Chocolate Brownies for New Year

My brother and sister-in-law called in on Boxing Day for an evening meal en route to Napier. They only stayed for dinner but dropped off some South Island goodies. One of these was a box of Marlborough cherries – I'm a Blenheim girl from way back! They were going to go off faster than we could eat them so I decided to add them to the few on our tree to make a Chocolate Brownie.

Cherry Chocolate Brownie

A quantity of cherries, previously pitted, and stewed in a small quantity of water and sugar.

315g sugar

300g chocolate (dark is best, though any will do)

300g butter

5 eggs

210g flour

A tub (250g) cream cheese


 
Heat the oven to 150^◦ C and spray a 32 by 22 baking tin with non-stick spray, line with baking paper and then spray again.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler, or carefully in a microwave.

In a cake mixer, whisk the sugar and the eggs on high, until the sugar is dissolved. It will dissolve more quickly if you use caster sugar, but it will take about 10 minutes).

Slow the mixer down and add the chocolate mix, but only mix until the ingredients are combined. Add the flour and mix again, only until the ingredients are combined, and the lumps gone.

Pour the batter into the cake tin. Dot the surface with tiny bits of the cream cheese and the cooked cherries. If there is any syrup left, pour it over the top and bake for 40 – 45 minutes Test with a skewer – there should still be some wet looking crumbs on the skewer.

Cool in the tin and then cut into squares.

New Year's Day breakfast treat with Red Currants

The year is almost gone, and as with all years, seems to have gone faster than the last.  Farm life accentuates the speed of the year – sometimes one is so incredibly busy that time just hurtles past.  That is now!  The garden (and the weeds) are growing (visibly), the trees are fruiting, the berries berrying and the lawns (and in our case paddocks) are still wildly growing.  Days of 48 hours would be good about now.  It is a time of plenty in the garden, which means we have to think like the grasshopper and preserve the surplus for the winter months, but also a time to continue planting so that the glut of December/January doesn’t just fizzle in February, leaving nothing but silver beet growing for the autumn and later.  For us, in a temperate climate there is just so much to be planting to ensure that we have a varied diet to come.  As we rarely buy vegetables (and when we do it is only from Farmers’ Markets) we do have a reasonably large garden.  Even if you have no garden, as noted before, buckets can be filled with potting mix and placed anywhere they get a bit of sun during the day.  Watering buckets and other pots is important so a daily water check is necessary.

For much of the rest of the world, this weekend will see a party to welcome in the New Year.  We’ll be out there a-plantin’ rather than a-drinkin’ and a-singin’.

The to-do list:

Plant: (in most cases, we’ll plant a row of plants and a row of seeds.  If we hadn’t been so busy, the plants would be our own seedlings, but this year, sadly, many are not).

Aubergine -  (egg plant)

Beans - we planted lots earlier, but it is time to plant the next lot to ensure a constant supply.  The runner beans have very cleverly planted themselves, even in the right place, under the tepees, all ready to grow up them again!

Beetroot

Cabbage

Carrots - we don’t grow carrots well here, so we will just plant a few so we can eat the thinnings

Celeriac                        

Celery

Chillies

Chives - a well-known seed company from the end of the alphabet sent me a packet of chive seeds so we’ll sprinkle a few of them in one of our herb pots

Cucumber

Kohlrabi

Leeks

Lettuce - this has to be a constantly planted vegetable otherwise you may find that the ones planted may have bolted

Pumpkin - this is something we can plant from our own seedlings – the poor little things have spent many many weeks learning to be bonsai pumpkins, even flowering in the seed trays.  I am sure once given some freedom they will embrace life and go forth and produce lots of pumpkins, or they may get such a shock and die.

Radishes - like lettuce, you should have been planting these continually.  If not, then a few seeds planted every week or so will make sure that all your radishes don’t turn into massive red hot burners

Silver beet - we no longer tend to plant this deliberately as it pops up everywhere it gets a chance.  Still, this is great for the hens and the rabbits and the goats, so we don’t mind.

Sweet corn

Tomatoes - it is getting late (I know) but I still want to put some in, so will have to bite the bullet and plant pot grown ones.

Zucchini - even one plant will give you beautiful fresh versions of the tired things that you often see in supermarkets.

In the herb garden, we need to replant coriander, mustard greens, oregano, parsley and salad burnet. Most of the herbs have now gone to seed and need to be pulled out.  The fennel has been left to go to seed deliberately, to provide us with enough seed for cooking as well as replanting.  Any herbs that have gone to seed are however, still being useful.  They tend to encourage the beneficial insects who may be feeding on these plants.

Our red currants have been wonderful this year.  The extra rain has meant that they are ruby red, glowing and bursting with juice.  They are good for you, so it is worth making the effort if you have a bush to pick the fruit, even though it is plain hard work.  Do it with a friend or take the radio or as I did yesterday, take the dogs, and just do it.  They are full of active antioxidants, which means they help combat the free radicals which age us and cause general age related degeneration.  Other supposed benefits include fever-reducing, sweat-inducing, menstrual-flow inducing, mild laxative, astringent, appetite increasing, blood-cleansing, diuretic and digestive properties (phew). It is also thought that tea made from dried red currant leaves will ease symptoms of gout and rheumatism.

On New Year’s Day a slow start and a delicious (and good for you, kind of) breakfast will be a good start to the year. 

