sweet & smoky barbecued pork ribs

WARNING: Do not follow this recipe to the letter.

This record is based on my Dad recounting what he does.
And what he does is art, not science.

The measurements are not precise, there are no set times and it relies on your own cooking instincts to deliver the perfect balance of flavour and tenderness.

For instance, you’ll need to taste the sauce and ensure it meets your own requirements of sweet, sour and smoky.

And when you parboil and barbecue the ribs, you’ll need to use your own judgement on how long they’ll need so they don’t turn out tough.

But don’t worry, it’s easy.
You’ll know what you like and you’ll know when they’re ready.

Trust yourself.
Make these ribs for your next barbecue and you will be amazed.

Sweet & Smoky Barbecued Pork Ribs

Paul’s very own recipe. Serves 6 – 8.


Ingredients:
1.5kg pork ribs
3 dried bay leaves (Anna's addition, Paul objects)
4 allspice berries (Anna's addition, Paul objects)

Sauce (makes around 1 litre)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons brown sugar
400g canned diced tomatoes
500ml of your favourite barbecue sauce
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 teaspoons malt vinegar
1 teaspoon minced fresh chilli
6 pickled jalapenos
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Pepper and salt, to taste

Method:

1. Make the sauce first. Cook the onions and garlic until soft, then add the tomato paste. Cook until the paste has thickened.

2. Add all other ingredients (except lemon juice and malt vinegar) and boil until reduced by around third.

3. Taste sauce then season and add lemon juice and malt vinegar to taste to balance out sweetness.

4. Simmer or parboil the ribs, with bay leaves and allspice, so they are partially cooked. This ensures that the barbecuing is more about imparting flavour than cooking, otherwise they end up burning.

5. Colour your parboiled ribs on the barbecue. Do this by turning the ribs repeatedly allowing the fat to boil out.

6. Once they gain a light colour, dip them in the sauce. Put them back on the barbecue and grill again so the sauce cooks on. Paint on more sauce as you cook them.

7. At this point, you can either serve them to your guests with sauce on the side, or toss them in a little more sauce and store them overnight in a baking tray. The next day you can reheat them in the oven and then toss them in reheated sauce. My dad says you can even cut them into two bone portions and freeze them, then defrost and heat in the oven. Be careful not to overcook!

sticky date pudding & butterscotch sauce

When I eat sticky date pudding I think of three people: my mum and my two stepsisters Shamu and Stinky.

In the 1990s, between mosh pits at angsty grunge concerts, I would visit local cafés with my mum and sisters and gorge on this delicious cake. We’d even do cake runs on Saturday nights!

In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find someone from Sydney who didn’t overload on sticky date pudding in the 90s. It was the dessert of choice and pretty much every café and restaurant served it.

These days it’s been replaced by newer fads, but I still have a soft spot for this moist, rich cake so I made it for a friend's BBQ where it followed Tim's amazing crispy pork belly (soon to be posted for your viewing/eating pleasure).

I found this recipe in Australian Gourmet Traveller’s 40th Anniversary Issue in the 1990s section. It’s a particularly good version.

Sticky Date Pudding

Recipe from Gourmet Traveller (August 2006). Serves 8-10.
 
Ingredients:
170g dates, pitted & chopped coarsely
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
60g butter, softened
170g (¾ cup) sugar
2 eggs
170g (1 cup) self-raising flour
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Butterscotch sauce (see recipe below), to serve
Double cream, to serve

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160’C. Grease and line cake tin.

2. Combine dates and 300ml water in a saucepan and bring to the boil over medium-high heat.

3. Remove from heat, add bicarbonate of soda and stand.

4. Beat butter and caster sugar with electric beaters until pale and fluffy.

5. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

6. Add flour, date mixture and vanilla and mix to combine.

7. Spoon into a cake tin and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre withdraws clean.

8. Remove from oven and pour a quarter of butterscotch sauce over warm pudding then return to oven for 2-3 minutes so sauce soaks into pudding.

9. Serve pudding with extra butterscotch sauce and double cream or vanilla ice cream

Butterscotch Sauce
 
Recipe from Gourmet Traveller (August 2006). Makes approx 500ml.

Ingredients:
200g (1 cup) brown sugar
125ml (½ cup) thick cream
130g butter, coarsely chopped
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. For butterscotch sauce combine all ingredients in a saucepan

2. Bring to the boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat to medium and simmer or 3 minutes.

The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is a miraculous plant, providing so much to the people that rely upon it.

Dates have been part of the Middle Eastern diet for thousands of years and archaeological evidence shows cultivation as far back as 6000 BCE. They probably came from the Persian Gulf and spread though Mesopotamia into prehistoric Egypt

Dates are so important to the Middle Eastern diet that all four stages of the ripening process have their own word in Arabic: kimri (unripe), khalal (full-size, crunchy), rutab (ripe, soft), tamr (ripe, sun-dried).

