Banana Cake (Edmonds recipe)

It isn't hard to make a good banana cake so it always amazes me that cafes can have such rubbish ones. The main problems seem to be using oil instead of butter, esp using too much oil, and not using enough bananas to give the delicious flavour and wonderful moistness. This recipe is from the NZ classic cookbook of basic recipes, The Edmonds Cookery book. The main meals in that book are pretty dated, plain and bleugh, but the baking recipes are winners - no surprise as Edmonds is a baking powder company so baking is their business. And this banana cake means business, with about 4 ripe (brown or black bananas). If you don't have enough really ripe bananas, you can either make a mediocre cake or just PEEL, chop and freeze the bananas you have to use with more at a later date. 

125g butter, softened

¾ c sugar

2 eggs

2 c mashed ripe bananas (about 4 largish bananas)

1 tsp baking soda

2 Tbsp hot milk

2 c plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

chocolate or lemon icing or dust with icing sugar

Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add mashed banana and mix thoroughly. 

Stir baking soda into hot milk and add to creamed mixture.

Sift flour and baking powder. Fold into mixture.

Turn into a greased and lined 20cm round tin (or a ring tin or loaf pans of about same volume).

Bake at 180˚ for 50 min or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Leave in tin for 10 min before turning out onto a wire rack. When cold, ice or dust with icing sugar sifted over.

Can also be made as two cakes baked in 20cm round sandwich tins at 180˚ for 25 min. The two cakes can be sandwiched together with whipped cream and fresh banana slices.

Zucchini and Nut Fritters

I think my French in-laws are convinced that fritters are New Zealand's national dish as they're what I usually whip up as a vegetarian dish to share as part of Sunday lunches. Well fritters are pretty versatile aren't they? Just chop and chuck in whatever's in season. Below I'll add a few other suggestions for substitutions/additions to this zucchini recipe. This one is from Rowan Bishop's 'Good Health Adventure Cookbook'

Zucchini and Nut Fritters

Serves 4-6 (photos show less than half the mixture)

4 cups grated zucchini (about 4 zucchini) - I used both green and yellow varieties

3-4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 Tbsp fresh basil or oregano, finely chopped, or 1 tsp dried

2 Tbsp finely chopped chives

1 cup plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup chopped, roasted peanuts

4 free-range eggs (yes, 4, it helps the flavour and consistency)

½ cup cottage cheese

1 Tbsp lemon juice

⅓ cup sour cream

salt and pepper to taste

-pinenuts instead of peanuts (though more expensive and less wonderfully crunchy)

-mint as well as or instead of other herbs

- feta or ricotta instead of cottage cheese and sour cream

- roasted pepper strips, chopped

Grate zucchini and place in a large bowl with the garlic, herbs, flour and baking powder. Roughly chop roasted peasants in a food processor and add to other ingredients in the bowl. 

Break eggs into another bowl with the remaining ingredients and whisk vigorously. Add to the zucchini mixture and mix thoroughly until well-combined. 

Heat 3-4 Tbsp oil in heavy-based frying pan (or less oil if using a non-stick frying pan) at medium heat then drop spoonfuls of the fritter mixture into the hot oil. Cook 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown. Take care that the heat is not too high, to ensure the centre of the fritters cook, not just the outside. You will probably have to cook the mixture in two or three batches. As each batch cooks, drain on absorbent paper, add more oil to the pan as required and keep the cooked fritters warm until ready to serve (eg in oven on low heat). They are best eaten as soon as they are cooked but may also be frozen (stored in container between sheets of greaseproof paper) and reheated in oven.

Serve with tomato caper sauce and salad or lightly steamed veg etc. 

Tomato Caper Sauce

1 Tbsp oil 

1 onion, chopped finely

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 small capsicum, seed and chopped

1 440g tin tomato puree (or better yet, use fresh - un-hydroponic - tomatoes)

1 tsp capers, chopped

½ tsp salt (or skip this and use a few more capers - yum)

freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in a small heavy-based saucepan. Saute the onion, garlic and capsicum over a low heat until the onion softens. Add the tomato puree, capers and seasonings and simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve in a jug or bowl to accompany the fritters.

Portuguese Tomato and Onion Soup with Poached Egg

I had this surprisingly good tomato soup when we visited the rugged and fertile island of Madeira. It was about the only vegetarian option on the menu of most places but was well worth its place, and more than worth its cheap price. Not just any old bowl of soup but a rich homemade style tomato and onion soup bursting with summer flavours in which an egg is poached, and is decked with rustic slices of bread. 

