montjoye

soak heaped 1/2c currants in a cup of russian caravan tea

In food mixer:
500g flour (300g Westons special 200g spelt, 1t gluten)
1/3c milk powder
1t vanilla powder
1.5t salt
zest one lemon
heaped 1/4c brown sugar
1T of the soaked currants
mix
2T softened butter added slowly while beating

200g starter
1egg
currant soaking liquid made up to 250ml
beat together

mix wet into dry
autolyse 30min covered with damp cloth

dough hook 8min, add rest of currants in late

stretch and fold hourly intervals x3

rest overnight at ~18C covered with damp cloth
turn out, form into 12 buns (pinch back then roll against counter in claw hand)
spray with water, prove a couple of hours (I use a brew heating pad) spray again a few times to prevent too much drying out.
Preheat oven 200C, with a stone
bake covered 15min, then uncovered 10-15min


Take three:

500g white bread flour
1/3c milk powder
1 heaped t vanilla powder
1.5t salt

2T olive oil
1/4c brown sugar
zest one lemon
1egg
bit lemon juice made up to 250ml with water
200g starter
beat together

mix dry into wet
autolyse 30min covered with damp cloth

stretch and fold hourly intervals x3

rest overnight at ~18C covered with damp cloth
turn out, form into 12 buns (pinch back then roll against counter in claw hand)
spray with water, prove a couple of hours (I use a brew heating pad) spray again a few times to prevent too much drying out.
Preheat oven 200C
bake covered 15min, then uncovered 10-15min
Texture of the crumb was great when warm. Not very sweet. More lemon would be good (this was from freezer).

I went mad and bought a whole beef rump- from which these bits were extracted

Jerky
this recipe from L. Also recommended is:www.markblumberg.com/biltong.html

1.1kg strips of lean rump
4 tsp sugar (I used dark brown for max flavour)
2 tbs coriander crushed
2 tbs coarse salt
1 tsp cracked pepper (pepper takes more grinding than coriander- do separately next time)
1/2 cup malt vinegar ( I used red wine vinegar 'cause I had it)

marinate overnight, dehydrate.

Bresaola
two ~500g logs of rump this year*

Cure:
100g salt
100g white sugar
5g peppercorns}
3ish g fresh rosemary leaves}
3g juniper berries} ground in coffee grinder with a little of the salt

Reserve half the mix
Rub other half into meat
Seal in zip lock bag- fridge for a week, turn daily
Dry off meat, rub in other half of cure, repeat the week of fridge+turning.
Quick water rinse, pat dry with cloth or paper towel. Vinegar rinse (I put vinegar in a small bowl and use a cloth to pat it on the meat), dry off again, weigh and record.
Tie, wrap and hang as per link until 30% weight lost. (I invert it every few days in the first week. If the cloth gets wet, change it). The drying takes about 3weeks, at least here with usually no higher than medium humidity.
Slice thinly and eat- with olive oil and lemon juice is recommended.

Note: we established last year that a version without nitrates/pink salt/prague powder... not only works fine, we preferred it.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gallery/2011/may/13/how-make-bresaola-in-pictures#/

Out of the cure 25th March
One piece 400g, t'other 550g

* beef cuts I have used: eye fillet (marvellous but exxy) girello (acceptable- has been used the last two years), this year I'm trying rump. The recipe I was working from and linked to, specifies something like "top round" which is an american thing and different to what we can get in Oz due to different methods of hanging a beef carcass I'm told. You want something very lean and a neat log along the grain of the meat, not too tough. Pork loin also works. 2025: and now I can add silverside to this list, obviously not the corned sort.

Chicken Liver and Bacon Paté

The one Mama always made and now I do too. Sans alliums and it's still really tasty. Feel free to make it, but if for a thing that I will be at, please check with me first.

500g chicken livers, rinsed, drained, white bits and especially any green bits removed (kitchen scissors are useful here)
2T brandy
1T butter
4 rashers bacon, chopped and rind removed
thyme. several branches fresh or about 1/2t dried
2 bay leaves
2T butter
1/4c cream
2T sherry (dry or medium preferred)
1/2t salt
black pepper fresh ground
~5T butter, melted, for sealing.

-Roughly chop(kitchen scissors again for ease) and marinate prepared livers in brandy for half an hour
-Melt 1T butter, gently fry bacon and herbs (no browning). Remove from pan
-Melt 2T butter. Add livers and juice, cook over medium heat, turning livers until just coloured.
-Return bacon and herb mix to pan. Cook over med heat for a further 5 min. Remove bay leaves and thyme branches if using.
-Puree with stab mixer or blender
-Mix in cream, sherry, S+P
-Transfer to bowl/s, leaving room for the sealing butter
-Pour melted butter to cover the tops, leaving milk solids behind.
-Refrigerate.
Best made a day before serving. Will keep about a week in the fridge. Can be frozen, but texture changes.

Finding somewhere that sells the livers can be a bit challenging. I've only found one place near me. You want nice shiny plump ones without nasty discolouration.

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