A cooking hiatus

I'm in between houses and don't have access to my normal kitchen, kitchenware, mixing bowls, measuring cups etcetera. This is why I haven't been keeping up to date, but as of next week, I will be back in the swing of cooking and blogging. I'm only 14 recipes from finishing what I had set out to do many months ago! Then it's onto preparing this to become a BOOK (someone, please publish my cookbook...?). I'm currently looking at print on demand options, as well as refining my book proposal to go out to more publishers, more research will lead me the right way. 

As to my move, I decided to return to my home town of Melbourne, after finishing up a lovely job with incredibly lovely people in Brisbane. Still settling into my new workplace, but I'm sure once the year starts up, it'll soon be like I've been there forever. I do miss everyone I worked with in Brisbane though, you are all terrific people and I promise I'll come back to visit! Maybe in winter, when it's cold here. I'd obviously acclimatised to warmer weather during my years in the north, as I find myself reaching for a jumper whenever the temperature drops below...25°C. I do love wearing winter clothing though, so I'm more than OK with it. Let's discuss my love of winter clothing in summer when it's a little more like 40°C and the outdoors is set to 'oven'. I know by then I'll have a different point of view. 

The drive down was fantastic, apart from country internet in Goulburn being so so slow that it took me nearly 2 hours to download an audio book so that I could listen to a book while driving for so many hours. I totally recommend audio books, and thank you Rosemary for suggesting it, saved my sanity! Two hours in Goulburn though, thank goodness there were distractions...  

Like...this giant fibreglass merino ram. One of Australia's many Big Things. When I was a kid I remember coming to see this on one of my family's many drives around the countryside, and it seemed amazing. As an adult waiting for a book download? Yeaahhhh, not so much. I did also see the Big Banana in Coff's Harbour, but it was raining so I didn't get a nice photo. I drove past, mouth agape, the Big Avocado in QLD not realising it was a certified Big Thing. 

Driving through NSW was pretty impressive, here are a couple photos of the countryside that are an almost literal manifestation of the Dorothea Mackellar poem we all know and love. 

OK, I included the rest stop toilet because it's disgusting and I had to share the downsides to a road trip. The other downside to a road trip is an almost overwhelming need to eat terrible sugary energy laden food. I started out with nuts and fruit, rather righteously, and quickly degenerated to liquorice all-sorts, along with cheese and tomato toasted sandwiches on white bread with instructions to "don't hold the butter. Yes, put more butter on the sandwich please. More. Thanks. That's great. A bit more." 

Sugar cane somewhere north of Coff's Harbour.    

Now, I hope everyone's Christmas was great, I managed to fit the Christmas Pudding into my small suitcase to take over to Radelaide for family christmas. It took most of the day to heat up, but it seemed quite nice. I critiqued it pretty hard, because my memories of cooking the damn thing are filled with exhaustion and clock-watching. In all honesty, I think I prefer a steamed christmas pudding rather than the boiled one. It seemed, perhaps not oddly, a little watery for my liking, however the family seemed to enjoy it. Perhaps they might like to add their own feedback in the comments section below. (Obvious hint is obvious.) There are photos of the other Christmassy things I'd cooked that day and these will be posted up in due course. Need a bit of sorting and sitting at a desk time to get through a bit of a backlog of photos and writing. 

Anyway, Happy New Year everyone, I hope 2014 is as wonderful for you as I am intending mine to be for me. xx

Apricot Custard Tart

"Return to ice chest until jellie custard is set." Probably my favourite recipe instruction ever. Even down to the spelling of jellie.  

This took so long, but I can tell you that the effort is worth it. This is delicious, just delicious. Custard and apricot in a shortcrust pastry base. Topped with a meringue-type thing. There are recipes out there for shortcrust pastry, however I cheated a little and used a pre-prepared mixture, and literally just added water before rolling the pastry out. Yeah well, I wish I felt guilty about that, but my god this already took hours and I did not have the patience to make pastry from scratch this weekend. It's hot and I turn into the human equivalent of grumpy cat when it's like this. And it's still only Spring...

Now, back to the pastry case. I did bake a number of small pastry cases, rather than one larger case — I wanted to be able to share my custardy largesse, as well as be able to say I live in a house full of little tarts... Sorry, that was terrible. Small things amuse small minds and all that. No really, I wanted to photograph the little tart on my mini cake holder — which incidentally my Nanna made in one of her ceramic classes, it even has her initials scratched into the base of it — and the little tart tins I have fit it just so. Nanna would have laughed at my little tarts joke, just FYI. She would also have laughed at my facial expression and rolled eyes as I came across the part of this recipe which asks me to 'beat the egg white to a meringue consistency'. Yes, very helpful and descriptive thankyouverymuch. I furrowed my brow and remembered an episode of Masterchef where contestants had to hold bowls of beaten egg whites upside down without anything falling out.

