Christmas Time Again….

Christmas Cake

I’m not hosting Christmas this year, in fact I have a very relaxed and slack time planned, which is good as my social life is currently over the top and full on! It is nice to leave the planning and organising and most of the cooking, to others for once, although I will be contributing by probably making a dip or some other nibbles. The weather is stinking hot where I live, but right now freezing and horrible where I’ll be on Christmas Day – I hope that changes as we always like to have our Christmas dinners outside.

The only specific Christmas baking I’ve done this year is my dairy-free, low-fat (no fat in fact!) Christmas cake – sooooooo simple. Only 3 ingredients, although I did then liberally pour brandy over the top to soak in afterwards, but you don’t have to do that!

Here is the cake recipe, and below are a few other Christmas recipes in case you’re in need of some last minute inspiration:

Christmas Pudding (microwave)

Christmas Truffles

Christmas Turkey (crockpot)

Stuffing

Gingerbread

My little tree!

Happy Christmas Fooding!

 

Not For The Calory Counters Amongst You……

Lots of rich, dark chocolate!

Rich. Decadent. Fattening. Very Fattening. But…..to balance that….CHRISTMAS!

You can be forgiven for many foodie indulgences at this time of year, so I make no apologies for leading you astray with this bewitching balls recipe!

Anything with six, yes SIX, Cherry Ripe bars in it has to be a great thing, right? Damn straight. Chuck them all in the food processor along with cocoa and a packet of Nice biscuits (ouch, more sugar), blend to a pile of powdery goodness then mix through a can of condensed milk. OMG. This is so full of yum-ness that you just have to rush out buy Cherry Ripes right now and make this! I made them for a Christmas party (also made my yummy Teriyaki Chicken Bites, perfect for taking a plate of nibbles to a function at any time of year, and always popular), but really you don’t need an excuse, at this time of year, to spoil yourself with something so sweet and delicious.

The full recipe can be found here……and whilst it can be quite an expensive recipe to make, with all of those chocolate bars, I was lucky enough to get them on special for half price this week, yay.

Apparently Cherry Ripes are now Australia’s oldest chocolate bar, having been around since 1924. I didn’t know that until today, although I knew they were my very favourite 🙂

Happy Christmas Fooding!

Zucchini Bread (Cake?)

It’s interesting that carrot cake is always cake, but banana cake and zucchini cake are often called breads. The ingredients for all of these are very similar, but we never say carrot bread (or beetroot bread!) do we! I think they’re all really cake, because bread in my view is generally a savoury thing. But who am I to argue with the masses…….

Anyway I came across this great looking zucchini “bread” recipe a couple of weeks ago via a Food.com e-newsletter, and decided to make it for morning tea at work, last week. As I had successfully made my usual carrot cake in the bread machine the week before, I looked at the zucchini bread ingredients and thought hmmmmm they’re very similar in quantity etc. so I’ll do this one in the bread machine too.

It worked, but it was not as moist as the carrot cake, so I think this one would be better eaten straight after cooking (I made it the night before taking it to work). Also it didn’t rise quite as much and I think would have been better on the medium crust setting, which would have baked it about 8 minutes longer. It was good enough to be a “keeper” though, so I will change the baking time slightly next time.

Below is my bread machine version for 1 cake – if you want to do it the original, oven way, here is the website I got it from – which is in fact quantities for 2 loaves.

The Ultimate Zucchini Bread (CAKE!!)

In order, place the following ingredients in bread machine bowl:

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

1 1/4 cups grated zucchini

1 tbsp orange zest, grated

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1 3/4 cups plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp bi-carb soda

1/2 tsp salt

Bake on bread machine’s Cake setting, with Medium crust and 750gm loaf settings.

If you’re feeling like a more savoury bread, try this lemon & dill bread, also in the bread machine. I made this again recently and we had it at work with apricot & almond cream cheese on top – a great combination with the bread flavours.

Happy Fooding!

Shhhhh….The Kids Will Never Know It’s Not Rice

At the risk of totally boring you…..yes it’s cauliflower again! But does it look like it?? Not a bit.

I like to think I’m pretty much up there with the latest food trends, products and “in things”, but it was made clear to me last week (thanks Jane!) that I have missed the cauliflower rice phenomenon, completely and utterly.

