winosandfoodies

The Spice Girls

Baby Spice (she's much younger than me) and I (I'd like to think I was Posh  , but I'm probably more like Sporty Spice) were both playing in the spice cupboard this week. A few days ago the weather did an about turn  and overnight went from pleasant to bloody freezing.   Bron added fruit to her Banana Berry Spice Cake.  I thought about adding some blueberries but decided it against it. If served for dessert a spoon of blueberry sauce and a dollop of cream on the side would be nice. I have adapted this recipe from a 1999 Vogue Australia Cookbook.  Do you remember the Spice Girls?

SOUR CREAM YOGURT GINGER CAKE
1/4 cup breadcrumbs to line cake tin
1/2 cup butter
1 cup caster sugar
3 medium eggs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2/3 cup sour cream plain yogurt

Preheat the oven to 165C.
Butter a deep 22cm cake tin and coat with the breadcrumbs.
Beat the butter and sugar until white and fluffy, then beat in the eggs.
Sift together the flour, spices and bicarbonate of soda and mix into the batter alternately with the yogurt.
Stir only until well mixed.
Pour the batter into the tin and bake on the centre shelf of the oven.
Reduce the heat to 120C after 15 minutes and bake a further 30 minutes or until cake starts to shrink away from the side of the tin. The cake should be only just cooked.
Cool in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack.

I'll be taking a week away from blogging. Tomorrow afternoon I check into the hospital for my second lung surgery scheduled for Tuesday morning.  See you next weekend.

Hay Hay Laura Here's My Sorbet

I've been without my computer for a few days while it's been in for an upgrade.  This morning I was as excited as a new mother waiting for her baby to be delivered as  I waited for my computer to be delivered.   It 's now back and it's more beautiful faster than before.

When Laura at Eat Drink Live announced sorbet as the theme for the latest Hay Hay Its Donna Day  I thought I might make something with a touch of chili or ginger to warm things up a bit. It's winter down here and a cold winter at that.  Being autumn, and finding the shops  full of persimmons  all thoughts of some chocolate chili combo went out the window.

I followed Donna's original recipe, poaching the persimmon to soften it before pureeing.  Frozen persimmon is not as tasty as fresh persimmon.  This would possibly work better with the astringent persimmon. New Zealand grows the non astringent variety Fuyu, which I prefer to eat raw while it is still young and crisp.

DONNA HAY'S BASIC SORBET

• 3/4 cup 150g caster (superfine) sugar
• 1 cup 240ml water
• fruit puree of your choice

1. To make the basic syrup, place the sugar and water in a saucepan over a low heat and stir without boiling until sugar is dissolved.
2. Increase the heat and bring to the boil for one minute. Set aside to cool. While the syrup is cooling, prepare one of the fruit variations below.
3. Combine the fruit puree and sugar syrup, place in an ice-cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions or the instructions below for a thick and scoopable sorbet. If you don't have an ice-cream maker, place the fruit and syrup mixture in a metal bowl or cake tin, cover and freeze for an hour or until just beginning to set at the edge. Beat with an electric hand whisk and return to the freezer. Repeat three times at hourly intervals or until the sorbet is thick and smooth.

 

Thyme For A Slightly Wild Risotto

Bron's Wild Food  event has been announced and its wild weeds.  There was a time in my hippy past where I would have had an ounce or two of weed laying around just waiting to be made into Alice B Toklas brownies.  Those days are long gone and a good glass of wine is now my drug of choice .  And really wine isn't a drug, it's a food.

I remembered a chapter called Edible Weeds in the Patience Gray book  Honey From A Weed.  Which gave me some ideas,  if  I could go foraging through a field in Tuscany.  Or if my mother in law was still alive and I could forage in her garden. She grew all sorts of wild and wonderful herbs that I could have picked and tossed in olive oil and lemon juice for a wild weed salad. 

