Category: Late Summer
Off on Holidays
HELLO 2012, I’M NEARLY READY TO DIVE IN
Nearly ready, but not quite. Still re- connecting mind and soul, not wanting to make any decisions whatsoever (way too hard) and still feeling not quite whole. And that’s what it’s all about really isn’t it when it comes down to it? Being whole. That word is a big one for me and sums up my approach and beliefs to most things – my work is not called ‘ wholefood ‘ by mistake :) ! A whole life, expressing soul on the earthly plane is my interest, but I don’t think you’d call me new agey at all. I just have this thing for beauty and feel very close to ‘god or the universe’ when I’m around it. And what’s beauty for me? Something real, something true. But enough of that – this is a short post to say that other than knitting mind and soul together, I’ve been recipe testing and getting the garden ready for the heat. That’s the cucumber and zucchini bed below going nuts – there are at least 30 baby cucumbers that will be ready next week !!
I had quite a few recipes that needed some checking – small things like how much ganache do I need for the cookie batch below and thus it goes.
We are off to Rottnest for a week’s holiday – lots of amazing fresh ocean air, and walks by the beach I suspect and lots of time for that knitting (mind and soul). The books I’ve packed? Joel Salatins’ new one “Folks, This Ain’t Normal” and Novella Carpenter’s new one “The Essential Urban Gardener” (I love her first book ” Farm City”). I also want to take the time also to re – evaluate what I want to express this year and how best to do that, so when I come back I’ll be ready to dive in to my life in 2012 – with consciousness, vitality, joy and beauty – I’m know that’s an easier thing when my mind and soul are equally balanced.
But a recipe before I go – this is something quick and delicious to throw together. I’ve made mine above with what was in the garden, and cheated (using canned beans). But not just any old canned organic beans thankyou – I prefer the Eden Organic beans (black in this case) as I know they are soaked, cooked with Kombu and come in a BPA free can (this will link you to the American site, but in Australia are imported by Spiral Foods.) More expensive yes, imported yes, but they are a rare fall back position.
I’ll see you soon – hope your knitting is going well too.
QUICK BEANIE MIX
I use what I have around in the garden – spring onions, beetroot and carrot. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have carrots – anything goes. If you don’t have beetroot, replace them with an orange sweet potato (just a bit) – it’s role is to sweeten the tomato. If using fresh tomato, it’s tempting to add more water in the beginning, but don’t add too much or you will dilute the flavour. Just put a lid on the pan and give them 20 minutes over a very gentle heat to sweat out their juice, then continue on. Find a good chilli powder – I like a touch of chipotle and the new mexican red. You might need to look around for a shop with a good range of chilli but it’s worth it – certainly Essential Ingredient in Australia stock them. If I’ve got any coriander (rare at this time of the year), I’ll throw that in but don’t shy away from basil, of which I have lots. There’s no rule that says you couldn’t add some chard, silverbeet or kale towards the end either. Serve as desired (nachos are good), sour cream, avocado and I love the Australian Harvest (organic) sweet chilli sauce – sorry, couldn’t find a link for it, but many stores stock it. Glorious stuff.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion roughly diced
2 carrots cut into 1 cm dice
2 medium size beetroot cut into 1 cm pieces
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon good quality chilli powder, or to taste
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 x 400 gm can pinto, borlotti or black beans, rinsed and drained
1 x 400 gm can tomatoes, or fresh to equal
1 medium zucchini, cut into 1cm dice
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the onion, carrot and beetroot. Saute over a gentle heat for 5 minutes. Add the cumin, chilli powder and garlic, stir well, then cook for a couple of minutes.
Stir in the beans, tomatoes and 250 ml water, then cover and gently simmer for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are nearly cooked. Remove the lid and add the zucchini. Stirring frequently, cook at a hearty simmer for 10 – 15 minutes, or until the mixture is thick but saucy.
