Very Sad Sourdough....!

My first attempt at making sourdough was to put it mildly ..... abysmal...I baked two house-bricks !!  I am not put off yet...however I'm not sure where I went wrong.  Am attempting 'take 2' today...already off to a bad start as the dough looks the same as this one...something not quite right at the very early stages I fear.  I am still going to bake them and see what I wind up with...if nothing else it is good practise on oven temperatures...my first efforts cooked on the outside very early in the process and started to overcook and the middle was still not right... food for thought.

Very sad looking preformed dough...didn't have a 'gluten skin' I think is the problem.

Sad looking house-bricks...very doughy in the middle and definitely no hollow sound when knocked on !!

February lunch with friends...J&A produced a lovely Rick Stein Moroccan chicken dish, the Big K and Robbie supplied pearl couscous with delicious Mediterranean bits.... I was designated to bring salad so roast beetroot, sweet potato, asparagus with macadamia nuts...J&M brought up the rear with dessert..baklava and stuffed dates (sorry J didn't get a good picture of them)...lots of wine and laughs as always.  

The usual suspects !!

Delicious lunch. !!

My man and I took a five day break to Batemen's Bay to celebrate my birthday...fortunately the dogs were included as the accommodation was dog friendly...Daisy knew something was up because once I got the suitcases out she plonked herself in my man's travel bag and wouldn't get out...she is so gorgeous..she even had her 'Santa Monkey' toy who she wanted to bring along with her. 

Daisy packing herself for out road trip to Bateman's Bay !!

 We spent five beautiful days here .  Carrie was a fabulous host.  It is a B&B on a 20 acre farmstay...loads of farm animals, situated on the Clyde river...nothing to do but sit back and relax...the fluffy girls had a great time..  They even behaved themselves when we took them into town each day for lunch at local cafe's.  it was a really beautiful spot and lovely accommodation.

The view from our deck to the Clyde River in Nelligen.

 Last night I attended a Gnocchi making course at String and Salt (surely after all these classes I will manage to make something edible !!!)  with the lovely Anna running us all through the process....it was great fun...I actually think I might be able to make gnocchi ..it certainly looks easier than making sourdough....tonight will be the test as I am going to give it a go at home... how hard can it be right ??


The lovely Anna directing the sauce making.

everyone getting hands on with the gnocchi making....

I'm off to put the next lot of sourdough into the oven....wish me luck !

Sourdough Pancakes .....

I've had a request to put up the sourdough pancake recipe so here you go...

Sourdough Pancakes
2 cups active sourdough starter
1 egg
sugar or maple syrup to taste
cinnamon to taste
2 tbsp. oil or melted butter
1tsp bicarb soda
2-4 tbsp. milk, coconut milk or water (your choice)

Butter or coconut oil for frying pancakes

Handy tip: mix other ingredients separately then add to the sourdough starter & just fold through so you don't knock out the air bubbles.
1. mix together egg, sugar or maple, oil and bicarb and sourdough starter,
2. add (milk, coconut milk or water) to thin the batter to a pancake batter consistency.(start with 2 tablespoons of liquid and add more if needed
3. heat frying pan and once hot, melt a slice of butter or coconut oil on the pan and spoon approx. 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake.  cook until golden and flip to cook other side 

Handy tip: to see is your starter is active drop a small amount into a glass of water and if it rises to the top it is active.

If anyone is interested in the stewed plums (which were delicious):

(we used about 12 blood plums) 
Halve and pip the plums, add 1 tsp raw sugar, a couple of star anise, 1 scraped vanilla & pod, squeeze juice of one orange and just a dash of water (enough to stop them sticking to the bottom of the pot).  stew until softened.

It's All About The Sourdough !!....

Saturday was sourdough day......I gave my daughter a sourdough class for Christmas and I joined her to learn the beautiful craft of bread-making...I had no idea how specialised artisan bread making can be.... the dough can be a contrary beast whose quality is affected by temperature, handling, moisture, shaping etc...the list goes on.  Thankfully the loaves made by the class all turned out beautifully...even though they had been man-handled by a group of beginners.  I hope that one day I can bake the perfect loaf....apparently it take quite a lot of practice, patience and perseverance...all of which don't come naturally to me !!  It will be worth it  though.... the bread was delicious and the smell of freshly cooked sourdough was amazing.



I'm trying to shape the dough and keep a "gluten skin" on it.... not as easy as it sounds !!

