Roast Lamb Jamie Style….

It's been quite a while since my last recipe post and so I thought being the weekend I would share this amazingly delicious Roast Lamb!!! I stumbled across this Jamie Oliver recipe a few months ago in the weekend paper. Its been cooked many times over since then because it seriously is so easy and delicious. I also love that it can be served with a trayful of roasted golden veggies or with a simple salad.

So, you will need…

2.5-3 kg leg of lamb
100g unsalted, softened butter
1/2 bunch thyme leaves
1/2 bunch rosemary leaves
4 unpeeled red onions, halved
2 garlic bulbs, cloves separated

Preheat your oven to 220 deg celcius. Score the lamb all over 1/2 cm apart and about 3mm deep- like you would with a ham! Make a herb butter by popping the butter, thyme and rosemary into a blender and whizzing well to combine. Season with some salt and pepper. I also cheat by chopping herbs finely then using hands mix into butter. The messier option, but less washing up and still effective!

Arrange the red onions and garlic cloves in a large roasting tray. Place lamb on veggies in tray then rub the herb butter generously all over the top of the lamb. Put into oven to cook until meat is to your liking. Jamie's tip for 'blushing' meat is roasting 10 minutes for each 450g, plus an extra 20 minutes at the end. When lamb is cooked, allow another 10-20 minutes to rest.

Based on these times, our 2.5kg roast needed an hour and ten minutes in the oven and extra time for resting.

The suggested side for this dish was a celeriac mash and a heavenly gravy. I tried the gravy and it was, hands down, the best gravy I have ever made. Can highly recommend.

So…recipe for gravy goes like this…

Drain any 'fat' or 'oil' from the roasting tray, leaving onion and garlic remnants and other meaty bits. Squish the onion and garlic into the tray. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of gravy over the tray, mixing and coating the onions and garlic. Pour in a 'glug' of port and a litre of hot chicken stock. Place on high heat and mix so that it is well combined. Keep stirring, allowing gravy to reduce. Pour through a sieve if needed, however, my gravy turned out so smooth and flavoursome.
Please note- I have also made without Port and still tastes good.

Otherwise, I served ours with some roasted Potatoes and a simple slaw made up of red cabbage, carrot and avocado lightly coated with some aioli mayo and some home made mint sauce.

And I dont have to mention the yummy leftover lamb sandwiches that followed……x

Hope you enjoy this as much as we did!!

 

Mid week meal- Miso Glazed Salmon

So today marks the return to school for many of those in NSW and with that comes getting organised and getting back into the routine of the demands of everyday living.

I always struggle towards the end of the week to find my cooking mojo. Which isn't a good feeling when you have a family to cook for. Winter does allow itself to easy soups, hearty risottos and other yummy good slow cooking but I dont always take advantage of that and to be honest our kids aren't big fans of soups, delicious osso buco or shanks that have been cooking away in their own juices all day. Tragic really! They love nothing better then meat and three vege or a yummy risotto. We eat dinner with our kids six out of seven nights a week (yes, the early bird special). We are fortunate we can and for us when they are still so young we think its important for them to learn how to sit and eat whilst taking part in a family activity. We talk about our days- which always makes for an interesting experience (more like groundhog day actually) and we spend alot of time picking cutlery off floor and encouraging everyone to eat their dinner, try new food, sit on chair….the list goes on.

One night a week, Sam & I will have a meal together, eaten when the kids are tucked up in bed. A time to enjoy our meal and company and where we practise that skill of not devouring our meal in less then a minute.

I recently came across a salmon dish though which not only is simple, tasty and easy but its healthy. Its for the big people of the house. Best of all, it takes all of 20 minutes from fridge to plate. And it's a perfect meal to whip up quickly for just us on our night dining together. So, happy me!

Miso Glazed Salmon-  Recipe source- Annabel Langbein "Free Range in the City"

Boneless, skinless salmon fillets- one per person
2 teaspoons black and white sesame seeds

Miso Glaze- makes enough for 2-4 fillets depending on how generous you are feeling with glaze!
1 1/2 tablespoon miso, preferably white miso
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoon water
2 tablespoon brown sugar

Turn Grill on to med- high heat. Line baking tray with baking paper and place salmon fillets on.
Make glaze by mixing the glaze ingredients together until smooth consistency. Spread glaze mixture on top of salmon fillets then sprinkle over the sesame seeds. Place under grill for about 8-10 minutes, or until just cooked through. It should just give when pressed gently.