French toast with Chantilly Cream and Red Currant Sauce

French toast:

2 free-range eggs

100ml cream

100ml milk

1 T icing sugar

½ t ground cinnamon

2 slices white bread

25g butter

Chantilly cream:

150ml double cream

1 T icing sugar

Redcurrant sauce:

85g redcurrants

50ml  red wine

1 T icing sugar

To serve:

sprig redcurrants

fresh mint sprig

French toast, whisk the eggs in a bowl together with the cream, milk, icing sugar and cinnamon until well combined. Soak the bread slices in the mixture.

Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the soaked bread for 2-3 minutes on both sides, or until golden-brown and crisp. Remove the fried bread from the pan and drain on kitchen paper.

Chantilly Cream, lightly whip the cream with the icing sugar until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed from the bowl.

Red Currant sauce, place the redcurrants, wine and icing sugar in a food processor and blend until smooth. Push the mixture through a sieve to remove any pips.

To serve, place the French toast on a plate, top with the cream and spoon around the redcurrant sauce. Garnish with the redcurrant sprig and mint.

Using red currant jelly as an accompaniment to meat is not unusual, but add it as a dressing for a meat salad for a burst of summer flavour.

Redcurrant dressing

4 t redcurrant jelly or red currant and raspberry jelly (Martinborough Manner make this)

2 t red wine vinegar

4 T extra-virgin olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the redcurrant or red currant and raspberry jelly into a small bowl, add the

vinegar and olive oil, season, to taste, with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper and whisk together until smooth and emulsified.  

Fooling strawberries, drinking strawberries

Despite the phenomenally good growing season (grass coming out our ears etc) our garden is going to be late.  The early potatoes will have rotted in the ground because they have been flooded so many times.  The Maori potatoes will be fine as this year, they are planted in two tyre gardens.  I think it will be Farmers Market spuds for Christmas this year.  Even our tomatoes aren’t in yet.  The growing season is quite long in Martinborough, so even though the rest of the country plants tomatoes at Labour weekend, we do have a little leeway.

Toast Martinborough is celebrating their 20^th anniversary this weekend so I’ll be exchanging my kitchen clothes and my gardening clothes for my barista apron, as we’re spending the day making coffee for Escarpment Wines at the gorgeous Parehua Estate.  We’ve been a bit spoilt as we were there last weekend as part of the Town and Country home and garden tour.  Next weekend the garden must be put in or it is going to be lean pickings for us later.  There are cabbages, broccoli, cauliflowers, kale. Red cabbages, spinach and beans, all trying to keep their head above the weeds, but there needs to be much much more.  I found a pocket of self seeded zucchini seedlings, so I can plant them out, and all the pumpkin seedlings are ready for transplanting.  The broad beans are yummy this year.  We only have a few plants (thank you pigs) but those that have survived are prolific beaners, if that is the right word.

It seems Paihiatua is becoming our destination of choice in the weekend.  Last weekend we went there to collect our two new bunny hoppers, Benjamin and Flopsy, our two really cute black and white Flemish Giant rabbits.  They will be pets, but their progeny won’t be.  They are quite long haired and very soft.  I tried to have a cuddle with one of them last night, but gave up in the end.  The goat kids were determined to get into the rabbit hutch as we tried to get the rabbits out, and the ducks got into the bucket of rabbit food and the bottle fed lambs generally got in the road,

The big excitement of the coming week (and the next trip to Paihiatua) will be to collect our new Saanen milking goat.  She is in milk and without remating should remain so for another 18 months or so.  Emmy, our other Saanen looks to be in kid, but I’m not sure.  If she is, it will be to the buck that she was running with before she came to us.  Watch this space, as we start to experiment with goats’ milk cheeses and yoghurts.  We have made cows’ milk cheese for several years, but goats’ milk will be new to us.  She should produce about 3.5% butter fat, so I don’t think we will be able  to make butter until Little Miss Gentle calves nearer Autumn, but at least we’ll have some of our dairy products covered. 

One of the first things I want to make is soft goats’ milk cheese so that I can make a strawberry cheesecake, but that will have to be next weekend.  In the meantime, dessert tonight will have to be made with store bought cream and crème fraiche, but with home grown strawberries.

Another very popular fool is a strawberry fool.

Strawberry Fool

2 punnets strawberries (500 or 600g)

2T caster sugar

½ cup crème fraiche

1 ½ cups cream

¼ cup liquid honey.

Hull and chop the strawberries, saving a few for serving. Put them and the sugar into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth.  Sieve this puree to get rid of the seeds.  Whip the cream, crème fraiche and honey together until you can form stiff peaks.  Pour the strawberry puree over the cream mix, and without stirring, serve into glass (for preference) dishes.  Place a few slices of strawberry over the top.

This is a wonderfully lazy summer dessert as it can be prepared well ahead of time.  Make the strawberry puree and put it into a bowl, or plastic container.  Mix the cream and the honey and have them in another bowl.  When you need to serve, just beat the creams and pour over the strawberry puree.

This dessert is just as lovely with any other berry fruits that are ready slightly later in the season.

It doesn’t take many strawberries (or again other berries) to make a delightful Christmas drink and dessert.  You have to make it no to allow it to “mature”.   

