Souper Sunday - late edition

Ahh - I could blame the house guests for posting this late - but that's just being petty. Besides, they really loved the soup.

I will spare you the vegan rhubarb and apple crumble that followed (just a bit too odd). Vegan desserts are definitely not my strong suit.


La Sfarrata with Rosemary oil
(adapted from Jill Dupleix, The Age Epicure)

1 onion, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons Olive Oil (Extra virgin)
1/2 cup lentils (Australian blue are great)
1/2 cup pearled barley
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
1 litre vegetable stock
Sweet Chilli sauce (optional)
1 x 400g can cannellini beans
1 x 400g can chickpeas
Salt & Pepper

Rosemary Oil* to serve

In a large heavy saucepan heat the oil and lightly cook the onion, celery and garlic.

When softened, add the lentils, barley, tomatoes and stock. Bring to the boil and simmer gently until the lentils and barley are soft (about 30 minutes). I also add a good slug of sweet chilli sauce. It takes the edge off the acidity of the tomatoes, and adds just a hint of warmth to the soup.

Meanwhile, drain and rinse the beans and chickpeas. Add to pot and simmer gently for a further 30 minutes. Season generously with salt and pepper. This soup is great fresh - but like most hearty soups - it is even better the next day.

*To make the Rosemary Oil:
Pick a decent bunch of rosemary. Carefully pick off the green leaves and place in a mortar, discarding the woody stalks. Generously drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with a good pinch of coarse salt and some freshly cracked pepper (adds both flavour and acts as grist to release the oils). Pound with the pestle for about 5 minutes. It will make a pretty unsightly concoction - and the rosemary will not break down much (unlike when making a basil pesto). It should start to smell great and the oil will start to take up the colour of the rosemary. You may need to add more oil (the leaves do soak up a lot). Let it "ruminate" for a few minutes then carefully scoop it out and place it into a fine tea strainer set above a small bowl. Let the oil drain off and using the back of a teaspoon press the leaves to get as much oil out as possible. Discard the spent leaves.

















You should now have tablespoon or so of bright greenish oil with a darker sediment. It won't seem like much but it is quite strong and very pungent. The oils are very volatile and will deteriorate after a few hours - so you only need enough to drizzle on your soup (about 1 teaspoon per bowl).

To serve - ladle the soup into large bowls and drizzle with the rosemary oil (and more pepper if desired). A bit of freshly grated parmesan might also be nice - but not essential.

Souper Sunday - French Onion Edition

I was planning to start Souper Sunday with a different recipe, but when I was at the market yesterday there were the most awe inspiringly large onions that I quickly changed my mind.

Large shiny brown asteroids of goodness that practically begged to be made into soup - and just about put my back out as I loaded them in to the trolley.






















Onions ARE the bane of my cooking existence to peel and slice - so for this recipe if you only have to prep 4 big ones it seems a lot less tedious and hard on the eyes.

In fact as I sat on the couch and watched TV whilst Jms peeled and chopped them, my eyes hardly hurt at all.

















This recipe is dead easy - but does benefit from a slow food attitude. Good caramelisation, with an absence of burnt pots, requires an abundance of time, low heat and a steady hand.

Whoever called it stainless steel lied.






















French Onion Soup

1.5 kg - 2 kg large brown onions (approx 4 very big ones)
Olive Oil
Generous knob of butter
Heaped teaspoon cornflour
1/4 - 1/2 cup white wine (or verjuice, tho' quite sweet)
1 litre beef or vegetable stock (I use the Massel "beef style" stock cubes which ticks both the lazy cook and vegetarian boxes)
1 litre water
Black pepper
Salt

Baguette or other nice crusty bread
Gruyere cheese (or anything floating a round in the fridge with a bit of flavour)


Peel, halve and slice the onions.

Melt a generous slosh of olive oil with butter in a heavy based, large saucepan or stock pot. Add onions and stir to coat well. Lower heat, cover and let sweat, stirring occasionally.

When translucent (15 - 20 mins), remove lid, raise the heat a little and caramelise, stirring often (you want the onions to be a nice honey brown - but with no charred bits). This can take a little while - and is really the only part of this soup that requires a little attentiveness, especially towards the end. Like risotto - don't let yourself be distracted by the teev or there will be a (stinky) charred disaster. Though a few darker flecks can be tolerated in my experience.

