A chicken and barley soup to come home for

Hello! It's nice to be back here after a couple of weeks away from blog-land. I have loads of great posts lined up for this little space, but in the meantime...wanted to quickly share the below recipe...

Tim and I have just wrapped up a brief visit to Hong Kong and it's pretty nice to be back home with the kids, on our cold, quiet and sodden farm. We were there for a trade show, as part of a NSW Dept of Trade and Investment producer delegation, and it was, I think, a success. We/Mandagery Creek Venison exposed ourselves (in a tasteful way) to some potentially significant new customers and also found ourselves sharing ideas and experiences not only with a bunch of fantastic producers, but also professionals from different nationalities and business backgrounds.

Working and living from home, from a farm, can sometimes feel a bit insular, so we count ourselves very lucky to have had this experience; essentially a big fat injection of motivation, endorsement for what it is we are doing and excitement about doing it even better.

Now back home, it's time to follow up, reflect and most important of all, catch up with Ali and Tom. Plus, because we're all feeling a bit under the weather (runny noses all round), it's soup this house needs, and lots of it. So today I made a big pot of the below. It is the culinary opposite from the dumplings, noodles, cocktails and strangely coloured teas and iced milk drinks we'd been partaking of over in Honkers. And just perfect.

Chicken, barley and vegetable soup to come home for

This is the perfect comfort food - it's easy to make (which is in itself, very comforting), really good for you (again, a comfort), easy to eat and completely delicious. Make double if you have a pot big enough; it's great for the kids' lunch thermoses and/or just to have stashed in the fridge or freezer for an emergency refuel. Serves 4-6.

1 brown onion, peeled and finely diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
3 tbsp thyme leaves
1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 celery, finely chopped
4 rashers of beautiful, fat double-smoked bacon, chopped into strips
400g free-range chicken thigh pieces, chopped into small-ish pieces
4 cups of chicken stock (or more depending on the consistency you're after)
1 parmesan rind (if you have one lying around in the fridge or freezer - no big deal if not - just adds some extra flavour!)
Three or four pared strips of lemon zest
1 cup pearl barley

To serve - extra parmesan, finely chopped parsely, some toasted pepitas (for crunch and goodness) and a drizzle of olive oil.

Heat a couple of glugs of olive oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan on medium. Cook the onion, stirring often, for about five minutes or until soft and translucent. Add the garlic, carrot, celery and thyme and cook for another couple of minutes. Toss in the bacon, increase the heat a little and cook for a few minutes, or until it's cooked through.

Now it's time to add the chicken, increase the heat a little more and cook for two minutes or until the pieces are pretty much all sealed. Pour in the stock, add the parmesan rind, lemon zest and pearl barley. Season well, bring to the boil then reduce heat and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Serve with extra parmesan, finely chopped parsley, pepitas and a little olive oil. Plus of course, some warm, buttered toast soliders.

Feeding the artists - part 1

As some may know; my mother Annie Herron, is an artist (the bird sculpture a few pics below is one of her works). She also teaches residential art classes at our family home near Rydal, just over the Blue Mountains of NSW. These classes have been running for just over 10 years and in this time, hundreds of people have learnt what Mum believes so firmly; that anyone can draw or paint. It's just about having the confidence, inspiration and time to try.

Last month I joined in to help out. My job was to cook for her and the students and I loved it. Over the month, we ran three classes of five days each, catering for both beginners and advanced level artists. For my part; the food was pretty simple but seasonal, not too heavy and hopefully full of good flavour. We all sat together every meal and dinners particularly were fun, often followed by a game of kelly pool or charades.

Most of the recipes I used came from my own book (which, wouldn't you know - is still available right here via my little shop). Not because I was shamelessly self-promoting (honestly!) but really because it's just full of the kind of food I like to feed people, and I seem to keep coming back to it. We ate lots of soups (like this pumpkin and apple one, and this chicken harira), plus cakes, slow-roasts and salads and I'd sometimes take big trays of warm scones or pikelets over to the studio for morning tea. Recipes for these treats and a few desserts and cakes I cooked during the month will follow in a separate post. But for now, I thought I'd put up some of the lunches we had together. 

I wish I'd taken more photos of the food to share here, but as I also find up at the farm kitchen, when cooking, serving and plating up for big groups, it's hard to find the time to pull out a camera. Plus, I still feel a bit awkward about snapping away at dishes when there's a group waiting to be served them!