Take a litre jar (that you have a lid for) and fill it with hulled strawberries.  Chop any larger ones so that everything is about the same size.  Pour caster sugar into the jar up to about a third full.  Fill to the top of the jar with vodka or gin.  Screw on the lid tightly and leave in a dark place until Christmas.  Every week or so, give the jar a gentle shake or invert it a few times.  The strawberries can be used (in very small quantities) as a garnish for a fool, a pavlova or a trifle for dessert, while the liqueur can be drunk, served in very small glasses.  If you don’t drink it all on opening, pour the liqueur into a clean bottle.

Under the gooseberry bush

When one develops a block of bare land, there are so many things that one does wrong – at least that is true for us.  We have planted many things that have been planted and shifted, and in the case of some things, planted and shifted, planted and shifted, and planted and shifted again.  The elders and the gooseberries are a case in point. 

When we first took possession in early 2006, it seemed easier and sensible to start putting in the garden in the only part of the property that we could drive to – beside the barn.  We planted gooseberries (the green prickly sort) in a small semi-circular garden next to the barn.  It was very stony and there was no water supply close by.  Since then they have been grazed by rabbits, cows and sheep.  More recently they have been sprayed with weed spray!  This is really not good for them, and I fear that we have no gooseberry plants left.  Fortunately we know people in Greytown and Masterton who do grow them and who do not graze stock nearby, so this year we’ll be buying in the fruit.

Gooseberries are a much forgotten fruit – in earlier times there were large plantings in the Wairarapa, as they do well here.  Preparation is a little tedious as the flower and stalk ends need to be flicked off with a sharp knife.  It is much easier to do this when the fruit is frozen, something I found out the hard way when I carefully thawed some to make a batch of Cashmere Chutney.

The quickest dessert to make is:

Gooseberry Fool

Cover a quantity of gooseberries with a small amount of water and poach until they “explode’.  Mash the fruit and add sugar to taste.  When cold, fold through lightly sweetened whipped cream, or a mix of whipped cream and yoghurt.

Gooseberries are also very useful in meat cooking, and in many cases, can be used to replace tomatoes in a recipe, where the tomatoes are not the main event, but are providing the acidity, and where only a small amount is called for.  Inn earlier times it was commonplace to serve gooseberries with veal, as the sharpness offset some of the fattiness of the veal.  Our own veal is indeed slightly fatty, and this recipe was stunning with it.

Ossi buchi (serves 6)

6 slices of veal at least 2.5cm thick, cut from the hind shank.

seasoned flour

butter

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium carrot, julienned

1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped

300 ml dry white wine

200 ml beef stock

250g gooseberries, topped and tailed

Gremolata:

3T chopped parsley

Grated zest of 1 lemon

Risotto all Milanese:

60g butter

1 medium onion, chopped

1.5L beef stock

500g Arborio rice

Generous pinch saffron (Wairarapa Gold is wonderful)

an extra lump of butter

grated parmesan

salt and pepper

Choose a lidded frying pan or Dutch oven (le Creuset are brilliant) that will fit all the veal in a single layer.  Toss the slices in flour and then sauté them in butter until they are golden brown on both sides.  Remove from the pan, and keep warm.  Add the onion and the carrot to the frying pan and fry until they are lightly coloured.  Return the veal to the pan with the vegetables, and add the garlic and the wine.  Raise the heat and boil; until the wine is reduced by half.  Add the stock and half the gooseberries.  Lower the heat, and simmer for 45 minutes.  Turn the meat over cover again and cook for a further 20 minutes.  Season the sauce to taste.  Add a pinch of sugar to enhance the flavour of the gooseberries without making it sweet.  If you think that the flavour is sharp enough, then don’t add the remaining gooseberries.  If it seems too mild, add the remaining gooseberries.  Cook for another 20 minutes or so until the veal is tender.  If the sauce is too thin, do not over the pan for this last cooking, and leave the sauce to reduce down.

Mix the parsley and the lemon zest for the gremolata and sprinkle over the top of the ossi buchi.

While the veal is cooking, make the risotto.

Melt the butter and cook the onion until it is transparent.  Bring the stock to the boil in a separate pot.

Stir the rice into the onion and butter, stirring until all grains are coated with butter.  Do not rush this step – it will take about 2 minutes.  Pour in a ladle of stock, stir and as the stock disappears, add more.  Continue doing this until the rice is creamy.

Dissolve the saffron in a bowl with some hot stock and leave it to infuse while the rice cooks.

When the rice is almost tender, pour in the saffron stock and finish the cooking.  Stir in the extra lump of butter, parmesan to taste, and salt and pepper.

Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb

When we bought our place in early 2006, it had nothing but a dead tree, a couple of fences, a couple of stock troughs and a lot of really manky grass (a highly technical term describing grass that is well, manky!).  We had a portion ploughed up when we first bought but that area is now the currant garden, planted with some 40 or 50 black, red and white currants.  We put in some raised vegetable gardens as it was easier to build  up than turn over the paddock land with all the weeds etc that have been there forever.  A couple of the planned beds had not yet been completed, though they had been framed up – the edging boards were in place.  Because there is always so much to do, I tend to subscribe to the theory of working smarter, not harder.  To that end I spread pea straw over the weeds that were growing inside one of the squares set out by the edging boards, and then covered that with the contents of the henhouse.  One needs some sort of fertiliser, high in nitrogen (so if you don’t have chicken manure, you can buy one that would work).  The idea is that when the straw etc has cooled down (after decomposing) it is ready to plant.  I put ours in in the middle of winter and so it didn’t even warm up.  Over the years, we have had limited success planting rhubarb – it has either been too wet or too dry or too something else.  I decided that this new garden would be where I would shift the rhubarb to (again) and hopefully this time it would grow.  Bill helped me dig up the rhubarb plants from earlier attempts and I added some plants that I had growing in pots,  The garden was just the right distance from the fence so that the goats could not reach the leaves.

