Tag Archives: food

Elderflower Champagne (Part 1)

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For the last 3 years I have made up batches of elderflower champagne and beer. First year was spectacular, second year ok. Last year I had a burst of 30 degree days that blew up a bunch of my bottles but what was left was fantastic.

On the weekend I noticed that the local elderflower flowers where starting to get to the point where they were ready for making a batch of elderflower champagne. So on the Sunday morning which is the best time to pick them I ducked out nice and early and grabbed about 50 elderflower heads which took me about 10 minutes.

50 heads makes up around 20 liters which is what I base most of my brewing on as I have this size food grade bucket. So I sterilised the 20 liter bucket I use for bucket brewing added hot water and couple of kg of white sugar and just for something different half a kilogram of brown sugar to add a slightly different flavour.

In goes some white wine vinegar

My daughter watched as I removed as much stem as possible to reduce bitterness just leaving mostly flowers.

My parents where down on Friday so I got a nice big bag of lemons which was timely. Cut up the equivalent of 8 big lemons. Juiced them and dropped the juiced lemons in as well. A lot of recipes recommend that you zest the lemon but this is very much bucket brewing and I have tried both ways and can see no difference in taste so I take the easy way out.

 

Wait till the water is around body temperature and add the elderflowers.

Stir through with a sterilised spoon (always use some boiling water to sterilise anything you use in this process including knifes and chopping boards, if you put down a spoon sterilise it again before reuse)

Cover with a clean tea towel or other cloth and stir every morning or night (remember to sterilise the spoon each time)

I have left it in a warm spot in the kitchen (it smells great) and I will check it in a few days and If it is not bubbling from natural yeast fermenting I will add some champagne yeast to it.(more posts to follow up to bottling and of course tasting)

I am going to add some more bucket brewing stuff over this summer now it is warm enough to brew again. It seems odd but you can turn out some good brews with a plastic bucket but the biggest trick is sterilise sterilise sterilise everything you use.

Ingredients

  • 40 – 50 elderflower heads picked either early in the morning or at dusk (morning is best)
  • 2 kg of white sugar
  • ½ kg of brown sugar (optional)
  • 8 table spoons of white wine vinegar
  • Equivalent of 8 – 10 lemons juiced and then juice and lemon thrown in
  • Yeast if it does not start to bubble after 2 or so days (I use ale or champagne yeast)

Pots for Plants.

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I have been busy planting seeds again today. Two weeks ago I put together the mini hot house and it  is already paying dividends. So far the seedlings are doing well with about 10 of the 16 varieties of seeds I planted up and running and few more looking I am expecting to see come out soon.

Today I planted tatsoi, mibuna, corn salad and other greens, egg plants, capsicum, herbs and about half of the dozen types of heritage tomato seeds I was given. Nasturtium and some other flowers. I also prepared a new bed for planting and started to sort out the area for the heugan bed I am going to build.

The little urban block is going to be a buzzing hopefully this year. I am going to try to fill each of the micro climates I have and see what works and what does not. What we like and what we don’t.

One of the big issues for me obviously is getting enough trays for seedling. I will be honest I use a mix of my own compost and commercial organic potting mix for this and it is working well. I have purchased some seedling trays but I try to use up what I have to pot up things so that I don’t have to add to the weight on the world of plastic and waste and also keep the cost down.

Today I used some old toilet rolls which I have cut in two ways to see which works better, some milk cartons and as many of the old seedling trays I can find around the place from previous years.

As I said it feels good to use what would be waste or even recycled for a new use. We recycle where we can but at the end of the day reusing is a better of the four ‘R’s’

So go and see what you can find to plant in and plant as many types of seeds as you can swap them with your neighbour just get planting.

Oh and yes my neighbours will get a fair chunk of seedlings I have indeed over done it but hey that is ok.

The next door neighbours basil.

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We often have the neighbours over for dinner at our place. The next door neighbour always brings a few home brews and some produce from his garden.