Celeric remoulade

This recipe was given to me (verbally) by veggie grower Fabrice Rolando, whose vegetables were the star of pretty much every dish I served at during my time at Rydal. And because I could hardly read my notes from the visit with Fabrice (they ended up worse for wear after being dropped in the mud...hmmm), I turned to Stephanie Alexander's Cooks Companion for her celeriac remoulade recipe and found it filled in the gaps perfectly. So the below recipe is an amalgamation of sorts. In any case, Fabrice recommended I serve this spooned over roasted baby vegetables which I did, and it was the perfect partner for a main of roast venison and quince jus that we had for dinner on day one. The leftover remoulade was put up with a salad or two and a slab of hot foccaccia for lunch the next day.

Crunchy, creamy and tangy, good remoulade really is a beautiful thing to bring to the table. It's perfect on its own with good crusty bread, alongside cured meats and a simple salad for lunch or as Fabrice advised and I discovered; over sweet roast veggies as the ultimate side dish. Makes about three cups of remoulade.

the mayonnaise
3 egg yolks
2 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp lemon juice
300mls mild olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

2 celeriac
1 handful parsley, finely chopped

First, make the mayonnaise. Place a tea towel on your work bench then set a bowl on top of that. Combine the yolks, mustard and lemon juice in the bowl and whisk to combine. Slowly add the olive oil, whisking all the time, pouring it in a thin, constant stream. You should see the mixture emulsify and grow into a thick, pale golden sauce. Keep whisking until you’ve used up all of the olive oil. Season to taste then keep in the fridge until needed.

For the celeriac; fill a bowl with water and add a few lemon quarters. Peel and trim the celeriac then cut into thick halves. Place these in the acidulated water until ready to chop. When you are; do so as finely as possible. You can use a mandolin here but I usually end up taking off the top of a finger with mine, so prefer to use a sharp knife to slice the celeriac into matchsticks.

Mix the sliced celeriac with about half a cup of mayonnaise (or to taste), stir through the parsley then season to taste.

Rosemary focaccia

600g strong flour
1tsp sea salt
1 tbsp instant dry yeast
5 tbsp olive oil
300mls warm water
2 tbsp olive oil
1 handful rosemary 

Mix the flour, salt and yeast together in a bowl. Whisk the oilve oil and water together in a jug. Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the wet ingredients. Stir to combine then either knead in an electric mixer with a dough hook or by hand for about 10 minutes, or until the recipe is smooth and elastic. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove for one hour or until doubled in size. Line a tray with baking paper and gently turn the dough out onto the tray. Press the dough flat until you have a large rectangle about 2cm thick. Cover with clean tea towel and aside to rest for twenty minutes. Sprinkle with the rosemary, press your fingers into the dough to make indents then add a little extra sea salt and a final drizzle of olive oil before baking in a preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Serve warm in little cubes or slices.

Prosciutto, bocconcini and crouton salad

This is one of the easiest but most popular salads I know of. I tend to serve it next to a simple risotto for lunch and it went particularly well with this sorrel one. Aromatic with garlic, crunchy, golden and draped with pink prosciutto; how could it not be? The trick, as with all torn bread salads, is to add the croutons to the dressing mixture straight from the oven, so they really absorb all the flavours well. Serves 4-6.

Like all salads, this one is hardly a recipe, more a compilation job. So basically what you do is just tear a few big handfuls of stale bread (sourdough is best) into good-sized chunks. Place these on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and bake in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes, or until nice and golden. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine a cup of torn bocconcini with two crushed garlic cloves, 200g prosciutto slices and 5 tbsp olive oil and toss well. Just before serving; arrange a few handfuls of baby spinach on a large platter. Toss the hot croutons with the prosciutto mixture then arrange this over the baby spinach. Season with cracked black pepper then a finishing drizzle of balsamic vinegar.
 

