pumpkin pizza with rosemary scented slow cooked onions, mushrooms and olives

I think we've finally found a good pumpkin dinner. And it uses a big onion. Excellent when the vegie box sends a surfeit of onions and pumpkin.

Ingredients

a 12 cm wedge of Jap pumpkin
a big brown onion
a sachet of tomato paste
2 heaped soup spoons of roast garlic paste
3 or 4 mushrooms
some pitted olives
some grated mozzarella cheese
some dried or fresh rosemary
a serve of ready made pizza dough (when I make pizza dough I make enough for 3 pizza dinners and freeze it)

To make

In advance

• Get the pizza dough out of the freezer sometime before lunch to allow it to defrost (unless you have a microwave, in which case you can defrost it that way).
  
• Peel and cut the pumpkin into slices about 1a nd a 1/2 cm thick. Place on a oiled tray and bake in medium hot oven until soft all the way through and starting to loose a little moisture.
  
• Slice the onion into rings and place in a heavy frypan on a low heat with a smidge of olive oil, some fresh or dried rosemary and a sprinkling of salt. Cover and cook on a low heat. Stir occasionally. The onion should collapse and turn a kind of golden colour without burning. When it's nearly done, cook for a short while without a lid to allow some of the moisture to cook off.
  
• Pit the olives and slice the mushrooms.

To assemble

• Oil the pizza trays.
  
• Roll and press out dough.
  
• Splodge some tomato paste and roast garlic paste onto each pizza. Mix together and coat pizza bases with the back of a spoon.
  
• Arrange pumpkin slices, mushrooms, olives, onion and rosemary mixture on each pizza. Cover thinly with mozzarella cheese.
  
• Bake in a hot oven, rotating at the half way mark. About five minutes before they are ready, slip the pizzas off their pans (I use a flat baking sheet to handle the pizzas when doing this) and bake directly on the oven rack to crisp up the bases.
  
• Remove from oven, slice and serve.

roast garlic paste

This was a staple when we had the cafe. I'd like to say it was my idea, or my creation, but it wasn't. One of our cooks suggested this and once we tasted it, we never stopped making it. It can be used in so many ways. We used to add about a teaspoon to each stir fry, it's nice on dry biscuits and toast if you like garlic, you can add it soups. But perhaps my favourite use is on pizza bases. Which was what got me thinking about making it the other week. I was making a potato and rosemary pizza with mushrooms and olives and found myself thinking, now if I just had some parmesan cheese and roast garlic paste....

So anyway, I was at Hassoons where I buy a few vegies that don't come in the box and they had some lovely purple garlic. Big pungent cloves. It was from Mexico and so not local, but it was a lot nicer than the wimpy garlic from China which is very tedious to make garlic paste from.

Ingredients

at least 4 heads of garlic
lemon juice
fresh chili
olive oil

To make

Cut the tops of the garlic heads (don't worry if some cloves are exposed and some aren't) and place the heads in a roasting tray. Sprinkle with salt. Roast at about 170C - 180C until the garlic is soft and brown carmelly bits are emerging from the garlic cloves. Allow to cool. Peel each clove and place in a bucket or food processor. This bit can either be very sticky and fiddly or quite easy depending on the garlic. Sticky is more annoying but you will have a better product in the end. Resist the temptation to just squish the garlic out, you will only get half as much paste that way.

Once you have all the garlic, add some chopped chili, a squeeze of lemon and a small slosh of olive oil (for four big heads of garlic I would probably use about half a hot chili and half a lemon). Blend to a paste with a bamix or in a food processor. Scrape into a container and refrigerate. Keeps for a good while, not sure how long - we've never had it around long enough to go off.

sweet potato (or pumpkin) cake

After getting far too much pumpkin in the vegie box one week, I started casting around for other ways to get the family to eat it. So I made this cake and it was pretty good. Then we had an even bigger excess of sweet potatoes and this cake, made with sweet potato, is really, really good. On the day it's made, this cake has a fluffiness from the sweet potato that's just gorgeous. However, it also keeps for days in the fridge, which is just as well because it is a filling the cracks kind of cake. But the texture does become more solid. Still good, but solid and sturdy.

Ingredients

125g of butter
1 cup of brown sugar, or fine raw sugar for a more orange colour
1 to 1 and 1/2 cup of cooked but not too watery mashed sweet potato or pumpkin (I cook it in not too much water until soft and then drain well. Microwaving would also work well here.)
1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon, freshly grated nutmeg, allspice and powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 cup of yoghurt
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
1/2 cup of sultanas
2 cups of self raising flour
2 eggs

juice of one lemon
icing sugar
a little butter

To make

• Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line a 22cm (or 24cm) springform cake tin.
  
