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Compost Jelly

Posted in Food & Friends, Recipes, tagged , , , on April 1, 2009| 19 Comments »

“I beg your pardon?”

“I said…I’m going to Christina’s to pick up a bag of apple cores and peels…”

It’s lucky that my husband knows me well enough to take these sorts of comments in his stride.  Christina was making apple pie and I’d asked her to keep the leftover bits and pieces for me.  I know it sounds ridiculously frugal, but apple cores and peel make fantastic pectin and I religiously save  and freeze the cores from Small Man’s morning and afternoon teas.  I’d been at it for a couple of weeks and was accumulating a tidy collection, when Chris mentioned her pie.  I arrived with a plate of vanilla kifli and offered to trade for her bag of “compost bits”.  No wonder people think I’m strange.

In total, I had a dozen frozen Fuji cores, a full bag of green apple peel and cores from Christina, and the peel and cores from another six Fujis that needed to be eaten (I cooked the pulp into pie filling and stashed it in the freezer).  It made the most gorgeous pectin (instructions here), as well as some delicious apple jelly.

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Apple jelly is pretty easy to make – it’s what you end up with if you add sugar to your homemade pectin.  After I’d let the liquid drain through the calico (without pressing – that’s very important, or you’ll get cloudy jelly), I measured out a litre of the drained apple stock.  This was poured into a large saucepan and brought to a boil, then the juice of a lemon and four cups of sugar were added (the ratio is one cup of sugar to each cup of apple stock – sometimes you can get away with a little less, but if there isn’t enough sugar, the jelly might not set).

The pot was brought to a rolling boil until it reached 220F (104.5C) on a candy thermometer.  It really doesn’t set until it gets to that temperature, but if you don’t have a thermometer, you can always check if it’s ready by putting a small blob of jelly onto a cold plate to see if it wrinkles.  There is always some froth on the top of the liquid as it boils – that’s a good sign that the pectin is setting – just skim it off carefully and discard.

Once it was ready, we poured the hot jelly into sterilised jars and sealed.  We boiled the finished jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes, just to make doubly sure they won’t go mouldy.

We ended up with three large jars of pectin and four jars of apple jelly.  I took two jars of jelly to Christina’s house – one for her and one for her dad (after all, it was his green apples).  Her brother opened the door and looked at me quizzically as I handed him the jars and said…

“This is for Christina – it’s Compost Jelly”.

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. . . . .

Edit: I’ve just had an email from a lady who had trouble getting the apple jelly to set.  This was the original YouTube video we learnt to make the apple jelly from – I thought it might be useful to link it here:

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Chocolate Slab Cake

Posted in Food & Friends, Recipes, tagged , , on March 31, 2009| 17 Comments »

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I love recipes which are simple, homely and comforting – dishes which are easy to make, large enough to share with the neighbours and so delicious that my boys request them over and over again.  A couple of years ago, I was reading Consuming Passions by Michael Lee West – a collection of stories and recipes, drawn mostly from her Southern US upbringing. In one section she mentioned a “Chocolate Sheet Cake” and the concept fascinated me – I loved the idea of being able to bake a big tray of chocolate cake and ice it before it had cooled, right in the pan.  But it was West’s description of the cake that was particularly evocative:

In my family, whenever a chocolate sheet cake appeared, it was usually to soothe a broken heart, or to soften the impact of an impulsive thrift-shop purchase. It was not a cake of holidays, but a cake that cajoled and flirted, a cake that said, ‘Forget about your problems, sweetie. Come sit by me for a while.’

Since then, the chocolate sheet  cake, or Choccy Slab Cake as it’s known at our place, has become a household staple. After some experimenting, we’ve finally come up with a combination that keeps everyone happy – a Mrs Field’s devil’s food cake recipe, baked in a roasting pan, and topped off with an ever reliable Jamie Oliver icing.  The whole ends up greater than the sum of its parts, because the icing over the warm base creates a very moist and velvety cake, which keeps well for the few days it takes to be eaten.

I made this cake for Alex’s 21st – it’s a great recipe for feeding lots of intoxicated and hungry twenty year olds.

Note: click here for a printable copy of this recipe.

. . . . .

Cake

  • 13/4 cups (440ml) boiling water
  • 170g (6oz) dark chocolate, chopped finely (we use Callebaut callets)
  • 1 cup (110g) unsweetened cocoa
  • 2 cups (300g) plain (all purpose) flour
  • 2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), sifted
  • good pinch salt
  • 285g (10oz) unsalted butter, softened
  • 13/4 cups (packed) (380g) brown sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 175C (350F) with fan.  Line the base and sides of a large roasting pan with parchment paper (Bake). I do this by squishing an extra-large sheet of Bake into the pan and pleating the corners, or snipping with scissors and overlapping them.  My tray is 37 x 27 x 5cm (141/2” x 101/2” x 2″), but the recipe is quite flexible, so use whatever you have on hand and adjust your cooking time accordingly.

2. In a medium bowl, pour the boiling water over the dark chocolate and let it sit for five minutes.  Add the cocoa and stir until the mixture is smooth.  Allow to cool while you prepare the rest of the cake.

3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Don’t whinge about all the bowls you’re using, it’s worth it.

4. In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla, then add all the flour mixture and half the chocolate mixture.  Beat on low speed to combine, then on high for 1½  minutes.  Add remaining chocolate mixture and beat on low to combine.

5. Pour the batter into the roasting pan and bake for 30 – 40 minutes, until a thin sharp knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.   Be careful not to overcook it. Remove the cake from the oven, but leave it in the pan.  Allow to cool a little while you prepare the icing.

