Category Archives: Kitchen Magic

The Joy of Leftovers

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Ratatouille
14 Feb

I don’t know whether it has something to do with my itinerant Forces childhood, or intense laziness, but I always cook for an Army!  After all, if you are going to chop one onion, might as well chop 3!  I have learned to ask at our nearest Fruit & Veg shop for ‘cooking’ bananas and tomatoes, and they know to offer me trays of spoiled or cheap fruit for Jam.

Freezers have gone out of fashion (we have 5 but then we buy in bulk, live a long way from a shop, have whole beasts in the freezer and are always prepared for flood!) but when we have lent small chest freezers to friends over the past few years they have realised the value of having fantastic home cooked meals on hand for the days when you come home too tired or frazzled to even think about cooking.

But if you don’t have a freezer, you can still reap the benefits of a 3 hour stint in the kitchen which feeds the family for a week.  Here are some of our family favourites, always on hand in the freezer for quick, easy and homemade meals.

 

Passata

This is so easy to make in a big pot and freeze for use as pizza topping, the base for spaghetti bolognese, pasta sauce, or chop zucchini and eggplant into it for ratatouille.  Or add stock, chopped vegetables and pasta for minestrone.  Or blend it for thick Tomato Soup.  Passata is so versatile and easy to make – chop onions and garlic and fry in balsamic and olive oil until soft.  I whizz the tomatoes now in a food processor rather than waste time chopping them.  Add salt & pepper, a good handful of mixed herbs – chopped fresh or dry and leave to cook on the stove for 8 hours, simmering and reducing slowly.

 

Lentil Stew

Recipe here

 

Hommous

This is so easy to make, so much better than anything you can buy in the shops, and lasts for lunches for 10 days.  Forever in the freezer.

Rinse and drain two or three cans of chickpeas and blend with 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, plenty of lemon juice, ground cumin, salt, pepper, a few heaped tablespoons of tahini and olive oil as required.

 

Lasagne

I hated making lasagne until I got the Thermomix but now making a white sauce is so easy I need to make it more often (I always forget about lasagne!).  It’s a great way to put sneaky veg in with the passata to thicken it up and make sure recalcitrant family members get their five a day!  Make one and freeze one or make one big enough that it lasts for a few days for brown bag and school lunches.

 

Apple Crumble

Cooking apples are cheap and just need chopping and chucking in a pan, half covered with water, to boil and then simmer for hours.  Freeze half for later, and make crumble for now.  I use oats, desiccated coconut, pecans or almonds, sultanas and a bit of butter.  Whizz before adding the butter and then mix slowly until it forms clumps.  Spread on top of the apple and bake for 40 minutes or until sizzling and golden.  You will have plenty leftover for desserts during the week and breakfast with yoghurt.

 

Spaghetti Bolognese

Pull out a passata and defrost in a bowl of warm water while browning an onion in a pan (always use balsamic as well as olive oil when frying onions to give depth of flavour and sweetness).  Brown the mince slowly, making chopping motions with your wooden spoon to break up clumps.  Add the passata when the mince is all brown and juices released.  Add a pinch more salt and pepper and leave to simmer slowly for an hour.  Spag Bog one night, mince on toast another.

 

Moroccan Chickpeas recipe here . . . 

 

And of course, Soup!  Whatever is in abundance or suits the season.  Current favourite (Leek glut!) is Leek & Potato, but soon it will be Pumpkin and Sweet Potato & Chilli in winter.  I love Minestrone, and our neighbour makes a mean Pumpkin and Potato Soup.  Any soup served with crusty sourdough is a weekday winner for me & mine!

 

What are your family favourites that keep giving during the week?

 

 

 

Kitchen Witch

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I have been introducing Ben’s friends and their mums to our home made answer to the sugary tomato ketchup (which they all love!) and it occurred to me that I should share some of our home made solutions to the huge amounts of sugar, e numbers and other chemicals to be found in almost everything on the duopoly supermarket shelves.  So:

Homemade Tomato Ketchup

This is so simple, cheap and easy.  Just get a jar of pure tomato paste and add balsamic vinegar to taste.  Gives you that lovely sweet/sour flavour and is full of tomato goodness.  You can either mix it directly in the jar or spoon out the amount you need into a container and mix to taste.

Salad Dressing

This can be made either with or without honey.  You can add stevia if you like that sweet and sour flavour on your salad.  I like it without, the boys like it with honey, so here it is with:

Big tablespoon of honey, big tablespoon or two of french mustard (sugar free is VILUX), pinch of salt, freshly ground pepper, good glug of balsamic, double that amount of apple cider vinegar and then add oil to the consistency you prefer.  Yum!

Quick & easy salads

We buy sundried tomatos in bulk and then just add a few to boiling water once a week and store them in the fridge as a mainstay of our salads as follows:  whatever greens are in the garden (currently bok choy and kale, often spinach, rocket in summer) chopped with scissors into a bowl.  Chop sundried tomatoes similarly and add pitted olives, cherry tomatoes if available, and sometimes quinoa if there is any leftover, chopped bacon or roasted pumpkin.