Since we moved in he has been a great help in getting the garden going he has been here quite a few years and his garden is well setup although his large flock of chickens does tend to denude anything not protected.

This year though out the winter he has brought us amongst other things fresh basil. Even at the end of the winter after a number of hard frosts it was still fresh basil. In the end I had to ask him about it and he showed me a huge 2 meter across basil plant unprotected in the middle of Melbourne after a solid winter.

In his generous laid back fashion he mentioned the raspberry canes I gave him last year and asked if I wanted some root stock and cuttings.

Of course “just be neighbourly” I grabbed some root stock which I have planted out in 4 locations to see where it settles in and put aside a couple of pieces in the new mini hot house I built to get it going as gifts for some people who have helped me some difficult to get plants and items in the past. The circle turns.

As you can see from the photos it a serious survivor and the cuttings I got as well have taken off in less than a week

Like a lot of people I believe it is important to grow heritage open pollinated varieties of plants and cutting from old varieties of tree’s but even more important than that is what I will call very local varieties. Plants that grow well in your immediate area. Sadly as most people barely know their neighbours name and or their local community this can be hard with plants that grow really well in an area not readily available to be propagated for the benefit of all

So if you get a chance to have a chat with your local neighbours do so and see what grows well in their backyard and be happy to share what grows well in your backyard.

Oh and the spare basil leaves well couldn’t let them go to waste. A good old fashioned basil pesto with smoked chicken breast at the end of winter. Not too shabby at all.

Basil pesto with smoked chicken

  • A good bunch of basil
  • Almond slivers
  • ½ cup of parmesan cheese
  • 4-5 good sized garlic cloves (as many as you like really)
  • Several good glugs of olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste

I tend to use the food processor for this so I dry toast the nuts in frypan and add these to the other ingredients except the oil. Add some oil blend and add some more till you have the texture you are after.

I sliced warmed a smoked chicken breast we get from the gentleman at the famers market who does artisan smoking of meats and cooked some whole meal pasta cooked till al dente and stirred everything though.

Nettle soup and A little urban foraging not wasting the world away

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I like doing a good bit of foraging and colleting stuff. One of my pet hates is seeing stuff that could be used for something being thrown away and ending up in land fill and then seeing people purchase something new that takes yet more from a world that can ill afford it. Mind you I have been banned from hard rubbish days for the time being until I use up what I have already rescued.

I have been looking for some additional pallets to put up some shelves in the back shed and happened to notice a good batch of them at favourite haunt. I use pallets all the time and keep a good stock to allow me to make things like the warm bed I made recemtly for my seedlings, so I grabbed them and will build the shelves and post on that and other projects shortly.

Also managed to get a hold of a nice big bag of nettles to make soup. For those of you who have never had nettles give it a try. It tastes fantastic is cheap and very very good for you. Be careful obviously that you know where you nettles come from just to make sure that they have not been sprayed.

Using these sorts of things in simple meals makes a big difference. We waste so much spraying out so called weeds to plant other plants and as I have said a frugal life has to become the norm in the 1st world as it is in the 3rd world. At the end of the day we all live in one world.

As for the nettles if I can get some more I am going to make pesto with some local hazelnuts I have

Recipe for Nettle Soup

  • Big bag of young nettles
  • 1 large onion
  • 6 -8 garlic cloves to taste
  • 3 potatoes (I used Dutch creams)
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 liters of stock (chicken or vegetable)
  • cream to taste when serving (optional)

Dice onions and potatoes and crush garlic sauté in olive oil for a few minutes.

Strip the leaves of the nettles (warning they bite) I use scissors to remove the leaves and wash in cold water if there is any dirt on them

Add to the pan with the other vegetables and wilt then add 2 liters of stock and cook for 20 minutes or so till potatoes is soft. Cool and puree with a stick blender. Reheat and serve with cream and cracked black pepper.