Icing

  • 100g (33/4oz) dark chocolate callets, or finely chopped chocolate
  • 100g (33/4oz) unsalted butter
  • 100g (33/4oz) icing sugar, sifted (it’s important to sift, or you’ll get lumpy icing)
  • 3 Tbsp (60ml) milk

Melt all ingredients in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring constantly until well blended.  Pour the finished icing over the warm cake, jiggling the pan around so that it’s all evenly coated.  Let it sit for say another 15 minutes or so, then put the whole thing into the fridge to set.

The cake can be kept at room temperature once the icing is set.

. . . . .

More food for the masses: Party Pizza!

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Party Pizza

Posted in Food & Friends, Recipes, tagged , , on March 28, 2009| 2 Comments »

“Hello, my name is Alexander David, what’s your name?”

The three year old on a tricycle who introduced himself to me all those years ago turned 21 last week. He is a kind, generous human being with compassion and maturity far beyond his years.  His mum was my lighthouse – she helped me to see clearly and kept me off the rocks – and to this day I miss her desperately.  I’m sure she’s watching from above, blissfully proud of her boys and the truly fine young men they’ve become.

I rang this week to ask about his party (he lives down the road), and his reply was a classic example of Alex’s ever willingness to help:

“Hi Al, are you home?”
“No, do you need me to be?”

What happens when a party is organised by a 21 year old?  Well, there’s lots of alcohol and….sausage rolls.  When I recounted this to June, she, amidst much laughter, told me that she was planning to make finger food and a custard filled sponge cake for the soiree.  My contribution of pizza and chocolate slab cake isn’t nearly as classy, but hopefully it will help absorb some of the alcohol.

Party Pizza

This is a dead easy way to make lots of party food fast.  I made a double batch of my yeasted bread dough, then rolled it out flat and topped it as I would a pizza.  Because it wasn’t rolled too thinly, the base rose on baking, making each serve fairly substantial, even though the pieces were cut quite small.

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  • 1kg bakers/bread flour
  • 20g instant yeast
  • 20g fine sea salt
  • 640g water
  • 100g olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 250C.  Place the bread flour in large mixing bowl and whisk in the yeast.  Stir in the salt.  Make a well in the middle, and pour in the water and olive oil.

2. Now, with a spatula, start mixing the dough.  It will be very sticky, but just keep mixing.  Then scrape the spatula off with your fingers, get your hand right into the dough, and scrunch it up through your fingers until it all comes together and there are no more dry bits of flour.  Scrape off your hand and leave the dough while you get the bench ready.

3. Oil your bench, either by rubbing in a little olive oil, or spraying with a little oil spray.  Don’t bother with flouring it.  Tip the dough out on the bench, scraping the sticky bits out with your spatula.  It will look like a shaggy mess.  Knead the dough (flour your hands or the dough a little if necessary) – it will be sticky at first, but after a very short while, it will become smooth and pliant.  You basically want to stretch out the dough, fold it in on itself, give it a quarter turn, and repeat.  Keep doing that until the dough is smooth, then gather it into a ball.

4. Spray the scraped out mixing bowl with oil and put the dough back in.  Cover the bowl with Gladwrap and leave it somewhere for an hour or so.

5. Once the dough has doubled in size, scrape it gently onto your re-oiled bench fold it a couple of times to knock the air out of it, then flatten it out slightly.

6. Tear off a large sheet of Bake large enough to line the tray you want to bake the pizza on.  My oven is 90cm wide and this amount of dough was enough to fill one large tray – if your oven is smaller, you might need two trays.  Place the dough onto the centre of the Bake, flour the top, and roll it out until it’s wide enough to line your tray(s).  Slide it onto the tray before topping it.

7. From here on, you can do anything you like – I started with tomato sauce on the base and topped it with mozzarella, dry ricotta, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, onions and pancetta.  By the time you’ve finished playing with toppings, the base will have risen just a little and be ready to pop into the oven.  Turn the oven down to 220C as you put the pizza in, then let it bake for 15 – 20 minutes, or until it looks well cooked and the toppings are crispy.

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Chocolate sheet cake recipe to follow…

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Apples

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , on March 25, 2009|

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We bought a big box of new season Royal Galas at the markets a couple of weeks ago.  Whilst they looked magnificent, they weren’t crunchy enough for our liking (Galas rarely ever are). The boys were really good and no-one complained, but when we saw new season Fujis at the markets last Friday, we couldn’t resist.  These looked lousy – all pockmarked and dimpled – but they’re crunchy and sweet, and so fresh that they should last for weeks outside the fridge.

Rather than waste the Galas, I turned them into apple pectin and pie filling.  The peels and cores all went into a large pot to boil into pectin (we produced twelve large jars – which should be enough to set at least 36 kilos of fruit).  I’ve posted the instructions for making pectin in the Jam section.  The remaining pulp was sliced and cooked down with a little water until soft, then drained.  I added lemon juice and sugar to taste, cooked it a little longer, then froze most of the filling in one litre containers, ready for a future mid-week treat.

Today I defrosted a box of filling, stirred a teaspoon of cinnamon through it, and made an apple pie for afternoon tea, using June’s wonderful shortcrust pastry. The boys have already eaten half of it!

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Daily Bread

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , on March 24, 2009| 4 Comments »

Photos of this morning’s sourdough bake – I knocked up the dough last night at 9pm, left it to prove overnight on the bench, shaped the loaves and rolls this morning at 6am and baked them an hour later. These are a 60:40 white:dark rye hybrid and the long overnight prove has given them a delicious sourness that works particularly well with the rye.  The loaves will be turned into Vegemite sandwiches for Small Man to take to school and Big Boy will take the rolls for lunch, stuffed with ricotta, prosciutto and chilli jam.  And the best thing is – the kitchen smells wonderful all day!

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