5:2 Diet Steamed Salmon and Wilted Kale Salad

I had such a positive experience with the Kale, that I just want share it... but before I do this I must thank the wonderful Alison for putting me onto the "wilting massage" technique.

The following recipe amounted to a very small amount of calories, but was delicious.

Ingredients

A beautiful bunch of Kale

Salt

Fillet of salmon (skin on)

Lime or lemon juice

Black pepper

20 cashews

Verjuice

Olive Oil

Method

 

Hot Winter Drinks

The temperature has dropped about 15 degrees here in Alice Springs, and it's finally raining.   We have a beautiful wood fire going (thanks to the protection of the pizza oven ) and the family are hankering after warm milky drinks.

There's chai, made with soy milk and honey - we have this every other evening.. and then there's hot milk with cinnamon sticks and cardamom.. but best of all, we sometimes have Salep.

My relationship with Salep began about two years ago when I came across a recipe for Salep ice-cream.  I seem to have friends who understand my preoccupation with cooking and offer to buy me ingredients when they travel interstate.  On this occasion I took up the offer and asked for 'Salep' from a visitor from Canberra.

Two packets of instant Salep (and other treats) arrived a few weeks later, and the Salep was as aromatic and beautiful as I anticipated. I won't begin to describe and would say to anyone, if you have the chance, try this drink.  Apparently it was the drink of choice 200 years ago before tea and coffee dominated the hot drink scene...and it is very good for you with a range of therapeutic benefits.  In keeping with my 5:2 diet, I just drank a cup made with very low calorie almond milk, and while nowhere near as joyful a drink was quite palatable..

One day.... one day..... I will visit the Bosphorous and enjoy a cup of authentic hot Turkish salep.....

The Pain of Entertaining

I had this idea of few weekends ago to entertain.  It had been 2 months since I'd previously entertained/cooked for more than our small family and two friends at a time, and so the memory of the stress and disappointment of my birthday celebration had dissipated and I was entertaining, entertaining again.

It had started with the pizza oven, and Kleftiko.  'Simple and painless', I thought. But as the days grew closer my desire to cook something dazzling and daring overtook the more pragmatic side of my nature.  I changed the menu to Paella.  (After over-doing Paella a year ago, I had started cooking the dish again from memory (ie. without a recipe), with wonderful results.)

It's hard to know where it all went wrong.

I had planned well in advance, buying my meat on the Friday, preparing the stock on the Saturday, and timetabling my Sunday so the Paella would start to be cooked at 6.45... with guests arriving between 7 and 7.30.

I suspect it was the guests arriving too early, the champagne being opened too early,  and the paella started 30 minutes too late.. but my well planned evening dissipated into chaos much earlier than I wanted.  It wasn't the best paella I've ever cooked, and the dessert of goats curd cheesecake and stewed quinces didn't get the "oohs and ahhs" usually reserved for my desserts... it was a dinner of aromatic and textural surprises, not a visual feast.  And I was so busy cooking and running around, I can't say I had a fab time... I had the feeling that something special, the essence of why I like to cook was lost or missing.... I'm still looking for that lost essence.  When I find it, I might cook to entertain again.. and this time I'll write it down.. that elusive missing essence..
 
But the real 'pain' of entertaining that evening, is with me still.  It's the pain of what feels like an injured cocyx, damaged while trying to show off on my son's scooter after drinking too much red wine.. yes, that will teach me.. something!  Not sure what!

5:2 diet

I'm trialling the ever popular 5:2 fasting diet.  This means that over a week, I have two days of 500 calories  each and the other five days I can eat what I  like.  I've reached that point in my life where I'm carrying over 10kg more than my body frame can carry, and sooner or later something's going to give.  I want to avoid this, and so I have set myself a task.... to weigh 70kg by Christmas this year (2013).

I've done this before, but it was six months of joyless eating, and I can't do that again... I just can't give up on food altogether.  What would I do for my leisure?  How would I show my family I love them?  And how would I fulfill my craving for love through the consumption of beautiful food?