The Smells and Flavours of Christmas – Summer Breakfast Salad
THE SMELL OF THE EARTH ON A HOT SUMMER MORNING – SUMMER BERRIES and CHERRIES
THE SMELL OF THE EARTH ON A HOT SUMMER MORNING – SUMMER BERRIES and CHERRIES
Right up, I can tell you I’m not a summer person, but I live in Perth, so honestly you’d think by now I would be accustomed to it. But the thing that I absolutely love about those very hot summer mornings is the smell of the earth. The east winds howl over the dessert and reach Perth on the very hot days – when they are howling, you know it’s going to be a stinking hot day. But that smell – I ‘m not sure how to describe it. It is the earth, but a very West Australian earth and slightly sweet. As I breathe it in I know I am meant to be here, and am part of this country. I feel grounded. Very early in the morning (around 5ish ) it is actually still cool. I’m up because the birds wake me up and it’s light, and I go out and potter in the vegetable garden, water the pots and get what needs to be done outside done. But the thing is, you don’t want to eat that much on a hot morning. So this is what I do, I make a summer breakfast salad. The idea came from a delicious salad I had at the Frog Hollow Farm in San Francisco some years back. The goat cheese and nuts give it a bit more nutrient density and keep you going. You can use any fruit (me? I’m using strawberries and cherries) and the trick is to try and match the dressing to the fruit – playing with the vinegars or oil. For example a raspberry vinegar is delicious with berries or balsamic with cherries or strawberries. If you have access to this delicious Wellwood Walnut Oil, I would most definitely use that – it’s a Victorian brand, but I know that Alive Organics in West Australia certainly stocks it (and as they wholesale, other shops should be able to access it). But – make sure that walnut oil is not rancid – it is an Omega 3 oil, thus highly unstable to heat, light and oxygen. It should come from and be kept in the fridge and once open have a short life span.
I’ll be back next week with some serious Christmas eating, but in the meantime, if you’re doing Fruit Mince Tarts, have you got your fruit mince and pastry made? If not check out here and you might be game enough to put up some puff pastry for a quick treat – truly, it’s not as hard as it looks….
Summer Breakfast Salad
Take as many lettuce and garden greens as you would like and scatter them on a platter. Sprinkle with fruit as desired – berries and stone fruit are especially good. Top with a soft goat cheese ( I like the Ringwould in WA and Holy Goat in Victoria) and drizzle with dressing. Top with fresh herbs.
The dressing should be simple – extra virgin olive oil (or if you have a fresh, not rancid, high quality nut oil such as walnut, use that), raspberry or balsamic vinegar, touch of mustard and salt. I keep garlic out of this. I use a classic ratio of 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar, but rely more on taste – adding more vinegar if the fruit is very sweet. Make it how you like it.
Toasted nuts would be delicious and add a little more density.
Cupboard Love Minestrone
An Easter Weekend
After a beautiful week down south over the Easter break, it’s back into my kitchen, and head down. We were lucky enough to be there for the Giant Pumpkin Festival – (I didn’t put in a bid in the silent auction for a pregnant goat, who was eating all the iris in the garden) great fun, and popped into the CWA (picture above) to get some wonderful fruit. Alas, they weren’t doing morning tea – not enough of them the lady said, there were only a few of the older ones left to run the branch. That’s incredibly sad, those country women are amazing, and the association a national treasure.
But, back to my kitchen – when you’re deep into plain crumb cakes and they are playing with your head, you need a good grounding dinner – and one that’s quick.
Thus, I’ve harvested the last of my borlotti beans, and put together a quick minestrone made from what was in the fridge. I love these beans when they are fresh – so creamy – you should be able to find these available – they are often called Cranberry Beans. A very generous dollop of home made pesto (I still have masses of basil) and I am a happy girl. I am off the firm belief that a house is not a home at this time of the year without pesto. This recipe is very forgiving, and open to your own interpretation – it’s principal based, rather than ingredient based. I know I’ve done this recipe before – but there are infinite variations upon the theme and you can tell how much I love it at this time of the year.
Minestrone Soup
If you don’t mind a bit of organic, nitrate free bacon you can chop that up first and cook it in the pan, allowing it to render out some of it’s precious and nutrient dense fat to then cook the onions. You don’t need a lot, and it provides amazing flavour. If you want to make this even more sustaining, try adding 1 – 2 tablespoons pearled or natural barley – just be sure to soak it overnight first (in some water with a tablespoon whey or 2 teaspoons yoghurt or kefir). Drain and add this in the beginning – it will take a good 80 minutes to be nice and soupy creamy.
