Grilled Asparagus with Chunky Tomato Vinaigrette

There’s been a lot of talk about cars around here lately. CV joints, brakes, suspension both leaf and spring, radiators fans etc etc etc ad infinitum. All terms I never anticipated knowing or indeed understanding but such is the life of a boy mum who’s boys love adventuring buy maintain and own their cars on their own ticket. I bet not a subject you ever expected to read about on a food blog either, but here we are.

You see, cars are super important to young people and in my experience young men. Cars are their independence especially when they still live at home, they’re often their conduit to study and employment choices without the shackles of public transport access and in my sons cases a symbol of economic achievement. They both saved for, bought and maintain their own cars all by the age of 18. They worked hard for that achievement and continue to work hard to sustain it. As they do to support their dreams and the one both boys are about to embark on.

As the boys grew, up we always holidayed in the wild. Packing our four wheel drive and camper trailer to the rafters so to speak, we’d set off to the trees or the ocean seeking adventure and freedom in the wide open. Sometimes ‘dragging’ your kids off on such holidays year in year out is enough to turn them off such adventures for life. In the case of our kids, however, this has been far from the case, indeed it’s driven them to go further and wilder. Soon, both boys will be heading off on their own adventures, in different directions from each other both with open ended return dates. One will head west, following the wild southern ocean to the west coast heading north to the red ocre of the Kimberley and the tropical north of his childhood. The other lad will head off through the open planed NSW outback to the green ocean side tropics of northern Queensland, both wonderful holiday spots if their wanderings prevail and we fly north to visit and fill our arms and family cup with their companionship. I’m all parts excited for them and with all my mother’s emotions inwardly sad at the void their absence will leave. Maggie McKellar has touched on this in her beautiful weekly newsletter The Sit Spot on occasion and will also write about motherhood in her new book to be released next year which can’t come soon enough. Their expeditions will take them on routes I’ve not travailed myself and open their eyes and wings in ways remaining at home never could. The prospect of this growth is beyond exciting for me to witness as their mother but the wrench to stand at the top of the drive way and wave them off as they drive away with a smile and dry eyes will be my own adventure.

Whilst melancholy at the thought of their departure, a part of me is also a little excited at what may come for me and us. Even though they’re adults running a home for a family of four still takes time and the ‘mother lobe’ of the brain to be constantly activated, or maybe that’s just me. The family diary in your head still ticks away, and the detritus of family life still surrounds you. Whilst I don’t begrudge that part of myself I’ve bestowed on them, indeed I’m grateful to have been able to do that, but I do look forward to another chapter opening in my life.

In helping our kids prepare for their trips one of the things they’ve sought advice on is meals they’ve enjoyed both at home and on the road, as I mentioned here. On reflection one of the great benefits of this blog is them being able to refer it while they travel ( when they have mobile/cell service) for the tastes of home but also it gives me an opportunity to explore other ideas for meals, particularly ones my husband and I can enjoy for lighter even meals for two and easy quick meals. Whilst the boys enjoy a wide variety of foods they are strapping, busy growing lads whose appetites and needs are perhaps greater than ours. More and more I’m thinking about dishes we might enjoy together of a lighter style. I created this recently for a quick lunch mopping up all that was left on the plate. It’s a delicious combination of flavours that will be flexible to be a side dish and as is with an egg as a quick dinner, maybe at the end of a weekend day adventuring ourselves.

Ingredients:

1-2 bunches of fresh asparagus spears, around 6-8 spears each.

1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes

1 ½ tsp salted capers, washed and chopped

1 tsp of Dijon mustard

2 tsp of sherry or red wine vinegar

2 tbs Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

2 eggs

2 tsp pine nuts

Mixed salad leaves

Method:

In a medium half fill with water, a generous sprinkle of salt and a good glug of white vinegar and pop over a high heat to bring to the boil.

Trim asparagus by breaking the end off at the base. To do this hold the base in one hand and the spear half way up in the other hand and bend. Do this gently and it will naturally break at the point where the sweet tender flesh meets the woody end. Place in a suitably sized bowl or plate, drizzle a small amount of olive oil and gently and briefly massage all over to coat the spears, set aside. In a medium bowl whisk together the capers, mustard, vinegar and oil, taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. It’s important to taste first as the capers, though washed, will add salt to the dish. Gently fold through the tomatoes and set aside. Set a griddle pan on a medium-high heat until smoking. Tip Asparagus into pan perpendicular to the griddle lines and cook a few minutes each side until just starting to soften. Remove from heat and keep war.

In the boiling pot, swirl water until a whirlpool forms and crack eggs into the centre of the whirlpool and simmer for 3-4 minutes or until it’s as firm as you prefer. You can gently lift the egg in a slotted spoon to the surface and gently touch it to check how done it is.

To assemble, place a handful of the salad leaves on a plate, lay the asparagus on top and spoon over the tomato mixture. With a light touch rest the poached egg on top, sprinkle pine nuts around the plate and serve.

I enjoy this dish with an extra flourish of persian feta or pan fried haloumi. Hubby like it next to some extra protein.

Served without egg this is an excellent side with all meats or on as part of shared table of a few sides. Plated as a larger dish in such a manner this will serve four as a side or six as part of a several offerings.

If you don’t have a griddle pan you can cook the asparagus on a barbecue/grill or even steam them.

Blueberry and Apple Compote

Plunging my fork into, what should have been, an unctuous herbaceous dish of some history for us I was pretty excited. A recipe given to me by a friend a million years ago that always evoked memories of another time in our lives the anticipation was high. As I bit down, swirled in my mouth, my expression fell. What had I done wrong? This isn’t how I remember it at all. I reluctantly ate, cant waste food to save myself. The boys loved it, me not so much. That was to be your recipe this week. And right then the wall went up. The creative block. I’d already photographed the recipe, loved the pics and felt very organised, just not whatever I’d done to the recipe. I have loads of dishes I could share but couldn’t think straight or decide on one to choose, re-test, cook, shoot and share. With only a few days to go what the heck was I to do. By this point it was late, I was tired, disappointed and deflated and really couldn’t arrive at a new direction.

The creative fork in the road is a funny thing. Generally known as creative block many say it’s a thing of its own. As is our want in 2022 I googled the phenomenon…. Procrastigoogling? Absolutely! Anyway, I digress. Elizabeth Gilbert, writer and creative commentator suggests the affliction is not in and of something on its own rather it’s the egg in the chicken and egg saga. Either representative of something bigger happening around your creative pursuits or indeed boredom of the reality that creativity when it’s both a profession and a pursuit is still work and not always something that lights you up with each word, click of a camera or brush stroke of a painting, or indeed step in a recipe. So, did I feel bored? Nope food never bores me, except at 5.30pm when I, yet again, need to come up with dinner. Was it something bigger around creativity…hmmm quite possibly. Imposter syndrome and wondering if your work is enjoyed and good enough is very very real. So, when a recipe idea crashes and a deadline (albeit self-imposed) looms what do I do? Well apparently, my creativity crashes too. So I went to bed with a headache and a blank page in my head and no expectation of sleep.

Mysteriously, sleep I did. Very well in fact. I still woke up with the remains of that headache but I was rested so that was a good start. Going through the motions of the morning routine, blinds raised, radio on, cat fed, coffee machine on I started running through ideas. Sitting with my breakfast I sat with my notebook scribbling down ideas and flicking through other recipes already recorded. Taking my first spoonful of yoghurt I stopped, “wait that’s it!” I doesn’t always need to be complicated, elaborate or solve a big problem. Sometimes it can and should be simple. When it seems complicated the answer is more often than not simple and more often than not right in front of you. Both the recipe and the words.

I have no idea where my love of cooked fruit comes from but I’m a sucker for a compote or more simply stewed fruit. I have no elaborate tale to wend my way through, there’s no specific spark lit in my memory, I just love the sweet jammy syrup with jewels of still whole fruit that results from a gentle simmer and addition of a few embellishments of a compote.

My Greek yoghurt at breakfast was blanketed by puddle of Blueberry and Apple compote, the spark for my simple share today. It was the result of a purchase at a recent farmers market. A deliciously generous tub of sweet sapphire coloured globes that from a distance, as I approached the stall, looked like fresh fruit but as I took them from the farmers hand were in fact frozen. I’d been meaning to bake something with them but finally arrived at compote and in turn have arrived here with you.

Ingredients:

500 gm Blueberries

1 Pink Lady Apple peeled and cubed

2 Tb Maple Syrup

1 Tb caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla paste or extract

Pinch salt

2 Tb water

1 tsp lemon juice

Method:

Reserve one cup of blueberries. Combine remaining ingredients in a small saucepan and over a medium heat bring to just below a boil. Continue to simmer over med-low heat until apples are just ender and the liquid that has developed has thickened. Add the remaining blueberries and continue simmering until they’ve just softened about 3-5 minutes.

Pour into an airtight container and refrigerate until completely cold. The sauce will thicken on cooling.

Cooking times will vary depending on whether or not you have used fresh or frozen berries.

Serve on Yoghurt like I enjoy it or even more deliciously over vanilla ice cream. The compote is also a lovely addition to a simple vanilla cake, porridge or rice pudding.

Sausage Rolls

The word Parochial, according to both the oxford and Cambridge dictionaries, has two meanings. One referring to religion and the other referring to a narrow scope of interest, single mindedness if you will. In the scope of the last week, both globally and locally here in my home town the true meaning of parochialism feels ever present.

Like billions worldwide I sat up glued to the television enraptured by the pagentry and tradition of the royal funeral. The ceremony and customs observed by The Church of England in marking the passing of it’s traditional head and the British head of state was both majestic and humbling. Breathtaking voices of the combined choir soared into the very peaks of centuries old Westminster Abbey signalling the procession’s arrival into the historic entrance to the nave and it’s slow progress forth. Goosebumps rose on my skin, a lump in my throat swelled and I was transfixed. Centuries of traditional rites honouring the values, structure and history of the church marked each convention in observance of the passing of a sovereign and the accession of a successor. Not only was the occasion a momentous one in the life of the church but also one in the history of the United Kingdom. The sight of hundreds of thousands of British subjects and visitors lining the Mall adorned with union jacks fluttering in the breeze framing the massed military march escorting the Queen was a stirring one of nationalism and loyalty to crown and state, truly one of the most parochial and unifying events in modern history. It was awe inspiring to watch and humbling to feel a part of even as a home viewer. Regardless of your feelings on royalty, both historically and into the future, you can’t help but feel awed by the reverential parochial respect the British people held for their monarch and consequently the nation and sheer grandeur of the ceremony.