Eventually everything will start to catch and hopefully get some serious colour - which is when you want to deglaze the pot by adding the wine. But don't lean over the pot unless you want to be temporarily blinded and instantly intoxicated.

Allow the alcohol to steam off , then slowly stir in the stock/water. Add some extra water if you want your soup a little thinner.

Mix the cornflour with a little water to make a runny paste and add to the soup. You can leave this bit out if you prefer a clear broth type soup - but I do it because I think it gives it a slightly heartier, fuller mouth feel.

Simmer for 30 minutes. Generously season with pepper and add salt if desired.

Slice baguette into rounds on the angle, and grill with a slice or two of cheese on top.

To serve, place a piece of bread or two in each bowl and ladle the hot soup over the top.

Bon appétit!

Ps. In French the expression "Ce n'est pas tes oignons" (literally translated as "It's not your onions") means it is none of your business. So there.

Cranberry Shortbread Hearts Recipe

Duh - why I failed to include this in the last post I'll never know...

Cranberry Shortbread Hearts

125 grams unsalted butter
1/2 cup castor sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg (beaten)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 3/4 cups plain flour (sifted)
150 grams dried cranberries (sweetened is OK)


Pre-heat oven to 180 C.

Cream sugar and butter. Add egg, then vanilla and salt, mixing thoroughly.

Blend in flour slowly. Try not to over mix. When smooth consistency, stir in cranberries.

Form dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap (or divide in to 2 or 3 lots for ease of handling) and chill for at least an hour.

Roll out on to a floured surface (or between two baking sheets) till about 4mm thick. Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter (press really firmly and use a METAL cutter to ensure you slice through the fruit - or otherwise deal with the misshapen mess that ensues).

Place biscuits on lined baking trays, and cook for 10 - 15 minutes or until they just colour at edges).



Notes:

I have no idea where I got this recipe - it seems like a pretty standard shortbread ratio. My creativity solely extended to adding the cranberries. Woot.

Given that we are now post - V.D. you could lose the heart shape action.

The half dough I had remaining in the fridge, I could not deal with rolling/cutting etc (bad arm day). So I just sliced the homogenised mass thinly crossways (a la biscotti or almond bread) and cooked till there was the merest colour at the corners. Alternatively you could just form the dough into a log shape before chilling, and then cut into nice rounds when cold. This will however mess with the whole Phillipa's aesthetic as the cranberries will be sliced not rolled. Yes, perfectionism is a curse.

These might also be nice dusted with caster sugar before baking, or pure icing sugar when cold. These aren't as light as I'd hoped. So I reserve the right to tweak or abandon the recipe as is my whim.

As noted before - the cranberries I used became a little hard after baking, so really could have been soaked beforehand. In water? apple juice? Verjuice? (yes Maggie Beer got to me too). But DO make sure you do strain well - any extra water could mess with the dough, cause shrinkage or any number of other possible worldly disasters.

4 years in the baking

My husband thinks I'm a geek for making these biscuits. Like he can talk. Mr Magical Cardboards.

I've had these earmarked in my recipe folder since - well possibly Barcelona. The last time I actually watched the Olympics. Before I became "too cool" and uber intellectual for major sporting events and "national pride". To be Aussie equaled Ocker and thus the cultural cringe seeped into my everyday life.

Fortunately I eventually realised that being so exclusive cut you off from what was going on and the reality was that while you were busy poo-poohing something, you were actually missing out on all the fun.















Besides (appalling channel 7 coverage aside) it's rare to have such an abundance of "good news" on the TV. (Good meaning celebration of human sporting achievements not the glossing over of human rights abuses/pollution/poverty etc in China). If you step back and analyse the "news" you could reasonably assume that we, as a nation, seem to be thoroughly addicted to the trauma and appalling in this world. It is as though only the shocking can rouse our interest. That only the painful can be real. I vehemently disagree.

Happiness is NOT superficial.

It doesn't have to be all sunshine and lollipops, to quote the great (?) Leslie Gore. We just need a little more balance.

Perhaps some Very Silly biscuits.

Fiddly, silly biscuits at that.

With stupid amounts of artificial colouring.















Biscuits, that despite the fiddle and the inexplicably blotchy icing, were perfect and delicious. Worth doing again regardless of sporting events.

