Cooking at the farm

Down a the farm this weekend and having a lovely old time in the kitchen. The kitchen here is enormous (compared to the one at our little beach house anyway) and it soothes my cooking soul somehow to know that there is loads of bench space to measure, cut and store all the ingredients I need. Also, as the oven here is so huge, (comparatively) that everything I want to cook will fit in at once! Cooking is a breeze in the right conditions ;-)

Today I made the 'rhubarb slice' according to Donna's instructions. It worked out a treat - as usual - but actually is not my most favourite slice of all. There is just not enough rhubarb, and far too much sugar in each bite for me! Perhaps those of you who are not big fans of the rhubarb may actually enjoy this slice (I'll be interested in your comments here Christina).

I am also cooking another 'do over' tonight. Not because the first one was in any way a disaster, (although I did pour the beer in at the wrong moment last time) but more because it is just the weather and the audience to appreciate a slow cooked 'braised beef and mushroom' dish!

All good so far ;-)

Edit  ** Worked a treat you'll be pleased to know. Everyone enjoyed the meal! **

It's not easy being green...

 ...so they say!

The 'pea spinach and ham soup'  I made the other day is very green! 


I liked it, H'o'M didn't like it and mum's opinion is yet to be known! 

Is it nearly finished?

Well, I'm starting to lose my enthusiasm for this project. Maybe it's just that I'm fighting off some low grade infection and I haven't been taking my iron tablets for a month (on the dr's orders I hasten to add) but honestly it's all becoming just a bit hard ;-(


I'm not getting any joy from my menu planning or even going to the market... and I usually love that stuff! 


Maybe tomorrow it'll all come together again ;-)

It really was a disaster...

Well it finally happened. I made a completely inedible meal!

Had the stock a-simmering for the 'salmon and tarragon broth' when I tasted said broth...YUK! It was horrible! I still had to add the carrot, zucchini and fennel, but I couldn't see how that would diffuse the hideous taste.

Called H'o'M for his opinion and he agreed with me...YUK!

The broth went straight into the compost bin along with the sliced zucchini and fennel while we nibbled on the carrot strips as a per-dinner snack.

I resorted to that old stand by in our house - pesto pasta. This time I was able to add some salmon along with tomato and parmesan. ;-)

 We did manage to get some sort of dinner.

A weekend of snacks and visitors

I made 'goat's cheese tarts' for lunch one day.... just for the two of us. Sometimes it's good just to create for 'us'. I have been using the Meredith goat cheese in the jar for the all goat cheese recipes I have to prepare because, well, it just tastes so good!
I'm probably supposed to use a non marinated cheese, but as Donna doesn't specify exactly which goat's cheese to use, I think I can get away with it. Maybe just to be on the safe side, we shouldn't tell H'o'M. He might make me do all these recipes again ;-)
I was thinking of baking this one again soon, but perhaps giving the  puff pastry a miss. I wonder if it would taste just as good on sourdough or baguette toast. I'm guessing it would.

'Potato soup with crispy bacon' was on the menu this week too, but oops, I forgot to take a photo of it. The finished product did look just like Donna's, although I can't show you hers either as the recipe/photo is not on her website ;-(
It was a tasty soup, very filling - all those carbs I guess! - and we ate it for every lunch this week. Just to add to the carb overload ate loads of sourdough toast with it!

Had some family from Ballas come to our resort town this weekend. A lovely time was had (I think), but sadly they couldn't stay as long as we would have liked. In the short time they were all with us, we did manage some fun shopping in our little resort town - gifts, books and lollies were in abundance - most especially the lollies - walks along the beach, lots of talking, eating and laughing (however there may have been far too many spider stories for my liking), and of course some cooking!

I had made the 'sweet potato and curry soup' for lunch on Saturday. Not too spicy (although a little too much kick for it to be Sezza's favourite) and very tasty. It wasn't quite as smooth as it should have been as I left  a few too many chunks of sweet potato when I was whizzing it up. I did check honestly, but it wasn't til  the serving that all those chunks came to the fore. I think the judges would have been unimpressed... as a group though, we were less discerning ;-)

Before the Ballas girls arrived on Saturday morning I put together a 'caramel slice'. I cut them into very small pieces because really that's all you need! There were lots of ooohs and aaahs while eating, so I think the slice was a success.

With the help of my sous chef Emmy, I cooked the 'seafood chowder bake' to share for dinner. Yes I finally found some clams - see 'a failed attempt' -  when I managed to drive out to the airport fishmongers.
It is a very easy recipe to put together and Emmy I managed it with no problems at all. What a joy to have a sous chef to work with ;-) That girl really knows her way around a kitchen!

There were a few comments around the table when eating said dish .... best fish I've ever tasted; yummy; creamy; tasty and smooth, to mention just a few.
I wouldn't make it again in it's original form though. For H'o'M and I it requires a little 'recipe renovation', as there is too much cream in it for our taste buds. Not completely sure what I'd do to renovate it actually. Maybe use all milk or perhaps half stock and half milk???

We also made a dessert on Saturday that didn't come from 'the bible' but honestly needs to be mentioned as it was amazing. It was a joint cooking effort with Emmy, Rach and Lestie, while Sezza decided she would just be 'an eater' :-)
After completing all their homework for the weekend, the cooking began. After weighing all the ingredients out Rach manned the food processor, Lestie was juicing up a storm - got rid of numerous lemons - and Emmy was stirring and waiting for things to thicken on the stovetop. Quite a lot going on for our little kitchen!

This cake was chosen (from Lestie's cookbook) because not only did it feature chocolate - always a plus - but it used about 20 of the lemons still sitting outside on the table! Unfortunately we forgot to take a photo of this cake too, but suffice to say it was so rich and so decadent that none of us could finish our portion!
A first for the Ballas girls perhaps?