The last day of summer
“Summer is a state of mind." Unknown As I sat down to write this post after a somewhat dismal day, I realised that it is indeed the last day of summer. Technically that is. Of course it isn't actually. And in fact we shan't know when it is. There is not even an astronomical date for the end of summer - maybe the autumnal equinox? But then a large part of the world, doesn't even have a season that could be called summer. On the equator you could say it's summer all the ti
1 day ago
Preserving with 'Pam the Jam'
"they waste not, so we want not" Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall This is a first recipe book and I have come to a boxed set I bought at some bargain price ages ago - because I was interested in the River Cottage vibe. It was a bit of a mistake really because it is heavily British. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his River Cottage come and go team are very much into foraging, and so most of what he forages is British - and not available here. I think I can say that really the
2 days ago
Celery and beans - a quest
"Celery and white beans are an Italian truth" Yotam Ottolenghi I was very taken with that quote which appeared in a recent Ottolenghi newsletter - Chickpeas, lentils and every bean in between - and I definitely thought it was a good start for a post, and yet I cannot find a single recipe from Ottolenghi that combines the two - white, green, or every other kind of bean there is. So what on earth is he talking about? And to add to that, I couldn't find a classic Italian re
5 days ago
Quiet satisfaction
"Cooking at home, you don't need to hit the bull's-eye, you just need to hit the target." David Chang This is last night's dinner. We thought it looked impressive enough to photograph and also because it illustrated for me some of what I was saying in yesterday's post - and elsewhere in the past - about how important it seems to be that things look good. In every aspect of life really - beginning with ourselves, and leading to just about every choice we make in life. We a
Feb 16
'Yada yada' or indeed blah, blah, blah?
"I found page after page after page celebrating the passion the purveyors of ingredients have for their product … before finally finding a recipe." Lisa Hill/ANZ LitLovers Time to tackle this book which has been sitting around for me to (a) read and then (b) sort of review. I thought it was just me in not recognising how wonderful it is - and it is in a way that I shall come to - but honestly most of the food did not really appeal - but that I think is just me - as I am not
Feb 15
A quickie about a specific omelette
"the salty sharpness contrasts exquisitely with the rich fattiness of the eggs; against which too, the fresh hit of mint is positively exhilarating." Nigella Lawson Nigella is talking about what she (and lots of others) call a Corsican omelette - or Frittata incu a menta (e brocciu), as it's called in Corsica. Of course like those of us who live nowhere near Corsica, or even France and can therefore not obtain brocciu cheese, we will not be able to make the dish in an auth
Feb 14
Corn ribs
"The possibilities are endless" This post actually comes from my poor memory forgetting a postscript that I meant to add to yesterday's post. It was a postscript, because it was about vadouvan - that I wrote about a few days ago. The January Coles Magazine had a recipe for the above dish from Curtis Stone - Corn ribs with Vadouvan-spice butter and coriander chutney - in fact it had been my original inspiration for writing about vadouvan, but I failed to mention it I think
Feb 12
Toblerone
" Finally, the recipe is quite simple, but paradoxically will never be equaled ... obvious ingredients, inimitable mixture" Eugénie Rousak/Now Village You may or may not remember, but quite a long time ago now, on one of my walks I decided to photograph everything with a link to food. I think so far I have tackled one, maybe two of those. Today I'm on to this one - Toblerone. A wrapper tossed away by a walker or from a car, on a semi busy road. I don't think that's a bit
Feb 11
Smidgens
"a very small amount" Dictionary.com "Just a smidgen" - it's one of those mildly irritating things that people say when you are offering them a treat of some kind - some cake, some cream to go with the cake ... isn't it? In this case it's going to be a number of smidgens - little things from here and there. Almost exclusively recipes from here and there this time. But isn't English a wonderful language? I looked up the etymology of this rather cosy sounding word - and var
Feb 10
Just too simple? - walnut sandwiches
"These sandwiches are very good with ices, instead of the usual biscuits or wafers." Elizabeth David This is a lucky dip - from Elizabeth David's Summer Food , a book that is full of simple - and sometimes not so simple food for summer. I've used it a lot in the past, and there are lots of really wonderful things in there. This was a lucky dip however, and the page that I randomly selected did not fill me with joy and the excitement of exploring something with maybe a few s
Feb 9
Robert, Tessa or Rachel?