The soup will freeze well but don’t add the cream till you warm it up

(Note : I made a mistake and started with too small a pan which is why you see two pots in the photo’s next time I would just use the big pot)

So this is what it should taste like …

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The other day one of the managers at work who has this amazing garden said she would bring in some mushrooms for the family to eat. She does something I plan to do this year and has some inoculated logs which grow shitake mushrooms. She grows them both on traditional oak logs and some eucalypt logs and each apparently imparts a slightly different flavour to the mushrooms.

The ones given to me where from the eucalyptus logs and the first thing A. and I noticed was the smell. We have both been in Japan and eaten shitake there these had that same smell but just a little different a bit spicier for want of better way to describe it.

Given such wonderful food I decided to can the original dinner idea and use them while they where less than 24 hours from picking. I made a classic dish shawanmushi (savoury custard) with shitake mushrooms and very simple pork and mushroom stir fry.

Both dishes came out perfectly and A. and the particularly the kids loved them. The mushrooms had flavour and a very different texture to store bought shitake. As A and I both said this obviously is how they are supposed to taste.

What a great gift for us we were very lucky… and yes I definitely have permission to grow my own mushroom logs next year.  And for a return gift … well I think some of my homemade blackberry wine will be the go.

Shawanmushi (savoury custard)

  • Mix two packets of bonito powder with 2 cups of warm water.
  • Slice 2 mushrooms finely
  • ½ tablespoon of soy
  • ½ teaspoon of sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of sake
  • 3 eggs (the girls are laying despite the winter)
  • 1 finely sliced spring onion

Mix all ingredients except mushrooms and spring onions together but try to avoid frothing up the mixture.  Pour into bowls to steam (cups work well here) and place the mushrooms on top. Place in a tray with water ¾ of the way up the mixture. I tried it in the oven as I have done before but couldn’t get the heat right so put the tray on two gas hobs to finish it.

When almost cooked and you can tell this when the juice coming out is clear and the top is just set. Place a share of the sliced spring onion on the top to finish cooking for 5 more minutes.

Japanese Mushroom and Pork Stir Fry

  • 400 grams of sliced pork
  • As many mushroom as you have sliced (I had four good sized mushrooms)
  • A bunch of spring onions sliced
  • 1 tablespoon of soy
  • 1 tablespoon of sake
  • 1 teaspoon of sugar

Fry sliced pork in a little neutral vegetable oil (I used sunflower) when almost cooked add the spring onions and mushrooms. Fry lightly and then add the other ingredients (not too much of the other ingredients please as you want to just bind it together and not over power the mushrooms). Cook together for a few minutes till the soy and sugar are just lightly caramelised.

Serve on steamed rice.

So you don’t have time to make dinner …

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When I got back from japan at the start of the week ago it was a bit of shock to go from 22 -25 degree Celsius and a nice level of humidity to the cold that is Melbourne this time of year.

It was a bit busy as it always is when you get back catching up on life work and everything and it would have been very easy to reach for the take out for the week and blame it on the life and travel. I didn’t and am glad for it. Life is about the living and buying take out and eating meals at work does not count as living for me…

A bit of planning and some quick recipes and we ended up with some nice meals and bit of cash in our pockets. I am going to do a post on cash and the saving of it. It is not about the money saved but what can be done by the money saved.

So the meals for the week

Tuesday off the plane and to work day.

One pot rissoni, with beans and chorizo (takes less than 15 minutes and I made a double batch)

  • 1 tablespoon of Sunflower oil
  • 1 Chorizo
  • 1 Onion
  • 2 – 3 garlic cloves sliced
  • 440 gm. can of tomatoes
  • 440 gm. Can of beans
  • 1 & 1/3 Can of water
  • 1 cup of Rissoni
  • White Pepper
  • Salt to taste.

