September 9th, 2007

I would like to Thank Patricia over at Technicolor Kitchen in English for her lovely Melting moments recipe . These little beauties do melt in your mouth, they taste rich and buttery with a hint of lime and were super quick to make and bake. They aren't over sweet and you don't need to pipe them as she did. I just dropped mine from a teaspoon onto the baking tray. The flavour matures upon sitting and are great with a cup of coffee or tea or even a glass of milk!!! Thanks Patricia!!!!

I started back to work again this week and it can be tiring when you have had a long break....
So you come home from work and are tired so want something super quick to fix.....
Slice some courgette, onion, mushrooms and put on a pan of boiling water. Once the water boils pour in some pasta stir fry the veg with some cherry tomatoes and a few herbs....

Tip in the pasta and add a bit of pasta water, sprinkle over some dried chicken gravy mix add some grated cheese and stir similar to a rissotto, splash of wine or lemon juice..... And quick as that is supper!!!


Next night on the way home from work I stopped by the farm shop who on a Wednesday and Thursday has a fish monger trailer set up there. I decided I would treat hubby and I to some lovely fish and fresh veg and fruit. Also came home with a goodie to try later once I find some recipes for using it. Amaranth!!! And I got a large bag of spelt flour too!!! The fish I bought was two nice pieces of Halibut (supper that evening), some monk fish fillets and 6 large fresh prawns.
The monk fish and prawns have gone into the freezer immediately upon arriving home ready for next week's meals.

The corn was super fresh and still had the husks and silks on it. I haven't tasted corn this nice since leaving the US. Usually the stuff we get in the super market has been around a bit longer than it probably should be.

For the fish I took and skined the halibut fillets. Take some chopped onion, and garlic and fry in a little oil. Add some bread crumbs, chopped oregano, rosemary and parsley. Juice of half a lemon and some pine nuts. I added just a small grating of parmesan cheese too. You can also use some chopped red chili pepper with the onions. Place your fish into a baking dish which has been oiled, top the fish with the crumb mixture and bake at 200 for for about 25 minutes. While this is cooking make up a salad of fresh leaves and which ever ingredients you like really. Then take the juice of half a lemon and the zest of the lemon, put into a small bowl, add some chopped rosemary and oregano, 1 clove of garlic crushed, some chopped fresh parsley and more chili chopped(optional), add 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil and whisk all together. Once the fish comes out of the oven place next to the salad leaves and drizzle the dressing over the hot fish and the salad leaves. This can be used with other types of fish too. And is becoming my very favourite way to have fish.

Sourdough Next step.....
Once you make your starter and you have it in the refrigerator you need to check on it every day and give it a good stir. And once a week at least you must feed it..... I combined this step along with making some rolls.

First take out 1 cup of starter from your plastic container... This you will use in your recipe. You can use this in any bread recipe in place of 125 ml of water (1/2 cup) and 1/2 cup or 75 grams of flour.

My recipe I made rolls with is as follows and is for a bread machine. Place all ingredients into your bread machine pan.
1 cup Sourdough starter
1 egg
125 ml warm water
30 grams butter
1/2 tsp salt
3 tablespoons sugar(granulated)
445 grams flour(I used a mix of spelt, strong white and soft grains)
1 pkt yeast.
These I put in the machine on the dough setting and then once it was finished I proceeded to make rolls. You may need to add more flour or water according to humidity and such. This was a really sticky wet dough.

Once I turned it out from the bread pan, I knocked it back and with floured hands and board I made it into rolls.....

Placed them onto an oiled baking tray.

Let them raise till doubled in size. I used some scissors to snip a cross in the top of each roll. Just for decoration. Preheat your oven to about 180C (Fan) I would maybe go for a 200 without fan.
I brushed my rolls with a bit of water before baking.
Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes.


And the final rolls. They are very light and tasty!!!

Now while you have your Sourdough out of the fridge it is time to wash Herman's house and to feed him. So place into a large glass or plastic bowl your starter. Always try to do this with 1 cup of starter. And to this add 1 cup of warm water and 1 cup of flour. Sometimes I add a pinch of sugar as an added food for the yeast. Give it a good stir and let it sit at room temp again for a day or over night. Stirring down a few times. Again if he should turn orange or pink or have a really disagreeable odour then discard and try again. The smell should be yeasty and pleasant.

Don't worry about lumps.....

as they will dissolve as you can notice the little gas bubbles already forming.

This is about an hour after he has been fed....

And after another hour

See the lumps are almost all gone.

Don't be afraid if the flour and water separates a bit. You will get a clear liquid on top of your starter. Just stir it and it will combine again. Remember to make sure and feed him once a week and to stir him every day. And you should have a good friend to help with your baking. You will definately get rave reviews when you bake!!!!
Definately try using this recipe for making cinnamon rolls. I will post that maybe next week, depending on how the diet is going or not... Heee hee.......

I know I really must find a local butcher sometime and soon!!! I am getting tired of the supermarket's meat selection. But one bit of meat that I am really surprised by is pork tenerloin. This piece of meat if I were back home I would be paying a small fortune for and for some reason goes for a few pounds here...... So I was lucky to find a nice one in the store this past week.... I had seen James Martin on Saturday kitchen or some such show cooking some tenderloins with stuffing inside. I have chosen to stuff mine with some fried onion, bacon, apple, pecan stuffing.

Fry off some chopped onion and bacon and chopped apple in a little oil or butter.

In a small bowl add some chopped pecans, chopped rosemary and some dry bread crumbs. Season with salt and pepper. Add in the fried bacon onion apple mixture. Let cool slightly while you prepare the pork.

James had a couple of handy tips... First you must trim off the sinew so you don't get a tough stringy bit.


Then take and cut it down the centre but leaving some of the flesh uncut. And open it up a bit.

Now cut down on either side the same way part way through. Now at this stage I should have beat the meat out just a bit more...... But I forgot...

You want to make sure you don't have any holes. So be careful with the cutting and the beating. He used cheese and a chutney in his tenderloins. So he didn't want the cheese escaping. I didn't have to worry about that.... I next took some dijon and some grainy mustard and spread over the inside of the pork....

And then the stuffing goes in..... I don't know why but I always have way too much stuffing!!!

Roll up as tightly as you can. A tip here would be to use a sheet of oiled foil and then you could just put straight into the oven and roast that way. But I was trying to be a bit chefy so decided to wrap mine in some smoked back bacon and tie with a bit of string. Just remember to take off all the string before serving.

Then he browned his tenderloin in a hot frying pan on all sides and then put into an oiled roasting tin. I added some sprigs of rosemary to the bottom of the pan to help with the flavour. I then deglazed the pan with a bit of cider and a splash of brandy. And poured the juices over the meat in the tin.


I added some peeled halved potatoes to the tin too for roasting at 200 for about 30 to 40 minutes. If it is browning too quickly you can cover with aluminum foil.

Let the meat rest for about 10 minutes covered and make a gravy. I passed the pan juices through a seive into a sauce pan and reduced by about half. Added some cream and a teaspoon of mustard. Check for seasoning and adjust.

While it was resting I also microwaved some Romanesco that I bought at the farm market along with some sliced carrots and a dash of oregano and some chopped garlic.

I just love this vegetable!!! Isn't it just the coolest thing you have seen!!!

And although you traditionally have a roast dinner on Sunday this is our Roast dinner on Saturday along with fresh baked sourdough rolls!!!!