Wikipedia lists over 40 different kinds of dates and not surprisingly, the Middle East leads the way in date output with the world’s top five producers being Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

Date palms can take up to 7 years before they bear fruit but once they do they can make up to 120kg (264lbs) per harvest. They are not only the source of palm sugar but they also can be used to produce syrup, honey, vinegar and alcohol. There’s even sparkling date juice!

Apart from the fruit, young leaves and the palm heart can be cooked as a veggie, ground seeds make flour or flavour coffee and the flowers are added to salads.

And you don’t even need to eat date palm products. You can make soap from the sap; cosmetics from the oil, specialist charcoal and beads from the seeds; brooms from the fruit stalks; thatching, mats, screens and baskets from the fronds; and even a leather waterproofing agent from the syrup.

Dates can be eaten fresh once soft or also eaten dried. Fresh dates are high in Vitamin C but it’s lost in the drying process.

Dates are an amazing 80% sugar and the rest is protein and fat. They are high in fibre and potassium. Their high tannin content makes them useful in treatments for sore throat, colds and fever relief.

Date by-products are also used for treating diarrhoea, urinary problems and toothaches and in Nigeria the fruits are added to flavour beer because its believed they counteract intoxication.

Dates are my Weekend Herb Blogging theme ingredient this week, hosted by Graziana from Erbe in Cucina (Cooking with Herbs).

Other recipes using dates:
Bacon-Wrapped Date 'Cannolis' w Pine Nuts - DISHtrict
Banana-Date Smoothie - Pink Bites
Bengali Date & Tomato Chutney - Ahaar
Date & Coconut Burfi (Indian fudge) - Laws of the Kitchen
Date & Earl Grey Madeleines - The British Larder
Date & Ginger Charoset (sweet Syrian paste) - I Heart Kale
Date & Walnut Loaf - More than Words
Date, Molasses & Cardamom Cake - Arabic Bites
Date Scones - Vicious Ange
Drunken Date & Blue Cheese Flatbread - Choosy Beggars
Kharjura Payasa (Indian date dessert) - Monsoon Spice
Kobz Abraj (North African breakfast pastries) - Kitchen Chick
Lärabars (date, nut & cocoa bar) - Chocolate & Zucchini
Mandarin-Date Sweet Potatoes - The Gluten Free Hippie
No-Cook Apple, Date & Onion Chutney - The Cottage Smallholder
Persimmon Fruit Salad - Morsels & Musings
Pistachio Stuffed Dates - Elana's Pantry
Pumpkin-Date Loaf - Culinary in the Country
Sesame-Date Muffins - I Think I Have A Recipe For That

From the M&M archives:
2008 - finger lime martini
2007 - kimchi jjigae (Korean spicy cabbage stew)
2006 - artichokes w lemon & garlic

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_Palm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Freshdates.JPG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kajur.jpg

beef jerky

This is another post I wrote and scheduled before Jonas and I left Australia for our US vacation.

