Peter put the Jeep into four wheel drive this afternoon and took us onto the gravel along Mulligan's Flat Road into Gundaroo, where we stopped in to enjoy lunch and visit vignerons, Jen and Mark Mooney, at their Capital Wines Cellar Door and Cafe. The couple moved from Sydney in 2003 and bought the historic Royal Hotel, which they restored to establish the now award winning Grazing Restaurant. The cafe and cellar door are located in 1830s stone stables next door, overlooking a kitchen garden that most of us can only dream of!
We dined on the deck in the Autumn sunshine, as we grazed on caramelised garlic bread, grilled chorizo and haloumi, pork sliders with vegetable crisps, and spaghetti and meatballs... all the while gazing at the picturesque surroundings. A walk around the garden and nearby township is an essential part of any visit.
It's just after lunchtime on Good Friday and a blue-sky perfect Autumn day. It's a lazy one at our place, just short of a pyjama day and we're planning to take a walk by the lake this afternoon. We skipped breakfast, choosing instead to wait until the hot cross Easter buns came out of the oven and enjoy them for brunch, fresh from the oven, with a macchiato.
'Pomegranate trees are spectacular. There was a beautiful one in our garden with perfectly balanced branches, spreading out like wings. We could see it from the living room, framed by the window like a beautiful painting. The tree changed dramatically through the seasons, from falling leaves, to snow-covered twigs, then dark pink blossoms and finally green and lush, dotted with crimson globes that dangled elegantly from its branches like earrings. On lazy summer afternoons we would sit in its shade, drinking hot fragrant tea and feeling the tree's presence as if it were one of our ancestors.' If there is one fruit I wish I had come to know earlier in my life, it is the pomegranate. I am in awe reading Yotam Ottolenghi's vivid recollections of his mother bringing home pomegranates from the market. At the age of five, he and his three year old brother would be 'stripped and banished outside' to the patio where they would 'squat like monkeys' to strip the fruit of its juice and seeds.
'There's a pomegranate stand in virtually every neighbourhood in Tehran' and they are the 'equivalent of Starbucks' according to Iranian-American chef and author, Ariana Bundy. In Pomegranates and Roses, her family memoir and collection of Persian recipes, Ms Bundy says 'The bright red fruits are piled high, with just a little window for the seller, who pokes his head out to serve you with fresh [pomegranate] juices and pastes.' Food history tells us that pomegranates have been savoured since ancient times and it's written that the first sherbet was snow flavoured with the juice of the fruit! Homer mentioned pomegranate trees in verses in The Odyssey (800 BC); and in his musings on orchards in springtime, 13th century Persian poet, Jalaluddin Rumi, wrote of 'sweethearts in the pomegranate flowers'. There are times when I'm ever so glad to be an early riser! If I wasn't, I would have missed this spectacular vista. No other words needed, except to say that this image has not been enhanced in any way. I've never been much of an adventurer and can safely say, whether I like it or not, wanderlust simply isn't part of my makeup. That said, I do enjoy travelling now and then, and hope to do some serious sightseeing in Australia and abroad with my partner in coming years when we retire. We have a few must-see destinations on our bucket list, which include places that renowned cookery writer, Diane Holuigue, so eloquently refers to as 'the well known byways' and 'well-worn paths trodden along the sights (sites) that best delineate the beauty of a region.'
One of our plans is to enjoy coffee and cakes (note plural) at the iconic and elegant Gerbaud coffee house in Budapest’s Vörösmarty Square. The one and only time I've been to Gerbeaud, was in 1994, when I visited relatives across Europe with my parents and my young son and daughter. It seems like such a long time ago now. 'I could not exist for more than a few days without cooking some eggplant,. And yet for many cooks this is one of the most mysterious of vegetables.' Eggplants are in abundant supply at farmer's markets and greengrocers, hence they have centre stage on my kitchen bench at present. I am particularly taken with the heirloom varieties, such as the Rosa bianca, which I've been buying direct from a grower. Stephanie Alexander reminds us of the versatility of eggplants, both in terms of size (from the tiny Thai eggplant through to the larger ones almost the 'size of a butternut pumpkin') and in the way they can be prepared. Eggplant can be fried, battered, au gratin, grilled, stuffed. stewed, pureed, mashed or baked. In The Cook's Companion, Ms Alexander offers a classic recipe for smoky eggplant puree, preferably cooked over a camp fire, she says. The flavoursome puree is perfect as the base for baba ghanoush.
In Seasonal, Stefano Manfredi writes that Italians like to 'pickle eggplant in long strips, keeping them a little crunchy.' He recommends pairing them with tomatoes, zucchini, capsicum, onion, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, yoghurt, lamb, haloumi and parmesan, among other diverse ingredients. In his recipe for eggplant baked with tomato, parmesan and oregano, Manfredi cuts the eggplant lengthwise into a fan shape, leaving the top of the stem intact, then brushes it with olive oil and slips slices of tomato in between the sliced 'leaves' of the eggplant. Sprinkle with parmesan and baked for 25 minutes until tender in a 190 degree C oven. I've been experimenting with a number of eggplant dishes over the last two weeks, including versions of a Middle Eastern classic of sliced, roasted eggplant served with yoghurt, saffron and pomegranate by both Yotam Ottolenghi and Claudia Roden. I will share with you my take on the recipe as soon as I have 'nailed the flavours' and once locally grown pomegranates are more readily available. In the meantime, you might enjoy my eggplant stack or chargrilled eggplant with tomato, basil and garlic. 'I always refer to myself as a cook, not a chef. Even though I was formally trained, I truly believe that the best recipes are learned in the kitchen rather than the classroom... So, for my new book, I wanted to focus on home cooking, a subject dear to my heart.' It's Saturday afternoon and I've just come home from my usual outing to the Capital Region Farmer's Market, as well as the Lifeline Autumn Book Fair. My 'nanna trolley' was overflowing with books, together with market-fresh seasonal produce. Later today, I plan to sit in a big, comfy chair in my sunny living room and thumb the pages of the new (old cookbooks) that I bought at the fair. But for now, my focus is being in the kitchen creating a dish or two from Valli Little's newest cook book delicious. Home Cooking. Valli Little is one of my favourite cookery writers. 'Sourcing, cooking, tasting and sharing food is one of life's great pleasures,' she writes. Readers will know that I share this philosophy and Valli's love of using fresh ingredients to create memorable meals.