So this diet really appeals to me.. two days off food, five days on!  I reckon I can do that. 

I'm up to week three, and my scales don't work so not sure how it's going.  I am very cranky on my 500 Calorie days, but have started recovering a bit quicker.  I had a 500 calorie day yesterday and due to have another tomorrow.  In between I have cooked a Mississippi Mud Cake with the beautiful Jorge, my son, and I have a bunch of glorious Kale that I am going to massage with salt tomorrow night to wilt and eat with a light dressing. (An Easter recipe from Alison).

I have also discovered the joy of salads such as fennel, orange, black olives and fetta and plain steamed broccoli with salt.

Aunty Violet's Cinnamon Apple (and/or Quince) Cakes

It's been raining here in Alice Springs and my memories of childhood in north Queensland flood back in spurts... and these cakes comes to mind.  They were made by my Great Aunty Violet in her mysterious house in north Queensland with its moss and passion flowers, and scary planks to get to the toilet.  The house and Aunty Violet have long since gone, but these little cakes are still as beautiful, or potentially beautiful as when I first tasted them.

My mother would often praise Aunty Violet for these cakes and their beautiful smooth lemon icing, gentle sprinkle of cinnamon  and delicate filling of apple (or quince in my version).  I have played around with the  recipe and am reasonable happy with it... although next time I will make a couple of adjustments to the cake mixture on top more liequied and the icing to make it, much smoother...

Ingredients
Cake mixture
125gm unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup castor sugar 
1 egg
Vanilla bean (halved)
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 tbs milk

Filling
3 apples, stewed with 2 tbsp sugar and cinnamon stick
1 quince stewed with sugar syrup and cinnamon stick *

Icing
2 cups icing sugar
3 tbsp lemon or lime juice (strained)
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon or 2 limes

Method

1. Heat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
2. Butter 2 small cake trays.
3. Beat butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy.
4. Add egg and continue beating until mixture is even lighter and fluffier.
5. Add vanilla bean pores.
6. Sift flour and gradually add to mixture in halves, intermittently with 3 tbsp milk.
7. Place a small amount of mixture in each of the cups of the cake trays.
8. Spoon a small amount of apple and/or quince.
9. Add the remaining tbsp of milk to mixture and spoon over each cake.
10. Bake for around 20 minutes until nicely browned on top.
11. Allow to sit for a few minutes and then carefully take each cake out and place on rack.
12. Add lemon juice to icing sugar mixture and beat out any lumps in stainless steel bowl
    Add rind.
13. Place icing over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water.
14. Heat until the mixture is warmed and thinner.
15. Pour icing over cakes and sprinkle each one with a small amount of cinnamon.
16. Allow icing to set and enjoy!

Stew

"Stew" - such a nothing name, that alludes to something boring, overcooked and the very worst of English influenced Australian cooking.
But my stews are wonderful.  I refuse to call something else such as the

Easter Flaounes

Earlier this year, a Greek Australian woman described to me these strange Greek Cypriot Easter pies that she would make with her friend each Easter in Darwin. She described a cheese filling with yeast, mastic and another ingredient I had never heard of: Mahlep.
My partner is Greek Cypriot/Australian and he heard never heard of these pies, so I was intrigued to find out more about them.
And then  Flaounes found me during our weekly vigil of  Thursday night food shows on SBS.  And just in time for Easter, and with enough time to have a friend source the mysterious Mahlepi from Melbourne
This is pretty much the recipe I used: (Cypriot Easter Bread), although I changed the cheeses  (big sigh for Alice Springs) and the percentages, and only made a half batch.  I also found the size of flaounes they suggested was too big for me.  The recipe below is adapted from the SBS one.

