Beef paprikash

Adapted from the July 2010 BBC Good Food Magazine.

Good slow cooker recipe or just do it in a casserole dish in the oven.

1kg diced beef...chuck or gravy beef, would be nice with lamb chops too.
2 large brown onions, thickly sliced
2 red capsicums, seeded and diced in 2cm pieces
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1.5 tablespoons smoked paprika
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
400g tin tomatoes
400g sliced mushrooms (use the big field ones if you can get them)

Coat meat in flour, shake excess. Brown in pan with a little oil in small batches. bFry off the spices. Put all ingredients in large casserole dish with lid, or your slow cooker. Add salt and pepper to taste.

For slow cooker, cook on high for 4 hours. For oven cook at 150degC for 2 hours.

Serve with brown rice and sour cream, garnish with finely chopped parsley.

Bowral Farmers Markets, Moss Vale Showground

Yesterday saw an early start (well early for a minus something winters morning). Headed down to the farmers markets at Moss Vale Showground to have a look around and a coffee with Gail.

I was pleased to see so many people about that early in Winter...and was even more pleased to get my big woolen coat out for the first time this winter.

The regular stalls were there like the Robbo Potato man, the thirlmere duck lady, the bread ladies, the live chookie man and his wife and the vegie man who still doesnt put prices on stuff...something that really ticks me off!

Beautiful jewellery stalls now too...one featuring gorgeous photos on pendants and the other some lovely silvery trinkets on necklaces (a bit pricey for a farmers market).

A new addition to the markets is the 1910 Bottling people...using organic in season fruit and preserving the way nanna used to. The rhubarb in organic honey was sheer bliss and Gail bought the pears which she has since made into tarts with goats cheese and by all reports were delicious.

Geoff Janz had his wood fired pizza trailer there selling pizza bases and the oven kits themselves. The warmth from them while chatting to him and his sales guy about the ovens was lovely.

Only bought a couple of things..the beautiful italian rolls from the bread ladies and some dutch creme spuds to make Gary Megihans souffle potatoes. Was going to do them tonight but was drawn to the spicy meatball recipe in this months Delicious magazine and made those instead.

Next month the markets are on the 4th Saturday so they won't clash with the others in the area.

I am keen to get a couple more friends for Miss Prissy but think I might wait until winter is over. The chicken man at the markets had some very healthy looking bantams so we might get some little ladies instead of full size Isa Browns.

Glad its a long weekend...its Sunday afternoon already and I am not feeling like I want to go to work tomorrow. Thank you Queen Elizabeth II for the birthday holiday.

Tomorrow is also my fabulous grandmother, Bettys birthday. I think she will be 84? I going to see her in a couple of weeks. Its too far to go for the day on a public holiday with double demerits and shitty traffic.

More cooking adventures with an 11 year old...

Nick has been busting to help me bake again this week. Its Kims 14th birthday tomorrow so we have done a few nice things.

Cherry blondie cake adapted from the www.taste.com.au website, topped with white chocolate dipped cherries. Recipe as follows

Ingredients
• 100g butter, chopped
• 180g white chocolate, chopped
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 ½ cups plain flour, sifted with 1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup (175g) frozen pitted cherries
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease an 18cm x 28cm (base) rectangular slice pan. Line base and sides with baking paper, allowing a 2cm overhang on all sides. Melt butter and chocolate in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Remove from heat. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool.
2. Add sugar, eggs and flours to pan. Stir to combine. Spread into prepared pan. Press cherries into mixture. Bake for 30 minutes or until edges are firm and top golden. Cool in pan. Serve.

Photos to come tomorrow after we have Kims birthday.

Nick and I also made a half and half jam drops and choc chip cookies for school morning teas this week. Simple batch using the basic butter cookie recipe from Food Ideas magazine.

Ingredients

125g butter, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, at room temperature
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon milk

Cream butter and sugar, add vanilla and egg. Fold in dry ingredients. Mix is too stiff for my mixer so fold with a metal spoon.

At this stage you can add choc bits or sultanas or whatever you like, or roll and make into jam drops.

