Rhubarb berry upside down cake

Dec 26th - Boxing Day in Australia
Plenty of rhubarb flourishing in the garden and plenty of strawberries as well. Thought I'd make this cake today to enjoy for afternoon tea with family. Delicious!

Rhubarb Berry Upside Down Cake

Ingredients
2 cups chopped rhubarb
1 cup berries (frozen or fresh)
2 ½ cups plain flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
2 cups castor sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

Method
Preheat oven to 180 C.
Grease a large cake tin and line with baking paper.
Add rhubarb and berries and 1 cup castor sugar to bowl. Set aside for 30 minutes.
In an electric mixer, whip the 4 eggs and 1 cup castor sugar until light and fluffy for about 3 minutes.
Add the flour and baking soda to the mixture.
Add oil, milk and vanilla.
Pour rhubarb and berries into base of cake pan and pour cake batter over top. Bang it on the counter a few times to remove air bubbles and bake for 35-40 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Allow to cool for a few minutes and upend onto serving platter. Can be served warm or cold, with custard or cream.

Seasonal salad - chick pea and celery salad with coriander (cilantro) - October

Invited to a meal tonight with the simple instructions - 'just bring a salad'. Rather than dashing down the shop to buy some 'tossed salad' ingredients, I wondered what I could use from the garden. Tomatoes and other summer salad vegetables are a long way off producing yet. So, here's what I came up with using my still productive celery and the brilliant self-sown coriander about to go to flower and seed now that the weather's warming up. And a red onion just reaching maturity. A surprisingly tasty salad!

2 cups cooked chick peas (or 1 regular tin cooked chick peas)
1 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup celery leaves, chopped
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 small jalapeno green chilli, chopped finely
salt and pepper for seasoning
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix salad ingredients. For seasoning, shake vinegar and oil in small container and mix through salad.

Chicken, fennel and orange

I had a fennel bulb I bought from the market recently and used it in this recipe.
Ingredients
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 chicken breasts
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 bulb fennel, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fennel leaves, chopped
1 medium red onion, cut into 1 inch chunks
2 oranges (grated rind of one reserved for couscous, both juiced for sauce) or one cup juice
1 heaped teaspoon vegetable or chicken powder
1/3 cup water
2 teaspoons cornflour, water to mix

Couscous
1 cup uncooked couscous
2 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon butter
grated orange rind

Directions:
Combine spices, salt and pepper. Season chicken to coat both sides.
Heat oil and cook chicken breasts (approx 5 minutes each side).
Remove chicken and keep warm.
Add the fennel and onions to the pan and saute for 5 minutes, adding 1 tablespoon water for moisture.
Boil two cups of water with 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Add couscous to water and turn off heat. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes. Fluff the grains before serving.
Add juice, water and stock and bring to boil, stirring. Add cornflour mixed with water. Stir until it just begins to thicken, about 2 minutes.
Add chicken and chopped fennel, re-heat for about 2 minutes, spooning sauce over chicken.
Spoon coucous onto plate, with chicken and fennel and onions. Spoon portion of sauce on top.

Really delicious!

LEMONS - golden lemon biscuits - SEPTEMBER

These biscuits are an old favourite - easy to whip up, and crisp with a hint of lemon. Today Marley and Lila helped with mixing, putting walnuts on and licking the spoons!

Ingredients
125g butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups SR flour
grated rind of one lemon

Method
Melt the butter in jug in the microwave. Place sugar in bowl and add hot butter and stir. Add egg and stir, the rind and finally the flour.
Place teaspoons on a tray - allow room for spreading. Put a walnut half on top.
Bake on 180C for 10-12 minutes.
Cool on tray.

PEARS - chocolate pear pie

I had a few small pears in the crisper that I needed to use as they were fairly ripe. This is a delicious recipe. I've just ordered a dwarf peach tree to espalier along the back fence so I'll have fresh pears from my own garden to use in the future. Need to wait till early 2011 to get the tree though.

Ingredients
125 g cooking chocolate
2 tb butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons brandy
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 heaped tablespoons plain flour
2-3 ripe pears, peeled, cored, and sliced
Pastry - 1 cup plain flour, 100g margarine, water for mixing (or use thawed pastry sheet)

Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 200C
Melt chocolate and butter in microwave (or in a bowl over boiling water)
Whisk sugar into melted chocolate mixture, then maple syrup, whisking thoroughly after each addition. Whisk eggs in one at a time, then whisk in vanilla, brandy, and flour.
Fit pastry into a 20cm pie plate. Arrange pear slices over bottom of pie crust, then pour chocolate mixture over.
Bake for 10 minutes, then lower oven temperature to 180C and bake 35-40 minutes more, until top is no longer shiny and appears set. Note: filling will set as pie cools.

Serve at room temperature.

Salmon, chilli and coriander with ginger rice

Despite the very cold winter, the chilli seems to have survived, and the coriander is thriving. My attempts to grow ginger indoors over winter failed miserably.

Ingredients
2 fillets salmon
1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped finely
handful of coriander leaves, chopped
Oil (preferably spray)

1 tb oil
1 onion, chopped
1 tb fresh ginger, chopped
1 clove garlic
100 g basmati rice

1 cup boiling water

to serve: 1 lemon, halved

Method
Heat oil and fry onion until soft. Add ginger and garlic for 2 minutes. Add rice and stir. Pour over cup of boiling water and bring to boil, simmer for about 10 minutes or until rice is tender.
In a pan, spray a small amount of oil and cook salmon on one side for about 3 minutes. While it is cooking, sprinkle with coriander and chilli, and spray lightly with oil. Turn once, and cook for about 2 minutes. 