Then I remembered I'd seen an  Antonio Carluccio   television show where he had collected some sorrel in the fields to add to a  risotto.  I live in the city so with a lack of a field in which to collect sorrel I thought maybe I'd find some in my local fruit and veggie shop.  Not a leaf anywhere and I came home with a bunch of wild thyme. Actually I'm sure it isn't wild thyme but we will pretend it is for this event.

Risotto is one of those recipes  you can just make it up as you go with whatever you have on hand. Although there are a couple of important ingredients -  the correct rice  and stock. I use arborio or carnaroli.

Here's how I made this one.  For a recipe with exact measurements go here. 

In a heavy based pan on the top of the stove warm a little olive oil and a knob of butter.
Soften a diced onion and a minced clove of garlic.
Add 2  cups rice and stir until all grains are coated.
Toss in a bunch of well washed thyme tips.
Add a dash of white wine or brandy and allow rice to absorb.
Add hot stock a cupful at a time and allow rice to absorb the liquid, adding more stock as the rice becomes dry.
When risotto is cooked toss a handful of grated Parmesan over the top and put lid on. Rest for about 10 minutes.
Serve.

Last week I had a wonderful pumpkin risotto when I visited Marina's home for lunch.  Marina's risotto was much drier than mine. At the time I said to Marina "I've been making it incorrectly all these years". However on the TV show Antonio mentioned the Milanese prefer a drier risotto and Marina is from Milan which explains the difference.

Om Ali

Have you ever wondered what you should do with the left over phyllo  pastry in your fridge? Especially if the air has got to it and it's a bit dry.   Make Om Ali with it of course. I found this Egyptian dessert in my Claudia Roden recipe book - Middle Eastern Food . My copy is an older version but I'm sure the recipe will be in the revised edition.

Many cultures use up stale bread with a similar style bread pudding. In Egypt Om Ali is made with left over phyllo pastry.  The origins of this pudding are varied. One theory is it was introduced into Egypt by the Irish mistress of Khedive Ismail.

It is sometimes  made with pancakes, thinly rolled pastry or pieces of bread. Claudia makes hers with phyllo (also known as fila) pastry.  Without butter and eggs it is less calorific than the traditional English Bread and Butter pudding. Here's my version adapted from the original Claudia recipe.

OM ALI

5 - 6 sheets fila pastry ( about 90g/3 oz)
120g (4oz) raisins or sultanas
120g (4oz) freshly shelled and chopped walnuts
1 litre (1 3/4 UK pints) milk
300 ml (1/2 UK pint) double cream
90 gr (3oz) sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 150C (300F) degrees

Spread the fila sheets loosely on a n oven tray. and bake for 15 minutes or until crisp and brown. Remove from the oven and increase oven temperature to 240C (474F) degrees.

Crumple fila into a baking dish, sprinkling sultanas and nuts in between layers. Here is how it will look before adding the milk.

In a saucepan on the top of the stove bring the milk , cream and sugar to the boil. Pour over the pastry. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Place dish in oven for 20 minutes or until the top is browned.

Serve hot.

Claudia uses a mix of flaked almonds, chopped hazelnuts and pistachios. I had fresh walnuts in the pantry so used them. I think it would nice with lemon peel in addition to or in place of sultanas. This is real comfort food, ideal on a cold day.  My cleaner was here when it came out of the oven this morning, and she's so slim I'm sure she's not a pudding person, but she had a bowl and loved it. This is one of those food finds that gets me excited. It uses left overs, is easy to make and tastes sensational.

Hay Hay Its Donna Day #13 - Sorbet

I love it when the theme rhymes. Like Hay Hay Its Donna Day - Sorbet. How perfect is that.  Laura has  chosen Sorbet as the theme for this round of Hay Hay Its Donna Day. Visit Laura at Eat Drink Live  for the details and the Donna Hay recipe,then make your version.   Laura's Mango Sorbet looks tempting doesn't it? Send your version to Laura at  eatdrinkliveATgmailDOTcom by 8th July.

