POACHED COD
Another easy fall back meal, I always have a kilogram of smoked cod in the freezer. Ingredients, Method and Serving: Cook the fish 1 kg of smoked cod, poached in milk at a slow simmer, with a bay leaf, salt and pepper for about 10 minutes, until tender and fish just flakes apart. Remove from […]
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PAELLA
Fourth time for Paella – first time in a normal pan, second time I bought a paella pan and followed the recipe that came with the pan, it was okay but only just okay. Fourth time – it worked, I used the wood fired pizza oven. It provides even heat to the entire base. As […]
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CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES
Really easy recipe – the only problem is that your hands get very chocolatey. I think that the longer you can leave the mixture in the fridge the less messy your hands should get. These need to be quite small, otherwise they are quite a commitment to eat. You want to feel as if you […]
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The Onion Family
Garlic 2010 – My first attempt at garlic was a total disaster. I scavenged through Woolworths for sprouting garlic bulbs, and planted a whole bed. They just sat and looked miserable for months and then got attacked by a plague of aphids or thrips (not sure which because it happened while we were on holidays […]
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Growing Radish
This was something that all the gardening programs showed being planted. They were praised for their quick turn around time but no-one mentioned what to do with them once grown. I had space between the rows in the garlic and onion bed and some radish seeds so decided to give it a go. When it […]
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BEARNAISE SAUCE
Bearnaise Sauce (in a microwave) Maybe not so conventional but pretty easy and pretty foolproof, goes really well with steak or poached eggs. Follow the instructions in the method – pretty easy but the method needs to be followed. Ingredients 2 tbs white wine vinegar 2 tbs white wine 5 peppercorns – from freshly ground pepper […]
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NEIMAN MARCUS DIP
Found this dip on the internet when I was looking for something about marinating feta – it was just an “you may also like . . . ” on the side of the page I was looking at. I was intrigued, firstly by the limited number of ingredients, the simplicity of flavours and lastly by […]
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RADISH RAITA
So we grew radishes – all types – fantstic because they grew so fast but the problem was what to do with them. This is so fast and is a great sauce to have with steak. Itis strong and bites a bit like horse radish sauce. (enough for a side dish for 6) Ingredients 3 […]
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BEEF LASAGNE
This is a good recipe for meat lasagne. Just don’t make the meat and cheese layers very thick. It is much healthier than the version with white sauce and doesn’t go soggy and collapse, a problem that my lasagnes have, probably because I make the layers too thick. Best Beef Lasagne Recipe –Serves 12 people– […]
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SPINACH SAUCE
This is a similar dressing to the warm green salad except that I use palm sugar, cook it for a bit longer and add about 100g of cream cheese to make a creamy side dish to have with steak. The spices can be varied depending on what it is accompanying. Ingredients Dressing ¼ cup olive […]
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WARM GREEN SALAD
Leafy Greens I discovered that the tops of most of my root crops make very tasty leafy greens to use in salads. Radish, beetroot, turnip tops all taste better than silver beet. Ingredients: For Vinaigrette: ¼ cup olive oil 2 tbs balsamic vinegar 2 tbs water 1 tbs honey / maple syrup / palm sugar […]
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STRAWBERRY, ROCKET AND BLUE CHEESE SALAD
Amazingly tasty, the strawberries and blue cheese complement each other and having it with steak and a bearnaisse sauce is delicious. Ingredients 1/4 cup white balsamic 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 1 tsp dijon mustard 1 bunch rocket / baby spinach (washed and drained) 4 slices of prosciutto or pancetta (torn into pieces) 1 […]
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RHUBARB STEWED
Links Found this great website – http://www.rhubarb-central.com/ to help with recipes and growing hints. When we have some rhubarb growing I will revisit. I have ignored all the advice that says not to eat any in the first year. The plants are so huge and the old leaves are just dying so why not eat […]
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Freezing Zucchini
This is great. I just washed the zucchini and ran them through the grater on the food processer, packed the result into zip lock bags, pressed out as much air as possible, lay them flat on a tray and froze them. I am hopeless at labelling things that I put in the freezer – note […]
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Zucchini growing
Zucchini 2010 When you have zucchini in the garden you really have it. I planted six plants, six different varieties this year (2010) – only two of them really excelled – the yellow and the round rondo. From these we still had a glut. I planted them too close together in a bed shared with […]
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Beetroot growing
We had not really eaten beetroot before growing it. What a fantastic vegetable. Really good for you, easy to grow, tastes great, tastes best raw, fantastic in juice, when pickled it is so much better than the tinned stuff and you use the lot of it. The leaves taste much better than silver-beet. Next year […]
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GINGERBREAD MEN, GINGERBREAD HOUSE
Christmas Gingerbread These are such a winner with any child, the smaller the child the more preparation needs to be done before they actually become involved. The mixture needs to be made in advance and left to chill in the fridge for at least an hour. This takes little time and can be done in […]
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Zucchini Chutney
Just another way to use up all of those zucchini. Ingredients First day: 1.5 kg assorted zucchini, seeded and chopped into 1cm cubes 1/3 cup salt Second day: 5 medium tomatoes or chopped or a couple of tins of tomatoes 3 small onions chopped 2 medium cooking apples diced 2 1/2 cups white vinegar 1 […]
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ZUCCHINI PICKLES
This is brilliant, I made a small batch the first time and it was so good that I made a lot more towards the end of the season. I freeze it in batches, flattened, in zip lock bags and it lasts for ages. Tastes great with ham and almost anything else. The spices are quite […]
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MARINATED OLIVES
I still don’t have olive trees that do anything other than grow and get thrips, however I do like a good olive and the best are always the marinated ones from the deli. My sister-in-law once gave me a jar of olives that she had marinated herself so after finding that it was possible to […]
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OLIVE TAPENADE
I was going to buy some olive tapenade for mini pizza toppings and roast my own capsicum to go with it, but I couldn’t find the tapenade so bought olives and made it myself – so simple, why would anyone buy it. Ingredients 2 cup (300g) pitted kalamata olives (or pit them yourself just add […]
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CHOCOLATE TOPPING FOR ICE CREAM
Hard Chocolate ice cream topping This is a fantastically easy, amazing recipe. The result is runny chocolate that stays pourable for ages, yet hardens on contact with very cold ice cream. It is like Ice Magic except in large quantities. I used it to coat my individual layered ice cream cakes that were made in […]
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BEETROOT & CARROT SALAD
Even the 2YO loves this and eats it by the handful. It is so easy to make that there really is no need for a recipe – you just need beetroot, carrot, balsamic vinegar, sugar and horsreadish cream. We usually have a bowl of this in the fridge during the beetroot season. It has even […]
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HOT AND SOUR NOODLE SOUP
Another very quick, easy to serve, Asian style soup. Ingredients Serves 6 6 chicken thigh fillets, skin off but left whole 3 tbsp mirin 3 tbsp soy sauce 5 garlic cloves, crushed 4 small red chilli, chopped 2 litres chicken stock 1½ cinnamon quills 2½ star anise 3 tbsp rice wine vinegar 300g ramen noodles […]
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