Spring 1st

The view from the kitchen window

In this picture there is grass.  Finally, grass!  Tomorrow is the first day of Spring and with it the promise of new growth.  Platitudes aside we are very pleased to now have at least patches of our place that are dry enough to move the cows on to.  I think Gen ate solidly for two hours - they've been eating hay and baleage but clearly there is nothing quite like grass.  Six lambs and two kids so far with many more to come.  The does each had a pedicure today - the constant mud does nothing for their hooves, imagine keeping your hand in the dishwashing liquid for several weeks and you get the picture.  It (thus far) hasn't been a very cold winter and, while it has been wet, it has felt like Spring for a while.  The hens are in full lay and the citrus trees in the Food Forest are covered in fruit.  The rhubarb plants have leaves about two inches long and there are two marigolds out.  Two almond trees are flowering and there are several plum trees about to burst into blossom.  Even a crazy feijoa bush has a flower.

Our desserts are frequently based on lemons and eggs at this time of year.  Lemon bars are sooo scrummy and (too) morish.

Lemon bars

3/4 cup white chocolate buttons or bits

1/2 cup butter (half fill a cup with cold water and use Archimede's principle to fill the cup with butter)

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

1  3/4 cup flour

Icing:

2 cups icing sugar

1/3 cup lemon juice, more-or-less

Grated lemon rind

Pre-heat oven to 175 deg C.  Greae a 20cm by 20cm baking tray and line with baking paper.

Melt the chocolate and the butter in the microwave or in a pot over boiling water.  White chocolate is very easy to burn so watch carefully.

Allow to cool slightly.  Lightly beat the eggs and add them to the chocolate and butter mix.  Add the suar and the juice and stir until well-mixed.  Add the flour and stir until the ingredients are just combined.  

Pour the batter into the baking pan, smooth and cook for between 25 and 30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the middle.  Allow to cool.

To make the icing:

Whisk the icing sugar and the lemon juice until smooth, adding more juice if necessary.  

Spread over the slice whilst still in the baking pan.  Sprinkle grated lemon rind over the icing.  Refrigerate for at least three hours - overnight is better.  Cut into pieces and enjoy.  This is a good recipe to freeze.

Over the weather - or under the weather?

Black currants are so easy to grow and freeze (the picking not so much).  We have recently moved many of our bushes to the Food Forest and sold the remainder to those willing to come and dig them out.  The later diggers found it much more difficult than those who came earlier - the suction power of water has to be seen to be believed.  No sooner were the bushes out of the ground than the holes filled up with water.  Dragging the bushes out of the currant garden to the trailers and cars waiting was a mission through the bog that the area has become.   When it dries out, the ex-currant garden will become another paddock for grazing in our quest to be totally self-sufficient and sustainable.

After a week of being in the company of coughing and spluttering students I thought I should try and boost my immune system with a little extra vitamin C.  I say a little extra because heat destroys vitamin C pretty quickly so it's more of a comfort than anything else.   Writing this in the middle of winter means that there are no fresh currants but the frozen are just as good.   If we are going to use currants (red or black for juice or jellies) the fruit is just bagged, tagged and frozen.  If we want to make jam then the process is a little more careful - de-strigging red currants is easier if the fruit is frozen first and sorting the black currants is best done with company!

Making cordial is a good thing.  If you want less sugar, you can use less sugar.  If you want more lemon juice, you can add more lemon juice.   You can use red or black currants for this recipe or as I did in today's batch, use both.  The recipe is easily halved or doubled.

Currant cordial (PdB)

1 kg currants
500g sugar
500ml water
Juice and skin of 2 lemons

 Peel the lemons with a potato peeler and squeeze the juice into a large pot.  Add the currants, fresh or frozen, the sugar and the water.    Bring to the boil and simmer for about 5 minutes.  Add the peeled skin and the lemon halves themsleves.  Bring back to the boil and simmer for another 5 minutes.  Depending on how much time you have, you can let the mix cool, then run the juice through a jelly bag.   If you are in a hurry, you can carefully strain the fruit through a sieve.  If you are not too pushy, the reserved fruit can be saved to serve with yoghurt or added to apple for a pie or a crumble.

If you are pushy and push the fruit through the sieve until you can get no more juice, the resulting cordial will be thick enough to serve over ice cream etc.
However you strain it, use a funnel to fill sterilised bottles and seal.  You will need to keep the bottles in the fridge.

Vitamin C is good for you.

Mother Nature must have known what she was about.  At the time of the year when we can all use extra vitamin C the citrus fruits kick into gear and produce large quantities of fruit.  The citrus back-bone of our food forest is hugely productive.  Last weekend we picked about 30kg of grapefruit and lemons and you can't see where we touched the bushes.  We will have hundreds of kilos this year though not too many limes.   We even have edible oranges.

Today was crutching day.  For the non-farmers amongst you this is when the ewes get a trim - bum and tum - so that when the lambs are born they can find the clean udder easily.  We have been putting it off because you can't shear sheep when the wool is wet.  With a break in the weather the shearer was round to "do" our nine ewes this morning.  Sadly we had miscalculated our dates and one of the ewes, my favourite, Lilispot had lambed in the early hours of the morning and the little black female lamb had died.  On a small property it is difficult to run the ram in a separate paddock so he and his girls run together all year.  This does make any serious predictions a little tricky.

As we have lemons and eggs our guests this weekend will be treated to an old-fashioned favourite, Lemon Meringue pie.

Lemon meringue pie (PdB) - serves 6 - 8
Pastry
You can use bought ready rolled sweet pastry (about 1 and a half sheets) or you can make your own.
To make your own
250g flour
1/2 t salt
175g butter
grated rind of one lemon
2 T sugar
3T water
3T lemon juice
melted butter

Rub the butter into the flour, salt and lemon rind, make a well in the centre and add the liquids.  Gently bring all together into a sold ball.  Chill for 30 minutes then roll out.

For either sort of pastry cut to fit a 25cm round or 34cm by 12cm paper lined tart tin.  Chill for another five minutes then line with baking paper and weights or rice.  Bake 12 - 15 minutes at 180 deg C, then remove the weights and bake until golden (about 5 minutes).  Brush the hot pastry with a beaten egg.

Lower the temperature to 160 deg C
The filling

200ml water
100g caster sugar
2T cornflour mixed into 3 T water
20g butter
2 - 3 egg yolks depending on size (some of our eggs are enormous)
1/2 t lemon rind, grated
1/2 t orange rind, grated
50 ml juice from the lemon and the orange

Heat the water with the sugar in a pot until the sugar is dissolved, then bring to simmering temperature.  Add the cornflour paste while whisking and then simmer until thickened.  Add the butter and stir until it is melted.  Mix the egg yolks a little and stir into the thickened mix with the rinds and the juices.  Remove from the heat.
The meringue

2 - 3 egg whites
120 g caster sugar

Beat the egg whites, (until they are foamy) add the sugar gradually while beating.  Beat until the mix is very thick and glossy.

Assembly
Pour the lemon mixture into the pastry case and top with meringue.  Smooth and then create some whirls if you like.  Make sure that the edges are sealed.

Sprinkle the top with a little extra sugar.

Bake for about 25 minutes until the meringue is golden.

Cool completely before serving so that you can cut neat pieces.