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

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.

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.

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.

Scrumped

During my morning bus journey and my evening walks, I have been making a list of neglected loquat trees currently filled with an abundance of blushing yellow fruit. We relieved a tree of some this weekend just past, with all last years preserves gone, I decided to turn our first harvest into chutney. Should I find the time to go scrumping again before the rest of the fruit falls, I'd also like to make this loquat barbecue sauce.

Date and Loquat Chutney
Makes 1.25 litres

1.5 kg loquats, washed, deseeded and chopped
225 g dates, chopped
450 g brown onions, diced
200 g brown sugar
2 tsp ground coriander
3 tsp fresh grated ginger
2 cloves garlic crushed
250 ml vinegar

Mix all the ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring continuously. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to a simmer, cook the chutney for 1 1/4 hours stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Uncover the pan and cook for a further 15 minutes.

Transfer the chutney to warmed sterile jars and cover immediately with new lids. Allow to mature for one month before eating.

October Leftovers

October is a great month for garage sales in Canberra. The Willow ware collection is swelling and it's probably best we just don't talk about the accumulation of French preserving jars. In the kitchen, October was a cookbook month, although all the recipes for bunmania were sourced online. Otherwise:

*google directed me to Gordon Ramsay's caramelised bananas and rum which I made to accompany some hotcakes (can't comment on his hotcakes as I used a different recipe). I did something a bit wrong as my caramel also contained delicious chunks of toffee, definitely worth revisiting when there are too many bananas and another mysterious bottle of rum appears in the pantry.

Pluot

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sadsnaps/ / CC BY 2.0

I was recently in the United States, while there I thought I'd try some foods I hadn't tried before; but being stuck in the midwest with limited access to transport my options were limited. I did get some pluots, a fruit that I haven't seen in Canberra markets yet. The pluot is a complicated hybrid Prunus bred from plums and apricots, Slate recently ran an accessible piece explaining the genetics of the fruit.

I grabbed a few plouts of varying ripeness for a taste test. The variety I tried was very similar to a ripe plum in taste and texture, the redish flesh was pleasantly juicy, maybe with a hint of under-ripe apricot sourness that wasn't unwelcome. Based on this test, I think I prefer plums to pluots and won't be paying a premium of pluots when they do start appearing in fruit shops here; if I had my own orchard though I'd consider growing one. Ed is far more excited about the pluot than I was.

Brunch

Breakfast is beloved over here, so on the weekends we brunch and forego lunch. The morning starts with a strong freshly brewed coffee, then the cooking starts. Popular choices for brunch include

*Porridge with spiced fruit compote, crushed almonds, Greek yoghurt or a splash of cream
*Ricotta pancakes with yoghurt, banana and honey or stewed rhubarb and extra ricotta
*Conventional pancakes with banana and maple syrup
*The fry up, comprised of some combination of fried eggs, baked beans, bacon, pork sausages and some wholemeal toast
*Potato hash (boil the potatoes skin-on the night before) with bacon and eggs fried sunny-side up
*Smoothies made with bananas, seasonal soft fruit (berries, mangoes, apricots), honey, yoghurt, bran cereal soaked in milk and cinnamon
*Bill Granger's sweetcorn fritters with avocado salsa
*Herb omelette with cheddar or smoked salmon served on an English muffin
*Huevos motuleños

Since I'm currently mad for pink lady apples, I have been experimenting with the dramatically deformed Dutch baby pancake

Apple Dutch Baby
Serves 2 to 4

30 g unsalted butter
2 pink lady apples, peeled, cored and cut into thin wedges
3/4 cup milk
100 g plain flour
4 eggs
60 g white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Ground cinnamon
Yoghurt or vanilla icecream to serve

Peconfigure your oven so that there is one shelf in the middle and preheat oven to 230°C. Melt the butter in a 28 centimetre cast iron skillet over moderate heat. Add apple wedges and cook until they soften and begin to caramelise, 10 to 15 minutes.

While the apple is cooking, mix milk, flour, eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl until smooth. Pour the batter over the apples and transfer the skillet to the oven, bake until the pancake in golden and puffy, 20-25 minutes. Dust with cinnamon and serve with yoghurt or vanilla icecream.

Too Many Bananas

With all the apples, mandarins, and left over birthday cake, the bananas didn't get much attention this week. I can't really claim that this banana is healthy in any way, but it is delicious. I use freshly ground and brewed Jinedabah espresso for this cake, which tastes much better than a coffee substitute.

Banana Cake
Adapted from Ladies A Plate by Alexa Johnson

115 g unsalted butter softened
150 g white sugar
2 large ripe bananas
1 egg
1 tsp strong espresso coffee
180 g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb
1/4 cup milk

120g icing sugar
30 g unsalted butter, softened
1 tbsp strong espresso coffee

Preheat a conventional oven to 180°C, grease and/or line a 18 cm square baking tin. Cream the butter and sugar, mash the bananas into the mixture with a fork then add the egg and coffee and mix.

Mix the flour, baking powder and bicarb and mix it into the wet ingredients alternating with the milk. Bake for about 40-45 minutes, then remove from the oven and turn the cake onto a rack to cool.

When the cake is cold make the icing. Mix the icing sugar into the butter then add the coffee. Use the back of a spatula to break up any lumps of butter and add a small amount of boiling water if required to make the icing spreadable. Spread the icing over the cake with a palette knife, then store it in an airtight container.