Serve with some rice or noodles and a good side of freshly steamed greens.

Note- I use udon noodles which take about ten minutes to cook. To keep within my 20 minute meal, I start cooking the noodles before preparing salmon. I then use a steamer filled with greens placed on top of noodles to cook at same time.

I also think this would be lovely broken up once cooked and served in a miso broth with noodles and veggies too as a soup alternative!

Have you a quick and simple mid week meal 

your family enjoys??

Starting the week with…..Orange & Yoghurt Cake!

Gosh, the weeks are just flying past…..it wont be long now until we start seeing (dare I say…) Christmas decorations up in the shops and told that it is only (so long) until the big man in red visits!

We woke up this morning to the most magical sunny winter's day. The sunshine just zaps me with energy, even when Im feeling so worn out. So, our bags are unpacked from a few days away, a zillion loads of washing almost washed and hung out (yes…outside on the clothesline and not inside in our makeshift chinese style laundry in living room) to swing in the wind and dry with natural sunlight and warmth. The house is still a mess but to be expected with three little monkeys running around. We have been painting this morning and playing barbie princess games. And we also baked using some oranges from our tree in the back yard- something yummy to look forward to after lunch and sleeps x

Orange & Yoghurt Cake
4 eggs
2 cups caster sugar
3 cups plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup natural yoghurt
Juice of 2 medium sized oranges
Zest of 2 oranges- half for cake mix and remaining half to sprinkle on top of cake before baking
1 tablespoon of brown sugar

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Line a 23cm baking tin and put aside.
Beat together eggs and sugar until light and 'fluffy'. Then add other ingredients and mix until combined well. Pour mixture into prepared tin. Sprinkle over remaining half of zest and the brown sugar. This will make the cake look darker on top but also give it a sweet crispy top too! Place in oven to bake for about 45 minutes- or until golden on top.

A lovely moist cake which can be eaten as is or with some yoghurt with a dash of honey.

Hope you are all having a lovely day too xx

Friday baking- Lemon Syrup Cake

So the end of another week has quickly arrived. And what a week….I thought winter had already arrived but oh no…it had just been teasing us with a wet month and dreary weather. The icy winds came a knocking this week and the wind has been chilling. Our kids have all had head colds and that horrible barking cough. There have been a few sleepless nights and even a midnight panic of should we head to the emergency ward and get this heavy whiziness checked out??? Thankfully they seem to be on the mend- a sign of this is 'back to active' kids racing around the house and creating complete kaos!

Yesterday I drove over to Barham which is about an hours drive to the west of Echuca. I met with Katrina and Tim Myers who own and run a fantastic farming business called Barham Avocados. Its hard to think that avocados can be grown here, but they do and the Myers certainly know how to grow beautiful and delicious Avocados! Im looking forward to sharing more about their business next week.

But, I have digressed a bit from todays recipe. As its been a week or so since my last lemon post, our tree is well and truly bursting with ripe fruit. Im so excited the day has finally come that we can just go out and pick lemons off the tree as we need them. It also does mean though that we have quite a few to chomp through and there are lots of new blossoms and young fruit starting to form too…so we won't be running out in the near future.

I can't quite remember where I found this Lemon Syrup cake recipe. I think it was found in a magazine back in the nineties during my Uni days. I handwrote it into my cooking journel and it has been one of those favourite cakes that never fails. I hope you enjoy it too!

Lemon Syrup Cake

250g unsalted butter, softened

The zest from a  finely grated lemon

1 cup caster sugar

4 large eggs, mixed together lightly

2 cups self raising flour with 1 teaspoon baking powder-mixed together and put aside

100ml milk

juice of one lemon

Syrup-

2/3 cup caster sugar

juice of 1 lemon

Heat oven to 180 deg celcius. Lightly grease and line with baking paper a 23 cm cake tin. Preferably springform.

Beat butter, sugar and zest together for 5-7 minutes or until mix is light and 'fluffy' in appearance.

