montjoye

The cabbage dish from the last night of festival 2017 that Katherina was surprised to actually like. The quantities are really flexible. We eat a lot of cabbage at festival because it keeps so well. Apples do too of course.

1T butter
~150-200g salt pork cut into lardons (can use bacon)
~8 Granny Smith apples, cored and chopped (leave the peel on)
~3/4 cabbage, coarsely chopped
~1t caraway seed, ground at least a bit
~1t fresh ground black pepper
1c white wine (could use cider I suppose, or even beer, but we drank all of that)

Melt butter in a large pot (this was done in one of our "tiny"s)
Fry salt pork until it browns and the fat runs
Add chopped veg and spices, stir to coat
Add the wine. Cook at about medium heat, stirring regularly until the veg are cooked through. I prefer it quite well cooked but you can stop whenever you prefer.

An alternative red meat sauce, or my answer to the price of zucchinis in winter :-).

Goulashish

1kg beef/pork mince browned in olive oil
3 small/med carrots grated
1 200g turnip grated
6 leaves savoy cabbage shredded
two parsley blocks
4T sweet paprika
2t smoked paprika
1cup tomato paste
330ml ale/beer
1/2t salt
1t fresh ground black pepper
water to not quite cover.

Bring all to boil, then down to a slow simmer for a few (I aim for 3) hours. Cook uncovered for the last hour if needed to reduce the liquid. Adjust seasoning to taste

It's great served with sour cream and cheese over rice, pasta, or potatoes. Or eaten as a dip dinner with corn chips. Or one can have two lots of cabbage and serve it with coleslaw. Or... whatever you like really.

more recipe notes in case I like the result

butter wide cloudy pyrex dish
loosely fill with cubed sourdough bread
3/4 of a jar of sour cherries, drain off most of the liquid and put aside,
mix a slosh of brandy with the fruit
spoon fruit in with bread and mix
beat 3 eggs with 1/3c sugar and two cups milk including the leftover brandy. Plus a grating of nutmeg, a spoon end of cinnamon and a small slosh good vanilla.
pour over bread mix. Let stand 30-60 min.
Bake 25min 160deg lid on, then 25min lid off

a success I'd say. Lovely flavour, not too sweet. A bit richer would have been nice but really edible as is. I reckon it will be nice served warm with yoghurt for breakfast.


Inspired by this: but way less sweet.
www.sweetsugarbean.com/2011/11/savouring-sour-cherry-bread-pudding.html

While staying with my folks recently, Mum and I made a batch of beef croquettes. This starts with simply boiling stewing beef in water. That smelled so good that I had a sudden thought that maybe the problem with my beef stews is the vegetable bulk? So I'm trying a more beef centric stew version to test that. Of course I couldn't resist making it more complex than just beef in water, but there is very little volume in there other than beef and enough liquid. Anyway while I remember what I put in the pot:

750g stewing steak, cubed and with the chunkiest fat evicted
brown this in olive oil in 3 batches
deglaze with a glass of red wine
add: 3 smallish flat mushrooms chopped
~1T tomato juice/passata
1 cube frozen parsley
~1/2t dried thyme
shake of hing powder
~8 turns black pepper
grated nutmeg (maybe 1/8t?)
enough water to barely cover

bring to the boil, drop to a simmer for 2-3hrs, lid on. Must check for seasoning later, the only salt in the above is in the parsley (and tomato goop I suppose). I mean to thicken it a little at the end and treat as pie filling.

These biscotti are a new experiment.  I wanted something both more authentic and gluten free to do with the egg yolks leftover from the macaroons below. I've made an HA recipe for "bisket" a few times before, which is nice, but is too brittle to transport successfully. www.godecookery.com/engrec/engrec47.html

(Ooo, or there is this one that I just found  www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/bisket-cakes.htm)

The biscotti recipe I used is a "traditional" italian one*, and not far distant from the medjeeval one, but less fatty, no cream or butter and with the sugar in the mix rather than used as a dredge.  www.cooks.com/recipe/o23qs8us/italian-biscotti.html

My changes:
used GF flour
leave out the vanilla
used 4 yolks and 3 whole eggs
divide the mix in two (actually I made it up as two separate mixes)

One half add:
1/2t aniseed, crushed and mixed with the dry ingredients
1/2 cup unblanched almonds, coarsely chopped and toasted in the oven

Other half :
half this sugar was light muscavado.
finely grated rind of one orange mixed into the egg
~80g pistachios
(I don't have any historical basis for the orange and pistachio. I wanted some alternate flavour for those who don't like aniseed and R had already planned a sweet with rose water)

I think I left them in the oven a bit too long in the drying stage. They are still tasty though, just a bit more toasty than is perhaps ideal.


Gotta say, GF flour sure is different than wheat flour to work with! First time I've used it.


The macaroons below are the same as I did last year montjoye.dreamwidth.org/422789.html.

A new experiment in the "things to make from apricots" category. There are very few things made from desecrated coconut that I like. I did used to like apricot delight though and the recipes I have found are full of it. I stopped eating the commercial version because it has the food colour that my digestion doesn't like (annato/160b). A home made version looked simple enough so I've had a go. All the recipes I've seen start with dried apricots. That seems a waste when one has a surfeit of fresh ones available.