So, its almost over for another 4 years. We can go back to our regular programming. We can stop sooking about our position on the medal tally, the "they spend more than us" keeping up with the Jones' type behaviour and remember that we are actually, in the scheme of things, a very small nation. That our achievements are fabulous regardless of what happened last time or who did better this time. That participation is the reward not the precious metals. I'm sure the athletes would agree.

And that perhaps the Arts deserves a piece of the funding pie too.

Mmmm. Pie.






















Olympic Rings Biscuits
(recipe from Cadbury newsletter "A Taste of Chocolate" circa 1992)

125g, butter softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup grated dark chocolate
1 cup plain flour
1 cup S.R. flour

Icing sugar and food dye (use Cocoa for black)

Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Cream butter and sugar, add egg and vanilla and beat well. Then mix in chocolate and finally the (sifted) flours.

Mix will be quite tacky and crumbly. Form a ball with hands and either refrigerate before rolling out on a well floured surface or place between two sheets of baking paper.

Roll out to about 6mm thick. Refrigerate again till firm. Cut out circles using a large circle biscuit cutter. Then cut out centers with a smaller cutter (these can be cooked as small biscuits or added to dough to make more rings).

*I forgot till this step that I didn't actually own round cookie cutters so I used a well floured upturned Whisky glass and a narrow shot glass. These were fine and actually made really nice large biscuits*

Place rings on a lined baking tray. Cook for 12 - 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown at the edges.

When cold, ice with icing that has been coloured with blue, red, yellow and green food dye . Add cocoa to the icing mix and make as dark as possible for the black rings (tho' bear in mind it may not set rock hard if you add heaps as I discovered). You could just use melted dark chocolate instead.

Makes 20 large biscuits.

Time for Tea (Cake)

Hankering for a little bit of something - with a scantily clad pantry - I actually made these up in 1/2 an hour from start to 'licking buttery fingertips' finish.

Dodgey-arm egg white whipping included!

Tea Cake (made as 12 Cupcakes/Friands)

1 cup S.R. Flour
1/2 cup castor sugar
30 gms butter
1/2 cup milk (room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg, separated

Extra butter
Cinnamon sugar

Beat the egg white till soft peaks form and whip in sugar, vanilla and yolk. Meanwhile melt the butter and add to milk. Mix in with egg mixture and then fold in flour gently.

Pour into greased cake tin (or cupcake pans) and bake at 180*C for 30 minutes or till cake tests clean (for cupcakes it should only take about 10 - 15 mins).

Brush cooked cake with more melted butter and sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar.

Note. I had a wee apple hanging about - which I peeled and chopped up (1 cm x 2 cm ish chunks) and placed a chunk in each pan before baking.

Oh so many shades of yum (practically begging to be eaten while still warm) with a nice cup o' cha!

Souper Sunday

Seems like things are going a bit haywire in my neck of the woods. Very sick kiddies in hospitals, very sick MIL in hospitals, crazy viruses left, right and centre and general Major Familial upheaval.

I'm sure the chaos fever will break soon and give us all a moments pause to take stock.

In the meantime ... things to do with stock (I promise that pun was not planned...)


Roasted Sweet Potato and Nutmeg Soup

1 very large sweet potato (1 kg approx)
25 grams butter or oil
1 large brown onion, chopped finely
2 sticks of celery, chopped finely
1+ litre of vegetable stock
200ml coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg (or to taste - freshly grated always seems more pungent)
Salt and Pepper (optional)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

Place whole unskinned sweet potato on a tray or roasting pan and roast in oven for an hour or until cooked (ie. can be pierced with a skewer through the thickest part easily). It will dribble and ooze so you might want to use foil or a baking sheet underneath. Cool slightly.

















Melt butter in a large saucepan and add onion and celery. Saute over medium heat until onion is translucent (caramelise a little if you like). Add stock and slowly bring to boil. Meanwhile peel cooled sweet potato and chop roughly (skin ought to just slip off - and discard any woody or stringy bits, darkish bits are OK though). Add to stock. Simmer for a little while till everything is soft and mushy. Remove from heat, cool slightly and process with a blender till smooth.

Add coconut milk and nutmeg, heating gently (Do not boil). Season to taste.

Ladle into warm bowls and garnish with toasted shredded coconut and chopped chives if you so desire!