Whilst still mixing, add the egg in four doses. In between each addition of egg, add a tablespoon of the flour and baking powder. Once eggs has been added, mix in remaining flour. Add the milk and lemon juice and gently continue to mix until combined. The mix is quite thick and foamy looking- so don't stress if you think it looks like it has curdled!

Pour cake mix into the cake tin then place in oven for 40-50 minutes, or until golden brown on top and skewer comes out clean when you poke into the centre of the cake.

Whilst cake is baking, quickly make up your syrup simply by putting bith sugar and juice into a small saucepan and stirring until sugar has dissolved. Then boil gently for a few minutes. Turn off heat and put aside to cool down a bit.

When cake is ready, place on a cooling rack (still in tin and straight from oven). Using a skewer, poke lots of holes into the top of the cake. Then pour over the warm syrup. Dont panic, it make look like a lot but the cake will absorb it. Once you have made it a few times you can alter the amount of syrup to your own liking.

You can drizzle over a simple lemon icing but I actually find it too sweet and prefer having it as is.

This cake can be frozen for up to a month- always a bonus! I have also made mini versions and patty cakes too- cooking time is just adjusted to whatever size you are baking- keep checking.

This cake is so moist and bursting with lemony flavours. 

Serve with some cream or lovely natural yoghurt. 

My kids love having this with cream or custard for dessert.

Hope you all have a warm and relaxing weekend……xx

Let's get Pickled!

I love a good cheese platter. But for me what makes a good cheese platter is the sight of some sort of pickled veggie or a caramelised fruit (think fig). Not only do they add some fun colour to the platter but they are a perfect accompaniment to your classic cheese combo's.

Ive been making these sweet pickled peppers for many years. The recipe came from a friend who gave me a jar as a Christmas gift. I fell instantly in love with them. So sweet and sticky and so incredibly moreish. My Dad is also a huge fan and often very subtly drops hints that his supply needs replenishing.

The time to make these is obviously when you spy cheap red capsicums. Last week I found some for $2 a kilo, so I stocked up and came home to pickle away.

The bread and butter cucumbers are a fairly recent find (despite being around for a very long time). On each visit, our good friend Stacey always brings up her latest batch of home made jam (which are delicious!!) but also a jar of her Mum's bread and butter cucumbers. Anne makes the best ever bread & butter cucumbers. They never last long in our house so I decided to sift through every CWA cookbook I have looking for a classic recipe. Oddily enough I didnt find what I was looking for. So, I turned to google and was drawn to this recipe.

Sweet Pickled Peppers

6 capsicums

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups white vinegar

1 tablespoon finely grated garlic

1 tablespoon finely grated ginger

2 tablespoons mustard seeds

salt

Cut capsicums into half then de-seed. Then slice into thin pieces. Put in a large bowl and sprinkle with about 3 tablespoons of salt. Mix through and leave overnight. The salt helps to draw out the water from the capsicum.

The next day, rinse capsicums well. Put all ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to boil, then turn down heat and allow to simmer for at least an hour. Spoon capsicum and syrup into sterilised bottles.

Serve with your favourite cheese. Goes particularly well with brie, camembert or cheddar.

Bread & Butter Cucumber-  Recipe from Lizzie Moult and her blog Strayed from the Table
5 large lebanese cucumbers, trimmed and sliced into 5mm thick slices
1 medium brown onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons salt
375ml apple cider vinegar
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/4 teaspoon tumeric powder
1 teaspoon black peppercorns

Place the cucumber, onion and salt into a bowl stirring the salt to coat the vegetables. Cover with plastic and refrigerate for 2-3 hours. Rinse the cucumber mix in a colander and pat dry with paper towel to remove all excess water.
In a medium to large pot, place the remaining ingredients and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Add the cucumber mix and bring to boil.
Transfer the mixture into steralised bottles or jars and seal. Set aside for a week to allow flavours to develop. Keep jars in a cool dark place. They will last up to a year (unless in our house where they disappear rather quickly!). Refrigerate once opened. Goes perfectly with a mature and crumbly cheddar. Oh, and dont forget the wine!

So, are you a fan of the pickled veggie?

Our favourite Chocolate Fudge Cake

Today is sunny, but cold and fresh….a lovely winter's day, well, the sort I love if it's going to be cold!

