Apple, ginger and lime jam

Making the most of this warm winter, we spent a day out at Bilpin, picking apples at Shields Orchards. It was here, I discovered the taste of tree ripened apples and I can't believe how sweet a Granny Smith apple can be.

The kids and I may have gone slightly overboard with our picking as we managed to pick my youngest child's weight in apples (15kg). Not a bad effort in 30 minutes, But now, I wondered what to make with all these apples. May be even try an apple pie, apple tarte tatin and perhaps apple jam.

Strange as it may sound, I was going to attempt apple jam. Knowing that apples contained high levels of pectin, the jam wouldn't have any problems setting.

The first batch was a mixture of Pink Ladies and Granny Smith apples which worked out a treat. So I made a second batch with just Granny Smiths.

This is a great jam to make as the cooking process time was a lot less than making mandarin marmalade.

I was pleasantly surprised how good both jams were. The Pink Ladies tended to keep its shape better than the Granny Smith apples but I found apples didn't take long to make into jam.

Makes 11 x 300mL jars

Ingredients

3kg of apples once cored and peeled reduces to 2.3-2.5kg.
zest and juice of 3 limes
1.1kg white sugar
50g grated ginger

Prevent apples from browning
water
juice of half lemon

Optional spices
Cinnamon sticks
Cloves
Star anise

Method

1. Peel and core all the apples and slice into 2cm pieces.

2. Place the juice of half a lemon and water into a deep bowl to place the chopped apples to prevent from browning.

3. Drain the lemon water bowl and place chopped into a large heavy based saucepan with 1 Litre of water over a low heat for 30 minutes until the fruit softens.

4. Once the fruit has softened, add sugar and stir using a wooden spoon until dissolved.

5. Add half the zest, all the lime juice and grated ginger.

6.  Bring to boil for 40 minutes or til setting point is reached, stirring continuously so it doesn't catch on the bottom and burn (you want to avoid this as cleaning this burnt sugary goodness is not fun). The jam will turn slightly more orange pink in colour.

How to test your setting point?
Put a plate in the freezer and chill it. Take it out when ready to test, add a dollop of jam onto plate. Let it stand for a 30 seconds. Then draw a line through the jam with your finger, if the line disappears, its means the jam is still runny, so keep boiling the mixture for another 5-10 minutes and test again. When the you draw a line through the jam and the line remains, your jam is ready for bottling.


7. Meanwhile, sterilise jars by giving these a warm soapy wash then placing into the oven at 110C for 15 minutes until completely dry. To sterilise the lids, place into boiling water in a saucepan for 5minutes and leave these to air dry on the dish rack.

8. Once setting point of the jam is reached, add the rest of the lime zest.Feel free to add a cinnamon stick into the jar, a few cloves or star anise to vary the flavours.

9. Carefully ladle the jam mixture into the sterilised jars filling to the top.

10. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clear damp cloth before putting the lids on.

11. Store in a cool, dark place for up to 2 years. Once opened, refrigerate and use within a few months.

Handy hints

You can mix up the jam by adding Cointreau, whisky, brandy for an adults only version of this jam. For this jam, I added a mix of 1 cinnamon stick, 3 cloves and star anise. I'm looking forward to trying these variations in a few months time and seeing how the flavours have developed.

A great breakfast option is toast with ricotta and apple jam. Yum yum. 

Happy New Year 2016 mochi ricecakes

The soft chewy texture filled with red bean filling oozing with that first bite, that's when I fell in love with mochi. I vividly remember as an after school snack, mum would purchase these favourite treats of mine. Wrapped in clear plastic, 6 mochi balls of pink, white and green filled with red bean which I would devour in a few minutes.

To celebrate Chinese New Year 2016, I thought I would attempt to make rice cakes of some sort. This meant experimenting with different flours to attempt hoddeok, a sweet Korean pancake which reminded me of the street stalls in Korea selling these tasty treats filled with cinnamon peanut sugary goodness. With that down pat, my next experiment was to try mochi.