Today Jonas and I should be arriving in New Orleans to feast on Creole cooking, quench our thirst on a myriad of cocktails and meet up with a whole lot of American bloggers through the oh so conveniently timed Tales of the Cocktail festival. I can’t wait to report back on all the goodness!

~~~

My first American experience was in 1989 when my father took my brother and I for Dad’s first visit home since he’d migrated to Australia in 1972

My brother had even been born in the States (and didn’t have Australian citizenship) and yet he hadn’t been back since he was two years old.

My father was in heaven, introducing us to the treats of his childhood: root beer floats, peanut butter cups, chilli dogs and, of course, beef jerky.

You can’t buy beef jerky in Australia, or at least you couldn’t until a few years ago. Lately it’s appearing at petrol stations and cashier counters, but most Australians are disgusted by the chewy, dried meat.

I love it. From the first bite I knew I’d found something wonderful.
I love it almost as much as pickled sausages, which I would crawl over hot coals for.

So when Dad bought a smoker and started making his own beef jerky I was very happy. His jerky is softer and moreish, better than store bought versions.

Beef Jerky

Dad’s recipe.

Ingredients:
750g sandwich steaks (thin cuts)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
2 teaspoons chilli flakes
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons brown sughar
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons hickory sawdust

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients well. Marinate meat for 2 hours.

2. Line the smoker with aluminium foil and scatter with hickory sawdust.

3. Lay meat on wire rack of smoker. Smoke for 15-20 minutes. The meat will have shrunk and will still be wet.

4. Preheat oven to 140’C.

5. Place smoked meat on wire racks and dry out for approximately 20 minutes.

6. Keep beef jerky in the fridge.

chocolate coconut slice

This month’s theme for Sugar High Friday, hosted by Rachel from Vampituity, is “childhood delights” and requires participants to cook desserts from their youth.

Chocolate Coconut Slice features firmly in my mind and reminds me of two people: my highschool friend Gemma, who used to make it and bring it to school to share, and my mother who made it at home and taught me how to do it too.

It’s a perfect recipe to whip up if you have impromptu guests or a late-night craving for something sweet. I usually have all the ingredients in the pantry.

It’s also great to make with kids because there are quite a few non-heat related stages where they can safely assist you - the way I used to help out my mum.

Most of all, it’s really delicious and somehow has a salty-sweet edge from the chewy coconut. Best served cut into small squares, I defy you to eat only one.

Chocolate Coconut Slice

Kay's very own recipe. Makes approx. 12 squares.

Ingredients:
Slice1 cup plain flour
½ cup sugar
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 tablespoon cocoa
200g dark chocolate, melted
185g butter, melted
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg, beaten
Icing1 cup icing sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
30g butter, melted
1½ tablespoons hot water

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180’C. Lightly grease lamington tin (28cm x 18cm).

2. To make the slice, sift the flour, sugar and cocoa into bowl.

3. Stir through the coconut.

4. Add melted butter, melted chocolate, vanilla essence and egg and mix well.

5. Press mixture over base of tin. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool in tin.

6. To make icing, sift icing sugar and cocoa into a small bowl, add melted butter and water and mix until smooth and glossy.

7. When cool, ice while still in tin and allow icing to set. Cut into squares.

smoked rainbow trout

This Christmas my dad proudly showed off his new smoker and the excellent goodies coming out of it.

Not only had he made a delicious chilli beef jerky, flavoursome and not too chewy, but he managed to smoke up a succulent rainbow trout.

About a year or so ago, dad became obsessed with fly fishing. The flies he makes are so good he can sell them to fishing shops.

I suspected Dad was artistic when my school projects were finished with near-perfect sketches, but he’d hidden these skills well under his PE teacher, basketball-coach, platoon-commander bravado.

These days, now that his study is filled with peacock feathers, roe deer hair and fluorescent pink string, his artistic side is quite obvious. His flies are really beautiful and elegantly tied together. One particular blue set looked like some earrings I’d recently seen for sale!

With fly fishing comes trout eating and my father’s smoked rainbow trout is simply exquisite: delicate oils under the luminescent skin lubricating firm peachy flesh. None of this bright orange dyed stuff you get from supermarkets!

At Christmas he gave me one fillet and my sister another. Shamu and Tombo ate their's with pasta while I turned mine into a herb and caper potato salad.

It was this amazing fish (and his beef jerky) that convinced Jonas and I to buy a smoker (one of my 2009 food resolutions). Unfortunately when we visited the store on Boxing Day they were sold out of smokers. We're in line for the next delivery and are already dreaming up things to smoke: oysters, mussels, chicken, almonds and tofu!

Smoked Rainbow Trout
Recipe from smoker manufacturer. Makes 4 fillets.

Ingredients:
500ml water
2 tablespoons salt
1½ tablespoons sugar
4 fillets rainbow trout
2 tablespoons hickory sawdust

Method:
1. Mix brine and soak fish for 20 minutes (the longer the better).

2. Line the smoker with aluminium foil and scatter with hickory sawdust.

3. Lay fish, skin side down on wire rack of smoker. Allow brine to air dry.

4. Smoke fish for 15-20 minutes, depending on thickness of fillets. Eat warm or cold.