Rhubarb leaves contain poisonous substances including oxalic acid.  I would have to consume about 5kg of the leaves to ingest enough q lethal dose of pure oxalic acid, but goats are funny things and sometimes, very easy to kill. 

Rhubarb (rheum rhabarbarum) was first taken to the USA in the 1820s, but first recorded in seventeenth century Europe after affordable sugar became widely available.  Often it was used as a pie filling, which led to the slang term for rhubarb, “pie plant”.  Another slang expression was the use of the word rhubarb in British theatre and early radio plays where, “rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb” was repeated to give the effect of unintelligible conversation in the background. 

Fortunately the rhubarb is now doing well.  The addition of some cow manure (something we have plenty of) has also possibly helped as they do require a lot of food (yum).  You can grow rhubarb in a bucket, provided that the soil if full of good compost and kept fertilised.  I seem to remember that my father either suggesting or using a dead hedgehog as a fertiliser for rhubarb (down the hole when planting rather than as a side dressing). 

Rhubarb and strawberries are a great combination, whether simply poached together and served with custard or in a slightly more complicated tart.  Together they make a superb jam. 

Rhubarb and strawberry compote (serves 2)

1 bunch rhubarb (as freshly picked as possible)

A punnet (about 250g) of strawberries, hulled and sliced if large

¼ cup + 1T caster sugar

1/3 cup water

1 vanilla bean (or ½ t vanilla essence)

Slice of any tough stalks and discard.  Slice the rhubarb into 5cm slices

Place all the ingredients in a small pot and gently heat.  Stir to dissolve the sugar, then cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove the vanilla bean and cut it in half.  Slice one half lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the pot with the fruit.  Stir and simmer for another minute.  Cool.

Serve with breakfast cereal, ice cream, custard or yoghurt. 

For a different taste, ad a few peeled slices of fresh ginger to the syrup during cooking.  After the rhubarb is cooked, add the finely grated zest of an orange, and orange juice to taste.

The remaining half a vanilla bean can be saved for another dish, by wiping it with a damp paper towel and storing it in a zip-lock plastic bag or some other air tight container. 

When a rhubarb plant decides to grow it usually does very well.  I’m picking ours every couple of days at them moment.  An average family would probably need a couple of plants, then any surplus could be frozen to use later – cut off the leaves, and slice into 5cm slice, put into a freezer bag, exclude as much air as possible and seal.  Strawberries can be done the same way.

We tend to think of rhubarb as a fruit that we eat as a dessert.  However, it will give a piquant edge to a rich stew. 

Lamb Khoresh with Rhubarb

1.5kg boned shoulder lamb

2 large onions, chopped

butter

generous pinch saffron

600ml beef stock

½ cup lemon juice

salt  and pepper to taste

2 bunches fresh parley

6 large sprigs fresh mint

5 stalks rhubarb

Trim the excess fat from the meat and cut it into 2.5cm cubes.  Gently and slowly fry the onions in 2 T of butter until they are starting to soften and the raise the heat to colour them.  Remove from the pan, and add the meat to brown it.  Put in the saffron and stir for a minute.  Cover and gently simmer for an hour.

Wash and chop the parsley and the mint.  Fry them for a minute or two in 2 T of butter and add to the stew.  Simmer another half an hour.  Cut up the rhubarb (remove any strings) into 3cm lengths, and add them to the stew.  Cook for another half an hour.

Transfer the meat to a serving dish, and skim the fat from the liquid in the pan.  Boil it down to reduce it and pour over the meat.

Serve with Basmati rice.

Gâteau de rhubarbe

This is rhubarb pie (by any other name) and has got to be the easiest of pies to make.

Line a deep pie plate with shortcrust pastry, and fill it with chunks of young rhubarb.  To every 250g you will need about 90g of sugar.  Moisten the pastry rim with a little beaten egg and cover the pie with more pastry,  Press the edges together and make a central hole in the pie.  Bake for 15 minutes at 220 ^◦C then lower the heat to 180 ^◦C and bake a further 20 – 30 minutes.  Finely grated orange peel can be added wit the sugar and the rhubarb, as could some finely grated or chopped fresh ginger. 

To make this as strawberry and rhubarb pie, mix 4 cups rhubarb, chopped with 2 cups sliced strawberries, 1 1/3 cup of caster sugar, ¼ cup of corn flour, 1T lemon juice and ¼ t cinnamon.  Instead of putting a top on the pie, make a lattice by cutting the pastry into strips about 2cm wide.  Add them over and under each other to make a lattice.  Pinch the strips to the pastry of the base.  Bake as above until the crust is golden and the rhubarb cooked.