 Now that tomatoes are in season here in France, I decided to have a go making this soup at home. I searched online for recipes and, strangely, the one that seemed most like what I'd eaten in Madeira came from a Canadian blog of mainly Ukranian recipes! I rang my friend in Portugal who, as well as being Portuguese is an excellent chef, so just the person to consult with! She confirmed that the ingredients and method were fairly simple but it takes good ingredients. This recipe really did make good use of the vine-ripened tomatoes I had bought and, had I tried using bland supermarket ones, I would have had to add more ingredients, including tomato passata, to enrich it. The blog whose recipe this one is adapted from recommends using tinned tomatoes rather than hydroponic ones if you can't get tasty fresh tomatoes - after all, tinned tomatoes preserve the tomatoes (grown in suitable climates) soon after they are picked whereas supermarket ones are usually watery hydroponic red balls of nothingness which may have travelled far, been refrigerated and then sat on the supermarket shelves for some time before you buy them. So if at all possible, use local organic tomatoes and onions for freshness and the best flavour.

Portuguese Tomato and Onion Soup with Poached Egg

Serves 6.

4 large yellow onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
8 large juicily ripe tomatoes, chopped OR 2 cans whole tomatoes (1lb. or 454 g each)
4 large garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
5 cups water (OR, if using canned tomatoes, 5 cups rich vegetable stock)
6* eggs (*or 1 per person)
12 thick slices stale / day-old French or Italian bread (use slim baguettes)
¼ cup minced parsley / coriander / fresh thyme / basil / savory



Sauté onions slowly - about 15 minutes - until soft and golden.  Add garlic and tomatoes (you can first peel and de-seed tomatoes if you care for such things - I never mind using the whole thing), cover and simmer 1 hour; uncover, and simmer to reduce liquid for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened.

Add water or stock, salt and pepper to taste and, if needed, a little sugar (add a pinch at a time, tasting till you get the edge off any bitterness. The soup I made was not at all bitter - it depends on the tomatoes and how well the flavours have cooked together. The other recipe recommended 3T butter as well but I didn't feel it was necessary - it's up to you.

Simmer, uncovered, 1 ½ to 2 hours or until flavours are richly blended.  Cool to room temperature, cover and refrigerate until about 1 hour before serving.  (I reheated just enough for tonight's dinner and put the rest in containers to go in the freezer or you could save leftovers in fridge to eat the next day when the flavours will be even more nicely developed!- soups are great like that!)

Bring soup slowly to serving temperature. Carefully break eggs into soup, spacing them evenly, cover and simmer slowly 5-15 minutes or until eggs are poached to your liking.

Ladle soup into large shallow soup bowls, including an egg with each portion.  Garnish each bowl with bread slices and a sprinkling of herbs.

NB. This is a filling and delicious vegetarian and dairy-free recipe but Luc reckons it would be even better with cheese and chorizo - he would!

Mushroom and Chestnut Ragoût with Potato and Celeriac Mash

Mushrooms are big around here. Well, actually, they're fairly small, the main type grown is the Paris white, known in NZ as the button mushroom. This isn't Paris so I don't know how they got that name (though I'm sure I will once I finally visit the mushroom museum) but I do know that this town /area produces 90% of France's button mushrooms.  

And are there button mushrooms in this recipe? Only if you want there to be. The recipe calls for portobello and dried porcini mushrooms but I used a mix of varieties I don't even know the names of. I just buy them at the market from the mushroom lady. So feel free, as ever, to adapt this recipe to your tastes. I reduced the cream (it called for 5 T, I felt that was too much and I think it could be lovely without any, too). Also, I had no sherry so used balsamic vinegar which I added a tiny bit at a time, tasting until I got it right. The other thing I didn't have was sweet potatoes / kumara so I made a mash using potatoes and celeriac, an idea I'd got from my husband's guy friends who cooked delicious dishes for their New Year's Party - to my surprise as I think a bunch of mates from an agricultural college in NZ probably wouldn't be so gourmet - at least not cooking for each other at a party. But that's the French for you. And of course their mash had heaps of butter. So you could follow suit and go crazy with the butter if you hold back on the cream in the ragout. But the ragout is very rich so don't over-do both!