Scouring the internet for an easy recipe, they varied from baking the glutinous mix to some fiddly and time consuming methods. I adapted Maagchi's "Korean style mochi rice cakes" recipe for my purposes. I found that you'll need to work quickly with the mochi to make the most of the elastic quality whilst its warm to cover the balls of red bean or black sesame paste. The kids will love stretching out the mochi and attempting to enclose their filling of choice.

The Koreans call this dish chapssaltteok whereas the word mochi is a Japanese word that simply means “rice cake.” The Korean version of chapssaltteok uses the colour green which is created with green tea powder. I found that mochi came in three different colours, white (plain), pink (with 2 drops of red food colouring), and green (with 1 teaspoon green tea powder or 2 drops of green food colouring).

I would of liked to make the filling but due to time constraints, I opted to try the ready made pastes. Next task for me is attempt to make the white sesame filling that hubby loves so much.

You'll never buy mochi again once you discover how easy it is to make it. I recommend you devour a few before the kids and hubby have discovered that you have made these delicious delights.

Makes 10 mochi balls

Ingredients

Filling
Red bean paste
Black sesame paste

Ricecake
1 cup glutinous rice flour
sprinkling of potato starch/ or mung bean starch powder
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup of water
2 drops of food colouring of your choice, I opted for green

Outside coating
1/4 cup dessicated coconut
1/4 cup black sesame powder

Method

1. Roll your paste into 10 balls 2-2.5cm diameter for easy insertion into the rice cakes. I found putting the paste in the fridge to harden slightly made it easier to roll into balls. Or sprinkle a little starch powder to prevent the paste sticking to your hands when you roll into balls. Set aside to use later on.

2. Place glutinous rice flour, salt, sugar and two drops of green food colouring into a microwave-safe bowl.

3. Add water to the rice flour and mix well. (It may look like a liquid mix rather than dough, but don't worry)

4. Cover the rice mix with plastic wrap and cook on HIGH 3 mins in the microwave. (Watch the mixture slowly rise and fall before you have a ricecake)

5. Remove the rice cake from the microwave. (Be careful taking off the plastic wrap or else be blasted with hot steam, this happened to me). Mix the rice cake with a spoon for 20 seconds.

6. Cover the rice cake with plastic wrap and put back in the microwave for HIGH 1min.

7.  Knead the hot rice cake with a spoon as the best you can for about 1-2 minutes. This is the key part to get that soft chewy texture.

8. Sprinkle your choice of starch powder on your cutting board. Pull out the rice cake with a spoon into a sausage shape.

9. Wet your hands first, to stop the rice cake sticking to your hands. This way you can attempt to shape your rice cake into a rectangle about 15 cm x 5 cm. (Somehow I managed to flattened my rice cake into an oval shape that was 15cm long and 2-5cm in width) 

10. Cut the rectangle into half with a sharp wet knife and cut 5 even perpendicular cuts, to make 10 pieces of rice cake. Cover the rice cakes with plastic wrap to keep them from getting dried out.

11. Take one piece of rice cake, flatten and stretch out to a round circle about 5 cm in diameter.

12. Add a sweet red bean ball or black sesame ball to the middle of the piece of rice cake. Pull the rice cake over the ball and seal by dabbing a little water to join the edges with your fingers. Roll the mochi to look like a nice round ball. (If the rice cake starts sticking to your fingers, add a little starch powder to prevent this.)

13. I wanted to add an extra dimension of taste, so I dabbed water on the outside of my mochi and rolled this in coconut which the kids loved. Hubby is more of a black sesame fan, so I rolled a few mochi in black sesame powder for him.

14. Repeat this until you’ve made 10 pieces of chapssaltteok/mochi ricecakes.

15. Eat a couple before the kids discover them.

Handy hints

*Red bean and black sesame paste can be found at Asian grocery stores.
*Place paste in the fridge as this hardens this slightly and makes it easier to roll into balls
*Potato starch and mung bean starch can be used. I prefer the mung bean taste so I went with mung bean starch.
*It's extremely hot when it comes out of the microwave, so be careful with removing the plastic wrap.
*Work within 5-8 minutes of the dough being cut to make nice smooth round balls for presentation

Cherry Tart

Cherries, cherries cherries.

