Category Archives: Cooking

Patience Pays Off

1 Comment

This afternoon GMan was weeding in the garden and he removed the cover from the raised bed where I planted some cauliflower seedlings months ago. They have had no attention and amazingly we found one ready to pick.

There are about 4 or 5 others which are a bit smaller but will be ready to harvest before too long.

Meanwhile, the chard continues to produce enough to pick. Here is what I picked this afternoon and it will be used for dinner.

We arrived home yesterday after being away for a few days. We went to see our football team play in the first of the finals and it was a very disappointing outing as they were thoroughly outplayed. They do have one more chance this weekend. I am hopeful but not confident. Our other engagement was a difficult one as we gathered with many others to farewell a friend who had died much too young after a courageous battle with cancer.

Out of respect for everyone involved there are no photographs.

However, here is a sweet reminder of the joy of little things.

What’s For Dinner?

Leave a comment

I do not often post our main meals these days as we mostly eat a selection of the meals already on the index. However, a couple of weeks ago I made a new creation which was a great success so tonight I photographed the steps when making it again.

CREAMY MUSTARD CHICKEN – serves 2

Ingredients

Half onion
Handful of silverbeet
1 chicken breast fillet
1 medium mushroom
250ml cauliflower white sauce** (recipe here) or you could use regular white sauce
2 spoons of mustard mayonnaise

Method

Finely slice the onion, cut and finely slice the silverbeet stalks. Shred the silverbeet leaves and slice the mushroom. Cut the chicken fillet into small strips. Cook the chicken lightly until cooked but not browned. (I cook the chicken in the airfryer). Set the chicken aside.

Saute the onion and stalks, add sliced mushroom and chicken. Cook for 5 minutes. Add cauliflower sauce and mustard. Finally, stir in the shredded silverbeet and cook for a few more minutes until the silverbeet is softened and the mixture is all heated through.

I served the chicken dish with mashed potato, carrots and green beans. It works equally well with rice which I chose previously or pasta could be another option.

Birthday Lunch & Harvest Time

2 Comments

I mentioned in my last post that I had been cooking.

We hosted lunch on Sunday for GMan’s birthday. There were 17 of us altogether and I did almost all of the preparation beforehand.

Here is a list of what we ate.

NIBBLES

Raisins
Spiced peanuts*
Dips – beetroot, tzatziki, hummus*
Cheese – brie
Biscuits – water crackers, GF crackers, pita chips

HOT SNACKS

Mini meatballs*
Kofta balls*
Potato wedges*

Sour cream
Tomato sauce*

MAINS

Green chicken curry*
Beef casserole*
Rice

DESSERT

Mulberry and apple crumble*
Ice cream
Cream

The spiced peanuts and tomato sauce are homemade pantry items and wedges were made on the day but everything else that I made was prepared in advance and either refrigerated or frozen. This made for relatively easy catering.

There are very few photos, however, here are a couple from when I was making the dessert.

I retrieved about 1kg of mulberries that had been in the freezer since December. I think we picked and froze about 6kg. It is great to have them to use at other times.

The mulberries and apple combined and ready to be refrigerated. I made the crumble topping and froze it. I assembled the crumbles and popped them in the oven on the day.

It is great to eat seasonal produce but it is fairly easy to store some things for a treat in the off season. It is difficult to imagine this mulberry tree laden with fruit but that is exactly what it will be like in another 4 months. It is in a public space in our town and the fruit is appreciated by many.

Meanwhile, there is abundance of citrus everywhere at the moment. These grapefruit were being given away.

So, I made more marmalade. That should keep GMan supplied with breakfast condiments until next winter.

A Spot of Sewing

1 Comment

Food preparation and cooking has been my main focus for the past few days as we prepare to host a birthday lunch for GMan on Sunday. There will be more details about what is on the menu in a future post.

Today I managed to do a bit of sewing in between the cooking. I had noticed that the covers on a couple of the spare pillows were looking a bit stained and generally less than ideal. So, I decided that it could not be too difficult to replace them.

The first step was to carefully slit the end of the cover and remove it. The inside of the pillow is simply no more than a compressed bundle of microfibre filling in the appropriate shape.