Now, I’m not a religious person but I do love tradition, loyalty and dedication. In a far lighter vain, in Melbourne this week we observe what is colloquially called a religion, Australian Rules Football and it’s Grand Final and similarly evoking a reverential type parochialism. Whilst only celebrated on a fraction of the scale of the pomp of the royal ceremonies and a far less sombre and significant occasion it’s one of great parochialism unifying the two tribes of supporters whose two teams will go into battle for the ultimate prize of their sport. Suburban football clubs will hold smaller events to join into the festivities, supporters will stop at nothing to get their hands on tickets to the game at the MCG, our colosseum of sorts holding 100,000 spectators and groups of families and friends will gather around televisions roaring with each triumph. It’s a brutal game, men going to war putting their bodies on the line with every turn of play, no padding or helmets just primal brute force in the pursuit of possession of the ball and ultimately a goal. And in the midst of combat a population come together with nothing else in focus but that one day and prize each driven by a parochial and unwavering loyalty to their team.

I love tradition, I love the rites and symbolism of occasions grand and small significant and festive. Rituals and customs are anchoring and unifying. Maybe that’s why in many ways parochialism in all it’s forms can be a positive. From the formalities and rituals of a religious parochialism and the unity and comfort that it’s familiarity offers it’s followers to the one eyed loyalty individuals feel in parochialisms around communities, sport and unifying events no matter how trivial in the grand scheme of the world they may seem.

We too love the football grand final period and enjoy our little traditions around the festival. Usually gathering with friends to cheer and lament the warring teams and raise a toast to the ultimate winner. It won’t surprise you that we’re particularly parochial about the food we celebrate the footy with. Every year, regardless of whatever I’m serving Sausage Rolls are compulsory. My family’s parochial love of the humble seemingly simple hot pastry is without peer. Like many such dishes everyone has their own bent on the party food classic. Mine started, rooted in a Donna Hay recipe from one of her earliest books and over the years has evolved to reflect our own tastes and preferences. Generally I use store bought pastry but occasionally I’ll feel like something a little extra special and make my own. If you’d like to try making them with homemade pastry this one is perfect for these. They’re always best served with tomato sauce (ketchup) but we also love them with this delicious chutney.

Ingredients:

500gm beef mince

500gm sausage mince

1 onion very finely diced

1 carrot peeled and grated

2 cups fresh breadcrumbs made old bread or 1 ½ c of dried bought crumbs

1 egg beaten

¼ c worcestshire sauce

2 tb tomato sauce/ketchup

4-5 sheets of butter puff pastry or one quantity of rough puff pastry

I egg extra for glazing

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 c, line two large baking trays with baking paper, set aside.

Combine all ingredients except pastry and extra egg in a large bowl. Using your hands mix all ingredients very well. You can also do this in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment.

Lay out pastry sheets and allow to thaw until still cold and firm but pliable. Cut each sheet in half length ways. Using a disposable piping bag end snipped to create a 2 cm wide opening pipe the meat mixture down the middle of each pastry stip creating a sausage shape and size similar to a bbq sausage the full length of the pastry. Brush pastry edge then roll up encasing meat in pastry. Cut the full length roll into four smaller rolls. Repeat with remaining ingredients until all the meat is used. Place on baking trays, brush with extra egg beaten with a splash of milk to glaze and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.

Notes:

You can alter the mix of meat to as much as all sausage meat but not less than at least half sausage meat. This gives it a softer texture and loads of flavour.

Makes 40 snack sized rolls or 60 smaller canape sized rolls. If you’re unable to find sausage mince you can use BBQ style sausages in their casing and squeeze out the filling.

Panna Cotta Slice

I consider myself lucky to have enjoyed many friendships that have traversed many decades. A few from childhood to today and others born in adulthood marching through the more mature years. They’ve all brought something to my life and been by my side in life’s ups and downs. You know the type, they forgive your foibles, accept your quirks and celebrate your qualities. They’ll hold your hair back after a big night…if you know what I mean, they’ll laugh with you until your sides hurt and you can lean on each other when bumps in the road present themselves.

These types of relationships always add to your life in both the intangible and tangible.

I wrote a few weeks back about of oysters and brussel sprouts and friends. Indeed like many of us the place of food in these relationships acts like markers on our road, little signposts of memories.

A million years ago in my early twenties I started working in hospitality. My first shift in one of the big hotels in the city started before the sun had dawned and the bustle of the city streets had erupted. Quietly moving around the restaurant before guests arrived, my supervisor adjusted some cutlery here, straightened a chair there, all the while quietly listing off all the steps in preparing for and welcoming diners for breakfast. She was a highly trained silver service hospitality professional from London, married to a French trained fine dining chef also from the UK. Her efficient slick manner was both intimidating and inspiring leading an equally polished atmosphere. Luckily for me she and her husband went on to become very dear friends bringing all the qualities of a treasured friendship and more to my then young life.

Her husband, a chef of Anglo-Indian heritage and exceptional professional experience is the friend every food lover adores. Both wonderful hosts an invitation to their events is always hotly anticipated and accepted. No one leaves hungry neither for that day and the following days to come with leftovers in hand. He introduced me to and created a love of Indian food while also introducing me to many other culinary delights.

Not only are they wonderful hosts they’re also the very best of guests. They’re the ones who when they ask “what can we bring?” you should always be smart enough to say “oh perhaps dessert.” And unfailingly they’ll arrive armed with something they know you love. A little snippet of information they’ve remembered about you and that they lovingly recreate. That’s something true friends do isn’t it? They remember all the little things about you and do the little things for you, small acts of love.

Last time our friends came for dinner, and it was a while ago thanks Covid, I threw that ‘oh just bring dessert,’ line out and, as he always does, my friend delivered, arriving with one of my absolute favourites, Panna Cotta.

It’s one of those desserts not actually that tricky to make but that I tend to overlook to make at home. If I’m out and it’s on the menu I will always order it. I got to thinking recently what else I could do with the iconic Italian dessert and came up with Panna Cotta Slice. Served like a bar it looks pretty on the plate and adds an extra little treat to the delicate creamy classic.

Maybe you could serve it to your loved ones and show them a little creamy sugary love.

Ingredients:

Base:

80 gm plain flour

50 gm almond flour

50 gm caster sugar

¼ tsp salt flakes

100 gm cold butter cubed

1 tsp vanilla extract or paste

2 Tb warmed jam (Any flavour that suits, though avoid anything too lumpy or seedy. I’ve used peach and vanilla here and fork mashed before warming.)

Topping:

2 ½ c whole cream

1 ½ c whole mik

15 gm gelatine leaves (I’ve used titanium strength. Gelatine can be tricky, this may help explain it better)

120 gm caster sugar

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract or paste

Pinch of salt

 Method:

Preheat an oven to 180c. Line a shallow 20cm square tin with baking paper extending up the sides. You’ll need the extra to help lift it from the tin when it’s ready.

In a blender or food processor, combine all dry ingredients and pulse a couple times to combine ingredients. Drop in butter and vanilla and pulse several times until in damp clumps like wet sand. There should still be small lumps of butter and it will be a little sticky. Press into the prepared tin, you may need to lightly flour your hands to do this. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly golden and firm’ish to touch.

Completely cool in tin. You can make this the day before you need it if necessary and store in a sealed tub or well wrapped in cling wrap, though you need to keep it in the tin.

 When the base is completely cool start the topping.

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and warm over a medium-low eat. Stir constantly until sugar is dissolved and it’s very warm. Don’t let it boil.

 Remove from heat and pour into a cold bowl such as a glass or ceramic one and allow to stand for a few moments. Meanwhile soak the gelatine leaves in a small bowl of cold tap water (definitely not hot or warm water) until very soft, about five minutes.

While the leaves are soaking stir the cream mixture constantly to bring it to hand warm temperature. You should be able to dip a finger in and it not feel hot, just very warm.

Remove the leaves from the cold water and squeeze out any excess liquid. Separating them as you go, drop them one by one into the cream mixture and start stirring to dissolve them completely. This will only take a few moments but stir thoroughly to ensure you’ve completed combined them. Pour the mixture through a sieve into another bowl to strain out any lumps. Allow to stand for a few minutes more while you prepare the base.

Warm the jam and using a fork mash out any remaining lumps. Spread it over the biscuit base, This will create a thin seal for the base and prevent the cream mixture making it soggy.

Now is you’re able do this next part as close to the fridge as you can. Using a soup ladle gently pour the cream mixture into the tin over the biscuit base. Enusre you don’t let it go over the level of the top of the paper, this is why it’s important to make sure the paper is above the level of the tin. Gently place it in the fridge and leave to set for at least 4-6 to six hours. When ready to serve gently lift our of the tin using the paper to lever it out. Using a warm knife to glide through the the topping tim the edges if you wish then cut the slab in half then those halves in 2cm bars. I’ve left it plain for you to serve as you wish but its particularly lovely with a fresh fruit coulis, fresh passionfruit or fresh fruit of your choice.

I like to cut into bars to serve, approximately 10x2 cms is a nice size and looks lovely served.

Serve with a fruit coulis or fresh fruit on the side.

Muesli Bars

The cheers of my friends 7 year old screaming “ he’s walking” erupted from the lounge while we adults chatted in the kitchen. We rushed to the see what all the commotion was about to find my friends young son teaching my 11 month old to walk. It was our second wedding anniversary and not only had she brought us flowers to celebrate but her gorgeous boy had helped our son reach one of those much anticipated milestones. He’d rolled early, ten weeks, he’d babbled and chatted on schedule, gobbled up all that was offered and now was on the move. We all cheered and sat on the floor with him reaching our arms out to him encouraging him forward happily rejoicing with every step.

Parenthood is like that isn’t it? Anticipating all those milestones and all the rejoicing when they arrive. Some arriving on time, each one ticked off the list, others arriving on their own schedule sometimes causing anxiety and efforts rallied to help your young ones forward. Each rung of the ladder is exciting and each one marks the passage of time. No matter what others tell us in the midst of these exciting and busy years we do watch and wait with a mix of emotions.

As each one arrives so too does our own days and routines. Running around after mobile toddlers, taking them to preschool, starting the school days and all that brings including all the educational goalposts and extra curriculars. These milestones all act as building blocks to their lives and in turn our own.

As the early years of our children’s lives unfolded all the parenting moments and milestones of my emerged. Some challenging me others working to my strengths. As my eldest edged towards starting school I imaged myself creating all the gourmet lunches you could possibly think of. My young fella had a good palette and loved a wide range of foods. I couldn’t understand what other mothers bemoaned. To me I thought it was going to be a creative boon for this food lover. I soon learnt yet another lesson from parenthood. Coming up with variety and emptying picked through lunchboxes at the end of busy days soon became old. Each year would begin with purchases of the latest ‘lunchbox’ cook books and magazine special editions determined to do better and find new ideas. In turn each year would end with vegemite sandwiches and apples as we dragged ourselves to the finish line.