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes smoked rainbow trout smoked trout trout rainbow trout smoked fish recipes rainbow trout recipes smoked rainbow trout recipes smoked trout recipes trout recipes fish recipes seafood recipes smoking recipes

sugo di nonna

 
This is my Italian grandmother’s recipe and one of my 2008 food challenges.

I’m not Italian at all, but I spent time in Rome during 1999. While I was there I lived with an Italian family who adopted me whole-heartedly and their matriarch, Anna-Maria, became my “nonna”.

Every Sunday the family made a visit to Nonni’s house for a big, traditional multicourse lunch. The first time I went my Italian wasn’t very good and I ate multiple courses of the delicious pasta, only to discover it was the first of many courses!

When my sister Shamu visited we warned her not to sit next to Nonno because he’s infamous for serving mountainous portions and coaxing you to eat until you’re as stuffed as a foie gras goose. Of course when she walked in the door, Nonno ambushed her and piled her plate with more food than she could eat, ending with a “slice” (an entire quarter!) of watermelon.

During an impromptu visit to Rome in 2005, Nonna made a special Sunday lunch in my honour and this was one of the courses she made. Her sauce was served with slices of cold roast pork, so it’s a perfect way to dress up leftovers. I like it over warm pork chops and cutlets too.

It’s a simple and delicious recipe that I hope you’ll enjoy.

Sugo di Nonna (White Wine & Vegetable Sauce)

Anna-Maria’s very own recipe. Makes 350ml.

Ingredients:
2 cups white wine
½ cup onion, finely chopped
½ cup celery, finely chopped
½ cup carrot, finely chopped
¼ cup parsley, finely chopped
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter, extra
Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil and butter in a saucepan. Add onion, celery, carrot then season with salt and pepper. Sauté gently for 10 minutes until softened.

2. Add white wine and parsley then simmer for another 10 minutes until alcohol has evaporated, liquid has reduced by half and the vegetables are quite soft.

3. Stir through extra butter and check seasoning, then serve over pork cutlets or slices of cold roast pork.

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes sauce condiment vegetarian recipes white wine recipes condiment recipes pork recipes sauce recipes italian recipes italian food italian cuisine

banana cream pie

 
Here I am celebrating Thanksgiving with a memory of my paternal grandmother.

Lois Larue Breakall was born in 1922 in McKeesport PA into a family who had lived in Pennsylvania since the mid-1700s (mostly Fulton County). She was proud of her heritage and introduced me to the genealogical research that led to my grandfather’s (her husband’s) ancestors in eastern and central Europe.

Grandma served in the Air Force during WWII and was a strict Baptist her entire life. She also happened to be an excellent cook and after my father migrated to Australia one of the things he missed most about America was Grandma’s cooking.

One of Dad’s favourites was Grandma’s Banana Cream Pie. As a kid he’s talk about this mythical pie and conjure up such vivid descriptions of flavours that I could almost taste it too. When they would visit us in Australia, or we’d go to the States to visit them, Grandma would make Dad and all of us Banana Cream Pie.

That’s why I chose it as one of my Food Memories for my 2008 Food Challenges.

A week ago Dad and my Stepmum came to visit us, so I tried to replicate Grandma’s pie.

Unfortunately I didn’t have time to make a true tart base and had to use cookie crumbs, but otherwise it was just as we both remembered. As my Stepmum pointed out, Dad would probably just prefer the custard, banana and cream without the base anyway!

The most important part of making a Banana Cream Pie is balancing out the sweetness of the custard and cream and using plenty of not-too-ripe banana.

When people pass away we lose so much more than just their company.


Grandma’s cooking provided sensory memories of home and family and good times that disappeared with her. I really value having recipes from her and my mother because when I really miss them I can cook something special and reach out to them through the flavours.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Banana Cream Pie

Based on a recipe from Tartine via Tartelette. Serves 8-12.

Ingredients:
250ml cream
1 tablespoon icing sugar
Sweet tart shell
3 bananas, sliced

Ganache:
250ml heavy cream
85g bitter sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons icing sugar

Custard Filling:2 cups/ 500ml whole milk
1 vanilla bean, cut open down the middle, seeded
¼ tsp of salt
4 tablespoons of cornstarch
½ cup/ 110gr. sugar
2 large eggs
40g butter, cut in small cubes

Method:

1. Set the chocolate into a bowl.

2. Heat the heavy cream and icing sugar to boiling point and pour over the chocolate.

3. Let stand a couple of minutes then stir until fully incorporated and glossy. Cool to room temperature. Pour over the pastry shell and refrigerate.

4. Heat the milk, vanilla seeds and salt in a pan and bring to a boil over a medium heat.

5. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the sugar, cornstarch and eggs until smooth.

6. Slowly add half of the warm milk mixture into the egg and whisk constantly to temper them.

7. Add the remaining milk, whisking, and return the whole thing to the saucepan.

8. Cook until you get a thick consistency, whisking non-stop.

9. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl, let cool for 10 minutes and then incorporate the butter, one tablespoon at a time, until smooth .

10. Cover the surface with plastic wrap, directly touching the cream, then cool completely in fridge.

11. Cut 2 ripe bananas in medium-thick slices and arrange them over the chocolate layer.

12. Pour cooled custard on top of the banana. Refrigerate.

14. In a bowl, combine cream and icing sugar and whip until soft peaks form.

15. Top custard with whipped cream, decorate with bananas and serve with ice cream.