Mushroom oreccihette

I served this simple, tasty pasta with a bit of parmesan on the side and loads of peppery rocket tossed with crunchy almonds and dressed in a mustardy vinaigrette. It's a great vegetarian lunch and the sauce can be made up well in advance. The recipe is adapted from one by Michele Curtis and Allan Campion in their wonderful book In the kitchen. Serves 4-6

1 onion, diced
3 cups mixed mushrooms, sliced
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
A pinch of dried chilli flakes, to taste
2 tbsp tomato paste
500g dried orecchietti
1 cup finely chopped parsley

Heat a large, heavy-based pan over medium heat and in it, cook the onion with a little olive oil for five minutes, or until translucent. Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook for a further couple of minutes. Pour in the wine and let bubble for a minute before adding the stock, tomatoes, tomato paste, chilli and seasoning (to taste). Stir well, bring to the boil then reduce heat and cook on low for about 25 minutes, stirring every now and then. Cook the pasta according to packet instructions, drain then toss through the hot sauce. Sprinkle with parsley, season to taste then serve.

Smoked salmon with mustard cream, pickled veggies and salad

Here is possibly my favourite kind of lunch; a big platter of goodies to pick and mix from then graze away at slowly. You can use good quality smoked salmon here as I have, or make gravlax which makes the whole thing even more special. The honey mustard sauce and pickled vegetable recipe* both came from Gourmet Traveller and I turn to them often. And though they didn't make the below picture, I also served this spread with mugs of beetroot soup and boiled eggs.

*I added a few thinly sliced target beetroot (see below, aren't they pretty!) to this recipe and was very glad of it. The colour and flavour gave a great lift.

Baked ricotta with Dad's spinach

My father Henry, is, among other things, very good at growing veggies (particularly spinach). And his (and Mum's!) garden was a great source of produce during my time in the kitchen last month with a glut of spinach making it's way quite often into this baked ricotta dish.

Very very easy and always a hit; I really recommend giving it a try! You can make it without the spinach if you like, or substitute this for a handful of halved cherry tomatoes, or any other cooked or raw vegetable you fancy. Serves 4-6.

1 big bunch of spinach
1kg fresh ricotta
5 eggs
1 cup parmesan, grated
1 tsp thyme leaves
Seasoning to taste

Preheat oven to 180 and grease and line a baking tray with paper (I used a 20cm square tin). Strip the spinach from their stalks, roughly chop then blanch in boiling water for two minutes. Drain and set aside for a moment. Combine the ricotta, eggs, parmesan, thyme and seasoning (to taste) in a large bowl and whisk to combine (I find that if you work it too much the end result will be a bit too dense). Squeeze excess water from the spinach then finely chop and fold through the ricotta mixture. Spoon into the prepared tin, smooth over the top then bake for about 25 minutes or until the ricotta is springy to touch (you want it to be just set). Serve warm or at room temperature.

Potato and leek soup with creme fraiche and hazlenuts

Creamy, mild and finished with  crunchy and tasty hazlenuts; this soup is perfect for wintery lunches. It is slightly adapted from one given by Mathew Evans in last month's SBS Feast Magazine. If you don't fancy making the stock yourself, just use a good quality store-bought one. Serves 6.

For the stock

2 onions

1 carrot
1 parsnip
2 bay leaves
1 cup mushroom stems
2 leek tops

Combine all ingredients plus two litres of water in a large saucepan on high. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and cook for a couple of hours at a gentle simmer. Drain, discard the vegetables and set the stock aside.

For the soup

100g butter

3 leeks, washed and finely sliced

6 floury potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
2 bay leaves

To serve; toasted, roughly chopped hazlenuts (from Fourjay Farms if you can source them!), creme fraiche and extra virgin olive oil.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the leeks and cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes. Add the potatoes, bay leaves and stock and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and cook for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Discard the bay then puree in batches, adding a little more hot water if necessary to get the desired consistency. Serve with the hazlenuts, creme fraiche and a drizzle of really good olive oil.

If you are at interested in joining us at one of Mum's classes one day, please check out the website for upcoming dates (the next round is in Spring, then next Autumn). Or email Mum directly. They really are a wonderful, unique experience and I am proud to now be a part of it!

Soup and cake for cold days

Hello from Rydal! After a few days at home, I'm back in the kitchen, cooking again this week for the art classes my mother, artist Annie Herron teaches here every May and October. And because I'm feeling a bit sooky about leaving my little (and big!) people again, thought I'd post a recipe for two of their favourite things - soup and cake.

Apple and pumpkin soup is Alice and Tom's current favourite, and actually, mine too. The apple lifts and brightens the flavour and the creamy pumpkin is like throwing a little blankie over your knees - comforting but not cloying.



