Persimmon Heaven

                                          Baked Persimmons with Pomegranate Molasses

This very simple dish is proving to be a real hit with everyone who tastes it. I have been saying for some time now that if you don’t yet know pomegranate molasses, you haven’t lived; the very distinctive tart fruit flavour complements so many dishes, (including roasted beetroot segments, incidentally – simply drizzle a little molasses over as they come out of the oven – sublime!).

Use Fuyu persimmons that are softening –these are usually eaten as soon as they colour, and are crisp, like an apple, but for this recipe they are sweeter when ripened a little more. The butter gives a lovely gloss and the syrup is both sweet and tart, a perfect foil to the fruit.

Serves 4-6

Suitable for freezing. If using a wider dish, shorten the cooking time to suit.

1 kg persimmons, peeled and sliced thinly

3 star anise

3 Tbsp grated palm sugar or brown sugar

3 Tbsp pomegranate molasses

¼ cup roughly chopped walnuts

30g butter

Pre heat oven to 180 C.

Place the prepared persimmons in an 20cm round ovenproof dish, tucking the star anise amongst the layers. Sprinkle with the  palm or brown sugar and drizzle over the pomegranate molasses. Top with the walnuts and dot with the butter.

Bake uncovered for 45-55 minutes, or until the persimmons are well softened.

Serve with vanilla ice cream, mascarpone or plain yoghurt (or salted caramel and cashew ice cream!).

Mmmmm Mushroom Soup

I simply can't resist foraging, and this autumn has been a bumper one for mushrooms - I come home most mornings from walking the dog with a kilo or so, and love the flavour as well as the pleasure of getting something for nothing. . .
At first we just sauteed them in butter with a little seasoning and served them with toasted ciabatta for breakfast - sublime. Then soups came to mind, and I conjured up this creamy, lightly spiced brew which just works!

Field mushrooms

and mmmm mushroom soup!

                                            Mmmmm Mushroom Soup

Apart from the pleasure of foraging to get something for nothing, gathering field mushrooms with this creamy, lightly spiced soup in mind is a treat to look forward to every Autumn. Field mushrooms give it a particularly wonderful flavour, although it’s also very very good made from cultivated mushrooms, either buttons or portobello.  The chilli provides the perfect spark but the spices don’t overpower; this is truly a soup to remember and is also quick and straightforward to make.

If using field mushrooms that have been rained on, they may be lightly waterlogged, in which case less milk will be needed – about four cups should be fine.*

120g butter

2 large cloves garlic, peeled and chopped finely

1 tsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp chilli powder

700g mushrooms, sliced thinly

¼ cup plain flour

4-5 cups milk *

1 ½ tsp salt or to taste and lots of freshly ground black pepper

Flat leaf parsley, chopped, for garnish.

Melt the butter over a low heat in a large, heavy based saucepan.

Sauté the garlic until fragrant, then stir in the cumin, coriander, paprika and chilli powder..Saute for 2-3 minutes, then turn up the heat and stir in the prepared mushrooms.

Saute until soft and moisture is released, 5-10 minutes.

Stir in the flour and cook, bubbling, for a few minutes., stirring. Add a little more butter or oil if needed, as this step is important to cook the flour.

Stir in half the milk, stirring constantly, and bring to simmer point before adding the remainder of the milk and bringing to simmer point again. Don’t boil.

Stir in the salt and pepper.

Pour into heated bowls and garnish with chopped flat leaf parsley.

 Apart from the mushrooms, which I've now made into base soup mixtures and frozen ready to stir in the flour and milk, there is so much produce to deal with - basil to be turned into pesto and frozen, tomatillos to make into salsa base and freeze, beat the birds to the figs and the persimmons, rescue the last of the passionfruit, and deal to truckloads of feijoas.
From a kitchen filled with the smell of fresh basil, garlic, mushroom soup and freshly cooked chutneys - happy Easter!