Loaves out of the oven...once cooled they were devoured

Thankfully the 5 hour class included morning tea and lunch....we were served delicious sourdough pancakes with home-grown stewed plums with mascarpone & yoghurt ... the tastiest pancakes I have ever eaten...so light and fluffy with a hint of cinnamon...Yum

 

Sourdough pancakes

 Lunch was an array of delicacies from "Stella's Pantry" which were perfect accompaniments for our freshly baked sourdough....all washed down with a glass of wine ....very civilised.  It was a fabulous experience put together by String & Salt in Warragul and I would highly recommend it to anyone wishing to make their own sourdough.. 



Gourmet lunch ...perfect way to end the day and savour the delicious bread.

We were offered a few fresh plums and armed with the recipe for the stewed plums and pancakes we repeated the pancake dish for Sunday breakfast..(I should say my daughter did... she paid better attention than I did and thankfully took great notes!!).. Scrumptious....very decadent breaky !!

 

Re-produced the pancakes  and plums for breakfast the next day !!

We were shown how to make our own starter which we took home to get us started.... need to remember to feed .....get some more ingredients and then I will give my first loaves a go....watch this space !

The Broad Bean Blog......!!

I know a blog about broad beans doesn't sound all that interesting but this is the first time I have prepared, packaged and frozen anything from the garden..(unless you count a miserable attempt 2 years ago at freezing zucchini which was very ordinary when defrosted)...I usually give any oversupply of vegies away...but I am determined to preserve as much as I can for later use....(following instructions from the internet)...I removed them from the pods......blanched them for 1 minute in boiling water...then into an ice bath to prevent them from continuing to cook...then into reusable plastic bags and into the freezer....hopefully this will result in lovely broad beans when defrosted.

shelled and ready to go

into the boiling water

then the ice bath

into snap lock bags ...then into the freezer.

It seems so easy but I guess it all depends on the result when defrosted...hopefully they will be great.

It Was All About the Nuts....

The February Sunday luncheon with the same group of friends transpired into the Saturday night Soiree which had a theme of "we are all going nuts!".. nuts to be in every course.  As usual everything was delicious, food and wine flowed and between the 8 of us we managed to polish it all off.

Almost too pretty to eat...

 Robbie and the Big K had entrée and we began with a delicious starter of Chicken and Cashew patties with a Thai dipping sauce.

Scrumptious dukkha and nut crusted lamb

 J & A our host's prepared a stack of nut and "homemade dukkha" crusted lamb cutlets .... they were so tasty ... served with a side of boiled potates with pine nuts and a lovely creamy aioli ....I was asked to bring a side dish and provided a beetroot and cashew cheese salad...it was from Wellbeing magazine so was a very healthy option but could possibly have benefited from a delicious goats cheese or feta as the cashew cheese was a little bland I thought..

Yummy potatoes and pine nuts with a tangy dressing.

My baby beetroot salad with cashew cheese, walnuts, cranberries with a red wine vinegar and oil dressing

It goes without saying that this was ......decadent and delicious.

Janine and Michael were bringing up the rear with dessert...... wow it was delicious...hazelnut merengue base with a chocolate ganache layer, filled with cream, strawberries and another merengue layer, topped with more cream, strawberries and encircled with nutty Ferrero rocher chocolates....scrumptious.
March should see us back at the home of  Robbie and the Big K....always something to look forward to.

Happy Chicken Pie......

Already we are half way through January, the year is flying....One of my new year resolutions was to save money, reduce spending and stop any unnecessary waste.  I had a left over BBQ chicken breast, some broccoli and a lone sheet of puff pastry so I added a cheese sauce, corn and carrots and made a "cheesy chicken pie".  This is a first for me, usually the dogs would probably have scored the left over chicken but I was so happy to have found a way to utilise the left overs...I can hear others saying "so what", but this is new for me.....basic steps along the road to living more cost effectively.

 

Happy Chicken Pie...I enjoyed playing around with pastry too.

Smells good....dinner for two tonight

On a completely different note the local supermarket is already displaying Easter Eggs....I have had enough of consumerism and how stupid retailers want to market junk at the earliest opportunity...why would they be selling Easter Eggs and hot cross buns now...the mind boggles....!!

Sixties Style Luncheon......

It was our turn once again to hold the monthly luncheon at our place.... as the last of our guys turned 60 ... my theme was sixties as in getting older and moderating spending and thinking like pensioners...it transpired into what they ate in the sixties...we had a fantastic afternoon in the sun ... too much food and too much wine..!! As usual I kept forgetting to take the foodie photos....will never win any prizes for my food photography....but you can get the general idea.

Enjoying  a few drinks before lunch.....Daisy nicked my chair...didn't have the heart to tell her she wasn't invited !!