Such a lovely day calls for a delicious chocolate cake, and this one is a family favourite.

I wish so much I could share how good our house is smelling right now as I type this post…..Im wafting into chocoholics nirvana…..

As with all my recipes on this blog, this is easy and relatively quick. The only catch is the melting of the chocolate, butter, sugar and coffee- which needs to cool before continuing the baking process. So, it's not the kind of cake you can whip up in 20 mins, however, if you have a craving (and trust me its definitely a cake to crave for…) then I normally do my 'melting' before or during breakfast. Let it sit, and after everyone is dressed, the odd pre school drop off and so on, the mixture is cool. Add remaining ingredients, then bake and voila….the result will be a very memorable morning tea!

Our Favourite Chocolate Fudge Cake
250g butter, diced
150g dark chocolate, in pieces
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup strong coffee
1 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup cocoa
2 eggs
3/4 cup ground almonds

Preheat oven to 180 deg celcius. Grease and line a 22cm springform cake tin.

Place butter, chocolate, sugar and coffee in a large saucepan. Cook over a medium heat stirring until it melts. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl and leave to cool.
Add sifted flour and cocoa to melted chocolate mix. Then fold in eggs and almond meal. Mix until well combined. Pour into cake tin and bake for about 45 minutes, or until skewer is clean when inserted into middle of cake. Allow cake to cool before icing.

Chocolate Ganache
2 tablespoon cream
90g dark chocolate, chopped

Warm cream to just below boiling then remove from heat. add chocolate pieces and stir until well combined. Drizzle over cake.

Recipe from one of my favourite 'go to' cookbooks- In the Kitchen by Allan Campion & Michele Curtis

Now it is time to sign off and go eat some cake……xxx

When life gives you lemons……

Last week I was very lucky to be given a few bags full of lemons from both my Mum and my Mother in Law.  Our tree is also full of fruit which have just turned yellow but still need another week or so to ripen up completely. Ive been waiting for this moment for…well, ages! I love lemons and have been frustrated seeing them in the supermarket for such ridiculous prices. I use lemons alot in our kitchen, although, like avocados over the summer, I stopped buying them. Now it seems we have a glut…but Im ok with that!

Today's cooking session involved making some delicious lemon curd and then using the curd to make some simple tarts and friands. Curd is so versatile and handy to have in the fridge if wanting a quick dessert or adding it to a cake for an extra something special. Its even just lovely to have on a toasted muffin for a snack.

Lemon Curd

75g butter
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup caster sugar
Juice and finely grated rind of 2 lemons- I used Meyer Lemons

Melt butter in a metal bowl or saucepan over a larger saucepan filled with some barely simmering hot water. Once melted, whisk in eggs. Add the sugar and whisk until thoroughly combined. Still whisking continuously, add the lemon juice and zest. Cook over simmering water for about 20 minutes, stirring often, until thickened. Allow to cool to room temperature. Pour into a steralised jar and keep in fridge.

Recipe from Falling Cloudberries- Tessa Kiros

Lemon Curd Friands

1/2 cup plain flour

1 1/2 cups ground almonds

1/3 cup icing sugar, sifted

5 large egg whites

200g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

fine zest of 1 lemon

5 teaspoons of lemon curd

Icing sugar to dust tops of cake- optional

Natural Yoghurt or cream to serve- optional 

Pre heat the oven to 180 deg celcius. Grease and lightly dust with flour 10-12 hole friand pan really well. Set aside.

Mix the flour, ground almonds and sugar together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with a fork until foamy. Add to the almond mixture along with the butter and lemon zest, stirring to combine with a wooden spoon. Spoon into the prepared pan, dividing the mixture equally amongst the holes. Top each friend with 1/2 teaspoon of lemon curd. Use a toothpick to swirl the lemon curd lightly through the batter.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until a light golden brown. Remove from the oven. Let sit for a few minutes before loosening with a knife and removing to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. Dust the tops with some icing sugar- optional. You can serve these with some extra lemon curd for spooning and whipped cream or natural yoghurt if desired.

