Mushroom, Lentil and Ale Pie

Having tried Linda McCartney's version, I thought I'd try to recreate the magic.

Ingredients

10 small shallotts, halved
50g seitan, chopped into small chunks
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tin lentils, rinsed
150g swiss brown mushrooms
150g button mushrooms
20g dried porcini mushrooms
275ml brown ale
200ml vegetable stock
1 heaped tablespoon vegemite
2 tbsp tomato sauce
Salt & cracked pepper
50g butter
50 g baby spinach
Cornflour
Ready-made puff pastry
1 egg

Note: You could easily leave out the seitan, or change the mushroom varietals according to taste, with the exception of the porcini, -that flavour is a must.

1. Olive oil and butter in large skillet, brown shallotts and garlic
2. Stir in tomato paste, lentils, seitan, mushrooms...cook 5 mins
3. Stir in ale, vegetable stock, vegemite and rehydrated porcini mushrooms (rehydrate in 200ml warm water, add the soaking liquid too). Cover and simmer for 30 mins
4. Add tomato sauce and seasoning, and add cornflour paste until liquid is a thick gray consistency
5. Add baby spinach
6. Brush pie tops with beaten egg
7. Bake at 180 degrees for 30 mins or until browned and puffy!


Brett and Gabriel polished off a whole pie each, but to be honest, I found it a little too 'mushroomy'. If I were to cook them agin, I'd up the lentils and reduce the amount of mushrooms.
However, if you're looking for a really 'meaty' vegetarian dish, and you adore 'shrooms, try this!

Oh, monkey-bum ended up covered in pie and bits of gravy...this is him on his way to a bath:-)
Oh, and the veges are broccoli and broccoli rabe from the garden sauteed in butter and garlic.

Recipe requests

Like every other mother of a toddler, my 'daily achievement' list usually looks something like this;
* Had shower...win!
* Child ate and drank regularly...win!
* House semi-reasonable...I am legend!
* Put load of washing in machine...didn't hang it out....win!
* Dinner cooked...I am such an overachiever!

On very special days I might wear makeup (gasp!), find some energy to teach singing or drama, OR cook something NEW.
The cooking of 'new' things can (and often does) result in a few mini-meltdowns as I underestimate the time required, toddler starts whinging for an outdoor adventure while I'm up to my ears in batter/dough, or I'm simply in haven't-slept-in-a-year-and-a-half zombie-mummy mode and completely forget to buy essential ingredients.
Anyway anyway, occasionally something turns out OK. These moments tend to get memorexed to social media because for me, they're a bloody huge achievement (...and I have a few 'acquaintances' who hate pictures of babies and food...it makes me happy to have the power to piss them off, even if only briefly:-) and due to my woeful organisation skills, if I don't post the recipes online, I will lose them forthwith. Guaranteed.

The gratifying bit is that other Mums out there in cyber-land, taking their precious 10 minute facebook/coffee break sometimes ask me to share recipes. So, here I am on MY precious facebook/coffee break sharing :-)
First up we have yesterday's muesli bars.
These were a 'sudden urge' recipe.
I was in Coles, obsessively reading ingredients lists on commercial muesli bars (1st or second ingredient ALWAYS sugar) when it occurred to me that I should (duh) make my own.
A little bit of net-trawling and I figured out the ratio of wet to dry, and here they are:

MUESLI BARS

1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup quinoa flakes
1/4 cup bran
1/3 cup diced dried fruit (I used apricots, cherries, cranberries, mango and pineapple)
1 cup mixed raw almonds, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds (soaked in boiling water for 30 mins then chopped)
1/2 cup wholemeal SR flour
1/3 cup glucose
250g unsalted butter
1/4 cup manuka honey
1 1/2 tsp strawberry essence
1 egg.

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl
2. Preheat oven to 180
3. Melt butter/honey/glucose in a small saucepan (add strawberry essence right at the end)
4. Beat egg seperately
5. Pour melted stuff on dry stuff and mix thoroughly (egg last of all)
6. Press into greased/lined baking dish
7. Bake for 30-40 mins until golden brown
8. Let cool completely and then slice into required size.

Pretty simple:-). My Dad got all misty about them. Apparently the flavour was exactly like a slice his mother used to make for him. Ahhh, flavour-memories:-)


The next one was 'adapted' from Recipes +. Only made because Brett saw the picture and immediately started drooling....

