Category Archives: Recipes – All About – Tried and Tested

Cooking for Family and Friends

Gaint Puffball

2014-01-08 - Gaint Puffball

Roses are not my favorite plants (rose petals are not that nice), but my nabour’s rose bush has scored some major browny points today. As he went out to pick a rose for his dear wife, he found TWO Gaint Pufballs (Calvatia gigantea) growing under the rose bush. One of which he was kind enough to bring to me for dinner. Cutting it into strips then dipped in egg and fried with a few strips of pancetta mixed  with tagliatelle makes wonderful “Tagliatelle ai Funghi” His wife unfortunately is still waiting on her roses.

Honey Muesli Recipe

2014-01-07 09.52.04

A breakfast of home made yogurt (see the recipe under Home Cooking on my blog), home made muesli and fresh fruit – in this case more PLUMS! You can add any fruit, of course, and sometimes I add a touch of jam. For healthy tasty muesli far superior to the most expensive product on the shelf try my recipe. The ingredients are what I normally have in my larder, and you can substitute whatever nuts and seeds you have on hand. The coconut, honey, oats and sultanas are essential:

Honey Meusli

1kg      Full Grain rolled oats

300g    (more or less ) Shredded Coconut (not the fine stuff that looks like dandruff)

200g   Honey

200g    Sultanas

250g    Nuts (I use Almonds roasted, Cashews and Peanuts mixed. Only Almonds would be nice but that makes things expensive)

250G   Mixed  Seeds (Sunflower seeds, Pine Nuts, Linseed, Poppy seeds or whatever you prefer)

First spread the oats out in a large baking tray. Toast the oats under the grill, stirring frequently until mostly golden, you will not get an even colour but that is ok. Add a layer of nuts and seeds to the tray of oats and toast until they colour slightly. Mix well and add a layer of coconut. Toast the coconut until just golden, watch out it burns quickly. Tip the pan in to a large mixing bowl and mix the sultanas and honey in to the hot muesli. Stir regularly while the muesli cools down to prevent everything from sticking together. When cold put in to air tight containers. This lasts me about 3 weeks.

PLUM JAM TIME

2013-12-29 10.12.18

The Plum Trees were heavy this year and when the Kererū and Blackbirds moved from the Cherry trees to the Plum tree I knew it was time to get started if I wanted some plums. I picked about 10 Kg to start with and made some wonderful Plum Jam, Preserved about  5 KG for later use, started some Plum Vinegar as well as fermenting all the over ripe Plums for distilling Plum Grappa. The next crop that I am picking in a few days time will definitely be made into Plum Wine. Over and above this we are doing all the other plum  related baking and cooking and have beautiful fresh plums  every day. What a productive tree! I just wished I could have slaughtered the over fat Kererū and Blackbirds as well.

2013-12-29 10.25.02 2013-12-29 11.03.28 2013-12-29 11.03.35

Washing, Sorting and Taking stones out with a Cherry Pipper

PLUM JAM

3 Kg Stoned Plums – Juice in stone container added back to Plums

3 Kg White Sugar

100 ml Lemon Juice (Only if fruit is very sweet)

50 g Lemon Rind (Fresh)

Mix all ingredients in a large enough pot and simmer for at least 30 minutes from the time it starts to boil. Stir frequently. Leave to settle and cool for at least 6 hours. Simmer for another 30 minutes after commencement of boiling. Stir frequently. Skim off and discard froth from the surface. Perform the “Freezer Setting Test” and remove from heat when ready. Bottle while warm and “sterilise” containers. Add labels.

Freezer Setting Test – Place a small plate in the freezer for a couple of minutes. When well cold remove from the freezer and put a teaspoon full of the jam onto it. If it is the correct consistency after a minute the jam is ready. If it is still too runny, simmer some more and repeat test later until jam is ready to be removed.

Sterilise bottles of jam by submerging them into water in a large pot (bottles must be completely covered by water)  and boil for twenty minutes after the water and jam bottles commenced boiling. Remove and let cool.

FRUIT VINEGAR

2013-12-28 - Vinegar

Fruit Scrap Vinegar Season

Fruit Scrap Vinegar: Apple, Pineapple, Golden Plum, Mixed Fruits, Blackberry

I love fruit scrap vinegar. Since discovering that I can turn peels, cores, and squishy bits of overripe fruit into delicious vinegar, I’ve been giving in to my desire for more, more, more. It makes great salad dressing, it’s delicious over steamed vegetables, truly it works well in any recipe that calls for vinegar. The flavor and fragrance of the fruit comes through in each batch.  Transform your autumn fruit waste into vinegar to spice up your winter foods.

Make your own:

  • Fill a large glass jar with fresh, clean water.
  • Add 1/4 cup of honey or the sugar of your choice for each Liter of water. Stir until completely dissolved
  • Add fruit scraps. Use whatever you’ve got, peels, cores, and whole fruit. Chop up big things such as apples, leave small things such as berries whole. Add at least a couple of handfuls of fruit for rich flavor and color.
  • Cover the jar’s open mouth with a clean cheesecloth and use a rubber band or string to hold it in place. This will keep out flies and let in the wild yeast you want
  • Set the jar in a dark spot to protect it from the light.
  • Stir the jar every day and check to make sure the fruit is submerged. Don’t worry about yeasty white growth on top; scrape off any other colors of mold and toss that  into your compost bin
  • After a week or so, or whenever the liquid has darkened and everything is smelling nice and boozy, strain the liquid to remove the fruit. I use a doubled cheesecloth to remove all of the big pieces and most of the small pieces. Compost the fermented fruit
  •  Pour this strained liquid back into its original jar, replace the cheesecloth on top, and let it sit for another week or two. When it smells and tastes like vinegar, it’s ready. Put a solid lid on the jar to keep it from evaporating, store at room temperature, and enjoy
  • If you see a translucent growth in the liquid, either a blob or strands, be happy. This is your Mother Vinegar, and it can be used to start another bottle of vinegar or just left to live where it is. The mother is proof that you did it, you cultured your own vinegar

I find it encouraging that there is still enough wild yeast and beneficial bacteria in our air and on the skins of our fruits to turn fruit scraps, sweetness, and water into something so tasty and healthy.

http://www.backyardfarmer.co.nz

How do you tell if a egg is Bad?

How to Tell if an Egg is BadPlace the egg into a bowl of cold water. The water level should be about 2 times higher than the egg.Fresh eggs will sink to the bottom of the bowl and probably lie on their sides. Slightly older eggs (about one week) will lie on the bottom but bob slightly.

If the egg balances on its smallest tip, with the large tip reaching for the top, it’s probably close to three weeks old. Eggs that float at the surface are bad and should not be consumed.