I've been collecting recipes and photos from my time here in Rydal and will post the lot in one hit next week but for now, lets eat soup and cake. Have a great week! Sophiex

Apple and Pumpkin Soup

If you make one soup this Autumn....this should definitely be it. Easy, cheap and delicious it's one of the best things I've had in ages - and everyone at the art classes loved it for lunch too! You can swap the apple with pear if you like or throw in a mixture of whatever is in the fruit bowl.

4 cups butternut pumpkin, peeled, de-seeded and roughly chopped
4 tart cooking apples, quartered and cored
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 leek, roughly chopped
1 handful sage leaves
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
40g butter
Natural 'Greek' style yogurt, to serve

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Combine the pumpkin, apples, garlic, leek, sage, olive oil and seasoning in a large baking tray and toss to combine. Place in the oven and roast for about 45 minutes or until the pumpkin is cooked through and just beginning to caramelise.

Blitz, in batches with a little of the stock and butter until you have a big saucepan full of golden, delicious soup. Serve with a spoonful of yogurt if you like (we do) and a plate of warm, golden ciabatta bread.

The below zucchini and pistachio cake is another favourite in this house. You can find the recipe here, but since making it last, I've upped the lemon in the cream cheese icing quite a bit and also added a touch more cinnamon too.

Postcard from Mudgee - Trelawney Farm

Mudgee's Trelawney Farm is the kind of place you never (ever) want to leave. I love every room, detail and corner of this unique place and am already scheeming to get back there soon, this time with a bunch of friends for a nice long weekend (who's in?).

The generous family behind this farm, recently offered to put me up at Trelawney for a night and as I needed to visit Mudgee to do some interviews for the book, it was perfect timing. Actually it was just plain perfect. Trelawney is about four kilometres from the centre of Mudgee and smack bang in the middle of some of the region's best cellar doors and wine trails. The house itself sleeps up to 12 people, and from the fabulous outdoor bath to the pizza oven, library, kids room full of old school toys and blackboards, it's one of the most gorgous places I've ever stayed.



This trip was fleeting and busy with appointments but I did do a bit of research for the return version which I hope will be soon and with the kids and friends in tow. Mudgee Region Tourism's website is loaded with great tips on where to eat, sleep and play and honestly, this region has just so much to offer but for now, and for what it's worth, here's a little collection of things we hope to do next time.

• Save up and book Trelawney House for a couple of nights.
• Have breakfast, lunch or dinner at the Market St Cafe (pictured above and below) for local produce cooked beautifully and served up with a good dose of friendliness.
• Head to Mudgee's iconic Roth's Wine Bar for dinner and some excellent live music (by our mate and wine bar co-owner Kyle Manning).
• Do some wine tasting and share a cheese plate at the stunning Logan Wines tasting room (pictured below).
• Mosey on over to Di Lusso Estate (just around the corner from Trelawney Farm) for wood-fired pizzas and bocce.
• Have a shopping spree at the monthly Mudgee Farmers Market (third Saturday of the month) or if we can't swing it to visit that weekend, a bit of a stock up at the gorgeous Mudgee Corner Store.
• Drop in to at the High Valley Cheese and Wine Co to pick up some locally made cheese and other goodies.

Porcini, chicken and barley stew

Because it was a chilly Sunday night when we visited and I just get excited cooking in new kitchens, this little soup came together very painlessly while we caught up with Mudgee-based friends who popped round for dinner and a glass of wine. It was perfect and easy. Serves 4.

30g dried porcini
2 tbsp olive oil
500g chicken thigh fillets, cut into strips
2 onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup pearl barley
3 cups chicken stock
handful chopped parsley

Cover the porcini mushrooms with boiling water (about 1 cup) and soak for 5 mins or until softened.
Heat half of the olive oil and brown the chicken until lovely and golden on all sides. Remove from pan and reduce heat to medium. Add the remaining oil and cook the onion for a few minutes, add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Return chicken to pan, add the barley, stock, porcini and soaking liquid. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 mins or until barley is tender. Scatter with parsley and serve with bread or crackers.

The April List and an Autumn soup

Hello! Here we are on the cusp of F.O.O.D Week, with endless jobs to do, and here I am faffing about on the computer. But as mentioned previously this week, an April List of cooking and reading is well overdue so here goes.