Yotam Ottolenghi displays such sincerity and passion for cooking with fresh ingredients, it is impossible not to be swept up into his world of exotic menus and simply beautiful, beautiful food. Speaking with the owner of a well-known book store about 18 months ago, I asked what his bestsellers were. 'Ottolenghi is hugely popular and we get numerous enquiries about it every day,' he explained. To which, I replied, 'What is Ottolenghi?'.
With the innocence of my question, I proved the point that each of us learns something new and exciting every day! For those who are still unaware, in a nutshell Yotam Ottolenghi is a chef and cookbook author who was born in Israel and moved to London in 1997 to train at Le Cordon Bleu. He is a philosopher, journalist and pastry chef. With colleagues, Sami Tamimi and Noam Bar, Ottolenghi opened a deli in Notting Hill in 2002, followed by a string of sister stores and a restaurant. He has published and co-authored several books, including Plenty, Ottolenghi the cookbook and more recently, Jerusalem; and has also appeared on a series of documentaries (see below). To my mind, Yotam Ottolenghi displays such sincerity and passion for cooking with fresh ingredients, it is impossible not to be swept up into his world of exotic menus and simply beautiful, beautiful food! I have to say, I just love his style. I'd like to introduce you to a little Ottolenghi-inspired number that I've been cooking for the past several weeks and I think I just might have fallen in love with this dish, too. Every season presents us with a fresh opportunity to celebrate delicious fruit. Just think stone fruits and berries in summer; apples, oranges and lemons in winter; tamarillos and blood oranges in spring; and pears and figs in autumn. Autumn is one of the loveliest seasons in Canberra and I recently made a pact with myself that I must get away from my desk at lunchtime to savour some fresh air and sunshine. Last week, I took the opportunity to walk to Acton, an old part of Canberra just 15 minutes from the office where I work. It's the area where my family lived around the time that I was born and I was delighted to discover that the little 'buggy shed' we once called home has recently been renovated. More on that in an upcoming post.
There's a fig tree on that old property and I couldn't help but forage for ripe fruit, especially seeing nectar-hungry wrens flitting back and forth from the tree, and also knowing that our landlady in the 1960s had 'banned' my siblings and I from touching her figs. Forbidden fruit is somehow always sweeter, isn't it! The sight of figs en masse is enough to make some folk go weak at the knees (myself included), so when my Twitter friend, Eucale Stanes, a dietitian, fellow cook, fresh produce fancier and gardener, invited me to collect some figs from the tree in her back garden, I was only too happy to barter with some of my home grown bok choy and tarragon. We had a good chat about gardening and cooking, and I know that Eucale enjoyed cooking with my tarragon as much I enjoyed preserving her beautiful little figs. We're catching up again in a day or two for another swap and I'm really looking forward to it! Eucale, this recipe is for you. In my kitchen this month are raspberries so precious and perfect in every sense that, like a shrewd little squirrel gathering acorns, I wanted to preserve as many as I possibly could for the coming winter. There's a calendar hanging on the wall beside my desk in the office and I noticed today that it's still displaying the February page. Meanwhile, I've only just this week torn away the February sheet to reveal March on the calendar in my kitchen at home. Perhaps it's because, much like everyone else, I'm so busy these days that the weeks, months (and years!) are literally flying by. It feels as though there's very little down time and I often find myself rushing about like a lunatic, to my dismay sometimes even on Saturdays. Hence, Sundays are hugely celebrated and appreciated at our place. That's when it's quiet time for reading, cooking, gardening, cycling and simply enjoying each other's company doing the things we love. Sunday is the day that I can get into my kitchen and just potter; or sit quietly at the kitchen table reading the newspapers, watching the wrens in the courtyard as I snack on fruit bought fresh from the farmer's market the day before. The summer just past was deliciously hot, actually the hottest Australian summer on record according to the ABC's Weather Man, who reported this week that 'a new record was also set for the number of consecutive days the average maximum daily temperature for Australia exceeded 39°C – seven days between 2 and 8 January 2013, almost doubling the previous record of four consecutive days in 1973'! In fact, the average temperature across Australia on January 7 was 40.3 degrees C!
Curiously, I really enjoyed this summer because we had had so much wind and rain the two previous years, after bitterly cold winters I felt somewhat deprived of warmth. Perhaps in an endeavour to savour all that the season of summer brings, I've been preserving more produce this year than ever before. My larder is full of Aunty Lizzy's hot sauce, mango relish, and peach and passionfruit as well as strawberry jam. I bought and froze large quantities of blueberries (and will share my friend Diana's beautiful recipe for blueberry and apple crumble in coming weeks). And when I spotted these precious and perfect raspberries last weekend, I bought four punnets to stash away for winter as well. |
Welcome...Üdvözölöm
Cooking and writing have been a lifelong passion. Join me as I share with you my favourite recipes; postcards and morsels from my travels; conversations with cookery writers and chefs; and news on food, cookbooks and cooking. - Liz Posmyk
All
NB: I use Australian standard measuring cups and spoons in my recipes.
|