I used the old cover to cut a new piece of fabric from some offcuts of sheeting in my stash and stitched 3 sides before carefully replacing the pillow inside.

The end was then pinned.

Finally, I stitched and finished the seam with bias binding.

The 2 revamped pillows in their pillowcases and back on the bed.

Back In Town

Leave a comment

It is 3 days since we arrived back in Australia from our overseas trip. We were away for 4.5 weeks and visited Scandinavia 9Denmark, Sweden and Norway). I know that a lot of you followed our adventures but if you have not seen the blog here is the link. https://mobilecastle.wordpress.com/

Meanwhile, life is beginning to return to normal here. Bags are unpacked and everything mostly put away. One load of washing done and meals prepared. GMan is making bread. Yesterday we did some shopping. The bonus of a comfortably stocked pantry and freezer is that it was really only milk, cheese and fresh fruit and vegetables that we needed.

Yesterday I was occupied dealing with some admin work as a result of some of the mail that arrived while we were away. Today I have been working on hemming the binding on a quilt. I need to have it finished by Saturday and it is a long way around a queen sized quilt with tiny hand stitches. It will be worth it when finished. I hope to show you the finished product in a couple of days.

There is not too much exciting for blog photos so this is our dinner tonight. I made a big pot of bolognese sauce and the remainder will go in the freezer for future meals.

Made to Measure

3 Comments

I am always open to new ways of preparing or cooking food to simplify the process.

Since buying the airfryer about 18 months ago I have successfully modified my cooking methods for several recipes. One of these was zucchini quiche which I have converted to mini quiches made in the airfryer using muffin rings.

I recently took this a step further and made them in a muffin pan. Of course, a full-sized muffin pan does not fit in my small airfryer so I said to GMan that I needed to get another one so that he could cut it down to size. I had imagined that I might find one in an op shop but I did not even have to go that far. We were walking the dog one day and noticed a pile and goods on the verge to give away. Yes, it included a somewhat rusty muffin pan. GMan clean it up and cut in into some smaller sections that now fit in the airfryer.

I was very pleased with these zucchini muffins I made yesterday.

There will be no stopping me now. It will be so easy to whip up a small quantity of muffins fresh at anytime without having to heat the huge oven.

A Bunch of Basil

Leave a comment

I grew a very successful crop of basil during the summer.

I made some pesto early in the season and also used some of it fresh. However, it is now going to seed and taking up space that I want to use for winter crops so it is really time for it to go. Yesterday I picked an armful of the younger shoots, stripped the leaves and rinsed them.

This haul was 4 tightly-packed cups of basil leaves so it was time to make more pesto.

Here is my recipe.

BASIL PESTO

4 cups basil leaves, tightly packed
7 tablespoons sunflower seeds
4 cloves garlic
1 lemon, juice and rind
5 tablespoons nutritional yeast
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Place the basil, sunflower seeds and garlic in food processor and process until finely chopped and combined. Add the lemon juice, rind and nutritional yeast. Process until thoroughly combined. Gradually add the olive oil until desired consistency is reached. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I have chosen to replace the traditional ingredients of cheese and pine nuts with nutritional yeast and sunflower seeds which makes this recipe not only gluten-free but also nut and dairy free.

It was rather exciting to know that I had used basil, lemon and garlic which I had grown as well as locally produced olive oil.

A Replacement

Leave a comment

We recently purchased a new pizza maker as our old one had finally ceased to work properly. I am not sure how old it was but we had definitely had it for more than 8 years. When we first bought the original pizza maker it took about 3-4 minutes to cook a pizza with toppings. Over time this gradually increased until it was taking 7-8 minutes and then finally was not cooking them properly at all. In fact, the dough tasted uncooked which was definitely not our preference.

So, we decided to replace the appliance as it gets well-used and is an efficient use of electricity rather than heating an entire oven. After a bit of research we chose one that is the same size as the original but with some slightly upgraded features.

Better positioned handles that minimise the risk of burns. Also, a glass window in the lid so that you can observe the cooking progress.

