edible culture

Lemon apple compote

2011-07-23T16:01:00.007+10:00

Get
5 medium granny smith apples
1 large juicy lemon
1 tbsp agave sirup
1/4 cup boiling water

Do
Peel and core the apples and slice into a saucepan.
Add lemon juice and flesh.
Add boiling water.
Cover the pot and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 10 minutes until the apples break down.
Remove from the heat. Add the agave sirup and mix in.
Cool.
Serve with yoghurt.

This compote has a slightly sour character and tastes a little like lemon sago. It needs a lot of lemon juice.

Winter Banana with Macadamia Nuts

2011-07-21T15:24:00.014+10:00

Get
Bananas (Cavendish bananas rather than Sugar bananas)
Macadamia (or any other) nuts
(Macadamia ) Oil
Agave nectar or Maple Syrup

Do
Coat flat baking dish with oil, cut up bananas lengthwise, arrange in dish, sprinkle a bit of syrup over the bananas. Put a few nuts on top and let stand on the winter oven to cook over a long period. When the room is filled with fragrant banana the dish is ready. Beware of letting it go black!
In the daytime watch the King-Parrots (Alisterus scapularis) in the banana plants.

Pilgrim biscuits

2010-12-26T17:02:00.007+11:00

get
250 g unsalted butter
4 tbsp clear organic honey
2 eggs
100 - 200g organic macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
400g spelt flour

do
Beat the soft butter with a wooden spoon in a bowl. Add 2 tbsp honey while beating.
Use a whisk to beat in the eggs one at a time, alternating with the remaining honey.
When smooth, resume beating with the wooden spoon. Mix in half the flour gradually while beating, then the chopped macadamia nuts.
Add as much of the remaining flour to create a sticky mass (maybe all of it).
Cool in the fridge for at least half an hour.
Using 2 tablespoons. place heaped spoonfuls of the mixture on a buttered baking tray. They will spread out while baking. You can make them round or oblong according to the shape of your spoonfuls.
Bake for 25 minutes at 190°c on the second shelf from the bottom of the oven.
These soft biscuits are best served cut into slices. The biscuits are reminiscent of the twice baked almond biscotti from Tuscany. Also known as biscuits of Prato. As we would like to keep it local they are made from regional ingredients.

Pilgrimage, because the Way of St. James in Europe seems walkable and relative car-free. On the French section these nibbles would come in handy out of the backpack.

Garfish: a blog review

2010-10-25T21:54:00.009+11:00

We were not present at the food bloggers’ night, but as we are the food blog nearest to Garfish and we do go there quite often, we will take this opportunity to review it.

Garfish is one of our preferred restaurants in Manly. There is always a good choice of fish and a range of interesting side dishes to go with it according to your taste. This is excellent flexibility. The chefs are very serious and visible and there is no question about the right of customers to send back food if they are not satisfied and have it corrected. But usually this is not necessary.

The staff are usually very pleasant. Occasionally we have experienced inadequately trained staff.
The main obstacle at Garfish is the traffic. It is better in winter or on a rainy day because the windows are closed. When it is fine, with the windows open, the car fumes can be very unpleasant, especially when they are jammed up at the lights as they usually are in Manly on a weekend at lunchtime. Motor bikes and vintage cars are the worst.
The second structural problem is the smoking area at the entrance. Again the windows are usually open when it is fine and the smoke fills the entire eating area. If you complain about the smoke the staff ask the smokers to stop, but complaining somehow spoils the ambience (am I the management?). In the interests of customers and staff if would be advisable to prevent smoke drift

It could also be informative to display information about fish and food on the plasma display panel instead of videocapture 'boat parking on the harbour'. Some customers would like to know where the fish/seafood is sourced from, aquaculture, place of origin etc.

UPDATE 14082011
After many disappointing meals we do not go there anymore...

Image: The roofed smoking area of Garfish, view of Wentworth St, Manly

Red Cabbage and Beetroot Stew

2010-09-19T19:51:00.017+10:00

Get
Half a medium size red cabbage
A bunch of beetroot
3 small onions
3 bay leaves
Some agave syrup

Some Feta (Goat)
2 Tsp wholemeal flour
Marjoram
Olive oil

Do
Steam and peel the beets. Cut onions in wedges, fry in oil. Dice the cabbage finely. Fry, then add a little bit of boiling water. Add the bay, cover and let simmer for 15 minutes. Chop the beet in to large pieces, add a few drops of agave syrup, cover and simmer till all is heated.

Mix the flour and Marjoram on a large plate. Cut up the feta in 1 cm high wedges. Press them into the flour mixture a couple of times till it sticks. Oil a backing dish, place wedges gently on it and cook for 20 min at 200 °C or until the feta is golden and crisp.Serve with steamed potatoes, yogurt with a bit of chives and a green salad.

Sugar Banana Cake

2010-09-04T16:13:00.007+10:00

We were fortunate to be able to harvest these bananas from a tree in the garden whilst in the Dorrigo/ Bellingen region. The recipe will work with any bananas of course. You can use more bananas mashed up and vary the amount of macadamia nuts. There is a fine balance between underbaking and leaving a soft uncooked centre and overbaking leaving the cake too brown.

Get
300g organic macadamias
10 fat ripe sugar bananas (more if small)
some lemon juice
6 tbsp honey
4 eggs separated
140g unsalted butter
half a vanilla pod
some grated lemon rind
about 150g flour
4 tsp baking powder (no aluminium or phosphate, quantity depends on the type of baking powder, do not use too much)

Do
Peel 4 bananas, cut them up and sprinkle with lemon juice. Set aside.
Beat the butter in a large bowl with a wooden spoon until it is soft. Beat in alternately the egg yolks and 5 tbsp honey. Beat well into a soft mixture.
Mash the remaining 6 bananas. Beat them into the mixture one at a time.
Cut the vanilla pod along one side and scrape the inside into the mixture. Grate a little lemon rind into it.
Grate 250g macadamias finely. Beat them into the mixture gradually.
Add the flour a tablespoon at a time while beating. Alternately add the baking powder so it mixes in evenly. Only use enough flour so that the mixture is thick but still falls slowly - “heavily” - from the spoon (maybe only 3-4 tbsps). Beat well.Whip the egg whites until stiff, then add the remaining honey and continue beating until stiff.
Lift the egg whites under the mixture.
Preheat the oven to 190°. Butter a baking ring (spring form) and dust it with a little flour.
Add 2/3 of the mixture to the form and spread it evenly to cover the whole bottom. Place the banana pieces on top and press in a little. Cover with the remaining mixture.
Bake on the 2nd shelf from the bottom for 35 minutes. If it starts to get too brown cover it with paper after 25 minutes. It should be golden. Test with a thin knife that it is cooked. The knife should come out clean. If it is not clean, return covered to the oven for another 10 minutes and test again.
Remove from form and cool.
Store in a linen cloth.

Macadamia-Lime Marzipan Macaroons with Honey

2010-08-30T18:34:00.024+10:00

No eggs, no flour, no dairy, no sugar.

This recipe is quite simple to make and takes little time. You can vary the amount of honey and lime to taste. Use a local honey. Tallow wood is good in Australia, Linden in Europe.

Get
500 g organic macadamia nuts, raw
8 tbsp honey, e.g. tallow wood, or linden, lime flowers
3-4 limes

Do
Grate nuts finely with a hand grater. Add honey and mix in. Add enough of the lime juice to make a paste. It should hold all the gratings together. The paste is quite sticky.
Preheat the oven to 180°c. Oil 2 baking trays (use macadamia oil or butter).
Use 2 spoons to form the paste into almost oval shaped pieces and place them on the baking dishes.
Bake for 12 minutes on the second shelf from the bottom until slightly golden. Turn off oven. Leave in open oven for another 10 minutes.
Remove from baking trays onto plates.
Cool.
These macaroons are quite moist because of the lime juice. Store on a plate wrapped in a linen cloth to prevent them becoming soggy.
An alternative presentation is to spread the paste onto the baking trays and cut it into rectangles when it is baked.