Apricot Custard Tart

Apricot Pulp

250g dried apricots

Lemon juice, from a lemon half

3 tbsp. sugar

Soak the dried apricots overnight. 

Drain the soaked apricots, place into a saucepan, with ¾ cup water and sugar. Simmer until fruit starts to break apart. Beat apricots to a pulp and set aside.   

Tart

One 20cm pastry case cooked and cooled (or purchased and opened)

570ml milk

1 egg, separated

2 tbsp. custard powder

4 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. grated lemon rind

3 tbsp. gelatine dissolved in 3 tbsp. water

Blend the custard powder with some of the milk, and place onto heat.

Add the rest the of milk, 2 tbsp. sugar and bring to the boil. Simmer, while stirring, for 3 minutes.

Cool slightly, then add beaten egg yolk and lemon rind. Set aside to cool.

When nearly cold, add the dissolved gelatine.

Pour into the pastry case, and allow to set . Pop into the fridge to help this along if needed.

Once set, spread a thick layer over the custard.

Beat egg whites with 2 tbsp. sugar until very thick and forms stiff peaks. Place spoonfuls on top of tart, then place under a grill until lightly browned.

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For those of you who are not in Australia, please find here a selection of Measurement & Temperature Conversion Charts which should help with the accuracy of your own cooking.

Pineapple Christmas Cake

The most Queensland of Queensland Christmas Cakes. Pineapple Christmas Cake. You will need a huge cake tin for this. I now have a lot of Christmas cake. A lot. 

Pineapple Christmas Cake

2 cups butter
1¼ cups brown sugar
4 eggs
1 cup shredded (tinned) pineapple
2 tbsp. golden syrup
6 cups flour
4 cups sultanas
¾ cup glacé cherries
¾ cup chopped almonds
¾ cup mixed peel
1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda, dissolved in
2 tbsp. white vinegar

Preheat oven to 140°C

Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs one at a time beating well. 
Combine the golden syrup and shredded pineapple, warming them lightly and add to the mix. 
Sift flour into mixture, then fold through the fruits using a wooden spoon. 
Add dissolved soda, turn into greased and papered cake tin and bake for 4 hours. 

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For those of you who are not in Australia, please find here a selection of Measurement & Temperature Conversion Charts which should help with the accuracy of your own cooking.

Mandy's Xmas Cake

Now, Xmas Cake. I hate that Xmas is used for Christmas, however it is a spelling variation that dates back centuries so I suppose I should support it. According to Wikipedia (and won't Greg Hunt be the first to say that my use of Wikipedia is a valid research method...),

Xmas is a common abbreviation of the word Christmas . It is sometimes pronounced /ˈɛksməs/, but it, and variants such as Xtemass, originated as handwriting abbreviations for the typical pronunciation /ˈkrɪsməs/. The "-mas" part is from the Latin-derived Old English word for Mass, while the "X" comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός which comes into English as "Christ". There is a common misconception that the word Xmas stems from a secular attempt to remove the religious tradition from Christmas[3] by taking the "Christ" out of "Christmas", but its use dates back to  the 16th century.

Anyway. Mandy's Xmas Cake is big and dense and heavy and I possibly prepared it wrong however I followed the instructions, clear as mud as they were, as best I could. I'm not sure the whole cake needs to be stood overnight, or whether the fruit to go into the cake needs to be stood overnight. 

No photo until it's ready to be eaten of course, however here is one of my measuring cups instead. I received the cat measuring set for my birthday this year, and they've received much usage since then.

Mandy's Xmas Cake

225g. butter

4 eggs

2 cups plain flour

115g. currants

115g. sultanas

225g. raisins

2 tsp. mixed spice

225g. brown sugar

1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda

¼ tsp. salt

½ tsp. ground ginger

2 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. nutmeg

115g. almonds

60g. glacé cherries

115g. mixed peel

115 g. chopped fig

150ml. sherry

Sift flour, spice, bicarbonate soda & salt.

Cream butter and sugar, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well

Stir remaining ingredients into the flour mixture, pour the sherry over the top , then cover and leave overnight.

Preheat oven to 140°C

Line a large (round or square) greased cake tin with two layers of paper and bake for 3 hours.

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For those of you who are not in Australia, please find here a selection of Measurement & Temperature Conversion Charts which should help with the accuracy of your own cooking.