Basil, garlic and  tomatillos

tomatillos

Tomatillos husked and washed

Almost Soup Time Again

Autumn is such a bountiful season and of course one of the busiest - we've had loads of passion fruit this year, the persimmons and figs are colouring nicely, and the feijoa tree is threatening to unleash the usual truckloads of fruit in a few weeks. My vege garden is bursting with chilies, capsicums, celeriac, basil, zucchini, Cape Gooseberries and lots of herbs. I''m about to make lots of Mexican tomatillo salsa base and freeze it, I can never make enough of this -  and I'm almost over run with tomatoes, the cherry tomatoes especially have produced fantastically well. Relish, chutney and pasta/pizza sauces are all squirreled away, but before I forget to mention it, I grew two tomaccio cherry tomato plants this year with spectacular results. I love the shape of these little tomatoes, slightly oval like the datterini we loved in the Italian markets, and so sweet! Apparently they've been especially bred with a slightly thicker skin than usual, which makes them prefect for drying in an oven (3 hours at 105 C) or dehydrator. They make great snacks or add them to pizza toppings,salads etc, they're completely delicious and are heavy croppers.

As if all this bounty isn't enough, I received a royalty cheque in the mail today - my 'Relish' cookbook is selling very well - yay! I've wanted to write a chutney/relish/sauce/salsa/pickle/ plus book for quite a few years now, so I'm delighted on a number of levels.

It's not that I'm wishing the end of the good weather; on the contrary, I dread bleak days and long, cold nights. However, the leaves are turning, it's really dark when I walk the dog in the morning and there's a distinct nip in the air that intimates winter isn't too far away. A perfect time for that first soup, in fact. . .

Roasted  Red Capsicum and tomato Soup

                               Roasted Red Capsicum & Tomato Soup

Roasted capsicum & tomato soup is superb, with a simplicity and elegance that makes a perfect starter or light meal; try it alongside toasted ciabatta topped with diced fresh tomato, avocado, feta, lemon juice and fresh coriander.

Serves 6.

Freezes well.

4 red capsicums (500g)

1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into 2 cm dice

1/3 cup olive oil

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tsp sugar

½ tsp salt

2 tsp fresh rosemary leaves, chopped finely

500g tomatoes*, halved through the equator

1 medium-large red onion, peeled and cut into 6

4 cloves garlic, peeled

1 litre unsalted chicken or vegetable stock

¼ cup tomato paste

2 ½ tsp salt or to taste & freshly ground pepper

1 tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp chilli powder

Cream to garnish (optional)

flat leaf parsley, coriander or basil plus orange zest if wished

Pre heat the oven to 190 C.

Place the capsicums on an oven tray and roast about 25 minutes - until the skins are blistered and blackened in patches. When cool enough to handle, peel and discard the core and seeds.

While the capsicums are roasting, toss the carrot in 2 Tbsp of the oil on a separate, large shallow baking tray and roast for 10 minutes.

Combine the remaining oil, the balsamic vinegar, sugar, salt and rosemary. Place the tomatoes on the tray cut side up, and drizzle with some of the oil and balsamic mix. Toss the onion with the carrots, garlic, and the remaining oil and balsamic mix.

Return the tray to the oven and roast for a further 20 minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked through. Toss the carrot/onion /garlic mix once or twice.

Cool and invert the tomatoes; pluck off the skins and discard.

Combine all the roasted vegetables, stock, tomato paste, salt, pepper, smoked paprika and chilli. Puree in batches in a processor until very smooth.

Reheat and adjust the seasoning to taste. Pour into heated serving bowls and garnish with a swirl of cream, herb of choice and some threads of orange zest if wished.

*Preferably acid free                                         

Real Berry Jellies and Weak- at- the -Knees Lamingtons

What do you do when you can't eat anything at all because everything tastes like metal and your mouth's ulcerated and you can't keep anything down anyway? My husband's been really very ill for the last 5 months, and completely lost his appetite at times. Finding things to tempt him has been a real mission; but just when I was out of ideas he phoned me one day (from hospital) and asked for - of all things- a pink lamington, complete with whipped cream!! I guess when you're ill you elevate memories of old comforts - especially true when it comes to food, I think.