I picked up a large cauli for $1.37 on Friday, so after scouring the e-world for many variations, this is my version of “fried rice” without rice. You can really use this in any way that you would use rice, and add anything you like. I really wanted the zing of fresh lemon juice/zest, plus a bit of pizzazz from chilli (not much, just a hint), and it worked beautifully, in fact I scoffed a bowl of this and thought omg how moreish is this.

Super healthy, versatile and soooooo easy if you have a food processor. As long as cauliflower stays cheap this will be a new staple food in my cooking. Plus you can freeze it in sandwich bags for future use, when cauli is in season.

There are many step-by-step photos around, of how to make cauliflower rice – just google and you’ll find plenty of recipe ideas. If you don’t have a food processor, use a cheese grater – works just as well but is more labour intensive and slower.

Cauliflower Fried Rice

1 large head of cauliflower

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp chilli paste (I like Masterfoods)

juice of 1 lemon

zest of 1 lemon

2 tbsp vegetable stock

1/2 cup frozen peas

(and next time I’ll add some chopped coriander – just didn’t have any to hand this time)

Cut the cauliflower into florets (make sure it is completely dry)  and place in a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped – should be rice sized grains.

Heat olive oil in a pan or wok. Add the onion and garlic, and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.

Serves 6 as a side dish, or if you are having it on its own as a bowl of deliciousness, serves 3.

This is a perfect dish to serve fussy kids who like rice but won’t eat vegies – they’ll never know it’s not rice! You can make it plain without adding the onion etc too – just saute for 7-8 mins until “al dente”.

Happy Fooding!

 

Kitchens on My Travels 2

Palace kitchen garden

As you know, I had a wonderful experience at Kew Gardens on my recent UK trip. It was the day before I flew home and for once the weather was absolutely lovely – blue skies and not too cold, just perfect for wandering around looking at the most amazing plants, flowers and old buildings.

You might remember a few months ago, I made Barley Broth from the Kew Palace kitchens’ YouTube channel. I was really looking forward to visiting the kitchens, which haven’t been open to the public all that long, and I wasn’t disappointed! It took me a while to find the kitchens, as the gardens are humungous and I had expected them to be close to (but detached – fire risk!) the palace itself. In fact, the kitchens (which have a lower floor for the actual kitchens and laundry rooms, and an upper floor where the estate accounts were managed – a bit more elegant upstairs!) turned out to be a fair distance away, and when I enquired about this (because I was picturing a trail of servants carrying tea & cakes between two places*), I was told the kitchens actually belonged to the White House, the home of Frederick, Prince of Wales. This house was demolished in 1802, but the kitchen buildings are what we see restored today.

Nosegay Garden

There are lovely gardens behind the palace itself – known collectively as the Queen’s Garden – one section is the Nosegay Garden and it is full of herbs and other “smellies”, which apart from their herbal/medicinal properties are just gorgeous to look at – it must have been a stunningly pretty view, at a sad time in their lives, for George III‘s family, looking out of their back windows on to the lovely grounds and flowers.

Georgian Cooking

So, inside the kitchens, which are below ground level and would be extremely cold if there wasn’t a fire going for cooking, I found the two gentlemen who feature on the Historic Royal Palaces recipe videos! They were lovely and very chatty, and apparently spend their days divided between Kew and Hampton Court, cooking up a Georgian/Tudor storm which is served at 4pm each day. What a life – cooking fun stuff all day every day, without the pressure of serving in a restaurant, and getting paid for it! There were various dishes in different stages of preparation, and I cannot remember what they were although I did ask lots of questions at the time – the only thing mundane was that a plate of boring ham and cheese sandwiches was being made!

Fit for a Georgian King

I had to be pushy and jump in behind the big table to get a photo of myself with “famous” (well YouTube is the TV of today, right….) chefs. They were lovely and didn’t mind at all, and I had a real warm fuzzy moment, hanging out in a Georgian kitchen with these two guys.

Masterchef Georgian Style?

Apparently the ham you can see on the front left of the above photo, is cured especially for Kew, and costs an exorbitant amount – which I can’t remember, but it could have been like £200 or something ludicrous.