Roberta's Rich Christmas Cake

Whoever Roberta was, she was a pretty good recipe maker. This is so involved, but is so worth the preparation and cooking time. While I haven't yet tasted it, the smells and heft of the cake lead me to think I'll enjoy this one very much. Drenched in custard of course. This also gave me a chance to use the last of my personal stash of Orange Peel Jam. I have one very last jar heading via post off to a friend, in exchange for a photograph of hers I liked. Food bartering. The best. I like it very much when the Nanna recipes converge, and wonder which two or three recipes will find their way into the one dish in the future. Can't wait to find out. 

You need to keep in mind this recipe will need to be started the night before you put it in the oven. The dried fruit has to be soaked overnight in brandy, sherry or rum. The very plump fruit taste better that way or something. 

Roberta’s Rich Christmas Cake

680g. sultanas
225g. raisin
115g. currants
115g. glacé cherries
115g. mixed peel 
½ cup rum, brandy or sherry

230g. butter
230g. brown sugar
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
1 tsp. grated orange rind
1 tsp. vanilla essence
2 tbsp. marmalade
1 tsp. Parisian essence
4 eggs
2½ cups flour
1 tsp. mixed spice
¼ tsp. cinnamon 
¼ tsp. nutmeg
Pinch salt

Place fruit and alcohol in large bowl, cover and stand overnight. 

Preheat oven to 140°C

Cream butter with sugar, grated rinds and essences, then add marmalade. 
Add one egg at a time into the mixture, beating well.
Fold in prepared fruit, adding sifted dry ingredients at the same time. 

Line a large greased square baking tin with 4 layers of baking paper. 

Bake in lower half of the oven for 4-4½ hours. Do not open oven door for at least 1-1½  hours after turning oven off.  Remove from oven, wrap tin in clean paper, then a large tea towel and leave until required. 

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For those of you who are not in Australia, please find here a selection of Measurement & Temperature Conversion Charts which should help with the accuracy of your own cooking.

Christmas Pudding

I imagine that in the northern hemisphere, standing in a kitchen with the oven on all day, and a boiling pot of pudding would be just terrific at this time of year. Wonderful in fact. But no, I am in Queensland, Australia and cannot fathom how I thought doing ALL the Christmas baking on one day would be smart. Because it's not smart at all. It's as hot as anything and I'm thinking my mum's tradition of ice cream cake at christmas time is much more sensible than a pudding that has to be boiled for hours and hours on a day that no-one wants to be near anything that emits heat. And in the case of some families I imagine that can extend to not wanting to be near each other... 

This is not a recipe to be rushed, there are lots of ingredients, and you will need a giant mixing bowl. I do not have a giant mixing bowl, but I do have a large stockpot which managed the job just fine. As I used butter instead of suet, I had to rub it into the flour first and this took a long time and I got butter and flour all over my hands which I hate. I ended up mixing most of the the ingredients through with my hands. So much hate. And then managed to spread said ingredients around the kitchen because it was all over my hands. My phone has pudding on it. Everything has pudding on it.    

After getting the enormous pile of ingredients together, and then boiling the calico for a bit, I laid it into a large bowl in the sink and poured the mixture in the centre. After trying for an age to tie a knot into the cloth I, with a flourish, plunged the pudding into a pot of boiling water. The recipe said I had to 'plunge' the pudding I swear. As I am typing this while the pudding is still boiling, some 7 hours into the cooking, now is the time to mention that one should ensure the bottom of the pudding doesn't touch the bottom of the pot in which it is being boiled. Scorching can occur, and the cloth can be rent asunder, and the boiling water can start to look like pudding soup. 

In case you were wondering, I am not speaking hypothetically. Excuse me for a moment while I madly google how to re-wrap a Christmas Pudding so that it stays in good condition up until Christmas day. 

Anyway, I'll take more photos at Christmas of course, but here is the pudding post-wrapping, pre-boiling. Pre-scorching.  

Christmas Pudding

1½ cups plain flour

1½ cups breadcrumbs

450g. currants

450g. sultanas

225g. raisins

450g. suet (or butter)

450g. brown sugar

8 eggs

1 large carrot, finely grated

6 tbsp. rum/sherry/brandy (your choice)

1 tsp. nutmeg

2 tsp. spice

1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda

Pinch salt

Mix all the fruit, suet (if using suet) and grated carrot together.  

Sift flour, salt, soda and spices. Add suet mix.

If using butter, rub into flour, then add fruit, breadcrumbs and sugar. 

Beat all the eggs, gradually adding the rum/sherry/brandy. 