• Recipe Rifle is a new discovery and it's hysterical. I love this blog and its author
• Celebrate hazlenut season with these cakes from Good Things Grow
• Cinnamon rolls from Look I Made That
• Our Wee Farm offers up a slice of idylic country life, and some gorgeous recipes from New Zealand's Northland region
• New blog She Sows Seeds comes from South Australia's Limestone Coast and looks gorgeous. I can't wait to read more
• Lots of good reading and cooking over here at Liz and Jewels
• Salted spicy double chocolate chilli cookies. Wowsers, these look amazing
• Style inspiration from the inspiring Alice Waters
• I'm a little bit in love with The Cook's Atelier. What a dream it would be to travel to France for one of their courses! For now, their beautiful blog will do. For more of rural France, please take a moment to watch the brief, beautiful film embedded below
• Flourless chocolate cake by Kara Rosenlund's always beautiful blog
• Fox's Lane does Jerusalem, and the food looks amazing!
• Gorgeous photos and words as usual from Whole Larder Love. And more goodness from Rohan Andersen in the clip below
• Kinfolk's baking workshops go global and look awesome. Please come to Orange!

Pear, pumpkin and sage soup

This one is Autumn in a bowl and heavily influenced by a recipe given on page 92 of my new favourite book Hugh's Three Good Things on a Plate, by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.  In between putting this little post together, I've been making vast quantities of it to serve as a starter at our Farm Kitchen events tomorrow and the kitchen is smelling amazing!

1kg butternut or jap pumpkin
5 cloves garlic (bashed but unpeeled)
1/2 cup sage leaves
Olive oil, sea salt and pepper
500g Red Anjou or other pears (ours came from Nashdale Fruit Company)
700ml chicken stock
100g butter

Preheat oven to 180C. Peel the pumpkin and chop roughly. Place in deep roasting tin with the garlic, sage and a good few glugs of olive oil. Season well and place in the oven for 45 minutes (tossing about half way through). Near the end of the cooking time, peel, core and quarter the pears and add them to the pan. Toss everything about again and cook for a further 25 minutes or until the pears are soft. Blend in batches with the stock and butter until smooth. Serve in deep, warm bowls with warm buttered rolls.

Serve with a drizzle of chilli oil and a few toasted pumpkin seeds.  Serves 4-6.

And here to finish today's post, two beautiful little films about two different but inspiring producers. The first comes from Tiger in a Jar and the second via Whole Larder Love and Smith Journal.

Free to weave: a day of basketry, snow and soup

Artist Harriet Goodall visited us on Friday to teach a workshop in random weaving at the Farm Kitchen. It was snowy and blustery outside but Harriet and her eleven students were so absorbed in their basketry I don't think they'd have noticed if a cyclone had blown past. Harriet is a wonderful artist (see more of her works here) and engaging teacher. While the weavers wove I pottered about in the kitchen making cups of tea, slicing cake, heating soup and being a bit jealous of all this creative industry. Morning tea was a buttermilk and ginger loaf, for lunch we had a chicken and chickpea soup with nice seeded bread and salad and then more tea with oat and cranberry biccies. All the recipes can be found below. We would love to host more workshops here so please get in touch to register your interest.

 

Chicken harira soup

It was difficult to drag all the weavers away from their baskets for lunch but eventually they stopped just long enough for a bowl of this soup. This recipe was inspired by a cooking class I took some time ago with Lesley Russell of the Orange Regional Cooking School. It’s perfect for a cold winters’ day and just delicious with some nice bread and salad.

600g chicken thigh fillets, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 heaped tsp each of ground turmeric, cumin and cinnamon
50g butter
A handful of parlsey and coriander, chopped
2 cups chickpeas (soaked overnight and cooked until tender)
1 x tin chopped tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock
seasoning to taste

Melt the butter and then cook the onion over medium heat for about five minutes or until soft. Add the spices and cook for a minute or two. Add the chicken and cook until nicely browned, about five minutes. Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, herbs and stock and simmer for about 25 minutes. Season to taste and serve.

Muesli and cranberry biscuits

150g butter, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
finely grated zest of one orange
1 egg
1 2/3 cups wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup oats
1/2 cup cranberries
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 180C and line a tray with baking paper. Cream the butter, sugar and orange rind together until pale and creamy. Add the egg and beat until smooth. Fold in the flour, baking paper and cinnamon and finally fold in the oats and cranberries. Roll into little balls (about a teaspoon-worth) and place on the baking tray a few centimetres apart and squash down lightly with a fork. Cook for ten minutes or until lightly golden and cool on a rack.

