Comfort me

                                                                       

The news is alive with snow predictions.  Now two things happen when I hear snow is on its way.  Firstly my heart rate quickens and I become more excited than a kid who has just been told Santa is halfway down the chimney.  The second is my mind thinks mmmmmm mulled wine and comfort food.

On the last snowfall I came in cold and satisfied after rolling through the crisp untouched snow a ball until it grew to a snowman followed by having a snowball fight with my kids and the neighbours grand kids.  I had paused at the holiday home next door, glanced at the sparkly white, uninterrupted carpet of crisp snow and dreamed of making snow angles in the untouched blanket.  The fire was crackling when I got in and the marshmellows a toasting by three red nosed and happy children.


This time Im even more excited.  Because for the first time since the February earthquake I have a working oven.  So today I have prepared.  Lemon drizzle cupcakes are cooling on a plate (minus 7 that got eaten straight away).  Sponge as light as a snowflake laced with tangy lemon encrusted with sugar and dusted to perfection.  A lemon tart is also cooling, I plan to have this tomorrow as I watch the magic of floating white fluff dancing down from the sky.

Theres lots of lemons around and they are so versatile I love them.

Fresh lemon juice in a hot toddy when Ive got a cold, the sweet and sour mix of lemonade the kids make, squeezed over calamari, beef noodles or a salad, the zest dried and added to sugar to make cake dusting the possibilities are endless.  Its even great for cleaning!  I keep the skins with the squeezed flesh still inside. Slice them layering them in jars with chilli, coriander seeds, bay leaves and salt, squishing them down to let the remainder juices flow.  I'll give the jar a shake each day for three weeks until they are preserved.  Perfect for adding to Moroccan dishes or curries.

The day will start tomorrow with warm cinnamon rolls.  They are so easy to make.  Making up a batch of bread dough with a dollop of maple syrup in it.  I knock it back after the first rise, dust wit flour and roll out to a rectangle, then smother it with butter and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.  Roll it up and slice it into sections.  You simple need to butter and flour a big pan and arrange them in with a couple of inches in-between each one and pop it into the fridge until the morning.  They will rise nice and slow in the fridge and can go straight into the oven in the morning.  I like to give them an egg glaze before they go in to a 150degC oven.  Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown, take out and let cool slightly.  Drizzle icing over while still warm and enjoy.  TOP TIP: to keep the bread nice and soft I put a small mental bowl in the bottom of the oven while its heating up and then throw in 4 or 5 ice cubes when the rolls go it.  They steam away and keep everything soft and moist.

I guess even though I now live in a Country with Christmas in summer the associations with cold and celebrations are strong for me.  Im currently trying to resist rummaging around in the loft to get out the fairly lights and Christmas CD's!  I cant promise if it snows tomorrow you wont find me strolling up the road singing "Im Dreaming of a White Christmas". 

Home Sweet Home

Although I love to be outdoors, exploring, visiting new places, meeting new faces, and old, I always love to come home. "Lets head for paradise" the kids say when we leave the city to head for home.  Where we live is very beautiful, but its more than that that make it paradise for us.  Its the things we do here.  The fires on the beach, walks in hills, friends round for food, picking our veg and fruit from our own garden, watching our ducks fly down the garden at feeding time.  A wealth of time and love has been shared at our little home.

                                                          Me with my favorite 4 people!

This Saturday I had a glorious day.  Our youngest had a rugby match and with car pooling there was no room for me to go.  As much as I love to support him in his sport, it is a very rare thing indeed for me to find myself at home alone!  And as if to make this time alone even more special the sun came out and turned it into a glorious warm winters day.

So what to do with half a day totally to myself?! I whizzed through housework as quickly as I could.  Then slipped out side, tidied some of the garden, did some weeding and then.....one of our olive trees laden with beautiful black shining olives caught my eye. straight away I could see a little line of jars sitting in my kitchen full of olives quietly curing away.

So I dropped everything and started picking.

Soon I was curled up on the sofa with a bowl of clean rinsed olives, making a little slit from top to bottom down one side of each.

After that I filled jars with the olives and poured a 10% salt brine right to the top.  Now all I have to do is shake the jars each day and change the brine solution each week for 3 weeks

Then they just need to be marinated in a vinegar brine solution with flavorings such as garlic, oregano and lemon.  I ant wait, I'll let you know how that turns out.

Feeling all motivated I turned my attention to some new products I had been working on for our shop available at the Preserved Workshops and online.  Lately I have really got into finishing salts and sugars.  I love making them as its so hands on and it really feels like a lot of love goes into them, it also makes the house smell gorgeous with smells of lemons, oranges and chilli drifting through.  Its such a delicious way to lift a dish.  Smoked Chilli salt on your pizza, citrus salt on your fish, lavender sugar on your cup cakes...mmmmmm.  They are so beautiful and colorful too.  I'm looking forward to using them more in the kitchen and sharing my recipes with you, and I'll let you know when we have them ready for the shop!

Soon the peace was over and the house was filled with the sound of exited kids home.  I love lazy afternoons where you just lie about chatting to each other, fire going, toy soldiers covering the hallway floor, mucky knees and smiling kids.  Even more happy when they discover Ive made their favorite for tea - spaghetti bolognaise. My special ingredient is I start by frying off some home cured pancetta, then taking it out of the pan and frying off the mince in the juices before adding it back in.  It adds a real depth of flavor, home dry cured smoked bacon is also wonderful releasing a wonderful subtle smoky flavor through the dish.

But my favorite recipe of the weekend has to be pancakes with stewed tamarillos and Creme anglaise.  Its simple and delicious to make and tamarillos are in season now!

Stewed Tamarillo 
Blanch the tamarillos in boiling water for a few seconds and then plunge into cold water, this should make it easy to remove the skins. (optional but the skins can be a it bitter)
Cover the bottom of a saucepan with water, add the tamarillos, some brown sugar, cinnamon stick and a pinch of nutmeg. heat gently and let stew, until the fruit is soft.  using a slatted spoon remove the fruit leaving the juices, reduce until think on a medium heat.

Creme Anglaise.
A delicious light custard sauce.
Beat together 4 egg yolks with 1/2 cup white sugar until it is light pale yellow and when you lift the whisk up the mixture leaves a ribbon on the surface for a few seconds before disappearing.
Beat in 1 tsp of cornstarch (optional but helps stop the eggs scrambling if you let the temperature on the next step slip to high.)
beat continually while drizzling in very gradually 1 1/4 cups boiling milk.
Pop it all in a heavy based sauce pan over a low to medium heat and stir continually until it coats the back of a spoon with a lovely light creamy coating.  DON'T let it come anywhere near a simmer or it will scramble so keep an eye on it!
Take off the heat and beat for a couple of minuets as it cools.

Pancakes - crepe style (Made by my fab hubby)
Mix together with a whisk 1 cup of flour, 2 eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 tbs melted butter and a pinch of salt, until it is lovely and smooth.
Pour a ladle into a nice wide frying pan, move the pan around to spread out the mixture, add more if needed, but your looking for a nice thin crepe.  Once it has dried out and lost its shine flip it over, it wont take long, maybe 30 seconds to cook that side.

slide your pancake onto a plate, spoon on some of the tamarillos onto one half of the pancake, add some of the reduced sauce and top with creme anglaise, fold over and enjoy! mmmmmm.  Iv made myself hungry now, I think I might just leave you all and go make another batch.

Have fun in your kitchen
Anna.

for information on Pig in a Day workshops and more www.preserved.co.nz