Smooth

I bought this blender. It was on sale at Myer, I had a gift card and it has essentially the same specs as a Vitamix or Blendtec. It has a large jug standard and the smoothies I have made with it have an excellent consistency, it does 'choke' a bit when you're using larger chunks of frozen fruit like pineapple. When this happens you need to add more liquid and use the baton to push the fruit into the blades; there might be some other way around this - but I haven't worked it out yet.

I typically use one type of frozen fruit or ice in my smoothies and use the 'ice crush' or 'smoothie' pre-sets on the blender depending on ratio of frozen and unfrozen ingredients. All recipes make around 1 Litre.

A green one

1/2 cup of water

1/2 cups coconut water

50 g almonds

2 cups of spinach

1 1/2 cups pineapple

1 banana

Use frozen banana or pineapple, add extra water or coconut water to get the consistency you like.

An 'all year' fruit one

2 cups of pineapple

1 1/2 bananas

Juice of three oranges

Add 1 cup of ice if non of the fruit is frozen or 1/2 cup water if using some frozen fruit.

A summer fruit one

2 peaches

1 cup of blueberries

1 cups seedless green grapes

1 cup of ice

Cuban-style

Ropa vieja

Cheapo mojito

What do you do if you're throwing a Cuban BBQ and the price of limes is astronomical? Improvise!


Make a lime simple syrup with the zest from your limes; use 1 lime for each cup of sugar.


Mojitos
Makes 1 drink


Mint leaves
Lime wedges (1/6 of a lime each)
Raw sugar
White rum
Lime simple syrup
Ice
Soda water


Muddle 6 mint leaves and a lime wedge with a hint of raw sugar. Add two shots of rum and 1/2 shot (15 mL) of sugar syrup.


Grind a handful of ice and add to the minty rum mixture then top-up with soda. Stir before serving.

Baby turnips

Mid-October baby turnips start appearing at the market; which means that there are a few weeks for me to make on of my favourite curries.


Moghul Lamb with Turnips

Serves 4

Adapted from Food of India by Priya Wickramasinghe

2 brown onions

4 cloves of garlic

5 cm piece of ginger

2 green chillies

1/4 cup oil

2 cassia (Indian bay) leaves

1 kg boneless lamb shoulder or leg chopped into a 2.5 cm dice

Pinch asafoetida

1 tsp chilli powder

2 tbsp ground coriander

2 tbsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp ground turmeric

1/2 tsp garam masala

1 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp thick plain yoghurt

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

450 g baby turnips, halved

Put the onion, garlic and ginger in a food processor and process in to a paste.

Heat the oil in a large shallow pan and add the onion mixture and the cassia leaves. Fry until golden then add the meat and stir until everything is thoroughly coated. Fry for a further 15 minutes until the oil begins to separate from the meat.

Add the spices and cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the tomato paste and yoghurt and fry for another minute. Add the salt and pepper then pour in  2 sups of water a little at a time stirring after each addition. When the sauce is thick cover with a lid and leave to simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the turnips and allow to simmer for a further 45 minutes or both the lamb and turnips are soft.

The Webber returns - Mexican BBQ

After a wet and almost barbecue-less summer in 2010-11, the gorgeous spring weather in Canberra inspired me to get the Webber out. Since the citrus season is in full swing, this Mexican recipe adaptation makes use of oranges and tamarind to produce a scrumptious caramelised roast pork.

I served this with a potato salad with blanched green beans, charred corn and capsicums, garlic, lemon juice and scallion oil.

Chicken with tamarind orange glaze

Adapted from Mexconnect

2kg chicken

Zest from two oranges

1/2 cup orange juice, freshly squeezed

Salt and pepper

For the glaze:

3 cups chicken stock

1 cup orange juice

1/2 cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoons light vegetable oil

2 tablespoons tamarind paste

1 tablespoon orange zest

Zest 2 oranges and juice them, this should provide 1/2 a cup of juice. Butterfly the chicken and rub with zest, pour the orange juice over and leave to marinate for 2-3 hours.

Combine all glaze ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil then lower heat and cook until the glaze reduced to 3/4 cup and is quite sticky. This reduction takes a while, so get it started right after setting up the chicken marinade.