As for the rest of the palace itself (which is not very big and is not completely restored yet), there was one morbid moment – in a bedroom is a black chair with a small placard on it – see pic below. The placard states “Queen Charlotte 1744-1818 Died in this chair 17 November 1818″. Hmmmmm gee thanks for sharing that image!

The Chair of Death!!!

Speaking of food at Kew, I never did get the Kew Explorer Muffin recipe from them – they very nicely acknowledged my request and passed it on to the bakers (a national concern), but I never heard back. Shame as it was such a yummy healthy, fruity, seedy piece of yumminess. I’ll have to have a go at making it up some time.

Happy Fooding!

* a-la-Downton-Abbey-Red-Nose-Day hilarity – watch this 2-part parody Uptown Downstairs Abbey if you haven’t seen it before – it’s a crackup!

Caramel, Macadamia & Coconut Slice

You can see the burntish bits!

I made this very-bad-for-you slice for morning tea at work this week. It’s from the April 2013 issue of Super Food Ideas.

Speaking of magazines, Australian Good Taste, the Woolworths-affiliated food magazine, is ceasing publication shortly – they announced this on Facebook but with no actual reason, so I’m not sure if it’s a financial-based decision or what. It is a great magazine, that I have been buying each month for about 10 years – but I don’t think it’s the “best” – too many of what I call “human interest” stories. I just like my food magazines to have lots of recipes, and I don’t mind advertising at all, as long as the ads also feature a recipe using their product. Gadget reviews are okay by me too, but I can’t stand “meal planners”, letters to the editor, stories about farmers growing their produce, and monthly shopping lists etc. No one ever makes every single meal or recipe in a month, from one magazine – apart from not liking them all (or their kids not eating them all), if they’re that stumped for ideas of what to cook and need it spelled out for every day of the month, they are probably not the type who would buy a food mag in the first place. Just my 2 cents worth anyway…..

So, back to the slice…..once I’ve got it in my head to make a specific recipe NOW, I do not like to be thwarted – but I could not find caramel bits, nor are Scalliwag biscuits anywhere to be seen around here. For those of you not in the know, Scalliwags are the politically correct version of what we all grew up with as Golliwog biscuits! Despite the name change, they are not easy to find, not here in Perth anyway. They are fairly plain biscuits, a bit like Teddy Bears, so I figured I could use any plain biscuit and settled on Malt-o-Milk. For the caramel bits I used choc bits.

The slice was very easy to make, but I overcooked it a tad as my overly-hot oven has a mind of its own sometimes, and the edges came out quite browned. When I took the slice out of the fridge the next morning, to cut up, it was SO heavy – felt like a brick! I thought, uh-oh, this is going to be as hard a rock and break people’s teeth! I even cut off the harder brown edge bits and threw them away, worrying about it. In fact it was great and received lots of praise (although I think my fellow co-workers will eat anything sweet and are quite often just being polite, to make sure I keep making stuff haha).

Caramel, Macadamia & Coconut Slice

250 gm pkt chocolate Scalliwag biscuits (OR whatever plain sweet biscuits you like)

125 gms butter, melted

395 gm can sweetened condensed milk

2 cups desiccated coconut

100 gms macadamia halves

250 gm pkt caramel bits (OR use choc bits)

Line a 20cm x 30cm lamington/slice pan.

In a food processor, process biscuits until they are fine crumbs. Add melted butter and mix well. Press mixture into base of pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 160C (140C fan forced).

Combine condensed milk, coconut, macadamias and caramel bits in a large bowl. Spoon over prepared base and spread evenly with the back of a spoon, pressing down to level slightly.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until top is golden and just firm. Cool in pan. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until set.

Cut into squares to serve.

Makes 24 pieces.

Happy Fooding!

Kitchens On My Travels 1

Gainsborough Old Hall, a medieval manor built in the 15th century, is a very impressive and huge place. Last month I was there as part of an historical tour (Lancaster & York) – the significance for the tour was that both Richard III and Henry VIII (along with Catherine Howard) stayed here as guests of the Burgh family, who originally built the manor. Katherine Parr also lived here during her first marriage.

This place is very big and very well preserved – unlike many of the castles and relevant places we went to, this is still fully standing and has a goodly part surviving from its original construction. The Great Hall in particular is very impressive.