We've always headed to Young, cherry picking capital in NSW for our yearly supply of cherries. With the best time to go being November to December, invite your friends and family to go picking. Indulge in everything cherry, whether its cherry jam, pickled cherries, cherry wine or cherry port. Or pick a few kilograms and wow your friends and family with this delicious cherry tart.

This year, I've written a "How to go about a day trip to go cherry picking in Young" guide for all of those that ask about my cherry picking weekend. (http://www.weekendnotes.com/day-trip-to-cherry-picking-capital-young/)

Make sure you have a couple of drivers for the 4 hour drive and discover Young in a day or two. My hubby thinks I'm crazy as I've driven there and back in a day a few times now. But I totally recommend that you visit Young and taste their plump red cherries and be impressed.

Cherry tart by Bill Granger

Pastry

125g unsalted butter

90g caster sugar
175g plain flour
A pinch of salt
2 tablespoons almond meal

Filling

170mL cream

2 eggs lightly beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 tablespoons caster sugar

2 tablespoons plain flour

550g cherries, halved and pitted (fresh is best)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a 24cm round tart tin.

2. To make the pastry stir together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl.

3. Add the flour and salt to stir to make a soft dough.

4. Transfer the dough to the tin and press evenly into the base and side of the tin with your fingertips.

5. Put the tin on a baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes or until pastry is slightly puffy. Remove from oven and sprinkle the almond meal over the base.

6. To make the filling, whisk together the cream eggs, vanilla and sugar.

7. Add the flour and whist until well mixed.

8. Arrange the cherries, slightly overlapping over the pastry base and pour the cream filling evenly over the cherries.

9. Return the tart to the oven for a further 40-50mins until the filling is firm.

10. Leave to cool and serve with cream or ice cream.

 

This didn't last very long in my household, yummy!

Cherry Clafoutis

This is a dessert I can never say correctly and hubby just laughs whenever I attempt to say this. Admitting to this fact, please don't ask me how to pronounce it.

I recently made this dessert and I can say its a light and delicious dessert that the kids and I demolished this in minutes.

A little warning though, I kept the cherry stones in as it keeps the shape and flavour of the fruit intact. Please let your guests know before serving. Or you could pit the cherries but I was little time poor to do this.

Ingredients

500g fresh dark cherries
1 tbs caster sugar
2 tbs kirsh (I omitted this due to not having any)

Custard
2 eggs
1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar

1/4 cup (50g) plain flour
1/2 cup (125mL) sour cream or crème fraiche
1/2 cu (125mL) cream
grated rind of 1 lemon

butter for baking
icing sugar for dusting

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celcius.

2. Place the cherries in a shallow baking dish and sprinkle caster sugar and kirsh, (if using) over them.

3. Bake 5-6mins or until cherries are cooked but still firm. Set the cherries aside and reserve cooking juices.

4. For the custard, beat the eggs with a mixer, then add caster sugar and beat until frothy.

5. Carefully add the flour and combine, then add 1 tablespoon of the reserved cherry cooking juices, sour cream, cream and lemon rind.

6. Dot a small baking dish with a little butter and spread half the custard over the base of the dish.

7. Spoon in the cooked cherries to cover the custard, then add the remaining custard.

8. Bake for 25-30minutes, the top will be golden and the cherries will appear as little mounds in the custard.

9. Serve warm, dusted with icing sugar.

Tips and findings

I have made this a couple of times and even had leftovers cold the next day. Its one of those desserts that does taste good either warm or cold.

Pickled cherries

As Christmas is only just round the corner, I like to give presents of the homemade kind. This year, I was thinking of gifts of cherries. To herald the plump red cherries coming into season, the first box of cherries for 2015 sold for $65,000 raising money for Save our Sons and the Sydney Markets Foundation.

With cherries on my mind, I wanted to try pickling cherries. Having read that these are great served with pate, duck or pork rillettes, terrines, hams and pickled pork, all of which will probably be part of the Christmas feast this year.

