July spice rack challenge: basil

This months spice challenge was Basil.  I like Basil, a lot.  However in midwinter my glass house doesn't have anything at all in it, apart from a self sown alpine strawberry plant that I must get around to moving before I loose that as well.  I had oodles of basil over summer; sold it by the bunch at the local farmers market and it was the top selling item in my stall.  But no fresh basil for me at the moment, so its uses for the dried variety I was looking for.

And I found that it pairs well with fruit, specifically peaches, according to Mr Google.  That is something that I had never tried, normally I use it in salads, pesto or my favourite tomatos and crackers.

I've also recently discover what you Americans call pudding, in my speak.  I knew about crumbles and crisps, was bought up on apple crumbles as a kid, but struggled to find recipes for any baked desserts with fruit in them apart from those.  I stumbled across a website titled 'The Betty, Buckle, Grunt, Pandowdy, Slump, Cobbler and the other 3 Cs'.  At last, fruit pudding recipes, uses for all that fruit that I bottled over summer apart from serving with custard and ice cream.  So this months recipe is a peach and basil pandowdy, and sorry no photos since they weren't joking when various websites said this is an ugly dessert.  The basil gave it a peppery contrast to the sweet of the syrup and fruit, which I quite liked, hadn't expected but then hadn't really thought about it either.  I didn't know how much of the herbs taste would survive the cooking, since normally if I was cooking something with basil I'd add it at the last moment to preserve its flavour from being destroyed by the heat.  This wasn't herby like I was expecting, but the savoury component was there.

Peach and Basil Pandowdy
serves 2

for the filling:
1/2 pint bottled peaches or 5-6 fresh
1/3 cup light brown sugar
 pinch of salt
1 1/2 tspn cornstarch
1 Tblspn butter

for the pastry crust:
3/4 cup flour
1 Tblspn dried basil
1/4 teaspoon sugar
pinch of kosher salt
4 Tblspn butter, grated
1 1/2 Tablespoons cold water or peach juice if using canned peachs

1.Preheat oven to 400°F and butter 2 5 inch baking dishes
2.For the peaches: Toss the sliced peaches with the lemon juice, brown sugar, salt and cornstarch.
3.Pour the peaches into the prepared baking dishs and dot with the a Tablespoon of butter.
4.For the pastry: Combine the flour, sugar, basil, and salt and mix
5.Add the cold butter and mix with fingers or pastry cutter until crumbly
6.Add the juice/water andmix until it just starts to clump together.
7.Turn the mixture out onto a work surface and knead ever so gently to incorporate all the dry bits.
8.Flatten slightly into a disk
9.To roll the pastry: Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface to about 1/8” thick and about the length/width of the baking dishes.
10.Lay the pastry ever so gently over the peaches and trim it flush with the edges of the baking dish.
11.Brush the pastry with milk and sprinkle with sugar.  Cut a few vents into the pastry.
12.Bake until the pastry is lightly golden, about 30 minutes.
13.Remove the dishes from the oven and cut the pastry into 1” squares.
14.“Dowdy” the pastry by gently pushing it down onto the fruit, letting the juices come up over the pastry.
15.Return the dishes to the oven and bake until golden brown, about 30 more minutes.
16.Serve warm with ice cream, heavy cream or whipped cream

June spice rack challenge; mint

So this months spice rack challenge was mint.  This was a tough one for me, since we are now officially into winter, the frosts and colder weather has begun and my mint plants have either disappeared or looking decidedly sick.  Actually, the last time ( a few weeks ago now) I went to grab a handful from the plant beside the back door and I ended up not using it since it was covered in either rust or infested with little orange bugs.  Not entirely sure which; got as far as it didn't wash off so I threw it in the chook bucket.