good splosh of e.v.olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano or a good stem of fresh
small stem fresh rosemary – finely chopped to equal 1 teaspoon
1 cup fresh borlotti beans
2 medium carrots – dice approx 1 cm
2 – 3 ribs celery – cut approx 1 cm
1 bulb fennel – cut into 1 cm slices approx
5 – 6 tomatoes roughly chopped into small pieces or 1 440gm can
1 medium zucchini – cut into small pieces
Firstly, develop a flavour base. Add the oil to a medium size stew pan (I use my 24cm dutch oven), onion, garlic and dried and fresh herbs. Cook over a gentle heat for approx 10 mins, not frying, just developing a little colour. For Fresh Beans – You will need to give them a head start – add the beans, and cover by 3 cm with water (or stock if you are lucky enough to have some). Cover, leaving the lid ajar, and cook for 40 mins on a gentle simmer before adding the other ingredients. For Cooked Beans (from a can or your freezer), simply add the drained and rinsed beans. Add the carrots, celery, fennel (if it has some of those lovely fronds, chop those up and add those too) and the tomatoes. If they are fresh tomatoes, give them a bit of time to sweat out their juices, so leave it to very gently cook with the lid on for about 20 minutes, then continue on. Barely cover with water or stock and gently simmer until the vegetables are cooked – approx 30 minutes. If you’ve added barley, you may need longer. If the soup is too thin, increase the heat and reduce it down – play with this – the liquid should take on a thicker appearance, and not be watery. Taste, add a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (I haven’t added the salt earlier on as it toughens the beans). Add the zucchini and cook for another 5 – 8 minutes. I don’t bother with a sweetener to balance the acidity of the tomato here, because the pesto will help with that, but if you need maybe a touch of something sweet – rapadura sugar, apple juice, vino cotto – just a tiny touch of something. Serve with a good dollop of pesto.
Pesto – Classic
This keeps brilliantly – freeze in small bags for a cold winters day, or place in an clean glass jar, covered with olive oil by approx 3 mm, in the fridge for 2 – 3 weeks – if indeed, it lasts that long and is not eaten.
100 gm pine nuts
good pinch sea salt – coarse is good
2 large handfuls of fresh basil
50 gm grated parmesan or pecorino cheese
3 cloves garlic – crushed
80 ml e.v.olive oil
Put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well combined. Try not to blend for too long – pesto should be chunky, not a smooth homogenous blend. Alternatively, to make it by hand (with less washing) use a mortar and pestle: place the salt, nuts and cheese into a mortar and pound until you have a rough mix. Add the basil a bit at a time, and pound it down – when it’s all broken down, add the olive oil and gently mix through.
Pesto – Dairy Free:
100 gm pine nuts
3 large handfuls fresh basil
2 teaspoons white (shiro) miso
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon lemon juice
100 ml e.v.olive oil
Put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well combined but still a little chunky. Taste and adjust for flavour – you can also lightly roast the pine nuts.
The Water Lily
The past few weeks (well months really) have been hot and unrelenting. My garden is weary and I am weary from the effort of trying to keep my brain intact and clear!! I’ve given up trying to keep flowers in the house, everything wilts and dies under the heat (even with some air – conditioning). But on Sunday last, after the busy days of cooking for the Seasonal Seminar, work and life in general, I was shopping and felt a flower was needed to lift the spirits. A pink flower. And there was the water lily – a robust and wonderful thing, looking up at me with a smiling face, and colour flowing into my body and soul.
One of the treats we cooked for afternoon tea at the seasonal seminar, was a zucchini loaf – this is zucchini time, they are cheap and plentiful at the moment. This is a simple, quick and easy to make loaf that lasts well.
A couple of notes – the recipe calls for white spelt flour (1 cup = 130gm) and 1 cup wholemeal spelt flour (165gm). Make sure the wholemeal weighs more like 145gm, so that means the cup is very lightly packed. Weight has a huge (huge) bearing on how your end result will turn out, and I find that 145gm is a good measurement for 1 cup wholemeal spelt flour. Now, if you want to do this with wheat flour, yes – you can, but just keep to the same weight measurements. Forgo the cup entirely and just weigh. Don’t stress if you don’t have dulse flakes – they are a great way to slip in a little more mineral goodness, but the loaf will taste fine without them. I like butter in this recipe, but if you would like to use coconut oil, just know that it will be a little more crumbly when cool, and the crumb won’t be as gorgeous. You could always just use a macadamia, almond or even extra virgin olive oil too.
Oh, your oven. You will see the recipe calls for 180c – a moderate oven. If you have a fan forced oven, this will be anywhere from 150c (my oven) to 165c.