(adapted from a Vogue Entertaining recipe I believe from so many years ago I cannot be sure)


Post "Post Script" - although a favourite recipe, I'm afraid it tragically fell into the "you wish" category today - laziness opting instead for re-heated Thai takeaway. But I assure you it is super soup... mtc (more to come)

Season's Greetings from the southern hemisphere!

Christmas is always the best excuse to do some serious baking.

Unfortunately its usually stinkingly hot in Melbourne at this time of year - so sweating it out over a hot stove on top of the usual Christmas time over achieving is a little more arduous than fun.

But with plentiful rain being the bestest-ever possible early Christmas present for our drought ridden land, I am seriously enjoying some quality time with my oven.

The last month I have barely stepped foot in the kitchen (except to sneak past the gargantuan pile of dishes and quickly grab the stash of home delivery menus). We have eaten so much pizza lately I'm ashamed to call myself a foodie. However this has been nicely juxtaposed with quite a few "nice" restaurant visits including the work Christmas party at Rockpool - encrusted with enough lobster and wagyu beef to fund a small military operation.



Nice as it was, my heart yearned for the simple pleasure of rubbing butter into flour, adding a bit of this, a touch of that and a few minutes in the oven followed by the heady sweet smell of baked goodness wafting throughout the house. And best of all - I am officially on holiday and can indulge in the fiddly biscuit department to my heart's content.

Now I can't claim any of the credit for these cuties. Instead all kudos goes to an unnamed and probably completely under valued staff chef at Nestle.


To be completely honest, they aren't the best biscuit flavour wise - but they are so much fun to make and the squeals and ahs a plate of these will generate is definitely worth it. They truly do look amazing and are remarkably good at restoring one's Christmas spirit. I am also tickled by the ironic use of a "Star of David" style cutter too.


Christmas Star Biscuits

Preparation time: 50 mins (including chilling time)

Makes approx 20

250g butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup caster sugar
2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup clear boiled lollies, chopped

Cream butter, vanilla and sugar in a mixing bowl. Sift flours and cocoa together. Combine with butter mixture, mixing well.

Turn out to a clean surface and knead until dough comes together. Cut in half. Place each half between two sheets of baking paper and roll out to approx 8mm thickness. Refrigerate until firm.

Pre-heat oven to 150 degrees Celsius.

Remove top sheet of paper, cut out shapes using a 7cm star cutter. Place onto a tray lined with paper. Cut out inner star with a 3 1/2 cm cutter and remove. (Collect the "waste" re-roll, chill and repeat for more biscuits)

Bake for 8 minutes, remove from the oven and fill the center with a few chunks of the chopped lollies. Turn up the oven to 180 degrees and bake for a further 8-10 minutes or until the lollies have melted and the biscuits have cooked. Allow to cool on trays.


Notes:
Boiled lollies are often hard to find. Don't use the milky ones because they won't melt properly or give the glass effect. This year the only "boiled style" lollies I could find were Starburst lollipops. They worked fine but were pretty strongly flavoured. Also, don't overfill the middles - otherwise you will break your teeth trying to eat them!

Rogaliki with Rose

After waiting so long to get my recipe translated - it seems somewhat remiss of me to not pass it on. So here it is - enjoy!

Rogaliki półfrancuskie z różą (Polish Rose Crescents)

600 grams (3 cups) flour
1 cup cream (I used double - its much nicer than the thickened stuff and easier to mix in)
Pinch salt
250 grams unsalted butter, cubed at room temperature
Dash of oil
1 tablespoon sugar
Rose jam or paste
1 egg white (glaze)
Crystalised sugar for sprinkling

Cream butter, oil and flour (by hand or if your lucky enough to own a Kitchenaid make yourself a cuppa and watch as it does all the hardwork). Carefully mix in cream, salt and sugar. Refrigerate the shortbread for at least 30 mins, wrapped tightly in cling film.

Roll out to about ½ cm thickness. Cut into 6cm x 8cm rectangles. Spread jam along long edge. Roll into a tube. Slash tube along one side repeatedly and then twist into crescent shape (with cuts to outer edge. Alternatively cut into squares and make little danish style shapes with jam in the middle. As I did here. Glaze and sprinkle with sugar.

Place on lined baking sheet and cook in a hot oven for 15- 20 mins.

Note. try to use a thick jam - because once it's hot the jam will liquefy and dribble out. Not necessarily a cardinal sin - but its more likely to burn if it does.