In praise of school lunches - help needed!

After five years of creating gourmet, uneaten lunches for my son, now nine, I have decided to make use of some plastic fruit I have held on to for way too long and pack this for lunch for him every day.  I am thinking plastic pear for Monday, plastic mango for Tuesday, plastic banana for Wednesday – not sure about Thursday, and Friday he has takeaway from the Tea Shrine (a local vegetarian Asian café.)  Usually something nutritious like coloured steam buns!

This way, I will finally have accepted that I have failed dismally as a parent!  Because being a good cook is integrally linked with being a good parent (??) I have watched other children bite into their uneaten rolls while waiting for their parents, and have wondered what I am doing wrong.

For a start he (Jorge) refuses any sandwich, in any form.  Sometimes he will accept a roll, but it usually comes home uneaten. I suspect my mistake is that once I get onto a winner, I overdo it an within a fortnight, and he refuses to eat it ever again.  Here are some of the foods we’ve tried:

Nori wafers

Pizza

Polenta

Soyaroni

Smoked kangaroo

Olive oil and fennel

Julienne vegetables with dip

Salami and bread

Bread and dip

Garlic bread

Crackers of all varieties

Cheese pies

Spinach pie (with home-made fillo)

Vietnamese springs rolls

Nori rolls

Papa

Minestrone

Corn bread

Corn and rice cakes

Watermelon (ok)

I can’t quite understand that given my near obsession with food, I have a son who refuses to eat anything I prepare for lunch.  I am equally distressed when I ask him if he likes any of the lunches the other children have he says he likes Sarah’s lunch, which turns out to be a meat pie each day.  I am in a dilemma.  Do I concede defeat and give him a meat pie, or do I just give him plastic fruit and a square meal when he returns home?

Post Christmas.... Vanilla Slice

I'd attempted this once before, with not much luck,.  However this time I was determined to succeed given that I had the right size pan, a strategy to deal with the awkwardness of cutting through the puff pastry and few exuses for failure.  Why Vanilla Slice?  Because it was served at our Christmas Day lunch and we took some home and couldn't stop eating it.  I particularly love the challenge of keeping the pastry crisp and the custard intact. 

This recipe is based on one in the  Women's Weekly "Old Fashioned Favourites" Cookbook with only minor variations.

Ingredients

2 sheets puff pastry - make sure you get the butter puff.

1/2 cup (110 gm) caster sugar

1/2 cup (75gm) cornflour

1/4 cup (30gm)  custard powder

2 1/2 cups (625ml) full-cream milk

30gm butter

1 egg yolk

1 vanilla bean

3/4 cup thickened cream

Passionfruit icing

1 1/2 cups (240gm) icing sugar

1 teaspoon soft butter

1/4 cup passionfruit pulp

1 teaspoon lime juice

Method

1. Preheat oven to between 240 and 260 degrees (Celsius), and line a square 23cm cake tin with foil. (Or alternatively butter the cake tin and carefully line with baking paper.)  Extend the foil or baking paper about 10 cm over edge.

2. Place two sheets of puff pastry on breadboard. Measure and mark out 24 rectangles of the same size. (These should be around 4 cm X 5.5 cm). Place on baking tray lined with baking paper.  Cut through the markings.  Repeat with second sheet of pastry, making sure it is cut exactly the same as the first.

3. Bake in oven till brown and crisp.  Allow to cool and gently place your hand over pastry to crush out any large flakes.  Place two sheets of pastry in baking tin to check that they align.  Trim as necessary.

4. For custard, combine sugar, cornflour,  custard powder  and scraped vanilla bean (and bean) in  medium saucepan and gradually add milk.  Continue stirring as the mixture heats up to prevent any lumps forming.  Add butter and stir through.  Take off heat and stir through egg yolk.  Strain custard through fine mesh strainer into a tray or pie dish.  Cover top completely with plastic wrap and place in fridge till cool.

5. Whip thickened cream and fold through cool custard.  Keep in fridge till you are ready to use.

6. For passionfruit icing, place all ingredients in heat proof bowl and place over saucepan of boiling water, making sure the water does not tough the bottom of the bowl.  Sitr through until icing is spreadable.  Turn off heat and keep icing warm.

7. To assemble the Vanilla slice, place one layer of pastry on the bottom of the 23cm cake tin.  Pour in custard, then place the second layer over custard, making sure the pieces align.  Spread passionfruit icing over tip.