Recipe source found here on The English Kitchen Blog

Tart Cases

70g butter, slightly softened
30g sugar
70g plain flour
25g ground almonds
pinch of salt

Cream together the butter and sugar with wooden spoon or hands. Add the flour, ground almonds and  salt and mix well, using your hands when it becomes a little stiff, until the pastry comes together. I found the mix to be a bit 'wet' but just dusted in flour then shaped into a disc. Wrap with some cling wrap and place in fridge for 30 minutes. You can also choose to freeze the pastry at this stage if you want.

Grease and lightly dust with flour a shallow tart case tin. Once rested, take pastry out of fridge and roll out on a dusted bench top to about 5mm thickness. Cut out 12 or so circles to fit your tart tin. Place pastry in tin and place a small cut out square of greaseproof paper in each case followed by some baking beads or beans before blind baking for about 8-10 mins. Cases should come out with a golden glow. You could even bake for 6 or so minutes , take out of oven, remove paper and beads then put back in oven for remaing few minutes. Allow cases to cool once out of oven. Gently remove- these cases are quite delicate so be careful. Once cool, fill with curd…..mine were quite rustic looking but I actually dont mind the look! If you want to cheat, just buy some pre made cases from your local deli or supermarket, or even use some frozen sweet shortcrust pastry. I can say though this pastry is lovely and not difficult to make so definitely worth making.

Recipe from Falling Cloudberries- Tessa Kiros

This weekend I plan on baking some the all time favourite lemon slice which disappears very quickly in our house and perhaps this lemon and blueberry tea cake.

Have a great weekend!! xx

Winter is here…Bring on the soup!

Well, winter is officially here!!! It's been raining here gently since yesterday afternoon….yes, we have got cabin fever, but at the same time the rain has been so welcome and so lovely to listen too. Nothing beats going to bed with the faint pitter patter of rain on the roof, then waking up the next morning and looking out to see shiny, sparkly water droplets hanging off everything.

With winter comes soup and this morning when I walked into the kitchen I was greeted with a head of cauliflower sitting quite, well, alone.  It had soup written all over it…but so my husband might be tempted I decided to add the crispy bacon and cauliflower on top- have to say it was a pretty delish combo- and as per usual didnt take long to make!

A similar recipe can be found here on Not Quite Nigella's blog. So here goes….

Cauliflower Soup with Crispy Bacon and Cauliflower Sprinkles

Splash of olive oil

1 large brown onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets

500g potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 litre chicken stock

1/2 cup pure cream

parmesan- enough for a light shaving on bacon/cauli sprinkles

2 bacon rashers, finely chopped

fresh parsley, finely chopped

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium- high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook for a few minutes until they soften. Careful not to burn. Add most of the cauliflower and all the potato and cook for another few minutes just to add some colour and seal the flavours. Save a handful of cauliflower for the sprinkle mix. Add stock. Season to taste (if you want too)…then cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Set aside and allow to cool before blending in food processor until a smooth texture. Return back to the saucepan. Stir in cream.

For sprinkle mix- preheat oven to 200 deg celcius. On a baking tray lined with baking paper, place cauliflower florets, diced bacon, parsley and a light grating of parmesan cheese. Bake in oven for about ten minutes or until golden.

Serve soup in bowls or mugs and sprinkle with bacon/cauli mix. You can add some extra parmesan if you would like but I think it was tasty without! A chunk of fresh warmed bread is another must. 

Have you a favourite winter warmer soup???

Enjoy & Stay warm (oh, and dry!) x

Sharing the love…Donna Hay's Pear, Yoghurt & Chia Muffins!

I love a good muffin….well, actually, my kids love a good muffin moreso than me. And, as they are all  going through that fussy toddler/infant age group, I actually just love the idea that they eat them (full stop) and I can take a deep breath knowing they are putting something relatively healthy into their little growing bodies.

So, a few weeks ago when reading through the Sunday Style magazine, I came across these delicious Donna Hay muffins …..that have a healthy twist to them!  To all they could quite easily just be a pear muffin, but to a mummy who so desperately wants her children to eat some extra goodness, these have  some LSA, chai seeds and yoghurt (rather then milk, butter,etc) very sneakily hidden into them.

Verdict- my kids loved them…..and I'm now thinking I might play around with the recipe and try substituting the pear for apple, carrot or zucchini.

Also- quite a handy little number to freeze and add to lunch boxes too!!! 