Of strawberries, goats and fruit trees

TUESDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2011

I’m not sure why one of the neighbours is having a bonfire this morning – I would have thought that pruning was over for the year, but the fire did smell rather nice.  We pruned very early this year.  When I say we, I mean the goats and I.  These particular English type goats are known as the Rawhiti goat (pronounced  RAH-fee-tee) in honour of David Tuart, the man responsible for their rescue from the Pongakawa Valley area in the North Island of New Zealand.  About 1999 or thereabouts, Mr. Tuart and the group helping him were able to capture a small number of these goats before the rest were removed by the Department of Conservation, due to the goats’ destructiveness in the native bush.  

The Rawhiti goats were purportedly used as dairy and meat animals by the Kauri gum miners in the middle of the 19th Century.  When the mining was abandoned in approximately 1865, many of the goats were left behind as well.  Over the last 140 years, and many generations, the Rawhiti goats became a compact, hardy breed, retaining some of its dairyness.  They are very fine-boned, so I don’t believe they would have been a very productive source of meat, but they may have become more fine-boned over the years as part of their adaptation (perhaps due to nutrition - natural selection may have favoured smaller bones due to the quality of their food sources or available calcium.  They retain some of the dairyness of the milch goat, as some of the does exhibit well-attached udders, larger teats (for ease of hand-milking), the wedge-shaped body of the good dairy goat, and a large volume of milk production for such a small animal.

The Rawhiti goat is half the size of the standard sized dairy goat, and at birth, the kids stand at about 18 - 23 cms (7-9 inches) at the wither, and are just as vigourous, if not more so, than their standard dairy breed counterpart.

Mr. Tuart has been instrumental in the preservation of a large number of feral breeds which are unique to New Zealand, due to the fact that they have been left to themselves, many for more than 150 years, to survive on their own and become the hardy breeds they are now.  Many of the breeds lived in complete isolation, not interbreeding with others of the same species, and have developed characteristics suitable to hard living.

We have five of these very special goats, choosing this breed, because along with the general public, we thought that goats would be as tough as old boots to raise when compared with sheep.  We also wanted to help to preserve another species, for reasons of biosecurtiy,  Because they are small, they do not jump a standard fence, but, and this is a very big but, they have an amazing vertical reach.  Basil, our buck is about the size of a small thin Labrador.  He is knee height, but when he stands on his hind legs, his height is impressive.  Basil and I can go face to face if he puts his feet up on me.  When we first got them, we didn’t know this!!!!!!!  Our learning curve on goats has been almost vertical, as it has been with most other things on our property.

We decided to put the goats in the orchard when we first got them as it was well fenced, had water and had a dear little goat house, recently vacated by the pigs.  Despite having great goat length grass (they are like cows and prefer longer grass) and grains delivered daily they preferred the trees.  The eating of the leaves we had decided was not going to be a problem.  It was coming into autumn and the leaves would fall anyway.  That is not the damage they cause.  It is the standing up, feet on branches, climbing on branches that does the damage.  Not content with wreaking havoc that way, they also ring barked several of the trees.  This is most definitely not good for the trees.  The goats were moved into The Hill Paddock, so named because it contains a small hill made of the best top-soil on our property, scraped off when our drive was formed.  There they were able to eat thistles (they only like dead ones) climb the wooden tree protectors to eat the trees specially planted to provide shade for stock and generally jump around and play goats.  It did leave us with a bit of a problem.  The orchard looked as if a tornado had passed through.  As we frequently run farm tours through our place it was not a particularly good look, so I decided to prune early, so early in fact that the prunings were dry enough to use as kindling by the middle of winter.  I felt quite like a Mediaeval peasant collecting branches, tying them into bundles and then carrying them home from the fields.  I did think that the dreadful winds we had on Boxing Day as well as this very early pruning would mean that we would have little fruit this year.  Not so!!!  Most of the trees look to have very heavy crops – the apricots and almonds are doing particularly well.  The mulberry tree is again covered in fruit, just right for weasel chasing.  We have already harvested the entire crop from one of our cherry trees.  The fruit was tiny this year, but very sweet.  Last year the birds got the lot, so this is a great improvement.  I have not done anything with them but just enjoyed them fresh.

Several of the ducks were playing “catch me if you can” in the strawberry garden last night.  Ducks love strawberries and make far bigger holes in the fruit than ordinary birds do.  I recall from my teenage years working in a market garden, how the ducks would live in the irrigation ditches and peck massive craters in the fruit.  We’ll put the netting over the strawberries this weekend so our yield will no doubt improve greatly.  It is still early in the season for us, but the fruit is remarkably sweet.  We planted 7 dozen new plants this year, as strawberry plants do not last for ever, but rather are better in their second year, declining in production thereafter.  Our four year old plants will come out after this season.  Two years ago we underplanted the currant bushes with strawberries, but Bill forgot that we had done this, and mowed them in a brutal sort  of pruning way (with the lawn tractor).  They didn’t ever recover, so I don’t think it can be a pruning method to be recommended.

Guests this weekend will be treated to a strawberry sponge for afternoon teat, and if the weather improves (it is currently still raining) we’ll be able to serve it with flowers and a white table cloth on the verandah.

Strawberry Sponge

You can easily use a bought sponge to create this but the ability to create a light as a feather sponge will improve your chances of getting into Masterchef.  You can have this ready in 45 minutes, plus a little cooling time.