The kitchen here was amazing!!! It has a huge, open ceiling going up to what was once a ceiling chimney hole (from when the fire was in the centre of the room). The guide was extremely knowledgable and witty, giving us his “between you and me” opinions about the various kitchen sections, that weren’t necessarily what he was supposed to say! It was a very fun tour of the whole house, despite the cold (brick floors underneath your feet are not exactly warm – it must have been awful back in the day).

This kitchen is the perfect example of the safety issues of the time – built separately to the main hall/building, because of fire risk. In fact, the main hall/house is mainly wooden, but the kitchen is all brick, with a deliberate gap to separate house from kitchen.

Around the top of the kitchen, ie on the upper floor but looking down on the kitchen itself, was the small bedroom/quarters for the head of the kitchen (all staff were male in kitchens at this time by the way), so that he could keep an eye on what was going on and make sure there were no shenanigans!

Dinner, anyone?!

Happy Fooding!

Restaurant Review: Hyde Park Hotel

Lamb Pot Pie

Had a yummy lunch on the weekend at the Hyde Park Hotel in North Perth.

This pub is only 5 minutes drive from my house, yet I’ve never been there before in almost 4 years here. I was going to the Perth Mint (having a play-tourist moment!), so looked up the Entertainment Book to see what eating places were nearby, that I had a voucher for. I decided to try something new, and it turned out to be a great decision. The food was truly fabulous, in looks, portion size and taste. These mains were both about $25 each, standard pub prices, but as I had a voucher it was 25% off.

Baked Coriander & Pistachio Nut Crusted Chicken

Service was excellent and staff friendly – and the place was seriously renovated (apparently it used to be a bit of a dive – not so now, it is very upmarket) in 2011 and still looks brand new. It was my first time there, but it won’t be my last!

An added bonus is that there is a very large Dan Murphy’s bottle shop next door, so I made the most of that and stocked up on wine bargains while I was there.

Happy Fooding!

Highlights at Highgate

George Eliot, East Cemetery

This is absolutely not food related at all, but I just had to share some pics with you of one of the best things I did on my London trip – go to Highgate Cemetery. I’ve always wanted to go there, and on previous trips I just wasn’t able to fit it in (it’s not exactly the easiest place to find). I’ve dreamt about the cemetery every night since being there (6 days now), so I decided writing about it might get it out of my system!

I made a concerted effort to get there this time, on my very last day. I had to check out of my hotel, but had the whole day to fill in before going to the airport in the evening. The hotel was happy to store my luggage, so with trusty maps/website instructions, and having pre-booked a West cemetery tour beforehand (the only way you can go in to that side), I set off.

To get here, you have to get the tube to Archway station, not Highgate – I think they suggest this because of the steep hills, but even so there were steep hills anyway! I am pretty good at walking, as I do it seriously for exercise at home anyway and also walk to shops/train stations etc all the time, so the walk was not a problem for me – but I can see it would be an issue for some. I had to walk up a hill for about 10 minutes, then go through Waterlow Park, and here I got a bit lost. The instructions from the cemetery’s website were confusing, so I entered the park at the correct gate, but left the other side through the wrong gate and ended up at the top end of Swain’s Lane instead of the bottom. I then had to walk down a hill for 10 minutes, and finally arrived.

It was lunchtime by now and I had anticipated buying a sandwich when I got there – nope, no chance – there is nothing there, not even a vending machine, and the cafe in the park had revolting high-fat greasy stuff, so I just went without. I only had 40 minutes before my booked West side tour, so I whipped around the East side really quickly.

Side paths everywhere, East Cemetery

The history of this place is quite unusual. You can read the full story here, but basically, in 1832 a Bill was passed in London allowing the creation of private cemeteries in the greater London area, to alleviate overcrowding in the inner city’s parish cemeteries. In the 10 years following this bill, 7 private cemeteries were created, known as the Magnificent Seven. Highgate was one of these, opening in 1839 with an initial 17 acres (15 acres for Church of England burials, and 2 acres for dissenters!). A further 20 acres was purchased and opened as the East cemetery, 20 years later, with the original (older) part becoming the West cemetery.

