My giant jam sandwich

Vanessa and I recently decided to stop our fortnightly food fight challenge (choosing the same ingredient, and each posting our own creation every fortnight) as we thought once a fortnight was way too long to wait, the food blogging world moves so quickly, we didn't want anyone to forget about us! So starting from last week's fish post from Vanessa, the plan is to choose seasonal ingredients and do weekly posts, so we have new recipes and inspirations (hopefully) each week to try. That's not to say, the food fight is over, I intend to try and out-cook Vanessa with each post, isn't that what little sisters are for? Ingrid

This week I chose rhubarb, mainly because my neighbour, fellow blogger Johanna Cotter, who is a vege growing superstar, has a garden like an organic supermarket, and being her mate, I'm very privileged to get any fruit and vege that she can't use.

I also photograph her blog and last week she made Rhubarb Crumble Muffins (recipe below), which were duly accepted as a thank you for my hard work (hmmm, it's no hard work on my part, imagine hanging out for a day with a friend, who makes you laugh hard, whilst she cooks up a storm and lets you test all her creations, it's a pretty cushy number!) 

Johanna Cotter's Rhubarb Crumble Muffins  

Preparation Time: 10 minutes  
Serves: 12

This recipe is a lovely combination of dessert and baking, meaning you can enjoy it for both dessert or with a cup of coffee for morning or afternoon tea

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour
3/4 C Sugar (I like raw sugar, you could use white or castor)
2 tsp Baking Powder
2 eggs
100g butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup milk
Juice and rind of 1 lemon

2 cups stewed rhubarb

1 stalk fresh rhubarb, cut into small pieces

Crumble Topping

½ cup flour

½ cup rolled oats

¼ cup soft brown sugar

Pinch of cinnamon

50g butter, melted

To stew rhubarb

1.Chop rhubarb into small pieces and place in a saucepan with the juice and rind of a lemon and 2 large tablespoons of castor sugar.
2. Cover rhubarb with water and bring to the boil.
3. Cook until the rhubarb breaks up.

4. Remove from heat and strain through a sieve to remove the excess liquid. Add more sugar if still to sour at this point. 

5. Set aside to cool

Heat oven to 180 degrees. Grease 12 muffin tins. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl and add sugar. Stir gently to combine.

In another bowl combine eggs, melted butter, milk, vanilla and lemon juice and rind. Whisk to combine then add wet mixture to dry ingredients. Fold together until they are just combined, then half full muffin tins. Add a teaspoon of the rhubarb to the centre, and top with remaining mixture.

Combine dry topping ingredients and add enough melted butter to combine, then sprinkle over muffins. Add a couple of pieces of leftover rhubarb to the top of each muffin.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until risen and golden.

Recipe extracted from Johanna's Blog 

  

What about that sandwich?

I liked the idea of making a Jam. I've never ever done it before, I always put it in the same category as making a wedding cake. It's seemed time-consuming, something I don't ever seem to have. But when I was thinking about what I was going to make I really felt like smearing some jam on a doorstopper slice of fresh white bread, (this might be, in part, due to early pregnancy) and I couldn't get it out of my head, so Jam it has to be. So here goes....an amateur jam maker takes her first step.

Rhubarb has inspired a number festivals around the world. The one that took my fancy was the Whoop-Up Days and Rhubarb Festival in Conrad, Montana. You take in a rodeo whilst eating rhubarb pies. Yum!

Normally, I end up having to remake a lot of my recipes or as the experts say, triple test, as I tend to think I can walk before I can crawl. I'm always adding or reducing ingredients, when I haven't even tried out the original. I just can't help myself, and my jam making wasn't any different. Thankfully, it seems to be quite forgiving to my creative experiments.

Making jam was pretty easy, however I did burn my pot, and no amount of scrubbing or hot water seems to be resurrecting it (so don't have your element on high, medium heat is fine as long as its bubbling away). I was also blown away by the amount of sugar - sometimes being ignorant when your smearing jam on your toast for breakfast, is how I want to be. But sugar never-the-less, is what you need to make jam, and lots and lots of it. But I was really impressed with the results, and I plan to try out some more soon, I'm thinking grapefruit marmalade.