I’ve simply taken a photo this time of the recipe from my book Wholefood for Children, Nourishing Young Children with Whole and Organic Foods, it seemed the easier thing to do! Add all the ingredients to a big bowl, mix it with your hands, and add the wet !! The amount of milk should be fine with that measurement of flour, but it should not be too firm a mix – you can see the picture below. If so, add a little more milk, even yoghurt is fine.
That’s all there is too it – it freezes well, and best of all, eats well. Enjoy.
Next week I am off to Melbourne (and it’s cooler weather) for the Melbourne Wine and Food Festival – the wonderful Cath Claringbold and I will be doing a Seasonal Salvation Masterclass, and I’m going to be at the Edible Garden also. Amazing, a whole organic garden right in the city !!! Days of meeting amazing people and talking about food!! But especially sustainable, good, real food. I’ll update you, so stay tuned….
Food After Christmas
One of the best things left after Christmas was the Organic Turkey carcass, with roasted wings still attached. I made that into a simple stock with the last of the carrots and leeks from the garden (in truth, they were a tad dodgy for delicious eating – it’s been crazy hot, and the garden was at it’s end), some bay leaves and a few peppercorns and a generous splash of white wine. I let it simmer from first light to sundown and it was a stunner – the king of stocks. I also reduced it down a fair bit and it was silky with a deeply coloured hue. Smelling it reminded me instantly of chicken soup we had when we were children. When cold it wibbled and wobbled showing that a fair amount of gelatine was in the stock. Excellent. I’ve frozen a fair bit, but dinner this night was corn chowder. The corn has started to crop here in Perth, and fresh from my favourite growers at the Subiaco Farmers Market, Hamel Home Grown it was unbelievably sweet and perfect. The soup was rich, creamy, chunky and just perfect for a summers night, with left overs for breakfast.
But that’s not all that we’ve been eating – the apricots have been some of the best I’ve seen for years, and these were simply halved, sprinkled with coconut palm sugar, vanilla paste and butter and roasted in the oven. We ate these with the last of the ice – cream my daughter made for Christmas Day – a simple, perfect dessert in every way.
This is me going cracker dog. My daughter (at 28) has felt I’ve neglected her need for Lemon Meringue of the past year, so I made one. I’ve got to say, this was the best one I think I’ve ever done. In the picture below the curd hadn’t quite set, but we ate it anyway. The meringue was an Italian Meringue, where you make a sugar syrup (I did it with a less refined, golden castor sugar) beating that into the whites. This gives you a very, very stable meringue, which lasts. Indeed this one lasted 3 days in the fridge, with no deterioration to the meringue at all. Very happy. Also I did a lime/lemon curd – I am a huge fan of the lime, and these Tahitian limes were gorgeous. Yes, we had a sliver for breakfast also.
And the cooking goes on – the board in the kitchen looks quite empty at the moment, with just a reminder to culture the cream with kefir, but will undoubtably fill up over the coming weeks and year. I’m starting work on my new book – on baking – and I’ll be keeping you updated. But summer also rolls on, and I hope to share with you some of the simple meals that keep me going everyday, especially important when there will be so much cake around!! New Years Resolution – make sure I do walk most mornings in the cool, I have to taste those biscuits, muffins, cakes and pies after all to make sure they are perfect for you. I wish you the most wonderful new year, may you be nourished in every way.
x Jude
CORN CHOWDER:
will only be gluten free if the tamari used is wheat free
A delicious, quick and easy dinner in mid – summer when the corn is abundant. Coriander is a great addition to this if available, added at the last minute. Because corn has such a touch outer skin, you may like to sieve the soup after blending. It’s very forgiving with ingredients – I didn’t have onions (but had leeks), and left celery out all together.
2 tablespoons ghee, butter or olive oil
1 large, or 2 small onions, cut into small dice
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
4 stalks celery, cut into small dice
4 medium / 250 gm carrots, well scrubbed and cut into small dice
2 medium potatoes / 360 gm, well scrubbed and cut into small dice
Generous handful of fresh basil, roughly chopped
4 corn, kernels cut off
pinch sea salt
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
7 medium leaves / 45 gm Tuscan Black kale, finely sliced. If the kale is very large (such as Curly or Russian), reduce the amount,
finely slice, and then roughly chop.
