Corn & Asparagus mornay

This is a meal that falls squarely into the comfort food category. Especially for me. I remember my mum making this on rainy afternoons, and now, even the smell soothes my soul. I grew up in one of those picturesque, mountainous type places where the smallest fog would make it seem like you were living amongst the clouds. To have a meal that evokes memories of a place and time so touched by magic is in and of itself magical. 

Ingredients

1 tin of asparagus

1 tin of corn ( make sure there's no sugar added)

75g butter

1/2 cup flour

1 cup milk

1 cup grated cheese

1/2 cup breadcrumbs/rice crumbs

3 free range eggs, hard boiled

Make a white sauce by melting the butter in a saucepan, then adding the flour and stirring until combined. Add the juice from the tinned asparagus and stir until combined, then slowly add the milk. Once it's lump free and slightly thickened add 3/4 of cheese, then asparagus, then the DRAINED corn. 

Transfer to a casserole tray. Top with sliced egg, the reserved cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake in a preheated oven at 160'c for twenty minutes. 

I hope you enjoy this as much as we do!

Ps 

 A word of warning- when sourcing your canned goods, take care to buy as locally sources as you're able.

Makeshift Okonomoyaki with Salmon

I made a spicy salmon salad for my lunch today. The salad consisted of shredded ice berg lettuce, diced apple and cucumber, sliced onion, and finely julienned snow peas. The dressing had shed loads of mint, coriander, vinegar, olive oil and lemon juice, and I topped it with a grilled piece of salmon.

Being an Economy of Scale kind of cook (that is to say, I always make enough to feed am army), I had a fair whack of leftovers. After lunch, I set about constructing a gingerbread house for my husband's grandparents...and we all know royal icing means- leftover egg yolks. 

Abhorring waste, I decided the perfect use for all these delicious byproducts of my culinary gusto was-- okonomiyaki. Actually, I just decided to throw it all together and then vaguely remembered a Japanese pancake made with shredded cabbage which totally justified feeding my children a mad experiment in frugality. 

The result was surprisingly yummy. 

I served these guys with a lemon yoghurt dressing, parsley seeds and leftover cold salmon. Little miss 1 gobbled it up. My son took my bribery to approach it properly but he did an acceptable job. Though no doubt he would have preferred butter on toast.... (Ah, the palette of a toddler!!).  

Smoked Trout Risoni

I've always been a bit sceptical of Risoni. I mean, it's pasta, shaped to look like rice. Pfft. What's the point? Why not just stick to basmati?

 Well, I'm not too proud to admit that I've completely changed my mind. My Grocer had some organic whole wheat Risoni on sale this week and so I ignored my scepticism and bought a bag. As those hipster gen Y's say, "YOLO"! 

I have discovered that my children absolutely love it. And I do, too. It's so easy to cook. I've taken to making a white sauce with good quality full fat milk and butter, and spelt flour, then adding in the Risoni and cooking for around ten minutes until al dente. At the last minute, I've been incorporating whatever flavours I want. Tonight, it's locally smoked ocean trout and greens from my garden. This is, perhaps, the most exciting to me. That asparagus was just plucked from our veggie patch, and then there's the parsley and spinach leaves too. A good cup of Parmesan right before serving and voila! There are no leftovers when I make this! 

Honey and Peanut Butter ice cream

Bearing in mind that I'm engaged in Operation Fatten Up, I'm thrilled with this calorific creation. So are my little guys. 

Ingredients- 

200ml pure cream, full fat*

2 heaped tablespoons smooth organic peanut butter 

2 heaped tablespoons wild honey 

2 tablespoons full fat plain yoghurt. 

The method is a cinch- in my kitchenaid I whipped the ingredients all at once on a moderately high speed (7) for about 90 seconds. That is IT! 

I fully intended to add in some white chia seeds, LSA, for extra nutritional value, but I got so carried away with joy when I saw the awesome frothy mix that I just poured into my ice cream moulds and set it. 

This is divine. Absolute LOVE.