3 eggs, separated, lightly beat the yolks

¾ cups caster sugar

¾ cup cornflour

1 T plain flour

1 t baking powder

1 t melted butter

2 t golden syrup, dissolved in 1 T boiling water

You will also need

strawberries – from the garden (about 250g) or a punnet

200 mls cream

1 T icing sugar

extra icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180^◦ C, and grease and line with baking paper, 2 x 20cm round cake times.  I use a spray for this.  Grease the paper lining and dust with a little flour – this gives the cake a lovely crust.

Beat the egg whites until they are firm, but not dry.  If you beat them too long, you will find it hard to mix in the other ingredients.  Gradually add the sugar, whilst the beater is still on.

With a large metal spoon, gently fold in the egg yolks, then fold through the cornflour, flour and baking powder.  Fold in the melted butter and the golden syrup and water mix, but only until the ingredients are just incorporated.

Divide between the two tins and bake for 20 – 25 minutes.  When the cake is cooked, it will spring back when you touch it.  Cool the sponges in their tins for a few minutes.  Use a metal spatula to run round the edges of the tins and gently place the sponges on a wire rack, that you have covered with a clean tea towel.  Peel the baking paper off the cakes, turn them over and cool completely.

Whip the cream and icing sugar until soft peaks form, and spread over one cake.  Place sliced strawberries on the cream, and then carefully position the other cake on top.  Arrange the rest of the whole strawberries on the top of the sponge, sieve a little icing sugar over the top and serve.  

Duck confit

MONDAY 7 NOVEMBER 2011

Just suddenly it is all go in the garden.  Strawberries are ripening, the cherries from the first tree (Stella) are harvested, the rhubarb is finally flourishing, and the ducks have perfected their escape techniques.  Our ducks are a mix of Pekin (Jemima type) and Swedish Blue, and they are supposed to free range in the orchard along with the hens and the geese.  However, they have taken the idea of free range to new heights (deer fence height) and suddenly free range everywhere on the entire property.  In the torrential rain on Sunday night, they happily swam in the drive.  The real problem is that over the years we have bred far more drakes than females, and the drakes are now giving the females such a rough time that the girls prefer to live outside the orchard, only returning at night to be fed.

This dish is probably not very good for you, but just do something healthy to compensate afterwards.  Fat, as any chef will tell you means flavour and duck fat represents really special flavour.

Duck confit (crispy duck legs)

1 duck leg per person

4 T coarse salt

1T black peppercorns

2 bayleaves – I use fresh from the garden, but dried will work

a sprig of thyme

1 kg duck fat

125 ml Boysenberry Vinegar (Martinborough Manner’s is superb)

125 ml red wine

Wash and dry the duck legs, and place them in a single layer in a glass dish.  Rub with salt and peppercorns, making sure that all the surfaces are covered.  Cover and marinate in the fridge for 4 – 6 hours.  Rinse to remove any excess salt and peppercorns and dry with paper towels.

Preheat oven to 150^◦ C

Heat a frying pan over medium heat, and add the duck legs, skin side down.  Cook until golden brown.  Drain off any excess fat.  Turn the legs over and cook the other side until golden.

Place the duck legs in an ovenproof dish with the bay leaves and they thyme.  Melt the duck fat in a pot and pour over the duck legs, making sure that they are fully covered.  It is important that the fat doesn’t boil, so turn the oven down if necessary.  Cook the legs for two hours.  Remove them from the fat, cool and place the legs into a clean dish.  Strain the fat and poor it over the legs.  You can if necessary, cover and store in the fridge for u[ to a week.  However, the legs should be chilled in the fat for at least 8 – 10 hours. 

To reheat the duck, turn the oven to 170^◦ C, and remove the legs form the fat, and place them in an oven proof pan, skin up.  Cook in the oven until crisp and heated through.

Meanwhile, place the vinegar and wine in a small pot, gently bring to the boil, then simmer until it is reduced by half.

To serve, drizzle the reduction over the meat.  To be really decadent, serve with potatoes that have been cooked in duck fat.

Golden potatoes

1 onion diced finely

3 cloves garlic, sliced finely

2 large mushrooms, chopped

4 potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes

2 T parsley, finely chopped

duck fat*

Melt the duck fat in a frying pan and gently fry the onion.  Add the garlic and the mushrooms and cook until all the moisture has disappeared.  Be patient this step will take a while.  Keep warm on a plate.  Melt some more duck fat and fry the potato cubes until they are crisp on the outside and tender on the inside.  Drain off any excess fat and gently mix with the mushrooms.  Add the parsley.  Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

*  If you don’t have any duck fat, you can use a mix of butter and olive oil.

A large green salad – rocket, mesclun, baby spinach – simply dressed would complete the meal.

The self seeded silverbeet continues to be beautiful.  Picking the whole plant minutes before they are needed means the greens are as fresh as possible.  Once in the kitchen I chop ff the root end and wash only if I need to.

The Golden Potatoes work well with a vegetable tart instead of the duck.

Silverbeet and mushroom tart

Preheat oven to 200^◦ C

Slice the mushrooms and panfry in olive oil with garlic and herbs (parsley, tarragon, oregano are all growing right now) until the mushrooms are soft. Add baby silver beet leaves and heat, just until they wilt.  Add salt and freshly ground black pepper.  When this has cooled, add 2 or 3 beaten eggs.  Line a flan tin with flaky pastry and pour in the seasoned vegetable mix.  Crumble approximately 150g feta cheese over the top and bake until golden and set.

