Food, Finds & Forays
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Welcome!! Thanks so much for signing up to receive my new newsletter and joining me for a quick catch up every week. I hope you enjoy my missives and find some interesting things to cook, do and enjoy.
Creating this little weekly letter of sorts has been both a challenge and a joy. A challenge because figuring out all this tech stuff is a bit of a hill to climb but the view from the metaphorical peak is bloody glorious even if I am ‘huffing and puffing’ after the ascent. And a joy because newlsetters are a fantastic creative hub which allows me share my photography and writing in one place and hopefully bring you a few moments entertainment and inspiration on a Thursday morning. Maybe this may even help you plan your weekends once life returns to whatever normal will look like in the weeks and months to come. At the moment, for many of us in Australia newsletters are providing inspiration for the future as much as the now and sometimes a little escape for the groundhog days rolling lockdowns have brought.
Whatever brings you here I hope Food, Finds and Forays is a small chunk of joy in your days and you find something amongst my notes to help you share joy with your people.
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Ok let’s do this!!
Cheers
Sal x
Food Brown Butter Chai Cake
Simple butter, sugar and vanilla mingling together really are the very best of friends and often keeping it simple and letting these three ingredients shine in baking makes the best of comfort foods. But we all know there’s an encyclopaedic collection of variations on that theme right? I mean seriously we could fill a whole internet on the many ways to combine these three key elements and methods by which to create that squishy goodness. One of my favourites is the classic melt and mix. Its quick, easy and always your best friend when you’re in a rush to feed hungry hoards. It’s also a brilliant base to work from. My favourite is Brown Butter Chai Cake. Now I concede browning the butter is adding a step and taking half a step back from easy. If the mere suggestion of browning butter has you rolling your eyes fear not you could skip this step and the cake will still be delicious, but I do urge to try just once. I won’t bore you with the 'how' when it comes to browning butter but you can check how here if you need some help with that. My favourite Chai is from Grounded Pleasures. You can browse their full range here.
Ingredients:
150 gm butter melted and browned
1 1/2 (225) C self raising flour
200 gm golden caster sugar *
1 vanilla bean scraped pod discarded or 1 Tsp extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs lightly beaten
2/3 cup buttermilk **
2 Tb chai poweder ( I use Grounded Pleasures)
Spiced Sugar:
1/4 C icing sugar (powder sugar)
1/4 tsp each of ginger and cinnamon or your own faves such as a pinch of cardamon or allspice.
Method:
Preheat oven to 180c, grease and line a loaf or 20cm round spring form pan.
Brown butter and allow to cool to room temperature.
In a stand mixer bowl combine all dry ingredients and give a quick stir with a whisk to ensure everything is evenly mixed through.
Add all wet ingredients and mix in stand mixer on low-medium until combing then increase speed to high and mix for 1-2 minutes or until fluffy and lighter in colour. Pour into prepared pan and bake 40-45 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.
Allow to cool in tin for five minutes then turn out or release from springform and cool on rack.
I've served it here with a spiced sugar to keep things simple but you might like a simple orange flavoured icing or even a cream cheese frosting.
*I've used paneela sugar from Grounded Pleasures here (I may or may not have had a little shopping spree and had lots to play with not sponsored). Golden CS adds an extra caramel characteristic however if you only have white that will work just fine.
**If you don't have buttermilk you can make your own by adding half a tsp of lemon to the 2/3 C of regular milk and allow it to sit while you get organised.
Finds
I try and write a list for the supermarket because frankly if I don’t it becomes expensive and a bit random but even armed with a list my talent for spotting new products at ten paces never wains. Recently with a hankering for Asian food I found a delicious new flavour bomb in a tube from Miso Tasty . Three delicious flavours Miso, Teriyaki and Yuzu, give you all the basics of Japanese flavours for late adopters like me new to Japanese cooking and dedicated fans of the flavours. The miso paste has been on high rotation finding itself in all manner of dishes but my favourite has been BBQ broccolini. Mix 1 Tbs of miso paste, two tbs of olive oil and lots of black pepper together and toss in the trimmed broccolini giving a little massage to make sure it’s thoroughly coated then cook quickly on a BBQ stovetop grill. Delish!
As an avid reader I’m always very excited to find new authors who’s work I enjoy. A couple of months ago I found new author Katie McMahon. Her debut novel, The Mistake, was amazing. Such a gripping yet uniquely constructed mystery like no other I’ve ever read. She cleverly builds characters and plot around a unique family drama with endless twists and turns slowly drip feeding you pieces of the big hook leaving you desperately wanting to turn the page. This is a huge reading rec from me.
As the cool weather descended over Melbourne so too did the craving for warm comforting drinks to thaw us out. I’ve found some good ones this year (lockdown online shopping anyone?) and am working my way through the fabulous range at Grounded Pleasures. The delicious and thoughtfully created flavours in the range have something for everyone from this rural Victorian business based in Ballarat. The Chai powder for the cake in this issue comes from Grounded as do the insane marshmallows pictured below.
Forays
Do you have a local farmers market? I’m very lucky to have one local to me with a list of fantastic producers and I love it. Getting to know the growers and traders, collecting all the hot tips on what’s fresh and at it’s prime and catching up with friends, neighbours and locals makes what can otherswise be a mundane chore, a pleasurable shopping experience. Especially in the last year and a half where much of the east coast of Australia has been in some form or other of hard lockdowns, Farmers Markets have been able to continue trading safely and provide a much needed sense of community, an outing of some sort and much needed inspiration because one casualty of this bloody pandemic is a will to keep going in the kitchen….beyond sourdough and other great cooking challenges. Local gatherings like Farmers Markets have also been a life blood for farmers and producers to be able to share their produce, keep trading and maintain their businesses in challenging economic times like this.
We’re very lucky to have Eltham Farmers Market as our local. Established in early 2014, the market was pulled together by a dedicated group of passionate locals with a vision to gather together as a community and promote and enjoy good food and produce from our verdant surrounds and further afield. Many local family businesses, makers and growers have found their own audience here and been an attraction themselves to visit the market. I regularly return home with handmade french sourdough, organic free range eggs, some of the best small farm beef going around and fresh vibrant organic fruit and veg. And as a little bonus of our location, some beautiful local wines and gin distillers regularly make an appearance too. If you’re in Melbourne I urge you to take a hike out to the north east and make a morning of shopping at Eltham Farmers Market and indeed stay for lunch or grab some things for a picnic and find a patch of grass on the banks of the Yarra RIver. If not there’s farmers markets all round Australia. Have a squizz through the directory here and see if there’s one near you and support local.
