Friday, August 20, 2010

Goldfish Cushion

My time over the last couple of months has been very busy with lots of travel. 

I have managed to find the time to complete a few projects. 
This is a cushion I made from teal goldfish fabric.
 

The fabric is from the Playdate collection by Patty Young from Michael Miller Fabrics. It is wonderful for kids clothing, home decorating or patchwork. I am a great fan of Patty Young. I love her fresh bright designs. 

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Sensational Saffron



This year we are trying to grow saffron.
This a photo of our first crop.

Tomatoes..

Its rapidly coming to the end of my favorite time of year Autumn. Cool crisp nights and warm days. Our fabulous tomato crop is at an end. It has been wonderful to have enough tomatoes to make into delicious preserves.
 
Try my recipe for Tomato and Chilli Jam which makes a great condiment for adding flavour to curries and stir frys.
















Tomato and Chilli Jam

Ingredients:

2kg ripe tomatoes, peeled and seeded
1kg raw sugar
120ml lemon juice
170 mls white wine vinegar
chillis to taste, use at least 10 mild to hot varieties
1T salt
80ml fish sauce

Directions:

1. Place tomatoes and sugar into a bowl stir in sugar, cover and leave overnight.
2. Transfer to a large pan and add remaining ingredients, bring to the boil.
3. Simmer, stiring ocasionally, until thick.
4. Drop a teaspoon of the jam onto a plate that has been chilled in the freezer for a few minutes, return saucer to the freezer for a few mins to chill jam. Jam should wrinkle when pushed with the finger.
5. Pour into hot sterilised jars and seal. When cool, label and store in a cool dark place.

Enjoy!!!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Giant Zucchinis.......

As usual at this time of year we have had an abundance of home grown xzucchinis. Sometimes you miss one and next thing its a giant... well first thing remove the seeds and save them for your next crop. then slice or grate the flesh to use in your favourite zucchini recipes.
 
Here is a delicious version of moussaka made with zucchini instead of the usual eggplant/aubergine.

Mouzzaka

Ingredients:
I large zucchini
1T oil
500 lamb mince
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 t cinnamon
4 tomatoes, chopped or a 400g can of crushed tomatoes
2T Butter
2T plain flour
1 t mustard
11/2 cups milk
salt and pepper
1 cup grated cheese

Method:
1 Slice zucchini into 1/2 cm slices lengthwise.
2 Heat oil in large saucepan and sweat onion 5 mins. add garlic and mince and cinnamon and stir until brown.
3. Add tomatoes and simmer 10 mins. Season to taste.
4. In a pan, melt butter. Remove from heat and stir in flour and mustard. Place back on heat and stir constantly for 1 min.
5. Remove from heat and blend in milk. Place back onto heat and stir constantly until boiling.
6. Assemble Moussaka; layer 1/2 the zucchini, then 1/2 the meat sauce. Sprinkle with cheese and layer with the rest of the zucchini slices and meat sauce. Cover with white sauce ( a little more milk can be blended through to make a pouring consistency) and top with cheese.
7. Bake at 180 deg C for 1hour. Serve with a green salad.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Cucumbers galore....

Food and Flicks.
Have you seen the wonderful movie Julie and Julia? Had a great night out at Food and Flicks at Reidsdale, just south of Braidwood. The beautiful venue...outdoors in the bush at the Old Cheese Factory. More information is available at www.braidwoodmade.com.au.

Back to the movie, what a great story. It's about Julia Child's story of her start in the cooking profession and is intertwined with blogger Julie Powell's 2002 challenge to cook all the recipes in Child's first book. It motivated me to write something about my passion for food.

As it is approaching the end of summer the garden is brimming with ripening tomatoes, lots of cucumbers, chillies and zucchinis. So the challenge is to preserve them for use when they aren't in season.

I have a great recipe for Crisp Cucumber Pickle Slices, here it is.

Crisp Cucumber Pickle Slices


Ingredients:


2 kg Lebanese cucumbers
3 medium onions
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup coarse cooking salt
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 t turmeric
1/2 t celery seeds
1 t mustard seeds

Method:
  1. Slice cucumbers thinly, do not peel, slice onions (I use white onions), peel garlic. Place in a large bowl.
  2. Sprinkle with the salt and cover with crushed ice for 4 hours at least. Drain well. Slice garlic if you want to.
  3. Mix all other ingredients in a large saucepan, bring to boil stirring constantly, add cucumbers.
  4. Pour into warm sterilised jars and seal immediately.

Preserving Tips:
  • Sterilised jars by placing 1 cm water in the bottom and microwave on high power for 1 minute in the microwave. Do not place metal lids in microwave. To sterilise lids place in bowl and pour boiling water over.
  • Preserves should be labeled with the title, date, ingredients and name of cook.
  • Abr: t = teaspoon T = tablespoon

Monday, February 15, 2010

Historic Braidwood

 

















This is Braidwood, NSW, Australia. We have the Airing of the Quilts festival on the last weekend of November. It is a great weekend to visit our little town. Quilts are aired, hanging from the balconies of historic buildings.

We have a market , many exhibitions and open gardens.

Spring is a beautiful time of year to visit this part of Australia