Serve with herbal tea, such as Lemon-scented verbena, Lime flowers , Lemon Myrtle, (Backhousia citriodora) or any other drink you fancy
Alterations for the southern hemisphere could be to use Australian limes, such as Citrus glauca, C. australasica or C. australis

Lemon slices

2010-08-23T21:28:00.005+10:00

This is a new recipe for lemon slices which we developed while living next to a few well-endowed lemon trees. The slices are very juicy and the filling is very thick. It is an alternative to the lemon slices recipe previously published, but more time consuming.

get
300 g light wholemeal flour
2 tbsp honey
1 egg
140 g butter

500 g almonds
5 tbsp honey
4 juicy lemons

7 tbsp icing sugar

do
Add honey then egg in the middle of the flour in a bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon into a paste and then into the flour. Add butter in flakes. Knead to a pastry. If it is sticky add more flour. If it is too dry, add more butter. Cool for 15 minutes covered with a linen cloth (tea towel).
Blanch almonds. Grate finely with a hand grater.
Grate the lemon peel into the almond meal. Add the juice of 3.5 lemons. Add the honey. Mix to a sticky paste.Sieve the icing sugar. Add lemon juice slowly until it is a thick liquid while mixing with a spoon. If there is too much lemon juice add the rest to the almond paste.
Preheat the oven at 190°c. Butter two baking trays.
Roll out half of the pastry on a linen tea towel. Turn it over from time to time and use the tea towel to fold over and straighten the the edges. Roll out a thin pastry, rectangular if your baking tray is rectangular. When it is as thin as possible, turn it again and cut into the pastry along the middle so two identical rectangles are mirrored by the cut.
Spread half of the almond paste on one side evenly, right to the edges. Use the tea towel to lift to other side onto the first so it fits exactly. Use the flat edge of a knife to press the almond paste inside the pastry, straightening the edges.
Place on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes on the second shelf from the bottom.
Remove from the oven and paint with half of the icing while hot. Allow to cool.
Repeat with the other half of the pastry and the rest of the almond paste.
When cool, or before serving, cut off edges for private use. Cut into slices about 2 x 6 cm for public presentation.Store on a plate wrapped in a fine linen cloth. Linen is highly absorbent so the biscuits will remain dry. Do not put in a tin or under a bowl or they will go soggy quickly. Use fine linen to prevent linen fibre getting on the biscuits.

Chilli Hot Bean Soup

2010-07-19T18:57:00.024+10:00

"A world in which many worlds are possible."

Zapatista slogan, via Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Commonwealth, 2009

Chilli hot bean soup or
Bishops Crown Red (Barbados) capsicum soup with Pintos/ Barlottis - another Meso-american inspired mash-up from the garden.

GET
500 g Pintos/or Barlotti beans
Olive oil, organic
3 medium onions, chopped
6+ large cloves Russian Garlic (Allium Ampeloprasum) sliced or minced
500 g ripe Tomatoes, peeled, diced
350 g Bishops Crown Red peppers / any red Capsicum
4 fresh red hot Chillies (know your variety!)
400 g Carrots
2 Zucchinis
500 ml hot vegetable stock/ water
Some Herbs: Bay leaves, Marjoram, Rosemary, Parsley
Ground black pepper

DO
Soak beans overnight. Boil with 3 bay leaves and some pepper corns.

Cut onion finely and sauté in a large pot. Add chopped carrots, fry. Add the diced tomatoes and some herbs. Cover and simmer for a short time.

Cut and seed capsicums and chillies, cut into thin strips. Keep a bit of the capsicum aside. Toss in most of the garlic. Add to vegetable pot. Pour in as much stock so that all vegetables are covered.

When the beans are cooked, remove bay leaves and pour contents into the other pot. Add the finely cubed zucchinis. Simmer, add more stock if required. Shortly before serving, add the remaining garlic, capsicum and chopped parsley for of a dash of colour.

Serve with corn bread, a crisp green salad and a good conversation about inspiring books. Black Sapote for a cooling dessert.

Asparagus with Parmesan

2010-05-07T01:18:00.023+10:00

Get
1 kg of Asparagus ( Asparagus officinalis )
Some Parmesan (Parmigiano-Reggiano)
Some good Olive Oil
Some Parseley

Do
Wash the asparagus
Snap off the woody bits at the bottom
Peel with asparagus peeler
Keep peel and bottom bits for a vegetable stock (in fridge)
Boil water in steamer and add vegetables
Simmer at low heat for 15 minutes
Shave Parmesan finely

Arrange asparagus on warm platter. Dribble some of the olive oil on them.
Sprinkle with the Parmesan flakes. Add some chopped parseley around the edge of plate.

Serve with fresh potatoes or any other dish.

Should you have picked some wild green asparagus (Ornithogalum pyrenaicum), steam for a shorter time or serve raw.

Pear apple pie

2009-09-28T18:03:00.010+10:00

Get organic
450g wholemeal spelt flour
1 heaped tbsp honey
2 eggs
125g butter

1 kg ripe yellow pears
500g apples
1 tbsp water
150g almonds

50g icing sugar
pear schnapps

Do
Put flour in a large bowl.
Add honey in the middle and eggs.
Mix together with some flour into a paste.
Cut in butter. Mix.
Knead together into a pastry. Add more flour if sticky, more butter if not smooth. Cool.

Peel pears and apples and core them. Slice into a large pot. Slice the apples very thinly, pears more chunky.
Add water and cook at a medium temperature on the stove with the lid on until soft. Use apples which break down into a mash quickly. The pears should keep their shape. Turn of heat.
Finely grate 100g almonds with a hand grater.
Blanch 50g whole almonds.
Add to the apples. Mix carefully.

Butter a 28 cm round spring form.
Cut pastry into 3 pieces for the pie (2 equal, one smaller).
Roll out one piece for the bottom, make 3 cm sides with the small piece. Save the other piece for the top.
Cover the bottom of the pie shell with greaseproof paper and put a few weights on it (e.g. nuts or metal spoons).
Bake on second shelf for 10 minutes at 190°.
Remove from oven, remove paper and weights.
Fill the pie with the pear-apple mixture.
Roll out the remaining pastry and cover the pie with it.
Press down the edges using a patterned object (e.g. knife tip, lemon zester) to seal the pie.
Bake a further 20 minutes.
Loosen the pie from the bottom and sides of the form with a knife after 30 minutes and remove from form . Cool.
Sieve icing sugar. Mix in pear schnapps until a sticky mass forms. Paint this on the pie with a spoon and smooth over. Use lemon juice as an alternative to alcohol.

This is more a pear pie than an apple pie so it is important to use apples that break down into a mash quickly when cooking them, e.g. rubinola. Pears give off quite a lot of juice when cooking so the ground almonds are necessary to soak it up. The whole almonds give a pleasant surprise.
>> Apple pie

Beetroot Soup

2009-09-14T22:20:00.010+10:00

Get organic
8 medium beetroots
(Beta vulgaris)
4 medium potatoes
4 medium young parsley roots
4 medium onions
Some olive oil, a bay leaf, caraway seeds, lovage
1 l vegetable stock
1 TBS agave syrup/honey

Herbs, chopped: dill, chives, parsely
1 cup of kefir/ joghurt

DO
Boil cleaned beets, potatoes and parsnip till tender, peel them. Chop onions finely, fry in olive oil. When golden, add cubed vegetables. Cover with hot vegetable stock, add dry herbs and syrup. Simmer for 25 min. Add more stock so all is covered. Serve with the fresh herbs and dairy hot or cold.

This Borscht-like vegetarian soup comes in many varieties. ( Borscht, East Prussian, Lithuanian, Polish, etc.) Which ever way the beets are prepared, the B6 and B2 have many health benefits.

Chanterelle with Eggs and Herbs

2009-09-12T23:03:00.013+10:00

GET organic
500 g Chanterelle
4 eggs
60 g butter/or some olive oil
2 TBS parsley or chives, chopped
Optional: 2 TBS cream/chopped onions

DO
Wash golden chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius), (images) dry well on towel. Chop mushrooms in half. Heat butter in pan. Beat eggs. (Can add optional cream to egg mixture. If onions are to be used, fry them.) The butter not too hot, add mushrooms. When golden, pour egg mixture on top, turn heat down. Sprinkle with some of the herbs. When cooked, serve with the rest of the herbs.

An alternative way is to do the mushrooms in a separate pan and the eggs, scrambled or as omelette in another. This dish is a good breakfast, but also a hearty dinner, served with steamed potatoes and a green salad.

Fish Mashup and Mad Cow for Dinner?

2009-06-18T11:35:00.007+10:00

Would you eat fish that has been caged and fed cow meat or bone meal that could possibly be infected with mad cow disease?

Creutzfeldt Jakob disease can be transmitted through the byproducts rendered from cows.

Scientist are now urging “government regulators to ban feeding cow meat or bone meal to fish until the safety of this common practice can be confirmed...We have not proven that it’s possible for fish to transmit the disease to humans. Still, we believe that out of reasonable caution for public health, the practice of feeding rendered cows to fish should be prohibited"

There are many health issues associated with aquafarming for the consumer, the fish and the environment.

Eating fish in restaurants (in Manly, Sydney) one rarely can make an informed decision whether the animal is sourced from aquaculture or caught in the wild. The menus do not specify such relevant information. The place of origin can be at times elicited from the staff. The right to know seems an irritating extra to staff and management when any other retailer has to display the content on the commodity.

Traceability in the age of RFID belongs to product integrity.

Ask for certified organic products or just go vegetarian.

Source: IOS Press BV (2009, June 17). Farmed Fish May Pose Risk For Mad Cow Disease.
Image: Henri Le Secq, 1855-1856 via Zeno

Soya semolina with pear compote

2009-06-17T18:52:00.009+10:00

GET
1 cup wholemeal semolina
1 litre non genetically modified soya milk
1 tbsp agave syrup

6 organic brown pears
1 cup water
1 tbsp honey

DO
Bring the soya milk to boiling point in a saucepan. Slowly sprinkle the semolina onto the surface while stirring over a low flame. Stir until it thickens. Continue stirring and cooking for about 15 minutes, adding more liquid to prevent it becoming too thick. Add agave syrup. Pour into a bowl and cover. Cool.

