Showing category "Food & Recipes" (Show all posts)

Cherry season

Posted by Sally Cummings on Monday, November 30, 2015, In : Food & Recipes

When we first bought our Melbourne home, one of the attractions was the number of fruit trees in the backyard. Since then, we have added some and lost some, and they are still a huge part of the pleasure our garden brings us.

One of the trees we lost along the way was a wonderful old cherry tree. It was on its last legs when we moved in, but we were able to get a few years' harvests before the tree finally died. It was a black cherry, with sweet luscious fruit. It was always a battle with the ...
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Tea. Earl Grey. (15 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Monday, June 15, 2015, In : Food & Recipes

The next line is obviously - Hot. Right?

I wonder how many fellow Gen Xers thought of Captain Picard when they tried their first Earl Grey? I know I did. And I've had it on good authority that I'm not the only one.

Go on, 'fess up :) Did Patrick Stewart help to get you started on Earl Grey?

Anyway, for me it's - Tea. Earl Grey. Milky with half a sugar thanks.

Tea. Earl Grey. Milky with half a sugar thanks.

Cabbage (2 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Tuesday, June 2, 2015, In : Food & Recipes

Yesterday I bought a cabbage. I was pretty excited about it.

I think cabbages are underrated - they make some pretty yummy recipes. Okonomiyaki is one of them. Coleslaw is not. But curried cabbages and sausages is another one :)

Curried cabbage and sausages
Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1-2 tsp oil
1 onion, sliced
1 Tb mild curry paste
1/4 cabbage, roughly chopped
couple of sploshes of boiling water
4 vegetarian curried sausages, sliced into 2cm pieces

Method:

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, and cook the o...

Homemade paneer (9 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Monday, June 9, 2014, In : Food & Recipes

Many years ago, when I was living in Canberra, I did a couple of courses in Indian vegetarian cooking with some friends. It was a fantastic experience, and I still use many of the ideas and recipes today.

As well as learning how to prepare many delicious Indian recipes, with a focus on healthy home-cooked meals rather than what you would find in a restaurant, I also learnt how easy it is to make your own flatbreads, grind your own spices, make chai tea from scratch, and the subject of this blo...
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Excellent company (3 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Tuesday, June 3, 2014, In : Food & Recipes

Another late night blog post, having just returned home at 10.30pm after a lovely night out with my friend and former colleague Julie :)

We met up after work for a drink at Chloe's Bar, Young & Jackson. We then enjoyed dinner at Il Pom Italian, at Fed Square. I had gnocchi tre formaggi and a delish melon spruzzi mocktail (see pic below), followed by soft centred chocolate pudding. Very decadent!

We talked of many things, joys and challenges. Always a pleasure to spend time with such a good frie...
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Polenta with mushrooms and blue cheese sauce (26 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Tuesday, June 26, 2012, In : Food & Recipes

It's been a while since I posted a recipe on this blog. This polenta dish is one of my favourite treats, inspired by a menu item served at Il Tempo in Melbourne's DeGraves Street.

This isn't an exact recipe, as it can vary depending on how much polenta and mushrooms I feel like on the night. But the sauce makes enough for 3 serves (or 2 very generous ones!). It's also a bit of a cheat's recipe, because I like to save time by using pre-cooked firm polenta rather than making it from scratch ;)

Polenta with mushrooms & blue cheese sauce

Po...
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Potato gnocchi (30 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Thursday, June 30, 2011, In : Food & Recipes

Tim has been exercising his culinary muscles in the kitchen lately. I was very lucky earlier this week that he decided to whip up some potato gnocchi from scratch - it was utterly delicious :)

I made this collage using Picasa.

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Easy Beetroot Risotto (28 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Tuesday, June 28, 2011, In : Food & Recipes

I originally posted this in the Recipe Box page on my website, but I'm now turning it into a blog post too for those who only access my site via their RSS readers :)

This is a recipe I came up with myself for a simple and colourful beetroot risotto. I first made it in Melbourne, where we had prolific rosemary bushes to call on. A dollop of yoghurt or sour cream on top would go very nicely too.

Easy Beetroot Risotto
Serves 6

Ingredients:

1-2 Tbs olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cups arbo...

Aspic Delight! (22 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Wednesday, June 22, 2011, In : Food & Recipes

A colleague of mine recently took part in a retro dinner party, where all of the food had to be popular dishes from the 50s and 60s. We had a marvellous conversation on this topic, dredging up all kinds of memories of foods of the era that we'd seen in films or on television, but especially from our own recipe collections. It was this conversation that inspired us to make blancmange this week :)

During our discussion, I reminisced about a set of old Weight Watchers recipe cards that my Mum onc...
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Blancmange (20 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Monday, June 20, 2011, In : Food & Recipes

Tonight we found ourselves with a litre or so of milk that was about to hit its due date. While pondering what to do with it, I remembered a recipe that I'd been wanting to try for ages - blancmange!

