Ham hock soup

This was my first weekend in something like two months, where I didn't have any plans.  It was an exhausting week on many levels and I was looking forward having some kitchen 'time out', to potter about reading recipe books & foodie blogs, baking, blogging, and generally resting.

I got up early Saturday to do some much needed grocery shopping.  It's actually my favourite time to shop - the supermarkets are usually devoid of people at that time and often the shelves are freshly stocked ready for the weekend.  It's nice to take time, casually strolling aisle to aisle, dreaming up the weekend's menu.  

It's perfect soup weather.  Having a big pot of soup cooking on the stove-top always reminds me of Mum - who is a massive fan of soup and forever dreaming up new recipes to use up the many vegetables in her garden.  I can't remember the last time I visited and there wasn't fresh soup at the ready.  So I'm sure at some point I've seen her use a great big ham hock to flavour the broth.

Ham hock soup is very easy, and uber-practical because you can use up bits and pieces in your cupboard and fridge.  Get out your biggest pot, put the hock in and put just enough water in to cover the meat.  Then, add some finely diced onion, a bay leaf, and a cup of (rinsed) green lentils - or any other type of pulse you happen to have in the pantry.  "Soup mix" is good for obvious reasons.  The rest is up to you: I like to throw in a couple of chopped potatoes and carrots - but celery, peas, beans, turnip and parsnip also works well.  You also might like to put in some extra flavour - like a stock cube or two, or a teaspoon of vegemite.  

Put the lid on and bring to a gentle simmer, cook for two hours or until the meat just starts coming away from the hock.  Take off the heat and remove the hock, then strip away the meat with a couple of forks, or some kitchen scissors.  Discard any fat or skin.  Put meat back in to the soup and stir well.

Adjust the seasoning of the broth to taste, I just use a little salt and pepper.  If you cool and put it in the fridge, the flavours develop overnight and it becomes even more flavourful.  Remember, once it's cooled the fat will rise to the top, so you can skim it off for a healthier version.

Quick pantry dinner: Lup Cheong Fried Rice

Whenever I cook rice, I always make at least double the amount I need.  This is so I can knock together some fried rice the next day.

It's so simple - the main ingredient is day-old cooked rice.  You can use white or brown but I think white works best.  Brown long-grain could work equally as well though.

All you need to worry about is getting a flavour base going.  Once that's done, just throw in the rice!

I hadn't been shopping in a while, but here's what I managed to scrounge together:

-  half a red onion
-  two small carrots
-  handful of green beans from the garden
-  red chilli
-  soy sauce
-  thumb-sized piece of ginger
-  pack of lup cheong (chinese cured) sausages
-  brown sugar

Finely dice onion, chilli and ginger, throw into a hot wok with about a tablespoon of vegetable oil.  Stir fry for a minute until softened and fragrant.  Add lup cheong - this is quite a fatty sausage and will impart some more juices and flavour into the pan, stir fry one minute.  You could instead use some chorizo, chicken or prawns, or for a vegetarian option, add firm tofu.  Add carrot (you could also use frozen peas, tinned corn, capsicum, etc) and stir fry for another minute or two until cooked.  Add cooked rice (about 2-3 cups worth), a splash or two of soy sauce, sugar and season with a few shakes of white pepper.  Stir fry until combined.

I like to spoon over some chilli oil for a little extra kick.

My favourite naughty foods

Pizza and chocolate.  Not together obviously, although I suppose you could do a nice chocolatey pizza like the one at Max Brenner's ... mmm ... where was I??

Oh. Yes.  My two favourite foods that are well and truly in the "naughty" category would have to be pizza and chocolate.  Unfortunately I don't have the metabolism of a hummingbird so I do try to be a good girl and keep them both to a minimum. 

Many, many years ago I worked evening shifts in a small but very busy country pizza restaurant.  I would work for five or six hours in the kitchen and go home absolutely reeking of tomato paste, melted cheese and ham; the smell would embed itself in my hair, clothes and skin - and I went off pizza for quite some time.  Nothing against the place as it was extremely popular and the pizza was excellent (I happily ate there before I got the job).  Something about how mechanics' cars are always overdue for a service.  Or someting like that.  Anyway, I got over my pizza aversion soon enough and have since become a coinnosseur of sorts.  Barbara, local Vintage Cookbooks shop owner, recently blogged about a new gourmet pizza restaurant that's opened up in my little town in the hills - pardon my excitement but this is HUGE news, because there was only one dinner restaurant in the town before that, and becuase I just LOVE pizza's which are a bit 'out there'.  I'll keep you posted as I'm sure I'll be eating there soon.