Grill he chicken in the Webber with all vents open; glaze the skin after 45 minutes.

Apple and raisin bars

These are quite tasty bars, but they're too a bit too rich for snacking that doesn't follow mountain climbing.


Oat and raisin Bars
Makes 16 bars
Modified from Everyday Food via shutterbean


170 g unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup plain flour
2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins
1 green apple, grated


Preheat oven to 180°C, then line a 20cm square baking tin with baking paper.


In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugars, egg, salt, and cinnamon until smooth. Add flour, oats, and raisins; fold in just until combined. Spread batter in prepared pan, and bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes.


Leave to cool completely in pan then cut in to bars.

Gado-gado

Another from the archives of delicious meals past. This peanut sauce is quite spicy, so if you're a thinker you may want to water-down some sauce with coconut for guests who can't handle heat.... Also this recipe it fine without shrimp paste, just add more salt.


Peanut sauce for gado gado
Makes 1 1/2 cups of sauce
Adapted from South East Asian Food by Rosemary Brissenden


1 1/2 cups small raw peanuts
1 tbsp vegetable oil + more for deep-frying
7 chillies, seeded and sliced
2 small cloves of garlic
1 tsp shrimp paste
1 cup coconut milk
1 tsp palm sugar
salt to taste
water as necessary
lime juice or white vinegar to taste


Deep fry the peanuts in batches until golden, once they have cooled remove the skins and then grind them into a coarse powder.


Grind the chillies, garlic and shrimp paste in to a paste, then heat 1 tablespoon of oil and fry the spices until fragrant. Mix the peanuts, fried spices, coconut milk and sugar in a saucepan, bring the mixture to the boil and cook until the sauce thickens. Add salt to taste and water to bring the paste to a pouring consistency; then remove from the heat. Add lime juice or vinegar to balance the sauce and allow to cool before serving.

Historic cake

I must have last eaten this cake in the early 1990s; it's still great. My mum always made it as a loaf, but it actually holds together as a square.

Apple and Pecan Nut Cake
Makes 1 20 cm square cake

2 cooking apples

½ cup of sugar

1 ½ cups plain wholemeal flour

1 level tsp bicarb of soda

2 tsps cinnamon

2 Tsps allspice

1 cup roughly chopped pecan nuts

1 egg

125g butter, melted

Peel, core cut apples in chunks, and mix with sugar. Set aside. Shift flour, bicarb, spices and mix in chopped pecan nuts, beat egg into cooled butter. Add apples, lightly mix in flour- nut mixture and spoon into a greased 20 cm square tin. Bake at 180°C for 45-55 mins.

Olebollen

They don't photograph well, they were golden and delicious. Yum!

A Dutch New Year's tradition, made January 1 2011 (it's been a bit like that this year).


Ollebollen
Makes enough for 6 hungry people
Adapted from Dutch Cooking by H. Halverhout


3 cups plain flour
2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups currants and raisins
50 g glacé ginger
2 small pink lady apples, peeled and diced
1 egg
1 cup milk
Icing sugar
Oil for deep frying


Mix everything together in a large bowl, cover and leave in a warm place to rise for an hour.


Heat the oil to 190°C, use two spoons to shape the batter in to balls and drop them in to the oil.Fry them a few at a time, until golden brown (~8 minutes). Drain on absorbent paper, then pile high and cover with icing sugar.

Worldwide BBQ

In summer 2009-10 the Webber and I attempted a BBQ world tour, cooking a meat dish and an accompaniment from each county. Here's a recap before the 2010-11 season begins.

Africa and the Middle East
Lebanon
Morocco

Asia
India
Indonesia
Malaysia
Thailand

The Americas
Argentina
Jamaica
South Carolina
Texas

Europe
Spain
Portugal

A Pumpkin Soup

We're moving away from thick soups this time of year, but we did enjoy this is a vibrant tasting version of pumpkin soup several times over winter.

