In my kitchen ~ August 2015

This months IMK series has come around so quickly I'm sure I can hear Spring calling!!! Hurry up!!! My goodness, I'm sorry to go on about it, but I really don't think I've felt the cold as much as this Winter.  I even brought myself some thermal tops to help layer the cold away.  But, as always, my oven is my saviour and it's been put through it's paces again, with my beloved bread running front and centre....but there are a few other things just so you don't think I'm the size of a sour dough.
Grab a cuppa or a wine and relax while you take a peek....

In my kitchen these amazing soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies didn't disappoint and are stashed up the back of the freezer for those times when only a cookie will do with a cup of tea...they defrost perfectly in minutes.

In my kitchen is my nan's nutloaf tin that I've had a few goes at.  It's over 60 years old and I must say I was in a heaven of memory nostalgia eating the loaf...recipe to come :)

In my kitchen has been lots of pea and ham soup (this recipe is one of my first and is fun to see how much my photos have improved).  I add a big handful of steamed greens from the garden to help boost the vegetable intake and a smidge of chilli.

It wouldn't be in my kitchen if I didn't include some crochet...I made the pink and blue owl beanie for my little lady for our cold walk to school and the other for a friends little one.  Beanies are proving to be one of those things that are trickier to size than you think!!

In my kitchen almost everyday in July and August is this bounty freshly picked from the garden that I never tire from picking nor eating.

In my kitchen is my no knead grain bread that never fails.

In my kitchen has been lots of sourdough baking.  My 100% hydration starter is getting better week by week, gluttonous feed by gluttonous feed.  Bread baking is now well and truly entrenched into my soul - it's the funniest thing how passions are quietly unearthed isn't it.

I travelled to a friends kitchen a few hundred kilometres away and took my sourdough dough and camp oven with me so I could make her 2 loaves as I've been teasing her with too many photos...let me tell you I might start putting my dough that is proofing in the back seat of the car - it traveled beautifully and didn't disappoint on the morning I doled these magnificent specimens out.

In my kitchen is Mr. GW's huge once weekly bacon and eggs.  Our girls haven't missed a day laying even in this cold weather - they are the best and deserve the hot milk soaked crusts I give them most mornings.

and my size....I also was gifted this divine dinner set "Viola" - I'm very, very much in love with it.

look at that golden yolk.....such clever girls.

In my kitchen I made Celia's burger buns that were a big hit.  We had them with thick oven roasted Italian sausages, caramelised onions, lettuce and tomato.....get your laughing gear on it!

Thanks for stopping by....it's a little different format on Celia's blog (link at start of this post) and you can find all other contributors in the comments of her IMK post.  I love reading and getting all of your comments and if you drop me a line, I'll be sure to come and see what you have been up to in your wonderful kitchen.

Ciao, Jan x

In my kitchen July 2015

It's July...only 5 months til Christmas can you believe it!!  We are in the full swing of winter here and my oh my it has been brisk.  Perfect weather for the oven and I've been bitten hard by the sour dough bug this past month, so get ready for lots of bread!  I'm hooking up with 

Celia from Fig Jam and Lime cordial along with hundreds of other food obsessed bloggers from around the world.  If you love to see what's in other peoples kitchens, pop over to Celia's blog and get stalking!
I'll have to apologise for the exposure of some of the picutres - firstly I had to resell my new camera as it just didn't do what I hoped (rookie error!!) so it's back to my phone and secondly it's so dim in my kitchen and it gets dark so early :( but anyway,

 grab a cuppa or a wine and settle in cause here we go.....

I'll admit, I've been crocheting over blogging due to a few orders for my 
granny stripe blanket.  I'm halfway through this one now and am loving it just as much as the first one.  

In my kitchen has been a steady stream of Jerusalem artichokes and parsnips.  

In my kithchen, I've been crushing on this coconut yoghurt - delicious!

In my kitchen has been lots of cos and mint - I had it this day with fried rice, a dry fried egg and wrapped it up in the cos - yummy healthy lunch.  I've been trying to increase my leafy greens and fresh vegetable intake.

In my kitchen has been lots of soup for lunch too, especially this prawn chowder  - I blanch a mix  of freshly picked beetroot leaves, kolrabi leaves, kale and spinach to top this off as a vitamin power house.  I sometimes also add a poached egg to my soups to give it that extra protein hit and they add a natural creaminess to them if you keep the yolk runny.