A removable pizza stone insert which makes cleaning a bit easier. However, it does not get washed – merely scraped or brushed to remove any debris.

A couple of stainless steel paddles which make it a breeze to lift the pizza in and out of the oven.

We have used the new pizza maker twice so far and I am very pleased to once again have a perfectly cooked pizza in 3-4 minutes.

I know that single-purpose appliances generally get a bad rap as they are expensive to buy, a nuisance to store and only suitable for a very specific purpose. However, we really enjoy making our own pizzas, I have plenty of space to store the item, it is an efficient use of electricity and for me, this is definitely a worthwhile purchase.

Choice Chutney

Leave a comment

I recently encountered a new ‘problem’. Here in central Victoria the weather had definitely turned quite cool. Summer is well and truly behind us and I was left with an abundance of green tomatoes. This never happened in Queensland as tomatoes literally ripened all the year round.

It was time to remove the tomato bushes so that we could reuse the garden bed so I harvested the tomatoes and found that I could use them to make chutney.

The first step was to wash them thoroughly.

I then sliced the tomatoes and layered them with the diced onion and sprinkled with salt. Then I covered the bowls and left them to stand overnight.

This morning it was time to make the chutney.

GREEN TOMATO CHUTNEY

Ingredients

2.5kg green tomatoes, sliced
500g onions, finely diced
1 tablespoon salt
500g sultanas
500g sugar
500g apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1100ml vinegar, I used half white vinegar and half apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
30g ground allspice
30g ground cloves

Combine all ingredients in a large stockpot/preserving pan. Simmer gently for about 3 hours. I used a stick blender sparingly to mash the tomatoes a bit more. I kept the pot covered for about 2 hours and then removed the lid for the final hour.

The mixture should be rich, thick and caramel coloured.

Spoon into hot, sterilised jars. This recipe yielded 12 jars so the pantry will be well-stocked.

Perfect Baked Beans

Leave a comment

A couple of weeks ago I successfully made baked beans which GMan declared were better than the ones out of a can. Some years ago I had attempted to make them but they were really not that great. This time I was armed with more experience and a video I had chanced upon as a starting point. However, I did adapt it somewhat to suit myself.

I have made another batch and made notes of the quantities and method as well as taken several photos so that I can share the recipe with you.

BAKED BEANS

Ingredients

1kg dry white beans
Olive oil
3 medium onions, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 capsicum (pepper), diced
700ml tomato passata
250ml water
1 tablespoon treacle
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3 – 4 teaspoons smoky paprika
1 – 2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Method

Place the beans in a large bowl and cover with boiling water (about 5cm above the level of the beans). Soak for several hours or overnight. The beans will swell but will still be quite hard. Transfer the beans and water to a slow cooker and add a bit more water. Cook on high for several hours until tender but not mushy.

Saute the diced onion in a little oil in a large pan. Cook gently on a low heat so that they soften but are barely coloured. Add the garlic and capsicum and continue cooking. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer gently until well-cooked and the desired flavour.

Add the drained beans to the sauce and combine thoroughly but do not break the beans up too much. Allow to stand and cool so that the beans absorb the flavour of the sauce.

Heat, eat and enjoy.

I choose to freeze the prepared beans which works really well. This is the results from the recipe above. The small dish will be my lunch today.

Notes

This is a large quantity – you can reduce the amounts.
I used Great Northern beans but you could use navy beans, canellini beans or whatever you prefer.
You could used canned beans if you wish. I prefer to use dried beans as they cost less and there is the added benefit of minimal packaging, especially if you buy them from bulk bins.
The tomato mixture could be pureed fresh or canned tomatoes or whatever you have on hand. You can also include some tomato paste for a more intense depth of flavour.
The original recipe used bacon but I choose to use smoky paprika to replicate the flavour and keep this recipe meat-free.
Add the seasonings gradually to account for your personal taste.
I used a couple of capsicums from the garden but regular red ones are fine, too.
I substituted rosemary salt for half of the salt.
I also added 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and 1/4 cup of my homemade tomato sauce to make it a little spicier.

In other words, this is a basic recipe and you can adjust it to suit your personal taste.