Do you remember the children's book The Giant Jam Sandwich?

Rhubarb, Ginger and Lemon Jam

Takes around 40mins 

Makes five to six jars

What you need

800g rhubarb (chop stalk into small chunks, discard leaves as they are toxic)

650ml water - this makes for a sticky thick jam, add more water for thinner consistency.

1.5kg sugar

2Tbsp root ginger (grated or squeezed through a garlic press)

1 lemon (juice and grated rind)

How to make

In a large pot, add rhubarb and water. Boil covered for 10mins until rhubarb softens. Add sugar, stir to dissolve.  Boil on medium heat until setting point. Add ginger and lemon and stir through. My jam took 35mins. I tested it by putting a plate in the freezer for five mins, then adding a spoonful of jam, and putting back in the freezer and seeing if it sets. Skim foam off the top. When cool, pour into jars.

When Vanessa tried this jam, she wanted to put it on crackers with blue cheese, so use this jam for savoury and sweet.

This jam is great added to sweet short pastry parcels, check out http://www.foodopera.blogspot.co.nz/2012/01/stone-fruit.html

Boysenberry and Rhubarb Jam 

Takes 50mins

Makes five to six jars

What you need

800g Rhubarb (chop stalk into small chunks, discard leaves as they are toxic)

500mls water

1 can of boysenberries (425g) 

1.5kg sugar

How to make

In a large pot, add rhubarb and water. Boil covered for 10mins until rhubarb softens. Add boysenberries, and sugar, stir to dissolve.  Boil on medium heat until setting point. My jam took 35mins. I tested it by putting a plate in the freezer for five mins, then adding a spoonful of jam, and putting back in the freezer and seeing if it sets. Skim foam off the top. When cool, pour into jars.

This jam wasn't as thick as the rhubarb, ginger and lemon, I'm guessing because it had more water content with the can of boysenberries, but the berries gave it a beautiful rich crimson colour, and it had the more traditional jam flavour. Enjoy, Ingrid

What the hell are chokos?

Choko facts

is an edible plant that belongs to the gourd family Cucurbitaceae along with melons, cucumbers and squash.

In Australia, a persistent rumour has existed that McDonald's Apple Pies were made of chokos, not apples.

Ingrid's dish

My neighbour and friend Johanna who also happens to be another food blogger gave us our next challenge, by offloading what felt like a trailer load of chokos at my door. She was glad to get rid, and said as she ran off, Good Luck!

I left these so long, they started sprouting!

I have to admit, I had no idea what the hell they were, and they sat in the fruit bowl for about 3 weeks until Johanna asked me if I had turned them into anything exciting yet. I felt guilt, I hate wasting food, especially as it was a gift (kinda...) So I did a bit of research and worked out they were more a filler food, not very tasty or flavoursome on their own but make great pickles, relishes, can be added to bulk out a stew, or can be stuffed. I couldn't get my head around them being added to sweet stuff, so I didn't even go down that track.

I've started on a bit of a soup phase, so I decided stew/ soup , its all kind of the same, and went about peeling and cutting my chokos in prep for a Curried Bacon and Choko soup.

Now I have to admit, peeling the damn things drove me nuts, I ended up using a small sharp knife and peeled them under the cold tap as they are so slimy and tough, but Vanessa had already finished her relish and said it was worth it in the end, so I kept trucking on.

Curried bacon and choko soup

Makes large pot - enough for 6/8

What you need
2 onions

25g butter

6 rashers of bacon (chopped)

6 chokos - peeled/ remove hard core/ cubed

3 chicken stock cubes dissolved in 3 cups of boiled water (or 3 cups of home-made or store bought stock)

2 tsp curry powder

salt/ pepper to taste

How to make

In a large pot, melt butter and saute onions and bacon for 5 mins. Add chopped chokos, and saute for a further 5mins. Add stock and curry powder. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 30 mins. Mash roughly with a potato masher. Season with salt and pepper. Add chopped parsley. Serve with yoghurt (optional).