In between stirring, peel the pears and core them. Cut small pieces into a saucepan. Pour boiling water over the peeled pears, cover and boil again. Remove from the heat. After 5 minutes stir in the honey. Cool in a bowl.
Serve together.
Image: Meyers Encyclopedia, Peartree 1905, via Zeno

Sydney Restaurants And Risky Behaviour

2009-05-19T12:54:00.013+10:00

A Sydney fish market stored its crabs in a toilet cubicle...SMH

We have pointed out the risky nature of eating at restaurants and suggested improvements.
A coackroach in a meal in one of Manly's 'better restaurants' put an abrupt end to 'eating out'. These unsanitary and unprofessional practices are not the exception in Sydney.

"The past 12 months has seen a number of disturbing breaches on the name and shame list, including cockroaches, rats, a band-aid, a cigarette butt and now this case." SMH "The Food Authority... has issued 1,000 fines the past 12 months against 594 businesses." ABC.
A small fine and it is back to 'business as usual'.

Food Authority NSW

Fruit & Vegetables and Persistent Organic Pollutants in Australia

2009-05-13T14:35:00.013+10:00

Eat only organic fruit and vegetables

"The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is an international environmental treaty that aims to eliminate or restrict the production and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) ." Wikipedia

In Geneva 150 governments have met to advance global efforts to rid the world of some of the most hazardous chemicals produced by humankind, such as pesticides, flame retardants. The list includes "Alpha hexachlorocyclohexane; Beta hexachlorocyclohexane; Hexabromodiphenyl ether and heptabromodiphenyl ether; Tetrabromodiphenyl ether and pentabromodiphenyl ether; Chlordecone; Hexabromobiphenyl; Lindane; Pentachlorobenzene; Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, its salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride." UNEP

"According to the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicine Authority website, Lindane is still registered for use in Queensland, and is used for the prevention of white grubs and symphylids in pineapples." abc

"Australia refuses to join ban on pesticide". Endosulfan is used "...on a variety of crops, including tomatoes, carrots, beans, sweetcorn, peas, cereals, oilseeds, citrus fruit and cotton.This stance has placed Australia in the minority of major economies still using the pesticide, along with the United States, Brazil and India" SMH

Update:
Australia might be 'forced' to stop using poisons on food."Endosulfan has been linked to breast cancer, immunosuppression and birth defects, and was recently implicated in the discovery of millions of two-headed fish larvae in a Noosa River hatchery...It is still permitted for use on a wide range of citrus fruit, vegetables and cereals, despite a global trend of banning endosulfan outright." SMH 251009

Mushrooms - Saffron Milk Cup & Slippery Jack

2009-05-09T19:20:00.006+10:00

Found two unusual mushrooms at the Manly Farmers Market. Both seem to be naturalised in Australia, especially in Pinus radiata plantations.

The one on the left is Slippery Jack (Suillus luteus) and the one on the right Saffron Milk Cup (Lactarius deliciosus).

With the Saffron Milk Cup, remove the stems, wash and cut. Fry in olive oil.
Nami-nami has a' Wild Mushroom & Potato Gratin' for their "bountiful" harvest.

The Slippery! Jack: Peel, wash, check for grubs/worms. Be aware that some people are allergic to them or dispute that they are edible at all. Cut and fry in butter if there weren't too many bugs that turned you off.

Slow Coffee

2009-05-01T23:14:00.008+10:00

The dictatorship of speed requires ubiquitous instantaneity. The cup of coffee has to be ready in no time in the home, work-space or 'on the run'. Machines sell this handy illusion. By now there must be mountains of junkspace from electric coffee machines consisting mainly of plastics.
Ever larger machines developed for the service industry and the home market. The person handling and maintaining the automat became the barista. The problem with all machines of production is that they are supposed to 'make money' and some coffee on the side and not be a cost-factor. Unserviced machines, temps instead of an trained barista, chemical residues or rancid milk make for an awful cup. The grinding and treatment of the oily coffee beans, as well as the daily clean also contribute the the aroma of the "beans". Power uncertainty and the need for an array of (cleaning) products put the user in a position of dependence. It is also a good idea to refrain from all plastic parts in any coffee equipment or beverage cups.

If one has time to drink - then one probably has the time to let it drip through. So I propose that a porcelain filter with unbleached filter papers is the most mobile, space-saving and sustainable method. Simply use your hands to pour the boiling water slowly on the gound coffee to release the flavour. A preheated coffee pot helps. Rewash porcelain filter and feed paper filter and coffee ground to the worms in the compost. They love speed and a junk-free world.

On roasting & different methods to make coffee

Image: Hans Baluschek, 1895, Kaffeklatsch, via Zeno

Reassortment in Meat Biomass

2009-04-28T20:53:00.016+10:00

Beetroots with Red Rice and Pine Nuts

2009-04-23T17:41:00.014+10:00

GET
500 g Beetroot
250 g Thai Red Jasmine Rice/or Camargue red rice
1 cup of Pine nuts/ Macademia

Dressing:
Some Olive oil
Some Mirin/Lemon juice

Garnish:
Greens leaves of (rucola, parsely etc)
Optional:
Yogurt with garlic

DO
Steam rice. Cook beets and peel. Prepare a dressing from the olive oil and mirin. Pour 1/3 over the cooked rice and the rest over the warm, peeled and cubed beets. Roast the nuts. Arrange green leaves on a platter. Place rice in the middle and the beet cubes in a ring around it. Sprinkle the warm nuts on the rice. Serve hot or cold. Yogurt with or without garlic could be served with it. Feta also fits well.

Image: Beuckelaer, Joachim, 1564, Detail of Market Woman with Fruit, Vegetables and Poultry via Zeno

Macadamia bush cookies

2009-04-19T13:26:00.006+10:00

Quantities of ingredients are very flexible with this recipe. The main thing is to get the texture right by balancing other ingredients with the right amount of flour. Increase the quantity of nuts and decrease the amount of flour as required. Who has scales in the bush anyway?

Get
250g unsalted butter
4-5 tbsp bush honey
250g macadamia nuts, finely grated by hand
about 500g wholemeal spelt flour
Do
Beat soft butter with honey. Use more honey if you like.
Mix in grated macadamia nuts.
Add flour gradually while beating until the mixture is not sticky. Knead with hands to get the pastry to a non-stick consistency.
Cool
Roll out on a floured linen tea towel into a flat rectangular shape. Cut out rectangular biscuits with a knife and decorate each biscuit with the knife tip in the shape of a star. Place them on a buttered tray.
Bake at 180° on the second oven shelf for about 12 minutes (depending on the size and thickness of the biscuits). Biscuits should be cooked through but light in colour.
Cool. Store in a tin.
Image: Cézanne, Paul, Detail of The Sideboard, 1873–1877 via Zeno

Guava Compote - The Dorrigo Way

2009-04-18T19:40:00.008+10:00

Guava or Feijoa (Psidium) are, like other good foods, cultivated in the neotropic ecozone. Here, on the feet of Dorrigo National Park they are allowed to go 'feral' like so many other flora and fauna.

Collecting the ripe fruit, they exude a strong fragrance filling rooms for hours.

Compote
The scooped out fruit-pulp can be cooked with a bit of water. If you do not like the large seeds, strain them. This is best done (Ad alarm!) with a chinois strainer and the matching beechwood conical pestle. Add a dash of honey and cool. Local wild-foods connoisseurs, who inspired this method of preparation, use the skins and seeds as well to prepare the compote. Serve with yogurt.

Others use the fruit to bake a 'Guava and macadamia torte' or use them for dressing.

Davidson's plum sauce

2009-01-22T19:31:00.013+11:00

get
1 kg Davidson's plums, images of the Australian rainforest tree
1kg organic raw sugar
1 cup water

do
Place the plums with the water in a large pot. Boil. Allow to cook for 15 minutes until the plums break down.
Press the plum mass through a fine sieve to remove the seeds, so that a smooth sour liquid is formed. Return it to the stove and reheat.
Add the sugar and allow to simmer for 10 minutes until the sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally.
Use less or more sugar according to your preference (see tip below).
Bottle it up in jars or bottles and store in the fridge.
Serve cold with yoghurt or ice cream on a hot day.

tip
Because Davidson's plums are extremely sour - too sour to even try to eat raw - they need a lot of sugar. It is always good to reduce sugar wherever possible, but in this recipe quite a lot is used. You can try to cut it back, but test the sauce while preparing it otherwise it may be too sour for you or your friends to eat.

The plums can be frozen for several months before using them in this way. It also is very delicious with ice cream or jogurt.

Image 1. Plum sauce 2. Biscuits with Davidson's jam/sauce, Davidson's plum and leaf

Macadamia Honey Biscuits

2009-01-18T13:08:00.006+11:00

get
250g organic unsalted butter
170g organic honey (bush honey)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2/3 nutmeg, grated
250g organic chopped macadamia nuts
600g organic spelt flour

do
Beat butter and honey smooth with a wooden spoon.
Add cinnamon and nutmeg. Beat.
Mix in nuts.
Mix in 550g flour and knead into a dry dough. Add more flour if sticky. Cool for 15+ minutes.
Preheat oven to 190°c.