I moved my herb bed the other year, while painting the outside of the house.  As a result, most of my herbs spend the best part of a year in pots.  Including a full summer.  They got watered occasionally, but not often enough it would seem for mint to flourish, so I took what cuttings and plants I had left and created a few new beds.  Bit of a pain really, since I had a number of different types; chocolate, apple and a spearmint from memory.  The end result was that the new beds slowly grew last summer but I'm yet to figure out what is where.  I've played around with preserving mint; mint jelly, mint in vinegar, mint sauce, mint chutney etc but I'm at the point where with this, at least, fresh is best.  So this recipe is one I've cooked a number of times, but no pictures this month, sorry.


Wings with Mint Leaves and Honey
3 lb chicken wings
1 T minced garlic
2 T chopped fresh mint leaves
1T butter
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup honey

Place chicken in two 9x13 inch baking dishes. Blend garlic and mint leaves and spread mixture under skin of chicken pieces.
In a small saucepan, heat butter, lemon juice and honey over medium low heat; mix well. Brush warmed mixture all over chicken skin.
Bake for 1 hour at 190 C, or until golden brown and cooked through (juices run clear). Brush again with honey mixture, and serve.

Serves 4

I've cooked this with wings, stuffed chicken breasts and once, when the number of kids I was cooking tea for doubled without notice shredded what chicken I had and served mixed as a sauce.  I like it as a combination of flavours, although I've got very sweet tooth so that shouldn't be a great surprise.

may spice rack challenge: coriander

Coriander.  Something I use quite often, but normally in a great mix of spices.  I considered putting up my indian spiced scrambled eggs with spinach, care of, wait for it 'trooper coopers indian cook book'.  The title of that still brings a grin to my face, and I've had the book for a year or three now.  Don't get me wrong, its got some good recipes in it, but still I grin.  Anyway said eggs have a great long list of spices in which coriander is only one, and I kinda wanted a recipe in which coriander was the star.  Or at least one of the stars, not the cast.

So, my friend Mr Google it was.  What a surprise ae?  Anyway, I went looking for a pairing with fruit, since its Autumn here now, and apart from soup I find I'm wanting to cook desserts.  Thought with its citrus scent there would be plenty of inspiration to choose from.  Umm, nope.  But I did find a recipe for coriander butterscotch shortbread.  Not something that I wanted to try, I'll admit. I'm a cook, not a baker for the most part.  But butterscotch, that I could work with. 

Still in the mood for dessert, I went for obvious and relatively simple; mousse.  Knew that I could play with flavours with minimal effort.  Found a recipe for butterscotch mousse (or three) and then looked at infusing butter with coriander flavour.

I read screeds on ghee, and clarified butter; may have found a few answers to how to stop sauces from splitting on the way, maybe.  Will have to go back and investigate a little further on that one.  Decided that on my first attempt I wasn't go to go the whole hog and clarify the butter, just infuse it, since I figured that this was likely to be a rich enough dessert as is was. 

Coriander infused butterscotch mousse
4 T whole coriander seeds
100g butter
1/2 c brown sugar
2 egg whites
2 t caster sugar
300 ml cream

Roughly crush the coriander and add to melted butter.  Leave to cool and sit for at least 24 hours.  The longer it sits and the fresher the spice the stronger the flavour.  I left it for 24 hours and there was a hint of coriander but not overpowering.  However my coriander was not fresh by any stretch.

Remelt the butter and remove the crushed coriander using some muslin cloth.  You are aiming to have 75 g of butter for the mousse, so if you are short at this point ( I was) add some fresh butter to make up the short fall.

Add the brown sugar and 100ml of the cream to the butter in a saucepan and heat.  Stir until the sugar has dissolved.  Set aside to cool.

In  a separate bowl whisk the egg whites and caster sugar to soft peaks.

In a third bowl whisk the cream until it also forms soft peaks.

Fold the cooled butterscotch mix into the cream.

Fold the egg white mix into the flavoured cream.

Spoon into glasses and chill.

Enjoy, I know our family did.  This makes enough for 6

april spice rack challenge: more lemons... lemon and dill sauce:

So, I've still got this pile of lemons left; and  wondering what to do with them.  I've also got a bucket of oranges, one of peaches, one of apples, half a bucket of beans and shallots to deal with.  Oh and a bag of pears, but they are still quite green so I'm in no hurry there.  Anybody would think its bottling season or something. 