In my kitchen has been lots of sourdough and changes to my sour dough.  This starter above is from a dear friends which must be around 15 years old now.  I did experiment with this starter some time ago which you can read about here but to be honest, I didn't quite gel with the length of time needed to get to the final product and I killed her.  This is a new one that I hope to keep going alot longer.  There seemed to be so many steps and seeing as I'm an instinctive baker rather than a chronic step follower ( such a rebel :) ) 

I searched for a way that would be more a kin to my favourite no knead bread. 

I did lots and lots and lots of reading online but finally found what I was looking for.

Enter my new 100% hydration starter that contains the original starter.  

Isn't she beautiful!  

I just naturally feel like it's more 'alive' and gets quite bubbly when left in the fridge.  Basically it's 100gm starter, 100gm water(weigh on scales) , 100g flour.  I feed her once a week, and/or the day before I want to bake a loaf or two.  I can do it all the night/afternoon before and bake it the next morning - perfect!

Here are some of the useful blogs I used to get to where I am now.  

How to maintain a 100% hydration starter

Celia's overnight sour dough - this is the recipe I now use - I do halve it sometimes to just make one loaf.

Johanna's take on Celia's overnight sour dough - Johanna has lots of helpful tips and things she has discovered on her sour dough and bread learning curve.  Thanks for all your work Johanna.

Celia's bread section on her blog - this has been a great find.  Celia is very passionate about her bread making and has taken the time to document lots of different types.  Thank you Celia for taking the time to explain this mystery in wonderful terms and taking the fear out of it and for feeding my passion!

I fed my new starter a few times over the course of 5 days.  I did want to make 2 loaves so I needed to double my starter.  To do this you need to start a few days before baking. I took off 150g of starter (discard the rest) and added the same amounts of water and flour(150g). I left it out on the bench for 4-5 hours in a warm spot, then that night I took off 300g starter (discard the rest...you could use it to make another starter to give to a friend or bake with it) and added the same amounts of water and flour (300gm of each).  I then popped her into the fridge.  

The following day after lunch I then started Celia's recipe:

300g starter (it should be bubbly)

570g water (I used filtered or from the kettle)

18g salt

1kg flour

Mix together and leave out for 30 minutes.  Knead for a minute or 2 and then pop on the bench til the morning.

 I used Wallaby bakers flour (I've also had great success with the Laucke crusty white bread pre-mix Mr. GW accidentally brought but it has the salt in it.  

I ideally wouldn't want to use this as my go to flour as it has 

other preservatives in it)  Don't forget to take off 100g starter to keep :)

Above is the bread that resulted - not bad but not great.  5 days later I started again...but with much better results

This is the dough after it has been out on the bench over night.

Very gently tip the dough onto a floured surface and cut in half.  Lightly dust with flour and lightly shape, if at all actually as you want to keep all that air in there.  Your oven should be on as high as it can go and put camp oven or casserole dish to heat up for at least 15 minutes.  Make sure you have a piece of greaseproof baking paper on the bottom of your vessel.

Taking care to take the camp oven out of the oven, gently place your dough in and snip the top with sharp kitchen scissors or a razor and whack the lid on.  After 30 minutes take the lid off and turn your oven down to 180c.

And this is what you should have 30 minutes later.

These loaves where fantastic.  I think the main difference between this lot and the first ones is that the starter has had more feeds and time to settle in.  I was also gentler and didn't knead/shape this batch.  I can't tell you how happy this makes me.  I really have a big passion for bread baking now and never get tired of the loaves coming out of the oven.  I never thought I'd get such pleasure from something I though would be so hard and I'd never be able to do.  Just goes to show you where having a go and not worrying about the failures can lead you.

So that's me for this month.  
Thanks for taking the time to stop by, your comments are greatly loved and appreciated.  I'm now off to see what's happening in everyone else's kitchen this month.

Ciao, Jan x

Soup Nazi

etsy,com

I’m on a bit of a soup roll at the moment, I love them this time of year especially so I wanted to share this ripper with you.  I love the Soup Nazi off Seinfeld,   it puts a smile on my face whenever I think about these episodes. “No soup for you….2 weeks!” Oh to have that power.  So any way, this recipe is one of my all-time favourite soups.   I first had it made for me by some dear friends nearly 20 years ago. The real reason I bring up Seinfeld is they both love the show too, but it was this recipe that I wish to thank them for, it changed the way I thought of soups forever.  I’m happiest when my freezer is brimming with soup all in nice portions for my lunches in the winter time. At the moment I have pumpkin soup, pearl barley and veg, Puy lentil and spinach, jerusalem artichoke and this cockle warming Pea and Ham.