Add oil, cubed chorizo and sliced onion fry till onion is golden. Add garlic and continue to fry for 2 minutes. Add in the tomatoes, water, rissoni (small pasta shaped like rice) and good batch of white pepper and salt to taste. Bring to boil. Simmer till rissoni is cooked (about 5 – 7 minutes as the rissoni cooks very quickly)

Serve  with some fresh herbs or some sort of cheese on top you have (I have used cheddar, parmesan, feta and salted ricotta at various times all with success)

Wednesday we had the mix of A. going to her sewing group and my parents getting back into town so I cheated … kind of and pulled out some frozen homemade pumpkin and bacon soup out and put it on the stove. Served with bread and feta on top and quick salad it heated up while I got the kids to bed. It feed 6 of us and enough for lunch the next day (see a post on bulk cooking shortly for the recipe)

Thursday packet pasta with tomato and veg as we get our ceres pack that night

Latina tortellini (or any other type of pasta even unfilled) dropped in hot water to soak while you cook the rest of the meal.

Slice 2- 3 garlic cloves, 1 onion, capsicum, some bacon or in this case a smoked chicken breast. Fry all ingredients till onion is just coloured. Drop in a 440gram of tomatoes and a can of water. White pepper, chili, salt and ½ teaspoon of brown sugar. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Add drained pasta and 1 cup of frozen peas. Cook till pasta is done.

Served with a big salad took 20 minutes while Andrea bathed kids.

Friday left overs and another huge salad from our ceres box.

Yes it was a busy week but when is it not a busy week for any of us? I am not putting this up to say nah nah but simply to show that with a bit of planning and a few skills anyone can eat well and live a bit more.

The weekend contrast.

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So I am sitting here eating some of the excellent unpasteurised romano goats cheese we get from our local cheese coop with my mother’s pear paste on it and contemplating our weekend just gone.

As often happens we had a busy weekend. And it was a weekend of contrast as they often are with moments of simple locavore eating to visiting a high end Japanese restaurant.

It started simply enough with homemade pancakes. I have never understood why people buy pancake shaker mixes. After all 1 cup of self raising flour, 1 cup of milk and an egg mixed together and left for 20 minutes can’t be to hard. The tricks are to leave it for 20 to 30 minutes to bubble then make sure you use a little butter to fry it in. Yes you can use a little oil if you want but for the best pancakes you need that buttery goodness.

Slather them in good Canadian maple syrup and some of our home made chestnut paste, scoop of ice-cream and good cup of coffee and you have a fairly expensive cafe breakfast for next to nothing and faster than you can drive and then park and line up for a table at the cafe.

We had a busy day on the Saturday,  the plants for the winter veggie bed are going in with us being away the next day we had to get as much as we could of the normal weekend done.

However in the evening I hit a little snag. A. is still gathering bottles for her bottle wall so off course my neighbour and I are ‘forcing’ ourselves through drinking anything that happens to have a nice bottle. At the moment it a battle between the cointreau and the Bombay sapphire gin. So after a few cointreau with ice at his place I made the rash promise ‘oh yeah come on over and have some home cured bacon for dinner’ be done in about 30 minutes…

Ok so half cut and dinner to make. Thought about simple bacon and eggs but then noticed the selection of stuff in the fridge from the ceres box and thought oven baked omelette I can do this. Just hand me another drink…

So I whipped up the omelette(recipe at the bottom of the post), some home cured bacon (another post)and a nice big green salad. A side of A.’s sourdough and not bad for dinner at all.

On the Sunday we headed up Daylesford which is a spa town in the high country about an hour and half from Melbourne. It is a pretty place and I know if well having gone to high school there when it was just another poor red neck town. This was long before it became the trendy day trip from Melbourne. The trip was eventful with lots of people selling their wares via honesty boxes along the side of the road. Unlike many of the honesty boxes I grew up around these where a little over priced and I am guessing aimed at the day tripping city folk. Hey can’t blame them for trying.

The restaurant was a Japanese fusion restaurant and as A. and I have spent a bit of time in Japan so we were interested in what their take on the food would be.

