2 Ingredients

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Since I've been a little lapse on the recipe front lately/always, I thought I would share some of the easiest 'recipes', or more appropriately, assemblages of all time. You know how those ladies wrote that 4 Ingredients book to massive critical acclaim and uber-wealth? Well imagine the monies that will come from my 2 Ingredients book. My 2 Ingredients book that doesn't even cheat by not including cooking oil, salt or pepper in the ingredients count. Amateurs.

In truth, I'm not one for overly wacky flavour combinations. I never quite caught onto the whole New York sweet bacon fad, nor have I been overly impressed by my boyfriend's suggestion of the partnering of avocado and Vegemite or tapenade and butter. However, the following still hinge (at least at the top of the list) on basic good taste whilst providing a surprising complexity of flavour. Which is what I, good friends, am all about. In fact, I hope it is what will be said of me at my funeral: hinged on good taste whilst providing a suprising complexity of flavour.

But please, if you do like yourself some wacky combinations, feel free to share them in the comments.

Classy through to trashy:

Dark chocolate + Cointreau

Papaya + Lime

Parmesan + Apple

Eggplant + miso

Lemongrass + roasted capsicum

Avocado + Japanese soy sauce

Chocolate + Brioche

Cheese + Fig jam

Tomato + Kaffir lime leaves

Natural yogurt + Honey

Carrots + Butter

Avocado + Maple syrup

Tomato + Nam pla (fish sauce. Yes ma'am)

Cold boiled potatoes + Dijionaise

Watermelon + Salt

Vegemite + Cheese

Arrowroot biscuit + Nutella

Danish feta + Dorito

Ice cream + jelly crystals (preferably raspberry: a Fadden Primary School classic)

Processed cheese spread + cheetos (with thanks to Matt Preston)

Plain potato chip + jelly snake

Pieces of a long weekend

Perfect, yet completely un-tended roses from our garden

If there's one benefit to full time work, it is surely that it forces you to fully contemplate the beauty, wonder and majesty of long weekends. This last one was pretty quiet for me, lunch and afternoon tea with a few friends, a bit of housework, some flower picking, snuggling away from the cold, lots of 30 Rock and Mad Men and the completion of a rather wonderful DIY project which I'll tell you all about as soon as I take a decent picture. Also:

My jonquil bulbs made a very unexpected appearance.

I baked Molly's famous lemon yoghurt love cake, and was rather delighted with the result.

I put roses in the bathroom. This is a habit I picked up from my mum, who incidentally isn't the world's most wonderful housekeeper, but clearly knows her flower placement. It makes the bathroom feel lovely and fresh. I highly recommend it.

brownie, hazlenut gelato, honey

x
This was the dessert I whipped up for my beloved friend and former house-mate Katherine's last night in Australia. It followed a main course of painstakingly prepared, intensely rich moussaka and a fresh, zesty Greek salad. I wanted to fatten her up good and proper before sending her off for months and months of riotous living in central America, and decided that a fat moussaka followed by a fat brownie topped with more fat would be the perfect way of doing so, and might make her feel a little bit guilty for leaving such a fantastic friend in the proccess.

The brownie recipe is my all time favourite, perfect-every-time standby sweet thing to impress and comes from an old issue of Donna Hay Magazine. It has that perfect combination of gooey, fudgy, chewy and just a teeny bit cakey that drives pretty much everyone I've ever feed these too (which is a lot of people) wild with lust, gluttony and just a touch of envy. The hazelnut gelato was purchased from my local fancy supermarket, and the honey was a stroke of pure, impromptu genius. A pretty perfectly autumnal classic combination of flavours and textures, if I may say so.