Note: cake without cream and banana top can be refrigerated to serve within 24hrs.

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes banana cream pie dessert banana pies banana cream pie recipes pie recipes banana recipes dessert recipes american recipes american food american cuisine

cornbread

 
My dad grew up in California and when my mother migrated to the US in the 1970s she learnt to cook some of the Tex Mex and Southern recipes of the USA.

Before I was born my family relocated to Australia, but I was brought up on chilli con carne and cornbread as a regular weekly meal. I suppose that’s where my love of kidney beans began. I just loved the meaty-beany stew and the soft, warm, sweet cornbread alongside it.

As I grew older and my parents divorced we ate these dishes less and less since both my mother and my father’s new partners weren’t big fans. I really mourned the loss of this family staple so every now and then my mother would bake a batch of cornbread and we’d sit down and eat it hot from the oven, dripping with butter.

When my mother passed away we lost her wonderful cornbread recipe, but I think Bethany’s family’s version comes pretty close.

It has to be sweet, soft and hot. Then it reminds me of my mum.

Cornbread
Based on a recipe by Bethany Weathersby. Serves 10.
Ingredients:
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup self raising flour
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded cheese (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat baking tin in the oven to 180’C.

2. In a bowl combine vegetable oil, eggs and sugar and blend.

3. Add buttermilk and baking soda until combined.

4. Gently fold in flour and cornmeal (and optional cheese) until few lumps remain, but do not over mix.

5. Pour batter into hot skillet and return to oven and bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

This is my contribution to the Tastes to Remember blogging event hosted by Sarah from Homemade: Experiences in the Kitchen. I like the idea of this event, reminiscing about recipes, tastes and smells from childhood.

This recipe is also another tick off my 2008 Food Resolutions list.

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes cornbread bread american recipes cornmeal recipes cornbread recipes bread recipes

pickled eggs

When I was a teenager, my father made a batch of pickled eggs.

I was sceptical of this “weird” invention of his, since I’d never heard of pickled eggs let alone seen them anywhere, however being a big fan of everything pickled I tried them and became addicted.

Ever since I have wondered how he’d made them and why he never tried again. Even though it was a fixed culinary moment in my life, when I brought it up with him he barely even remembered making them.

But it wasn’t a dream.

And here I am replicating these great snacks for my ovo-lacto vegetarian husband as part of a 2008 food resolution to recreate this great food memory (part of my Pickles & Preserves Week).

Pickled eggs are perfect snacks. Apart from matching well with beer and other savoury drinks, they give Jonas something to munch on late at night after he comes home from the restaurant.

And better still they remind me of my father’s love of pickles and his adventurous, experimental spirit in the kitchen. I’m hoping his recent retirement will bring back this love of cooking, which was instrumental in inspiring me.

Pickled Eggs
Anna’s very own recipe. Makes 12.
Ingredients:
12 eggs, hard boiled and peeled
200ml cider vinegar
150ml white vinegar
150 ml water
2 tablespoons sugar
4 dried bay leaves
12 black peppercorns
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 small onion, roughly chopped
Method:
1. Put vinegars, water, sugar, bay leaves, mustard seeds and peppercorns into small pot and bring to the boil.
2. Place some onion in the bottom of the jar then some eggs and then some more onion until you’ve used them up.
3. When vinegar has come to the boil pour into jar over the eggs.
4. Seal immediately turning upside down to sterilise lid.
5. Refrigerate for 2 weeks before serving. Use within 2 weeks of opening.


Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes appetizers snacks snack pickled eggs eggs pickles egg recipes pickle recipes snack recipes

svensk fisksoppa

Jonas and I have bought our tickets and we're so excited!

We’ll be off on a 5 week holiday in July/August: catching up with family and friends but also exploring some new places we’ve never been before.

First stop is a few days in Tokyo (Japan) with Jonas’ brother, David, and some other friends: Slinky Minx and Taka.

Next is 2.5wks in Sweden, which Jonas is just thrilled about. Since he migrated to Sydney (2001), he’s only been home once (2003). It's been five years since he was home!

We’ll visit family in Göteborg and Stockholm, Jonas’ home town in Västra Götaland and we’ll also spend time in the Stockholm archipelago at the summer house on the island of Muskö that Jonas’ maternal grandparents owned.

After Sweden we’re going on a road-trip with my sister, Stinky (who will be living in Amsterdam), and our best man, Tim (who is living in London). At this stage we’re planning to drive from Krakow to Budapest and explore southern Poland, eastern Slovakia and eastern Hungary.

From there Jonas and I will fly home, but only after a few days in Bangkok (Thailand). Here I plan to eat real Thai food, take a cooking class and catch up with an old friend, Chanchai.

I’m over the moon because I will be spending time in four countries I’ve never been before and seeing places from Jonas’ past. It’s going to be great.

So, in honour of this mainly Swedish focused activity and, with the knowledge that I will be seeing my in-laws again, I wanted to share the recipe for my sister-in-law’s fish soup.

I think I’m pretty lucky to have Helena for a sister-in-law. She and I are actually friends and I enjoy her company quite separately from the fact that she’s my husband’s sister.