Even though the restaurant had rated very highly in its reviews we where both underwhelmed to be honest.  Food was ok, service poor it just didn’t work for the two of us. However it was full and people seemed to enjoying themselves so maybe it was just us. For the money I would say people should pay a little bit more and go to the excellent Kobe Jones in Melbourne much better value for money. Great for a special occasion.

The day was good though spent with A.’s family the kids played with their cousins, that adults and. A. drank a ton of the plum sake (that was good). I had a nice local pilsner ale. Life can’t be too bad.

Afterwards we headed to the Chocolate mill which was very cool and well worth a visit if you are in the area. I recommend the hot chocolate with chilli on a cold day. A. also got to look at some bottle walls they had added to the building allowing her to see the finished designs in a building and what she would like to do and not do.

On the way out we looked at the community garden. I can’t believe how much Daylesford has changed in the 25 years since I went to high school there. This is a great piece of work the community garden and they should be justly proud of this thing they have created. As I drove out via the route our old school bus travelled all those years ago and saw the turbines of the two windmills I was already preparing a post in my head on how this town has changed. The pros and the cons of these changes because there always are pros and cons. More on that later.

The final part of the weekend was visit to my parents place. Just a quick visit as we were quite close to my parents place they like to see the kids and all I have to hear is ‘PAAAAA…’ as my daughter ran to her grandfather and  gave him a big hug to know that this was the exactly the right thing to do. Family is the most important thing in the world

As I sat and ate a simple dumpling soup my mother had made I must admit that as uncool as it is I liked this simple meal a lot better than the Japanese.

Yep my life is hard … better hand me another bit of that cheese and pear paste to tide me over.

Have a great rest of the week all.

 Recipe for drunken baked omelette.

  • One large onion
  • 4-5 gloves of garlic crushed (as much as you want really)
  • 1 Red or green capsicum/sweet pepper
  • Some bacon fat and/or a bit of vegetable oil
  • Handful of mushrooms quartered
  • Handful of small tomatoes quartered
  • Handful of spinach leaves
  • Cup of milk
  • 10 eggs
  • ½ cup of crated parmesan cheese
  • Teaspoon of fresh ground chilli
  • Salt and pepper

In large enamelled or heavy base frypan that you can put in an oven or under a grill fry the bacon fat/oil onion, garlic, capsicum till just softening. Add mushrooms and tomatoes and when they are cooked throw on the spinach leaves till wilt and add the chilli. Stir through

While the other ingredients are cooking mix eggs and milk with salt and pepper to taste with a fork till a little frothy.

Once the spinach has wilted add the egg mix has cooked for about 4 minutes then sprinkle parmesan (or another cheese) on top and put in a preheated hot oven for around 15 minutes or until eggs are cooked through. Serve with a nice green salad, some fried bacon and bread.

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The Veg Box

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So we have started to get our Ceres organic fruit and veg box. A. and I decided that it would be a good idea as they were doing it hard due to an article in The Age (another post regarding this will come along shortly). We went for the 2 person box as we only need to supplement our own fruit and vegetables from the garden. In time we may not even be able to justify this but for the moment $35 is not the end of the world.

The boxes are good and a 2 person one is more than enough for us to be honest the mix is interesting so far we have had broad range of fruit and veg all of it excellent quality.

I will go into these boxes again in another post (I need to get some sleep sorry)

One major advantage in the boxes has been to force us to be creative and productive and use this really nice food while it is at its best.

Tonight while I went did a little job collecting wood near the grove A. cooked gnocchi with smoked chicken and selection of mushrooms, onion, beans and tomato all from the box. Some of our organic garlic and some parmesan was all she added.

Kids loved i loved it. Took no time.

I noticed a really nice bunch of silverbeat so I decided to make up frittata with it while it was at its best. This is something I used to do a lot so it was good to make again.