The best negotiation between eating the usual dripping-with-fat-pizza-shop-pizza and the weight watchers cardboard version, has got to be making your own from scratch.  You can use healthy toppings and low fat mozzarella cheese which pretty much tastes the same as regular.  Tonight I gave my new Kitchenaid mixer a workout and used the dough-hook to create a lovely pizza dough, and made pizzas for my husband and I using our favourite toppings:  white anchovy+vegetable for me, and peking duck+vegetable for him.  I've put him on a mission so that we don't suffer soggy bases in future:  a terracotta tile for the oven.

The next thing I baked today was a downright disgustingly gooey chocolate and raspberry brownie, using the recipe from a Donna Hay book ("Instant Entertaining").  Having the raspberries is an amazingly clever addition as the acidity and tartness cuts through the rich chocolate beautifully.

My excuse is that I'm booked in with a friend's church to help cater a gourmet three course meal to 14 dinner party guests - all in the name of some good old fashioned fundraising.  So at the moment I'm testing out various sweet and savoury things to ensure we get it right on the night.  And so I don't completely gorge myself on all of the finished products, I'm taking them into work to tempt the tastebuds of my colleagues instead. 

You know the drill; let me know if you would like a recipe or two... and if you like my blog, please subscribe!

Cheers, K_Bom x

Best friends and baking

In theory, my bestie V and I should make better enemies than mates. She loves Harry Potter; I prefer obscure arthouse movies with subtitles. V is outgoing and happily chats to strangers; whereas I'm more on the I(ntroverted) side of things. She is a naturally beautiful, latte-skinned Indian goddess who never wears make-up, not even on her wedding day (bitch!); I regularly spend a small fortune on beauty treatments and pampering for my pale, sensitive, scandanavian skin (the last time I turned up to work without foundation, I received concerned looks from colleagues who said "are you okay? You look ... unwell").

We're very different, V and I, in many ways. But we do agree on the important stuff. We hate shopping for the sake of it. We believe strongly in friendhsip, family and community. We share a passion for all things involving cheese. And, we love cooking.

Enjoying my first of two weeks leave and with V on school holidays, we agreed to spend a day together, cooking up hearty, healthy food with some of this season's early fresh produce.

White bean soup with tapenade and olive beer bread

Soup: 400 grams cannellini beans soaked overnight, then simmered in a pot for an hour with 2 litres vege stock, sauteed onion and celery, bay leaves, dried oregano then pureed and seasoned with lemon rind, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil once cooked.

bread: 1 1/4 cups each plain and SR flour mixed with 2 cups mixed pitted olives, 2 tbs olive oil, few chipped spring onions, 250ml beer (I went with a lovely James Squire pilsener), 1 tbs sugar - knead for a few mins and press into a pan, let it rise for 10 mins then bake in a 180C oven for 25 mins.

olive tapenade: Mix a few handfuls of mixed pitted & chopped olives with a chopped red chilli, splash of olive oil, 1/4 cup of fresh chopped oregano leaves, and the rind and juice of one lemon. Serve with cannellini bean soup and olive bread.

Autumn vegetable stew with herb dumplings

A selection of large chopped autumn vegetables simmered in just enough vegie stock to cover, along with a few bay leaves, ground ginger, cinnamon stick, garlic, and a teaspoon of flour to thicken. Dumplings were made using flour, grated cold butter, and enough water to bring together to a dough. Knead and roll into balls before dropping into simmering stew, simmer for approx 20 minutes or until all vegetables and dumplings are cooked through.

Olive marinaded roast chicken and mashed potato

Two small sized organic chickens were placed side by side in a roasting dish, after being marinaded in a mix of finely chopped kalamata olives, anchovies, lemon juice and rind, olive oil, fresh and dried oregano (pulse marinade ingredients in food processor to bring together and rub over chicken). Roasted in a 200C oven for 1 1/4 hours (turn once to redistribute juices and keep moist) - cover in foil for first 50 minutes of cooking. Potatoes were boiled and mashed roughly with some butter and milk, seasoned with a little pepper.