I'm not sure what you could replace chestnuts with if you can't find any. In Australia I found them for sale in cans. Chestnuts are lovely with their distinct sweet and savoury taste and firm and sort of buttery texture. Perhaps soaked cashews could work? Other ideas?

Mushroom and Chestnut Ragoût Potato and Celeriac Mash

Recipe comes from the 'Simmer' section (so DO, don't rush it!) of the cookbook 'New Vegetarian Kitchen' by Nicola Graimes (UK book).

Serves 4

40g / 1¼ oz dried porcini mushrooms

3 T olive oil

40g / 1½ oz butter

350g / 12 oz shallots, peeled and halved with the base intact, or quartered if large

500g / 1 lb 2 oz portobello mushrooms, thickly sliced

2 tsp dried thyme

125ml / 4fl oz / ½ cup dry sherry (or an alternative. I used 2+ T balsamic vinegar)

250g / 9 oz cooked chestnuts, thickly sliced

2 Tbsp light soy sauce

a few splashes of hot pepper sauce

2-5 Tbsp double cream

leaves from a few parsley sprigs, chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper

500 g potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks

400 g celeriac, peeled and chopped into large chunks

(or replace potatoes and celeriac with 900g of kumara / sweet potato)

2 large garlic cloves

150 ml / 5 fl oz / scant ⅔ c milk

30 g / 1 oz butter

1 Soak the porcini mushrooms in 150 ml / 5 fl oz / scant ⅔ c boiled water for 20 mins until softened.

2 Heat the olive oil and butter in a large, heavy-based saucepan over a medium-low heat and cook the shallots for 12 minutes, stirring regularly, until softened and golden in places. Add the portobello mushrooms and cook for another 4-5 minutes until tender.

3 Strain the porcini mushrooms, reserving the soaking liquid, and add them to the pan, along with the thyme and sherry. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the liquid has reduced by half and there is no aroma of alcohol.

4 Add the prcini soaking liquid, chestnuts, soy sauce and hot pepper sauce and simmer for 10-15 minutes until reduced by half. Stir in the cream and heat through gently, then season with salt and pepper.

5 Meanwhile, make the mash. Cook the vegetables (potato and celeriac, or sweet potato) and garlic in boiling salted water for 10 minutes or until tender, then drain and return to the pan. Add the milk and butter, season well with salt and pepper and warm through (or better yet, warm milk and butter before adding - but this makes more dishes). Mash until smooth, then cover with a lid to keep warm.

6 Sprinkle the ragout with parsley and serve with the mash/puree

First Pregnancy Soundtrack

Even cats are dangerous? Toxoplasmosis tests every month...

Why are there so many love songs and so few pregnancy songs? It's a challenging and emotional time, right? Perfect for songwriters - but I'm not one, so here's some songs from my small CD collection I've been listening to.

 I hope you enjoy this playlist I made of 'my favourite songs this pregnancy' (my first). Some are love songs, others are ones I heard from a new perspective - a pregnant lady one - and related to at least some of their lyrics. And there's a couple that are just nice to listen / sing to. 

Track list and a few comments follow youtube link to videos:

Song names and artists:

It's a Hard Life - Queen

I did it for love 

No drinks just when you feel you could use one

Kooks - David Bowie

We bought a lot of things to keep you warm and dry & a funny old crib on which the paint won't dry

The Click Song - Miriam Makeba 

(our baby will hopefully be bilingual - but will I be?)

I'll Be Here Every Day - Capetown Lullaby

Today is just like any other day / wouldn't want it any other way / now that I'm with you

Get Up, Stand Up - Bob Marley and the Whalers

(my husband would sing this to me at 6am when I had to get up in the dark to go to class)

Gonna Be Sick! The Dø

(Feel free to skip this one! Track 6)

Sick as a dog for months - but this one cheered me up!

It's Oh So Quiet - Björk

(Zing! Boom! Not feeling oh so alone with these kicks and stabs)

Cross Oceans - First Aid Kit

(imagining how my life will change... I still want to cross oceans)

Baby Mine - Bette Midler

From your head down to your toes, you're not much, goodness knows

Love Love Love - Tété

(just a lovely little ditty for my itty bitty one)

Not Evident - The Narcoleptic Dancers

Come with me I will tell you a story / where people fight for their territory

Whatever Lola Wants - Della Reese

No regrets!

