apricot jam

 
I've always had problems with apricot jam, but from now on, this is my method. I'm so absurdly pleased with how this turned out. The big change to how I've made apricot jam in the past is to soften the fruit first in a few cups of water. Stirring well. This reduces the risk of the sugar catching or burning before the fruit has pulped. For some of my thoughts on jam making in general, see here. Especially the bit about having someone else looking after small children. And the big pot.

Ingredients

• 2-3 kilo of apricots including some that are on the green side
• white sugar, the same weight as the prepared fruit
• juice of two lemons (optional, but perhaps at the end)
• jars and cellophane covers

To make

• Wash fruit being diligent to remove all insects and bird shit.
• Wash jars in hot soapy water and rinse in vinegar water (or better yet run them through the dishwasher).
• Place jars on a tray in warmed oven and turn the heat off.
• Stone fruit and cut out any blemishes or bird damage.
• Weigh fruit and make a written note of the weight of prepared fruit.
• Place fruit in big pot with several cups of water, bring to boil and stir and watch to make sure none of the fruit catches or burns and that just a little liquid remains.
• Once the fruit has softened and become pulpy, turn off the heat and allow it to cool slightly.
• Add equal weight of sugar (from your note) to fruit and bring back up to the boil.
• Stir occasionally, making sure fruit is not sticking.
• It should take about twenty minutes or so but this will depend on how much water needs to be boiled off.
• When the jam is nearly ready the bubbles become thicker and when you stir into the corners there are little explosions of heat.
• Remove jam from heat and test for set by putting a little on a plate, allowing to cool and pushing your finger along the plate through the jam. The jam will set if it wrinkles when you do this.
• Taste for sweet sour balance. I added the juice of two lemons to a six kilo mix and it made the flavours sparkle. I imagine some fruit would need this and some wouldn't, so doing this step at the end makes sense to me.
• Allow to cool slightly before skimming, pouring into prepared jam jars and sealing with cellophane.
• Clean up and maybe shower away all the sugar and sweat, have a long cold drink and give yourself a big pat on the back.

Sago plum pudding

This is the pudding my Nan used to make. Now Mum makes it and I guess, but hopefully not for a long time, it'll be my turn. I did make it once but didn't dissolve the sago properly and spilt all the brandy over the back of my car on the way to lunch. A subject for a few jokes that day, especially as I was working as a cook then.

Not sure about the quantities here. I think Mum makes two so there'll be leftovers for breakfast on boxing day. Mmm. Also need to get the recipe for the sauce. It's a great recipe though, puddinging but not too heavy.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons of sago
1 cup of milk
1 cup of breadcrumbs
1 cup of raisins (or mixed fruit?)
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon bi-carb soda
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg

To MakeSoak sago in milk overnight.
Melt butter.
Add wet and dry ingredients and mix well.
Pour into a greased (greased and lined) pudding container and set on a trivet and boil in plenty of water for three hours.
Rest slightly before turned out and setting alight with warmed brandy and eating with spice sauce, crean and icecream.

Lemon tart

I love lemon tart and it's quite easy to make. I use a tart tin with a removable base; the wider, flatter tin if the tart has to be served soon after baking or is serving lots of people. But I think the deeper tin gives a nicer result with a higher ratio of curd to pastry. The lemon curd filling I use is pretty much as described in the Cook's Companion. The pastry is super easy, indeed it's not even proper pastry, it's a biscuit crust. I usually make the larger quantity and freeze what I'm not using. Then when I need to make a tart, break off a piece, whack it in the microwave to soften and then press it into the tart tin. However, I've recently realised that if you like a crisp pastry, the filling needs to be added while it's still warm. Either straight out of the oven or baked the day before and warmed up (I'm pretty sure that would work, my theory being that the lemon curd starts to cook quicker and not soak into the pastry if it's already warm).

First, make the base as described here. Then for the filling, you will need:

3 large (or up to six small) lemons
6 eggs
250g casor sugar
200 ml pure cream

1. Preheat oven to 160 C
2. Wash the lemons in warm soapy water, rinse and dry well. This is really important if the lemons have supermarket wax on them. Less so if they're from a tree out the back.
3. Peel the zest (ie the yellow part of the skin) from the lemons being careful not to get any of the white pith. If you do get some pith, cut it out because it's yucky and will add bitterness rather than zing. I use a sharp potato/vegetable peeler with light strokes. It's tedious but worth it.
4. Chop the lemon rind into pieces and then grind them very finely with some of the caster sugar. I have an old electric coffee grinder that I use for this. A food processor or bamix nut grinder works just as well. If you have neither, then chop the lemon rind as fine as you can with a knife. I dislike pieces of rind in lemon tart, so this is an important step for me.
5. Juice lemons and strain the pips and pulp out.
6. Mix juice, lemon rind, sugar, eggs and cream in a big bowl with a ballon whisk or similar. It doesn't have to be beaten, just really well combined.
7. Taste for sweet/sour balance and add a little more sugar or lemon juice if necessary. I like my lemon tart to hover on the edge of sour and if it tastes just a little sweeter than I'd like raw, it will usually be just right after baking. That said, if I'm baking for people I don't know or for a big group, I might make the filling a teensy bit sweeter than I'd really prefer. G likes it better this way too.
8. Place the warm baked tart tin on a tray in the oven and pour the filling into the case. When I remember I do this step with the tart base pretty much the oven to stop having to carry it across the kitchen.
9. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until almost set. Allow to cool for about half an hour before serving or it will fall apart. Yummo.

chocolate self-saucing pudding

Based on the recipe from Cooks Companion. Less sugar, plain brand cocoa (just don't use drinking chocolate with sugar in it), self-raising flour, brown sugar all the way through and more water. And no nuts, which just seem plain wrong to me in a pudding of this kind. Works fine if you forget to put the egg in. As I discovered tonight (come to think of it the mixture did seem a bit dry). But better with the egg. And ice-cream. Although cream will do. Really, really easy.