or maybe Elizabeth or Richard? What do they all have in common? Provence. Well every now and then not always. What do they not have in common? The years in between them all. The times. Why am I featuring them? Well this is another account of another potential meal, and how I decided on what to cook. On Friday we are entertaining friends for lunch together with my sister and her husband. Maybe, at least for some of the time my niece who is driving her mother to and fro
Feb 4
Koofteh berenji - Persian meatballs
Number 46 in the 80 meatballs from around the world are Koofteh berenji - as made here by Bunny Banyai. I made them last night for the family - we were welcoming back the European travellers - and of course I forgot to take photographs of mine. I was just glad to get it all ready for people to dive in, after working most of the day in the kitchen, so I forgot. I mostly enjoyed the day in the kitchen by the way. However, I was mildly disappointed with them, even though eve
Feb 2
Vadouvan - will 2026 be its time?
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness." [not] Oscar Wilde I'll begin with an aside - the quote above. First I just used the first half of it which I had a feeling was by Oscar Wilde, then I found Terence Eden's Blog which first reminded me that there was a second part of it and then told me in great detail why it wasn't Oscar Wilde who said it - the conclusion being it might have been a now defunct magazine - My Family Magazine
Jan 30
Chicken Kiev - or Kyiv, or something else altogether?
"the only thing that really matters with a kiev is that when you cut into that crisp shell, you're rewarded with an eruption of vivid green, garlicky butter. And that's a pleasure that will never go out of fashion." Felicity Cloake Only beware, because if you cut into it too rapidly that hot butter could spurt out and all over anything that is nearby - the tablecloth, your clothes, your fingers. And it will be hot. The trick is to get it to ooze - as shown here in Nagi Mae
Jan 29
Legends are never quite true - prawns Cipriani
"Legends are material to be moulded, and not facts to be recorded." Hervey Allen It's first recipe time - this book and a recipe called Prawns Cipriani. I thought it was going to be fairly straightforward - a recipe to look into and some stories about this particular book which is one of my all-time favourites. Then I found that it was a known dish - not one that Beverley Sutherland Smith had made up - and then that there was an association with Guiseppe Cipriani and Venice
Jan 25
Self-soothing meatballs?
"any shovel-handed buffoon can roll a gob of mince into a rustic ball." Bunny Banyai So I said I would return to the meatball book and here it is - Around the World in 80 Meatballs by a lady called Bunny Banyai. A strange name - well the surname - and hard to pin down an origin, but I think somewhere in the book she mentioned Russia or Ukraine as an ancestral connection. Even stranger, however, is why this particular lady is writing a cookbook, for although she is indeed a
Jan 24
Cumin
"little striped torpedoes of flavour" Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall I'm pretty sure that I first encountered cumin in what this family calls simply - Kebabs - and probably the close second favourite dish of the Dearmans. I know I have written about the dish before - and sadly the recipe is not online. So just as a reminder - it's the marinade that is the thing - for beef cut in strips and threaded on to skewers to cook. The marinade for around 500g beef is 6 tbsp olive oil
Jan 23
A tale of two lochs
Yesterday we came back from an overnight stay with friends in Inverloch which doesn't sound much like a long break, and I suppose it's not, but it's actually surprising how much such a tiny break - an excursion really - can feel almost like a holiday. And also if you care to, how many odd little bits of information you can pick up. The photograph is of Loch, not Inverloch - the second of the two lochs in question here. Loch is a tiny village where we stopped for lunch on
Jan 16
BTW
"BTW - by the way: used, for example in emails, when you are writing something that relates to the subject you are discussing, but is not the main point of the discussion" Cambridge Dictionary It's also the name of an Indian food company that has fast food outlets, a catering service, and a whole range of snack foods, based in New Delhi. I'm not going to go into it in detail. Suffice to say that there are amazing people in the world who come from nowhere and build an empir
Jan 13
Murray cod - ethical greed?
"The stuff of legends" Native Fish Australia The AFR Weekend edition is my starting point for this but as I have progressed there are so many things to at least point to, that I'm not really sure I'm up to it. But I will give it a go. Like most Australians we are investors - and the AFR article which is my lead into the world of the Murray cod - is about this man Ross Anderson and his company Murray Cod Australia - or Aquna Murray Cod . He and his fellow Executive direct
Jan 12