July 2002 - Mulled Wine

July is an incredible month of delicious. magazines. I have so many choices in each magazine and struggled to make final decisions. Although like every other month the menu is not set in stone. I haven't managed to get through one whole month without making changes to my initial menu. I hope that I might get through one month before the end of the year but I am quite fickle when it comes to deciding on what to eat.

The first recipe that had me really interested in issue #7 was Valli Little's Garlic Custard with Antipasti. I was intrigued by the idea of a garlic custard. It sounded so good but was full of cream, milk and cheese and my next recipe is one that is full of cream so I didn't want two heavy recipes in a row so the intriguing little garlic custards will have to wait for another day.

Jean-Christophe Novelli's Mandarin Brulee sounded wonderful. A creme brulee with mandarin juice would be a perfect dessert. I much prefer mandarins to eat over oranges, although I am not sure I would want to juice about 15 mandarins to get the 500 ml of juice required for the recipe. Plus I already had my dessert for the month sorted out so this one will also have to wait.

I ran into the same problems with Nino Joseph Zoccali's Quince, Sangiovese & Muscatel Torta. There are some amazing desserts in this issue. I am not sure I would have been able to find muscatel grapes and the quinces that I have seen lately haven't looked all that good. I waited hoping for the price to come down a bit but it looks like I have waited too long and the fruit in store is now starting to look a bit old and soft. I should have learnt by now that quinces do not come down in price. Their season is short and they are expensive and if I want to have some I need to suck it up and pay the price or find someone that has a quince tree that is nearby and willing to share.

What I ended up doing was making something that would be lovely served with the dessert from the next issue. So Valli Little's Mulled Wine it was. I really like mulled wine, it is the perfect drink on a cold winter night. This one was nice but I am used to a bit more spice in there, like star anise and cloves. I used a lovely Coonawarra Shiraz, although I think a cabernet sauvignon might have been a better choice. It was a very cold day/evening when I made this and it was beautifully warming and went well with dessert.

Mulled Wine

Serves 6 - 8 (yeah right, lol)

Ingredients:

• 750 ml bottle red wine
• 2 tbsp light brown or golden caster sugar
• 1 large piece orange peel
• 2 cinnamon sticks, plus extra to stir
• Grated fresh nutmeg
• Slices of orange, studded with cloves
  

Method

• Combine wine, sugar, orange peel, cinnamon and nutmeg in a saucepan over a low heat.
  
• Stir until sugar has dissolved and spices have released their flavours.
  
• Do not boil.
  
• Place orange slice in a glass and top with wine and place a cinnamon stick in to stir with.
  

June 2010 - Creamy Onion Tart in Walnut Pastry

On to the final issue for June. I cannot believe how quickly this month has passed. In fact it is hard to believe that I am half way through my back issues. I have discovered some wonderful recipes, and not just the ones that I have actually made and posted but all the others that I have marked to make as well. I really hope that I will go back more often and look through the back issues for some thing to make.

I have to admit that besides Valli Little's Spanish Pear Tarts with Pedro Ximenez syrup on the cover I didn't really consider any other recipe than the one I made from issue #94. I am sure there are plenty of good recipes in there and flicking through some things do look quite good. However Debbie Major's Creamy Onion Tart in Walnut Pastry caught my eyes and after that I wasn't interested in anything else. This was a great recipe and super easy to make. The pastry was a bit salty, I wouldn't add the salt when making it next time. The filling was fairly rich given all the cream and eggs in it but it was definitely worth it. I had it for dinner but I think that it would make a wonderful lunch.

Creamy Onion Tart in Walnut Pastry

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 30 g unsalted butter
  
• 4 large onions (about 450 g total), thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 3 large eggs
• 300 ml thickened cream (I used pure cream)
  
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Walnut pastry

• 175 g plain flour
• 1/2 cup (50 g) toasted walnuts
  
• 100 g chilled unsalted butter, chopped

Method:

• For the pastry: place flour, walnuts and 1/2 tsp salt in a food processor and blend until nuts are finely chopped.
  
• Add butter and process until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
  
• Add 1 1/2 tbsp cold water and process until mixture comes together in a ball.
  
• Wrap dough in plastic and chill for 15 minutes.
  
• Roll between two pieces of baking paper until 5 mm thick. Line 23 cm loose-bottomed tart pan. Chill for 30 minutes (I put it in the freezer for 10 instead).
  