Then, in what felt like the blink of an eye, the school years were coming to an end and the lunch box ‘grind’ was too. I rolled through that first summer without a return to school and two adult men inhabiting the space formerly consumed by little boys with all the fervour of and excitement of a woman released from self-imposed shackles. Until I started to crazily miss it. Was it a metaphor for the loss of the little boys no longer running around? Probably. I’m immensely proud of the strong, self-sufficient and hard working men they’ve become but finding your place in the lives of your adult off spring can be a milestone of it’s own and a tricky path to navigate. But here’s the thing even adults still need parenting, it just looks and feels different and has a different scale.

At night as the boys prepare for the workday to follow and lunches are compiled, by htem now, I still often hear “mum what can I make for lunch?” you’ve read before about this one which has become one of Boy 1’s go to’s. But he also loves a hand held version, as it were, to munch on in the car on the way to work, as the sun rises over the suburbs and he sips his takeaway coffee in traffic. No longer taking shaky steps in the lounge room to outstretched arms but leaping through life away from the arms that now cheer him and his brother on in awe.

Ingredients:

120gm unsalted butter chopped

2tb honey

¼ c brown sugar

1tb olive oil

1 c rolled oats

1/3 c sunflower seeds

1/3 c pumpkin seeds

1/3 c chopped raw almonds or sliveded almonds

80 gm dark chocolate chopped

½ c dried fruite of your choice (I’ve used currants and chopped medjool dates)

1/3 c shredded coconut

¼ tsp salt flakes

Method:

Preheat oven to 160c (140c fan forced) and grease and line a 19.5cm x30cm slice tin.

Over a med-low heat, gently melt butter honey and sugar together until sugar is just dissolved without letting the mixture bubble. It will need your undivided attention as you may need to hold the pan off the flame a few times and swirl a little to keep it off the bubble. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature. If you don’t mind an extra dish to clean pouring the mixture into a wide bowl like a pasta bowl will speed this up.

While you’re waiting for that to cool, combine all remaining ingredients ensuring any sticky ingredients like dried fruit are broken up and covered in the dry ingredients.

Once wet ingredients are suitably cooled pour over the dry and stir to mix thoroughly until there’s no sign of dry ingredients. Some of the chocolate may soften and even melt a little. This will depend on how cool your butter was and how warm/soft your chocolate was. So long as the chocolate is still mostly whole it’s fine. In fact it will even help flavour the bars. Press into prepared tin pushing down to flatten. Pop in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Allow to cool almost completely in the tin. Gently lift out of the tin onto a rack and slide paper out from underneath.

When completely cool cut into the shape and size you desire. The outer pieces will be crispy and the inner ones chewy. The perfect mix for families of various tastes

Cornish Pastie

There’s a belief that we all experience our childhoods differently. All members of the one family reflect differently on all the events, traditions and milestones in their own way and colour in the images in their minds and hearts with their own ‘paint palette.’ Maybe this is driven by the age each individual member is at each moment in a family’s history or maybe their own character steers these memories. Our own journey through the years we traverse fills in gaps lost to time and the emotions we hold around these moments adding light and shade. Many of these recollections will hold food at their centre, it’s place at the heart of such chapters the jewel in the memory itself.

Marjorie Constance was our unassuming matriarch. A quiet country heart ensconced in the city after decades of battling milking eczema on dairy farms in the days of hand milking. Their pursuit of farming coinciding with running the town post office and whatever else her and Alfred could turn their hands to in order to make a living in their humble way. Papa a Cornish born gentleman and WWI Veteran and her an equally unpretentious country girl from rural Victoria. Salt of the earth types, as the saying goes, for whom family and home were everything and enough. They built their tribe, a son and nephew raised as brothers, as country families in Australia often did back then. Then their offspring gathering as cousins and sharing all the shenanigans and recollections of extended families. In her quiet gentle manner Nana cleverly gathered us all together twice a year taking full advantage of our Papa’s June birthday at the halfway point of the year and our love for him and of course an obligatory xmas celebration, unwaveringly, the second Sunday of December. She never pushed or imposed, it was just inked into the family calendar, bringing everyone together.

As a child I relished these gatherings, literally skipping through their beautiful garden carefully manicured borders, lining my path shaded by towering pine trees and abundant fruit trees. The kitchen table would be heaving with multiple desserts a collection carefully curated ensuring everyone’s favourites were catered to. The meal, never anything modern or fancy, rather it was always the best roast you’ve ever eaten and all those delicious sweets.

My cousins, the loganberry pie lovers, most probably see that as their highlight, always sat at the street end of the dressed-up trestle tables. I remember the apple pie and slices and the bench I sat on at the kitchen end of the table. We most likely recall the feelings and enjoyment of those meals differently too. What doesn’t differ is our love of a dish that never appeared at these evenings but is unerringly one of our favourite dishes from our Nana’s kitchen, Cornish Pastie.

Sharon, my cousin, says each vegetable was layered I don’t recall that. How the pastry was made has mystified us too. I suspect lard Sharon is certain it was butter. She’s also several years older than me so her role, working at Nana’s side, differs from the tasks a much younger me was set and again those experiences leaving a different story on the narratives of our lives. And that’s the thing, our memories are our stories coloured with our ‘paint box.’ Recipes will take their own shape and colours in your own hands. What matters the most is the feeling that first mouthful evokes. If, to you, it tastes like your memories and you recreate that feeling, you’ve recreated that recipe…enough.

Swede, as it’s known here, is the predominant flavour in pastie, it’s sweet earthiness the first flavour layer you taste. Other root vegetables follow with a savoury bite of beef and tingly white pepper foils the salty umami. I haven’t unlocked the pastry mystery but have let go of the pursuit of it’s secrets and wrapped the story in my rough puff pastry and that first flaky bite is immensely satisfying. You can use store bought if pastry making isn’t your jam but as always try and get the best you can obtain and afford, it really does make a difference. I’ve explained my pastry method below if you want to give it a go. Traditionally Pasties are made like individual parcels crimped on top almost football shaped. Nana always made hers as a slab, perhaps to make it stretch further and perhaps making a little less work for herself. We still prefer it that way.

Ingredients:

1 swede peeled and finely diced

1 potato peeled and finely diced

1 carrot peeled and finely diced

1 parsnip peeled and finely diced

1 eschalot or small brown onion peeled and finely diced

½ tsp heaped salt flakes

¼ tsp ground white pepper

2 tsp finely chopped parsley

250 gm minced/ground beef

2 sheets puff pastry measuring 30cm X 40cm

1 egg beaten and mixed with a drop of milk (as Nana would have said) for an egg wash.

Method:

Preheat oven to 180c.

Combine all the vegetables in a bowl with seasonings stir to combine and leave to sit for a few minutes while you prepare everything else.

On a greased and lined baking sheet/tray lay one of your sheets of pastry. Leaving a 2cm border around the edge, pile your vegetable mix in the middle smoothing out the surface to be flat. Now here’s the part that was my job when I was little, scatter all across the top little blobs of the minced beef. This will almost cover the top in a thin layer. Paint the edge of your pastry around the filling with the egg wash. Lay the second sheet of pastry on top and roll the edges over folding and crimping all the way round. Brush the egg wash over the top. Poke small holes with either a fork or point of a sharp knife in several spots across the top to allow it to vent. Pop in the oven for 60 minutes. For ten minutes more, bump the temperature up to 200c to burnish the top and cook off any remaining moisture from inside. I like to turn the tray half way round after 30 minutes. Every oven I’ve ever owned is hot at the back and doing this allows it to cook evenly.

Rough Puff Pastry:

400 gm cold butter cubed

400 gm plain flour

1tsp fine salt

150-180 ml cold water

Method:

Combine flour and salt in a bowl and tip onto the bench in a mound. Sprinkle over the butter cubes, it will look like a lot don’t panic it will all come together. Using the sharp edge of a pastry scraper chop through the mound as if youre cutting something up, changing the angles of the scraper. If you don’t have one you can use a large knife to do this. Once it looks well chopped up and mixed through make a well in the centre and tip half the water in. Using your hands bring the mess together. You’ll need to add more water but it’s easier to add it little by little until you have a rough shaggy dough than add more flour to correct it. Resist the urge to knead it just massage it to the mound until it will hold into a big lump. Shape into a disc, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Remove from fridge and on a lightly floured surface roll out to a large rectangle. Nudge the edges into shape to achieve this, it’s a soft dough with such a high butter content so will be pliable. Fold each end into the middle then fold at the middle again like a book dust cover. Fold that bundle in half on itself, cover and refrigerate 30 minutes. Repeat this process 3 more times then rest again for 30minutes to an hour. It’s a good one for a slow day each roll and fold only takes a few minutes.

When ready the dough will be very smooth and ready for rolling as required. Cut in half and roll to required size. This recipe is the perfect amount for the sheet of pastie.

Brussels Sprout Gratin

With all the hutzpah and imagined sophistication of the young woman I was I stood in the golden waning light of a light spring evening, breeze gently billowing through my pink linen dress. The air scented by the heady fragrance of the rose garden in which we gathered, the late spring evening warmth carrying the perfume through the air. With anticipation I accepted a glass of straw-coloured sparkling wine, the new vintage which we’d gather to celebrate having just been sabred to much applause and celebration. Sipping happily laughing and chatting with friends the mood light, the tummies had begun to rumble. Waiters had begun to circulate offering light appetisers carefully curated to begin the evening and signal the excited mood. Oysters were presented, my friends all happily accepting them while I politely, and I thought discreetly, declined. My youth showing, one of my friends enquired as to my tastes and refusal of a plump pearlescent mollusk. Trying to maintain my façade of maturity and sophistication I tried to wave off the comment but his tenacity prevailed. “Try one,” he insisted…”what’s the worst that can happen….you confirm you don’t like them and move on.” He’s a hard man to argue with even to this day and he had a strong point. By this time he’d called our server back and taken a shell for me thrusting it forward and instructing me on how to eat the delicacy au naturele. I mean what a baptism of fire! No bacon of the Kilpatrick variety or oozy gooey mornay, we were starting hard core. He informed these treasures were flown in especially every year for this special event, remembering this was in the day when flying food around for such an indulgence was a rarity. Anyway, loath though I was to admit it, because frankly 25 year olds hate being wrong, but he was right. And to this day I love oysters, in all their guises, and artichokes, another of his culinary lessons.

In a fit of swings and roundabouts fast forward 22 years and we again had gathered surrounded by all our adult children, fast flowing conversation and a variety of food filling the dining room. Again a young 20 something, my friend’s son, politely turned his nose up at one of the many vegetable sides on offer. And as we do in middle age I recounted my oyster story and challenged him to try something different. Begrudgingly he took a small scoop, the conversation resumed and, so he thought, he took a bite discreetly. Quietly he reached forward and served himself a second helping and continued eating under the gaze of his mother and I sharing a gentle grin. A few years on and James still like sprouts.

