Blood Clot and Brain Cupcakes. Bookmarking for Halloween… even though nobody ever eats cupcakes at parties, and I always forget that.
Tag: food
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Vanilla Creamed Rice with Rhubarb
We got another bunch of rhubarb in this week’s veggie box, and I was at a loss what to do with it. Rodd’s already made a batch of (extremely good) rhubarb and apple jam. We have a big bag of chopped rhubarb in the freezer. What’s next? Then I found this recipe, which is basically rice pudding with rhubarb on top.
SO. GOOD. I think that’s going to be my go-to recipe for rice pudding from now on. We usually have all those ingredients on hand, so it’s easy and quick to make up. It’s not disgustingly sweet either. The rhubarb was really simple. You just chop it all up and throw it in a saucepan with a little water and sugar. I was skeptical at first. Like, here’s this pan of very crispy stalky bits, almost like celery. How’s that going to turn to mush? I turned it on low and left to watch Time Team for 10 minutes. When I got back… beautiful pink mush! (I wonder how/why it breaks down so quickly?) Anyway, we had some for dessert last night and then finished it off for breakfast this morning. That’s a big dollop of Greek yoghurt on top. Highly, highly recommended.
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Halloween Teaser
Here’s a little Halloween teaser for those you coming to the party next weekend…
Some of you will probably guess what’s in the jar. And yes, I did manage to dye my fingertips red while making it.
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Obama Blend
Emily came over yesterday and brought us a present: a bag of “Obama Blend” coffee from Campos.
Great depth of character, strong, and eloquent. This very appealing blend unites coffees from Africa and the Americas to produce a cup which has gotten us excited. Formidable middle palate flavors, syrupy with an uplifting finish. Excellent drink for going forward.
HA! Rodd and I are both enjoying it right now.
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Food
What we’ve done with our veggie box so far:
- Potato Gratin with Caramelized Fennel and Leek. We had this last night (along with some salmon fillets) and it used up all of our potatoes, the leek, and the fennel. The flavour was great, but I’ve never had much luck with gratins. They always turn too soupy. What am I doing wrong?
- Cranberry-walnut chicken salad. I made this tonight and used up a bit of the celery and the cos lettuce. (I served the salad on the lettuce.) I already had some dried cranberries to use up in the pantry, so that worked out nice. All I ended up buying was some tarragon and shallots. It looked just like the picture! So vibrant and fresh. I actually really liked the celery in this.
- Mom’s Apple Cake. The Snook made this tonight and used up all but one of the apples and three of the oranges. It’s cooling on a rack as we speak. It smells fantastic.
So we’re down to one apple, half a celery, half a lettuce, and three oranges. This is kind of a fun puzzle! I hope we get different things in each box. It’s a good impetus to try out recipes, at any rate.
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Giant Bowl of Bibimbap
Giant bowl of bibimbap. Droooool…. ahhh…
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Food for the Future Veggie Box
Since we missed the Food for the Future Fair in Chippo this past weekend, I had a look at Eva’s photos to see how it went. I got really excited by this one which shows a leaflet about “veggie boxes.” The idea is that for $25-30, you get a box delivered every week full of in-season fruit and veggies from local farms in the Hawkesbury. The Snook and I immediately agreed that it’s a good idea. We always struggle with eating enough veggies, so this will force us to use them up (and learn new ways to cook them). I immediately filled out the order form and got an email back from the organizer right away. They were selling boxes at the Fair, and he still had one remaining box left if we wanted it. I walked over last night and picked it up!
So for our $30, we got a dozen organic free-range eggs, a few onions and potatoes, two different varieties of apples, oranges, a leek, a bulb of fennel, a head of cos lettuce, a bunch of celery, a tub of Blue Mountains honey, and five bottles of organic ginger beer. Nice! Now I just have to figure out what to do with it. I think the eggs, leek, and potatoes are crying out to be used in a quiche or frittata. The fennel will be good braised or used in a stew. But what to do with a whole head of celery? Neither of us particularly likes eating it raw…
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Spring!
I know I was blathering about it yesterday, but it really has been lovely this week. (It helps that I’m on vacation.) On Monday the Snook and I took the GoGet car out to Lidcombe to go to Bunnings and Spotlight. We’d settled on a compromise in the garden: I can have a small veggie patch in the corner, but I have to weed and water it myself. We came back with enough plants and soil to get started. And here it is! We picked the spot that gets some good sunlight for part of the day, but it’s still partially protected by the tree and the roof. (See all those rocks on the ledge? Those came out of the dirt!) I bought a combination pack of seedlings that included four tomato plants, two capsicum, eggplant, beans, snow peas, and chillis. (I’ve also planted two pumpkin seedlings in their own patch elsewhere.) So far they seem to be doing great! Today I’m going to put down some wet newspapers as mulch. Yep, here in Chippendale we’re all about sustainability! (I’m sad we’re going to miss that Festival this weekend.)
Oh! And here’s the other thing that really made me feel like the Farmer’s Wife this week: Risotto Primavera. It’s from the September issue of Delicious magazine. While the Snook manfully heaved dirt and sifted rocks in my garden, I sat barefoot on the patio shelling fresh peas and broad beans into a bowl. The peas were so beautiful nestled in their pods, and the broad beans revealed a brilliant green under their thick outer skins. The recipe also calls for onion, garlic, white wine, parmesan, and asparagus tips. It turned out so delicious. I garnished it with chopped mint and extra cheese. It’s easy to eat well this time of year. -
Kangaroo
David Dale ponders how to get Aussies to eat kangaroo. I’ll admit that ‘roo isn’t my favorite meat. It’s not because I have any sort of a “Skippy” complex, but just because it’s so dark and gamey. It all depends on the preparation, really. (Now I sound like one of those idiotic commentators on Iron Chef: “You’ve done a great job of covering up the smell!”) The Snook got us a couple small ‘roo roasts the other night, and they’d been marinated with loads of garlic. Sliced on sandwiches with barbecue sauce? YUMMO.