COBBLER

2 tbsps olive oil
500g seitan ( or pork/chicken)
3 brown onions
2 tbsps plain flour
3/4 cup white wine
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsps fennel seeds
2 large chicken stock cubes
825g can apricot halves, drained
2 parsnips, peeled, cut into 3cm pieces
2 carrots, peeles, cut into 3 cm pieces
2 cups SR flour
60g chilled butter, chopped
1 tbsp thyme leaves
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup grated parmesan/romano

1. Brown seitan/pork/chicken
2. Add onions til also browned and sprinkle in flour and stir til combined
3. Add wine, garlic, fennel seeds and stock cubes
4. Whiz half the apricots in a food processor and add to pan with 2 cups water. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 1 hr. Add in parsnips and carrot and simmer for another 20 mins until veges are tender.
5. While everything's a'simmerin' whack SR flour and butter in the food processor until you have fine crumb texture. Whisk milk and 1 of the eggs in a jug. Add thyme and parmesan to flour mixture. Make a well in the centre and pour in egg/milk. Mix until just combined, turn out and knead until smooth. Press out into a 2cm thick disc and cut out rounds
6. Add remaining apricots to cooked mixture and pour into a casserole dish. Arrange dumplings on top and brush with remaining whisked egg. Bake for 30 mins or until dumplings are golden and cooked. Stand for 5 mins before serving.

If you like you can replace eggs with No-Egg, parmesan with Savoury Yeast Flakes and make it all Vegan and stuff:-)

I must say, it was very very tasty, but probably best saved for a weekend, about 2 1/2 hrs prep time all-in-all.

Next up we have the cake-of-insanity...

Insane cakeMakes 1 8" six layer cake
For cake, via Whisk Kid: 
225g butter, softened
5 egg whites (save 4 yolks for filling)
2 1/3 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. I have 3 round cake tins but my oven can only fit 2, so I greased and lined two cake tins and set them aside. 

Weigh your big bowl and write down the number. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Cream butter and sugar in your big bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in the egg whites until combined, follow by vanilla. 

Fold in 1/3 flour followed by 1/3 milk. Repeat until it's all combined. Weigh the bowl and subtract the weight. Divide this number by 6. Divide the batter between six small bowls by weight. Colour each a different colour using gel food colouring. Start with just a little, then work up until you reach your desired colour.  

Tip two lots of batter into your prepared pans and bake for 15 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out. Bake off the remaining layers. When the layers are totally cool, wrap in plastic wrap and put them in the fridge. 

For filling:
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup dried lavender flowers (optional)
A split vanilla pod

Combine vanilla, lavender and milk in a small saucepan. Put over medium-high heat and heat until bubbles just break the surface. Remove from heat. Whisk together egg yolks, flour and sugar in a small bowl. Strain the milk into the egg yolks and whisk together, then return the mixture to the saucepan. 

Cook, over medium low heat, until mixture thickens and bubbles. Be sure to stir constantly, paying particular attention to the corners. Strain into a small bowl and press plastic wrap onto the surface of the filling. Put into the fridge. 

For icing:
750g butter, soft but not too soft
2 1/4 cups milk
2 1/4 cups sugar
9 tbsp flour
9 tbsp cream
1 punnet of strawberries, hulled and pureed

Combine milk and cream in a large saucepan. Whisk together flour and sugar in a medium bowl. Add 1 cup of milk mixture and whisk to form a paste. Scrape into the saucepan and cook, stirring continuously over medium heat, until mixture boils and thickens. Scrape the mixture into a large bowl and whisk by hand for 15 minutes until the mixture cools. 

Cut the butter into small pieces and beat in, using an electric mixture, piece by piece. Don't worry if it looks weird and curdled; there'll come a moment where this will whip up lusciously and you'll feel very impressed with yourself. Beat in the strawberry puree. 

Put the cake together as I've described above. Feel terrifically accomplished.

I will not lie. This cake was almost the death of me! Particularly because I decided to flavour the layers in addition to colouring...

So there we have it lads and lasses. ll recipe requests fulfilled...which is lucky because I hear the rumblings of a just-awake toddler....

xoxo

One Year ago today...

So it's 10am in the morning as I write. That means that this time last year I was screaming like a banshee somewhere in the rabbit-warren of Orange Base Hospital and being assured that the anaesthetist would be along as soon as he could...
Ah! The memories!...
I still dislike the nurse that told me to "stop making so much noise and sit up please" INTENSELY...

Anyway anyway, -this is not a maudlin restrospective of the birthing process but a wee blog about my little Monkey's very first birthday party!