Ingredients


pudding
a scant cup of self-raising flour
pinch of salt
1/4 cup of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of cocoa
1/2 cup of milk
40g melted butter
1 egg
some vanilla
a shake of cinnamon

topping
1/4 cup of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of cocoa
1 1/2 cups of biloing water

To make
Preheat the oven to 180C. Put the kettle on. Grease a small deep baking dish. Mix all the pudding ingredients together. No need to use a beater. A spoon or small whisk will do.Sprinkle the dry topping ingredients over the top. Pour on the boiling water. Bake for about 30 minutes or until top is firm. Sit for 5 minutes (because the sauce will be really, really hot) and then eat with cream and/or icecream.

golden syrup dumplings

I adore these. They remind me of my childhood in the best possible way. We also made them at the cafe during winter and they were a bit of a hit; some people coming in especially on the days they were on. Which I think is a bit odd, because they are super easy to make and really best freshly cooked (although I do like them cold for breakfast, another childhood memory). G on the other hand, thinks they are horrid and a perfect illustration of bad anglo/australian cooking. Maybe it's the lemon. For me they have to be lemony.

It's really a boiled scone recipe and like with scones, it's important not to overhandle them. Quick and light is the way to do it.

Ingredients

For the dumplings
I cup white self-raising flour
pinch of salt
about 50 g butter
about 1/4 cup of half milk, half water

For the syrup
1/2 a cup of sugar
3/4 cup of golden syrup
juice of one reasonable sized lemon
2 cups of water

To make the dumplings

1. Chop the butter into small pieces and rub into flour and salt, lifting to aerate. Don't worry if tt's not compltely even.
2. Make a well in the centre of the mix and add in the milk/water mixing with a knife as you go, until you have a medium consistency scone like dough.
3. Knead very lightly and briefly in the bowl. Just enough to make the mixture cohere.
4. Roll into balls the size of a twenty cent piece (but round). The balls need to be reasonably smooth and well stuck together. Sit on a plate while you make the syrup.

To cook and serve

1. Bring the syrup ingredients to a slow boil in a medium size saucepan.
2. Drop balls into boiling syrup one at a time. They will puff up and double in size quite quickly.
3. Don't overcrowd them, I usually cook the dumplings in two batches, adding a little extra water to the second batch.
4. Move gently with a spoon to make sure they don't stick together.
5. Cook for three to four minutes or until they are done in the middle.
6. If you are not serving them straight away, store the dumplings on a tray and the remaining syrup in a separate container. They reheat pretty well in the microwave.
7. Serve 2 or 3 per person with a little extra syrup, warm and with cream or icecream. I like either and it's hard to pick which one, but unlike some in my family, I think cream and icecream together is an abomination. I tend to go with the icecream here. Hot, cold. Very sweet.

Red lentil, tomato and sweet potato soup

This would have to be my second favourite soup. After lentil and barley with herbs from the garden. I developed this based on something I had at a friend's house back when I had the cafe. A reliable seller at lunch, it was a bit fancier then, with coconut milk and coriander (powder and fresh as as garnish). These days I tend to do a simple version, although sometimes I add coriander, cummin and a touch of chilli. A couple of weeks ago though I had a beetroot from the garden already washed and peeled in the fridge. I chopped it up and threw it in. Extra sweetness and an earthy undertone. And the best colour. Really, really good.

Ingredients

a medium sweet potato (peeled and sliced)
a tin of Italian chopped tomatoes
a big onion
garlic (I use about half a head if it isn't that strong, but we like garlic here)
grated ginger (about a teaspoon or two, enough to give a zing without being overpowering)
a cup or so of red lentils
a big old beetroot (optional but really good, peeled and diced)

To make

1. Roughly chop the onions and garlic. Saute with the ginger in some olive oil with a pinch of salt. This would be the point when I would also add powdered coriander or cumin if I was using them.
2. Add the tomatoes and saute briefly.
3. Add about a litre and a half of water, the red lentils, the sweet potato and the beetroot.
4. Cook at a slow roll until everything is good and tender. Blend with the bamix. Check for salt, although I find if you add some at the beginning it tends not to need any at the end but everyone is different with their salt.

And there you have it. Ridiculously easy and very nice for lunch or dinner.

crinkles

These biscuits are from Still Life with Menu, ( Mollie Katzen, Ten Speed Press 1988) one of my favourite and most influential cookbooks. I've only made them once before and they are sensational. Don't be put off by the presence of molasses, it really works in these and is offset by the other sugar and spices. G suggested they needed ginger which I forgot and will definitely be adding next time. Please use the two different types of sugar, it does make a difference.

Ingredients

125 butter
1/4 cup molasses
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teasponn cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ginger
2 cups white self-raising flour
1 to 2 tablespoons additional white sugar

To make

1. Preheat oven to 170C. Line two biscuit trays with baking paper (I re-use mine because I'm cheap).
2. Melt the butter.  Add molasses, which may need a quick zap in the microwave to flow well enough for measuring. Beat the egg and add to cooled butter and molasses mixture.
3. Mix dry ingredients (except white sugar). Add the wet ingredients and mix. Use your hands to bring together into a soft dough.
4. Roll pieces of dough into small truffle sized balls. Dip in white sugar. Place on baking tray. Squash before baking (Grace loved doing this).
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until they puff up and fall down. Bake until darkish brown if you like a crisp biscuit. A beigey colur of you like a soft centre. I did some of each which is pretty unavoidable in our oven anyway.
6. Cool on a teatowel. Eat with soothing cups of tea.