Wheat free tamari for balancing
Mirin for balancing
Add the ghee to a 24 cm pot with the onions, celery, carrots, potatoes, basil, corn kernels, salt and cook over a gentle heat for 8 mins or so, stirring every now and then. Add the stock, partly cover with a lid and cook at a gentle simmer for 30 mins or until the vegetables are soft.
Remove approx 1/3 – ½ (one third – half) of the mixture and blend to a puree (taking care not to burn yourself), and return to the pot. Check for taste, adjusting the flavours if need be – chicken stock will generally be sweeter than a vegetable. Add a little tamari or mirin if needed ½ (half) – 1 teaspoon. Add the kale, stir though and cook at a gentle simmer for 10 minutes.
Peach or Apricot and Berry Cake
After a very dry winter, and early summer the only upside I can see is that the fruit is early and delicious. What can one do other than go crazy eating apricots and peaches, with juices dripping down your hands? Yes, definitely preserve them, but how about a quick, simple cake that makes the body and soul sing.
This recipe is a riff on one of my favourites from my first book Wholefood, and is a simple butter cake enriched with nuts. I did make this with almonds, but now the organic macadamia’s are finally available (and can I tell you they are very, very good), I would probably use those. In the more relaxed weeks leading into Christmas, this has even been known to constitute breakfast. Truly. Because it’s got a large amount of fruit in it, left overs will need to be stored in the fridge in our hot weather. For those of you lucky enough to be in winter, this idea still works – I would suggest apple and frozen berries (but don’t thaw the berries first, just add them frozen). I’ve always dreamed of a white christmas, but I think I’m a product of my southern hemisphere life – when we lived in New Orleans, come July, school holidays, heat and gardenia’s in bloom, all I could think (and feel) was Christmas! It’s a perfect cake for the warmer weather, not at all heavy or rich, but light, fruity and delicious.
As you head into your Christmas season, give this tried and true a try!!
This is fabulous with plums, but really you can use whatever fruit you have on hand. – This cake is best made using electric beaters—the butter and sugar must be well creamed and eggs must be added 1 at a time. Because this cake has a large amount of butter, it is not as essential that the batter be slightly wetter than normal. If not using plums, go from the picture above as to how much raw fruit to add – really, go crazy, as you will be amazed how it reduces in size when cooked.
1 x 24 cm springform cake tin – but I used a 30 x 21cm baking dish
1 cup unbleached plain flour – I like to use spelt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup almond meal
1 1/4 cups wholemeal flour – I use spelt
250 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup rapadura
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla essence
1/4 cup (60ml) milk
15 plums (blood, maraposa, or ruby blood)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 teaspoon approx ground cinnamon
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4).
Lightly grease a 24 cm springform cake tin and line the base and sides with baking paper.
Sieve the unbleached plain flour together with the baking powder. Add the almond meal and wholemeal flour, whisk through and set aside.
Using electric beaters, cream the butter and sugar for 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until creamy. Add vanilla, then gently mix in flours and almond meal. Add milk if needed. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin.
Cut plums in halves (or quarters if large), discarding the seeds and press into cake batter, cut side down. If using peaches, peel first and slice into fairly good size. The plums will reduce as they cook, so try and fit in as many as you can. Sprinkle with slivered almonds and cinnamon. Bake for 1-1 1/2 hours, until the centre is cooked and a skewer comes out clean.
Leave the cake to cool for 15 minutes in the tin, then remove and cool on a wire rack – or cut and eat warm.
Blog Topics
- Afternoon Tea
- autumn
- Baking
- Beans
- books
- Breakfast
- Cakes
- Celebration
- Chef Training
- children
- Christmas
- chutney
- Core Recipes
- Dairy
- Dairy Free
- Desserts
- Dream
- Easy
- Equipment
- events
- Fats
- Fish
- Frugal
- Fruit
- Gluten Free
- Grains
- Grass Fed Meat
- Greens
- Invitation
- Late Summer
- Life
- lunch
- Making a Book
- Meals from my Garden
- Pastry
- Picnic
- Preserving
- Quick Dinner
- Ramble and Roam
- Seasonal Cooking
- seminars
- Snacks
- Soaked Grains
- Soup
- Spring
- Summer
- Sustainable Fish
- Sydney
- Tomatoes
- Travel
- Treats
- Uncategorized
- vegan
- Vegetarian
- Wedding Cake
- Whole and Natural Foods Chef Training
- Wholefood Kitchen
- Winter
