A wintery blast!

July 16, 2016July 16, 2016 / sbaskitchen / Leave a comment

Wow, what a cold, cold week we’ve had, I barely poked my nose out the door, so there was plenty of creative time in the kitchen to keep warm…

This week’s big hits were Duck and Quince Pies and Cream of Celeriac and Parsnip Soup…

The Duck and Quince Pies were made from leftover meat from the duck necks I’d been working with. Can you believe that from six duck necks, I used the skin as the casing for pork, garlic and red wine sausages, duck stock and duck ravioli as well as these delicious pies, not bad, hey!!!?

In the pantry I have jars of deep burgundy coloured quinces that I’d preserved and thought they would go amazingly with the duck. So got to it, making sure that I made note of everything I used and how much of each. The end result was amazing, we got two good sized individual pies together with quite a few cocktail sized pies which always come in handy, either as a canapé, or an addition to some duck dish, just to add a little interest, flavour and/or texture.

Then there was soup and sweet night… Don’t you love that. Nice warm soup and then later as we sat in front of the roaring open fire, delicious sweet treats for dessert. I had purchased a lovely celeriac to make a mash from, but with the weather so bleak and cold, we needed soup. I had plenty of parsnips in the fridge, so this soup, topped with parsnip crisps was perfect. I absolutely love parsnip crisps, so made sure I made extra as a cook’s treat.

Cream of Celeriac and Parsnip Soup…

As for the sweet treats,

Who could beat Chocolate Fondant!

With the weather on the improve, I finally got back into The Corner Patch and did a stocktake of what needs to be planted – there’s a lot of work to be done!!

And then escaped to the flower garden where I discovered a little bit of sunshine.

Until next time…

Bon appétit!

Links:

Cream of Celeriac and Parsnip Soup.

Duck and Quince Pies

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A fresh, crisp cos lettuce – what to do?

July 13, 2016July 13, 2016 / sbaskitchen / 2 Comments

Last week as I was leaving my hour long French lesson, Wendy, the wife of my teacher, offered me some fresh cos lettuce from their garden. They had all come in at once, and were ready to pick, so she was giving them away because she didn’t want them to go to waste.

Yes, again, I am trying to learn the beautiful French language. This was only my second lesson, and I have just had my third. I have just spent the last two days at my desk trying to get a hold on the what I had learned so far, but by last night was feeling quite despondent, as if nothing was sinking in and went to sleep feeling as if I was wasting my time…

This morning when I woke up, I started

Proof of my hard work and frustration!

reading some more, got up and did some writing, and started to feel a little better – though not much. Anyway off I went, about a forty minute drive, listening to French language CDs. Upon my arrival I voiced my weariness and frustration, in English, but was soon to find out that the hard work was actually paying off, particularly as I began to recall some of the vocabulary that had been causing me so much frustration. So I am back home and feeling much more positive – maybe you should ask me how I feel again, next Monday night, as I finish another week of studying!

Anyway, I digress…

Back the lovely cos lettuce. We are fans of the beautiful Caesar Salad, but often find that people tend to overdress it with it arriving in front of you looking rather sad, limp and wet. After checking the fridge to make sure I had everything needed, I decided that I should prepare my version of Caesar Salad for a quick, light and very tasty dinner.

While I still think I made it a little too wet, it was quite delicious.

Until next time…

Bon appétit!

PS: Don’t forget to keep an eye on what’s happening in The Corner Patch!

Links:

Caesar Salad.

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It’s been a busy week in the corner patch…

July 9, 2016July 9, 2016 / sbaskitchen / Leave a comment

It’s been a busy week, particularly for Gary, my husband, as we clear the area that is to become the vegie patch!

When we arrived here, there was a quince tree and a miniature lemon tree, and then six weeks later we found another lemon tree that was hidden between an overgrown hedge and the fence. But there was no vegie patch!

I am very excited that we are now working on the area that I will now refer to as the “Corner Patch”! Just before we went to Melbourne last week, Gary got the chainsaw out and took down four trees. Two flowering pears and two bays. Now for me, I’d much rather have pear trees that give fruit, and who needs two overgrown bay trees. One can only use so many bay leaves, and a tree in a pot is easier to control and provides more than enough leaves for the kitchen. The trees hid what had become a dumping area for anything rubbish and a lot of work was needed to clear it out, in fact it took FIVE trailer loads to the tip to get rid of everything, plus we have stored what wood we could from the trees to dry for the open fire next year.

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It is a standing joke among those we know that last year, in anticipation of the move, I bought 40 or so fruit trees, bare rooted, and we potted them into oversized pots to get them ready for their new home. So they are also about to be planted out, in the new area. A lot of them will be espaliered so that they will become features of the garden.

While all this work has been going on, there has not been a great deal happening in the kitchen. But we have enjoyed a lovely light Truffle Omelette, a quick and easy, as well as delightfully delicious evening meal. There was also a smoked potato soup with truffle shavings, cream and a little truffle oil, and a duck salad where I got to try my recently cured, air-dried duck breast, or as some like to call it duck prosciutto, and some of my confit duck leg. It was delicious.

Hopefully back into the kitchen this weekend, as I have some more duck ideas and some other recipes that I want to trial.

Until next time…

Bon appétit!