• Meanwhile, melt butter in a large pan over a low heat.
  
• Add onion and a pinch of salt, cook for 30 minutes stirring occasionally, until onion is very soft but not browned.
  
• Preheat oven to 200 C.
  
• Line pastry shell with baking paper and pie weights or rice and bake for 20 minutes. Remove paper and bake for a further 5 minutes .
• Reduce oven to 190 C.
  
• Mix onions with parley, salt and pepper and then spread over the base of the tart shell.
  
• Beat eggs, cream and nutmeg together with a fork and pour over the onions.
  
• Bake for 25 minutes or until set and lightly browned.
  

June 2009 - Greek Rice Pudding

Well, we are getting close to the end of my vegetarian month and I have to admit that I have been a bit disappointed with the recipes on offer in these issues. Perhaps June wasn't the best time of year to attempt it. Maybe in the summer months there would be more vegetarian recipes with more people eating salads and lighter foods during that time. However part of doing this was to find some different vegetarian meals to have during the winter.

In issue #83 I was first drawn towards making Jamie Oliver's Spicy Kumara Soup with Goat's Cheese Crostini. However when I took some time to have a better look at the recipe it was only some curry paste, kumara and stock. There was pieces of roasted capsicum put into the soup after it was cooked and the goat's cheese smeared on bits of toasted bread. There just wasn't enough to it for me. I think that if there was also onion, a regular potato, carrot and perhaps celery in it I might have been more interested but in the end it just didn't interest me enough to make it.

Ben O'Donoghue's Cambodian Beef Soup was something that I was interested in making but it didn't fit my vegetarian menu plan. The Spinach & Feta Filo Pie did fit the menu plan but it wasn't that long ago that I made something similar.

In the end I decided on another dessert, Jill Dupleix's Greek Rice Pudding. Which by a strange co-incidence I discovered is also in one of the July back issues as well. It really is just a creamed rice made on the stove top with the addition of some rose water. I have to admit that I really loved the addition of the rose water and the warmed, home made, strawberry jam on top. It just adds some thing different. Next time I think that I would use a little be less milk and leave out the cornflour. It made for a really nice and reasonably healthy dessert. I had some more of it for breakfast this morning. :)

Greek Rice Pudding

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1L (4 cups) milk + 1 tbsp extra
• 1/2 cup 110g arborio rice
  
• 2 tbs caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp rosewater
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 1/2 cup low-joule strawberry jam, warmed
  

Method:

• Gently heat milk and rice in a heavy based saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until milk comes to a simmer.
  
• Turn heat to low just before milk boils, and cook uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until rice is tender.
  
• Add sugar, vanilla and rosewater, and stir until sugar dissolves.
  
• Mix cornflour to a paste with extra milk. Add paste to rice, raise heat slightly to medium, and stir well for 2-3 minutes until mixture thickens to a creamy texture.
• Serve top with warmed jam.
  

June 2008 - Coconut Quinoa Porridge with Banana and Palm Sugar

Ahhh, cheese....who doesn't love cheese? I am sure there are those that do not like it but I am certainly not one of them. I love most types, blue is probably the one exception. Although I have had a nice blue cheese dressing previously (not the one I made a while ago though). Rick Stein's Swiss Cheese Fondue looks beautifully rich and glorious and would be terrific to share with friends.

I, however, was much more interested in two different recipes in issue # 72. The first was Jude Blereau's Roasted Eggplant with Chickpeas, Black Olive & Capsicum salsa. A seemingly glorious combination of stuff that I would have never put together myself. The salsa is made up of chickpeas, kalamata olives, roasted capsicum, herbs and feta. This is piled on top of eggplant halves that have been roasted in the oven after being fried for a couple of minutes and then basted with a balsamic, tamari, garlic, and basil marinade. I cannot wait to get my hands on some nice eggplants to make this, just the wrong season. There are still some in stores but they are a bit over ripe and kind of soft.

The other recipe that I was very intrigued with was Melbourne cafe, Birdman Eating's, Coconut Quinoa Porridge with Banana and Palm Sugar. I am always looking for something different for breakfast as well as a new way to use quinoa so this ticked all the right boxes. I was, however, quite disappointed. The palm sugar syrup was a bit over powering. My main problem though was the coconut milk I used though, Ayam brand. It was incredibly thick and the end product was a bit tinny tasting. I will try it using either a different brand of coconut milk or regular cows milk and see what it is like. I think that next time I will sweeten with maple or agave syrup.

