Summer Salads

We have had a few days of summer weather, and have been eating accordingly. We have even eaten outside a couple of times. Louisiana Chicken salad, originally discovered at Lois Daish's Mt Cook Cafe, is an old favourite of ours which has now become part of Phoebe's repertoire. Lois just served the chicken with greens but we have added everyone's favourite salad ingredients & our version is quite a colourful meal. Marinade diced chicken for at least an hour in about 1/4 cup tomato sauce (A Bit of Everything July 5) mixed with 2 tbsp grainy mustard, 2 tsp paprika, pinch cayenne, crushed garlic, thyme, salt & pepper. On a platter or a large bowl arrange a variety of salad leaves - don't overlook herbs such as basil & flat leaf parsley - diced capsicum, radish, halved cherry tomatoes. I just use whatever is in season. Saute the chicken. Toss some lemony vinaigrette through the salad. Arrange the warm chicken on top and in season I usually top with slices of avocado. A friend crumbles bacon over the top as well. I even used to replace the chicken with falafel for Harriet when she lived at home.
Another old favourite in our house is tuna pasta. I use tri colour pasta but any small shapes will do. I think twists or shells work best. In a large bowl, mix the cooked pasta with a tin of tuna and after that put in whatever you like. I add spring onion, capsicum, radish, peas & corn, hard boiled egg, feta, sprouts. Mix though some mayonnaise sparingly. This was one of my father's favourites & he always wanted the recipe but he couldn't cook from - put in whatever you like, so I always made it for him when I visited.
I've been experimenting with different salad leaves. Try baby spinach with a few radicchio leaves. Add segments of lime, lemon & orange. Peel & segment, then slice each segment out of it's skin covering. Add sliced avocado & grilled haloumi. Dress with a dressing of olive oil, a drizzle of honey, juice of 1/2 lemon, 1/2 tsp sumac, 50g toasted crushed pine nuts.
Phoebe has become very artistic with the arrangement of her berries on her cereal so I thought I'd share.

Moorish

I was given Greg Malouf's book Moorish for Christmas and was inspired to a week of Middle Eastern delights in the kitchen. First we had lamb steaks with a lentil risotto. He seems to use risotto as a side dish quite a bit. This was a basic risotto - just onion, rice, stock & Parmesan. The lentils were just boiled with a finely chopped onion & a bayleaf then added to the rice near the end before the Parmesan was added. Top with caramelised red onions and serve with a carrot salad.

Shred a carrot or 2 and serve with a dressing comprising:

1 clove garlic crushed

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp chilli powder

juice of lge lemon

drizzle of honey

2 tbsp olive oil

splash of orange blossom water

The real find was labne. Wrap about 500g yoghurt in a piece of muslin. Suspend over a deep vessel, supported by a wooden spoon. If your dish is too shallow the yoghurt will rest in the dripping whey. Leave in the fridge overnight. I only had about 6 hours but it worked satisfactorily. You will end up with a thick curd. Blend about 100g of ordinary youghut with a handful each of fresh mint & flat leaf parsley leaves until you have a pale green paste. Season the curd ball with a tsp dried mint & a little salt. Swirl through the green paste so that there are streaks of green - not mixed right through. This is so delicious you will be looking for reasons to eat it.
The next night Phoebe was out and this is always an excuse to have shellfish. We made a mussel soup with a preserved lemon risotto. Saute onion, garlic & leek until soft then add the cleaned mussels & 1/3 cup white wine, turn up the heat & steam until they have all opened. About 3-4 minutes. Remove the mussels from their shells & add the meat back to the pan. Add a teaspoon each of turmeric, chilli, coriander, cumin, ginger and a good bunch of chopped parsley with 2/3 cup of cream. Bring to the boil & mix well.

Meanwhile prepare a basic risotto (you'll only want a small quantity) adding a preserved lemon (peel only) thinly sliced half way through. Put a spoonful of risotto in a soup bowl & pour over the mussel soup.

I served this with a sort of vegetable fattoush. Tomatoes, Lebanese cucumbers. spring onion, yellow capsicum, baby fennel, black olives and croutons of Turkish bread, tossed with a vinaigrette of oil, lemon & garlic, then sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds.
I had most of a loaf of Turkish bread left over so the next night we had Turkish burgers. I made mini lamb rissoles - 500g lamb mince, 50g soaked bulgar wheat, 4 tsp each dried mint & oregano, 1 clove of crushed garlic & lemon zest. We toasted the Turkish bread on the grill & served with labne, hummus, and other accompaniments I found in the fridge. We each made our own version.