It’s always worth trying those foods you think you don’t like, if you don’t like it you don’t have it again and if you do you explore that new food in all it’s forms. Nothing culinarily ventured nothing deliciously gained.

If a young man can enjoy brussels sprouts almost anyone can. I mean who doesn’t like something smothered in creamy sauce topped with a little crunch from sourdough crumbs. And of course the salty pop of prosciutto or bacon and gentle bite of pine nuts rounds the dish out perfectly. I promise! Just have a go.

Ingredients:

300 brussels sprouts trimmed at the base and halved

3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove bruised

2 french sallots

50 gm finely sliced prosciutto

¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 Tb pine nuts

40 gm butter

1 ½ Tb plain flour

1 ½ C warm milk

60 gm finely grated gruyere cheese

½ C course breadcrumbs made from stale bread preferably sourdough tossed in 1 Tb Extra virgin olive oil.

Method:

Preheat oven to 180c.

Grease a shallow gratin dish or pie plate with better set aside.

Blanch the prepared brussels sprouts. If you’ve not blanched veg before it’s super easy. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Drop the sprouts and as soon as it returns to the boil remove and plunge into a bowl of cold water and ice cubes immediately. This stops the cooking process while giving them a brief cook but you need to remove them straight away they’re not in there to cook.

Warm olive oil in a pan, big enough to hold all the sprouts in a single layer, over medium-high heat with the garlic clove. Place all the sprouts cut side down in the pan cooking for 2-3 minutes until they start to char slightly. Remove and place in the prepared dish/pie plate face side up.

In the same pan on medium-lo heat, gently cook the prosciutto until starting to caramelise. Turn the heat to low and add the shallots cooking until translucent but not browning. Remove and sprinkle this mixture over the sprouts.

Again using this pan return it to the heat and turn down to low. Add the pine nuts and nutmeg stirring constantly for 1-2 minutes to release the aromas and again sprinkle over sprouts.

In the same pan you’ve been using, melt the butter. Add the flour and whisk with a balloon whisk. Slowly pour in milk whisking constantly and continue doing so until smooth. Keep stirring until beginning to thicken, sprinkle in cheese and cook a further minute or two until completely combined and thickened. Pour over the sprout mixture. Sprinkle prepared breadcrumbs over the top and bake for 20 mins.

Notes:

James’ mum and I love this dish with fennel. You can either add fennel to this at a ½ & ½ ratio or make it all with fennel. If using all fennel, trim and quarter and either sear in a griddle pan for pretty lines and another layer of flavour or gently caramelise in the pan skipping the blanching step.

If you prefer a firmer bite to your sprouts you can skip the blanching step but do caramelise them in the pan and do so a little slower to begin the cooking process.

White Chocolate and Raspberry Mud Cake

I was woken a few nights ago by magpies carolling. Calling to each other in the dark still of night, still cold and frosty I wondered for their safety. Were foxes out prowling? Was there some kind of territorial stand-off with larger beaked more resilient kookaburras? These weren’t questions that would allow me to rest so as one does is 2022, I reached for my phone and started googling. It’s mating season, no danger just the natural rhythms of nature and one of the first calls of a shift in the seasons. I drifted off to sleep to their carousing, their lullaby rocking me to my slumber.

Today as I write this, my back is warmed by the north sun. Unencumbered by clouds, not tempered by rain it’s beams thaw the winter chill from my bones though my lap is cosy under a crocheted woollen blanket still. Shadows dance in my kitchen drawing my gaze through the window, the wattle is blooming. No longer a tree adorned with small chartreuse coloured buds the little golden pompoms have exploded all over the tree like tiny little golden fluffy pearls. Sunshine and wattle a beacon reminding me spring is wriggling its way out of a cold hibernation and bursting forth.

The pruned rose bush and hydrangea is also budding, the earth is warming and the suns daily sweep across the sky is climbing, bathing our terrace in warmth inviting us outward.

I’m reminded of the joy of outside dining, taking a break in the garden with a coffee and baked treat, hosting a long leisurely Sunday lunch, or balmy nights passing platters and clinking glasses. It’s coming round again, the time to host, celebrate and entertain. Until then cake and coffee will do.

As a child one of my favourite chocolate bars was one called a Milky Bar. A bar of creamy white chocolate it was always one that could make me smile and indeed still does. Today white chocolate is frequently paired with raspberries in muffins, their tart pop a perfect foil for the richness of the chunks of white chocolate. These are lovely of course but I like to level it up. White chocolate mud cake and raspberries are a whole other story. Whilst this cake bakes beautifully in a 20 cm round tin it is rich and indulgent and can be hard to polish off cut into traditional wedges. I like to make it in a brownie/slice tin as a slab adorned with raspberry flavoured cream cheese frosting cut into little squares…..or not so little as the occasion requires. A cake/slice Hybrid if you will. It’s a super moist cake allowing you to make ahead and will eat well for up to a week locked away in an air tight container, though if iced I suggest the fridge…if it lasts that long.

Ingredients:

150gm White chocolate chopped

250 gm butter chopped into small cubes

1 ½ c caster sugar

½ tsp salt flakes

½ c milk

½ c sour cream

1 ½ c plain flour

½ self raising flour

2 eggs beaten

1 heaped tb white hot chocolate powder

200 gm raspberries

Method:

Preheat oven 160c non fan forced. Grease and line a 30cm x 20cm brownie/slice tin.

Combine butter, chopped white chocolate and sugar in a saucepan over low heat and slowly heat until all ingredients melted and sugar is dissolved. You made to taste test a couple times to check the sugar….call it quality control. Stir through vanilla, milk and sour cream until combined remove from the heat and allow to cool. I always decant into a cool jug or bowl to speed this part up. Allowing it to cool in a hot saucepan will only slow this process down.

While that’s cooling, in the bowl of a stand mixer, combine dry ingredients and hand whisk to thoroughly mix. Whisk together eggs in a small bowl. Add to bowl with cooled chocolate and butter mixer. Using paddle attachment on your mixer, mix on low speed for one minute or until thoroughly combine. You only want the ingredients to just combine we done want to overmix it.

Pour into the prepared cake tin and dot with the fresh raspberries. Bake in the oven 1 ¼ hours. It will be golden brown and have a crisp sugary crust. Check the cake after 45 minutes to make sure it’s not browning too much on top. Pop a loose sheet of foil over the top the rest of the bake if it does look like its cooking too quickly.

Allow to cool completely in the tin before removing.

Icing:

My kids love this cake uniced and dusted with icing sugar. You might like to try this too, especially served with thick cream.

If you prefer something a little more luxurious, you might like to ice it with a raspberry cream cheese frosting.

250 gm cream cheese softened

100 gm soft butter

Raspberry powder

Combine all ingredients in a stand mixer using whisk attachment and whip until light and fluffy.

Raspberry powder can be hard to get. I make it using crisp freeze dried raspberries whizzed in a vitamix and then sieved to remove seeds. If this is a bridge too far for you, you can use raspberry essence found in the cake making section of supermarkets or a couple spoonfuls of raspberry jam though the flavour will be more subtle and the icing a little thinner.

Notes:

You can of course make this in a 20cm round or square regular cake tin. It will need to be one of regular height and will take 1 hour 40 minutes to cook though I suggest checking it at 1 ¼ hours to see how it’s going. If it’s browing quickly pop a loose sheet of foil over the top.

You can also fold the raspberries through the cake. Do this very gently to try and keep as many as you can whole.

If raspberries aren’t in season try dropping teaspoon sized dollops of raspberry jam randomly across the top of the cake mix before popping in the oven. Using a skewer, gently swirl them through the batter distributing the jam through the ‘mud.’

Spaghetti Bolognese

What’s your favourite dinner? The one that makes you smile when you reminisce and remember your younger self eating it. The one you make for your own kids now and that you want them to love. The one that weaves it’s way through your own memories. The comfort food dinner. If I’m honest, for me, it’s spaghetti bolognese. I have many memories attached to the iconic dish, many of them around it’s evolution in my cooking world to the dish I make today. Now my kids have many memories around ‘Spag Bol,’ as it’s affectionately known here, and it’s the one meal unfailingly met with smiles at every serving and the one they now want to learn to make themselves. Indeed I imagine as their version evolves so too will the flavour and their own memories around the dish.

My first encounter with a bowl of noodles encased in meaty tomatoey sauce was in a family restaurant we visited to celebrate family milestones and special occasions. My family didn’t know any Italian folks nor were my parents particularly adventurous in the kitchen so any pasta dish beyond Kraft Macaroni Cheese from a box or tinned spaghetti seemed very exotic. After much nagging my poor mum who wasn’t particularly adept in the kitchen gave it a go. With no recipes or friends to guide her she cooked up some dried pasta pouring the wiggly worm like strands into the bowl and topping it with tomato paste. I don’t need to explain how that went except to say from there it was Campbell’s tinned Bolognese sauce all the way….for many years.

In my early 20’s, chatting with an older friend who was quite an accomplished cook, she was horrified by my bolognese journey and set herself the task of helping me master the art of the wholesome favourite. More cans and short cuts ensued but we were at least on the way to homemade version of some sort. This one involved Campbell’s again only this time a can of their condensed tomato soup and a dash of curry powder….. I know. But in my defence I was young and still pretty inexperienced in the kitchen. I thought I was almost Italian and indeed was finally able to teach my mum how to make ‘proper’ spaghetti. As stir through sauces appeared at the supermarket Mum would bounce between them and the tomato soup and curry method, both obviously usurping the tub of tomato paste on hot pasta method.

Now I’m the mum and my kids want to know how to make our family version of the classic dish. My eldest son, who’s nearly 23, is heading off with his friends on an adventure early next year. They’re planning a half lap of Australia heading west, touring in their 4WD’s camping and living off grid. I’m all parts excited for them and terrified. It’ll be the longest he’s been away from us and we’ll miss him enormously. Last Christmas one of the gifts I bought both boys was a recipe journal with plans to write in any favourite dishes they want to be able to make for themselves in their own homes in years to come. Boy 1’s first request was Spag Bol, but here’s the thing….After decades of making something by sight, smell and feel I had to really think about how I create something that’s second nature. It’s forced me to slow down and really note how it all comes together and record it for posterity as much as pass on to him.

So with your indulgence, I hope you don’t mind pasta two weeks in a row, I thought I’d share with you our version of the aussie Italian hybrid that’s equal parts a nod to Australia’s multicultural heritage as it is to the evolution of my cooking skills and our little family’s food story.

***A little note on my method for cooking my sauce. You’ll note that after bringing everything together on the stove I cover the pot and pop it into the oven for a few hours. I stumbled on this idea when two commitments collided but I needed dinner ready for a visit from my diabetic dad. I suspected that on a low temperature I could let the pot bubble away in the oven without a lot of supervision as opposed to cooking it on a stove as I had until then which of course requires your attention and stirring. Not only did the sauce look after itself that afternoon but the richness it developed in the oven versus the stove was a revelation. And, as I did that long ago Sunday with a get together with the neighbours, you can relax and enjoy a little glass of wine while dinner bubbles away. You can still cook yours on the stove if you prefer as my son will need to do on a camping stove in the wilds of outback Western Australia next year.