Vanessa's Dish

You would have thought being interested in food and living in New Zealand it would have been much sooner that the Opera sisters discovered chokos. Alas it was only through our blog and a mammoth seasonal photo shoot of fruit and vegetables that we really decided to conquer the choko. I am pretty adventurous when it comes to food, put it this way I will give everything ago once, but the choko has never inspired me. I didn't even know what it looked like on the inside or what you could actually do with them! 

I remembered seeing choko chutney at school fairs and charity shop stalls. Its usually handmade by experiences Nana's and sounded like a plan for the food fight. 

What a success, its more mellow than just straight tomatoes, cheaper especially if they have fallen off the neighbours tree and a great neutral base to add spice or heat. 

 two ugly sisters or cheeky chokos ?

What you need

2 chokos peeled and diced

1 apple peeled and diced

2 tomatoes diced

1 onion diced

1 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

1 1/4 ups of vinegar   

1 or 2 chopped chillies

How to make 
Mix all ingredients in a saucepan on low until the sugar has dissolved.
When the sugar has dissolved, bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer for about 11/2 - 2 hours until the mixture has reduced and thickened up.
Pour in to sterilized containers if preserving or a cute chutney jar with a lid if eating soon. 
When cool if eating soon, refrigerate or else store away for treats later. 
It is said that things like this get better with age, mine didn't last very long to find out! 

Choko chutney - amazing with a stinky blue

Vanessa X

    

Two ways to use Basil

Even though we are sisters, we have a very different approach to food and photography. Each fortnight we are going to choose the same ingredient or theme and post the result. These are results of our second food fight.

Basil facts

• The ancient Greeks and Romans thought basil would only grow if you screamed wild curses and shouted intelligibly while sowing the seeds.
• Basil is Greek for 'royal' or 'kingly'.
• In Italy, basil has always been a token of love.

Vanessa's dish - Pesto pasta

A work colleague arrived today with an armload of fragrant and vibrant basil. My classroom smells like an Italian kitchen and I am itching to get busy creating a dish to photograph, eat and post tonight.

The obvious is pesto so with a few other essentials and a food processor or mortar and pestle that's the plan.

I have some tasty tomatoes straight from the garden however they aren't the best looking as the birds or slugs have been snacking at them.

I would be happy with pesto and tomato however the males in my house may like it jazzed up with "meat" so crispy bacon on top should do the trick...

Wish me luck...

Pesto pasta with roasted tomatoes and pinenuts

Shopping list

Parmesan

Olive oil

Bacon

Pine nuts

Pasta - spaghetti

Bunches of basil

Salt and pepper

Garlic

A few hours later...

I cant believe the price of pine nuts, no wonder bought pesto contains 'other' nuts and vegetable oil.

I choose to go the whole hog and use extra virgin olive oil and expensive pine nuts, here is how I did it.

What you need
Dried pasta - spaghetti
Olive oil - about 300mls
Pine nuts - a hand full
Grated Parmesan - 1 cup
Salt and pepper
Garlic cloves - 1-2
Basil - 2-3 cups packed down (that's quite a bit of basil)
Tomatoes - 6
Bacon 300grams

How to make
In a food processor blitz basil, oil, Parmesan, salt, pepper and garlic. Add the pine nuts at the last minute and pulse for a few seconds.
Set aside.
Boil the salted water and cook the pasta until its al dente - firm to the bite.
Grill the tomatoes and bacon both drizzled with olive oil and salt/pepper.

To assemble
When the pasta is cooked and drained stir pesto into the hot pasta. You may need to add more oil or even some of the hot pasta water to fully coat the pasta. Top with crispy bacon, roasted tomato halves, more pine nuts and Parmesan cheese.