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Silverbeat and Feta Frittata

  • Chop a large bunch of silverbeat or spinach
  • 2 small onions finely chopped
  • As much garlic as you like. Minced
  • 400 grams of feet in ½ cm cubes
  • Grated cheddar cheese
  • Grated parmesan
  • A little ground nutmeg
  • Fresh ground pepper to taste
  • 8 eggs whisked
  • One sheet of puff pre made puff pastry
  • A little milk
  • Sesame seeds

Combine the onion, silverbeat/spinach and garlic in non stick pan with a little olive oil. Sauté until soft but the onion is not browned.

Put into a large bowl to cool

Once cool. Add all 3 cheeses, nutmeg, pepper and eggs mix thoroughly and turn into a baking tray. Top with pastry. Paint on milk and cover with sesame seeds.

Bake in an oven at 200 degrees Celsius until cooked through pastry is golden. It can be eaten now but  I will reheat this quickly tomorrow in the oven and it will be even better and a quick meal. Serve with a nice green salad. And yes the salad is from the Ceres box two a lovely oak lettuce.

 Leftovers makes a great cold lunch the next day.

A quick salad.

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So Monday night is training night for me which means that A. has a standard meal of rice, tuna/salmon and salad for her and the kids (and me latter on).

Of late we have been lucky that we can use the garden for most of our salad items.

A quick five minute run around netted the salad below. A little extra virgin olive oil from a work mate who’s brother presses his own olives. Some vinegar and you have a nice meal.

So what did we have?

  • Baby Cos leaves
  • Nasturtium leaves
  • Nasturtium flowers
  • Celery leaves
  • Some strange Italian lettuce
  • A little bit of rocket
  • Spinach leaves
  • Heritage tomato’s

As I said not bad for 5 minutes work and pretty damn tasty. You do not need a huge garden to get this kind of harvest. A few pots to grow your herbs and salad vegetables. If you get nothing more than fresh herbs and salad a couple of times a week from this that will make a huge difference to your health, budget and the one of the billion tiny acts that will help the world. 

And of all these things which is my favourite? The nasturtium flowers of course. Colour, taste, health and beauty what more can you ask for in food.

Harvest Bounty

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So A. has her quilting class each Wednesday night. It is good for her to get out and do a ‘stitch and bitch’ with the girls and get out of the house. It is good for me because I get spend time with the kids. I cook them their dinners play with them and generally have great time together before putting them to bed. I do this when A. is home but I find it nice to have them to myself they can’t go running to mummy when they get bored with me.

On this occasion I promised A. that I would have some dinner for her. When she got home after 9pm.  We had a good crop of black fig off our tree this week and I thought to myself that it was this time last year that I did one of her favourite meals. Being Croatian she loves her figs, cheese, olives and smoked salted pork meat.

So why not combine them as below. This meal looks decadent and I am sure you would pay a decent rate in any restaurant to get them.  But the truth is it took less time to prepare these than it would take A. drive through Maccas on her way home. It is good to use the produce that is at hand it tastes at it best having travelled less than 20 meters (that is 0.012 food miles by the way) and being picked today. Sometimes you just need to make it up rather than surrender to the supposedly easy option of packaged and supposedly ‘fast food’

 In the end I timed it just right and put them in the oven 20 minutes before A. got home and even I had to admit they were pretty damn good as a late supper.

Figs with Feta and Prosciutto.

  • 4 – 5 fresh figs (or as many as you can eat)
  • Good Feta or a nice bitey soft sheep’s cheese
  • Finely sliced prosciutto
  • Good Extra Virgin Olive oil

Halve figs, cut a piece of cheese to cover the cut side of the fig. Drape in prosciutto over both and then drizzle with good olive oil.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 250 degrees then drop it back to 200 degrees and bake for a further 10 -15 minutes until you get a sweet smell off the figs as they caramelise and the prosciutto is nice and crisp.

Simply Server and ENJOY.