Buttermilk and ginger loaf with lemon icing

This cake has a little heat from the fresh ginger and a soft, springy texture thanks to the buttermilk. It keeps really well and is just beautiful with the tangy lemon icing.

150g butter
1/2 cup golden syrup
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tsp finely grated ginger
1 tsp bicarbinate of soda
1 tbsp hot water
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp ground ginger
2 1/3 cups plain flour

Line a loaf tin with baking powder and preheat the oven to 160C. Place the butter, syrup and honey in a small saucepan and cook, stirring often until the butter has melted and the mixture resembles a smooth caramel, stir through the ginger. Mix the bicarbonate of soda and hot water together and then stir this through the butter mixture. Add the buttermilk, eggs ground ginger and flour and gently fold. Pour into the loaf tin until it is about 3/4 full (if you have extra mixture pour into muffin tins). Cook for about 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack and then keep in an airtight container for a good few days.

For the icing, mix together about 1/2 cup of icing sugar, the zest of two lemons and juice of one. Add more juice or sugar until you get a nice and creamy consistency. 

Cold comfort farm

Katie and Beau Baddock of the Nashdale Fruit Company are the real deal.

They grow an impressive range of fruit and vegetables and then sell everything at farmers markets across Sydney. Plus, Katie's father John is one of Orange's most experienced orchardists and growers. He even has a section on their website where you can ask questions about what to grow where, when to harvest or where to find certain tree varieties and John will answer online. Nifty.

At this time of year the whole family is busy pruning, sowing spring crops and harvesting winter vegetables, including Jerusalem Artichokes. We recently dropped in for some veggies, and though it was a bitter three degrees and he had long day of work ahead, Beau couldn't have been more friendly or generous with his produce and time. Like Father-in law like son!

Having limited experience with this particular vegetable, I  turned to Maggie Beer's website for advice and this beautiful, slightly nutty soup was the result. In my virtual travels I also discovered that Jerusalem Artichokes are actually part of the sunflower family and not at all related to artichokes, and that they love to be paired with sage, thyme, cream and bacon. Other than soups, they are also great roasted with some thyme and garlic or tossed through a salad like this one by Jamie Oliver.

Jerusalem Artichoke soup with apples and hazlenuts

Serves two as a main or four as a starter
5 large Jerusalem Artichokes, washed and really well scrubbed
40g butter
2 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp lemon thyme leaves
Juice and zest of one lemon
2 tbsp creme fraiche
1/2 cup hazlenuts (we love the roasted hazlenuts from Fourjay Farms)
1 pink lady apple, sliced into matchsticks

Slice the scrubbed but unpeeled Jerusalem Artichokes into little discs and cook in the melted, frothing butter over medium-high heat for about five minutes or until they are just starting to caramelise. Add the stock, thyme, zest and lemon juice and bring to the bubble. Reduce heat quite low and let simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until the Jerusalem Artichokes are tender. Blitz the whole lot until nice and smooth then stir through the creme fraiche. Pour soup into bowls, top with the apples and hazlenuts and drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil. 

Where the wild things are

We spent most of yesterday out on the farm with a picnic and some friends. It was a bright, cold winter's day and loads of fun. The kids went wild and didn't stop running all afternoon while we kept warm with some beautiful local red wine...to the point that our entire household was out for the count by 8pm. I woke this morning to a kitchen bench piled with baskets of cold, greasy plates, bowls and chopping boards - always the worst part of a picnic.

For lunch we had our new venison salami (available from next month at the farmers markets), caraway lavosh with cheddar cheese, pear and parsnip soup, lamb chops and salsa verde with mustard greens (recipes all below). Dessert was an apple cake and marshmallows.

Caraway Lavosh

This recipe is an adaption of one given by Annabel Langbein in her fantastic book The Free Range Cook. Also beautiful with fennel seeds or poppyseeds.

3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup wholemeal flour
4 tbsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1tsp sesame oil
1/2 cup water

Preheat the oven to 165C and line a tray with baking paper. Mix the flours, seeds and salt together in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the water and oils. Mix well until you have a nice soft dough. Divide this into five balls. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out each ball as thinly as you can. Cut into uneven squares and bake, in batches for 10 minutes each (or until just beginning to turn golden).

Salsa Verde with mustard greens

This sauce is just fantastic with pretty much anything - on crackers, lamb chops, tossed through warm potatoes, with fish...etc etc. I made this version with mustard greens from our garden (the only thing I seem to be able to grow at the moment, probably because they are a weed).

