. Maybe I had put too much yeast or had the heater up too high. I punched it down and put it in the fridge to retard the rise but it threatened to take over the fridge with its incredible rising. My aunty Liz laughed at the fork marks on the loaf and said they looked like I made them fighting the monster dough. (“Back, back, I say, you beast!”)

My grandmother had a quiche and salad for lunch, for which the bread was a fine accompaniment. She and Liz were very nice about it although I was worried it was much lighter than it should have been. I enjoyed the main course but loved her home-made scones and strawberry jam even more. (Haven’t I told you that women in my family love baking scones!) Sylvia got lots of cuddles and in return giggled a lot.

My second recent attempt at the rye bread was quite different. I had the fresh yeast instead of dried and I used beer rather than water.The dough was much stiffer and took a lot longer to rise this time. It made a couple of dense loaves with a far more pronounced yeasty taste. I also remembered to brush melted butter over the top when it came out of the oven the second time, which gave it a pleasing gloss.

On this second occasion I was pleased with being able to make the loaves in the morning so I had warm bread for lunch with my work mate Penny. She had come over to brainstorm and gossip (not necessarily in that order). While I looked after Sylvia, Penny sliced up bread and vegetables. She had brought over dips, cheese and chocolate so we ate very well.

Lunch was a relaxed business. We put Penny’s pretty platters on the rug and piled the fillings on the bread. Delicious! I tried to move everything away from Sylvia’s eager reach but she still managed to dip her hands in the beetroot dip and then fall face first into the platter of vegetables.

Later that day I went to the city to meet E and my dad for dinner before seeing Strange Fruit performers ringing in the opening of the Melbourne International Arts Festival on the Federation Bells. We had thought there would be food around the bells but ended up having to rush back to Fed Square for dinner. I wished I had made up some sandwiches with my bread. But we found a delicious curried pumpkin and lentil soup at ACMI and managed to return and hear some of the calming call of the bells.

I am sending this bread to Susan at Wild Yeast for her Yeast Spotting.

Finnish Rye Bread
Makes 2 loaves

1½ cups (375ml) beer, buttermilk, milk or potato water (I prefer beer)
2 tbsp butter or margarine
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp dry yeast (I used 30g fresh yeast)
½ cup warm water
1 tbsp sugar
2 cups rye flour
4 cups bread flour

Heat the beer/buttermilk/milk/potato water to lukewarm and stir in butter and salt. Set aside to cool.

If using fresh yeast dissolve yeast with sugar in a small bowl and then add to warm water and sugar in a large mixing bowl. If using dried yeast, sprinkle yeast and sugar over warm water in a large mixing bowl. Leave about 5 minutes until bubbling. If it doesn’t bubble feed the yeast a little flour and leave another few minutes to see if it bubbles.

Pour cooled beer/buttermilk/milk/potato water mixture into yeast mixture and mix. Add rye flour and stir until smooth. Add bread flour, one cup at a time to make a stiff dough. Form into a rough ball and place on a floured surface. Cover with a damp tea towel and rest for 15 minutes. Grease a large bowl.

Knead dough until smooth. This should only take about 5 minutes because the gluten in rye is more fragile than in wheat. Place in the prepared greased bowl, turning to coat all sides and cover. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size – the recipe says it should take about 2 hours but it took less for me.

Punch down and knead for about 1 minute. Divide in two and form each portion into a loaf shape. Place loaves in greased 23cm cake tins or on greased baking trays. Cover and leave to rise for about 30 minutes or until almost doubled in size.

Brush with water and gently puncture surface with a fork. Bake at 190 C or 375 F for about 30 minutes or until the bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. (I found I needed to turn mine upside down after 30 minutes and bake another 10 minutes to crisp up the bottom). Brush with extra butter or margarine and cool on a wire rack.

On the Stereo:
Under the Covers, vol 1: Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs