Food, FInds & Forays
Hey there....
Wow what a week. As I write this I’m perched on the couch laptop on my lap as the name insists working from a position I’m not normally happy to be in….grounded…but more about that in a minute.
Firstly , though, let me just thank you for your reaction to my first newsletter and your love for ‘that‘ cake. Your messages of appreciation and support for my musings and images sent to me of your baking has me thrilled and excited for my new project and all the things I want to share with you.
Secondly the week I’ve had. It wasn’t quite the one I’d planned and certainly isn’t very conducive to cooking and photography. Saturday night’s in lockdown have actually been pretty cool at ours. We’ve enjoyed dinner around our new outdoor fireplace with our adult sons (21 and 19 years old) and their girlfriends, reflecting on the week, sharing laughter, conversation and being outdoors. If there’s been any silver lining to the protracted lockdown situation of Melbourne’s Covid battle its been these family times by the fire, screen free, reconnecting. All sounds very wholesome right?. Until this last Saturday night, where after popping inside to refill my drink, I took a tumble down the stairs in a newly landscaped area of our backyard. Spoiler alert, it seems there’s actually three steps down to the terrace not two….who knew! Well it seems I didn’t. Anywaaaay long story short an ambulance ride later and many hours in the local hospital I’ve been sent home on crutches. A trip to the physio and scans hasn’t improved the outlook dramatically either.
So with all that going on I hope to continue to hope to hobble around and employ my assistant (19 year old son) and still bring you some Food, Finds and Forays…..
***PS: Please accept my apologies for the less than impressive photos. It would seem one needs two working feet as much two working hands***
Food
Try though I may to be organised I’m resigned to the fact that menu planning is not my forte. I’m more often than not driven by what I feel like on the day, what time will allow and what’s in the fridge. Now before you stop me, I know…it’s chicken and egg. If I planned, the fridge would be full of the ingredients I need. But if I did that I might not feel like what’s on the menu…See my dilemma.
It’s from this laissez faire approach to the second half of the day that many of my recipes are born. I frequently have a craving for things that aren’t last minute friendly such as Paella. I mean it’s just rice and a few tasty things right? How time consuming can that be? Well it would seem quite consuming in the late arvo when you’re clearing the bench of laundry folding trying to figure out how to come up with something different and tasty. But my friends, my Express Paella is actually pretty easy to pull together without too much fuss. Now full disclaimer I don’t for a moment pretend that this is an authentic version of the Spanish classic and may indeed make the toes curl of any Spanish readers but I do promise it will satisfy the craving and you’ll feel pretty fancy pulling something together on a week night that you may normally overlook at the end of a busy day. A pan of this is a brilliant side to anything straight off the BBQ, especially chicken or sausages and can be adapted to include seafood easily just like the more time consuming traditional version.
Ok let’s get started!
Ingredients:
1 Spanish Onion finely sliced (because that’s quicker than chopping but if you prefer chopped go for it)
2 Cloves of garlic finely diced or crushed (again keep it simple)
½ tsp smoked sweet paprika
Pinch of saffron
1 Red capsicum chopped into large chunks
½ tsp of finely chopped chilli or to taste.
1 C Calasparra rice or Abrorio. Whatever is available.
1 Tb each of butter and extra virgin olive oil
1 400 gm Can of Cherry tom (or whatever’s in the pantry)
2 C chicken stock (I buy premade in long life cartons. I get through it in a week and it tastes just a little better, however stock powder made up into two cups is also fine)
1 C frozen peas
1 Spring Onion (shallot) sliced
1 handful continental parsley chopped roughly
Lemon wedges to serve
Method:
On a low heat saute the onion in the olive oil until translucent not browned. This will take around 5 minutes, then add the garlic for another two minutes. Add the capsicum and cook until just starting to soften but not as much as the onion, 2-3 minutes. Add the paprika and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant. Melt the butter in the pan, then add the rice and saffron and swish around to coat with the butter and oil like you would for a risotto. Stir through tomatoes and stock and distributing everything evenly. Bring to the boil, turn down to a simmer (low heat) and cover, cook for 15 minutes. No stirring or peeking! Without disturbing the rice, sprinkle over the peas and cook, replace lid and cook for a further 5 minutes. Remove from heat and sprinkle over parsley and spring onions and serve with lemon wedges.
Variations:
~Pop some mussels on top with the peas to steam and open for the last five minutes.
~Slice and fry off 1 chorizo with the onion.
~BBQ some prawns to sprinkle on top with the parsley and spring onion.
Finds
Do you like shoes? I do but I love cookbooks more. They’re my ‘shoes.’ My guilty pleasure, the thing I unashamedly collect and cherish, tomes that hold memories and inspiration. Or so that’s what I tell myself to justify the ever growing collection….because she who dies with the most wins right? I mean 272 isn’t a lot…ist it? Ok maybe it’s a few but in my defence they’re all loved, used and to me tell a story of my love affair with food and cooking. The covid era has delivered many beautiful volumes. Authors have been hugely inspired with work they’ve churned out, some of my most loved editions coming to live with me in the 18 months. Three faves that I’m adoring cooking from at the moment are Every Night of the Week by Lucy Tweed, In Good Company by Sophie Hansen and In Praise of Veg by Alice Zaslavsky.
Every Night of the Week is a collection of Lucy’s cleverest inventions. She has a unique and colourful way of creating fast simple dishes that look like they’ve taken hours to create and explode with falvour. If you’re cooking for kids or those still trying to expand their palettes, shall we say, Lucy’s recipes won’t challenge them nor will they bore those at the table with more sophisticated tastes.
In Good Company is Sophie’s third book and keeps with her beautiful soulful ethos of her food philosophy of sharing food with people you love. This gorgeous book holds a collection of menus for all sorts of occasions through all the seasons. She shares recipes and stories from the people she loves and with whom she shares her table and them theirs giving the book a personal, sentimental thread.
In Praise of Veg is that bible of all things vegetables omnivores and thinking eaters have been searching for. Alice uses a veg forward approach to educate the reader about each variety enticing home cooks of all eating preferences to be more adventures with our use of vegetable dishes both as a main or side dish. Her recipes are so delicious all an omnivore needs is a smaller serve of great quality protein to accompany her plant based creations or for the vego/vegan readers the variety of new ideas is endless. It’s a way forward for eating for sustainability as much as family friendly flavour.
Forays Between lockdown restrictions and my little ankle hiccup there hasn’t been too many forays far afield, but I have enjoyed some creative forays around Instagram finding some new to me accounts that also happen to be local to my area. I’m very excited for lockdown to ease so I can check out these women owned creative businesses in person.
Accida Store is the passion project of Violeta Gordana. She presents a stunning collection of beautifully curated pieces from artisans from near and far. The range is a unique, thoughtfully collated collection of pieces that will have you entranced as you wander through her website and have you building a wishlist of your own.
Daisy Cooper Ceramics is the creative business of Scottish come Australian ceramicist of the same name. Daisy’s work embraces colour, form and function with a whimsical flair. Her pieces are practical while being gorgeous, bright and pretty. There’s no better way to start the day than with your tea or coffee and toast served on beautiful pieces like these.
And of course I’m not going to tease you with their gorgeous wares without you being able to purchase. Both ladies run online stores and can ship your purchases to you.
Did I mention its 14 weeks until xmas. !!!!!
***Images below drawn from their gorgeous websites***