Nature - The Fourmyula

Talking aloud eases my mind

Gutter Black - Hello Sailor

You in my brain / You in my heart

You're Gonna See a Lot of Me - Lisa Ekdahl

I'll make you love me /  Wait and see

When Life was a Miracle - The No Smoking Orchestra

(Maybe I'll only let people in the delivery suite if they come in a line playing gypsy trumpets)

Good motivation for the new dad to quit smoking!

La Banane - Philippe Katerine

No, I'll never go to the supermarket, rather die. Don't ever want to get dressed, rather die. 

........Just let me eat my banana.

Non Non Non - Camélia Jordana
No, I don't wanna get rid of this beautiful hell / that I'm starting to like / I don't wanna leave my lounge

Singing in My Soul - Tess and Adrian

(it's an acoustic and beautiful duet...sung by a trio)

Sleep - Kimya Dawson

(Even though the baby's not born yet it's still keeping me awake at night)

A New Dialogue - Julia Deans

(Yes, I still want to go out!)

I Want to Break Free - Queen

(I think pregnancy needs some more power ballads)

Soundtrack to Falling in Love - Charlie Winston

('All of me, You've found your way to all of me' - perfect for late pregnancy!)

Here Comes the Sun - Yuna (Beatles cover)

(Finally Spring is coming - and the baby too!)

Natural beauty was one thing I didn't have to give up enjoying

Sleep (instrumental) - Kimya Dawson

(A lovely lullaby from the Juno soundtrack)

When sensitive to smells, good to have some nice things like these Angel's Trumpets

Stop, look, listen...well, mainly listen

Street performer worth your time of day (and hoping he made some money on this day).
Why wasn't the crowd dancing? Because they're Londoners? Maybe if he worked some strobe-light effect dancing into his act... But still, he got the crowd allright.

Animated In Bed - Wonderful Stop Motion

One Love | Playing For Change | Song Around the World

In case I haven't said it before: I love people!
We see so much of the worst of people on the news everyday so here's a song (sing along) to bring back the humanity and the joy and creativity we all share.

 

Korean Noodle Salad (Salad Guksu)

A saucy favourite of mine from Korea. A little like a noodle version of my beloved bibimbab but with a different and fresher dressing/sauce. I've adapted a recipe from Lee MinJung's Step-by-Step Cooking Korean and given you more ideas based on versions of this salad I've eaten.

While this cold salad is just fantastic in hot summers, it's also great for those winter days when you just can't stand the thought of another heavy (and possibly white and stodgy) dish. Here in France I'm eating a lot of tarts, gratins, purees, bread and cheese, pasta - all food I love but that leads me to crave something fresh and colourful. The markets at the moment have a great array of turnips but not many vegetables to get excited about. This is a salad that can be made with few or many vegetables, depending on what you have available. I would have loved to add in some spicy sesame leaves but I have trouble finding ANY Asian ingredients, let alone any as exotic as that! So today's salad was made with just noodles, lettuce and cabbage, carrot, cucumber and on top boiled egg (no good tofu or tempeh to be found either) and seaweed.
It wasn't at all boring though as the sauce is very flavourful and turns this from just a healthy bowl of vegetables into a treat to look forward to.

Serves 2-4 depending on amount of veggies used and serving size. (bowl of salad in photo is one of 3 servings)

Salad Ingredients

soba noodles* 2 bundles
lettuce and/or cabbage 5 leaves cut into thin 4cm lengths

and choose from these other toppings:

cucumber 1 med, cut into thin 4cm lengths**
carrot 1 med, cut into thin 4cm lengths
red capsicum, 1med, cut into thin 4cm lengths
nashi (Asian pear) 1, cut into thin 4cm lengths
cherry tomatoes, 10 cut in half
seasame (perilla) leaves, 2, cut into thin 4cm lengths
radishes, 4, thinly sliced
radish sprouts, small handful
spring onions (scallions/green onions), 2, cut into thin 4cm lengths
seaweed sheets, 2 large /1 package of small salted Korean kim sheets, cut into thin 4cm lengths
kimchee (cabbage or radish type) if you're not a strict vegetarian or vegan (it is often made with small dried fish). I didn't use kimchee but if you do be aware it will affect the flavour of whole dish.
eggs, 1 per person, hard boiled, halved or quartered
OR (vegan option)
tempeh or tofu, marinated, 1/2 block, sliced in 4cm lengths, fried

* If you don't have soba noodles (available in most supermarkets) you can use many other types of noodles including brown rice noodles, buckwheat noodles, sweet potato noodles (chewy!), acorn noodles (great if you can find them), angelhair noodles...
**My new julienne cutter tool - looks similar to a potato peeler - is earning its keep in my kitchen!