Saturday the 1st of June 2013 dawned grey and cold. Heavy rain clouds blanketed the skies and everything was damp and grey. Not ideal. Not at all.
However, everything that I could control was well in hand. Thick and creamy Pumpkin Soup was simmering on the stove, Sourdough was sliced and buttered, hot oven treats were baking (potato balls, spinach and cheese triangles, spring rolls, curried pumpkin bites, mini-quiches), cake was made and decorated, ice-cream a-plenty was softening nicely on the counter, monkey had had his morning sleep and was all bright-eyed and bushy tailed ready for his first ever party!

Somewhat prematurely, I had decorated the outdoor area under the brand new gazebo with a "Magic tree" (fallen eucalypt branch sprayed gold and then wired with apples/pears/persimmons/pomegranates/ivy/roses/berries)....

Stacks of pumpkins and squash in wicker baskets with wicker wreathes...

Hay bales, more pumpkins, mini-daffodils, rosemary sprigs, jugs full of fresh lavender..

Even drifts of oak leaves....

The gazebo structure was liberally wreathed in fairy lights, hanging autumn leaves, bright berries and autumn willow branches...and NO ONE sat out there for the entire party...ah well, I had fun decorating it anyway:-).

As guests showed up, they were plied liberally with hot snacks and beverages and Gabe was cuddled and fussed over within an inch of his life :-). I think he was a little overwhelmed at first, but very soon the excitement of having other children to play with and TWO sets of grandparents to adore him overcame any initial misgivings:-)

Something mysteriously enchanting about the corner of the kitchen...whatever it was, they all found it fascinating...

A spot of chook-chasing is always good..:-)

Ellie decided to 'help' Gabe open his presents because, in her words, he was "too slow"..:-)

She also took it upon herself to feed him at any available opportunity...

Excellent opportunity to show Nanny new walking skills...

Lots of snuggles from Poppy!

Lots and LOTS of wonderful presents from everyone!
This lucky 1 yr old was given a music set, a brand new snuggly coat for winter, a bubble machine, rather a lot of Pumpkin Patch clothing, some wonderful new books, some stacking cups and mini gumboots and some gorgeous hand-knitted booties.

I inflicted a '1yr retrospective' video on the assembled (sorry guys!) and we all gathered around to sing 'Happy Birthday' and demolish the cake...

Luckily, the heavens opened just after the party, and my marvellous guests left with the slightly unusual party-favour of a few pumpkins...

So thankyou thankyou thankyou to Glen and David, Wrellan, jason, Eliie and Rowan, Nick, Amelia and Wolfgang, Ruth and Arthur, Cameron and Joe, Kylie, Noah and Mitchell for making my little man's first celebration an occasion full of laughter and joy and love. He won't remember it, but I will...forever. xoxo

LOVE YOU LITTLE MONKEY-PUMPKIN!!!

Gabriel's 1st Birthday Cake

Despite having said countless times that I wasn't going to go "over the top" for Gabriel's 1st birthday (y,know, because he's ONE and couldn't care less)...I did go a little bit nuts on his cake.

OK, so first things first.
I have spent weeks gradually making all the decorations from modelling chocolate. I also made far too many decorations. Meh, better over-prepared than under-prepared right?

I just did a few things each night and stored them in layers of baking paper in an airtight container.
They're all made from Aldi Choceur chocolate and Glucose syrup + Americolour gel paste colouring. Tools? My hands and one ratty paintbrush.
Oh, except the mushrooms, they're meringue painted with melted dark chocolate and dusted with cocoa.

Obviously the theme is 'Autumn Forest'..kinda sorta. Blueberries are a summer-forest-thing, but why let little details get in the way? This isn't a National Geographic cake competition.

Next step, bake the cakes in question.
The bottom layer is a caramel mud and the top layer is a banana/yoghurt cake. Both turn out very dense and moist and easily take fondant.

So, here we are, all set up with ganache for the crumb coating and various decorations.

I don't mind admitting that this was all making me very nervous. As my second cake (proper-fondanty-thing), so much was liable to go wrong here. I knew what I was aiming for, but having no actual training in this stuff, was not entirely sure I could pull it off.

OK, so layer one.

lacking wooden dowelling rods, I decided to trust Martha Stewart and use drinking straws. She assures me that for a paltry two layers, this is support enough....

 Ganache crumb coat

 'Lid' of fondant tree-rings. This wasn't very clever at all. I just shaped the fondant into a flat cylinder, painted on lines in gel-paste (Chocolate brown, warm brown and a dash of egg-yellow), rolled it up like a swiss-roll,cut it, and then rolled it flat. Lo-and-behold, -tree rings :-)

 Rolled 'bark' base fondant. Basically, just badly mixed browns.

 Measured the cake height and cut out a strip of fondant to match.

decided that the bark-brown looked nothing like bark and started tearing and adding fondant scraps.

