eater

Eater is an attempt to do something that I've been meaning to do for ages; write all my recipes into a standard format and place them in a book with plastic folders. Eventhough I do already have one of those, it is indescribeably manky. I should throw it away but I am quite sentimental about it. Still it would be nice to have a new one with all my favourite recipes in one place.  I'm expecting this to grow very slowly.

gingerpeople

Grace was very excited when I said we were going to make gingerbread men for the fun day. There's a Richard Scarry video that she watches sometimes which features slightly scary gingermen. I thought it would be a fun thing we could do together; it was and it wasn't. First there was the bad taste when she sneaked a lick of the spice mixture and then the (not badly) burnt finger when she tried to taste the syrup mixture. That said, the rolling out of the gingermen and the icing of them was greeted with much enthusiasm. As was the eating.

However, I have to say that as far as eating goes, I'd prefer a softer textured gingerbread. Dark and slightly chewy on the outside. These were quite hard and would be really good for Christmas tree hanging and as small gifts. Recipe is adapted from Biscuits, The Good Cook, Time-Life Books 1982. For the cake stall, I made a double quantity and that was heaps, with some over for home.

You will need

125g brown sugar
125g golden syrup or honey (I think molasses would work well too if you like the taste)
1tsp ground cinnamon
some fresh nutmeg
some mixed spice (actually I might leave the mixed spice and nutmeg out next time - the recipe called for 1/8 ground cloves instead, which I didn't have)
1 tsp fresh grated ginger (I'd be tempted to add more next time, but I love ginger)
1 tsp powdered ginger
90g butter
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
500g plain flour
pinch salt
1 lightly beaten egg
glace icing made from icing sugar, a tiny knob of butter and hot water and then coloured with lurid food colourings

To make

Dissolve the sugar, honey or syrup, spices and butter over a low heat and slowly bring to gentle boil. Cool to room temperature and add the baking powder. It will froth a bit.

Make a well in the middle of the flour and salt. Add syrup mixture and the egg. MIx well and ten turn onto a floured board and knead until it all comes together. Wrap in plastic or grease proof paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll the cooled dough to about 3 mm thick and cut into shapes. Bake in a preheated oven 170C oven for 8-10 minutes or just until they start to colour.

When the gingerpeople are cool, ice with icing from an icing bag or using a plastic bag with a small corner cut off.   

apricot jam

   

I've always had problems with apricot jam, but from now on, this is my method. I'm so absurdly pleased with how this turned out. The big change to how I've made apricot jam in the past is to soften the fruit first in a few cups of water. Stirring well. This reduces the risk of the sugar catching or burning before the fruit has pulped. For some of my thoughts on jam making in general, see here. Especially the bit about having someone else looking after small children. And the big pot.

Ingredients

• 2-3 kilo of apricots including some that are on the green side
• white sugar, the same weight as the prepared fruit
• juice of two lemons (optional, but perhaps at the end)
• jars and cellophane covers

To make

• Wash fruit being diligent to remove all insects and birdshit.
• Wash jars in hot soapy water and rinse in vinegar water (or better yet run them through the dishwasher).
• Place jars on a tray in warmed oven and turn the heat off.
• Stone fruit and cut out any blemishes or bird damage.
• Weigh fruit and make a written note of the weight of prepared fruit.
• Place fruit in big pot with several cups of water, bring to boil and stir and watch to make sure none of the fruit catches or burns and that just a little liquid remains.
• Once the fruit has softened and become pulpy, turn off the heat and allow it to cool slightly.
• Add equal weight of sugar (from your note) to fruit and bring back up to the boil.
• Stir occasionally, making sure fruit is not sticking.
• It should take about twenty minutes or so but this will depend on how much water needs to be boiled off.
• When the jam is nearly ready the bubbles become thicker and when you stir into the corners there are little explosions of heat.
• Remove jam from heat and test for set by putting a little on a plate, allowing to cool and pushing your finger along the plate through the jam. The jam will set if it wrinkles when you do this.
• Taste for sweet sour balance. I added the juice of two lemons to a six kilo mix and it made the flavours sparkle. I imagine some fruit would need this and some wouldn't, so doing this step at the end makes sense to me.
• Allow to cool slightly before skimming, pouring into prepared jam jars and sealing with cellophane.
• Clean up and maybe shower away all the sugar and sweat, have a long cold drink and give yourself a big pat on the back.

