From My Kitchen - Sunday 16th January

My meal planning has gone a bit astray over the holiday season, as we have been in and out and never quite sure where we will be for many evenings. However, I am back to work tomorrow, so some sense of routine will return to our lives, and hence, meal planning returns. The garden is abundant with produce at the moment, and I am thoroughly enjoying shopping just a few steps from my kitchen!

Baking
- none to do this week, still working on freezer stocks and lots of fresh fruit!

Dinner
Sunday - zucchini and mint fritters with homemade tomato relish, garden salad and homemade sauerkraut.
Monday - homemade pasta and to-die-for tomato sauce with kohlrabi and apple coleslaw.
Tuesday - chicken, avocado, carrot and mayo sushi, with miso and mushroom soup.
Wednesday - free-range pork and vege stirfry (kale, carrot, broccoli, kohlrabi, mushroom, capsicum, seeds and red onion) with noodles.
Thursday - Caesar salad: lettuce, croutons, bacon and homemade mayo, with grilled zucchini.

To Do
- make pasta dough
- soak sushi rice
- make mayonnaise

Grapefruit and Tangelo Marmalade

A visit to Paddy's family homestead in the apptly-named Bay of Plenty for Christmas meant a supply of excess citrus fruit. I hate to see good produce go to waste, but there was far too much for the lucky owner of the trees to keep up with. Faced with such a huge bounty, I thought it was about time I had a go at making marmalade. Here is my recipe, adapted from a number of different books I consulted before setting out. This is a double recipe and makes about 4 delicious litres of marmalade. That equates to a lot of jars... It seems like an insane amount of sugar, but I did my calculations (from pounds to kilos) several times, and this is what I kept coming up with. Someone once told me to never alter the amount of suger in jam/marmalade or the amount of vinegar in chuntey, as it is the preserving agent, so I just went with it, and added all 9 kgs!
Recipe can be halved if desired.


Grapefruit and Tangelo Marmalade
10 tangelos
6 grapefruit
9 kgs of sugar
20 cups of water
Juice and zest of 4 lemons

Finely slice the grapefruit and tangelos. The size of the slices effects the final product, so take your time and do this properly or you will regret it! Cover the chopped fruit with the water and leave to soak overnight. 
The next day, bring the fruit and water to the boil and cook for about an hour, or until the fruit is soft. Then, add the sugar and boil until set (around 40 minutes). To tell if marmalade is set, freeze a saucer, place a dollop of marmalade on the saucer, leave it to cool amd run your finger through the middle of the dollop. If it stays parted, the marmalade is set. Bottle marmalade into sterilised jars and seal. Store in a cool, dark place and refrigerate when opened.

For a first atempt, I think this turned out pretty darm delicious. Admittedly, the produce I had to work with was AMAZING (many grapefruits were also consumed in their raw state), but I am going to take at least a little credit for the result!

Collecting grapefruit from the laden trees

The fruit, soaking overnight in water

The finished product. Excuse the dreary photo, it's a rainy day here!

On homemade wholemeal bread for breakfast this morning. Yum!!

Homemade Stock

I try my best to use every last bit of everything that enters my house. Fabric gets tucked away for future projects, wrapping paper gets labouriously rescued to wrap once again, scrap paper becomes note pads, green trimmings become rabbit food, excess produce becomes marmalade, chutney or dinner, and meat bones become stock. Stock is healthy and simple to make, and something I believe everyone should get in the habit of doing. Read the back of your Maggi stock next time you are mixing some up for soup or risotto, as ask yourself if you really want all of those chemicals going into your body. Trust me, you don't; especially not when there is an alternative.  This basic process can be altered to suit your needs. Stock can be made with any bones, or, completely vegetarian. I like to add a lot of herbs to mine, as I find it makes the end flavour richer, but again, this can be altered to suit your tastes.

If I don't have time to make stock when we have eaten chicken, I will freeze the carcass whole, along with some carrots and celery, so it is pretty much all ready to go in a pot when I have a bit of spare time.


Basic Chicken Stock
1 chicken carcass, leftover from the roast
A few carrots (if fresh, leave the tops on)
An onion, peeled and halved
A few stalks of celery, leaves included
Herbs and spices of your choice- I use any herbs I currently have in the garden, usually a combo of rosemary, parsley, lemonbalm, mint, sage, thyme and oregano, a bay leaf, and a few peppercorns
Water to cover

Boil all ingredients for an hour or so. Stock can also be made in a crockpot, which is even easier! Strain and discard bones and vegetables, pour stock into pottles to store. I freeze mine in 1 litre lots, which is the perfect amount for homemade risotto or soup.

