Food, Finds & Forays
Hey there....
Hope you’ve had a good week. We have, starting with a lovely mini escape to the coast ( see a couple of photos below, taken during pack up while I hid lol). Not only was it a happy relaxing escape but the family’s football team won the grand final so everyone was happy.
I started the week with big plans for a recipe that was soon derailed when something wasn’t right with the finished product. After a bit of a creative crisis I found the answer in my breakfast bowl. I hope you enjoy my Blueberry and Apple Compote as much as I do.
I have a few links to share too, with a couple of baking projects one of which I’m hoping might magically appear before me if my son takes the hint. I thought you might also be interested in what I’m reading at the moment and what’s queued up next.
I hope you enjoy today’s read and as always appreciate the time you give my little musings. Feel free to forward it to any friends who you think might also enjoy it.
Enjoy the rest of your week,
Best
S x
***Also a little reminder all the recipes you're read in previous letters live over here if you're ever wanting to cook something again***
Food
Blueberry & Apple Compote
Plunging my fork into, what should have been, an unctuous herbaceous dish of some history for us I was pretty excited. A recipe given to me by a friend ( Hi Kate!) a million years ago that always evoked memories of another time in our lives the anticipation was high. As I bit down, swirled in my mouth, my expression fell. What had I done wrong? This isn’t how I remember it at all. I reluctantly ate, can't waste food to save myself. The boys loved it, me not so much. That was to be your recipe this week. And right then the wall went up. The creative block. I’d already photographed the recipe, loved the pics and felt very organised, I just didn't love whatever I'd done to the dish. I have loads of dishes I could share but couldn’t think straight or decide on one to choose, re-test, cook, shoot and share. With only a few days to go what the heck was I to do. By this point it was late, I was tired, disappointed and deflated and really couldn’t arrive at a new direction.
The creative fork in the road is a funny thing. Generally known as creative block many say it’s a thing of its own. As is our want in 2022 I googled the phenomenon…. Procrastigoogling? Absolutely! Anyway, I digress. Elizabeth Gilbert, writer and creative commentator suggests the affliction is not in and of something on its own rather it’s the egg in the chicken and egg saga. Either representative of something bigger happening around your creative pursuits or indeed boredom of the reality that creativity, when it’s both a profession and a pursuit, is still work and not always something that lights you up with each word, click of a camera or brush stroke of a painting, or indeed step in a recipe. So, did I feel bored? Nope food never bores me, except at 5.30pm when I, yet again, need to come up with dinner. Was it something bigger around creativity…hmmm quite possibly. Imposter syndrome and wondering if your work is enjoyed and good enough is very very real. So, when a recipe idea crashes and a deadline (albeit self-imposed) looms what do I do? Well apparently, my creativity crashes too. So I went to bed with a headache and a blank page in my head and no expectation of sleep.
Mysteriously, sleep I did. Very well in fact. I still woke up with the remains of that headache but I was rested so that was a good start. Going through the motions of the morning routine, blinds raised, radio on, cat fed, coffee machine on I started running through ideas. Sitting with my breakfast I sat with my notebook scribbling down ideas and flicking through other recipes already recorded. Taking my first spoonful of yoghurt I stopped, “wait that’s it!” It doesn’t always need to be complicated, elaborate or solve a big problem. Sometimes it can and should be simple. When it seems complicated the answer is more often than not simple and more often than not right in front of you. Both the recipe and the words.
I have no idea where my love of cooked fruit comes from but I’m a sucker for a compote or more simply stewed fruit. I have no elaborate tale to wend my way through, there’s no specific spark lit in my memory, I just love the sweet jammy syrup with jewels of still whole fruit that results from a gentle simmer and addition of a few embellishments.
My Greek yoghurt at breakfast was blanketed by a puddle of Blueberry and Apple compote, the spark for my simple share today. It was the result of a purchase at a recent farmers market. A deliciously generous tub of sweet sapphire coloured globes that from a distance, as I approached the stall, looked like fresh fruit but as I took them from the farmers hand were in fact frozen. I’d been meaning to bake something with them but finally arrived at compote and in turn have arrived here with you.
Ingredients:
500 gm Blueberries
1 Apple peeled and cubed (I used Pink Lady)
2 Tb Maple Syrup
1 Tb caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
Scant Pinch salt
2 Tb water
1 tsp lemon juice
Method:
Reserve one cup of blueberries. Combine remaining ingredients in a small saucepan and over a medium heat bring to just below a boil. Continue to simmer over med-low heat until apples are just tender and the liquid that has developed has thickened. Add the remaining blueberries and continue simmering until they’ve just softened, about 3-5 minutes.
Pour into an airtight container and refrigerate until completely cold. The sauce will thicken on cooling.
Cooking times will vary depending on whether or not you have used fresh or frozen berries.
Serve on Yoghurt like I enjoy it or even more deliciously over vanilla ice cream. The compote is also a lovely addition spooned on a slice of a simple vanilla cake, porridge or rice pudding.
Finds & Forays
At the same time as procrastiscrolling, while writing this, two rather tragic looking bananas awaiting use in the fruit bowl caught my eye. You know the ones. They start to age, darkening beyond the stage of being palatable for eating and you tell yourself you’ll make a banana cake of some sort in the ensuing days. As interest wanes you reduce your ambition to a more realistic banana smoothie. Then Boom! This pops up in your feed and you leap up to yet again allow yourself to be distracted and bake a treat. Well sadly I didn’t have any chocolate but I’m hanging on to those bananas for one more day and will do some baking today after I’ve sent this off.
On the subject of baking and berries I’m going to subtly show this to my cheesecake loving son who occasionally boredom bakes. Wish me luck, he acquired that cheesecake love from me, there has to be some benefits from teaching your kids to cook.
Have you read this yet? I’m about a third of the way through, which has been a little slow though still enjoyable. I have, however, reached the point of the story taking it’s leap so I expect it to pick up now. I’ve delayed listening to this podcast about it to not spoil any surprises, but am curious about what they think about it. I am eager to finish though as this new offering from one of my favourite Aussie authors, Jane Harper, has just been released.
Finally, filling in a half hour between tv shows a few nights ago I stumbled on this new series by one of my faves. Hubby requested a delicious chicken dish from the first episode which sounded very much to me like he wanted me to buy the associated cookbook that seems to follow all cooking tv series these days. A quick google revealed it’s not a conventional book but rather an ebook who’s proceeds go to womens charities. At 5 british pounds it’s a bargain and a feel-good purchase to boot. And that chicken dish and chocolate pudding look pretty amazing.