I'm planning to make my mandarin jam basted ham with pickled cherries on the side. Drooling just thinking about this. Following Maggie Beer's recipe for pickled cherries, I can't wait to try these on Christmas Day.

Makes 1kg jar or 5x200mL.

Ingredients

850mL white wine vinegar
700g sugar
24 black peppercorns
12 cloves
6 bay leaves
1 clove of garlic
1kg Morello cherries (I just used fresh dark cherries)

Method

1. Boil all the ingredients except for the cherries in a stainless steel saucepan for 10 minutes, then leave to cool completely.

2. Meanwhile, wash and dry the cherries thoroughly discarding any that are bruised or marked.

3. Trim the stalks to 1cm long. then pack the fruit into a sterilised 1 Litre preserving jar.

4. Pour the cold syrup over the cherries, then seal and store for at least a month. (Maggie uses her after 6 weeks but states that they will keep indefinitely).

Tips and findings

I may used fresh dark cherries instead of Morello and skipped the step in regards to trimming the stalks to 1cm as I wanted to keep intact the stems that were on already on the cherries. As these pickled cherries were going to be given as gifts, I packed the cherries into 7x200mL glass jars. I also added a bay leaf in each jar for a little Christmas green to go with the red cherries.

However after a day or two, the cherries started to float to the surface. In light of this, I waited a couple of days and repacked cherries into 5x200mL sterilised glass jars.

I also had a taste test of 3 day old cherries in the pickling syrup and it has notes of sweet and savoury. I think it will be a hit with the ham, will keep you posted.

I'll leave you on a few interesting facts about cherries. You'll want to make sure you're never low on  cherries again.

Nutritional Facts of Cherries Cherries are a source of potassium, manganese, magnesium, copper iron, phosphorous, vitamin C, vitamin K, thiamine, riboflavin, vitamin B6 and pantothenic acid. They also contain traces of niacin, folate and vitamin A. One hundred grams of cherries is only 63 calories. Cherries are also a good source of dietary fibre, they are low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium.

Health Benefits of Cherries
Cherries act as an antioxidant. They can reduce the pain of arthritis, gout, headaches, and can be used for treating bronchitis, asthma and chronic diarrhoea. Cherry juice is helpful for the function of the immune system. Cherries are used for nausea and vomiting, wild cherry bark is an important cough remedy.

Huon salmon tacos

I've been meaning to replicate an amazing dish "Ocean Trout tacos" that I had tried at Big Stone. I had wondered how they made the taco shell which was so crunchy and delicious combined with the rice and sashimi grade ocean trout was a taste explosion I wanted to have all over again.

Whilst making deep fried dumplings for the kids a few nights ago, I realised the tacos were made from egg wonton wrappers. With this in mind, I was determined to make this dish. Heading down to the Sydney Fish Market, I found that the deboned, skinless Huon salmon was on special and spotting the Huon Salmon caviar on the shelf would add to that extravagance for this dish.

I loved this dish and so did the kidlets. These were so good and being eaten as fast as I could make them. A delicious tasty dish that I will certainly be making again soon.

 

Makes 24 tacos
 

Ingredients

Rice

1 cup of cooked rice (day old rice works a treat)

1 tsp sesame oil

Pinch of salt

400g deboned and skinless Huon salmon, cut into small cubes

Garnish with spring onion thinly sliced

Tasmanian Huon salmon caviar 50g

Egg wonton wrappers
Canola oil

Sauce

1 tbs rice vinegar

1 tbs light soy sauce

1 tbs mirin 

2 tsp grated ginger

Method

1. Prepare rice by mixing with sesame oil and salt. Roll into long 5cm long logs and set aside.

2. Prepare the salmon, cutting into thin half centimetre slices and then into small cubes. Set aside in a bowl.

3. Make the sauce by combining all the ingredients of vinegar, soy sauce, mirin and grated ginger.

4. Place 2 cups of oil into a wok and place on medium high. (Pointing a wooden chopstick to the base of the heated oil in the wok, when the bubbles rise instantly, you know when it is ready).