Ultimate comfort food - Pesto pasta

Delizioso
 

Ingrid's dish - Chunky chips with lemon basil aioli

My big plan was to make aioli (Lemon basil) from scratch, I did my research, I stole from the best (Jamie Oliver) and went to work. I had a little helper, Jim, my partner, telling me where I was going wrong, he was hungry and it was getting quite late, I told him its OK, I have Jamie, it can't go wrong.

Lemon basil aioli - The cheats way.  

I hit a curb ball when the recipe called for 500ml of olive oil (half virgin, half normal) to one egg yolk. I was astounded. I just love aioli, mayo, tartare...surely I haven't being dipping my chips in a great big pile of oil all this time. No matter how much I beat, blitzed, or processed, my aioli still looked like oily orange juice.

At 8.30p.m, when the chips were golden, I had to surrender. Thank god for Donna Hay! I grabbed the store-bought mayonnaise, added crushed garlic, my chopped basil, squeezed a little lemon/ lime, gave it a bit of a blitz and lemon basil aioli - the cheats way was born. Enjoy

The paprika adds a little bite to the chips, a squeeze of lemon cools it down

Handmade chunky chips with lemon basil aioli

makes enough for 4 (as a side)

You will need:

Chips

5 large floury baking potatoes

sea salt (to taste)

1-2 tsp paprika (sprinkle)
4 cloves of garlic

pepper (to taste)

olive oil

lemons (wedges or slices)

How to make

Set oven temperature to 180C. Bring to the boil a large pot of half filled water, Leaving the skin on, cut potatoes in 1cm thick slices, and them slice into chips. Boil potatoes for 3-4 mins. Dry on a paper towel and place in an lightly sprayed or oiled baking dish.

Add olive oil, enough to lightly coat, sea salt to taste, sprinkle paprika, cracked pepper, and place whole cloves of garlic in the dish. Bake for 15mins, turn chips, and bake for another 15mins or until golden. Serve with lemon wedges.

Lemon basil aioli - The cheats way!

You will need

4 Tbsp store bought mayonnaise

1 clove of garlic, crushed

bunch of chopped basil

squeeze of lemon or lime

How to make

Blitz in a food processor, (or chop basil finely and mix all ingredients together well) and serve in a bowl with hot chips.

I can't believe the French stay so slim...

I have been on a journey from green tomatoes to croque monsieur - this is the how I got there...

This year I have been growing tomatoes however unlike my sisters, mine are still green. I vaguely remembered the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" and thought "there must be something you can do with the greenies". My trusty friend Google gave me lots of ideas but I settled on a chutney. Apparently mixing red with green and adding sugar does the trick to add back some of the sweetness of rich red sun ripened tomatoes. Now, as usual I looked at a few recipes for inspiration but true to course, ended up just experimenting and creating.

This is what I came up with...Fiery red and green chutney

You will need

Approximately 2kg - red and green tomatoes

2 onions

250grams brown sugar

10 jalapeno peppers

250mls vinegar - I used a mixture of what I had - balsamic, red wine and white vinegar

Salt

Mustard seeds - optional

Raisins - optional

Roughly chop up the onions and tomatoes, add everything to a pan and simmer until it has reduced by about half. I ended up putting it in the food processor to make it less chunky and actually returned it to the pan and reduced it a wee bit more.

If preserving - put into sterilized jars and seal.

Enjoy hot or cold.

Now I wondered what to use it for and how to make an interesting post and picture. I also had to contemplate what was actually in my fridge on a Sunday evening - not much! 

I was thinking about cheese and crackers topped with chutney and voila - croque monsieur jumped out at me. I have eaten this delicious snack a few times and never actually contemplated how decadent it actually is. 

Here is my version, equally decadent with a fiery twist. 

Bon Appetite 

You will need

2 slices of bread

Butter

2 tablespoons flour

About 1 cup milk

About 1 cup cheese (what ever you have but tasty or nutty works well) 

1 teaspoon mustard - either wholegrain or Dijon 

About 2-4 ham slices 

Melt about 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan, add the flour and cook a minute or so. 