Hot Carrot and Pumpkin Soup
Serves 4
Adapted from Gordon Ramsay

2 tbsp olive oil 2 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
270 g carrots (3 medium), peeled
1.1 kg  butternut pumpkin, peeled and deseeded
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 birds eye chillies
1.5 litres water
150 g small pasta shapes
Freshly grated parmesan, to serve

Sweat the onion and garlic in the oil over a medium heat for 5-7 minutes until soft. Chop the carrots and pumpkin into 1.5cm dice and add to the pan. Finely slice the chilli and add. Season and cook for another 5 minutes until the vegetables start to soften.

Add the water, stir and bring to the boil. Simmer for 25-30 minutes until the carrots and squash are soft and beginning to break down. Remove from the heat and puree the mixture.

Add the pasta shells. Stir well and return to the boil. Simmer for about 15 minutes or until the pasta is cooked. Check the seasoning and sprinkle with parmesan and serve.

Golden Temptations

How am I supposed to resist lovely miniature golden lemons hanging, unwanted, over somebody's back fence? These seven fit snugly in a 500 ml preserving jar, perfect for a batch of preserved lemons.

Preserved lemons
Adapted from flavours of Morocco and taste.com.au

7 small, thin-skinned lemons
7 tbsp sea salt
Freshly squeezed lemon juice

Wash and dry lemons to remove any surface dust or dirt. Cut one end of each lemon, about 5mm from the base, so they sit flat. Place 1 lemon at a time, cut-side down, on a chopping board and cut lengthways into quarters without cutting all the way through to the base. Repeat with remaining lemons. Fill each lemon with as much salt as possible. Salt extracts juice from the lemon, softening the rind. Push lemons into jar. Sprinkle over remaining salt.

Place the lemons, in a single layer, in a zip lock bag or a covered bowl. Seal and place in fridge for 3-4 days to soften the skins.

Wash and dry a 500 ml glass jar with a plastic or plastic-lined lid (a metal lid could corrode). Transfer the lemons to the jar. Pour over enough lemon juice to completely cover lemons. Seal, label and date. Place in a cool place, away from direct sunlight, for at least 4 weeks.

Birthday Feasts

Walnut and honey tart from Skye Gyngell's A Year in My Kitchen. Made with fresh local walnuts, cracked on the day of baking. Fantastic!

Lemon self-saucing pudding (aka lemon delicious) from olive magazine April 2008.

The dragon cake! This was a spectacle was made form a base of chocolate Mayan bundt cake, glommed together with a chocolate hazelnut spread and covered with black chocolate buttercream icing. The lolly banana spines were the most fun to make.

May leftovers

Other recipes from the internet that I used this month:

*In the spirit of trying new things, I made a bitter gourd curry (kayippakka vartharacha curry). Despite its name, I was a bit surprised by the intense bitterness, it's definitely not one for the unadventurous. 

*A Mark Bittman Spanish influenced chickpea and chorizo dish. I made it mid-week and had no fresh spinach, so I grilled some large chunks of tomato and chucked them in before the whole dish is covered in breadcrumbs and grilled. It was really quite good.

*When Aldi had cheap bundt pans I bought one and made this orange bundt twice; it's a great cake for a crowd.

Pumpkin Loaf

Pumpkin loaves amongst the mess of a Sunday cookathon

Sweet and lightly spiced, this loaf is a great way to use up left over pumpkin.

Pumpkin and Ginger Loaf
Adapted from Martha Stewart
Makes 2 loaves

450 g pumpkin
2 cm piece of ginger
170 g  unsalted butter, melted
315 g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt
225 g white sugar
200 g brown sugar
3 large eggs

Peel and de-seed the pumpkin and cut it in to large chunks. Crush the ginger and add it and the pumpkin to a pot of water. Simmer until the pumpkin is soft then remove the ginger and drain well. Puree with a food mill or food processor.

Preheat oven to 190°C. Line 2 loaf pans with baking paper; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, ginger, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugars, pumpkin puree, melted butter, and eggs; add flour mixture, and stir until just combined.

Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in centre of loaves comes out clean, about 60 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes; invert pans and transfer loaves to a wire rack to cool completely.

Moroccan BBQ

We had the final barbecue of the season about a month ago. On the menu, grilled harissa chicken legs, made with a hastily prepared harissa paste when my tube ran out.  A stew of broad beans and pumpkin made also well seasoned with harissa from a Sheridan Rogers recipe for the vegetarians and the table and cous cous.