Sprinkle a little of the remaining flour on a tea towel (linen). Roll our half of the pastry quite thin. This will further crush some of the nuts. Turn the pastry once or twice so it does not stick to the cloth.
Stamp out biscuits. Press down hard to cut through any large pieces of nut.
Butter a baking tray.
Place the biscuits on it and bake in the oven for 13 minutes on the second shelf from the bottom.
Repeat until all the dough is used up.
Store in a tin.
Image: Franz Marc, Wheat, 1907 via Zeno

Greek Vegetable Casserole with Feta

2009-01-05T17:31:00.018+11:00

Get
4 - 5 large waxy peeled potatoes
1 - 2 large aubergines
5 - 6 zucchinis
2 - 3 large carrots
1 - 2 large onions
10 tomatoes
6 - 10 cloves of garlic
2 bay leaves
Some peppercorns & marjoram, fresh parsley
Olive oil

200 g Goats milk feta (for 2 people)
Flour & Olive oil

Brown rice (optional)

Do
Fry onion in olive oil, add chopped carrots, then add chopped potato chunks.
Skin tomatoes and roll aubergine pieces in salt, let them drain.
Cut zucchinis & garlic and set aside.
After 15 min. of soaking, wash aubergine and drain well.
Cut skinned tomatoes small. Add aubergine and tomatoes to the pot.
All vegies should be well covered, if not, add a little vegetable stock or boiling water.
Add herbs and pepper, simmer till the potatoes are tender.
Then add the zucchini for a short time.
Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley

Cut the FETA into 4 wedges
Roll in flower & put on a greased baking dish
Cook in the oven till golden (for 20 min at approx. 200 degrees, second shelf from the bottom)

Can be served with steamed brown rice, but if a lot of potatoes are included, rice is not necessary.
Image 2: Renoir, Pierre-Auguste, 1881, via Zeno

Nut ring with currants. (Sand cake)

2008-12-27T15:58:00.010+11:00

Get
200g blanched almonds
100g currants
100g macadamia nuts
250g butter
4 heaped tbsp honey
8 eggs
350g wholemeal organic spelt flour
1 tbsp pear schnapps
butter paper

Do
Preheat the oven to 190°C.
Grind 150g almonds with a hand mill. Wash and dry currants and roll them in a little flour to keep them separate. Chop the remaining almonds and the macadamias.
Separate the eggs. Beat the whites stiff. Add 1 tbsp honey and beat again until very stiff. Set aside.
Beat the butter smooth. Add the remaining honey and beat together. Add egg yolks one at a time and beat well each time. Beat until smooth.
Add a little flour to the egg yolk mixture and mix it in. Add alternately flour and almond meal beating each time. When the mixture becomes too thick, add some of the beaten egg white alternately with the flour and almond meal.
Lightly mix under the egg white foam and the remaining flour and almond meal. Lift under the chopped nuts and the currants. Lightly mix under the schnapps.
Butter a 28cm baking ring form and powder the surface with a little flour.
Add the mixture evenly and press down lightly. Flatten the surface.
Bake in the oven on the second shelf from the bottom for 40 minutes. Then cover the cake with a piece of greaseproof paper and turn off the oven. Leave the cake in the closed hot oven for a further 20 minutes.
Remove from the form and cool.

Tip
An alternative to schnapps is rum, e.g. Bundaberg rum.
Image 2: Part of Vallotton, Felix, via Zeno

Macadamia Falafel

2008-11-16T18:23:00.008+11:00

get
200g Macadamia nuts
4 tbsp hulled tahini
1 small onion
several tips of fresh thyme and lemon thyme
4 tbsp erganic wholemeal spelt flour
water

do
Grate the macadamia nuts with a hand grinder into a large bowl. Chop the onion finely and add it. Chop and add the thyme. Add the tahini and mix thoroughly into a thick mass. Press it down firmly with a spoon.
Place the flour on a large plate.
Pour some water into an open bowl.
Use 2 tablespoons or one spoon and 1 clean hand to make the falafels. Wet your hands in the water. Wet the spoon(s). Scoop out one spoonful of the mixture and flatten it with your wet hand or the other wet spoon. Remove from the spoons. It comes off easily because the spoons are wet. Roll the falafel in the flour and leave it on the flour. Repeat with all the mixture wetting the spoon(s) and/or hand each time. Add more flour if necessary. Roll from time to time in the flour.
Fry the falafels in olive oil on a low flame until golden (light brown).
Serve with hummus and tabbouleh

Tip
Some cultures find it unacceptable to use the hands directly with food preparation, others find it essential, albeit if they are clean. In Germany, it is widely held that a lettuce cannot be cut with a knife but must be torn with hands. Some research shows that a cut lettuce releases bitter substances. Knigge asserts (German) that a lettuce should never be cut with a knife.
Image: Ambrosius Bosschaert, Still life, Fruit and Grasshopper, approx. 1635–1640

Baked macadamia pumpkin

2008-10-30T10:37:00.001+11:00

Get
1 butternut pumpkin, (Cucurbita moschata) about 1 kg
1 small brown onion
100g macadamia nuts
fresh thyme tips or lemon thyme or both
150g cheese for baking, e.g. young gouda, or low-salt elbo style cheese with vegetarian enzymes (”Nimbin”), cheddar

Do
Cut pumpkin lengthwise in two. Remove the seeds.
Steam the halves until quite soft for about 30 minutes depending on the size. Not too soft or it will become unstable. Let it cool down briefly for handling.
Place the halves face up in two baking dishes or in one large one.
Scrape out most of the flesh into a bowl leaving about 1 cm depth above the skin.
Mash the flesh. Add the finely chopped onion. Grate in the macadamia nuts with a hand grater. Add the chopped thyme. Mix all ingredients together.
Fill the mash into the pumpkin shells.
Top with cheese.

Bake at 190°C on the second shelf of the oven for 30 - 40 minutes until they are golden.

Tip
The amount of ingredients depends on the size of the pumpkin. The above amounts are for a small butternut, but should be increased proportionally for larger pumpkins. This recipe is also delicious with other types of pumpkin, especially if they are fleshy rather than watery. It is important that the flesh is cooked soft.
Images: 1. Pumpkin, not Butternut and 2. unshelled macadamia nuts

Black Sapote

2008-10-29T12:58:00.004+11:00

Most people are familiar with the orange persimmon fruit, but the black variety is better than any chocolate mousse.The Black Sapote (Diospyros d igyna) has been cultured in Mexico, Central America and India. The green fruit can be obtained, the flesh will ripen into a chocolate-like mousse ("Chocolate pudding fruit"). One has to get the timing right – because over ripeness can change the taste a lot. In Mexico the fruit pulp is mixed with orange juice and honey, but it is awesome just on its own.Thanks to the Nahuan language speakers of Mesoamerica, yet again for culturing this plant.
More Images at Google

Hummus and Tabbouleh

2008-10-14T10:29:00.000+11:00

GET
Chickpeas
1 cup organic washed chickpeas
3- 6 cloves of garlic
200 g organic hulled tahini
4 lemons, lemon juice (do not use preserved lemon juice!)
cooking water, to make a paste
Olive oil

Tabouleh
1 cup of organic Bulghur
2 bunches of flat (organic) parsley or more
6-7 medium organic ripe tomatoes
3 sprigs of mint, (round leaf for tea)
3-4 cloves of organic garlic
1 lemon
Olive oil

Bread
Flat bread or organic white sesame bread - all toasted

DO
Chickpea Hummus
Soak the chickpeas overnight. Drain, add a lot of fresh water and cook. It can take longer than you think for them to get soft. When they can be squashed between your fingers, they are ready. Drain and keep the cooking water.
Put half of the slightly cooled peas into a large bowl.
Prepare the lemon juice, 3 Tbsp. of olive oil, the garlic and the tahini.
Add half of that mixture to the chickpeas and mash ( I use a puree stick, food processors probably do the trick too) Then add the rest of the chickpeas, the tahini mixture and mash.
Should it be too stiff, add some of the left-over boiling water, as if making a mayonnaise. There should be no chunks, just a smooth cream.
Most people add salt here, I prefer to leave it up to the eaters to add. Flatten in a bowl or two, sprinkle with olive oil. Refrigerate. Should you want to eat it immediately, leave one bowl out, as it tastes much better at room temperature. Before serving, stir, add some parsley or tomato wedges etc to decorate.

Tabbouleh
Soak bulghur in cold water for at least 30 min. Drain well and sprinkle with some lemon juice. Chop the parsley, not too fine. Cut the tomatoes into fine cubes. Cut the mint leaves fine. Mix it all gently together. Mix olive oil, lemon juice and minced garlic. Pour over 'salad' and mix.

This ancient Middle Eastern dish is excellent for hot days or picnics. In Lebanon it is served with Falafel, but nut burgers are ok too. Mint tea also goes well with it.