Ingredients, before boiling

After boiling for an hour

And, stock becomes soup!

For the batch I photographed for this post, Paddy also added a few leftover roast veges, leftover gravy, some cabbage, wrinkly ginger that had been in the fridge too long and a handful of goji berries, as this stock was destined to become healing broth. It made the most rich and delicious broth we had ever had, and Paddy and I are kicking ourselves for not writing down the exact recipe!

Cherry Bounty

We have a 5 year-old cherry tree of unknown variety (although I hypothesise it's a Stella) in our teeny tiny garden. It has the potential to be a full-sized tree, but is planted in a root-restricting bag, in a wine barrel. This, in theory, means it will stay small, but time will tell...
This year we harvested 1.3 glorious kilos of cherries, ready, as always, on Christmas Day. I have been a bit remiss with this post, as we flew up north to see family on Christmas Day, but now seems like a good a time as any to show off the harvest! It's safe to say these cherries were eaten on the plane, and, all gone by lunchtime! Now we sit and wait patiently for next year...

Pay It Forward: 2011

I promise something handmade to the FIRST 5 people who leave a comment here. However, to be eligible, you must repost this message, offering something handmade to 5 other people. The rules are that it must be handmade by you, and it must be sent to your 5 giftees sometime in 2011. Ready, set, GO!

Found this lovely idea over at With My Own Two Hands. How exciting! Snail mail is SUCH fun... :)

Image source

Homemade Bagels

I was never a fan of bagels until I had a go at making them myself. Homemade bagels are nothing like the stale frisbees that are sold in most supermarkets. They are dense, chewy and utterly delicious, fresh from the oven, or toasted, a few days later. They keep better than most homemade bread, and very rarely make it into the freezer at our house, as they all get eaten before I have a chance!

I use the bread maker to make the dough, and then shape, boil and bake by hand. Despite all the steps, bagels aren't actually that time consuming, and the reward of eating them fresh out of the oven is worth any effort!

This is the recipe for basic, white bagels but they can be made wholemeal or even rye, with a few variations to the basic recipe.

Basic White Bagels
1 1/8 cups water
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 1/3 cups white flour
2 tsp yeast

Combine all ingredients in bread maker and set to dough.
Once dough is made, there are three key steps:
1. Shape your bagels
There are many methods to do this, and probably lots of tutorials on the internet to show you how. I am not fancy, or fussy that mine turn out perfect, so I will share my easy method. First, I cut the dough into 8-12 pieces (depending on how big you want your bagels to be). Then, I roll the dough into a fat patty, making sure at least one side is smooth (the other side goes on the tray so it doesn't matter if it is a bit rough looking). To make the hole, I poke my finger through the middle of the 'good' side, then slowly twist the bagel around, shaping the hole until it is as big as desired and smooth. This creates a bagel with no seam. Cover with a tea towel and rise the shaped bagels until they double in size.

2. Boil your bagels
Bagels get their delicious, dense texture by boiling them before cooking. To do this, bring a large pot of water to the boil, and turn your oven on to preheat to 200 degrees celcious. Once the water is at a rolling boil, gently lower bagels in, a few at a time, with the 'good' side down to the water. Boil for about a minute, then gently flip the bagel over and boil the other side. Gently place the boiled bagels on a greased oven tray and keep going until they are all boiled.

3. Glaze and cook your bagels
Bagels can be glazed with all types of toppings, but I tend to use milk or an egg yolk. I also scatter some sesame, poppy or pumpkin seeds on top before cooking, but they are just as good plain. Bake bagels in your preheated oven until the are golden; around 20-25 minutes.

Everyone has their favourite toppings for bagels; mine is homemade cream cheese - keep an eye out for that easy recipe this week! However, today we had them for breakfast, decadently, with bacon, fried portobello mushrooms, poached eggs and hollandaise. Yummy!

Happy New Year!

Just a quick note to say Happy New Year to all those people out there, who take the time to stop by and read my little blog. I hope you all had a Christmas full of delicious food, spent with people you love, and a safe and happy New Years.

Last night we christened our new pizza oven, lovingly built for me by Paddy, by having a party for any and all of our very special friends. It was a wonderful night, ending with fireworks and the most amazing bottle of mead! I am now indulgently sitting on the couch, still in my dressing gown (!), eating leftover dessert from last night (dessert pizza, chocolate pav with cream and berries, and extra cream and berries) and watching my all-time favourite programme, River Cottage. Sheer bliss!

Have a happy day everyone. Much love xxx