Dressing Ingredients

3 T light soy sauce
3 T vinegar (rice vinegar is usual, or I like to use cider vinegar)
3 T fresh lemon juice
2 T agave nectar/ mild honey or 3 T brown sugar
1/2 T vegetarian oyster sauce
1 T crushed garlic
1 1/2 t wasabi
1 T chilli powder / Korean chilli flakes
1 T seasame oil
2 T toasted seasame seeds

more dressing options:
replace the veg oyster sauce and chilli powder with 4 T Korean red chilli paste (gochu jang - great paste to have if you can find it; look for it in Korean or general 'Asian' grocery stores).
you could use a knob of grated ginger and some coriander leaves for un-Korean but still delicious additions

Method

Combine ingredients for dressing and blend well. Refrigerate.

Blanch noodles in boiling water (or if using another type of noodles, cook till just tender) then wash under cold running water. Drain well.

Mix noodles with dressing and half the lettuce and other toppings. Use (clean!) hands to mix ensure thorough mix.

Garnish with remaining lettuce and toppings and serve.
I like to add the seaweed last as it gets soggy and chewy quickly. In the one in the photo I didn't have my favourite small Korean kim sheets so sliced up the kind used for 'california rolls'. I sprinkled the eggs with salt, chilli powder and sesame seeds.

Stephen Fry - All about I (What I wish I knew when I was 18)

When you have a spare 1/2 hour, do yourself a favour and settle down on the couch with a nice cuppa and this video. What's it about? So much! Stephen Fry just sharing some of his perceptive thoughts on life - human nature, the internet, kindness, authority...all sorts! He's got so much to share so all these gems just seem to roll off his tongue - but far from coming across as being un-thought-out, they offer us much to reflect on. So do watch when you can pay proper attention, not while emailing someone at the same time. For me it was 30 minutes spent in fine company.

Leek Tart (Tarte aux Poireaux)

Unlike in New Zealand where 'real men don't eat quiche', French men are only too happy to enjoy quiches and tarts and Tarte au Poireaux is one of Luc's favourite meals. His mum whips up great tarts in no time using store bought pastry and a custardy base made of eggs and creme fraiche. Unfortunately for countries like NZ and esp Australia, the store-bought pastries there are usually rubbish so it's well worth making your own - which is fairly quick if you multitask and get another step done while pastry is chilling. Creme fraiche is also not widely available and very expensive in any case, so while living in Australia, we started making this version, with recipes for a savoury custard and a shortcrust pastry (I made wholemeal) from Perth wholefood chef Jude Blereau. They both come from her book 'Wholefood: heal, nourish, delight' which is a great resource book for getting back to basics and tips on preparing different ingredients. 

This recipe is for leek tart (tarte aux poireaux) which is simple but delicious. You can use the basic recipe to make other tarts with winter or summer roast vegetables, things like pumpkin and blue cheese, spinach and pine nuts etc. 'Wholefood' cookbook also has a version I'd like to try with sweet potato, caremelized onion and artichoke. So use the idea and have fun!

Please forgive this lacklustre photo - I didn't think to take one when it came out of the oven so this is of a leftover piece reheated (and thus pastry overcooked) which we had the next day with wholemeal garlic bread and orange & grilled fennel salad.

Leek Tart

Ingredients:

1 quantity (450g / 1 lb)shortcrust pastry - see recipe below
1 quantity of basic savoury custard - see recipe below
3 medium leeks, (hard green tops removed), well cleaned and chopped
1 T olive oil
optional:
2-4 t dijon mustard
⅓ c grated melting cheese like 'tasty', cheddar, gruyere or compte

