Apple Chutney

Poached Plums

Thursday 20th Jan

Poaching syrup:

1 1/2 cups white sugar (I guesstimated)

1 1/2 cups white wine (can use red wine, or orange juice too)

1 1/2 cups water (the recipe calls for a total of 3 cups hot water, but says you can replace up to 1 cup with orange juice or red or white wine - I did 1 1/2 cups white wine and it was yum)

Flavouring - vanilla bean, lemon verbena or scented gernaium leaf, citrus peel, cardamom pops, cinnamon stick or star anise. I chose cinnamon stick this time.

Plums from our small, but fruit laden tree - don't know what kind they are, they are mostly about 4-5cm in diameter.

To make the poaching syrup
Put sugar, hot water (and juice/wine) and your choice of flavouring (cinnamon stick for me) in a heavy-based saucepan and heat over medium heat to dissolve sugar, stirring. Once all sugar has dissolved, simmer syrup for 3-4 minutes.

Preparing the poaching liquid:

When your syrup is ready, pop in the fruit. Poach til soft.

The recipe is from Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden Companion - and has some other fussy options, including covering with a piece of baking paper to stop evaporation, but I just did it in my favourite 28cm Chasseur pot and it worked really well.


Poached!

I now have them waiting patiently in the freezer, for their turn to make an appearance at the breakfast table!

Beetroot Icecream

On Thursday night I attempted home grown beetroot icecream (recipe below). We grew a bunch of different heirloom beet varieties and harvested on Thursday. Some were bright red outside, but very pale inside (just a different variety to what you buy in the supermarket).  Boiled them (we took the skin off first, next time we'll leave it on and remove after they are cooked). Once cooked, we decided to only use the really ruby ones, as the joy of beetroot icecream has to be the colour...doesn't it? Puree beet once cooked and squishy.

12 home grown egg yolks beaten together with 150g caster sugar, scalded the milk, let it cool, then beat into the eggy mix.

Then into a fresh pan to turn into custard:

Poured into a large flat tray, covered with greaseproof paper to stop a skin forming on top, then bung in the fridge until chilled. Mix in the cream and beet puree, then push it through a sieve.

 

How's that colour!!?? Bung it in the icecream machine and churn til frozen. The finished mix was too large for my icecream machine which has a 1.5L capacity.

 

 

Beetroot Icecream - (for those playing at home)

Ingredients

• 12 x organic egg yolks
• 150g unrefined caster sugar
• 500ml whole milk
• 500ml double cream
• 5-6 medium beetroots, cooked until al dente, peeled and pureed

1. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together until smooth. Put the milk in a pan and bring to just below boiling, then remove from the heat. Leave to cool slightly, then pour the milk on to the egg and sugar mixture, whisking all the time.

2. Pour the mixture in to a clean pan and heat gently, stirring all the time, until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Don't let it get too hot or it will split. Remove from the heat. Strain through a sieve and leave to cool, then chill, covered with a circle of greaseproof paper to prevent a skin forming.
3. When cold, stir in the cream and beetroot puree. Pass through a fine sieve. Churn the mixture in an ice cream maker until frozen.
4. Depending on the capacity of your ice cream maker, you may need to churn the mixture in batches, or you could simply halve the quantities.

(Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall!)

My pumpkin patch today...

Beans Beans BEANS!!

Today's harvest, to accompany our pork rillons (so thankful my wonderful husband also loves cooking!)

The rillons were... sticky, crunchy, chewy, delicious and more-ish!

Heard a family secret this week, that plums frozen last year make great jam a year later!
Grandma - I'm looking forward to trying it, and will save you some apricot! xo

 This week's efforts:
Apricot jam... we have a glut, I have jammed them, poached, eaten straight from the tree, given away kilos and still have enough to have broken a branch on the tree!

Vanilla bean icecream... also did raspberry.

Recipe:

600ml double cream,
1 vanilla bean, split
120g caster sugar
180ml water
5 large egg yolks

Scald cream - heating til almost boiling, add vanilla bean, scraping out the seeds and set aside to cool.
Dissolve sugar in water on low heat, then increase heat and boil until you have syrup. Whisk egg yolks - easiest with an electric whisk while slowly pouring in the sugar syrup. Keep whisking until the mixture thickens, then whisk in the cream (which should be cool!). Pop it all into your icecream machine and churn away til frozen. Pop in the freezer for a few hours and it'll be rock hard and delicious!

Green tomato chutney (from the fruit that fell of when we staked the tomatoes)

Today's batch of apricot that were poached in equal parts water, white wine and sugar, with a vanilla bean. Yummo!

Last post of 2010

(drafted this post on new years eve, got distracted)!

It has been months since my last post...
The bacon was AWESOME - we had to blanch it prior to frying though, as it was a little salty. It could have done with 1-2 less days of curing, but its a great start.  We are thinking about getting a couple of pigs in 2011 to raise our own bacon... might be dreaming, but we'll see. Lots of research to do yet. Hugh Fearnley Whittinstall has been good inspiration and teacher!


Home grown beets - planning to make beetroot chocolate brownies!

We have grown a load of mixed heirloom variety carrots - supplied by A&B Trees (http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-B-Trees-Heathcote/161692683849244?ref=ts)

A few of them have branced into many 'legs', we think its because we didn't cultivate the soil properly (lesson for next time!) - but they still taste great.

Also grew purple beans, they are yummy raw, and turn green when cooked - so much more fun to eat straight from the plant.

Capsicums - first harvest from our new veg patch in the paddock (future home of the pigs)

Latest addition to the front garden orchard... a bay tree. I pinched one leaf off it a few days ago and it didn't mind at all - nicer to cook with than the dried kind.

Our apricots - new years eve.

There's a few of our spring/summer veg!