In my garden, In my kitchen.

Spring has been so kind to us lately.

Just the right dose of warm sunshine and light drizzling rain have triggered a huge burst of growth. Its a bittersweet feeling. We experience such joy within this lush garden during September and October. But that joy is tinged with the knowledge that summer's fierce dry heat will sweep in and burn away the green in the months to come and we'll have to wait until the cool of April before the garden looks this beautiful again.

  

  

I spent all of Monday cooking up a storm. A large bowl of freshly picked cumquats and a bag of blood oranges transformed into jars of cumquat chutney and spiced orange pickle.

Both of these preserves are perfect Christmas foodie fare so get your jam jars out and get cracking!

Let's start with the cumquat chutney. 

I put the call out for some new recipes on the weekend and this little gem came back from my foodie genius of a friend, Julie. Its ridiculously simple to make and the flavour hit is something quite extraordinary.

Spiced Cumquat Chutney.

Ingredients

2 cups cumquats, halved

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup orange or mandarin juice

1/4 cup chopped shallots

1 tbsp grated fresh ginger

1 star anise

3 cloves

4 cardamom pods

1/4 cinnamon stick

1 tbsp dried currants 

Method

Cut cumquats in half, remove whatever seeds you can.

Place all chutney ingredients in a saucepan, bring to boil, then turn heat down and simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove any pieces of spice that are visible.

Spoon into sterilized jars and store in a cool, dark place. Refrigerated after opening.

The perfect accompaniment with cheese and crackers. 

The next recipe is one I pull out every year in the months leading up to Christmas. They look so pretty in the jars and are perfect to pop in a hamper of homemade goodies.

Spiced Orange Pickle.

Ingredients

1.4kg blood oranges

1 teaspoon salt

400g caster sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons golden syrup 

185ml (3/4 cup) white wine vinegar 

125ml (1/2 cup) fresh orange juice 

6 slices fresh ginger

1 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed 

1 cinnamon stick 

1 teaspoon whole cloves

Method

Place the oranges and salt in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Place a plate over the oranges to keep them submerged. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Cook for 40 minutes or until the oranges are tender. Drain. Set aside to cool.

Thinly slice crossways.

  

Stir the sugar, golden syrup, vinegar, orange juice, ginger, peppercorns, cinnamon stick and cloves in a large saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Add the orange. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes. 

Transfer to sterilised jars and seal. Store in a cool, dark place for at least 3 weeks before opening to develop the flavours. Refrigerate after opening.

Enjoy! 

xx Em

Tuna Mornay Pies

It's been a busy weekend in the kitchen.

 

 

 

I whipped up some tuna mornay pies this afternoon and they were so good I thought I'd share the recipe. Actually, I didn't follow a recipe, I just threw it together and hoped for the best. So...here goes.

 

Ingredients

 

Two sheets of readymade shortcrust pastry

185g tin of dolphin safe tuna in spring water.

2 Tbsp Butter

2 Tbsp Plain Flour

2 cups Milk

1/2 cup Parmesan & Mozzerella

1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

Salt and Pepper

2 Sweet Potato

Butter

Cream

Black Pepper

1 cup Mozzerella extra

 

 

Directions

 

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C.

 

Spray muffin tin with oil and line the bottom of each hole with a circle of baking paper (I cut them slightly larger than the base).

 

To make the mornay, heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat for 2 minutes or until melted and foaming. Add flour. Cook, stirring with a whisk until mixture bubbles. Remove pan from heat. Slowly add milk, 1/4 cup at a time, whisking constantly to prevent lumps forming. Return to heat and stir regularly until sauce thickens. Add cheese, mustard and salt & pepper to taste. When cheese has melted into the sauce add the tuna. Set aside.

Steam sweet potato and mash with a bit of butter, seasoning and splash of cream.

 

Cut large circles of pastry, four per sheet, then shape two more circles from the leftover scraps of pastry. I used 7cm muffin holes so I cut 11cm circles of pastry to ensure nice high sides to the pies. Mould each circle of pastry into the muffin holes and make a couple of cuts in the bases to allow air to escape.

 

 

Place in the oven for approx 10 mins to blind bake. Remove from oven and use the back of a teaspoon to press pastry cases back into shape if any have air pockets.

 

 

 

 

Fill the cases with the tuna mornay, top with sweet potato and a sprinkling of Mozzerella. Place back into the oven until cheese is golden brown.

 

Fab for lunch boxes or dinner with a side salad.

 

Enjoy!

xx Em

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Granny Smith Apple Pie YUM!

 

It's been one of those days.

 

 

 

 

We all woke up with rotten headcolds this morning so we gave school a miss and stayed in our pjs instead. The boys were irritable and narky. After an unsuccessful morning trying to entertain them I gave up and got busy in the kitchen making a cinnamon apple pie filling instead.