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200˚C (350˚F / Gas mark 4).
2. Line a 24cm (Diameter) x 3.5cm (Deep) / (9½ x 1¼ inch) tart dish with the pastry and trim the edges. (Tin or enamel tart dishes are best to transfer heat quickly to set gluten in pastry before butter all melts, while ceramic dishes diffuse heat which can result in soggier pastry). Put in the fridge for at least 20 minutes, or until well chilled (otherwise the pastry can slump down away from the sides while cooking and won't be nice and flakey).
3. While the pastry-shell is chilling, prepare the leeks. Make sure they are well-cleaned of any grit and dirt by slicing in half lengthways - so you can separate the leaves - and rinsing well in cold water. Sauté the leeks in the olive oil, stirring so they don't brown. When they are tender remove from heat.
4. Blind-bake the pastry-shell: Line the well chilled pastry shell with baking paper and fill with baking beans or raw rice. Put into the hot oven on the hot baking tray and bake blind for 15 minutes. Remove baking paper (being careful not to spill the beans / rice. These, once cool, can be stored and reused for future blind baking). Bake pastry-shell for a further 5 minutes or until the base of the pastry is dry.
5. While the pastry is blind baking you could prepare the savoury custard (see recipe below).
6. Next, we spread our ingredients (here, leek) over the base of the pastry-shell and pour over the custard, using only enough to bring the level to just below the top of the pastry. If using cheese and/or mustard, first use the back of a spoon to spread the mustard over the base of the tart then sprinkle over cheese before adding the leek. 
7. Carefully place the filled tart in the oven and bake for 15 minutes (at 200˚C / 400˚F / Gas 6) before turning down to 180˚C (350˚F / Gas 4) and check after a further 50 minutes (or earlier, if you think your oven is too hot or you're using a fanbake setting. The tart should be set and becoming golden on top. If you would like to top it with cheese, sprinkle over a good melting cheese approximately 20 minutes before it is ready (I don't feel the need to do that when I'm using tasty organic leeks).

Shortcrust Pastry (Wholemeal or plain)

125-180g (4 ½ - 6 oz) unsalted butter
250 g (9 oz / 2 cups) flour (wholemeal, atta or plain wheat or spelt)*
90-170 ml (3-5½ fl oz) ice-cold water

*Wholemeal flours require a wetter dough (as they absorb more liquid). You can choose to mix wholemeal and plain flour or wholemeal and atta flour if you like. I tend to use just one or the other, depending on what I'm making. With many savoury tarts I prefer the nutty flavour of wholemeal.

Method:

1. Using a pastry cutter / butter knife / your fingertips, cut the butter into the flour in the bowl until it is incorporated but still chunky (small chunks). If using a food processor, pulse one or two times, or until ready to turn out into a bowl.
2. Begin to mix the water gradually into the flour and butter (using a butter knife to cut the wet into the dry). Use only as much water as you need - the higher the percentage of wholemeal/whole wheat flour you use, the more water needed. Once the mixture looks evenly moist, bring it together into a ball (but don't knead or work it too much).
3. Flatten the ball of dough and chill for about 20 minutes, long enough to take the softness off the butter. The dough is now ready to roll out and use.

Basic Savoury Custard

Enough for a simple tart with few ingredients. The more ingredients you add, the less custard you will need.

For a 24cm (Diameter) x 3.5cm (Deep) / (9½ x 1¼ inch) Tart Dish

500ml (17 fl oz / 2 cups) milk (dairy or soy)

small sprig of fresh thyme or fresh oregano or green garlic (to infuse soy milk)

1 fresh bay leaf

1 garlic clove, quartered

sea salt, to taste

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

Put the milk in a saucepan (along with your choice of seasonings if using soy milk), the bay leaf and the garlic and place over a very low heat. Don't allow it to boil, but heat it until it just begins to steam. Remove from the heat, cover, then put in the fridge.

When cool, remove the skin (if there is one) and herb sprig (but not the leaves) and mash the garlic into the custard. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then whisk in the eggs.

Orange and Grilled Fennel Salad

Good idea: Eating salads every day. 

Bad idea: The salad only being lettuce.

Here in France I'm impressed that they get their greens every day but a bit disappointed 'salad' refers to just lettuce, or in the cold months, yummier nutty, buttery 'mache'*

To me, salad implies a mixture of things. A chopped apple isn't a fruit salad by itself, is it? I guess in New Zealand we're used to eating lots of different salads, often as side dish, sometimes as a meal on their own. The French have a salad (lettuce) course, which I commend but intend to enhance!

So here's my first offering, that yummy mache (or your substitute like baby spinach, beet greens etc) paired with salad-in-its-own-right combo of fennel and orange. I like the last two ingredients fresh as a salad/desert in summer but as its winter (and I have a little extra time on my hands) I've been grilling the fennel (you could do this on the BBQ in summer). It's incredible how the flavour changes - it mellows and becomes ever more sweet, much like garlic does when you roast it. Of course, it has its own flavour which I love and, best of all, grilling them takes almost no oil and is quick.