Sago plum pudding

This is the pudding my Nan used to make. Now Mum makes it and I guess, but hopefully not for a long time, it'll be my turn. I did make it once but didn't dissolve the sago properly and spilt all the brandy over the back of my car on the way to lunch. A subject for a few jokes that day, especially as I was working as a cook then.

Not sure about the quantities here. I think Mum makes two so there'll be leftovers for breakfast on boxing day. Mmm. Also need to get the recipe for the sauce. It's a great recipe though, puddinging but not too heavy.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons of sago
1 cup of milk
1 cup of breadcrumbs
1 cup of raisins (or mixed fruit?)
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon bi-carb soda
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg

To Make
Soak sago in milk overnight.
Melt butter.
Add wet and dry ingredients and mix well.
Pour into a greased (greased and lined) pudding container and set on a trivet and boil in plenty of water for three hours.
Rest slightly before turned out and setting alight with warmed brandy and eating with spice sauce, crean and icecream.

Lemon tart

I love lemon tart and it's quite easy to make. I use a tart tin with a removable base; the wider, flatter tin if the tart has to be served soon after baking or is serving lots of people. But I think the deeper tin gives a nicer result with a higher ratio of curd to pastry. The lemon curd filling I use is pretty much as described in the Cook's Companion. The pastry is super easy, indeed it's not even proper pastry, it's a biscuit crust. I usually make the larger quantity and freeze what I'm not using. Then when I need to make a tart, break off a piece, whack it in the microwave to soften and then press it into the tart tin. However, I've recently realised that if you like a crisp pastry, the filling needs to be added while it's still warm. Either straight out of the oven or baked the day before and warmed up (I'm pretty sure that would work, my theory being that the lemon curd starts to cook quicker and not soak into the pastry if it's already warm).

   

First, make the base as described here. Then for the filling, you will need:

3 large (or up to six small) lemons
6 eggs
250g casor sugar
200 ml pure cream

1. Preheat oven to 160 C
2. Wash the lemons in warm soapy water, rinse and dry well. This is really important if the lemons have supermarket wax on them. Less so if they're from a tree out the back.
3. Peel the zest (ie the yellow part of the skin) from the lemons being careful not to get any of the white pith. If you do get some pith, cut it out because it's yucky and will add bitterness rather than zing. I use a sharp potato/vegetable peeler with light strokes. It's tedious but worth it.
4. Chop the lemon rind into pieces and then grind them very finely with some of the caster sugar. I have an old electric coffee grinder that I use for this. A food processor or bamix nut grinder works just as well. If you have neither, then chop the lemon rind as fine as you can with a knife. I dislike pieces of rind in lemon tart, so this is an important step for me.
5. Juice lemons and strain the pips and pulp out.
6. Mix juice, lemon rind, sugar, eggs and cream in a big bowl with a ballon whisk or similar. It doesn't have to be beaten, just really well combined.
7. Taste for sweet/sour balance and add a little more sugar or lemon juice if necessary. I like my lemon tart to hover on the edge of sour and if it tastes just a little sweeter than I'd like raw, it will usually be just right after baking. That said, if I'm baking for people I don't know or for a big group, I might make the filling a teensy bit sweeter than I'd really prefer. G likes it better this way too.
8. Place the warm baked tart tin on a tray in the oven and pour the filling into the case. When I remember I do this step with the tart base pretty much the oven to stop having to carry it across the kitchen.
9. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until almost set. Allow to cool for about half an hour before serving or it will fall apart. Yummo.

chocolate self-saucing pudding

Based on the recipe from Cooks Companion. Less sugar, plain brand cocoa (just don't use drinking chocolate with sugar in it), self-raising flour, brown sugar all the way through and more water. And no nuts, which just seem plain wrong to me in a pudding of this kind. Works fine if you forget to put the egg in. As I discovered tonight (come to think of it the mixture did seem a bit dry). But better with the egg. And ice-cream. Although cream will do. Really, really easy.