Back to the lemons, supplied by my Ma, since after 5 years I've finally got a lemon tree established but

its a long way from being able to keep me in fruit.  

there is a lemon tree, honest



Maybe this year I'll let it keep a fruit, since up until

now I've dutifully pulled them all off to encourage

vegetative growth.  In amongst all that comfrey is a

lemon tree under a hideous but very effective snow

shelter.  Its at the back door, and thinking about it,

I could move the shelter for the summer, but on the

list of things to do its way down the list.  So there it

stays.  The wonders of living in a semi-alpine

environment



This spring I planted a heap of dill, in the hope that I could sell some at the local farmers market.  I'd have to say it was a flop; bolted to seed well before I'd expected.  Last week I carefully removed as much leaf as I could find and the end result was a meagre handful, that sat on the bench drying until I could figure out a use for it.  I'd been playing around with the idea of a lemon and dill sauce, suitable for fish or chicken.  But do you think I could find a recipe?  Not even google could help.  By the seat of the pants it was going to have to be.



This is what I came up with:

Lemon and Dill sauce

6 lemons

2 onions

2 c brown sugar

1 c cider vinegar


1 1/2 c apple juice

3 Tblspn dill tips

I took the rind off the lemons, juiced them and put that in saucepan, with the flesh and pith in a muslin like I would have in making marmalade.
Apple juice was to thicken the brew from the pection; so boiled apples and drained using jellybag, and added the resulting juice.

apples draining in jelly bag

Added the rest of the ingredients with the exception of the dill, and boiled until I go the consistency I was after.  Will have to say that the sugar/vinegar ratio was approximate.  I gave up following sauce recipes exactly awhile back after some truly dismall concotions, so these days its all done by taste.  I figured with the acidity from the lemons and the addition of the vinegar, there wasn't going to me much of a problem, pH wise.  Put it though a mulee to get a nice smooth sauce.  No idea if mulee is something that exists outside of NZ.  Probably does, but not a clue on what its called, will wait for enlightenment on that one.  Old fashioned piece of  kitchenware inherited from my Grandma.  Wonderful thing, grinds fruit etc into much smoother paste than food processor.



My mulee




Added the dill tips, last, just before bottling, to avoid them turning to mush.  Put into hot sterilised jars, and there you have it, lemon and dill sauce.  Probably worth mentioning that in the US you would then pressure can it for the appropriate amount of time.



lemon sauce





March spice challenge; cardamon

Cardamon.  It's something I have a jar of, in the back of my cupboard.  I think.  This months spice rack challenge was going to require a bit of research.
Mr google is my friend, however.  Apparently it comes in a number of forms, which didn't help me much since I didn't really know what I had gathering dust back there.  However I did find a really useful web page that listed 20 different common pairings for cardamon. Among which was orange.  Now that was good, since I had a bag of oranges that had been also collecting dust given to me to make marmalade.  10 or so jars of marmalade later, I still had a dozen or so oranges, and the lemons which I have been slowly working my way though.

So orange.  I like self saucing puddings, and I also found mention of a cardamon infused syrup while googling away.  This was sounding like a possibility.  I'd have to say, it tasted pretty good, but sweet.  Very sweet.  And I'm a chocolate and sugar addict form way back, so, consider yourself warned.  Next time I'd cut back on the sugar in the syrup I think; or maybe halve it and use brown instead of white.  Aiming for a rich flavour, but not sickly.  However this is the recipe, tinker how you wish.

Self saucing orange pudding
serves 3



1 cup flour
1 T baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
rind of 2 oranges, finely grated
1 T oil
1/2 c freshly squeezed orange juice
1 egg
ice cream to serve

Sauce
1 c freshly squeezed orange juice
8 oz sugar
1 oz cardamon (green in pods)

So, the sauce.  Dissolve sugar in orange juice in a saucepan.  Bring to a rolling boil, remove from heat then add the cardamon.  Leave to cool for as long as you like.  The longer it seeps the stronger the cardamon flavour.  I left mine for about an hour and a half, there was a definite cardamon flavour that cut the intensity of the orange, but it wasn't overpowering. 