*According to veggiegardeningtips.com, "Mache, also known as corn salad, rapunzel, field salad, or lamb’s lettuce is a little known salad green with a mild lettuce like flavor." It's common in this part of France where it grows well along the sandy banks of the Loire and handles the cold admirably. It's supposed to be a great source of vitamen C and iron. And who could go past a name like Rapunzel? This is the veggie Rapunzel's mother was craving when she was preggers!

Orange and Grilled Fennel Salad

Ingredients:

1 large orange
1/2 bulb of fennel
2 handfuls of mache  or baby spinach / other salad greens
3 sprigs of fresh mint
2 t balsamic vinegar
2 T extra virgin olive oil
pinch sea salt
black pepper to taste

Method:

1. Wash mache / greens (in sink or bowl of cold water to remove sandy grit). Remove to colander or salad spinner to drain. Rinse and slice mint and add to the mache/greens. 
2. Remove tough outer leaves of fennel bulb and discard. Chop fennel into slices. Grill on a very lightly oiled grill (or put on a tray and use oven grill with door ajar). They don't need to be heaps grilled, just to get a little colour / a couple of grill lines.
3. While fennel is grilling, peel orange (slice off peel to avoid bitter pith), and chop into disks and then segments and put in a salad bowl. Squeeze in any extra juice from peel.
4. Add to the salad bowl the vinegar, olive oil, salt and a good few grinds of pepper. Mix.
5. Add the fennel and when ready to serve, the mache/greens. Mix leaves through the orange vinaigrette very gently. Mache and similar salad greens bruise easily and go soggy and look terrible if you leave them sitting in dressing for long.

I served this with a leek tart with homemade wholemeal pastry, very nice!

Asian Noodle Style Spaghetti Squash

Having only just cooked my first ever spaghetti squash (see how-to below), it seems a bit cheeky to be handing out advice. But the thing I discovered was just how easy and awesome this vegetable is to cook with, so wanted to share the news for others like me who are new to it. I'm all excited about it so just indulge me, and perhaps, share your tips too!

One spaghetti squash produced enough for 4 adult dinner servings. As I was cooking for 2 adults, we had it with roasted garlic, steamed broccoli and capsicum pesto for dinner last night and for lunch today I used the leftover squash to invent a sort of cheats pad-thai (using ingredients from my not very authentically Asian pantry). Both were great and I'm sharing my stir-fry recipe here:

Pad-Thai inspired Spaghetti Squash Stir-Fry
Serves 2. Vegetarian (or vegan if you skip the omelette)

Ingredients:
1 cup green veges you have (I used steamed broccoli, peas. You might have some yummy Asian greens or sugarsnap peas)
1 or 2 organic freerange eggs
2 medium shallots / 1/2 med onion, sliced thinly
1 1/2 cups roasted, prepared spaghetti squash (technique follows)

Other things you can add:
70 grams fried tofu puffs / 1/3 cup fresh firm tofu
170 grams fresh beansprouts

Garnishes you may want to use:
2 T fresh coriander or other fresh herbs like mint, thai basil, parsley
1/4 cup dry-roasted peanuts, chopped (I had none so for 'crunch' added crushed oven-baked seaweed potato chips....hmm...)
garlic chives or spring onions, chopped
lime wedges

Stir-Fry Sauce
Combine in a blender:
1/4 c coconut milk
1/2 T Sriracha chilli sauce (or 1/2 t chilli flakes)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 small piece of ginger, peeled and chopped (or 1/4 t powdered ginger)
1 T tomato paste or tomato sauce
2 T fresh lime or lemon juice
1 T soy sauce (or tamari)
dash of water

Method:
Take a wok / large frying pan and heat with a small amount of water to blanch your green veggies. Remove these once just tender (still nice and green and firm) and rinse them in cold water to stop them overcooking. Set aside veggies. (Pour water out of wok and put back on stove).
Now use the egg(s) to cook a thin omelette in the wok. Remove this and cut into strips. Set aside.
Next, heat 1t veg oil in wok and cook shallots till golden brown. Set these aside.
Pour sauce into wok on lowish temperature and cook till bubbling and slightly reduced. Add a dash more water if needed if it's too thick.
Add the cooked spaghetti squash and stir through sauce with tongs/chopsticks. Add the prepared veggies, omelette and tofu, if using. Stir-fry till well heated through. Add beansprouts last as they don't need much cooking.
Serve topped with the fried shallots, chopped fresh herbs and other garnishes you like.