8. To serve, sprinkle icing sugar on top.

Mine turned out absolutely fab, and I am drooling just remembering eating them.  Might be time to make another batch.

Christmas Lunch

I spent Christmas day with three other families in air-conditioned comfort and relief... it was 40+ degrees outside, so the choice of venue or space was vital.  It was decided that no-one should cook for Christmas lunch and we should focus on cold foods.  Seafood salad and cold chicken tandoori had already been decided on.  I had hoped to cook this fab meat and mushroom sour-cream pie, but I'm not a big fan of any fusion cooking, and abhor Christmas feasts without a theme.  I decided to re-interpret the cold issue, and decided that it was more that one shouldn't spend too much time cooking on Christmas day.  With a bit of to-ing and fro-ing of the various cooks, this was our final menu:

Christmas Cooking and preparations...

Jorge's gingerbread men and trees...

It was with surprised relief that I took down our Christmas tree the day after Boxing Day.  I don't ever recall feeling so much relief that Christmas was finally over.  It seemed to have gone on for weeks, and my mood ebbed and flowed according to the rhythms of the various gatherings I attended, the food I cooked (or didn't get around to) and the planning around the actual day. There is so much pressure on each individual to get that day right.. to spend it with the 'right people' - friends or family, and to get that feast 'right'!  This feast day and festival is imbued with so much relevance about one's legitimacy as a person.  Next year, I want to take off to Vietnam or Cambodia a week before, and let the day drift by with barely a whimper.  I doubt my son will let me do this.  He is hanging on to every last thread of the Santa myth that he can...  including the food.  Here is the before and after shot of Santa's feast for this year. Santa's food consisted of: gingerbread men and stars, turkish delight, soft chocolate torrone, cherries and ginger beer, of course! And he and the reindeers left behind a big mess on the floor by way of paw prints.  I'm wondering if this will be our last visit from Santa, but I suspect not.

Santa food, before and after

This year's interpretation on
the
Christmas Nativity.

Christmas Treats: Sourdough Stollen

Last year I made  Dresden Stollen for friends for Christmas.  Not that I'm German (I'm not), but I do find the German Christmas traditions endearing, and yes, one day I may even  experience them.  This year I adapted my stollen recipe and made sourdough stollen, sadly it didn't make it to friends.  My family ate all three loaves (apart from a half loaf that could still be sitting in Jamie's bag?)  It was a great success, and stayed moist for much longer than my previous stollen.  But after eating so much  stollen , I couldn't face making any for  friends.  Instead they got or are still to get torrone, loukamis and/or paneforte.

Stollen is a German yeast bread, made traditionally for Christmas.  My (skippy) Mum made great stollen and some of my sisters try to emulate it, but they never succeed in my opinion.  My mother followed the wonderful recipe in the Foods of the World German Cookbook for Dresden Stollen.. I have also followed this recipe in previous years, but have adapted it this year for use with sourdough and  according to what is available in my pantry in terms of dried fruits ((I have added some beautiful dried sour cherries. )

So, you will need an active 'mother' or starter, and it needs to be ready to go.  I had been feeding mine for 24 hours before I started this recipe.. Also, this recipe is meant for a warm humid Australian summer day... perfect for bread-baking, and the amounts are a bit of guess work, in particular the ratio of starter to white flour.

Ingredients:

150 gm sultanas

150 gm glazed citrus (I have used orange and citron)

