Friday, May 23, 2008

Chilli Jam


With a bumper crop of chilli this year, I thought I would try my hand at a new delicacy- Chilli Jam.

My 1st batch has not been a success.


I turned away to sneeze at exactly the wrong time in the jam setting stage, and after washing my hands, my jam was quite dark. It still tasted OK. I bottled (see jam jars post earlier) and gave the jars away to trusty "tasters" for unbiased testing.


The results are back :


  1. delicious with cheese and crackers

  2. need to eat the whole jar on opening - it goes rock solid after 2 days (1 was stored in the fridge, the other in a cupboard)

I haven't given up yet, and with plenty more chilli to pick I will try batch 2 this weekend with the same recipe to have a comparison.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Mushrooming

Today, my professional women's group, "Breakfast Club" (or as our husband's refer to it as "Secret Women's Business") went mushrooming on the Mornington Peninsular. Our guide, Cameron is a real enthusiast. He was quick to caution us all about eating mushrooms where you are not sure of the variety. many of the mushrooms we have in Victoria are poisonous, including some that are lethal!

Despite his intensive knowledge he always carries a reference book to double check on the variety before eating!He recommends:


A Field Guide to Australian Fungi by Bruce Fuhrer Publisher: Bloomings Books Publication date: 2005

Golden rules of mushrooming:
  1. never enter someone's property to pick mushrooms without first asking permission
  2. always only take what you need for that day
  3. always use a knife to cut the mushroom, leaving the "root ball" in the ground to sprout again
  4. do not place mushrooms in a plastic bag - they will sweat and turn to mush!

Pine mushrooms I found during our walk.


The day concluded with mushroom soup, mushroom and feta tarts and fresh mushroom pizza - fantastic! Being based at T'Gallant winery, we also explored the marriage of Pinot and mushrooms - definitely a match made in heaven.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Organic cooking class: pasta


Last weekend I joined a class at "Peaceful Gardens Organic Cooking School" located at Koonwarra in East Gippsland, Victoria. The topic of the day was pasta.



Many friends queried why I was doing a pasta class. Despite years of making Ricotta Ravioli with my dad (the traditional Maltese way), I had never made pasta with eggs or used a pasta machine.



Two girlfriends, Carolyn and Rhonda joined in, and in an intimate class of 4, Tina guided us through the intricacies of making Lasagne, ravioli (chicken filling) and fettuccini. In just over 4 hours, we all had shared many cooking tales, swapped recipes and looked forward to dining on the fruits of our labour.

A highlight of the day was the enthusiasm of Tina, our mentor in the benefits of organic produce.

I am now on the hunt for a pasta machine, and looking forward to experimenting with one of my favorite foods - pasta.

Pasta Dough recipe (courtesy: Peaceful Gardens Organic Cooking School)
500g plain flour, 2 eggs, 1 dessertspoon olive oil, water

  • Place flour in a bowl and make a well
  • Add eggs to centre of the well and slowly mix in the flour
  • Add olive oil and a little water
  • Knead these together until the dough is uniform in texture and colour.
  • Wrap ball of dough in tea towel or cling wrap and let rest for 10 minutes
  • Cut the dough into small portions.
  • Using one portion at a time, pass the dough through the machine set to number 1. Fold in half and run again through machine.
  • Repeat this process through the different thickness settings. Remember to pass the dough through each setting twice, folding the sheet in half before taking it through again.
  • When the process is finished, flour your dough so as not to stick. Hang fettuccini over a broom handle to prevent it sticking together. Sheets can be laid between layers of baking paper.
  • Repeat with other portions of dough.

To cook: place in boiling water for approx 6 minutes.

NB pasta can be frozen raw, defrosted and cooked as above.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Jam Jars

As I begin to "beef up" my repertoire of sauces, relishes and jams I have come to realise that raiding the "jar cupboard" and the local op shop was not going to meet my need for clean, food quality containers.

"How hard could it be?" I mused as I searched the Internet for glass producers. Very easy if I was looking for pallets worth! I have found 2 suppliers in Melbourne, happy to sell me 100 jars at a time(of each size), however lids only come in packets of 1050!!

Self doubt steps in! Will I ever sell enough jars to make the outlay worth it? Of course I will, but where do I store them! That is a problem for my partner Myles who has an uncanny knack of getting the most out of any storage space.

I intend to make chilli jam this weekend and if anyone has any insights where to access about 20 40ml jars with lids I would be most grateful :)