Season fresh APPLES from Orange

We have just finished a really enjoyable weekend with the highlight being our first flight with my husband as pilot.  Nick took me for a local flight from Orange Airport taking in surrounding towns of Millthorpe, Carcoar and Springhill before a look at the huge Cadia Mine then around Mt Canobolas over some spectacular vineyards and magnificent properties and home.  It was a smooth flight with a perfect landing and I can’t wait to get up there with him again.

Harvesting is starting out this way with Apples, Pears, Apricots and Grapes all ready or near for picking. 

These apples are from the trees just over our fence so couldn’t be fresher.  The possums have been sitting in the tree having a feast, if it s good enough for them…

You will know this one it’s an all time favourite but what better idea can you think of to do with a fine apple (except to eat fresh of course).

APPLE CRUMBLE feeds 4-6 people

You will need about 750g of prepared fruit – Apples, rhubarb (needs to be cooked with a little sugar first, berries, peaches anything you like really or a mix – I like rhubarb and strawberry or apple and raspberry.  You can also get clever with spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, nice if it’s a straight apple crumble or even a vanilla pod with stone fruit would be great.  You could even try the zest of an orange or lemon.

THE TOPPING

120g self raising flour

90g butter, cold and diced

6 tablespoons of brown sugar

In a mixing bowl put the flour and a pinch of salt, add the cubes of butter and using the tips of your fingers rub the butter into the flour.  Stir in the sugar.  Pop the mix in the fridge or freezer for 10 minutes or so or until ready to cook.

Add the fruit to an over proof dish - sprinkle with the topping and put in a pre heated oven 180C for about 40 minutes

I think my favourite has to be a plain apple crumble with a little home made custard or good vanilla ice cream ....are you allowed to eat crumble and ice cream for lunch? Enjoy the Apples that are arriving in the shops right now – just check they are March 2011 NOT 2010!!

Love

Mary

Tea and Cake on the River

I’m considering blocking this blog from all except those that are following the site so if you are keen to keep in touch with us through reading this blog you will need to click on the ‘follow’ tab.  I’m getting a few hundred readers of the site and prefer to keep this more personal so would like to restrict access to people we know….if you are having problems with the link or set-up let me know.

Those of you that know us also know we love a good cake.  Mum has been encouraging of Nick taking up the careful art of baking and in turn this leads to a growing collection of baking books. 

While thumbing through one of Nicks books (that my Mum had gifted to him at some point) I found and baked the following cake.  It was served last weekend while boating on the Hawkesbury River with friends and calls for big cups of tea!  I’d recommend it as a dense and most cake, really tasty and does look better than the photo I promise. 

One of the ingredients is milk powder which I don’t think I have bought for years if ever, I’m intrigued as to what people do with milk powder as there seemed to be a lot of it in the supermarket when I went looking   - any ideas? Make home made yogurt possibly….what else? And no it wasn’t baby formula – but I guess you could use it if you have access….why not.

From the book – A treasury of New Zealand Baking

Weekend Cake

Makes a 20cm round cake, preheat oven 180 C, lightly grease / line with baking paper your tin

1 whole orange

1 cup pitted dates

½ cup walnuts

125g butter softened

1 egg

6 tbsp milk powder

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup water

Chop the orange, including the skin, then whiz quickly in the food processor.  Add the dates and walnuts, processing until coarsely chopped.

Place the butter, sugar and egg in the food mixer and mix until smooth.  Sift the milk powder, flour and baking soda together. Combine the fruit mixture, water and dry ingredients.  Pour into the tin.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. 

Quick and simple, tastes great and keeps really well.

As a side we have a spectacular show of flowers on the Yucca plants at Castlecrag, if they weren't 12 foot tall and spiky I might have cut the flowers they are so beautiful.

Love

Mary

Brick Chicken

It’s been a busy few weeks with trips to Sydney and a weekend on the Hawkesbury.  We have farewelled friends from Orange and work for both of us has been a busy.  This week we are both in Sydney for work  then hope to see a quiet weekend.  Maybe time to book a couple of short holidays we have planned.  Later this month we will also be in Brisbane, great timimg to catch up with Joe and Meg who have arrived for their three year stint there.  It will be nice to have a few more family members close by.

The garden continues to provide us with fresh produce.  What looks to be the last of the tomatoes where enjoyed after slowly cooking them in a pan with a little olive oil, lots of finely sliced garlic and some thyme.  Just as they where ready I splashed some verjuice in the pan and they where perfect with a simply grilled piece of Atlantic Trout.  Delicious and couldn’t have been more simple.

On a fun note we decided to try a recipe I had found in an American cook book ‘Brick Chicken’. 

I took a chicken, cut in half through the breast and back bone then removed the back bone , rib cage and thigh bones.  After seasoning really well with salt and pepper I placed the chicken, skin down in a very hot pan with a little oil.  On top of the chicken I placed another pan and in this I stacked all the tins I could find in my pantry.  The recipe had called for a couple of bricks but they weren’t available at the time.  Made for an amusing sight as you can see below. 

After about 10 minutes of cooking at a moderate heat we removed most of the tins and decided instead to use a couple of weights from the gym  (not getting much use in there anyway) and continued cooking for another 8 minutes.  I then removed the weights and the  top pan and turned the very flat, gold brown chicken over.  At this point remove any excess fat from the pan and add a ½ cup of stock and a good squeeze of half a lemon and cook for a further 3 minutes or until cooked.  The end result was a crispy skinned, really moist and tasty chicken, served with some simply cooked spinach, tossed in a pan with a drizzle of olive oil and a taste of white wine vinegar – it was a great, fun method to quickly cook a very tasty chicken.  

Enjoy

Love Mary

PS The full recipe for Brick Chicken can be found in 'The New Brooklyn Cookbook' by Melissa Vaughan & Brendan Vaughan or visit Marlow and Sons in Brooklyn New York apparently its been on the menu there for years.