winosandfoodies

New blog

I've started an additional blog which I intend to devote entirely to photography. Check out the first few entries now at Fotos.

Citron Tart

Tokyo Dining El Bulli Style

Gareth at  On The Farm  alerted me to an article in the  Sunday Times on dining El Bulli  style in Japan.

Measuring Flour According to Julia

I came across this handy little tip when making  this  sponge cake.  How to measure flour when the recipe is written in cups rather than grams or ounces.

Place measuring cup on  a sheet of kitchen paper.
Sift flour into cup till overflowing. Do not bang cup on table to settle flour.
With back edge of knife scrape across rim of cup to remove excess flour.

I have found this method more successful than scooping flour out of flour bin or spooning flour into measuring cup.

The Fast Lane...or Slow?

Go read  this  article.

Blog by Post - Anzacs only

New Zealand and Australia bloggers check out A Years Worth of Eating  and sign up for our very own Blog by mail.  I have participated in a couple of world blogs by post and they are heaps of fun, despite the postage costs being ridiculously high.  This one organised by Kestypes will be more affordable as it is limited to New Zealand and Australia.

Hay Hay Its Donna Day #3

I'm sorry to say this has not been my best baking experience.  Sorry Donna.  I didn't quite get the mixture right with the vanilla mixture too soft and the chocolate mixture a bit dry.   After trying various chequerboard methods (and unhappy with them all)  I joined the two doughs together and made star biscuits. 

Despite my problems the family loved them and have requested I make them again. I must say the taste was perfect.  Just the right amount of vanilla to balance the chocolate.  Next time I think I will make star shapes, cut the middles out and swap them over, making chocolate stars with vanilla centres and vanilla stars with chocolate centres.  If you haven't already baked your entry feel free to test the design for me. I'd love to see photos.

I'm looking forward to all your entries in the Hay Hay It's Donna Day Chequerboard biscuits. Check out the report from Clare at Eatstuff  after the 1st  June for the final write up.

It's Sponge Cake Luv

In case you didn't know "it's sponge cake luv" is a famous line from the wonderfully funny Australian movie  The Castle.

This is the sponge cake  I made on the weekend. The recipe is from Mastering The Art of French Cooking by Julia Child.  Egg whites are used as the raising agent in preference to baking powder. It creates an  interesting texture.  I felt the cake was a bit too spongy on the day it was made but it appeared softer on  the following day.

GÂTEAU À L'ORANGE
2/3 cup granulated sugar
4 egg yolks
grated rind of one orange
1/3 cup strained orange juice.pinch salt
1 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
4 egg whites pinch salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

METHOD
Gradually beat the sugar into the egg yolks and continue beating until the mixture thickens to form a ribbon.
Add the grated orange peel, juice and salt and beat for a moment or two until the mixture is light and foamy.
Beat in the flour.
Beat the egg whites and salt together until soft peaks are formed.
Sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed.
Stir 1/4 of the egg whites into the batter, delicately fold in the rest.
Turn into a 9 inch cake tin.
Bake in preheated 350 degrees oven for 30 - 35 minutes. I baked mine for 25 minutes in a fan forced oven.
Let cool for 6 to 8 minutes and turn out onto a cake rack.
When cooled fill and decorate with icing or sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Olive Harvest

Here are the olives the Suburban Hippy  picked.

...and an Angel At My Table  picked this basketful...and some rosemary.

We couldn't reach the olives at the very top of the tree but I'm sure the birds will enjoy them.

Is Food the Latest Fashion

This morning I was listening to a radio interview with Simon Wilson, editor of Cuisine  magazine, when he said " recently  cooking has replaced gardening as the latest trend."  I'm sure the many of us who left home in the seventies to go flatting or get married will disagree. 

Personally I think the interest in food and cooking  began in the late sixties with home cooks copying the restaurant meals of the day.  Who remembers dinner parties that took all day to prepare and included any of the following - Garlic Prawns, Shrimp Cocktail, Salmon Mousse, Steak Diane, Lobster Thermidor, Beef Wellington, Veal Marsala, foil baked potatoes with  sour cream and chives, salad with proper vinaigrette dressing,  Brandy Snaps?

We experimented with Asian cuisine  with the help of  Charmaine Solomon  and her books.  We served pumpkin seeds with drinks just like the Greek restaurants did back then. Everyone had their own special way of making  Spaghetti Bolognaise and Minestrone Soup.

And don't forget the hippies with their lentils and mung beans.

We drank aperitifs before dinner and liqueurs after dinner ,  Mateus Rosé, Blue Nun  and Tyrells Long Flat Red during dinner.  And someone always took the Mateus bottle home to make a lamp stand or stick a candle in the top.

It is obvious from the number of food blogs there is a new generation of young people discovering the delights of food and cooking.  I see it as a continuing trend, not the latest fad.

Hay Hay It's Donna Day #3

The very busy Clare over at Eatstuff  has announced our latest Hay Hay It's Donna Day.  Just like her Bunrabs  these Chequerboard Snap Cookies look very pretty.......... or is that handsome. They certainly look very tasty.   Clare has chosen a very clever prize for the winner.  Drop into Eatstuff and check out the recipe and rules, post your entry to Clare by 01 June and you could be the lucky prize winner.    And just so you know - donna hay magazine are watching.