Gradually add the milk to make a smooth sauce (you may need to take it off the heat) 

Add mustard and grated cheese

(Aim to make the sauce thicker than a regular cheese sauce)

Butter the bread and place one slice butter side down in a pan or toasted sandwich maker.

Add the ham and a good dollop of the cheese sauce.

Place the other slice of bread on top (butter side up) and either put the lid on the toasted sandwich maker or turn over in the frying pan. 

The final touch to the top of the sandwich is yet more cheese sauce mixed with a spoonful of tangy and spicy chutney. Grill this until brown and bubbly.

Enjoy hot with more chutney to compliment the cheesy sauce. 

How the French stay thin, I have no idea! 

   

     

The last of the summer plums...

A quick trip to the next door neighbours garden to check out the summer fruit trees left me in a panic... The plums were nearly all gone. 

Either the birds were feasting or they were squashed under feet and attracting the fruit flies. I dashed home to get a bag and climbed the trees in search of the last of the summer plums. So, now I had done the gathering, what to do with them.My first attempt using them was a plum chutney. The taste was amazing however it turned out more of a sauce than something you could lop on to a crumbly Cheddar and cracker so idea #2 was to preserve the fruit.

Preserved/stewed plums

600mls water

1/2 cup sugar

Enough plums to fit into the pan with out piggy backing them!

A shallow pan with a lid (frying pan)  

Heat the water and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. 

Add the plums and put a lid on the pan.

Cook for about 5-10 mins 

The plums cook really quickly and any longer and the fruit will start to fall apart. 

If preserving, sterilize the jars, add the plums whilst hot, then the syrup and seal.

Keep any remaining syrup as it makes a refreshing drink, try these ideas...

Plum syrup and soda

Plum syrup, gin and tonic - lots of ice and a wedge of lime

Plum syrup topped up with sparkling water

Add a dash to your bubbly for a tart kick

Ice cubes for any fruity drinks

 

Photoshoot for new range

Photos taken whilst collecting lemons for the lemon curd and lemon meringue pie...

So after a busy day of work and looking after baby Rhys, Ingrid and I enjoyed our usual Friday night family night.

However the following day was our big shoot and neither of us had prepared any food!
So after baths, stories, battles and bed, we both hit the kitchen for a night of cooking.
I LOVE cooking but after a busy day and time ticking on - it was the last thing I felt like doing! Positive thoughts and self motivation directed me in the right direction...

Meringues again for our prize winner, lemon curd made with home grown lemons from next door, lemon meringue pie as well as crepes was the hit list for the evening.

Disaster numero uno - the meringues. What was I thinking. I know better than to rush! I didn't whip the egg whites enough and wasn't pedantic and careful enough when adding the sugar so ended up with a mixture that didn't hold its own when pipped and had sugar crystals through it. I cooked it anyway knowing it wasn't right and plodded on to the lemon curd.

I love real zesty lemon curd, its so creamy, delicious and has a homely old-fashioned nostalgic feel to it. Its the second time I have cooked it and both times perfect!

All it takes is a bit of time stirring over a double boiler. Perfect solution to waiting out the stirring time - hook up the lap top and watch TV on demand - yeahhha lemon curd and the mentalist - PERFECT combination!

Check out the recipe below and give it ago - delicious on crepes, toast, ice cream or just spooned straight from the fridge to your mouth!!!!

Lemon curd my way...

3 large eggs
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest

3/4 cup white sugar

60 grams butter

In a double boiler or microwave (bowl on top of a pan with boiling water) melt the butter.

Mix everything together in a bowl and add to the butter - mix well.

Put back onto the double boiler and stir pretty much constantly until the mixture thickens. This may take about 15 mins, if nothing seems to be happening turn up the heat. Keep stirring...

When thick, pour in to containers, cool and refrigerate.

Remember - it will thicken further in the fridge.

Tip - Taste Taste Taste - add more sugar or lemon depending on your tastes.

If life throws you a lemon - make lemonade.

Joan Collins