Just a reminder that the 2009 Chippendale Food for the Future Fair will be held this Saturday, October 24th, from 10am-4pm. The Inner City group of the Knitters Guild (of which I am Convenor) will be giving free knitting lessons there all day long. It’s going to be a great day! If you’re in Inner Sydney and you’re interested in art, food, gardening, sustainability, and culture, you should come along. (Me, I just want to pat a chook.)
Category: Cooking
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Vegemite Cheesecake
Vegemite Cheesecake. My first response was “ZOMG ABOMINATION!” But after looking at the photos… I’d hit it.
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The Locavore’s Dilemma
The Locavore’s Dilemma. One woman’s struggle to use up the abundance of vegetables in her CSA that she doesn’t particularly like. I’ll be interested to see what sort of stuff we get in the winter. So far there have only been a few things that have been problematic for us: curly endive, silverbeet, celery, and oranges. (Yes, oranges. They really pile up if you don’t eat them regularly, and juicing by hand is a pain.) Some people get really freaked out when I tell them about our veggie box and that we don’t usually get to choose what’s in it. I guess we tend to think of it as a fun challenge, and it’s a good excuse to try out recipes you might not have otherwise. (Link courtesy of Mary-Helen.)
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Cool and Sweet Dessert
Argh! What was I thinking, baking cookies? I should’ve made Yoko’s Cool and Sweet Dessert. There aren’t many recipes that include the line: “Make sure to chant an affirmation that this sweet desert will bring peace and love to the lives of all who eat it.”
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Autumn Yumminess
Man, there has been a distinct chill in the air these last couple evenings! Tonight as I was heading out of work in the dark – we finally had Daylight Savings – I found myself thinking of warm, sustaining comfort food. We still had loads of veg from the box on the weekend. I got home and set to work making pumpkin, potato, and leek soup. While that was simmering on the stove, I decided that we needed some sort of treat to go along with it. A quick check of the pantry revealed several partial containers of honey that needed to be used up. Honey nut cookies!
The cookies turned out great. I subbed in walnuts for the cashews since that’s what I had to hand. I was worried at the shininess and wetness of the dough, but they didn’t spread too much in the oven. The soup was hearty and filling, if not exactly complicated in terms of flavour. (It’s basically onion, potato, and pumpkin simmered in milk for 45 minutes, then blended before adding fried leek and boiled white rice.) It’s very cheap though, and we’ve got plenty left over for lunch.
The second photo there is of the Chocolate and Beetroot Cake that the Snook made on Saturday. As Rachel guessed, it was pretty earthy. However, it was still really good. I’m not the hugest fan of beetroot – I tend to think it tastes like dirt – but it was very well masked by the cocoa in the cake. It turned out dense and moist, and if you didn’t know that it had beets in it I doubt you’d guess. Parents – this is a good one to trick your kids into eating vegetables!
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Veggies for Victory
“The Obamas’ vegie patch…is alarming conservatives.” See? That’s why I want to keep my veggie patch, despite the Snook’s protests. (To be fair, my total yield this year was next to nothing.) Still, I feel trying to grow my own food is at least a little bit subversive and political. In related news, we’ve started up the weekly veggie box again after a bit of a break. They’ve moved pickup to Saturday mornings at the Farmer’s Market at the Chippo Peace Park, which works out fantastic for us. It gives us a bit more time to work out what we’re doing with it, and a chance to go to the shops to get any necessary ingredients. Plus the new organiser, Daria, lets us pick out just what we want! Today we got LOADS, well worth the $25 we spent! (Pumpkin, zucchini, beetroot, leeks, capsicum, beans, potatoes, onion, and fennel.) We’ve already had beetroot risotto, and a chocolate and beetroot cake is cooling in the kitchen as we speak…
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Uninterested Cat Bento
Uninterested Cat Bento. Ha! Nice one, Eva. Now you just need to create a bento of a 7 pound cat leaping on a sleeping person’s stomach and you’ve basically documented half my life.
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Lamb and Barley Stew
The Snook and I watched the “Barley” episode of Good Eats last weekend, and I became obsessed with his lamb and barley stew. I picked up the ingredients Monday night (one lamb shoulder, one bag pearl barley, three carrots). I soon realized I had a problem. The original recipe actually calls for barley grits. Well, neither Coles nor Harris Farm had that. Snookums did some research and found this recipe, where someone in the same dilemma decided to make her own. We decided to follow her advice. (You can’t just substitute plain pearl barley, as it takes a lot longer to cook.)
Thursday night Snookums roasted the barley in a pan on low heat for an hour, stirring occasionally. Then he whizzed it up in our spice grinder (an old coffee grinder) to chop it up a bit. Meanwhile, I went to town on the lamb shoulder with a big sharp knife. We browned the lamb in seasoned flour, then combined the carrot, lamb, barley, and chicken stock. It then cooked for about 35 minutes. I was worried that with so few ingredients, it might be bland. I WAS SO WRONG. It was all nutty, roasty, lamby goodness. I couldn’t get enough of it. It’s so warming and filling. This is the perfect recipe for winter. I highly, highly recommend it, especially if you can find the barley grits pre-made. But I’d say it’s still worth the extra work even if you can’t…
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Split Pea and Ham Frustration
Inspired by Eileen’s site this week, I bought a ham hock and a bag of split peas last night to make crock pot split pea and ham soup today. I put it in this morning and the whole house has been filled with the most wonderful smells. A few hours I ago I was researching remedies for cold sores, when I discovered that you should avoid foods high in arginine while having an outbreak. What has loads of arginine? PEAS. So I had scrambled eggs on toast for dinner while Snookums partook of my beautiful soup. At least I know that it freezes well, and it’ll still taste good in a few days when I’m all healed up. Still, MEGA FRUSTRATION.
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Inner City Guild Meeting
Today was my first meeting as Convenor of the Knitting Guild’s Inner City Group, and it was also our first meeting at our new location in Customs House Library. I was stressing out a little bit beforehand, but I shouldn’t have worried. It was one of our best meetings ever. Everyone was in such a good mood! We had 31 people in attendance (plus Rae’s adorable baby Zara), and several of those were brand new members. Our new meeting format worked well, and folks seemed to appreciate our aim of finishing off the business quickly so we could just knit and chat.
Of course, the best part was that Fiona made me special cupcakes for my birthday! And then she made the whole group sing to me. It was very sweet. Thanks, Fee! Kate also brought a cake, and I made a Spanish tortilla. (I used these two sites for tortilla recipe guidance. Flipping that thing on my own was, like, the scariest culinary feat I’ve ever attempted. It came out really good though!) Thanks to everybody who came to the meeting, and to my fellow officers Rosemary and Geraldine for all their help. I’m looking forward to next month!
