warm spiced apple juice

Despite the cold weather and short days, there still seem to be lots of celebrating with friends at this time of year.

And winter parties round these parts share a couple of indispensable characteristics, first is a huge bonfire and the second, a large pot or two simmering away on the wood stove filled with something warm to drink .  Usually, one pot will be filled with mulled wine, warm and fragrant, spicy red wine generously ladled around to keep the adults merry.  The other pot will be warm spiced apple juice, served to the little ones in mugs to keep the chills at bay.

Warm spiced apple juice is so easy to make, and we drink it often in winter, not just at parties, but whenever you might normally have a hot chocolate.   There are a few old orchards round here that make fresh pressed juice, and you buy it from a fridge in a shed by the side of the road, paying your money to an honesty box. Although you can go the more traditional route and buy your juice at a local supermarket, just make sure you get that nice cloudy apple juice.

Warm spiced apple juice

Not really a recipe - I'm guestimating the quantities, be guided by your taste buds to create a flavour you like. Sometimes I don't have whole spices to hand and use ground, that works okay.  Of course, you can make a much smaller amount for one or two people,  or double it for your next winter party.

2 litres of cloudy apple juice
1 litre of water
1/4 cup sugar (to taste - this really depends on the sweetness of your juice, you may not need any)
1 lemon or orange or both, thinly sliced
2 slices of fresh ginger
2 cinnamon sticks
12 allspice berries
8 whole cloves

In a large saucepan combine all ingredients and simmer on a low heat, stirring occasionally for 25 minutes. Strain mixture and discard solids.

Serve in tea cups, mugs or jam jars for a hipster affect.  One might be tempted to add a nip of gin and apple brandy for extra warmth.  Try sipping it using a cinnamon stick as a straw - it's amazing!

Elsa's room

It's almost a year since the sweet Jen Rayner came to take these snaps that appeared in Little ONE Kids Annual.  These photos accompanied a story written by Jodi .  This week, I stumbled upon the disk of images and thought they are worth sharing.  Elsa's room today, Hugo's coming soon.

I can't believe how much Elsa has changed in a year, and this is no more evident by how different her room looks now.  There are still waldorf dolls, thankfully, but there are loads of fat novels, more National Geographic animal posters and well, it's just a little less little girlish.

It's only now I realise these photographs have captured a little part of her childhood that might have been lost forever.   An unexpected keepsake of a moment from my not-so-little one's girlhood.

Blessed rains and a stylish weekend

Today the rains have finally arrived.  Those much needed and much loved soaking rains that usually arrive in autumn to break the dry summer are finally here. Welcome rain!

I had the most fun weekend working on a photo shoot for SBS Feast magazine's September and October issues.  This is a picture of a set up in progress.  I really love doing food styling and want to do more.  I'm currently putting a little portfolio together to showcase some of the work I've done to date.  I will show you when it's finished.

Meanwhile, with the forecast for rain all week, out in the weather is a hardworking wwoofer from Japan getting some jobs done in garden bless her.  This week I see gyoza and okonomiyaki on the menu!  Pass the kwepie mayo please.

What's happening in your week?   What's on the menu at your place?

High in the hills...

I can think of no better way to kick off winter than a day spent with good friends, good food and an old gramophone high in the hills.  There may have been bread, cheese and apple paste along with a little blueberry port too. And laughter of course, lots and lots of laughter.

I was so very excited when Luisa Brimble asked me to write a story for her new project Alphabet Family Journal. And I jumped at the chance to write about three very inspiring families who live in the Huon Valley.

On the weekend super ace photographer Jonathan Wherrett shot the first family, a gorgeous young couple who moved to Tasmania seeking Land, Adventure and Opportunity.  I think they've found all three.   You'll have to wait until Issue A arrives to find out more.  In the meantime, here are my shots of those clever peeps at work.

late autumn in the garden

There's something very satisfying about working in the garden at this time of year.  The end of autumn means it's time for a big tidy up in the patch and it's satisfying because the results can be seen immediately.  Barrow loads of finished plants are piled onto the compost heap and scrappy growth cut back to create a garden that, whilst not the lush picture of fecundity of spring and summer, is a clean and tidy (ish) slate to start planting and sowing again.


Yesterday, the weather was balmy and I ripped out the last of the withered tomato plants and the remarkably still happy tomatillos.

I'm pretty stoked with this crop of tomatillos.  All self seeded from plants I grew from Paulette the season before.  I'll be making lots of salsa from these tangy treats.  And the last of the green tomatoes will sit on the window sill to begrudgingly turn red. Those guys are best slowly roasted with olive oil and oregano to draw out any lingering flavour.






Wooden stakes are pulled out and damp ends left to dry out in the sun.  The beds are weeded and given a jolly good digging over with compost and manure.  Then raked over to create that lovely fine tilth ready for sowing broad beans, spinach and mustard greens.

Meanwhile weeds, ones like nettle and dock, are thrown into a bucket along with some comfrey leaves.  These special weeds are known as dynamic accumulators, meaning they suck up certain nutrients out of the soil and store them in their leaves.  