Scored everything with a toothpick and added some 'cracks'

Painted to the cracks with black gel-paste (with aforementioned ratty paintbrush)

Attacked fondant-scrappy sides with warm brown and chocolate brown gel-paste

Posted photo on Facebook to see if anyone thought it looked log-like. Fortunately, it turned out that most people thought it did. Phew. I sat down with a cuppa and steeled myself to do it all over again for the second layer.

Then it was just a matter of placing (and glueing with melted chocolate) the many and varied decorations. there was no specific plan here, just a riotous autumnal profusion.

Yes yes, I know it's too much, -but it is for a child...

And there's a frog.

I just felt like making a frog.

So that's it for this year!. Now I just have to sort out the 'magic tree' (wouldn't you like to know? :-), the hay bales, the various pumpkin and autumn leaf decorations, and of course, the food.
My 'not-over-the-top' 1st Birthday is a friggin' 4-month production.
His second birthday will be a BBQ in a park. I swear it.

Woman Day

TODAY IS 'WOMAN DAY' FOR ME.

I haven't had a chance to do this for nigh-on a year (which may or may not have something to do with a Tiny Boy that arrived nigh-on a year ago:-).

I should also mention, before I go too much further, that this 'day' is only possible because my marvellous parents have taken the little fella on a big adventure into Bathurst, -quite deliberately giving me some much-needed 'me time'. For this, I am beyond grateful!

So what's a 'woman day' then?

I can already feel the narrowed eyes, suspicion and genuine fear the very title may engender...

In very basic form it is this;

* The first day of menstruation

* A day when everything in you cries out for peace, solitude and reflection.

* A day to think about what it means to be "woman".

* A day to do whatever it is that you makes you feel grounded, centred and peaceful,

Now, trust me, I KNOW that such a day is pure luxury, and well beyond the reach of many of us, -particularly if 'Motherhood' in one of the spokes to your Woman-wheel! We are expected (and expect ourselves) to 'cover-up', soldier-on, and basically pretend that everything's fine (i.e. the same as every other day).

Except it's not. Not at all.

Menstruation/The Red Moon/Aunty Flo/Kitty's got a nosebleed/The Curse is, for most of us, a dreadful inconvenience at best, a cramping/bloating nightmare at worst. 

Most women I know absolutely hate and dread it.

If you're trying to become pregnant, it's day of tears and cursing your stupid body again and again.

My point is, for most women, it is overwhelmingly negative. And it happens every month.

Recently my life has had a bit more than it's fare share of ups and downs. This has left me feeling pretty drained, annoyingly fragile, and generally pretty un-centred and uncertain. My value as 'woman' and 'wife' has been questioned LOUDLY by others, and worst of all, by me.

Luckily, I have been surrounded by a fierce cocooning shield of "Warrior-Women". Friends and Family members that have thrown back their collective heads and howled on my behalf. Teeth bared, and hackles raised, I swear every one of them was ready to fling themselves into bloody battle on my behalf.

Women, -bloody marvellous creatures! 

So today, instead of plodding through mountains of washing, cleaning, cooking, dirty nappies, tiny (but ear-splitting) tantrums, and trying desperately to 'keep it all together', I have taken a day (OK, -a morning) just for me.

This is what it looks like;

Poured a cup of ridiculously fragrant and incredible Green Tea from Ijalse Farms. Savour the warmth and fragrance of added spearmint, orange and mandarin peel...feel it doing me good...pull out an old but beloved dress made some 20 years ago by a dear friend, and remember her fragrant warmth and beautiful friendship. Make up an oatmeal and honey facial mask whilst running a hot bath scented with honey and Ylang Ylang, shed the 'workaday' clothes and slip into comforting warmth, allow it to let me dream and honour the liquid warmth of the womb, the gentle strength that is 'Mother'. Shave my legs because I want to and for no other purpose. Look, really look at belly and breasts post-baby. Feel proud that this body of mine created life, see curves and undulations as mirrors of mountains and valleys, white as the moon but with glorious signs of 'woman/mother' not virgin girl. For the first time in a very long time, realise that I don't want to look like an older incarnation of myself and that I don't want to spend these beautiful years trying to undo life in order to fit some 'image' created by others.

Slip out of the bath and into the old dress. No bra, no frills, no carry-on. Just fresh skin and freedom.

Prepare a lunch of brown rice and vegetables with no salt, but plenty of aromatic herbs and spices. It feels good to eat. I allow some time to appreciate flavour and texture. No hurrying through because I have to feed the baby, no unhealthy feelings of guilt, or 'calories' or fat'content. Just me and a meal, in the quiet.