For those of you that may have missed the magazine, or don't read it, here below is the recipe. All I can say is, Donna…you have done it again! Hooray!!!

Pear, Yoghurt & Chia Muffins

2 1/4 cups self raising flour, sifted

2/3 cup caster sugar

1/4 cup LSA mix

2 tablespoons black chia seeds, plus extra for sprinkling

3 eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 cup lightly flavoured extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup greek style (thick) yoghurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups grated beurre bosc (firm) pear

Preheat oven to 180 deg celcius. Prepare muffin tray with paper cases. Recipe said 12, but using these cases in photos, I made about 20. Place the flour, sugar, LSA and chia seeds in a large bowl and mix to combine. Make a well in the centre and add the egg, oil, yoghurt, vanilla and pear. Mix until just combined. Spoon into paper cases and fill two thirds way up. Sprinkle with extra chia seeds. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and cooked when tested with a skewer.

Recipe source- Donna Hay, Sunday Style Magazine, May 18 2014.

Enjoy!!!

Winter is almost here- Time for some Osso buco!!

Today's recipe is the forever faithful and ever so tasty Osso buco. For me it screams 'winter' and is such comfort food on those cold days (and nights). I grew up with an absolute dislike for casseroles-in fact the mere mention of them made me physically sick (ask my poor mum x)- and so any meat cooked in a gravy like liquid was not even looked at.  A few years ago though, my good friend Nicola, made some for dinner and well, that was the beginning of my love affair for osso buco.

I don't have a slow cooker, so not familiar with that way of cooking it. I actually enjoy the process of spending an afternoon cooking it. Back in working days, this was a dish that was made on the weekend and then eaten throughout the week with different sides (or portions frozen for later).

A few weeks ago I visited  the Bunbatha Beef Farm Shop and came home with some osso buco. It's a good inexpensive cut of meat that  goes the distance and feeds a crowd.

Osso Buco

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

1 large onion, diced

1 large carrot, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 kg osso buco

plain flour- enough to dust the osso buco

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped

3 sprigs fresh thyme

2 garlic cloves, squashed

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 cup dry red wine

400g can of peeled whole tomatoes

1 litre of beef stock

2 bay leaves

1 star anise

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Dust flour on osso buco pieces and put aside. Heat the oil and butter in a heavy based pan. Cook the onion, carrot and celery until the vegetables are soft but not coloured. Remove vegetables, add some oil and add meat to pan. Allow to cook about two minutes on each side to brown and get that lovely golden crust happening. Add rosemary, thyme and garlic to meat and saute for a few mins, before adding vegetables. Stir through tomato paste and then red wine. Reduce the heat and cook for a few minutes until the wine has evaporated then add the tomatoes, stock, bay leaves, star anise and parsley.

Season to taste, cover, and cook for 3 hours, stirring occasionally and adding more stock or water if necessary. The osso buck needs to be covered with liquid for the first two hours of cooking. When cooked, the meat will fall off the bone and stock reduced to a gravy.

Serve with a creamy mash potato or pumpkin, polenta or some roasted pumpkin- my current favourite side dish!!!

Have you a favourite winter dish?

It's a Jumble kind of Day …….

Last week  in the lead up to Mother's day I was feeling a tad nostalgic, thinking in particular about my favourite foods as a child and what my kids now like eating. I came across a recipe for these Iced Jumbles and had an instant flashback to my childhood. My mum (although an excellent cook) never made these but rather would buy the occassional pack from the supermarket- which was a very big treat! I do remember my Grandmother used to make Matchsticks though which looked similar- flaky sheets of cooked puffed pastry cut into fingers with whipped cream and strawberry jam layered in between and pink icing on top.

There really is something quite delicious about the thick gingerbread flavoured biscuit with a sweet icing on top. Our eldest licked the icing off- not really a big fan of cakes or biscuits- just the icing! The youngest two devoured them….they do look a bit like rustic yet pretty rusk sticks! I enjoyed them with a simple cup of tea!!!

Iced Jumbles

60g unsalted butter
2/3 cup Golden Syrup
2 cups Plain Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon mixed spice

Preheat oven to 180 deg cel and line two baking trays with baking paper.
Stir the butter and golden syrup in a pan over medium heat until the butter has melted, then bring to the boil and remove from the heat. Leave to cool for 15 minutes. Sift the flour, baking soda and spices together, then stir into the syrup mixture.