Ingredients

pudding
a scant cup of self-raising flour
pinch of salt
1/4 cup of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of cocoa
1/2 cup of milk
40g melted butter
1 egg
some vanilla
a shake of cinnamon

topping
1/4 cup of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of cocoa
1 1/2 cups of biloing water

To make

Preheat the oven to 180C. Put the kettle on. Grease a small deep baking dish. Mix all the pudding ingredients together. No need to use a beater. A spoon or small whisk will do.Sprinkle the dry topping ingredients over the top. Pour on the boiling water. Bake for about 30 minutes or until top is firm. Sit for 5 minutes (because the sauce will be really, really hot) and then eat with cream and/or icecream.

golden syrup dumplings

I adore these. They remind me of my childhood in the best possible way. We also made them at the cafe during winter and they were a bit of a hit; some people coming in especially on the days they were on. Which I think is a bit odd, because they are super easy to make and really best freshly cooked (although I do like them cold for breakfast, another childhood memory). G on the other hand, thinks they are horrid and a perfect illustration of bad anglo/australian cooking. Maybe it's the lemon. For me they have to be lemony.

It's really a boiled scone recipe and like with scones, it's important not to overhandle them. Quick and light is the way to do it.

Ingredients

For the dumplings
I cup white self-raising flour
pinch of salt
about 50 g butter
about 1/4 cup of half milk, half water

For the syrup
1/2 a cup of sugar
3/4 cup of golden syrup
juice of one reasonable sized lemon
2 cups of water

To make the dumplings

1. Chop the butter into small pieces and rub into flour and salt, lifting to aerate. Don't worry if tt's not compltely even.
2. Make a well in the centre of the mix and add in the milk/water mixing with a knife as you go, until you have a medium consistency scone like dough.
3. Knead very lightly and briefly in the bowl. Just enough to make the mixture cohere.
4. Roll into balls the size of a twenty cent piece (but round). The balls need to be reasonably smooth and well stuck together. Sit on a plate while you make the syrup.

To cook and serve

1. Bring the syrup ingredients to a slow boil in a medium size saucepan.
2. Drop balls into boiling syrup one at a time. They will puff up and double in size quite quickly.
3. Don't overcrowd them, I usually cook the dumplings in two batches, adding a little extra water to the second batch.
4. Move gently with a spoon to make sure they don't stick together.
5. Cook for three to four minutes or until they are done in the middle.
6. If you are not serving them straight away, store the dumplings on a tray and the remaining syrup in a separate container. They reheat pretty well in the microwave.
7. Serve 2 or 3 per person with a little extra syrup, warm and with cream or icecream. I like either and it's hard to pick which one, but unlike some in my family, I think cream and icecream together is an abomination. I tend to go with the icecream here. Hot, cold. Very sweet.

Red lentil, tomato and sweet potato soup

This would have to be my second favourite soup. After lentil and barley with herbs from the garden. I developed this based on something I had at a friend's house back when I had the cafe. A reliable seller at lunch, it was a bit fancier then, with coconut milk and coriander (powder and fresh as as garnish). These days I tend to do a simple version, although sometimes I add coriander, cummin and a touch of chilli. A couple of weeks ago though I had a beetroot from the garden already washed and peeled in the fridge. I chopped it up and threw it in. Extra sweetness and an earthy undertone. And the best colour. Really, really good.

Ingredients

a medium sweet potato (peeled and sliced)
a tin of Italian chopped tomatoes
a big onion
garlic (I use about half a head if it isn't that strong, but we like garlic here)
grated ginger (about a teaspoon or two, enough to give a zing without being overpowering)
a cup or so of red lentils
a big old beetroot (optional but really good, peeled and diced)

To make

1. Roughly chop the onions and garlic. Saute with the ginger in some olive oil with a pinch of salt. This would be the point when I would also add powdered coriander or cumin if I was using them.
2. Add the tomatoes and saute briefly.
3. Add about a litre and a half of water, the red lentils, the sweet potato and the beetroot.
4. Cook at a slow roll until everything is good and tender. Blend with the bamix. Check for salt, although I find if you add some at the beginning it tends not to need any at the end but everyone is different with their salt.

And there you have it. Ridiculously easy and very nice for lunch or dinner.

crinkles

These biscuits are from Still Life with Menu, ( Mollie Katzen, Ten Speed Press 1988) one of my favourite and most influential cookbooks. I've only made them once before and they are sensational. Don't be put off by the presence of molasses, it really works in these and is offset by the other sugar and spices. G suggested they needed ginger which I forgot and will definitely be adding next time. Please use the two different types of sugar, it does make a difference.

