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In My Kitchen, September 2010

September 16, 2010 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

In my kitchen…

…are a set of beautiful old etched glasses from the 1950s.  Our beloved neighbour, Mrs M, passed away in July, just a week shy of her 93rd birthday.  Her daughter Sarina gave me these glasses to remember her by…

In my kitchen…

…are three jars of Pete’s lilly pilly jelly, made from the fruit of the large tree in our backyard.  The lilly pilly is a tall growing Australian native, which produces tart red berries in abundance.  We harvested the fruit a few months ago and stored it in the freezer until we could find the time to turn it into jelly…

Here’s a Wikipedia photo of the lilly pilly berries…

In my kitchen…

…is a small bunch of kohlrabi, a gift from Jimmy at Flemington Markets.  The bulbs were delicious both raw and stir-fried in oyster sauce, and the chooks loved the leaves…

In my kitchen…

…are boxes of new season Roma tomatoes, which we’ve been turning into fresh and roasted tomato passata.  The great bonus of this process is tomato water, which I’m drinking chilled as I type..

In my kitchen…

…sits a box of dark Belgian chocolate cane toads, a gift for Big Boy’s English lecturer, to thank him for getting our son through the semester!

In my kitchen…

…is the first head of lettuce from our new garden.  Up until now, we’ve been picking off leaves for salad, but this is the first complete plant we’ve “harvested”.  It’s very exciting!

In my kitchen…

…are two bags of rice. The first is a gift from our generous friend, Moo – bomba paella rice from Valencia, Spain, known as the “king of paella rices” for its ability to absorb three times its volume in liquid.

The second is a box of carnaroli risotto rice from Italy – slightly longer grained than the more traditional arborio rice, and supposedly better at keeping its shape during cooking…

Tell me, what’s happening in your kitchen this month?

Posted in In My Kitchen | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 32 Comments »

Getting to know you…

September 14, 2010 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Getting to know you…
Getting to know all about you…
Getting to like you..
Getting to hope you like me…

Rodgers and Hammerstein
“The King and I”, 1951

Pete commented recently about the wonderful friends and fellow bloggers that we’ve met since starting Fig Jam and Lime Cordial.  He remarked about the cosy sense of community that we feel when reading your comments and interacting with all of you.

We’d like to get to know you all a bit better – whether you’re a regular commenter (and by the way, we adore you, thank you for always taking the time to write!) – or one of the hundreds of people who stop by to visit every day.

I know you’re all interesting people, and I’d like to invite you to tell us one fun fact about yourself.   It needn’t be anything too personal (although it could be) and it can certainly be more than one thing, if you’re so inclined to share.

Are you an artist like my friends Gill and Maz, or incredibly erudite like the beautiful Joanna? Do you crochet like Christine, or create amazing bread shapes like Heidi?  Do you have big feet, or frizzy red hair? Do you collect stamps, or thimbles, or paperclips?  Do you have a big family, are you allergic to fish, can you tap dance?

Let me kick off by telling you one thing about myself that I don’t think I’ve mentioned before.  I’m hooked on trivia!  I blame Pete V, who bought me my first trivia book a few years ago, but since then I’ve built a collection of half a dozen or so.   I try to read just a page or two a day, slowly, so that it all sinks in.  It’s fascinating stuff, and I’m sure it’s a good anti-dementia practice!

So now I’m turning the microphone over to you…and I can’t wait to hear from you!

Posted in Food & Friends | 92 Comments »

Bread Hearts

September 13, 2010 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

I was keen to try making heart-shaped rolls, after seeing them on a Valentine’s Day episode of River Cottage recently.

Google turned up fabulous instructions here, and the technique adapted well to my sourdough rolls.  I lowered the hydration in my dough a little to help it hold the shape.

Begin by shaping the proved dough into balls – mine were about 160g each…

Roll one end of the ball into a point – I did this by rolling the dough between the palms of my hands…

Snip through the fat end of the roll with a pair of kitchen scissors…

Now turn the dough “ears”, so that the cut surfaces are face down…

Place on a parchment lined tray, and cover first with a sheet of greased clingfilm, and then with a tea towel.  Allow to prove.

