Disaster – I accidentally deleted most of my blog just before sending last night…..
One week . How have you gone? I think most of us are finding an inner strength, doing as were told , becoming creative with our time and hopefully communicating with friends and family , whether it be by Phone, FaceTime or have learned about Zoom, House Party and Teams. There are many options out there and if you like me it takes alot of time each morning to go through the papers and online News.
Funny videos are arriving all the time and sharing them with your contacts is a good way of keeping in touch. I know many of you are by yourselves with no one else in your bubble. It especially hard for you . If you know of friends by themselves make sure you ring for a chat suggest a book to read or a movie to watch. My friend Michelle think she might also have to resort to gardening !!! oh lordy you know whats next don’t ,. she will fall in love with it . Actually I think thats a long shot but she did send mea photo of her beer bread today !!!
With Philips help we achieve 5 bays on the drive today . The bloody rabbits are nibbling to green tops off the little tussocks. I think I need gun !! New Skill !!
Sitting in the sun for a late lunch was restful. I made Quesadillas – Our little children used to make them for us when we were gardening. they woful bring down a portable gas burner and frying pan and fill the Tortillas with all sorts of goodies from the fridge. We haven’t had them for years and I made ours with the remaining tortillas I used for wraps and fill them with Salami, tomato and some old camembert.
I don’t know why but, I somehow starting cleaning around the kitchen. We have a ceramic hob in this place which is very different from the gas I am used to and the glass top definitely needed a good scrape up and polish . The oven racks were disgusting. Now…. a very long time ago when we owned our cafe ‘Partners’ we decided to soak the oven racks over night after a tiring big day. I tipped in some drive washing powder. WELL….. the next morning the racks became sparkling clean after a rub with a green potscrub. Consequently, I have been cleaning my oven racks like this ever since . Yesterday I filled my tub with hot water, added two scoopfuls of Persil and left the racks for 3- 4 hours . They literally could be scrubbed clean with a brush . I also made up a paste of persil and water and spread it on the oven door and base and left it for an hour or so. Use a paint scraper and you will never have to buy that unsafe oven cleaner again.
Before I left Dunedin I bought a bag of beef bones and 2 kg Cross Cut Blade ( one of my favourite casserole steaks) from Leckies butchery in St Clair. Long slow cooking has always been a favourite of mine, I find the preparation very easy and from one dish you can create so many versatile meals. I roasted the bones on a roasting tray in the oven before transferring to a big pot, covered with water. They were boiled for several hours with a chopped onion, carrot, a few peppercorns. I removed the bones before cooling the stock in the fridge over night to let the fat harden . For the fist time ever I picked off the meat around the bones and will use it for ‘Something ” Once the fats removed the stock is can be strained and poured into my store of Collective yoghurt pottles. I got 10 x 500 ml containers of delicious stock for my freezer that I will use for my casserole, soups and many more dishes, It is delicious and so cheap and basically simmers away while you do other things . I prepare chicken stock the same with cheap chicken frames from the supermarket. Roast off 4-5 packets at a time and follow the same process.
Beef Bacon and Mushroom Ragout
2 kilograms beef, cross cut blade or cross cut shin – bone removed
250 grams thick sliced bacon, diced
2 onions, diced or 10 pickling onions
250 g mushrooms,sliced or halved
3 tablespoons flour, with salt and pepper
2 cups red wine
4 cups beef stock
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon red currant jelly
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 160 C
In a large oven proof pot . Or : if you don’t have one a large frying pan. Then transfer into a baking dish or crockpot. Sauté the bacon until crisp, Remove and add the onions to the pan, sauté until soft. Set aside.
Cut the beef into 2 centimetre cubes. Toss in seasoned flour. Sauté in olive oil in batches until browned on all sides. Return the bacon and onions to the pot. Add the wine, stock, tomato paste, reserved bacon, mushrooms and rosemary. Bring to the boil.
Place the lid on and transfer to oven or transfer into a casserole dish with a lid. Bake until the meat is tender, about 2 hours.
Add chopped parsley and red currant jelly ( optional ) .Season. I actually made this casserole a couple of days ago while I was preparing my Eggplant Parmagiana. It always tastes better the next day . I reheated enough for dinner in two little ramekins and served my ragout with scalloped potatoes and baked carrots. The recipe from which came from Yotum Ottolenghi’s book ‘Simple” I have all Yotums books and he is my hero.
Saute – means gently cooking in a little oil . I always cook with Extra Virgin Olive oil and love the Australian brand Cobram
Scalloped Potatoes
Again I prepared a dish big enough for two meals. Remembering I am only cooking for two. Slice 5- 6 potatoes very thinly – I use a mandolin which is perfect. Place a layer of potato slices in of the bottom your baking dish, dot with a little butter, season with salt and pepper, continue with layers until you have filled your baking dish . Pour in enough milk to just cover potatoes, grate nutmeg over the top and bake at 180 C for an hour or so or until the milk has been absorbed.
Roasted Carrots
Peel 1 bunch baby carrots. In a bowl mix together – 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon honey, 1 teaspoon harissa or 1/4 teaspoon of chilli flakes, 1 tablespoon melted butter, 1 teaspoon olive oil. Season. Line a baking dish with baking paper ( don’t crowd the carrots ) spoon over the flavour mixture. Roast for 15-20 minutes. These could also be served col as a salad with its of chopped coriander .
So at some point you would have had all these dishes in the oven. The casserole of course was reheated. I served half the potatoes and will use the remainder tomorrow. It was a beautiful hot day once again and I thought this really i a cold night dinner, but once the sun goes down so does the temperature. Philip and I eat quite late on New Zealand standards, never before 7.30 and lately around 8pm
Finally published !!!