The boys ...all now 60....looking very laid back...... wearing  matching Tshirts ..... a gift from J & A recently back from New Zealand....it all gets a bit silly as the afternoon wears on !!

This was a delicious Cob Dip.... it looked lovely until we ripped it apart and then I remembered to take a pic....oops.

Wow, this one bought back some memories....cabana , cheese and cocktail onions....it was hilarious...but very tasty too !

Coleslaw ....Waldorf ....and would you believe lettuce cups were around in the 60's...have had a big revival since then !



This is a photo of the left over marinated BBQ pork fillets with pineapple rings....very retro.....

I really should take the photos before we start demolishing the food.....not to mention drinking .... because I completely forgot to take a photo of dessert which was that old favourite ....Pavlova.  Entertaining is really all about the fun don't you think.

Herman the German......

I have been gifted a portion of Herman the German friendship starter from my daughter, who received it from a friend...who received it from a friend....you get where this is going....yes ....I had to feed the mixture once on the 4th day (which was today) and then on the 9th day divide into four portions and keep the friendship cake moving by giving it to 3 friends....while keeping a quarter of the mixture for myself and making the cake....I'm told it is a delicious sourdough apple cake....it's a really nice thing to keep going so hopefully the mixture won't die and I will wind up with the friendship cake.

The sourdough starter mixture that keeps on giving....

Copy of instructions if you want to go to the website and start your own friendship cake.

A Couple of Busy Weekends......

It's always the way...nothing much in the diary for a while and then you get a couple of really busy weekends on top of each other...I squeezed in a trip to the circus with my favourite little guy....his first time and I think he thought the best part was the popcorn...

My g-boy loves his popcorn..at 3 he wasn't quite sure what all the fuss was about

Some very clever young performers....I hadn't been to a circus in I don't remember how long.

Was actually a bit nervous watching this guy...he was a bit shaky.

 I had also received tickets from my daughter last Christmas for Les Miserables....how fantastic that was...we don't see a lot of theatre as a rule but this show was absolutely amazing.  My man and I loved every minute...spectacular and mesmerising.  Can't say enough good stuff  about it.


A young cast of relatively unknowns......they were exceptionally good.

We also had our monthly luncheon hosted by J & M ...... an absolute feast of Moroccan delights...a lovely filo pastry nibble filled with goats cheese, pine nuts, coriander, sundried tomatoes and other goodies...delicious....from Robbie and the big K.  J & M served up two huge casseroles of Moroccan lamb and Chicken dishes...flavoured cous cous....not forgetting Moroccan bread made with semolina......and a tasty  Moroccan salad from J&A....My offering was supposed to be something to have with coffee...I attempted Moroccan almond macaroons....they didn't turn out as well as expected so I camouflaged them with Terry's orange segments and apricot bites...they did all get eaten but perhaps everyone was just being nice !!

The usual suspects all tucking in to a delicious Moroccan feast......

My sad little macaroons.....which I tried to disguise amongst this mandala of chocolates and apricot bites.

 Realising how fortunate we are to live in a country like Australia and share great times with good friends...I received a timely reminder from Oxfam regarding a fund raiser they are having in October...it asks you to join in  World Food Day 16th October, by inviting friends over for dinner and making a donation ...buy locally and act globally.  Food is something we take for granted here....it's a great idea to try to do something for others who are so less fortunate.

How The Mighty Have Fallen......

I'm sure you've all experienced beginners luck at some stage.....well I sure have...or else there was divine intervention !!  I blogged recently about my amazing luck with the very first attempt at making a sponge....it was fabulous and I was beyond happy......take two....tried to make one for my daughter's birthday on Sunday....went as per the recipe this time...no forgotten egg yolks tossed in at the last minute....sadly this is the result....looked good coming out of the oven but, OH DEAR.......as the seconds passed she deflated like a hot air balloon....as did my joy !!  I'm not put off yet...I intend to give it another go and make the same mistakes as I made the first time....who knows .. ..anyone else had this problem...are sponges as difficult as every one says.... ??

It was a very sad looking sponge.....not sure what went wrong....perhaps the angels weren't on my side this time..

Mother's Day Moments.......

First off I need to say I am not a cake baker....the handful of cakes I have made in my lifetime usually came from a packet (with the exception of a family fruit cake I love to make from scratch)....so it was with great trepidation that I undertook the somewhat daunting task of trying to recreate the much loved sponge cake of my beautiful sister in law who we lost 14 years ago....Unbelievably it turned out ....considering I was just about to put it in the oven and realised I had not included the egg yolks and whipped them in at the last minute.....I thought it was destined for failure....I think mysterious forces were assisting with this little project.

