...the sign of a good buy

A few weeks ago I happened to be walking through a major Melbourne shopping centre (itself a reasonable rare happening for me these days) and happened to pop into a bookshop.

This was unusual because I seem to have fallen into buying many of my books online recently. Most of the time I can justify the drastically inflated prices in the store but that is a topic for another discussion. 

To the point of the post though - I happened to pick up the latest book by Marian Keyes, the latest (last?) in her Walsh family series. Alongside The Mystery of Mercy Close was a copy of a cookbook, Saved by Cake, written by Marian apparently concurrently with the book and while she was recovering from Depression. It came free with the novel and without denigrating the novel (which I am enjoying but not far into it at the moment) the cookbook was an immediately engaging read.

Helped by the recent influx of visitors and the arrival of some chestnuts in one suitcase I have already made three things from the book 

An Espresso and Walnut Cake

 A rich and dense Hazelnut Torte

and the Chestnut and Rum Brownies

If you ask me a page marked like this is the sign of a good buy.

  

...spaghetti a la Della Bosca

I have been on leave the last couple of days (and working a little more friendly hours the days before that) so have been place on dinner cooking duty. And while I like to bake and cook some things the daily dinner part of it has never been my favourite thing to do - and deciding what to eat, really no fun.

So earlier this week saw me wandering Woolworths about 4:30 looking for inspiration when I decided we would have Spagetti a la Della Bosca. I am sure this dish has a real name but I don't know what it is. When I was growing up that is what it was called, named for the family of one of  my Mum's bridesmaids who gave her the recipe. Which also means it is not specific and isn't written down anywhere in a cookbook I can search online with my phone while I'm at the shops.

So there I was, calling Mum, Dad and anyone else that might have been able to clarify the ingredients list to save me coming home, checking out my hand scralled directions and coming back. I'm posting this here now to share it with you - and stop me ever needing to do that again!

Spaghetti a la Della Bosca


butter
onion, diced
garlic, crushed
750g gravy beef, trimmed and cut into small chunks
1tsp Allspice
salt
3/4 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup claret or red wine
parmesan cheese and pasta to serve


Melt the butter in a large heavy based pan and cook the onion and garlic until soft. Try not to brown them, so low temperature for about 10 minutes works for me. 

Add the beef, salt allspice and enough water to almost cover the meat (the amount of water you add now will affect the saucyness later). Simmer, uncovered, for about 30 minutes. 

Add the tomato paste, claret and simmer for another 20-30 minutes until beef is tender and the sauce has thickened (simmer a little longer if you want thicker sauce or you added a little too much water earlier)

Serve atop cooked pasta and sprinkle with a little freshly grated parmesan cheese. 

...hot apple buns

I love hot cross buns - without the cross part and the dried fruit. And as we come up towards Easter I have wondered what it is about them that I like. I am sure it is the spices in the bread and the sticky glaze on the top.

So this last weekend I make a version of the buns with fruit that I like, fresh rather than dried apple. I made my dough in the bread maker and then shaped the buns, let them rise again and baked them in the oven. They were great - and disappeared very quickly!

Hot Apple Buns
6g dry yeast
475g bread flour (plain flour is OK too)
25g gluten flour
24g powdered milk
34g sugar
8g salt
2tsp cinnamon
2tsp mixed spice
1-2 cups apple* peeled, cored and chopped into small chunks (you'll need 1-2 apples)
45g butter
350ml water
1 cup flour extra, for kneading
* Granny Smith or other green baking apples are best
Glaze
1 tsp gelatine
2 tbs Water
1 tbs sugar

Method
1. Make the dough with all ingredients according to the instructions of your breadmaker - my dough function allows me to add the fruit mid-cycle to stop the fruit becoming crushed. If you aren't using a machine make the dough by hand and then allow to rise for 1-2 hours and doubled in size.
2. Knead dough on a floured surfacer until the dough is elastic and springs back.

3. Divide the dough into 15 equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball/bun and place on baking tray a little way apart to allow room for rising and spreading.

4. Cover tray with plastic wrap and allow dough to rise for a further 30 minutes.

5. Bake in an over preheated to 200 degrees C for 20-25 minutes.
6. Make the glaze during the last 5 minutes of the baking time by mixing all ingredients in a jug in the microwave or standing in a pot of warm water until the ingredients are melted together.
7. Brush the buns as they come out the the oven when hot.

8. Allow to cool a little then eat spread with butter.

Delicious - I wish the pictures could convey smell - a cross between warm bread and apple pie!

...strawberry jam sauce

250gm strawberries
50gm caster sugar

Adapted from Jamie Oliver's Jamie at Home

1. Chop strawberries, sprinkle with sugar.
2. Scrunch and smoosh with your hands until the sugar in incorporated and dissolved

Bring to the boil then lower the temperature and simmer until the mix in 'jammy', 'saucy' or some point in between.

Pour into a clean jar. Store in the fridge if less than 'jammy'.

...a short departure to the kitchen

I consider myself a slightly aspirational cook, not because I have the urge to make a soufflé never having boiled an egg... it is more to do with the idea that in my mind I make everything from scratch (which is generally possible) but time and tiredness generally result in the pasta we eat in our house being the dreid stuff from Woolworths rather than fresh from the pasta maker.

image here

In my mind the cupboards and freezer as so well stocked, should it be necessary, I could feed us good, tasty food for the week. In reality dinner ingredients are usually bought from Woolworths on the way home, and more often than not N does the cooking.

I started young, apricots from our tree circa 1988

In the last few weeks I have been musing more on preserves and the like. Perhaps it is the time of year that the Pick your Own farms are churning out the things I love, peaches, cherries and blueberries. BTW, if you live in Victoria have you seen this site. Very helpful, just make sure you scroll down the page awhile to get to the information.

But in the absence of the need for countless jars of jam (really, I very rarely eat the stuff, and never fast enough to finish a jar) I have tried to think about what would actually be useful for us to preserve. The best way I could think about it really was what non-perishable food we buy now. Canned tomatoes. End of list. I think.

From top to the bottom:
Good Home Preserving, Country Women's Association Preserves, Jam Jelly & Relish, Ball Blue Book, Jamie at Home

Certainly there is a fair bit of bacon, but I am not ready to start curing meat. And the vegies we eat don't come from a can - living in such a temprate climate as Australia fresh stuff really is avaliable most of the time. But still there is something in considering preserving. A feeling of capability perhaps?

Having said that if there was a jar of cherries in the cupboard you could bet I'd eat them. Maybe I would make more pies.

So while I have been considering these things I have started to make some bread using the techniques set out in Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. I have the other one too but I'm sticking with the basics for now so I don't have to hunt out exotic flour (considered to be anything not already in the cupboard).

For my forst effort from this cookbook I scorned the idea of starting with the basic recipe and went straight for the Brioche dough. We have had two batches of chocolate centre brioche and I also made a Lemon Curd and Blueberry Ring (with the Lemon Curd recipe from the book)

I have made up a batch of the basic bread dough but I'm yet to bake any so we'll see how that goes. For now I think it is going to spend some time chilling in the freezer with the balls of pizza dough.