Images:
August Macke, 'In the Bazar' and 'Turkish Cafe', 1914, via Zeno

Sausages ! "Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill"

2008-10-10T20:52:00.000+11:00

Banksy's animatronics installation in NYC "Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill" focuses attention on " our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming, but it ended up as chicken nuggets singing." News about " the implications of animal cloning on food safety, animal health and welfare and the environment" seem to be sparse in the media...
Video via banscopetstore

Baked honey marzipan

2008-10-08T19:00:00.000+11:00

get
500g insecticide-free almonds
3 tbsp good quality honey
a little spelt flour

do
Pre-heat the oven to 190°C.
blanch the almonds, dry them in the sun and grate them finely with a hand grater. Add the honey. Mix and knead to a thick mass of marzipan. Cool for at least 30 minutes.
Sprinkle very little flour on a linen tea towel to prevent sticking. Turn a rolling pin in the flour so it becomes dusty.
Place the marzipan on the tea towel and roll it out. It should not be too sticky. Roll it out quite thinly, as much as possible given that it is more sticky than pastry, but avoid mixing too much flour into the marzipan. Stamp out biscuit shapes and collect the off-cuts for the next batch.
Place the marzipan shapes on a buttered baking tray and bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for 12-15 minutes until slightly golden.
Cool.
Store in a paper-lined tin.

Baked honey marzipan is a simple recipe and depends greatly on the quality of its ingredients. The result is easy to chew sweet nuts. Make sure the honey you use is one you really like. I prefer it to be mild but aromatic for this recipe with almonds, such as organic coastal Australian heath honey
Image: Flegel, George, still life with parrot and mouse, 1610, via Zeno

Omelet with mushrooms and thyme

2008-10-02T17:14:00.002+10:00

get
6 medium mushrooms, e.g. champignons, chanterelles, porcini
a few tips of fresh thyme, or best lemon thyme
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
50g goats milk fetta cubed
4 organic, free-range eggs
2 tbsp water

do
Slice mushrooms in 4. Fry in a large pan in the olive oil on both sides until golden and dry on a low flame. Add thyme tips. Push to one side of the pan.
Add the butter.
Beat the eggs and water well with a fork until smooth. Pour into the pan next to the mushrooms. Let it fry until almost set on top and golden underneath. Cut across the middle and look under the omelet to see if it is stable. Flip the halves from the round side so they keep their shape.
Place half of the fetta cubes on each omelet half. Fold lengthwise to cover the cheese so it has the shape of a quarter circle filled with fetta. Let it melt briefly. Then serve with toast. Some mushrooms will be incorporated into the omelet, others next to it.
Image: Boletus & free range organic eggs

Satay Tempeh with Rice

2008-09-29T16:17:00.001+10:00

GET
Brown organic rice

1 packet of unflavoured organic Tempeh
Soya sauce, organic
Tasmanian Pepper, (Tasmannia lanceolata) or any other fine pepper
Olive Oil
Apricot Jam
3 (hot?) chilies

'Satay' sauce
3 Tbsp. of Peanut butter (or better organic Macademia/Cashew butter)
1 tin of organic coconut milk
1 Lemon grass stick, 3 x 2 cm of the white bottom bits
2 Limes
Soya sauce
1 sm. onion
3-4 large cloves of garlic
3 - 4 Chilies of your desired 'hotness', 'Birdseye'
1 tsp. of rapadura sugar

DO
The Rice
Take a cup (mug for 2 people) of the rice, wash it. Add to pot with good lid. Add 2 1/2 of the same cups of water. Boil up for 5 min. Turn down the heat and simmer with the lid closed. Do not open! After 45 min. switch off the heat and let it stand on the warm oven for another 15 min.

The Sauce
Fry the finely chopped onion golden. Add chopped chillies and garlic. Fry for a short period. Take off the flame. Add the peanutbutter/macadamia butter, stirring. Add the coconut milk. Add 3 small hot 'Birdseye' chilies, 1 Tbsp of soyasauce, 2-3 pieces of the lemon grass, 1 lime/juice, the rapadura sugar, let it gently simmer for a short time, or till it has a sauce consistency. Switch off and let it rest for a while on the warm stove.

The Tempeh
Mix soya sauce, apricot jam, 2 Tsps. Olive oil, Tasmanian pepper and 3 small chilies, let it rest
Cut up Tempeh, paste mixture on the pieces, cover and let it soak in the marinade for at least 30 min. ( if not more.) Fry golden in olive oil.

Serve with freshly copped coriander leaves, mango slices and a lychee-drink. The dish also makes for a nice 'picnic' or as a skewered BBQ.
Image:
Koehler's Medicinal-Plants 1887, Arachis hypogaea - 163, uploaded via Wikipedia
Links:
Diy Tempeh
Tempeh burger recipe

Meat and gastro - What is the human caused connection?

2008-09-28T14:15:00.000+10:00

97% of bacterial gastro-enteritis in humans is traceable to 'domesticated' meats. " Chicken and cattle are the principal sources of C. jejuni pathogenic to humans..." Animals living in their own habitat only accounted for 3 %. Campylobacter jejuni, living in the gut of poultry and mammals is being distributed into the human food chain. Preparing or consuming the infected meat is the main route for infection.
A lot needs to be done at the source of meat-production, transportation and processing, to not 'spill the guts' around. Sporadic gastro-enteritis through water or restaurants is very common. Even by being a vegetarian, one is still exposed to this 'slop-back' via water and implements. What a 'culture'!
The DNA sequencing research was conducted by Daniel Wilson, of the University of Chicago, and formerly Lancaster University, United Kingdom
via Wilson DJ, Gabriel E, Leatherbarrow AJH, Cheesbrough J, Gee S, et al. (2008) Tracing the Source of Campylobacteriosis. PLoS Genet 4(9): e1000203. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1000203
Image: Egyptian relief, Berlin Museum 08

Bread - Storage - with Linen and Cinnamon

2008-09-05T16:03:00.001+10:00

Organic bread is best bought daily from a place that stores it in an airy, dry place on untreated wood. It can be tossed directly into a washable cloth bag (no packaging necessary), thrown into the bike or backpack. In the household it is best to place it in a washable pure-linen bag. In summer it is slightly moistened and then it is placed tied up into a large pot. Quality bread stays fresh that way for a long time.

In the fast-life, industrial bread has to travel long carbon-belching distances. Freed out of its plastic bag, it is quickly befallen by black bread mold. A new paper has been developed that is coated in cinnamon essential oil and solid wax paraffin which it is said should enhance anti fungal activity.
Maybe, one could add a cinnamon stick to one's bread bag/container?

Cacao & Vanilla

2008-08-27T19:10:00.000+10:00

Cacao a la mexicana - for four cups

Get
½ litre of milk
½ cup of dark, organic cacoa powder
2 tsp. of Rapadura (cane) sugar
½ teaspoons of cinnamon powder
1 pinch of salt
1 small vanilla bean
½ cups of whipped cream, optional

Do
Heat up the milk.
Add the the scraped out vanilla bean to the milk
Mix in a bowl all dry ingredients and add to the hot milk while quickly stirring it.
Allow to boil and than remove the chocolate from the stove. Now stir in (the cream and) the vanilla.

- Recipe in altered form via Vanilla Trade
- Thanks to the pre-Columbian Mayan cultivators who have " been managing their forests for millennia to cultivate cacao and to make chocolate, and we know they were also cultivating vanilla to use it as a chocolate spice.The Maya created these forest gardens by introducing different types of species of wild cacao and vanilla from the surrounding forests, which meant that species that had previously been geographically separated were then able to hybridize because they were in the same place. That's the scenario we present in our research paper for how Tahitian vanilla got started. It is an evolutionary product, but also a Maya artifact." Pesach Lubinsky, University of California, Tahitian Vanilla Originated In Maya Forest, via Science Daily 260808

Coriander pesto

2008-08-22T11:48:00.000+10:00

get
1 large bunch of coriander
1 large piece of garlic
100g cashews
200g goats’ milk fetta cheese
10 tbsp olive oil

do
Pluck the leaves from the coriander. Wash and drain them. Chop very finely.
Press or grate the garlic into a bowl.
Finely grind the cashews with a hand grinder.
Roughly grate the fetta cheese into the bowl.
Add the coriander.
Mix.
Add the olive oil while mixing until a thick green paste forms.
Press down in the bowl and add the remaining olive oil on top to cover the paste.
Store cool covered with a plate.

Serve with noodles of your choice. Goes well with noodles and tomato sauce. Also goes well with potatoes.
Can also be made with parsley, basil, or a mixture of herbs. Macadamia nuts are a good alternative to cashews.

Image: 'Anacardium occidentale', from Koehler's 'Medicinal-Plants' (1887) via Wikipedia

Tomato sauce with noodles

2008-08-09T18:10:00.000+10:00

Get
1.5 kg Tomatoes (e.g. Roma, fleshy)
lots of Garlic
4 Tbsp Olive oil
Pepper corns
Bay leaves
Noodles of your choice.

Do
Heat the olive oil in a large pan or flat, wide saucepan.
Press the garlic into it. Fry it just a little - do not brown or burn.
Put tomatoes in a large bowl. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes slowly, so they stand in the hot water for a few minutes. Then pour in cold water. This loosens the skins.
Peel them and remove any hard core.
Add to the hot garlic. Cover with a lid.

Cook at a very low heat all day, occasionally removing the lid for a while. Add the pepper and bay leaves after a couple of hours.
Most of the liquid should evaporate away leaving a thick 'sugo'.
Boil a large pot of water. Add noodles to fast boiling water and keep it boiling.
Cooking time depends on the noodles. Test them from time to time.
Pour off water when ready and add the noodles to the sauce. Serve immediately.