Ingredients

Filling
 2 packets of haloumi (about 250gms)
250gm good cheddar cheese
1 tsp dried yeast 1/2 cup semolina 1/2 cup flour 4 eggs
 mint, leaves picked and chopped 1 tsp baking powder 1/3 cup sultanas, or to taste

Pastry
 500gm plain flour 5 g mastic, crushed 
10 g mahlep (a friend bought seeds in Smith Street in Melbourne, and we crushed them)
1 1/2 tsp dried yeast  
70 g soft unsalted butter
 pinch of salt  
2 cups milk

Glaze  
1 bottle of sesame seeds 
  dash of white vinegar 2 egg yolks.

Follow the method on the SBS website, halving amounts for smaller flaounes.

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Quinoa Pancakes...

 

As part of my new 5:2 diet, I've been introducing some new carbs into our diet, and last week I was left with an abundance of quinoa, and it wasn't a fasting day.

Quinoa (keenwa) is a South American, a grain, a "pseudo-cereal', apparently.  It tastes good.

So, I experimented and made these wonderful pancakes. Now, I'm guessing the quantities, and will measure them next time.

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked white quinoa

2 eggs

1/3 cup flour (or gluten free flour)

1 tbsp melted butter

1/3 cup milk

Method

1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Melt butter in pancake pan on medium heat, and pour around a 1/3 cup of mixture.
3. Flip over pancake.

Serve with maple syrup and yoghurt.

Lime Pickle Pursuits Volume #3

.The next stages for the "Amazing pickle" went something like this:













Then this...............





And then they were bottled, and 'no' I don't reckon they're mild at all.

In the meantime, the Kurma Dasa version is looking more and more like mush each day.

And I still have more limes than I can use.. so wait for the next instalment of my lime preservation pursuits.

In the meantime, I am about 3 weeks off the final test tasting for these two recipes.

Kalo Prama, Greek Cypriot Lemon Semolina Cake

I get wonderfully inspired by good cooking shows, and one a few weeks ago on SBS Food Safari about Australian Cypriot food got me cooking a whole, whole lot of new dishes including Flaounes for Easter,  lamb Kleftiko in our pizza oven and this beautiful lemon semolina cake called Kalo Prama.

I used the recipe on the SBS website, and my only advice is to use a larger tin than they suggest and do not use too much mastic as it is very strong.  I also used lime juice rather than lemons because we have soooo many limes.

The only food I have not been able to make but which I would love to is Loukaniko, Cypriot pork sausages.. the only thing holding me back is the fact that I would have to buy $100+ of caul that I would never use in a lifetime.

Lime Pickle Pursuits, Kurma's Version, Volume #2

For Kurma's version, you again slice your lime into 8.  Then you make a mixture with chilli (cayenne pepper), ground black mustard seed and tumeric.

 

Layer the limes in a bottle and sprinkle with the spice mixture.

 

Then make a mixture of 1 cup brown sugar, to 1/2 cup lime juice and boil for 2 minutes.  When lukewarm pour into bottle.

Put out in sun... every day it seems for 5-6 weeks... stay posted!

Lime Pickle Pursuits, Volume #1

We have too many limes... I never thought I'd live anywhere where we had too many limes.  And so what to do with too many limes.  In keeping with the current preoccupation in our household for Indian food, I have opted for lime pickles.  I am currently trialling two versions... one from the wonderful Kurma Dasa and the other I located on line.  Not sure why I chose this one, (Amazing Lime Pickle) might have been the large quantities of garlic and the images.

For the "Amazing Lime Pickle" recipe you slice your limes into 8 pieces, then put them with obscene quantities of chilli, garlic and salt.  Steam them for 15 minutes and then place them out in the sun for 2 days.
It fills my heart with joy when recipes ask for this... there's not much we have in abundance in Central Australia, but sunshine is one.

  At the moment, I've done 1.5 days.