Stir into dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. 

Allow to stand for one hour. (oops)

Rinse pudding cloths in hot water, wring out and lightly flour. 

Place mixture into cloth, and tie tightly. 

Plunge into boiling water and boil for 7 to 8 hours, keeping pudding covered with water. 

Remove from water, and drain until cloth is dry, but pudding is still warm to touch. (a few hours)

Keep in cool dark place until day of use, then boil for 2-3 hours on day to serve.

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For those of you who are not in Australia, please find here a selection of Measurement & Temperature Conversion Charts which should help with the accuracy of your own cooking.

Fruit Mince

Cooking with Nanna, the Christmas edition. It's late October, so now is the time for puddings, mince and cakes to be made in time for the silly season. I will be making mince pies closer to then, however in the meantime, here is the Fruit Mince which I will be using. You may note that I used butter instead of suet (because I don't eat suet) so I hope this works. It was a simple matter of mixing everything together and squishing it down into sterilised jars.

Fruit Mince 

450g. suet (or butter)
450g. currants
450g. raisins
450g. sultanas
450g sugar
450g. apples, peeled and grated
225g. mixed peel
60g. almonds, chopped
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. mixed spice
1 tsp. ground ginger
Zest and juice of 2 lemons
½ cup brandy


Chop the dried fruits and almonds, in a food processor. Add the sugar and spices, grated apple, then the lemon zest and juice. Add the brandy and mix thoroughly. Press down into jars, make airtight and stand for at least a few weeks before using.  

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For those of you who are not in Australia, please find here a selection of Measurement & Temperature Conversion Charts which should help with the accuracy of your own cooking.

Chocolate Sponge

I really felt like some chocolate this week, and I hadn't done any baking for at least three days...so I combed through my Nanna's cookbook and found this, Chocolate Sponge. It was very simple to make, I threw all the ingredients together in one bowl and popped it in the oven in no time. I then waited eagerly for the chance to deal with my chocolate craving — that's code for eat the cake. This one is on the list for simple quick cakes required at the last minute. 

It would win no awards at any Royal Agricultural Show bake-offs — I am sure there are stringent height, texture and colour requirements for sponge cakes. I suspect a domed sponge such as I cooked just wouldn't make the cut. I have since learned that making a small hollow in the centre before baking helps keep the height even. The top of the cake also cracked while being cooked, however a very liberal application of chocolate frosting dealt with this. 

There is also the small matter of the inside of the cake looking pink (or maybe I'm a little colourblind?). No, I did not add any fruit. Or food colouring. I have no idea why this discolouration would happen, but the taste of the cake didn't seem affected. So...

Chocolate Sponge

2 cups self raising flour

2 tbsp. cocoa

1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda

85g. softened butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla essence

1 egg

pinch salt

Preheat oven to 160°

Using an electric mixer or egg beater, mix all ingredients, except the egg, together for 2 minutes. Add the egg then beat for another minute.

Pop into a greased cake tin, and cook for 25 minutes. 

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For those of you who are not in Australia, please find here a selection of Measurement & Temperature Conversion Charts which should help with the accuracy of your own cooking. 

Banana Cake

Banana Cake. The cake of choice when procrastibaking (I wish I could claim credit for 'procrastibaking' as I think it's rather amusing and incredibly accurate, but someone on the internet far cleverer than I came up with it). My house is mostly half clean, my dishes & clothes cleaned however not put away. But hey, I have banana cake! 

Now, this is an easy cake to make, however you will note it has a breakfast cereal as one of its ingredients. Again with the breakfast ingredients. Why? I am not convinced it needs the All Bran, the cake is nice and may not need it. I iced it with a bit of cream cheese and lemon juice, and it was a lovely mid-afternoon snack today. Procrastisnacking.

Banana Cake

115 g. butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla essence

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg

1 egg

I cup mashed banana (2-3 fully ripe bananas)

1 tsp. grated lemon rind

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1½ cup self-raising flour

½ tsp. bicarbonate of soda

2 cups All Bran

½ cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 160°C

Cream butter, sugar, vanilla essence and nutmeg, add egg and beat well.

Mash the banana with the lemon juice and rind.

Sift flour and bicarbonate soda, and combine with the All Bran. Then, alternating with banana mix, add to the creamed butter mixture.

Fold in the chopped walnuts, then turn into a greased cake tin (or ring tin), lined with paper on the bottom. Bake for 30 minutes .

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For those of you who are not in Australia, please find here a selection of Measurement & Temperature Conversion Charts which should help with the accuracy of your own cooking.