Pea and Ham Soup

1 ham hock

2 -3 stalks of celery, finely diced

2-3 carrots, finely diced

1 zucchini finely diced

1 onion finely diced

2 cloves of garlic, finely diced

1 pkt of split peas, green or yellow

Water  and /or some chicken stock to cover 

Saute onion and garlic until soft, add all ingredients and simmer for hours!! I do mine in the slow cooker these days and let it go all day. 

You can use your little barmix whizzer to blitz up the vegies before you cook them so they disintegrate into the soup, more for my childs sake and they break down into the soup giving it more body and saves that step at the end, I did it with just chopped vegies. Once it is ready just remove the hock and discard the skin, any fat and chop the meat up into nice bite sized pieces. 

This delicious hearty soup is great the next day, with a poached egg on top or with crusty bread or with the cheesy verstion of the no knead bread.  I added grated vintage cheddar to the final gentle knead and then sprinkled some on top. It really is easier than making toast this bread. I started it in the morning and let it prove near the heater as its so cold here at the moment, 6 hours later I baked it, I was so impressed with the 'holyness' of the bread!
Unfortunately my 'normal' companion, my laptop, has died a quiet death and I can't access my photos, luckily I drafted this post days ago.  I'm hoping it will be fixed and back to me in no time as it really is my lifeline!!

Jerusalem Artichokes

Jerusalem Artichokes, what are they? Well my friends they are an amazingly tasty winter bulb that aren't very well know, so maybe its my own little secret veg.  It is actually a brother of the sunflower and not from Jerusalem nor is it related to an artichoke.  They are very high in iron and reputed to be great for diabetics as it doesn't change blood sugar levels but is as filling as a potato.  The plant produces a tall sunflower stem, well actually it grows up to 10 foot tall but if you have a little piece of turf that gets some sun and isn't used for anything else, give these treasures a go.  

The pretty daisy like flowers

They look a bit like ginger when harvested, but beware, they can overtake a vegie patch like a weed so an area used for nothing else is best.  We have them down the side of the house out of harms way.  They have amazingly good yields but unfortunately you can't eat a hell of a lot of them at once as they cause flatulence and tummy pain if you over indulge.  Which is a damn shame as I just love them.  But once bitten, twice shy.

When cooking they take some work peeling. If I was roasting them I usually just wash well and rub the skin with a kitchen scourer.  For this soup I was quite ruthless and did waste alot, but we had buckets of them to use up. I've done them roasted in garlic and butter but last night made a delicious soup, a true revelation.

Jerusalem Artichoke soup

a good big knob of butter and a slug of evoo

4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped

2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

2 stalks of celery, roughly chopped

1-2 bay leaves

approx 1kg of Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and roughly chopped

3 medium sized potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped

2 litres of vegie or chicken stock

garnishes: light or full fat thickened cream, croutons, crispy bacon, tin of crab meat, chopped parsley * roast the bacon and croutons on the same tray in the oven.

In a large pot gently heat the butter and evoo, add garlic, onion, carrots, celery, bay leaves, s & p and sweat for 10-15 minutes until tender. 

Add parsley stalks, artichokes, potatoes and stock. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a gentle simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.  Skim off any scum that comes to the surface.  Blend with a stick blender.  Check seasoning.  You may need to take off and reserve some of the liquid and just see how thick it is. Better to add more liquid to thin it down than the other way around.  

Another thing to bare in mind is the artichokes once peeled go brown quite quickly. So either peel them straight away and use or if you are delayed even 5 minutes, put them into a bowl of water with half a lemon squeezed into it to help stop the oxidization process.  Serve the garnishes in little bowls on the table and let each person add as much or as little as needed.  This soup has the most unusually delicious earthy, nutty flavour, a real treat we hopefully didn't over indulge in!!

The much anticipated garnishes made this soup sing, sorry
the pics are a bit dark, and not the best, I get carried away wanting to
eat and almost forget to take the pic and too impatient to play
around with lighting!!

In a few days when I'm game to have another bowl of my freezer stash, I'm trying it with a dash of cream and chopped walnuts, I think it will work a treat.

Ciao Jan

Menu Planning....is it really that exciting?

Such a boring title isn’t it, it conjures up an image of too much mince and uninspired food for my liking and I’m the one wanting to go through the process, am I mad?? Am I alone? Do any of you write up a plan of what’s cooking? I never have, until now.

So far my menu for this fortnight has things like wraps, roast meats, fried rice, frittata,  homemade pizzas,  a cry-vac of scotch fillet steak, salmon or tuna patties, pasta bakes, a few different soups, puff pastry put through its paces and salads using whatever’s in our garden and pulses & nuts from the cupboard.