Goes well with Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano) either grated or sliced thinly. Also goes well with a pesto made of basil or coriander. And a green salad.

A variation on this sauce for non-vegetarians is the Italian style sauce which includes just one sardine in the initial stages with the garlic. (thanks Sabine of Zweitrad)

Food Buzz without consent

2008-08-02T17:54:00.000+10:00

Scraping the content of (food) blogs without their consent.

Edible Culture was invited three times by FoodBuzz.com to “intelligently connect” with their “audience”. Two invitations to their 'Foodbuzz Publisher Program' were by e-mail (14.03.2008 and 12.06.2008), the other as a blog comment (24.04.08). Part of the promised 'benefits' consisted of “above-competitive compensation for ads, community networking, and ad campaign management.”

As Edible Culture is ad-free and has a “Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia” CC- license, it was obvious that one did not even need to reply to such requests.

In short, permission was NEVER granted to publish/aggregate Edible Culture.

The license does state that:
The user must not use this work for commercial purposes.
The user must share Alike, that means that if the user, transforms, or builds upon this work, they may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license.
These conditions were not waived by the authors of Edible Culture.

In this case (comment by Rosie 140108), even a refusal apparently lead to being included on their database. The blogging community is discussing the issues.

Some blogs of course have nothing against joining to monetize their contents and change their layout to belong to “community”.

Resources:
Internet Law:
General Internet Law Resources, Online Education Database
U.S. Copyright Office
Creative Commons

Information for bloggers:
Preserving the Evidence, Blogherald
FeedWordPress: Content Theft with Consequences, by iamparia

Terms of Service, Foodbuzz.com
Update 050908:
Edible Culture has now been removed from Foodbuzz

Honey biscuits with apricots

2008-07-25T15:41:00.001+10:00

Get:
200g soft organic butter
150g organic honey
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2/3 nutmeg, grated
150g chopped dried unsulphured apricots
200g chopped blanched almonds
450g organic spelt flour

Do:
Preheat oven to 190°c.
Beat butter and honey smooth with a wooden spoon.
Add cinnamon and nutmeg. Beat.
Mix in apricots and nuts.
Add 400g flour and knead into a dry dough. Add more flour if sticky. Cool for 15+ minutes.
Sprinkle a little of the remaining flour on a tea towel (linen). Roll our half of the pastry quite thin. This will further crush some of the nuts. Turn the pastry once or twice so it does not stick to the cloth.
Stamp out biscuits. Press down hard to cut through the fruit and nuts. (Alternatively make the pastry into a roll and cut off round discs).
Butter a baking tray.
Place the biscuits on it and bake in the oven for 15 minutes on the second shelf from the bottom.
Repeat until all the dough is used up.
Store in a tin.

Tip.
Make biscuits of different sizes for different occasions. Small ones are good portable food. Big ones for home use.

How to blanch almonds

Strawberries

2008-05-16T00:15:00.001+10:00

Get:
Fresh organic strawberries
Yogurt
Agave Syrup/nectar (instead of sugar), organic.

Do:
Wash strawberries gently, pluck leaves and stems and cut into halves or smaller.
Add 2 Tbs of agave nectar and gently lift under.
Let it rest covered for approximately 15 min.
Serve with the yogurt.
Alternatively:
Stir in strawberries & nectar with yogurt and serve immediately.

At the moment the forest floor here at Lake Constance is covered in small, wild strawberries (fragaria vesca, images) They grow amongst the scented Lily-of-the-Valley fields.

Image: Adriaen Coorte, 'Strawberries and Gooseberries', uploaded via Zeno

Mushroom & Pasta - Basta!

2008-04-29T03:52:00.000+10:00

Get
Mushrooms (organic Button mushrooms)
Onions & Garlic
Olive oil
Sour Cream
Herbs: Garden cress-sprouts, Chives, Dill
Nutmeg &/ white pepper
Pasta (organic semolina, or durum wheat, no egg), preferred shapes are Orecchiette or Fusilli.

Do
Fry onions & mushrooms
Boil pasta
Shortly before pasta is "al dente"
Add cream and (most of the) chopped herbs, garlic and spices to the mushrooms.
(If you do not want to use cream, just do it without.)
Heat on a low flame and stir.
Drain pasta and mix with mushroom sauce
Cover for a a few minutes.
Transfer to serving dish
Sprinkle with remaining herbs.
Serve with a green crunchy salad.

Both images are by Giorgio Sommer from around 1885 somewhere in Italy, the first one is a macaroni manufacture and the second one is just eating them. Both pictures are in the public domain, uploaded via Zeno
Could one still dry their pasta in the public today?

Almond biscuits

2008-04-20T07:53:00.000+10:00

get
450g wholemeal flour (spelt flour)
2 tbsp honey
1 egg
1.5 heaped teasp ground cinnamon
250g butter
450g organic almonds

do
Blanch almonds: add to a pot of boiling water for a few minutes. Pour out hot water and add cold water. Rinse twice in a sieve. Rub almonds repeatedly between the hands and remove skins. Wash from time to time to assist with separation of almonds and skins.
Mix honey and egg in the middle of the flour in a large bowl.
Add cinnamon, butter flakes. Grind 300g almonds and add to the mixture.
Knead to a pastry. Add extra flour if sticky.
Cool in fridge.
Roll out thin.
Using cookie cutting tools cut out shapes. Place a whole or half an almond on each cookie, pressing lightly.

Bake at 190°c for 8 minutes on a baking tray in batches. Cool.
Store in a tin lined with greaseproof paper in a cool place.

Also delicious as filled cookies (as shown in the second picture).

Meat without all the animal stuff

2008-04-15T20:58:00.002+10:00

Consumers and their carnivorous pets devour gigantic amounts of meat. The “relentless growth in livestock production” cannot satisfy the insatiable demand. Dogs, bush meats, endangered animals are 'harvested' or poached from the 'wild' and sometimes even human beings. Meat 3 x a day confirms that top-dog position, and implies not being part of the world of starving grain-eaters. Social gatherings without the ritualistic incinerated slabs or sliced hunk are not worth attending.

One believes blissfully in the gently raised cow, by a loving family farm or even skillful cowboys rounding up delicious cattle fed on wild pastures and springs.

Cynical reason 'raises awareness' about the growth hormones, antibiotics in factory-logistics (aka farming), the state of sick animals and their feces that are making it into meat products. The deregulated "meat roulette", the associated diseases of aggregating in small, often unhygienic places. The long transports and finally the automated killing-factories. The suffering of the creatures.

Outside, 30 % of terrestial earth is devoted to livestock grazing. Motorised cowboys force the electronically tagged herds' meat-mass with 4x4s, snowmobiles and helicopters into the desired locations. Desertification follows, the water bodies and atmosphere are contaminated from this industrial production process. The territory yearns to be valorised for bio fuel and real estate purposes.Putting the nightmare of others aside – in our meatspace, meatbags engage in exchanges in the meat market which is defended by meat shields. Meatlifting a square watery chunk of meat molten on polystyrene out of a freezer, has detached us long ago from the presence of a warm blooded living organism in its biotope.
The next logical step is to grow edible animal muscle fibre in laboratories on an industrial scale. With molecular biological techniques a biopsy is taken from a living organism that has evolved for the last 500 million years. Outside the living being the muscular tissue is spurned into growth. Disembodied – the suffering of the individual creature is put to an end , as its muscle tissue, bathed in nutrition is grown into huge chunks or 'meat' for human consumption.

No more worries about a monoculture of grazing animals displacing bio-diversity out of a habitat. Let them eat meat without 'husbandry'. Away with nasty externalities such as environmental burdens, food, drugs and warehousing for stock. The costs of slaughtering and last but not least, the burden of 'human resources' expenditures.

“Environmentally concerned scientists”, agribusiness armed with a patent for the engineering of tissue are determined to rid the world of its financial, ecological, health and ethical woes. Revenue streams could be turned to rapids of a vertically integrated industry of life. With in-vitro 'meat production the ever-expanding human population can be supplied with laboratory-grown meat, if they can pay. Choices could be increased as consumers can decide whether they would like the animal muscle fibre in the form of sausages, burgers, nuggets or meatloaf mash up.

Contemporary cuisine is attempting to familiarise our senses to molecular gastronomy. The installation “Disembodied Cuisine” has already displayed the growing of “steaks”. Meat without animals, 'something from nothing' is the dreaming of some aspiring people.

A reduction in the consumption of animal matter, or for that matter any reduction in consuming, is off the agenda. Even if that behaviour requires three to four earths. The insatiable desire for more (of the same) is stearing this spaceship (of fools) into a diy geological and ecological epoch of this planet. Whether this anthropocene allows for any non human life to exist or is itself inhabitable by human beings needs to be seen.