At this time of the year, I’m sprinkling a few mesclun mix seeds or rocket seeds either directly into the garden or into various containers every few days, and they sprout so quickly that you can have a succession of salad greens allowing for salads, several times a week.  When I planted the first lot of beans, I planted radishes as row markers – 1 bean seed followed by two radish seeds.  The radishes germinate so quickly now that I will have pulled them out before the beans need the space.

Minty lamb marinade for lamb

SUNDAY 6 NOVEMBER 2011

All serious plans of gardening evaporated (again) today when the heavens opened (again) and we were flooded (again)!  I did manage to take a bit of a wander through the currant garden, but the pumpkin plants (carefully grown from seed) and the brassica seedlings and lettuce plants will have to wait another couple of days.  Walking on the soil when it is as wet as it was today is not only dangerous, in the gumboot stuck sense, but is also not good for the soil.  Standing on muddy soil compacts it and takes all the air out of it.  Bill did rotary hoe the area where the pigs had been and the large garden designated for brassicas this year before it rained.  It may be wet, but the soil temperature is excellent for seed germination – the weeds are spectacular.  Most common vegetables germinate at soil temperatures of around 16 to 24^◦C.  I haven’t measured it (not quite sure how I would do that) but given the germination rates of the beans, the salad greens, the radishes and the silver beet it must be about right. 

The herbs I transplanted into our washing machine gardens have done extremely well.  We have a row of the bowls from some discarded washing machines, planted up with herbs.  Early in the season these gave good protection to early salad greens, and I’m hoping that in the middle of the summer they will insulate the plants against the worst of the heat.  They drain well, so I need to remember to water them.  Today was not that day as we had torrential rain for about 20 minutes.  Localised showers indeed – not half a kilometre away.  Any container will do for planting herbs if garden space is short.  An amazing amount can be grown in buckets.  If you are planting mint, it is a good idea to plant it inside another container in which ever garden you are planting it in.  Our mint bush is now a year old, and I may need to replace it soon.  It keeps threatening to flower, so I have to keep picking the buds off. 

Mint does cry “lamb” and I’ll make no secret of it, we grow our own meat for the table.  We believe in giving animals a good life and a good death.  They are spoiled rotten while they live with us, and then those that are destined for the freezer are treated with the utmost respect when the home-kill man calls.  There is nothing quite like home raised and killed meat.  The animal has no fear of impending doom and so there is no adrenalin in the meat.  This makes a huge difference to both the taste and the quality.

Buying meat from a butcher is the next best thing to growing it yourself, and there are still a number of very knowledgeable ones around.   Try this marinade on loin chops or lamb steaks, either cooked on the BBQ or cooked inside more conventionally.

Marinade for lamb

1/2 cup gin

2T honey

Good handful of mint leaves

2 t freshly ground black pepper

2 t ground ginger or you can replace this with a thumb of fresh ginger finely chopped

1/4 - 1 t cayenne pepper

2 t salt

Place all the ingredients in a blender and whizz for 30 seconds.  Pour over the lamb arranged in a shallow dish for at least 30 minutes at room temperature, (after first checking there are no cats in the kitchen).  Then cook as you wish on BBQ, grill or frypan.

And, well more eggs

FRIDAY 4 NOVEMBER 2011

Did I mention that we had eggs?  Actually we were concerned that our egg collection was a little down on what we expected from the nine laying girls – it transpires they are indeed laying, just not in the prescribed place.  When the geese were looking as though they wanted to set up a nest again, we put out a lovely warm dry box, with lots of fresh pea straw in.  They wouldn’t even consider moving in, but rather preferred to sit in the corner of the orchard, open to the elements and any predators that may be lurking.   Bill checked the box tonight and found about 30 hen’s eggs, all nice and neatly laid in the straw.  More egg testing coming up, but I’ll do it tomorrow.  BUT, now we have more eggs to use.  At least Bill will be able to take a few to market on Sunday, but it still leaves us with a problem.

Almost all of the food we eat and serve is locally grown.  However, just occasionally one hankers after something a little bit extra.  The banana slips into this category.  I have perhaps 2 bananas a year, so I can’t be accused of any really bad eating habits here, but soufflés are another good way to use up eggs

Banana Souffle (KB) – serves 2

Heat oven to 250^◦C.

1 banana
25ml rum
25g fine sugar (caster sugar)

1 egg yolk
3 egg whites

Small amount of icing sugar to garnish

Whisk the whites on a high speed in a mixer until they are stiff, adding the sugar as you go.  Cut the banana in half lengthwise to create two long boat-like “dishes”.  Mash the banana and mix with the egg yolk and the rum until you have a paste.

Fold 1/3 of the egg white thoroughly into the yolk and rum mixture, and then gently fold in the rest of the whites trying not to collapse them.  Spoon or pipe into the banana cases and place in the pre heated oven for 3 minutes, voila!!! 

Sift a little icing sugar over the top and serve.