In any case, I went searching but could only find them filled with truly awful  'mock cream'. As it turned out he couldn't eat it in the end in any case - it was a feed tube for him, unfortunately.
This whole episode got me thinking, though, about how I might be able to make really good lamingtons with real fruit, so out came the pinny. ..
I'd invented some lovely raspberry jelly moulds for a Xmas feature a couple of years ago, so I revisited that recipe and simply used the jelly base to dip squares of bought sponge in - and they turned out to be such a triumph I decided to include them in my new book (for which I just sent the manuscript away last week - Yay!!!). A friend, who's been making them ever since, says her husband literally goes weak at the knees over them, hence the name.

Real Berry Jellies and Weak- at- the -Knees Lamingtons

A photo like this will be in the new book, but as you can see this one is hardly a professional image!, just snapped over Carolyn (Robertson's) shoulder as she was setting up the shot.

                                 Real Berry Jellies and Weak- at- the- Knees Lamingtons

It must be the child in all of us; jellies never go out of favour, especially when served with fresh berries and boutique ice cream. Or, dip squares of sponge in the jelly before it sets and roll in coconut for some frivolous real fruit lamingtons.

Makes 16-18 lamingtons

500g fresh or frozen raspberries (thawed)

½ cup sugar

2½ cups cranberry, pomegranate or blackcurrant juice

2 Tbsp gelatine

Jelly moulds

Place the fresh or thawed raspberries with their juice, the sugar and 2 cups of the cranberry juice in a large saucepan. Soak the gelatine in the remaining ½ cup of cranberry juice.

Heat the raspberry mixture over a medium heat and simmer 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat and immediately strain through a sieve into a bowl. Discard the seeds.

Whisk in the soaked gelatine and stir until the gelatine is completely dissolved. Pour into six ½ cup moulds.

Cover and chill for 3-4 hours until set.

Unmould the jellies onto serving plates and garnish with fresh raspberries or berries of choice and crème fraiche or homemade ice cream. 

Real Fruit Lamingtons

Grown men have been known to go weak at the knees when these are produced - honestly!

Berry jelly, as for berry jelly moulds

300g plain sponge, bought or home made

2-3 cups desiccated coconut

200ml softly whipped cream

Make the berry jelly as outlined above, and set aside to cool. Refrigerate to hasten the process once it has cooled sufficiently, but don’t allow  to set; try to catch it just as the setting process begins.

Cut the sponge into approximately 5cm squares, and dip all sides into the cold jelly.

Roll in the coconut, then either slash the top or halve through the equator of each lamington.

Fill with the softly whipped cream and serve with or without fresh berries.

Whole Fruit & Nut Christmas Cake

This style of specialty festive cake has become very popular with good reason.  It looks special, tastes great and although the ingredients are relatively expensive the cakes are surprisingly economical because they can be sliced quite thinly to serve. 

It is quick to make and can be frozen. 

2 1/2 cups Brazil nuts

2 1/2 cups blanched almonds

1 cup crystallised pineapple pieces

1 cup crystallised ginger pieces

2 cups raisins

1 1/2 cups mixed peel

3 cups dried apricots

1 cup red glace cherries, plus 1/2 cup extra, reserved

1 cup dried figs, chopped roughly

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp cardamom seeds, crushed **

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp almond essence

4 eggs

1/3 cup orange juice

3/4 cup marmalade

Preheat oven to 160 deg Celsius. 

Place nuts, fruits and dry ingredients into a large bowl.

Beat the eggs lightly with the essence, juice and the marmalade. Add the liquid ingredients to the mixture and mix together thoroughly.

Lightly spray the baking tins of your choice* and line the bottoms with baking paper.

Press the mixture firmly into the tins using the reserved glace cherries to decorate the tops of the cakes.

The cooking time will vary according to the size of your tins. Two 20 cm ring tins will take 1 1/2 - 2 hours to cook.  Three loaf tins will cook in 1 - 1 1/2 hours.  If you have smaller loaf or round tins they can also be used to produce attractive shapes.