In the whizzer:

Easy peasy beetroot and carrot just chopped in the machine – kids adore it!  Also can add an apple and some raisins for a sweeter salad.  Homemade coleslaw is also a winner – cabbage, carrot, raisins and soya mayo (the only one that is sugar free!)

Home Baked Beans

Baked Beans are such a comfort food.  Rich, thick and tasty.  We make a huge pot at a time and then subdivide into freezer portions after feasting.  You can either soak and cook dried beans (soak overnight, then cook for about 3 hours until soft) or just rinse canned beans.  Make a thick, rich tomato sauce withe onion, balsamic, tomatoes, tomato paste and then add the secret ingredient when you add the cooked beans – molasses (to taste). This gives the sweetness with added iron and minerals – really good for you.

Lentils

Another firm family favourite is lentils,  chop and fry an onion in oil and balsamic (are you beginning to see a pattern here??), crush garlic and add to pan and then add water, miso paste and vegetable stock until you have a nice thick tasty stock.  Add the soaked lentils (french puy lentils are best, but any will do).  Cook for an hour or more until rich and tasty.  Add chopped spinach (fresh or frozen) just before serving so it is still green and just wilted.  Serve with croutons (toast cut into squares) and grated parmesan on top – delish!

Connecting with my inner Carnivore

by . Posted on
26 Aug

I am on a 14 day detox and cleanse, along with 50 other people in the local area, inspired by a local Naturopath, Amaali Shaw. Unlike other detoxes, this is not about all raw fruit and veg juices and salads – this cleanse is designed to rid the body of parasites and bad gut bacteria (including candida) by eliminating all the foods they feed on – dairy, soy, sugar, honey, grains and all grain products. Now, for me, whose favourite food is pasta and who eats way too much bread (after all a sarnie is always a quick and easy solution when hunger strikes!) and who is completely addicted to tea, the chance to rid my body of a few unhealthy addictions and toxins after the whole giardia drama and subsequent antibiotics. Plus, it seems I am ridding myself of toxic and unhealthy thoughts, feelings and ways of being so cleaning the temple which houses my soul at the same time, seemed appropriate.

A number of acupuncturists over the years have told me that soy creates mucus in the body, but I have chosen not to listen to them. After all, for a vegetarian or vegan, soy facilitates my tea addiction and tofu etc are protein, right? I have known since I was quite young that dairy did not agree with me, which helped my decision to become a vegan 20 something years ago. But I have been amazed at the difference no soy milk has made to my body – no more post nasal drip or stuffed up sinuses – I can breathe, hallelujah!

The first few days were relatively easy and exciting as I explored different food options (all fermented foods like tamari, balsamic, vinegar etc were also out, and all fruits bar berries and granny smith apples) and I certainly felt like I had a challenge on my hands. Ben was really sick with ear infections and fever so being house bound with him gave me kitchen time which I needed to ensure I felt fully satisfied at meal times.

Eggs which were once a staple of my diet had been left by the wayside recently, in favour of cheese and bread and homemade cakes, so it felt good to embrace them once more and fall in love once more with my lovely brown ladies who lay them. But still, it wasn’t enough and at supper time I had a bowl of carrots topped with a tasting of the delicious Harry stew that Ged had made for us – full of pumpkin. I carefully scooped all the meat out of the juice and settled down to sup. But a couple of little bits of meat had escaped my scrutiny and found their way to my mouth, and let me tell you, they were delicious! Hmmm, the carnivore within was reawakened … and I had a little more to fill me up.

I was beginning to enjoy my chia seed and coconut milk porridge in the morning (commonly known as frog spawn in our house!) and I loved my big salad with avocado and home made lemon, garlic and herb salad dressing for lunch. But again, by supper time, day two I was SO hungry so I broke out the bacon and fried it up – oh my, it was delicious. And I felt the emptiness subside . . .

Eggs and bacon were therefore my staples last week and at the weekend we went away to the Central Coast as Ged had to be on hand for a work project and our lovely Broome friend and her Mum were coming up to see us and for us to finally meet Jennifer’s children, and for them to meet Ben. Judy has always been exceptionally generous and while where they were staying was not very special, they had happily found a truly exceptional restaurant, The Lake House just next door . . .

So they had booked for dinner on Friday and I had a car full of pumkin soup, home made dressing, chia porridge, soaked almonds etc to get me through the weekend. I had requested a restaurant where we could have salmon steaks as that was what I was craving and I knew Ben and Ged needed some fish too. The menu was fantastic -salmon poached in coconut milk and chilli which quickly put my hand up for. The roasted pork belly on the starter menu was calling my name, so I recommended Ged try it to compare commercially produced pork belly with that of our friends who home grow, and to give us an idea of what Lilly and Pilly will taste like. He complied, I tried, and while everyone else was ordering their sugar laden desserts, I was asking for roasted pork belly. OMG it was divine. The crispy skin, the fat melting in my mouth, the chewy sweetness of the meat . . . I have slipped off the moral high ground and into the mire . . .

Frog Spawn and salads on Saturday day and then back to The Lake House by popular demand. Lead me to the trough where I can taste again those flavours, and feast upon those sensations as they explode in my hungry mouth! Goodness, who is this girl?