Eggs and more eggs

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2011

It is not yet summer, though every now and again there are glimpses of things to come.  I got sunburnt in the weekend weeding the citrus grove but the forecast for the next few days is for rain and somewhat cooler temperatures.  Spring here means goslings, chickens, lambs, kids, baby salad greens, early broad beans, the first strawberries, grass and eggs.  Oh and grass and more eggs.  Last night I sorted the egg mountain that had gathered on the kitchen bench.  I floated eggs, both hen and duck, and I sank eggs, both hen and duck.  I still have at least 6 dozen eggs that sink rapidly to the bottom of a bowl of water, indicating their freshness.  Even the eggs that are three weeks old are probably fresher and most definitely nicer than those you can buy at the supermarket.  We only have ten hens, and one of them is being a mummy hen raising this year’s only chicken, Georgia, a cute little black chick, clearly taking after her dad, our Barred Rock rooster, Rocky.  But, the nine girls are churning out between 6 and 8 eggs every day.  The dogs eat eggs, the cats eat eggs, we eat eggs, we sell eggs, we give them away to our guests but still they mount up. 

Recently we had a family staying for the weekend.  Jordon, the visiting seven year old, loved being in the country and learning about farming, albeit on a small scale. After feeding the hens, ducks and geese, he collected the eggs to make individual bacon and egg pies for lunch.  For city children, to open the nesting box to find a pile of eggs sitting in the straw is magic.   So many times our visitors ask if there are chickens inside the eggs (adults and children alike!)  It takes some explaining, but at this time of the year, the majority of the eggs could produce chickens (or ducklings, or goslings) as they are fertile, but don’t exactly contain a baby bird.  From fertile egg to chick requires three weeks of the right temperature and humidity and this process doesn’t start until the hen has laid all the eggs she wants to (or stolen them from other hens) and starts sitting on them.  She then stays there on her nest, only occasionally getting up for food and water until the eggs hatch.  Ducklings take about four weeks to hatch but it works the same way.  Without wishing to count our chickens (or some such, as the saying goes) but this year we have a gosling that has survived to the grand old age of three weeks.  We have been trying to breed Pilgrim geese for three years now and this is the oldest that we have managed to keep a gosling alive.  The little bundle of fluff is a female so fingers crossed, we can raise her to adulthood. 

Bacon and egg pie doesn’t require a recipe.  You can make your own pastry but unless you are practised I think bought flaky pasty is probably best.  Simply roll out a lid and base, cut to the shape of your dish and carefully lay the base in your greased pie dish.  Break in as many eggs as you like, add some finely chopped bacon, and season with salt and pepper .  Brush the edges with water or egg wash (see below) and carefully put the top on your pie.  Crimp the edges, and cook at 200^◦  until the pie is golden and the filling set, about 45 minutes.

Making your own pasta is a good way to use up some of the eggs, and it is much easier and quicker than you think.  You can make ravioli from hen house (or egg tray) to table in less time than it would take most of us to go to the supermarket.  Any leftover pasta can be frozen in a solid airtight container for a short while.

Free Range Egg Ravioli in a Hurry (KB)

To make fresh pasta:
250 g flour
25 ml milk
25 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 whole eggs.

Add all the ingredients into a floured bowl and work them into a soft ball.  Roll the pasta quickly in a light coating of flour and wrap for 15 minutes in a clean kitchen towel. Roll out as thinly as you possibly can (it needs to be very very thin), cut into circles (of any diameter you choose) using a biscuit cutter.  You can roll it out in a pasta machine if you have one.  If you don’t have a biscuit cutter, then find a glass or some such and use that to cut around to make circles.

To make the ravioli filling (enough to serve one):

 egg yolks (see below)
1 T flat mushrooms diced very finely
1 T mushroom essence (from Aromatics, available at good delicatessens) - optional
1 T red Spanish onion diced very finely
1 dash of Soy sauce
1 t fresh chopped herbs (any combination of what is growing)
1 dash of Tabasco Sauce if you like:
Egg wash (for glue) made by lightly whisking an egg.

Mix the filling ingredients together.  Put 1 T of filling in the centre of a pasta disc, and then carefully place 1 whole raw egg yolk on top of the filling*.  Brush the edges of the base disc with egg wash and place the top disc over the filling and the egg, making sure that the top and bottom are totally sealed.  You can also make the ravioli by using one disc and placing the filling on half the pasta and folding the dough over the top to make a half moon shaped ravioli.

Bring 2 Lt water to a rapid boil in a large pot and add 1 tsp oil to that.  Season well with salt (until it tastes like the sea), drop the ravioli one at a time in and cook for 1 minute.  With a slotted spoon remove the ravioli, arrange it on a plate and pour on the sauce. 

To make the sauce:
100ml cream
1 Shot Marsala
1/2 t butter
2 T Mirren or sherry
1 t mushroom essence - optional

Place all ingredients into a pot and bring to the boil. Simmer for a few minutes and pour over the raviolis. Grate a little Parmigianino or any good firm cheese over the top.

It’s as simple as that!

*          If you have large home grown eggs then they will be too large for a sensible sized ravioli – mix the egg yolk(s) into the mushroom mix instead.

My Country Life - 365 NZ

Kent Baddeley and Penelope de Boer are joining forces to write a combined diary - the diaries of the farmer and the chef.  Kent is the chef and Penelope is the farmer (albeit on a small block).  Their food philosophy is unanimous - locally grown, in season - fantastic.

Watch this space.