Too good to waste, I throw them into a large bucket add some water to make weed tea.  In a few weeks I'll have a really stinky brew to dilute and feed the garden, with the sludge added to the compost pile, to be dug into the soil next autumn.  When I'll be out doing these same satisfying chores again next year.

Have you been out in the garden lately?  Do you fancy a cup of weed tea?

Apple scrumping

The temperature has been steadily dropping over these last days of autumn, and today the mercury didn't reach double figures, languishing around the eight degree mark. With winter on the doorstep, it's perfect weather for curling up in front of the fire.  But the lure of one last fruit picking adventure was too hard to resist.  Especially one as clandestine as scrumping, that is fruit looting, or ahem, stealing apples off the trees without permission from the owner.



Up into the hills and along an old dirt road stands an overgrown abandoned apple orchard.  There were hundreds of kilos of apples rotting on the ground, with plenty more still stubbornly clinging to the gnarly, moss covered trees.  Despite the steep hills, thick grass and lots of brambles we had to battle to get in there, the prize of biting into those cold apples in that fresh mountain air was utterly delightful.  


We picked at least 20 kilos of granny smith's and tiny golden delicious, and would have picked more if we could reach the higher apples. We hauled our heavy baskets back down the road, whilst we stuffed our faces with crunchy sweet apples.

Tomorrow I'll make apple sauce, apple jelly and apple butter with the loot.

Apple scrumping, stealing perhaps, but a late autumn activity of the very best kind.

What we're eating right now :: caramelised garlic tart

It's easy to grow good garlic in Tasmania.  The winter provides plenty of chilly nights resulting in those prized fat purple heads.   Yesterday I sowed next year's garlic crop.  About sixty cloves that should, by Christmas all going well, turn into sixty fat heads of purple garlic.  

 

Although we're not self sufficient in much food wise, roosters and garlic we never have to buy.  We always manage to grow enough to eat for most of the year, along with saving enough cloves to sow for the following season.

It's about this time of year however, when the stored garlic starts to sprout.  The cloves go soft and start to dry out and they don't make very good eating.   I have to regularly pick through the basket and cook up, or sow any that have started to sprout.  We're still on track though to have enough to last until spring, then we can start picking the green flower stalks or scapes that will have grown from the cloves sown this week.

This tart is based on the recipe from Yotam Ottelnghi's book Plenty. I've edited it slightly in the spirit of thriftiness, and using three whole heads of garlic, it's a delicious way to use up those sprouting cloves.

Caramelised Garlic Tart

1 sheet of puff pastry - although I made my own rough puff based on this recipe

3 whole heads of garlic, cloves separated and peeled

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1/2 cup of water

100g goats cheese

2 eggs

1/2 cup creme fraiche

1/2 cup of pure cream

A few sprigs of thyme

Line a 20cm loose bottom tart tin with puff pastry and blind bake in a moderate oven for 10-15 minutes or until pastry is golden.  Remove from oven and set aside, but leave the oven on.

Meanwhile, put the cloves in a small saucepan and cover with plenty of water.  Bring to a boil and blanch the garlic cloves for about 3 minutes, then drain and dry off cloves. Dry the saucepan and pop the cloves back in with the olive oil and heat over medium heat for a few minutes until garlic starts to colour.

Add balsamic and water, increase heat to high then once boiling, reduce to a simmer.  Cook at a gentle simmer for around 10 - 15 minutes, then add thyme, sugar and a pinch of salt and continue to simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated and the cloves are coated in a thick syrup.  Remove from heat and allow to cool a little.

To assemble the tart, crumble goats cheese evenly over the base of the tart shell. Then spoon cloves and syrup over the cheese.

Make a custard by beating the eggs, creme fraiche and cream together adding a little salt and pepper in a small jug and pour over tart filling, making sure the custard fills in any gaps.  You still want to see garlic and cheese poking up through the custard.

Bake tart in the oven for about 35 - 40 minutes or until top is golden and custard is firm.

Allow to cool a little, and serve warm.

A weekend in the kitchen

 

Always nice to have a clean kitchen.  With floors scrubbed and benches cleared away, it's worth taking a photo or two.   Although, it didn't look like this for very long.  Because yesterday we worked on a photo shoot in the kitchen, and as you can see, it gets rather untidy during the process. 

But working from home is always great, (I will show you the results when they're published in a few months) there is so much to learn, with the added bonus of a fridge filled with delicious things to eat.  

Today the kitchen is back to normal, a bit messy and cluttered, but at least I can spend some time in the garden, instead of cooking dinner.  

With a break for afternoon tea of course. 

Autumn's last gasp

It looks so dramatic.  The valley at this time of year.   Mist settles on the hills, a few golden leaves cling stubbornly to the deciduous trees and the sun never seems to shine. The whiff of smokey bonfires linger in the air.  Cold, wet and gothic.

Unwanted apples sit forlornly on the trees, and little birds feast on the forgotten fruit. Or they'll fall to the ground where worms and bugs will finish them off. Shrivelled blackberries are dotted along the brambles and stick to my tights as I scramble along the hedge.   And bright red rose hips look so pretty glistening in the fading autumn light.

Autumn's last gasp.