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Archive for July, 2010

More Than Bread

Posted in Musings on July 14, 2010| 14 Comments »

When I got home I heard John Barbirolli conducting Beethoven’s ‘Seventh Symphony’, over the air. What was agriculture for, it seemed to me, except that such a thing as that symphony and the playing of it should be made possible? To make bread so that it shall be possible for mankind to have more than bread and hear the scripture of the kings; to listen to a Beethoven, a Sibelius, a Tchaikovsky, uttering some far message to paradox and joy.

John Stewart Collis,  The Worm Forgives the Plough,
reflecting on the meaning and purpose of agriculture
after working on the land during WWII.

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Labneh Balls

Posted in Recipes, tagged , on July 13, 2010| 24 Comments »

I recently made a batch of labneh, or strained yoghurt cheese, and Joanna suggested I turn it into these flavoured balls.

The labneh was quite easy to make – we spooned our homemade Greek yoghurt into a colander lined with a clean cloth (I think it’s traditional to use muslin) and left it over a bowl for several hours until all the whey had drained off, and the yoghurt had thickened to a consistency similar to cream cheese.

After chilling in the fridge, I rolled spoonfuls of the labneh into balls and coated them in a variety of different spice mixes.  It was a messy job – I found it easiest to  shape the balls with slightly damp hands and then roll them in generous amounts of the coating mixture scattered on a sheet of parchment paper.

From front to back, the photo above shows the finished balls flavoured with chermoula, za’atar and a dried Italian herb mix.  Apparently these will keep for a while in the fridge if covered with olive oil, but we don’t need the extra fat in our diet!

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Dandelion Fever

Posted in Frugal Living, tagged on July 11, 2010| 19 Comments »

Friends, Romans, countrymen…send me your weeds!

Our chickens love oxalis and onion weed, but more than anything else in the whole world, even more than corn on the cob, they love dandelions.  Thankfully they grow like…ahh…weeds in the front yard.  I thought you might enjoy seeing the frenzy that precedes the daily feeding…

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Homemade Greek Yoghurt

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on July 10, 2010| 36 Comments »

A few people have asked us how Pete makes his Greek yoghurt, so I thought I’d upload the tutorial we wrote for friends a few years ago.

We purchased an Easiyo Yoghurt Maker, but this method will work with any suitably sized plastic thermos and jar, providing it can keep the milk warm for 8 – 12 hours.

Traditionally, yoghurt is made from milk which has been boiled first to sterilise it, then cooled to room temperature.  We sidestep that process by using long life (UHT) milk, which has been ultra-heat processed.  In order to ensure it remains sterile, we always open a new carton for each fresh batch of yoghurt.

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A Simple Jam Roll

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on July 9, 2010| 21 Comments »

I was looking to use up some surplus eggs and a few jars of last year’s jam, and came upon this old recipe.  It’s from an ancient Australian Women’s Weekly cookbook and produced a surprisingly tender  tea cake in very little time.

Unlike most sponges, there’s no need to separate the eggs, although it is important to sift the flour, or it won’t fold smoothly into the beaten egg mix.

The sponge itself has only four ingredients – eggs, sugar, SR flour and hot water.  It takes ten minutes to mix, ten minutes (or so) to bake and less than ten minutes to fill and roll.  The finished cake texture is soft and springy, and the flavour quite uncomplicated, but charming in its own simple way.  It only keeps for a day, so bake it when you have company…

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