500g fresh apricots, destoned and roughly chopped (these were frozen and defrosted).
~3 heaped dessert spoons apple jelly*

boil that lot down until well thick enough to part and show the bottom of the pot. Reduce heat as you go and stir often
Mix in 1 cup desiccated coconut
press into a tin lined with baking paper.
fridge "overnight" **

then one can roll in more coconut. I think I'd rather try to dry them off somehow, or store in those tiny sweet papers.




*sugar or honey are in the recipes. I've been trying to use up this perfectly successful but unexciting apple jelly.

** I'm planning to see how it is tonight, hoping to take some to dinner which gives me a tasting panel :-)


Later:
the initial mix described above didn't set. The next day I kneaded in ~3/4c almond meal and 1/4c sugar. It was still soft and sticky. I didn't want to lose too much apricot flavour so I rolled the mix into little discs and 10B was kind enough to let me use his dehydrator overnight. These work now. Not what I was aiming for but  they hold their shape, are dry to the touch and tasty enough. Sort of dried apricots but with other stuff mixed in. I will probably experiment again later.

I'm writing this here because I'm not yet sure it's repeatable. If it proves to be, then I'll put it in my recipe book.

I've never previously managed to make either a good barley stew without allium poison, or a lamb stock I'm happy to eat. This is both, perhaps the things are connected? This turned out really well!

Lamb stock
bones from a slow cooked lamb leg
some of the roasting pan juices, minus as much fat as possible
1 carrot
parsley
2 bay leaves
pig spoon of salt (1/4t)
cover with water, simmer 3hrs, chill, remove fat

Stew
stock from above
tin tomatoes
3 mushrooms, chopped (could use more, this is what I had)
1 carrot, grated
glass red wine
1c pearl barley
parsley
oregano
pepper
2se porcini powder
1se chipotle powder
bring to boil, simmer 1hr
add about a cup or more of chopped leftover roast lamb, allow to heat through.

added late to balance flavours:
salt
1/2se cinnamon (thanks Mrsbrown for this trick)
big pinch sugar.
(maybe a little tom paste would work better than a tin?)

se = spoon end = about 1/16 teaspoons

I've been thinking of making Anzac biscuits since before Anzac day. I had no sweet biscuits left in the house, so today I finally made some. The catch is that I thoroughly dislike desecrated coconut. So here below is today's attempt. I've combined two recipes and replaced the coconut with nuts.

Mix in a large bowl:
1 extrovert cup of rolled oats
1 shy cup of sugar
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Heat together until simmering:
125g butter
2T golden syrup
2T water
Then add 1t bicarb, stir, let it foam up, then mix into the dry ingredients

Form to balls, on trays, 180deg, ~15min. Cool on trays until they hold shape, loosen, finish cooling on racks.

They are pretty jolly good. I think I might use mixed chopped nuts next time. The walnuts are yummy but there would be better crunch from things like almonds.

Recording what I did so I don't have to work from memory next time.

From right to left:

the white ones are whipped almond (gluten free)
2egg whites, whipped
200g castor sugar, whipped in slowly
200g almond meal folded in.
spoon to tray- on reusable non stick mat or baking paper
bake ~25min at 150C

the darker domed ones are hazelnut almond (gluten free)
2egg whites
200g castor sugar
50g roast hazelnut meal
150g almond meal
mix/knead together
roll into balls
place on nonstick trays
bake ~25min at 150C

the flat ones* are lemon and contain gluten
1.5c SR flour
1c sugar
50g butter melted
4 egg yolks (from above)
1T grated lemon rind
1T lemon juice (approx)
mix/knead together
roll into balls, roll in almond meal
place on nonstick trays
bake ~15min at 180C

I made these in the order written above, all in the same bowl, then did a big wash up after. Quite efficient. The first two are based on information from Elspeth. The last is a family recipe from my childhood, tweaked to use up the egg yolks. Now I just need to pack them up for transport after they are properly cool.

Well I was aiming at jelly but didn't manage a set. The flavour is excellent though.

1kg mulberries
1kg granny smith apples- cored (except one) and chopped
(recipe said to core them all. I wish I'd cored none)

Put each fruit to different saucepan. Cover with water. Boil each until soft. Strain through separate bags. combine equal volume of juice from each fruit (it was close enough, I used the lot). Add 2/3cup sugar for each cup of juice. (add juice of one lemon, this was not in the recipe). Heat gently until sugar dissolved. Boil until set.

Except I boiled for an hour and didn't get a set. That long boiling made for a very reduced and thus flavoursome sauce though. I did get a very soft set on the partial jar that included pan scrapings, but not on the full jars. I do wonder what would have happened if I hadn't cored the apples? Anyway, this should still be amazing on pancakes, icecream, yoghurt etc.

I rather like my new small labels that I bought with preserves in mind. A pricey solution upfront but an easy one and that packet should last a while. Any more than a jar or two and I'm not keen on handwriting the labels.