When she and her (Aussie!!!) fiancée, Christian, moved back to Sweden, Jonas and I were sad they were gone. It was quite lonely without them.

She’s a mechanical engineer and I am constantly surprised by the impossible things she builds around the house, as well as the art she produces and the stylish way she decorates her house. I could go as far as to say she’s a “Renaissance Woman” of the modern era.

But best of all she’s a foodie. She makes great meals and puts the same amount of love and effort into cooking that Jonas and I do. It’s so enjoyable to cook for her because she gets it, and she gives it back when you eat at her home.

The very first time I went to Sweden (back in 03) she made me this fish soup and I fell in love with it. When visited for the second time last December she made it again. It's so flavoursome and flush with fresh herbs.

This has become a bit of a tradition so I think I’m going to have to ask for it again when I see her in July, but in the meantime, here it is for everyone else to enjoy too.

Svensk Fisksoppa
Helenas recept. Servar 4.
Ingridienser:
400g sej eller torskfilé (fryst) i bitar
400g räkor, kokta
½ purjolök, delas på långden och skivas
1 gul lök, hackad
2-3 klyftor vitlök, hackad
2 msk smör
1 msk tomatpuré
1½ dl fiskbuljong (z tärningar)
2½ dl vitt vin
2½ dl grädde
1 dl crème fraîche
2 dl vatten
2 msk färsk timjan, hackad
2 msk färsk basilika, hackad
Salt o peppar
½g saffran
Färsk timjan, för garnering
Instruktion:
1. Fräs den gula löken i smöret. Lägg i purjolök och vitlök efter nån minut.
2. När mjukt, häll i fiskbuljongen, salt, peppar, basilika och timjan. Låt puttra några minuter på svag värme.
3. Tillsätt tomatpuré, vitt vin, grädde, crème fraîche och vatten. Låt koka upp.
4. Tillsätt saffran och fiskbitarna. Låt småkoka tills fisken är vit. Tar ca 5 minuter.
5. Häll upp i skålar och lägg i räkorna. Garnera med timjan.

Swedish Fish Soup
Helena’s recipe. Serves 4.
Ingredients:
400g cod or saithe/coal fish, frozen & cut into pieces
400g cooked prawns
½ leek, cut lengthwise and sliced into rounds
1 yellow onion, chopped finely
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon tomato paste
150ml fish stock
250ml white wine
250ml cream
200ml water
100ml crème fraîche
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh basil, finely chopped
Salt and peppar
½g saffron
Method:
1. Sauté the onion in butter, after a minute add the leek and garlic.
2. When soft, add the fish stock, seasoning, basil and thyme and allow to heat up.
3. Add the tomato paste, white wine, cream, crème fraîche and water then simmer for a short time.
4. Add saffron and fish pieces, then simmer gently until fish turns white, about 5 minutes.
5. Divide between bowls, top with prawns and garnish with fresh thyme.

This is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging, which is back home this week with it's creator, the Herb Goddess Kalyn from Kalyn's Kitchen. Check out the round-up!



Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes weekend herb blogging whb swedish fish soup svensk fisksoppa soup seafood fish swedish soup recipes seafood soup recipes fish soup recipes fish recipes seafood recipes soup recipes swedish recipes swedish food swedish cuisine

roast chicken w lemon & thyme

One of the set of tasks within my 2008 Food Resolutions was to recreate certain food memories and one which is certainly close to my heart was my mother’s roast chicken.

I suppose since my mother died when I was only a young adult I’d never gotten the chance to learn her recipes or even to learn how to cook properly myself.

I’m only glad that I listened carefully when she talked about food and cooking. What had seemed like mum’s general chatter back in those days, has led me to recipes which would otherwise have been lost.

Her roast chicken is just once such dish. She said she’d read a Stephanie Alexander recipe and had been inspired by the flavours. I remembered her using lemon, garlic and thyme and stuffing the lemons into the chicken cavity but I couldn’t remember much more. With the internet I could Google the particular recipe and add my mother’s additions and variations to come up with the roast chicken I had adored.

My little sister, Amy, had memories of this dish too. She remembers mum, during the latter stage of her illness, perched on a stool in the kitchen and shouting orders on how to prepare the dinner. She was only 17 and putting her hand into the raw chicken cavity was a disgusting memory Amy still can’t erase.

I cooked this recipe for my two sisters in a little remembrance dinner one Sunday. We each poked and prodded and checked whether the roast was done. When we took turns carving the meat I was so excited to see that my very first roast chicken came out pink and moist and perfect. I guess mum was guiding me through it too.

Lemon & Thyme Roast Chicken
My mother, Kay’s, recipe. Serves 4.
Ingredients:

1 x 1.6kg chicken
2 lemons, cut into slices
3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
Bunch of thyme
Freshly milled salt and pepper for seasoning
Small knob of butter
Olive oil
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180’C.
2. Clean the chicken and pat dry with kitchen paper.
3. Rub a lemon half all over the chicken skin and within the cavity. Do the same with a piece of cut garlic.
4. Stuff the lemons, garlic, thyme and butter in the cavity and more lemons, thyme and garlic between the breast and the skin. The skin should be loose enough to get pieces underneath.
5. Pat salt and pepper over the skin then drizzle with olive oil
6. Put chicken on a roasting rack in a large baking dish. Elevating the chicken means hot air with move underneath it and help even the cooking time.
7. Roast in the oven for 1 hour (fan forced) or 1.5hrs for a regular oven.
8. Chicken is ready when pierced with a skewer and juices run clear or when the drumstick is easily loosened when jiggled.
9. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before carving.
Note:
*The trick is to cook the chicken at 180’C for 20-30 minutes for every 500g of chicken (depending on your oven strength).
