wish-listed: books about food

When it comes to shopping, window or otherwise, my preference is for books, homewares and fabric. (If they're gifts, then that's even better.) It seems that the more books I cross off my wishlist, the more I add in their place. I was in shock when Amazon (UK) so abruptly ended their 'free shipping to Australia' deal last year. It was a huge blow for Santa. I keep adding and adding to my wish-list, though, for if nothing else to keep me focussed on what I would really like to buy next time I go shopping. (I notice my brother hasn't since added anything to his wish-list; he's gone cold turkey.) This week I've added four new books that look great: J'aime New York by Alain Ducasse, Great Pub Food by Rachael Lane, Kitchen Garden Cooking With Kids by Stephanie Alexander, and French Food Safari by Maeve O'Meara with Guillaume Brahimi. Have you tried any of these?

preserved lemons: part two

The preservation continues. Part two was even more simple than part one: Slice lemons in half:

 Squeeze out their juice:

Take your jars of lemons from part one (that are now already almost half full of juice) and fill up each one with the lemon juice you've just squeezed. I had prepared five jars of lemons but I condensed them down to three; the lemons had softened quite a bit and that allowed for more room in each jar:

Seal the lid, rinse the jar, and you're done! Leave each jar for three-to-four weeks and they'll be ready to use. Apparently it's not only tagines that they're good for; chicken soup and cocktails, too! 

Photos: Heidi Adnum

preserved lemons: part one

Recently, for dinner with friends, Will and I made Jamie Oliver's Chicken, Olive and Preserved Lemon tagine. I'd first tried - and loved - a similar Moroccan tagine at Pasha in London (1 Gloucester Road, South Kensington) but I didn't realise the beautiful lemon flavour actually came from preserved lemons. In Mediterranean Escapes Rick Stein says that preserved lemons are 'a characteristic flavour of Morocco', and Jamie Oliver says they're the 'star ingredient' in a tagine. So, having not prepared any ingredients in advance, off we went to buy a jar. I won't embarrass myself and tell you how much the small jar cost but I will say I quickly decided that making our own was the way to go for all future tagining. They smelled very strong but in the stew they seemed to dissolve and they were indeed as delicious as the experts promised they would be. If you'd like to see, here's my first attempt at making preserved lemons, part one.  

The unwaxed lemons of all shapes and sizes are homegrown at my parents' farm. Rick Stein recommends 3-4 small lemons per 500ml jar.

 Other than lemons, all you need is 75g salt per jar. 

 Slice the lemons into quarters but leave them attached at the stalk. 

 So they'll look like this:

 Fill the cuts with salt. 

 Squish each lemon into the jar, and sprinkle over the remaining salt. 

 You'll fit in more than you think! I used a 700ml jar, and in that fit four larger lemons.

 The salt will fall to the bottom of the jar, and it will draw out the juice from the lemons. 

With the lid on, Rick says to shake the jar occasionally for four-to-five days and then top it up with more lemon juice (that will be part two, a week or so from now) then, after a couple of weeks, they should be ready to use. My tips would be don't attempt this if you have any cuts on your fingers (ouch!) and select jars with wide mouths, otherwise you'll end up with the situation shown below; no matter how hard I tried those little suckers were not going into that sauce jar! 

Preserved Lemons recipe in Mediterranean Escapes by Rick Stein. Photos by me.

home-made cherry ripe

My friend Irrum asked me to make and post about these Cherry Ripe Bites. Irrum whipped up a batch at home in London last week and just loved them. They're an at-home version of Cadbury's Cherry Ripe, which, apparently, is Australia's oldest chocolate bar (fun fact!). They're super easy to make and would be great for a special after-dinner treat or a hostess gift. We hope you like it!

Photos: Heidi Adnum

oranges after the rain

It's winter here and the oranges are ripening a little more every day. We've had some rain and there was enough overnight recently to wash these zesty beauties. I love how they look with raindrops clinging on; all sparkly and fresh.

Photos: Heidi Adnum

baked ricotta with tomato and olives

It's been far too long since I last posted a recipe. Things around here have been ridiculously busy - more on that soon! The days are getting shorter and colder here and most of the summer fruits and vegetables are gone. I found this is Karen Martini recipe and thought it would be perfect for the last few tomatoes and capsicum on the vines. It's very easy to make (except for peeling the capsicum; something I'm really terrible at) and is bound to please your vegetarian friends and family. Pop into the comments for Karen's full recipe.
I used some huge, gnarly tomatoes:

Fresh thyme:

Capsicums (the recipe called for yellow but we only have green/red on the vine):

Fresh ricotta:

Ricotta on olive oil, tomatoes on ricotta:

Rest of ingredients on ricotta:

Bake:

Remove from oven when ricotta has browned:

Photos: Heidi Adnum

fresh potatoes

Straight from the farm. They were delicious and so much fun to pick. You never know how many you're going to find under those gnarly vines! We had them roasted, mashed and fried (that was over the course of a few weeks - they keep forever). Don't you think kids would love to help grow and harvest them?

Photos: Heidi Adnum