Serves 4 This is one of my favourite chilled soups and is a delight for lovers of garlic. A traditional and popular Spanish cold soup, Ajo Blanco is typical from Granada and Málaga, Andalusia. It is older than the more common red version, with tomatoes, which was not possible until tomatoes were introduced into Europe [...]
We use buttermilk from time to time in cooking classes and often people do not really know what it is, how to use it or how to make it. You may find this interesting. Some notes on buttermilk. What is buttermilk Buttermilk is similar to yoghurt. Originally it was the name given to the liquid, [...]
Panforte, also called Siena cake, is a delicious Italian Christmas fruit, nut, chocolate, dense, chewy, candy-like cake, which hails from Siena, Tuscany. It is very much a favourite of mine and I make it every Christmas. Stored well it can last for months, but it is usually eaten well before that! It makes a wonderful [...]
Dukkah is an old Egyptian specialty condiment. It is a loose blend of nuts and spices in a dry, crushed but not to a powdered, form. The name “Dukkah” is derived from the Arabic word “to pound” referring to how all the spices are pounded together to prepare the dish. It is a very personal [...]
Makes 2 loaves There are many versions of this recipe. Anne Willan, of La Varenne Cooking School in Burgundy, included her pain d’épices in a couple of her many books on French Cuisine, ‘The country cooking of France’ and ‘Real Food’. Recently, in St Jean de Losne, Burgundy, our host cooked her grandmother’s pain d’épices for [...]
After our visit to the red craw crayfish farm in Wolvi, and cooking those delicious red craws I wrote about in a previous post, I used the red craw shells to make my fabulous, flavoursome crab stock. Usually I make this stock as I have written in this recipe below with blue swimmer crabs. When [...]
Last Saturday, friends invited us to join them on a foodie road trip around Pomona and Kin Kin to visit a few local producers, who are part of the Cooloola Farm Food Trail. Our first stop was the fresh water crayfish farm, Alba Aquaculture at Wolvi, near Kin Kin and on the Kin Kin–Gympie road, [...]
Ingredients Makes 300ml 2 large egg yolks 1 clove garlic minced Pinch of saffron threads infused into the lemon juice or olive oil 2tbsp lemon juice, plus extra if needed 250ml sunflower oil 120ml extra virgin olive oil sea salt and white pepper To make the aïoli: In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks, [...]
Serves 6 500ml cranberry juice 110g caster sugar 12 grams gelatine leaves* 2 punnets strawberries 2 punnets of blueberries Our home made creamy vanilla bean ice cream For the jelly: soak the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water for 2 minutes until softened and they look like wet cellophane. Meanwhile, place 250ml of [...]
Honey from a Weed: fasting and feasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades and Apulia, by Patience Gray has been highly recommended to me from a variety of sources, including Sussan Loomis from On Rue Tatin Cooking School in Normandy and Kate Hill from the Kitchen at Camont Cooking School, down in the south west of [...]