The next night I made a Spanish omlette with left over potato, chorizo & prawns. Saute the filling items, then remove & wash out the pan. Lightly whisk the eggs with saffron & season. Mix with the potato mixture & pour back into the pan. Cook on a high heat for a few minutes until the egg has started to set then add some crumbled feta and either turn down & cover until cooked or finish under the grill. You want this to be quite thick & sliceable so don't use too wide a pan. Finish with a sprinkling of parsley.

Then I got a fancy for lamb with pomegranate. When we don't get our lamb from our butcher - Bill at Gipps St Butchery, we buy Wai-ora lamb at the market. You can order ahead & pick up on the day. It is beautiful. We substituted turkey stock for the pomegranate juice and used Pukara Estate Pomegranate balsamic vinegar which we bought at the Food Show. We sprinkled pomegranate seeds over the cooked, sliced lamb and served the pan juices as gravy. We served with roasted potatoes from the garden & baby kumara. And the first crop of peas with baby carrots. Washed down with a glass of rose. The perfect end to the holidays. Back to work tomorrow.

Phoebe filled tartlet cases with the last of the caramel & some chocalate icing. These are known as Chocolate Caramel Delights.

Blueberries

Over the holiday break we did a family outing to Staglands with our visitors. On the way back we stopped at the Blueberry Farm because we had promised some people blueberry ice cream. The shop was closed BUT you could pick - so we got a bucket each and went to work. Blueberries are not too bad to pick. Not back breaking like strawberries and you could slough off handfuls at a time so quite quick really, although some of us definitely collected more than others who never quite got the hang of it. There were 8 of us, and 1/2 an hour and 4 kilos of blueberries later we were done.

While the rest were off at the unicycle champs, Mandy & I got to work. I found a blog called Farmer's Daughter on an environmental website called Grist and I followed her instructions to make a batch each of blueberry jam & chutney. We ended up with about 6 jars of chutney & 8 of jam. One jar of chutney was consumed by a ham enthusiast before the holiday was over and we made quite a dent in the first jar of jam. It was effortless to make and I will be returning to this blog for more ideas. I had actually never made jam before becasue I was too scared but now am a convert.

Before we set off in the morning Mandy had made a pavlova using my mother's recipe. My mother was the queen of pavlova & Mandy inherited the crown. I've never mastered the art myself. This is my mother's recipe.

3 egg whites
9 oz caster sugar (about 1 cup)
2 tsp vinegar
2 tsp boiling water
½ tsp vanilla essence
2 tsp cornflour
½ tsp baking powder
Beat the first 5 ingredients until the egg whites form soft peaks then add the cornflour & BP.
Shape on to a baking tray. I noticed Mandy drew the desired size on the baking paper first and stayed within the lines. I thought this was a good idea. Put in oven at 190 C. Turn off oven and leave till cold. At least 2 hours. This turning off the oven seems to be the trick. I discovered in Mum's recipe book that she had the recipe from a friend but used the method from Aunty Cassie. Mandy also says beware of humidity. Apparently the enemy of pavlova.

We served pavlova decorated with blueberries.

That done we moved on to the promised blueberry ice cream. I used the standard Nigella method for ice cream making which I find failsafe, substituting blueberries for strawberries. This was delicious & I recommend you try it. It was suggested that I needed to break up all the blueberries because if you got a whole one you were biting into a frozen blueberry. I don't mind that but you decide for yourself.

Ham

At Christmas you will find a glazed ham is a lifesaver. I like cooking as you know but when you have guests you can't spend every minute in the kitchen. They begin to feel somewhat ignored. But they do expect to be fed. The ham will do it's job. And don't think of it only at Christmas but any time you are having a crowd.

Glazing a ham is quite easy. We usually do Nigella's cranberry glaze. Ignore the instructions for cooking. We buy them already cooked here - the glaze is not complicated. This year we did an apricot glaze from Dish Magazine (issue 27). We forgot to photograph it but it really did look like this. It was delicious, but Peter says the cranberry one is easier. What glaze do you use?