* Adjust approximate cooking times accordingly.

** Cardamom seeds, not whole pods - these seeds are strongly aromatic and enhance the flavour of the dried fruits and nuts. 

Eggplant, Zucchini & Mint salad

This is a great tasting salad that looks good, too. I made it especially for our daughter's visit recently as I wanted something fresh, with some substance but not too filling - Yum!

                                  

This attractive, fresh tasting salad is a feast for the eyes as much as the palate, and makes a delicious accompaniment for polenta dishes or almost anything else you can think of.

Serves 4-6.

1 eggplant (450-500g)

450-500g zucchini

Oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1x 400g tin cannellini beans

½ packed cup roughly torn or chopped mint leaves

Zest and juice of 1 large lemon

¼ cup roughly chopped flat leaf parsley leaves

Pre heat oven to 190 C.

Slice the eggplant into 1cm rounds. Brush both sides with neutral oil or dip into a bowl of oil and wipe off any excess on the lip of the bowl. Place the slices on an oven tray in a single layer. Bake at 190 for about 25 minutes, until golden brown on both sides. Turn once during cooking. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, and slice the rounds in half.

Slice the zucchini with a potato peeler into long ribbons.  Toss in neutral oil to coat lightly and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Spread onto a baking tray and bake at 190 C for 5- 7 minutes or until just cooked through, tossing once or twice.  Remove from the hot tray to prevent further cooking and preserve colour.

Place the rinsed and drained beans in a large bowl and toss with the mint, lemon zest and juice.

Gently combine the beans with the roasted eggplant and zucchini, season to taste, and add a little more lemon and mint if wished. Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with the parsley.

Life's Too Short Marmalade

There are no better gifts than those you make yourself, and I absolutely love giving preserves I make to friends and family; the only exception being this marmalade.
I'm so conflicted about this, but it doesn't give a high yield, (there's no water added, relatively low sugar content) and it's all about real, intense fruit flavour. So I have this overwhelmingly selfish impulse to keep it and not give it away. Very conflicting. 

It's a challenge to cut down sugar content in preserves, but it is perfectly possible to achieve this to let real flavours shine. Most of our commercial producers are missing the point, I believe, and therefore consumers are missing out. It's so easy to make your own pickles, chutneys, relishes, jams and jellies, just choose seasonal to minimise cost, maximise flavour and say no to preservatives and colourings! (You won;t be sorry).

Life’s Too Short Marmalade

This marmalade is for those who like the best in life, a little more time - consuming in terms of yield, but absolutely worth it. The secret is in the method; flavor is maximized by keeping sugar to a minimum, and no water is added – it’s just fruit flesh, zest, and a minimum of sugar to preserve and enhance the flavours. You simply can’t buy marmalade as good as this unless expense doesn’t matter.

The flavours here are bold and intensely orange, but balanced by the lime to create a particularly delicious spread.

Use all oranges for this marmalade if you prefer, or experiment with other citrus.

Makes 2 x 350g jars.

1 kg thin skinned oranges

250g limes (3-4, depending on size)

500g sugar

2 Tbsp peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger (optional)

Using a zester,* preferably, or a floating blade peeler, remove the zest from all the fruit, ensuring that none of the pith is attached. Roughly chop the long strips of zest if a zester has been used. or finely slice the peeled zest into fine julienne lengths, and chop roughly. Transfer to a large saucepan.

With a sharp knife, pare the pith from all the fruit and discard.

Dice the fruits small, about 5mm (¼ inch), discarding any core or obvious membrane. Try not to lose any juice.

Transfer the diced fruit and juice to the saucepan with the zest, stir in the sugar and bring to simmer point.

Simmer, uncovered, for 25 - 30 minutes, stirring regularly. 

 Test by placing ½ teaspoon of the marmalade on a saucer to cool then nudging with a finger. If the surface ripples, it is ready to pour into hot sterilized jars and cover with sterilized metal screw on lids.

*A zester has a truncated ‘blade’ with 6 small holes.