• Cream butter and sugar until well combined (no need to worry about it being pale and frothy).
  
• Add the eggs and beat some more. Add the yoghurt and sweet potato and beat some more.
  
• Add the flour, spices and vanilla and beat some more.
  
• Stir in the sultanas and walnuts.
  
• The mixture will be quite solid for a cake, but don't worry about that. Spoon into cake tin, smooth the top and bake for about an hour.
  
• Remove from oven when cake tests clean or springs back to the touch. Sit in tin for about five minutes and then de-tin, remove paper and place on a cake rack. This is very important for this cake otherwise it develops an unpleasant pudding like texture.
  
• Make a lemon icing with the juice of the lemon, about a teaspoon on melted butter and enough icing sugar to make an easily spreadable icing. Apply the icing while the cake is still a little warm for the dripping down the edges effect. A thin chocolate icing is also nice, but the lemon is better.

lentil and barley soup

The soup season is well and truly upon us and this one is my favourite. The one I make again and again in various permutations. The one I almost never get tired of eating for lunch or dinner. Goes particularly well with some crackers or dried toastie things with brie, (even the cheap safeway one which can be quite nice close to or just past its useby date). I like this soup best with the pieces cut small and not pureed. The family like it semi pureed which I do with the bamix. G insists on having sauteed mushrooms on top, because well, a meal isn't a meal unless it contains mushrooms.
Anyway here it is, it goes without saying that quantities are a guide.

Ingredients
2 stalks of celery
1 brown onion
1 medium carrot
several good big strong cloves of garlic
1 cup brown lentils (no need for soaking)
1/2 cup of pearl barley
1 tin of diced italian tomatoes
a good handful of herbs from the garden if you have them, mostly parsley with some smaller amounts of thyme, rosemary, sage and some oregano
2lt of water
To make
Finely dice the celery, carrot, onion and garlic. Saute in your soup pot with a tablespoon or so of olive oil and a good pinch of salt. Add the tomatoes, lentils, barley, water and half the herbs (if you have them) tied in a bouquet garni. Chop the rest of the herbs finely and set aside. Cook for about half an hour or until the barley is tender. Remove the bouquet garni, add the chopped herbs. Blend with the bamix if a blended soup is your preference (it does disguise the green vegetable factor - which in our house is a plus). Taste for seasoning and serve.

lemon and lime cheesecake

I do love an unbaked cheesecake. Made with cream cheese, cream and gelatine. And a crushed biscuit crust. Part of me feels like I should like the baked cheesecake more, but I really do prefer a well made unbaked cheesecake. Something to do with the creamy, slightly wobbly texture. Trashy but oh so nice. I don't tend to make them very often as they are not vegetarian due to the gelatine.

The success of this recipe depends on beating the cream cheese until it is very smooth before adding anything other than a little lemon or lime juice. And in getting the balance between the sugar and citrus right. I like to hover on the edge of danger here, but others around me prefer it if it isn't too lemony.

Crust

• I x 250g packet of arnotts ginger nut snaps (not plain brand)
• 125g of melted butter

I crush my biscuits inside a cloth bad with a rolling pin, but if you have a food processor, that would make it a whole lot easier. Just don't crush them too fine. Or your crust won't have texture. Stir in the melted butter. Place a piece of baking paper on the bottom of a spring form cake tin and clip together. Brush all around with oil or melted butter. Press biscuit mixture into tin and press down, including right into the corners with the back of a spoon. Place in fridge while you make the filling.

Filling

• 2 x 250g blocks of Philadelphia (or similar) cream cheese softened (back in the day when we had a microwave, I would cut it into chunks and zap briefly).
• 200ml pure cream
• 1 tablespoon of gelatine dissolved in 1/2 cup of boiling water and cooled
• 3/4 caster sugar (I have used plain white sugar and it works fine, you just have to beat it for longer. Brown sugar would also work fine and taste lovely but I quite like the pale colour of this cheesecake)
• the juice of 3 or 4 lemons and or limes, strained.

Beat the cream cheese in an electric beater until there are no lumps. If the cream cheese is a little hard, adding a small amount of the lemon juice will help. Add most of the remaining lemon/lime juice, the sugar and the gelatine and beat until the sugar is dissolved. Add the cream and mix gently. Taste for citrus/sugar balance. Add more citrus and/or sugar if necessary. When you're happy with the taste, beat the mixture on high speed until soft peaks form. Fill the crust, nearly to the top, and place back in fridge. The cheesecake will be ready to eat the next day. If there is any filling left over, place in a small bowl and have as a secret snack later that night. Yum.