Dessert was the remarkable part, a simple salad of watermelon and lemon balm.

Watermelon Salad with Lemon Balm
Adapted from Flavors or Morocco by Ghillie Bassan
Serves 4-6

1.5 kg of seedless watermelon
2 tsp white sugar
2-3 tablespoons of orange blossom water
A small bunch of fresh lemon balm

Remove the skin from the watermelon and cut into bit size cubes and place in a serving bowl. Add the sugar to the orange blossom water and stir until the sugar has dissolved Pour the mixture over the watermelon, mix gently then cover the bowl and leave to chill in the fridge for about an hour.

Toss the watermelon again before serving, and scatter the lemon balm leaves over the top.

Tomato Chutney

In February I bought a big box of tomatoes, I wanted to make chutney using the other fruits I had in the house and came up with a tomato and apricot combo. It was devoured with home made samosas last night, and will appear on many sandwiches in the weeks to come.

Tomato and Apricot Chutney
Makes 2 litres

2 kg ripe tomatoes
260 g granny smith apples (2)
480 g brown onions (3)
25 g fresh ginger
120 g raisins
350 g brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp turmeric
10 green cardamom pods
2 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
650 ml white vinegar
300 g Turkish dried apricots

Score the tomatoes, place them in a large bowl. Cover them with boiling water and leave them for about 30 seconds, then drain and peel. Peel, core and chop the apples, chop the tomatoes and onions and stir these ingredients together in a large saucepan. Grate the ginger and add it, the raisins, sugar, turmeric, cardamom, and salt. Season with freshly ground black pepper and then pour in the vinegar.

Bring the mixture to the boil, stirring frequently, and simmer uncovered for an hour. Cut the apricots into halves and add after the first hour, and leave to simmer for a second hour stirring from time to time to makes sure that it does not stick to the pan. Transfer the chutney to warmed sterile jars and cover immediately with airtight lids. Allow the chutney a month to mature.

April Leftovers

April was filled with visitors, books, birds and perfect autumn weather. We also ate very well.

For my recollection, internet recipes we enjoyed were
*This sweet potato and chipotle soup, topped with sour cream and a handful of crushed corn chips.
*Pasta with broccoli and ricotta,  which although simple, is worth remembering.

March Leftovers

*Youtube is a great resource for learning to cook International cuisines. I made cookingwithdiog's yakisoba noodles and I really liked them.

*I made Nigel Salter's onion soup to use up some Gruyere, I think I prefer a onion soup with more onion.

*The Accountant loved this chickpea salad from Gordon Ramsay. So I made it too. It's very nicely balanced and delicious with some finely slices medium-rare lamb steak mixed through.

*I've been trying to eat more fish, we had teriyaki salmon with pickled vegetable salad. I liked the salad a lot, but I wasn't convinced by the salmon - it's probably better pan fried to achieve some different textures.

*I made these blueberry pancakes, but used all yoghurt instead of butter milk. They were great, but it's uncommon to go terribly wrong with a pancake recipe.

*Nigel Slater's oven method for rice pudding got well-tested this month, but I still haven't decided on the optimal amount of sugar, and the timing is off too. Letting the pudding cook slowly in the oven is much more convenient that the stove top method.

Barley, Beans, and Greens

A simple vegetable soup, with lots of greens. Season well or it's slightly bland.

Barley, Bean and Vegetable Soup
Serves 4
Adapted from Bill Granger, delicious March 2009

115 g barley
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 small bunch silverbeet (about 700g), finely shredded
2 red skinned potatoes, cut into 2 cm cubes
1 L chicken or vegetable stock
400 g cooked cannellini beans
2 zucchini, cut into 2 cm pieces200 g green beans
85 g peas
Grated parmesan to serve

Place the barley in a large saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer for 45 minutes or until barley is tender. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Add garlic, silverbeet and potato, and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until the silverbeet has melted.

Add the stock and 1 litre of water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the cannellini beans and simmer for a further 10 minutes. Add cooked barley, zucchini, green beans and peas and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Season, then serve topped with grated parmesan.