Macarons..

I am joining the growing number of people pre-occuppied with French Macarons.  Now, I have seen them in pictures and on television, and have now attempted them three times. See below:

I have not been happy with any of these attempts, although the second picture (third attempt), was much more successful (next time I will pipe the filling onto the macaron. )  I used this recipe from 'my food geek' which I highly recommend as it uses Italian meringue which seems to give more lift to the macarons.  The macarons I made were raspberry and white chocolate, and orange and chocolate.. However, living in Alice Springs, I am still not sure what they should taste like, ie. have I been successful.. I need to compare them with something other than an image...  I need to know whether or not the macaron  should be a bit chewy, or dry and crunchy... and how important is that gloss, not to mention colour.

Well... in a fortnight I am going to, not to Paris, but to Melbourne (for work), and I have set myself the task and seeking out, and buying, and tasting the best macaron that Melbourne can provide - and taking photos of course.

Sourdough #1 in pizza oven

I tried my first sourdough batch in my pizza oven last week... I worked out all the timings.  Started feeding the sourdough on the Friday, made the dough and knocked it back a couple of times on the Saturday, created three batards on Saturday night (technique thanks to youtube) which sat in the fridge overnight, and then Sunday morning... well things fell apart.  The air temperature was over 20 degrees (more like 30) and I took the loaves out of the fridge too early, and then the pizza oven wasn't ready... so I knocked them back.  Got the pizza oven to the right temperature with the help of  my new laser thermometer, sprayed the interior with water and placed an oven tray full of wet rags in the back of the oven, and then placed my batards in the oven.  Twelve to fifteen minutes later I checked them out and was..... disappointed... same old, same old sour dough. No caramel top or large gaps of stretched dough.. none of that special wood fire taste and texture I was hoping for.

What did I do wrong?  What will I do next time?

Next time, I will use a strong (possibly not organic), high protein flour.

I will use small pieces of wood which will burn quickly (rather than the large logs of gum I used this time)  and make a mother of a fire in my pizza oven.

And, I will use my new hose wand to get more water/steam into my oven...

That's about it.

Nurturing my Sourdough...

I have started a new sourdough plant, and I am nurturing it like a newborn.  Taking it with me on trips to Ulura, ... moving it around the yard to follow the sun, and now it's  under its cosy crochet blanket next to my wood fire.  Only gets fed spring water and organic flour...  what a precious plant it is! I hope it looks after me.  I am planning a first use of the sourdough this weekend, and am still deciding on whether or not to use the pizza oven.  Stay posted.

Garden Instalment 2

I know longer need to buy lettuce.  I have so much in abundance.  I have this lovely loose leafed variety that I have never seen in shops.  Great in salads, it's a shame it's the middle of winter when I'm not hankering for salads, but have been favouring Salad Nicoise as I watch the Tour de France and try and re-vision my life for a year in France... a work in progress.

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  I also have rocket, tatsoi, fennel and parsley. Not doing so sell with the red cabbage and I have about three tomatoes that have struggled to hold on to their vines over winter

This feels like my first major success in the garden for many years, due to a large extent to the large quantity of cow poo we deposited there, thanks to the Bohning Cattle Yards.

Today, I planted some potatoes that had started to seed, onions and garlic... well overdue (meant to be planted before the shortest day of the year).  Have some broccoli and cauliflower seedlings ready to go in, again a bit late.  I also cut back our patch of asparagus, fed it some poo and watered it.  In addition to my vision of a year in France, I also have one (a vision) of eating most of my vegetable matter from my own garden. 

It's been a while...

... since last I posted on this blog. I'm no longer doing the weekly ABC food chats, and that's a story in itself, but it means the discipline of writing on my blog every week has somewhat dissipated.  This does not mean that I am not constantly thinking of food and recipes and sharing my love of food, but I'm not just  writing here.. but that is about to change.  Big news of course, is my award winning Turkish Delight at the Alice Springs Show.  Without wanting to sound like I'm boasting, it was a good one... as it should have been, as I had been forced to turf a double batch the night before that I'd made to sell at the beanie festival.

Second prize for my orange cake... I knew it wasn't my best effort, and possible a tad under-cooked, but very yummy and pleased with the presentation.

What else have I been cooking?  Carrot Halawa. Pistachio Barfi... Pumpkin, date and coconut cake... raspberry macarons... tangelo and camomile cupcakes.. And lovely winter meals of pea and ham soup, stew with dumplings, cauliflower cheese, corned beef and vegetables etc.....

My garden is flourishing, shame we're not into salads in the middle of winter.  Right now, it's the middle of school holidays and I'm looking to have cakes on hand at all times for my visitors.  Currently seeking out a lemon poppy seed cake with syrup.

It's been a while...

Rice Pie with Chicken

This dish looks great, and next time I make it I'll take a photo.. It is based on an Egyptian dish called "Biram Ruzz", but I have added onion, spices and nuts as I find the traditional recipe a bit  on the boring side.

Ingredients

left over (pre-cooked) chicken (about a half chicken, flesh taken off bones)

1-2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tsp cinnamon

walnuts

dried fruit, eg apricots soaked in  hot water  (optional)

salt &  pepper

300gms long grain white rice (basmati is good)

milk

cream

1/2 litre chicken stock

butter

Method

1. Heat olive oil in large heavy fry pan, and add onions.  Cook over low heat until soft.

2. Add cinnamon, then chicken and walnuts and fry until brown and fragrant.  (Add dried fruit here if using.)  Season to taste and set aside.

3. Liberally apply butter to inner surface of a heavy ceramic, round, oven-proof dish.

4. Spread half the rice evenly over bottom of dish, then place the chicken mixture on top.

5. Bring the milk, cream and half the stock to a boil. Pour over rice mixture.

6. Sprinkle remaining rice into dish and dot with butter.

7. Place in oven on lower rack for 15 minutes, then pour in half the remaining stock.

8. Bake for another 15 minutes, then pour remaining stock.

9. Bake for final 30 minutes in top of oven.

10. Take out of oven and place lid or alfoil on top for 20 minutes.

11. Loosen edge with a knife and wait another 10 minutes, before up-ending onto a plate.  The 'pie' should slide out easily and be lovely and brown and hold together.