A couple of years ago, I bought some of Mrs Beeton's recipe books - reissues, or rather modernisations, of recipes from her famous book of household management that had been converted to current measurements. One of them focused on puddings and desserts, and had a section on old-fashioned rice and...
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Okonomiyaki (3 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Friday, June 3, 2011, In : Food & Recipes

I have an assignment to finish, so I'm copping out a bit tonight by posting a recipe. But hopefully you will love it so much that you'll forgive me ;)

Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake) is a regular dish at our place. It's so simple and delicious. And it's popular too :) It was the first recipe I ever added to my Recipe Box page, and in fact was the reason that I originally created the page, as it was easier than emailing the recipe to everyone that asked for it!

Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancake)
Serve...
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Coconut macaroons (14 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Monday, June 14, 2010, In : Food & Recipes

I know it hasn't been very long since my last recipe blog post, but I brought these coconut macaroons along to #creativebarter on Saturday and was told that I *must* post the recipe :)

Easy Coconut Macaroons
Makes approx. 15

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tb cornflour
1 egg
pinch salt

Method:

Combine coconut, sugar and cornflour in bowl. Beat together egg and salt, stir into dry ingredients; mix well.
Place heaped teaspoonfuls of mixture on to greased and cornfloured oven tray (or tray cover...

Walnut meringues (10 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Thursday, June 10, 2010, In : Food & Recipes

This recipe for walnut meringues is one of my favourites! I usually double it because they're so yummy (and more-ish!). Meringues are much easier than you would think - try this out for yourself and see! The walnuts make them extra special :)

Walnut Meringues
Makes approx. 10

Ingredients:

1 egg white
1/4 cup castor sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp baking powder

Method:

Beat egg white until soft peaks form, gradually add sugar, beat until dissolved. Fold in brown s...

Kitchen-appliance-aholic? (4 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Friday, June 4, 2010, In : Food & Recipes

I suspect I'm not the only blogger dusting off old draft posts for the #blogeverydayofjune challenge, so here's one I prepared earlier ... *lol*

Some time ago, there was a discussion on Twitter about the joys of bench mixers. I regret to say that I still haven't used my Kenwood Chef to whip something up as I promised that day. You'll know when I do, though, because proud pictures will be posted!

That discussion got me thinking (and not for the first time, I'll admit) about the number of kitchen...
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Excitement! (3 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Thursday, June 3, 2010, In : Food & Recipes

I've just arrived home after a lovely evening of dinner and DVDs with my Mum. The dinner was fish and chips (or in my case, a vege burger and chips) and the DVD we watched was a couple of episodes of early Poirot, starring David Suchet.

But the excitement that my blog post title refers to was in regards to a new local shop that we discovered this evening while waiting for our chips ...

An Indian grocery store!!!!

To put this high level of enthusiasm in context, you need to know two things:

(1) T...

Advent Calendar - Day 15 (Christmas Pudding)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Tuesday, December 15, 2009, In : Food & Recipes

All these Advent Calendar posts, and no mention of Christmas yet!

Well, last night Tim made the Christmas pudding. The recipe we use is slightly too big for our pudding basin (as we discovered last time when it popped the lid off!), so Tim made some mini puddings as well. They cook faster than the main pudding, and turned out absolutely delicious :)

I love having a traditional Christmas dinner, although nowadays I substitute the roast with a nutloaf or something similar. But I still enjoy the r...
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Advent Calendar - Day 9 (Berries)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Wednesday, December 9, 2009, In : Food & Recipes

I picked some delicious berries from our garden today :)

On the left are raspberries, and on the right are boysenberries. The raspberries are especially sweet and delicious - so much better than anything you can buy! They were all eaten within 10 minutes of taking this pic ;)

Below is a photo of our berry patch. It was taken a couple of years ago (I thought of taking a new photo, but it's very overgrown and brambly at the moment!). Along the back wall are boysenberries and loganberries. Raspber...
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Advent Calendar - Day 3 (Pandan Coconut Milk Jelly)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Thursday, December 3, 2009, In : Food & Recipes

This is a great little dessert for the warmer months. It finishes a South-East Asian meal beautifully, but goes nicely with most other meals too. The use of agar-agar powder makes it suitable for vegetarians, and gives it a different texture to jellies made from gelatin. If you've never used pandan essence before, it is a real treat! It's bright green in colour, and has a distinctive sweet taste. I've heard it described as Malaysia's equivalent to vanilla.

Pandan Coconut Milk Jelly
Serves 6

Ingr...
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Advent Calendar - Day 2 (Home Brewing)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Wednesday, December 2, 2009, In : Food & Recipes

Tim and I decided that we have time to make a batch of home brew (and maybe even drink it all) before we move north. So today Tim dug the fermenter out of the garage and got started. He's sterilising the fermenting vessel and assorted paraphernalia as I type.

Once the ingredients are combined and the brewing process gets underway, we'll be ready for bottling in a week or so. It will be all hands on deck to sterilise, prime, fill and cap the bottles. A couple of weeks after that, it will be rea...
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