Ingredients

2 tb Extra virgin olive oil

100 gm prosciutto, pancetta, bacon or ham (you can even use left over roast pork chopped up)

1 large onion finely diced

1 carrot finely chopped or grated if you prefer. The kids can help you with that step perhaps.

½ celery stick finely chopped

1Kg beef mince. Don’t choose the lean one, all the flavour is in the meat fat.

3 garlic cloves crushed or grated

1 tb dried oregano leaves

2 tbs tomato paste

2 400 gm cans of crushed or chopped tomatoes PLUS two cans of water/beef stock

2 beef stock cubes if not using beef stock for above

1 700g bottle of passata

A generous grating of fresh nutmeg

1 tsp of salt flakes

Black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 180c.

Over a medium flame on the stove warm the olive oil in a heavy based pot that has a well fitting lid for later.

Sauté Prosciutto, bacon or whatever pork product your using and cook until starting to crisp at the edges. Add onion, carrot and celery to the pot and turn heat to low cooking gently for up to 10 minutes until soft and translucent. Return heat to medium and pop the garlic and nutmeg into the pot warming a minute or two until fragrant. Push all that to the edges of the pot and drop the mince in the pot increasing heat to med-high. Leave the mince whole for a few minutes letting it sear and brown before turning the meat whole and repeating that sear again. Once both sides are brown you can start breaking up it up to continue browning the mince. When almost don’t stir the vegies and prosciutto/bacon into the mince. Add the tomato paste to the mixture, stir through thoroughly and let the paste cook off for a moment or two. Turn heat to high and pour in the wine letting it bubble up and cook off for a few minutes reducing in colume slightly.

Stir in tomatoes and passata, water/stock (pop the stock cube in now if using in place of stock), oregano and salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid and place in the oven. After the first hour remove and stir. Pop it back in the oven for another hour and your done. Check for seasoning and adjusting as required.

***Notes***

If you think the sauce is getting too thick too quickly you can add water to return some moisture to the dish.

If you need an extra to hang out with the neighbours/read a book/play with the kids/ do the shopping etc turn the oven down to 160c. It should buy you another 45to sixty minutes but keep a little eye on the moisture.

As I mentioned previously I don’t have a lot of gadgets including a slow cooker. If you want to be uber organised you could probably do this in the slow cooker. You might like to use this handy tool to convert my instructions.

A weird but tasty addition is some leftover roast pumpkin mashed into the sauce just before going into the oven. Trust me…Delicious but shhh don’t tell the hubs I fed him pumpkin.

Oven Roasted Tomato and Salami Pasta

The grains rain down from the bag as I pour them from the crinkled bag. Straw coloured and fine they remind me of dry fine sand from an exotic beach somewhere. I briefly run my fingers through their soft feather light texture almost like the beginning of a meditation, the gentle sweep through the grains setting the scene for my hands, my mind switching off from the swirl of life around me. My fingers leave a crater in middle of the mound ready to receive warm water to transform the grains to a soft pillowy dough. Swirling through the mixture as it amalgamates into a rough ball my fingers warm up, start to stretch and squeeze, coaxing the two forms into one. I notice flour and water have joined and a rough ball has formed, I notice I’ve switched off from the world and almost in a trance have given my whole mind to the process.

Flexing my hands the rough ball lands on the bench from the bowl, stretch, fold, turn, repeat…over and over until the craters, dimples and blemishes smooth out. My hands and eyes talking to each other, feeling the dough as I knead, registering it’s increasing pliability, the surface losing it’s imperfections to a silken smooth outer like the proverbial baby’s bottom. I can feel it’s alchemy emerging, it’s lightness pillowing with each turn. It’s time. Tucking my pasta dough under a cover for a rest it’s time to let it relax, I notice the satisfied feeling in my muscles and the calmness in my mind. The satisfaction of creating something from two simple ingredients and the moments of tuning out to the world and into the union of the elements almost invigorating.

I’m often asked If I have fancy kitchen gadgets like an air fryer or thermomix. Indeed as an avid cook you’d think I would. I confess, as a lover of technology and cooking I am often tempted but I love the process more. Maybe it’s my version of exercise, I do know it’s my way of switching off. And while doing so I get to nourish, nurture and create, three things that are important to me. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes the kneading of a dough may be more ‘vigorous’ than others or indeed the stirring of a bubbling stew less enthusiastic but it’s always satisfying.

So do I have a fancy pasta making machine? No. I actually love tuning into the ingredients in my hands, building an intangible intuition and allowing it to let me know when it’s ready. Trusting and enjoying the process regardless how arduous or enjoyable the day allows it to be.

I’ve recently revisited my love of making pasta guided by this book. If you’d like to try and make your own basic pasta this is an excellent place to start. There really is nothing like the taste and texture of homemade pasta. Maybe it’s the satisfaction, almost smug-like if I’m honest, of knowing something so nourishing was created with my own hands but the flavour and freshness of it compares to nothing else.

While I massage the dough with my hands my mind invariable always wanders to the final flourish of any pasta dish and how it will be adorned and dressed. Sometimes the pasta will be evolve while a rich ragu bubbles away in the oven (Yes the oven. I’ll come back to that one another day but trust me cooking your pasta sauce in the oven slowly is a game changer). But other times the desire to make the pasta precedes the planning so to speak. Often time while that dough naps under cling wrap, I’m found in the pantry and fridge fossicking for inspiration.

This is one such creation. It’s easy and full flavoured belying the ease with which it comes together. It’s a great end of the week dish using all those tomatoes sitting in the bowl on the bench, in fact will be all the better for some extra ripeness. And yes the bench! Don’t store your toms in the fridge, they last longer at room temp.

Ingredients:

750 gm of mixed fresh tomatoes. The more varieties the better and the riper the better.

3 Tb Extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp salt flakes

3-4 garlic cloves unpeeled

1 onion peeled and cut into 8 wedges

1 400 gm can crushed tomatoes

½ tomato can of water

100 gm flavourful salami

Method:

Preheat oven to 200c and place a baking tray in the oven to also preheat.

Fill a large pot with salted water and place on the stove over a large flame to bring the water to the boil.

Gather and weigh your tomatoes. Remove any green stalks if you have truss toms and cut any larger ones into wedges similar size to cherry tomatoes if you’re using a mixture (as pictured). Gently toss onion wedges, tomatoes and garlic in the oil and softly tumble into the warmed baking tray, drizzling any leftover oil from the bowl over the top. Spinkle the salt flakes over and place in the oven for 15 minutes. We want the tomatoes to begin to blister and the edges of the onion pieces to char and caramelise.

Remove from the oven and add the canned tomato and half of that can of water. Gently fold the ingredients together. The onion will start to separate which is fine as that’s how we want to serve it. Return to the oven for a further 15 minutes. It will begin to bubble and thicken slightly.

At this time pop the pasta of your choice in the water to cook.

Remove from the oven for a second time. Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper as required though not too much as the salami will add flavour in the next step. Lay the salami slices across the top in a single later and again return to the oven, this time for 10 minutes. The salami with crisp and brown at the edges.

The pasta should be cooked at this time. Drain the pasta and add to the sauce. Fold through and serve.

If you’d like to give pasta making a try this is a good place to start. Mine is ‘rustic’ shall we say but it all tastes the same right.

Blood Orange & Blackberry Self Saucing Pudding

He’s a sunseeker. Like a cat stalking a sunbathed window, he’s usually found where the sun shines her warming beams down. As a young man he was rarely indoors, always seeking adventure always in the sun. From summers by the seaside with loved grandparents in childhood to adventures in the bush with mates as a teen, always following the arc of the sun. In adulthood he continued to point north face turned toward the sun’s sweep across the sky his pursuits informed by those best enjoyed under golden warm skies.

I first met him as summer waned, still sunny, ocean breezes licking our young faces. He was the handsome divemaster on the boat on which I too pursued sunbathed pastimes. He’s my north, with whom I’ve pursued a life in the sun for nearly 25 years and built a sun soaked life with our two boys.

He still prefers a sunbathed life, always looking forward to sunny days, warmer seasons and life outdoors. Winters aren’t always to his liking indeed they rarely are. This winter has been particularly long, this last week marked by mornings blanketed in frosts sparkling under winter sun and crisp chilled air. At the end of the cold days a little bowl of sunshine can go some way to thaw chilled hands longing for warmth.

Seeing shiny blood oranges with a vibrant ruby blush, plump with tangy juicy at the green grocer was a draw too good to walk past. Harking back to my own childhood favourite winter pudding of magical self-saucing pudding my Blood Orange and Blackberry version is like a soft pillowy island of gently spiced almond sponge floating on a puddle of sunshiney blood orange syrup dotted with berry jewels.

Maybe it will bring some sunshine to your winter nights and warm you from the inside out.

Ingredients:

Pudding

60 gm butter melted

200 gm self raising flour

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cardamon

40 gm ground almond/almond flour

100 gm caster sugar

1 tb of finely grated orange rind, preferably blood orange

¼ tsp salt flakes

1 egg lightly whisked

180 ml of whole milk

125 fresh blackberries

Syrup

80 gm brown sugar

125 ml freshly squeezed strained blood orange juice

200 mil boiling water

Method:

Preheat oven 180c (170c fan forced)

Generously grease a baking dish, preferably ceramic or glass. The one pictured is 30cm x 16cm at the base. Spread out fresh berries and set aside.

In a large bowl combine dry ingredients and orange rind. Mix with a whisk to to thoroughly combine and aerate. Whisk together egg, milk and melted cooled butter. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredients. Fold together gently using a balloon whisk or spatula with a lite hand. Gently spread batter over berries in an even layer.

Stir together boiling water, strained juice and sugar, stirring quickly to break down sugar. Gently pour over the pudding batter pouring over a spoon to spread the fall of the liquid and moving around the surface of the pudding to prevent puddling and denting of the surface.

Pop in the oven for 35 minutes or until firm to touch in the centre. It will feel like cake floating on a pool of sauce.

Serve warm with scoops ice cream melting through the cracks or dollops of whipped Chantilly cream.

Notes:

Feel free to substitute blackberries with raspberries if you prefer.

You can switch the whole thing up and make a lemon and blueberry pudding. Just sub in lemons from oranges and blueberries for blackberries.

For a little extra zing a splash of a couple of teaspoons of your favourite orange liqueur or gin over the berries before the batter is a lovely little grown up addition

Thai Spiced Pumpkin Soup

Many of my memories are wrapped in food. I can recall what I’ve eaten at many of the important moments, milestones and destinations in my life, the dish punctuating the recollections with flavour, colour and setting. I write about this a lot, indeed these memories and the feelings they evoke spark emotions that can comfort, warm and usually bring a smile. The transportive nature of taste and smell can move you like no other sensory spark.