Traditional Guacomole

Derived from the Latin American Timelife cookbook you can't go past this traditional guacomole recipe:

Ingredients

2 ripe avocado

1 lime

1 bunch coriander 

1 ripe tomato, skinned, seeded and chopped

1/2 Spanish onion

Chilli (optional)

Salt & Pepper

Beans and Cornbread, a family favourite.

I am now responsible for putting dinner on the table 4 nights a week (and working full-time), so I am becoming less of a purist in the home kitchen - given up home-made phyllo - but still trying to avoid cliched meals like tacos... So with avocado and limes in season, the family favourite is cornbread, traditional guacomole, Moosewood beans and creme fraiche.

Day #1 - Luang Prabang

I meandered the streets of Luang Prabang on my first day in Laos, eating when I felt hungry, eating what I felt like and defying my local GP by even eating street food.

The highlight was these pork sausages, below, which I had seen on Luke Nguyen's Might Mekong.  And they lived up to expectation.  

T

Luang Prabang, Day #1

My Sourdough Bread - A Neverending Story

For the past 12 months I have been perfecting my sourdough.... and I feel I have finally achieved a significant milestone with my family preferring my sourdough bread to anything they can buy... limited milestone considering the paltry choice we have in Alice Springs.

The photo above is of a wonderful potato bread, which is much more moist than the usual sourdough and has a grated potato through it... I add more potato than the recipe calls for..

I have learnt a lot from two books: the Bourke Street Bakery

Brown RIce & Salmon Salad

 

This is an old favourite, and one my Mum would make in the 1970's, great for summer and next time I'll try and take a more arty looking photo.  I have no idea where the original recipe came from or if perhaps, my Mum made it up... perhaps!  The original used tinned salmon, which I have replaced with fresh and the rest of the ingredients I have always guessed and it turns out fab.

Salad 

Ingredients

 A quantity of cooked, cooled brown rice.

1 piece of fresh salmon, steamed and cooled to room temperature, then flaked. (Can be replaced with red tinned salmon, but you'll need to take out any bones or skin and discard the water)

1 red capsicum, seeded and diced.

1 green capsicum, seeded and diced

1 tin of sweet corn, drained

4 shallots/spring onions, finely sliked

1/3 cup of almonds, cut lengthwise into quarters and roasted

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt & pepper

Method

Place all ingredients together in glass mixing bowl and lightly toss with your hands.

Serving Sauce/Dressing 

Ingredients

2 tablespoons Greek yogurt or creme fraiche or sour cream

1-2 tablespoon bought mayonnaise

1 tablespoon tomato sauce

squeeze lemon juice

worcesthershire sauce

salt and pepper

Method

Mix all ingredients and adjust additional quantities to your taste.

To serve..

Serve the salad separately to the sauce, but add sauce to eat.  I have often thought that a fun way to serve this would be to create a ring mould of the salad and put the sauce in the middle.  Stay tuned, because I might just to that night time..

On Heston Blumethal..

One of the reasons I've been impatient for my new oven, is to try Heston Blumethal's Roast Chicken.  Well I did it... I placed my chicken in brine for around six hours (his recipe says overnight, but I figured it was a late night and an early rise due to the presence of two additional nine years olds in the house last night??).  I followed the recipe.  Now that I have an oven that can be set to as low as 50 degrees centigrade and a stab thermometer to measure the inside temperature of the chicken breast (my son Jorge showed me that I did have a stab thermometer after all, I thought I only had a spatula thermometer... see picture) I was set.

The chicken was 'nice'.  Very moist, a bit pink for my liking... and lacking some hearty flavour from garlic or the like... but the flesh was good..

Day # 96 of the Kitchen Renovation

Yeah! My oven is 'in' and working.... what a joyous occasion. I have finally been able to cook lasagne: Nanda egg noodles, bolognese made with both pork and beef mince and home-made tomato puree and a bechamel, fragrant with nutmeg and embodied with the soft texture of ricotta... It was as good as I had anticipated. So much more to look forward to... bread tomorrow, rye bread the day after, all types of cakes...