Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

The word “upcycling” is very in vogue at the moment (even if the expression “in vogue” isn’t), but until Fiona’s comment last week, I’d never thought of it in terms of food.

It’s something that we’re slowly getting better at – for example, my stale sourdough loaf became garlic bread, which was then turned into crispy croutons under the roast chicken we had for dinner last night.

In the past couple of weeks, a leftover piece of panfried sockeye salmon has been turned into sushi rolls, shredded leftover roast lamb wrapped in pita bread with babaganoush and garlic sauce, and the stock from the roasted pig’s head added a delicious touch to our arroz caldoso. And of course, there’s the recycled/upcycled cookie crumble.

One of my favourites to date has been this breakfast strata (misogynistically known in days gone by as a “wifesaver”). It’s a riff on the one I created last year for Jason’s Eurovision bake-off.

It began with a stale loaf of sourdough, which I stuffed with cheese and slices of ham off the bone. If you ever have leftover bread rolls, this works particularly well for freezer lunches…

The boys ate half the stuffed loaf for lunch. I tore up the remaining bread, ham and cheese and layered it into an oiled baking dish, then covered it with a mixture of three eggs, milk and more cheese. I covered it with a sheet of clingfilm, sat a plate on top to keep the bread submerged, then popped it into the fridge. The soaking time makes quite a lot of difference in this dish.

The following morning, I let it come to room temperature, then baked it at 180C with fan until golden brown. Thrice-baked, and the best meal of the three…

. . . . .

Do you upcycle your leftovers? I’d love to know any tips you might have! x

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During the festive season, I baked my favourite gingernut cookies.

I don’t bake them often though, because whilst they’re my favourites, no-one else in the house eats them if there’s anything else on offer. So a week or so after baking, there was still half a jar left…

The browned butter friands were more popular – so much so that I baked them twice. There were a few leftover from the second batch…

It was then that I discovered how brilliant leftover cookies are as crumble topping! I’ve used stale cake before, so I had an inkling it would work, but the gingernuts added a delicious crunch and flavour which went really well with the berries…

• 2 cups frozen berries (I used a mix of blueberries and sour cherries, but you could use anything you have lurking in your freezer)
• ¼ cup jam
• leftover gingernut cookies
• leftover browned butter friands

Note: this is a very flexible recipe, so please use whatever you have on hand. We’ve made it with tinned peaches and apples in the past, as well as all sorts of cakes (un-iced) and non-savoury breads. I stash leftover stale cake and brioche in the freezer just for this purpose.

The cookies add a wonderful texture and flavour. I’m not sure though that chocolate ones would work, and I found our shortbread cookies a little dry and salty for the topping. But sweet, American-style, slightly cakey cookies are perfect!

Some loose instructions:

• Preheat oven to 160C with fan. Gently heat the jam in the microwave to soften, adding a little water to thin it out if necessary. Stir into the frozen berries and mix well.

• Tip everything into an ovenproof dish. I used an Emile Henry pie dish.

• Crumble the leftover cookies and cake over the top.

• Bake for 20 – 30 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and crisp, and the berries are bubbling and juice is just starting to seep through the crumble.

• Allow to rest and cool a little before serving.

I’ve stashed the rest of the gingernuts in the freezer for a future crumble, along with some maple syrup cookies that no-one would eat. I made this batch with a mixture of cookies and friands, but it works equally as well with just cookies (I’ve tried).

It’s a fabulous last minute dessert and the boys love it (particularly Small Man). Best of all, it means I can bake gingernuts again in the future, even if I’m the only one who will eat them!

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Although Wiki claims that friands are originally from France, very few of my French friends have ever heard of them. Instead, they seem to be a uniquely downunder treat, popular in both Australia and New Zealand. They share a similar ingredients list to French financiers, although they’re made in quite a different way.

One distinguishing characteristic of financiers is the use of beurre noisette (browned butter). I thought it might be interesting to incorporate that into my friand recipe.

I had to get Pete to make the butter for me – I always chicken out and pull it off the heat too soon…

Pete’s tip is to cook the butter very gently until it turns brown and starts to foam…

• 6 large free range egg whites
• 150g browned butter, cooled
• 70g plain flour
• 130g almond meal
• 180g icing sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 190C or 175C with fan.  Brush a mini loaf pan (mine was a Baker’s Secret petite loaf pan with eight holes) with melted butter and line the base of each hole with a piece of parchment paper. Don’t skip the paper, or the friands will stick (trust me).

2. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and icing sugar. If you’re feeling lazy, just sift the icing sugar (it’s the only way to get the lumps out). Stir in the almond meal.