Links:
“Disembodied Cuisine”, art installation
In Vitro Meat Consortium, "an international alliance of environmentally concerned scientists striving to facilitate the establishment of a large-scale process industry for the production of muscle tissue for human consumption.."
Future Food aims to inform and accelerate "the research into and development of cultured meat (in-vitro meat)"
Updates:
Eat less meat, G. Monbiot
PETA: "The first person to come up with a method to produce commercially viable quantities of in vitro meat at competitive prices will receive a check for $1 million."
Dr Philip Thornton, Livestock production: recent trends, future prospects, Phil Trans R Soc B 2010 365: 2853-2867.

Filled almond biscuits with apricot and blackcurrent

2008-03-19T08:15:00.000+11:00

get
450g wholemeal flour (spelt flour)
2 tbsp honey
1 egg
1.5 heaped teasp ground cinnamon
250g butter
200g blanched almonds(+)
100g blackcurrent jam
100g apricot jam
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp icing sugar

do
Mix honey and egg in the middle of the flour in a large bowl.
Add cinnamon, butter flakes, ground almonds
Knead to a pastry. Add extra flour if sticky.
Cool in fridge.
Roll out thin.
Using 2 cookie cutting tools, the same shape but different sizes:

Stamp out cookies with the larger cutter
Use the smaller cutter to stamp out a hole in the middle of half of them making frames
The frames should be about 1 cm wide or they are unmanageable and break easily
Use the cut-outs too.

Bake at 190°c for 8 minutes on a baking tray in batches. Remove delicate frames carefully from tray. Cool.
Spread a little jam of one colour on the outer edges of the whole cookies. Place the frames on them and press lightly so they stick. The outer edges should match. Mix cinnamon and icing sugar. Sprinkle a little on each cookie frame through a fine sieve. Put half a flat teaspoon of jam (same colour) into the hole to fill the biscuit to the level of the frame. Carefully press it flat with the spoon. Do not use too much jam or they cannot be stacked in a tin.
Repeat with half of the biscuits and then change colour for the other half.
Spread a little jam on half the cut-outs and put the other half on them. Sprinkle with cinnamon-icing sugar mixture.
Store in a tin lined with greaseproof paper in a cool place.

Savoy Cabbage Rolls

2007-12-02T08:56:00.000+11:00

GET
10 savoy cabbage leaves (Brassica olearaea)
sea salt
1 medium onion
200g tofu
3 medium carrots
2 tbsp olive oil
200g chestnuts (Castanea sativa)
a little butter

DO
Boil cabbage leaves in hot salted water for 5 minutes. Drain them.
Cut a cross into each chestnut. Roast them in a medium dry pan for 30 minutes until soft and tasty. Peel them
Chop onion finely. Fry in oil at medium temperature for a couple of minutes.
Cut tofu into small cubes and add to the onion. Fry for 5 minutes.
Peel and grate the carrots and add to the tofu.
Chop the chestnuts and add to the tofu mix. Cover and steam for 5 minutes.
Butter a casserole dish.
Lay out the savoy cabbage leaves and add 2 tbsp of the filling to each. Roll them up and arrange them in the casserole. Put some flakes of butter on them. Cover with a lid.
Bake in the oven at 200°c for 30 minutes.

Serve with steamed potatoes and a cucumber-yoghurt salad.

Useful tips

Buy a whole small savoy cabbage. It is enough for 2 batches
Use steamed bunya nuts in Australia if there are no chestnuts.
Savoy cabbage leaves roll up very easily without skewers and do not have a strong cabbage taste after they are softened in boiling water. But you can use a Chinese cabbage instead of savoy if unavailable.

Ratatouille

2007-09-10T19:57:00.000+10:00

To go with the previous dish, I enjoyed this trailer for the upcoming movie. Via Yerom

Ratatouille

2007-09-04T20:35:00.000+10:00

GET
6 large juicy organic tomatoes
1-2 large organic garlic cloves
1 tbsp cold pressed olive oil

4 medium organic onions
2 organic aubergines
1 tbsp saltflakes
1 organic zucchini, sliced.
3 tbsp cold pressed olive oil
Basil

DO
Cut aubergines into small cubes, place on a plate, sprinkle with salt, leave for 1 hour.

Pour boiling water over tomatoes and peel them.
Press garlic and fry slowly in a pan.
After a few minutes add sliced tomatoes and cover with a lid.
Continue to cook on a low heat for 2 hours. Stir occasionally. Remove lid for some periods to reduce the liquid.

Meanwhile, chop onions and fry slowly in olive oil, stirring occasionally until lightly golden.
Rinse the aubergines and press out the brown liquid.
Add aubergines to the onions.
Fry for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add zucchini slices.
Fry for 5 minutes stirring occasionally.
Add a little of the tomato sauce, stir in and turn off the heat.
When the tomatoes are reduced to a sauce, add the other vegetable mixture to it and mix in. Add the chopped basil,

Serve hot or cold. Goes well with tofu or noodles.

Tajikistan Tea Room

2007-08-26T21:58:00.001+10:00

At the Tajikistan Tea Room time still seems to stand still. The Soviet Republic of Tajikistan contributed some of the interior to this former East German establishment. The ambiance is quite, smoke-free and it is ok to read. The tea ceremonies are very elaborate. This place is in stark contrast to many buzzing cafes.

Update: Atlas Obscura should 'explore' the conditions of usage of images under Creative Commons.'You may not use this work for commercial purposes.' Especially hurling ads.120809

Spinach-Yoghurt Casserole

2007-08-19T16:32:00.000+10:00

GET
1 bunch spinach
1 tbsp olive oil

200g bio-dynamic yoghurt
2 tbsp organic spelt flour
0.5 flat tsp ground nutmeg
150 g baking cheese, e.g young gouda, cheddar

DO
Wash spinach and separate stems from leaves. Drain well.
Chop stems and put into casserole dish with olive oil.
Bake at 190°c for 15 minutes.
Add spinach leaves.
Bake a further 10 minutes to reduce size.

Mix yoghurt with flour and nutmeg.
Spread on spinach.
Grate cheese and sprinkle on the yoghurt.
Bake without a lid for 25 minutes.
Cover with lid to keep warm.

Serve with potatoes or rice as this dish has a lot of sauce.

This simple dish turns a bunch of spinach into a main course if you like. Adjust the amount of nutmeg to taste.

Ranking restaurants to avoid illness

2007-08-12T15:26:00.000+10:00

As food-related illnesses are very common in Australia it would be wonderful to participate in a consumer-driven ranking of restaurants and other eateries such as CleanScores.

"The goal of CleanScores is to reduce the incidence of food-related illnesses by helping consumers make informed restaurant choices based on official hygiene inspections."

Cheese cake

2007-08-12T14:48:00.000+10:00

GET
300g wholemeal spelt flour
1 tbsp organic honey
1 egg yolk
125g organic butter

1kg organic quark
3tbsp organic honey
25g wholemeal spelt flour
3 free-range eggs, separated
1 egg white
1 untreated lemon
100g washed organic currants or sultanas

DO
Add spelt flour to a large bowl.
Mix in honey and egg yolk.
Add butter in flakes and knead to a pastry.
Cool

Soak currants in lemon juice with grated lemon peel (zest).
Beat 4 egg whites and add honey. Continue beating until stiff.
Beat quark, 3 egg yolks, flour.
Add currants and lemon and mix.
Lift the egg white mixture under.

Roll out pastry into a 28cm buttered round spring form with sides about 4 cm high.
Add filling.
Bake at 180°c for 45 minutes.
Turn off oven and let the cake cool in it.
Remove from form.

Best eaten on the second day. And thereafter

Cheese cake is best made with quark. In Germany this is no problem. In Australia there is at least one brand of organic quark. I use one from the Adelaide Hills which is excellent, both the Swiss and German styles. The German style is very low fat. High-fat cheese should be avoided for health reasons. Some other types of curd cheese like cottage cheese are difficult to render smooth. Smoothness is an important quality for a cheese cake.
The egg yolk in the pastry functions to bind the pastry to the cheese mixture.

Lemon slices

2007-08-10T13:56:00.003+10:00

GET
300 g organic wholemeal spelt flour
1 heaped tbsp organic honey
1 organic free range egg
130g butter

200g organic almonds, blanched and finely grated
2 lemons
2 tbsp honey

50 g organic icing sugar

DO
Put flour in a large bowl
Add honey and egg in the middle
Mix to a thick paste
Add flakes of butter
Knead to a pastry. If it is sticky, add more flour, if not smooth add more butter
Cool for an hour.

Mix almonds with grated lemon rind (zest), juice of 1.5 lemons and honey to make a thick spreadable paste.
Roll out half the pastry into a large thin rectangle on a linen cloth. Turn it over as you go to facilitate rolling it thinly.
Place on a buttered baking tray (e.g. 40 x 30 cm). Cut the edges to fit
Spread the lemon-almond paste evenly on the pastry
Roll out the other half of the pastry to the same size and place carefully on top.
Bake at 190°c for 15 minutes on the second shelf from the bottom.
Mix 0.5 lemon juice with icing sugar. Paint it on the hot pastry.
Cool
Cut into slices (about 40 rectangular biscuits)
Remove from baking tray and store in a tin.These biscuits are very tangy and light. The recipe seems quite simple and it is. Most of the time is spent rolling out the pastry thinly. This involves rolling it on a tea towel, squaring the edges, turning it over and rolling again. You need to turn it and roll it a few times before it is large enough and thin enough. Carefully turn it on the backs of your hands.
Arranging the top pastry on is also tricky. If necessary, cut it into 2 pieces.
These lemon slices last well in a tin, but are generally eaten very quickly.
>Check also the alternative jucier variety out.