The ultimate brownie recipe

From Donna Hay Magazine

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter
125 g superior dark chocolate - I tend to go for your regular, not super 85% dark.
1 cup plain flour
2 cups caster sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius and prepare some kind of square or rectangular baking vessel or cake tin by lightly coating it in a little additional butter. Place the butter and chocolate in a large ceramic bowl which is able to comfortably sit in - but without actually touching the bottom of - a saucepan. Fill the saucepan with as much water as you can without it actually making contact with the bottom of your bowl. Bring the water to a hearty simmer, and allow the chocolate and butter to melt, stirring occasionally. This, my friends, is a proccess you may be familiar with called double boiling. Whence the chocolate and butter is melted and smooth and all stirred together, remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa and baking powder. Add the melted chocolatey buttery goodness along with all four eggs, and stir with a strong hand till thoroughly combined. Tip into your greased tin, and bake for 40 to 50 minutes depending on how molten you like your brownie. Do not overcook or it will not be dessert you end up with, but a disaster.*

If going fancy, allow your brownie to cool somewhat (although not completely), then cut into squares and top each with a large scoop of quality hazelnut gelato (or another flavour - try ginger, coffee, hokey pokey, or a berry sorbet if feeling fruity) and a generous drizzle of honey.

*Line stolen from Nigella Lawson. You should always err on the side of under cooking, rather than overcooking brownies, as they will firm up significantly as they cool.

Stars, regrets, chocolate dreams

Photograph by Hannah Davis, current fave

Chim Chimenees,

So I forgot to post my to-do list for April. But never fear, my April plans basically involve preparing myself for the onset of winter, which you can read about in scintillating detail on my other blog, here.

Also, stay tuned, because tomorrow I will be sharing a recipe for brownies that will fulfill all your chocolate dreams, and quite a number of your non-chocolate dreams too. You'll see.

Autumn Recipe Depository

Photograph by John Bergman

Since the falling of the leaves and the lowering of the temperatures (and the fog, if today is anything to go by), I've rediscovered my love of preparing food goods and hovering over a hot stove. Autumn is such a tangible, edible season. It's all pumpkins and cinnamon and apples and mushrooms, and reds, oranges and yellows. It's also my birthday season, our Easter season, and the season of beautiful, gleaming, golden evening light. Perfect light for quiet, meditative moments of simple, seasonal cooking.

Anyhoo, in the interest of autumnal celebration, and as per the request of my most loyal (and only?) reader, Nicola, I present to you a list of some of my favorite, most regularly prepared recipes from the interweb for these shortening, nostalgic days. I have made each one of these recipes this autumn, and for many an autumn in the past even committing some of them to memory, and thusly, am expertly placed to guarantee magnificence.

Warm Butternut and Chickpea Salad with Tahini - Orangette

Tomato Soup with Red Onion and Coriander Stems - Orangette

Chana Masala - Orangette

Boiled Kale with a Fried Egg On Toast - Orangette (Molly really gets Autumn. Obviously)

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Quesadillas - Fresh 365
Lively Up Yourself Lentil Soup - 101 Cookbooks

Roast Pumkin Sage Brown Butter Fettuccine and Tomato, Puy Lentil and Spinach Penne- Number One Millionaire (AKA me!)

Tom's Sweet Potato Planks with Basil Aoli - Number One Millionaire

Chocolate Gingerbread - Number One Millionaire (me and Nigella)

And, as an added bonus, recipes I haven't made yet but feel, instinctively, will become firm favourites this year:

Romesco Potatoes - Smitten Kitchen

Mushroom Bourguignon - Smitten Kitchen

Rustic Fig and Goats Cheese Pizza - Sprouted Kitchen

Roasted Parmesan Parsnips - Sprouted Kitchen

Moroccan Carrot Soup with Mussels - The Wednesday Chef


You're welcome. xx

Mid-March Resolutions

Home grown nasturtiums on the (very dirty) window sill

So, monthly resolutions are going to be my new thing. Obviously they will ordinarily occur at the beginning of the month, not over a week in. Ordinarily, I will be a super organised, ultra-diligent, enchanting blog-writer. Monthly resolutions, friends, are going to help me get there.