Best Banana Bread

This recipe comes from C. Thiel of North Albury, New South Wales. I clipped it from a New Idea or a Women's Weekly in the 90s; it's one of the three banana bread recipes I use, each has different textural properties. This loaf is full of bits of fruit and nuts and is a little bit spicy and not too sweet; the dried fruits and nuts can easily modified to use up bits and pieces from the pantry. If it doesn't all get eaten during the week leftovers can be frozen.

Best Banana Bread
Adapted from a recipe by C. Thiel

140 g of raw sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
125 g mashed banana
1/2 tsp mixed spice or a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and all spice
120 g chopped walnuts
2 tbsp shredded coconut
3/4 cup sultanas or raisins
190 g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp of milk

Grease a 15 x 25 cm loaf pan then line with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Mash the banana in a large bowl, add the sugar, egg, spices, nuts, coconut and sultanas and mix to incorporate. Add the dry ingredients and milk in two stages.

Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared pan, bake for 45 minutes or until cooked when tested. Let the loaf stand for five minutes in the tin, then turn on to a wire rack to cool.

A Summer Christmas Fruitcake

I found this recipe sometime shortly after Christmas 2007; the mixture of tropical fruits and whole nuts caught my eye. The cake is really simple, and unlike many "grape based" fruitcakes doesn't require you to soak the fruit in alcohol for hours or days in advance - but you do still need to be sufficiently organised to bake the cake a month before Christmas. For all the rum this cake is doused in, the rum flavour isn't overpowering, it's really quite delicious.

Summer Fruitcake
Makes 1 20 cm cake
Adapted from Under the High Chair; originally from Martha Stewart's Backhouse Family Fruitcake

170 g softened unsalted butter, plus more for pan
110 g cup raisins
130 g dried pineapple, chopped into1 cm inch pieces
160 g dried apricots, chopped
200 g dates, pitted and chopped
120 g dried paw paw
140 g whole blanched almonds
265 g whole Brazil nuts
210 g plain flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
240 g light-brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp allspice
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp dark rum, plus more for dousing

Heat a conventional oven to 150°C. Brush a circular 20 cm cake pan with softened butter; line the bottom and sides of the pan with baking parchment.

Combine fruits and nuts in a bowl and set aside. Sift the flours, baking powder, and salt. In a second bowl cream butter and sugar until fluffy, then add eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add vanilla and rum. In two additions, add dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Fold in the fruit and nuts. Transfer the batter into pan. Bake until golden and set, about two and a half hours. Cover with foil if it colours too much.

Cool on wire rack. Remove from pan; discard parchment. Wrap in a clean linen tea towel. Brush all over with a quarter of a cup of dark rum. Store in a cool, dry place; douse with 3 tablespoons of rum weekly for at least 1 month before serving.

Pitting

Cherry pitting is slow and messy with a hand held tool like mine. I bought my Avanti cherry & olive pitter at the Salvation Army some time ago since with a plan to make cherry jam in summer. At first it only saw some scant action on olives, it really isn't much good for olives - it forces out a cylindrical plug of flesh and seed - you lose less olive by crushing the fruit with the back of your knife and peeling the flesh away from the seed. I used it to pit cherries for the first time Sunday, it's better at cherries than olives, it's easy to target the seed and I was able to pit a kilo of fruit in about 40 minutes, it would have been faster if the tool didn't lock in the half-open position so frequently. If I pitted cherries more than once a year I'd be looking for a better designed tool.

I could be convinced to make a lot more jam if I had one of these


And this is how the pros do it

Third Time Lucky Tea Cake

Tea cake II, with apples

I first made this tea cake on Sunday for a work do the Archivist was having on Monday, choosing apple tea cake to use up some small Fuji apples. I woke up at 6 am to bake this cake again for a friend from works' birthday morning tea - but thanks to a delivery mess-up I couldn't attend to try it, so I made it again this afternoon to have with friends tonight! The third time I made the cake I had finished all the apples and had to make it with Packham pears - yum.

I grabbed a recipe from the internet Sunday night, using the internet recipes has bitten me on the arse on several occasions, the tea cake recipe that I used for the base of my recipe is from the head chef at Fifteen in Melbourne - Tobbie Puttock. -I seriously doubt that the recipe was tested as written since the cooking time is completely wrong (fan-forced vs. conventional electric can't explain the 30 extra minutes it takes to bake this cake - not that the recipe specifies an oven type anyway!) and the batter over-leavened so the fruit disappeared beneath the surface of the baked cake. I've had three attempts to perfect my version, and my changes produce a lovely cake with golden caramelised fruit.

Tea Cake
Makes 8-10 serves
Based on Tobie Puttock's apple and cinnamon tea cake

95 g softened unsalted butter

125 g cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
175 g cups self raising flour
150 ml milk
2-3 small apples or pears
3 tsp cinnamon sugar or 2 tsp sugar and 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
30 g unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 200°C; grease and line a 20cm (8 inch) round baking tin with baking paper. Cream the softened butter and sugar in a large bowl, add the vanilla and the egg. Alternately add the flour and milk to the mix and beat until smooth. Spread the thick mix to evenly cover the base of the pan.

Peel, quarter, and core the apples and then slice the quarters into thin wedges and place over lapping slices in a wheel pattern on the top of the cake, sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the apples. If using pears leave the peel on, but otherwise the preparation is the same.

Place into the middle of the oven and bake for 55-60 minutes (check the cake 10 minutes sooner for a fan-forced oven). Check to see if the cake is cooked by inserting a skewer, if it's cooked it should come out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and let cool in the baking tin for a further 10 minutes, melt the remaining 30 grams of butter and brush over the top of the cake. Then turn the cake out of the pan to cool apple side up. This cake is nice warm, and is best eaten on the day of baking.