Ingredients

125 butter
1/4 cup molasses
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teasponn cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ginger
2 cups white self-raising flour
1 to 2 tablespoons additional white sugar

To make

1. Preheat oven to 170C. Line two biscuit trays with baking paper (I re-use mine because I'm cheap).
2. Melt the butter.  Add molasses, which may need a quick zap in the microwave to flow well enough for measuring. Beat the egg and add to cooled butter and molasses mixture.
3. Mix dry ingredients (except white sugar). Add the wet ingredients and mix. Use your hands to bring together into a soft dough.
4. Roll pieces of dough into small truffle sized balls. Dip in white sugar. Place on baking tray. Squash before baking (Grace loved doing this).
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until they puff up and fall down. Bake until darkish brown if you like a crisp biscuit. A beigey colur of you like a soft centre. I did some of each which is pretty unavoidable in our oven anyway.
6. Cool on a teatowel. Eat with soothing cups of tea.

Pear and coconut upside down cake

This is a variation on the easy chocolate cake recipe. I first made it last week to use up some manky pears that been in the fridge a few days too long. The consensus was that it was pretty nice, although I thought it was a bit sweet and could do with some citrus notes, hence the orange. Mum thought lemon would be too strong but I'm not so sure. I'm also thinking that other possibilities might be; the inclusion of dark chocolate chips, mixing some yoghurt in with the milk (I often do this with pancakes), lowering the sugar content, cooking the pears in red wine or port, perhaps using some honey, including some other spices and or nuts. Not all at once, but one variation at a time. Anyway, I had some doubts with this cake after a fraught mixing process in which my helper tried to eat the butter and sugar before it got mixed into the cake, but once again, this cake was lovely. Even if I do say so myself.

Ingredients

4 ripe but not too soft packenham pears
1 navel orange
1 1/3 cups of self-raising flour
1 1/4 cups of firmly packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons of dessicated coconut
125 butter at room temperature (or softened in the microwave)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla essence
2/3 milk
some extra butter and sugar for the upsidedowny part of the cake

Making the cake

• Line and grease a 22cm springform cake tin. Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Using a vegetable peeler or zester, scrape the orange part of the orange rind from the orange and chop finely. Discard any pieces that have white on them.
• Core the pears and cut into eights. Add the orange juice and about a table spoon or so of sugar depending on the sweetness of the pears. Cover and cook in the microwave for about three minutes on high until the pears are just translucent.
• Place the rest of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric beater on high until the mixture is pale(r). It will not achieve a silky texture because of the coconut, but it should look kind of glossy.
• Sprinkle about a table spoon of brown sugar on the base of the cake tin. Dot with thin slices of butter (less than a tablespoon all up). Arrange the pears over this, reserving the syrup for later. Cover with the cake batter and gently smooth the top.
• Bake for about an hour or until a knife comes out of the middle of the cake cleanly. Rest for at least ten minutes before turning onto a serving plate.
• Heat the remaining syrup in the microwave on high for three to five minutes or until it is gooey. Spread over cakes, smoothing with a knife dipped in hot water if necessary. Serve with cream.

Easy chocolate cake

This is adapted from a cake featured in the Sunday Life section of The Age newspaper back in 2004. It has become my standard, we need a cake today, cake. I use milk instead of water and tend to ice it with a glace icing instead of ganache, partly because I like icing sugar icings and partly because it seems to suit this cake. This is as easy as making a packet cake. Really.

Cake ingredients

1 1/3 self-raising flour
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups of brown sugar
125g butter at room temperature (or softened but not melted in the microwave)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
2/3 cup milk

Making the cake

• Pre-heat oven to 180C, line and grease a 22cm cake tin.
• Measure and place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl.
• Beat with an electric beater until the mixture is pale and silky looking, like with packet mixes.
• Pour into the tin and smooth out. Bake for about an hour or until a knife pierced into the centre comes out smoothly. Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before de-tinning onto a serving plate. (I know I should put it on a rack to cool but rarely do as we often eat this cake fairly warm.)
  

Icing the cake

1 teaspoon very soft butter
icing sugar
unsweetened cocoa
water to mix

Mix ingredients until you get a thick and smooth icing. I usually use about half a 250 gram pack of icing sugar with cocoa to taste. For best results let the cake cool for at least 30 minutes before icing.