5. Place 4 wonton wrappers into the hot oil. As these cooking away, place the tongs in the centre to create a slight depression to give a bowl like appearance. This will be handy when putting the tacos together.

6. Place the cooked wonton wrappers on a plate and add the rolled rice logs.

7. Place a good amount of Huon salmon on top of the rice.

8. Garnish with thinly sliced spring onion and salmon caviar.

9. Sprinkle a teaspoon of sauce on top just before serving.



Handy Hints

What to do with leftover rice?
With the leftover rice, I use sandwich bags and fill this to a handful size to place into the freezer and have rice ready to use at a moment's notice.

Place the unwrapped frozen rice into a bowl in the microwave with a dash of water and place on high heat for 3 minutes to get lovely soft rice instantly.

Ingredients sourced from?
You can find Tasmanian Huon salmon caviar 100g for $15 at De Costi, Sydney Fish Markets.
You can also use Ocean Trout fillets or Huon salmon deboned and skinless.

Stuffed sardines Catania style

 

This dish is homage to my time spent in Sicily. When I heard of my inlaws' impending trip to Dubai, Malta and Sicily, it didn't take long to convince hubby that we were going to tag along. A week of last minute organising flights and accommodation, it was one of the craziest things I have done.

Whereas we had managed to secure a beautifully decorated hotel, Shalai in town with alfresco murals adorning the ceiling, my inlaws had managed to secure a homestead just outside of Linguglossa. With views to an active Mt Etna spewing smoke into the sky, surrounded with olive trees, fruit orchard with a secret garden feel.

We headed into town for our usual supply of pecorino, assortment of salamis, delicacies and biscuits. Whilst in town, we spied the local fish shop and checked out the fresh catch of the day. The sardines caught my eye, as well as the copious amounts of young and mature pecorino and crusty bread.

Unbeknownst to us, the town had been decorated overnight with flags of pink. With blaring music, the locals out and about, I came across a van selling paraphernalia for the 2011 Giro d'italia. 

My lightbulb moment.

Click! It's the cycling race which is the precursor to the Tour de France. How exciting to be here whilst it was all happening.

With growing excitement in the air, we were told the race would be passing straight past the house. I was surprised at the number of support crew but understanding mishaps happen in minutes, it's best to be prepared. Watching numerous skodas driving past, motorbikes weaving in and out of steady queue of support and media cars, policemen on stanby posted along the route.














Not knowing when the race was happening, we were pacing from the back to the front of the house. The growing crescendo of beeping horns signalled that the peloton was on approach.

These lean athletes were within eyeshot, climbing the long ascent to where we were standing before whizzing past in the blink of an eye. There may have been a few stragglers which we cheered on with gusto.

It may be the closest I was going to get to Alberto Contador, who also won the race a few days later. Standing beside my inlaws, I must have looked like a loony waving a rainbow coloured sun umbrella in my bright pink Gira d'Italia tshirt cheering as the cyclist flew past. Hubby lugged our 6 month bub who looked rather bewildered at the whole experience.

 

It was soon back to lunch, setting up the front porch with pillows and blankets for bubba to explore.

The boys, ahem men, made fire to bbq our sardines. Lunch was a success with a glass of the Mt Etna white in hand. One of the many amazing memories on this trip.

Counting down the days til the next trip which is in a few more sleeps time.

 

 

Serves 4
 

Ingredients 

800g sardines, filleted and cleaned

100g bread with crusts removed

100g aged pecorino cheese, grated 

Italian parsley

Plain flour

Sunflower oil

Red wine vinegar

 

Method 

1. Bone the sardines and soak in vinegar for 20mins. Dry and lay flat. 

2. Soak the bread in the vinegar. Wring out, mix with cheese and chopped parsley. 

3. Spread a little of the stuffing on the flesh side of half the sardines. 

4. Lie another sardine on the top, forming a kind of sandwich and seal thoroughly. 

5. Flour and fry in oil.

Handy hints

I have found filleted sardines at the Sydney Fish Market at De Costi for about $10 which removes the fiddly work of having to do it yourself.