The bracingly cold winter we’re experiencing has again brought many of these memories to the surface with a seemingly insatiable yearning for soup. Some of my earliest and fondest memories featuring food and coloured with a bowl of steaming nutritious soup. I’ve written about this here and here. Soup can act like a canvas for culinary creativity stretching you to use up the bits and bobs in the veg crisper and pantry and concoct something that emerges from the bowl that warms and nurtures mind, body and soul.

One of the first soups I made myself was a pumpkin soup. Sitting in the classroom of my home economics class aged 14, relatively new to the pumpkin eating party I was excited to try what felt inordinately exotic. Can you imagine a simple bowl of a much loved classic, listed on café menus the world over for its economic simplicity as exotic? Gosh our tastes grow don’t they. It was a favourite for many years and one I made frequently. But as time marched on and my tastes changed I found myself rejecting it as too plain.

Too plain until this idea came to me. It’s one inspired by many modern versions I’ve seen around recently. Attempts by others to zhoosh up the 1980’s favourite with a modern twist. Ones with various flourishes of other ingredients dancing in tandem to create a new combination or various spice additions transporting the dish through various cuisines, all of which lifting a very simple dish to another level. As is often the case in my kitchen I’ve tried to keep it simple, relying on the best quality ingredients available to shine and bring the show to the bowl keeping the list and jobs to a minimum.

Ingredients:

750 gm Pumpkin peeled and cut into large chunks

2 Tb olive oil

½ tsp salt flakes

1 tb grated ginger

2 French shallots peeled and sliced

1 lemongrass stalk, white part only bruised to open the husk but remaining in tact

3 lime leaves scrunched up

2 tb red curry paste

1 litre chicken stock

1 cup coconut milk

Preheat oven to 180c.

Method:

Combine pumpkin cubes, 1 tb of the oil and salt flakes and toss to coat. Spread in one layer on a baking tray and roast in the oven for 30 45 minutes or until almost cooked through. They’ll finish cooking and softening in the soup and we don’t want the edges to caramelise.

While the pumpkin is cooking, in a heavy based pot, warm the remaining tb of oil. Gently fry off the ginger and shallots over a low heat for five minutes or until soft and translucent but not caramelised. Add in the lemongrass and lime leaves, stirring and warming until they release their aroma. Increase heat to med-high, stir in the curry paste and again cook off for a few minutes more until aromatic and well combined with the shallots, ginger and herbs. Pour in stock and tip in roasted pumpkin cubes. Bring this mixture to the boil and reduce to a gentle simmer. Allow it to gently bubble away for thirty minutes to allow the flavours to meld and the pumpkin to finish cooking. The pumpkin will break up considerable during this period, which is fine as we’ll blending it in the next step. Turn off heat and allow to cool slightly until the nest step.

If you’re using a stand blender like me (I use a vitamix) you’ll need to allow it to cool to the point where it’s not freely steaming, about 10-15 minutes. If using a stick blender in the pot in which you’ve cooked carry on straight away.

Blend the soup with the coconut milk and return to heat for 5-10 minutes.

Serve over noodles of your choice, with rice or on it’s own with some warm flaky roti bread. Top with an extra dollop of coconut cream and a sprinkle of thai style embellishments such as chopped peanuts, herbs, chilli slices and deep fried shallots.

You’ll notice I’ve used mint. I’m one of ‘those coriander’ people. I simply can’t eat it, smell it or frankly be in the same room as it. This is a dish however that would be lovely with the addition of lots of fresh fragrant herbs. I suspect coriander lovers would love it’s addition to a bowl of this soup. You might also like thai basil, sweet basil, Vietnamese mint and regular mint. The more the merrier, added while steaming to elevate the lovely aroma realeased in the heat.

Notes:

The soup also hosts sliced stir fried greens nicely.

You can make the soup heartier with the addition of some proteins. Boiled eggs like I’ve used in the photo works well. You may also like to use shredded chicken either from leftovers from a previous meal or poached while you’re making the soup. For vegetarians cubes of deep fried tofu is a delicious addition.

Spiced Pear & Ginger Cake

She had the tiniest feet of any baby I’d ever seen. Swaddled in baby blankets, her porcelain skin and tiny frame, doll like in my arms, she wriggled and squirmed settling into life in the big wide world. With her twin she’d been nestled in the safety of her mother’s womb almost to the end of the normal forty weeks. Not frighteningly tiny but still small her and her sister were strong enough to make their feelings known about their arrival from their warm safe little pond, saying their piece with healthy lungs, twig like arms flailing and little faces scrunched in all manner of expressions.

As a toddler she would speak with remarkable clarity and purpose still making sure the world knew what was on her mind, her blonde silken hair framing an expressive face.

Through the doors of her first day of school she walked with her twin, both thrilled to enter this next phase of growing up, a world of words, numbers and new friends. They thrived and evolved stretching and unfolding, two remarkable little buds blooming and unfurling.

Talents revealing themselves, individual characteristics emerging, girls becoming women. One a young woman of numbers the other a lover of words, both blessed with a talent for science and like science ever evolving. We were privileged to be a part of the life and growth of these two girls, the daughters of special dear friends.

Those tiny feet are now on the march. Having recently farewelled her dear twin as she set off in the world moving out of home for the first time, it’s now her turn. She’ll hit the highway and head to the country to take a posting at a country hospital where she’ll make the world of difference to her new community. Watching this beautiful evolution is like following that of a chrysalis and now the butterfly will take flight and we’ll all look up and watch with awe.

Evolution has been ever present for me this week. My first letter to you here was this lovely cake. A simple cake, my first recipe share, the birth of my letter. I’ve made that cake a few different ways since then, ever changing and evolving. It’s a bit more grown up than that original version, much like our little butterfly. We’ll all follow her up the highway this weekend, her parents, her twin, her big sister and us, a cake on my lap to celebrate this next season.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

100 gm brown sugar

100 gm caster sugar

125 ml neutral flavourer oil (I’ve used grapeseed)

80 ml buttermilk

1 cup/175 gm of self-raising flour

½ (80 gm) c wholemeal spelt flour

1 tb chai mixture/powder

1 tsp ground ginger

2 tb finely chopped glace ginger

¼ tsp salt flakes

2 pears, peeled and sliced into 8 wedge slices (I used Beurre Bosc or the brown ones)

Method:

Preheat oven 180c non fan forced. Grease and line a 20 cm springform cake pan.

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and dry whisk to break up any lumps, mix thoroughly and aerate.

Using a whisk in a large bowl whisk together the eggs and sugar until lightened in colour slightly and starting to appear fluffy in texture. Pour in oil and whisk until combined, repeat with milk until all well combined. Gently tip dry ingredients into wet and gently fold until almost combined. Add chopped glace ginger and fold gently again for a few folds but not overmixed.

Pour into prepared cake pan. Gently place pear slices on top as shown. Place into a preheated oven and cook for 60-70. Try not to open the oven to check it until at least 45 minutes. It’s cooked when a skewer comes out of the middle clean.

Allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before opening tin and sliding off base onto wire cooling rack.

You can either sprinkle icing sugar on top to serve or brush warmed apricot jam on top like I have.

Curry Chicken Rice

“What’s for dinner?” Did even reading that line make your toes curl? It’s the lament of parents the world over. The late afternoon question that rings through homes around the globe. The question that evokes an audible eye roll from every household’s cook. Logically the more years we cook for our families the more our repertoire grows and indeed the greater the library of skill and recipes we theoretically should be carrying around and able to call on. BUT that’s simply not how it works is it? I mean I clearly love cooking and love creative cooking but even I am frequently stumped literally having no idea what to whip up. The trouble when you love food and cooking is the many questions that rattle around in your head. What do I feel like eating/cooking? I can’t actually be bothered after a busy day…in the kitchen…queue that headache inducing eye roll. And literal cook’s block, like a writer’s block only hunger inducing and frustrating and narrated by a chorus of voices demanding an answer to the age-old late afternoon question that is the language of hungry tummies.

It can be easy to call on the plain wholesome Aussie old school favourite of meat and three veg but that can be boring, and frankly require as much work as many more elaborate offerings. With the current crazy prices of vegies in Australia, hello $10 lettuce, and you over there…$12 strawberry punnet…sit down we’re not indulging in you this week, those veg next to the piece of protein frankly feels almost indulgent. If you’ve hung out here for a while you’ll know I like a one pot wonder, a fast take on a more laborious favourite like this one and the family love rice, it’s cheap, filling and results in leftovers for lunches the next day. We also love a curry and the use of the, albeit, not traditional but delicious none the less, Indian style curry powder makes it super simple.

My curry chicken and rice is a one pot dish, that simple to prepare and needs only 25 minutes cooking time on the stove. It’s calls on the techniques of both risotto and pilaf methods combining to make what is reminiscent of the two combined into one. It’s a gentle curry for younger diners and can be dialled up or down according to the palettes of your family but also marries nicely with spicy condiments if there’s varying needs at your table.

Ingredients:

2 Tb Olive oil or ghee

500 gm chicken thigh cut into chunksm roughly 6 pieces per thigh

1 brown onion sliced

1 tb grated fresh ginger

1 large or 2 small garlic cloves crushed

3 tsp curry powder

½ tsp garam masala

4 cardamon pods bruised

1 cinnamon stick

¼ tsp ground ginger

4 curry leaves

1 cup rice, I use doongara

1 cup coconut milk

2 cups chicken stock

2 hand fulls baby spinach leaves

Extra curry leaves to serve

Method:

Heat 1 tb of the oil or ghee in a pan over med to high heat, brown chicken pieces until starting to brown on the edges, five minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep warm.

Add second tb of oil to pan and reduce heat to med-low. Cook onions gently until translucent, 5 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and and cook til fragrant but not browning. Add spices and cook until fragrant 1 minute. Add rice and stir until coated in the spice and onion mixture. Return chicken to pan and increase heat to med-high. Pour in coconut mil and allow to boil for 1-2 minutes. Add stock and curry leaves. Bring to boil and immediately reduce het to low and cook covered 10 minutes. Remove lid stir well ensuring it’s not sticking to the bottom and cover again and cook an additional 10 minutes. You’ll need to keep an eye on it at this stage to prevent it catching on the bottom. Just give it a quick stir if it does. Taste rice to be sure it’s nearly cooked, if so add spinach fold through and replace lid cooking for a final 3 minutes, again with lid on. Remove lid, stir while continuing to cook for a few more minutes to reduce any remaining moisture. Turn off and leave it to sit with lid on for five minutes until serving.

***Notes:

Let’s be honest sometimes you either don’t have all the spices or are in a hurry and can’t be bothered. When this strikes just bump up the curry powder with a third teaspoon. It’s pretty forgiving and will still be delicious.