*If you want to turn the juices into gravy, remove chicken from baking dish and pour juices into a saucepan, removing the fat. Deglaze with white wine and scrap pan to clean and integrate flavours cooked onto the pan.
*You can also add vegetables, such as potatoes and carrots, to the roasting pan and bake together with the chicken.

The name thyme covers a genus (Thymus) of around 350 herbaceous plants and shrubs, native to Europe, North Africa and Asia. The stems are narrow and woody while the leaves are dense and evergreen in most versions.

Thyme has been used for millennia for a variety of different purposes: Ancient Egyptians used it for embalming; Ancient Greeks scented theirs baths and candles with it; Romans used it to flavour cheese and alcohol; and in Medieval Europe it was used to aid sleep and prevent nightmares.

It has been believed to bring courage since the times of Ancient Greece and during the Middle Ages in Europe knights and warriors would receive sprigs as gifts.

It’s essential oil contains 20-55% thymol, which is an antiseptic and apparently the active ingredient in Listerine mouthwash. Previously thymol was used to disinfect bandages; kill foot fungus; treat coughs, bronchitis and throat inflammation; and aid childbirth. Gargling water that has been boiled with thyme can be a useful mouth and throat antiseptic.

Unlike other herbs, thyme retains much of its flavour after being dried and is used widely in the cuisines of Spain, France, Italy, Turkey, Lebanon and the Caribbean. It pairs well with game meat, lamb, chicken, eggs, tomatoes and cream. Thyme is also a feature of famous spice blends such as bouquet garni, herbes de Provence and za'atar.

This is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging, of which last week’s recipe also featured thyme. It’s a herb I’ve only recently started to appreciate, so you’ll be seeing quite a few thyme recipes over the coming weeks.

Check out Lia's WHB round-up at Swirling Notions to see what everyone else has been cooking.


References & Photo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyme
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1052/545212109_703ccc83c8_b_d.jpg

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes weekend herb blogging whb main course lemon roast chicken roast chicken lemon chicken thyme roast recipes lemon recipes thyme recipes chicken recipes roast chicken recipes

shortbread

How can these perfectly shaped little beauties be homemade? I think it’s a lie.

Every now and then my sister, Joanne (aka Shamu), entices us with these wonderful shortbread. I think they’re probably Jonas’ favourite cookies.

I have to admit they are ridiculously good. Every time I eat them I can’t believe how good they are.

Shamu got the recipe from her mother, Lynn, and Lynn can’t remember where she found it. Nonetheless, it’s simple and damn tasty.

Here’s the recipe in Shamu’s own words:

Shortbread
Recipe by Joanne & Lynn. Makes many.
Ingredients:
115g (4oz) caster sugar
250g (9oz) butter
350g (12oz) plain flour
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 150’C (300'F) and lightly grease a baking tray.
2. Soften butter by either leaving it on the bench for a few hours or carefully microwave it so that it is soft but NOT melted.
3. Combine sugar and flour in a bowl.
4. Use your fingers to rub butter into dry ingredients to form a dough. The end product is much nicer if you use your fingers rather than a blender.
5. Use a floured rolling pin to roll out small amounts of the dough & cut out shapes using cookie-cutter.
5. Bake at just less than 150’C (very slow oven) until the cookies barely start to change colour (not sure how long - probably at least 15-20 mins).
6. Enjoy!

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes dessert biscuit shortbread cookie biscuit recipes shortbread recipes cookie recipes

bresaola e rucola

One of many Italian salumi, bresaola originated in Lombardy, on the border between Italy and Switzerland.

It is made by taking a beef eye of round (round steak section from a beef hind quarter) and then salting it and leaving it to air-dry for a few months. Sounds a bit risky, but I’m sure the cold mountain air meant there wasn’t much danger.

Bresaola with rocket is one of my favourite snacks and is also the perfect starter for a dinner party since it doesn't involve cooking. You can mix the dressing before hand then just plate it when you want to eat.

Bresaola also a good alternative to prosciutto for those who don’t eat pork.

When I lived in Rome, Paola would serve this at least once a week and I became an absolute addict. The saltiness of the bresaola and parmigiano combined with the acidity of the lemon juice and the nuttiness of the rocket: magic! Each night I would increase my levels of cheese and lemon juice as I grew immune to the effects of this intoxicating drug.

When we relocated to New York we still ate bresaola but it wasn’t as good as the Italian versions. It seemed drier and a lot of the delis sold square bresaola rather than round, leading me to believe it was processed more.

In Australia, where quarantine laws wouldn’t allow imported cured meats until just recently, I stumbled across a local brand that was round, tender and almost as good as the Italian versions. Almost.

When you buy bresaola ensure they slice it paper thin and that they put grease proof paper between every layer, otherwise it all gets stuck together and tears. Also, make sure you eat bresaola a day or two after buying it (preferably on the day) as it dries out fast and should be eaten moist.

Bresaola e Rucola
Common Italian way to eat bresaola. Serves 1 as starter.
Ingredients:
10 slices of bresaola
1 cup loosely packed baby rocket leaves, washed
2 tablespoons parmigiano, freshly grated
1 tablespoon lemon juice (2T if you’re a sour fiend like me)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Method:
1. Lay your bresaola on a plate, slightly overlapping
2. In a bowl, dress the rocket with the lemon juice, olive oil, salt & pepper