Hay Hay Laura Won

Katie  has announced  the latest winner of Hay Hay Its Donna Day -  Caesar Salad. Congratulations to Laura at Eat Drink Live.  Drop by and say hi to Laura and look out for her Hay Hay Its Donna day announcement.

I've Bean Cooking Winter Food

Cannellini Beans  , the pride of Tuscany, are usually a staple in my cupboard.  In summer with  a dash of olive oil,  squeeze of lemon juice,   sprinkle with salt and a grinding of pepper they are a base for a lunchtime salad. Add add herbs and salad vegetables as you desire. In  winter I toss a handful of cooked beans into soups and stews. I envy those who can buy them fresh, not an option in New Zealand yet, at least not where I live. In the absence of fresh beans I  buy dried beans and soak them overnight. The following day they take a couple of hours to cook  but I usually cook up a batch and use them over the next few days.    You could use  canned beans for the soup but the better canned ones can be expensive.

Last week I soaked and cooked up a packet of dried beans for a couple of recipes.

WHITE BEAN SOUP
Ingredients
1 tablespoon oil
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups cooked cannellini beans
2 cups chicken stock or water
Salt and pepper to season

Method
Soften onion in the oil.
Add garlic and fry but do not brown.
Add beans and stock or water.
Simmer 15 minutes.
Check for taste and season with salt and pepper.
Serve in bowls and drizzle with good quality olive oil.
Serves 4 people.

........and home made baked beans.

Probably not something you'd bother making unless it was cold and wet and the idea of staying at  home and baking something really slowly in the oven seems like a good thing to do.....and it would keep the house warm at the same time.

HOME MADE BAKED BEANS

1 cup dried cannellini beans (soak in water overnight)
1 tablespoon oil
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
250 grams bacon diced
2 chorizo sausages sliced
2 x 400 gr cans of tomatoes in tomato juice
1/4 cup tomato paste
Salt and pepper to season

Set oven at 100 degrees Celsius (212F).

Drain beans from soaking water. Cover beans with fresh water and bring to the boil on top of the stove and cook for 1 hour. Remove from stove . Add a teaspoon of salt and let sit until you are ready to use beans.

Place a large fire proof casserole dish on top of stove and fry the onions  and bacon until onions have softened and bacon has cooked. Add garlic and cook until you can smell the aroma of the garlic.  Do not brown the garlic or it will cause a bitter taste.

Drain beans and add to the pot. Add the chorizo,  tomatoes, tomato paste and bring to the boil. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Cover casserole with lid and place in the oven for the afternoon.  Stir a couple of times during the afternoon.  Mine were in the oven for about 4 hours.

What you don't eat for dinner that night can be reheated and served on toast with grated cheese for breakfast.

I used a cast iron pot but I'm sure a crockery or glass one would work just as well. Traditional baked beans have sugar and often treacle or molasses  added, but really, do you need all that sugar and extra calories.

Pink Cupcakes for a Girly Lunch

Pop on over and meet my new blogging friend Marina at Cuoche dell'altro mondo.  When Marina invited me for lunch at her place I thought "ooh Italian food cooked by a real Italian woman" . I'm soooo going there for lunch. Then when she said she had two little girls who would be home I thought " oh little girls, they are so sweet". After living in a houseful of men little girls sounded very appealing. Little girls don't rush about yelling and shouting (except when they shut their finger in the door). Not that my boys rush about yelling and shouting anymore but I do have to put up with action movies on the TV and band practise in the garage.

I've done my time making boy cakes and here was my chance to make girly cakes for little girls....pink...with hearts...and served on a pretty pink dish.

I used my favourite banana and nutella cupcake recipe from Delicious Days, baked them in mini muffin papers for 10 minutes, iced with white and pink tinted icing and added heart sprinkles.

Marina shares her blog with a friend in Germany so the posts are sometimes, Italian, sometimes German and a little bit of English.  We had a lovely afternoon, and talked and talked about food as food bloggers do. I''m looking forward to learning more about Italian food from Marina and in exchange I'll teach her a little about New Zealand and Australian food.