Institute a new Monday night curry night tradition. Make an exciting new curry each week so that Mondays quickly become a weekly highlight (so far, this has gone swimmingly)

Make an attempt to start baking bread regularly. Good, wholemeal, fibrous bread.

Buy and read My Life in France by Julia Child.

Go camping in Jervis Bay (we went last weekend!)

Plant bulbs in preparation for Spring: anemones, snow bells and some of the weirder varieties that look like exotic insects.

And Winter veggies in preparation for Winter: sugar snap peas, kale, spinach, rainbow chard, sprouting broccoli.

Scavenge for second-hand jars and start sorting out my mess of a pantry prior to the entry of our two new housemates at the end of March (task begun).

Watch Harold and Maude.

Cook some delicious autumnal things and post some delicious autumnal recipes.

Climb a mountain at least twice.

Drink pear cider in a cozy bar.

Get a haircut.

Refrain from becoming a monthly blogger. At the very least, aim to be bi-monthly.

quilting, doiling.

I had a great doily find today, at my faithful local Salvos. They always have piles of doilies and it takes all my restraint not to buy all of them. Most of these will be used to make more doily cushions - some of them dyed, some left naturale - for my market at the end of march.

Photograph by Be*mused

Looking through piles of cheap stained and damaged doilies and various grandma linens at an antique shop this weekend made me want to put together some kind of brilliant, large project that would use up the gorgeous details. I love the look of this beautiful, natural Japanese quilt with all its little details and embroidery. And I think a quilt that uses little pieces of beautiful embroidered doilies, lacy place mat edges etc. to add detail in a similar way would be pretty. If it goes well I might also make some quilted cushions for selling at my market.

Photograph by Be*mused

Seriously though, look at the detailing of this quilt. Exquisite, no?

Photograph by Be*mused

the perfect weekend lunch

I only just rediscovered cheese on toast, and don't know why I ever left it behind. This version is rather posh, although I think cheese on toast is one of those miraculous concoctions that is divine regardless of the quality of the ingredients. This one is extra spesh, though, and definitely worth the effort and pennies. I've been eating it every weekend for a while now. The sharp cheese, zingy mustard and aniseedy tarragon vinegar really compliment one another perfectly. I like to think it's something Nigel Slater would prepare in his charming London kitchen on a frosty autumn day (which, thankfully, is exactly what today feels like).




Spread a slice of rustic, artisan sourdough with wholegrain mustard. You want the bread to be the excellent, springy, chewy type. Top with grated aged cheddar and grill till golden and bubbly. Serve with some fresh mixed leaves dressed with olive oil, tarragon vinegar (or white wine vinegar if you don't have a mother who grows copious amounts of tarragon and puts it to good use) and a blob of seeded mustard.

Perfect, simple, harmonious flavours.

More Woodlands

Today is the perfect rainy day for contemplating woodlands.

Flikr mushroom inspiration:


Image credits from left to right, top to bottom: Ben, azmuskoka, Shimie, petitelectronlibre, malc_smith, Canis latrans, Shimie, Theo Groen, -Mike Potts-

The Animals of Farthing Wood inspiration (thanks, Nicola!)



Some preliminary sketching:



The first Handmade Market is on the 28th of March which is scarily soon, so I'll be whipping myself into a crafting frenzy over the next few weeks. xx

A woodland winter

So I have been thinking about my Autumn/Winter home made craft products collection, which will make it's debut (hopefully) at Canberra's Handmade Market. Although, right now with this 38 degree heat and a fan violently whipping my fringe across my face it is almost impossible to imagine that it will ever, ever, be cool again. But we must hold out hope, my possums, my cherry blossoms, that the leaves will begin to fall, the frosts will begin to freeze, and everything will be returned to its right and natural order.

For Spring/Summer I had something of a 'circusy' theme, with bright galands and doilies and such, and I have decided after much soul searching that a 'woodland' theme would be lovely and quaint for Autumn/Winter. I love talking about collections, it makes me feel so professional.