3. In a separate mixing bowl and using a hand whisk, beat the egg whites for about a minute until they’re frothy, but not stiff.

4. Quickly but gently fold in the dry ingredients, then add the cooled browned butter (including any sediment).  Stir until just combined.

5. Spoon the mixture evenly into the prepared mini loaf tin. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, rotating the tray once during the baking time.  The finished friands will be well risen and  golden brown in colour.

7. Allow to cool on a wire rack before serving.

The browned butter gave these a subtle nuttiness and an attractive speckled appearance that I found very appealing. They were also fabulous in a berry crumble (recipe to follow)!

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Last week, Pete’s sisters Kate and Penny, Ray (Pen’s husband) and our nephew Joseph, drove down from Orange to celebrate an early Christmas with us. Uncle Steve (Pete’s brother), his fiancée Ali, and cousin Jono were also here.

Our annual gathering usually takes place a couple of weeks before Christmas, which allows us to hit the Sydney Fish Market early in the morning (before the crazy festive season rush) and splurge on an abundance of super fresh sea food.

And splurge we really did this year, although everyone chipped in, so the cost wasn’t prohibitive. To keep my beloved nephew happy though, I spent an hour the night before making dumplings for him…

We bought half a kilo of King Salmon sashimi, which Pen and I turned into three large plates of sushi…

A kilo of Balmain bugs, Penny’s favourite…

We had a 2kg ocean trout and a smaller coral trout, both of which were oven roasted…

Ray, who had been dreaming about them all year, insisted on 3kg of cooked tiger prawns. I baked a 75cm slab of sourdough focaccia, and we made a large salad and homemade mayonnaise…

On top of that, we had 30 scallops, three dozen oysters (half Kilpatricked) and 30 dumplings (for Joseph). And between 12 of us, we managed to eat almost all of it.

We were seriously beached.

Then Ali produced a watermelon cake from Black Star Pastry…

…and Penny set fire to her very alcoholic Christmas pudding…

Later that afternoon, cousin Richard and his family popped in. Their son Sam made short work of what was left of the mountain of cherries Pen and Ray had brought down (Sam managed to get four into his mouth at the one time)…

The following morning, Small Man, our resident Christmas elf, set up the tree!

. . . . .

Wishing you all a joyous, peaceful Christmas!

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It’s a busy time of year!

A couple of weeks ago, we had our summer dinner with Kevin, Carol, Gill and Therese. We get together four times a year, at the beginning of each season. These meals are predominantly vegetarian, and we challenge ourselves to cook something different each time.

Our final dinner for the year was based around Korean flavours. After much googling, Pete decided that the main dish would be a vegetarian Japchae – sweet potato noodles topped with assorted mushrooms, garden greens, carrots, eggs and spring onions. This was accompanied by a variety of side dishes, including purslane salad, deep fried sweet potato and steamed eggplant.

For starters, we made these easy edamame canapés (recipe is here)…

The edamame were topped with a Korean sweet chilli sauce known as Ssamjang. It’s delicious, and very easy to make, providing you can get your hands on the right ingredients…

You’ll need to track down a tub each of Korean chilli paste and soy bean paste. I’ve taken photos to make identifying them a bit easier…

Be warned, you’re looking for the chilli paste (Gochujang) labelled Medium Hot. There are also Very Hot and Extremely Hot varieties, but approach those at your own peril – they can be tongue blisteringly spicy. Turn the tub over and read the tiny English labeling – I noticed the other day that the tub labeled “Classic” had “Extremely Hot” written on the back in English…

You’ll need twice as much chilli paste (Gochujang) as soy bean paste (Doenjang)…

• 70g Korean chilli paste (Gochujang)
• 35g Korean soy bean paste (Doenjang)
• 15g sesame oil (I used the Korean variety)
• 10g light olive oil
• 25g toasted sesame seeds (you can buy vaccum-sealed packets of these from Korean supermarkets)
• 50g caster sugar
• 1 clove garlic, crushed

Combine all the ingredients together in a large bowl and whisk until the sugar has dissolved. Store in the refrigerator until needed.

My friend Young Jae tells me that Ssamjang is basically Korean tomato sauce, and an essential staple in all Korean kitchens. It’s sweet and spicy, with an added umami kick from the soy bean paste. I’ve quadrupled the recipe to make a few jars as Christmas presents for the neighbours!

PS. The white specks in the jars below are sesame seeds, not chilli seeds. The Ssamjung really isn’t overly spicy when made with the Medium Hot Gochujang.

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