To serve, run a knife around the edge of the tin and loosen the outside. The cheesecake should be easy to pick up with the baking paper. The baking paper will peel back easily once a cake slide or spatula is placed under the cake.

lemon slice

I'd forgotten how nice lemon slice could be. Especially when made with homegrown lemons picked straight from the tree. Mmmm. The scent of fresh lemons. Lemon oil on your hands. For me the key to this recipe is the huge amount of lemon zest. The original Women's Weekly recipe had just one teapoon. I've doubled the original recipe, because what would one do with a leftover half tin of condensed milk anyway?* The doubled recipe makes enough to take for morning tea at work and some for home. Or for a good showing at a cake stall. And it contains three table spoons of lemon zest which in my view adds a certain excitement.

You will need:
For the slice
1 cup (or tin) of sweetened condensed milk
250g butter
500g Marie biscuits (2 packets)
3 tablespoons grated/zested/finely chopped lemon rind with no pith attached. I use a sharp vegetable peeler and then chop with a knife
2 cups dessicated coconut
For the icing
3 1/2 cups of icing sugar
6 tablespoons of strained lemon juice
30g butter
coconut to put on top (if I have it I used the standed or flaked one here)
To make
Wash lemons and prepare lemon zest.
Crush Marie biscuits. I don't have a food processor so I place the biscuits in two plastic bags and bash and roll with the rolling pin. This is how my mum did it when I was a kid. But a food processor is also quite effective, just don't over process. Some lumps are good for texture here.
Mix biscuit crumbs, lemon zest and coconut.
Melt butter and condensed milk together. Stir and add to the dry mix. Combine well.
Line a big roasting or slice tray(s) with baking paper. Pour in slice mix. Place a piece of baking paper over the top and press down with hands. Then use a flat sided glass to roll out and compress well. Place in fridge.
Juice enough lemons to provide 6 tablespoons of strained juice.
Melt butter.
Mix juice butter and icing sugar together until it has a smooth consistency.
Ice the slice and sprinkle with coconut. Press down gently with that bit of baking paper from before.
Refrigerate overnight and then lift out of pan and cut into small(ish) squares with a big knife.
* I know, I know. One could eat half a tin of condensed milk. Or let your child eat it. Or fight the cat for it. Or turn it into lemon cheesecake mix and repeat as before.

gingerpeople

Grace was very excited when I said we were going to make gingerbread men for the fun day. There's a Richard Scarry video that she watches sometimes which features slightly scary gingermen. I thought it would be a fun thing we could do together; it was and it wasn't. First there was the bad taste when she sneaked a lick of the spice mixture and then the (not badly) burnt finger when she tried to taste the syrup mixture. That said, the rolling out of the gingermen and the icing of them was greeted with much enthusiasm. As was the eating.

However, I have to say that as far as eating goes, I'd prefer a softer textured gingerbread. Dark and slightly chewy on the outside. These were quite hard and would be really good for Christmas tree hanging and as small gifts. Recipe is adapted from Biscuits, The Good Cook, Time-Life Books 1982. For the cake stall, I made a double quantity and that was heaps, with some over for home.

You will need

125g brown sugar
125g golden syrup or honey (I think molasses would work well too if you like the taste)
1tsp ground cinnamon
some fresh nutmeg
some mixed spice (actually I might leave the mixed spice and nutmeg out next time - the recipe called for 1/8 ground cloves instead, which I didn't have)
1 tsp fresh grated ginger (I'd be tempted to add more next time, but I love ginger)
1 tsp powdered ginger
90g butter
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
500g plain flour
pinch salt
1 lightly beaten egg
glace icing made from icing sugar, a tiny knob of butter and hot water and then coloured with lurid food colourings

To make

Dissolve the sugar, honey or syrup, spices and butter over a low heat and slowly bring to gentle boil. Cool to room temperature and add the baking powder. It will froth a bit.

Make a well in the middle of the flour and salt. Add syrup mixture and the egg. MIx well and ten turn onto a floured board and knead until it all comes together. Wrap in plastic or grease proof paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll the cooled dough to about 3 mm thick and cut into shapes. Bake in a preheated oven 170C oven for 8-10 minutes or just until they start to colour.

When the gingerpeople are cool, ice with icing from an icing bag or using a plastic bag with a small corner cut off.