Pull out some beloved poetry, pour another cup of tea and lose myself in the metaphysicals. See so many images I want to paint/draw/recreate in fabric and enjoy the feeling of wild freedom in my brain.

It has been utterly blissful.

Of course, I must now shed "Woman Day" and prepare for the return of my little monkey-minx.

I just wish that we all had time to do this more often. 

The Stages of Grieving

[Sigh}...OK. I have a had a rough month. Luckily it's rolled into a brand new one, but still, -rough.

On the 'excellent side', Monkey is so close to walking and talking! He's trying his little heart out every day and it's heartbreakingly gorgeous to watch:-).
I saw 'Warhorse' at the Lyric theatre and was reminded by it's sheer awesomeness just why I got in to this industry in the first place.
I have been cooking up a storm, ...nay, maelstrom!
My autumn/winter brassica plantings are well underway, and I have some pretty groovy experimentals in there too (quinoa, for one!).
I am singing and playing for the wee monkey daily. This has the dual effect of making him happy and giving me some time to hone stuff. It's sheer pleasure right now to just sing through a sample 8th grade/A.Mus syllabus. Rediscovering long-lost treasures and trying not to be annoyed at my voice's natural 'atrophy' after being neglected for far too long.

On the 'truly heinous' side, My entire life/self/world has been tried and found wanting.
I am doing everything I can to 'heal', and further, to be an active agent in the healing of others.
I have weekly root canals. Last 6 weeks and the next 4. I find them very difficult and energy-draining...which is entirely unhelpful with an 11 month old.

I'm still not sure entirely where I went wrong.

I am currently questioning everything, but usually myself.
Self-reflection is a good thing. I'm not sure that my extenuating circumstances are leading me down a 'healthy self-reflection mode' however.

Most days I'm just trying to drain the dry well for the sake of my beautiful and miraculous son.  Today (root canal + counselling) pretty much did me in.
I am trying though. I promise.

Shepherdess Pie

As the weather finally starts to feel a tad autumnal, my cooking turns toward the hearty and comforting. 

On a cool and rainy easter sunday, There was basically two choices. Pie or Pie.

I mean, who doesn't love the smell of pies baking? (Except of course, my oven is busted and the landlord might fix it, oh, sometime-in-the-next-millenium which means I have to bake it across the road at Mum's thereby missing the whole 'who does't love the smell of pies baking?' point, but ANYWAY...)

I decided on the all-time bloke-favourite, The Shepherd's Pie.

Except it isn't. The actualities of the pie proper are reasonably complicated and involve cottages, re-naming, some hoo-ha about beef vs lamb (shepherds don't herd cattle) and then the slightly important fact that my version uses neither beef, nor lamb and is therefore (apparently) a Shepherdess's Pie ( the logic being that girl shepherds don't eat beef or lamb?....ANYWAY...)

My version has also been a 'Cumberland Pie (with a layer of breadcrumbs on top), may have been a pastel de papa if I happened to live in Chile or Uraguay, a hachis Parmentier if I were french, or Kibbet Batata if I happened to be cooking in Syria...in autumn. My favourite though is the Finland's version is "lihaperunasoselaatikko". I'd probably call it that if I could pronounce it.

I ruin things further by adding grated cheese on top of the potato, making it a shepherdess/milkmaid pie? Maybe it's just a 'female rural employee' pie? I think ...

Recipe

1 can lentils, drained

1 1/2 cups dried TVP, re-hydrated in vegetable stock

1 large onion, diced

3 sticks celery, finely diced

2 medium carrots, finely diced

1 small tin tomato paste

2 tsp garlic powder

3 tsp dried sage

a small handful fresh oregano

2 tbsp gravy mix (I use brown onion)

1/3 cup tomato sauce

1/4 cup BBQ sauce

1 tbsp chipotle sauce

3 tsp ground black pepper

2 tsp VEGETA

4 large floury potatoes

100g salted butter

1/2 cup hot soy milk

100g grated tasty cheese

2 tsp smoky paprika

1. Fry off veges in a little EVOO til tender and fragrant

2. Add everything else and a cup of water and let that bastard simmer until all the flavours are rich and blended

3. Make your mash and spoon it on top.

4. Top with grated cheese and smoky paprike

5. Bake for 1hr at 180.

I'm having an internal war over whether to serve it with salad, or more autumnally with maple and walnut roasted carrots and parsnips, and some minted peas....

By the way, the autumnal sides won the day...and how little Gabriel LOVES his maple-roasted carrots!