If spinach will leave you stretching a friendship with kids, you might like to try substituting this with frozen peas or sliced green beans.

We like to add additional spice at the table with various condiments such as, chilli jam, dried chili flakes or even chilli oil.

For those more sensitive palettes you might like to add a bowl of yoghurt to the table, but this is a very mild dish.

Double Chocolate, Peanut & Miso Cookies

Ensconced on the couch, head on a mound of soft cushions, fluffy mohair blanket gathered around me I assumed my position for the days that lay before me as I moved through my turn at the dreaded virus. I’d chosen a Netflix series to begin my week of iso, which as the last one to fall in our house didn’t see me confined to my bedroom. Thankfully winter sun streamed through the windows it’s winter arc through the sky bathing my position in it’s warmth. I’d considered myself extremely lucky to have made it this far without infection indeed the whole family only endured the dreaded lurgy this year. We felt like the unicorn family, having escaped infection and exposure what felt like a million times. We were almost smug really, revelling in the health we’d enjoyed not only avoiding covid but all the annual winter bugs that normally prevail. But then the hammer fell and like a domino trail in slow motion one by one we dropped. First the 19 year old, then the husband, then simultaneously me and the 22 year old, who didn’t even know he was infected. From my spot on the couch my view towards the tv was interrupted by a pile of books that had grown recently with the balance of books read and acquisition of said books being somewhat out of balance. Normally the prospect of a week stuck on a couch with such a stack staring at me coaxing me to choose would be my idea of heaven but covid brain is real my friends. Concentration was sadly lacking so I turned to my streaming selection and started watching. Though concentration and energy was absent my appetite was not. Distracting me from my viewing was a jar of chocolate coated peanuts, a jar I’d been nagging my son to put away. Reaching for it and dipping my hand in the jar for a little snack. Not normally a flavour combo I would seek out or a treat I would yearn for the little crunchy chocolate nuggets hit the spot. As you can imagine the contents of that jar slowly dwindled over the following days as did my son’s patience with my indulgence of his chockies. His consternation sparked an idea. I’d been contemplating a chocolate biscuit idea for a while but hadn’t had a chance to experiment too much.

My nibbles of my son’s chocolate coated peanuts reminded me how delicious the two flavours are together combined with my new obsession with miso an idea was born, that after a few iterations, has resulted in these delicious cookies. Crisp on the outside, fudgy in the middle, almost reminiscent of a brownie and encasing chunks of dark chocolate and crunchy roasted peanut. They’re a little bigger than a chocolate coated peanut of course but in my humble opinion a whole lot tastier and even more hard to resist.

Ingredients:

160 gm unsalted butter softened

75 gm brown sugar

165 gm white sugar

2 tb white miso paste

1 tsp vanilla paste/extract

1 egg beaten

175 gm plain flour

¼ tsp salt flakes

30 gm dutch process cocoa

1 tsp baking powder

100 gm chopped dark chocolate

110 gm roasted unsalted peanuts

Method:

Preheat oven 180 c and line two cookie sheet trays with baking paper.

Combine the flour, cocoa and baking powder in a bowl, whisk to combine thoroughly and aerate, set aside.

In a stand mixer cream butter and sugar until lighter in colour and fluffy. Add vanilla, miso paste and egg mixing again until well combined, scraping down the sides during the process to ensure it’s all mixed.

Sprinkle in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combine. Remove and fold in peanuts and choc chunks with a wooden spoon. This will take a little effort as it will be quite stiff. Place bowl in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to firm up while you tidy up. If your kitchen is particularly warm you may like to refrigerate for 30 minutes. This step helps control the cookie’s spread when they hit the oven.

Working quickly roll into golf ball size portions allowing room on the trays for them to spread during cooking.

Place in the oven for ten minutes. Remove at the end of cooking and allow to cool for five minutes on the trays before transferring to cooling racks to completely cool.

Apple Crumble

The door shuts with a thunk, voices waft up through the window on a soft summer breeze from the driveway like birdsong and the baby gurgles in my arms. My Nana alights from my parents’ car, small box in her arms brushing off offers of assistance from my parents. I hear her uneven footsteps approaching the front door the legacy of childhood polio and her happy chatter, coming to spend time with her great grandson a much-anticipated treat and an opportunity to show her love. Even in her eighties she remembers those first days and weeks of parenthood. The pea soup fog of joy, exhaustion and elation are never too far back in the recesses of a mother’s memory. I open the door, babe in arms to her gentle loving smile and box of goodies is offered forth. She crosses the threshold proudly carrying her offerings through to the kitchen unpacking and explaining without skipping a beat. She’s brought us a sheet of Cornish pastie, a recipe passed down from my Cornish great grandmother, my favourite slice for a treat with coffee and a tray or apple crumble. She knows apple deserts are my favourite, this one whipped up in lieu of the apple pie she knows I love, her arthritic hands too frail to work the pastry. I’m flooded with relief knowing dinner is sorted, my heart swollen with love for this beautiful humble woman. She never took a compliment batting them away with shyness and modesty. Her humble nature content to know she’d showed her love for us and made a few nights easier on us we settle in for a visit and cuddles with our new babe and making memories with two lives who, unbeknownst to us, would only enjoy each other’s company for the brief crossover of time in which they both shared the world before she passed.

This is the first memory that always comes front of my mind when I scoop a spoonful of apple crumble into my mouth. One of the first I reflect on when I think about my Nana. It typifies her spirit and reminds me how loved we were. She was a woman of few words not especially effusive, though she loved a chat she relied on actions to show her love and food was top of her list.

When I savour a mouthful of my apple crumble the golden sweet crunch in the topping with a hint of a salty foil melts in the mouth amongst the oozy soft apple bed on which it floats. The additions amongst that apple compote are not entirely those of my nana’s but I think shed approve. Butter, sugar and Calvados blend to create a not too sweet caramel threading it’s way through the soft apple slices and bubbling up through the crumble topping. Strictly speaking this is a little off script from the traditional one of my childhood but I think Nana would approve. Also controversial is the absence of oats. I’m not sure why our family’s crumble didn’t have but as a result crumble with oats has never been my preference.

The addition of Clavados is my modern twist not something you’d have seen in the kitchen of traditional country cooks of old. If you want to omit the booze just substitute with apple juice or for a little tang, lemon juice.

Ingredients:

140 gm Plain flour

100 gm brown sugar

2 tbs desiccated coconut

½ tsp salt flakes

125 gm butter cold and cubed

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp all spice

¼ tsp ground ginger

5 cooking apples peeled, quartered and sliced

30 gm butter extra

2 tbs Calvados

2 tbs caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tb demerara sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 180c.

Combine, flour, sugar, coconut and salt. Toss through butter cubes and rub through until the mixture is like damp clumpy sand. Set aside.

Peel, core and slice apples and place in large bowl. Pour calvados, sprinkle over sugar and combine vanilla extract. Toss this all together and pour into a well greased ceramic or glass ovenproof dish. Pinch off pieces of the remaining butter dotting over the apple slices. Sprinkle over crumble topping mixture crumbling with your fingers as you scatter it over. Don’t worry if there are gaps as this allows the juices to bubble up in between.

Pop in the oven for 45 minutes uncovered baking until golden brown and oozy at the edges.

Allow to cool slightly before serving as the syrup that forms during cooking can be very hot. Serve with custard and or cream. My husband like his with ice cream, I forgive him this transgression, so long as it’s good vanilla ice cream. My boys and I prefer custard of the homemade variety. The below is my go-to custard recipe, perfect every time and never fails. It’s delicious for a few days stored in a sealed container or jar in the fridge if it lasts that long.

Shared with the generous permission from Sophie Hansen from her second book A Basket by the Door.

Combine 1 ¼ C each of milk and cream in a saucepan with a halved and scraped vanilla bean and it’s seeds over medium heat. Warm until almost boiling. Remove from heat and allow to cool a little. Whisk together 1/3 c Caster sugar with 1 Tbs caster sugar and 6 egg yolks until pale and creamy (freeze the left over whites for a pavlova another day). Splash some of the warm milk/cream mixture into the egg mixture and mix until well combine then slowly our in the remaining while whisking until well combined. Return to the saucepan and stir over low heat until thickened and coating the back of wooden spoon, about five minutes.

If you’ve bought a bottle of calvados to try in this recipe and aren’t sure what to do with it you might like to try some of these, you can thank me later.

Crustless Potato Quiche

Sun streams through the window warming my face. Gumtree shaped shadows dance across the pages of my book distracting me while I read, inspiring idle daydreams, a choir of warbling magpies my serenade and soundtrack. I’m snuggled under a fluffly red mohair blanket contemplating a nap or a walk or perhaps concentrating on the words in my book. The words win out, they usually do. It’s a lazy Sunday, the day after the federal election and change is emerging. Everyone’s tired, maybe it’s another chapter of pandemic recovery closing and the next era dawning, maybe it’s fatigue from the constant news cycle we’ve just endured.

As the afternoon slowly meanders by marked by the fall of the sun through the trees and towards the west horizon the reality of life ambles towards me. Early evening draws closer and I contemplate the collection of leftovers from last night’s gathering of friends awaiting us in the fridge.

We gathered around a long table, enjoying each other’s company, all the more aware of the joy of breaking bread together, multiple conversations dancing across the table in rapid fire banter. Plates of colourful vegetable offerings brought by our guests pass back and forth, scoops of slow roasted boneless chicken on a bed of unctuous cherry tomatoes and tender spiced lamb shank nestle alongside. Wine is shared, sloshed into glasses, it’s readiness dissected while others enjoy a variety of frothy lagers. The remains packed away we retire to the fireplace outside in the dewy night air, more laughter, more food, bowls of bubbling apple and rhubarb crumble and custard warming our hands. Satisfied sighs and bellies surround my contented happy soul, having spent a contented afternoon cooking for dear friends and family one of the greatest acts of love and appreciation I can offer.

Whilst dinner was gratefully devoured there’s always a surplus when you’re notorious for serving a heaving table. Returning to the present I reluctantly put my book down and haul myself from the couch, open the fridge, ponder the contents of the tubs stacked inside….hmm not quite enough for tonight’s dinner. Another corner of my mind is settling around memories of elections past and my parents. What they’d think of this most recent period and the weekend’s result. The fridge alarm pings….day dreaming again…back to reality. Thoughts of my mum, a tenacious hard working social worker, come to the front of my mind and inspiration strikes. Her signature dish of her later years, a recipe brought home from work scribbled on a torn envelope by one of her clients and later passed around through her own family and friends. A simple easy to construct comfort food recipe perfect for the end of week bits and pieces in the fridge and to pad out a small buffet of last night’s surplus. A contented smile breaks across my face and I get to work. Never underestimate the value of daydreaming, the power of food memories and the simple dishes that fill our recollections.

