winosandfoodies

In My Kitchen - June 2012

Fig Jam and Lime Cordial is a blog I recently discovered.  I'm joining in Celia's In My Kitchen meme this month.

In My Kitchen

........is a cow. I'm not a big fan of knick knacks on my kitchen bench.  This cow money box, given to me by one of children, does command a position overlooking the sink.

In My Kitchen............

........are some unexpected gifts.  The postman has been kind to me this month and I received a parcel of goodies from Beerenberg. Their tomato sauce is a favourite of Bryans. The caramalised onion and balsamic beetroot relish have been a big hit. Great on burgers or sandwiches.....or straight from the jar on a teaspoon. I see scones in my future topped with some strawberry jam and cream.

In My Kitchen

............are a selection of teas were sent to me by Nerada Teas. I am so impressed with their regular tea I'm planning on changing from my usual Dilmah.

I made a tea  fruit cake using the camomile tea to soak the dried fruit.

In My Kitchen

.................are new books. I treated myself to some new books while the Book Depositary had their sale on.

This month you'll  find me on a comfy couch reading.

 

Cezannes Tomatoes - Cooking To Combat Cancer

My dear friend Chris over at Melcotte has announced her annual Cooking To Combat Cancer event.  Chris is a cancer survivor and has been  hosting this event since 2008. 

You need to post your entries by May 31st to be included in the round up.

This year I have chosen tomatoes as my cancer fighting food. They are considered one of the  most powerful foods for fighting cancer. They are most effective when cooked. This recipe is a favourite of mine. I love to watch everyone sitting around the table mopping up the leftover juices with chunks of  crusty bread.

Tomatoes are rich in antioxidants especially vitamin C and ‘lycopene'. Antioxidants protect the body from cell and tissue damage, which is caused by harmful molecules called free radicals. Cooking tomatoes in foods such as spaghetti sauce can actually boost their ability to fight cancers. - Gordon Lynch - Associate Professor and Reader in Physiology at the University of Melbourne Gordon

This recipe was a favourite of the painter Paul Cezanne.

CEZANNE'S TOMATOES

Ingredients

• 9 tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons salt ( I use Maldon)
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 bunch flat leaf parsley
• freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons oil
• 3 tablespoons fresh bread crumbs

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 200C/400F
• Cut tomatoes in half
• Sprinkle the salt over the tomato halves, lay them salt side down on a rack over a dish and allow to drain
• After 10 minutes squeeze them gently to remove excess water and seeds
• Spray a baking dish with oil. It should be large enough to hold all 18 tomatoe halves
• Peel, crush and finely chop the garlic
• Remove parsley from the stalks and chop the leaves finely
• Mix garlic, parsley and pepper together
• Arrange tomato halves in dish and spread mixture over each tomato half
• Pour a generous helping of olive oil over tomatoes
• Sprinkle with fresh breadcrumbs
• Place in preheated oven and bake for 20 - 25 minutes, keeping a watchful eye to prevent burning.
• Serve with lots of bread to mop up the juices

Cucumber and Poppy Seed Salad by Ottolenghi

I love this salad when just made. Bryan likes to leave it for an hour or so to let the red chillies do their work and impregnate the mild tasting cucumbers. Either way it's a fresh and zingy salad served on it's own or as a side dish.   It is from Ottolenghi the Cookbook .

CUCUMBER AND POPPY SEED SALAD

• Ingredients
• 6 small cucumbers ( I use Lebanese cucumbers)
• 2 mild red chillies, thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons roughly chopped coriander
• 60 ml white wine vinegar or rice vinegar
• 125 ml sunflower oil
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• salt and black pepper.

 

• Instructions
• Prepare the cucumbers by removing the ends then slice cucumbers at an angle. Pieces should be 1 cm thick and 3-4 cms long. I always remove the watery core also.
• Mix together all the ingredients in a large bowl. Use your hands to to massage the flavours gently into the cucumbers.
• Taste and adjust the amount of sugar and salt.   The taste should be sharp and sweet, almost like a pickle.
• If not serving immediately you may need to drain of some liquid off later. Adjust seasonings again if needed.

A Wedding Anniversary and Banana Bread Recipe

 

You'll find the Banana Bread recipe at the end of this post. But first I want to share my wedding anniversary with you.

Despite being married for 32 years today is my eighth wedding anniversary. That'll happen if you choose 29th February as your wedding date. Which we did. You see we had been living together for seven years  so we needed a wedding date that stood out.

This was our first new years eve together. Three weeks earlier our eyes had met across a crowded room.  It was maybe a week later we were introduced by a mutual aquaintance. It was love at first sight.  Almost immediately we moved in together and have been together ever since.

Because I knew I'd be going through chemo when our anniversary day came around we celebrated back in November. We spent a couple of days at one of the Spicers retreats. This time Spicers Clovelly Estate in Montville, the one with the fabulous Long Apron restaurant.

The gardens were full of sculptures.

Relaxing places to sit and relax.

Inside in the library......

...and outside in the garden.

Breakfast was served on the patio in the sun.

Unfortunately it was too dark in the restaurant to take any photos of our degustation dinner.

Finally, that banana bread recipe.  I've been reading the blog Recipe Rifle for a little while now. Which is where I came across this recipe.  It is from the Leon 2 cookbook. I've adapted it slightly by replacing the pecans with walnuts (which I didn't bother roasting first). I didn't have any spelt flour so used plain flour instead.

Banana bread (adapted slightly from the Leon 2 cookbook)

50g walnust nuts
150 veg oil
200g dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
350g ripe skinned bananas (about 3 bananas)
75g natural yoghurt
1 tsp bicarb of soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
225g plain flour
1 extra banana, peeled
2 tbs caster sugar

• 1 Pre-heat your oven to 170C and butter a 2lb loaf tin and line it with baking paper.
• In a bowl whisk together the oil, sugar, vanilla and eggs.
• In another bowl, roughly mash the bananas.  Add the youghurt and mix together. Sprinkle over the bicarb of soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and stir again.
• Mix the banana mixture and the sugar/egg mixture together. Chop the walnuts toss those in too. Then sprinkle over the flour and stir until things are only just combined. Do not overmix. Spoon the batter into your  lined tin. 
• Slice your spare banana down the middle and place one half on top of the batter, then sprinkle over the caster sugar. The banana half will sink into the mixture during cooking.
•  Bake for 45-50 mins.

 

I apologise for the layout of this post. I seem to have a bug stopping me from creating paragraphs.

 

Shrove Tuesday 2012 - Pancake Recipe

 

 

Tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday. Which means it is time to eat pancakes or crepes if you prefer to call them that. Here is my favourite Robert Carrier crepe recipe. It will make 8 thin crepes. Just enough for two people.

Ingredients
75g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 medium eggs
30 ml melted butter
150ml milk

Method
Sift flour and salt into bowl.
Beat eggs, stir into flour mixture with milk.
Add butter and mix through.
Strain, stand for 2 hours.

To cook.  Place 1/4 cups into medium frying pan and swirl to cover base. When dry on top, flip over and cook other side. I served them with maple syrup today.