The topography/views around Highgate, and the snobbish mentality of wanting to be interred in a place seen as exclusive, meant that wealthy Victorians rushed to be buried here, hence some pretty awesome graves and tombs – the architecture of some of it is amazing, a bit spooky sometimes and completely fascinating. The most spectacular area is the Egyptian Avenue and Circle of Lebanon, built up around a 300 year old Lebanese Cedar tree. Even in decay, this archway/tunnel and circle of massive tombs is so impressive, and must have been unbelievably stunning in its’ heyday.

Entrance to Egyptian Ave, West Cemetery

Egyptian Ave, West Cemetery

There are many famous people buried here, with the most visited grave being that of Karl Marx, in the East cemetery. The guides also tell many quirky stories about people lesser known to us, but who were famous at the time or who just have fascinating backgrounds.

RIP Malcolm, East Cemetery

By the 1930s the cemetery was in decline – I won’t go into it all but it was eventually “sold” to the local council for a token amount and taken over by volunteers in 1975. It is heritage listed (grade 1) and a balance is tried to be maintained between upkeep/restoration of the graves (a constant battle – I saw headstones even from within the last 10 years, that were seriously wonky and tilting – the ground is very soft and wet underneath), safety for visitors, respect for the original purpose (and inhabitants!), access for families of those buried, and keeping it’s unique fascination/gothic decay/attraction to tourists. I think they do a wonderful job at this balancing act, with very little income to help.

West Cemetery

Something I thought funny, was that in the 1970s when money was really needed, in desperation one section of land in the West was sold off as real estate. Hence over near the dissenters’ section there are a couple of huge, modern, IMO very ugly, houses that literally have their homes on the edge of the cemetery – with big glass windows and balconies hanging over the graves! They really look awful and spoil the look of the edge of the cemetery, but what a great place to live, looking out over all those graves and green ivy every day. Maybe I am a bit strange (well, yes I know I am) but I would love it….

Circle of Lebanon, West Cemetery

You can still be buried here (although there isn’t much room left – there are 170,000 interments in 53,000 graves), and the guide told me it costs from about £1,000 (ashes in an urn, in a wall, for a 50 year period) to £37,000 (burial in a prime front row spot!). I was really surprised at these prices – I thought it would be a lot more, especially as the cemetery is seriously in need of funds to maintain it. Because it is not a government concern, the cemetery is run by volunteers and the only income is from donations/entry fees/guided tours (currently £4 for East side, or £12 for East side/West tour). The main reason, I was told, for not allowing general access to the West cemetery unaccompanied, is for safety reasons – which I do understand as there is a LOT of subsidence in/around the graves, and it is often wet, slippery and muddy as well. At the same time, it was a bit frustrating not to be able to wander at will and do some serious exploration (get lost in a graveyard, yay!!). The tours (which are limited to 12 people and take an hour) don’t cover everywhere – not enough time – so each guide decides where he/she will go and they mix it up – I need to go back and do another tour to see different things!

No flowers, Douglas likes pens!

If any of you have read Tracy Chevalier’s Falling Angels novel, it is set in and around Highgate Cemetery, and mentions many of the graves/tombs/features there.

After my West side tour, I went back into the East for some more wandering around. I finally had lunch at 3pm!

Sorry for the length of this post, but as you can tell I love this place and could waffle on about it for hours. I can’t wait to go back again. And you have no idea how hard it was to choose which photos to include here!

Happy Ghostly Fooding!

Circle of Lebanon, West Cemetery

Tower of Taste!

I have had the most delicious baguette I’ve ever had in my life! This was at the Tower of London, in their New Armouries Cafe, which only opened a year or so ago and is much, much more gourmet than the usual fast food rubbish you get at tourist venues – but with very reasonable prices.

I’m having all sorts of trouble pasting links into their usual place on my iPad, and in fact am finding the app very un-user-friendly, but if you search for Tower of London you’ll have no trouble finding the restaurant details.

This baguette was called a Wensleydale Waldorf, and contained: Wensleydale cheese, walnuts, celery, cranberries and apple. All but the cheese, was bound into a spreadable mixture with creme fraiche. It worked brilliantly and I am taking this combination home as something to definitely try for myself. It helped that the baguette was super fresh and soft, as I am having a lot of teeth problems and can’t cope with crunchy, hard bread at the moment!

I’ve done absolutely no cooking whilst here, but I have eaten a lot! In particular I have had some wonderful cheeses – too much really!

Happy Holiday Fooding!