Slash the hearts if desired, then bake as you normally would for bread rolls.  Mine took 15 minutes at a preheated 220C with fan, followed by a further 20 minutes at 175C with fan (which is standard for my sourdough recipe and oven).   Serve to people you love!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , , , | 37 Comments »

Nasturtium “Capers”

September 11, 2010 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

As I mentioned in our nasturtium pesto post a couple of weeks ago, we’ve been pickling nasturtium “capers”.  Based on a recipe from Pam Corbin’s Preserves, these are simple to process and, whilst they’re not really that similar to true capers, they do add a peppery crunch and tang to salads and sandwiches.

  • 15g salt
  • 100g nasturtium seed pods
  • peppercorns (optional)
  • bay leaves (optional)
  • 200ml white wine vinegar

1. Begin by picking nasturtium pods – below is 100 grams worth from our field of green..

2. Dissolve the salt in 300ml of warm water to make a light brine.  Allow to cool, then soak the cleaned seed pods in the brine for 24 hours.

3. Drain the pods and dry them well.  Pack them into small sterilised jars with a few peppercorns and a bayleaf (the original recipe suggested you could also use dill or tarragon sprigs, as preferred).  Leave a space for 1cm (about a pinky finger’s width) of vinegar at the top.

4. Fill the jars with vinegar and seal with acid-proof lids.  Store in a cool, dark place and allow to mature for a few weeks before using – Pam’s book advises that these should keep for up to a year.

One thing to note – the pods quickly lose their green colour in the vinegar.  The photo at the top shows the freshly jarred “capers” on the left, and two-day old ones on the right.

Pam suggests mixing these with mayonnaise, onion and lemon juice to make a nasturtium tartare sauce.  We’ve just been eating them in salads!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , | 27 Comments »

Recycled Cookie Cake

September 9, 2010 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

As those of you who’ve been following our blog will know, we have a lot of eggs these days.  Five of our ISA brown hens are now laying daily, and little Maggie looks set to start any day now.

This joyous abundance has led to quite a lot of baking – most recently another batch of chocolate meringues, shortbread cookies (for Father’s Day) and lots of fudge brownies.  As the meringues take up quite a lot of room, the four leftover chocolate chip cookies in the cookie jar were evicted, and rather than throw them away, I decided to try using them in this lovely cake from the Green & Black’s Cookbook.

The original recipe is attributed to Konditor & Cook, a well known London bakery. I’ve adapted it to use date molasses rather than golden syrup, leftover homemade cookies instead of packaged ones, and added the fruit and nuts I had in the pantry.  The end result is delicious and very rich, so best served in thin slices. This is a great recipe to play with – take the basic idea and then do whatever you like with it!

  • 125g (½ cup) unsalted butter
  • 75g (¼ cup) date molasses or golden syrup
  • 200g (7oz) dark chocolate (I used 70% Callebaut)
  • 1 large (59g) free range egg (as fresh as possible)
  • 4 large leftover cookies (original recipe specified 4 digestive biscuits or 8 graham crackers)
  • 1½ cups mixed fruit and nuts – I used ½ cup almond slivers and I cup combined of dried cranberry, crystallised ginger and glace figs

1. Line a loaf tin with parchment paper.  The size isn’t really important – I used this one because it’s what I had on hand. In a large mixing bowl, break the cookies into large chunks (not too fine, or they’ll disappear in the finished slab).  Chop the dried fruit into smaller pieces, then add them and the nuts to the broken cookies.

2. In a small saucepan, melt the butter and date molasses together over a low heat until the mixture begins to boil.

3. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate over simmering water, then add the butter and molasses and mix well to combine.

4. In a small bowl, beat the egg with a fork, then add it in a slow stream to the hot chocolate mixture, stirring constantly to ensure it doesn’t curdle.  The original recipe refers to this as “pasteurizing” the egg.  Do make sure you use the freshest egg you can find, as it won’t be cooked any further after this.

5. Pour the chocolate mixture into the cookie mix and stir together gently to combine.  Scrape the finished mixture into the parchment lined loaf tin, working it well into the corners of the pan and smoothing the top with a spatula.  Allow it to set in the fridge for several hours until hard, then cut into slices with a sharp knife.

This recipe is best stored in the fridge and served cold.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , , | 28 Comments »

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