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth, and then divide into four. Roll each portion into a log about 1 cm in diameter, then cut into lengths of 6 cm pieces. Place these logs onto the trays and allow some space for logs to spread out. Bake for 10 minutes, or until light golden in colour. Cool on wire racks and then spread with icing.

Icing
1 egg white, lightly beaten
2 cups icing sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
food colouring

Stir together the the egg white and icing sugar until smooth. Add the lemon juice and a few drops of food colouring and stir well.

 -Recipe from Bill Granger's EveryDay Cookbook

Do you remember eating Jumbles when you were a child?

Perhaps you still eat them…..

Hope you enjoy x

Publishing your own Recipe Book

Last weekend, my very special Mother in Law celebrated a milestone Birthday. One of the gifts we gave to her as a family, was a book we put together filled with all her recipes. Recipes that were from her own recipe journal (pictured below). Some had been passed down from her mother, and others that had been family favourites enjoyed and loved by my husband and his siblings as they grew up. 

Using a company called Blurb, we were able to self publish our own cookbook.

The final product- Under the Mulberry Tree- was paperback with just over 60 recipes and about 100 pages long. Named after the Mulberry Tree that was planted 35 years ago in the family back yard. It has been pruned over the years to become an outdoor dining room and a venue for many, many family meals, celebrations and good times. 

Like other recipe books, it was divided into the different chapters and featured lots of photos of both family and of special pieces from around the house like linen, cutlery, tableware, cookbook collection, etc. Each family raided their own photo collection and found photos that were all taken at home and around the table - so keeping in with the food theme. Photos that went as far back as to when the sibblings were small children, right up until now, to include the entire extended family. On each page and underneath recipes were quotes from every family member telling their favourite food memory.

Using Blurb-

I can highly recommend using Blurb as a great way of publishing your own book, ebook, magazine, etc.

In summary, there are three main options for publishing a book using Blurb. First, is using their own program called Booksmart which is available to download straight from their website. Booksmart has simple templates and has a basic range of fonts and backgrounds which can be used. Perfect for the beginner.

The next two options are for those who are competant in using InDesign or LightRoom. Where you download the plugins and once you have created your masterpiece, you transfer it back to Blurb and they organise for it to be printed. The advantage of these two options is that you have far more creative power and can really do whatever you want.

I found Blurb reasonably good to deal with. Booksmart is quite straight forward and simple to use once you have a play around. I did find the templates and backgrounds provided a bit boring and basic, but was able to work with what it offered. Importing photo files were also difficult (especially as I had a lot I wanted to use) and I felt it wasn't as easy to import photos compared to other programs I have used in the past. I was very happy with the final product though. We paid a bit extra and had the books printed on premium grade paper. We also had the choice of hardcover but decided paperback was more practical for us all to use. I did have a few issues uploading the file (which was not Blurb's fault but rather we have a very lazy internet line here!!!), and as Blurb is based in the States, I did have to wait a while for customer service to reply. This book cost us approximately $60 per copy (with postage) to make and took about 7-10 days to receive once ordered. It did require lots of blood, sweat and tears in editing photos (especially the very old ones) and deciding on layout, typing out recipes and the final edit.

I am very keen to now put all my recipes together and make my own cookbook. Another project, but a lovely keepsake to have and good to have all my favourite everyday recipes in one book!!!

Blurb also have an online bookstore, so if you want, you can list your book for sale (after you decide on the price) and sell it publicly through their site- how great is that???? A wonderful way to launch your own writing career!!!!

This book was written as a tribute to my Mother in Law, Catriona,  as a way of acknowledging her wonderful cooking and commitment to providing so many meals, each cooked with so much love over the years for her growing family. It is a book we will all cherish and use, and a lovely reminder of many good times shared together, under the mulberry tree.

If you would like your own family recipes made into a cookbook, but don't feel confident using the Blurb software, I am now offering a service, where for a fee,  I can do all the hard work for you!

For enquiries, please email me at kylie(dot)pickett(at)hotmail(dot)com

I also design photo books of family, children, travel, special occassions as well.