75gm glazed cherries

75 gm dried cherries

Almonds,

6 tbsp brandy

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon or lime rind

pinch salt

Vanilla bean

100gm unsalted butter

2 eggs

50gm melted unsalted butter

200gm White sourdough starter

600gm White flour

100ml Milk

200gm white sugar

Icing Sugar

Method

1. Place sultanas, glazed citrus and cherries in bowl with brandy and soak for at least one hour.  
2. Drain the fruit (keeping the liquid) and pat dry. Toss the fruit with about one datblespoon of flour and set aside.
3. Heat 125 gm sugar with milk and allow to cool.
4. Put flour, sourdough starter, milk, eggs and brandy into the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough attachment and 'knead' until a rough dough is formed.
5. Add pinch salt and grated lemon or lime rind, vanilla and continue to knead for another 5 minutes.  The dough should be quite moist.
6. Place a tea-towel on top and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
7. Return the dough to the mixer, and with the speed on low, gradually add the dried fruit and almonds.  Allow to rest for another 20 minutes.
8. Return the dough to the mixer, and with the speed on low gradually add the butter piece by piece until is is fully absorbed.  Allow the dough to rest for between 1 and 2 hours.
9. Divide the dough into three.  
10. Place one of the pieces onto a floured board and roll out or press out until the dough is about 30cm long and 20cm wide.
11. Divide melted butter and sugar into three lots and spread the butter and sugar down the centre of the dough (leaving aside a tablespoon of extra butter for each loaf.).
12. Fold one long end of the dough over then the over end.  The dough should resemble the baby Jesus in swaddling clothes.  Place on baking tray and coat the loaf with some remaining butter.
13. Put plastic over top and repeat with the other two loaves, and allow to rest for at least two hours or up to three hours depending on the temperature.
14. Half an hour before you are ready to bake the bread, preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
15. Bake the bread for around 45 minutes until golden and crusty.
16. When ready, allow to cool completely on rack.  Repeat with other loaves.
17. Just before serving, dust with icing sugar.

Christmas Treats: Glazed Oranges

I got down to my last glazed orange slices 2 weeks ago,  making a birthday cake for the lovely Silva, and I decided I just couldn't stand doing an online order for glazed oranges when there were perfectly good, even beautiful oranges in the shops (and often on the trees) in Alice Springs.  And I use glazed oranges a lot: ricotta cheesecake, orange cake, paneforte,  orange slices dipped in chocolate..etc... and Christmas is coming closer and closer....

 I had looked for several years for a good glazing recipe but had not located one.  I mentioned the problem to my lovely Mark and to my astonishment,  he found a document, and emailed it to me... As is often the case with electronic communication from those who are part of our daily lives, I had ignored it... or perhaps, overlooked is a better word.  Well, when I found and read this article, I was overwhelmed.  It made perfect sense.  The glazing process takes several days, and the glazing mixture includes corn syrup (or in my case glucose syrup) and sugar.

The recipe I first used was for Citron (cedro), and it didn't work for oranges.. for a start I overcooked them, and then I didn't need to cook them everyday.  So here's the recipe for what I did do, and succesfully (check out the photo).

Ingredients

Sliced oranges (I prefer Valencia, don't use navel), with seeds removed (or not, as can be seen by my photo)
Pinch salt
1.5 litres water

700 gm sugar

60 gm glucose syrup

Time

Method

1. Slice the oranges cross-wise into slices, about 7mm thick.  Discard the ends and remove any seeds.
2. Places the oranges in a large saucepan of water, add a pinch of salt and bring to the boil.
3. Simmer for between 20 and 30 minutes, taking care that the oranges do not overcook.
4. Carefully remove the oranges, or pour through a strainer.
5. In the same, or another saucepan add the water (1.5 litres), sugar and glucose syrup and bring to the boil.  
6. Add the orange slices and simmer for 20 minutes.  Put the lid on the saucepan and leave the oranges to soak.
7. The next day, repeat this process, ie. Bring the saucepan with the oranges to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes with the lid off.
8. Carefully remove the oranges and place on a cake rack.  Allow to sit and drain for around 12 hours.  You may want to put a sheet of baking paper over the top.  
9. Test the orange.  It should be sweet and not too tough and not too fragile.
10. Place in a sealed container and leave in the fridge.

More Cakes of Legend: Birthday Cake(s) No 3 for Birthday No 9

This is the final birthday cake(s) for this Jorge's 9th birthday... he requested macarons for the cake for this part.. three types: salted caramel, passionfruit and raspberry - and so he got his wish.

Up till 2am last night, and cursing my oven.. wishing I had a new one, only to remember that I do have one that's been sitting in our living room for two years now..  I have given myself till Christmas to have it installed.

Macarons  piled high on a plate were divine!  But I wasn't completely happy with the results. 
 I had some lopsided problems which I suspected was due to my oven, and confirmed via late night research..
 Recipes for macarons are as per my previous posting on salted caramel macarons.  Raspberry ganache was made with white chocolate, cream and fresh raspberrries in double boiler till melted, chilled, then whipped.  Passionfruit filling is another story: passionfruit curd with whipped cream.. need to work on this one. 
The party was a hit:  Halloween inspired and involved children dressing up and visiting five houses in neighbourhood... Glad I live in Alice Springs.  There were more activities: Piñata, nerf gun trials, brandy, soccer, etcc and of course pizza, cooked in pizza oven on sourdough bread.  All children were happy, and I am exhausted. Good night!