How to Prepare Spaghetti Squash

1. Preheat oven to 180 C / 360 F. Take a spaghetti squash, chop it in half (it can be quite hard so invest in a good chopping knife and be careful!). Scoop out and discard seeds (although some people like to roast and eat them:)
2. Rub oil over cut halves of the squash, including in the hollow. Place on baking tray cut-side up. Arrange sliced garlic in hollows. 
3. Put baking tray in the upper-middle rack of the oven. Bake at 180 degrees celsius (360 degrees F) for about 30-40 minutes. (You will know it is ready when the squash separates from the skin easily).
4. When it's cool enough to handle, (or carefully hold with oven gloves), hold skin-side of squash and use a fork to scrape out the strands of the flesh. This bit is really easy and fun. You get HEAPS of 'spaghetti' strands from one squash, just keep scraping with fork until the skin is just a shell.

Now you can use this spaghetti-like flesh as you would al-dente pasta, pretty much. Don't leave it sitting in lots of sauce, if you can avoid it, as that can make it a bit mushy, apparently. Instead, serve with sauce on top or just heated and stirred through right before serving. The taste is different than pasta but the texture is great. Luc-who-loves-pasta asked if I would make pasta for dinner last night and I made this instead and he loved it. His approval is great as he's a huge carb (wheat) fan so this makes a lighter, more nutritious alternative for us to enjoy sometimes.

Pulp Kitchen

These teacakes/densish muffins were just the thing to use up some of our sweet juice pulp. With vegetable juice pulp I've been making soups, fritters etc. I made a chocolate cake the other day with some carrot, silverbeet, celery and parsley pulp which was great too - Still very chocolatey but moist and with, you know, depth of flavour - from the parsley esp I think. I just reduced the amount of flour I used a bit and added the pulp at the end (as in this recipe).

These muffins I adapted from a recipe from Breville Juicers. I thought mine looked better! It calls for pulp made from apple, carrot and ginger but Luc's not a big fan of ginger so I left it out even though it would have been nice. I added freshly ground cardamom which I think goes really well with carrot. I just forgot Luc also isn't a fan of carrots in baking so the whole thing was wasted on him! I loved them though (still haven't finished actually as it's hard to eat a whole batch of filling muffins by oneself! - need to make friends here to invite for tea-parties!).

They are moist but not too wet (may depend on fruit and type of juicer - how moist the pulp is). They are dense but in a good way, not heavy little rock cakes or anything. I used wholemeal flour which I think is more flavourful. I topped one with frommage frais for dessert and had another with natural yoghurt for breakfast but they are great on their own, too.

Carrot, Apple and Ginger Spiced Tea Cakes
Makes 12 tea cakes. Vegan and health-conscious substitutions given

Ingredients

2 cups carrot, apple (and ginger) pulp (juice recipe follows)
1½ cups flour (all purpose or whole wheat, or a combination)
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon cardamom (or ground seeds from 5 cardamom pods)
½ cup sugar (or ¼ cup of: maple syrup/honey/agave syrup*)
¼ teaspoon salt
1¼ cups milk (or rice/soy milk)
125 grams unsalted butter, melted (or ¼ cup canola oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and set the rack in the middle of the oven. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin (or line with paper baking cups).

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cardamom and sugar in a large bowl and stir with a whisk or a fork.

In a smaller bowl, combine oil/melted butter, milk and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently combine, being careful not to over mix. Fold in the pulp.

Scoop into muffin tins and bake for 18-22 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, before removing tea cakes to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Enjoy warm or at room temperature. Nice served with natural yoghurt or frommage frais.
*If using honey, agave or maple syrup, slightly decrease the amount of milk you use to keep moisture content consistent. Also, you may add more sugar if you wish but remember the apples and carrots will add some sweetness too.

Carrot, Apple and Ginger Juice
Makes 2-3 servings.

6 medium carrots, peeled and trimmed**
5 crisp apples (such as Granny Smith), peeled, cored, and quartered**
1 small knob of ginger, peeled
Juice all ingredients and pour into glasses for serving.

** I buy organic fruit and veg (whenever I can) and so just washed mine and removed the stems from the apples. Our (Breville) juicer advertises it juices whole apples, so that's just what we do, unless they're enormous and need chopping in half.

Dreamy Weather

Two of us Sunday Driving....