The puddings.
Lightly grease 3 ramekins.  Preheat oven to 180 deg c
Sift flour, baking powder and sugar into a bowl.  Whisk together oil, juice, orange rind and egg.  Stir into flour mixture until well combined.  Spoon into ramekins.

Gently spoon sauce over puddings.  Small tip; if you spoon it over rather than tip it from the bowl you don't get a hole in the pudding.

Cook in oven; its going to depend a little on the depth of the ramekins, but mine took about 10-15 min.  I didn't really keep track of time on this, sorry.

Upend pudding onto plate, beware, that sauce is going to be very hot.  Serve with icecream.  Enjoy

Febuary's spice rack challenge: citrus

After last months, this was almost made for me.  Where to even start?  Well, with my favourite recipe for using preserved lemons.

Lamb and tomato pizza

1 frozen pizza base
or  6 hamburger buns, halved

1 lb minced lamb, I've used beef before, and its good... but lamb is better
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground caraway
1 tsp of chilli powder, or to taste

2 onions, finely sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 can chopped tomatoes
1 tsp cinnamon, ground
1 tsp allspice, ground
1 tsp brown sugar

To serve
2 preserved lemons
bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
Greek yogurt

Mix together all the lamb ingredients, cook in hot frypan with a little oil, until browned.

Sauté the sliced onions in the oil in a separate frypan. Once they’re soft and golden add the tomatoes and cook for a further 10 minutes. Stir in the spices and sugar and cook for a couple of minutes.
You are aiming for a thick sauce, otherwise you will have soggy pizza/hamburger halves

Spread the tomato on your base, add the lamb mince.
Heat in oven to cook/toast base.
As you can see, I often serve with chips, for totally healthy, green vege free meal ( small amount of sarcasm there )

Slice the skin off the lemons; this is the part that you want.  Dice and scatter over pizzas.
Ditto with the coriander and yogurt.

Enjoy

Rosemary and the spice rack challenge

I was googling recipes the other day, trying to find a use for the bucket of lemons that I had been given by my Ma and stumbled across 'the spice rack challenge'.  Sounded like my kind of thing; I have a cabinet of herbs and spices, as well as the overflow in boxes and stray packets in the pantry.

Rosemary it said.  Deadline the 21;  being the 17 I thought this should be interesting.  Don't get me wrong, I have a soft spot for rosemary... have a hedge of it at the backdoor, so procuring the herb wouldn't be a problem.  I like scented plants and blue flowers, so it ticks both boxes, but I rarely bring any inside. Unless its for a leg of lamb.  Just prefer to brush past it while walking down the path.

                              

So, on with the lemon hunt, and found references to preserved lemons with rosemary.  Eyes light up at that one; this I could do in a couple of days and need to do a jar of preserved lemons anyway.

I love preserved lemons with mince and yogurt on pizza, or with hummus, or in casseroles... Maybe you get the idea?  Common enough item in this household, but I'd never played round with herbs and spices in them.

Here's my attempt:

Preserved lemons with rosemary
Heat washed jar in oven.
Boil seal for jar in hot water for 5 min.
Wash and dry lemons (1 jar used 10 lemons, but this will vary heaps).
Quarter lemons and remove obvious seeds.
Heat lemons microwave until soft and cooked looking (about 4 mins in mine).
Remove jar from oven, and pack lemons in layers putting good amount of rock salt between each layer.  Place sprigs of rosemary in and around lemons at each layer.
Keep filling until jar is well packed, add more salt and lemon juice until jar is overflowing.
Remove seal from hot water and place on top.
Screw on band.
                           


Bottling, kiwi style, using the overflow method.  Frowned upon it would seem in America, but I'm afraid its how I was taught, and how I bottle most of my fruit. Bottling = canning if a translation is needed.