Crustless potato quiche, as Mum would call it, is super versatile being one of those meals suitable for all three mealtimes. It will work as a picnic dish, with a salad for a light lunch or dinner or even a prepared brekky or lunch box item. You can use leftover potato or cook potato especially for your quiche. Any of the ham/bacon family will work as will other smallgood like salami and chorizo. You can also experiment with the vegetables you add again leaning on leftovers from the fridge or using bits and bobs from the crisper. I’ve tweaked Mum’s recipe making it a little lighter but bulking it up for a hungry family.

Ingredients:

1 onion diced

2 garlic cloves crushed or finely chopped

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 Tb unsalted butter

4 large eggs lightly whisked

1 cup whole milk

1 cup grated cheddar cheese (any flavoursome hard cheese will work, even a mix if needed)

1 tsp salt flakes

½ cup self-raising flour

2 potatoes diced cooked to just tender. (This equals roughly 2 cups of diced leftover potatoes if you’re using leftover potato)

1 cup of vegetables of your choice (see note)

100 gm prosciutto, ham, bacon or other similar meat.

Method:

Preheat oven to 220c. Grease a 20 cm square ceramic dish or round pie plate.

Melt butter with olive in a small pan over med-low heat. Gently cook the onion and garlic until translucent. If using bacon and you prefer it cooked you can also add it here and cook it off. Allow to cool while you gather and prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Whisk together eggs and milk. Stir through cheese and sprinkle over flour folding through until just combined. Add, onion and garlic mixture including the melted butter and oil, potato and any vegetable and meat your using. Gently stir through additions and pour into the prepared dish. Bake 30 minutes or until golden brown on top, set in the middle and gently pulling away from the sides. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Notes:

If using spinach for your veg addition use chopped fresh baby spinach leaves. No need to cook first indeed doing so will add moistrure.

Other lovely veg additions that work well include corn, peas, capsicum, zucchini and even cubed roasted pumpkin.

Cubed cooked sweet potato is a delicious alternative to regular white potato.

A mixture of grated cheese adds flavour and is a handy use of all the small leftover bits of cheese in the dairy drawer.

Chicken Ratatouille

The days are getting cooler here. The wintry damp air is descending, windows kept closed, curtains drawn at night and fire lit. In the late afternoon as the family trickle through the front door at the end of their days they arrive cold, tired and in need of something warm in their tummies. There’s nothing more comforting after a long day at work or school than being greeted by the rich smells of dinner wafting through the door as you step over the threshold.

My family almost always respond to that first sniff of dinner with the standard “what’s for dinner?” Often in the colder months the answer will include some kind of casserole or slow cook. I prefer autumn and winter for many reasons but one of the biggest ones is the food. A kitchen warmed by a purring oven housing a pot of some kind of rich and hearty has a special comforting quality like no other.

My Chicken Ratatouille is one such dish. Garlic, capers, tomatoes and all the sweetness of vegies cooked slowly bubbling away in the oven is one of those evocative aromas that always makes me smile with anticipation both knowing how much the family will enjoy it and equally how satisfying a dinner it is.

Skipping the traditional step of browning the chicken first actually gives the dish a special flavour with meat almost poaching in the sauce below it and the skin roasting and crisping up, juices running off it’s surface and flavouring the dish further. Most importantly this little trick also speeds things up and that hour in the oven gives you a little time to hang out with the family hearing about their day.

Ingredients:

1 Tb extra virgin olive oil

3 garlic cloves finely chopped or crushed

4 shallots peeled and halved

1 large carrot chopped in large chunks

1 small celery stick diced

1 small capsicum chopped in large dice

1 cup of cubed eggplant

1 cup thickly sliced button mushrooms

1 Tb salted capers washed

Small bunch of fresh thyme

1 cup chicken stock

6 chicken thigh cutlets (skin on bone in)

2 400gm cans of diced tomato

Method:

Preheat oven to 180c.

Warm the olive oil in a shallow oven proof pan over medium to low heat. Turn heat down to low and add carrot, celery and shallots cut side down and cook gently for ten minutes. Add capsicum and garlic and cook for a few minutes until fragrant. Increase heat to med and add mushrooms and eggplant stirring for a few minutes until they’re beginning to sweat. Sprinkle in capers and thyme and cook briefly until they release their aroma. Pour in tomatoes and stock. Stir everything to combine thoroughly and bring to a boil. Gently place chicken cutlets on top so they’re floating on the veg and sauce, sprinkle with salt flakes and drizzle a little more olive oil over them. They will both poach underneath and roast on top. Place the pan in the oven uncovered and cook for 1 hour.

Serve with a a green salad and some crusty bread. You may also like a bowl of steamed baby potatoes or soft polenta to mop up the sauce and veg.

Bircher Muesli

“Order up!” Bellowed the brusque Scottish head chef on my first day of my first hospitality job. Twenty one, hands shaking, cheeks flaming under the guidance of my supervisor I reached across the pass shelf and took the large glass bowl of a creamy white gloopy concoction. It was 6.15 am and though bleary at such an early hour I still didn’t recognise what I carried out to the buffet in preparation for, soon to arrive, guests. “What is it?” I enquire. “It’s Bircher Muesli,” he barked across the kitchen, “now hurry along.” Now if you’ve ever worked in a hotel restaurant or kitchen you’ll know this exchange was not one meant with any malice on his part rather an indication of the rising adrenaline of impending service. I often reflect on this as I watch reality tv set in restaurants or cooking environments wondering if this is a tactic secretly employed by chefs the world over to build tension like a screenwriter would in a blockbuster suspense thriller or a football coach at half time wanting to rev up the team and inspire performance. At the time I was a little rattled and perhaps even somewhat shocked. My supervisor, a seasoned hospo professional from London, though well used to such shenanigans reassured and encouraged me and I in turn grew a little and became a little bit more adult as you do in your early 20’s contrary to how you perceive yourself at the time. As that morning progressed I asked what indeed Bircher Muesli was. She explained what was in it and where it had originated from and offered me a taste. Until then I’d always eaten toast or muesli with the occasional bacon and eggs, very vanilla 1980’s Australia. Suddenly a whole new world of breakfasts opened up to me as the offerings on that buffet grew that morning and indeed my curiosity piqued so too did the variety of things I enjoyed for breakfast grow from working there.

Reflecting on this I’m reminded how the maturity of our taste buds can be like markers for the passage of time and indeed our own maturity. Our willingness to try something new that we may have previously thought we disliked or in fact had never heard of transcends from the table and kitchen to our greater lives if we’re lucky and we look beyond toast and coffee both literally and metaphorically.

Historically bircher muesli was created by a swiss doctor in the early 20th century. Traditionally it was made with oats nuts and fruit soaked overnight in apple juice and boosted with fresh grated apple in the morning. Originally intended to be a nutrition packed breakfast for ailing patients in hospital it remains a dish you can load up with all the essentials to get your day started well. You can make ahead in jars ready for a quick breakfast in the morning and indeed make a few at once given they keep well in the fridge for a few days. The recipe below is my concoction I make and keep in the pantry having it ready for mixing at night ready to go rather than lots of measuring and mixing each time. To make things a little easier I use dried apple which plumps up nicely overnight and marries well with the spices. Alternatively, my mixture can also be eaten well as a traditional natural muesli unsoaked with Greek yoghurt or with your favourite milk or milk alternative poured over with some fresh fruit.

Ingredients:

3 C rolled oats

¼ C LSA (linseed, sunflower and almond ground up and mixed. I use this one for bonus points. You could replicate it by whizzing 2 TBs of chia in a grinder, blender of stick blender to chop it up and make it palatable if unsoaked)

¼ C slivered almonds or your favourite nuts chopped up

¼ C oat bran

¼ pumpkin seeds

½ C dried apple chopped into small pieces

1/3 C shredded coconut

¼ currants

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp of fresh nutmeg grated

¼ tsp ground ginger

Method:

Combine all the above and store in a well sealed contained.

The night before eating add 1/3 C of your homemade natural muesli mixture from above. Place in a jar and just cover with your choice of milk and stir. Add 100gm your favourite yoghurt (I use Greek for myself but my son prefers vanilla Greek) and stir well. Seal jar and and place in fridge overnight. Top with fresh fruit and a drizzle of honey and serve. You can pop some fruit in the jar the night before if you have a busy morning ahead for grab and go convenience.

Greens and Bean Soup

My earliest memory of food is of me tucking into a bowl of soup. Chubby toddler right hand firmly gripping a spoon only just able to fit in my little mouth, left hand resting on the side of the bowl to warm those chilled little fingers. Little drops of oil floating wondrously on the surface of the broth like a monochrome kaleidoscope, barley bobbing around chased by my hungry spoon. It set me on a path of a passionate love for soup. Like a hug from the inside out soup has had my heart from the earliest days. It’s a chameleon dish. Every cuisine on earth has varieties of soup in it’s repertoire. It’s a vehicle for using up left overs, all the bits at the bottom of the fridge and food that nourishes and warms those we love. It’s a dish we can deliver to a friend who needs some love or one we can make to nurture the ailing.

When I emerged from the post surgery fug and regained the use of my right hand (yes I am right handed to boot) I was desperate to crack in to one of my new cook books. I’d remembered a soup full greens in Sophie’s book that I’d wanted to cook and started scouring the fridge and pantry for the ingredients. Sadly I was lacking a huge number of the ingredients but was still craving a bowl of greens floating in broth. Something a little lighter than some of the more hearty styles I often create but nourishing and satisfying none the less. This creation hit the spot and continued to do so in the days that followed. It’s super easy and would be a great one for after work or to batch cook for a busy week.

I’m still craving Sophie’s Spring Minestrone, must add the ingredients to this week shopping list.

Ingredients:

1 leek white part only finely chopped

½ tsp of freshly grated nutmeg ( it really does taste and smell better) or ¼ tsp of pre-ground.

2 garlic cloves finely chopped or crushed

50 grams prosciutto or pancetta finely chopped ( you could sub with bacon if that’s all you have)

4 sprigs of thyme leaves removed

1 swede peeled and diced

1 C broad beans podded

1 C frozen peas ( I prefer baby peas)

1 C green beans sliced into short pieces

1 can cannellini beans drained

1 ½ litres of chicken stock

Salt and white pepper

Method:

In a large heavy based pot warm a good glug of extra virgin olive oil over a low heat. Cook the leek and garlic slowly in the oil, avoiding browning the leek and garlic, until soft around five minutes. Increase heat to medium and add swede, thyme and nutmeg stirring frequently for a few minutes to warm the pieces of swede and release the aroma of the thyme and nutmeg. Finally add the remaining veg and stir to warm them add the stock and canned beans and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30-40 minutes or until the swede is soft. Season with salt and pepper to a taste. White pepper has a delicious warming tingle and suits this dish particularly well.