But this shopping for a fortnight due to a fortnightly pay is messing with my head. How do you know what you will feel like in 5 days’ time!! What I am liking about the process especially when I’m not feeling 100% is that the thinking has been done for me, I just look at the list and its decided for me, or pull something already pre done out of my growing stock in the freezer, it really has been a godsend. And at the end of the menu it’s like cooking on Masterchef creating your own mystery box without the time limit and pressure that George has to eat it!

I also really love eating vegetarian food, don’t get me wrong, I love meat too but I think it’s good for our bodies to give meat a rest for a few days at least each week.  And vegies are cheaper than meat and can be made into something just as tasty. I’ve been pawing through a new cookbook I discovered from the library but had to purchase after the librarian wouldn’t let me borrow it again, for a month!!! Sacralige…It’s written by my foodie crush Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.  It’s called “River Cottage Veg everyday!” It has page after glorious page of recipes full of beautiful veg, it’s hard not to be inspired.

One recipe I have been consistently making and freezing with great success is this warming soup.  I made it for a friend who was passing through town and wanted lunch at the last minute, this can be rustled in no time and you probably have all the ingredients lying around. I served it with a zucchini bruschetta that day, but is just as good on its own, with sour dough toast and I reckon a poached egg wouldn’t be too bad on it either.

Puy lentil and spinach soup
2 tbspn evoo

1 onion finely chopped

1 carrot finely chopped

1 stalk of celery (my own addition) finely chopped

1 zucchini (my own addition)finely chopped

A few sprigs of thyme, leaves only, roughly chopped

3 cloves of garlic finely chopped

3 tomatoes, cored and finely chopped, deseeded if you can be bothered

150g Puy lentils, well rinsed and picked over

1.3 litres of vegie stock or chicken stock, made with a stock powder is fine

A small bunch of parsley finely chopped

½ a birdseye chilli (my own addition) finely diced

Couple of handfuls of baby spinach (I also throw in rocket and beetroot leaves from the garden) roughly chopped

Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper

To serve

1-2 tbspns of evoo

Parmesan cheese finely grated ( I like to use a micro-plane as you get the feeling of having lots more cheese but only using a little)

Heat the oil over a medium-low heart in a large saucepan. Add the onion, carrot, celery and thyme and sauté gently for 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, chilli and tomatoes and sauté for a further minute.

Tip in the lentils, stir then add the stock and a little salt & pepper.  Bring soup to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 25 minutes, or until the lentils are tender.  Add the parsley and spinach and simmer for a further 5 minutes.

Check the seasoning, then spoon into warmed bowls, trickle over a little oil and shave over some cheese....bring it to me!

Ciao, Jan

Bloody fussy eaters

Don’t even get me started on adult fussy eaters who only eat meat and 3 veg and love Mc Donalds and KFC, their existence baffles me and how  the hell they manage to get through each day a complete mystery…But I’m talking about kids really as my brain can understand them being fussy eaters. Who knew that a pair of self-confessed lovers of food would produce a child that only likes bland, white food. I’m forever trying to hide vegies into our dishes so she won’t detect the zucchini or broccoli.

Actually I’m being too hard, she is improving and growing our own vegies is really helping. She loves going out helping Dad in the dirt planting and eating the pod peas and carrots with the dirt still on, but cook them and put them lovingly on a plate, forget it.  But I’m hopeful.

Many years ago I came up with a cunning plan to get vegies into her. You see she will eat pumpkin soup so I came up with this recipe packet full of goodness and a little home-grown pumpkin.  They are in season at the moment so cheap as chips.

Don’t tell them its not pumpkin soup pumpkin soup

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed

1 or 2 carrots

1-2 stalks of celery

1 zucchini peeled

1 sweet potato

1 potato

¼ of a pumpkin

1 parsnip

1 tin of chickpeas

1 litre Water or vegie/chicken stock

Cut all vegies into cubes, around the same size. Put all into a pot and just cover with water or stock and bring to the boil. Reduce to simmer and skim off any skum that comes to the top. I don’t bother sautéing the onion or garlic when it comes to this kids version, they won’t know the difference or appreciate the extra effort. When all vegies are soft, cool slightly so you don’t burn yourself and blitz with a barmix wand or in a food processor. Hold back some of the liquid and change thickness as sometimes it thick and sometimes its thin. Dish it up with sour cream and chopped walnuts for the adults, add a toasted cheese sandwich and you can all be happy for different reasons. 

A gorgeous Queensland Blue from the garden

Ciao, Jan