Crumble

RHUBARB and apple crumble is one of the delights of late winter.

There's something about making the buttery smell as it cooks in the oven and it's one of the few dishes which actually tastes as good as the fragrance suggests.

Mmmm!

Last Saturday night my gardening and hen-keeping friend Madeleine made one her fabulous crumbles and she and Barrie invited a few friends around for dinner.

The rhubarb, apples and eggs in the crumble are fresh from their garden - what a delicious treat!

Madeleine with Violet

Fruitful plantings

THERE is nothing like picking your own apples, cherries, peaches or lemons.

Making food from fruit is a wonderful feeling.

Last week I enjoyed a marvellous time baking lemon butter cakes using eggs from the hens and lemons from my trees.

In Peter Cundall's latest Weekly Times article he talks about the benefits of growing your own fruit.

Fresh figs, warm from the sunshine and eaten in the garden

straight from the tree - this defines summer bliss.

Last summer I stood under my flourishing fig tree and ate its glorious fruit warm from the tree - bliss.

Now is the time to think about putting in fruit trees so you can enjoy the crop for years to come.

Winter often seems like nothing much is happening in the garden, but it's the prefect time of year to get your fruit trees sorted.

Don't delay - no-one ever regretted plating another fruit tree!

Butter Biscuits

IT'S cold, it's wintery and you need some comfort so what better way to warm up the kitchen and your self than baking yummy butter biscuits?

Yummy Butter Biscuits

¾ cup plain flour - sifted

¾ cup SR flour - sifted

110g soft butter

½ tsp vanilla essence

1 egg

1 cup castor sugar

 

 

Method

Turn on oven to 180-200 depending on your oven

 

Beat butter and sugar until light and creamy

Add egg and vanilla

Gently add flour and mix

Turn out onto a floured board and gently knead into a dough

Roll out to about the thickness of a 50 cent coin

Cut with your preferred biscuit shape cutter

Bake about 12 minutes until pale gold

Slide onto an airing tray

 

Cold weather coriander

WHILE you wake up on a shivering morning wishing for summer, outside some plants are thriving despite the icy cold.

Coriander is one herb which thrives in winter and seeds like crazy, without going to seed as it so often does in summer.

While I have planted out some pots in a sunny area of my deck, which is handy for when i need a small amount when cooking, I've also allowed one garden bed with coriander to self-seed.

Now it's popping up like crazy - just as well as I'm enjoying using the tasty herb as a key ingredient in soups, casseroles and even breads.

Here's a recipe for coriander chilli chicken I'm going to give a whirl next weekend.

Lentil as...

LENTILS are coming into their own as winter rolls on.

You have to love 'em - delicious, nutritious, easy to cook and as cheap as chips.

And as the coriander is going gangbusters and the two go so well together, it seems rude not to combine them.

Yesterday in between weeding, removing old bean plants and keeping the hens out of the brassica beds, I made a big pot of red lentil and vegetable soup.

I meant to save it for dinner and then decant into smaller containers for lunch this week, but it smelled so yummy I did have a bowl for elevenses.

Alison's Red Soup

Ingredients
I x pkt red lentils
1 x onion, chopped
1/2 of a big pumpkin, chopped
1 x red capsicum, chopped
3 x carrots, chopped
2 x tins of chopped Italian tomatoes
handful of coriander chopped
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 litres water

Method
Rinse lentils then place in deep heavy bottomed casserole dish with water
Simmer for 25 minutes, removing foamy scum
Add carrots, capsicum, pumpkin, tomatoes, spices and cover with more water if needed
Simmer for an hour
Vitamise smooth
Serve with Greek yogurt and a sprinkle of coriander

Winter gardening

TOMORROW is the first day of winter and I am keeping my fingers crossed for a sunny start to the season.

Here are the Organic Gardening magazine tips for June gardening.

When its cold, digging, weeding, planting and pruning are a great way to keep warm. As this coming week is when we put out the green waste bin full of everything I can't compost - mostly fruit tree pruning - I'll get to sharpening the secateurs too.

And there's always the fun of turning over the compost with the chooks helping out!
 

Winter gardening the go

NEXT week it's winter as Peter Cundall notes in his latest Weekly Times column.

He notes that in the southern states it's a good time to plant broccoli and garlic.

So as along as it's not raining, I'll be out there in my gumboots and hand-knitted cable pure wool fluro orange jumper ($3 at the local op shop courtesy of someone whose grandma or aunty's fabulous knitting skills), turning over the compost and sowing some spring crops.

I'll also be harvesting some pumpkin to make soup and pumpkin risotto - yum.

Not to mention chasing the moulting chooks about and encouraging them to eat any caterpillar or aphids still handing about.

This pumpkin is now even bigger and about to turned into soup!

Soup it up

Spring may have sprung but the sight of a hambone at the deli at 7 o'clock this morning (too wet to cycle so I did the shopping instead and Sunday early is the best time, no children squealing or hung-over tourists blocking the spice rack).
This recipe freezes really well so I often make up a huge batch and freeze single-serves for those times when you feel tired, cross and cold and need an internal hug.

To die for pea and ham soup
1 ham bone (hock's don't cut it, so chat up your local butcher for the real deal)
1 packet split dried peas
3 litres water
handful of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
Couple of grinds of fresh ground pepper
2 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped,
3 cloves garlic, chopped

1. Put everything in a heavy-based pot and simmer for at least one hour.
2. Remove ham bone and any meat which has fallen off and (wearing disposable gloves), remove fatty bits and gently chop or tear apart the meat.
3. Discard hambone - give to the dog or chooks to enjoy.
4. Remove bay leaf and remains of thyme.
5. Place the liquid mixture in a blender and whizz until smooth.
6. Place meat and liquid back in the pot and gently stir.
7. Serve with rye or sourdough bread toasted with oil or garlic or both.

Best enjoyed in front of a roaring fire after a winter / spring surf, cycle or day in the garden.

Pea and ham soup on the stove - mmmm!