Here's The Beef Arfi

Envious as I am of all the new seasons asparagus  and strawberries  being consumed in the Northern Hemisphere it is rather nice to be rugged up warm in front of the fire, drinking pinot noir and tucking into a hearty stew.

I try to feed the family mostly fish and chicken with the occasional bean dish when they least expect it.  Too much of this and one of the  three  males in the house will eventually say "Where's the beef?"  So here's the beef, boys.

BEEF AND POTATO CURRY
(serves 4 people)

2 onions, finely sliced
1 red pepper (capsicum) diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons spice powder  (alternatively add 1 teaspoons each of ground coriander and ground cumin)
750 gr beef blade steak, diced into 2cm pieces
400 gram can or tomatoes
2 cups water
4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into 8 pieces
1 bag spinach (about 150 grams)

In a large saucepan or pot place oil, garlic, onions, red pepper and cook over a gentle heat until softened.
Add the spices and ginger and cook for a minute, while stirring.
Increase heat to medium and add beef, tossing to coat in spices.
Add tomatoes and water, bring to the boil and simmer for 1 hour.
Add potatoes and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add spinach and simmer a further 10 minutes.
Serve with steam rice.

This recipe has been adapted from the New Zealand Foodtown Magazine  which recently featured  an article on blogging in which I was mentioned.

My dear friend Arfi at Homemades  is running an event called Cook and Eat Meat  to raise awareness about iron deficiency in women.  She asks we raise the awareness together for all the women in the world to eat meat in order to correct the iron level, to keep the iron level steady, and to keep healthy. This is my entry for Cook and Eat Meat.

 

Hay Hay Its Caesar Day Roundup

I know this picture of a pink rose has nothing to do with Caesar Salad but it's so pretty I decided to share it with you.  Check out the others on my  Foto Blog. 

Katie has posted the Hay Hay Its Donna Day Caesar Round Up . Read it and cast your vote to decide who will be the next host of Hay Hay Its Donna Day.

Voting begins today, June 3rd, and runs until midnight on Saturday June 9th. The winner will be announced Sunday the 10th! Anyone can vote by emailing your choice to Katie at otherpeoplesfoodATgmailDOTcom. Good luck!!!

More South Island Adventures

We spent a long lunch at this little winery Amisfield  and came home with a few bottles - two pinot noirs, two pinot gris and one riesling.

Carrick  was where we intended to lunch but we'd had a late start and weren't really hungry when we arrived.  I'm now a fan of their riesling and we bought a couple of bottles.

Being a big Olssens  fan we stopped off there to taste a few pinots.  They were out of the Nipple Hill but we did buy some Jackson Barry.

We caught up with a few bloggers.   The first was Mary who lives in Dunedin, home of Emersons,  where she had arranged a private tour with her friend, the owner Richard. Excellent beer and we can buy it in Auckland.  My favourite, the Taieri George, has a fruity, spicy flavour almost like drinking a hot cross buns. Would pair nicely with a rich dark fruit cake.

Next was Paul in Christchurch and dinner at Alchemy  and I got to try the Akaroa Salmon  Alchemy devised for the Corbans Perfect Match event. Paul introduced us to the  Camshorn  pinot gris.  We left Alchemy and with Paul headed to the latest bar scene in Christchurch.  When the doorman said "are you on the list?"  I was a little concerned but Paul obviously knows the right people because we were in without being on the list.   All Black and Jockey  model Dan  was there.

On our last day we caught up with Bron  and her family with a picnic at Orana Park.  We spent more time drinking, eating and chatting than looking at the animals. We are food bloggers after all! Bron brought along some local and imported cheeses including my favourite St Nectaire.

And naturally Bron brought along baked goods to share.

Thanks Mary, Paul and Bron for treating us so well and taking care of us in your respective cities. Hopefully we will see you in Auckland soon ..or we might be back down south another day.

I've added some vista shots of the South Island landscape to my Foto Blog  if you'd like to see more.