Coconut Quinoa Porridge with Banana and Palm Sugar

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 cups (500ml) coconut milk
• 1 cup (200 g) quinoa
• 250 g dark palm sugar, cut into small chunks (or use 1 1/4 firmly packed cups dark brown sugar)
• 2 bananas, sliced
• 1/2 c (35 g) shredded coconut, lightly toasted
  

Method

• Combine coconut milk with 1 cup (250 ml) water in a jug, then set aside.
• Combine quinoa and a pinch salt in a saucepan.
  
• Add half the coconut milk/water mixture, or just enough to cover the grains.
  
• Bring to the boil, stirring, over medium-low heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 - 25 minutes or until the grains are tender and the mixture is a porridge consistency, topping up with some of the remaining liquid if it is becoming too thick.
  
• Meanwhile, place the palm or brown sugar and 1 cup (250ml) water in another saucepan over low heat. Stir to dissolve sugar, then simmer for about 30 minutes until it is a thick, syrupy consistency and the mixture has reduced by half.
• To serve, pour about 1 tbsp of syrup in the bottom of each bowl, spoon over the porridge then add a little more syrup. Top with sliced banana and sprinkle with toasted coconut and serve warm.
• Store any remaining palm sugar syrup in the fridge for up to 1 week.

June 2007 - Spaghetti with prosciutto, peas and spring onion

The bright red cover of issue 61 really catches your eye and so does Valli Little's Spicy Beef, Olive & Caramelised Onion Pie. When I first pulled this issue out of the book case to get reacquainted with it I found myself with a large amount of marked recipes. I marked a few more while reading through it too.

This was another issue that was pretty light on the vegetarian recipes and the only one that interested me was Indian Cauliflower & Chickpea curry. It did sound good, but I just haven't felt like curry recently. So I decided that I would jut have to break with my vegetarian month for this issue. I have to admit that I am rather disappointed with the number of vegetarian recipes in the last few issues.

I did consider Jane Lawson's Passionfruit Sponge cake. This was one of the recipes that I have had marked since I first bought the magazine. I love sponge cakes, and they are so easy to make. The added bonus of this one is the beautiful passionfruit curd and passionfruit icing. The problem though is that it is not the right time of year for passionfruit. That is more of a summer fruit and at the moment they are a bit pricey. I know that you can purchase canned passionfruit but I am not keen on it. If I am going to make a passionfruit curd to go on a sponge cake it must be made with fresh passionfruit so I will keep this one until they are back in season.

Ingrid Rihani's Lamb Tagine with prunes, almonds and caramelised onions, a beautiful slow-cooked meal, that I am sure would be rich and full of flavour and delightfully tender. However, I was trying to get through some recipes quickly and it just didn't fall on the right day to make a long slow dish. I had the same issue with Ben O'Donoghue's Classic Coq au Vin. A glorious recipe full of every thing one would expect from coq au vin.

I ended up going with a recipe from Rose Gray & Ruth Rogers of River Cafe, Spaghetti with prosciutto, peas and spring onion. It sounds and looks like a fabulous recipe and I really want to like it because it was really easy to make. However I found it to be really greasy and I didn't enjoy it much which was really disappoint as I love the components. I think that if it had been a creamy sauce or perhaps a bit of lemon juice to cut through all the oil. I am not sure. It was quick and easy to make. It took a little bit less cooking time for me as I used frozen rather than fresh peas. Over all, I don't think that I would make this one again.

Spaghetti with prosciutto, peas and spring onion

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 100 g unsalted butter
• 200 g spring onions with bulb, outside skin peeled away, whit part chopped
• 400 g podded peas
  
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
  
• Extra virgin olive oil
  
• 150 g prosciutto slices, torn
  
• 350 g spaghetti
• 50 g freshly grated parmesan
  

Method

• Melt butter over medium to high heat and cook onion in it for 2 - 3 minutes.
  
• Add the peas & 1/4 cup hot water and simmer until water evaporates.
  
• Add garlic, parsley and 1/4 olive oil.
  
• Cover and cook over a low heat for 15 minute or until peas are tender, then add prosciutto. If more liquid is needed, add olive oil, not water.
  
• Cook for a further minute or until heated through.
  
• Meanwhile cook spaghetti until al dente.
  
• Drain, add to pea mixture and serve topped with parmesan.