My thorough researching (and the above images) has revealed that the kinds of animals that dwell in woodlands include badgers, hares, foxes, owls, deer and the like, although in the woodland of my imagination - which is what I'm really talking about here having never visited a true English or American woodland - there is also a great variety of toadstools and mushrooms, plenty of moss, some geraniums, acorns and birch trees.

As a starting point, I have carved lots of slices of wood:


Some will become buttons, some little badges, and Mr T is going to make tiny stools for displaying precious things. There will also be notebooks, cards, cushions...and many other fun things I've yet to think of.

I have also purchased a Gocco machine, which is most exciting! I shall be able to make infinate copies of my drawings, which is much, much easier and more professional than my current system of doing everything individually. Yay!

Sewing, nuturing, harvesting.

Hello puffins, peacocks and peahens,

Here is some photographic imagery of my garden. It isn't quite so lush as it was now that I have returned and mishandled it with my erratic nurturing style. Still, there have been harvests and successive sewings and I have embedded dirt so deep beneath my nails that it has become a permanent feature of my person.



I planted zucchinis the other week. Three kinds! It's very late in the season, but it's exhilarating seeing how fast they grow in summer.

My tomato plants are outgrowing their stakes, which is a bit of a worry, actually. They're most unruly.


So far the lemon drop heirloom variety has been most fruitful. Most days I just eat these little babies straight of the plant before they make it to the kitchen, but I collected a skirt-full for a tuna and quinoa salad today.




My eggplants have done rather magnificently. They also produce the most adorable purple flowers. I've eaten two so far, both roasted in a delicious miso sauce. I must share the recipe soon.

Dot-point-not-post

Ducks at Foxglove Spires

Hello blossoms,

Today it is too hot to create or comprehend full sentences. Please except the following incoherent dot points in lieu of an actual post:

• Thomas and I just returned from a road trip to Melbourne, Mallacoota and Tuross Heads. Highlights included the Innocent Bystander winery in Healsville (pizza to die for and an incredible sangiovese), lunch with my Philipino uncle's family (like being on Food Safari), Heidi, the Abbortsford convent, the amazing tapioca dumplings at Cookie, beer and cider at the Little Creatures dining room (which isn't as good as the original Fremantle brewery, but has a nice vibe nonetheless), dinner at Lucy's Homemade Noodles in Mallacoota, sampling excessive amounts of cheese in Central Tilba, and visiting the enchanting Foxglove Spires garden in Tilba Tilba and taking solitary beach walks.
  
• My housemate Sally is a far superior gardener to me. I came back and my humble veggie patch had become a magnificent green jungle. I suspect she has been singing to the plants or injecting them with steroids.
  
• I had resolved to eat only raw food all week but have decided against it due to the wise words of Dr Karl and the fact that I don't have a food dehydrator, which almost every slightly appetising, filling looking recipe I can find requires. Plus I have the appetite of a Thoroughbred and need carbohydrates, damn it.
  
• Right now I am eating Tom's homemade granola from a purple Bison mug. It is slightly burnt but still delicious. It also looks very pretty.
  
• I have started drinking sage tea. Apparently it is good for female hormonal...things. Pick 3 sage leaves, cover in boiling water, steep for 4 minutes, drink. Tastes like roast lamb.
  
• Looking for jobs really is devastatingly boring and soul crushing and I wish I could live in a cottage in the country, eat only home grown vegetables and eggs and read fine literature and knit all day.
• Seeing people you grew up with get engaged is scary but actually surprisingly fun, and engagement parties are just like 21sts but with generally classier alcohol (mmm...sangria).
  
• I visited the Mark Tuckey show room in Fitzroy and now desperately want to become a furniture designer and am considering doing a woodwork for women course at art school.
• I really miss cozy blankets, my doona, cardigans, socks, scarves and sleep. Bring on winter.