Now that I am on my way home and in the swing of the diet and my caffeine cravings are gone (rooibos anyone?) I shall endeavour to satisfy myself with just eggs and veg – roasted, steamed and stir fried, and tame the carnivorous beast within . . .

But I think it is fair to say that when the pigs meet their maker, I shall be happy to partake of the provenance . . .

But when the diet is over and reality is resumed, with grains reintroduced, will my carnivorous cravings abate and will I climb back on my meat free high horse, or will I finally, after all these years of dietary disorders (anorexia & bulimia) find a balanced way forward where nothing is taboo and all can be consumed in moderation. Time will tell, but I’m excited to think this could be true.

Meanwhile, I feel fitter, happier, stronger. I’m sleeping well, waking early and not tied to a litre of chai before I can do anything. My brain feels clearer, I have more enthusiasm and I don’t feel like I am struggling through a fog every day – long may this continue!

Kitchen Magic

by . Posted on
06 May

My perverse and rebellious nature is finally finding a healthy outlet as I determine not to line the pockets of the Coles/Woolworths monopoly more than I can help.  As they delight in squeezing the farmer out of every drop of hard earned profit, so I enjoy devising new ways of denying them my money.  Horrified by the pathetic provisions purveyed into my pantry in return for ever inflating inroads into my plastic piggy bank, I delight in devising ways and means to thwart them.

Thus I have made soap, candles, jams, mint sauce, yoghurt, cookies, cakes, mead, schnapps, cream cheese, fetta and now cheddar.  I watch what we are spending the most money on each week or fortnight and then resolve to make my own – not out of parsimony but a plot to foil the oligarchy!

As the veggie patch yields ever more I am forced to try new recipes to turn them into delicious sustenance to feed the ravening hordes. I am so grateful to Hugh’s Veg Cookbook which is now my kitchen staple, and for Pam the Jam who has turned me into a passionate preserver!  I have begun to understand and even enjoy following a recipe although my rebelliousness will not allow me to obey the amounts.  Near enough is good enough for me!

With workers and wwoofers on the farm and a hungry boy to feed I seem to spend all my time in the kitchen so I have decided to share some of my adventures in these pages and hopefully inspire others to play with the pots and pans and stock up the pantry.  Walking into a pantry whose shelves are filled to the rafters with home made goodness can warm the coldest heart.  Although I must admit that sometimes the harvests are very intimidating at the thought of all the hard work ahead!

Don’t expect exact measurements or very detailed instructions as I share my soul food, and please share your recipes with me in return.  Some of the very best farmhouse favourites have been shared by friends or family from their own stable of staples, from newspapers, magazines, recipe books and the wonders of the world wide web.

At least once a day I will ask Google how to do something – I have learned how to bake cookies, make soap, yoghurt, fudge and rum, and Google has also told us how to deliver lambs, treat laminitis etc!

Self sufficiency is hard work but there is immense joy in supplying one’s own needs and thwarting the tendency to dependency on the supermarket chains and the global manufacturers and marketers. We still have a long way to go before we have mastered ‘The Good Life’ but like Tom and Barbara we have a messy house, gnarled hands, strong arms and backs and the muddy delight of getting back to nature and learning to work with her rhythms and seasons and reap her bounty.

The Oven Saga

by . Posted on
16 Jun

Well, the never-ending saga here seems to be the oven.  I was so excited when we finally installed my new oven in my sparkling new kitchen a week or so before the wedding.  But everyone involved in the baking of the blueberry tarts for the wedding feast (Jane, Marcel, Shirley and me) soon discovered that the bugger didn’t work!  Whether it was a faulty item or whether it was the solar system that it didn’t like, the truth is that we have had endless toing and froing with the manufacturer and reseller since we got back from honeymoon.  The thing is that gas ovens aren’t just  gas – no, no, they have electric fans, electronic ignition, electronic thermostats and every other bell and whistle you can possibly imagine which consume megawatts of electricity – presumably all designed hand in hand with the fossil fuel companies to keep us raping the planet, guzzling mindlessly and pouring megatons of carbon into the atmosphere . . . (really, don’t get me started!!)

Anyway, I had to go into full battle mode but FINALLY the people who sold us the stove – ‘The Good Guys’ agreed to give us a full refund plus $500 for my pains!!  And then I went online searching, searching, searching for a replacement.  I thought I found the answer to my prayers in Queensland so bought it and had it shipped down here.  Picked it up from TNT in Port Macquarie with great excitement (baked potatoes at last!) but when we got it home and unpacked the pathetic wrappings it had clearly been dropped and the front glass was shattered into smithereens.  Oh well, back to the drawing board.  As it turned out the bloody thing had an element which lit the gas – which drained even more power from the system so I am stymied once more.
We have been wracking our brains and the closest we have come to some sort of solution is a camping oven – all gas, piezo ignition, but the trouble is, they only have a 30L capacity (tiny) and we want 80L.  Any ideas, my brilliant friends, as we now have a gaping hole in the kitchen and my baked potato craving gets stronger by the day . . .