Bread and Butter

Is it just Summer that makes you feel like there are a thousand things to cook?
You will have to excuse me if I am all about food for a few weeks while I get all these things in bottles.
Today I made my first ever Bread and Butter cucumber pickles. I watched this guy to learn how to do it. He is hilarious and the video goes for so long because he keeps doing long shots of his dogs for some reason. I hope you pay attention to the background music. He also stuffed up the recipe half way through but rather than re shoot it he continues valiantly on. I just got the ingredients for pickling solution and made the rest up. In 24 hours Ill let you know how it went. No bread or butter involved yet.

Flash back

My mum used to make the most delicious desert when we were little, she was an amazing cook and everything she did was fantastic but this was a signature dish, its so 70’s and tastes amazing. You can only make it for a few weeks of the year when sweet sultana grapes are in season. That time is now so I whipped some up. You pick small, golden coloured sultana grapes, they are the sweetest and remove them from the stem. Mix up some plain yoghurt with a big sprinkle of nutmeg and a little brown sugar and coat the grapes. It comes out looking like nothing out of this decade and tastes delicious served chilled on a summery evening.

Old times

all images Kit Keith

A lifetime ago I lived far away and was surrounded by talented folk. I was just thinking of an old friend who I haven’t seen for years who was a wonderful painter and through the power of the Internet I can look at her paintings and remember those times and feel pretty happy about it.

Law of the Jungle

My vegetable garden is going great guns and it makes me so happy to see all those different plants flourishing away, quietly going about their business and making us food, no longer do I buy potatoes, spring onions, tomatoes, basil or zucchini. Rogue pumpkin vines keep springing up from long discarded seeds from the compost bin and I had started to develop a theory that the ones that sprouted on their own accord never bore fruit. A particularly large one was threatening to engulf the back yard and seeing the tiny pumpkins shrivel and fall from the vine made me think it was a good for nothing plant sucking precious nutrients from my corn. I had my hand around its prickly neck about to tug it out of the ground and then though I may as well leave it for a day or two and see if any of the new fruits stick. Well Pumpkin you showed me, I now have hefty pumpkins peaking out all over the place.
It looks like we are heading for a bumper crop this Autumn. Hooray!

Wednesday night

I have never cooked from recipes except for cakes, when the chemical engineering can be a bit more crucial. Anyhow I realised that while I cook a lot of things there is a general cycle that I roll through and don’t really go out on a limb that often. So this year I am starting to make meals that are completely new for me and to follow recipes to do it, or at least use them as a springboard. Witness my chilled avocado and cucumber soup with sashimi tuna!! Oh yeah just an everyday evening meal in the suburbs people. It was quite delicious and very refreshing although then I ate three Swedish ginger biscuits and two pieces of Lindt dark chocolate, which changed the mood somewhat. Make that four Swedish biscuits.

White wash

I never used to own any clothes that were white as even with the best intentions I would somehow end up crawling around in the roof space or using spray adhesive and rolling around in the dirt or deciding right then was a good time to change that bike tire.
I used to think how different my life would be if I married a professional tennis player and had to wash white things all the time. I guess they wear lots of colour these days and now I think about it the washing would be the least strange aspect to it all.
Now I do load after load of perfect whites and its quite liberating to see such freshness fluttering in the breeze. I even own a few white things of my own and try and remember to get changed before getting swept up in the moment and cleaning out the chook shed. Sometimes I remember and if not there is always Sard's Wonder Soap.

Kick out the Jams

7kg’s of Blood Plums
A whole lot of sugar

Equals

15 jars of jam
One Plum upside down cake
and a very sticky kitchen.

Plum upside down cake

90g melted butter and
125g softened butter
½ cup brown sugar
8 or 10 plums halved
¾ cup castor sugar
2 eggs
vanilla
1 ½ cups wholemeal self raising flour
I teaspoon baking powder
½ cup milk or fruit juice

Add melted butter to the bottom of a round spring release cake tin. Grease the sides of the tin.
Add brown sugar and place halved plums face down in tin.
Beat softened butter with caster sugar until pale
Add eggs one at a time beating well in between
Add vanilla.
Fold in flour and baking powder.
Fold in Milk/juice spoon on top of fruit in tin, cool for 50-55 min at 160 Degrees C.
Leave for 10 minutes and turn upside down.

Adapted from a pineapple upside down cake from Delicious magazine which really is delicious.