Don't overlook serving it hot on the right occasion, however we glaze on Christmas Eve & start eating Christmas night - first with new boiled potatoes & salad. Over the coming days the ham appears in many guises. On sandwiches with rocket or baby spinach and cranberry sauce or blueberry chutney. Make a pasta salad - this is my classic tuna pasta but diced ham is perfect. Cook some small coloured pasta shapes according to the packet. Add a combination of diced spring onion, diced capsicum, peas & corn, hard boiled egg, radish - really whatever you have in the fridge plus diced ham (or a tin of tuna) and mix with mayonnaise. Perfect lunch and travels well for a picnic.

One evening some were off to watch the Unicycle World Championship so I cooked some fettuccine & tossed it with pesto & diced ham. Make a pea & ham risotto. Before you know it the ham will be gone and you will miss it.

When it's done throw the ham hock in a pot with 500g green split peas, a diced onion and some mint & a bay leaf and simmer for several hours. Freeze for the cooler weather (if there's any left...). Your ham has served you well.

While our visitors were here, Peter also made a paella - not our usual mixta but a seafood-free version with chicken & pork. You can make a paella with whatever you have to hand - you need a wide thin bottomed pan and remember it's the opposite to risotto - DON'T stir.

For a final New Year's Day feast, before our guests left, we did a loin of pork with lentils, red cabbage, crushed potatoes & kumara.

Then we sent them on their way with a bag of ham sandwiches.

Christmas Feasts

Christmas is the highlight of my culinary year. There is the planning & preparation, the cooking and eating and then the delight of left overs. One of the best things is that it is the same every year - family rituals to be enjoyed year after year, creating lasting memories. Our children didn't always like the Christmas food but they came to rely on the familiarity. And it is really easy if you always know what you are going to do - with a few twists & variations. I am very much a traditionalist.

In the week before the Christmas gingerbread is made and iced. This is usually a young persons' activity and we get teenagers who come especially for this activity. Then the Christmas cake is iced & decorated. I have had these decorations for a few years now and am very fond of them.

On Christmas Eve I do as much preparation as possible so that I have very little to do on the day other than eat & drink & relax with our guests & family. Our Christmas menu is the turkey with a sage & onion stuffing, and a nut roast for the vegetarians. This has been much maligned in magazines but my nut roast is much admired by non-vegetarians as well. I do a Christmas gravy using the giblets stock with the addition of a slug of scotch & cream.

For veg we have settled for roasted potato & kumara with baby carrots, capsicum & shallots plus peas & feta and grilled asparagus. This provides something for everyone and is very little effort. This year we dug our own potatoes. Boil new potatoes in their skins and prepare the other vegetables. Toss in olive oil and roast in a pan with some rosemary for 40 minutes to an hour. Boil some peas & crumble over feta. Grill asparagus & drizzle over lemon-infused olive oil.

Peter always does a summer pudding for afters. Lighter than a traditional pudding but retaining the traditional shape and using seasonal fruit.

And this year Mandy made the best ever crackers with personalised hats.

The traditional Boxing Day dinner is a Nigella salad we have been having for about 5 years now. It's a kind of Christmas Cole Slaw - red, green & white. This year served in the perfect bowl which was a Christmas gift.

In a very large bowl, mix together 2 red chillies, seeded & finely chopped; 1 clove of garlic minced; 2 tbsp caster sugar; 3 tsp rice wine vinegar; juice of a lime & 3 tbsp fish sauce and 3 tbsp vegetable oil then add 1 finely sliced red onion & some black pepper & steep about 15 minutes. Add your shredded turkey - about 500g - and steep another 15 minutes. Add half a chopped red cabbage & some sliced radishes. Last, mix through some coriander or flat-leaf parsley.

Our boxing day pudding is often a small Christmas pudding topped with Ginger Wine ice cream. I found this recipe on one of may father's tea towels & made it for him one year. It has been a firm favourite ever since not least because the ice cream doesn't ice up - the alcohol keeps it ice free. It works beautifully with the hot spicy pudding.

Combine 3 egg yolks with 1/2 tbsp water, 1 1/2 oz sugar & 3 fl oz Green ginger wine in a bowl and beat over boiling water until thick and foamy. Remove from the heat and keep beating until cool. Chill. Whip 5 fl oz cream and fold in. Pack and freeze.

Serve with hot Christmas pudding that has been flamed for the enjoyment of your guests

Then it's time to think of interesting things to do with ham.