Links:

Truffle Omelette

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A Beautiful Weekend

July 3, 2016November 21, 2016 / sbaskitchen / Leave a comment

The last few days have been just lovely. I had an early rise on Friday morning so that I could take a train to Melbourne. It wasn’t the warmest of trips, but when I arrived in Melbourne I headed straight to the Queen Victoria Markets where I had arranged to meet my wonderful friend, Ora. Before we met up I had been trying to buy duck necks and duck bones with no success, so gave up and headed to my favourite bakery to pick up, what I believe is the best gluten free Turkish bread you can get. Just as I was finishing my purchases. Ora phoned to see where I was. I looked down the walkway a little and there she was, as usual, bright and colourful. When we met we embraced and chatted a little, and she wanted to know what I needed to get next. When I told her about the duck neck and bones, she took me to the stall where she and her husband buy their poultry and game. It was fantastic! I got my duck carcasses, duck necks with skin on, duck breasts, duck thighs and quail. On hearing what I wanted to do with the duck necks, the gentleman ensured that the necks had the skin on and also gave me his card suggesting that I phone ahead with my order whenever I am coming to town, and they will make sure that they have everything that I need. I was delighted.

From the poultry stall we headed to a stall I knew very well. It is where I head when I need mushrooms, and when they are in season, that amazing black funghi that grows underground among the roots of oak and hazelnut trees. I was so lucky, they had just received fresh truffles this morning, yesterday there were none. How lucky am I! I select three lovely black delights and they are carefully wrapped in tissue and placed in a glass jar that I place in my handbag for safekeeping. We chat a little about what I will do with three truffles, and I tell the lady that I will use some fresh, the remainder will be frozen for use at a later date. Truffles, do not last long and go soft, so the best thing to do with unused truffles, is to freeze them whole in a container and then, using your trusty truffle slicer, slice them while they are still frozen. You should not thaw them out before using them. Just shave them directly into the dish that you are cooking. She was very interested in what I was going to do.

Something that I like to do, is place truffles in a jar with Arborio rice for a couple of days, the rice then takes on the delicious aroma of the truffle ready for making mushroom risotto with shaved truffle.

The other thing I do is place some eggs in a jar with whole truffle. With the shell being porous, the yolk and white are infused with that sensational flavour. Making the eggs perfect for making delicious omelettes or scrambled eggs.

When we leave the market, Ora insists on carrying one of my bags. I am going to a “Christmas in July” function with friends/colleagues at my previous place of employment and have baked a gluten free fig and onion relish, blue cheese and pear tart, as well as a gluten free rhubarb swirl yoghurt cheesecake topped with mulled wine and pear jelly, cream and toasted coconut. So my bags are heavy and I feel very guilty that she is carrying one of them for me. We stop off for a most welcome cup of tea at one of her favourite cafés near the market and have a lovely long chat before she very kindly drives me to my old work place, which is where we met and formed such a great friendship.

I spent a lovely afternoon eating beautiful food and catching up with past colleagues and great friends, before my husband came to collect me and we headed to our son’s apartment where we would spend a wonderful night with he, his fiancée and our gorgeous little grandson. Our son prepared a delicious meal of salmon and noodles.

His fiancée had everything lovely for us and made us so welcome, and our adorable little grandson kept us well amused and entertained.

The following day, my husband returned home early, while I got to spend more time with our beautiful family, before returning home. On the way home I spent time listening to my French lesson to pass the time and help me with the learning process.

When I arrived home in the early evening, I set to stashing the goodies that I had purchased at the market the previous day, and then to making a delicious mushroom and black truffle risotto.

I think it was one of the best risottos I’ve ever made. Fortunately just before heading to Melbourne I had made a very large batch of chicken stock so it was put to good use, and I had such a wonderful time preparing the mushrooms, stirring the risotto, and finally adding the pièce de résistance, the beautiful black truffle to the risotto, along with some lovely, slightly thicker slices to the top just before serving.

Until next time…

Bon appétit!

Links:

Mushroom and Black Truffle Risotto

Queen Victoria Market

A beautiful bunch of carrots

June 29, 2016July 8, 2016 / sbaskitchen / Leave a comment

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The quandary of what to make with that beautiful bunch of carrots picked up from the Stratford farmer’s market on Sunday…

I wanted a light Sunday evening meal and did not want to have any meat in the recipe. I looked through books, looked on-line, and nothing really grabbed my attention… The flavours just weren’t right. I gathered ideas, a little from here, a little from there, keeping in mind what was available in the pantry, fridge and freezer, and this is what I came up with.

Roasted Carrot and Beetroot Salad with Poached Egg, Carrot Top Pesto & Dukkah

I had recently made fig vinegar and hadn’t had the opportunity to try it out. I had beetroot from a previous farmer’s market, beautiful fresh eggs picked up from the farm gate near Sale, and then there was fresh goats cheese in the fridge. I had heard about using carrot tops to make pesto, but the recipe I found wasn’t what I was after, so I changed it totally, adding coriander instead of basil, more garlic, pistachios in place of walnuts, and using quite a bit more parmesan cheese and olive oil as well. I also wanted to use cumin and dukkah, so now had the makings for a beautiful salad.

Fig Vinegar

I only wanted to use the cumin on the roasted halved carrots, I made a dressing using my fig vinegar and coated ribbons of carrot in that before roasting them. The rest of the dressing was used to coat some fresh leaves later in the recipe.

The carrot top pesto was amazing, and the left overs are now in the freezer ready to be used on another salad, in soup, on pasta or drizzled over a roasted vegetable pie. I used a slice of sour dough for my husband’s salad and for me, I used a slice of my own Gluten free bread.