My amazement when I took this out of the oven was incredible...I was speechless.

It was such an emotional moment for me when I creamed the cake this morning....incredibly the smell of the sponge transported me back in time as the smell was so familiar....olfactory senses are truly amazing.......it brought back a lot of memories and I have to admit I shed quite a few tears....I still have to pinch myself that I made a successful sponge on my very first attempt.....It meant such a lot to me to be able to complete this cake as a tribute to her memory.

It was extremely satisfying to manage to recreate this old family favourite.

After noon tea ......family favourite finger sandwiches...there would be uproar if I didn't serve these !!

 It was a lovely afternoon and one I will always remember.....sometimes small achievements can mean so much.  I will certainly try to continue the tradition of making the birthday sponges from now on.  I hope everyone out there had a truly memorable Mother's Day.

A Few Things For Friday.....

It's chilly today but at least that big golden orb is shining upon us.....a quick check around the garden today and I notice those damn sneaky snails are back......I don't know where they go but as soon as I put in any broccoli seedlings....there they are chewing away, destroying them overnight !!  Time to get out the traps from last year...top them up with beer and see how it goes.

Bloody snails....that's all I can say....they are so destructive !!

 Planted out some nice little natives that I picked up at the Foster Market a few weeks ago....hope they do OK...it's the first time I have bought tube stock....it's cheaper than buying more established plants...fingers crossed these tiny plants will thrive were I planted them.

 

I finally have the recipe that I mentioned in my March post....my beautiful sister in law passed away at 41 from breast cancer 14 years ago....she made the most amazing sponge cakes for everyone's birthday...my brother found her recipe book....all of the recipe's passed down to her from her grandmother.....I am going to try this sponge for mother's day....not sure how I will go because Kerry learnt by watching her grandmother and the instructions are very brief...."beat egg whites"...for how long??? could be a bit of trial and error with this.....I truly hope I can do justice to her amazingly light cakes......and try to recreate some of the beautiful memories she left us with.

Hope I can get this sponge to work from this recipe....bit light on with the directions.!!

Last weekend was our turn to host our friends luncheon....we take turns each month to host a Sunday lunch and cook something we have never cooked before...each couple bringing a different course....we did a Rustic Autumn Luncheon......my man, who is not so good in the kitchen, but very handy with the Weber..... made the chicken recipe below...I did slow roasted lamb.... fig & prosciutto pizza with gorgonzola..... and fresh beans from the vegie garden with bacon & mustard ....lovely entrees, salad and desserts provided by the rest of the gang.....all was delicious and we settled in for a great afternoon.

Smiles all around as the crew tucked into lunch......all served up on my beloved vintage dinner plates collection .....

The chicken prepared by my man as per this recipe....his amazement when the cooked chicken came out of the weber looking exactly like the picture was priceless..(unfortunately we didn't take a finished picture in the hurry to get it on the table)....there is a whole lemon in the cavity of the bird and you squeeze this lemon over the cooked chicken and bread before serving....it was so tasty.


The chicken all prepared and on the sourdough ....ready to be put into the Weber.....

This weekend will be full of preparations for Mother's Day....the family are all coming here for afternoon tea on Sunday....hopefully the weather will be kind to us...Mother's Day holds a poignancy for us as it no doubt does for other's who have lost loved ones... my sister in law is always in our thoughts particularly on Mother's Day and now we will also remember my friend Heather who passed away in March leaving her three children ...it will be a difficult day for their family...our hearts and thoughts are with them.

Size Does Matter ?............

An interesting visit to the hen house this morning...one of the girls has laid an enormous egg!!  not sure how she got that one out......doesn't fit in the egg cup....laying has slowed down over the last week or so....the girls are over two years old now and production is on the downturn....may need to get a few younger birds in and give some of the old girls away.

Ouch....one of the feathered girls is laying ostrich eggs !!

 Managed to finish off one of the projects for the month....some of the baby capsicums have ripened so I made these....was a bit fiddly but they turned out great....have a  mix of unused feta and cream cheese ...need to come up with a way to use the leftovers now....any suggestions?

Cored and boiled in sugar and vinegar......then into the fridge for 48 hours to pickle !!

Rinsed then piped with feta and cream cheese mix....home grown causes size inconsistencies !!

 

Into freshly boiled jars and covered with oil.....should last in the fridge for a couple of months

Still working on a couple of April projects...hope to have them finished before May !!.....Hope April has been good to you too.