Glazed Baby Turnips

2007-08-06T16:57:00.000+10:00

Inspired by Delia Smith, Delia's Vegetarian Collection. Here is my variation
Get
900g young turnips
800 ml stock
1 tsp. mustard
2 Tbs. white wine/lemon juice
1 tsp. sugar or agave sweetner
2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsely
S & P
DO
Peel veg thinly
Place into boiling water for 3 min.
Drain, return to saucepan
Add enough stock to cover veg, boil
Then simmer for 10 min, until tender
Remove and keep warm

Glaze
Blend mustard with lemon/wine and sweetner and add to stock
Re-heat, season
Simmer rapidly, until it has the consistency of syrup
Pour it on over turnips
Sprinkle with parsley

Rejecting green stuff

2007-08-03T20:54:00.000+10:00

Why is it that it so hard to buy organic lettuce, when in most eateries (in Australia and Europe) it is the 'green stuff' on the plate that is being returned.
What resources did it take to grow?
Where does it go?

Apple Pie

2007-08-02T15:53:00.001+10:00

This apple pie is different every time you make it. It depends on the type of apples and the quantity. If you take a lot of apples - about 2.5 kg - it becomes a very generous moist pie. If you take more almonds and fewer apples it becomes dryer. According to season, you can use red or green apples and each variety gives a different quality to your apple pie. I prefer red delicious, granny smiths, boskoop (from Holland) and cox orange.

GET
450g wholemeal organic spelt flour
1 heaped tbsp honey
2 eggs
125g butter

1.5 - 2 kg organic apples (green, red, large or small)
0.25 cup water
100g organic sultanas
1 lemon
75g ground organic almonds
1 tsp ground cinnamon

50g organic icing sugar
lemon juice

DO
Put flour in a large bowl.
Add honey in the middle and eggs.
Mix together with some flour into a paste.
Cut in butter. Mix.
Knead together into a pastry. Add more flour if sticky, more butter if not smooth. Cool.

Wash sultanas, soak in lemon juice and grated rind for 15 minutes.
Peel apples and core them. Slice into a large pot.
Add water and cook at a low temperature on the stove with the lid on until soft but not to mash. Turn of heat.
Add sultanas, then almonds to the apples. Add cinnamon. Mix.

Butter a 28 cm round spring form.
Cut pastry into 3 pieces for the pie (2 equal, one smaller).
Roll out one piece for the bottom, make 3 cm sides with the small piece. Save the other piece for the top.
Cover the bottom of the pie shell with greaseproof paper and put a few weights on it (e.g. nuts or metal spoons).
Bake on second shelf for 10 minutes at 190°.
Remove from oven, remove paper and weights.
Fill the pie with the apple mixture.
Roll out the remaining pastry and cover the pie with it.
Press down the edges using a patterned object (e.g. knife tip, lemon zester) to seal the pie.
Bake a further 20 minutes.
Loosen the pie from the bottom and sides of the form with a knife after 10 minutes and remove from form . Cool on a grid.
Sieve icing sugar. Mix in lemon juice until a sticky mass forms. Paint this on the pie with a spoon and smooth over.
In Germany they would serve it with cream, in America and Australia with ice-cream, but this pie needs neither.
>> Pear Apple Pie

Baked cauliflower

2007-08-01T17:35:00.000+10:00

GET
1 cauliflower
1 head of broccoli
several Brussels sprouts
3 tbsp wholemeal flour (spelt)
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
100 ml boiling water
150 ml rice milk
200g cheese (e.g. young gouda, cheddar)
0,5 nutmeg grated

DO
Break cauliflower into pieces discarding the thickest stem, cut broccoli in half, remove outer leaves from Brussels sprouts and cut into the hard end.
Steam vegetables until soft but firm.
Melt butter in the oil in a small saucepan on a low heat.
Add flour and stir. Let it cook a little but not change colour.
Add boiling water slowly while stirring avoiding lumps forming. Stir into a smooth mixture.
Add cold rice milk gradually while stirring and cook at a low temperature until it boils. Stir continuously as it thickens. The mixture should be thick but easy to stir. Allow to cook for 5 minutes. Turn of the heat. Stir occasionally.
Grate a little nutmeg into a casserole.
Arrange the vegetables in it. Grate more nutmeg on top. Grate some into the sauce and stir.
Pour the sauce onto the vegetables covering everything.
Grate cheese on top.
Bake at 190°c on the second shelf of the oven for 25 minutes.
Serve with steamed potatoes.

Roast Whole Garlics

2007-07-30T19:11:00.000+10:00

Baste whole garlic heads with olive oil and a little salt
Place in casserole and cook for 30 min.
Cut off the bottoms, squeeze out paste
Serve with vegetables or bruschetta (video).
Inspired by Enjoy: New Veg, Nadine Abensur

Seasonal Fruit Flan

2007-07-30T18:47:00.000+10:00

Mix Quark (curd cheese), Yoghurt, Honey, one beaten egg and some real Vanilla.
Top with seasonal fruit (here: apricots, blueberries and apples) and a bit of butter.
Cook in the oven for approx. 25 min.

Cinnamon biscuits filled with Davidson plum jam

2007-07-29T16:24:00.001+10:00

get
450 wholemeal flour (spelt flour)
2 tbsp honey
1 egg
1.5 heaped teasp ground cinnamon
250g butter
200g blanched almonds(+)
250g Davidson plum jam
1 tsp ground cinnamon

do
Mix honey and egg in the middle of the flour in a large bowl.
Add cinnamon, butter flakes, ground almonds
Knead to a pastry. Add extra flour if sticky.
Cool in fridge.
Roll out thin and cut out circles (or shapes)
Bake at 190°c for 10 minutes on a baking tray. Cool.
Spread Davidson plum jam to cover the surface of half of the cookies. Place the other cookies on top of them and press lightly.
Sprinkle cinnamon on each cookie through a fine sieve.
Store in a tin lined with greaseproof paper.Davidson's plum jam is made in the oven at 200°c in a baking dish. The plums are halved, sprinkled with raw sugar and stirred from time to time in the oven, adding more sugar until it tastes right. This may take a couple of hours. Then press through a sieve and bottle it up. This method of baking results in a rich, dark-red jam.
See Davidson plum sauce

Mushroom Nut Burgers

2007-07-29T13:08:00.000+10:00

get
6 medium champignon mushrooms chopped small
150g finely ground macadamias or cashews or mixed
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 - 2 Tbsp tahini
3 Tbsp wholemeal flour (spelt flour)
herbs (e.g. parsley, thyme)
4 tbsp cold-pressed organic olive oil

do
Mix the finely chopped onions, the chopped mushrooms, herbs and the ground nuts in a large bowl. Add the tahini.
Stir well until a sticky mixture forms. Mix well.
Press the mixture down with a spoon so it is compressed.
Spread the flour on a large dinner plate.
Half fill a dessert bowl with water. Dip a tablespoon in the water and wet your clean hand with water.
Scoop out small amounts of the mixture with the tablespoon to make a spoon-shaped little burger. The water prevents the mixture sticking to the hand and spoon. It also moistens the outside of the burger.
Squeeze the burger onto the spoon and push it off onto the floured plate. Repeat until all the burgers are made.
Turn the burgers so there is flour on both sides. Add more flour if necessary. Let the floured burgers stand on the plate for some time turning occasionally so they are well covered with flour.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan at a low temperature.
Fry the burgers in it until deep golden. They must be well cooked but not burnt. Add more olive oil if necessary.
Serve hot immediately or cold on a sandwich.
Complementary to rice with pine nuts and currants.

Poached eggs, sardines, ice-cream etc

2007-07-27T16:55:00.000+10:00

Nice new technique how to poach an egg and ways to grill sardines.
How to quietly hand-crank ice cream.
Keeping recipes on delicious, as seen by Simply Recipes.
Interesting stuff on exploring cookbooks.

Rice with pine nuts and currants

2007-07-26T21:06:00.000+10:00

Found this flaky rice dish in Cooking with Kurma by Kurma Dasa. As the link to his Turkish Rice Pilaf with Currants & Pine Nuts does not work I give a short summary with my local additions.
GET:
3 cups of stock
oil
½ cup of (pine/macademia )nuts.
1 ½ cup of Basmati
4 cloves
6 cm sliced ginger
2 bay leaves
2 stalks fresh thyme
some orange zest
Tasmannian pepper
1/3 cup soaked currents
3 Tsp. chopped parsley
A few pomegranate kernels

DO:
-Boil stock
-Stir-fry nuts in oil, lift out
-Add washed rice, stir till they are whitish
-Add boiling stock, cloves, ginger, bay,thyme, orange zest & pepper
-Raise heat, then lower, cover, simmer for 20 - 25 min.
-Remove from heatsource, let stand for 5 min. remove unsightly stuff.
-Fold in currants, nuts,parsley and pomegrante
-Serve hot (or cold) with Tofu or Mushroom Nut Burgers