3. Sprinkle parmigiano over bresaola
4. Arrange rocket over bresaola
5. Drizzle any remaining dressing over the bresaola and serve, preferably with a lemon wedge

Rocket is excellent combined with bresaola but it also works well with sfilacci di cavallo, a dish from the Veneto region consisting of cured horse meat shredded and served over rocket in much the same way. I tried it when I was in Verona and it was wonderful.

Rocket (Eruca vesicaria) is also known as arugula, garden rocket, rocket salad, rugola, rucola, roquette and rughetta. It has a peppery flavour so it’s not surprising that it’s a member of the mustard family (Brassicaceae: Cruciferae).

Rich in iron and vitamin C, rocket has only 4 calories per cup. It's used as a salad leaf or to flavour oils, is wilted onto pizzas, blended in pestos and cooked with meats, as it is in one of my favourite dinners: strachetti con rughetta (thinly sliced pieces of beef cooked with wilted rocket and parmigiano).

Rocket is well known in the Mediterranean, especially in Italy where it has been used since Ancient Rome and was considered an aphrodisiac that could increase semen levels.

It was usually collected from the wild and it wasn’t until as late as the 1990s that large scale cultivation was undertaken. Now it is grown worldwide, although the Italian region of Veneto is still a mass producer.

Apart from Italy, there are many Biblical references to rocket, where it was known in the Bible as oroth and in the Talmud as gargir. It seemed to be found wild in the Jordan Valley where Bedouins grew it in pots.

Pliny, physician and botanist from the 1st century, claimed that tea made from rocket seeds could get rid of intestinal worms and ancient Jews used it to treat eye infections.

The Medieval physician, Maimonides, believed rocket seeds increased saliva levels while his counterpart, Asaph Haropheh, used rocket to treat liver and stomach problems, kidney stones and to increase milk levels in new mothers.

Wild rocket was also used as a traditional medicine in Portugal for digestive ailments and as a cough syrup, diuretic, tonic, stimulant, laxative and anti-inflammatory. It also, of all things, was used to treat greasy scalps and hair loss.

In Turkey, rocket is served as a side salad with pide (Turkish pizza) or as a snack to accompany raki (a fiery alcohol).

This week Weekend Herb Blogging is hosted by Zorra from Kochtopf so head on over to Swiss Food Goddess in Spain for the full story.

Photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/frangrit
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimtimnashville
http://www.valsana.it/it/images/products/82010.jpg

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bresaola
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arugula
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/arugula.htm
http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org/publications/pdf/234.pdf

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes weekend herb blogging whb entrée starter snack arugula rocket bresaola beef recipes rocket recipes arugula recipes bresaola recipes italian recipes italian food italian cuisine

chocolate truffle tart

Well I’m sure the author of this cake, Tessa Kiros, doesn’t call it Ludo’s Cake, but after one bite I couldn’t think of it as anything else. It tasted just like Ludo’s breakfast.

When I was a nanny in Rome my mamma italiana, Paola, would make a gluten free cake for lovely little Ludo (not so little anymore at 18! Time flies!). A cup of tea and a slice of cake would be breakfast for all of us for the week.

Now I know this sounds like a terribly unhealthy breakfast to most English speaking people, but the Italians are doing something right, just think about all the press surrounding the Mediterranean diet? And I'm not so convinced coco pops and cheerios have any less sugar than this wonderful chocolate cake anyway.

Ludo's cake is made slightly differently from this recipe (it’s a bit simpler and uses gluten-free flour), but the end result tastes identical: scrumptiously delicious. That’s why Ludo would have to fight Jacopo and I to get a fair share of her cake.

Now it's about time I posted this cake recipe. My lovely colleague Holly (an expert in shoes, rants and yule logs), has been asking me for this recipe ever since I brought her a slice for morning tea. I promised to post it long, long ago and I’ve been remiss.

Sorry Holly. I hope that the posting of this recipe makes up for the crappy new desk you’ve been relegated to – unfortunately Holly’s promotion meant a demotion in terms of desks – don’t ask!

Chocolate Truffle Tart (Ludo's Cake)

Recipe from Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros.

Ingredients:
100g butter
100g caster sugar
100g semi-sweet dark chocolate, chopped very finely
3 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
20g plain flour (or gluten free for Ludo!)
40 hazelnut meal
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180’C
2. Butter and flour a 20cm springform cake tin.
3. Melt butter over low heat. Add sugar and chocolate and stir until chocolate has completely melted and the sugar dissolves.
4. Scrape into mixing bowl and leave to cool for 30 minutes.
5. Add egg yolks and vanilla and whisk well with an electric beater.
6. Sift in flour and whisk to combine.
7. Fold in hazelnut meal.
8. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites until very fluffy, then fold through chocolate mixture, a spoonful at a time.
9. Pour into cake tin and bake for 35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean and the cake feels a little cracked on the top. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from cake tin.

Serve with espresso or hot chocolate and just try it for breakfast! You won’t be disappointed.

Buon appetito PaJaLu!


Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes dessert cake torta chocolate chocolate cake torta cioccolata dessert recipes italian recipes italian food italian breakfast