Sweeeeeeeeeet!

The dilemma I find myself in when expecting city friends for a weekend brunch, is whether to bake something lovely, or take a stroll through our picturesque town to one of the excellent cafes.

It's usually brunch, as most of our friends now arrive with young children and a hundred assorted baby bags full of nappies, snacks, toys, wipes, blankets and spare items of clothing.  The mother part of the equations come with man-sized (breastfeeding) appetites, and both parents are usually hungry for some adult conversation and a chance to sit back and let someone else take care of them for little while, as they enjoy the serenity of our home in the hills. 

Considering the weather (windy, damp and very very cold) I decided to make up a last minute brunch from the limited contents of my fridge, pantry and garden.  The staples I had to work with were: raspberries (fridge), lots of lemons given by a neighbour (pantry), and leeks (garden).  Creamy potato and leek soup with some crusty bread, followed by light and fluffy lemon cupcakes topped with lemon buttercream and raspberries was served to our appreciative guests.  We sent them home with a takeaway container with some of the leftover cupcakes, to be enjoyed on the trek back to Fitzroy.

Lemon cupcakes with buttercream and raspberries:

Ingredients (cake):

2 & 1/2 cups SR flour
1 cup caster sugar
finely grated rind and juice from one or two lemons (depends on "lemony" you want them!)
1 & 1/2 cups buttermilk (or regular milk with some lemon juice mixed in)
1/3 cup of rice bran oil
1 egg

Method:

Prehead oven to 180C (I heated my fan-forced oven to 160 and it worked fine), line a 12 cup muffin pan with papers or grease lightly.  Mix together dry ingredients including rind, then separately whisk together the wet ingredients.  Add wet to dry, stir until it just comes together (too much mixing will result in rock hard cakes - you have been warned!)  Spoon into pan and bake for 20-25 mins until cooked.

Cool cakes on a wire rack, then make the buttercream.  I don't have a specific recipe for this; the best way is to beat up some room temperature unsalted butter (about 200 grams) using a mixmaster (any excuse to use my new Kitchenaid), add some lemon juice or whatever else you want to flavour it with - you could use jam, crushed berries, or other fruit juices - about two tablespoons worth of lemon juice will give it a nice tangy flavour.  Once it pales, gradually add in the icing sugar - it could be anywhere between one to three cups, depending on the flavour and consistency you need.  I like to keep it quite firm (more icing sugar) so it retains its shape when being piped on to the cupcakes. 

Sweet!

Mushroom, Potato & Leek soup

One of the items on the basic shopping list I gave to my husband this morning was "olive oil - decent".  Normally I have plenty of assorted bottles of the stuff in the pantry - given as gifts or sourced at various foodie markets or the odd vineyard.  But as I planned to spend today in both the kitchen and my pj's, taking a leisurely trip down into the Yarra Valley wasn't on the cards.  When he asked what would constitute "decent" from the local supermarket, I showed him the dregs of the last bottle of Cobram Estate (purple lable) and expected he'd simply buy another. 

He came back with three bottles of CE - one of each flavour - and with a proud flourish, lined them up on the kitchen counter.  We conduct a taste test using some Phillippa's organic sourdough to soak up the liquid gold.

We need to use up the sourdough today; what better way than to soak it up with a lovely warming winter veggie soup?  Vegetarian food comes to mind not because I'm a staunch non meat eater (although I think I could be without too many dramas) but because I have really been craving veggies lately.  I also have several vegetarian/vegan friends (and readers).  I decided to use some of the beautiful leeks from our garden to put together a lovely potato and leek soup with big chunks of swiss brown mushrooms to 'beef' it up.  It turned out really well - silky smooth with a nice tang courtesy of a bit of lemon juice.

Ingredients:

-  500g peeled/chopped potatoes (anything suitable for mashing)
-  two leeks, cleaned and white part sliced
-  olive oil
-  250g swiss brown mushrooms, chopped into quarters (don't peel!)
-  3 cups vegetable stock
-  2/3 cup cream with juice from half a lemon mixed in (or light sour cream or low fat milk for the diet-conscious!)

Method:

In a large saucepan, heat some olive oil and saute the leeks until soft.  Add the potatoes and stock, bring to the boil then cover with a lid and simmer for about 20 mins until potatoes are cooked; remove from heat.  In the meantime, saute the mushrooms in another pan with some olive oil until just softened, set aside.  Put the potato mixture into a food processor and blend, or use a stick blender until smooth.  Add the cream/sour cream/milk mixture and stir well over a low heat.  At this point add your seasonings - personally I only needed to add a little white pepper but no salt, as the lemon juice seems to give it just enough flavour.  Serve in bowls with a drizzle of your favourite olive oil (I used CE extra virgin "fresh & fruity" blend) with a generous pile of mushies on top.

A grown up taste of childhood...

When I was a little girl, I would often stay at my grandparents' house and in the morning my grandpa Ted - an ex orchardist - would slice fresh, home grown tomatoes over hot buttered toast, sprinkle it with a little salt and pepper, and we'd eat this for breakfast with strong white tea.

Some years later, long after Grandpa Ted passed away, I met Tim - also an ex-orchardist - who wooed me with fresh stonefruit from his family's orchard, New Zealand wine, and outings to some of Melbourne's finest restaurants. It was only after we married that I realised Tim hated tomatoes ... and anchovies. Two matches made in heaven, but something we could simply never enjoy together as husband and wife.

This week I hit the jackpot. My mother in law sent down some home grown tomatoes and leeks; at the same time Tim departed for a week long camping excursion.

Ingredients:
2-3 home grown tomatoes
1 leek
crushed garlic
2-3 tinned anchovies

Instructions:
Splash a little good quality olive oil into a pan and throw in thinly sliced leek, crushed garlic and anchovies. Fry off for a minute, stirring, then add finely chopped tomatoes. Shake pan and simmer for about a minute until mixture thickens slightly and tomatoes cook.

Serve:
On a thick slice of toasted sourdough, sprinkled with a little olive oil, seasalt and freshly ground pepper.