Walnut size balls take approx 12 mins at 180degC.

Rhubarb and Hazelnut torte

My rhubarb has struggled a little this year...not sure why really. It has had really short thick stalks and massive leaves.

I was out pottering in the garden yesterday and picked the 6 stems that were nice and red and really wanted to try some sort of dessert cake with the rhubarb.

I found a recipe and modified it to suit what I had in the cupboard.

Original recipe used almonds instead of hazelnuts and had about twice the amount of rhubarb which I think would have been too much.

Recipe is as follows:

170g butter
170g ground hazelnuts (buy whole and blitz in your food processor, much nicer than bought ground hazelnuts)
170g caster sugar
170g self-raising flour
1 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
200g rhubarb, cut into small chunks

Preheat your oven to 160degC and line and grease a 20cm round springform cake tin.

Mix dry ingredients, add butter and eggs. Mix well.

Do not add rhubarb to this mix.

Divide mix in half and spread half the mix into the bottom of your tin. Spread rhubarb evenly over the mix, try and keep it from touching the sides of the tin. Spread second half of mix over the top of the rhubarb. It doesn't have to be perfect...the rustic look is in!

Bake for approx 1 hour.

Cake is quite crispy on the outside and so lush and fruity on the inside. Serve warm with a dollop of cream or custard.

Cooking with Nicholas...our first baking experience

Nicholas has a new found passion for cooking, thanks to Mr Downie, his Year 6 teacher.


We have made no bake slices before but last weekend he wanted to bake something.

I decided on an Oat and choc chip slice because its simple, it keeps well and its not too unhealthy. Nick was keen to make this one to take on his first overnight school excursion to Mogo on the NSW south coast.

The recipe for the slice is as follows:

1 cup wholemeal plain flour
1 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup dessicated coconut
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup sultanas
1/2 cup choc bits
125g butter, melted
1 egg

Preheat oven to 180degC. Line a slice tin with baking paper.

Measure dry ingredients into bowl, add egg and butter and mix well.

Spoon into tin and press firmly into tin. This will prevent the slice being too crumbly.

Bake for approx 20 mins or until lovely and golden. Cool and slice. Keeps really well in an air tight container.

Quince paste

I bought some quinces on special at Harris Farm last weekend and had no idea really what I should use them for. I have never cooked with them but do love their flavour.

After spending quite some time looking for recipes on all my favourite foodie websites I settled on a quince paste recipe which I then modified to make less time consuming.

Process went like this....

Peel, core and dice 3 large quinces. Add to a pot with 1/2 cup cold water. Simmer for 30mins or until it goes pink and soft. You may need to add a little more water during this process to prevent sticking or burning. I think I added about an extra 100ml or so.

Next step is to blend the quinces to a smooth paste. I just used my stick blender in the same pot. You could of course pour into a food processor, but why make more washing up for yourself.






Then return to heat, add 3 cups of sugar and simmer on a low heat until the sugar is disolved. This took approx 15 to 20mins.




I cheated on the next bit...recipe said simmer on ultra low heat for 3 hours. I started to do this but the mix was catching on the bottom of the saucepan so I decided to pour into a lined slice tin and bake on about 70 degrees C for 3 hours instead.




Once the mix is a gorgeous deep pinky brown, turn oven off and allow to cool in oven. I refrigerated mine for 24 hours then cut into 4cm squares, wrapped in greaseproof paper and put some in the fridge to use this weekend and some in the freezer for later.

The taste is divine and perfect with a sharp vintage cheddar or a good smelly blue.

The veggie garden update

Things have been a little slow on the gardening front. A broken toe kept me out of work boots for a few weeks and last weekend I finally tidied up my garden and started planting the autumn and winter veggies.

Never really tried growing anything much in winter but this year I have planted broccoli, brussell sprouts, broad beans, sugar snap and snow peas, dwarf beans and some cylindrical beetroots.

Am keen to try some other heritage veggies but am not sure where to go from here...catalogues like Diggers I am guessing will be my best source of the heritage type veggies.

Thinking a green house might be a good investment too...herbs and tomatoes etc in winter would be fabulous.