 

 

 

 

I have so many things planned for our freshly picked bounty of Granny Smith apples and this simple recipe from allrecipes.com was a superb start. I tweaked it a bit after reading some of the comments and am completely chuffed with the results. It's the perfect consistency and can be stored in the freezer for up to 12 months though I doubt it will last that long!

 

 

 

 

Granny Smith Apple Pie Filling

 

Ingredients

 

18 Granny Smith Apples

1 lemon

5 cups of water

1 cup cornflour

1 teaspoon of salt

2 1/2 cups of caster sugar

2 cups of soft brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg or allspice

 

 

 

 

Instructions

 

Peel and thinly slice the apples.

In a large bowl toss apples with lemon juice and set aside.

Pour water into a heavy based pot and place on medium heat.

Combine sugars, cornflour, spices and salt in a large bowl.

Add to the water stirring well.

Bring to the boil, boil for two minutes stirring constantly.

Add apples and return to the boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until apples are tender...about 8 minutes. Cool for 30 mins.

Ladle into 5 freezer containers leaving a couple of cms headspace.

Cool at room temperature no longer than 1 1/2 hrs then seal and freeze.

 

 

 

Enjoy

xx Em

 

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Harvest...

I love Fridays. A clean house, grocery shop completed with a non-tantruming three year old, a quiet lunch and an afternoon harvesting a sizeable bounty from our garden.

 

 

 

 

Such a lovely feeling gathering up big bunches of herbs, filling baskets with apples & pears, digging up potatoes & onions and cutting armfuls of rhubarb while the kids race around the backyard with several blow-ins from the neighborhood. Even better when that bounty is bubbling away in pots on the stove or being spooned into jars to give to friends.

 

Yesterday's efforts were:

 

Basil & Cashew Pesto.

Rhubarb & Raspberry Jam.

Boeuf Bourguignon.

 

 

 

 

Today I'm trying my hand at:

 

Crabapple Jelly

Apple Chutney

Pears in Port

 

With this spot of cooler weather spending weekends in the kitchen is a joy.

 

 

 

 

Have a gorgeous weekend!

xx Em

 

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A Beautiful Bunfight

Happy Easter Lovelies

 

 

It's been an absolutely gorgeous long weekend here. Stunning sunshiney Autumn days spent hanging out with family and friends.

Yesterday's Egg Hunt and Easter Brunch went down a treat.

 

 

The kids spent the whole morning hunting for eggs in the garden. One egg hunt wasn't nearly enough so they did a dozen, taking turns to hide the eggs.

We scoffed Hot Cross Buns with Sweet Ricotta and Balsamic Strawberries, Bacon, Fetta & Egg Tarts and an amazing Easter Pudding. There was chocolate, lots of chocolate...and copious cups of tea and coffee.

 

 

But the best part of the morning was getting newborn cuddles from the sweetest teeny baby girl.

 

The afternoon was spent drinking wine and playing scrabble with my sister and the Grand Scrabble Master himself (aka Hubby). For the first time in known history, my husband DIDN'T win the game...Katie did....oh it was a beautiful thing to watch. Even better that my SIL and brother witnessed it via Skype. Hubby has ungraciously thrashed Margie and I over the years so it was with great delight that we watched Kate win.

 

The ol' 'spilt wine on the scrabble board' decoy may or may not have helped.

Either way, it was pretty funny.

 

The chill set in as the sun went down so we warmed up with comfort food and cuddles on the couch.

 

 

Today we ventured up to the Arboretum for a play.

 

 

Stunning, stunning day.

 

Simply had to share the fantastic Easter Pudding recipe that Margie gave to me. It's a jazzed up Bread & Butter Pudding with the most divine flavour...easy to make and a huge hit with the hungry hoards.

 

Margie's Easter Pudding.

 

Ingredients:

500g loaf "Rich Fruit Cob" from Woolies (any spiced fruit loaf will do)

3.5 - 4 squares of 70% Lindt chocolate

4 eggs

2 cups milk

300ml cream

1/4 cup caster sugar

1 vanilla bean split & scraped

1/4 tsp mixed spice

40g butter

 

Method:

Preheat oven to 180c or 160c (fan forced)

Whisk eggs, milk, cream, caster sugar, vanilla and mixed spice together.

Slice the bread, butter each side and line dish. I included the top half of three hot cross buns for a bit of Easter flair.

Break up the chocolate and hide pieces amongst the bread.

Pour in egg mixture.

Let the bread soak up the mixture for 20 minutes.

Bake for approx 35 to 40 mins until golden brown and set.

Serve warm as is or with a scoop of vanilla icecream.

Enjoy.

 

So, that was our weekend, how was yours?

xx Em

 

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