* a note on creams. Have you spent as much time as I have reading the ingredients of cream in the supermarket? Not just a humble dairy product, all but one product in my supermarket are laden with gelatine or vegetable gums as thickeners and I think we should, as consumers, push for it to be labelled something different altogether. Cream should be cream, full stop.

QUIT COFFEE FOR A CAUSE.

I love food.

I love to play around with it. Experiment with recipes. It's both an art form and a pleasure to me. But it is also a privilege, a fact that was uncomfortably washing over me as I watched tonight's news.

A woman was being interviewed and the first thing that caught my eye was the beautiful, hand stitched fabrics behind her as she spoke. Then it was the baby huddled earnestly in her lap. Intrigued, I turned off my hissing pot of mushrooms and stepped closer.

This mother to four children is a refugee from Syria, and she was detailing the food shortages plaguing their interim camp. Her children, she said with a stoicism that made my eyes moisten with unshed tears, are often lethargic from not having eaten enough.

As I looked at the scraps of eye fillet my own children had thrown over the side of their plates in a sort of post-dinner game, my tummy rolled with guilt. 

I think about my children's nutrition a lot. Particularly my littlest one, who is considered undersized (if she were a fish, you'd throw her back to sea). But they're both active, happy, and hitting their milestones. 

And as I turned my attention back to this woman on the tv in the middle of my chaotic and comfortably first-world lounge room, I stared into her eyes and felt our connection. Our bond. She's a mum, I'm a mum, and I could see her desperation, how she was trying to stay calm for her children despite the turmoil in her eyes. 

What can I do to help this woman, and so many like her across the world, struggling to get their children the basic nutrients they need on a daily basis?

Well, like a lot of people in our culture, I have a coffee a day habit. Woops. Let me clarify. I have a Bought Coffee per day habit. My in-home consumption doesn't bear discussion. So that's $4.50 that I spend without really thinking about it. Every day. That's $135.00 in a month. 

What if I were to give up bought coffees for a month, and instead put that money aside to donate at the end of my thirty days? I'm going to call it Quit Coffee for a Cause. You know that old expression about Misery Loving Company? That's definitely applicable here. I want you to join me. You can still cheat like me and have your home brew! Just think what this tiny period of self-deprivation could mean to someone struggling to obtain the basics in life. 

Care.org is a charity with many pledges of support and according to their website, $66 can feed a whole family for two weeks. So by simply not buying myself a coffee for the next month, I can help that woman with the tormented eyes and brave smile. Or another like her. I could feed their families for a month. Come on. Who's with me?

https://www.care.org.au/syria-donate

Cheese & Beetroot toasties

These are made on thin wholegrain bread, spread with local goats cheese, a vintage cheddar and a Beetroot jam, also crafted locally. I pressed them quickly- then had to fall on my sword and try half of one, you know, just to make sure the jammy jam didn't get too molten. It's a tough job but someone has to do it! They are seriously yum. 

Dino-Boy turns 3

          

      

My little guy turned three years old last week and we celebrated with a bang. In our house, everything is celebrated with good food, and champagne for the grown ups, and this was no different. 

On the menu for this afternoon-tea-time bash was a range of dinosaur themed snacks. "Sharp tooth" sandwiches (egg, and ham), t-Rex toenails (organic plain corn chips), home made flapjacks (gluten free), bliss balls (gluten free), my mother in law's yummy dips and vegetable crudités, and a ferocious fruit platter complete with rockmelon dinosaur head sculpture.

I made some jars with dinosaurs on top and filled them with good quality sweets. Whilst the kids at a three year old's party are old enough to know that lollies are a must-have, the jars were too small for little fingers so all junkie consumption had to be sanctioned by grown ups. I thought it was a good compromise. 

The cake was gluten free and organic, and I halved the sugar in the recipe (and used organic raw caster sugar) and 80% dark chocolate. I made a ganache with the same dark chocolate, proper cream and australian organic unsalted butter, and did ten layers in all. Phew. 

Happy birthday to my beautiful dino-boy, who brings us Tyrannosaurus Rex proportions of pleasure every day <3