1 cup parsley
1 cup mustard greens
1 cup olive oil
2 tbsp capers
6 anchovies
juice of 2 lemons
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 red onion
1 hard boiled egg yolk

Blend all ingredients until as smooth as possible and keep in a jar in the fridge for up to a month.

Pear and parsnip soup

A simple white soup with really lovely, gentle flavours. This one is great for kids.

1 brown onion, diced

3 cups parsnip (peeled and roughly chopped)

1 pear, peeled and roughly chopped

50g butter

3 tbsp cream

Heat half of the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for about five minutes, stirring often. Tip in the parsnip and pear and cook for a couple of minutes. Pour in a cup of boiling water (or enough to just cover the parsnip and pear), reduce heat to low and simmer gently for about half an hour or until parsnip is soft. Blend with remaining butter until smooth. Stir through cream and serve.

Apple Cake

This is a pretty basic cake but great for picnics as it travels, slices and eats beautifully.

150g butter, at room temperature
3/4 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
grated zest of one orange
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup natural yogurt
2 cups wholemeal self-raising flour
2 apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1/3 cup apricot jam (I used Lynwood's Apricot and Vanilla)

Preheat the oven to 180C, grease and line a 24cm round cake tin.  Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Fold through the orange zest, vanilla, yogurt, cinnamon and flour, taking care not to overmix. Spoon batter into prepared cake tin and top with the apple slices. Finally, pop the jam in your microwave for about 30 seconds to soften a little and brush all over the apple slices. Place in the oven for 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. You might find the apple slices start to caramelise a little too much during the cooking time, in this case just place a sheet of lightly greased foil on the top of your cake about half way through cooking to protect them from burning.

This weekend and a recipe for soup and milk rolls

This Easter, I'd really like to go on picnics, rest and hang out on the farm with Tim and the kids. Instead we are launching our Mandagery Creek Venison Farm Kitchen (whoowhoo) with a lunch on Sunday so most of it will be spent getting ready for that. Tim is away in Sydney for the Pyrmont Growers Market tomorrow and just to spice things up, the kids are sick. Tom is particularly miserable. All he wants is to sit and be cuddled which is lovely, but tricky when there's so much to do. 


To cheer him up, I made these milk rolls with carrot, ginger and honey soup for our dinner tonight. It's not the traditional Good Friday fish supper I know, but comforting, easy to eat and yummy. Most of the soup came from my vegetable box provided earlier in the week by Katie from the Nasdhale Fruit Company. And while the rolls may look like lots of work, really they're not, and kids love playing with the dough and rolling it up into little balls. Of course, after making this particular supper just so Tom might eat something, he didn't, not one mouthful. Alice and I did though, she had her rolls with butter and I spread Jannei Goat's Curd on mine. It was good, comforting and mood lifting. Which is I suppose, the most you can hope from your food. Happy Easter everybody.


Carrot,  ginger and honey soup
2 tbsp olive oil
150g onion, sliced
20g root ginger, peeled
300g carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
300g pumpkin, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tbsp honey
juice of one lemon
900ml boiling water
40g butter


Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add the onions and cook gently until soft and translucent. Add the carrot, pumpkin and ginger and cook for a couple more minutes. Now pour in the boiling water, add the honey and lemon juice and cook on a low heat for about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and puree in a food processor until nice and smooth. Throw in the butter and whizz again. 


Milk rolls
500g plain flour 
3 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp salt
400ml milk
20g butter


For egg wash
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp poppy seeds


Combine the flour with yeast, salt and sugar. Heat the milk and stir though the butter until it melts. Add the wet ingredients to dry and bring together until you have a wet dough. Knead using the dough hook of an electric mixer or by hand if you don't mind a bit of mess. Knead until you have a smooth dough. 


Leave the dough to rest in a large, oiled bowl (covered with a damp tea towel) for about an hour or until doubled in size. Now's when you can get the kids really involved. Have them pull small pieces of dough off the whole and roll into nuggets about the size of a golf ball. Place these about 2cm apart on a baking tray. Cover these and leave for another half an hour. 


Preheat the oven to 200c. Beat together the egg and milk and grab yourself a pastry brush. Brush the rolls gently with this wash and sprinkle with the poppy seeds. Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until golden. Serve while still warm. This recipe was inspired by one by Nigella Lawson in her beautiful book Feast.