Serve with lemon, halved and fresh greens.

Serves 2. Light and refreshing.

CELERY, LEMONS, BASIL - Lemon and Basil Risotto - SEPTEMBER

The perpetual basil is re-shooting, and plenty of celery and lemons in the garden for this recipe.

Ingredients
125g butter
300g Arborio rice
1 onion – finely chopped
1 celery head, finely chopped
1 bunch celery leaves
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
150 ml dry white wine
6 tablespoon fresh basil
1 litre vegetable stock
Juice and zest of 4 organic lemons
100 g grated parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. Warm the stock.
2. Meanwhile, melt the butter and sauté onions and garlic until soft and add the garlic and chopped celery leaves and stir.
3. Add the rice and stir to coat.
4. Add the white wine and allow to reduce.
5. Add the stock one cup at a time, stirring constantly. Allow stock to be absorbed before adding the next.
6. Constantly stir until the rice is cooked but still al dente.
7. Stir in most of the basil, lemon juice, zest and half the parmesan. Season to taste.
8. The consistency should be very creamy and soft.
9. Serve with remaining basil leaves and Parmesan cheese.

SPINACH - spinach and chick peas - September

Plenty of spinach in the garden - loving all this winter rain and spring sunshine!

Chick peas and spinach

Ingredients
2 cups dry chickpeas*
2 tb oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 slice of bread
1 kg spinach, rinsed and chopped roughly
1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin, 1 heaped teaspoon ground coriander
1 red pepper, roughly chopped
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon (vegetable) powdered stock
Salt and pepper to taste
(* or two large tins prepared chick peas, though it's easy to prepare chick peas if you allow time for soaking overnight)

Method
1. Soak two cups of chickpeas overnight.
2. Rinse chickpeas and place in large saucepan. Cover with water and bring to boil, then simmer until tender. Add extra water if needed to keep peas covered. Drain chick peas.
3. Heat 1 tb oil in frying pan. Fry bread until golden. Set aside.
4. Add the remaining oil to the frying pan and fry garlic cloves, red pepper, tomatoes and onion for about 5 minutes, until softened. Add cumin and coriander and cook for another 2 minutes. Add bread and vegetable mix to a food processor and mix to a paste.
5. Add spinach to pan and cook on low heat until wilted.
6. Add in paste mixture and mix well. Add vegetable stock powder.
7. Finally, add the drained chickpeas, coating them thoroughly.
8. Season to taste and serve.

Serves 4

CELERY - celery, carrot and lentil soup - September

Celery patch in the garden

Celery, carrot and lentil soup

Carrots give a slightly sweet edge to this thick, smooth soup, which contains delicious pockets of melted blue cheese. All you need with it is some crusty bread to make a satisfying and nutritious main course.

Ingredients
1 ½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, roughly chopped
1 ts cumin
1 ½ cups split red lentils
1.25 litres of water
2 cups salt reduced vegetable stock
4 large carrots, sliced
1 head of celery (about 500g), sliced, some of the leaves reserved for garnish
1/3 cup (50g) crumbled blue cheese
1/3 cup (50g) snipped fresh chives
Pepper to taste

Preparation
1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a low heat, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until softened but not browned. Add cumin and cook for 2 minutes.
2. Tip the lentils into the pan and pour in the water and vegetable stock. Bring to the boil. Add the carrot and celery. Bring back to the boil and simmer for about 40 minutes or until the lentils and vegetables are very tender.
3. Puree the soup and re-heat until the soup is piping hot but not boiling. Remove the pan from the heat.
4. Stir in the blue cheese and chives. Serve, and season with pepper and garnish with celery leaves.

Health points
*Lentils do not need to be soaked before cooking. They are a good source of protein, starchy carbohydrate, fibre and B vitamins.
*Celery contains potassium, a mineral that helps to regulate fluid balance in the body, and therefore helps in the prevention of high blood pressure. It also contains a compound called phthalide, which may aid in lowering blood pressure.

LEMONS - lemon ginger cordial - September

Afternoon sun on the lemon tree

The gorgeous lemon tree is cropping well and it's time to use the lemons. Today, I'll make some cordial based on an old recipe my mother-in-law used to make. I always think of her when I make this recipe.
500g sugar
1 litre water
4 lemons
1 tb grated ginger
2 tsp citric acid
2 tsp tartaric acid
1 tsp Epsom salts
Cut the lemons in half and juice the lemons. Put juice into a bowl or large heatproof jug (2 litre). Meanwhile, put the remaining lemon halves into a saucepan along with the sugar. Add 1 litre of water (or enough to cover the lemons) and bring to the boil, stirring the sugar until it is dissolved, and then simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add grated ginger. Allow mixture to cool. Strain the water into the bowl or jug with the lemon juice, and add the citric acid and tartaric acid and Epsom salts. Stir well.
Pour liquid into clean, dry bottles sealing securely. I use clean plastic containers (750g or 1.25 litre).
This mixture will keep up to six weeks if stored in a cool dry place.
Dilute to serve with water or soda water. Can also add mint to serve.